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| Sunday, 22 May 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Famous trials that shook
the world
The trial of Louis XVI by Lionel Wijesiri Louis XVI King of France, arrived in the wrong historical place at the wrong time and soon found himself overwhelmed by events beyond his control. Born in 1754, he was the third son of the dauphin (Louis) and Marie Josephe of Saxony and grandson and successor of King Louis XV.
Ascending the throne in 1774, at the age of 20, Louis inherited a realm driven nearly bankrupt through the opulence of his predecessors Louis XIV and XV. After the coronation, things only got worse. The economy spiraled downward, crops failed; the price of bread and other food soared. The people were not happy with the deteriorating economic situation. To top it off, in 1770, Louis had the misfortune of marrying a foreigner, the Austrian archduchess - Marie Antoinette. At the time, the national representative body in France was known as Estates General. Its basic function was to give consent to royal taxation. Its members were divided into three classes, or estates: the clergy, the nobility (both small minorities), and the third estate, which represented the great majority of the people. Marie Antoinette has been vilified by most of the members of the third estate as indifferent and calculating. When Louis had first ascended the throne, his chief financial officer was a man named Robert Jacques Turgot (1727-1781), who was a brilliant and creative administrator. Turgot instantly set about trying to reform the country's financial situation by instituting a series of changes that included replacing the corvee -(a feudal law requiring the people of the district to contribute free labour for the construction and maintenance of roads) - with a tax on land owners, an easing of guild laws to allow industrial manufacturing to increase, and, radically, a sharp cut in monarchical expenses. These reforms, however, were refused by the Parliaments (13 Regional Royal Courts led by the Parliament of Paris) who were empowered to register royal decrees. These Parliaments were made up largely of nobility. When the reforms failed, Louis dismissed Turgot. From that point onwards, the country began sliding into a ruinous financial crisis. Louis then appointed (Oct.,1776) Jacques Necker as Director of the Treasury. The King supported most of Necker's reforms and economies, but the costly French intervention in the American Revolution more than cancelled the savings, and Necker's borrowing greatly swelled the debt. In disgust, Necker resigned in May 1781. Necker's successors were unable to ward off bankruptcy. When the interest bearing debt had risen to a huge figure, the King convoked (1787) the Assembly of Notables, which was composed of nobles and high church officials handpicked for the occasion. The notables approved parts of his general plan, but refused to consent to taxation, referring this to the Estates-General. The financial crisis precipitated a steep inflationary rise in prices. It played hell with the peasantry. Not only did the peasants have to pay higher prices for the basics of life (the peasants lived in a subsistence economy only), but landlords began raising fees on the peasantry when they saw their purchasing power decrease. By 1789, over 80 per cent of an average peasant's household income went to purchasing bread alone-just bread. In that same year, unemployment in many parts of France was over 50 per cent. The French people, angered by the taxes and the excessive spending of the court, recalled Necker, who, however, could not prevent bankruptcy of the government. By this time without anyone knowing it, the Revolution had already begun. In June 1789 the third estate, joined by some of the clergy and nobility, began the Revolution by defying the King and declaring itself a National Assembly. In October, 1789, a crowd marched on Versailles where the King and his family were staying, and forced the royal family to return to Paris, where they were confined in the Tuileries palace. Louis's position was definitively ruined when the royal family attempted (June, 1791) to flee France in disguise. They were apprehended at Varennes, and their attempted flight was considered proof of their treasonable dealings with foreign powers. A new Constitution was formed in the same year, which limited the King's power, but preserved the royal veto and his power to appoint ministers. Louis swore obedience to the new French constitution, but the influence of the Queen and of the courtiers was too strong. He was encouraged by them to disregard the commitment he had made and to make arrangements to flee from France in order to obtain aid against the revolution from Austria. Thus he was forced to continue secretly to work against the revolution and to plot intrigues with France's enemies. His disregard of his promises to abide by the constitution was subsequently revealed and on August 10, 1792, thousands of people stormed the royal palace of the Tuileries. The King and his family escaped before the mob arrived and took refuge in the hall of the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly declared that the King was suspended from office and ordered that he and his family should be imprisoned. They then called a New Assembly known as 'The Convention', to decide whether France should continue to be a monarchy. In September, the Convention declared France a Republic. Incriminating evidence against Louis was later found, and King Louis was tried by the Convention. Found guilty by a unanimous vote, he was sentenced to death by a vote of 361 to 288, with 72 calling for a delay. He was guillotined on January 21, 1793, in the Place de la Revolution (now Place de la Concorde) in Paris. Historians consider Louis XVI a victim of circumstances rather than a despot similar to the former French Kings Louis XIV and Louis XV. Not a bad man, he was just a weak one. He preferred to spend his time at hobbies, rather than at his duties of state, and worst of all, he permitted his wife to influence him unduly. |
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