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Chapter 12 – Revolution revived
The conspirators that brought about the downfall of Robespierre and Danton and the end of the Reign of Terror met again in utmost secrecy, very early in the morning before the session of the National Assembly in the hospital of Bicêtre where Guillotin was employed. Mirabeau spoke first.
“Now that this wretched Necker is dead, we can overthrow the tyrant King Louis XVIII and appoint a new revolutionary government.”
Desmoulins replied.
“Yes. Although we do not oppose the monarchy, the erratic behaviour King Louis has displayed and the arbitrary decisions he has made in the course of just one day clearly show that he poses the greatest danger to our revolution and to everything we’ve accomplished so far.”
Guillotin concluded.
“Then let’s charge him with breaking the constitution, remove him from his office and try him as a traitor. In addition to this I suggest we don’t reinstate the Committee of Public Safety, but form a new body called the Directory instead with us being the three directors.”
Mirabeau and Desmoulins agreed and the three of them headed to the National Assembly.
There a heated discussion ensued which resulted in the removal of King Louis by a majority of just 23 votes out of 749 representatives. His death sentence was adopted with an even thinner majority of only 14 votes. The issue of the introduction of the Directorate received a much higher majority of 156 votes.
King Louis was dragged out of his bed straight to the Bastille. There, he received his last meal, a thin slice of toasted bread with butter and a cup of stale water, quite unlike the cakes and champagne he used to consume while he was spending the days in idle self-indulgence at the court. Immediately after that, the former King was taken to Place de la Révolution for execution. The crowd was so huge it seemed entire Paris had flocked to the square. The restless crowd started to shout.
“Death to the tyrant!”
“Long live the revolution!”
“Death to the King!”
“Death to the traitor!”
Mirabeau was irritated.
“This is a good example of the irrational behaviour of the mob. Yesterday the same people were shouting Long live the King and listen to them now.”
Desmoulins replied.
“That is why the people need their directors to rule them and to guide them.”
At that moment King Louis expressed the wish to speak.
“It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known”, were his last words before the sharp blade of the guillotine beheaded former King Kalius.
A few hours later Duc de Bordeaux was crowned as Charles X.
********
In the evening that day everybody came to the Tuileries Palace to a dinner in honour of the coronation of Charles X.
After the dinner everybody left home, or so it seemed.
For the next morning the guards were shocked to discover Adagio lying face down on the floor of his bedroom, completely naked, gagged, his arms tied to the bed, his legs tied together, covered with blood, apparently flogged to death.
The directors were quickly summoned.
“Hmm, the murderer is probably someone who was at the dinner last night”, Mirabeau observed.
“Then it’s one of us. One of the directors”, Desmoulins replied.
“But which one?”
In the meantime, Guillotin was examining the body.
“Hmm, very strange. It doesn’t look like the usual weapon the killer was using. Something seems backwards, since it looks like a club was used to flog the person this time.”
“A club? Was it the murder weapon in any of the earlier murders?” asked Desmoulins.
“I don’t know for sure. I didn’t rule out some sort of a club, but this time I’m certain. It’s a club.”
Mirabeau spoke to the other two.
“Well I think it’s time to exercise our new powers for the first time. Let’s have a meeting of the Directory tomorrow to decide how to proceed.”
The conspirators that brought about the downfall of Robespierre and Danton and the end of the Reign of Terror met again in utmost secrecy, very early in the morning before the session of the National Assembly in the hospital of Bicêtre where Guillotin was employed. Mirabeau spoke first.
“Now that this wretched Necker is dead, we can overthrow the tyrant King Louis XVIII and appoint a new revolutionary government.”
Desmoulins replied.
“Yes. Although we do not oppose the monarchy, the erratic behaviour King Louis has displayed and the arbitrary decisions he has made in the course of just one day clearly show that he poses the greatest danger to our revolution and to everything we’ve accomplished so far.”
Guillotin concluded.
“Then let’s charge him with breaking the constitution, remove him from his office and try him as a traitor. In addition to this I suggest we don’t reinstate the Committee of Public Safety, but form a new body called the Directory instead with us being the three directors.”
Mirabeau and Desmoulins agreed and the three of them headed to the National Assembly.
There a heated discussion ensued which resulted in the removal of King Louis by a majority of just 23 votes out of 749 representatives. His death sentence was adopted with an even thinner majority of only 14 votes. The issue of the introduction of the Directorate received a much higher majority of 156 votes.
King Louis was dragged out of his bed straight to the Bastille. There, he received his last meal, a thin slice of toasted bread with butter and a cup of stale water, quite unlike the cakes and champagne he used to consume while he was spending the days in idle self-indulgence at the court. Immediately after that, the former King was taken to Place de la Révolution for execution. The crowd was so huge it seemed entire Paris had flocked to the square. The restless crowd started to shout.
“Death to the tyrant!”
“Long live the revolution!”
“Death to the King!”
“Death to the traitor!”
Mirabeau was irritated.
“This is a good example of the irrational behaviour of the mob. Yesterday the same people were shouting Long live the King and listen to them now.”
Desmoulins replied.
“That is why the people need their directors to rule them and to guide them.”
At that moment King Louis expressed the wish to speak.
“It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known”, were his last words before the sharp blade of the guillotine beheaded former King Kalius.
A few hours later Duc de Bordeaux was crowned as Charles X.
********
In the evening that day everybody came to the Tuileries Palace to a dinner in honour of the coronation of Charles X.
After the dinner everybody left home, or so it seemed.
For the next morning the guards were shocked to discover Adagio lying face down on the floor of his bedroom, completely naked, gagged, his arms tied to the bed, his legs tied together, covered with blood, apparently flogged to death.
The directors were quickly summoned.
“Hmm, the murderer is probably someone who was at the dinner last night”, Mirabeau observed.
“Then it’s one of us. One of the directors”, Desmoulins replied.
“But which one?”
In the meantime, Guillotin was examining the body.
“Hmm, very strange. It doesn’t look like the usual weapon the killer was using. Something seems backwards, since it looks like a club was used to flog the person this time.”
“A club? Was it the murder weapon in any of the earlier murders?” asked Desmoulins.
“I don’t know for sure. I didn’t rule out some sort of a club, but this time I’m certain. It’s a club.”
Mirabeau spoke to the other two.
“Well I think it’s time to exercise our new powers for the first time. Let’s have a meeting of the Directory tomorrow to decide how to proceed.”
Smiley
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