1The remains of Louis XVI were conveyed in a cart to the graveyard, flung into a hole, and lime cast upon the remains, that the bones might never be found, in order to be exalted into relics.

2Paris was silent—except for the voices of the more excited of the Revolutionists, who overran the city, announcing the death of the tyrant, and proclaiming the advent of liberty.

3The body of the people did not respond to this enthusiasm—they did not confound punishment with victory. The body of the King was not cold before the people began asking themselves whether or not a righteous act had been committed. The King’s death left this problem to be discussed by the nation. Many years have elapsed as I write, and the problem is still discussed—had the people a right to kill Louis XVI?

4The result of the King’s death upon the more moderate Republicans, and upon those who had agreed to the new constitution, but were Royalists at heart, were in some cases terrible. To many, this execution appeared a sacrilege, which must bring down upon the people who had committed it one of those vengeances in which heaven demands for the spilt blood of one just man the blood of an entire people.

5Men died of grief when they learnt the awful facts, and many more went mad.

6Women cast themselves in panic from housetops, others from the bridges into the River Seine.

7Sisters, wives, and mothers of the Conventionalists, who had condemned lovers to death, shrank from them as from lepers.

8One of the principal judges at the trial, Michael Lepelletier, was almost immediately stabbed in an eating-house by one Paris, a hot-headed Royalist, who escaped only for a short time. Tracked, he shot himself; and upon the body was found a paper bearing these words:—

9“I alone did the deed—let no other man be suspected. I did not mean to kill the wretch, Lepelletier, but he came in my way. I was waiting for the parricide D’Orleans, of whom I hoped to rid the world. All Frenchmen have become cowards.”

10Three days after, Lepelletier was publicly buried, after the antique Greek mode, and thousands were squandered upon this pomp.

11Meanwhile the nations were rising against France, although about this time the Prussians had been worsted by the French on the eastern frontiers.

12In England, the horror produced was great; and one Chauvelin having returned from London to Paris, declaring to the Convention that the English masses were ready to rise and massacre the King (George III) in his palace, the French ambassador at London was ordered to leave England within twenty-four hours.

13The Convention thereupon declared war against Holland and England.

14Catharine II, of Russia, revoked the treaty of 1786, by which the French were more favored in Russia, than other foreigners; and ordered all the French in Russia to return to France, who would not swear that they abhorred revolutionary sentiments. This Empress joined the coalition against France.

15The Convention had already declared war against Spain.

16And now, England, Prussia, Austria, Russia, and Spain were all at war with France—which was at war with itself.

17Even Sweden had declared against the Republic. Not a friendly national face looked upon France beyond the boundaries.

18In mercy to what was now to happen to France, let it be said that, cast upon her own resources, the armies of other people advancing upon her by land, and by sea, despairing of help from the United States, which had not yet recovered the blood spilt in obtaining her independence, France was panic-stricken at the fear of civil war, and rashly sought, by the most unpardonable acts, to exterminate this probability by the extermination of all those who were suspected of favoring Royalism.

19The leader of blood amongst the Conventionists, immediately after the execution of Louis XVI, took the hideous form of Marat. Dirty, mean, fetid, disgusting in look and action, he endeared himself to the most foul amongst the lowest by these attributes. But, like Robespierre, who was a very fop in appearance and action, he accepted no public money, and lived most obscurely in three or four garret-like rooms, most meanly furnished. This man was the idol of the commonest people, who saluted him almost as though a God: and he must have had some occult power of attraction, for a woman really beautiful devoted her life and honor to this creature. Nor was he without the sentiment of self-sacrifice; for, though dying, though every violent speech he made, which was always prefaced by the cry “Blood!” brought him nearer to the grave, he never hesitated to exert himself, and quitted his bed or his bath, in which he passed the greater part of his time, to go down to the Convention, and denounce men on the most frivolous pretences.

20The moderate party in the Convention—the Girondists—who in theory desired to save the King, and in practice condemned him to death, were by this time in danger. They were in the way of the fiercer party, led by Marat, Danton, and Robespierre, who were to eclipse both; and these Girondists were already in the hands of their opponents, condemned to follow the King to the scaffold.

21It was in such language as the following that Marat, who gained a poor living as the editor of a very fierce paper, spoke, in his Friend of the People:

22“I pray my readers pardon me to-day if I speak of myself; not because I am vain, or a fool, or because I wish to serve the people, and, therefore, must justify myself in their sight; for I am accused of being a monster, greedy of blood—a tiger, longing for gore!

23“Born with a sensitive heart, carefully nurtured, at twenty-one, I was pure, and had long since given myself up to knowledge.

24“My mother gave much in charity, and all she gave passed through my hands. At eight, I could not endure cruelty, and the sight of it enraged me to madness.

25“As a child I was weak, and never did I know the joys of childhood. I was so loved, that I was never punished but once, when eleven, and then unjustly. I sprang from the window of the room in which I was confined, and found liberty in the streets, where, even now, only liberty is to be found.”

26He concluded this article:—

27“Restored to health, I only thought how I could be useful to the cause of freedom. And yet they accuse me of having sold myself,—I, who could amass millions by merely selling my silence,—I, who am in poverty and want!”

28Strange enough, like Robespierre, Marat firmly believed he was an instrument in the hands of God. “The Revolution,” he would say, “is the Gospel, and I am its apostle.”

29But all the raving in the world could not hide the fact that France had suddenly become poor. To be rich, was to run the risk of being accused of being an aristocrat. And as all gold and silver was in the hands of the rich, and these were flying from France, the land was actually being drained of specie.

30Paper money was issued—a currency which the people mistrusted, as the people always mistrust the unusual; and the Girondists were popularly accused of causing the disappearance of the precious metals.

31The walls of popular hate were closing round that score of devoted men.

32The aspect of the land was horrible. People feared to go about in anything but rags, dreading to be supposed rich, and therefore only fit to die; land remained uncultivated, for its owners had fled; and the half-destroyed, empty houses of the nobility began falling into ruins. Not a carriage was to be seen, nor a jewel, nor any sign of luxury. All was abject, wretched, debased. The bakers’ shops were almost like prisons (to this day, bakers’ shops in Paris are often barred); and the only prodigality was that of wine, the many years store of which flowed in terrible abundance. It was cheaper than bread, and steeled the heart to pity. Commerce had ceased, and not a sail beyond that of a French fishing-smack was to be seen in the French waters.

33Marat now advocated the pillage of every store-house in the land, and the hanging of some of the owners in their own gateways, as an example to the rest.

34And now that which was most feared occurred—civil war. La Vendée, in the north-west of France—the Brittany of to-day—rose almost to a man, and defied the republic.

35Spain now began to pour her soldiers upon the south, while Austrians and Prussians were gaining victory after victory in the north and east.

36So north, south, east, and west, enemies’ faces were turned upon France, while England was preparing to sweep her navy around the whole of the coasts of the now devoted land.

37The Convention commanded that a black flag should float from the towers of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.

38The theatres were closed.

39Only one cry was heard in the streets—“To arms—to arms!”

40Danton and Robespierre now quarrelled. One Legendre undertook to reconcile them, and they met without previous warning. Danton, a bull-dog in ferocity, and with the bull-dog’s generosity advanced, and held out his hand. Robespierre, with the silent stealth of the tiger, which waits and pounces, affected not to see it, ate his dinner in silence, and went away, after the utterance of a few words, which were the first that openly indicated his intention of betraying Danton.

41Danton was beginning to repent. His remorse was natural. He had lost his wife, whose death had been accelerated by terror. Unable to endure his loneliness, he sought another wife; her parents rejected him with loathing. But, after a little, they pitied his misery, and gave their daughter to this strangely compounded man.

42Danton now contemplated what was done after Napoleon had reigned and lived, after Louis XVIII had reigned and died, after Charles X had been driven from the French throne—the giving of a King to France, not belonging directly to the hated Bourbons, but to the younger branch, the Orleanists, the leader of whom, Philip Equality, had voted Louis XVI’s death. He was never crowned; he died on the scaffold. His son, Louis Philippe, ultimately became King of France.

43Philip Equality refused the proposal.

44Meanwhile, the Convention was becoming a mere field of battle. On one particular night, the two sides clash—a poniard is drawn, a pistol is clapped to a breast, and murder is nearly done. It is felt that one party must be swept away, or nothing will be done. The moderate party, the Girondists, twenty-two in all, are to-night nearer the scaffold by a long journey than they were in the morning.

45Marat is declared a traitor by two hundred and twenty voices, against ninety-two. Marat defies the vote, throws himself into the arms of the people, and is borne home in triumph.

46The people rise in his favor.

47On the 24th of April (the Queen has been waiting death during three months) Marat is strong enough to appear and defy Parliament. He commands them to declare him innocent of treason. This defiance is carried to the thousands of armed men waiting the issue outside the House of Assembly. A cannon-like roar from the people declare their will—and he is pronounced innocent.

48The people place him on a plank, the throne of the people, and bear him through the streets, after crowning him with flowers.

49“It is you, the people,” he cries, “who crown themselves upon my head. I am the King of Poverty. May every head, which would rear itself above the level of the people soon fall, when I cry ‘Kill!’”

50A few days, and, in his arrogance, he says to his brother Conventionists, “I hold you as a little water in the palm of this hand; and as readily as I spill it, so I can spill the blood of all of you!”

51By this time, Philip Equality, for what he had been—a Duke—had become hated of the people. Strangely enough, he who had been so cowardly as a youth, now, when his life was threatened, became brave. When he was arrested, he was perfectly calm; when separated from the elder of his two sons, he was perfectly resigned. He had turned from his family to serve the people, and he now wore their chains.

52The people now demanded the deaths of all the leaders of the more moderate Conventionists.

53“Death to the twenty-two!”

54The people had slain a King—therefore they began to demand the lives of those who sought, as Republicans, to govern the stricken land.