Being an account of the occurrences in the Temple during the confinement of Louis XVI, by M. Clery the King's valet-de-chambre, together with a description of the last hours of the King, by the Abbe' de Firmont

This is an account of The Reign of Terror, otherwise known as the establishment of the First Republic, as told first from the perspective of Louis XVI's servant Jean-Baptiste Clery, and also that of his confessor, the Abbe de Firmont. Louis XVI is spoken of very fondly, as a man of selflessness and piety. The book focuses on his ill-treatment and his decency.

A couple of the more interesting passages:

One of the soldiers within wrote one day on the King's chamber door, and that too on the inside: "The guillotine is permanent, and ready for the tyrant Louis XVI." The King read the words, which I made an attempt to rub out, but His Majesty prevented me.

As soon as dinner was finished, the King customarily went into the library of the Archives of the Order of Malta, which formerly occupied the tower. The books were still on the shelves, and His Majesty used to choose some of them to read. One day when I was there with the King, he pointed to the works of Rousseau and Voltaire. "These two men", he said to me in a whisper, "have caused the ruin of France." ( )

From 1789, M. Clery acted as valet to King Louis XVI and was permitted by "Petition" to continue to wait on the Royal Family during their imprisonment in the Temple. After the King's execution, Clery accompanied Marie-Therese de Bourbon (the Madame Royale) on her exile to Vienna where he continued to serve until his death. His family had been in Royal service since the time of Louis XIV.

The Journal covers the term of Louis' imprisonment (Oct 1789 - Jan 1790), and was written only a few years after the events. Clery made a point of only recording events he witnessed first hand, and, as such is more concerned with the minutiae of serving under difficult and treacherous conditions, than it is with the momentous events surrounding the birth of a Republic. Nevertheless, it is a primary source document, and the only contemporary first hand record of the imprisonment of Louis XVI. Keen students of Revolutionary France should find it worthy of study, even if only for the picture it paints of a condemned King and the servitude he finally appreciated.

If the journal leaves any lasting impression upon me, it will be of M. Clery's courage and loyalty. History is a bystander here. ( )