again at five, heard mass in the chamber, and received the sacrament. This done, he awaited his fate with resignation.

At nine o'clock, on the 21st, the beating of drums announced Santerre, who came to conduct Louis to the scaffold. He was led across almost the whole extent of the capital to the Place Louis Quinze. On beholding the scene, pity and consternation seized the middle classes, and even the rabble were awed into silence. On his arrival at the place of execution, he ascended the scaffold with a firm step, and, on his knees, received the benediction of his confessor. He then suffered his hands to be tied, and, turning to the multitude, exclaimed in an audible voice, "I die innocent of the crimes laid to my charge. I forgive the authors of my death; and my last prayer is, that the blood about to be shed may not be visited upon my people." His voice was here drowned by the roll of the drums, amid which the executioner did his fearful work. Louis perished on the scaffold, in sight of his subjects.

Thus died Louis the Sixteenth, after a reign of seventeen years. He was a prince whose private virtues were only equalled by his misfortunes. They adorned the throne of France; and time can never efface the deep stain left on the cause of liberty, by the shedding of his blood.

The effect which this regicidal act had upon the nation will be unfolded by succeeding chapters, wherein revolutionary and infidel France will be exhibited as a “house divided against itself." Retributive justice armed the regicides against each other, and filled the land with blood. Europe also aided in the work of vengeance.

All

CHAPTER II.

THE REPUBLIC.

A.D. 1793-1799.

FRANCE, at this period, has been aptly likened to an arena of wild beasts struggling for the mastery, and knowing no safety but in victory sealed by the blood of the vanquished. This is an awful picture, but it is nevertheless true; for immediately after the death of Louis the discord of parties thickened. It was a state of things in which such wretches as Marat, Danton, and Robespierre could exist and triumph; whence, having hunted down their royal game, they turned their fury upon the Girondists. They were the first victims of their own guilty compliance with the murder of their king.

Events accelerated this fearful consummation. On hearing of the outrage committed on royalty in Paris, all Europe took up arms. England, Holland, Spain, the Germanic confederation, Bavaria, Swabia, the elector Palatine, Naples, and the Popedom, and finally Russia, combined to punish France. Almost at the same time, also, La Vendée assumed a menacing aspect. These circumstances aggravated the general distress which still prevailed in Paris, and the

consequence was an insurrection. Crowds of people, well armed, resorted to the convention, and demanded that corn should nowhere be sold for more than twenty-five livres the sack, under penalty, to the vendor, of imprisonment in the galleys.

This demand was opposed by the Girondists, and at first Robespierre and Marat took part with them. Danton, however, and his club of Cordeliers, sided with the populace, and in a few days the whole of the Jacobins, with Marat and Robespierre, changed their views. Marat, indeed, recommended the mob, in his "Friend of the People," to "pillage a few magazines, and hang the monopolizers," which advice was speedily acted upon. A general scene of plunder ensued, and it could only be stopped by the intervention of the federals of Brest, and the national guards.

On witnessing the ravages committed by the mob, the Girondists determined to seek the downfal of Marat. Accordingly they accused him of being the author of these evils before the assembly. This produced a fiery contention, and it was heightened by news of reverses in battle. Belgium was taken from them; the Austrians had defeated their forces near Aix-la-Chapelle, and were advancing; and Dumouriez had failed in his invasion of Holland.

This latter circumstance gave the Jacobins scope for retort and revenge. They instantly exclaimed that Dumouriez was leagued with the Girondists, and that all were royalists and traitors. At the same time Danton, with deep-laid policy, proposed to ask the city of Paris to furnish 30,000 volunteers. This was acceded to, and

upon

the demand was responded to by the populace, but fearful conditions. They asserted that they were willing to march against the enemy, if they were permitted to plunder and massacre the citizens before they set forth.

This atrocious demand, which was what Danton foresaw would occur, was made to the convention, by a petition from the sections, in their usual imperative tone. At the same time Cambaceres demanded the instant formation of a revolutionary tribunal, and a ministry in unison with the idea. The ministry was successfully opposed by the Girondists, but they were obliged to accede to the erection of a tribunal, lest they should be massacred by the mob, which had collected round the assembly, while they were debating upon the subject, threatening an insurrection.

This revolutionary tribunal consisted of nine members, who were empowered to punish the domestic enemies of the revolution, and whose decrees were to be without appeal. The Girondists naturally looked upon it as created for their destruction, and it gave rise to fresh recriminations betwixt the rival parties. Their strife received additional vigour from the defection of Dumouriez, who, soured in temper by ill success at Jemmapes, in a contest with the Austrians, resolved to follow the example of La Fayette, and abandon the cause of the revolution. This was an opportune theme of declamation to the Jacobins. They accused the Girondists of suggesting the defection of Dumouriez. Their retort was triumphant. They proved that Danton was his intimate, and that Dumouriez had intrigued to expel them from the ministry. But though the

Jacobins were silenced, their rancour of heart was increased, and they were still enabled to direct the passions and the madness of the people.

At length the struggle betwixt these contending parties, approached a crisis. Lyons, Orleans, Bourdeaux, Marseilles, and La Vendée, indignant against the anarchists, were all declaring themselves for the party of moderation and the Girondists. These were startling events to the Jacobins, and they prepared to strike a blow which should prostrate their antagonists. The Parisian mob were easily induced to attribute all the counterrevolutionary action to them, seeing that they were sent to the assembly by the provinces. Instead of boldly avowing this, and summoning an overwhelming force from the provinces to protect them, the Girondists temporized, and sought to obtain the dissolution of the convention. This proposition was rejected by the Jacobins, com-. bined with the Plain, with scorn; while a law was passed, which gave complete power to the municipalities to imprison the supposed enemies of the republic, and which declared that the deputies of the convention itself were amenable to the common tribunals. An attempt was made, at the same time, to obtain the sanction of the assembly for the establishment of a central committee of commissaries of the sections, to correspond with the provinces, and enlighten the capital as to its true interests; that is, in plain words, to organize an insurrection for the subjugation of the convention. This measure, however, failed; the Girondists and the Plain opposed it with equal vehe

mence.

Embracing the opportunity of an apparent re