IV. Truth Mutilated
The "General" of Socialism in France, M. Louis Blanc,[1] to excuse his absence from the banquet on Sept. 21st, at the Lake Saint Fargeau (organized by a federation of the Radical and anti-Opportunist Republicans of and around Paris), wrote a letter of fraternal congratulations on the abolition of Kings and Queens.
We wish first to say a few words about this banquet. It was held to celebrate the anniversary of the proclamation of the First Republic in France, on Sept. 21st, 1792. This was the first act of the National Convention, declaring the abolition of Royalty. This was its prelude to the judicial assassination of King Louis XVI., who was as yet only a prisoner in the tower of the Temple; soon he was to become a martyr, and to mount the scaffold in the open space named after the Revolution. Men should be reminded that Royalty had remained unassailed throughout the Ages of Faith. Attempts against Kings have been repeatedly made since the Renaissance only; regicide inspired the people with less horror from the day when Brutus and Scevola were crowned with the martyr's heroic wreath. Charles I., Mary Stuart, Henri III., Henri IV., Louis XVI., Marie-Antionette, and Madame Elizabeth, were the first holocausts to that heathenish reaction. And in these days of ours have not attempts to murder Royal Princes and heads of States become of so frequent an occurrence that that most awful crime may very soon rank among common offences in the eyes of the populace?
It is singular, it is even instructive, that the anniversary of the 21st of September should now be only celebrated by the anti-Opportunists when the Third Republic is in part the work of M. Gambetta, the leader of Opportunism. The six hundred guests of both sexes at Saint Fargeau (where the private festivities concluded with dancing, as did the official festivities on July 14th last), are therefore much more advanced than M. Gambetta, who remains far behind them.
- ↑ M. Louis Blanc's death has occurred since we penned the last lines of this Essay: he passed away at Cannes on the morning of December 7th, at the age of sixty-nine. This restless man will only be missed by the fierce Parisian democracy who cling to the "red rag,"
