Previously to the revolution, the palace of the _Tuileries_, on this
side, was defended by a wall, pierced by three gates opening into as
many courts, separated by little buildings, which, in part, served
for lodging a few troops and their horses. All these buildings are
taken down; the _Place du Carrousel_ is considerably enlarged by the
demolition of various circumjacent edifices; and the wall is replaced
by a handsome iron railing, fixed on a parapet about four feet high.
In this railing are three gates, the centre one of which is
surmounted by cocks, holding in their beak a civic crown over the
letters R. F. the initials of the words _République Française_. On
each side of it are small lodges, built of stone; and at the entrance
are constantly posted two _vedettes_, belonging to the
horse-grenadiers of the consular guard.
On the piers of the other two gates are placed the four famous horses
of gilt bronze, brought from St. Mark's place at Venice, whither they
had been carried after the capture of Byzantium. These productions
are generally ascribed to the celebrated Lysippus, who flourished in
the reign of Alexander the Great, about 325 years before the
christian era; though this opinion is questioned by some distguished
antiquaries and artists. Whoever may be the sculptor, their destiny
is of a nature to fix attention, as their removal has always been the
consequence of a political revolution. After, the conquest of Greece
by the Romans, they were transported from Corinth to Rome, for the
purpose of adorning the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus. Hence
they were removed to Byzantium, when that city became the seat of the
eastern empire. From Byzantium, they were conveyed to Venice, and
from Venice they have at last reached Paris.
As on the plain of Pharsalia the fate of Rome was decided by Cæsar's
triumph over Pompey, so on the _Place du Carrousel_ the fate of
France by the triumph of the Convention over Robespierre and his
satellites. Here, Henriot, one of his most devoted creatures, whom he
had raised to the situation of commandant general of the Parisian
guard, after having been carried prisoner before the Committee of
Public Safety, then sitting in the palace of the _Tuileries_, was
released by Coffinhal, the President of the Revolutionary Tribunal,
who suddenly made his appearance at the head of a large body of horse
and foot, supported by four pieces of cannon served by gunners the
most devoted to Robespierre.
It was half past seven o'clock in the evening, where Coffinhal,
decorated with his municipal scarf, presented himself before the
Committee: all the members thought themselves lost, and their fright
communicating to the very bosom of the Convention, there spread
confusion and terror. But Coffinhal's presence of mind was not equal
to his courage: he availed himself only in part of his advantage.
After having, without the slightest resistance, disarmed the guards
attached to the Convention, he loosened the fettered hands of Henriot
and his aides-de-camp, and conducted them straight to the _Maison
Commune_.
It is an incontestable fact that had either Coffinhal or Henriot
imitated the conduct of Cromwell in regard to the Levellers, and
marched at the head of their troops into the hall of the Convention,
he might have carried all before him, and Robespierre's tyranny would
have been henceforth established on a basis not to be shaken.
But, when Henriot soon after appeared on the _Place du Carrousel_,
with his staff and a number of followers, he in vain endeavoured by
haranguing the people to stir them up to act against the Convention;
his voice was drowned in tumultuous clamours, and he was deserted by
his hitherto-faithful gunners. The Convention had had time to recover
from their panic, and to enlighten the Sections. Henriot was outlawed
by that assembly, and, totally disconcerted by this news, he fled for
refuge to the _Maison Commune_, where Robespierre and all his
accomplices were soon surrounded, and fell into the hands of those
whom but an instant before, they had proscribed as conspirators
deserving of the most exemplary punishment.
Henriot, confused and terrified, sought his safety in flight, and was
stealing along one of the galleries of the _Maison Commune_ when he
met Coffinhal, who was also flying. At the sight of Henriot, who on
coming from the Committee, had pledged his life on the success of his
measures, Coffinhal was unable to check his rage. "Coward!" said he
to him, "to this then has led your certain means of defence!
Scoundrel! you shall not escape the death you are endeavouring to
avoid!" Saying these words, he seized Henriot by the middle, and
threw him out of a window of the second story of the _Maison
Commune_. Henriot falling on the roof of a building in a narrow
street adjoining, was not killed; but he had scarcely recovered
himself before he was recognized by some soldiers in quest of him: he
then crawled into a sewer, close to the spot where he had fallen;
when a soldier thrusting his bayonet into the sewer, put out one of
his eyes, and forced him to surrender.
Thus, the destiny of France, as is seen, hung by the thread of the
moment. It will be recollected that Henriot had the arsenal at his
disposal; he commanded the Parisian guard, and six thousand men
encamped on the _Plaine des Sablons_, close to the capital: in a
word, all the springs of the public force were in his hands. Had he
seized the critical minute, and attacked the Convention at the
instant of his release, the scene of the 10th of August would have
been renewed, and the _Place du Carrousel_ again stained with the
blood of thousands.