XIV. 1794. March 30. CHAP. welcomed the captives who flocked to behold him. Gentlemen," said he, "I hoped to have been the means of delivering you all from this place; but here I am among you, and God only knows where this will end." He was immediately afterwards shut up in a solitary cell, the same which Hébert had recently before occupied. On entering it he exclaimed, "At last I perceive that in revolutions the supreme power finally rests with the most abandoned."* He soon after said to Lacroix, who accompanied him, and expressed his surprise that he had not endeavoured to save himself, "Their cowardice misled me I was deceived by their baseness. When men commit follies, it is well to laugh at them." Soon after addressing Camille Desmoulins, who in despair, and weeping aloud, was dashing his head against the wall of the prison, he added, "What is the use of these tears? When sent to the scaffold, we should know how to ascend it cheerfully." During the short period that elapsed before his execution, his mind, in a distracted state, reverted to the innocence of his earlier years. "He 1 Deux 126, 127. 312.Th. vi. 192. Amis, xii. spoke incessantly," said his fellow captive Riouffe, "of M310, trees, flowers, and the country." Then, giving way to 312. Th. unavailing regret, he exclaimed-"It was just a year ago Riouffe, 67. that I was the means of instituting the Revolutionary xxxii. 212, Tribunal may God and man forgive me for what I did! Hist. des I hoped in so doing to avert a second massacre in the prisons; it was not that it might become the scourge of humanity!"1 Hist. Parl. 213. Lam. Gir. viii. 19, 40, 41. 97. tation in the His arrest produced a violent agitation in Paris. The Violent agi. Convention on the following morning was shaken by a Convention, general inquietude, which broke out in half-suppressed murmurs. "Citizens!" said Legendre, "four of the national representatives have been arrested during the March 30. his young and charming wife. She wrote a long and touching letter to Robespierre on the occasion, but it never reached him.-LAMARTINE, Histoire des Girondins, viii. 43. * "Enfin je vois que dans les révolutions l'autorité toujours reste aux plus scélérats." -RIOUFFE, p. 67. A memorable sentiment, coming from such lips. CHAP. XIV. 1794. night Danton is one, I am ignorant of the others. Danton is as innocent as myself, and yet he is in irons. His accusers, without doubt, are afraid that his answers would demolish the charges brought against him; but you are bound to do justice; and I demand that, before the report of the committee is received, he be examined in your presence." The proposition was favourably received by some, and loudly hooted by others. Tallien, the president, gave it his energetic support. "I will maintain," said he, "the liberty of speech; let every one freely express his opinion. I remind his colleagues that we are here for the people, and concerned only with their interest. It is time to have done with individual disputes. Let the friends of the Revolution prove to-day their love for liberty. I will proclaim the decrees which have passed for the maintenance of liberty of speech." Loud applauses followed these words; and from the agitation which prevailed, there is no doubt that if Danton had been brought before them, his powerful voice would have broken the talisman of the Decemvirs, and closed xxxii. 67. Deux Amis, the reign of blood. But Robespierre immediately mounted xii. 127. the tribune.1 1 Hist. Parl. 98. pierre's "From the trouble, for long unknown," said he, "which reigns in the Convention; from the agitation produced Robes by the words you have just heard; it is evident that a speech subgreat interest is at stake, and that the point now to be dues them. determined is, whether the safety of a few individuals is to prevail over that of the country. We shall see this day whether the Convention has courage to break a pretended idol, or to suffer it in its fall to overwhelm the Assembly and the people of France. Danton! you shall answer to inflexible justice: let us examine your conduct. Accomplice in every criminal enterprise, you ever espoused the cause which was adverse to freedom: you intrigued with Mirabeau and Dumourier, with Hébert and Hérault de Séchelles; you have made yourself the slave of tyranny. Mirabeau, who contemplated a change of XIV. 1794. CHAP. dynasty, felt the value of your audacity, and secured it : you abandoned all your former principles, and nothing more was heard of you till the massacre in the Champ de Mars. At every crisis you have deserted the public interest; you have ever attached yourself to the traitor party." The terror inspired by these words restored silence in the Convention; and at the same time, St Just, followed by the other members of the Committee of Public Salvation, entered the hall. With slow steps, a sombre and decided air, they approached the Tribune, when Robespierre again addressed Legendre. "Go on; it is well that all the associates of the conspirators we have arrested should at once make themselves known. You have heard of the despotism of the Committees, as if the confidence which the people have reposed in you, and which you have transferred to the Committees, was xxxii.67,68, not the surest guarantee for their patriotism. You affect Deux Amis, to be afraid; but I say, whoever trembles at this moment Mig. ii. 312, is guilty, for never did innocence fear the vigilance of the 145. Th. vi. public authorities." Unanimous applause from hands shaking with fright followed these words. None ventured to incur the terrible imputation-terror froze every heart; and St Just, without opposition, ascended the Tribune.1 1 Hist. Parl. xii. 128, 129. 313. Lac. ii. 194, 195. Hist. de la Conv. iii. 338. 99. Just against He there made a detailed exposition of the grounds Speech of St of accusation against the Moderate party, recounted their Danton. private irregularities, their unpardonable clemency; charged them with being accomplices in every conspiracy, from that of the Royalists, whom they overthrew on the 10th August, to that of the Anarchists, whose treason had so recently been punished. "Citizens," said St Just, "the Revolution is in the people, and not in the resources of a few individuals. There is something terrible in the love of country. It is so exclusive, that it sacrifices every thing without pity, without remorse, to the public interest. It precipitated Manlius from the Tarpeian rock, it drew Regulus back to Carthage, and put Marat in the Pantheon. Your committee, impressed XIV. 1794. with these sentiments, have charged me to demand justice, CHAP. in the name of the country, against men who have long betrayed it. May this example be the last you are called on to give of your inflexibility! Danton! you have become the accomplice of tyranny. You have conspired with Mirabeau and Dumourier, with Hébert, with Hérault de Séchelles. Danton! you have been the slave of tyranny. You have, it is true, opposed Lafayette; but Mirabeau, d'Orléans, Dumourier, did the same. Can you deny that you were sold to the three greatest enemies liberty ever had? You got from Mirabeau the direction of the department of Paris. At first you showed a menacing front to the court, but Mirabeau, who knew the value of your aid, bought you over. You were never heard of more in the Assembly, but you were found supporting the motion of Laclos, the minion of d'Orléans, in the Jacobins, which was the pretext made by the court for unfurling the red flag in the Champ de Mars, and massacring the patriots. You joined Brissot in drawing up the petition of the Champ de Mars, and escaped the fury of Lafayette, who butchered two thousand patriots. After Mirabeau's death, you conspired with Lameth and his party you supported the Girondists in their suicidal efforts to plunge us into war. You became the associate of Guadet and Brissot: you spoke, on your return from Belgium, of the vices of Dumourier with as much admiration as the virtues of Cato. You held back from the revolution of 31st May, which overturned the Girondists. You have compared public opinion to a courtezan, who lavishes her favours on the most abandoned of mankind. These maxims were those of Catiline; they might well recom- Conv. iii. mend you to the aristocracy. A bad citizen, you have con- ouffe, 67. spired; a treacherous friend, you have betrayed. Justice Lac. ii. 145. demands the punishment of your double perfidy." utter absurdity of imputing to Danton and his such contradictory crimes, and supposing them in league 30, 34. with their bitterest enemies, was too glaring to escape 1 Hist. de la 338. Ri Thiers, vi. The 18, 201 friends Mig. ii. 313. Lam. Hist. des Gir. viii. XIV. 1794. CHAP. observation; but the Convention, mastered by fear, crouched beneath their tyrants, and unanimously, amidst loud applause, sent the accused to the Revolutionary Tribunal. The galleries imitated their example. From those benches, whence had issued so often bursts of applause at their speeches, were now heard only fierce demands for their heads. 100. When removed to the Conciergerie, preparatory to Their trial, their trial, the astonishment of the captives was as great and prelimi- as when they entered the Luxembourg. "My late nary pro ceedings. brethren," said Danton, "understand nothing of government: I leave every thing in the most deplorable confusion. 'Twere better to be a poor fisherman than the ruler of men. My only comfort is, that my name is attached to some decrees which will show that I was not involved in all their fury." On their trial, which began on the 2d and continued to the 5th April, they evinced their wonted firmness, and addressed the judges in unusual terms of indignation. Danton, being interrogated by the president concerning his age and profession, replied " "My name is Danton, sufficiently known in the history of the Revolution; I am thirty-five; my abode will soon be in nonentity; and my name will live in the pantheon of history." Camille Desmoulins answered "I am of the same age as the Sans-culotte Jesus Christ, when he died." Danton spoke with energy and resolution in his own defence. My voice," said he, with that powerful organ which had been so often raised in the cause of the people, "will have no difficulty in refuting the calumnies contained in the act of accusation. Let the cowards who accuse me be brought forward; I will speedily cover them with confusion. Let the Committees appear; I require them both as accusers and judges. Let them appear: they will not. It matters little what judgment you pronounce; I have already told you my abode will soon be in nonentity. My life is a burden; I am weary of it, and will rejoice in the stroke 66 |