Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1816-07-17
From the Paris Spectator.
n Executions at the Place dc
(s,.oY1a

sIl EAcCugtt)Ii az s>,. y
Greve.
with barbarous haste, with tunult iierce
aud loud, Ak,
found the dlre scafold tlrons the Gu,
rious. crowd, -
,:bey pant 1ior blood, and urge with fu
nous breath,
ahe detanl'd hour to least taelf Eyes
b with death.
7 had occasion to remark, in my last
e,say,, tnat particular contrast IN The
.ffeoch character, constituted by love
e noyelty, aud All attachment to custom,
mis- strange contradiction, though equai
+ strong, IS pe;haps less oneislye' al
lie frs glance, Tran that VI eAeessl' :
,ol,teness, and oil ierocious curiosity, iof
mich the people and pslnelpally those
IL this capital, have at all tlhes been
,Istinyuished. In fact, what dllierent
/ 5eas lust suggest themselves TO two
rangers, one Of whom had Only seen
rae fari,ians at the opera; TIE othe'
,aly in iravefsing the CITY atoaSa lhe
.ua,s, on the day OF an e2ecatloiiat. ihe
lace de oleve. what must the last
tnag.ne, on finding his carridgs arrested:
- eyery instant, in the MIDST oil al ltile
tense crowd pressing round the ilotei
Vile AID the paais de justice ; NJ
Bearing the confused and tahdituou,
,n6uts OF the populace, whlch are RAISED
pretty nearly ia tue same nesfee, "ha'
lever be the ciEcumtance whlci,occasohs
|tnem
This stranger, who sees on the road
| artisan quit his shop; the oours eos
forgot bis dinner hour; women stationed
lat the windows, others Mingled IN the
crowd, with which the quays aud the
bridges are covered the ta,efas and
pnblIc houses filled wits guests, must not
this stranger, say, imagine himself az,
rived at Paris on he day OF grand
solemnity? suppose also, that he que'
tons his position, and is informed lna'
this concourse of people, that all THIS
|eagerneos is for the purpose OF ENJOY =
the last agonies Of an unhappy wretch'
condemned to execution would not t"e
in order to reconcile the traces
o; civilization he had observed, with such
arbarous aabits- would he not be iusili-
ed il believing bimselt in the midst of a
'.ord. of saVages, racently established
|in the capita of a civilized nation ! Gu.
r;o,S TO observe little nearer this null
|,;tnda Of the borders Of Tue Seine, he des
scands. min les among the crowd. and
undressing himself to one of the inbabi-
4ants Of la Gyeye, he ipquires weat was
the use IF ehoSe piles Of woodwork which
are now being pulled down, and which
ear to.have belonged to some graod
the persen replies, that
these ye,tges formed part of a vast
wooden edifice, which had been erected
/, fortnight since, for the purpoSe OF public
raioicing. and this other building OF
snaIIer extent, which they prepare on
The same spot ? That is ,calfoId, where
e shall see, precisely at four O'Clock.
well known individual, aho has been
Ifried aud convicted of assassination. |
;maoine that at this sponse,de stranger
,nst "a 70 himself. g What! the inhabi-
ANTS of this good city erect then, IN the
same place. ball rooms and scaHoIds
tbey mincle, IN idea at least. the sounds
III = violin and the cries of a ma'etactor.
they appoint at the same time N the
same nlace. fete and executions! | ha
deceived myself, these persons are not
savaees they are fools" have often
made this reflection, which, here ascribe
10 nv traveller; and never pass the
alace dc Greve, without trembling al
this contrast, the image of which is al
ways before my eyes.
This place, the name of which reTiyes
the most ofious recollections, was, at the
commencement of the 14th age, appre'
nri,ted to the execution OF criminals. Il
il nainGu' to learn that innocent blood
was the first which flowed he e. An un'
|hapay female heretick, named Margaret
IPoreite, scarcely thirty yeara Id, was
burnt here in 1910, for having written
Itha, the soul, absorbed in God,is at TIE
height of every virtue, and has nothing
Imore to do: aud that when certain de.
loree of virtue is attained, one cannot &C
beyond it. Four hundred years alter
wards. another female was alioweddo ut
'er, with impumty. nearly the same alb.
fsurdities. Four ages hence, and per
|haps we S all run the rislSsof being burnt
for denying the evidence OF the same
propositions $50 unerring is human rea-
son! so infaIlible is human justice =
previously to. this execution, criminals