Tea at Trianon: The Réveillon Riots

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

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Réveillon Riots

From author Leah Marie Brown:

The Réveillon Riot, which took place on this day in 1789, was one of the first violent outbreaks of the French Revolution. A mob of outraged workers and skilled-laborers destroyed the Réveillon Wallpaper Factory in the Saint-Antoine district in Paris. They also destroyed the stately home of Jean-Baptiste Réveillon, the owner of the factory, looting his wine cellar and setting fire to his possessions. The rioters also directed their fury at other prosperous local businesses, including the saltpetre manufacturer Henriot. The infantry and artillery were dispatched to disperse the mob. At the end of the riot, many people lost their lives (tallies ranged from 25-900) and several businesses and homes had been destroyed. (Read entire post.)