VIII. 1792. letter addressed to the president of the Convention, he CHAP. said "I have been twice honoured with a place in the councils of my master, when it was the object of ambition to all the world; I owe him the same service, when it imposes a duty which many consider dangerous." This generous offer drew tears from the eyes of many in the Convention: the Jacobins were silent: even reckless ambition, for a moment, felt the ascendant of heroic virtue. Louis was deeply affected at this proof of devotion on the part of his aged friend. When he entered the Temple, he clasped him in his arms, and exclaimed, with tears in his eyes-"Ah! it is you, my friend! You see to what 1 Deux I am reduced by the excess of my affection for my people, and the self-denial which led me to remove the troops intended to protect the throne from the enterprises of the factious. You fear not to endanger your own life to save Amis, ix. mine; but it is in vain. They will bring me to the scaffold, 257,258. I am well aware; but that is of no moment. Let us Moll. x.279. enter upon the defence as if I were sure to be successful: Lac. x. 186, 193. Mig.i. I will gain it in reality through your exertions, since my 236, 237. memory will descend unspotted to posterity."1* Bert. de Hue, 42. 82. called in, eloquent by Louis. Malesherbes and Tronchet afterwards called in the assistance of M. de Sèze, a celebrated pleader, who at first De Sèze is had espoused the popular side, but had withdrawn from and his political life since the sombre days of the Revolution peroration commenced. He entered with great earnestness, and his struck out wonted ability, upon his arduous duties. "I have often wished," said the King to Malesherbes, "that I had the means of recompensing the zeal of your colleagues: I have thought of leaving them a legacy; but would it be respected by the Convention? Would it not endanger * How identical is heroic virtue in all ages: how well have the poets prefigured its most noble efforts!— "Je serai du parti qu'affligera le sort. Egale à tous les deux jusques à la victoire, Je prendrai part aux maux sans en prendre la gloire ; Et je garde au milieu de tant d'âpres rigueurs, Mes larmes aux vaincus, et ma haine aux vainqueurs." CORNEILLE, Les Horaces, Act i. scene 1. VIII. 1792. CHAP. them?"-"Sire," replied Malesherbes, "the legacy is already bequeathed in choosing them for your defenders, your Majesty has immortalised their names." His counsel were in continual astonishment at his serenity of mind. "Believe me," said he, "religion has more consolation than philosophy." When the eloquent peroration of de Sèze was read to the King the evening before it was to be delivered to the Assembly, he requested that it might be struck out. "I have to request of you," said he, "to make a sacrifice, which I know will be painful; strike out of your pleading the too touching peroration. It is enough for me to appear before such judges, and demonstrate my complete innocence; but I will not condescend to move their feelings." The same day he composed his immortal testament; the most perfect commentary on the principles of Christianity that ever has come from the hand of a King.* "I recommend to my son," said he, in that touching memorial, "if he ever has the misfortune to become king, to feel that his whole existence should be devoted to the good of his people; to bury in oblivion all hatred and resentment, especially for my misfortunes; to recollect that he cannot promote the happiness of his subjects but in reigning according to the laws; but, at the same time, that a king cannot carry into execution his good intentions without the requisite authority; that, otherwise, being continually thwarted in his operations, he rather injures than benefits. I pardon all those who 1 Hue, 72. have injured me in my misfortunes; and I pray my son Lac. x. 195, to recollect only their sufferings. I declare before God, and on the eve of appearing at His tribunal, that I am totally innocent of the crimes laid to my charge." Cléry, 148. 197. Th. iii. 348. 83. brought to On the 26th December the King was conducted to the The King is Convention. He was taken in the carriage of the mayor, trial. with the same military force as before. He evinced, in passing through the city, as great coolness as on the former occasion: spoke of Seneca, Livy, and the public Dec. 26. * See Appendix, A, chap. VIII. VIII. 1792. hospitals; and addressed himself in a delicate vein of CHAP. pleasantry to one of the municipality, who sat in the carriage with his hat on. When waiting in the antechamber, Malesherbes, in conversing with the King, made use of the words, "Sire, your Majesty." Treilhard, a furious Jacobin, interrupted him, exclaiming-“ What has rendered you so bold as to pronounce these words, which the Convention has proscribed ?" "Contempt of life," replied the intrepid old man. When they were admitted into the Assembly, Louis seated himself between his counsel, surveyed with a benignant eye the crowded benches of his adversaries, and was even observed sometimes to smile as he conversed with Malesherbes. In the speech which followed, de Sèze ably argued the inviolability of the sovereign, and proved that, if it was destroyed, the weaker party in the Convention had no security against the stronger; a prophetic truth, which the Girondists soon experienced at the hands of their implacable enemies. He examined the whole life of the 301. Lac. King, and showed that, in every instance, he had been Th. iii. 349. actuated by the sincerest love of his people.1 1 Bert. de Moll. x. 300, x. 199. peroration "On the 10th August," he observed, "was the mon- 84. arch under the necessity of submitting to an armed Splendid multitude? Was he constrained by law to yield to of de Sèze. force? Was not the power which he held in the constitution a deposit, for the preservation of which he was answerable to the nation? If you yourselves were surrounded by a furious and misguided rabble, which threatened, without respect for your sacred character, to tear you from this sanctuary, what could you do other than what he has done? The magistrates themselves authorised all that he did, by having signed the order to repel force by force. Notwithstanding their sanction, the King was unwilling to make use of this authority, and retired into the bosom of the Assembly, to avoid the shedding of blood. The combat which followed was undertaken neither for him nor by his orders; he interfered only to VOL. II. U VIII. CHAP. put a stop to it, as is proved by the fact, that it was in consequence of an order signed by him that the Swiss 1792. abandoned the defence of the chateau, and surrendered their lives. There is a crying injustice, therefore, in reproaching him with the blood shed on the 10th August ; in truth, his conduct in that particular is above reproach." His conclusion was in these words :-" Louis mounted the throne at the age of twenty; and even then he set the example of an irreproachable life; he was governed by no weak or corrupted passion; he was economical, just, and severe. He proved himself, from the beginning, the friend of his country. The people desired the removal of a destructive tax; he removed it: they wished the abolition of servitude; he abolished it in his domains: they prayed for a reform in the criminal law; he reformed it they demanded that thousands of Frenchmen, whom the rigour of our usages had excluded from political rights, should enjoy them; he conceded them: they longed for 1 Hist. Parl. liberty; he gave it. He even anticipated their wishes; xxii. 56, 57. and yet it is the same people who now demand his Lac. x. 208. punishment. I add no more: I pause before the tribunal of history: remember that it will judge your decision, and that its decision will be the voice of ages. Mig. i. 237. Th. iii. 349, 352. 85. concluding words. "1 When the defence was concluded, the King rose and The King's spoke as follows:-" You have heard my defence; I will not recapitulate it: when addressing you, probably for the last time, I declare that my conscience has nothing to reproach itself with, and that my defenders have said nothing but the truth. I have no fears for the public examination of my conduct; but my heart bleeds at the accusation brought against me, of having been the cause of the misfortunes of my people, and, most of all, of having shed their blood on the 10th of August. The multiplied proofs I have given, in every period of my reign, of xxii. 57, 58, my love for my people, and the manner in which I have Th. iii. 353. conducted myself towards them, might, I had hoped, have saved me from so cruel an imputation." Having said 2 Hist. Parl. Lac. x. 210, "2 He em CHAP. VIII. these words, he withdrew with his defenders. "This is true eloquence: I am now at ease; I shall have an honoured memory: the French will regret my death." 1792. 86. the accusa A stormy discussion immediately arose in the Assembly. Lanjuinais had the boldness to demand a revocation of Debate on the decree by which the King had been brought to the tion. bar of the Convention. "If you insist on being judges," he concluded, 66 cease to be accusers. My blood boils at the thought of seeing in the judgment-seat men who openly conspired against the throne on the 10th of August, and who have in such ferocious terms anticipated the judgment without hearing the defence." The most violent agitation followed these words. "He accuses," exclaimed the Jacobins, "the 10th August in the midst of the Convention, which owes its existence to that revolt! He wishes to save the tyrant; to-morrow he will deliver us up to his vengeance. To the Abbaye with the perjured deputy! Let the friends of the tyrant perish with him." The Girondists felt the force of this reply. They did not venture to call in question an event which had established the Republic, and could not be arraigned without consigning their power to the dust, themselves to the scaffold. Duhesme exclaimed, from the benches of the Mountain" I demand that he be instantly judged: all the forms have been gone through it will be time enough to print his defence after his execution." A vehement Deux debate, interrupted constantly with cries of fury, took place, 276, 280. which was at length appeased by a proposal of Couthon xxii. 61, 81. to discuss the proposition made of an appeal to the people. Th. iii. 355. This discussion took place, and lasted twenty days.1 1 Amis, ix. Hist. Parl. Lac. x. 213. argument St Just was the most powerful declaimer against the 87. sovereign. Posterity," he said, "will bless your work: St Just's every generous heart throughout the world will respect against an your courage. What people has ever made such sacrifices appeal to for liberty? What people has been so often betrayed? the people. |