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Guynemer
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So when does this shindig get started?
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Ljube
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Belgrade
May 2003
time: 06:36
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Chapter 1 – Where is the heir?
“Ah my dear husband”, said Queen Marie-Antoinette to King Louis. She was quite exhilarated. “We’re safe now. Prince Metternich has arrived to save us. He promised to arrange forged English papers with Prime Minister Pitt when he meets him in the conference tomorrow. We can flee to Österreich now. But hush please. Tell no one about this.”
“My dear Marie”, replied the King, in much calmer voice displaying some degree of reluctance, “don’t get too excited about our prospects yet. This is too much of a risk for us. We have a small son of only five, the future King of France. And mind that nobody is safe in France anymore. Particularly since that wretched Robespierre has taken the control of the Committee of Public Safety. We mustn’t risk our lives and the future of the monarchy acting hastily. And our friends… No we must wait. The time is not right yet. We…”
“Stop it Louis!” interrupted him Marie-Antoinette. She was starting to get annoyed by her husband’s indecisiveness “You are King of France. You have been given the powers on Earth by almighty God. Nobody can deny that and even those bloodthirsty Jacobin killers wouldn’t dare hurting anyone belonging to the royal family.”
“My dear Marie”, the King continued showing even less confidence, “Our good friends form the Gironde who have risked much by their open support to our authority would be pushed in an impossible position should we do as you suggest and flee to Austria. And what of our dear Necker? No, I couldn’t possibly allow him and dear Lafayette to fall because of our actions. They would be certain to face execution then.”
“Louis”, the Queen assumed an uncompromising tone, “first my name is not Marie. It’s Maria Antonia! I am Austrian! And since we are going to Austria you better start getting used to it! Second, when we get back riding together with the victorious Austrian and Prussian armies, we’ll make sure we reward all our friends in time of need. They will get proper compensation for any suffering they may have endured throughout this dire period. And third, before you say anything, this is my final word, so shut up about this! We’ll do as I told you.”
Later that morning the National Assembly is in session.
“It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, there are a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France”, citizen Hébert started his speech. It was customary for him to attack the royal family in every of his speeches. He continued “and it is not sufficient to just abolish their titles and positions. No, they must answer for their crimes to the people of France. They must be charged for counter-revolutionary activities and tried by the Committee for Public Safety.”
“No citizen Hébert”, replied compte de Mirabeau, “we live in a free country, a constitutional monarchy. We won’t allow you and your fellow Jacobins to usher France in a new period of anarchy and personal insecurity. Your ideas have no ground here in this Assembly. But being a free country and you being the citizen with every right, we won’t try to stop you from publishing your views in your newspaper Le Père Duchesne. See if anyone buys it after that.”
Laughter from Girondin seats followed the speech of compte du Mirabeau.
********
Later during that same session another matter was discussed.
“And I’m telling you fellow citizens from my point of view as physician and Christian. We mustn’t allow current system of death penalty to continue. If we are abolishing all privileges, all differences between the classes, between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, we have to make sure they are equal both in life and death. And hanging, from my point of view, is death in such terrible torment that not a single man more must be allowed to die on the gallows. From now on, if you choose to support my bill, everybody in France will die gracefully, be it aristocrat or commoner. They will be decapitated.”
“Yes citizen Guillotin”, replied Marquis de Lafayette, “I think the Gironde can support your humane proposal and I’m sure the Jacobins won’t mind either. But I don’t see the axe anywhere in your proposal. Just some fancy machine. Are you planning to propose we use that for execution?”
“Yes the machine is my design. Its cut is clean and fast. The people won’t suffer at all. And to make sure this law is not vetoed I introduced the King with the design of my machine. He even gave some very useful remarks about the blade that should be triangular, placed at an angle rather than horizontal, which I incorporated into my design.”
And so the law was passed. The device was named guillotine and was henceforth instrumental in all executions in France.
********
In the evening that day, duc de Bordeaux and comte de Provence met with Fürst Metternich and Feld Marschall von Blücher to discuss their plan of escape of the French royal family.
Fürst Metternich explained the plan to the others
“Everything is set for your departure. Prime Minister Pitt has promised to issue papers for all members of the royal family. You will depart as soon as the conference ends.”
“Great! We can hardly wait! Our lives are at stake here. We risk any minute spent in Paris”, commented duc de Bordeaux.
“And what of the second part of your plan”, asked compte de Provence. “We are as interested in saving our necks as we are in our victorious return. Herr Blücher, are you going to be able to restore us to power?”
“Zweifeln Sie an uns nicht! Die preussische Armee ist die stärkeste Armee in der ganzen Welt. Ich werde die Armee Frankreichs zerstören.”
“That’s precisely the kind of answer I was hoping for Jamski old friend. OK, so everything is set. We shall only meet again if something unplanned happens”, concluded Metternich.
********
Later that evening everyone in the royal castle was searching for King Louis’ son, little 5 years old Louis duc de Normandie, heir to the throne of France, but he was nowhere to be found. The security around the Tuileries Palace hasn’t been so tight since the detachment of royal guard was assigned the security of the conference. Prime Minister Necker ordered General Napoléon Bonaparte to leave no stone unturned until the royal prince was found. He enlisted the aide of the Girondins and quickly Brissot, Guillotin, de Mirabeau, de Sade and even Fabre d'Églantine were searching for the youngster. Private Chauvin was searching the Place de Grève and there he found a truly gruesome picture: The dead naked body of the poor child. It was the body of Jon Miller, his hands and legs tied, his mouth gagged to prevent the helpless child from uttering a sound. His body was completely covered in blood. The innocent defenceless boy appeared to have been flogged to death by someone who could only be called a psychopath if he was capable of doing this to a child. The others were quickly summoned to the spot by Chauvin.
Marquis de Lafayette was devastated by the scene.
“This is a terrible outrage!!!! This shall not remain unpunished!!!! I’ll see to it that those who committed this vile crime hang!!!!”
“Enhance your calm citizen Lafayette”, replied Maximilian Robespierre. “Indeed, the perpetrators or the perpetrator of this heinous act must not remain unpunished, but we no longer live in the times when aristocracy had the power over common man’s life and death. Now it’s up to the Committee for Public Safety to decide and every citizen has a vote there with equal rights. And the one found guilty will not be sent to the gallows as you suggest, because, remember, we passed the law today which regulates that each death penalty must be carried out by a machine with a triangular blade. This is going to be a good opportunity to test the machine.”
“I shall arrange a vote tomorrow”, said fanatical paralytic Couthon who was eager to see an execution because there hasn’t been any during the last week.
“Everybody come tomorrow to the Committee to cast your vote. I shall tally the votes”, concluded Saint-Just.
Desmoulins was overwhelmed by sadness.
“This is a terrible thing! Terrible! What beast could have done something like this? I shall write an epitaph in my newspaper Le Vieux Cordelier tomorrow.”
Everybody left the scene, but marquis de Sade stayed for some time. Nobody knows why, but he might have been collecting material for his new book.
So citizens, who do you think a murderer is? Could this be a plot to overthrow the royal family? Or to kill them since they can’t oust them. Or is it a power struggle within the royal family? Or could a sadistic maniac have committed the most despicable murder? It’s up to you to decide, for it is now day and time to vote.
Last edited by Ljube on 08-06-2004 at 06:40
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Guynemer
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Hmmm...
a young boy, flogged to death.
Sounds rather sadistic to me, Comte Tuberski.
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loinburger
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Sweet Sauce Jones
Jul 1999
time: 00:36
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quote:
The vote must be public or it doesn't count.
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Ah, my bad. I'm used to Assassins rules.
I'm voting for Jonny -- the Marquis's so-called "outrage" seemed a bit too well-rehearsed.
Last edited by loinburger on 08-06-2004 at 06:24
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08-06-2004 04:09
Maybe your friend, Mr Franklin there could teach you some math. 
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