of his house that embraced a regicide; he was the last that wore the
imperial purple." Far am I from thinking so ill of this august
sovereign, who is at the head of the monarchies of Europe, and who is
the trustee of their dignities and his own.

What ferocity of character drew on the fate of Elizabeth, the sister of
King Louis the Sixteenth? For which of the vices of that pattern of
benevolence, of piety, and of all the virtues, did they put her to
death? For which of her vices did they put to death the mildest of all
human creatures, the Duchess of Biron? What were the crimes of those
crowds of matrons and virgins of condition, whom they mas sacred, with
their juries of blood, in prisons and on scaffolds? What were the
enormities of the infant king, whom they caused, by lingering tortures,
to perish in their dungeon, and whom if at last they dispatched by
poison, it was in that detestable crime the only act of mercy they have
ever shown?

What softening of character is to be had, what review of their social
situations and duties is to be taught by these examples to kings, to
nobles, to men of property, to women, and to infants? The royal family
perished because it was royal. The nobles perished because they were
noble. The men, women, and children, who had property, because they had
property to be robbed of. The priests were punished, after they had been
robbed of their all, not for their vices, but for their virtues and
their piety, which made them an honor to their sacred profession, and to
that nature of which we ought to be proud, since they belong to it. My
Lord, nothing can be learned from such examples, except the danger of
being kings, queens, nobles, priests, and children, to be butchered on
account of their inheritance. These are things at which not vice, not
crime, not folly, but wisdom, goodness, learning, justice, probity,