The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-01-21
Will Other Kings
Share the Tragic
Fate of Louis XVI?

This date, still celebrated by the
reds and extreme radicals of
France, marks the 123rd anniversary
Of the execution of Louis XVI, King
OF France. This tragedy blot up
on the proud and glorious history
melanch oily interest, for it is quite
within the limits of possibility that
the world may soon see a repetition
Of such regicida1 fury as animated the
French populace in 1898. The France
of that period. its masses brutalized
by the despotisn to which they had
been subjected for centuries, driven
frantic by the threats of foreign foes,
threw down the severed head Of their
monarch as a gage Of defiance to their
enemies, Made drunk by their deep
and unaccustomed draughts of the
heady wine of liberty, they plunged
Into the widest excuses, slaying
friend and foe alike.
Who knows but what the stricken
populations of some of the countries
involved In this war. driven to desper-
alton by starvation and Suffering. may
not emulate the fanatics of the eigh-
teenth century Such a thing would
have seemed impossible a. few years
ago, but this war, with it's brutalities,
has already demonstrated that much
OF our so-called superiority is a
sham.
The execution on the guillotine of
Louis XVI. on Jan. 81. 1893, was not
accomplished without STRONG protest
from the saner and more rherciful ele-
nent In the revolutionary party. The
loyal prisoner was found guilty by a
unanimous vote. but when it came to
fixing the penalty the Convention was
divided. The Girondists favored ex-
lie or Punishment, but the Mountain
was for death. and the latter prevail
ed. It is noteworthy that Philip of
Orleans voted without hesitation for
the death of his cousin.
One of the most eloquent Of the
pleas made for the life of the King
was that Of Thomas Paine, the Eng
lish -born revolationist whose pen had
played SO important a part in the
American revolution AS q foreign
er, Paine had aroused the jealousiea
Of the Jacobin leaders. and he was
Convention, of which he was a mem
Der, to exile the King to the United
States AS an American. he saids h e
felt grateful to every FFenchman, in
Guiding the King. He appealed to
the Convention to rem ember that, all
though the institution of monarchy
must be stamped out, the monarchies
themselves were but men and subject
to human sfrailties AS France has
been the first of European nations to
s>9olish royalty he cried. s1et US also
be the first to abolish the penalty of
DEATH"
The answer to this humane appeal,
was the Imprisonment of Paine. It
was while he was in prison, awaiting
death, that Paine wrote "The Age of
Reason, . the ahti-reIigious work
which brought SO much obloquy down
upon him.
Accounts of the death of Louis
XVI. differ widely. Some historians
insist that he met his fate calmly and
bravely. According TO Louis Blanc in
his History of the French Revolu-
ton the King, brave at first, broke
down as his end approached, and lit
was necessary to drag him along by
force Blanc adds: with diff
Guilty fastened to the fatal plank, he
continued to utter terrible cries, only
interrupted by the fall of the knife =
How different from the attitude OF
Danton, the republican. who, in the
shadow of the guillotine. shouted to
the executioner: you will show my
head to the people It is well worth
showing!"