Tea at Trianon: The Political Creed of Louis XVI

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

Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Political Creed of Louis XVI

The king distributing alms during the winter of 1784 by Philbert-Louis Debourt (1785)

Written when he was a boy. (Via Vive la Reine.)

Everything a father owes his children, everything that is due from a brother to a brother and from a friend to a friend, a prince owes his subjects; and every action of the crown must be of benefit to humanity. (Read entire post.)

May said...: He was so idealistic and hopeful as a young man.; September 3, 2011 at 10:50:00 AM EDT
lara77 said...: I think if the French had been reasonable and looked across the channel at how the English had "done" constitutional monarchy they might have succeeded. King Louis XVI would have been the first and best constitutional monarch simply because he loved his people and wanted the best for them. The problem was not the king but the fanatics who took control of the Assembly; reason and compromise were thrown to the winds. Sad for France , sad for a good King and even more tragic for Europe which had to deal with Napoleon and all the bloodshed that ensued.; September 6, 2011 at 3:28:00 PM EDT