Tea at Trianon: Versailles and the American Revolution

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

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Versailles and the American Revolution

Lafayette

From the Versailles website:

As the first country to recognize the United State of America as a new Nation, it was France’s duty to commemorate the event, especially in Versailles where this decision was taken, where the war of independence was supported, and where the peace treaty with England was signed in 1783. The exhibition aims to remind facts that are often forgotten but which bear testimony to the circumstances, scale and consequences of France’s involvement in the war.

The exhibition will recount the events and highlight the context of French and English rivalry after the seven years' war as well as internal divisions in the French side, the American side between “patriots” and “loyalists”, and the English side due to some opposition to the way the settlers were treated.

It recounts the decision-making process at Versailles, the personalities of key figures notably Benjamin Franklin and the exact locations in the palace where discussions were held. Finally, it explains the international spread of the fighting, from India across the Mediterranean sea to the shores of America and the human losses due to the violence and scale of the battles, which were the largest of both the 18th and 19th centuries. (Read more.)