Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-07-27
Moral Retribution--Historical Illus
~ trati0n.

AACiesl AoOpI4UuVlou- "lllotUllOdl lAuo-
.. tration.
Wonderful is moral retribution, and
the combination of circumstances and
events to which it leads. Take, for
instance, the execution of Marie An
toinette, in France, on October 18th,
1913. She was the daughter of Ma.
ria Theresa, of Austria. She was a
stranger in the country, and came
there as the bride of the French king,
relying upon the justice and generosi-
ty Of the people whom he governed.
When the disasters ana the storms
of the revolution fell upon the mon-
archy, there was every reason of gen.
erosity, even aside from her sex, to
spare Marie Antoinette. If she was
dangerous to the new republic, why
was she not sent to her brother, the
emperor of Austria But unaor- Tue
influences of blood thirsty revenge
and extraordinary cruelty, which, at
that time, appeared to be so preya-
lent, the queen was brought to the
block and executed.
Twenty years passed away. The
French republic and empire, which
had been created upon the ruins of
the monarch, had obtained surprising
successes. 1t not only governed
France, Holland, Italy, Spain and
Portugal, but it governed Germany.
But Germany revolted in 1913. She
sprang to the aid of Russia. She
poured her hundreds of thousands of
men into the allied column.
In October, 1913, just twenty years
to the day and hour, when the Ger
man princess Marie Antoinette was SO
cruelty beheaded in France, Germany
had her revenge. She rushed to arms
and the last hours Of French ascend.
ency beyond the Rhine were termina-
ted. The revolution that had so cru
ely assassinated Marie Antoinette,
was doomed to pay in the sequel
dread penalty. At about the same
hour, twenty years after, as we have
said, the government which had per-
mitted it, was being destroyed upon
the battle field Of Leipsic. As the
cathedral clock told the hour on the
18th Of October, 1913, the period of
French ascendency in Europe ended.
The immense German hosts encom-
passed those of the French Emperor.
1t was the battle Of the nations. More
men were in arms that one single
conflict upon the occasion, than have
been before or since known to history.
The hour for Germany's revenge had
f, come. Marie Antoinette was signal
ly remembered. The French revolu-
, ton for its cruelty to helpless, un-
protected foreign female was terribly
. punished. Its adherents expatiated
5 in rivers Of blood the awful crime
they had committed just twenty years
l before.
: Foreigners invaded France. On the
:. very spot where Marie Antoinette
. had been murdered, the allied mon
j archs took places to witness the tri-
, umphal march Of their cohorts into
Paris, upon which city they imposed
G the most excessive contributions. 1t
: is evident that though the day for Di-
G vine retribution may be long delayed,
: it is certain at last to come. The evil
e seed is destined to bear evil fruit.
e Another remarkable instance of this
h character may be here cited. If there
o was man to whom the French revo.
} luton of 1889 ought to have been
T grateful, it was Philip, duke Of Or
0 leans. He was the first cousin to the
: king. He entered in full spirit into
a the revolution. 1t was his money that
brought together those mobs which
destroyed the throne and monarchy.
: Without his influence the revolution
would not have progressed. In ac-
e cordance with its dictates he abandon
l. ed his titles and his rank. He de-
g scended from the highest patrician
|, class into that Of the humblest. He
Il was no longer the duke of Orleans,
d but simply Philip Egalite. He even,
/ in his admiration for the principles of
:, the revolution, sacrificed his regard
It for consanguinity, trampled upon the
d laws Of connections and associations,
e and voted for the death of his hapless
cousin, Louis XVI.s
Forgetting all this, and ungrateful
q for it, the reyolutionists-who would
|. have been nothing without him in the
r days Of their infancy-brought him to
/ the scaiold. His head fell upon the
IS same block which had witnessed the
| decapitation of Louis. There was
q hardly year between the catastro-
b phes. But time and just moral ret
ribution made amends. The son of
r the unfortunate Philip Egalite, thirty
e years after his death, became by a
II successful revolution, king of France,
:, and two years did not transpire be-
/ fore in the streets of Paris, he gave
IS the reyolutionists, who had murdered
his father, the bloodiest and most ter
IL rible defeat that any Jacobin insur-
!. rection ever sustained. The mills of
IS the gods may grind slowly; but there
le is such thing all history at
IS tests it-as moral retribution and
q even handed justice, although it may
y be postponed until the second or
le third generation.
/. The present Duke OF Wellington is
;, said TO be one of the most dissinated