Let Them Eat Cake...or not

Marie-Antoinette is accused of being uncaring towards the peasants of France. When someone told her about the shortage of bread across France, she allegedly responded, "Let them eat cake (brioche)!" However, problems abound with attributing this saying to Marie-Antoinette.

Firstly, the only period source for the quote is Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions. Rousseau says, "Finally I recalled the stopgap solution of a great princess who was told that the peasants had no bread, and who responded: 'Let them eat brioche.'"

Rousseau does not even cite the name of the "great princess".

Secondly, Rousseau wrote his Confessions in 1765, and they were published in 1782. In 1765, when he wrote the statement, Marie-Antoinette was nine and not even French! She was born in Austria in 1754, and married the future Louis XVI in 1770. Until 1770, the French population knew her only as the daughter of Austrian Empress Maria-Theresa. It is absurd to say that an Austrian archduchess of nine years should make a comment on the starving people of France!

Finally, a letter from Marie-Antoinette to her family in Austria,

"It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. The King seems to understand this truth."

Quite a different mindset on the peasants and their well-being than is traditionally ascribed to the last Queen of France!

Marie-Antoinette

For lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.--Psalm 59:3

"The winners get to write history"--attributed to Napoleon

Marie-Antoinette (1753-1793) is possibly the most controversial woman on this calendar. She is frequently denounced as spending millions of the French treasury on fountains or candles, thus bankrupting the French crown, being uncaring about the peasants (e.g. "Let them eat cake"), and ultimately causing the French Revolution which guillotined her. However, I believe this portrait is too harsh. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were the best monarchs that France had had for over one hundred years. Marie-Antoinette gave to the poor "bountifully" as M. Guizot says in his History of France. In gratitude they erected a monument of snow which said, "Fair queen, whose goodness is thy chiefest grace/With our good king here occupy thy place/Though this frail monument be ice or snow/Our warm hearts are not so." The problems with the Treasury began after the disaster of the Seven Years' War, and were only made worse by a spendthrift Minister of Finance. Marie-Antoinette had very little to do with the bankruptcy of the Crown. In fact, she rejected a diamond necklace after being informed that it cost the equivalent of two frigates (fast ships of 40-60 cannons). The French Revolution was caused more by Louis XV than by Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.

The Seven Years' War Begins

On May 18, 1756, Britain finally declared war on France, beginning the Seven Years' War. The war had been raging for two years in the New World before the official beginning. A Virginia colonel named George Washington had fired on Ensign Jumonville at the Fork of the Ohio, and the French had sent him reeling back to Virginia after a battle at Fort Necessity. Regular troops from both countries were sent to bolster the colonies, but British Admiral Boscawen captured two French troopships, Alcide and Lys, bound for Canada. General Braddock had marched on Fort Dusquene--and met disaster. The French fort Beausejour in Acadia was captured by the British, while Boisehebert had led the Acadians against the British. Sir William Johnson defeated Baron von Dieskau's French/Canadian/Indian army along the Lake Champlain-Lake George corridor, and captured the Baron. Quite a set of battles and campaigns for a time of peace!

"General, war has been declared!" Photograph from the author's collection, using Frontline Figures for the soldiers, and a Colonial Williamsburg postcard for the background.

Perspective

In 1793, the French revolutionaries had taken control of all of life in France. Churchmen were licensed by the State, and men were required to join the army. Only the province of La Vendee stood against this tyranny. The men formed the Armee Catholique et Royal (Catholic and Royal Army) to fight the revolutionaries. Madame de la Rochejacquelein (sister-in-law to Henri de la Rochejacquelein) records one time when two Vendean soldiers got into a fight with each other. Her father put a stop to the quarrel by saying "Jesus Christ forgave his executioners, and a soldier of the Catholic Army wants to kill his friend!" "The man kissed the other on the spot," records Madame.

Flora MacDonald

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy--Matthew 5:13

Miss Flora MacDonald (1722-1790) ferried "Bonnie Prince Charlie" to the Isle of Skye. After the Battle of Culloden, Prince Charles fled through Scotland. He was on the west coast of Scotland, and the British were hunting for him. Captain O'Neil, one of Charles's companions, enlisted the help of Flora MacDonald to sail the Prince from the mainland to Skye. Flora disguised the Prince as her maid, Betty Burke, and sailed for the island. Prince Charles reached Skye, and with the help of French ships, regained the Continent. Flora MacDonald was arrested, but not punished. She later married, emigrated to the British colonies, and encouraged the 84th Royal Highland Emigrants during the American War for Independence. She died in 1790, and has been highly praised by many.

"Miss Flora is about twenty four years of age, of a middle stature, well shaped, a very pretty agreeable person, of great Sprightliness in her Looks, and abounds with good Sense, Modesty, Good-nature, and Humanity."--John Burton, contemporary of Flora MacDonald

Three Lessons from the Fort William-Henry Massacre

In 1757, as the Seven Years' War raged, French General Montcalm in Canada attacked the British fort named Fort William-Henry. With his cannons, he blew the walls to pieces until Lieutenant-Colonel Monro surrendered. Montcalm had all the British soldiers give a "parole", their word of honor that they would not fight again for a specified time, here 18 months. Private possessions were kept by the British, and the stores in the fort became French property. On August 9, the British set off on their march to nearby Fort George. The French-allied Indians ambushed and attacked them. After an hour, Montcalm and his officers were able to put a stop to the massacre. Most of the British returned to Fort George, but two hundred were not recovered, either killed or captured.

1. Treating Enemies Honorably

When Colonel Monro surrendered, Montcalm let him keep one brass six-pounder cannon (a cannon that threw a six-pound ball), his flags, and all private effects. This was a high mark of honor to a surrendering 18th Century commander.

2. Risking Life for Enemies

When the massacre began, Montcalm and his officers were in among the Indians, rescuing prisoners by force. Montcalm himself laid his chest bare and said to the Indians, "Kill your father, but spare the English who are under his protection!" Some French officers were wounded in their efforts to protect the English.

3. Noble Savages?

Fort William-Henry illustrates, perhaps better than any other battle of the French and Indian War, that, without the light of Christ's Gospel, men are savages. There was nothing noble about the Indians "in a state of nature" who massacred their surrendered enemies. There was no difference between the Indians and Montcalm's French regular soldiers, except that the Frenchmen came from a culture that was, however imperfectly, steeped in Christianity.

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

"Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land"-Proverbs 31:23

"She (that is, Sarah Churchill) on her part was equally attached to him (her husband, the Duke of Marlborough), but much as she strove to add to his power and to forward his plans, her haughty and violent temper was the main cause of the unmerited disgrace into which he fell with his royal mistress (Queen Anne I), who owed so much to him personally, and whose reign he did so much to render a brilliant and successful one."--pg. 44, The Cornet of Horse by G. A. Henty.

Sarah Churchill--as Henty said--made her husband's career and broke it. It was her influence with Queen Anne I (Sarah was Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen) that appointed the Duke of Marlborough as British commander in Flanders during the War of the Spanish Succession. He was a great general, and it was no fault of his that his family lost their government positions.

The Marlborough family. From left to right: the Duke, Elizabeth, Mary, the Duchess, Henrietta, Anne (their daughter, not the queen), and John

(picture from www.britishbattles.com)