The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-05-24
The Arrest, imprisonment, and Death Of
RObespierre,

| he was CIusncu Di lne Ichlless le
rocity and endurance of his antagonists
A decree for his arrest was resolved
upon by acclamatiOn. He cast glance
at the galleries, as marveling that they
should remain passive in face of an out.
rage on his person. They were mute
The ushers advanced with hesitation tC
do their duty, and not without trem.
bling carried him away, along with Cou.
thOn and Saint Just. The brother, for
whom he had made many honorable
sacrifices in days that seemed to be di-
vided from the present by an abyss OF
centuries, insisted with fine heroism on
sharing his fate, and Augustin Robes.
pierre and lie Bas were led of to the
prison along with their leader and idol,
1t was now little after four o'clock.
The Convention, with the self-pOsses-
sion that so often amazes us in its pro-
ceedings, went on with formal business
for another hour. At five they broke
up. For life, as the poet tells, is daily
stage-play; men declaim their high he
roic parts, th9n dOff the buskin or the
sock, wash the paint from their cheeks,
and gravely sit down to meat. The Con-
ventionals as they ate their dinners.
were unconscious apparently that the
great crisis of the drama was still to
come. The next twelve hours were to
witness the climax. RObespierre had
been crushed by the Convention; it re-
mained to be seen whether the COnven-
ton would not now be crushed by the
Commune of Paris. Robespierre was
first conducted to the prisons of the
Luxembourg. The jailer, on some plea
Of infOrmality, refused to receive him.
The terrible prisoner was next taken to
the Marie, where he remained among
joyful friends from eight in the evening
until eleven. Meanwhile the old insur-
rectionary methods of the night of June
and Of August in 1892, of May and June
Of 1893, were again followed. The
beating of the raPpel and the generate was
heard in all sections, and the tocsin
sounded its dreadful note, reminding
all who should hear it that insurrection
is the most sacred and the most indis-
pensible Of duties. Hanriot, the COM
mandant of the forces, had been arrested
in the evening, but he was speedily re-
leased by the agents of the Commune.
The Council issued manifestoes and de-
crees from the Common Hall every mo-
ment. The barriers were closed. Can
non were posted opposite the doors of
the hall Of the Convention. The quays
were thronged. Emissaries sped to and
fro between the JacObin Club and the
Common Hall, and between these two
centres and each of the fOrty-eight sec
tiOns. 1t is one of the inscrutable mys-
teries of this deliriOus night that Han
riot did not at once use the force at his
command to break up the Convention.
THERE'S no obvious reason whyhe should
not have done so. The members of the
Convention had reassembled after their
diuner, towards seven o'clock. The
hall which had resounded with the
shrieks and yells of the furious gladia-
tors of the faction all day, now lent a
lugubrious echo to gloomy reports which
one member after another delivered from
the shadow of the tribune. Toward
nine o'clock the members of the two
dread committees came in panic to seek
shelter among their colleagues, Gas de-
jected in their peril" ," says an eye wit
ness, "as they had been cruel and inso-
lent in the hour of their supremacy"
When they heard that Hanriot had been
released, and that guns were at their
door, all gave themselves up for lost and
made ready for death. News came that
Robespierre had broken his arrest, and
gone to the Common Hall. Robespierre
after urgent and repeated solicitations,
had been at length persuaded about an
hour before midnight to leave the Marie
and join his partisans of the Commune.
This was an act Of revolt against the
Convention, for the Marie was legal
place of detention, and so long as he
was there he was within the law. The
Convention, with heroic intrepidity,
declared both Hanriot and Robespierre
beyond the pale of law. This prompt
measure was their salvation. Twelve
members were instantly named to carry
the decree to all the sections. With the
scarf of Office around their waists and a
sabre in hand they sailed forth.
Mounting horses, and escorted by at
tendants with flaring torches, they
secured Paris, calling all good citizens
to the snccor of the Convention, ha-
ranguing crowds at the street corners
with power and authority, and striking
the imagination Of men. AT midnight
heavy rain began to fall. The leaders
Of the Commune, meanwhile, in full
confidence that victory was sure, con-
tented themselves with incessant issues
of paper DEGREES, to each of which the
convention replled by q counter-deCrec.
Those who have studied the situation
most minutcly are of opinion that even
so late as one O'Clock in the morning,
the Commune might have made sue
cessful defense, although 1t had lost the
opportunity which It had certainly pos
sessed up to ten o'clock of destroying
the Convention. But on this occasion
the genius Of insurrecton slumbered.
And there was genuine division of
opinion in the eastern quarters Of Paris,
the result Of grim distrust of the man
who had helped to slay Hebert and
Chaumette. At a word this dstrust be-
gan to declare itself. The opinion of
the sections became more and more