Robespierre

'In stern opposition to those admirers of the constitution stood two bodies of unequal numbers, strength and efficacy; …

The Jacobins, - the second of these parties, - were allies of the Brissotins, with the ulterior purpose of urging the revolutionary force to the uttermost, but using as yet the shelter of their republican mantle.  Robespierre, who, by an affection of a frugal and sequestered course of life, preserved among the multitude the title of the Incorruptible, might be considered as head of the Jacobins, if they had indeed a leader more than wolves have, which tuned their united voices to the cry of him who bays the loudest.'

Turning again today to Sir Walter Scott’s “Life of Napoleon Bonaparte”, we find the interesting introduction to Maximilien Robespierre above.  Robespierre’sexecution was covered in an earlier post.  May 6 is the date of his birth.  The year was 1758.

Robespierre Executed

‘…Their chief, Robespierre, in an unsuccessful attempt to shoot himself, had only inflicted a horrible fracture on his under-jaw.

In this situation they were found like wolves in their lair, foul with blood, mutilated, despairing, and yet not able to die. Robespierre lay on a table in an anteroom, his head supported by a deal-box, and his hideous countenance half-hidden by a bloody and dirty cloth bound round the shattered chin.

The captives were carried in triumph to the Convention, who, refusing to admit them to the bar. sent them before the Revolutionary Tribunal, which ordered them, as outlaws, for instant execution. As the fatal cars passed to the guillotine, those who filled them, but especially Robespierre, were overwhelmed with execrations from the friends and relatives of victims whom he had sent on the same melancholy road. The nature of his previous wound. from which the cloth had never been removed till the executioner tore it off; added to the torture of the sufferer. The shattered jaw dropped, and the wretch yelled aloud, to the horror of the spectators.  A mask taken from that dreadful head was long exhibited in different nations of Europe, and appalled the spectator by its ugliness, and the mixture of fiendish expression with that of bodily agony. At the same time fell young Robespierre, Coulhon, Saint Just, Coffinhal, Henriot, Dumas, President of the Revolutionary Tribunal,  the Mayor, and fourteen of their subalterns…’

French revolutionary Maximillien Robespierre met his fate on the guillotine on July 28, 1794.  Many would have felt he received his just due, having been so active in the Reign of Terror.  Sir Walter Scott described Robespierre’s  end in “Life of Napoleon Bonaparte”.

"Thou wilt show my head to the people: It is worth showing"

The famous last words of Georges Jacques Danton, the French Revolutionary, were uttered on April 5, 1794.  Danton, who had participated in the storming of the Bastille, was guillotined toward the end of the reign of terror.  Financial improprieties were cited, including an attempt to gain from insider trading related to the French East India Company.

Walter Scott covers Danton in his "Life of Napoleon", considering him in the same breath as Robespierre and Marat; the triumvirate, as Scott referred to them.

"...The Jacobins—the second of these parties —were allies of the Brissotins, with the ulterior purpose of urging the revolutionary force to the uttermost, but using as yet the shelter of their republican mantle. Robespierre, who, by an affectation of a frugal and sequestered course of life, preserved among the multitude the title of the Incorruptible, might be considered as the head of the Jacobins, if they had indeed a leader more than wolves have, which tune their united voices to the cry of him who bays the loudest. Danton, inexorable as Robespierre himself, but less prudent, because he loved gold and pleasure as well as blood and power, was next in authority. Marat, who loved to talk of murder as soldiers do of battles; the wretched Collot d'Herbóte, a broker-down play-actor ; Chabot, an eicapuchin ; with many other men of desperate character, whose moderate talents were eked cut by the most profligate effrontery, formed the advanced guard of this party, soiled with every species of crime, and accustomed to act their parts in the management of those dreadful insurrections, which had at once promoted and dishonoured the Revolution..."

Madame Roland

Madame Roland was once on the cutting edge of the French Revolution. She ended life under the guillotine, on this day in 1793. Madame Roland and her husband were among the Girodonist faction, so named due to the predominant geographic sourcing of its members from the region of the Gironde estuary (where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge); comprised of much of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascogne.

Madame Roland held a salon in her house, which became the meeting place for the Girodonists. This group became powerful prior to the actual revolution, forcing King Louis XVI in 1792 to appoint a ministry comprised of its adherents. One of these was Roland's husband, Jean-Marie Roland de la Platiere.

The Girodonists wound up in a power struggle with the Montagnards, whose leading members included Robespierrre, Marat and Danton. Eventually, the Girodonists were destroyed. Mssr. Roland fled to Rouen, while Madame Roland was imprisoned, and eventually beheaded - quite possibly to get at her husband. Madame Roland is remembered for her remark on the Statue of Liberty in the Place de la Revolution, where she was to be executed: "Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name."

Scott includes Madame Roland in his "Life of Napoleon Buonaparte" seven times, with a reference also to her husband as the husband of Madame Roland.