Trial
The trial occurred in Nantes. The Duchess of Maine confessed the existence of a plot against the Regency, which was to have been overthrown by inciting risings in Paris and Brittany with Spanish assistance. The Regent, Philip II, Duke of Orléans, along with the Abbé Guillaume Dubois and the financier John Law identified 23 key conspirators. 16 had escaped and were accused in absentia; 7 more were in custody (Pontcallec, Montlouis, Salarun, Talhouët, Du Couëdic, Coargan and Hire de Keranguen). 20 conspirators were found guilty and four of the seven in court were condemned to death: Pontcallec, Montlouis, Talhouët and Du Couëdic. Sixteen others were also condemned in their absence. The four condemned men were decapitated the same day, in the Place du Bouffay, Nantes.
The verdict shocked contemporaries by its severity, since the rebellion had amounted to so little. The cost of the whole operation was also deemed excessive. However, soon afterwards the economic crisis brought about by the collapse of John Law's financial system overwhelmed such concerns. After the executions, the repression stopped. The government withdrew from its taxation demands, and confiscated monies and property were restored. Exiled conspirators were allowed to return to France after ten years.
Read more about this topic: Pontcallec Conspiracy
Famous quotes containing the word trial:
“For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 9:32-33.
Job, about God.
“You don’t want a general houseworker, do you? Or a traveling companion, quiet, refined, speaks fluent French entirely in the present tense? Or an assistant billiard-maker? Or a private librarian? Or a lady car-washer? Because if you do, I should appreciate your giving me a trial at the job. Any minute now, I am going to become one of the Great Unemployed. I am about to leave literature flat on its face. I don’t want to review books any more. It cuts in too much on my reading.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)