St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-01-19
DEATH OF LOUIS XVI.
Written for the CALEDoNIAN.l


One hundred years ago, under cir
cumstances of peculiar interest, ac-
cused of conspiracy against the
liberty of the nation" at the age Of
thirty-nine, there persisted king of
France. Full of good intentions,
faultless i'll manners, blameless in
morals, but feeble in the art of gov
erniEg. Louis lived to see the end of
the feudal system, and the power of
the throne usurped by the people.
An impossible barrier had been erect.
ed between the people and the mobiles.
To the latter were awarded the
prizes of state-craft and war, and to
them and the clergy, in large measure,
had fallen the ownership of the land.
Educated in the principles of gov
eminent inherited from Louis XIV,
lie grand, the Louis of the Revolution
sought by ill-devised measures to
maintain the integrity of the throne.
From the monalchical point of view,
his policy inlrelaeio to the affairs of
the American colonies in their efforts
to throw off the English yoke was
lnJudiclous and inexplicable In this
matter he unconsciously added fuel
to a flame which later burst into
open conhagration among his own
people.
Absorbed in the thoughts incident
to idle leisure, he failed to observe
the misery and increasing discomfort
OF the masses. Wanting in tact,
listening only to unprogressive adj
visers, he revived an old rule, twenty
years absolete, whereby no one, not
OF noble blood of four generations
coursing in his veins, could ever hope
to win the rank of captain in the
army. Folly of this kind supple
mented weakness; events FASTENED.
and the memorable days of 1889
brought frenzied JOY to the people,
death to some by violence, and
trouble for the king.
In the October days of this wear,
~, the royal pair drank deep of the
cup of humiliation. Forced from
Versailles, surrounded by the people,
and loaded with insults and re-
proaches, they rode the dismal
Journey to their prison palace of the
Tuileries in Paris.
After the massacres of Aug 10
1892, when eight hundred of the Swiss
guard tell victims to the fury of the
populace, the fate of the king was
but question of time.
By majority vote, in December fol-
lowing, the convention decreed his
ueatn. lhe conservative wing of this
body, the party of the Girondins
held the balance OF power. Hoping
to win by 6nesse, where, in their
opinion, direct action would fail
they deliberately forced the majority
decision' and steadfastly relied upon
saving the life of the king by direct
appeal to the nation. BY strange
irony OF tate, never did plans mis-
carry i'll worse manner. The mis-
takes and misdoings of men have
their compensation.
In the matter of the American neo-
pie versus African slavery, cannon
balls, prison pens, mutation and
death closed the account against
enforced labor, the auction block
Snackies, and the lash; while in
france a century ago, absolutism
the shameful excuses of the privil.
eSeu classes, extraordinary methods
VI taxation, mortmain, corvee. and
the galleys were about to be exnurg.
a'ed in the frightful excuses Of the
NeVolutlon. Looked at from afar il
appears that no human eneinerv
eou'9 nave prevented the eatas-