XI. 1793. April 15. April 19. April 20. April 21. CHAP. executed in the first three weeks of April, Louis Philippe Blanchelande, formerly marshal of the camp, was convicted of attempts tending to disturb the state, and suffered death: Jeanne Clerc, of having attempted to reestablish royalty, underwent the same penalty: Anne Hyacinthe de Vagous, colonel of dragoons, was sentenced and executed the next day on the same charge: Gabriel Duguigny, a returned emigrant, suffered with uncommon firmness on the 21st; and on the 27th, François Boucher, a dentist, and Charles Mingot, a hackney coachman, were condemned and executed for having used expressions tending to royalty. They died exclaiming, "Vive Louis XVII.!" Already it had become evident that this terrible tribunal, instead of dispensing justice against all the enemies of the state with an equal hand, had become, under the influence of the vehement popular excitement and intimidation with which it was surrounded, nothing but a formidable engine in the hands of the Jacobin faction, for securing for themselves impunity for the worst crimes, and destroying on the most trifling grounds all their opponents.1 1 Bull. du Tribunal Rév. pp. 39, 84. 46. difficulties for the peo demands for The execution of persons accused of moderate or Increasing royalist opinions, however, could neither supply the of finding markets, lower prices, nor fill the treasury; and the pressubsistence sure of these exigencies, amidst its fierce internal contests, ple, and new occupied no small portion of the time of the Convention. a maximum. All its efforts to attain these objects, however, were nugatory for the vast and increasing expenditure of the Republic could only, amidst the total failure of the taxes, be supplied by the issue of assignats; and this, of course, by rendering paper money redundant, lowered its value in exchange with other commodities, and occasioned a constant and even frightful rise of prices. The people did not understand this, and conceived, on the contrary, that the prices of all articles should fall, now that the reign of liberty and equality was established. The Jacobins incessantly told them it was all owing to the monopolisers, XI. 1793. 1 Journ. des who, in league with the Royalists, Girondists, and Mode- CHAP. rates, had entered into an infernal conspiracy to starve the people. The municipality of Paris, acting on this impulse, repeatedly and formally demanded from the Convention the fixing of a maximum on all articles of provision, accompanied with the denunciation of the penalty of death against all who should ask a higher sum; and proposed that the dealers should be indemnified for their losses by a forced tax on the rich. At Jacobins, length the clamour became so violent that the Assembly, and 27. on 2d May, passed a decree, fixing for a limited time a com maximum on the price of grain, and imposing a forced mune, Avril loan of 1,000,000,000 francs (£40,000,000) on the rich, Parl. xxvi. to be levied by taxing the whole of every proprietor's 340. Deux income who had a fortune that exceeded 2000 francs 282, 283. yearly.1 Avril 22 Séances de 30. Hist. 226, 227, Amis, x. 47. issue of May 7. It was not surprising that prices rose in this alarming manner; for the issue of assignats from the public trea- Enormous sury had now become unprecedented in the history of the fresh assigworld. The Convention, upon the report of the minister M of finance, decreed, on the 7th May, the immediate issue of 1,200,000,000 francs in paper (£48,000,000), in addition to 3,100,000,000 francs (£124,000,000) already in circulation! It was of course inevitable that so prodigious an issue of paper, in a country not at that period containing above twenty-five million souls, and with scarcely any commerce, external or internal, amidst the existing convulsions, should lead to a universal rise of prices, to such an extent as at once to destroy the fortunes of the rich, and increase tenfold the sufferings of the poor. The confusion of prices and depreciation of the assignats, under the influence of this enormous addition to the circulating medium of the country, soon became such that ministre des debts were discharged in assignats bearing a forced circu- Mai 7,1793. lation, for a third of the sum for which they had contracted, and the price of provisions was tripled.2 is this report of the finance minister less important, as 2 Rapport de Johannot, finances, Hist. Parl. been xxvi. 377, 378. Moni Nor teur, Mai 7. XI. 1793. CHAP. exhibiting, on the one hand, the enormous defalcation of the ordinary revenue, which was estimated at 1,000,000,000 francs (£40,000,000), and on the other, the stupendous amount of the confiscated property belonging to the church and the emigrants, which, after deducting the whole debts with which it was charged, was valued at 6,700,000,000 francs, or £268,000,000 sterling.* 48. Guadet for a tion repell mission of pointed. May 10. The incessant declamations of the Jacobins at their Proposal of central club, in the forty-eight sections of Paris, at the separation of club of the Cordeliers, and in the hall of the municipality, the Conven- aided by the incendiary press of Marat, Fréron, Hébert, ed,andCom- and the other revolutionary journals, at length, coupled Twelve ap- with these substantial grievances, worked the people up into such a state of fury, that they became ready for a general insurrection against the authority of the Convention. As a last resource, Guadet, one of the most energetic and intrepid leaders of the Gironde, proposed the convocation of the supplementary members of the Assembly at Bourges, and the dissolution of the existing municipality of Paris. Citizens," said he, "while good men lament in silence the misfortunes of the country, the conspirators are in motion to destroy it. Like Cæsar, they exclaim-Let others speak, we act!' 66 To meet them we must act also. The evil lies in the impunity of the # The total amount of the resources of the Republic was stated in this report to be 50,000,000 2,000,000 4. Effects on the civil list, 5. Engaged domains, 6. Feudal rights, 7. Salt mines, deducting debts, 8. Unsold national domains of emigrants, 3,000,000,000 — 120,000,000 7,700,000,000 £308,000,000 of which £268,000,000, or 6,700,000,000 francs, arose from the confiscated estates.-See Rapport de JOHANNOT sur les Finances de la République, 7th May 1793; Hist. Parl. xxvi. 378. + Members elected to supply any vacanies which might occur during the sitting of the Convention. XI. 1793. conspirators of March 10; in the preparing of anarchy; CHAP. in the misrule of the authorities of Paris, who thirst only for power and gold. There is yet time to save the country, and our own tarnished honour. I propose instantly to annul the authorities of Paris; to replace the municipality by the presidents of the sections; to unite the supplementary members of the Convention at Bourges; and to announce this resolution to the departments by extraordinary couriers." These decisive measures, if adopted by the Assembly, would have destroyed the power of the municipality and the designs of the conspirators; but they would have at once occasioned a civil war, and, by dividing the centre of action, augmented the danger of foreign subjugation. The majority was influenced by these considerations; the separation of the Assembly into two divisions, one at Paris and one at Bourges, seemed the immediate forerunner of conflicting governments. Barère supported these opinions. "It is by union and firmness," he said, "that you must dissipate the storms which assail you; division will accelerate your ruin. Do you imagine that, if the conspirators dissolve the Convention in the centre of its power, they will have any difficulty in disposing of its remnant assembled at Bourges? I propose that we should nominate a commission of twelve persons, to watch over the designs of the commune, to examine into the recent disorders, and arrest the May 15. persons of their authors; but never, by acceding to the measures of Guadet, declare ourselves unequal to combat 132 the influence of the municipality." This proposal was Mig. i. 260, adopted by the Convention, ever ready to temporise 198. Deux rather than adopt a decisive course, and the opportunity 284, 285. of destroying the municipality was lost for ever.1 The Commission of Twelve, however, commenced their proceedings with vigorous measures. A conspiracy against the majority of the Convention had for some time been openly organised in Paris; the club of the Cordeliers was the centre of the movement, and an insurrectionary com VOL. II. 2 N 1 Hist. Parl. xxvii. 129, iii. 261. Toul. 261. Th. iv. Amis, x. XI. 1793. 49. against the and Con CHAP. mittee sat night and day. The public fervour soon demanded more than the mere proscription of the thirty deputies; three hundred were required. Varlet had General in- openly proposed a plan for the insurrection, which was surrection discussed amidst furious cries at the Cordeliers, and the Girondists execution of the design was fixed for the 22d May. It vention. was agreed that the armed multitude should proceed to May 21. the hall of the Convention, with the Rights of Man veiled with crape, to seize and expel all the members who had belonged to the Constituent or Legislative Assemblies, turn out the ministry, and destroy all who bore the name of Bourbon. The commission speedily obtained evidence of this conspiracy, and arrested one of its leaders, Hébert, the author of an obscene and revolting revolutionary journal, entitled the Père Duchesne, which had acquired immense circulation among the followers of the municipality. That turbulent body instantly put itself in a state of insurrection, declared its sittings permanent, and invited the people to raise the standard of revolt. Some of the most violent sections followed its example; the few who held out for the Assembly were besieged by Lac. ii. 67, clamorous bands of armed men. The club of the Jaco68. Mig. i. bins, of the Cordeliers, of the revolutionary sections, sat day and night; the agitation of Paris rose to the highest pitch.1 1 Deux Amis, x. 282, 290. Hist. Parl. xxvii. 203. 261, 262 Th. iv. 206, 211. 50. The Commission of Twelve, in this extremity, brought The Com- forward a measure eminently calculated to rescue the mission of Convention from the dreadful thraldom to the armed propose an force of Paris, to which they had hitherto been subjected. for the Con- Vigée, in its name, said in the Assembly-" From the Twelve armed guard vention. May 25. very first steps of our career, we have discovered the traces of a horrible conspiracy against the Republic, against the national representation, against the lives of many of its members, and of other citizens. Every step we have taken has brought to light new proofs: yet a few days and the Republic is lost; you yourselves are no more. (Loud murmurs on the left.) I declare solemnly, |