A 1,254,712
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BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY.
HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

Bunaparte
ILYENANT COLONEL 1792
HISTORY
OF THE
FRENCH REVOLUTION,
,
FROM 1789 TO 1814.
By F. A. MIGNET,
Mel ironica
were quello di reciterenatico
VEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, ETO.
LONDON : GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
1888.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..
1
Character of the French revolution-Its results, its progress-Successivo
forms of the monarchy-Louis XIV. and Louis XV.-State of men s
minds, of the finances, of the public power and the public wants, at the
accession of Louis XVI.—His character-Maurepas, prime minister-
His policy-Chooses popular and reforming ministers- His object-
Turgot, Malesherbes, Necker—Their plaus-—Opposed by the court and
the privileged classes-- Their failure-Death of Maurepas_Influence of
the Queen, Marie-Antoinette-Popular ministers are succeeded by court
ministers—Calonne and his system-Brienne, his character and at-
tempts—Distressed state of the finances-Opposition of the assembly of
the notables, of the parliament, and provinces-Dismissal of Brienne--
Second administration of Necker--Convocation of the states-general-
Immediate causes of the revolution
D. ]
CHAPTER I.
From the 5th of May, 1798, to the night of the 4th of August.
Opening of the states-general— Opinion of the court, of the ministry, and
of the various bodies of the kingdom respecting the states---Verification
of
powers——Question of vote by order or by poll—The order of the
commons forms itself into a national assembly—The court causes the
Hall of the states to be closed-Oath of the Tennis-court—The majority
of the order of the clergy unites itself with the commons--Royal sittings
of the 23rd of June-Its inutility-Project of the court Events of the
12th, 13th, and 14th of July—Dismissal of Necker—Insurrection of
Paris Formation of the national guard—Siege and taking of the Bastille
-Consequences of the 14th of July-Decrees of the niglt of the 4th
of August-Character of the revolution which bad just teen brought
about
ъ
P. 21
224704
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER II.
From the night of the 4th of August to the 5th and 6th of October, 1789.
State of the constituent assembly-Party of the high clergy and nobility-
Maury and Cazales--Party of the ministry and of the two chambers :
Mounier, Lally-Tolleudal — Popular party: triumvirate of Barnave,
Duport, and Lameth-Its position—Influence of Siéyes-Mirabeau
chief of the assembly at that period - Opinion to be formed of the Or-
leans party_Constitutional labours Declaration of rights-Perma-
nency and unity of the legislative body-Royal sanction-External agi-
tation caused by it-Project of the court-Banquet of the gardes-du-
corps-Insurrection of the 5th and 6th October--The king comes to
reside at Paris
p. 55
CHAPTER III.
From the 6th of October, 1789, to the death of Mirabeau, April, 1791.
Results of the events of October--Alteration of the provinces into depart-
ments--Organization of the administrative and municipal authorities
according to the system of popular sovereignty and election–Finances ;
all the means employed are insufficient-Property of the clergy declared
national—The sale of the property of the clergy leads to assignats-
Civil constitution of the clergy-Religious opposition of the bishops-
Anniversary of the 14th of July--Abolition of titles-Confederation of
the Champ de Mars-New organization of the army-Opposition of the
oficers--Schism respecting the civil constitution of the clergy-Clubs
Death of Mirabeau-During the whole of this period the separation of
parties becomes more decided
P. 73
CHAPTER IV.
From April, 1791, to the 30th September, the term of the Constituent
Assembly.
Political state of Europe before the French revolution-System of alliance
observed by different states-General coalition against the revolution
Motives of each power-Conference of Mantua, and circular of Pavia
Flight to Varennes-Arrest of the king--His suspension-The repub-
lican party separate, for the first time, from the party of the constitu-
tional monarchy-The latter re-establishes the king-Declaration of
Pilnitz-The king accepts the constitution-End of the constituent
assembly-Opinion of it
P. 98
CONTENTS.
vii
THE NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.
CHAPTER V.
From the 1st of October, 1791, to the 21st of September, 1792.
Early relations between the legislative assembly and the king State of
parties: the Feuillants rely on the middle classes, the Girondins on the
people--Emigration and the dissentient clergy; decree against them;
the king's veto---Declarations of war-Girondin ministry; Dumouriez,
Roland-Declaration of war against the king of Hungary and Bohemia
-Disasters of our armies ; decree for a camp of reserve for twenty
thousand men at Paris ; decree of banishment against the nonjuring
priests ; veto of the king ; fall of the Girondiu ministry-Petition of
insurgents of the 20th of June to secure the passing of the decrees and
the recal of the ministers–Last efforts of the constitutional party-
Manifesto of the duke of Brunswick-Events of the 10th of August
Military insurrection of Lafayette against the authors of the events of
the 10th of August; it fails--Division of the assembly and the new
commune; Danton — Invasion of the Prussians-Massacres of the
2nd of September-Campaign of the Argone-Causes of the events
under the legislative assembly
.
P. 113
NATIONAL CONVENTION.
CHAPTER VI.
From the 20th of September, 1792, to the 21st of January, 1793
First measures of the Convention--Its composition-Rivalry of the Gironde
and of the Mountain-Strength and views of the two parties--Robe-
spierre: the Girondists accuse him of aspiring to the dictatorship-
Marat-Fresh accusation of Robespierre by Louvet; Robespierre's de-
fence; the Convention passes to the order of the day-The Mountain,
victorious in this struggle, demand the trial of Louis XVI.-Opinions
of parties on this subject-The Convention decides that Louis XVI.
shall be tried, and by itself-Louis XVI. at the Temple ; bis replies be-
fore the Convention; his defence; his condemnation; courage and
serenity of his last moments—What he was, and what he was not, as a
king
p. 167
CHAPTER VII.
From the 21st of January, 1793, to the 2nd of June.
Political and military situation of France-England, Holland, Spain, Naples,
and all the circles of the Empire fall in with the coalition-Dumouriez,
after having conquered Belgium, attempts an expedition into Holland-
vil
CONTENTS.
He wishes to re-establish constitutional monarchy-Reverses of on
armies—Struggle between the Gironde and the Mountain-Conspiracy
of the 10th of March-Insurrection of La Vendée; its progress-De-
fection of Dumouriez-The Gironde accused of being his accomplices
New conspiracies against them-Establishment of the Commission of
twelve to frustrate the conspirators--Insurrections of the 27th and 31st
of May against the Commission of twelve; its suppression-Insurrec-
tion of the 2nd of June against the two-and-twenty leading Girondists;
their arrest Total defeat of that party
p. 191
CHAPTER VIII.
From the 2nd of June, 1793, to April, 1794.
Insurrection of the departments against the 31st of May—Protracted re-
verses on the frontiers—Progress of the Vendeans—The Mountaineers
decree the constitution of 1793, and immediately suspend it to maintain
and strengthen the revolutionary government-Levy en masse ; law
against suspected persons—Victories of the Mountaineers in the in-
terior, and on the frontiers-Death of the queen, of the twenty-two
Girondists, &c.-Committee of public safety; its power; its members-
Republican calendar—The conquerors of the 31st of May separatem
The ultra-revolutionary faction of the commune, or the Hebertists,
abolish the Catholic religion, and establish the worship of Reason; its
struggle with the committee of public safety; its defeat—The moderate
faction of the Mountaineers, or the Dantonists, wish to destroy the
revolutionary dictatorship, and to establish the legal government; their
fall— The committee of the public welfare remains alone, and tri-
umphant
P. 217
CHAPTER IX.
From the death of Danton, April, 1794, to the 9th Thermidor,
(27th July, 1794.)
Increase of terror; its cause-System of the democrats; Saint-Just-Robes. .
pierre's power-Festival of the Supreme Being—Couthon presents the
law of the 22nd Prairial, which reorganizes the revolutionary tribunal;
disturbances ; debates; final obedience of the convention–The active
members of the committee have a division-Robespierre, Saint-Just, and
Couthon on one side ; Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and
the members of the committee of general safety on the other-Conduct
of Robespierre-He absents bimself from the committee, and rests on
the Jacobins and the commune On the 8th of Thermidor be demands
the renewal of the committees; the motion is rejected-Sitting of the
9th Thermidor; Saint Just denounces the committees ; is interrupted by
Tallien; Billaud-Varennes violently attacks Robespierre; general in-
dignation of the convention against the triumvirate, they are arrested
The commune rises and liberates the prisoners—Peril and courage of
the convention; it outlaws the insurgents—The sections declare for
the convention-Defeat and execution of Robespierre
p. 247
CONTENTS.
ix
CHAPTER X.
From the 9th Therinidor to the 4th Brunaire, year IV. (26th October,
1795), the close of the Convention.
The convention, after the fall of Robespierre; party of the committees,
Thermidorian party; their constitution and object-Decay of the demc.
cratic Party of the committees—Impeachment of Lebon and Carrier
State of Paris–The Jacobins and the Faubourgs declare for the old
committees; the jeunesse dorée, and the sections for the Thermidonials
-Impeachment of Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and
Vadier-Movement of Germinal—Transportation of the accused, and
of a few of the Mountain, their partisans—Insurrection of the 1st Prairial
-Defeat of the democratic party; disarming of the Faubourgs-The
lower class is excluded from the government, deprived of the constitution
of '93, and loses its material power
p. 273
CHAPTER XI.
From the 20th of May, 1795, to the 26th of October, the close of the
Convention.
Campaign of 1793 and 1794–Disposition of the armies on hearing the
news of the 9th Thermidor-Conquest of Holland; position on the
Rhine-Peace of Bâle with Prussia-Peace with Spain-Descent upon
Quiberon—The reaction ceases to be conventional, and becomes royalist
-Massacre of the revolutionists in the south-Directorial constitution
of the year III.-Decrees of Fructidor, which require the re-election of
two-thirds of the convention-Irritation of the sectionary royalist party-
It becomes insurgent—The 13th of Vendémiaire--Appointment of the
councils and of the directory~Close of the convention; its duration
and character
P. 294
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY.
CHAPTER XII.
From the installation of the Directory, on the 27th October, 1795, to the
Coup d'Etat of the 18th Fructidor, year V. (3rd August, 1797.)
Review of the rovolution—Its second character of reorganization; transition
from public to private life—The five directors; their labours for the in-
terior-Pacification of La Vendée-Conspiracy of Babouf; final defeat
of the democratic party—Plan of campaign against Austria ; conquest of
Italy by general Bonaparte ; treaty of Campo-Formio; the French re-
public is acknowledged, with its acquisitions, and its connexion with the
X
CONTENTS.
Batavian, Lombard, and Ligurian republics, which prolonged its system
in Europe-Royalist elections in the year V.; they alter the position of
the republic-New contest between the counter-revolutionary party in
the councils, in the club of Clichy, in the salons, and the conventional
party, in the directory, the club of Salm, and the army--Coup d'état of
the 18th Fructidor; the Vendémiaire party again defeated
p. 313
CHAPTER XIII.
From the 5th September, 1797, to the 9th of November, 1799.
By the 18th Fructidor the directory returns, with slight mitigation, to the
revolutionary government-General peace, except with England-Re.
turn of Bonaparte to Paris-Expedition into Egypt_Democratic elec-
tions for the year VI.-The directory annuls them on the 22nd
Floréal-Second coalition; Russia, Austria, and England attack the re-
public through Italy, Switzerland, and Holland; general defeats-De-
mocratic elections for the year VII.; on the 30th Prairial the councils
get the upper hand, and disorganize the old directory-Two parties in
the new directory, and in the councils; the moderate republican party
under Siéyes, Roger-Ducos, and the ancients; the extreme republican
party under Moulins, Golier, the Five Hundred, and the Society of the
Manége-Various projects—Victories of Massena, in Switzerland; of
Brunne, in Holland-Bonaparte returns from Egypt; comes to an un-
derstanding with Siéyes and his party—The 18th and 19th Brumaire
End of the directorial system
p. 340
THE CONSULATE. .
CHAPTER XIV.
From the 10th of November, 1799, to the 2nd of December, 1804.
Hopes entertained by the various parties, after the 18th Brumaire-Pro-
visional government-Constitution of Siéyes; distorted into the con-
sular constitution of the year VIII.-Formation of the government;
pacific designs of Bonaparte--Campaign of Italy; victory of Marengo-
General peace : on the continent, by the treaty of Luneville with Eng-
land; by the treaty of Amiens-Fusion of parties; internal prosperity
of Fronce-Ambitious system of the First Consul; re-establishes the
clergy in the stato, by the Concordat of 1802 ; he creates a military
order of knighthood, by means of the Legion of Honour; he completes
this order of things by the consulate for life-Resumption of hostilities
with England Conspiracy of Georges and Pichegru-The war and
royalist attempts form a pretext for the erection of the empire-Napo
leon Bonaparte appointed hereditary emperor; is crowned by the pope
on the 2nd of December, 1804, in the church of Nộtre. Dame-Succes-
sive abandonment of the revolution-Progress of absolute power during
the four years of the consulate
P. 360
CONTENTS,
xi
THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER XV.
From the establishment of the Empire, 1804-1814.
Character of the empire-Change of the republics created by the directory
into kingdoms--Third coalition; taking of Vienna; victories of Ulm
und Austerlitz ; peace of Presburg; erection of the two kingdoms of
Bavaria and Wurtemberg against Austria-Confederation of the Rhine-
Joseph Napoleon appointed king of Naples ; Louis Napoleon, king of
Holland-Fourth coalition; battle of Jena; taking of Berlin ; victories
of Eylau and Friedland; peace of Tilsit; the Prussian monarchy is re..
auced by one half; the kingdoms of Saxony and Westphalia are insti-
tuted against it; that of Westphalia given to Jerome Napoleon-The
grand empire rises with its secondury kingdoms, its confederation of
the Rhine, its Swiss mediation, its great fiefs; it is modelled on that
of Charlemagne-Blockade of the continent–Napoleon employs the
cessation of commerce to reduce England, as he bed employed arms to
subdue the continent-Invasion of Spain and Portugal; Joseph Na-
poison appointed to the throne of Spain; Murat replaces him on the
throule of Naples-New order of events: national insurrection of the
peniusula; religious contest with the pope-Commercial opposition of
Holland—Fifth coalition-Victory of Wagram; peace of Vienna,
marriage of Napoleon with the archduchess Marie Louise Failure of
loc attempt at resistance; the pope is dethroned ; Holland is again united
to the empire, and the war in Spain prosecuted with vigour-Russia re
nounces the continental system; campaign of 1812; taking of Moscow;
disastrous retreat-Reaction against the power of Napoleon; campaign
of 1813; general defection-Coalition of all Europe ; exhaustion of
France; marvellous campaign of 1814-The allied powers at Paris;
ebdication at Fontainbleau ; character of Napoleon; his part in the
French revolution Conalusion
D, 384
HISTORY
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
FROM 1789 TO 1814.
1
INTRODUCTION.
Character of the French revolution—Its results, its progress-Successive
forms of the mouarchy-Louis XIV. and Louis XV.-Stute of men's
minds, of the finances, of the public power and the public wants, at the
accession of Louis XVI. His character-Maurepas, prime minister-
His policy-Chooses popular and reforming ministers-His object-
Turgot, Malesherbes, Necker-Their plans—Opposed by the court and
the privileged classes. Their failure-Death of Maurepas--Influence of
the Queen, Marie-Antoinette-Popular ministers are succeeded by court
ministers--Calonne and his system-Brienne, his character and at-
tempts-Distressed state of the finances Opposition of the assembly of
the notables, of the parliament, and provinces—Dismissal of Brienne
Second administration of Necker-Convocation of the states general-
Immediate causes of the revolution.
I AM about to take a rapid review of ihe history of the
French revolution, which began the era of new societies in
Europe, as the English revolution had begun the era of new
governments. This revolution not only modified the poli-
tical power, but it entirely changed the internal existence of
the nation. The forms of the society of the middle ages
still remained. The land was divided into hostile provinces,
the population into rival classes. The nobility had lost all
their powers, but still retained all their distinctions: tbe
7x
2
NIISTORY OF
people had no rignts, royalty no limits; France was in an
utter confusion of arbitrary administration, of class legisla-
tion and special privileges to special bodies. For these abuses
the revolution substituted a system more conformable with
justice, and better suited to our times. It substituted law in
the place of arbitrary will, equality in that of privilege; de-
livered men from the distinctions of classes, the land from the
barriers of provinces, trade from the shackles of corpora-
tions and fellowships, agriculture from feudal subjection and
the oppression of tithes, property from the impediment of
entails, and brought everything to the condition of one state,
one system of law, one people.
In order to effect such mighty reformation as this, the
revolution had many obstacles to overcome, involving tran-
sient excesses with durable benefits. The privileged sought
to prevent it; Europe to subject it; and thus forced into a
struggle, it could not set bounds to its efforts, or moderate its
victory. Resistance from within brought about the sove-
reignty of the multitude, and aggression from without, mi-
litary domination. Yet the end was attained, in spite of
anarchy and in spite of despotism: the old society was de-
stroyed during the revolution, and the new one became esta-
blished under the empire.
When a reform has become necessary, and the moment for
accomplishing it has arrived, nothing can prevent it, every-
thing furthers it. Happy were it for men, could they then
come to an understanding; would the rich resign their
superfluity, and the poor content themselves with achiev-
ing what they really needed, revolutions would then be
quietly effected, and the historian would have no excesses,
no calamities to record; he would merely have to display
the transition of humanity to a wiser, freer, and happier
condition. But the annals of nations have not as yet pre-
sented any instance of such prudent sacrifices; those who
should llave made thein have refused to do so; those who
required them have forcibly compelled them; and good has
beca brought about, like evil, by the medium and with all the
violence of usurpation. As yet there has been no sovereign
but force.
In reviewing the history of the important period extend-
ing from the opening of the states-general to 1814, I proposo
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
3
n
h
to explain the various crises of the revolution, while I describe
their progress. It will thus be seen through whose fault,
after commencing under such happy auspices, it so fearfully
degenerated; in what way it changed France into a republic,
and how upon the ruins of the republic it raised the empire
These various phases were almost inevitable, so irresistible
was the power of the events which produced them. It would
perhaps be rash to affirm that by no possibility could the face
of things have been otherwise; but it is certain that the revo-
lution, taking its rise from such causes, and employing and
arousing such passions, naturally took that course, and ended
in that result. Before we enter upon its history, let us see
what led to the convocation of the states-general, which them-
selves brought on all that followed. In retracing the preli-
minary causes of the revolution, I hope to show that it was as
impossible to avoid as to guide it.
From its establishment the French monarchy had had no
settled form, no fixed and recognised public right. Under
the first races the crown was elective, the nation sovereign,
and the king a mere military chief, depending on the common
voice for all decisions to be made, and all the enterprises to
be undertaken. The nation elected its chief, exercised the
legislative power in the Champs de Mars under the presi-
dentship of the king, and the judicial power in the courts
under the direction of one of his officers. Under the feudal
regime, this royal democracy gave way to a royal aris-
tocracy. Absolute power ascended higher, the nobles stripped
the people of it, as the prince afterwards despoiled the nobles.
At this period the monarch had become hereditary; not as
king, but as individually possessor of a fief; the legislative
authority over their vast territories belonged to the seigneurs,
or in the barons' parliaments; and the judicial authority to the
vassals in the manorial courts. In a word, power had become
more and more concentrated, and as it had passed from the
many to the few, it came at last from the few to be invested in
one alone. During centuries of continuous efforts, the kings
of France were battering down the feudal edifice, and at length
they established themselves on its ruins, having step by step
usurped the fiefs, subdued the vassals, suppressed the parlia-
ments of barons, annulled or subjected the inanorial courts,
assumed the legislative power, and effected that judicial
B 2
4.
HISTORY OF
authority should be exercised in their name and on their
behalf, in parliaments of legists.
The states-general, which they convoked on pressing. oc-
casions, for the purpose of obtaining subsidies, and which
were composed of the three orders of the nation, the clergy,
the nobility, and the third estate or commcns, had no regular
existence. Originated while the royal prerogative was in
progress, they were at first controlled, and finally suppressed
by it. The strongest and most determined opposition the
kings had to encounter in their projects of aggrandizement,
proceeded much less from these assemblies, which they
authorized or annulled at pleasure, than from the nobles vin-
dicating against them, first their sovereignty, and then their
political importance. From Philip Augustus to Louis XI.
the object of all their efforts was to preserve their own
power; from Louis XI. to Louis XIV. to become the minis-
ters of that of royalty. The Fronde was the last campaign
of the aristocracy. Under Louis XIV. absolute monarchy
definitively established itself
, and dominated without dispute.
The government of France, from Louis XIV. to the re-
volution, was still more arbitrary than despotic; for the mo-
narchs had much more power than they exercised. The
barriers that opposed the encroachments of this immense
authority were exceedingly feeble. The crown disposed of
persons by lettres de cachet, of property by confiscation, of
the public revenue by imposts. Certain bodies, it is true,
possessed means of defence, which were termed privileges,
but these privileges were rarely respected. The parliament
had that of ratifying or of refusing an impost, but the
king could compel its assent, by a lit de justice, and punish
its members by exile. The nobility were exempt from tax-
ation; thu clergy were entitled to the privilege of taxing them-
selves, ixa the form of free gifts; some provinces enjoyed the
right of compounding the taxes, and others made the assessment
themselves. Such were the trifling liberties of France, and
even these all turned to the benefit of the privileged classes,
and to the detriment of the people.
And this France, so enslaved, was moreover miserably
organized; the excesses of power were still less endurable
than their unjust distribution. The nation, divided into
three orders, which subdivided themselves into several classes
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
5
was a prey to all the attacks of despotism, and all the evils
of inequality. The nobility were subdivided: into courtiers,
living on the favours of the prince, that is to say, on the labour
of the people, and whose aim was governorships of provinces,
or elevated ranks in the army; ennobled parvenus, who con-
ducted the interior administration, and whose object was
to obtain comptrollerships, and to make the most of their
place while they held it, by jobbing of every description;
legists who administered justice, and were alone competent
to perform its functions; and landed proprietors who op-
pressed the country by the exercise of those feudal rights
which still survived. The clergy were divided into two
classes: the one destined for the bishoprics and abbeys, and
their rich revenues; the other for the apostolic function and
its poverty. The third estate, ground down by the court,
humiliated by the nobility, was itself divided into corpora-
tions, which, in their turn, exercised upon each other the
evil and the contempt they received from the higher classes.
It possessed scarcely a third part of the land, and this was
burthened with the feudal rents due to the lords of the
manor, tithes to the clergy, and taxes to the king. In com-
pensation for all these sacrifices it enjoyed no political right,
had no share in the administration, and was admitted to no
public employment.
Louis XIV. wore out the main-spring of absolute mo-
narchy by too protracted tension and too violent use. Fond
of sway, rendered irritable by the vexations of his youth, he
quelled all resistance, forbad every kind of opposition, that
of the aristocracy which manifested itself in revolt,—that of
the parliaments displayed by remonstrance, – that of the
protestants, whose form was a liberty of conscience which the
church deemed heretical, and royalty factious. Louis XIV.
subdued the nobles by summoning them to his court, where
favours and pleasures were the compensation for their de-
pendence. Parliament, till then the instrument of the crown,
attempted to become its counterbalance, and the prince
haughtily imposed upon it a silence and submission of sixty
years' duration. At length, the revocation of the edict of
Nantes completed this work of despotism. An arbitrary
government not only will not endure resistance, but it de-
mands that its subjects shall approve and imitate it. After
6
HISTORY OF
having subjected the actions of men, it persecutes con-
science; needing to be ever in motion, it seeks victims
when they do not fall in its way.
The immense power oi
Louis XIV. was exercised, internally, against the heretics;
externally, against all Europe. Oppression found ambitious
men to counsel it, dragoons to serve, and success to encourage
it; the wounds of France were hidden by laurels, her groans
were drowned in songs of victory. But at last the men of
genius died, the victories ceased, industry emigrated, money
disappeared; and the fact became evident, that the very suc-
cesses of despotism exhaust its resources, and consume its
future ere that future has arrived.
The death of Louis XIV. was the signal for a reac-
tion; there was a sudden transition from intolerance to
incredulity, from the spirit of obedience to that of discussion.
Under the regency, the third estate acquired in importance,
by their increasing wealth and intelligence, all that the nobi-
lity lost in consideration, and the clergy in influence. Under
Louis XV., the court prosecuted ruinous wars attended with
little glory, and engaged in a silent struggle with opinion, in
an open one with the parliament. Anarchy crept into its
bosom, the government fell into the hands of royal mistresses,
power was completely on the decline, and the opposition
daily made fresh progress.
The parliaments had undergone a change of position and
of system. Royalty had invested them with a power which
they now turned against it. No sooner had the ruin of the
aristocracy been accomplished by the combined efforts of the
parliament and of royalty, than the conquerors quarrelled,
according to the common practice of allies after a victory.
Royalty sought to destroy an instrument that became dan-
gerous when it ceased to be useful, and the parliament sought
to govern royalty. This struggle, favourable to the monarch
under Louis XIV., of mixed reverses and success under
Louis XV, only ceased with the revolution. The parlia-
ment, from its very nature, was only called upon to serve as
an instrument. The exercise of its prerogative, and its
ambition as a body, leading it to oppose itself to the strong
and support the weak, it served by turns the crown against
the aristocracy and the nation against the crown.
this that made it so popular under Louis XV. and Louis
It was
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
7
XVI., although it only attacked the court from a spirit of
rivalry. Opinion without inquiring into its motives, applauded
not its ambition but its resistance, and supported it because
defended by it. Rendered daring by such encouragement,
it became formidable to authority. After annulling the will
of the most imperious and best-obeyed of monarchs; after
protesting against the seven years' war; after obtaining the con-
trol of financial operations and the destruction of the Jesuits,
its resistance became so constant and energetic, that the
court, meeting with it in every direction, saw the necessity
of either submitting to or subjecting it. It accordingly car-
ried into execution the plan of disorganization proposed by
the chancellor Maupeou This daring man, who, to employ
his own expression, had offered retirer la couronne du greffe,
replaced this hostile parliament by one devoted to power, and
subjected to a similar operation the entire magistracy of France,
who were following the example of that of Paris.
But the time bad passed for coups. đetat. The current
had set in against arbitrary rule so decidedly that the king
resorted to it with doubt and hesitation, and even encoun-
tered the disapprobation of his court. A new power had
ariscn--that of opinion; which, though not recognised, was
not the less influential, and whose decrees were beginning to
assume sovereign authority. The nation, hitherto a non-
entity, gradually asserted its rights, and without sharing
power influenced it. Such is the course of all rising powers;
they watch over it from without, before they are admitted
into the government; then, from the right of control they pass
to that of co-operation. The epoch at which the third estate
was to share the sway had at last arrived. It had at former
periods attempted to effect this, but in vain, because its
efforts were premature. It was then but just emancipated,
and possessed not that which establishes superiority, and
leads to the acquisition of power; for right is only ob-
tained by might. Accordingly, in insurrections as in the
states-general, it had held but the third rank; everything
was done with its aid, but nothing for it. In times of feudal
tyranny, it had served the kings against the nobles; wher
ministerial and fiscal despotisin prevailed, it assisted the
nobles against the kings; but, in the first instance, it was
nothing more than the servant of the crown; in the second,
8
HISTORY OF
The past
than that of the aristocracy. The struggle took place in a
sphere, and on the part of interests, with which it was
reputed to have no connexion. When the nobles were defi-
nitively beaten in the time of the Fronde, it laid down its
arms; a clear proof how secondary was the part it had played.
At length, after a century of absolute submission, it re-
appeared in the arena, but on its own account.
cannot be recalled; and it was not more possible for the
nobles to rise from their defeat than it would now be for
absolute monarchy to regain its position. The court was to
have another antagonist, for it must always have one, power
never being without a candidate. The third estate, which
increased daily in strength, wealth, intelligence, and union,
was destined to combat and to displace it. The parliament
did not constitute a class, but a body; and in this new con-
test, while able to aid in the displacement of authority, it
could not secure it for itself.
The court had favoured the progress of the third estate,
and had contributed to the development of one of its
chief means of advancement, its intelligence. The most
absolute of monarchs aided the movement of mind, and,
without intending it, created public opinion. By encourag-
ing praise, he prepared the way for blame; for we cannot
invite an examination in our favour, without undergoing
one afterwards to our prejudice. When the songs of tri-
umph, and gratulation, and adulation were exhausted,
accusation began, and the philosophers of the eighteenth cen-
tury succeeded to the litterateurs of the seventeenth. Every-
thing became the object of their researches and reflections;
governments, religion, abuses, laws. They proclaimed rights,
laid bare men's wants, denounced injustice. A strong and
enlightened public opinion was formed, whose attacks the
government underwent without venturing to attempt its sup-
pression. It even converted those whom it attacked; cour-
tiers submitted to its decisions from fashion's sake, power
from necessity, and the age of reform was ushered in by the
age of philosophy, as the latter had been by the age of the
fine arts.
Such was the condition of France, when Louis XVI.
ascended the throne on the 11th of May, 1774. Finances,
whose deficiencies neither the restorative ministry of cardinal
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
dc Fleuri, nor the bankrupt ministry of the abbé Terray had
been able to make good, authority disregarded, intractable
parliaments, an imperious public opinion; such were the diffi-
culties which the new reign inherited from its predecessors.
Of all princes, Louis XVI., by his tendencies and his virtues,
was best suited to his epoch. The people were weary of
arbitrary rule, and he was disposed to renounce its exercise;
they were exasperated with the burthensome dissoluteness of
the court of Louis XV.; the morals of the new king were
pure and his wants few; they demanded reforms that had
become indispensable, and he appreciated the public want,
and made it his glory to satisfy it. But it was as difficult
to effect good as to continue evil; for it was necessary to have
sufficient strength either to make the privileged classes submit
to reform, or the nation to abuses; and Louis XVI, was nei-
ther a regenerator nor a despot. He was deficient in that
sovereign will which alone accomplishes great changes in
states, and which is as essential to monarchs who wish to limit
their
power as to those who seek to aggrandize it. Louis XVI.
possessed a sound mind, a good and upright heart, but he was
without energy of character and perseverance in action. His
projects of amelioration met with obstacles which he had not
foreseen, and which he knew not how to overcome. He
accordingly fell beneath his efforts to favour reform, as an-
other would have fallen in his attempt to prevent it. Up to
the meeting of the states-general, his reign was one long and
fruitless endeavour at amelioration.
In choosing, on his accession to the throne, Maurepas as
prime minister, Louis XVI. eminently contributed to the
irresolute character of his reign. Young, deeply sensible of
his duties and of his own insufficiency, he had recourse to the
experience of an old man of seventy-three, who had lost the
favour of Louis XV. by his opposition to the mistresses of
that monarch. In him the king found not a statesman, but
a mere courtier, whose fatal influence extended over the whole
course of his reign. Maurepas had little heed to the welfare
of France, or the glory of his master; his sole care was to
remain in favour. Residing in the palace at Versailles, in an
apartment communicating with that of the king, and pre-
siding over the council, he rendered the mind of Louis XVI,
uncertain, his character irresolute; he accustomed him to half-
10
HISTORY OF
measures, to changes of system, to all the inconsistencies of
power, and especially to the necessity of doing everything by
others, and nothing of himself. Maurepas had the choice of
the ministers, and these cultivated his good graces as assidu-
ously as he the king's. Fearful of endangering his position, he
kept out of the ministry men of powerful connexions, and
appointed rising men, who required his support for their own
protection, and to effect their reforms. He successively called
Turgot, Malesherbes, and Necker, to the direction of affairs,
who undertook to effect ameliorations each in that department
of the government which had been the immediate object of his
studies.
Malesherbes, descended from a family in the law, inherited
parliamentary virtues, and not parliamentary prejudices. To
an independent mind, he united a noble heart. He wished
to give to every man his rights; to the accused, the power of
being defended; to protestants, liberty of conscience; to
authors, the liberty of the press; to every Frenchman, per-
sonal freedom; and he proposed the abolition of the torture, the
re-establishment of the edict of Nantes, and the suppression
of lettres de cachet and of the censure. Turgot, of a vigorous
and comprehensive mind, and an extraordinary firmness and
strength of character, attempted to realize still more exten-
sive projects. He joined Malesherbes, in order, with his
assistance, to complete the establishment of a system which
was to bring back unity to the government and equality to the
country. This virtuous citizen constantly occupied himself
with the amelioration of the condition of the people; he
undertook, alone, what the revolution accomplished at a later
period,—the suppression of servitude and privilege. He pro
posed to enfranchise the rural districts from statute labour,
provinces from their barriers, commerce from internal duties,
trade from its shackles, and lastly, to make the nobility and
clergy contribute to the taxes in the same proportion as the
third estate. This great minister, of whom Malesherbes said,
"he has the head of Bacon and the heart of l’Hopital,” wished
by means of provincial assemblies to accustom the nation tɔ
public life, and prepare it for the restoration of the states-
general. He would have effected the revolution by ordinances,
had he been able to stand. But under the system of special
privileges and general servitude, all projects for the public
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
11
good were impracticable. Targot dissatisfied the courtiers
by his ameliorations, displeased the parliament by the aboli-
tion of statute labour, wardenships, and internal duties, and
alarmed the old minister by the ascendancy which his virtue
gave him over Louis XVI.
The prince forsook him, though
at the same time observing that Turgot and himself were
the only persons who desired the welfare of the people: so
lamentable is the condition of kings!
Turgot was succeeded in 1776 in the general control of the
finances by Clugny, formerly comptroller of Saint Domingo,
who, six months after, was himself succeeded by Necker.
Necker was a foreigner, a protestant, a banker, and greater
as an administrator than as a statesman; he accordingly con-
ceived a plan for reforming France, less extensive than that
of Turgot, but which he executed with more moderation,
and aided by the times. Appointed minister in order to
find
money for the court, he made use of the wants of the
court to procure liberties for the people. He re-established the
finances by means of order, and made the provinces contri-
bute moderately to their administration. His views were
wise and just; they consisted in bringing the revenue to
a level with the expenditure, by reducing the latter; by
employing taxation in ordinary times, and loans when impe-
rious circumstances rendered it necessary to tax the future as
well as the present; by causing the taxes to be assessed by the
provincial assemblies, and by instituting the publication of ac-
counts, in order to facilitate loans. This system was founded
on the nature of loans, which, needing credit, require publicity
of administration; and on that of taxation, which needing
assent, requires also a share in the administration. Whenever
there is a deficit and the government makes applications to
meet it, if it address itself to lenders, it must produce its ba-
lance-sheet; if it address itself to the tax-payers, it must give
them a share of the power. Thus loans led to the production
of accounts, and taxes to the states-general ; the first placing
authority under the jurisdiction of opinion, and the second
placing it under that of the people. But Necker, though less
impatient for reform than Turgot, although he desired to
redeem abuses which his predecessor wished to destroy, was
not more fortunate than he. His economy displeased the cour-
tiers; the measures of the provincial assemblies incurred the
12
HISTORY OF
crease.
disapprobation of the parliaments, which wished to monopolize
opposition; and the prime minister could not forgive him an
appearance of credit.
He was obliged to quit power in 1781;
a few months after the publication of the famous comptes
rendus of the finances, which suddenly initiated France in a
knowledge of state matters, and rendered the return of an
absolute government impossible.
The death of Maurepas followed close upon the retirement
of Necker. The queen took his place with Louis XVI.,
and inherited all his influence over him. This goorl but
weak prince required to be directed.
His wife, young,
beautiful, active, and ambitious, gained great ascendancy
over him. Yet, it may be said, that the daughter of Marie
Thérèse resembled her mother too much or too little. She
combined frivolity with domination, and disposed of power
only to invest with it men who caused her own ruin and that
of the state. Maurepas, mistrusting court ministers, had always
chosen popular ministers; it is true he did not support them;
but if good was not brought about, at least evil did not in-
After his death, court ministers succeeded the popu-
lar ministers, and by their faults rendered the crisis inevitable,
which others had endeavoured to prevent by their reforms.
This difference of choice is very remarkable; this it was which,
by the change of men, brought on the change in the system of
administration. The revolution dates from this epoch; the
abandonment of reforms and the return of disorders hastened
its approach and augmented its fury.
Calonne was called from an intendancy to the general con-
trol of the finances. Two successors had already been given
to Necker, when application was made to Calonne in 1783.
Calonne was daring, brilliant and eloquent; he had much
readiness and a fertile mind. Either from error or de-
siga he adopted a system of administration directly opposed
to that of his predecessor. Necker recommended economy,
Calonne boasted of his lavish expenditure. Necker fell
through courtiers, Calonne sought to be upheld by them. His
sophisms were backed by his liberality; he convinced the
queen by fêtes, the nobles by pensions; he gave a great circu
lation to the finances, in order that the extent and facility of
his operations might excite confidence in the justness of his
views; he even deceived the eapitalists, by first showing
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
13
himself punctual in his payments. He continued to raise
loans after the peace, and he exhausted the credit which
Necker's wise conduct had procured to the government.
Having come to this point, having deprived himself of a re-
source, the very employment of which he was unable to ma-
nage, in order to prolong his continuance in power he was
obliged to bave recourse to taxation. But to whom could he
apply? The people could pay no longer, and the privileged
classes would not offer anything. Yet it was necessary to
decide, and Calonne, hoping more from something new,
convoked an assembly of notables, which began its sittings at
Versailles on the 22nd of February, 1787. But a recourse
to others must prove the end of a system founded on prodi-
gality. A minister who had risen by giving, could not main-
tain himself by asking.
The notables, chosen by the government from the higher
classes, formed a ministerial assembly, which had neither a
proper existence nor a commission. It was, indeed, to avoid
parliaments and states-general, that Calonne addressed him-
self to a more subordinate assembly, hoping to find it more
docile. But, composed of privileged persons, it was little
disposed to make sacrifices. It became still less so, when
it saw the abyss which a devouring administration had ex-
cavated. It learned with terror, that the loans of a few
years amounted to one thousand six hundred and forty-six
millions, and that there was an annual deficit in the revenue
of a hundred and forty millions. This disclosure was the
signal for Calonne's fall
. He fell, and was succeeded by
Brienne, archbishop of Sens, his opponent in the assembly.
Brienne thought the majority of the notables was devoted to
him, because it had united with him against Calonne. But
the privileged classes were not more disposed to make sacri-
fices to Brienne than to his predecessor; they had seconded
his attacks, which were to their interest, and not his ambition,
to which they were indifferent.
The archbishop of Sens, who is censured for a want of
plan, was in no position to form one. He was not allowed to
continue the prodigality of Calonne; and it was too late to
return to the retrenchments of Necker. Economy, which had
been a means of safety at a former period, was no longer so
in this. Either taxation must be had recourse to and that
14
HISTORY OF
means.
parliament opposed; or loans, and credit was exhausted; or
sacrifices on the part of the privileged classes, who were un-
willing to make them. Brienne, to whom office had been the
chief object of life, who with the difficulties of his position
combined slenderness of means, attempted everything, and
succeeded in nothing. His mind was active, but it wanted
strength; and his character rash without firmness. Daring,
previous to action, but weak afterwards, he ruined himself by
his irresolution, want of foresight, and constant variation o.
There remained only bad measures to adopt, but he
could not decide upon one, and follow that one; this was his
real error.
The assembly of notables was but little submissive and very
parsimonious. After having sanctioned the establishment of
provincial assemblies, a regulation of the corn trade, the
abolition of corvées, and a new stamp tax, it broke up on
the 25th of May, 1787. It spread throughout France what
it had discovered respecting the necessities of the throne, the
errors of the ministers, the dilapidation of the court, and
the irremediable miseries of the people. Brienne, deprived
of this assistance, had recourse to taxation, as a resource, the
use of which had for some time been abandoned. He de-
manded the enrolment of two edicts that of the stamps and
that of the territorial subsidies. But parliament, which was
then in the full vigour of its existence and in all the ardour of
its ambition, and to which the financial embarrassment of the
ministry offered a means of augmenting its power, refused the
enrolment. Banished to Troyes, it grew weary of exile, and
the minister recalled it on condition that the two edicts should
be passed. But this was only a suspension of hostilities; the
necessities of the crown soon rendered the struggle more ob-
stinate and violent. The minister had to make fresh appli-
cations for money; his existence depended on the issue of
several successive loans to the amount of four hundred and
forty millions. It was necessary to obtain the enrolment of
theni.
Brienne, expecting opposition from the parliament, pro-
cured the enrolment of this edict, by a “ bed of justice," and
to conciliate the magistracy and public opinion, the pro-
testants were restored to their rights in the same sitting, and
Louis XVI. promised an annual publication of the state of
FRENCH REVOLUTION.
15
finances, and the convocation of the states-general befe re the
end of five years. But these concessions were no longer suf-
ficient: parliament refused the enrolment, and rose against the
ministerial tyranny. Some of its members, among others the
duke of Orleans, were banished. Parliament protested, by a
decree, against lettres de cachet, and required the recal of its
members. This decree was annulled by the king, and con-
firmed by parliament. The warfare increased. The magis-
tracy of Paris we supported by all the magistracy of France,
and encouraged by public opinion. It proclaimed the rights
of the nation, and its own. incompetence in matters of taxa-
tion; and, become liberal from interest, and rendered generous
by oppression, it exclaimed against arbitrary imprisonment,
and demanded regularly convoked states-general. After this
act of courage, it decreed the irremovability of its members,
and the incompetence of any who might usurp their functions.
This bold manifesto was followed by the arrest of two members,
d'Eprémenil and Goislard, by the reform of the body, and the
establishment of a plenary court.
Brienne understood that the opposition of the parliament
was systematic, that it would be renewed on every fresh de-
mand for subsidies, or on the authorization of every loan.
Exile was but a momentary remedy, which suspended oppo-
sition, without destroying it. He then projected the reduction
of this body to judicial functions, and associated with himself
Lamoignon, keeper of the seals, for the execution of this
pro-
ject. Lamoignon was skilled in coups d'etat. He had auda-
city, and combined with Maupeou's energetic determination a
greater degree of consideration and probity. But he made a
mistake as to the force of power, and what it was possible to
effect in his times. Maupeou had re-established parliament,
changing its members; Lamoignon wished to disorganize
it. The first of these means, if it had succeeded, would only
have produced temporary repose; the second must have pro-
duced a definitive one, since it aimed at destroying the power,
which the other only tried to displace; but Maupeou's reform
did not last, and that of Lamoignon could not be effected.
The execution of the last was, however, tolerably well framed.
All the magistracy of France was exiled on the same day, in
order that the new judicial organization might take place
The keeper of the seals deprived the parliament of Paris of
16
HISTORY OF
its political attributes, to invest with them a plenary court,
ministerially composed, and reduced its judicial competence
in favour of bailiwicks, the jurisdiction of which he extended.
Public opinion was indignant; the Châtelet protested, the pro-
vinces rose, and the plenary court could neither be formed
nor act. Disturbances broke out in Dauphiné, Brittany,
Provence, Flanders, Languedoc, and Béarn; the ministry,
instead of the regular opposition of pariiament, had to en-
counter one much more animated and factious. The nobility,
the third estate, the provincial states, and even the clergy,
took part in it. Brienne, pressed for money, had called to-
gether an extraordinary assembly of the clergy, who imme-
diately made an address to the king, demanding the abolition
of his plenary court, and the recal of the states-general:
they alone could thenceforth repair the disordered state of
the finances, secure the national debt, and terminate these dis-
putes for power.
The archbishop of Sens, by his contest with the parliament,
had postponed the financial, by creating a political difficulty.
The moment the latter ceased, the former re-appeared, and
made his retreat inevitable. Obtaining neither taxes nor
loans, unable to make use of the plenary court, and not wish-
ing to recal the parliaments, Brienne, as a last resource,
promised the convocation of the states. general. By this
means he hastened his ruin. He had been called to the
financial department in order to remedy embarrassments which
he had augmented, and to procure money which he had been
unable to obtain. So far from it, he had exasperated the
nation, raised a rebellion in the various bodies of the state,
compromised the authority of the government, and rendered
inevitable the states-general, which, in the opinion of the
court, was the worst means of raising money. He succumbed
on the 25th August, 1788. The cause of his fall was a sus-
pension of the payment of the interest on the debt, which was
the commencement of bankruptcy. This minister has been
the most blamed because he came last. Inheriting the faults,
the embarrassments of past times, he had to struggle with the
difficulties of his position with ineflicient means. He tried
intrigue and oppression; he banished, suspended, disorganized
parliament; everything was an obstacle to him, nothing aided
him. After a long struggle, he sank under lassitude and
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
17
Freakness; I dare not say from incapacity, for had be been
far stronger and more skilful, had he been a Richelieu
or a Sully, he would still have fallen. It no longer apper-
tained to any one arbitrarily to raise money or to oppress the
people. It must be said in his excuse, that he had not created
that position from which he was not able to extricate himself;
his only mistake was his presumption in accepting it. He
fell through the fault of Calonne, as Calonne had availed him-
self of the confidence inspired by Necker for the purposes of
his lavish expenditure. The one had destroyed credit, and
the other, thinking to re-establish it by force, had destroyed
authority.
The states-general had become the only means of govern-
ment, and the last resource of the throne. They had been
eagerly demanded by parliament and the peers of the king-
dom, on the 13th of July, 1787; by the states of Dauphiné,
in the assembly of Vizille; by the clergy in its assembly at
Paris. The provincial states had prepared the public mind
for them; and the notables were their precursors.
The king
after having, on the 18th of December, 1787, promised their
convocation in five years, on the 8th of August, 1788, fixed
the opening for the 1st of May, 1789. Necker was recalled,
parliament re-established, the plenary court abolished, the
bailiwicks destroyed, and the provinces satisfied; and the
new minister prepared everything for the election of de-
puties and the holding of the states.
At this epoch a great change took place in the opposition,
which till then had been unanimous. Under Brienne, the
ministry had encountered opposition from all the various
bodies of the state, because it had sought to oppress them.
Under Necker, it met with resistance from the same bodies,
which desired' power for themselves and oppression for the
people. From being despotic, it had become national, and
it still had them all equally against it. Parliament had
maintained a struggle for authority, and not for the public
welfare; and the nobility had united with the third estate,
rather against the government than in favour of the people.
Each of these bodies had demanded the states-general: the
parliament, in the hope of ruling them as it had done in 1614;
and the nobility, in the hope of regaining its lost influence.
Accordingly, the magistracy proposed as a model for the
с
18
HISTORY OF
states-general of 1789, the form of that of 1614, and public
opinion abandoned it; the nobility refused its consent to
the double representation of the third estate, and a division
broke out between these two orders.
This double representation was required by the intellect on
the age, the necessity of reform, and by the importance which
the third estate had acquired. It had already been admitted
into the provincial assemblies. Brienne, before leaving the
ministry, had made an appeal to the writers of the day, in
order to know what would be the most suitable method of
composing and holding the states-general. Among the works
favourable to the people, there appeared the celebrated pam-
phlet of Siéyes on the Third Estate, and that of d'Entraigues
on the States-general. Opinion became daily more decided,
and Necker wishing, yet fearing, to satisfy it, and desirous
of conciliating all orders, of obtaining general approbation,
convoked a second assembly of notables on the 6th of No-
vember, 1788, to deliberate on the composition of the
states-general, and the election of its members. He thought
to induce it to accept the addition of the third estate, but
it refused, and he was obliged to decide, in spite of the
notables, that which he ought to have decided without them.
Necker was not the man to avoid disputes by removing all
difficulties beforehand. He did not take the initiative as to
the representation of the third estate, any more than at a
later period he took it with regard to the question of voting
by orders or by poll. When the states-general were as-
sembled, the solution of this second question, on which
depended the state of power and that of the people, was
abandoned to force.
Be this as it may, Necker, having been unable to make
the notables adopt the representation of the third estate,
caused it to be adopted by the council. The royal declara-
tion of the 27th of November decreed, that the deputies in
the states-general should amount to at least a thousand, and
that the deputies of the third estate should be equal in number
to the deputies of the nobility and clergy together. Necker
moreover obtained the admission of the curés into the order
of the clergy, and of protestants into that of the third estate.
The district assemblies were convoked for the elections; every
one exerted himself to secure the nomination of members of
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
19
The clergy
his own party, and to draw up manifestoes setting forth his
views. Parliament had but little influence in the elections,
and the court none at all. The nobility selected a few popu-
lar deputies, but for the most part devoted to the interests of
their order, and as much opposed to the third estate as to the
oligarchy of the great families of the court.
nominated bishops and abbés attached to privilege, and curés
favourable to the popular cause, which was their own; lastly,
the third estate selected men enlightened, firm, and unani-
mous in their wishes. The deputatiou of the nobility was
comprised of two hundred and forty-two gentlemen, and
twenty-eight members of the parliament; that of the clergy, of
forty-eight archbishops or bishops, thirty-five abbés or deans,
and two hundred and eight curés; and that of the communes,
of two ecclesiastics, twelve noblemen, eighteen magistrates of
towns, two hundred county members, two hundred and twelve
barristers, sixteen physicians, and two hundred and sixteen
merchants and agriculturists. The opening of the states-
general was fixed for the 5th of May, 1789.
Thus was the revolution brought about. The court in vain
tried to prevent, as it afterwards endeavoured to annul it.
Under the direction of Maurepas, the king nominated
popular ministers, and made attempts at reform; under
the influence of the queen, he nominated court minis-
ters, and made attempts at authority. Oppression met with
as little success as reform. After applying in vain to cour-
tiers for retrenchments, to parliament for levies, to capital-
ists for loans, he sought for new tax-payers, and made an
appeal to the privileged orders. He demanded of the notables,
consisting of the nobles and the clergy, a participation in the
charges of the state, which they refused. He then for the first
time applied to all France, and convoked the states-general.
He treated with the various bodies of the nation before
treating with the nation itself; and it was only on the refusal
of the first, that he appealed from it to a power whose inter-
vention and support he dreaded. He preferred private
assemblies, which, being isolated, necessarily remained
secondary, to a general assembly, which representing all
interests, must combine all powers. Up to this great
epoch every year saw the wants of the government increase
ing, and resistance becoming more extensive. Opposition
C2
20
HISTORY OF
passed from parliaments to the nobility, from the nobility
to the clergy, and from them all to the people. In propor-
tion as each participated in power it began its opposition,
until all these private oppositions were fused in or gave
way before the national opposition. The states-general only
decreed a revolution already formed.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
21
CHAPTER I.
FRÈM THE 5TH OF MAY, 1789, TO THE NIGHT OF THE
4TH OF AUGUST.
Opening of the states-general—Opinion of the court, of the ministry, and
of the various bodies of the kingdom respecting the states—Verification
of powers-Question of vote by order or by poll—The order of the
commons forms itself into a national assembly—The court causes the
Hall of the states to be closed-Oath of the Tennis-court—The majority
of the order of the clergy unites itself with the commons—Royal sittings
of the 23rd of June-Its inutility-Project of the court-Events of the
12th, 13th, and 14th of July-Dismissal of Necker-Insurrection of
Paris--Formation of the national guard—Siege and taking of the Bastille
-Consequences of the 14th of July—Decrees of the night of the 4.tlı
of August—Character of the revolution which had just been brought
about.
THE 5th of May, 1789, was fixed for the opening of the
states-general. A religious ceremony preceded their installa-
tion. The king, his family, his ministers, the deputies of the
three orders, went in procession from the church of Notre-
Dame to that of Saint Louis, to hear the opening mass. Men
did not without enthusiasm see the return of a national
ceremony of which France had for so long a period been
deprived. It had all the appearance of a festival. An
enormous multitude flocked from all parts to Versailles; the
weather was splendid; they had been lavish of the pomp of
decoration. The excitement of the music, the kind and
satisfied expression of the king, the beauty and demeanour
of the queen, and, as much as anything, the general hope,
exalted every one. But the etiquette, costumes, and order
of the ranks of the states in 1614, were seen with regret.
licel LA 84
22
HISTORY OF
The clergy, in cassocks, large cloaks, and square caps, or in
violet robes and lawn sleeves, occupied the first place. Then
came the nobles, attired in black coats with waistcoats and
facings of cloth of gold, lace cravats, and hats with white
plumes, turned up in the fashion of Henry IV. The modest
third estate came last, clothed in black, with short cloaks,
muslin cravats, and hats without feathers or loops. In the
church, the same distinction as to places existed between the
three orders.
The royal sittings took place the following day in the Salle
des Menus. Galleries, arranged in the form of an amphitheatre,
were filled with spectators. The deputies were summoned
and introduced according to the order established in 1614.
The clergy were conducted to the right, the nobility to the
left, and the commons in front of the throne at the end of the
hall. The deputation from Dauphiné, from Crépi, in Valois,
to which the duke of Orleans belonged, and from Provence,
were received with loud applause. Necker was also received on
his entrance with general enthusiasm Public favour was
testified towards all who had contributed to the convocation of
the states-general. When the deputies and ministers had
taken their
places, the king appeared, followed by the queen,
the princes, and a brilliant suite. The sallę resounded
with applause on his arrival. When he came in, Louis XVI.
took his seat on the throne, and when he had put on his hat,
slae three orders covered themselves at the same time. The
commons, contrary to the custom of the ancient states,
imitated the nobility and clergy, without hesitation: the
time when the third order should remain covered and speak
kneeling was gone by. The king's speech was then ex-
pected in profound silence. Men were eager to know the
true feeling of the government with regard to the states.
Did it purpose assimilating the new assembly to the ancient,
or to grant it the part which the necessities of the state
and the importance of the occasion assigned to it?
“ Gentlemen,” said the king, with emotion, “the day I
have so anxiously expected has at length arrived, and I sce
around me the representatives of the nation which I glory in
governing. A long interval had elapsed since the last session
of the states-general, and although the convocation of these
assemblies seemed to have fallen into disuse, I did not hesi-
tate to restore a custom from which the kingdom might
Guantan
༽ 2
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
23
derive new force, and which might open to the nation a new
source of happiness.”
These words which promised much, were only followed hy
explanations as to the debt and announcements of retrenchment
in the expenditure. The king, instead of wisely tracing out
to the states the course they ought to follow, urged the orders
to union, expressed his want of money, his dread of innova.
tions, and complained of the uneasiness of the public mind,
without suggesting any means of satisfying it. He was
nevertheless very much applauded when he delivered at the
close of his discourse the following words, which fully
described his intentions: “All that can be expected from the
dearest interest in the public welfare, all that can be required
of a sovereign, the first friend of his people, you may and
ought to hope from my sentiments. That a happy spirit of
union may pervade this assembly, gentlemen, and that this may
be an ever memorable epoch for the happiness and prosperity
of the kingdom, is the wish of my heart, the most ardent of
my desires; it is, in a word, the reward which I expect for
the uprightness of my intentions, and my love of my subjects.”
Barentin, keeper of the seals, spoke next. His speech
was an amplification respecting the states-general, and the
favours of the king. After a long preamble, he at last
touched upon the topics of the occasion. “ His majesty," he
said, " has not changed the form of the ancient assemblies, by
granting a double representation in favour of the most
numerous of the three orders, that on which the burden
of taxation chiefly falls, has not changed the form of the
ancient deliberations; although that by poll, producing but
one result, seems to have the advantage of best representing
the general desire, the king wishes this new form should be
adopted only with the free consent of the states, and the
approval of his majesty. But whatever may be the opinion
on this question, whatever distinctions may be drawn be-
tween the different matters that will become the subjects of
deliberation, there can be no doubt but that the most entire
harmony will unite the three orders on the subject of tax-
ation.” The government was not opposed to the vote by poll
in pecuniary matters, it being more expeditious; but in poli-
tical questions it declared itself in favour of voting by order,
as a more effectual check on innovations. In this way it
sought to arrive at its own end, -namely, subsidies, and not
24
HISTORY OF
to allow the nation to obtain its object, which was reforin.
The manner in which the keeper of the seals determined the
province of the states-general, discovered more plainly the
intentions of the court. He reduced them, in a measure, to
the inquiry into taxation, in order to vote it, and to the dis-
cussion of a law respecting the press, for the purpose of fixing
its limits, and to the reform of civil and criminal legislation,
He proscribed all other changes, and concluded by saying:
“ All just demands have been granted; the king has not
noticed indiscreet murmurs; he has condescended to overlook
them with indulgence; he has even forgiven the expression
of those false and extravagant maxims, under favour of which
attempts have been made to substitute pernicious chimeras for
the unalterable principles of monarchy. You will with in-
dignation, gentlemen, repel the dangerous innovations which
the enemies of public good seek to confound with the neces-
sary and happy changes which this regeneration ought to
produce, and which form the first wish of his majesty.”
This speech displayed little knowledge of the wishes of
the nation, or it sought openly to combat them. The disga-
tisfied assembly looked to M. Necker, from whom it expected
different language. He was the popular minister, had ob-
tained the double representation, and it was hoped he would
approve of the vote by poll, the only way of enabling the
third estate to turn its numbers to account. But he spoke as
comptroller-general and as a man of caution. . His speech,
which lasted three hours, was a lengthened budget; and
when, after tiring the assembly, he touched on the topic of
interest, he spoke undecidedly, in order to avoid committing
himself either with the court or the people.
The government ought to have better understood the im-
portance of the states-general. The restoration of this as
sembly alone announced a great revolution. Looked for with
hope by the nation, it reappeared at an epoch when the an-
cient monarchy was sinking, and when it alone was capable
of reforming the state and providing for the necessities of
royalty. The difficulties of the time, the nature of their
mission, the choice of their members, everything announced
that the states were not assembled as tax-payers, but as
legislators. The right of regenerating France had been
granted them by opinion, was devolved on them by public
resolutions, and they found in the enormity of the abuses and
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
25
the public encouragement, strength to undertake and accoin-
plish this great task.
It behoved the king to associate himself with their labours.
In this way he would have been able to restore his power,
and ensure himself from the excesses of a revolution, by him-
self assisting in bringing it about. If, taking the lead in
these changes, he had fixed the new order of things with
frmness, but with justice; if, realizing the wishes of France,
he had determined the rights of her citizens, the province of
the states-general, and the limits of royalty; if, on his own
part, he had renounced arbitrary power, inequality on the
part of the nobility, and privileges on the part of the dif-
ferent bodies; in a word, if he had accomplished all the re-
formas which were demanded by public opinion, and executed
by the constituent assembly, he would have prevented the
fatal dissensions which subsequently arose.
It is rare to find
a prince willing to share his power, or sufficiently enlightened
to yield what he will be reduced to lose. Yet Louis XVI.
would have done this, if he had been less influenced by those
around him, and had he followed the dictates of his own
mind. But the greatest anarchy pervaded the councils of
the king.
When the states-general assembled, no measures
had been taken, nothing had been decided on, which might
prevent dispute. Louis XVI. wavered between his ministry,
directed by Necker, and his court, directed by the queen and
a few princes of his family.
Necker, satisfied with obtaining the representation of the
third estate, dreaded the indecision of the king and the
discontent of the court. Not appreciating sufficiently the
importance of a crisis which he considered more as a financia
than a social one, he waited for the course of events in order
to act, and flattered himself with the hope of being able to
guide these events, without attempting to prepare the way
for them. He felt that the ancient organization of the states
could no longer be maintained; that the existence of three
orders, each possessing the right of refusal, was opposed to
the execution of reform and the progress of administra-
tion. He hoped, after a trial of this triple opposition, to
reduce the number of the orders, and bring about the adop-
tion of the English form of government, by uniting the
clergy and nobility in one chamber, and the third estate in
another. He did not foresee that the struggle once begun, his
26
HISTORY OF
interposition would be in vain: that half measures would suit
neither party; that the weak through obstinacy, and the strong
through passion, would oppose this system of moderation
Concessions satisfy only before a victory.
The court, so far from wishing to organize the states-general,
sought to annul them. It preferred the casual resistance
of the great bodies of the nation, to the sharing authority
with a permanent assembly. The separation of the orders
favoured its views; it reckoned on fomenting their differences,
and thus preventing them from acting. The states-general
had never achieved any result, owing to the defect of their
organization; the court hoped that it would still be the same,
since the two first orders were less disposed to yield to the
reforms solicited by the last. The clergy wished to preserve its
privileges and its opulence, and clearly foresaw that the sacri-
fices to be made by it were more numerous than the advantages
to be acquired. The nobility, on its side, while it resumed a
political independence long since lost, was aware that it would
have to yield more to the people than it could obtain from
royalty. It was almost entirely in favour of the third estate,
that the new revolution was about to operate, and the firs:
two orders were induced to unite with the court against the
third estate, as but lately they had coalesced with the third
estate against the court. Interest alone led to this change oi
party, and they united with the monarch without affec-
tion, as they had defended the people without regard to pub-
lic good.
No efforts were spared to keep the nobility and clergy in this
disposition. The deputies of these two orders were the objects
of "favours and allurements. A committee, to which the most
illustrious persons belonged, was held at the countess de Polig-
nac's; the principal deputies were admitted to it. It was here
that were gained de Eprémenil and d’Entraigues, two or
the warmest advocates of liberty in parliament, or before
the states-general, and who afterwards became its most
decided opponents. Here also the costume of the deputies
of the different orders was determined on, and attempts
made to separate them, first by etiquette, then by in-
trigue, and lastly, by force. The recollection of the ancient
states-general prevailed in the court; it thought it could
regulate the present by the past, restrain Paris by the army,
TIE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
27
the aeputies of the third estate by those of the nobility,
rule the states by separating the orders, and separate the
orders by reviving ancient customs which exalted the nobles
and lowered the commons. Thus, after the first sitting,
it was supposed that all had been prevented by granting
nothing.
On the 6th of May, the day after the opening of the states,
the nobility and clergy repaired to their respective chambers,
and constituted themselves. The third estate being, on ac-
count of its double representation, the most numerous order,
had the Salle des Etats 'allotted to it, and there awaited the
two other orders; it considered its situation as provisional, its
members as presumptive deputies, and adopted a system of
inactivity till the other orders should unite with it. Then
a memorable struggle commenced, the issue of which was to
decide whether the revolution should be effected or stopped.
The future fate of France depended on the separation or re-
union of the orders. This important question arose on the
subject of the verification of powers. The popular deputies
asserted very justly, that it ought to be made in common,
since, even refusing the reunion of the orders, they could
not deny the interest which each of them had in the exami-
nation of the powers of the others; the privileged deputies
argued, on the contrary, that since the orders had a distinct
existence, the verification ought to be made respectively.
They felt that one single co-operation would, for the future,
render all separation impossible.
The commons acted with much circumspection, delibera-
tion, and steadiness. It was by a succession of efforts, not
unattended with peril, by slow and undecided success, and by
struggles constantly renewing, that they attained their object.
The systematic inactivity they adopted from the commence-
ment was the surest and wisest course; there are occasions
when the way to victory is to know how to wait for it. The
commons were unanimous, and alone formed the numerical
half of the states-general; the nobility had in its bosom some
popular dissentients; the majority of the clergy, composed of
several bishops, friends of peace, and of the numerous class
of the curés, the third estate of the church, entertained
sentiments favourable to the commons. Weariness was
therefore to bring about a union; this was what the third
28
HISTORY OF
estate hoped, what the bishops feared, and what induced
them on the 13th of May to offer themselves as mediators.
But this mediation was of necessity without any result,
as the nobility would not aclmit voting by poll, nor the
commons voting by order. Accordingly, the conciliatory
conferences, after being prolonged in vain till the 27th of
May, were broken up by the nobility, who declared in favour
of separate verification.
The day after this hostile decision, the commons deter-
mined to declare themselves the assembly of the nation, and
invited the clergy to join them in the name of the God of
peace and the common weal. The court taking alarm at this
measure, interfered for the purpose of having the conferences
resumed. The first commissioners appointed for purposes
of reconciliation were charged with regulating the differ-
ences of the orders; the ministry undertook to regulate the
differences of the commissioners. In this way, the states
depended on a commission, and the commission had the
council of the prince for arbiter. But these new conferences
had not a more fortunate issue than the first. They lingered
on without either of the orders being willing to yield anything
to the others, and the nobility finally broke them up by con-
firming all its resolutions.
Five weeks had already elapsed in useless parleys. The
third estate, perceiving the moment had arrived for it to con-
stitute itself, and that longer delay would indispose the nation
towards it, and destroy the confidence it had acquired by the
refusal of the privileged classes to co-operate with it, decided
on acting, and displayed herein the same moderation and firm-
ness it had shown during its inactivity. Mirabeau announced
that a deputy of Paris had a motion to propose; and Siéyes,
physically of timid character, but of an enterprising mind, who
had great authority by his ideas, and was better suited than
any one to propose a measure, proved the impossibility of
cnion, the urgency of verification, the justice of demand-
ing it in common, and caused it to be decreed by the assembly
that the nobility and clergy should be invited to the Hall of
the states in order to take part in the verification, which
would take place, whether they were absent or present.
The measure for general verification was followed by
another still more energetic. The commons, after having
TIL FRENCH REVOLUTION.
29
P
terminated the verification on the 17th of June, on the motion
of Siéyes, constituted themselves the National Assembly.
This bold step, by which the most numerous order and the
only one whose powers were legalized, declared itself the
representation of France, and refused to recognise the
other two till they submitted to the verification, determined
questions bitherto undecided, and changed the assembly of
the states into an assembly of the people. The syotem of
orders was lost in political powers, and this was the first step
towards the abolition of classes in the private system. This
memorable decree of the 17th of June contained the germ of
the night of the 4th of August; but it was necessary to defend
what they had dared to decide, and there was reason to fear
such a determination could not be maintained.
The first decree of the National Assembly was an act of
sovereignty. It placed the privileged classes under its de-
perdence, by proclaiming the indivisibility of the legislative
power. The court remained to be restrained by means of
taxation. The assembly declared the illegality of previous im-
posts, voted them provisionally, as long as it continued to sit,
and their cessation on its dissolution; it restored the confi-
dence of capitalists by consolidating the public debt, and pro-
vided for the necessities of the people, by appointing a com-
mittee of subsistence.
Such firmness and foresight excited the enthusiasm of the
nation. But those who directed the court saw that the divi-
sions thus excited between the orders had failed in their
object; and that it was necessary to resort to other means to
obtain it. They considered the royal authority alone ade-
quate to prescribe the continuance of the orders, which the
opposition of the nobles could no longer preserve. They
took advantage of a journey to Marly to remove Louis XVI.
from the influence of the prudent and pacific counsels of
Necker, and to induce him to adopt hostile measures. This
prince, alike accessible to good and bad counsels, surrounded
by a court given up to party spirit, and entreated for the in-
terests of his crown and in the name of religion to stop the
pernicious progress of the commons, yielded at last, and pro-
raised everything. It was decided that he should go in state
to the assembly, annul its decrees, command the separation
of the orders as constitutive of the monarchy, and himself is
tuached to get
30
HISTORY OF
the reforms to be effected by the states-general. From that
moment the privy council held the government, acting no
longer secretly, but in the most open manner. Barentin, the
keeper of the seals, the count d’Artois, the prince de Condé,
and the prince de Conti conducted alone the projects they
had concerted. Necker lost all his influence; he had pro.
posed to the king a conciliatory plan, which might have suc-
ceeded before the struggle attained this degree of animosity,
but could do so no longer. He had advised another royal
sittings, in which the vote by poll in matters of taxation
was to be granted, and the vote by order to remain in
matters of private interest and privilege. This measure,
which was unfavourable to the commons, since it tended to
maintain abuses by investing the nobility and clergy with the
right of opposing their abolition, would have been followed
by the establishment of two chambers for the next states-
general. Necker was fond of half measures, and wished to
effect, by successive concessions, a political change which
should have been accomplished at once. The moment was
arrived to grant the nation all its riglıts, or to leave it to
take them. His project of a royal sittings, already insuf-
ficient, was changed into a stroke of state policy by the new
council. The latter thought that the injunctions of the
throne would intimidate the assembly, and that France would
be satisfied with promises of reform. It seemed to be igno-
rant that the worst risk royalty can be exposed to is that of
disobedience.
Strokes of state policy generally come unexpectedly, and
surprise those they are intended to influence. It was not so
with this; its preparations tended to prevent success. It
was feared that the majority of the clergy would recognise
the assembly by uniting with it; and to prevent so decided
a step, instead of hastening the royal sittings, they closed the
Hall of the states, in order to suspend the assembly till the
day of the sittings. The preparations rendered necessary
by the presence of the king was the pretext for this unskilful
and improper measure. At that time Bailly presided over
the assembly. This virtuous citizen had obtained, without
seeking them, all the honours of dawning liberty. He
was the first president of the assembly, as he had been the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
31
first deputy of Paris, and was to become its first mayor.
Beloved by his own party, respected by his adversaries, he
combined with the mildest and most enlightened virtute, the
most courageous sense of duty. Apprised on the night of
the 20th of June, by the keeper of the seals, of the suspension
of the sittings, he remained faithful to the wishes of the assem-
bly, and did not fear disobeying the court. At an appointed
hour on the following day, he repaired to the Hall of the states,
and finding an armed force in possession, he protested against
this act. of despotism. In the meantime the deputies arrived,
dissatisfaction increased, all seemed disposed to brave the perils
of a sitting. The most indignant proposed going to Marly,
and holding the assembly under the windows of the king; one
named the Tennis-court; this proposition was well received,
and the deputies repaired thither in procession. Bailly was
at their head; the people followed them with enthusiasm;
even soldiers volunteered to escort them, and there, in a bare
hall, the deputies of the commons standing with upraised
hands, and hearts full of their sacred mission, swore, with
only one exception, not to separate till they had given France
a constitution.
This solemn oath, taken on the 20th of June, in the pre-
sence of the nation, was followed on the 22nd by an important
triumph. The assembly, still deprived of their usual place of
meeting, unable to make use of the Tennis-court, the princes
having hired it purposely that it might be refused them,
met in the church of Saint Louis. In this sitting, the majority
of the clergy joined them in the midst of patriotic transports.
Thus, the measures taken to intimidate the assembly, increased
its courage, and accelerated the union they were intended to
prevent. By these two failures the court prefaced the famous
sitting of the 23rd of June.
At length it took place. A. numerous guard surrounded
the hall of the states-general, the door of which was opened
to the deputies, but closed to the public. The king came
surrounded with the pomp of power; he was received, contrary
to the usual custom, in profound silence. His speech com-
pleted the measure of discontent by the tone: of authority with
which he dictated measures rejected by public opinion and by
tie assembly. The king complained of a want of union, ex-
32
HISTORY OF
cited by the court itself; he censured the conduct of the
assembly, regarding it only as the order of the third estate;
he annulled its decrees, enjoined the continuance of the orders,
imposed reforms, and determined their limits; enjoined the
states-general to adopt them, and threatened to dissolve them
and to provide alone for the welfare of the kingdom, if he
met with more opposition on their part. After this scene of
authority, so ill-suited to the occasion, and at variance with
his heart, Louis XVI. withdrew, having commanded the
deputies to disperse. The clergy and nobility obeyed. The
deputies of the people, motionless, silent, and indignant, re-
mained seated. They continued in that attitude some time,
when Mirabeau suddenly breaking silence, said: “Gentlemen,
I admit, that what you have just heard might be for the
welfare of the country, were it not that the presents of des-
potism are always dangerous. What is this insulting dic-
tatorship? The pomp of arms, the violation of the national
temple, are resorted to — to command you to be happy!
Who gives this command? Your mandatary. Who makes
these imperious laws for you? Your mandatary; he who
should rather receive them from you, gentlemen—from us,
who are invested with a political and inviolable priesthood;
from us, in a word, to whom alone twenty-five millions of
men are looking for certain happiness, because it is to be con-
sented to, and given and received by all. But the liberty of
Four discussions is enchained; a military force surrounds the
assembly! Where are the enemies of the nation? Is Catiline
at our gates? I demand, investing yourselves with your
dignity, with your legislative power, you inclose yourselves
within the religion of your oath. It does not permit you to
separate till you have formed a constitution.”
The grand master of the ceremonies, finding the assembly
did not break up, came and reminded them of the king's
order.
“Go and tell your master,” cried Mirabeau, “ that we are
here at the command of the people, and nothing but the
bayonet shall drive us hence.”
“You are to-day,” added Siéyes, calmly, “what you were
yesterday. Let us deliberate.
The assembly, full of resolution and dignity, began the
debate accordingly. On the motion of Camus, it was de-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
33
termined to persist in the decrees already made; and upon
that of Mirabeau the inviolability of the members of the
assembly was decreed.
On that day the royal authority was lost. The initiative
in law, and moral power passed from the monarch to
the assembly. Those who, by their counsels, had provoked
this resistance, did not dare to punish it. Necker, whose
dismissal had been decided on that morning, was, in the
evening, entreated by the queen and Louis XVI. to remain
in office. This minister had disapproved of the royal sitting,
and, by refusing to be present at it, he again won the confidence
of the assembly, which he had lost through his hesitation.
The season of disgrace was for him the season of popularity.
By this refusal he became the ally of the assembly, which
determined to support him. Every crisis requires a leader,
whose name becomes the standard of his party; while the
assembly contended with the court, that leader was Necker.
At the first sitting, that part of the clergy which had
united with the assembly in the church of Saint Louis, again
sat with it; a few days after, forty-seven members of the
nobility, among whom was the duke of Orleans, joined them;
and the court was itself compelled to invite the nobility,
and a minority of the clergy, to discontinue a dissent that
would henceforth be useless. On the 27th of June the deli-
beration became general. The orders ceased to exist legally,
and soon disappeared. The distinct seats they had hitherto
occupied in the common hall soon became confounded; the
futile pre-eminences of rank vanished before national autho-
rity.
The court, after having vainly endeavoured to prevent the
formation of the assembly, could now only unite with it, to
direct its operations. With prudence and candour it might
still have repaired its errors and caused its attacks to be for-
gotten. At certain moments, the initiative may be taken in
making sacrifices; at others, all that can be done is to make
ü merit of accepting them. At the opening of the states-
general, the king might himself have made the constitution,
now he was obliged to receive it from the assembly; had he
submitted to that position, he would infallibly have improved
it. But the advisers of Louis XVI., when they recovered
from the first surprise of defeat, resolved to have recourse to
34
HISTORY OF
the use of the bayonet, after they had failed in that of aüibre
rity. They led the king to suppose that the contempt of his
orders, the safety of his throne, the maintenance of the laws of
the kingdom, and even the well-being of his people depended
on his reducing the assembly to submission; that the latter,
sitting at Versailles, close to Paris, two cities decidedly in its
favour, ought to be subdued by force, and removed to some
other place, or dissolved; that it was urgent that this resolution
should be adopted in order to stop the progress of the assembly,
and that in order to execute it, it was necessary speedily to
call together troops who might intimidate the assembly and
maintain order at Paris and Versailles.
While these plots were hatching, the deputies of the nation
began their legislative labours, and prepared the anxiously
expected constitution, which they considered they ought no
longer to delay. Addresses poured in from Paris and the
principal towns of the kingdom, congratulating them on their
wisdom, and encouraging them to continue their task of re-
generating France. The troops, meantime, arrived in great
numbers: Versailles assumed the aspect of a camp; the Hall
of the states was surrounded by guards, and the citizens re-
fused admission. Paris was also encompassed by various
bodies of the army, ready to besiege or blockade it, as the
occasion might require. These vast military preparations,
trains of artillery arriving from the frontiers, and the presence of
foreign regiments, whose obedience was unlimited, announced
sinister projects. The populace were restless and agitated;
and the assembly desired to enlighten the throne with respect
to its projects, and solicit the dismission of the troops. At
Mirabeau's suggestion, it presented on the 9th of July a firm
but respectful address to the king, which proved useless.
Louis XVI, declared that be alone had to judge the necessity
of assembling or dismissing troops, and assured them, that
those assembled formed only a precautionary army to prevent
disturbances and protect the assembly. He moreover offered
the assembly to remove it to Noyon or Soissons, that is to say,
to place it between two armies and deprive it of the support
of the people.
Paris was in the greatest excitement; this vast city was
unanimous in its devotion to the assembly. The perils that
threatened the representatives of the nation, and itself, and
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
35
the scarcity of food disposed it to insurrection. Capitalists,
from interest and the fear of bankruptcy; men of enlighten-
ment and all the middle classes, from patriotism; the people,
impelled by want, ascribing their sufferings to the privileged
classes and the court, desirous of agitation and change, all
had warmly espoused the cause of the revolution. It is diffi-
cult to conceive the movement which disturbed the capital of
France. It was arising from the repose and silence of servi-
tude; it was, as it were, astonished at the novelty of its situa-
tion, and intoxicated with liberty and enthusiasm. The press
excited the public mind, the newspapers published the debates
of the assembly, and enabled the public to be present, as it
were, at its deliberations, and the questions mooted in its
bosom were discussed in the open air, in the public squares.
It was at the Palais Royal, more especially, that the assembly
of the capital was held. The garden was always filled by a
crowd that seemed permanent, though continually renewed.
A table answered the purpose of the tribune, the first citizen at
hand became the orator; there men expatiated on the dangers
that threatened the country, and excited each other to resist-
ance. Already, on a motion made at the Palais Royal, the
prisons of the Abbaye had been broken open, and some gre-
nadiers of the French guards, who had been imprisoned for
refusing to fire on the people, released in triumph. This out-
break was attended by no consequences; a deputation had
already solicited, in behalf of the delivered prisoners, the in-
terest of the assembly, who had recommended them to the
clemency of the king. They had returned to prison, and had
received pardon. But this regiment, one of the most com-
plete and bravest, had become favourable to the popular cause.
Such was the disposition of Paris when the court, having
established troops at Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars,
and Saint Denis, thought itself able to execute its project.
It commenced, on the 11th of July, by the banishment of
Necker, and the complete reconstruction of the ministry. The
marshal de Broglie, la Galissonnière, the duke de la Vau-
guyon, the Baron de Breteuil, and the intendant Foulou,
were appointed to replace Puysegur, Montmorin, la Luzerne,
Saint Priest, and Necker. The latter received, while at dinner
ou the 11th of July, a note from the king enjoining him to
leave the country immediately. He finished dining very
D 2
36
HISTORY OF
calmly, without communicating the purport of the order he
had received, and then got into his carriage with Madame
Necker, as if intending to drive to Saint Omer, and took the
road to Brussels.
On the following day, Sunday, the 12th of July, about four
in the afternoon, Necker's disgrace and departure became
known at Paris. This measure was regarded as the execu-
tion of the plot, the preparations for which had so long been
observed. In a short time the city was in the greatest con-
fusion; crowds gathered together on every side; more than ten
thousand persons flocked to the Palais Royal, all affected
by this news, ready for anything, but not knowing what mea-
sure to adupt. Camille Desmoulins, a young man, more daring
than the rest, one of the usual orators of the crowd, mounted
on a table, pistol in hand, exclaiming: “ Citizens, there is no
time to lose; the dismissal of Necker is the knell of a Saint
Bartholomew for patriots! This very night all the Swiss and
German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre
us all; one resource is left; to take arms!" These words
were received with violent acclamations. He proposed that
cockades should be worn for mutual recognition and protection.
“ Shall they be green,” he cried, “ the colour of hope; or red,
the colour of the free order of Cincinnatus?”
66 Green!
green!” shouted the multitude. The speaker descended from
the table, and fastened the sprig of a tree in his hat. Every
one imitated him. The chestnut-trees of the palace were
almost stripped of their leaves, and the crowd went in tumult
to the house of the sculptor Curtius.
They take busts of Necker and the duke of Orleans, a report
having also gone abroad that the latter would be exiled, and
covering them with crape, carry them in triumph.
cession passes through the streets Saint Martin, Saint Denis,
and Saint Honoré, augmenting at every step. The crowd
obliges all they meet to take off their hats. Meeting the horse-
patrol, they take them as their escort. The procession
advances in this way to the Place Vendôme, and there they
carry the two busts twice round the statue of Louis XIV,
A detachment of the Royal-allemand comes up and at-
tempts to disperse the mob, but are put to flight by a shower
of stones; and the multitude, continuing its course, reaches
the Place Louis XV. Here they are assailed by the dragoong
This pro-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
37
of the prince de Lambesc; after resisting a few moments they
are thrown into confusion; the bearer of one of the b'ists and
a soldier of one of the French guards are killed. The mob dis-
perses, part towards the quays, part fall back on the Boule-
vards, the rest hurry to the Tuileries by the Pont Tournant.
The prince de Lambesc, at the head of his horsemen, with
drawn sabre pursues them into the gardens, and charges an
unarmed multitude who were peaceably promenading, and had
nothing to do with the procession. In this attack an old man
is wounded by a sabre cut; the mob defend themselves with the
seats, and rush to the terraces ; indignation becomes general;
the cry To arms! soon resounds on every side, at the Palais
Royal and the Tuileries, in the city and in the faubourgs.
We have already said that the regiment of the French guard
was favourably disposed towards the people: it had accord-
ingly been ordered to keep in barracks. The prince de
Lambesc, fearing that it might nevertheless take an active
part, ordered sixty dragoons to station themselves before its
depôt, situated in the Chaussée-d'Antin. The soldiers of the
guards, already dissatisfied at being kept as prisoners, were
greatly provoked at the sight of these strangers, with whom
they had had a skirmish a few days before. They wished to
fly to arms, and their officers using alternately threats and
entreaties, had much difficulty in restraining them. But
they would hear no more, when some of their men brought
them intelligence of the attack at the Tuileries, and the death
of one of their comrades: they seized their arms, broke open
the gates, and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the
barracks, and cried out, 66 Qui vive ?” “ Royal-allemand."
“ Are you for the third estate?” 6 We are for those who
command us." Then the French guards fired on them, killed
two of their men, wounded three, and put the rest to flight.
They then advanced at quick time and with fixed bayonets to
the Place Louis XV., and took their stand between the Tuile-
ries and the Champs Elysées, the people and the troops, and
kept that post during the night. The soldiers of the Champ
de Mars were immediately ordered to advance. When they
reached the Champs Elysées, the French guards received
them with discharges of musketry. They wished to make
them fight, but they refused: the Petits-Suisses were the
first to give this example, which the other regiments followed.
38
HISTORY OF
The officers, in despair, ordered a retreat; the troops retired
as far as the Grille de Chaillot, whence they soon with:
drew into the Champ de Mars. The defection of the French
guard, and the manifest refusal even of the foreign troops to
march on the capital, caused the failure of the projects of the
court.
During the evening the people had repaired to the Hotel
de Ville, and requested that the tocsin might be sounded, the
districts assembled, and the citizens armed. Some electors
assembled at the Hotel de Ville, and took the authority into
their own hands. They rendered great service to their
fellow-citizens and the cause of liberty by their courage,
prudence, and activity, during these days of insurrection; but
in the first confusion of the rising it was with difficulty they
succeeded in making themselves heard. The tumuit was at
its height; each only answered the dictates of his own passions.
Side by side with well-disposed citizens, were men of suspi-
cious character, who only sought in insurrection opportunities
for pillage and disorder. Bands of labourers employed by
government in the public works, for the most part without
home or substance, burnt the barriers, infested the streets,
plundered houses, and obtained the name of brigands. The
night of the 12th and 13th was spent in tumult and alarm.
The departure of Necker, which threw the capital into this
state of excitement, had no less effect at Versailles and in the
assembly. It caused the same astonishment and discontent.
The deputies repaired early in the morning to the Hall of the
states; they were gloomy, but their silence arose from indigna-
tion rather than dejection. “At the opening of the session,
said a deputy, “several addresses of adherence to the decrees
were listened to in mournful silence by the assembly, more
attentive to their own thoughts than to the addresses read.”
Mounier began; he exclaimed against the dismission of
ministers beloved by the nation, and the choice of their suc-
cessors. He proposed an address to the king demanding their
recal, showing him the dangers attendant on violent measures,
the misfortunes that would follow the employment of troops,
and telling him that the assembly solemnly opposed itself to
an infamous national bankruptcy. At these words, the
feelings of the assembly, hitherto restrained, broke out in
clapping of hands, and cries of approbation. Lally-Tollendal,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
89
A friend of Necker, then came forward with a sorrowful air,
and delivered a long and eloquent eulogium on the banished
minister. He was listened to with the greatest interest; his
grief responded to that of the public; the cause of Necker
was now that of the country. The nobility itself sided with
the members of the third estate, either considering the danger
common, or dreading to incur the same blame as the court if
it did not disapprove its conduct, or perhaps it obeyed the
general impulse.
A noble deputy, the count de Virieu, set the example, and
said: “ Assembled for the constitution, let us make the constitu-
tion; let us tighten our mutual bonds; let us renew, confirm, and
consecrate the glorious decrees of the 17th of June; let us join
in the celebrated resolution made on the 20th of the same month.
Let us all, yes, all, all the united orders, swear to be faithful to
those illustrious decrees which now can alone save the kingdom.”
“ The constitution shall be made, or we will cease to be,” added
the duc de la Rochefoucauld. But this unanimity became
still more confirmed when the rising of Paris, the excesses
which ensued, the burning of the barriers, the assembling of
the electors at the Hotel de Ville, the confusion of the capital,
and the fact that citizens were ready to be attacked by the
soldiers or to slaughter each other, became known to the
assembly. Then one cry resounded through the hall: “Let
the recollection of our momentary divisions be effaced! Let
us unite our efforts for the salvation of the country!" A
deputation was immediately sent to the king, composed of
eighty members, among whom were all the deputies of Paris.
The archbishop of Vienne, president of the assembly, was at
its head. It was to represent to the king the dangers that
threatened the capital, the necessity of sending away the
troops, and entrusting the care of the city to a militia of citi-
zens; and if it obtained these demands from the king, a
deputation was to be sent to Paris with the consolatory intelli-
gence. But the members soon returned with an unsatisfac-
tory answer.
The assembly now saw that it must depend on itself, and
that the projects of the court were irrevocably fixed. Far
from being discouraged, it only became more firm, and imme-
diately voted unanimously a decree proclaiming the responsi-
bility of the present ministers of the king, and of all his
40
HISTORY OF
counsellors, of whatever rank they might be; it further passed
a vote of regret for Necker and the other disgraced ministers;
it resolved that it would not cease to insist upon the dismissal
of the troops and the establishment of a militia of citizens;
it placed the public debt under the safeguard of French honour,
and adhered to all its previous decrees. After these measures,
it adopted a last one, not less necessary; apprehending that
the Hall of the states might, during the night, be occupied by
a military force for the purpose of dispersing the assembly, it
resolved to sit permanently till further orders. It decided
that a portion of the members should sit during the night, and
another relieve them early in the morning. To spare the
venerable archbishop of Vienne the fatigue of a permanent
presidency, a vice-president was appointed to supply his
place on these extraordinary occasions. Lafayette was elected
to preside over the night sittings. It passed off without a
debate; the deputies remaining in their seats, observing
silence, but apparently calm and serene. It was by these
measures, this expression of public regret, by these decrees,
this unanimous enthusiasm, this sustained good sense, this
inflexible conduct, that the assembly rose gradually to a level
with its dangers and its mission.
On the 13th the insurrection took at Paris a more regular
character. Early in the morning the populace flocked to the
Hôtel de Ville; the tocsin was sounded there and in all the
churches; and drums were beat in the streets to call the
citizens together. The public places soon became thronged.
Troops were formed under the titles of volunteers of the
Palais Royal, volunteers of the Tuileries, of the Basoche, and
of the Arquebuse. The districts assembled, and each of them
voted two hundred men for its defence. Arms alone were
wanting; and these were eagerly sought wherever there was
any hope of finding them. All that could be found at the
gun-smiths and sword-cutlers were taken, receipts being sent
to the owners. They applied for arms at the Hôtel de Ville.
The electors who were still assembled, replied in vain that
they had none; they insisted on having them. The electors
then sent the head of the city, M. de Flesselles, the Prévột
des marchands, who alone knew the military state of the
capital, and whose popular authority promised to be of
great assistance in this difficult conjuncture. He was received
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
41
with ioud applause by the multitude: “My friends," said ho,
“ I am your father; you shall be satisfied." A permanent
committee was formed at the Hôtel de Ville, to take measures
for the general safety.
About the same time it was announced that the Alaison
des Lazaristes, which contained a large quantity of grain, had
been despoiled; that the Garde-Meuble had been forced open
to obtain old arms, and that the gun-smiths' shops had been
plundered. The greatest excesses were apprehended from
the crowd; it was let loose, and it seemed difficult to master
its fury. But this was a moment of enthusiasm and disin-
terestedness. The mob itself disarmed suspected characters;
the corn found at the Lazaristes was taken to the Halle;
not a single house was plundered, and carriages and vehicles
filled with provisions, furniture and utensils, stopped at the
gates of the city, were taken to the Place de Grève, which
became a vast depôt. Here the crowd increased every moment,
shouting Arms! It was now about one o'clock. The pro-
vost of the merchants then announced the immediate arrival
of twelve thousand guns from the manufactory of Charleville,
which would soon be followed by thirty thousand more.
This appeased the people for some time, and the committee
was enabled to pursue quietly its task of organizing a militia
of citizens. In less than four hours the plan was drawn up,
discussed, adopted, printed, and proclaimed. It was resolved
that the Parisian guard should, till further orders, be increased
to forty-eight thousand men. All citizens were invited to
enrol their names; every district had its battalion; every
battalion its leaders; the command of this army of citizens
was offered to the duc d'Aumont, who required twenty-four
hours to decide. In the meantime the marquis de la Salle
was appointed second in command. The green cockade was
then exchanged for a blue and red one, which were the
colours of the city. All this was the work of a few hours.
The districts gave their assent to the measures adopted by
the permanent committee. The clerks of the Châtelet, those
of the Palais, medical students, soldiers of the watch, and
what was of still greater value, the French guards, offered
their services to the assembly. Patrols began to be formed,
and to perambulate the streets.
The people waited with impatience the realization of the
42
HISTORY OF
promise of the provost of the merchants, but no guns arrived;
evening approached, and they feared during the night another
attack from the troops. They thought they were betrayed
when they heard of an attempt to convey secretly from
Paris five thousand weight of powder, which had been inter-
cepted by the people at the barriers. But soon after some
cases arrived, labelled Artillery. At this sight, the commotion
subsided; the cases were escorted to the Hôtel de Ville, it being
supposed that they contained the guns expected from Charle-
ville. On opening them, they were found to contain old linen
and pieces of wood. A cry of treachery arose on every side,
mingled with murmurs and threats against the committee and
the provost of the merchants. The latter apologized, de-
claring he had been deceived; and to gain time, or to get rid
of the crowd, sent them to the Chartreux, to seek for arms.
Finding none there, the mob returned, enraged and mistrustful.
The committee then felt satisfied there was no other way of
arming Paris, and curing the suspicions of the people, than by
forging pikes; and accordingly gave orders that fifty thousand
should be made immediately. To avoid the excesses of the
preceding night, the town was illuminated, and patrols marched
through it in every direction.
The next day, the people, that had been unable to obtain
arms on the preceding day, came early in the morning to solicit
some from the committee, blaming its refusal and failures of
the day before. The committee had sent for some in vain;
none had arrived from Charleville, none were to be found at
the Chartreux, and the arsenal itself was empty.
The mob, no longer satisfied with excuses, and more con-
vinced than ever that they were betrayed, hurried in a mass
to the Hôtel des Invalides, which contained a considerable
depôt of arms. It displayed no fear of the troops established
in the Champ de Mars, broke into the Hôtel, in spite of the
entreaties of the governor, M. de Sombreuil, found twenty-
eight thousand guns concealed in the cellars, seized them,
took all the sabres, swords, and cannon, and carried them off
in triumph. The cannon were placed at the entrance of the
Faubourgs, at the palace of the Tuileries, on the quays and on
the bridges, for the defence of the capital against the invasion
of troops, which was expected every moment.
Even during the same morning an alarm was given that the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
43
regiments stationed at Saint Denis were on the march, and that
the cannon of the Bastille were pointed on the Rue Saint
Antoine. The committee immediately sent to ascertain the
truth; appointed bands of citizens to defend that side of the
town, and sent a deputation to the governor of the Bastille,
soliciting him to withdraw his cannon and engage in no act
of hostility. This alarm, together with the dread which
that fortress inspired, the hatred felt for the abuses it shielded,
the importance of possessing so prominent a point, and of
not leaving it in the power of the enemy in a moment of
insurrection, drew the attention of the populace in that direc-
tion. From nine in the morning till two, the only rallying
word throughout Paris was “à la Bastille! à la Bastille.” The
citizens hastened thither in bands from all quarters, armed
with guns, pikes, and sabres. The crowd which already sur-
rounded it was considerable; the sentinels of the fortress were
at their posts, and the drawbridges raised as in war.
A deputy of the district of Saint Louis de la Culture, named
Thuriot de la Rosière, then requested a parley with Delaunay,
the governor. When admitted to his presence he summoned
him to change the direction of the cannon.
The governor
l'eplied, that the cannon had always been placed on the towers,
and it was not in his power to remove them; yet, at the same
time, having heard of the alarm prevalent among the Parisians,
he had had them withdrawn a few paces, and taken out of the
port-holes. With some difficulty Thuriot obtained permis-
sion to enter the fortress further, and examine if its condition
was really as satisfactory for the town as the governor repre-
sented it to be. As he advanced, he observed three pieces of
caunon pointed on the avenues leading to the open space be-
fore the fortress, and ready to sweep those who might attempt
to attack it. About forty Swiss, and eighty Invalides, were
under arms.
Thuriot urged them, as well as the staff of
the place, in the name of honour and of their country, not
to act as the enemies of the people. Both officers and soldiers
swore they would not make use of their arms unless attacked.
Thuriot then ascended the towers, and perceived a crowd
gathering in all directions, and the inhabitants of the fau-
bourg Saint Antoine, who were rising in a mass. The mul-
titude without, not seeing him return, were already demand-
ing him with great clamour. To satisfy the people, he appeared.
17
HISTORY OF
on the parapet of the fortress, and was received with loud
applause from the gardens of the arsenal. He then rejoined
his party, and having informed them of the result of his mis-
sion, proceeded to the committee.
But the impatient crowd now clamoured for the surrender
of the Bastille. From time to time the cry arose,
- The Bas-
tille! we will have the Bastille!" At length, two men, more
determined than the rest, darting from the crowd, sprang on
a guard-house, and struck at the chains of the drawbridge
with heavy hatchets. The soldiers shouted to them to retire,
and threatened to fire; but they continued to strike, succeeded
in breaking the chains and lowering the bridge, and then
rushed over it, followed by the crowd. In this way they ad-
vanced to cut the chains of the second bridge. The garrison
ņow dispersed them with a discharge of musketry. They
returned, however, to the attack, and for several hours their
efforts were confined to the second bridge, the approach to
which was defended by a ceaseless fire from the fortress.
The mob infuriated by this obstinate resistance, tried to
break in the gates with hatchets, and to set fire to the guard-
house. A murderous discharge of grape-shot proceeded from
the garrison, and many of the besiegers were killed and
wounded. They only became the more determined, and
seconded by the daring and determination of the two brave
men, Elie and Hulin, who were at their head, they continued
the attack with fury.
The committee of the Hôtel de Ville were in a state of
great anxiety. The siege of the Bastille seemed to them a very
rash enterprise. They ever and anon received intelligence
of the disasters that had taken place before the fortress. They
wavered between fear of the troops should they prove vic-
torious, and that of the multitude who clamoured for ammu-
nition to continue the siege. As they could not give what
they did not possess, the mob cried treachery. Two deputa-
tions had been sent by the committee for the purpose of dis-
continuing hostilities, and inviting the governor to confide
the keeping of the place to the citizens; but in the midst or
the tumult, the cries, and the firing, they could not mako
themselves heard.
A third was sent, carrying a drum and
banner, that it might be more easily distinguished, but it ex-
perienced no better fortune: neither side would listen to anya
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
45
thing. The assembly at the Hôtel de Ville, notwithstanding
its efforts and activity, still incurred the suspicions of the
populace. The provost of the merchants, especially, excited
the greatest mistrust. “ He has already deceived us several
times during the day,” said une. “ He talks," said another,
“ of opening a trench; he only wants to gain time, to make
us lose ours. Then an old man cried: “ Comrades, why do
you listen to traitors? Forward, follow me! In less than
two hours the Bastille will be taken!"
The siege had lasted more than four hours when the French
guards arrived with cannon. Their arrival changed the
appearance of the combat. The garrison itself begged the
governor to yield. The unfortunate Delaunay, dreading the
fate that awaited him, wished to blow up the fortress, and
bury himself under its ruins and those of the faubourg. He
went in despair towards the powder magazine, with a lighted
match in his hand. The garrison stopped him, raised a white
standard on the platform, and reversed the guns, in token of
peace. But the assailants still continued to fight and advance,
shouting, “ Lower the bridges!" Through the battlements a
Swiss officer proposed to capitulate, with permission to re-
tire from the building with the honours of war.
“No! no!"
clamoured the crowd. The same officer 'proposed to lay
down arms, on the promise that their lives should be spared.
“ Lower the bridge,” rejoined the foremost of the assailants,
“you shall not be injured." The gates were opened and
the bridge lowered, on this assurance, and the crowd rushed
into the Bastille. Those who led the multitude wished to
save from its vengeance the governor, Swiss soldiers, and
Invalides; but cries of " Give them up! give them up! they
fired on their fellow-citizens, they deserve to be hanged!”
rose on every side. The governor, a few Swiss soldiers and
Invalides were torn from the protection of those who sought
to defend them, and put to death by the implacable crowd.
The permanent committee knew nothing of the issue of the
combat. The hall of the sittings was invaded by a furious
multitude, who threatened the provost of the merchants and
electors. Flesselles began to be alarmed at his position; he
was pale and agitated. The object of the most violent re-
proaches and threats, they obliged him to go from the hall of
the committee to the hall of the general assembly, where a
46
HISTORY OF
great crowd of citizens was assemoled. - Let him come; let
him follow us,” resounded from all sides. - This is too
much!" rejoined Flesselles. " Let us go, since they request
it; let us go where I am expected.” They had scarcely
reached the great hall, when the attention of the multitude
was drawn off by shouts on the Place de Grève. They
heard the cries of “ Victory! victory! liberty!" It was the
arrival of the conquerors of the Bastille which this announced.
They themselves soon entered the hall with the most noisy
and the most fearful pomp. The persons who had most distin-
guished themselves were carried in triumph, crowned with
laurels. They were escorted by more than fifteen hundred
men, with glaring eyes and dishevelled bair, with all kinds of
arms, pressing one upon another, and making the flooring yield
beneath their feet. One carried the keys and standard of the
Bastille; another, its regulations suspended to his bayonet; a
third, with horrible barbarity, raised in his bleeding hand the
buckle of the governor's stock. With this parade, the pro-
cession of the conquerors of the Bastille, followed by an im-
mense crowd that thronged the quays, entered the hall of the
Hôtel de Ville to inform the committee of their triumph, and
decide the fate of the prisoners who survived. A few wished
to leave it to the committee, but others shouted:
quarter for the prisoners! No quarter for the men who fired
on their fellow citizens!” La Salle, the commandant, the
elector Moreau de Saint-Méry, and the brave Elie, succeeded
in appeasing the multitude, and obtained a general amnesty.
It was now the turn of the unfortunate Flesselles. It is
said that a letter found on Delaunay proved the treachery of
which he was suspected. “ I am amusing the Parisians," he
wrote, “ with cockades and promises. Hold out till the
evening, and you shall be reinforced.” The mob hurried to
his office. The more moderate demanded that he should be
arrested and confined in the Châtelet; but others opposed
this, saying that he should be conveyed to the Palais-Royal,
and there tried. This decision gave general satisfaction,
“ To the Palais-Royal! To the Palais-Royal!” resounded
from every side. “ Well—be it so, gentlemen,” replied
Flesselles, with composure, " let us go to the Palais-Royal.”
So saying, he descended the steps, i assed through the crowd,
which opened to make way for him, and which followed with-
66 No
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
47
out offering him any violence. But at the corner of the Quay
Pelletier a stranger rusher forward, and killed him with a
pistol-shot.
After these scenes of war, tumult, dispute and vengeance,
the Parisians, fearing, from some intercepted letters, that an
attack would be made during the night, prepared to receive
the enemy. The whole population joined in the labour of
fortifying the town; they formed barricades, opened intrench-
ments, unpaved streets, forged pikes, and cast bullets.
Women carried stones to the tops of the houses to crush the
soldiers as they passed. The national guard were distributed
in posts; Paris seemed changed into an immense foundry and
a vast camp, and the whole night was spent under arms, ex-
pecting the conflict.
While the insurrection assumed this violent, permanent,
and serious character at Paris, what was doing at Versailles ?
The court was preparing to realize its designs against the
capital and assembly. The night of the 14th was fixed
upon for their execution. The baron de Breteuil, who was
at the head of the ministry, had promised to restore the
royal authority in three days. Marshal de Broglie, com-
mander of the army collected around Paris, had received
unlimited powers of all kinds. On the 15th the declaration
of the 23rd of June was to be renewed, and the king, after
forcing the assembly to adopt it, was to dissolve it. Forty
thousand copies of this declaration were in readiness to be
circulated throughout the kingdom; and to meet the press-
ing necessities of the treasury more than a hundred millions
of paper money was created
The movement in Paris, so
far from thwarting the court, favoured its views. To the
last moment it looked upon it as a passing tumult that might
easily be suppressed ; it believed neither in its perseverance
nor in its success, and it did not seem possible to it that a
town of citizens could resist an army.
The assembly was apprised of these projects. For two
days it had sat without interruption, in a state of great
anxiety and alarm. It was ignorant of the greater por-
tion of what was passing in Paris. At one time it was an-
nounced that the insurrection was general, and that all Paris
was marching on Versailles; then that the troops were
advancing on the capital. They fancied they heard cannon,
و
48
HISTORY OR
(
and they placed their ears to the ground to assure themselves.
On the evening of the 14th, it was announced that the king
intended to depart during the night, and that the assembly
would be left to the mercy of the foreign regiments. This
last alarni was not without foundation. A carriage and
horses were kept in readiness, and the body-guard remained
booted for several days. Besides, at the Orangery, incidents
truly alarming took place; the troops were prepared and
stimulated for their expedition by distributions of wine and
by encouragements. Everything announced that a decisive
moment had arrived.
Despite the approaching and increasing danger, the as-
sembly was unshaken, and persisted in its first resolutions.
Mirabeau, who had first required the dismissal of the
troops, now arranged another deputation. It was on the point
of setting out, when the viscount de Noailles, a deputy, just
arrived from Paris, informed the assembly of the progress of
the insurrection, the pillage of the Invalides, the arming of
the people, and the siege of the Bastille. Wimpfen, another
deputy, to this account added that of the personal dangers he
had incurred, and assured them that the fury of the populace
was increasing with its peril. The assembly proposed the
establishment of couriers to bring them intelligence every
half hour.
M.M. Ganilla and Bancal-des-Issarts, despatched by the
committee at the Hôtel de Ville, as a deputation to the assem-
bly, confirmed all they had just heard. They informed
them of the measures taken by the electors to secure order
and the defence of the capital; the disasters that had hap-
pened before the Bastille; the inutility of the deputations
sent to the governor, and told them that the fire of the gar-
rison had surrounded the fortress with the slain.
of indignation arose in the assembly at this intelligence, and
a second deputation was instantly despatched to communi-
cate these distressing tidings to the king. The first returned
with an unsatisfactory answer; it was now ten at night. The
king, on learning these disastrous events, which seemed to
presage others still greater, appeared affected. Struggling
against the part he had been induced to adopt, he said to the
deputies, s You rend my heart more and more by the
tlreadful news you bring of the misfortunes of Paris. It is
A cry
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
49
impossible to suppose that the orders given to the troops are
the cause of these disasters. You are acquainted with tho
answer I returned to the first deputation; I have nothing to
add to it." This answer consisted of a promise that the troops
of the Champ de Mars should be sent away from Paris, and
of an order given to general officers to assume the command
of the guard of citizens. Such measures were not sufficient
to remedy the dangerous situation in which men were placed;
and it neither satisfied nor gave confidence to the assembly.
Shortly after this, the deputies d'Ormesson and Duport
announced to the assembly the taking of the Bastille, and the
deaths of Delaunay and Flesselles. It was proposed to send a
third deputation to the king, imploring the removal of the
troops. No,” said Clermont Tonnerre, “leave them the
night to consult in; kings must buy experience as well as other
men.” In this way the assembly spent the night. On the fol-
lowing morning, another deputation was appointed to repre-
sent to the king the misfortunes that would follow a longer
refusal. When on the point of starting, Mirabeau stopped
it: “ Tell him," he exclaimed, “that the hordes of strangers
who invest us, received yesterday visits, caresses, exhorta-
tions, and presents from the princes, princesses, and favourites;
tell him that, during the night, these foreign satellites, gorged
with gold and wine, predicted in their impious songs the
subjection of France, and invoked the destruction of the na-
tional assembly; tell him, that in his own palace, courtiers
danced to the sound of that barbarous music, and that such
was the prelude to the massacre of Saint Bartholomew! Tell
him that the Henry whose memory is universe-known, him,
whom of his ancestors he said he would make his model, sent
provisions into Paris revolted, when besieging it in person
while the savage advisers of Louis send away the corn which
trade brings into Paris loyal and starving."
But at that moment the king entered the assembly. The
duke de Liancourt, taking advantage of the access bis qua-
lity of master of the robes gave him, had informed the king,
during the night, of the desertion of the French guard, and
of the attack and taking of the Bastille. At this news, of
which his councillors had kept him in ignorance, the monarch
exclaimed, with surprise, “This is a revolt!" No, sire! it
is a revolution.” This excellent citizen had represented to
E
50
HISTORY OF
him the danger to which the projects of the court exposed
him; the fears and exasperation of the people, the disaffec-
tion of the troops, and he determined upon presenting him-
self before the assembly, to satisfy them as to his intentions.
The news at first excited transports of joy. Mirabeau re-
presented to his colleagues, that it was not fit to indulge in
premature applause. “Let us wait,” said he, “till his
majesty makes known the good intentions we are led to
expect from him. The blood of our brethren flows in Paris.
Let a sad respect be the first reception given to the king
by the representatives of an unfortunate people: the silence
of the people is the lesson of kings.”
The assembly resumed the sombre demeanour which had
never left it during the three preceding days. The king entered
without guards, and only attended by his brothers. He was
received, at first, in profound silence; but when he told them
he was one with the nation, and that, relying on the love
and fidelity of his subjects, he had ordered the troops to
leave Paris and Versailles; when he uttered the affecting
words-Eh bien, c'est moi qui me fie à vous, general applause
ensued. The assembly arose spontaneously, and conducted
him back to the chateau.
This intelligence diffused gladness in Versailles and Paris,
where the reassured people passed, by sudden transition, from
animosity to gratitude. Louis XVI. thus restored to himself,
felt the importance of appeasing the capital in person, of re-
gaining the affection of the people, and of thus conciliating the
popular power. He announced to the assembly that he would
recal Necker, and repair to Paris the following day. The
assembly had already nominated a deputation of a hundred
members, which preceded the king to the capital. It was
received with enthusiasm. Bailly and Lafayette, who formed
part of it, were appointed, the former mayor of Paris, the
latter commander-in-chief of the citizen guard. Bailly owed
this recompence to his long and difficult presidency of the
assenzbly, and Lafayette to his glorious and patriotic conduct.
A friend of Washington, and one of the principal authors
of American independence, he had, on his return to his
country, first pronounced the name of the states-general, had
joined the assembly with the minority of the nobility, and had
since proved himself one of the most zealous partisans of the
revolution
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
51
!
On the 27th, the new magistrates went to reccive the
king at the head of the municipality and the Parisian guard.
“Sire,” said Bailly, “I bring your majesty the keys of your
good town of Paris; they are the same which were presented
to Henry IV.; he had regained his people; now the people
have regained their king." From the Place Louis XV. to
the Hôtel de Ville, the king passed through a double line of
the national guard, placed in ranks three or four deep, and
armed with guns, pikes, lances, scythes, and staves. Their
countenances were still gloomy; and no cry was heard but
the oft-repeated shout of « Vive la Nation!" But when
Louis XVI. had left his carriage and received from Bailly's
hands the tri-coloured cockade, and, surrounded by the crowd
without guards, had confidently entered the Hôtel de Ville,
cries of " Vive le Roi!” burst forth on every side. The recon-
ciliation was complete; Louis XVI. received the strongest
marks of affection. After approving the choice of the people
with respect to the new magistrates, he returned to Versailles,
where some anxiety was entertained as to the success of his
journey, on account of the preceding troubles. The national
assembly met him in the Avenue de Paris; it accompanied
him as far as the chateau, where the queen and her children
ran to his arms.
The ministers opposed to the revolution, and all the
authors of the unsuccessful projects, retired from court. The
count d'Artois and his two sons, the prince de Condé, the
prince de Conti, and the Polignac family, accompanied by a
numerous train, left France. They settled at Turin, where
the count d'Artois and the prince de Condé were soon joined
by Calonne, who became their agent. Thus began the first
emigration. The emigrant princes were not long in exciting
civil war in the kingdom, and forming an European coalition
against France.
Necker returned in triumph. This was the finest mo-
ment of his life; few men have had such. The minister of the
nation, disgraced for it, and recalled for it, he was welcomed
along the road from Bâle to Paris, with every expression of
public gratitude and joy. His entry into Paris was a day of
festivity. But the day that raised his popularity to its height
put a term to it. The multitude, still enraged against all
who had participated in the project of the 14th of July, had
E2
52
HISTORY OF
put to death, with relentless cruelty, Foulon, the intended
minister, and his nephew, Berthier. Indignant at these exe-
cutions, fearing that others might fall victims, and especially
desirous of saving the baron de Besenval, commander of the
army of Paris, under marshal de Broglie, and detained
prisoner, Necker demanded a general amnesty and obtained it
from the assembly of electors. This step was very imprudent,
in a moment of enthusiasm and mistrust. Necker did not
know the people; he was not aware how easily they suspect
their chiefs and destroy their idols. They thought he wished
to protect their enemies from the punishment they had in-
curred; the districts assembled, the legality of an amnesty
pronounced by an unauthorized assembly was violently
attacked, and the electors themselves revoked it. No doubt
it was advisable to calm the rage of the people, and recom-
mend them to be merciful; but instead of demanding the
liberation of the accused, the application should have been
for a tribunal which would have removed them from the
murderous jurisdiction of the multitude. In certain cases
that which appears most humane is not really so.
Necker,
without gaining anything, excited the people against himself,
and the districts against the electors; from that time he began
to contend against the revolution, of which, because he had
been for a moment its hero, he hoped to become the master.
But an individual is of slight importance during a revo-
lution which raises the masses; that vast movement either
drags him on with it, or tramples him under foot; he must
either precede or succumb. At no time is the subordination
of men to circumstances more clearly manifested: revolutions
employ many leaders, and when they submit, it is to one
alone.
The consequences of the 14th of July were immense. The
movement of Paris communicated itself to the provinces; the
country population, imitating that of the capital, organized
itself in all directions into municipalities for purposes of self-
government; and into bodies of national guards for self-
defence. Authority and force became wholly displaced;
royalty had lost them by its defeat, the nation had acquired
them. The new magistrates were alone powerful, alone
obeyed; their predecessors were altogether mistrusted. In
towns, the people rose against them and against the privileged
>
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
63
classes, whom they naturally supposed enemies to the change
that had been effected. In the country, the chateaux were
fired and the peasantry burned the title-deeds of their lords.
In a moment of victory it is difficult not to make an abuse
of power. But to appease the people it was necessary to
destroy abuses, in order that they might not, while seeking
to get rid of them, confound privilege with property. Classes
had disappeared, arbitrary power was destroyed; with these,
their old accessory, inequality, too, must be suppressed. Thus
must proceed the establishment of the new order of things,
and these preliminaries were the work of a single night.
The assembly had addressed to the people proclamations
calculated to restore tranquillity. The constituting the Chå-
telet a court for trying the conspirators of the 14th of July,
had also contributed to the restoration of order by satisfying
the multitude. An important measure remained to be exe-
cuted, the abolition of privileges. On the night of the 4th
of August, the viscount de Noailles gave the signal for this.
He proposed the redemption of feudal rights, and the sup-
pression of personal servitude. With this motion began the
sacrifice of all the privileged classes; a rivalry of patriotism
and public offerings arose among them. The enthusiasm be-
came general; in a few hours the cessation of all abuses was
decreed. The duke du Chatelet proposed the redemption of
tithes and their conversion into a pecuniary tax; the bishop
of Chartres, the abolition of the game-laws; the count de
Virieu, that of the law protecting doves and pigeons. The
abolition of seigneurial courts, of the purchase and sale of posts
in the magistracy, of pecuniary immunities, of favouritism in
taxation, of surplice money, first-fruits, pluralities, and un-
merited pensions, were successively proposed and carried.
After sacrifices made by individuals, came those of bodies,
of towns and provinces. Companies and civic freedoms were
abolished. The marquis des Blacons, a deputy of Dauphiné,
in the name of his province, pronounced a solemn renuncia-
tion of its privileges. The other provinces followed the
example of Dauphiné, and the towns that of the provinces.
A medal was struck to commemorate the day; and the as-
sernbly decreed to Louis XVI. the title of Restorer of French
Liberty.
That night, which an enemy of the revolution designated
54
HISTORY OF
at the time, the Saint Bartholomew of property, was only
the Saint Bartholomew of abuses. It swept away the rubbish
of feudalism; it delivered persons from the remains of servi-
tude, properties from seigneurial liabilities; from the ravages
of game, and the exaction of tithes. By destroying the
seigneurial courts, that remnant of private power, it led to
the principle of public power; in putting an end to the pur-
chasing posts in the magistracy, it threw open the prospect of
unbought justice. It was the transition from an order of
things in which everything belonged to individuals, to another
in which everything was to belong to the nation. That night
changed the face of the kingdom; it made all Frenchmen
equal; all might now obtain public employments; aspire to
the idea of property of their own, of exercising industry for
their own benefit. That night was a revolution as important
as the insurrection of the 14th of July, of which it was the
consequence. It made the people masters of society, as the
other had made them masters of the government, and it
enabled them to prepare the new, while destroying the old
constitution.
The revolution had progressed rapidly, had obtained great
results in a very short time; it would have been less prompt,
less complete, had it not been attacked. Every refusal be-
came for it the cause of a new success; it foiled intrigue,
resisted authority, triumphed over force; and at the point of
time we have reached, the whole edifice of absolute monarchy
had fallen to the ground, through the errors of its chiefs.
The 17th of June had witnessed the disappearance of the
three orders, and the states-general changed into the national
assembly; with the 23rd of June terminated the moral
influence of royalty; with the 14th of July its physical power;
the assembly inherited the one, the people the other; finally,
the 4th of August completed this first revolution. The
period we have just gone over stands prominently out from
the rest; in its brief course force was displaced, and all the
preliminary changes were accomplished. The following
period is that in which the new system is discussed, becom.es
established, and in which the assembly, after having been
destructive, becomes constructive.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
55
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE NIGHT OF THE 4TH OF AUGUST TO THE 5T8I
AND 6TH OF OCTOBER, 1789.
State of the constituent assembly-Party of the high clergy and nobility-
Mawy and Cazales—Party of the ministry and of the two chambers:
Mounier, Lally-Tollendal -- Popular party: triumvirate of Barnave,
Duport, and Lameth—Its position—Influence of Siéyes--Mirabeau,
chief of the assembly at that period—Opinion to be formed of the Or-
leans party—Constitutional labours Declaration of rights--Perma-
nency and unity of the legislative body--Royal sanction–External
agitation caused by it-Project of the court-Banquet of the gardes-
du-corps—Insurrection of the 5th and 6th October--The king comes
to reside at Paris.
The national assembly, composed of the élite of the nation,
was full of intelligence, pure intentions, and projects for the
public good. It was not, indeed, free from parties, or wholly
unanimous; but the mass was, under the empire, neither of
an idea, nor of a man; and it was the mass whichi, upon a
conviction ever untrammelled and often entirely spontaneous,
decided the deliberations and decreed popularity. The follow-
ing were the divisions of views and interests it contained
within itself:
The court had a party in the assembly, the privileged
classes, who remained for a long time silent, and took but a
tardy share in the debates. This party consisted of those
who during the dispute as to the orders had declared against
union. The aristocratic classes, notwithstanding their mo-
mentary agreement with the commons, had interests altogether
contrary to those of the national party; and, accordingly, the
nobility and higher clergy, who formed the Right of the as-
56
HISTORY OF
sembly, were in constant opposition to it, except on days of
peculiar excitement. These foes of the revolution, unable to
prevent it by their sacrifices, or to stop it by their adhe-
sion, systematically contended against all its reforms. Their
leaders were two men who were not the first among them in
birth or rank, but who were superior to the rest in talents.
Maury and Cazales represented, as it were, the one the
clergy, and the other the nobility.
These two orators of the privileged classes, according to
the intentions of their party, who put little faith in the dura-
tion of these changes, rather protested than stood on the
defensive; and in all their discussions their aim was not to
instruct the assembly, but to bring it into disrepute. Each
introduced into his part the particular turn of his mind and
character: Maury made long speeches, Cazales lively sallies.
The first preserved at the tribune his habits as a preacher
and academician; he spoke on legislative subjects without
understanding them, never seizing the right view of the sub-
ject, nor even that most advantageous to his party; he gave
proofs of audacity, erudition, skill, a brilliant and well-sus-
tained facility, but never displayed solidity of judgment, firm
conviction, or real eloquence. The abbé Maury spoke as
soldiers fight. No one could contradict oftener or more perti-
naciously than he, or more flippantly substitute quotations and
sophismas for reasoning, or rhetorical phrases for real bursts of
feeling. He possessed much talent, but wanted the faculty
which gives it life and truth. Cazales was the opposite of
Maury: he had a just and ready mind; his eloquence was
equally facile, but more animated; there was candour in his
outbursts, and he always gave the best reasons. No rhetorician,
he always took the true side of a question that concerned his
party, and left declamation to Maury. With the clearness
of his views, his ardent character, and the good use he made
of his talents, his only fault was that of his position; Maury,
on the other hand, added the errors of his mind to those which
were inseparable from the cause he espoused.
Necker and the ministry had also a party; but it was less
numerous than the other, on account of its moderation.
France was then divided into the privileged classes opposed
to the revolution, and the people who strenuously desired it.
As yet there was no place for a mediating party between
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
57
them. Necker had declared liimself in favour of the English
constitution, and those who from ambition or conviction were
of his views, rallied round him. Among these was Mounier,
a man of strong mind and inflexible spirit, who considered
that system as the type of representative governments;
Lally-Tollendal, as decided in his views as the former, and
more persuasive; Clermont-Tonnerre, the friend and ally of
Mounier and Lally; in a word, the minority of the nobility,
and some of the bishops, who hoped to become members of
the upper chamber, should Necker's views be adopted.
The leaders of this party, afterwards called the monarchi-
cal party, wished to effect a revolution by compromise, and to
introduce into France a representative government, ready
formed, namely, that of England. At every point, they
besought the powerful to make a compromise with the weak.
Before the 14th of July, they asked the court and privileged
classes to satisfy the commons; afterwards, they asked the
commons to agree to an arrangement with the court and the
privileged classes. They thought that each ought to preserve
his influence in the state; that deposed parties are discontented
parties, and that a legal existence must be made for them, or
interminable struggles be expected on their part. But they
did not see how little their ideas were appropriate to a mo-
ment of exclusive passions. The struggle was begun, the
struggle destined to result in the triumph of a system, and not
in a compromise. It was a victory which had made the
three orders give place to a single assembly, and it was diffi-
cult to break the unity of this assembly in order to arrive at
a government of two chambers. The moderate party had
not been able to obtain this government from the court, nor
were they to obtain it from the nation: to the one it had
appeared too popular; for the other, it was too aristocratic.
The rest of the assembly consisted of the national party.
As yet there were not observed in it men who, like Kobes-
pierre, Pétion, Buzot, &c., wished to begin a second revolu-
tion when the first was accomplished. At this period the
most extreme of this party were Duport, Barnave, and
Lameth, who formed a triumvirate, whose opinions were pre-
pared by Duport, sustained by Barnave, and managed by
Alexander Lameth. There was something remarkable and
announcing the spirit of equality of the times, in this intimate
58
HISTORY OF
union of an advocate belonging to the middle classes, or a
counsellor belonging to the parliamentary class, and a colonel
belonging to the
court, renouncing the interests of their order
to unite in views of the public good and popular happiness.
This party at first took a more advanced position than that
which the revolution had attained. The 14th of July had been
the triumph of the middle class; the constituent assembly was
its legislature, the national guard its armed force, the mayor-
alty its popular power. Mirabeau, Lafayette, Bailly, relied on
this class; one was its tribune, the other its general, and the
third its magistrate. Duport, Barnave, and Lameth's party
were of the principles, and sustained the interests of that
period of the revolution; but this party, composed of young
men of ardert patriotism, who entered on public affairs with
superior qualities, fine talents, and elevated positions, and
who joined to the love of liberty the ambition of playing a
leading part, placed itself from the first racher in advance
of the revolution of July the 14th. Its fulcrum within the
assembly was, the members of the extreme left, without, in
the clubs; in the nation, in the party of the people, who had
co-operated on the 14th of July, and who were unwilling
that the bourgeoisie alone should derive advantage from the
victory. By putting itself at the head of those who had no
leaders, and who being a little out of the government aspired
to enter it, it did not cease to belong to this first period of
the revolution ; only it formed a kind of democratic opposi-
tion, even in the middle class itself, only differing from its
leaders on a few unimportant points, and voting with them
on most questions. It was, among these popular men, rather
a patriotic emulation than a party dissension.
Duport, who was strong-minded, and who bad acquired
premature experience of the management of political passions,
in the struggles which parliament had sustained against the
ministry, and which he had chieíly directed, knew well that
a people reposes the moment it has gained its rights, and
that it begins to grow weak as soon as it reposes.
Το
keep in vigour those who governed in the assembly, in the
mayoralty, in the militia; to prevent the public activity from
slackening, and not to disband the people, whose aid he might
one day require, he conceived and executed the famous con-
federation of the clubs. This institution, like everything
ز
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
59
that gives a great impulse to a nation, caused a great deal of
good, and a great deal of harm. It impeded legal authority,
when this of itself was sufficient; but it also gave an immense
energy to the revolution, when, attacked on all sides, it
could only save itself by the most violent efforts. For the
rest, the founders of this association had not calculated all its
consequences. They regarded it simply as a wheel destined
to keep or put in movement the public machine, without
danger, when it tended to abate or to cease its activity; they
did not think they were working for the advantage of the
multitude. After the flight of Varennes, this party had be-
come too exacting and too formidable; they forsook it, and
supported themselves against it with the mass of the assem-
bly and the middle class, whose direction was left vacant by
the death of Mirabeau. At this period, it was important to
them speedily to fix the constitutional revolution; for to pro-
tract it would have been to bring on the republican revo-
lution,
The mass of the assembly, we have just mentioned,
abounded in just, experienced, and even superior minds. Its
leaders were two men, strangers to the third estate, and
adopted by it. Without the abbé Siéyes, the constituent
assembly would probably have had less unity in its opera-
tion and without Mirabeau, less energy in its conduct.
Siéyes was one of those men who create sects in an age of
enthusiasm, and who exercise the ascendancy of a powerful
reason in an enlightened age. Solitude and philosophical
studies had matured him at an early age. His views were new,
strong, and extensive, but somewhat too systematic. Society
had especially been the subject of his examination; he had
watched its progress, investigated its springs. The nature of
government appeared to him less a question of right than
a question of epoch. His vast intellect ranged the society
of our days in its divisions, relations, powers, and movement.
Siéyes, though of cold temperament, had the ardour which
the pursuit of truth inspires, and the passion which its
discovery gives; he was accordingly absolute in his views,
disdaining those of others, because he considered them in-
complete, and that, in his opinion, half truth was error.
Contradiction irritated him; he was not communicative. Deo
sirous of making himself thoroughly known, he could not do
60
HISTORY OF
60 with every one. His adepts imparted his systems to others,
which surrounded him with a sort of mystery, and ren-
dered him the object of a species of reverence. He had the
authority which complete political science procures, and
the constitution might have emerged from his head com-
pletely armed, like the Minerva of Jupiter, or the legislation
of the ancients, were it not that in our days every one sought
to be engaged in the task, or to criticise it. Yet, with the
exception of some modifications, his plans were generally
adopted, and he had in the committees more disciples than
colleagues.
Mirabeau obtained in the tribune the same ascendancy as
Siéyes in the committees. He was a man who only waited
the occasion to become great. At Rome, in the best days
of the republic, he would have been a Gracchus; in its
decline, a Catiline; under the Fronde, a cardinal de Retz;
and in the decrepitude of a monarchy, when such a being
could only find scope for his immense faculties in agitation,
he became remarkable for the vehemence of his passions, and
for their punishment, a life passed in committing disorders,
and suffering for them. This prodigious activity required
employment; the revolution provided it. Accustomed to the
struggle against despotism, irritated by the contempt of a
nobility who were inferior to him, and who excluded him
from their body; clever, daring, eloquent, Mirabeau felt that
the revolution would be his work, and his life. He exactly
corresponded to the chief wants of his time. His thought,
his voice, his action, were those of a tribune. In perilous
circumstances, his was the earnestness which carries away
an assembly; in difficult discussions, the unanswerable sally
which at once puts an end to them; with a word he prostrated
ambition, silenced enmities, disconcerted rivalries. This
powerful being, perfectly at his ease in the midst of agitation,
now giving himself up to the impetuosity, now to the fami-
liarities of conscious strength, exercised a sort of sovereignty
in the assembly He soon obtained immense popularity,
which he retained to the last; and he whom, at his first
entrance into the legislature, every eye shunned, was, at his
death, received into the Pantheon, amidst the tears of the
assembly and of all France. Had it not been for the revo-
lučior, Mirabeau would have failed in realizing his destiny,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
61
It was
.for it is not enough to be great: one must live at the fitting
period.
The duke of Orleans, to whom a party has been given, had
but little influence in the assembly; he voted with the ma-
jority, not the majority with him. The personal attachment
of some of its members, his name, the fears of the court, the
popularity his opinions enjoyed, hopes rather than conspiracies
had increased his reputation as a factious character. He had
neither the qualities nor the defects of a conspirator; he may
have aided with his money and his name popular movements,
that would have taken place just the same without him, and
which had another object than his elevation. It is still a
common error to attribute the greatest of revolutions to some
petty private manoeuvring, as if at such an epoch a whole
people could be used as the instrument of one man.
The assembly had acquired the entire power; the corpora-
tions depended on it; the national guards obeyed it.
divided into committees to facilitate its operations, and execute
them. The royal power, though existing of right, was in a
measure suspended, since it was not obeyed, and the as-
sembly had to supply its action by its own. Thus, inde-
pendently of comunittees entrusted with the preparation of
its measures, it had appointed others to exercise a useful
superintendence without. A committee of supply occupied
itself with provisions, an important object in a year of
scarcity; a committee of inquiry corresponded with the cor-
porations and provinces; a committee of researches received
informations against the conspirators of the 14th of July. But
finance and the constitution, which the past crises had ad-
journed, were the special subjects of attention.
After having momentarily provided for the necessities of
the treasury, the assembly, although now become sovereign,
consulted, by examining the petitions, the wishes of its con-
stituents. It then proceeded to form its institutions with a
method, a liberal and extensive spirit of discussion, which
was to procure for France a constitution conformable with
justice and suited to its necessities. The United States of
America, at the time of their independence, had set forth
in a declaration, the rights of man, and those of the citizen.
This will ever be the first step. A people rising froni
slavery feels the necessity of proclaiming its rights, even be-
62
HISTORY OF
fore it forms its government. Those Frenchmen who had
assisted at the American revolution, and who co-operated
in ours, proposed a similar declaration as a preamble to our
laws. This was agreeable to an assembly of legislators and
philosophers, restricted by no limits, since no institutions ex-
isted, and who were directed by primitive and fundamental
ideas of society, for it was the pupil of the eighteenth century.
Though this declaration only contained general principles, and
confined itself to setting forth in maxims what the constitution
was to put into laws, it was calculated to elevate the mind,
and impart to the citizens a consciousness of their dignity and
importance. At Lafayette's suggestion, the assembly had before
commenced this discussion; but the events at Paris, and the
decrees of the 4th of August, had interrupted its labours; they
were now resumed, and concluded, by determining the princi-
ples which were to form the table of the new law, and which
were the assumption of right in the name of humanity.
These generalities being adopted, the assembly turned its
attention to the organization of the legislative power. This
was one of its most important objects; it was to fix the nature
of its functions, and establish its relations with the king. In
this discussion the assembly had only to decide the future
condition of the legislative power. Invested as it was with
constituent authority, it was raised above its own deci-
sions, and no intermediate power could suspend or prevent its
mission. But what should be the form of the deliberative
body in future sessions? Should it remain indivisible, or be
divided into two chambers? If the latter form should be
adopted, what should be the nature of the second chamber?
Should it be made an aristocratic assembly, or a moderative
senate? And, whatever the deliberative body might be, was it
to be permanent or periodical, and should the king share the
legislative power with it? Such were the difficulties that
agitated the assembly and Paris during the month of Sep-
tember.
If we consider the position of the assembly and its ideas of
sovereignty, we shall easily understand the manner in which
these questions were decided. It regarded the king merely
as the hereditary agent of the nation, having neither the right
to assemble its representatives nor that of directing or sus-
pending them. Accordingly, it refused to grant him the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
63
initiative in making laws and dissolving the assembly. It
considered that the legislative body ought not to be dependant
on the king. It moreover feared that by granting the go-
vernment too strong an influence over the assembly, or by
not keeping the latter always together, the prince might profit
by the intervals in which he would be left alone, to encroach
on the other powers, and perhaps even to destroy the new
system. Therefore to an authority in constant activity, they
wished to oppose an always existing assembly, and the per-
manence of the assembly was accordingly declared. The
debate respecting its indivisibility, or its division, was very
animated. Necker, Mounier, and Lally-Tollendal desired, in
addition to a representative chamber, a senate, to be composed
of members to be appointed by the king on the nomination of
the people. They considered this as the only means of mode-
rating the power, and even of preventing the tyranny of a
single assembly. They had as partisans such members as
participated in their ideas, or who hoped to form part of the
upper chamber.
The majority of the nobility did not wish
for a house of peers, but for an aristocratic assembly, whose
members it should elect. They could not agree; Mounier's
party refusing to fall in with a project calculated to revive
the orders, and the aristocracy refusing to accept a senate,
which would confirm the ruin of the nobility. The greater
portion of the deputies of the clergy and of the commons were
in favour of the unity of the assembly. The popular party
considered it illegal to appoint legislators for life; it thought
that the upper chamber would become the instrument of
the court and aristocracy, and would then be dangerous, or
become useless by uniting with the commons. Thus the
nobility, from dissatisfaction, and the national party, from a
spirit of absolute justice, alike rejected the upper chamber.
This determination of the assembly has been the object of
many reproaches. The partisans of the peerage have attri-
buted all the evils of the revolution to the absence of that
order; as if it had been possible for anybody whatsoever to
arrest its progress. It was not the constitution which
it
the character it has had, but events arising from party
struggles. What would the upper chamber have done be-
tween the court and the nation? If in favour of the first, it
would have been unable to guide or save it; if in favour of
gave
64
HISTORY OF
the second, it would not have strengthened it; in either case,
its suppression would have infallibly ensued. In such times,
progress is rapid, and all that seeks to check it is superfluous.
In England, the house of lords, although docile, was sus-
pended during the crisis. These various systems have each
their epoch; revolutions are achieved by one chamber, and
end with two.
The royal sanction gave rise to great debates in the assem-
bly, and violent clamours without. The question was as to
the part of the king in the making of laws; the deputies were
nearly all agreed on one point. They were determined, in
admitting his right to sanction or refuse laws; but some desired
that this right should be unlimited, others that it should be
temporary. This, in reality, amounted to the same thing,
for it was not possible for the king to prolong his refusal in-
definitely, and the veto, though absolute, would only have
been suspensive. But this faculty, bestowed on a single man,
of checking the will of the people, appeared exorbitant,
especially out of the assembly, where it was less understood.
Paris had not yet recovered from the agitation of the 14th
of July; the popular government was but beginning, and the
city experienced all its liberty and disorder. The assembly
of electors, who in difficult circumstances had taken the place
of a provisional corporation, had just been replaced. A
hundred and eighty members nominated by the districts,
constituted themselves legislators and representatives of
the city. While they were engaged on a plan of municipal
organization, each desired to command; for in France the
love of liberty is almost the love of power.
The committees
acted apart from the mayor; the assembly of representatives
arose against the committees, and the districts against the
assembly of representatives. Each of the sixty districts
attributed to itself the legislative power, and gave the execu
tive power to its committees; they all considered the members
of the general assembly as their subordinates, and themselves
as invested with the right of annulling their decrees. This
idea of the sovereignty of the principal over the delegate
made rapid progress. Those who had no share in authority,
formed assemblies, and then gave themselves up to discussion;
soldiers debated at the Oratoire, juurneymen tailors at the
Colonnade, hair-dressers in the Champs Elysées, servants at
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
65
the Louvre; but the most animated debates iook place in
the Palais Royal. There were inquired into the questions
that occupied the national assembly, and its discussions criti-
cised. The dearth of provisions also brought crowds together,
and these mobs were not the least dangerous.
Such was the state of Paris when the debate concerning
the veto was begun. The alarm which this right conferred
on the king excited, was extreme. It seemed as though the
fate of liberty depended on the decision of this question, and
that the veto alone would bring back the ancient system.
The multitude, ignorant of the nature and limits of power,
wished the assembly, on which it relied, to do all, and the
king, whom it mistrusted, to do nothing. Every instrument
left at the disposal of the court, appeared the means of a
counter revolution. The crowds at the Palais Royal grew
turbulent; threatening letters were sent to those members of
the assembly, who, like Mounier, had declared in favour of
the absolute veto. They spoke of dismissing them as faith-
less representatives, and of marching upon Versailles. The
Palais Royal sent a deputation to the assembly, and required
the commune to declare that the deputies were revocable,
and to make them at all times dependent on the electors. The
commune remained firm, rejected the demands of the Palais
Royal, and took measures to prevent the riotous assemblies.
The national guard supported it; this body was well disposed;
Lafayette had acquired its confidence; it was becoming orga-
nized, it wore a uniform, submitted to discipline after the
exanıple of the French guard, and learned from its chief the
love of order and respect for the law. But the middle class
that composed it had not yet taken exclusive possession of the
popular government. The multitude which was enrolled on
the 14th of July, was not as yet entirely disbanded. This
agitation from without rendered the debates upon the veto
stormy; in this way a very simple question acquired great
importance, and the ministry, perceiving how fatal the influ-
ence of an absolute decision miglit prove, and seeing, also.
that the unlimited veto and the suspensive veto were one and
the same thing, induced the king to be satisfied with the latter,
and give up the former. The assembly declared that the
refusal of his sanction could not be prolonged by the prince
beyond two sessions; and this decision satisfied every one.
66
HISTORY OF
The court took advantage of the agitation in Paris to
realize other projects. For some time it had influenced the
king's mind. At first, he had refused to sanction the decrees
of the 4th of August, although they were constitutive, and
.consequently he could not avoid promulgating them. After
accepting them, on the remonstrances of the assembly, he re-
newed the same difficulties relative to the declaration of
rights. The object of the court was to represent Louis XVI.
as oppressed by the assembly, and constrained to submit to
measures which he was unwilling to accept; it endured its
situation with impatience, and strove to regain its former au-
thority. Flight was the only means, and it was requisite
to legitimate it; nothing could be done in the presence of
the assembly, and in the neighbourhood of Paris. Royal au-
thority had fallen on the 23rd of June, military power on the
14th of July; there was no alternative but civil war. As it
was difficult to persuade the king to this course, they waited
till the last moment to induce him to flee; his hesitation
caused the failure of the plan. It was proposed to retire to
Metz, to Bouillé, in the midst of his army; to call around
the monarch the nobility, the troops who continued faithful,
the parliaments; to declare the assembly and Paris in a state of
rebellion; to invite them to obedience or to force them to it;
and if the ancient system could not be entirely re-established,
at least to confine themselves to the declaration of the 20th
of June. On the other hand, if the court had an interest in
removing the king from Versailles, that it might effect some-
thing, it was the interest of the partisans of the revolution to
bring him to Paris; the Orleans faction, if one existed, had
an interest in driving the king to flight, by intimidating him,
in the hope that the assembly would appoint its leader lieu-
tenant-general of the kingdom; and, lastly, the people, who
were in want of bread, wished for the king to reside at
Paris, in the hope that his presence would diminish, or put a
stop to the dearth of provisions. All these causes existing,
an occasion was only wanting to bring about an insurrection;
the court furnished this occasion. On the pretext of pro-
tecting itself against the movements in Paris, it summoned
troops to Versailles, doubled the household guards, and sent
for the dragoons and the Flanders regiment. All this pre-
paration of troops gave rise to the liveliest fears; a report
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
07
spread of an anti-revolutionary measure, and the flight of the
king, and the dissolution of the assembly, were announced as
at hand. Strange uniforms, and yellow and black cockades,
were to be seen at the Luxembourg, the Palais Royal, and
at the Champs Elysées; the foes of the revolution displayed a
degree of joy they had not manifested for some time. The
behaviour of the court confirmed these suspicions, and dis-
closed the object of all these preparations.
The officers of the Flanders regiment, received with anxiety
in the town of Versailles, were fêted at the château, and
even admitted to the queen's card tables. Endeavours were
made to secure their devotion, and a banquet was given to
them by the king's guards. The officers of the dragoons
and the chasseurs, who were at Versailles, those of the
Swiss guards, of the hundred Swiss, of the prevoté, and the
staff of the national guard were invited. The theatre in the
château, which was reserved for the most solemn fêtes of the
court, and which, since the inarriage of the second brother of
the king, had only been used for the emperor Joseph II., was
selected for the scene of the festival. The king's musicians
were ordered to attend this, the first fête which the guards
had given. During the banquet, toasts to the king and royal
family were drunk with enthusiasm, while the nation was
omitted or rejected. At the second course, the grenadiers of
Flanders, the two bodies of Swiss, and the dragoons, were
admitted to witness the spectacle, and share the sentiments
which animated the guests. The enthusiasm increased every
moment. Suddenly the king was announced; he entered
attired in a hunting dress, the queen leaning on his arm, and
carrying the dauphin. Shouts of affection and devotion arose
on every side. The health of the royal family was drunk, with
swords drawn; and when Louis XVI. withdrew, the music
played, 6 0 Richard ! O mon roi! l'univers t'abandonne,"
The scene now assumed a very significant character; the
march of the Hullans, and the profusion of wine, deprived
the guests of all reserve. The charge was sounded; tottering
guests climbed the boxes, as if mounting to an assault; white
cockades were distributed; the tri-coloured cockade, it is said,
was trampled on, and the guests then spread through the
galleries of the château, where the ladies of the court loaded
1
F 2
68
HISTORY OF
them with congratulations, and decorated them with ribbons
and cockades.
Such was this famous banquet of the 1st of October, which
the court was imprudent enough to repeat on the 3rd. One
cannot help lamenting its fatal want of foresight; it could
neither submit to nor change its destiny. This assembling
of the troops, so far from preventing aggression in Paris,
provoked it; the banquet did not make the devotion of the
soldiers any more sure, while it augmented the ill disposi-
tion of the people. To protect itself there was no necessity
for so much ardour, nor for flight was there needful so much
preparation; but the court never took the measure calculated
to make its designs succeed, or else it only half took it, and,
in order to decide, it always waited until there was no longer
any time.
The news of this banquet produced the greatest sensation
in Paris. On the 4th, suppressed rumours, counter-revo-
lutionary provocations, the dread of conspiracies, indignation
against the court, and increasing alarm at the dearth of pro-
visions, all announced an insurrection; the multitude already
locked towards Versailles. On the 5th, the insurrection
broke out in a violent and invincible manner; the entire want
of flour was the signal. A young girl, entering a guard-
house, seized a drum and rushed through the streets beating
it, and crying, “ Bread! Bread!"
“ Bread! Bread!” She was soon surrounded
by a crowd of women. This mob advanced towards the
Hôtel de Ville, increasing as it went. It forced the guard that
stood at the door, and penetrated into the interior, clamouring
for bread and arms; it broke open doors, seized weapons,
and marched towards Versailles. The people soon rose en
masse, uttering the same demand, till the cry, “To Versailles !"
rose on every side. The women started first, headed by
Maillard, one of the volunteers of the Bastille. The popu-
lace, the national guard, and the French guards requested to
follow them. The commander, Lafayette, opposed their
departure a long time, but in vain; neither his efforts nor
his popularity could overcome the obstinacy of the people.
For seven hours he harangued and retained them. At length,
impatient at this delay, rejecting his advice, they prepared to
set forward without him; when, feeling that it was now
his duty to conduct as it had previously been to restrain
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
69
them, he obtained his authorisation from the corporation, and
gave the word for departure about seven in the evening.
The excitement at Versailles was less impetuous, but quite
as real; the national guard and the assembly were anxious and
irritated. The double banquet of the household troops, the
approbation the queen had expressed, J'ai été enchantée de la
journée de Jeudi,—the king's refusal to accept simply the
Rights of Man, his concerted temporizings, and the want of
provisions, excited the alarm of the representatives of the
people and filled them with suspicion. Pétion having denounced
the banquets of the guards, was summoned by a royalist deputy
to explain his denunciation, and make known the guilty parties.
“Let it be expressly declared," exclaimed Mirabeau, “that
whosoever is not king is a subject and responsible, and I will
speedily furnish proofs." These words, which pointed to the
queen, compelled the right side to be silent. “This hostile
discussion was preceded and succeeded by debates equally
animated, concerning the refusal of the sanction, and the
scarcity of provisions in Paris. At length, just as a deputa-
tion was despatched to the king, to require his pure and
simple acceptance of the Rights of Man, and to solicit him to
facilitate with all his power the supplying Paris with provi-
sions, the arrival of the women, headed by Maillard, was
announced.
Their unexpected appearance, for they had intercepted all
the couriers who might have announced it, excited the terrors
of the court. The troops of Versailles flew to arms and sur
rounded the château, but the intentions of the women were
not hostile. Maillard, their leader, had recommended them
to appear as suppliants, and in that attitude they presented
their complaints successively to the assembly and to the king.
Accordingly, the first hours of this turbulent evening were
sufficiently calm. Yet it was impossible but that causes of
hostility should arise between an excited mob and the house-
hold troops, the objects of so much irritation. The latter
were stationed in the court of the château opposite the
national guard and the Flanders regiment. The space be-
tween was filled by women and volunteers of the Bastille.
In the midst of the confusion, necessarily arising from such
a justa-position, a scuffle arose; this was the signal for dis-
order and conflict. An officer of the guards struck a Parisian
70
HISTORY OF
soldier with his sabre, and was in turn shot in the arn. The
national guards sided against the household troops; the con-
flict became warm, and would have been sanguinary, but for the
darkness, the bad weather, and the orders given to the house-
hold troops first to cease firing and then to retire. But as these
were accused of being the aggressors, the fury of the multi-
tude continued for some time; their quarters were broken
into, two of them were wounded, and another saved with diffi-
culty.
During this tumult, the court was in consternation; the
flight of the king was suggested, and carriages prepared; a
piquet of the national guard saw them at the gate of the
Orangery, and having made them go back, closed the gate:
moreover, the king, either ignorant of the designs of the
court, or conceiving them impracticable, refused to escape.
Fears were mingled with his pacific intentions, when he hesi-
tated to repel the aggression or to take flight. Conquered,
he apprehended the fate of Charles I. of England; absent,
he feared that the duke of Orleans would obtain the lieute-
nancy of the kingdom. But, in the meantime, the rain,
fatigue, and the inaction of the household troops, lessened the
fury of the multitude, and Lafayette arrived at the head of
the Parisian army.
His presence restored security to the court, and the re-
plies of the king to the deputation from Paris, satisfied the
multitude and the army. In a short time, Lafayette's activity,
the good sense and discipline of the Parisian guard, restored
order everywhere. Tranquillity returned. The crowd of
women and volunteers, overcome by fatigue, gradually dis-
persed, and some of the national guard were entrusted with
the defence of the château, while others were lodged with
their companions in arms at Versailles. The royal family,
re-assured after the anxiety and fear of this painful night,
retired to rest about two o'clock in the morning. Towards
five, Lafayette, having visited the outposts which had been
confided to his care, and finding the watch well kept, the
town calm, and the crowds dispersed or sleeping, also took a
few moments repose.
About six, however, some men of the lower class, more
enthusiastic than the rest, and awake sooner than they,
prowled round the château. Finding a gate open, they
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
ni
informed their companions, and entered. Unfortunately, the
interior posts had been entrusted to the household guards, and
refused to the Parisian army. This fatal refusa) caused all
the misfortunes of the night. The interior guard had not
even been increased; the gates scarcely visited, and the watch
kept as negligently as on ordinary occasions. These men,
excited by all the passions that had brought them to Ver-
sailles, perceiving one of the household troops at a window,
began to insult him. He fired, and wounded one of thera.
They then rushed on the household troops, who defended the
chateau breast to breast, and sacrificed themselves heroically.
One of them had time to warn the queen, whom the assailants
particularly threatened; and half dressed, she ran for refuge
to the king. The tumult and danger were extreme in the
château.
Lafayette, apprised of the invasion of the royal residence,
mounted his horse, and rode hastily to the scene of danger.
On the square he met some of the household troops surrounded
by an infuriated mob, who were on the point of killing them.
He threw himself among them, called some French guards
who were near, and having rescued the household troops, anci
dispersed their assailants, he hurried to the château. He
found it already secured by the grenadiers of the French
guard, who, at the first noise of the tumult, had hastened and
protected the household troops from the fury of the Parisians.
But the scene was not over; the crowd assembled again in
the marble court under the king's balcony, loudly called for
him, and he appeared. They required his departure for
Paris; he promised to repair thither with his family, and
this promise was received with general applause. The
queen was resolved to accompany him; but the prejudice
against her was so strong that the journey was not without
danger; it was necessary to reconcile her with the multitude.
Lafayette proposed to her to accompany him to the balcony;
after some hesitation, she consented. They appeared on it
together, and to communicate by a sign with the tumultuous
crowd, to conquer its animosity, and awaken its enthusiasm,
Lafayette respectfully kissed the qucen's hand; the crowd
responded with acclamations. It now remained to make peace
between them and the household troops. Lafayette advanced
with one of these, placed his own tricoloured cockade on his
72
HISTORY OF
hat, and embraced hinu before the people, who shouted "Vivent
les gardes-du-corps !” Thus terminated this scene; the royal
family set out for Paris, escorted by the army, and its guards
mixed with it.
The insurrection of the 5th and 6th of October was an
entirely popular movement. We must not try to explain it
by secret motives, nor attribute it to concealed ambition; it
was provoked by the imprudence of the court.
The banquets
of the household troops, the reports of flight, the dread of
civil war, and the scarcity of provisions alone brought Paris
upon Versailles.
If special instigators, which the most
careful inquiries have still left doubtful, contributed to pro-
duce this movement, they did not change either its direction
or its object. The result of this event was the destruction
of the ancient régime of the court; it deprived it of its
guard, it removed it from the royal residence at Versailles to
the capital of the revolution, and placed it under the surveil-
lance of the people.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
73
CHAPTER III.
FROM THE 6TH OF OCTOBER, 1789, TO THE DEATH OF
MIRABEAU, APRIL, 1791.
Results of the events of October-Alteration of the provinces into depart.
ments--Organization of the administrative and municipal authorities
according to the system of popular sovereignty and election-Finances :
all the means employed are insufficient Property of the clergy declared
national—The sale of the property of the clergy leads to assignats.
Civil constitution of the clergy–Religious opposition of the bishops,
Anniversary of the 14th of July-Abolition of titles-Confederation of
the Champ de Mars--New organization of the army--Opposition of the
officers—Schisma respecting the civil constitution of the clergy--Clubs--
Death of Mirabeau-During the whole of this period the separation of
parties becomes more decided.
The period which forms the subject of this chapter was less
remarkable for events than for the gradually decided separa-
tion of parties. In proportion as changes were introduced
into the state and the laws, those whose interests or opinions
they injured declared themselves against them.
The revo-
lution had had as enemies, from the beginning of the states-
general, the court; from the union of orders and the abolition
of privileges, the nobility; from the establishment of a single
assembly and the rejection of the two chambers, the ministry
and the partizans of the English form of government. It had,
moreover, against it since the departmental organization, the
provinces; since the decree respecting the property and civil
constitution of the clergy, the whole ecclesiastical body; since
the introduction of the new military laws, all the officers of the
army. It might seem that the assembly ought not to have
effected so many changes at once, so as to have avoided making
74
HISTORY OF
so many enemies; but its general plans, its necessities, and the
very plots of its adversaries, required all these innovations.
After the 5th and 6th of October, the assembly emigrated
as the court had done after the 14th of July. Mounier
and Lally-Tollendal deserted it, despairing of liberty from
the moment their views ceased to be followed. Too absolute
in their plans, they wanted the people, after having delivered
the assembly on the 14th of July, suddenly to cease acting,
which was displaying an entire ignorance of the impetus of
revolutions. When the people have once been made use of,
it is difficult to disband them, and the most prudent course is
not to contest, but to regulate its intervention. Lally-Tol-
lendal renounced his title of Frenchman, and returned to
England, the land of his ancestors. Mounier repaired to
Dauphiné, his native province, which he endeavoured to
excite to a revolt against the assembly. It was inconsistent
to complain of an insurrection, and yet to provoke one, espe-
cially when it was to the profit of another party, for his
was too weak to maintain itself against the ancient régime
and the revolution. Notwithstanding his influence in Dau-
phiné, whose former movements he had directed, Mounier
was unable to establish there a centre of permanent resistance,
but the assembly was thereby warned to destroy the ancient
provincial organization, which might become the frame-work
of a civil war.
After the 5th and 6th of October, the national representa-
tives followed the king to the capital, which their common
presence had contributed greatly to tranquillize. The people
were satisfied with possessing the king; the causes which had
excited their ebullition had ceased. The duke of Orleans,
who, right or wrong, was considered the contriver of the in-
surrection, had just been sent away; he had accepted a mis-
sion to England; Lafayette was resolved to maintain order;
the pational guard, animated by a better spirit, acquired every
day habits of discipline and obedience; the corporation, getting
over the confusion of its first establishment, began to have
authority. There remained but one cause of disturbance
- the scarcity of provisions. Notwithstanding the zeal
and foresight of the committee entrusted with the task of
providing supplies, daily assemblages of the people threat-
ened the public tranquillity. The people, so easily deceived
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
7 5
when suffering, killed a baker called François, who was un-
justly accused as a monopolist. On the 21st of October a
martial law was proclaimed, authorising the corporation to
employ force to disperse the mob, after having summoned the
citizens to retire. Power was vested in a class interested
in maintaining order; the districts and the national guard
were obedient to the assembly. Submission to the law was
the prevailing passion of that epoch. The deputies on their
side only aspired at completing the constitution and effecting
the re-organization of the state. They had the more reason
for hastening their task, as the enemies of the assembly made
use of what remained of the ancient régime, to occasion it
embarrassment. Accordingly, it replied to each of their en-
deavours by a decree, which, changing the ancient order of
things, deprived them of one of their means of attack.
It began by dividing the kingdom more equally and regu-
larly. The provinces, which had witnessed with regret the
loss of their privileges, formed small states, the extent of
which was too vast, and the administration too independent.
It was essential to reduce their size, change their names, and
subject them to the same government. On the 22nd of De-
cember, the assembly adopted in this respect the project con-
ceived by Siéyes, and presented by Thouret in the name of a
committee, which occupied itself constantly on this subject for
two months.
France was divided into eighty-three departments, nearly
equal in extent and population; the departments were subdi-
vided into districts and cantons. Their administration received
a uniform and hierarchical form. The department had an ad-
ministrative council composed of thirty-six members, and an
executive directory composed of five members: as the names
indicate, the functions of the one were to decide, and of the
other to act. The district was organized in the same way:
although on a smaller scale, it had a council and a directory,
fewer in number, and subordinate to the superior directory and
council. The canton, composed of five or six parishes, was an
electoral not an administrative division; the active citizens, and
to be considered such it was necessary to pay taxes amount-
ing to three days earnings, united in the canton to nomi-
nate their deputies and magistrates. Everything in the new
plan was subject to election, but this had several degrees. It
76
IIISTORY OF
appeared imprudent to confide to the multitude the choice of
its delegates, and illegal to exclude them from it; this difficult
question was avoided by the double election. The active
citizens of the canton named electors intrusted with nomina-
ting the members of the national assembly, the administrators
of the department, those of the district, and the judges of
tribunals; a criminal court was established in each depart-
ment, a civil court in each district, and a police-court in each
canton.
Such was the institution of the department. It remained
to regulate that of the corporation: the administration of this
was confided to a general council and a municipality, com-
posed of members whose numbers were proportioned to
the population of the towns. The municipal officers were
named immediately by the people, and could alone authorize
the employment of the armed force. The corporation formed
the first step of the association, the kingdom formed the last;
the department was intermediate between the corporation
and the state, between universal interests, and purely local
interests.
The execution of this plan, which organized the sovereignty
of the people, which enabled all citizens to concur in the
election of their magistrates, and entrusted them with their
own administration, and distributed them into a machinery
which, by permitting the whole state to move, preserved a
correspondence between its parts, and prevented their isola-
tion, excited the discontent of some provinces. The states
of Languedoc and Brittany protested against the new divi-
sion of the kingdom, and on their side the parliaments of
Metz, Rouen, Bordeaux, and Toulouse rose against the
operations of the assembly which suppressed the Chambres
de Vacations, abolished the orders, and declared the commis-
sions of the states incompetent. The partizans of the ancient
régime employed every means to disturb its progress: the no-
bility excited the provinces, the parliaments took resolutions,
the clergy issued mandates, and writers took advantage of the
liberty of the press to attack the revolution. Its two principal
enemies were the nobles and the bishops. Parliament, having
no root in the nation, only formed a magistracy, whose attacks
were prevented by destroying the magistracy itself, whereas
the nobility and the clergy bad means of action which sur.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
77
vived the influence of the body. The misfortunes of these
two classes were caused by themselves.
After harassing
the revolution in the assembly, they afterwards attacked it
with open force—the clergy, by internal insurrections—the
nobility, by arming Europe against it. They had great ex-
pectations from anarchy, which, it is true, caused France many
evils, but which was far from rendering their own position
better. Let us now see how the hostilities of the clergy were
brought on; for this purpose we must go back a little.
The revolution had commenced with the finances, and had
not yet been able to put an end to the embarrassments by which
· it was caused.
More important objects had occupied the
attention of the assembly. Summoned, no longer to defray the
expenses of administration, but to constitute the state, it had
suspended its legislative discussions, from time to time, in order
to satisfy the more pressing necessities of the treasury. Necker
had proposed provisional means, which had been adopted in
confidence, and almost without discussion. Despite this zeal,
he did not without displeasure see the finances considered as
subordinate to the constitution, and the ministry to the
assembly. A first loan of thirty millions, (1,200,0001.,)
voted the 9th of August, had not succeeded; à subsequent
loan of eighty millions, (3,200,0001.,) voted the 27th of the
same month, had been insufficient. Duties were reduced or
abolished, and they yielded scarcely anything, owing to the
difficulty of collecting them. It became useless to have re-
course to public confidence, which refused its aid; and in
September, Necker had proposed, as the only means, an
extraordinary contribution of a fourth of the revenue, to be
paid at once. Each citizen was to fix his proportion himself,
making use of that simple form of oath, which well expressed
these first days of honour and patriotism:-"I declare with
truth."
Mirabeau now caused Necker to be invested with a com-
plete financial dictatorship. He spoke of the urgent wants
of the state, of the labours of the assembly, which did not
permit it to discuss the plan of the minister, and which at the
same time prevented its examining any other; of Necker's
skill, which ensured the success of his own measure; and
arged the assembly to leave with him the responsibility of
its success, by confidently adopting it. As some did not
78
HISTORY OF
approve of the views of the minister, and others suspected the
intentions of Mirabeau with respect to him, he closed his speech,
one of the most eloquent he ever delivered, by displaying
bankruptcy impending, and exclaiming, “ Vote this extraor-
dinary subsidy, and may it prove sufficient! Vote it; for if
you
have doubts respecting the means, you have none respecting
the want, and our inability to supply it. Vote it, for the public
circumstances will not bear delay, and we shall be accountable
for all postponement. Beware of asking for time; misfortune
never grants it. Gentlemen, on the occasion of a ridi-
culous motion at the Palais Royal, an absurd incursion,
which had never had any importance, save in feeble ima-
ginations, or the minds of men of ill designs and bad
faith, you once heard these words, Catiline is at the gates
of Rome, and yet they deliberate! And yet there were
around us neither Catiline, nor perils, nor factions, nor
Rome. But now bankruptcy, hideous bankruptcy, is there;
it threatens to consume you, your properties, your honour,
and yet you deliberate!" Mirabeau had carried away the
assembly by his oratory; and the patriotic contribution was
vcted with unanimous applause.
But this resource had only afforded momentary relief. The
finances of the revolution depended on a more daring and
more vast measure. It was necessary not only to support the
revolution, but to repair the immense deficit which stopped
its progress, and threatened its future destiny. One way
alone remained-to declare ecclesiastical property national,
and to sell it for the rescue of the state. Public interest pre-
scribed this course; and it could be done with justice, the clergy
not being the proprietors, but the simple administrators of
this property, devoted to religion, and not to the priests. The
nation, therefore, by taking on itself the expenses of the
altar, and the support of its ministers, might procure and
appropriate an important financial resource, and obtain a
great political result.
It was important not to leave an independent body, and
especially an ancient body, any longer in the state; for in a
time of revolution everything ancient is hostile.
The clergy,
by its formidable hierarchy and its opulence, a stranger to
the new changes, would have remained as a republic in the
kingdom. Its form belonged to another system: when
!
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
779
1
there was no state, but only bodies, each order had provided
for its own regulation and existence. The clergy. had its
decretals, the nobility its law of fiefs, the people its corpora-
tions; everything was independent, because everything was
private. But now that functions were becoming public, it
was necessary to make a magistracy of the priesthood as they
had made one of royalty; and, in order to make them dependant
on the state, it was essential they should be paid by it, and
to resume from the monarch his domains, from the clergy its
property, by bestowing on each of them suitable endowments.
This great operation, which destroyed the ancient ecclesias-
tical régime, was effected in the following manner:
One of the most pressing necessities was the abolition of
tithes. As these were a tax paid by the rural population
to the clergy, the sacrifice would be for the advantage of
those who were oppressed by them. Accordingly, after
declaring they were redeemable, on the night of the 4th of
August, they were suppressed on the 11th, without providing
any equivalent. The clergy opposed the measure at first, but
afterwards had the good sense to consent. The archbishop of
Paris gave up tithes in the name of all his brethren, and by
this act of prudence he showed himself faithful to the line of
conduct adopted by the privileged classes on the night of the
4th of August; but this was the extent of his sacrifices.
A short time after, the debate respecting the possession
of ecclesiastical property began. Talleyrand, bishop of
Autun, proposed to the clergy that they should renounce it
in favour of the nation, which would employ it in defraying
the expenses of worship, and liquidating its debt. He proved
the justice and propriety of this measure; and he showed
the great advantages which would accrue to the state. The
property of the clergy amounted to several thousand millions of
francs. After paying its debts, providing for the ecclesias-
tical services and that of hospitals, and the endowment of its
ministers, sufficient would still remain to extinguish the public
debt, whether permanent or annuities, and to reimburse the
money paid for judicial offices. The clergy rose against this
proposition. The discussion became very animated; and it
was decided, in spite of their resistance, that they were not
proprietors, but simple depositaries of the wealth that the
piety of kings and of the faithful had devoted to religion, and
80
HISTORY OF
that the nation, on providing for the service of public wor-
ship, had a right to recal such property. The decree which
placed it at its disposal was passed on the 2nd of December,
1789.
From that moment the hatred of the clergy to the revolu-
tion broke out. At the commencement of the states-general
it had been less intractable than the nobility, in order to pre-
serve its riches; it now showed itself as opposed as they to
the new régime, of which it became the most tenacious and
furious foe, Yet, as the decree placed ecclesiastical property
at the disposal of the nation, without, as yet, displacing it,
it did not break out into opposition at once. The administra-
tion was still confided to it, and it hoped that the posses-
sions of the church might serve as a mortgage for the debt,
but would not be sold.
It was, indeed, dificult to effect the sale, which, however
could not be delayed, the treasury only subsisting on antici-
pations, and the exchequer, which supplied it with bills, begin-
ning to lose all credit on account of the number it had issued.
They obtained their end, and proceeded with the new
financial organization in the following manner: The necessi-
ties of this and the following year required a sale of this
property to the amount of four hundred millions of francs;
to facilitate it, the corporation of Paris made considerable
subscriptions, and the municipalities of the kingdom followed
the example of Paris. They were to return to the treasury
the equivalent of the property they received from the state
to sell to private individuals; but they wanted money, and
they could not deliver the amount since they had not yet met
with purchasers. What was to be done? they supplied muni-
cipal notes intended to reimburse the public creditors, until
they should acquire the funds necessary for withdrawing
the notes. Once arrived thus far, they saw that, instead
of municipal notes, it would be better to create exchequer
bills, which would have a compulsory circulation, and answer
the purpose of specie: this was simplifying the operation by
generalizing it." In this way the assignats had their origin.
This invention was of great utility to the revolution, and
alone secured the sale of ecclesiastical property. The
assignats, which were a means of payment for the state, be-
came a pledge to the creditors. The latter by receiving them
TIIE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
81
were not obligcā to accept payment in land for what they
had furnished in money. But sooner or later the assignats
would fall into the hands of men disposed to realize them,
and then they were to be destroyed at the same time that
they ceased to be a pledge. In order that they might fulfil
their design, their forced circulation was required; to render
them safe, the quantity was limited to the value of the pro-
perty proposed for sale; and that they might not fall by too
sudden a change, they were made to bear interest. The
assembly, from the moment of their issue, wished to give
them all the consistency of money. It was hoped that specie
concealed by distrust would immediately re-appear, and that
the assignats would enter into competition with it. Mort-
gage made them quite as sure, and interest made them more
profitable; but this interest, which was attended with much
inconvenience, disappeared after the first issue. Such was
the origin of the paper money issued under so much necessity,
and with so much prudence, which enabled the revolution
to accomplish such great things, and which was brought into
discredit by causes that belonged less to its nature than to
the subsequent use made of it.
When the clergy saw by a decree of the 29th of December
the administration of church property transferred to the
municipalities, the sale they were about to make of it to the
value of four hundred millions of francs, and the creation of
a paper money calculated to facilitate this spoliation, and
render it definitive, it left nothing undone to secure the
intervention of God in the cause of its wealth. It made a
last attempt: it offered to realize in its own name the loan
of four hundred millions of francs, which was rejected, be-
cause otherwise, after having decided that it was not the
proprietor of church property, it would thus have again been
admitted to be so. It then sought every means of impeding
the operations of the municipalities. In the south, it raised
catholics against protestants; in the pulpit, it alarmed con-
sciences; in the confessional, it treated sales as sacrilegious,
and in the tribune it strove to render the sentiments of the
assembly suspected. It excited as much as possible religious
questions for the purpose of compromising the assembly, and
confounding the cause of its own interest with that of rc.
ligion. The abuses and inutility of monastic vows were at
G
82
HISTORY OF
this period admitted by every one, even by the clergy. At
their abolition on the 13th of February, 1790, the bishop of
Nancy proposed incidentally and perfidiously that the catholic
religion alone should have a public worship. The assembly
were indignant at the motives that suggested such a proposi-
tion, and it was abandoned. But the same motion was again
brought forward in another sitting, and after stormy debates
the assembly declared that from respect to the Supreme
Being and the catholic religion, the only one supported at
the expense of the state, it conceived it ought not to decide
upon the question submitted to it.
Such was the disposition of the clergy, when, in the months
of June and July, 1790, the assembly turned its attention to
its internal organization. The clergy waited with impatience
for this opportunity of exciting a schism. This project, the
adoption of which caused so much evil, went to re-establish
the church on its ancient basis, and to restore the purity of
its doctrine; it was not the work of philosophers, but of
austere Christians, who wished to support religion by the
state, and to make them concur mutually in promoting its
happiness. The reduction of bishoprics to the same number
as the departments, the conformity of the ecclesiastical cir-
cumscription with the civil circumscription, the nomination
of bishops by electors, who also chose deputies and adminis-
trators, the suppression of chapters, and the substitution
of vicars for canons, were the chief features of this plan;
there was nothing in it that attacked the dogmas or worship
of the church. For a long time the bishops and other ecclesi-
astics had been nominated by the people; as for diocesan
limits, the operation was purely material, and in no respect
religious. It moreover generously provided for the support
of the members of the church, and if the high dignitaries saw
their revenues reduced, the curés, who formed the most nume-
rous portion, had theirs augmented.
But a pretext was wanting, and the civil constitution of the
clergy was eagerly seized upon. From the outset of the dis-
cussion, the archbishop of Aix protested against the prin-
ciples of the ecclesiastical committee. In his opinion, the
appointment or suspension of bishops by civil authority was
opposed to discipline; and when the decree was put to the
vote, the bishop of Clermont recapitulated the principles
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
83
advanced by the archbishop of Aix, and left the Hall at the
head of all the dissentient members. The decree passed, but
the clergy declared war against the revolution. From that
moment it leagued more closely with the dissentient nobility.
Equally reduced to the common condition, the two privileged
classes employed all their means to stop the progress of
reform.
The departments were scarcely formed when agents were
sent by them to assemble the electors, and try new nominations.
They did not hope to obtain a favourable choice, but aimed at
fomenting divisions between the assembly and the departments.
This project was denounced from the tribune, and failed as soon
as it was made known. Its authors then went to work in an-
other way. The period allotted to the deputies of the states-
general had expired, their power having been limited to one
year, according to the desire of the districts. The aristo-
crats availed themselves of this circumstance to require a
fresh election of the assembly. Had they gained this point,
they would have acquired a great advantage, and with this
view they themselves appealed to the sovereignty of the
people. * Without doubt," replied Chapelier, “all sove-
reignty rests with the people; but this principle has no
application to the present case; it would be destroying the
constitution and liberty to renew the assembly before the
constitution is completed. This is, indeed, the hope of those
who wish to see liberty and the constitution perish, and to
witness the return of the distinction of orders, of prodigality
in the public expenditure, and of the abuses that spring from
despotism." At this moment all eyes were turned to the
Right, and rested on the abbé Maury.
" Send those people
to the Châtelet,” cried the latter, sharply; or if you do not
know them, do not speak of them." “The constitution,” con-
tinued Chapelier, can only be made by one assembly.
Besides, the former electors no longer exist; the bailiwicks
are used in the departments, the orders are no longer sepa-
rate. The clause respecting the limitation of power is con-
sequently without value; it will therefore be contrary to
the constitution, if the deputies do not retain their seats in
this assembly; their oath commands them to continue there,
and public interest requires it.”
“ You entangle us in sophisms,” replied the abbé Maury:
G 2
84
HISTORY OF
“ how long have we been a national convention? You talk of
the oath we took on the 20th of June, without considering
that it cannot weaken that which we made to our consti-
tuents. Besides, gentlemen, the constitution is completed;
you have only now to declare that the king enjoys the pleni-
tude of the executive power. We are here for the sole pur-
pose of securing to the French nation the right of influencing
its legislation, of establishing the principle that taxation shall
be consented to by the people, and of securing our liberty.
Yes, the constitution is made; and I will oppose every decree
calculated to limit the rights of the people over their repre-
sentatives. The founders of liberty ought to respect the
liberty of the nation; the nation is above us all, and we
destroy our authority by limiting the national authority.”
The abbé Maury's speech was received with loud applause
from the Right. Mirabeau immediately ascended the tribune.
" It is asked,” said he, “how long the deputies of the
people have been a national convention? I answer, from
the day when, finding the door of their session-house sur-
rounded by soldiers, they went and assembled where they
could, and swore to perish rather than betray or abandon the
rights of the nation. Whatever our powers were, that day
their nature was changed; and whatever powers we may
have exercised, our efforts and labours have rendered them
legitimate, and the adhesion of the nation has sanctified
them. You all remember the saying of the great man of
antiquity, who had neglected legal forms to save his country.
Summoned by a factious tribune to confess that he had
violated the laws, he replied, “I swear I have saved my
country!' Gentlemen," he exclaimed, turning to the depu-
ties of the commons, “I swear that you have saved France!”
The assenībly then rose by a spontaneous movement, and
declared that the session should not close till their task was
accomplished.
Anti-revolutionary efforts were increasing, at the same
time, without the assembly. Atterupts were made to seduce
or disorganize the army, but the assembly took prudent
measures in this respect. It gained the affections of the
troops by rendering promotion independent of the court, and
of titles of nobility. The count d'Artois and the prince de
Condé, who had retired to Turin after the 14th of July,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
85
Arresponded with Lyons and the south; but the emigrants
not having yet the external influence they afterwards acquired
at Coblentz, and failing to meet with internal support, all
their efforts were vain. The attempts at insurrection, origi-
nating with the clergy in Languedoc, had as little effect.
They brought on some transient disturbances, but did not
effect a religious war. Time is necessary to form a party;
still more is required to induce it to decide on serious hostili-
ties. A more practicable design was that of carrying off the
king and conveying him to Peronne. The marquis de Favras,
with the secret support of Monsieur, the king's brother, was
preparing to execute it, when it was discovered. The Châtelet
condemned to death this intrepid adventurer, who had failed
in his enterprise, through undertaking it with too much dis-
play. The king's flight, after the events of October, could
only be effected furtively, as it subsequently happened at
Varennes.
The position of the court was equivocal and embarrassing.
It encouraged every anti-revolutionary enterprise and avowed
none; it felt more than ever its weakness and dependance on
the assembly; and while desirous of throwing off the yoke,
feared to make the attempt because success appeared difficult.
Accordingly, it excited opposition without openly co-operating
in it; with some it dreamed of the restoration of the ancient ré-
gime, with others it only aimed at modifying the revolution.
Mirabeau had been recently in treaty with it. After having
been one of the chief authors of reform, he sought to give it
stability by enchaining faction. His object was to convert the
court to the revolution, not to give up the revolution to the
The support he offered was constitutional; he could
not offer any other; for his power depended on his popularity,
and his popularity on his principles. But he was wrong in
suffering it to be bought. Had not his immense necessities
obliged him to accept money and sell his counsels, he would
not have been more blameable than the unalterable Lafayette,
the Lameths and the Girondins, who successively negotiated
with it. But none of them gained the confidence of the
court; it only had recourse to them in extremity. By their
means it endeavoured to suspend the revolution, while by the
means of the aristocracy it tried to destroy it. Of all the
popular leaders, Mirabeau had perlaps the greatest ascend-
court.
86
HISTORY OF
ancy over the court, because he was the most winning, and
had the strongest mind.
The assembly worked unceasingly at the constitution, in
the midst of these intrigues and plots. It decreed the new
judicial organization of France. All the new magistracies
were temporary. Under the absolute monarchy, all powers
emanated from the throne, and all functionaries were ap-
pointed by the king; under the constitutional monarchy, all
powers emavating from the people, the functionaries were to
be appointed by it. The throne alone was transmissible; ;
the other powers being the property neither of a man nor of
à family, were neither of life-tenure, nor hereditary. The
legislation of that period depended on one sole principle, the
sovereignty of the nation. The judicial functions had them-
selves that changeable character. Trial by jury, a democratic
institution formerly common to nearly all the continent, but
which in England alone had survived the encroachments of
feudalism and the throne, was introduced into criminal causes.
For civil causes special judges were nominated. Fixed courts
were established, two courts of appeal to prevent error, and
a cour de cassation intended to secure the preservation of the
protecting forms of the law. This formidable power, when
it proceeds from the throne, can only be independent by
being fixed; but it must be temporary when it proceeds from
the people; because, wbile depending on all, it depends upon
no one.
In another matter, quite as important, the right of making
peace or war, the assembly decided a new and delicate ques-
tion, and this in a sure, just, and prompt manner, after one
of the most luminous and eloquent discussions that ever dis-
tinguished its sittings. As peace and war belonged more to
action than to will, it confided, contrary to the usual rule, the
initiative to the king. He who was best able to judge of its
fitness was to propose the question, but it was left to the legis-
lative body to decide it.
The popular torrent, after having burst forth against the
ancient régime, gradually subsided into its bed; new
dykcs restrained it on all sides. The government of the
revolution was rapidly becoming established. The assembly
had given to the new régime its monarch, its national repre-
sentation, its territorial division, its armed force, its muni-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
87
cipal and administrative power, its popular tribunals, its cur-
rency, its clergy; it had made an arrangement with respect to
its debt, and it had found means to reconstruct property
without injustice.
The 14th of July approached: that day was regarded by
the nation as the anniversary of its deliverance, and prepara-
tions were made to celebrate it with a solemnity calculated to
elevate the souls of the citizens, and to strengthen the com-
mon bonds of union. A confederation of the whole kingdom
was appointed to take place in the Champ de Mars; and
there, in the open air, the deputies sent by the eighty-three
departments, the national representatives, the Parisian guard,
and the monarch, were to take the oath to the constitution.
By way of prelude to this patriotic fête, the popular members
of the nobility proposed the abolition of titles; and the assem-
bly witnessed another sitting similar to that of the 4th of
August. Titles, armorial bearings, liveries, and orders of
knighthood, were abolished on the
20th of June, and vanity,
as power had previously done, lost its privileges.
This sitting established equality everywhere, and made
things agree with words, by destroying all the pompous para-
phernalia of other times. Formerly titles had designated func-
tions; armorial bearings had distinguished powerful families;
liveries had been worn by whole armies of vassals; orders of
knighthood had defended the state against foreign foes,
Europe against Islamism; but now, nothing of this remained.
Titles had lost their truth and their fitness; nobility, after
ceasing to be a magistracy, had even ceased to be an orna-
ment; and power, like glory, was henceforth to spring from
plebeian ranks. But whether the aristocracy set more value
on their titles than on their privileges, or whether they only
awaited a pretext for openly declaring themselves, this last
measure, more than any other, decided the emigration
and its attacks. It was for the nobility, what the civil
constitution had been for the clergy, an occasion, rather than
a cause of hostility.
The 14th of July arrived, and the revolution witnessed
few such glorious days—the weather only did not correspond
with this magnificent fête. The deputies of all the depart-
ments were presented to the king, who received them with
much affability; and he, on his part, met also with the most
88
OF
HISTORY OF
touching testimonies of love, but as a constitutional king.
- Sire,” said the leader of the Breton deputation, kneeling on
one knee, and presenting his sword, “I place in your hands
the faithful sword of the brave Bretons: it shall only be
reddened by the blood of your foes.” Louis XVI. raised
and embraced him, and returned the sword. “ It cannot be
in better hands than in those of my brave Bretons," he replied;
“I have never doubted their loyalty and affection; assure
them that I am the father and brother, the friend of all
Frenchmen.” “ Sire,” returned the deputy, “every French-
man loves, and will continue to love you, because you are a
citizen-king."
The confederation was to take place in the Champ de
Mars. The immense preparations were scarcely completed
in time; all Paris had been engaged for several weeks to get
the arrangements ready by the 14th. At seven in the morn-
ing, the procession of electors, of the representatives of the
corporation, of the presidents of districts, of the national
assembly, of the Parisian guard, of the deputies of the army,
and of the federates of the departments, set out in complete
order from the site of the Bastille. The presence of all these
national corps, the floating banners, the patriotic inscriptions,
the varied costumes, the sounds of music, the joy of the
crowd, rendered the procession a most imposing one.
It tra-
versed the city, and crossed the Seine, amidst a volley of
artillery, over a bridge of boats, which had been thrown
across it the preceding day. It entered the Champ de Mars
under a triumphal arch, adorned with patriotic inscriptions.
Each body took the station assigned it in excellent order,
and amidst shouts of applause.
The vast space of the Champ de Mars was inclosed by
raised seats of turf, occupied by four hundred thousand spec-
tators. An antique altar was erected in the middle; and
around it, on a vast amphitheatre, were the king, his family,
the assembly, and the corporation. The federates of the depart-
ments were ranged in order under their banners; the depu-
ties of the army and the national guards were in their ranks,
and under their ensigns. The bishop d'Autun ascended the
altar in pontifical robes; four hundred priests in white copes,
and decorated with flowing tricoloured sashes, were posted at
the four corners of the alter, Mass was celebrated amid the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
89
sounds of military music; and then the bishop d'Autun
blessed the oriflamme, and the eighty-three banners.
A profound silence now reigned in the vast inclosure, and
Lafayette, appointed that day to the command in chief of all
the national guards of the kingdom, advanced first to take the
civic oath. Borne on the arms of grenadiers to the altar of
the country, amidst the acclamations of the people, he ex-
claimed with a loud voice, in his own name, and that of the
federates and troops: “ We swear eternal fidelity to the nation,
the law, and the king; to maintain to the utmost of our
power the constitution decreed by the national assembly, and
accepted by the king; and to remain united with every
Frenchman by the indissoluble ties of fraternity.” Forth-
with the firing of cannon, prolonged cries of " Vive la na-
tion!” “ Vive le roi!" and sounds of music, mingled in the
air. The president of the national assembly took the same
oath, and all the deputies repeated it with one voice. Then
Louis XVI. rose and said: “I, king of the French, swear to
employ all the power delegated to me by the constitutional
act of the state, in maintaining the constitution decreed hy
the national assembly and accepted by me." The queen,
carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, rose, lifted up
the dauphin in her arms, and showing him to the people,
exclaimed: “Behold my son, he unites with me in the same
sentiments.” At that moment the banners were lowered, the
acclamations of the people were heard, and the subjects
believed in the sincerity of the munarch, the monarch in the
affection of the subjects, and this happy day closed with a
hymn of thanksgiving.
The fêtes of the confederation were protracted for some
days. Illuminations, balls, and sports were given by the city
of Paris to the deputies of the departments. A ball took
place on the spot where stood, a year before, the Bastille;
gratings, fetters, ruins, were observed here and there, and on
the door was the inscription, “ Ici on danse,” a striking con-
trast with the ancient destination of the spot. A contempo-
iary observes: “ They danced indeed with joy and security on
the ground where so many tears had been shed; where
courage, genius, and innocence had so often groaned; where
so often the cries of despair had been uttered in death.” A
medal was struck to commemorate the confederation; and at
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HISTORY OF
the termination of the fêtes the deputies returned to their
departments.
The confederation only suspended the hostility of parties.
Petty intrigues were resumed in the assembly as well as oul
of doors. The duke of Orleans had returned from his mis-
sion, or, more strictly speaking, from his exile. The in-
quiry respecting the events of the 5th and 6th of October, of
which he and Mirabeau were accused as the authors, had
been conducted by the Châtelet. This inquiry, which had
been suspended, was now resumed. By this attack the court
again displayed its want of foresight; for it ought to have
proved the accusation or not to have made it. The assembly
having decided on giving up the guilty parties, had it
found any such, declared there was no ground for proceed-
ing; and Mirabeau, after an overwhelming outburst against
the whole affair, obliged the Right to be silent, and thus aros
triumphantly from an accusation which had been made ex-
pressly to intimidate him.
They attacked not only a few deputies but the assembly
itself. The court intrigued against it, but the Right drove
this to exaggeration. “ We like its decrees," said the abbé
Maury; we want three or four more of them." Hired
libelists sold, at its very doors, papers calculated to deprive it of
the respect of the people; the ministers blamed and obstructed
its progress. Necker, still haunted by the recollection of his
former ascendancy, addressed to it memorials, in which he
opposed its decrees and gave it advice. This minister could
not accustom himself to a secondary part; he would not fall
in with the abrupt plans of the assembly, so entirely opposed
to his ideas of gradual reform. At length, convinced or
weary of the inutility of his efforts, he left Paris, after re-
signing, on the 4th of September, 1790, and obscurely traversed
those provinces which a year before he had gone through in
triumph. In revolutions, men are easily forgotten, for the
nation sees many in its varied course. If we would not find
them ungrateful, we must not cease for an instant to serve
according to their own desire.
On the other hand, the nobility, which had found a new
subject of discontent in the abolition of titlos, continued its
anti-revolutionary efforts. As it did not succeed in excit-
ing the people, who, from their position, found the recent
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
91
various ways.
changes very beneficial, it had recourse to means which it
considered more certain; it quitted the kingdom, with the in-
tention of returning thither with all Europe as its armed
ally; but while waiting till a system of emigration could be
organized, while waiting for the appearance of foreign foes
to the revolution, it continued to arouse enemies to it in the
interior of the kingdom. The troops, as we have before
observed, had already for some time been tampered with in
The new military code was favourable to the
soldiers; promotion formerly granted to the nobility was now
granted to seniority. Most of the officers were attached to
the ancient régime, nor did they conceal the fact. Com-
pelled to take the oath of fidelity to the nation, the law, and
the king, which was become the common oath, some left the
army, and increased the number of emigrants, while others
endeavoured to win the soldiers over to their party.
General Bouillé was of this number. After having long
refused to take the civic oath, he did so at last with this
intention. He had a numerous body of troops under his
command near the northern frontier; he was clever, reso-
lute, attached to the king, opposed to the revolution, such as
it was now become, though the friend of reform; a circum-
stance that afterwards brought him into suspicion at Coblentz.
He kept his army isolated from the citizens, that it might
remain faithful, and that it might not be infected with the
spirit of insubordination which they communicated to the
troops. By skilful management, and the ascendancy of a
great mind, he also succeeded in retaining the confidence and
attachment of his soldiers. It was not thus elsewhere. The
officers were the objects of a general dislike; they were accused
of diminishing the pay, and having no concern for the great
body of the troops. The prevailing opinions bad also some.
thing to do with this dissatisfaction. These combined causes
led to revolts among the men; that of Nancy, in August,
1790, produced great alarm, and became almost the signal of
a civil war. Three regiments, those of Châteauvieux, Maître-
de-camp, and the King's own, rebelled against their chiefs.
Bouillé was ordered to march against them; he did so at the
head of the garrison and national guard of Metz. After an
animated skirmish, he subdued them. The assembly congratu-
lated him; but Paris, which saw in Bouillé a conspirator, was
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HISTORY OF
thrown into fresh agitation at this intelligence. Crowds
collected, and the impeachment of the ministers who had
given orders to Bouillé to march upon Nancy was clamorously
demanded. Lafayette, however, succeeded in allaying this
ebullition, supported by the assembly, which, finding itself
placed between a counter-revolution and anarchy, opposed
both with equal wisdom and courage.
The aristocracy triumphed at the sight of the difficulties
which perplexed the assembly. They imagined that it would be
compelled to be dependent on the multitude, or deprive itself
entirely of its support; and in either case the return to the
ancient régime appeared to them short and easy. The clergy
had its share in this work. The sale of church property,
which it took every means to impede, was effected at a
higher price than that fixed. The people, delivered from
tithes and reassured as to the national debt, were far from
listening to the angry suggestions of the priests; they accord-
ingly made use of the civil constitution of the clergy to excite
a schism.
We have seen that this decree of the assembly
did not affect either the discipline or the creed of the church.
The king sanctioned it on the 26th of December; but the
bishops, who sought to cover their interests with the mantle of
religion, declared that it encroached on the spiritual authority.
The pope, consulted as to this purely political measure,
refused his assent to it, which the king earnestly sought, and
encouraged the opposition of the priests. The latter decided
that they would not concur in the establishment of the civil
constitution; that those of them who might be suppressed
would protest against this uncanonical act, that every
bishopric created without the concurrence of the pope should
be null, and that the metropolitans should refuse institution
to bishops appointed according to civil forms.
The assembly strengthened this league by attempting to
frustrate it. If, contrary to their real desire, it had left the
dissentient priests to themselves, they would not have found
the elements of a religious war. But the assembly decreed
that the ecclesiastics should swear fidelity to the nation, the
law, and the king, and to maintain the civil constitution of
the clergy. Refusal to take this oath was to be attended by:
the substitution of others in their bishoprics and curés. The
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
assembly hoped that the higher clergy from interest, and th
lower clergy from ambition, would adopt this measure.
The bishops, on the contrary, thought that all the eccle-
siastics would follow their example, and that by refusing to
swear, they would leave the state without public worship, and
the people without priests. The result satisfied the expecta-
tions of neither party; the majority of the bishops and
curés of the assembly refused to take the oath, but a few
bishops and many curés took it. The dissentient incumbents
were deprived, and the electors nominated successors to
them, who received canonical institution from the bishops
of Autun and Lida. But the deprived ecclesiastics refused
to abandon their functions, and declared their successors in-
truders, the sacraments administered by them null, and all
Christians who should venture to recognise them excommu-
nicated. They did not leave their dioceses; they issued
charges, and excited the people to disobey the laws; and thus
an affair of private interest became first a matter of religion
and then a matter of party. There were two bodies of
clergy, one constitutional, the other refractory; they had each
its partisans, and treated each other as rebels and heretics.
According to passion or interest, religion became an instru-
ment or an obstacle; and while the priests made fanatics the
revolution made infidels. The people, not yet infected with
this malady of the upper classes, lost, especially in towns, the
faith of their fathers, from the imprudence of those who
placed them between the revolution and their religion. “The
bishops," said the marquis de Ferrières, who will not be
suspected, “refused to fall in with any arrangements, and by
their guilty intrigues closed every approach to reconciliation;
sacrificing the catholic religion to an insane obstinacy, and
a discreditable attachment to their wealth."
Every party sought to gain the people; it was courted as
sovereign. After attempting to influence it by religion,
another means was employed, that of the clubs. At that
period, clubs were private assemblies, in which the measures
of government, the business of the state, and the decrees of
the assembly were discussed; their deliberations had no
authority, but they exercised a certain influence. The first
club owed its origin to the Breton deputies, who already met
together at Versailles to consider the course of proceeding
HISTORY OF
ey should take. When the national representatives vero
transferred from Versailles to Paris, the Breton deputies and
those of the assembly who were of their views held their
sittings in the old convent of the Jacobins, which subse-
quently gave its name to their meetings. It did not at first
cease to be a preparatory assembly, but as all things increase
in time, the Jacobin club did not confine itself to influen-
cing the assembly; it sought also to influence the municipality
and the people, and received as associates members of the
municipality and common citizens. Its organization became
more regular, its action more powerful; its sittings were
regularly reported in the papers; it created branch clubs in
the provinces, and raised by the side of legal power another
power which first counselled and then conducted it.
The Jacobin club, as it lost its primitive character and
became a popular assembly, had been forsaken by part of its
founders. The latter established another society on the plan
of the old one, under the name of the club of '89. Siéyes,
Chapelier, Lafayette, La Rochefoucauld, directed it, as Lameth
and Barnave directed that of the Jacobins. Mirabeau be-
longed to both, and by both was equally courted. These clubs,
of which the one prevailed in the assembly, and the other
amongst the people, were attached to the new order of things,
though in different degrees. The aristocracy sought to attack
the revolution with its own arms; it opened royalist clubs to
oppose the popular clubs. That first established under the
name of the Club des Impartiaux could not last because it
addressed itself to no class opinion. Reappearing under the
name of the Club Monarchique, it included among its members
all those whose views it represented. It sought to render
itself popular with the lower classes, and distributed bread;
but far from accepting its overtures, the people considered such
establishments as a counter-revolutionary movement. It
disturbed their sittings, and obliged them several times to
change their place of meeting. At length, the municipal
authority found itself obliged, in January, 1791, to close this
club, which liad been the cause of several riots.
The distrust of the multitude was extreme; the departure
of the king's aunts, to which it attached an exaggerated
importance, increased its uneasiness, and led it to suppose
another departure was preparing. These suspicions were not
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
95
unfounded, and they occasioned a kind of rising which
the anti-revolutionists sought to turn to account by carrying
off the king. This project failed, owing to the resolution
and skill of Lafayette. While the crowd went to Vincennes
to demolish the dungeon which they said communicated with
the Tuileries, and would favour the flight of the king, more
than six hundred persons armed with swords and daggers
entered the Tuileries to compel the king to flee. Lafayette,
who had repaired to Vincennes to disperse the multitude,
returned to quell the anti-revolutionists of the château, after
dissipating the mob of the popular party, and by this second
expedition he regained the confidence which his first had
lost him.
The attempt rendered the escape of Louis XVI. more
feared than ever. Accordingly, a short time after, when he
wished to go to Saint Cloud, he was prevented by the crowd
and even by his own guard, despite the efforts of Lafayette,
who endeavoured to make them respect the law, and the
liberty of the monarch. The assembly on its side, after
having decreed the inviolability of the prince, after having
regulated his constitutional guard, and assigned the regency
to the nearest male heir to the crown, declared that his
flight from the kingdom would lead to his dethronement.
The increasing emigration, the open avowal of its objects,
and the threatening atticude of the European cabinets, all
cherished the fear that the king might adopt such a deter-
mination.
Then, for the first time, the assembly sought to stop the
progress of emigration by a decree; but this decree was a
difficult question. If they punished those who left the
kingdom, they violated the maxims of liberty, rendered sacred
by the declaration of rights; if they did not raise obstacles
to emigration, they endangered the safety of France, as the
nobles merely quitted it in order to invade it. In the as-
sembly, setting aside those who favoured emigration, some
looked only at the right, others only at the danger, and
every one sided with or opposed the restrictive law, accord-
ing to his mode of viewing the subject. Those who desired
the law, wished it to be mild; but only one law could be
practicable at such a moment, and the assembly shrunk fro:
enacting it. This law, by the arbitrary order of a com:
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HISTORY OF
mittee of three members, was to pronounce a sentence of
civil death on the fugitive, and the confiscation of his pro-
perty.
“ The horror expressed on the reading of this
project,” cried Mirabeau, “proves that this is a law worthy
of being placed in the code of Draco, and cannot find place
among the decrees of the national assembly of France. I
proclaim that I shall consider myself released from every
oath of fidelity I have made towards those who may be in-
famous enough to nominate a dictatorial commission. The
popularity I covet, and which I have the honour to enjoy, is
not a feeble reed; I wish it to take root in the soil, based on
justice and liberty.” The exterior position was not yet
sufficiently alarming for the adoption of such a measure of
safety and revolutionary defence.
Mirabeau did not long enjoy the popularity which he
imagined he was so sure of. That was the last sitting he
attended. A few days afterwards he terminated a life worn
out by passions and by toil. His death, which happened on the
2nd of March, 1791, was considered a public calamity; all
Paris attended his funeral; there was a general mourning
throughout France, and his remains were deposited in the
receptacle which had just been consecrated aux grands
hommes, in the name of la patrie reconnaissante. No one
succeeded him in power and popularity; and for a long time,
in difficult discussions, the eyes of the assembly would turn
towards the seat from whence they had been accustomed to
hear the commanding eloquence which terminated their debates.
Mirabeau, after having assisted the revolution with his daring
in seasons of trial, and with his powerful reasoning since its
victory, died seasonably. He was revolving vast designs;
he wished to strengthen the throne, and consolidate the
revolution; two attempts extremely difficult at such a time.
It is to be feared that royalty, if he had made it independent,
would have put down the revolution; or, if he had failed,
that the revolution would have put down royalty. It is,
perhaps, impossible to convert an ancient power into a new
order; perhaps a revolution must be prolonged in order to
become legitimate, and the throne, as it recovers, acquire
the novelty of the other institutions.
From the 5th and 6th of October, 1789, to the month of
April, 1791 the national assembly completed the reorganiza-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
91
ition of France; the court gave itself up to petty intrigues and
projects of flight; the privileged classes sought for new means
of power, those which they formerly possessed having been
successively taken from them. They took advantage of all
the opportunities of disorder which circumstances furnished
them with, to attack the new régime and restore the old,
by means of anarchy. At the opening of the parliaments,
the nobility caused the Chambres de vacations to protest;
when the provinces were abolished, it made the orders protest.
As soon as the departments were formed, it tried new elec-
tions; when the old writs had expired, it sought the dissolu-
tion of the assembly; when the new military code passed, it
endeavoured to excite the defection of the officers; lastly, all
these means of opposition failing to effect the success of its
designs, it emigrated, to excite Europe against the revolu-
tion, The clergy, on its side, discontented with the loss
of its possessions still more than with the ecclesiastical con-
stitution, sought to destroy the new order by insurrections,
and to bring on insurrections by a schism. Thus it was
during this epoch that parties became gradually disunited,
and that the two classes hostile to the revolution prepared
the elements of civil and foreign war.
H
98
HISTORY OF
CHAPTER IV.
PROBI APRIL, 1791, TO THE 30TH SEPTEMBER, THE TERM OF
THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.
Political state of Europe before the French revolution-System of alliance
observed by different states-General coalition against the revolution
Motives of each power—Conference of Mantua, and circular of Pavia-
Flight to Varennes-Arrest of the king–His suspension—The repub-
lican party separate, for the first time, from the party of the constitu-
tional monarchy-The latter re-establishes the king--Declaration of
Piluitz-The king accepts the constitution–End of the constituent
assembly—Opinion of it.
THE French revolution was to change the political state of
Europe, to terminate the strife of kings among themselves, and
to commence that between kings and people. This would
have taken place much later had not the kings themselves
provoked it. They sought to suppress the revolution, and they
extended it; for by attacking it they were to render it vic-
torious. Europe had then arrived at the term of the political
system which swayed it. The existence of the several states
after being internal under the feudal government, had be-
come external under the monarchical government. The first
period terminated almost at the same time among all the
great nations of Europe, Then kings who had so long been
at war with their vassals, because they were in contact with
them, encountered each other on the boundaries of their
kingdoms, and fought. As no domination could become uni-
versal, neither that of Charles V. nor that of Louis XIV.,
the weak always uniting against the strong, after several
vicissitudes of superiority and alliance, a sort of European
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
99
equilibrium was established. To appreciate ulterior events, it
will not be unuseful to consider this equilibrium before the
revolution.
Austria, England, and France, had been, from the peace of
Westphalia to the middle of the eighteenth century, the three
great powers of Europe. Interest had leagued the two first
against the third. Austria had reason to dread the influence
of France in the Netherlands; England feared it on the sea.
Rivalry of power and commerce often set them at variance,
and they sought to weaken or plunder each other. Spain,
since a prince of the house of Bourbon had been on the throne,
was the ally of France against England. This, however,
was a fallen power: confined to a corner of the continent,
oppressed by the system of Philip II., deprived by family
compact of the only enemy that could keep it in action,
by sea only had it retained any of its ancient superiority.
But France had other allies on all sides of Austria; Sweden
on the north; Poland and the Porte on the east; in the south
of Germany, Bavaria; Prussia on the west; and in Italy,
the kingdom of Naples. These powers, having reason to
dread the encroachments of Austria, were naturally the allies
of her enemy. Piedmont, placed between the two systems
of alliance, sided, according to circumstances and its interests,
with either. Holland was united with England or with
France, as the party of the stadtholder or that of the people
prevailed in the republic. Switzerland was neutral.
In the last half of the eighteenth century, two powers had
risen in the north, Russia and Prussia. The latter had been
changed from a simple electorate into an important kingdom,
by Frederick-William, who had given it a treasure and an
army; and hy his son Frederick the Great, who had made use
of these to extend his territory. Russia, long unconnected with
the other states, had been more especially introduced into the
politics of Europe by Peter I. and Catharine II. The
accession of these two powers considerably modified the
ancient alliances. In concert with the cabinet of Vienna,
Russia and Prussia had executed the first partition of Poland
in 1772; and after the death of Frederick the Great, the
empress Catharine and the emperor Joseph united in 1785
to effect that of European Turkey.
The cabinet of Versailles, weakened since the imprudent
H 2
100
HISTORY OR
and unfortunate seven years' war, had assisted at the par-
tition of Poland without opposing it, had raised no obstacle
to the fall of the Ottoman empire, and even allowed its
ally, the republican party in Holland, to sink under the blows
of Prussia and England, without assisting it. The latter
powers had in 1787 re-established by force the hereditary
stadtholderate of the United Provinces. The only act which
did honour to French policy, was the support it had happily
given to the emancipation of North America. The revolution
of 1789, while extending the moral influence of France,
diminished still more its diplomatic influence.
England, under the government of young Pitt, was alarmed
in 1788 at the ambitious projects of Russia, and united with
Holland and Prussia to put an end to them. Hostilities were
on the point of commencing when the emperor Joseph died,
in February 1790, and was succeeded by Leopold, who in
July accepted the convention of Reichenbach.
This conven-
tion, by the mediation of England, Russia, and Holland, settled
the terms of the peace between Austria and Turkey, which was
signed definitively, on the 4th of August, 1791, at Sistove;
it at the same time provided for the pacification of the Nether-
lands. Urged by England and Prussia, Catharine II. also
made peace with the Porte at Jassy, on the 29th of December,
1791. These negotiations, and the treaties they gave rise to,
terminated the political struggles of the eighteenth century,
and left the powers free to turn their attention to the French
revolution.
The princes of Europe, who had hitherto had no enemies
but theinselves, viewed it in the light of a common foe. The
ancient relations of war and of alliance, already overlooked
daring the seven years' war, now ceased entirely: Sweden
united with Russia, and Prussia with Austria. There was no-
thing now but the kings on one side, and people on the other,
waiting for the auxiliaries which its example, or the faults of
princes might give it. A general coalition was soon formed
against the French revolution. Austria engaged in it with the
hope of aggrandisement, England to avenge
the American war,
and to preserve itself from the spirit of the revolution; Prussia
to strengthen the threatened absolute power, and profitably to
engage its unemployed army; the German states to restore
feudal rights to some of their members who had been deprived of
THE TRENCE REVOLUTION.
101
them, by the abolition of the old régime in Alsace; the king of
Sweden, who had constituted himself the champion of arbitrary
power, to re-establish it in France, as he had just done in his
own country; Russia, that it might execute without trouble
the partition of Poland, while the attention of Europe was
directed elsewhere; finally, all the sovereigns of the house of
Bourbon, from the interest of power and family attachments.
The emigrants encouraged them in these projects, and excited
them to invasion. According to them, France was without
an army, or at least without leaders, destitute of money, given
up to disorder, weary of the assembly, disposed to the ancient
régime, and without either the means or the inclination to
defend itself. They flocked in crowds to take a share in the
promised short campaign, and formed into organized bodies
under the prince de Conde, at Worms, and the count d'Artois,
at Coblentz.
The count d’Artois especially hastened the determination
of the cabinets. The emperor Leopold was in Italy, and the
count repaired to him, with Calonne as minister, and the count
Alphonse de Durfort, who had been his mediator with the
court of the Tuileries, and who had brought him the king's
authority to treat with Leopold. The conference took place
at Mantua, and the count de Durfort returned, and delivered
to Louis XVI. in the name of the emperor, a secret declara-
tion, in which was announced to him the speedy assistance of
the coalition. Austria was to advance thirty-five thousand
men on the frontier of Flanders; the German states, fifteen
thousand on Alsace; the Swiss, fifteen thousand on the Lyon-
nese frontier; the king of Sardinia, fifteen thousand on that of
Dauphiné; Spain was to augment its army in Catalonia to
twenty thousand; Prussia was well disposed in favour of the
coalition, and the king of England was to take part in it as
elector of Hanover. All these troops were to move at the
same time, at the end of July; the house of Bourbon was then
to make a protest, and the powers were to publish a manifesto;
until then, however, it was essential to keep the design secret,
to avoid all partial insurrection, and to make no attempt at
flight. Such was the result of the conferences at Mantua on
the 20th May, 1791.
Louis XVI., either from a desire not to place himself en-
tirely at the mercy of foreign powers, or dreading the ascend-
102
HISTORY OF
ancy which the count d'Artois, should he return at the
head of the victorious emigrants, would assume over the
government he had established, preferred restoring the govern-
ment alone. In general Bouillé he had a devoted and skilful
partisan, who at the same time condemned both emigration
and the assembly, and promised him refuge and support in
his army. For some time past, a secret correspondence had
taken place between him and the king. Bouillé preparec
everything to receive him. He established a camp at Mont-
medy, under the pretext of a movement of hostile troops on
the frontier; he placed detachments on the route the king was
to take, to serve him for escort, and as a motive was neces-
sary for these arrangements, he alleged that of protecting the
money despatched for the payment of the troops.
The royal family on its side made every preparation for
departure; very few persons were informed of it, and no mea-
sures betrayed it. Louis XVI. and the queen, on the con-
trary, pursued a line of conduct calculated to silence suspi-
cion; and on the night of the 20th of June, they issued at the
appointed hour from the chateau, one by one, in disguise. In
this way they eluded the vigilance of the guard, reached the
Boulevard, where a carriage awaited them, and took the road
to Châlons and Montmedy.
On the following day the news of this escape threw Paris
into consternation; indignation soon became the prevailing
sentiment; crowds assembled, and the tumult increased. Those
who had not prevented the fight were accused of favouring
it. Neither Bailly nor Lafayette escaped the general mis-
trust. This event was considered the precursor of the in-
vasion of France, the triumph of the emigrants, the return of
the ancient régime, and a long civil war. But the conduct of
the assembly soon restored the public mind to calmness and
security. It took every measure which so difficult a conjunc-
ture required. It summoned the ministers and authorities to
its bar; calmed the people by a proclamation; used proper
precautions to secure public tranquillity; seized on the exe-
cutive power, commissioned Montmorin, the minister of foreign
affairs, to inform the European powers of its pacific intentions;
sent commissioners to secure the favour of the troops, and
receive their oath, no longer made in the name of the king,
but in that of the assembly, and lastly, issued an order
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
103
through the departments, for the arrest of any one attempting
to leave the kingdom. Thus, in less than four hours," says
the marquis de Ferrières, “the assembly was invested with
every kind of power. The government went on; public
tranquillity did not experience the slightest shock; and Paris
and France learned from this experience, so fatal to royalty,
that the monarch is almost always a stranger to the govern-
ment that exists in his name."
Meantime Louis XVI. and his family were drawing near
the termination of their journey. The success of the first days'
journies, the increasing distance from Paris, rendered the king
less reserved and more confident; he had the imprudence to
show himself, was recognised, and arrested at Varennes on the
21st. The national guard were under arms instantly; the offi-
cers of the detachments posted by Bouillé sought in vain to
rescue the king; the dragoons and hussars feared or refused to
support them. Bouillé, apprised of this fatal event, hastened
himself at the head of a regiment of cavalry. But it was too
late; on reaching Varennes, he found that the king had left it
several hours before; his squadrons were tired, and refused to
advance. The national guard were on all sides under arms,
and after the failure of his enterprise, he had no alternative
hnt to leave the army and quit France.
The assembly, on hearing of the king's arrest, sent to him,
as commissioners, three of its members, Pétion, Latour-Mau-
hourg, and Barnave. They met the royal family at Epernay,
and returned with them. It was during this journey, that
Barnave, touched by the good sense of Louis XVI., the fasci-
nations of Marie Antoinette, and the fate of this fallen family,
conceived for it an earnest interest. From that day be
gave it his assiduous counsel and support. On reaching Paris
the royal party passed through an immense crowd, which ex-
pressed neither applause nor murmurs, but observed a re-
proachful silence.
The king was provisionally suspended: he had had a guard
set over bim, as had the queen; and commissioners were ap-
pointed to question him. Agitation pervaded all parties.
Some desired to retain the king on the throne, notwithstand-
ing his flight; others maintained, that he had abdicated, by
condemning, in a manifesto addressed to the French on his
departure, both the revolution, and the acts which had ema-
104
HISTORY OF
was no more.
nated from him during that period, which he termed a time of
captivity.
The republican party now began to appear.
Hitherto it
had remained either dependent or hidden, because it had been
without any existence of its own, or because it wanted a pre.
text for displaying itself. The struggle, which lay at first be-
tween the assembly and the court, then between the constitu-
tionalists and the aristocrats, and latterly among the consti-
tutionalists themselves, was now about to commence between
the constitutionalists and the republicans. In times of revo-
lution such is the inevitable course of events. The partizans
of the order newly established, then met and renounced dif-
ferences of opinion which were detrimental to their cause, even
while the assembly was all powerful, but which had become
highly perilous, now that the emigration party threatened it
on the one hand, and the multitude on the other. Mirabeau
The Centre, on which this powerful man
had relied, and which constituted the least ambitious portion
of the assembly, the most attached to principles, might by join-
ing the Lameths, re-establish Louis XVI. and constitutional
monarchy, and present a formidable opposition to the popular
ebullition.
This alliance took place; the Lameth party came to an un-
derstanding with André and the principal members of the
Centre, made overtures to the court, and opened the club of
the Feuillants in opposition to that of the Jacobins. But the
latter could not want leaders; under Mirabeau, they had
contended against the Lameths; under the Lameths against
Mirabeau; under Pétion and Robespierre, they contended
against the Lameths. The party which desired a second re-
volution had constantly supported the most extreme actors in
the revolution already accomplished, because this was bring-
ing within its reach the struggle and the victory. At this
period, from subordinate it had become independent; it no
longer fought for others and for opinions not its own, but for
itself, and under its own banner. The court, by its multiplied
faults, its imprudent machinations, and, lastly, by the flight
of the monarch, had given it a sort of authority to avow its
cbject; and the Lameths, by forsaking it, had left it to its true
leaders.
The Lameths, in their turn, underwent the reproaches of
the multitude, which saw only their alliance with the court,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTIUN.
105
66
without examining its conditions. But supported by all the
constitutionalists, they were strongest in the assembly; and
they found it essential to establish the king as soon as possible,
in order to put a stop to a controversy which threatened the
new order, by authorizing the public party to demand the
abolition of the royal power while its suspension lasted.
The commissioners appointed to interrogate Louis XVI.,
dictated to him a declaration, which they presented in bis
name to the assembly, and which modified the injurious effect
of his flight. The reporter declared, in the name of the seven
committees entrusted with the examination of this great
question, that there were no grounds for bringing Louis XVI.
to trial, or for pronouncing his dethronement. The discussion
which followed this report was long and animated; the efforts
of the republican party, notwithstanding their pertinacity, were
unsuccessful. Most of their orators spoke; they demanded depo-
sition or a regency; that is to say, popular government, or an
approach towards it. Barnave, after meeting all their argu-
ments, finished his speech with these remarkable words:
Regenerators of the empire, follow your course without
deviation. You have proved that you had courage to destroy
the abuses of power; you have proved that you possessed all
that was requisite to substitute wise and good institutions in
their place; prove now that you have the wisdom to protect
and maintain these. The nation has just given a great eri-
dence of its strength and courage; it has displayed, solemnly
and by a spontaneous movement, all that it could oppose to
the attacks which threatened it. Continue the same precau-
tions; let our boundaries, let our frontiers be powerfully de
fended. But while we manifest our power, let us also prove
our moderation; let us present peace to the worid, alarmed
by the events which take place amongst us; let us present an
occasion for triumph to all those who in foreign lands have
taken an interest in our revolution. They cry to us from
all parts: you are powerful; be wise, be moderate, let that be
the height of your glory. Thus will you prove that in various
circumstances you can employ various means, talents, and
virtues."
The assembly sided with Barnave. But to pacify the
people, and to provide for the future safety of France, it de-
creed that the king should be considered as abdicating, de
fucto, if le retracted the oath he had taken to tlie constitut101;
ונג
106
HISTORY OF
if ba headed an army for the purpose of runking war upon the
nation, or permitted any one to do so in his name; and that,
in such case, become a simple citizen, he would cease to be
inviolable, and might be responsible for acts committed sub-
sequent to his abdication.
On the day that this decree was adopted by the assembly,
the leaders of the republican party excited the multitude
against it. But the Hall in which it sat was surrounded by
the national guard, and it could not be assailed or intimidated.
The agitators, unable to prevent the passing of the decree,
aroused the people against it. They drew up a petition, in which
they denied the competency of the assembly; appealed from
it to the sovereignty of the nation, treated Louis XVI. as de-
posed since his flight, and demanded a substitute for him.
This petition, drawn up by Brissot, author of the Patriote
Français, and president of the Comité des Recherches of Paris,
was carried, on the 17th of July, to the altar of the country
in the Champ de Mars: an immense crowd flocked to sign it.
The assembly, apprized of what was taking place, summoned
the municipal authorities to its bar, and directed them to pre-
serve the public tranquillity. Lafayette marched against the
crowd, and in the first instance succeeded in dispersing it
without bloodshed. The municipal officers took up their
quarters in the Invalides; but the same day the crowd re-
turned in greater numbers, and with more determination.
Danton and Camille Desmoulins harangued them from the
altar of the country. Two Invalides, supposed to be spies,
were massacred and their heads stuck on pikes. The insur-
rection became alarming. Lafayette again repaired to the
Champ de Mars, at the head of twelve hundred of the national
guard. Bailly accompanied him, and had the red banner un-
furled. The crowd was then summoned to disperse in the
name of the law; it refused to retire, and, contemning au-
thority, shouted, “Down with the red flag!” and assailed the
national guard with stones. Lafayette ordered his men to
fire, but in the air. The crowd was not intimidated with this,
and resumed the attack; compelled by the obstinacy of the
insurgents, Lafayette then ordered another discharge, a real
and effective one. The terrified multitude fled, leaving many
dead on the field. The disturbances now ceased, order was
restored. but blood bad flown, and the people never forgave
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
107
Bailly or Lafayette the cruel necessity to which itself had
driven them. This was a regular combat, in which the re-
publican party, not as yet sufficiently strong or established,
was defeated by the constitutional monarchy party. The
attempt of the Champ de Mars was the prelude of the popular
movements which led to the 10th of August.
While this was passing in the assembly and at Paris, the
emigrants, whom the flight of Louis XVI. had elated with
hope, were thrown into consternation at his arrest. Monsieur,
who had fled at the same time as his brother, and with better
fortune, arrived alone at Brussels with the powers and title of
regent. The emigrants thenceforth relied only on the assist-
ance of Europe; the officers quitted their colours; two hundred
and ninety members of the assembly protested against its de-
crees; in order to legitimatize invasion, Bouillé wrote a
threatening letter, in the inconceivable hope of intimidating
the assembly, and at the same time to take upon himself the
sole responsibility of the flight of Louis XVI.; finally, the
emperor, the king of Prussia, and the count d'Artois met at
Pilnitz, where they made the famous declaration of the 27th
of August, preparatory to the invasion of France, and which,
far from improving the condition of the king, would have im-
perilled him, had not the assembly, in its wisdom, continued
to follow out its new designs, regardless at once of the
clamours of the multitude at home, and the foreign powers.
In the declaration of Pilnitz, the sovereigns considered the
cause of Louis XVI. as their own. They required that he
should be free to go where he pleased, that is to say, to repair
to them; that he should be restored to his throne; that the
assembly should be dissolved, and that the princes of the em-
pire having possessions in Alsace, should be reinstated in
their feudal rights. In case of refusal, they threatened
France with a war in which all the powers who were guarantees
for the French monarchy would concur. This declaration,
so far from discouraging, only served to irritate the assembly
and the people. Men asked one another, what right the princes
of Europe had to interfere in the government of France; by
what right they gave orders to a great people, and imposed
conditions upon it; and since the sovereigns appealed to force,
the people of France prepared to resist them. The frontiers
were put in a state of defence; a hundred thousand men of
ius
HISTORY OF
rennes.
the national guard were enrolled, and tney awaiteå in calm
serenity the attack of the enemy, well convinced that the
French people, on their own soil and in a state of revolution,
would be invincible.
Meantime, the assembly approached the close of its labours;
civil relations, public taxation, the nature of crimes, their
prosecution, and their punishment, had been by it as wisely
regulated as were the public and constitutional relations of
the country. Equality had been introduced into the law of
inheritance, into taxation, and into punishments; nothing re-
mained but to unite all the constitutional decrees into a body
and submit them to the king for his approval. The assembly
was growing weary of its labours and of its dissensions; the
people itself, who in France ever become tired of that which
continues beyond a certain time, desired a new national repre-
sentation; the convocation of the electoral colleges was there-
fore fixed for the 5th of August. Unfortunately, the mem-
bers of the present assembly could not form part of the suc-
ceeding one; this had been decided before the flight to Va-
. In this important question, the assembly had been
drawn away by the rivalry of some, the disinterestedness of
others, the desire for anarchy on the part of the aristocrats,
and of domination on that of the republicans. Vainly did
Duport exclaim: “While every one is pestering us with new
principles of all sorts, how is it overlooked that stability is
also a principle of government? Is France, whose children
are so ardent and changeable, to be exposed every two years
to a revolution in her laws and opinions?” This was the
desire of the privileged classes and the Jacobins, though with
different views. In all such matters the constituent assem-
bly was deceived or overruled; when the ministry was in
question, it decided, in opposition to Mirabeau, that no deputy
could hold office; on the subject of re-election, it decided, in
opposition to its own members, that it could not take place;
in the same spirit, it prohibited their accepting, for four
years, any post offered them by the prince. This mania of
disinterestedness soon induced Lafayette to divest himself of
the command of the national guard, and Bailly to resign the
mayoralty. Thus this remarkable epoch entirely annihilated
the constituent body.
The collection of the constitutional decrees into one body led
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
109
to the idea of revising t'em. But this idea of revision gave
great dissatisfaction, and was almost of no effect; it was not
desirable to render the constitution more aristocratic by after
measures, lest the multitude should require it to be made
more popular. To limit the sovereignty of the nation, and,
at the same time, not to overlook it, the assembly declared
that France had a right to revise its constitution, but that it
was prudent not to exercise this right for thirty years.
The act of the constitution was presented to the king by
sixty deputies; the suspension being taken off, Louis XVI.
resumed the exercise of his power; and the guard the law had
given him was placed under his own command. Thus
restored to freedom, the constitution was submitted to him.
After examining it for several days, “I accept the constitu-
tion," he wrote to the assembly; “ I engage to maintain it at
home, to defend it from all attacks from abroad; and to cause
its execution by all the means it places at my disposal. I
declare, that being informed of the attachment of the great
majority of the people to the constitution, I renounce my
claim to assist in the work, and that being responsible to the
nation alone, no other person, now that I have made this re-
nunciation, has a right to complain."
This letter excited general approbation. Lafayette de-
manded and procured an amnesty in favour of those who
were under prosecution for favouring the king's flight, or for
proceedings against the revolution. Next day the king came
in person to accept the constitution in the assembly. The
populace attended him thither with acclamations; he was the
object of the enthusiasm of the deputies and spectators, and
he regained that day the confidence and affection of his sub-
:ects. The 29th of September was fixed for the closing of
the assembly; the king was present; his speech was often
interrupted by applause, and when he said,
gentlemen, who during a long and arduous career have
displayed such indefatigable zeal, there remains one duty to
fulfil when yoụ have returned to your homes over the
country: to explain to your fellow-citizens the true meaning
of the laws you have made for them.; to urge those wlio slight
them; to improve and unite all opinions by the example you
shall afford of your love of order, and of submission to the
laws." Cries of “ Yes! yes!" were uttered by all the deputies
- For you,
1
110
HISTORY OF
66 Yes!
with one commin voice. “I rely on your being the inter-
preters of my sentiments to your fellow-citizens."
yes!"
“Tell them all that the king will always be their first
and most faithful friend; that he needs their love; that he
can only be happy with them and by their means; the hope
of contributing to their happiness will sustain my courage, as
the satisfaction of having succeeded will be my sweetest
recompence."
" It is a speech worthy of Henry IV.," said a voice, and
the king left the Hall amidst the loudest testimonials of love.
Then Thouret, in a loud voice, and addressing the people,
exclaimed: “ The constituent assembly pronounces its mission
accomplished, and that its sittings. now terminate.” Thus
closed this first and glorious assembly of the nation. It was
courageous, intelligent, just, and had but one passion-a pas-
sion for law. It accomplished, in two years, by its efforts, and
with indefatigable perseverance, the greatest revolution ever
witnessed by one generation of men. Amidst its labours, it
repressed despotism and anarchy, by frustrating the conspi-
racies of the aristocracy and maintaining the multitude in
subordination. Its only fault was the not confiding the
guidance of the revolution to those who were its authors; it
divested itself of power, like those legislators of antiquity
who exiled themselves from their country after giving it a
constitution. A new assembly did not apply itself to con-
solidating its work, and the revolution, which ought to have
been finished, was recommenced.
The constitution of 1791 was based on principles adapted
to the ideas and situation of France. This constitution was
the work of the middle class, then the strongest; for, as is
well known, the predominant force ever takes possession of in-
stitutions. When it belongs to one man alone, it is despotism;
when to several, it is privilege; when to all, it is right; this
last state is the limit, as it is the origin, of society. France
had at length attained it, after passing through feudalism,
which was the aristocratic institution, and absolute power,
which was the monarchical institution. Equality was con-
secrated among the citizens, and delegation recognised among
the powers; such were to be, under the new system, the con-
dition of men and the form of government.
In this constitution the people was the source of all powers,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
111
but it exercised none; it was entrusted only with election
in the first instance, and its magistrates were selected by
men chosen from among the enlightened portions of the com-
munity. The latter constituted the assembly, the law courts.
the public offices, the corporations, the militia, and thus
possessed all the force and all the power of the state. It
alone was fit to exercise them, because it alone had the intelli-
gence necessary for the conduct of government. The people
were not yet sufficiently advanced to participate in power,
consequently, it was only by accident, and in the most casual
and evanescent manner, that power fell into its bands;
but it received civic education, and was disciplined to govern-
ment in the primary assemblies, according to the true aim of
society, which is not to confer its advantages as a patrimony
on one particular class, but to make all share in them, when
all are capable of acquiring them. This was the leading
characteristic of the constitution of 1791; as each, by degrees,
became competent to enjoy the right, he was admitted to it;
it extended its limits with the extension of civilization, which
every day calls a greater number of men to the administration
of the state. In this way it had established true equality,
whose real character is admissibility, as that of inequality is
exclusion. In rendering power transferable by election, it
made it a public magistracy; whilst privilege, in rendering it
hereditary by transmission, makes it private property.
The constitution of 1791 established homogeneous powers
which corresponded among themselves, and reciprocally
restrained each other; still, it must be confessed, the royal
authority was too subordinate to popular power. It is never
otherwise: sovereignty, from whatever source derived, gives
itself a feeble counterpoise when it limits itself.
stituent assembly enfeebles royalty; a king who is a legisla-
tor limits the prerogatives of an assembly
This constitution was, however, less democratic than that
of the United States, which had been practicable, despite
the extent of the territory, proving that it is not the form
of institutions, but the assent which they obtain, or the dis-
sent which they excite, which permits or hinders their esta-
blishment. In a new country, after a revolution of inde-
pendence, as in America, any constitution is possible; there
is but one hostile party, that of the metropolis, and when that
A con-
112
HISTORY OF
I
is overcome, the struggle ceases, because defeat leads to its
expulsion. It is not so with social revolutions among nations
who have long been in existence. Changes attack interests,
interests form parties, parties enter into contest, and the more
victory spreads the greater grows opposition. This is what
happened in France. The work of the constituent assembly
perished less from its defects than from the attacks of faction.
Placed between the aristocracy and the multitude, it was
attacked by the one and invaded by the other. The latter
would not have become sovereign, bad not civil war and the
foreign coalition called for its intervention and aid. To de-
fend the country, it became necessary that it should govern
it; then it effected its revolution, as the middle class had
effected its own. It had its 14th of July in the 10th of A11-
gust; its constituent assembly, the convention; its govern-
ment, which was the committee of public safety; yet, as we
shall see, without emigration there would have been no re-
public.
THE FRESCH REVOLUTION.
113
THE NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. .
CHAPTER V.
FROM THE IST OF OCTOBER, 1791, TO THE 21ST OF
SEPTEMBER, 1792,
Forly relations between the legislative assembly and the king--State of
parties: the Feuillants rely on the middle classes, the Girondins on the
people-Emigration and the dissentient clergy; decree against them;
the king's veto—Declarations of war-Girondin ministry; Dumounez,
Roland-Declaration of war against the king of Hungary and Bohemia
--Disasters of our armies, decree for a camp of reserve for twenty
thousand men at Paris; decree of banishment against the nonjuring
priests; veto of the king; fall of the Girondin ministry-Petition of
insurgents of the 20th of June to secure the passing of the decrees and
the recal of the ministers—Last efforts of the constitutional party-
Manifesto of the duke of Brunswick-Events of the 10th of August,
Military insurrection of Lafayette against the authors of the events of
the 10th of August; it fails—Division of the assembly and the new
commune; Dantou — Invasion of the Prussians-Massacres of the
2nd of September--Campaign of the Argone--Causes of the events
under the legislative assembly,
The new assembly opened its session on the 1st October, 1791.
It declared itself immediately the national legislative assembly.
From its first appearance, it had occasion to display its at-
tachment to the actual state of things, and the respect it felt
for the authors of French liberty. The book of the consti-
tution was solemnly presented to it by the archivist Camus,
accompanied by twelve of the oldest members of the national
representation The assembly received the constitutienal
I
114
HISTORY OF
act standing and uncovered, and on it took the oath, amidst
the acclamations of the people who occupied the tribunes,
* to live free or perish !” A vote of thanks was given by it to
the members of the constituent assembly, and it then prepared
to commence its labours.
But its first relations with the king had not the same
character of union and confidence. The court, doubtless
hoping to regain under the legislative, the superior position
which it had lost under the constituent assembly, did not
employ sufficient management towards a susceptible and
anxious popular authority, which was then considered the
first of the state. The assembly sent a deputation of sixty
of its members to the king to announce its opening. The
king did not receive them in person, and sent word by the
minister of justice that he could not give them audience till
noon on the following day. This uncei emonious dismissal,
and the indirect communication between the national repre-
sentatives and the prince, by means of a minister, hurt the
deputation excessively. Accordingly, when the audience
took place, Duchastel said to him laconically: “Sire, the
national legislative assembly is sitting; we are deputed to in-
form you of this.” Louis XVI. replied still more drily: “I
cannot visit you before Friday." This conduct of the court
towards the assembly was impolitic, and little calculated to
conciliate the affection of the people.
The assembly approved of the cold manner assumed by the
deputation, and soon indulged in an act of reprisal. The
ceremony with which the king was to be received among
them was arranged according to preceding laws. A fauteuil
in tb.e form of a throne was reserved for him; they used to-
wards him the titles of sire and majesty, and the deputies,
standing and uncovered on his entrance, were to sit down,
put on their bats, and rise again, following with deference all
the movements of the prince. Some restless and exaggerated
muinds considered this condescension unworthy of a sovereign
assembly. The deputy Grangeneuve required that the words
sire and majesty should be replaced by the "more constitu-
tional and finer” title of king of the French. Couthon strongly
enforced this motion, and proposed that a simple fauteuil should
be assigned to the king, exactly like the president's. These,
motions excited some slight disapprobation on the part of a
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
115
* ,
few members, but the greater number received them eagerly.
“It gives me pleasure to suppose," said Guadet, “that this
French people will always venerate the simple fauteuil upon
which sits the president of the national representatives,
much more than the gilded fauteuil where sits the head
of the executive power. I will say nothing, gentlemen, of
the titles of sire and majesty. It astonisbes me to find the
national assembly deliberating whether they shall be retained.
The word sire signifies seigneur; it belonged to the feudal
system, which has ceased to exist. As for the term majesty,
it should only be employed in speaking of God and of the
people."
The previous question was demanded, but feebly; these
motions were put to the vote, and carried by a considerable
majority. Yet, as this decree appeared hostile, the constitu-
tional opinion pronounced itself against it, and censured this
too excessive rigour in the application of principles. On
the following day, those who had demanded the previous
question moved that the decisions of the day before should
be abandoned. A report was circulated, at the same time,
that the king would not enter the assembly if the decree
were maintained; and the decree was revoked.
skirmishes between two powers who had to fear usurpations,
assumptions, and more especially ill will between them, ter-
minated here on this occasion, and all recollection of them
was effaced by the presence of Louis XVI. in the legislative
body, where he was received with great respect and the most
Lively enthusiasm.
General pacification formed the chief topic of his speech.
He pointed out to the assembly the subjects that ought to
attract its attention,-finance, civil law, commerce, trade, and
the consolidation of the new government; he promised to
employ his influence to restore order and discipline in the
army, to put the kingdom in a state of defence, and to diffuse
ideas respecting thc French revolution, calculated to re-
establish a good understanding in Europe. He added the
following words, which were received with much applause:
“ Gentlemen, in order that your important labours, as well
as your zeal, may produce all the good which may be ex-
pected from them, a constant harmony and unchanging coul-
fidence should reign between the legislative body and the
These petty
I 2
116
FLISTORY OF
king. The enemies of our peace seek but too eagerly to
disunite us, but let love of country cement our union, and let
public interest make us inseparable! Thus public power
may develop itself without obstacle; government will not be
harassed by vain fears; the possessions and faith of each
will be equally protected, and no pretext will remain for
any
one to live apart from a country where the laws are in vigour,
and where the rights of all are respected.” Unfortunately
there were two classes, without the revolution, that would
not enter into composition with it, and whose efforts in
Europe and the interior of France were to prevent the reali-
zation of these wise and pacific words. As soon as there are
displaced parties in a state, a struggle will result, and
measures of hostility must be taken against them. Accord-
ingly, the internal troubles, fomented by nonjuring priests,
the military assemblings of emigrants, and the prepara-
tions for the coalition, soon drove the legislative assembly
further than the constitution allowed, and than itself had
proposed.
The composition of this assembly was completely popular.
The prevailing ideas being in favour of the revolution, the
court, nobility, and clergy had exercised no influence over
the elections. There were not in this assembly, as in the pre-
ceding, partisans of absolute power and of privilege. The two
fractions of the Left side who had separated towards the close
of the constituent assembly, were again brought face to face;
but no longer in the same proportion of number and strength.
The popular minority of the previous assembly became the
majority in this. The prohibition against electing repre-
sentatives already tried, the necessity of choosing deputies
from those most distinguished by their conduct and opinions,
and especially the active influence of the clubs. led to this
result. Opinions and parties soon became known. As in
the constituent assembly there was a Right, a Centre, a Left,
but of a perfectly different character.
The Right, composed of firm and absolute constitutionalists,
composed the Feuillant party. Its principal speakers were
Dumas, Ramond, Vaublanc, Beugnot, &c. It had some re-
lations with the court, through Barnave, Duport, and Alex-
ander Lameth, who were its former leaders; but whose coun-
Sels were rarely followed by Louis XVI., who gave himself
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
117
up with more confidence to the advice of those immediately
around him. Out of doors, it supported itself on the club
of the Feuillants and upon the bourgeoisie. The national
guard, the army, the directory of the department, and in
general all the constituted authorities, were favourable to
it. But this party, which no longer prevailed in the assembly,
soou lost a post quite as essential, that of the municipality,
which was occupied by its adversaries of the Left.
These formed the party called Girondist, and which in the
revolution only formed an intermediate party between the
middle class and the multitude. It had then no subver-
sive project; but it was disposed to defend the revolution in
every way, and in this differed from the constitutionalists
who would only defend it with the law. At its head were
the brilliaut orators of the Gironde,* who gave their name to
the party, Vergniaud, Guadet, Gensonné, and the Provençal
Isnard, who had a style of still more impassioned eloquence
than theirs. Its chief leader was Brissot, who, a member of the
corporation of Paris during the last session, had subsequently
become a member of the assembly. The opinions of Brissot,
who advocated a complete reform; his great activity of mind,
which he developed at once in the journal the Patriote,
in the tribune of the assembly, and at the club of the Ja-
cobins; his exact and extensive knowledge of the posi-
tion of foreign powers, gave him great ascendancy at the
moment of a struggle between parties, and of a war with
Europe. Condorcet possessed influence of another descrip-
tion; he owed this to his profound ideas, to his superior
reason, which almost procured him the place of Siéyes in this
second revolutionary generation. Pétion, of a calm and de-
termined character, was the active man of this party. His
tranquil brow, his fluent elocution, his acquaintance with the
people, soon procured for him the municipal magistracy,
which Bailly had discharged for the middle class.
The Left side had in the assembly the nucleus of a party
more extreme than itself, and the members of wbich, such as
Chabot, Bazire, Merlin, were to the Girondists what Pétion,
Buzot, Robespierre, had been to the Left side of the consti-
The name of the river Garonne, after its confluence with the Dor.
dogne.
118
HISTORY OF
tuent. This was the commencement of the democratic faction
which, without, served as auxiliary to the Gironde, and
which managed the clubs and the multitude. Robespierre
in the society of the Jacobins, where he established his sway
after leaving the assembly; Danton, Camille Desinoulins,
and Fabre-d'Eglantine at the Cordeliers, where they had
founded a club of innovators more extreme than the Jacobins,
composed of men of the bourgeoisie; the brewer Santerre in
the faubourgs, where the popular power lay; were the true
chiefs of this faction, which depended on one whole class, and
aspired at founding its own régime.
The Centre of the legislative assembly was sincerely at-
tached to the new order of things. It had almost the same
opinions, the same inclination for moderation as the Centre
of the constituent assembly; but its power was very different:
it was no longer at the head of an established class, and by
the aid of which it could master all the extreme partics,
Public dangers, making the want of exalted opinions and
parties from without again felt, completely annulled the
Centre. It was soon won over to the strongest side, the fato
of all moderate parties, and the Left swayed it.
The situation of the assembly was very difficult. Its pre-
decessor had left it parties which it evidently could not
pacify. From the beginning of the session it was obliged to
turn its attention to these, and that in opposing them. Emi-
gration was making an alarming progress: the king's two
brothers, the prince de Condé and the duke de Bourbon, had
protested against the accepting of the constitutional act by
Louis XVI., that is, against the only means of accommoda-
tion; they had said that the king could not alienate the rights
of the ancient monarchy; and their protest, circulating through-
out France, had produced a great effect on their partisans.
Officers quitted the armies, the nobility their chateaux, whole
companies deserted to enlist on the frontiers. Distaffs were
sent to those who wavered; and those who did not emigrate
were threatened with the loss of their position when the nobi-
lity should return victorious. In the Austrian Low Countries
and the bordering electorates, there was formed what was called
La France exterieure. The counter-revolution was openly
preparing at Brussels, Worms, and Coblentz, under the protec-
tion and even with the assistance of foreign courts.
The ani-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
119
bassadors of the emigrants were received, while those of the
French government were dismissed, ill received, or even
thrown into prison, as in the case of M. Duverger. French
merchants and travellers suspected of patriotism and attach-
ment to the revolution were scouted throughout Europe.
Several powers had declared themselves without disguise: of
this number were Sweden, Russia, and Spain; the latter at
that time being governed by the marquis de Blanca-Florida,
a man entirely devoted to the emigrant party. At the same
time, Prussia kept its army prepared for war: the lines of the
Spanish and Sardinian troops increased on our Alpine and
Pyrenean frontiers, and Gustavus was assembling a Swedish
army.
The dissentient ecclesiastics left nothing undone which
might produce a diversion in favour of the emigrants at home.
“Priests, and especially bishops,” says the marquis de Fer-
rières,
employed all the resources of fanaticism to excite
the people, in town and country, against the civil constitution
of the clergy.” Bishops ordered the priests no longer to per-
form divine service in the same church with the constitu-
tional priests, for fear the people might confound the two.
“ Independently,” he adds, “ of circular letters written to the
curés, instructions intended for the people were circulated
through the country. They said that the sacraments sould
not be effectually administered by the constitutional priests,
whom they called Intruders, and that every one attending
their ministrations became by their presence guilty of a mortal
sin; that those who were married by Intruders, were not mar-
ried; that they brought a curse upon themselves and upon their
children; that no one should have communication with them,
or with those separated from the church; that the municipal
officers who installed them, like them became apostates; that
the moment of their installation all bell-ringers and sexton.
ought to resign their situations
These fanatical
addresses produced the effect which the bishops expected.
Religious disturbances broke out on all sides."
Insurrection more especially broke out in Calvados, Gevau-
dan, and La Vendée. These districts were ill-disposed towards
the revolution, because they contained few of the middle and
intelligent classes, and because the populace, up to that time,
had been kept in a state of dependence on the nobility and
120
HISTORY OF
clergy. The Girondists, taking alarm, wished to adopt
rigorous measures against emigration and the dissentient
priests who attacked the new order of things. Brissot pro-
posed putting a stop to emigration, by giving up the mild
system hitherto observed towards it. He divided the emi-
grants into three classes:-1st. The principal leaders, and at
their head the brothers of the king. 2ndly. Public functionaries
who forsook their posts and country, and sought to entice their
colleagues. 3rdly. Private individuals, who, to preserve life,
or from an aversion to the revolution, or from other motives,
left their native land, without taking arms against it. He
required that severe laws should be put in force against the
first two classes; but thought it would be good policy to be
indulgent towards the last With respect to nonjuring eccle-
siastics and agitators, some of the Girondists proposed to
confine themselves to a stricter surveillance; others thought
there was only one safe line of conduct to be pursued towards
them: that the spirit of sedition could only be quelled by
banishing them from the country. “ All attempts at con-
ciliation," said the impetuous Isnard, “will henceforth be
in vain. What, I ask, has been the consequence of these
reiterated pardons? The daring of your foes has increasea
with your indulgence; they will only cease to injure you
when deprived of the means of doing so. They must be
conquerors or conquered. On this point all must agree; the
man who will not see this great truth is, in my opinion, poli-
tically blind.”
The constitutionalists were opposed to all these measures;
they did not deny the danger, but they considered such laws
arbitrary. They said, before everything it was necessary to
respect the constitution, and from that time to confine them-
selves to precautionary measures; that it was sufficient to
keep on the defensive against the emigrants; and to wait, in
order to punish the dissentient priests, till they discovered
actual conspiracies on their part. They recommended that the
law should not be violated even towards enemies, for fear that
once engaging in such a course, it should be impossible to
arrest that course, and so the revolution be lost, like the ancient
régime, through its injustice. But the assembly, which deemed
the safety of the state more important than the strict obsery-
ance of the law, which saw danger in hesitation, and which,
!
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
121
moreover, was influenced by passions which lead to expedi-
tious measures, was not stopped by these considerations.
With common consent it again, on the 30th of October, passed
a decree relative to the eldest brother of the king, Louis-
Stanislaus-Xavier. This prince was required, in the terms
of the constitution, to return to France in two months, or at
the expiration of that period he would be considered to have
forfeited his rights as regent. But agreeraent ceased as to
the decrees against emigrants and priests. On the 9th of
November the assembly resolved, that the French gathered
together beyond the frontiers were suspected of conspiracy
against their country; that if they remained assembled on
the 1st of January, 1792, they would be treated as conspi-
rators, be punishable by death, and that after condemnation
to death for contumacy, the proceeds of their estates were
to be confiscated to the nation, always without prejudice
to the rights of their wives, children, and lawful creditors.
On the 29th of the same month it passed a similar decree
respecting the dissentient priests. They were obliged to take
the civic oath, under pain of being deprived of their pen-
sions and suspected of revolt against the law. If they still
refused they were to be closely watched; and if any reli-
gious disturbances took place in their parishes, they were to
be taken to the chief town of the department, and if found to
have taken any part in exciting disobedience, they were liable
to imprisonment.
The king sanctioned the first decree respecting his brother;
he put his veto on the other two. A short time before he
had disavowed emigration by public measures, and he had
written to the emigrant princes recalling them to the kingdom.
He invited them to return in the name of the tranquillity of
France, and of the attachment and obedience they owed to
him as their brother and their king. “I shall,” said he, in
concluding the letter, “always be grateful to you for sav-
ing me the necessity of acting in opposition to you, through
the invariable resolution I have made to maintain what I have
announced." These wise in vitations had led to no result: but
Louis XVI., while he condemned the conduct of the emigrants,
would not give his consent to the measures taken against
them. In refusing his sanction he was supported by the friends
of the constitution and the directory of the departinent
122
HISTORY 0
This support was not without use to him, at a time when, in
the eyes of the people, he appeared to be an accomplico of
emigration, when he provoked the dissatisfaction Os the
Girondists, and separated himself from the assembly. He
should have united closely with it, since he invoked the con-
stitution against the emigrants in his letters, and against the
revolutionist, by the exerciss of his prerogative. His posi-
tion could only become strong by sincerely falling in with the
first revolution, and making his own cause one with that of
the bourgeoisie.
But the court was not so resigned; it still expected better
times, and was thus prevented from pursuing an invariable
line of conduct, and induced to seek grounds for hope in
every quarter. Now and then disposed to favour the inter-
vention of foreign powers, it continued to correspond with
Europe; it intrigued with its ministers against the popular
party, and made use of the Feuillants against the Girondists,
though with much distrust. At this period its chief resource
was in the petty schemes of Bertrand de Molleville, who
directed the council; who had established a French club, the
members of which he paid; who purchased the applause of
the tribunes of the assembly, hoping by this imitation of the
revolution to conquer the true revolution, his object being to
deceive parties, and annul the effects of the constitution by
observing it literally.
By this line of conduct the court had even the imprudence
to weaken the constitutionalists, whom it ought to have re-
inforced; at their expense it favoured the election of Pétion
to the mayoralty. Through the disinterestedness with which
the preceding assembly had been seized, all who had held
popular posts under it successively gave them up. On the
18th of October, Lafayette resigned the command of the
national guard, and Bailly had just retired from the mayor-
alty. The constitutional party proposed that Lafayette should
replace him in this first post of the state, which, by per-
mitting or restraining insurrections, delivered Paris into the
power of him who occupied it. Till then it had been in
the hands of the constitutionalists, who, by this means, had
repressed the rising of the Champ de Mars. They had lost
the direction of the assembly, the command of the national
guard; they now lost the corporation. The court gave to
TEE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
123
Pétical, the Girondist candidate, all the votes at its disposal.
“ M. de Lafayette,” observed the queen to Bertrand de Mol-
leville, “only wishes to be mayor of Paris in order to become
mayor of the palace. Pétion is a jacobin, a republican,
but he is a fool, incapable of ever leading a party.” On the
4th of November, Pétion was elected mayor by a majority of
6708 votes in a total of 10,632.
The Girondists, in whose favour this nomination became
decisive, did not content themselves with the acquisition of
the mayoralty. France could not remain long in this dangerous
and provisional state. The decrees which, justly or other-
wise, were to provide for the defence of the revolution, and
which had been rejected by the king, were not replaced by
any government measure; the ministry manifested either
unwillingness or sheer indifference. The Girondists, accord-
ingly, accused Delessart, the minister for foreign affairs, of
compromising the honour and safety of the nation by the
tone of his negotiations with foreign powers, by his procrasti-
nation, and want of skill. They also warmly attacked Du
Portail, minister at war, and Bertrand de Molleville, minister
of the marine, for neglecting to put the coasts and frontiers
in a state of defence. The conduct of the Electors of Trèves,
Mayence, and of the bishop of Spire, who favoured the
military preparations of the emigrants, more especially ex-
cited the national indignation. The diplomatic committee
proposed a declaration to the king, that the nation would
view with satisfaction a requisition by him to the neighbour-
ing princes to disperse the military gatherings within three
weeks, and his assembling the forces necessary to make them
respect the right of nations. By this important measure,
they also wished to make Louis XVI. enter into a solemn
engagement, and signify to the diet of Ratisbon, as well as to
the other courts of Europe, the firm intentions of France.
Isnard ascended the tribune to support this proposition.
“Let us,” said he, “in this crisis, rise to the full elevation
of our mission; let us speak to the ministers, to the king, to
all Europe, with the firmness that becomes us. Let us tell
cur ministers, that hitherto the nation is not well satisfied
with the conduct of any of them; that henceforth, they will
have no choice but between public gratitude and the vengeance
of the laws; and that by the word responsibility we under.
124
HISTORY OF
stand death. Let us tell the king that it is his interest to
defend the constitution; that he only reigns by the people,
and for the people; that the nation is his sovereign, and that
he is subject to the law. Let us tell Europe, that if the
French people once draw the sword, they will throw away
the scabbard, and will not raise it again till it may be crowned
with the laurels of victory; that if cabinets engage kings in a
war against the people, we will engage the people in a mortal
warfare against kings. Let us tell them, that all the fights
the people shall fight at the order of despots”—here he
was interrupted by loud applause—“Do not applaud,” he
cried—“ do not applaud; respect my enthusiasm; it is that of
liberty! Let us say to Europe, that all the fights which
the people shall fight at the command of despots, resemble
the blows that two friends, excited by a perfidious instigator,
inflict on each other in darkness. When light arrives, they
throw down their arms, embrace, and chastise their deceiver.
So will it be if, when foreign armies are contending with
ours, the light of philosophy shine upon them. The nations
will embrace in the presence of dethroned tyrants—of the
earth consoled, of Heaven satisfied.”
The assembly unanimously, and with transport, passed the
proposed measure, and, on the 29th of November, sent a mes-
sage to the king. Vaublanc was the leader of the deputation.
Sire,” said he to Louis XVI., “the national assembly had
scarcely glanced at the state of the nation ere it saw that the
troubles which still agitate it arise from the criminal prepara-
tions of French emigrants. Their audacity is encouraged by
German princes, who trample under foot the treaties between
them and France, and affect to forget that they are indebted
to this empire for the treaty of Westphalia, which secured
their rights and their safety. These hostile preparations,
these threats of invasion, will require armaments absorbing
immense sums, which the nation would joyfully pay over
to its creditors. It is for you, sire, to make them desist;
it is for you to address to foreign powers the language be-
fitting the king of the French. Tell them, that wherever
preparations are permitted to be made against France, there
France recognises only foes; that we will religiously observe
our oath to make no conquests; that we offer them the good
neighbourship, the inviolable friendship of a free and pover-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
125
ful people; that we will respect their laws, their customs, and
their constitutions; but that we will have our own respected!
Tell them, that if princes of Germany continue to favour
preparations directed against the French, the French will
carry into their territories, not indeed fire and sword, but
liberty. It is for them to calculate the consequences of this
rousing up of nations.”
Louis XVI. replied, that he would give the fullest con-
sideration to the message of the assembly; and in a few days
he came in person to announce his resolutions on the subject.
They were conformable with the general wish. The king
said, amidst vehement applause, that he would cause it to
be declared to the elector of Trèves and the other electors,
that, unless all gatherings and hostile preparations on the
part of the French emigrants in their states ceased before
the 15th of January, he should consider them as enemies.
He added, that he would write to the emperor to engage
him, as chief of the empire, to interpose his authority for
the purpose of averting the calamities which the lengthened
resistance of a few members of the Germanic body would
occasion. “If these declarations are not heeded, then, gentle-
men,” said he, “it will only remain for me to propose war-
war, which a people who have solemnly renounced conquest,
never declares without necessity, but which a free and
generous nation will undertake and carry on when its honour
and safety require it.”
The steps taken by the king with the princes of the empire
were supported by military preparations. On the 6th of
December a new minister of war replaced Du Portail; Nar-
bonne, taken from the Feuillans, young, active, ambitious of
distinguishing himself by the triumph of his party and the
defence of the revolution, repaired immediately to the fron-
tiers. A hundred and fifty thousand men were placed in
requisition; for this object the assembly voted an extraordi-
nary supply of twenty millions of francs; three armies were
formed under the command of Rochambeau, Luckner, and
Lafayette; finally, a decree was passed impeaching Monsieur,
the count d’Artois, and the prince de Conde as conspirators
against the general safety of the state and of the constitution.
Their property was sequestrated, and the period previously
fixed on for Monsieur's return to the kingdom having expired,
he was deprived of his claim to the regency.
126
HISTORY OF
The elector of Trèves engaged to disperse the gatherings,
and not to allow them in future. It was, however, but the
shadow of a dispersion. Austria ordered marshal de Bender
to defend the elector if he were attacked, and ratified the con-
clusions of the diet of Ratisbon, which required the restoration
of the princes' possessions; refused to sanction any pecuniary
indemnity for the loss of their rights, and only left France
the alternative of restoring feudalism in Alsace, or war.
T'hese two measures of the cabinet of Vienna were by no
means pacific. Its troops advanced towards the frontiers of
France, and gave further proof that it would not be safe to
trust to its neutrality. It had fifty thousand men in the Nether-
lands; six thousand posted in Brisgaw; and thirty thousand
men on their way from Bohemia. This powerful army of
observation might at any moment be converted into an army
of attack.
The assembly felt that it was urgently necessary to bring
the emperor to a decision. It looked on the electors as
merely his agents, and on the emigrants as his instruments; for
the prince von Kaunitz recognised as legitimate the league
of sovereigns united for the safety and honour of crowns.”
The Girondists, therefore, wished to anticipate this dangerous
adversary, in order not to give him time for more mature
preparations. They required from him, before the 10th of
February, a definite and precise explanation of his real
intentions with regard to France. They at the same time
proceeded against those ministers on whom they could not
rely in the event of war. The incapacity of Delessart,
and the intrigues of Molleville especially, gave room for
attack; Narbonne was alone spared. They were aided by
the divisions of the council, which was partly aristocratic
in Bertrandl de Molleville, Delessart, &c., and partly con-
stitutional, in Narbonne, and Cahier de Gervillc, minister
of the interior. Men so opposed in character and inten-
tions could scarcely be expected to agree; Bertrand de Molle-
ville had warm contests with Narbonne, who wished his
colleagues to adopt a frank, decided line of conduct, and to
make the assembly the fulcrum of the throne. Narbonne
succumbed in this struggle, and his dismissal involved the
disorganization of the ministry. The Girondists threw the
biame upon Bertrand de Molleville and Delessart; the former
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
127
had the address to exonerate bimself; but the latter was
brought before the high court of Orleans.
The king, intimidated by the assaults of the assembly
upon the members of his council, and more especially
by the impeachment of Delessart, had no resource but to
select his new ministers from amongst the victorious party.
An alliance with the actual rulers of the revolution could
alone save liberty and the throne, by restoring concord
between the assembly, the supreme authority, and the muni-
cipality; and if this union had been maintained, the Girondists
would have effected with the court that which, after the
rupture itself, they considered they could only effect without it.
The members of the new ministry were,-minister of the
marine, Lacoste; of finance, Clavière; of justice, Duranthon;
of war, de Grave, soon afterwards replaced by Servan; of
foreign affairs, Dumouriez; of the interior, Roland. Tle
two latter were the most important and most remarkable
men in the cabinet.
Dumouriez was forty-seven years of age when the revolu-
tion began; he had lived till then inmersed in intrigue, and
he retained his old habits too closely at an epoch when he
should have employed small means only to aid great ones,
instead of supplying their place. The first part of his poli-
tical life was spent in seeking those by whom he might rise:
the second, those by whom he inight maintain his position.
À courtier up to 1789, a constitutionalist under the first
assembly, a Girondist under the second, a Jacobin under the
republic, he was eminently a man of circumstances. But he
had all the resources of great men; an enterprising character,
indefatigable activity, a ready, sure, and extensive perception,
impetuosity of action, and an extraordinary confidence of
success; ne was, moreover, open, easy, witty, daring; adapted
alike for arms and for factions, full of expedients, wonder-
fully ready, and, in difficult positions, versed in the art of
stooping to conquer. It is true that his great qualities were
weakened by defects; he was rash, ilighty, full of inconsistency
of thought and action, owing to his continual thirst for move-
ment and machination. But his great defect was the total
absence of a political conviction. In times of revolution, nothing
can be done for liberty or power by him who is not decidedly
of one party or another. and when he is ambitious, unless he
128
HISTORY OF
see further than the immediate objects of that party, and have
a stronger will than his colleagues. This it was made Crom-
well; this it was made Buonaparte; while Dumouriez, the
employed of all parties, thought he could get the better of
them all by intriguing. He wanted the passion of his time:
that which completes a man, and alone enables him to
sway
Roland was the opposite of Dumouriez; his was a character
which Liberty found ready formed, as if moulded by herself.
Roland had simple manners, austere morals, tried opinions;
enthusiastically attached to liberty, he was capable of disin-
terestedly devoting to her cause his whole life, or of perishing
for her, without ostentation and without regret. A man
worthy of being born in a republic, but out of place in a
revolution, and ill adapted for the agitation and struggle of
parties; his talents were not superior, his temper somewhat
uncompliant; he was unskilled in the knowledge and manage-
ment of men; and though laborious, well informed, and
active, he would have produced little effect but for his wife.
All he wanted she had for him; force, ability, elevation, fore-
sight. Madame Roland was the soul of the Gironde; it was
at her house that those brilliant and courageous men assembled
to discuss the necessities and dangers of their country; it was
she who stimulated to action those whom she saw were quali-
fied for action, and who encouraged to the tribune those
whom she knew to be eloquent.
The court named this ministry, which was appointed
during the month of March, le Ministère Sans-Culotte. The
first time Roland appeared at the chateau with strings in his
shoes and a round hat, contrary to etiquette, the master of
the ceremonies refused to admit him. Obliged, however, to
give way, he said, despairingly, to Dumouriez, pointing to
Roland: " Ah, sir--no buckles in his shoes." Ah, sir, all is
lost,” replied Dumouriez, with an air of the most sympathizing
gravity. Such were the trifles which still occupied the
attention of the court. The first step of the new ministry
The position of France was becoming more and
more dangerous; everything was to be feared from the enmity
of Europe. Leopold was dead, and this event was calculated
to accelerate the decision of the cabinet of Vienna. His
young successor, Francis II.: was likely to be less pacific us
was war.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTIO,V.
129
less prudent than he. Moreover, Austria was assembling its
troops, forming camps, and appointing generals; it had violated
the territory of Bâle, and placed a garrison in Porentruy, to
secure for itself the entry of the department of Doubs. There
could be no doubt as to its projects. The gatherings at
Coblentz had recommenced to a greater extent than before; the
cabinet of Vienna had only temporarily dispersed the emigrants
assembled in the Belgian provinces, in order to prevent the
invasion of that country, at a time when it was not yet ready
to repel invasion; it had, however, merely sought to save ap-
pearances, and had allowed a staff of general officers, in full
uniform, and with the white cockade, to remain at Brussels.
Finally, the reply of the prince Von Kaunitz to the required
explanations was by no means satisfactory. He even re-
fused to negotiate directly, and the baron Von Cobentzel was
commissioned to reply, that Austria would not depart from the
required conditions already set forth. The re-establishment
of the monarchy on the basis of the royal sittings of the 23rd
of June; the restitution of its property to the clergy; of the
territory of Alsace, with all their rights, to the German
princes; of Avignon and the Venaissin to the pope; such was
the ultimatum of Austria. All accord was now impossible;
peace could no longer be maintained. France was threatened
with the fate which Holland had just experienced, and perhaps
with that of Poland. The sole question now was whether to
wait for or to initiate war, whether to profit by the enthusiasm
of the people or to allow that enthusiasm to cool. The true
author of war is not he who declares it, but he who renders
it necessary.
On the 20th of April, Louis XVI. went to the assembly,
attended by all his ministers. “I come, gentlemen," said he,
to the national assembly for one of the most important objects
that can occupy the representatives of the nation. My minister
for foreign affairs will read to you the report drawn up in
our council, as to our political situation.” Dumouriez then
He set forth the grounds of complaint that France
had against the house of Austria; the object of the confer-
ences of Mantua, Reichenbach and Pilnitz; the coalition it
had formed against the French' revolution; its armaments
becoming more and more considerable; the open protection
it afforded to bodies of emigrants; the imperious tone and
rose,
ܬ
130
HISTORY OF
the undisguised procrastination of its negotiations, lastly, tho
intolerable conditions of its ultimatum; -and, after a long
series of considerations, founded on the hostile conduct of the
king of Hungary and Bohemia (Francis II. was not yet
elected emperor); on the urgent circumstances of the nation;
on its formally declared resolution to endure no insult, no
encroachment on its rights; on the honour and good faith
of Louis XVI., the depositary of the dignity and safety
of France; be demanded war against Austria. Louis
XVI. then said, in a voice slightly tremulous: “You have
heard, gentlemen, the result of my negotiations with the
court of Vienna. The conclusions of the report are based
upon the unanimous opinion of my council; I have myself
adopted them. They are conformable with the wishes often
expressed to me by the national assembly, and with the sen-
timents frequently testified by bodies of citizens in different
parts of the kingdom; all prefer war, to witnessing the con-
tinuance of insult to the French people, and danger threaten-
ing the national existence. It was my duty first to try
every means of maintaining peace. Having failed in these
efforts, I now come, according to the terms of the consti-
tution, to propose to the national assembly war against the
king of Hungary and Bohemia.” The king's address was
received with some applause, but the solemnity of the cir-
cumstances, and the grandeur of the decision, filled every
bosom with silent and concentrated emotion. As soon as the
king had withdrawn, the assembly voted an extraordinary
sitting for the evening. In that sitting war was almost
unanimously decided upon. Thus was undertaken, against
the chief of the confederate powers, that war which was pro-
tracted throughout a quarter of a century, which victoriously
established the revolution, and which changed the whole face
of Europe.
All France received the announcement with joy.
gave a new movement to the people already so excited. Dis-
tricts, municipalities, popular societies, wrote addresses; men
were enrolled, voluntary gifts offered, pikes forged, and the
nation seemed to rise up to await Europe, or to attack it.
But enthusiasm, which ensures victory in the end, does not
at first supply the place of organization. Accordingly, at
the opening of the campaign, the regular troops were all that
War
THE FRENCA REVOLUTION.
131
could be relied upon until the new levies were trained. This
was the state of the forces. The vast frontier from Dunkirk
to Huninguen, was divided into three great military districts.
On the left, from Dunkirk to Philippeville, the army of the
north, of about forty thousand foot, and eight thousand horse,
was under the orders of marshal de Rochambeau. Lafayette
commanded the army of the centre, composed of forty-five
thousand foot, and seven thousand horse, and occupying the
district between Philippeville and the lines of Weissem berg.
Lastly, the army of the Rhine, consisting of thirty-five thou-
sand foot, and.eight thousand horse, extending from the lines
of Weissemberg to Båle, was under the command of marshal
Luckner. The frontier of the Alps and Pyrenees was con-
fided to general Montesquiou, whose army was inconsider-
able; but this part of France was not as yet in danger.
The marshal de Rochambeau was of opinion that it would
be prudeut to remain on the defensive, and simply to guard
the frontiers. Dumouriez, on the contrary, wished to take the
initiative in action, as they had done in declaring war, so as to
profit by the advantage of being first prepared. He was very
enterprising, and as, although minister of foreign affairs, he
directed the military operations, his plan was adopted. It
consisted of a rapid invasion of Belgium. This province bad,
in 1790, essayed to throw off the Austrian yoke, but, after a
brief victory, was subdued by superior force. Dumouriez
imagined that the Brabant patriots would favour the attack
of the French, as a means of freedom for themselves. With
this view, he combined a triple invasion. The two generals,
Théobald Dillon, and Biron, who commanded in Flanders
under Rochambeau, received orders to advance, the one with
four thousand men from Lille upon Tournai—the other, with
ten thousand, from Valenciennes upon Mons. At the same
time, Lafayette, with a part of his army, quitted Metz, and
advanced by forced marches upon Namur, by Stenai, Sedan,
Mézières, and Givet. But this plan implied in the soldiers
a discipline which they had not of course as yet acquired,
and on the part of the chiefs a concert very difficalt to
obtain; besides, the invading columns were not strong enough
for such an enterprise. Theobald Dillon had scarcely passed
the frontier, when, on meeting the first enemy on the 28th of
April
, a par.ic terror seized upon the troops. The cry of
132
HISTORY OF
saute qui peut ran through the ranks, and the general was
carried off and massacred by his troops. Much the same
thing took place, under the same circumstances, in the corps
of
Biron, who was obliged to retreat in disorder to his previous
position The sudden and concurrent flight of these two
columns must be attributed either to fear of the enemy, on
the part of troops who had never before stood fire, or to a
distrust of their leaders, or to traitors who sounded the
alarm of treachery.
Lafayette, on arriving at Bouvines, after travelling fifty
leagues of bad roads in two or three days, learnt the disasters
of Valenciennes and Lille; he at once saw that the object of
the invasion had failed; and he justly thought that the best
course would be to effect a retreat. Rochambeau complained
of the precipitate and incongruous nature of the measures
which had been in the most absolute manner prescribed to
him. As he did not choose to remain a passive machine,
obliged to fill, at the will of the ministers, a post which he
himself ought to have the full direction of, he resigned. From
that moment the French army resumed the defensive. The
frontier was divided into two general commands only, the one
intrusted to Lafayette, extending from the sea to Longwy,
and the other, from the Moselle to the Jura, being confided to
Luckner. Lafayette placed his left under the command of
Arthur Dillon, and with his right reached to Luckner, who
had Dillon as his lieutenant on the Rhine. In this position
they awaited the allies.
Meantime, the first checks increased the disunion of the
Feuillans and the Girondists. The generals ascribed them
to the plans of Dumouriez, the ministry attributed them to
the manner in which its plans had been executed, or rather,
not executed, by the generals, who, having been appointed by
Narbonne, were of the constitutional party. The Jacobins,
on the other hand, accused the anti-revolutionists of having
occasioned the flight by the cry of sauve qui peut! Their
joy, which they did not conceal, the declared hope of soon
seeing the confederates in Paris, the emigrants returned, and
the ancient régime restored, confirmed these suspicions.
was thought that the court, which had increased the house-
hoid troops from eighteen hundred to six thousand men, and
these carefully selected anti-revolutionists, acted in concert
TEE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
133
case.
with the coalition. The public denounced, under the name
of comité Autrichien, a secret committee, the very existence
of which could not be proved, and mistrust was at its
height.
The assembly at once took decided measures. It had
entered upon the career of war, and it was thenceforth con-
demned to regulate its conduct far more with reference to
the public safety than with regard to the mere justice of the
It resolved upon sitting permanently; it discharged
the household troops; on account of the increase of religious
disturbances, it passed a decree exiling refractory priests, so
that it might not have at the same time to combat a coalition
and to appease revolts. To repair the late defeats, and to
have an army of reserve near the capital, it voted on the
8th of June, and on the motion of the minister at war, Servan,
the formation of a camp outside Paris of twenty thousand
men drawn from the provinces. It also sought to excite the
public mind by revolutionary fêtes, and began to enrol the
multitude and arm them with pikes, conceiving that no
assistance could be superfluous in such a moment of peril.
All these measures were not carried without opposition
from the constitutionalists. They opposed the establishment
of the camp of twenty thousand men, which they regarded as
the army of a party directed against the national guard and
the throne. The staff of the latter protested, and the recom-
position of this body was immediately effected in accordance
with the views of the dominant party. Companies armed
with pikes were introduced into the new national guard.
The constitutionalists were still more dissatisfied with this
measure, which introduced a lower class into their ranks, and
which seemed to them to aim at superseding the bourgeoisie
by the populace. Finally, they openly condemned the banish-
ment of the priests, which in their opinion was nothing less
than proscription.
Louis XVI. had for some time past manifested a coolness
towards his ministers, who on their part had been more
exacting with him. They urged him to admit about him priests
who had taken the oath, in order to set an example in favour
of the constitutional religion, and to remove pretexts for reli-
gious agitation; he steadily refused this, determined as he
was to make no further religious concession. These last
134
HISTORY OF
decrees had put an end to his concord with the Gironde; for
several days he did not mention the subject, much less make
known his intentions respecting it. It was on this occasion
that Roland addressed to him his celebrated letter on his con-
stitutional duties, and entreated him to calm the public mind.
and to establish his authority, by becoming frankly the king
of the revolution. This letter still more highly irritated
Louis XVI., already disposed to break with the Girondists.
He was supported in this by Dumouriez, who, forsaking his
party, had formed, with Duranthon and Lacoste, a divi-
sion in the ministry against Roland, Servan, and Clavière.
But, able as well as ambitious, Dumouriez advised Louis,
while dismissing the ministers of whom he had to complain,
to sanction their decrees, in order to make himself popular.
He described that, against the priests, as a precaution in
their favour, exile probably removing them from a pro-
scription still more fatal; he undertook to prevent any revo-
lutionary consequences from the camp of twenty thousand
men, by marching off each battalion to the army immediately
upon its arrival at the camp. On these conditions, Dumou-
riez took upon himself the post of minister at war, and sus-
tained the attacks of his own party. The king dismissed his
ministers on the 13th of June, rejected the decrees on the
29th, and Dumouriez set out for the army, after having ren-
dered himself an object of suspicion. The assembly declared
that Roland, Servan, and Clavière carried with them the
regrets of the nation.
The king selected his new ministers from among the Feuil-
lans. Scipio Chambonnas was appointed minister of foreign
affairs; Terrier Monteil, of the interior; Beaulieu, of finance;
Lajarre, of war; Lacoste and Duranthon remained provi-
sionally ministers of justice and of the marine. All these
men were without reputation or credit, and their party itself
was approaching the term of its existence. The constitu-
tional situation, during which it was to sway, was changing
more and more decidedly into a revolutionary situation. How
could a legal and moderate party maintain itself between two
extreme and belligerent parties, one of which was advancing
from without to destroy the revolution, while the other was
resolved to defend it at any cost? The Feuillans became
superfluous in such a conjuncture. The king, perceiving
1
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
135
their weakness, now seemed to place his reliance upou Europa
alone, and sent Mallet-Dupan on a secret mission to tho
coalition,
Meantime, all those who had been outstripped by the
popular tide, and who belonged to the first period of the revo.
lution, united to second this slight retrograde movement. The
monarchists, at whose head were Lally-Tollendal and Malouet,
two of the principal members of the Mounier and Necker
party; the Feuillans, directed by the old triumvirate, Duport,
Lameth, and Barnave; lastly, Lafayette, who had immense
reputation as a constitutionalist, tried to put down the clubs,
and to re-establish legal order and the power of the king. The
Jacobins made great exertions at this period; their influence
was becoming enormous; they were at the head of the party
of the populace. To oppose them, to check them, the old
party of the bourgeoisie was required; but this was disor-
ganised, and its influence grew daily weaker and weaker. In
order to revive its courage and strength, Lafayette, on the
16th of June, addressed from the camp at Maubeuge a letter
to the assembly, in which he denounced the Jacobin faction,
required the cessation of the clubs, the independence and con-
firmation of the constitutional throne, and urged the assembly
in his own name, in that of his army, in that of all the friends
of liberty, only to adopt such measures for the public welfare
as were sanctioned by law. This letter gave rise to warm
debates between the Right and Left in the assembly. Though
dictated only by pure and disinterested motives, it appeared,
coming as it did from a young general at the head of his army,
a proceeding à la Cromwell, and from that moment Lafayette's
reputation, hitherto respected by his opponents, became the
object of attack. In fact, considering it merely in a political
point of view, this step was imprudent. The Gironde, driven
from the ministry, stopped in its measures for the public good,
needed no further goading; and, on the other liand, it was
quite undesirable that Lafayette, even for the benefit of his
party, should use his influence.
The Gironde wished, for its own safety and that of the
nation, to recover power, without, however, departing from
constitutional means. Its object was not, as at a later period,
to dethrone the king, but to bring him back amongst them.
For this purpose it had recourse to the imperious petitions of
136
HISTORY OF
the multitude. Sirice the declaration of war, petitioners had
appeared in arms at the bar of the national assembly, had
offered their services in defence of the country, and had oba
tained permission to march armed through the house. This
concession was blameable, neutralizing all the laws against
nilitary gatherings; but both parties found themselves in an
extraordinary position, and each employed an illegal means;
the court having recourse to Europe, and the Gironde to the
people. The latter was in a state of great agitation. The
leaders of the Faubourgs, among whom were the deputy
Chabot, Santerre, Legendre, a butcher, Gonchon, the marquis
de Saint Hurugues, prepared them, during several days, for å
revolutionary outbreak, similar to the one which failed at the
Champ de Mars. The 20th of June was approaching, the
anniversary of the oath of the Tennis-court. Under the pre-
text of celebrating this memorable day by a civic fête, and of
planting a May-poll in honour of liberty, an assemblage of
about eight thousand men left the Faubourgs Saint Antoine
and Saint Marceau, on the 20th of June, and took their way
to the assembly.
Roederer, the recorder, brought the tidings to the assembly,
but in the meantime the mob had reached the doors of the
Hall. Their leaders asked permission to present a petition, and
to defile before the assembly. A violent debate arose between
the Right, who were unwilling to admit the armed petitioners,
and the Left, who, on the ground of custom, wished to re-
ceive them. Vergniaud declared that the assembly would
violate every principle by admitting armed bands among
their: hut, considering actual circumstances, he also declared
that it was impossible to deny a request in the present case,
that had been granted in so many others. It was difficult not
to yield to the desires of an enthusiastic and vast multitude,
when seconded by a majority of the representatives. The
crowd already thronged the passages, when the assembly de-
cided that the petitioners should be admitted to the bar. The
deputation was introduced. The spokesman expressed him-
self in threatening language. He said that the people were
astir; that they were ready to make use of great means- -the
means comprised in the declaration of rights, resistance of op-
pression; that the dissentient members of the assembly, if
there were any, would purge the world of liberty, and would
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
137
repair to Coblentz; then returning to the true design of this
insurrectional petition, he added: “ The executive power is
not in union with you; we require no other proof of it than
the dismissal of the patriot ministers. It is thus, then, that
the happiness of a free nation shall depend on the caprice of
a king! But should this king have any other will than that
of the law? The people will bave it so, and the life of the
people is as valuable as that of crowned despots. That life is
the genealogical tree of the nation, and the feeble reed must
bend before this sturdy oak! We complain, gentlemen, of the
inactivity of our armies; we require of you to penetrate into
the cause of this; if it spring from the executive power, let
that power be destroyed!"
The assembly answered the petitioners that it would take
their request into consideration; it then urged them to respect
the law and legal authorities, and allowed them to defile be-
fore it. This procession, amounting to thirty thousand persons,
comprising women, children, national guards, and men armed
with pikes, among whom waved revolutionary banners and
symbols, sang, as they traversed the hall, the famous chorus,
Ca ira, and cried: “ Vive la nation !" 66 Vivent les sans-
culottes!” “ A bas le veto!" It was led by Santerre and the
marquis de Saint Hurugues. On leaving the assembly, it
proceeded to the château, headed by the petitioners.
The outer doors were opened at the king's command; the
multitude rushed into the interior. They ascended to the
apartments, and while forcing the doors with hatchets, the
king ordered them to be opened, and appeared before them,
accompanied by a few persons. The mob stopped a moment
before him; but those who were outside, not being awed by
the presence of the king, continued to advance. Louis XVÍ.
was prudently placed in the recess of a window. He never
displayed more courage than on this deplorable day. Sur-
rounded by national guards, who formed a barrier against
the mob, seated on a chair placed on a table, that he might
breathe more freely and be seen by the people, he preserved
a calm and firm demeanour. In reply to the cries that arose
on all sides for the sanction of the decrees, be said: “ This is
neither the mode nor the moment to obtain it of me.” Having
the courage to refuse the essential object of the meeting, he
thought he ought not to reject a symbol, meaningless for him,
138
HISTORY OF
but in the eyes of the people, that of liberty: he placed on his
head, a red cap presented to him on the top of a pike. The
multitude were quite satisfied with this condescension. A
moment or two afterwards, they loaded him with applause,
as, almost suffocated with hunger and thirst, he drank off,
without hesitation, a glass of wine presented to him by a half-
drunken workman. In the meantime, Vergniaud, Isnard,
and a few deputies of the Gironde, had hastened thither to
protect the king, to address the people, and put an end to
these indecent scenes. The assembly, which had just risen
from a sitting, met again in haste, terrified at this outbreak,
and despatched several successive deputations to Louis XVI.
by way of protection. At length, Pétion, the mayor, himself.
arrived; he mounted a chair, harangued the people, urged
them to retire without tumult, and the people obeyed. These
singular insurgents, whose only aim was to obtain decrees
and ministers, retired without having exceeded their mission,
but without discharging it.
The events of the 20th of June excited the friends of the
constitution against its authors. The violation of the royal
residence, the insults offered to Louis XVI., the illegality of
a petition presented amidst the violence of the multitude, and
the display of arms, were subjects of serious censure against
the popular party. The latter saw itself reduced for a moment
to the defensive; besides being guilty of a riot, it had under-
gone a complete check. The constitutionalists assumed the
tone and superiority of an offended and predominant party;
but this lasted only a short time, for they were not seconded
by the court. The national guard offered to Louis XVI. to
remain assembled round his person; the duc de la Rochefou-
cauld-Liancourt, who commanded at Rouen, wished to convey
him to his troops, who were devoted to his cause. Lafayette
proposed to take him to Compiègne, and place him at the
head of his army; but Louis XVI. declined all these offers.
He conceived that the agitators would be disgusted at the
failure of their last attempt; and, as he hoped for deliverance
from the coalition of European powers, rendered more active
by the events of the 20th of June, he was unwilling to make
use of the constitutionalists, because he would have been
obliged to treat with them.
Lafayette, however, attempted to make a last effort in
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
139
favour of legal monarchy. After having provided for the
command of his army, and collected addresses protesting
against the late events, he started for Paris, and on the
28th of June he unexpectedly presented himself at the bar of
the assembly. He required in his name, as well as in that
of his army, the punishment of the insurrectionists of the
20th of June, and the destruction of the Jacobin party. His
proceeding excited various sentiments in the assembly. The
Right warmly applauded it, but the Left protested against
his conduct. Guadet proposed that an inquiry should be
made as to his culpability in leaving his army and coming to
dictate laws to the assembly. Some remains of respect pre-
vented the latter from following Guadet's advice; and after
tumultuous debates, Lafayette was admitted to the honours
of the sitting, but this was all on the part of the assembly.
Lafayette then turned to the national guard, that had so long
been devoted to him, and hoped with its aid to close the
clubs, disperse the Jacobins, restore to Louis XVI. the
authority which the law gave him, and again establish the
constitution. The revolutionists were astounded, and dreaded
everything from the daring and activity of this adversary of
the Champ de Mars. But the court, which feared the
triumph of the constitutionalists, caused Lafayette's projects to
fail; he had appointed a review, which it contrived to prevent
by its influence over the officers of the royalist battalions.
The grenadiers and chasseurs, picked companies, and still
better disposed than the rest, were to assemble at his resi-
dence and proceed against the clubs; scarcely thirty men
Having thus vainly attempted to rally in the cause of
the constitution, and the common defence, the court and the
national guard, and finding himself deserted by those he
came to assist, Lafayette returned to his army, after having
lost what little influence and popularity remained to him.
This attempt was the last symptom of life in the constitu-
came,
tional party.
The assembly naturally returned to the situation of France,
which had not changed. The extraordinary commission of
twelve presented, through Pastoret, an unsatisfactory picture
of the state and divisions of party. Jean Debry, in the
name of the same commission, proposed that the assembly
should secure the tranquillity of the people, now greatly dis-
140
HISTORY OF
turbed, by declaring that when the crisis becamc imminent,
the assembly would declare the country is in danger; and that
it would then take measures for the public safety. The
debate opened upon this important subject. Vergniaud, in a
speech which deeply moved the assembly, drew a vivid
picture of all the perils to which the country was at that
moment exposed. He said that it was in the name of the
king that the emigrants were assembled, that the sovereigns
of Europe had formed a coalition, that foreign armies were
marching on our frontiers, and that internal disturbances were
taking place. He accused him of checking the national zeal by
his refusals, and of giving France up to the coalition. He
quoted the article of the constitution by which it was de-
clared that “if the king placed himself at the head of an
army and directed its force against the nation, or if he did
not formally oppose such an enterprise, undertaken in his
name, he should be considered as having abdicated the
throne.” Supposing, then, that Louis XVI. voluntarily
opposed the means of defending the country, in that case,
said he: “have we not a right to say to him: O king, who
thought, no doubt, with the tyrant Lysander, that truth was
of no more worth than falsehood, and that men were to be
amused by oaths, as children are diverted by toys; who only
feigned obedience to the laws that you might better preserve
the power that enables you to defy them; and who only
feigned love for the constitution that it might not precipitate
you from the throne on which you wished to remain, only to
destroy the constitution, do you expect to deceive us by
hypocritical protestations? Do you think to deceive us as to
our misfortunes by the art of your excuses? was it defending
us to oppose to foreign soldiers forces whose known infe-
riority admitted of no doubt as to their defeat? to set aside
projects for strengthening the interior? Was it defending us
not to check a general who was violating the constitution,
while you repressed the courage of those who sought to serve
it? Did the constitution leave you the choice of ministers for
our happiness or our ruin? did it place you at the head of
our army for our glory or our shame? did it give you the
right of sanction, a civil list and so many prerogatives, con-
stitutionally to lose the empire and the constitution? No! no!
man! whom the generosity of the French could not affect,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
141
yhom the love of despotism alone actuates, you are now
nothing to the constitution you have so unworthily violated,
and to the people you have so basely betrayed !'”
The only resource of the Gironde, in its present situation,
was the abdication of the king; Vergniaud, it is true, as yet
only expressed himself ambiguously, but all the popular
party attributed to Louis XVI. projects which Vergniaud
had only expressed in the form of suppositions. In a few
days, Brissot expressed himself more openly. “Our peril,"
said he, “exceeds all that past ages have witnessed. The
country is in danger, not because we are in want of troops,
not because those troops want courage, or that our fron-
tiers are badly fortified, and our resources scanty. No,
it is in danger, because its force is paralysed. And who
has paralysed it? A man,- -one man, the man whom the
constitution has made its chief, and whom perfidious ad-
visers have made its foe. You are told to fear the kings
of Hungary and Prussia; I say, the chief force of these kings
is at the court, and it is there that we must first conquer
them. They tell you to strike the dissentient
priests through-
out the kingdom. I tell you to strike at the Tuileries, that is,
to fell all the priests with a single blow; you are told to
prosecute all factious and intriguing conspirators; they
will all disappear if you once knock loud enough at the door
of the cabinet of the Tuileries, for that cabinet is the point to
which all these threads tend, where every scheme is plotted,
and whence every impulse proceeds. The nation is the
plaything of this cabinet. This is the secret of our position,
this is the source of the evil, and here the remedy must be
applied.”
In this way the Gironde prepared the assembly for the
question of deposition. But the great question concern-
ing the danger of the country was first terminated. The
three united committees declared that it was necessary to
take measures for the public safety, and on the 5th of July
the assembly pronounced the solemn declaration: Citizens, the
country is in danger! All the civil authorities immediately
established themselves en surveillance permanente. All
citizens able to bear arms, and having already served in the
national guard, were placed in active service; every one was
obliged to make known wbat arms and ammunition he pos-
sessed; pikes were given to those who were unable to procure
142
HISTORY OF
guns; battalions of volunteers were enrolled on the public
squares, in the midst of which banners were placed, bearing
the words—“ Citizens, the country is in danger!” and a
camp was formed at Soissons. These measures of defence,
now become indispensable, raised the revolutionary enthusiasm
to the highest pitch. It was especially observable on the
anniversary of the 14th of July, when the sentiments of the
multitude and the federates from the departments were mani-
fested without reserve. Pétion was the object of the people's
idolatry, and had all the honours of the federation. A few
days before, he had been dismissed, on account of his conduct
on the 20th of June, by the directory of the department and
the council; but the assembly had restored him to his func-
ticns, and the only cry on the day of the federation was:
“ Pétion or death! A few battalions of the national guard,
such as that of the Filles-Saint-Thomas, still betrayed attach-
ment to the court; they became the object of popular resent-
ment and mistrust. A disturbance was excited in the Champs
Elysées between the grenadiers of the Filles-Saint-Thomas
and the federates of Marseilles, in which some grenadiers
were wounded. Every day the crisis became more imminent;
the party in favour of war could no longer endure that of the
constitution. Attacks against Lafayette multiplied; he was
censured in the journals, denounced in the assembly. At
length, hostilities began. The club of the Feuillants was
closed; the grenadier and chasseur companies of the national
guard which formed the force of the bourgeoisie were dis-
banded; the soldiers of the line, and a portion of the Swiss,
were sent away from Paris, and open preparations were made
for the catastrophe of the 10th of August.
The progress of the Prussians and the famous manifesto 01
Brunswick contributed to hásten this movement. Prussia
had joined Austria and the German princes against France.
This coalition, to which the court of Turin joined itself, was
formidable, though it did not comprise all the princes that
were to have joined it at first. The death of Gustavus, ap-
pointed at first commander of the invading army, detached
Sweden; the substitution of the count d’Aranda, a prudent
and moderate man, for the minister Blanca-Florida, prevented
Spain from entering it; Russia and England secretly approved
the attacks of the European league, without as yet co-opera:-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
143
ing with it. After the military operations already mentioned,
they watched each other rather than fought. During the
interval, Lafayette had inspired his army with good habits of
discipline and devotedness; and Dumouriez, stationed under
Luckner at the camp of Maulde, had inured the troops confided
to him by petty engagements and daily successes. In this
way they had formed the nucleus of a good army; a desirable
thing, as they required organization and confidence to repel
the approaching invasion of the coalesced powers.
The duke of Brunswick directed it. He had the chief
command of the enemy's army, composed of seventy thousand
Prussians, and sixty-eight thousand Austrians, Hessians, or
emigrants. The plan of invasion was as follows. The duke
of Brunswick with the Prussians, was to pass the Rhine at
Coblentz, ascend the left bank of the Moselle, attack the
French frontier by its central and most accessible point, and
advance on the capital by way of Longwy, Verdun, and
Châlons. The prince de Hohenlohe on his left, was to ad-
vance in the direction of Metz and Thionville, with the
Hessians and a body of emigrants; while general Clairfcit,
with the Austrians and another body of emigrants, was to
overthrow Lafayette, stationed before Sedan and Mézieres,
cross the Meuse, and march upon Paris by Reims and Soissons.
Thus the centre and two wings were to make a concentrated
advance on the capital from the Moselle, the Rhine, and the
Netherlands. Other detachments stationed on the frontier of
the Rhine and the extreme northern frontier, were to attack
our troops on these sides and facilitate the central invasion.
On the 28th of July, when the army began to move
from Coblentz, the duke of Brunswick published a mani-
festo in the name of the emperor and the king of Prussia.
He reproached those who had usurped the reins of administra-
tion in France, with having disturbed order and overturned
the legitimate government; with having used daily-renewed
violence against the king and his family; with having arbi-
trarily suppressed the rights and possessions of the German
princes in Alsace and Lorraine; and, finally, with having
crowned the measure by declaring an unjust war against
his majesty the emperor, and attacking his provinces in the
Netherlands. He declared that the ailied sovereigns were
advancing to put an end to anarchy in France, to arrest the
144
HISTORY OF
attacks made on the altar and the throne; to restors to the
king the security and liberty he was deprived of, and to place
him in a condition to exercise his legitimate authority. He
consequently rendered the national guard and the authori-
ties responsible for all the disorders that should arise
until the arrival of the troops of the coalition. He sum-
moned them to return to their ancient fidelity. He said, that
the inhabitants of towns, who dared to stand on the defensive,
should instantly be punished as rebels, with the rigour of war, ,
and their houses demolished or burned; that if the city of
Paris did not restore the king to full liberty, and render him
due respect, the coalesced princes would make it, all the
members of the national assembly, of the department, of the
district, the corporation, and the national guard, personally
responsible with their hearls, to be tried by martial-law,
and without hope of pardon; and that if the château were
attacked or insulted, the princes would inflict an exemplary
and never-to-be-forgotten vengeance, by delivering Paris
over to military execution, and total subversion. He pro-
mised, on the other hand, if the inhabitants of Paris would
promptly obey the orders of the coalition, to secure for them
the mediation of the coalesced princes with Louis XVI. for
the pardon of their offences and errors.
This fiery and impolitic manifesto, which disguised neither
the designs of the emigrants nor those of Europe, which
treated a great nation with a truly extraordinary tone of com-
mand and contempt, which openly announced to it all the
miseries of an invasion, and, moreover, vengeance and des-
potism, excited a national insurrection. It more than any-
thing else hastened the fall of the throne, and prevented the
success of the coalition. There was but one wish, one
cry of resistance, from one end of France to the other;
and whoever had not joined in it, would have been looked on
as guilty of impiety towards his country and the sacred cause
of its independence. The popular party, placed in the neces-
sity of conquering, saw no other way than that of annihilating
the power of the king, and in order to annihilate it, than
that of dethroning him. But in this party, every one wished
to attain the end in his own way: the Gironde by a decree of
the assembly; the leaders of the multitude by an insurrection.
Danton, Robespierre, Camille Desmoulins, Fabre-d'Eglantine,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
145
Marat, &c., were a displaced faction requiring a revolution
that would raise it from the midst of the people to the
assembly and the corporation. They were the true leaders
of the new movement about to take place by the means of
the lower class of society against the middle class, to which
the Girondists belonged by their habits and position. A di-
vision arose from that day, between those who only wished to
suppress the court in the existing order of things, and those
who wished to introduce the multitude. The latter could
not fall in with the tardiness of discussion. Agitated by every
revolutionary passion, they disposed themselves for an attack
by force of arms, the preparations for which were made
openly, and a long time beforehand.
Their enterprise had been projected and suspended several
times. On the 26th of July, an insurrection was to break
out; but it was badly contrived, and Pétion prevented it.
When the federates from Marseilles arrived, on their way to
the camp at Soissons, the faubourgs were to meet them, and
then repair, unexpectedly, to the château. This insurrection
also failed. Yet the arrival of the Marseillese encouraged
the agitators of the capital, and conferences were held at
Charenton between them and the federal leaders for the over-
throw of the throne. The sections were much agitated; that
of Mąuconseil was the first to declare itself in a state of in-
surrection, and notified this to the assembly. The dethrone-
ment was discussed in the clubs, and on the 3rd of August,
the mayor Pétion came to solicit it of the legislative body,
in the name of the commune and of the sections. The peti-
tion was referred to the extraordinary commission of twelve.
On the 8th, the accusation of Lafayette was discussed. Some
remains of courage induced the majority to support him, and
not without danger. He was acquitted; but all who had
voted for him were hissed, pursued, and ill treated by the
people at the breaking up of the sitting.
The following day the excitement was extreme. The
assembly learned by the letters of a large number of deputies,
that the day before on leaving the house they had been ill
used, and threatened with death, for voting the acquittal of
Lafayette. Vaublanc announced that a crowd had invested
and searched his house in pursuit of him. Girardin ex-
claimed: "Discussion is impossible, without perfect liberty of
L
146
HISTORY OF
66°I have,
opinion; I declare to my constituents that I cannot deliberats
if the legislative body does not secure me liberty and safety.”
Vaublanc earnestly urged that the assembly should take the
strongest measures to secure respect to the law.
He also re-
quired that the federates, who were defended by the Girondists,
should be sent without delay to Soissons. During these de-
bates, the president received a message from de Joly, minister
of justice. He announced that the mischief was at its height,
and the people urged to every kind of excess. He gave an ac-
count of those committed the evening before, not only against
the deputies, but against many other persons.
said the minister, “ denounced these attacks in the criminal
court; but law is powerless; and I am impelled by honour and
probity to inform you, that without the promptest assistance
of the legislative body, the government can no longer be
responsible.” In the meantime, it was announced that the
section of the Quinze-vingts had declared that, if the de-
thronement were not pronounced that very day, at midnight
they would sound the tocsin, would beat the générale and
attack the château. This decision had been transmitted
to the forty-eight sections, and all had approved it, except
The assembly summoned the recorder of the depart-
ment, who assured them of his good-will, but his inability;
and the mayor, who replied that, at a time when the
sections had resumed their sovereignty, he could only exercise
over the people the influence of persuasion. The assembly
broke up without adopting any measures.
The insurgents fixed the attack on the château for the
morning of the 10th of August. On the 8th, the Marseillese
had been transferred from their barracks in the Rue Blanche
to the Cordeliers, with their arms, cannon, and standard.
They had received five thousand ball cartridges, which had
been distributed to them by command of the commissioner
of police. The principal scene of the insurrection was the
Faubourg Saint Antoine. In the evening, after a very
stormy sitting, the Jacobins repaired thither in procession;
the insurrection was then organized. It was decided to dis-
solve the department; to dismiss Pétion, in order to with-
draw him from the duties of his place, and all responsibility;
and, finally, to replace the general council of the present
commune by an insurrectional municipality. Agitators re-
one.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
147
paired at the same time to the sections of the faubourgs and
to the barracks of the federate Marseillese and Bretons.
The court had been apprised of the danger for some time,
and had placed itself in a state of defence. At this junc-
ture, it probably thought it was not only able to resist, but
also to entirely re-establish itself. The interior of the
château was occupied by Swiss, to the number of eight
or nine hundred, by officers of the disbanded guara,
and by a troop of gentlemen and royalists, who had offered
their services, armed with sabres, swords, and pistols.
Mandat, the general-in-chief of the national guard, had
repaired to the château, with his staff, to defend it; he had
given orders to the battalions most attached to the constitu-
tion to take arms. The ministers were also with the king;
the recorder of the department had gone thither in the even-
ing at the command of the king, who had also sent for Pétion,
to ascertain from him the state of Paris, and obtain an au-
thorization to repel force by force.
At midnight, the tocsin sounded; the générale was beaten.
The insurgents assembled, and fell into their ranks; the
members of the sections broke up the municipality, and
named a provisional council of the commune, which pro-
ceeded to the Hôtel de Ville to direct the insurrection. The
battalions of the national guard, on their side, took the route
to the château, and were stationed in the court, or at the
principal posts, with the mounted gendarmerie; artillerymen
occupied the avenues of the Tuileries, with their pieces;
while the Swiss and volunteers guarded the apartments. The
defence was in the best condition.
Some deputies, meanwhile, aroused by the tocsin, had hurried
to the Hall of the legislative body, and had opened the sitting
under the presidentship of Vergniaud. Hearing that Pétion
was at the Tuileries, and presuming he was detained there,
and wanted to be released, they sent for him to the bar of
the assembly, to give an account of the state of Paris. On
receiving this order, be left the chateau; he appeared before
the assembly, where a deputation again inquired for him,
also supposing him to be a prisoner at the Tuileries. With
this deputation he returned to the Hôtel de Ville, where be
was placed under a guard of three hundred men by the new
commune. The latter, unwilling to allow any other authority
on this day of disorder, than the insurrectional authorities,
L2
118
HISTORY OF
On per-
early in the morning sent for the commandant Mandat, to
know what arrangements were made at the château. Mandat
hesitated to obey; yet, as he did not know that the munici-
pality had been changed, and as his duty required him to
obey its orders, on a second call which he received from the
commune, he proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville.
ceiving new faces as he entered, he turned pale. He was
accused of authorizing the troops to fire on the people. He
became agitated, and was ordered to the Abbaye, and the
mob murdered him as he was leaving, on the steps of the
Hôtel de Ville. The commune immediately conferred the
command of the national guard on Santerre.
The court was thus deprived of its most determined and
influential defender. The presence of Dandat, and the order
he had received to employ force in case of need, were neces-
sary to induce the national guard to fight. The sight of the
nobles and royalists had lessened its zoal. Mandat himself,
previous to his departure, had urged the queen in vain to
dismiss this troop, which the constitutionalists considered as
a troop of aristocrats.
About four in the morning the queen summoned Roederer,
the recorder of the department, who had passed the night at
the Tuileries, and inquired what was to be done under these
circumstances? Roederer replied, that he thought it neces-
sary that the king and the royal family should proceed to the
national assembly. “ You propose,” said Dubouchage, “ to take
the king to his foes.” Roderer replied, that, two days before,
four hundred members of that assembly out of six hundred,
had pronounced in favour of Lafayette; and that he had only
proposed this plan as the least dangerous. The queen then
said, in a very positive tone: “ Sir, we have forces here: it is
at length time to know who is to prevail, the king and the
constitution, or faction?” “In that case, madame," rejoined
Roederer, “ let us see what arrangements have been made for
resistance." Laschenaye, who commanded in the absence of
Mandat, was sent for. He was asked if he had taken mea-
sures to prevent the crowd from arriving at the chateau? if
he had guarded the Carousel? He replied in the affirmative;
and, addressing the queen, he said, in a tone of anger :
must not allow you to remain in ignorance, madam, that
the apartments are filled with people of all kinds, who very
66 1
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. .
149
cry
much impede the service, and prevent free access to the king,
a circumstance which creates dissatisfaction among the na-
tional guard.” “This is out of season," replied the queen;
“I will answer for those who are here; they will advance
first or last, in the ranks, as you please; they are ready for
all that is necessary; they are sure men. They contented
themselves with sending the two ministers, Joly and Cham-
pion to the assembly to apprise it of the danger, and ask for
its assistance and for commissioners.*
Division already existed between the defenders of the
château, when Louis XVI. passed them in review at
five o'clock in the morning. He first visited the interior
posts, and found them animated by the best intentions. He
was accompanied by some members of his family, and appeared
extremely sad.
“I will not,” he said, “ separate my cause
from that of good citizens; we will save ourselves or perish
together.” He then descended into the yard, accompanied by
some general officers. As soon as he arrived, they beat to arms.
The of “ Vive le roi!" was heard, and was repeated by
the national guard; but the artillerymen, and the battalion of
the Croix Rouge replied by the cry of “ Vive la nation!”
At the same instant, new battalions, armed with guns and
pikes, defiled before the king, and took their places upon
the terrace of the Seine, crying: “Vive la nation!”
Pétion!” The king continued the review, not, however,
without feeling saddened by this omen. He was received
with the strongest evidences of devotion by the battalions of
the Filles-Saint-Thomas, and Petits-Peres, who occupied the
terrace, extending the length of the château. As he crossed
the garden to visit the ports of the Pont Tournant, the pike
battalions pursued him with the cry of: “Down with the
veto!” “Down with the traitor!” and as he returned, they
quitted their position, placed themselves near the Pont
Royal, and turned their cannon against the château. Two other
battalions stationed in the courts imitated them, and esta-
blished themselves on the Place du Carousel in an attitude of
attack. On re-entering the castle, the king was pale and
dejected; and the queen said, “ All is lost! This kind of
review has done more harm than good.”
* “ Chronique des Cinquante Jours, par P. L. Ræderer," a writer of the
wost scrupulous accuracy.
6 Vive
a
150
HISTORY ON
While all this was passing at the Tuileries, the insurgents
were advancing in several columns; they had passed the
night in assembling, and becoming organized. In the morn-
ing, they had forced the arsenal, and distributed the arms.
The column of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, about fifteen
thousand strong, and that of the column Saint Marceau,
amounting to five thousand, began to march about six. The
crowd increased as they advanced. Artillerymen had been
placed on the Pont Neuf by the directory of the department,
in order to prevent the union of the insurgents from the two
sides of the river. But Manuel, the town clerk, had ordered
them to be withdrawn, and the passage was accordingly free.
The vanguard of the Faubourgs, composed of Marseillese
and Bréton Federates, had already arrived by the Rue Saint
Honoré, stationed themselves in battle array on the Carousel,
and turned their cannon against the chateau. De Joly and
Champion returned from the assembly, stating that the attend-
ance was not sufficient in number to debate; that it scarcely
amounted to sixty or eighty members, and that their proposi-
tion had not been heard. Then Roederer, the recorder of
the department, with the members of the department, pre-
sented himself to the crowa, observing, that so great a multi-
tude could not have access to the king, or to the national
assembly, and recommending them to nominate twenty de-
puties, and entrust them with their requests. But they did
not listen to hiin. He turned to the national guard, reminded
them of the article of the law, which enjoined them when
attacked, to repel force by force. A very small part of the
national guard seemed disposed to do so; and a discharge of
cannon was the only reply of the artillerymen. Roederer,
seeing that the insurgents were everywhere triumphant, that
they were masters of the field, and that they disposed of the
inultitude, and even of the troops, returned hastily to the
chateau, at the head of the executive directory.
The king held a council with the queen and ministers. A
municipal officer had just given the alarm by announcing that
cho columns of the insurgents were advancing upon the
Tuileries. “ Well, and what do they want?” asked Joly,
keeper of the seals. “Abdication," replied the officer. “And
what will follow abdication?” inquired the queen.
Tue
municipal officer bowed in silence. At this moment Ræderer
THE FRENCE REVOLUTION
151
1
" Let us go."
66
arrived, and increased the alarm of the court by announcing
ihat the danger was extreme; that the insurgents would
not be treated with, and that the national guard could not be
depeoded upon
“Sire,” said he, urgently, “your majesty
has not five minutes to lose: your only safety is in the
national assembly; it is the opinion of the department that
you ought to repair thither without delay. There are not
sufficient men in the court to defend the chateau; nor are we
sure of thein. At the mention of defence, the artillerymen
discharged their cannon.” The king replied, at first, that he
had not observed many people on the Carousel; and the queen
rejoined with vivacity, that the king had forces to defend the
chateau. But, at the renewed urgency of Ræderer, the king,
after looking at him attentively for a few minutes, turned to
the queen, and said, as he rose:
- Monsieur
Roederer,” said Madame Elizabeth, addressing the recorder,
you answer for the life of the king?” “ Yes, madame, with
my own," he replied. “I will walk immediately before him.”
Louis XVI. left his chamber with his family, ministers, and
the members of the department, and announced to the persons
assembled for the defence of the château, that he was going
to the national assenibly. He placed himself between two
ranks of national guards, summoned to escort him, and crossed
the apartments and garden of the Tuileries. A deputation
of the assembly, apprised of his approach, came to meet him:
“Sire,” said the president of this deputation, “the assembly,
eager to provide for your safety, offers you and your family
an asylum in its bosom." The procession resumed its march,
and had some difficulty in crossing the terrace of the Tuileries,
which was crowded with an animated mob, breathing forth
threats and insults. The king and his family had great
difficulty in reaching the Hall of the assembly, where tbey
took the seats reserved for the ministers. Gentlemen,” said
the king, “I come here to avoid a great crime; I think I can-
not be safer than with you.” “Sire," replied Vergniaud, who
filled the chair, “you may rely on the firmness of the national
assembly. Its members have sworn to die in maintaining the
rights of the people, and the constituted authorities.” The king
then took his seat next the president. But Chavot reminded
him that the assembly could not deliberate in the presence of
the king, and Louis XVI. retired with his family and ministers
152
HISTORY OF
into the reporter's box behind the president, whence all that
took place could be seen and heard.
All motives for resistance ceased with the king's departure.
The means of defence had also been diminished by the de-
parture of the national guards who escorted the king. The gen-
darmerie left their posts, crying “Vive la nation!" The national
guard began to move in favour of the insurgents. But the foes
were confronted, and, although the cause was removed, the com-
bat nevertheless commenced. The columns of the insurgents
surrounded the château. The Marseillese and Bretons who
occupied the first rank had just forced the Porte Royale on
the Carousel, and entered the court of the chateau. They
were led by an old subaltern, called Westermann, a friend
of Danton, and a very daring man. He ranged his force in
battle array, and approaching the artillerymen, induced them
to join the Marseillese with their pieces. The Swiss filled
the windows of the chateau, and stood motionless. The two
bodies confronted each other for some time without making
an attack. A few of the assailants advanced amicably, and
the Swiss threw some cartridges from the windows in token
of peace. They penetrated as far as the vestibule, where
they were met by other defenders of the château. A barrier
separated them. Here the combat began, but it is unknown
on which side it commenced. The Swiss discharged a mur-
derous fire on the assailants, who were dispersed. The Place
du Carousel was cleared. But the Marseillese and Bretons
soon returned with renewed force; the Swiss were fired on
by the cannon, and surrounded. They kept their posts un-
til they received orders from the king to cease firing. The
exasperated mob did not cease, however, to pursue them, and
gave itself up to the most sanguinary reprisals. It now be-
came a massacre rather than a combat; and the crowd perpe-
trated in the château all the excesses of victory.
All this time the assembly was in the greatest alarm. The
first cannonade filled them with consternation. As the firing
became more frequent, the agitation increased.
moment, the members considered themselves lost. An officer
entering the hall, hastily exclaimed: “ To your places, legisla-
tors; we are forced!” A few rose to go out. No, no,"
cried others, “this is our post.” The spectators in the gal-
lery exclaimed instantly, « Vive l'assemblée nationale!" and
At one
66
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
153
the assembly replied, “Vive la nation!” Shouts of victory
were then heard without, and the fate of monarchy was de-
cided.
The assembly instantly made a proclamation to restore
tranquillity, and implore the people to respect justice, their
magistrates, the rights of man, liberty, and equality. But
the multitude and their chiefs had all the power in their
hands, and were determined to use it. The new municipality
came to assert its authority. It was preceded by three banners,
inscribed with the words, “ Patrie, liberté, egalité.” Its ad-
dress was imperious, and concluded by demanding the depo-
sition of the king, and a national convention. Deputations
followed, and all expressed the same desire, or rather issued
the same command,
The assembly felt itself compelled to yield; it would not,
however, take upon itself the deposition of the king. Ver-
gniaud ascended the tribune, in the name of the commission of
twelve, and said: “I am about to propose to you a very
rigorous measure; I appeal to the affliction of our hearts to
judge how necessary it is to adopt it immediately.” This
measure consisted of the convocation of a national assembly,
the dismissal of the ministers, and the suspension of the king.
The assembly adopted it unanimously. The Girondist minis-
ters were recalled; the celebrated decrees were carried into
execution, about four thousand nonjuring priests were
exiled, and commissioners were despatched to the armies to
make sure of them. Louis XVI., to whom the assembly had at
first assigned the Luxembourg as a residence, was transferred
as a prisoner to the Temple, by the all-powerful commune,
under the pretext, that it could not ntherwise be answerable
for the safety of his person. Finally, the 23rd of September was
appointed for opening the extraordinary assembly, destined to
decide the fate of royalty. But royalty had already fallen
on the 10th of August, that day marked by the insurrection
of the multitude against the middle classes and the constitu-
tional throne, as the 14th of July had seen the insurrection
of the middle class against the privileged class and the abso-
lute power of the crown. On the 10th of August began the
dictatorial and arbitrary epoch of the revolution. Circum-
stances becoming more and more difficult to encounter, a vast
warfare arose, requiring still higher energy than ever, and
154
HISTORY OF
}
that energy irregular, because popular, rendered the domi
nation of the lower class restless, cruel, and oppressive. The
nature of the question was then entirely changed; it was no
longer a matter of liberty, but of public safety; and the con-
ventional period, from the end of the constitution of 1791, to
the time when the constitution of the year III. established
the directory, was only a long campaign of the revolution
against parties and against Europe. It was scarcely possible
it should be otherwise. “ The revolutionary movement once
established,” says M. de Maistre, in his Considerations sur la
France.* “France and the monarchy could only be saved by
Jacobinism. Our grandchildren, who will care little for our
sufferings, and will dance on our graves, will laugh at our
present ignorance; they will easily console themselves for the
excesses we have witnessed, and which will have preserved
the integrity of the finest of kingdoms."
The departments adhered to the events of the 10th of
August. The army, which shortly afterwards came under
the influence of the revolution, was as yet of constitutional
royalist principles; but as the troops were subordinate to
parties, they would easily submit to the dominant opinion.
The generals, second in rank, such as Dumouriez, Custines,
Biron, Kellermann, and Labourdonnaie, were disposed to
adopt the last changes. They had not yet declared for any
particular party, looking to the revolution as a means of ad-
vancement. It was not the same with the generals in chief.
Luckner floated undecided between the insurrection of the
10th of August, which he termed, “ a little accident that had
happened to Paris and his friend, Lafayette.” The latter,
head of the constitutional party, firmly adhering to his oaths,
wished still to defend the overturned throne, and a constitu-
tion which no longer existed. He commanded about thirty
thousand men, who were devoted to his person and his cause.
His head-quarters were near Sedan. In his project of re-
sistance in favour of the constitution, he concerted with the
municipality of that town, and the directory of the depart-
ment of Ardennes, to establish a civil centre round which all
the departments might rally. The three commissioners, Ker-
saint, Antonelle, and Peraldy, sent by the legislature to his
* Lausanne, 1796.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
155
army, were arrested and imprisoned in the tower of Sedan.
The reason assigned for this measure was, that the assembly
having been intimidated, the members who had accepted such
a mission were necessarily but the leaders or instruments of
the faction which had subjugated the national assembly and
the king. Ti troops and the civil authorities then renewed
their oath to the constitution, and Lafayette endeavoured to
enlarge the circle of the insurrection of the army against the
popular insurrection.
General Lafayette at that moment thought, possibly, too
much on the past, on the law, and the common oath, and not
enough on the really extraordinary position in which France
then was.
He only saw the dearest hopes of the friends of
liberty destroyed, the usurpation of the state by the multitude,
and the anarchical reign of the Jacobins; he did not perceive
the fatality of a situation which rendered the triumph of the
latest comer in the revolution indispensable. It was scarcely
possible that the bourgeoisie, which had been strong enough
to overthrow the old system and the privileged classes, but
which had reposed after that victory, could resist the emigrants
and all Europe. For this there was needed a new shock, a
new faith; there was needed a numerous, ardent, inexhaustible
class, as enthusiastic for the 10th of August, as the bourgeoisie
had been for the 14th of July. Lafayette could not associate
with this party; he had combated it, under the constituent
assembly, at the Champ de Mars, before and after the 20th of
June. He could not continue to play his former part, nor
defend a cause just in itself, but condemned by. events, with-
out compromising his country, and the results of a revolution
to which he was sincerely attached. His resistance, if conti-
nued, would have given rise to a civil war between the people
and the army, at a time when it was not certain that the com
bination of all parties would suffice against a foreign war.
It was the 19th of August, and the army of invasion
having left Coblentz on the 30th of July, was ascending the
Moselle, and advancing on that frontier. In consideration of
the common danger, the troops were disposed to resume their
obedience to the assembly; Luckner, who at first approved of
Lafayette's views, retracted, weeping and swearing, before the
municipality of Metz; and Lafayette himself saw the neces-
sity of yielding to a more powerful destiny. He left his army,
156
HISTORY OF
taking upon himself all the responsibility of the whole in-
surrection. He was accompanied by Bureau-de-Pusy, Latour-
Maubourg, Alexander Lameth, and some officers of his staff.
He proceeded through the enemy's posts towards Holland,
intending to go to the United States, his adopted country.
But he was discovered and arrested with his companions.
In violation of the rights of nations, he was treated as a
prisoner of war, and confined first in the dungeons of Mag-
deburg, and then by the Austrians at Olmutz. The English
parliament itself took steps in his favour; but it was not until
the treaty of Campo-Formio that Bonaparte released him from
prison. During four years of the hardest captivity, subject
to every description of privation, kept in ignorance of the
state of his country and of liberty, with no prospect before
him but that of perpetual and harsh imprisonment, he dis-
played the most heroic courage. He might have obtained
his liberty by making certain retractations, but he preferred
remaining buried in his dungeon to the abandoning in the
least degree the sacred cause he had embraced.
There have been in our day few lives more pure than
Lafayette's; few characters more beautiful; few men whose
popularity has been more justly won and longer maintained.
After defending liberty in America at the side of Washing-
ton, he desired to establish it in the same manner in France;
but this noble part was impossible in our revolution. When
a people in the pursuit of liberty has no internal dissension,
and no foes but foreigners, it may find a deliverer; may pro-
duce, in Switzerland a William Tell, in the Netherlands a
prince of Orange, in America a Washington; but when it
pursues it against its own countrymen and foreigners, at once
amidst factions and battles, it can only produce a Cromwell
or a Bonaparte, who become the dictators of revolutions when
the struggle subsides and parties are exhausted. Lafayette, an
actor in the first epoch of the crisis, enthusiastically declared
for its results. He became the general of the middle class,
at the head of the national guard under the constituent
assembly, in the army under the legislative assembly. He
had risen by it, and he would end with it. It may be said of
him, that if he committed some faults of position, he had ever
but one object, liberty, and that he employed but one means,
the law. The manner in which, when yet quite young, ho
TIIE FRENCE REVOLUTION
157
devoted himself to the deliverance of the two worlds, his
glorious conduct and his invariable firmness, will transmit his
name with honour to posterity, with whom a man cannot
have two reputations, as in the time of party, but his owu
alone.
The authors of the events of the 10th of August became
more and more divided, having no common views as to the
results which should arise from that revolution. The more
daring party, which had got hold of the commune or munici-
pality, wished by means of that commune to rule Paris;
by means of Paris, the national assembly; and by means of
the assembly, France. After having effected the transference
of Louis XVI. to the Temple, it threw down all the statues of
the kings, and destroyed all the emblems of the monarchy.
The department exercised a right of superintendence over
the municipality; to be completely independent, it abrogated
this right. The law required certain conditions to constitute
a citizen; it decreed the cessation of these, in order that the
multitude might be introduced into the government of the
state. At the same time, it demanded the establishment of
an extraordinary tribunal to try the conspirators of the 10th
of August. As the assembly did not prove sufficiently docile,
and endeavoured by proclamations to recal the people to more
just and moderate sentiments, it received threatening messages
from the Hôtel de Ville. “ As a citizen,” said a member of
the commune,
as a magistrate of the people, I come to
announce to you that this evening, at midnight, the toc
will sound, the drum beat to arms. The people are weary
of not being avenged; tremble lest they administer justice
themselves.” “If, before two or three hours pass, the fore-
man of the jury be not named,” said another, “and if the
jury be not itself in a condition to act, great calamities will
befal Paris.” To avert the threatened outbreaks, the assembly
was obliged to appoint an extraordinary criminal tribunal.
This tribunal condemned a few persons, but the commune
having conceived the most terrible projects, did not consider
it sufficiently expeditious.
At the head of the commune were Marat, Panis, Sergent,
Duplain, Lenfent, Jourdeuil, Collot d'Herbois, Billaud-
Varennes, Tallien, &c.; but the chief leader of the party at
that time was Danton. He, more than any other person, had
158
HISTORY OF
distinguished himself on the 10th of August. During the
whole of that night he had rushed about from the sections to
the barracks of the Marseillese and Bretons, and from these to
the Faubourgs. A member of the revolutionary commune,
he had directed its operations, and had afterwards been ap-
pointed minister of justice.
Danton was a gigantic revolutionist; be deemed no means
censurable so they were useful, and, according to him, men
could do whatever they dared attempt. Danton, who has been
termed the Mirabeau of the populace, bore a physical resem-
blance to that tribune of the higher classes; he had irregular
features, a powerful voice, impetuous gesticulation, a daring
eloquence, a lordly brow. Their vices, too, were the same;
only Mirabeau's were those of a patrician, Danton's those of a
democrat; that which there was of daring in the conceptions of
Mirabeau, was to be found in Danton, but in another way,
because, in the revolution, he belonged to another class and
another epoch. Ardent, overwhelmed with debts and wants,
of dissolute habits, given up now to his passions, now to his
párty, he was formidable while in the pursuit of an object,
but became indifferent as soon as he had obtained it. This
powerful demagogue presented a mixture of the most opposite
vices and qualities. Though he had sold himself to the court,
he did not seem sordid; he was one of those who, so to speak,
give an air of freedom even to baseness. He was an absolute
exterminator, without being personally ferocious; inexorable
towards masses, humane, generous even towards individuals. *
Revolution, in his opinion, was a game at which the conqueror,
if he required it, won the life of the conquered. The welfare
of his party was, in his eyes, superior to law and even to
humanity; this will explain his endeavours after the 10th of
August, and his return to moderation when he considered the
republic established.
At this period the Prussians, advancing on the plan of in-
vasion described above, passed the frontier, after a march of
twenty days. The army of Sedan was without a leader, and
incapable of resisting a force so superior in numbers and so
* At the time the commune was arrangiug the massucre of the 2nd Sep.
teraber, he saved all who applied to him; he, of his own accord, releasca
from prison Duport, Barnave, and Cb. Lameth, his personal antagonists.
THE FRENCII REVOLUTION.
159.
much better organized. On the 20th of August, Longwy
was invested by the Prussians; on the 21st it was bom-
barded, and on the 24th it capitulated. On the 30th the
hostile army arrived before Verdun, invested it, and began
to bombard it. Verdun taken, the road to the capital was
open. The taking of Longwy, and the approach of so great a
danger, threw Paris into the utmost agitation and alarm. The
executive council, composed of the ministers, was summoned
by the committee of general defence, to deliberate on the
best measures to be adopted in this perilous conjuncture.
Some proposed to wait for the enemy under the walls of the
capital, others to retire to Saumur. “You are not ignorant,”
said Danton, when his turn to speak arrived, “ that France
is Paris; if you abandon the capital to the foreigner, you
surrender yourselves, and you surrender France. It is in
I'aris that we must defend ourselves by every possible means
I. cannot sanction any plan tending to remove you from it.
The second project does not appear to me any better. It is
impossible to think of fighting under the walls of the capital.
The 10th of August has divided France into two parties, the
one attached to royalty, the other desiring a republic. The
latter, the decided minority of which in the state cannot be
concealed, is the only one on which you can rely to fight;
the other will refuse to march; it will excite Paris in favour
of the foreigner, while your defenders, placed between two
fires, will perish in repelling him. Should they fall
, which
seems to me beyond a doubt, your ruin and that of France are
certain; if, contrary to all expectation, they return victorious
over the coalition, this victory will still be a defeat for you;
for it will have cost you thousands of brave men, while the
royalists, more numerous than you, will have lost nothing of
their strength and influence. It is my opinion, that to dis-
concert their measures and stop the enemy, we must make
the royalists fear.” The committee, at once understanding
the meaning of these words, were thrown into a state of con-
sternation. “ Yes, I tell you,” resumed Danton, we must
make them fear.” As the committee rejected this propo-
sition by a silence full of alarm, Danton concerted with the
commune. His aim was to put down its enemies by terror,
to involve the multitude more and more by making them his
accomplices, and to leave the revolution no other refuge than
victory,
160
HISTORY OF
Domiciliary visits were made with great and gloomy cere-
mony; a large number of persons whose condition, opinions,
or conduct rendered them objects of suspicion, were thrown
into prison. These unfortunate persons were taken especially
from the two dissentient classes, the nobles and the clergy,
who were charged with conspiracy under the legislative
assembly. All citizens capable of bearing arms were enrolled
in the Champ de Mars, and departed on the first of Sep-
tember for the frontier. The générale was beat, the tocsin
sounded, cannon were fired, and Danton, presenting himself
to the assembly to report the measures taken to save the
country, exclaimed: “ The cannon you hear are no alarm
cannon, but the signal for attacking the enemy! To conquer
them, to prostrate them, what is necessary? Daring, again
daring, and still again and ever daring!" Intelligence of the
taking of Verdun arrived during the night of the 1st of Sep-
tember. The commune availed themselves of this moment,
when Paris, filled with terror, thought it saw the enemy at
its gates, to execute their fearful projects. The cannon were
again fired, the tocsin sounded, the barriers were closed, and
the massacre began.
During three days, the prisoners confined in the Carmes,
the Abbaye, the Conciergérie, the Force, &c., were slaugh-
tered by a band of about three hundred assassins, directed
and paid by the commune. · This body, with a calm fana-
ticism, prostituting to murder the sacred forms of justice, now
judges, now executioners, seemed rather to be practising a
calling than to be exercising vengeance; they massacred with-
out question, without remorse, with the conviction of fanatics
and the obedience of executioners. If some peculiar cir-
cumstances seemed to move them, and to recal them to
sentiments of humanity, to justice, and to mercy, they
yielded to the impression for a moment, and then began anew.
In this way a few persons were saved; but they were
very few. The assembly desired to prevent the massacres,
but were unable to do so. The ministry were as incapable
as the assembly; the terrible commune alone could order
and do everything; Pétion, the mayor, had been cashiered;
the soldiers placed in charge of the prisoners feared to resist
the murderers, and allowed them to take their own course;
the crowd seemed indifferent, or accomplices; the rest of the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
161
citizens dared not even betray their consternation. We might
be astonished that so great a crime should, with such deli-
beration have been conceived, executed, and endured, did
we not know what the fanaticism of party will do, and what
fear will suffer. But the chastisement of this enormous
crime ſell at last upon the heads of its authors. The majo-
rity of them perished in the storm they had themselves
raised, and by the same violent means that they had them-
selves employed. Men of party seldom escape the fate they
have made others undergo.
The executive council, directed, as to military operations
by general Servan, advanced the newly levied battalions to-
wards the frontier. As a man of judgment, he was desirous
of placing a general at the threatened point; but the choice
was difficult. Among the generals who had declared in
favour of the late political events, Kellermann seemed only
adapted for a subordinate command, and the authorities had
therefore merely placed him in the room of the vacillative
and incompetent Luckner. Custine was but little skilled in
his art; he was fit for any dashing coup de main, but not
for the conduct of a great army intrusted with the destiny of
France. The same military inferiority was chargeable upon
Biron, Labourdonnaie, and the rest, who were therefore left
at their old stations, with the corps under their command.
Dumouriez alone remained, against whom the Girondists still
retained some rancour, and in whom they, moreover, sus-
pected the ambitious views, the tastes, and character of an
adventurer, while they rendered justice to his superior
talents. However, as he was the only general equal to so
important a position, the executive council gave him the com-
mand of the army of the Moselle.
Dumouriez repaired in all haste from the camp at Maulde
to that of Sedan. He assembled a council of war, in which
the general opinion was in favour of retiring towards
Châlons or Reims, and covering themselves with the Marne.
Far from adopting this dangerous plan, which would have
discouraged the troops, given up Lorraine, Trois Evêchés,
and a part of Champaigne, and thrown open the road to
Paris, Dumouriez conceived a project full of genius. He saw
that it was necessary, by a daring march, to advance on the
以
​162
HISTORY OF
men.
It was
forest of Argone, where he might infallibly stop the enemy
This forest had four issues; that of the Chêne-Populeux ou
the left; those of the Croix-au-Bois and of Grandpré in the
centre, and that of Les Islettes on the right, which opened
or closed the passage into France. The Prussians were only
six leagues from the forest, and Dumouriez bad twelve to
pass over, and his design of occupying it to conceal, if he
hoped for success. He executed his project skilfully and
boldly. General Dillon, advancing on the Islettes, took pos-
session of them with seven thousand men; he himself reached
Grandpré, and there established a camp of thirteen thousand
The Croix-au-Bois and the Chêne-Populeux were in
like manner occupied and defended by some troops.
here that he wrote to the minister of war, Servan:-* Ver-
dun is taken; I await the Prussians. The camps of Grand-
pré and Les Islettes, are the Thermopylæ of France; but I
shall be more fortunate than Leonidas.'
In this position, Dumouriez might have stopped the
enemy, and himself have securely awaited the succours
which were on their road to him from every part of France.
The various battalions of volunteers repaired to the camps
in the interior, whence they were despatched to his army, as
soon as they were at all in a state of discipline. Beurnon-
ville, who was on the Flemish frontier, had received orders
to advance with nine thousand men, and to be at Rhétel, on
Dumouriez's left, by the 13th of September. Duval was
also on the 7th to march with seven thousand men to the
Chêne-Populeux; and Kellermann was advancing from Metz,
on his right, with a reinforcement of twenty-two thousand
Time, therefore, was all that was necessary.
The duke of Brunswick, after taking Verdun, passed the
Meuse in three columns. General Clairfait was operating
on his right, and prince Hohenlohe on his left. Renounc-
ing all hope of driving Dumouriez from his position by
attacking him in front, he tried to turn him. Dumouriez
had been so imprudent as to place nearly his whole force at
Grandpré and the Islettes, and to put only a small corps
at Chêne-Populeux and Croix-au-Bois-posts, it is true, of
minor importance. The Prussians, accordingly, seized upon
these, and were on the point of turning him in his camp at
Grandpré, and of thus compelling him to lay downı his arms.
men.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
163
The troops
After this grand blunder, whích neutralized his first maneu-
vres, he did not despair of his situation. He broke
He broke up his
camp secretly during the night of the 14th September,
passed the Asine, the approach to which might have been
closed to him, made a retreat as able as his advance on
the Argone had been, and concentrated his forces in the
camp at Sainte-Menehould. He had already delayed the
advance of the Prussians at Argone. The season, as it
advanced, became bad. He had now only to maintain his
post till the arrival of Kellermann and Beurnonville, and
the success of the campaign would be certain.
had become disciplined and inured, and the army amounted
to about seventy thousand men, after the arrival of Beurnon-
ville and Kellermann, which took place on the 17th.
The Prussian army had followed the movements of Du-
mouriez. On the 20th, it attacked Kellermann at Valmy, in
order to cut off from the French army the retreat on Châlons.
There was a brisk cannonade on both sides. The Prussians
advanced in columns towards the heights of Valmy, to carry
them. Kellermann also formed his infantry in columns, en-
joined them not to fire, but to await the approach of the
enemy, and charge them with the bayonet. He gave this
command, with the cry of Vive la nation! and this cry,
repeated from one end of the line to the other, startled the
Prussians still more than the firm attitude of our troops.
The duke of Brunswick made his battalions, already a little
shaken, retrograde; the firing continued till the evening; the
enemy attempted a fresh attack, but were repulsed. The
day was ours; and the, in itself, almost insignificant success
of Valmy produced on our troops, and upon opinion in France,
the effect of the most complete victory.
From the same epoch may be dated the discouragement
and retreat of the enemy. The Prussians had entered upon
this campaign on the assurance of the emigrants that it would
be a mere military promenade. They were without maga-
zines or provisions; in the midst of a perfectly open country,
they encountered a resistance each day more energetic; the
incessant rains had broken up the roads; the soldiers marched
knee-deep in mud, and, for four days past, boiled corn had
been their only food. Diseases, produced by the chalky
M 2
164
HISTORY OF
water, want of clothing, and damp, had made great ravages
in the army. The duke of Brunswick advised a retreat,
contrary to the opinion of the king of Prussia and the
emigrants, who wished to risk a battle, and get possession of
Châlons. But as the fate of the Prussian monarchy depended
on its army, and the ruin of that army would be the inevi-
table consequence of a defeat, the duke of Brunswick's opi-
nion prevailed. Negotiations were opened, and the Prussians,
abating their first demands, now only required the restora-
tion of the king upon the constitutional throne. But the
convention had just assembled; the republic had been pro-
claimed, and the executive council replied, “that the French
republic could listen to no proposition until the Prussian
troops had entirely evacuated the French territory.” The
Prussians, upon this, commenced their retreat on the even-
ing of the 30th of September. It was slightly disturbed by
Kellermann, whom Dumouriez sent in pursuit, while he him.
self proceeded to Paris to enjoy nis triumph, and concert
measures for the invasion of Belgium. The French troops
re-entered Verdun and Longwy; and the enemy, after hav-
ing crossed the Ardennes and Luxembourg, repassed the
Rhine at Coblentz, towards the end of October. This cam-
paign had been marked by general success. In Flanders,
the duke of Saxe Teschen bad been compelled to raise the
siege of Lille, after seven days of a bombardment, contrary,
both in its duration and in its useless barbarity, to all the
usages of war. On the Rhine, Custine had taken Trèves,
Spires, and Mayence. In the Alps, general Montesquiou
had invaded Savoy, and general Anselme the territory of
Nice. Our armies, victorious in all directions, had every-
where assumed the offensive, and the revolution was saved.
If we were to present the picture of a state emerging from
a great crisis, and were to say: there were in this state an
absolute government whose authority has been restricted;
two privileged classes which have lost their supremacy; a
vast population, already freed by the effect of civilization and
intelligence, but without political rights, and which have been
obliged, by reason of repeated refusals, to gain these for
theniselves; if we were to add: the government, after opposing
this revolution, submitted to it, but the privileged classes con-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
165
stantly opposed it,-it might probably be concluded from theso
data:
The government will be full of regret, the people will ex-
hibit distrust, and the privileged classes will attack the new
order of things, each in its own way. The nobility, unable
to do so at home, from its weakness there, will emigrate, in
order to excite foreign powers, who will make preparations
for attack; the clergy, who would lose its means of action abroad,
will' remain at home, where it will seek out foes to the revolu-
tion. The people, threatened from without, in danger at
home, irritated against the emigrants who seek to arm foreign
powers, against foreign powers about to attack its indepen-
dence, against the clergy who excite the country to insurrec-
tion, will treat as enemies clergy, emigrants, and foreign
powers. It will require first surveillance over, then the banish-
ment of the refractory priests; confiscation of the property of
the emigrants; war against coalesced Europe, in order to fore-
stal it. The first authors of the revolution will condemn
such of these measures as shall violate the law; the continua-
tors of the revolution will, on the contrary, regard them as
the salvation of the country; and discord will arise between
those who prefer the constitution to the state, and those who
prefer the state to the constitution. The monarch, induced
by his interests as king, his affections and his conscience, to
reject such a course of policy, will pass for an accomplice
of the counter-revolution, because he will appear to protect
it. The revolutionists will then seek to gain over the king
by intimidation, and failing in this, will overthrow his
authority.
Such was the history of the legislative assembly. Internal
disturbances led to the decree against the priests; external
menaces to that against the emigrants; the coalition of
foreign powers to war against Europe; the first defeat of our
armies, to the formation of the camp of twenty thousand.
The refusal of Louis XVI. to adopt most of these decrees,
rendered him an object of suspicion to the Girondists; the
dissensions between the latter and the constitutionalists, who
desired some of them to be legislators, as in time of peace,
ochers, enemies, as in time of war, disunited the partizans of
the revolution. With the Girondists the question of liberty
was involved in victory, and victory in the decrees. Tbe
166
HISTORY OF
20th of June was an attempt to force their acceptance; but
having failed in its effect, they deemed that either the crown
or the revolution must be renounced, and they brought on
the 10th of August. Thus, but for emigration which
induced the war, but for the schism which induced the
disturbances, the king would probably have agreed to the
constitution, and the revolutionists would not have dreamed
of the republic.
THE FRENCA REVOLUTION.
167
NATIONAL CONVENTION.
CHAPTER VI.
FROM THE 20TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1792, TO THE 21ST OF
JANUARY, 1793.
First measures of the Convention-Its composition--Rivalry of the Gironde
and of the Mountain—Strength and views of the two parties—Robe-
spierre: the Girondists accuse him of aspiring to the dictatorship-
Marat—Fresh accusation of Robespierre by Louvet; Robespierre's 'de.
fenee; the Convention passes to the order of the day—The Mountain,
victorious in this struggle, demand the trial of Louis XVI.—Opinions
of parties on this subject--The Convention decides that Louis XVI.
shall be tried, and by itself-Louis XVI. at the Temple; his replies be-
fore the Convention; his defence; his condemnation; courage and
serenity of his last moments—What he was, and what he was not, as a
king.
The convention constituted itself on the 20th of September,
1792, and commenced its deliberations on the 21st. In its
first sitting, it abolished royalty, and proclaimed the republic.
On the 22nd, it appropriated the revolution to itself, by de-
claring it would not date from year IV. of Liberty ; but
from year I. of the French Republic. After these first
measures, voted by acclamation, with a sort of rivalry in de-
mocracy and enthusiasm in the two parties, which had become
divided at the close of the legislative assembly, the convention,
instead of commencing its labours, gave itself up to intestine
quarrels. The Girondists and the Mountain, before they
established the new revolution, desired to know to which of
them it was to belong, and the enormous dangers of their
168
HISTORY OF
position did not divert them from this contest. They had
more than ever to fear the efforts of Europe. Austria,
Prussia, and some of the German princes having attacked
France before the 10th of August, there was every reason to
believe that the ther sovereigns of Europe would declare
against it after the fall of the monarchy, the imprisonment of
the king, and the massacres of September. Within, the enemies
of the revolution had increased. To the partizans of the
ancient regime, of the aristocracy and clergy, were now to be
added the friends of constitutional monarchy, with whom the
fate of Louis XVI. was an object of earnest solicitude, and
those who imagined liberty impossible without order, or under
the empire of the multitude. Amidst so many obstacles and
adversaries, at a moment when their strictest union was requi-
site, the Gironde and the Mountain attacked each other with
the fiercest animosity. It is true, that these two parties were
wholly incompatible, and that their respective leaders could
not combine, so strong and varied were the grounds of sepa-
ration in their rivalry for power, and in their designs.
Events had compelled the Girondists to become republicans.
It would have suited them far better to have remained con-
stitutionalists. The integrity of their purposes, their distaste
for the multitude, their aversion for violent measures, and
especially the prudence which counselled them only to attempt
that which seemed possible—every circumstance made this
imperative upon them; but they had not been left free to
remain what they at first were. They had followed the
bias which led them onward to the republic, and they had
gradually habituated themselves to this form of government.
They now desired it ardently and sincerely, but they felt how
difficult it would be to establish and consolidate it. They
deemed it a great and noble thing; but they felt that the men,
for it were wanting. The multitude had neither the intelli-.
gence nor the virtue proper for this kind of government.
The revolution effected by the constituent assembly was legi-
timate, still more because it was possible than because it was
just; it had its constitution and its citizens. But a new
revolution, which should call the lower classes to the conduct
of the state, could not be durable. It would injuriously
affect too many interests, and have but momentary defenders,
the lower class being capable of sound action and conduct in
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
169
3 crisis, but not for a permanency. Yet, in consenting to
this second revolution, it was this inferior class which must
be looked to for support. The Girondists did not adopt
this course, and they found themselves placed in a position
altogether false; they lost the assistance of the constitu-
tionalists without procuring that of the democrats; they had
a hold upon neither extreme of society. Accordingly, they
only formed a half party, which was soon overthrown, because
it had no root. The Girondists, after the 10th of August,
were, between the middle class and the multitude, what the
monarchists, or the Mounier and Necker party, had been
after the 24th of July, between the privileged classes and the
bourgeoisie.
The Mountain, on the contrary, desired a republic of the
people. The leaders of this party, annoyed at the credit of
the Girondists, sought to overthrow and to supersede them.
They were less intelligent, and less eloquent, but abler, more
decided, and in no degree scrupulous as to means. The ex-
tremest democracy seemed to them the best of governments,
and what they termed the people, that is, the lowest populace,
was the object of their constant adulation, and most ardent
solicitude. No party was more dangerous; most consistently,
it laboured for those with whom it fought.
Ever since the opening of the convention, the Girondists
had occupied the right benches, and the Mountain party the
summit of the left, whence the name by which they are de-
signated. The Girondists were the strongest in the assembly;
the elections in the departments had generally been in their
favour. A great number of the deputies of the legislative
assembly had been re-elected, and as connexion effects much,
as in these days habit and association go a great way, the
members who had been united with the deputation of the
Gironde and the commune of Paris before the 10th of August,
returned with the same opinions. Others came without any
particular system or party, without enmities or attachments:
these formed what was then called the Plaine or the Marais.
This party, taking no interest in the struggles between the
Gironde and the Mountain, voted with the side they con-
sidered the most just, so long as they were allowed to be
moderate; that is to say, so long as they had no fears for
theinselves.
170
HISTORY OF
The Mountain was composed of deputies of Paris, elected
under the influence of the commune of the 10th of August,
and of some very decided republicans from the provinces; it,
from time to time, increased its ranks with those who were
rendered enthusiastic by circumstances, or who were im-
pelled by fear. But though inferior in the convention in
point of numbers, it was none the less very powerful, even at
this period. It swayed Paris; the commune was devoted to
it, and the commune had managed to constitute itself the
supreme authority in the state. The Mountain had sought
to master the departments, by endeavouring to establish in
identity of views and conduct between the municipality of
Paris and the provincial municipalities; they had not, how-
ever, completely succeeded in this, and the departments were
for the most part favourable to their adversaries, who culti-
vated their good will by means of pamphlets and journals
sent by the minister Roland, whose house the Mountaineers
called a bureau d'esprit public, and whose friends they called
intrigants. But besides this junction of the communes,
which sooner or later would take place, they were adopted
by the Jacobins. This club, the most influential as well as
the most ancient and extensive, changed its views at every
crisis without changing its name; it was a frame-work ready
for every dominating power, excluding all dissentients.
That at Paris was the metropolis of Jacobinism, and governed
the others almost imperiously. The Mountaineers had made
themselves masters of it; they had already driven the Girondists
from it, by denunciation and disgust, and replaced the mem-
bers taken from the bourgeoisie by sans-culottes. Nothing
remained to the Girondists but the ministry, who, thwarted
by the commune, were powerless in Paris. The Mountaineers,
on the contrary, disposed of all the effective force of the
capital, of the public mind by the Jacobins, of the sections
and faubourgs by the sans-culottes, of the insurrectionists
by the municipality.
The first measure of parties after having decreed the
republic, was to contend with each other. The Girondists
were indignant at the massacres of September, and they
beheld with horror on the benches of the convention the men
who had advised or ordered them. Above all others, two
inspired them with antipathy and disgust: Robespierre, whom
they suspected of aspiring to tyranny; and Marat, who from
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
171
3
the commencement of the revolution had in his writings
constituted himself the apostle of murder. They denounced
Robespierre with more animosity than prudence; he was not
yet sufficiently formidable to incur the accusation of aspiring
to the dictatorship. His enemies by reproaching him with
intentions then improbable, and at all events incapable of
proof, themselves augmented his popularity and importance.
Robespierre, who played so terrible a part in our
revolution, was beginning to take a prominent position.
Hitherto, despite his efforts, he had had superiors in his own
party: under the constituent assembly, its famous leaders;
under the legislative, Brissot and Pétion; on the 10th of
August, Danton. At these different periods he had declared
himself against those whose renown or popularity offended
him. Only able to distinguish himself among the celebrated
personages of the first assembly, by the singularity of his
opinions, he had shown himself an exaggerated reformer;
during the second, he became a constitutionalist, because
his rivals were innovators, and he had talked in favour
of peace to the Jacobins, because his rivals advocated
war. From the 10th of August he essayed in that club to ruir.
the Girondists, and to supplant Danton, always associating
the cause of his vanity with that of the multitude. This
man, of ordinary talents and vain character, owed it to his
inferiority to rank with the last, a great advantage in times
of revolution; and his conceit drove him to aspire to the first
rank, to do all to reach it, to dare all to maintain himself
there.
Robespierre had the qualifications for tyranny; a soul not
great, it is true, but not common; the advantage of one sole pas-
sion, the appearance of patriotism, a deserved reputation for
incorruptibility, an austere life, and no aversion to the effüsion
of blood. He was a proof that amidst civil troubles it is not
mind but conduct that leads to political fortune, and that per-
severing mediocrity is more powerful than wavering genius.
It must also be observed that Robespierre bad the support of
an immense and fanatical sect, whose government he had
solicited, and whose principles he had defended since the
close of the constituent assembly. This sect derived its
origin from the eighteenth century, certain opinions of which
it represented. In politics, its symbol was the absolute
sovereignty of the Contrat social of J. J. Rousseau, and fo
172
HISTORY OF
:
>
creed, it held the deism of la Profession de foi du Vicaire
Savoyard ; at a later period it succeeded in realizing these for
a moment in the constitution of '93, and the worship of the
Supreme Being. More fanaticism and system existed in the
different epochs of the revolution than is generally supposed.
Whether the Girondists distinctly foresaw the dominion of
Robespierre, or whether they suffered themselves to be car-
ried away by their indignation, they accused him, with repub-
licans, of the most serious of crimes. Paris was agitated by the
spirit of faction; the Girondists wished to pass a law against
those who excited disorders and violence, and at the same
time to give the convention an independent force derived
from the eighty-three departments. They appointed a com-
mission to present a report on this subject. The Mountain
attacked this measure as injurious to Paris; the Gironde
defended it, by pointing out the project of a triumvirate formed
by the deputation of Paris. “I was born in Paris," said
Osselin; “ I am deputy for that town. It is announced that
a party is formed in the very heart of it, desiring a dictator-
ship, triumvirs, tribunes, &c. I declare that extreme ignorance
or profound wickedness alone could have conceived such a
project. Let the member of the deputation of Paris who has
conceived such an idea be anathematized !” “ Yes,” exclaimed
Rebecqui of Marseilles, yes, there exists in this assem-
bly a party which aspires at the dictatorship, and I will
name the leader of this party: Robespierre. That is the
man whom I denounce." Barbaroux supported this denun-
ciation by his evidence; he was one of the chief authors of
the 10th of August; he was the leader of the Marseillese,
and he possessed immense influence in the south. He stated
that about the 10th of August, the Marseillese were much
courted by the two parties who divided the capital; he
was brought to Robespierre's, and there he was told to ally
himself to those citizens who had acquired most popularity
and that Panis expressly named to him, Robespierre, as the
virtuous man who was to be dictator of France. Barbarou
was a man of action. There were some members of the Right
who thought with him, that they ought to conquer their
adversaries, in order to avoid being conquered by them.
They wished, making use of the convention against the
commune, to oppose the departments to Paris, and while they
THE FRENCE REVOLUTION.
173
remained weak, by no means to spare enemies, to whom
they would otherwise be granting time to become stronger.
But the greater number dreaded a rupture, and trembled at
the idea of energetic measures.
This accusation against Robespierre had no immediate
consequences; but it fell back on Marat, who had recom-
mended a dictatorship in his journal “L'Ami du Peuple,
and had extolled the massacres. When he ascended the
tribune to justify himself, a shudder of horror seized the
assembly. “ Down ! down !” resounded from all sides.
Marat remained imperturbable. In a momentary pause, he
said: “I have a great number of personal enemies in this
assembly. (All! all !) I beg of them to remember decorum;
I exhort them to abstain from all furious clamours and
indecent threats against a man who has served liberty and
themselves more than they think for. For once let them
learn to listen." And this man delivered in the midst of
the convention, astounded at his audacity and sang-froid,
his views of the proscriptions and of the dictatorship. For
some time he had fled from cellar to cellar to avoid public
anger, and the warrants issued against him. His sangui-
nary journal alone appeared; in it he demanded heads, and
prepared the multitude for the massacres of September.
There is no folly --which may not enter a man's head, and
what is worse, which may not be realized for a moment.
Marat was possessed by certain fixed ideas. The revolution
had enemies, and, in his opinion, it could not last unless freed
from them; from that moment he deemed nothing could
be more simple than to exterminate them, and appoint
a dictator, whose functions should be limited to pro-
scribing; these two measures he proclaimed aloud, not cruel
but indifferent; with no more regard for propriety than
of the lives of men, and despising as weak minds all
those who called his projects atrocious, instead of consider-
ing them profound. The revolution had actors really more
sanguinary than he, but none exercised a more fatal influence
over his times. He depraved the morality of parties already
sufficiently corrupt; and he had the two leading ideas which
the committee of public safety subsequently realized by its
commissioners or its government-extermination in mass.
und the dictatorship.
>
174
HISTORY OF
Marat's accusation was not attended with any results; ho
inspired more disgust, but less hatred than Robespierre;
some regarded him as a madman; others considered these
debates as the quarrels of parties, and not as an object of
interest for the republic. Moreover, it seemed dangerous to
attempt to purify the convention, or to dismiss one of its
members, and it was a difficult step to get over, even for
parties. Danton did not exonerate Marat. "I do not like
him,” said he; “I have had experience of his temperament;
it is volcanic, crabbed and unsociable. But why seek for the
language of a faction in what he writes? Has the general
agitation any other cause than that of the revolutionary move-
ment itself?” Robespierre, on his part, protested that he
knew very little of Marat; that, previous to the 10th of
August, he had only had one conversation with him, after
which Marat, whose violent opinions he did not approve, had
considered his political views so narrow, that he had stated
in his journal, that he had neither the higher views nor the
daring of a statesman.
But he was the object of much greater indignation because
he was more dreaded. The first accusation of Rebecqui and
Barbaroux had not succeeded. A short time afterwards, the
minister Roland made a report on the state of France and
Paris; in it he denounced the massacres of September, the
encroachments of the commune, and the proceedings of the
agitators. When," said he, “
“they render the wisest and
most intrepid defenders of liberty odious or suspected, wher
principles of revolt and slaughter are boldly professed and
applauded in the assemblies, and clamours arise against the
convention itself, I can no longer doubt that partisans of the
ancient régime, or false friends of the people, concealing
their extravagance or wickedness under a mask of patriotism,
have conceived the plan of an overthrow, in which they hope
to raise themselves on ruins and corpses, and gratify their
thirst for blood, gold, and atrocity.”
He cited, in proof of his report, a letter in which the
vice-president of the second section of the criminal tribunal
informed him, that he and the most distinguished Girondists
were threatened; that, in the words of their enemies, another
bleeding was wanted; and that these men would hear of no
one but Robespierre.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
175
At these words the latter hastened to the tribune to
justify himself. “ No one,” he crierl, “dare accuse me to my
face!" “ I dare!” exclaimed Louvet, one of the most deter-
mined men of the Gironde. “ Yes, Robespierre," he con-
tinued, fixing his eye upon him; “ I accuse you!" Ro-
bespierre, hitherto full of assurance, became moved. He hid
once before, at the Jacobins, measured his strength with this
formidable adversary, whom he knew to be witty, impetuous,
and uncompromising. Louvet now spoke, and in a most elo-
quent address spared neither acts nor names. He traced the
course of Robespierre to the Jacobins, to the commune, to
the electoral assembly: “ calumniating the best patriots;
lavishing the basest flatteries on a few hundred citizens, at
first designated as the people of Paris, afterwards as the
people absolutely, and then as the sovereign; repeating the
eternal enumeration of his own merits, perfections, and vir-
tues; and never failing, after he had dwelt on the strength,
grandeur, and sovereignty of the people, to protest that he
was the people too.” He then described him concealing him-
self on the 10th of August, and afterwards swaying the con-
spirators of the commune. Then he came to the mas-
sacres of September, and exclaimed: “ The revolution of the
10th of August belongs to all!” he added, pointing out a
few Mountaineers of the commune, “but that of the 2nd of
September, that belongs to them—and to none but them!
Have they not glorified themselves by it? They themselves,
with brutal contempt, only designated us as the patriots of the
10th of August. With ferocious pride they called themselves
the patriots of the 2nd of September! Ah, let them retain
this distinction worthy of the courage peculiar to them;
let them retain it as our justification, and for their lasting
shame! These pretended friends of the people wish to cast
on the people of Paris the horrors that stained the first week
of September. They have basely slandered them. The
people of Paris can fight; they cannot murder! It is true,
they were assembled all the day long before the château of
the Tuileries on the glorious 10th of August; it is false that
they were seen before the prisons on the horrible 2nd of Sep-
tember. How many executioners were there within ?
hundred; probably not two hundred. And without, how
many spectators could be reckoned drawa thither by truly
Two
176
HISTORY OF
incomprehensible curiosity? At most, twice the number.
But, it is asked, why, if the people did not assist in these
murders, did they not hinder them? Why? Because Pé-
tion's tutelary authority was fettered; because Roland spoke
in vain; because Danton, the minister of justice, did not
speak at all, .... because the presidents of the forty-eight
sections waited for orders the general in command did not
give; because municipal officers, wearing their scarfs, pre-
sided at these atrocious executions. But the legislative
assembly? the legislative assembly! representatives of the
people, you will avenge it! The powerless state into which
your predecessors were reduced, is, in the midst of such
crimes, the greatest for which these ruffians, whom I de-
nounce, must be punished.” Returning to Robespierre, Louvet
pointed out his ambition, his efforts, his extreme ascendancy
over the people, and terminated his fiery philippic by a
series of facts, each one of which was preceded by this ter-
rible form: 5 Robespierre, I accuse thee!”
Louyet descended from the tribune amidst applause. Ro-
bespierre mounted it to justify himself; he was pale, and was
received with murmurs. Either from agitation or fear of
prejudice, he asked for a week's delay. The time arrived; he
appeared less like one accused than as a triumpher; he re-
pelled with irony Louvet's reproaches, and entered into a
long apology for himself. It must be admitted that the facts
were vague, and it required little trouble to weaken or over-
turn them. Persons were placed in the gallery to applaud
him; even the convention itself, who regarded this quarrel as
the result of a private pique, and, as Barrère said, did not
fear a man of a day, a petty leader of riots, was disposed to
close these debates. Accordingly, when Robespierre observed,
as he finished: “ For my part, I will draw no personal con-
clusions; I have given up the easy advantage of replying to
the calumnies of my adversaries by more formidable denun-
ciations; I wished to suppress the offensive part of my
justi-
fication. I renounce the just vengeance I have a right to
pursue against my calumniators; I ask for no other than
the return of peace and triumph of liberty!” he was ap-
plauded, and the convention passed to the order of the day..
Louret in vain sought to reply; he was not allowed. Bar-
baroux as vainly presented himself as accuser and Lan-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
177
mune.
juinais opposed the motion for the order without obtaining the
renewal of the discussion. The Girondists themselves supported
it: they committed one fault in commencing the accusation,
and another in not continuing it. The Mountain carried
the day, since they were not conquered, and Robespierre
was brought nearer the assumption of the part he had been
so far removed from. In times of revolution, men very soon
become what they are supposed to be, and the Mountain
adopted him for their leader because the Girondists pur-
sued him as such.
But what was much more important than personal attacks,
were the discussions respecting the means of government,
and the management of authorities and parties. The Giron-
dists struck, not only against individuals but against the com-
Not one of their measures succeeded; they were
badly proposed or badly sustained. They should have sup-
ported the government, replaced the municipality, main-
tained their post among the Jacobins and swayed them,
gained over the multitude, or prevented its acting; and they
did nothing of all this. One among them, Buzot, proposed
giving the convention a guard of three thousand men, taken
from the departments. This measure, which would at least
have made the assembly independent, was not supported with
sufficient vigour to be adopted. Thus the Girondists attacked
the Mountaineers without weakening them, the commune
without subduing it, the Faubourgs without suppressing
them. They irritated Paris by invoking the aid of the
departments, without procuring it; thus acting in opposi-
tion to the most common rules of prudence, for it is always
safer to do a thing than to threaten to do it.
Their adversaries skilfully turned this circumstance to
advantage. They secretly circulated a report which could not
but compromise the Girondists; it was, that they wished to
remove the republic to the south, and give up the rest of the
empire. Then commenced that reproach of federalism, which
afterwards became so fatal. The Girondists disdained it
,
because they did not see the consequences; but it necessarily
gained credit in proportion as they became weak and their
enemies became daring. What had given rise to the report was
the project of defending themselves behind the Loire, and re-
moving the government to the south, if the north should be
N
178
HISTORY OF
ingaded and Paris taken, and the predilection they mani-
fested for the provinces, and their indignation against the
agitators of the capital. Nothing is more easy than to
change the appearance of a measure by changing the period
in which the measure was adopted, and discover in the
disapprobation expressed at the irregular acts of a city, an
intention to form the other cities of the state into a league
against it. Accordingly, the Girondists were pointed out to
the multitude as federalists. While they denounced the com-
mune, and accused Robespierre and Marat, the Mountaineers
decreed the unity and indivisibility of the republic. This was
a way of attacking them and bringing them into suspicion,
although they themselves adhered so eagerly to these pro-
positions that they seemed to regret not having made them.
But a circumstance, apparently unconnected with the
disputes of these two parties, served still better the cause of the
Mountaineers. Already emboldened by the unsuccessful at-
tempts which had been directed against them, they only waited
for an opportunity to become assailants in their turn. The
convention was fatigued by these long discussions. Those
members who were not interested in them, and even those of
the two parties who were not in the first rank, felt the need
of concord, and wished to see men occupy themselves with
the republic. There was an apparent truce, and the atten-
tion of the assembly was directed for a moment to the new
constitution, which the Mountain caused it to abandon, in
order to decide on the fate of the fallen prince. The leaders
of the extreme Left were driven to this course by several
motives: they did not want the Girondists, and the moderate
members of the Plain, who directed the committee of the
constitution, the former by Pétion, Condorcet, Brissot,
Vergniaud, Gensonné, the others, by Barrère, Siéyes, and
Thomas Paide, to organize the republic. They would
have established the system of the bourgeoisie, rendering it
a little more democratic than that of 1791, while they them-
selves aspired at constituting the people. But they could
only accomplish their end by power, and they could only
obtain power by protracting the revolutionary state in France.
Besides the necessity of preventing the establishment of legal
order ly a terrible coup d'état, such as the condemnation of
Louis XVI., which would arouse all passions, rally round
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
179
i
i
them the ýiolent parties, by proving them to be the inflexible
guardians of the republic, they hoped to expose the senti-
ments of the Girondists, who did not conceal their desire to
save Louis XVI., and thus ruin them in the estimation of the
multitude. There were, without a doubt, in this conjuncture,
a great number of Mountaineers who, on this occasion, acte
with the greatest sincerity, and only as republicans, in whose
eyes Louis XVI. appeared guilty with respect to the revolu-
tion; and a dethroned king was dangerous to a young democracy,
But this party would have been more clement, had it not had
to ruin the Gironde at the same time with Louis XVI.
For some time past, the public mind had been prepared for
his trial. The Jacobin club resounded with invectives against
him; the most injurious reports were circulated against his
character; his condemnation was required for the firm esta-
blishment of liberty. The popular societies in the departments
addressed petitions to the conventior, with the same object.
The sections presented themselves at the bar of the assembly,
and they carried through it, on litters, the men wounded on
the 10th of August, who came to cry for vengeance on Louis
Capet. They now only designated Louis XVI. by this name
of the ancient chief of his race, thinking to substitute his
title of king by his family name.
Party motives and popular animosities combined against
this unfortunate prince. Those who, two months before,
would have repelled the idea of exposing him to any other
punishment than that of dethronement, were stupified; so
quickly does man lose in moments of crisis the right to defend
his opinions! The discovery of the iron chest especially
increased the fanaticism of the multitude, and the weakness
of the king's defenders. After the 10th of August, there were
found in the offices of the civil list documents which proved the
secret correspondence of Louis XVI. with the discontented
princes, with the emigration, and with Europe. In a report,
drawn up at the command of the legislative assembly, he
was accused of intending to betray the state and overthrow
the revolution. He was accused of having written, on the
16th April, 1791, to the bishop of Clermont, that if he re-
gained his power he would restore the former government,
and the clergy to the state in which they previously were;
of having afterwards proposed war, merely to hasten the
N 2
180
HISTORY OF
approach of his deliverers; of having been in correspondence
with men who wrote to him—“War will compel all the
powers to combine against the seditious and abandoned men
who tyrannize over France, in order that their punishment may
speedily serve as an example to all who shall be induced to
trouble the peace of empires. You may rely on a hundred and
fifty thousand men, Prussians, Austrians, and Imperialists,
and on an army of twenty thousand emigrants;" of having been
on terms with his brothers, whom his public measures had
discountenanced; and, lastly, of having constantly opposed
the revolution.
Fresh documents were soon brought forward in support
of this accusation. In the Tuileries, behind a panel in the
wainscot, there was a hole wrought in the wall, and closed
by an iron door. This secret closet was pointed out by the
minister, Roland, and there were discovered proofs of all the
conspiracies and intrigues of the court against the revo-
lution; projects with the popular leaders to strengthen
the constitutional power of the king, to restore the ancient
régime and the aristocrats; the maneuvres of Talon, the
arrangements with Mirabeau, the propositions accepted by
Bouillé, under the constituent assembly, and some new plots
under the legislative assembly. This discovery increased the
exasperation against Louis XVI. Mirabeau's bust was broken
by the Jacobins, and the convention covered the one which
stood in the hall where it held its sittings.
For some time there had been a question in the assembly
as to the trial of this prince, who, having been dethroned, could
no longer be proceeded against. There was no tribunal
empowered to pronounce his sentence, no punishment which
could be inflicted on him: accordingly, they plunged into
false interpretations <f the inviolability
granted to Louis XVI.,
in order to condciun bim legally. The greatest error of parties,
next to being unjust, is the desire not to appear so. The com-
mittee of legislation, commissioned to draw up a report on the
question as to whether Louis XVI. could be tried, and whether
he could be tried by the convention, decided in the affirmative.
The deputy Mailhe, opposed, in its name, the dogma of in-
violability; but as this dogma had influenced the preceding
epoch of the revolution, he contended that Louis XVI. was
inviolable as king, but not as an individual. He maintained
HE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
181
that the nation, unable to give up its guarantee respecting
acts of power, had supplied the inviolability of the monarch
by the responsibility of his ministers; and that, when Louis
XVI. had acted as a simple individual, his responsibility
devolving on no one, he ceased to be inviolable. Thus Mailhe
limited the constitutional safeguard given to Louis XVI.
to the acts of the king. He concluded that Louis XVI.
could be tried, the dethronement not being a punishment,
but a change of government; that he might be brought to
trial, by virtue of the penal code relative to traitors and con-
spirators; that he could be tried by the convention, without
observing the process of other tribunals, because, the conven-
tion representing the people—the people including all interests,
and all interests constituting justice--it was impossible that
the national tribunal could violate justice, and that, conse-
quently, it was useless to subject it to forms.
Such was
the chain of sophistry, by means of which the committee
transformed the convention into a tribunal. Robespierre's
party showed itself much more consistent, dwelling only on
state reasons, and rejecting forms as deceptive.
The discussion commenced on the 13th of November, six
days after the report of the committee. The partisans of
inviolability, while they considered Louis XVI. guilty, main-
tained that he could not be tried. The principal of these was
Morrison. He said, that inviolability was general; that the
constitution had anticipated more than secret hostility on
the part of Louis XVI., an open attack, and even in that
case had only pronounced his deposition; that in this respect
the nation had pledged its sovereignty; that the mission of
the convention was to change the government, not to judge
Louis XVI.; that, restrained by the rules of justice, it
was so also by the usages of war, which only permitted an
enemy to be destroyed during the combat--after a victory,
the law vindicates him; that, moreover, the republic had no
interest in condemning Louis; that it ought to confine itself
with respect to him, to measures of general safety, detain him
prisoner, or banish him from France. This was the opinion
of the Right of the convention. The Plain shared the
opinion of the committee; but the Mountain repelled, at the
same time, the inviolability and the trial of Louis XVI.
“ Citizens,” said Saint Just, “I engage to prove that the
182
HISTORY OF
opinion of Morrison, who maintains the king's inviolability,
and that of the committee which requires his trial as a citizen,
are equally false; I contend that we should judge the king as an
enemy; that we have less to do with trying than with opposing
him: that having no place in the contract which unites French-
men, the forms of the proceeding are not in civil law, but in
the law of the right of nations; thus, all delay or reserve in
this case are sheer acts of imprudence, and next to the im-
prudence which postpones the moment that should give us
laws, the most fatal will be that which makes us temporize
with the king." Reducing everything to considerations of
enmity and policy, Saint Just added, “ The very men who
are about to try Louis have a republic to establish: those
who attach any importance to the just chastisement of a
king, will never found a republic. Citizens, if the Roman
people, after six hundred years of virtue and of hatred to-
wards kings; if Great Britain after the death of Cromwell,
saw kings restored in spite of its energy, what ought not good
citizens, friends of liberty, to fear among us, when they see the
axe tremble in your hands, and a people, from the first day of
their freedom, respect the memory of their chains?”
This violent party, who wished to substitute a coup
d'etat
for a sentence, to follow no law, no form, but to strike Louis
XVI. like a conquered prisoner, by making hostilities even
survive victory, had but a very feeble majority in the con-
vention; but without, it was strongly supported by the Ja-
cobins and the commune. Notwithstanding the terror which
it already inspired, its murderous suggestions were repelled
by the convention; and the partisans of inviolability, in their
turn, courageously asserted reasons of public interest at the
same time as rules of justice and humanity. They main-
tained that the same men could not be judges and legislators,
the jury and the accusers. They desired also to impart to
the rising republic the lustre of great virtues, those of gene-
rosity and forgiveness; they wished to follow the example of
the people of Rome, who acquired their freedom and retained
it five hundred years, because they proved themselves magna-
nimous; because they banished the Tarquins instead of putting
them to death. In a political view, they showed the conse-
quences of the king's condemnation, as it would affect the
anarchical party of the kingdom, rendering it still moro iuso-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
183
lent; and with regard to Europe, whose still neutral powers
it would induce to join the coalition against the republic.
but Robespierre, who during this long debate displayed a
daring and perseverance that presaged his power, appeared
at the tribune to support Saint Just, to reproach the con-
vention with involving in doubt what the insurrection had
decided, and with restoring, by sympathy and the publicity
of a defence, the fallen royalist party. “ The assembly,” said
Robespierre, “has involuntarily been led far away from the
real question. Here we have nothing to do with trial: Louis
is not an accused man; you are not judges, you are, and can
only be statesmen. You have no sentence to pronounce for
or against a man, but you are called on to adopt a measure of
public safety; to perform an act of national precaution.
dethroned king is only fit for two purposes, to disturb the
tranquillity of the state, and shake its freedom, or to strengthen
one or the other of them.
"Louis was king; the republic is founded; the famous
question you are discussing is decided in these few words.
Louis cannot be tried; he is already tried, he is condemned,
or the republic is not absolved.” He required that the con-
vention should declare Louis XVI. a traitor towards the
French, criminal towards humanity, and sentence him at
once to death, by virtue of the insurrection.
The Mountaineers, by these extreme propositions, by the
popularity they attained without, rendered condemnation in
a measure inevitable. By gaining an extraordinary advance
on the other parties, it obliged them to follow it, though at
a distance. The majority of the convention, composed in
a large part of Girondists, who dared not pronounce Louis
XVI. inviolable, and of the Plain, decided, on Pétion's pro-
position, against the opinion of the fanatical Mountaineers and
against that of the partisans of inviolability, that Louis XVI.
should be tried by the convention. Robert Lindet then made,
in the name of the commission of the twenty-one, his l'e-
port respecting Louis XVI. The arraignment, setting forth
the offences imputed to him, was drawn up, and the conven-
tion summoned the prisoner to its bar.
Louis bad been confined in the Temple for four months. He
was not at liberty, as the assembly at first wislied him to be
in assigning him the Luxembourg for a residence. The
184
HISTORY OF
suspicious commune guarded him closely; but, submissive to
his destiny, prepared for everything, he manifested peither
impatience, regret
, nor indignation. He had only one servant
about his person, Cléry, who at the same time waited on his
family. During the first months of his imprisonment, he was
not separated from his family; and he still found solace in
meeting it. He comforted and supported his two com-
panions in misfortune, his wife and sister; he acted as
preceptor to the young dauphin, and gave him the lessons
of an unfortunate man, of a captive king. He read a great
deal, and often turned to the History of England, by Hume;
there he read of many dethroned kings, and one of them con-
demned by the people. Man always seeks destinies similar
to his own. But the consolation he found in the sight
of his family did not last long: as soon as his trial was de-
cided, he was separated from them. The commune wished
to prevent the prisoners from concerting their justification;
the surveillance it exercised over Louis XVI. became daily
more minute and severe.
In this state of things, Santerre received the order to con-
duct Louis XVI. to the bar of the convention. He repaired
to the Temple, accompanied by the mayor, who communicated
his mission to the king, and inquired if he was willing to de-
scend. Louis hesitated a moment, then said: “ This is
another violence. I must yield!” and he decided on appear-
ing before the convention; not objecting to it, as Charles I.
had done with regard to his judges. “Representatives,"
said Barrère, when his approach was announced,
about to exercise the right of national justice. Let your atti-
tude be suited to your new functions;" and turning to the gal-
lery, he added, “ Citizens, remember the terrible silence which
accompanied Louis on his return from Varennes; a silence
wliich was the precursor of the trial of kings by nations."
Louis XVI. appeared firm as he entered the Hall, and he took
a steady glance round the assenıbly. He was placed at the
bar, and the president said to him in a voice of emotion:
“ Louis, the French nation accuses you.
You are about to
hear the charges of the indictment. Louis, be seated.” A
seat had been prepared for him; he sat in it. During a long
examination, he displayed much calmness and presence of
mind; he replied to each question appropriately, often in an
you are
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
185
affecting and triumphant manner. He repelled the reproaches
addressed to him respecting his conduct before the 14th of.
July, reminding them that his authority was not thru limited;
before the journey to Varennes, by the decree of the consti-
tuent assembly, which had been satisfied with his replies; and
after the 10th of August, by throwing all public acts on minis-
terial responsibility, and by denying all the secret measures
which were personally attributed to him. This denial did
not, however, in the eyes of the convention, overthrow facts,
proved for the most part by documents written or signed
by the hand of Louis XVI. himself; he made use of the
natural right of every accused person. Thus he did not
admit the existence of the iron chest, and the papers that were
brought forward. Louis XVI. invoked a law of safety, which
the convention did not admit, and the convention sought to
protect itself from anti-revolutionary attempts, which Louis
XVI. would not admit.
When Louis had returned to the Temple, the convention
considered the request he had made for a defender. A few
Mountaineers opposed the request in vain. The convention
determined to allow him the services of a counsel. It was
then that the venerable Malesherbes offered himself to the
convention to defend Louis XVI. “ Twice,” he wrote, “have
I been summoned to the council of him who was my master,
at a time when that function was the object of ambition
to every man; I owe him the same service now, when many
consider it dangerous." His request was granted. Louis
XVI. in his abandonment, was touched by this proof of devo-
tion. When Malesherbes entered his room, he went towards
him, pressed him in his arms, and said with tears:-“Your
sacrifice is the more generous, since you endanger your own
life without saving mine.” Malesherbes and Tronchet toiled
uninterruptedly at his defence, and associated M. Desèze with
them; they sought to reanimate the courage of the king, but
they found the king little inclined to hope. " I am sure they
will take my life; but no matter, let us attend to iny trial the
same as if I were about to gain it. In truth, I shall gain
it, for I shall leave no stain on my memory.”
At length the day for the defence arrived; it was delivered
by M. Desèze; Louis was present. The profoundest silence
pervaded the assembly and the galleries. M. Desèze availed
186
HISTORY OF
himself of every consideration of justice and innocence in
favour of the royal prisoner. He appealed to the inviolabi.
lity which had been granted him; he asserted that as king
he could not be tried; that as accusers, the representatives of
the people could not be his judges. In this he advanced
nothing which had not already been maintained by one party
of the assembly. But he chiefly strove to justify the conduct
of Louis XVI. by ascribing to him intentions always pure
and irreproachable. He concluded with these last and solemn
words:-“ Listen, in anticipation, to what History will say to
Fame; Louis ascending the throne at twenty, presented an
example of morals, justice, and economy; he had no weak-
ness, no corrupting passion: he was the constant friend of
the people. Did the people desire the abolition of an op-
pressive tax? Louis abolished it: did the people desire the
suppression of slavery? Louis suppressed it: did the people
licit reforms? he made them: did the people wish to change
its laws? he consented to change them: did the people desire
that millions of Frenchmen should be restored to their rights?
he restored them: did the people wish for liberty? he gave it
them. Men cannot deny to Louis the glory of having anti-
cipated the people by his sacrifices; and it is he whom it is
proposed to slay. Citizens, I will not continue, I leave it to
History; remember, she will judge your sentence, and her
judgment will be that of ages.” But passion proved deaf and
incapable of foresight.
The Girondists wished to save Louis XVI., but they feared
the imputation of royalism, which was already cast upon
them by the Mountaineers. During the whole transaction,
their conduct was rather equivocal; they dared not pronounce
themselves in favour of or against the accused; and their
moderation ruined them without serving him. At that mo-
ment his cause, not only that of his throne, but of his life,
was their own. They were about to determine, by an act of
justice or by a coup d'etat, whether they should return to
the legal régime, or prolong the revolutionary régime. The
triumph of the Girondists or of the Mountaineers was inl-
volved in one or the other of these solutions. The latter
became exceedingly active. They pretended that, while fol.
lowing forms, men were forgetful of republican energy, and
that the defence of Louis XVI. was a lecture on monarchy
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
187
addressed to the nation. The Jacobins powerfully secended.
them, and deputations came to the bar demanding the death
of the king.
Yet the Girondists, who had not dared to maintain the
question of inviolability, proposed a skilful way of saving
Louis XVI. from death, by appealing from the sentence of
the convention to the people. The extreme Right still pro-
tested against the erection of the assembly into a tribunal;
but the competence of the assembly having been previously
decided, all their efforts were turned in another direction.
Salles proposed that the king should be pronounced guilty,
but that the application of the punishment should be left to
the primary assembly. Buzot, fearing that the convention
would incur the reproach of weakness, thought that it ought
to pronounce the sentence, and submit the judgment it pro-
nounced to the decision of the people.
This advice was
vigorously opposed by the Mountaineers, and even by a great
number of the more moderate members of the convention,
who saw, in the convocation of the primary assemblies, the
germ of civil war.
The assembly had unanimously decided that Louis was
guilty, when the appeal to the people was put to the ques-
tion.
Two hundred and eighty-four voices voted for, four
hundred and twenty-four against it; ten declined voting.
Then came the terrible question as to the nature of the
punishment. Paris was in a state of the greatest excitement:
deputies were threatened at the very door of the assembly;
fresh excesses on the part of the populace were dreaded; the
Jacobin clubs resounded with extravagant invectives against
Louis XVI., and the Right. The Mountain, till then the
weakest party in the convention, sought to obtain the majority
by terror, determined, if it did not succeed, none the less to
sacrifice Louis XVI. Finally, after four hours of nominal
appeal, the president, Vergniaud, said: “Citizens, I am
about to proclaim the result of the scrutiny. When justice
has spoken, humanity should have its turn.” There were
seven hundred and twenty-one voters. The actual majority
was three hundred and sixty-one. The death of tŁe king
was decided by a majority of twenty-six votes. Opinions
were very various: Girondists voted for his death, with a
reservation, it is true; most of the members of the Right
188
HISTORY OF
voted for imprisonment or exile; a few Mountaineers voted
with the Girondists. As soon as the result was known, the
president said, in a tone of grief: “In the name of the con-
vention, I declare the punishment, to which it condemns
Louis Capet, to be death.” Those who had undertaken the
defence appeared at the bar; they were deeply affected. They
endeavoured to bring back the assembly to sentiments of com-
passion, in consideration of the small majority in favour of
the sentence. But this subject had already been discussed
and decided. “Laws are only made by a simple majority,"
said a Mountaineer. “ Yes,” replied a voice, “but laws may
be revoked: you cannot restore the life of a man.” Male-
sherbes wished to speak, but could not. Sobs prevented his
utterance; he could only articulate a few indistinct words of
intreaty. His grief moved the assembly. The request for
a reprieve was received by the Girondists as a last resource;
but this also failed them, and the fatal sentence was pro-
nounced.
Louis expected it. When Malesherbes came in tears to
announce the sentence, he found him sitting in the dark, his
elbows resting on a table, his face hid in his hands, and in
profound meditation. At the noise of his entrance, Louis
rose and said: “For two hours I have been trying to discover
if, during my reign, I have deserved the slightest reproach
from my subjects. Well, M. de Malesherbes, I swear to you, in
the truth of my heart, as a man about to appear before God,
that I have constantly sought the happiness of my people,
and never indulged a wish opposed to it." Malesherbes
urged that reprieve would not be rejected, but this Louis
did not expect. As he saw Malesherbes go out, Louis
degged him not to forsake him in his last moments; Male-
sherbes promised to return; but he came several times, and
was never able to gain access to him. Louis asked for him
frequently, and appeared distressed at not seeing him. He
received without emotion the formal announcement of his
sentence from the minister of justice. He asked three days
to prepare to appear before God; and also to be allowed tho
services of a priest, and permission to communicate freely
with his wife and children Only the last two requests were
granted.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
189
66 You are
The interview was a distressing scene to this desolato
family; but the moment of separation was far more so. Louis,
on parting with his family, promised to see them again the
next day; but, on reaching his room, he felt that the trial
would be too much, and, pacing up and down violently, he
exclaimed, " I will not go!” This was his last struggle; the
rest of his time was spent in preparing for death. The night
before the execution he slept calmly. Cléry awoke him, as
he had been ordered, at five, and received his last instruc-
tions. He then communicated, commissioned Cléry with his
dying words, and all he was allowed to bequeath, a ring, a
seal, and some hair. The drums were already beating, and
the dull sound of travelling cannon, and of confused voices,
might be heard. At length Santerre arrived.
come for me,” said Louis; “I ask one moment." He de-
posited his will in the hands of the municipal officer, asked
for his hat, and said, in a firm tone: “Let us go."
The carriage was an hour on its way from the Temple to
the Place de la Revolution. A double row of soldiers lined
the road; more than forty thousand men were under arms.
Paris presented a gloomy aspect. The citizens present at the
execution manifested neither applause nor regret; all were
silent. On reaching the place of execution, Louis alighted
from the carriage. He ascended the scaffold with a firm step,
knelt to receive the benediction of the priest, who is recorded
to have said, “ Son of Saint Louis, ascend to heaven!” With
some repugnance he submitted to the binding of his hands,
and walked hastily to the left of the scaffold: “I die inno-
cent,” said be; “I forgive my enemies; and you, unfortunate
people .. Here, at a signal, the drums and trumpets
drowned his voice, and the three executioners seized him.
At ten minutes after ten he had ceased to live.
Thus perished, at the age of thirty-nine, after a reign of
sixteen years and a half, spent in endeavouring to do good,
the best but weakest of monarchs. His ancestors bequeathed
to him a revolution. He was better calculated than any of
them to prevent and terminate it; for he was capable of
becoming a reformer-king before it broke out, or of becoming
a constitutional king afterwards. He is, perhaps, the only
prince who, having no other passion, had not that of power, and
190
EISTORY OF
who united the two qualities which make good kings, fea:
of God and love of the people. He perished, the victim of
passions which he did not share; of those of the persons
about him, to which he was a stranger, and to those of the
multitude, which he had not excited. Few memories of
kings are so commendable. History will say of him, that,
with a little more strength of mind, he would have been an
exemplary king.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
191
CHAPTER VII.
FROM THE 21ST OF JANUARY, 1793, TO THE 2ND OF JUNE.
Political and military situation of France-England, Holland, Spain, Naples,
and all the circles of the Empire fe U in with the coalition-Dumouriez,
after having conquered Belgium, attempts an expedition into Holland-
He wishes to re-establish constitutional monarchy-Reverses of our
armies_Struggle between the Gironde and the Mountain-Conspiracy
of the 10th of March–Insurrection of La Vendée; its progress-De-
fection of Dumouriez-The Gironde accused of being his accomplices-
New conspiracies against them-Establishment of the Commission of
twelve to frustrate the conspirators—Insurrections of the 27th and 31st
of May against the Commission of twelve; its suppression-Insurrec-
tion of the 2nd of June against the two-and-twenty leading Girondists;
their arrest-Total defeat of that party.
The death of Louis XVI. rendered the different parties
irreconcilable, and increased the external enemies of the
revolution. The republicans had to contend with all Europe,
with several classes of malcontents, and with themselves.
But the Mountaineers, who then directed the popular move-
ment, imagined that they were too far involved not to push
matters to extremity. To terrify the enemies of the revo-
lution, to excite the fanaticism of the people by harangues,
by the presence of danger, and by insurrections; to refer
everything to it, both the government and the safety of the
republic ; to infuse into it the most ardent enthusiasın,
in the name of liberty, equality, and fraternity; to keep it in.
this violent state of crisis for the purpose of making use of
its passions and its power; such was the plan of Danton and
the Mountain, who had chosen him for their leader. It was
192
HISTORY OF
he who augmented the popular effervescence by the growing
dangers of the republic, and who, under the name of revolu-
tionary government, established the despotism of the multi-
tude, instead of legal liberty. Robespierre and Marat went
even much further than he.
They sought to erect into
a permanent government what Danton considered as merely
transitory. The latter was only a political chief, while the
others were true sectarians; the first, more ambitious, the
second, more fanatical.
The Mountaineers bad, by the catastrophe of the 21st of
January, gained a great victory over the Girondists, whose
politics were much more moral than theirs, and who hoped to
save the revolution, without staining it with blood. But
their humanity, their spirit of justice, proved of no service,
and even turned against them. They were accused of being
the enemies of the people; bucause they opposed their excesses;
of being the accomplices of the tyrant, because they had sought
to save Louis XVI.; and of betraying the republic, because
they recommended moderation. It was with these reproaches
that the Mountaineers persecuted them with constant ani-
mosity in the bosom of the convention, from the 21st of
January till the 31st of May and the 2nd of June. The
Girondists were for a long time supported by the Centre,
which sided with the Right against murder and anarchy, and
with the Left for measures of public safety. This mass,
which, properly speaking, formed the spirit of the conven-
tion, displayed some courage, and balanced the power of the
Mountain and the Commune as long as it possessed those
intrepid and eloquent Girondists, who carried with them to
prison and to the scaffold all the generous resolutions of the
assembly.
For a moment, union existed among the various parties of
the assembly. Lepelletier Saint Fargeau was stabbed by a
retired member of the household guard, named Pâris, for
having voted the death of Louis XVI. The members of the
convention, united by common danger, swore on his tomb to
forget their enmities; but they soon revived them. Some of
the murderers of September, whose punishment was desired
by the more honourable republicans, were proceeded against
at Meaux. The Mountaineers, apprehensive that their past
conduct would be inquired into, and that their adversaries
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
193
would take advantage of a condemnation to attack them more
openly themselves, put a stop to these proceedings. This
impunity further emboldened the leaders of the multitude;
and Marat, who at that period had an incredible influence
over the multitude, excited them to piliage the dealers, whom
he accused of monopolizing provisions. He wrote and
spoke violently, in his pamphlets and at the Jacobins, against
the aristocracy of the burghers, merchants, and statesmer,
(as he designated the Girondists,) that is to say, against those
who, in the assembly or the nation at large, still opposed the
reign of the Sans-culottes and the Mountaineers.
There was
something frightful in the fanaticism and invincible obstinacy
of these sectaries. The name given by them to the Girondists
from the beginning of the convention, was that of Intrigants,
on account of the ministerial and rather stealthy means with
which they opposed in the departments the insolent and public
conduct of the Jacobins.
Accordingly, they denounced them regularly in the club.
“At Rome, an orator cried daily: Carthage must be destroyed!'
well, let a Jacobin mount this tribune every day, and say
these single words, The Intrigants must be destroyed!' Who
could withstand us? We oppose crime, and the ephemeral
power of riches; but we have truth, justice, poverty, and
virtue in our cause. With such arms, the Jacobins will soon
have to say: 'We had only to pass on, they were already
Marat, who was much more daring than Robes-
pierre, whose hatred and projects still concealed themselves
under certain forms, was the patron of all denouncers and
lovers of anarchy. Several Mountaineers reproached him
with compromising their cause by his extreme counsels,
and by unseasonable excesses; but the entire Jacobin people
supported him even against Robespierre, who rarely obtained
the advantage in his disputes with him. The pillage recom-
mended in February, in L'Ami du Peuple, with respect to
some dealers, “by way of example, took place, and Marat was
denounced to the convention, who decreed his accusation after
a stormy sitting. But this decree had no result, because the
ordinary tribunals had no authority. This double effort of
force on one side, and weakness on the other, took place in
the month of February. More decisive events soon brought
the Girondisis to ruin.
do
extinct.""
o
194
HISTORY OF
Hitherto, the military position of France had been satis-
factory. Dumouriez had just crowned the brilliant campaign
of Afgone by the conquest of Belgium. After the retreat of
the Prussians, he had repaired to Paris to concert measures
for the invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. Returning to
the army on the 20th of October, 1792, he began the attack
on the 28th. The plan attempted so inappropriately, with so
little strength and success, at the commencement of the war,
was resumed and executed with superior means. Dumouriez,
at the head of the army of Belgium, forty thousand strong,
advanced from Valenciennes upon Mons, supported on the
right by the army of the Ardennes, amounting to about sixteen
thousand men, under general Valence, who marched from
Givet upon Namur; and on his left, by the army of the
north, eighteenthousand strong, under general Labour-
donnaie, who advanced from Lille upon Tournai. The
Austrian army, posted before Mons, awaited battle in its
intrenchments. Dumouriez completely defeated it; and the
victory of Jemmapes opened Belgium to the French, and
again gave our arms the ascendancy in Europe. A victor on
the 6th of November, Dumouriez entered Mons on the 7th,
Brussels on the 14th, and Liége on the 28th. Valence took
Namur, Labourdonnaie Antwerp; and by the middle of
December, the invasion of the Netherlands was completely
achieved. The French army, master of the Meuse and
the Scheldt, took up its winter quarters, after driving beyond
the Roër the Austrians, whom they might have driven be-
yond the Lower Rhine.
From this moment hostilities began between Dumouriez
and the Jacobins. A decree of the convention, dated the
15th of September, abrogated the Belgian customs, and demo-
cratically organized that country. The Jacobins sent agents to
Belgium to propagate revolutionary principles, and establish
clubs on the model of the parent society; but the Flemings,
who had received us with enthusiasm, became cool at the heavy
demands made upon them, and at the general pillage and in-
supportable anarchy which the Jacobins brought with them.
All the party that had opposed the Austrian army, and hoped
to be free under the protection of France, found our rule too
severe, and regretted having sought our aid, or supported us
Dumouriez, who had projects of independence for the Flemings,
THE FRENCE REVOLUTION.
195
and of ambition for himself, came to Paris to complain of this
impolitic conduct with regard to the conquered countries. He
changed his hitherto equivocal course; he had employed every
means to keep on terms with the two factions; he had ranged
himself under the banner of neither, hoping to make use
of the Right, through his friend Gensonné, of the Moun-
tain, by Danton and Lacroix, and of awing both by his
victories. But in this second journey he tried to stop the
Jacobins and to save Louis XVI.; not having been able
to attain his end, he returned to the army to begin the second
campaign, very dissatisfied, and determined to make his new
victories the means of stopping the revolution and changing
its government.
This time all the frontiers of France were to be attacked by
the European powers. The military successes of the revolu-
tion, and the catastrophe of the 21st of January, had made
most of the undecided or neutral governments join the coalition.
The cabinet of Saint James, on learning the death of
Louis XVI., dismissed the ambassador Chauvelin, whom it
had refused to acknowledge since the 10th of August and
the dethronement of the king. The convention, finding
England already leagued with the coalition, and consequently
all its promises of neutrality vain and illusive, on the 1st of
February, 1793, declared war against the king of Great
Britain and the stadtholder of Holland, who had been entirely
guided by the cabinet of Saint James' since 1788. England
had hitherto preserved the appearances of neutrality, but it
took advantage of this opportunity to appear on the scene of
hostilities. For some time disposed for a rupture, Pitt em-
ployed all his resources, and in the space of six months con-
cluded seven treaties of alliance, and six treaties of subsidies.*
* These treaties were as follows: the 4th March, articles between Great
Britain and Hanover; 25th March, treaty of alliance at London between
Russia and Great Britain ; 10th April, treaty of subsidies with the land-
grave of Hesse Cassel; 25th April, treaty of subsidies with Sardinia; 25th
May, treaty of alliance at Madrid with Spain ; 12th July, treaty of alliance
with Naples, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies ; 14th July, treaty of alliance
at the camp before Mayence with Prussia ; 30th August, treaty of alliance
at London with the emperor; 21st September, treaty of subsidies with the
inargrave of Baden; 26th September, treaty of alliance at London with
Portugal. By these trenties England gave considerable subsidies, more
especially to Austria and Prussia.
- 2
196
HISTORY OF
England thus became the soul of the coalition against France;
her fleets were ready to sail; the minister had obtained
3,200,0001. extraordinary, and Pitt designed to profit by our
revolution by securing the preponderance of Great Britain,
as Richelieu and Mazarin had taken advantage of the crisis
in England in 1640, to establish the French domination in
Europe. The cabinet of Saint James was only influenced by
motives of English interests; it desired at any cost to effect
the consolidation of the aristocratical power at home, and the
exclusive empire in the two Indies, and on the seas.
The cabinet of Saint James then made the second levée of
the coalition. Spain had just undergone a ministerial change;
the famous Godoi, duke of Alcudia, and since Prince of the
Peace, had been placed at the head of the government by
means of an intrigue of England and of the emigration.
This power came to a rupture with the republic, after having
interceded in vain for Louis XVI., and made its neutrality
the price of the life of the king. The German empire en-
tirely adopted the war; Bavaria, Suabia, and the elector
palatine joined the hostile circles of the empire. Naples
followed the example of the Holy See; and the only neutral
powers were Venice, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and
Turkey. Russia was still engaged with the second partition
of Poland.
The republic was threatened on all sides by the most war-
like troops of Europe. It would soon bave to face forty-five
thousand Austro-Sardinians in the Alps; fifty thousand
Spaniards on the Pyrenees; seventy thousand Austrians or Im-
perialists, reinforced by thirty-eight thousand Anglo-Batavians,
on the Lower Rhine and in Belgium; thirty-three thousand
four hundred Austrians between the Meuse and the Moselle;
a hundred and twelve thousand six hundred Prussians, Aus-
trians and Imperialists on the Middle and Upper Rhine. In
order to confront so many enemies, the convention decreed a
levy of three hundred thousand men. This measure of
external defence was accompanied by a party measure for
the interior. At the moment the new battalions, about to
quit Paris, presented themselves to the assembly, the
Mountain demanded the establishment of an extraordinary
tribunal to maintain the revolution at home, which the bat-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
197
1
+
talions were going to defend on the frontiers.
to defend on the frontiers. This tribunal,
composed of nine members, was to try without jury or ap-
peal. The Girondists arose with all their power against so
arbitrary and formidable an institution, but it was in vain; for
they seemed to be favouring the enemies of the republic by
rejecting a tribunal intended to punish them. All they ob-
tained was the introduction of juries into it, the removal of
some violent men, and the power of annulling its acts, as long
as they maintained any influence.
The principal efforts of the coalition were directed against
the vast frontier extending from the north sea to Huninguen..
The prince of Coburg, at the head of the Austrians, was to
attack the French army on the Roër and the Meuse, to enter
Belgium; while the Prussians, on the other point, should
march against Custine, give him battle, surround Mayence, and
after taking it, renew the preceding invasion. These two
armies of operation were sustained in the intermediate posi-
tions by considerable forces. Dumouriez, engrossed by am-
bitious and reactionary designs, at a moment when he ought
only to have thought of the perils of France, proposed to
himself to establish the royalty of 1791, in spite of the con-
vention and Europe. What Bouillé could not effect for an
absolute nor Lafayette for a constitutional throne, Dumouriez,
at a time much less propitious, hoped alone to achieve for an
abolished constitution and for a royalty without a party.
Instead of remaining neutral amaong factions, as circumstances
dictated to a general, and even to
an ambitious man,
Dumouriez preferred a rupture with them, in order to sway
them. He conceived a design of forming a party out of
France; of entering Holland by means of the Batavian
republicans opposed to the stadtholdership, and to English
influence; to deliver Belgium from the Jacobins; to unite
these countries in a single independent state, and secure for
himself their political protectorate after having acquired
all the glory of a conqueror. To intimidate parties, he was
to gain over his troops, march on the capital, dissolve the
convention, put down popular meetings, re-establish the
constitution of 1791, and give a king to France.
This project, iropracticable amidst the great shock between
the revolution and Europe, appeared easy to the fiery and
adventurous Dumouriez. Instead of defending the line,
198
HISTORY OF
threatened from Mayence to the Roër, he threw himself on
the left of the operations, and entered Holland at the head of
twenty thousand men. By a rapid march he was to reach
the centre of the United Provinces, attack the fortresses
from behind, and be joined at Nimeguen by twenty-five
thousand men under general Miranda, who would probably
have made himself master of Maestricht. An
An army of forty
thousand men was to observe the Austrians and protect his
right.
Dumouriez vigorously prosecuted his expedition into Hol-
land; he took Breda and Gertruydenberg, and prepared to
pass the Biesbos, and capture Dort. But the army of the
right experienced in the meantime the most alarming reverses
on the Lower Meuse. The Austrians assumed the offen-
sive, passed the Roër, beat Miazinski at Aix-la-Chapelle;
made Miranda raise the blockade of Maestricht, which he
had uselessly bombarded; crossed the Meuse, and at Liége
put our army, which had fallen back between Tirlemont and
Louvain, wholly to the rout. Dumouriez received from the
executive council orders to leave Holland immediately, and
to take the command of the troops in Belgium; he was com-
pelled to obey, and to renounce in part his wildest but
dearest hopes.
The Jacobins, at the news of these reverses, became much
more intractable; unable to conceive a defeat without
treachery, especially after the brilliant and unexpected
victories of the last campaign, they attributed these military
disasters to party combinations. They denounced the
Girondists, the ministers, and generals who, they supposed,
had combined to abandon the republic, and clamoured for
their destruction. Rivalry mingled with suspicion, and they
desired as much to acquire an exclusive domination, as to
defend the threatened territory; they began with the Giron-
dists. As they had not yet accustomed the multitude to the
idea of the proscription of representatives, they at first had
recourse to a plot to get rid of them; they resolved to strike
them in the convention, where they would all be assembled,
and the night of the 10th of March was fixed on for the
execution of the plot. The assembly sat permanently on
account of the public danger. It was decided on the pre-
ceding day at the Jacobins and Cordeliers to shut the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
199
barriers, sound the tocsin, and march in two bands on the
convention and the ministers. They started at the appointed
hour, but several circumstances prevented the conspirators
from succeeding. The Girondists, apprised, did not atterd
the evening sitting; the sections declared themselves opposed
to the plot, and Beurnonville, minister of war, advanced
against them at the bead of a battalion of Brest federalists;
these unexpected obstacles, together with the ceaseless rain,
obliged the conspirators to disperse. The next day Vergniaud
denounced the insurrectional committee who had projected
these murders, demanded that the executive council should be
commissioned to make inquiries respecting the conspiracy of
the 10th of March, to examine the registers of the clubs, and
to arrest the members of the insurrectional committee. “We
go,” said he, “from crimes to amnesties, from amnesties to
crimes. Numbers of citizens have begun to confound
seditious insurrections with the great insurrection of liberty;
to look on the excitement of robbers as the outbursts of
energetic minds, and robbery itself as a measure of general
security. We have witnessed the development of that strange
system of liberty, in which we are told: you are free; but
think with us, or we will denounce you to the vengeance of
the people; you are free, but bow down your head to the idol
we worship, or we will denounce you to the vengeance of the
people; you are free, but join us in persecuting the men
whose probity and intelligence we dread, or we will denounce
you to the vengeance of the people. Citizens, we have
reason to fear that the revolution, like Saturn, will devour
successively all its children, and only engender despotism and
the calamities which accompany it.' These prophetic words
produced some effect in the assembly; but the measures pro-
posed by Vergniaud led to nothing.
The Jacobins were stopped for a moment by the failure of
their first enterprise against their adversaries; but the
insurrection of La Vendée gave them new courage.
The
Vendean war was an ineritable event in the revolution.
This country, bounded by the Loire and the sea, crossed by
few roads, sprinkled with villages, hamlets, and manorial
residences, had retained its ancient feudal state. In La
Vendée there was no civilization or intelligence, because there
was no middle class; and there was no middle class, because
200
HISTORY Oy
there were no towns, or very few. At that time the peasants
had acquired no other ideas than those few communicated to
them by the priests, and had not separated their interests from
those of the nobility. These simple and sturdy men,
devotedly attached to the old state of things, did not under-
stand a revolution, which was the result of a faith and
necessities entirely foreign to their situation. The nobles
and priests, being strong in these districts, had not emigrated;
and the ancient régime really existed there, because there
were its doctrines and its society. Sooner or later, a war
between France and La Vendée, countries so different, and
which had nothing in common but language, was inevitable.
It was inevitable that the two fanaticisms of monarchy and of
popular sovereignty, of the priesthood and human reason,
should raise their banners against each other, and bring
about the triumph of the old or of the new civilization.
Partial disturbances had taken place several times in La
Vendée. In 1792 the count de la Rouairie had prepared a
general rising, which failed on account of his arrest; but all
yet remained ready for an insurrection, when the decree for
raising three hundred thousand men was put into execution.
This levy became the signal of revolt. The Vendéans beat
the gendarmerie at Saint Florens, and took for leaders, in
different directions, Cathelineau, a waggoner, Charette, a
naval officer, and Stofilet, a gamekeeper. Aided by arms
and money from England, the insurrection soon overspread
the country; nine hundred communes flew to arms at the
sound of the tocsin; and then the noble leaders Bonchamps,
Lescure, La Rochejacquelin, d'Elbee, and Talmont, joined the
others. The troops of the line and the battalions of the
national guard who advanced against the insurgents were
defeated. General Marcé was beaten at Saint Vincent by
Stoffet; general Gauvilliers at Beaupreau, by d'Elbée and
Bonchamps; general Quetineau at Aubiers, by La Roche-
jacquelin; and general Ligonnier at Cholet. The Vendeans
masters of Châtillon, Bressuire, and Vihiers, considered it
advisable to form some plan of organization before they
pushed their advantages further. They formed three corps,
each from ten to twelve thousand strong, according to the
division of La Vendée, under three commanders; the first,
under Bonchamps, guarded the banks of the Loire, and was
THE FRENCE REVOLUTION
201
called L'Armée d'Anjou; the second, stationed in the centres
formed the Grande armée under d’Elbe; the third, in Lower
Vendée, was styled L'Armée du Marais, under Charette,
The insurgents established a council to determine their
operations, and elected Cathelineau generalissimo. These
arrangements, with this division of the country, enabled them
to enrol the insurgents, and to dismiss them to their fields, or
call them to arms.
The intelligence of this formidable insurrection drove the
convention to adopt still more rigorous measures against
priests and emigrants. It outlawed all priests and nobles
who took part in any gathering, and disarmed all who had
belonged to the privileged classes. The former emigrants
were banished for ever; they could not return, under penalty
of death; their property was confiscated. On the door of
every house, the names of all its inmates were to be inscribed;
and the revolutionary tribunal, which had been adjourned,
began its terrible functions.
At the same time, tidings of new military disasters arrived,
one after the other. Dumouriez, returned to the army of
Belgium, concentrated all his forces to resist the Austrian
general, prince de Coburg. His troops were greatly dis-
couraged, and in want of everything; he wrote to the
convention a threatening letter against the Jacobins, who
denounced him. After having again restored to his army a
part of its former confidence by some minor advantages, he
ventured a general action at Neerwinde, and lost it. Belgium
was evacuated, and Dumouriez, placed between the Austrians
and Jacobins, beaten by the one and assailed by the other,
had recourse to the guilty project of defection, in order to
realize his former designs. He had conferences with colonel
Mack, and agreed with the Austrians to march upon Paris
for the purpose of re-establishing the monarchy, leaving them
on the frontiers, and having first given up to them several
fortresses as a guarantee. It is probable that Dumouriez
wished to place on the constitutional throne the young duke
de Chartres, who had distinguished himself throughout this
campaign; while the prince de Coburg hoped that if the
counter-revolution reached that point, it would be carried
further and restore the son of Louis XVI. and the ancient
monarchy. A counter-revolution will not halt any more
1
HISTORY OF
202
66 Can you
than a revolution; when once begun, it must exhaust itself.
The Jacobins were soon informed of Dumouriez's arrange-
ments; he took little precaution to conceal them; whether he
wished to try his troops, or to alarm his enemies, or whether
he merely followed his natural levity. To be more sure of
his designs, the Jacobin club sent to him a deputation, con-
sisting of Proly, Pereira, and Dubuisson, three of its mem-
bers. Taken to Dumouriez's presence, they received from
him more admissions than they expected: “ The convention,
said he, “is an assembly of seven hundred and thirty-five
tyrants. While I have four inches of iron I will not suffer
it to reign and shed blood with the revolutionary tribunal it
bas just created; as for the republic,” he added, “it is an
idle word. I had faith in it for three days. Since Jemmapes,
I have deplored all the successes I obtained in so bad a cause.
There is only one way to save the country--that is, to re-
establish the constitution of 1791, and a king."
think of it, general?” said Dubuisson; "the French view
royalty with horror--the very name of Louis-
s. What
does it signify whether the king be called Louis, Jacques, or
Philippe?” « And what are your means?” My army-
yes, my army will do it, and from my camp, or the stronghold
of some fortress, it will express its desire for a king." "But
your project endangers the safety of the prisoners in the
Temple." “ Should the last of the Bourbons be killed, even
those of Coblentz, France shall still have a king, and if Paris
were to add this murder to those which have already dis-
honoured it, I would instantly march upon it.” After
thus unguardedly disclosing his intentions, Dumouriez pro-
ceeded to the execution of his impracticable design. He was
really in a very difficult position; the soldiers were very much
attached to him, but they were also devoted to their country.
He was to surrender some fortresses which he was not master
of, and it was to be supposed that the generals under his
orders, either from fidelity to the republic, or from ambition,
would treat him as he had treated Lafayette. His first
attempt was not encouraging; after having established himself
at Saint Amand, he essayed to possess himself of Lille, Condé,
and Valenciennes; but failed in this enterprise. The
failure made him hesitate, and prevented his taking the
initiative in the attack.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
203
It was not so with the convention; it acted with a prompti-
tude, a boldness, a firmness, and, above all, with a precision in
attaining its object, which rendered success certain. When
we know what we want, and desire it determinately and
promptly, we nearly always attain our object. This quality
was wanting in Dumouriez, and the want impeded his au-
dacity and deterred his partisans. As soon as the conven-
tion was informed of his projects, it summoned him to its
bar. He refused to obey; without, however, immediately
raising the standard of revolt. The convention instantly
despatched four representatives, Camus, Quinette, Lamarque
Bancal, and Beurnonville, minister at war, to bring him
before it, or to arrest him in the midst of his army. Dumouriez
received the commissioners at the head of his staff. They pre-
sented to him the decree of the convention; he read it and
returned it to them, saying that the state of his army would not
admit of his leaving it. He offered to resign, and promised
in a calmer season to demand judges himself, and to give an
account of his designs and of his conduct. The commissioners
tried to induce him to submit, quoting the example of the
ancient Roman generals. “We are always mistaken in our
quotations,” he replied; " and we disfigure Roman history by
taking as an excuse for our crimes the example of their vir-
tues. The Romans did not kill Tarquin; the Romans had a
well ordered republic and good laws; they had neither a
Jacobin club nor a revolutionary tribunal
. We live in a
time of anarchy. Tigers wish for my head; I will not give
it them." “ Citizen general,” said Camus then, “ will you
obey the decree of the national convention, and repair to
Paris?"
- Not at present.
“ Well, then, I declare that
I suspend you; you are no longer a general; I order your
arrest. “ This is too much,” said Dumouriez; and he had
the commissioners arrested by German hussars, and deli-
vered them as hostages to the Austrians. After this act of
revolt he could no longer hesitate. Dumouriez made another
attempt on Condé, but it succeeded no better than the first. He
tried to induce the army to join him, but was forsaken by it.
The soldiers were likely for a long time to prefer the republic
to their general; the attachment to the revolution was in all
its fervour, and the civil power in all its force. Dumouriez
experienced. in declaring himself against the convention, the
>>
204
HISTORY OF
fate whick Lafayette experienced when 'he declared himseif
against the legislative assembly, and Bouillé when he declared
against the constituent assembly. At this period, a general,
combining the firmness of Bouillé with the patriotism and
popularity of Lafayette, with the victories and resources
of Dumouriez, would have failed as they did. The revolution,
with the movement imparted to it, was necessarily stronger
than parties, than generals, and than Europe. Dumouriez
went over to the Austrian camp with the duke de Chartres,
colonel Thouvenot, and two squadrons of Berchiny. The
rest of his army went to the camp at Famars, and joined the
troops commanded by Dampierre.
The convention, on learning the arrest of the commissioners,
established itself as a permanent assembly, declared Dumou-
riez a traitor to his country, authorized any citizen to attack
him, set a price on his head, decreed the famous committee of
public safety, and banished the duke of Orleans and all the
Bourbons from the republic. Although the Girondists bad
assailed Dumouriez as warmly as the Mountaineers, they were
accused of being his accomplices, and this was a new cause of
complaint added to the rest. Their enemies became every day
more powerful; and it was in moments of public danger that
they were especially dangerous.. Hitherto, in the struggle
between the two parties, they had carried the day on every
point. They had stopped all inquiries into the massacres of
September; they had maintained the usurpation of the com-
mune; they had obtained, first the trial, then the death of
Louis XVI.; through their means the plunderings of Feb-
ruary and the conspiracy of the 10th of March, had remained
unpunished; they had procured the erection of the revolu-
tionary tribunal despite the Girondists; they had driven Ro-
land from the ministry, in disgust; and they had just defeated
Dumouriez. It only remained now to deprive the Girondists
of their last asylum--the assembly; this they set about on
the 10th of April, and accomplished on the 2nd of June.
Robespierre attacked by name Brissot, Guadet, Vergniaud,
Pétion, and Gensonné, in the convention; Marat denounced
them in the popular societies. As president of the Jacobins,
he wrote an address to the departments, in which he invoked
the thunder of petitions and accusations against the traitors
and faithless delegates who had sought to save the tyrant by
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
205
an appeal to the public or his imprisonment. The Right and
the Plain of the convention felt that it was necessary to unite.
Darat was sent before the revolutionary tribunal. This
news set the clubs in motion, the people, and the commune.
By way of reprisal, Pache, the mayor, came in the name of
the thirty-five sections and of the general council, to demand
the expulsion of the principal Girondists. Young Boyer
Fonfrède required to be included in the proscription of his
colleagues, and the members of the Right and the Plain rose,
exclaiming, “ All! all!” This petition, though declared
calumnious, was the first attack upon the convention from
without, and it prepared the public mind for the destruction
of the Gironde.
The accusation of Marat was far from intimidating the
Jacobins who accompanied him to the revolutionary tribunal.
Marat was acquitted, and borne in triumph to the assembly.
From that moment the approaches to the Hall were thronged
with daring sans-culottes, and the partisans of the Jacobins
filled the galleries of the convention. The clubists and
Robespierre's tricoteuses (knitters) constantly interrupted the
speakers of the Right, and disturbed the debate; while with-
out, every opportunity was sought to get rid of the Girondists.
Henriot, commandant of the section of sans-culottes, excited
against them the battalions about to march for La Vendée.
Guadet then saw that it was time for something more than
complaints and speeches; he ascended the tribune.
zens,” said he, while virtuous men
“ while virtuous men content themselves
with bewailing the misfortunes of the country, conspirators
are active for its ruin. With Cæsar they say: 'Let them
talk, we will act. Well, then, do you act also. The evil
consists in the impunity of the conspirators of the 10th of
March; the evil is in anarchy; the evil is in the existence of
the authorities of Paris-authorities striving at once for gain
and dominion. Citizens, there is yet time; you may save
the republic and your compromised glory. I propose to
abolish the Paris authorities, to replace within twenty-four
hours the municipality by the presidents of the sections, to
assemble the convention at Bourges with the least possible
delay, and to transmit this decree to the departments by ex-
traordinary couriers.' The Mountain was surprised for a
moment by Guadet's motion. Had his measures been at
66 Citi-
206
HISTORY OF
1
once adopted, there would have been an end to the domina-
tion of the commune, and to the projects of the conspirators;
but it is also probable that the agitation of parties would
have brought on a civil war, that the convention would have
ween dissolved by the assembly at Bourges, that all centre of
action would have been destroyed, and that the revolution
would not have been sufficiently strong to contend against
internal struggles and the attacks of Europe. This was what
the moderate party in the assembly feared. Dreading anarchy
if the career of the commune was not stopped, and counter-
revolution if the multitude were too closely kept down, its
aim was to maintain the balance between the two extremes of
the convention. This party comprised the committees of
general safety and of public safety. It was directed by Bar-
rère, who, like all men of upright intentions but weak
characters, advocated moderation so long as fear did not make
him an instrument of cruelty and tyranny. Instead of Gua-
det's decisive measures, he proposed to nominate an extraor-
dinary commission of twelve members, deputed to inquire
into the conduct of the municipality; to seek out the authors
of the plots against the national representatives, and to secure
This middle course was adopted; but it left
the commune in existence, and the commune was destined to
triumph over the convention.
The Commission of Twelve threw the members of the com-
mune into great alarm by its inquiries. It discovered a new
conspiracy, which was to be put into execution on the 22nd
of May, and arrested some of the conspirators, and among
others, Hebert, the deputy recorder, author of Père Duchesne,
who was taken in the very bosom of the municipality. The
commune, at first astounded, began to take measures of de-
fence. From that moment, not conspiracy, but insurrection
was the order of the day. The general council, encouraged
by the Mountain, surrounded itself with the agitators of the
capital; it circulated a report that the Twelve wished to
purge the convention, and to substitute a counter-revolutionary
tribunal for that which had acquitted Marat. The Jacobins,
the Cordeliers, the sections, sat permanently. On the 26th
of May, the agitation became perceptible; on the 27th, it was
sufficiently decided to induce the commune to open the attack.
It accordingly appeared before the convention and demanded
the liberation of Hebert, and the suppression of the Twelve;
their persons.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
207
it was accompanied by the deputies of the sections, who ex-
pressed the same desire, and the hall was surrounded by x
large mob.
The section of the City even presumed to re-
quire that the Twelve should be brought before the revolu-
tionary tribunal. Isnard, president of the assembly, replied,
in a solemn tone: “Listen to what I am about to say. If ever
by one of those insurrections, of such frequent recurrence since
the 10th of March, and of which the magistrates have never
apprised the assembly, a hostile hand be raised against the
national representatives, I declare to you in the name of all
France, Paris will be destroyed. Yes, universal France
would rise to avenge such a crime, and soon it would be
matter of doubt on which side of the Seine Paris nad stood."
This reply became the signal for great tumult.
- And I de-
clare to you,” exclaimed Danton, “that so much impudence
begins to be intolerable; we will resist you." Then turning
to the Right, he added: “ No truce between the Mountain and
the cowards who wished to save the tyrant."
The utmost confusion now reigned in the hall. The
strangers' galleries vociferated denunciations of the Right;
the Mountain broke forth into menaces; every moment depu-
tations arrived without, and the convention was surrounded
by an immense multitude. A few sectionaries of the Mail
and of the Butte-des-Moulins, commanded by Raffet, drew
up in the passages and avenues to defend it. The Girondists
withstood, as long as they could, the deputations and the
Mountain. Threatened within, besieged without, they would
have availed themselves of this violence to arouse the indig-
nation of the assembly. But the minister of the interior,
Garat, deprived them of this resource. Called upon to give an
account of the state of Paris, he declared that the convention
had nothing to fear; and the opinion of Garat, who was con-
sidered impartial, and whose conciliatory turn of mind in-
volved him in equivocal proceedings, emboldened the mem-
bers of the Mountain. Isnard was obliged to resign the chair,
which was taken by Herault de Séchelles, a sign of victory
for the Mountain. The new president replied to the peti-
tioners, whom Isnard had hitherto kept in the back ground.
“ The power of reason and the power of the people are the
same thing. You demand from us a magistrate and justice.
The representatives of the people will give you both.” It
was now very late; the Right was discouraged, some of its
208
HISTORY OF
members had left. The petitioners had moved from the har
to the seats of the representatives, and there, mixed up with
the Mountain, with outcry and disorder, they voted, all to-
gether, for the dismissal of the Twelve, and the liberation of
the prisoners. It was at half-past twelve, amidst the applause
of the galleries and the people outside, that this decree was
passed.
It would, perhaps, have been wise on the part of the Gi-
rondists, since they were really not the strongest party, to have
made no recurrence to this matter. The movement of the
preceding day would have had no other result than the sup-
pression of the Twelve, if other causes had not prolonged it.
But animosity had attained such a height, that it had become
necessary to bring the quarrel to an issue; since the two parties
could not endure each other, the only alternative was for them
to fight; they must needs go on from victory to defeat, and
from defeat to victory, growing more and more excited
every day, until the strongest finally triumphed over the
weaker party. Next day, the Right regained its position in
the convention; they declared the decree of the preceding
day illegally passed, in tumult and under compulsion, and the
commission was re-established. “ You yesterday,” said
Danton, “ did a great act of justice; but I declare to you, if
the commission retains the tyrannical power it has hitherto
exercised; if the magistrates of the people are not restored to
their functions; if good citizens are again exposed to arbitrary
arrest; then, after having proved to you that we surpass our
enemies in prudence, in wisdom, we shall surpass them
in audacity and revolutionary vigour." Danton feared to
commence the attack; he dreaded the triumph of the Moun-
tain as much as he did that of the Girondists: he accordingly
sought, by turns, to anticipate the 31st of May, and to mode.
rate its results. But he was reduced to join his own party
during the conflict, and to remain silent after the victory.
The agitation, which had been a little allayed by the sup-
pression of the Twelve, became threatening at the news of
their restoration. The benches of the sections and popular
societies resounded with invectives, with cries of danger, with
calls to insurrection. Hebert, having quitted his prison, re-
appeared at the commune. A crown was placed on his brow,
which he transferred to the bust of Brutus, and then rushed
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
209
Co the Jacobins to demand vengeance on the Twelve. Robes-
pierre, Marat, Danton, Chaumette, and Pache then com-
bined in organizing a new movement. The insurrection was
modelled on that of the 10th of August. The 29th of May
was occupied in preparing the public mind. On the 30th,
members of the electoral college, commissioners of the clubs,
and deputies of sections assembled at the Evêché, declared
themselves in a state of insurrection, dissolved the general
council of the commune, and immediately reconstituted it,
making it take a new oath; Henriot received the title of
commandant-general of the armed force, and the sans-culottes
were assigned forty sous a day while under arms. These
preparations made, early on the morning of the 31st the tocsin
rang, the drums beat to arms, the troops were assembled, and
all marched towards the convention, which for some time past
had held its sittings at the Tuileries.
The assembly had met at the s: :und of the tocsin. The
minister of the interior, the administrators of the depart-
ment, and the mayor of Paris had been summoned, in succes-
sion, to the bar. Garat had given an account of the agitated
state of Paris, but appeared to apprehend no dangerous result.
Lhuillier, in the name of the department, declared it was only
a moral insurrection. Pache, the mayor, appeared last, and
informed them, with an hypocritical air, of the operations of
the insurgents; he pretended that he had employed every
means to maintain order; assured them that the guard of the
convention had been doubled, and that he had prohibited the
firing of the alarm cannon; yet, at the same moment, the
cannon was heard in the distance. The surprise and excite-
ment of the assembly were extreme. Cambon exhorted the
members to union, and called upon the people in the strangers
gallery to be silent. “Under these extraordinary circum-
stances,” said he, "the only way of frustrating the designs of
the malcontents is to make the national convention respected.
“I demand,” said Thuriot, “the immediate abolition of the
Commission of Twelve." 56 And I,” cried Tallien, “ that the
sword of the law may strike the conspirators who profane the
very bosom of the convention." The Girondists, on their
part, required that the audacious Henriot should be called to the
bar, for having fired the alarm cannon without the permission
of the convention. “ If a struggle take place," said Ver-
P
210
HISTORY OF
gniaud,“ be the success what it may, it will be the ruin of the
republic. Let every member swear to die at his post.” The
entire assembly rose, applauding the proposition. Danton
rushed to the tribune: “ Break up the Commission of Twelve!
you have heard the thunder of the cannon. If you are
politic legislators, far from blaming the outbreak of Paris,
you will turn it to the profit of the republic, by reforming
your own errors, by dismissing your commission.-I address
those,” he continued, on hearing murmurs around him, “who
possess some political talent, not dullards, who can only act
and speak in obedience to their passions. Consider the
grandeur of your aim; it is to save the people from their
foes, from the aristocrats, to save them from their own blind
fury. If a few men, really dangerous, no matter to what
party they belong, should then seek to prolong a movement,
because useless, by your act of justice, Paris itself will hurl
them back into their original insignificance. I calmly, simply,
and deliberately demand the suppression of the commission,
on political grounds.” The commission was violently attacked
on one side, feebly defended on the other; Barrère and the
committee of public safety, who were its creators, proposed
its suppression, in order to restore peace, and to save the
assembly from being left to the mercy of the multitude. The
moderate portion of the Mountain were about to adopt this
concession, when the deputations arrived. The members of
the department, those of the municipality, and the commissaries
of sections, being admitted to the bar, demanded not merely
the suppression of the Twelve, but also the punishment of
the moderate members, and of all the Girondist chiefs.
The Tuileries was completely blockaded by the insurgents;
and the presence of their commissaries in the convention
emboldened the extreme Mountain, who were desirous of
destroying the Girondist party. Robespierre, their leader
and orator, spoke: “Citizens, let us not lose this day in vain
clamours and unnecessary measures; this is, perhaps, the last
day in which patriotism will combat with tyranny. Let the
faithful representatives of the people combine to secure their
happiness. He urged the convention to follow the course
pointed out by the petitioners, rather than that proposed by
the committee of public safety. He was thundering forth :
lengthened declamation against his adversaries, when Ver.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
211
1
gniaud intes fered : “Conclude this!"_“I am about to
conclude, and against you! Against you, who, after the
revolution of the 10th of August, sought to bring to the
scaffold those who had effected it. Against you, who have
never ceased in a course which involved the destruction of
Paris. Against you, who desired to save the tyrant.
Against you, who conspired with Dumouriez. Against
you, who fiercely persecuted the same patriots whose heads
Dumouriez demanded. Against you, whose criminal venge-
anze provoked those cries of vengeance which you seek
to make a crime in your victims. I conclude: my con-
clusion is—I propose a decree of accusation against all the
accomplices of Dumouriez, and against those who are indi-
cated by the petitioners." Notwithstanding the violence of
this outbreak, Robespierre's party were not victorious. The
insurrection had only been directed against the Twelve, and
the committee of public safety, who proposed their sup-
pression, prevailed over the commune. The assembly adopted
the decree of Barrère, which dissolved the Twelve, placed the
public force in permanent requisition, and, to satisfy the peti-
tioners, directed the committee of public safety to inquire
into the conspiracies which they denounced. As soon as the
multitude surrounding the assembly was informed of these
measures, it received them with applause, and dispersed.
But the conspirators were not disposed to rest content with
this half triumph: they had gone further on the 30th of May
than on the 29th; and on the 2nd of June they went further
than on the 31st of May. The insurrection, from being
moral, as they termed it, became personal; that is to say, it
was no longer directed against a power, but against the deputies;
it passed from Danton and the Mountain, to Robespierre,
Marat, and the commune. On the evening of the 31st, a Jaco-
bin deputy said: “We have had but half the game yet; we
must complete it, and not allow the people to cool.” Henriot
offered to place the armed force at the disposition of the club.
The insurrectional committee openly took up its quarters near
the convention. The whole of the 1st of June was devoted to
the preparation of a great movement. The commune wrote
to the sections: “ Citizens, remain under arms: the danger of
the country renders this a supreme law.” In the evening,
Marat, who was the chief author of the 2nd of June, repaired to
P2
212
HISTORY OF
the Hotel de Ville, ascended the clock-tower himself, ar.d rang
the tocsin; he called upon the members of the council not to
separate till they had obtained a decree of accusation against
the traitors and the “ statesmen." A few deputies assembled
at the convention, and the conspirators came to demand the
decree against the proscribed parties; but they were not yet
sufficiently strong to enforce it from the convention.
The whole night was spent in making preparations; the
tocsin rang, drums beat to arms, the people gathered together.
On Sunday morning, about eight o'clock, Henriot presented
himself to the general council, and declared to his accom-
plices, in the name of the insurrectionary people, that they
would not lay down their arms until they had obtained the
arrest of the conspirator deputies. He then placed himself
at the head of the vast crowd assembled in the Place de l'Hôtel
de Ville, harangued them, and gave the signal for their
departure. It was nearly ten o'clock when the insurgents
reached the Place du Carousel. Henriot posted round the
château, bands of the most devoted men, and the convention
was soon surrounded by eighty thousand men, the greater
part ignorant of what was required of them, and more
disposed to defend than to attack the deputation.
The majority of the proscribed members had not pro-
ceeded to the assembly. A few, courageous to the last, had
come to brave the storm for the last time. As soon as the
sitting commenced, the intrepid Lanjuinais ascended the
tribune. “I demand," said he, “to speak respecting the
general call to arms now beating throughout Paris." He
was immediately interrupted by cries of “ Down! down!
He wants civil war! He wants a counter-revolution! He
calumniates Paris! He insults the people.” Despite the
threats, the insults, the clamours of the Mountain and the
galleries, Lanjuinais denounced the projects of the commune
and of the malcontents; his courage rose with the danger
“You accuse us," he said, " of calumniating Paris! Paris is
pure; Paris is good; Paris is oppressed by tyrants who thirst
for blood and dominion.” These words were the signal for
the most violent tumult; several Mountain deputies rushed to
the tribune to tear Lanjuinais from it; but he, clinging
firmly to it, exclaimed, in accents of the must lofty courage.
1 I demand the dissolution of all the revolutionist authorities
im Paris. I demand that all they have done during the last
THE FRENCH REVOLUMION.
213
three days may be declared null. I demand that all who
would arrogate to themselves a new authority contrary to
law, be placed without the law, and that every citizen be
at liberty to punish them.” He had scarcely concluded, when
the insurgent petitioners came to demand his arrest, and
that of his colleagues. “ Citizens," said they, "the people
are weary of seeing their happiness still postponed; they
leave it once more in your hands; save them, or we declare
that they will save themselves.”
The Right moved the order of the day on the petition of
the insurgents, and the convention accordingly proceeded to
the previous question. The petitioners immediately with-
drew in a menacing attitude; the strangers quitted the
galleries; cries to arms were shouted, and a great tumult
was heard without: “ Save the people!” cried one of the
Mountain. “Save your colleagues, by decreeing their pro-
visional arrest. No, no!" replied the Right, and even a
portion of the Left. “ We will all share their fate!" exclaimed
Lareveillère - Lepaux. The committee of public safety,
called upon to make a report, terrified at the magnitude of the
danger, proposed, as on the 31st of May, a measure appa-
rently conciliatory, to satisfy the insurgents, without entirely
sacrificing the proscribed members. 6. The committee,
said Barrère, “appeal to the generosity and patriotism of the
accused members. It asks of them the suspension of their
power, representing to them that this alone can put an end
to the divisions which afflict the republic, which can alone
restore to it peace.” A few among them adopted the proposi-
tion. Isnard at once gave in his resignation; Lanthenas,
Dessaulx, and Fauchet followed his example; Lanjuinais
would not. He said: “I have hitherto, I believe, shown
some courage; expect not from me either suspension or
resignation. When the ancients,” he continued, amidst
violent interruption, “prepared a sacrifice, they crowned the
victim with flowers and chaplets, as they conducted it to the
altar; but they did not insult it.” Barbaroux was as firm als
Lanjuinais. “I have sworn,” he said, “ to die at my post;
I will keep my oath.” The conspirators of the Mountain
themselves protested against the proposition of the committee.
Marat urged that those who make sacrifices should be pure;
and Billaud-Varennes demanded the trial of the Girondists,
not their suspension.
214
HISTORY OF
While this was going on, Lacroix, a deputy of the Moun-
tain, rushed into the house, and to the tribune, and declared
that he had been insulted at the door, that he had been refused
egress, and that the convention was no longer free. Many of
the Mountain expressed their indignation at Henriot and
his troops. Danton said it was necessary rigorously to
avenge this insult to the national majesty. Barrère proposed
to the convention to present themselves to the people.
presentatives," said he: “ vindicate your liberty; suspend your
sitting; cause the bayonets that surround you to be lowered.”
The whole convention arose, and set forth in procession, pre-
ceded by its sergeants, and headed by the president, who was
covered, in token of his affliction. On arriving at a door on
the Place du Carousel, they found there Henriot on horseback,
sabre in hand. “What do the people require?" said the pre-
sident, Herault de Sechelles; “the convention is wholly en-
gaged in promoting their happiness.” “Herault,” replied Hen-
riot, “ the people have not risen to hear phrases; they require
twenty-four traitors to be given up to them.”
all up?" cried those who surrounded the president. Henriot then
turned to his people, and exclaimed: “ Cannoneers, to your
gups.” Two pieces were directed upon the convention, who,
retiring to the gardens, sought an outlet at various points, but
found all the issues guarded. The soldiers were everywhere
under arms. Marat ran through the ranks, encouraging and
exciting them. “No weakness,” said he; “ do not quit your
posts till they have given them up." Tbe convention then
returned within the house, overwhelmed with a sense of
their powerlessness, convinced of the inutility of their efforts,
and entirely subdued. The arrest of the proscribed members
was no longer opposed. Marat, the true dictator of the as-
sembly, imperiously decided the fate of its members.
saulx,” said he,“ is an old twaddler, incapable of leading a
party; Lanthenas is a poor creature, unworthy of a thought;
Ducos is merely chargeable with a few absurd notions, and is
not at all a man to become a counter-revolutionary leader. I
require that these be struck out of the list, and their names
replaced by that of Valazé.” These names were accordingly
struck out, and that of Valazé substituted, and the list thus
altered was agreed to, scarcely one half of the assembly taking
part in the vote.
To Re-
ci Give us
6 Du-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
215
These are the names of the illustrious men proscribed: the
Girondists Gensonné, Guadet, Brissot, Gorsas, Pétion, Verg-
niaud, Salles, Barbaroux, Cambon, Buzot, Birotteau, Lidon,
Rabaud, Lasource, Lanjuinais, Grangeneuve, Lehardy,
Lesage, Louvet, Valazé, Lebrun, minister of foreign affairs,
Clavieres, minister of taxes, and the members of the Council
of Twelve. Kervelegan, Gardien, Rabaud Saint Etienne,
Boileau, Bertrand, Vigee, Molleveau, Henri La Riviere, Go-
maire, and Bergoing. The convention placed them under
arrest at their own houses, and under the protection of the
people. The order for keeping the assembly itself prisoners
was at once withdrawn, and the multitude dispersed, but from
that moment the convention ceased to be free.
Thus fell the Gironde party, a party rendered illustrious
by great talents and great courage, a party which did honour
to the young republic by its horror of bloodshed, its hatred
of crime and anarchy, its love of order, justice, and liberty;
È party unfitly placed between the middle class, whose revo-
lution it had combated, and the multitude, whose government
it rejected. Condemned to inaction, it could only render
illustrious certain defeat, by a courageous struggle and a
glorious death. At this period, its fate might readily be fore-
seen; it had been driven from post to post; from the Jacobins
by the invasion of the Mountain; from the commune by
the outbreak of Pétion; from the ministry by the retirement
of Roland and his colleagues; from the army by the defection
of Dumouriez. The convention alone remained to it, there it
threw up its intrenchments, there it fought, and there it fell.
Its enemies employed against it, in turn, insurrection and
conspiracy. The conspiracies led to the creation of the Com-
mission of Twelve, which seemed to give a momentary advan-
tage to the Gironde, but which only excited its adversaries the
more violently against it. These aroused the people, and
took from the Girondists, first, their authority, by destroying
the Twelve; then, their political existence, by proscribing their
leaders.
The consequences of this disastrous event did not answer the
expectations of any one. The Dantopists thought that the
dissensions of parties were at an end: civil war broke out.
The moderate members of the committee of public safety
thought that the convention would resume all its power: it
216
HISTORY OF
was utterly subdued. The commune thought that the 31st of
May would secure to it domination; domination fell to Robes-
pierre, and to a few men devoted to his fortunė, or to the prin-
ciple of extreme democracy. Lastly, there was another party
to be added to the parties defeated, and thenceforth hostile; and
as after the 10th of August the republic had been opposed to
the constitutionalists, after the 31st of May the Reign of
Terror was opposed to the moderate party of the republic.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
217
CHAPTER VIII.
FROM THE 2ND OF JUNE, 1793, TO APRIL, 1794.
Insurrection of the departments against the 31st of May--Protracted re-
verses on the frontiers-Progress of the Vendeans--The Mountaineers
decree the constitution of 1793, and immediately suspend it to main-
tain and strengthen the revolutionary government–Levy en masse ;
law against suspected persons—Victories of the Mountaineers in the
interior, and on the froutiers-Death of the queen, of the twenty-two
Girondists, &c. - Committee of public safety; its power; its mem-
bers—Republican calendar_The conquerors of the 31st of May sepa-
rate--The ultra-revolutionary faction of the commune, or the Hebert-
ists, abolish the Catholic religion, and establish the worship of Reason;
its struggle with the committee of public safety; its defeat--The mo-
derate faction of the Mountaineers, or the Dantonists, wish to destroy
the revolutionary dictatorship, and to establish the legal government;
their fall-The committee of the public welfare remains alone, and tri-
umphant.
It was to be presumed that the Girondists would not bow to
their defeat, and that the 31st of May would be the signal
for the insurrection of the departments against the Moun-
tain and the commune of Paris. This was the last trial
left them to make, and they attempted it. But, in this deca-
sive measure, there was seen the same want of union which
had caused thcir defeat in the assembly. It is doubtful whe-
ther the Girondists would have triumphed, had they beer
united, and especially whether their triumph would have
saved the revolution. How could they have done with just
laws what the Mountaineers effected by violent measures? How
could they have conquered foreign foes without fanaticism,
restrained parties without the aid of terror, fed the multitude
218
HISTORY OF
without a maximum, and supplied the armies without requi-
sition? If the 31st of May had had a different result, what
happened at a much later period would probably have taken
place immediately, namely, a gradual abatement of the revo-
lutionary movement, increased attacks on the part of Europe,
à general resumption of hostilities by all parties, the days of
Prairial, without power to drive back the multitude; the days
of Vendémiaire, without power to repel the royalists; the
invasion of the coalesced powers, and, according to the policy
of the times, the partition of France. The republic was
not sufficiently powerful to meet so many attacks as it did
after the reaction of Thermidor.
· However this may be, the Girondists, who ought to have
remained quiet or fought all together, did not do so, and, after
the 2nd of June, all the moderate men of the party remained
under the decree of arrest; the others escaped. Vergniaud,
Gensonnć, Ducos, Tonfrède, &c., were among the first; Pétion,
Barbaroux, Guadet, Louvet, Buzot, and Lanjuinais, among
the latter. They repaired to Evreux, in the department
de l'Eure, where Buzot had much influence, and thence to
Caen, in Calvados. These made this town the centre of the
insurrection. Brittany soon joined them. The insurgents,
under the name of the assembly of the departments assem-
bled at Caen, formed an army, appointed general Wimp-
fen commander, arrested the Mountaineers, Romme, and
Prieur de la Marne, commissaries of the convention, and
prepared to march on Paris.
From this place, a young:
beautiful, and courageous woman, Charlotte Corday, went
to punish Marat, the principal author of the 31st of May,
and the 2nd of June. She hoped to save the republic by
sacrificing herself to its cause. But tyranny did not rest
with one man; it belonged to a party, and to the violent
situation of the republic. Charlotte Corday, after execut-
ing her generous but vain design, died with unchanging
calmness, modest courage, and the satisfaction of having done
But Marat, after his assassination, became a greater
well. *
* The following are a few of the replies of this heroic girl before the
revolutionary tribunal :- What were your intentions in killing Marat ?-
To put an end to the troubles of France.—Is it long since you conceived
this project?-Since the proscription of the deputies of the people on the
31st of Day.--You learned then by the papers that Marat was a friend of
THE FRENCE REVOLUTION.
219
object of enthusiasm with the people than he had been
while living. He was invoked on all the public squares; his
bust was placed in all the popular societies, and the conven-
tion was obliged to grant him the honours of the Pantheon.
At the same time Lyons arose, Marseilles and Bordeaux
took arms, and more than sixty departments joined the insur-
rection. This attack soon led to a general rising among all
parties, and the royalists for the most part took advantage of
the movement which the Girondists had commenced. They
sought, especially, to direct the insurrection of Lyons, in
order to make it the centre of the movement in the south.
This city was strongly attached to the ancient order of things.
Its manufactures of silver and gold and silken embroidery,
and its trade in articles of luxury, made it dependent on the
upper classes. It therefore declared at an early period
against a social change, which destroyed its former con-
nexions, and ruined its manufactures, by destroying the nobi-
lity and clergy. Lyons, accordingly, in 1790, even under
the constituent assembly, when the emigrant princes were,
in that neighbourhood, at the court of Turin, had made
attempts at a rising. These attempts, directed by priests
and nobles, had been repressed, but the spirit remained the
There, as elsewhere, after the 10th of August, men
had wished to bring about the revolution of the multitude,
and to establish its government. Chalier, the fanatical imi-
tator of Marat, was at the head of the Jacobins, the sans-
culottes, and the municipality of Lyons. His audacity in-
creased after the massacres of September and the 21st of
January. Yet nothing bad as yet been decided between
the lower republican class, and the middle royalist class, the
one having its seat of power in the municipality, and the
otber in the sections. But the disputes became greater to-
wards the end of May; they fought, and the sections carried
the day. The municipality was besieged, and taken by
assault. Chalier, who had filed, was apprehended, and exe-
cuted. The sectionaries, not as yet daring to throw off the
same,
و
anarchy ?—“Yes, I knew that he was perverting Frault. I have kiſled," she
added, raising her voice, “ a man to save a hundred thousand; a villain,
to save the innocent; a wild beast, to give tranquillity to my country. I
was a republican before the revolution, and I have never been without
energy
220
HISTORY OF
yoke of the convention, endeavoured to excuse themselves on
the score of the necessity to which the Jacobins and the
members of the corporation had reduced them of taking arms.
The convention, which could only save itself by means of
daring, losing everything if it yielded, would listen to nothing.
Meanwhile the insurrection of Calvados became known, and
the people of Lyons, thus encouraged, no longer feared to
raise the standard of revolt. They put their town in a state
of defence; they raised fortifications, formed an army of
twenty thousand men, received emigrants among them, en-
trusted the command of their forces to the royalist Précy
and the marquis de Virieux, and concerted their operations
with the king of Sardinia.
The revolt of Lyons was so much the more to be feared by
the convention, that by its central position it was sup-
ported by the south, which took arms, while there was also
a rising in the west. At Marseilles, the news of the
31st of May had aroused the partisans of the Girondists:
Rebecqui repaired thither in haste. The sections were assem-
bled; the members of the revolutionary tribunal were outlawed;
the two representatives, Baux and Antiboul, were arrested,
and an army of ten thousand men raised to advance on Paris.
These measures were the work of the royalists, who, there
as elsewhere, only waiting for an opportunity to revive their
party, had at first assumed a republican appearance, but now
acted in their own name. They had secured the sections;
and the movement was no longer effected in favour of the
Girondists, but for the counter-revolutionists. Once in a state
of revolt, the party whose opinions are the most violent, and
whose aim is the clearest, supplants its allies. Rebecqui, per-
ceiving this new turn of the insurrection, threw himself in
despair into the port of Marseilles. The insurgents took the
road to Lyons; their example was rapidly imitated at Toulon,
Nimes, Montauban, and the principal towns in the south. In
Calvados, the insurrection had had the same royalist character,
since the marquis de Puisaye, at the head of some troops,
had introduced himself into the ranks of the Girondists. The
towns of Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest, and L'Orient, were
favourable to the persons proscribed on the 2nd of June, and
& few openly joined them; but they were of no great service,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
221
because they were restrained by the Jacobin party, or by the
necessity of fighting the royalists of the west.
The latter, during this almost general rising of the depart-
ments, continued to extend their enterprises. After their
first victories, the Vendeans seized on Bressuire, Argenton,
and Thouars. Entirely masters of their own country, they
proposed getting possession of the frontiers, and opening
the way to revolutionary France, as well as communications
with England. On the 6th of June, the Vendean army, com-
posed of forty thousand men, under: Cathelineau, Lescure,
Stofilet, and La Rochejacquelin, marched on Saumur, which
it took by storm. It then prepared to attack and capture
Nantes, to secure the possession of its own country, and become
master of the course of the Loire. Cathelineau, at the head
of the Vendean troops, left a garrison in Saumur, took Angers,
crossed the Loire, pretended to advance upon Tours and Le
Mans, and then rapidly threw himself upon Nantes, which
he attacked on the right bank, while Charette was to attack
it on the left.
Everything seemed combined for the overthrow of the
convention. Its armies were beaten on the north and on the
Pyrenees, while it was threatened by the people of Lyons
in the centre, those of Marseilles in the south, the Girondists
in one part of the west, the Vendeans in the other, and while
twenty thousand Piedmontese were invading France. The
military reaction which, after the brilliant campaigns of
Argone and Belgium, had taken place, chiefly owing to the
disagreement between Dumouriez and the Jacobins, between
the army and the government, had manifested itself in a
most disastrous manner since the defection of the commander-
in-chief. There was no longer unity of operation, enthu-
siasm in the troops, or agreement between the convention,
occupied with its quarrels, and the discouraged generals. The
remains of Dumouriez's army had assembled at the camp at
Famars, under the command of Dampierre; but they had
been obliged to retire, after a defeat, under the cannon of
Bouchain. Dampierre was killed. The frontier from Dun-
kirk to Givet was threatened by superior forces. Custine
was promptly called from the Moselle to the army of the
north, but his presence did not restore affairs. Valenciennes
222
IIISTORY OF
the key to France, was taken; Condé shared the same fate;
the army, driven from position to position, retired beyond the
Scarpe, before Arras, the last post between the Scarpe
and Paris. Mayence, on the other side, sorely pressed
hy the enemy and by famine, gave up all hope of being
assisted by the army of the Moselle, reduced to inaction;
and despairing of being able to hold out long, capitulated.
Lastly, the English government, seeing that Paris and
the departments were distressed by famine, after the 31st of
May and the 2nd of June, pronounced all the ports of France
in a state of blockade, and that all neutral ships attempting
to bring a supply of provisions would be confiscated. This
measure, new to the annals of history, and destined to starve
an entire people, three months afterwards originated the law
of the maximum. The situation of the republic could not be
worse.
The convention was, as it were, taken by surprise. It was
disorganized, because emerging from a struggle, and that the
conquerors had not bad time to establish themselves. After
the 2nd of June, before the danger became so pressing
both on the frontiers and in the departments, the Moun-
tain had sent commissioners in every direction, and im-
mediately turned its attention to the constitution, which had
so long been expected, and from which it entertained great
hopes. The Girondists had wished to decree it before the
21st of January, in order to save Louis XVI., by substituting
legal order for the revolutionary state of things; they re-
turned to the subject previous to the 31st of May, in order
to prevent their own ruin. But the Mountaineers, on two
occasions, had diverted the assembly from this discussion by
two coups d'état, the trial of Louis XVI., and the elimination
of the Gironde. Masters of the field, they now endeavoured
to secure the republicans by decreeing the constitution.
Hérault de Séchelles was the legislator of the Mountain,
as Condorcet had been of the Gironde. In a few days,
this new constitution was adopted in the convention, and
submitted to the approval of the primary assemblies. It is
easy to conceive its nature, with the ideas that then pre-
vailed respecting democratic government. The constituent
assembly was considered as aristocratical: the law it had estab-
lished was regarded as a violation of the rights of the people,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
223
because it imposed conditions for the exercise of colitical
rights; because it did not recognise the most absolute equality;
because it had deputies and magistrates appointed by electors,
and these electors by the people; because, in some cases, it
put limits to the national sovereignty, by excluding a portion
of active citizens from high public functions, and the prole-
taries from the functions of acting citizens; finally, because,
instead of fixing on the population as the only basis of poli-
tical rights, it combined it, in all its operations, with property.
The constitutional law of 1793 established the pure régime
of the multitude: it not only recognised the people as the
source of all power, but also delegated the exercise of it to
the people; an unlimited sovereignty; extreme mobility in
the magistracy; direct elections, in which every one could
vote; primary assemblies, that could meet without convoca-
tion, at given times, to elect representatives and control
their acts; a national assembly, to be annually renewed,
and which, properly speaking, was only a committee of
the primary assemblies; such was this constitution. As
it made the multitude govern, and as it entirely disor-
ganized authority, it was impracticable at all times; but
especially in a moment of general war. The Mountain,
instead of extreme democracy, needed a stern dictatorship.
The constitution was suspended as soon as made, and the
revolutionary government strengthened and maintained till
the peace.
Both during the discussion of the constitution and its pre-
sentation to the primary assemblies, the Mountaineers learned
the danger which threatened them.
These daring men,,
having three or four parties to put down in the interior,
several kinds of civil war to terminate, the disasters of the
armies to repair, and all Europe to repel, were not alarmed at
their position. The representatives of the forty-four thousand
municipalities came to accept the constitution. Admitted to
the bar of the assembly, after making known the assent of
the people, they required the arrest of all suspected persons,
and a levy en masse of the people. “ Well," exclaimed
Danton, “let us respond to their wishes. The deputies of
the primary assemblies have just taken the initiative among
us, in the way of inspiring terror! I demand that the con-
vention, which ought now to be penetrated with a sense of
224
HISTORY OF
its dignity, for it has just been invested with the entire national
power, I demand that it do now, by a decree, invest the
primary assemblies with the right of supplying the state
with arms, provisions, and ammunition; of making an appeal
to the people, of exciting the energy of citizens, and of raising
four hundred thousand men. It is with cannon-balls that we
must declare the constitution to our foes! Now is the time
to take the last great oath, that we will destroy tyranny, or
perish!" This oath was immediately taken by all the de-
puties and citizens present. A few days after, Barrère, in
the name of the committee of public safety, which was com-
posed of revolutionary members, and which became the centre
of operations and the government of the assembly, proposed
measures still more general: “Liberty,” said he, “has be-
come the creditor of every citizen; some owe her their in-
dustry; others their fortune; these their counsel; those their
arms; all owe her their blood. Accordingly, all the French, of
every age and of either sex, are summoned by their country
to defend liberty; all faculties, physical or moral; all means,
political or commercial; all metal, all the elements are her
tributaries. Let each maintain his post in the national and
military movement about to take place. The young men
will fight; the married men will forge arms, transport the
baggage and artillery, and prepare provisions; the women
will make tents, and clothes for the soldiers, and exercise their
hospitable care in the asylums of the wounded; children will
make lint from old linen; and the aged, resuming the mission
they discharged among the ancients, shall cause themselves
to be carried to the public places, where they shall excite the
courage of the young warriors, and propagate the doctrine
of hatred to kings, and the unity of the republic. National
buildings shall be converted into barracks, public squares into
workshops; the ground of the cellars will serve for the pre-
paration of saltpetre; all saddle horses shall be placed in re-
quisition for the cavalry; all draught horses for the artillery;
fowling-pieces, pistols, swords and pikes, belonging to indi-
viduals, shall be employed in the service of the interior. The
republic being but a large city, in a state of necessity, France
must be converted into a vast camp."
The measures proposed by Barrère were at once decreed
All Frenchmen, from eighteen to five-and-twenty, took arms
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
225
.
the armies were recruited by levies of men, and supported
by levies of provisions. The republic had very soon four-
teen armies, and twelve hundred thousand soldiers. France,
while it became a camp and a workshop for the republicans,
became at the same time a prison for those who did not
accept the republic. While marching against avowed enemies,
it was thought necessary to make sure of secret foes, and the
famous law, des suspects, was passed. All foreigners were
arrested, on the ground of their hostile machinations, and
the partisans of constitutional monarchy and a limited re-
public were imprisoned, to be kept close, until the peace.
At the time, this was so far only a reasonable measure of
precaution. The bourgeoisie, the mercantile people, and the
middle classes, furnished prisoners after the 31st of May, así
the nobility and clergy had done after the 10th of August
A revolutionary army of six thousand soldiers and a thousand
artillerymen was formed for the interior. Every indigent citi-
zen was allowed forty sous a day, to enable him to be present
at the sectionary meetings. Certificates of citizenship were
delivered, in order to make sure of the opinions of all who co-
operated in the revolutionary movement. The functionaries
were placed under the surveillance of the clubs, a revolu-
tionary committee was formed in each section, and thus they
prepared to face the enemy on all sides, both abroad and
at home.
The insurgents in Calvados were easily suppressed; at the
very first skirmish at Vernon, the insurgent troops fled.
Wimpfen endeavoured to rally them in vain. The moderate
class, those who had taken up the defence of the Girondists,
displayed little ardour or activity. When the constitution
was accepted by the other departments, it saw the opportunity
for admitting that it had been in error, when it thought it
was taking arms against a mere factious minority. This
retractation was made at Caen, which had been the head
quarters of the revolt. The Mountain commissioners dių
not sully this first victory with executions. General Carteaux
on the other hand, marched at the head of some troops
against the sectionary army of the south; he defeated its
force, pursued it to Marseilles, entered the town after its and
Provence would have been brought into subjection like
Calvados, if the royalists, who had taken refuge at Tonon,
226
HISTORY OF
after their defeat, had not called in the English to their ai 1,
and placed in their hands this key to France. Admiral Hocd
entered the town in the name of Louis XVII., whom ke
proclaimed king, disarmed the fleet, sent for eight thousand
Spaniards by sea, occupied the surrounding forts, and forced
Carteaux, who was advancing against Toulon, to fall back on
Marseilles.
Notwithstanding this check, the conventionalists succeeded
in isolating the insurrection, and this was a great point. The
Mountain commissioners had made their entry into the rebel
capitals; Robert Lindet into Caen; Tallien into Bordeaux;
Barras and Fréron into Marseilles. Only two towns remained
to be taken-Toulon and Lyons.
A simultaneous attack from the south, west, and centre
was no longer apprehended, and in the interior the enemy
was only on the defensive. Lyons was besieged by Keller-
mann, general of the army of the Alps; three corps pressed
the town on all sides. The veteran soldiers of the Alps, the
revolutionary battalions and the newly levied troops, reinforced
the besiegers every day. The people of Lyons defended
themselves with all the courage of despair. At first, they
relied on the assistance of the insurgents of the south; but
these having been repulsed by Carteaux, the Lyonnèse placed
their last hope in the army of Piedmont, which attempted
a diversion in their favour, but was beaten by Kellermann.
Pressed still more energetically, they saw their first positions
carried. Famine began to be felt, and courage forsook them.
The royalist leaders, convinced of the inutility of longer
resistance, left the town, and the republican army entered the
walls, where they awaited the orders of the convention. A
few months after, Toulon itself, defended by veteran troops
and formidable fortifications, fell into the power of the repub-
licans. The battalions of the army of Italy, reinforced by
those which the taking of Lyons left disposable, pressed the
place closely. After repeated attacks and prodigies of skill
and valour, they made themselves masters of it, and the
capture of Toulon finished what that of Lyons had begun.
Everywhere the convention was victorious. The Vendeans
had failed in their attempt upon Nantes, after having lost
inany men, and their general-in-chief, Cathelineau. This
attack nut an end to the aggressive and previously pionising
TAI FRENCH REVOLUTION.
227
movement of the Vendean insurrection. The royalists re-
passed the Loire, abandoned Saumur, and resumed their
former cantonments. They were, however, still formidable;
and the republicans, who pursued them, were again beaten in
La Vendée. General Biron, who had succeeded general
Berruyer, unsuccessfully continued the war with small bodies
of troops; his moderation and defective system of attack
caused him to be replaced by Canclaus and Rossignol, who
were not more fortunate than he: There were two leaders,
two armies, and two centres of operation—the one at Nantes,
and the other at Saumur, placed under contrary influences.
General Canclaux could not agree with general Rossignol,
nor the moderate Mountain commissioner Philipeaux with
Bourbotte, the commissioner of the committee of public safety;
and this attempt at invasion failed like the preceding attempts,
for want of concert in plan and action. The committee of
public safety soon remedied this, by appointing one sole
general-in-chief, Lechelle, and by introducing war on a
large scale into La Vendée. This new method, aided by the
garrison of Mayence, consisting of seventeen thousand ve-
terans, who, relieved from operations against the coalesced
powers after the capitulation, were employed in the interior,
entirely changed the face of the war. The royalists under-
went four consecutive defeats, two at Châtillon, two at Cholet.
Lescure, Bonchamps, and d’Elbée were mortally wounded.
and the insurgents, completely beaten in Upper Vendée, and
fearing that they should be exterminated if they took refuge
in Lower Vendée, determined to leave their country, to the
number of eighty thousand persons. This emigration through
Brittany, which they hoped to arouse to insurrection, became
fatal to them. Repulsed before Granville, utterly routed
at Mons, they were destroyed at Savenay, and barely a few
thousand men, the wreck of this vast emigration, returned to
Vendée. These disasters, irreparable for the royalist cause,
the taking of their land of Noirmoutiers from Charette, the
dispersion of the troops of that leader, the death of Laroche-
jacquelin, rendered the republicans masters of the country.
The committee of public safety, thinking, not without reason,
that its enemies were beaten but not subjugated, adopted a
terrible system of extermination to prevent them from rising
again. General Thurreau surrounded Vendée with sixteen
Q 2
228
HISTORY OF
entrenched camps; twelve moveable columns, called the in-
fernal columns, overran the country in every direction, sword
and fire in hand, scoured the woods, dispersed the assemblies
and diffused terror throughout this unhappy country:
The foreign armies had also been driven back from the
frontiers they had invaded. After having taken Valenciennes
and Condé, blockaded Maubeuge and Le Quesnoy, the enemy
advanced on Cassel, Hondescoote, and Furnes, under the
command of the duke of York. The committee of public
safety, dissatisfied with Custine, whose measures they looked
on with suspicion as a Girondist, superseded him by general
Houchard. The enemy, hitherto successful, was defeated at
Hondescoote, and compelled to retreat. The military re-action
began with the daring measures of the committee of public
safety. Houchard himself was dismissed. Jourdan took the
command of the army of the north, gained the important
victory of Watignies over the prince of Coburg, raised the
siege of Maubeuge, and resumed the offensive on that frontier.
Similar successes took place on all the others. The immortal.
campaign of 1793-1794 opened. What Jourdan had done
with the army of the north, Hoche and Pichegru did with the
army of the Moselle, and Kellermann with that of the Alps.
The enemy was repulsed, and kept in check on all sides. Then
took place, after the 31st of May, that which had followed the
10th of August. The want of union between the generals
and the leaders of the assembly was removed; the revolu-
tionary movement, which had slackened, increased; and vic-
tories recommenced. Armies have had their crises, as well
as parties, and these crises have brought about successes or
defeat, always by the same law.
In 1792, at the beginning of the war, the generals were
constitutionalists, and the ministers Girondists. Rochambeau,
Lafayette, and Luckner, did not at all agree with Dumouriez,
Sorvan, Clavière, and Roland. There was, besides, little
enthusiasm in the army; it was beaten. After the 10th of
August, the Girondist generals, Dumouriez, Custine, Keller-
mann, and Dillon, replaced the constitutionalist generals.
There was unity of views, confidence, and co-operation, be-
tween the army and the government. The catastrophe of the
10th of August augmented this energy, by increasing the
vocessity for victory; and the results were the plan of the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
229
campaign of Argone, the victories of Valmy and Jemappes,
and the invasion of Belgium. The struggle between the Moun-
tain and the Gironde, between. Dumouriez and the Jaco-
bins, again created discord between the army. and government,
and destroyed the confidence of the troops, who experienced
immediate and numerous reverses. There was defection on
the part of Dumouriez, as there had been withdrawal on the
part of Lafayette. After the 31st of May, which overthrew
the Gironde party, after the committee of public safety had
become established, and had replaced the Girondist generals,
Dumouriez, Custine, Houchard, and Dillon, by the Mountain
generals, Jourdan, Hoche, Pichegru, and Moreau; after it
had restored the revolutionary movement by the daring
measures we have described, the campaign of Argone and of
Belgium was renewed in that of 1794, and the genius of Car-
not equalled that of Dumouriez, if it did not surpass it.
During this war, the committee of public safety gave way
to the most terrible executions, Armies confine themselves
to slaughter on the field of battle; it is not so with parties,
who, under violent circumstances, fearing to see the combat
renewed after the victory, secure themselves from new attacks
by inexorable rigour. The usage of all governments being
to make their own preservation a matter of right, they regard
those who attack them as enemies so long as they fight; as
conspirators when they are defeated; and thus destroy them
alike by means of war and of law.
All these views at once guided the policy of the committee
of public safety, a policy of vengeance, of terror, and of self-
preservation. This was the maxim upon which it proceeded
in reference to insurgent towns: “The name of Lyons,
said Barrère, must no longer exist. You will call it Ville
Affranchie, and upon the ruins of that famous city there shall
be raised a monument to attest tlie crime and the punishment
of the enemies of liberty. Its history shall be told in these
words: 'Lyons warred against liberty ; Lyons exists no more.""
To realise this terrible anathema, the committee sent to
this unfortunate city Collot-d'Herbois, Fouché, and Couthon,
who slaughtered the inhabitants with grape shot and demo-
lished its buildings. The insurgents of Toulon underwent
at the hands of the representatives, Barras and Fréron, a
nearly similar fate. At Caen, Marseilles, and Bordeau”.
230
HISTORY OF
the executions were less general and less violent, because
they were proportioned to the gravity of the insurrection,
which had not been undertaken in concert with foreign foes.
In the interior, the dictatorial government struck at all the
parties with which it was at war, in the persons of their greatest
members. The condemnation of queen Marie-Antoinette
was directed against Europe; that of the twenty-tw...against
the Girondists; of the wise Bailly against the old constitu-
tionalists; lastly, that of the duke 01° Orleans against certain
members of the Mountain who were supposed to have plotted
his elevation. The unfortunate widow of Louis XVI. was
first sentenced to death by this sanguinary revolutionary tri-
bunal. The proscribed of the 2nd of June soon followed her.
She perished on the 16th of October, and the Girondist depu-
ties on the 31st. They were twenty-one in number: Brissot,
Vergniaud, Gensonné, Fonfrède, Ducos, Valazé, Lasource,
Silléry, Gardien, Carra, Duprat, Beauvais, Duchâtel, Main-
vielle, Lacaze, Boileau, Lehardy, Antiboul, and Vigée.
Seventy-three of their colleagues, who had protested against
their arrest, were also imprisoned, but the committee did not
venture to inflict death upon them.
During the debates, these illustrious prisoners displayed
uniform and serene courage. Vergniaud raised his eloquent
voice for a moment, but in vain. Valazé stabbed himself
with a poignard on hearing the sentence, and Lasource said
to the judges: “I die at a time when the people have lost
their senses; you will die when they recover them.” They
went to execution displaying all the stoicism of the times,
singing the Marseillaise, and applying it to their own case:
“ Allons, enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé :
Contre nous de la tyrannie
Le couteau sanglant est levé," &c.
Nearly all the other leaders of this party had a violent end.
Salles, Guadet, and Barbaroux, were discovered in the
grottos of Saint Emilion, near Bordeaux, and died on the
scaffold. Pétion and Buzot, after wandering aboat some
time, committed suicide; they were found dead in a field, half
devoured by wolves. Rabaud-Saint-Etienne was betrayed
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
231
by an old friend; Madame Roland was also condemned to
death, and displayed the courage of a Roman matron. Her
husband, on hearing of her death, left his place of conceal-
ment, and killed himself on the high road. Condorcet, out-
lawed soon after the 2nd of June, was taken while endeavour-
ing to escape, and saved himself from the executioner's knife
only by poisca. Louvet, Kervelegan, Lanjuinais, Henri la
Riviere, Lesage, Larévellère-Lépeaux, were the only lead.
ing Girondists who, in secure retreat, awaited the end of the
furious storm.
The revolutionary government was formed; it was pro-
claimed by the convention on the 10th of October. Before the
31st of May, power had been nowhere, neither'in the ministry,
nor in the commune, nor in the convention. It was natural
that power should become concentrated in this extreme situa-
tion of affairs, and at a moment when the necessity of unity
and promptitude of action was deeply felt. The assembly
being the most central and extensive power, the dictatorship
would as naturally become placed in its bosom, be exer-
cised there by the dominant faction, and in that faction by a
few men.
The committee of public safety of the convention
created on the 6th of April, in order, as the name indi-
cates, to provide for the defence of the revolution by extra-
ordinary measures, was in itself a complete framework or
government. Formed during the divisions of the Mountain
and the Gironde, it was composed of neutral members of the
convention till the 31st of May; and at its first renewal, of
members of the extreme Mountain. Barrère remained in it;
but Robespierre acceded, and his party dominated in it by
Saint-Just, Couthon, Collot-d'Herbois, and Billaud-Varennes
He set aside some Dantonists who still remained in it, such
as Hérault de Séchelles and Robert-Lindet, gained over
Barrère, and usurped the lead by assuming the direction of the
public mind and of police. His associates divided the various
departments among themselves. Saint-Just undertook the
surveillance and denouncing of parties; Couthon, the violent
propositions which required to be softened in form; Bil-
laud-Varennes and Collot-d'Herbois directed the missious
into the departments; Carnot took the war department;
Cambon, the exchequer; Prieur de la Côte d'or, Prieur de la
Marne, and several others, the various branches of interval
232
HISTORY OF
administration; and Barrère was the daily orator, the panie-
gyrist ever prepared, of the dictatorial committee. Below these,
assisting in the detail of the revolutionary administration,
and of minor measures, was placed the committee of general
safety, composed in the same spirit as the great committee,
having, like it, twelve members, who were re-eligible every
three months, and always renewed in their office.
The whole revolutionary power was lodged in the hands
of these men.
Saint-Just, in proposing the establishment of
the decemviral power until the restoration of peace, did
not conceal the motives nor the object of this dictatorship.
“ You must no longer show any lenity to the enemies of
the new order of things,” said he. “ Liberty must triumph
at any cost. In the present circumstances of the republic,
the constitution cannot be established; it would guarantee
impunity to attacks on our liberty, because it would be defi-
cient in the violence necessary to restrain them. The present
government is not sufficiently free to act.
You are not near
enough to strike in every direction at the authors of these
attacks; the sword of the law must extend everywhere; your
arm must be felt everywhere.” Thus was created that ter-
rible power, which first destroyed the enemies of the Moun-
tain, then the Mountain and the commune, and, lastly, itself.
The committee did everything in the name of the convention,
which it used as an instrument. It nominated and dismissed
generals, ministers, representatives, commissioners, judges
and juries. It assailed factions; it took the initiative in all
Through its commissioners, armies and generals
were dependent upon it, and it ruled the departments with
sovereign sway. By means of the law touching suspected
persons, it disposed of men's liberties; by the revolutionary tri-
bunal, of men's lives; by levies and the maximum,. of property;
by decrees of accusation in the terrified convention, of its own
members. Lastly, its dictatorship was supported by the mul-
titude, who debated in the clubs, ruled in the revolutionary
committees; whose services it paid by a daily stipend, and
whom it fed with the maximum. The multitude adhered to a
system which inflamed its passions, exaggerated its importance,
assigned it the first place, and appeared to do everything for it,
The innovators, separated by war and by their laws from
all states and from all forms of government, determined to
measures.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
233
widen the separation. By an unprecedented revolution they
established an entirely new era; they changed the divisions of
the
year, the names of the months and days; they substituted a
republican for the Christian calendar, the decade for the week,
and fixed the day of rest not on the sabbath, but_on_the-tenth
day. The new era dated from the 22nd of September, 1792,
the epoch of the foundation of the republic. There were
twelve equal months of thirty days, which began on the 11th
of September, in the following order:- Vendémiaire, Bru-
maire, Frimaire, for the autumn; Nivose, Pluviose, Ventose,
for the winter; Germinal, Floréal, Prairial, for the spring;
Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor, for the summer. Each
month had three decades, each décade ten days, and each day
was named from its order in the decade:- Primidi, Duodi,
Tridi, Quartidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octidi, Nonidi,
Decadi. The surplus five days were placed at the end of the
year; they received the name of Sans-culotides, and were
consecrated, the first, to the festival of genius; the second, to
that of labour; the third, to that of actions; the fourth, to that
of rewards; the fifth, to that of opinion. The constitution of
1793 led to the establishment of the republican calendar, and
the republican calendar to the abolition of the Christian wor-
ship. We shall soon see the commune and the committee of
public safety each proposing a religion of its own; the com-
mune, the worship of reason; the committee of public safety,
the worship of the Supreme Being. But we must first men-
tion a new struggle between the authors of the catastrophe of
the 31st of May theruselves.
The Commune and the Mountain had effected this revolu-
tion against the Gironde, and the committee alone had bene-
fited by it. During the five months we have just gone over,
from June to November, the committee, having taken all the
measures of defence, had naturally become the first power of
the republic. The actual struggle being, as it were, over,
the commune sought to sway the committee, and the Mountain
to throw off the yoke of the latter. The municipal faction
was the term of the revolution. Having an object opposed
to that of the committee of public safety, instead of the con-
ventional dictatorship, it desired the most extreme local demo-
cracy; and instead of religion, the consecration of materialism.
Political anarchy and religious atheism were the symbols of
234
HISTORY OF
this party, and the means by which it aimed at establishing
its own rule. A revolution is the effect of the different sys-
tems which have agitated the age which has originaied it.
Thus, during the continuance of the crisis in France, ultra-
montane catholicism was represented by the nonjuring
clergy; Jansenism by the constitutionist clergy; philosophical
deism by the worship of the Supreme Being, instituted by
the committee of public safety; and the materialism of Hol-
bach's school by the worship of Reason and of Nature,
decreed by the commune. It was the same with politica!
opinions, from the royalty of the Ancien Régime to the unli-
mited democracy of the municipal faction. The latter had
lost, in Marat, its principal support, its true leader, while the
committee of public safety still retained Robespierre. It had
at its head men who enjoyed great popularity with the lower
classes; Chaumette, and his substitute Hebert, were its poli-
tical leaders; Ronsin, commandant of the revolutionary army,
its general; the atheist, Anacharsis Clootz, its apostle. In
the sections it relied on the revolutionary committees, in
which there were many obscure foreigners, supposed, and not
without probability, to be agents of England, sent to destroy
the republic by driving it into anarchy and excess. The
club of the Cordeliers was composed entirely of its par-
tisans. The Vieux Cordeliers of Danton, who had contri-
buted so powerfully to the 10th of August, and who
constituted the commune of that period, had entered the
government and the convention, and had been replaced in the
club by members whom they contemptuously designated the
patriotes de la troisième requisition.
Hebert's faction, which, in a work entitled, “Père Duchène",
popularised obscene language and low and cruel sntiments,
and which added derision of the victims to the executions of
party, in a short time made terrible progress. It com-
pelled the bishop of Paris and his vicars to abjure Chris-
tianity at the bar of the convention, and forced the convention
to decree, that the worship of Reason should be substituted for
the catholic religion. The churches were shut up or converted
into temples of reason, and fêtes were established in every
town, which became scandalous scenes of atheism. The com-
mittee of public safety grew alarmed at the power of this
ultra-revolutionary faction, and hastened to stop and to de
TIIE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
235
stroy it. Robespierre soon attacked it in the assembly, (15th
Frimaire, year 2, 5th Dec., 1793). “Citizens, representatives
of the people,” said he, “the kings coalesced against the
republic are making war against us with armies and intrigues;
we will oppose their armies by braver ones; their intrigues,
by vigilance and the terror of national justice. Ever intent
on renewing their secret plots, in proportion as they are de-
stroyed by the hand of patriotism, ever skilful in directing
the arms of liberty against liberty itself, the emissaries of the
enemies of France are now labouring to overthrow the re-
public by republicanism, and to rekindle civil war by philo-
sophy." He classed the ultra-revolutionists of the commune
with the external enemies of the republic. “ It is your part,
said he to the convention, “to prevent the follies and extra-
vagancies which coincide with the projects of foreign con-
spiracy. I require you to prohibit particular authorities (the
commune) from serving our enemies by rash measures, and
that no armed force be allowed to interfere in questions of
religious opinions.” And the convention, which had ap-
plauded the abjurations at the demand of the commune,
decreed, on Robespierre's motion, that all violence and all
measures opposed to the liberty of religion are prohibited.
The committee of public safety was too strong not to
triumph over the commune; but, at the same time, it had
to resist the moderate party of the Mountain, which de-
manded the cessation of the revolutionary government and
the dictatorship of the committees. The revolutionary go-
vernment had only been created to restrain, the dictatorship
to conquer; and as Danton and his party no longer considered
restraint and victory essential, they sought to establish legal
order, and the independence of the convention; they wished
to throw down the faction of the commune, to stop the
operation of the revolutionary tribunal, to empty the prisons
now filled with suspected persons, to reduce or destroy the
powers of the committees. This project in favour of cle-
mency, humanity, and legal government, was conceived by
Danton, Philipeaux, Camille Desmoulins, Fabre-d'Eglantine,
Lacroix, general Westermann, and all the friends of Danton.
Before all things they wanted that the republic should secure
the field of battle; but after conquest, they wished to conci
liate.
ر
236
HISTORY OF
This party, become moderate, had renounced power; it had
withdrawn from the government, or suffered itself to be
excluded by Robespierre's party. Moreover, since the 31st
of May, zealous patriots had considered Danton's conduct
equivocal. He had acted mildly on that day, and had subse-
quently disapproved the condemnation of the twenty-two.
They began to reproach him with his disorderly life, his
venal passions, his change of party, and untimely modera-
tion. To avoid the storm, he had retired to his native place,
Arcis-sur-Aube, and there he seemed to have forgotten all in
retirement. During his absence, the Hebert faction made
immense progress; and the friends of Danton hastily sum-
moned him to their aid. He returned at the beginning of
Frimaire, (December). Philipeaux, immediately denounced
the manner in which the Vendean war had been carried on;
general Westermann, who had greatly distinguished himself
in that war, and who had just been dismissed by the committee
of public safety, supported Philipeaux, and Camille Des-
moulins published the first numbers of his Vieux Cordelier.
This brilliant and fiery young man had followed all the
movements of the revolution, from the 14th of July to the
31st of May, approving all its exaggerations and all its mea-
His heart, however, was gentle and tender, though
his opinions were violent, and his humour often bitter. He
had praised the revolutionary régime because he believed it
indispensable for the establishment of the republic; he had
co-operated in the ruin of the Gironde, because he feared the
dissensions of the republic. For the republic he had sacrificed
even his scruples and the desires of his heart, even justice
and humanity; he had given all to his party, thinking that
he gave it to the republic; but now he was able neither to
praise nor to keep silent; his energetic activity, which he had
employed for the republic, he now directed against those who
were ruining it by bloodshed. In his Vieux Cordelier he
spoke of liberty with the depth of Machiavel, and of men
with the wit of Voltaire. But he soon raised the fanatics and
dictators against him, by calling the government to senti-
ments of moderation, compassion, and justice
He drew a striking picture of present tyranny, under the
name of a past tyranny. He selected his examples from
Tacitus. “ At this period,” said he, “ words became state
sures.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
237
crimes : there wanted but one step more to render mere
glances, sadness, pity, sighs-even silence itself criminal. It
soon became high-treason, or an anti-revolutionary crime,
for Cremutius Cordus to call Brutus and Cassius the last
of the Romans; a counter-revolutionary crime in a de-
scendant of Cassius to possess a portrait of his ancestor;
a counter-revolutionary crime in Mamercus Scaurus to
write a tragedy in which there were lines capable of a
double meaning; a counter-revolutionary crime in Torquatus
Silanus to be extravagant; a counter-revolutionary crime in
Pomponius, because a friend of Sejanus had sought an asylum
in one of his country houses; a counter-revolutionary crime
to bewail the misfortunes of the time, for this was accusing
the government; a counter-revolutionary crime for the consul
Fusius Geminus to bewail the sad death of his son.
" If a man would escape death himself, it became necessary
to rejoice at the death of his friend or relative. Under Nero,
many went to return thanks to the gods for their relatives
whom he had put to death. At least, an assumed air of con-
tentment was necessary; for even fear was sufficient to render
one guilty. Everything gave the tyrant umbrage. If a
citizen was popular, he was considered a rival to the prince,
and capable of exciting a civil war, and he was suspected.
Did he, on the contrary, shun popularity, and keep by his
fireside; his retired mode of life drew attention, and he was
suspected. Was a man rich; it was feared the people might
be corrupted by his bounty, and he was suspected. Was he
poor; it becaine necessary to watch him closely, as none are
so enterprising as those who have nothing, and he was sus-
pected. If his disposition chanced to be sombre and me-
lancholy, and his dress neglected, his distress was supposed
to be occasioned by the state of public affairs, and he was
suspected. If a citizen indulged in good living to the injury
of his digestion, he was said to do so because the prince lived
ill, and he was suspected. If virtuous and austere in his
manners, he was thought to censure the court, and he was
suspected. Was he philosopher, orator, or poet; it was un-
becoming to have more celebrity than the government, and
he was suspected. Lastly, if any one had obtained a reputa-
tion in war, his talent only served to make him dangerous; it
238
HISTORY OF
became necessary to get rid of the general, or to remove him
speedily from the army; he was suspected.
- The natural death of a celebrated man, or even of one
merely in place, was so rare, that historians handed it down
to posterity as an event worthy to be remembered in remote
ages. The death of so many innocent and worthy citizens
seemed less a calamity than the insolence and disgraceful opu-
lence of their murderers and denouncers. Every day the
sacred and in violable informer made his triumphant entry
into the palace of the dead, and received some rich heritage.
All these denouncers assumed illustrious names, and called
themselves Cotta, Scipio, Regulus, Sævius, Severus. Το
distinguish himself by a brilliant debut, the marquis Serenus
brought an accusation of anti-revolutionary practices against
his aged father, already in exile, after which he proudly
called himself Brutus. Such were the accusers, such the
judges; the tribunals, the protectors of life and property,
became slaughter-houses, in which theft and murder bore the
names of punishment and confiscation.”
Camille Desmoulins did not confine himself to attacking
the revolutionary and dictatorial regime; he required its abo-
lition. He demanded the establishment of a committee of
mercy, as the only way of terminating the revolution and paci-
fving parties. His journal produced a great effect upon public
opinion; it inspired some hope and courage : Have you read
the “ Vieux Cordelier?" was asked on all sides. At the same
time, Fabre-d'Eglantine, Lacroix, and Bourdon de l'Oise, ex-
cited the convention to throw off the yoke of the committee;
they sought to unite the Mountain and the Right, in order to
restore the freedom and power of the assembly. As the com-
mittees were all powerful, they tried to ruin them by degrees,
the best course to follow. It was important to change the
public opinion, and to encourage the assembly, in order to sup-
port themselves by a moral force against the revolutionary
force, by the power of the convention against the power of the
committees. The Dantonist-Mountaineers endeavoured to de-
tach Robespierre from the other Decemvirs; Billaud-Varennes,
Collot-d'Herbois and Saint-Just, alone appeared to them in-
vincibly attached to the Reign of Terror. Barrère adhered
to it through weakness-Couthon from his devotion to Robes-
pierre. They hoped to gain over the latter to the cause of
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
239
moderation, through his friendship for Danton, his ideas of
order, his austere habits, his profession of public virtue, and his
pride. He had defended seventy-three imprisoned Girondist
deputies against the committees and the Jacobins; he had
dared to attack Clootz and Hebert as ultra-revolutionists;
and he had induced the convention to decree the existence
of the Supreme Being. Robespierre was the most popularly
renowned inan of that time; he was, in a measure, the mode-
rator of the republic and the dictator of opinion: by gaining
Lim, they hoped to overcome both the committees and the com-
mune, without compromising the cause of the revolution.
Danton saw him on his return from Arcis-sur-Aube, and
tney seemed to understand one another; attacked at the
Jacobins, he was defended by him. Robespierre himself
read and corrected the Vieux Cordelier, and approved of it.
At the same time he professed some principles of moderation;
but then all those who exercised the revolutionary govern-
ment, or who thought it indispensable, became aroused. Bil-
laud-Varennes and Saint-Just openly maintained the policy
of the committees. Desmoulins had said of the latter:
“ He so esteems himself, that he carries his head on his
shoulders with as much respect as if it were the holy sacra-
ment.” “And I,” replied Saint-Just,“ will make him carry
his like another Saint Denis." Collot-d'Herbois, who was
on a mission, arrived while matters were in this state. Hle
protected the faction of the anarchists, who had been intimi-
dated for a moment, and who derived fresh audacity from his
presence. The Jacobins expelled Camille Desmoulins from
their society, and Barrère attacked him at the convention in
.the name of the government. Robespierre himself was not
spared; he was accused of moderatism, and murmurs began
to circulate against him.
However, his credit being immense, as they could not
attack or conquer without him, he was sought on both sides.
Takiny advantage of this superior position, he adopted neither
party, and sought to put down the leaders of each, one after
the other.
Under these circumstances, he wished to sacrifice the com-
mune and the anarchists; the committees wished to sacrifice
the Mountain and the Moderates. They came to an under-
standing: Robespierre gave up Danton, Desmoulins, and
240
HISTORY OF
their friends to the members of the committee; and the mem-
bers of the committee gave up Hebert, Clootz, Chaumette,
Ronsin, and their accomplices. By favouring the Moderates
at first, he prepared the ruin of the anarchists, and he
attained two objects favourable to his domination or to his
pride—he overturned a formidable faction, and he got rid of
à revolutionary reputation, the rival of his own.
Motives of public safety, it must be admitted, mingled
with these combinations of party. At this period of general
fury against the republic, and of victories not yet defini-
tive on its part, the committees did not think the moment
for peace with Europe and the internal dissentients had
arrived; and they considered it impossible to carry on the
war without a dictatorship. They, moreover, regarded the
Hébertists as an obscene faction, which corrupted the people,
and served the foreign foe by anarchy; and the Dantonists as
a party whose political moderation and private immorality
compromised and dishonoured the republic. The govern-
ment accordingly proposed to the assembly, through the
medium of Barrère, the continuation of the war, with addi-
tional activity in its pursuit; while Robespierre, a few days
afterwards, demanded the continuance of the revolutionary
governinent. In the Jacobins he had already expressed him-
self opposed to the Vieux Cordelier, which he had hitherto
supported. He rejected legal government in the following
terms:
“ Without,” said he, “ all the tyrants surround us;
within, all the friends of tyranny conspire against us; they
will continue to conspire till crime is left without hope. We
must destroy the internal and external enemies of the re-
public or perish with it. Now, in such a situation, the
first maxim of your policy should be, to lead the people
by reason, and the enemies of the people by terror. If
,
during peace, virtue be the mainspring of a popular govern-
ment, its mainspring in the times of revolution is both
virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror becomes fatal,
terror, without which virtue is powerless. Subdue, then,
the enemies of liberty by terror; and, as the founders of
the republic, you will act rightly. The government of the
revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny."
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
241
In this speech he denounced the moderates and the
ultra-revolutionists, as both of them desiring the downfa.
of the republic. They advance," said he,
,
56 under dif-
ferent banners and by different roads, but they advance
towards the same goal; that goal is the disorganization of the
popular government, the ruin of the convention, and the
triumph of tyranny. One of these two factions reduces us
to weakness, the other drives us to excesses." He prepared
the public mind for their proscription; and his speech, adopted
without discussion, was sent to all the popular societies, to
all the authorities, and to all the armies.
After this beginning of hostilities, Danton, who had not
given up his connexion with Robespierre, asked for an inter-
view with him. It took place at the residence of Robes-
pierre himself. They were cold and bitter; Danton com-
plained violently, and Robespierre was reserved. “I know,"
said Danton, “ all the hatred the committee bear me; but
I do not fear it.” “ You are wrong," replied Robes-
pierre; “it entertains no ill designs against you; but you
would do well to have an explanation. “ An explanation?"
rejoined Danton, “an explanation?
an explanation? That 'requires good
faith!" Seeing that Robespierre looked grave at these words,
he added: “ No doubt it is necessary to put down the roy-
alists, but we ought only to strike blows which will benefit the
republic; we must not confound the innocent with the
guilty.” “And who says," exclaimed Robespierre, sharply,
" that an innocent person has been put to death?” Danton
turned to one of his friends who had accompanied him, and
said, with a bitter smile: “ What do you say to this? Not
one innocent person has perished!" They then separated
and all friendship ceased between them.
A few days afterwards, Saint-Just ascended the tribune,
and threatened more openly than had yet been done all dis-
sentients, moderates, or anarchists. “ Citizens," said he,
you wished for a republic; if you do not at the same time
desire all that constitutes it, you will overwhelm the people
in its ruins. What constitutes a republic is the destruction
of all that is opposed to it. We are guilty towards the re-
public because we pity the prisoners; we are guilty towards the
republic because we do not desire virtue; we are guilty to the
republic because we do not desire terror. What is it you want,
X
242
HISTORY OF
those of you who do not wish for virtue, that you may b:
happy? (The anarchists.) What is it you want, those of
you who do not wish to employ terror against the wicked?
(The Moderates.) What is it you want, those of you who
haunt public places to be seen, and to have it said of you:
Do you see such a one pass?' (Danton.) You will perish,
those of you who seek fortune, who assume haggard looks,
and affect the patriot that the foreigner may buy you up, ci
the government give you a place; you of the indulgent fac-
tion, who seek to save the guilty; you of the foreign faction,
who direct severity against the defenders of the people.
Measures are already taken to secure the guilty; they are
hemmed in on all sides. Let us return thanks to the genius
of the French people, that liberty has triumphed over one of
the most dangerous attacks ever meditated against it. The
development of this vast plot, the panic it will create, and
the measures about to be proposed to you, will free the re-
public and the world of all the conspirators.”
Saint-Just caused the government to be invested with the most
extensive powers against the conspirators of the commune.
He had it decreed that justice and probity were the order of
the day. The anarchists were unable to adopt any measure
of defence; they veiled for a moment the Rights of Man at
the club of the Cordeliers, and they made an attempt at in-
surrection, but without vigour or union. The people did not
stir, and the committee caused its commandant, Henriot, to
seize the substitute Hebert, Ronsin, the revolutionary general,
Anacharsis Clootz, Monmoro the orator of the human race,
Vincent, &c. They were brought before the revolutionary
tribunal, as the agents of foreign powers, and as having con-
spired to place a tyrant over the state. That tyrant was to
have been Pache, under the title of Grand Juge. The anar-
chist leaders lost their audacity as soon as they were arrested;
they defended themselves, and, for the most part, died, with-
out any display of courage. The committee of public safety
disbanded the revolutionary army, diminished the power of
the sectionary committees, and obliged the commune to appear
at the bar of the convention, and give thanks for the arrest
and punishment of the conspirators, its accomplices.
It was now time for Danton to defend himself; the pro-
scription after striking the commune, threatened him. HC
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
243
was advised to be on his guard, and to take immediate steps;
but not having been able to overturn the dictatorial power,
by arousing public opinion and the assembly by the means
of the public journals, and his friends the Mountaineers, ori
what could he depend for support? The convention, in-
deed, was inclined to favour him and his cause; but it was
wholly subject to the revolutionary power of the committee.
Danton having to support him neither the government, nor
the assembly, nor the commune, nor the clubs, awaited
proscription, without making any effort to avoid it.
His friends implored him to defend himself. “I would
rather," said he, a be guillotined, than be a guillotiner; be-
sides, my life is not worth the trouble; and I am sick of the
world.” “ The members of the committee seek thy death."
"Well," he exclaimed, impatiently, “should Billaud, should
Robespierre kill me, they will be execrated as tyrants; Robes-
pierre's house will be razed to the ground; salt will be strewn
upon it; a gallows will be erected on it, devoted to the ven-
geance of crime! But my friends will say of me, that I was
a good father, a good friend, a good citizen; they will not
forget me.” “ Thou mayst avert.
“I would rather be
guillotined than be a guillotiner." "Well, then, thou shouldst
depart.” “ Depart!” he repeated, curling his lip disdainfully,
depart! Can we carry our country away on the sole of
our shoe?”
Danton's only resource now, was to make trial of his so
well known and potent eloquence, to denounce Robespierre
and the committee, and to arouse the convention against their
tyranny. He was earnestly intreated to do this; but he
knew too well how difficult a thing it is to overthrow an
established domination; he knew too well the complete sub-
iection and terror of the assembly, to rely on the efficacy of
such means. He accordingly waited, thinking, he who had
dared so much, that his enemies would shrink from pro-
scribing him.
On the 10th of Germinal, he was informed that his arrest
was being discussed in the committee of public safety, and he
was again intreated to save himself by flight. After a
moment's reflection, he exclaimed, " They dare not!" During
the night his house was surrounded, and he was taken to the
Luxembourg with Camille Desmoulins, Philipeaux, Lacroix,
244
HISTORY OF
and Westermann. On his arrival, he accosted with cordiality
the prisoners who crowded round him. Gentlemen," said
he, “I had hoped in a short time to liberate you, but here I
am come to join you, and I know not how the matter may
end." In about an hour he was placed in solitary confine-
ment in the cell in which Hebert had been imprisoned, and
which Robespierre was so soon to occupy.
There, giving
way to reflection and regret, he exclaimed: “It was at this
time I instituted the revolutionary tribunal. I implore for-
giveness from God and man for having done so; but I de-
signed it not for the scourge of humanity.”
His arrest gave rise to general excitement, to a sombre
anxiety. The following day, at the opening of the sittings in
the assembly, men spoke in whispers; they inquired with
alarm, what was the pretext for this new proceeding against
the representatives of the people. « Citizens," at length
exclaimed Legendre, “four members of this assembly have
been arrested during the night. Danton is one, I know not
the others. Citizens, I declare that I believe Danton to be
as pure as myself, yet he is in a dungeon. They feared, no
doubt, that his replies would overturn the accusations brought
against him: I move, therefore, that before you listen to any
report, you send for the prisoners, and hear them.” This
motion was favourably received, and inspired the assem-
bly with mo
aomentary courage: a few members desired it
might be put to the vote, but this state of things did not last
long. Robespierre ascended the tribune. “By the long since
unusual agitation that pervades the assembly,” said he, by
the sensation the words of the speaker you have just heard
have produced, it is easy to see that a question of great inte-
rest is before us; a question whether two or three individuals
shall be preferred to the country. We shall see to-day whe-
ther the convention can crush to atoms a mock idol, long
since decayed, or whether its fall shall overwhelm both the
convention and the French people.” And a few words from
him sufficed to restore silence and subordination to the assem-
bly, to restrain the friends of Danton, and to make Legendre
himself retract. Soon after, Saint-Just entered the house,
followed by other members of the committees. He read a long
report against ime members under arrest, in which he im-
pugned their opinions, their political conduct, their private
THT FRENCH REVOLUTION.
245
life, their projects; making them appear, by improbable and
subtle combinations, accomplices in every conspiracy, and the
servants of every party. The assembly, after listening with-
out a. murmur, with a bewildered sanction unanimously de
creed, and with applause even, the impeachment of Danton
and his friends. Every one sought to gain time with tyranny,
and gave up others' heads to save his own.
The accused were brought before the revolutionary tri-
bunal; their attitude was haughty, and full of courage. They
displayed an audacity of speech, and a contempt of their
judges, wholly unusual: Danton replied to the president Du-
mas, who asked him the customary questions as to his name,
his age, bis residence: “I am Danton, tolerably well known
in the revolution; I am thirty-five years old. My residence
will soon be nothing. My name will live in the Pantheon
of history." His disdainful or indignant replies, the cold and
measured answers f Lacroix, the austere dignity of Phili-
peaux, the vigour of Desmoulins, were beginning to move the
people. But the accused were silenced, under the pretext that
they were wanting in respect to justice, and were imrae-
diately condemned without a hearing. “We are immolated,"
cried Danton, “to the ambition of a few miserable brigands
but they will not long enjoy the fruit of their criminal vic-
tory. I draw Robespierre after me--Robespierre will follow
They were taken to the Conciergerie, and thence to
the scaffold.
They went to death with the intrepidity usual at that
epoch. There were many troops under arms, and their
escort was numerous. The crowd, generally loud in its ap-
plause, was silent. Camille Desmoulins, when in the fatal
cart, was still full of astonishment at his condemnation, whick
he could not comprehend. “ This, then," said he, “is the
reward reserved for the first apostle of liberty.” Danton
stood erect, and looked proudly and calmly around. At the
foot of the scaffold he betrayed a momentary emotion.
my best beloved—my wife!” he cried, “I shall not see thee
again.” Then suddenly interrupting himself: “No weakness,
Danton!” Thus perished the last deferiders of humanity and
moderation; the last who sought to promote peace among the
conquerors of the revolution and pity for the conquered. For
& long time after them no voice was raised against the dicta-
me.”
66 Oh,
46
HISTORY OF
torship of terror; and from one end of France to the other
it struck silent and redoubled blows. The Girondists had
sought to prevent this violent reign,—the Dantonists to stop
it; all perished, and the conquerors had the more victims
to strike the more foes arose around them. In so sanguinary
a career, there is no stopping until the tyrant is himself slain.
The Decemvirs, after the definitive fall of the Girondists, had
made terror the order of the day; after the fall of the He-
bertists, justice and probity, because these were impure men of
faction ; after the fall of the Dantonists, terror and all virtues,
because these Dantonists were, according to their phraseology,
indulgents and immorals.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
247
CHAPTER IX.
FROM TAE DEATH OF DANTON, APRIL 1794, TO TIE 9TH
THERMIDOR, (27TH JULY, 1764.)
Increase of terror; its cause—System of the democrats ; Saint-Just-Robes-
pierre's power-Festival of the Supreme Being—Couthon presents the
law of the 22nd Prairial, which reorganizes the revolutionary tribunal ·
disturbances; devates ; final obedience of the convention—The activ
members of the committee have a division-Robespierre, Saint-Just, ani
Couthon on one side ; Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and
the members of the committee of general safety on the other-Conduct
of Robespierre-He absents himself from the committecs, and rests un
the Jacobins and the commune-On the 8th of Thermidor lie demands
the renewal of the committees; the motion is rejected-Sitting of the
9th Thermidor ; Saint-Just denounces the committees; is interrupted by
Tallien; Billaud-Varennes violently attacks Robespierre ; general indig-
nation of the convention against the triumvirate; they are arrestecim
The commune rises and liberates the prisoners—Peril and courage of
the convention; it outlaws the insurgents- The sections declare for
the convention-Defeat and execution of Robespierre.
DURING the four months following the fall of the Danton
party, the committees exercised their authority without op-
position or restraint. Death became the only means of
governing, and the republic was given up to daily and sys-
tematic executions. It was then were invented the alleged
conspiracies of the inmates of the prisons, crowded under
the law des suspects, or emptied by that of the 22nd Pra
which might be called the law des condamnés:
emissaries of the committee of public safety en
in the departments those of the Mounta
the protégé of Billaud, was seen in th
248
HISTORY OF
protégé of Couthon, in the south; and Joseph Lebon, the
protégé of Robespierre, in the north. The extermination
en masse of the enemies of the democratic dictatorship, whick
had already been effected at Lyons, and Toulon by grape-
shot, became still more horrible, by the noyades of Nantes,
and the scaffolds of Arras, Paris, and Orange.
| May this example teach men a truth, which for their good
ought to be generally known, that in a revolution all depends
on a first refusal and a first struggle. To effect a pacific in-
novation, it must not be contested; otherwise war is declared
and the revolution spreads, because the whole nation is aroused
to its defence. When society is thus shaken to its foundations,
it is the most daring who triumph, and instead of wise and
temperate reformers, we find only extreme and inflexible inno-
vators. Engendered by contest, they maintain themselves by
it; with one hand they fight to maintain their sway, with the
other they establish their system with a view to its conso-
lidation; they massacre in the name of their doctrines: the
name of virtue, of humanity, of the welfare of the people, of all
that is holiest on earth, they use to warrant their executions,
and to protect their dictatorship. Until they become exhausted
and fall, all perish indiscriminately, both the enemies and the
partisans of reform. The tempest dashes a whole nation
against the rock of revolution. Inquire what became of the
men of 1789 in 1794, and it will be found that they were
all alike swept away in this vast shipwreck. As soon as one
party appeared on the field of battle, it summoned all the
others thither, and all like it were in turn conquered and
exterminated; constitutionalists, Girondists, the Mountain,
and the Decemvirs themselves. At each defeat, the effusion
of blood became greater, and the system of tyranny more
violent. The Decemvirs were the most cruel, because they
were the last.
The committee of public safety, being at once the object of
the attacks of Europe, and of the hatred of so mariy conquered
ies, thought that any abatement of violence would occa-
its destruction; it wished at the same time to subdue its
to get rid of them. “The dead alone do not return,
“ The more freely the social body perspires,
it becomes," added Collot-d’Herbois. But
vecting their power to be ephemeral,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
249
aimed at founding a democracy, and sought in institutions a
security for its permanence in the time when they should
cease to employ executions. They possessed in the highest
degree the fanaticism of certain social theories, as the mille-
narians of the English revolution, with whom they may be
compared, had the fanaticism of certain religious ideas. The
one originated with the people, as the other looked to God;
these desired the most absolute political equality, as. those
sought evangelical equality; these aspired to the reign of
virtue, as those to the reign of the saints. Human nature
flies to extremes in all things, and produces, in a religious
epoch, democratic Christians—in a philosophical epoch, poli-
tical democrats.
Robespierre and Saint-Just had given in the plan of that
democracy, whose principles they professed in all their
speeches; they wished to change the manners, mind, and
customs of France, and to make it a republic after the manner
of the ancients; they sought to establish the dominion of the
people; to have magistrates free from pride; citizens free
from vice; fraternity of intercourse, simplicity of manners.
austerity of character, and the worship of virtue. The
symbolical words of the sect may be found in the speeches a
all the reporters of the committee, and especially in those of
Robespierre and Saint-Just. Liberty and equality for the
government of the republic; indivisibility for its form; public
safety for its defence and preservation; virtue for its principle;
the Supreme Being for its religion; as for the citizens, frater-
nity for their daily intercourse; probity for their conduct; good
sense for their mental qualities; modesty for their public
actions, which were to have for object the welfare of the
state, and not their own: such was the symbol of this
democracy. Fanaticism could not go further. The authors
of this system did not inquire into its practicability; they
thought it just and natural; and having power, they tried to
establish it by violence. Not one of these words but served to
condemn a party or individuals. The royalists and aristocrats
were hunted down in the name of liberty and equality; the
Girondists in the name of indivisibility; Philipeaux, Camille-
Desmoulins, and the moderate party, in the name of public
safety; Chaumette, Anacharsis Clootz, Gobet, Hebert, all the
anarchical and atheistical party, in the name of virtue and
250
HISTORY OF
the Supreme Being; Chabot, Bazire, Fabre-d’Eglantine, ir
the name of probity ; Danton in the name of virtue and
modesty. In the eyes of fanatics, these moral crimes .neces-
sitated their destruction, as much as the conspiracies which
they were accused of.
Robespierre was the patron of this sect, which had in the
committee a more zealous, disinterested, and fanatic partisan
than himseif, in the person of Saint-Just, who was called the
Apocalyptic. His features were told but regular, and marked
by an expression determined, but melancholy. His eye was
steady and piercing; his hair black, straight, and long. His
manners cold, though his character was ardent; simple in
his habits, austere and sententious, he advanced without
hesitation towards the completion of his system. Though
scarcely twenty-five years old, he was the boldest of the
Decemvirs, because his convictions were the deepest. Pas-
sionately devoted to the republic, he was indefatigable in the
committees, intrepid on his missions to the armies, where he
set an example of courage, sharing the marches and dangers
of the soldiers. His predilection for the multitude did not
make him pay court to their propensities; and far from
adopting their dress and language with Hebert, he wished
to confer on them ease, gravity, and dignity. But his policy
made him more terrible than his popular sentiments. He
had much daring, coolness, readiness, and decision. Little
susceptible of pity, he reduced to form his measures for the
public safety, and put them into execution immediately. If
he considered victory, proscription, the dictatorship neces-
sary, he at once demanded them. Unlike Robespierre, he
was completely a man of action. The
latter, comprehending
all the use he might make of him, early gained him over in
the convention. Saint-Just, on his part, was drawn towards
Robespierre by his reputation for incorruptibility, his austere
life, and the conformity of their ideas.
The terrible effects of their association may be conceived
when we consider their popularity, the envious and tyran-
nical passions of the one, and the inflexible character and
systematic views of the other. Couthon had joined them;
he was personally devoted to Robespierre. Although he had
a mild look and a partially paralysed frame, he was a man
of merciless fanaticism. They formed, in the committee,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
251
A triumvirate which soon sought to engross all power. * This
ambition alienated the other members of the committee, and
caused their own destruction. In the meantime, the triumvirate
imperiously governed the convention and the committee
itself. When it was necessary to intimidate the assembly,
Saint-Just was intrusted with the task; when they wished
to take it by surprise, Couthon was emplıyed. If the as-
sembly murmured or hesitated, Robespierre rose, and restored
silence and terror by a single word.
During the first two months after the fall of the commune
and the Danton party, the Decemvirs, who were not yet
divided, laboured to secure their domination: their commis-
sioners kept the departments in restraint, and the armies of
the republic were victorious on all the frontiers.
The com-
mittee took advantage of this moment of security and union
to lay the foundation of new manners and new institu-
tions. It must never be forgotten, that in a revolution men
are moved by two tendencies, attachment to their ideas, and a
thirst for command. The members of the committee, at the
beginning, agreed in their democratic sentiments; at the end,
they contended for power.
Billaud-Varennes presented the theory of popular govern-
ment, and the means of rendering the army always subordi-
nate to the nation. (Robespierre delivered a discourse on the
moral sentiments and solemnities suited to a republic: he
dedicated festivals to the Supreme Being, to Truth, Justice,
Modesty, Friendship, Frugality, Fidelity, Inmortality, Mis-
fortune, &c., in a word, to all the moral and republican
virtues. In this way he prepared the establishment of the
new worship of the Supreme Being. Barrère made a report
on the extirpation of mendicity, and the assistance the republic
owed to indigent citizens. All these reports passed into
decrees, agreeably to the wishes of the democrats. Barrère,
whose habitual speeches in the convention were calculated to
disguise his servitude from himself, was one of the most sup-
ple instruments of the committee; he belonged to the régime
of terror, neither from cruelty nor from fanaticism. His
manners were gentle, his private life blameless, and he pos-
sessed great moderation of mind. But he was timid; and
after having been a constitutional royalist before the 10th of
August, a moderate republican prior to the 31st of May,
252
HISTORY OF
he became the panegyrist and the co-operator of the decen-
viral tyranny. This shows that, in a revolution, no one should
become an actor without decision of character. Intellect
alone is not inflexible enough; it is too accommodating; it
finds reasons for everything, even for what terrifies and
disgusts it; it never knows when to stop, at a time when
one ought always to be prepared to die, and to end one's part
or end one's opinions.
Robespierre, who was considered the founder of this moral
democracy, now attained the highest degree of elevation and
of power. He became the object of the general flattery of his
party; he was the great man of the republic. Men spoke of
nothing but of his virtue, of his genius, and of his eloquence.
Two circumstances contributed to augment his importance
still further. On the 3rd Prairial, an obscure but intrepid
man, named l'Admiral, was determined to deliver France from
Robespierre and Collot-d’Herbois. He waited in vain for
Robespierre all day, and at night he resolved to kill Collot.
He fired twice at him with pistols, but missed him. The
following day, a young girl, named Cecile Renaud, called at
Robespierre's, and earnestly begged to speak with him. As
he was out, and as she still insisted upon being admitted, she
was detained. She carried a small parcel, and two knives
were found on her person.
“What motive brought you to
Robespierre's?" inquired her examiners. “I wanted to speak
to him." 6 On what business?" “ That depended on how I
might find him." “Do you know citizen Robespierre?”
“No, I sought to know him; I went to his house to see
what a tyrant was like.” “What did you propose doing with
your two knives?”
“ Nothing, having no intention to in-
jure any one."
“And your parcel?”
“ Contains a change
of linen for my use in the place I shall be sent to.”
66 Where
is that?” “To prison; and from thence to the guillotine."
The unfortunate girl was ultimately taken there, and her
family shared her fate.
Robespierre received marks of the most intoxicating adula-
tion. At the Jacobins and in the convention his preser-
vation was attributed to the good genius of the republic,
and to the Supreme Being, whose existence he had decreed
on the 18th Floréal. The celebration of the new religion
had been fixed for the 20th Prairial throughout France. On
TEE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
253
the 16th, Robespierre was unanimously appointed president
of the convention, in order that he might officiate as the pon-
tiff at the festival. At that ceremony he appeared at the
head of the assembly, his face beaming with joy and confi-
dence, an unusual expression with him. He advanced alone,
fifteen feet in advance of his colleagues, attired in a magni-
ficent dress, holding flowers and ears of corn in his hand, the
object of general attention. Expectation was universally
raised on this occasion: the enemies of Robespierre foreboded
attempts at usurpation, the persecuted looked forward to
a milder régime. He disappointed every one. He harangued
the people in his capacity of high priest, and concluded his
speech, in which all expected to find a hope of happier
prospects, with these discouraging words:--" People, let us to-
day give ourselves up to the transports of pure delight! To-
morrow we will renew our struggle against vices and against
tyrants."
Two days after, on the 22nd Prairial, Couthon presented a
new law to the convention. The revolutionary tribunal had
dutifully struck all those who had been pointed out to it:
royalists, constitutionalists, Girondists, anarchists, and
Mountaineers, had been all alike despatched to execution.
But it did not proceed expeditiously enough to satisfy the
systematic exterminators, who wished promptly, and at any
cost, to get rid of all their prisoners. It still observed some
forms; these were suppressed. “All tardiness," said Cou-
thon, “is a crime, all indulgent formality a public danger;
there should be no longer delay in punishing the enemies of
the state than suffices to recognise thein.
Hitherto the
prisoners had counsel; they had them no longer:- The law
furnishes patriot jurymen for the defence of calumniated
patriots; it grants none to conspirators. They tried them, at
first, individually; now they tried them en masse. There had
been some precision in the crimes, eren when revolutionary;
now all the enemies of the people were declared guilty, and all
were pronounced enemies of the people who sought to destroy
liberty by force or stratagem. The jury before had the law to
guide their determinations, they now only had their conscience.
A single tribunal, Fouquièr-Thinville and a few jurymen,
were not sufficient for the increase of victims the new law
threatened to bring before it; the tribunal was divided into
254
HISTORY OF
6. For a
four sections, the number of judges and juries was increased,
and the public accuser had four substitutes appointed to
assist him. Lastly, the deputies of the people could not before
be brought to trial without a decree of the convention; but
the law was now so drawn up that they could be tried on
1 an order from the committees. The law respecting suspected
persons gave rise to that of Prairial.
As soon as Couthon had made his report, a murmur 01
astonishment and alarm pervaded the assembly. “If this
law passes,” cried Ruamps, “ all we have to do is to blow our
brains out. I demand an adjournment." This motion was
supported; but Robespierre ascended the tribunal.
long time,” said he, “the national assembly has been accus-
tomed to discuss and decree at the same time, because it has
long been delivered from the thraldom of faction. I move
that without considering the question of adjournment, the
convention debate, till eight in the evening if necessary, on
the proposed law." The discussion was immediately begun,
and in thirty minutes after the second reading, the decree
was carried. But the following day, a few members, more
afraid of the law than of the committee, returned to the de-
bate of the day before. The Mountaineers, the friends of
Danton, fearing, for their own sakes, the new provisions,
which left the representatives at the mercy of the Decemvirs,
proposed to the convention to provide for the safety of its
members. Bourdon de l'Oise was the first to speak on this
subject; he was supported. Merlin, by a skilful amendment,
restored the old safeguard of the conventionalists, and the
assembly adopted Merlin's measure. Gradually, objections
were made to the decree; the courage of the Mountaineers
increased, and the discussion became very animated. Couthon
attacked the Mountaineers. - Let them know," replied
Bourdon de l'Oise — " let the members of the committee know
that if they are patriots, we are patriots too. Let them know
that I shall nut reply with bitterness to their reproaches. I
esteem Couthon, I esteem the committee; but I also esteem
the uushaken Mountain which has saved our liberty.” Robes-
pierre, surprised at this unexpected resistance, hurried to the
tribune. “ The convention,” said he, “the Mountain, and
the committee are the same thing! Every representative or
the people who sincerely loves liberty, every representative
of the people who is ready to die for his country, belongs to
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
255
66 It
the Mountain! We should insult our country, assassinate
the people, did we allow a few intriguing persons, more con-
temptible than others, because they are more hypocritical_to.
draw off a portion of the Mountain, and make themselves
the leaders of a party. “It was never my intention," said
Bourdon, “to make myself leader of a party.”
would be the height of opprobrium," continued Robes-
pierre, " if a few of our colleagues, led away by calumny
respecting our intentions and the object of our labours. ...
“I insist on your proving what you assert," rejoined
Bourdon. “ I have been very plainly called a scoundrel.”
“ I did not name Bourdon. Woe to the man who names
himself! Yes, the Mountain is pure, it is sublime; intriguers
do not belong to the Mountain!” “ Name them!” 61
will name them when it is necessary." The threats and the
imperious tone of Robespierre, the support of the other
Decemvirs, and the feeling of fear which went round,
caused profound silence. The amendment of Merlin was
revoked as insulting to the committee of public safety, and
the whole law was adopted. From that time executions
took place in batches; and fifty persons were sent to death
daily. This I error within terror lasted about two months.
But the end of this system drew near. The sittings of
Prairial were the term of union for the members of the com-
mittees. From that time, silent dissensions existed among
them. They had advanced together, so long as they had to
contend together; but this ceased to be the case when they
found themselves alone in the arena, with habits of con-
test and the desire for dominion. Moreover, their opinions
were no longer entire y the same: the democratic party were.
divided by the fall of the old commune; Billaud-Varennes,
Collot-d'Herbois, and the principal members of the committee
of general safety, Vadier, Amar, Vouland, clung to this over-
thrown faction, and preferred the worship of Reason to that of
the Supreme Being. They were also jealous of the fame,
and anxious at the power of Robespierre, who, in his turn,
was irritated at their secret disapprobation and the obstacles
they opposed to his will. At this period, the latter conceived
the design of putting down the most enterprising members of
the Mountain, Tallien, Bourdon, Legendre, Freron, Rovère,
&c., and his rivals of the committee.
Robespierre had a prodigious force at es disposal; the
256
HISTORY OF
common people, who considered the revolution as depending
on him, supported him as the representative of its doctrines
and interests; the armed force of Paris, commanded by Hen-
riot, was at his command. He had entire sway over the
Jacobins, whom he admitted and ejected at pleasure; all im-
portant posts were occupied by his creatures; he had formed
the revolutionary tribunal and the new committee himself,
substituting Payan, the national agent, for Chaumette, the
attorney-general; and Henriot for Pache, in the office of
mayor. But what was his design in granting the most influ-
ential places to new men, and in separating himself fronı
the committees? did he aspire to the dictatorship? did he
only seek to establish his democracy of virtue by the ruin
of the remaining immoral Mountaineers, and the factious
of the committee? Each party had lost its leaders: the
Gironde had lost the twenty-two; the commune, Hebert,
Chaumette, and Ronsin; the Mountain, Danton, Chabot,
Lacroix, and Camille-Desmoulins.
But while thus pro-
scribing the leaders, Robespierre bad carefully protected the
sects. He had defended the seventy-three prisoners against
the denunciations of the Jacobins and the hatred of the com-
mittees; he had placed himself at the head of the new com-
mune; he had no longer reason to fear opposition to his pro-
jects, whatever they might be, except from a few Mountaineers
and the members of the conventional government. It was
against this double obstacle that he directed his efforts during
the last moments of his career. It is probable that he did not
separate the republic from his protectorate, and that he
thought to establish both on the overthrow of the other
Ì
parties.
The committees opposed Robespierre in their own way.
They secretly strove to bring about bis fall by accusing him
of tyranny; they caused the establishment of his religion to be
considered as the presage of his usurpation; they recalled the
hauyhty attitude he assumed on the 20th Prairial, and the
distance at which he kept even the national convention.
Among themselves, they called him Pisistratus, and this name
already passed from mouth to mouth. A circumstance, in-
significant enough at any other time, gave them an oppor-
tunity of attacking him indirectly. An old woman, called
Catherine Theot, played the prophetess in an obscure Labi-
THE FRENCH RTVOLUTION.
257
tation, surrounded by a few mystic sectaries: they styled her
the Mother of God, and she announced the immediate coining
of a Messiah. Among her followers there was an old asso-
ciate of Robespierre in the constituent assembly, the Chartreux
dom Gerle, who had a civic certificate from Robespierre him-
self. When the committees discovered the mysteries of the
Mother of God, and her predictions, they believed or pre-
tended to believe, that Robespierre made use of her instru-
mentality to gain over the fanatics, or to announce his eleva-
tion. They altered her name of Theot into that of Theos,
signifying God; and they craftily insinuated that Robespierre
was the Messiah she announced. The aged Vadier, in the
name of the committee of general safety, was deputed to bring
forward a motion against this new sect. He was vain and
subtle; he denounced those who were initiated into these
mysteries, turned the worship into derision, implicated Robes-
pierre in it without naming him, and had the fanatics sent to
prison. Robespierre wished to save them. The conduct of
the committee of general safety greatly irritated him, and in
the Jacobin club he spoke of the speech of Vadier with
contempt and anger. He experienced fresh opposition from
the committee of public safety, which refused to proceed
against the persons he pointed out to them, From that time
he ceased to join his colleagues in the government, and was
rarely present at the sittings of the convention. But he
attended the Jacobins regularly; and from the tribune of that
club he hoped to overthrow his enemies as he had hitherto
done.
Naturally sad, suspicious and timid, he became more melan-
choly and mistrustful than ever. He never went out with-
out being accompanied by several Jacobins armed with sticks,
who were called his body-guard. He soon commenced
his denunciations in the popular assembly. “All corrupt
men," said he, “must be expelled the convention.” This was
designating the friends of Danton. Robespierre had them
watched with the most minute anxiety. Every day spies
followed all their motions, observing their actions, haunts and
conversation. Robespierre not only attacked the Dantonists
at the Jacobins, he even arose against the committee itself,
and for that purpose he chose a day when Barrère presided
in the popular assembly. At the close of the sitting, the
S
258
HISTORY ON
66
latter returned home discouraged; “I am disgusted with
men,” said he to Villate. “What could be his motive for
attacking you?" inquired the other. Robespierre is insa-
tiable," rejoined Barrère; “because we will not do all he
wishes, he must break with us. If he talked to us about
Thuriot, Guffroi, Rovere, Lecointre, Panis, Cambon, Mones-
tier, and the rest of the Dantonists, we might agree with
him; let him even require Tallien, Bourdon de l'Oise,
Legendre, Frèron, well; but Duval, Audoin, Leonard Bour-
don, Vadier, Vouland—it is impossible to consent.” To give
up members of the committee of general safety, was to expose
themselves; accordingly, while fearing, they firmly awaited
the attack. Robespierre was very formidable, with respect
to his power, his hatred and his designs; it was for him to
'begin the combat.
But how could be set about it? For the first time he was
the author of a conspiracy; hitherto he had taken advantage
of all popular movements. Danton, the Cordeliers, and the
faubourgs had made the insurrection of the 10th of August
against the throne; Marat, the Mountain, and the commune
had made that of the 31st of May against the Gironde;
Billaud, Saint-Just, and the committees had effected the
ruin of the commune, and weakened the Mountain. Robes-
'pierre remained alone. Unable to procure. assistance from
the government, since he had declared against the committees,
he had recourse to the populace and the Jacobins. The
principal conspirators were Saint-Just, and Couthon in the
committee; Fleuriot the mayor, and Payan the national
agent in the commune; Dumas the president, and Coffinhal
the vice-president, in the revolutionary tribunal; Henriot,
the commander of the armed force, and the popular society.
On the 15th Messidor, three weeks after the law of Prairial,
and twenty-four days before the 9th Thermidor, the reso-
lution was already taken; at that time, and under that date,
Henriot wrote to the mayor: “You shall be satisfied with
me, comrade, and with the way in which I shall proceed;
trust me, men who love their country, easily agree in directing
all their steps to the benefit of public affairs. I would have
wished, and I do wish, that the secret of the operation rested
with us two; the wicked should know nothing of it. Health
and brotherhood."
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
259
66 The
Saint-Just was on a mission to the army of the north;
Robespierre hastily recalled him. While waiting his return,
he prepared the public mind at the Jacobins. In the sitting
of the 3rd Thermidor, he complained of the conduct of the
committees, and of the persecution of the patriots, whom he
swore to defend.
“ There must no longer be traces of crime
or faction," said he, “in any place whatever. A few scoun-
drels disgrace the convention; but it will not allow itself to
be swayed by them.” He then urged his colleagues, the
Jacobins, to present their reflections to the national assembly.
This was the transaction of the 31st of May. On the 4th, he
received a deputation from the department of l'Aisne, who
came to complain to him of the operations of the government,
to which, for a month past, he had been a stranger.
convention,” said Robespierre, in his reply to the deputation,
s in the situation in which it now stands, gangrened by cor-
ruption, and being wholly unable to recover itself, cannot
save the republic—both must perish. The proscription of
patriots is the order of the day. As for me, I have one foot
in the tomb; in a few days the other will follow it. The
rest is in the hands of Providence.” He was then slightly
indisposed, and he purposely exaggerated his discourage-
ment, his fears, and the dangers of the republic, in order to
inflame the patriots, and again bind the fate of the revolution
with his own.
In the meantime, Saint-Just arrived from the army. He
ascertained the state of affairs from Robespierre. He pre-
sented himself to the committees, the members of which
received him coldly; every time he entered, they ceased to
deliberate. Saint-Just, who, from their silence, a few chance
words, and the expression of perplexity or hostility on their
countenances, saw there was no time to be lost, pressed
Robespierre to act. His maxim was to strike at once, and
resolutely Dare,” said he, “ that is the secret of revolu-
tions.” But he wished to prevail on Robespierre to take a.
mcasure, which was impossible, by urging him to strike
his foes, without apprising them. The force at his disposal
was a force of revolutionary opinion, and not an organized
force. It was necessary for him to seek the assistance of the
convention or of the commune, the legal authority of govern-
ment, or the extraordinary authority of insurrection. Such
s 2
260
HISTORY OF
was the custom, and such must be all coup-d'états They
could not even have recourse to insurrection, until after they
had received the refusal of the assembly, otherwise a pre-
text was wanting for the rising. Robespierre was there-
fore obliged to commence the attack in the convention itself.
He hoped to obtain everything from it by his ascendancy,
or if, contrary to its custom, it resisted, he reckoned on the
people, arged by the commune, rising on the 9th Thermidor
against the proscribed of the Mountain, and the committee of
public safety, as it had risen on the 31st of May against the
proscribed of the Gironde and the Commission of Twelve.
It is almost always by the past that man regulates his conduct
and his hopes.
On the 8th of Thermidor, he entered the convention at an
early hour. He ascended the tribunal and denounced the
committee in a most skilful speech. “I am come,” said he,
“ to defend before you your authority insulted, and liberty
violated. I will also defend myself; you will not be sur-
prised at this; you do not resemble the tyrants you contend
with. The cries of outraged innocence do not importune
your ears, and you know that this cause is not foreign to your
interests.” After this opening, he complained of those who had
calumniated him; he attacked those who sought the ruin of
the republic, either by excesses or moderation; those who per-
secuted pacific citizens, meaning the committees, and those
who persecuted true patriots, meaning the Mountaineers. He
associated himself with the intentions, past conduct, and spirit
of the convention; he added that its enemies were his: “ What
have I done to merit persecution, if it entered not into the
general system of their conspiracy against the convention?
Have you not observed that, to isolate you from the nation,
they have given out that you are dictators, reigning by means
of terror, and disavowed by the silent wishes of all Frenchmen?
For myself, what faction do I belong to? to yourselves. What
is that faction that, from the beginning of the revolution, has
overthrown all factions, and got rid of acknowledged traitors.
It is you, it is the people, it is principles. That is the faction
to which I am devoted, and against which all crimes are
leagued. For at least six weeks, my inability to do good and
to check evil has obliged me absolutely to renounce my
functions as a member of the committee of public safety
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
261
Has patriotism been better protected? have factions been
more timid? or the country more happy? At all times my
influence has been confined to pleading the cause of my
country before the national representation, and at the tribunal
of public opinion.” After having attempted to confound his
cause with that of the convention, he tried to excite it against
the committees by dwelling on the idea of its independence
Representatives of the people,” said he, “it is time to re-
sume the pride and elevation of character which befits you.
You are not made to be ruled, but to rule the depositaries of
your confidence.”
While he thus endeavoured to tempt the assembly by the re-
turn of its power and the end of its slavery, he addressed the
moderate party, by reminding them that they were indebted to
him for the lives of the Seventy-Three, and by holding forth
hopes of returning order, justice, and clemency. He spoke
of changing the devouring and trickster system of finance,
of softening the revolutionary government, of guiding its
influence, and punishing its prevaricating agents. Lastly, he
invoked the people, talked of their necessities, and of their
power.
And when he had recalled all that could act upon
the interests, hopes, or fears of the convention, he added:
“ We say, then, that there exists a conspiracy against public
liberty; that it owes its strength to a criminal coalition which
intrigues in the very heart of the convention; that this coali-
tion has accomplices in the committee of general safety; that
the eremies of the republic have opposed this committee to
the committee of public safety, and have thus constituted
two governments; that members of the committee of public
safety are concerned in this plot; that the coalition thus
formed, seeks the ruin both of patriots and of the country;
What remedy is there for this evil? Punish the traitors;
compose anew the committee of general safety; purify this
committee, and make it subordinate to the committee of public
safety; purify the latter committee itself; constitute the unity
of the government under the supreme authority of the con
vention; crush every faction under the weight of national
authority, and establish on their ruins the power of justice
und liberty.”
Not a murmur, not a mark of applause welcomed this
declaration of war. The silence with which Robespierre was
262
HISTORY OF
66 The
heard continued long after he had ceased speaking. Antious
looks were exchanged in all parts of the doubting assembly.
At length Lecointre of Versailles arose and proposed that the
speech should be printed. This motion was the signal for
agitation, discussion, and resistance. Bourdon de l'Oise
opposed the motion for printing the speech, as a dangerous
measure. He was applauded. But Barrère, in his ambiguous
manner, having maintained that all speeches ought to be
published, and Couthon having moved that it should be sent
to all the communes of the republic, the convention, intimi-
dated by this apparent concord of the two opposite factions,
decreed both the printing and circulation of the speech.
The members of the two committees thus attacked, who
had hitherto remained silent, seeing the Mountain thwarted,
and the majority undecided, thought it time to speak. Va-
dier first opposed Robespierre's speech and Robespierre
himself. Cambon went further. “ It is time,” he cried, “to
speak the whole truth: one man paralyzed the resolution of
the national assembly; that man is Robespierre.'
mask must be torn off," added Billaud-Varennes, “whatever
face it may cover; I would rather my corpse should serve an
ambitious man for his throne, than by my silence to become
the accomplice of his crimes.” Panis, Bentabole, Charlier,
Thirion, Amar, attacked him in turn. Frèron proposed to
the convention to throw off the fatal yoke of the committees.
“ The time is come,” said he, “to revive liberty of opinion;
I move that the assembly revoke the decree which gives the
committee power to arrest the representatives of the people.
Who can speak freely while he fears an arrest?” Some
applause was heard; but the moment for the entire deliver-
ance of the convention was not yet arrived. It was necessary
to contend with Robespierre from behind the committees, in
order subsequently to attack the committees more easily.
Frèron's motion was accordingly rejected. “ The man who
is prevented by fear from delivering his opinion,” said Bil-
laud-Varennes, looking at him, “is not worthy the title of a
representative of the people.” Attention was again drawn
to Robespierre. The decree ordering his speech to be prin ted
was recalled, and the convention submitted the speech to the
examination of the committees. Robespierre, who had been
surprised at this fiery resistance, then said: - What! I had
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
263
it with you.
the courage to place before the assembly truths which I
think necessary to the safety of the country, and you send
my discorse for the examination of the members whom I
accuse." He retired, a little discouraged, but hoping to bring
back the assembly to his views, or rather, bring it into sub-
jection, with the aid of the conspirators of the Jacobins and
the commune.
In the evening he repaired to the popular society. He was
received with enthusiasm. He read the speech which the
assembly had just condemned, and the Jacobins loaded him
with applause. He then recounted to them the attacks which
had been directed against him, and to increase their excite-
ment he added : “ If necessary, I am ready to drink the cup
of Socrates." “Robespierre,” cried a deputy, • I will drink
“The enemies of Robespierre," cried numbers
on all sides, are the enemies of the country; let them be
named, and they shall cease to live.” During the whole night
Robespierre prepared his partisans for the following day. It
was agreed that they should assemble at the commune and
the Jacobins, in order to be ready for every event, while he,
accompanied by his friends, repaired to the assembly.
The committees had also spent the night in deliberation.
Saint-Just had appeared among them. His colleagues tried
to disunite him from the triumvirate; they deputed him to
draw up a report on the events of the preceding day, and
submit it to them. But, instead of that, he drew up an act
of accusation, which he would not communicate to them, and
said, as he withdrew: “You have withered my heart; I am
going to open it to the convention.” The committees placed
all their hope in the courage of the assembly and the union
of parties. The Mountain had omitted nothing to bring
about this salutary agreement. They had addressed them-
selves to the most influential members of the Right and of
the Marais. They had entreated Boissy-d'Anglas and Durand
Maillane, who were at their head, to join them against Robes-
pierre. They hesitated at first: they were so alarmed at his
power, so full of resentment against the Mountain, that they
dismissed the Dantonists twice without listening to them.
At last the Dantonists returned to the charge a third time,
and then the Right and the Plain engaged to support them.
There was thus a conspiracy on both sides. All tne parties
264
HISTORY OF
men.”
of the assembly were united against Robespierre, all the
accomplices of the triumvirs were prepared to act against the
convention. In this state of affairs the sitting of the ninth
Thermidor began.
The members of the assembly repaired there earlier than
usual. About half-past eleven they gathered in the passages,
encouraging each other. The mountaineer Bourdon de
l'Oise approached Durand-Maillane, a moderate, pressed his
hand, and said—“ The people of the Right are excellent
Rovere and Tallien came up and mingled their con-
gratulations with those of Bourdon. At twelve they saw, from
the door of the Hall, Saint-Just ascend the tribune. “Now is
the time," said Tallien, and they entered the Hall. Robespierre
occupied a seat in front of the tribune, doubtless in order to
intimidate his adversaries with his looks. Saint-Just began:
" I belong,” he said, “to no faction; I will oppose them all.
The course of things bas perhaps made this tribune the Tar-
peian rock for him who shall tell you that the members of the
government have quitted the path of prudence." Tallien
then interrupted Saint-Just, and exclaimed violently: “No
good citizen can restrain his tears at the wretched state of
public affairs. We see nothing but divisions. Yesterday a
member of the government separated himself from it to accuse
it. To-day another does the same. Men still seek to attack
each other, to increase the woes of the country, to precipitate
it into the abyss. Let the veil be wholly torn asunder.”
“It must! it must!" resounded on every side.
Billaud-Varennes spoke from his seat—" Yesterday,” said
he, “the society of Jacobins was filled with hired men, for
no one had a card; yesterday the design of assassinating the
members of the national assembly was developed in that
society; yesterday I saw men uttering the most atrocious
insults against those who have never deviated from the revo-
lution. I see on the Mountain one of those men who threatened
the republic; there he is." “ Arrest him! arrest him!” was
the general cry. The serjeant seized him, and took him to
he committee of general safety. “The time is come for speak-
ing the truth," said Billaud. “ The assembly would form a
virong judgment of events and of the position in which it is
placed, did it conceal from itself that it is placed between two
. It will perish, if feeble." “No! no! It will
massacres.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
265
not perish!” exclaimed all the members, rising from their
seats. They swore to save the republic. The spectators
in the gallery applauded, and cried—“ Vive la Convention
Nationale!" "The impetuous Lebas attempted to speak in
defence of the triumvirs; he was not allowed to do so, and
Billaud continued. He warned the convention of its dan-
gers, attacked Robespierre, pointed out his accomplices,
denounced his conduct and his plans of dictatorship. All
eyes were directed towards him. He faced them firmly for
some time; but at length, unable to contain himself, he rushed
to the tribune. The cry of “Down with the tyrant," in-
stantly became general, and drowned his voice
“ Just now," said Tallien, “I required that the veil should
be torn asunder. It gives me pleasure to see that it is wholly
sundered. The conspirators are unmasked; they will soon
be destroyed, and liberty will triumph. I was present yester-
day at the sitting of the Jacobins; I trembled for my country.
I saw the army of this new Cromwell forming, and I armed
myself with a poignard to stab him to the heart, if the
national convention wanted courage to decree his impeach-
ment.” He drew out his poignard, brandished it before the
indignant assembly, and moved, before anything else, the
arrest of Henriot, the permanent sitting of the assembly; and
both motions were carried, in the midst of cries of.—“ Vive la
republique!” Billaud also moved the arrest of three of
Robespierre's most daring accomplices, Dumas, Boulanger,
and Dufrèse. Barrère caused the convention to be placed
under the guard of the armed sections, and drew up a pro-
clamation to be addressed to the people. Every one pro-
posed a measure of precaution. Vadier diverted the assembly
for a moment, from the danger which threatened it, to the
affair of Catherine Theos. " Let us not be diverted from the
true object of debate,” said Tallien. “I will undertake to
bring you back to it,” said Robespierre. “Let us turn our
attention to the tyrant,” rejoined Tallien, attacking him more
warmly than before.
Robespierre, after attempting to speak several times,
ascending and descending the stairs of the tribune, while his
voice was arowned by cries of “ Down with the tyrant!" and
the bell which the president Thuriot continued ringing, now
made a last effort to be heard. - President of assassins,” he
266
HISTORY OF
(6
cried, “for the last time, will you let me speak ?” But
Thuriot continued to ring his bell. Robespierre, after
glancing at the spectators in the public gallery, who remained
motionless, turned towards the Right. " Pure and virtuous
men,” said he, “I have recourse to you; give me the hearing
which these assassins refuse." No answer was returned;
profound silence prevailed. Then, wholly dejected, he
returned to his place, and sank on his seat exhausted by
fatigue and rage. He foamed at the mouth, and his utter-
ance was choked. “ Wretch!” said one of the Mountain,
" the blood of Danton chokes thee." His arrest was demanded
and supported on all sides. Young Robespierre now arose:
as guilty as my brother,” said hê. "I share his
virtues, and I will share his fate." "I will not be involved
in the opprobrium of this decree," added Lebas; “I demand
my arrest too." The assembly unanimously decreed the
arrest of the two Robespierres, Couthon, Lebas, and Saint-
Just. The latter, after standing for some time at the tribune
with unchanged countenance, descended with composure to
his place. He had faced this protracted storm without any
show of agitation. The triumvirs were delivered to the
gendarmerie, who removed them amidst general applause.
Robespierre exclaimed, as he went out—"The republic is
lost, the brigands triumph.” It was now half-past five, and the
sitting was suspended till seven.
During this stormy contest the accomplices of the triumvirs
had assembled at the Commune and the Jacobins. Fleuriot the
mayor, Payan the national agent, and Henriot the com-
mandant, had been at the Hôtel de Ville since noon. They
had assembled the municipal officers by the sound of the drum,
hoping that Robespierre would be triumphant in the assem-
bly, and that they should not require the general council to
decree the insurrection, or the sections to sustain it. A
few hours after, a serjeant of the convention arrived to sum-
mon the mayor to the bar of the assembly, to give a report of
the state of Paris. Go, and tell your scoundrels,” said
Henriot, “ that we are discussing how to purge them. Do
not forget to tell Robespierre to be firm, and to fear nothing."
About half-past four they learned the arrest of the triumvirs,
and the decree against their accomplices. The tocsin was im-
mediately sounded, the barriers closed, the general council
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION..
267
assenblecl, and the sectionaries called together. The can-
noneers were ordered to bring their pieces to the commune, and
the revolutionary committees to take the oath of insurrection.
A message was sent to the Jacobins, who sat permanently.
The municipal deputies were received with the greatest
enthusiasm. “ The society watches over the country,” they
were told. “ It has sworn to die rather than live under crime.”
At the same time they concerted together, and established
rapid communications between these two centres of the in-
surrection. Henriot, on his side, to arouse the people, ran
through the streets, pistol in hand, at the head of his staff,
ci:ying “ to arms!” haranguing the multitude, and instigating
all he met to repair to the commune to save the country.
While on this errand, two members of the convention per-
ceived him in the Rue Saint Honoré. They summoned, in
the name of the law, a few gendarmes to execute the order
for his arrest; they obeyed, and Henriot was pinioned and
conveyed to the committee of general safety.
Nothing, however, was decided as yet on either side.
Each party made use of its means of power; the convention
of its decrees, the commune of the insurrection; each party
knew what would be the consequences of defeat, and this
rendered them both so active, so full of foresight and decision.
Success was long uncertain. From noon till five the con-
vention had the upper hand; it caused the arrest of the
triumvirs, Payan the national agent, and Henriot the com-
mandant. It was already' assembled, and the commune had
not yet collected its forces; but from six to eight the insur-
gents regained their position, and the cause of the convention
was nearly lost. During this interval, the national repre-
sentatives had separated, and the commune had redoubled its
efforts and audacity.
Robespierre had been transferred to the Luxembourg, his
brother to Saint Lazare, Saint-Just to the Ecossais, Couthon
to La Bourbe, Lebas to the Conciergerie. The commune,
after having ordered the gaolers not to receive them, sent
municipal officers with detachments to bring them away.
Robespierre was liberated first, and conducted in triumph to
the Hôtel de Ville. On arriving, he was received with the
greatest enthusiasm: “Long live Robespierre! Down with
the traitors," resounded on all sides. A little before,
268
HISTORY OF
Cofinhal had departed, at the head of two hundred cannon.-
eers, to release Henriot, who was detained at the committee
of general safety. It was now seven o'clock, and the conven-
tion had resumed its sitting. Its guard, at the most, was a
hundred men. Coffinha. arrived, made his way through the
outer courts, entered the committee chamber, and delivered
Henriot. The latter repaired to the Place du Carousel,
harangued the cannoneers, and ordered them to point their
pieces on the convention.
The assembly was just then discussing the danger to which
it was exposed. It had just heard of the alarming success of the
conspirators, of the insurrectional orders of the commune, the
rescue of the triumvirs, their presence at the Hôtel de Ville,
the rage of the Jacobins, the successive convocation of the
revolutionary council and of the sections. It was dreading
a violent invasion every moment, when the terrified members
of the committees rushed in, fleeing from Coffinhal. They
learned that the committees were surrounded, and Henriot
released. This news caused great agitation. The next
moment Amar entered precipitately, and announced that the
cannoneers, acted upon by Henriot, had turned their pieces
upon the convention. “ Citizens,” said the president, putting
on his hat, in token of distress, “the hour is come to die at
our posts!" Yes, yes! we will die there!” exclaimed all
the members. The people in the galleries rushed out, crying,
" To arms! Let us drive back the scoundrels!” And the
assembly courageously outlawed Henriot.
Fortunately for the assembly, Henriot could not prevail
upon the cannoneers to fire. His influence was limited to
the inducing them to accompany him, and he turned his steps
to the Hôtel de Ville. The refusal of the cannoneers decided
the fate of the day. From that moment the commune, which
had been on the point of triumphing, saw its affairs decline.
Having failed in a surprise by main force, it was reduced to
the slow measures of the insurrection; the point of attack
was changed, and soon it was no longer the commune which
besieged the Tuileries, but the convention which marched
upon the Hôtel de Ville. The assembly instantly outlawed
the conspiring deputies and the insurgent commune.
It sent
commissioners to the sections, to secure their aid; named the
representative Barras commandant of the armed force, joining
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
269
with him Frèron, Rovere, Bourdon de l'Oise, Feraud, Leonard
Bourdon, Legendre, all men of decision; and made the
committees the centre of operation.
The sections, on the invitation of the commune, bad assen-
bled about nine o'clock; the greater part of the citizens, in
repairing thither, were anxious, uncertain, and but vaguely
informed of the quarrels between the commune and the con-
vention. The emissaries of the insurgents urged them to
join them, and to march their battalions to the Hôtel de Ville.
The sections confined themselves to sending a deputation;
but as soon as the commissioners of the convention arrived
among them, had communicated to them the decrees and
invitations of the assembly, and informed them that there
was a leader and a rallying point, they hesitated no longer.
Their battalions presented themselves in succession to the
assembly; they swore to defend it, and they passed in files
through the Hall, amid shouts of enthusiasm and sincere
applause. “ The moments are precious,” said Frèron; “ we
must act; Barras is gone to take the orders of the committees;
we will march against the rebels; we will summon them in
the name of the convention to deliver up the traitors, and if
they refuse, we will reduce the building in which they are to
ashes.” Go,” said the president, “and let not day appear
before the heads of the conspirators have fallen.” A few
battalions and some pieces of artillery were placed round the
assembly, to guard it from attack, and the sections then
marched in two columns against the commune.
It was now
nearly midnight.
The conspirators were still assembled. Robespierre, after
having been received with cries of enthusiasm, promises of
devotedness and victory, had been admitted into the general
council between Payan and Fleuriot. The Place de Grève
was filled with men, and glittered with bayonets, pikes, and
They only waited the arrival of the sections to
proceed to action. The presence of their deputies, and the
sending municipal commissioners among them, had inspired
reliance on their aid. Henriot answered for everything.
The conspirators looked for certain victory; they appointed
an executive commission, prepared addresses to the armies,
and drew up various lists. Half-past midnight, however,
arrived, and no section had yet appeared, no order had yet
66
cannon.
270
HISTORY OF
been given, the triumvirs were still sitting, and the crowd on
the Place de Grève became discouraged by this tardiness and
indecision. A report spread in whispers that the sections had
declared in favour of the convention, that the commune was
outlawed, and that the conventional troops were advancing.
The eagerness of the armed multitude had already abated,
when a few emissaries of the assembly glided among them,
and raised the cry,
• Vive la convention!" Several voices
repeated it. They then read the proclamation of outlawry
against the commune; and after hearing it, the whole crowd
dispersed. The Place de Grève was deserted in a moment.
Henriot came down a few minutes after, sabre in hand, to
excite their courage; but finding no one: “What!” cried he;
“is it possible? Those rascals of cannoneers, who saved my
life five hours ago, now forsake me.” He went up again. At
that moment, the columns of the convention arrived, sur-
rounded the Hôtel de Ville, silently took possession of all its
outlets, and then shouted, « Vive la convention nationale!"
The conspirators, finding they were lost, sought to escape the
violence of their enemies by committing violence on them-
selves. Robespierre shattered his jaw with a pistol-shot;
Lebas followed his example, but succeeded in killing himself;
Robespierre the younger jumped from a window on the third
story, and survived his fall; Couthon hid himself under a
table; Saint-Just awaited his fate; Coffinhal, after reproach-
ing Henriot with cowardice, threw him from a window into
a gutter, and fled. Meantime, the conventionalists penetrated
into the Hôtel de Ville, traversed the desolate halls, seized
the conspirators, and carried them in triumph to the assembly.
Bourdon entered the Hall crying “ Victory! victory! the
traitors are no more!" “ The wretched Robespierre is there,”
said the president; “ they are bringing him on a litter
Doubtless you would not have him brought in."
no!” they cried; carry him to the Place de la Revolution!”
He was deposited for some time at the committee of general
safety before he was transferred to the Conciergerie; and
hiere, stretched on a table, his face disfigured and bloody,
exposed to the looks, the invectives, the curses of all, he
beheld the various parties exulting in his fall, and charging
upon him all the crimes that had been committed. He dis
piayer much insensibility during his last moments.
66 No!
66
He was
TLE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
271
taken to the Conciergerie, and afterwards appeared before
the revolutionary tribunal, which, after identifying him and
his accomplices, sent them to the scaffold. On the 10th of
Thermidor, about five in the evening, he ascended the death
cart, placed between Henriot and Couthon, mutilated like
himself. His head was enveloped in linen saturated with
blood; his face was livid, his eyes almost visionless. An
immense crowd thronged around the cart, manifesting the
inost boisterous and exulting joy. They congratulated and
embraced each other, loading him with imprecations, and
pressed near to view him more closely. The gendarmes
pointed him out with their sabres. As to him, he seemed to
regard the crowd with contemptuous pity; Saint-Just looked
calmly at them; the rest, in number twenty-two, were de-
jected. Robespierre ascended the scaffold last; when his
head fell, shouts of applause arose in the air, and lasted for
some minutes.
With him ended the reign of terror, although he was not
the most zealous advocate of that system in his party. If he
sought for supremacy, after obtaining it, he would have em-
ployed moderation; and the reign of terror, which ceased
at his fall, would also have ceased with his triumph. I regard
his ruin to have been inevitable; he had no organized force;
his partisans, though numerous, were not enrolled; his instru-
ment was the force of opinion and of terror; accordingly, not
being able to surprise his foes by a strong hand, after the
fashion of Cromwell, he sought to intimidate them. Terror
not succeeding, he tried insurrection. But as the convention,
with the support of the committees, had become courageous,
so the sections, relying on the courage of the convention,
would naturally declare against the insurgents. By attack-
ing the government, he aroused the assembly; by arousing the
assembly, he aroused the people, and this coalition necessarily
ruined him. The convention on the 9th of Thermidor was
no longer, as on the 31st of May, divided, undecided; opposed
to a compact, numerous, and daring faction. All parties
were united by defeat, misfortune, and the proscription ever
threatening them, and would naturally become allied, in the
event of a struggle. It did not, therefore, depend on Robes-
pierre to escape defeat. As little was it in his power to
secede from the committees. At the point he had attained,
372
HISTORY OF
one wishes to be sole; one' is consumed by one's passiona
deceived by one's hopes, and by one's fortune, hitherto suc-
cessful; and war once declared, peace, repose, the partition
of power, are as impossible as justice and clemency when the
scaffolds have once been erected. One must then fail by.
the means by which one has arisen; the man of faction must
perish by the scaffold, as the conqueror by war.
1828 FRENCH
REVOLUTION
CHAPTER X.
FROM THE 9TH THERMIDOR TO THE 4TH BRUMAIRE YEAR IV.
26TH OCTOBER, 1795), THE CLOSE OF THE CONVENTION.
The convention, after the fall of Robespierre; party of the committees 3
Thermidorian party; their constitution and object-Decay of the demo-
cratic party of the committees -Impeachment of Lebon and Carrier-
State of Paris—The Jacobins and the Faubourgs declare for the old
committees; the jeunesse dorée, and the sections, for the Thermidorians
-Impeachment of Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and
Vadier--Movement of Germinal-Transportation of the accused, and of
a few of the Mountain, their partisans—Insurrection of the 1st Prairial
-Defeat of the democratic party; disarming of the Faubourgs;—the
lower class excluded from the government, deprived of the constitution
of 93, and loses its material.power.
1
THE 9th of Thermidor was the first day of the revolution
in which those fell who attacked. This indication alone
manifested that the ascendant revolutionary movement had
reached its term. From that day the contrary movement
necessarily began. The general rising of all parties against
one man was calculated to put an end to the compression
under which they laboured. In Robespierre the committees
subdued each other, and the decemviral government lost the
prestige of terror which had constituted its strength. The
committees liberated the convention, which gradually liberated
the entire republic. Yet they thought they had been work-
ing for themselves, and for the prolongation of the revolu-
tionary government, while the greater part of those who had
supported them had for their object the overthrow of the
dictatorship, the independence of the assembly, and the
T
274
HISTORY OF
establishment of legal order. From the day after the 9th of
Thermidor there were, therefore, two opposite parties among
the conquerors, that of the committees, and that of the Moun-
tain, which was called the Thermidorian party.
The former was deprived of half its forces; besides the loss
of its chief, it no longer had the commune, whose insurgent
members, to the number of seventy-two, had been sent to the
scaffold, and which, after its double defeat under Hebert and
under Robespierre, was not again re-organized, and remained
without direct influence. But this party retained the direc-
tion of affairs through the committees. All its members were
attached to the revolutionary system ; some, such as Billaud-
Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, Vadier, Amar, saw it
was their only safety; others, such as Carnot, Cambon, the
Prieurs, &c., feared the counter-revolution, and the punish-
ment of their colleagues. In the convention it reckoned all
the commissioners hitherto sent on missions, several of the
Mountain who had signalized themselves on the 9th Ther-
midor, and the remnant of Robespierre's party. Without, the
Jacobins were attached to it; and it still had the support of
the Faubourgs and of the lower class.
The Thermidoriaparty was composed of the greater
number of the conventionalists. All the centre of the as-
sembly, and what remained of the Right, joined the Moun-
tain, who had abated their former exaggeration of views.
The coalitica of the Moderates, Boissy d’Anglas, Siéyes,
Cambacérès, Chenier, Thibeaudean, with the Dantonists,
Tallien, Freron, Legendre, Barras, Bourdon de l'Oise, Rovère,
Bentabole, Dumont, and the two Merlins, entirely changed
the character of the assembly. After the 9th of Thermidor,
the first step of this party was to secure its empire in the con-
vention. Soon it found its way into the government, and
succeeded in excluding the previous occupants. Sustained by
public opinion, by the assembly, by the committees, it ad-
vanced openly towards its object; it proceeded against the
principal decemvirs, and some of their agents. As these had
many partisans in Paris, it sought the aid of the young men
against the Jacobins, of the sections against the l'aubourgs.
At the same time, to strengthen it, it recalled to the assembly
all the deputies whom the committee of public safety had
TEE FRENCH
275
REVOLUTION
of a
proscribed; first, the seventy-three who had protested against
the 31st of May, and then the surviving victims of that day
themselves. The Jacobins exhibited excitement: it closed
their club; the Faubourgs raised an insurrection: it disarmed
them. After overthrowing the revolutionary government, it
directed its attention to the establishment of another, and to
the introduction, under the constitution of the year III.,
feasible, liberal, regular, and stable order of things, in place
of the extraordinary and provisional state in which the con-
vention had been from its commencement until then. But
all this was accomplished gradually.
The two parties were not long before they began to
differ, after their common victory.
The revolutionary
tribunal was an especial object of general horror. On
the 11th Thermidor it was suspended; but Billaud-Varennes,
in the same sitting, had the decree of suspension rescinded.
He maintained that the accomplices of Robespierre alone
were guilty, that the majority of the judges and jurors
being men of integrity, it was desirable to retain them in
their offices. Barrère presented a decree to that effect: he
urged that the triumvirs had done nothing for the revolu-
tionary government; that they had often even opposed its
measures; that their only care had been to place their crea-
tures in it, and to give it a direction favourable to their own
projects; he insisted, in order to strengthen that govern-
ment, upon retaining the law des suspects and the tribunal,
with its existing members, including Fouquier-Thinville.
At this name a general murmur rose in the assembly. Frèron,
rendering himself the organ of the general indignation, ex-
claimed: “I demand that the earth be, at length, delivered
from that monster, and that Fouquier be sent to hell, there
to wallow in the blood he has shed." His proposition was
applauded, and Fouquier's accusation decreed. Barrere.
however, did not regard himself as defeated; he still retained
toward the convention the imperious language which the old
committee had made use of with success; this was at once
nabit and calculation on his part; for he well knew that
nothing is so easily continued as that which has been successful.
But the political tergiversations of Barrère, a man of noble
birth, and who was a royalist Feuillant before the 10th of
August, did not countenance his assuming this imperious and
97
r2
276
HISTORY OF
inflexible tone, “Who is this president of the Feuillants."
şaid Merlin de Thionville, who assumes to dictate to us the
law?” The hall resounded with applause. Barrère became
confused, left the tribune, and this first check of the commit-
tees indicated their decline in the convention. The revolu-
tionary tribunal continued to exist, but with other members
and another organization. The law of the 22nd Prairial was
abolished, and there were now as much deliberation and mo-
deration, as many protecting forms in trials, as before there
had been precipitation and inhumanity. This tribunal was
no longer made use of against persons formerly suspected,
who were still detained in prison, though under milder treat-
ment, and who, by degrees, were restored to liberty on the
plan proposed by Camille Desmoulins for his Committee of
Clemency.
On the 13th of Thermidor the government itself became
the subject of discussion. The committee of public safety
was deficient in many members; Herault de Séchelles had
never been replaced; Jean-Bon-Saint-Andre and Prieur de
la Marne were on missions; Robespierre, Couthon, and Saint-
Just bad perished on the scaffold. In the places of these were
appointed Tallien, Breard, Eschasseriaux, Treilhard, Thuriot,
and Laloi, whose accession lessened still more the influence of
the old members. At the same time, were reorganized the
two committees, so as to render them more dependent on
the assembly, and less so on one another. The committee of
public safety was charged with military and diplomatic opera-
tions; that of general safety with internal administration.
As it was desired, by limiting the revolutionary power, to
calm the fever which bad excited the multitude, and gra-
dually to disperse them, the daily meetings of the sections
were reduced to one in every ten days; and the pay of forty
sous a day, lately given to every indigent citizen who at-
tended them, was discontinued.
These measures being carried into effect, on the 11th of
Fructidor, one month after the death of Robespierre, Le-
cointre of Versailles denounced Billaud, Collot, Barrère, of
trie committee of public safety; and Vadier, Amar, and Vou-
land, of the committee of general safety. The evening
before, Tallien had vehemently assailed the reign of terror,
and Lecointre was encouraged to his attack by the sensation
و
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
277
which Tallien's speech had produced. He brought twenty-
three charges against the accused; he imputed to them all the
measures of cruelty or tyranny which they threw on the
triumvirs, and called them the successors of Robespierre.
This denunciation agitated the assembly, and more especially
those who supported the committees, or who wished that
divisions might cease in the republic. “ If the crimes Le-
cointre reproaches us with were proved," said Billaud-
Varennes" if they were as real as they are absurd and
chimerical, there is, doubtless, not one of us but would de-
serve to lose his head on the scaffold. But I defy Lecointre
to prove, by documents or any evidence worthy of belief, any
of the facts he has charged us with.” He repelled the charges
brought against him by Lecointre; he reproached his ene-
mies with being corrupt and intriguing men, who wished to
sacrifice him to the memory of Danton, an odious conspira-
tor, the hope of all parricidal factions. - What seek these
men," he continued-"what seek these men who call us the
successors of Robespierre? Citizens, know you what they
seek? To destroy liberty on the tomb of the tyrant.” Le-
cointre's denunciation was premature; almost all the conven-
tion pronounced it calumnious. The accused and their
friends gave way to outbursts of unrestrained and still power-
ful indignation, for they were now attacked for the first time;
the accuser, scarcely supported by any one, was silenced.
Billaud-Varennes and his friends triumphed for the time.
A few days after, the period for renewing a third of the
committee arrived. The following members were fixed on
by lot to retire: Barrère, Carnot, Robert Lindet, in the com-
mittee of public safety; Vadier, Vouland, Moise Baile, in the
committee of general safety. They were replaced by Ther-
midorians; and Collot-d'Herbois, as well as Billaud-Varennes,
finding themselves too weak, resigned. Another circum-
stance contributed still more to the fall of their party, by
exciting public opinion against it; this was the publicity
given to the crimes of Joseph Lebon and Carrier, two of the
pro-consuls of the committee. They had been sent, the one to
Arras and to Cambrai, the frontier exposed to invasion; the
other to Nantes, the limit of the Vendean war.
They had
signalized their mission by, beyond all others, displaying a
cruelty and a caprice of tyranny, which are, however, gener
278
HISTORY OF
ally found in those who are invested with supreme ilumui
power. Lebon, young and of a weak constitution, was
naturally mild. On a first mission, he had been humane;
but he was censured for this by the committee, and sent to
Arras, with orders to show himself somewhat more revolu-
tionary. Not to fall short of the inexorable policy of the
committee, he gave way to unheard of excesses; he mingled
debauchery with extermination; he had the guillotine always
in his presence, and called it holy. He associated with the.
executioner, and admitted him to his table. Carrier, having
more victims to strike, surpassed even Lebon; he was bilious,
fanatical, and naturally blood-thirsty. He had only awaited
the opportunity to execute enormities that the imagination
even of Marat would not have dared to conceive. Sent to the
borders of an insurgent country, he condemned to death the
whole hostile population--priests, women, children, old men,
and girls. As the scaffold did not suffice for his cruelty, he
substituted a company of assassins, called Marat's company,
for the revolutionary tribune, and, for the guillotine, boats,
with false bottoms, by means of which he drowned his victims
in the Loire. Cries of vengeance and justice were raised
against these enormities. After the 9th of Thermidor,
Lebon was attacked first, because he was more especially the
agent of Robespierre. Carrier, who was that of the com-
mittee of public safety, and of whose conduct Robespierre
had disapproved, was prosecuted subsequently.
There were in the prisons of Paris ninety-four people of
Nantes, sincerely attached to the revolution, and who had
defended their town with courage during the attack made on
it by the Vendeans. Carrier had sent them to Paris as
federalists. It had not been deemed safe to bring them
before the revolutionary tribunal until the ninth of Thera
midor; they were then taken there for the purpose of un-
masking, by their trial, the crimes of Carrier. They were
tried purposely with prolonged solemnity; their trial lasted
nearly a month; there was time given for public opinion to
declare itself; and on their acquittal, there was a general
demand for justice on the revolutionary committee of Nantes,
and on the pro-consul Carrier. Legendre renewed Lecointre's
impeachment of Billaud, Barrère, Collot, and Vadier, who
were generously defended by Carnot, Prieur, and Cambon,
THE
279
FRENCH REVOLUTION
thcir former colleagues, wlio ciernanded to share their fate.
Lecointre's notion was not attended with any result; and, for
the present, they only brought to trial the members of the
revolutionary committee of Nantes; but we may observe the
progress of the Thermidorian party. This time the members
of the committee were obliged to have recourse to defence, and
the convention simply passed to the order of the day, on the
question of the denunciation made by Legendre, without
voting it calumnious, as they had done that of Lecointre.
The revolutionary democrats were, however, still very
powerful in Paris: if they had lost the commune, the tribunal,
the convention, and the committee, they yet retained the
Jacobins and the Faubourgs. It was in these popular societies
that their party concentrated, especially for the purpose of
defending themselves. Carrier attended them assiduously,
and invoked their assistance; Billaud-Varennes, and Collot-
d'Herbois also resorted to them; but these being somewhat
less threatened were circumspect. They were accordingly
censured for their silence. “ The lion sleeps," replied Bil-
laud-Varennes, “but his waking will be terrible.” This club
had been expurgated after the 10th Thermidor, and it had
congratulated the convention in the name of the regenerated
societies, on the fall of Robespierre and of tyranny. About
this time, as many of its leaders were proceeded against, and
many Jacobins were imprisoned in the departments, it came
in the name of the united societies “to give utterance to the
cry of grief that resounded from every part of the republic,
and to the voice of oppressed patriots, plunged in the dungeons
which the aristocrats had just left."
The convention, far from yielding to the Jacobins, pro-
hibited, for the purpose of destroying their influence, all col-
lective petitions, branch-associations, correspondence, &c.,
between the parent scciety and its off-sets, and in this way
disorganized the famous confederation of the clubs. The
Jacobins, rejected from the convention, began to agitate
Paris, where they were still masters. Then the Thermido-
rians also began to convoke their people, by appealing to the
support of the sections. At the same time, Frèron called the
young men to arms, in his journal “ l'Orateur du Peuple,”
and placed himself at their bead. This new and irregular
militia called itself La jeunesse dorée de Frèron. All thoso
280
HISTORY OF
who composed it belorged to the rich and the middle class;
they had adopted a particular costume, called Costume à la
victine. Instead of the blouse of the Jacobins, they wore a
square open coat and very low shoes; the hair, long at the sides,
was turned up behind, with tresses called cadenettes; they
were armed with short sticks, leadened and formed like
bludgeons. A portion of these young men and of the section-
aries were royalists; the others followed the impulse of the
moment, which was anti-revolutionary. The latter acted
without object or ambition, declaring in favour of the strongest
party, especially when the triumph of that party promised to
restore order, the want of which was generally felt. Tae
other contended under the Thermidorians against the old
committees, as the Thermidorians had contended under the
old committees against Robespierre; it waited for an opportu-
nity of acting on its own account, which occurred after the
entire downfall of the revolutionary party. In the violent
situation of the two parties, actuated by fear and resentment,
they pursued each other unrelentingly, and often came to
blows in the streets to the cry of "Vive la Montagne!" or "Vive
la Convention!” The Jeunesse dorée were powerful in the
Palais Royal, where they were supported by the shopkeepers;
but the Jacobins were the strongest in the garden of the
Tuileries, which was near their club.
These quarrels became more animated every day; and
Paris was transformed into a field of battle, where the fate of
the parties was left to the decision of arms. This state of war
and disorder would necessarily have an end; and since the
parties had not the wisdom to come to an understanding, one
or the other must inevitably carry the day. The Thermido-
rians were the party in progress, and victory naturally fell to
them. On the day following that on which Billaud had
spoken of the waking of the lion in the popular society, there
was great agitation throughout Paris. It was wished to take
the Jacobin club by assault. Men shouted in the streets-
" The great Jacobin conspiracy! Outlaw the Jacobins!” At
this period the revolutionary committee of Nantes were being
tried. On their defence they pleaded that they had received
from Carrier the sanguinary orders they had executed; which
led the convention to enter into an examination of his 2011-
dust. Carrier was allowed to defend himself before the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
281
War.
decree was passed against him. He justified his cruelty by
the cruelty of the Vendeans, and the maddening fury of civil
66 When I acted,” he said, “the air still seemed to
resound with the civic songs of twenty thousand martyrs, who
had shouted · Vive la republique! in the midst of tortures.
How could the voice of humanity, which had died in this terrible
crisis, be heard ? What would my adversaries have done in
my place? I saved the republic at Nantes; my life has been
devoted to my country, and I am ready to die for it.” Out of
five hundred voters, four hundred and ninety-eighat were for
the impeachment; the other two voted for it, but conditionally,
The Jacobins finding their opponents were going from sub-
altern agents to the representatives, regarded themselves
as lost. They endeavoured to rouse the multitude, less to
defend Carrier than for the support of their party, which was
threatened more and more. But they were kept in check
by the jeunesse dorée and the sectionaries, who eventually
proceeded to the place of their sittings to dissolve the club.
A sharp conflict ensued. The besiegers broke the windows
with
stones, forced the doors, and dispersed the Jacobins
after some resistance on their part. The latter complained
to the convention of this violence. Rewbell, deputed to
make a report on the subject, was not favourable to them.
“Where was tyranny organized?” said he; “at the Jacobin
club. Where had it its supports and its satellites? At the
Jacobin club. Who covered France with mourning, threw
families into despair, filled the republic with bastilles, made the
republican system so odious, that a slave laden with fetters
would have refused to live under it? The Jacobins. Who re-
gret the terrible reign we bave lived under? The Jacobins. If
you have not courage to decide in a moment like this, the
republic is at an end, because you have Jacobins.” The con-
vention suspended them provisionally, in order to expurgate
and reorganize them, not daring to destroy them at once.
The Jacobins, setting the decree at defiance, assembled in
arms in their usual place of meeting; the Thermidorian troop
who had already besieged them there, came again to assail
them. It surrounded the club with cries of “ Long live the con-
vention! Down with the Jacobins!” The latter prepared
for defence; they left their seats, shouting, “ Long live the re-
public!" rushed to the doors, and attempted a sortie. At first
282
HISTORY OF
they made a few prisoners; but soon yielding to superior
numbers, they submitted, and traversed jie ranks of the
victors, who, after disarming them, covered them with hisses,
insults, and even blows. These illegal expeditions were ac-
companied by all the excesses which attend party struggles.
The next day commissioners of the convention came to close
the club, and put seals on its registers and papers, and from
that moment the society of the Jacobins ceased to exist. This
popular body had powerfully served the revolution, when, in
order to repel Europe, it was necessary to place the govern-
ment in the multitude, and to give the republic all the energy
of defence; but now it only obstructed the progress of the
new order of things.
The situation of affairs was changed; liberty was to succeed
the dictatorship, now that the salvation of the revolution had
been effected, and that it was necessary to revert to legal
order, in order to preserve it. An exorbitant and extraordi-
nary power, like the confederation of the clubs, would neces-
sarily terminate with the defeat of the party which had sup-
ported it, and that party itself expire with the circumstances
which had given it rise.
Carrier, brought before the revolutionary tribunal, was
tried without interruption, and condemned with the majority
of his accomplices. During the trial, the seventy-three de-
puties, whose protest against the 31st of May had excluded
them from the assemblies, were reinstated. Merlin de Douai
moved their recal in the name of the committee of public
safety; his motion was received with applause, and the
seventy-three resumed their seats in the convention. The
seventy-three, in their turn, tried to obtain the return of the
outlawed deputies; but they met with warm opposition. The
Thermidorians and the members of the new committees feared
that such a measure would be calling the revolution itself into
question. They were also afraid of introducing a new party
into the convention, already divided, and of recalling impla-
cable enemies, who might cause, with regard to themselves, a
reaction similar to that which had taken place against the old
committees. Accordingly, they vehemently opposed the motion,
and Merlin de Douai went so far as to say: “Do you want
to throw open the doors of the Temple?” The young son of
Louis XVI. was confined there, and the Girondists, on account
of the results of the 31st of May, were confounded with the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
283
Royalists; besides, the 31st of May still figured among the re
volutionary dates beside the 10th of August and the 14th of
july. The retrograde movement had yet some steps to take
before it reached that period. The republican counter-revo-
lution had turned back from the 9th Thermidor, 1794, to
the 3rd of October, 1793, the day on which the seventy-three
had been arrested, but not to the 2nd of June, 1793, when
the twenty-two were arrested. After overthrowing Robes -
pierre and the committee, it had to attack Marat and the
Mountain. In the almost geometrical progression of popular
movement, a few months were still necessary to effect this.
They went on to abolish the decemviral system. The decree
against the priests and nobles, who had formed two proscribed
classes under the reign of terror, was revoked; the maximum
was abolished, in order to restore confidence by putting an
end to commercial tyranny; the general and earnest effort
was to substitute the most elevated liberty for the despotic
pressure of the committee of public safety. This period was
also marked by the independence of the press, the restoration
of religious worship, and the return of the property con-
fiscated from the federalists during the reign of the commit-
tees.
Here was a complete reaction against the revolutionary go
vernment; it soon reached Marat and the Mountain. After the
9th of Thermidor, it had been considered necessary to oppose
a great revolutionary reputation to that of Robespierre, and
Marat had been selected for this purpose. To him were decreed
the honours of the Pantheon, which Robespierre, while in power,
had deferred granting him. He, in his turn, was now attacked.
His bust was in the convention, the theatres, on the public
squares, and in the popular assemblies. The Jeunesse dorée
broke that in the Theatre Feydeau. The Mountain com-
plained, but the convention decreed that no citizen could obtain
the honours of the Pantheon, nor his bust be placed in the con-
vention, until he had been dead ten years. The bust of Marat
disappeared from the Hall of the convention, and as the ex-
citement was very great in the Faubourgs, the sections, the
usual support of the assembly, defiled through it. There was,
also, opposite the Invalides, an elevated mound, a Mouniain,
surmounted by a colossal group, representing Hercules crush-
ing a hydra. The section of the Halle-au-blé demanded
that this should be removed. The Left of the assembly
284
HISTORY OF
murinured. “ The giant,” said a member, “is an emblen of
the people." “All I see in it is a mountain," replied another
6 and what is a Mountain but an eternal protest against
equality.” These words were much applauded, and sufficed
to carry the petition and overthrow the monument of the
victory and domination of a party.
Next were recalled the proscribed couventionalists; already,
some time since, their outlawry had been reverscd. Isnari
and Louvet wrote to the assembly to be reinstated in their
rights; they were met by the objection as to the consequences
of the 31st of May, and the insurrections of the departments.
“I will not,” said Chenier, who spoke in their favour, “I
will not so insult the national convention as to bring before
them the phantom of federalism, which has been preposter-
ously made the chief charge against your colleagues. They
fled, it will be said; they hid themselves. This, then, is their
crime! would that this, for the welfare of the republic, had
been the crime of all! Why were there not caverns deep
enough to preserve to the country the meditations of Con-
dorcet, the eloquence of Vergniaud? Why did not some hos-
pitable land, on the 10th Thermidor, give back to light that
colony of energetic patriots and virtuous republicans? But
projects of vengeance are apprehended from these men, soured
by misfortune. Taught in the school of suffering, they have
learnt only to lament human errors. No, no, Condorcet,
Rabaud-Saint-Etienne, Vergniaud, Camille Desmoulins seek
not holocausts of blood; their manes are not to be appeased
by hecatombs.” The Left opposed Chenier's motion.
are about," cried Bentabole, “to rouse every passion; if you
attack the insurrection, of the 31st of May, you attack the .
eighty thousand men who concurred in it."
- Let us take
care,” replied Siéyes, “not to confound the work of tyr nny
with that of principles. When men, supported by a subaltern
authority, the rival of ours, succeeded in organizing the
greatest of crimes, on the fatal 31st of May, and 2nd of June,
it was not a work of patriotism, but an outrage of tyranny;
from that time you have seen the convention domineered
over, the majority oppressed, the minority dictating laws.
The present session is divided into three distinct periods;
till the 31st, of May, there was oppression of the convention
by the people; till the 9th Thermidor, oppression of the people
6 Yo
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
280
of the convention, itself the object of tyranny; and lastly,
since the 9th of Thermidor, justice, as regards the con-
vention, has resumed its rights.” He demanded the recal of
the proscribed members, as a pledge of union in the assembly,
and of security for the republic. Merlin de Douai immedi-
ately proposed their return in the name of the committee of
public safety; it was granted, and after eighteen months
proscription, the twenty-two conventionalists resumed their
seats; among them were Isnard, Louvet, Lanjuinais, Kerve-
legan, Henri La Rivière, Larévellère-Lépaux, and Lesage,
all that remained of the brilliant but unfortunate Gironde.
They joined the moderate party, which was composed daily
more and more of the remains of different parties. -For old
enemies, forgetting their resentments and their contest for do-
mination, because they had now the same interests and the
same object, became allies. It was the commencement of paci-
fication between those who wished for a republic against the
royalists, and a practicable constitution, in opposition to the
revolutionists. At this period all measures against the fede-
ralists were rescinded, and the Girondists assumed the lead
of the republican counter-revolution.
The convention was, however, carried much too far by
the partisans of reaction; in its desire to repair all and to
punish all, it fell into excesses of justice. After the abolition
of the decemviral régime, the past should have been buried in
oblivion, and the revolutionary abyss closed after a few expia-
tory victims had been thrown into it. Security alone brings
about pacification; and pacification only admits of liberty.
By again entering upon à course characterized by passion,
they only effected a transference of tyranny, violence, and
calamity. || Hitherto the bourgeoisie had been sacrificed to
the multitude, to the consumers; now it was just the reverse.
Stock-jobbing was substituted for the maximum, and in-
formers of the middle class altogether surpassed the po-
pular informers. All who had taken part in the dictatorial
government were proceeded against with the fiercest deter-
mination. The sections, the seat of the middle class, re-
quired the dišarming and punishment of the members of their
revolutionary committees, composed of sans culottes. There
was a general hue and cry against the terrorists, and the
sans included under this denomination was daily increased
286
HISTORY OF
The departments denounced all the former proconsuls, tlus
rendering desperate a numerous party, in reality no longer
to be feared, since it had lost all power, by thus threatening
it with great and perpetual reprisals.
Dread of proscription, and several other reasons, disposed
them for revolt. The general want was terrible. Labour
and its produce had been diminished ever since the revolu-
tionary period, during which the rich bad been imprisoned
and the poor had governed; the suppression of the maximum
had occasioned a violent crisis, which the traders and farmers
turned to account, hy disastrous monopoly and jobbing. To
increase the difficulty, the assignats were falling into discredit,
and their value diminished daily. More than eight thousand
millions worth of them had been issued. The insecurity of
this paper money, by reason of the revolutionary confiscations,
which had depreciated the national property, the want of
confidence on the part of the merchants, tradesmen, &c. in
the stability of the revolutionary government, which they
considered merely provisional, all this had combined to reduce
the real value of the assignats to one-fifteenth of their nominal
value. They were received reluctantly, and specie was
hoarded up with all the greater care, in proportion to the in-
creasing demand for it, and the depreciation of paper money.
The people, in want of food, and without the means of buy-
ing it, even when they held assignats, were in utter distress.
They attributed this to the merchants, the farmers, the landed
and other proprietors, to the government, and dwelt with
regret upon the fact that before, under the committee of
public safety, they had enjoyed both power and food. The
convention had indeed appointed a committee of subsistence
to supply Paris with provisions, but this committee had great
difficulty and expense in procuring from day to day the supply
of fifteen hundred sacks of flour necessary to support this
immerise city; and the people, who waited in crowds for hours
together before the bakers' shops, for the pound of bad bread
distributed to each inhabitant, were loud in their complaints,
and violent in their murmurs. They called Boissy d'Anglas,
president of the committee of subsistence, Boissy-Fam
Such was the state of the fanatical and exasperated multitude,
when its former leaders were brought to trial.
On the 12th Ventose, a short time after the return of the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
287
remaining Girondists, the assembly had decreed the arrest of
Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d’Herbois, Barrère and Vadier.
Their trial before the convention was appointed to commence
on the 3rd Germinal. On the 1st, (20th of March, 1795,) the
Decade day, when the sections used to assemble, their par-
tisans organized a riot to prevent their being brought to trial;
the outer sections of the faubourgs Saint Antoine and Saint
Marceau were devoted to their cause. arom these quarters
they proceeded, half petitioners, half insurgents, towards the
convention, to demand bread, the constitution of '93, and the
liberation of the imprisoned patriots. They met a few young
men on their way, whom they threw into the basins of the
Tuileries. The news, however, soon spread that the conven-
tion was exposed to danger, and that the, Jacobins were about
to liberate their leaders, and the Jeunesse dorée, followed by
about five thousand citizens of the inner sections, came, dis-
persed the men of the faubourgs, and acted as a guard for
the assembly. The latter, warned by this new danger, re-
vived, on the motion of Siéyes, the old martial law, under the
name of loi de grande police.
This rising in favour of the accused having failed, they
were brought before the convention on the 3rd Germinal.
Vadier alone was contumacious. Their conduct was investi-
gated with the greatest solemnity; they were charged with
having tyrannized over the people and oppressed the conven-
tion. Though proofs were not wanting to support this charge,
the accused defended themselves with much address. They
ascribed to Robespierre the oppression of the assembly, and of
themselves; they endeavoured to palliate their own conduct
by citing the measures taken by the committee, and adopted
by the convention, by urging the excitement of the period,
and the necessity of securing the defence and safety of the
republic. Their former colleagues appeared as witnesses in
their favour, and wished to make common cause with them.
The Crétois (the name then given to the remnant of the
Mountain,) also supported them warmly. Their trial had
lasted nine days, and each sitting had been occupied by the
prosecution and the defence. The sections of the faubourgs
were greatly excited. The mobs which had collected every
day since the 1st Germinal, increased twofold on the 12thi
,
and a new rising took place, in order to suspend the trial,
288
HISTORY OF
which the first rising had failed to prevent. The agitators,
more numerous and bold on this occasion, forced their way
through the guard of the convention, and entered the hall,
having written with chalk on their hats the words, “Bread,
“The constitution of ’93,” “Liberty for the patriots.” Many of
the deputies of the Crête declared in their favour; the other
members, astounded at the tumult and disorder of this popular
invasion, awaited the arrival of the inner sections for their
deliverance. All debating was at an end. The tocsin, which
had been removed from the commune after its defeat, and
placed on the top of the Tuileries, where the convention sat,
sounded the alarm. The committee ordered the drums to
beat to arms. In a short time the citizens of the nearest
sections assembled, marched in arms to assist the convention,
and rescued it a second time. It sentenced the accused,
whose cause was the pretext for this rising, to transportation,
and decreed the arrest of seventeen members of the Crête who
had favoured the insurgents, and might therefore be regarded
as their accomplices. Among these were Cambon, Ruamps,
Leonard Bourdon, Thuriot, Chasle, Amar, and Lecointre,
who, since the recal of the Girondists, had returned to the
Mountain. On the following day they, and the persons sen-
tenced to transportation, were conveyed to the castle of Ham.
The events of the 12th of Germinal decided nothing. The
faubourgs had been repulsed, but not conquered; and both
power and confidence must be taken from a party by a deci-
sive defeat, before it is effectually destroyed. After so many
questions decided against the democratists, there still re-
mained one of the utmost importance—the constitution. On
this depended the ascendancy of the multitude or of the bour-
geoisie. The supporters of the revolutionary government
then fell back on the democratic constitution of '93, which
presented to them the means of resuming the authority they
had lost. Their opponents, on the other hand, endeavoured
to replace it by a constitution which would secure all the
advantage to them, by concentrating the government a little
more, and giving it to the middle class. For a month, both
parties were preparing for this last contest. The constitution
of 1793, having been sanctioned by the people, enjcyed a
great prestige. It was accordingly attacked with infinite
precaution. At first its assailants engaged to carry it into
THE FRENCIL REVOLUTION
289
execution without restriction; next they appointed a commis-
sion of eleven members to prepare the lois organiques
, which
were to render it practicable; by and by, they ventured to sug-
gest objections to it on the ground that it distributed power
too loosely, and only recognised one assembly dependent
on the people, even in its measures of legislation. At last, a
sectionary deputation went so far as to term the constitution
of '93 a decemviral constitution, dictated by terror. All its
partisans, at once indignant and filled with fears, organized
an insurrection to maintain it. This was another 31st of
May, as terrible as the first, but which, not having the sup-
port of an all-powerful commune, not being directed by a
general commandant, and not having a terrified convention
and submissive sections to deal with, liad not the same result.
The conspirators, warned by the failure of the risings of
the 1st and 12th Germinal, omitted nothing to make up
for
their want of direct object and of organization. On the 1st
Prairial (20th of May) in the name of the people, insurgent
for the purpose of obtaining bread and their rights, they
decreed the abolition of the revolutionary government, the
establishment of the democratic constitution of '93, the dis-
missal and arrest of the members of the existing government,
the liberation of the patriots, the convocation of the primary
assemblies on the 25th Prairial, the convocation of the legis-
lative assembly, destined to replace the convention, on the
25th Messidor, and the suspension of all authority not ema-
nating from the people. They determined on forming a new
municipality, to serve as a common centre; to seize on the
barriers, telegraph, cannon, tocsins, drums, and not to rest
till they had secured repose, happiness, liberty, and means of
subsistence for all the French nation. They invited the artil-
lery, gendarmes, horse and foot soldiers, to join the banners
of the people, and marched on the convention.
Meantime, the latter was deliberating on the means of
preventing the insurrection. The daily assemblages occa-
sioned by the distribution of bread and the popular excite-
ment, ad concealed from it the preparations for a great
rising, and it had taken no steps to prevent it. The
Committees came in all haste to apprise it of its danger; it
immediately declared its sitting permanent, voted Paris re-
sponsible for the safety of the representatives of the republic,
290
HISTORY OF
closed its doors, outiawed all the leaders of the mob, summoned
the citizens of the sections to arms, and appointed as their
leaders eight commissioners, among whom were Legendre,
Henri la Riviere, Kervelegan, &c. These deputies had
scarcely gone, when a loud noise was heard without. An
outer door had been forced, and numbers of women rushed
into the galleries, crying: “Bread and the constitution of
'93!” The convention received them firmly. ** Your cries,”
said the president Vernier, “will not alter our position; they
will not accelerate by one moment the arrival of supplies.
They will only serve to hinder it. A fearful tumult
drowned the voice of the president, and interrupted the pro-
ceedings. The galleries were then cleared; but the insur-
gents of the faubourgs soon reached the inner doors, and
finding them closed, forced them with hatchets and hammers,
and then rushed in amidst the convention.
The Hall now became a field of battle. The veterans and
gendarmes, to whom the guard of the assembly was confided,
cried, “To arms!" The deputy Auguis, sword in hand,
headed them, and succeeded in repelling the assailants, and
even made a few of them prisoners. But the insurgents,
more numerous, returned to the charge, and again rushed
into the house. The deputy Feraud entered precipitately,
pursued by the insurgents, who fired some shots in the house.
They took aim at Boissy d'Anglas, who was occupying the
president's chair, in place of Vernier. Feraud ran to the
tribune, to shield him with his body; he was struck at with
pikes and sabres, and fell dangerously wounded. The insur-
gents dragged him into the lobby, and, mistaking him for
Frèron, cut off his head, and placed it on a pike.
After this skirmish, they became masters of the Hall.
Most of the deputies had taken flight. There only remained
the members of the Crête and Boissy d'Anglas, who, calm,
his hat on, heedless of threat and insult, protested in the
name of the convention against this popular violence. They
held out to him the bleeding head of Feraud; he bowed
l'espectfully before it. They tried to force him, by placing
pikes at his breast, to put the propositions of the insurgents
to the vota; he steadily and courageously refused. But the
Crêtois, who approved of the insurrection, took possession of
the bureaux and of the tribune, and decreed, amidst the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
291
applause of the multitude, all the articles contained in the
manifesto of the insurrection. The deputy Romme became
their organ. They further appointed an executive commis-
sion, composea of Bourbotte, Duroy, Duquesnoy, Prieur de la
Marne, and a general-in-chief of the armed force, the deputy
Soubrany. In this way they prepared for the return of their
domination. They decreed the recal of their imprisoned
colleagues, the dismissal of their enemies, a democratic con-
stitution, the re-establishment of the Jacobin club. But it
was not enough for them to have usurped the assembly for a
short time; it was necessary to corquer the sections, for it
was only with these they could really contend there.
The commissioners despatched to the sections had quickly
gathered them together. The battalions of the Butte des
Moulins, Lepelletier, des Piques, de la Fontaine-Grenelle, who
were the nearest, soon occupied the Carousel and its prin-
cipal avenues. The aspect of affairs then underwent a
change; Legendre, Kervelegan, and Auguis besieged the in-
surgents, in their turn, at the head of the sectionaries. At
first they experienced some resistance. But with fixed
bayonets they soon entered the Hall, where the conspirators
were still deliberating, and Legendre cried out: "In the
name of the law, I order armed citizens to withdraw.” They
hesitated a moment, but the arrival of the battalions, now en-
tering at every door, intimidated them, and they hastened
from the Hall in all the disorder of flight. The assembly
again became complete; the sections received a vote of thanks,
and the deliberations were resumed. All the measures
adopted in the interim were annulled, and fourteen represen-
tatives, to whom were afterwards joined fourteen others,
were arrested, for organizing the insurrection, or approving
it in their speeches. It was then midnight; at five in the
morning the prisoners were already six leagues from Paris.
Despite this defeat, the Faubourgs did not consider them-
selves beaten; and the next day they advanced en masse with
their cannon against the convention. The sections, on their
side, marched for its defence. The two parties were on the
point of engaging; the cannons of the Faubourg which were
mounted on the Place du Carousel, were directed towards the
château, when the assembly sent commissioners to the in-
surgents. Negotiations were begun. A deputy of the
17 2
292
HISTORY OF
Faubourgs, admitted to the convention, first repeated the ..
demand made the preceding day, adding: “We are resolved
to die at the post we now occipy, rather than abate our present
demands. I fear nothing! · My name is Saint-Leger. Vive
la République! Vive la Convention! if it is attached to prin-
ciples, as I believe it to be.” The deputy was favourably
received, and they came to friendly terms with the Faubourgs,
without, however, granting them anything positive. The
latter having no longer a general council of the commune
to support their resolutions, nor a commander like Henriot
to keep them under arms, till their propositions were decreed,
went no further. They retired after having received an
assurance that the convention would assiduously attend to
the question of provisions, and would soon publish the or-
ganic laws of the constitution of ’93. That day showed that
immense physical force and a decided object are not the only
things essential to secure success; leaders and an authority to
support and direct the insurrection are also necessary.
The
convention was the only remaining legal power: the party
which it held in favour triumphed.
Six democratic Mountaineers, Goujon, Bourbotte, Romme,
Duroy, Duquesnoy, and Soubrany, were brought before a
military commission. They behaved firmly, like men fanati-
cally devoted to their cause, and almost all free from excesses.
The Prairial movement was the only thing against them; but
that was sufficient in times of party strife, and they were
condemned to death. They all stabbed themselves with the
same knife, which was transferred from one to the other, ex-
claiming, “Vive la République !" Romme, Goujon, and
Duquesnoy were fortunate enough to wound themselves
fatally; the other three were conducted to the scaffold in a
dying state, but faced death with serene countenances.
Meantime, the Faubourgs, though repelled on the 1st, and
diverted from their object on the 2nd of Prairial, still had the
means of rising. An event of much less importance than the
preceding riots occasioned their final ruin. The murderer of
Feraud was discovered, condemned, and on the 4th, the day
of his execution, a mob succeeded in rescuing him. There
was a general outcry against this attempt; and the convention
ordered the Faubourgs to be disarmed. They were encom-
passed by all the interior sections. After attempting to resist,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
293
they yielded, giving up some of their leaders, their arms, and
artillery. The democratic party had lost its chiefs, its clubs,
and its authorities; it had nothing left but an armed force,
which rendered it still formidable, and institutions by means
of which it might yet regain everything. After the last
check, the inferior class was entirely excluded from the
government of the state, the revolutionary committees which
formed its assemblies were destroyed; the cannoneers forming
its armed force were disarmed; the constitution of '93, which
was its code, was abolished; and here the rule of the mul-
titude terminated.
From the 9th Thermidor to the 1st Prairial, the Moun-
taineer was treated as the Girondist party had been treated
from the 2nd of June to the 9th Thermidor. Seventy-six of
its members were sentenced to death or arrest. In its turn,
it underwent the destiny it had imposed on the other; for in
times when the passions are called into play, parties know
not how to come to terms, and seek only to conquer. Like
the Girondists, they resorted to insurrection, in order to re-
gain the power which they had lost; and like them, they fell.
Vergniaud, Brissot, Guadet, &c., were tried by a revolutionary
tribunal; Bourbotte, Duroy, Soubrany, Romme, Goujon,
Duquesnoy, by a military commission. They all died with
the same courage: which shows that all parties are the same,
and are guided by the same maxims, or, if you please, by the
same necessities. From that period, the middle class re-
sumed the management of the revolution without, and the
assembly was as united under the Girondists as it had been,
after the 2nd of Junc, under the Mountaineers.
294
HISTORY OF
CHAPTER XI.
FROM THE 20TH OF MAY, 1795, TO THE 26TH OF OCTOBER,
THE OLOSC OF THE CONVENTION.
Campaign of 1793 and 1794—Disposition of the armies on hearing the
news of the 9th Thermidor-Conquest of Holland ; positions on the
Rhine-Peace of Bâle with Prussia, Peace with Spain-Descent upon
Quiberon--The reaction ceases to be conventional, and becomes royalist
-Massacre of the revolutionists in the south-Directorial constitu-
tion of the year III.-Decrees of Fructidor, which require the re-elec-
tion of two-thirds of the convention—Irritation of the sectionary royalist
party-It becomes insurgent- The 13th of Vendémiaire-Appointment
of the councils and of the directory-Close of the convention ; its dura-
tion and character.
The exterior prosperity of the revolution chiefly contributed
to the fall of the dictatorial government and of the Jacobin
party. The increasing victories of the republic to which they
had very greatly contributed by their vigorous measures, and
by their enthusiasm, rendered their power superflaous. The
committee of public safety, by crushing with its strong and
formidable hand the interior of France, had developed re-
sources, organized armies, found generals, and commanded
victories which ultimately secured the triumph of the revo-
lution with respect to Europe. A prosperous position 10
longer required the same efforts; its mission was accomplished,
the peculiar province of such a dictatorship being to save a
country and a cause, and to perish by the very safety it has
secured. Internal events have prevented our rapidly de-
scribing the impulse which the committee of public safety
gave to the armies after the 31st of May, and the results which
it obtained from it.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
193
The levy en masse that took place in the summer of 1793,
formed the troops of the Mountain. The leaders of that party
soon selected from the secondary rarks Mountaineer gene-
rols to replace the Girondist generals. Those generals were
Jourdan, Pichegru, Hoche, Moreau, Westermann, Dugom-
mier, Marceau, Joubert, Kleber, &c. Carnot, by his admis-
sion to the committee of public safety, became minister of
war and major-general of all the republican armies. Instead
of scattered bodies, acting without concert upon isolated
points, he proceeded with strong masses, concentrated on one
object. He commenced the practice of a great plan of
warfare, which he tried with decided success at Watignies,
in his capacity of commissioner of the convention. This
important victory, at which he assisted in person, drove the
allied generals, Clairfait and the prince of Coburg, behind the
Sambre, and raised the siege of Maubeuge.
During the
winter of 1793 and 1794 the two armies continued in presence
of each other without undertaking anything.
At the opening of the campaign, they each conceived a
plan of invasion. The Austrian army advanced upon the
towns on the Somme, Peronne, Saint-Quentin, Arras, and
threatened Paris, while the French army again projected the
conquest of Belgium. The plan of the committee of public
safety was combined in a very different way to the vague
design of the coalition. Pichegru, at the head of fifty thou-
sand men of the army of the north, entered Flanders, resting
on the sea and the Scheldt. On his right, Moreau advanced
with twenty thousand men upön Menin and Courtrai. Gene-
ral Souham, with thirty thousand men, remained under Lille,
to sustain the extreme right of the invading army against the
Austrians; while Jourdan, with the army of the Moselle,
directed his course towards Charleroi by Arlon and Dinant,
to join the army of the north.
The Austrians, attacked in Flanders, and threatened with
a surprise in the rear by Jourdan, soon abandoned their posi-
tions on the Somme. Clairfait and the duke of York allowed
themselves to be beaten at Courtrai and Hooglede by the
army of Pichegru; Coburg at Fleurus by that of Jourdan,
who had just taken Charleroi. The two victorious generals
rapidly completed the invasion of the Netherlands. The
Anglo-Dutch ariny fell back on Antwerp, and from thence
296
HISTORY OF
upon Breda, and from Breda to Bois-le-Duc, receiving con-
tinual checks. It crossed the Wahal, and fell back upun
Holland. The Austrians endeavoured, with the same want
of success, to cover Brussels and Maëstricht; they were pur-
sued and beaten by the army of Jourdan, which since it's
union had taken the name of the army of the Sambre et
Meuse, and which did not leave them behind the Roër, as
Dumouriez had done, but drove them beyond the Rhine. Jour-
dan made himself master of Cologne and Bonn, and communi-
cated by his left with the right of the army of the Moselle,
which had advanced into the country of Luxembourg, and
which, conjointly with him, occupied Coblentz. A general
and concerted movement of all the French armies had taken
place, all of them marching towards the Rhenish frontier. At
the time of the defeats, the lines of Weissemburg had been
forced. The committee of public safety employed in the
army of the Rhine the expeditious measures peculiar to its
policy. The commissioners, Saint-Just and Lebas, gave the
chief command to Hoche, made terror and victory the order
of the day; and generals Brunswick and Wurniser were very
soon driven from Haguenau on the lines of the Lauter, and
not being able even to maintain that position, passed the
Rhine at Philipsburg. Spire and Worms were retaken. The
republican troops, everywhere victorious, occupied Belgium,
that part of Holland situated on the left of the Meuse, and
all the towns on the Rhine, except Mayence and Mannheim,
which were closely beset.
The army of the Alps did not make much progress in
this campaign. It tried to invade Piedmont, but failed. On
the Spanish frontier, the war had commenced under ill
auspices : the two armies of the eastern and western
Pyrenees, few in number and badly disciplined, were con-
stantly beaten; one had retired under Perpignan, the other
under Bayonne. The committee of public safety turned its
attention and efforts but tardily on this point, which was not
the most dangerous for it. But as soon as it had introduced
its system, generals, and organization into the two armies,
the appearance of things changed. Dugommier, after repeated
successes, drove the Spaniards from the French territory,
and entered the peninsula by Catalonia. Moncey also in-
vaded it by the valley of Bastan, the other opening of the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
297
Pyrenees, and became master of Saint Sebastian and Fucn-
tarabia. The coalition was everywhere conquered, and some
of the allied powers began to repent of their too confiding
adhesion.
In the meantime, news of the revolution of the 9th
Thermidor reached the armies. They were entirely repub-
lican, and they feared that Robespierre's fall would lead to
that of the popular government: and they, accordingly, re-
ceived this inteīligence with marked disapprobation; but, as
the armies were submissive to the civil authority, none of
them rebelled. The insurrections of the army only took place
from the 14th of July to the 31st of May; because, being
the refuge of the conquered parties, their leaders had at
every crisis the advantage of political precedence, and con-
tended with all the ardour of compromised factions. Under
the committee of public safety, on the contrary, the most
renowned generals had no political influence, and were sub-
ject to the terrible discipline of parties. While occasionally
thwarting the generals, the convention had no difficulty in
keeping the armies in obedience.
À short time afterwards the movement of invasion was
prolonged in Holland and in the Spanish peninsula. The
United Provinces were attacked in the middle of winter, and
on several sides, by Pichegru, who summoned the Batavian
patriots to liberty. The party opposed to the stadtholderate
seconded the victorious efforts of the French army, and the
revolution and conquest took place simultaneously at Leyden,
Amsterdam, the Hague, and Utrecht. The stadtholder took
refuge in England; his authority was abolished, and the
assembly of the states-general proclaimed the sovereignty of
the people, and constituted the Batavian Republic, which
formed a close alliance with France, to which it ceded, by the
treaty of Paris, of the 16th of May, 1795, Dutch Flanders,
Maëstricht, Venloo, and their dependencies. The navigation
of the Rhine, the Scheldt, and the Meuse was left free to both
nations. Holland, by its wealth, powerfully contributed to-
wards the continuance of the war against the coalition. This
important conquest at the same time deprived the English
of a powerful support, and compelled Prussia, threatened on
the Rhine and by Holland, to conclude, at Bâle, with the
French Republic, a peace, for which its reverses and thą
293
HISTORY OF
affairs of Poland had long rendered it disposed. A peace
was also made at Bâle, on the 10th of July, with Spain,
alarmed by our progress on its territory. Figuières and the
fortress of Rosas had been taken; and Perignon was advanciny
into Catalonia; while Moncey, after becoming master of Villa
Réal, Bilbao, and Vittoria, marched against the Spaniardo
who had retired to the frontiers of Old Castile. The cabinct
of Madrid demanded peace. It recognised the French re-
public, who restored its conquests, and who received in ex-
change the portion of Saint Domingo possessed by Spair.
The two disciplined armies of the Pyrenees joined the army
of the Alps, which by this means soon overran Piedmont,
and entered Italy–Tuscany only having made peace with the
republic on the 9th of February, 1795.
These partial pacifications and the reverses of the coalesced
troops gave another direction to the efforts of England and
the emigrant party. The time had arrived for making the
interior of France the fulcrum of the counter-revolutionary
movement. In 1791, when unanimity existed in France,
the royalists placed all their hopes in foreign powers; now,
dissensions at home and the defeat of their allies in Europe
left them no resource but in conspiracies. Unsuccessful at-
tempts, as we have seen, never make vanquished parties
despair: victory alone wearies and enervates, and sooner or
later restores the dominion of those who wait.
The events of Prairial and the defeat of the Jacobin party,
had decided the counter-revolutionary movement.
At this
period, the reaction, hitherto conducted by moderate repub-
licans, became generally royalist. The partisans of monarchy
were still as divided as they had been from the opening of the
states-general to the 10th of August. In the interior, the
old constitutionalists, who had their sittings in the sec-
tions, and who consisted of the wealthy middle classes, had not
the same views of monarchy with the absolute royalists. They
still felt the rivalry and opposition of interest, natural to
the middle against the privileged classes. The absolute
royalists themselves did not agree; the party beaten in the
interior had little sympathy with that enrolled among the
armies of Europe; but besides the divisions between the
emigrants and Vendeans, dissensions had arisen among the
emigrants from the date of their departure from France.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
299
Meantime, all these royalists of different opinions, not having
yet to contend for the reward of victory, came to an agree-
ment to attack the convention in common. The emigrants
and the priests, who for some months past had returned in
great numbers, took the banner of the sections, quite certain,
if they carried the day by means of the middle class, to esta-
blish their own government; for they had a leader, and a
definite object, which the sectionaries had not.
This reaction, of a new character, was restrained for some
time in Paris, where the convention, a strong and neutral
power, wished to prevent the violence and usurpation of
both parties. While overthrowing the sway of the Jaco
bins, it suppressed the vengeance of the royalists. Then it
was that the greater part of la troupe dorée deserted its cause,
that the leaders of the sections prepared the bourgeoisie
to oppose the assembly, and that the confederation of the
Journalists succeeded that of the Jacobins.
La Harpe
Richer de Sérizy, Poncelin, Tronçon du Condray, Mar
chéna, &c., became the organs of this new opinion, and were
the literary clubists. The active but irregular troops of this
party assembled at the Théatre Feydeau, the Boulevard des
Italiens, and the Palais Royal, and began the Chase of the
Jacobins, while they sang the Reveil du Peuple. The word
of proscription, at that time, was Terrorist, in virtue o.
which an honest man might all conscientiously attack a revolu-
tionist. The Terrorist class was extended at the will or the
passions of the new reactors, who wore their hair à la victime,
and who, no longer fearing to avow their intentions, for
some time past had adopted the Chouan uniform—a grey
turned-back coat with a green or black collar.
But this reaction was much more ardent in the departments,
where there was no authority to interpose in the prevention
of bloodshed. Here there were only two parties, that which
had dominated and that which had suffered under the Moun-
tain. The intermediate class was alternately governed by
the royalists and by the democrats. The latter, foreseeing the
terrible reprisals to which they would be subject if they fell,
held out as long as they could; but their defeat at Paris led
to their downfall in the departments. Party executions
then took place, similar to those of the pro-consuls of the
committee of public safety. The south was, more especially,
300
HISTORY OF
a prey to wholesale massacres and acts of personal vengeance.
Societies, called Compagnies de Jesus and Compagnies de
Soleil, who were of royalist origin, were organized, and
executed terrible reprisals. At Lyons, Aix, Tarascon, and
Marseilles, they slew in the prisons those who had taken
part in the preceding régime. Nearly all the south had its
2nd of September. At Lyons, after the first revolutionary
massacres, the members of the compagnie hunted out those
who had not been taken; and when they met one, without
any other form than the exclamation, “ There's a Matavon,"
(the name given to them,) they slew and threw him into the
Rhone. At Tarascon, they threw them from the top of
the tower on a rock on the bank of the Rhone. During this
new reign of terror, and this general defeat of the revolu-
tionists, England and the emigrants attempted the daring
enterprise of Quiberon.
The Vendeans were exhausted by their repeated defeats,
but they were not wholly reduced. Their losses, however,
and the divisions between their principal leaders, Charette
and Stofflet, rendered them an extremely feeble succour.
Charette had even consented to treat with the republic, and
a sort of pacification had been concluded between him and the
convention at Jusnay. The marquis de Puisaye, an enter-
prising man, but volatile and more capable of intrigue than of
vigorous party conceptions, intended to replace the almost ex-
piring insurrection of La Vendée by that of Brittany. Since
the enterprise of Wimpfen, in which Puisaye had a com-
mand, there already existed, in Calvados and Morbihan,
bands of Chouans, composed of the remains of parties, adven-
turers, men without employment, and daring smugglers, who
made expeditions, but were unable to keep the field, like the
Vendeans. Puisaye had recourse to England to extend the
Chouanerie, leading it to hope for a general rising in
Brittany, and from thence in the rest of France, if it would
land the nucleus of an army, with ammunition and guns.
The ministry of Great Britain, deceived as to the coalition,
desired nothing better vau to expose the republic to fresh
perils, while it sought to revive the courage of Europe. 1:
confided in Puisaye, and in the spring of 1795 prepared an
expedition, in which the most energetic emigrants took a
share, nearly all the officers of the former navy, and all wiro,
THE FRENOH REVOLUTION.
301
+
weary of the part of exiles and of the distresses of a life of
wandering, wished to try their fortune for the last time.
The English fleet landed, on the peninsula of Quiberon,
fifteen hundred emigrants, six thousand republican prisoners
who had embraced the cause of the emigrants to return to
France, sixty thousand musquets, and the full equipment
for an army of forty thousand men. Fifteen hundred Chouans
joined the army on its landing, and it was soon attacked by
General Hoche. His attack proved successful; the republican
prisoners who were in the ranks deserted, and it was defeated
after a most energetic resistance. In the mortal warfare be-
tween the emigrants and the republic, the vanquished being
considered as outlavis, were mercilessly massacred. Their
loss inflicted a deep and incurable wound on the emigrant
party,
Ć The hopes founded on the victories of Europe, on the pro-
gress of insurrection and the attempt of the emigrants, being
thus overthrown, recaurse was had to the discontented
sections. It was hoped to make a counter-revolution by
means of the new constitution decreed by the convention on
the 22nd of August, 1795. This constitution was, indeed,
the work of the moderate republican party; but as it re-
stored the ascendancy of the middle class, the royalist leaders
thought that by it they might easily enter the legislative body
and the government.
This constitution was the best, the wisest, the most liberal,
and the most provident that had as yet been established or
projected: it contained the resalt of six years' revolutionary
and legislative experience. At this period, the convention
felt the necessity of organizing power, and of rendering the
people settled, while the first assembly, from its position,
only felt the necessity of weakening royalty and agitating the
natiun. All bad been exhausted, from the throne to the
people: existence now depended on reconstructing and re-
storing order, at the same time keeping the nation in great
activity. The new constitution accomplished this. It dif-
fered but little from that of 1791, with respect to the exercise
of sovereignty; but greatly in everything relative to govern-
ment. It conſided the legislative power to two councils ;
that of the Cinq-cents and that of the Anciens ; and the exccu-
tive power to a directory of five members. It restored the
302
HISTORY OF
two degrees of elections destined to retard the popular
movement, and to lead to a more enlightened choice than im-
mediate elections. The wise but moderate qualifications with
respect to property, required in the members of the primary
assemblies and the electoral assemblies, again conferred poli-
tical importance on the middle class, to which it became im-
peratively necessary to recur after the dismissal of the
multitude and the abandonment of the constitution of '93.
In order to prevent the despotism or the servility of a single
assembly, it was necessary to place somewhere a power to
check or defend it. The division of the legislative body into
two councils, which had the same origin, the same duration,
and only differed in functions, attained the two-fold object of
not alarming the people by an aristocratic institution, and of
contributing to the formation of a good government. The
Council of Five Hundred, whose members were required to be
thirty years old, was alone entrusted with the initiative and
the discussion of laws. The Council of Ancients composed of
two hundred and fifty members, who had completed their
fortieth year, was charged with adopting or rejecting them.
In order to avoid precipitation in legislative measures, and
to prevent a compulsory sanction from the Council of Ancients
in a moment of popular excitement, they could not come to a
decision until after three readings, at a distance of five days at
least from each other. In urgent cases this formality was
dispensed with; and the council had the right of determining
This council acted sometimes as a legislative
power, when it did not thoroughly approve a measure, and
made use of the form “ Le Conseil des anciens ne peut pas
adopter," and sometimes as a conservative power, when it only
considered a measure in its legal bearing, and said “ La Con-
stitution annule." For the first time, partial re-elections were;
adopted, and the renewing of half of the council every two
years was fixed, in order to avoid that rush of legislators
who came with an immoderate desire for innovation, and suä-
denly changed the spirit of an assembly,
The executive power was distinct from the councils, and
no longer existed in the committees. Monarchy was still too
much feared to admit of a president of the republic being
named. They, therefore, confined themselves to the creation
of a directory of five members, nominated by the council 01
such urgency
TIL FRENCH REVOLUTION.
303
ancients, at the recommendation of that of the Five Hundred.
The_directors might be brought to trial by the councils, but.
could not be dismissed by them. They were entrusted with
a general and independent power of execution, but it was
wished also to prevent their abusing it, and especially to guard
against the danger of a long habit of authority leading to usur-
pation. They had the management of the armed force and
of the finances; the nomination of functionaries, the conduct-
ing of negotiations, but they could do nothing of themselves;
they had ministers and generals, for whose conduct they were
responsible. Each member was president for three months,
holding the seals and affixing his signature. Every year,
one of the members was to go out. It will be seen by this
account that the functions of royalty as they were in 1791,
were shared by the council of ancients, who had the veto, and
the directory, which held the executive power. The directory
had a guard, a national palace, the Luxembourg, for
a residence, and a kind of civil list. The council of the
ancients, destined to check the encroachments of the legis-
lative power, was invested with the means of restraining the
usurpations of the directory; it could change the residence
of the councils and of the government.
The foresight of this constitution was infinite: it prevented
popular violence, the encroachments of power, and provided
for all the perils which the different crises of the revolution
had displayed. If any constitution could have become firmly
established at that period, it was the directorial constitution.
It restored authority, granted liberty, and offered the dif-
ferent parties an opportunity of peace, if eacb, sincerely
renouncing exclusive dominion, and satisfied with the com-
mon right, would have taken its proper place in the state.
But it did not last longer than the others, because it could
not establish legal order in spite of parties. Each of them
aspired to the government, in order to make its system and
its interests prevail, and instead of the reign of law, it was
still necessary to relapse into that of force, and of coups-
d'état. When parties do not wish to terminate a revolu-
tion-and those who do not doncinate never wish to termi-
nate it—a constitution, however excellent it may be, cannot
accomplish it.
The members of the Commission of Eleven, who, pre-
304
HISTORY OF
viously to the events of Prairial, had no other mission thar
to prepare the organic laws of the constitution of '93, and
who, after those events, made the constitution of the year III.,
were at the head of the conventional party. This party
neither belonged to the old Gironden nor to the old Mountain.
Neutral up to the 31st of May, subject till the 9th Ther-
midor, it had been in the possession of power since that
period, because the twofold defeat of the Girondists and the
Mountain had left it the strongest.
The men of the ex-
treme sides, who had begun the fusion of parties, joined it.
Merlin de Douai represented the party of that mass which
had yielded to circumstances, Thibaudeau, the party that
continued inactive, and Daunou, the courageous party. The
latter had declared himself opposed to all coups-d'état, ever
since the opening of the assembly, both the 21st of January,
and to the 31st of May, because he wished for the régime of
the convention, without party violence and measures. After
the 9th Thermidor, he blamed the fury displayed towards the
chiefs of the revolutionary government, whose victim he had
been, as one of the seventy-three. He had obtained great
ascendancy, as men gradually approached towards a legal
system. His enlightened attachment to the revolution, his
noble independence, the solidity and extent of his ideas, and
his imperturbable fortitude, rendered him one of the most in-
fluential actors of this period. He was the chief author of
the constitution of the year III., and the convention deputed
hin, with some others of its members, to undertake the de-
fence of the republic, during the crisis of Vendémiaire.
The reaction gradually increased; it was indirectly favoured
by the members of the Right, who, since the opening of that
assembly, had only been incidentally republican. They wero
not prepared to repel the attacks of the royalists with the
same energy as that of the revolutionists. Among this number
were Boissy d’Anglas, Lanjuinais, Henri la Riviere, Saladini
,
Aubry, &c.; they formed in the assembly the nucleus of the
sectionary party. Old and ardent Mountaineers, such as
Rovere, Bourdon de l'Oise, &c., carried away by the counter-
revolutionary movement, suffered the reaction to be prolonged,
doubtless in order to make their peace with those whom they
Lad so violently combatted.
But the conventional party, reassured with respect to the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
305
democrats, set itself to prevent the triumph of the royaliste
It felt that the safety of the republic depended on the for-
mation of the councils, and that the councils being elected
by the middle class, which was directed by royalists, would
be composed on counter-revolutionary principles. It was
important to entrust the guardianship of the régime they
were about to establish to those who had an interest in
defending it. In order to avoid the error of the constituent
assembly, which had excluded itself from the legislature that
succeeded it, the convention decided by a decree, that iwo-
thirds of its members should be re-elected. By this means it
secured the majority of the councils and the nomination of the
directory; it could accompany its constitution into the state,
and consolidate it without violence. This re-election of two-
thirds was not exactly legal, but it was politic, and the only
means of saving France from the rule of the democrats or
counter-revolutionists. The convention granted itself a
moderate dictatorship, by the decrees of the 5th and 13th
Fructidor (22nd and 30th of August, 1795), one of which
established the re-election, and the other fixed the manner of
it. But these two exceptional decrees were submitted to the
ratification of the primary assemblies, at the same time as the
constitutional act.
The royalist party was taken by surprise by the decrees of
Fructidor. It hoped to form part of the government by the
councils, of the councils by elections, and to effect a change of
system when once in power. It inveighed against the con-
vention. The royalist committee of Paris, whose agent was
an obscure man, named Lemaitre, the journalists, and the
leaders of the sections coalesced. They had no difficulty in
· securing the support of public opinion, of which they were
the only organs; they accused the convention of perpetuating
its power, and of assailing the sovereignty of the people.
The chief advocates of the two-thirds, Louvet, Daunou, and
Chenier, were not spared, and every preparation was made
for a grand movement
. The faubourg Saint Germain, lately
almost deserted, gradually filled; emigrants flocked in, and
the conspirators, scarcely concealing their plans, adopted the
Chouan uniform.
The convention, perceiving the storm increase, sought
support in the army, whiclı, at that time, was the republican
X
306
HISTORY OF
class, and a camp was formed at Paris. The people had been
disbanded, and the royalists had secured the bourgeoisie.
In the meantime, the primary assemblies met on the 20th
Fructidor, to deliberate on the constitutional act, and the
decrees of the two-thirds, which were to be accepted or
rejected together. The Lepelletier section (formerly Filles
Saint Thomas) was the centre of all the others. On a motion
made by that section, it was decided that the power of all
constituent authority ceased in the presence of the assembled
people. The Lepelletier section, directed by Richer-Serizy,
La Harpe, Lácretelle junior, Vaublanc, &c., turned its
attention to the organization of the insurrectional government,
under the name of the central committee. This committee
was to replace in Vendémiaire, against the convention, the
committee of the 10th of August against the throne, and of
the 31st of May against the Girondists. The majority of the
sections adopted this measure, which was annulled by the
convention, whose decree was in its turn rejected by the
majority of the sections. The struggle now became open;
and in Paris they separated the constitutional act, which
was adopted, from the decrees of re-election, which were
rejected.
On the 1st Vendémiaire, the convention proclaimed the
acceptation of the decrees by the greater number of the pri-
mary assemblies of France. The sections assembled again to
nominate the electors who were to choose the members of the
legislature. On the 10th they determined that the electors
should assemble in the Theatre Français (it was then on the
other side of the bridges); that they should be accompanied
there by the armed force of the sections, after having sworn
to defend them till death. On the llth, accordingly, the
electors assembled under the presidency of the duke de Niver-
nois, and the guard of some detachments of chasseurs and
grenadiers.
The convention, apprised of the danger, sat permanently,
stationed round its place of sitting the troops of the camp
of Sablons, and concentrated its powers in a committee of
five members, who were entrusted with all measures of public
safety. These members were Colombel, Barras, Daunou,
Letourneur, and Merlin de Douai. For some time the revo-
lutionists had ceased to be feared, and all had been liberated
THE FRENCH GEVOLUTION.
307
who had been imprisoned for the events of Prairial. They en-
rolled, under the name of Battalion of Patriots of '89, about
fifteen or eighteen hundred of them, who had been proceeded
against, in the departments or in Paris, by the friends of the
reaction. In the evening of the 11th, the convention sent to
dissolve the assembly of electors by force, but they had
already adjourned to the following day.
During the night of the 11th, the decree which dissolved
the college of electors, and which armed the battalion of
patriots of '89, caused the greatest agitation. Drums beat to
arms; the Lepelletier section declaimed against the despotism
of the convention, against the return of the Reign of Terror,
and during the whole of the 12th prepared the other sections
for the contest. In the evening, the convention, scarcely
less agitated, decided on taking the initiative, by surround-
ing the conspiring section, and terminating the crisis by dis-
arming it. Menou, general of the interior, and Laporte the
representative, were entrusted with this mission. The con-
vent of the Filles Saint Thomas was the head quarters of the
sectionaries, before which they had seven or eight hundred
men in battle array, These were surrounded by superior
forces, from the Boulevards on each side, and the Rue Vivienne
opposite. Instead of disarming them, the leaders of the expe-
dition began to parley. It was agreed that both parties
should withdraw; but the conventional troops had no sooner
retired than the sectionaries returned reinforced. This was
a complete victory for them, which being exaggerated in
Paris, as such things always are, increased their number, and
gave them courage to attack the convention the next day.
About eleven at night the convention learned the issue of
the expedition and the dangerous effect which it had pro-
duced; it immediately dismissed Menou, and gave the com-
mand of the armed force to Barras, the general in command
on the 9th Thermidor. Barras asked the committee of five
to appoint as his second in command, a young officer who
had distinguished himself at the siege of Toulon, but had
been dismissed by Aubry of the reaction party; a young
miin of talent and resolution, calculated to do good service to
the republic in a moment of peril. This young officer was
Bonaparte. He appeared before the committee, but there
was nothing in his appearance that announced his astonishing
X2
308
HISTORY OF
destiny. Not a man of party, summoned for the first time
to this great scene of action, his demeanour exhibited a
timidity and a want of assurance, which disappeared entirely
in the preparations for battle, and in the heat of action. He
immediately sent for the artillery of the camp of Sablons,
and disposed them, with the five thousand men of the
conventional army, on all the points from which the con-
vention could be assailed. At noon on the 13th Vendé-
miaire, the enclosure of the convention had the appearance of
a fortified place, which could only be taken by assault. The
line of defence extended, on the left side of the Tuileries along
the river, from the Pont Neuf to the Pont Louis XV.; on
the right, in all the small streets opening on the Rue Saint
Honoré, from the Rues de Rohan, de l’Echelle and the Cul-
de-sac Dauphin, to the Place de la Revolution. In front,
the Louvre, the Jardin de l'Infante, and the Carousel were
planted with cannon; and behind, the Pont Tournant and
the Place de la Revolution formed a park of reserve. In
this position the convention awaited the insurgents.
The latter soon encompassed it on several points. They
had about forty thousand men under arms, commanded by
generals Danican, Duhoux, and the ex garde-du-corps Lafond.
The thirty-two sections which formed the majority, had sup-
plied their military contingent. Of the other sixteen, several
sections of the faubourgs had their troops in the battalion of
'89. A few, those of the Quinze-vingts and Montreuil
, sent
assistance during the action; others, though favourably dis-
posed, as that of Popincourt, could not do so; and lastly,
others remained neutral, like that of L’Indivisibilité. From
two to three o'clock, general Carteaux, who occupied the Pont
Neuf with four hundred men and two four-pounders, was
surrounded by several columns of sectionaries, who obliged
him to fall back on the Louvre. This advantage emboldened
the insurgents, who were strong on all points. General
Danican summoned the convention to withdraw its troops,
and disarm the terrorists. The officer entrusted with the
summons, was led into the assembly blindfold, and his mes-
sage occasioned some agitation, several members declaring in
favour of conciliatory measures. Boissy d'Anglas advised a
conference with Danican; Gamon proposed a proclamation
in which they should call upon the citizens to retire, pro-
THE FRENCA REVOLUTION.
309
mising then to disarm the battalion of '89. This address
excited violent murmurs. Chenier rushed to the tribune.
“ I am surprised,” said he, “ that the demands of sections
in a state of revolt should be discussed here. . Negotiation
must not be heard of; there is only victory or death for
the national convention.” Lanjuinais wished to support the
address, by dwelling on the danger and misery of civil war; but
the convention would not hear him, and on the motion of
Fermond, passed to the order of the day. The debates re-
specting measures of peace or war with the sections were
continued for some time, when about half-past four several
discharges of musketry were heard, which put an end to all
discussion. Seven hundred guns were brought in, and the
convention took arms as a body of reserve.
The conflict had now commenced in the Rue Saint Honoré,
of which the insurgents were masters.
The first shots were
fired from the Hôtel de Noailles, and a murderous fire ex-
tended the whole length of this line. A few moments after-
wards, on the other side, two columns of sectionaries, about
four thousand strong, commanded by the count de Maulevier,
advanced by the quays, and attacked the Pont Royal. The
action then became general, but it could not last long; the
place was too well defended to be taken by assault. After
an hour's fighting, the sectionaries were driven from Saint
Roch and the Rue Saint Honoré, by the cannon of the con-
vention and the battalion of patriots. The column of the
Pont Royal received three discharges of artillery in front and
on the side, from the bridge and the quays, which put it en-
tirely to flight. At seven o'clock the conventional troops, vic-
torious on all sides, took the offensive; by nine o'clock they had
dislodged the sectionaries from the Theâtre de la Republique
and the posts they still occupied in the neighbourhood of the
Palais Royal. They prepared to make barricades during the
night, and several volleys were fired in the Rue de la Loi.
(Richelieu,) to prevent the works. The next day, the 14th,
the troops of the convention disarmed the Lepelletier section,
and compelled the others to return to order.
The assembly, which had only fought in its own defence,
displayed much moderation. The 13th Vendémiaire was
the lóth of August of the royalists against the republic,
except that the convention resisted the bourgeoisie much
310
HISTORY OF
better than the throne resisted the faubourgs. The position
of France contributed very much to this victory. Men now
wished for a republic without a revolutionary government, a
moderate régime without a counter-revolution.
The con-
vention, which was a mediatory power, pronounced alike
against the exclusive domination of the lower class, which it
had thrown off in Prairial, and the reactionary domination of
the bourgeoisie, which it repelled in Vendémiaire, seemed
alone capable of satisfying this twofold want, and of putting
an end to the state of warfare between the two parties, which
was prolonged by their alternate entrance into the govern-
ment. This situation, as well as its own dangers, gave it
courage to resist, and secured its triumph. The sections
could not take it by surprise, and still less by assault.
After the events of Vendémiaire, the convention occupied
itself with forming the councils and the directory. The third
part, freely elected, had been favourable to reaction. A few
conventionalists, headed by Tallien, proposed to annul the elec-
tions of this third, and wished to suspend, for a longer time,
the conventional government. Thibaudeau exposed their
design with much courage and eloquence. The whole con-
ventional party adopted his opinion. It rejected all super-
fluous arbitrary sway, and showed itself impatient to leave
the provisional state it had been in for the last three years.
The convention established itself as a national electoral
assembly, in order to complete the two-thirds from among its
members. It then formed the councils; that of the ancients,
of two hundred and fifty members, who according to the new
law had completed forty years; that of Five Hundred from
among the others. The councils met in the Tuileries. They
then proceeded to form the government.
The attack of Vendémiaire was quite recent; and the
republican party, especially dreading the counter-revolution,
; agreed to choose the directors only from the conventionalists,
and further from among those of them who had voted for the
death of the king. Some of the most influential members,
among whom was Daunou, opposed this view, which restricted
the choice, and continued to give the government a dictatorial
and revolutionary character; but it prevailed. The conven-
tionalists thus elected, were Larévellère-Lépaux, invested
with general confidence on account of his courageous conduct
1
THE FRENCII REVOLUTION
311
on the 31st of May, for his probity and his moderation; Siéyes,
the man who of all others enjoyed the greatest celebrity of
the day; Rewbell, possessed of great administrative activity;
Letourneur, one of the members of the commission of five
during the last crisis; and Barras, chosen for his two pieces
of good fortune of Thermidor and Vendémiaire. Siéyes,
who had refused to take part in the legislative commission of
the eleven, also refused to enter upon the directory. It is
difficult to say whether this reluctance arose from calculation
or an insurmountable antipathy for Rewbell. He was re-
placed by Carnot, the only member of the former committee
whom they were disposed to favour, on account of his poli-
tical purity, and his great share in the victories of the
republic. Such was the first composition of the directory.
On the 4th Brumaire, the convention passed a law of am-
nesty, in order to enter on legal government; changed the
name of the Place de la Revolution into Place de la Con
corde, and declared its session closed.
The convention lasted three years, from the 21st of Sep-
tember, 1792, to October 26, 1795 (4th Brumaire, year IV.)
It took several directions. During the six first months of its
existence it was drawn into the struggle which arose between
the legal party of the Gironde, and the revolutionary party
of the Mountain. The latter had the lead from the 31st or
May, 1793, to the 9th Thermidor, year II. (26th July, 1794.)
The convention then obeyed the committee of public safety,
which first destroyed its old allies of the commune and of the
Mountain, and afterwards perished through its own divisions.
From the 9th Thermidor to the month of Brumaire, year
IV., the convention conquered the revolutionary and royalist
parties, and sought to establish a moderate republic in opposi-
tion to both.
During this long and terrible period, the violence of the
situation changed the revolution into a war, and the as-
sembly into a field of battle. Each party wished to establish
its sway by victory, and to secure it by founding its system.
The Girondist party made the attempt, and perished; the
Mountain made the attempt, and perished; the party of the
comunune made the attempt, and perished; Robespierre's party
made the attempt, and perished. They could only conquer,
they were unable to found a system. The property of suck
$12
HISTORY OF
a storm was to overthrow everything that attempted to be
come settled.
All was provisional; dominion, men, parties,
and systems, because the only thing real and possible was-
war. A year was necessary to enable the conventional party,
on its return to power, to restore the revolution to a legal
position; and it could only accomplish this by two victories
that of Prairial and that of Vendémiaire. But the conven-
tion having then returned to the point whence it started,
and having discharged its true mission, which was to establish
the republic after having defended it, disappeared from the
theatre of the world which it had filled with surprise. A
revolutionary power, it ceased as soon as legai order recom-
menced. Three years of dictatorship liad been lost to liberty,
but not to the revolutions
!
THE FRENCU REVOLUTION
313
THE 'EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY.
CHAPTER XII
FRUM THE INSTALLATION OF THE DIRECTORY, ON THE 27TH
OCTOBER, 1795, To COUP-D'ETAT OF THE 18T1
FRUCTIDOR, YEAR V. (3RD AUGUST, 1797.)
THE
Review of the revolution—Its second character of reorganization; transition
from public to private life—The five directors; their labours for therin-
terior—Pacification of La Vendée-Conspiracy of Babeuf; final defeat
of the democratic party—Plan of campaign against Austria ; conquest of
Italy by general Bonaparte ; treaty of Campo-Formio; the French repub-
lic is acknowledged, with its acquisitions, and its connexion with the
Batavian, Lombard, and Ligurian republics, which extend its system
in Europe—Royalist elections in the year V.; they alter the position of
the republic-New contest between the counter-revolutionary party in
the councils, in the club of Clichy, in the salons, and the conventional
party, in the directory, the club of Salm, and the army-Coup d'état
of the 18th Fructidor; the Vendémiaire party again defeated.
THE French revolution, which had destroyed the old govern-
ment, and thoroughly overturned the old society, had two
wholly distinct objects; that of a free constitution, and that
of a more perfect state of civilization. The six years we have
just gone over were the search for government by each of the
classes which composed the French nation. The privileged
classes wished to establish their régime against the court and the
bourgeoisie, by preserving orders and the states-general; the
bourgeoisie sought to establish its régime against the privileged
classes and the multitude, by the constitution of 1791; and
the multitude wished to establish its régime against all the
314
HISTORY OF
others. by the constitution of 1793. Not one of these govern.
inents could become consolidated, because they were all exclu-
sive. But during their attempts, each class, in power for a
time, destroyed of the higher classes all that was intolerant or
calculated to oppose the progress of modern civilization.
When the directory succeeded the convention, the struggle
between the classes was greatly weakened. The higher ranks
of each formed a party which still contended for the possession
and for the form of government; but the mass of the nation
which had been so profoundly agitated from 1789 to 1795,
longed to become settled again, and to arrange itself according
to the new order of things. This period witnessed the end of
the movement for liberty, and the beginning of the movement
towards civilization. The revolution now took its second
character, its character of order, foundation, repose, after the
agitation, the immense toil, and system of complete demolition
of its early years.
This second period was remarkable, inasmuch as it seemed
a kind of abandonment of liberty. The different parties being
no longer able to possess it in an exclusive and durable man-
per, became discouraged, and fell back from public into private
life. This second period divided itself into two epochs: it
was liberal under the directory and at the commencement
of the Consulate, and military at the close of the Consu-
late and under the empire. The revolution daily grew more
materialized; after having made a nation of sectaries, it
made a nation of working men, and then it made a nation of
soldiers.
Many illusions were already destroyed; men had passed
through so many different states, had lived so much in so few
years, that all ideas were confounded and all creeds shaken.
The reign of the middle class and that of the multitude had
passed away like a rapid phantasmagoria. They were far from
that France of the 14th of July, with its deep conviction, its
high morality, its assembly exercising the all-powerful sway o.
liberty and of reason, its popular magistracies, its citizen-guard,
its brilliant, peaceable, and animated exterior, wearing the im-
press of order and independence. They were far from the
more sombre and more tempestuous France of the 10th of
August, when a single class held the government and society,
and had introduced therein its language, manners, and costume,
the agitation of its fears, the fanaticisin of its ideas, the distrust
TUE FRENCE REVOLUTION,
315
of its position. Then private life entirely gave piace to public
life; the republic presented, in turn, the aspect of an assembly
and of a camp; the rich were subject to the poor; the creed of
democracy combined with the gloomy and ragged administra-
tion of the people. At each of these periods men had been
strongly attached to some idea: first, to liberty and constitu-
tional monarchy; afterwards, to equality, fraternity, and the
republic. But at the beginning of the directory, there was
belief in nothing; in the great shipwreck of parties, all had
been lost, both the virtue of the bourgeoisie and the virtue of
the people.
Men arose from this furious turmoil weakened and wounded,
and each, remembering his political existence with terror,
plunged wildly into the pleasures and relations of private life
which had so long been suspended. Balls, banquets, de-
bauchery, splendid carriages, became more fashionable than
ever; this was the reaction of the ancient régime. The
reign of the sans-culottes brought back the dominion of
the rich; the clubs, the return of the salons. For the rest, it
was scarcely possible but that the first symptom of the
resumption of modern civilization should be thus irregular.
The directorial manners were the product of another
society, which had to appear again before the new state of
society could regulate its relations, and constitute its own
manners. In this transition, luxury would give rise to labour,
stock-jobbing to commerce; salons bring parties together
who could not approximate except in private life; in a
word, civilization would again usher in liberty.
The situation of the republic was discouraging at the in-
stallation of the directory. There existed no element of order
ur administration. There was no money in the public trea-
sury; couriers were often delayed, for want of the small sum
necessary to enable them to set out. In the interior, anarchy
and uneasiness were general; paper currency, in the last
stage of discredit, destroyed confidence and commerce; the
dearth became protracted, every one refusing to part with his
commodities, for it amounted to giving them away; the
arsenals were exhausted or almost empty. Without, the armies
were destitute of baggage-wagons, horses, and supplies; the
soldiers were in want of clothes, and the generals were ofteri
unable to liquidate their pay of eight francs a month in specie,
an indispensable supplement, small as it was, to their pay in
816
HISTORY OF
assignats; and lastly, the troops, discontented and unilisci..
plined, on account of their necessities, were again beaten, and
on the defensive.
Things were at this state of crisis after the fall of the com-
mittee of public safety. This committee had foreseen the
dearth, and prepared for it, both in the army and in the in-
terior, by the requisitions and the maximum. No one had
dared to exempt himself from this financial system, which
rendered the wealthy and commercial classes tributary to the
soldiers and the multitude, and at that time provisions had
not been withheld from the market. But since violence and
confiscation had ceased, the people, the convention, and the
armies were at the mercy of the landed proprietors and
speculators, and terrible scarcity existed, a reaction against
the maximum. The system of the convention had consisted,
in political economy, in the consumption of an immense
capital, represented by the assignats. This assembly had
been a rich government, which had ruined itself in defending
the revolution. Nearly half the French territory, consisting
of domains of the crown, ecclesiastical property, or the estates
of the emigrant nobility, had been sold, and the produce ap-
plied to the support of the people, who did little labour, and
to the external defence of the republic by the armies. More
than eight thousand millions of assignats had been issued
before the 9th Thermidor, and since that period, thirty
thousand millions had been added to that sum, already so
Such a system could not be continued; it was
necessary to begin the work again, and return to real money.
The men deputed to remedy this great disorganization were,
for the most part, of ordinary talent; but they set to work
with zeal, courage, and good sense.
" When the directors,"
said M. Bailleul,* “ entered the Luxembourg, there was not
an article of furniture. In a small room, at a little broken
table, one leg of which was half eaten away with age, on
which tuey placed some letter-paper and a calumet standish,
which they had fortunately brought from the committee of
public safety, seated on four straw-bottom chairs, opposite a
few logs of dimly-burning wood, the whole borrowed from
enormous.
1
* Examen Critique des considérations de Madame de Staël, sur la Rivo-
irron Française, by M , Ch. Bailleul, vol. ii., pp. 275, 281.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
317
Dupont, the porter; who would believe that it was in such a
condition that the members of the new government, after
having investigated all the difficulties, nay, all the horror of
their position, resolved that they would face all obstacles,
and that they would either perish or rescue France from the
abyss into which she had fallen? On a sheet of writing-paper
they drew up the act by which they ventured to declare
theinselves constituted; an act which they immediately des-
patched to the legislative chambers.”
The directors then proceeded to divide their labours, taking
as their guide the grounds which had induced the consti-
tutional party to select them. Rewbell, possessed of great
activity, â lawyer versed in government and diplomacy, had
assigned to him the departments of law, finance, and foreign
affairs. His skill and commanding character soon made
him the acting man of the directory in all civil matters
Barras had no special knowledge; his mind was mediocre,
his resources few, his habits indolent. In an hour of dan-
ger, his resolution qualified him to execute sudden measures,
like those of Thermidor or Vendémiaire. But being, on
ordinary occasions, only adapted for the surveillance of parties
the intrigues of which he was better acquainted with than
any one else, the police department was allotted to him. He
was well suited for the task, being supple and insinuating,
without partiality for any political sect, and having re-
volutionary connexions by his past life, while his birth
gave him access
to the aristocracy. Barras took on
himself the representation of the directory, and esta-
blished a sort of republican regency at the Luxembourg.
The pure and moderate La Révellère, whose gentleness tem-
pered with courage, whose sincere attachment for the republic
and legal measures, had procured him a post in the directory,
with the general consent of the assembly and public opinion,
had assigned to him the moral department, embracing educa-
tion, the arts, sciences, manufactures, &c. Letourneur, an
ex-artillery officer, member of the committee of public safety
at the latter period of the convention, had been appointed to
the war department. But when Carnot was chosen, on the
refusal of Siéyes, he assumed the direction of military opera-
tions, and left to his colleague Letourneur the navy and the
colonies. His high talents and resolute character garo lim
318
HISTORY OR
the upper band in the direction. Letourneur attached bin-
self to him, as La Réveillère to Rewbell, and Barras was
between the two. At this period, the directors turned their
attention with the greatest concord to the improvement and
welfare of the state.
The directors frankly followed the route traced out for
them by the constitution. After having established authority
in the centre of the republic, they organized it in the depart-
ments, and established, as well as they could, a correspond-
ence of design between local administrations and their own.
Placed between the two exclusive and dissatisfied parties or
Prairial and Vendémiaire, they endeavoured, by a decided
line of conduct, to subject them to an order of things, holding
a place midway between their extreme pretensions. They
sought to revive the enthusiasm and order of the first years
of the revolution. “ You, whom we summon to share our
labours," they wrote to their agents, "you who have, with
us, to promote the progress of the republican constitution,
your first virtue, your first feeling, should be that decided
resolution, that patriotic faith, which has also produced its
enthusiasts and its miracles. All will be achieved when, by
your care, that sincere love of liberty which sanctified the
dawn of the revolution, again animates the heart of every
Frenchman. The banners of liberty floating on every house,
and the republican device written on every door, doubtless
form an interesting sight. Obtain more; hasten the day
when the sacred name of the republic shall be graven volun-
tarily on every heart."
In a short time, the wise and firm proceedings of the new
government restored confidence, labour and plenty. The
circulation of provisions was secured, and at the end of a
inonth, the directory was relieved from the obligation to
provide Paris with supplies, which it effected for itself. The
immense activity created by the revolution began to be
directed towards industry and agriculture. A part of the
population quitted the clubs and public places for workshops
and fields; and then the benefit of a revolution, which,
having destroyed corporations, divided property, abolished
privileges, increased fourfold the means of civilization, and
was destined to produce prodigious good to France, begon
to be felt. The directory encouraged this movement in
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
319
the direction of Inbour by salutary institutions. It re-esta-
blished public exhibitions of the produce of industry, and im-
proved the system of education decreed under the convention.
The national institute, primary, central, and normal schools,
formed a complete system of republican institutions. La Ré-
veillère, the director intrusted with the moral department of
the government, then sought to establisn, under the name of
Theophilanthropie, the deistical religion which the committee
of public safety Ład vainly endeavoured to establish by the
Fête à l'Etre Suprême. He provided temples, hymns, forms,
and a kind of liturgy, for the new religion; but such a
faith could only be individual, could not long continue public.
· The theophilanthropists, whose religion was opposed to the
political opinions and the unbelief of the revolutionists, were
much ridiculed. Thus, in the passage from public institu-
tions to individual faith, all that had been liberty became
civilization, and what had been religion became opinion.
Deists remained, but theophilanthropists were no longer to be
met with.
The directory; pressed for money, and shackled by the
disastrous state of the finances, had recourse to measures
somewhat extraordinary. It had sold or pledged the most
valuable articles of the Wardrobe, in order to meet the greatest
urgencies. National property was still left; but it sold badly,
and for assignats. The directory proposed a compulsory
loan, which was decreed by the councils. This was a relic
of the revolutionary measures with regard to the rich;
but, having been irresolutely adopted, and executed without
due authority, it did not succeed. The directory then en-
deavoured to revive paper money; it proposed the issue of
inandats territoriaux, which were to be substituted for the
assignats then in circulation, at the rate of thirty for one, and
to take the place of money. The councils decreed the issue
of mandats territoriaux to the amount of two thousand four
hundred millions. They had the advantage of being ex-
changeable at once and upon presentation, for the national
domains which represented then. They caused the sale
of a large extent of these, and in this way completed the
zevolutionary mission of the assignats, of which they were the
second period. They procured the directory a momentary
320
HISTORY OY
resource; but they also lost their credit, and led insensibly 67
bankruptcy, which was the transition from paper to specie.
The military situation of the republic was not a brilliant
one; at the close of the convention there had been an abate-
ment of victories. The equivocal position and weakness of
the central authority, as much as the scarcity, had relaxeıl the
discipline of the troops. The generals, too, disappointed that
they had distinguished their command by so few victories,
and were not spurred on by an energetic government, became
inclined to insubordination. The convention bad deputed
Pichegru and Jourdan, one at the head of the army of the
Rhine, the other with that of the Sambre-et-Meuse, to sur-
round and capture Mayence, in order that they might occupy
the whole line of the Rhine. Pichegru made this project
completely fail: although possessing the entire confidence of
the republic, and enjoying the greatest military fame of the
day, he formed counter-revolutionary schemes with the prince
of Condé; but they were unable to agree. Pichegru urged
the emigrant prince to enter France with his troops, by
Switzerland or the Rhine, promising to remain inactive, the
only thing in his power to do in favour of such an attempt.
The prince required as a preliminary, that Pichegru should
hoist the white flag in his army, which was, to a man, repub-
lican. This hesitation, no doubt, injured the projects of the
reactionists, who were preparing the conspiracy of Vendé-
miaire. But Pichegru wishing, one way or the other, to
serve his new allies and to betray his country, allowed him-
self to be defeated at Heidelberg, compromised the army of
Jourdan, evacuated Mannheim, raised the siege of Mayence
with considerable loss, and exposed that frontier to the
enemy.
The directory found the Rhine open towards Mayence;
the war of La Vendée rekindled; the coasts of France and
Holland threatened with a descent from England; lastly, the
army of Italy destitute of everything, and merely maintain-
ing the defensive under Schérer and Kellermann. Carnot pre-
pared a new plan of campaign, which was to carry the armies of
the republic to the very heart of the hostile states. Bona-
parte, appointed general of the interior after the events of
Vendémiaire, was placed at the head of the army of Italy;
· Jourdan retained the command of the army of the Sambre-et"
TAR FRENCH REVOLUTION.
321
Meuse, and Moreau had that of the army of the Rhine, in
place of Pichegru. The latter, whose treason was suspected
by the directory, though not proved, was offered the embassy
to Sweden, which he refused, and retired to Arbois, his native
place. The three great armies, placed under the orders of
Bonaparte, Jourdan, and Moreau, were to attack the Austrian
monarchy by Italy and Germany, combine at the entrance of
the Tyrol and march upon Vienna, in echellon. The generals
prepared to execute this vast movement, the success of which
would make the republic mistress of the head-quarters of the
coalition on the continent.
The directory gave to general Hoche the command of the
coast, and deputed him to conclude the Vendean war. Hoche
changed the system of warfare adopted by his predecessors.
La Vendée was disposed to submit. Its previous victories
had not led to the success of its cause; defeat and ill-fortune
had exposed it to plunder and conflagration. The insurgents,
irreparably injured by the disaster of Savenay, by the loss
of their principal leader, and their best soldiers, by the
devastating system of the infernal columns, now desired
nothing more than to live on good terms with the republic.
The war now depended only on a few chiefs, upon Charette,
Stofilet, &c. Hoche saw that it was necessary to wean the
masses from these men by concessions, and then to crush
them. He skilfully separated the royalist cause from the
cause of religion, and employed the priests against the
generals, by showing great indulgence to the catholic re-
ligion. He had the country scoured by four powerful columns,
took their cattle from the inhabitants, and only restored them
in return for their arms. He left no repose to the armed
party, defeated Charette in several encounters, pursued him
from one retreat to another, and at last made him prisoner.
Stofflet wished to raise the Vendean standard again on his
territory; but it was given up to the republicans. These two
chiefs, who had witnessed the beginning of the insurrection,
were present at its close. They died courageously; Stofilet
at Angers, Charette at Nantes, after having displayed character
and talents worthy of a larger theatre. Hoche likewise tran-
quilized Brittany. Morbihan was occupied by numerous
bands of Chouans, who formed a formidable association, the
principal leader of which was Georges Cadoudal. Without
Y
522
HISTORY OF
an
entering on a campaign, they were mastering the country.
Hoche directed all his force and activity against them, and before
long had destroyed or exhausted them. Most of their leaders
quitted their arms, and took refuge in England. The directory,
on learning these fortunate pacifications, formally announced
to both councils, on the 28th Messidor, (June, 1796,) that
this civil war was definitively terminated.
In this manner the winter of the year IV. passed away.
But the directory could hardly fail to be attacked by the two
parties, whose sway was prevented by its existence, the de-
mocrats and the royalists. The former constituted an inflexible
and enterprising sect. For them, the 9th Thermidor was
era of pain and oppression: they desired to establish
absolute equality, in spite of the state of society, and demo-
cratic liberty, in spite of civilization. This sect had been
so vanquished as effectually to prevent its return to power
On the 9th Thermidor it had been driven from the govern-
ment; on the 2nd Prairial, from society; and it had lost both
power and insurrections. But though disorganized and pro-
scribed, it was far from having disappeared. After the
unfortunate attempt of the royalists in Vendémiaire, it arose
through their abasement.
The democrats re-established their club at the Pantheon,
which the directory tolerated for some time. They had for
their chief, “ Gracchus” Babeuf, who styled himself the
“ Tribune of the people.” He was a daring man, of an ex-
alted imagination, an extraordinary fanaticism of democracy,
and with great influence over his party. In his journal, he
prepared the reign of general happiness. The society at the
Pantheon daily became more numerous, and more alarming
to the directory, who at first endeavoured to restrain it. But
the sittings were soon protracted to an advanced hour of the
night; the democrats repaired thither in arms, and proposed
marching against the directory and the councils. The di-
rectory determined to oppose them openly. On the 8th
Ventòse, year IV. (February, 1796), it closed the society
of the Pantheon, and on the 9th, by a message informed the
legislative body that it had done so.
The democrats, deprived of their place of meeting, had re-
course to another plan. They seduced the police force, which
was chiefly composed of deposed revolutionists: and in con-
c
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
323
cert with it, they were to destroy the constitution of the year
III. The directory, informed of this new manæuvie, dis-
banded the police force, causing it to be disarmed by other
troops on whom it could rely. The conspirators, taken by
surprise a second time, determined on a project of attack and
insurrection: they formed an insurrectionary committee of
public safety, which communicated by secondary agents with
the lower orders of the twelve communes of Paris. The memo
bers of this principal committee were Baboeuf, the chief o
the conspiracy, ex-conventionalists, such as Vadier, Amar,
Choudieu, Ricord, the representative Drouet, the former
generals of the decemviral committee, Rossignol, Parreil,
Fyon, Lami. Many cashiered officers, patriots of the de-
partments, and the old Jacobin mass, composed the army
of this faction. The chiefs often assembled in a place they
called the Temple of Reason; here they sang lamentations on
the death of Robespierre, and deplored the slavery of the
people. They opened a negotiation with the troops of the
camp of Grenelle, admitted among them a captain of that
camp, named Grisel, whom they supposed their own, and coni-
certed every measure for the attack.
Their plan was to establish common happiness; and for
that purpose, to make a distribution of property, and to cause
the government of true, pure, and absolute democrats to pre-
vail; to create a convention composed of sixty-eight Moun-
taineers, the remnant of the numbers proscribed since the
reaction of Thermidor, and to join with these a democrat for
each department; lastly, to start from the different quarters
in which they had distributed themselves, and march at the
same time against the directory and against the councils. On
the night of the insurrection, they were to fix up two pla-
cards; one, containing the words, “ The Constitution oř 1793!
liberty! equality! common happiness!" the other, containing
the following declaration, “ Those who usurp the sovereignty,
ought to be put to death by free men.” All was ready; the
proclamations printed, the day appointed, when they were
betrayed by Grisel, as generally happens in conspiracies.
On the 21st Floréal (May), the eve of the day fixed for the
attack, the conspirators were seized in their conventicle. In
the house of Baboeuf were found a plan of the plot and all
the documents connected with it. The directory apprised
Y 2
32+
HISTORY OF
the councils of it by a message, and announced it to the people
by proclamation. This strange attempt, savouring so strongly
of fanaticism, and which could only be a repetition of the insur-
rection of Prairial, without its means and its hopes of success,
excited the greatest terror. The public mind was still ter-
rified with the recent domination of the Jacobins.
Babaeuf, like a daring conspirator, prisoner as he was, pro-
posed terms of peace to the directory:-
“ Would you consider it beneath you, citizen directors,” he
wrote to them, to treat with me, as power with power?
You have seen what vast confidence centres in me; you have
seen that my party may well balance equally in the scale
your own; you have seen its immense ramifications. I am
convinced you have trembled at the sight.” He concluded
by saying: “I see but one wise mode of proceeding; declare
there has been no serious conspiracy. Five men, by showing.
themselves great and generous, may now save the country.
I will answer for it, that the patriots will defend you with
their lives; the patriots do not hate you; they only hated
your unpopular measures. For my part, I will give you a
guarantee as extensive as is my perpetual franchise." The
directors, instead of this reconciliation, published Baboeuf's
letter, and sent the conspirators before the high court of
Vendôme.
Their partisans made one more attempt. On the 13th
Fructidor (August), about eleven at night, they marched, to
the number of six or seven hundred, armed with sabres and
pistols, against the directory, whom they found defended by
its guard. They then repaired to the camp of Grenelle,
which they hoped to gain over by means of a correspondence
which they had established with it. The troops had retired
to rest when the conspirators arrived.
To the sentinel's cry
of, “ Qui vive ?" they replied: “ Vive la republique ! Vive
ia constitution de '93!” The sentinels gave the alarm through
the camp. The conspirators, relying on the assistance of a
battalion from Gard, which had been disbanded, advanced
towards the tent of Malo, the commander-in-chief, who gave
orders to sound to arms, and commanded his half-dressed
dragoons to mount. The conspirators, surprised at this re-
ception, feebly defended themselves: they were cut down by
the dragoons or put to flight, leaving many dead and pri-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
325
cause.
aoners on the field of battle. This ill-fated expedition was
almost the last of the party: with each defeat it lost its force,
its chiefs, and acquired the secret conviction that its reign
was over. The Grenelle enterprise proved most fatal to
it; besides the numbers slain in the fight, many were cor-
demned to death by the military commissions, which were to
it whut the revolutionary tribunals had been to its foes. The
commission of the camp of Grenelle, in five sittings, con-
demned, one-and-thirty conspirators to death thirty to
transportation, and twenty-five to imprisonment.
Shortly afterwards the high court of Vendôme tried
Baboeuf and his accomplices, among whom were Amar,
Vadier, and Darthé, formerly secretary to Joseph Lebon.
They none of them belied themselves; they spoke as men
who feared neither to avow their object, nor to die for their
At the beginning and the end of each sitting, they
sang the Marseillaise. This old song of victory, and their
firm demeanour, struck the public mind with astonishment,
and seemed to render them still more formidable. Their
wives accompanied them to the trial. Babeuf, at the close of
his defence, turned to them, and said, " they should accompany
them even to Calvary, because the cause of their punishment
would not bring them to shame.” The high court con-
demned Babæuf and Darthé to death: as they heard their
sentence they both stabbed themselves with a poignard.
Baboeuf was the last leader of the old commune and the
committee of public safety, which had separated previous to
Thermidor, and which afterwards united again. This party
decreased daily. Its dispersion and isolation more especially
date from this period. Under the reaction, it still formed a
compact mass; under Babæuf, it maintained the position of a
formidable association. From that time democrats existed,
but the party was broken up.
In the interim between the Grenelle enterprise and Ba-
bæuf's condemnation, the royalists also formed their con-
spiracy. The projects of the democrats produced a move-
ment of opinion, contrary to that which had been manifested
after Vendémiaire, and the counter-revolutionists in their
turn became emboldened. The secret chiefs of this party
hoped to find auxiliaries in the troops of the camp of
Grenelle, who had repelled the Baboeuf faction. This
party, impatient and unskilful, unable to employ the sec-
326
HISTORY OF
Cionary mass, as in Vendémiaire, or the mass of the councils,
us at a later period on the 18th Fructidor, made use of three
inen without either name or influence: the abbé Brothier, the
er-counsellor of parliament, La Vilheurnois, and a sort oi
adventurer, named Dunan. They applied at once, in all
simplicity, to Malo for the camp of Grenelle, in order by
its means to restore the ancient régime. Malo delivered
them up to the directory, who transferred them to the civil
tribunals, not having been able, as he wished, to have them
tried by military commissioners. They were treated with
much consideration by judges of their party, elected under
the influence of Vendémiaire, and the sentence pronounced
against them was only a short imprisonment. At this period,
a contest arose between all the authorities appointed by the
sections, and the directory supported by the army; each
taking its strength and judges wherever its party prevailed;
the result was, that the electoral power placing itself at
che disposition of the counter-revolution, the directory was
compelled to introduce the army in the state; which after-
wards gave rise to serious inconvenience.
The directory, triumphant over the two dissident parties,
also triumphed over Europe. The new campaign opened
under the most favourable auspices. Bonaparte, on arriving
at Nice, signalised his command by one of the most daring of
invasions. Hitherto his army had hovered idly on the side
of the Alps; it was destitute of everything, and scarcely
amounted to thirty thousand men; but it was well provided
with courage and patriotism; and, by their means, Bonaparte
then commenced that world-astonishment by which he car-
ried all before him for twenty years. He broke up the can-
tonments, and entered the valley of Savona, in order to
march into Italy between the Alps and the Apennines. There
were before him ninety thousand coalesced troops, com-
manded in the centre by Argentau; by Colle on the left; and
Beaulieu on the right. This immense army was dispersed
in a few days by prodigies of genius and courage. Bona-
parte overthrew the centre at Montenotte, and entered Pied-
mont; at Millesimo he entirely separated the Sardinian from
the Austrian army. They hastened to defend Turin and
Milan, the capitals of their dominatior.. Before pursuing
the Austrians, the republican general threw himself on the
deft, to cut off the Sardinian army. The fate of Piedmont
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
327
was decided at Mondovi, and the terrified court of Turin
hastened to submit. At Chérasco an amnesty was con-
cluded, which was soon afterwards followed by a treaty of
peace, signed at Paris, on the 18th of May, 1796, between
the republic and the king of Sardinia, who ceded Savoy
and the countries of Nice and Tenda. The occupation of
Alexandria, which opened the Lombard country; the demo-
lition of the fortresses of Suza, and of Brunette, on the bor-
ders of France; the abandonment of the country of Nice, and
of the Savoy, and the rendering available the other army of
the Alps, under Kellermann, was the reward of a fortnight's
campaign, and six victories.
War being over with Piedmont, Bonaparte marched against
the Austrian army, to which he left no repose. He passed
the Po at Piacenza, and the Adda at Lodi. The latter vic-
tory opened the gates of Milan, and secured him the posses-
sion of Lombardy. General Beaulieu was driven into the
defiles of the Tyrol by the republican army, which invested
Mantua, and appeared on the mountains of the empire.
General Wurniser came to replace Beaulieu, and a new army
was sent to join the wrecks of the conquered one.
Wurm-
ser advanced to deliver Mantua, and once more make Italy
the field of battle; but he was overpowered, like his prede-
cessor, by Bonaparte, who, after having raised the blockade
ruf Mantua, in order to oppose this new enemy, renewed it
with increased vigour, and resumed his positions in the Tyrol.
The plan of invasion was executed with much union and
While the army of Italy threatened Austria by the
Tyrol, the two armies of the Meuse and Rhine entered
Germany; Moreau, supported by Jourdan on his left, was
ready to join Bonaparte on his right. The two armies
had passed the Rhine at Neurvied and Strasburg, and had
advanced on a front, drawn up in echellons to the distance of
sixty leagues, driving back the enemy, who, while retreating
before them, strove to impede their march and break their line.
They had almost attained the aim of their enterprise; Moreau
had entered Ulm and Augsbourg, crossed the Leck, and his
advanced guard was on the extreme of the defiles of the
Tyrol, when Jourdan, from a misunderstanding, passed be-
yond the line, was attacked by the archduke Charles, and
completely routed. Moreau, exposed on his left wing, was
success.
328
HISTORY OF
his army
reduced to the necessity of retracing his steps, and he then
effected his memorable retreat. The fault of Jourdan was a
capital one: it prevented the success of this vast plan of cam-
paign, and gave respite to the Austrian government.
The cabinet of Vienna, which had lost Belgium in this war,
and which felt the importance of preserving Italy, defended
it with the greatest obstinacy. Wurmser, after a new defeat,
was obliged to throw himself into Mantua with the wreck of
General Alvinzi, at the head of fifty thousand
Hungarians, now came to try his fortune, but was not more
successful than Beaulieu or Wurmser. New victories were
added to the wonders already achieved by the army of Italy,
and secured the conquest of that country. Mantua capitu-
lated; the republican troops, masters of Italy, took the route
to Vienna across the mountains. Bonaparte had before him
prince Charles, the last hope of Austria. He soon passed
through the defiles of the Tyrol, and entered the plains of Ger-
many. In the meantime, the army of the Rhine under Moreau,
and that of the Meuse under Hoche, successfully resumed the
plan of the preceding campaign; and the cabinet of Vienna,
in a state of alarm, concluded the truce of Leoben. It had
exhausted all its force, and tried all its generals, while the
French republic was in the full vigour of conquest.
The army of Italy accomplished in Europe the work of the
French revolution. This wonderful campaign was owing to
the union of a general of genius, and an intelligent army.
Bonaparte had for lieutenants generals capable of commanding
themselves, who knew how to take upon themselves the
responsibility of a movement or a battle, and an army of
citizens all possessing cultivated minds, deep feeling, strong
emulation of all that is great; passionately attached to a revolu-
tion which aggrandized their country, preserved their indepen-
dence under discipline, and which afforded an opportunity to
every soldier of becoming a general. There is nothing which
a leader of genius might not accomplish with such men.
He must have regretted, at this recollection of his earlier
years, that he ever centred in himself all liberty and in-
telligence, that he ever created mechanical armies, and
generals only fit to obey. Bonaparte began the third epoch
of the war.
The campaign of 1792 had been made on the
old system, with dispersed corps, acting separately without
THE FRENJE REVOLUTION.
329
abandoning their fixed line. The committee of public safety
concentrated the corps, made them operate no longer merely
on what was before them, but at a distance; it hastened their
movement, and directed them towards a common end. Bona-
parte did for each battle what the committee had done for
each campaign. He brought all these corps on the determi-
nate point, and destroyed several armies with a single one by
the rapidity of his measures. He disposed of whole masses
of troops at his pleasure, moved them here or there, brought
hem forward, or kept them out of sight, bad them wholly at
nis disposition, when, where, and how he pleased, whether to
occupy a position or to gain a battle. His diplomacy was
as superior as his military science.
All the Italian governments, except Venice and Genoa,
had adhered to the coalition, but the people were in favour
of the French republic. Bonaparte relied on the latter.
He abolished Piedmont, which he could not conquer; trans--
formed the Milanese, hitherto dependent on Austria, into
the Cisalpine Republic; he weakened Tuscany and the petty
principalities of Parma and Modena by contributions, with-
out dispossessing them; the pope, who had signed a truce
on Bonaparte's first success against Beaulieu, and who did
not hesitate to infringe it on the arrival of Wurmser, bought
peace by yielding Romagna, Bologna, and Ferrara, which
were joined to the Cisalpine republic; lastly, the aristocracy
of Venice and Genoa having favoured the coalition, and
raised an insurrection in the rear of the army, their govern-
ment was changed, and Bonaparte made it democratic, in
order to oppose the power of the people to that of the nobility.
In this way the revolution penetrated into Italy.
Austria, by the preliminaries of Leoben, ceded Belgium to
France, and recognised the Lombard republic. All the con-
f derate powers had laid down their arms, and England
asked to treat: France, peaceable and free at home, had
without attained her natural limits, and was surrounded with
rising republics, which, such as Holland, Lombardy, and
Iiguria, guarded its sides, and extended its system in Europe.
The coalition was little disposed to assail anew a revolution,
all the governments of which were victorious; that of anarchy
after the 10th of August, of the dictatorship after the 31st 01
May, and of legal authority under the directory; a revolution,
330
HISTORY OP
which, at every new hostility, advanced a step further upon
European territory. In 1792, it had only extended to Bel-
gium; in 1794, it had reached Holland and the Rhine; in
1796, had reached Italy, and entered Germany. If
If it con-
tinued its progress, the coalition had reason to fear that it
would carry its conquests further. Everything seemed pre-
pared for general peace.
But the situation of the directory was materially changed
by the elections of the year V. (May, 1797.) These elections,
by introducing, in a legal way, the royalist party into the
legislature and government, brought again into question what
the conflict of Vendémiaire had decided. Up to this period,
a good understanding had existed between the directory and
the councils. Composed of conventionalists, united by a coin-
mon interest, and the necessity of establishing the republic,
after having been blown about by the winds of all parties,
they had manifested much good-will in their intercourse, and
much union in their measures. The councils had yielded to
the various demands of the directory; and, with the excep-
tion of a few slight modifications, they had approved its pro-
jects concerning the finance and the administration, its con-
duct with regard to the conspiracies, the armies, and Europe.
The anti-conventional minority had formed an opposition in
the councils; but this opposition, while waiting the reinforce-
ment of a new third, lad but cautiously contended against the
policy of the directory. At its head were Barbé-Marbois,
Pastoret, Vaublanc, Dumas, Portalis, Siméon, Tronçon-Du-
coudray, Dupont de Nemours, most of them members of the
Right in the legislative assembly, and some of them avowed
royalists. Their position soon became less equivocal and
more aggressive, by the addition of the elected of the
V
The royalists formed a formidable and active confederation,
having its leaders, agents, budgets, and journals. They ex-
cluded republicans from the elections, influenced the masses,
who always follow the most energetic party, and whose banner
they momentarily assume. They would not even admit
patriots of the first epoch, and only elected decided counter-
revolutionists or equivocal constitutionalists. The republican
party was then placed in the government and in the army:
the royalist party in the electoral assemblies and the councils.
year V.
TIE FRENCH REVOLUTION
331
On the 1st Prairial, year V. (20 May), the two councils
opened their sittings. From the beginning they manifested
the spirit which actuated them. Pichegru, whom the royalists
transferred on to the new field of battle of the counter-revo-
lution, was enthusiastically elected president of the council
des jeunes. Barbé-Marbois had given him, with the same
eagerness, the presidentship of the elder council. The legis-
lative body proceeded to appoint a director to replace Letour-
neur, who, on the 30th Floréal had been fixed on by ballot
as the retiring member. Their choice fell on Barthélemy, the
ambassador to Switzerland, whose moderate views and at-
tachment to peace suited the councils and Europe, but who
was scarcely adapted for the government of the republic,
owing to his absence from France during all the revolution.
These first hostilities against the directory and the conven-
tional party were followed by more actual attacks. Its admi-
nistration and policy were now attacked without scruple. The
directory had done all it had been able to do by a legal
government in a situation still revolutionary. It was blamed
for continuing the war and for the disorder of the financial
department. The legislative majority skilfully turned its
attention to the public wants; it supported the entire liberty
of the press, which allowed journalists to attack the directory,
and to prepare the way for another system; it supported peace
because it would lead to the disarming of the republic, and
lastly, it supported economy.
These demands were in one sense useful and national.
France was weary, and felt the need of all these things in
order to complete its social restoration; accordingly, the
nation half adopted the views of the royalists, but from
entirely different motives. It saw with rather more anxiety
the measures adopted by the councils relative to priests and
emigrants. A pacification was desired; but the nation did
not wish that the conquered foes of the revolution should
return triumphant. The councils passed the laws with
regard to them with great precipitation. They justly abolished
the sentence of transportation or imprisonment against priests
for matters of religion or incivism; but they wished to restore
the ancient prerogatives of their form of worship; to render
catholicism, already re-established, outwardly manifest by the
use of bells, and to exernpt. priests from the oath of public
332
HISTORY OF
functionaries. Camill: Jordan, a young Lyonnese deputy,
full of eloquence and courage, but professing unreasonable
opinions, was the principal panegyrist of the clergy in the
younger council.
The speech which he delivered on this
subject excited great surprise and violent opposition. The
little enthusiasm that remained was still entirely patriotic,
and all were astonished at witnessing the revival of another
enthusiasm, that of religion: the last century and the
revolution had made men entirely unaccustomed to it, and
prevented them from understanding it. This was the moment
when the old party revived its creed, introduced its language,
and mingled them with the creed and language of the reform
party, which had hitherto prevailed alone. The result was,
as is usual with all that is unexpected, an unfavourable and
ridiculous impression against Camille Jordan, who was nick-
named Jordan-Carillon, Jordan-les-Cloches. The attempt of
the protectors of the clergy did not, however, succeed; and
the council of five hundred did not venture as yet to pass a
decree for the use of bells, or to make the priests indepen-
dent. After some hesitation, the moderate party joined the
directorial party, and supported the civic oath with cries of
“ Vive la République!"
Meantime, hostilities continued against the directory, espe-
cially in the council of five hundred, which was more zealous
and impatient than that of the ancients. All this greatly em-
boldened the royalist faction in the interior. The counter-
revolutionary reprisals against the patriots, and those who had
acquired national property, were renewed. Emigrant and
dissentient priests returned in crowds, and being unable to
endure anything savouring of the revolution, they did not
conceal their projects for its overthrow. The directorial
authority, threatened in the centre, and disowned in the de-
partments, became wholly powerless.
But the necessity of defence, the anxiety of all men who
were devoted to the directory, and especially to the revolution.
gave courage and support to the government. The aggressive
progress of the councils brought their attachment to the
republic into suspicion; and the mass, which had at first
supported, now forsook them. The constitutionalists of 1791
and the directorial party formed an alliance. The club of
Salm, established under the auspices of this alliance, was
THE FRENCE REVOLUTION.
333
opposed to the club of Clichy, which for a long time had been
the rendezvous of the most influential members of the councils.
The directory, while it had recourse to opinion, did not
neglect its principal force--the support of the troops. It
· brought near Paris several regiments of the army of the
Sambre-et-Meuse, commanded by Hoche. The constitu-
tional radius of six myriamêtres, (twelve leagues,) which the
troops could not legally pass, was violated; and the councils
denounced this violation to the directory, which feigned
an ignorance, wholly disbelieved, and made very weak
+
excuses.
The two parties were watching each other. One had its
posts at the directory, at the club of Salm, and in the army;
the other, in the councils, at Clichy, and in the salons of the
royalists. The mass were spectators. Each of the two parties
was disposed to act in a revolutionary manner towards the
other. “An intermediate constitutional and conciliatory party
tried to prevent the struggle, and to bring about an union,
which was altogether impossible. Carnot was at its head: a
few members of the younger council, directed by Thibaudeau,
and a tolerably large number of the Ancients, seconded
his projects of moderation. Carnot, who, at that period,
was the director of the constitution, with Barthélemy, who
was the director of the legislature, formed a minority in
the government. Carnot, very austere in his conduct and
very obstinate in his views, could not agree either with
Barras or with the imperious Rewbell. To this opposition
of character was then added difference of system. Barras
and Rewbell, supported by La Réveillère, were not at all
averse to a coup-d'état against the councils, while Carnot
wished strictly to follow the law. This great citizen, at
each epoch of the revolution, had perfectly seen the mode
of government which suited it, and his opinion immediately
became a fixed idea. Under the committee of public safety,
the dictatorship was his fixed system, and under the
directory, legal government. Recognising no difference of
situation, he found himself placed in an equivocal position;
he wished for peace in a moment of war; and for law, in a
moment of coups-d'état.
The councils, alarmed at the preparations of the direc-
tory, seemed to make the dismissal of a few ministers, iu
334
HISTORY ON
V
whom they placed no confidence, the price of reconciliation.
These were, Merlin de Douai, the minister of justice; La-
croix, minister of foreign affairs; and Ramel, minister of
finance. On the other hand, they desired to retain Petiet
as minister of war, Bénésech as minister of the interior, and
Cochon de l'Apparent as minister of police. The legislative
body, in default of directorial power, wished to make sure or
the ministry. Far from falling in with this wish, which
would have introduced the enemy into the government,
Rewbell, La Réveillère and Barras dismissed the minis-
ters protected by the councils, and retained the others.
Bénésech was replaced by François de Neufchateau, Petiet
by Hoche, and soon afterwards by Schérer; Cochon de l’Ap-
parent, by Lenoir-Laroche; and Lenoir-Laroche, who had too
little decision, by Sotin. Talleyrand, likewise, formed part
of this ministry. He had been struck off the list of emi-
grants, from the close of the conventional session, as a revo-
lutionist of 1791; and his great sagacity, which always placed
him with the party having the greatest hope of victory, made
him, at this period, a directorial republican. He held the
portfolio of Lacroix, and he contributed very much, by his
counsels and his daring, to the events of Fructidor.
War now appeared more and more inevitable. The direc-
tory did not wish for a reconciliation, which, at the best,
would only have postponed its downfall and that of the re-
public to the elections of the year VI. It caused threaten-
ing addresses against the councils to be sent from the armies.
Bonaparte had watched with an anxious eye the events
which were preparing in Paris. Though intimate with
Carnot, and corresponding directly with him, he had sent
Lavalette, his aid-de-camp, to furnish him with an account o.
the divisions in the government, and the intrigues and con-
spiracies with which it was beset. Bonaparte had promised
the directory the support of his army, in case of actual
danger. He sent Augereau to Paris with addresses from his
troops. “Tremble, royalists!" said the soldiers. s From the
Adige to the Seine is but a step. Tremble! Your iniquities
are numbered; and their recompence is at the end of our
bayoncts.”—“ We have observed with indignation,” said the
staff, “the intrigues of royalty threatening liberty. By the
manca of the heroes slain for our country, we have sworn
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
335
implacable war against royalty and royalists. Such are our
sentiments; they are yours, and those of all patriots. Let
the royalists show themselves, and their days are nunbered.”
The councils protested, but in vain, against these deli-
berations of the army. General Richepanse, who commanded
the troops arrived from the army of the Sambre-et-Meuse,
stationed them at Versailles, Meudon, and Vincennes.
The councils had been assailants in Prairial, but as the
success of their cause might be put off to the year VI., when
it might take place without risk or combat, they kept on the
defensive after Thermidor (July, 1797). They, however,
then made every preparation for the contest: they gave orders
that the constitutional circles should be closed, with a view
to getting rid of the club of Salm; they also increased the
powers of the commission of inspectors of the Hall, which
became the government of the legislative body, and of which
the two royalist conspirators, Willot and Pichegru, formed
part. The guard of the councils, which was under the
control of the directory, was placed under the immediate
orders of the inspectors of the Hall. At last, on the 17th
Fructidor, the legislative body thought of procuring the
assistance of the inilitia of Vendémiaire, and it decreed, on
the motion of Pichegru, the formation of the national
guard. On the following day, the 18th, this measure was to
be executed, and the councils were by a decree to order the
troops to remove to a distance. They had reached a point
that rendered a new victory necessary to decide the great
struggle of the revolution and the ancient system. The im-
petuous general, Willot, wished them to take the initiative,
to decree the impeachment of the three directors, Barras, Rew-
bell, and La Réveillère; to cause the other two to join the
legislative body; if the government refused to obey, to sound
the tocsin, and march with the old sectionaries against the
directory; to place Pichegru at the head of this legal in-
surrection, and to execute all these measures promptly, boldly,
and at mid-day. Pichegru is said to have hesitated; and the
opinion of the undecided prevailing, the tardy course of legal
preparations was adopted.
It was not, however, the same with the directory. Barras,
Rewbell, and La Réveillère determined instantly to attack
Carnot, Barthélemy, and the legislative majority. The morn-
336
HISTORY OF
ing of the 18th was fixed on for the execution of this coup
d'état. During the night, the troops encamped in the reigh-
bourhood of Paris, entered the city under the command of
Augereau. It was the design of the directorial triumvirate
to occupy the Tuileries with troops before the assembling of
the legislative body, in order to avoid a violent expulsion; to
convoke the councils in the neighbourhood of the Luxem.
bourg, after having arrested their principal leaders, and by a
legislative measure to accomplish a coup-d'etat begun by
force. It was in agreement with the minority of the councils,
and relied on the approbation of the mass. The troops reached
the Hôtel de Ville at one in the morning, spread themselves
over the quays, the bridges, and the Champs Elysées, and
before long, twelve thousand men and forty pieces of cannon
surrounded the Tuileries. At four o'clock the alarm-shot
was fired, and Augereau presented himself at the gate of the
Pont-Tournant.
- The guard of the legislative body was under arms. The
inspectors of the Hall, apprised the night before of the move-
ment in preparation, had repaired to the national palace (the
Tuileries), to defend the entrance. Ramel, commander of the
legislative guard, was devoted to the councils, and he had
stationed his eight hundred grenadiers in the different avenues
of the garden, shut in by gates. But Pichegru, Willot, and
Ramel, could not resist the directory with this small and
uncertain force. Augereau had no need even to force the
passage of the Pont-Tournant: as soon as he came before the
grenadiers, he cried out, “ Are you republicans?" The
latter lowered their arms and replied, Vive Augereau!
Vive le directoire!” and joined him. Augereau traversed the
garden, entered the hall of the councils, arrested Picbegru,
Willot, Ramel, and all the inspectors of the Hall, and had
them conveyed to the Temple. The members of the councils,
convoked in haste by the inspectors, repaired in crowds to
their place of sitting; but they were arrested or refused
admittance by the armed force. Augereau announced to
them that the directory, urged by the necessity of defending
the republic from the conspirators among them, had assigned
the Odéon and the School of Medicine for the place of their
sittings. The greater part of the deputies present exclaimed
against military violence and the dictatorial usurpation, but
they were obliged to yield.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
337
At six in the morning this expedition was terminated.
The people of Paris, on waking, found the troops still under
arms, and the walls placarded with proclamations announcing
the discovery of a formidable conspiracy. The people were
exhorted to observe order and confidence. The directory
had printed a letter of general Moreau, in wliich he an-
nounced in detail the plots of his predecessor Pichegru with
the emigrants, and another letter from the prizce de Condé
to Imbert Colomés, a member of the Ancients. The entire
population remained quiet; a mere spectator of an event
brought about without the interference of parties, and by
the assistance of the army only, it displayed neither appro-
wation nor regret.
The directory felt the necessity of legalizing, and inore
especially of terminating, this extraordinary act.
As soon as
the members of the five hundred, and of the ancients, were
asse:nbled at the Odéon and the School of Medicine in suffi.
cient numbers to debate, they determined to sit permanently.
A message from the directory announced the motive which
had actuated all its measures. “ Citizens legislators," ran
the message, “if the directory had delayed another day, the
republic would have been given up to its enemies. The
very place of your sittings was the rendezvous of the con-
spirators: from thence they yesterday distributed their plans
and orders for the delivery of arms; from thence they corres-
ponded last night with their accomplices; lastly, from thence,
or in the neighbourhood, they again endeavoured to raise
clandestine and serlitious assemblies, which the police at this
moment is employed in dispersing. We should have com-
promised the public welfare, and that of its faithful repre-
sentatives, had we suffered them to remain confounded with
the foes of the country in the den of conspiracy.” The
younger council appointed a commission, composed of Siéyes,
Poulain-Granpré, Villers, Chazal, and Boulay de la Meurthe,
deputed to present a (loi de salut public) law of public safety.
The law was a measure of ostracism; only transportation was
substituted for the scaffold, in this second revolutionary and
dictatorial period.
The members of the five hundred sentenced to transporta-
tion were: Aubri, J. J. Aimé, Bayard, Blain, Boissy d’An-
glas, Borne, Bourdou de l'Oise, Cadroy, Couchery, Delahaye
1
338
HISTORY OF
clarue, Doumère, Dumolard, Duplantier, Gibert Desmo-
lières, Henri Larivière, Imbert-Colomès, Camille Jordan,
Jourdan (des Bouches du Rhône) Gall, La Carrière, Le-
marchand-Gomicourt, Lemérer, Mersan, Madier, Maillard,
Noailles, André, Mac-Cartin, Pavie, Pastoret, Pichegru,
Polissard, Prairie-Montaud, Quatremére-Quency, Saladin,
Siméon, Vauvilliers, Vienot-Vaublanc, Villaret-Joyeuse,
Willot. In the council of ancients: Barbé-Marbois, Dumas,
Ferraud-Vaillant, Lafond-Ladebat, Laumont, Muriare, Muri-
nais, Paradis, Portalis, Rovère, Tronçon-Ducoudray. Ir the
directory: Carnot and Barthélemy. They also condemned
the abbé Brothier, La Villeheurnois, Dunan, ex-minister of
police, Cochon; ex-agent of the police, Dossonville, generals
Miranda and Morgan; the journalist, Suard; the ex-conven-
tionalist, Mailhe; and the commander, Ramel. A few of the
proscribed succeeded in evading the decree of exile; Carnot
was among the number. Most of them were transported to
Cayenne; but a great many did not leave the Isle of Ré.
The directory greatly extended this act of ostracism. The
authors of thirty-five journals were included in the sentence
of transportation. It wished to strike at once all the avenues
of the republic in the councils, in the press, in the electoral
assemblies, the departments, in a word, wberever they had
introduced themselves. The elections of forty-eight depart-
ments were annulled, the laws in favour of priests and emi-
grants were revoked, and soon afterwards, the disappearance
of all who had swayed in the departments since the 9th Ther-
midor raised the spirits of the cast-down republican party.
The coup d'état of Fructidor was not purely central; like
the victory of Vendémiaire; it ruined the royalist party, which
had only been repulsed by the preceding defeat. But, by
again replacing the legal government by the dictatorship, it
rendered another revolution necessary, of which we shall
presently speak.
We may say, that on the 18th Fructidor of the year V. it
was necessary that the directory should triumph over the
counter-revolution by decimating the councils; or that the
councils should triumph over the republic by overtlırowing
the directory. The question thus 'stated, it remains to in-
quire, 1st, if the directory could have conquered by any other
means than a coup-d'état; 2ndly, whether it misused its
victory?
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
339
The government had not the power of dissolving the
councils. At the termination of a revolution, whose object
was to establish the extreme right, they were unable to
invest a secondary authority with the control of the sove-
reignty of the people, and in certain cases to make the legis-
lature subordinate to the directory. This concession of an
experimental policy not existing, what means remained tu
the directory of driving the enemy from the heart of the
state? No longer able to defend the revolution by virtue of
the law, it had no resource but the dictatorship; but in
having recourse to that, it broke the conditions of its ex-
istence; and while saving the revolution, it soon fell itself.
As for its victory, it sullied it with violence, by endeavour-
ing to make it too complete. The sentence of transportation
was extended to tuo many victims; the petty passions of men
mingled with the defence of the cause, and the directory did
not manifest that reluctance to arbitrary measures which is
the only justification of coups-d'état. To attain its object, it
should have exiled the leading conspirators only; but it rarely
happens that a party does not abuse the dictatorship; and
that, possessing the power, it believes not in the dangers of
indulgence. The defeat of the 18th Fructidor was the fourth
of the royalist party; two took place in order to dispossess it
of power, those of the 14th of July, and 10th of August; two
to prevent its resuming it; those of the 13th Vendémiaire and
18th Fructidor. This repetition of powerless attempts and
protracted reverses did not a little contribute to the submis-
sion of this party under the consulate and the empire.
340
HISTORY OF
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM THE 5TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1797, TO TAE 9TH OF
NOVEMBER, 1799.
By the 18th Fructidor the directory returns, with slight mitigation, to tur
revolutionary government-General peace, except with England-Re-
turn of Bonaparte to Paris-Expedition into Egypt — Democratic
elestions for the year VI.--The directory annuls them on the 22nd
Floréal --Second coalition ; Russia, Austria, and England attack the re-
public through Italy, Switzerland, and Holland; general defcats-De-
mocratio elections for the year VII.; on the 30th Prairial the councils
get the upper band, and disorganize the old directory-Two parties in
the new directory, and in the councils ; the moderate republican party
under Siéyes, Roger-Ducos, and the ancients; the extreme republican
party under Moulins, Goliér, the Five Hundred, and the Society of tbe
Manége—Various projects—Victories of Massena in Switzerland; of
Brunne, in Holland—Bonaparte returns from Egypt; comes to an un.
derstanding with Siéyes and his party-The 18th and 19th Brumayo
„End of the directorial system.
The chief result of the 18th Fructidor was a return, with
slight mitigation, to the revolutionary government. The
two ancient privileged classes were again excluded from
society; the dissentient priests were again banished. The
Chouans, and former fugitives, who occupied the field of
battle in the departments, abandoned it to the old republicans:
those who had formed part of the military household of the
Bourbons, the superior officers of the crown, the members of
the parliaments, commanders of the order of the Holy Ghost
and Saint Louis, the knights of Malta, all those who had pro-
tested against the abolition of nobility, and who had preserved
THE FRENCA REVOLUTION.
34
its titles, were to quit the territory of the republic. The
ci-devant nobles, or those ennobled, could only enjoy the
riglits of citizens, after a term of seven years, and after having
gone through a sort of apprenticeship as Frenchmen. This
party, by desiring sway, restored the dictatorship.
At this period the directory attained its muxinium of power;
for some time it had no enemies in arms. Delivered from all
internal opposition, it imposed the continental peace on
Austria by the treaty of Campo-Formio, and on the empire
by the congress of Rastadt. The treaty of Campo-Formio
was more advantageous to the cabinet of Vienna than the
preliminaries of Léoben. Its Belgian and Lombard states
were paid for by a part of the Venetian states.
This old re-
public was divided; France retained the Illyrian Isles, and
gave the city of Venice and the provinces of Istria and Dal-
matia to Austria. In this the directory committed a great
fault, and was guilty of an attempt against liberty. In the
fanaticism of a system, we may desire to set a country free,
but we should never give it away. By arbitrarily distri-
buting the territory of a small state, the directory set the
bad example of this traffic in nations since but too much fol-
lowed. Besides, the Austrian dominion would, sooner or
later, extend in Italy, through this imprudent cession of
Venice.
The coalition of 1792 and 1793 was dissolved; England
was the only remaining belligerent power. The cabinet of
London was not at all disposed to cede to France, wbich it had
attacked, in the hope of weakening it, Belgium, Luxembourg,
Porentruy, Nice, Savoy, the protectorate of Piedmont, Genoa,
Milan, and Holland. But finding it necessary to appease the
English opposition, and reorganize its means of attack, it
made propositions of peace; it sent Lord Malmesbury as
plenipotentiary, first to Paris, then to Lille. But the offers
of Pitt not being sincere, the directory did not allow itself to
be deceived by his diplomatic stratagems. The negotiations
were twice broken off, and war continued between the two
powers. While England negotiated at Lille, she was pre-
paring at Saint Petersburg the triple alliance, or second coa
lion.
The directory, on their side, without finances, without any
Party in the interior, havinö no support but the army, and no
342
HISTORY OF
eminence save that derived from the continuation of its vic-
tories, was not in a condition to consent to a general peace.
It had increased the public discontent by the establishmeut
of certain taxes and the reduction of the debt to a consoir-
dated third, payable in specie only, which had ruined the
fundholders. It became necessary to maintain itself by war.
The immense body of soldiers could not be disbanded without
danger. Besides, being deprived of its power, and being
placed at the mercy of Europe, the directory had attempted a
thing never done without creating a shock, except in times of
great tranquillity, of great ease, abundance, and employment.
The directory was driven by its position to the invasion of
Switzerland and the expedition into Egypt.
Bonaparte had then returned to Paris. The conqueror of
Italy and the pacificator of the continent, was received with
enthusiasm, constrained on the part of the directory, but
deeply felt by the people. Honours were accorded him,
never yet obtained by any general of the republic. A patriotic
altar was prepared in the Luxembourg, and he passed under
an arch of standards won in Italy, on his way to the triumphal
ceremony in his honour. He was harangued by Barras, pre-
sident of the directory, who, after congratulating him on his
victories, invited him to crown so noble a life by a conquest
which the great country owed to its insulted dignity. This
was the conquest of England. Everything seemed in pre-
paration for a descent, while the invasion of Egypt was really
the enterprise in view.
Such an expedition suited both Bonaparte and the
directory. The independent conduct of that general in Italy,
his ambition, which, from time to time, burst through his
studied simplicity, rendered his presence dangerous. He, on
his side, feared, by his inactivity, to compromise the already
high opinion entertained of his talents: for men always require
from those whom they make great, more than they are able
to perform. Thus, while the directory saw in the expedition
to Egypt the means of keeping a formidable general at a
distance, and a prospect of attacking the English by India,
Bonaparte saw in it a gigantic conception, an employment
suited to his taste, and a new means of astonishing mankind.
He sailed from Toulon on the 30th Floréal, in the year VI.,
(19th May, 1798,) with a fleet of four hundred sail, and a
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
343
portion of the army of Italy; he steered for Malta; of which
he made himself master, and from thence to Egypt.
The directory, who violated the neutrality of the Ottoman
Porte in order to attack the English, had already violated
that of Switzerland, in order to expel the emigrants from its
territory. French opinions had already penetrated into
Geneva and the Pays de Vaud; but the policy of the Swiss
confederation was counter-revolutionary, from the influence
of the aristocracy of Berne. They had driven from the
cantons all the Swiss who had shown themselves partisans
of the French republic. Berne was the head-quarters of
the emigrants, and it was there that all the plots against
the revolution were formed. The directory complained, but
did not receive satisfaction. The Vaudois, placed by old
treaties under the protection of France, invoked her help
against the tyranny of Berne. This appeal of the Vaudois,
its own grievances, its desire to extend the directorial repub.
lican system to Switzerland, much more than the tempta-
tion of seizing the little amount of treasure in Berne, as some
have reproached it with, determined the directory. Some
conferences took place, which led to no result, and war began.
The Swiss defended themselves with much courage and
obstinacy, and hoped to resuscitate the times of their ances-
tors, but they succumbed. Geneva was united to France, and
Switzerland exchanged its ancient constitution for that of the
year III. From that time two parties existed in the con-
federation, one of which was for France and the revolution,
the other for the counter-revolution and Austria Switzer-
land ceased to be a common barrier, and became the high
road of Europe.
This revolution had been followed by that of Rome.
General Duphot was killed at Rome in a riot; and in punish-
ment of this assassination, which the pontifical government had
not interfered to prevent, Rome was changed into a republic.
All this combined to complete the system of the directory,
and make it preponderant in Europe; it was now at the head
of the Helvetian, Batavian, Ligurian, Cisalpine, and Roinan
republics, all constructed on the same model. But while the
directory extended its influence abroad, it was again menaced
by internal parties.
The elections of Floréal in the year VI. (May, 1798) were
344
HISTORY OF
by no means farourable to the directory; the returns were
quite at variance with those of the year V. Since the 18th
Fructidor, the withdrawal of the counter-revolutionists had
restored all the influence of the exclusive republican party,
which had re-established the clubs under the name of Constitu-
tional Circles. This party dominated in the electoral assem-
blies, which, most unusually, had to nominate four hundred
and thirty-seven deputies: two hundred and ninety-eight for
the council of five hundred; a hundred and thirty-nine for
that of the ancients. When the elections drew near, the
directory exclaimed loudly against the anarchists. But its
proclamations having been unable to prevent democratic
returns, it decided upon annulling them in virtue of a law,
by which the councils, after the 18th Fructidor, had granted
it the power of judging the operations of the electoral as-
·semblies. It invited the legislative Body, by a message, to
· appoint a commission of five members for that purpose. On
the 22nd Floréal, the elections were for the most part ari-
nulled. At this period the directorial party struck a blow
at the extreme republicans, as nine months before it had
aimed at the royalists.
The directory wished to maintain the political balance.,
which had been the characteristic of its first two years; but its
position was much changed. Since its last coup-d'état, it
could no longer be an impartial government, because it was
no longer a constitutional government. With these preten-
sions of isolation, it dissatisfied every one. Yet it lived on in
this way till the elections of the year VII. It displayei much
activity, but an activity of a narrow and shuffling nature.
Merlin de Douai and Treilhard, who had replaced Carnot and
Barthelémy, were two political lawyers. Rewbell had in the
highest legree the courage, without having the enlarged
views of a statesman. Lareveillère was too much occupied
with the sect of the Theophilanthropists for a government
leader. As to Barras, he continued his dissipated life and
his dir»ctorial regency; his palace was the rendezvous oi
gamesters, women of gallantry, and stock-jobbers of every
kind. The administration of the directors betrayed their
character, but more especially their position; to the embar-
rassments of which was adieu war with all Europe.
While the republican plenipotentiaries were yet negotiating
THE FRENCA REVOLUTION.
346
for peace with the empire at Rastadt, the second coalition be-
gan the campaign. The treaty of Campo-Fornio had only been
for Austria a suspension of arms. England had no difficulty
in gaining her to a new coalition; with the exception of Spain
and Prussia, most of the European powers formed part of it.
The subsidies of the British cabinet, and the attraction of the
West, decided Russia; the Porte and the states of Barbary
acceded to it, because of the invasion of Egypt: the empire,
in order to recover the left bank of the Rhine, and the petty
princes of Italy, that they might destroy the new republics.
At Rastadt they were discussing the treaty relative to the em-
pire, the concession of the left bank of the Rhine, the navi-
gation of that river, aná the demolition of some fortresses on
the right bank; when the Russians entered Germany, and the
Austrian army began to move. The French plenipotentiaries,
taken by surprise, received orders to leave in four and twenty
hours; they obeyed immediately, and set out, after having
obtained safe conduct from the generals of the enemy. At a
short distance from Rastadt they were stopped by some Aus-
trian hussars, who, having satisfied themselves as to their
names and titles, assassinated them: Bonnier and Roberjot
were killed, Jean de Bry was left for dead. This unheard-of
violation of the right of nations, this premeditated assassina-
tion of three men invested with a sacred character, excited
general horror. The legislative body declared war, and de-
clared it with indignation against the governments on whom
the guilt of this enormous crime fell.
Hostilities had already commenced in Italy and on the
Rhine. The directory, apprised of the march of the Russian
troops, and suspecting the intentions of Austria, caused the
councils to pass a law for recruiting. The military conscrip-
tion placed two hundred thousand young men at the disposal
of the republic. This law, which was attended with incalcu-
lable consequences, was the result of a more regular order of
things. Levies en masse had been the revolutionary service
of the country; the conscription became the legal service.
The most impatient of the powers, those which formed
the advanced guard of the coalition, had already commenceci
the attack. The king of Naples had advanced on Rome, and
the king of Sardinia had raised troops and threatened the
Ligurian republic. As they had not sufficient power to
346
HISTORY OF
sustain the shock of the French armies, they were easily
conquered and dispossessed. General Championnet entered
Naples after a sanguinary victory. The lazaroni defended
the interinir of the town for three days; but they yielded, and
the Parthenopian republic was proclaimed. General Joubert
occupied Turin; and the whole of Italy was in the hands of
the French, when the new campaign began.
The coalition was superior to the republic in effective force
and in preparations. It attacked it by the three great open-
ings of Italy, Switzerland, and Holland. A strong Austrian
army debouched in the duchy of Mantua; it defeated Scherer
twice on the Adige, and was soon joined by the whimsical
and hitherto victorious Suwaroff. Moreau replaced Scherer,
and, like him, was beaten; he retreated towards Genoa, in
order to keep the barrier of the Apennines and to join the
army of Naples, cominanded by Macdonald, which was over-
powered at Trebia. The Austro-Russians then directed
their chief forces upon Switzerland. A few Russian corps
joined the archduke Charles, who had defeated Jourdan on
the Upper Rhine, and was preparing to pass over the Helve-
tian barrier. At the same time the duke of York disembarked
in Holland with forty thousand Anglo-Russians. The small
republics which protected France were invaded, and a few
more victories would have enabled the confederates to pene-
trate even to the scene of the revolution.
In the midst of these military disasters and the discontent
of parties, the elections of Floréal in the year VII. (May,
1799) took place; they were republican, like those of the
preceding year. The directory was no longer strong enough
to contend with public misfortunes and the rancour of
parties. The retirement of Rewbell, who was replaced by
Siéyes, caused it to lose the only man able to face the storm,
and brought into its bosom the most avowed antagonist of
this compromised and worn-out government. The moderate
party and the extreme republicans united in demanding from
the directory an account of the internal and external situation
of the republic. The councils sat permanently. Barras
abandoned his colleagues. The fury of the councils was
directed solely against Treilhard, Merlin, and Lareveillère, the
last supports of the old directory. They deposed Treilhard,
because an interval of a year had not elapsed between hia
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
347
legislative and his directorial functions, as the constitution re
quired. The ex-minister of justice, Gohier, was immediately
chosen to replace him.
The crators of the councils then warmly attacked Merlin
and Laréveillère, whom they could not dismiss from the
directory. The threatened directors sent a justificatory
message to the councils, and proposed peace. On the 30th
Prairial, the republican Bertrand (du Calvados) ascended the
tribune, and after examining the offers of the directors,
exclaimed: “You have proposed union; and I propose that.
you reflect if you yourselves can still preserve your functions.
If you love the republic, you will not hesitate to decide.
You are incapable of doing good; you will never have the
confidence of your colleagues, that of the people, or that of
the representatives, without which you cannot cause the laws
to be executed. I know that, thanks to the constitution, there
already exists in the directory a majority which enjoys the
confidence of the people, and that of the national representa-
tion. Why do you hesitate to introduce unanimity of desires
and principles between the two first authorities of the re-
public? You have not even the confidence of those vile
flatterers, who have dug your political tomb. Finish your
career by an act of devotion, which good republican hearts
will be able to appreciate.”
Merlin and Lareveillère, deprived of the support of the
government by the retirement of Rewbell, the dismissal o.
Treilhard, and the desertion of Barras, urged by the councils
and by patriotic motives, yielded to circumstances, and re-
signed the directorial authority. This victory, gained by the
republican and moderate parties combined, turned to the
profit of both. The former introduced general Moulins into
the directory; the latter, Roger-Ducos. The 30th Prairial
(18th June), which witnessed the breaking up of the old
government of the year III., was an act of reprisal on the
part of the councils against the directory for the 18th Fruc-
tidor and the 22nd Floréal. At this period the two great
powers of the state had each in turn violated the constitu-
tion: the directory by decimating the legislature; the legisla-
ture by expelling the directory. This form of government,
which every party complained of, could not have a protracted
existence.
3-18
HISTORY OF
Siéyes, aft's the success of the 30th Prairial, laboured 10
destroy what yet remained of the government of the year IIl.,
in order to estabıish the legal system on another plan. He
was whimsical and systematic; but he had the faculty of
judging surely of situations. He re-entered upon the scene
of the revolution at a singular epoch, with the intention
of strengthening it by a definitive constitution. After having
co-operated in the principal changes of 1789, by his motion
of the 17th of June, which transformed the states-general
into a national assembly, and by his plan of internal organiza-
tion, which substituted departments for provinces, he had
remained passive and silent during the subsequent interval.
He waited till the period of public defence should again
give place to institutions. Appointed, under the directory,
to the embassy at Berlin, the neutrality of Prussia was attri-
buted to his efforts. On his return, he accepted the office
of director, hitherto refused by him, because Rewbell was
leaving the government, and he thought that parties were
sufficiently weary to undertake a definitive pacification, and
the establishment of liberty. With this object, he placed his
reliance on Roger-Ducos in the directory, on the council of
ancients in the legislature, and without, on the mass of mo-
derate men and the middle-class, who, after desiring laws,
merely as a novelty, now desired repose as a novelty. This
party sought for a strong and secure government, which
should have no past, no enmities, and which thencefor-
ward might satisfy all opinions and interests. As all that
had been done, from the 14th of July till the 9th Thermidor,
by the people, in connexion with a part of the government,
had been done since the 13th Vendémiaire by the soldiers,
Siéyes was in want of a general. He cast his eycz upon
Joubert, who was put at the head of the army of Italy, in
order that he might gain by his victories, and by the deliver-
ance of Italy, a great political importance.
The constitution of the year III. was, however, still sup-
ported by the two directors, Gohier and Moulins, the council
of five hundred, and without, by the party of the Manège.
The decided republicans had formed a club that held its
sittings in that hall where had sat the first of our assemblies.
The new ciub, forrned from the remains of that of Salm,
before the 18th Fructidor; of that of the Pantheon, at the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
349
beginning of the directory; and of the old society of the
Jacobins, enthusiastically professed republican principles, but
not the democratic opinions of the inferior class. Each of
these parties also had a share in the ministry which had been
renewed at the same time as the directory. Cambacérès had
the department of justice; Quinette, the home department;
Reinhard, who had been temporarily placed in office during
the ministerial interregr.um of Talleyrand, was minister of
foreign affairs; Robert Lindet was minister of finance, Bourdon
(de Vatry) of the navy, Bernadotte, of war, Bourguignon,
soon afterwards replaced by Fouché (of Nantes), of police.
This time Barras remained neutral between the two divi-
sions of the legislature, of the directory and of the ministry.
Seeing that matters were coming to a more considerable
change than that of the 30th Prairial, he, an ex-noble, thought
that the decline of the republic would lead to the restora-
tion of the Bourbons, and he treated with the Pretender
Louis XVIII. It seems, that in negotiating the restoration
of the monarchy, by his agent, David Monnier, he was not
forgetful of himself. Barras espoused nothing from convic-
tion, and always sided with the party which had the greatest
chance of victory. A democratic member of the Mountain
on the 31st of May; a reactionary Mountainist on the 9th
Thermidor; a revolutionary director against the royalists on
the 18th Fructidor; extreme republican director against his
old colleagues on the 30th Prairial; he now became a royalist
director against the government of the year III.
The faction disconcerted by the 18th Fructidor and the
peace of the Continent, had also gained courage. The mili-
tary successes of the new coalition, the law of compulsory
loans and that of hostages, which had compelled every emi-
grant family to give guarantees to government, had made the
royalists of the south and west again take up arms. They
reappeared in bands, which daily became more formidable,
and revived the petty but disastrous warfare of the Chouans.
They awaited the arrival of the Russians, and looked forward
to the speedy restoration of the monarchy. This was a mo-
ment of fresh competition with every party. Each aspired to
tne inheritance of the dying constitution, as they had done
at the close of the convention. In France, people are warned
by a kind of political odour that a government is dying, and
all parties rush to be in at the death.
350
HISTORY OP
1
Fortunately for the republic, the war changed its aspect
on the two principal frontiers of the Upper and Lower Rhine.
The allies, after having acquired Italy, wished to enter
France by Switzerland and Holland; but generals Massena
and Brune arrested their hitherto victorious progress. Mas-
sena advanced against Korsakoff and Suwaroff. During
twelve days of great combinations and consecutive victories,
liastening in turns from Constance to Zurich, he repelled the
efforts of the Russians, forced them to retreat, and disor-
ganized the coalition. Brune also defeated the duke of York
in Holland, obliged him to reimbark, and to renounce his
attempted invasion. The army of Italy alone had been less
fortunate. It had lost its general, Joubert, killed at the battle
of Novi, while leading a charge on the Austro-Russians. But
this frontier, which was at a distance from the centre of
action, despite the defeat of Novi, was not crossed, and Cham-
pionnet ably defended it. It was soon to be repassed by the
republican troops, who, after each resumption of arms, having
been for a moment beaten, soon regained their superiority and
recommenced their victories. Europe by giving additionai
exercise to the military power, by its repeated attacks, ren-
dered it each time more triumphant.
But at home nothing was changed. Divisions, discontent,
and anxiety were the same as before. The struggle between
the moderate republicans and the extreme republicans had
become more determined. Siéyes pursued his projects against
the latter. In the Champ-de-Mars, on the 10th of August,
he assailed the Jacobins. Lucien Bonaparte, who had much
influence in the council of five hundred, from his charac-
ter, his talents, and the military importance of the con-
queror of Italy and of Egypt, drew in that assembly a fearful
picture of the reign of terror, and said that France was
threatened with its return. About the same time, Siéyes
caused Bernadotte to be dismissed, and Fouché, in concert with
him, closed the meetings of the Manège. The multitude, to
whom it is only necessary to present the phantom of the
past to inspire it with fear, sided with the moderate party,
dreading the return of the reign of terror; and the ex-
treme republicans failed in their endeavour to declare la
patrie en danger, as they had done at the close of the legis.
lative assembly But Siéyes, after having lost Joubert,
THE FRENCA REVOLUTION
351
sought for a general who could enter into his designs, and
who would protect the republic, without becoming its op-
pressor. Hoche had been dead more than a year.
Moreau
had given rise to suspicion by his equivocal conduct to the
directory before the 18th Fructidor, and by the sudden de-
nunciation of his old friend Pichegru, whose treason he had
kept secret for a whole year; Massena was not a political
general; Bernadotte and Jourdan were devoted to the party
of the Manège; Siéyes was compelled to postpone his scheme
for want of a suitable agent.
Bonaparte had learned in the east, from his brother Lucien
and a few other friends, the state of affairs in France, and
the decline of the directorial government. His expedition
had been brilliant, but without results. After having defeated
the Mamelukes, and ruined their power in Upper and Lower
Egypt, he had advanced into Syria; but the failure of the siege
of Saint-Jean-d'Acre had compelled him to return to his first
conquest. There, after defeating an Ottoman army on the
coast of Aboukir, so fatal to the French fleet the preceding
year, he decided on leaving that land of exile and fame, in
order to turn the new crisis in France to his own elevation.
He left general Kleber to command the army of the east,
and crossed the Mediterranean, then covered with English
ships, in a frigate. He disembarked at Fréjus, on the 7th
Vendémiaire, year VIII., (9th October, 1799,) nineteen days
after the battle of Berghen, gained by Brune over the Anglo-
Russians under the duke of York, and fourteen days after
that of Zurich, gained by Massena over the Austro-Russians
under Korsakoff and Suwaroff. He traversed France, from
the shore of the Mediterranean to Paris, in triumph. His
expedition, almost fabulous, had struck the public mind with
surprise, and had still more increased the great renown he
had acquired by the conquest of Italy. These two enterprises
had raised him above all the other generals of the republic.
The distance of the theatre upon which he had fought en-
abled him to begin his career of independence and authority.
A victorious general, an acknowledged and obeyed nego-
tiator, a creator of republics, he had treated all interests
with skill, all creeds with moderation. Preparing afar off
his ambitious destiny, he had not made himself subservient to
any system, and had managed all parties so as to work his
352
ORY
BISTURY OF.
elevation with their assent. He had entertained this idea ul
usurpation since his victories in Italy. On the 18th Fruc-
tidor, had the directory been conquered by the councils, he
purposed marching against the latter with his army and
seizing the protectorate of the republic. After the 18th
Fructidor; finding the directory too powerful, and the inac-
tivity of the continent too dangerous for him, he accepted the
expedition to Egypt, that he might not fall, and might not be
forgotten. At the news of the disorganization of the direc-
tory, on the 30th Prairial, he repaired with haste to the
scene of events.
His arrival excited the enthusiasm of the moderate masses
of the nation. He received general congratulations, and
every party contended for his favour. Generals, directors,
deputies, and even the republicans of the Manège, waited on
and tried to sound him. Fêtes and banquets were given in
his honour. His manners were grave, simple, cool, and ob-
serving; he had already a tone of condescending familiarity
and involuntary habits of command. Notwithstanding his want
of earnestness and openness, he had an air of self-possession,
and it was easy to read in him an after-thought of conspiracy.
Without uttering his design, he allowed it to be guessed;
because a thing must always be expected in order to be
accomplished. He could not seek supporters in the repub-
licans of the Manège, as they neither wished for a coup-d'état
nor for a dictator; and Siéyes justly feared that he was too
ambitious to fall in with his constitutional views; accordingly,
Siéyes hesitated to open his mind to him, but, urged by their
mutual friends, they at length met and concerted together.
On the 15th Brumaire, they determined on their plan of
attack on the constitution of the year III. Siéyes undertook
to prepare the councils by the commissions of inspectors, who
placed unlimited confidence in him. Bonaparte was to gain
the generals and the different corps of troops stationed in
Paris, who displayed much enthusiasm for him and much
attaclınent to his person. They agreed to convoke an extra-
ordinary meeting of the moderate members of the councils, to
describe the public danger to the Ancients, and by urging the
ascendancy of Jacobinism to demand the removal of the legis-
lative body to Saint-Cloud, and the appointment of general
Bonaparte to the command of the armed force, as the only
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
353
man able to save the country; and then, by means of the new
military power, to obtain the dismissal of the directory,
and the temporary dissolution of the legislative body. The
enterprise was fixed for the morning of the 18th Bruniaire
(9th November).
During these three days, the secret was faithfully kept.
Barras, Moulins, and Gohier, who formed the majority of the
directory, of which Gohier was then president, might have
frustrated the coup d'état of the conspirators by forestalling
them, as on the 18th Fructidor. But they gave them credit for
hopes only, and not for any decided projects. On the morn-
ing of the 18th, the members of the Ancients were convoked
in an unusual way by the inspectors; they repaired to the
Tuileries, and the debate was opened about seven in the
morning under the presidentship of Lemercir. Cornudet,
Lebrun, and Fargues, the three most influential conspirators
in the council, drew a most alarming picture of the state of
public affairs; protesting that the Jacobins were flocking in
crowds to Paris from all the departments; that they wished
to re-establish the revolutionary government, and that a reign
of terror would once more desolate the republic, if the council
had not the courage and wisdom to prevent its return.
Another conspirator, Régnier de la Meurthe, required of
the Ancients already moved, that in virtue of the right con-
ferred on them by the constitution, they should transfer the
legislative body to Saint Cloud, and depute Bonaparte,
nominated by them to the command of the 17th military di-
vision, to superintend the removal. Whether all the members
of the council were accomplices of this manoeuvre, or whether
they were terrified by so hasty convocation, and by speeches
so alarming, they instantly granted what the conspirators
required.
Bonaparte awaited with impatience the result of this de-
liberation, at his house in the Rue Chantereine; he was sur-
rounded by generals, by Lefèvre, the commander of the guard
of the directory, and by three regiments of cavalry which he
was about to review. The decree of the council of ancients
was passed about eight, and brought to him at half-past eight
by a state messenger. He received the congratulations of
all around hin; the officers drew their swords as a sign of
fidelity. He put himself at their head, and they marched to the
A A
354
HISTORY OF
4
Tuileries; he appeared at the bar of the Ancients, took the
oath of fidelity, and appointed as his lieutenant, Lefèvre,
chief of the directorial guard.
This was, however, only a beginning of success. Bona-
parte was at the head of the armed force; but the executive
power of the directory and the legislative power of the councils
still existed. In the struggle which would infallibly ensue,
it was not certain that the great and hitherto victorious force
of the revolution would not triumph. Siéyes and Roger-
Ducos went from the Luxembourg to the legislative and mili-
tary camp of the Tuileries, and gavein their resignation. Barras,
Moulins, and Gohier, apprised on their side, but a little too late,
of what was going on, wished to employ their power and make
themselves sure of their guard; but the latter, having re-
ceived from Bonaparte information of the decree of the
Ancients, refused to obey them. Barras, discouraged, sent in
his resignation, and departed for his estate of Gros-Bois.
The directory was, in fact, dissolved; and there was one
antagonist less in the struggle. The five hundred and Bona-
parte alone remained opposed.
The decree of the council of ancients and the proclamations
of Bonaparte were placarded on the walls of Paris. The
agitation which accompanies extraordinary events prevailed in
that great city. The republicans, and not without reason, felt
serious alarm for the fate of liberty. But when they showed
alarm respecting the intentions of Bonaparte, in whom they
beheld a Cæsar, or a Cromwell, they were answered in the
general's own words: “ Bad parts, worn out parts, unworthy
a man of sense, even if they were not so of a good man. It would
be sacrilege to attack the representative government in this
age of intelligence and freedom. He would be but a fool who,
with lightness of heart, could wish to cause the loss of the
stakes of the republic against royalty after having supported
them with some glory and peril." Yet the importance he gave
himself in his proclamations was ominous. He reproached the
directory with the situation of France in a most extraordinary
way.
" What have you done,” said he, “with that France
which I left so flourishing in your hands? I left you peace, I
find you at war; I left you victories, I find nothing but re-
verses; I left you the millions of Italy, I find nothing but
plundering laws and misery? What have you done with the
THE FRENCH REVITUTION.
355
hundred thousand Frenchmen whom I knew, my companions
in glory? They are dead! This state of things cannot last;
in less than three years it would lead us to despotism.” This
was the first time for ten years that a man had ventured to
refer everything to himself; and to demand an account of
the republic, as of his own property. It is a painful surprise
to see a new comer of the revolution introduce himself thus
into the inheritance, so laboriously acquired, of an entire
people.
On the 19th Brumaire the members of the councils repaired
to Saint-Cloud; Siéyes and Roger Ducos accomp nied Bona-
parte to this new field of battle; they went thit er with the
intention of supporting the designs of the conspirators:
Siéyes, who understood the tactics of revolution, wished to
make sure of events by provisionally arresting ihe leaders,
and only admitting the moderate party into the c uncils; but
Bonaparte refused to accede, to this.
He was no party
man; having hitherto acted and conquered with regiments
only, he thought he could direct legislative councils like an
army, by the word of command. The gallery of Mars had
been prepared for the Ancients, the Orangery for the Five
hundred. A considerable armed force surrounded the seat of
the legislature, as the multitude, on the 2nd of June had sur-
rounded the convention. The republicans, assembled in groups
in the grounds, waited the opening of the sittings; they were
agitated with a generous indignation against the military
brutalism that threatened then, and communicated to each
other their projects of resistance. The young general, fol-
lowed by a few grenadiers, passed through the courts and
apartments, and prematurely yielding to his character, he
said, like the twentieth king of a dynasty: "I will have no
more factions : there must be an end to this; I abs:lutely will
1:ot have any more of it.” About two o'clock in the after-
noon, the council assembled in their respective halls, to the
sound of instruments which played the Marseillaise.
As soon as the business of the sitting commenced, Emile
Gaudin, one of the conspirators, ascended the trilune of the
Five hundred. He proposed a vote of thanks to the council of
ancients for the measures it had taken, and to request it to
expound the means of saving the republic. This motion was
the signal for a violent tumult; cries arose against Gaudi
A A 2
256
HISTORY
from every part of the hall. The republican deputies sur-
rounded the tribune and the bureau, at which Lucien Bona-
parte presided. The conspirators Cabanis, Boulay (de la
Meurthe), Chazal, Gaudin, Lucien, &c., turned pale on their
seats. After a long scene of agitation, during which no one
could obtain a hearing, calm was restored for a few moments,
and Delbred proposed that the oath made to the constitution of
the year 1II. should be renewed. As no one opposed this
motion, which at such a juncture was of vital importance, the
oath was taken with an enthusiasm and unanimity which was
dangerous to the conspiracy.
Bonaparte, learning what had passed in the Five hundred,
and in the greatest danger of desertion and defeat, presented
himself at the council of ancients. All would have been lost
for him, had the latter, in favour of the conspiracy, been
carried away by the enthusiasm of the younger council.
“Representatives of the people," said he, "you are in no
ordinary situation; you stand on a volcano. Yesterday,
when you summoned me to inform me of the decree for
your removal, and charged me with its execution, I
was tranquil. I immediately assembled my comrades; we
flew to your aid! Well, now I am overwhelmed with
calumnies! They talk of Cæsar, Cromwell, and military
government! Had I wished to oppress the liberty of my
country, I should not have attended to the orders which you
gave me; I should not have bad any occasion to receive this
authority from your hands. Representatives of the people!
I swear to you, that the country has not a more zealous
defender than I am; but its safety rests with you alone!
There is no longer a government; four of the directors have
given in their resignation; the fifth (Moulins), has been placed
under surveillance for his own security; the council of five
hundred is divided; nothing is left but the council of ancients.
Let it adopt measures; let it but speak; I am ready to execute.
Let us save liberty; let us save equality!” Linglet, à
republican, then arose and said: “ General, we applaud what
you say: swear with us to obey the constitution of the year
III., which alone can maintain the republic." All would
have been lost for him, had this motion met with the same
reception which it had found in the Five hundred. It sur-
prised the council, and for a moment Bonaparte was discon
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
357
certed. But he soon resumed: “The constitution of the year
III. has ceased to exist; you violated it on the 18th Fructidor;
you violated it on the 22nd Floréal ; you violated it on the
30th Prairial. The constitution is invoked by all factions,
and violated by all; it cannot be a means of safety for us,
because it no longer obtains respect from any one; the con-
stitution being violated, we must have another compact,
new guarantees.” The council applauded these reproaches of
Bonaparte, and rose in sign of approbation,
Bonaparte, deceived by his easy success with the Ancients,
imagined that his presence alone would suffice to appease the
stormy council of the Five hundred. He hastened thither at
the head of a few grenadiers, whom he left at the door, but
within the Hall, and he advanced alone, hat in band. At
the sight of the bayonets, the assembly arose with a sudden
movement. The legislators, conceiving his entrance to be a
signal for military violence, uttered all at once the cry of “ Out-
law him! Down with the dictator!” Several members rushed
to meet him; and the republican, Bigonet, seizing him by the
arm, exclaimed, “ Rash man! what are you doing? Retire;
you are violating the sanctuary of the laws." Bonaparte,
pale and agitated, receded, and was carried off by the grena-
diers who had escorted him there.
His disappearance did not put a stop to the agitation of the
council. All the members spoke at once; all proposed mea-
sures of public safety and defence. Lucien Bonaparte was the
object of general reproach; he attempted to justify his brother,
but with timidity. After a long struggle, he succeeded in
reaching the tribune, and urged the assembly to judge his
brother with less severity. He protested that he had no de-
sign against their liberty; and recalled his services. But
several voices immediately exclaimed: “He has lost all their
merit; down with the dictator! down with the tyrants!” The
tumult now became more violent than ever; and all demanded
the outlawry of general Bonaparte. “What," said Lucien,
“ do you wish me to pronounce the outlawry of my brother?"
“ Yes! yes! outlawry! it is the reward of tyrants!” In the
midst of the confusion, a motion was made and put to the
vote that the council should sit permanently; that it should
instantly repair to its palace at Paris; that the troops assem
bled at Saint Cloud should form a part of the guard of the
33.9
HISTORY OF
legislative body; that the command of them should be given
to general Bernadotte. Lucien, astounded by these propo-
sitions, and by the outlawry, which he thought had been
adopted with the rest, left the president's chair, and ascending
the tribune, said, in the greatest agitation: “ Since I cannot be
heard in this assembly, I put off the symbols of the popular
magistracy with a deep sense of insulted dignity.” And
he took off his can, robe, and scarf.
Bonaparte, meantime, on leaving the council of the five
hundred, had found some difficulty in regaining his composure.
Unaccustomed to scenes of popular tumult, he had been
greatly agitated. His officers came around him; and Siéyes,
having more revolutionary experience, besought him not to lose
time, and to employ force. " General Lefèvre immediately
gave an order for carrying off Lucien from the council. А.
detachment entered the hall, advanced to the chair which
Lucien now occupied again, placed him in their ranks, and
returned with him to the troops. As soon as Lucien came
out, he mounted a horse by his brother's side, and although
divested of his legal character, harangued the troops as presi-
dent. In concert with Bonaparte, he invented the story, so
often repeated since, that poignards had been drawn on the
general in the council of five hundred, and exclaimed:
“Citizen soldiers, the president of the council of five hundred
declares to you that the large majority of that council is at
this moment kept in fear by the daggers of a few representa-
tives, who surround the tribune, threaten their colleagues
with death, and occasion the most terrible deliberations.
General, and you, soldiers and citizens, you will only rec
cognise as legislators of France those who follow me. As
for those who remain in the Orangery, let force expel them.
Those brigands are no longer representatives of the people,
but representatives of the poignard.” After this violent ap-
peal, addressed to the troops by a conspirator president, who,
as usual, calunniated those he wished to proscribe, Bonaparte
spoke: “Soldiers,” said he, “ I have led you to victory; may
I rely on you?"-_“Yes! yes! Vive le Général!"_" Soldiers,
there were reasons for expecting that the council of five bun-
dred would save the country; on the contrary, it is given
up to intestine quarrels; agitators seek to excite it against
me. Soldiers, may I rely on you?" “ Yes! yes! Vivo
TEE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
359
measure.
Bonaparte.” “ Well, then, I will bring them to their senses !"
And he instantly gave orders to the officers surrounding him
to clear the hall of the five hundred.
The council, after Lucien's departure, had been a prey to
great anxiety and indecision. A few members proposed that
they should leave the place in a body, and go to Paris to seek
protection amidst the people. Others wislied the national
representatives not to forsake their post, but to brave the
vutrages of force. In the meantime, a troop of grenadiers
entered the hall by degrees, and the officer in command com-
municated to the council the order for their dispersion. The
deputy Prudhon reminded the officer and his soldiers of the
respect due to the representatives of the people; general
Jourdan also represented to them the enormity of such a
For a moment the troops hesitated; but a rein-
forcement now arrived in close column. General Leclerc ex-
claimed: "In the name of general Bonaparte, the legislative
body is dissolved; let all good citizens retire. Grenadiers,
forward!" Cries of indignation arose from every side; but
these were drowned by the drums. The grenadiers advanced
slowly across the whole width of the Orangery, and present-
ing bayonets. In this way they drove the legislators before
them, who continued shouting, “ Vive la republique!" as
they left the place. At half past five, on the 19th Bru-
maire of the year VIII. (10th November, 1799) there was
no longer a representation.
Thus this violation of the law, this coup-d'état against
liberty, was accomplished. Force began to sway. The 18th
of Bruniaire was the 31st of May of the army against the
representation, except that it was not directed against a party,
but against the popular power. But it is just to distinguish
the 13th Brumaire from its consequences.
It might then be
supposed that the army was only an auxiliary of the revolu-
tion as it had been on the 13th Vendémiaire and the
18th Fructidor, and that this indispensable change would not
turn to the advantage of a man—a single man, who would soon
change France into a regiment, and cause nothing to be heard
of in a world hitherto agitated by so great a moral commotion,
save the tread of his army, and the voice of his will.
360
HISTORY OF
THE CONSULATE.
CHAPTER XIV.
FROM THE 10TH OF NOVEMBER, 1799, TO THE 2ND OF
DECEMBER, 1804.
Hopes entertained by the various parties, after the 18th Brumaire-Pro.
visioral goverument-Constitution of Siéyes; distorted into the con-
sular constitution of the year VIII.- Formation of the government;
pacific designs of Bonaparte-Campaign of Italy; victory of Marengo
General peace : on the continent, by the treaty of Lunéville with Eng-
land; by the treaty of Amiens-Fusion of parties ; internal prosperity
of France-Ambitious system of the First Consul; re-establishes the
clergy in the state, by the Concordat of 1802; be creates a military order
of knighthood, by means of the Legion of Honour; he completes this
order of things by the consulate for life-Resumption of hostilities with
England Conspiracy of Georges and Pichegru—The war and the royalist
attempts form a pretext for the erection of the empire - Napoleon
Bonaparte appointed hereditary emperor; is crowned by the pope on the
2nd of December, 1804, in the church of Nôtre Dame--Successive
abandonment of the revolution-Progress of absolute power during the
four years of the consulate.
THE 18th Brumaire had immense popularity. People did
not perceive in this event the elevation of a single man above
the councils of the nation; they did not see in it the end of
the great movement of the 14th of July, which had com-
menced the national existence.
The 18th Brumaire assumed an aspect of hope and restora-
tion. Although the nation was much exhausted, and little
capable of supporting a sovereignty oppressive to it, and
which had eren become the object of its ridicule, since the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
361
lower class had exernised it, yet it considered desputism so
improbable, that no ne seemed to it to be in a condition to
reduce it to a state of subjection. All felt the need of being
restored by a skilful hand, and Bonaparte, as a great man
and a victorious general, seemed suited for the task.
pri On this account almost every one, except the directorial
republicans, declared in favour of the events of that day
Violation of the laws and coups-d'état had occurred so fre.
quently during the revolution, that people had become accus-
tomed no longer to judge them by their legality, but by their
consequences. From the party of Siéyes down to the royalists
of 1788, every one congratulated himself on the 18th Bru-
maire, and attributed to himself' the future political advantages
of this change. The moderate constitutionalists believed that
definitive liberty would be established; the royalists fed
themselves with hope by inappropriately comparing this epoch
of our revolution with the epoch of 1660 in the English revo-
lution, with the hope that Bonaparte was assuming the part of
Monk, and that he would soon restore the monarchy of the
Bourbons; the mass, possessing little intelligence, and desirous
of repose, relied on the return of order under a powerful pro-
tector; the proscribed classes and ambitious men expected
from him their amnesty or elevation. During the three
months which followed the 18th Brumaire, approbation and
expectation were general. A provisional government had been
appointed, composed of three consuls, Bonaparte, Siéyes, and
Roger-Ducos, with two legislative commissioners, entrusted
to prepare the constitution and a definitive order of things.
The consuls and the two commissioners were installed on
the 21st Brumaire. This provisional government abolished
the law respecting hostages and compulsory loans; it permit-
ted the return of the priests proscribed since the 18th Fruc-
tidor; it released from prison and sent out of the republic
the emigrants who had been shipwrecked on the coast of
Calais, and who for four years were captives in France, and
were exposed to the heavy punishment of the emigrant army.
All these measures were very favourably received. But
public opinion revolted at a proscription put in force against
the extreme republicans. Thirty-six of them were sentenced
to transportation to Guiana, and twenty-one were put under
surveillance in the department of Charante-Inférieure,
362
HISTORY OF
merely by a decree of the consils on the report of Fouché,
minister of police. The public viewed unfavourably all who
attacked the government; but at the same time it exclaimed
against an act so arbitrary and unjust. The consuls, accord-
ingly, recoiled before their own act; they first commuted
transportation into surveillance, and soon withdrew surveil-
lance itself.
It was not long before a rupture broke out between the
authors of the 18th Brumaire. During their provisional
authority, it did not create much noise, because it took
place in the legislative commissions. The new constitution
was the cause of it. Siéyes and Bonaparte could not agree
on this subject: the former wished to institute France, the
latter to govern it as a master.
The constitution of Siéyes, which was distorted in the con-
sular constitution of the year VIII., deserves to be known,
were it only in the light of a legislative curiosity. Siéyes
distributed France into three political divisions; the con-
mune, the province, or department, and the State. Each had
its own powers of administration and judicature, arranged in
hierarchical order: the first, the municipalities and tribunaux
de paix and de première instance; the second, the popular
prefectures and courts of appeal; the third, the central
government and the court of cassation. To fill the functions
of the commune, the department, and the State, there were
three budgets of notability, the members of which were only
candidates nominated by the people.
The executive power was vested in the proclamateur
electeur, a superior functionary, perpetual, without responsi-
bility, deputed to represent the nation without, and to form
the government in a deliberating state-council and a respon-
sible ministry. The proclaimer-general selected from the
lists of candidates, judges, from the tribunals of peace to the
court of cassation; administrators, from the mayors to the
ministers. But he was incapable of governing himself; power
was directed by the state-council, exercised by the ministry.
The legislature departed from the form hitherto established;
it ceased to be a deliberative assembly to become a judicial
court. Pefore it, the council of state, in the name of the
government, and the tribunat, in the name of the people,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
363
pleaded their respective projects. Its sentence was law. It
would seem that the object of Siéyes was to put a stop to the
violent usurpations of party. and while placing the sove-
reignty in the people, to give it limits in itself: this de-
sign appears from the complicated works of his political
machine. The primary assemblies, composed of the tenth of
the general population, nominated the local list of communal
candidates; electoral colleges, also nominated by them, selected
from the communal list the superior list of provincial candi-
dạtes, and from the provincial list, the list of national candi-
dates. In all which concerned the government, there was a
reciprocal control. The proclaimer-general selected his func-
tionaries from among the candidates nominated by the people:
and the people could dismiss functionaries, by not keeping
them on the lists of candidates, which were renewed, the first
every two years, the second every five years, the third erery
ten years. But the proclaimer-general did not interfere in
the nomination of tribunes and legislators, whose attributes
were purely popular.
Yet, to place a counterpoise in the heart of this authority
itself, Siéyes separated the initiative and the discussion of the
law, which was inrested in the tribunate from its adoption,
which belonged to the legislative assembly. But besides
these different prerogatives, the legislative body and the tri-
bunate were not elected in the same manner. The tribunate
was composed by right of the first hundred members of the
national list, wbile the legislative body was chosen directly
by the electoral colleges. The tribunes, being necessarily
more active, bustling, and popular, were appointed for life,
and by a protracted process, to prevent their arriving in
a moment of passion, with destructive and angry projects, as
had hitherto been the case in most of the assemblies, The
same dangers not existing in the other assembly, which had
only to judge calmly and disinterestedly of the law, its
election was direct, and its authority transient.
Lastly, there existed, as the complement of all the other
powers, a conservatory body, incapable of ordering, incapable
of acting, intended solely to provide for the regular existenre
of the state. This body was the constitutional jury, or con-
servatory senate; it was to be for the political law what the
304
HISTORY OF
court of cassation was to the civil law. The tribunate, or the
council of state, appealed to it when the sentence of the legis-
lative body was not conformable to the constitution. It had
also the faculty of calling into its own body any leader of the
government who was too ambitious, or a tribune who was too
popular, by the “ droit d'absorption,” and when senators, they
were disqualified from filling any other function. In this way
it kept a double watch over the safety of the whole republic,
by maintaining the fundamental law, and protecting liberty
against the ambition of individuals.
Whatever may be thought of this constitution, which seems
too finely complicated to be practicable, it must be granted
that it is the production of considerable strength of mind, and
even great practical information. Siéyes paid too little re-
gard to the passions of men; he made them too reasonable as
human beings, and too obedient as machines. He wished by
skilful inventions to avoid the abuses of human constitutions,
and excluded death, that is to say, despotism, from whatever
quarter it might come. But I have very little faith in the
efficacy of constitutions; in such moments, I believe only in
the strength of parties in their domination, and, from time to
time, in their reconciliation. But I must also admit that, if
ever a constitution was adapted to a period, it was that of
Siéyes for France in the year VIII.
After an experience of ten years, which had only shown
exclusive dominations, after the violent transition from the con-
stitutionalists of 1789 to the Girondists, from the Girondists
to the Mountainists, from the Mountainists to the reactionists,
from the reactionists to the directory, from the directory to
the councils, from the councils to the military force, there
could be no repose or public life save in it. People were
weary of worn-out constitutions; that of Siéyes was new;
exclusive men were no longer wanted, and by elaborate voting
it prevented the sudden accession of counter-revolutionists,
as at the beginning of the directory, or of ardent democrats,
as at the end of this government. It was a constitution of
inoderate men, suited to terminate a revolution, and to settle
a nation.
But precisely because it was a constitution of
moderate men, precisely because parties had no longer suffi-
cient ardour to demand a law of domination, for that very
reason there would necessarily be found a man stronger than
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
365
6 How
the fallen parties and the moderate legislators, who would
refuse this law, or, accepting, abuse it, and this was what
happened.
Bonaparte took part in the deliberations of the constituen,
committee; with his instinct of power, he seized upon every-
thing, in the ideas of Siéyes which was calculated to serve
his projects, and caused the rest to be rejected. Siéyes
intended for him the functions of grand elector, with a
revenue of six millions of francs, and a guard of three
thousand men; the palace of Versailles for a residence, and
the entire external representation of the republic. But the
actual government was to be invested in two consuls, one of
war, the other of peace, functionaries unthought of hy Siéyes
in the year III., but adopted by him in the year VIII.; in
order, no doubt, to suit the ideas of the times.
This insigni-
ficant magistracy was far from suiting Bonaparte.
could you suppose," said he, “that a man of any talent and
honour could resign himself to the part of fattening like a
hog, on a few millions a year." From that moment it was
not again mentioned; Roger Ducos, and the greater part of
the committee, declared in favour of Bonaparte; and Siéyes,
who hated discussion, was either unwilling or unable to defend
liis ideas. He saw that laws, men, and France itself, were
at the mercy of the man whose elevation he had promoted.
On the 24th of December, 1799 (Nivose, year VIII.),
forty-five days after the 18th Brumaire, was published the
constitution of the year VIII.; it was composed of the wrecks
of that of Siéyes, now become a constitution of servitude. The
government was placed in the hands of the first consul, who
was supported by two others, having a deliberative voice.
The senate, primarily selected by the consuls, chose the
members of the tribunal and legislative body, from the list of
the national candidates. The government alone had the initi-
ative in making the laws. Accordingly, there were no more
bodies of electors who appointed the candidates of different
lists, the tribunes and legislators; no more independent
tribunes earnestly pleading the cause of the people before the
legislative assembly; no legislative assembly arising directly
from the bosom of the nation, and accountable to it alone--in
1. word, no political ration. Instead of all this, there existed
an all-powerful consul, disposing of armies and of power, a
366
HISTORY OF
general and a dictator; a council of state, destined to be the
advanced guard of usurpation; and lastly, a senate of eighty
members, whose only function was to nullify the people,
and to choose tribunes without auttority, and legisla-
tors who should remain mute. Life passed from the nation
to the government. The constitution of Siéyes served as a
pretext for a bad order of things. It is worth notice that up
to the year VIII. all the constitutions had emanated from
the Contrat-social, and that subsequently, down to 1814, from
the constitution of Siéyes.
The new government was immediately installed. Bona-
parte was first consul, and he united with him as second and
third consuls, Cambacérés, a lawyer, and formerly a member
of the Plain in the convention, and Lebrun, formerly a co-
adjutor of the chancellor Maupeou. By their means, he hoped
to influence the revolutionists and moderate royalists. With
the same object, the ex-nobleman, Talleyrand, and the ex-
Mountainist, Fouché, were appointed to the posts of minister
of foreign affairs, and minister of police. Siéyes felt much
repugnance at employing Fouché; but Bonaparte willed it.
“We are forming a new epoch,” said he; “we must forget
all the ill of the past, and remember only the good.” He
cared very little under what banner men had hitherto serred,
provided they now enlisted under his, and summoned thither
their old associates in royalism and in revolution.
The two new consuls and the retiring consuls nominated sixty
senators, without waiting for the lists of eligibility; the senators
appointed a hundred tribunes and three hundred legislators;
and the authors of the 18th Brumaire distributed among
themselves the functions of the state, as the booty of their
victory. It is, however, just to say that the moderate
liberal party prevailed in this partition, and that, as long as
it preserved any influence, Bonaparte governed in a mild,
advantageous, and republican manner. The constitution of
the year VIII., submitted to the people for acceptance, was
approved by three millions eleven thousand and seven citizens.
That of 1793 had obtained one million eight hundred and
one thousand nine hundred and eighteer. suffrages; and
that of the year III. one million fifty-seven thousand three
hundred and ninety. The new law satisfied the mode-
TEE FRENCH REVOLUTION. .
367
rate masses, who sought tranquillity, rather than guarantees;
while the code of '93 had only found partisans among the
lower class; and that of the year III. had been equally re-
iected by the royalists and democrats. The constitution of
1791 alone had obtained general approbation; and, without
having been subjected to individual acceptance, had been
sworn to by all France.
The first consul, in compliance with the wishes of the re-
public, made offers of peace to England, which it refused. He
naturally wished to assume an appearance of moderation, and,
previous to treating, to confer on his government the lustre
of new victories. The continuance of the war was therefore
decided on, and the consuls made a remarkable proclamation,
in which they appealed to sentiments new to the nation.
Hitherto it had been called to arms in defence of liberty;
now they began to excite it in the name of honour: “French-
men, you wish for peace. Your goveroment desires it with
still more ardour: its foremost hopes, its constant efforts, have
been in favour of it. The English ministry rejects it; the
English ministry has betrayed the secret of its horrible policy.
To rend France, to destroy its navy and ports, to efface it
from the map of Europe, or reduce it to the rank of a second-
ary power, to keep the nations of the continent at variance,
in order to seize on the commerce of all, and enrich itself by
their spoils: these are the fearful successes for which England
scatters its gold, lavishes its promises, and multiplies its
intrigues. It is in your power to command peace; but, to
command it, money, the sword, and soldiers are necessary;
let all, then, hasten to pay the tribute they owe to their
common defence. Let our young citizens arise; they no
longer take arms for factions, or for the choice of tyrants,
but for the security of what they hold most dear; it is for
the honour of France, and for the sacred interests of
humanity.
Holland and Switzerland had been sheltered during the
preceding campaign. The first consul assembled all his force
un the hine and the Alps. He gave Moreau the command
of the army of the Rhine, and he himself marched into Italy.
He set out on the 16th Floréal, year VIII. (6th of May, 1800)
for that brilliant campaign which lasted only forty days. It
368
HISTORY OF
was important that he should not be long absent from Paris
at the beginning of his power, and especially not to leave the
war in a state of indecision. Field marshal Mélas had a
hundred and thirty thousand men under arms; he occupied
all Italy. The republican army opposed to him, only
amounted to forty thousand men. He left the field-marshal
lieutenant Ott with thirty thousand men before Genoa; and
marched against the corps of general Suchet. He entered
Nice, prepared to pass the Var, and to enter Provence. It
was then that Bonaparte crossed the great Saint Bernard at
the head of an army of forty thousand men, descended into
Italy in the rear of Mélas, entered Milan on the 16th Prairial
(2nd of June), and placed the Austrians between Suchet and
himself. Mélas, whose line of operation was broken, quickly
fell back upon Nice, and from thence on to Turin; he estab-
lished his head-quarters at Alexandria, and decided on re-
opening his communications by a battle. On the 9th of June,
the advance guard of the republicans gained a glorious
victory at Monte-Bello, the chief honour of which belonged to
general Lannes. But it was the plain of Marengo, on the
14th of June, (25th Prairial) that decided the fate of Italy;
the Austrians were overwhelmed. Unable to force the pas-
sage of the Bormida by a victory, they were placed with:
out opportunity of retreat between the army of Suchet and
that of the first consul. On the 15th, they obtained permis-
sion to fall behind Mantua, on condition of restoring all the
places of Piedmont, Lombardy, and the Legations; and the
victory of Marengo thus secured possession of all Italy.
Eightren days after, Bonaparte returned to Paris. He
was received with all the evidence of admiration that such
decided victories and prodigious activity could excite; the
enthusiasm was universal. T'here was a spontaneous illumi-
vation, and the crowd hurried to the Tuileries to see him.
The hope of speedy peace redoubled the public joy. On the
25th Messidor the first consul was present at the anniversary
fête of the 14th of July. When the officers presented him
the standards taken from the enemy, he said to them: “When
you return to your camps, tell your soldiers that the French
people expect for the 1st Vendémiaire, when we shall celebrate
the anniversary of the republic, either the proclamation or
peacc, or, if the enemy raise invincible obstacles, new standards,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
369
fruits of new victories." Peace, however, was yet to be de
layed some time.
In the interim between the victory of Marengo and the
general pacification, the first consul turned his attention
chiefly to settling the people, and to diminishing the number
of malcontents, by employing the displaced factions in the
state. He was very conciliatory to those parties who re-
nounced their systems, and very lavish of favours to those
chiefs who renounced their parties. As it was a time of
selfishness and indifference, he had no difficulty in suc-
ceeding. The proscribed of the 18th Fructidor were
already recalled, with the exception of a few royalist con-
spirators, such as Pichegru, Willot, &c. Bonaparte soon
even employed those of the banished who, like Portalis,
Siméon, Barbé-Marbois, bad shown themselves more anti-
conventionalists than counter-revolutionists. He had also
gained over opponents of another description. The late leaders
of La Vendée, the famous Bernier, curé of Saint-Lo, who
had assisted in the whole insurrection, Chatillon, d'Auti-
champ and Suzannet, had come to an accommodation by the
treaty of Mont-Luçon (17th January, 1800.) He also
addressed himself to the leaders of the Breton banda, George
Cadoudal, Frotté, Laprévelaye, and Bourmont. The two last
alone consented to submit. Frotté was surprised and shot;
and George, defeated at Grand Champ, by General Brune,
capitulated. The western war was thus definitively termi-
nated.
But the Chouans who had taken refuge in England, and
whose only hope was in the death of him who now concen-
trated the power of the revolution, projected his assassination.
A few of them disembarked on the coast of France, and
secretly repaired to Paris. As it was not easy to reach the
first consul, they decided on a conspiracy truly horrible. On
the third Nivose, at eight in the evening, Bonaparte was to
go to the Opera by the Rue Saint-Nicaise. The conspirators
placed a barrel of powder on a little truck, which obstructed
the carriage way, and one of them, named Saint Regent, was
to set fire to it as soon as he received a signal of the first
consul's approach. At the appointed time, Bonaparte left
the Tuileries, and crossed the Rue Nicaise. His coachman
was skilful enough to drive rapidly between the truck and
BB
370
HISTORY OF
The con-
1
the wall; but the match was already alight, and the carriage
had scarcely reached the end of the street when the infernal
machine exploded, covered the quarter Saint-Nicaise with
ruins, shaking the carriage, and breaking its windows.
The police, taken by surprise, though directed by Fouché,
attributed this plot to the democrats, against whom the first
consul had a much more decided antipathy than against the
Chouans. Many of them were imprisoned, and a hundred
and thirty were transported by a simple senatus-consultus
asked and obtained during the night. At length they dis-
covered the true authors of the conspiracy, some of whom
were condemned to death. On this occasion, the consul
caused the creation of special military tribunals.
stitutional party separated still further from him, and began
its energetic but useless opposition. Lanjuinais Gregoire,
who had courageously resisted the extreme party in the con-
vention, Garat, Lambrechts, Lenoir-Laroche, Cabanis, &c.,
opposed, in the senate, the illegal proscription of a hundred
and thirty democrats; and the tribunes, Isnard, Daunou,
Chénier, Benjamin Constant, Bailleul, Chazal, &c., opposed
the special courts. But a glorious peace threw into the
shade this new encroachment of power.
– The Austrians, conquered at Marengo, and defeated in
Germany by Moreau, determined on laying down arms. On the
8th of January, 1801, the republic, the cabinet of Vienna,
and the empire, concluded the treaty of Lunéville. Austria
ratified all the conditions of the treaty of Campo-Formio, and
also ceded Tuscany to the young duke of Parma. The
empire recognised the independence of the Batavian, Hel-
vetian, Ligurian, and Cisalpine republics. The pacification
soon became general, by the treaty of Florence (18th of
February, 1801,) with the king of Naples, who ceded the
isle of Elba and the principality of Piombino, by the treaty
of Madrid (29th of September, 1801,) with Portugal; by the
treaty of Paris (8th of October, 1801,) with the emperor of
Russia; and, lastly, by the preliminaries (9th of October, 1801,)
with the Ottoman Porte. The continent, by ceasing hosti-
lities, compelled England to a momentary peace. Pitt, Dun-
das, and Lord Grenville, who had maintained these sanguinary
struggles with France, went out of office when their system
ceased to be followed. The opposition replaced them; and,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
371
on the 25th of March, 1802, the treaty of Amiens completed
the pacification of the world. England consented to all the
continental acquisitions of the French republic, recognised the
existence of the secondary republics, and restored our colonies.
During the maritime war with England, the French navy
had been almost entirely ruined. Three hundred and forty
ships had been taken or destroyed, and the greater part of
the colonies had fallen into the hands of the English.“ Saint
Domingo, the most important of them all, after throwing off
the yoke of the whites, had continued the American revolu-
tion, which, having commenced in the English colonies, was to
end in those of Spain, and change the colonies of the new
world into independent states. The blacks of Saint Domingo
wished to maintain, with respect to the mother country, the
freedom which they had acquired from the colonists, and to
defend themselves against the English. They were led by a
man of colour, the famous Toussaint-Louverture. France
ought to have consented to this revolution, which had already
cost so dearly to humanity. The metropolitan government
could no longer be restored at Saint Domingo; and it became
necessary to obtain the only real advantages which Europe
can now derive from America, by strengthening the commer-
cial ties with our old colony. Instead of this prudent policy,
Bonaparte attempted an expedition to reduce the island to
subjection. Forty thousand men embarked for this disastrous
enterprise. It was impossible for the blacks to resist such an
army at first; but after the first victories, it was attacked by
the climate, and new insurrections secured the independence
of the colony. France experienced the twofold loss of an army
and of advantageous commercial connexions.
Bonaparte, whose principal object hitherto had been to
promote the fusion of parties, now turned all his attention to
the internal prosperity of the republic, and the organization
of power. The old privileged classes of the nobility and
the clergy had returned into the state without forming par-
ticular classes. Dissentient priests, on taking an oath of
obedience, might conduct their modes of worship and receive
their pensions from government. An act of pardon had been
passed in favour of those accused of emigration; there only
remained a list of about a thousand names of those who
remained faithful to the family and the claims of the pretender.
BB 2
872
HISTORY OF
The work of pacification was at an end. Bonaparte, knowing that
the surest way of commanding a nation is to promote its hap-
piness, encouraged the development of industry, and favoured
external commerce, which had so long been suspended. He
united higher views with his political policy, and connected
his own glory with the prosperity of France; he travelled
through the departments, caused canals and barbours to be dug,
bridges to be built, roads to be repaired, monuments to be
erected, and means of communication to be multiplied. He
especially strove to become the protector and legislator 01
private interests. The civil, penal, and commercial codes,
which he formed, whether at this period or at a later period,
completed, in this respect, the work of the revolution, and re-
gulated the internal existence of the nation, in a manner some-
what more conformable to its real condition. Notwithstanding
political despotism, France, during the domination of Bona-
parte, had a private legislation superior to that of any European
society; for with absolute government, most of them still pre-
served the civil condition of the middle-ages. General peace,
universal toleration, the return of order, the restoration, and
the creation of an administrative system, soon changed the
appearance of the republic. Attention was turned to the con-
struction of roads and canals. Civilization became developed
in an extraordinary manner; and the consulate was, in this
respect, the perfected period of the directory, from its com-
mencement to the 18th Fructidor.
It was more especially after the peace of Amiens that Bon
naparte raised the foundation of his future power. He
himself says, in the Memoirs published under his name:
“ The ideas of Napoleon were fixed, but to realise them he
required the assistance of time and circumstances.
ganization of the consulate had nothing in contradiction with
these; it accustomed the nation to unity, and that was a first
step. This step taken, Napoleon was indifferent to the forms
and denominations of the different constituted bodies. He
was a stranger to the revolution. It was his wisdom to
advance from day to day, without deviating from the fixed
point, the polar star, which directed Napoleon how to :
The or-
* Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de France sous Napoléon, écrits
a Sainte Hélene, vol. i. p. 248.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
373
guide the revolution to the port whither he wished to con-
duct it.”
In the beginning of 1802, he was at one and the same time
forming three great projects, tending to the same end. He
sought to organize religion and to establish the clergy, which
as yet had only a religious existence; to create, by means of the
Legion of Honour, a permanent military order in the army;
and to secure his own power, first for his life, and then to ren-
der it hereditary. Bonaparte was installed at the Tuileries,
where he gradually resumed the customs and ceremonies of the
old monarchy. He already thought of placing intermediate
bodies between himself and the people. For some time paat
he had opened a negotiation with pope Pius VII., on matters of
religious worship. The famous concordat, which created nine
archbishoprics, forty-one bishoprics, with the institution of
chapters, which established the clergy in the state, and again
placed it under the external monarchy of the pope, was
signed at Paris on the 16th of July, 1801, and ratified at
Rome on the 15th of August, 1801.
Bonaparte, who had destroyed the liberty of the press,
created exceptional tribunals, and who had departed more and
more from the principles of the revolution, felt that before he
went further it was necessary to break entirely with the
liberal party of the 18th Brumaire. In Ventose, year X.
(March, 1802), the most energetic of the tribunes were dis-
missed by a simple operation of the senate. The tribunate
was reduced to eighty members, and the legislative body un-
derwent a similar purgation. About a month after, the 15th
Germinal (6th of April, 1802), Bonaparte, no longer apprehen-
sive of opposition, submitted the concordat to these assemblies,
whose obedience he had thus secured, for their acceptance.
They adopted it by a great majority. The Sunday and four
great religious festivals were re-established, and from that time
the government ceased to observe the system of décades. This
was the first attempt at renouncing the republican calendar.
Bonaparte hoped to gain the sacerdotal party, always most
disposed to passive obedience, and thus deprive the royalist
opposition of the clergy, and the coalition of the pope.
The concordat was inaugurated with great pomp in the
cathedral of Notre-Dame. The senate, the legislative body,
the tribunate, and the leading functionaries were present at
374
HISTORY OF
was
this new ceremony. The first consul repaired thither in the
carriages of the old court, with the etiquette and attendants of
the old monarchy; salvos of artillery announced this return of
privilege, and this essay at royalty. A pontifical mass was
performed by Caprara, the cardinal-legate, and the people were
addressed by proclamation in a language to which they had
long been unaccustomed. • Reason and the example of ages,
ran the proclamation, “command us to have recourse to the
sovereign pontiff to effect unison of opinion and reconciliation
of hearts. The head of the church has weighed in his
wisdom and for the interest of the church, propositions dic-
tated by the interest of the state."
In the evening there was an illumination, and a concert in
the gardens of the Tuileries. The soldiery reluctantly
attended at the inauguration ceremony, and expressed their dis-
satisfaction aloud. On returning to the palace, Bonaparte
questioned general Delmas on the subject.“ What did you
think of the ceremony ?" said he. “ A fine mummery,
the reply. “Nothing was wanting but a million of men slain
in destroying what you re-establish.”
A month after, on the 25th Floréal, year X. (15th of
May, 1802), he presented the project of a law respecting
the creation of a legion of honour. This legion was to
be composed of fifteen cohorts, dignitaries for life, dis-
posed in hierarchical order, having a centre, an organization,
and revenues. The first consul was the chief of the legion.
Each cohort was composed of seven grand officers, twenty
commanders, thirty officers, and three hundred and fifty
legionaries. Bonaparte's object was to originate a new
nobility. He thus appealed to the ill-suppressed sentiment
of inequality. While discussing this projected law in the
council of state, he did not scruple to announce his aristocratic
design. Berlier, counsellor of state, having disapproved an
institution so opposed to the spirit of the republic, said
that: “ Distinctions were the playthings of a monarchy.”
“I defy you,” replied the first consul, “to show me a
republic, ancient or modern, in which distinctions did not
exist; you call them toys; well, it is by toys that men are
led. I would not say as much to a tribune; but in a
council of wise men and statesmen we may speak plainly.
I do not believe that the French love liberty and equality.
THE FRENCE REVOLUTION.
375
Tlie French have not been changed by ten years of revo-
lution; they have but one sentiment honour. That senti-
ment, then, must be nourished; they must have distinctions,
See how the people prostrate themselves before the ribbons
and stars of foreigners; they have been surprised by them;
and they do not fail to wear them. All has been destroyed;
the question is, how to restore all. There is a government,
there are authorities; but the rest of the nation, what is it?
Grains of sand. Among us we have the old privileged
classes, organized in principles and interests, and knowing
well what they want. I can count our enemies. But we,
ourselves, are dispersed, without system, union, or contact.
As long as I am here, I will answer for the republic; but we
must provide for the future. Do you think the republic is
definitively established? If so, you are greatly deceived. It
is in our power to make it so; but we have not done it; and
we shall not do it if we do not hurl some masses of granite on
the soil of France." * By these words Bonaparte announced
a system of government opposed to that which the revolution
sought to establish, and which the change in society denianded.
Yet, notwithstanding the docility of the council of state,
the purgation undergone by the tribunal and the legislative
body, these three bodies vigorously opposed a law which re-
vived inequality. In the council of state, the legion of honour
only had fourteen votes against ten; in the tribunal, thirty-
eight against fifty-six; in the legislative body, a hundred and
sixty-six against a hundred and ten. Public opinion mani-
fested a still greater repugnance for this new order of knight-
hood. Those first invested seemed almost ashamed of it, and
received it with a sort of contempt. But Bonaparte pursued
his counter-revolutionary course, without troubling himselı
about a dissatisfaction no longer capable of resistance.
He wished to confirm his power by the establishment of
privilege, and to confirm privilege by the duration of his
power. On the motion of Chabot de l'Allier, the tribunal
résolved: “ That the first consul, general Bonaparte, should
* This passage is extracted from M. Thibaudeau's Memoires of the Con-
sulate. There are in these Mémoires, which are extremely curious, some
political conversations of Bonaparte, details concerniog his internal go-
vernment and the principal sittings of the council of state, which throw
much light upon this epoch.
376
HISTORY OF
receive a signal mark of national gratitude. In pursuance
of this resolution, on the 6th of May, 1802, an organic senatus-
consultus appointed Bonaparte consul for an additional period
of ten years.
we
But Bonaparte did not consider the prolongation of the
consulate sufficient; and two months after, on the 2nd of
August, the senate, on the decision of the tribunate and the
legislative body, and with the consent of the people, consulted
by means of the public registers, passed the following decree:
“1. The French people nominate, and the senate proclaim
Napoleon Bonaparte first consul for life.
“II. A statue of Peace, holding in one hand a laurel of
victory, and in the other, the decree of the senate, shall attest
to posterity the gratitude of the nation.
“III. The senate will convey to the first consul the ex-
pression of the confidence, love, and admiration of the French
people."
This revolution was complete by adapting to the consul-
ship for life, by a simple senatus-consultus, the constitution,
already sufficiently despotic, of the temporary consulship.
Senators,” said Cornudet, on presenting the new law,
must for ever close the public path to the Gracchi. The
wishes of the citizens, with respect to the political laws they
obey, are expressed by the general prosperity; the guarantee
of social rights absolutely places the dogma of the exercise o.
the sovereignty of the people in the senate, which is the
bond of the nation. This is the only social doctrine.” The
senate admitted this new social doctrine, took possession of
the sovereignty, and held it as a deposit till a favourable
moment arrived for transferring it to Bonaparte.
The constitution of the 16th Thermidor, year X., (4th of
August, 1802,) excluded the people from the state. The
public and administrative functions became fixed, like those of
the government. The electors were for life. The first consul
could increase their number. The senate had the right of
changing institutions, suspending the functions of the jury,
of placing the departments out of the constitution of annulling
the sentences of the tribunals, of dissolving the legislative
body, and the tribunate. The council of state was reinforced;
the tribunate, already reduced by dismissals, was still suffi-
ciently formidable to require to be reduced to fifty members.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
377
Such, in the course of two years, was the terrible progress
ot privilege and absolute power.
Towards the close of 1802,
cverything was in the hands of the consul for life, who had a
class devoted to him in the clergy; a military order in the
legion of honour; an administrative body in the council of
state; a machinery for decrees in the legislative assembly;
a machinery for the constitution in the senate.
Not daring,
as yet, to destroy the tribunate, in which assembly there arose,
from time to time, a few words of freedom and opposition, he
deprived it of its most courageous and eloquent members,
that he might hear his will declared with docility in all the
assemblies of the nation.
This interior policy of usurpation was extended beyond the
country. On the 26th of August, Bonaparte united the island
of Elba, and on the 11th of September, 1802, Piedmont, to
the French territory. On the 9th of October he took posses-
sion of the states of Parma, left vacant by the death of the
duke; and lastly, on the 21st of October, he marched into
Switzerland an army of thirty thousand men, to support a
federative act, which regulated the constitution of each canton,
and which had caused disturbances. He thus furnished a pre-
text for a rupture with England, which had not sincerely
subscribed to the peace. The British cabinet had only felt the
necessity of a momentary suspension of hostilities; and, a
short time after the treaty of Amiens, it arranged a third
coalition, as it had done after the treaty of Campo-Formio,
and at the time of the congress of Rastadt. The interest
and situation of England were alone of a nature to bring
about a rupture, which was hastened by the union of states
effected by Bonaparte, and the influence which he retained
over the neighbouring republics, called to complete independ-
ence by the recent treaties. Bonaparte, on his part, eager
for the glory gained on the field of battle, wishing to aggran-
dize France by conquests, and to complete his own elevation
by victories, could not rest satisfied with repose; he had re-
jected liberty, and war became a necessity.
The two cabinets exchanged for some time very bitter
diplomatic notes At length, Lord Whitworth, the English
ambassador, left Paris on the 25th Floréal, year XI. (13th of
May, 1803.) Peace was now definitively broken: prepara-
tions for war were made on both sides. On the 26th of May,
378
HISTORY OF
the French troops entered the electorate of Hanover. The
Germanic empire, on the point of expiring, raised no obstacle.
The emigrant Chouan party, which had taken no steps since
the affair of the infernal machine and the continental peace,
were encouraged by this return of hostilities. The opportunity
seemed favourable, and it formed in London, with the assent
of the British cabinet, a conspiracy headed by Pichegru and
Georges Cadoudal. The conspirators disembarked secretly
on the coast of France, and repaired with the same secrecy
to Paris. They communicated with general Moreau, who
had been induced by his wife to embrace the royalist party.
Just as they were about to execute their project, most of
them were arrested by the police, who had discovered the
plot, and traced them. Georges was executed, Pichegru was
discovered strangled in prison, and Moreau was sentenced to
two years' imprisonment, commuted to exile.
This conspiracy, discovered in the middle of February, 1804,
rendered the person of the first consul, whose life had been
thus threatened, still dearer to the masses of the people; ad-
dresses of congratulation were presented by all the bodies of.
the state, and all the departments of the republic. About
this time, he sacrificed an illustrious victim. On the 15th of
March, the duc d'Enghien was carried off by a squadron of
cavalry from the castle of Etteinheim, in the grand-duchy of
Baden, a few leagues from the Rhine. The first consul be-
lieved, from the reports of the police, that this prince had
directed the recent conspiracy. The duc d'Enghien was con-
veyed hastily to Vincennes, tried, in a few hours, by a military
commission, and shot in the trenches of the château. This
crime was not an act of policy, or usurpation; but a deed
of violence and wrath. The royalists might have thought on
the 18th Brumaire that the first consul was studying the part
of general Monk; but for four years he had destroyed that
hope. He had no longer any necessity for breaking with
them in so outrageous a manner, nor for reassuring, as it has
been suggested, the Jacobins, who no longer existed. Those
who remained devoted to the republic, dreaded at this time
despotism far more than a counter-revolution. There is
every reason to think that Bonaparte, who thought little of
human life, or of the rights of nations, having already formed
the habit of an expeditious and hasty policy, imagined the
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
579
prince to be one of the conspirators, and sought, by a terrible
example, to put an end to conspiracies, the only peril that
threatened his power at that period.
The war with great Britain and the conspiracy of Georges
and Pichegru, were the stepping-stones by which Bonaparte
ascended from the consulate to the empire. On the 6th Germi-
nal, year XII., (27th of March, 1804,) the senate, on receiving
intelligence of the plot, sent a deputation to the first consul.
The president, François de Neufchâteau, expressed himself
in these terms: “ Citizen first consul, you are founding a
new era, but you ought to perpetuate it: splendour is nothing
without duration. We do not doubt but this great idea has
had a share of your attention; for your creative genius èm-
braces all and forgets nothing. But do not delay: you are
urged on by the times, by events, by conspirators, and by
ambitious men; and in another direction, by the anxiety which
agitates the French people. It is in your power to enchain
time, master events, disarm the ambitious, and tranquillize the
whole of France by giving it institutions which will cement
your edifice, and prolong for our children what you have done
for their fathers. Citizen first consul, be assured that the
senate here speaks to you in the name of all citizens.”
On the 5th Floréal, year XII., (25th of April, 1804,) Bona-
parte replied to the senate from Saint Cloud, as follows:
“ Ycur address has occupied my thoughts incessantly; it has
been the subject of my constant meditation. You consider
tliat the supreme magistracy should be hereditary, in order to
protect the people from the plots of our enemies, and the agi-
tation which arises from rival ambitions. You also think
that several of our institutions ought to be perfected, to secure
the permanent triumph of equality and public liberty, and to
offer the nation and government the twofold guarantee which
they require. The more I consider these great objects, the
more deeply do I feel that in such novel and important cir-
cumstances, the councils of your wisdom and experience are
necessary to enable me to come to a conclusion. I invite you,
then, to communicate to me your ideas on the subject. The
senate, in its turn, replied on the 14th Floréal (3rd of May):
6. The senate considers that the interests of the French
people will be greatly promoted by confiding the government
of the republic to Napoleon Bonaparte, as hereditary em:
380
HISTORY OF
peror.” By this preconcerted scene was ushered in the estab
lishment of the empire.
The tribune Curée opened the debate in the tribunate by a
motion on the subject. He dwelt on the same motives as the
senators had done.
His proposition was carried with enthu.
siasm. Carnot alone had the courage to oppose the empire:
“ I am far," said he, "from wishing to weaken the praises
bestowed on the first consul; but whatever services a citizen
may have done to his country, there are bounds which honcur,
as well as reason, imposes on national gratitude. If this citizen
has restored public liberty, if he has secured the safety of his
country, is it a reward to offer him the sacrifice of that liberty;
and would it not be destroying his own work to make his
country his private patrimony? When once the proposition
of holding the consulate for life was presented for the votes
of the people, it was easy to see that an after-thought existed.
A crowd of institutions evidently monarchical followed in
succession; but now the object of so many preliminary
measures is disclosed in a positive manner; we are called to
declare our sentiments on a formal motion to restore the
monarchical system, and to confer imperial and hereditary
dignity on the first consul.
“Has liberty, then, only been shown to man that he might
never enjoy it? No, I cannot consent to consider this good, so
universally preferred to all others, without which all others
are as nothing, as a mere illusion. My heart tells me that
liberty is attainable; that its regime is easier and more stable
than any arbitrary government. I voted against the consu-
late for life; I now vote against the restoration of the
monarchy; as I conceive my quality as tribune compels me
to clo."
But he was the only one who thought thus; and his col-
leagues rivalled each other in their opposition to the opinion
of ihe only man who alone among them remained free. In the
spe:ches of that period, we may see the prodigious change
that had taken place in ideas and language. The revolution
had retrograded to the political principles of the ancient
regime; the same enthusiasm and fanaticism existed; but it
was the enthusiasm of flattery, the fanaticism of servitude.
The French rushed into the empire as they had rushed into
the revolution; in the age of reason they referred everything
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
381
to the enfranchisement of nations; now they talked of nothing
but the greatness of a man, and of the age of Bonaparte; and
they now fought to make kings, as they had formerly fought
to create republics.
The tribunate, the legislative body, and the senate, voted
the empire, which was proclaimed at Saint. Cloud on the 28th
Floréal, year XII., (18th of May, 1804.) On the same day, a
senatus-consultus modified the constitution, which was adapted
to the new order of things. The empire required its ap-
pendages; and French princes, high dignitaries, marshals,
chamberlains, and pages were given to it. All publicity
was destroyed. The liberty of the press had already been
subjected to censorship; only one tribune remained, and
that became mute. The sittings of the tribunate were
secret, like those of the council of state; and from that day,
for a space of ten years, France was governed with closed
doors. "Joseph and Louis Bonaparte were recognised as
French princes. Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Mas-
sena, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier,
Ney, Davoust, Bessières, Kellermann, Lefèvre, Pérignon,
Serrurier, were named marshals of the empire. The depart-
ments sent up addresses, and the clergy compared Napoleon
to a new Moses, a new Matthew, a new Cyrus. They saw
in his elevation “ the finger of God," and said “that submis-
sion was due to him as dominating over all; to his mi.
nisters assent by him, because such was the order of Provi-
dence.” Pope Pius VII. came to Paris to consecrate the new
dynasty. The coronation took place on Sunday, the 2nd of
December, in the church of Nôtre Dame.
Preparations had been making for this ceremony for some
time, and it was regulated according to ancient customs. The
emperor repaired to the metropolitan church with the em-
press Josephine, in a coach surmounted by a crown, drawn
by eight white horses, and escorted by his guard. The pope,
cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and all the great bodies of
the state were awaiting him in the cathedral, which had been
magnificently decorated for this extraordinary ceremuny.
He was addressed in an oration at the door; and then, clothed
with the imperial mantle, the crown on his head, and the
sceptre in his hand, he ascended a throne placed at the end
of the church. The high alinoner, a cardinal, and a bishop,
382
HISTORY OF
came and conducted him to the foot of the altar for consecra-
tion. The pope poured the three-fold unction on his head
and hands, and delivered the following prayer:-“O Al-
mighty God, who didst establish Hazael to govern Syria,
and Jehu king of Israel, by revealing unto them thy purpose
by the mouth of the prophet Elias; who didst also shed the
holy unction of kings on the head of Saul and of David, by
the ministry of thy prophet Samuel, vouchsafe to pour, by
my hands, the treasures of thy grace and blessing on thy
servant Napoleon, who, notwithstanding our own unworthi-
ness, we this day consecrate emperor in thy name.”
The pope led him solemnly back to the throne; and after le
had sworn on the Testament the oath prescribed by the new
constitution, the chief of the heralds at arms cried in a loud
voice—“ The most glorious and most august emperor of the
French is crowned and enthroned! Long live the emperor.!"
The church instantly resounded with the cry, salvoes of
artillery were fired, and the pope commenced Te Deum. For
several days there was a succession of fêtes; but these fêtes by
command, these fêtes of absolute power, did not breathe the
frank, lively, popular, and unanimous joy of the first federa-
tion of the 14th of July; and, exhausted as the people were,
they did not welcome the beginning of despotism as they had
welcomed that of liberty.
The consulate was the last period of the existence of the
republic. The revolution was coming to man's estate.
During the first period of the consular government, Bona
parte had gained the proscribed classes by recalling them,
he found a people still agitated by every passion, and he
restored them to tranquillity by labour, and to prosperity by
restoring order. Finally he compelled Europe, conquered
for the third time, to acknowledge his elevation. Till the
treaty of Amiens, he revived in the republic victory, concord,
and prosperity, without sacrificing liberty. He right then,
had he wished, have made himself the representative of that
great age, which sought for that noble system of liuman
dignity the consecration of far-extended equality, wise liberty,
and more developed civilization. The nation was in the
hands of the great man or the despot; it rested with him to
preserve it free or to enslave it. He preferred the realization
of his selfish projects, and pre!erred himself to all humanity
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
383
Brought up in tents, coming late into the revolution, he only
understood its material and interested side; he had no faith
in the moral wants which had given rise to it, nor in the
creeds which had agitated it, and which, sooner or later,
would return and destroy him. He saw an insurrection
approaching its end, an exhausted people at his mercy, and a
crown on the ground within his reach.
384
HISTORY OF
THE EMPIRE.
CHAPTER XV.
FROM TOE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE, 1804--1814.
Character of the empire--Change of the republics created by the directory
into kingdoms—Third coalition; taking of Vienna; victories of Ulm
and Austerlitz; peace of Presburg; erection of the two kingdoms of
Bavaria and Wurtemberg against Austria-Confederation of the Rhine
Joseph Napoleon appointed king of Naples; Louis Napoleon, king of
Holland-Fourth coalition; battle of Jena; taking of Berlin; victories
of Eylau and Friedland; peace of Tilsit; the Prussian monarchy is re-
duced by one half; the kingdoms of Saxony and Westphalia are insti-
tuted against it; that of Westphalia given to Jerome Napoleon—The
grand empire rises with its secondary kingdoms, its confederation of
the Rhine, its Swiss mediation, its great fiefs; it is modelled on that
of Charlemagne-Blockade of the continent_Napoleon employs the
cessation of commerce to reduce England, as be had employed arms to
subdue the continent-Invasion of Spain and Portugal; Joseph Na-
poleon appointed to the throne of Spain; Murat replaces him on the
throne of Naples–New order of events : national insurrection of the
peninsula; religious contest with the pope-Commercial opposition of
Holland-Fifth coalition-Victory of Wagram; Peace of Vienna;
marriage of Napoleon with the archduchess Marie Louise–Frilure of
the attempt at resistance ; tbe pope is dethroned ; Holland is again united
to the empire, and the war in Spain prosecuted with vigourRussia re-
nounces the continental system; campaign of 1812; taking of Moscot;
disastrous retreat—Reaction against the power of Napoleon ; campaigu
of 1813; general dcfection-Coalition of all Europe; exhaustion of
France ; marvellous campaigu of 1814–The allied powers at Paris ;
abdication at Fontainbleau; character of Napoleon; his part in the
French revolution - Conclusion.
AFTER the establishment of the empire, power became
more arbitrary, and society reconstructed itself on an aristo-
cratic principle. The great movement of recomposition, which
had commenced on the 9th Thermidor, went on increasing,
TEE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
385
The convention had abolished classes; the directory defeated to
parties; the consulate gained over men; and the empire cor-
rupted them by distinctions and privileges. This second period
was the opposite of the first. Under the one, we saw the
government of the committees exercised by men elected every
three months, without guards, honours, or representation,
living on a few francs a day, working eighteen hours together
on common wooden tables; under the other, the government
of the empire, with all its paraphernalia of administration, its
chamberlains, gentlemen, prætorian guard, hereditary rights,
its immense civil list, and dazzling ostentation. The national
activity was exclusively directed to labour and war. All
material interests, all ambitious passions, were hierarchically
arranged under one leader, who, after having sacrificed
liberty by establishing absolute power, destroyed equality by
introducing nobility.
The directory had erected all the surrounding states into
republics; Napoleon wished to constitute them on the model
of the empire. He began with Italy. . The council of state of
the Cisalpine republic determined on restoring hereditary mo-
narchy in favour of Napoleon. Its vice-president, M. Melzy,
came to Paris to communicate to him this decision. On the 26th
Ventose, year XIII. (17th of March, 1805), he was received
with great solemnity at the Tuileries. Napoleon was on his
throne, surrounded by his court, and all the splendour of
sovereign power, in the display of which he delighted. M.
Melzy offered him the crown, in the name of his fellow-
citizens. “Sire," said he, in conclusion, “deign to gratify
the wishes of the assembly over which I have the honour to
preside. Interpreter of the sentiments which animate every
Italian heart, it brings you their sincere homage. It will in-
form them with joy that by accepting, you have strengthened
the ties which attach you to the preservation, defence, and
prosperity of the Italian nation. Yes, sire, you wished the
existence of the Italian republic, and it existed. Desire the
Italian monarchy to be happy, and it will be so.”
The emperor went to take possession of this kingdom;
and, on the 26th of May, 1805, he received at Milan the iron
crown of the Lombards. He appointed his adopted son,
prince Eugene de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy, and repaired
to Genoa, which also renounced its sovereignty. On the 4th
CO
386
HISTORY OF
June 1805, its territory was united to the empire, and
formed the three departments of Genoa, Montenotte, and the
Apennines. The small republic of Lucca was included in
this monarchical revolution. At the request of its gonfa-
lonier, it was given in appanage to the prince of Piombino
and his princess, a sister of Napoleon. The latter, after this
royal progress, recrossed the Alps, and returned to the capital
of his empire; he soon after departed for the camp at
Boulogne, where a great maritime expedition against England
was preparing
This project of descent which the directory had enter-
tained after the peace of Campo-Formio, and the first consul,
after the peace of Lunéville, had been resumed with much
ardour since the new rupture. At the commencement of
1805, a flotilla of two thousand small vessels, manned by
sixteen thousand sailors, carrying an army of one hundred
and sixty thousand meu, nine thousand horses, and a nume-
tous artillery, had assembled in the ports of Boulogne,
Etaples, Wimereux, Ambleteuse, and Calais. The emperor
was hastening by his presence the execution of this project,
when he learned that England, to avoid the descent with
which it was threatened, had prevailed on Austria to come to
a rupture with France, and that all the forces of the
Austrian monarchy were in motion. Ninety thousand men,
under the arch-duke Ferdinand and general Mack, had
crossed the Jura, seized on Munich, and driven out the elector
of Bavaria, the ally of France; thirty thousand, under the
arch-duke John, occupied the Tyrol, and the arch-duke
Charles, with one hundred thousand men, was advancing on
the Adige. Two Russian armies were preparing to join the
Austrians. Pitt had made the greatest efforts to organize
this third coalition. The establishment of the kingdom of
Italy, the annexation of Genoa and Piedmont to France,
the
open influence of the emperor over Holland and Switzer-
land, had again aroused Europe, which now dreaded the am-
bition of Napoleon as much as it had formerly feared the
principles of the revolution. The treaty of alliance between
the British ministry and the Russian cabinet had been signed
on the 11th of April, 1805, and Austria had acceded to it on
the 9th of August.
Napolcoa left Boulogne, returned bastily to Paris, repaired
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
387
to the senate on the 23rd of September, obtained a levy of
eighty thousand men, and set out the next day to begin the
campaign. He passed the Rhine on the 1st of October, and en-
tered Bavaria on the 6th, with an army of a hundred and sixty
thousand men. Massena stopped prince Charles in Italy, and
the emperor carried on the war in Germany at full speed.
In a few days he passed the Danube, entered Munich, gained
the victory of Wertingen, and forced general Mack to laz
down his arms at Ulm. This capitulation disorganized the
Austrian army. Napoleon pursued the course of his victories,
entered Vienna on the 13th of November, and marched into
Moravia to meet the Russians, round whom the defeated
troops had rallied.
On the 2nd of December, 1805, the anniversary of the
coronation, the two armies met in the plains of Austerlitz.
The enemy amounted to ninety-five thousand men, the French
to eighty thousand. On both sides the artillery was formi-
dable. The battle began at sunrise; these enormous masses
began to move; the Russian infantry could not stand against
the impetuosity of our troops and the maneuvres of their
general. The enemy's left was first cut off; the Russian im-
perial guard came up to re-establish the communication, and
was entirely overwhelmed. The centre experienced the
same fate, and at one o'clock in the afternoon the most deci-
sive victory had completed this wonderful campaign. The
following day the emperor congratulated the army in a
proclamation on the field of battle itself: “ Soldiers,” said he,
“I am satisfied with you. You have adorned your eagles with
immortal glory. An army of a hundred thousand men, com-
manded by the einperors of Russia and Austria, in less than
four days has been cut to pieces or dispersed; those who
escaped your steel have been drowned in the lakes. Forty
flags, the standards of the Russian imperial guard, a hundred
and twenty pieces of cannon, twenty generals, more than
thirty thousand prisoners, are the result of this ever me-
morable day. This infantry, so vaunted and so superior in
numbers, could not resist your shock, and henceforth you
have no more rivals to fear. Thus, in two months, this third
coalition has been defeated and dissolved." A truce was con-
cluded with Austria; and the Russians, who might have been
cut to pieces, obtained permission to retire by fixed stages.
CO2
388
HISTORY OF
The peace of Presburg followed the victories of Ulm and
Austerlitz; it was signed on the 26th of December. The
house of Austria, which had lost its external possessions,
Holland and the Milanese, was now assailed in Germany
itself. It gave up the provinces of Dalmatia and Albania to
the kingdom of Italy; the territory of the Tyrol, the town of
Augsburg, the principality of Eichstett, a part of the territory
of Passau, and all its possessions in Swabia, Brisgau and
Ortenau to the electorates of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, which
were transformed into kingdoms. The grand duchy of Baden
also profited by its spoils. The treaty of Presburg completed
the humiliation of Austria, commenced by the treaty of
Campo Formio, and continued by that of Lunéville. The
emperor, on his return to Paris, crowned with so much glory,
became the object of such general and wild admiration, that
he was himself carried away bay the public enthusiasm and
intoxicated at his fortune. The different bodies of the state
contended among themselves in obedience and flatteries. He
received the title of Great, and the senate passed a decree
dedicating to him a triumphal monument.
Napolcon became more confirmed in the principle he had
espoused. The victory of Marengo and the peace of Luné.
ville had sanctioned the consulate; the victory of Austerlitz
and peace of Presburg consecrated the empire. The last
vestiges of the revolution were abandoned. On the 1st of
January, 1806, the Gregorian calendar definitively replaced
the republican calendar, after an existence of fourteen years.
The Pantheon was again devoted to purposes of worship, and
soon even the tribunate ceased to exist. But the emperor
aimed especially at extending his dominion over the conti-
nent. Ferdinand, king of Naples, having, during the last
war, violated the treaty of peace with France, had his states
invaded; and Joseph Bonaparte on the 30th of March was
declared king of the two Sicilies. Soon after, (June 5th,
1806,) Holland was converted into a kingdom, and received
as monarch Louis Bonaparte, another brother of the emperor.
None of the republics created by the convention, or the
directory, now existed. Napoleon, in nominating secondary
kings, restored the military hierarchical system, and the
titles of the middle ages. He erected Dalmatia, Istria, Friuli,
Cadore, Belluno, Conégliano, Trévise. Feltra, Bassano, Vi.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
389
cenza, Padua, and Rovigo into duchies, great fiefs of the
empire. Marshal Berthier was invested with the princi-
pality of Neufchâtel, the minister Talleyrand with that of
Bénévento. l?rince Borghese and his wife with that of
Guastalla, Murat with the grand-duchy of Berg and Clèves.
Napoleon, not venturing to destroy the Swiss republic, styled
limself its mediator, and completed the organization of his
military empire by placing under his dependence the ancient
Germanic body. On the 12th of July, 1806, fourteen princes
of the south and west of Germany united themselves into
the confederation of the Rhine, and recognised Napoleon as
their protector. On the 1st of August, they signified to the
diet of Ratisbon their separation from the Germanic body.
The empire of Germany ceased to exist, and Francis II.
abdicated the title by proclamation. By a convention signed
at Vienna, on the 15th of December, Prussia exchanged
the territories of Anspach, Clèves and Neufchâtel for
the electorate of Hanover. Napoleon had all the west
under his power.
Absolute master of France and Italy,
as emperor and king, he was also master of Spain, by the
dependence of that court; of Naples and Holland, by his
two brothers; of Switzerland, by the act of mediation; and
in Germany he had at his disposal the kings of Bavaria and
Wurtemberg, and the confederation of the Rhine against
Austria and Prussia. After the peace of Amiens, by sup-
porting liberty he might have made himself the protector of
France and the moderator of Europe; but having sought
glory in domination, and made conquest the object of his life,
he condemned himself to a long struggle, which would inevi-
tably terminate in the dependence of the continent or in his
own downfall.
This encroaching progress gave rise to the fourth coalition.
Prussia, neutral since the peace of Bâle, had, in the last cam-
paign, been on the point of joining the Austro-Russian coali-
tion. The rapidity of the emperor's victories had alone re-
strained her; but now, alarmed at the aggrandizement of the
empire, and encouraged by the fine condition of her troops,
she leagued with Russia to drive the French from Germany.
The cabinet of Berlin required that the French troops should
recross the Rhine, or war would be the consequence.
At the
same time, it sought to form in the north of Germany a league
390
HISTORY OF
against the confederation of the south. The emperor, who was
in the plenitude of his prosperity and of national enthusiasm,
far from submitting to the ultimatum of Prussia, immediately
marched against her.
The campaign opened early in October. Napoleon, as
usual, overwhelmed the coalition by the promptitude of his
marches and the vigour of his measures.
On the 14th of
October, he destroyed at Jena the military monarchy of
Prussia, boy a decisive victory; on the 16th, fourteen thousand
Prussians threw down their arms at Erfurth; on the 25th, the
French army entered Berlin, and the close of 1806 was
employed in taking the Prussian fortresses and marching into
Poland against the Russian army. The campaign in Poland
was less rapid, but as brilliant as that of Prussia. Russia, for
the third time, measured its strength with France. Con-
quered at Zurich and Austerlitz, it was also defeated at Eylau
and Friedland. After these memorable battles, the emperor
Alexander entered into a negotiation, and concluded at Tilsit,
on the 21st of June, 1807, an armistice which was followed
by a definitive treaty on the 7th of July.
The peace of Tilsit extended the French domination on
the continent. Prussia was reduced to half its extent. In
the south of Germany, Napoleon had instituted the two
kiugdoms of Bavaria and Wurtemberg against Austria; fur-
ther to the north, he created the two feudatory kingdoms of
Saxony and Westphalia against Prussia. That of Saxony,
composed of the electorate of that name, and Prussian Poland,
called the grand-duchy of Warsaw, was given to the king of
Saxony; that of Westphalia comprehended the states of
Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, Fulde, Paderborn, and the greatest
part of Hanover, and was given to Jerome Napoleon. The
emperor Alexander, acceding to all these arrangements,
evacuated Moldavia and Wallachia. Russia, however, though
conquered, was the only power unencroached upon. Napoleon
followed more than ever in the footsteps of Charlemagne; at
his coronation, he had had the crown, sword, and sceptre, of
the Franc king carried before him. A pope bad crossed the
Alps to consecrate his dynasty, and he modelled his states on
the vast empire of that conqueror. The revolution sought the
establishment of ancient liberty; Napoleon restored the mili-
tary hierarchy of the middle ages. The former had made
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
391
England
citizens, the latter made vassals. The one had changed
Europe into republics, the other transformed it into fiefs.
Great and powerful as he was, coming immediately after a
shock which had exhausted the world by its violence, he was
enabled to arrange it for a time according to his pleasure.
The grand empire rose internally by its system of administra-
tion, which replaced the government of assemblies; its special
courts, its lyceums, in which military education was substi.
tuted for the republican education of the central schools; its
hereditary nobility, which in 1808 completed the establishment
of inequality; its civil discipline, which rendered all France
like an army obedient to the word of command; and exter-
nally by its secondary kingdoms, its confederate states, its
great fiefs, and its supreme chief. Napoleon, no longer
meeting resistance anywhere, could command from one end
of the continent to the other.
At this period all the emperor's attention was directed to
England, the only power that could secure itself from his
attacks. Pitt had been dead a year, but the British cabinet
followed with much ardour and pertinacity his plans with
respect to France. After having vainly formed a third and
a fourth coalition, it did not lay down arms. It was a war to
the death, Great Britain had declared France in a state of
blockade, and furnished the emperor with the means of cutting
off its continental intercourse by a similar measure. The
continental blockade, which began in 1807, was the second
period of Bonaparte's system. In order to attain universal
and uncontested supremacy, he made use of arms against the
continent, and the cessation of commerce against England.
But in forbidding to the continental states all communication
with England, he was preparing new difficulties for himself,
and soon added to the animosity of opinion excited by hi:
despotism, and the hatred of states produced by his conquer-
ing domination, the exasperation of private interests and
commercial suffering occasioned by the blockade.
Yet all the powers seemed united in the same design.
England was placed under the ban of continental Europe,
at the peace. Russia and Denmark in the Northern Seas;
France, Spain, and Holland, in the Mediterranean and the
ocean, were obliged to declare against it. This period was
the height of the imperial sway. Napoleon employed all
892
HISTORY OF
his activity and all his genius, in creating maritime reçources
capable of counterbalancing the forces of England, which had
then eleven hundred ships of war of every class. He caused
ports to be constructed, coasts to be fortified, ships to be
built and prepared, everything for combating in a few years
upon this new battle-field. But before that moment arrived,
be wished to secure the Spanish peninsula, and to found his
dynasty there, for the purpose of introducing a firmer and
more favourable policy. The expedition of Portugal in 1807,
and the invasion of Spain in 1808, began for him and for
Europe a new order of events.
Portugal had for some time been a complete English colony.
The emperor, in concert with the Bourbons of Madrid, de-
cided by the treaty of Fontainbleau, of the 27th of October,
1807, that the house of Braganza had ceased to reign. A
French army, under the command of Junot, entered Portugal.
The prince-regent embarked for Brazil, and the French took
possession of Lisbon on the 30th of November, 1807. This
invasion was only an approach towards Spain. The royal
family were in a state of the greatest anarchy. The favourite,
Godoi, was execrated by the people, and Ferdinand, prince
of the Asturias, conspired against the authority of his father's
favourite. Though the emperor had not much to fear from
such a government, he had taken alarm at a clumsy armament
prepared by Godoi during the Prussian war. No doubt, at
this time he formed the project of putting one of his brothers
on the throne of Spain; he thought he could easily overturn
a divided family, an expiring monarchy, and obtain the con-
sent of a people whom he would restore to civilization. Under
the pretext of the maritime war and the blockade, his troops
entered the peninsula, occupied the coasts and principal places,
and encamped near Madrid. It was then suggested to the
royal family to retire to Mexico, after the example of the
house of Braganza. But the people rose against this de
parture; Godoi, the object of public hatred, was in great risk
of losing his life, and the prince of the Asturias was pro-
claimed king, under the title of Ferdinand VII. The emperor
took advantage of this court revolution to bring about his
The French entered Madrid, and he himself proceeded
to Bayonne, whither be summoned the Spanish princes.
Ferdinand restored the crown to his father, who in his turn
own.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,
393
resigned it in favour of Napoleon; the latter had it decreed
on his brother Joseph by a supreme junta, by the council of
Castille, and the municipality of Madrid. Ferdinand was
sent to the Chateau de Valencay, and Charles VI. fixed his
residence at Compiègne. Napoleon called his brother-in-law,
Murat, grand duke of Berg, to the throne of Naples, in the
place of Joseph.
At this period began the first opposition to the domination
of the emperor and the continental system. The reaction
manifested itself in three countries, hitherto allies of France,
and it brought on the fifth coalition. The court of Rome
was dissatisfied; the peninsula was wounded in its national
pride by having imposed upon it a foreign king; in its
usages, by the suppression of convents, of the Inquisition, and
of the grandees; Holland suffered in its commerce from the
blockade, and Austria supported impatiently its losses and
subordinate condition. England, watching for an opportunity
to revive the struggle on the continent, excited the resistance
of Rome, the peninsula, and the cabinet of Vienna. The
pope had been cold towards France since 1805; he had hoped
that his pontifical complaisance in reference to Napoleon's
coronation would have been recompensed by the restoration
to the ecclesiastical domain of those provinces which the
directory had annexed to the Cisalpine republic. Deceived
in this expectation, he joined the European counter-revolu-
tionary opposition, and from 1807 to 1808 the Roman States
became the rendezvous of English emissaries. After some
warm remonstrances, the emperor ordered general Miollis to
occupy Rome; the pope threatened him with excommunica-
tion; and Napoleon seized on the legations of Ancona, Urbino,
Macérata, and Camerino, which became part of the Italian
kingdom. The legate left Paris on the 3rd of April, 1808,
and the religious struggle for temporal interests commenced
with the head of the church, whom Napoleon should either
not have recognised, or not have despoiled.
The war with the peninsula was still more serious. The
Spaniards recognised Ferdinand VII. as king, in a provincial
junta, held at Seville, on the 27th of May, 1808, and they
took arms in all the provinces which were not occupied by
French troops. The Portuguese also rose at Oporto, on the
16th of June. These two insurrections were at first attended
394
HISTORY OF
war.
with the happiest results; in a short time, they made
rapid progress. General Dupont laid down arms at Baylen in
the province of Cordova, and this first reverse of the French
arms excited the liveliest hope and enthusiasm among the
Spaniards. Joseph Napoleon left Madrid, where Ferdinand
VII. was proclaimed; and about the same time, Junot, not
having troops enough to keep Portugal, consented, by the
convention of Cintra, to evacuate it with all the honours of
The English general, Wellington, took possession of
this kingdom with twenty-five thousand men. While the
pope was declaring against Napoleon, while the Spanish
insurgents were entering Madrid, while the English were
again setting foot on the continent, the king of Sweden
avowed himself an enemy of the European imperial league,
and Austria was making considerable armaments and pre-
paring for a new struggle.
Fortunately for Napoleon, Russia remained faithful to the
alliance and engagements of Tilsit. The emperor Alexander
had at that time a fit of enthusiasm and affection for this
powerful and extraordinary mortal. Napoleon wishing
to be sure of the north, before he conveyed all his forces to
the peninsula, had an interview with Alexander at Erfurth,
on the 27th Sept., 1808. The two masters of the north and
west guaranteed to each other the repose and submission of
Europe. Napoleon marched into Spain, and Alexander
undertook Sweden. The presence of the emperor soori
changed the fortune of the war in the peninsula. He brought
with him eighty thousand veteran soldiers, just come from
Germany. Several victories made him master of most of the
Spanish provinces. He made his entry into Madrid, and
presented himself to the inhabitants of the Peninsula, not as
a master, but as a liberator. "I have abolished,” he said to
them, “the tribunal of the Inquisition, against which the age
and Europe protested. Priests should direct the conscience,
but ought not to exercise any external or corporal jurisdiction
over the citizens. I have suppressed feudal rights; and every
one may set up inns, ovens, mills, fisheries, and give free im-
pulse to his industry. The selfishness, wealth, and prosperity
of a few did more injury to your agriculture than the heats
of the extreme summer. As there is but one God, one
system of justice only should exist in a state.
All private
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
395
ti ibunals were usurped and opposed to the rights of the
nation. I have suppressed them. The present generation
may change its opinion; too many passions have been brought
into play; but your grandchildren will bless me as your
regenerator; they will rank among their memorable days
those in which I appeared among you, and from those days will
Spain date its prosperity.”
Such was indeed the part of Napoleon in the peninsula,
which could only be restored to a better state of things, and
to liberty, by the revival of civilization. The establishment
of independence cannot be effected all at once, any more than
anything else; and when a country is ignorant, poor, and
behindhand, covered with convents, and governed by monks,
its social condition must be reconstructed before liberty can
be thought of. Napoleon, the oppressor of civilized nations,
was a real regenerator for the peninsula. But the two parties
of civil liberty and religious servitude, that of the cortes and
that of the monks, though with far different aims, came to an
understanding for their common defence. The one was at
the head of the upper and the middle classes, the other of the
populace; and they vied with each other in exciting the
Spaniards to enthusiasm with the sentiments of independence
or religious fanaticism. The following is the catechism used
by the priests:
“ Teīl me, my child, who you are? A Spaniard, by the
grace of God.—Who is the enemy of our happiness? The
emperor of the French.—How many natures has he? Two:
human and diabolical.—How many emperors of the French
are there? One true one, in three deceptive persons.— What
are their names? Napoleon, Murat, and Manuel Godoi.-
Which of the three is the most wicked? They are all three
equally so.—Whence is Napoleon derived From sin.-
Murat? From Napoleon.—And Godoi? The junction of
the two.—What is the ruling spirit of the first? Pride and
despotism.—Of the second? Rapine and cruelty.–Of the
third ? Cupidity, treason, and ignorance.Who are the
French? Former Christians become heretics.-- Is it a sin to
kill a Frenchman? No, father; heaven is gained by killing
one of these dogs of heretics.—What punishment does the
Spaniard deserve who has failed in his duty? The death
396
HISTORY OF
and infamy of a traitor.--What will deliver us from our
enemies? Confidence in ourselves and in arms."
Napoleon had engaged in a long and dangerous enterprise,
in which his whole system of war was at fault. Victory,
here, did not consist in the defeat of an army and the pos-
session of a capital, but in the entire occupation of the terri-
tory, and, what was still more difficult, the submission of the
public mind. Napoleon, however, was preparing to subdue
this people with his irresistible activity and inflexible deter-
mination, when the fifth coalition called him again to
Germany.
Austria had turned to advantage his absence, and that of
his troops. It made a powerful effort, and raised five hundred
and fifty thousand men, comprising the Landwehr, and took
the field in the spring of 1809. The Tyrol rose, and king
Jerome was driven from his capital by the Westphalians;
Italy wavered; and Pryssia only waited till Napoleon met
with a reverse, to take arms; but the emperor was still at the
height of his power and prosperity. He hastened from
Madrid in the beginning of February, and directed the
members of the confederation to keep their contingents in
readiness. On the 12th of April he left Paris, passed the
Rhine, plunged into Germany, gained the victories of Eck-
mühl and Essling, occupied Vienna a second time on the 15th
of May, and overthrew this new coalition by the battle of
Wagram, after a campaign of four months. While he was
pursuing the Austrian armies, the English landed on the
island of Walcheren, and appeared before Antwerp; but a
levy of national guards sufficed to frustrate the expedition of
the Scheldt. The peace of Vienna, of the 11th of October,
1809, deprived the house of Austria of several more pro-
vinces, and compelled it again to adopt the continental
system.
This period was remarkable for the new character of the
struggle. It began the reaction of Europe against the
empire, and announced the alliance of dynasties, people,
nations, the priesthood, and commerce. All whose interests
were injured made an attempt at resistance, which at first
was destined to fail. Napoleon, since the peace of Amiens,
had entered on a career that must necessarily terminate in
the possession or hostility of all Europe. Carried away by his
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
397
character and position, he had created against the people a
system of administration of unparalleled benefit to power;
against Europe, a system of secondary monarchies and grand
fiefs, which facilitated his plans of conquest; and, lastly,
against England, the blockade which suspended its commerce,
and that of the continent. Nothing impeded him in the re-
alization of those immense but insensate designs. Portugal
opened a communication with the English: he invaded it. The
royal family of Spain, by its quarrels and vacillations, com-
promised the extremities of the empire: he compelled it to
abdicate, that he might reduce the peninsula to a bolder and
less wavering policy. The pope kept up relations with the
enemy: his patrimony was diminished. He threatened ex-
communication: the French entered Rome. He realized his
threat by a bull: he was dethroned as a temporal sovereign
in 1809. Finally, after the battle of Wagram, and the peace
of Vienna, Holland became a depôt for English merchandize,
on account of its commercial wants, and the emperor dispos-
sessed his brother Louis of that kingdom, which, on the 1st of
July, 1810, became incorporated with the empire. He shrank
from no invasion, because he would not endure opposition or
hesitation from any quarter. All were compelled to submit,
allies as well as enemies, the chief of the church as well as
kings, brothers as well as strangers; but, though conquered
this time, all who had joined this new league only waited an
opportunity to rise again.
Meantime, after the peace of Vienna, Napoleon still added
to the extent and power of the empire. Sweden having
undergone an internal revolution, and the king, Gustavus
Adolphus IV., having been forced to abdicate, admitted the
continental system. Bernadotte, prince of Ponte-Corvo, was
elected by the states-general hereditary prince of Sweden,
and king Charles XIII. adopted him for his son. The
blockade was observed throughout Europe; and the empire,
augmented by the Roman States, the Illyrian provinces,
Valais, Holland, and the Hans Towns, had a hundred and thirty
departments, and extended from Hamburgh and Dantzic to
Trieste and Corfu. Napoleon, who seemed to follow a rash
but inflexible policy, deviated from his course about this time
by a second marriage. He divorced Josephine that he might
give an heir to the empire. and married, on the ist of April,
398
HISTORY OF
1810, Marie-Louise, arch-duchess of Austria. This was a
decided error. He quitted his position and his post as a par-
venu and revolutionary monarch, opposing in Europe the
ancient courts as the republic had opposed the ancient govern-
ments. He placed himself in a false situation with respect
to Austria, which he ought either to have crushed after the
victory of Wagram, or to have reinstated in its possessions
after his marriage with the arch-duchess. Solid alliances
only repose on real interests, and Napoleon could not remove
from the cabinet of Vienna the desire or power of renewing
hostilities. This marriage also changed the character of his
empire, and separated it still further from popular interests;
he sought out old families to give lustre to his court, and did
all he could to amalgamate together the old and the new
nobility as he mingled old and new dynasties. Austerlitz
had established the plebeian empire; after Wagram was esta-
blished the noble empire. The birth, on the 20th of March,
1811, of a son, who received the title of king of Rome,
seemed to consolidate the power of Napoleon, by securing to
him a successor.
The war in Spain was prosecuted with vigour during the
years 1810 and 1811.
The territory of the peninsula was
defended inch by inch, and it was necessary to take several
towns by storm. Suchet, Soult, Mortier, Ney, and Sebas-
tiani made themselves masters of several provinces; and the
Spanish junta, unable to keep their post at Seville, retired to
Cadiz, which the French army began to blockade. The
new expedition into Portugal was less fortunate. Massena;
who directed it, at first obliged Wellington to retreat, and
took Oporto and Olivenza; but the English general having
entrenched himself in the strong position of Torres Vedras,
Massena, unable to force it, was compelled to evacuate the
country.
While the war was proceeding in the peninsula with
advantage, but without any decided success, a new campaign
was preparing in the north. Russia perceived the empire of
Napoleon approaching its territories: Shut up in its own
limits, it remained without influence or acquisitions; suffering
from the blockade, without gaining any advantage by the war.
This cabinet, moreover endured with impatience a supreniacy
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
399
A
to which itself aspired, and which it had pursued slowly but
without interruption since the reign of Peter the Great.
About the close of 1810, it increased its armies, renewed its
commercial relations with Great Britain, and did not seem
indisposed to a rupture. The year 1811 was spent in nego-
tiations which led to nothing, and preparations for war were
made on both sides. The emperor, whose armies were before
Cadiz, and who relied on the co-operation of the West and
North against Russia, made with ardour preparations for an
enterprise which was intended to reduce the only power as
yet untouched, and to carry his victorious eagles even to
Moscow. He obtained the assistance of Prussia and Austria,
which engaged by the treaties of the 24th of February and
the 14th of March, 1812, to furnish auxiliary bodies; one of
twenty, and the other of thirty thousand men.
All the un-
employed forces of France were immediately on foot. A
senatus consultus divided the national guard into three bodies
for the home service, and appropriated a hundred cohorts of
the first ban (nearly a hundred thousand men) to active military
service. On the 9th of March, Napoleon left Paris on this
vast expedition. During several months he fixed his court
at Dresden, where the emperor of Austria, the king of Prussia,
and all the sovereigns of Germany, came to bow before his high
fortune. On the 22nd of June, war was declared against Russia.
In this campaign, Napoleon was guided by the maxims he
had always found successful. He had terminated all the wars
he had undertaken by the rapid defeat of the enemy, the
occupation of his capital, and concluded the peace by parcel-
ling out his territory. His project was to reduce Russia by
creating the kingdom of Poland, as he had reduced Austria
by forming the kingdoms of Bavaria and Wurtemberg,
after Austerlitz; and Prussia, by organizing those of Saxony
and Westphalia, after Jena. With this object, he had stipu-
lated with the Austrian cabinet by the treaty of the 14th of
March, to exchange Gallicia for the Illyrian provinces. The
establishment of the kingdom of Poland was proclaimed by
the diet of Warsaw, but in an incomplete manner, and Napo-
leon, who, according to his custom, wished to finish all in one
campaign, advanced at once into the heart of Russia, instead
of prudently organizing the Polish barrier against it. His
400
HISTORY OF
army amounted to about five hundred thousand men. He
passed the Niemer on the 24th of June; took Wilna, and
Witepsk, defeated the Russians at Astrowno; Pofotsk, Mohi-
low Smolensko, at the Moskowa, and on the 14th of Septem-
ber, made his entry into Moscow.
The Russian cabinet did not only rely for its defence upon
its troops, but on its vast territory and on its climate. As the
conquered armies retreated before ours, they burnt all the
towns, devastated the provinces, and thus prepared great dif-
ficulties for the foe in the event of reverses or retreat. AC-
cording to this plan of defence, Moscow was burnt by its
governor Rostopchin, as Smolensko, Dorigoboui, Wiasma,
Gjhat, Mojaisko, and a great number of other towns and vil-
lages had already been. The emperor ought to have seen that
this war would not terminate as the others had done; yet,
conqueror of the foe, and master of his capital, he conceived
hopes of peace which the Russians skilfully encouraged.
Winter was approaching, and Napoleon prolonged his stay at
Moscow for six weeks. He delayed his movements on account
of the deceptive negotiations of the Russians; and did not
decide on a retreat till the 19th of October. This retreat was
disastrous, and began the downfall of the empire. Napoleon
could not have been defeated by the hand of man, for what
general could have triumphed over this incomparable chief?
what army could have conquered the French army? But his
reverses were to take place in the remote limits of Europe; in
the frozen regions which were to end his conquering domina-
tion. He lost, with the close of this campaign, not by a defeat,
but by cold and famine, in the midst of Russian snows and soli-
tude, his old army, and the prestige of his fortune.
The retreat was effected with some order as far as the
Berezina, where it became one vast rout. After the passage
of this river, Napoleon, who had hitherto accompanied his
army, started in a sledge for Paris, in great haste, a conspi
racy having broken out there during his absence. General
Mallet, with a few others, had conceived the design of over-
throwing this colossus of power. His enterprise was daring;
and as it was grounded on a false report of Napoleon's death,
it was necessary to deceive too many for success to be pro-
bable. Besides, the empire was still firmly established, and
it, was not a plot, but a slow and general defection to destroy
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
401
it. Mallet's plot failed, and its leaders were executed. The
emperor, on his return, found the nation astounded at so
unusual a disaster. But the different bodies of the state still
manifested implicit obedience. He reached Paris on the
18th of December, obtained a levy of three hundred thousand
men, inspired a spirit of sacrifice, re-equipped in a short
time, with his wonderful activity, a new army, and took the
field again on the 15th of April, 1813.
But since the retreat of Moscow, Napoleon had entered on
a new series of events. It was in 1812 that the decline of
his empire manifested itself. The weariness of his domina-
tion became general. All those by whose consent he had
risen, took part against him. The priests had conspired in
secret since his rupture with the pope. Eight state prisons
had been created in an official manner against the dissentients
of his party
The national masses were as tired of conquest
as they had formerly been of factions. They had expected
from him consideration for private interests, the promotion of
commerce, respect for men; and they were oppressed by con-
scriptions, taxes, the blockade, provost courts, and duties
which were the inevitable consequences of this conquering
system. He had no longer for adversaries the few who re-
mained faithful to the political object of the revolution, and
whom he styled indealogists, but all who, without definite
ideas, wished for the material advantages of better civiliza-
tion. Without, whole nations groaned beneath the military
yoke, and the fallen dynasties aspired to rise again. - The
whole world was ill at ease; and one check served to bring
about a general rising. “I triumphed," says Napoleon him-
self, speaking of the preceding campaigns, “in the midst of
constantly reviving perils. I constantly required as much
address as voice. Had I not conquered at Austerlitz, all
Prussia would have been upon me; had I not triumphed at
Jena, Austria and Spain would have attacked my rear; had
I not fought at Wagram, which action was not a decided
victory, I had reason to fear that Russia would forsake,
Prussia rise against me, and the English were before Ant-
werp.
Such was his condition; the further he advanced
in his career, the greater need he had to conquer more and
"*
* Memorial de Saint Hélene, tome ii. p. 221.
D D
arada
102
HISTORY OF
more decisively. Accordingly, as soon as he was defeatedo
the kings he had subdued, the kings he had made, the allies
he had aggrandized, the states he had incorporated with the
empire, the senators who had so flattered him, and even his
comrades in arms, successively forsook him. The field of
battle extended to Moscow in 1812, drew back to Dresden in
1813, and to Paris in 1814; so rapid was the reverse of for-
tune.
The cabinet of Berlin began the defections. On the 1st
of March, 1813, it joined Russia and England, which were
forming the sixth coalition. Sweden acceded to it soon
after; yet the emperor, whom the confederate powers thought
prostrated by the last disaster, opened the campaign with new
victories. The battle of Lutzen, won by conscripts, on the
2nd of May, the occupation of Dresden, the victory of Baut-
zen, and the war carried to the Elbe, astonished the coalition.
Austria, which, since 1810, had been on a footing of peace,
was resuming arms, and already meditating a change of
alliance. She now proposed herself as mediatrix between
the emperor and the confederates. Her mediation was
accepted; an armistice was concluded at Plesswitz, on the
4th of June, and a congress assembled at Prague to negotiate
peace. It was impossible to come to terms. Napoleon would
not consent to diminished grandeur; Europe would not con-
sent to remain subject to him.
The confederate powers,
joined by Austria, required that the limits of the empire
should be to the Rhine, the Alps, and the Meuse. The nego-
tiators separated without coming to an agreement. Austria
joined the coalition, and war, the only means of settling this
great contest, was resumed.
The emperor had only two hundred and eighty thousand
men against five hundred and twenty thousand; he wished to
force the enemy to retire behind the Elbe, and to break up, as
usual, this new coalition by the promptitude and vigour of
his blows. Victory seemed, at first, to second him. At
Dresden, he defeated the combined forces; but the defeats of
his lieutenants deranged his plans. Macdonald was conquered
in Silesia; Ney, near Berlin; Vandamme, at Kulm. Unable to
obstruct the enemy, pouring on him from all parts, Napoleon
thought of retreating. The princes of the confederation of
the Rhine chose this moment to desert the cause of the empire.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
403
A vast engagement having taken place at Leipsic between the
two armies, the Saxons and Wurtembergers passed over to
the enemy on the field of battle. This defection to the
strength of the coalesced powers, who had learned a more
compact and skilful mode of warfare, obliged Napoleon to
retreat, after a struggle of three days. The army advanced
with much confusion towards the Rhine, where the Bavarians,
who had also deserted, attempted to prevent its passage. But
it overwhelmed them at Hanau, and re-entered the territory
of the empire on the 30th of October, 1813. The close of this
campaign was as disastrous as that of the preceding one.
France was threatened in its own limits, as it had been in
1799; but the enthusiasm of independence no longer existed,
and the man who deprived it of its rights found it, at this
great crisis, incapable of sustaining him or defending itself.
The servitude of nations is, sooner or later, ever avenged.
Napoleon returned to Paris on the 9th of November, 1813.
He obtained from the senate a levy of three hundred thousand
men, and made with great ardour preparations for a new
campaign. He convoked the legislative body to associate it
in the common defence; he communicated to it the documents
relative to the negotiations of Prague, and asked for another
and last effort in order to secure a glorious peace, the general
wish of France. But the legislative body, hitherto silently
obedient, chose this period to resist Napoleon.
He shared the common exhaustion, and without desiring it,
was under the influence of the royalist party, which had been
secretly agitating ever since the decline of the empire had re-
vived its bopes. A commission, composed of MM. Lainé,
Raynouard, Gallois, Flaugergues, Maine de Biran, drew up a
very hostile report, censuring the course adopted by the
government, and demanding that all conquests should be
given up, and liberty restored.
This wish, so just at any
other time, could then only favour the invasion of the foe.
Though the confederate powers seemed to make the evacuation
of Europe the condition of peace, they were disposed to push
victory to extremity. Napoleon, irritated by this unexpected
and harassing opposition, suddenly dismissed the legislative
body. This commencement of resistance announced internal
defections. After passing from Russia to Germany, they
were about to extend from Germany and Italy to France,
DD 2
404
HISTORY OF
north.
But now, as before, all depended on the issue of the war,
which the winter had not interrupted, Napoleon placed all
his hopes on it; and started from Paris on the 25th of January,
for this immortal campaign.
The empire was invaded in all directions. The Austrians
entered Italy; the English, having made themselves masters o.
the Peninsula during the last two years, had passed the
Bidassoa, under general Wellington, and appeared on the
Pyrenees. Three armies pressed on France to the east and
The great allied army, amounting to a hundred and
fifty thousand men, under Schwartzenberg, advanced by
Switzerland; the army of Silesia, of a hundred and thirty
thousand, under Blucher, by Francfort; and that of the north,
of a hundred thousand men, under Bernadotte, had seized on
Holland and entered Belgium. The enemies, in their turn,
neglected the fortified places, and, taking a lesson from the
conqueror, advanced on the capital. When Napoleon left
Paris, the two armies of Schwartzenberg and Blucher were
on the point of effecting a junction in Champaigne. Deprived
of the support of the people, who were only lookers on, Napo-
leon was left alone against the whole world with a handful of
veterans and his genius, which had lost nothing of its daring
and vigour. At this moment, he stands out nobly, no longer
an oppressor; no longer a conqueror; defending, inch by inch,
with new victories, the soil of his country, and at the same
time, his empire and renown.
He marched into Champaigne against the two great hostile
armies. General Maison was charged to intercept Bernadotte
in Belgium; Augereau, the Austrians, at Lyons; Soult, the
English, on the Spanish frontier. Prince Eugene was to de-
fend Italy; and the empire, though penetrated to the very
centre, still stretched its vast arms into the depths of Germany
by its garrisons beyond the Rhine. Napoleon did not despair
of driving these swarms of foes from the territory of France
by means of a powerful military reaction, and again planting
his standards in the countries of the enemy. He placed him-
self skilfülly between Blucher, who was descending the Marne,
and Schwartzenberg, who descended the Seine; he hastened
from one of these armies to the other, and defeated them alter-
nately; Blucher was overpowered at Champ-Aubert, Mont-
durim, Chateau-Thierry, and Vauchamps; and when his army
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
405
was destroyed, Napoleon returned to the Seine, defeated the
Austrians at Montereau, and drove them before him. His
combinations were so strong, his activity so great, his measures
60 sure, that he seemed on the point of entirely disorganizing
these two formidable armies, and with them annihilating the
coalition.
But if he conquered wherever he came, the foe triumphed
wherever he was not. The English had entered Bourdeaux,
where a party had declared for the Bourbon family; the
Austrians occupied Lyons; the Belgian army had joined the
remnant of that of Blucher, which re-appeared on Napoleon's
rear. Defection now entered his own family, and Murat had
just followed, in Italy, the example of Bernadotte, by joining
the coalition. The grand officers of the empire still served
him, but languidly, and he only found ardour and fidelity in
his subaltern generals and indefatigable soldiers. Napoleon
had again marched. on Blucher, who had escaped from him
thrice: on the left of the Marne, by a sudden frost, whic)
hardened the muddy ways amongst which the Prussians had
involved themselves, and were in danger of perishing; on the
Aisne, through the defection of Soissons, which opened a pas-
sage to them, at a moment when they had no other way of
escape; at Craonne, by the fault of the duke of Ragusa, who
prevented a decisive battle, by suffering himself to be sur-
prised by night. After so many fatalities, which frustrated
the surest plans, Napoleon, ill sustained by his generals. sur-
rounded by the coalition, conceived the bold design of trans-
porting himself to Saint Dezier and closing on the enemy the
egress from France. This daring march, so full of genius,
startled for a moment the confederate generals, from whom it
cut off all retreat; but, excited by secret encouragements,
without being anxious for their rear, they advanced on Paris.
This great city, the only capital of Europe which had not
been the theatre of war, suddenly saw all the troops of Europe
enter its plains, and was on the point of undergoing the
common humiliation. It was left to itself. The empress, ap-
pointed regent a few months before, had just left it to repair
to Blois. Napoleon was at a distance. There was not that
despair and that movement of liberty which drive a people to
resistance; war was no longer made on nations, but on govern-
ments, and the emperor had centered all the public interest
406
HISTORY OF
in himself, and placed all his means of defence in mechanical
troops. The exhaustion was great; a feeling of pride, of very
just pride, alone made the approach of the stranger painful, and
oppressed every Frenchman's heart at seeing his native land
trodden by armies so long vanquished. But this sentiment
was not sufficiently strong to raise the masses of the popula-
tion against the enemy; and the measures of the royalist
party, at the head of which the prince of Benevento placed
himself, called the allied troops to the capital. An action
took place, however, on the 30th of March, under the walls of
Paris; but on the 31st, the gates were opened to the con-
federate forces, who entered in pursuance of a capitulation.
The senate consummated the great imperial defection by for-
saking its old master; it was influenced by M. de Talleyrand,
who for some time had been out of favour with Napoleon.
This voluntary actor in every crisis of power had just de-
clared against him. With no attachment to party, of a profound
political indifference, he foresaw from a distance with won-
derful sagacity the fall of a government; withdrew from it
opportunely; and when the precise moment for assailing it
had arrived, joined in the attack with all his talents, his in-
fluence, his name, and his authority, which he had taken care
to preserve. In favour of the revolution, under the consti-
tuent assembly; of the directory, on the 18th Fructidor; for the
consulate, on the 18th Brumaire; for the empire, in 1804,
he was for the restoration of the royal family in 1814; he
seemed grand master of the ceremonies for the party in power,
and for the last thirty years it was he who had dismissed and
installed the successive governments. The senate, influenced
by him, appointed a provisional government, and declared
Napoleon deposed from his throne, the hereditary rights of
his family abolished, the people and army freed from their
oath of fidelity. It proclaimed him tyrant whose despotism
it had facilitated by its adulation. Meantime, Napoleon,
urged by those about him to succour the capital, had aban-
doned his march on Saint Dezièr, and hastened to Paris at
the head of fifty thousand men, in the hope of preventing the
entry of the enemy. On his arrival, (1st of April,) he heard
of the capitulation of the preceding day, and fell back on
Fontainbleau, where he learned the defection of the senate,
and his deposition. Then finding that all gave way around
TE E FRENCH REVOLUTION,
407
his son.
him in his ill fortune, the people, the senate, generals and
courtiers, he decided on abdicating in favour of his son. Ho
sent the duke of Vicenza, the prince de la Moskowa, and
the duke of Tarento, as plenipotentiaries to the confederates;
on their way, they were to take with them the duke of Ragusa,
who covered Fontainbleau with a corps.
Napoleon, with his fifty thousand men, and strong military
position, could yet oblige the coalition to admit the claim of
But the duke of Ragusa forsook his post, treated
with the enemy, and left Fontainbleau exposed. Napoleon
was then obliged to submit to the conditions of the allied
powers; their pretensions increased with their power. At
Prague, they ceded to him the empire, with the Alps and the
Rhine for limits; after the invasion of France, they offered
him at Chatillon the possessions of the old monarchy only;
later, they refused to treat with him except in favour of his
son; but now, determined on destroying all that remained of
the revolution with respect to Europe, its conquest and dy-
nasty, they compelled Napoleon to abdicate absolutely. On
the 11th of April, 1814, he renounced for himself and children
the thrones of France and Italy, and received in exchange
for his vast sovereignty, the limits of which had extended
from Cadiz to the Baltic Sea, the little island of Elba. On
the 20th, after an affecting farewell to his old soldiers, he
departed for his new principality.
- Summary
Thus fell this man, who alone, for fourteen years, had filled
the world. His enterprising and organizing genius, his
power of life and will, his love of glory, and the immense dig-
posable force which the revolution placed in his hands, have
made him the most gigantic being of modern times. That
which would have rendered the destiny of another extraor-
dinary, scarcely counts in his. Rising from an obscure
to the highest rank; from a simple artillery officer becoming
the chief of the greatest of nations, he dared to conceive the
idea of universal monarchy, and for a moment realized it.
After having obtained the empire by his victories, he wished
to subdue Europe by means of France, and reduce England
by means of Europe, and he established the military system
against the continent; the blockade against Great Britain.
This design succeeded for some years; from Lisbon to Moscow
he subjected people and potentates to his word of command
Conclusi
408
HISTORY OF
as general, and to the vast sequestration which he prescribed.
But in this way he failed in discharging his restorative mis-
sion of the 18th Brumaire. By exercising on his own account
the power he had received, by attacking the liberty of the
people by despotic institutions, the independence of states by
war, he excited against himself the opinions and interests of
the human race; he provoked universal hostility. The na-
tion forsook him, and after having been long victorious, after
having planted his standard on every capital, after having
during ten years augmented his power, and gained a kingdom
with every battle, a single reverse combined the world against
him, proving by his fall how impossible in our days is des-
potism.
Yet Napoleon, amidst all the disastrous results of his
system, gave a prodigious impulse to the continent; his
armies carried with them the ideas and customs of the more
advanced civilization of France. European societies were
shaken on their old foundations; nations were mingled by
frequent intercourse; bridges thrown across boundary rivers;
high roads made over the Alps, Apennines, and Pyrenees,
brought territories nearer to each other; and Napoleon
effected for the material condition of states what the revo-
lution had done for the minds of men. The blockade
completed the impulse of conquest; it improved continental
industry, enabling it to take the place of that of England, and
replaced colonial commerce by the produce of manufactures.
Thus Napoleon, by agitating nations, contributed to their civi-
lization. His despotism rendered him counter-revolutionary
with respect to France; but his spirit of conquest made him
a regenerator with respect to Europe, of which many nations,
in torpor till he came, will live henceforth with the life he gave
them. But in this Napoleon obeyed the dictates of his
nature. The child of war-war was his tendency, his plea-
sure; domination his object; he wanted to master the world,
and circumstances placed it in his hand, in order that he
might make use of it.
Napoleon has presented in France what Cromwell pre-
sented for a moment in England; the government of the army,
which always establishes itself when a revolution is con-
tended against; it then gradually changes, and from being
civil, as it was at first, becomes military. In Great Britain,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
409
internal war not being complicated with foreign war, on ac.
count of the geographical situation of the country, which
isolated it from other states, as soon as the enemies of reform
were vanquished, the army passed from the field of battle to
the government. Its intervention being premature, Cromwell,
its general, found parties still in the fury of their passions, in
all the fanaticism of their opinions, and he directed against
them alone his military administration. The French revo-
lution taking place on the continent saw the nations disposeil
for liberty, and sovereigns leagued from a fear of the libera-
tion of their people. It had not only internal enemies, but
also foreign enemies to contend with; and while its armies
were repelling Europe, parties were overthrowing each other
in the assemblies. The military intervention came later;
Napoleon, finding factions defeated and opinions almost for-
saken, obtained obedience easily from the nation, and turned
the military government against Europe.
This difference of position materially influenced the conduct
and character of these two extraordinary men. Napoleon,
disposing of immense force and of uncontested power, gave
himself up in security to the vast designs and the part of a
conqueror. While Cromwell, deprived of the assent which
popular exhaustion accords, incessantly attacked by factions,
was reduced to neutralise them one by the other; and to the
last, the military dictator of parties. The one employed
his genius in undertaking; the other in resisting. Accord-
ingly, the former had the frankness and decision of power;
the other, the craft and hypocrisy of opposed ambition. This
situation would destroy their sway. All dictatorships are
transient; and however strong or great, it is impossible for
any one long to subject parties or long to retain kingdoms.
It is this that, snoner or later, would have led to the fall of
Cromwell, (had he lived longer,) by internal conspiracies;
and that brought on the downfall of Napoleon, by the raising
of Europe. Such is the fate of all powers which, arising
from liberty, do not continue to abide with her. In 1814,
the empire had just been destroyed; the revolutionary parties
had ceased to exist since the 18th Brumaire. All the govern-
ments of this political period had been exhausted. The
senate recalled the old royal family. Already unpopular on
account of its past servility, it ruined itself in public opinion
410
HISTORY OF THE FRENCII REVOLUTION
by publishing a constitution, tolerably liberal, but which
placed on the same footing the pensions of senators and the
guarantees of the nation. The count d'Artois, who had been
the first to leave France, was the first to return, in the
character of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. He signed,
on the 23rd of April, the convention of Paris, which reduced
the French territory to its limits of the 1st of January, 1792,
and by which Belgium, Savoy, Nice, and Geneva, and im-
mense military stores, ceased to belong to us. Louis XVIII.
landed at Calais on the 24th of April, and entered Paris with
solemnity on the 3rd of May, 1814, after having, on the 2nd,
made the declaration de Saint Omer, which fixed the prin-
ciples of the representative government, and which was
followed on the 2nd of June by the promulgation of the
charter.
At this epoch, a new series of events begins. The year
1814
was the term of the great movement of the preceding five and
twenty years. The revolution had been political, as directed
against the absolute power of the court and the privileged
classes, and military, because Europe had attacked it. The
reaction which arose at that time only destroyed the empire,
and brought about the coalition in Europe, and the repre-
sentative system in France; such was to be its first period.
Later, it opposed the revolution, and produced the holy
alliance against the people, and the government of a party
against the charter. This retrograde movement necessarily
had its course and limits. France can only be ruled in a
durable manner by satisfying the twofold need which made it
undertake the revolution. Yt requires real political liberty in
the government; and in society, the material prosperity pro-
duced by the continually progressing development of civiliza-
tion.
INDEX.
ABBAYE, prisons of the, broken into by by Grisel, ib.; trial and death of the
the populace, 35.
accomplices in, 325.
Absolute power, progress of, during the Babæuf, Gracchus, proposes terms of
consulate, 382.
peace to the directory, 324; trial and
Admiral, l, attempts to kill Collot- death of, 325.
d'Herbois, 252.
Baillé, general, his opposition to the new
Aix, archbishop of, opposes the ecclesi- organization of the army, 91.
astical committee, 82.
Bailleul, M., his account of the state of
Alliances formed by the different states the Luxembourg when the directors
before the revolution, 99, 100.
first entered, 316, 317.
Allied powers, the, at Paris, 405.
Bailly, president of the national assem-
Amiens, treaty of, 371.
bly, his conduct on the suspension of
Anciens, council of the, 301.
the session, 31; appointed mayor of
Angers, taken by Cathelineau, 221. Paris, 50 ; resigns the mayoralty, 108.
Antoinette, see Marie.
Bâle, peace made at, with Prussia by the
Argone,.campaign of the, 161.
republic, 297 ; with Spain, 298.
Armies, the French, disasters of, in the Banquet of the household troops at Ver-
war with Holland and Belgium, 131, sailles, 67.
132.
Barbé-Marbois, elected president of the
Army, the new, organization of, 91.
elder council, 331.
Artois, count d', hastens the determina- | Barentin, keeper of the seals, his speech
tion of the cabinets of the coalition, at the opening of the states-general,
101 ; decree passed for his impeach- 23
ment, 125.
Barnave, induced by the manners of the
Assemblies, district, convoked for the
king and queen to take an interest in
elections, 18.
the royal family, 103 ; his speech in
popular, formation of, 64.
the assembly on the question of the
Assignats, origin of, 80; sale of, 319. king's trial, 105.
Augereau enters Paris at the head of Barras, appointed commander of the
the troops, 336; arrests Pichcgru, ib. armed force under the directory, 307;
Aumont, duke d', offered the command chosen a member of the directory,
of the army of citizens, 41.
311 ; harangues Bonaparte on his re-
Austerlitz, victory of, 389.
turn to Paris, 342 ; his dissolute course
Austria, plan of the campaign against, of life, 344; treats with the pretender,
326.
Louis XVIII., 349; his change of
the two kingdoms of Bavaria party, ib.; resigns, 354.
and Wurtemberg, instituted against, Barrère, liberal measures proposed by, in
888.
the convention, 224; his character and
principles, 251; arrest and trial of.
BABHUP conspiracy, the, 323; betrayed 287.
412
INDEX,
1
Bartélemy, replaces Letourneur in the 351; account of the expedition of
directory, 331.
Egypt, ib.; returns to Paris in tri-
Bastille, the attack on, 43–45.
uniph, ib.; his reception in Paris,
Batavian republic, the, constituted and 852; comes to an understanding with
allied with France, 297.
Siéyes, ib.; plots with Siéyes against
Battalion of Patriots, enrolment of the, the directory, 352, et seq. ; his answer
307.
to the alarmed republicans, 354;
Bavaria erected into a kingdom, 388. commotion created by him in the
Beauharnais, Eugene de, appointed council of the five hundred, by his
viceroy of Italy, 385.
entering with an armed force, 357;
Belgium ceded to France by Austria, outlawry demanded against him, ib.;
329.
appointed consul, 361; his govern-
Bender, marshal de, ordered by Austria ment, 366; sets out on the campaign
to defend the elector of Trèves, 126. of Italy, 367; victory of Marengo, 368;
Berlin, taking of, 390.
return to Paris, ib. the infernal ma-
Bernadotte dismissed through Siéyes, chine, 369; progress of France under,
350.
372; proposes the creation of a Legion
elected king of Sweden, 397. of Honour, 374; appointed consul,
Berthier, marshal, invested with the first for ten years, and afterwards for
principality of Neufchatel, 389.
life, 376; his answer to a deputation
Billaud-Varennes violently attacks Ro- from the senate, 379; preparations for
bespierre, 262; his denunciation of his coronation, 381; the coronation,
the Jacobins, 264; arrest and trial of, 382 ; offered the crown of Italy, 385 :
287.
receives the crown of tlie Lombards,
Biron ordered to advance upon Mons, ib. ; takes Vienna, 387; victories of
131 ; retreat of, 132.
Ulm and Austerlitz, rib. ; marches
Bishoprics, reduction of to the same against Prussia, 390 ; turns his atten-
number as the departments, 82.
tion towards England, 391; threaten-
Bohemia, war declared against by the ed with excommunication by the pope,
king, 130,
393; entry into Madrid, 394; divorces
Boissy d'Anglas, his courageoué con- Josephine, and marries the arch-
duct in the assembly, before the in- duchess Marie-Louise, 397; birth of
surgents, 290.
ܪ
his son, king of Rome, 398; his plan
Bouillé, general, establishes a camp at in the campaign against Russia, 399;
Montmedy for the reception of the entry into Moscow, 400; retreat from,
king, 102.
ib.; re-action against his power, ib.;
Bonaparte, Joseph, declared king of the his return to Paris, 403 ; abdication
two Sicilies, 388 ; receives the crown at Fontainebleau, 407 ; his character,
of Spain, 393 ; leaves Madrid, 396. 407, 408 ; compared with Cromwell,
Louis, made king of Holland, 409.
388.
Breton deputies, originators of the first
; Lucien, suspected in the five club, 93.
hundred, from the conduct of Napo- Brienne, his fall and its cause, 6; cha-
leon, 357; resigns his insignias of racter of, ib.
office, 358.
succeeds Calonne, 13; govern-
; Napoleon, appointed second in ment and character of, 13, 14.
command under Barras, 307; ap- Brissot, petition drawn up by, demand-
pointed general of the interior, and ing the dethronement of the king,
placed at the head of the army of 106.
Italy, 320; commencement of his
divides the emigrants into three
brilliant career, campaign against classes, 120; advocates rigorous mea-
Austria, 326; conquest of Italy by, sures against them, ib.
328 ; his return to Paris, 342 ; ho-
his speech respecting abdica-
nours paid to him, ib.; the expedition tion, 141.
to Egypt, ib.; sails from Toulon, ib. ; Brittany protests against the new divi.
learns the state of affairs in France, sion of the kingdom, 76.
3
INDEX.
413
sure, ib.
2
Commander of the
army, receives unlimited power, 47. scribed conventionalists, 284.
Brune, victories of, in Holland, 350. Cherasco, amnesty of, 327.
Brunswick, duke of, his manifesto, 143, Chouans, conspiracy of the infernal ma-
144.
chine, 369.
Church administration, new organization
CADOUDAL, Georges, principal leader of
of, 82.
the Chouans, 321; conspiracy of, 378; Cinq-cents, council of the, 301.
execution of, ib.
Cisalpine republic, formed by Bona-
Calendar, the republican, 233.
parte, 329.
Calonne, called to the ministry, 12 ; his Clergy, the, its sentiments towards the
ministry and character compared with i commons, 27.
those of Necker, ib.; his fall, 13.
its sitting in the church of Saint
Calvados, insurrection in, 220; sup-
Louis, 33.
pressed, 225.
-, necessity for making it depen-
Jampo-Formio, treaty of, 329.
dent, by the abolition of tithes, and by
Camus, presents the book of the con- making ecclesiastical property na-
stitution to the national assembly, ' tional, 79 , opposition of, to this mea-
113.
Canton, the institution of, 75.
its hatred to the revolution,
Carnot, appointed minister of war, and $0.
major-general of the republican ar-
schism, respecting the civil con-
mies, 295.
stitution of, 92 ; its refusal to take the
replaces Siéyes in the directory, oath of fidelity to the nation, ib.
311.
discontent of, 97.
at the head of the intermediate Clichy, the club of, 333.
constitutional party, tries to prevent Club, the, of '89, directors of, 94.
the struggle between the directory
dles impartiaux, 94,
and the royalists, 333.
des inonarchiques, 94.
Carrier, impeachment of, 278; his trial,
of the Jacobins, 94.
282
of Salm, 332.
Carteaux, general, pursues the sectionary -, of Clichy, 333.
army to Marseilles, 225.
Clubs, employed to influence the people,
-, defeated by the insurgent royal- 93.
ists, 308.
Clugny, succeeds Turgot in the ministry,
Cazeles, leader of the nobility against 11.
the revolution, character of his elo-
character of his elo- Coalition, the, second levy of made by
quence, 56.
the cabinet of Saint James, 196.
Cecil Renaud, her suspicious visit to
the new, forined, 345.
Robespierre's house, 252 ; her exami-
the fourth, 389.
nation and fate, ib.
the fifth, 393.
Centre, the, joined with the Lameth Collot-d'Herbois, arrest and trial of,
party, makes overtures to the court, 287.
104.
Commission of Twelve, the appointment
Chambres de vacations, suppressed by of, 206; insurrection against, 207.
some of the provincial parliaments, 76. Commission of Eleven, formation of,
Champ de Mars, preparations at, and
{
289.
procession to, on the confederation of | Committee of general safety, composition
the kingdom held there, 88.
of, 232.
Championnet, general, enters Naples, Committee of public safety, the formed
346.
at the Hôtel de Ville, 41; organizes a
Chapelier, his opinions on the question militia of citizens, ib.; conduct of the,
of the renewal of the assembly, 83. during insurrectionary war, 229; its
Charlotte Corday, assassinates Marat, sentence against Lyons, ib. ; its powers
218; death of, ib.; her replies before and members, 231, 232,
the tribunal, ib.; note.
Committees, the, strive to bring about
414
INDEX.
1
the fall of Robespierre by means of l pierre, 1.83; the king brought to its
Catherine Theot, 256, 257; the party bar, 184; M. Deseze's defence of the
of the, its members, 274 ; democratic king, 186; condemns the king to
members of the replaced by Thermi- death, 187; short duration of union
dorian members, 277.
in, and revival of animosities, 192;
Commons, the, wise conduct on the open- summons Dumouriez to its bar, 203;
ing of the states-general, 27; declare arrest of its commissioners by Dumou-
themselves the assembly of the nation, riez, ib. ; declares Dumouriez a traitor,
28; first decree of, after having con- 204 ; Isnard's reply to the deputies of
stituted themselves the national assem- the insurrections of May, 1793, 207;
bly, 29.
question of the abolition of the com-
Communal list, the, 363.
mission of Twelve, 210; debate on the
Commune, the, institution and adminis- accusation of the Girondists, 213, 214;
tration of, 76; demands an extraor- dangerous position of the, through the
dinary tribunal to try the conspirators insurrection of the departments, 221;
of the 10th of August, 157; chiefs of ' liberal measures proposed by Barrère,
the, ib.
224; its successes against the insur-
Compagnies de Jesus, proceedings of, 300. rectionary towns and departments,
du Soleil, murders and execu- 225, 226; condemns Marie-Antoinette
tions of, 300.
to death, 230 ; condemns the twenty-
Compulsory loans, the law of, 349; abo- two Girondists to death, ib.; decrees
Lished, 361.
the existence of the Supreme Being,
Concordat, the, signed and ratified, 373; 239 ; question of the arrests of Dan-
inauguration of, ib.
ton, &c., 244; Robespierre appointed
Condé, prince de, decree passed for his president, 253 ; Couthon presents the
impeachment, 125.
law of the 22nd Prairial, 253; debate
Condorcet, poisons himself, 231.
on the law of the 22nd Prairial, 254;
Consuls, installation of the, 361.
Robespierre's speech of the sth Ther.
Confederation, a, of the whole kingdom, midor, 260; decrees the arrest of the
appointed to take place in the Champ two Robespierres, Couthon, Lebas,
de Mars, on the 14th July, 87; cere- and Saint-Just, 266 ; position of, after
monies and fêtes of, $9.
the fall of Robespierre, 273, et seq.;
Constitution, act of the presented to the question of recalling the proscribed
king, 109.
members, 284; arrest of Billaud, Col.
Constitution of 1791, the, account of, lot, Barrère, and Vadier, 287; revives
110-112.
the old martial law, 287 ; its reception
of 1793, decreed by the Moun- of the insurgents of Germinal, 290;
tain, 222.
united under the Girondists, 293 ; de.
the, of the year III., 301.
crees the constitution of the year III.;
of Siéyes, 362-364.
301 ; decrees requiring the re-election
of the year VIII., publication of, of two-thirds of the members of, 305;
365; composition of, ib.
concentrates its powers in a committee
of the year X., the, 376.
of five members, 306; moderation of,
Constitutionalists, the, oppose the rigo- in the insurrection of the 13th Vene
l'ous measures advocated by the Giron- démiaire, 309; establishes itself a na-
dists against the emigrants, 120.
tional electoral assembly, 310 ; its close,
Constitutional circles, the, ordered to be 312.
closed, 335.
Conventionalists, the proscribed, recal
Convention, the, constitutes itself, 167; of, 285.
animosity of the Gironde and the 'Cordeliers, the club of the, 234.
Mountain, 168; denounces Robes- Council of Ancients, the, members of,
pierre, 171; animosity towards Marat, 302; form of decision and rejection,
ib.; fresh accusation of Robespierre, ib. ; list of its members condemned to
175 ; question of the king's trial, 180; exile by the loi de salut public, 388.
commencement of the discussion, 181; Council of Five Hundred, the, its mem-
speech of Saint-Just, ib.; of Robes- bers and functions, 302; list of its
INDEY
415
members condemned to exile by the volutionary power of the, 279; re-es
loi de sulut public, 337; dispersed by tablish their club at the Pantheon,
Napoleon's orders, 359.
322 ; their society closed by the di-
Councils, the, get the upper hand and rectory, ib.
disorganize the old directory, 346, Departments, division of France into,
347.
75; insurrection of the, 218, et seq.
Cour de cassation, establishment of, 86. Des condamnés, the law, 247.
Court, the, its opinion of the States-Ge- Deseze, M., delivers the defence of the
neral, 26 ; establishes troops at Ver- king, 186.
sailles, &c., 35; entirely renews the | Desmoulins, Camille, incenses the popu-
ministry, ib. ; equivocal position of, 85. lace on the banishment of Necker, 36;
Couthon, his character, 250; presents his character, 236 ; his picture of pre-
the law of the 22nd Prairial, 253 ; sent tyranny under the name of past
arrested, 266; released, 267; his exe- tyranny, 236—238; expelled from
cution, 271.
the Jacobins, 239; his execution, 245.
Crête, (remnant of the Mountain,) arrest Dillon, Theobald, ordered to advance
of seventeen members of the, 288.
upon Tournai, 131; terror in his
Curés, admission of into the clergy, 18. army, ib. ; his death, 132.
Curtius, the sculptor, his house sur- Directorial constitution of the year III.
rounded by the crowd, who take the 302-304.
busts of Necker and the duke of Or- | Directory, the, creation of, 302; dura-
leans, 36.
tion and powers of its members, 303;
Custine, superseded by general Hou first composition of, 311 ; wretched
chard, 228.
condition of in the Luxembourg, 316 ;
its division of labour according to the
DANICAN, one of the royalist generals, peculiar talents or acquirements of its
summons the convention to withdraw members, 317; its address to its agents,
its troops, 308.
318; attempts to revive paper money,
Daunou, chief author of the constitution
319 ; proposes mandats territoriaux, ib.;
of the year III., his character and attacked by the royalists and demo-
principles, 304.
crats, 322 ; changes iu by the royalist
Danton, chief leader of the commune, elections of the year V., 830; deter-
character and policy of, 158; his in- mines to attack the legislative majority,
terview with Robespierre, 241 ; his re- 335; removes the place of sittings of the
fusal to defend himself, 243; his ar- councils, 336; its message to the five
rest, ib; his execution, 245.
hundred, and the ancients, explaining
Dantonists, the, or moderate Mountain- the reason of its measures, 337 ; the
ists, 235; their fall, 239 ; execution of act of ostracism, 337, 338; returns to
their leaders, 245.
the revolutionary government, 340;
Debt, national, amount of, at the begin- its condition; makes war its only sup-
ning of the revolution, 13.
port, 341; its unavowed object in the
Defection, general, of the European expedition to Egypt, 342; annuls the
powers, from Napoleon, 402.
democratic elections of the year VI.
Delaunay, governor of the Bastille, at- 344; the old, disorganized by the coun
tempts to blow it up, 45.
cils, 346,347, two new parties in, 348,
Delbred, proposes the renewal of the list of the new, 349 ; plot against be
oath to the constitution of the year tween Bonaparte and Siéyes, 312, et
III , 356.
seq. end of the, 354.
Delessart, impeached and brought before District assemblies convoked for the
the high court of Orleans, 127.
elections, 18.
Democratical party, last attempt and Districts, the, assembly of, to vote men
final defeat of, 324.
for their defence, 40; organization and
elections of the year VI., 344; government of, 75.
those of the year VII., 346.
Duchies, numerous erection of, by Bona-
Democrats, system of the, 248; symbo- parte, 388, 389.
Lical terms used by the, 249; the re- Ducos, Roger, introduced into the direo
416
NDCX
tory, 847 • appointed one of the Europe, political state of before they
consuls, 361.
revolution, 98-100; stage of at the
Dumouriez, character and ministry of, time the Girondist ministry came into
127; his report as to the political power, 128, 129.
situation of France, 129; his projects
of war, the campaign of the Argone, FARGEAU, Lepelletier Saint, stabbed by
161; his nearly fatal blunder at a member of the household for having
Grandpre and the Islettes, 162; voted the death of the king, 192.
having conquered Belgium, he at- | Favras, the marquis de, condemned to
tempts an expedition into Holland, death by the Châtelet, 85.
194; hostilities between him and the Feuillants, club of the, opened in oppo-
Jacobins, ib.; his design of re-esta- sition to the Jacobins, 104.
blishing constitutional monarchy, 197, Feraud, mistaken for Frèron, and killed
defection of, 201; his interview with by the insurgents, 290; condemnation
a deputation from the Jacobins, 202 ; and rescue of his murderer, 292.
arrests the commissioners of the con- Flesselles, M. de, sent by the electors to
vention, 203; declared a traitor by calm the populace, 40; murder of, on
the convention, 204.
the quay Pelletier, 47.
Duphot, general, shot at Rome in a riot, Fontainebleau, abdication of Napoleon
343.
at, 407.
Duport, character and principles of, 58; Fouquier-Thinville, his accusation de-
his speech against closing of the states- | creed, 275.
general, 108.
Fouché, appointed minister of police,
Du Portail replaced by Narbonne, 125.
366.
France, state of, at the revolution, 2;
ECCLESLASTICAL property, necessity for organization of, 4; state of under
declaring it national, 78; two objects Louis XV. to Louis XVI., 5—8; divi-
gained by so doing, ib., utility of the sion of into departments, 75; comple-
sale of, 80.
tion of the reorganization of, 96.
Ecclesiastics, the dissentient, deny the
political and military situation
efficacy of duties performed by consti- of at the death of Louis XVI., 194.
tutional priests, 119.
French Club, the, established by Bertrand
Egypt, expedition to, 343.
de Molleville, 122.
Elba, island of, united to France, 377. I'rench monarchy, retrospective sketch
Election, everything becomes subject to,
of, 3.
in the new constitution, 75.
Frèron, obtains the accusation of Fou-
Elie, conduct of at the taking of the quier-Thinville, 275.
Bastille, 44.
forms the Jeunes Dorée, 279.
Emigrants, consternation of on the king's
arrest, 107.
Gaudin, Ernile, tumult occasioned by his
Emigrants, rigorous measures desired proposal of a vote of thanks to the
against the, by the Girondists, 120 ; in- council of ancients, 355, 356.
vited by the king to return, 121; act of General coalition formed against the
pardon proposed in favour of the, 371. revolution, 100; reasons which actu-
Empire, preconcerted scene for ushering ated the various states on joining it, ib.
in the, 379; proclaimed, 381.
Geneva united to France, 343.
Enghien, duke de, death of, 378.
Germinal, the rising of, 288, et seq.
England, political state of before the Gironde, the, its true chiefs, 118.
revolution, 100; various treaties of Girondist party, the, its principal speakers
ulliance and subsidies concluded by, 117
195, note; the only remaining belli- Girondists, the, wish for rigorous mea-
gerent power, 371; resumes hostilities, sures against the emigrants, 120;
377; declares France in a state of attack the ministry, 123; attack the
blockade, 391
whole ministry, 156 ; acouse Bertrand
D'Entraigues, his pamphlet on the de Molleville and Delessart, ib.
states-general, 18.
Girondist ministry, the, 127; called by
INDEX
417
the court the Ministère Sane Culotte, Hôtel des Invalides, the, broken into,
128; fall of the, 134.
and guns taken from. 42.
Girondists. the, their principles and posi . Elôtel de Ville, assembly of electors at,
tion at the opening of the convention 38; a permanent committee formed
168; denounced under the name of at, 41,
Intrigants by the Mountainists, 193; Hulin, conduct of, at the taking of the
struggle of with the Jacobins, 198 ; Bastille, 44.
conspiracies against, 204, 205; at- Hungary, war declared against, by the
tacked by Guadet, 205; accused by king, 130.
Vergniaud of conspiring with Du-
mouriez, 211; insurrection against INTERNAL machine, the conspiracy of,
the two and twenty leading members 369.
of the, 211--214 ; list of their names, Insurrections in Calvados, Gevaudan,
215 ; their arrest, ib.; fall of the, il. i and La Vendée, 119.
raise an iusurrection in the depart. Insurrection of the 10th of August, 146.
ments, 218.
Isnard, his speech on the question of a
Girondist generals, the, replace the con- declaration to the king, 123 ; his reply
stitutional generals, 228.
to the deputies of the agitation of
Girondists, the twenty-two, condemna- May, 1793, 207, resigns the chair, ib.
tion and death of, 230; their conduct Italy, conquest of, 328; second cam-
during the trial, ib.
paign of, 367.
Gregorian calendar replaces the repub-
lican calendar, 388.
JACOBIN club, origin of, 94; directors
Grenelle, camp of, reception of the of, ib.
Babeuf conspirators at, 324.
Jacobins, the struggle of, with the
Guadet attacks the Girondists in the Girondiste, 199; attacked by the Ther-
convention, 205.
midorians, 281.
Jena, battle of, 390.
HENRIOT receives the title of command- Jeunesse dorée, the, formed by Freron,
ant-general of the insurrectionists, 279; costume and composition of, 280.
209; demands the abolition of the | Jordan, Camille, the panegyrist of the
commission of twelve, ib. ; released by clergy, ridicule attached to him, 332.
Coffinhal, 268; turns the cannon upon Joubert, put at the head of the army of
the convention, ib. ; outlawed by the Italy, 348; death of, 350.
convention, ib.; his execution, 271. Jourdan, commands the army of the
Hebert, arrest of, 206.
Sambre-et-Meuse, 320.
Hebertists, the party so called, its prin- | Jury, trial by, introduced into criminal
ciples, 234 ; abolish the catholic wor-
causes, 86.
ship, ib.; attacked by Robespierre, Just, sec Saint.
235; struggle of with the committee of
public safety, 235, 236 ; its defeat, 239. KINGS of France, progress of the power
Hoche, receives the chief command of of, 3.
the republican army, 296 ; unsuccess-
ful attacks on the Chouns and the LACROIX, his execution, 244.
English army on its landing, 301 ; re- Lafayette, elected to preside over the
ceives the command of the coast, 321 ; night sittings of the states-general,
his generalship, ib.
40; appointed commander-in-chief of
Holland, expedition of Dumouriez into, the citizen guard, 50 ; his conduct on
198 ; conquest of, by the armies of the invasion of the palace at Ver-
the republic, 297; converted into a sailles, 71; takes the civic oath on the
kingdom, 388.
14th July, in the name of the federates
Llood, admiral, enters Toulon, 226.
and the troops, 89; resigns the com-
Houchard, general, supersedes Custine, mand of the national guard, 108; pro-
228.
cures an amnesty in favour of those
Hostages, the law of, 349 & abolished, who favoured the king's flight, 109 ;
961.
begins to lose his high reputation
418
INDEX
135; his last attempt in favour of Ligurian republic, the, threatened by the
legal monarchy, 139; failure of the king of Sardinia, 345.
attempt, ib. ; discussion of his accusa- Lit de justice, power of, in the hands of
tion, 145 ; his acquittal, ib.; military the king, 4.
insurrection of, against the authors of Loi de salut public, the, presented by the
the 10th of August, 154; arrested commission of the younger council, 337.
and confined at Magdeburg and at Lois organiques, the, preparation of, 289.
Olmutz, 156 ; his character, ib. Longwy is invested and taken by the
Lally-Tollendal, his speech in the assem- i Prussians, 159.
bly, 39.
Louis-Stanislaus-Xavier, prince, decree
Lambesc, the prince de, attacks the mul- of the assembly relative to, 121..
titude, 37.
Louis XIV., conduct and government
Lameth, the party so called, joins with of, 5; reaction after the death of, 6.
the 'Centre to re-establish the king, Louis XVI., character of, 9; consequencc
104.
of his selecting Maurepas as prime
Lamoignon, associated with Brienne, 15, minister, ib.; influence of the queen
ministry of, compared with that of over, 12 ; fixes the day for the convo-
Maupeou, ib.
cation of the states-general, 17 ; at-
Languedoc, protests against the new di- tempts of, at reform and authority,
vision of the kingdom, 76; attempts 19; policy of, ib.; vigil kept before
at insurrection made by the clergy the opening of the states-general, 21;
of, 85.
his speech at the first meeting of the
La Reveillère Depeaux, elected a mera- states-general, 22; couduct of with
ber of the directory, 310; endeavours respect to the states-general, 24; ad-
to establish the deistical religion, 319; vantage taken of a journey to Marly,
attacked by the councils, 347; resigns to remove him beyond reach of the
the directorial authority, ib.
counsels of Necker, 29; goes to the
Lazarists, the house of the, attacked, states-general, 31; purport of his
and grain taken, 41,
speech there, 31, 32; his mistake with
Lebas arrested, 266; released, 267; his regard to the states-general, 33 ; offers
death, 270.
to remove the assembly to Noyon or
Lebon, character of, 278; impeachment Soissons, 34; banishes Necker, 35;
of, ib.
expected departure of, 48; his answer
Lechelle, appointed sole general-in-chief to the deputation from the states-ge-
by the committee of public safety, 227. neral, 48, 49; his reception at the states-
Lecointre denounces Billaud, Collot, general, 50; his reception at Paris, 51;
Barrère, of the committee of public entitled the Restorer of French Liberty,
safety, and Vadier, Amar, and You- 53; the debate concerning his veto,
land, of the committee of general 65; his conduct at the attack of the
safety, 276.
palace of Versailles, 71 ; design of
Left, the, its principal speakers, 117. carrying him off to Peronne, so; his
Legendre renews Lecointre's impeach- reception of the deputies of the de-
ment of the democratic party of the partment, on the 14th July, 87; his
committees, 278.
speech at the confederation of the
Legion of honour proposed by Napoleon, nation, 89; prevented from going to
874; reception of, 375.
Saint Cloud by his own guard, 95;
Legislative body, debates as to its re- receives a secret declaration announce
moval to Saint-Cloud, 343.
ing speedy assistance from the coali-
Legislators, nomination of, 366.
tion, 101; sets out for Montmedy, 102;
Léoben, truce of, 328.
arrested at Varennes, 103; suspen-
Les suspects, passing of the law so called, sion of, 105 ; declaration of Pilnits
223.
regarding, 107; act of the constitu-
I Atourneur, elected a meinber of the tion presented to him, 109; closes the
directory, 311.
assembly in person, ib. ; his speech, ib.;
Letses de cachet, power of, 4; suppres- his reception of the deputies announc-
sion of, 10.
ing the opening of the National Legis-
Lovg.en-masse, decree of, 223.
lative Assembly, 114 ; question in the
INDEX.
419
ܪ
assembly as to the manner of address-Mandats territoriaux, issue of, proposed
ing him, 115 ; his speech at the as- by the directory, 319.
sembly, ib.; sanctions the decree of Manège, the party so called, 348; meet-
the assembly respecting his brother, ings of the closed, 350.
121; puts his veto on those respecting | Mantua, conference at, by the powers
the emigrants and the dissentient opposed to the revolution, 101; capi-
priests, ib.; message to, from the tulation of, 328.
assembly respecting the neighbouring | Marat denounced in the convention,
princes, 124 ; his reply, 126; intimi- 173 ; assassination of, by Charlotte
dated by the impeachment of Deles- Corday, 218; his influence after his
sart, 127; visits the assemicir with a death, 219.
view to the question of war, 229; dis- Marechaux d'empire appointed, 38).
misses the Girondist ministry, 134; Marengo, victory of, 368.
riots of the petitioners, behaviour of Marie Antoinette, her infuence over
the king, 137 ; proposal of Lafayette Louis XVI., 12; sentence and execu-
for him to go to Compiegne, 138; his tion, 230.
fall hastened by the manifesto of the Marie Louise, her marriage with Na-
duke of Brunswick, 144 ; reviews the poleon, 397.
defenders of the château on the morn- Martial law revived by the convention
ing of the 10th of August, 149; treat- under the name of loi de grande police,
ment of, on leaving the Tuileries, 151; 287.
imprisoned in the Temple, 153; his | Mars, the gallery of, prepared for the
trial demanded by the Mountain, 179; ancients, 354.
secret documents brought forward in Massacre, the, of the 2nd of September,
support of his accusation, 179, 180; 160.
beginning of the discussion respect- | Massena, victories of in Switzerland, 350.
ing his trial, 181; brought to the Maupeou, chancellor, plan of disorgani-
bar of the convention, 184; Male- zation of, 7.
sherbes offers to be his defender, 185; Maurepas, character and ministry of, 9;
the defence, 186; condemned to death, his influence over the mind of Louis
197; his conduct on hearing the sen- XVI., il.
tence, 188; interview with his family, Maury, the abbé, leader of the high
189; his death, ib.; his character, 189, clergy party, character of his elo-
190.
quence, 56 ; his speech on the ques-
Louis XVIII. lands at Calais, 410.
tion of the renewal of the assembly, 34.
Lucca given to the prince of Piombino, Menou replaced in the command of the
386.
army by Barras, 307.
Lutzen, battle of, 402.
i Merlin de Douai attacked by the coun.
Lyons, revolt of, 219; defence and tak- cils, 347; resigns the directorial au-
ing of, 226; sentence of the com- thority, ib.
mittee of public safety against, 229; Military code, the new, favourable to the
slaughter of the inhabitants of, ib. soldiers, 91.
Mirabeau, his revolutionary speech at
MAILHE, the deputy, opposes the dogma the states-general, 32 ; his message to
of the king's inviolability, 180.
the king, ib.; threatening message sept
Maillard heads the riot of women on the by him to the king, 49; character
5th of October, 68.
and principles of, 60; causes Necker
Maistre, M. de, quotation from his Cor- to be invested with a kind of financial
siderations sur la France, 154.
dictatorship, 77 ; his speech on the
Malesherbes, ministry of, 10; offers to extraordinary subsidy, 78 ; his speecli
defend the king on his trial, 185.
on the question of the renewal of the
Mallet, general, plot of, 400 ; its failure, assembly, 84; his great ascendancy
401.
over the court, 85; his triumph over
Malmesbury, lord, sent as plenipoten- the accusation conducted against hiin
tiary to France and Lille, 341.
by the Châtelet, 90; death of, 96.
Mandat murdered at the Hôtel de Ville, Molleville, Bertrand de, clief tool of the
.148.
court, 122.
420
INDEX.
&lonarchy, absolute, when established in manner of addressing the king, 115;
France, 4.
the king's speech, ib.; decree relative
Monarchy, constitutional, desire of Du- to the king's brother, 121; decree with
mouriez to re-establish, 197.
regard to the emigrants, ib.; with re-
Monsieur the king's brother, decree gard to the dissentient priests, ib.;
passed for his impeachment, 125 ; de- question of a declaration to the king
prived of his claim to the regency, ib. requesting him to require the neigh-
Montmedy, camp established at, by bouring princes to disperse the military
general Bouillé, for the reception of gatherings, 123 ; Isnard's speech, ib.;
the king, 102.
decrees the declaration, 124; passes-a
Montmorin, commissioned by the assem- decree impeaching Monsieur the king's
bly to inform the European powers of brother, the count d'Artois, and the
its pacific intentions, 102.
prince de Condé, 125; question of
Moreau appointed by Bonaparte to com- war, the report of Dumouriez, 129.
mand the army of the Rhine, 367. decrees the formation of a camp of
Dioscow, taking of, 400.
twenty thousand men at Paris, 133;
Mother of God, the, or Catherine Theot, decrees the banishment of the non-
made use of by the committees against juring priests, ib. ; letter to, from La-
Robespierre, 246.
fayette, 135; debates concerning the
Moulins, general, introduced into the riots of the 20th June, 136; division
directory, 347.
between it and the commune, 157 ;
Mounier, his speech in the assembly, 38. question of waiting for the Prussians
Dlountain, the party so called, its prin- under the walls of Paris, 159 ; desires
ciples and its position in the conven- to prevent the massacre of the 2nd of
tion, 169, 170; demands the trial of
September, 160 ; concluding observa-
Louis XVI., 179 ; decrees the consti- tions on, 164-166.
tution of 1793, 222; its success against Necker, appointment and ministry of,
the insurrectionary towns and depart- 11; compared with Calonne, 12;
ments, 225, 226 ; its measures against causes the adoption of the double re-
Robespierre, 263 ; seventy-six of its presentation of the third estate, 13;
members condemned to death, or ar- obtains the admission of curés into the
rested, 293.
clergy, ib. ; his reception in the states-
Mountainists, six democratic, condemned general, 22; character of his speech
to death by a military commission, 292. at the opening of the states-general,
DIurat made king of Naples, 393.
24; his opinion of, and views respect-
ing the states-general, 25; his loss of
NANCY, bishop of, proposal with regard influence, 30; nature of his measures,
to the catholic worship, $2.
ib.; dismissed, and entreated by the
revolt at, caused by the new or- king and queen to remain, 33; ba-
ganization of the army, 91.
nished by the court, 35; commotion
Nantes, re-establishment of the edict of, caused at Paris by his banishment,
10.
36; triumphal return of, to Paris, 51;
trial of ninety-four of the inha- appointed a kind of financial dictator,
bitants of, 278.
77; his resignation and departure
Naples, king of, advances on Rome, 345. from Paris, 90.
taken by general Championnet, Nobility, the, its opinion of the states-
346.
general, 26.
Napoleon, Jerome, receives Westphalia, | Notables, convocation of an assembly
390; driven from his capital, 396. of, 13; another, 18.
Narbonne replaces Du Portail as minis-
ter of war, 125.
ODEON appointed as the place for the
National assembly, the, constituted, 29 ; sittings of the members of the five
first decree of, ib.
hundred, 337.
National legislutive assembly, opening of Orangery, the prepared for the five
the, 113 ; early relations between it hundred, 354.
and the king, 114; question of the Orders, abolition of, by the parliamenta
INDEX.
421
of Metz, Rouen, Bordeaux, and Tou- Political state of Europe before the
louse, 76.
revolution, 98–100.
Orleans, duke of, his unfitness for a con. Pope, the, opposes the sale of eccle-
spirator, 61.
siastical property, and the civil con-
stitution of the clergy, 92 ; attends
PACIFICATION, the general, 370.
the coronation of Napoleon, 381..
Palais Royal, tumultuous assemblies held | Portugal, invasion of, 392.
in the gardens of, 35.
Précy, in concert with the marquis de
Paper money, origin of, 81; attempt of Virieux, appointed to the command
the directory to revive, 319.
of the insurrectionists of Lyons, 220.
Paris, arrival of troops at, and general Presburg, peace of, 388.
excitement of, 34; fortification of, 47. Priests, the dissentient, banished a second
Parliament, cause of the popularity of, time, 340; allowed to conduct their
under Louis XV. and Louis XVI., 6. worship on taking an oath of obedience,
Parthenopian republic prociaimed at
371.
Naples, 346.
Privileges, abolition of, 53.
Parties, state of, at the opening of the Proclamateur electeur, functions of, 362.
national legislative assembly, 116 ; at Provinces, the, altered into departments,
the death of Louis XVI., 192.
75,
Peace, general, except with England, Provincial list, the, 363.
341.
Provisional government, installation of,
Peninsula, national insurrection of the, 361.
393.
Prussia, campaign against, 390.
People, the, courted by all parties, 93. Prussians, invasion of the, 158.
Peronde, design of conveying the king
departure of, 164.
to, 85.
peace of Bâle with, 297.
Pétion, denounces the banquets of the Prussian monarchy, reduced by one half,
guards, 69.
390.
Petition of insurgents to procure the Puisaye, the marquis de, his conduct in
recal of the Girondist ministry, 136. the Vendean war, 300.
Philipeaux, denounces the manner in
which the Vendean war had been QUIBERON, descent upon by the English
carried on, 236 ; his execution, 245. and the emigrants, 301
Philosophers of the 18th century, influ- Quinze-vingts, the section of, threaten
ence and object of, 8.
insurrections unless the king is de-
Pichegru, elected president of the throned, 146.
your:ger council, 331; arrested by
Augereau, 336; conspiracy of, 376; REGNIER de la Meurthe demands the
his death, ib.
removal of the legislative body to
Piedmont, termination of war with, 326; Saint Cloud, under the superintend-
united to France, 377.
ence of Bonaparte, 343.
Piombino, tlie prince of, receives the Reign of Terror, the end of the, 271.
republic of Lucca, 386.
Representation, double, Necker causes it
Pilnitz, declaration of, 107.
to be adopted by the council, 18.
Pitt, various treaties concluded by, 195, Republic, the, situation of, at the instal-
note.
lation of the directory, 315, 316.
Plain, the portion of the convention so
military situation of, 320.
called, 167.
attacked by Russia, Austria,
Plenary courts, establishment of, 15; the and England, 345.
political attributes of power invested | Republican party, first appearance of
in, 16; abolition of, 17.
104.
Plenipotentiaries, the French, stopped Republicans, reasonable alarm of the,
and murdered near Rastadt, 345.
at the increasing power of Bonaparte,
Polignac, comtesse de, a committee of 354 ; the extreme, proscription put in
the nobility and clergy held at her force against, 361.
house, 26,
Revolution, the, its character and resulty
ܪ
422
INDEX.
1
ܪ
1; obstacles with which it had to anecdote of him on going to court,
contend, 2; course proposed to be fol- ib.; kills himself on hearing of the
lowed in reviewing its history, ib. ; death of his wife, 231.
when it dates from, 12 ; open advo-
Madame, condemned to death,
cacy of, in Mirabeau's speech at the 230.
states-general, 32; reasons of the Romairie, count de la, arrest of, for the
various classes for espousing the cause insurrection of La Vendée, 200.
of, 35; further progress, and more Rome, riots at, 343 ; it is changed into a
decided character of, assumed on the republic, ib.
13th July, 40 ; commencement of the Romme, the deputy, appointed the
hatred of the clergy to, 80; rapid es- organ of the insurrection of Germinal,
tablishment of the government of, 86 ; 291.
political state of Europe before the, .Royalist committee of Paris attacks the
98, 100; general coalition formed advocates of the two-thirds, 305.
against, 100; commencement of the
conspiracy, 325; failure of, 326.
dictatorial and arbitrary epoch of the,
elections of the year V. 330;
153 ; Danton's opinion of the, 158;
party, the, its opposition to the
its two distinct objects, 313; review re-election of two-thirds of the mem-
of, ib., et seg.
bers of the convention, 305 ; insurrec-
Revolutionary government formed, 231; tion of, 306, et seq.
return of the directory to, 340.
Russia, war with, 399.
tribunal, suspended, 275; sus-
pension of rescinded, by Billaud-Va- SAINT-DOMINGO, insurrection in, 371.
rennes, ib.
Saint-Just, his speech on the king's in-
Rewbell, elected a member of the direc- violability, 181; his threatening speech
tory, 311.
in the convention, 241, 242 ; his per-
Right, the, its principal speakers, 116. son and character, 250; recalled from
Riots on the 20th of June, the anniver- the army by Robespierre, 259; ar-
sary of the oath of the Tennis-court, rested, 266 ; released, 267 ; his execu-
136.
tion, 271.
Rochambeau, Marshal de, his opinion Saint-Leger, conduct and reception of,
respecting the war with Holland and at the convention, 292.
Belgium, 131.
Salle, marquis de la, appointed second in
Robespierre, animosity of the conven- command to the army of citizens, 41.
tion towards, 171; character of, ib.; | Salm, the club of, establishment of, 332.
denounced in the convention, 172 ; | Sans-culotides, part of the year so called
again accused by Louvet, 175; ex- in the republican calendar, 233.
cuses himself, 176; attacks the He-
Schism respecting the civil constitution
bertists, 235 ; accused of moderation, of the clergy, 92.
239; his speech regarding legal go- School of medicine appointed for the
vernment, 240; his interview with
sittings of the members of the an-
Danton, 241; his power and position, cients, 337.
252; Cecil Renaud's visit to his house, Sections, the, reduction in the meetings
ib.; appointed president of the con- of, 276 ; disperse the insurgents of
vention, 253; as high pricst he ofli- Germinal, 291.
ciates at the celebration of the new Senators, nomination of, 366.
religion, ib.; his speech, demanding a Senatus-consultus, obtained for the trang-
renewal of the committees, 260, 261; portation of the Chouan conspirators,
violently attacked by Billaud-Varen- 870.
nes, 262; his arrest, 266; liberated Sens, Brienne, archbishop of, appointed
and taken in triumph to the Hôtel de to the ministry, 13. See Brienne.
Ville, 267 ; his death, 271.
Siéyes, publication of his pamphlet on
Rooderer, sent for by the queen and ques- the third estate, 18; his propositions
tioned as to the safety of the king, for the union of the orders, 28; ch&-
149.
racter and principles of, 59 ; demande
Roland, character and mjeistry of, 128 ; the recal of the proscribed conven-
INDEX.
423
tionalists, 285; elected a member of that decree, 96; completion of the
the directory, 311; replaced by Car- re-organization of France, ib.; conduct
not, ib.; labours to establish legal re- of, on the departure of the king, 102 ;
form, 345; attacks the Jacobins, 350; commissions Dontmorin to inform
appointed one of the consuls, 361.
the European powers of their pacific
Spain, peace made with, at Bâle, 298, intentions, ib.; order issued by, for
Spain and Portugal, invasion of, 392. the arrest of any one leaving the king-
Spanish catechism, the, 395.
dom, 103 ; question of the king's trial,
States-general, the regular convocation 105 ; approaching close of the assem-
of, demanded by parliament, 15; day bly, 108; closed by the king in per-
of the convocation of, fixed by the son, 109 ; favourable reception of the
king, 17 ; appearance of d'Entraigue's king's speech, ib.
pamphlet on, 18; opening of, fixed | Switzerland, its change of constitution,
for the 5th of May, 1789, 19; cere- 343.
monies before and on the opening of, Symbolical words, the, of the democrats.
21, 22 ; vigil kept by the king, before 249.
the opening of, 21; the king's speech at,
22 ; Barentin's speech at, 23 ; Necker's TALLIEN, his speech denouncing the
speech at 24; importance of, ib.; views triumvirate, 265; with a few conven-
of Necker regarding, 25; opinion of tionalists, proposes to annul the third,
the court and nobility respecting, 26 ; 310; exposed by Thibaudeau, ib.
opened after various delays, and at- Talleyrand, prince of Benevento, proposes
tended by the king, 31 ; decrees the that the clergy should renounce eccle-
inviolability of its members, 33; ef- siastical property in favour of the
fect of Mounier's speech upon, 38; nation, 79; . appointed minister of
speech of count de Virieu at, 39; foreign affairs, 366; invested with the
sends a deputation to the king, ib. ;
principality of Benevento, 389.
election of Lafayette to preside over Taxes, illegality of, declared by the
the night sittings, 40 ; reception of national assembly, 29.
the king at, 50; constitutes the Chá- " Tennis court," oath of the, 31; riots on
telet a court for trying conspirators, the anniversary of the oath of the, 136.
53 ; abolition of privileges and taxes, Terrorist, class, the, 299.
ib. ; discussion of the declaration of the Theophilanthropie, attempt of La Re-
rights of man, 62 ; debate concerning Yeillére to establish the deistical re-
the king's veto, 65; ill-feeling excited ligion under that name, 319.
in, by the banquets of the guards, 69; Theot, Catherine, made use of by com-
deserted by Lally-Tollendal and Mou- mittees against Robespierre, 256.
pier, 74 ; loans voted by, their insuf- Thermidorian party, composition of, 274.
ficiency, 77; Mirabeau's speech on
members replace the democratic
the extraordinary subsidy, 78; con- members in the committee, 277.
mencement of the debate concern- Thermidorians attack the Jacobin club,
ing ecclesiastical property, 79; oppo- 281.
sition of the clergy, ib.; their recep- Thibaudeau, exposes the plan of Tallien
tion of the proposition of the bishop for annulling the third, 310.
of Nancy with regard to the catholic | Third-estate, the treatment and division
religion, 82 ; question of organization of, 4; first sharing of sway by, 7;
of the clergy, ib. ; question of their rank held by, and influence of, ib.; de-
renewal, 83; Chapelier, Maury, and feat of, 8; reappearance and in-
Mirabeau, on that question, 83, 84; creased power of, ib. ; appearance of
labours incessantly at the constitu- Siéyes's pamphlet on, 18; waits for
tion, 86; question of making peace the two other orders to unite with it,
and war, ib. ; strengthens the league 27 ; declares itself the assembly of the
against the civil constitution of the nation, 29; constitutes itself the
clergy, by attempting to frustrate it, national assembly, 29; take the oath
92; decree to put a stop to emigra- of the “tennis court,” 31; riots and
tion, 95; horror expressed against procession of with the busts of Necker
424
INDEX.
and Orleans, 36 ; attacked by the ! VADIER, arrest and trial of, 287.
prince de Lambesc, 37; refusal of the Varennes, see Billaud.
soldiers to fire upon it, ib.; siding of | Vendean war, the, 198—200.
the nobility with it, 39 ; more decided | Vendeans, the exhausted condition of,
character assumed by its insurrection 300.
on the 13th July, 40; arms taken by, Vendée, la, insurrection of, 1986-200;
from the gun shops, ib.; deceived in pacification of, 321.
the expected supply of arms, 42. Verdun is bombarded and taken by the
Thouret declares the states-general at Prussians, 159.
an end, 110.
Vergniaud, his picture of the peril in
Thuriot de la Rosière, enters the Bastille which the country stood in the middle
to examine the position of its guns, of 1792, 140; accuses the Girondists
43,
of conspiring with Dumouriez, 211.
Tilsit, peace of, 390.
Versailles, alarm created at, by the
Tithes, abolition of, 79.
women from Paris, 69.
Titles, abolition of, 87.
Veto, commencement of the debate con.
Toulon, capture of, 226.
cerning the, 65.
Treaty of Amiens, 371.
Vienna, taking of, 387; peace of, 396.
Treaty of Campo-Formio, 329.
Vienne, archbishop of, heads a deputa-
Treilhard, deposed, 346.
tion from the states-general to the
Trèves, elector of, engages to disperse the king, 39.
royalist gatherings, 126.
Vieux Cordelier, the, by Camille Desmou-
Trial by jury introduced into criminal lins, 236.
causes, 86.
Virieu, count de, his speech at the as-
Tribunes, nomination of, 366.
sembly, 39.
Triumvirate, the democratic, principles s marquis de, appointed with
and effects ,
Précy to command the insurrectionists
ral attack upon, 264, 265; arrest of, at Lyons, 220.
266; released, 267 ; death of, 270.
Troops, the, attempts made to reduce WAGRAM, victory of, 396.
the affection of, 84.
War declared against Hungary and Bo
Tuileries, the, attack of, on the 10th of hemia, by Louis XVI., 130.
August, 151 ; deserted by the king, ib.; Wellington, takes possession of Portu- .
blockade of, 210.
gal, 394.
Turgot, ministry of, 10; Malesherbes'! Westphalia given to Jerome Napoleon,
opinion of, ib. ; succeeded by Clugny, 390.
11.
Whitworth, Lord, the English ambassa-
Turin, meeting of the emigrant princes dor leaves Paris, 877.
at, 51.
Worms, formation of an organized body
Twelve, the commission of, appointment at, against the revolution, under the
of, 206; insurrection against, 207. Prince de Condé, 101,
Wurtemberg. erected into a kingdom,888.
i
ULM, victory of, 389.
United Provinces attacked by Pichegru, YORK, duke of, disembarks in Holland
297
witb an Auglo-Russian army 846.
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