ary should exist for freedom, no retreat | against Robespierre is already written for the friends of the Republic. He has in your hearts. Is there one among in consequence resolved to destroy you you who will declare that he is not an all; yes, this very day, ay, in a few oppressor? If there is, let him stand hours. Two thousand assassins have forth; for him have I offended. Tremsworn to execute his designs; I myself ble, tyrant! tremble! See with what last night heard their oaths, and fifty horror freemen shrink from your polof my colleagues heard them with me. luted touch! We enjoy your agony; The massacre was to have commenced but the public safety requires it should in the night with the Committee of no longer be prolonged. I declare, if Public Salvation and that of General the National Convention hesitate to Safety, all of whom were to have been pass the decree of accusation, I will sacrificed, except a few creatures of the plunge this dagger in your bosom :" tyrant; the fidelity of the soldiers, who and he drew the glittering steel from his feared the Convention, alone has pre- breast in the midst of deafening shouts served them from this terrible calamity. from the Convention, which shook with Let us instantly take measures com- the tumult. During this impassioned mensurate to the magnitude of the dan- harangue, which was pronounced with ger; let us declare our sittings perma- the most vehement action, Robespierre nent till the conspiracy is broken, and sat motionless, but deadly pale. The its chiefs arrested. I have no difficulty Convention, amidst a violent tumult, in naming them; I have followed their declared its sittings permanent till the steps through their bloody conspiracy: sword of the law had secured the ReI name Dumas, the atrocious President volution, and decreed the arrest of Henof the Revolutionary Tribunal; I name riot, Dumas, and the other associates of Henriot, the infamous commander of the tyrant; and numerous measures of the national guard." precaution were suggested.

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70. Here Billaud Varennes interrupted the orator, and gave some fuller details on the conspiracy which had been matured in the Society of the Jacobins, and denounced Robespierre as its chief. 'Yesterday," said he," at the Jacobins were several base apostates; hardly one of them had tickets of admission, but they fully developed the plan of massacring the Convention. There I heard the most infamous sallies vented against the men who have never deviated from the Revolution. I see on the Mountain there, some of the men who menaced the national representation." At these words a cry arose "Seize him! seize him!" and the individual alluded to was dragged from his seat, and hurled out amidst loud applause. "The Assembly will perish," he concluded, "if it shows the least signs of weakness."-" We shall never perish!" exclaimed the members, rising in a transport of enthusiasm from their seats. Tallien resumed: "Can there be any doubt now about the reality of the conspiracy? have you conquered so many tyrants only to crouch beneath the yoke of the most atrocious of them all? I see among you a new Cromwell. The charge

71. Robespierre tried in vain, during the tumult which followed this address, to obtain a hearing. The president, Thuriot, whom he had often threatened with death, constantly drowned his voice by ringing his bell. In vain he looked for support among the former satellites of his power; all, frozen with terror, shrank from his gaze. "A bas le tyran!" resounded from all sides of the hall. Barère then, in the name of the Committee of Public Salvation, related that an officer of the Allies, made prisoner in a late action in Belgium, had said, "All your successes will not avail you; we are not the less confident; we shall conclude a peace with a fraction of the Convention, and soon change the government.' The government cannot conceal that the moment of danger has arrived. The committees are attacked; their members are covered with calumnies; the conspirators would destroy whatever intelligence or energy there is in the country, and denounce members on whose patriotism you are now to pronounce." On his motion the Convention decreed, by acclamation, that all ranks in the national guard above

that of chief of a legion should be sup- | liberty of speech which the assassins pressed, that each commander of a le- refuse?" A profound silence followed gion should command in his turn, and the demand. 'For the last time, Prethat the mayor and municipality of sident of Assassins!" said he, turning Paris should answer with their heads to the chair, "will you allow me to for the security of the Convention. This speak?" The continued noise drowned decree was levelled at Henriot. But Tal- his voice. "You shall not have it but in lien, who perceived that, amidst these your turn;" and soon "Never, never!" multifarious proposals, the main object resounded on all sides. of destroying Robespierre was likely to "Diversi lingue, orribili favelle, Parole di dolore, accenti d'ira, be forgotten, resumed his place in the Voci alte e fioche, e suon di man con elle, tribune. "Let us think only of the Facevano un tumulto, il qual s'aggira tyrant: you have not a moment to lose; Sempre 'n quell' aria senza tempo tinta, he is every hour collecting his strength. Come la rena quando 'l turbo spira."* Why accumulate charges, when his con- He then sank on his seat, pale and exduct is engraven on every heart? Let hausted; his voice, which had become him perish by the arm he has invented a shrill scream from agitation and veheto destroy others. To what accused did mence, at length totally failed; foam he ever give the right of speaking in his issued from his mouth. "Wretch !" defence? Let us say with the juries exclaimed a voice from the Mountain, of the Revolutionary Tribunal, Our "you are choked by the blood of Danminds have long been made up.' If ton."-"Ah! you would avenge Danyou declare him hors la loi, can he com- ton," rejoined Robespierre: "cowards! plain who has put hors la loi nine- why did you not defend him?"-"I tenths of France? Let there be no for- demand the arrest of Robespierre," malities with the accused; you cannot cried Louchet. "Agreed! agreed !" too much abridge their punishment; he resounded on all sides. "Citizens," has told you so himself a hundred times. exclaimed Billaud Varennes, "liberty is Let us strike him in the bosom of the about to be restored." -"Say rather," Assembly; let his associates perish with replied Robespierre, "that crime is him on the bench of the Revolutionary about to prevail: the Republic is abanTribunal, in the club of the Jacobins, at doned to brigands." The act of accuthe head of the traitorous municipality. sation was then carried amidst the most 72. "Were I," continued Tallien, "to violent agitation. The younger brother recount the acts of individual oppres- of Robespierre had the generosity to sion of which he has been guilty, I insist that he should be included in would say that, during the time when the charge. "I am as culpable as my Robespierre was charged with the ge- brother," said he; "I share his virtues, neral police, they have all been com- I am willing to share his fate." Lebas mitted, and that the patriots of the followed his example. At length the Revolutionary Committee of the Sec- two Robespierres, Lebas, Couthon, St tion of Indivisibility have been arrest- Just, Dumas, and Henriot, were unaed.""It is false !" cried Robespierre; nimously decreed under arrest, and or"I"- -Loud cries drowned his voice. dered to be sent to prison; and the For a moment he fixed an eager gaze Convention broke up, in the utmost on the most ardent of the Mountain. agitation, at five o'clock. Some averted their eyes; others looked down the great majority remained motionless. Casting then a despairing look round the hall, he at length turned to the few survivors of the Girondists. "Turn away from these benches!" they exclaimed; "Vergniaud and Condorcet have sat here."-" Pure and virtuous citizens," said he to the deputies on the right, "will you give me the

73. During this terrible contest, the partisans of Robespierre were collect* "Various tongues, Horrible languages, outcries of woe, Accents of anger, voices deep and hoarse, With hands together smote, that swell'd the sounds, Made up a tumult that for ever whirls Round through that air with solid darkness stain'd, Like to the sand that in the whirlwind flies." CARY'S DANTE, Inferno, iii. 25.

ing at the hall of the Jacobins and the | Hotel de Ville; and the most rapid Hotel de Ville. They expected that he means of communication were estabwould be victorious in the Convention, lished between these two great centres and that the armed force would only be of the insurrection. To excite the called on to support its decrees. Part people to revolt, Henriot, with a drawn of the national guard were assembled sabre in his hand, at the head of his at the rendezvous, when a messenger staff, traversed the streets, exclaiming, arrived from the Convention requiring "To arms, to save the country!" In the mayor to appear at the bar, and his course through the Faubourg St give an account of the state of the ca- Antoine, he met the procession of fortypital. "Return to your associates," nine prisoners proceeding as usual to said Henriot, with his drawn sabre in execution: the crowd had stopped the his hand, "and say that we are in deli- chariots, and loudly demanded that beration here how to purify their ranks. they should be released, which Samson, Tell Robespierre to remain firm and the long-practised executioner, endeafear nothing. He is supported by the voured to support: but Henriot had people." Payan hastily drew up an the barbarity to order them to be led address, in which they denounced to the on, and they all suffered. On his repeople the oppressors of the most vir- turn, two deputies of the Convention tuous of patriots, Robespierre, St Just, met him in the Rue St Honoré, and the Apostle of Virtue, and Couthon, prevailed on some horsemen to obey "whose heart and head alone live; the the orders of the Convention, and arflame of patriotism has consumed his rest his person : he was handcuffed, and body."* But alarming news soon ar- conducted to the Committee of General rived. At half-past four they received Safety. About the same time Payan intelligence of the arrest of Robespierre was seized. The Convention seemed and his accomplices, which soon circu- triumphant; its principal enemies were lated with the rapidity of lightning in confinement. through Paris. Instantly they gave orders to sound the tocsin, close the barriers, convoke the General Council, and assemble the Sections. The Jacobins declared their sittings permanent; an energetic proclamation, calling on the people to rise, was issued from the

The following are the terms of this proclamation: "Brothers and friends, the country is in imminent danger: the wicked have mastered the Convention, where they hold in chains the virtuous Robespierre, who passed the decree so consoling to humanity on the existence of God and the immortality of the soul; Couthon, that venerable citizen, who has but a heart and a head alive, as the rest of his body has been consumed by patriotism; St Just, that virtuous apostle, who first checked treason in the army of the Rhine and the north; Lebas, their worthy colleague; the younger Robespierre, so well known for his labours with the army of Italy. And who are their enemies? Collot d'Herbois, an old comedian, convicted under the old régime of having stolen the strong-box of his troop of players; Bourdon de l'Oise, the perpetual calumniator of the municipality of Paris; one Barère, the ready tool of every faction which is uppermost; one Tallien, and Fréron, the intimate friends of the infamous Danton.

To arms!-To arms! Let us not lose the

fruit of the 10th August and the 2d June. Death to the traitors!"-Hist. Parl. xxxiv. 46.

74. But the insurgents regained their advantage between 6 and 7 o'clock, in consequence of the dispersion of the members of the Convention and the energetic measures of the municipality. Robespierre had been sent to the Luxembourg, where he was refused entrance, on the ground that the commune had prohibited them from receiving any prisoner but such as they had committed. He was then taken to the central police-office, where he was at once received in triumph by the officers of the municipality. The younger Robespierre had been sent to Saint Lazare, Couthon to the Bourbe, St Just to the Ecossais, and the other conspirators to the different prisons of Paris. magistrates sent detachments to deliver them. Robespierre was speedily brought in triumph to the Hotel de Ville, where he was received with the utmost enthusiasm, and soon joined by his brother and St Just. Coffinhal set off at the head of two hundred cannoneers to deliver Henriot; he arrived in the Place du Carrousel, and having forced the guard of the Convention,

The

penetrated to the rooms of the Commit- | ing his face with his robe, "the hour tee of General Safety, and delivered is arrived to die at our posts; the conthat important leader. The dictator- spirators have made themselves masship was now earnestly pressed upon ters, with an armed force, of the ComRobespierre by his friends; but he firm-mittee-room of General Safety."-"We ly refused it to the very last. "The peo- are ready to die," exclaimed the memple," cried Couthon, "await only a word bers. Animated by sublime resolution, from you to annihilate their enemies and every one spontaneously resumed his your own. Prepare at least a proclama- seat, and the Assembly unanimously tion, telling them what to do." "In the took the oath. At this moment Gouname of whom?" replied Robespierre. pilleau entered, and announced that "In the name of the oppressed Conven- Henriot had been brought to the neightion," rejoined St Just. "Recollect the bourhood in triumph, and was at the line of Sertorius," added Couthon-- head of the armed force at their "Rome n'est plus dans Rome, elle est toute gates. A universal shudder upon this où je suis."" ran through the Convention. The vociferous crowd in the gallery at the same time disappeared.

"No, no," replied Robespierre; "I will not give the first example of the national representation being enslaved by a citizen. We are nothing save by the people; we must not supplant their rights by our wishes."" Then," cried Couthon, "nothing remains for us but to die.". "You have said it," answered Robespierre, leaning his head on his hands, his elbows resting on the council table. "Well, then," said St Just, "it is you who murder us." During this dialogue, Robespierre cast his eyes on a paper on the table, where such a proclamation was drawn up. Conquered by the importunity of his friends, he took up the pen to sign it; but after he had written half his name, he threw the paper and pen from him.

76. In this extremity, Tallien and his friends acted with the firmness which in revolutions so often proves successful. Everything conspires," said they, "to assure the triumph of the Convention and the liberty of France. By his revolt, Robespierre has opened to us the only path which is safe with tyrants. Thank Heaven, to deliver our country, we need not now await the uncertain decision of a tribunal filled with his creatures! He has brought his fate upon himself; let us declare him hors la loi with all his accomplices; let us include the rebellious municipality in the decree; let us besiege him in the centre of his power; let us instantly convoke 75. The Convention met at 7 o'clock. the sections, and allow the public horIntelligence was immediately brought ror to manifest itself by actions. Name of the fearful successes of the insur- a commander of the armed force; there gents, their insurrectionary measures, must be no hesitation; in such a strife, the liberation of the Triumvirs, the as- he who assumes the offensive comsemblage at the Hotel de Ville, the con- mands success." All these decrees were vocation of revolutionary committees, instantly passed. Henriot was declared and of the sections. In the midst of the hors la loi, and Barras named to the alarm, the members of the two com- command of the military force; Fréron, mittees, driven from their offices, ar- Bourdon de l'Oise, Rovère, Leonard rived in consternation with the account Bourdon, and other determined men, of the forcing of the Tuileries, the de- being associated with him in the perillivery of Henriot, and the presence of ous duty. The Committee of Public an armed force round the Convention. Salvation, as the other committee-room The agitation was at its height, when was lost, was now fixed on as the centre Amar entered and announced, that the of operations. The générale beat, and terrible cannoneers had pointed their emissaries were instantly despatched to guns against the walls of their hall. all the sections, to summon them to the 'Citizens," said the President, cover-defence of the Convention; while a * "Rome is no longer in Rome: it is where I am."

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macer was despatched to summon the municipality to its bar. But such was

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the arrogance of that body, in the anti-gons, by torchlight, gave a fearful prescipation of immediate victory, that they age of the contest that was approaching. returned for answer-" Yes, we shall 78. The emissaries of the municipacome to their bar, but at the head of lity first arrived at the rendezvous of the insurgent people."-"I invite," said the sections; but the national guard, Tallien, who had now taken the chair, distracted and uncertain, hesitated to our friends to set out with the armed obey the summons of the magistrates. force. Let not the sun set before the They could only be brought, in the first heads of the conspirators have fallen." instance, to send deputations to the "The moments are precious," said commune, to inquire into the state of Billaud Varennes; "when you are on a affairs. Meanwhile, the news of Robesvolcano, you must act. Robespierre has pierre's arrest circulated with rapidity, just said, that before two hours had and a ray of hope shot through the elapsed, he would march on the Con- minds of numerous proscribed indivivention. Shall we sleep? It is for us duals who were in concealment in the to anticipate him, and our enemies will city. With trembling steps they issued be annihilated." Amidst loud shouts from their hiding-places, and, approachthe commanders of the armed force set ing the columns of their fellow-citizens, out on their perilous mission, to sum- besought them to assist in dethroning mon the national guard. the tyrant. The minds of many were already shaken, those of all in a state of uncertainty, when, at ten o'clock, the commissioners of the Convention arrived with the intelligence of its decrees, of the summons to assist it, of the appointment of a new commander-inchief, and a rallying-point at the Hall of the Convention. Upon this they no longer hesitated; the battalions of the national guard from all quarters marched towards the Convention, and defiled through the hall in the midst of the most enthusiastic applause. At midnight, above three thousand men had arrived. The forces, being deemed sufficient, were ordered to set out. A few battalions and pieces of artillery were left to guard the Convention, and the remainder of the national guard, under the command of Barras, marched at half-past twelve against the insurgents. The night was dark, a feeble moonlight only shone through the gloom; but the forced illumination of the houses supplied a vivid light, which shone on the troops, who in profound silence, and in serried masses, marched from the Tuil

77. While the government was adopting these energetic measures, Henriot was haranguing the cannoneers in the Place du Carrousel. The fate of France hung on their decision; could he have persuaded them to act, the Convention would have been destroyed before the tardy succours could arrive from the remoter quarters of the capital. Happily they could not be brought to fire on the legislature, and their refusal decided the fortune of the day. Dispirited at this unwonted failure with the troops, and alarmed at the cries which broke from the multitude as soon as the decrees of the Convention were known, he withdrew to the Hotel de Ville, the armed force followed his example, and the Convention, so recently besieged within its walls, speedily became the assailing party. Paris was soon in the most violent state of agitation. The tocsin summoned the citizens to the Hotel de Ville, the générale called them to the Convention; the deputies of the Legislature, and the commissioners of the municipality, met in the sections, and strove for the mastery of those important bodies. On alleries along the quays of the river tosides the people hastened to arms; the streets were filled by multitudes crowding to their different rallying-points; 79. The armed citizens, who had cries of "Vive la Convention!" "Vive la come to the Tuileries to take part with Commune!" broke forth in the different Henriot and the commune, dismayed columns, according to the prevailing by their retreat to the Hotel de Ville, opinion of their members; while the roll- now glided into the ranks of the attacking of cannon and ammunition-wag-ing force, and the columns which march

wards the Hotel de Ville, the headquarters of the insurgents.