Born August 25, 1767; guillotined, July 28 (10th Thermidor),
1794, in Paris.
His father, a retired army captain, died in 1777, and St. Just was
placed in the Oratorian school of Soissons, where he remained for seven
years. On leaving school he studied law for a short time at Rheims, but
finally decided to embrace a literary career. Having written a volume
of poems, he proceeded to Paris, to arrange about their publication,
towards the close of the year 1789, and he there became an enthusiastic
revolutionary, giving up literature for politics. His youthful ardour
and natural eloquence were assisted by an extraordinary beauty of
form and feature, grave and serious manners, and a haughty and
resolute demeanour. His private life was that of an ascetic until the
termination of his short but chequered career.
The inhabitants of his native town, Decize (Minervais) elected him
lieutenant-colonel of their newly formed National Guard, and he
conducted a detachment of that regiment to Paris in 1790 to join in
the Feast of Federation. His youth prevented his election to the
Legislative Assembly until September 1792, when he attained the age of
twenty-five.
From that time he took a most active part in the Government, and became
the intimate (perhaps the only intimate) friend of Robespierre.
On November 12, when the question of the King’s trial came before the
Convention, St. Just’s diatribe was by far the most violent of the many
violent and fanatical speeches made on that occasion. On December 16 he
proposed the exile of all the Bourbons. At the trial of Louis XVI. he
voted for the immediate execution of the King.
In the meantime the Republic was attacked on all sides, from both
without and within, for, of the eighty-four Departments, sixty-five
were known to be secretly hostile to the Revolution, and to desire the
restoration of the _ancien régime_. On April 24, 1793, St. Just
presented to the Convention the following scheme:
The Republic, one and indivisible, was to be represented by
a Legislative Assembly, elected every two years by universal
suffrage and by a Council elected every three years by the
electors of the second degree. This Council, composed of a
member for each Department, could only act by the authority of
the Assembly, and the Ministers whom it was to appoint were
to have _no personal or individual power_. Any conflict
between the Council and the Assembly should be settled by an
appeal to the people.
This impossible and impracticable project gives an excellent example
of the exaggerated humanitarianism which at that time pervaded the
opinions of the young legislator. The Girondins were, in the opinion
of St. Just, a danger to the Republic. Their dreams of a federation by
which France would be governed in the same way as the United States,
and Paris cease to be the head and centre of government, filled him
with apprehension. When the Girondins fell St. Just took an important
part in their impeachment; his report on the matter was received with
applause, and in July he became one of the leading members of the
Committee of Public Safety.
From this moment a coalition was formed between Robespierre, Couthon,
Le Bas, and St. Just, which continued until they all perished twelve
months later. They banded themselves together with a settled purpose,
and pitilessly destroyed any and every individual who opposed their
views. St. Just was the principal instrument of Robespierre; he read,
on October 10, the report upon the organisation of a revolutionary
government until a general peace should be declared. “In the present
circumstances,” he said, “no Constitution can be established; for it
would be an attack upon liberty; with a Constitution the Government
could not use sufficient violence against the enemies of the Republic.”
He then proposed a decree, which was unanimously adopted by which the
Ministers, the Generals, the Admirals, the Executive Council, and all
constitutional bodies were to be placed under the immediate supervision
of the Committee of Public Safety.
On October 16, the very day of the execution of the Queen, St. Just
presented a report by which all foreigners residing in Paris, and
particularly the English, were to be arrested. He referred to the
death of Marie Antoinette in these words: “Your Committee has punished
Austria by bringing a scaffold and the infamy of a public execution
into the reigning family of that country.”
A few days later St. Just was despatched to Alsace as a superintendent
of military operations; le Bas accompanied him. Arrived at Strasburg,
they immediately established a commission to punish summarily “crimes,
disorders, and abuses.” No legal forms were observed: a colonel
accused of having spoken against the Republic was shot upon the spot;
an officer accused of striking one of his men was degraded to the
ranks; General Eisenberg, who had been defeated by the Austrians, was
executed without a trial. The soldiers were in want of boots. St. Just
wrote to the Strasburg municipality: “Ten thousand men in the army are
bare-footed; strip the boots and shoes from the feet of the aristocrats
of Strasburg. To-morrow, before 10 o’clock, 10,000 pairs of boots must
be on their way to the military headquarters.” An immense number of
persons were arrested and imprisoned, and innumerable executions took
place. The commissioners left Strasburg and joined the army beyond the
Rhine, where the generals were treated in the same high-handed manner.
On the 12th Frimaire (November 9) St. Just wrote to General Hoche:
“Thou hast taken at Kaiserslautern (where he had won a great battle) a
further engagement; for instead of one victory, we require TWO.”
After remaining two months with the army St. Just returned to Paris in
January 1794. He only remained a couple of weeks in the metropolis,
departing for Flanders to supervise the conduct of those military
chiefs who commanded in the north. In a few days he had inspected
the various posts on the frontier, and, after carrying out his usual
policy, he gave the supreme command to Pichegru, and returned to Paris.
On February 19 St. Just was elected President of the Convention.
In March the fall of Hébert was followed by that of Danton. The
impeachment of the latter was carried out by St. Just, his speech being
composed from notes made by Robespierre. He accused Danton of having
served the “Tyrant,” of being the _protégé_ of Mirabeau, the
friend of Lameth, the accomplice of Dumouriez, and of having defended
the Girondins.
Danton’s execution, and those of his immediate allies, delivered
Robespierre and St. Just from the enemies they feared, and they
flattered themselves they could now carry out their plans without
interruption.
On April 29 St. Just returned to the army, Robespierre remaining
the head and centre of all government in Paris. This was the most
sanguinary period of the Terror.
St. Just remained with the army in Flanders until June 27, when,
Charleroi having fallen and the army of the Republic being everywhere
victorious in Belgium, he returned in triumph to Paris. The conspiracy
which was to break out on July 27 (9th Thermidor) was already in
process of formation, but St. Just suspected nothing, and continued
to attend the meetings of the Committee of Public Safety and to make
many violent speeches. He attacked Fouché, Tallien, and other members
without mercy, and on the very morning of 9th Thermidor was speaking
in the Tribune, when he was interrupted by Tallien, and the well-known
violent scenes which resulted in the arrest of Robespierre and his
immediate friends took place.
St. Just, unlike Couthon, le Bas, and Robespierre, did not attempt
suicide; he followed the mutilated bodies of his friends on foot,
with his hands bound behind him, from the Hôtel de Ville to the
Conciergerie. The next day he mounted the scaffold and died silently
and courageously. He was not quite twenty-seven years of age.