LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, FAC-SIMILES, &c. FRONTISPIECE, PORTRAIT OF MARIE-THERESE-CHARLOTTE, Du- PAGE THE SEAL OF LOUIS XVI........ 24 SIGNATURE OF THE DAUPHIN TO HIS DEPOSITION AGAINST HIS 128 SIGNATURES OF THE DAUPHIN AND MARIE-THERESE, APPENDED TO 132 SIGNATURES OF THE DAUPHIN AND MADAME ELIZABETH APPENDED 133 CERTIFICATE OF LASNE OF THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVII........................... 290 THE DAUPHIN'S SWORD 298 OFFICIAL REGISTER OF THE DEATH OF LOUIS-CHARLES CAPET.... 333 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, FAC-SIMILES, ETC. PAGE CHATEAU OF M. REBER, NEAR BASLE 422 SALOON WHERE MADAME ROYALE WAS DELIVERED UP BY FRANCE 423 MADAME ROYALE'S NARRATIVE OF HER DEPARTURE FROM THE 434 SKETCH OF A GUILLOTINE, FROM THE WALL OF THE ANTE-ROOM OF 438 7 LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH: BOOK ELEVENTH. SEPARATED FROM HIS MOTHER. Louis XVII. proclaimed King-Declaration of the Count de ProvenceManifesto of the Prince de Condé-The young King acknowledged by England, Sardinia, Spain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia-Proclamation of the chiefs of La Vendée-Decrees of the Convention-The Temple on the morning of the 21st January-The royal family obtains mourning dresses-Lepitre and Toulan-The Queen resumes the education of her son-Plan for escape-Jarjayes and Ricard-Struggle between the Mountain and the Gironde-The Queen refuses to be saved apart from her family-Letters-Flight of Dumouriez-Tison and his wife-Rumours-Proposition of Robespierre-Searches at the Temple -Illness of Louis XVII.-Fall of the Gironde-Failure of a new plan for escape-Decrees-Separation of Marie Antoinette from her son. ALTHOUGH the Revolution had declared royalty for ever abolished, although it had sought to kill royalty on a scaffold, yet the Revolution, on the 21st January, 1793, at twenty minutes past 10 in the morning,—that is to say, at the moment when the head of Louis XVI. fell,-had gained but one point in the opinion of those who, despising the blows of mere force, respected only the authority of right; and this one point was, that the King of France was called Louis XVII instead of Louis XVI. Louis XVII. proclaimed. The death of Louis XVI. had filled every heart with horror. Entire Europe took part in the funereal grief of France. Monsieur the Count de Provence was at Hamm, in Westphalia, when, on the 28th January, he received intelli gence of the regicide. He instantly proclaimed the accession of his nephew, under the name of Louis XVII., and declared that he himself assumed the title of Regent of the kingdom until the majority of the young King.* The following is the declaration thus made : "Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, son of France, uncle of the King, Regent of the kingdom, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: "Penetrated with horror on learning that the most criminal of men have just filled up the measure of their numerous offences by the commission of the extreme of outrage, we first invoked the aid of Heaven to enable us to surmount the sentiments of our profound grief and the impulses of our indignation, in order that we might apply ourselves to the accomplishment of the duties which, under circumstances so grave, present themselves foremost in order of those which the immutable laws of the French monarchy impose upon us : "Our dearly beloved and most honoured brother and sovereign lord, the King Louis, sixteenth of the name, having died on the 21st of the present month of January, under the parricidal steel which the ferocious usurpers of the sovereign authority in France directed against his august person: “We declare that the Dauphin, Louis Charles, born on the 27th day of the month of March, 1785, is King of France and Navarre, under the name of Louis XVII., and that, by right of birth, as well as by the provisions of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, we are, and shall continue to be, Regent of France during the minority of the King, our nephew and lord : "Invested, in this quality, with the exercise of the rights and powers of the sovereignty, and of the supreme administration of royal justice, we assume the charge of the same, as we are bound to do, in acquittal of our obligations and of our duties, to the effect that we may employ ourselves, with the aid of God and the assistance of good and loyal Frenchmen, of all the orders of the kingdom, and of the recognised powers of the sovereign allies of the crown of France: "Firstly: To the liberation of the King Louis XVII., our nephew ; Secondly, of the Queen, his august mother and guardian; of the Princess, his sister, Madame, our dearly beloved niece; of the Princess Elizabeth, his aunt, our dearly beloved sister: all detained in the harshest captivity by the chiefs of the factions; and, simultaneously, to the re-establishment of the monarchy on the unalterable bases of the Constitution; to the re Proclamations by the Regent. Under the same date appeared also two other official acts of the Regent, the one, letters-patent, nominating the Count formation of the abuses which have been introduced into the system of public administration; to the re-establishment of the religion of our fathers, in the purity of its worship, and of canonical discipline; to the re-integration of the magistracy, for the maintainance of public order and the dispensation of justice; to the restoration of Frenchmen, of all orders, to the exercise of their legitimate rights, and the enjoyment of their invaded and usurped properties; to the severe and exemplary punishment of crime; to the re-establishment of the laws and of peace ;-in a word, to the accomplishment of the solemn engagements which we have undertaken, conjointly with our dearly beloved brother, Charles Philippe de France, Count d'Artois, with whom are conjoined our dearly beloved nephews, grandsons of France, Louis Antoine, Duke d'Angoulême; and Charles Ferdinand, Duke de Berri; and our cousins, princes of the royal blood, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé ; Louis Henri Joseph de Bourbon, Duke de Bourbon; and Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duke d'Enghien; pursuant to our deliberations, addressed to the late King, our brother, on 11th September, 1791, and other acts emanating from us, to which acts we adhere, and shall invariably adhere. "To which end, we enjoin and order all Frenchmen and subjects of the King to obey the commands they shall receive from us in the King's name; and the commands of our dearly beloved brother, Charles Philippe de France, Count d'Artois, whom we have nominated and appointed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, whenever our said brother and LieutenantGeneral shall issue such commands in the name of the King and of the Regent of France. "This our present declaration shall be notified to all whom it shall concern, and be published by all the officers of the King, military or magisterial, to whom we will give commission and charge that the said declaration have all the notoriety that it shall be possible to give it in France, for the present, and until it shall be addressed in the ordinary form to the courts of the kingdom, so soon as they shall have resumed the exercise of their jurisdictions, to be by them notified, published, registered, and executed. "Given at Hamm, in Westphalia, under our ordinary sign manual and seal which we shall use in all acts of sovereignty until the seals of the kingdom, destroyed by the factions, have been renewed, and under the countersign of the ministers of the state, the Marshals de Broglie and de Castries. (Signed) LOUIS STANISLAS XAVIER, "Regent of France. "The MARSHAL DUKE DE BROGLIE. "The MARSHAL DE CASTRIES. "This 28th January, 1793, first of the King's reign." |