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
The Mountain by these extreme propositions, by the popularity they
attained without, rendered condemnation in a measure inevitable. By
gaining an extraordinary advance on the other parties, it obliged them to
follow it, though at a distance. The majority of the convention, composed
in a large part of Girondists, who dared not pronounce Louis XVI.
inviolable, and of the Plain, decided, on Pétion's proposition, against
the opinion of the fanatical Mountain and against that of the partisans of
inviolability, that Louis XVI. should be tried by the convention. Robert
Lindet then made, in the name of the commission of the twenty-one, his
report respecting Louis XVI. The arraignment, setting forth the offences
imputed to him, was drawn up, and the convention summoned the prisoner to
its bar.
Louis had been confined in the Temple for four months. He was not at
liberty, as the assembly at first wished him to be in assigning him the
Luxembourg for a residence. The suspicious commune guarded him closely;
but, submissive to his destiny, prepared for everything, he manifested
neither impatience, regret, nor indignation. He had only one servant about
his person, Cléry, who at the same time waited on his family. During the
first months of his imprisonment, he was not separated from his family;
and he still found solace in meeting them. He comforted and supported his
two companions in misfortune, his wife and sister; he acted as preceptor
to the young dauphin, and gave him the lessons of an unfortunate man, of a
captive king. He read a great deal, and often turned to the History of
England, by Hume; there he read of many dethroned kings, and one of them
condemned by the people. Man always seeks destinies similar to his own.
But the consolation he found in the sight of his family did not last long;
as soon as his trial was decided, he was separated from them. The commune
wished to prevent the prisoners from concerting their justification; the
surveillance it exercised over Louis XVI. became daily more minute and
severe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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