General History for Colleges and High Schools Part 62

THE Ma.s.sACRE OF THE SWISS GUARDS (Aug. 10, 1792).--The allies at first gained easy victories over the ill-disciplined forces of the Legislative a.s.sembly, and the Duke of Brunswick, at the head of an immense army, advanced rapidly upon Paris. An insolent proclamation which this commander now issued, wherein he ordered the French nation to submit to their king, and threatened the Parisians with the destruction of their city should any harm be done the royal family, drove the French people frantic with indignation and rage. The Palace of the Tuileries, defended by a few hundred Swiss soldiers, the remnant of the royal guard, was a.s.saulted. A terrible struggle followed in the corridors and upon the grand stairways of the palace. The Swiss stood "steadfast as the granite of their Alps."

But they were overwhelmed at last, and all were murdered, either in the building itself or in the surrounding courts and streets.

THE Ma.s.sACRE OF SEPTEMBER ("JAIL DELIVERY").--The army of the allies hurried on towards Paris to avenge the slaughter of the royal guards and to rescue the king. The capital was all excitement. "We must stop the enemy," cried Danton, "by striking terror into the royalists." To this end the most atrocious measures were now adopted by the Extremists. It was resolved that all the royalists confined in the jails of the capital should be murdered. A hundred or more a.s.sa.s.sins were hired to butcher the prisoners. The murderers first entered the churches of the city, and the unfortunate priests who had refused to take oath to support the new const.i.tution, were butchered in heaps about the altars. The jails were next visited, one after another, the persons confined within slaughtered, and their bodies thrown out to the brutal hordes that followed the butchers to enjoy the carnival of blood.

The victims of this terrible "September Ma.s.sacre," as it is called, are estimated at from six to fourteen thousand. Europe had never before known such a "jail delivery." It was the greatest crime of the French Revolution.

DEFEAT OF THE ALLIES.--Meanwhile, in the open field, the fortunes of war inclined to the side of the revolutionists. The French generals were successful in checking the advance of the allies, and finally at Valmy (Sept. 20, 1792) succeeded in inflicting upon them a decisive defeat, which caused their hasty retreat beyond the frontiers of France. The day after this victory the Legislative a.s.sembly came to an end, and the following day the National Convention a.s.sembled.

4. THE NATIONAL CONVENTION (Sept. 21, 1792-Oct. 26, 1795).

PARTIES IN THE CONVENTION.--The Convention, consisting of seven hundred and forty-nine deputies, among whom was the celebrated freethinker, Thomas Paine, was divided into two parties, the Girondists and the Mountainists.

There were no monarchists; all were republicans. No one dared to speak of a monarchy. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC (Sept. 21, 1792).--The very first act of the Convention on its opening day was to abolish the Monarchy and proclaim France a Republic. The motion for the abolition of Royalty was not even discussed. "What need is there for discussion," exclaimed a delegate, "where all are agreed? Courts are the hot-bed of crime, the focus of corruption; the history of kings is the martyrology of nations."

All t.i.tles of n.o.bility were also abolished. Every one was to be addressed simply as _citizen_. In the debates of the Convention, the king was alluded to as Citizen Capet, and on the street the s...o...b..ack was called Citizen s...o...b..ack.

The day following the Proclamation of the republic (Sept. 22, 1792) was made the beginning of a new era, the first day of the YEAR 1. That was to be regarded as the natal day of Liberty. A little later, excited by the success of the French armies,--the Austrians and Prussians had been beaten, and Belgium had been overrun and occupied,--the Convention called upon all nations to rise against despotism, and pledged the aid of France to any people wis.h.i.+ng to secure freedom.

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE KING (Jan. 21, 1793).--The next work of the Convention was the trial and execution of the king. On the 11th of December, 1792, he was brought before the bar of that body, charged with having conspired with the enemies of France, of having opposed the will of the people, and of having caused the ma.s.sacre of the 10th of August. The sentence of the Convention was immediate death. On Jan. 21, 1793, the unfortunate monarch was conducted to the scaffold.

COALITION AGAINST FRANCE.--The regicide awakened the most bitter hostility against the French revolutionists, among all the old monarchies of Europe.

The act was interpreted as a threat against all kings. A grand coalition, embracing Prussia, Austria, England, Sweden, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Piedmont, Naples, the Holy See, and later, Russia, was formed to crush the republican movement. Armies aggregating more than a quarter of a million of men threatened France at once on every frontier.

While thus beset with foes without, the republic was threatened with even more dangerous enemies within. The people of La Vendee, in Western France, who still retained their simple reverence for Royalty, n.o.bility, and the Church, rose in revolt against the sweeping innovations of the revolutionists.

To meet all these dangers which threatened the life of the new-born republic, the Convention ordered a levy, which placed 300,000 men in the field. The stirring Ma.r.s.eillaise Hymn, sung by the marching bands, awakened everywhere a martial fervor.

THE FALL OF THE GIRONDISTS (June 2, 1793).--Gloomy tidings came from every quarter,--news of reverses to the armies of the republic in front of the allies, and of successes of the counter-revolutionists in La Vendee and other provinces. The Mountainists in the Convention, supported by the rabble of Paris, urged the most extreme measures. They proposed that the carriages of the wealthy should be seized and used for carrying soldiers to the seat of war, and that the expenses of the government should be met by forced contributions from the rich.

The Girondists opposing these communistic measures, a mob, 80,000 strong, it is a.s.serted, surrounded the Convention, and demanded that the Girondists be given up as enemies of the Republic. They were surrendered and placed under arrest, a preliminary step to the speedy execution of many of them during the opening days of the Reign of Terror, which had now begun.

Thus did the Parisian mob purge the National Convention of France, as the army purged Parliament in the English Revolution (see p. 612). That mob were now masters, not only of the capital, but of France as well. There is nothing before France now but anarchy, and the dictator to whom anarchy always gives birth.

_The Reign of Terror_ (June 2, 1793-July 27, 1794).

OPENING OF THE REIGN OF TERROR.--As soon as the expulsion of the Moderates had given the Extremists control of the Convention, they proceeded to carry out their policy of terrorism. Supreme power was vested in the so- called Committee of Public Safety, which became a terrific engine of tyranny and cruelty. Marat was president of the Committee, and Danton and Robespierre were both members.

The scenes which now followed are only feebly ill.u.s.trated by the proscriptions of Sulla in ancient Rome (see p. 283). All aristocrats, all persons suspected of lukewarmness in the cause of liberty, were ordered to the guillotine. Hundreds were murdered simply because their wealth was wanted. Others fell, not because they were guilty of any political offence, but on account of having in some way incurred the personal displeasure of the dictators.

CHARLOTTE CORDAY: a.s.sa.s.sINATION OF MARAT (July 13,1793).--At this moment appeared the Joan of Arc of the Revolution. A maiden of Normandy, Charlotte Corday by name, conceived the idea of delivering France from the terrors of proscription and civil war, by going to Paris and killing Marat, whom she regarded as the head of the tyranny. On pretence of wis.h.i.+ng to reveal to him something of importance, she gained admission to his rooms and stabbed him to the heart. She atoned for the deed under the knife of the guillotine.

EVENTS AFTER THE DEATH OF MARAT.--The enthusiasm of Charlotte Corday had led her to believe that the death of Marat would be a fatal blow to the power of the Mountainists. But it only served to drive them to still greater excesses, under the lead of Danton and Robespierre. She died to stanch the flow of her country's blood; but, as Lamartine says, "her poniard appeared to have opened the veins of France." The flame of insurrection in the departments was quenched in deluges of blood. Some of the cities that had been prominent centres of the counter-revolution were made a terrible example of the vengeance of the revolutionists. Lyons was an object of special hatred to the tyrants. Respecting this place the Convention pa.s.sed the following decree: "The city of Lyons shall be destroyed: every house occupied by a rich man shall be demolished; only the dwellings of the poor shall remain, with edifices specially devoted to industry, and monuments consecrated to humanity and public education." So thousands of men were set to work to pull down the city. The Convention further decreed that a monument should be erected upon the ruins of Lyons with this inscription: "Lyons opposed Liberty! Lyons is no more!"

EXECUTION OF THE QUEEN AND OF THE GIRONDISTS.--The rage of the revolutionists was at this moment turned anew against the remaining members of the royal family, by the European powers proclaiming the Dauphin King of France. The queen, who had now borne nine months'

imprisonment in a close dungeon, was brought before the terrible Revolutionary Tribunal, a sort of court organized to take cognizance of conspiracies against the republic, condemned to the guillotine, and straightway beheaded.

Two weeks after the execution of the queen, twenty-one of the chiefs of the Girondists, who had been kept in confinement since their arrest in the Convention, were pushed beneath the knife. Hundreds of others followed.

Day after day the carnival of death went on. Seats were arranged for the people, who crowded to the spectacle as to a theatre. The women busied their hands with their knitting, while their eyes feasted upon the swiftly changing scenes of the horrid drama.

Most ill.u.s.trious of all the victims after the queen was Madame Roland, who was accused of being the friend of the Girondists. Woman has always acted a prominent part in the great events of French history, because the grand ideas and sentiments which have worked so powerfully upon the imaginative and impulsive temperament of the men of France, have appealed with a still more fatal attraction to her more romantic and generously enthusiastic nature.

SWEEPING CHANGES AND REFORMS.--While clearing away the enemies of France and of liberty, the revolutionists were also busy making the most sweeping changes in the ancient inst.i.tutions and customs of the land. They hated these as having been established by kings and aristocrats to enhance their own importance and power, and to enthrall the ma.s.ses. They proposed to sweep these things all aside, and give the world a fresh start.

A new system of weights and measures, known as the metrical, was planned, and a new mode of reckoning time was introduced. The names of the months were altered, t.i.tles being given them expressive of the character of each.

Each month was divided into three periods of ten days each, called decades, and each day into ten parts. The tenth day of each decade took the place of Sunday. The five odd days not provided for in the arrangement were made festival days.

ABOLITION OF CHRISTIANITY.--With these reforms effected, the revolutionists next proceeded to the more difficult task of subverting the ancient inst.i.tutions of religion. Some of the chiefs of the Commune of Paris declared that the Revolution should not rest until it had "dethroned the King of Heaven as well as the kings of earth."

An attempt was made by the Extremists to have Christianity abolished by a decree of the National Convention; but that body, fearing such an act might alienate many who were still attached to the Church, resolved that all matters of creed should be left to the decision of the people themselves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GUILLOTINE ]

The atheistic chiefs of the Commune of the capital now determined to effect their purpose through the Church itself. They persuaded the Bishop of Paris to abdicate his office; and his example was followed by many of the clergy throughout the country. The churches of Paris and of other cities were now closed, and the treasures of their altars and shrines confiscated to the State, Even the bells were melted down into cannon. The images of the Virgin and of the Christ were torn down, and the busts of Marat and other patriots set up in their stead. And as the emanc.i.p.ation of the world was now to be wrought, not by the Cross, but by the guillotine, that instrument took the place of the crucifix, and was called the Holy Guillotine. All the visible symbols of the ancient religion were destroyed. All emblems of hope in the cemeteries were obliterated, and over their gates were inscribed the words, "Death is eternal sleep."

The madness of the Parisian people culminated in the wors.h.i.+p of what was called the G.o.ddess of Reason. A celebrated beauty, personating the G.o.ddess, was set upon the altar of Notre Dame as the object of homage and adoration. The example of Paris was followed in many places throughout France. Churches were everywhere converted into temples of the new wors.h.i.+p. The Sabbath having been abolished, the services of the temple were held only upon every tenth day. On that day the mayor or some popular leader mounted the altar and harangued the people, dwelling upon the news of the moment, the triumphs of the armies of the republic, the glorious achievements of the Revolution, and the privilege of living in an era when one was oppressed neither by kings on earth or by a King in heaven.

FALL OF HeBERT AND DANTON (March and April, 1794).--Not quite one year of the Reign of Terror had pa.s.sed before the revolutionists, having destroyed or driven into obscurity their common enemy, the Girondists, turned upon one another with the ferocity of beasts whose appet.i.te has been whetted by the taste of blood.

During the progress of events the Jacobins had become divided into three factions, headed respectively by Danton, Robespierre, and Hebert. Danton, though he had been a bold and audacious leader, was now adopting a more conservative tone, and was condemning the extravagances and cruelties of the Committee of Public Safety, of which he had ceased to be a member.

Hebert was one of the worst demagogues of the Commune, the chief and instigator of the Parisian rabble. He and his followers, the sans-culottes of the capital, would overturn everything and refound society upon communism and atheism.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBESPIERRE]

Robespierre occupied a position midway between these two, condemning alike the moderatism of Danton and the atheistic communism of Hebert. To make his own power supreme, he resolved to crush both.

Hebert and his party were the first to fall, Danton and his adherents working with Robespierre to bring about their ruin, for the Moderates and Anarchists were naturally at bitter enmity.

Danton and his friends were the next to follow. Little more than a week had pa.s.sed since the execution of Hebert before Robespierre had effected their destruction, on the charge of conspiring with and encouraging the counter-revolutionists.

With the Anarchists and Moderates both destroyed, Robespierre was now supreme. His ambition was attained. "He stood alone on the awful eminence of the Holy Mountain." But his turn was soon to come.

WORs.h.i.+P OF THE SUPREME BEING.--One of the first acts of the dictator was to give France a new religion in place, of the wors.h.i.+p of Reason.

Robespierre wished to sweep away Christianity as a superst.i.tion, but he would stop at deism. He did not believe that a state could be founded on atheism. "Atheism," said he, "is aristocratic. The idea of a great being who watches over oppressed innocence, and who punishes triumphant guilt, is and always will be popular. If G.o.d did not exist, it would behoove man to invent him." Accordingly Robespierre offered in the Convention the following resolution: "The French people acknowledge the existence of the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul." The decree was adopted, and the churches that had been converted into temples of the G.o.ddess of Reason were now consecrated to the wors.h.i.+p of the Supreme Being.

THE TERROR AT PARIS.--At the very same time that Robespierre was establis.h.i.+ng the new wors.h.i.+p, he was desolating France with ma.s.sacres of incredible atrocity, and ruling by a terrorism unparalleled since the most frightful days of Rome. With all power gathered in his hands, he overawed all opposition and dissent by the wholesale slaughters of the guillotine.

The prisons of Paris and of the departments were filled with suspected persons, until 200,000 prisoners were crowded within these republican Bastiles. At Paris the dungeons were emptied of their victims and room made for fresh ones, by the swift processes of the Revolutionary Tribunal, which in mockery of justice caused the prisoners to be brought before its bar in companies of ten or fifty. Rank or talent was an inexpiable crime.

"Were you not a n.o.ble?" asks the president of the court of one of the accused. "Yes," was the reply. "Enough; another," was the judge's verdict.

And so on through the long list each day brought before the tribunal.

The scenes about the guillotine were simply infernal. Benches were arranged around the scaffold and rented to spectators, like seats in a theatre. A special sewer had to be constructed to carry off the blood of the victims. In the s.p.a.ce of a little over a month (from June 10th to July 17th) the number of persons guillotined at Paris was 1285, an average of 34 a day.

Ma.s.sACRES IN THE PROVINCES.--While such was the terrible state of things at the capital, matters were even worse in many of the other leading cities of France. The scenes at Nantes, Bordeaux, Ma.r.s.eilles, and Toulon suggested, in their varied elements of horror, the awful conceptions of the "Inferno" of Dante. At Nantes the victims were at first shot singly or guillotined; but these methods being found too slow, more expeditious modes of execution were devised. To these were playfully given the names of "Republican Baptisms," "Republican Marriages," and "Battues."

The "Republican Baptism" consisted in crowding a hundred or more persons into a vessel, which was then towed out into the Loire and scuttled. In the "Republican Marriages" a man and woman were bound together, and then thrown into the river. The "Battues" consisted in ranging the victims in long ranks, and mowing them down with discharges of cannon and musket.

By these various methods fifteen thousand victims were destroyed in the course of a single month. The entire number ma.s.sacred at Nantes during the Reign of Terror is estimated at thirty thousand. What renders these murders the more horrible is the fact that a considerable number of the victims were women and children. Nantes was at this time crowded with the orphaned children of the Vendean counter-revolutionists. Upon a single night three hundred of these innocents were taken from the city prisons and drowned in the Loire.