History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814Mignet, M. (François-Auguste-Marie-Alexis)
History
History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814
Mignet, M. (François-Auguste-Marie-Alexis)
France -- History -- 1789-1815; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799
Party motives and popular animosities combined against this unfortunate
prince. Those who, two months before, would have repelled the idea of
exposing him to any other punishment than that of dethronement, were
stupefied; so quickly does man lose in moments of crisis the right to
defend his opinions! The discovery of the iron chest especially increased
the fanaticism of the multitude, and the weakness of the king's defenders.
After the 10th of August, there were found in the offices of the civil
list documents which proved the secret correspondence of Louis XVI. with
the discontented princes, with the emigration, and with Europe. In a
report, drawn up at the command of the legislative assembly, he was
accused of intending to betray the state and overthrow the revolution. He
was accused of having written, on the 16th April, 1791, to the bishop of
Clermont, that if he regained his power he would restore the former
government and the clergy to the state in which they previously were; of
having afterwards proposed war, merely to hasten the approach of his
deliverers; of having been in correspondence with men who wrote to him--
"War will compel all the powers to combine against the seditious and
abandoned men who tyrannize over France, in order that their punishment
may speedily serve as an example to all who shall be induced to trouble
the peace of empires. You may rely on a hundred and fifty thousand men,
Prussians, Austrians, and Imperialists, and on an army of twenty thousand
emigrants;" of having been on terms with his brothers, whom his public
measures had discountenanced: and, lastly, of having constantly opposed
the revolution.
Fresh documents were soon brought forward in support of this accusation.
In the Tuileries, behind a panel in the wainscot, there was a hole wrought
in the wall, and closed by an iron door. This secret closet was pointed
out by the minister, Roland, and there were discovered proofs of all the
conspiracies and intrigues of the court against the revolution; projects
with the popular leaders to strengthen the constitutional power of the
king, to restore the ancient régime and the aristocrats; the manoeuvres of
Talon, the arrangements with Mirabeau, the proposition accepted by
Bouillé, under the constituent assembly, and some new plots under the
legislative assembly. This discovery increased the exasperation against
Louis XVI. Mirabeau's bust was broken by the Jacobins, and the convention
covered the one which stood in the hall where it held its sittings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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