Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1894-06-24

LAFAYETTE was defeated, CONSTITUTIONAL
ism was rejected and France had fallen
into the power of an oligarchy; pro-
Tossing belief in popular absolutism
only that they might the more easily
punish as traitors to the people all who
opposed their owp power or attempted
to thwart their will.
Under the monarchy the government
had been determined largely In the sa-
looms OF the dissolute women who
iuled the court. At the beginning OF
the revolution the club was substi-
tuted for the more exclusive salon. At
first, It too, was exclusive, but whom
the leaders recognized its immense
possibilities they threw IL open TO the
public, and being thus more easily able
10 claim for 1t a representative charac-
ter, they openly dictated the course Of
the Assembly, which legally represent
ed the power OF the people.
V.
1t NAV be said that the French ReVo-
lutien began on Lafayette's motion,
when, on July II, 1889, it adopted the
Bill OF Rights he had offered. The
very next day after its adoption, the
Kings Swiss and German troops at
tempted to dispense procession and
preci plated the rising which resulted
ia the fall of the BaStile, on July IA.
The Kings folly had showed Paris its
power. 1t compelled him TO remove his
foreign troops, and Lafayette was made
commander Of the National Guard,
composed entirely Of Frenchmen.
in "
placed was one of extreme difficulty. He
was trusted by both the King and the
people, but the people were being urged
on by the Jacobins, aud the amiaole
but imbecile King was completely
under the influence Of the Queen, who
hated Lafayette and all others who OPP
posed her absolute supremacy in France.
IL was through her influence that on
October 3, 1889, the most extreme OF
the Royalists made a demon stration
at Versailles, declaring opposition 10
the new order of things al great
banquet given in the palace when the
poor of Paris were starving. The eXaS-
perated women O------,~-SaOed oy the
National Guard, most unwlllngly led
by Lafayette, marched to Versailles and
brought the King to Paris-an event
which made Paris France, as it still re-
mains politically.
After the resignation Of Necker the
cause or royalty was hopeless. Had the
| King been possessed Of ability enough
/ TO be honest; OF courage enough to be
candid, Lafayette might have saved him
/ from the guillotine and France from the
/ Reign of Terror. But, being wholly In
/ com petent and because OF his weakness
/ q coward and adouble-dealer, the uXor'
! ious "Son of ST. Louis" left hts fate in
the hands of his wife, and by long
/ course OF the most pitiful mendacity
made 1t impossible for anyone TO help
/ him.
Not comprehending the motives oil
/ such high minded men as Lafayette,
\ the Queen crossed him in every at
tempt he made TO save the King and
perpetuate constitutional government
in France. Her ignorance Of actual
conditions was only surpassed by the
vehemence of her determination TO as
sert Der divine right TO rule France ab'
solutely. When Lafayette attempted
to combine all classes OF the ModerateS
. in support of the constitutional Mon
archy, she thwarted him. Preferring
to rely upon the fraud Of MirAbeau,
whom she had herself corrupted, rather
than on the honesty and fidelity Of the
most honest aud faithful gentleman in
France, she sent her husband, her most
devoted adherents and finally her
self to the guillotine. She had
already begun plotting to sub
ject France to the military pow
er OF foreign despotlsm, aud when she
had brlbed Mirabeau she became re-
sponsible for the irretrievable blunder
Of the flight from Paris which made the
permanency Of the monarchy forever