#year ii
Procès-verbal of the session of the General Council of the Commune (23 Pluviôse, Year II)
Excerpt from the procès-verbal of the session of the General Council of the Commune of 23 Pluviôse, Year II of the Republic.
The three Representatives of the People, deputies from the Colonies, the one black, the other métis, and the third white, enter the General Council of the Commune, and, in the name of their constituents, they present the feelings of affection and esteem that the virtues [and] the courage of the people of Paris and of its magistrates have inspired in them.
Speech of the métis Deputy at the General Council of the Commune of Paris.
Citizens Magistrates of the people,
We come to consolidate a pact of union and fraternity with the people of Paris, in the name of the 6 or 7 hundred thousand individuals who inhabit Saint-Domingue ; it has started the revolution, it has fought the tyrant, it has overthrown despotism, and it has served the cause of liberty and equality so well, that the Republic is finally one and indivisible. We come to pay the homage of our administration to it, for its glorious works and for its successes ; it is by hearing the account of its efforts [and] of its victories, that we have found, within ourselves, the energy which characterises the free man, the republican, and which was smothered by the degradation wherein we were buried. It is to the progress of the spirit which it has developed, that we owe the fortunate regeneration which has, firstly, made us citizens, and which finally comes to restore the name men to our brothers, in exchange for the one of slaves. This odious word will no longer sully the dictionary of the French ; henceforth, there will, in all parts of France, only be a people of friends and brothers.
The name of the People of Paris will, in our memory, eternally unite with the idea of liberty, of the French Republic, of the National Convention, and with the one of the submission and the inalterable attachment to one’s laws.
People of Paris, these are the feelings that I present to you, in the name of my brothers, and I present them in the hands of your magistrates.
Signed, MILLS.
Speech of the black deputy.
Citizens,
I was a slave in my childhood. 36 years ago, I became free through my industry ; I was bought [by] myself. Since, in the course of my life, I felt worthy of being French.
I served my patrie with the esteem of my leaders of the last war, in the campaign of New England, under General d'Estaing. In the very memorable days of the last 20 and 21 June (old style), when the traitor Galbaud, at the head of the counter-revolutionaries, wanted to have the delegates of France slaughtered ; I armed myself with my brothers in order to defend them ; my blood flowed for the French Republic, for the noble cause of liberty: I do not claim to make myself a merit out of it, I only did my duty.
Having barely escaped the dangers of my wounds, I was appointed, by my concitoyens, in order to represent them in France and to bring you the homage of their devotion and their eternal fidelity to the French Nation ; citizens, these are my only titles ; this is my glory.
I have only one thing to tell you: it is the tricolour flag that has called us to liberty ; it is under its auspices that we have regained this liberty, our heritage and the treasure of our posterity ; as [long as] a single drop of blood will be left in our veins, I swear to you, in the name of my brothers, that this flag will always float on our shores and in our mountains.
Signed, BELLEY.
Speech of the white deputy.
Citizens,
When all French [people] were free, between 6 and 7 hundred thousand individuals were still slaves in Saint-Domingue, and just as many on our other islands. – They were surrounded by evils ; they were on French territory as in a foreign country ; they did not have the permission to have a patrie ; they fertilised French soil ; they contributed to the prosperity of the metropolis, and they did not draw any benefit from their sweat ; they did not have anything, not even hope.
I have had the pleasure of pleading their cause, and of attaching them to France ; the National Convention has been their liberator, it has broken their chains, it has restored the Rights of Man to them ; for them, misfortune is not eternal: nature lies in the joy of seeing such a beautiful triumph ; my happiness is complete.
In addition to my bliss, having been born in Paris, I find myself amidst my concitoyens, my compatriots ; I have nothing left to desire, if not their esteem, and to prove myself worthy of them in the Convention ; and until my last breath, I will be [worthy], I swear it, and I will keep my oaths.
Signed, DUFAY.
The president responds: « Citizens, the Rights of Man were violated for a long time ; crooks [and] kings had, through a long slavery, debased humankind ; they did not blush about trading humans. Thanks to our sacred revolution, we have recovered our rights, [and] we will keep them ; unite with us ; let us form an unwavering faisceau ; let us vow the death of the tyrants. Soon, our pledges will be fulfilled, and earth, [having been] purged of the monsters that sully it, will henceforth only offer the touching sight of truly free men. »
Then, CHAUMETTE takes the floor, and says:
« In the days when, for pusillanimous souls, it was dangerous to proclaim the Rights of Man and to apply them to People of Colour, the Commune of Paris, braving both prejudices and fears, dared to welcome, in its midst, the victims of egotism, and received from them, as a reward for their attachment, the flag that you see hanging over our heads. The visit of our brothers, the deputies of Saint-Domingue, compensates us today for the feigned disdain that we have experienced, when, at the bar of the National Convention, we led the Americans, preceded by a woman of 114 years of age…, a woman who bore the trace of a century of misfortunes on her face, of a century of crimes on behalf of our unfortunate fathers, or rather the seal of their own enslavement ; but then, the Convention was not itself: it could only dedicate its efforts to delivering the French People from the tyranny of the federalists who infected everything, even the senate itself.
I remember it well, it was the year after the expulsion of the kings, that Rome, upon the motion of Valerius Publicola, pronounced the laws on the liberation [of the slaves] ; and, among us, it was in the year after the death of the tyrant, that the very name slave has been destroyed.
Citizens, we have more than one Valerius Publicola, more than all his assembled works: we have a National Convention, which does not content itself with making laws on the liberation, but which, with a single word, pronounced the abolition of slavery ; we have a Publicola Convention!… long live the Convention… long live the Publicola Convention!… (The people from the tribunes repeats it.) Long live the Publicola Convention!…
And you, men from the Colonies, applaud with us to the works of a new people which wants to make our concitoyens forget the crimes of the old man ; no, no, the murderous nabot will no longer crush the ankle of the unfortunate slave’s foot. Ah! he shall depart immediately, this fortunate being, which, as the voice of our legislators, will also be the voice of the sacred laws or nature in our Colonies ; he shall fly, he shall cry Liberty! – He shall advance in the home of arrogant avidity ; he shall set forth with the speed of light upon the barbarous piqueur, while crying: stop, you wretch, you are striking a free man…
Oh you, unfortunate mothers, obliged to curse your fertility, rest assured, your children will be citizens ; the source of crimes is exhausted: no, you will no longer smother your children in order to shield them from slavery and from the murderous whip ; you will no longer smother them in order to shield them from the long ordeal of life ; you will nourish them for the patrie, you will nourish them so that they can enjoy their liberty and bless their liberators. And you, Black Men, you… (I must use your expression) you will no longer swallow your tongue, in order to be able to hide your degradation and your torments under the tomb ; on the contrary, you will preserve them in order to pronounce the death sentence of tyranny, in order to inveigh against your oppressors, regardless of the skin with which nature has covered them ; you will preserve them in order to proclaim, in both worlds, the immortal declaration of the Rights of Man, [which has been] buried for you for too long under the jumble of astute speeches, and the tiresome paperwork of the long process of humanity against despotism.
For you, Commune of Paris, enjoy, for a moment, the little good that you have done. It is nothing, this is true, in comparison with what our Legislators have done ; but nature, which makes the Cedar of the Lebanon grow, also grants asylum to the simple violet, under the shadowy vaults of our forest. Our legislators deposit, at the feet of the Patrie, at the feet of liberty, the immortal trophies of their glory. Let us gather the humble field flower, and let us also bring our offering to the common divinity. The legislator proclaims, in the name of the French People, the rights of humanity, and marks his works with new good deeds ; we shall be allowed to celebrate them ; let us sing of sacred equality, and our songs shall resound in the mountains of the land of the children of the sun.
One the next Décadi, [30 Pluviôse], as our decrees command, we will assemble with our brothers, in the Temple of Reason, in order to read out the Rights of Man there and to sing the hymns of liberty. Let us also celebrate the abolition of slavery there. I propose that a member of the General Council delivers a speech on this subject, and that this festival is dedicated to celebrating this pleasant period of our revolution. »
The Council, adopting the proposal of the national agent, decides that he will himself be invited to deliver the speech that he proposes ; that all constitutional authorities, the electoral body, the sections, the popular societies, the civil and revolutionary committees, will be invited to this festival: finally, decides that the administration of public works will take the measures [that are] necessary for the order that is to be observed there.
[Brief account of the Festival of 30 Pluviôse]
And on Décadi, 30 Pluviôse, the People of Paris gathered with its magistrates, in the Temple of Reason. The crowd was immense. Upon the arrival of the deputation of the National Convention, which included the deputies of the Colonies, repeated cries of Long live the National Convention, and applause, mingling with the noise of the instruments of war, resounded in the vaults of the building and were repeated outside.
Thecitoyensandcitoyennes of Colour were placed, along with the deputation of the National Convention, in an enclosure [that was] decorated with garlands and crowns.
The ceremony began with an overture by Gossec, performed by the National Institute of Music. The president of the Council then read the declaration of the Rights of Man.
After this reading, another piece of music was performed ; during which the most pleasant effusions of fraternity manifested themselves. Cries of Long live the Republic put an end to this touching scene.
Thesecrétaire-greffier then read out the analysis of all the beautiful deeds that the past month had witnessed. Another piece of music followed. Finally, Citizen Chaumette delivered [his famous] speech, which was often interrupted by applause: tears of affection flowed from all eyes, they were charming. Once the speech ended, the citizens of colour came to give the kiss of fraternity to the orator. A black child, lifted by the arms [of the citizens] and thus handed over to the Representatives of the People, produced the greatest effect ; but soon, the Men of Colour, followed by the municipality, advanced to the sound of a military march, beside the Representatives of the People, their hands carrying the crowns that they presented to them. It would have been necessary to have seen this beautiful scene, in order to really feel it. Men of all colours, formerly slaves, pressed between the arms of the Representatives of the French People, soaked with their tears… The arms of all spectators raised towards the sky, cries of Long live the Republic,Long live the Convention [were] repeated a thousand times… On this day, the Legislators must have felt how expressive the gratitude of the People is.
After a drum roll, everyone resumed their place, and the Men of Colour, always pressed around the representatives of the People, remained in this attitude, during the Hymn to Liberty, which closed this interesting festival.
Upon leaving the Temple, the crowd had grown outside ; the nearby squares and streets were filled with Republicans who, in their turn, demonstrated their gratitude to the popular representation, as well as the role which they played in the festival that had just been celebrated.
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Land of Slaves – Land of Liberty(1794)
Having arrived there, we do not retreat.
Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery of 4 February 1794.
Attributed to François Bonneville, Bibliothèque nationale de France.
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Foussedoire, Representative of the People in the Departments of Haut- and Bas-Rhin(1794)
André Foussedoire, a Montagnard deputy en mission, published this address on 19 August 1794. He had been sent on a mission to Alsace in the spring of 1794, in the course of which he implemented a number of (seemingly, rather unpopular) measures. In this address, he attacks the violent prejudice against Jews among citizens of Haut- and Bas-Rhin.
Citizens,
It is with the emphasis of profound indignation that I have to complain about the humiliations that one exercises in these Departments against men that malevolence or ineptitude always endeavour to classify under the denomination Jews. One renews, every day, every moment, these reproaches of agiotage, of usury, of superstition against them, which most of them have ceased to deserve, since the national will, based on natural equity, has returned them to the dignity of their being, & has granted them the glorious title French Citizens.
It has equally been assured to me, that one has gone as far as to say, in the sessions of Popular Societies, that these individuals were all scoundrels [and] crooks; that, within a few days, [and] by decree of the National Convention, they had to be chased from the Republic, & that their debtors were exempted from keeping any commitment towards them; that, in accordance with an order of the Department, contrary to all principles, they have, for a long time, constantly endured a miscarriage of justice; that, in a public auction, an Administrative Commissioner, trampling under foot both the law & his duties, opposed himself to a supposed Jew having a possession, which had fallen to him in the course of bids.
That a tribunal has a tribunal has passed against one of them, who, in truth, was convicted of the offence that he had been warned of, an almost barbarous judgement, whose utterance contains expressions [that are] as hateful as [they are] impolitic, assertions [that are] equally false & counter-revolutionary, & in order to place the last stroke on this rapidly sketched picture, that one has taken indecency as far as to exhume the corpse of one of these men, who, desiring the law, had been deposed in a cemetery.
No doubt, Citizens, these outrageous injustices & these reprehensible excesses sully only a few thoughtless functionaries, [who are] unworthy of your confidence, and a few individuals [who are] blinded by their prejudice or their ignorance; but it is no less urgent to publish them & to take the repressive measures that humanity and justice require under these circumstances.
Citizens, may public censorship be exerted over all those who, irrespective of principles, offend their brothers through hatred or through prejudice; & as for me, when using the authority that I have been entrusted with, I will not forget [to do] anything in order to enforce the law which equally protects all Frenchmen.
Signed,FOUSSEDOIRE.
Source: IMPRIMÉ QUI DÉNONCE TRAITEMENT DES JUIFS EN ALSACE
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The Republican Months (circa 1794)
Cheveux blancs, le front chauve et le corps tout voûté,
White hair, his forehead bare and his body completely stooped,
Nivôse tout transi par la glace arrêté,
Nivôse, completely numbed by the ice, stops,
Appelle pluviôse; il l'appelle et le prie
Calls for Pluviôse; he calls him and prays him
De fondre les glaçons en répandant la pluie.
To melt the icicles by spreading the rain.
Elle tombe, et bientôt dissipant les frimats,
It falls, and soon, dispersing the freezing fogs,
Ventôse invite Flore à revoir nos climats.
Ventôse invites Flora to see our climates again.
Le riant germinal féconde les semences,
Germinal, laughing, fertilises the seeds,
Promet, fait concevoir de douces espérances;
Promises, [and] makes [them] conceive sweet hopes;
Et Flore, et Floréal , son époux fortuné,
And Flora, and Floréal, her fortunate spouse,
L’un et l'autre le front de roses couronné,
Both of their foreheads crowned with roses,
Couvrent de mille fleurs la terre rajeunie.
Cover the rejuvenated earth with a thousand flowers,
Voyez-vous prairial reverdir la prairie?
Can you see Prairial making the meadow green again?
Messidor a donne le signal aux faneurs,
Messidor gave the signal to the haymakers,
Il a remis la faux aux mains des moissonneurs.
He put the scythe into the hands of the harvesters again.
Cependant thermidor quand on remplit nos granges,
Nonetheless, Thermidor, when one fills our barns,
Colore les raisins et murit les vendanges.
Colours the grapes and ripens the harvest.
O mortels! fructidor, vous comblant de ses dons,
Oh mortals! Fructidor, showering you with his gifts,
Regne sur les côteaux, brille dans les vallons:
Reigns over the hills, shines in the vales:
Faites dans vos celliers, amis de la bouteille,
Friends of the bottle, make, in your cellars,
Couler les flots ambres du nectar de la treille;
The amber floods of the nectar of the vine flow:
Vendémiaire est là du matin jusqu'au soir,
Vendémiaire is there, from morning to night,
Qui préside lui-même aux travaux du pressoir:
Who presides over the works of the press himself:
Lui seul peut eclairer la vapeur de brumaire,
He alone can illuminate the vapour of Brumaire,
Et peut rendre plus court le règne de frimaire.
And can render the reign of Frimaire shorter.
Source: Poésies révolutionnaires et contre-révolutionnaires, t. 1, p. 164f.
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Speech of CitoyenneLucidor Corbin, delivered at the Temple of Reason (30 Pluviôse, Year II)
This speech was delivered by Lucidor Corbin, a Creole citoyenne, during the Festival of the Abolition of Slavery, which the Paris Commune celebrated at the Temple of Reason (formerly Notre-Dame de Paris) on 30 Pluviôse, Year II. The festival celebrated the decree of 16 Pluviôse, by which the National Convention had abolished slavery in the colonies.
French peoples [sic], the great day has arrived, the talisman of feudality is finally broken, Liberty, Equality, reigns over our Hemisphere, all our pains are over, the precious Decree [that has been] passed by our legislators makes us equal to all other people, we are reunited through the bonds of fraternity, our chains are broken, in order to never take them back. Yes, this we swear before our Goddess of Liberty, we will never follow other principles than those of Marat, who was sacrificed by a monster of despotism. Oh Marat, even if you are not present on this day, what joy would shine in your Heart and in your eyes.
But [you], man [who is] cherished in life as well as after your death, be assured that our Hearts equal Altars that we will protect for your virtues. It was you who, through your writings, inspired the sacred love of Liberty in us, for which we will forever preserve an eternal gratitude towards you.
And you, Ogée, free man of Colour, our brother and friend who carried the Decree of 15 May 1790 and who died as the first victim, assassinated by the aristocracy on our Islands, receive the weak homage of our gratitude.
French people, is there a more beautiful day for us to unfold this Symbol of the reunion of the three peoples [i.e. the “tricolour flag” presented by the deputies of Saint-Domingue on 16 Pluviôse], between which the insolent aristocracy had traced a dividing line ; but it is finally shattered, just as the chains that we trample under our feet, and we swear again to defend Liberty [and] Equality, and to support the Republic one and indivisible.
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Song of a Liberated Slave (Coupigny, circa 1794)
Song of a slave, liberated by the decree of the National Convention, at the cradle of her son.
Tune: Ce mouchoir, belle Raymonde.
Au jour plus pur qui t'éclaire, / On the pure day that illuminates you,
Ouvre les yeux, ô mon fils! / Open your eyes, oh my son!
Toi seul consolais ta mère / Only you consoled your mother
Dans ses pénibles ennuis. / In her painful worries.
Si du sommeil qui te presse / If she interrupts the comfort
Elle interrompt la douceur, / Of the sleep that embraces you,
C'est qu'il tarde à sa tendresse / It is that, in its tenderness,
De t'éveiller au bonheur. / It is slow to wake you to your joy.
Quoi! libre dès ton aurore, / What! to be free from birth,
Mon fils quel destin plus beau! / My son, what lovelier destiny is there!
De l'étendard tricolore, / With the tricolour flag,
Je veux parer ton berceau: / I want to adorn your cradle:
Que cet astre tutélaire / May this tutelary star
Brille à les regards naissans! / Shine in your nascent eyes!
Qu'il échauffe ta carrière, / May it your warm up career,
Même au déclin de tes ans! / Even in the decline of your years!
En ton nom à la patrie, / In your name, I swear allegiance
Je jure fidélité: / To the patrie:
Tu ne me dois que la vie, / You owe me only your life,
Tu lui dois la liberté. / You owe her your liberty.
Sous le ciel qui t'a vu naitre, / Under the sky that witnessed your birth,
Rétabli dans tous tes droits, / Restored in all of your rights,
Tu ne connaîtras de maître / You will not know any master
Que la nature et les lois. / But nature and the laws.
Dieu puissant, à l'Amérique / Mighty God, to America
Ta main donna des vengeurs; / Your hand will give avengers;
Répands sur la république / Spread, on the republic,
Tes immortelles faveurs! / Your immortal favours!
Fais dans les deux hémisphères / See to it, in the two hemispheres,
Que ses appuis triomphans, / That her triumphant supporters,
Forment un peuple de frères! / Form a people of brothers!
Puisqu'ils sont tous ses enfans. / Since all of them are her children.
Source: Poésies révolutionnaires et contre-révolutionnaires, t. 1, p. 270.
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Medical report on Georges Couthon’s injuries (10 Thermidor, Year II)
Couthon has been brought, at 5 o’clock in the morning, to the hospice d'humanité; he had, above the swelling on the left side of his forehead, a contused and oblique wound with the breadth of an inch, penetrating until the skull and without denudation; his pulse was weak, he has been put to bed in the salle des Opérations n° 15 and was bandaged; at the time of his arrival, he appeared to be unconscious, but he regained consciousness afterwards and said that his wound was the result of a fall.
10 Thermidor. [Illegible signature.]
Source:Sur la blessure de Couthon dans la nuit du 9 thermidor (Soboul), in: AHRF, n° 120, p. 367. / Archives nationales F7 4656.
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On Robespierre’s conspiracy (Rouget de Lisle)
Laudatory hymn, On the conspiracy of Robespierre and the revolution of 9 Thermidor, presented to the National Convention on 18 Thermidor.
Aux prodiges de la Victoire / Someone else shall devote his songs
Qu’un autre consacre ses chants / To the miracles of Victory,
Que ses vers mâles et touchants / His energetic and touching verses
Célèbrent les fils de la gloire ; / Shall celebrate the sons of glory ;
En vain leur courage indompté / In vain, their untamed courage
Nous gagnait cent et cent batailles ; / Won hundreds of battles for us ;
Le crime au sein de nos murailles / Crime, within our walls,
Allait tuer la Liberté! / Came to kill Liberty!
Chantons la Liberté, / Let us extol Liberty,
Couronnons sa statue. / Let us crown its statue.
Comme un nouveau Titan / Like a new Titan
Le crime est foudroyé: / Crime is struck down:
Relève, relève ta tête abattue, / Raise, raise your bowed head,
Ô France! à tes destins / Oh, France! God himself
Dieu lui-même a veillé. (bis) / Has watched over your destiny.
Dans l’abîme avec quelle adresse / In the abyss, how skillfully
Les monstres savaient t’attirer! / Can the monsters lure you!
Ils sont prêts à te dévorer, / They are ready to devour you,
Leur regard encor te caresse ; / Their gaze still caresses you ;
Le pur langage des vertus / The pure language of the virtues
Est sur leurs lèvres mensongères ; / Is on their dishonest lips ;
Leurs âmes sont les noirs repaires / Their souls are the dark lairs
Où tous les forfaits sont conçus! / Where all infamies are conceived!
Chantons la Liberté…
Longtemps leur audace impunie / For long, their unpunished audacity
Trompa notre crédulité: / Fooled our credulity:
En invoquant la Liberté, / While invoking Liberty,
Ils préparaient la tyrannie ; / They prepared tyranny ;
Le jour, ils maudissaient les rois, / By day, they cursed the kings,
Leurs entreprises sacrilèges ; / [And] their sacrilegious undertakings ;
Et la nuit ils creusaient des pièges, / And by night, they set up traps,
Tombeaux du peuple et de ses droits./
Tombs of the people and of its rights.
Chantons la Liberté…
Voyez-vous ce spectre livide / Can you see this pale spectre
Qui déchire son propre flanc? / Which tears up its own flank?
Enivré, tout souillé de sang, / Intoxicated, sullied with blood,
De sang il est encore avide ; / He is still avid for blood ;
Voyez avec quel rire affreux / See with what terrible laugh
Comme il désigne ses victimes! / How he designates his victims!
Voyez comme il excite au crime / See how he incites
Ses satellites furieux! / His furious satellites to crimes!
Chantons la Liberté…
Ce Dieu que proclamaient leurs bouches,/
This God that their mouths proclaim,
Qu’ils blasphémaient du fond du coeur,/
That they blaspheme from the bottom of their heart,
Du Peuple, Eternel protecteur / The eternal guardian of the People
Contre ses assassins farouches, / Against its savage assassins,
Dieu jette un regard menaçant / God, cast a threatening glance
Sur le tyran, sur ses complices… / On the tyrant, on his accomplices…
C’en est fait, déjà leurs supplices / Once this is done, their ordeals
Laissent respirer l’innocent. / Let the innocent [person] respire.
Chantons la Liberté…
Pars, vole, active renommée, / Go, fly, active reputation, take…
Vole… aux deux bouts de l’Univers, / To the two ends of the Universe,
Du Peuple écrasant ces pervers/
The news of the People crushing these perverts
Que la nouvelle soit semée, / Shall be spread,
Peins-nous Citoyens et Guerriers / Paint us [as] Citizens and Warriors
Terrassant d’un même courage / Striking down, with equal courage,
Les rois dans les champs du carnage, / The kings in the bloody fields
Les factieux dans nos foyers. / [And] the factitious [people] among us.
Chantons la Liberté…
Vous que l’amour de la Patrie / You, whom the love of the Patrie
Arma du poignard de Brutus, / Armed with the dagger of Brutus,
Il faut un triomphe de plus ; / Have to triumph once more ;
Sans lui votre gloire est flétrie. / Without it, your glory is withered.
Jusque dans ses derniers canaux / Dry this fatal flood
Desséchez un torrent funeste ; / Until its last canals ;
Frappez, exterminez le reste / Strike, exterminate the rest
Des traitres et de leurs suppôts. / Of the traitors and their henchmen.
Chantons la Liberté…
L’arbre auguste dont la verdure / The august tree, whose foliage
Défend ton front majestueux, / Defends your majestic face,
Offre désormais à nos vœux / Henceforth offers to our wishes
Une ombre plus douce et plus pure ; / A gentler and purer shadow ;
Des vents contre lui déchaînés / In spite of the unleashed winds,
Bravant l’effort, le souffle immonde, / Braving the effort, the breeze,
Bientôt il couvrira le monde / It will soon cover the world
De ses branchages fortunés. / With its fortunate branches.
Chantons la Liberté…
Source:Hymne dithyrambique Sur la conjuration de Robespierre […].
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Barère’s defence of the Revolutionary Government against the charge of dictatorship (11 Germinal, Year II)
One has spoken of dictatorship, this word has resounded in my ear for fifteen minutes [during the interventions of Delmas and Legendre], it is essential to destroy such an idea. I see that the friends of the convicts are the only ones who have trembled for liberty. I only know dictatorship when one man takes all masks: sometimes the one of audacity, sometimes the one of suppleness ; when one surrounds oneself with friends, when one forms a party, when one walks [with] a troop of clients in one’s wake.
What! there would be a dictatorship in the committees which are removable every month, every minute. On the day where they will not have defended liberty, where they will not have protected your borders, where they will have neglected to fight the factions that are enemies of liberty, the denunciation will be brought to this tribune, and I, a member of this committee, will myself be the first one to support them.
Can one speak of dictatorship there, where there are committees which are responsible every minute, which only draw their authority from the National Convention, and which report to it what they do?
I have said that you would not set an example of an aristocratic senate, whose members would have more rights than the other citizens. […]
Source:Histoire parlementaire de la Révolution française, t. 32, p. 74f.
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