Historical Epochs of the French Revolution

Historical Epochs of the French
Revolution

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Revolution
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Title: Historical Epochs of the French Revolution With The Judgment
And Execution Of Louis XVI., King Of France; And A List Of The
Members Of The National Convention, Who Voted For And Against
His Death
Author: H. Goudemetz
Translator: Rev. Dr. Randolph
Release Date: October 29, 2005 [EBook #16962]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPOCHS
OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ***

Produced by Desmond Grocott

HISTORICAL EPOCHS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION;
WITH THE Judgment and Execution OF
LOUIS XVI. KING OF FRANCE;
AND A LIST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL
CONVENTION,
Who voted FOR and AGAINST his DEATH.
PRICE 4s.
******
HISTORICAL EPOCHS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF H. GOUDEMETZ,
A FRENCH CLERGYMAN EMIGRANT IN ENGLAND.
DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO
His ROYAL HIGHNESS the DUKE of YORK,
BY THE REV. DR. RANDOLPH.
TO WHICH IS SUBJOINED, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS,
THE THIRD EDITION OF THE Judgment and Execution Of
LOUIS XVI. KING OF FRANCE;
WITH A LIST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL
CONVENTION,
Who voted FOR and AGAINST his DEATH;

AND THE NAMES OF MANY OF THE MOST CONSIDERABLE
SUFFERERS IN THE COURSE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
DISTINGUISHED ACCORDING TO THEIR PRINCIPLES.
BATH, PRINTED BY R. CRUTTWELL FOR THE AUTHOR; AND
SOLD BY C. DILLY, POULTRY, LONDON: THE BOOKSELLERS
OF BATH, &c. MDCCXCVI
******
DEDICATION.
TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK.
SIR, WITH the design of serving an amiable and worthy man, I have
availed myself of your Royal Highness's permission to dedicate to you
the translation of a work, which, as a faithful narrative of events, wants
no additional comment to make it interesting. A detail of facts, in
which your Royal Highness, in behalf of your country, has been so
honourably engaged, may not prove unwelcome in aid of recollection;
and a detail of facts, built on the experimental horrors of popular power,
and which, proceeding from the wildness of theory to the madness of
practice, has swept away every vestige of civil polity, and would soon
leave neither law nor religion in the world, cannot, either in point of
instruction or warning, be unreasonably laid before my fellow-citizens
at large.
Under the sanction, therefore, Sir, of your illustrious name, I willingly
commit to them this memorial. And if an innocent victim of oppression
should thus derive a small, though painful, subsistence from a plain and
publick (sic) recital of his country's crimes, I shall be abundantly repaid
for the little share I may have had in bringing it into notice; and by the
opportunity it affords me of subscribing myself
Your ever grateful and devoted humble servant,
FRANCIS RANDOLPH.

BATH, July 22, 1796
******
PREFACE
THE following sheets contain a journal of principal events of the
French Revolution. The best authorities have been resorted to, and the
facts are related without any comment. The reader will find a faithful
outline of an interesting and momentous period of history, and will see
how naturally each error produced its corresponding misfortune.
Various causes contributed to effect a revolution in the minds of
Frenchmen, and led the way to a revolution in the state. The arbitrary
nature of the government had been long submitted to, and perhaps
would have continued so much longer, if France had not taken part in
the American war.
The perfidious policy of VERGENNES, who, with a view of humbling
the pride of England, assisted the subject in arms against his Sovereign,
soon imported into his own nation the seeds of liberty, which it had
helped to cultivate in a country of rebellion; and the crown of France,
as I once heard it emphatically observed, was lost in the plains of
America. The soldier returned to Europe with new doctrines instead of
new discipline, and the army in general soon grew dissatisfied with the
Monarch, on account of unusual, and, as they thought, ignominious
rigours which were introduced into it from the military school of
Germany. The King also, from a necessity of retrenchment, had
induced his ministers to adopt some mistaken measures of economy
respecting the troops, and thus increased the odium which pride had
fostered, and by diminishing the splendour of the crown, stripped it of
its security and protection.
To this was added the wanton profusion of the Court in other expenses,
and the external parade and brilliancy, which, if they impoverish, often
dazzle and gratify