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32 - 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 two 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 of the 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 IMBERB. Saint
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  Speaker 1: amand translated by Elizabeth G. Martin Chapter thirty two. The
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  Speaker 1: Royal family in the convent of the Fouillon. What a
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  Speaker 1: strange prison was this dilapidated old monastery, These little cells
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  Speaker 1: not lived in for two years, with their flooring half destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: and their narrow windows looking down into courts full of
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  Speaker 1: men drunken with wine and blood by the light of
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  Speaker 1: candles stuck into gun barrels. The royal family entered this
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  Speaker 1: gloomy lodging, trembling for her son, who was frightened. The
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  Speaker 1: Queen took him from Monsieur Aubierre's arms and whispered to him.
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  Speaker 1: The child grew calmer. Mamma, he said, he has promised
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  Speaker 1: to let me sleep in her room because I was
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  Speaker 1: very good before all those wicked men. Foresails all opening
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  Speaker 1: by similar small doors upon the same corridor comprised the
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  Speaker 1: quarters of the royal family. What a night. The souvenirs
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  Speaker 1: of the previous day came back like dismal dreams. Their
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  Speaker 1: years were still deafened with furious cries. They seemed to
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  Speaker 1: see the blood of the Swiss flowing like a torrent,
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  Speaker 1: the pyramids of corpses in red uniforms, the flames of
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  Speaker 1: the terrible conflagration sweeping the approaches to the tuilerie. Marie
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  Speaker 1: Antoinette seems under an hallucination. Her emotions break her down.
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  Speaker 1: Is this woman confided to the care of an unknown
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  Speaker 1: servant in this deserted old convent? Really she is this
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  Speaker 1: the Queen of Franz and Novarre, This the daughter of
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  Speaker 1: the great Empress Maria Teresa. What uncertainty rests over the
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  Speaker 1: fate of her most faithful servitors? What news will she
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  Speaker 1: yet learn? Who has fallen? Who has survived the carnage?
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  Speaker 1: The hours of the night whereon Marie Antoinette has not
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  Speaker 1: been able to sleep a moment, The Marquis de Touzelle
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  Speaker 1: and Monsieur d'ubiers remain at the King's bedside. Before sleeping,
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  Speaker 1: he talked to them with the utmost calmness of all
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  Speaker 1: that had taken place. People regret, said he that I
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  Speaker 1: did not have the rebels attacked before they could have
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  Speaker 1: forced the assembly. But besides the fact that, in accordance
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  Speaker 1: with the terms of the constitution, the National Guards might
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  Speaker 1: have refused to be the aggressors, what would have been
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  Speaker 1: the result of this attack. The measures of the insurrection
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  Speaker 1: were too well taken for my party to have been victorious,
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  Speaker 1: even if I had not left the tillerise. Do they
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  Speaker 1: forget that when the seditious commune massacred Monsieur Mandal, it
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  Speaker 1: rendered his projected defense of no avail. While Louis sixteenth
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  Speaker 1: was saying this, the men placed under the windows were
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  Speaker 1: shouting loudly for the Queen's head. What has she done
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  Speaker 1: to them? Cried the unfortunate sovereign. The next morning, August eleventh,
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  Speaker 1: several persons were authorized to unto the cells of the convent.
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  Speaker 1: Among them was one of the officers of the King's bedchamber,
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  Speaker 1: Francois U, who had incurred the greatest dangers on the
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  Speaker 1: previous day. Guards of admission were distributed by the inspector
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  Speaker 1: of the Assembly Hall. A large guard was stationed at
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  Speaker 1: all the issues of the corridor, no one could pass
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  Speaker 1: without being stopped and questioned. After surmounting all obstacles, Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: U reached the cell of Louisa sixteenth. The king was
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  Speaker 1: still in bed, with his head covered by a coarse cloth.
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  Speaker 1: He looked tenderly at his faithful servant, Monsieur EU, who
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  Speaker 1: could scarcely speak for sobbing, apprized as unhappy master of
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  Speaker 1: the tragic death of several persons whom his Majesty was
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  Speaker 1: especially fond of, among them the Chevalier d'a monvill who
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  Speaker 1: had been under governor to the first Dauphin, and several
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  Speaker 1: officers of the bed chamber. Monsieur's LeTellier Paya and the
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  Speaker 1: marche I have at least said Louisa sixteenth, the consolation
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  Speaker 1: of seeing you saved from this massacre. All night long,
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  Speaker 1: Madame Elizabeth, the Princess de Lambai, and Madame de Touzelle
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  Speaker 1: had prayed and wept in silence at the door of
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  Speaker 1: the chamber, where Marie Antoinette watched beside her sleeping children.
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  Speaker 1: It was not until morning, after cruel insomnia, that the
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  Speaker 1: wretched queen was at last able to close her eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and when after a few minutes she opened them again,
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  Speaker 1: what in awakening? At eight o'clock in the morning, Mademoiselle
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  Speaker 1: Pauline de Touzelle arrived at the Fuignan. I cannot say enough,
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  Speaker 1: she writes in her Souvenir de Courteen's, about the goodness
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  Speaker 1: of the King and Queen. They asked me many questions
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  Speaker 1: about the persons, concerning whom I could give them any tidings.
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  Speaker 1: Madame and the Daufain received me with touching signs of affection.
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  Speaker 1: They embraced me, and Madame said, my dear Pauline, do
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  Speaker 1: not leave us any more. The courtiers of misfortune came
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  Speaker 1: one after another. Madame Campan and her sister, Madame Auguier,
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  Speaker 1: saw the Prince de Pois, Monsieur Dubiers, Monsieur de Chapparbdou,
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  Speaker 1: Madame Elizabeth's equerry, Monsieurs de gourgulas you, and the chamois
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  Speaker 1: in the first cell. In the second they found the King.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted to kiss his hand, but he prevented it
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  Speaker 1: and embrace them without speaking. In the third cell, they
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  Speaker 1: saw the Queen waiting on by an unknown woman. Marie
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  Speaker 1: Antoinette held out her arms. Come, she cried, Come, unhappy women,
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  Speaker 1: Come and see one who is still more unhappy than you,
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  Speaker 1: since it is she who has been the cause of
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  Speaker 1: all your sorrow. She added, We are ruined. We have
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  Speaker 1: reached the place at last to which they have been
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  Speaker 1: leading us for three years. By every possible outrage. We
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  Speaker 1: shall succumb in this horrible revolution, and many others will
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  Speaker 1: perish after us. Everybody has contributed to our ruin. The
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  Speaker 1: innovators like fools, others like the ambitious, in order to
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  Speaker 1: aid their own fortunes. For the most furious of the
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  Speaker 1: Jacobins wanted gold and places, and the crowd expected pillage.
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  Speaker 1: There is not a patriot in the whole infamous horde.
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  Speaker 1: The emigrants had their schemes and maneuvers, the foreigners wanted
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  Speaker 1: to profit by the dissensions of France. Everybody has had
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  Speaker 1: a part in our misfortunes. Here the Dauphin entered with
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  Speaker 1: his sister and Madame de Touzelle. Poor children, cried the queen,
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  Speaker 1: how cruel it is not to transmit to them so
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  Speaker 1: noble a heritage, and to say all is over for us.
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  Speaker 1: And as the little Dauphin, seeing his mother, and those
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  Speaker 1: around her weeping began to shed tears also, my child,
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  Speaker 1: the Queen said, embracing him. You see, I have consolations
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  Speaker 1: to the friends whom misfortune deprived me off were not
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  Speaker 1: worth as much as those it gave me. Then Marie
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  Speaker 1: Antoinette asked for the Queen of the Princess Torrent, Madame
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  Speaker 1: de la Roche, Amaud, and others whom she had left
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  Speaker 1: to the Tulares. She compassionated the fright of the victims
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  Speaker 1: of the previous day. Madame Compart expressed a desire to
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  Speaker 1: know what the foreign ambassadors had done in this catastrophe.
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  Speaker 1: The Queen replied that they had done nothing, but that
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  Speaker 1: the English ambassadoriss Lady Suthaln, had just displayed some interest
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  Speaker 1: in sending linen for the Dauphin, who was in need
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  Speaker 1: of it. What memories must not that little cell in
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  Speaker 1: the Funyard Convent have left in the souls of those
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  Speaker 1: who were privileged to present there the homage of their
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  Speaker 1: devotion to the Queen. I think I still see, Madame
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  Speaker 1: Compart had said in her memoirs, I shall always see
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  Speaker 1: that little cell hung with green paper, that wretched couch
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  Speaker 1: from which the dethroned sovereign, stretched out her arms to us,
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  Speaker 1: saying that our voes, of which she was the cause,
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  Speaker 1: aggravated her own. There for the last time, I saw
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  Speaker 1: the tears flowing, and heard the sobs of her, whose
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  Speaker 1: birth and natural gifts, and above all the goodness of
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  Speaker 1: whose heart had destined her to be the ornament of
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  Speaker 1: all thrones and the happiness of all peoples. During the
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  Speaker 1: eleventh and twelfth of August, the tortures of the tenth
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  Speaker 1: were renewed for the royal family. They were obliged to
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  Speaker 1: occupy the odious box of the Logograph during the sessions
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  Speaker 1: of the Assembly, and from their witness as at a
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  Speaker 1: show the slow and painful death struggle of Royalty. As
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  Speaker 1: she was on her way to this wretched hole, Marie
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  Speaker 1: Antoinette perceived in the garden some curious spectators, on whose
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  Speaker 1: face a certain compassion was depicted. She saluted them. Then
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  Speaker 1: a voice cried, don't put on so many airs with
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  Speaker 1: that graceful head. It is not worth while. You will
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  Speaker 1: not have it much longer. From the box of the logograph,
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  Speaker 1: the royal family listened to the most offensive motions to
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  Speaker 1: decree according the Marchaillier, a payment of thirty sous a day,
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  Speaker 1: ordered all statues of kings to be overthrown, and petitions
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  Speaker 1: demanding the head of all the Swiss who had escaped
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  Speaker 1: the massacre. At last, the Assembly grew tired of the
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  Speaker 1: long humiliation of the August captives. On Monday, August thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: they were not present at the session, and during the
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  Speaker 1: day they were notified that in the evening favor to
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  Speaker 1: be incarcerated, not in the Luxembourg, that palace being too
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  Speaker 1: good for them, but in the tower of the Temple.
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  Speaker 1: When Marie Antoinette was informed of this decision, she turned
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  Speaker 1: towards Madame de Touzelle, and, putting her hands over her eyes, said,
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  Speaker 1: I always asked the Count d'Artois to have that villainous
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  Speaker 1: tower of the temple torn down. It always filled with horror.
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  Speaker 1: Pition told Louis the sixteenth that the communal Council had
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  Speaker 1: decreed that none of the persons proposed for the service
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  Speaker 1: of the royal family should follow them to their new
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  Speaker 1: abode by foes of remonstrands. The king finally obtained permission
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  Speaker 1: that the Princess de Lambay, Madame de Tourzel and her
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  Speaker 1: daughter should be accepted from this interdiction, and also Messieurs
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  Speaker 1: Eux and the Chamois, and Madame Tibaut, Bassier Navarre and Saintbreice.
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  Speaker 1: The departure for the temple took place at five in
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  Speaker 1: the evening. The royal family went in a large carriage
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  Speaker 1: with Manuel and Pition, who kept their hats on. The
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  Speaker 1: coachmen and footmen dressed in gray served their masters for
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  Speaker 1: the last time. National guards escorted the carriage on foot
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  Speaker 1: with reversed arms. The passage through a hostile multitude occupied
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  Speaker 1: not less than two hours. The vehicle, which moved very slowly,
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  Speaker 1: stopped for several moments in the place Mondon. There Manuel
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  Speaker 1: pointed out the statue of Louis the fourteenth, which had
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  Speaker 1: been thrown down from its pedestal. At first the descendant
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  Speaker 1: of the Great King reddened with indignation, then tranquilizing himself instantly,
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  Speaker 1: he calmly replied, it is fortunate, sir, that the rage
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  Speaker 1: of the people spends itself on inanimate objects. Manuel might
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  Speaker 1: have gone on to say that on this very place
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  Speaker 1: Mont d'orme, Queen Violette, one of the most furious vixens,
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  Speaker 1: of the October days had just been crushed by the
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  Speaker 1: fall of this equestrian statue of Louis the fourteenth to
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  Speaker 1: which she was hanging in order to help bring it down.
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  Speaker 1: The statue of Henry the Folk in the Place Royale,
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  Speaker 1: that of Louis the thirteenth in the Place des Victoire,
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  Speaker 1: and that of Louis the fifteenth in the place that
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  Speaker 1: Beaus's name had fallen. At the same time, the royal
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  Speaker 1: family arrived at the temple at seven in the evening.
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  Speaker 1: The lanterns placed on the projection potions of the walls
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  Speaker 1: and the battlements of the Great Tower made it resemble
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  Speaker 1: a cut offalk surrounded by funeral lights. The queen wore
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  Speaker 1: a shoe with a hole in it through which her
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  Speaker 1: foot could be seen. You would not believe, said she, smiling,
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  Speaker 1: that a Queen of France was in need of shoes.
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  Speaker 1: The doors closed upon the captives, and a sanguinary crowd
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  Speaker 1: complained of the thickness of the walls separating them from
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  Speaker 1: their prey. End of Chapter thirty two read for You
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  Speaker 1: by Chikito Crusto, Birmingham, Alabama,