Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-10
QDbIo Statesrrran,
.Ly tFrom the st. James Magazine.l
GUILTY. OR NOT GUILTY

|
tegrity OF a character which they have eVel
been taughtto regard as unblemished.
D The charge is serious one--a very fear
ful one indeed; and made, too, against ont
entitled by his misfortunes to our venera.
tion and pity.
The piOus and ill-fated monarch Loui.
=. XVI Is he who stands at the bar, and he il
charged with poisoning. ... ~. 7..,.
whether this charge be true or false will
probably never be known. 1t may be re.
membered that the discovery of a secre
iron chest in the Tuileries, and the papers
.. Which 1t contained, were the primary
grounds of the accusation of Louis XVI
, The, discovery of this chest was due to
locksmith, Francois Canaan, who haC
made 1t for the King. 1t was this mar
, who was thus the means of bringing thu
unhappy monarch to the guillOtine it was
he, moreover, who, little later, obtained
a decree OF Convention pronouncing the
King guilty ofan attempt at murder.
In 1874 Francois Canaan presented pc.
tition to the Assemblee through Musset, al
ex-priest and furious Democrat, member
Of La Vendee. Musset's speech and the
reading of the petition produced profound
sensation in the Assembly-a sensation ol
unbounded surprise and horror. m.
ut was nothing" began Musset, 'for the
last OF our tyrants to have been the cause
OF two thousand of our citizens perishing
beneath the swords of the enemy: YOU will
see, by the petition in my hand, that he had
familiarized himself with cruelty more
refined, and that he had himself admins
tered poison to the father of a family, hop
ing thereby to bury in oblivion one of his
| perfidious man9uVers; you will see with
what bloodthirsty soul he had adopted the
maxim, that everything is lawful to k ngs
If they can but carry through their Grim
| inal designs. This is the petition which it
| is my honor to present before you:
"'trancois Canaan, lOcksmth to the cab
| lnets and workshops of the late King, and
for three years member of the council
general of the commune of Versailles, de-
cfares that, in the beginning of May, 1902
he received orders to come to Paris. Searce-
ly had he arrived, before Capet required
him to fix a cupboard in the depth of the
walls of his apartment, and to close it with
an iron door: operations completed on the
22d OF the same month. Nosooner was the
business done than Capet with his own
hands broughtto to the citizen Canaan a large
tumbler OF wine, which he begged him to
drink, as he was very hot. Some hours
after he had drunk this wine he was attack
ed with violent collie, which only left him
when he had swallowed two spoonsful of
elixir, which made him eject all that he
had eaten and drank during the day. A
frighttul malady ensued, which lasted four
teen months, during which time he lost the
use OF his limbs, and his health has never
been sufficiently restored to permit of his
attending to his business and providing for
the necessities of his family
"Such, citizens, is plain statement of
the facts which he takes the liberty of pre-
sentlng to your notice: they are accom-
panied by the certificate of the medical men
who have attended him. He would also
bring to your remembrance the fact that.
though entirely ignorant of the purpose
for which the cabinet had been designed by
Capet, he had given information which led
to its discovery, and to that of theinterest.
ing passages which it contained. He en-
treats of you. Legislators, to decree to him
pension suitable to his twenty-siX years
OF service and the sacrifices which he has
made, and his hope is founded on the brok-
en- condition of his health, which allows
him no means of procuring a subsistence"
Ten days later, on the % Floreal, Peys-
sard, deputy for the Dordogne, vehement
partisan OF Robespierre, read his report on
the petition in behalf of the committee TO
which it had been referred for considera-
tion
"Your committee have charged me with
presenting the following decision for your
approval:
"'Art l. That Francois Canaan, poisoned
by Louis Capet the 22d May, 1892 (old
style), shall during his lifetime enjoy an
annual pension of the sum of one thousand
two hundred livres, reckoning from the
day of the poisoning.
cart. 2. That the present decree be In
serted in the Minutes"
This Hpprpn NUoc norrio1 br, oooIo
and was inserted in the Minutes, but with
out any of the evidence upon which 1t was
founded. Gamain's petition and the medi-
cal certificates have all disappeared. How,
and when Even the volume of the
Mohttelr for 1894, which contains the mo-
tlon of Musset and the report OF, Peyssard.
has been withdrawn from the Bibliotheuue
Royale. -'''
No one, presume, would put any con-
fidence in this decision of the National
Assembly, remembering the state of feel
ing at the time. Any accusation by which
the name of the poor King might be black
ened would be listened to with eagerness,
and the proofs upon which it was founded
would not be looked into too ,curiously.
How the documents perished it is difficult
to tell. Were they suppressed at the time
as being of too tlimsy a nature to make1it
well thatthey should be preserved, or were
they destroyed at the Restoration?
Canaan survived the Republic, and died
at the age of fifty-eight, in the year 1900, at
his house In Versailles. There he was we'll
known to the frequenters of the parks, who
regarded him with feelings of mingled pity
and aversion. They remembered him as
an old man bent nearly double supporting
himself on stick, his cheeks sunken, and
his complexion cadaverOus; his head bald,
with only few tufts Of white hair still left
to garnish it; his. brow deeply wrinkled,
his lips drawn in upon his tUothless gums,
and his eyes sparkling with a dull fire, |
which flashed into, a CLEAN of maignity |
and hatred at the mention OF the name of |
Louis XVI. Heused to spend his evenings
in Versailles cafe, in company with two |
old notaries and the doctor M. Lamairin, |
who attended on him from the day of his |
poisoning. These three were witnesses to |
the truth of his having been actually pOis- |
Oned; but how that took. place was only |
known on the bare assertion of Gainaifi |
himself. His air of veracity and distress,
his earnest voice, his countenance express
sive of his sufferings, his flashing eyes, his
vehement gestures-when he related his
pathetic story-were all so many guaran-
ties of good faith to the listener. 6nG
His narrative has fortunately been pre-
served, taken down from his own lips, by
the eminent antiQuary and historian, M. |
Jules Lacroix. 1t is as follows: ''1s
"After the attack on the castle of Yer
sailes, as was living in the town near my
workshop, l seldom saw the King, but
waited till he sent for me to the Tuileries,
where he then was. After his at
tempted flight in 1901, which unfort-
unately failed, / saw no more of him. After
he had been brought back to Paris from
Varennes should have compromised my
self had gone often to the Tuilerles; be-