AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM!
It was forty-five days after the visit of Billaud-Varenne to John
Lebrenn; that is to say, it was the 8th Thermidor of the year II (July
26, 1794). Alone in his parlor, towards eight o'clock in the evening,
advocate Desmarais now paced up and down in agitation, now sank
pensively into a chair, his face between his hands. The anguish and
terror which for two years had dogged the hypocrite's steps had
completely whitened his hair. His sallow, atrabilious features disclosed
the tortures of his soul. Throwing himself into the arm-chair, worn out,
he muttered to himself:
"They insist upon coming! Such a session on my premises! I tremble to
think of it--I may be sent to the guillotine to-morrow if Robespierre
triumphs. Curses upon my wife and daughter who deserted me! Yet, a
plague on my weakness, there is not a day goes by but I regret the
unworthy creatures! How happy I was in my family. I loved my daughter, I
love her still, as much as it is possible to love a creature on this
earth. With what tenderness she would have surrounded my old age. I
should have been consoled, comforted; for from my daughter I had no
secrets, and her confidences gladdened my heart. My God, 'tis I that am
unhappy!"
After this outburst the lawyer remained for a long time silent and
dejected. Then, rising of a sudden, he shouted: "That infamous Lebrenn!
It is he who is the cause of my woes. He came to bring trouble under my
roof."
The advocate's soliloquy was cut short by the entrance of a lackey, who
announced that several citizens desired audience with him.
"Show them in," answered the lawyer; and as the servant vanished he
added, mentally: "The devil take Fouche, who conceived the idea of
choosing my house for the meeting place of his friends--a perilous honor
I wish I had the power of declining."
Soon there were introduced into the parlor the Convention members
Tallien, Durand-Maillane, and Fouche; the reverend Father Morlet
accompanied them. The three Representatives of the people belonged to
the bloc formed against Robespierre. Durand-Maillane was a member of the
Right, or royalist side of the Assembly. Tallien was from the Mountain;
while Fouche, an ex-monk of the Oratory, was a Terrorist. A more ignoble
physiognomy than Fouche's it would be impossible to imagine. It was a
hang-dog face, hedged about with tow-hair, and seamed with vice,
treachery, dishonesty, baseness, and cruelty unrestrained. A cynical
smirk raised one corner of his thin mouth. He was the first to enter the
advocate's parlor. Leading up the Jesuit Morlet, he said:
"Allow me, citizen colleague, to introduce to you a former priest, the
reverend Father Morlet. He is of the Society of Jesus, as I was of the
Order of the Oratory. Cassock and frock go together."
"But," replied the attorney, very uneasily, as he returned the Jesuit's
salute, "the object of the conference which brings us together can not
be discussed before witnesses."
"The reverend is one of us," answered Fouche. "He comes from London, and
will give us information of the greatest importance. His head answers
for his discretion; he is a dissident priest. And so, let us get to
work."
Fouche, Durand-Maillane, Tallien, Abbot Morlet and advocate Desmarais
thereupon seated themselves about a round table. Desmarais was made
chairman, and the conference began.
"I ask the floor," said Durand-Maillane, "to state the question, and to
establish the conditions upon which as spokesman of the leaders of the
Right, I am empowered to pledge here the assistance of my political
friends, royalists, clericals, and conservatives."
"You have the floor," said the chairman.
Durand-Maillane continued:
"Gentlemen, none of you is unaware that in presenting the law of the
22nd Prairial to the Convention six weeks ago Robespierre hoped to
obtain for the Committee of Public Safety, and under control of three of
its members, the right to pass judgment upon the Representatives of the
people without consulting the Assembly. Whence it follows that, by means
of the signatures of St. Just and Couthon, Robespierre would be able at
any time to send before the revolutionary tribunal, that is to say, to
the scaffold, those members of the Convention whom he wished to be rid
of. The law of Prairial threatened particularly the Terrorists; its
effect would soon have extended to the other parties. It is necessary
that we examine and discuss the most significant passages of
Robespierre's speech to-day in the Convention, in order to decide what
we are to do to temper its effect and conjure away the danger which
overhangs us. Here are the particular points of the speech."
Durand-Maillane drew a paper from his pocket and read:
"'The counter-revolution has made its appearance in all parties. The
conspirators have pushed us, in spite of ourselves, _to violent
measures, which their crimes alone rendered necessary_. This system is
the work of the foreigners, who proposed it through the venal medium of
Chabot, Lhuilier, Hebert, and a number of other scoundrels. Every effort
must be made _to restore the Republic to a natural and mild rule_; this
work has not yet commenced. Slacken the reins of the Revolution for a
moment, and you will see military despotism seize upon it, and overturn
the maligned national representation; a century of civil wars and
calamities will desolate our country, and we would die for not having
seized the moment marked by history for the founding of liberty. Aye, we
would deliver up our country to calamities without number, and the
people's maledictions will fall upon our memory, which should remain
dear to the human race....
"'The conclusion is, What are we to do? Our duty! What objection can be
raised to one's speaking the truth and consenting to die for it? Let it
be said, then, that there is _a conspiracy against the public liberty,
which owes its force to a criminal coalition that is intriguing in the
very heart of the Convention_; that this coalition has accomplices in
the Committee of General Surety and in the bureaus of this committee,
which it dominates;--that the enemies of the Republic have set this
committee up against the Committee of Public Safety, thus constituting a
government within a government;--that _members of the Committee of
Public Safety are in the plot_;--that the coalition thus formed is
working for the destruction of patriots and of the fatherland. What is
the remedy for this evil? _Punish the traitors_, reorganize the bureaus
of the Committee of General Surety, purge the Committee itself, and
subordinate it to the Committee of Public Safety; _purge the Committee
of Public Safety itself_; establish unity of government under the
supreme authority of the National Convention, which should be the center
and the judge; _suppress all factions by the weight of national
authority_, and rear upon their ruins the power of justice and liberty.
Such are the principles the hour demands. If it is impossible to advance
them without earning the epithet Ambitious, I shall conclude that
principles are outlawed, that tyranny reigns among us,--but not that I
should keep quiet; for how can one object to a man who is right, and who
knows how to die for his country? I am made to fight crime, not to
govern it. The time is not yet come when men of worth can serve the
country fearlessly. The defenders of liberty are no better than exiles,
so long as there exists the horde of rogues and rascals.'
"So, gentlemen, to sum up this harangue of Robespierre's, we find out
that 'it is necessary to bring back the Republic to a milder rule, to
check the bloodshed, to purge the Convention and the Committees, to wipe
out factions by the weight of national authority, and to combat crime,
because the defenders of liberty are but exiles as long as the horde of
rogues and rascals exists.' There remains no one, it seems, outside of
Robespierre and the Jacobins, capable of defending, preserving and
strengthening the Republic. Therefore we, royalists and clericals, have
decided to form a coalition with the Terrorists and the Mountain for the
purpose of sending Robespierre to the scaffold, and, along with him, the
most active spirits of the Jacobin party."
"I declare my approval of all the previous speaker has said," observed
Morlet the Jesuit. "Robespierre is the enemy not only of us Catholics
and royalists, but also of the Terrorists and Mountainists here present,
and of several of their friends, who insist upon living in splendor,
peace and happiness at the popular expense."
"Robespierre to-morrow will attempt to hold a 'day,' with the support of
Commandant Henriot and the Commune. His designs must be frustrated,"
added Tallien.
"The surest way of reaching our end," Fouche advised, "is to drown St.
Just's voice when he mounts the tribunal to complete the speech of
Robespierre. He will want to speak in defense of his partner. Our cries
will redouble: 'Down with the tyrant!' 'Down with the dictator!' 'Death
to St. Just and Robespierre!'"
"It is decided, then," asked Durand-Maillane, "that from the beginning
of the session we are to interrupt St. Just and Robespierre, and demand
of the Assembly their immediate arrest? Who will start the ball?"
"I will," volunteered Tallien.
"Collot D'Herbois, Robespierre's implacable enemy, is in the chair
to-morrow. The affair will go roundly," Desmarais plucked up heart
enough to say.
"It is probable," continued the Jesuit, "that the Convention will not
confine itself to packing to the guillotine Robespierre, St. Just,
Couthon, Lebas, and the other leaders of this truculent party of virtue.
It may add to the batch several of the most rabid Jacobins from outside
of the Convention."
"We shall rid ourselves at once of the big guns of the club, and the
Jacobins in the Commune, Fleuriot-Lescot the Mayor, Coffinhal, and their
consorts," chuckled Tallien.
"I greatly desire," the Jesuit put in, "for motives of my own, to see
included in that batch a certain John Lebrenn, who has been made member
of the General Council of the Commune since his return from the army."
At the mention of the name Fouche turned to Desmarais and said, with a
leer, "Hey, colleague, the reverend Father demands your son-in-law!"
To which Desmarais grandiosely replied: "Brutus gave his own son--and
this Lebrenn is not even of my family. I grant you the Jacobin's head."
"To-morrow, messieurs, let us be present at the Assembly before the
opening of the session, in order to prepare our colleagues of the Right
and the Center for what we expect of them," suggested Durand-Maillane.
"Fouche and I," acquiesced Tallien, "will take care of the Mountain and
the Terrorists."
So it was arranged. The cabal then broke up, while Jesuit Morlet said to
himself:
"The Republic is lost. The sacrifice of the Jacobins delivers it up to
us, bound hand and foot--_ad majorem Dei gloriam!_ to the greater glory
of God! May France perish, and our holy Order triumph!"
During this mental invocation of the Jesuit's, Desmarais showed his four
guests to the door and returned to his parlor alone. For some time he
brooded somber and silent in his arm chair. At last he muttered
defiantly:
"Was it I who demanded the guillotining of my son-in-law? After all, it
will be but justice; I will have returned him evil for evil. Is he not,
truly speaking, the prime cause of my torments? After his death my
daughter and wife will return to me. Everything will be for the best!"