Despite their outspoken protests against royal corruption and inefficiency, Jeanne Roland and her husband found themselves imprisoned at the height of revolutionary fervor.
The courage with which Mme Roland faced her execution has become something of a legend. On the steps of the guillotine, she paused to gaze toward the clay statue of Liberty set up in the Place de la Revolution. "O liberty! O liberty!" she exclaimed. "Quede crimes on commet en ton nom!" (Oh liberty! Oh liberty! What crimes we commit in thy name!)
[Mme Roland was later sent to the guillotine; her heart-broken husband committed suicide.]
Sources
Encyclopedia Britannica
