The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the French Republic
Page 28
CHAPTER X.
ROYALTY ABOLISHED.
Tallien, in his account of the times, traces the events leading up tothese September days; he marks among the causes of the publicindignation the scandalous acquittals of the Orleans High Court, and theapproach of the foreign armies, after the capture of Longwy and Verdun.Then he proceeds:
"At the same time, a criminal exposed in the public place had thetemerity to cry on the scaffold, 'Long live the King! Long live theQueen! Long live Lafayette! Long live the Prussians! To the devil withthe Nation!' These utterances provoked the anger of the people, and thewretch would have perished on the instant had not the attorney of theCommune shielded him with his own body, and had him taken back to prisonto be turned over to the judges. In the course of his examination hedeclared that for several days money had been scattered profusely in theprisons, and that, at the first opportunity, the brigands there held indurance were to be armed in the service of the counter-revolutionists!
"Moreover, no one is ignorant that it was in the prisons that the falsenotes put in circulation were forged; and, in fact, during theexpedition of the 2nd of September, there were found in the prisonsplates, paper, and all the necessary apparatus for issuing the notes.These articles are in existence now, and are deposited in the archivesof the courts....
"Soon thousands of citizens were assembled under the banners of liberty,ready to march. But before their departure, a simple and naturalreflection occurred to them:
"'At the very moment that we march against the enemy,' they said, 'whenwe go to shed our blood in defense of the country, we do not wish toleave our fathers, our wives, our children, our old folks, exposed tothe onslaughts of the reprobates shut up in the prisons. Before settingout against the foreign enemies, we must first wipe out those in ourmidst.'
"Such was the language of these citizens, when two refractory priestswhom they were taking to the Abbey Prison, hearing some seditious cries,offered insults to the Revolution. The rage of the people was at whiteheat....
"The Swiss, the assassins of the people on the 10th of August,imprisoned to the number of some three hundred, were set free andincorporated in the national battalions....
"Such were the circumstances which preceded and provoked the events ofSeptember, events unquestionably terrible, and which, in time of peacewould demand legal vengeance, but which, in a period of agitation, it isbetter to draw the veil over, leaving to the historian the task ofappreciating this period of the Revolution, which, however, had manymore uses than one thinks."
To wind up the portrayal of this redoubtable evolution, I take thisextract from a speech of Robespierre's:
"They have spoken to you often of the events of September 2. That is thesubject at which I am impatient to arrive. I shall treat it in anabsolutely disinterested manner....
"The general council of the Commune, far from exciting the events ofSeptember, did its levellest to prevent them. In order to form a justidea of these occurrences, one must seek for truth not alone incalumnious orations in which they are distorted, but in the history ofthe Revolution. If you have the idea that the mental impulse given bythe insurrection of August 10 had not entirely subsided by the beginningof September, you are mistaken. There is not a single likeness betweenthe two periods....
"The greatest conspirators of August 10 were withdrawn from the wrath ofthe victorious people, who had consented to place them in the hands of anew tribunal. Nevertheless, after judging three or four minor criminals,the tribunal rested. Montmorin was acquitted, the Prince of Poix andother conspirators of like importance were fraudulently set free. Vastimpositions of this character were coming to light, new proofs of theconspiracy of the court were developing daily. Nearly all the patriotswounded at the Tuileries died in the arms of their brother Parisians.Indignation was smouldering in all hearts. A new cause burst it intoflame. Many citizens had believed that the 10th of August would breakthe thread of the royalist conspiracies, they considered the war closed.Suddenly the news of the taking of Longwy hurtled through Paris; Verdunhad been given up, Brunswick with his army was headed for Paris. Nofortified place interposed between us and our enemies. Our army,divided, almost ruined by the treasons of Lafayette, was lacking ineverything. Arms had to be found, camp equipments, provisions, men. TheExecutive Council dissimulated neither its fears nor embarrassment.Danton appeared before the Assembly, graphically pictured to it itsperils and resources, and besought it to take vigorous measures. He wentto the City Hall, rang the alarm bell, fired the guns, and declared thecountry in danger. In an instant forty thousand men, armed and equipped,were on the march to Chalons. In the midst of this universal enthusiasmthe approach of the out-land armies reawakened in every breastsentiments of indignation and vengeance against the traitors who hadbeckoned in the enemy. Before leaving their wives and children, thecitizens, the vanquishers of the Tuileries, desired the punishment ofthe conspirators, which had been promised them. They ran to the prisons.Could the magistrates halt the people! for it was a movement of thepeople; not, as some have ridiculously supposed, a fragmentary seditionof a few rascals paid to assassinate their fellows. The Commune, theysay, should have proclaimed martial law. Martial law against the people,with the enemy drawing nigh! Martial law after the 10th of August!Martial law in favor of the accomplices of a tyranny dethroned by thepeople! What could the magistrates do against the determined will of anindignant population, which opposed to the magistrates' talk the memoryof its own heroism on August 10, its present devotion in rushing to thefront, and the long-drawn-out immunity from punishment enjoyed by thetraitors?...
"They protest that innocent persons perished in these executions; theyhave been pleased to exaggerate the number of these. Even one, nodoubt, is too many, citizens! Mourn that cruel mistake, as we have forlong mourned it! Mourn even the guilty ones reserved for the law'sretribution, who fell under the sword of popular justice!"
The volunteers, who in those September days enrolled in multitudes, weresent first to the intermediary camps, where they received the rudimentsof military training. Thence they were sent to the army. Their couragesaved France and inaugurated the victories of the Republic.
Thanks, O, God! To-day I have seen the triumph which crowns fifteencenturies of struggle maintained by our oppressed fathers against theiroppressors; by slaves, serfs, and vassals against Kings, nobles andclergy; by the descendants of the conquered Gauls against thedescendants of the Frankish conquerors.
Gaul was a slave--I see her sovereign! Her casqued and mitred tyrantsare cut off.
The new National Convention assembled at the palace of the Tuileries,and went into session on Friday, September 21, 1792, at quarter pasttwelve.
Petion presided; the secretaries were Condorcet, Rabaud St. Etienne,Vergniaud, Camus, and Lassource.
Couthon took the floor, and exhorted his colleagues: "Citizens, ourmission is sublime! The people has reposed its confidence in us--let usapprove ourselves worthy of it!"
"There is one act which you can not put off till to-morrow, withoutbetraying the will of the nation," declared Collot D'Herbois. "That isthe abolition of royalty."
"Certes," assented Abbot Gregory, "no one intends to preserve the raceof Kings in France. We know that all dynasties are but broods ofvampires; we must reassure the friends of liberty; we must destroy thistalisman, whose magic power is still capable of stupefying so many. Iask, then, that by a solemn law, you consecrate the abolition ofroyalty."
The whole Assembly rose with a spontaneous movement, and with cheersacclaimed the motion of Gregory, who continued:
"Kings are to the moral order what monsters are to the physical. Courtsare the smithy of crimes and the fastness of tyrants. The history ofKings is the martyrdom of nations. We are all penetrated with thistruth--why further discuss it? I ask that my motion be put to a vote,after it shall have been drafted with a preamble comportable to thesolemnity of the decision."
"The preamble of your motion, citizen, is the history of the crimes ofLouis XVI,"
said Ducot.
The president rose and read:
"THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DECREES:
"ROYALTY IS ABOLISHED IN FRANCE."
Shouts of joy, cries of "Long live the Nation! Long live the Republic!"rang from every throat, members of the Convention and spectators in thegalleries alike. The tumultuous rejoicing lasted for several minutes.
The session adjourned.
The members of the Convention passed out to cries of:
"Long live the Nation!"
"Long live the Republic!"
"Down with Kings and nobles!"