Tea at Trianon: Where is Laperouse?

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, August 5, 2017

Where is Laperouse?

From Marianas Variety:

THERE is a legend from the French Revolution that says when King Louis XVI was taken to the guillotine, his last words before losing his head were, “Is there any news about Laperouse?” Who was Laperouse, and why was he the last thing on the mind of the king who lost his kingdom? Actually, it is not as far fetched as it may sound. Nearly everyone in Europe became obsessed with the whereabouts of the great explorer. Here’s why.

After the enormously successful voyages of Captain Cook of England many countries wanted to take a closer look at the Pacific. Trade, exploration, even conquest factored among the possibilities. King Louis hoped to outdo Cook’s feat so the French government sent Laperouse on a voyage to explore the Pacific in greater detail than ever before. He was to retrace Cook’s paths, but also fill in the gaps. (Read more.)