Two more children were born to her; Louis Charles, duke of Normandy, afterwards dauphin, on March 27, 1785, and Sophie Helene Beatrix (d. June 19, 1787), on July 9, 1786. In 1785 1786 the affair of the Diamond Necklace (q.v.) revealed the depth of the hatred which her own follies and the calumnies of her enemies had aroused against her. The public held her responsible for the bankrupt state of the country which was the immediate cause of the revolution.
The year 1789 was one of disaster for Marie Antoinette ; on March i o her brother Joseph II. died and on June 4 her eldest son. The same year saw the assembling of the States-general, the taking of the Bastille, and the events leading to the terrible days of Oct. 5 and 6 at Versailles and the removal of the royal family to Paris. Then began the negotiations with Mirabeau, whose high estimate of the queen is well-known. But the queen was violently prejudiced against him and he never gained her full confidence. She was naturally incapable of seeing the full import of the revolution. She dreaded the thought of civil war; and even when she had realized the necessity for decisive action the king's apathy and indecision made it impossible for her to persuade him to carry into effect Mirabeau's plan of leaving Paris and appealing to the provinces. Her difficulties were in creased by the departure of Mercy for The Hague in Sept. 179o, for Montmorin, who now took his place in the negotiations with Mirabeau, had not her confidence to the same extent. Feeling herself helpless and almost isolated in Paris, she now relied chiefly on her friends outside France—Mercy, Count Axel Fersen and the baron de Breteuil; and it was by their help and that of Bouille that after the death of Mirabeau, on April 8, 1791, the plan was arranged of escaping to Montmedy, which ended in the flight to Varennes (June 21, 1791).
After the return from Varennes the royal family were closely guarded, but they still found channels of communication with the outside world. The king being sunk in apathy, the task of negotiation devolved upon the queen; but in her inexperience of affairs, and the uncertainty of information from abroad, it was hard for her to follow any clear policy. Her courageous bearing during the return from Varennes had greatly impressed Barnave, and he now approached her on behalf of the constitutional party. For about a year she continued to negotiate with them, forward ing to Mercy and the emperor Leopold II. letters and memoranda dictated by them, while at the same time secretly warning them not to accept these letters as her own opinions, but to realize that she was dependent on the Constitutionals. (Letters of July 31, '791 to Mercy. Arneth, p. 193 and 194, and letter of Aug. I.) She agreed with their plan of an armed congress and Fersen left Brus sels on a mission to the emperor to try to gain his support and checkmate the emigres, whose rashness threatened the queen's plans.
As for the constitution (Sept. 1791), "tissue of absurdities" though the queen thought it, she considered that in the circum stances the king was bound to accept it in order to inspire con fidence (Arneth, pp. 196, 203 ; Klinckowstrom, Fersen, i. 192). Mercy was also in correspondence with the Constitutionals, and in letter after letter to him and the emperor, the queen, strongly supported by Fersen, insisted that the congress should meet as soon as possible, her appeals increasing in urgency as she saw that Barnave's party would soon be powerless against the ex tremists. But the congress was continually postponed. On March
7, 1792 Leopold II. died, and was succeeded by the young Francis II. Marie Antoinette's actions were now directed entirely by Fer sen, for she suspected Mercy and the emperor of sacrificing her to the interests of Austria (Fersen, i. 251; Arneth, pp. 254, 256, etc.). The declaration of war which the king was forced to make (April 20) threw her definitely into opposition to the revolution and she betrayed to Mercy and Fersen the plans of the French generals (Arneth, p. 259; Fersen, ii. 220, 289, 308, 325, 327). She was now certain that the life of the king was threatened, and the events of June 20 added to her terrors. She considered their only hope to lie in the armed intervention of the powers, and endorsed the suggestion of a threatening manifesto which should hold the National Assembly and Paris responsible for the safety of the king and royal family. Immediately after Brunswick's mani festo followed the storming of the Tuileries and the removal of the royal family to the Temple (Aug. o). During all these events and the captivity in the Temple Marie Antoinette showed an un varying courage and dignity, in spite of her failing health and the illness of her son. After the execution of the king (Jan. 17, 1793 ) several unsuccessful attempts were made to rescue her and her children, and negotiations for her release or exchange were even opened with Danton; but as the allied armies approached, her trial and condemnation became a certainty. She had already been separated from her son, the sight of whose ill-treatment added to her sufferings ; she was now parted from her daughter and Madame Elizabeth, and removed on Aug. 1, 1793 to the Conciergerie, where she was under the closest guard and subjected to the most offensive espionage.
On Oct. 14 began her trial. Her noble attitude, even in the face of the atrocious accusations of Fouquier-Tinville, com manded the admiration even of her enemies, and her answers dur ing her long examination were clear and skilful. The following were the questions finally put to the jury :— (i) Is it established that manoeuvres and communications have existed with foreign powers and other external enemies of the re public, the said manoeuvres, etc., tending to furnish them with assistance in money, give them an entry into French territory, and facilitate the progress of their armies? (2) Is Marie Antoinette of Austria, the widow Capet, convicted of having co-operated in these manoeuvres and maintained these communications? (3) Is it established that a plot and conspiracy has existed tending to kindle civil war within the republic, by arming the citizens against one another? (4) Is Marie Antoinette, the widow Capet, convicted of having participated in this plot and conspiracy ? The jury decided unanimously in the affirmative, and on Oct 16, 1793 Marie Antoinette was led to the guillotine, leaving behind her a touching letter to Madame Elizabeth, known as her "Testament." As to the justice of these charges, we have seen how the queen was actually guilty of betraying her country, though it was only natural for her to identify the cause of the monarchy with that of France. To civil war she was consistently opposed, and never ceased to dissociate herself from the plans of the emigres, but here again her very position made her an enemy of the republic. All her actions had as their aim—firstly, the safeguarding of the monarchy and later, when she saw this to be impossible, that of securing the safety of her husband and her son.