The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of FranceYonge, Charles Duke
History
The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
Yonge, Charles Duke
Marie Antoinette, Queen, consort of Louis XVI, King of France, 1755-1793
But even so solemn, a grief as that for a dead child she was not suffered
to indulge long. Even for such a purpose royalty is not always allowed the
respite which would be conceded to those in a more moderate station; and
affairs in Paris began to assume so menacing a character that she was
forced to rouse herself to support her husband. Demagogues in Paris
excited the lower classes of the citizens to formidable tumults. The
troops were tampered with; they mutinied; and when the Assembly so
violated its duty as to take the mutineers under its protection, and to
intercede with the king for their pardon, Louis, or, as we should probably
say, Necker, did not venture to refuse, though it was plain that the
condign punishment of such an offense was indispensable to the maintenance
of discipline for the future. And Louis felt the humiliation so deeply
that some of those about him, the Count d'Artois taking the lead in that
party, were able to induce him to bring up from the frontier some German
and Swiss regiments, which, as not having been exposed to the contagion of
the capital, were free from the prevailing taint of disloyalty. But Louis
was incapable of carrying out any plan resolutely. He selected the
commander with judgment, placing the troops under the orders of a veteran
of the Seven Years' War, the old Marshal de Broglie, who, though more than
seventy years of age, gladly brought once more his tried skill and valor
to the service of his sovereign. But the king, even while intrusting him
with this command, disarmed him at the same moment by a strict order to
avoid all bloodshed and violence; though nothing could be more obvious
than that such outbreaks as the marshal was likely to be called on to
suppress could not be quelled by gentle means.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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