FROM THE 2ND OF JUNE, 1793, TO APRIL, 1794
It was to be presumed that the Girondists would not bow to their defeat,
and that the 31st of May would be the signal for the insurrection of the
departments against the Mountain and the commune of Paris. This was the
last trial left them to make, and they attempted it. But, in this decisive
measure, there was seen the same want of union which had caused their
defeat in the assembly. It is doubtful whether the Girondists would have
triumphed, had they been united, and especially whether their triumph
would have saved the revolution. How could they have done with just laws
what the Mountain effected by violent measures? How could they have
conquered foreign foes without fanaticism, restrained parties without the
aid of terror, fed the multitude without a _maximum_, and supplied the
armies without requisition. If the 31st of May had had a different result,
what happened at a much later period would probably have taken place
immediately, namely, a gradual abatement of the revolutionary movement,
increased attacks on the part of Europe, a general resumption of
hostilities by all parties, the days of Prairial, without power to drive
back the multitude; the days of Vendémiaire, without power to repel the
royalists; the invasion of the allies, and, according to the policy of the
times, the partition of France. The republic was not sufficiently powerful
to meet so many attacks as it did after the reaction of Thermidor.
However this may be, the Girondists who ought to have remained quiet or
fought all together, did not do so, and, after the 2nd of June, all the
moderate men of the party remained under the decree of arrest: the others
escaped. Vergniaud, Gensonné, Ducos, Fonfrède, etc., were among the first;
Pétion, Barbaroux, Guadet, Louvet, Buzot, and Lanjuinais, among the
latter. They repaired to Evreux, in the department de l'Eure, where Buzot
had much influence, and thence to Caen, in Calvados. These made this town
the centre of the insurrection. Brittany soon joined them. The insurgents,
under the name of the _assembly of the departments assembled at Caen_,
formed an army, appointed general Wimpfen commander, arrested Romme and
Prieur de la Marne, who were members of the Mountain and commissaries of
the convention, and prepared to march on Paris. From there, a young,
beautiful, and courageous woman, Charlotte Corday, went to punish Marat,
the principal author of the 31st of May, and the 2nd of June. She hoped to
save the republic by sacrificing herself to its cause. But tyranny did not
rest with one man; it belonged to a party, and to the violent situation of
the republic. Charlotte Corday, after executing her generous but vain
design, died with unchanging calmness, modest courage, and the
satisfaction of having done well. [Footnote: The following are a few of
the replies of this heroic girl before the revolutionary tribunal:--"What
were your intentions in killing Marat?"--"To put an end to the troubles of
France."--"Is it long since you conceived this project?"--"Since the
proscription of the deputies of the people on the 31st of May."--"You
learned then by the papers that Marat was a friend of anarchy?"--"Yes, I
knew he was perverting France. I have killed," she added, raising her
voice, "a man to save a thousand; a villain, to save the innocent; a wild
beast, to give tranquility to my country. I was a republican before the
revolution, and I have never been without energy."] But Marat, after his
assassination, became a greater object of enthusiasm with the people than
he had been while living. He was invoked on all the public squares; his
bust was placed in all the popular societies, and the convention was
obliged to grant him the honours of the Panthéon.
At the same time Lyons arose, Marseilles and Bordeaux took arms, and more
than sixty departments joined the insurrection. This attack soon led to a
general rising among all parties, and the royalists for the most part took
advantage of the movement which the Girondists had commenced. They sought,
especially, to direct the insurrection of Lyons, in order to make it the
centre of the movement in the south. This city was strongly attached to
the ancient order of things. Its manufactures of silver and gold and
silken embroidery, and its trade in articles of luxury, made it dependent
on the upper classes. It therefore declared at an early period against a
social change, which destroyed its former connexions, and ruined its
manufactures, by destroying the nobility and clergy. Lyons, accordingly,
in 1790, even under the constituent assembly, when the emigrant princes
were in that neighbourhood, at the court of Turin, had made attempts at a
rising. These attempts, directed by priests and nobles, had been
repressed, but the spirit remained the same. There, as elsewhere, after
the 10th of August, men had wished to bring about the revolution of the
multitude, and to establish its government. Châlier, the fanatical
imitator of Marat, was at the head of the Jacobins, the sans-culottes, and
the municipality of Lyons. His audacity increased after the massacres of
September and the 21st of January. Yet nothing had as yet been decided
between the lower republican class, and the middle royalist class, the one
having its seat of power in the municipality, and the other in the
sections. But the disputes became greater towards the end of May; they
fought, and the sections carried the day. The municipality was besieged,
and taken by assault. Châlier, who had fled, was apprehended and executed.
The sections, not as yet daring to throw off the yoke of the convention,
endeavoured to excuse themselves on the score of the necessity of arming
themselves, because the Jacobins and the members of the corporation had
forced them to do so. The convention, which could only save itself by
means of daring, losing everything if it yielded, would listen to nothing.
Meanwhile the insurrection of Calvados became known, and the people of
Lyons, thus encouraged, no longer feared to raise the standard of revolt.
They put their town in a state of defence; they raised fortifications,
formed an army of twenty thousand men, received emigrants among them,
entrusted the command of their forces to the royalist Précy and the
marquis de Virieux, and concerted their operations with the king of
Sardinia.
The revolt of Lyons was so much the more to be feared by the convention,
as its central position gave it the support of the south, which was in
arms, while there was also a rising in the west. At Marseilles, the news
of the 31st of May had aroused the partisans of the Girondists: Rebecqui
repaired thither in haste. The sections were assembled; the members of the
revolutionary tribunal were outlawed; the two representatives, Baux and
Antiboul, were arrested, and an army of ten thousand men raised to advance
on Paris. These measures were the work of the royalists, who, there as
elsewhere, only waiting for an opportunity to revive their party, had at
first assumed a republican appearance, but now acted in their own name.
They had secured the sections; and the movement was no longer effected in
favour of the Girondists, but for the counter-revolutionists. Once in a
state of revolt, the party whose opinions are the most violent, and whose
aim is the clearest, supplants its allies. Rebecqui, perceiving this new
turn of the insurrection, threw himself in despair into the port of
Marseilles. The insurgents took the road to Lyons; their example was
rapidly imitated at Toulon, Nîmes, Montauban, and the principal towns in
the south. In Calvados, the insurrection had had the same royalist
character, since the marquis de Puisaye, at the head of some troops, had
introduced himself into the ranks of the Girondists. The towns of
Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest, and L'Orient, were favourable to the persons
proscribed on the 2nd of June, and a few openly joined them; but they were
of no great service, because they were restrained by the Jacobin party, or
by the necessity of fighting the royalists of the west.
The latter, during this almost general rising of the departments,
continued to extend their enterprises. After their first victories, the
Vendéans seized on Bressuire, Argenton, and Thouars. Entirely masters of
their own country, they proposed getting possession of the frontiers, and
opening a way into revolutionary France, as well as communications with
England. On the 6th of June, the Vendéan army, composed of forty thousand
men, under Cathelineau, Lescure, Stofflet, and La Rochejaquelin, marched
on Saumur, which it took by storm. It then prepared to attack and capture
Nantes, to secure the possession of its own country, and become master of
the course of the Loire. Cathelineau, at the head of the Vendéan troops,
left a garrison in Saumur, took Angers, crossed the Loire, pretended to
advance upon Tours and Le Mans, and then rapidly threw himself upon
Nantes, which he attacked on the right bank, while Charette was to attack
it on the left.
Everything seemed combined for the overthrow of the convention. Its armies
were beaten on the north and on the Pyrenees, while it was threatened by
the people of Lyons in the centre, those of Marseilles in the south, the
Girondists in one part of the west, the Vendéans in the other, and while
twenty thousand Piedmontese were invading France. The military reaction
which, after the brilliant campaigns of Argonne and Belgium, had taken
place, chiefly owing to the disagreement between Dumouriez and the
Jacobins, between the army and the government, had manifested itself in a
most disastrous manner since the defection of the commander-in-chief.
There was no longer unity of operation, enthusiasm in the troops, or
agreement between the convention, occupied with its quarrels, and the
discouraged generals. The remains of Dumouriez's army had assembled at the
camp at Famars, under the command of Dampierre; but they had been obliged
to retire, after a defeat, under the cannon of Bouchain. Dampierre was
killed. The frontier from Dunkirk to Givet was threatened by superior
forces. Custine was promptly called from the Moselle to the army of the
north, but his presence did not restore affairs. Valenciennes, the key to
France, was taken; Condé shared the same fate; the army, driven from
position to position, retired beyond the Scarpe, before Arras, the last
post between the Scarpe and Paris. Mayence, on the other side, sorely
pressed by the enemy and by famine, gave up all hope of being assisted by
the army of the Moselle, reduced to inaction; and despairing of being able
to hold out long, capitulated. Lastly, the English Government, seeing that
Paris and the departments were distressed by famine, after the 31st of May
and the 2nd of June, pronounced all the ports of France in a state of
blockade, and that all neutral ships attempting to bring a supply of
provisions would be confiscated. This measure, new to the annals of
history, and destined to starve an entire people, three months afterwards
originated the law of the _maximum_. The situation of the republic could
not be worse.
The convention was, as it were, taken by surprise. It was disorganized,
because emerging from a struggle, and because the conquerors had not had
time to establish themselves. After the 2nd of June, before the danger
became so pressing both on the frontiers and in the departments, the
Mountain had sent commissioners in every direction, and immediately turned
its attention to the constitution, which had so long been expected, and
from which it entertained great hopes. The Girondists had wished to decree
it before the 21st of January, in order to save Louis XVI., by
substituting legal order for the revolutionary state of things; they
returned to the subject previous to the 31st of May, in order to prevent
their own ruin. But the Mountain, on two occasions, had diverted the
assembly from this discussion by two coups d'état, the trial of Louis
XVI., and the elimination of the Gironde. Masters of the field, they now
endeavoured to secure the republicans by decreeing the constitution.
Hérault de Séchelles was the legislator of the Mountain, as Condorcet had
been of the Gironde. In a few days, this new constitution was adopted in
the convention, and submitted to the approval of the primary assemblies.
It is easy to conceive its nature, with the ideas that then prevailed
respecting democratic government. The constituent assembly was considered
as aristocratical: the law it had established was regarded as a violation
of the rights of the people, because it imposed conditions for the
exercise of political rights; because it did not recognise the most
absolute equality; because it had deputies and magistrates appointed by
electors, and these electors by the people; because, in some cases, it put
limits to the national sovereignty, by excluding a portion of active
citizens from high public functions, and the proletarians from the
functions of acting citizens; finally, because, instead of fixing on
population as the only basis of political rights, it combined it, in all
its operations, with property. The constitutional law of 1793 established
the pure régime of the multitude: it not only recognised the people as the
source of all power, but also delegated the exercise of it to the people;
an unlimited sovereignty; extreme mobility in the magistracy; direct
elections, in which every one could vote; primary assemblies, that could
meet without convocation, at given times, to elect representatives and
control their acts; a national assembly, to be renewed annually, and
which, properly speaking, was only a committee of the primary assemblies;
such was this constitution. As it made the multitude govern, and as it
entirely disorganized authority, it was impracticable at all times; but
especially in a moment of general war. The Mountain, instead of extreme
democracy, needed a stern dictatorship. The constitution was suspended as
soon as made, and the revolutionary government strengthened and maintained
until peace was achieved.
Both during the discussion of the constitution and its presentation to the
primary assemblies, the Mountain learned the danger which threatened them.
These daring men, having three or four parties to put down in the
interior, several kinds of civil war to terminate, the disasters of the
armies to repair, and all Europe to repel, were not alarmed at their
position. The representatives of the forty-four thousand municipalities
came to accept the constitution. Admitted to the bar of the assembly,
after making known the assent of the people, they required _the arrest of
all suspected persons, and a levy en masse of the people_. "Well,"
exclaimed Danton, "let us respond to their wishes. The deputies of the
primary assemblies have just taken the initiative among us, in the way of
inspiring terror! I demand that the convention, which ought now to be
penetrated with a sense of its dignity, for it has just been invested with
the entire national power, I demand that it do now, by a decree, invest
the primary assemblies with the right of supplying the state with arms,
provisions, and ammunition; of making an appeal to the people, of exciting
the energy of citizens, and of raising four hundred thousand men. It is
with cannon-balls that we must declare the constitution to our foes! Now
is the time to take the last great oath, that we will destroy tyranny, or
perish!" This oath was immediately taken by all the deputies and citizens
present. A few days after, Barrère, in the name of the committee of public
safety, which was composed of revolutionary members, and which became the
centre of operations and the government of the assembly, proposed measures
still more general: "Liberty," said he, "has become the creditor of every
citizen; some owe her their industry; others their fortune; these their
counsel; those their arms; all owe her their blood. Accordingly, all the
French, of every age and of either sex, are summoned by their country to
defend liberty; all faculties, physical or moral; all means, political or
commercial; all metal, all the elements are her tributaries. Let each
maintain his post in the national and military movement about to take
place. The young men will fight; the married men will forge arms,
transport the baggage and artillery, and prepare provisions; the women
will make tents and clothes for the soldiers, and exercise their
hospitable care in the asylums of the wounded; children will make lint
from old linen; and the aged, resuming the mission they discharged among
the ancients, shall cause themselves to be carried to the public places,
where they shall excite the courage of the young warriors, and propagate
the doctrine of hatred to kings, and the unity of the republic. National
buildings shall be converted into barracks, public squares into workshops;
the ground of the cellars will serve for the preparation of saltpetre; all
saddle horses shall be placed in requisition for the cavalry; all draught
horses for the artillery; fowling-pieces, pistols, swords and pikes,
belonging to individuals, shall be employed in the service of the
interior. The republic being but a large city, in a state of necessity,
France must be converted into a vast camp."
The measures proposed by Barrère were at once decreed. All Frenchmen, from
eighteen to five-and-twenty, took arms, the armies were recruited by
levies of men, and supported by levies of provisions. The republic had
very soon fourteen armies, and twelve hundred thousand soldiers. France,
while it became a camp and a workshop for the republicans, became at the
same time a prison for those who did not accept the republic. While
marching against avowed enemies, it was thought necessary to make sure of
secret foes, and the famous law, _des suspects_, was passed. All
foreigners were arrested, on the ground of their hostile machinations, and
the partisans of constitutional monarchy and a limited republic were
imprisoned, to be kept close, until the peace was effected. At the time,
this was so far only a reasonable measure of precaution. The bourgeoisie,
the mercantile people, and the middle classes, furnished prisoners after
the 31st of May, as the nobility and clergy had done after the 10th of
August. A revolutionary army of six thousand soldiers and a thousand
artillerymen was formed for the interior. Every indigent citizen was
allowed forty sous a day, to enable him to be present at the sectionary
meetings. Certificates of citizenship were delivered, in order to make
sure of the opinions of all who co-operated in the revolutionary movement.
The functionaries were placed under the surveillance of the clubs, a
revolutionary committee was formed in each section, and thus they prepared
to face the enemy on all sides, both abroad and at home.
The insurgents in Calvados were easily suppressed; at the very first
skirmish at Vernon, the insurgent troops fled. Wimpfen endeavoured to
rally them in vain. The moderate class, those who had taken up the defence
of the Girondists, displayed little ardour or activity. When the
constitution was accepted by the other departments, it saw the opportunity
for admitting that it had been in error, when it thought it was taking
arms against a mere factious minority. This retractation was made at Caen,
which had been the headquarters of the revolt. The Mountain commissioners
did not sully this first victory with executions. General Carteaux, on the
other hand, marched at the head of some troops against the sectionary army
of the south; he defeated its force, pursued it to Marseilles, entered the
town after it, and Provence would have been brought into subjection like
Calvados, if the royalists, who had taken refuge at Toulon, after their
defeat, had not called in the English to their aid, and placed in their
hands this key to France. Admiral Hood entered the town in the name of
Louis XVII., whom he proclaimed king, disarmed the fleet, sent for eight
thousand Spaniards by sea, occupied the surrounding forts, and forced
Carteaux, who was advancing against Toulon, to fall back on Marseilles.
Notwithstanding this check, the conventionalists succeeded in isolating
the insurrection, and this was a great point. The Mountain commissioners
had made their entry into the rebel capitals; Robert Lindet into Caen;
Tallien into Bordeaux; Barras and Fréron into Marseilles. Only two towns
remained to be taken--Toulon and Lyons.
A simultaneous attack from the south, west, and centre was no longer
apprehended, and in the interior the enemy was only on the defensive.
Lyons was besieged by Kellermann, general of the army of the Alps; three
corps pressed the town on all sides. The veteran soldiers of the Alps, the
revolutionary battalions and the newly-levied troops, reinforced the
besiegers every day. The people of Lyons defended themselves with all the
courage of despair. At first, they relied on the assistance of the
insurgents of the south; but these having been repulsed by Carteaux, the
Lyonnais placed their last hope in the army of Piedmont, which attempted a
diversion in their favour, but was beaten by Kellermann. Pressed still
more energetically, they saw their first positions carried. Famine began
to be felt, and courage forsook them. The royalist leaders, convinced of
the inutility of longer resistance, left the town, and the republican army
entered the walls, where they awaited the orders of the convention. A few
months after, Toulon itself, defended by veteran troops and formidable
fortifications, fell into the power of the republicans. The battalions of
the army of Italy, reinforced by those which the taking of Lyons left
disposable, pressed the place closely. After repeated attacks and
prodigies of skill and valour, they made themselves masters of it, and the
capture of Toulon finished what that of Lyons had begun.
Everywhere the convention was victorious. The Vendéans had failed in their
attempt upon Nantes, after having lost many men, and their general-in-
chief, Cathelineau. This attack put an end to the aggressive and
previously promising movement of the Vendéan insurrection. The royalists
repassed the Loire, abandoned Saumur, and resumed their former
cantonments. They were, however, still formidable; and the republicans,
who pursued them, were again beaten in La Vendée. General Biron, who had
succeeded general Berruyer, unsuccessfully continued the war with small
bodies of troops; his moderation and defective system of attack caused him
to be replaced by Canclaux and Rossignol, who were not more fortunate than
he. There were two leaders, two armies, and two centres of operation--the
one at Nantes, and the other at Saumur, placed under contrary influences.
General Canclaux could not agree with general Rossignol, nor the moderate
Mountain commissioner Philippeaux with Bourbotte, the commissioner of the
committee of public safety; and this attempt at invasion failed like the
preceding attempts, for want of concert in plan and action. The committee
of public safety soon remedied this, by appointing one sole general-in-
chief, Lechelle, and by introducing war on a large scale into La Vendée.
This new method, aided by the garrison of Mayence, consisting of seventeen
thousand veterans, who, relieved from operations against the allied
nations after the capitulation, were employed in the interior, entirely
changed the face of the war. The royalists underwent four consecutive
defeats, two at Châtillon, two at Cholet. Lescure, Bonchamps, and d'Elbée
were mortally wounded, and the insurgents, completely beaten in Upper
Vendée, and fearing that they should be exterminated if they took refuge
in Lower Vendée, determined to leave their country to the number of eighty
thousand persons. This emigration through Brittany, which they hoped to
arouse to insurrection, became fatal to them. Repulsed before Granville,
utterly routed at Mans, they were destroyed at Savenay, and barely a few
thousand men, the wreck of this vast emigration, returned to Vendée. These
disasters, irreparable for the royalist cause, the taking of the island of
Noirmoutiers from Charette, the dispersion of the troops of that leader,
the death of La Rochejaquelin, rendered the republicans masters of the
country. The committee of public safety, thinking, not without reason,
that its enemies were beaten but not subjugated, adopted a terrible system
of extermination to prevent them from rising again. General Thurreau
surrounded Vendée with sixteen entrenched camps; twelve moveable columns,
called the _infernal columns_, overran the country in every direction,
sword and fire in hand, scoured the woods, dispersed the assemblies, and
diffused terror throughout this unhappy country.
The foreign armies had also been driven back from the frontiers they had
invaded. After having taken Valenciennes and Condé, blockaded Maubeuge and
Le Quesnoy, the enemy advanced on Cassel, Hondschoote, and Furnes, under
the command of the duke of York. The committee of public safety,
dissatisfied with Custine, who was further regarded with suspicion as a
Girondist, superseded him by general Houchard. The enemy, hitherto
successful, was defeated at Hondschoote, and compelled to retreat. The
military reaction began with the daring measures of the committee of
public safety. Houchard himself was dismissed. Jourdan took the command of
the army of the north, gained the important victory of Watignies over the
prince of Coburg, raised the siege of Maubeuge, and resumed the offensive
on that frontier. Similar successes took place on all the others. The
immortal campaign of 1793-1794 opened. What Jourdan had done with the army
of the north, Hoche and Pichegru did with the army of the Moselle, and
Kellermann with that of the Alps. The enemy was repulsed, and kept in
check on all sides. Then took place, after the 31st of May, that which had
followed the 10th of August. The want of union between the generals and
the leaders of the assembly was removed; the revolutionary movement, which
had slackened, increased; and victories recommenced. Armies have had their
crises, as well as parties, and these crises have brought about successes
or defeat, always by the same law.
In 1792, at the beginning of the war, the generals were
constitutionalists, and the ministers Girondists. Rochambeau, Lafayette,
and Luckner, did not at all agree with Dumouriez, Servan, Clavière, and
Roland. There was, besides, little enthusiasm in the army; it was beaten.
After the 10th of August, the Girondist generals, Dumouriez, Custine,
Kellermann, and Dillon, replaced the constitutionalist generals. There was
unity of views, confidence, and co-operation, between the army and the
government. The catastrophe of the 10th of August augmented this energy,
by increasing the necessity for victory; and the results were the plan of
the campaign of Argonne, the victories of Valmy and Jemappes, and the
invasion of Belgium. The struggle between the Mountain and the Gironde,
between Dumouriez and the Jacobins, again created discord between the army
and government, and destroyed the confidence of the troops, who
experienced immediate and numerous reverses. There was defection on the
part of Dumouriez, as there had been withdrawal on the part of Lafayette.
After the 31st of May, which overthrew the Gironde party, after the
committee of public safety had become established, and had replaced the
Girondist generals, Dumouriez, Custine, Houchard, and Dillon, by the
Mountain generals, Jourdan, Hoche, Pichegru, and Moreau; after it had
restored the revolutionary movement by the daring measures we have
described, the campaign of Argonne and of Belgium was renewed in that of
1794, and the genius of Carnot equalled that of Dumouriez, if it did not
surpass it.
During this war, the committee of public safety permitted a frightful
number of executions. Armies confine themselves to slaughter in battle; it
is not so with parties, who, under violent circumstances, fearing to see
the combat renewed after the victory, secure themselves from new attacks
by inexorable rigour. The usage of all governments being to make their own
preservation a matter of right, they regard those who attack them as
enemies so long as they fight, as conspirators when they are defeated; and
thus destroy them alike by means of war and of law.
All these views at once guided the policy of the committee of public
safety, a policy of vengeance, of terror, and of self-preservation. This
was the maxim upon which it proceeded in reference to insurgent towns:
"The name of Lyons," said Barrère, "must no longer exist. You will call it
_Ville Affranchie_, and upon the ruins of that famous city there shall be
raised a monument to attest the crime and the punishment of the enemies of
liberty. Its history shall be told in these words: '_Lyons warred against
liberty; Lyons exists no more_.'" To realise this terrible anathema, the
committee sent to this unfortunate city Collot-d'Herbois, Fouché, and
Couthon, who slaughtered the inhabitants with grape shot and demolished
its buildings. The insurgents of Toulon underwent at the hands of the
representatives, Barras and Fréron, a nearly similar fate. At Caen,
Marseilles, and Bordeaux, the executions were less general and less
violent, because they were proportioned to the gravity of the
insurrection, which had not been undertaken in concert with foreign foes.
In the interior, the dictatorial government struck at all the parties with
which it was at war, in the persons of their greatest members. The
condemnation of queen Marie-Antoinette was directed against Europe; that
of the twenty-two against the Girondists; of the wise Bailly against the
old constitutionalists; lastly, that of the duke of Orleans against
certain members of the Mountain who were supposed to have plotted his
elevation. The unfortunate widow of Louis XVI. was first sentenced to
death by this sanguinary revolutionary tribunal. The proscribed of the 2nd
of June soon followed her. She perished on the 16th of October, and the
Girondist deputies on the 31st. They were twenty-one in number: Brissot,
Vergniaud, Gensonné, Fonfrède, Ducos, Valazé, Lasource, Silléry, Gardien,
Carra, Duperret, Duprat, Fauchet, Beauvais, Duchâtel, Mainvielle, Lacaze,
Boileau, Lehardy, Antiboul, and Vigée. Seventy-three of their colleagues,
who had protested against their arrest, were also imprisoned, but the
committee did not venture to inflict death upon them.
During the debates, these illustrious prisoners displayed uniform and
serene courage. Vergniaud raised his eloquent voice for a moment, but in
vain. Valazé stabbed himself with a poignard on hearing the sentence, and
Lasource said to the judges: "I die at a time when the people have lost
their senses; you will die when they recover them." They went to execution
displaying all the stoicism of the times, singing the _Marseillaise_, and
applying it to their own case:
"Allons, enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé:
Contre nous de la tyrannie
Le couteau sanglant est levé," etc.
Nearly all the other leaders of this party had a violent end. Salles,
Guadet, and Barbaroux, were discovered in the grottos of Saint-Emilion,
near Bordeaux, and died on the scaffold. Pétion and Buzot, after wandering
about some time, committed suicide; they were found, dead in a field, half
devoured by wolves. Rabaud-Saint-Etienne was betrayed by an old friend;
Madame Roland was also condemned to death, and displayed the courage of a
Roman matron. Her husband, on hearing of her death, left his place of
concealment, and killed himself on the high road. Condorcet, outlawed soon
after the 2nd of June, was taken while endeavouring to escape, and saved
himself from the executioner's knife only by poison. Louvet, Kervelegan,
Lanjuinais, Henri La Rivière, Lesage, La Réveillère-Lépeaux, were the only
leading Girondists who, in secure retreat, awaited the end of the furious
storm.
The revolutionary government was formed; it was proclaimed by the
convention on the 10th of October. Before the 31st of May, power had been
nowhere, neither in the ministry, nor in the commune, nor in the
convention. It was natural that power should become concentrated in this
extreme situation of affairs, and at a moment when the need for unity and
promptitude of action was deeply felt. The assembly being the most central
and extensive power, the dictatorship would as naturally become placed in
its bosom, be exercised there by the dominant faction, and in that faction
by a few men. The committee of public safety of the convention created on
the 6th of April, in order, as the name indicates, to provide for the
defence of the revolution by extraordinary measures, was in itself a
complete framework of government. Formed during the divisions of the
Mountain and the Gironde, it was composed of neutral members of the
convention till the 31st of May; and at its first renewal, of members of
the extreme Mountain. Barrère remained in it; but Robespierre acceded, and
his party dominated in it by Saint-Just, Couthon, Collot-d'Herbois, and
Billaud-Varennes. He set aside some Dantonists who still remained in it,
such as Hérault de Séchelles and Robert Lindet, gained over Barrère, and
usurped the lead by assuming the direction of the public mind and of
police. His associates divided the various departments among themselves.
Saint-Just undertook the surveillance and denouncing of parties; Couthon,
the violent propositions which required to be softened in form; Billaud-
Varennes and Collot-d'Herbois directed the missions into the departments;
Carnot took the war department; Cambon, the exchequer; Prieur de la Côte-
d'Or, Prieur de la Marne, and several others, the various branches of
internal administration; and Barrère was the daily orator, the panegyrist
ever prepared, of the dictatorial committee. Below these, assisting in the
detail of the revolutionary administration, and of minor measures, was
placed the committee of general safety, composed in the same spirit as the
great committee, having, like it, twelve members, who were re-eligible
every three months, and always renewed in their office.
The whole revolutionary power was lodged in the hands of these men. Saint-
Just, in proposing the establishment of the decemviral power until the
restoration of peace, did not conceal the motives nor the object of this
dictatorship. "You must no longer show any lenity to the enemies of the
new order of things," said he. "Liberty must triumph at any cost. In the
present circumstances of the republic, the constitution cannot be
established; it would guarantee impunity to attacks on our liberty,
because it would be deficient in the violence necessary to restrain them.
The present government is not sufficiently free to act. You are not near
enough to strike in every direction at the authors of these attacks; the
sword of the law must extend everywhere; your arm must be felt
everywhere." Thus was created that terrible power, which first destroyed
the enemies of the Mountain, then the Mountain and the Commune, and,
lastly, itself. The committee did everything in the name of the
convention, which it used as an instrument. It nominated and dismissed
generals, ministers, representatives, commissioners, judges, and juries.
It assailed factions; it took the initiative in all measures. Through its
commissioners, armies and generals were dependent upon it, and it ruled
the departments with sovereign sway. By means of the law touching
suspected persons, it disposed of men's liberties; by the revolutionary
tribunal, of men's lives; by levies and the _maximum_, of property; by
decrees of accusation in the terrified convention, of its own members.
Lastly, its dictatorship was supported by the multitude, who debated in
the clubs, ruled in the revolutionary committees: whose services it paid
by a daily stipend, and whom it fed with the _maximum_. The multitude
adhered to a system which inflamed its passions, exaggerated its
importance, assigned it the first place, and appeared to do everything
for it.
The innovators, separated by war and by their laws from all states and
from all forms of government, determined to widen the separation. By an
unprecedented revolution they established an entirely new era; they
changed the divisions of the year, the names of the months and days; they
substituted a republican for the Christian calendar, the decade for the
week, and fixed the day of rest not on the sabbath, but on the tenth day.
The new era dated from the 22nd of September, 1792, the epoch of the
foundation of the republic. There were twelve equal months of thirty days,
which began on the 22nd of September, in the following order:--
_Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire_, for the autumn; _Nivôse, Pluviôse,
Ventôse_, for the winter; _Germinal, Floréal, Prairial_, for the spring;
_Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor_, for the summer. Each month had three
décades, each décade ten days, and each day was named from its order in
the décade:--_Primidi, Duodi, Tridi, Quartidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi,
Octidi, Nonidi, Decadi_. The surplus five days were placed at the end of
the year; they received the name of _Sans-culottides_, and were
consecrated, the first, to the festival of genius; the second, to that of
labour; the third, to that of actions; the fourth, to that of rewards; the
fifth, to that of opinion. The constitution of 1793 led to the
establishment of the republican calendar, and the republican calendar to
the abolition of Christian worship. We shall soon see the commune and the
committee of public safety each proposing a religion of its own; the
commune, the worship of reason; the committee of public safety, the
worship of the Supreme Being. But we must first mention a new struggle
between the authors of the catastrophe of the 31st of May themselves.
The Commune and the Mountain had effected this revolution against the
Gironde, and the committee alone had benefited by it. During the five
months from June to November, the committee, having taken all the measures
of defence, had naturally become the first power in the republic. The
actual struggle being, as it were, over, the commune sought to sway the
committee, and the Mountain to throw off its yoke. The most intense
manifestation of the revolution was found in the municipal faction. With
an aim opposed to that of the committee of public safety, it desired
instead of the conventional dictatorship, the most extreme local
democracy; and instead of religion, the consecration of materialism.
Political anarchy and religious atheism were the symbols of this party,
and the means by which it aimed at establishing its own rule. A revolution
is the effect of the different systems which have agitated the age which
has originated it. Thus, during the continuance of the crisis in France,
ultra-montane catholicism was represented by the nonjuring clergy;
Jansenism by the constitutionist clergy; philosophical deism by the
worship of the Supreme Being, instituted by the committee of public
safety; and the materialism of Holbach's school by the worship of Reason
and of Nature, decreed by the commune. It was the same with political
opinions, from the royalty of the _Ancien Régime_ to the unlimited
democracy of the municipal faction. The latter had lost, in Marat, its
principal support, its true leader, while the committee of public safety
still retained Robespierre. It had at its head men who enjoyed great
popularity with the lower classes; Chaumette, and his substitute Hébert,
were its political leaders; Ronsin, commandant of the revolutionary army,
its general; the atheist, Anacharsis Clootz, its apostle. In the sections
it relied on the revolutionary committees, in which there were many
obscure foreigners, supposed, and not without probability, to be agents of
England, sent to destroy the republic by driving it into anarchy and
excess. The club of the Cordeliers was composed entirely of its partisans.
The _Vieux Cordeliers_ of Danton, who had contributed so powerfully to the
10th of August, and who constituted the commune of that period, had
entered the government and the convention, and had been replaced in the
club by members whom they contemptuously designated the _patriotes de la
troisième réquisition_.
Hébert's faction, which, in a work entitled _Père Duchêsne_, popularised
obscene language and low and cruel sentiments, and which added derision of
the victims to the executions of party, in a short time made terrible
progress. It compelled the bishop of Paris and his vicars to abjure
Christianity at the bar of the convention, and forced the convention to
decree, that _the worship of Reason should be substituted for the catholic
religion_. The churches were shut up or converted into temples of reason,
and fêtes were established in every town, which became scandalous scenes
of atheism. The committee of public safety grew alarmed at the power of
this ultra-revolutionary faction, and hastened to stop and to destroy it.
Robespierre soon attacked it in the assembly, (15th Frimaire, year II.,
5th Dec., 1793). "Citizens, representatives of the people," said he, "the
kings in alliance against the republic are making war against us with
armies and intrigues; we will oppose their armies by braver ones; their
intrigues, by vigilance and the terror of national justice. Ever intent on
renewing their secret plots, in proportion as they are destroyed by the
hand of patriotism, ever skilful in directing the arms of liberty against
liberty itself, the emissaries of the enemies of France are now labouring
to overthrow the republic by republicanism, and to rekindle civil war by
philosophy." He classed the ultra-revolutionists of the commune with the
external enemies of the republic. "It is your part," said he to the
convention, "to prevent the follies and extravagancies which coincide with
the projects of foreign conspiracy. I require you to prohibit particular
authorities (the commune) from serving our enemies by rash measures, and
that no armed force be allowed to interfere in questions of religious
opinions." And the convention, which had applauded the abjurations at the
demand of the commune, decreed, on Robespierre's motion, that _all
violence and all measures opposed to the liberty of religion are
prohibited_.
The committee of public safety was too strong not to triumph over the
commune; but, at the same time, it had to resist the moderate party of the
Mountain, which demanded the cessation of the revolutionary government and
the dictatorship of the committees. The revolutionary government had only
been created to restrain, the dictatorship to conquer; and as Danton and
his party no longer considered restraint and victory essential, they
sought to establish legal order, and the independence of the convention;
they wished to throw down the faction of the commune, to stop the
operation of the revolutionary tribunal, to empty the prisons now filled
with suspected persons, to reduce or destroy the powers of the committees.
This project in favour of clemency, humanity, and legal government, was
conceived by Danton, Philippeaux, Camille Desmoulins, Fabre-d'Eglantine,
Lacroix, general Westermann, and all the friends of Danton. Before all
things they wanted _that the republic should secure the field of battle_;
but after conquest, they wished to conciliate.
This party, become moderate, had renounced power; it had withdrawn from
the government, or suffered itself to be excluded by Robespierre's party.
Moreover, since the 31st of May, zealous patriots had considered Danton's
conduct equivocal. He had acted mildly on that day, and had subsequently
disapproved the condemnation of the twenty-two. They began to reproach him
with his disorderly life, his venal passions, his change of party, and
untimely moderation. To avoid the storm, he had retired to his native
place, Arcis-sur-Aube, and there he seemed to have forgotten all in
retirement. During his absence, the Hébert faction made immense progress;
and the friends of Danton hastily summoned him to their aid. He returned
at the beginning of Frimaire (December). Philippeaux immediately denounced
the manner in which the Vendéan war had been carried on; general
Westermann, who had greatly distinguised himself in that war, and who had
just been dismissed by the committee of public safety, supported
Philippeaux, and Camille Desmoulins published the first numbers of his
_Vieux Cordelier_. This brilliant and fiery young man had followed all the
movements of the revolution, from the 14th of July to the 31st of May,
approving all its exaggerations and all its measures. His heart, however,
was gentle and tender, though his opinions were violent, and his humour
often bitter. He had praised the revolutionary régime because he believed
it indispensable for the establishment of the republic; he had co-operated
in the ruin of the Gironde, because he feared the dissensions of the
republic. For the republic he had sacrificed even his scruples and the
desires of his heart, even justice and humanity; he had given all to his
party, thinking that he gave it to the republic; but now he was able
neither to praise nor to keep silent; his energetic activity, which he had
employed for the republic, he now directed against those who were ruining
it by bloodshed. In his _Vieux Cordelier_ he spoke of liberty with the
depth of Machiavelli, and of men with the wit of Voltaire. But he soon
raised the fanatics and dictators against him, by calling the government
to sentiments of moderation, compassion, and justice.
He drew a striking picture of present tyranny, under the name of a past
tyranny. He selected his examples from Tacitus. "At this period," said he,
"words became state crimes: there wanted but one step more to render mere
glances, sadness, pity, sighs--even silence itself criminal. It soon
became high-treason, or an anti-revolutionary crime, for Cremutius Cordus
to call Brutus and Cassius the last of the Romans; a counter-revolutionary
crime in a descendant of Cassius to possess a portrait of his ancestor; a
counter-revolutionary crime in Mamercus Scaurus to write a tragedy in
which there were lines capable of a double meaning; a counter-
revolutionary crime in Torquatus Silanus to be extravagant; a counter-
revolutionary crime in Pomponius, because a friend of Sejanus had sought
an asylum in one of his country houses; a counter-revolutionary crime to
bewail the misfortunes of the time, for this was accusing the government;
a counter-revolutionary crime for the consul Fusius Geminus to bewail the
sad death of his son.
"If a man would escape death himself, it became necessary to rejoice at
the death of his friend or relative. Under Nero, many went to return
thanks to the gods for their relatives whom he had put to death. At least,
an assumed air of contentment was necessary; for even fear was sufficient
to render one guilty. Everything gave the tyrant umbrage. If a citizen was
popular, he was considered a rival to the prince, and capable of exciting
a civil war, and he was suspected. Did he, on the contrary, shun
popularity, and keep by his fireside; his retired mode of life drew
attention, and he was suspected. Was a man rich; it was feared the people
might be corrupted by his bounty, and he was suspected. Was he poor; it
became necessary to watch him closely, as none are so enterprising as
those who have nothing, and he was suspected. If his disposition chanced
to be sombre and melancholy, and his dress neglected, his distress was
supposed to be occasioned by the state of public affairs, and he was
suspected. If a citizen indulged in good living to the injury of his
digestion, he was said to do so because the prince lived ill, and he was
suspected. If virtuous and austere in his manners, he was thought to
censure the court, and he was suspected. Was he philosopher, orator, or
poet; it was unbecoming to have more celebrity than the government, and he
was suspected. Lastly, if any one had obtained a reputation in war, his
talent only served to make him dangerous; it became necessary to get rid
of the general, or to remove him speedily from the army; he was suspected.
"The natural death of a celebrated man, or of even a public official, was
so rare, that historians handed it down to posterity as an event worthy to
be remembered in remote ages. The death of so many innocent and worthy
citizens seemed less a calamity than the insolence and disgraceful
opulence of their murderers and denouncers. Every day the sacred and
inviolable informer made his triumphant entry into the palace of the dead,
and received some rich heritage. All these denouncers assumed illustrious
names, and called themselves Cotta, Scipio, Regulus, Saevius, Severus. To
distinguish himself by a brilliant début, the marquis Serenus brought an
accusation of anti-revolutionary practices against his aged father,
already in exile, after which he proudly called himself Brutus. Such were
the accusers, such the judges; the tribunals, the protectors of life and
property, became slaughter-houses, in which theft and murder bore the
names of punishment and confiscation."
Camille Desmoulins did not confine himself to attacking the revolutionary
and dictatorial regime; he required its abolition. He demanded the
establishment of a committee of mercy, as the only way of terminating the
revolution and pacifying parties. His journal produced a great effect upon
public opinion; it inspired some hope and courage: Have you read the
_Vieux Cordelier_? was asked on all sides. At the same time Fabre-
d'Eglantine, Lacroix, and Bourdon de l'Oise, excited the convention to
throw off the yoke of the committee; they sought to unite the Mountain and
the Right, in order to restore the freedom and power of the assembly. As
the committees were all powerful, they tried to ruin them by degrees, the
best course to follow. It was important to change public opinion, and to
encourage the assembly, in order to support themselves by a moral force
against revolutionary force, by the power of the convention against the
power of the committees. The Dantonist in the Mountain endeavoured to
detach Robespierre from the other Decemvirs; Billaud-Varennes, Collot-
d'Herbois and Saint-Just, alone appeared to them invincibly attached to
the Reign of Terror. Barrère adhered to it through weakness--Couthon from
his devotion to Robespierre. They hoped to gain over the latter to the
cause of moderation, through his friendship for Danton, his ideas of
order, his austere habits, his profession of public virtue, and his pride.
He had defended seventy-three imprisoned Girondist deputies against the
committees and the Jacobins; he had dared to attack Clootz and Hébert as
ultra-revolutionists; and he had induced the convention to decree the
existence of the Supreme Being. Robespierre was the most popularly
renowned man of that time; he was, in a measure, the moderator of the
republic and the dictator of opinion: by gaining him, they hoped to
overcome both the committees and the commune, without compromising the
cause of the revolution.
Danton saw him on his return from Arcis-sur-Aube, and they seemed to
understand one another; attacked at the Jacobins, he was defended by him.
Robespierre himself read and corrected the _Vieux Cordelier_, and approved
of it. At the same time he professed some principles of moderation; but
then all those who exercised the revolutionary government, or who thought
it indispensable, became aroused. Billaud-Varennes and Saint-Just openly
maintained the policy of the committees. Desmoulins had said of the
latter: "He so esteems himself, that he carries his head on his shoulders
with as much respect as if it were the holy sacrament." "And I," replied
Saint-Just, "will make him carry his like another Saint Denis." Collot-
d'Herbois, who was on a mission, arrived while matters were in this state.
He protected the faction of the anarchists, who had been intimidated for a
moment, and who derived fresh audacity from his presence. The Jacobins
expelled Camille Desmoulins from their society, and Barrère attacked him
at the convention in the name of the government. Robespierre himself was
not spared; he was accused of _moderatism_, and murmurs began to circulate
against him.
However, his credit being immense, as they could not attack or conquer
without him, he was sought on both sides. Taking advantage of this
superior position, he adopted neither party, and sought to put down the
leaders of each, one after the other.
Under these circumstances, he wished to sacrifice the commune and the
anarchists; the committees wished to sacrifice the Mountain and the
Moderates. They came to an understanding: Robespierre gave up Danton,
Desmoulins, and their friends to the members of the committee; and the
members of the committee gave up Hébert, Clootz, Chaumette, Ronsin, and
their accomplices. By favouring the Moderates at first, he prepared the
ruin of the anarchists, and he attained two objects favourable to his
domination or to his pride--he overturned a formidable faction, and he got
rid of a revolutionary reputation, the rival of his own.
Motives of public safety, it must be admitted, mingled with these
combinations of party. At this period of general fury against the
republic, and of victories not yet definitive on its part, the committees
did not think the moment for peace with Europe and the internal
dissentients had arrived; and they considered it impossible to carry on
the war without a dictatorship. They, moreover, regarded the Hébertists as
an obscene faction, which corrupted the people, and served the foreign foe
by anarchy; and the Dantonists as a party whose political moderation and
private immorality compromised and dishonoured the republic. The
government accordingly proposed to the assembly, through the medium of
Barrère, the continuation of the war, with additional activity in its
pursuit; while Robespierre, a few days afterwards, demanded the
continuance of the revolutionary government. In the Jacobins he had
already expressed himself opposed to the _Vieux Cordelier_, which he had
hitherto supported. He rejected legal government in the following terms:--
"Without," said he, "all the tyrants surround us; within, all the friends
of tyranny conspire against us; they will continue to conspire till crime
is left without hope. We must destroy the infernal and external enemies of
the republic or perish with it. Now, in such a situation, the first maxim
of your policy should be, to lead the people by reason, and the enemies of
the people by terror. If, during peace, virtue be the mainspring of a
popular government, its mainspring in the times of revolution is both
virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror becomes fatal, terror,
without which virtue is powerless. Subdue, then, the enemies of liberty by
terror; and, as the founders of the republic, you will act rightly. The
government of the revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny."
In this speech he denounced the _moderates_ and the _ultra-
revolutionists_, as both of them desiring the downfall of the republic.
"They advance," said he, "under different banners and by different roads,
but they advance towards the same goal; that goal is the disorganization
of the popular government, the ruin of the convention, and the triumph of
tyranny. One of these two factions reduces us to weakness, the other
drives us to excesses." He prepared the public mind for their
proscription; and his speech, adopted without discussion, was sent to all
the popular societies, to all the authorities, and to all the armies.
After this beginning of hostilities, Danton, who had not given up his
connexion with Robespierre, asked for an interview with him. It took place
at the residence of Robespierre himself. They were cold and bitter; Danton
complained violently, and Robespierre was reserved. "I know," said Danton,
"all the hatred the committee bear me; but I do not fear it." "You are
wrong," replied Robespierre; "it entertains no ill designs against you;
but you would do well to have an explanation." "An explanation?" rejoined
Danton, "an explanation? That requires good faith!" Seeing that
Robespierre looked grave at these words, he added: "No doubt it is
necessary to put down the royalists, but we ought only to strike blows
which will benefit the republic; we must not confound the innocent with
the guilty." "And who says," exclaimed Robespierre, sharply, "that an
innocent person has been put to death?" Danton turned to one of his
friends who had accompanied him, and said, with a bitter smile: "What do
you say to this? Not one innocent person has perished!" They then
separated, and all friendship ceased between them.
A few days afterwards, Saint-Just ascended the tribune, and threatened
more openly than had yet been done all dissentients, moderates, or
anarchists. "Citizens," said he, "you wished for a republic; if you do not
at the same time desire all that constitutes it, you will overwhelm the
people in its ruins. What constitutes a republic is the destruction of all
that is opposed to it. We are guilty towards the republic because we pity
the prisoners; we are guilty towards the republic because we do not desire
virtue; we are guilty to the republic because we do not desire terror.
What is it you want, those of you who do not wish for virtue, that you may
be happy? (The Anarchists.) What is it you want, those of you who do not
wish to employ terror against the wicked? (The Moderates.) What is it you
want, those of you who haunt public places to be seen, and to have it said
of you: 'Do you see such a one pass?' (Danton.) You will perish, those of
you who seek fortune, who assume haggard looks, and affect the patriot
that the foreigner may buy you up, or the government give you a place; you
of the indulgent faction, who seek to save the guilty; you of the foreign
faction, who direct severity against the defenders of the people. Measures
are already taken to secure the guilty; they are hemmed in on all sides.
Let us return thanks to the genius of the French people, that liberty has
triumphed over one of the most dangerous attacks ever meditated against
it. The development of this vast plot, the panic it will create, and the
measures about to be proposed to you, will free the republic and the world
of all the conspirators."
Saint-Just caused the government to be invested with the most extensive
powers against the conspirators of the commune. He had it decreed that
justice and probity were the order of the day. The anarchists were unable
to adopt any measure of defence; they veiled for a moment the Rights of
Man at the club of the Cordeliers, and they made an attempt at
insurrection, but without vigour or union. The people did not stir, and
the committee caused its commandant, Henriot, to seize the substitute
Hébert, Ronsin, the revolutionary general, Anacharsis Clootz, Monmoro the
orator of the human race, Vincent, etc. They were brought before the
revolutionary tribunal, as _the agents of foreign powers, and, as having
conspired to place a tyrant over the state_. That tyrant was to have been
Pache, under the title of _Grand Juge_. The anarchist leaders lost their
audacity as soon as they were arrested; they defended themselves, and, for
the most part, died, without any display of courage. The committee of
public safety disbanded the revolutionary army, diminished the power of
the sectionary committees, and obliged the commune to appear at the bar of
the convention, and give thanks for the arrest and punishment of the
conspirators, its accomplices.
It was now time for Danton to defend himself; the proscription, after
striking the commune, threatened him. He was advised to be on his guard,
and to take immediate steps; but not having been able to overturn the
dictatorial power, by arousing public opinion and the assembly by the
means of the public journals, and his friends of the Mountain, on what
could he depend for support? The convention, indeed, was inclined to
favour him and his cause; but it was wholly subject to the revolutionary
power of the committee. Danton having to support him, neither the
government, nor the assembly, nor the commune, nor the clubs, awaited
proscription, without making any effort to avoid it.
His friends implored him to defend himself. "I would rather," said he, "be
guillotined, than be a guillotiner; besides, my life is not worth the
trouble; and I am sick of the world." "The members of the committee seek
thy death." "Well," he exclaimed, impatiently, "should Billaud, should
Robespierre kill me, they will be execrated as tyrants; Robespierre's
house will be razed to the ground; salt will be strewn upon it; a gallows
will be erected on it, devoted to the vengeance of crime! But my friends
will say of me, that I was a good father, a good friend, a good citizen;
they will not forget me." "Thou mayst avert..." "I would rather be
guillotined than be a guillotiner." "Well, then, thou shouldst depart."
"Depart!" he repeated, curling his lip disdainfully, "depart! Can we carry
our country away on the sole of our shoe?"
Danton's only resource now was to make trial of his so well known and
potent eloquence, to denounce Robespierre and the committee, and to arouse
the convention against their tyranny. He was earnestly entreated to do
this; but he knew too well how difficult a thing it is to overthrow an
established domination, he knew too well the complete subjection and
terror of the assembly, to rely on the efficacy of such means. He
accordingly waited, thinking, he who had dared so much, that his enemies
would shrink from proscribing him.
On the 10th of Germinal, he was informed that his arrest was being
discussed in the committee of public safety, and he was again entreated to
save himself by flight. After a moment's reflection, he exclaimed, "They
dare not." During the night his house was surrounded, and he was taken to
the Luxembourg with Camille Desmoulins, Philippeaux, Lacroix, and
Westermann. On his arrival, he accosted with cordiality the prisoners who
crowded round him. "Gentlemen," said he, "I had hoped in a short time to
liberate you, but here I am come to join you, and I know not how the
matter may end." In about an hour he was placed in solitary confinement in
the cell in which Hébert had been imprisoned, and which Robespierre was so
soon to occupy. There, giving way to reflection and regret, he exclaimed:
"It was at this time I instituted the revolutionary tribunal. I implore
forgiveness from God and man for having done so; but I designed it not for
the scourge of humanity."
His arrest gave rise to general excitement, to a sombre anxiety. The
following day, at the opening of the sittings in the assembly, men spoke
in whispers; they inquired with alarm, what was the pretext for this new
proceeding against the representatives of the people. "Citizens," at
length exclaimed Legendre, "four members of this assembly have been
arrested during the night. Danton is one, I know not the others. Citizens,
I declare that I believe Danton to be as pure as myself, yet he is in a
dungeon. They feared, no doubt, that his replies would overturn the
accusations brought against him: I move, therefore, that before you listen
to any report, you send for the prisoners, and hear them." This motion was
favourably received, and inspired the assembly with momentary courage: a
few members desired it might be put to the vote, but this state of things
did not last long. Robespierre ascended the tribune. "By the excitement,
such as for a long time has been unknown in this the assembly," said he,
"by the sensation the words of the speaker you have just heard have
produced, it is easy to see that a question of great interest is before
us; a question whether two or three individuals shall be preferred to the
country. We shall see to-day whether the convention can crush to atoms a
mock idol, long since decayed, or whether its fall shall overwhelm both
the convention and the French people." And a few words from him sufficed
to restore silence and subordination to the assembly, to restrain the
friends of Danton, and to make Legendre himself retract. Soon after,
Saint-Just entered the house, followed by other members of the committees.
He read a long report against the members under arrest, in which he
impugned their opinions, their political conduct, their private life,
their projects; making them appear, by improbable and subtle combinations,
accomplices in every conspiracy, and the servants of every party. The
assembly, after listening without a murmur, with a bewildered sanction
unanimously decreed, and with applause even, the impeachment of Danton and
his friends. Every one sought to gain time with tyranny, and gave up
others' heads to save his own.
The accused were brought before the revolutionary tribunal; their attitude
was haughty, and full of courage. They displayed an audacity of speech,
and a contempt of their judges, wholly unusual: Danton replied to the
president Dumas, who asked him the customary questions as to his name, his
age, his residence: "I am Danton, tolerably well known in the revolution;
I am thirty-five years old. My residence will soon be nothing. My name
will live in the Panthéon of history." His disdainful or indignant
replies, the cold and measured answers of Lacroix, the austere dignity of
Philippeaux, the vigour of Desmoulins, were beginning to move the people.
But the accused were silenced, under the pretext that they were wanting in
respect to justice, and were immediately condemned without a hearing. "We
are immolated," cried Danton, "to the ambition of a few miserable
brigands, but they will not long enjoy the fruit of their criminal
victory. I draw Robespierre after me--Robespierre will follow me." They
were taken to the Conciergerie, and thence to the scaffold.
They went to death with the intrepidity usual at that epoch. There were
many troops under arms, and their escort was numerous. The crowd,
generally loud in its applause, was silent. Camille Desmoulins, when in
the fatal cart, was still full of astonishment at his condemnation, which
he could not comprehend. "This, then," said he, "is the reward reserved
for the first apostle of liberty." Danton stood erect, and looked proudly
and calmly around. At the foot of the scaffold he betrayed a momentary
emotion. "Oh, my best beloved--my wife!" he cried, "I shall not see thee
again." Then suddenly interrupting himself: "No weakness, Danton!" Thus
perished the last defenders of humanity and moderation; the last who
sought to promote peace among the conquerors of the revolution and pity
for the conquered. For a long time after them no voice was raised against
the dictatorship of terror; and from one end of France to the other it
struck silent and redoubled blows. The Girondists had sought to prevent
this violent reign,--the Dantonists to stop it; all perished, and the
conquerors had the more victims to strike the more foes arose around them.
In so sanguinary a career, there is no stopping until the tyrant is
himself slain. The Decemvirs, after the definitive fall of the Girondists,
had made _terror_ the order of the day; after the fall of the Hébertists,
_justice_ and _probity_, because these were _impure men of faction_; after
the fall of the Dantonists, _terror_ and _all virtues_, because these
Dantonists were, according to their phraseology, _indulgents and
immorals_.