Tea at Trianon: Bush vs Benedict

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, April 9, 2007

Bush vs Benedict

Delusion confronts reality. Share

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: The Pontiff condemns the concrete, specific evil of the "continual slaughter," wrought not by Iraqi society, but by the numerous armed military and militia factions that are at war there, including the United States forces under Bush’s command. For Pope Benedict, it is the continual slaughter in Iraq – contributed to and perhaps exacerbated by the American presence there – that is evil.

Great article! Thanks for posting it.; April 9, 2007 at 1:38:00 PM EDT
Lylia M said...: Thank you for posting this. I am astounded that we have reached a point in this country where Bush's agenda is permitted to go forward. It sickens me to think that many identify the war in Iraq as representing "what Christians want." Very disturbing indeed. How will this all end?; April 9, 2007 at 3:02:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you, Georgette and Lylia. I am wondering where it will all end, too, and just keep praying....; April 9, 2007 at 3:43:00 PM EDT