France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Fiction; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Fiction
On the 1st Prairial, Paris discovered that it was starving. Famine drove
the inhabitants of the faubourgs to the Convention. Haggard, in tatters,
and famished, they invaded the chamber, and the deputy Féraud was killed
in trying to defend the president, Boissy d'Anglas. Seeing the confusion
which this event brought about in the Convention, Boissy d'Anglas put on
his hat. Then they showed him Féraud's head on the end of a pike,
whereupon he took off his hat, bowed reverently, and put it on again.
But during that performance, Boissy d'Anglas, who had sympathized
largely with the Revolution, almost became converted to royalism.
On the 16th of the same month, Louis Charles of France, Duc de
Normandie, pretender to the throne under the name of Louis XVII., he of
whom the Duc d'Orléans said at a supper: "The son of the Duc de Coigny
shall never be my king!" died of scrofula at the Temple, at the age of
ten years two months and twelve days. But even in the times of the
Republic the old axiom of the French monarchy survived: "The king is
dead, long live the king!" and at once Louis de Provence proclaimed
himself, on his own private authority, king of France and Navarre, under
the title of Louis XVIII.
Then came the terrible day of Quiberon, during which, according to Pitt,
"English blood did not flow," and, according to Sheridan, "English honor
streamed from every pore."
Meantime the victories of Hoche and Pichegru had borne fruit. In
consequence of the recovery of the lines of Weissembourg, at which our
readers were present, when the tri-color flag was seen triumphantly
waving in the hands of Saint-Just as he crossed the frontier, and
floated victoriously over Bavaria, Frederick William, who had been the
first to invade French territory, recognized the French Republic and
made peace with it. Having captured no territory from each other, the
two powers had nothing to restore. But eighty thousand slept on the
plains of Alsace and Champagne, and the terrible strife had begun which
neither Jena nor Leipsic was to terminate.
Meantime the army of the Eastern Pyrenees had invaded Biscay, Vittoria,
and Bilbao. Already master of that part of the frontier to which access
was most difficult, the French, whom their last victories had brought to
the neighborhood, of Pampeluna, were in a position to capture the
capital of Navarre, and open an easy road to the two kingdoms of Castile
and that of Aragon. Whereupon the king of Spain made proposals of peace.
This was the second crowned head which had recognized the existence of
the French Republic; and in recognizing it, the king tacitly condoned
what he no doubt regarded as the murder of Louis XVI. and
Marie-Antoinette.
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