Chapter LXVIII: Conclusion

I, John Lebrenn, concluded the writing of this account on the 29th of December, 1831, the eve of the day on which a daughter was born to my son Marik; she was named Velleda, in memory of our Gallic nationality.

To you, Marik, my beloved son, I bequeath this chronicle, along with the sword I received from General Hoche the day of the battle of Weissenburg. You will join them to the other legends and relics of our family, and you will bequeath them, in your turn, to your son Sacrovir. You will add to these scrolls the history of whatever new events may befall in your time, and our posterity will continue, from generation to generation, these our domestic annals.

And now sons of Joel, courage, perseverance, hope--not only hope, but certitude. In spite of the transient eclipses of the star of the Republic since the beginning of this century, in spite of the disappointment of which we were the victims in 1830, in spite of all the trials which we, and our children, perhaps, have yet to undergo, the future of the world belongs to the principle of Democracy.

* * * * *

I, Marik Lebrenn, inscribe here, with unspeakable anguish, the date of April 17, 1832, the evil day on which my beloved father and mother, both at the same hour, although some distance from each other, died under the scourge of the cholera. They retained to the end the serenity of their unsullied lives, and went to await us in those mysterious worlds where we shall at last be reborn, to continue to live in mind and body, and follow there our eternal existence.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See "The Pocket Bible," the sixteenth of this series.

[2] See "The Iron Arrow Head," the tenth of this series.

[3] This speech, which clearly shows the social tendencies of the most radical party in 1789, is here reproduced almost literally from Luchet, _Essays on the Illuminati_, chap. V, p. 23.

[4] See, for details of these scenes, and the questions and discourse of the initiators, Luchet's _Essays on the Illuminati_, chap. V. p. 23, and following; also Robinson, _Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and all the Governments of Europe_, vol. I, p. 114 and following.

[5] See the preceding work in this series, "The Blacksmith's Hammer."

[6] The old palace of the Bourbons, now abandoned to cheap lodgings and hucksters' booths.

[7] All the persons and facts cited in this story as of historic importance, are authentic.

[8] For an exactly parallel line of conduct, see that of Abbot Le Roy, at the time of the invasion of Reveillon's paper factory in the St. Antoine suburb, as given in the admirable _History of the Revolution_ by Louis Blanc. We are glad to render here this public testimony of our sympathy and old friendship for an illustrious campaign in exile.

[9] Mirabeau's death was for long attributed to poison.

[10] The correspondence found at the Tuileries, in the Iron Cupboard, on August 10, 1792, and the correspondence of the Count of Lamark, published in our day, establish superabundantly the treason of Mirabeau.

[11] See "The Abbatial Crosier," volume eight in this series.

[12] See "The Infant's Skull," volume eleven in this series.

[13] As each year started anew on the autumnal equinox, the dates varied a little from those here given. Those given are for the first year of the era. September, 1792, to September, 1793.

[14] The name for the paper notes issued by the Convention.

[15] Department of War, Sec. III, Correspondence, 1793-1794.

[16] This note is historic.

[17] It is fallaciously that tradition reports the attempted suicide of Robespierre. He was assaulted by the gendarme Herda. See the _Monitor_, session of the 10th Thermidor.

[18] The first care of the Royalists in the Convention, the day after the 9th Thermidor, was not to decree liberty to the suspects, but to go in person to open the prisons, whence flocked forth a horde of recalcitrant priests and blood-stained counter-revolutionaries.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2, by Eugene Sue

<pre id="pg-footer">