 Thus saith Koheleth in Ecclesiastes, he who was the son of David and a king in Jerusalem, better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king who knoweth not how to take admonitions anymore. The NBC University of the Air presents We Came This Way, a new historical series for our listeners at home and overseas. With Clifton Utley as narrator, we present chapter 14, a story of King Louis the 16th and the French Revolution. In We Came This Way. Beat out the slow, suspenseful year, you drums. For the time is 1789 and the place France. It is summer, and stupendous events loom up like thunderheads against this year. The French throne is crumbling. Beat, you drums, beat. This is the crisis of the year. And King Louis, fat and bored. The 16th Louis to rule France, king by divine right. The glory of feudal France, tinkers in a workshop, fixes locks and plays with mechanical toys. One need only turn this key, my dear brother. Release this lock and the iron wheels begin to turn. And then the hammer strikes and the bells ring. A miracle, your majesty. It is, isn't it? I must take it apart and examine it. Stay with me, Artois. It will be interesting. More than a mechanical toy needs examining. It has a wonderful feeling when I term the key, Artois. Brother, you're a king of France, not a locksmith. If you do not wish to stay. Today, these overstuffed deputies of the National Assembly voted to forbid all taxes, not specifically established by them. Can't you see what's happening, brother? Take those things to Mr. Necker. Mr. Necker is an ass. He is my minister. When it comes to counting francs, Necker is magnificent. True. But a politician or man to deal with a crisis? We're not in a counting house now. This is not a business arrangement we're engaged in. You're raising your voice, Artois. You do not hear me otherwise. Get out, Artois! Get out! Listen to me, Louis. I'm your brother. The same father sired us. Left the great kingdom in our hands. You're its head. I follow and love you, Louis. But power, my brother. Power is slipping away from us. It's slipping into the hands of peasants and butchers. All that our father and his father and his father's father built stands in mortal danger now. Reform! Reform! Our constitution is the sword they would kill us with. Listen to me, Louis. I'm a brother who loves you. I'm not an enemy. You should not raise your voice to me, Artois. Forgive me, Louis, but something must be done. I have been thinking. What will you do? Well, I'm not certain yet. The assembly must be dissolved. They must be packed off before they declare themselves the sole governing body in France. You think that is best, Artois. But, well, will they go do you think? Will they leave their side? They will if we use the flats of our swords. France is bankrupt. Taxes bleed the poor. Hunger is in the land. And at Versailles, a parliament is meeting for the first time in 175 years. The people's deputies are crying. Let us take an oath never to separate until the constitution is established in France. And Louis Bourbon tinkers with the key of a mechanical toy. The nobles are shouting sedition. The people's deputies are threatening the entire world of aristocratic rights and privileges. Prince, Duke and Count, beg of King Louis, dissolve this assembly. Disolve it now before it's too late. And Louis? Louis continues to hunt. To eat well and play with his toys. While his wife, the ambitious Marie Antoinette plays the role of the king. Majesty, we'll see you now, my lord Artois. Artois, well? I have just now come from his workshop. And? You must strike now while sparks will still fly, your majesty. Louis must not be given time to change his mind. He has agreed then to the dissolution of the assembly. My brother will agree with the last one he's spoken with. So far, I believe it's been I. I will speak to him. He must hold a royal sitting in the assembly, your majesty. Louis must appear on the rostrum and inform these deputies of what they are permitted to do. If they disobey his wish, which I hope they will, then we can dissolve them instantly. With what, my dear Artois? With troops. Do you think me all a simple woman, Artois? I know what is happening in France. Are you sure of those troops? I'm not sure of anything except the need for action. To hold onto power, the royal family and the nobility will have to gamble on the troops remaining loyal. A doubtful crutch to lean upon. But a crutch nonetheless, your majesty. Oh, if only. If only what? I have no complaints over Louis as a good husband and father, but he's weak. If only he were made of steel. We will be his steel, your majesty. Aye, we will prop the king. I will do nothing rash, Marie. Is to save your kingdom an act of rashness? But they may refuse to dissolve. You will have troops about the building? Troops. Troops. Each one of you was more bloody than the other. I don't like it. Let them meet and talk till Lent comes around. Have you been seeing, Mr. Necker? Have you, Louis? I see whom I wish. What has he told you? Yield? Compromised? Mr. Necker is a reasonable man, Marie. He does not think it advisable to do anything rash with the assembly. What are you doing to us, Louis? Will you hand these bumpkins all of France with a curtsy and a smile? Marie. France slips through your fingers as if it were nothing but sand. Hold it at least for your son. I want a kingdom for him, Louis. My father was the king. My brother is Emperor of Austria. My husband is the king of France. My son, by rights, must wear a crown. He shall have his crown. Louis, dissolve the assembly before they make an empty thing of it. Very well. I shall call a royal sitting. I have let the situation go as long as justice permitted. Yes? Mr. Necker, to see his majesty. Necker. Well, tell him to wait. Louis. No, Marie. I shouldn't you think, huh? But it may not be wise. Play the king, Louis. Play the king. All right. Tell me, sir, Necker. I cannot see him today, not tomorrow. Let him wait until I call. He will be angry. Where are you going, Louis? Oh, oh, the shop. Something I wanted to look at. A new box, most ingenious. It works on a secret spring. His majesty, King Louis of France, commands the deputies to prepare themselves for the next meeting. King Louis of France commands the deputies to prepare themselves for a royal sitting upon the 23rd of June. Further does he command each be seated separately. Neither nobility nor clergy, nor those of the third estate, shall intermingle. Their ancient relationship shall be maintained. Sign this day of June and affixed by the royal seal of Louis of France. And with the call for a royal sitting and ability to cart, for at last their king was acting. Before his August presence and his personal command, the third estate would bow down. The nobles were sure. This was to be the end of the fire that was smoldering in France. But only those who had lit it could put it out. The third estate. In the hall of the assembly, the people's deputies, these citizens who for the first time the question was, what did Louis intend? Whatever the king intends, we must stand firm. Remember our oath, a constitutional loan can send us home. The deputies had formed the Breton Club and in the evenings they met to discuss the policies of tomorrow. On a feltry night in June they groped for a decision on policy for the next morning. Listen citizens, if Louis intends the dissolution of the assembly, all upon the people to defend it. Mirabeau is right. But King Louis has troops. Ten thousand is per side. Paris is near. We have an army of citizens at our hands. The people will defend us. Citizens, we must not be forced with force. Are we cowards? There's against us with a round of rifle fire. All the worse for Louis. For then he stands in the eyes of the people as their enemy. No. We must be passive tomorrow. We shall avoid bloodshed and at the same time gain the same ends. For in any event he will either reveal himself as our enemy or branch us a constitution. Also, Monsieur Nekker is still in his government. We cannot compromise our minister. Lastly citizens, who amongst you will vote for Louis troops. Do you think they will dare vote for them if they are uncertain as to which way the guns will be turned? The morning of June 23rd was warm and bright. The sunlight flashed on the naked bayonets of restless troops on the edge of the city of Versailles. In the assembly hall the deputies had gathered in their separate orders. The third estate stood between the nobility and the clergy. A mass dark and severe. At noon the trumpet sounded. And into the hall walked Louis, dressed down. Behind him followed some of his nobles, brilliantly clad, their eyes flashing, their hands hungry for their swords. Louis mounted heavily to the rock room. Behind him stood his brother, the Count of Artois. Everything is in session. Your king will address you deputies of France. Give ear and listen. I have decreed this royal fitting for I am displeased by the manner in which the deputies of the third estate have behaved. You have presumed more than your responsibility warranted. You are commanded to deliberate in separate chambers. You demanded instead amalgamation with the nobility and the clergy. You are commanded to deliberate only upon questions of taxation. You acted upon more than my wishes commanded. It is not your business to deliberate upon the ancient rights and privileges of the nobility but your business to be concerned with the framing of a constitution for France. I am France. I am the power and the source of this government. None shall usurp that power. Therefore do I order, because of your presumption, the immediate and instant cessation of all meetings by this assembly, I command the dissolution of this mutinous body. This is my will. Obey. I am flushed with fury, nobleman and clergyman rose and followed, abandoning the hall to the dark, resentful members of the third estate. As Louis climbed into his coach, his brother, the Count of Artois, stopped him. The third estate disobeyed your will. They remained behind in the hall. Get them out. Announce to the deputies that the king orders them to retire from the hall. Yes, my lord. What do you think they will do, brother? I am hoping they will do. Disobey. I have troops ready. The king commands the deputies of the third estate to retire immediately from this hall. Now, the moment here. The nice little assembly will consider the question. Did you hear, Sire? They defy you. Let your answer to your king. Go tell your master that nothing but bayonets will drive us out. Then bayonets let it be, Sire. Give them their bayonets. Sire, the deputies refuse to leave. The troops, Louis. Use the troops on these dogs. They will not change their mind for us. I do not think so, Sire. Let me call the troops, Louis. But Artois, if they pire on us instead, we must or we lose the whole battle. Give me the order for the troops. No, they mean to stay, Artois. They mean to stay. Tell my coachman to take me home. Unpower slipped from the hands of Louis into the hands of the nation. Out of that fear, that panic in his heart was the victorious national assembly. No longer was there one king in France. Now there were 1,300 of them framing a constitution at Versailles. But the nobility wanted only one ruler, Louis. And secretly, about the person of Queen Marie Antoinette a conspiracy form. This was the beginning of counter-revolution. The court must be removed. Exactly, Your Majesty. He is sympathetic to the Third Estate. A man of iron is needed as minister of France. That will be you, Broly. I am honored, Your Majesty. But am I to face France armed only with my name, as a soldier? We will find loyal troops for you, my dear Marshal. Why not foreign troops? Our French are shot through and through with the mutinous idea. We must be careful as yet, the foreign aid. Nonsense, my dear Artois. You hold a throne with what you can get. Very well, then, Your Majesty. We have some Swiss and German battalions we can count on. We will move them into Versailles and Paris with caution. You will smash the assembly first. Understood? Well understood. What of the king? Only he can dismiss Necker. Have no fear, my dear Marshal. I shall convince His Majesty that Necker has been with us too long. Too disastrously long. Are you serious, Marie? You ask me to cut off my right arm? You shall have another, a stronger one. Marshal Broly. Necker, what will the deputies say? You were the king of France, Louis, not they. Yes, but I don't know. Is it so wise now? You promised the crown for my son, Louis. Now you have no power with which to give it. Only your traitorous assembly could grant it to him now. You're silent, Louis. It is the truth. I will work things out. It is too late to bargain, Louis. We need our own men at the ministry in France. Not theirs. We need someone who, when he strikes, strikes for the king. To Monsieur Necker, minister of the king of France. His Majesty, after careful study and reflection, orders the dismissal of Monsieur Necker from the government of France. He thanks his former minister for the loyal services rendered to his king and wishes him Godspeed on his journey home. He will not see me, my lord. The king is busy, Monsieur Necker. It's unexpected dismissal, my dear count. You doubt its genuineness? I believe that is the royal seal. So it's finally come. You will return to Geneva, Monsieur. Pools, pools. They execute themselves. What did you say? I am the last one in King Louis' government in whom the people and their deputies have confidence. I am the plug that holds back the plug. I am not interested in your meditations, Monsieur. Meditations? All right, all right, my lord. Let it come then. I'm tired anyway. Thanks and your pensions long enough. Who is the new minister? Marshal Griggy. Soldier. That explains the troops I have been seeing. That's the only kind of currency the Marshal knows how to use. No doubt he plans a new economy, my lord. I would leave for Geneva instantly, Monsieur Necker. I have no fear, no fear, my lord. I would not remain now. To borrow a phrase of a former king of France, my lord. After me, the Deluge. The dismissal of Necker hit the National Assembly like a thunderclap. The deputies saw the first open blow against their so far bloodless revolution. In the assembly hall, they rose and shouted at President Mounier on the rostrum. We must proceed to punish the authors of this dismissal. The nobles are organizing against us. They prepare to strike back at the people's assembly. He is an enemy of liberty. And the deputation from the assembly came to visit King Louis. They came not as cringing subjects, but as legislators in a new world. But do you wish, gentlemen? We have a message for you, Sire. Yes? From the National Assembly. What is it? The National Assembly, Sire, will never cease to regret the dismissal of the former Minister Monsieur Necker. And we will never feel any confidence in the new one. You may tell the assembly that the ministers in France are still appointed by the king. And at Paris, the people grew tense. They saw the Swiss and German battalions marching through the city. The air grew hot with suspicion. Voices were lifted and loudest among them was the voice of Camille de Moulin, journalist and agitator, fighter in the people's revolution. Hello! Missiles, sounds and toxins of the St. Bartholomew, failure to slaughter us. Not a moment must be lost. And suspicion became panic on July the 14th, 1789. The human ocean poured, tumultuous. The damned birthed under the pressure of apes was drawn to the Bastille. The Bastille, they cried. For this feudal fortress, this symbol of the tyranny of kings by divine right was hated throughout the land. At Les Anvelis, the people seized 27 guns, a mortar and 32,000 rifles and they were armed. No Swiss, no German battalions stopped them now. With each gun they seized, history was more firmly in the people's hands and the National Assembly had at last an army. Put down your pike, you fool, let me in. You cannot enter the King's chamber. Take the cat to Bastille with you. Let me by. Leoncarve, what is the meaning of this? The Bastille has been seized, sire, by the people of Paris. They are armed with rifles and guns. What? Today, sire. The power lies in the possession of armed might. And in 1789, after the events of July 14th, armed might lay in the hands of the people. It assured a constitution. It assured the ascendancy of the Democratic hope. On the morning of the 15th of July, another deputation arrived at the palace to see the king. Louis was pale and shaken. The deputies, calm and certain. The Swiss and German battalion, sire? They should be withdrawn. Yes, sire. Which would you have me dismiss first, Count Mirabeau? Citizen Mirabeau, sire. Very well then, citizen Mirabeau. Which one? Montreblanc must be the first to go. As you wish. Mission Necker must be recalled. A message shall be sent this noon. The assembly looks forward to your acceptance of Lafayette's military commandant in France, sire. You may tell the assembly that he is acceptable. Would it make any difference if he were not? Sire, we hope for peace and harmony between all groups in France. That is my hope too, gentlemen. I bear an invitation to you to visit Paris, sire. To set your seal upon a reconciliation after the events of the 14th. Who sends it? Monsieur Baillie, mayor of Paris. I have never met the man. We will introduce you, sire. Will the members of my court be permitted to accompany me? Yes, and also the deputies of the National Assembly. Aye. The king returning in chains. And Louis went to Paris, a king in name only. For the power that had defended the feudal world of the divine rights of kings was now its enemy. And behind his coach came the nobles and the deputies marching two by two. A duke beside a butcher from Marseille, a count behind a hungry journalist from Boulogne. This was a pilgrimage where his nobles were traveling down the last mile of feudal power. At the gates of Paris, a delegation waited for them. Welcome to Paris, sire. I bring you the keys to the city of Paris, the cage. These keys, King Louis, were presented to your ancestor, Henri IV. He had reconquered his people of Paris. And they are presented now to you, sire, for the people have reconquered that only Paris were allowed to cut my work into their time. They would not need their keys, they would not need their keys at all. And so ended the long road of the divine right of kings. Looking back across the valley of time from a vantage point of 150 years, can fix this time. They can put a finger at a crossroad on the way we came and say, it happened here. At this point the divine right of kings died in France. But to the mob in the Paris streets on that day, and even to many of us now, the Bourbon's clutch on France did not completely end until that fateful day in January four years later. When on trial for his life, he faced the anger of an aroused assembly. Without a single dissenting vote they moved to France. The National Assembly had already passed that momentous declaration the rights of man. The people had done more than destroy the divinity of kings. They had re-won their divinity as human beings is the way we came. The democratic way we owned was won not by word alone but by the people's blow struck at the crucial hour. And like a bell, it rang through time. Listen Americans, can you hear it? That blow in 1789 was struck for you and me. The University of the Air has brought you chapter 14 of the new historical series We Came This Way. Tonight's script was written by Raphael Hayes and directed by Mr. Albert Cruz. The original music is by Dr. Roy Shield and the orchestra was conducted by the members of the cast where Mr. Clifton Utley as narrator Mr. Wilms Herbert as Louis the 16th Mr. Geraldine Kay as Marie Antoinette Mr. Maurice Copland as Count of Artois Mr. William Everett as Mirabou Mr. Norman Gottschalk as Mounier Mr. Michael Romano as Marshal Broglie Mr. Armand Hunter as Necker and Mr. Sidney Breeze as Leoncourt Next week We Came This Way will present Cusciusco. It is the National Broadcasting Company.