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 at this moment his advice never reached those for whom it was
intended. La Marck, with all his good-will both to his friend and to the
court, could not venture to bring before the queen's notice the name of
one who, only a few days before, had denounced her in the foulest manner
in the Assembly for having appeared at the soldiers' banquet, and whom she
with her own eyes had beheld uniting with the assailants of the palace. He
thought it more politic, even for the eventual attainment of his friend's
objects, to content himself for the time with giving the memorial and
stating the views of the writer to the Count de Provence; and that prince
declared that it would be useless to bring it to the knowledge of either
king or queen: "that the queen had not sufficient influence over her
husband to induce him to adopt such a plan;" and he even hinted that at
times Louis was disposed to be jealous of her appearing to influence him.
But if these circumstances--the quarrel between the enemies of the court,
and the conversion of one more able and formidable than either--were in
the king's favor, other events which took place in the same few weeks were
full of mischief and danger. Before the end of the month fresh riots broke
out in Paris. Bread, the supply of which Marie Antoinette, as we have
seen, rightly regarded as a matter of the first importance to the
tranquillity of the city, continued scarce and dear; and the mob broke
open the bakers' shops, and murdered one baker, a man named François, with
a ferocity more terrible than they had even shown toward De Launay, or the
guards at Versailles. They tore his body to pieces, and, having cut off
his head, compelled his wife to kiss the scarcely cold lips, and then left
her fainting on the pavement still covered with his blood. Even La Fayette
was horror-stricken at such brutality. It was the only occasion on which
he did his duty during the whole progress of the Revolution. He came down
with a company of the National Guard, dispersed the rioters, seized the
ruffian who was bearing aloft, the head of the murdered man on a pole, and
caused him to be hanged the next day. And during the next few weeks he
more than once brought his soldiers to the support of the civil power, and
inflicted summary punishment on gangs of miscreants, whose idea of reform
was a state of things which should afford impunity to crime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account