Part 42 (1/2)
Marat was a journalist, president of the Jacobin Club, a member of the convention, and a violent advocate of revolutionary excesses. His b.l.o.o.d.y career was prematurely cut off by the hand of a heroine, Charlotte Corday, who offered up her own life to rid the country of the greatest monster which the annals of crime have consigned to an infamous immortality.
Robespierre was a sentimentalist, and concealed, under the mask of patriotism and philanthropy, an insatiable ambition, inordinate vanity, and implacable revenge. He was above the pa.s.sion of money, and, when he had at his disposal the lives and fortunes of his countrymen, lived upon a few francs a day. It is the fas.h.i.+on to deny to him any extraordinary talent; but that he was a man of domineering will, of invincible courage, and austere enthusiasm appears from nearly all the actions of his hateful career.
It was in the midst of the awful ma.s.sacre in the prisons, where more than five thousand perished to appease the infatuated vengeance of the Parisian mob, that the National Convention commenced its sittings.
Its first measure was, to abolish the monarchy, and proclaim a republic; the next, to issue new a.s.signats. The two preceding a.s.semblies had authorized the fabrication of twenty-seven hundred millions of francs, and the Convention added millions more on the security of the national domains. On the 7th of November, the trial of the king was decreed; and, on the 11th of December, his examination commenced. On his appearance at the bar of the Convention, the president, Barrere, said, ”Louis, the French nation accuses you; you are about to hear the charges that are to be preferred. Louis, be seated.”
The charges consisted of the whole crimes of the revolution, to which he replied with dignity, simplicity, and directness. He was defended, in the mock trial, by Deseze, Tronchet, and Malesherbes; but his blood was demanded, and the a.s.sembly unanimously p.r.o.nounced the condemnation of their king. That seven hundred men, with all the natural differences of opinion, could be found to do this, shows the excess of revolutionary madness. On the 20th of January, Santerre appeared in the royal prison, and read the sentence of death; and only three days were allowed the king to prepare for the last hour of anguish. On the 24th of January, he mounted the scaffold erected between the garden of the Tuileries and the Champs elysees, and the fatal axe separated his head from his body. His remains were buried in the ancient cemetery of the Madeleine, over which Napoleon commenced, after the battle of Jena, a splendid temple of glory, but which was not finished until the restoration of the Bourbons, who converted it into the beautiful church which bears the name of the ancient cemetery. The spot where Louis XVI. offered up his life, in expiation of the crimes of his ancestors, is now marked by the colossal obelisk of red granite, which the French government, in 1831, brought from Egypt, a monument which has witnessed the march of Cambyses, and may survive the glory of the French nation itself.
[Sidenote: General War.]
The martyrdom of Louis XVI. was the signal for a general war. All the powers of Europe united to suppress the power and the principles of the French revolutionists. The Convention, after declaring war against England, Holland, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Portugal, the Two Sicilies, the Roman States, Sardinia, and Piedmont,--all of which had combined together,--ordered a levy of three hundred thousand men, inst.i.tuted a military tribunal, and imposed a forced loan on the rich of one thousand millions, and prepared to defend the principles of liberty and the soil of France. The enthusiasm of the French was unparalleled, and the energies put forth were most remarkable. Patriotism and military ardor were combined, and measures such as only extraordinary necessities require were unhesitatingly adopted.
A Committee of Public Safety was appointed, and the dictators.h.i.+p of Danton, Marat, and Robespierre commenced, marked by great horrors and barbarities, but signalized by wonderful successes in war, and by exertions which, under common circ.u.mstances, would be scarcely credited.
This committee was composed of twenty-five persons at first, and twelve afterwards; but Robespierre and Marat were the leading members.
The committee a.s.signed to ruling Jacobins the different departments of the government. St. Just was intrusted with the duty of denouncing its enemies; Couthon for bringing forward its general measures; Billaud Varennes and Collot d'Herbois with the management of departments; Carnot was made minister of war; and Robespierre general dictator.
This committee, though required to report to the Convention, as the supreme authority, had really all the power of government. ”It named and dismissed generals, judges, and juries; brought forward all public measures in the Convention; ruled provinces and armies; controlled the Revolutionary Tribunal; and made requisitions of men and money; and appointed revolutionary committees, which sprung up in every part of the kingdom to the frightful number of fifty thousand.
It was the object of the Committee of Public Safety to destroy all who opposed the spirit of the most violent revolutionary measures. Marat declared that two hundred and sixty thousand heads must fall before freedom was secure; the revolutionary committees discovered that seven hundred thousand persons must be sacrificed.”
[Sidenote: Reign of Terror.]
Then commenced the Reign of Terror, when all the prisons of France were filled with victims, who were generally the most worthy people in the community, and whose only crime was in being obnoxious to the reigning powers. Those who were suspected fled, if possible, but were generally unable to carry away their property. Millions of property was confiscated; the prisons were crowded with the rich, the elegant, and the cultivated cla.s.ses; thousands were guillotined; and universal anarchy and fear reigned without a parallel. Deputies, even those who had been most instrumental in bringing on the Revolution, were sacrificed by the triumphant Jacobins. Women and retired citizens were not permitted to escape their fear and vengeance. Marie Antoinette, and the Princess Elizabeth, and Madame Roland, were among the first victims. Then followed the executions of Bailly, Mayor of Paris; Barnave, one of the most eloquent and upright members of the Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly; Dupont Dutertre, one of the ministers of Louis XVI.; Lavoisier, the chemist; Condorcet, the philosopher; General Custine; and General Houchard; all of whom had been the allies of the present dominant party. The Duke of Orleans, called _egalite_, who had supported the revolt of the 10th of August, and had voted for the execution of the king, shared the fate of Louis XVI. He was the father of Louis Philippe, and, of all the victims of the revolution, died the least lamented.
The ”Decemvirs” had now destroyed the most ill.u.s.trious advocates of const.i.tutional monarchy and of republican liberty. The slaughter of their old friends now followed. The first victim was Danton himself, who had used his influence to put a stop to the b.l.o.o.d.y executions which then disgraced the country, and had recognized the existence of a G.o.d and the rights of humanity. For such sentiments he was denounced and executed, together with Camille Desmoulins, and Lacroix, who perished because they were less wicked than their a.s.sociates. Finally, the anarchists themselves fell before the storm which they had raised, and Hebert, Gobet, Clootz, and Vincent died amid the shouts of general execration. The Committee of Public Safety had now all things in their own way, and, in their iron hands, order resumed its sway from the influence of terror. ”The history of the world has no parallel to the horrors of that long night of suffering, because it has no parallel to the guilt which preceded it; tyranny never a.s.sumed so hideous a form, because licentiousness never required so severe a punishment.”
The Committee of Public Safety, now confident of its strength, decreed the disbanding of the revolutionary army, raised to overawe the capital, and the dissolution of all the popular societies which did not depend on the Jacobin Club, and devoted all their energies to establish their power. But death was the means which they took to secure it, and two hundred thousand victims filled the prisons of France.
[Sidenote: Death of Robespierre.]
At last, fear united the members of the Convention, and they resolved to free the country of the great tyrant who aimed at the suppression of all power but his own. ”Do not flatter yourselves,” said Tallien to the Girondists, ”that he will spare you, for you have committed an unpardonable offence in being freemen.” ”Do you still live?” said he to the Jacobins; ”in a few days, he will have your heads if you do not take his.” All parties in the a.s.sembly resolved to overthrow their common enemy. Robespierre, the chief actor of the b.l.o.o.d.y tragedy, Dumas, the president of the Revolutionary Tribunal, Henriot, the commander of the National Guard, Couthon and St. Just, the tools of the tyrant, were denounced, condemned, and executed. The last hours of Robespierre were horrible beyond description. When he was led to execution, the blood flowed from his broken jaw, his face was deadly pale, and he uttered yells of agony, which filled all hearts with terror. But one woman, nevertheless, penetrated the crowd which surrounded him, exclaiming, ”Murderer of my kindred! your agony fills me with joy; descend to h.e.l.l, covered with the curses of every mother in France.”
Thus terminated the Reign of Terror, during which, nearly nineteen thousand persons were guillotined; and among these were over two thousand n.o.bles and one thousand priests, besides immense numbers of other persons, by war or the axe, in other parts of France.
But vigorous measures had been adopted to carry on the war against united Christendom. No less than two hundred and eighty thousand men were in the field, on the part of the allies, from Basle to Dunkirk.
Toulon and Lyons had raised the standard of revolt, Mayence gave the invaders a pa.s.sage into the heart of the kingdom, while sixty thousand insurgents in La Vendee threatened to encamp under the walls of Paris.
But under the exertions of the Committee, and especially of Carnot, the minister of war, still greater numbers were placed under arms, France was turned into an immense workshop of military preparations, and the whole property of the state, by means of confiscations and a.s.signats, put at the disposal of the government. The immense debts of the government were paid in paper money, while conscription filled the ranks with all the youth of the state. Added to all this force which the government had at its disposal, it must be remembered that the army was burning with enthusiastic dreams of liberty, and of patriotism, and of glory. No wonder that such a nation of soldiers and enthusiasts should have been able to resist the armies of united Christendom.
[Sidenote: New Const.i.tution.]
On the death of Robespierre, (July, 1794,) a great reaction succeeded the Reign of Terror. His old a.s.sociates and tools were executed or transported, the club of the Jacobins was closed, the Revolutionary Tribunals were suppressed, the rebellious faubourgs were subdued, the National Guard was reorganized, and a new const.i.tution was formed.
[Sidenote: The Directory.]
The const.i.tution of 1798, framed under different influences, established the legislative power among two councils,--that of the _Five Hundred_, and that of the _Ancients_. The former was intrusted with the power of originating laws; the latter had the power to reject or pa.s.s them. The executive power was intrusted to five persons, called _Directors_, who were nominated by the Council of Five Hundred, and approved by that of the Ancients. Each individual was to be president by rotation during three months, and a new director was to be chosen every year. The Directory had the entire disposal of the army, the finances, the appointment of public functionaries, and the management of public negotiations.