In all this there is no intention to spare in Paris the chiefs of the
insurrection or of the party, either deputies or ministers; on the
contrary, the object is to complete the subjection of the Convention,
to stifle the murmurs of the "Right," to impose silence on Ducos,
Boyer-Fonfrède, Vernier, and Couhey, who still speak and protest.[11103]
Hence the decrees of arrest or death, launched weekly from the top
of the "Mountain," fall on the majority like guns fired into a crowd.
Decrees of accusation follow: on the 15th of June, against Duchâtel, on
the 17th against Barbaroux, on the 23rd against Brissot, on the 8th of
July against Devérité and Condorcet, on the 14th against Lauze-Deperret
and Fauchet, on the 30th against Duprat Jr., Valée and Mainvielle,
on the 2nd of August against Rouyer, Brunel and Carra; Carra,
Lauze-Deperret and Fauchet, present during the session, are seized on
the spot, which is plain physical warning: none is more effective to
check the unruly.--Decrees are passed on the 18th of July accusing
Coustard, on the 28th of July against Gensonné, La Source, Vergniaud,
Mollevaut, Gardien, Grangeneuve, Fauchet, Boilleau, Valazé, Cussy,
Meillan; each being aware that the tribunal before which he must appear
is the waiting room to the guillotine.--Decrees of condemnation are
passed on the 12th of July against Birotteau, the 28 of July against
Buzot, Barbaroux, Gorsas, Lanjuniais, Salles, Louvet, Bergoeing,
Pétion, Guadet, Chasset, Chambon, Lidon, Valady, Defermon, Kervelégen,
Larivière, Rabaut-Saint-Étienne, and Lesage; pronounced outlaws and
traitors, they are to be led to the scaffold without trial as soon as
they can be got hold of.--Finally, on the 3rd of October, a great
haul of the net in the Assembly itself sweeps off the benches all the
deputies that still seem capable of any independence: the first thing is
to close the doors of the hall, which is done by Amar, reporter of the
Committee of General Security;[11104] then, after a declamatory and
calumnious speech, which lasts two hours, he reads off names on two
lists of proscriptions: forty-five deputies, more or less prominent
among the Girondins, are to be at once summoned before the revolutionary
tribunal; seventy-three others, who have signed secret protests against
the 31st of May and 2nd of June, are to be put in jail. No arguing!
the majority dares not even express an opinion. Some of the proscribed
attempt to exculpate themselves, but they are not allowed to be heard;
none but the Montagnards have the floor, and they do no more than add
to the lists, each according to personal enmity; Levasseur has Vigée put
down, and Duroi adds the name of Richon. One their names being called,
all the poor creatures who happen to be inscribed, quietly advance and
"huddle together within the bar of the house, like lambs destined to
slaughter," and here they are separated into two flocks; on the one hand
the seventy-three, and on the other, the ten or twelve who, with
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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