Chapter 802: Louis Philippe's Redemption
The position wasn't particularly high-ranking, but it carried great prestige, came with a host of privileges, and offered a substantial pension.
Yet Pierre Lecomte had been dismissed from the military for refusing to carry out his superior's orders. He had also lost the pension he was entitled to, and could now only scrape by on relief payments.
In the end, Pierre Lecomte, nearing fifty, chose the most extreme way to reclaim his pension.
In fact, many people in France hoped Pierre Lecomte would succeed. That way, they could pin those charges on their rivals.
However, when the vote was held on whether to sentence him to death, only Hugo and two other nobles among the nearly three hundred members of parliament voted against it.
Assassinating a monarch warranted at least life imprisonment. However, France had already begun considering abolishing the death penalty.
Incidentally, the first person to propose abolishing the death penalty in parliament was France's own prolific executioner—Robespierre.
As usual, Louis Philippe naturally wrote an open letter:
".My former chief forester at Fontainebleau, my ministers are unanimously and firmly convinced that, under these circumstances, the responsibility resting on my shoulders does not permit me to interfere with the freedom of judicial proceedings. Much as I regret it, they have already made the decision for me."
His only aim was to make it clear that the blame lay entirely with other people.
But back to the matter at hand. By now, even the most foolish person could see that something had to be done.
Louis Philippe didn't want to be anyone else's scapegoat. He believed that more land and more victories could drown out the people's discontent.
So Louis Philippe's envoy was the first to arrive in Vienna, and he knew the ropes. Along with