“How right you are about Paris stinking with blood,” he said; “the smell of it and death have begun to pollute the very atmosphere we breathe. Had I my way I would lop off another hundred heads, then make an end of this madness.”
Tallien’s small, dark eyes glittered. “Then, Citizen, your head would certainly be the hundred-and-first to roll into the basket. The guillotine must be kept moving for our own preservation. Our trouble is that too many, and mostly the wrong, heads are falling at the moment.”
Well content with the way the party had started, Roger thought it undiplomatic to pursue the conversation further for the time being; so he tactfully changed the subject. When they reached the Bois, Maître Blanchard followed the instructions Roger had already given him, and drove on until they came opposite the opening of a glade that led into the densest part of the wood. They alighted there and carried the hampers along to a small clearing which was hidden from the track, while Blanchard drove on a little way, hobbled his horse, and returned to keep watch at the entrance of the glade.
As they spread out a tablecloth and unpacked from the hampers the cold viands and a big wine-cooler full of bottles wedged into chopped ice, it suddenly struck Roger that it was in just such a place that he had intended to conceal the Royal Family for the day nearly two years earlier. Since then—exclusive of France’s losses in her campaigns against foreign enemies—by the annihilation of the population of La Vendée, the civil war against the Federalists and the massacres in the cities, it was, now estimated that over a million people had perished. It was too, he reflected, at this very hour of the day that the ever-lengthening line of tumbrels would be carting another company of victims to the guillotine.
None of his companions appeared to be entertaining such grim thoughts. On the contrary, as they sprawled in the sunshine, the peace and charm of their surroundings, by contrast with the dusty, fear-ridden streets of Paris, made them behave with the lightheartedness of schoolboys out on a spree. It was not until they had all eaten and drunk well that Dubois-Crancé remarked:
“Did anyone come upon us here, they might well take us for conspirators.”
“We are, or must soon become so,” Roger replied, “otherwise all four of us will shortly lose our heads.”
Tallien gave him a sharp glance. “Was it with that in mind you brought us out here?”
“Yes. The city swarms with agents of the Sûreté, and every other person in it is become an informer. Here, we are free to speak our thoughts without fear of eavesdroppers; there, even the whisper that four men such as ourselves had met behind locked doors would be enough to make us suspect.”
“We are suspect already,” Dubois-Crancé said bitterly. “You, because until recently you were living with an aristocrat; Barras, on account of his extravagance; Tallien, for his choice of a wife; myself, because I refused to incur unnecessary casualties among my troops by sending them in to massacre two thousand poor wretches who, although defeated, still had weapons in their hands. And who is not now suspect? Desmoulins was right when he wrote in his Vieux Cordelier that if people opened their mouths they were abusing the Comité, if they kept them shut they were manifesting discontent, if they went out they were inciting to insurrection, and if they stayed at home they were plotting in secret.”
“Mort Dieu! Then let us plot!” cried Barras. “For our host is right. If we do not, in a month from now we’ll have nothing left to plot with.” He looked at Tallien and added brusquely, “Are you with us, Citizen, or against us?”
“I must know what is intended before I answer that,” Tallien rapped back. “As a good Republican I have no stomach for dictators. Providing our aim and end is to be Robespierre’s downfall, I am with you. But should you have thoughts of establishing a Reactionary Government over his dead body, then you must count me among your enemies. Even with the hope of securing my wife’s release from prison I would never lend myself to such a project.”
“It would be futile to replace one group of man-eating tigers with another,” argued Dubois-Crancé.
“Perhaps, Citizen, you regard me——” Tallien began angrily, but Roger cut him short.
“Be not so touchy; nothing personal was meant. All of us here have shed blood in the cause of the Revolution, and it is in the interests of all of us that the Revolution should continue.”
“To what extent?” asked Tallien cautiously.
“To the full enjoyment by the people of the liberties they have secured by law, but are at present deprived of by tyranny.”
“How would you ensure that?”
“By abolishing the Comité and holding a general election, then restoring to the Convention the supreme authority of which it has been deprived.”
This suggestion was met by a chorus of protest, and even Dubois-Crancé pointed out that a general election would mean them all being swept away to be replaced by a Convention overwhelmingly reactionary.
“Very well, then,” said Roger, seeing that he had gone too far; “let us retain the present Convention.”
Tallien shook his head. “That would serve as no guarantee to us. We of the Mountain are outnumbered by the men of the Plain. Once they were free of their shackles they would serve us as we intend to serve Robespierre.”
“Yes,” Barras nodded, “we must retain the Comité, or some form of governing body, through which we can keep control of the situation.”
“To that I agree,” said Dubois-Crancé, “but I think Citizen Breuc is right in principle. Whatever form of machinery we may use, it should be our object to restore true liberty to the people.”
“That is not practicable—at all events as yet.” Tallien objected. “It would have the same disastrous result as allowing a starving man to gorge himself. I tell you, the Terror must be continued.”
“To what degree?” enquired Roger.
“To a degree sufficient to prevent any reactionary movement among the people spreading to dangerous proportions, and to protect ourselves from our enemies in high places.”
Barras laughed. “That suits me!” And, after a moment, Dubois-Crancé said:
“I see your point. Clemency has for so long been foreign to our affairs that it would be accounted weakness did we show it.”
Roger, knowing that Tallien’s participation was vital to their success, and feeling that half a loaf was better than no bread, decided that he must be given his way, so he said with a shrug, “So be it, then. Let us agree that to ensure the continuance of the Revolution and to protect the new government from the machinations of unscrupulous men, a moderated Terror should be maintained. How are we to set about ridding ourselves of the Dictator?”
“We four are not strong enough to bring about his downfall,” Tallien remarked thoughtfully. “Consider the forces he commands—Couthon and Saint-Just on the Comité; a majority on the Comité de Sûreté Générale; Dumas, the President of the Revolutionary Tribunal, with all the judges and jurors under him; Hanriot, who commands the National Guard; Fleuriot, the Mayor, and Payen, the National Agent, who between them control the Commune; the Plain gives him a majority in the Convention and the Jacobins are his devoted slaves.”
“He is none too secure in the Comité,” countered Barras. “Billaud, Collot and Barère are all secretly his enemies and would, I am convinced, join in an attack upon him.”
“Even so, I believe we would find ourselves in the Conciergerie within the hour did we approach them,” said Roger quickly.
Dubois-Crancé nodded. “I, for one, am not prepared to risk it; but valuable help is not far to seek. Bourdon of the Oise, Cambon and Legendre are all of our mind upon this matter, as are many less prominent deputies. It is only for us to decide in whom we should confide, and we can quickly form a powerful following in the Convention.”
“They would prove an asset,” Tallien conceded; “but it is my belief that there is only one man capable of meeting Robespierre on his own ground of subterranean intrigue.”
“You must refer to the Abbé
Sieyès,” said Barras; “no man can have had more experience in such matters.”
“No, I mean Joseph Fouché,” came the prompt reply. “Fouché has more reason for immediate fears than any of us. He knows that he will never be forgiven by the Pontiff for his atheistic activities, and he has already been expelled from the Jacobins for excusing himself from appearing before them to explain his conduct while in Lyons. For the past ten days he has neither dared to enter the Convention nor sleep in his own house. He has become a lone wolf; but he is none the less dangerous for that, and I am convinced that we should do well to consult him.”
For a further hour they discussed numerous possible allies; at length it was decided that, as next day was a Decadi, and there was no sitting of the Convention, they should meet again at Dubois-Crancé’s house in the evening under cover of attending a card party. In the meantime they would sound several of the men of whom they had been talking and, if satisfied of their reliability, would invite them too. Madame Dubois-Crancé would entertain the wives of her husband’s friends while they met together round a table and decided on a plan.
When Roger had dropped his fellow conspirators at various points in central Paris and was free to think matters over, he felt that he had good reason to be pleased with himself. Not one of his chosen first echelon had refused to participate, and circumstances now seemed propitious for the attempt. Saint-Just had recently gone on a mission to the Army, and for some weeks past Robespierre had tended more and more to withdraw himself from the Comité. Couthon continued to keep an argus eye on the interests of the Triumvirate by attending every sitting, but apparently Robespierre’s overwhelming vanity had led him into the belief that it was a waste of his invaluable time to argue with Billaud and Collot. His vanity was also obscuring his judgment in other matters. He had left his humble lodging with the Duplaix family and moved to a fine country seat at Maisons Alfort, about three miles from Paris, where he now held a little court every evening of Fleuriot, Payen, Hanriot, Dumas, Coffinhal and his other toadies, and now seldom came into Paris except to attend meetings of the Jacobin Club. The fact that the Incorruptible was no longer behaving as though he were incorruptible was having a disturbing effect upon those minor fanatics in the Convention who had always previously supported him, right or wrong, solely from a conviction of the purity of his motives; and his absence from the Comité was enabling Billaud, Collot and Barère to undermine his influence. Yet it could not be disputed that he was still by far the most powerful man in France and that, although he had not yet openly proclaimed himself Dictator, he wielded an authority far exceeding that enjoyed by any Bourbon monarch.
The following evening at Dubois-Crancé’s a party of eleven men and six women assembled. His wife received them and for a while entertained them with refreshments and conversation. In due course their host suggested that the men might like a game of cards and, leaving the ladies to gossip in the drawing-room, they withdrew to another room that had been prepared for the purpose. Seating themselves round a big baize-covered table, they distributed the counters and dealt a hand of Faro, so that should some unexpected visitor arrive they could at once, by starting to play, disguise the fact that they had been deliberating.
Barras had brought with him the mean, cunning Abbé Sieyès, whose bitter hatred of the Monarchy, nobility and his own order had contributed so much to the first Revolution. He had had a finger in every pie, and had betrayed in turn each group of politicians with which he had been associated, yet with extraordinary skill had managed to survive every purge that had taken place. Roger disliked and distrusted him hardly less than he did Fouché, who was also present. In addition to the arch-atheist, Tallien had produced Fréron, evidently from a feeling that he would require the support of at least two well-proved terrorists to ensure the adoption of his own policy. However, Bourdon of the Oise, Legendre, Cambon and Lacoste, all moderates by comparison with Tallien’s friends, were there at the invitation of Dubois-Crancé; so Roger hoped that, if the group did succeed in seizing power, the Terror would at least be greatly lessened.
At Dubois-Crancé’s invitation, Barras took the chair, thus assuming the leadership of the Party; and Roger was pleased enough for him to do so, as he was now quite content to remain in the background. After ascertaining that everyone present was willing to risk his head in an attempt to overthrow the tyrant, Barras said that the sooner they got to work the better, and asked for suggestions upon the form the attack should take.
The general opinion was that on the next occasion that Robespierre appeared in the Convention he should be accused of conspiring to become Dictator, and Tallien, spurred on by the hope of securing his wife’s release, strongly supported Barras in his contention that action should be taken at the first possible opportunity.
However, the wily Fouché did not at all agree to this. He pointed out that their number was very small and they could at present count only on themselves, whereas, if they waited until Robespierre attempted a purge, it was quite certain that many other names would be included on his list besides their own, which would automatically secure them the support of all those he attacked with them. They would also be in the much stronger position of men not only defending themselves, but resisting an arbitrary decree which, if allowed to go unchallenged, would menace by precedent every member of the Convention.
Tactically, he was obviously right, and the only sound argument against his counsel was that if action were delayed too long the fact that a conspiracy was brewing might leak out, and several of the conspirators be arrested in their own homes before they had a chance to strike.
To decrease this danger, Fouché then suggested that some lesser action should be taken, with the object of angering the tyrant and inciting him to come out into the open sooner than he otherwise would have done; and the idea met with general approval.
After several rather unsatisfactory proposals for bringing this about had been put forward, Elie Lacoste, who was a member of the Comité de Sûreté Générale, said, “I think the desired situation might be achieved by striking at some of Robespierre’s protégés on the Revolutionary Tribunal. Charges have recently been laid with my Committee against the jurors Vilate and Naulin. Normally we should take no action, but I could arrange for them to be arrested; that would be certain to arouse the tiger’s fury.”
“Sang du diable, yes!” exclaimed Barras; “ ’tis a fine way to twist his tail.” The others agreeing, it was settled that this step should be taken without delay and, if necessary, followed up with other pinpricks until Robespierre was goaded into striking at the deputies he believed to be opposed to him. After some further discussion, the question of another meeting was raised, and it was felt that it would be running a considerable risk for so many of them to come together with any frequency; so Roger offered to act as liaison between his three original co-conspirators, and suggested that they should keep their respective friends informed. This suited everyone; so they then rejoined the ladies and partook of a bowl of brandy punch, after which the party broke up.
During the days that followed Roger could have been employed in no way better calculated to keep him from agonised brooding over Athénaïs. From early morning until far into the night he was on the move about Paris, from the Hôtel de Ville to the Jacobins, from the Cordeliers to the Convention, and from one to another of a dozen different cafés and restaurants. No one, other than his fellow conspirators, had any reason to suspect his intense activity, as he was careful never to give the appearance of hurrying and whenever he was with people he always seemed to have ample leisure, but he managed to put up a show of coping with his own work and at the same time keep his new associates informed of the latest developments in a dozen different political circles.
Vilate and Naulin were arrested on the 19th, with the result that a special joint meeting of the two Comités was called for the following day. Receiving no satisfaction from the meeting, the enraged Robespierre called another for the 22nd, with the intention of con
descending to attend in person. By that time Saint-Just, brought back from the Front to support his leader, was able to be present and made a speech urging the necessity of dictatorship. It then appeared that the arrests had had the desired result, as the Great Committee authorised him to draw up a report on the subject, and it began to be whispered that a long list of proscriptions was being prepared.
When Roger heard this he decided to take precautions against being caught napping; so he moved out to Passy. He had twice visited the Velots since his return to Paris in March and, now that Lady Atkyns was out of the way, Talleyrand’s house once again provided a retreat for him, the secret of which was known to nobody. Old Antoine and his wife were glad to have him there, as even the few hours he spent in the house made a pleasant stir in their somnolent routine, and during these nerve-racking days it made an enormous difference to him to be able to go to bed at night without fear of arrest.
On the 23rd it emerged that there was serious trouble in the Comité. Collot and Billaud had not taken at all kindly to Saint-Just’s announcement that France needed a Dictator, and were preparing to fight Robespierre on the issue. In fact they were now looking round for allies to support an attack upon him, but hesitated to approach the Mountain in the belief that, having aided them to eliminate him, it would then eliminate them. Roger was much worried by this new development, as he feared that Tallien, Fouché and Fréron might now be tempted to ally themselves with Billaud and Collot; but that evening Tallien indirectly reassured him by saying:
“The crisis is approaching and I think this dissension in the Comité should prove a great help to us. I gather, too, that the whole lot of them are at sixes and sevens, as Robespierre intends to censure Carnot for ordering sixteen thousand men to be detached from Jourdan’s army for the support of our coastal operations towards the Dutch Netherlands. On the representations of the Generals, Saint-Just cancelled the order, and the fact that the men on the spot asked him to do so has given the tyrant a fine stick with which to beat poor Carnot.”
The Man who Killed the King Page 63