Bertrand Barère Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac ( 10 September 1755 – 13 January 1841 ) was a French politician , freemason and journalist , one of the most notorious members of the National Convention during the French Revolution . Early career . He was born at Tarbes in Gascony . The name " Barère de Vieuzac " , by which he continued to call himself long after the renunciation of feudal rights on the 4 August abolition of feudalism , came from a small fief belonging to his father , a lawyer at Vieuzac . Barère ' s father , Jean Barère , was a procurator and a lawyer . Barère ’ s mother , Jeanne - Catherine Marrast , was of old nobility . When Barère was a child , he went to a parish school , and when he and his siblings were of age , his brother , Jean - Pierre , became a priest . After finishing school , Barère attended a college before he began his career in revolutionary politics . He began to practice as a lawyer at the " parlement " of Toulouse in 1770 , and soon earned a reputation as an orator , while his fame as an essayist led to his election as a member of the Academy of Floral Games of Toulouse in 1788 . He married at the age of thirty . Four years later ( 1789 ) , he was elected deputy by the estates of Bigorre to the Estates - General — he had made his first visit to Paris in the preceding year . Barère de Vieuzac at first belonged to the constitutional party , but he was less known as a speaker in the National Constituent Assembly than as a journalist . His paper , the " Point du Jour " , according to François Victor Alphonse Aulard , owed its reputation not so much to its own qualities as to the fact that the painter Jacques - Louis David , in his sketch of the Tennis Court Oath , showed Barère kneeling in the corner and writing a report of the proceedings for posterity . With the Girondists and The Mountain . After the flight of the king to Varennes , Barère joined the republican party and the Feuillants , although he continued to keep in touch with the Duke of Orléans , whose natural daughter , Pamela , he tutored . After the Constituent Assembly ended its session , he was nominated one of the judges of the newly instituted " Cour de cassation " from October 1791 to September 1792 . Even though Barère was States - General in 1789 and judge of Constituent Assembly in 1791 , his real career didn ' t begin until 1792 , when he was elected to the National Convention for the " département " of the Hautes - Pyrénées . He participated to the Constitution Committee that drafted the Girondin constitutional project and also became a member of the Committee of Public Safety in 1793 . It turned out that Barère was extremely useful in reporting to the Convention the plans of the Committee . His career took off when he presided over the trial of Louis XVI — Barère was the presiding officer in the National Convention and he was the one who questioned the king . He voted with The Mountain for the king ' s execution " without appeal and without delay " , and closed his speech with a memorable sentence : “ the tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants . ” Appointed to the Committee of Public Safety on 7 April 1793 , he became involved in foreign affairs , and joined Robespierre ' s faction , the Jacobin Club , playing an important part in the second Committee of Public Safety after 17 July 1793 . He voted for the death of the Girondists at the beginning of the Reign of Terror . He consequently became active in the power struggles between The Mountain and others , and became mediator to all . After the execution of King Louis XVI , Barère began publicly speaking of his newfound faith in " la religion de la patrie " . He wanted everyone to have faith in the fatherland , and called for the people of the Republic to be good citizens and to have virtue . Barère focused on four aspects about " la religion de la patrie " ; 1 ) the belief that a citizen would be consecrated to the fatherland at birth , 2 ) the citizen should then come to love the fatherland , 3 ) the Republic would teach the people virtues , 4 ) the fatherland would be the teacher to all . Barère went on to state that " the Republic leaves the guidance of your first years to your parents , but as soon as your intelligence is developed , it proudly claims the rights that it holds over you . You are born for the Republic and not for the pride or the despotism of families . " He also said that since citizens were born of the Republic , they should love it above anything else , reasoning that eventually the love for the fatherland would become a passion in everyone and this is how the people of the Republic would be united . Barère also urged further issues of nationalism and patriotism . He said , " I was a revolutionary . I am a constitutional citizen . " He pushed for freedom of press , speech , and thought . Barère felt that nationalism was founded by immeasurable emotions that could only be awakened by participating in national activities such as public events , festivals , and through education . He believed in unity through " diversity and compromise . " In 1793 and 1794 , Barère spoke of his doctrine 1 ) the teaching of national patriotism through an organized system of universal education ; 2 ) the national widespread of patriotic devotion ; 3 ) the concept that one owed his nation his services . Barère also stated that one could serve the nation by giving his labor , wealth , counsel , strength , and / or blood . Therefore , all sexes and ages could serve the fatherland . He outlined his new faith in the fatherland , which replaced the national state religion , Catholicism . Barère was trying to make nationalism a religion . Besides being concerned for the fatherland , Barère believed in universal elementary education . He influenced what children in American schools now do today ; that is say the pledge of allegiance , alphabet , and the teaching of the multiplication table . Barère believed that the fatherland could educate all . 9 Thermidor , prison , and later life . After his 1793 and 1794 speeches on nationalism , patriotism , and education , the counter - revolution and White Terror surged . Robespierre was put on trial in 1794 along with two others , Couthon and Saint - Just . Barère provided defense speeches for Couthon and St . Just , so they would be prepared on what to say at their trial . He also tried to help Robespierre on his speech , so he wouldn ' t be executed , but Robespierre refused . The National Convention asked Robespierre to identify others who were terrorists . Robespierre identified Billaud , Collot d ' Herbois , and Barère as terrorists . After Barère found out Robespierre had condemned him as a terrorist , Barère pointed his finger at Robespierre to have him executed . Barère was the first to condemn Robespierre , so he , himself , would live . Barère was also known to have attacked Maximilien Robespierre by calling him " a pygmy who should not be set on a pedestal " . During the Thermidorian Reaction ( 27 July 1794 ) , after some initial hesitation , he drew up the report outlawing Robespierre . Unfortunately , Barère was still questioned on the grounds of being a terrorist . Before Barère was sentenced to prison , " Carnot defended him on the ground that [ Barère ] was hardly worse than himself . " However , the defense proved ineffective . Nonetheless , in Germinal of the year III ( 21 March to 4 April 1795 ) , the leaders of Thermidor decreed the arrest of Barère and his colleagues in the Reign of Terror , Jean Marie Collot d ' Herbois and Jacques Nicolas Billaud - Varenne . Barère was sentenced for his betrayal of King Louis XVI ( by voting to execute him ) , for being a traitor to France , and for being a terrorist , and he was imprisoned on Oléron , on his way for transportation to French Guiana . While Barère was in prison , he was very depressed and wrote his own epitaph because he thought he was going to die . Barère was in prison for two years before the National Convention decided they were going to retry him for death by the guillotine . When Barère found out that he was being retried , someone helped him escape from prison and went to Bordeaux , where he lived in hiding for several years . In 1795 , he was elected to the Directory ' s Council of Five Hundred , but he was not allowed to take his seat . Barère eventually returned to France and served Napoleon . Under the First Empire , he was used as a secret agent by Napoleon , for whom he carried on a diplomatic correspondence . Some time afterward , Napoleon placed Barère back in prison , but Barère escaped again . He became a member of the Chamber of Deputies during the Hundred Days , and he behaved as a royalist in 1815 . However , once the final restoration of the Bourbons was achieved , he was banished from France for life " as a regicide " . Barère then withdrew to Brussels , where he lived until 1830 . He returned to France and served Louis Philippe under the July monarchy until his death on 13 January 1841 . He was the last surviving member of the Committee of Public Safety . See also . Society of the Friends of Truth