When accused of having been the prompter of the political mesures of the
king's government, her answer could not be denied to be in accordance with
the law: "That she was the wife and subject of the king, and could not be
made responsible for his resolutions and actions." When charged with
general indifference or hostility to the happiness of the people, she
affirmed with equal calmness, as she had previously declared at her
private examination, that the welfare of the nation had been, and always
was, the first of her wishes.

Once only did a question provoke an answer in any other tone than that of
a lofty imperturbable equanimity. She had not known till that moment the
depth of her enemies' wickedness, or the cruelty with which her son's mind
had been dealt with, worse ten thousand times than the foulest tortures
that could be applied to the body. Both her children had been subjected to
an examination, in the hope that something might be found to incriminate
her in the words of those who might hardly be able to estimate the exact
value of their expressions. The princess had been old enough to baffle the
utmost malice of her questioners; and the boy had given short and plain
replies from which nothing to suit their purpose could be extracted, till
they forced him to drink brandy, and, when he was stupefied with drink,
compelled him to sign depositions in which he accused both the queen and
Elizabeth of having trained him in lessons of vice. At first, horror at so
monstrous a charge had sealed the queen's lips; but when she gave no
denial, a juryman questioned her on the subject, and insisted on an
answer. Then at last Marie Antoinette spoke in sublime indignation. "If I
have not answered, it was because nature itself rejects such an accusation
made against a mother. I appeal from it to every mother who hears me."

Marie Antoinette had been allowed two counsel, who, perilous as was the
duty imposed upon them, cheerfully accepted it as an honor; but it was not
intended that their assistance should be more than nominal. She had only
known their names on the evening preceding the trial; but when she
addressed a letter to the President of the Convention, demanding a
postponement of the trial for three days, as indispensable to enable them
to master the case, since as yet they had not had time even to read the
whole of the indictment, adding that "her duty to her children bound her
to leave nothing undone which was requisite