Gazette Of The United States & Evening Advertiser

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF
THE QUEEN OF FRANCE.

PARIS, October 16.

Yesterday morning the once all-powerful and beautiful MARIE ANTONETTE, consort of the unfortunate Louis, King of France, the daughter, sister and aunt, of Emperors, was brought like the meanest malefactor from the prison of the Conciergerie, and placed at the criminal bar of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

The act of accusation, as prepared by the public accuser, was to the following purport:

Marie Antoinette stands charged 1st, With having dilapidated and lavished the finances of the nation, in concert with the execrable Calonne, by causing to be transmitted to the Emperor several millions, which still serve to carry on the war against France.-2dly, With having, in imitation of Brunehaut, and Fredegonde, who also called themselves Queens of France, conspired against the Liberty of the French Nation.3dly, With having sought to starve the people in 1789.-4thly, With having excited the murders, of October 5 and 6.--5thly, With having in concert with Bailly and La Fayette, caused the patriots to be butchered in the Champ de Mars.-6thly, With having prevailed upon the Swiss to fire on the people on the 10th of August.--7thly, With having like another Agrippina, forgotten she was a mother, in order to commit incest with her son.

Shocked, as this unhappy Queen must have been at some of the articles of her accusation, and particularly at the last. which seems to have been designed to load her memory with infamy, she heard them with magnanimous fortitude and composure, and replied without confusion, and with dignity to the interrogatory, which began as follows:

President—" What is your name?"
Queen—" Marie Antoinette, of Lorraine and Austria."
President—" Your Quality?" Queen —" I am the widow of Louis Capet, King of the French."

Here the witnesses were called in.

Laurent Lecointre, the first witness formerly Chief of a Division of the National Guard of Versailles, and at present a Member of the National Convention, related the historical occurrences of the 5th, and 6th of October; and from his relation it appeared, that the ci-devant Gardes de Corps or Life Guards, were the first aggressors.

Lecointre spoke also, though not as an ocular witness, of the nocturnal riot which was occasioned October 1st, at Versailles, by the late King's Life Guards in the hall of the Opera. " Maria Antoinette, said he, repaired to that banquet; she applauded the conduct of the Guards; she also visited the regiment of Nassau and the Chasseurs of Trois Eveches, who were quartered in the Orangerie of the Gardens of Versailles."

Queen—" I repaired, I must own, with my husband and his children to the Hall of the Opera House; but I did not see that the national cockade was trode under foot. It is false that I ever spoke to the soldiers of the Regiment of Nassau, or the Chasseurs of Trois Eveches."

President—" What did you say to the Life Guards when you appeared at that orgie?"—Queen—" I applauded that banquet, because it was to have produced the union of the life guards with the national guards."

Public Accuser.—" Have you not held secret councils at the house of the ci-devant Duches of Polignac. Councils at which the ci-devant French Princes assisted and in which, after having discussed the fate of the empire, you gave yourself up to the infamous pleasures of debauchery?"

Queen—" All the state affairs were discussed in council, and no where else. I have no knowledge of the rest of this assertion."

Public Accuser—" Are not Thouret. Barentin, and De Espreménil, the authors of the articles of the declaration of June 23d ?" Queen—" The ministers in place alone composed the council at that time."

Judge—" Did not your husband communicate his designs to you, when he invested the Hall of the Representatives of the people with troops?" Queen—" My husband reposed his confidence in me; he communicated to me the speech which he was to have made on that occasion. He had, in other respects, no bad intentions."

Judge—" Why did troops of the line invest Paris and Versailles?" Queen— " For the sake of general safety."

Judge" What use have you made of the immense sums which you have been entrusted with ?" Queen—" No enormous sum has been entrusted to me; the accounts of my household will prove what use has been made of all I have received."

Judge—" How did the family of the Polignacs, who was so poor at first, grow so rich?" Queen—" That family held offices at court which were very lucrative."

The Queen was then questioned respecting the flight to Varennes. She acknowledged that she opened the door and led the way from the Thuilleries, and that though they saw M. La Fayette as they crossed the square of the Carousel, he knew nothing of their flight.

Hebert substitute of the Commons, then gave evidence with a view of substantiating the infamous charge of incest: and stated that it was founded upon the confession of the young Louis himself.

When the Tribunal put the question on this charge. The Queen indignantly replied as follows:

" I appeal, Sir, silent on that subject, because nature holds all such crimes in abhorrence," and then turning with an animated air to the people, she exclaimed, " I appeal to all mothers who are present in this auditory--is such a crime possible ?"

After the examination had closed, the Queen was soon condemned, " as guilty of having been accessory to, and having co-operated in different manœuvres against the liberty of France; of having entertained a correspondence with the enemies of the Republic; of having participated in a plot tending to kindle civil war in the interior of the Republic, by arming citizens against each other."

When the sentence was read, the Queen cast down her eyes, and did not raise them again. " Have you nothing to reply upon the determination of the law ? said the President to her, " Nothing," she replied.

He then addressed himself to her pleaders, " and you officious defenders." Our mission is fulfilled with respect to the Widow Capet," said they.

This morning (the 16th) this unhappy victim of democratic fury was ignominiously carried to the place of execution in a common cart. The whole armed force of Paris was on foot from the Palace of Justice to the Place de la Revolution. The streets were lined by two very close rows of armed citizens. The Queen was in a white loose dress---but they had tied her arms behind her. As she passed along, the multitude frequently cried out " bravo."

At the place of execution she looked firmly round her on all sides. She was accompanied by the ci-devant curate of St. Landry, a constitutional priest, and on the scaffold preserved her natural dignity of mind.

After the execution three young persons dipped their handkerchiefs in her blood, They were immediately arrested.

Foulon de Condray and Chaveau de la Garde the pleaders for Marie Antoinette, had been put in a state of arrest before her execution, by order of the Committee of General Safety. The order says, that this is a measure of General Safety, that the arrest shall last twenty-four hours, and that every attention shall be paid to these prisoners.