THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.

343

of the foreign ambassadors, the flight of emigrants, the confis- Ch. 27 cation of their estates, the massacres in the prisons, the sack A. D. of palaces, the fall and flight of La Fayette, and the dissolution 1792. of the Legislative Assembly, rapidly succeeded.

and

On the 21st of September, the National Convention, composed of the most violent advocates of revolution, commenced its sittings. It was ruled by the popular orators who happened to have the greatest influence in the Clubs. The most influential of these leaders were Danton, Marat, and Robes- Danton, pierre. Danton was a lawyer, a man of brutal courage, the Marat, slave of sensual passions, and the idol of the Parisian mob. RobesHe, as minister of justice, was the ferocious author of the pierre. massacres in the prisons. Marat was a journalist, the president of the Jacobin Club, and a violent advocate of all excesses. His bloody career was prematurely cut short by the hand of Charlotte Corday, who offered up her own life to rid the country of the greatest monster which the annals of crime have ever consigned to an infamous immortality.

Robespierre was a sentimentalist, and concealed, under the mask of patriotism and philanthropy, an insatiable ambition, inordinate vanity, and implacable revenge. He despised money, and, when he had at his disposal the lives and fortunes of his countrymen, lived upon a few francs a day. It is usual to deny him any extraordinary talent; but that he was a man of domineering will, of invincible courage, and of austere enthusiasm, appears from nearly all the actions of his hateful career.

Con

It was in the midst of the awful massacre in the prisons, Sittings where more than five thousand perished to appease the infatu- of the ated vengeance of the Parisian mob, that the Convention vention. opened its proceedings. Its first measure was, to abolish the monarchy, and to proclaim a republic; the next, to issue new assignats. The two preceding assemblies had authorized the fabrication of twenty-seven hundred millions of francs, and the Convention added several millions more, on the security of the national domains.

On the 7th of November, 1792, the trial of the King

344

A. D.

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE KING.

Ch. 27 was decreed; and, on the 11th of December, his examination commenced. As he appeared at the bar of the Convention, 1793, the president, Barrere, exclaimed, "Louis, the French nation accuses you; you are about to hear the charges that are to be preferred. Louis, be seated."

frial

cution

VI.

The charges having been read, the King replied with dignity, and exe- simplicity, and directness. He was defended, in this mock of Louis trial, by Desèze, Tronchet, and Malesherbes; but his blood was demanded, and the Assembly unanimously pronounced the condemnation of their King. On the 20th of January, Santerre appeared in the royal prison, and read the sentence of death; three days only were allowed to prepare for the last hour of anguish. On the 24th of January, 1793, the Monarch mounted the scaffold, erected between the garden of the Tuileries and the Champs Elysées, and the fatal axe soon separated his head from his body. His remains were buried in the ancient cemetery of the Madeleine, over which Napoleon commenced, after the battle of Jena, a splendid temple of glory; but as the building was not finished until the restoration of the Bourbons, it was then converted into the beautiful church which now bears the name of the ancient cemetery. The spot where Louis XVI. offered up his life, in expiation of the crimes of his ancestors, is marked by the colossal obelisk of red granite, which the French Government, in 1831, brought from Egypt,-a monument which witnessed the march of Cambyses, and may perhaps survive the glory of the French nation itself.

Effects

of his martyr

dom.

The execution of Louis XVI. was the signal for a general war. All the Powers of Europe instantly united in opposition to the principles and proceedings of the French revolutionists. The Convention, after declaring war against England, Holland, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Portugal, the Two Sicilies, the Roman States, Sardinia, and Piedmont,-ordered a levy of three hundred thousand men; instituted a military tribunal; imposed a forced loan of one thousand millions; and prepared, with unparalleled energy, to defend the soil of France.

COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY.

345

A Committee of Public Safety was appointed, and the dic- Ch.27 tatorship of Danton, Marat, and Robespierre commenced, A. D. marked by great horrors and barbarities, but signalized also 1793. by wonderful successes in war, and by exertions which, under common circumstances, would scarcely be credited.

mittee

This committee was at first composed of twenty-five per- Comsons, then of twelve; but Robespierre and Marat were, from of the first, the leading members. The different departments of Safety. the government were of course assigned to ruling Jacobins. St. Just was entrusted with the duty of denouncing enemies; Couthon brought forward general measures; Billaud Varennes and Collot d'Herbois managed the departments; Carnot was made minister of war; and Robespierre, general dictator. In this body, as the supreme authority, really vested all the power of government. "It named and dismissed generals, judges, and juries; brought forward all public measures in the Convention; ruled provinces and armies; controlled the Revolutionary Tribunal; made requisitions of men and money; and appointed revolutionary committees, which sprang up in every part of the kingdom, to the frightful number of fifty thousand. It was the object of the Committee of Public Safety to destroy all who opposed the most violent revolutionary measures. Marat had declared that two hundred and sixty thousand heads must fall before freedom was secure; the revolutionary committees discovered that seven hundred thousand persons must be sacrificed."

of

Then commenced the Reign of Terror, when all the prisons Reign of France were filled with victims, whose only crime was Terror. being obnoxious to the reigning powers. The suspected, if possible, fled, but were generally unable to carry away their property, which was immediately confiscated; thousands were guillotined; anarchy and fear reigned without a rival. Deputies, even those who had been most instrumental in bringing on the revolution, were sacrificed by the triumphant Jacobins. Women and retired citizens were not permitted to escape their fear and vengeance.

346

Ch.27

A. D.

Bloody

execu

tions.

THE REIGN OF TERROR.

The Queen Marie Antoinette, the Princess Elizabeth, and Madame Roland, were among the first victims. Then followed 1794. the executions of Bailly, Mayor of Paris; Barnave, one of the most eloquent and upright members of the Constituent Assembly; Dupont Dutertre, one of the ministers of Louis XVI.; Lavoisier, the chemist; Condorcet, the philosopher; General Custine; and General Houchard, all of whom had been the allies of the dominant party. The Duke of Orleans, usually called Egalité, who had supported the revolt of the 10th of August, and had voted for the execution of the King, shared the same fate, and he, of all the victims of the revolution, died least lamented.

The "Decemvirs" had now destroyed the most illustrious advocates of constitutional monarchy and of republican liberty. The slaughter of their old friends followed. The first victim was Danton himself, who had used his influence to put a stop to the bloody executions which then disgraced the country, and had at length recognized the existence of a God, and the rights of humanity. For such sentiments he was denounced and executed, together with Camille Desmoulins and Lacroix, who perished only because they were somewhat less wicked than their associates. Finally, the anarchists themselves fell before the storm which they had raised, and Hebert, Gobet, Clootz, and Vincent died amid shouts of general execration. The Committee of Public Safety had now subdued all opposition, and, in their iron hands, order, under the influence of General terror, resumed its sway. "The history of the world has no ing and parallel to the horrors of that long night of suffering, because conster- it has no parallel to the guilt which preceded it; tyranny never

suffer

nation.

assumed so hideous a form, because licentiousness never required so severe a punishment."

Confident of its strength, the Committee now decreed the disbanding of the army raised to overawe the capital, dissolved all societies which did not depend on the Jacobin Club, and devoted every energy to the establishment of its power. But death was the means taken to secure it, and two hundred thousand victims filled the prisons of France.

EXECUTION OF ROBESPIERRE.

347

"Do not 1794.

Revolu

At last, fear united the members of the Convention, and Ch. 27 they resolved to free the country of the great tyrant who A. D. aimed at the suppression of all power but his own. flatter yourselves," said Tallien to the Girondists, "that he will spare you, for you have committed an unpardonable offence in being freemen." "Do you still live ?" said he to the Jacobins; "in a few days he will have your heads, if you do not take his." All parties in the Assembly now resolved to Fall overthrow Robespierre. Dumas, the president of the Revolu- of the tionary Tribunal, Henriot, the commander of the National tionists. Guard, Couthon and St. Just, the tools of the tyrant, were quickly denounced, condemned, and executed. The last hours of Robespierre were horrible beyond description. When he was led to execution, the blood flowed from his broken jaw, his face was deadly pale, and he uttered yells of agony, which filled all hearts with terror. But one woman, nevertheless, penetrated the crowd which surrounded him, exclaiming, "Murderer of my kindred! your agony fills me with joy; descend to hell, covered with the curses of every mother in France."

Thus terminated the Reign of Terror, during which nearly nineteen thousand persons died in Paris by the guillotine. Among these were two thousand nobles and a thousand priests. Immense numbers perished by the executioner in other parts of France.

rous

mea

for war.

During this period, however, vigorous measures had been Vigoadopted to carry on war. On the part of the allies, no less than two hundred and eighty thousand men were in the field, sures from Basle to Dunkirk. Toulon and Lyons had raised the standard of revolt; Mayence gave the invaders a passage into the heart of the kingdom; whilst sixty thousand insurgents in La Vendée threatened to encamp under the walls of Paris.

But through the exertions of Carnot, the minister of war, still greater numbers were placed under arms by the Committee. France was turned into an immense workshop of military preparations, and the whole property of the kingdom, by means of confiscations and assignats, was placed at the disposal