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(John Stevens Cabot) Abbott</title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.tiny {width: 10%; margin-top: 0.75em; margin-bottom: 0.75em;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .sidenote2 {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1.85em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + + .bbox {border: none;} + .centerbox {width: 14em; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center;} + .n {text-indent:0%;} + .gap {margin-top: 2.75em;} + .smallgap {margin-top: 1.25em;} + .illogap {margin-top: 1.75em;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Maria Antoinette, by John S. C. (John Stevens +Cabot) Abbott</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Maria Antoinette</p> +<p> Makers of History</p> +<p>Author: John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott</p> +<p>Release Date: January 6, 2010 [eBook #30875]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARIA ANTOINETTE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by D Alexander<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2>Makers of History</h2> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<h1>Maria Antoinette</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN S. C. ABBOTT</h2> + +<p class="center">WITH ENGRAVINGS</p> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="124" height="150" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK AND LONDON</p> + +<p class="center">HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS</p> + +<p class="center">1901</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p class="center">Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand<br /> +eight hundred and forty-nine, by<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Harper & Brothers.</span><br /> +<br /> +in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District<br /> +of New York.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;"> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="CHARLES MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CHARLES MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<p><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" width="500" height="302" alt="View of Paris." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">View of Paris.</span></span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p>In this history of Maria Antoinette it has been my endeavor to give a +faithful narrative of facts, and, so far as possible, to exhibit the +soul of history. A more mournful tragedy earth has seldom witnessed. And +yet the lesson is full of instruction to all future ages. Intelligence +and moral worth combined can be the only basis of national prosperity or +domestic happiness. But the simple story itself carries with it its own +moral, and the <i>reflections</i> of the writer would encumber rather than +enforce its teachings.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="right">Chapter</td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">Page</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left">PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#MARIA_ANTOINETTE">13</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left">BRIDAL DAYS</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_II">37</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left">MARIA ANTOINETTE ENTHRONED</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_III">78</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left">THE DIAMOND NECKLACE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_IV">105</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left">THE MOB AT VERSAILLES</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_V">131</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left">THE PALACE A PRISON</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_VI">164</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left">THE FLIGHT</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_VII">189</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left">THE RETURN TO PARIS</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_VIII">214</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left">IMPRISONMENT IN THE TEMPLE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_IX">239</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left">EXECUTION OF THE KING</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_X">272</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left">TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF MARIA ANTOINETTE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_XI">290</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right" valign="top">XII.</td> +<td align="left">THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH, THE DAUPHIN, AND<br /> +THE PRINCESS ROYAL</td> +<td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Chapter_XII">304</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>ENGRAVINGS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="ENGRAVINGS"> + +<tr> +<td align="left" colspan="2"> </td> +<td align="right">Page</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VIEW OF PARIS</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">BRIDAL TOUR</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">48</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VERSAILLES—FRONT VIEW<br /> +VERSAILLES—COURT-YARD</td> + <td valign="middle" align="left" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 22pt"> + }</td> +<td align="right" valign="middle"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">FOUNTAINS AT VERSAILLES<br /> +FOUNTAIN OF THE STAR</td> + <td valign="middle" align="left" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 22pt"> + }</td> +<td align="right" valign="middle"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">LITTLE TRIANON</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">74</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">GARDENS OF MARLY</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VIEW OF THE BASTILE</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">134</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">GARDENS AT VERSAILLES</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">144</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">MOB AT VERSAILLES</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">GRAND AVENUE OF THE TUILERIES</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_155">156</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">PALACE OF ST. CLOUD</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_183">184</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">CAPTURE AT VARENNES</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_207">208</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">THE TUILERIES</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE TEMPLE</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_261">262</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">MARIA ANTOINETTE IN THE CONCIERGERIE</td> +<td> </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_295">296</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="MARIA_ANTOINETTE" id="MARIA_ANTOINETTE"></a>MARIA ANTOINETTE</h2> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<h2><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter I.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Parentage and Childhood.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1740-1770</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria Theresa.<br />She succeeds to the throne.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">n</span> the year 1740, Charles VI., emperor of Austria, died. He left a +daughter twenty-three years of age, Maria Theresa, to inherit the crown +of that powerful empire. She had been married about four years to +Francis, duke of Lorraine. The day after the death of Charles, Maria +Theresa ascended the throne. The treasury of Austria was empty. A +general feeling of discontent pervaded the kingdom. Several claimants to +the throne rose to dispute the succession with Maria; and France, Spain, +Prussia, and Bavaria took advantage of the new reign, and of the +embarrassments which surrounded the youthful queen, to enlarge their own +borders by wresting territory from Austria.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Success of Maria Theresa's enemies.</div> + +<p>The young queen, harassed by dissensions at home and by the combined +armies of her powerful foes, beheld, with anguish which her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>proud and +imperious spirit could hardly endure, her troops defeated and scattered +in every direction, and the victorious armies of her enemies marching +almost unimpeded toward her capital. The exulting invaders, intoxicated +with unanticipated success, now contemplated the entire division of the +spoil. They decided to blot Austria from the map of Europe, and to +partition out the conglomerated nations composing the empire among the +conquerors.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her flight to Hungary.<br />The queen's firmness.<br />The Hungarian barons.</div> + +<p>Maria Theresa retired from her capital as the bayonets of France and +Bavaria gleamed from the hill-sides which environed the city. Her +retreat with a few disheartened followers, in the gloom of night, was +illumined by the flames of the bivouacs of hostile armies, with which +the horizon seemed to be girdled. The invaders had possession of every +strong post in the empire. The beleaguered city was summoned to +surrender. Resistance was unavailing. All Europe felt that Austria was +hopelessly undone. Maria fled from the dangers of captivity into the +wilds of Hungary. But in this dark hour, when the clouds of adversity +seemed to be settling in blackest masses over her whole realm, when hope +had abandoned every bosom but her own, the spirit of Maria remained <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>as +firm and inflexible as if victory were perched upon her standards, and +her enemies were flying in dismay before her. She would not listen to +one word of compromise. She would not admit the thought of surrendering +one acre of the dominions she had inherited from her fathers. Calm, +unagitated, and determined, she summoned around her, from their feudal +castles, the wild and warlike barons of Hungary. With neighing steeds, +and flaunting banners, and steel-clad retainers, and all the +paraphernalia of barbaric pomp, these chieftains, delighting in the +excitements of war, gathered around the heroic queen. The spirit of +ancient chivalry still glowed in these fierce hearts, and they gazed +with a species of religious homage upon the young queen, who, in +distress, had fled to their wilds to invoke the aid of their strong +arms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's appeal.<br />Enthusiasm of her subjects.</div> + +<p>Maria met them in council. They assembled around her by thousands in all +the imposing splendor of the garniture of war. Maria appeared before +these stern chieftains dressed in the garb of the deepest mourning, with +the crown of her ancestors upon her brow, her right hand resting upon +the hilt of the sword of the Austrian kings, and leading by her left +hand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>her little daughter Maria Antoinette. The pale and pensive +features of the queen attested the resolute soul which no disasters +could subdue. Her imperial spirit entranced and overawed the bold +knights, who had ever lived in the realms of romance. Maria addressed +the Hungarian barons in an impressive speech in Latin, the language then +in use in the diets of Hungary, faithfully describing the desperate +state of her affairs. She committed herself and her children to their +protection, and urged them to drive the invaders from the land or to +perish in the attempt. It was just the appeal to rouse such hearts to a +phrensy of enthusiasm. The youth, the beauty, the calamities of the +queen roused to the utmost intensity the chivalric devotion of these +warlike magnates, and grasping their swords and waving them above their +heads, they shouted simultaneously, "Moriamur pro rege nostro, Maria +Theresa"—"<i>Let us die for our king, Maria Theresa.</i>"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen heads her army.<br />She overthrows her enemies.</div> + +<p>Until now, the queen had preserved a demeanor perfectly tranquil and +majestic. But this affectionate enthusiasm of her subjects entirely +overcame her imperious spirit, and she burst into a flood of tears. But, +apparently ashamed of this exhibition of womanly feeling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>she almost +immediately regained her composure, and resumed the air of the +indomitable sovereign. The war cry immediately resounded throughout +Hungary. Chieftains and vassals rallied around the banner of Maria. In +person she inspected and headed the gathering army, and her spirit +inspired them. With the ferocity of despair, these new recruits hurled +themselves upon the invaders. A few battles, desperate and sanguinary, +were fought, and the army of Maria was victorious. England and Holland, +apprehensive that the destruction of the Austrian empire would destroy +the balance of power in Europe, and encouraged by the successful +resistance which the Austrians were now making, came to the rescue of +the heroic queen. The tide of battle was turned. The armies of France, +Germany, and Spain were driven from the territory which they had +overrun. Maria, with untiring energy, followed up her successes. She +pursued her retreating foes into their own country, and finally granted +peace to her enemies only by wresting from them large portions of their +territory. The renown of these exploits resounded through Europe. The +name of Maria Theresa was embalmed throughout the civilized world. Under +her vigorous sway <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>Austria, from the very brink of ruin, was elevated to +a degree of splendor and power it had never attained before. These +conflicts and victories inspired Maria with a haughty and imperious +spirit, and the loveliness of the female character was lost amid the +pomp of martial achievements. The proud sovereign eclipsed the woman.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Character of Maria Theresa.<br />Character of her husband.</div> + +<p>It is not to be supposed that such a bosom could be the shrine of +tenderness and affection. Maria's virtues were all of the masculine +gender. She really loved, or, rather, <i>liked</i> her husband; but it was +with the same kind of emotion with which an energetic and ambitious man +loves his wife. She cherished him, protected him, watched over him, and +loaded him with honors. He was of a mild, gentle, confiding spirit, and +would have made a lovely wife. She was ambitious, fearless, and +commanding, and would have made a noble husband. In fact, this was +essentially the relation which existed between them. Maria Theresa +governed the empire, while Francis loved and caressed the children.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Crowning of Francis.<br />Maria Theresa's renown.</div> + +<p>The queen, by her armies and her political influence, had succeeded in +having Francis crowned Emperor of Germany. She stood upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>the balcony +as the imposing ceremony was performed, and was the first to shout "Long +live the Emperor Francis I." Like Napoleon, she had become the creator +of kings. Austria was now in the greatest prosperity, and Maria Theresa +the most illustrious queen in Europe. Her renown filled the civilized +world. Through her whole reign, though she became the mother of sixteen +children, she devoted herself with untiring energy to the aggrandizement +of her empire. She united with Russia and Prussia in the infamous +partition of Poland, and in the banditti division of the spoil she +annexed to her own dominions twenty-seven thousand square miles and two +millions five hundred thousand inhabitants.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria Theresa's sternness.</div> + +<p>From this exhibition of the character of Maria Theresa, the mother of +Maria Antoinette, the reader will not be surprised that she should have +inspired her children with awe rather than with affection. In truth, +their imperial mother was so devoted to the cares of the empire, that +she was almost a stranger to her children, and could have known herself +but few of the emotions of maternal love. Her children were placed under +the care of nurses and governesses from their birth. Once in every eight +or ten days the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>queen appropriated an hour for the inspection of the +nursery and the apartments appropriated to the children; and she +performed this duty with the same fidelity with which she examined the +wards of the state hospitals and the military schools.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anecdote.</div> + +<p>The following anecdote strikingly illustrates the austere and inflexible +character of the empress. The wife of her son Joseph died of the +confluent small-pox, and her body had been consigned to the vaults of +the royal tomb. Soon after this event, Josepha, one of the daughters of +the empress, was to be married to the King of Naples. The arrangements +had all been made for their approaching nuptials, and she was just on +the point of leaving Vienna to ascend the Neapolitan throne, when she +received an order from her mother that she must not depart from the +empire until she had, in accordance with the established custom, +descended into the tomb of her ancestors and offered her parting prayer. +The young princess, in an agony of consternation, received the cruel +requisition. Yet she dared not disobey her mother. She took her little +sister, Maria Antoinette, whom she loved most tenderly, upon her knee, +and, weeping bitterly, bade her farewell, saying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>that she was sure she +should take the dreadful disease and die. Trembling in every fiber, the +unhappy princess descended into the gloomy sepulcher, where the bodies +of generations of kings were moldering. She hurried through her short +prayer, and in the deepest agitation returned to the palace, and threw +herself in despair upon her bed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fatal result.</div> + +<p>Her worst apprehensions were realized. The fatal disease had penetrated +her veins. Soon it manifested itself in its utmost virulence. After +lingering a few days and nights in dreadful suffering, she breathed her +last, and her own loathsome remains were consigned to the same silent +chambers of the dead. Maria Theresa commanded her child to do no more +than she would have insisted upon doing herself under similar +circumstances. And when she followed her daughter to the tomb, she +probably allowed herself to indulge in no regrets in view of the course +she had pursued, but consoled herself with the reflection that she had +done her duty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Death of Francis.<br />Plan of the counselors.</div> + +<p>The Emperor Francis died, 1765, leaving Maria Theresa still in the vigor +of life, and quite beautiful. Three of her counselors of state, +ambitious of sharing the throne with the illustrious queen, entered into +a compact, by which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>they were all to endeavor to obtain her hand in +marriage, agreeing that the successful one should devote the power thus +obtained to the aggrandizement of the other two. The empress was +informed of this arrangement, and, at the close of a cabinet council, +took occasion, with great dignity and composure, to inform them that she +did not intend ever again to enter into the marriage state, but that, +should she hereafter change her mind, it would only be in favor of one +who had no ambitious desires, and who would have no inclination to +intermeddle with the affairs of state; and that, should she ever marry +one of her ministers, she should immediately remove him from all office. +Her counselors, loving power more than all things else, immediately +abandoned every thought of obtaining the hand of Maria at such a +sacrifice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Birth of Maria Antoinette.<br />Maria Antoinette's character.</div> + +<p>Maria Antoinette, the subject of this biography, was born on the 2d of +November, 1755. Few of the inhabitants of this world have commenced life +under circumstances of greater splendor, or with more brilliant +prospects of a life replete with happiness. She was a child of great +vivacity and beauty, full of light-heartedness, and ever prone to look +upon the sunny side of every prospect. Her disposition was frank, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>cordial, and affectionate. Her mental endowments were by nature of a +very superior order. Laughing at the restraints of royal etiquette, she, +by her generous and confiding spirit, won the love of all hearts. Maria +Antoinette was but slightly acquainted with her imperial mother, and +could regard her with no other emotions than those of respect and awe; +but the mild and gentle spirit of her father took in her heart a +mother's place, and she clung to him with the most ardent affection.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Affecting scene.<br />Maria Antoinette's grief.</div> + +<p>When she was but ten years of age, her father was one day going to +Inspruck upon some business. The royal cavalcade was drawn up in the +court-yard of the palace. The emperor had entered his carriage, +surrounded by his retinue, and was just on the point of leaving, when he +ordered the postillions to delay, and requested an attendant to bring to +him his little daughter Maria Antoinette. The blooming child was brought +from the nursery, with her flaxen hair in ringlets clustered around her +shoulders, and presented to her father. As she entwined her arms around +his neck and clung to his embrace, he pressed her most tenderly to his +bosom, saying, "Adieu my dear little daughter. Father wished once more +to press you to his heart." <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>The emperor and his child never met again. +At Inspruck Francis was taken suddenly ill, and, after a few days' +sickness, died. The grief of Maria Antoinette knew no bounds. But the +tears of childhood soon dried up. The parting scene, however, produced +an impression upon Maria which was never effaced, and she ever spoke of +her father in terms of the warmest affection.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria Theresa as a mother.</div> + +<p>Maria Theresa, half conscious of the imperfect manner in which she +performed her maternal duties, was very solicitous to have it understood +that she did not neglect her children; that she was the best <i>mother</i> in +the world as well as the most illustrious sovereign. When any +distinguished stranger from the other courts of Europe visited Vienna, +she arranged her sixteen children around the dinner-table, towering +above them in queenly majesty, and endeavored to convey the impression +that they were the especial objects of her motherly care. It was not, +however, the generous warmth of love, but the cold sense of duty, which +alone regulated her conduct in reference to them, and she had probably +convinced herself that she discharged her maternal obligations with the +most exemplary fidelity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mode of education.<br />Petty artifices.<br />Maria's proficiency in French.<br />She forgets her native tongue.<br /> +Maria's taste for music.<br />Her ignorance of general literature, etc.</div> + +<p>The family physician every morning visited each one of the children, and +then briefly reported to the empress the health of the archdukes and the +archduchesses. This report fully satisfied all the yearnings of maternal +love in the bosom of Maria Theresa; though she still, that she might not +fail in the least degree in motherly affection, endeavored to see them +with her own eyes, and to speak to them with her own lips, as often as +once in a week or ten days. The preceptors and governesses of the royal +household, being thus left very much to themselves, were far more +anxious to gratify the immediate wishes of the children, and thus to +secure their love, than to urge them to efforts for intellectual +improvement. Maria Antoinette, in subsequent life, related many amusing +anecdotes illustrative of the petty artifices by which the scrutiny of +the empress was eluded. The copies which were presented to the queen in +evidence of the progress the children were making in hand-writing were +all traced first in pencil by the governess. The children then followed +with the pen over the penciled lines. Drawings were exhibited, +beautifully executed, to show the skill Maria Antoinette had attained in +that delightful accomplishment, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>drawings the pencil of Maria had +not even touched. She was also taught to address strangers of +distinction in short Latin phrases, when she did not understand the +meaning of one single word of the language. Her teacher of Italian, the +Abbé Metastasio, was the only one who was faithful in his duties, and +Maria made very great proficiency in that language. French being the +language of the nursery, Maria necessarily acquired the power of +speaking it with great fluency, though she was quite unable to write it +correctly. In the acquisition of French, her own mother tongue, the +German, was so totally neglected, that, incredible as it may seem, she +actually lost the power either of speaking or of understanding it. In +after years, chagrined at such unutterable folly, she sat down with +great resolution to the study of her own native tongue, and encountered +all the difficulties which would tax the patience of any foreigner in +the attempt. She persevered for about six weeks, and then relinquished +the enterprise in despair. The young princess was extremely fond of +music, and yet she was not taught to play well upon any instrument. This +became subsequently a source of great mortification to her, for she was +ashamed to confess her ignorance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>of an accomplishment deemed, in the +courts of Europe, so essential to a polished education, and yet she +dared not sit down to any instrument in the presence of others. When she +first arrived at Versailles as the bride of the heir to the throne of +France, she was so deeply mortified at this defect in her education, +that she immediately employed a teacher to give her lessons secretly for +three months. During this time she applied herself to her task with the +utmost assiduity, and at the end of the time gave surprising proof of +the skill she had so rapidly attained. Upon all the subjects of history, +science, and general literature, the princess was left entirely +uninformed. The activity and energy of her mind only led her the more +poignantly to feel the mortification to which this ignorance often +exposed her. When surrounded by the splendors of royalty, she frequently +retired to weep over deficiencies which it was too late to repair. The +wits of Paris seized upon these occasional developments of the want of +mental culture as the indication of a weak mind, and the daughter of +Maria Theresa, the descendant of the Cæsars, was the butt, in saloon and +café, of merriment and song. Maria was beautiful and graceful, and +winning in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>all her ways. But this imperfect education, exposing her to +contempt and ridicule in the society of intellectual men and women, was +not among the unimportant elements which conducted to her own ruin, to +the overthrow of the French throne, and to that deluge of blood which +for many years rolled its billows incarnadine over Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The French teachers.<br />Their character.<br />The Abbé de Vermond.<br />He shamefully abuses his trust.</div> + +<p>Maria Theresa had sent to Paris for two teachers of French to instruct +her daughter in the literature of that country over which she was +destined to reign. From that pleasure-loving metropolis two play actors +were sent to take charge of her education, one of whom was a man of +notoriously dissolute character. As the connection between Maria +Antoinette and Louis, the heir apparent to the throne of France, was +already contemplated, some solicitude was felt by members of the court +of Versailles in reference to the impropriety of this selection, and the +French embassador at Vienna was requested to urge the empress to dismiss +the obnoxious teachers, and make a different choice. She immediately +complied with the request, and sent to the Duke de Choiseul, the +minister of state of Louis XV., to send a preceptor such as would be +acceptable to the court of Versailles. After <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>no little difficulty in +finding one in whom all parties could unite, the Abbé de Vermond was +selected, a vain, ambitious, weak-minded man, who, by the most studied +artifice, insinuated himself into the good graces of Maria Theresa, and +gained a great but pernicious influence over the mind of his youthful +pupil. The cabinets of France and Austria having decided the question +that Maria Antoinette was to be the bride of Louis, who was soon to +ascend the throne of France, the Abbé de Vermond, proud of his position +as the intellectual and moral guide of the destined Queen of France, +shamefully abused his trust, and sought only to obtain an abiding +influence, which he might use for the promotion of his own ambition. He +carefully kept her in ignorance, to render himself more necessary to +her; and he was never unwilling to involve her in difficulties, that she +might be under the necessity of appealing to him for extrication.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Etiquette of the French court.<br />Etiquette of the Austrian court.</div> + +<p>Instead of endeavoring to prepare her for the situation she was destined +to fill, it seemed to be his aim to train her to such habits of thought +and feeling as would totally incapacitate her to be happy, or to acquire +an influence over the gay but ceremony-loving assemblages of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Tuileries, Versailles, and St. Cloud. At this time, the fashion of the +French court led to extreme attention to all the punctilios of +etiquette. Every word, every gesture, was regulated by inflexible rule. +Every garment worn, and every act of life, was regulated by the +requisitions of the code ceremonial. Virtue was concealed and vice +garnished by the inflexible observance of stately forms. An infringement +of the laws of etiquette was deemed a far greater crime than the most +serious violation of the laws of morality. In the court of Vienna, on +the other hand, fashion ran to just the other extreme. It was +fashionable to despise fashion. It was etiquette to pay no regard to +etiquette. The haughty Austrian noble prided himself in dressing as he +pleased, and looked with contempt upon the studied attitudes and foppish +attire of the French. The Parisian courtier, on the other hand, +rejoicing in his ruffles, and ribbons, and practiced movements, despised +the boorish manners, as he deemed them, of the Austrian.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Precepts of the teacher.<br />Character of Maria Antoinette.<br />Maria a noble girl.<br />Her virtues and her faults.</div> + +<p>The Abbé de Vermond, to ingratiate himself with the Austrian court, did +all in his power to inspire Maria Antoinette with contempt of Parisian +manners. He zealously conformed to the customs prevailing in Vienna, +and, like all new <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>converts, to prove the sincerity of his conversion, +went far in advance of his sect in intemperate zeal. Maria Antoinette +was but a child, mirthful, beautiful, open hearted, and, like all other +children, loving freedom from restraint. Her preceptor ridiculed +incessantly, mercilessly, the manners of the French court, where she was +soon to reign as queen, and influenced her to despise that salutary +regard to appearances so essential in all refined life. Under this +tutelage, Maria became as natural, unguarded, and free as a mountain +maid. She smiled or wept, as the mood was upon her. She was cordial +toward those she loved, and distant and reserved toward those she +despised. She cared not to repress her emotions of sadness or +mirthfulness as occasions arose to excite them. She was conscientious, +and unwilling to do that which she thought to be wrong, and still she +was imprudent, and troubled not herself with the interpretation which +others might put upon her conduct. She prided herself a little upon her +independence and recklessness of the opinions of others, and thus she +was ever incurring undeserved censure, and becoming involved in +unmerited difficulties. She was, in heart, truly a noble girl. Her +faults were the excesses of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>generous and magnanimous spirit. Though +she inherited much of the imperial energy of her mother, it was tempered +and adorned with the mildness and affectionateness of her father. Her +education had necessarily tended to induce her to look down with +aristocratic pride upon those beneath her in rank in life, and to dream +that the world and all it inherits was intended for the exclusive +benefit of kings and queens. Still, the natural goodness of her heart +ever led her to acts of kindness and generosity. She thus won the love, +almost without seeking it, of all who knew her well. Her faults were the +unavoidable effect of her birth, her education, and all those nameless +but untoward influences which surrounded her from the cradle to the +grave. Her virtues were all her own, the instinctive emotions of a +frank, confiding, and magnanimous spirit.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Palace of Schoenbrun.<br />The scenes of Maria's childhood.</div> + +<p>The childhood of Maria Antoinette was probably, on the whole, as happy +as often falls to the lot of humanity. As she had never known a mother's +love, she never felt its loss. There are few more enchanting abodes upon +the surface of the globe than the pleasure palaces of the Austrian +kings. Forest and grove, garden and wild, rivulet and lake, combine all +their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>charms to lend fascination to those haunts of regal festivity. In +the palace of Schoenbrun, and in the imbowered gardens which surround +that world-renowned habitation of princely grandeur, Maria passed many +of the years of her childhood. Now she trod the graveled walk, pursuing +the butterfly, and gathering the flowers, with brothers and sisters +joining in the recreation. Now the feet of her pony scattered the +pebbles of the path, as the little troop of equestrians cantered beneath +the shade of majestic elms. Now the prancing steeds draw them in the +chariot, through the infinitely diversified drives, and the golden +leaves of autumn float gracefully through the still air upon their +heads. The boat, with damask cushions and silken awning, invites them +upon the lake. The strong arms of the rowers bear them with fairy motion +to sandy beach and jutting headland, to island, and rivulet, and bay, +while swans and water-fowl, of every variety of plumage, sport before +them and around them. Such were the scenes in which Maria Antoinette +passed the first fourteen years of her life. Every want which wealth +could supply was gratified. "What a destiny!" exclaimed a Frenchman, as +he looked upon one similarly situated, "what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>a destiny! young, rich, +beautiful, and an archduchess! Ma foi! quel destiné!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Personal appearance of Maria.<br />Description of Lamartine.</div> + +<p>The personal appearance of Maria Antoinette, as she bloomed into +womanhood, is thus described by Lamartine. "Her beauty dazzled the whole +kingdom. She was of a tall, graceful figure, a true daughter of the +Tyrol. The natural majesty of her carriage destroyed none of the graces +of her movements; her neck, rising elegantly and distinctly from her +shoulders, gave expression to every attitude. The woman was perceptible +beneath the queen, the tenderness of heart was not lost in the elevation +of her destiny. Her light brown hair was long and silky; her forehead, +high and rather projecting, was united to her temples by those fine +curves which give so much delicacy and expression to that seat of +thought, or the soul in woman; her eyes, of that clear blue which recall +the skies of the north or the waters of the Danube; an aquiline nose, +the nostrils open and slightly projecting, where emotions palpitate and +courage is evidenced; a large mouth, Austrian lips, that is, projecting +and well defined; an oval countenance, animated, varying, impassioned, +and the <i>ensemble</i> of these features, replete with that expression, +impossible to describe, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>which emanates from the look, the shades, the +reflections of the face, which encompasses it with an iris like that of +the warm and tinted vapor, which bathes objects in full sunlight—the +extreme loveliness which the ideal conveys, and which, by giving it +life, increases its attraction. With all these charms, a soul yearning +to attach itself, a heart easily moved, but yet earnest in desire to fix +itself; a pensive and intelligent smile, with nothing of vacuity in it, +because it felt itself worthy of friendships. Such was Maria Antoinette +as a woman."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria's betrothal.<br />Its motives.<br />Maria's feelings on leaving Schoenbrun.<br />Her love for her home.</div> + +<p>When but fourteen years of age she was affianced as the bride of young +Louis, the grandson of Louis XV., and heir apparent to the throne of +France. Neither of the youthful couple had ever seen each other, and +neither of them had any thing to do in forming the connection. It was +deemed expedient by the cabinets of Versailles and Vienna that the two +should be united, in order to promote friendly alliance between France +and Austria. Maria Antoinette had never dreamed even of questioning any +of her mother's arrangements, and consequently she had no temptation to +consider whether she liked or disliked the plan. She had been trained to +the most unhesitating submission <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>to maternal authority. The childish +heart of the mirth-loving princess was doubtless dazzled with the +anticipations of the splendors which awaited her at Versailles and St. +Cloud. But when she bade adieu to the gardens of Schoenbrun, and left +the scenes of her childhood, she entered upon one of the wildest careers +of terror and of suffering which mortal footsteps have ever trod. The +parting from her mother gave her no especial pain, for she had ever +looked up to her as to a superior being, to whom she was bound to render +homage and obedience, rather than as to a mother around whom the +affections of her heart were entwined. But she loved her brothers and +sisters most tenderly. She was extremely attached to the happy home +where her childish heart had basked in all childish pleasures, and many +were the tears she shed when she looked back from the eminences which +surround Vienna upon those haunts to which she was destined never again +to return.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter II.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Bridal Days.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1770-1775</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Louis XV.<br />Prince Louis.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">hen</span> Maria Antoinette was fifteen years of age, a light-hearted, +blooming, beautiful girl, hardly yet emerging from the period of +childhood, all Austria, indeed all Europe, was interested in the +preparations for her nuptials with the destined King of France. Louis +XV. still sat upon the throne of Charlemagne. His eldest son had died +about ten years before, leaving a little boy, some twelve years of age, +to inherit the crown his father had lost by death. The young Louis, +grandchild of the reigning king, was mild, inoffensive, and bashful, +with but little energy of mind, with no ardor of feeling, and singularly +destitute of all passions. He was perfectly exemplary in his conduct, +perhaps not so much from inherent strength of principle as from +possessing that peculiarity of temperament, cold and phlegmatic, which +feels not the power of temptation. He submitted passively to the +arrangements for his marriage, never manifesting the slightest emotion +of pleasure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>or repugnance in view of his approaching alliance with one +of the most beautiful and fascinating princesses of Europe. Louis was +entirely insensible to all the charms of female beauty, and seemed +incapable of feeling the emotion of love.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Madame du Barri.<br />Her dissolute character.</div> + +<p>Louis XV., a pleasure-loving, dissolute man, had surrounded his throne +with all the attractions of fashionable indulgence and dissipation. +There was one woman in his court, Madame du Barri, celebrated in the +annals of profligacy, who had acquired an entire ascendency over the +mind of the king. The disreputable connection existing between her and +the monarch excluded her from respect, and yet the king loaded her with +honors, received her at his table, and forced her society upon all the +inmates of the palace. The court was full of jealousies and bickerings; +and while one party were disposed to welcome Maria Antoinette, hoping +that she would espouse and strengthen their cause, the other party +looked upon her with suspicion and hostility, and prepared to meet her +with all the weapons of annoyance.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Children of Louis XV.</div> + +<p>Neither morals nor religion were then of any repute in the court of +France. Vice did not even affect concealment. The children of Louis <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>XV. +were educated, or rather not educated, in a nunnery. The Princess +Louisa, when twelve years of age, knew not the letters of her alphabet. +When the children did wrong, the sacred sisters sent them, for penance, +into the dark, damp, and gloomy sepulcher of the convent, where the +remains of the departed nuns were moldering to decay. Here the timid and +superstitious girls, in an agony of terror, were sent alone, to make +expiation for some childish offense. The little Princess Victoire, who +was of a very nervous temperament, was thrown into convulsions by this +harsh treatment, and the injury to her nervous system was so +irreparable, that during her whole life she was exposed to periodical +paroxysms of panic terror.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anecdote of Madame du Barri.</div> + +<p>One day the king, when sitting with Madame du Barri, received a package +of letters. The petted favorite, suspecting that one of them was from an +enemy of hers, snatched the packet from the king's hand. As he +endeavored to regain it, she resisted, and ran two or three times around +the table, which was in the center of the room, eagerly pursued by the +irritated monarch. At length, in the excitement of this most strange +conflict, she threw the letters into the glowing fire of the grate, +where they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>were all consumed. The king, enraged beyond endurance, +seized her by the shoulders, and thrust her violently out of the room. +After a few hours, however, the weak-minded monarch called upon her. The +countess, trembling in view of her dismissal, with its dreadful +consequences of disgrace and beggary, threw herself at his feet, bathed +in tears, and they were reconciled.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Madame du Barri's beauty.<br />Her political influence.<br />Madame du Barri's pavilion.<br />The Duke de Brissac.<br />Madame du Barri's flight.</div> + +<p>The remaining history of this celebrated woman is so remarkable that we +can not refrain from briefly recording it. Her marvelous beauty had +inflamed the passions of the king, and she had obtained so entire an +ascendency over his mind that she was literally the monarch of France. +The treasures of the empire were emptied into her lap. Notwithstanding +the stigma attached to her position, the nation, accustomed to this +laxity of morals, submitted to the yoke. As the idol of the king, and +the dispenser of honors and powers, the clergy, the nobility, the +philosophers, all did her homage. She was still young, and in all the +splendor of her ravishing beauty, when the king died. For the sake of +appearances, she retired for a few months into a nunnery. Soon, however, +she emerged again into the gay world. Her limitless power over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>the +voluptuous old monarch had enabled her to amass an enormous fortune. +With this she reared and embellished for herself a magnificent retreat, +adorned with more than regal splendor, in the vicinity of Paris—the +Pavillon de Luciennes, on the borders of the forest of St. Germain. The +old Duke de Brissac, who had long been an admirer of her charms, here +lived with her in unsanctified union. Almost universal corruption at +that time pervaded the nobility of France—one of the exciting causes of +the Revolution. Though excluded from appearing at the court of Louis +XVI. and Maria Antoinette, her magnificent saloons were crowded by those +ever ready to worship at the shrine of wealth, and rank, and power. But, +as the stormy days of the Revolution shed their gloom over France, and +an infuriated populace were wrecking their vengeance upon the throne and +the nobles, Madame du Barri, terrified by the scenes of violence daily +occurring, prepared to fly from France. She invested enormous funds in +England, and one dark night went out with the Duke de Brissac alone, +and, by the dim light of a lantern, they dug a hole under the foot of a +tree in the park, and buried much of the treasure which she was unable +to take away <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>with her. In disguise, she reached the coast of France, +and escaped across the Channel to England. Here she devoted her immense +revenue to the relief of the emigrants who were every day flying in +dismay from the horrors with which they were surrounded. The Duke de +Brissac, who was commander of the constitutional guard of the king, +appeared at Versailles in an hour of great excitement. The mob attacked +him. He was instantly assassinated. His head, covered with the white +locks of age, was cut off, and planted upon one of the palisades of the +palace gates, a fearful warning to all who were suspected of advocating +the cause of the king.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">She is betrayed.<br />Condemnation of Madame du Barri.<br />Her anguish and despair.<br />Execution of Madame du Barri.</div> + +<p>And now no one knew of the buried treasure but Madame du Barri herself. +She, anxious to regain them, ventured, in disguise, to return to France +to disinter her diamonds, and take them with her to England. A young +negro servant, whom she had pampered with every indulgence, and had +caressed with the fondness with which a mother fondles her child, whom +she had caused to be painted by her side in her portraits, saw his +mistress and betrayed her. She was immediately seized by the mob, and +dragged before the revolutionary tribunal of Luciennes. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>was +condemned as a Royalist, and was hurried along in the cart of the +condemned, amid the execrations and jeers of the delirious mob, to the +guillotine. Her long hair was shorn, that the action of the knife might +be unimpeded; but the clustering ringlets, in beautiful profusion, fell +over her brow and temples, and veiled her voluptuous features and bare +bosom, from which the executioner had torn the veil. The yells of the +infuriated and deriding populace filled the air, as they danced +exultingly around the aristocratic courtesan. But the shrieks of the +unhappy victim pierced shrilly through them all. She was frantic with +terror. Her whole soul was unnerved, and not one emotion of fortitude +remained to sustain the woman of pleasure through her dreadful doom. +With floods of tears, and gestures of despair, and beseeching, +heart-rending cries, she incessantly exclaimed, "Life—life—life! O +save me! save me!" The mob jeered, and derided, and insulted her in +every conceivable way. They made themselves merry with her anguish and +terror. They shouted witticisms in her ear respecting the pillow of the +guillotine upon which she was to repose her head. Struggling and +shrieking, she was bound to the plank. Suddenly her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>voice was hushed. +The dissevered head, dripping with blood, fell into the basket, and her +soul was in eternity. Poor woman! It is easy to condemn. It is better +for the heart to pity. Endowed with almost celestial beauty, living in a +corrupt age, and lured, when a child, by a monarch's love, she fell. It +is well to weep over her sad fate, and to remember the prayer, "Lead us +not into temptation."</p> + +<p>Such were the characters and such the state of morals of the court into +which this beautiful and artless princess, Maria Antoinette, but fifteen +years of age, was to be introduced. As she left the palaces of Vienna to +encounter the temptations of the Tuileries and Versailles, Maria Theresa +wrote the following characteristic letter to the future husband of her +daughter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Letter from Maria Theresa.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Your bride, dear dauphin, is separated from me. As she has +ever been my delight, so will she be your happiness. For +this purpose have I educated her; for I have long been aware +that she was to be the companion of your life. I have +enjoined upon her, as among her highest duties, the most +tender attachment to your person, the greatest attention to +every thing that can please or make you happy. Above all, I +have recommended to her humility toward God, because <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>I am +convinced that it is impossible for us to contribute to the +happiness of the subjects confided to us without love to Him +who breaks the scepters and crushes the thrones of kings +according to his will."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Departure of Maria for Paris.<br />Emotions of the populace.</div> + +<p>The great mass of the Austrian population, hating the French, with whom +they had long been at war, were exceedingly averse to this marriage. As +the train of royal carriages was drawn up, on the morning of her +departure, to convey the bride to Paris, an immense assemblage of the +populace of Vienna, men, women, and children, surrounded the cortège +with weeping and lamentation. Loyalty was then an emotion existing in +the popular mind with an intensity which now can hardly be conceived. At +length, in the excitement of their feelings, to save the beloved +princess from a doom which they deemed dreadful, they made a rush toward +the carriages to cut the traces and thus to prevent the departure. The +guard was compelled to interfere, and repel, with violence, the +affectionate mob. As the long and splendid train, preceded and followed +by squadrons of horse, disappeared through the gate of the city, a +universal feeling of sadness oppressed the capital. The people returned +to their homes silent and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>dejected, as if they had been witnessing the +obsequies rather than the nuptials of the beloved princess.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Magnificent pavilion.<br />Singular custom.</div> + +<p>The gorgeous cavalcade proceeded to Kell, on the frontiers of Austria +and France. There a magnificent pavilion had been erected, consisting of +a vast saloon, with an apartment at either end. One of these apartments +was assigned to the lords and ladies of the court of Vienna; the other +was appropriated to the brilliant train which had come from Paris to +receive the bride. The two courts vied with each other in the exhibition +of wealth and magnificence. It was an established law of French +etiquette, always observed on such occasions, that the royal bride +should receive her wedding dress from France, and should retain +absolutely nothing belonging to a foreign court. The princess was, +consequently, in the pavilion appropriated to the Austrian suite, +unrobed of all her garments, excepting her body linen and stockings. The +door was then thrown open, and in this plight the beautiful and blushing +child advanced into the saloon. The French ladies rushed to meet her. +Maria threw herself into the arms of the Countess de Noailles, and wept +convulsively. The French were perfectly enchanted with her beauty; and the proud position of her head and shoulders betrayed to their eyes the +daughter of the Cæsars. She was immediately conducted to the apartment +appropriated to the French court. Here the few remaining articles of +clothing were removed from her person, and she was re-dressed in the +most brilliant attire which the wealth of the French monarchy could +furnish.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47-8]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i042.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="303" alt="Bridal Tour." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Bridal Tour.</span></span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Grand procession.<br />The reception.</div> + +<p>And now, charioted in splendor, surrounded by the homage of lords and +ladies, accompanied by all the pomp of civic and military parade, and +enlivened by the most exultant strains of martial bands, Maria was +conducted toward Paris, while her Austrian friends bade her adieu and +returned to Vienna. The horizon, by night, was illumined by bonfires, +flaming upon every hill; the church bells rang their merriest peals; +cities blazed with illuminations and fire-works; and files of maidens +lined her way, singing their songs of welcome, and carpeting her path +with roses. It was a scene to dazzle the most firm and contemplative. No +dream of romance could have been more bewildering to the ardent and +romantic princess, just emerging from the cloistered seclusion of the +palace nursery.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Young Louis's indifference.</div> + +<p>Louis, then a young man about twenty years <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>of age, came from Paris with +his grandfather, King Louis XV., and a splendid retinue of courtiers, as +far as Compiègne, to meet his bride. Uninfluenced by any emotions of +tenderness, apparently entirely unconscious of all those mysterious +emotions which bind loving hearts, he saluted the stranger with cold and +distant respect. He thought not of wounding her feelings; he had no +aversion to the connection, but he seemed not even to think of any more +intimacy with Maria than with any other lady who adorned the court. The +ardent and warm-hearted princess was deeply hurt at this indifference; +but instinctive pride forbade its manifestation, except in bosom +converse to a few confiding friends.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The marriage.<br />Insensibility of young Louis.</div> + +<p>The bride and her passive and unimpassioned bridegroom were conducted to +Versailles. It was the 16th of May, 1770, when the marriage ceremony was +performed, with all the splendor with which it could be invested. The +gorgeous palaces of Versailles were thronged with the nobility of +Europe, and filled with rejoicing. The old king was charmed with the +beauty and affability of the young bride. All hearts were filled with +happiness, except those of the newly-married couple. Louis was tranquil +and contented. He was neither allured nor repelled by his bride <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>He +never sought her society alone, and ever approached her with the same +distance and reserve with which he would approach any other young lady +who was a visitor at the palace. He never intruded upon the privacy of +her apartments, and she was his wife but in name. While all France was +filled with the praises of her beauty, and all eyes were enchanted by +her graceful demeanor, her husband alone was insensible to her charms. +After a few days spent with the rejoicing court, amid the bowers and +fountains of Versailles, the nuptial party departed for Paris, and +entered the palace of the Tuileries, the scene of future sorrows such as +few on earth have ever experienced.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Acclamations of the Parisians.<br />Maria shows herself to the populace.<br />She receives their homage.</div> + +<p>As Maria, in dazzling beauty, entered Paris, the whole city was in a +delirium of pleasure. Triumphal arches greeted her progress. The +acclamations of hundreds of thousands filled the air. The journals +exhausted the French language in extolling her loveliness. Poets sang +her charms, and painters vied with each other in transferring her +features to canvas. As Maria sat in the dining saloon of the Tuileries +at the marriage entertainment, the shouts of the immense assemblage +thronging the gardens rendered it necessary for her to present herself +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>to them upon the balcony. She stepped from the window, and looked out +upon the vast sea of heads which filled the garden and the Place Louis +XV. All eyes were riveted upon her as she stood before the throng upon +the balcony in dazzling beauty, and the air resounded with applauses. +She exclaimed, with astonishment, "What a concourse!" "Madame," said the +governor of Paris, "I may tell you, without fear of offending the +dauphin, that they are so many lovers." The heir apparent to the throne +of France is called the dauphin; and, until the death of Louis XV., +Louis and Maria Antoinette were called the dauphin and dauphiness. Louis +seemed neither pleased nor displeased with the acclamations and homage +which his bride received. His singularly passionless nature led him to +retirement and his books, and he hardly heard even the acclamations with +which Paris was filled.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The fire-works.<br />Awful conflagration.<br />Scene of horror.<br />Consternation of Maria.</div> + +<p>Arrangements had been made for a very brilliant display of fire-works, +in celebration of the marriage, at the Place Louis XV. The hundreds of +thousands of that pleasure-loving metropolis thronged the Place and all +its avenues. The dense mass was wedged as compactly as it was possible +to crowd human beings together. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>Not a spot of ground was left vacant +upon which a human foot could be planted. Every house top, every +balcony, every embrasure of a window swarmed with the multitude. Long +lines of omnibuses, coaches, and carriages of every description, filled +with groups of young and old, were intermingled with the countless +multitude—men and horses so crowded into contact that neither could +move. It was an impervious ocean of throbbing life. In the center of +this Place, the pride of Paris, the scene of its most triumphant +festivities and its most unutterable woe, vast scaffolds had been +reared, and they were burdened with fire-works, intended to surpass in +brilliancy and sublimity any spectacle of the kind earth had ever before +witnessed. Suddenly a bright flame was seen, a shriek was heard, and the +whole scaffolding, by some accidental spark, was enveloped in a sheet of +fire. Then ensued such a scene as no pen can describe and no imagination +paint. The awful conflagration converted all the ministers of pleasure +into messengers of death. Thousands of rockets filled the air, and, with +almost the velocity of lightning, pierced their way through the +shrieking, struggling, terror-stricken crowd. Fiery serpents, more +terrible, more deadly than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>the fabled dragons of old, hissed through +the air, clung to the dresses of the ladies, enveloping them in flames, +and mercilessly burning the flesh to the bone. Mines exploded under the +hoofs of the horses, scattering destruction and death on every side. +Every species of fire was rained down, a horrible tempest, upon the +immovable mass. Shrieks from the wounded and the dying filled the air; +and the mighty multitude swayed to and fro, in Herculean, yet unavailing +efforts to escape. The horses, maddened with terror, reared and plunged, +crushing indiscriminately beneath their tread the limbs of the fallen. +The young bride, in her carriage, with a brilliant retinue, and eager to +witness the splendor of the anticipated fête, had just approached the +Place, when she was struck with consternation at the shrieks of death +which filled the air, and at the scene of tumult and terror which +surrounded her. The horses were immediately turned, and driven back +again with the utmost speed to the palace. But the awful cries of the +dying followed her; and it was long ere she could efface from her +distracted imagination the impression of that hour of horror. +Fifty-three persons were killed outright by this sad casualty, and more +than three hundred were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>dangerously wounded. The dauphin and dauphiness +immediately sent their whole income for the year to the unfortunate +relatives of those who had perished on that disastrous day.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Presents from Louis XV.<br />Malice of Madame du Barri.<br />Maria's difficulties.</div> + +<p>The old king was exceedingly pleased with the beauty and fascinating +frankness and cordiality of Maria. He made her many magnificent +presents, and, among others, with a magnificent collar of pearls, the +smallest of which was nearly as large as a walnut, which had been +brought into France by Anne of Austria. These praises and attentions on +the part of the king excited the jealousy of the petted favorite, Madame +du Barri. She consequently became, with the party under her influence, +the relentless and unprincipled enemy of Maria. She lost no opportunity +to traduce her character. She spread reports every where that Maria +hated the French; that she was an Austrian in heart; that her frankness +and freedom from the restraints of etiquette were the result of an +immoral and depraved mind. She exaggerated her extravagance, and accused +her, by whispers and insinuations spread far and near, of the most +ignoble crimes of which woman can be guilty. The young and inexperienced +dauphiness soon found herself involved in most embarrassing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>difficulties. She had no kind friend to council her. Louis still +remained cold, distant, and reserved. Thus, week after week, month after +month, year after year passed on, and for eight years Louis never +approached his youthful spouse with any manifestation of confidence and +affection but those with which he would regard a mother or a sister. +Maria was a wife but in name. She did not share his apartment or his +couch. Though deeply wounded by this inexplicable neglect, she seldom +spoke of it even to her most intimate friends. The involuntary sigh, and +the tear which often moistened her cheek, proclaimed her inward +sufferings.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Countess de Noailles.<br />Laws of etiquette.<br />An illustration.</div> + +<p>When Maria first arrived in France, the Countess de Noailles was +assigned to her as her lady of honor. She was somewhat advanced in life, +haughty and ceremonious, a perfect mistress of that art of etiquette so +rigidly observed in the French court. Upon her devolved the duty of +instructing the dauphiness in all the punctilios of form, then deemed +far more important than the requisitions of morality. The following +anecdote, related by Madame Campan, illustrates the ridiculous excess to +which these points of etiquette were carried. One winter's day, it +happened that Maria Antoinette, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>who was entirely disrobed in her +dressing-room, was just going to put on her body linen. Madame, the lady +in attendance, held it ready unfolded for her. The dame d'honneur came +in. As she was of superior rank, etiquette required that she should +enjoy the privilege of presenting the robe. She hastily slipped off her +gloves, took the garment, and at that moment a rustling was heard at the +door. It was opened, and in came the Duchess d'Orleans. She now must be +the bearer of the garment. But the laws of etiquette would not allow the +dame d'honneur to hand the linen directly to the Duchess d'Orleans. It +must pass down the various grades of rank to the lowest, and be +presented by her to the highest. The linen was consequently passed back +again from one to another, till it was placed in the hands of the +duchess. She was just on the point of conveying it to its proper +destination, when suddenly the door opened, and the Countess of Provence +entered. Again the linen passed from hand to hand, till it reached the +hands of the countess. She, perceiving the uncomfortable position of +Maria, who sat shivering with cold, with her hands crossed upon her +bosom, without stopping to remove her gloves, placed the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>linen upon the +shoulders of the dauphiness. She, however, was quite unable to restrain +her impatience, and exclaimed, "How disagreeable, how tiresome!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Countess de Noailles's ideas of etiquette.<br />An anecdote.</div> + +<p>Another anecdote illustrates the character of Madame de Noailles, who +exerted so powerful an influence upon the destiny of Maria Antoinette. +She was a woman of severe manners, but etiquette was the very atmosphere +she breathed; it was the soul of her existence. The slightest +infringement of the rules of etiquette annoyed her almost beyond +endurance. "One day," says Madame Campan, "I unintentionally threw the +poor lady into a terrible agony. The queen was receiving, I know not +whom—some persons just presented, I believe. The ladies of the +bed-chamber were behind the queen. I was near the throne, with the two +ladies on duty. All was right; at least I thought so. Suddenly I +perceived the eyes of Madame de Noailles fixed on mine. She made a sign +with her head, and then raised her eyebrows to the top of her forehead, +lowered them, raised them again, and then began to make little signs +with her hand. From all this pantomime, I could easily perceive that +something was not as it should be; and as I looked about on all sides +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>to find out what it was, the agitation of the countess kept increasing. +Maria Antoinette, who perceived all this, looked at me with a smile. I +found means to approach her, and she said to me, in a whisper, 'Let down +your lappets, or the countess will expire.' All this bustle rose from +two unlucky pins, which fastened up my lappets, while the etiquette of +costume said <i>lappets hanging down</i>."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria's contempt for etiquette.<br />The Countess de Noailles nicknamed.</div> + +<p>One can easily imagine the contempt with which Maria, reared in the +freedom of the Austrian court, would regard these punctilios. She did +not refrain from treating them with good-natured but unsparing ridicule, +and thus she often deeply offended those stiff elderly ladies, who +regarded these trifles, which they had been studying all their lives, +with almost religious awe. She gave Madame de Noailles the nickname of +Madame Etiquette, to the great merriment of some of the courtiers and +the great indignation of others. The more grave and stately matrons were +greatly shocked by these indiscretions on the part of the mirth-loving +queen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ludicrous scene.<br />Rage of the old ladies.</div> + +<p>On one occasion, when a number of noble ladies were presented to Maria, +the ludicrous appearance of the venerable dowagers, with their little +black bonnets with great wings, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>entire of their grotesque dress +and evolutions, appealed so impressively to Maria's sense of the +ridiculous, that she, with the utmost difficulty, refrained from open +laughter. But when a young marchioness, full of fun and frolic, whose +office required that she should continue standing behind the queen, +being tired of the ceremony, seated herself upon the floor, and, +concealed behind the fence of the enormous hoops of the attendant +ladies, began to play off all imaginable pranks with the ladies' hoops, +and with the muscles of her own face, the contrast between these +childish frolics and the stately dignity of the old dowagers so +disconcerted the fun-loving Maria, that, notwithstanding all her efforts +at self-control, she could not conceal an occasional smile. The old +ladies were shocked and enraged. They declared that she had treated them +with derision, that she had no sense of decorum, and that not one of +them would ever attend her court again. The next morning a song +appeared, full of bitterness which was spread through Paris. The +following was the chorus:</p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><p>"Little queen! you must not be<br /> +So saucy with your twenty years<br /> +Your ill-used courtiers soon will see<br /> +You pass once more the barriers."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Habits of Maria Theresa.<br />The dauphiness becomes unpopular.</div> + +<p>While Madame de Noailles was thus torturing Maria Antoinette with her +exactions, the Abbé de Vermond, on the contrary, was exerting all the +strong influence he had acquired over her mind to induce her to despise +these requirements of etiquette, and to treat them with open contempt. +Maria Theresa, in the spirit of independence which ever characterizes a +strong mind, ordinarily lived like any other lady, attending +energetically to her duties without any ostentation. She would ride +through the streets of Vienna unaccompanied by any retinue; and the +other members of the royal family, on all ordinary occasions, dispensed +with the pomp and splendors of royalty. Maria Antoinette's education and +natural disposition led her to adhere to the customs of the court of her +ancestors. Thus was she incessantly annoyed by the diverse influences +crowding upon her. Following, however, the bent of her own inclinations, +she daily made herself more and more unpopular with the haughty dames +who surrounded her.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dining in public.<br />How it was done.</div> + +<p>It was a very great annoyance to Maria that she was compelled to dine +every day as a public spectacle. It must seem almost incredible to an +American reader that such a custom could ever have existed in France. +The arrangement <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>was this. The different members of the royal family +dined in different apartments: the king and queen, with such as were +admitted to their table, in one room, the dauphin and dauphiness in +another, and other members of the royal family in another. Portions of +these rooms were railed off, as in court-houses, police rooms, and +menageries, for spectators. The good, honest people from the country, +after visiting the menageries to see the lions, tigers, and monkeys fed, +hastened to the palace to see the king and queen take their soup. They +were always especially delighted with the skill with which Louis XV. +would strike off the top of his egg with one blow of his fork. This was +the most valuable accomplishment the monarch over thirty millions of +people possessed, and the one in which he chiefly gloried. The +spectators entered at one door and passed out at another. No respectably +dressed person was refused admission. The consequence was, that during +the dining hour an interminable throng was pouring through the +apartment; those in the advance crowded slowly along by those in the +rear, and all eyes riveted upon the royal feeders. The members of the +royal family of France, accustomed to this practice from infancy, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>did +not regard it at all. To Maria Antoinette it was, however, excessively +annoying, and though she submitted to it while she was dauphiness, as +soon as she ascended the throne she discontinued the practice. The +people felt that they were thus deprived of one of their inalienable +privileges, and murmurs loud and angry rose against the innovating +Austrian.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Versailles.<br />Magnificence of the palace.</div> + +<p>Much of the time of Louis and his bride was passed at the palaces of +Versailles. This renowned residence of the royal family of France is +situated about ten miles from Paris, in the midst of an extensive plain. +Until the middle of the seventeenth century it was only a small village. +At this time Louis XIV. determined to erect upon this solitary spot a +residence worthy of the grandeur of his throne. Seven years were +employed in completing the palace, garden, and park. No expense was +spared by him or his successors to render it the most magnificent +residence in Europe. No regal mansion or city can boast a greater +display of reservoirs, fountains, gardens, groves, cascades, and the +various other embellishments and appliances of pleasure. The situation +of the principal palace is on a gentle elevation. Its front and wings +are of polished stone, ornamented with statues, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>a colonnade of the +Doric order is in the center. The grand hall is about two hundred and +twenty feet in length, with costly decorations in marble, paintings, and +gilding. The other apartments are of corresponding size and elegance. +This beautiful structure is approached by three magnificent avenues, +shaded by stately trees, leading respectively from Paris, St. Cloud, and +Versailles.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65-6]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i059top.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="303" alt="Versailles—Front View." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Versailles—Front View.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i059bottom.jpg" width="500" height="347" alt="Versailles—Court-Yard." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Versailles—Court-Yard.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">Gallery of paintings, statuary, etc.<br />Gorgeous saloons.<br />Splendid gardens.<br />Other palaces.</div> + +<p>This gorgeous mansion of the monarchs of France presents a front eight +hundred feet in length, and has connected with it fifteen projecting +buildings of spacious dimensions, decorated with Ionic columns and +pilasters, constituting almost a city in itself. One great gallery, +adorned with statuary, paintings, and architectural embellishments, is +two hundred and thirty-two feet long, thirty broad, and thirty-seven +high, and lighted by seventeen large windows. Many gorgeous saloons, +furnished with the most costly splendor, a banqueting-room of the most +spacious dimensions, where luxurious kings have long rioted in midnight +revels, an opera house and a chapel, whose beautifully fluted pillars +support a dome which is the admiration of all who look up upon its +graceful beauty, combine to lend attractions to these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>royal abodes such as few other earthly mansions can rival, and none, +perhaps, eclipse. The gardens, in the midst of which this voluptuous +residence reposes, are equal in splendor to the palace they are intended +to adorn. Here the kings of France had rioted in boundless profusion, +and every conceivable appliance of pleasure was collected in these +abodes, from which all thoughts of retribution were studiously excluded. +The expense incurred in rearing and embellishing this princely structure +has amounted to uncounted millions. But we must not forget that these +millions were wrested from the toiling multitude, who dwelt in mud +hovels, and ate the coarsest food, that their proud and licentious +rulers might be "clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously +every day." Such was the home to which the beautiful Maria Antoinette, +the bride of fifteen, was introduced; and in the midst of temptations to +which such voluptuousness exposed her, she entered upon her dark and +gloomy career. This, however, was but one of her abodes. It was but one +even of her country seats. At Versailles there were other palaces, in +the construction and the embellishment of which the revenues of the +kingdom had been lavished and in whose luxurious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>chambers all the laws +of God had been openly set at defiance by those earthly kings who ever +forgot that there was one enthroned above them as the King of kings.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69-70]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i062top.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="363" alt="Fountains at Versailles." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Fountains at Versailles.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i062bottom.jpg" width="500" height="362" alt="Fountain of the Star." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Fountain of the Star.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">The Great and the Little Trianon.<br />Gardens, cascades, etc.<br />Nature of Maria's mind.<br />Walks in the garden. +<br />Maria's want of education.<br />She attempts to supply it.</div> + +<p>Within the circuit of the park are two smaller palaces, called the Great +and the Little Trianon. These may be called royal residences in +miniature; seats to which the king and queen retired when desirous of +laying aside their rank and state. The Little Trianon was a beautiful +palace, about eighty feet square. It was built by Louis XV. for Madame +du Barri. Its architectural style was that of a Roman pavilion, and it +was surrounded with gardens ornamented in the highest attainments of +French and English art, diversified with temples, cottages, and +cascades. This was the favorite retreat of Maria Antoinette. This she +regarded as peculiarly her home. Here she was for a time comparatively +happy. Though living in the midst of all the jealousies, and intrigues, +and bickerings of a court, and though in heart deeply pained by the +strange indifference and neglect which her husband manifested toward her +person, the buoyancy of her youthful spirit enabled her to triumph, in a +manner, over those influences of depression, and she was the life and +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>ornament of every gay scene. As her mind had been but little cultivated, +she had but few resources within herself to dispel that ennui which is +the great foe of the votaries of fashion; and, unconscious of any other +sources of enjoyment, she plunged with all the zest of novelty into an +incessant round of balls, operas, theaters, and masquerades. Her mind, +by nature, was one of the noblest texture, and by suitable culture might +have exulted in the appreciation of all that is beautiful and sublime in +the world of nature and in the realms of thought. She loved the +retirement of the Little Trianon. She loved, in the comparative quietude +of that miniature palace, of that royal home, to shake off all the +restraints of regal state, and to live with a few choice friends in the +freedom of a private lady. Unattended she rambled among the flowers of +the garden; and in the bright moonlight, leaning upon the arm of a +female friend, she forgot, as she gazed upon the moon, and the stars, +and all the somber glories of the night, that she was a queen, and +rejoiced in those emotions common to every ennobled spirit. Here she +often lingered in the midst of congenial joys, till the murmurs of +courtiers drew her away to the more exciting, but far less satisfying +scenes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>of fashionable pleasure. She often lamented bitterly, and even +with tears, her want of intellectual cultivation, and so painfully felt +her inferiority when in the society of ladies of intelligence and +highly-disciplined minds, that she sought to surround herself with those +whose tastes were no more intellectual than her own. "What a resource," +she once exclaimed, "amid the casualties of life, is a well-cultivated +mind! One can then be one's own companion, and find society in one's own +thoughts." Here, in her Little Trianon, she made several unavailing +attempts to retrieve, by study, those hours of childhood which had been +lost. But it was too late. For a few days, with great zeal and +self-denial, she would persevere in secluding herself in the library +with her books. But it was in vain for the Queen of France to strive +again to become a school-girl. Those days had passed forever. The +innumerable interruptions of her station frustrated all her endeavors, +and she was compelled to abandon the attempt in sorrow and despair. We +know not upon how trivial events the great destinies of the world are +suspended; and had the Queen of France possessed a highly-disciplined +mind—had she been familiar with the teachings of history, and been +capable of inspiring respect by her intellectual attainments, it is far from +impossible that she might have lived and died in peace. But almost the +only hours of enjoyment which shone upon Maria while Queen of France, +was when she forgot that she was a queen, and, like a village maiden, +loitered through the gardens and the groves in the midst of which the +Little Trianon was embowered.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73-4]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i065.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="325" alt="Little Trianon." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Little Trianon.</span></span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria's enemies.<br />Their malignant slanders.</div> + +<p>The enemies of Maria had sedulously endeavored to spread the report +through France that she was still in heart an Austrian; that she loved +only the country she had left, and that she had no affection for the +country over which she was to reign as queen. They falsely and +malignantly spread the report that she had changed the name of Little +Trianon into Little Vienna. The rumor spread rapidly. It excited great +displeasure. The indignant denials of Maria were disregarded. Thus the +number of her enemies was steadily increasing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Visit of Maximilian.<br />A quarrel about forms.<br />Unexpected tenderness of Louis.</div> + +<p>Another unfortunate occurrence took place, which rendered her still more +unpopular at court. Her brother Maximilian, a vain and foolish young +man, made a visit to his sister at the court of Versailles, not +traveling in his own proper rank, but under an assumed name. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>was +quite common with princes of the blood-royal, for various reasons, thus +to travel. The young Austrian prince insisted that the first visit was +due to him from the princes of the royal family in France. They, on the +contrary insisted that, as he was not traveling in his own name, and in +the recognition of his own proper rank, it was their duty to regard him +as of the character he had assumed, and as this was of a rank inferior +to that of a royal prince, it could not be their duty to pay the first +visit. The dispute ran high. Maria, seconded by the Abbé Vermond, took +the part of her brother. This greatly offended many of the highest +nobility of the realm. It became a family quarrel of great bitterness. A +thousand tongues were busy whispering malicious accusations against +Maria. Ribald songs to sully her name were hawked through the streets. +Care began to press heavily upon the brow of the dauphiness, and sorrow +to spread its pallor over her cheek. Her high spirit could not brook the +humility of endeavoring the refutation of the calumnies urged against +her. Still, she was too sensitive not to feel them often with the +intensest anguish. Her husband was comparatively a stranger to her. He +bowed to her with much civility when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>they met, but never addressed her +with a word or gesture of tenderness, or manifested the least desire to +see her alone. One evening, when walking in the garden of Little +Trianon, he astonished the courtiers, and almost overpowered Maria with +delightful emotions, by offering her his arm. This was the most +affectionate act with which he had ever approached her. Such were the +bridal days of Maria Antoinette.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter III.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Maria Antoinette Enthroned.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1774-1775</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Louis XV. seized with small-pox.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">n</span> the year 1774, about four years after the marriage of Maria +Antoinette and Louis, the dissolute old king, Louis XV., in his palace +at Versailles, surrounded by his courtiers and his lawless pleasures, +was taken sick. The disease soon developed itself as the small-pox in +its most virulent form. The physicians, knowing the terror with which +the conscience-smitten monarch regarded death, feared to inform him of +the nature of his disease.</p> + +<p>"What are these pimples," inquired the king, "which are breaking out all +over my body?"</p> + +<p>"They are little pustules," was the reply, "which require three days in +forming, three in suppurating, and three in drying."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Flight of the courtiers.</div> + +<p>The dreadful malady which had seized upon the king was soon, however, +known throughout the court, and all fled from the infection. The +miserable monarch, hated by his subjects, despised by his courtiers, and +writhing under the scorpion lash of his own conscience, was left to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>groan and die alone. It was a horrible termination of a most loathsome +life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Marchioness du Pompadour.<br />Her dissolute character.</div> + +<p>The vices of Louis XV. sowed the seeds of the French Revolution. Two +dissolute women, notorious on the page of history, each, in their turn, +governed him and France. The Marchioness du Pompadour was his first +favorite. Ambitious, shrewd, unprincipled, and avaricious, she held the +weak-minded king entirely under her control, and spread throughout the +court an influence so contaminating that the whole empire was infected +with the demoralization. Upon this woman he squandered almost the +revenues of the kingdom. The celebrated Parc au Cerf, the scene of +almost unparalleled voluptuousness, was reared for her at an expense of +twenty millions of dollars. After her charms had faded, she still +contrived to retain her political influence over the pliant monarch, +until she died, at the age of forty-four, universally detested.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Debauchery of Louis XV.<br />He squanders the public revenue.</div> + +<p>Madame du Barri, of whom we have before spoken, succeeded the +Marchioness du Pompadour in this post of infamy. The king lavished upon +her, in the short space of eight years, more than ten millions of +dollars. For her he erected the Little Trianon, with its gardens, parks, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>and fountains, a temple of pleasure dedicated to lawless passion. The +king had totally neglected the interests of his majestic empire, +consecrating every moment of time to his own sensual gratification. The +revenues of the realm were squandered in the profligacy and carousings +of his court. The people were regarded merely as servants who were to +toil to minister to the voluptuous indulgence of their masters. They +lived in penury, that kings, and queens, and courtiers might revel in +all imaginable magnificence and luxury. This was the ultimate cause of +that terrible outbreak which eventually crushed Maria Antoinette beneath +the ruins of the French monarchy. Louis XV., in his shameless +debaucheries, not only expended every dollar upon which he could lay his +hands, but at his death left the kingdom involved in a debt of four +hundred millions of dollars, which was to be paid from the scanty +earnings of peasants and artisans whose condition was hardly superior to +that of the enslaved laborers on the plantations of Carolina and +Louisiana. But I am wandering from my story.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Remorse of the king.<br />The lamp at the window.</div> + +<p>In a chamber of the palace of the Little Trianon we left the king dying +of the confluent small-pox. The courtiers have fled in consternation. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>It is the hour of midnight, the 10th of May, 1774. The monarch of +France is alone as he struggles with the king of terrors. No attendants +linger around him. Two old women, in an adjoining apartment, +occasionally look in upon the mass of corruption upon the royal couch, +which had already lost every semblance of humanity. The eye is blinded. +The swollen tongue can not articulate. What thought of remorse or terror +may be rioting through the soul of the dying king, no one knows, and—no +one cares. A lamp flickers at the window, which is a signal to those at +a safe distance that the king still lives. Its feeble flame is to be +extinguished the moment life departs. The courtiers, from the windows of +the distant palace, watch with the most intense solicitude the +glimmering of that midnight taper. Should the king recover, they dreaded +the reproach of having deserted him in the hour of his extremity. They +hope, so earnestly, that he may not live. Should he die, they are +anxious to be the first in their congratulations to the new king and +queen. The hours of the night linger wearily away as expectant courtiers +gaze impatiently through the gloom upon that dim torch. The horses are +harnessed in the carriages, and waiting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>at the doors, that the +courtiers, without the loss of a moment, may rush to do homage to the +new sovereign.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Death of Louis XV.<br />Indecent haste of the courtiers.</div> + +<p>The clock was tolling the hour of twelve at night when the lamp was +extinguished. The miserable king had ceased to breathe. The ensuing +scene no pen can delineate or pencil paint. The courtiers, totally +forgetful of French etiquette, rushed down the stairs, crowded into +their carriages, and the silence of night was disturbed by the +clattering of the horses' hoofs, as they were urged, at their utmost +speed, to the apartments of the dauphin.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Emotions of the young king and queen.</div> + +<p>There Maria Antoinette and Louis, with a few family friends, were +awaiting the anticipated intelligence of the death of their grandfather +the king. Though neither of them could have cherished any feelings of +affection for the dissolute old monarch, it was an hour to awaken in the +soul emotions of the deepest melancholy. Death had approached, in the +most frightful form, the spot on earth where, probably, of all others, +he was most dreaded. Suddenly a noise was heard, as of thunder, in the +ante-chamber of the dauphin. It was the rush of the courtiers from the +dead monarch to bow at the shrine of the new dispensors of wealth and +power. This extraordinary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>tumult, in the silence of midnight, conveyed +to Maria and Louis the first intelligence that the crown of France had +fallen upon their brows. Louis was then twenty-four years of age, +modest, timid, and conscientious. Maria was twenty, mirthful, +thoughtless, and shrinking from responsibility. They were both +overwhelmed, and, falling upon their knees, exclaimed, with gushing +tears, "O God! guide us, protect us; we are too young to govern."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Homage of the courtiers.</div> + +<p>The Countess de Noailles was the first to salute Maria Antoinette as +Queen of France. She entered the private saloon in which they were +sitting, and requested their majesties to enter the grand audience hall, +where the princes and all the great officers of state were anxious to do +homage to their new sovereigns. Maria Antoinette, leaning upon her +husband's arm, and with her handkerchief held to her eyes, which were +bathed in tears, received these first expressions of loyalty. There was, +however, not an individual found to mourn for the departed king. No one +was willing to endanger his safety by any act of respect toward his +remains. The laws of France required that the chief surgeon should open +the body of the departed monarch and embalm it, and that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>first +gentleman of the bed-chamber should hold the head while the operation +was performed.</p> + +<p>"You will see the body properly embalmed?" said the gentleman of the +bed-chamber to the surgeon.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," was the reply; "and you will hold the head?"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Burial of Louis XV.</div> + +<p>Each bowed politely to the other, without the exchange of another word. +The body, unopened and unembalmed, was placed by a few under servants in +a coffin, which was filled with the spirits of wine, and hurried, +without an attendant mourner, to the tomb. Such was the earthly end of +Louis XV. In an hour he was forgotten, or remembered but to be despised.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king and queen leave Versailles.</div> + +<p>At four o'clock of that same morning, the young king and queen, with the +whole court in retinue, left Versailles, in their carriages, for Choisy. +The morning was cold, dark, and cheerless. The awful death of the king, +and the succeeding excitements, had impressed the company with gloom. +Maria Antoinette rode in the carriage with her husband, and with one or +two other members of the royal family. For some time they rode in +silence, Maria, a child of impulse, weeping profusely from the emotions +which moved her soul. But, ere long, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>morning dawned. The sun rose +bright and clear over the hills of France, and the whole beautiful +landscape glittered in the light of the most lovely of spring mornings. +Insensibly the gloom of the mind departed with the gloom of night. +Conversation commenced. The mournful past was forgotten in anticipation +of the bright future. Some jocular remark of the young king's sister +elicited a general burst of laughter, when, by common consent, they +wiped away their tears, banished all funereal looks, and, a merry party, +rode merrily along, over hill and dale, to a crown and a throne. Little +did they dream that these sunny hours and this flowery path but +conducted them to a dungeon and the guillotine.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The coronation.<br />Enthusiasm of the people.<br />Maria's grief.<br />The king's estrangement.</div> + +<p>The coronation soon took place at Rheims, with the greatest display of +festive magnificence. The novelty of a new reign, with a youthful king +and queen, elated the versatile French, and loud and enthusiastic were +the acclamations with which Louis and Maria Antoinette were greeted +whenever they appeared. They were both, for a time, very popular with +the nation at large, though there was in the court a party hostile to +the queen, who took advantage of every act of indiscretion to traduce +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>her character and to expose her to ignominy. In these efforts they +succeeded so effectually as to overwhelm themselves in the same ruin +which they had brought upon their victim. A deep-seated but secret grief +still preyed upon the heart of Maria. Though four years since her +marriage had now passed away, she was still comparatively a stranger to +her husband. He treated her with respect, with politeness, but with cold +reserve, never approaching her as his wife. The queen, possessing +naturally a very affectionate disposition, was extremely fond of +children. Despairing of ever becoming a mother herself, she thought of +adopting some pleasant child to be her playmate and friend. One day, as +she was riding in her carriage, a beautiful little peasant boy, about +five years of age, with large blue eyes and flaxen hair, got under the +feet of the horses, though he was extricated without having received any +injury. As the grandmother rushed from the cottage door to take the +child, the queen, standing up in her carriage, extended her arms to the +old woman, and said,</p> + +<p>"The child is mine. God has given it to me to rear and to cherish. Is +his mother alive?"</p> + +<p>"No, madame!" was the reply of the old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>woman. "My daughter died last +winter, and left five small children upon my hands."</p> + +<p>"I will take this one," said the queen, "and will also provide for all +the rest. Will you consent?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, madame," exclaimed the cottager, "they are too fortunate. But I +fear Jemmie will not stay with you. He is very wayward."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The little peasant boy.<br />Becomes a monster of ingratitude.</div> + +<p>The postillion handed Jemmie to the queen in the carriage, and she, +taking him upon her knee, ordered the coachman to drive immediately to +the palace. The ride, however, was any thing but a pleasant one, for the +ungoverned boy screamed and kicked with the utmost violence during the +whole of the way. The queen was quite elated with her treasure; for the +boy was extremely beautiful, and he was soon seen frolicking around her +in a white frock trimmed with lace, a rose-colored sash, with silver +fringe, and a hat decorated with feathers. I may here mention that the +petted favorite grew up into a monster of ingratitude, and became one of +the most sanguinary actors in the scenes of terror which subsequently +ensued.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's traducers.</div> + +<p>One would think that the enemies of Maria Antoinette could hardly take +advantage of this circumstance to her injury; but they atrociously +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>affirmed that this child was her own unacknowledged offspring, whose +ignominious birth she had concealed. They represented the whole +adventure but a piece of trickery on her part, to obtain, without +suspicion, possession of her own child. Such accusations were borne upon +the wings of every wind throughout Europe, and the deeply-injured queen +could only submit in silence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Heron's Plume.<br />Vile slanders.<br />Profligate character of De Lauzun.<br />Execution of De Lauzun.</div> + +<p>Another little incident, equally trivial, was magnified into the +grossest of crimes. The Duke de Lauzun appeared one evening at an +entertainment with a very magnificent plume of white heron's feathers. +The queen casually expressed her admiration of its beauty. A lady +immediately reported to the duke the remarks of the queen, and assured +him that it would be a great gratification to her majesty to receive a +present of the plume. He, the next morning, sent the plume to the queen. +She was quite embarrassed, being unwilling to accept the plume, and yet +fearing to wound the feelings of the duke by refusing the present. She, +on the whole, however, concluded to retain it, and wore it <i>once</i>, that +she might not seem to scorn the present, and then laid it aside. It is +difficult to conceive how the queen could have conducted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>more +discreetly in the affair. Such was the story of "The Heron's Plume." It +was, however, maliciously reported through Paris that the queen was +indecently receiving presents from gentlemen as her lovers. "The Heron's +Plume" figured conspicuously in many a satire in prose and verse. These +shafts, thrown from a thousand unseen hands, pierced Maria Antoinette to +the heart. This same Duke de Lauzun, a man of noted profligacy, +subsequently became one of the most unrelenting foes of the queen. He +followed La Fayette to America, and then returned to Paris, to plunge, +with the most reckless gayety, into the whirlpool of human passions +boiling and whirling there. In the conflict of parties he became a +victim. Condemned to death, he was imprisoned in the Conciergerie. +Imbruted by atheism, he entered his cell with a merry song and a joke. +He furnished a sumptuous repast for the prisoners at the hour appointed +for his execution, and invited the jailers for his guests. When the +executioners arrived, he smilingly accosted them. "Gentlemen, I am very +happy to see you; just allow me to finish these nice oysters." Then, +very politely taking a decanter of wine, he said, "Your duties will be +quite arduous to-day, gentlemen; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>allow me the pleasure of taking a +glass of wine with you." Thus merrily he ascended the cart, and beguiled +the ride from the prison to the guillotine with the most careless +pleasantries. Gayly tripping up the steps, he placed himself in the +fatal instrument, and a smile was upon his lips, and mirthful words were +falling upon the ears of the executioners, when the slide fell, and he +was silent in death. That soul must indeed be ignoble which can thus +enter the dread unseen of futurity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A life of pleasure.<br />Maria's imprudence.</div> + +<p>There is no end to these acts of injustice inflicted upon the queen. The +influences which had ever surrounded her had made her very fond of dress +and gayety. She was devoted to a life of pleasure, and was hardly +conscious that there was any thing else to live for. In fêtes, balls, +theaters, operas, and masquerades, she passed night after night. Such +was the only occupation of her life. The king, on the contrary, had no +taste for any of these amusements. Uncompanionable and retiring, he +lived with his books, and in his workshop making trinkets for children. +Always retiring to rest at the early hour of eleven o'clock precisely, +he left the queen to pursue her pleasures until the dawn of the morning, +unattended by him. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>was very imprudent in Maria Antoinette thus to +expose herself to the whispers of calumny. She was young, inexperienced, +and had no judicious advisers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Night adventure in a hackney-coach.</div> + +<p>One evening, she had been out in her carriage, and was returning at +rather a late hour, the lady of the palace being with her, when her +carriage broke down at her entrance into Paris. The queen and the +duchess were both masked and, stepping into an adjoining shop, as they +were unknown, the queen ordered one of the footmen to call a common +hackney-coach, and they, both entering, drove to the opera-house, with +very much the same sense of the ludicrous in being found in so plebeian +a vehicle, as a New York lady would feel on passing through Broadway in +a hand-cart or on a wheel-barrow. The fun-loving queen was so +entertained with the whimsical adventure, that she could not refrain +from exclaiming, as soon as she entered the opera-house, to the intimate +friends she met there, "Only think! I came to the opera in a +hackney-coach! Was it not droll? was it not droll?" The news of the +indiscretion spread. All Paris was full of the adventure. Rumor, with +her thousand tongues, added innumerable embellishments. Neither the +delicacy nor the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>dignity of the queen would allow her seriously to +attempt the refutation of the calumny that, neglected by her husband, +she had been out in disguise to meet a nobleman renowned for his +gallantries.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The gardens of Marly.<br />Their unrivaled splendor.</div> + +<p>Nothing can be more irksome than the frivolities of fashionable life. To +spend night after night, of months and years, in an incessant round of +the same trivial gayeties, so exhausts all the susceptibilities of +enjoyment that life itself becomes a burden. Louis XIV. had created for +himself a sort of elysium of voluptuousness in the celebrated gardens of +Marly. Spread out upon the gentle declivity of an extended hill were +grounds embellished in the highest style of art, and intended to rival +the garden of Eden itself in every conceivable attraction. Pavilions of +gorgeous architecture crowned the summit of the hill. Flowers, groves, +enchanting walks, and statues of most voluptuous beauty, fountains, +lakes, cascades foaming over channels of whitest marble—all the +attractions of nature and art were combined to realize the most fanciful +dreams of splendor and luxury. Pleasure was the only god here adored; +but, like all false gods, he but rewarded his votaries with satiety and +disgust.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93-4]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i084.jpg" width="500" class="illogap" height="348" alt="Gardens of Marly." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Gardens of Marly.</span></span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Maria's visits to Marly.<br />Heartless gayety.</div> + +<p>The queen, with her brilliant retinue, made a monthly visit to these +palaces and pleasure-grounds, and with music, illumination, and dances, +endeavored to beguile life of its cares. A noisy concourse, glittering +with diamonds and all the embellishments of wealth, thronged the +embowered avenues and the sumptuous halls. And while the young, in the +mazes of the dance, and in the uneasy witchery of winning and losing +hearts, were all engrossed, the old, in the still deeper but ignoble +passion of desperate gaming, forgot gliding time and approaching +eternity. But the spirit of Maria was soon weary of this heartless +gayety. Each succeeding visit became more irksome, and at last, in +inexpressible disgust with the weary monotony of fashionable +dissipation, she declared that she would never enter the gardens of +Marly again. But she must have some occupation. What shall she do to +give wings to the lagging hours?</p> + +<p>"Has your majesty," timidly suggests a lady of the court, "ever seen the +sun rise?"</p> + +<p>"The sun rise!" exclaimed the queen; "no, never! What a beautiful sight +it must be! What a romantic adventure! we will go to-morrow morning."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sunrise at Marly.<br />More food for slander.</div> + +<p>The plan was immediately arranged. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>prosaic king would take no part +in it. He preferred quietly to slumber upon his pillow. A few hours +after midnight, the queen, with several gentlemen, and her attendant +ladies, all in high glee, left the palace in their carriages to ascend +the lofty eminence of the gardens of Marly to witness the sublime +spectacle. Thousands of the humbler classes had already left their beds +and commenced their daily toil, as the brilliant cavalcade swept by them +on this novel excursion. It was, however, a freak so strange, so +unaccountable, so contrary to any thing ever known before, that this +nocturnal party became the theme of universal conversation. It was +whispered that there must have been some mysterious wickedness connected +with an adventure so marvelous. Groups upon the Boulevards inquired, +"Why is the queen thus frolicking at midnight without her husband?" In a +few days a ballad appeared, which was sung by the vilest lips in the +warehouses of infamy, full of the most malignant charges against the +queen. Maria Antoinette was imprudent, very imprudent, and that was her +only crime.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Simple habits of the queen.<br />Horror of the courtiers and dowagers.</div> + +<p>Still, the young queen must have amusements. She is weary of parade and +splendor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>and seeks in simplicity the novelty of enjoyment. Dressed in +white muslin, with a plain straw hat, and a little switch in her hand, +she might often be seen walking on foot, followed by a single servant, +through the embowered paths which surrounded the Petit Trianon. Through +lanes and by-ways she would chase the butterfly, and pick flowers free +as a peasant girl, and lean over the fences to chat with the country +maids as they milked the cows. This entire freedom from restraint was +etiquette in the court of Vienna; it was regarded as barbarism in the +court of Versailles. The courtiers were amazed at conduct so unqueenly. +The ceremony-stricken dowagers were shocked. Paris, France, Europe, were +filled with stories of the waywardness, and eccentricities, and +improprieties of the young queen. The loud complaints were poured so +incessantly in the ear of Maria Theresa, that at last she sent a special +embassador to Versailles, in disguise, as a spy upon her daughter. He +reported, "The queen is imprudent, that is all."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sleigh riding.</div> + +<p>There happened, in a winter of unusual inclemency, a heavy fall of snow. +It was a rare sight at Versailles. Maria Antoinette, reminded of the +merry sleigh rides she had enjoyed in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>the more northern home of her +childhood, was eager to renew the pleasure. Some antiquated sledges were +found in the stables. New ones, gay and graceful, were constructed. The +horses, with nodding plumes, and gorgeous caparisons, and tinkling +bells, dazzled the eyes of the Parisians as they swept through the +Champs Elysées, drawing their loads of lords and ladies enveloped in +furs. It was a new amusement—an innovation. Envious and angry lips +declared that "the Austrian, with an Austrian heart, was intruding the +customs of Vienna upon Paris." These ungenerous complaints reached the +ear of the queen, and she instantly relinquished the amusement.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Blind man's buff and other games.<br />Dramatic entertainments.</div> + +<p>Still the queen is weary. Time hangs heavily upon her hands. All the +pleasures of the court have palled upon her appetite, and she seeks +novelty. She introduces into the retired apartments of the Little +Trianon, "blind man's buff," "fox and geese," and other similar games, +and joins heartily in the fun and the frolic. "A queen playing blind +man's buff!" Simpletons—and the world is full of simpletons—raised +their hands and eyes in affected horror. Private dramatic entertainments +were got up to relieve the tedium of unemployed time. The queen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>learns +her part, and appears in the character and costume of a peasant girl. +Her genius excites much admiration, and, intoxicated with this new +pleasure, she repeats the entertainment, and alike excels in all +characters, whether comic or tragic. The number of spectators is +gradually increased. Louis is not exactly pleased to see his queen +transformed into an actress, even in the presence only of the most +intimate friends of the court. Half jocosely, half seriously, amid the +rounds of applause with which the royal actress is greeted, he hisses. +It was deemed extremely derogatory to the dignity of the queen that she +should indulge in such amusements, and every gossiping tongue in Paris +was soon magnifying her indiscretions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Increasing affection of the king.<br />Efforts to alienate the king's affections.</div> + +<p>Eight years had now passed away since the marriage of Maria Antoinette, +and still she was in name only, the wife of Louis. She was still a young +lady, for he had never yet approached her with any familiarity with +which he would not approach any young lady of his court. But about this +time the king gradually manifested more tenderness toward her. He began +really and tenderly to love her. With tears of joy, she confided to her +friends the great change which had taken place in his conduct. The +various <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>troubles and embarrassments which began now to lower about the +throne and to darken their path, bound their sympathies more strongly +together. Strenuous efforts were made to alienate the king from the +queen by exciting his jealousy. Maria was accused of the grossest +immoralities, and insinuations to her injury were ever whispered in to +the ear of the king.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Agitation of the queen.</div> + +<p>One morning Madame Campan entered the queen's chamber when she was in +bed. Several letters were lying upon the bed by her side, and she was +weeping as though her heart would break. She immediately exclaimed, +covering her swollen eyes with her hands, "Oh! I wish that I were dead! +I wish that I were dead! The wretches! the monsters! what have I done +that they should treat me thus! it would be better to kill me at once." +Then, throwing her arms around the neck of Madame Campan, she burst more +passionately into tears. All attempts to console her were unavailing. +Neither was she willing to confide the cause of her heart-rending grief. +After some time she regained her usual serenity, and said, with an +attempted smile, "I know that I have made you very uncomfortable this +morning, and I must set your poor heart at ease. You must have seen, on +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>some fine summer's day, a black cloud suddenly appear, and threaten to +pour down upon the country and lay it in waste. The lightest wind drives +it away, and the blue sky and serene weather are restored. This is just +the image of what has happened to me this morning."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria's children.</div> + +<p>Notwithstanding, however, these efforts of the malignant, the king +became daily more and more strongly attached to the queen. In the +embarrassments which were gathering around him, he felt the support of +her energetic mind, and looked to her counsel with continually +increasing confidence. It was about nine years after their marriage when +their first child was born. Three others were subsequently added to +their family. Two, however, of the children, a son and a daughter, died +in early childhood, leaving two others, Maria Theresa and Louis Charles, +to share and to magnify those woes which subsequently overwhelmed the +whole royal family.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Royal visitors.<br />Extravagant expenditures.<br />Rising discontents.</div> + +<p>During all these early years of their reign, Versailles was their +favorite and almost constant abode. They were visited occasionally by +monarchs from the other courts of Europe, whom they entertained with the +utmost display of royal grandeur. Bonfires and illuminations turned +night into day in the groves and gardens <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>of those gorgeous palaces. +Thousands were feasted in boundless profusion. Millions of money were +expended in the costly amusements of kings, and queens, and haughty +nobles. The people, by whose toil the revenues of the kingdom were +furnished, looked from a humble distance upon the glittering throng, +gliding through the avenues, charioted in splendor, and now and then a +deep thinker, struggling against poverty and want, would thus +soliloquize: "Why do we thus toil to minister to the useless luxury of +these our imperious masters? Why must I eat black bread, and be clothed +in the coarsest garments, that these lords and ladies may glitter in +jewelry and revel in luxury? Why must my children toil like bond slaves +through life, that the children of these nobles may be clothed in purple +and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day?" The multitude were +bewildered by the glare of royalty. But here and there a sullen +fish-woman, leading her ragged, half-starved children, would mumble and +mutter, and curse the "Austrian," as the beautiful queen swept by in her +gorgeous equipage. These discontents and portentous murmurs were +spreading rapidly, when neither king, queen, nor courtiers dreamed of +their existence.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote">La Fayette and Franklin.<br />The people begin to count the costs.<br />Letter from the Empress Catharine.</div> + +<p>A few had heard of America, its freedom, its equality, its fame even for +the poorest, its competence. La Fayette had gone to help the Republicans +crush the crown and the throne. Franklin was in Paris, the embassador +from America, in garb and demeanor as simple and frugal as the humblest +citizen, and all Paris gazed upon him with wonder and admiration. A few +bold spirits began to whisper, "Let us also have no king." The fires of +a volcano were kindling under the whole structure of French society. It +was time that the mighty fabric of corruption should be tumbled into the +dust. The splendor and the extravagance of these royal festivities added +but fuel to the flame. The people began to compute the expense of +bonfires, palaces, equipages, crown jewels, and courtiers. It is +extremely impertinent, Maria thought and said, for the people to meddle +in matters with which they have no concern. Slaves have no right to +question the conduct of their masters. It was the misfortune of her +education, and of the influences which ever surrounded her, that she +never imagined that kings and queens were created for any other purpose +than to live in luxury. The Empress Catharine II. of Russia, as these +discontents were loud and threatening <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>wrote to Maria Antoinette a +letter, in which she says, "Kings and queens ought to proceed in their +career undisturbed by the cries of the people, as the moon pursues her +course unimpeded by the howling of dogs." This was then the spirit of +the throne.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The clouds thicken.</div> + +<p>And now the days of calamity began to grow darker. Intrigues were +multiplied, involving Maria in interminable difficulties. There were +instinctive presentiments of an approaching storm. Death came into the +royal palace, and distorted the form of her eldest son, and by lingering +tortures dragged him to the grave. And then her little daughter was +taken from her. Maria watched at the couch of suffering and death with +maternal anguish. The glowing heart of a mother throbbed within the +bosom of Maria. The heartlessness and emptiness of all other pursuits +had but given intensity to the fervor of a mother's love. Though but +twenty-three years of age, she had drained every cup of pleasure to its +dregs. And now she began to enter upon a path every year more dark, +dreary, and desolate.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter IV.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Diamond Necklace.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1786</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Remark of Talleyrand.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">bout</span> this time there occurred an event which, though apparently +trivial, involved consequences of the most momentous importance. It was +merely the fraudulent purchase of a necklace, by a profligate woman, in +the name of the queen. The circumstances were such as to throw all +France into agitation, and Europe was full of the story. "Mind that +miserable affair of the necklace," said Talleyrand; "I should be nowise +surprised if it should overturn the French monarchy." To understand this +mysterious occurrence, we must first allude to two very important +characters implicated in the conspiracy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Cardinal de Rohan.<br />Rohan's smuggling operations.<br />He is disgraced.</div> + +<p>The Cardinal de Rohan, though one of the highest dignitaries of the +Church, and of the most illustrious rank, was a young man of vain and +shallow mind, of great profligacy of character, and perfectly prodigal +in squandering, in ostentatious pomp, all the revenues within his reach. +He had been sent an embassador to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>court of Vienna. Surrounding +himself with a retinue of spendthrift gentlemen, he endeavored to dazzle +the Austrian capital with more than regal magnificence. Expending six or +seven hundred thousand dollars in the course of a few months, he soon +became involved in inextricable embarrassments. In the extremity of his +distress, he took advantage of his official station, and engaged in +smuggling with so much effrontery that he almost inundated the Austrian +capital with French goods. Maria Theresa was extremely displeased, and, +without reserve, expressed her strong disapproval of his conduct, both +as a bishop and as an embassador. The cardinal was consequently +recalled, and, disappointed and mortified, he hovered around the court +of Versailles, where he was treated with the utmost coldness. He was +extremely anxious again to bask in the beams of royal favor. But the +queen indignantly repelled all his advances. His proud spirit was +nettled to the quick by his disgrace, and he was ripe for any desperate +adventure to retrieve his ruined fortunes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Countess Lamotte.</div> + +<p>There was, at the same time, at Versailles a very beautiful woman, the +Countess Lamotte. She traced her lineage to the kings of France, and, by +her vices, struggled to sustain a style <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>of ostentatious gentility. She +was consumed by an insatiable thirst for recognized rank and wealth, and +she had no conscience to interfere, in the slightest degree, with any +means which might lead to those results. Though somewhat notorious, as a +woman of pleasure, to the courtiers who flitted around the throne, the +queen had never seen her face, and had seldom heard even her name. +Versailles was too much thronged with such characters for any one to +attract any special attention.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's jewelry.<br />Bœhmer, the crown jeweler.<br />The diamond ear-rings.<br />Change in the queen's life.</div> + +<p>Maria Antoinette, in her earlier days, had been extremely fond of dress, +and particularly of rich jewelry. She brought with her from Vienna a +large number of pearls and diamonds. Upon her accession to the throne, +she received, of course, all the crown jewels. Louis XV. had also +presented her with all the jewels belonging to his daughter, the +dauphiness, who had recently died, and also with a very magnificent +collar of pearls, of a single row, the smallest of which was as large as +a filbert. The king, her husband, had, not long before, presented her +with a set of rubies and diamonds of a fine water, and with a pair of +bracelets which cost forty thousand dollars. Bœhmer, the crown +jeweler, had collected, at a great expense, six pear-formed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>diamonds, +of prodigious size. They were perfectly matched, and of the finest +water. They were arranged as ear-rings. He offered them to the queen for +eighty thousand dollars. The young and royal bride could not resist the +desire of adding them, costly as they were, to her casket of gems. She, +however, economically removed two of the diamonds which formed the tops +of the clusters, and replaced them by two of her own. The jeweler +consented to this arrangement, and received the reduced price of +seventy-two thousand dollars, to be paid in equal installments for five +years, from the private purse of the queen. Still the queen felt rather +uneasy in view of her unnecessary purchase. Murmurs of her extravagance +began to reach her ears. Satiated with gayety and weary of jewels, as a +child throws aside its play-things, Maria Antoinette lost all fondness +for her costly treasures, and began to seek novelty in the utmost +simplicity of attire, and in the most artless joys of rural life. Her +gorgeous dresses hung neglected in their wardrobes. Her gems, "of purest +ray serene," slept in the darkness of the unopened casket. The queen had +become a mother, and all those warm and noble affections which had been +diffused and wasted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>upon frivolities, were now concentrated with +intensest ardor upon her children. A new era had dawned upon Maria +Antoinette. Her soul, by nature exalted, was beginning to find objects +worthy of its energies. Rapidly she was groping her way from the gloom +of the most wretched of all lives—a life of pleasure and of +self-indulgence—to the true and ennobling happiness of benevolence and +self-sacrifice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The diamond necklace.</div> + +<p>Bœhmer, the jeweler, unaware of the great change which had taken +place in the character of the queen, resolved to form for her the most +magnificent necklace which was ever seen in Europe. He busied himself +for several years in collecting the most valuable diamonds circulating +in commerce, and thus composed a necklace of several rows, whose +attractions, he hoped, would be irresistible to the queen. In the +purchase of these brilliant gems, the jeweler had expended far more than +his own fortune. For many of them he owed large sums, and his only hope +of paying these debts was in effecting a sale to the queen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen inspects the necklace.<br />Answer of their majesties.</div> + +<p>Bœhmer requested Madame Campan to inform the queen what a beautiful +necklace he had arranged, hoping that she might express a desire to see +it. This, however, Madame Campan <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>declined doing, as she did not wish to +tempt the queen to incur the expense of three hundred and twenty +thousand dollars, the price of the glittering bawble. Bœhmer, after +endeavoring for some time in vain to get the gems exposed to the eye of +the queen, induced a courtier high in rank to show the superb necklace +to his majesty. The king, now loving the queen most tenderly, wished to +see her adorned with this unparalleled ornament, and sent the case to +the queen for her inspection. Maria Antoinette replied, that she had +already as many beautiful diamonds as she desired; that jewels were now +worn but seldom at court; that she could not think it right to encourage +so great an expense for such ornaments; and that the money they would +cost would be much better expended in building a man-of-war. The king +concurred in this prudent decision, and the diamonds were returned to +the jeweler from their majesties with this answer: "We have more need of +ships than of diamonds."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bœhmer's embarrassment.</div> + +<p>Bœhmer was in great trouble, and knew not what to do. He spent a year +in visiting the other courts of Europe, hoping to induce some of the +sovereigns to purchase his necklace, but in vain. Almost in despair, he +returned again <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>to Versailles, and proposed the king should take it, and +pay for it partly in instalments and partly in life annuities. The king +mentioned it again to the queen. She replied, that if his majesty wished +to purchase the necklace, and keep it for their daughter, he might do +so. But she declared that she herself should never be willing to wear +it, for she could not expose herself to those censures for extravagance +which she knew would be lavished upon her.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His interview with the queen.</div> + +<p>The jeweler complained loudly and bitterly of his misfortune. The +necklace having been exhibited all over Europe, his troubles were a +matter of general conversation. After several months of great perplexity +and anxiety, Bœhmer succeeded in gaining an audience of the queen. +Passionately throwing himself upon his knees before her, clasping his +hands and bursting into tears, he exclaimed,</p> + +<p>"Madame, I am disgraced and ruined if you do not purchase my necklace. I +can not outlive my misfortunes. When I go hence I shall throw myself +into the river."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's remarks.</div> + +<p>The queen, extremely displeased, said, "Rise, Bœhmer! I do not like +these rhapsodies; honest men have no occasion to fall upon their knees +to make known their requests. If you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>were to destroy yourself, I should +regret you as a madman in whom I had taken an interest, but I should not +be responsible for that misfortune. I not only never ordered the article +which causes your present despair, but, whenever you have talked to me +about fine collections of jewels, I have told you that I should not add +four diamonds to those I already possessed. I told you myself that I +declined taking the necklace. The king wished to give it to me; I +refused him in the same manner. Then never mention it to me again. +Divide it, and endeavor to sell it piecemeal, and do not drown yourself. +I am very angry with you for acting this scene of despair in my +presence, and before this child. Let me never see you behave thus again. +Go!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bœhmer's confusion.</div> + +<p>Bœhmer, overwhelmed with confusion, retired, and the queen, oppressed +with a multitude of gathering cares, for some months thought no more of +him or of his jewels. One day the queen was reposing listlessly upon her +couch, with Madame Campan and other ladies of honor about her, when, +suddenly addressing Madame Campan, she inquired,</p> + +<p>"Have you ever heard what poor Bœhmer did with his unfortunate +necklace?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard nothing of it since he left <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>you," was the reply, "though +I often meet him."</p> + +<p>"I should really like to know how the unfortunate man got extricated +from his embarrassments," rejoined the queen; "and, when you next see +him, I wish you would inquire, as if from your own interest in the +affair, without any allusion to me, how he disposed of the article."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Alleged disposal of the necklace.<br />Present to the king's son.<br />Bœhmer's note to the queen.</div> + +<p>In a few days Madame Campan met Bœhmer, and, in reply to her +interrogatories, he informed her that the sultan at Constantinople had +purchased it for the favorite sultana. The queen was highly gratified +with the good fortune of the jeweler, and yet thought it very strange +how the grand seignior should have purchased his diamonds at Paris. +Matters continued in this state for some time, until the baptism of the +Duke d'Angoulême, Maria Antoinette's infant son. The king made his +idolized boy a baptismal present of a diamond epaulette and buckles, +which he purchased of Bœhmer, and directed him to deliver to the +queen. As the jeweler presented them, he slipped into the queen's hand a +letter, in the form of a petition, containing the following expression:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>"I am happy to see your majesty in the possession of the +finest diamonds in Europe; and I entreat your majesty not to +forget me."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's perplexity.</div> + +<p>The queen read this strange note aloud, again and again exclaiming, +"What does the man mean? He must be insane!" She quietly lighted the +note at a wax taper which was standing near her, and burned it, +remarking that it was not worth keeping. Afterward, as she reflected +more upon the enigmatical nature of the communication, she deeply +regretted that she had not preserved the note. She pondered the matter +deeply and anxiously, and at last said to Madame Campan,</p> + +<p>"The next time you see that man, I wish that you would tell him that I +have lost all taste for diamonds; that I never shall buy another as long +as I live; and that, if I had any money to spare, I should expend it in +purchasing lands to enlarge the grounds at St. Cloud."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bœhmer's interview with Madame Campan.<br />The necklace again.</div> + +<p>A few days after this, Bœhmer called upon Madame Campan at her +country house, extremely uneasy at not having received any answer from +the queen, and anxiously inquired if Madame Campan had no commission to +him from her majesty. Madame Campan faithfully repeated to him all that +the queen had requested her to say.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p><p>"But," rejoined Bœhmer, "the answer to the letter I presented to her! +To whom must I apply for that?"</p> + +<p>"To no one," was the reply; "her majesty burned your memorial, without +even comprehending its meaning."</p> + +<p>"Ah, madame!" exclaimed the man, trembling with agitation, "that is +impossible; the queen knows that she has money to pay me."</p> + +<p>"Money, M. Bœhmer!" replied the lady, "your last accounts against the +queen were discharged long ago."</p> + +<p>"And are you not in the secret?" he rejoined. "The queen owes me three +hundred thousand dollars, and I am ruined by her neglect to pay me."</p> + +<p>"Three hundred thousand dollars!" exclaimed Madame Campan, in amazement; +"man, you have lost your senses! For what does she owe you that enormous +sum?"</p> + +<p>"For the necklace, madame," replied the jeweler, now pale and trembling +with the apprehension that he had been deceived.</p> + +<p>"The necklace again!" said Madame Campan. "How long is the queen to be +teased about that necklace? Did not you yourself tell me that you had +sold it at Constantinople?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">The Cardinal de Rohan.</div> + +<p>"The queen," added Bœhmer, "requested me to make that reply to all +who inquired upon the subject, for she was not willing to have it known +that she had made the purchase. She, however, had determined to have the +necklace, and sent the Cardinal de Rohan to me to take it in her name."</p> + +<p>"You are utterly deceived, Bœhmer," Madame Campan replied; "the queen +knows nothing about your necklace. She never speaks even to the Cardinal +de Rohan, and there is no man at court more strongly disliked by her."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Indications of a plot.</div> + +<p>"You may depend upon it, madame, that you are deceived yourself," +rejoined the jeweler. "She must hold private interviews with the +cardinal, for she gave to the cardinal six thousand dollars, which he +paid me on account, and which he assured me he saw her take from the +little porcelain secretary next the fire-place in her boudoir."</p> + +<p>"Did the cardinal himself assure you of this?" inquired Madame Campan.</p> + +<p>"Yes, madame," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"What a detestable plot! There is not one word of truth in it; and you +have been miserably deceived."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bœhmer's perplexity.</div> + +<p>"I confess," Bœhmer rejoined, now trembling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>in every joint, "that I +have felt very anxious about it for some time; for the cardinal assured +me that the queen would wear the necklace on Whitsunday. I was, however, +alarmed in seeing that she did not wear it, and that induced me to write +the letter to her majesty. But what <i>shall</i> I do?"</p> + +<p>"Go immediately to Versailles, and lay the whole matter before the king. +But you have been extremely culpable, as crown jeweler, in acting in a +matter of such great importance without direct orders from the king or +queen, or their accredited minister."</p> + +<p>"I have not acted," the unhappy man replied, "without direct orders. I +have now in my possession all the promissory notes, signed by the queen +herself; and I have been obliged to show those notes to several bankers, +my creditors, to induce them to extend the time of my payments."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The cardinal's embarrassment.</div> + +<p>Instead, however, of following Madame Campan's judicious advice, +Bœhmer, half delirious with solicitude, went directly to the +cardinal, and informed him of all that had transpired. The cardinal +appeared very much embarrassed, asked a few questions, and said but +little. He, however, wrote in his diary the following memorandum:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>"On this day, August 3, Bœhmer went to Madame Campan's country-house, +and she told him that the queen had never had his necklace, and that he +had been cheated."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Bœhmer's terror.<br />The queen's amazement.</div> + +<p>Bœhmer was almost frantic with terror, for the loss of the necklace +was his utter and irremediable ruin. Finding no relief in his interview +with the cardinal, he hastened to Little Trianon, and sent a message to +the queen that Madame Campan wished him to see her immediately. The +queen, who knew nothing of the occurrences we have just related, +exclaimed, "That man is surely mad. I have nothing to say to him, and I +will not see him." Madame Campan, however, immediately called upon the +queen, for she was very much alarmed by what she had heard, and related +to her the whole occurrence. The queen was exceedingly amazed and +perplexed, and feared that it was some deep-laid plot to involve her in +difficulties. She questioned Madame Campan very minutely in reference to +every particular of the interview, and insisted upon her repeating the +conversation over and over again. They then went immediately to the +king, and narrated to him the whole affair. He, aware of the many +efforts which had been made to traduce the character <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>of Maria +Antoinette, and to expose her to public contumely, was at once convinced +that it was a treacherous plot of the cardinal in revenge for his +neglect at court.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The cardinal before the king and queen.<br />His agitation.</div> + +<p>The king instantly sent a command for the cardinal to meet him and the +queen in the king's closet. He was, apparently, anticipating the +summons, for he, without delay, appeared before them in all the pomp of +his pontifical robes, but was nevertheless so embarrassed that he could +with difficulty articulate a sentence.</p> + +<p>"You have purchased diamonds of Bœhmer?" inquired the king.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sire," was the trembling reply.</p> + +<p>"What have you done with them?" the king added.</p> + +<p>"I thought," said the cardinal, "that they had been delivered to the +queen."</p> + +<p>"Who commissioned you to make this purchase?"</p> + +<p>"The Countess Lamotte," was the reply. "She handed me a letter from the +queen requesting me to obtain the necklace for her. I truly thought that +I was obeying her majesty's wishes, and doing her a favor, by taking +this business upon myself."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's indignation.</div> + +<p>"How could you imagine, sir," indignantly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>interrupted the queen, "that +I should have selected <i>you</i> for such a purpose, when I have not even +spoken to you for eight years? and how could you suppose that I should +have acted through the mediation of such a character as the Countess +Lamotte?"</p> + +<p>The cardinal was in the most violent agitation, and, apparently hardly +knowing what he said, replied, "I see plainly that I have been duped. I +will pay for the necklace myself. I suspected no trick in the affair, +and am extremely sorry that I have had any thing to do with it."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The forged letter.</div> + +<p>He then took a letter from his pocket directed to the Countess Lamotte, +and signed with the queen's name, requesting her to secure the purchase +of the necklace. The king and queen looked at the letter, and instantly +pronounced it a forgery. The king then took from his own pocket a letter +addressed to the jeweler Bœhmer, and, handing it to de Rohan, said,</p> + +<p>"Are you the author of that letter?"</p> + +<p>The cardinal turned pale, and, leaning upon his hand, appeared as though +he would fall to the floor.</p> + +<p>"I have no wish, cardinal," the king kindly replied, "to find you +guilty. Explain to me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>this enigma. Account for all those maneuvers with +Bœhmer. Where did you obtain these securities and these promissory +notes, signed in the queen's name, which have been given to Bœhmer?"</p> + +<p>The cardinal, trembling in every nerve, faintly replied, "Sire, I am too +much agitated now to answer your majesty. Give me a little time to +collect my thoughts."</p> + +<p>"Compose yourself, then, cardinal," the king added. "Go into my cabinet. +You will there find papers, pens, and ink. At your leisure, <i>write</i> what +you have to say to me."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The cardinal's confused statements.<br />He is arrested.</div> + +<p>In about half an hour the cardinal returned with a paper, covered with +erasures, and alterations, and blottings, as confused and unsatisfactory +as his verbal statements had been. An officer was then summoned into the +royal presence, and commanded to take the cardinal into custody and +conduct him to the Bastile. He was, however, permitted to visit his +home. The cardinal contrived, by the way, to scribble a line upon a +scrap of paper, and, catching the eye of a trusty servant, he, +unobserved, slipped it into his hand. It was a direction to the servant +to hasten to the palace, with the utmost possible speed, and commit to +the flames all of his private <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>papers. The king had also sent officers +to the cardinal's palace to seize his papers and seal them for +examination. By almost superhuman exertions, the cardinal's servant +first arrived at the palace, which was at the distance of several miles. +His horse dropped dead in the court-yard. The important documents, which +might, perhaps, have shed light upon this mysterious affair, were all +consumed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arrest of Madame Lamotte.<br />Great excitement.<br />The queen's anguish.</div> + +<p>The Countess Lamotte was also arrested, and held in close confinement to +await her trial. She had just commenced living in a style of +extraordinary splendor, and had vast sums at her disposal, acquired no +one knew how. It is difficult to imagine the excitement which this story +produced all over Europe. It was represented that the queen was found +engaged in a swindling transaction with a profligate woman to cheat the +crown jeweler out of gems of inestimable value, and that, being +detected, she was employing all the influence of the crown to shield her +own reputation by consigning the innocent cardinal to infamy. The +enemies of the queen, sustained by the ecclesiastics generally, rallied +around the cardinal. The king and queen, feeling that his acquittal +would be the virtual condemnation of Maria Antoinette, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>firmly +convinced of his guilt, exerted their utmost influence, in self-defense, +to bring him to punishment. Rumors and counter rumors floated through +Versailles, Paris, and all the courts of the Continent. The tale was +rehearsed in saloon and café with every conceivable addition and +exaggeration, and the queen hardly knew which way to turn from the +invectives which were so mercilessly showered upon her. Her lofty +spirit, conscious of rectitude, sustained her in public, and there she +nerved herself to appear with firmness and equanimity. But in the +retirement of her boudoir she was unable to repel the most melancholy +imaginings, and often wept with almost the anguish of a bursting heart. +The sunshine of her life had now disappeared. Each succeeding day grew +darker and darker with enveloping glooms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The cardinal's trial.</div> + +<p>The trial of the cardinal continued, with various interruptions, for +more than a year. Very powerful parties were formed for and against him. +All France was agitated by the protracted contest. The cardinal appeared +before his judges in mourning robes, but with all the pageantry of the +most imposing ecclesiastical costume. He was conducted into court with +much ceremony, and treated with the greatest deference. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>In the trying +moment in which he first appeared before his judges, his courage seemed +utterly to fail him. Pale and trembling with emotion, his knees bent +under him, and he had to cling to a support to prevent himself from +falling to the floor. Five or six voices immediately addressed him in +tones of sympathy, and the president said, "His eminence the cardinal is +at liberty to sit down, if he wishes it." The distinguished prisoner +immediately took his seat with the members of the court. Having soon +recovered in some degree his composure, he arose, and for half an hour +addressed his judges, with much feeling and dignity, repeating his +protestations of entire innocence in the whole affair.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The cardinal's acquittal.<br />Chagrin of the king and queen.</div> + +<p>At the close of this protracted trial, the cardinal was fully acquitted +of all guilt by a majority of three voices. The king and queen were +extremely chagrined at this result. During the trial, many insulting +insinuations were thrown out against the queen which could not easily be +repelled. A friend who called upon her immediately after the decision, +found her in her closet weeping bitterly. "Come," said Maria, "come and +weep for your queen, insulted and sacrificed by cabal and injustice." +The king <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>came in at the same moment, and said, "You find the queen much +afflicted; she has great reason to be so. They were determined through +out this affair to see only an ecclesiastical prince, a Prince de Rohan, +while he is, in fact, a needy fellow, and all this was but a scheme to +put money into his pockets. It is not necessary to be an Alexander to +cut this Gordian knot." The cardinal subsequently emigrated to Germany, +where he lived in comparative obscurity till 1803, when he died.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Trial of the Countess Lamotte.<br />Her cool effrontery.<br />The countess found guilty.<br />Barbarous sentence.</div> + +<p>The Countess Lamotte was brought to trial, but with a painfully +different result. Dressed in the richest and most costly robes, the +dissolute beauty appeared before her judges, and astonished them all by +her imperturbable self-possession, her talents, and her cool effrontery. +It was clearly proved that she had received the necklace; that she had +sold here and there the diamonds of which it was composed, and had thus +come into possession of large sums of money. She told all kinds of +stories, contradicting herself in a thousand ways, accusing now one and +again another as an accomplice, and unblushingly declaring that she had +no intention to tell the truth, for that neither she nor the cardinal +had uttered one single word before the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>court which had not been false. +She was found guilty, and the following horrible sentence was pronounced +against her: that she should be whipped upon the bare back in the +court-yard of the prison; that the letter V should be burned into the +flesh on each shoulder with a hot iron; and that she should be +imprisoned for life. The king and queen were as much displeased with the +terrible barbarity of the punishment of the countess as they were +chagrined at the acquittal of the cardinal. As the countess was a +descendant of the royal family, they felt that the ignominious character +of the punishment was intended as a stigma upon them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Brutal punishment of the countess.<br />Her unhappy end.</div> + +<p>As the countess was sitting one morning in the spacious room provided +for her in the prison, in a loose robe, conversing gayly with some +friends, and surrounded by all the appliances of wealth, an attendant +appeared to conduct her into the presence of the judges. Totally +unprepared for the awful doom impending over her, she rose with careless +alacrity and entered the court. The terrible sentence was pronounced. +Immediately terror, rage, and despair seized upon her, and a scene of +horror ensued which no pen can describe. Before the sentence was +finished, she threw herself upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>the floor, and uttered the most +piercing shrieks and screams. The tumult of agitation into which she was +thrown, dreadful as it was, relaxed not the stern rigor of the law. The +executioner immediately seized her, and dragged her, shrieking and +struggling in a delirium of phrensy, into the court-yard of the prison. +As her eye fell upon the instruments of her ignominious and brutal +punishment, she seized upon one of her executioners with her teeth, and +tore a mouthful of flesh from his arm. She was thrown upon the ground, +her garments, with relentless violence, were stripped from her back, and +the lash mercilessly cut its way into her quivering nerves, while her +awful screams pierced the damp, chill air of the morning. The hot irons +were brought, and simmered upon her recoiling flesh. The unhappy +creature was then carried, mangled and bleeding, and half dead with +torture, and terror, and madness, to the prison hospital. After nine +months of imprisonment she was permitted to escape. She fled to England, +and was found one morning dead upon the pavements of London, having been +thrown from a third story window in a midnight carousal.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Innocence of the queen.</div> + +<p>Such was the story of the Diamond Necklace. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>Though no one can now doubt +that Maria Antoinette was perfectly innocent in the whole affair, it, at +the time, furnished her enemies with weapons against her, which they +used with fatal efficiency. It was then represented that the Countess +Lamotte was an accomplice of the queen in the fraudulent acquisition of +the necklace, and that the Cardinal de Rohan was their deluded but +innocent victim. The horrible punishment of Madame Lamotte, who boasted +that royal blood circulated in her veins, was understood to be in +contempt of royalty, and as the expression of venomous feeling toward +the queen. Both Maria Antoinette and Louis felt it as such, and were +equally aggrieved by the acquittal of the cardinal and the barbarous +punishment of the countess.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Of de Rohan's criminality.</div> + +<p>Whether the cardinal was a victim or an accomplice is a question which +never has been, and now never can be, decided. The mystery in which the +affair is involved must remain a mystery until the secrets of all hearts +are revealed at the great day of judgment. If he was the guilty +instigator, and the poor countess but his tool and victim, how much has +he yet to be accountable for in the just retributions of eternity! There +were three suppositions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>adopted by the community in the attempt to +solve the mystery of this transaction:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The three suppositions.<br />Influence of the first.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. The first was, that the queen had really employed the +Countess Lamotte to obtain the necklace by deceiving the +cardinal. That it was a trick by which the queen and the +countess were to obtain the necklace, and, by selling it +piecemeal, to share the spoil, leaving the cardinal +responsible for the payment. This was the view the enemies +of Maria Antoinette, almost without exception, took of the +case; and the sentence of acquittal of the cardinal, and the +horrible condemnation of the countess, were intended to +sustain this view. This opinion, spread through Paris and +France, was very influential in rousing that animosity which +conducted Maria Antoinette to sufferings more poignant and +to a doom more awful than the Countess Lamotte could by any +possibility endure.</p> + +<p>2. The second supposition was, that the cardinal and the +countess forged the signature of the queen to defraud the +jeweler; that they thus obtained the rich prize of three +hundred and twenty thousand dollars, intending to divide the +spoil between them, and throw the obloquy of the transaction +upon the queen. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>king and queen were both fully +convinced that this was the true explanation of the fraud, +and they retained this belief undoubted until they died.</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">The third supposition.<br />Probably the true one.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>3. The third supposition, and that which now is almost +universally entertained, was, that the crafty woman Lamotte, +by forgery, and by means of an accomplice, who very much, in +figure, resembled Maria Antoinette, completely duped the +cardinal. His anxiety was such to be restored to the royal +favor, that he eagerly caught at the bait which the wily +countess presented to him. But, whoever may have been the +guilty ones, no one now doubts that Maria Antoinette was +entirely innocent. She, however, experienced all the +ignominy she could have encountered had she been involved in +the deepest guilt.</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter V.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Mob at Versailles.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1789</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A gathering storm.<br />Condition of the French people.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> year 1789 opened upon France lowering with darkness and portentous +storms. The events to which we have alluded in the preceding chapters, +and various others of a similar nature, conspired to foment troubles +between the French monarch and his subjects, which were steadily and +irresistibly increasing. The great mass of the people, ignorant, +degraded, and maddened by centuries of oppression, were rising, with +delirious energy, to batter down a corrupt church and a despotic throne, +and to overwhelm the guilty and the innocent alike in indiscriminate +ruin. The storm had been gathering for ages, but those who had been +mainly instrumental in raising it were now slumbering in their graves. +Mobs began to sweep the streets of Paris, phrensied with rum and rage, +and all law was set at defiance. The king, mild in temperament, and with +no force of character, was extremely averse to any measures of violence. +The queen, far more energetic, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>with the spirit of her heroic mother, +would have quelled these insurrections with the strong arm of military +power.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133-4]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i123.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="387" alt="View of the Bastile." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">View of the Bastile.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">Forces assembled at Versailles.<br />The populace rise upon the troops.</div> + +<p>The king at last was compelled, in order to protect the royal family +from insult, to encamp his army around his palaces; and long trains of +artillery and of cavalry incessantly traversed the streets of +Versailles, to prop the tottering monarchy. As Maria Antoinette, from +the windows, looked down upon these formidable bands, and saw the crowd +of generals and colonels who filled the saloons of the palace, her +fainting courage was revived. The sight of these soldiers, called to +quell the insurgent people, roused the Parisians to the intensest fury. +"To arms! to arms! the king's troops are coming to massacre us," +resounded through the streets of Paris in the gloom of night, in tones +which caused the heart of every peaceful citizen to quake with terror. +The infuriated populace hurled themselves upon the few troops who were +in Paris. Many of the soldiers of the king threw down their arms and +fraternized with the people. Others were withdrawn, by order of Louis, +to add to the forces which were surrounding his person at Versailles. +Paris was thus left at the mercy of the mob. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>arsenals were ransacked, the powder magazines were broken open, pikes +were forged, and in a day, as it were, all Paris was in arms. Thousands +of the noble and the wealthy fled in consternation from these scenes of +ever-accumulating peril, and bands of ferocious men and women, from all +the abodes of infamy, with the aspect and the energy of demons, ravaged +the streets.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Terror and confusion.<br />Attack on the Bastile.<br />The Bastile taken.<br />Awful tumult.</div> + +<p>When the morning of the 14th of March, 1789, dawned upon the city, a +scene of terror and confusion was witnessed which baffles all +description. In the heart of Paris there was a prison of terrible +celebrity, in whose dark dungeons many victims of oppression and crime +had perished. The Bastile, in its gloomy strength of rock and iron, was +the great instrument of terror with which the kings of France had, for +centuries, held all restless spirits in subjection. Now, the whole +population of Paris seemed to be rolling like an inundation toward this +apparently impregnable fortress, resolved to batter down its execrated +walls. "To the Bastile! to the Bastile!" was the cry which resounded +along the banks of the Seine, and through every street of the insurgent +metropolis; and men, women, and boys poured on and poured on, an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>interminable host, choking every avenue with the agitated mass, armed +with guns, knives, swords, pikes—dragging artillery bestrode by +amazons, and filling the air with the clamor of Pandemonium. A conflict, +fierce, short, bloody, ensued, and the exasperated multitude, many of +them bleeding and maddened by wounds, clambered over the walls and +rushed through the shattered gateways, and, with yells of triumph, +became masters of the Bastile. The heads of its defenders were stuck +upon poles upon the battlements, and the mob, intoxicated with the +discovery of their resistless power, were beginning to inquire in what +scenes of violence they should next engage. At midnight, couriers +arrived at Versailles, informing the king and queen of the terrible +insurrections triumphant in the capital, and that the royal troops every +where, instead of being enthusiastic for the defense of the king, +manifested the strongest disposition to fraternize with the populace. +The tumult in Paris that night was awful. The rumor had entered every +ear that the king was coming with forty thousand troops to take dreadful +vengeance in the indiscriminate massacre of the populace. It was a night +of sleeplessness and terror—the carnival of all the monsters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>of crime +who thronged that depraved metropolis. The streets were filled with +intoxication and blasphemy. No dwelling was secure from pillage. The +streets were barricaded; pavements torn up, and the roofs of houses +loaded with the stones.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Energy of the queen.<br />Resolution of the king.</div> + +<p>All the energies of the queen were aroused for a vigorous and heroic +resistance. She strove to inspire the king with firmness and courage. +He, however, thought only of concessions. He wished to win back the love +of his people by favors. He declared openly that never should one drop +of blood be shed at his command; and, with the heroism of endurance, +which he abundantly possessed, and to prove that he had been grossly +calumniated, he left Versailles in his carriage to go unprotected to +Paris, into the midst of the infuriated populace. Just as he was +entering his carriage on this dangerous expedition, he received +intelligence that a plot was formed to assassinate him on the way. This, +however, did not in the slightest degree shake his resolution. The agony +of the queen was irrepressible as she bade him adieu, never expecting to +see him again.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king visits Paris.<br />Strange cavalcade.</div> + +<p>The National Assembly, consisting of nearly twelve hundred persons, was +then in session at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>Versailles, the great majority of them sympathizing +with the populace, and yet were alarmed in view of the lawless violence +which their own acts had awakened, and which was every where desolating +the land. As, on the morning of the 17th of July, the king entered his +carriage with a slender retinue, and with no military protection, to +expose himself to the dangers of his tumultuous capital, this whole body +formed in procession on foot and followed him. A countless throng of +artisans and peasants flocked from all the streets of Versailles, and +poured in from the surrounding country, armed with scythes and +bludgeons, and joined the strange cavalcade. Every moment the multitude +increased, and the road, both before and behind the king, was so clogged +with the accumulating mass, that seven hours passed before the king +arrived at the gates of the city. During all this time he was exposed to +every conceivable insult. As Louis was conducted to the Hotel de Ville, +a hundred thousand armed men lined the way, and he passed along under +the arch of their sabers crossed over his head. The cup of degradation +he was compelled to drain to its dregs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Painful suspense of the queen.<br />Return of the king.</div> + +<p>While the king was absent from Versailles on this dreadful visit, +silence and the deepest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>gloom pervaded the palace. The queen, +apprehensive that the king would be either massacred or retained a +prisoner in Paris, was overwhelmed with the anguish of suspense. She +retired to her chamber, and, with continually gushing tears, prepared an +appeal to the National Assembly, commencing with these words: +"Gentlemen, I come to place in your hands the wife and family of your +sovereign. Do not suffer those who have been united in heaven to be put +asunder on earth." Late in the evening the king returned, to the +inexpressible joy of his household. But the narrative he gave of the +day's adventure plunged them all again into the most profound grief.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The banquet at Versailles.<br />Enthusiastic loyalty.</div> + +<p>The visit of the king had no influence in diminishing the horrors of the +scenes now hourly enacted in the French capital. His friends were openly +massacred in the streets, hung up at the lamp-posts, and roasted at slow +fires, while their dying agonies were but the subjects of derision. The +contagion of crime and cruelty spread to every other city in the empire. +The higher nobility and the more wealthy citizens began very generally +to abandon their homes, seeing no escape from these dangers but by +precipitate flight to foreign lands. Such was the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>state of affairs, +when the officers of some of the regiments assembled at Versailles for +the protection of the king had a public banquet in the saloon of the +opera. All the rank and elegance which had ventured yet to linger around +the court graced the feast with their presence in the surrounding boxes. +In the midst of their festivities, their chivalrous enthusiasm was +excited in behalf of the king and queen. They drank their health—they +vowed to defend them even unto death. Wine had given fervor to their +loyalty. The ladies showered upon them bouquets, waved their +handkerchiefs, and tossed to them white cockades, the emblem of Bourbon +power. And now the cry arose, loud, and long, and enthusiastic, for the +king and queen to come and show themselves to their defenders. The door +suddenly opened, and the king and queen appeared. Enthusiasm immediately +rose almost to phrensy. The hall resounded with acclamations, and the +king, entirely unmanned by these expressions of attachment, burst into +tears. The band struck up the pathetic air, "O Richard! O my king! the +world abandons you." There was no longer any bounds to the transport. +The officers and the ladies mingled together in a scene of indescribable +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote">News of the banquet.<br />Famine in Paris.<br />The mob marches to Versailles.<br />Heroic reply of the queen.</div> + +<p>The tidings of this banquet spread like wildfire through Paris, +magnified by the grossest exaggerations. It was universally believed +that the officers had contemptuously trampled the tri-colored cockade, +the adopted emblem of popular power, under their feet; that they had +sharpened their sabers, and sworn to exterminate the National Assembly +and the people of Paris. All business was at a stand. No laborer was +employed. The provisions in the city were nearly all consumed. No baker +dared to appear with his cart, or farmer to send in his corn, for +pillage was the order of the day. The exasperated and starving people +hung a few bakers before their own ovens, but that did not make bread +any more plenty. The populace of Paris were now starving, literally and +truly starving. A gaunt and haggard woman seized a drum and strode +through the streets, beating it violently, and mingling with its din her +shrieks of "Bread! bread!" A few boys follow her—then a score of female +furies—and then thousands of desperate men. The swelling inundation +rolls from street to street; the alarm bells are rung; all Paris +composes one mighty, resistless mob, motiveless, aimless, but ripe for +any deed of desperation. The cry goes from mouth to mouth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>"To +Versailles! to Versailles!" Why, no one knows, only that the king and +queen are there. Impetuously, as by a blind instinct, the monster mass +moves on. La Fayette, at the head of the National Guard, knows not what +to do, for all the troops under his command sympathize with the people, +and will obey no orders to resist them. He therefore merely follows on +with his thirty-five thousand troops to watch the issue of events. The +king and queen are warned of the approaching danger, and Louis entreats +Maria Antoinette to take the children in the carriages and flee to some +distant place of safety. Others join most earnestly in the entreaty. +"Nothing," replies the queen, "shall induce me, in such an extremity, to +be separated from my husband. I know that they seek my life. But I am +the daughter of Maria Theresa, and have learned not to fear death."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143-4]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i132.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="350" alt="Gardens at Versailles." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Gardens at Versailles.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">Violence of the mob.</div> + +<p>From the windows of their mansion the disorderly multitude were soon +descried, in a dense and apparently interminable mass, pouring along +through the broad avenues toward the palaces of Versailles. It was in +the evening twilight of a dark and rainy day. Like ocean tides, the +frantic mob rolled in from every direction. Their shouts and revels +swelled upon the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>night air. The rain began to fall in torrents. They broke into the +houses for shelter; insulted maids and matrons; tore down every thing +combustible for their watch fires; massacred a few of the body-guard of +the queen, and, with bacchanalian songs, roasted their horses for food. +And thus passed the hours of this long and dreary night, in hideous +outrages for which one can hardly find a parallel in the annals of New +Zealand cannibalism. The immense gardens of Versailles were filled with +a tumultuous ocean of half-frantic men and women, tossed to and fro in +the wildest and most reckless excitement.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen retires to rest.<br />Peril of the queen.</div> + +<p>Toward morning, the queen, worn out with excitement and sleeplessness, +having received from La Fayette the assurance that he had so posted the +guard that she need be in no apprehension of personal danger, had +retired to her chamber for rest. The king had also retired to his +apartment, which was connected with that of the queen by a hall, through +which they could mutually pass. Two faithful soldiers were stationed at +the door of the queen's chamber for her defense. Hardly had the queen +placed her head upon her pillow before she heard a dreadful clamor upon +the stairs—the discharge of fire-arms, the clashing of swords, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>and the +shouts of the mob rushing upon her door. The faithful guard, bleeding +beneath the blows of the assailants, had only time to cry to the queen, +"Fly! fly for your life!" when they were stricken down. The queen sprang +from her bed, rushed to the door leading to the king's apartments, when, +to her dismay, she found that it was locked, and that the key was upon +the other side. With the energy of despair, she knocked and called for +help. Fortunately, some one rushed to her rescue from the king's chamber +and opened the door. The queen had just time to slip through and again +turn the key, when the whole raging mob, with oaths and imprecations, +burst into the room, and pierced her bed through and through with their +sabers and bayonets. Happy would it have been for Maria if in that short +agony she might have died. But she was reserved by a mysterious +Providence for more prolonged tortures and for a more dreadful doom.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her narrow escape.<br />The mob in the palace.</div> + +<p>A few of the National Guard, faithful to the king, rallied around the +royal family, and La Fayette soon appeared, and was barely able to +protect the king and queen from massacre. He had no power to effectually +resist the tempest of human passion which was raging, but was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>swept +along by its violence. Nearly all of the interior of the palace was +ransacked and defiled by the mob. The bloody heads of the massacred +guards, stuck upon pikes, were raised up to the windows of the king, to +insult and to terrify the royal family with these hideous trophies of +the triumph of their foes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heroic conduct of the queen.<br />The queen appears on the balcony.<br />Her composure.</div> + +<p>At length the morning succeeding this dreadful night dawned lurid and +cheerless. It was the 8th of October, 1789. Dark clouds over-shadowed +the sky, showers of mist were driven through the air, and the branches +of the trees swayed to and fro before the driving storm. Pools of water +filled the streets, and a countless multitude of drunken vagabonds, in a +mass so dense as to be almost impervious, besieged the palace, having no +definite plan or desire, only furious with the thought that now was the +hour in which they could wreak vengeance upon aristocrats for ages of +oppression. Muskets were continually discharged by the more desperate, +and bullets passed through the windows of the palace. Maria Antoinette, +in these trying scenes, indeed appeared queenly. Her conduct was heroic +in the extreme. Her soul was nerved to the very highest acts of +fearlessness and magnanimity. Seeing the mob in the court-yard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>below +ready to tear in pieces some of her faithful guard whom they had +captured, regardless of the shots which were whistling by her, she +persisted in exposing herself at the open window to beg for their lives; +and when a friend, M. Luzerne, placed himself before her, that his body +might be her shield from the bullets, she gently, but firmly, with her +hand, pressed him away, saying, "The king can not afford to lose so +faithful a servant as you are."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen applauded.</div> + +<p>At length the crowd began vigorously to shout, "The queen! the queen!" +demanding that she should appear upon the balcony. She immediately came +forth, with her children at her side, that, as a mother, she might +appeal to their hearts. The sight moved the sympathies of the multitude; +and execrating, as they did, Maria Antoinette, whom they had long been +taught to hate, they could not have the heart, in cold blood, to +massacre these innocent children. Thousands of voices simultaneously +shouted, "Away with the children!" Maria, apparently without the tremor +of a nerve, led back her children, and again appearing upon the balcony +alone, folded her arms, and, raising her eyes to heaven, stood before +them, a self-devoted victim. The heroism of the act changed for a moment +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>hatred to admiration. Not a gun was fired; there was a moment of +silence, and then one spontaneous burst of applause rose apparently from +every lip, and shouts of "Vive la reine! vive la reine!" pierced the +skies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The royal family taken to Paris.<br />An army of vagabonds.</div> + +<p>And now the universal cry ascends, "To Paris! to Paris!" La Fayette, +with the deepest mortification, was compelled to inform the king that he +had no force at his disposal sufficient to enable him to resist the +demands of the mob. The king, seeing that he was entirely at the mercy +of his foes, who were acting without leaders and without plan, as the +caprice of each passing moment instigated, said, "You wish, my children, +that I should accompany you to Paris. I can not go but on condition that +I shall not be separated from my wife and family." To this proposal +there was a tumultuous assent. At one o'clock, the king and queen, with +their two children, entered the royal carriage to be escorted by the +triumphant mob as captives to Paris. Behind them, in a long train, +followed the carriages of the king's suite and servants. Then followed +twenty-five carriages filled with the members of the National Assembly. +After them came the thirty-five thousand troops of the National Guard; +and before, behind, and around <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>them all, a hideous concourse of +vagabonds, male and female, in uncounted thousands, armed with every +conceivable weapon, yelling, blaspheming, and crowding against the +carriages so that they surged to and fro like ships in a storm. This +motley multitude kept up an incessant discharge of fire-arms loaded with +bullets, and the balls often struck the ornaments of the carriages, and +the king and queen were often almost suffocated with the smoke of +powder.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151-1]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i139.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="291" alt="Mob at Versailles." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Mob at Versailles.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">The royal family grossly insulted.<br />The royal family in the Tuileries.</div> + +<p>The two body-guard, who had been massacred while so faithfully defending +the queen at the door of her chamber, were beheaded, and, their gory +heads affixed to pikes, were carried by the windows of the carriage, and +pressed upon the view of the wretched captives with every species of +insult and derision. La Fayette was powerless. He was borne along +resistlessly by this whirlwind of human passions. None were so +malignant, so ferocious, so merciless, as the degraded women who mingled +with the throng. They bestrode the cannon singing the most indecent and +insulting songs. "We shall now have bread," they exclaimed; "for we have +with us the baker, and the baker's wife, and the baker's boy." During +seven long hours of agony were the royal family exposed to these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>insults, before the unwieldy mass had urged its slow way to Paris. The +darkness of night was settling down around the city as the royal +captives were led into the Hotel de Ville. No one seemed then to know +what to do, or why the king and queen had been brought from Versailles. +The mayor of the city received them there with the external mockery of +respect and homage. He had them then conducted to the Tuileries, the +gorgeous city palace of the kings of France, now the prison of the royal +family. Soldiers were stationed at all the avenues to the palace, +ostensibly to preserve the royal family from danger, but, in reality, to +guard them from escape.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's self-sacrificing spirit.<br />Rioting and violence.<br />The dauphin's question.</div> + +<p>A moment before the queen entered her carriage for this march of +humiliation, she hastily retired to her private apartment, and, bursting +into tears, surrendered herself to the most uncontrollable emotion. Then +immediately, as if relieved and strengthened by this flood of tears, she +summoned all her energies, and appeared as she had ever appeared, the +invincible sovereign. Indeed, through all these dreadful scenes she +never seemed to have a thought for herself. It was for her husband and +her children alone that she wept and suffered. Through all the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>long +hours of the night succeeding this day of horror, Paris was one boiling +caldron of tumult and passion. Rioting and violence filled all its +streets, and the clamor of madness and inebriation drove sleep from +every pillow. The excitement of the day had been too terrible to allow +either the king or the queen to attempt repose. The two children, in +utter exhaustion, found a few hours of agitated slumber from the terror +with which they had so long been appalled. But in the morning, when the +dauphin awoke, being but six or eight years of age, hearing the report +of musketry and the turmoil still resounding in the streets, he threw +his arms around his mother's neck, and, as he clung trembling to her +bosom, exclaimed, "O mother! mother! is to-day yesterday again?" Soon +after, his father came into the room. The little prince, to whom sorrow +had given a maturity above his years, contemplated his father for a +moment with a pensive air, went up to him and said, "Dear father, why +are your people, who formerly loved you so well, now, all of a sudden so +angry with you? And what have you done to irritate them so much?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155-6]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i142.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="328" alt="Grand Avenue of the Tuileries." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Grand Avenue of the Tuileries.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">The king's explanation to his son.</div> + +<p>The king thus replied. "I wished, my dear child, to render the people +still happier than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>they were. I wanted money to pay the expenses occasioned by wars. I +asked the Parliament for money, as my predecessors have always done. +Magistrates composing the Parliament opposed it, and said that the +<i>people</i> alone had a right to consent to it. I assembled the principal +inhabitants of every town, whether distinguished by birth, fortune, or +talents, at Versailles. That is what is called the <i>States-General</i>. +When they were assembled, they required concessions of me which I could +not make, either with due respect for myself or with justice to you, who +will be my successor. Wicked men, inducing the people to rise, have +occasioned the excesses of the last few days. The <i>people</i> must not be +blamed for them."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Flight of the nobility.<br />Inflammatory placards.</div> + +<p>While these terrific scenes were passing in Paris and in France, the +majority of the nobility were rapidly emigrating to find refuge in other +lands. Every night the horizon was illumined by the conflagration of +their chateaux, burned down by mobs. Many of them were mercilessly +tortured to death. Large numbers, however, gathering around them such +treasures as could easily be carried away, escaped to Germany on the +frontiers of France. Some fifteen hundred of these emigrants were at +Coblentz, organizing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>themselves into a military band, seeking +assistance from the Austrian monarchy, and threatening, with an +overwhelming force of invasion, to recover their homes and their +confiscated estates, and to rescue the royal family. The populace in +Paris were continually agitated with the rumors of this gathering army +at Coblentz. As Maria was an Austrian, she was accused of being in +correspondence with the emigrants, and of striving to rouse the Austrian +monarchy to make war upon France, and to deluge Paris with the blood of +its citizens. Most inflammatory placards were posted in the streets. +Speeches full of rancor and falsehood were made to exasperate the +populace. And when the fish-women wished to cast upon the queen some +epithet of peculiar bitterness, they called her "The Austrian."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Duke of Orleans.<br />The Duke of Orlean's plans frustrated.<br />Rumors of an invasion.<br />The leaders of the populace.</div> + +<p>It is confidently asserted that the mob was instigated to the march to +Versailles by the emissaries of the Duke of Orleans, the father of Louis +Philippe. The duke hoped that the royal family, terrified by the +approach of the infuriated multitude, would enter their carriages and +flee to join the emigrants at Coblentz. The throne would then be vacant, +and the people would make the Duke of Orleans, who, to secure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>this +result, had become one of the most violent of the Democrats, their king. +It was a deeply-laid plot and a very plausible enterprise. But the king +understood the plan, and refused thus to be driven from the throne of +his fathers. He, however, entreated the queen to take the children and +escape. She resolutely declared that no peril should induce her to +forsake her husband, but that she would live or die by his side. During +all the horrors of that dreadful night, when the palace at Versailles +was sacked, the duke, in disguise, with his adherents, was endeavoring +to direct the fury of the storm for the accomplishment of this purpose. +But his plans were entirely frustrated. The caprice seized the mob to +carry the king to Paris. This the Duke of Orleans of all things dreaded; +but matters had now passed entirely beyond his control. Rumors of the +approaching invasion were filling the kingdom with alarm. There was a +large minority, consisting of the most intelligent and wealthy, who were +in favor of the king, and who would eagerly join an army coming for his +rescue. Should the king escape and head that army, it would give the +invaders a vast accession of moral strength, and the insurgent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>people +feared a dreadful vengeance. Consequently, there were great +apprehensions entertained that the king might escape. The leaders of the +populace were not yet prepared to plunge him into prison or to load him +with chains. In fact, they had no definite plan before them. He was +still their recognized king. They even pretended that he was not their +captive—that they had politely, affectionately invited him, escorted +him on a visit to his capital. They entreated the king and queen to show +that they had no desire to escape, but were contented and happy, by +entering into all the amusements of operas, and theaters, and balls. But +in the mean time they doubled the guards around them, and drove away +their faithful servants, to place others at their tables and in their +chambers who should be their spies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen urged to attend the theater.<br />Dignified reply of the queen.</div> + +<p>But two days after these horrid outrages, in the midst of which the king +and queen were dragged as captives to Paris, the city sent a deputation +to request the queen to appear at the theater, and thus to prove, by +participating in those gay festivities, that it was with pleasure that +she resided in her capital. With much dignity the queen replied, "I +should, with great pleasure, accede to the invitation of the people <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>of +Paris; but time must be allowed me to soften the recollection of the +distressing events which have recently occurred, and from which I have +suffered so severely. Having come to Paris preceded by the heads of my +faithful guards, who perished before the door of their sovereign, I can +not think that such an entry into the capital ought to be followed by +rejoicings. But the happiness I have always felt in appearing in the +midst of the inhabitants of Paris is not effaced from my memory; and I +hope to enjoy that happiness again, so soon as I shall find myself able +to do so."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her unpopularity increases.<br />The queen's vigorous action.<br />Ultimate cause of the popular fury.<br />Transgressors visited in their children.</div> + +<p>The queen was, however, increasingly the object of especial obloquy. She +was accused of urging the king to bombard the city, and to adopt other +most vigorous measures of resistance. It was affirmed that she held +continual correspondence with the emigrants at Coblentz, and was doing +all in her power to rouse Austria to come to the rescue of the king. +Maria would have been less than the noble woman she was if she had not +done all this, and more, for the protection of her husband, her child, +and herself. She inherited her mother's superiority of mind and mental +energy. Had Louis possessed her spirit, he might have perished more +heroically, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>but probably none the less surely. Maria did, +unquestionably, do every thing in her power to rouse her husband to a +more energetic and manly defense. Generations of kings, by +licentiousness, luxury, and oppression; by total disregard of the rights +of the people, and by the naughty contempt of their sufferings and +complaints, had kindled flames of implacable hatred against all kingly +power. Circumstances, over which neither Louis nor Maria had any +control, caused these flames to burst out with resistless fury around +the throne of France, at the time in which they happened to be seated +upon it. Though there never had been seated upon that throne more +upright, benevolent, and conscientious monarchs, they were compelled to +drain to the dregs the poisoned chalice which their ancestors had +mingled. Perhaps this world presents no more affecting illustration of +that mysterious principle of the divine government, by which the +transgressions of the parents are visited upon the children. Louis XIV., +as haughty and oppressive a monarch as ever trod an enslaved people into +the dust, died peacefully in his luxurious bed. His descendant, Louis +XVI., as mild and benignant a sovereign as ever sat upon an earthly +throne, received <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>upon his unresisting brow the doom from which his +unprincipled ancestors had escaped. It is difficult for us, in the +sympathy which is excited for the comparatively innocent Maria +Antoinette and Louis, to remember the ages of wrong and outrage by which +the popular exasperation had been raised to wreak itself in +indiscriminating atrocities. There is but one solution to these +mysteries: "After death comes the judgment."</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VI.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Palace a Prison.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1789-1791</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Condition of the royal family.<br />Ignominiously insulted.<br />The royal family surrounded by spies.<br /> +The queen refuses to escape.<br />Excuse for the emigrants.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> king and queen now found themselves in the gorgeous apartments of +the Tuileries, surrounded with all the mockery of external homage, but +incessantly exposed to the most ignominious insults, and guarded with +sleepless vigilance from the possibility of escape. The name of the +queen was the watchword of popular execration and rage. In the pride of +her lofty spirit, she spurned all apologies, explanations, or attempts +at conciliation. Inclosing herself in the recesses of her palace, she +heard with terror and resentment, but with an unyielding soul, the daily +acts of violence perpetrated against royalty and all of its friends. All +her trusty servants were removed, and spies in their stead occupied her +parlors and her chambers. Trembling far more for her husband and her +children than for herself, every noise in the streets aroused her +apprehensions of a new insurrection. And thus, for nearly two years of +melancholy days and sorrowful nights, the very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>nobleness of her nature, +glowing with heroic love, magnified her anguish. The terror of the times +had driven nearly all the nobility from the realm. The court was +forsaken, or attended only by the detested few who were forced as +ministers upon the royal family by the implacable populace. Every word +and every action of Maria Antoinette were watched, and reported by the +spies who surrounded her in the guise of servants. To obtain a private +interview with any of her few remaining friends, or even with her +husband, it was necessary to avail herself of private stair-cases, and +dark corridors, and the disguise of night. The queen regretted extremely +that the nobles, and others friendly to royalty, should, in these hours +of gathering danger, have fled from France. When urged to fly herself +from the dangers darkening around her, she resolutely refused, declaring +that she would never leave her husband and children, but that she would +live or die with them. The queen, convinced of the impolicy of +emigration, did every thing in her power to induce the emigrants to +return. Urgent letters were sent to them, to one of which the queen +added the following postscript with her own hand: "If you love your +king, your religion, your government, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>and your country, return! return! +return! Maria Antoinette." The emigrants were severely censured by many +for abandoning their king and country in such a crisis. But when all law +was overthrown, and the raging mob swayed hither and thither at its +will, and nobles were murdered on the high way or hung at lamp-posts in +the street, and each night the horizon was illumined by the +conflagration of their chateaux, a husband and father can hardly be +severely censured for endeavoring to escape with his wife and children +from such scenes of horror.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their plans.</div> + +<p>A year of gloom now slowly passed away, almost every moment of which was +embittered by disappointed hopes and gathering fears. The emigrants, who +were assembled at Coblentz, on the frontiers of Germany, were organizing +an army for the invasion of France and the restoration of the regal +power. The people were very fearful that the king and queen might +escape, and, joining the emigrants, add immeasurably to their moral +strength. There were thousands in France, overawed by the terrors of the +mob, who would most eagerly have rallied around the banners of such an +invading army, headed by their own king. Louis, however, with his +characteristic want of energy, was very unwilling to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>assume a hostile +attitude toward his subjects, and still vainly hoped, by concessions and +by the exhibition of a forgiving spirit, to reconcile his disaffected +people.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Profligate women.<br />Their talk with the queen.</div> + +<p>On the morning after the arrival of the king and queen at the Tuileries, +an occurrence took place highly characteristic of the times. A crowd of +profligate women, the same who bestrode the cannon the day before, +insulting the queen with the most abusive language, collected under the +queen's windows, upon the terrace of the palace. Maria, hearing their +outcries, came to the window. A furious termagant addressed her, telling +her that she must dismiss all such courtiers as ruin kings, and that she +must love the inhabitants of her good city. The queen replied,</p> + +<p>"I have loved them at Versailles, and will also love them at Paris."</p> + +<p>"Yes! yes!" answered another. "But you wanted to besiege the city and +have it bombarded. And you wanted to fly to the frontiers and join the +emigrants."</p> + +<p>The queen mildly replied, "You have been told so, my friends, and have +believed it, and that is the cause of the unhappiness of the people and +of the best of kings."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p><p>Another addressed her in German, to which the queen answered, "I do not +understand you. I have become so entirely French as even to have +forgotten my mother tongue."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bravos of the women.</div> + +<p>At this they all clapped their hands, and shouted, "Bravo! bravo!" They +then asked for the ribbons and flowers out of her hat. Her majesty +unfastened them herself, and then tossed them out of the window to the +women. They were received with great eagerness, and divided among the +party; and for half an hour they kept up the incessant shout, "Maria +Antoinette forever! Our good queen forever!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plan for the queen's escape.</div> + +<p>In the course of a few weeks some of the devoted friends of the queen +had matured a plan by which <i>her</i> escape could be, without difficulty, +effected. The queen, whose penetrating mind fully comprehended the peril +of her situation, replied, while expressing the deepest gratitude to her +friends for their kindness, "I will never leave either the king or my +children. If I thought that I alone were obnoxious to public hatred, I +would instantly offer my life as a sacrifice. But it is the throne which +is aimed at. In abandoning the king, no other advantage can be obtained +than merely saving my life; and I will never be guilty of such an act of +cowardice."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Letter from the queen.</div> + +<p>The following letter, which she wrote at this time to a friend, in reply +to a letter of sympathy in reference to the outrage which had torn her +from Versailles, will enable one to form a judgment of her situation and +state of mind at that time. "I shed tears of affection on reading your +sympathizing letter. You talk of my courage; it required much less to go +through the dreadful crisis of that day than is now daily necessary to +endure our situation, our own griefs, those of our friends, and those of +the persons who surround us. This is a heavy weight to sustain; and but +for the strong ties by which my heart is bound to my husband, my +children, and my friends, I should wish to sink under it. But you bear +me up. I ought to sacrifice such feelings to your friendship. But it is +I who bring misfortune on you all, and all your troubles are on my +account."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her employments.<br />The king's unwillingness to flee.</div> + +<p>The queen now lived for some time in much retirement. She employed the +mornings in superintending the education of her son and daughter, both +of whom received all their lessons in her presence, and she endeavored +to occupy her mind, continually agitated as it was by ever-recurring +scenes of outrage and of danger, by working large pieces of tapestry. +She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>could not sufficiently recall her thoughts from the anxieties which +continually engrossed them to engage in reading. The king was extremely +unwilling to seek protection in flight, lest the throne should be +declared vacant, and he should thus lose his crown. He was ever hoping +that affairs would soon take such a turn that harmony would be restored +to his distracted kingdom. Maria Antoinette, however, who had a much +more clear discernment of the true state of affairs, soon felt convinced +that reconciliation, unless effected by the arm of power, was hopeless, +and she exerted all her influence to rouse the king to vigorous measures +for escape. While firmly resolved never to abandon her husband and her +family to save her own life, she still became very anxious that all +should endeavor to escape together.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Execution of the Marquis of Favras.<br />Imprudence of some of the queen's friends.<br />Her embarrassment.</div> + +<p>About this time the Marquis of Favras was accused of having formed a +plan for the rescue of the royal family. He was very hastily tried, the +mob surrounding the tribunal and threatening the judges with instant +death unless they should condemn him. He was sentenced to be hung, and +was executed, surrounded by the insults and execrations of the populace +of Paris. The marquis left a wife and a little boy overwhelmed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>with +grief and in hopeless poverty. On the following Sunday morning, some +extremely injudicious friends of the queen, moved with sympathy for the +desolated family, without consulting the queen upon the subject, +presented the widow and the orphan in deepest mourning at court. The +husband and father had fallen a sacrifice to his love for the queen and +her family. The queen was extremely embarrassed. What course could she +with safety pursue? If she should yield to the dictates of her own +heart, and give expression to her emotions of sympathy and gratitude, +she would rouse to still greater fury the indignation of the populace +who were accusing her of the desire to escape, and who considered this +desire as one of the greatest of crimes. Should she, on the other hand, +surrender herself to the dictates of prudence, and neglect openly to +manifest any special interest in their behalf, how severely must she be +censured by the Loyalists for her ingratitude toward those who had been +irretrievably ruined through their love for her.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen weeps.<br />Present to Madame Favras.</div> + +<p>The queen was extremely pained by this unexpected and impolitic +presentation; for the fate of others, far dearer to her than her own +life, were involved in her conduct. She withdrew <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>from the painful scene +to her private apartment, threw herself into a chair, and, weeping +bitterly, said to an intimate friend, "We must perish! We are assailed +by men who possess extraordinary talent, and who shrink from no crime. +We are defended by those who have the kindest intentions, but who have +no adequate idea of our situation. They have exposed me to the animosity +of both parties by presenting to me the widow and the son of the Marquis +of Favras. Were I free to act as my heart impels me, I should take the +child of the man who has so nobly sacrificed himself for us, and adopt +him as my own, and place him at the table between the king and myself. +But, surrounded by the assassins who have destroyed his father, I did +not dare even to cast my eyes upon him. The Royalists will blame me for +not having appeared interested in this poor child. The Revolutionists +will be enraged at the idea that his presentation should have been +thought agreeable to me." The next day the queen sent, by a confidential +friend, a purse of gold to Madame Favras, and assured her that she would +ever watch, with the deepest interest, over her fortune and that of her +son.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king continues inactive.<br />Plan of Count d'Inisdal.<br />Indecision of the king.<br /> +The queen's disappointment.<br />Displeasure of Count d'Inisdal.</div> + +<p>Innumerable plans were now formed for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>rescue of the royal family, +and abandoned. The king could not be roused to energetic action. His +passive courage was indomitable, but he could not be induced to act on +the offensive, and, still hoping that by a spirit of conciliation he +might win back the affections of his people, he was extremely reluctant +to take any measures by which he should be arrayed in hostility against +them. Maria, on the contrary, knew that decisive action alone could be +of any avail. One night, about ten o'clock, the king and queen were +sitting in their private apartment of the Tuileries, endeavoring to +beguile the melancholy hours by a game of cards. The sister of the king, +Madame Elizabeth, with a very pensive countenance, was kneeling upon a +stool, by the side of the table, overlooking the game. A nobleman, Count +d'Inisdal, devotedly attached to the fortunes of the royal family, +entered, and, in a low tone of voice, informed the king and queen that a +plan was already matured to rescue them that very night; that a section +of the National Guard was gained over, that sets of fleet horses were +placed in relays at suitable distances, that carriages were ready, and +that now they only wanted the king's consent, and the scheme, at +midnight, would be carried into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>execution. The king listened to every +word without the movement of a muscle of his countenance, and, fixing +his eyes upon the cards in his hand, as if paying no attention to what +had been said, uttered not a syllable. For some time there was perfect +silence. At last Maria Antoinette, who was extremely anxious that the +king should avail himself of this opportunity for escape, broke the +embarrassing silence by saying, "Do you hear, sir, what is said to us?" +"Yes," replied the king, calmly, "I hear," and he continued his game. +Again there was a long silence. The queen, extremely anxious and +impatient, for the hour of midnight was drawing near, again interrupted +the silence by saying earnestly, "But, sir, some reply must be made to +this communication." The king paused for a moment, and then, still +looking upon the cards in his hand, said, "<i>The king can not consent to +be carried off.</i>" Maria Antoinette was greatly disappointed at the want +of decision and of magnanimity implied in this answer. She, however, +said to the nobleman very eagerly, "Be careful and report this answer +correctly, the king can not <i>consent</i> to be carried off." The king's +answer was doubtless intended as a tacit consent while he wished to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>avoid the responsibility of participating in the design. The count, +however, was greatly displeased at this answer, and said to his +associates, "I understand it perfectly. He is willing that we should +seize and carry him, as if by violence, but wishes, in case of failure, +to throw all the blame upon those who are periling their lives to save +him." The queen hoped earnestly that the enterprise would not be +abandoned, and sat up till after midnight preparing her cases of +valuables, and anxiously watching for the coming of their deliverers. +But the hours lingered away, and the morning dawned, and the palace was +still their prison. The queen, shortly after, remarking upon this +indecision of the king, said, "We <i>must</i> seek safety in flight. Our +peril increases every day. No one can tell to what extremities these +disturbances will lead."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An alarm.</div> + +<p>La Fayette had informed the king, that, should he see any alarming +movement among the disaffected, threatening the exposure of the royal +family to new acts of violence, he would give them an intimation of +their danger by the discharge of a few cannon from the battery upon the +Pont Neuf. One night the report of guns from some casual discharge was +heard, and the king, regarding it as the warning, in great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>alarm flew +to the apartments of the queen. She was not there. He passed hastily +from room to room, and at last found her in the chamber of the dauphin, +with her two children in her arms. "Madame," said the king to her, "I +have been seeking you. I was very anxious about you." "You find me," +replied the queen pointing to her children, "at my station."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Attempts to assassinate the queen.<br />Removal to St. Cloud.<br />Another plan for flight.<br />It is abandoned.</div> + +<p>Several unavailing attempts were made at this time to assassinate the +queen. These discoveries, however, seemed to cause Maria no alarm, and +she could not be induced to adopt any precautions for her personal +safety. Rarely did a day pass in which she did not encounter, in some +form, ignominy or insult. As the heat of summer came on, the royal +family removed to the palace of St. Cloud without any opposition, though +the National Guard followed them, professedly for their protection, but, +in reality, to guard against their escape. Here another plan was formed +for flight. The different members of the royal family, in disguise, were +to meet in a wood four leagues from St. Cloud. Some friends of the royal +family, who could be perfectly relied upon, were there to join them. A +large carriage was to be in attendance, sufficient to conduct the whole +family. The attendants <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>at the palace would have no suspicion of their +escape until nine o'clock in the evening, as the royal carriages were +frequently out until that hour, and it would then take some time to send +to Paris to call together the National Assembly at midnight, and to send +couriers to overtake the fugitives. Thus, with fleet horses and fresh +relays, and having six or seven hours the start, the king and queen +might hope to escape apprehension. The queen very highly approved of +this plan, and was very anxious to have it carried into execution. But +for some unknown reason, the attempt was relinquished.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Exhibitions of attachment.<br />Emotions of the queen.</div> + +<p>There were occasional exhibitions of strong individual attachment for +the king and queen which would, for a moment, create the illusion that a +reaction had commenced in the public mind. One day the queen was sitting +in her apartment at St. Cloud, in the deepest dejection of spirits, +mechanically working upon some tapestry to occupy the joyless and +lingering hours. It was four o'clock in the afternoon. The palace was +deserted and silent. The very earth and sky seemed mourning in sympathy +with the mourning queen. Suddenly, an unusual noise, as of many persons +conversing in an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>under tone, was heard beneath the window. The queen +immediately rose and went to the window; for every unaccustomed sound +was, in such perilous times, an occasion of alarm. Below the balcony, +she saw a group of some fifty persons, men and women, from the country, +apparently anxious to catch a glimpse of her. They were evidently humble +people, dressed in the costume of peasants. As soon as they saw the +queen, they gave utterance to the most passionate expressions of +attachment and devotion. The queen, who had long been accustomed only to +looks and words of defiance and insult, was entirely overpowered by +these kind words, and could not refrain from bursting into tears. The +sight of the weeping queen redoubled the affectionate emotions of the +loyal group, and, with the utmost enthusiasm, they reiterated their +assurances of love and their prayers for her safety. A lady of the +queen's household, apprehensive that the scene might arrest the +attention of the numerous spies who surrounded them, led her from the +window. The affectionate group, appreciating the prudence of the +measure, with tears of sympathy expressed their assent, and with +prayers, tears, and benedictions retired. Maria was deeply touched by +these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>unwonted tones of kindness, and, throwing herself into her chair, +sobbed with uncontrollable emotion. It was long before she could regain +her accustomed composure.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The assassin in the garden.</div> + +<p>Many unsuccessful attempts were made at this time to assassinate the +queen. A wretch by the name of Rotondo succeeded one day in scaling the +walls of the garden, and hid himself in the shrubbery, intending to stab +the queen as she passed in her usual solitary promenade. A shower +prevented the queen from going into the garden, and thus her life was +saved. And yet, though the assassin was discovered and arrested, the +hostility of the public toward the royal family was such that he was +shielded from punishment.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Midnight interviews.<br />Deliberations of the king's friends.</div> + +<p>The king and queen occasionally held private interviews at midnight, +with chosen friends, secretly introduced to the palace, in the apartment +of the queen. And there, in low tones of voice, and fearful of detection +by the numerous spies which infested the palace, they would deliberate +upon their peril, and upon the innumerable plans suggested for their +extrication. Some recommended the resort to violence; that the king +should gather around him as many of his faithful subjects as possible, +and settle the difficulties <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>by an immediate appeal to arms. Others +urged further compromise, and the spirit of conciliation, hoping that +the king might thus regain his lost popularity, and re-establish his +tottering throne. Others urged, and Maria coincided most cordially in +this opinion, that it was necessary for the royal family to escape from +Paris immediately, which was the focus of disaffection, and at a safe +distance, surrounded by their armed friends, to treat with their enemies +and to compel them to reasonable terms. The indecision of the king, +however, appeared to be an insuperable obstacle in the way of any +decisive action.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Taunting gift.</div> + +<p>One day a delegation appeared before the royal family from the +<i>conquerors of the Bastile</i>, with a new year's gift for the young +dauphin. The present consisted of a box of dominoes curiously wrought +from the stone of which that celebrated state prison was built. It was +an ingenious plan to insult the royal family under the pretense of +respect and affection, for on the lid of the box there was engraved the +following sentiment: "<i>These stones, from the walls which inclosed the +innocent victims of arbitrary power, have been converted into a toy, to +be presented to you, monseigneur, as an homage of</i> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span><i>the people's love, +and to teach you the extent of their power.</i>"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king's aunts leave France.<br />They are arrested.<br />Exciting debate.<br />The ladies permitted to depart.</div> + +<p>About this time, the two aunts of the king left France, ostensibly for +the purpose of travelling, but, in reality, as an experiment, to see +what opposition would be made to prevent members of the royal family +from leaving the kingdom. As soon as their intention was known, it +excited the greatest popular ferment. A vast crowd of men and women +assembled at the palace, to prevent, if possible, with lawless violence, +their departure. It was merely two elderly ladies who wished to leave +France, but the excitement pervaded even the army, and many of the +soldiers joined the mob in the determination that they should not be +permitted to depart. The traces of the carriages were cut, and the +officers, who tried to protect the princesses, were nearly murdered. The +whole nation was agitated by the attempts of these two peaceful ladies +to visit Rome. When at some distance from Paris, they were arrested, and +the report of their arrest was sent to the National Assembly. The king +found the excitement so great, that he wrote a letter to the Assembly, +informing them that his aunts wished to leave France to visit other +countries, and that, though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>he witnessed their separation from him and +his family with much regret, he did not feel that he had any right to +deprive them of the privilege which the humblest citizens enjoyed, of +going whenever and wherever they pleased. The question of their +detention was for a long time debated in the Assembly. "What right," +said one, "have we to prohibit these ladies from traveling." "We have a +law," another indignantly replied, "paramount to all others—the law +which commands us to take care of the public safety." The debate was +finally terminated by the caustic remark of a member who was ashamed of +the protracted discussion. "Europe," said he, "will be greatly +astonished, no doubt, on hearing that the National Assembly spent four +hours in deliberating upon the departure of two ladies who preferred +hearing mass at Rome rather than at Paris." The debate was thus +terminated, and the ladies were permitted to depart.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183-4]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i169.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="297" alt="Palace of St. Cloud." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Palace of St. Cloud.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">The royal family start for St. Cloud.<br />They are compelled to return.</div> + +<p>Early in the spring of 1791, the king and queen, who had been passing +some time in Paris at the Tuileries, wished to return to their country +seat at St. Cloud. Many members of the household had already gone there, +and dinner was prepared for the royal family at the palace <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>for their reception. The carriages were at the door, and, as the king +and queen were descending, a great tumult in the yard arrested their +attention. They found that the guard, fearful that they might escape, +had mutinied, and closed the door of the palace, declaring that they +would not let them pass. Some of the personal friends of the king +interposed in favor of the insulted captives, and endeavored to secure +for them more respectful treatment. They were, however, seized by the +infuriated soldiers, and narrowly escaped with their lives. The king and +queen returned in humiliation to their apartments, feeling that their +palace was indeed a prison. They, however, secretly did not regret the +occurrence, as it made more public the indignities to which they were +exposed, and would aid in justifying before the community any attempts +they might hereafter make to escape.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Preparations for flight.<br />Imprudence of the king and queen.<br />Garments for the children.</div> + +<p>The king had at length become thoroughly aroused to a sense of the +desperate position of his affairs. But the royal family was watched so +narrowly that it was now extremely difficult to make any preparations +for departure; and the king and queen, both having been brought up +surrounded by the luxuries and restraints of a palace, knew so little of +the world, and yet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>were so accustomed to have their own way, that they +were entirely incapable of forming any judicious plan for themselves, +and, at the same time, they were quite unwilling to adopt the views of +their more intelligent friends. They began, however, notwithstanding the +most earnest remonstrances, to make preparations for flight by providing +themselves with every conceivable comfort for their exile. In vain did +their friends assure them that they could purchase any thing they +desired in any part of Europe; that such quantities of luggage would be +only an encumbrance; that it was dangerous, under the eyes of their +vigilant enemies, to be making such extensive preparations. Neither the +king nor queen would heed such monitions. The queen persisted in her +resolution to send to Brussels, piece by piece, all the articles of a +complete and extensive wardrobe for herself and her children, to be +ready for them there upon their arrival. Madame Campan, the intimate +friend and companion of the queen, was extremely uneasy in view of this +imprudence; but, as she could not dissuade the queen, she went out again +and again, in the evening and in disguise, to purchase the necessary +articles and have them made up. She adopted the precaution of purchasing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>but few articles at any one shop, and of employing various +seamstresses, lest suspicion should be excited. She had the garments +made for the daughter of the queen, cut by the measure of another young +lady who exactly resembled her in size. Gradually they thus filled one +large trunk with clothing, which was sent to the dwelling of a lady, one +of the friends of the queen, who was to convey it to Brussels.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's dressing-case.<br />The queen's diamonds and jewels.<br />The faithful Leonard.</div> + +<p>The queen had a very magnificent dressing-case, which cost twelve +hundred dollars. This she also determined that she could not leave +behind. It could not be taken from the palace, and sent away out of the +country, without attracting attention, and leading at once to the +conviction that the queen was to follow it. The queen, in her innocent +simplicity of mankind, thought that the people could be blinded like +children, by telling them that she intended to send it as a present to +the Archduchess Christina. However, by the most earnest remonstrances of +her friends, she was induced only so far to change her plan as to +consent that the <i>chargé d'affaires</i> from Vienna should ask her at her +toilet, and in the presence of all around her, to have just such a +dressing-case made for the archduchess. This plan was carried into +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>execution, and the dressing-case was thus publicly made; but, as it +could not be finished in season, the queen sent her own dressing-case, +saying that she would keep the new one herself. It, however, did not +deceive the spies who surrounded the queen. They noticed all these +preparations, and communicated them to the authorities. She also very +deliberately collected all her diamonds and jewels in her private +boudoir, and beguiled the anxious hours in inclosing them in cotton and +packing them away. These diamonds, carefully boxed, were placed in the +hands of the queen's hair-dresser, a man in whom she could confide, to +be carried by him to Brussels. He faithfully fulfilled his trust. But +one of the women of the queen, whom she did not suspect of treachery, +but who was a spy of the Assembly, entered her boudoir by false keys +when the queen was absent, and reported all these proceedings. The +hair-dresser perished upon the scaffold for his fidelity. Let the name +of Leonard be honored. The infamous informer has gone to oblivion, and +we will not aid even to embalm her name in contempt.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VII.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Flight.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1791</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Increasing excitement.<br />Inflammatory speech of Marat.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> ferment in the National Assembly was steadily and strongly +increasing. Every day brought new rumors of the preparation of the +emigrants to invade France, aided by the armies of monarchical Europe, +and to desolate the rebellious empire with fire and sword. Tidings were +floating upon every breeze, grossly exaggerated, of the designs of the +king and queen to escape, to join the avenging army, and to wreak a +terrible vengeance upon their country. Furious speeches were made in the +Assembly and in the streets, to rouse to madness the people, now +destitute of work and of bread. "Citizens," ferociously exclaimed Marat, +"watch, with an eagle eye, that palace, the impenetrable den where plots +are ripening against the people. There a perfidious queen lords it over +a treacherous king, and rears the cubs of tyranny. Lawless priests there +consecrate the arms which are to be bathed in the blood of the people. +The genius of Austria is there, guided by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>the Austrian Antoinette. The +emigrants are there stimulated in their thirst for vengeance. Every +night the nobility, with concealed daggers, steal into this den. They +are knights of the poniard—assassins of the people. Why is not the +property of emigrants confiscated—their houses burned—a price set upon +their heads? The king is ready for flight. Watch! watch! a great blow is +preparing—is ready to burst; if you do not prevent it by a counter blow +more sudden, more terrible, the people and liberty are annihilated."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king and queen resolve to fly.<br />Effort's of the king's brother.<br />Exasperation of the people.</div> + +<p>The king and queen, in the apartments where they were virtually +imprisoned, read these angry and inflammatory appeals, and both now felt +that no further time was to be lost in attempting to effect their +escape. It was known that the brother of the king, subsequently Charles +X., was going from court to court in Europe, soliciting aid for the +rescue of the illustrious prisoners. It was known that the King of +Austria, brother of Maria Antoinette, had promised to send an army of +thirty-five thousand men to unite with the emigrants at Coblentz in +their march upon Paris. Every monarch in Europe was alarmed, in view of +the instability of his own throne, should the rebellion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>of the people +against the throne in France prove triumphant; and Spain, Prussia, +Sardinia, Naples, and Switzerland had guaranteed equal forces to assist +in the re-establishment of the French monarchy. It is not strange that +the exasperation of the people should have been aroused, by the +knowledge of these facts, beyond all bounds. And their leaders were +aware that they were engaged in a conflict in which defeat was +inevitable death.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Intention of the king.</div> + +<p>The king had now resolved, if possible, to escape. He, however, declared +that it never was his intention to join the emigrants and invade France +with a foreign force. That, on the contrary, he strongly disapproved of +the measures adopted by the emigrants as calculated only to increase the +excitement against the throne, and to peril his cause. He declared that +it was only his wish to escape from the scenes of violence, insult, and +danger to which he was exposed in Paris, and somewhere on the frontiers +of his kingdom to surround himself by his loyal subjects, and there +endeavor amicably to adjust the difficulties which desolated the empire. +The character of the king renders it most probable that such was his +intention, and such has been the verdict of posterity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Deliberations of the emigrants.<br />Dangers thicken.</div> + +<p>But there was another source of embarrassment which extremely troubled +the royal family. The emigrants were deliberating upon the expediency of +declaring the throne vacant by default of the king's liberty, and to +nominate his brother M. le Comte d'Artois regent in his stead. The king +greatly feared this moral forfeiture of the throne with which he was +menaced under the pretense of delivering him. He was justly apprehensive +that the advance of an invading army, under the banners of his brother, +would be the signal for the immediate destruction of himself and family. +Flight, consequently, had become his only refuge; and flight was +encompassed with the most fearful perils. Long and agonizing were the +months of deliberation in which the king and queen saw these dangers +hourly accumulating around them, while each day the vigilance of their +enemies were redoubled, and the chances of escape diminished.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The plan of flight.</div> + +<p>The following plan was at last adopted for the flight. The royal family +were to leave Paris at midnight in disguise, in two carriages, for +Montmédy, on the frontiers of France and Germany, about two hundred +miles from Paris. This town was within the limits of France, so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>that +the king could not be said to have fled from his kingdom. The nearest +road and the great public thoroughfare led through the city of Rheims; +but, as the king had been crowned there, he feared that he might meet +some one by whom he would be recognized, and he therefore determined to +take a more circuitous route, by by-roads and through small and +unfrequented villages. Relays of horses were to be privately conveyed to +all these villages, that the carriages might be drawn on with the +greatest rapidity, and small detachments of soldiers were to be +stationed at important posts, to resist any interruption which might +possibly be attempted by the peasantry. The king also had a large +carriage built privately, expressly for himself and his family, while +certain necessary attendants were to follow in another.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Marquis de Bouillé.<br />The king refuses to change his plan.<br />The Marquis d'Agoult.</div> + +<p>The Marquis de Bouillé, who commanded a portion of the troops still +faithful to the king, was the prime confidant and helper in this +movement. He earnestly, but in vain, endeavored to induce the king to +make some alterations in this plan. He entreated him, in the first +place, not to excite suspicion by the use of a peculiar carriage +constructed for his own use, but to make use of common carriages such as +were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>daily seen traversing the roads. He also besought him to travel by +the common high way, where relays of horses were at all times ready by +night and by day. He represented to the king that, should he take the +unfrequented route, it would be necessary to send relays of horses +beforehand to all these little villages; that so unusual an occurrence +would attract attention and provoke inquiry. He urged also upon the king +that detachments of troops sent along these solitary roads would excite +curiosity, and would inevitably create suspicion. The king, however, +self-willed, refused to heed these remonstrances, and persisted in his +own plan. He, however, consented to take with him the Marquis d'Agoult, +a man of great firmness and energy, to advise and assist in the +unforeseen accidents which might embarrass the enterprise. He also +reluctantly consented to ask the Emperor of Austria to make a +threatening movement toward the frontier, which would be an excuse for +the movement through these villages of detachments of French troops.</p> + +<p>These arrangements made, the Marquis de Bouillé sent a faithful officer +to take an accurate survey of the road, and present a report to the +king. He then, under various pretexts, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>removed to a distance those +troops who were known to be disaffected to the royal cause, and +endeavored to gather along the line of flight those in whose loyalty he +thought he could confide.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Count de Fersen.<br />His noble character.</div> + +<p>At the palace of the Tuileries, the secret of the contemplated flight +had been confided only to the king, the queen, the Princess Elizabeth, +sister of the king, and two or three faithful attendants. The Count de +Fersen, a most noble-spirited young gentleman from Sweden, most +cheerfully periled his life in undertaking the exterior arrangements of +this hazardous enterprise. He had often been admitted, in the happy days +of Maria Antoinette, to the parties and fêtes which lent wings to the +hours at the Little Trianon, and chivalrous admiration of her person and +character induced him to consecrate himself with the most passionate +devotion to her cause. Three soldiers of the body-guard, Valorg, +Monstrei, and Maldan, were also received into confidence, and +unhesitatingly engaged in an enterprise in which success was extremely +problematical, and failure was certain death. They, disguised as +servants, were to mount behind the carriages, and protect the royal +family at all risks.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote">The king and queen leave the palace.<br />The queen loses her way.<br />Departure from Paris.<br />Arrival at Bondy.<br />Departure of the Count de Fersen.</div> + +<p>The night of the 20th of June at length arrived, and the hearts of the +royal inmates of the Tuileries throbbed violently as the hour approached +which was to decide their destiny. At the hour of eleven, according to +their custom, they took leave of those friends who were in the habit of +paying their respects to them at that time, and dismissed their +attendants as if to retire to their beds. As soon as they were alone, +they hastily, and with trembling hands, dressed themselves in the +disguises which had been prepared for their journey, and by different +doors and at different times left the palace. It was the dark hour of +midnight. The lights glimmered feebly from the lamps, but still there +was the bustle of crowds coming and going in those ever-busy streets. +The queen, in her traveling dress, leaning upon the arm of one of the +body-guard, and leading her little daughter Maria Theresa by the hand, +passed out at a door in the rear of the palace, and hastened through the +Place du Carrousel, and, losing her way, crossed the Seine by the Pont +Royal, and wandered for some time through the darkest and most obscure +streets before she found the two hackney-coaches which were waiting for +them at the Quai des Théatins. The king left the palace <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>in a similar +manner, leading his son Louis by the hand. He also lost his way in the +unfrequented streets through which it was necessary for him to pass. The +queen waited for half an hour in the most intense anxiety before the +king arrived. At last, however, all were assembled, and, entering the +hackney-coaches, the Count de Fersen, disguised as a coachman, leaped up +on the box, and the wheels rattled over the pavements of the city as the +royal family fled in this obscurity from their palace and their throne. +The emotions excited in the bosoms of the illustrious fugitives were too +intense, and the perils to which they were exposed too dreadful, to +allow of any conversation. Grasping each other's hands, they sat in +silence through the dark hours, with the gloomy remembrance of the past +oppressing their spirits, and with the dread that the light of morning +might introduce them to new disasters. A couple of hours of silence and +gloom passed slowly away, and the coaches arrived at Bondy, the first +stage from Paris. The gray dawn of the morning was just appearing in the +east as they hurriedly changed their coaches for the large traveling +carriage the king had ordered and another coach which there awaited +them. Count de Fersen kissed the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>hands of the king and queen, and +leaving them, according to previous arrangements, with their attendants, +hastened the same night by another route to Brussels, in order to rejoin +the royal family at a later period.</p> + +<p>The king's carriages now rolled rapidly on toward Chalons, an important +town on their route. The queen had assumed the title and character of a +German baroness returning to Frankfort with her two children; the king +was her valet de chambre, the Princess Elizabeth, the king's sister, was +her waiting-maid. The passport was made out in the following manner:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The passport.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Permit to pass Madame the Baroness of Korf, who is +returning to Frankfort with her two children, her +waiting-maid, her valet de chambre, and three domestics.</p> + +<p>"The Minister of Foreign Affairs.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 12em;">"<span class="smcap">Montmorin.</span>"</span></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Appearance of the fugitives.<br />An accident.<br />The journey renewed.<br />Emotions of the fugitives.<br /> +Suspicions excited.<br />Failure of the guard.<br />The king recognized.<br />The dragoons and National Guard.<br />The post-master's son.<br />He forms an ambush.</div> + +<p>At each post-house on the road relays of eight horses were waiting for +the royal carriages. When the sun rose over the hills of France they +were already many leagues from the capital, and as the carriages rattled +furiously along over hill and dale, the unwonted spectacle on that +unfrequented road attracted much attention. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>At every little village +where they stopped for an exchange of horses, the villagers gathered in +groups around the carriages, admiring the imposing spectacle. The king +was fully aware that the knowledge of his escape could not long be +concealed from the authorities at Paris, and that all the resources of +his foes would immediately be put into requisition to secure his arrest. +They therefore pressed on with the utmost speed, that they might get as +far as possible on their way before the pursuit should commence. The +remarkable size and structure of the carriage which the king had caused +to be constructed, the number of horses drawing the carriages, the +martial figures and commanding features of the three body-guard +strangely contrasting with the livery of menials, the portly appearance +and kingly countenance of Louis, who sat in a corner of the carriage in +the garb of a valet de chambre, all these circumstances conspired to +excite suspicion and to magnify the dangers of the royal family. They, +however, proceeded without interruption until they arrived at the little +town of Montmirail, near Chalons, where, unfortunately, one of the +carriages broke down, and they were detained an hour in making repairs. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>It was an hour of intense anxiety, for they knew that every moment was +increasing the probability of their capture. The carriage, however, was +repaired, and they started again on their flight. The sun shone brightly +upon the fields, which were blooming in all the verdure of the opening +summer. The seclusion of the region through which they were passing was +enchanting to their eyes, weary of looking out upon the tumultuous mobs +of Paris. The children, worn out by the exhaustion of a sleepless night, +were peacefully slumbering in their parents' arms. Each revolution of +the wheels was bringing them nearer to the frontier, where their +faithful friend, M. de Bouillé, was waiting, with his loyal troops, to +receive them. A gleam of hope and joy now rose in their bosoms; and, as +they entered the town of Chalons, at half past three o'clock in the +afternoon, smiles of joy lighted their countenances, and they began to +congratulate themselves that they were fast approaching the end of their +dangers and their sufferings. As the horses were changing, a group of +idlers gathered around the carriages. The king, emboldened by his +distance from the capital, imprudently looked out at the window of the +carriage. The post-master, who had been in Paris, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>instantly recognized +the king. He, however, without the manifestation of the least surprise, +aided in harnessing the horses, and ordered the postillion to drive on. +He would not be an accomplice in arresting the escape of the king. At +the next relay, at Point Sommeville, quite a concourse gathered around +the carriages, and the populace appeared uneasy and suspicious. They +watched the travelers very narrowly, and were observed to be whispering +with one another, and making ominous signs. No one, however, ventured to +make any movement to detain the carriages, and they proceeded on their +way. A detachment of fifty hussars had been appointed to meet the king +at this spot. They were there at the assigned moment. The breaking down +of the carriage, however, detained the king, and the hussars, observing +the suspicions their presence was awaking, departed half an hour before +the arrival of the carriages. Had the king arrived but one half hour +sooner, the safety of the royal family would have been secured. The king +was surprised and alarmed at not meeting the guard he had anticipated, +and drove rapidly on to the next relay at Sainte Menehould. It was now +half past seven o'clock of a beautiful summer's evening. The sun was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>just sinking below the horizon, but the broad light still lingered upon +the valleys and the hills. As they were changing the horses, the king, +alarmed at not meeting the friends he expected, put his head out of the +window to see if any friend was there who could inform him why the +detachments were detained. The son of the post-master instantly +recognized the king by his resemblance to the imprint upon the coins in +circulation. The report was immediately whispered about among the crowd, +but there was not sufficient force, upon the spur of the moment, to +venture to detain the carriages. There was in the town a detachment of +troops, friendly to the king, who would immediately have come to his +rescue had the people attempted to arrest him. It was whispered among +the dragoons that the king was in the carriage, and the commandant +immediately ordered the troops to mount their horses and follow to +protect the royal family; but the National Guard in the place, far more +numerous, surrounded the barracks, closed the stables, and would not +allow the soldiers to depart. The king, entirely unconscious of these +movements, was pursuing his course toward the next relay. Young Drouet, +however, the post-master's son, had immediately, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>upon recognizing the +king, saddled his fleetest horse, and started at his utmost speed for +the post-house at Varennes, that he might, before the king's arrival, +inform the municipal authorities of his suspicions, and collect a +sufficient force to detain the travelers. One of the dragoons, +witnessing the precipitate departure of Drouet, and suspecting its +cause, succeeded in mounting his horse, and pursued him, resolved to +overtake him, and either detain him until the king had passed, or take +his life. Drouet, however, perceiving that he was pursued, plunged into +the wood, with every by-path of which he was familiar, and, in the +darkness of the night, eluded his pursuer, and arrived at Varennes, by a +very much shorter route than the carriage road, nearly two hours before +the king. He immediately communicated to a band of young men his +suspicions, and they, emulous of the glory of arresting their sovereign, +did not inform the authorities or arouse the populace, but, arming +themselves, they formed an ambush to seize the persons of the travelers. +It was half past seven o'clock of a cold, dark, and gloomy night, when +the royal family, exhausted with twenty-four hours of incessant anxiety +and fatigue, arrived at the few straggling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>houses in the outskirts of +the village of Varennes. They there confidently expected to find an +escort and a relay of horses provided by their careful friend, M. +Bouillé.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arrival at Varennes.<br />Alarm of the king.<br />The royal family arrested.<br />The alarm given.</div> + +<p>A small river passes through the little town of Varennes, dividing it +into two portions, the upper and lower town, which villages are +connected by a bridge crossing the stream. The king, by some +misunderstanding, expected to find the relay upon the side of the river +before crossing the bridge. But the fresh horses had been judiciously +placed upon the other side of the river, so that the carriages, having +crossed the bridge at full speed, could more easily, with a change of +horses, hasten unmolested on their way. The king and queen, greatly +alarmed at finding no horses, left the carriage, and wandered about in +sad perplexity for half an hour, through the dark, silent, and deserted +streets. In most painful anxiety, they returned to their carriages, and +decided to cross the river, hoping to find the horses and their friends +in the upper town. The bridge was a narrow stone structure, with its +entrance surmounted by a gloomy, massive arch, upon which was reared a +tower, a relic of the feudal system, which had braved the storms of +centuries. Here, under this dark <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>archway, Drouet and his companions had +formed their ambuscade. The horses had hardly entered the gloomy pass, +when they were stopped by a cart which had been overturned, and five or +six armed men, seizing their heads, ordered the travelers to alight and +exhibit their passports. The three body-guard seized their arms, and +were ready to sacrifice their lives in the attempt to force the passage, +but the king would allow no blood to be shed. The horses were turned +round by the captors, and the carriages were escorted by Drouet and his +comrades to the door of a grocer named Sausse, who was the humble mayor +of this obscure town. At the same time, some of the party rushed to the +church, mounted the belfry, and rang the alarm bell. The solemn booming +of that midnight bell roused the affrighted inhabitants from their +pillows, and soon the whole population was gathered around the carriages +and about the door of the grocer's shop. It was in vain for the king to +deny his rank. His marked features betrayed him. Clamor and confusion +filled the night air. Men, women, and children were running to and fro; +the populace were arming, to be prepared for any emergency; and the +royal family were worn out by sleeplessness and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>toil. At last Louis +made a bold appeal to the magnanimity of his foes. Taking the hand of +Sausse, he said,</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king discovers himself.<br />His affecting appeal.</div> + +<p>"Yes! I am your king, and in your hands I place my destiny, and that of +my wife, my sister, and my children. Our lives and the fate of the +empire depend upon you. Permit me to continue my journey. I have no +design of leaving the country. I am but going to the midst of a part of +the army, and in a French town, to regain my real liberty, of which the +factions at Paris deprive me. From thence I wish to make terms with the +Assembly, who, like myself, are held in subjection through fear. I am +not about to destroy, but to save and to secure the Constitution. If you +detain me, I myself, France, all, are lost. I conjure you, as a father, +as a man, as a citizen, leave the road free to us. In an hour we shall +be saved, and with us France is saved. And, if you have any respect for +one whom you profess to regard as your master, I command you, as your +king, to permit us to depart."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207-8]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i192.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="295" alt="Capture at Varennes." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Capture at Varennes.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">An affecting scene.<br />The royal group.</div> + +<p>The appeal touched the heart of the grocer and the captors by whom the +king was surrounded. Tears came into the eyes of many, they hesitated; +the expression of their countenances <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>showed that they would willingly, if they dared to consult the dictates +of their own hearts, let the king pass on. A more affecting scene can +hardly be imagined. It was midnight. Torches and flambeaux were gleaming +around. Men, women, and children were hurrying to and fro in the +darkness. The alarm bell was pealing out its hurried sounds through the +still air. A crowd of half-dressed peasants and artisans was rapidly +accumulating about the inn. The king stood pleading with his subjects +for liberty and life, far more moved by compassion for his wife and +children than for himself. The children, weary and terrified, and roused +suddenly from the sleep in which they had been lost in their parents' +arms, gazed upon the strange scene with undefined dread, unconscious of +the magnitude of their peril. The queen, seated upon a bale of goods in +the shop, with her two children clinging to her side, plead, at times +with the tears of despair, and again with all the majesty of her queenly +nature, for pity or for justice. She hoped that a woman's heart throbbed +beneath the bosom of the wife of the mayor, and made an appeal to her +which one would think that, under the circumstances, no human heart +could have resisted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Appeal of the queen.</div> + +<p>"You are a mother, madame," said the queen, in most imploring accents, +"you are a wife! the fate of a wife and mother is in your hands. Think +what I must suffer for these children—for my husband. At one word from +you I shall owe them to you. The Queen of France will owe you more than +her kingdom—more than life."</p> + +<p>"Madame," coldly replied the selfish and calculating woman, "I should be +happy to help you if I could without danger. You are thinking of your +husband, I am thinking of mine. It is a wife's first duty to think of +her own husband."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Telegraphic dispatch to Paris.<br />Intense agony of the queen.</div> + +<p>The queen saw that all appeals to such a spirit must be in vain, and, +taking her two children by the hand, with Madame Elizabeth ascended the +stairs which conducted from the grocer's shop to his rooms above, where +she was shielded from the gaze of the crowd. She threw herself into a +chair, and, overwhelmed with anguish, burst into a flood of tears. The +alarm bell continued to ring; telegraphic dispatches were sent to Paris, +communicating tidings of the arrest; the neighboring villagers flocked +into town; the National Guard, composed of people opposed to the king, +were rapidly assembled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>from all quarters, and the streets barricaded to +prevent the possibility of any rescue by the soldiers who advocated the +royal cause. Thus the dreadful hours lingered away till the morning +dawned. The increasing crowd stimulated one another to ferocity and +barbarity. Insults, oaths, and imprecations incessantly fell upon the +ears of the captives. The queen probably endured as much of mental agony +that night as the human mind is capable of enduring. The conflict of +indignation, terror, and despair was so dreadful, that her hair, which +the night previous had been auburn, was in the morning white as snow. +This extraordinary fact is well attested, and indicates an enormity of +woe almost incomprehensible.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Consternation in Paris.<br />The palace forced.<br />Insults to the royal family.<br />Measures to arrest the king.<br />The tumult subsides.</div> + +<p>There was no knowledge in Paris of the king's departure until seven +o'clock in the morning, when the servants of the palace entered the +apartments of the king and queen, and found the beds undisturbed and the +rooms deserted. The alarm spread like wildfire through the palace and +through the city. The alarm bells were rung, cannon were fired, and the +cry resounded through the streets, "The king has fled! the king has +fled!" The terrified populace were expecting almost at the next <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>moment +to see him return with an avenging army to visit his rebellious subjects +with the most terrible retribution. From all parts of the city, every +lane, and street, and alley leading to the Tuileries was thronged with +the crowd, pouring on, like an inundation, toward the deserted palace. +The doors were forced open, and the interior of the palace was instantly +filled with the swarming multitudes. The mob from the streets polluted +the sanctuaries of royalty with every species of vulgarity and +obscenity. An amazon market-woman took possession of the queen's bed, +and, spreading her cherries upon it, she took her seat upon the royal +couch, exclaiming, "To-day it is the nation's turn to take their ease." +One of the caps of the queen was placed in derision upon the head of a +vile girl of the street. She exclaimed that it would sully her forehead, +and trampled it under her feet with contempt. Every conceivable insult +was heaped upon the royal family. Placards, posted upon the walls, +offered trivial rewards to any one who would bring back the noxious +animals which had fled from the palace. The metropolis was agitated to +its very center, and the most vigorous measures immediately adopted to +arrest the king, if possible, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>before he should reach the friends who +could afford him protection. This turmoil continued for many hours, till +the cry passed from mouth to mouth, and filled the streets, "He is +arrested! he is arrested!"</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Return to Paris.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1791-1792</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Despair of the king.<br />Lovely character of Madame Elizabeth.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">D</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">uring</span> all the long hours of the night, while the king was detained in +the grocer's shop at Varennes, he was, with anxiety indescribable, +looking every moment for soldiers to appear, sent by M. Bouillé for his +rescue. But the National Guard, which was composed of those who were in +favor of the Revolution, were soon assembled in such numbers as to +render all idea of rescue hopeless. The sun rose upon Varennes but to +show the king the utter desperation of his condition, and he resigned +himself to despair. The streets were filled with an infuriated populace, +and from every direction the people were flocking toward the focus of +excitement. The children of the royal family, utterly exhausted, had +fallen asleep. Madame Elizabeth, one of the most lovely and gentle of +earthly beings, the sister of the king, who, through all these trials, +and, indeed, through her whole life, manifested peculiarly the spirit of +heaven, was, regardless of herself, earnestly praying for support for +her brother and sister.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote">Return to Paris.<br />Insults of the mob.<br />Massacre of M. Dampierre.</div> + +<p>Preparations were immediately made to forward the captives to Paris, +lest the troops of M. Bouillé, informed of their arrest, should come to +their rescue. The king did every thing in his power to delay the +departure, and one of the women of the queen feigned sudden and alarming +illness at the moment all of the rest had been pressed into the +carriages. But the impatience of the populace could not thus be +restrained. With shouts and threats they compelled all into the +carriages, and the melancholy procession, escorted by three or four +thousand of the National Guard, and followed by a numerous and +ever-increasing concourse of the people, moved slowly toward Paris. Hour +after hour dragged heavily along as the fugitives, drinking the very +dregs of humiliation, were borne by their triumphant and exasperated +foes back to the horrors from which they had fled. The road was lined on +either side by countless thousands, insulting the agonized victims with +derision, menaces, and the most ferocious gestures. Varennes is distant +from Paris one hundred and eighty miles, and for this whole distance, by +night and by day, with hardly an hour's delay for food or repose, the +royal family were exposed to the keenest torture of which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>the spiritual +nature is in this world susceptible. Every revolution of the wheels but +brought them into contact with fresh vociferations of calumny. The fury +of the populace was so great that it was with difficulty that the guard +could protect their captives from the most merciless massacre. Again and +again there was a rush made at the carriages, and the mob was beaten +back by the arms of the soldiers. One old gentleman, M. Dampierre, ever +accustomed to venerate royalty, stood by the road side, affected by the +profoundest grief in view of the melancholy spectacle. Uncovering his +gray hairs, he bowed respectfully to his royal master, and ventured to +give utterance to accents of sympathy. The infuriated populace fell upon +him like tigers, and tore him to pieces before the eyes of the king and +queen. The wheels of the royal carriage came very near running over his +bleeding corpse.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Commissioners from Paris.<br />Noble character of Barnave.<br />Brutality of Pétion.</div> + +<p>The procession was at length met by commissioners sent from the Assembly +to take charge of the king. Ashamed of the brutality of the people, +Barnave and Pétion, the two commissioners, entered the royal carriage to +share the danger of its inmates. They shielded the prisoners from death, +but they could not shield <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>them from insult and outrage. An +ecclesiastic, venerable in person and in character, approached the +carriages as they moved sadly along, and exhibited upon his features +some traces of respect and sorrow for fallen royalty. It was a mortal +offense. The brutal multitude would not endure a <i>look</i> even of sympathy +for the descendant of a hundred kings. They rushed upon the defenseless +clergyman, and would have killed him instantly had not Barnave most +energetically interfered. "Frenchmen!" he shouted, from the carriage +windows, "will you, a nation of brave men, become a people of +murderers!" Barnave was a young man of much nobleness of character. His +polished manners, and his sympathy for the wrecked and ruined family of +the king, quite won their gratitude. Pétion, on the contrary, was coarse +and brutal. He was a <i>Democrat</i> in the worst sense of that abused word. +He affected rude and rough familiarity with the royal family, lounged +contemptuously upon the cushions, ate apples and melons, and threw the +rind out of the window, careless whether or not he hit the king in the +face. In all his remarks, he seemed to take a ferocious pleasure in +wounding the feelings of his victims.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote">Approach to Paris.<br />Appalling violence.<br />Sufferings of the royal family.</div> + +<p>As the cavalcade drew near to Paris, the crowds surrounding the +carriages became still more dense, and the fury of the populace more +unmeasured. The leaders of the National Assembly were very desirous of +protecting the royal family from the rage of the mob, and to shield the +nation from the disgrace of murdering the king, the queen, and their +children in the streets. It was feared that, when the prisoners should +enter the thronged city, where the mob had so long held undisputed sway, +it would be impossible to restrain the passions of the multitude, and +that the pavements would be defaced with the blood of the victims. +Placards were pasted upon the walls in every part of the city, "Whoever +applauds the king shall be beaten; whoever insults him shall be hung." +As the carriages approached the suburbs of the metropolis, the +multitudes which thronged them became still more numerous and +tumultuous, and the exhibitions of violence more appalling. All the dens +of infamy in the city vomited their denizens to meet and deride, and, if +possible, to destroy the captured monarch. It was a day of intense and +suffocating heat. Ten persons were crowded into the royal carriage. Not +a breath of air fanned the fevered cheeks of the sufferers. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>The heat, +reflected from the pavements and the bayonets, was almost insupportable. +Clouds of dust enveloped them, and the sufferings of the children were +so great that the queen was actually apprehensive that they would die. +The queen dropped the window of the carriage, and, in a voice of agony, +implored some one to give her a cup of water for her fainting child. +"See, gentlemen," she exclaimed, "in what a condition my poor children +are! one of them is choking." "We will yet choke them and you," was the +brutal reply, "in another fashion." Several times the mob broke through +the line which guarded the carriages, pushed aside the horses, and, +mounting the steps, stretched their clenched fists in at the windows. +The procession moved perseveringly along in the midst of the clashing of +sabers, the clamor of the blood-thirsty multitude, and the cries of men +trampled under the hoofs of the horses.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arrival at the Tuileries.<br />Exertions of La Fayette.<br />Roar of the multitude.</div> + +<p>It was the 25th of June, 1791, at seven o'clock in the evening, when +this dreadful procession, passing through the Barrier de l'Étoile, +entered the city, and traversed the streets, through double files of +soldiers, to the Tuileries. At length they arrived, half dead with +exhaustion and despair, at the palace. The crowd was so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>immense that it +was with the utmost difficulty that an entrance could be effected. At +that moment, La Fayette, who had been adopting the most vigorous +measures for the protection of the persons of the royal family, came to +meet them. The moment Maria Antoinette saw him, forgetful of her own +danger, and trembling for the body-guard who had periled their lives for +her family, she exclaimed, "Monsieur La Fayette, save the body-guard." +The king and queen alighted from the carriage. Some of the soldiers took +the children, and carried them through the crowd into the palace. A +member of the Assembly, who had been inimical to the King, came forward, +and offered his arm to the queen for her protection. She looked him a +moment in the face, and indignantly rejected the proffered aid of an +enemy. Then, seeing a deputy who had been their friend, she eagerly +accepted his arm, and ascended the steps of the palace. A prolonged +roar, as of thunder, ascended from the multitudinous throng which +surrounded the palace when the king and queen had entered, and the doors +of their prison were again closed against them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221-2]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i205.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="304" alt="The Tuileries." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Tuileries.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">Spirit of the queen.</div> + +<p>La Fayette was at the head of the National Guard. He was a strong +advocate for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>rights of the people. At the same time, he wished to respect the rights +of the king, and to sustain a constitutional monarchy. As soon as they +had entered the palace, Maria Antoinette, with that indomitable spirit +which ever characterized her, approached La Fayette, and offered to him +the keys of her casket, as if he were her jailer. La Fayette, deeply +wounded, refused to receive them. The queen indignantly, with her own +hands, placed them in his hat. "Your majesty will have the goodness to +take them back," said the marquis, "for I certainly shall not touch +them."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Embarrassing position of La Fayette.</div> + +<p>The position of La Fayette at this time was about as embarrassing as it +could possibly have been; and he was virtually the jailer of the royal +family, answerable with his life for their safe keeping. He had always +been a firm friend of civil and religious liberty. He was very anxious +to see France blessed with those free institutions and that recognition +of popular rights which are the glory of America, but he also wished to +protect the king and queen from outrage and insult; and a storm of +popular fury had now risen which he knew not how to control or to guide. +He, however, resolved to do all in his power to protect the royal +family, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>and to watch the progress of events with the hope of +establishing constitutional liberty and a constitutional throne over +France.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The palace rigorously guarded.<br />The queen grossly insulted.<br />Despair of the king.</div> + +<p>The palace was now guarded, by command of the Assembly, with a degree of +rigor unknown before. The iron gates of the courts and garden of the +Tuileries were kept locked. A list of the persons who were to be +permitted to see the royal family was made out, and none others were +allowed to enter. At every door sentinels were placed, and in every +passage, and in the corridor which connected the chambers of the king +and queen, armed men were stationed. The doors of the sleeping +apartments of the king and queen were kept open night and day, and a +guard was placed there to keep his eye ever upon the victims. No respect +was paid to female modesty, and the queen was compelled to retire to her +bed under the watchful eye of an unfeeling soldier. It seems impossible +that a civilized people could have been guilty of such barbarism. But +all sentiments of humanity appear to have fled from France. One of the +queen's women, at night, would draw her own bed between that of the +queen and the open door, that she might thus partially shield the person +of her royal mistress. The king was so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>utterly overwhelmed by the +magnitude of the calamities in which he was now involved, that his mind, +for a season, seemed to be prostrated and paralyzed by the blow. For ten +days he did not exchange a single word with any member of his family, +but moved sadly about in the apathy of despair, or sat in moody silence. +At last the queen threw herself upon her knees before him, and, +presenting to him her children, besought him, for her sake and that of +their little ones, to rouse his fortitude. "We may all perish," she +said, "but let us, at least, perish like sovereigns, and not wait to be +strangled unresistingly upon the very floor of our apartments."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Supremacy of the mob.<br />A brutal assemblage.<br />Ferocious inscriptions.<br />Attack upon the palace.<br /> +The mob force an entrance.<br />Fearlessness of the king.<br />The mob awed.<br />Courage of Madame Elizabeth.<br />Cries of the mob.</div> + +<p>The long and dreary months of the autumn, the winter, and the spring +thus passed away, with occasional gleams of hope visiting their minds, +but with the storm of revolution, on the whole, growing continually more +black and terrific. General anarchy rioted throughout France. Murders +were daily committed with impunity. There was no law. The mob had all +power in their hands. Neither the king nor queen could make their +appearance any where without exposure to insult. Violent harangues in +the Assembly and in the streets had at length roused the populace to a +new act of outrage. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>immediate cause was the refusal of the king to +give his sanction to a bill for the persecution of the priests. It was +the 20th of June, 1792. A tumultuous assemblage of all the miserable, +degraded, and vicious, who thronged the garrets and the cellars of +Paris, and who had been gathered from all lands by the lawlessness with +which crime could riot in the capital, were seen converging, as by a +common instinct, toward the palace. They bore banners fearfully +expressive of their ferocity, and filled the air with the most savage +outcries. Upon the end of a pike there was affixed a bleeding heart, +with the inscription, "The heart of the aristocracy." Another bore a +doll, suspended to a frame by the neck, with this inscription, "To the +gibbet with the Austrian." With the ferocity of wolves, they surrounded +the palace in a mass impenetrable. The king and queen, as they looked +from their windows upon the multitudinous gathering, swaying to and fro +like the billows of the ocean in a storm, and with the clamor of human +passions, more awful than the voice of many waters, rending the skies, +instinctively clung to one another and to their children in their +powerlessness. Madame Elizabeth, with her saint-like spirit, and her +heaven-directed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>thoughts, was ever unmindful of her own personal danger +in her devotion to her beloved brother. The king hoped that the soldiers +who were stationed as a guard within the inclosures of the palace would +be able to protect them from violence. The gates leading to the Place du +Carrousel were soon shattered beneath the blows of axes, and the human +torrent poured in with the resistlessness of a flood. The soldiers very +deliberately shook the priming from their guns, as the emphatic +expression to the mob that they had nothing to fear from them, and the +artillery men coolly directed their pieces against the palace. Axes and +iron bars were immediately leveled at the doors, and they flew from +their hinges; and the drunken and infuriated rabble, with clubs, and +pistols, and daggers, poured, an interminable throng, through the halls +and apartments where kings, for ages, had reigned in inapproachable pomp +and power. The servants of the king, in terror, fled in every direction. +Still the crowd came rushing and roaring on, crashing the doors before +them, till they approached the apartment in which the royal family was +secluded. The king, who, though deficient in active energy, possessed +passive fearlessness in the most eminent degree, left his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>wife, +children, and sister clinging together, and entered the adjoining room +to meet his assailants. Just as he entered the room, the door, which was +bolted, fell with a crash, and the mob was before him. For a moment the +wretches were held at bay by the calm dignity of the monarch, as, +without the tremor of a nerve, he gazed steadily upon them. The crowd in +the rear pressed on upon those in the advance, and three friends of the +king had just time to interpose themselves between him and the mob, when +the whole dense throng rushed in and filled the room. A drunken +assassin, with a sharp iron affixed to a long pole, aimed a thrust +violently at the king's heart. One blow from an heroic citizen laid him +prostrate on the floor, and he was trampled under the feet of the +throng. Oaths and imprecations filled the room; knives and sabers +gleamed, and yet the majesty of royalty, for a few brief moments, +repelled the ferocity of the assassins. A few officers of the National +Guard, roused by the peril of the king, succeeded in reaching him, and, +crowding him into the embrasure of a window, placed themselves as a +shield before him. The king seemed only anxious to withdraw the +attention of the mob from the room in which his family <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>were clustered, +where he saw his sister, Madame Elizabeth, with extended arms and +imploring looks, struggling to come and share his fate. "It is the +queen!" was the cry, and a score of weapons were turned toward her. "No! +no!" exclaimed others, "it is Madame Elizabeth." Her gentle spirit, even +in these degraded hearts, had won admiration, and not a blow fell upon +her. "Ah!" exclaimed Madame Elizabeth, "why do you undeceive them? +Gladly would I die in her place, if I might thus save the queen." By the +surging of the crowd she was swept into the embrasure of another window, +where she was hemmed in without any possibility of extrication. By this +time the crowds were like locusts, climbing up the balconies, and +pouring in at the windows, and every foot of ground around the palace +was filled with the excited throng. Shouts of derision filled the air, +while the mob without were incessantly crying, "Have you killed them +yet? Throw us out their heads."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The red bonnet.</div> + +<p>Almost miraculously, the friends surrounding the king succeeded in +warding off the blows which were aimed at him. One of the mob thrust out +to the king, upon the end of a pike, a <i>red bonnet</i>, the badge of the +Jacobins, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>there was a general shout, "Let him put it on! let him +put it on! It is a sign of patriotism. If he is a patriot he will wear +it." The king, smiling, took the bonnet and put it upon his head. +Instantly there rose a shout from the fickle multitude, "<i>Vive le roi!</i>" +The mob had achieved its victory, and placed the badge of its power upon +the brow of the humbled monarch.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">First glimpse of Napoleon.</div> + +<p>There was at that time standing in the court-yard of the palace a young +man, with the blood boiling with indignation in his veins, in view of +the atrocities of the mob. The ignominious spectacle of the red bonnet +upon the head of the king, as he stood in the recess of the window, +seemed more than this young man could endure, and, turning upon his +heel, he hastened away, exclaiming, "The wretches! the wretches! they +ought to be mown down by grape-shot." This is the first glimpse the +Revolution presents of Napoleon Bonaparte.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's apartments invaded.<br />Insulted by abandoned women.<br />The queen's children.<br />The young girl.</div> + +<p>But while the king was enduring their tortures in one apartment, the +queen was suffering indignities and outrages equally atrocious in +another. Maria Antoinette was, in the eyes of the populace, the +personification of every thing to be hated. They believed her to be +<i>infamous</i> as a wife; proud, tyrannical, and treacherous; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>that, as an +Austrian, she hated France; that she was doing all in her power to +induce foreign armies to invade the French empire with fire and sword; +and that she had instigated the king to attempt escape, that he might +head the armies. Maria, conscious of this hatred, was aware that her +presence would only augment the tide of indignation swelling against the +king, and she therefore remained in the bed-chamber with her children. +But her sanctuary was instantly invaded. The door of her apartment had +been, by some friend, closed and bolted. Its stout oaken panels were +soon dashed in, and the door driven from its hinges. A crowd of +miserable women, abandoned to the lowest depths of degradation and +vulgarity, rushed into the apartment, assailing her ears with the most +obscene and loathsome epithets the language could afford. The queen +stood in the recess of a window, with queenly pride curbing her mortal +apprehension. A few friends had gathered around her, and placed a table +before her as a partial protection. Her daughter, an exceedingly +beautiful girl of fourteen years of age, with her light brown hair +floating in ringlets over her fair brow and shoulders, clung to her +mother's bosom as if she thought not of herself, but would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>only, with +her own body, shield her mother's heart from the dagger of the assassin. +Her son, but seven years old, clung to his mother's hand, gazing with a +bewildered look of terror upon the hideous spectacle. The vociferations +of the mob were almost deafening. But the aspect of the group, so lovely +and so helpless, seemed to disarm the hand of violence. Now and then, in +the endless crowd defiling through the room, those in the advance +pressed resistlessly on by those in the rear, some one more tender +hearted would speak a word of sympathy. A young girl came crowded along, +neatly dressed, and with a pleasing countenance. She, however, +immediately began to revile the queen in the coarsest language of +vituperation.</p> + +<p>"Why do you hate me so, my friend?" said the queen, kindly; "have I ever +done any thing to injure or to offend you?"</p> + +<p>"No! you have never injured me," was the reply, "but it is you who cause +the misery of the nation."</p> + +<p>"Poor child!" rejoined the queen, "you have been told so, and have been +deceived. Why should I make the people miserable? I am the wife of the +king—the mother of the dauphin; and by all the feelings of my heart, as +a wife <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>and mother, I am a Frenchwoman. I shall never see my own country +again. I can only be happy or unhappy in France. I was happy when you +loved me."</p> + +<p>The heart of the girl was touched. She burst into tears, and exclaimed, +"Pardon me, good queen, I did not know you; but now I see that I have +indeed been deceived, and you are truly good."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Meeting of the National Assembly.<br />The king's friends derided.</div> + +<p>Hour after hour of humiliation and agony thus rolled away. The National +Assembly met, and in vain the friends of the king urged its action to +rescue the royal family from the insults and perils to which they were +exposed. But these efforts were met by the majority only with derision. +They hoped that the terrors of the mob would compel the king hereafter +to give his assent to any law whatever which they might frame. At last +the shades of night began to add their gloom to this awful scene, and +even the most bitter enemies of the king did not think it safe to leave +forty thousand men, inflamed with intoxication and rage, to riot, +through the hours of the night, in the parlors, halls, and chambers of +the Tuileries. The president of the Assembly, at that late hour, crowded +his way into the apartment where, for several <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>hours, the king had been +exposed to every conceivable indignity. The mysterious authority of law +opened the way through the throng.</p> + +<p>"I have only just learned," said the president, "the situation of your +majesty."</p> + +<p>"That is very astonishing," replied the king, indignantly, "for it is a +long time that it has lasted."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The president of the Assembly.<br />The mob retires.</div> + +<p>The president, mounted upon the shoulders of four grenadiers, addressed +the mob and urged them to retire, and they, weary with the long hours of +outrages, slowly sauntered through the halls and apartments of the +palace, and at eight o'clock silence reigned, with the gloom of night, +throughout the Tuileries. The moment the mob became perceptibly less, +the king received his sister into his arms, and they hastened to the +apartment of the queen. During all the horrors of this awful day, her +heroic soul had never quailed; but, now that the peril was over, she +threw herself upon the bosom of her husband, and wept in all the +bitterness of inconsolable grief. As the family were locked in each +other's arms in silent gratitude for their preservation, the king +accidentally beheld in a mirror the red bonnet, which he had forgotten +to remove from his head. He turned red with mortification, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>and, casting +upon the floor the badge of his degradation, turned to the queen, with +his eyes filled with tears, and exclaimed, "Ah, madame, why did I take +you from your country, to associate you with the ignominy of such a day +as this!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Deputies visit the royal family.</div> + +<p>After the withdrawal of the mob, several of the deputies of the National +Assembly were in the apartment with the royal family, and, as the queen +recounted the horrors of the last five hours, one of them, though +bitterly hostile to the royal family, could not refrain from tears. "You +weep," said she to him, "at seeing the king and his family so cruelly +treated by a people whom he always wished to make happy."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Unfeeling remark.</div> + +<p>"True, madame," unfeelingly replied the deputy, "I weep for the +misfortunes of a beautiful and sensitive woman, the mother of a family. +But do not mistake; not one of my tears falls for either king or queen. +I hate kings and queens. It is the only feeling they inspire me with. It +is my religion."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Hopeless condition of the royal family.</div> + +<p>But time stops not. The hours of a dark and gloomy night, succeeding +this terrible day, lingered slowly along, but no sleep visited the +eyelids of the inmates of the Tuileries. Scowling guards still eyed them +malignantly, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>royal family could not unbosom to one another +their sorrows but in the presence of those who were hostile spies upon +every word and action. Escape was now apparently hopeless. The events of +the past day had taught them that they had no protection against popular +fury. And they were filled with the most gloomy forebodings of woes yet +to come.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Breast-plate for the king.</div> + +<p>These scenes occurred on the 20th of June, 1792. On the 14th of July of +the same year there was to be a magnificent fête in the Champ de Mars, +as the anniversary of the independence of the nation. The king and queen +were compelled to be present to grace the triumph of the people, and to +give the royal oath. It was anticipated that there would be many +attempts on that day to assassinate the king and queen. Some of the +friends of the royal family urged that they should each wear a +breast-plate which would guard against the first stroke of a dagger, and +thus give the king's friends time to defend him. A breast-plate was +secretly made for the king. It consisted of fifteen folds of Italian +taffeta, and was formed into an under waistcoat and a wide belt. Its +impenetrability was tried, and it resisted all thrusts of the dagger, +and several balls were turned aside by it. Madame <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>Campan wore it for +three days as an under petticoat before an opportunity could be found +for the king to try it on unperceived. At length, one morning, in the +queen's chamber, a moment's opportunity occurred, and he slipped it on, +saying, at the same time, to Madame Campan, "It is to satisfy the queen +that I submit to this inconvenience. They will not assassinate me. Their +scheme is changed. They will put me to death in another way."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dagger-proof corset for the queen.<br />Fête in the Champ de Mars.<br />The last appearance of the royal family in public.</div> + +<p>A dagger-proof corset had also been prepared for the queen without her +knowledge. She, however, could not be persuaded to wear it. "If they +assassinate <i>me</i>," she said, "it will be a most happy event. It will +release me from the most sorrowful existence, and may save from a cruel +death the rest of the family." The 14th of July arrived. The king, +queen, and dauphin were marched, like captives gracing an Oriental +triumph, at the head of the procession, from the palace to the Champ de +Mars. With pensive features and saddened hearts they passed along +through the single file of soldiers, who were barely able to keep at bay +the raging mob, furious for their blood, and maledictions fell heavily +upon their ears from a thousand tongues. The fountain of tears was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>dry, +and despair had nerved them with stoicism. They returned to the palace +in the deepest dejection, and never again appeared in the streets of +Paris till they were borne to their execution.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter IX.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Imprisonment in the Temple.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1792</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Apprehension of poison.<br />The queen daily insulted.<br />An assassin in the queen's chamber.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">E</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">very</span> day now added to the insults and anguish the royal family were +called to endure. They were under such apprehension of having their food +poisoned, that all the articles placed upon the table by the attendants, +provided by the Assembly, were removed untouched, and they ate and drank +nothing but what was secretly provided by one of the ladies of the +bed-chamber. One day the queen stood at her window, looking out sadly +into the garden of the Tuileries, when a soldier, standing under the +window, with his bayonet upon his gun, looked up to her and said, "I +wish, Austrian woman, that I had your head upon my bayonet here, that I +might pitch it over the wall to the dogs in the street." And this man +was placed under her window ostensibly for her protection! Whenever the +queen made her appearance in the garden, she encountered insults often +too outrageous to be related. An assassin, one night, with his sharpened +dagger, endeavored to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>penetrate her chamber. She was awoke by the noise +of the struggle with the guard at the door. The assassin was arrested. +"What a life!" exclaimed the queen. "Insults by day, and assassins by +night! But let him go. He came to murder me. Had he succeeded, the +Jacobins would have borne him to-morrow in triumph through the streets +of Paris."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The allied army.</div> + +<p>The allied army, united with the emigrants, in a combined force of +nearly one hundred and fifty thousand men, now entered the frontiers of +France, to rescue, by military power, the royal family. They issued a +proclamation, in which it was stated that "the allied sovereigns had +taken up arms to stop the anarchy which prevailed in France—to give +liberty to the king, and restore him to the legitimate authority of +which he had been deprived." The proclamation assured the people of +Paris that, if they did not immediately liberate the king and return to +their allegiance, the city of Paris should be totally destroyed, and +that the enemies of the king should forfeit their heads. This +proclamation, with the invasion of the French territory by the allied +army, fanned to the intensest fury the flames of passion already raging +in all parts of the empire. Thousands of young men from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>all the +provinces thronged into the city, breathing vengeance against the royal +family. In vain did the king declare his disapproval of these violent +measures on the part of the allies. In vain did he assert his readiness +to head the armies of France to repel invasion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Parties in France.<br />The Royalists, Girondists, and Jacobins.<br />Consternation in Paris.<br /> +The king's dethronement.<br />Scene from the palace.<br />Gathering of the mob.<br />The queen with her children.<br />Brutal remarks of the troops.</div> + +<p>There were now three important parties in France struggling for power. +The first was that of the king, and the nobles generally, wishing for +the re-establishment of the monarchy. The second was that of the +Girondists, wishing for the dethronement of the king and the +establishment of a republic, with the power in the hands of the most +influential citizens in intelligence and wealth. The third was that of +the ultra Democrats or Jacobins, who wished to raise the multitude from +degradation, penury, and infamy, into power, by the destruction of the +throne, and the subjection of the middling classes, and the entire +subversion of all the distinctions of wealth and rank. The approach of +the allies united both of these latter classes against the throne. A +motion was immediately introduced into the Assembly that the monarchy be +entirely abolished, and a mob rioting through Paris threatened the +deputies with death unless they dethroned the king. But an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>army of one +hundred and fifty thousand men were marching upon Paris, and the +deputies feared a terrible retribution if this new insult were heaped +upon their sovereign. No person can describe the confusion and +consternation with which the metropolis of France was filled. The mob +declared, on the 9th of August, that, unless the dethronement were that +day pronounced, they would that night sack the palace, and bear the +heads of the royal family through the streets upon their pikes. The +Assembly, undecided, and trembling between the two opposing perils, +separated without the adoption of any resolve. All knew that a night of +dreadful tumult and violence must ensue. Some hundreds of gentlemen +collected around the king and queen, resolved to perish with them. +Several regiments of soldiers were placed in and around the palace to +drive back the mob, but it was well known that the troops would more +willingly fraternize with the multitude than oppose them. The sun went +down, and the street lamps feebly glimmered through the darkness of the +night. The palace was filled with armed men. The gentlemen surrounding +the king were all conscious of their utter inability to protect him. +They had come but to share the fate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>of their sovereign. The queen and +the Princess Elizabeth ascended to an upper part of the palace, and +stepped from a low window into the dark shadow of a balcony to look out +upon the tumultuous city. The sound, as of the gathering of a resistless +storm, swept through all the streets, and rose loud and threatening +above the usual roar of the vast metropolis. The solemn tones of the +alarm bells, pealing through the night air, summoned all the desperadoes +of France to their several places of rendezvous, to march upon the +palace. The rumbling of artillery wheels, and the frequent discharge of +musketry, proclaimed the determination and the desperation of the +intoxicated mob. In darkness and silence, the queen and her sister stood +listening to these fearful sounds, and their hearts throbbed violently +in view of the terrible scene through which they knew that they must +pass. The queen, pale but tearless, and nerved to the utmost by queenly +pride, descended to the rooms below. She walked into the chamber where +her beautiful son was sleeping, gazed earnestly upon him for a moment, +bent over him, and imprinted upon his cheek a mother's kiss—and yet +without a tear. She entered the apartment of her daughter—lovely, +surpassingly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>lovely in all the blooming beauty of fifteen. The +princess, comprehending the peril of the hour, could not sleep. Maria +pressed her child to her throbbing heart, and the pride of the queen was +soon vanquished by the tenderness of the mother, as with convulsive +energy she embraced her, and wept in anguish almost unendurable. Shouts +of unfeeling derision arose from the troops below, stationed for the +protection of the royal family, and their ears were assailed by remarks +of the most brutal barbarity. Hour after hour of the night lingered +along, the clamor without incessantly increasing, and the crowds +surrounding the palace augmenting. The excitement within the palace was +so awful that no words could give it utterance. The few hundred +gentlemen who had come so heroically to share the fate of their +sovereign were aware that no resistance could be made to the tens of +thousands who were thirsting for their blood.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rising of the sun.<br />Disaffection of the troops.<br />Extremity of the royal family.</div> + +<p>Midnight came. It was fraught with horror. The queen, in utter +exhaustion, threw herself upon a sofa. At that moment a musket shot was +fired in the court-yard. "There is the first shot," said the queen, with +the calmness of despair, "but it will not be the last. Let us go and be +with the king." At length, from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>windows of their apartment, a few +gleams of light began to redden the eastern sky. "Come," said the +Princess Elizabeth, "and see the rising sun." Maria went mournfully to +the window, gazed long and steadfastly upon the rising luminary, feeling +that, before that day's sun should go down, she and all whom she loved +would be in another world. It was an awful spectacle which the light of +day revealed. All the avenues to the palace were choked with intoxicated +thousands. The gardens, and the court-yard surrounding the palace, were +filled with troops, placed there for the protection of the sovereign, +but evidently sympathizing with the mob, with whom they exchanged badges +and friendly greetings. The queen, apprehensive that the children might +be massacred in their beds, had them dressed, and placed by the side of +herself and the king. It was recommended to the king that he should go +down into the court-yard, among the troops stationed there for his +defense; that his presence might possibly awaken sympathy and enthusiasm +in his behalf. The king and queen, with their son and daughter, and +Madame Elizabeth, went down with throbbing hearts to visit the ranks of +their defenders. They were received with derisive insults <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>and hootings. +Some of the gunners left their posts, and thrust their fists into the +face of the king, insulting him with menaces the most brutal. They +instantly returned to the palace, pallid with indignation and despair.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spirit of the queen.<br />The king's calmness.</div> + +<p>Soon an officer came in and informed the king that all resistance was +hopeless; that six pieces of artillery were already pointed against the +main door of the palace; that a mob of countless thousands, well armed, +and dragging with them twelve heavy cannon, were rapidly approaching the +scene of conflict; that the whole populace of Paris were up in arms +against the king, and that no reliance whatever could be placed in the +soldiers stationed for his defense. "There is not," said he, "a single +moment to lose. You will all inevitably and immediately perish, unless +you hasten to the hall where the Assembly is in session, and place +yourself under the protection of that body." The pride of the queen was +intensely aroused in view of appealing to the Assembly, their bitterest +enemy, for succor, and she indignantly replied, "I would rather be +nailed to the walls of the palace than leave it to take refuge in the +Assembly." And the heroism of Maria Theresa instinctively inspiring her +bosom, she seized, from the belt of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>an officer, two pistols, and, +presenting them to the king, exclaimed, "Now, sire, is the time to show +yourself, and if we must perish, let us perish with glory." The king +calmly received the pistols, and silently handed them back to the +officer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The mother and the queen.</div> + +<p>"Madame," said the messenger, "are you prepared to take upon yourself +the responsibility of the death of the king, of yourself, of your +children, and of all who are here to defend you? All Paris is on the +march. Time presses. In a few moments it will be too late." The queen +cast a glance upon her daughter, and a mother's fears prevailed. The +crimson blood mounted to her temples. Then, again, she was pale as a +corpse. Then, rising from her seat, she said, "Let us go." It was seven +o'clock in the morning.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The royal family take refuge in the Assembly.<br />The king's speech.</div> + +<p>The king and queen, with their two children, Madame Elizabeth, and a few +personal friends, descended the great stair-case of the Tuileries, to +pass out through the bands of soldiers and the tumultuous mob to the +hall of the Assembly. At the stair-case there was a large concourse of +men and women, gesticulating with fury, who refused to permit the royal +family to depart. The tumult was such that the members <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>of the royal +family were separated from each other, and thus they stood for a moment +mingled with the crowd, listening to language of menace and insult, when +a deputy assured the mob that an order of the Assembly had summoned the +royal family to them. The rioters then gave way, and the mournful group +passed out of the door into the garden. They forced their way along, +surrounded by a few friends, through imprecations, insults, gleaming +daggers, and dangers innumerable, until they arrived at the hall of the +Assembly, which the king was with difficulty enabled to enter, in +consequence of the immense concourse which crowded him, thirsting for +his blood, and yet held back by an unseen hand. As the king entered the +hall, he said, with dignity, to the president, "I have come here to save +the nation from the commission of a great crime. I shall always consider +myself, with my family, safe in your hands." The royal family sat down +upon a bench. Mournful silence pervaded the hall. A more sorrowful, +heart-rending sight mortal eyes have seldom seen. The father, the +mother, the saint-like sister, the innocent and helpless children, had +found but a momentary refuge from cannibals, who were roaring like +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>wolves around the hall, and battering at the doors to break in and +slake their vengeance with blood. It was seriously apprehended that the +mob would make a rush, and sprinkle the blood of the royal family upon +the very floor of the sanctuary where they had sought a refuge.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The square box.<br />The king's serenity.<br />The mob at the palace.<br />Brutal massacre of the king's friends.<br /> +The mob sack the palace.<br />The dead bodies of the Royalists burned.</div> + +<p>Behind the seat of the president there was a box about ten feet square, +constituting a seat reserved for reporters, guarded by an iron railing. +Into this box the royal family were crowded for safety. A few friends of +the king gathered around the box. The heat of the day was almost +insupportable. Not a breath of air could penetrate the closely-packed +apartment; and the heat, as of a furnace, glowed in the room. Scarcely +had the royal family got into this frail retreat, when the noise without +informed them that their friends were falling before the daggers of +assassins, and the greatest alarm was felt lest the doors should be +driven in by the merciless mob. In this awful hour, the king appeared as +calm, serene, and unconcerned as if he were the spectator of a scene in +which he had no interest. The countenance of the queen exhibited all the +unvanquished firmness of her soul, as with flushed cheek and indignant +eye she looked upon the drama of terror and confusion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>which was +passing. The young princess wept, and her cheeks were marked with the +furrows which her tears, dried by the heat, had left. The young dauphin +appeared as cool and self-possessed as his father. The rattling fire of +artillery, and the report of musketry at the palace, proclaimed to the +royal family and the affrighted deputies the horrid conflict, or, +rather, massacre which was raging there. Immediately after the king and +queen had left the Tuileries, the mob broke in at every avenue. A few +hundred Swiss soldiers left there remained faithful to the king. The +conflict was short—the massacre awful. The infuriated multitude rushed +through the halls and the apartments of the spacious palace, murdering, +without mercy and without distinction of age or sex, all the friends of +the king whom they encountered. The mutilated bodies were thrown out of +the windows to the mob which filled the garden and the court. The +wretched inmates of the palace fled, pursued in every direction. But +concealment and escape were alike hopeless. Some poor creatures leaped +from the windows and clambered up the marble monuments. The wretches +refrained from firing at them, lest they should injure the statuary, but +pricked them with their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>bayonets till they compelled them to drop down, +and then murdered them at their feet. A pack of wolves could not have +been more merciless. The populace, now rioting in their resistless +power, with no law and no authority to restrain them, gave loose rein to +vengeance, and, having glutted themselves with blood, proceeded to sack +the palace. Its magnificent furniture, and splendid mirrors, and costly +paintings, were dashed to pieces and thrown from the windows, when the +fragments were eagerly caught by those below and piled up for bonfires. +Drunken wretches staggered through all the most private apartments, +threw themselves, with blood-soaked boots, upon the bed of the queen, +ransacked her drawers, made themselves merry over her notes, and +letters, and the various articles of her toilet, and polluted the very +air of the palace by their vulgar and obscene ribaldry. As night +approached, huge fires were built, upon which the dead bodies of the +massacred Royalists were thrown, and all were consumed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king dethroned.<br />The royal family removed to the Feuillants.</div> + +<p>During all the long hours of that dreadful day, and until two o'clock +the ensuing night, the royal family remained, almost without a change of +posture, in the narrow seat which had served them for an asylum. Who can +measure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>the amount of their endurance during these fifteen hours of +woe? An act was passed, during this time, in obedience to the demands of +the mob, dethroning the king. The hour of midnight had now come and +gone, and still the royal sufferers were in their comfortless +imprisonment, half dead with excitement and exhaustion. The young +dauphin had fallen asleep in his mother's arms. Madame Elizabeth and the +princess, entirely unnerved, were sobbing with uncontrollable grief. The +royal family were then transferred, for the remainder of the night, to +some deserted and unfurnished rooms in the old monastery of the +Feuillants. Some beds and mattresses were hastily collected, and a few +coarse chairs for their accommodation. As soon as they had entered these +cheerless rooms, and were alone, the king prostrated himself upon his +knees, with his family clinging around him, and gave utterance to the +prayer, "Thy trials, O God! are dreadful. Give us courage to bear them. +We adore the hand which chastens, as that which has so often blessed us. +Have mercy on those who have died fighting in our defense."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bitter sufferings of the royal family.</div> + +<p>Utter exhaustion enabled the unhappy family to find a few hours of +agitated sleep. The sun arose the ensuing morning with burning rays, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>and, as they fell upon the eyelids of the queen, she looked wildly +around her for a moment upon the cheerless scene, and then, with a +shudder, exclaiming, "Oh! I hoped it was all a dream," buried her face +again in her pillow. The attendants around her burst into tears. "You +see, my unhappy friends," said Maria, "a woman even more unhappy than +yourselves, for she has caused all your misfortunes." The queen wept +bitterly as she was informed of the massacre of her friends the +preceding day. Already the royal family felt the pressure of poverty. +They were penniless, and had to borrow some garments for the children. +The king and queen could make no change in their disordered dress.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Taken back to the Assembly.</div> + +<p>At ten o'clock in the morning, a guard came and conducted the royal +family again to the Assembly. Immediately the hall was surrounded by a +riotous mob, clamoring for their blood. At one moment the outer doors +were burst open, and the blood-thirsty wretches made a rush for the +interior. The king, believing that their final hour had come, begged his +friends to seek their own safety, and abandon him and his family to +their fate. The day of agitation and terror, however, passed away, and, +as the gloom of night again darkened the city, the illustrious +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>sufferers were reconveyed to the Feuillants. All their friends were +driven from them, and guards were placed over them, who, by rudeness and +insults, did what they could to add bitterness to their captivity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The royal family consigned to the Temple.</div> + +<p>It was decided by the Assembly that they should all be removed to the +prison of the Temple. At three o'clock the next day two carriages were +brought to the door, and the royal family were conveyed through the +thronged streets and by the most popular thoroughfares to the prison. +The enemies of royalty appeared to court the ostentatious display of its +degradation. As the carriages were slowly dragged along, an immense +concourse of spectators lined the way, and insults and derision were +heaped upon them at every step. At last, after two hours, in which they +were constrained to drain the cup of ignominy to its dregs, the +carriages rolled under the gloomy arches of the Temple, and their prison +doors were closed against them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Advance of the allies.<br />Inhuman massacre.</div> + +<p>In the mean time the allied army was advancing with rapid strides toward +the city. The most dreadful consternation reigned in the metropolis. The +populace rose in its rage to massacre all suspected of being in favor of +royalty. The prisons were crowded with the victims of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>suspicion. The +rage of the mob would not wait for trial. The prison doors were burst +open, and a general and awful massacre ensued. There was no mercy shown +to the innocence of youth or to female helplessness. The streets of +Paris were red with the blood of its purest citizens, and the spirit of +murder, with unrestrained license, glutted its vengeance. In one awful +day and night many thousands perished. The walls of rock and iron of the +Temple alone protected the royal family from a similar fate.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Description of the Temple.<br />Tower of the Temple.</div> + +<p>The Temple was a dismal fortress which stood in the heart of Paris, a +gloomy memorial of past ages of violence and crime. It was situated not +far from the Bastile, and inclosed within its dilapidated yet massive +walls a vast space of silence and desolation. In former ages cowled +monks had moved with noiseless tread through its spacious corridors, and +their matins and vespers had vibrated along the stone arches of this +melancholy pile. But now weeds choked its court-yard, and no sounds were +heard in its deserted apartments but the shrieking of the wind as it +rushed through the grated windows and whistled around the angles of the +towers. The shades of night were adding to the gloom of this wretched +abode as the captives <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>were led into its deserted and unfurnished cells. +It was after midnight before the rooms for their imprisonment were +assigned to them. It was a night of Egyptian darkness. Soldiers with +drawn swords guarded them, as, by the light of a lantern, they picked +their way through the rank weeds of the castle garden, and over piles of +rubbish, to a stone tower, some thirty feet square and sixty feet high, +to whose damp, cheerless, and dismal apartments they were consigned. +"Where are you conducting us?" inquired a faithful servant who had +followed the fortunes of his royal master. The officer replied, "Thy +master has been used to gilded roofs, but now he will see how the +assassins of the people are lodged."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257-8]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 384px;"> +<img src="images/i240.jpg" width="384" class="illogap" height="500" alt="The Tower of the Temple." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Tower of the Temple.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">Apartments of the royal family.<br />Obscene pictures.</div> + +<p>Madame Elizabeth was placed in a kind of kitchen, or wash-room, with a +truckle bed in it, on the ground floor. The second floor of the Tower +was assigned to the attendants of the household. One common wooden +bedstead and a few old chairs were the only furniture of the room. The +third floor was assigned to the king, and queen, and the two children. A +footman had formerly slept in the room, and had left suspended upon the +walls some coarse and vulgar prints. The king, immediately glancing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>at them, took them down and turned their faces to the wall, exclaiming, +"I would not have my daughter see such things." The king and the +children soon fell soundly asleep; but no repose came to the agitated +mind of Maria Antoinette. Her lofty and unbending spirit felt these +indignities and atrocities too keenly. She spent the night in silent +tears, and indulging in the most gloomy forebodings of the fate which +yet awaited them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Resources of the prison.<br />Employments of the royal family.<br />Severe restrictions.<br />Manner of obtaining news.</div> + +<p>The morning sun arose, but to show still more clearly the dismal aspect +of the prison. But few rays could penetrate the narrow windows of the +tower, and blinds of oaken plank were so constructed that the inmates +could only look out upon the sky. A very humble breakfast was provided +for them, and then they began to look about to see what resources their +prison afforded to beguile the weary hours. A few books were found, such +as an odd volume of Horace, and a few volumes of devotional treatises, +which had long been slumbering, moth-eaten, in these deserted cells, +where, in ages that were past, monks had performed their severe +devotions. The king immediately systematized the hours, and sat down to +the regular employment of teaching his children. The son and the +daughter, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>with minds prematurely developed by the agitations and +excitements in the midst of which they had been cradled, clung to their +parents with the most tender affection, and mitigated the horrors of +their captivity by manifesting the most engaging sweetness of +disposition, and by prosecuting their studies with untiring vigor. The +queen and Madame Elizabeth employed themselves with their needles. They +breakfasted at nine o'clock, and then devoted the forenoon to reading +and study. At one o'clock they were permitted to walk for an hour, for +exercise, in the court-yard of the prison, which had long been consigned +to the dominion of rubbish and weeds. But in these walks they were daily +exposed to the most cruel insults from the guards that were stationed +over them. At two o'clock they dined. During the long hours of the +evening the king read aloud. At night, the queen prepared the children +for bed, and heard them repeat their prayers. Every day, however, more +severe restrictions were imposed upon the captives. They were soon +deprived of pens and paper; and then scissors, knives, and even needles +were taken away, under the pretense that they might be the instruments +of suicide. They were allowed no communication of any kind +with their friends without, and were debarred from all acquaintance with +any thing transpiring in the world. In that gloomy tower of stone and +iron they were buried. A faithful servant, however, adroitly opened +communication with a news boy, who, under the pretense of selling the +daily papers, recounted under their prison windows, in as loud a voice +as he could, the leading articles of the journals he had for sale. The +servant listened at the window with the utmost care, and then privately +communicated the information to the king and queen.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261-2]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i243.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="296" alt="The Royal Family in the Temple." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Royal Family in the Temple.</span></span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">The Princess Lamballe.</div> + +<p>The fate of the Princess Lamballe, who perished at this time, is highly +illustrative of the horrors in the midst of which all the Royalists +lived. This lovely woman, left a widow at eighteen, was attracted to the +queen by her misfortunes, and became her most intimate and devoted +friend. She lodged in an apartment adjoining to the queen's, that she +might share all her perils. Occasionally the princess was absent to +watch over and cheer an aged friend, the Duke de Penthièvre, her +father-in-law, who resided at the Château de Vernon. She had gone a +short time before the 20th of June to visit the aged duke, and Maria +Antoinette, who foresaw the terrible storm about to burst upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>them, +wrote the following touching letter to her friend, urging her not to +return to the sufferings and dangers of the Tuileries. The letter was +found in the hair of the Princess de Lamballe after her assassination.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maria's letter to the Princess de Lamballe.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Do not leave Vernon, my dear Lamballe, before you are +perfectly recovered. The good Duke de Penthièvre would be +sorry and distressed, and we must all take care of his +advanced age and respect his virtues. I have so often told +you to take heed of yourself, that, if you love me, you must +think of yourself; we shall require all of our strength in +the times in which we live. Oh! do not return, or return as +late as possible. Your heart would be too deeply wounded; +you would have too many tears to shed over my +misfortunes—you, who loved me so tenderly. This race of +tigers which infests the kingdom would cruelly enjoy itself +if it knew all the sufferings we undergo. Adieu, my dear +Lamballe; I am always thinking of you, and you know I never +change."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">She rejoins the queen.<br />The princess separated from the queen.</div> + +<p>The princess, notwithstanding this advice, hastened to join her friend +and to share her fate. She stood by the side of the queen during the +sleeplessness of the night preceding the 20th of June, and clung to her +during all those long <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>and terrific hours in which the mob filled her +apartment with language of obscenity, menace, and rage. She accompanied +the royal family to the Assembly, shared with them the cheerless night +in the old monastery of the Feuillants, and followed them to the gloomy +prison of the Temple. The stern decree of the Assembly, depriving the +royal family of the presence of any of their friends, excluded the +princess from the prison. She still, however, lived but to weep over the +sorrows of those whom she so tenderly loved.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">She is thrown into prison.<br />Trial of the princess.<br />She refuses to swear.<br />Assassination of the princess.<br />Brutality of the mob.</div> + +<p>She was soon arrested as a Loyalist, and plunged, like the vilest +criminal, into the prison of La Force. For the crime of loving the king +and queen she was summoned to appear before the Revolutionary tribunal. +The officers found her lying upon her pallet in the prison, surrounded +by other wretched victims of lawless violence, scarcely able to raise +her head from her pillow. She entreated them to leave her to die where +she was. One of the officers leaned over her bed, and whispered to her +that they were her friends, and that her life depended upon her entire +compliance with their directions. She immediately arose and accompanied +the guard down the prison stairs to the door. There two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>brutal-looking +wretches, covered with blood, stood waiting to receive her. As they +grasped her arms, she fainted. It was long before she recovered. As soon +as she revived she was led before the judges. "Swear," said one of them, +"that you love liberty and equality; and swear that you hate all kings +and queens." "I am willing to swear the first," she replied, "but as to +hatred of kings and queens, I can not swear it, for it is not in my +heart." Another judge, moved with pity by her youth and innocence, bent +over her and whispered, "Swear any thing, or you are lost." She still +remained silent. "Well," said one, "you may go, but when you get into +the street, shout <i>Vive la nation!</i>" The court-yard was filled with +assassins, who cut down, with pikes and bludgeons, the condemned as they +were led out from the court, and the mutilated and gory bodies of the +slain were strewn over the pavement. Two soldiers took her by the arm to +lead her out. As she passed from the door, the dreadful sight froze her +heart with terror, and she exclaimed, forgetful of the peril, "O God! +how horrible!" One of the soldiers, by a friendly impulse, immediately +covered her mouth, with his hand, that her exclamations might not be +heard. She was led into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>the street, filled with assassins thirsting for +the blood of the Royalists, and had advanced but a few steps, when a +journeyman barber, staggering with intoxication and infuriated with +carnage, endeavored, in a kind of brutal jesting, to strike her cap from +her head with his long pike. The blow fell upon her forehead, cutting a +deep gash, and the blood gushed out over her face. The assassins around, +deeming this the signal for their onset, fell upon her. A blow from a +bludgeon laid her dead upon the pavement. One, seizing her by the hair, +with a saber cut off her head. Others tore her garments from her +graceful limbs, and, cutting her body into fragments, paraded the +mutilated remains upon their pikes through the streets. The dissevered +head they bore into an ale house, and drank and danced around the +ghastly trophy in horrid carousal. The rioting multitude then, in the +phrensy of intoxication, swarmed through the streets to the Temple, to +torture the king and queen with the dreadful spectacle. The king, +hearing the shoutings and tumultuous laughter of the mob, went to the +window, and recognized, in the gory head thrust up to him upon the point +of a pike, the features of his much-loved friend. He immediately led the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>queen to another part of the room, that she might be shielded from the +dreadful spectacle.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dreadful apprehensions.<br />Increased severities.<br />The queen grossly insulted.</div> + +<p>Such were the flashes of terror which were ever gleaming through the +bars of their windows. The horrors of each passing moment were magnified +by the apprehension of still more dreadful evils to come. There was, +however, one consolation yet left them. They were permitted to cling +together. Locked in each other's arms, they could bow in prayer, and by +sympathy and love sustain their fainting hearts. It was soon, however, +thought that these indulgences were too great for dethroned royalty to +enjoy. But a few days of their captivity had passed away, when, at +midnight, they were aroused by an unusual uproar, and a band of brutal +soldiers came clattering into their room with lanterns, and, in the most +harsh and insulting manner, commanded the immediate expulsion of all the +servants and attendants of the royal family. Expostulation and entreaty +were alike unavailing. The captives were stripped of all their friends, +and passed the remainder of the night in sleeplessness and in despair. +With the light of the morning they endeavored to nerve themselves to +bear with patience this new trial. The king performed the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>part of a +nurse in aiding to wash and dress the children. For the health of the +children, they went into the court-yard of the prison before dinner for +exercise and the fresh air. A soldier, stationed there to guard them, +came up deliberately to the queen, and amused his companions by puffing +tobacco smoke from his pipe into her face. The parents read upon the +walls the names of their children, described as "whelps who ought to be +strangled."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king separated from his family.<br />Wretched state of the king.</div> + +<p>Six weeks of this almost unendurable agony passed away, when, one night, +as the unhappy captives were clustered together, finding in their mutual +and increasing affection a solace for all their woes, six municipal +officers entered the tower, and read a decree ordering the entire +separation of the king from the rest of his family. No language can +express the consternation of the sufferers in view of this cruel +measure. Without mercy, the officers immediately executed the barbarous +command, by tearing the king from the embraces of his agonized wife and +his grief-distracted children. The king, overwhelmed with anguish in +view of the sufferings which his wife and children must endure, most +earnestly implored them not to separate him from his family. They were +inflexible <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>and, hardly allowing the royal family one moment for their +parting adieus, hurried the king away. It was the dark hour of a gloomy +night. The few rays of light from the lanterns guided them through +narrow passages, and over piles of rubbish to a distant angle of the +huge and dilapidated fortress, where they thrust the king into an +unfurnished cell, and, locking the door upon him, they left him with one +tallow candle to make visible the gloom and the solitude. There was, in +one corner, a miserable pallet, and heaps of moldering bricks and mortar +were scattered over the damp floor. The king threw himself, in utter +despair, upon this wretched bed, and counted, till the morning dawned, +the steps of the sentinel pacing to and fro before his door. At length a +small piece of bread and a bottle of water were brought him for his +breakfast.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen's anguish at the separation.<br />The king sees his family occasionally.</div> + +<p>The anguish of the queen in the endurance of this most cruel separation +was apparently as deep as human nature could experience. Her woe +amounted to delirium. Pale and haggard, she walked to and fro, +beseeching her jailers that they would restore to her and to her +children the husband and the father. Her pathetic entreaties touched +even their hearts of stone. "I do believe," said one of them, "that +these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>infernal women will make even me weep." After some time, they +consented that the king should occasionally be permitted to partake his +meals with his family, a guard being always present to hear what they +should say. Immediately after the meal, he was to be taken back to his +solitary imprisonment.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Condition of the captives.</div> + +<p>Such was the condition of the royal family during a period of about four +months, varied by the capricious mercy or cruelty of the different +persons who were placed as guards over them. Their clothes became +soiled, threadbare, and tattered; and they were deprived of all means of +repairing their garments, lest they should convert needles and scissors +into instruments of suicide. The king was not allowed the use of a razor +to remove his beard; and the luxury of a barber to perform that +essential part of his toilet was an expense which his foes could not +incur. It was the studied endeavor of those who now rode upon the +crested yet perilous billows of power, to degrade royalty to the lowest +depths of debasement and contempt—that the beheading of the king and +the queen might be regarded as merely the execution of a male and a +female felon dragged from the loathsome dungeons of crime.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter X.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Execution of the King.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1792-1793</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ominous preparations.<br />The king summoned before the Convention.<br />The king before the Convention.<br />Charges brought against him.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">O</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">n</span> the 11th of December, 1792, just four months after the royal family +had been consigned to the Temple, as the captives were taking their +breakfast, a great noise of the rolling of drums, the neighing of +horses, and the tramp of a numerous multitude was heard around the +prison walls; soon some one entered, and informed the king that these +were the preparations which were making to escort him to his trial. The +king knew perfectly well that this was the step which preceded his +execution, and, as he thought of the awful situation of his family, he +threw himself into his chair and buried his face in his hands, and for +two hours remained in that attitude immovable. He was roused from his +painful revery by the entrance of the officers to conduct him to the bar +of his judges, from whom he was aware he could expect no mercy. "I +follow you," said the king, "not in obedience to the orders of the +Convention, but because my enemies are the more powerful." He put on his +brown great-coat and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>hat, and, silently descending the stairs to the +door of the tower, entered a carriage which was there awaiting him. As +he had long been deprived of his razors, his chin and cheeks were +covered with masses of hair. His garments hung loosely around his +emaciated frame, and all dignity of aspect was lost in the degraded +condition to which designing cruelty had reduced him. The captive +monarch was escorted through the streets by regiments of cavalry, +infantry, and artillery, every man furnished with fifteen rounds of +ammunition to repel any attempts at a rescue. A countless throng of +people lined the streets through which the illustrious prisoner was +conveyed. The multitude gazed upon the melancholy procession in profound +silence. He soon stood before the bar of the Convention. "Louis," said +the president, "the French nation accuses you. You are about to hear the +charges which are to be preferred. Louis, be seated." The king listened +with perfect tranquillity and self-possession to a long catalogue of +accusations, in which his efforts to sustain the falling monarchy, and +his exertions to protect himself and family from insults and death, were +construed into crimes against the nation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">The king begs for a morsel of bread.<br />He is taken back to prison.</div> + +<p>The examination of the king was long, minute, and was conducted by those +who were impatient for his blood. At its close, the king, perfectly +exhausted by mental excitement and the want of refreshment, was led back +into the waiting-room of the Convention. He was scarcely able to stand +for faintness. He saw a soldier eating a piece of bread. He approached, +and, in a whisper, begged him for a piece, and ate it. Here was the +monarch of thirty millions of people, in the heart of his proud capital, +and with all his palaces around him, actually begging bread of a poor +soldier. The king was again placed in the carriage, and conveyed back to +his prison in the Temple. As the cortège passed slowly by the palace of +the Tuileries, the scene of all his former grandeur and happiness, the +king gazed long and sadly on the majestic pile, so lost in thought that +he heeded not, and apparently heard not the insulting cries which were +resounding around him. As the king entered the Temple, he raised his +eyes most wistfully to the queen's apartment, but the windows were so +barred that no glances could be interchanged. The king was conducted to +his apartment, and was informed that he could no longer be permitted to +hold any communication whatever <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>with the other members of his family. +He contrived, however, by means of a tangle of thread, in which was +inclosed a piece of paper, perforated by a needle, to get a note to the +queen, and to receive a few words in return. He, however, felt that his +doom was sealed, and began from that hour to look forward to his +immortality. He made his will, in which he spoke in most affecting terms +of his wife, and his children, and his enemies, commending them all to +the protection of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Advance of the allies.<br />Clamor for the king's life.</div> + +<p>An indescribable gloom now reigned throughout Paris. The allied armies +on the frontiers were gradually advancing. The French troops were +defeated. It was feared that the Royalists would rise, and join the +invaders, and rescue the king. Desperadoes rioted through the streets, +clamoring for the blood of their monarch. With knives and bludgeons they +surrounded the Convention, threatening the lives of all if they did not +consign the king to the guillotine. The day for the final decision +came—Shall the king live or die? On that day the heart of the +metropolis throbbed as never before. It was the 20th of January, 1793. +The Convention had already been in uninterrupted session for fifteen +hours. The clamor of the tumultuous and threatening <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>mob gave portentous +warning of the doom which awaited the members of the Assembly should +they dare to spare the life of the king. One by one the deputies mounted +the tribune as their names were called in alphabetical order, and gave +their vote. For some time death and exile seemed equally balanced. The +results of the vote were read. The Convention comprised seven hundred +and twenty-one voters, three hundred and thirty-four of whom voted for +exile, and three hundred and eighty-seven for death.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king condemned to death.<br />Emotion of Malesherbes.<br />The king's demands.<br />The Abbé Edgeworth.</div> + +<p>Louis sat alone in his prison, calmly awaiting the decision. He laid +down that night knowing that his doom was sealed, and yet not knowing +what that doom was. Malesherbes, the venerable friend who had +volunteered for his defense, came to communicate the mournful tidings. +He fell at the king's feet so overcome with emotion that he could not +speak. The king understood the language of his silence and his tears, +and uttered himself the sentence "Death." But a few moments elapsed +before the officers of the Convention came, in all the pomp and parade +of the land, to communicate to the king his doom to the guillotine in +twenty-four hours. With perfect calmness, and fixing his eye immovably +upon his judges he heard the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>reading of the sentence. The reading +concluded, the king presented a paper to the deputies, which he first +read to them in the clear and commanding tones of a monarch upon his +throne, demanding a respite of three days, in order to prepare to appear +before God; also permission to see his family, and to converse with a +priest. The Convention, angry at these requests, informed the king that +he might see any priest he pleased, and that he might see his family, +but that the execution must take place in twenty-four hours from the +time of the sentence. Darkness had again fallen upon the city, when the +minister of religion, M. Edgeworth, was led through the gloomy streets, +to administer the consolations of piety to the condemned monarch. As he +entered the apartment of the king, he fell at his feet and burst into +tears. Louis for a moment wept, when, recovering himself, he said, +"Pardon me this momentary weakness. I have so long lived among enemies, +that habit has rendered me insensible to hatred. The sight of a faithful +friend restores my sensibility, and moves me to tears in spite of +myself." A long conversation ensued, in which the king inquired, with +the greatest interest, respecting the fate of his numerous friends. He +read his will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>with the utmost deliberation, his voice faltering only +when he alluded to his wife, children, and sister. At seven o'clock he +was to have his last agonizing interview with his beloved family, and +the thought of this agitated him far more than the prospect of the +scaffold.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The last interview.<br />Anguish of the royal family.</div> + +<p>The hour for the last sad meeting arrived. The king, having prepared his +heart by prayer for the occasion, descended into a small unfurnished +room, where he was to meet his family. The door opened. The queen, +leading his son, and Madame Elizabeth, leading his daughter, with +trembling, fainting steps, entered the room. Not a word was uttered. The +king threw himself upon a bench, drew the queen to his right side, his +sister to the left, and their arms encircled his neck, and their heads +hung upon his breast. The son climbed upon his father's knee, clinging +with his arms frantically to his bosom; and the daughter, throwing +herself at his feet, buried her head in his lap, her beautiful hair, in +disordered ringlets, falling over her shoulders. A long half hour thus +passed, in which not one single articulate word was spoken, but the +anguish of these united hearts was expressed in cries and lamentations +which pierced through the stone walls of their prison, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>were heard +by passers by in the streets. But human nature could not long endure +this intensity of agony. Total exhaustion ensued. Their tears dried upon +their cheeks; embraces, kisses, whispers of tenderness and love, and woe +ensued, which lasted for two hours.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The last embrace.<br />The separation.</div> + +<p>The king then clasped them each in a long embrace, pressing his lips to +their cheeks, and prepared to retire. Clinging to each other in an +inseparable group, they approached the stair-case which the king was to +ascend, when their piercing, heart-rending cries were renewed. The king, +summoning all his fortitude to his aid, tore himself from them, and, in +most tender accents, cried "<i>Adieu! adieu!</i>" hastily ascended the stairs +and disappeared, having partially promised that he would see them again +in the morning. The princess royal fell fainting upon the floor, and was +borne insensible to her room. The king, reaching his apartment, threw +himself into a chair, and exclaimed, "What an interview I have had! Why +do I love so fondly? Alas! why am I so fondly loved? But we have now +done with time, let us occupy ourselves with eternity."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king receives the sacrament.<br />Mementoes to his family.<br />The king summoned to execution.<br /> +Brutality of the officers.<br />The brutal jailer.</div> + +<p>The hour of midnight had now arrived. The king threw himself upon his +bed, and slept as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>calmly, as peacefully, as though he had never known a +sorrow. At five o'clock he was awakened, and received the sacrament of +the Lord's Supper. Then, taking a small parcel from his bosom, and +removing his wedding ring from his finger, he said to an attendant, +"After my death, I wish you to give this seal to my son, this ring to +the queen. Say to the queen, my dear children, and my sister, that I had +promised to see them this morning, but that I desired to spare them the +agony of this bitter separation twice over. How much it has cost me to +part without receiving their last embraces!" Here his utterance was +impeded by sobs. He then called for some scissors, that he might cut off +locks of hair for his family. As he soon after stood by the stove, +warming himself, he exclaimed, "How happy am I that I maintained my +Christian faith while on the throne! What would have been my condition +now, were it not for this hope!" Soon faint gleams of the light of day +began to penetrate through the iron bars and planks which guarded his +windows. It was the signal for the beating of drums, the tramp of armed +men, the rolling of heavy carriages of artillery, and the clattering of +horses' hoofs. As the escort were arriving at their stations in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>court-yard of the Temple, a great noise was heard upon the stair-case. +"They have come for me," said the king; and, rising with perfect +calmness and without a tremor, he opened the door. It was a false +summons. Again and again, under various pretexts, the door was opened, +until nine o'clock, when a tumultuous noise upon the stair-case +announced the approach of a body of armed men. Twelve municipal officers +and twelve soldiers entered the apartment. The soldiers formed in two +lines. The king, with a serene air, placed himself between the double +lines, and, looking to one of the municipal officers, said, presenting +to him a roll of paper, which was his last will and testament, "I beg of +you to transmit this paper to the queen." The municipal brutally +replied, "That is no affair of mine. I am here to conduct you to the +scaffold." "True," the king replied, and gave the paper to another, who +received it. The king then, taking his hat and declining his coat, +notwithstanding the severity of the cold, said, with a dignified gesture +and a tone of command, "Let us go." The king led the way, followed +rather than conducted by his escort. Descending the stairs, he met the +turnkey, who had been disrespectful to him the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>night before, and whom +the king had reproached for his insolence. Louis immediately approached +the unfeeling jailer, and said to him, "Mathey, I was somewhat warm with +you yesterday; forgive me, for the sake of this hour." The imbruted +monster turned upon his heel without any reply.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king conducted to execution.<br />A sad procession.<br />Admirable calmness of the king.<br />Attempt to rescue the king.<br /> +Its failure.</div> + +<p>As he crossed the court-yard of the Temple, he anxiously gazed upon the +windows of the apartment where the queen, his sister, and his children +were imprisoned. The windows were so guarded by plank shutters that no +glances from the loved ones within could meet his eye. As the heart of +the king dwelt upon the scenes of anguish which he knew must be passing +there, it seemed for a moment that his fortitude would fail him. But, +with a violent effort, he recovered his composure and passed on. At the +entrance of the Temple a carriage awaited the king. Two soldiers entered +the carriage, and took seats by his side. The king's confessor also rode +in the carriage. It was the 21st of January, 1793, a gloomy winter's +day. Dark clouds lowered in the sky. Fog and smoke darkened the city. +The atmosphere was raw, and cold in the extreme. Nature seemed in +harmony with man's deed of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>cruelty and crime. The shops were all +closed, the markets were empty. No citizens were allowed to cross the +streets on the line of march, or even to show themselves at the windows. +Sixty drums kept up a deafening clamor as the vast procession of +cavalry, infantry, and artillery marched before, behind, and on each +side of the carriage. Cannon, loaded with grape-shot, with matches +lighted, guarded the main street on the line of march, to prevent the +possibility of an attempt even at rescue. The noise of the drums, the +clatter of the iron hoofs of the horses, and the rumbling of the heavy +pieces of artillery over the pavements prevented all discourse, and the +king, leaning back in his carriage, surrendered himself to such +reflections as the awful hour would naturally suggest. The perfect +calmness of the king excited the admiration of those who were near his +person, and a few hearts in the multitude, touched with pity, gave +utterance to the cry of "Pardon! pardon!" The sounds, however, died away +in the throng, awakening no sympathetic response. As the procession +moved along, no sound proceeded from human lips. A feeling of awe +appeared to have taken possession of the whole city. The sentiment of +loyalty had, for so many centuries, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>pervaded the bosoms of the French +people, that they could not conduct their monarch to the scaffold +without the deepest emotions of awe. A feeling of consternation +oppressed every heart in view of the deed now to be perpetrated. But it +was too late to retract. Perhaps there was not an individual in that +vast throng who did not shudder in view of the crime of that day. At one +spot on the line of march, seven or eight young men, in the spirit of +desperate heroism which the occasion excited, hoping that the pity of +the multitude would cause them to rally for their aid, broke through the +line, sword in hand, and, rushing toward the carriage, shouted, "Help +for those who would save the king." Three thousand young men had +enrolled themselves in the conspiracy to respond to this call. But the +preparations to resist such an attempt were too formidable to allow of +any hopes of success. The few who heroically made the movement were +instantly cut down. At the Place de la Revolution, one hundred thousand +people were gathered in silence around the scaffold. The instrument of +death, with its blood-red beams and posts, stood prominent above the +multitudinous assemblage in the damp, murky air.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">The guillotine.<br />Associations.</div> + +<p>The guillotine was erected in the center of the Place de la Revolution, +directly in the front of the garden of the Tuileries. This celebrated +instrument of death was invented in Italy by a physician named +Guillotin, and from him received its name. A heavy ax, raised by +machinery between two upright posts, by the touching of a spring fell, +gliding down between two grooves, and severed the head from the body +with the rapidity of lightning. The palace in which Louis had passed the +hours of his infancy, and his childhood, and the days of his early +grandeur; the magnificent gardens of the palace, where he had so often +been greeted with acclamations; the spacious Elysian Fields, the pride +of Paris, were all spread around, as if in mockery of the sacrifice +which was there to be offered. This whole space was crowded with a +countless multitude, clustered upon the house tops, darkening the +windows, swinging upon the trees, to witness the tragic spectacle of the +beheading of their king. Arrangements had been made to have the places +immediately around the scaffold filled by the unrelenting foes of the +monarch, that no emotions of pity might retard the bloody catastrophe. +As the carriage approached the place of execution, the hum of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>the +mighty multitude was hushed, and a silence, as of death, pervaded the +immense throng.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The king's thoughtfulness.<br />He undresses himself.<br />The king ascends the scaffold.<br />His speech.</div> + +<p>At last the carriage stopped at the foot of the scaffold. The king +raised his eyes, and said to his confessor, in a low but calm tone, "We +have arrived, I think." By a silent gesture the confessor assented. The +king, ever more mindful of others than of himself, placed his hand upon +the knee of the confessor, and said to the officers and executioners who +were crowded around the coach, "Gentlemen, I recommend to your +protection this gentleman. See that he be not insulted after my death. I +charge you to watch over him." As no one made any reply, the king +repeated the admonition in tones still more earnest. "Yes! yes!" +interrupted one, jeeringly, "make your mind easy about that; we will +take care of him. Let us alone for that." Three of the executioners then +approached the king to undress him. He waved them from him with an +authoritative gesture, and himself took off his coat, his cravat, and +turned down his shirt collar. The executioners then came with cords to +bind him to a plank. "What do you intend to do?" he exclaimed, +indignantly. "We intend to bind you," they replied, as they seized his +hands. To be bound was an unexpected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>indignity, at which the blood of +the monarch recoiled. "No! no!" he exclaimed, "I will never submit to +that. Do your business, but you shall not bind me." The king resisted. +The executioners called for help. A scene of violence was about to +ensue. The king turned his eye to his confessor, as if for counsel. +"Sire," said the Abbé Edgeworth, "submit unresistingly to this fresh +outrage, as the last resemblance to the Savior who is about to +recompense your sufferings." Louis raised his eyes to heaven, and said, +"Assuredly there needed nothing less than the example of the Savior to +induce me to submit to such an indignity." He then reached his hands out +to the executioners, and said, "Do as you will; I will drink the cup to +the dregs." Leaning upon the arm of his friend, he ascended the steep +and slippery steps of the guillotine; then, walking across the platform +firmly, he looked for a moment intently upon the sharp blade of the ax, +and turning suddenly to the populace, exclaimed, in a voice clear and +distinct, which penetrated to the remotest extremities of the square, +"People, I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge. I pardon +the authors of my death, and pray God that the blood you are about to +shed may never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>fall again upon France. And you, unhappy people—" Here +the drums were ordered to beat, and the deafening clamor drowned his +words. The king turned slowly to the guillotine and surrendered himself +to the executioners. He was bound to the plank. "The plank sunk. The +blade glided. The head fell."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The last act in the tragedy.<br />Burial of the king's body.</div> + +<p>One of the executioners seized the severed head of the monarch by the +hair, and, raising the bloody trophy of their triumph, showed it to the +shuddering throng, while the blood dripped from it on the scaffold. A +few desperadoes dipped their sabers and the points of their pikes in the +blood, and, waving them in the air, shouted "Vive la Republique!" The +multitude, however, responded not to the cry. Explosions of artillery +announced to the distant parts of the city that the sacrifice was +consummated. The remains of the monarch were conveyed on a covered cart +to the cemetery of the Madeleine, and lime was thrown into the grave +that the body might be speedily and entirely consumed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The blood-red obelisk.<br />Character of Louis.</div> + +<p>Over the grave where he was buried Napoleon subsequently began the +splendid Temple of Glory, in commemoration of the monarch and other +victims who fell in the Revolution. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>The completion of the edifice was +frustrated by the fall of Napoleon. The Bourbons, however, on their +restoration to the throne, finished the building, and it is now called +the Church of the Madeleine, and it constitutes one of the most +beautiful structures of Paris. The spot on which the monarch fell is now +marked by a colossal obelisk of blood-red granite, which the French +government, in 1833, transported from Thebes, in Upper Egypt. Louis was +unquestionably one of the most conscientious and upright sovereigns who +ever sat upon a throne. He loved his people, and earnestly desired to do +every thing in his power to promote their welfare. And it can hardly be +doubted that he was guided through life, and sustained through the awful +trial of his death, by the principle of sincere piety. The tidings of +his execution sent a thrill of horror through Europe, and fastened such +a stigma upon Republicanism as to pave the way for the re-erection of +the throne.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XI.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Trial and Execution of Maria Antoinette.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1793</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sufferings of the queen.<br />Announcement of her husband's death.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">hile</span> the king was suffering upon the guillotine, the queen, with Madame +Elizabeth and the children, remained in their prison, in the endurance +of anguish as severe as could be laid upon human hearts. The queen was +plunged into a continued succession of swoons, and when she heard the +booming of the artillery, which announced that the fatal ax had fallen +and that her husband was headless, her companions feared that her life +was also, at the same moment, to be extinguished. Soon the rumbling of +wheels, the rolling of heavy pieces of cannon, and the shouts of the +multitude penetrating through the bars of her cell, proclaimed the +return of the procession from the scene of death. The queen was +extremely anxious to be informed of all the details of the last moments +of the king, but her foes refused her even this consolation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Cruel decree.<br />Maria's defense of her boy.<br />The dauphin's cell.</div> + +<p>Days and nights now lingered slowly along <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>while the captives were +perishing in monotonous misery. The severity of their imprisonment was +continually increased by new deprivations. No communications from the +world without were permitted to reach their ears. Shutters were so +arranged that even the sky was scarcely visible, and no employment +whatever was allowed them to beguile their hours of woe. About four +months after the death of the king, a loud noise was heard one night at +the door of their chamber, and a band of armed men came tumultuously in, +and read to the queen an order that her little son should be entirely +separated from her, and imprisoned by himself. The poor child, as he +heard this cruel decree, was frantic with terror, and, throwing himself +into his mother's arms, shrieked out, "O mother! mother! mother! do not +abandon me to those men. They will kill me as they did papa." The queen +was thrown into a perfect delirium of mental agony. She placed her child +upon the bed, and, stationing herself before him, with eyes glaring like +a tigress, and with almost superhuman energy, declared that they should +tear her in pieces before they should touch her poor boy. The officers +were subdued by this affecting exhibition of maternal love, and forbore +violence. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>For two hours she thus contended against all their +solicitations, until, entirely overcome by exhaustion, she fell in a +swoon upon the floor. The child was then hurried from the apartment, and +placed under the care of a brutal wretch, whose name, Simon, inhumanity +has immortalized. The unhappy child threw himself upon the floor of his +cell, and for two days remained without any nourishment. The queen +abandoned herself to utter despair. Madame Elizabeth and Maria Theresa +performed all the service of the chamber, making the beds, sweeping the +room, and attending upon the queen. No importunities on the part of +Maria Antoinette could obtain for her the favor of a single interview +with her child.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen summoned to the Conciergerie.<br />Painful partings.</div> + +<p>Three more months passed slowly away, when, early in August, the queen +was aroused from her sleep at midnight by armed men, with lanterns, +bursting into her room. With unfeeling barbarity, they ordered her to +accompany them to the prison of the Conciergerie, the most dismal prison +in Paris, where those doomed to die awaited their execution. The queen +listened, unmoved, to the order, for her heart had now become callous +even to woe. Her daughter and Madame Elizabeth threw themselves at the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>feet of the officers, and most pathetically, but unavailingly, implored +them not to deprive them of their only remaining solace. The queen was +compelled to rise and dress in the presence of the wretches who exulted +over her abasement. She clasped her daughter for one frantic moment +convulsively to her heart, covered her with embraces and kisses, spoke a +few words of impassioned tenderness to her sister, and then, as if +striving by violence to throw herself from the room, she inadvertently +struck her forehead a severe blow against the low portal of the door. +"Did you hurt you?" inquired one of the men. "Oh no!" was the despairing +reply, "nothing now can further harm me."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Conciergerie.<br />Loathsome apartments of the queen.</div> + +<p>A few lights glimmered dimly from the street lamps as the queen entered +the carriage, guarded by soldiers, and was conveyed through the somber +streets to her last earthly abode. The prison of the Conciergerie +consists of a series of subterranean dungeons beneath the floor of the +Palais de Justice. More damp, dark, gloomy dens of stone and iron the +imagination can not conceive. Down the dripping and slippery steps she +was led, groping her way by the feeble light of a tallow candle, until +she approached, through a labyrinth of corridors, an iron door. It +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>grated upon its hinges, and she was thrust in, two soldiers +accompanying her, and the door was closed. It was midnight. The lantern +gave just light enough to show her the horrors of her cell. The floor +was covered with mud and water, while little streams trickled down the +stone walls. A miserable pallet in one corner, an old pine table and one +chair, were all the comforts the kingdom of France could afford its +queen.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295-6]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i276.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="295" alt="Maria Antoinette in the Conciergerie." title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Maria Antoinette in the Conciergerie.</span></span> +</div> + +<div class="sidenote2">The jailer's wife.<br />The jailer's daughter.<br />The garter.</div> + +<p>The heart of the wife of the jailer was touched with compassion in view +of this unmitigated misery. She did not dare to speak words of kindness, +for they would be reported by the guard. She, however, prepared for her +some food, ventured to loan her some needles, and a ball of worsted, and +communicated intelligence of her daughter and son. The Committee of +Public Safety heard of these acts of mercy, and the jailer and his wife +were immediately arrested, and plunged into those dungeons into which +they would have allowed the spirit of humanity to enter. The shoes of +the queen, saturated with water, soon fell from her feet. Her stockings +and her dress, from the humidity of the air, were in tatters. Two +soldiers, with drawn swords, were stationed by her side night +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>and day, with the command never, even for one moment, to turn their eyes +from her. The daughter of the new jailer, touched with compassion, and +regardless of the fate of the predecessors of her parents, entered her +cell every morning to dress her whitened locks, which sorrow had +bleached. The queen ventured one day to solicit an additional +counterpane for her bed. "How dare you make such a request?" replied the +solicitor general of the commune; "you deserve to be sent to the +guillotine!" The queen succeeded secretly, by means of a tooth-pick, +which she converted into a tapestry needle, in plaiting a garter from +thread which she plucked from an old woollen coverlet. This memorial of +a mother's love she contrived, by stratagem, to transmit to her +daughter. This was the richest legacy the daughter of Maria Theresa and +the Queen of France could bequeath to her child. That garter is still +preserved as a sacred relic by those who revere the memory and +commiserate the misfortunes of Maria Antoinette.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dignity of the queen during her trial.<br />She is condemned to death.</div> + +<p>Two months of this all but insupportable imprisonment passed away, when, +early in October, she was brought from her dungeon below to the +court-room above for her trial. Her accusation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>was that she abhorred +the revolution which had beheaded her husband, and plunged her and her +whole family into woes, the remembrance of which it would seem that even +eternity could hardly efface. The queen condescended to no defense. She +appeared before her accusers in the calm dignity of despair, and yet +with a spirit as unbroken and queenly as when she moved in the gilded +saloons of Versailles. The queen was called to hear her sentence. It was +death within twenty-four hours. Not the tremor of a muscle showed the +slightest agitation as the mob, with clappings and shoutings, manifested +their hatred for their victim, and their exultation at her doom. Insults +and execrations followed her to the stair-case as she descended again to +her dungeon. It was four o'clock in the morning. A few rays of the +dawning day struggled through the bars of her prison window, and she +seemed to smile with a faint expression of pleasure at the thought that +her last day of earthly woe had dawned. She called for pen and ink, and +wrote a very affecting letter to her sister and children. Having +finished the letter, she repeatedly and passionately kissed it, as if it +were the last link which bound her to the loved ones from whom she was +so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>soon to be separated by death. She then, as if done with earth, +kneeled down and prayed, and with a tranquillized spirit, threw herself +upon her bed, and fell into a profound slumber.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The queen dressed for the guillotine.<br />Her hands bound.<br />Car of the condemned.<br />Indignities heaped upon the queen.<br /> +Arrival at the guillotine.<br />The queen's composure.<br />The queen's prayer.<br />Maternal love.<br />The last adieu.</div> + +<p>An hour or two passed away, when the kind daughter of the jailer came, +with weeping eyes and a throbbing heart, into the cell to dress the +queen for the guillotine. It was the 14th of October, 1793. Maria +Antoinette arose with alacrity, and, laying aside her prison-worn +garments of mourning, put on her only remaining dress, a white robe, +emblematic of the joy with which she bade adieu to earth. A white +handkerchief was spread over her shoulders, and a white cap, bound to +her head by a black ribbon, covered her hair. It was a cold and foggy +morning, and the moaning wind drove clouds of mist through the streets. +But the day had hardly dawned before crowds of people thronged the +prison, and all Paris seemed in motion to enjoy the spectacle of the +sufferings of their queen. At eleven o'clock the executioners entered +her cell, bound her hands behind her, and led her out from the prison. +The queen had nerved her heart to die in the spirit of defiance to her +foes. She thought, perhaps, too much of man, too little of God. Queenly +pride rather than Christian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>resignation inspired her soul. Expecting to +be conducted to the scaffold, as the king had been, in a close carriage, +she, for a moment, recoiled with horror when she was led to the +ignominious car of the condemned, and was commanded to enter it. This +car was much like a common hay cart, entirely open, and guarded by a +rude but strong railing. The female furies who surrounded her shouted +with laughter, and cried out incessantly, "Down with the Austrian!" +"Down with the Austrian!" The queen was alone in the cart. Her hands +were tied behind her. She could not sit down. She could not support +herself against the jolting of the cart upon the rough pavement. The car +started. The queen was thrown from her equilibrium. She fell this way +and that way. Her bonnet was crowded over her eyes. Her gray locks +floated in the damp morning air. Her coarse dress, disarranged, excited +derision. As she was violently pitched to and fro, notwithstanding her +desperate endeavors to retain the dignity of her appearance, the +wretches shouted, "These are not your cushions of Trianon." It was a +long ride, through the infuriated mob, to the scaffold, which was reared +directly in front of the garden of the Tuileries. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>As the car arrived at +the entrance of the gardens of the palace where Maria had passed through +so many vicissitudes of joy and woe, it stopped for a moment, apparently +that the queen might experience a few more emotions of torture as she +contemplated the abode of her past grandeur. Maria leaned back upon the +railing, utterly regardless of the clamor around her, and fixed her eyes +long and steadfastly upon the theater of all her former happiness. The +thought of her husband, her children, her home, for a moment overcame +her, and a few tears trickled down her cheeks and fell upon the floor of +the cart. But, instantly regaining her composure, she looked around +again upon the multitude, waving like an ocean over the whole +amphitheater, with an air of majesty expressive of her superiority over +all earthly ills. A few turns more of the wheels brought her to the foot +of the guillotine. It was upon the same spot where her husband had +fallen. She calmly, firmly looked at the dreadful instrument of death, +scrutinizing all its arrangements, and contemplating, almost with an air +of satisfaction, the sharp and glittering knife, which was so soon to +terminate all her earthly sufferings. Two of the executioners assisted +her by the elbows <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>as she endeavored to descend from the cart. She +waited for no directions, but with a firm and yet not hurried tread, +ascended the steps of the scaffold. By accident, she trod upon the foot +of one of the executioners. "Pardon me!" she exclaimed, with all the +affability and grace with which she would have apologized to a courtier +in the midst of the social festivities of the Little Trianon. She +kneeled down, raised her eyes to heaven, and in a low but heart-rending +prayer, all forgetful of herself, implored God to protect her sister and +her helpless children. She was deaf to the clamor of the infuriate mob +around her. She was insensible to the dishonor of her own appearance, +with disheveled locks blinding her eyes, and with her faded garments +crumpled and disarranged by the rough jostling of the cart. She forgot +the scaffold on which she stood, the cords which bound her hands, the +blood-thirsty executioners by her side, the fatal knife gleaming above +her head. Her thoughts, true to the irrepressible instincts of maternal +love, wandered back to the dungeons from whence she had emerged, and +lingered with anguish around the pallets where her orphan, friendless, +persecuted children were entombed. Her last prayer was the prayer of +agony. She rose from her knees, and, turning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>her eyes toward the tower +of the Temple, and speaking in tones which would have pierced any hearts +but those which surrounded her, exclaimed, "Adieu! adieu! once again, my +dear children. I go to rejoin your father."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">End of the tragedy.</div> + +<p>She was bound to the plank. Slowly it descended till the neck of the +queen was brought under the groove down which the fatal ax was to glide. +The executioner, hardened by deeds of daily butchery, could not look +upon this spectacle of the misery of the Queen of France unmoved. His +hand trembled as he endeavored to disengage the ax, and there was a +moment's delay. The ax fell. The dissevered head dropped into the basket +placed to receive it. The executioner seized it by the hair, gushing +with blood, raised it high above his head, and walked around the +elevated platform of the guillotine, exhibiting the bloody trophy to the +assembled multitude. One long shout of "Vive la Republique!" rent the +air, and the long and dreadful tragedy of the life of Maria Antoinette +was closed.</p> + +<p>The remains of the queen were thrown into a pine coffin and hurried to +an obscure burial. Upon the records of the Church of La Madeleine we now +read the charge, "<i>For the coffin of the Widow Capet, seven francs.</i>"</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XII.</span></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Princess Elizabeth, the Dauphin,<br /> and the Princess Royal.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">1793-1795</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The dauphin and the princesses.<br />Painful uncertainty.<br />Sufferings of the princesses.<br />Their dismal cell.<br />Painful thoughts.</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">hen</span> Maria Antoinette was taken from the Temple and consigned to the +dungeons of the Conciergerie, there to await her trial for her life, the +dauphin was imprisoned by himself, though but a child seven years of +age, in a gloomy cell, where he was entirely excluded from any +communication with his aunt and sister. The two latter princesses +remained in the room from which the queen had been taken. They were, +however, in the most painful uncertainty respecting her fate. Their +jailers were commanded to give them no information whatever respecting +the external world. Their prison was a living tomb, in which they were +allowed to breathe, and that was all. The Princess Elizabeth had +surmised, from various little incidents, what had been the fate of the +queen, but she tried to cheer the young, and affectionate, and still +beautiful child with the hope that her mother yet lived, and that they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>might meet again. Eight months of the most dreary captivity rolled +slowly away. It was winter, and yet they were allowed no fire to dispel +the gloom and the chill of their cell. They were deprived of all books. +They were not allowed the use of pens or paper. The long winter nights +came. In their cell there was but a few hours during which the rays of +the sun struggled faintly through the barred windows. Night, long, +dismal, impenetrable, like that of Egypt, enveloped them for fifteen +hours. They counted the strokes of the clocks in the distant churches. +They listened to the hum of the vast and mighty metropolis, like the +roar of the surf upon the shore. Reflections full of horror crowded upon +them. The king was beheaded. The queen was, they knew not where, either +dead or in the endurance of the most fearful sufferings. The young +dauphin was imprisoned by himself, and they knew only that the gentle, +affectionate, idolized child was exposed to every cruelty which +barbarism could inflict upon him. What was to be their own fate? Were +they to linger out the remnant of their days in this wretched captivity? +Would their inhuman jailers envy them the consolation they found in each +other's arms, and separate them? Were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>they also to perish upon the +guillotine, where nearly all whom they had loved had already perished? +Were they ever to be released? If so, what joy could there remain on +earth for them after their awful sufferings and bereavements? Woes, such +as they had endured, were too deep ever to be effaced from the mind. +Nearly eight months thus lingered slowly along, in which they saw only +brutal and insulting jailers, ate the coarsest food, and were clothed in +the unwashed and tattered garb of the prison. Time seemed to have +stopped its flight, and to have changed into a weary, woeful eternity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Unwelcome visitors.<br />The princesses separated.<br />Brutality of the soldiers.<br />Elizabeth taken before the tribunal.</div> + +<p>On the 9th of May, the Princess Elizabeth and her niece, who had +received the name of Maria Theresa in memory of her grandmother, were +retiring to bed. They were enveloped in midnight darkness. With their +arms around each other's necks, they were kneeling at the foot of the +bed in prayer. Suddenly a great noise was heard at the door, accompanied +with repeated and violent blows, almost heavy enough to shiver the door +from its hinges. Madame Elizabeth hastened to withdraw a bolt, which +constituted an inner fastening, when some soldiers rushed in with their +lanterns, and said to Madame Elizabeth, "You must immediately <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>follow +us." "And my niece," replied the princess, ever forgetful of herself in +her thoughtfulness for others, "can she go too?" "We want you only now!" +was the answer; "we will take care of her by-and-by." The aunt foresaw +that the hour for the long-dreaded separation had come. She threw her +arms around the neck of the trembling maiden, and wept in uncontrollable +grief. The brutal soldiers, unmoved by these tears, loaded them both +with reproaches and insults, as belonging to the detested race of kings, +and imperiously commanded the Princess Elizabeth immediately to depart. +She endeavored to whisper a word of hope into the ear of her despairing +niece. "I shall probably soon return again, my dear Maria." "No, +citoyenne, you won't," rudely interrupted one of the jailers; "you will +never ascend these stairs again. So take your bonnet and come down." +Bathing the face of the young girl with her tears, invoking the blessing +of heaven upon her, turning again and again to enfold her in a last +embrace, she was led out by the soldiers, and conducted down the dark +and damp stairs to the gate. Here the soldiers rudely searched her +person anew, and then thrust her into a carriage. It was midnight. The +carriage was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>driven violently through the deserted streets to the +Conciergerie. The Tribunal was, even at that hour, in session, for in +those days of blood, when the slide of the guillotine had no repose from +morning till night, the day did not contain hours enough for the work of +condemnation. The princess was conducted immediately into the presence +of the Revolutionary Tribunal. A few questions were asked her, and then +she was led into a hall, and left to catch such repose as she could upon +the bench where Maria Antoinette but a few months before had awaited her +condemnation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A group of noble captives.</div> + +<p>The morning had hardly dawned when she was again conducted to the +Tribunal, in company with twenty-four others, of every age and of both +sexes, whose crime was that they were nobles. Ladies were there, +illustrious in virtue and rank, who had formerly graced the brilliant +assemblies of the Tuileries and of Versailles. Young men, whose family +names had been renowned for ages, stood there to answer for the crime of +possessing a distinguished name. While looking upon this group of +nobles, gathered before that merciless tribunal, where judgment was +almost certain condemnation, the public accuser, with cruel irony +remarked, "Of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>what can Madame Elizabeth complain, when she sees herself +at the foot of the guillotine, surrounded by her faithful nobility? She +can now fancy herself back again in the gay festivities of Versailles."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Trial of Madame Elizabeth.<br />Her condemnation.<br />Sad reverses.<br />Character of Madame Elizabeth.</div> + +<p>The charges against Elizabeth were, that she was the sister of a tyrant, +and that she loved that royal family whom the nation had adjudged not +fit to live. "If my brother had been the tyrant you declare him to have +been," the princess remarked, "you would not be where you now are, nor I +before you." But it is vain for the lamb to plead with the wolf. She was +condemned to die. She listened to her sentence with the most perfect +composure, and almost with satisfaction. The only favor she asked was, +that she might see a priest, and receive the consolations of religion, +according to the faith she professed. Even this request was denied her. +The crime of loyalty was of too deep a dye to allow of any, the +slightest, mitigation of punishment. From the judgment hall she was led +down into one of the dungeons of the Conciergerie, where, with the rest +of her companions, she awaited the execution of their doom. It was, +indeed, a melancholy meeting. These illustrious captives had formerly +dwelt in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>highest splendor which earth allows. They had met in regal +palaces, surrounded by all the pomp and grandeur of courts. Now, after +months of the most cruel imprisonment, after passing through scenes of +the most protracted woe, having been deprived of all their possessions, +of all their ancestral honors, having surrendered one after another of +those most dear to them to the guillotine, they were collected in a dark +and foul dungeon, cold and wet, hungry and exhausted, to be conveyed in +a few hours, in the cart of the condemned, to the scaffold. The +character of Elizabeth was such, her weanedness from the world, her mild +and heavenly spirit, as to have secured almost the idolatrous veneration +of those who knew her. The companions of her misfortunes now clustered +around her, as the one to whom they must look for support and strength +in this awful hour. The princess, more calm and peaceful even than when +surrounded by all the splendors of royalty, looked forward joyfully to +the guillotine as the couch of sweet and lasting repose. Faith enabled +her to leave the children, now the only tie which bound her to earth, in +the hands of God, and, conscious that she had done with all things +earthly, her thoughts were directed to those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>mansions of rest which, +she doubted not, were in reserve for her. She bowed her head with a +smile to the executioner as he cut off her long tresses in preparation +for the knife. The locks fell at her feet, and even the executioners +divided them among them as memorials of her loveliness and virtue.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Madame Elizabeth at the guillotine.</div> + +<p>Her hands were bound behind her, and she was placed in the cart with +twenty-two companions of noble birth, and she was doomed to wait at the +foot of the scaffold till all those heads had fallen, before her turn +could come. The youth, the beauty, the innocence, the spotless life of +the princess seemed to disarm the populace of their rage, and they gazed +upon her in silence and almost with admiration. Her name had ever been +connected with every thing that was pure and kind. And even a feeling of +remorse seemed to pervade the concourse surrounding the scaffold in view +of the sacrifice of so blameless a victim.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Execution of her companions.<br />Death of Madame Elizabeth.<br />Her faith and piety.</div> + +<p>One by one, as the condemned ascended the steps of the guillotine to +submit to the dreadful execution, they approached Elizabeth and +encircled her in an affectionate embrace. At last every head had fallen +beneath the ax but that of Elizabeth. The mutilated bodies were before +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>her. The gory heads of those she loved were in a pile by her side. It +was a sight to shock the stoutest nerves. But the princess, sustained by +that Christian faith which had supported her through her almost +unparalleled woes, apparently without a tremor ascended the steps, +looked calmly and benignantly around upon the vast multitude, as if in +her heart she was imploring God's blessing upon them, and surrendered +herself to the executioner. Probably not a purer spirit nor one more +attuned for heaven existed in France than the one which then ascended +from the scaffold, we trust, to the bosom of God. Maria Antoinette died +with the pride and the firmness of the invincible queen. Elizabeth +yielded herself to the spirit of submissive piety, and fell asleep upon +the bosom of her Savior. Our thoughts would more willingly follow her to +those mansions of rest, where faith instructs us that she winged her +flight, than turn again to the prison where the orphan children lingered +in solitude and woe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Situation of the dauphin.<br />The brute Simon.<br />Inhuman treatment of the dauphin.<br />He becomes insane.</div> + +<p>Young Louis was left in one of the apartments of the Temple, under the +care of the brutal Simon, whose commission it was to <i>get quit of him</i>. +To send a child of seven years of age to the guillotine because his +father was a king, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>was a step which the Revolutionary Tribunal <i>then</i> +was hardly willing to take, out of regard to the opinions of the world. +It would be hardly consistent with the character of the great nation to +<i>poison</i> the child; and yet, while he lived, there was a rallying point +around which the sympathies of royalty could congregate. <i>Louis must +die!</i> Simon must not <i>kill</i> him; he must not <i>poison</i> him; he must <i>get +quit of him</i>. The public safety demands it. Patriotism demands it. In +the accomplishment of this undertaking, the young prince was shut up +alone, entirely alone, like a caged beast, in one of the upper rooms of +a tower of the Temple. There he was left, day and night, week after +week, and month after month, with no companion, with no employment, with +no food for thought, with no opportunity for exercise or to breathe the +fresh air. A flagon of water, seldom replenished, was placed at his +bedside. The door was occasionally half opened, and some coarse food +thrown in to the poor child. He never washed himself. For more than a +year, his clothes, his shirt, and his shoes had never been changed. For +six months his bed was not made, and the unhappy child, consigned to +this living burial, remained silent and immovable upon the impure +pallet, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>breathing his own infection. By long inactivity his limbs +became rigid. His mind, by the dead inaction which succeeded terror, +lost its energy, and became, not only brutalized, but depraved. The +noble child of warm affections, polished manners, and active intellect, +was thus degraded far below the ordinary condition of the brute.</p> + +<p>Thus eighteen months rolled away, and the poor boy became insane through +mental exhaustion and debility. But even then he retained a lively sense +of gratitude for every word or act of kindness. At one time, the inhuman +wretch who was endeavoring by slow torture to conduct this child to the +grave, seized him by the hair, and threatened to dash out his brains +against the wall. A surgeon, M. Naulin, who chanced to be near by, +interfered in behalf of the unhappy victim, and rescued him from the +rage of the tyrant. Two pears that evening were given to the +half-famished child for his supper. He hid them under his pillow, and +went supperless to sleep. The next day he presented the two pears to his +benefactor, very politely expressing his regret that he had no other +means of manifesting his gratitude.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The reaction.<br />Change in the dauphin's treatment.<br />Death of the dauphin.</div> + +<p>Torrents of blood were daily flowing from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>the guillotine. Illustrious +wealth, or rank, or virtue, condemned the possessor to the scaffold. +Terror held its reign in every bosom. No one was safe. The public became +weary of these scenes of horror. A reaction commenced. Many of the +firmest Republicans, overawed by the tyranny of the mob, began secretly +to long for the repose which kingly power had given the nation. Sympathy +was excited for the woes of the imprisoned prince. It is difficult to +record, without pleasure, that one of the first acts of this returning +sense of humanity consisted in leading the barbarous Simon to the +guillotine. History does not inform us whether he shuddered in view of +his crimes under the ax. But his crimes were almost too great for +humanity to forgive. Louis was placed under the care of more merciful +keepers. His wasted frame and delirious mind, generous and affectionate +even in its delirium, moved their sympathy and their tears. They washed +and dressed their little prisoner; spoke to him in tones of kindness; +soothed and comforted him. Louis gazed upon them with a vacant air, +hardly knowing, after more than two years of hatred, execration, and +abuse, what to make of expressions of gentleness and mercy. But it was +too late. Simon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>had faithfully executed his task. The constitution of +the young prince was hopelessly undermined. He was seized with a fever. +The Convention, ashamed of the past, sent the celebrated physician +Dessault to visit him. The patient, inured to suffering, with blighted +hopes and a crushed heart, lingered in silence and patience for a few +days upon his bed, and died on the 9th of June, 1795, in the tenth year +of his age.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sympathy awakened by it.</div> + +<p>The change which had commenced in the public mind, preparing the way for +Napoleon to quell these revolutionary horrors, was so great, that a very +general feeling of sympathy was awakened by the death of the young +prince, and a feeling of remorse pervaded the conscience of the nation. +History contains few stories more sorrowful than the death of this +child. To the limited vision of mortals, it is indeed inexplicable why +he should have been left by that God, who rules in infinite wisdom and +love, to so dreadful a fate. For the solution of this and all other +inexplicable mysteries of the divine government, we must look forward to +our immortality.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Situation of the princess royal.<br />Her deep sufferings.</div> + +<p>But we must return to Maria Theresa. We left her at midnight, delirious +with grief and terror, upon the pallet of her cell, her aunt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>having +just been torn from her embrace. Even the ravages of captivity had not +destroyed the exceeding beauty of the princess, now sixteen years of +age. The slow hours of that night of anguish lingered away, and the +morning, cheerless and companionless, dawned through the grated window +of her prison upon her woe. Thus days and nights went and came. She knew +not what had been the fate of her mother. She knew not what doom awaited +her aunt. She could have no intercourse with her brother, who she only +knew was suffering every conceivable outrage in another part of the +prison. Her food was brought to her by those who loved to show their +brutal power over the daughter of a long line of kings. Weeks and months +thus rolled on without any alleviation—without the slightest gleam of +joy or hope penetrating the midnight gloom of her cell. It is impossible +for the imagination to paint the anguish endured by this beautiful, +intellectual, affectionate, and highly-accomplished princess during +these weary months of solitude and captivity. Every indulgence was +withheld from her, and conscious existence became the most weighty woe. +Thus a year and a half lingered slowly away, while the reign of terror +was holding its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>high carnival in the streets of blood-deluged Paris, +and every friend of royalty, of whatever sex or age, all over the +empire, was hunted down without mercy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sympathy for the princess royal.<br />She is released.<br />Arrival of the princess royal in Vienna.<br />Her settled melancholy.</div> + +<p>When the reaction awakened by these horrors commenced in the public +mind, the rigor of her captivity was somewhat abated. The death of her +brother roused in her behalf, as the only remaining child of the wrecked +and ruined family, such a feeling of sympathy, that the Assembly +consented to regard her as a prisoner of war, and to exchange her with +the Austrian government for four French officers whom they held as +prisoners. Maria Theresa was led, pale, pensive, heart-broken, hopeless, +from her cell, and placed in the hands of the relatives of her mother. +But her griefs had been so deep, her bereavements so utter and +heart-rending, that this change seemed to her only a mitigation of +misery, and not an accession of joy. She was informed of the death of +her mother and her aunt, and, weeping over her desolation, she emerged +from her prison cell and entered the carriage to return to the palaces +of Austria, where her unhappy mother had passed the hours of her +childhood. As she rode along through the green fields and looked out +upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>the blue sky, through which the summer's sun was shedding its +beams—as she felt the pure air, from which she had so long been +excluded, fanning her cheeks, and realized that she was safe from +insults and once more free, anguish gave place to a calm and settled +melancholy. She arrived in Vienna. Love and admiration encircled her. +Every heart vied in endeavors to lavish soothing words and delicate +attentions upon this stricken child of grief. She buried her face in the +bosoms of those thus soliciting her love, her eyes were flooded with +tears, and she sobbed with almost a bursting heart. After her arrival in +Vienna, one full year passed away before a smile could ever be won to +visit her cheek. Woes such as she had endured pass not away like the +mists of the morning. The hideous dream haunted her by day and by night. +The headless trunks of her father, her mother, and her aunt were ever +before her eyes. Her beloved brother, suffering and dying upon a +beggar's bed, was ever present in her dreams while reposing under the +imperial canopy of the Austrian kings. The past had been so long and so +awful that it seemed an ever-living reality. The sudden change she could +hardly credit but as the delirium of a dream.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote">Love felt for Maria.<br />She recovers her cheerfulness.<br />Maria's marriage.</div> + +<p>Time, however, will diminish the poignancy of every sorrow save those of +remorse. Maria was now again in a regal palace, surrounded with every +luxury which earth could confer. She was young and beautiful. She was +beloved, and almost adored. Every monarch, every prince, every +embassador from a foreign court, delighted to pay her especial honor. No +heart throbbed near her but with the desire to render her some +compensation for the wrongs and the woes which had fallen upon her +youthful and guileless heart. Wherever she appeared, she was greeted +with love and homage. Those who had never seen her would willingly peril +their lives in any way to serve her. Thus was she raised to +consideration, and enshrined in the affections of every soul retaining +one spark of noble feeling. The past receded farther and farther from +her view, the present arose more and more vividly before the eye. Joy +gradually returned to that bosom from which it had so long been a +stranger. The flowers bloomed beautifully before her eyes, the birds +sung melodiously in her ears. The fair face of creation, with mountain, +vale, and river, beguiled her thoughts, and introduced images of peace +and beauty to dispel the hideous phantoms of dungeons <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>and misery. The +morning drive around the beautiful metropolis; the evening serenade; the +moonlight sail; and, above all, the voice of <i>love</i>, reanimated her +heart, and roused her affections from the tomb in which they so long had +slumbered. The smile of youth, though still pensive and melancholy, +began to illumine her saddened features. Hope of future joy rose to +cheer her. The Duc d'Angoulême, son of Charles X., sought her as his +bride, and she was led in tranquil happiness to the altar, feeling as +few can feel the luxury of being tenderly beloved.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her present residence.<br />Advanced age of Maria.<br />Still retains traces of her early sorrows.</div> + +<p>Upon the fall of Napoleon she returned to France with the Bourbon +family, and again moved, with smiles of sadness, among the brilliant +throng crowding the palaces of her ancestors. The Revolution of 1830, +which drove the Bourbons again from the throne of France, drove Maria +Theresa, now Duchesse d'Angoulême, again into exile. She resided for a +time with her husband in the Castle of Holyrood, in Scotland, under the +name of the Count and Countess of Main; but the climate being too severe +for her constitution, she left that region for Vienna. There she was +received with every possible demonstration of respect and affection. She +now resides in the imperial castle of Prague, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>a venerated widow, having +passed through three-score years and ten of a more varied life than is +often experienced by mortals. Even to the present hour, her furrowed +cheeks retain the traces, in their pensive expression, of the sorrow +which darkened her early years.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber's note:</span></h3> + +<p>1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors +and to ensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this e-text; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the original book.</p> + +<p>2. The sidenotes used in this text were originally published as +banners in the page headers, and have been moved to the relevant paragraph +for the reader's convenience.</p> + +<p>3. Some page numbers have been rearranged to accommodate +placement of illustrations.</p> + +<p>4. The page reference in the Table of Contents for Chapter III has +been corrected to show the chapter as beginning on page 78.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARIA ANTOINETTE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 30875-h.txt or 30875-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/8/7/30875">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/8/7/30875</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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