Facing the Terror: a Witness to the French Revolution

The recently discovered chronicle of an opinionated, elderly aristocrat provides a vivid portrayal of Paris during the most febrile days of the French Revolution.

The Execution of Louis XVI, 1793, 18th-century coloured engraving © akg-images.
The Execution of Louis XVI, 1793, 18th-century coloured engraving © akg-images.

The people are being encouraged to hate and despise us. All the Paris sections are demanding our arrest, and our destruction. Not a day goes by without newspapers carrying reports of sentences carried out against us. We can truly say, terror is riding pillion behind us.

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