CHAP. XV. 1794. near approach to themselves. Their reason was at length awakened by the revolutionary fever having exhausted itself; humanity began to react against the ceaseless effusion of human blood, after all their enemies had been destroyed. It was impossible that pity should not at length be awakened in the breast of the spectators, for never had such scenes of woe been exhibited to the public gaze. "The funeral cars," says the republican historian, Lamartine, "often held together the husband, wife, and all their children. Their imploring visages, which mutually regarded each other with the tender expression of a last look, the heads of daughters falling on the knees of their mothers, of wives on the shoulders of their husbands, the pressure of heart against heart, both of which were so soon to cease to beat-now gray hairs and auburn locks cut by the same scissors, now wrinkled heads and charming visages falling under the same axe; the slow march of the cortège, the monotonous rolling of June 1 to the wheels, the hedge of sabres around the procession, Deux Amis, the stifled sobs of the victims, the hisses of the populace, 353, the cries of the furies of the guillotine-all impressed a 56. Th. vi. mournful character on these assassinations, which seemed to be provided for no other purpose but to serve for the pastime of the people.”1 1 Moniteur, July 28. xii. 342. 370. Lam. Hist. des Gir. viii. 123. the Conven A considerable party in the Convention eagerly em- 56. braced the same sentiments; their conspicuous situation Opinions of rendered it probable that they would be among the first tion on the victims, and every one, in the hope of saving his own life, subject. ardently prayed for the downfall of the tyrants. It was well known in that Assembly that Robespierre had let fall some expressions, indicating an intention to destroy many of its members; and the law of 22d Prairial was regarded as a means of attaining that object. The Committee of Public Salvation was not ignorant of these dispositions. But these expressions of public feeling only inspired the oppressors with greater impatience for human blood. "Let us put," said Vadier, "a wall of XV. 1794. CHAP. heads between the people and ourselves."-" The Revolutionary Tribunal," exclaimed Billaud Varennes, "thinks it has made a great effort when it strikes off seventy heads a-day; but the people are easily habituated to what they always behold: to inspire terror, we must double the number." How timid you are in the capital!" said Collot d'Herbois; "can your ears not stand the sound of artillery? It is a proof of weakness to execute your enemies one after another; you should mow them at once down with cannon." The judges of the Revolutionary Tribunal, many of whom came from the galleys of Toulon, laboured incessantly at the work of extermination, and mingled indecent ribaldry and jests with their unrelenting cruelty to the crowds of captives who were brought before them. An old man, who had lost the use of speech by a paralytic affection, being placed at the bar, the president exclaimed-" No matter; it is not his tongue but his head that we want."1 1 Deux Amis, xii. 351, 354. Lac. xi. 53, 56. Th. vi. 370Mig ii. 327. 57. Affair of Catherine Théot, which the power of Robes pierre. The superstition or vanity of Robespierre furnished the first pretext for a combination to shake his power. The members of the different committees, alarmed for first shook their own safety, were secretly endeavouring to undermine his influence, when the fanaticism of an old woman, 12th June. named Catherine Théot, gave them the means of extending their apprehensions to a larger circle. She proclaimed herself the mother of God, and announced the approaching arrival of a regenerating Messiah. An ancient ally of Robespierre, Dom Gerle, was the associate of her frenzy; they held nocturnal orgies, in which Robespierre was invoked as the Supreme Pontiff. The Committee of Public Salvation, who were acquainted with all their proceedings, and from the majority of whom Robespierre was now almost entirely estranged, beheld, or feigned to behold, in these extravagances, a design to make him the head of a new religion, which might add to the force of political power the weight of spiritual fervour. Vadier was intrusted by the Committee with the duty of investi XV. 1794. 14th June. gating the mysteries; his report, which was read amidst CHAP. loud laughter in the Convention, represented the "conspiracy as the result partly of the immeasurable malice of the priests, partly of the formidable faction which the popular axe had destroyed!" It turned the fanatics into derision, but at the same time denounced them as worthy of death; and they were accordingly thrown into prison. The opponents of Robespierre, in the Committee and Convention, eagerly seized hold of this circumstance to connect his name with the remnants of former superstition, and expose it to that most formidable of all 1 Rapport assaults in France, the assault of ridicule. Robespierre de adier strove to save these fanatics, but his colleagues withstood xxxiii. 242, his influence irritated, he retired from their meetings, ii. 328. from which he was absent for the next six weeks, and 61. Th. vi. 336, 337, confined himself to the club of the Jacobins, where his 356, 357. power was still predominant.1 259. Mig. Lac. xi. 59, 58. of Robes Naturally suspicious, the apprehensions of the tyrant now increased to the highest degree. He had become Suspicions not less fearful of his colleagues than of his enemies. pierre His house was guarded by a body of Jacobins, armed awakened. with pistols, chiefly composed of jurymen from the Revolutionary Tribunal. He seldom went out unattended by this obnoxious band. His table was covered with letters, in which he was styled the "Envoy of God," the "New Messiah," the "New Orpheus." On every side his portrait was to be seen in marble, bronze, or canvass, and below each, lines in which the Jacobinical poets extolled him above Cato and Aristides. In the bed of Catherine there was found a letter addressed to "Toi qui éclaires l'univers par tes écrits, saisis d'effroi les tyrans, et rassures le cœur de tous les peuples, tu remplis le monde de ta renommée; tes principes sont ceux de la nature, ton langage celui de l'humanité; tu rends les hommes à leur dignité; second créateur, tu régénères ici-bas le genre humain.J. P. BESSOR."-Papiers trouvés chez ROBESPIERRE, ii. 116. "Béni soit Robespierre, le digne imitateur de Brutus. Tous se reposent sur votre zèle incorruptible. La couronne, le triomphe vous sont dûs, et ils vous seront déférés en attendant que l'encens civique fume devant l'autel que nous X VOL. III. XV. 1794. CHAP. Robespierre, in which he was styled, "the Son of the Supreme Being," "the Eternal Word," "the Redeemer of the Human Race," "the Messiah designated by the Prophets." Old women wrote to him in the strain of the Song of Simeon, rejoicing they had lived to see the advent of the day of salvation. Children over the whole Republic were called after his name; the admiration with which he was surrounded approached to idolatry. But all his efforts, and all the adulation of his satellites, could not dispel the terrors which had seized his mind. In his desk, after his death, was found a letter in the following terms :-"You yet live! assassin of your country, stained with the purest blood of France. I wait only the time when the people shall strike the hour of your fall. Should my hope prove vain, this hand which now writes thy sentence, this hand which thy bewildered eye seeks in vain, this hand which presses thine with horror, shall pierce thee to the heart. Every day I am trouvés chez with thee; every hour my uplifted arm is ready to cut Robespierre, short thy life. Vilest of men! live yet a few days to be Amis, xii. tortured by the fear of my vengeance; sleep to dream of Mig. ii. 328. me; let my image and thy fear be the first prelude of 66. Hist. thy punishment. This very night, in seeing thee, I shall 244. enjoy thy terrors: but thy eyes shall seek in vain my avenging form."1 1 Papiers 1.57. Deux 363, 364. Lac. xi. 63, Parl. xxxiii. 59. St Just urge His violent partisans strongly urged the immediate Henriot and adoption of the most vigorous measures. They earnestly vigorous pressed him to assume the dictatorship, now that the municipality and the majority of the Convention were at his feet, and Danton and Hébert were no more. But he vous élèverons, et que la postérité révèrera tant que les hommes connaîtront le prix de la liberté."- Ibid. ii. 118. measures. "Votre tâche est écrite dans les livres du destin; elle sera digne de votre grande âme."-Ibid. ii. 119. nom. * * "La nature vient de me donner un fils; j'ai osé le charger du poids de ton Je me suis dit a moi-même-Robespierre a toujours été, et sera regardé dans les siècles futurs, comme la pierre de l'angle du superbe édifice de notre constitution. Plaise à Dieu que pour finir ton ouvrage tu ne confies qu'à toi-même l'exécution de ton plan et de tes desseins."-Ibid. ii. 125, 126. XV. 1794. constantly refused, alleging that the unity required was CHAP. in the institutions, not the individuals, intrusted with the government. "A dictatorship," said he, " is the last step in the despair of nations. Founded as a barrier against tyranny, it soon becomes the greatest tyranny itself. It saves a day to ruin an age. Rather let the day perish, and the future be preserved; let the people be misled, be injured, even ruined, rather than subjected to that humiliating guardianship which, under pretence of saving, in fact enslaves them. Nations have their childhood, their maturity, their old age- you must watch over the childhood, but not bury it. Unity is necessary to the Republic, I admit, but it is unity in institutions, not men; so that, if a man is cut off, the unity may revive in his successor,* on the condition that that unity shall not be perpetuated long, and that the first magistrate shall speedily descend to the rank of a simple citizen. Many men are useful, none indispensable, the people alone are immortal." Foiled in this proposal, Robespierre's friends unceasingly urged him to the most violent measures. Henriot and the mayor of Paris were ready to commence a new massacre, and had a body of three thousand young assassins ready to aid those of 2d September; St Just and Couthon were to be relied on in the Committee of Public Salvation; the president Dumas and the vice-president Coffinhal, were to be depended on in the Revolutionary Tribunal. "Strike soon and strongly," said St Just. "DARE! that is the sole secret of revolutions." The secret designs of Robespierre are clearly revealed in the following letter, written to him at this period by Payan, then mayor of Paris, and entirely devoted to his interests: "The change of all others most essential is, to augment the powers of the central government. All our authority is useless; it is alone by augmenting the executive that * "Le Roi est mort: Vive le Roi." The same necessity of unity in power, and unbroken succession in that power, is felt by all governments, monarchical or democratic. The only difference is, that the former admits hereditary succession, the latter contends for rotation of office. |