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Contemporary descriptions of the girondin execution compilation

Picture of the scene, printed in number 213 of Révolutions de Paris

The next day, the 10th, around noon, the condemned were brought to the place of their execution. Since 1766, at the day of Lally’s execution, and 1777, at the day of Desrues’ execution, one had not seen such an immense crowd of spectators. The ports, the quays, the squares and the streets were filled with numerous people, the windows were overflowing with citizens of both sexes. Along their route, they heard thousands of voices shouting: long live the republic, down with the traitors. None of them showed any uneasiness, with the exception of Brissot and Fauchet (they were in two separate tumbrils), on whose faces one noticed a dull and pensive look. Several of the others, notably Mainvielle and Duprat, chorused with the spectators several times along the road. Around one o'clock, the condemned arrived at the Place de la Revolution. When getting off the tumbril, Boyer-Fonfrède and Ducos embraced each other, this was repeated by the other condemned, who were already at the foot of the scaffold. Sillery was executed first, he greeted the spectators to the right and left with a serious air. Those who succeeded him in the fatal operation spoke in broken sentences that no one could grasp. Lehardy, who shouted vive la république, was generally heard, thanks to the vigorous lungs which nature had provided him with. The others, while waiting for their turn, sang the refrain, plutôt la mort que l’esclavage, c’est la devise des Français. Viger was executed last. After the execution, which lasted thirty-eight minutes, people threw their hats in the air, and the cries of vive la république, repeated a thousand times, were heard for more than ten minutes. Bulletin du Tribunal Criminel, number 64, page 255-256.

At one o’clock, the condemned arrived at the place of their death. The execution lasted 45 minutes. Sillery and Fauchet each had a confessor, they were the first to be executed. Most of them embraced as they got off the tumbril. Mercure universel, number 968 (1 November 1793), page 12.

Simpronius, who was not a juror in the great affair, came over the day before yesterday to give us an exact account of the execution of the twenty-one criminals of which he was a witness, two steps away from the fatal machine. Sillery was the first and Brissot the seventh. Everyone showed the nuance of their character, and the leaders Brissot, Vergniaud, Gensonné showed fear only by their extreme pallor. The young Fonfrède, Ducos, Mainvielle, Duprat and Duchastel wanted to brighten these last moments through patriotic songs, and this detour of human pride, to give charge to nature, was belied by the lividity on their faces. But let us throw a veil on all that. The majesty of the sovereign was maintained and the place of execution resounded with no cries other than ”Vive la République.” Rosalie Jullien in a letter to her son, November 4 1793, cited in Les affaires d'État sont mes affaires de coeur: Lettres de Rosalie Julien, une femme dans la Révolution, 1775-1810 (2016), page 268.

The next day all of them were executed on the Place de la Révolution, among cries of ”Vive la République.” One man only escaped the blows of justice by by killing himself, his corpse was carried to the execution site and buried in the same grave as his twenty companions. Never, despite the bad weather, did an execution attract more spectators and appear so necessary for the maintenance of the republic. Despite what some of the condemned said on the road and on the scaffold, who shouted: long live the republic! but you will not have it, one was very convinced that their death contributed not just a little to consolidating it. At the foot of the guillotine, several also, while embracing each other, sang this well-known refrain: Plutôt la mort que l’esclavage; C’est la devise des français. Révolutions de Paris, number 213, page 148.

It was, Madame, in the afternoon of 31 October that all our masters, including those in the National Assembly, set a quite ferocious example for themselves. Brissot, along with twenty of his colleagues, was condemned to the guillotine, and all their possessions confiscated for the nation’s profit. One of this group, Valazé, stabbed himself straight after the verdict in order to avoid the punishment; the other twenty were taken to the guillotine that afternoon. The bishop of Calvados and the count de Sillery were in the same cart along with the confessors they had asked for; the others did not request one. Brissot and one other, following in the next cart, were clearly distressed. The rest, all young people aged twenty-seven, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-two, followed on behind laughing, singing about the nation’s glory, and shouting out to the people ‘Long live the Republic’. And it is in this manner that these 21 individuals entered into the great light of eternity. I see in this, Madame, the Lord’s hand exacting a great vengeance already, and presaging much more of this over the next year. Innocente-Catherine de Rougé in a letter to a friend, November 6 1793

#happy halloween!#frevtober #idk about you but 20 men singing patriotic songs while awaiting their execution in the rain sounds pretty spooky to me 🎃💀#frev #frev compilation #brissot #french revolution #valazé #rosalie jullien #ok i don’t know any more people famous enough here to tag…#valazé’s dead body on the picture tho 💀💀#execution compilation

Contemporary descriptions of the hébertist execution compilation

The joy of the people was universal at seeing the conspirators taken to the scaffold. There were the same demonstrations of joy everywhere; a sansculotte jumped up and said: “I would light up my windows this evening, if candles were not so rare.” In the evening, in all the groups and cafes, people talked about the death of these conspirators; the story of their last moments was the only subject of conversation. It was said in several places that Hébert had denounced around forty deputies. It was time, they added, that this conspiracy was discovered, because it was believed in several departments that Paris was under fire. […] According to the comments made on the Place de la Révolution, during the appearance of the conspirators on the scaffold, one noticed that there were people placed to sow trouble. One woman was beaten by another for having made some comment. While the 19 conspirators were being guillotined, the people remained silent; but when Hébert’s turn came, a swarm of hats appeared, and everyone shouted: “Long live the Republic! This is a great lesson for those who are consumed by ambition; the intriguers have done well; the committees of public safety and general security will manage to discover them, and ça ira!” Tableaux de la Révolution française publiés sur les papiers inédits (1869) by Adolphe Schmidt, volume 2, page 186. ”Situation in Paris 4 Germinal Year 2” (March 24 1794).

The events of yesterday, that is to say the judgment of the conspirators, their journey from the Palace to the Place de la Révolution and their execution, have entirely absorbed the attention and feelings of the people. Everyone wanted to at least see them pass so that they could judge the impression made on their wicked souls by the sight of an immense people, outraged by their crime, and the knowledge of the imminent death they were going to suffer. The crowd of curious people who were on their way or who witnessed their execution was innumerable. [...] Two opposing feelings, indignation against the guilty and joy at seeing the Republic saved by their death, animated all the spectators. One tried to read the faces of the condemned to enjoy, in a way, the internal pain from which they suffered: it was a kind of revenge that they took pleasure in obtaining. The sans-culottes were especially angry with Hébert and insulted him. “He’s damn angry,” said one, “we broke all his stoves (fourneaux).” “No,” said another, “he is very happy to see that the real aristocrats are going to fall under the guillotine.” Others carried stoves? (fourneaux) and pipes and raised them in the air so that they could strike Father Duchesne's eyes. Regardless, this wretch could not pay any attention to what was happening around him; the horror of his situation appalled him; he had reproached Custine for dying as a coward, and he showed no less pusillanimity than him. Momoro put up, as they say, a brave face against bad luck, he pretended to be confident, talked to his neighbors and laughed a wicked laugh. [...] Cloots appeared calm, Vincent lost, Ancart and Ronsin furious and Hébert overwhelmed. The latter was the star of the show, he appeared last [on the scaffold]. Report by the police spy Grisel, March 25 1794, cited in La Liberté ou la Mort: mourir en député (2015) by Michel Biard.

On D-Day, March 24, 1794, an “innumerable crowd” impatiently awaited the execution of Father Duchesne and his accomplices: “Advancing from the place of execution of Paris, one encountered waves of citizens on their way there; everything resounded with the cry of “Father Duchesne to the guillotine!” and in this respect the children acted as peddlers.” Another agent remarks that “in the streets, from the Palace to the Place de la Révolution, the crowds of people were so great that one could barely pass through.” The police estimate (already!) claimed that “perhaps four hundred thousand souls witnesses to this execution.” […] If the legend claiming that Hébert fainted in the tumbril seems false, all reports corroborate on the other hand the moral and physical collapse which this great sermonizer presented: […] “It was noticed that Ronsin seemed the least frightened by his execution, that Anacharsis Cloots had retained great composure, but that Hébert and the others bore on their faces the signs of the greatest consternation;” [Another report states that]: “Of the nineteen culprits dragged to execution, Hébert was the one who presented the saddest and most dismayed face.” Taken from the Palace to the Place de la Révolution amid cries of joy and insults (“Everywhere they passed one shouted “Long live the Republic!,” and threw hats in the air and everyone said some epithet to them, especially to Hébert.”), Father Duchesne was not yet at the end of his troubles. To make the feast complete, a cruel staging allowed him to meditate on his fate: “Upon his arrival on the Place de la Révolution, he and his accomplices were greeted by boos and murmurs of indignation. With each head that fell, the people took revenge again with the cry of “Long live the Republic!” while throwing their hats in the air. Hébert was saved for last, and the executioners, after putting his head through the fatal window, responded to the wish that the people had expressed to condemn this great conspirator to a punishment less gentle than the guillotine, by holding the suspended blade for several seconds on his criminal neck, and throwing, during this time, their victorious hats around him and attacking him with poignant cries of ”Long live this Republic that he had wanted to destroy.” As can be seem, one knew how to have fun in those days. However, as soon as the affair was completed, the agents noted contrasting reactions among the people: “In all public places, the aristocrats and the moderates rejoiced at this execution and affected a lot of patriotism. The patriots also rejoiced, but they observed one another.” [Another report states] “I visited different cabarets near the Gros Caillou, near the Military School. They talked only about Father Duchesne, about whom a thousand stories were made with the intention to bless the Committee of Public Safety for having discovered such a betrayal. I found the little people cheerful”; [Another report states]: “The walks are everywhere full of people and everywhere one stays and asks: “Did you go to see Hébert yesterday?” One answers “yes”. All the faces seem happy.” [Another report states]: “Since Hébert’s death, I have noticed that, in cafés, men who talked a lot no longer say anything.” This is because the execution of Hébert and his supporters, although it purged the Mountain of its extremists, nonetheless shook the people’s confidence in their leaders. Who would believe if even the most ardent patriots could suddenly become traitors? At least one thing is certain, that is that beyond the unconscious dismay which struck the people after the execution, the great cowardice which Father Duchesne demonstrated before the guillotine ended up destroying him in the eyes of everyone: “After the execution, everyone was talking about the conspirators. They said: “They died like suckers”; others said: “We would have thought that Hébert would have shown more courage, but he died as a good-for-nothing.” Series of police reports found in Paris pendant la Terreur (1962) by Pierre Caron, cited in this blog post.