Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-26

1t was unhappy for the Queen of
France that the affair of the necklace
occurred just when the people were
plunged into the deepest abyss of pow
erty and misery. Thomas Carlyle. the
most unsympathetic of historians of the
revolution, expressed the situation of
the French people at this time thus:
"A widow is gathering nettles for her
children's supper; a perfumed seigneur
delicately lounginS in the oeil de boeuf
has an alchemy whereby he will extract
from her the third nettle and calls it
rent and law. Such an arrangement must
end.'
Under rent. taxes and seigneural rights
the people of France had been ground
down until they were unreasonng in
their wrath as wild beasts. Leaders they
had at the outset who We're wise, con-
structiye statesmen. but il was part of
Marie Antoinette's fate. or folly, that she
set herself in opposition to those who
We're struggling for constitutional gov
eminent, and gave thereby the more eX-
cuse to the rabid revolutionists who
brought on THE Terror" 1t has been
the fashion to decry her husband for
yielding to the advance OF democracy,
when She like Napoleon, at the close of
the Terror. would have checked it with
"a Whit of grapeshot.' Her militant pol
icy would have been better for that. par
ticular royal family, but as it was ac-
companied with no plan to correct the
just grievances of the French people the
explosion would have come sooner or
later.
So she merely assumed an attitude of
stubborn resistance to all the national
assembly asked. persuaded the king to
thereby the nickname of Mime. Veto
and the hatred of the populace. The
path she with others trod was not long.
though plenteously watered with tears
and blood. March II. 1889. may be
said to mark the true beginning of the
revolution. for on that day the Infatuated
people of Paris stormed the Bastile. All
that had gone before i'm the way of Gre
ating legislative assemblies had been or
derby. Now red revolution broke out,
with pixies and broadaxes and cannon.
Bodies hung from the street lanterns
and the heads of officials appointed by
the king were danced on pixies through
the bloody streets. why, it is a revolt"'
cried the king, startled, to the courier
who brought him the news. Nay. sire, y
was the grave response, 1T is "a revolu-
ton
Only few days after the fall OF the
Bastile a gorgeous banquet was given
at Versailles. The courtierS in all their
officers of tho troops stationed about
the palace Wine flowed freely and the
flames of loyalty burned high. The
white cockade of the Bourbons-symbol
people were contending, was tossed to
tine banqueters. who threw aside and trod
upon the tricolor, emblem of liberty,
equality and fraternity, beloved of the
people. Marie was present. How great
the part she took In urging on the pro-
tests against the peoples uprising is
not definitely known.
In Paris the stories of the banquet
were naturally exaggerated. The court
was rioting with rich food and wines.
trampling the tricolor under foot The
people were starving, feeding on swill,
or, as one royal oficial advised them,
eating grass. Somewhere in the Eau.
| bourg st. Antoine, nursing spot of revo-
luton, a haggard, hungry woman began
beating drum and calling: Bread
bread! bread" In a few hours some
10000 men and women. the scourings OF
| the Partisan cutters. were marching on
Versailles. There the palace was sacked
| The few soldiers who remained faithful
to the royal family We're massacred
Throughout this awful riot Marie bore
herself like a true queen.
The mob called for her, and. with hel
LIMA CHILDREN ct her side. she appeared or