Jacques Hebert calls for ‘no more kings’ (1791)

Writing in Le Pere Duchesne in July 1791, the radical Parisian leader Jacques Hebert calls for ‘no more kings’:

“Within ten years there will be not one king but one sovereign in Europe. In vain has the crowd of jackasses called the Constitutional Committee resolved to reinstate Louis the Traitor on his throne. He will reappear there only to be turned arse up and knocked flat.

Yes damn it, from one end of France to the other every citizen is crying out in unison,’No more kings! No more jackasses!’ They will still say that for a big empire, monarchy is necessary. Why, damn it all? So that he can devour by himself all the produce of one department? So that he can undo all the good that has been done? To give an example to nations of perjury and every crime?

No, damn it, no more kings. But above all no more Capet, no more Louis the traitor!”