Latest / Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette / 30 - Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Henriette Campan
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Volume two, continuation, Part two of Memoirs of the Court
- 0:04Speaker 1: of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campin. This LibriVox recording is
- 0:09Speaker 1: in the public domain Continuation from the Committal to the
- 0:13Speaker 1: Temple to the Death of Louis sixteen, Part two. From
- 0:17Speaker 1: this period forward, their sufferings were, if possible, yet augmented,
- 0:22Speaker 1: until at length they were brought to a climax by
- 0:24Speaker 1: the announcement to the hapless captives that, in the words
- 0:27Speaker 1: of Monsieur tier Quote, the unfortunate monarch was thus about
- 0:32Speaker 1: to appear before the National Convention and to undergo an
- 0:35Speaker 1: examination concerning all the acts of his reign. This intelligence
- 0:39Speaker 1: had reached Clarie by the secret means of correspondence which
- 0:42Speaker 1: he had secured outside the prison, and it was with
- 0:45Speaker 1: trembling that he imported it to the disconsolate family. Not
- 0:49Speaker 1: daring to tell the king himself, he had communicated it
- 0:52Speaker 1: to Madame Elizabet, and had moreover informed her that during
- 0:56Speaker 1: the trial the Commune had determined to separate Louis from
- 1:00Speaker 1: his family. He agreed with the princess upon a method
- 1:04Speaker 1: of correspondence during this separation. This method consisted in a
- 1:08Speaker 1: handkerchief which clarie, who was to remain with the king,
- 1:11Speaker 1: was to transmit to the princesses if Louis Says, should
- 1:14Speaker 1: be ill. This was all that the unfortunate prisoners could calculate.
- 1:19Speaker 1: Upon communicating to one another, the king was apprised by
- 1:22Speaker 1: his sister of his speedily required appearance and of the
- 1:25Speaker 1: separation which they were to undergo during the trial. He
- 1:29Speaker 1: received the tidings with perfect resignation, and prepared to encounter
- 1:33Speaker 1: with firmness that painful scene. The Commune had given directions
- 1:37Speaker 1: that early in the morning of the eleventh all the
- 1:40Speaker 1: administrative bodies should meet, that all the section should be
- 1:43Speaker 1: under arms, that the guard of all the public places,
- 1:47Speaker 1: chest depots, et cetera, should be augmented by two hundred
- 1:50Speaker 1: men for each post. That numerous reserves should be stationed
- 1:54Speaker 1: at different points with a strong artillery, and that an
- 1:57Speaker 1: escort of picked men should accompany the carriage. Accordingly, on
- 2:02Speaker 1: the morning of the eleventh of December, the general announced
- 2:05Speaker 1: to the capital this novel and melancholy scene. Numerous troops
- 2:09Speaker 1: surrounded the temple, and the din of arms and the
- 2:13Speaker 1: tramp of horses reached the prisoners, who affected ignorance of
- 2:16Speaker 1: the cause of all this bustle. At nine in the morning,
- 2:19Speaker 1: the family repaired, as usual to the King's apartment to breakfast.
- 2:23Speaker 1: The municipal officers, more vigilant than ever, prevented by their
- 2:27Speaker 1: presence any outpouring of affection. The family was at length separated.
- 2:33Speaker 1: In vain. The king desired that his son should be
- 2:35Speaker 1: left with him for a few moments. In spite of
- 2:38Speaker 1: his entreaties, the young prince was taken away, and he
- 2:41Speaker 1: remained alone for about two hours. The Mayor of Paris
- 2:45Speaker 1: and the procureur of the commune then arrived and communicated
- 2:49Speaker 1: to him the decree of the convention, summoning him to
- 2:52Speaker 1: its bar by the name of Louis Cape. Cape replied,
- 2:56Speaker 1: the prince was the name of one of my ancestors,
- 2:59Speaker 1: but it is not mine. He then rose and entered
- 3:03Speaker 1: the carriage of the Mayor, which was waiting for him.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Six hundred picked men surrounded the vehicle. It was preceded
- 3:10Speaker 1: by three pieces of cannon, and followed by three more.
- 3:14Speaker 1: A numerous body of cavalry formed the advance and the
- 3:17Speaker 1: rear guard. A great concourse of people surveyed in silence
- 3:21Speaker 1: this sad cavalcade and suffered this rigor, as it had
- 3:24Speaker 1: long submitted to that of the old government. There were
- 3:28Speaker 1: some shouts, but very few. The Prince was not moved
- 3:31Speaker 1: by them, and calmly conversed upon the objects that presented
- 3:34Speaker 1: themselves on the way. Having arrived at the Fayon, he
- 3:38Speaker 1: was placed in a room to await the orders of
- 3:40Speaker 1: the assembly. End quote. The cruel circumstance of the deprivation
- 3:46Speaker 1: of his son is thus related by clearie on whose
- 3:49Speaker 1: simple narrations replaced the highest confidence. Quote continued At eleven o'clock,
- 3:55Speaker 1: when the King was hearing the du fay read, two
- 3:58Speaker 1: municipal officers walked in and told his Majesty that they
- 4:01Speaker 1: were to come to carry the young Louis to his mother.
- 4:04Speaker 1: The King desired to know why he was taken away.
- 4:07Speaker 1: The commissioners replied that they were executing the orders of
- 4:10Speaker 1: the council of the commune. The King tenderly embraced his
- 4:14Speaker 1: son and charged me to conduct him on my return.
- 4:18Speaker 1: I assured his Majesty that I had delivered the prince
- 4:21Speaker 1: to the Queen, which appeared a little to relieve his mind.
- 4:24Speaker 1: His Majesty, afterwards, for some minutes walked about his room
- 4:27Speaker 1: in much agitation, then sat down in an arm chair
- 4:30Speaker 1: at the head of the bed. The door stood ajar.
- 4:33Speaker 1: But the officer did not like to go in, wishing
- 4:36Speaker 1: as he told me to avoid questions. But half an
- 4:39Speaker 1: hour passing thus in dead silence, he became uneasy at
- 4:42Speaker 1: not hearing the king move, and went softly in. He
- 4:45Speaker 1: found him leaning with his head upon his hand, apparently
- 4:47Speaker 1: in deep thought. The king, upon being disturbed, said what
- 4:52Speaker 1: do you want with me? I was afraid, answered the
- 4:56Speaker 1: officer that you were unwell. I am obliged to, replied
- 5:01Speaker 1: the king, in an accent replete with anguish. But the
- 5:04Speaker 1: manner in which they have taken my son from me
- 5:06Speaker 1: cuts me to the heart. The municipal officer withdrew without
- 5:10Speaker 1: saying a word. From this time forth with a barbarity
- 5:16Speaker 1: inconceivable in these human fiends and days of merciless and
- 5:21Speaker 1: more than devilish crime, the wretched Louis was refused all
- 5:25Speaker 1: access to his miserable family. The use of a razor
- 5:28Speaker 1: was denied him, so that he suffered actual pain from
- 5:31Speaker 1: the irritation of his face, until on the eve of
- 5:34Speaker 1: his execution he was permitted to shave in the presence
- 5:37Speaker 1: of a municipal he was permitted. It is true the
- 5:40Speaker 1: aid of counsel and the use of pens and paper,
- 5:43Speaker 1: But what availed either when his sentence was predetermined and
- 5:46Speaker 1: his death warrant almost signed before he was brought to
- 5:49Speaker 1: the bar. He named Tronchet and Target as his advocates,
- 5:54Speaker 1: but the latter dastardly refused the perilous but honorable office.
- 5:58Speaker 1: But the vacancy occasioned by his baseness was nobly failed
- 6:02Speaker 1: by the venerable Mazelbe, who volunteered to act in his defense,
- 6:06Speaker 1: for which most honorable action he suffered in after days
- 6:09Speaker 1: with nearly his whole family, by the same fatal instrument
- 6:12Speaker 1: from which he vainly strove to preserve his king. On
- 6:16Speaker 1: December eleventh he was first brought before the Assembly. During
- 6:20Speaker 1: above a month the strife of life and death continued,
- 6:23Speaker 1: and on the fifteenth of January seventeen ninety three, the
- 6:27Speaker 1: voting commenced on these three questions. First, is Luis Cape
- 6:32Speaker 1: guilty of conspiracy against liberty and of attempts against the
- 6:35Speaker 1: general safety of the state. Two? Shall the definitive judgment
- 6:40Speaker 1: on Louis be referred to the primary assemblies three what
- 6:45Speaker 1: punishment shall be inflicted on Louis. On all these points,
- 6:49Speaker 1: judgment was pronounced adverse to the king, the Girente, basely
- 6:54Speaker 1: sacrificing their opinions, which were in favor of Louis, to
- 6:57Speaker 1: their personal fears. It is consolate to know that they
- 7:01Speaker 1: all shortly followed him down the one dark road which
- 7:04Speaker 1: must be trod by the monarch and the slave, by
- 7:07Speaker 1: the victim and his assassin, and that too by the
- 7:10Speaker 1: same bloody death. And it is almost painful to consider
- 7:14Speaker 1: that by the courage and dignity they showed in their
- 7:17Speaker 1: last hours, they have in some sort redeemed in popular
- 7:20Speaker 1: opinion their cowardice and guilt in yielding to the bloodthirsty faction,
- 7:24Speaker 1: who in after days wreaked on them the same vengeance
- 7:27Speaker 1: which they now voted against their guiltless king. A majority
- 7:32Speaker 1: of fifty three pronounced for the death of this weak
- 7:34Speaker 1: man but blameless king, the Duke of Alia, his near
- 7:38Speaker 1: kinsman and father to the late King of the French,
- 7:41Speaker 1: among the number. All efforts to obtain a reconsideration, a
- 7:45Speaker 1: reference or delay were fruitless. The majority were bent on death,
- 7:50Speaker 1: and the executive counsel was charged with the melancholy commission
- 7:54Speaker 1: of carrying the sentence into execution. All the ministers were
- 7:58Speaker 1: assembled in the hall where they met, and they were
- 8:00Speaker 1: struck with consternation. Gerral, as Minister of Justice, had the
- 8:05Speaker 1: most painful of all tasks imposed upon him, that of
- 8:08Speaker 1: acquainting Louisays with the decrees of the Convention. He repaired
- 8:12Speaker 1: to the temple, accompanied by Saint Are, by a deputation
- 8:16Speaker 1: of the Commune and the Criminal Tribunal, and by the
- 8:19Speaker 1: Secretary of the Executive Council. Louisseys had been four days
- 8:24Speaker 1: expecting his defenders and applying in Vain to see them.
- 8:28Speaker 1: On the twentieth of January, at two in the afternoon,
- 8:31Speaker 1: he was still awaiting them, when all at once he
- 8:33Speaker 1: heard the sound of a numerous party. He stepped forward
- 8:37Speaker 1: and perceived the envoys of the Executive Council. He stopped
- 8:42Speaker 1: with dignity at the door of his apartment, Apparently unmoved.
- 8:46Speaker 1: Gerra then told him sorrowfully that he was commissioned to
- 8:49Speaker 1: communicate to him the decrees of the convention. Cruvelle, secretary
- 8:54Speaker 1: of the Executive Council, read them to him. The first
- 8:58Speaker 1: declared Louisays guilty of treety against the general safety of
- 9:01Speaker 1: the state. The second condemned him to death, the third
- 9:05Speaker 1: rejected any appeal to the people, and the fourth and
- 9:09Speaker 1: last ordered his execution in twenty four hours. Louis looked
- 9:14Speaker 1: calmly around upon all those who were about him, took
- 9:17Speaker 1: the paper from the hand of Gouvell, put it in
- 9:19Speaker 1: his pocket, and read Gerral a letter in which he
- 9:22Speaker 1: demanded from the Convention three days to prepare for death,
- 9:25Speaker 1: a confessor to assist him in his last moments, liberty
- 9:28Speaker 1: to see his family, and permission for them to leave France.
- 9:33Speaker 1: Gerral took the letter, promising to submit it immediately to
- 9:36Speaker 1: the Convention. The king gave him at the same time
- 9:39Speaker 1: the address of the ecclesiastic whose assistance he wished to
- 9:42Speaker 1: have in his last moments. Louis, says, went back into
- 9:46Speaker 1: his room with great composure, ordered his dinner and ate
- 9:49Speaker 1: as usual. There were no knives on the table, and
- 9:52Speaker 1: his attendants refused to let him have any. Do they
- 9:56Speaker 1: think me so weak, he exclaimed, as to lay violent
- 9:59Speaker 1: hands on myself. I am innocent and I am not
- 10:03Speaker 1: afraid to die. He was obliged to dispense with a
- 10:07Speaker 1: knife on finishing his repast, he returned to his apartment
- 10:11Speaker 1: and calmly awaited the answer to his letter. The Convention
- 10:15Speaker 1: refused the delay, but granted all the other demands which
- 10:18Speaker 1: he had made. Gerra sent for Edgeworth de Fillmont, the
- 10:22Speaker 1: ecclesiastic whom Louisay's had chosen, and took him in his
- 10:25Speaker 1: own carriage to the temple. He arrived there at six
- 10:28Speaker 1: o'clock and went to the Great Tower, accompanied by Saint are.
- 10:33Speaker 1: He informed the King that the convention allowed him to
- 10:36Speaker 1: have a minister and to see his family alone, but
- 10:38Speaker 1: that it rejected the application for delay. Gerra added that
- 10:43Speaker 1: mister Edgeworth had arrived and that he was in the
- 10:45Speaker 1: council room and should be introduced. He then retired, more
- 10:49Speaker 1: astonished and more touched than ever by the calm, magnanimity
- 10:53Speaker 1: of the Prince en. In the whole history of the world,
- 10:58Speaker 1: there is perhaps no sadnace seen than the meeting of
- 11:01Speaker 1: Louis with his family from whom he had been so
- 11:03Speaker 1: barbarously and so unnecessarily separated during the dreadful crisis of
- 11:07Speaker 1: his fate, separated solely, as it would appear, for the
- 11:11Speaker 1: hideous purpose of depriving him of any consolation, and rendering
- 11:15Speaker 1: his last hours as miserable as they could be rendered.
- 11:19Speaker 1: That meeting was but preparatory to an immediate and eternal separation.
- 11:24Speaker 1: A single day's delay had been refused him, and on
- 11:27Speaker 1: the evening of the very day on which his sentence
- 11:30Speaker 1: was announced to him, the eve of his last earthly morrow,
- 11:33Speaker 1: the following scene occurred, which shook even the hearts of
- 11:36Speaker 1: the stern and savage functionaries who beheld it. Again we
- 11:40Speaker 1: quote from Clarie quote. At eight o'clock, the king came
- 11:45Speaker 1: out of his closet and desired the municipal officers to
- 11:47Speaker 1: conduct him to his family. They replied that could not be,
- 11:52Speaker 1: but his family should be brought down if he desired
- 11:54Speaker 1: it be it, so said his majesty, And accordingly, at
- 11:58Speaker 1: half past eight the door opened, and his wife and
- 12:01Speaker 1: children made their appearance. They all threw themselves into the
- 12:05Speaker 1: arms of the king. A melancholy silence prevailed for some minutes,
- 12:09Speaker 1: only broken by sighs and sobs. The queen made an
- 12:13Speaker 1: inclination towards his majesty's chamber. No, said the King, we
- 12:18Speaker 1: must go into this room. I can only see you there.
- 12:22Speaker 1: They went in and I shut the glass door. The
- 12:25Speaker 1: King sat down, The Queen was on his left hand,
- 12:29Speaker 1: Madame Elzabet on his right, Madame Royal nearly opposite, and
- 12:33Speaker 1: the young prince stood between his legs. All were leaning
- 12:37Speaker 1: on the king and often pressed him to their arms.
- 12:40Speaker 1: This scene of sorrow lasted an hour and three quarters,
- 12:43Speaker 1: during which it was impossible to hear anything. It could, however,
- 12:48Speaker 1: be seen that after every sentence atter it by the King,
- 12:51Speaker 1: the agitation of the queen and princesses increased. Lasted some minutes,
- 12:56Speaker 1: and then the King began to speak again. It was
- 12:59Speaker 1: plain from their gestures that they received from himself the
- 13:03Speaker 1: first intelligence of his condemnation. At a quarter past ten,
- 13:07Speaker 1: the King rose first. They all followed. I opened the door.
- 13:12Speaker 1: The Queen held the King by his right arm. Their
- 13:15Speaker 1: majesties gave each a hand to the dauphin. Madame Royal
- 13:19Speaker 1: on the king's left had her arms round his body,
- 13:22Speaker 1: and behind her Madame Dezabet on the same side, had
- 13:25Speaker 1: taken his arm. They advanced some steps towards the entry door,
- 13:30Speaker 1: breaking out into the most agonizing lamentations. I assure you,
- 13:35Speaker 1: said the king, that I will see you again tomorrow
- 13:37Speaker 1: morning at eight o'clock. You promise, said they all together. Yes,
- 13:43Speaker 1: I promise, Why not at seven o'clock, asked the Queen.
- 13:48Speaker 1: Well Yes, at seven, replied the King. Farewell. He pronounced
- 13:54Speaker 1: farewell in so impressive a manner that their sobs were renewed,
- 13:58Speaker 1: and Madame Royel faded at the feet of the King,
- 14:00Speaker 1: round whom she had clung. His majesty, willing to put
- 14:04Speaker 1: an end to this agonizing scene, once more, embraced them
- 14:07Speaker 1: all most tenderly, and had the resolution to tear himself
- 14:11Speaker 1: from their arms. Farewell, farewell, said he, and went into
- 14:16Speaker 1: his chamber. The queen, princesses and Dufay returned to their
- 14:20Speaker 1: own apartments, and though both the doors were shut, their
- 14:24Speaker 1: screams and lamentations were heard for some time on the stairs.
- 14:28Speaker 1: The King went back to his confessor in the turret
- 14:31Speaker 1: closet on the following morning, pursues Clarie. On hearing five
- 14:37Speaker 1: o'clock strike, I began to light the fire. The noise
- 14:41Speaker 1: I made awoke the King, who, drawing his curtains, asked
- 14:43Speaker 1: if it had struck five. I said it had by
- 14:46Speaker 1: several clocks, but not yet by that In the apartment.
- 14:50Speaker 1: Having finished with the fire, I went to his bedside.
- 14:54Speaker 1: I have slept soundly, said his Majesty, and I stood
- 14:57Speaker 1: in need of it. Yesterday was a trying to me.
- 15:01Speaker 1: Where is miss Edgworth? I answered, on my bed, and
- 15:05Speaker 1: where were you all night on this chair? I am
- 15:10Speaker 1: sorry for it, said the King, and gave me his
- 15:13Speaker 1: hand at the same time, tenderly pressing mine. I then
- 15:17Speaker 1: dressed His Majesty, who, as soon as he was dressed,
- 15:19Speaker 1: bade me to go and call miss Edgeworth, whom I
- 15:22Speaker 1: found already risen, and he immediately attended the King to
- 15:25Speaker 1: the turret. Meanwhile, I placed a chest of drawers in
- 15:28Speaker 1: the middle of the chambers and arranged it in the
- 15:30Speaker 1: form of an altar for saying mass. The necessary articles
- 15:34Speaker 1: of dress had been brought at two o'clock in the morning.
- 15:38Speaker 1: The priest's garments I carried into my chamber, and when
- 15:41Speaker 1: everything was ready, I went and informed His Majesty. He
- 15:45Speaker 1: had a book in his hand, which he opened, and,
- 15:47Speaker 1: finding the place of the mass, gave it to me.
- 15:50Speaker 1: He then took another book for himself. The priest, meanwhile,
- 15:54Speaker 1: was dressing Before the altar. I had placed an arm
- 15:58Speaker 1: chair for his majesty with a large cushion on the ground.
- 16:01Speaker 1: The cushion he desired me to take away, and went
- 16:04Speaker 1: himself to his closet for a smaller one made of hair,
- 16:07Speaker 1: which he commonly used at his prayers. When the priest
- 16:11Speaker 1: came in, the municipal officer retired into the antechamber, and
- 16:15Speaker 1: I shut one fold of the door. The mass began
- 16:18Speaker 1: at six o'clock. There was profound silence during the awful ceremony.
- 16:24Speaker 1: The King, all the time on his knees, heard Mass
- 16:26Speaker 1: with the most devout attention, and received the communion. After
- 16:31Speaker 1: the service, he withdrew to his closet, and the priest
- 16:34Speaker 1: went into my chamber to put off his official attire.
- 16:37Speaker 1: In the course of the morning, the King said to me,
- 16:40Speaker 1: you will give this seal to my son, and this
- 16:42Speaker 1: ring to the Queen, and assure her that it is
- 16:45Speaker 1: with pain I part with it. This little packet contains
- 16:49Speaker 1: the hair of all my family. You will give her
- 16:51Speaker 1: that too. Tell the Queen, my dear sister and my
- 16:55Speaker 1: children that although I promised to see them again this morning,
- 16:59Speaker 1: I have resolved to spare them the pang of so
- 17:02Speaker 1: cruel a separation. Tell them how much it costs me
- 17:06Speaker 1: to go away without receiving their embraces. Once more, he
- 17:11Speaker 1: wiped away some tears, and then added, in the most
- 17:14Speaker 1: mournful accents, I charge you to bear them my last farewell.
- 17:20Speaker 1: All the troops in Paris had been under arms from
- 17:22Speaker 1: five o'clock in the morning. The beat of drums, the
- 17:26Speaker 1: sound of trumpets, the clash of arms, the trampling of horses,
- 17:30Speaker 1: the removal of cannon which were incessantly carried from one
- 17:33Speaker 1: place to another, all resounded in the tower. At half
- 17:37Speaker 1: past eight o'clock, the noise increased, the doors were thrown
- 17:41Speaker 1: open with great clatter, and Saint Are, accompanied by seven
- 17:45Speaker 1: or eight municipal officers, entered at the head of ten
- 17:48Speaker 1: soldiers and drew them up in two lines. At this movement,
- 17:53Speaker 1: the King came out of his closet and said to Saint,
- 17:55Speaker 1: are you are come for me? Yes, was the AUTA
- 18:01Speaker 1: wait a moment, said his Majesty, and went into his closet.
- 18:04Speaker 1: Whence he instantly returned, followed by his confessor. I was
- 18:08Speaker 1: standing behind the King near the fireplace. He turned round
- 18:12Speaker 1: to me, and I offered him his great coat. I
- 18:15Speaker 1: shall not want it, said he give me only my hat.
- 18:19Speaker 1: I presented it to him, and his hand met mine,
- 18:22Speaker 1: which he pressed for the last time. His Majesty then
- 18:25Speaker 1: looked at Saint Are and said, lead on. These were
- 18:30Speaker 1: the last words he spoke in his apartments end on
- 18:36Speaker 1: quitting the tower, says the abbe Edgeworth. The King crossed
- 18:39Speaker 1: the first court formerly the garden, on foot. He turned
- 18:43Speaker 1: back once or twice towards the tower, as if to
- 18:45Speaker 1: bid adieu to all most dear to him on earth,
- 18:48Speaker 1: and by his gestures it was plain that he was
- 18:51Speaker 1: trying to collect all his strength and firmness. At the
- 18:55Speaker 1: entrance of the second court, a carriage waited to jendarme
- 18:58Speaker 1: held the door at the king's approach. One of these
- 19:01Speaker 1: men entered first and placed himself in front. His Majesty
- 19:05Speaker 1: followed and placed me by his side at the back
- 19:08Speaker 1: of the carriage. The other gendarme jumped in last and
- 19:11Speaker 1: shut the door. The procession lasted almost two hours. The
- 19:16Speaker 1: streets were lined with citizens all armed, and the carriage
- 19:20Speaker 1: was surrounded by a body of troops formed of the
- 19:23Speaker 1: most desperate people of Paris. As soon as the King
- 19:27Speaker 1: perceived that the carriage stopped, he turned and whispered to me,
- 19:31Speaker 1: we have arrived. If I mistake not my silence answered
- 19:35Speaker 1: that we had on quitting the vehicle. Three guards surrounded
- 19:39Speaker 1: his majesty and would have taken off his clothes, but
- 19:42Speaker 1: he repulsed them with haughtiness. He undressed himself, untied his neckcloth,
- 19:47Speaker 1: opened his shirt, and arranged it himself. The path leading
- 19:51Speaker 1: to the scaffold was extremely rough and difficult to pass.
- 19:55Speaker 1: The King was obliged to lean on my arm, and
- 19:58Speaker 1: from the slowness with which he proceeded, I feared for
- 20:01Speaker 1: a moment that his courage might fail. But what was
- 20:04Speaker 1: my astonishment when arrived at the last step, I felt
- 20:07Speaker 1: that he suddenly let go my arm, and I saw
- 20:10Speaker 1: him cross with a firm foot the breadth of the
- 20:12Speaker 1: whole scaffold, silence. By his look alone, fifteen or twenty
- 20:16Speaker 1: drums that were placed opposite to him, and in a
- 20:19Speaker 1: loud voice heard him pronounce distinctly these memorable words, I
- 20:24Speaker 1: die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge.
- 20:28Speaker 1: I pardon those who have occasioned my death, and I
- 20:32Speaker 1: pray to God that the blood which you are now
- 20:34Speaker 1: going to shed may never be visited on France he
- 20:39Speaker 1: was proceeding when a man on horseback in the national
- 20:42Speaker 1: uniformed waved his sword and ordered the drums to beat.
- 20:45Speaker 1: Many voices were at the same time heard encouraging the executioners,
- 20:49Speaker 1: who immediately seized the king with violence and dragged him
- 20:53Speaker 1: under the axe of the gaillotine, which, with one stroke
- 20:56Speaker 1: severed his head from his body. It was on Monday,
- 21:02Speaker 1: the twenty first of January seventeen ninety three. He was
- 21:06Speaker 1: aged thirty eight years, four months and twenty eight days.
- 21:10Speaker 1: Of the sorrows of the royal family during that fatal day,
- 21:13Speaker 1: the Duchess of Anjoula gives the following brief statement, whose
- 21:17Speaker 1: heart will not sympathize with the griefs of these noble mourners,
- 21:21Speaker 1: three out of the four of whom were soon to
- 21:23Speaker 1: follow to the tomb, the adored and faithful husband, the
- 21:26Speaker 1: beloved brother, the pious and devoted father. On the morning
- 21:31Speaker 1: of this terrible day, the Princess as rose at six o'clock.
- 21:35Speaker 1: The night before, the queen had scarcely strength enough to
- 21:38Speaker 1: put her son to bed. She threw herself dressed as
- 21:41Speaker 1: she was, upon her own bed, where she was heard
- 21:43Speaker 1: shivering with cold and grief all night long. At a
- 21:47Speaker 1: quarter past six, the door opened. The princesses believed they
- 21:51Speaker 1: were sent for to see the king, but it was
- 21:53Speaker 1: only the officers looking for a prayer book for his mass.
- 21:57Speaker 1: They did, not, however, abandon the hope of seeing him,
- 22:00Speaker 1: till the shouts of joy of the unprincipled populace announced
- 22:03Speaker 1: to them that all was over. And it has been
- 22:08Speaker 1: said that as the axe fell, the abbe Edgeworth took
- 22:11Speaker 1: leave of the king, and the following memorable words son
- 22:15Speaker 1: of Saint Louis ascend to heaven. But on being questioned,
- 22:19Speaker 1: and after days, he declared himself unconscious of anything that
- 22:22Speaker 1: passed relative to himself. At that awful moment, Allison informs
- 22:26Speaker 1: us that after this legalized murder of a good king
- 22:29Speaker 1: and pious man whose only thoughts were an amiable weakness
- 22:32Speaker 1: and an over regard for the lives of a wicked
- 22:35Speaker 1: and ungrateful people. One person actually tasted the blood, with
- 22:40Speaker 1: a brutal exclamation that it was shockingly bitter, and the
- 22:44Speaker 1: hair and pieces of the dress were sold by the attendants.
- 22:48Speaker 1: No strong emotion was evinced at the moment. The place
- 22:51Speaker 1: was like a fair, but a few days after Paris,
- 22:54Speaker 1: and those who had voted for the death of the
- 22:56Speaker 1: monarch began to feel serious and uneasy at what they
- 22:59Speaker 1: had done. The body of Louis was, immediately after the
- 23:03Speaker 1: execution removed into the ancient cemetery of the Madeleine. Large
- 23:08Speaker 1: quantities of quicklime were thrown into the grave, which occasioned
- 23:11Speaker 1: so rapid a decomposition that when his remains were sought
- 23:14Speaker 1: after in eighteen fifteen, it was with great difficulty that
- 23:17Speaker 1: any part could be recovered over the spot where he
- 23:21Speaker 1: was interred. Napoleon commenced the splendid Temple of Glory after
- 23:25Speaker 1: the Battle of Vienna, and the superb edifice was completed
- 23:29Speaker 1: by the Beaubon and now forms the Church of the Medlenne,
- 23:32Speaker 1: the most beautiful of the many beautiful structures in Paris.
- 23:36Speaker 1: Louis was executed on the same ground with a queen,
- 23:39Speaker 1: the Princess in di Zabet, and so many other noble
- 23:42Speaker 1: victims of the Revolution perished, where Robespierre and d'Antin afterwards suffered,
- 23:48Speaker 1: and where the Emperor Alexander and the Allied sovereigns took
- 23:51Speaker 1: their station when their victorious troops entered Paris. In eighteen fourteen.
- 23:57Speaker 1: The history of modern Europe has not a scene fraid
- 24:00Speaker 1: with equally interesting recollections to exhibit. It is now marked
- 24:04Speaker 1: by the colossal obelisk of a blood red granite, which
- 24:07Speaker 1: was brought from Thebes in Upper Egypt in eighteen thirty
- 24:10Speaker 1: three by the French government. Thus ends the first act
- 24:16Speaker 1: of the horrid tragedy never we trust to be repeated,
- 24:20Speaker 1: the second of which was the slaughter of all the
- 24:22Speaker 1: prisoners save one, and the denument the terrible retribution wrought
- 24:26Speaker 1: on the guilty nation during the devastating wars of that
- 24:29Speaker 1: child of the Revolution, Napoleon the Emperor, in the course
- 24:32Speaker 1: of which three millions of native Frenchmen fattened the plains
- 24:35Speaker 1: of foreign countries by their gore, and the final subjugation
- 24:39Speaker 1: of France and occupation of the regicidal capital by the
- 24:43Speaker 1: descendants of the Saxon, the goth, the Vandal, and the
- 24:46Speaker 1: hun whom the Grand Nacion held ever in such contemptuous loathing,
- 24:51Speaker 1: verily a great lesson to guilty nations that their retribution
- 24:55Speaker 1: is in this world, and that, in the words of
- 24:58Speaker 1: the old tragedian, crime begets crime, and of guilt guilt
- 25:04Speaker 1: is forever the Avenger. End of continuation,