Читать книгу A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete - Charlotte Biggs - Страница 66

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The unfortunate Queen, after a trial of ſome days, during which ſhe ſeemſ to have behaved with great dignity and fortitude, is no longer ſenſible of the regrets of her friends or the malice of her enemies. It iſ ſingular, that I have not yet heard her death mentioned in the priſon—every one looks grave and affects ſilence. I believe her death has not occaſioned an effect ſo univerſal as that of the King, and whatever people's opinions may be, they are afraid of expreſſing them: for it iſ ſaid, though I know not with what truth, that we are ſurrounded by ſpies, and ſeveral who have the appearance of being priſoners like ourſelveſ have been pointed out to me as the objects of this ſuſpicion.

I do not pretend to undertake the defence of the Queen's imputed faultſ—yet I think there are ſome at leaſt which one may be very fairly permitted to doubt. Compaſſion ſhould not make me an advocate for guilt—but I may, without ſacrificing morals to pity, venture to obſerve, that the many ſcandalous hiſtories circulated to her prejudice took their riſe at the birth of the Dauphin,* which formed ſo inſurmountable a bar to the views of the Duke of Orleans.—

* Nearly at the ſame time, and on the ſame occaſion, there were literary partizans of the Duke of Orleans, who endeavoured to perſuade the people that the man with the iron maſk, who had ſo long excited curioſity and eluded conjecture, was the real ſon of Louiſ XIII.—and Louis XIV. in conſequence, ſuppoſititious, and only the illegitimate offſpring of Cardinal Mazarin and Anne of Auſtria—that the ſpirit of ambition and intrigue which characterized thiſ Miniſter had ſuggeſted this ſubſtitution to the lawful heir, and that the fears of the Queen and confuſion of the times had obliged her to acquieſce: "Cette opinion ridicule, et dont les dates connues de l'hiſtoire demontrent l'abſurdite, avoit eu des partiſans en France—elle tendoit a avilir la maiſon regnante, et a perſuader au peuple que le trone n'appartient pas aux deſcendans de Louis XIV. prince furtivement ſutſtitue, mais a la poſterite du ſecond fils de Louiſ XIII. qui eſt la tige de la branche d'Orleans, et qui eſt reconnue comme deſcendant legitimement, et ſans objection, du Roi Louiſ XIII."—Nouvelles Conſiderations ſur la Maſque de Fer, Memoirs de Richelieu. "This ridiculous opinion, the abſurdity of which is demonſtrated by hiſtorical dates, had not been without its partizans in France.—It tended to degrade the reigning family, and to make the people believe that the throne did not of right belong to the deſcendantſ of Louis XIV. (a prince ſurreptitiouſly intruded) but to the poſterity of the ſecond ſon of Louis XIII. from whom is derived the branch of Orleans, and who was, without diſpute, the legitimate and unobjectionable offſpring of Louis XIII."—New Conſiderations on the Iron Maſk.—Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu.

The author of the above Memoirs adds, that after the taking of the Baſtille, new attempts were made to propagate this opinion, and that he himſelf had refuted it to many people, by producing original letters and papers, ſufficiently demonſtrative of its abſurdity.

—He might hope, by popularity, to ſuperſede the children of the Count d'Artois, who was hated; but an immediate heir to the Crown could be removed only by throwing ſuſpicions on his legitimacy. Theſe pretenſions, it is true, were ſo abſurd, and even incredible, that had they been urged at the time, no inference in the Queen's favour would have been admitted from them; but as the exiſtence of ſuch projects, however abſurd and iniquitous, has ſince been demonſtrated, one may now, with great appearance of reaſon, allow them ſome weight in her juſtification.

The affair of the necklace was of infinite diſſervice to the Queen'ſ reputation; yet it is remarkable, that the moſt furious of the Jacobinſ are ſilent on this head as far as it regarded her, and always mention the Cardinal de Rohan in terms that ſuppoſe him to be the culpable party: but, "whatever her faults, her woes deſerve compaſſion;" and perhaps the moraliſt, who is not too ſevere, may find ſome excuſe for a Princeſs, who, at the age of ſixteen, poſſibly without one real friend or diſintereſted adviſer, became the unreſtrained idol of the moſt licentious Court in Europe. Even her enemies do not pretend that her fate was ſo much a merited puniſhment as a political meaſure: they alledge, that while her life was yet ſpared, the valour of their troopſ was checked by the poſſibility of negotiation; and that being no more, neither the people nor armies expecting any thing but execration or revenge, they will be more ready to proceed to the moſt deſperate extremities.—This you will think a barbarous ſort of policy, and conſidering it as national, it appears no leſs abſurd than barbarous; but for the Convention, whoſe views perhaps extend little farther than to ſaving their heads, peculating, and receiving their eighteen livres a day, ſuch meaſures, and ſuch a principle of action, are neither unwiſe nor unaccountable: "for the wiſdom of civilized nations is not their wiſdom, nor the ways of civilized people their ways."*—

* I have been informed, by a gentleman who ſaw the Queen paſs in her way to execution, that the ſhort white bed gown and the cap which ſhe wore were diſcoloured by ſmoke, and that her whole appearance ſeemed to have been intended, if poſſible, to degrade her in the eyes of the multitude. The benevolent mind will recollect with pleaſure, that even the Queen's enemies allow her a fortitude and energy of character which muſt have counteracted this paltry malice, and rendered it incapable of producing any emotion but contempt. On her firſt being removed to the Conciergerie, ſhe applied for ſome neceſſaries; but the humane municipality of Paris refuſed them, under pretext that the demand was contrary to the ſyſtem of la ſainte elagite—"holy equality."

—It was reported that the Queen was offered her life, and the liberty to retire to St. Cloud, her favourite reſidence, if ſhe would engage the enemy to raiſe the ſiege of Maubeuge and withdraw; but that ſhe refuſed to interfere.