FROM THE 21ST OF JANUARY, 1793, TO THE 2ND OF JUNE
The death of Louis XVI. rendered the different parties irreconcilable, and
increased the external enemies of the revolution. The republicans had to
contend with all Europe, with several classes of malcontents, and with
themselves. But the Mountain, who then directed the popular movement,
imagined that they were too far involved not to push matters to extremity.
To terrify the enemies of the revolution, to excite the fanaticism of the
people by harangues, by the presence of danger, and by insurrections; to
refer everything to it, both the government and the safety of the
republic; to infuse into it the most ardent enthusiasm, in the name of
liberty, equality, and fraternity; to keep it in this violent state of
crisis for the purpose of making use of its passions and its power; such
was the plan of Danton and the Mountain, who had chosen him for their
leader. It was he who augmented the popular effervescence by the growing
dangers of the republic, and who, under the name of revolutionary
government, established the despotism of the multitude, instead of legal
liberty. Robespierre and Marat went even much further than he. They sought
to erect into a permanent government what Danton considered as merely
transitory. The latter was only a political chief, while the others were
true sectarians; the first, more ambitious, the second, more fanatical.
The Mountain had, by the catastrophe of the 21st of January, gained a
great victory over the Girondists, whose politics were much more moral
than theirs, and who hoped to save the revolution, without staining it
with blood. But their humanity, their spirit of justice, proved of no
service, and even turned against them. They were accused of being the
enemies of the people, because they opposed their excesses; of being the
accomplices of the tyrant, because they had sought to save Louis XVI.; and
of betraying the republic, because they recommended moderation. It was
with these reproaches that the Mountain persecuted them with constant
animosity in the bosom of the convention, from the 21st of January till
the 31st of May and the 2nd of June. The Girondists were for a long time
supported by the Centre, which sided with the Right against murder and
anarchy, and with the Left for measures of public safety. This mass,
which, properly speaking, formed the spirit of the convention, displayed
some courage, and balanced the power of the Mountain and the Commune as
long as it possessed those intrepid and eloquent Girondists, who carried
with them to prison and to the scaffold all the generous resolutions of
the assembly.
For a moment, union existed among the various parties of the assembly.
Lepelletier Saint Fargeau was stabbed by a retired member of the household
guard, named Pâris, for having voted the death of Louis XVI. The members
of the convention, united by common danger, swore on his tomb to forget
their enmities; but they soon revived them. Some of the murderers of
September, whose punishment was desired by the more honourable
republicans, were proceeded against at Meaux. The Mountain, apprehensive
that their past conduct would be inquired into, and that their adversaries
would take advantage of a condemnation to attack them more openly
themselves, put a stop to these proceedings. This impunity further
emboldened the leaders of the multitude; and Marat, who at that period had
an incredible influence over the multitude, excited them to pillage the
dealers, whom he accused of monopolizing provisions. He wrote and spoke
violently, in his pamphlets and at the Jacobins, against the aristocracy
of the burghers, merchants, and _statesmen_ (as he designated the
Girondists), that is to say, against those who, in the assembly or the
nation at large, still opposed the reign of the Sans-culottes and the
Mountain. There was something frightful in the fanaticism and invincible
obstinacy of these sectaries. The name given by them to the Girondists
from the beginning of the convention, was that of Intrigants, on account
of the ministerial and rather stealthy means with which they opposed in
the departments the insolent and public conduct of the Jacobins.
Accordingly, they denounced them regularly in the club. "At Rome, an
orator cried daily: 'Carthage must be destroyed!' well, let a Jacobin
mount this tribune every day, and say these single words, 'The intrigants
must be destroyed!' Who could withstand us? We oppose crime, and the
ephemeral power of riches; but we have truth, justice, poverty, and virtue
in our cause. With such arms, the Jacobins will soon have to say: 'We had
only to pass on, they were already extinct.'" Marat, who was much more
daring than Robespierre, whose hatred and projects still concealed
themselves under certain forms, was the patron of all denouncers and
lovers of anarchy. Several of the Mountain reproached him with
compromising their cause by his extreme counsels, and by unseasonable
excesses; but the entire Jacobin people supported him even against
Robespierre, who rarely obtained the advantage in his disputes with him.
The pillage recommended in February, in _L'Ami du Peuple_, with respect to
some dealers, "by way of example," took place, and Marat was denounced to
the convention, who decreed his accusation after a stormy sitting. But
this decree had no result, because the ordinary tribunals had no
authority. This double effort of force on one side, and weakness on the
other, took place in the month of February. More decisive events soon
brought the Girondists to ruin.
Hitherto, the military position of France had been satisfactory. Dumouriez
had just crowned the brilliant campaign of Argonne by the conquest of
Belgium. After the retreat of the Prussians, he had repaired to Paris to
concert measures for the invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. Returning
to the army on the 20th of October, 1792, he began the attack on the 28th.
The plan attempted so inappropriately, with so little strength and
success, at the commencement of the war, was resumed and executed with
superior means. Dumouriez, at the head of the army of Belgium, forty
thousand strong, advanced from Valenciennes upon Mons, supported on the
right by the army of the Ardennes, amounting to about sixteen thousand
men, under general Valence, who marched from Givet upon Namur; and on his
left, by the army of the north, eighteen thousand strong, under general
Labourdonnaie, who advanced from Lille upon Tournai. The Austrian army,
posted before Mons, awaited battle in its intrenchments. Dumouriez
completely defeated it; and the victory of Jemappes opened Belgium to the
French, and again gave our arms the ascendancy in Europe. A victor on the
6th of November, Dumouriez entered Mons on the 7th, Brussels on the 14th,
and Liége on the 28th. Valence took Namur, Labourdonnaie Antwerp; and by
the middle of December, the invasion of the Netherlands was completely
achieved. The French army, masters of the Meuse and the Scheldt, went into
their winter quarters, after driving beyond the Roër the Austrians, whom
they might have pushed beyond the Lower Rhine.
From this moment hostilities began between Dumouriez and the Jacobins. A
decree of the convention, dated the 15th of September, abrogated the
Belgian customs, and democratically organized that country. The Jacobins
sent agents to Belgium to propagate revolutionary principles, and
establish clubs on the model of the parent society; but the Flemings, who
had received us with enthusiasm, became cool at the heavy demands made
upon them, and at the general pillage and insupportable anarchy which the
Jacobins brought with them. All the party that had opposed the Austrian
army, and hoped to be free under the protection of France, found our rule
too severe, and regretted having sought our aid, or supported us.
Dumouriez, who had projects of independence for the Flemings, and of
ambition for himself, came to Paris to complain of this impolitic conduct
with regard to the conquered countries. He changed his hitherto equivocal
course; he had employed every means to keep on terms with the two
factions; he had ranged himself under the banner of neither, hoping to
make use of the Right through his friend Gensonné, and the Mountain
through Danton and Lacroix, whilst he awed both by his victories. But in
this second journey he tried to stop the Jacobins and save Louis XVI.; not
having been able to attain his end, he returned to the army to begin the
second campaign, very dissatisfied, and determined to make his new
victories the means of suspending the revolution and changing its
government.
This time all the frontiers of France were to be attacked by the European
powers. The military successes of the revolution, and the catastrophe of
the 21st of January, had made most of the undecided or neutral governments
join the coalition.
The court of St. James', on learning the death of Louis XVI., dismissed
the ambassador Chauvelin, whom it had refused to acknowledge since the
10th of August and the dethronement of the king. The convention, finding
England already leagued with the coalition, and consequently all its
promises of neutrality vain and elusive, on the 1st of February, 1793,
declared war against the king of Great Britain and the stadtholder of
Holland, who had been entirely guided by the English cabinet since 1788.
England had hitherto preserved the appearances of neutrality, but it took
advantage of this opportunity to appear on the scene of hostilities. For
some time disposed for a rupture, Pitt employed all his resources, and in
the space of six months concluded seven treaties of alliance, and six
treaties of subsidies. [Footnote: These treaties were as follows: the 4th
March, articles between Great Britain and Hanover; 25th March, treaty of
alliance at London between Russia and Great Britain; 10th April, treaty of
subsidies with the landgrave of Hesse Cassel; 25th April, treaty of
subsidies with Sardinia; 25th May, treaty of alliance at Madrid with
Spain; 12th July, treaty of alliance with Naples, the kingdom of the Two
Sicilies; 14th July, treaty of alliance at the camp before Mayence with
Prussia; 30th August, treaty of alliance at London with the emperor; 21st
September, treaty of subsidies with the margrave of Baden; 26th September,
treaty of alliance at London with Portugal. By these treaties England gave
considerable subsidies, more especially to Austria and Prussia.] England
thus became the soul of the coalition against France; her fleets were
ready to sail; the minister had obtained 3,200,000l. extraordinary, and
Pitt designed to profit by our revolution by securing the preponderance of
Great Britain, as Richelieu and Mazarin had taken advantage of the crisis
in England in 1640, to establish the French domination in Europe. The
court of St. James' was only influenced by motives of English interests;
it desired at any cost to effect the consolidation of the aristocratical
power at home, and the exclusive empire in the two Indies, and on the
seas.
The court of St. James' then made the second levy of the coalition. Spain
had just undergone a ministerial change; the famous Godoy, duke of
Alcudia, afterwards Prince of the Peace, had been placed at the head of
the government by means of an intrigue of England and the emigrants. This
power came to a rupture with the republic, after having interceded in vain
for Louis XVI., and made its neutrality the price of the life of the king.
The German empire entirely adopted the war; Bavaria, Suabia, and the
elector palatine joined the hostile circles of the empire. Naples followed
the example of the Holy See; and the only neutral powers were Venice,
Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Turkey. Russia was still engaged with
the second partition of Poland.
The republic was threatened on all sides by the most warlike troops of
Europe. It would soon have to face forty-five thousand Austro-Sardinians
in the Alps; fifty thousand Spaniards on the Pyrenees; seventy thousand
Austrians or Imperialists, reinforced by thirty-eight thousand English and
Dutch troops, on the Lower Rhine and in Belgium; thirty-three thousand
four hundred Austrians between the Meuse and the Moselle; a hundred and
twelve thousand six hundred Prussians, Austrians and Imperialists on the
Middle and Upper Rhine. In order to confront so many enemies, the
convention decreed a levy of three hundred thousand men. This measure of
external defence was accompanied by a party measure for the interior. At
the moment the new battalions, about to quit Paris, presented themselves
to the assembly, the Mountain demanded the establishment of an
extraordinary tribunal to maintain the revolution at home, which the
battalions were going to defend on the frontiers. This tribunal, composed
of nine members, was to try without jury or appeal. The Girondists arose
with all their power against so arbitrary and formidable an institution,
but it was in vain; for they seemed to be favouring the enemies of the
republic by rejecting a tribunal intended to punish them. All they
obtained was the introduction of juries into it, the removal of some
violent men, and the power of annulling its acts, as long as they
maintained any influence.
The principal efforts of the coalition were directed against the vast
frontier extending from the north sea to Huninguen. The prince of Coburg,
at the head of the Austrians, was to attack the French army on the Roër
and the Meuse, to enter Belgium; while the Prussians, on the other point,
should march against Custine, give him battle, surround Mayence, and after
taking it, renew the preceding invasion. These two armies of operation
were sustained in the intermediate position by considerable forces.
Dumouriez, engrossed by ambitious and reactionary designs, at a moment
when he ought only to have thought of the perils of France, proposed to
himself to re-establish the monarchy of 1791, in spite of the convention
and Europe. What Bouillé could not do for an absolute, nor Lafayette for a
constitutional throne, Dumouriez, at a less propitious time, hoped alone
to carry through in the interest of a destroyed constitution and a
monarchy without a party. Instead of remaining neutral among factions, as
circumstances dictated to a general, and even to an ambitious man,
Dumouriez preferred a rupture, in order to sway them. He conceived a
design of forming a party out of France; of entering Holland by means of
the Dutch republicans opposed to the stadtholdership, and to English
influence; to deliver Belgium from the Jacobins; to unite these countries
in a single independent state, and secure for himself their political
protectorate after having acquired all the glory of a conqueror. To
intimidate parties, he was to gain over his troops, march on the capital,
dissolve the convention, put down popular meetings, re-establish the
constitution of 1791, and give a king to France.
This project, impracticable amidst the great shock between the revolution
and Europe, appeared easy to the fiery and adventurous Dumouriez. Instead
of defending the line, threatened from Mayence to the Roër, he threw
himself on the left of the operations, and entered Holland at the head of
twenty thousand men. By a rapid march he was to reach the centre of the
United Provinces, attack the fortresses from behind, and be joined at
Nymegen by twenty-five thousand men under General Miranda, who would
probably have made himself master of Maestricht. An army of forty thousand
men was to observe the Austrians and protect his right.
Dumouriez vigorously prosecuted his expedition into Holland; he took Breda
and Gertruydenberg, and prepared to pass the Biesbos, and capture
Dordrecht. But the army of the right experienced in the meantime the most
alarming reverses on the Lower Meuse. The Austrians assumed the offensive,
passed the Roër, beat Miazinski at Aix-la-Chapelle; made Miranda raise the
blockade of Maestricht, which he had uselessly bombarded; crossed the
Meuse, and at Liège put our army, which had fallen back between Tirlemont
and Louvain, wholly to the rout. Dumouriez received from the executive
council orders to leave Holland immediately, and to take the command of
the troops in Belgium; he was compelled to obey, and to renounce in part
his wildest but dearest hopes.
The Jacobins, at the news of these reverses, became much more intractable;
unable to conceive a defeat without treachery, especially after the
brilliant and unexpected victories of the last campaign, they attributed
these military disasters to party combinations. They denounced the
Girondists, the ministers, and generals who, they supposed, had combined
to abandon the republic, and clamoured for their destruction. Rivalry
mingled with suspicion, and they desired as much to acquire an exclusive
domination, as to defend the threatened territory; they began with the
Girondists. As they had not yet accustomed the multitude to the idea of
the proscription of representatives, they at first had recourse to a plot
to get rid of them; they resolved to strike them in the convention, where
they would all be assembled, and the night of the 10th of March was fixed
on for the execution of the plot. The assembly sat permanently on account
of the public danger. It was decided on the preceding day at the Jacobins
and Cordeliers to shut the barriers, sound the tocsin, and march in two
bands on the convention and the ministers. They started at the appointed
hour, but several circumstances prevented the conspirators from
succeeding. The Girondists, apprised, did not attend the evening sitting;
the sections declared themselves opposed to the plot, and Beurnonville,
minister for war, advanced against them at the head of a battalion of
Brest federalists; these unexpected obstacles, together with the ceaseless
rain, obliged the conspirators to disperse. The next day Vergniaud
denounced the insurrectional committee who had projected these murders,
demanded that the executive council should be commissioned to make
inquiries respecting the conspiracy of the 10th of March, to examine the
registers of the clubs, and to arrest the members of the insurrectional
committee. "We go," said he, "from crimes to amnesties, from amnesties to
crimes. Numbers of citizens have begun to confound seditious insurrections
with the great insurrection of liberty; to look on the excitement of
robbers as the outburst of energetic minds, and robbery itself as a
measure of general security. We have witnessed the development of that
strange system of liberty, in which we are told: 'you are free; but think
with us, or we will denounce you to the vengeance of the people; you are
free, but bow down your head to the idol we worship, or we will denounce
you to the vengeance of the people; you are free, but join us in
persecuting the men whose probity and intelligence we dread, or we will
denounce you to the vengeance of the people.' Citizens, we have reason to
fear that the revolution, like Saturn, will devour successively all its
children, and only engender despotism and the calamities which accompany
it." These prophetic words produced some effect in the assembly; but the
measures proposed by Vergniaud led to nothing.
The Jacobins were stopped for a moment by the failure of their first
enterprise against their adversaries; but the insurrection of La Vendée
gave them new courage. The Vendéan war was an inevitable event in the
revolution. This country, bounded by the Loire and the sea, crossed by few
roads, sprinkled with villages, hamlets, and manorial residences, had
retained its ancient feudal state. In La Vendée there was no civilization
or intelligence, because there was no middle class; and there was no
middle class because there were no towns, or very few. At that time the
peasants had acquired no other ideas than those few communicated to them
by the priests, and had not separated their interests from those of the
nobility. These simple and sturdy men, devotedly attached to the old state
of things, did not understand a revolution, which was the result of a
faith and necessities entirely foreign to their situation. The nobles and
priests, being strong in these districts, had not emigrated; and the
ancient regime really existed there, because there were its doctrines and
its society. Sooner or later, a war between France and La Vendée,
countries so different, and which had nothing in common but language, was
inevitable. It was inevitable that the two fanaticisms of monarchy and of
popular sovereignty, of the priesthood and human reason, should raise
their banners against each other, and bring about the triumph of the old
or of the new civilization.
Partial disturbances had taken place several times in La Vendée. In 1792
the count de la Rouairie had prepared a general rising, which failed on
account of his arrest; but all yet remained ready for an insurrection,
when the decree for raising three hundred thousand men was put into
execution. This levy became the signal of revolt. The Vendéans beat the
gendarmerie at Saint Florent, and took for leaders, in different
directions, Cathelineau, a waggoner, Charette, a naval officer, and
Stofflet, a gamekeeper. Aided by arms and money from England, the
insurrection soon overspread the country; nine hundred communes flew to
arms at the sound of the tocsin; and then the noble leaders Bonchamps,
Lescure, La Rochejaquelin, d'Elbée, and Talmont, joined the others. The
troops of the line and the battalions of the national guard who advanced
against the insurgents were defeated. General Marcé was beaten at Saint
Vincent by Stofflet; general Gauvilliers at Beaupréau, by d'Elbée and
Bonchamps; general Quetineau at Aubiers, by La Rochejaquelin; and general
Ligonnier at Cholet. The Vendéans, masters of Châtillon, Bressuire, and
Vihiers, considered it advisable to form some plan of organization before
they pushed their advantages further. They formed three corps, each from
ten to twelve thousand strong, according to the division of La Vendée,
under three commanders; the first, under Bonchamps, guarded the banks of
the Loire, and was called the _Armée d'Anjou_; the second, stationed in
the centre, formed the _Grande armée_ under d'Elbée; the third, in Lower
Vendée, was styled the _Armée du Marais_, under Charette. The insurgents
established a council to determine their operations, and elected
Cathelineau generalissimo. These arrangements, with this division of the
country, enabled them to enrol the insurgents, and to dismiss them to
their fields, or call them to arms.
The intelligence of this formidable insurrection drove the convention to
adopt still more rigorous measures against priests and emigrants. It
outlawed all priests and nobles who took part in any gathering, and
disarmed all who had belonged to the privileged classes. The former
emigrants were banished for ever; they could not return, under penalty of
death; their property was confiscated. On the door of every house, the
names of all its inmates were to be inscribed; and the revolutionary
tribunal, which had been adjourned, began its terrible functions.
At the same time, tidings of new military disasters arrived, one after the
other. Dumouriez, returned to the army of Belgium, concentrated all his
forces to resist the Austrian general, the prince of Coburg. His troops
were greatly discouraged, and in want of everything; he wrote to the
convention a threatening letter against the Jacobins, who denounced him.
After having again restored to his army a part of its former confidence by
some minor advantages, he ventured a general action at Neerwinden, and
lost it. Belgium was evacuated, and Dumouriez, placed between the
Austrians and Jacobins, beaten by the one and assailed by the other, had
recourse to the guilty project of defection, in order to realize his
former designs. He had conferences with Colonel Mack, and agreed with the
Austrians to march upon Paris for the purpose of re-establishing the
monarchy, leaving them on the frontiers, and having first given up to them
several fortresses as a guarantee. It is probable that Dumouriez wished to
place on the constitutional throne the young duc de Chartres, who had
distinguished himself throughout this campaign; while the prince of Coburg
hoped that if the counter-revolution reached that point, it would be
carried further and restore the son of Louis XVI. and the ancient
monarchy. A counter-revolution will not halt any more than a revolution;
when once begun, it must exhaust itself. The Jacobins were soon informed
of Dumouriez's arrangements; he took little precaution to conceal them;
whether he wished to try his troops, or to alarm his enemies, or whether
he merely followed his natural levity. To be more sure of his designs, the
Jacobin club sent to him a deputation, consisting of Proly, Péreira, and
Dubuisson, three of its members. Taken to Dumouriez's presence, they
received from him more admissions than they expected: "The convention,"
said he, "is an assembly of seven hundred and thirty-five tyrants. While I
have four inches of iron I will not suffer it to reign and shed blood with
the revolutionary tribunal it has just created; as for the republic," he
added, "it is an idle word. I had faith in it for three days. Since
Jemappes, I have deplored all the successes I obtained in so bad a cause.
There is only one way to save the country--that is, to re-establish the
constitution of 1791, and a king." "Can you think of it, general?" said
Dubuisson; "the French view royalty with horror--the very name of Louis--"
"What does it signify whether the king be called Louis, Jacques, or
Philippe?" "And what are your means?" "My army--yes, my army will do it,
and from my camp, or the stronghold of some fortress, it will express its
desire for a king." "But your project endangers the safety of the
prisoners in the Temple." "Should the last of the Bourbons be killed, even
those of Coblentz, France shall still have a king, and if Paris were to
add this murder to those which have already dishonoured it, I would
instantly march upon it." After thus unguardedly disclosing his
intentions, Dumouriez proceeded to the execution of his impracticable
design. He was really in a very difficult position; the soldiers were very
much attached to him, but they were also devoted to their country. He was
to surrender some fortresses which he was not master of, and it was to be
supposed that the generals under his orders, either from fidelity to the
republic, or from ambition, would treat him as he had treated Lafayette.
His first attempt was not encouraging; after having established himself at
Saint Amand, he essayed to possess himself of Lille, Condé, and
Valenciennes; but failed in this enterprise. The failure made him
hesitate, and prevented his taking the initiative in the attack.
It was not so with the convention; it acted with a promptitude, a
boldness, a firmness, and, above all, with a precision in attaining its
object, which rendered success certain. When we know what we want, and
desire it strongly and speedily, we nearly always attain our object. This
quality was wanting in Dumouriez, and the want impeded his audacity and
deterred his partisans. As soon as the convention was informed of his
projects, it summoned him to its bar. He refused to obey; without,
however, immediately raising the standard of revolt. The convention
instantly despatched four representatives: Camus, Quinette, Lamarque,
Bancal, and Beurnonville, the war minister, to bring him before it, or to
arrest him in the midst of his army. Dumouriez received the commissioners
at the head of his staff. They presented to him the decree of the
convention; he read it and returned it to them, saying that the state of
his army would not admit of his leaving it. He offered to resign, and
promised in a calmer season to demand judges himself, and to give an
account of his designs and of his conduct. The commissioners tried to
induce him to submit, quoting the example of the ancient Roman generals.
"We are always mistaken in our quotations," he replied; "and we disfigure
Roman history by taking as an excuse for our crimes the example of their
virtues. The Romans did not kill Tarquin; the Romans had a well ordered
republic and good laws; they had neither a Jacobin club nor a
revolutionary tribunal. We live in a time of anarchy. Tigers wish for my
head; I will not give it them." "Citizen general," said Camus then, "will
you obey the decree of the national convention, and repair to Paris?" "Not
at present." "Well, then, I declare that I suspend you; you are no longer
a general; I order your arrest." "This is too much," said Dumouriez; and
he had the commissioners arrested by German hussars, and delivered them as
hostages to the Austrians. After this act of revolt he could no longer
hesitate. Dumouriez made another attempt on Condé, but it succeeded no
better than the first. He tried to induce the army to join him, but was
forsaken by it. The soldiers were likely for a long time to prefer the
republic to their general; the attachment to the revolution was in all its
fervour, and the civil power in all its force. Dumouriez experienced, in
declaring himself against the convention, the fate which Lafayette
experienced when he declared himself against the legislative assembly, and
Bouillé when he declared against the constituent assembly. At this period,
a general, combining the firmness of Bouillé with the patriotism and
popularity of Lafayette, with the victories and resources of Dumouriez,
would have failed as they did. The revolution, with the movement imparted
to it, was necessarily stronger than parties, than generals, and than
Europe. Dumouriez went over to the Austrian camp with the duc de Chartres,
colonel Thouvenot, and two squadrons of Berchiny. The rest of his army
went to the camp at Famars, and joined the troops commanded by Dampierre.
The convention, on learning the arrest of the commissioners, established
itself as a permanent assembly, declared Dumouriez a traitor to his
country, authorized any citizen to attack him, set a price on his head,
decreed the famous committee of public safety, and banished the duke of
Orleans and all the Bourbons from the republic. Although the Girondists
had assailed Dumouriez as warmly as the Mountain, they were accused of
being his accomplices, and this was a new cause of complaint added to the
rest. Their enemies became every day more powerful; and it was in moments
of public danger that they were especially dangerous. Hitherto, in the
struggle between the two parties, they had carried the day on every point.
They had stopped all inquiries into the massacres of September; they had
maintained the usurpation of the commune; they had obtained, first the
trial, then the death of Louis XVI.; through their means the plunderings
of February and the conspiracy of the 10th of March, had remained
unpunished; they had procured the erection of the revolutionary tribunal
despite the Girondists; they had driven Roland from the ministry, in
disgust; and they had just defeated Dumouriez. It only remained now to
deprive the Girondists of their last asylum--the assembly; this they set
about on the 10th of April, and accomplished on the 2nd of June.
Robespierre attacked by name Brissot, Guadet, Vergniaud, Pétion, and
Gensonné, in the convention; Marat denounced them in the popular
societies. As president of the Jacobins, he wrote an address to the
departments, in which he invoked the thunder of petitions and accusations
against the traitors and faithless delegates who had sought to save the
tyrant by an appeal to the public or his imprisonment. The Right and the
Plain of the convention felt that it was necessary to unite. Marat was
sent before the revolutionary tribunal. This news set the clubs in motion,
the people, and the commune. By way of reprisal, Pache, the mayor, came in
the name of the thirty-five sections and of the general council, to demand
the expulsion of the principal Girondists. Young Boyer Fonfrède required
to be included in the proscription of his colleagues, and the members of
the Right and the Plain rose, exclaiming, "All! all!" This petition,
though declared calumnious, was the first attack upon the convention from
without, and it prepared the public mind for the destruction of the
Gironde.
The accusation of Marat was far from intimidating the Jacobins who
accompanied him to the revolutionary tribunal. Marat was acquitted, and
borne in triumph to the assembly. From that moment the approaches to the
hall were thronged with daring sans-culottes, and the partisans of the
Jacobins filled the galleries of the convention. The clubists and
Robespierre's _tricoteuses_ (knitters) constantly interrupted the speakers
of the Right, and disturbed the debate; while without, every opportunity
was sought to get rid of the Girondists. Henriot, commandant of the
section of sans-culottes, excited against them the battalions about to
march for La Vendée. Gaudet then saw that it was time for something more
than complaints and speeches; he ascended the tribune. "Citizens," said
he, "while virtuous men content themselves with bewailing the misfortunes
of the country, conspirators are active for its ruin. With Caesar they
say: 'Let them talk, we will act.' Well, then, do you act also. The evil
consists in the impunity of the conspirators of the 10th of March; the
evil is in anarchy; the evil is in the existence of the authorities of
Paris--authorities striving at once for gain and dominion. Citizens, there
is yet time; you may save the republic and your compromised glory. I
propose to abolish the Paris authorities, to replace within twenty-four
hours the municipality by the presidents of the sections, to assemble the
convention at Bourges with the least possible delay, and to transmit this
decree to the departments by extraordinary couriers." The Mountain was
surprised for a moment by Guadet's motion. Had his measures been at once
adopted, there would have been an end to the domination of the commune,
and to the projects of the conspirators; but it is also probable that the
agitation of parties would have brought on a civil war, that the
convention would have been dissolved by the assembly at Bourges, that all
centre of action would have been destroyed, and that the revolution would
not have been sufficiently strong to contend against internal struggles
and the attacks of Europe. This was what the moderate party in the
assembly feared. Dreading anarchy if the career of the commune was not
stopped, and counter-revolution if the multitude were too closely kept
down, its aim was to maintain the balance between the two extremes of the
convention. This party comprised the committees of general safety and of
public safety. It was directed by Barrère, who, like all men of upright
intentions but weak characters, advocated moderation so long as fear did
not make him an instrument of cruelty and tyranny. Instead of Guadet's
decisive measures, he proposed to nominate an extraordinary commission of
twelve members, deputed to inquire into the conduct of the municipality;
to seek out the authors of the plots against the national representatives,
and to secure their persons. This middle course was adopted; but it left
the commune in existence, and the commune was destined to triumph over the
convention.
The Commission of Twelve threw the members of the commune into great alarm
by its inquiries. It discovered a new conspiracy, which was to be put into
execution on the 22nd of May, and arrested some of the conspirators, and
among others, Hébert, the deputy recorder, author of _Père Duchesne_, who
was taken in the very bosom of the municipality. The commune, at first
astounded, began to take measures of defence. From that moment, not
conspiracy, but insurrection was the order of the day. The general
council, encouraged by the Mountain, surrounded itself with the agitators
of the capital; it circulated a report that the Twelve wished to purge the
convention, and to substitute a counter-revolutionary tribunal for that
which had acquitted Marat. The Jacobins, the Cordeliers, the sections sat
permanently. On the 26th of May, the agitation became perceptible; on the
27th; it was sufficiently decided to induce the commune to open the
attack. It accordingly appeared before the convention and demanded the
liberation of Hébert and the suppression of the Twelve; it was accompanied
by the deputies of the sections, who expressed the same desire, and the
hall was surrounded by a large mob. The section of the City even presumed
to require that the Twelve should be brought before the revolutionary
tribunal. Isnard, president of the assembly, replied in a solemn tone:
"Listen to what I am about to say. If ever by one of those insurrections,
of such frequent recurrence since the 10th of March, and of which the
magistrates have never apprised the assembly, a hostile hand be raised
against the national representatives, I declare to you in the name of all
France, Paris will be destroyed. Yes, universal France would rise to
avenge such a crime, and soon it would be matter of doubt on which side of
the Seine Paris had stood." This reply became the signal for great tumult.
"And I declare to you," exclaimed Danton, "that so much impudence begins
to be intolerable; we will resist you." Then turning to the Right, he
added: "No truce between the Mountain and the cowards who wished to save
the tyrant."
The utmost confusion now reigned in the hall. The strangers' galleries
vociferated denunciations of the Right; the Mountain broke forth into
menaces; every moment deputations arrived without, and the convention was
surrounded by an immense multitude. A few sectionaries of the Mail and of
the Butte-des-Moulins, commanded by Raffet, drew up in the passages and
avenues to defend it. The Girondists withstood, as long as they could, the
deputations and the Mountain. Threatened within, besieged without, they
would have availed themselves of this violence to arouse the indignation
of the assembly. But the minister of the interior, Garat, deprived them of
this resource. Called upon to give an account of the state of Paris, he
declared that the convention had nothing to fear; and the opinion of
Garat, who was considered impartial, and whose conciliatory turn of mind
involved him in equivocal proceedings, emboldened the members of the
Mountain. Isnard was obliged to resign the chair, which was taken by
Hérault de Séchelles, a sign of victory for the Mountain. The new
president replied to the petitioners, whom Isnard had hitherto kept in the
background. "The power of reason and the power of the people are the same
thing. You demand from us a magistrate and justice. The representatives of
the people will give you both." It was now very late; the Right was
discouraged, some of its members had left. The petitioners had moved from
the bar to the seats of the representatives, and there, mixed up with the
Mountain, with outcry and disorder, they voted, all together, for the
dismissal of the Twelve, and the liberation of the prisoners. It was at
half-past twelve, amidst the applause of the galleries and the people
outside, that this decree was passed.
It would, perhaps, have been wise on the part of the Girondists, since
they were really not the strongest party, to have made no recurrence to
this matter. The movement of the preceding day would have had no other
result than the suppression of the Twelve, if other causes had not
prolonged it. But animosity had attained such a height, that it had become
necessary to bring the quarrel to an issue; since the two parties could
not endure each other, the only alternative was for them to fight; they
must needs go on from victory to defeat, and from defeat to victory,
growing more and more excited every day, until the stronger finally
triumphed over the weaker party. Next day, the Right regained its position
in the convention, and declared the decree of the preceding day illegally
passed, in tumult and under compulsion, and the commission was re-
established. "You yesterday," said Danton, "did a great act of justice;
but I declare to you, if the commission retains the tyrannical power it
has hitherto exercised; if the magistrates of the people are not restored
to their functions; if good citizens are again exposed to arbitrary
arrest; then, after having proved to you that we surpass our enemies in
prudence, in wisdom, we shall surpass them in audacity and revolutionary
vigour." Danton feared to commence the attack; he dreaded the triumph of
the Mountain as much as he did that of the Girondists: he accordingly
sought, by turns, to anticipate the 31st of May, and to moderate its
results. But he was reduced to join his own party during the conflict, and
to remain silent after the victory.
The agitation, which had been a little allayed by the suppression of the
Twelve, became threatening at the news of their restoration. The benches
of the sections and popular societies resounded with invectives, with
cries of danger, with calls to insurrection. Hébert, having quitted his
prison, reappeared at the commune. A crown was placed on his brow, which
he transferred to the bust of Brutus, and then rushed to the Jacobins to
demand vengeance on the Twelve. Robespierre, Marat, Danton, Chaumette, and
Pache then combined in organising a new movement. The insurrection was
modelled on that of the 10th of August. The 29th of May was occupied in
preparing the public mind. On the 30th, members of the electoral college,
commissioners of the clubs, and deputies of sections assembled at the
Evêché, declared themselves in a state of insurrection, dissolved the
general council of the commune, and immediately reconstituted it, making
it take a new oath; Henriot received the title of commandant-general of
the armed force, and the sans-culottes were assigned forty sous a day
while under arms. These preparations made, early on the morning of the
31st the tocsin rang, the drums beat to arms, the troops were assembled,
and all marched towards the convention, which for some time past had held
its sittings at the Tuileries.
The assembly had met at the sound of the tocsin. The minister of the
interior, the administrators of the department, and the mayor of Paris had
been summoned, in succession, to the bar. Garat had given an account of
the agitated state of Paris, but appeared to apprehend no dangerous
result. Lhuillier, in the name of the department, declared it was only a
_moral_ insurrection. Pache, the mayor, appeared last, and informed them,
with an hypocritical air, of the operations of the insurgents; he
pretended that he had employed every means to maintain order; assured them
that the guard of the convention had been doubled, and that he had
prohibited the firing of the alarm cannon; yet, at the same moment, the
cannon was heard in the distance. The surprise and excitement of the
assembly were extreme. Cambon exhorted the members to union, and called
upon the people in the strangers' gallery to be silent. "Under these
extraordinary circumstances," said he, "the only way of frustrating the
designs of the malcontents is to make the national convention respected."
"I demand," said Thuriot, "the immediate abolition of the Commission of
Twelve." "And I," cried Tallien, "that the sword of the law may strike the
conspirators who profane the very bosom of the convention." The
Girondists, on their part, required that the audacious Henriot should be
called to the bar, for having fired the alarm cannon without the
permission of the convention. "If a struggle take place," said Vergniaud,
"be the success what it may, it will be the ruin of the republic. Let
every member swear to die at his post." The entire assembly rose,
applauding the proposition. Danton rushed to the tribune: "Break up the
Commission of Twelve! you have heard the thunder of the cannon. If you are
politic legislators, far from blaming the outbreak of Paris, you will turn
it to the profit of the republic, by reforming your own errors, by
dismissing your commission.--I address those," he continued, on hearing
murmurs around him, "who possess some political talent, not dullards, who
can only act and speak in obedience to their passions.--Consider the
grandeur of your aim; it is to save the people from their foes, from the
aristocrats, to save them from their own blind fury. If a few men, really
dangerous, no matter to what party they belong, should then seek to
prolong a movement, become useless, by your act of justice, Paris itself
will hurl them back into their original insignificance. I calmly, simply,
and deliberately demand the suppression of the commission, on political
grounds." The commission was violently attacked on one side, feebly
defended on the other; Barrère and the committee of public safety, who
were its creators proposed its suppression, in order to restore peace, and
to save the assembly from being left to the mercy of the multitude. The
moderate portion of the Mountain were about to adopt this concession, when
the deputations arrived. The members of the department, those of the
municipality, and the commissaries of sections, being admitted to the bar,
demanded not merely the suppression of the Twelve, but also the punishment
of the moderate members, and of all the Girondist chiefs.
The Tuileries was completely blockaded by the insurgents; and the presence
of their commissaries in the convention emboldened the extreme Mountain,
who were desirous of destroying the Girondist party. Robespierre, their
leader and orator, spoke: "Citizens, let us not lose this day in vain
clamours and unnecessary measures; this is, perhaps, the last day in which
patriotism will combat with tyranny. Let the faithful representatives of
the people combine to secure their happiness." He urged the convention to
follow the course pointed out by the petitioners, rather than that
proposed by the committee of public safety. He was thundering forth a
lengthened declamation against his adversaries, when Vergniaud interfered:
"Conclude this!"--"I am about to conclude, and against you! Against you,
who, after the revolution of the 10th of August, sought to bring to the
scaffold those who had effected it. Against you, who have never ceased in
a course which involved the destruction of Paris. Against you, who desired
to save the tyrant. Against you, who conspired with Dumouriez. Against
you, who fiercely persecuted the same patriots whose heads Dumouriez
demanded. Against you, whose criminal vengeance provoked those cries of
vengeance which you seek to make a crime in your victims. I conclude my
conclusion is--I propose a decree of accusation against all the
accomplices of Dumouriez, and against those who are indicated by the
petitioners." Notwithstanding the violence of this outbreak, Robespierre's
party were not victorious. The insurrection had only been directed against
the Twelve, and the committee of public safety, who proposed their
suppression prevailed over the commune. The assembly adopted the decree of
Barrère, which dissolved the Twelve, placed the public force in permanent
requisition, and, to satisfy the petitioners, directed the committee of
public safety to inquire into the conspiracies which they denounced. As
soon as the multitude surrounding the assembly was informed of these
measures, it received them with applause, and dispersed.
But the conspirators were not disposed to rest content with this half
triumph: they had gone further on the 30th of May than on the 29th; and on
the 2nd of June they went further than on the 31st of May. The
insurrection, from being moral, as they termed it, became personal; that
is to say, it was no longer directed against a power, but against the
deputies; it passed from Danton and the Mountain, to Robespierre, Marat,
and the commune. On the evening of the 31st, a Jacobin deputy said: "We
have had but half the game yet; we must complete it, and not allow the
people to cool." Henriot offered to place the armed force at the
disposition of the club. The insurrectional committee openly took up its
quarters near the convention. The whole of the 1st of June was devoted to
the preparation of a great movement. The commune wrote to the sections:
"Citizens, remain under arms: the danger of the country renders this a
supreme law." In the evening, Marat, who was the chief author of the 2nd
of June, repaired to the Hôtel de Ville, ascended the clock-tower himself,
and rang the tocsin; he called upon the members of the council not to
separate till they had obtained a decree of accusation against the
traitors and the "statesmen." A few deputies assembled at the convention,
and the conspirators came to demand the decree against the proscribed
parties; but they were not yet sufficiently strong to enforce it from the
convention.
The whole night was spent in making preparations; the tocsin rang, drums
beat to arms, the people gathered together. On Sunday morning, about eight
o'clock, Henriot presented himself to the general council, and declared to
his accomplices, in the name of the insurrectionary people, that they
would not lay down their arms until they had obtained the arrest of the
conspiring deputies. He then placed himself at the head of the vast crowd
assembled in the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, harangued them, and gave the
signal for their departure. It was nearly ten o'clock when the insurgents
reached the Place du Carrousel. Henriot posted round the château bands of
the most devoted men, and the convention was soon surrounded by eighty
thousand men, the greater part ignorant of what was required of them and
more disposed to defend than to attack the deputation.
The majority of the proscribed members had not proceeded to the assembly.
A few, courageous to the last, had come to brave the storm for the last
time. As soon as the sitting commenced, the intrepid Lanjuinais ascended
the tribune. "I demand," said he, "to speak respecting the general call to
arms now beating throughout Paris." He was immediately interrupted by
cries of "Down! down! He wants civil war! He wants a counter-revolution!
He calumniates Paris! He insults the people." Despite the threats, the
insults, the clamours of the Mountain and the galleries, Lanjuinais
denounced the projects of the commune and of the malcontents; his courage
rose with the danger. "You accuse us," he said, "of calumniating Paris!
Paris is pure; Paris is good; Paris is oppressed by tyrants who thirst for
blood and dominion." These words were the signal for the most violent
tumult; several Mountain deputies rushed to the tribune to tear Lanjuinais
from it; but he, clinging firmly to it, exclaimed, in accents of the most
lofty courage, "I demand the dissolution of all the revolutionist
authorities in Paris. I demand that all they have done during the last
three days may be declared null. I demand that all who would arrogate to
themselves a new authority contrary to law, be placed without the law, and
that every citizen be at liberty to punish them." He had scarcely
concluded, when the insurgent petitioners came to demand his arrest, and
that of his colleagues. "Citizens," said they, "the people are weary of
seeing their happiness still postponed; they leave it once more in your
hands; save them, or we declare that they will save themselves."
The Right moved the order of the day on the petition of the insurgents,
and the convention accordingly proceeded to the previous question. The
petitioners immediately withdrew in a menacing attitude; the strangers
quitted the galleries; cries to arms were shouted, and a great tumult was
heard without: "Save the people!" cried one of the Mountain. "Save your
colleagues, by decreeing their provisional arrest." "No, no!" replied the
Right, and even a portion of the Left. "We will all share their fate!"
exclaimed La Réveillère-Lépaux. The committee of public safety, called
upon to make a report, terrified at the magnitude of the danger, proposed,
as on the 31st of May, a measure apparently conciliatory, to satisfy the
insurgents, without entirely sacrificing the proscribed members. "The
committee," said Barrère, "appeal to the generosity and patriotism of the
accused members. It asks of them the suspension of their power,
representing to them that this alone can put an end to the divisions which
afflict the republic, can alone restore to it peace." A few among them
adopted the proposition. Isnard at once gave in his resignation;
Lanthénas, Dussaulx, and Fauchet followed his example; Lanjuinais would
not. He said: "I have hitherto, I believe, shown some courage; expect not
from me either suspension or resignation. When the ancients," he
continued, amidst violent interruption, "prepared a sacrifice, they
crowned the victim with flowers and chaplets, as they conducted it to the
altar; but they did not insult it." Barbaroux was as firm as Lanjuinais.
"I have sworn," he said, "to die at my post; I will keep my oath." The
conspirators of the Mountain themselves protested against the proposition
of the committee. Marat urged that those who make sacrifices should be
pure; and Billaud-Varennes demanded the trial of the Girondists, not their
suspension.
While this was going on, Lacroix, a deputy of the Mountain, rushed into
the house, and to the tribune, and declared that he had been insulted at
the door, that he had been refused egress, and that the convention was no
longer free. Many of the Mountain expressed their indignation at Henriot
and his troops. Danton said it was necessary vigorously to avenge this
insult to the national majesty. Barrère proposed to the convention to
present themselves to the people. "Representatives," said he, "vindicate
your liberty; suspend your sitting; cause the bayonets that surround you
to be lowered." The whole convention arose, and set forth in procession,
preceded by its sergeants, and headed by the president, who was covered,
in token of his affliction. On arriving at a door on the Place du
Carrousel, they found there Henriot on horseback, sabre in hand. "What do
the people require?" said the president, Hérault de Séchelles; "the
convention is wholly engaged in promoting their happiness." "Hérault,"
replied Henriot, "the people have not risen to hear phrases; they require
twenty-four traitors to be given up to them." "Give us all up!" cried
those who surrounded the president. Henriot then turned to his people, and
exclaimed: "Cannoneers, to your guns." Two pieces were directed upon the
convention, who, retiring to the gardens, sought an outlet at various
points, but found all the issues guarded. The soldiers were everywhere
under arms. Marat ran through the ranks, encouraging and exciting them.
"No weakness," said he; "do not quit your posts till they have given them
up." The convention then returned within the house, overwhelmed with a
sense of their powerlessness, convinced of the inutility of their efforts,
and entirely subdued. The arrest of the proscribed members was no longer
opposed. Marat, the true dictator of the assembly, imperiously decided the
fate of its members. "Dussaulx," said he, "is an old twaddler, incapable
of leading a party; Lathénas is a poor creature, unworthy of a thought;
Ducos is merely chargeable with a few absurd notions, and is not at all a
man to become a counter-revolutionary leader. I require that these be
struck out of the list, and their names replaced by that of Valazé." These
names were accordingly struck out, and that of Valazé substituted, and the
list thus altered was agreed to, scarcely one half of the assembly taking
part in the vote.
These are the names of the illustrious men proscribed: the Girondists
Gensonné, Guadet, Brissot, Gorsas, Pétion, Vergniaud, Salles, Barbaroux,
Chambon, Buzot, Birotteau, Lidon, Rabaud, Lasource, Lanjuinais,
Grangeneuve, Lehardy, Lesage, Louvet, Valazé, Lebrun, minister of foreign
affairs, Clavières, minister of taxes; and the members of the Council of
Twelve, Kervelegan, Gardien, Rabaud Saint-Etienne, Boileau, Bertrand,
Vigée, Molleveau, Henri La Rivière, Gomaire, and Bergoing. The convention
placed them under arrest at their own houses, and under the protection of
the people. The order for keeping the assembly itself prisoners was at
once withdrawn, and the multitude dispersed, but from that moment the
convention ceased to be free.
Thus fell the Gironde party, a party rendered illustrious by great talents
and great courage, a party which did honour to the young republic by its
horror of bloodshed, its hatred of crime and anarchy, its love of order,
justice, and liberty; a party unfitly placed between the middle class,
whose revolution it had combated, and the multitude, whose government it
rejected. Condemned to inaction, it could only render illustrious certain
defeat, by a courageous struggle and a glorious death. At this period, its
fate might readily be foreseen; it had been driven from post to post; from
the Jacobins by the invasion of the Mountain; from the commune by the
outbreak of Pétion; from the ministry by the retirement of Roland and his
colleagues; from the army by the defection of Dumouriez. The convention
alone remained to it, there it threw up its intrenchments, there it
fought, and there it fell. Its enemies employed against it, in turn,
insurrection and conspiracy. The conspiracies led to the creation of the
Commission of Twelve, which seemed to give a momentary advantage to the
Gironde, but which only excited its adversaries the more violently against
it. These aroused the people, and took from the Girondists, first, their
authority, by destroying the Twelve; then, their political existence, by
proscribing their leaders.
The consequences of this disastrous event did not answer the expectations
of any one. The Dantonists thought that the dissensions of parties were at
an end: civil war broke out. The moderate members of the committee of
public safety thought that the convention would resume all its power: it
was utterly subdued. The commune thought that the 31st of May would secure
to it domination; domination fell to Robespierre, and to a few men devoted
to his fortune, or to the principle of extreme democracy. Lastly, there
was another party to be added to the parties defeated, and thenceforth
hostile; and as after the 10th of August the republic had been opposed to
the constitutionalists, after the 31st of May the Reign of Terror was
opposed to the moderate party of the republic.