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30 - Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty by Imbert de Saint-Amand · Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty of Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information, ought to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Read for you by Chichito Crasto.
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  Speaker 1: Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty by Imbert Saint
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  Speaker 1: Armand translated by Elizabeth G. Martin. Chapter thirty. The combat
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  Speaker 1: what had taken place at the Tuileries after the departure
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  Speaker 1: of the royal family for the assembly. At the very
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  Speaker 1: moment when they abandoned this place which they were never
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  Speaker 1: to see again, the Masterier the vanguard of the insurrection
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  Speaker 1: were pounding at the gate of the principal courtyard, furious
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  Speaker 1: because it was not opened. A few minutes later, the
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  Speaker 1: column of the Faubourg Saint Antoine, after passing through the
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  Speaker 1: Rue Saint Honore, debuched on the carousel. It was under
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  Speaker 1: the command of the pole Lazuski and Westermann, who directed
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  Speaker 1: it toward the gate of the royal court. As the
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  Speaker 1: Marseillier had not yet succeeded in forcing this, Westermann had
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  Speaker 1: it broken open. The cannoneers, whose business it was to
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  Speaker 1: defend the palace, at once declared on the side of
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  Speaker 1: the riot and turned their pieces against the juilliaries. With
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  Speaker 1: the exception of the domestics, they were now in the
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  Speaker 1: palace only seven hundred and fifty Swiss and about a
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  Speaker 1: hundred National Guards and a few nobles. The sole instructions
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  Speaker 1: the Swiss received came from old Marchal de Mailli. Do
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  Speaker 1: not let yourselves be taken. Louis the sixteenth had said
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  Speaker 1: absolutely nothing on going away, and his departure discouraged his
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  Speaker 1: most faithful adhearance add to this that the Swiss had
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  Speaker 1: not enough cartridges. What was to be the fate of
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  Speaker 1: this fine regiment, This cours delite where everywhere, and always
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  Speaker 1: had set the example of discipline and military honor, which,
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  Speaker 1: ever since the revolution began, had haughtily repulsed every attempt
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  Speaker 1: to tamper with it, and whose red uniforms alone struck
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  Speaker 1: terror into the populace. These brave soldiers guarded respectfully the
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  Speaker 1: traditions of their ancestors, who, at the famous retreat of
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  Speaker 1: Mau had saved Charles the Knight. But for my good friends,
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  Speaker 1: the Swiss said that prince, my life and liberty would
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  Speaker 1: have been in a bad way. What the Swiss of
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  Speaker 1: the sixteenth century had done for one king of France,
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  Speaker 1: the Swiss of the eighteenth century would have done for
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  Speaker 1: his successor. They would have saved Louis the sixteenth if
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  Speaker 1: he would have let himself be saved. A major general,
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  Speaker 1: who had remained at the tuileries, judging that it was
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  Speaker 1: impossible to defend the courts which so few soldiers cried gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: retired to the palace. They had to leave a six
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  Speaker 1: cannon in the power of the enemy, and to abandon
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  Speaker 1: the courts. It would have been foreseen that it would
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  Speaker 1: be necessary to retake these under penalty of being burned
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  Speaker 1: in the palace. The common soldiers said so loudly. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: they obeyed and were dispos used as well as time
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  Speaker 1: as the localities permitted. The stairs and windows were lined
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  Speaker 1: with soldiers. A count of Colonel Faifur Dalty Chauffin published
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  Speaker 1: at Lucerne in eighteen nineteen. One post occupied the chapel,
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  Speaker 1: another the vestibule and grant staircase. There was Swiss also
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  Speaker 1: at the windows, looking into the courts. Down with the
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  Speaker 1: Swiss cried the Marseiller down down, surrender. However, the struggle
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  Speaker 1: had not yet begun. Nearly fifteen minutes elapsed between the
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  Speaker 1: invasion of the royal court and the first shot. The
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  Speaker 1: Marseillier brandished their pikes and guns, but they were not confident,
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  Speaker 1: for at first they dared not cross the court more
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  Speaker 1: than half way. The Swiss and National Guards, who were
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  Speaker 1: at the windows made gestures to induce the populace to
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  Speaker 1: quiet down and go away. The throng of insurgents grew
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  Speaker 1: greater every minute. They had just got their cannon into
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  Speaker 1: battery against the tuileries. What the Swiss especially intended was
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  Speaker 1: to defend the Grand's ta caise so as to prevent
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  Speaker 1: the apartments of the first floor from being invaded. This take, case,
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  Speaker 1: afterwards destroyed, was in the middle of the vestibule of
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  Speaker 1: the Ologe Pavilion. The chapel, whose sight was afterwards changed,
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  Speaker 1: was on the level of the first landing, and from
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  Speaker 1: this landing two symmetrical flights at right angles were The
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  Speaker 1: first led to the Hall of the hundred Swiss, the
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  Speaker 1: future Hall of the Marshals. Westermann, bolder than the other,
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  Speaker 1: insurgents had advanced as far as the vestibule with several marchaillier.
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  Speaker 1: He began to parley with the soldiers, trying to set
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  Speaker 1: them against their officers, and induced them to lay down
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  Speaker 1: their arms. Sergeant Blazer answered, Westermann, weas Swiss, and the
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  Speaker 1: Swiss only lay down their weapons with their lives. The
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  Speaker 1: officers caused a barricade of pieces of wood to be
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  Speaker 1: raised on the first landing at the head of the stairs,
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  Speaker 1: to prevent new deputations from coming. To demoralize their men.
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  Speaker 1: The machaillier attempted to take it by main force. Some
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  Speaker 1: of them were armed with halberds terminating in hooks. These
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  Speaker 1: they thrust below the barricade, trying to catch the men
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  Speaker 1: defending it. They seized an adjutant in this way and
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  Speaker 1: disarmed him. At the foot of the stairs they seized
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  Speaker 1: the first Swiss entry, and afterwards five others. They lay
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  Speaker 1: hold of them with hooked pikes, which they thrust into
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  Speaker 1: their coats, and drew them forwards, disarming them at once
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  Speaker 1: of their sabers, guns and cartridge boxes. Amidst shouts of laughter.
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  Speaker 1: Encouraged by the success of this forlorn hope, the whole
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  Speaker 1: crowd pressed towards the foot of the stairs, and there
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  Speaker 1: massacred the five Swiss, already taken and disarmed Monsieur Peltier's relation.
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  Speaker 1: Then a pistol shot was heard. From Which side did
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  Speaker 1: it come? Was it the Marseilliers who provoked the combat?
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  Speaker 1: Was it the Swiss who sought to avenge their comrades
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  Speaker 1: the sentries? Whoever it was, this pistol shot was signaled
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  Speaker 1: for the fight, which began about half past ten in
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  Speaker 1: the morning. At first, the Swiss had the advantage. Every
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  Speaker 1: shot they fired from the windows told Among the people
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  Speaker 1: crowding their courtyards were many who had not come to fight,
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  Speaker 1: but through mere curiosity. Pale with fright, they fled towards
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  Speaker 1: the carousel through the gates of the royal coat, which
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  Speaker 1: were strewn in an instant with guns, pikes and cartridge boxes.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the insurgents fell flat on their faces and
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  Speaker 1: counterfeited death, rising occasionally and gliding along the walls to
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  Speaker 1: gain the sentry boxes of the mounted sentinels as best
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  Speaker 1: they could. Even the majority of the cannoneers deserted their
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  Speaker 1: pieces and ran. Like the rest. The courts were cleared
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  Speaker 1: in an instant. Two Swiss officers Monsieur de Dulay and
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  Speaker 1: a fifeur instantly made a short tea at the head
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  Speaker 1: of one hundred and twenty soldiers, took four cannon and
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  Speaker 1: found themselves once more masters of the door of the
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  Speaker 1: royal court. A detachment of sixty soldiers formed themselves into
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  Speaker 1: a hollow square before this door and kept up a
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  Speaker 1: rolling fire on the rioteer's rooms, maining on the carousel
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  Speaker 1: until the place was completely swept. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: on the side of the garden, another detachment of Swiss
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  Speaker 1: under Count de Salis, seized three cannon and brought them
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  Speaker 1: to the palace gate. Napoleon, who witnessed the combat from
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  Speaker 1: a distance, says the Swiss handled their artillery with vigor
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  Speaker 1: in ten minutes. The Marseillier were chased as far as
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  Speaker 1: the Rue de la Chele, and never came back until
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  Speaker 1: the Swiss were withdrawn by the king's order. It was now,
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  Speaker 1: in fact that Monsieur de Viyelle arrived hatless and unarmed
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  Speaker 1: through the fusillade of grape. They wanted to show him
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  Speaker 1: the dispositions they had just made on the garden side.
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  Speaker 1: There is no question of that, said he. You must
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  Speaker 1: go to the assembly. It is the King's order. The
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  Speaker 1: unfortunate soldiers flattered themselves that they might still be of use. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: brave Swiss, cried, baron the Vieurmeesse, nill go and find
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  Speaker 1: the King. Your ancestors did so more than once. In
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  Speaker 1: spite of their chagrin at abandoning the field of which
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  Speaker 1: they had just become masters, they obeyed. Their only thought
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  Speaker 1: was to repair to that assembly, where a last humiliation
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  Speaker 1: awaited them. The officers had the drums beat the call
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  Speaker 1: to arms, and in spite of the reign of balls
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  Speaker 1: from every side, they succeeded in marshaling the soldiers as
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  Speaker 1: if for a dress parade. In front of the palace.
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  Speaker 1: Opposite the garden, the signal for departure was given. An
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  Speaker 1: unforeseen pedal was reserved for these heroes. The battalions of
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  Speaker 1: the National Guard stationed at the door of the pont Royal,
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  Speaker 1: at that of the mannersh Court and the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: the terrace the Foyan had stood still with their weapons
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  Speaker 1: grounded since the affray began. But hardly had the Swiss
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  Speaker 1: entered the Grand Alley than these battalions, neutral until now
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  Speaker 1: detailed a number of individuals who hid behind the trees
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  Speaker 1: and fired with their muzzles, almost touching the troops. On
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  Speaker 1: reaching the middle of the alley, the Swiss, who hardly
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  Speaker 1: deigned to return this fire, divided into two columns. The first,
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  Speaker 1: turning to the right under the trees, went towards the
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  Speaker 1: staircase leading to the assembly from the terrace of the foyard.
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  Speaker 1: The second, which followed at a short distance, enacted as
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  Speaker 1: a rear guard, went on as far as the place
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  Speaker 1: Louis the fifteenth, where it found the mounted gendarmes. If
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  Speaker 1: this body of cavalry had done its duty, it would
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  Speaker 1: have united with the Swiss, but far from that it
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  Speaker 1: declared for the insurrection and sabored them. It is said
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  Speaker 1: that the officers and soldiers killed in this retreat across
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  Speaker 1: the garden were interred at the foot of the famous chestnut,
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  Speaker 1: whose exceptional forwardness had earned the surname of the tree
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  Speaker 1: of March twentieth. Thus, the Bonapartis tree of popular tradition
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  Speaker 1: owes its astonishing strength of vegetation solely to the human
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  Speaker 1: composed furnished by the corpses of the last defenders of royalty.
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  Speaker 1: The first column, that which was on its way to
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  Speaker 1: the Assembly, presented itself resolutely in front of the terrace
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  Speaker 1: of the foyard, which was full of people. These took flight,
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  Speaker 1: and the Swiss entered the corridors of the Assembly, carried
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  Speaker 1: away by his zeal. One of the officers, Berhon de Salis,
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  Speaker 1: entered the hall with his naked sword in his hand.
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  Speaker 1: The left uttered a cry of affright. A deputy went
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  Speaker 1: out to order the commander, Baron de Dulay to make
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  Speaker 1: his troops lay down their arms. Monsieur de d'urlay, having refused,
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  Speaker 1: he was conducted to the King. Sire, said he, with
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  Speaker 1: sorrowful indignation. They want me to lay down arms. Louis
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  Speaker 1: the sixteenth responded, put them in the hands of the
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  Speaker 1: National Guard. I am not willing that brave men like
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  Speaker 1: you should perish to surrender arms. Did Louis the sixteenth
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  Speaker 1: fully comprehend that for soldiers like these, such an outrage
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  Speaker 1: was a hundred times worse than death. The King's words
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  Speaker 1: were like a thunderbolt to them. They wept with rage,
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  Speaker 1: but said they, even if we have no more cartridges,
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  Speaker 1: we can still defend ourselves with our bayonets. Such devotion,
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  Speaker 1: such courage, such discipline such heroism to end like this.
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  Speaker 1: And yet the unfortunate Swiss, though grieved to the heart,
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  Speaker 1: resigned themselves to the last sacrifice their master required from
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  Speaker 1: their fidelity, lay down their arms and were imprisoned in
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  Speaker 1: the ancient church of the Fougnan. To the number of
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  Speaker 1: about two hundred and fifty it was all that remained
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  Speaker 1: of this magnificent regiment. The others had been killed in
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  Speaker 1: the garden or had their throats cut in the palace,
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  Speaker 1: and the greater part of the survivors were to be
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  Speaker 1: assassinated in the massacres of September. Thus ended the French
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  Speaker 1: King's regiment of Swiss guards, like one of those sturdy
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  Speaker 1: oaks whose prolonged existence had affronted so many storms, and
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  Speaker 1: which nothing but an earthquake can approot. It fell the
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  Speaker 1: very day on which the ancient French monarchy also fell.
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  Speaker 1: It counted more than a century and a half of
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  Speaker 1: faithful services rendered to France. To destroy this worthy corps,
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  Speaker 1: a combination of unfortunate events had been required. It had
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  Speaker 1: been necessary to deprive the Swiss of their artillery, their ammunition,
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  Speaker 1: their staff, and the presence of the king to enfeeble them.
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  Speaker 1: Five days before the combat, by sending away a detachment
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  Speaker 1: of three hundred men, to forbid the two hundred men
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  Speaker 1: who accompanied the king to the assembly to fire a shot,
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  Speaker 1: to render useless the wise dispositions of messieurs, the mayadors
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  Speaker 1: and the Bachmen by an ill advised order at the
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  Speaker 1: moment of the attack, and to have Monsieur de vi
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  Speaker 1: Ye come at the moment of victory to divide and
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  Speaker 1: enfeeble the defense relation of Colonel Feifort. Thealti Chauffen. The
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  Speaker 1: Swiss Republic is honored the memory of these sons who
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  Speaker 1: died for a king. At the entrance of Lucerne, in
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  Speaker 1: the side of a rock, a grotto has been hollowed out,
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  Speaker 1: in which may be seen a colossal stone lion, the
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  Speaker 1: work of Thorwaldsen, the famous Danish sculptor. This lion, struck
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  Speaker 1: by a lance and lying down to die, holds tight
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  Speaker 1: within his claws the royal escutcheon upon a shield adorned
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  Speaker 1: with Fleur de lis. Underneath the lion are engraved the
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  Speaker 1: names of the Swiss officers and soldiers who died between
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  Speaker 1: August tenth and September twod seventeen ninety two. Above it
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  Speaker 1: may be read this inscription cut in the rock helvetiorum
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  Speaker 1: fidei ark vituti to the fidelity and the courage of
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  Speaker 1: the Swiss. Louis the sixteenth had to repent his weakness bitterly.
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  Speaker 1: The wretched monarch had at last reached the bottom of
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  Speaker 1: the abyss, where the slippery descent of concession ends. And
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  Speaker 1: for having been willing to spear the blood of a
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  Speaker 1: few criminals, he was to see that of his most
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  Speaker 1: loyal and faithful adverheerance shed in Torrents. It is said
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  Speaker 1: that Napoleon, who witnessed the combat from a distance, cried
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  Speaker 1: several times in speaking of Louis the sixteenth, What, then,
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  Speaker 1: wretched man, have you no cannon to sweep out this
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  Speaker 1: rabble behind the people of the tenth of August The
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  Speaker 1: man of Brumaire already appeared as a conqueror, work of way,
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  Speaker 1: then insurgents. This unknown young man, this straight haired Corsican
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  Speaker 1: hidden in the crowd, will be the master of you all.
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  Speaker 1: He will crush the revolution. He will make himself all
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  Speaker 1: powerful in that palace of the Tuileries, where the riot
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  Speaker 1: is lauding it at this moment. And after him, the
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  Speaker 1: brother of the King, whom you insult to day and
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  Speaker 1: will kill tomorrow. The Count de Provence, the emigree, who
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  Speaker 1: is the object of your hatred, will triumphantly enter the
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  Speaker 1: palace of his forefathers, and each of them in his turn,
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  Speaker 1: the Corsican gentleman and the brother of Louis the sixteenth,
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  Speaker 1: will be received with the same transports in that fatal
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  Speaker 1: palace which is now red with the blood of the Swiss.
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  Speaker 1: How surprised these people would be if they could foresee
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  Speaker 1: what the future has in store for them. Among these
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  Speaker 1: frenzied demagogues, these outer revolutionists, these these heavel Marseiller, with
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  Speaker 1: lips blackened by powder and jackets all blood, how many
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  Speaker 1: will be the fanatical admirers and soldiers of a Caesar.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter thirty read for you by Jigito Crasto, Birmingham, Alabama.