FRANCE. 
788 
king, and his choice fell upon Meffrs. Tronchet, La- 
moignon Malelherbes, and Defeze ; he had previoully 
applied to M. Target, who excufed himfelf on account 
of his age and infirmity. On the 26th of December, the 
king appeared for the laft time at the bar of the conven¬ 
tion ; and M. Defeze read a defence which the counfel 
had prepared, and which was equally admired for the fo- 
lidity of the argument, and the beauty of the covnpofition. 
When the defence was finifhed, the king rofe, and 
holding a paper in his hand, pronounced in a calm man¬ 
ner, and with a firm voice, what follows: “ Citizens, you 
have heard my defence; I now fpeak to you, perhaps, for 
the laft time, and declare that my counfel have afferted 
nothing to you but the truth; my confidence reproaches 
me with nothing: I never was afraid of having my con¬ 
duct inveftigated; but I obferved, with great uneafinefs, 
that I was acetified of giving orders for (bedding the blood 
of the people on the 10th of Auguft. The proofs I have 
given through my whole life of a contrary difipofition, I 
hoped would have faved me from fuch an imputation, 
which I now folemnly declare is entirely groundlefs.” 
The dificufiion was finally clofed on the 16th of January, 
1793. After a fitting of thirty-four hours, the punifh- 
snent of death was awarded by a fmall majority of the 
convention, and feveral of thefe differed in opinion from 
the reft, refpedling the time when it fhould be inflidled ; 
fome contending that it thould not be put in execution 
till after the end of the war, while others propofed to 
take the fienfe of the people, by referring the fentence to 
the primary affemblies. M. Defeze then folemnly in¬ 
voked the affembly in the name of his colleagues, to con- 
fider by what a fmall majority the punifliment of death 
was pronounced againft the dethroned monarch: “ Do 
not afflidl France (added this .eloquent advocate) by a 
judgment that will appear terrible to the nation, when 
eleven voices only are prefumed fufficient to carry it.” 
He appealed to eternal juftice, and facred humanity, to 
induce the convention to refer their fentence to the tri¬ 
bunal of the people. “ You have either forgotten or 
cleftroyed (faid the celebrated M. Tronchet) the lenity 
which the law allows to criminals, of requiring at leaft 
two-thirds of the voices to conftitute a definitive judg¬ 
ment.” The number of fuffrages, on this ever-memora- 
ble occafion, amounted to feven hundred and twenty-one: 
thirty-four gave their opinions for death, with various 
reftridlions; two for imprifonment in chains ; and three 
hundred and nineteen for confinement or banifhment— 
Total, 355. The number of votes for death abfolutely 
was'366—Majority, 11. This inconfiderable majority was 
the produce of intreaty, terror, and violence. Grange- 
neuve and Kervelegan gave evidence of thefe fads; 
{fating, that members were flopped and furrounded by 
bodies of the loweft clafs of the people, who put piftols 
to their heads, threatening to facrifice them if they did 
not vote for the death of the king. 
In the whole courfe of this fanguinary tranfadion, no¬ 
thing created greater furprife and horror than the condud 
of the duke of Orleans, now diftinguiftied by the name of 
Egalite. This apoftate prince, it is faid, intended to have 
abftained from voting, but Robefpierre gained his fuffrage 
by means of terror. From the tribune he deliberately 
pronounced thefe words : “ Influenced by no confideration 
but that of performing my duty ; convinced that all who 
have confpired or who fhall hereafter confpire againft the 
fovereignty of the people deferve death ; I vote for 
death.” The affembly was in a general ferment; one 
member (farting from his feat, and (hiking his hands to¬ 
gether, exclaimed, “ Ah, le fcclcrat!" Many repeated 
that expreftion, and “ Oh, I’horreur! Ok, le monjlre /” The 
king alone felt pity for the degraded (fate of his perfecu- 
tor : “Ido not know, (he faid,) what I have done to my 
coufin to make him behave to me in the manner he has; 
but he is to be pitied. He is (fill more unfortunate than I 
am. I certainly would not change conditions with him.” 
A motion for a refpite was argued with great warmth, 
but decided in the negative by a majority of feventy; 
and the convention then ordered, that a copy of the de¬ 
cree pronouncing fentence of death againft Louis, (ltould 
be notified to him in the courfe of the next day by the 
executive council, and executed within twenty-four hours 
afterwards. 
The king and his family had for fome time been kept 
feparate from each other; But he was now allowed to fee 
them, and to choofe a chaplain to attend Him. The meet¬ 
ing, and, above all, the reparation from his family, was 
tender and diftreffing in the extreme. On Monday the 
21ft of January, 1793, at half pad eight in the morning, 
the unfortunate monarch was fummoned to his fate. The 
efcort confided of twelve hundred chofen men, being 
twenty-five from each fedlion of Paris. All the ftreets 
were befides lined with national guards ; the doors of the 
houfies were (hut, and the police had ftridlly forbidden 
any one to appear at the windows. The progrefs was 
extremely flow, and a profound filence prevailed among 
the people. At twenty minutes after ten, the proceflion 
arrived at the foot of the guillotine, eredted between the 
pedeftal which had fuppotted the ftatue of Louis XV. 
and the Champs Elife'es. The king afeended the ficaffold 
with a firm and undaunted ftep. Raifing his voice, he 
faid, “ Frenchmen, I die innocent; I pardon all my ene¬ 
mies ; and may France—” at this inftant the inhuman 
Santerre ordered the drums to beat, and the executioners 
to perform their office. When they offered to bind his 
hands, he (farted back as if about to refift ; but recol- 
ledled himfelf in a moment, and fubmitted. When the 
axe of the guillotine had fallen, the bleeding head was 
held up, and a few of the populace (houted Vive la repub - 
lique! His body was interred in a grave that was filled 
with quick-lime, and a guard was placed around till it 
fhould be wholly confumed. 
Thus fell Louis XVI. the laft and bed of all the mo. 
narchs of France; whofe benevolence of heart, and mild- 
nefs of character, certainly merited a better fate. Want 
of firmnefs and adtive courage is the only fault imputed 
to him ; yet his whole conduct proves that he had no 
fears for himfelf; his only terrors arofe from the appre- 
henfion of fhedding the blood of his fubjedts in civil war. 
His condudt from the time his trial commenced, till the 
moment which terminated his exiftence, forms a model 
of excellence almoft furpafling humanity, and demon- 
ftrates the tranfeendent benefits of that purity of morals 
which takes the fenfe of (liame from premeditated igno¬ 
miny, which deprives cruelty of its venom, and death 
of its (ling. 
We might here be allowed, without incurring the 
charge of fuperftition, to enumerate a Angular coincidence 
of events fatal to the repofe of Louis XVI. all happen¬ 
ing on the 21 ft day of the month, viz. 
21 April, 1770, married no favourite of France. 
21 June, 1770, the fete on that occafion, when 1500 per- 
fons loft their lives by the falling of the (lages. 
21 January, 1782, fete on the birth of a dauphin deftined 
to perifli by the revolution. 
21 June, 1791, flight to Varennes. 
21 September, 179*, abolition of royalty. 
21 January, 1793, death by the guillotine. And we might 
here add, as an event fatal tothecaufeof France, on the 
21 October, 1S05, great naval vidtory obtained by Eng¬ 
land over the combined fleets of France and Spain, 
off Trafalgar. 
After this unprecedented deftrudfion of the king of 
France, the national convention treated the remains of 
the royal family with every fpecies of indignity and infult. 
Notwitli(landing her tears and intreaties, theyoung prince, 
whom nature feemed to have formed for fcience and the 
virtues, was torn from the fide of the queen, and placed 
under the tuition of one Simon, a (hoemaker, feledled 
from the mire of vulgarity, who boafted of making his 
unhappy pupil intoxicated with liquors, and of addidling 
his infant tongue to oaths and obfeenities. 
Robefpierre 
