The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1865-07-29
9yist|ella1teo1ts,
Assassination of Henry Nv.
BY JAMES PARTON.

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On the 14th of May, 161O, Henry ",
King of France, was riding in the streets of
Paris in huge royal coach, with seven no.
blemen of his court. The vehicle was as
large as modern omnibus, and not unlike
one in shape, the occupants. being seated
with their backs towards the wheels, and
exposed to view from the waist upwards
The King, who waste leave Paris for the
seat of war, in which he had taken the side
of the Protestant power against the Catho-
| lie, was going to take leave of the Duke of
Sully, the Grand Master of Artillery.
He was in the fourteenth year of his reign
and the fifty-seventh of his age. A warrior
from his youth up, his beard was grizzled
and his hair whitening; but his natural force
was unabated, and he was still abundantlv
capable of sustaining the fatigues of cam
paign. BY his valor and wise clemency,
France, from being torn and impoverished
by civil war, had become united ndtranquil,
had attained in Europe commanding emf
nence, and was able to oppose with a fair
prospect of success, the enormous power of
Spain and Austria combined. Frenchmen
to this day, esteem him the greatest and
best of their kings. They style him the
" GENERAL,
was the brayest of the brave-active, skill
full, patient under reVerses, moderate and
just in the hour of triumph. AS monarch,
he was clement, tolerant, and profoundly
sagacious. 1t was he who established in
France degree of religious liberty. 1t
was he who conceived, a century and half
in advance of his time, that system of gen
eral politics which is called the Balance of
Power, with view to prevent wars and to
protect the rights of feeble States.
In one of the narrow streets of the city,
the numbering coach was stopped by an OBJ
struction. AT that moment a very tall man,
muffled in cloak, with wide -brimmed hat
drawn down over his forehead, stepped upon
one of the wheels, dashed his arm through
the window, and struck at the breast ofthe
king with dagger. He stabbed him sec
ond time, and the king fell dead. Both
wounds had pierced his heart. -1-24I -
the ground, and remained standing near it
with the bloody knife in his hand. In the
horror of the moment he might have es-
capped; but he stood erect and motionless
near the carriage One of the kings atten-
dants was about to run him through with
his sword, but anobleman parried the blow,
and he was saved and secured. Q III aVowed
on the spot that he had done the Decd and
added, elf it were still to be done, / would
do it again" Being told that the the king
was still breathing and might recover, he
replied, "No; Istruck home | am sure
he is dead'' ~ .--, e,aol.e, ..-I
Nothing could exceed the calmness of
his demeanor He had the air of man
who had nerved himselfto do "a solemn duty,
of which he had counted the cost, and the
consequences of which he was prepared to
abide. I 10 .6af He zl1e
1t was at once surmised by the P rotestant
faction that the assassin was but the tooPof
the Catholic powers against whom the king
had declared war 1t was natural thought
but it was erroneous. The morning after
the murder, the man was examined, and the
particulars Of his life, and the motive of his
fell deed were so fully ascertained, thatno
fng additional was ever obtained. He de-
clared then and always that he had no ac-
completes and no confdants. The act was
wholly his own. n, .. aer.i,r 5stia5
Francois Ravaillac was his name-his age
thirty-two-the son of an obscure, pettifog-
ger, to which calling he had himself been
bred bnt was afterwards teacher of q
school of eighty pupils. He had been al
ways very poor, and was naturally of a
gloomy disposition, unsocial, morose, but
not vicious or inclined to violence. He was
religious even to fanaticism, observing, with
the utmost rigor, all the fasts and other re-
quirements Of the Church, exceedingly de-
yout at all times. When asked what had
induced him to assassinate the king, he con-
stantly replied that he had believed it to be
his duty. He said he had had dreams and
revelations melting him to the deed, but
that no human voice had suggested it and
no one had known his Intention, He added
that he had long labored under the impress
ion that it was his mission to kill the king,
but that at first he had deemed it a tempta-
| tion Of the devil, and as such had resisted
it, and had on one occasion abstained from
taking the communion because he felt that
such thoughts rendered him unworthy to
receive it. But at length he had become
| fully convinced that it was his duty, and
had attended the Mass on the morning of
the day Of the murder TO consecrate himself
anew to the work. He added, afterward,
that now the deed was done, he saw that
he had committed horrible crime, but he
hoped by true repentance to obtain abso-
luton. Nothing appeared to astonish him
so much as the universal horror which the
murder excited. He had evidently felt that
France desired the death of the king, and
that it was France that struck at the kings
heart by his arm.
According to the savage custom of the
time, he was subjected to torture, to compel
the disclosure of accomplices. He bore the
( acutest anguish with surprising fortitude,
and never varied from his assertion that he
had neither accomplices or abettors. A
second time he was tortured, but without
effect. He signed this second "Interroga-
/. tory" as it was called, in firm hand with
his full name, and added to it French
couplet, which may be translated thus:
g May Jesus always in my heart
Bear away the conquerors part.n
i Thirteen days after he had committed the
crime, he was led to execution in one of the