The Light and the Dark. Boulevard Malesherbes, Paris, France
Ambling up the Boulevard Malesherbes to a restaurant near La Madeleine I saw this Light and Dark. It reminded me immediately of a history lesson more than half a century ago. My teacher in usual rhetorical display was telling us about the infamous 'lettres de cachet' in France before the Revolution. You could be jailed without cause or even knowing about it if the King deigned right, thrust for as long as he liked from the light of day into the darkness of prison... I shivered, and nodded my head still in the thrall of Le Comte de Monte-Cristo.
And here I was on the street named after the very man - Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (1721-1794) - who as a minister of King Louis XVI tried to put an end to this practice. Unsuccessfully.
The Light and the Dark of the French Revolution has been the topic of very many discussions. That the light of liberty then was not as clear and much more shot through with darkness than we like to think in hindsight might be illustrated by Malesherbes' life. He was unsuccessful in the 'lettres de cachet' affaire, but remained the king's minister. He was put in charge of the office overseeing the right to publish and print books and - not changing the rules - allowed 'insidious' literature into the country. In the end he defended Louis XVI at his trial but remained a luminary of free thought and political liberty. In fact, he was at odds with Voltaire, the great revolutionary, who severely clamped down on the free press.
Indeed, an instance of the light and the dark.
It was only a matter of time before Malesherbes was arrested at the end of 1793. After having been made to watch the execution of children and grandchildren, he was himself guillotined on April 22, 1794, surviving Voltaire, who died in his own bed, by six years.
This boulevard was named after Our Hero in 1824.
The Light and the Dark. Boulevard Malesherbes, Paris, France
Ambling up the Boulevard Malesherbes to a restaurant near La Madeleine I saw this Light and Dark. It reminded me immediately of a history lesson more than half a century ago. My teacher in usual rhetorical display was telling us about the infamous 'lettres de cachet' in France before the Revolution. You could be jailed without cause or even knowing about it if the King deigned right, thrust for as long as he liked from the light of day into the darkness of prison... I shivered, and nodded my head still in the thrall of Le Comte de Monte-Cristo.
And here I was on the street named after the very man - Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (1721-1794) - who as a minister of King Louis XVI tried to put an end to this practice. Unsuccessfully.
The Light and the Dark of the French Revolution has been the topic of very many discussions. That the light of liberty then was not as clear and much more shot through with darkness than we like to think in hindsight might be illustrated by Malesherbes' life. He was unsuccessful in the 'lettres de cachet' affaire, but remained the king's minister. He was put in charge of the office overseeing the right to publish and print books and - not changing the rules - allowed 'insidious' literature into the country. In the end he defended Louis XVI at his trial but remained a luminary of free thought and political liberty. In fact, he was at odds with Voltaire, the great revolutionary, who severely clamped down on the free press.
Indeed, an instance of the light and the dark.
It was only a matter of time before Malesherbes was arrested at the end of 1793. After having been made to watch the execution of children and grandchildren, he was himself guillotined on April 22, 1794, surviving Voltaire, who died in his own bed, by six years.
This boulevard was named after Our Hero in 1824.