VIII. 1792. of deposit for the bones in the surcharged cemeteries of CHAP. the capital. They marked out on the ground the limits of an aperture six feet in diameter, to be opened into these gloomy abodes, and enjoined the grave-digger to have it ready in four days. Having said this, and enjoined profound secresy, they retired. * On the 29th August the barriers were closed by order of the municipality, and remained shut for forty-eight hours, so as to render all escape impossible; and on the 31st, and 1st of September, domiciliary visits were made by order of the Commune, with a vast and appalling force, in every street and suburb of Paris. Great numbers of all ranks were imprisoned, but the victims were chiefly selected from the noblesse and the dissident clergy. To conceal the real designs of the municipality, the citizens capable of bearing arms were at the same time assembled in the Champ de Mars, formed into regiments, and marched off for the frontier. The tocsin sounded, the générale beat, cannon were discharged. All Paris was in the most dreadful agitation at these ominous preparations, which presaged but too surely an approaching massacre; and the Assembly, recovering some degree of energy from the near advent of danger, mustered up courage enough on the day following to pass a decree suspending the new municipality, which had thus usurped the entire government of the state, and directing each of 1 Hist. Parl. the forty-eight sections of Paris to meet and appoint new 165. Deux representatives. At the same time the municipality were ordered to appear at the bar of the Assembly to answer Bert. de. for various thefts of valuable articles in the Tuileries, 239, 246. Moniteur, particularly in the jewel office, which had been brought Sept. 1. home to some of its members. 1 xvii. 160, Amis, viii. 284, 286. Moll. ix. This important decree, which, if enforced with vigour, 19. and supported by an adequate amount of physical strength, Speech of Vergniaud might have changed the whole history of the Revolution, to the depuwas rendered totally useless, and worse than useless, by municipalithe weakness of the legislature and the daring of the ty. Aug. 31. *LAMARTINE, Hist. des Girond., iii. 321, 322. tation of the VIII. 1792. CHAP. municipality. Strong in the consciousness of the physical predominance of the multitude by which they were surrounded, the magistrates, without a moment's hesitation, bade defiance to the legislature. They appeared at their bar; but they appeared as conquerors, surrounded by an armed mob, which effectually overawed the Assembly. The President Vergniaud thus addressed them :—“ All the authorities of the kingdom owe their origin to the law. The formation of the provisional municipality of Paris is contrary to the existing laws; it is the result, perhaps necessary, of an extraordinary crisis, and should cease with it. Would you, gentlemen, dishonour our beautiful Revolution by exhibiting to the whole empire the scandal of a municipality in rebellion against the law? Paris is a great metropolis, which by its population and numerous establishments unites the greatest advantages; and what would France say if this noble city, investing its magistrates with a dictatorial power, should seek to withdraw itself from the constitution common to all, to isolate itself 1 Hist. Parl. from the rest of the empire, and give the first example of 168. Deux a violation of the laws and resistance to the National 289, 291. Assembly? But Paris will not give such an example. The National Assembly has done its duty; you will discharge yours."1 xvii. 167, Amis, viii. Moniteur, Sept. 1. 20. Tallien and the muni cipality. Loud applauses followed these intrepid words; but Answer of Tallien, the orator of the municipality, answered,"Legislators, the provisional representatives of the commune of Paris have been calumniated; they have been judged without being heard; they come to demand justice. Called by the people on the night of the 9th and the morning of the 10th August to save the country, they were bound to do what they have done. The people have not limited their powers; they said, " 'Go, act in our name, and we will ratify all you shall do.' The Legislative Assembly has always commanded the respect of the citizens of Paris. Its hall has never been soiled except by the presence of the worthy descen VIII. 1792. dant of Louis XI., and of the rival of the Medici. If CHAP. the tyrants still live, is it not to be ascribed to the respect of the people for the National Assembly? All that we have done the people have sanctioned. (Loud applause from the galleries.) We were charged with the safety of the country; we have saved it. We have made, it is said, domiciliary visits. Who ordered us to do so? Yourselves. We have arrested the refractory priests: they are securely confined. In a few days the soil of freedom shall be delivered from their presence. If you strike us, you immolate at the same time the people who gained the victory of 14th July, who consolidated their power on 10th August, and will maintain what they have gained." Meanwhile a tumultuous mob surrounded the Assembly; soon three hundred men came in and crowded every avenue. One of them addressing the Assembly said: People in the galleries, National Assembly, and you, M. President, we come in the name of the people who wait at the gate, to demand to defile through the hall to see the representatives of the municipality who are here. We will die, if necessary, with them." Dead silence. pervaded the Assembly: terror had frozen every heart. 1 Hist. Parl. At the conclusion of every sentence, shouts of "Vive la xvii. 166, Commune! Vivent nos bons Commissaires!" resounded i.54. Mig. through the hall, and the mob defiled in a menacing Pr. Hist. i. manner before the tribune. Subdued by so many dangers, Deux Amis, the Assembly broke up without coming to any resolution, 291. and the victory of the magistracy was complete.1 167. Th. i. 294. Lac. 284, 288. viii. 287, 21. Encouraged by this success, the municipality proceeded without farther hesitation in their sanguinary measures. Energetic Danton directed their operations, and framed the list of Danton. proscription at the hotel of the minister of justice. He Sept. 1. soon after appeared at the bar of the Assembly, to give an account of the measures taken to insure the public safety. "A part of the people," he said, "have already set out for the frontiers; another is engaged in digging our intrenchments; and the third, with pikes, will defend VIII. 1792. 66 CHAP. the interior of the city. But this is not enough; you must send commissaries and couriers to rouse all France to imitate the example of the capital; we must pass a decree, by which every citizen shall be obliged, under pain of death, to serve in person against the common enemy." At this instant the tocsin began to sound, the cannon were discharged, and he immediately addedThe cannon which you hear is not the cannon of alarm: it is the signal to advance against your enemies; to conquer them, to crush them! What is required? Boldness! boldness! boldness! and France is saved!" These words, pronounced with a voice of thunder, produced the most appalling impression; and a decree of the Assembly was immediately proclaimed, announcing the urgent danger de Moll, ix of the commonwealth, commanding the whole citizens to repair armed to their several posts as soon as the Mig. i. 204. Lac. i. 288, cannon of alarm was heard, and appointing a committee 61. Hist. of twelve, with absolute power to concur with the executive, of which Danton was the head, in the measures necessary for the public safety.1 1 Moniteur, Sept. 4, p. 1041. Bert. 269, 270. 289. Th. ii. Parl. xvii. 347. 22. ror in Paris. The utmost terror was excited in every part of Paris General ter- by these preparations. An uncertain feeling of horror prevailed; every one apprehended that some dismal catastrophe was approaching, though none knew where or on whom the stroke was to fall. All the public authorities, the Assembly, the Municipality, the Sections, the Jacobins, had declared their sittings permanent. The whole city was in consternation, but the place where the alarm was the greatest was in the prisons. The numerous inmates of these gloomy abodes were all called over by name on the evening of the 1st September, under pretence of sending them off to the frontier; but the faltering voice of the jailers revealed the preparation of some terrible design. All who had friends secreted began to tremble: domiciliary visits soon became universal, and ere long nearly five thousand 266, 271. persons crowded the prisons of Paris. In the Temple, the royal family, who had so much reason to apprehend 2 Weber, ii. 254, 255. Th. iii. 61, 62. Deux Amis, viii. 293, 296. Bert. de Moll. ix. VIII. 1792. danger from the public convulsion, eagerly asked what CHAP. had given rise to the unusual noise in the streets; while, at all the other prisons, the anxious looks of the jailers, and the unusual precaution of removing all the knives in use at dinner, told but too plainly that some bloody project was in contemplation. 23. the prisons. At two in the morning, on the 2d September, the signal was given; the générale beat, the tocsin sounded, and the Massacre in citizens of all classes joined their respective banners. The victors and the vanquished, on the 10th August, appeared in the same ranks-so completely had the crisis of national danger, and the agitation of the moment, drowned even the fiercest civil discord. A powerful auxiliary force was thus provided for the armies, which was instantly despatched towards the frontiers; while the relentless municipality was rapidly organising the work of destruction in the capital, now stripped of its most energetic citizens. A band of three hundred assassins, directed and paid by the magistrates, assembled round the doors of the Hôtel de Ville. Ardent spirits, liberally furnished by the municipality, augmented their natural ferocity. Money was supplied to those who appeared behind their comrades in determination, and the savage band marched through the streets singing revolutionary songs. Robespierre, Billaud Varennes, and Collot d'Herbois, alternately harangued the multitude" Magnanimous people," exclaimed the last, "you march to glory! How unfortunate are we to be unable to follow your steps: how the audacity of our enemies will increase when they no longer behold the conquerors of the 10th August! Let us at least not Deux become responsible for the murder of your wives and Amis, children, which the conspirators are preparing even in Bert. de the prisons, where they are expecting their deliverers." 271, 272, Roused by these words, the mob became ready for every 290. Th. ii. atrocity, and answered the discourse with repeated cries 204. for the death of the imprisoned victims.1 The prison of the Abbaye was the first to be assailed. 296, 298. Moll. ix. 289. Lac. i. 75. Mig. i. |