of the suspected. "In ancient times," said he, "there was at Rome, according to Tacitus, a law which specified the crimes of state and of lèse-majesty, and decreed capital punishment. These crimes of lèse-majesty, under the republic, were reduced to four kinds: if an army had been abandoned in an enemy's country; if seditions had been excited; if the members of the constituted bodies had mismanaged the public business or the public money; or if the majesty of the Roman people had been degraded. The emperors needed but a few additional articles to this law to involve the citizens and whole cities in proscription. Augustus was the first to extend this law of lèse-majesty, by including in it writings which he called counter-revolutionary. The extensions had soon no limits. As soon as words had become crimes of state, it needed but one step more to change mere looks, sorrow, compassion, sighs, even silence itself, into crimes.

"Presently, it was a crime of lèse-majesty or of counter-revolution in the city of Nursia to have erected monuments to its inhabitants who had fallen during the siege of Modena; a crime of counter-revolution in Libo Drusus to have asked the fortune-tellers if he should not some day possess great wealth; a crime of counterrevolution in Cremuntius Cordus, the journalist, to have called Brutus and Cassius the last of the Romans; a crime of counter-revolution in one of the descendants of Cassius to have in his house a portrait of his ancestor; a crime of counter-revolution in Marcus Scaurus to have written a tragedy containing a certain verse to which two meanings might be given; a crime of counter-revolution in Torquatus Silanus to live in an expensive style; a crime of counter-revolution in Petreius to have dreamt of Claudius; a crime of counter-revolution in Pomponius because a friend of Sejanus had sought an asylum in one of his country-houses; a crime of counterrevolution to complain of the calamities of the time, for that was equivalent to the condemnation of the government; a crime of counter-revolution not to invoke the divine spirit of Caligula. For having so failed, a great number of citizens were flogged, condemned to the mines, or to be thrown to wild beasts, and some even were sawed asunder. Lastly, it was a crime of counter-revolution in the mother of Fusius Germinus, the consul, to have wept for the melancholy death of her son.

"It was absolutely necessary to manifest joy at the death of a friend or a relative, if a person would not run the risk of perishing himself.

"Everything gave umbrage to the tyrant. If a citizen possessed popularity, he was a rival of the prince and might stir up civil war: Studia civium in se verteret, el si multi idem audeant bellum esset. SUSPECTED.

"If, on the contrary, a man shunned popularity, and stuck close to his chimneycorner, this secluded life made him an object of notice. It gave him consideration. SUSPECTED.

"Were you rich-there was imminent danger that the people might be bribed by your largesses. SUSPECTED.

"Were you poor-what then, invincible emperor? That man must be the more closely watched. None is so enterprising as the man who has nothing: Syllam inopem, unde præcipuam audacium. SUSPECTED.

"Were you of a gloomy, melancholy disposition, or carelessly dressed-you were fretting because public affairs were prosperous: Hominem publicis bonis mæstum. SUSPECTED."

Camille-Desmoulins proceeded in this manner with this masterly enumeration of suspected persons, and sketched a horrible picture of what was doing at Paris, by what had been done in Rome. If the letter of Philipeaux had produced a great sensation, the journal of Camille-Desmoulins produced a much greater. Fifty thousand copies of each of his numbers were sold in a few days. The provinces took large quantities of them. The prisoners procured them by stealth, and read with delight and with somewhat of hope, that revolutionist who had formerly been so hateful to them. Camille, without wishing the prisons to be opened or the revolution to be thrown back, demanded the institution of a committee, to be called the committee of clemency, to investigate the cases of the prisoners, to liberate the citizens confined without sufficient cause, and to stanch the blood where it had flowed too freely. VOL. II.

25

The publications of Philipeaux and Desmoulins irritated the zealous revolutionists in the highest degree, and were disapproved of by the Jacobins. Hebert denounced them there with fury. He even moved that their authors should be erased from the list of the society. He mentioned, moreover, Bourdon of the Oise, and Fabre d'Eglantine, as the accomplices of Camille-Desmoulins and Philipeaux. We have seen that Bourdon had attempted, in concert with Goupilleau, to remove Rossignol: he had quarrelled with the staff of Saumur, and had never ceased to inveigh in the Convention against Ronsin's party. It was this that caused him to be coupled with Philipeaux. Fabre was accused of having had a hand in the affair of the fabricated decree, and people were disposed to believe this, though he had been justified by Chabot. Aware of his perilous situation, and having everything to fear from a system of too great severity, he had spoken twice or thrice in favour of a system of indulgence, broken completely with the ultra-revolutionists, and been treated as an intriguer by Father Duchesne. The Jacobins, without adopting the violent motions of Hebert, decided that Philipeaux, Camille-Desmoulins, Bourdon of the Oise, and Fabre d'Eglantine, should be summoned to the bar of the society, to give explanations concerning their works and their speeches in the Convention.

The sitting at which they were to appear had drawn an unusually full attendance. People contended with violence for seats. and some were even sold at twenty-five francs each. Philipeaux, though he was not a member of the society, did not refuse to appear at its bar, and repeated the charges which he had already made, either in his correspondence with the committee of public welfare or in his pamphlet. He spared persons no more than he had done before, and twice or three times formally and insultingly gave Hebert the lie. These bold personalities of Philipeaux began to agitate the society, and the sitting was becoming stormy, when Danton observed that it required the closest attention and the greatest composure to judge of so serious a question; that he had not formed any opinion concerning Philipeaux and the truth of his accusations; that he had already said to himself, "Thou must either prove thy charges, or lay down thy head on the scaffold;" that perhaps there was nothing in fault here but circumstances; but that, at any rate, it was right that every one should be heard, and above all, listened to.

Robespierre, who spoke after Danton, said that he had not read Philipeaux's pamphlet, and merely knew that the committee was in that pamphlet rendered responsible for the loss of twenty thousand men; that the committee had no time to answer libels and to engage in a paper war; that he nevertheless did not conceive Philipeaux to be guilty of any bad intentions, but to be hurried away by passion. "I pretend not," said Robespierre, "to impose silence on the conscience of my colleague; but let him examine his heart, and judge whether it does not harbour vanity or some other petty passion. I dare say he is swayed as much by patriotism as passion; but let him reflect! let him consider the conflict that is commencing! He will see that the moderates will take up his defence; that the aristocrats will range themselves on his side; that the Convention itself will be divided; that there will perhaps arise an opposition party, which would be a disastrous circumstance, and renew the combat that is just over, and the conspiracies which it has cost so much trouble to put down!" He therefore exhorted Philipeaux to examine his secret motives, and the Jacobins to listen to him in silence.

Nothing could be more reasonable and more suitable than Robespierre's observations, with the exception of the tone which was always emphatic and magisterial, especially since he ruled at the Jacobins. Philipeaux again spoke, launched out into the same personalities, and excited the same disturbance as before. Danton angrily exclaimed that the best way would be to cut short such quarrels, and to appoint a commission to examine the papers in support of the charges. Couthon said that, even before resorting to that measure, it would be well to ascertain if the question was worth the trouble, and whether it might not be merely a question between man and man; and he proposed to ask Philipeaux if in his soul and conscience he believed that there had been treason. He then addressed Philipeaux. "Dost thou believe," said he, "in thy soul and conscience that there has been treason?"-" Yes," imprudently replied Philipeaux. "In that case," rejoined

Couthon, "there is no other way. A commission ought to be appointed to hear the accused and the accusers, and to make its report to the society." The motion was adopted, and the commission appointed to investigate not only the charges of Philipeaux, but also the conduct of Bourdon of the Oise, of Fabre d'Eglantine, and of Camille-Desmoulins.

This was the 3d of Nivose. While the commission was engaged in drawing up its report, the paper-war and the recriminations continued without interruption. The Cordeliers excluded Camille-Desmoulins from their society. They prepared fresh petitions in behalf of Ronsin and Vincent, and submitted them to the Jacobins, for the purpose of inducing the latter to support them in the Convention. That host of adventurers and men of bad character with whom the revolutionary army had been filled, appeared everywhere, in the promenades, the taverns, the coffeehouses, the theatres, with worsted epaulettes and mustaches, and made a great noise in favour of Ronsin, their general, and Vincent, their minister. They were called the épauletiers, and were much dreaded in Paris. Since the enactment of the law which forbade the sections to assemble oftener than twice a week, they had transformed themselves into very turbulent popular societies. There were even two of these societies to each section, and it was to them that all the parties which had any interest in producing a movement sent their agents. The épauletiers had not failed to attend them, and through their means tumult prevailed in almost all these assemblies.

"The

Robespierre, always firm at the Jacobins, caused the petition of the Cordeliers to be rejected, and also the affiliation to be withdrawn from all the popular societies formed since the 31st of May. These were acts of a prudent and laudable energy. It behoved the committee, however, at the same time that it was making the greatest efforts to repress the turbulent faction, to beware of giving itself the appearance of weakness and moderation. In order that it might retain its popularity and its strength, it was necessary that it should display the same vigour. Hence it was that, on the 5th Nivose, Robespierre was directed to make a new report on the principles of the revolutionary government, and to propose measures of severity against certain illustrious prisoners. Always making a point, from policy and perhaps too from error, to throw the blame of all disorders upon the supposed foreign faction, he imputed to it the faults both of the moderates and of the ultra-revolutionists. foreign courts," said he, "have vomited forth upon France the clever scoundrels whom they keep in their pay. They deliberate in our administrations, introduce themselves into our sectional assemblies and our clubs; they have even sat in the national representation; they direct and will forever direct the counter-revolution upon the same plan. They hover round us, they acquire our secrets, they flatter our passions, nay they seek to dictate our very opinions." Robespierre, proceeding with this delineation, exhibited them as instigating by turns to exaggeration and weakness, exciting religious persecution in Paris, and the resistance of fanaticism in La Vendée; sacrificing Lepelletier and Marat, and then mingling among the groups which proposed to decree divine honours to them in order to render them odious and ridiculous; giving to or taking away bread from the people; causing specie to appear or disappear, taking advantage, in short, of all accidents, with a view to turn them against the Revolution and France.

After presenting this general summary of all our calamities, Robespierre determined not to consider them as inevitable, imputed them to the foreign enemy, who no doubt had reason to congratulate himself upon them, but who to produce them reckoned upon the vices of human nature, and could not have attained the same end by means of plots. Robespierre, considering all the illustrious prisoners still in confinement as accomplices of the coalition, proposed to send them immediately to the revolutionary tribunal. Thus Dietrich, mayor of Strasburg, Custine junior, Biron, and all the officers who were friends of Dumouriez, of Custine, and of Houchard, were to be forthwith brought to trial. Most certainly there was no need of a decree of the Convention to authorize the sacrifice of these victims by the revolutionary tribunal; but this solicitude to hasten their execution was a proof that the government was not growing feeble. Robespierre proposed moreover to increase, by one-third, the rewards in land promised to the defenders of the country.

After this report, Barrère was directed to prepare another on the arrests, which were said to be more and more numerous every day, and to propose means for verifying the motives of these arrests. The object of this report was to reply, without appearing to do so, to the Vieux Cordelier of Camille-Desmoulins, and to his proposal for a committee of clemency. Barrère was severe upon the Translations of the Ancient Orators, and nevertheless suggested the appointment of a commission to verify the arrests, which very nearly resembled the committee of clemency devised by Camille. However, on the observations of some of its members, the Convention deemed it right to adhere to its previous decrees, which required the revolutionary committees to furnish the committee of general welfare with the motives of the arrests, and allowed prisoners to complain to the latter com

mittee.

The government thus steered its course between the two parties that were form ing, secretly inclining to the moderate party, but still fearful of suffering this disposition to be too perceptible. Meanwhile, Camille published a number more severe than any which had preceded it, and which was addressed to the Jacobins. It was entitled his defence, and it was the boldest and most terrible recrimination against his adversaries.

On the subject of his exclusion from the Cordeliers, he said, “Forgive me, brethren and friends, if I still presume to take the title of Old Cordelier, after the resolution of the club, which forbids me to deck myself with that name. But, in truth, it is a piece of insolence so unheard-of, that of grandchildren revolting against their grandsire, and forbidding him to use his own name, that I must plead this cause against those ungrateful sons. I should like to know to whom the name ought to belong, whether to the grandpapa or to the children whom he has begotten, not a tenth part of whom he has ever acknowledged, or even known, and who pretend to drive him from the paternal home!"

He then enters into an explanation of his opinions. "The vessel of the republic is steering between two shoals, the rock of exaggeration, and the sandbank of moderatism. Seeing that Father Duchesne and almost all the patriotic sentinels were on deck, spying-glass in hand, wholly engaged in shouting Beware, lest you get aground upon moderatism!" I thought it fitting that I, an old Cordelier, and senior of the Jacobins, should assume a difficult duty, and which none of the younger men would undertake, lest they should injure their popularity, that of crying Beware, lest you strike upon exaggeration!" And this is the obligation which all my colleagues in the Convention ought to feel that they owe me, namely, that of having risked my popularity itself, in order to save the ship in which my cargo was not

larger than their own."

He then justified himself for this expression, for which he had been so vehemently reproached, Vincent Pitt governs George Bouchotte. "I certainly did," said he, "in 1787, call Louis XVI. my fat booby of a king, without being sent to the Bastille for it. Is Bouchotte a more illustrious personage?"

He then reviewed his adversaries. To Collot-d'Herbois he said that if he, Desmoulins, had his Dillon, he, Collot, had his Brunet, his Proly, both of whom he had defended. He said to Barrère, "People no longer know one another at the Mountain; if it had been an old Cordelier, like myself, a rectilinear patriot, Billaud-Varennes for example, who had scolded me so severely, sustinuissem utique; -I would have said, It is the box on the ear given by the impetuous St. Paul to the good St. Peter, who has done something wrong! But thou, my dear Barrère, thou, the happy guardian of Pamela !* thou, the president of the Feuillans! thou, who proposedst the committee of twelve! thou who, on the 2d of June, didst submit for deliberation in the committee of public welfare the question whether Danton should be arrested! thou, many more of whose faults I could reveal, if I were to rummage the old sack (le vieux sact), that thou shouldst all at once out-Robespierre Robespierre, and that I should be so severely apostrophized by

thee!"

* This is an allusion to the play of Pamela, the representation of which had been prohibited. † Barrère's name when a noble was de Vieux-Sac.

"All this is but a family quarrel," adds Camille, "with my friends, the patriots Collot and Barrère, but I shall in my turn put myself into a thundering passion (bougrement en colère*) with Father Duchesne, who calls me a paltry intriguer, a scoundrel fit for the guillotine, a conspirator who wishes the prisons to be opened in order to make a new Vendée with them, a knave in the pay of Pitt, a long-eared donkey. Wait for me, Hebert, and I will be at thee in a moment. Here it is not with coarse abuse and mere words that I will attack thee, but with facts."

Camille, who had been accused by Hebert of having married a wealthy woman, and of dining with aristocrats, then entered into the history of his marriage, which brought him an income of four thousand livres, and he drew a picture of his simple, modest, and indolent life. Then, passing to Hebert, he reminded him of his old trade of check-taker, of his thefts, which caused his expulsion from the theatre, of his sudden and well-known fortune, and covered him with the most deserved infamy. He related and proved that Bouchotte had given Hebert out of the funds of the war department, first one hundred and twenty thousand francs, then ten, then sixty, for the copies of Father Duchesne distributed among the armies, though those copies were not worth more than sixteen thousand francs, and that consequently the nation had been robbed of the surplus.

"Two hundred thousand francs," exclaims Camille, "to that poor sans-culotte Hebert, to support the motions of Proly and of Clootz!-two hundred thousand francs to calumniate Danton, Lindet, Cambon, Thuriot, Lacroix, Philipeaux, Bourdon of the Oise, Barras, Fréron, d'Eglantine, Legendre, Camille-Desmoulins, and almost all the commissioners of the Convention!-to inundate France with his writings, so proper for forming the mind and the heart!-two hundred thousand francs from Bouchotte! After this, can any one be surprised at Hebert's filial exclamation in the sitting of the Jacobins, To dare to attack Bouchotte!-Bouchotte, who has placed sans-culotte generals at the head of armies !-Bouchotte, so pure a patriot! I am only astonished that, in the transport of his gratitude, Father Duchesne did not exclaim, Bouchotte, who has given me two hundred thousand livres since the month of June!'

"Thou talkest to me," proceeds Camille, "of the company I keep: but is it not known that it is with Kock, the banker, the intimate of Domouriez, with the woman Rochechouart, agent of the emigrants, that the stanch patriot Hebert, after calumniating in his paper the purest men of the republic, goes in his great joy, he and his Jacqueline, to spend the fine days of summer, in the country, to swallow Pitt's wine, and to drink bumpers to the ruin of the reputation of the founders of liberty?"

Camille then reproaches Hebert with the style of his paper. "Knowest thou not, Hebert, that, when the tyrants of Europe wish to make their slaves believe that France is covered with darkness and barbarism, that this Paris, so extolled for its attic wit and its taste, is peopled with Vandals; knowest thou not, wretch, that it is scraps of thy papers which they insert in their gazettes? as if the people were as ignorant as thou wouldst make Pitt believe; as if they could not be talked to but in so coarse a language; as if that were the language of the Convention and of the committee of public welfare; as if thy obscenities were those of the nation; as if a sewer of Paris were the Seine."

Camille then accuses him of having added by his Numbers to the scandals of the worship of reason, and afterwards exclaims: "Is it then this base sycophant, who pockets two hundred thousand livres, that shall reproach me with my wife's income of four thousand livres? Is it this intimate friend of the Kocks, the Rochechouarts, that shall reproach me with the company I keep? Is it this insensate or perfidious scribbler that shall reproach me with my aristocratic writings-he whose papers I will prove to be the delight of Coblentz and the only hope of Pitt! that man, struck out of the list of the servants of the theatre for

* An expression of the hawkers, who in selling the papers of Father Duchesne, cried in the streets, Il est bougrement en colère le Père Duchesne.