Its second scene had its representation in the first
days of September, in those days of blood and tears, in which
infuriated bands of the people stormed the prisons to murder the
captive priests, aristocrats, and royalists.
Under the guillotine fell during this month the head of the queen's
friend, the Princess de Lamballe, who was followed in crowds by the
king's faithful adherents, sealing their loyalty and their love with
their death.
This loyalty and love for the royal family was during this month
branded as an unpardonable crime, for the National Convention, which
on the 21st of September had taken the place of the Constituent
Assembly, on the 25th declared France to be a republic, and the
royalists became thereby criminals, who had sinned in the respect
and love which they owed to the "republic one and indivisible."
The new republic of France celebrated her saturnalia in the
following months, and unfurled her blood-stained standard over the
nation. She was not satisfied with having brought to the guillotine
more than ten thousand aristocrats and royalists, to terrify the
faithful adherents and servants of the throne.
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