Of all there requisitions Louis obtained only that of seeing his family without witnesses.  It was the first time since his imprisonment.  The interview lasted two hours.  It is impossible to express the horror of the moment, when he was obliged to tear himself away from them.  On his return to his apartment, the King passed a almost the whole of the night in prayer.  He then laid down and slept a few hours, and early in the morning betook himself again to prayer.

The 21st of January, at half past eight o’clock, Santerre, the commandant-general, came to signify to Louis the order for his going to execution.  Having requested three minutes to speak with his confessor, he then turned to Santerre, and told him that he was ready to follow him.

The King crossed the first court of the Temple on foot; he then entered the coach of Pethion, the mayor of Paris, with his Confessor and two Gendarmes.  His route lay along, the Boulevards, which were lined with above two hundred thousand men in arms.  All the way Louis was deeply engaged in reading the prayers appointed for persons at the point of death.

Being, arrived at the Place de Louis XV. which was the place of execution, about ten o’clock in the morning, he alighted from the carriage with calmness, took off his clothes himself, remaining in his white under-waistcoat, untied his cravat, and opened the collar of his shirt; he then threw himself upon his knees to receive the last benediction of his Confessor, got up immediately after, and ascended the scaffold alone.  At that moment his Confessor cried out to him, “Son of St. Louis, you are going up to Heaven!” [Footnote; Other accounts state, that it was when the King had just prepared himself for the stroke of the fatal instrument, that Mons. Edgeworth, his confessor, called out (in the imperative) with a loud voice, “Enfant de Saint Louis, montez au Ciel.”  “Son of St. Louis, mount up “to Heaven.”]

Far from opposing those who came to cut off his hair, and bind his hands, " Do with me,” said he, “what you will, it is the last “sacrifice.”  He then made a motion with his hand to obtain “silence.—­“I die perfectly innocent of all the pretended crimes laid “to my charge—­I forgive all those who have had any hand in my “misfortunes, and I pray that my blood may be of use in restoring “happiness to France--and you, unhappy people!” ......

At these words, the unfeeling Santerre gave orders that the drums should beat, crying out to the King, “that he had not brought him “there to declaim, but to die.”  At that instant his head was severed from his body! ......

The corpse was immediately conveyed to the Magdalene burying-ground, and thrown into a pit twelve feet deep, into which a considerable quantity of quicklime was cast.

It is said, that after crying out, “Vive la Nation!” “Vive la Republique!” some volunteers dipped their pikes, and others their handkerchiefs, in the blood of the victim.  One person alone had the courage to cry out, Grace, and was instantly cut down with a sabre.