The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-03-17
S|E1listellarteo1ts,
THE ASSASSINATION OF HEN
RY THE FOURTH.
BY JAMES PARTON.

On the 14th Of May, 1910, Henry ".
King Of France, was riding in the streets
of Paris in a huge royal coach, with seven
noblemen Of his court. The vehicle was
as large as a modern omnibus, and not un
like one in shape, the occupants being seat
ed with their backs towards the wheels
and exposed to view from the waist up.
wards. The King, who was to leave Par
is for the seat of war, in which he had tax.
en- the side of the Protestant power against
the Catholic, was going to take leave ol
the Duke of Sully, the Grand Master oil
Artillery.
He was in the fourteenth year Of his
reign and fifty-seyenth Of his age. A war.
rior from his youth up his beard was griz.
zled and his hair whitening but his natu-
raj force was still abundantly capable of
sustaining the fatigue of a campaign. BY
his valor and clemency, France, from being
torn and impoverished by civil war had
become united and tranquil, had attainad
in Europe commanding eminence, and
was able to oppose with 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 Father OF
his Country. AS a general, he was the bra
vest of the brave-active, skillful, patient
under reverses, moderate and just in the
hour Of triumph. AS monarch, he was
clement, tolerant, and profoundly saga
cious. 1t was he who established in France
adegree ofreligious liberty. 1t was he who
conceived, century and half in advance
of his time, that system of general politics
which is called the Balance Of Power, with
view to prevent wars and 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 very tall
man, muffled in cloak, with wide brim-
med hat drawn over his forehead, stepped
upon one of the wheels, dashed his arm
through the window, and struck at the
breast of the king with a dagger. He stab
bed him second time, and the king fell
dead. Both wounds had pierced his heart.
The assassin jumped from the wheel to
the ground, and remained standing near it
with bloody knife in his hand. In the hor-
ror of the moment he might have escaped !;
but he stood erect and motionless near the
carriage. One of the kings attendants was
about to run him through with his sword,
but a nobleman parried the blow, and he
was saved and secured. He avowed on
the spot that he had done the deed, and
added "If it were still to be done,
would do it again" Being told that the
king was breathing and might recover, he
replied, "No, struck home am sure
he is dead"
Nothing could exceed the calmness Of
his demeanor, He had the air OF IL man
who had nerved himself to do solemn du-
ty. of which he had counted the cost, and
the consequences which he was prepared
to abide.
It was at once surmised by the Protes-
tant faction the assassin was but the tool OF
the Catholic powers against whom the king
had declared war; 1t was natural
thought but it was erroneous. The morn
ing after the murder, the man was examined,
and the particulars of his life, and the mo-
tive of his fell deed were so fully ascertain
ed. that nothing additional was ever OBJ
tanned. He declared then and always that
he had no accomplices and no con6dant.-
The act was wholly his own.
Francois Ravaillac was his name-his
ago thirty two-the son of an obscure pet
tifogger, to which calling he had himself
been bred; but was afterwards a teacher ol
school Of eighty pupils. He had been
always very poor, and was naturally of q
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 9TH
er requirements of the Church, exceeding
ly devout at all times. When asked what
had induced him to assassinate the king,
he constantly replied that he had believed
it to be his duty. He said he had dreams
and revelations melting him to the deed
but that no human voice had suggested il
| and no one had known his intention. He
added that he had long labored under the
| impression that it was his mission to kill
the king, but that at first he had deemed il
temptation Of the devil, and as such had
resisted it, and had on one occasion abstain.
ed from taking the communion because he
felt that such thoughts rendered him un
worry to receive it. But at length he had
become fully convinced that it was his du-
tv. and had attended the Mass on the morn
ing Of the day Of the murder to consecrate
himself anew to the work. He added af
| terward, that now the deed was done, he
| saw that he had committed a horrible crime
/ but he hoped by true repentance to OBJ
tain the absolution. Nothing appeared tt
astonish him so much as the universal hor
!. ror which the murder excited. He had evi
IDENTIFY felt that France desired the death o
the kiug, and that it was France thatstrucl
at the kings heart by his arm.
| According to the savage cnstom OF th'
time. he was subject to the torture, to com
pel the disclosure of accomplices. HI
hora the acntest anguish with surprising
fortitude, and never varied from asserting