Photo by Caroline Robinson 



one; of the gates of the chateau pierrEFonds (see preceding page) 



titles of nobility were abolished. Every 

 trapping and every custom that savored 

 of monarchy disappeared. Every one. 

 rich and poor, high and low,*distinguished 

 and unknown, was addressed as citizen. 

 The king himself became "Citizen Capet" 

 and the bootblack in the street became 

 "citizen bootblack." The day after the 

 republic was proclaimed the National As- 

 sembly called upon all nations to rise 

 against despotism, and pledged the aid of 

 France to any people wishing to secure 

 freedom. 



The proclamation of the republic was 

 followed by the trial and execution of 

 the king, whose death awakened the bitter 

 enmity of all the rulers of Europe, and 

 brought about a grand coalition to crush 

 the republican movement. Armies aggre- 

 gating more than a quarter of a million 

 of men threatened France at once on 

 every side. 



Now came another period in which 

 the extremists, having banished royalty, 



turned on their late aids, the conserva- 

 tives, and the Reign of Terror began. 

 One cannot contemplate, without a shud- 

 der, the scenes of that terrible era. even 

 at the distance of a century and a quarter. 

 Supreme power was vested in the so- 

 called Committee of Safety, and in the 

 name of republicanism more crimes were 

 committed than under the proscriptions 

 of Sulla of Rome. All aristocrats and all 

 persons who dared to feel otherwise than 

 as the extremists felt were called to the 

 guillotine, which labored overtime in its 

 bloody task. 



The churches were closed, their treas- 

 ures confiscated, their bells molded into 

 cannon, their holy images torn down, 

 and the busts of their patriots set up. 

 All emblems of hope were obliterated 

 from the cemeteries, and above their 

 gates came to be inscribed the words, 

 "Death is eternal sleep." 



For months the awful orgy of crime 

 went on. It seemed that the maelstrom 



495 



