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The Tragedy of Louis XVI

hough he hesitated at first, King Louis XVI at last signed the Declaration, for he had little choice. In

approving a document that made the people, not the king, the supreme authority in France, Louis XVI

was simply recognizing what had come to passa reality he was powerless to change and that would

be dangerous for him to resist.

TBut even though the king signed the Declaration, in his heart he opposed it. Louis XVI was not a tyrant.He was not greedy for power. He truly wanted to better the lives of his people. Yet Louis believed that as king ofFrance, he had been given authority from God, and no one could take that from him. He had agreed to the limitsplaced on his authority because he felt he must, to keep his throne. But in doing so, he saw himself as giving in

to force. He thus did not think he was

bound to keep to the agreements he had

made, if he were once again free.

Those immediately surrounding

him encouraged the kings secretopposition to the revolutionespecially

Queen Marie Antoinette. The queen

believed firmly in the absolute authority

of kingsshe was, after all, the daughter

of Maria Theresia and sister to the

reigning Holy Roman Emperor, Josef II.

In the years before the revolution, the

queen had gained a good deal of influence over her husband. This was unfortunate, for Marie Antoinette was

unpopular with the French people and, more important, she was not a wise adviser.

The king basically had no say in the debates over the

constitution the Assembly was drawing up for France. It was clear

he would not be removed from office, for the French people were

very attached to their king. He was the king father for many; for

nearly all, he was a necessary part of the government. Only a few

French intellectuals entertained ideas of a kingless France. For most

of the French, France was unthinkable without the king.

Although France would keep her king, it was unclear how much

power the Assembly would let him have. One of the fiercest debates

in the Assembly was over the kings vetothe power he would have

to block laws passed by the Assembly. Some, like Mirabeau, thought the king should have an absolute veto

that is, the power to block any law passed by the Assemblybut the Assembly on September 11, 1789, granted

the king only a suspensive veto. He could veto a law only twice; if the Assembly passed it a third time, the king

was powerless to block it.

With only a suspensive veto, the king had little say over the laws. Even so, as the chief executive of the

The women's march on Versailles, October 5, 1789

suspensive veto: by giving a veto

(Latin, meaning I refuse) to a bill, a

king or head of government refuses to

sign it into law. A suspensive veto is the

power only to delay the process of a

bill becoming a law. If, after a certain

number of times, a head of

government refuses to sign a bill, it

becomes law anyhow.

2011 Catholic Textbook Project

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state, he still controlled the regular military. Louis, however, was uncertain how faithful his French soldiers were

to him. Without his French regiments, he would have to rely on his foreign mercenaries; but the last time he did

that, Paris rebelled and the Bastille fell. The king was thus unwilling to risk a military action against the

Assembly.

So it was probably not to overthrow the Assembly, but merely to protect his palace, that in September

Louis ordered mercenary troops from the Flanders garrisons to come to Versailles.

On the night of October 1, 1789, officers

of the French Guard hosted a supper at

Versailles to welcome the officers of the

Flanders garrison. The officers ate heartily and

toasted one another with glasses filled with

wine. The queen was present, and royalist songs

were sung. This was the extent of the event; but

when the news of it reached Paris, the crowds

were stung to anger. While the people starved,

the kings soldiers feasted! And why did the

king bring soldiers to Versailles, anyhow? Was it

to crush the Assembly, to end the revolution?

Armed with sticks and clubs and

shouting, Bread! a mob of women and men

(some dressed as women) marched the 12 miles from Paris to Versailles on the night of October 5, 1789. Behind

them, at a distance, Lafayette followed with the National Guard. Upon reaching Versailles, the mob surrounded

the palace; but the bayonets of the royal troops held them off until Lafayette and his Guard could take over the

defense of the palace. Assaults by the mob continued through the night, and some broke into the palace, killing

several members of the queens guard. By morning, the king agreed to surrender to the mob and, with it, leave

Versailles for Paris.

The next day witnessed a strange spectaclethe royal family packed into an ornate carriage traveling

along the road to Paris, guarded by troops of the National Guard and surrounded by a swarming, jubilant mob

of the poor of Paris. We have the baker and the bakers wife and the little cook-boy, they cried. Now we shall

have the bread! The people were joyful not only from hopes of bread to fill their empty stomachs but because

the king, their father, was returning to his capital, Paris. For over 100 years, the French kings had been at

Versailles and so were strangers to their people. The return of the king awakened hopes that the king father

would once more be one with his children.

It was a false hope. The Assembly would soon turn the king entirely against the revolution. Meanwhile,

as a prisoner at the Tuileries, his palace in Paris, the king would despair of ever overthrowing the rebellion by

his own power alone. The desperate Louis, fearful for his life and that of his family, fell completely under the

sway of Queen Marie Antoinette, whose plots for the safety of the court and the royal family would forever

besmirch the honor and dignity of the royal house in the eyes of all France.

Lafayette kisses Marie Antoinette's hand as she and the royal family,

horrified, watch the women of Paris rioting before Versailles.