XIX. 1795. tion had lost all its popularity, because it had evinced so little disposition to relieve the sufferings of the people, which had now become absolutely intolerable. The anarchists, the enemies of order, profited by this ferment, and did their utmost to augment it, because that class reaped no harvest but in the fields of misery. France, exhausted by every species of suffering, had lost even the power of uttering a complaint; and we had all arrived at such a point of depression, that death, if unattended by pain, would have been wished for even by the youngest human being, because it offered the prospect of repose, and every one panted for that blessing at any price. But it was ordained that many days, months, and years, should still continue in that state of horrible agitation, the true foretaste of the torments of hell." The mobs which 1 Duchess had, for some weeks preceding, assembled in the streets 1.296. Mig. on account of the high price of provisions and universal Hist. Parl. suffering, prevented the Convention from being aware of vi. 320, the approach of a great popular movement, or of the magnitude of the danger which threatened them. 1 D'Abrantes, ii. 370. 328. No sooner, however, were they informed of it, on the day before the revolt, by the committees of government, than the leaders of the Convention took the most prompt measures to maintain their authority. They instantly declared their sittings permanent, voted all assemblages of the people seditious, named commanders of the armed force, and summoned the national guard of the sections by the sound of the tocsin to their defence. The succeeding night (19th May) was one of the most frightful which occurred during the whole course of the Revolution. From sunset, Paris was the theatre of unceasing perturbation. Seditious groups were formed on the quays, in the squares, on the Boulevards; a crowd of noisy discontented persons traversed every quarter, calling on the discontented, the famishing, the desperate to revolt; bands of women went from door to door knocking aloud, raising alarming cries in the streets, deploring the fate of CHAP. XIX. 1795. 1 Deux the "good Robespierre, whom the aristocrats had put to death," and calling on the people to rise against their oppressors, march straight to the Tuileries, and install the true republicans in power. The générale and the tocsin sounded at the same time to their incessant clang were soon joined hideous cries, fierce vociferations, mingled Amis, xiii. with the occasional discharge of muskets and pistols: Hist. Parl. while the cannon of government sounded at intervals; 315. Hist. and the deep-toned bell, placed lately on the summit of the de la Conv. great pavilion of the Tuileries, by its loud and measured Lac.xii.218. toll called the national guard to the defence of the Con- Mig. ii. 367. vention.1 128, 130. xxxvi. 311, iv. 310, 311. Th. vii. 381. the Hesitation, as usual in presence of real danger, ap- 29. peared on the following morning among the supporters of Danger of order. The Jacobins were already in arms; immense ment. govern. assemblages appeared round the Panthéon, in the Place of the Bastille, in that of Nôtre-Dame, in the Place de Grève, in the Place Royale. The whole city was in agitation: vast bodies of insurgents by daybreak surrounded the Convention, and by ten o'clock every avenue to its hall was choked with a forest of pikes. The insurgents had adopted the most energetic measures to restore the democratic order of things. In the name of the "Insurgent people, who had risen to obtain bread, and resume their rights," they established a provisional committee, which immediately abolished the existing government, proclaimed the democratic constitution of 1793; the dismissal of the members of administration, and their arrest; the liberation of the patriots in confinement; the instant convocation of the primary assemblies; the suspension of all authority not emanating from the people. Hist. Parl. They resolved to create a new Municipality to serve as centre of operations, to seize the telegraph, the barriers, the cannon of alarm, and the tocsin, and to invite all the forces, both regular and irregular, to join the banners of 311, 312. the people and march against the Convention.2 * Deux Amis, xiii. 141, 143. xxxvi. 313, a 321. Mig. ii. 368, 369. Hist. de la Scarcely were the decrees of the Convention, to guard Th. vii. 384. Conv. iv. XIX. 1795. 30. Heroic con Boissy The mob master the Convention. CHAP. against these dangers, passed, when a furious multitude broke into the hall, crying aloud for bread and the constitution of 1793. The President Vernier behaved with Convention a dignity befitting his situation. "Your cries," he said, besieged. "will not alter one iota of our measures; they will not duct of hasten by one second the arrival of provisions: they will d'Anglas. only retard them." A violent tumult drowned his voice; the insurgents broke open the inner doors with hatchets, and instantly a vociferous multitude filled the whole of the room. A severe struggle ensued between the national guard, intrusted with the defence of the Convention, and the furious rabble. Vernier was torn from the chair : it was immediately occupied by Boissy-d'Anglas, who, through the whole of that perilous day, evinced the most heroic firmness of mind. Several pikes, wielded by savage hands, were directed against his breast, and, but for the intrepidity of a bystander, would have proved fatal. Féraud, with generous devotion, interposed his body to receive the blows destined for the president; he was mortally wounded, dragged out by the populace, and beheaded in the lobby. They instantly placed his head on a pike, and with savage cries re-entered the hall, bearing aloft in triumph the bloody trophy of their violence. Almost all the deputies fled in consternation; none remained excepting the friends of the revolt and Boissyd'Anglas, who, with Roman constancy, filled the chair, and, regardless of all the threats of the multitude, unceasingly protested, in the name of the Convention, against the violence with which they were assailed. They presented to him the lifeless head of Féraud on the top of the pike, and waved it before his eyes; he turned aside with emotion from the horrid spectacle: they again presented it, and he bowed with reverence before the remains of fidelity and devotion. The multitude laughed loudly, and applauded long, at the sight of the bloody head. Cries of "Bread! bread! Liberate all the patriots!" resounded for more than half an hour through XIX. 1795. the hall, with such vehemence that no other voice could CHAP. be heard. He was at length torn from the chair by the efforts of his friends; and the mob, overawed by the grandeur of his conduct, permitted him to retire without molestation. Being now undisputed masters of the Convention, the insurgents, with the aid of their associates in it, proceeded without delay to assume the government. Amidst the gloom of twilight, they named a president, got possession of all the bureaux, and, in the midst of deafening applause, passed a series of resolu- 1 Deux tions declaratory of their intentions. The most impor- 140, 141. tant of these were, the restoration of the Jacobin Club, the re-establishment of the democratic constitution, the recall of the exiled members, the dismissal of all the Lac. xii, existing members of the government. A provisional Th. vii. 386, administration, and a commander of the armed force, were named, and every thing seemed to indicate a com- 337. plete revolution.1 Amis, xiii. Hist. Parl. xxxvi. 31, 221, 223. 394. Hist. de la Conv. iv. 320, 336, length de Committees Dorée. But though the Convention was dissolved, the Com- 31. mittees still existed, and their firmness saved France. But are at All the efforts of the insurgents to force their place of feated by the meeting were defeated by the vigour of a few companies othe of the national guard, and a determined band of the Troupe Troupe Dorée, who guarded the avenues to that last asylum of order and humanity. As night approached, many of the mob retired to their homes, and the troops of the sections began to assemble in force round the Committees. Encouraged by the strength of their defenders, they even returned to the seat of government, and there ventured on an open attack on the insurgents. The grenadiers of the sections advanced with fixed bayonets, the pikemen of the faubourgs stood their ground, and a bloody strife ensued in the hall and on the benches of the Convention. The opposing cries, "Vivent les Jacobins !" "Vive la Convention!" resounded from the opposite sides of the room, and success was for a few minutes doubtful. At length the insur XIX. 1795. CHAP. gents were forced back at the point of the bayonet, and a frightful mass of men and women, half of whom were intoxicated, were driven headlong, amidst frightful cries, out of the hall. At eleven o'clock Legendre made a sally, and speedily routed the surrounding multitude: they made a resistance as pusillanimous as their conduct had been violent; and the members who had fled resumed at midnight their places in the Convention. All that had been done by the rebel authority was immediately annulled; eight-and-twenty members who had supported their proceedings were put under arrest, and at five in the morning they were already five leagues from Paris. Such was the termination of this memorable revolt, which obtained the name of the insurrection of the 1st Prairial. On no former occasion had the people evinced such exasperation, or a spectacle so terrible been exhibited in the legislature. If cannon were Amis, xiii. not planted in battery against the Convention, as on 144 Mig. the 31st May, yet the scenes in the interior of its hall were more bloody and appalling; and the victory of the 398. Hist. populace for the time not less complete. The want of iv. 339, 344. design and decision on the part of the insurgents alone xxxvi. 351. made them lose the victory after they had gained it, and saved France from a return to the reign of blood.1 1 Deux ii. 371. Lac.xii.223. Th. vii. 395, de la Conv. Hist. Parl. 32. of the Jaco bins. May 21. But the faubourgs, though defeated, were not subdued. Fresh efforts On the following day, the tocsin sounded in every quarter of Paris at eight o'clock in the morning; the générale beat to summon the national guard; and the Convention, little expecting to survive the day, assembled in their hall at nine. The insurgents quickly appeared in great strength; they advanced in still greater force against the Convention, and had already pointed their cannon against the place of its deliberation. The conduct of the President Legendre on this trying occasion was in the highest degree admirable. The sound of the approach of the artillery made several members start from their seats, and run towards the door. There new terrors |