Mes amis!
The King has agreed to an impressive list of demands to save his wretched hide, saving us from bloodshed and France from turmoil. Let me read you the terms of victory!
- Obviously, none of us will be proscecuted. We fought only for freedom and equality!
- The King shall abdicate in favour of his son, Louis-Charles.
- The Constitution shall be altered in such a way that from now on, the King will not stand in the way of democracy. Aside from ceremonial privileges, the King's only duty shall be to appoint the First Minister from amongst the largest faction in Parliament.
- Elections shall from this point onwards be held with universal male suffrage, allowing every single seat in Parliament to be elected by the People proportionally.
- The Entrenchment Clause shall be omitted from the Constitution.
- Monarchism as a political ideology or faction of any sort shall be banned.
- The Cordelier Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen shall be legalized.
- As known counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the People, Francois-Joseph Marie Richard and Jacques de Nogart-Lefebvre are sentenced to death by guillotine.
- Ownership of one of the Royal Chateaus will be transferred to the Duke of Orleans. Which one, I leave up to the honourable gentlemen themselves.
- Elections shall be held as soon as order is restored.
Now go home, have a beer. For you have all lived through the Revolution!
- "Le Préfet" Renaud de Cartelège
"Precisely what is my crime, Monsieur, aside from trying to abide by the oath we all swore?" cries an otherwise unremarkable man dressed in the clothes of a provincial member of the Tiers Etat.
M. Richard makes his way to the tribune.
"Yes, my fellow Frenchmen, it is I, the supposed monster of Poitou and the former Chancellor of my beloved Patrie. I was charged by the King to secure the constitutional order against what seemed to be an unlawful insurrection - for which you have been pardoned, M. le Premier-Ministre, but unfortunately, not being God, I have no power of telling the future.
Mes amis, I further ask, I would comprehend an order for my arrest - though of course it is moot, for I am here, and unarmed, just another member of the Third Estate like anyone here, a simple country lawyer. But a sentence of death, without a trial? Is this what the Revolution stands for, the removal of liberties even the former King was loath to dispense with? Has the Revolution descended so as to negate its very own ideals, like, and I quote, 'Liberty for every man to speak, write, print and publish his opinions'?
Furthermore, under what law do you propose to have me handed over to the Monsieur de Paris? I have not been an enemy of the State, at least such that is legally constituted. I have not engaged in any treason, nor any killing except according to the necessity of maintaining the public safety. I have had the temerity to disagree with the government at present, but is not such disagreement guaranteed by law to any citizen?"
Raising his arms, as if to submit it to be cuffed; "If you want, you can arrest me and bind me now. I will not stop you. Nor will I, if you so insist, resist you sending me to Monsieur de Paris. Even if you - I must add, without warrant, contrary to the Constitution and all semblance of the liberties so loudly proclaimed this year - summarily execute me, I am more than willing to commend my soul to God, for I am a widower, and God in his ineffable mercy has seen fit to admit all my children to his bosom already. But understand that you may kill me, a man, but in doing as you propose you will have cast down the Phyrgian cap and pissed on it. Is that what you want? Is this what the people of Paris, of France, want? I had thought not, but now I am no longer certain.
I initially entered politics out of a desire to serve my community, my people, and my God, and to set right what had gone wrong. Had I had my proposals concerning the clergy passed, and the King secure on his constitutional throne, I would have gladly retired and returned to practicing law for farmers. But now, you would send me to the Bourreau. If that is your resolve, without even a trial, then I only ask that you allow me to make my peace with God and send for a priest to hear my last Confession. In any event, may the Lord have mercy on us all and our country. I die a country lawyer and a proud member of the Tiers-Etat. Viva la France! Vive le Roi!"
