led to the scaffold had long excited the commiseration of the better classes in Paris; the shops in the Rue St. Honoré were shut and its pavement deserted when the melancholy procession moving toward the Place de la Révolution passed along. Alarmed at these signs of dissatisfaction, the committee changed the place of execution, and fixed it at the Barrier de Trône, in the Faubourg St. Antoine, but even the workmen of that revolutionary district manifested impatience at the constant repetition of the dismal spectacle. | The middling classes, who constitute the strength of the National Guard at Paris, began to be alarmed at the rapid progress and evident descent of the proscriptions. At first the nobles and ecclesiastics only were included; by degrees the whole landed proprietors were reached; but now the work of destruction seemed to be fast approaching every class above the lowest. On the lists of the Revolutionary Tribunal in the latter days of the Reign of Terror are to be found tailors, shoemakers, hairdressers, butchers, farmers, mechanics and workmen accused of anti-revolutionary principles. From the 10th of June to the 17th of July that court had sentenced twelve hundred and eightyfive persons to death. The people felt pity for these proscriptions, not only from their frequency, but their near approach to them selves. Their reason was at length awakened by the revolutionary fever having exhausted itself; humanity began to be felt at the ceaseless effusion of human blood after all their enemies had been destroyed. The Convention eagerly embraced the same sentiments; their conspicuous situation rendered it probable that they would be among the first victims, and every one, in the hope of sav 66 ing his own life, ardently prayed for the downfall of the tyrants. But these expressions of public feeling only inspired their oppressors with greater impatience for human blood. "Let us put," said Vadier, a wall of heads between the people and ourselves.”- -"The Revolutionary Tribunal," said 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 murder your enemies: you should mow them down with cannon." The judges of the Revolutionary Tribunal, many of whom came from the galleys of Toulon, labored 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 his 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." The superstition or terrors of Robespierre furnished the first pretext for a combination to shake his power. The members of the different committees, alarmed for their own safety, were secretly endeavoring to undermine his influence, when the fanaticism of an old woman named Catharine 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 Robes pierre was invoked as the supreme pontiff. The Committee of Public Safety, who were acquainted with all these proceedings, beheld, or feigned to behold, in their 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 fervor. Vadier was intrusted by the committee with the duty of investigating the mysteries; his report turned the fanatics into derision, but at the same time represented them as worthy of death, and they were accordingly thrown into prison. Robespierre strove to save them, but his colleagues withstood his influence; irritated, he retired from their meetings and confined himself to the club of the Jacobins, where his power was still predominant. 66 people shall strike the hour of your fall. Should my hope prove vain, this hand, which now writes thy sentence-this hand, which presses thine with horror-shall pierce thee to the heart. Every day I am with thee; every hour my uplifted arm is ready to cut short thy life. Worst of men, live yet a few days to be tortured by the fear of my vengeance. This very night, in seeing thee, I shall enjoy thy terrors, but thy eyes shall seek in vain my avenging form." His violent partisans strongly urged the immediate adoption of the most vigorous 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 September 2d; St. Just and Couthon were gained in the Committee of Public Safety; 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 They had already Naturally suspicious, the apprehensions of the tyrant now increased to the highest degree. His house was guarded by a body of Jacobins armed with pistols, chiefly com- secret of revolutions." posed of jurymen from the Revolutionary marked cut Tallien, Bourdon de l'Oise, Tribunal. He never went out but attended Thuriot, Roverè, Lecombre, Panis, Monesby this obnoxious band. His table was tier, Legendre, Fréron, Barras and Cambon covered by letters in which he was styled as the first victims. But the conspirators the "Envoy of God," the New Messiah," had no armed force at their command: the theNew Orpheus." On every side his club of the Jacobins, which they wielded portrait was to be seen in marble, bronze at pleasure, was only powerful from its or canvas, and below each lines in which weight on public opinion; the committees the Jacobinical poets extolled him above Cato of government were all arrayed on the other and Aristides. But all his efforts and all the side. Robespierre, therefore, was compelled adulation of his satellites could not dispel the to commence the attack in the Convention; terrors which had seized his mind. On his he expected to sway them by the terror of desk, after his death, was found a letter in his voice, or if, contrary to all former precethe following terms: "You yet live, assassin dent, they held out, his reliance was on the of your country, stained with the purest blood | municipality and an insurrection of the peoin France. I wait only the time when the ple similar to that which had been so suc cessful on the 31st of May. By their aid he hoped to effect the proscription of the Committee of Public Safety and their associates in the Mountain, as he had formerly done that of the Girondists and of the Committee of Twelve. In a meeting of the Jacobins held on the 3d Thermidor (21st of July) he prepared the minds of the audience for a revolt against the Convention. "The Assembly," said he, "laboring under the gangrene of corruption and unable to throw off its impurities, is incapable of saving the republic; both will perish. The proscription of the patriots is the order of the day. For myself, I have one foot in the grave; in a few days I will place the other in it the result is in the hands of Providence." The Jacobins were by this and similar addresses prepared for a revolutionary movement, but the secret of the insurrection, which was fixed for the 9th Thermidor, was confided only to Henriot and the mayor of Paris. The leaders of the Convention and of the committees on their side were not idle. The immediate pressure of danger had united all parties against the tyrant. He made no secret in the popular society of his resolution to decimate the Assembly. At leaving one of the meetings where his designs had been openly expressed Barère exclaimed, "That Robespierre is insatiable; because we won't do everything he wishes, he threatens to break with us. If he speaks to us of Thuriot, Guffroi, Roverè and all the party of Danton, we understand him; even should he demand Tallien, Bourdon de l'Oise, Légendre, Fréron, we may consent in good time; but to ask Duval, Andoin, Léonard, Bourdon, Vadier, Vouland, is out of the question. To pro scribe members of the Committee of General Safety is to put the poniard to all our throats." Impressed with these feelings, they resolved to stand on their guard, though they did not venture to commence an attack on Robespierre, whose name was terrible and influence still so much the object of dread. Tallien was the leader of the party, an intrepid man and an old supporter of the revolutionary tyranny. but who had been awakened during his sanguinary mission to Bordeaux to better feeling by the influence of a young woman-afterward well known as Madame Tallien of extraordinary beauty and more than masculine firmness of character. At length, on the 8th Thermidor (26th of July), the contest began in the National Convention. The discourse of Robespierre was dark and enigmatical. "I come," said he. "to defend your outraged authority and violated independence; I also will defend myself. You will not be taken by surprise. for you have nothing in common with the tyrants whom you combat. To what faetion do I belong? To yourselves. What is the party which ever since the commencement of the Revolution has crushed faction and swept off the traitors? It is yourselves. the people, the force of principles. That is my party. For six weeks I have been reduced to a state of impotence in the Committee of Public Safety; during that time has faction been better restrained or the country more happy? Representatives of the people, the time has arrived when you should resume the attitude which befits you: you are not placed here to be governed, but to govern the depositaries of your confidence. Let it be spoken out at once. A conspiracy exists against the pub pro lic freedom; it springs from a criminal in- Vadier, "for him to be a tyrant: he aims trigue in the bosom of the Convention. farther, like a second Mohammed, at being That intrigue is conducted by the members proclaimed the envoy of God." Fréron of the Committee of General Safety; the posed to throw off the hated yoke of the comenemies of the republic have contrived to mittees. "The moment is at last arrived," array that committee against the Commit- said he, "to revive the liberty of opinion. tee of Public Safety; even some members I propose that the Assembly reverse the deof this latter committee have been infected; cree which permitted the arrest of the repand the coalition thus formed seeks to ruin resentatives of the people who can debate the country. What is the remedy for the with freedom when imprisonment is hanging evil? To punish the traitors; to purge over his head?" Some applause followed this the committees of their unworthy members; proposal; but Robespierre was felt to be too to place the Committee of General Safety powerful to be overthrown by the Convenunder the control of that of Public Safety; tion, unaided by the committees. This exto establish the unity of government under treme measure, therefore, was rejected, and the auspices of the Convention; and thus the Assembly contented itself with reversto crush faction under the weight of the ing the decree which ordered the publication national representation and raise on its of his address, and sent it to the committees ruins the power of justice and freedom.' for examination. Robespierre retired, surprised at the resistance he had experienced, but still confident of success on the following day, from the insurrection of the Jacobins and of the municipality. This speech was received with breathless attention. Not a sound was heard during its delivery; not a whisper of applause followed its close. At the proposal that it should be printed the first symptoms of resistance began. Bourdon de l'Oise opposed its publication, but, Barère having supported it, the Assembly, fearful of committing itself openly with its enemies, agreed to the proposal. The members of the Committee of General Safety, seeing the majority wavering, deemed it now necessary to take decisive steps. "It is no longer time," said Cambon, "for dissembling; one man paralyzes the Assembly, and that man is Robespierre."—"We must pull the mask off any countenance on which it is placed," said Billaud Varennes ; "I would rather that my carcase served for a throne to the tyrant than render myself, by my silence, the accomplice of his crimes."-"It is not enough,' It is not enough," said In the evening he repaired to the popular society, where he was received with enthusiasm. Henriot, Dumas, Coffinhal and his other satellites surrounded him and declared themselves ready for action. "I know." says Henriot, "the road to the Convention, and I am ready to take it again."—" Go,” said Robespierre. "Separate the wicked from the weak; deliver the Assembly from the wretches who enthral it; render it the service which it expects from you, as you did on the 31st of May and the 2d of June. March! You may yet save liberty." After describing the attacks directed against his person, he added, "I am ready, if necessary, to drink the cup of Socrates."-" Robespierre," exclaimed one of the deputies, "I am ready to drink it with you. The enemies of Robespierre are those of the country; let them be named, and they shall cease to exist." During all the night he made arrangements for the disposal of his partisans on the following day. Their points of rendezvous were fixed at the hall of the Jacobins and the Hôtel de Ville, where they were to be in readiness to receive his orders from the National Assembly. The two committees, on their side, were not idle. During the whole night they sat in deliberation. It was felt by every one that a combination of all parties was required to shake the redoubted power of Robespierre. All their efforts, accordingly, were directed to this object. St. Just continued firm to his leader, but by unremitting exertions the Jacobins of the Mountain succeeded in forming a coalition with the leaders of the Plain and of the Right. "Do not flatter yourselves," said Tallien to the Girondists, "that he will ever spare you you have committed an unpardonable offence in being freemen. Let us bury our ruinous divisions in oblivion. You weep for Vergniaud; we weep for Danton let us unite their shades by striking Robespierre.”—“ Do you still live?" said he to the Jacobins; "has the tyrant spared you this night? Yet your names are the foremost on the list of proscription. In a few days he will have your heads if you do not take his. For two months you have shielded us from his strokes; you may now rely on our support as our gratitude." The friends of Danton were so exasperated at the death of their leader that they long resisted all advances toward a reconciliation, but at length, moved by the entreaties of the Plain and the Right, they agreed to join the coalition. Before daybreak all the Assembly had united for the overthrow of the tyrant. At an early hour on the morning of the 9th Thermidor (July 27th) the benches were thronged by its members; those of the Mountain were particularly remarkable for the serried ranks and determined looks of the coalition. The leaders walked about the passages, confirming each other in their generous resolution. Bourdon de l'Oise pressed Durand Maillane by the hand; Roverè and Tallien followed his example. The latter evinced that undoubting confidence which is so often the presage and cause of success. "Take your place," said he, looking around him. "I have come to witness the triumph of freedom: this evening Robespierre is no more.' At noon St. Just mounted the tribune; Robespierre took his station on the bench directly opposite, to intimidate his adversaries by his look. His knees trembled. the color fled from his lips, as he ascended to his seat: the hostile appearance of the Assembly already gave him an anticipation of his fate. I St. Just commenced a speech from the tribune. "I belong," said he, "to no party: will combat them all. The course of events has possibly determined that this tribune should be the Tarpeian Rock for him who now tells you that the members of the committees have strayed from the path of wisdom." Upon this he was violently interrupted by Tallien, who took the lead in the revolt. "Shall the speaker," said he, "for ever arrogate to himself, with the tyrant of whom he is the satellite, the privilege of denouncing, accusing and proscribing the members of the Assembly? Shall he for ever go |