"Business detained me unavoidably in Versailles. Only on the 16th of
January did I return to Paris, and consequently I had lost three or
four scenes of this tragedy of ambition. But on the 18th of January
I went to the National Convention. Ah, my friend, it is true, and
the most infuriated republicans avow it also, a prince is but an
ordinary man! His head will as surely fall as that of another man,
but whosoever decrees his death trembles at his own madness, and
were he not urged by secret motives, his vote would die on his lips
ere it was uttered. I gazed with much curiosity at the fearless
mortals who were about deciding the fate of their king. I watched
their looks. I searched into their hearts. The exceeding weightiness
of the occasion had exalted them, intoxicated them, but within
themselves they were full of fear in the presence of the grandeur of
their victim.
"Had they dared retreat, the prince had been saved. To his
misfortune, they had argued within themselves, 'If his head falls
not to-day, then we must soon give ours to the executioner's
stroke.'
"This was the prominent thought which controlled their vote.
Pages:
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225