. .1. i  
_ . 6 _ run oannr. ,_g_—
  1};;
* J rprofusion andthe magnificence of his court, the corrup-  
itions ofthe social state and the burdens of the poor had  
. Y rapidly increased, while an insolent nobility and a disso-  
lute clergy rioted in luxury on the means wrung from _;
the mouths of starving minions. Louis XVI was now  
on the throne, whom "Fate had elected as an expiatory I IT
victim for the faults of his predecessors." if}
T Irresolute and without independence of character, he  
, · o was incapable of guiding or stilling the storm. ,  
I The masses demanded of him that he should pour his e V.
. blood as oil upon the angry billows of that ocean of  
‘ wretched humanity, the crest of whose waves was break- _ ~ V
ing at his feet; but even then they failed to be calmed. ·°;
_, The revolution was inevitable, and beneath its terrific  
tidal wave were sunk a throne and splendid aristocracy, ·
while the fetters that bore the rush of ages were sev- `j
T ered like threads of gossamer. Robespiere and Marat H
. . obtained the ascendancy, and standing in the streets of
Paris, which were washed red with human blood, H
` declared Royalty forever abolished and France a Repub-
, lic. But they fell victims to the self—same foe. ‘
The populace, in its delirious power, first named
4 u Robespiere, "the patriot," then "the virtuous," then T
T T again the incorruptible and at length "the great." But l
__ . -he began to hear even from those who supported him in
T power the low murmur of "tyrant." Then it was that
he affected his leniency toward the press and the people,
but it was too late. He had already passed the crisis of
p his fate and nothing could stop his decline. His cup of if
trembling was well nigh full. He began to read his
~ fate in the lurid glare of the meteor of his fame, which
T had culminated upon a sky blackened by the smoke of
the slaughtered and the despairing looks of millions, and -
to hear the murmur of the angry deep his trident had
l ruled too long. His head was soon among those that
\ .