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Authors: Robert Harvey
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TERROR
During Miranda’s first arrest and trial, Paris was reeling from the battle between Girondins and Jacobins which would eventually culminate in the climax of the Revolution – an orgy of blood. The Girondins still had a majority in the Convention. When news of Dumouriez’s plot leaked out, the Jacobins instantly accused the Girondins of being behind him. The Jacobins planned an ambush on the Assembly on 10 March 1793, and intended to seize many Girondin deputies by force.
Gaining intelligence of this, the Girondins launched a counterattack, passing a motion of censure on Marat, who had urged the people to rise against the Assembly. The radical leader was forced into hiding. The Girondins were determined to take the initiative against their conspiratorial rivals, but did not summon the courage to move the Assembly from Paris, the Jacobin stronghold.
The Jacobins now assembled a small, well-organized army of around 2,000 in the Champs Elysée in central Paris, accompanied by their Paris mob: this force had guns and howitzers and surrounded the unwary deputies. The leaders of the uncommitted deputies, ‘the Plain’, urged the Girondins to give themselves up.
When the Girondins asked to leave the Assembly, they were stopped by soldiers: ‘Return to your posts: the people denounce the traitors who are in the heart of your assembly and will not depart until their will is accomplished.’ Twenty-two Girondin leaders were arrested, being convicted of ‘royalism’. The Girondins were prevented from speaking in their own defence at the subsequent tribunal.
Some forty-two deputies were executed, committed suicide, or fled abroad. Brissot went wretchedly to his execution along with Vergniaud and the others, and even Velaze’s corpse – he had killed himself with a dagger when sentence was pronounced – was guillotined! The wife of Robert declared memorably on her way to the scaffold, as she passed the Statue of Liberty: ‘Ah, Liberty. What crimes are committed in your name.’
The Jacobins were left in undisputed control at the heart of central government, if not the country, a classic instance of a revolution devouring its children. The legal system was all but non-existent, religion outlawed, taxes uncollected and the assignat worthless currency. Revolutionary terror alone reigned, confiscating the necessary revenues, putting to death generals who did not achieve great victories, and some who did who were thought to pose a threat to the government. General Custine was condemned, remarking philosophically that ‘France is a woman and my hair is going grey’.
The new government was run by the ten to twelve-man Committee of Public Safety and the slightly less powerful Committee of Public Security. Husbands were compelled to pin outside their homes the names of all those inside, in a forerunner of modern totalitarian methods of state control. Some 300,000, at a conservative estimate, were armed as stormtroopers of the Revolution, a third of them women. A revolutionary Tribunal was set up, consisting of six judges, two public assistants and, as a formality, twelve jurymen.
The two Jacobin trump cards were a promise to suppress any discontent in the army by declaring it in a state of mutiny, which would condemn opponents to the guillotine; and an exhortation to the poor to declare war on the rich. In fact any external sign of wealth was regarded as sufficient grounds for condemnation.
Egalité
had replaced
Liberté
as the keyword of the Revolution.
The Jacobins had an extensive propaganda network throughout the country, as well as an enormous spy network. A decree of terror was issued by the Committee of Public Security to its angels of death:
Let your energy awaken anew as the term of your labour approaches. The Convention charges you to complete the purificationand reorganization of the constituted authorities with the least possible delay, and to report the conclusion of these two operations before the end of
During Miranda’s first arrest and trial, Paris was reeling from the battle between Girondins and Jacobins which would eventually culminate in the climax of the Revolution – an orgy of blood. The Girondins still had a majority in the Convention. When news of Dumouriez’s plot leaked out, the Jacobins instantly accused the Girondins of being behind him. The Jacobins planned an ambush on the Assembly on 10 March 1793, and intended to seize many Girondin deputies by force.
Gaining intelligence of this, the Girondins launched a counterattack, passing a motion of censure on Marat, who had urged the people to rise against the Assembly. The radical leader was forced into hiding. The Girondins were determined to take the initiative against their conspiratorial rivals, but did not summon the courage to move the Assembly from Paris, the Jacobin stronghold.
The Jacobins now assembled a small, well-organized army of around 2,000 in the Champs Elysée in central Paris, accompanied by their Paris mob: this force had guns and howitzers and surrounded the unwary deputies. The leaders of the uncommitted deputies, ‘the Plain’, urged the Girondins to give themselves up.
When the Girondins asked to leave the Assembly, they were stopped by soldiers: ‘Return to your posts: the people denounce the traitors who are in the heart of your assembly and will not depart until their will is accomplished.’ Twenty-two Girondin leaders were arrested, being convicted of ‘royalism’. The Girondins were prevented from speaking in their own defence at the subsequent tribunal.
Some forty-two deputies were executed, committed suicide, or fled abroad. Brissot went wretchedly to his execution along with Vergniaud and the others, and even Velaze’s corpse – he had killed himself with a dagger when sentence was pronounced – was guillotined! The wife of Robert declared memorably on her way to the scaffold, as she passed the Statue of Liberty: ‘Ah, Liberty. What crimes are committed in your name.’
The Jacobins were left in undisputed control at the heart of central government, if not the country, a classic instance of a revolution devouring its children. The legal system was all but non-existent, religion outlawed, taxes uncollected and the assignat worthless currency. Revolutionary terror alone reigned, confiscating the necessary revenues, putting to death generals who did not achieve great victories, and some who did who were thought to pose a threat to the government. General Custine was condemned, remarking philosophically that ‘France is a woman and my hair is going grey’.
The new government was run by the ten to twelve-man Committee of Public Safety and the slightly less powerful Committee of Public Security. Husbands were compelled to pin outside their homes the names of all those inside, in a forerunner of modern totalitarian methods of state control. Some 300,000, at a conservative estimate, were armed as stormtroopers of the Revolution, a third of them women. A revolutionary Tribunal was set up, consisting of six judges, two public assistants and, as a formality, twelve jurymen.
The two Jacobin trump cards were a promise to suppress any discontent in the army by declaring it in a state of mutiny, which would condemn opponents to the guillotine; and an exhortation to the poor to declare war on the rich. In fact any external sign of wealth was regarded as sufficient grounds for condemnation.
Egalité
had replaced
Liberté
as the keyword of the Revolution.
The Jacobins had an extensive propaganda network throughout the country, as well as an enormous spy network. A decree of terror was issued by the Committee of Public Security to its angels of death:
Let your energy awaken anew as the term of your labour approaches. The Convention charges you to complete the purificationand reorganization of the constituted authorities with the least possible delay, and to report the conclusion of these two operations before the end of
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