The trial, &c. of Louis XVI. late King of France, and Marie Antoinette, his Queen. Embellished with copper-plate engravings.

TRIAL, &c. OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, LATE QUEEN OF FRANCE.

THE ACT OF ACCUSATION, Presented against Maria Antoinette, of Austria, ci-devant Queen of France, by the Accusa∣teur Publique.

"ANTOINE QUENTIN FOUQUIER, public accuser of the criminal revoluti∣onary tribunal, established at Paris by a decree of the national convention of the 10th of March, 1793, second year of the republic, without any recourse to the tribunal of cessa∣tion, in virtue of the power given him by the 11th article of another decree of the conven∣tion of April 5, following, stating that the pub∣lic

accuser of the said tribunal is authorised to arrest, pursue and judge upon the denunciation of the constituted authorities, or of the citizens, states,—

"That by a decree of the convention, of the 1st of August last, Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis Capet, has been brought before the re∣volutionary tribunal, as accused of conspiring against France; that by another decree of the convention, of October 3, it has been decreed, that the revolutionary tribunal should occupy itself without delay, and without interruption, on the trial; that the public accuser received the papers concerning the widow Capet, on the 19th and 20th of the first month of the second decade, commonly called the 11th and 12th of October of the present month; that one of the judges of the tribunal immediately proceeded to the interrogatories of the widow Capet; that an examination being made of all the pieces transmitted by the public accuser, it appears that, like Messaline, Brunchant, Predigende, and Medicis, who were formerly qualified with the titles of queens of France, whose names have ever been odious, and will never be effa∣ced from the page of history—

"Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis Capet, has, since her abode in France, been the scourge and blood sucker of the French: that

even before the happy revolution which gave the French people their sovereignty, she had political correspondence with a man called the king of Bohemia and Hungary: that this cor∣respondence was contrary to the interests of France; and not content with acting in con∣cert with the brother of Louis Capet, and the infamous and execrable Colonne, at that time minister of the Finances; of having squander∣ed the finances of France (the fruit of the sweat of the people) in a dreadful manner, to satisfy inordinate pleasures, and to pay the agents of her criminal intrigues, it is notorious that she has at different times transmitted milli∣ons to the emperor, which served him, and still supports him to sustain a war against the repub∣lic; and that it is by such excessive plunder, that she has at length exhausted the national treasury.

"That since the revolution, the widow Ca∣pet has not for a moment withheld criminal intelligence and correspondence with foreign powers, and in the interior of the republic, by agents devoted to her, whom she subsidized and caused to be paid out of the treasury of the ci∣devant civil list; that at various epochs she has employed every manoeuvre that she thought consistent with her perfidious views to bring about a counter-revolution: first, having under

pretext of a necessary union between the ci-de∣vant gardes du-corps, and the officers and sol∣diers of the regiment of Flanders, contrived a repast between these two corps on the first of October, 1789, which degenerated into an ab∣solute orgy as the desired, and during the course of which the agents of the widow Capet perfect∣ly seconded her counter-revolutionary projects; brought the greater part of the guests, in the moment of inebriety, to sing songs expressive of their most entire devotion to the throne, and the most marked aversion of the people; of having excited them insensibly to wear the white cockade, and to tread the national cock∣ade under foot; and of having authorised, by her presence, all the counter-revolutionary ex∣cesses, particularly in encouraging the women who accompanied her, to distribute these white cockades among the guests; and having on the 4th of the same month, testified the most immo∣derate joy at what passed during these orgies.

'Secondly, Having in concert with Louis Ca∣pet directed to be distributed very plentifully throughout the kingdom publications of a coun∣ter-revolutionary nature, some of which were pretended to have been published by the con∣spirators on the other side of the Rhine (mean∣ing, we suppose, in Coblentz) such as—'Peti∣tions to the emigrants—Reply of the emi∣grants—The emigratst othe people—The shor∣test

follies are the best—The order of march—The return of the emigrants, and other such writings:—of having carried her perfidy and dissimulation to such a height, as to have cir∣culated writings in which she herself is descri∣bed in very unfavorable colors, in order to cloak the imposture; thereby to make it to be believ∣ed to foreign powers that she was extremely ill treated by Frenchmen, to instigate them to go to war with France.

"That in order to carry on her counter-re∣volutionary designs with more efficacy, she, by means of agents, caused in Paris, towards the begining of October, 1789, a famine, which occasioned a new insurrection; in consequence of which, an innumerable crowd of citizens of both sexes set out for Versailles on the 5th of said month; that this fact is proved beyond all contradiction, as the next day there was a plen∣ty of every thing, even after the time that the widow Capet arrived with her family in Paris.

"That being scarcely arrived in Paris, the widow Capet fertile in intrigues of every kind formed committees, consisting of all the coun∣ter-revolutionists and intriguers of the con∣stituent and legislative assemblies, which held their meeting in the dead of the night; that plots were there formed how to destroy the rights of man, and the decrees already passed, which were to form the basis of the new con∣stitution;

that it was at these committees, or meetings, that the necessary measures were deliberated to obtain a revision of those de∣crees which were favorably to the people; that the slight of Louis Capet, his widow, and his whole family, was impeded, as they travel∣led under fictitious names, in the month of June 1791; that the widow Capet confesses in her interrogatory, that it was she who opened and locked the door of the apartment thro' which the fugitives passed; that independent of the confession of the widow Capet in this respect, it is confirmed, by the testimony of Louis Charles Capet, and by his sister, that De la Fayette favored all the designs of the wi∣dow Capet, in the same manner as Bailly did white he was mayor of Paris, and that both were present when the fugitives escaped and favoured their slight as much in their power. That the widow Capet, after her return from Varennes, re-commenced her coteries at which she herself presided and that aided by her favourite La Fayette, the gates of the Thuilleries were kept locked, which deprived the citizens of the power of passing backwards and forwards in the courts of the Thuilleries; that those only who had cards were permitted to pass. That this order was given out by La Fayette as a measure of

punishment to the fugitives, though it ferved only as a trick to prevent the citizens from knowing what passed at these midnight or∣gies, and from discovering the plots against liberty carried on in this infamous abode.

"That it was at these meetings, that the hor∣rible massacre which took place on the 17th of July, 1791, was planned, when so many zeal∣lous patriots were killed in the Champ de Mars; that the massacre which had previously taken place at Nancy, as well as those which have since happened indifferent parts of the repub∣lic, were ordered and determined on in these secret councils; that these insurrections, in which the blood of such an immerse number of patriots has been spilt, were plotted in or∣der the more expeditiously and securely to ob∣tain a revision of the decrees passed and found∣ed on the rights of man, which were so obnox∣ious to the ambition and counter-revolutionary views, of Louis Capet and Marie Antoinette, that the constitution of 1791, being once accep∣ted, the widow Capet took every means in her power to destroy its energy by means of her manoeuvres; that she employed agents in dif∣ferent parts of the republic to effect this object of annihilating liberty, and to make the French once more to fall beneath the tyrannic yoke under which they had languished for so many years; that for this purpose, the widow Capet

ordered it to be discussed in these midnight meet∣ings, which were truly called the A••••••rian ca∣binet, how far it might not be possible to coun∣teract the laws passed in the legislative assem∣bly; that it was in consequence of these coun∣cils and her advice that Louis Capet was persua∣ded to oppose his veto to the famous and salu∣tary decrees passed in the legislaive assembly, against the ci-devant princes, brothers of Louis Capet, against the emigrants, and against the horde of refractory and fanatical priests, who were spread all through France; a veto which has proved one of the principal causes of the evils which France has since experienced.

"That it is the widow Capet who caused perverse ministers to be nominated, and placed her creatures in the armies and public offices, men who were known by the whole nation to be conspirators against liberty; that it was by her manoeuvres and those of her agents, as able as they were perfidious, that she got a new guard formed for Louis Capet, composed of ancient officers who had quitted their corps, and had refused to take the constitutional oath; that she gave appointments to refractory priests and strangers: and in short, to all those who were disliked by the nation, and who were worthy of serving in the army of Coblentz, whither many of them fled after being cashiered.

"That it was the widow Capet, who in conjunction with a scandalous faction, at that time domineered over the legislative assembly, and for some time over the convention; who declared war against the king of Hungary and Bohemia, her own brother; that it was thro' her manoeuvres and intrigues, at all times pernicious to France, that the French were obliged to make their first retreat from Flan∣ders.

"That it is the widow Capet who forward∣ed to foreign courts the plan of the campaign, and the attacks which were agreed upon in the council: so that by means of this double treason, the enemies of France were always informed before hand of the movements of the armies of the republic; from whence it follows—that the widow Capet is the autho∣ress or all those reverses of fortune, which the armies of the republic have experinced at different times.

"That the widow Capet combined and plot∣ted with her perfidious agents the horrible conspiracy which broke out on the day of the 10th of August; which failed only through the courageous and the incredible efforts of the patriots: that to this end, she seduced into her dwelling of the Thuilleries, and even into the subterraneous passages under it, Swiss soldiers,

who at the expiration of a decree then passed, were no longer to belong to the body guard of Louis Capet; that she kept them in a state of drunkenness, from the 9th to the 10th in the morning, the day appointed for the execution of this horrible conspiracy; that for the same purpose, she had re-united on the 9th, a body of those beings known by the name of the Knights of the Dagger, who had figured away with the same infamous designs, and in the same place, on the 21st of February, 1791, and again on the 21st of June, 1792.

"That the widow Capet, fearing no doubt that this conspiracy might not have the pro∣mised effect, went on the evening of the 9th of August, at half after nine, into the room where the Swiss, and others in her interest, were busy making carriages; that in order to excite them the more, she took up the cartouches and bit them.

"That the next day, the 10th of August, she pressed and solicited Louis Capet to go to the Thuilleries at five in the morning, to re∣view the real Swiss guards and those who had assumed their uniform; and at his return she presented him with a pistol, saying—"This is the moment to shew yourself," and on his refusing she called him a coward.

"That notwithstanding the widow Capet

denies having given any orders to fire on the people, her conduct on the 9th—her deeds in the room of the Swiss guards—the councils she held all the night long—the article of the pistol, and her words to Louis Capet; their sudden retreat from the Thuilleries, and the firing on the people at that very moment he and she entered the room of the legislative as∣sembly;—in one word, all these circumstances united, leave no doubt but that in her councils during the night, it was resolved that the people must be fired at, and that Louis Capet and Marie Antoinette, the female director of that conspiracy, should themselves give the orders to fire.

"That to the perfidious, intrigues, and ma∣noeuvres of the widow Capet, in confederacy with that infamous faction of which we have just spoken, and with all the enemies of the republic, France is indebted for the internal war which has distressed her so long; but the end of which is fortunately not much more distant than that of its authors.

"That at all times, the widow Capet by the influence she had acquired over Louis Capet, insinuated into him that perfidious and danger∣ous art of dissimulation, to promise by public acts the very contrary he intended to perform; and that they both in their midnight councils

plotted the ruin of that liberty, so dear to Frenchmen, [and which, they will take care to perserve] and to recover the plenitude of the royal prerogatives.

That finally, the widow Capet, in every res∣pect immoral, and a new Aggrippina, is so disso∣lute and so familiar with all crimes, that for∣getting her quality of mother, and the limits prescribed by the law of nature, has not hesita∣ted to prostitute herself with Louis Charles Ca∣pet her son, &c. according to the confession of the latter, she has committed indecencies with him, the very idea and name of which, strike the soul with horror."

According to this report, the public accuser brings the above accusations against Marie Antoinette, qualifying herself in her interroga∣tory by the title of Lorraine and Austria, wi∣dow of Louis Capet; and states—

1st. "That in conjunction with the bro∣thers of Louis Capet and the infamous ex∣minister Calonne, she squandered away, in a most horrid manner, the French finances; sent innumerable sums to the Emperor, and drained the national treasury.

2d. "That as well by herself, as by the aid of her counter-revolutionary agents, she kept up a correspondence with the enemies of the republic, and informed these enemies, or

caused them to be informed of all plans of campaigns and attacks resolved on and deter∣mined on in the council.

3d. "That through her intrigues and man∣euvres, and those of her agents, she formed conspiracies and plots against the interior and exterior safety of France, and to that effect kindled a civil was divers provinces of the republic; armed one citizen against another, and by these means spilled the blood of an incalculable number of citizens contrary to the 5th article of the first section of the penal code, and to the 2d article of the second sec∣tion of the same code.

"In consequence of all which charges, the public accuser requests that an act of the pre∣sent accusation be given him by the tribunal; that it be ordained, that on his requisition, and thro' the chanel of a serjeant at arms, Maria Antoniette, qualifying herself by the title of Lorraine and Austria, widow of Louis Capet, actually confined in the prison called the Conciergerie of the palace, be entered on the registers of the said prison, there to remain the same as in a house of justice, and that the sen∣tence to be given shall be notified to the muni∣cipality of Paris and to the accused.

"Done in the the chamber of the public accuser, the 1st day of the third decade of the 1st month of the 2d year of the French Republic, one and indivisible.

(Signed) "ANTOINE QUENTIN FOUQUIER."

"The Tribunal, in compliance with the request of the public accuser, grants him an act of the accusation by him made against Marie Antoinette, called of Lorraine and Austria, wi∣dow of Louis Capet, and orders that, agreea∣bly to the said request, and thro' the means of a serjeant at arms, bearer of ordonnance, Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis Capet, shall be bodily arrested, & entered on the registers of the prison called the Conciergerie, where she is actually detained, there to remain the same as in a house of justice; and that the present or∣donnance be notified to the municipality of Pa∣ris, and to the accused.

"Done and adjudged at the Tribunal, 2d day of the 3d decade, of the first month of the 2d year of the republic, Arm and-Martial-Joseph Herman, E∣tienne Fouriel, Thoussaint Sechellier, Pierre Andre Dossinhall, Gabriel de Liege, Pierre Louis Ragmay, Antoine Marie Francois-Joseph D••••••∣rot, Eteinne Macod, all judges of the Tribunal."

The president said to the accused after the act of accusation had been read—"This is what you are accused of; lend and attentive ear; you are going to hear the charges laid against you:"

Laurent Lecointre, deputy to the national convention, deposed against the accused, for having formerly been the wife of the ci-devant king of France; and for being the person who, at the time of her removal to the tem∣ple, had charged him with a memorial to the convention, in order to gain over 12 or 14 persons, whom she mentions, to what she cal∣led her service. The convention, on that occasion, passed to the order of the day upon the ground that he should address himself to the municipality.

The deponent then entered upon the detail of the festivals and orgies which took place at Versailles, from the year 1789; the result of which had been, a dreadful dilapidation in the finances of France. The witness gave a detail of what preceeded and followed the assemblies of the notables, till the epocha of the opening of the States General; the state of the generous inhabitants of Versailles; their grievous perplexities on the 23d of June, 1789, when the artillery men of Nasau, whose artillery was placed in the stables belonging to

the accused, refused to fire upon the people. At length, the Parisians having shaken off the yoke of tyranny, this revolutionary movement roam∣mated the energy of their brethern at Ver∣sailles. They formed the very hardy and courageous project of freeing themselves from the oppression of the despot, or of his agents. On the 28th of July, the citizens of Versailles formed a with to organize themselves into na∣tional guards, like their brethren at Paris. They nevertheless proposed to consult the king; the negociator was the ci-devant prince de Poix. Endeavours were made to prolong the matter; but the organization having been made, the staff was appointed; D'Estaing was named commandant general, and Gouvernet second in command.

Some others here entered into the detail of the acts which proceded and followed the ar∣rival of the 20th of September, sent for some officers of the national guard, and made them a present of two colours; a third remained, which they were told was destined for a batta∣lion of pretended guards paid for the avowed purpose, as it was declared, of relieving the inhabitants of Versailles, who were thus cajo∣led at the same time that it was affected to pity, them, they in reality were abhorted.

On the 29th of September, 1789, the nati∣onal

guard gave a repast to its brave brethren, the soldiers of the regiment of Flanders. The public journals gave an account at the time, that at the repast of the citizens, nothing pas∣sed contrary to the principles of liberty; but that the feast given October the 1st, by the gardes de corps, had no other aim than to pro∣voke the national guard against the cidevant soldiers of Flanders, and the chasseurs des trois Eveches.

"The witness observed, that the accused appeared at this latter part with her husband; that they were loudly applauded there; that the air, O Richard! O my King! was played; that the health of the king and queen were drank, as well as that of her son; but that the health of the nation, which had been propos∣ed, was rejected. After this orgy, they remov∣ed, themselves to the castle of the ci-devant court called Marble; and there in order to give the king a just idea of the manner in which they were disposed to defend the interests of his family, as occasion required it, a person na∣med Perceval, aid-de-camp of D'Estaing, mounted first; after him a grenadier of the regiment of Flanders; a third dragoon having also attempted to scale the said balcony, and not being able to succeed, would have des∣troyed it. With respect to the said Perceval,

he took the cross with which he was decorated in order to give it to a grenadier, who like him had scaled the balcony of the ci-devant king."

Upon the request of the public accuser, the tribunal ordered, that a mandamus should be issued to bring forth Perceval d'Estaing.

The witness added, that on the 3d of the same month of October, the gardes de corps gave a second repast. It was there that the most violent outrages were commited upon the na∣tional cockade, which was troden under foot.

The deponent here detailed what happened at Versailles on the 5th and 6th of October, d'Estaing being informed of the movements which were making in Paris, went to the mu∣nicipality of Versailles in order to obtain permis∣sion to carry away the ci-devant king, who was then hunting, and who was entirely ignorant of what was passing; with a promise to bring him back when tranquillity should be restored. The witness deposited upon the desk the pie∣ces relative to the facts contained in his declaration, which were added to the process.

PARIS, October 16.

Yesterday morning the once all powerful and beautiful Marie Antoinette, consort of the un∣fortunate Louis, king of France, the daughter, sister, and aunt of emperors, was brought like the meanest malefactor from the vile prison of the Conciergerie, and placed at the criminal bar of the revolutionary tribunal.

The act of accusation, as prepared by the public accuser, was to the following purport:

Marie Antoinette stands charged: 1st. With having dilapidated and lavished the finan∣ces of the nation, in concert with the execrable Colonne, by causing to be transmitted to the emperor several millions, which still serve to carry on the war against France, 2dly. With having, in imitation of Brunchaud, and Medicis, who also called themselves queens of France, conspired against the liberty of the French nati∣on.—3dly, With having exited the murders of October 5, and 6.—5thly, With having in concert with Bailly and la Fayette, caused the patriots to be butchered in the Camp de Mars.—6thly, With having prevailed upon the Swiss, to fire on the people on the 10th of Au∣gust.—7thly, With having like another Agrip∣pina, forgotten she was a mother, in order to commit incest with her son.

Shocked as this unhappy queen must have

been at some of the articles of her accusation, and particularly at the last, which seems to have been designed to load her memory with infamy, she heard them with magnanimous for∣titude and composure, and replied without con∣fusion, and with dignity to the interrogatory, which began as follows:

President

—"What is your name."—

Queen

—"Marie Antoinette of Lorrain and Austria."

President

—"Your quality?"

Queen

—I am the widow of Louis Capet, king of the French."

[Here the witnesses were called in.]

Laurent Lecointre, the first witness, former∣ly chief of a division of the national guard of Versailles, and at present a member of the na∣tional convention, related to the historical oc∣currences of the 5th and 6th of October, and from his relation it appeared, that the ci-devant gardes de corps or life guards, were the first agressors. Lecointre spoke also, though not as an ocular witness, of the nocturnal riot which was occasioned October 1, at Versailles, by the late king's life guards in the hall of the opera. "Marie Antoinette said he, repaired to that banquet she applauded the conduct of the guards she also visited the regiment of Nassau and the

chasseurs of Trois Eveches, who were quarter∣ed in the Orangerie of the gardens of Ver∣sailles."

Queen

—"I repaired, I must own, with my husband and his children to the hall of the opera house: but I did not see that the national cock∣ade was trod under foot. It is false that I ever spoke to the soldiers of the regiment of Nassau, or to the chasseurs of Trois Evoches.

President

—"What did you says to the life guards when you appeared at the orgie?"

Queen

"I applauded that banquet, because it was to have produced the union of the life guards with the national guards.

Public Accuser

"Have you not held secret council at the house of the cidevant duchess of Bolignac, councils at which the cidevant prin∣ces assisted, and in which, after having discussed the fate of the empire, you gave yourself up to the infamous pleasures of debauchery?"

Queen

—"All the state affairs were discussed in council, and no where else. I have no know∣ledge of the rest of this assertion."

Public Accuser

—"Are nor Thouret, ••a∣rentin, and De Espremurl, the authors of the articles of the declaration of June 23d?"

Queen

—"The ministers in place alone com∣posed the council at that time."

Judge

—"Did not your husband communi∣cate

his designs to you, when he invested the hall of the representatives of the people with troops?"

Queen

—"My husband reposed his confi∣dence in me, he communicated to me the speech he was to have made on that occasion. He had in other respects, no had intentions."

Judge

—"Why did troops of the line invest Paris and Versailles?"

Queen

—"For the sake of general safety."

Judge

—"What use have you made of the immense sums which you have been entrusted with?"

Queen

—No enormous sum has been en∣trusted to me; the accounts of my household will prove what use has been made of all I have received.

Judge

—"How did the family of the Polig∣nacs, who was so poor at first, grow so rich?"

Queen

—"That family held offices at court which were very lucrative."

The Queen was then questioned respecting the flight to Varennes. She acknowledge that she opened the door and led the way from the Thuilleries, and that though they saw M. La Fayette, as they crossed the square of the Carousel, he knew nothing of their flight.

Herbert substitute of the commons, then gave evidence with a view of substantiating the in∣famous

famous charge of incest, and stated that it was found upon the confession of young Louis him∣self.

When the tribual put the question on this charge, the queen indignantly replied as follows:

"I remain, sir, silent on that subject, because nature holds all such crimes in abhorrence," and then turning with an animated air to the people, she exclaimed," I appeal to all mo∣thers who are present in this auditory—is such a crime possible?"

After the examination had closed, the queen was soon condemned, "as guilty of having been accessary to, and having co-operated in different manoevures against the liberty of France; of having entertained a correspon∣dence with the enemies of the republic; of hav∣ing participated in a plot tending to kindle civil 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the interior of the republic and 〈…〉〈…〉 against each other.

When the sentence was read, the queen cast down her eyes, and did not raise them a∣gain. Have you nothing to reply upon the de∣termination of the law? said the president to her. Nothing she replied. He then addressed himself to her pleaders, "and you officious de∣fenders" our mission is fulfilled with respect to the widow Capet, "said he.

The morning (the 16th) this unhappy vic∣tim of democratic fury was ignominiously car∣ried to the place of 〈…〉〈…〉 The whole 〈…〉〈…〉 of Paris was on foot from the palace 〈…〉〈…〉 to the palace de la Revolution. The 〈◊〉〈◊〉 were lined by two very close rows of armed citizens. The queen was in a white loose dress—but they had tied her arms behind her.—As she passed along, the multitude frequently cried out, bravo.!' At the place of execution, she looked firmly round her on all sides. She was accompained by the ci-devant curate of S. Landry, a constitutional priest, and on the scaffold preserved her natu∣ral dignity of mind.

After the execution three young persons dip∣ped their handkerchiefs in her blood—They were immediately arrested.

〈◊〉〈◊〉 de Coundry and 〈…〉〈…〉 de la Garde, the pleaders of Marie Antoinette 〈◊〉〈◊〉 been put in a state of arrest 〈…〉〈…〉, by order of the committee, of general surety. The order says that this is a measure of general safety, that the arrest shall last twen∣ty four hours, and that every attention shall be paid 〈…〉〈…〉.

FINIS.