In profile facing to the right, Robespierre’s face has a different expression, moreover [his head] is crowned by an oak crown with the most beautiful effect. David d'Angers could not have paid a more significant homage to the Incorruptible. He remembered that Robespierre had really received an oak crown from the people, and he wanted to consecrate this memory of the heroic times of the Revolution. It was on 30 September 1791, the day when the Constituent Assembly ended its glorious career. At four o’clock the president Thouret rose, and, amidst a religious silence, delivered these words: « The National Assembly declares that it has fulfilled its mission, and that all of its sessions are closed. » The deputies left, and an immense crowd expected them on the terrace of the Tuileries.
« Robespierre », Ernest Hamel wrote, « was well-known and well recognisable, since his portrait was exhibited in the windows of all printsellers. When he appeared, offering his arm to Pétion, then his faithful friend, one surrounded both of them; one embraced them ; and, amidst cries of Long live liberty! Long live the nation!, one placed oak crowns on their heads. A mother, having a very young child in her arms, broke through the crowd, went straight to Robespierre and placed it in his hands, as if she had wanted that this father of liberty blesses, through her child, the new generation [that] had the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the Revolution. Visibly moved, Pétion and Robespierre sought to evade this triumph, all the more honourable for them as it was completely spontaneous, and attempted to slip away via a bystreet... »
Les portraits de Robespierre (Hippolyte Buffenoir), chapter II, in: Annales révolutionnaires, vol. 1, p. 460.
After the defeat of the Jacobins, a leftist republican current persisted in the provinces, whose manifestations and intensity varied according to the local power relations and the decree of tolerance shown by the authorities and the government. In the form of a simple struggle for survival, as after the repressions of Prairial Year III and Floréal Year IV, or of the resurgence of a political practice and reaffirmation of an ideology, as in Year IV and Year VII, the permanence of this current until the Consulate demonstrates its vitality. In the regions where royalist agitation was endemic, the republican defence strategy favoured the local Jacobins. Thus, in Toulouse, where they remained in the municipality, they were able to animate the resistance to the Counter-Revolution and to organise the defence of the city which repelled the royalist insurrection in Thermidor, Year VII. The policy of union of the republicans, practices by the Directory in order to face the royalist peril, allowed the Jacobins to reorganise. As under the Revolution, their action concentrated in the clubs. Some of them were recreated in the beginning of Year IV ; the one of the Panthéon is the most famous. After 18 Fructidor the cercles constitutionnels multiplied in the provinces, and in Year VII the Jacobins found themselves at the Manège, which appeared like a resurrection of the club of Year II. While developing the clubs and animating civic festivals, the neo-Jacobins engaged in an intense propaganda in the press and in a campaign of petitions to the Directory and to the Councils. Their action measured up to the successes that were won in the elections of Year VI, in spite of the campaign of the government. The influence of the left intensified in Year VII ; the Jacobins, once more in power after 30 Prairial, secured solid positions in the administration and resumed the offensive on the legislative plan. The military difficulties allowed the Jacobin minority to induce the Councils to vote measures of public safety, the Jourdan Law, the emprunt forcé and the Law of Hostages (10-24 Messidor). This second terror disappeared with the danger for the patrie.
The programme of the neo-Jacobins was limited. Every attempt of radicalisation, every widening of the movement in the direction of the sans-culottes brought about the reaction. For the Jacobins, the price of rallying was the sacrifice of their own political and social objectives. Having abandoned the Constitution of 1793 as subversive, they had to accommodate themselves to the one of Year III, hoping to inflect the institutions in a more democratic sense. Their demands mainly focused on the guarantee of the public liberties and, in the social realm, on a fairer distribution of taxes, the distribution of land to the defenders of the patrie, and a primary education for everyone. No radical criticism of the system, as with Babeuf. Would the defence of the Republic lead them to relying on the people? The Jacobin momentum alarmed the government, which insured itself against the « red peril ». Bonaparte was able to make use of this in order to liquidate the Jacobin opposition after the assassination attempt of 3 Nivôse Year IX, and to rally the bourgeoisie to his personal policy.
Source: Dictionnaire historique de la Révolution française (Albert Soboul)
Between 1795 and 1799, Charles-François-Gabriel Le Vachez published a series of portraits of prominent contemporaries of the French Revolution. Beneath the individual portraits, he not only printed brief texts about the respective persons, but also images of certain moments of the Revolution that relate to them ; these images are particularly interesting, which is why I decided to compile some of them.
The Flight to Varennes, 20 - 21 June 1791 (Marie Antoinette)
La Patrie en Danger, July 1792 (Danton)
Assassination of Le Peletier, 20 January 1793 (Le Peletier)
Triumph of Marat, 24 April 1793 (Marat)
Assassination of Marat, 13 July 1793 (Corday)
Dechristianization (Chaumette)
Drownings at Nantes, November 1793 (Carrier)
9 Thermidor, 27 July 1794 (Hanriot)
10 Thermidor, 28 July 1794 (Robespierre)
Fouquier-Tinville before the Tribunal, March 1795 (Fouquier-Tinville)
This song is a direct response to Le Réveil du Peuple, which was popular among muscadins, royalists and anti-Jacobins of all shades in Year III. While Le Réveil violently repudiated “the Terror” and reflected the (post-)Thermidorian discourse on the “excesses” of the Revolution, the Réponse au Réveil du Peuple sought a certain rehabilitation of the legacy of Year II, a reaffirmation of revolutionary values and principles.
(This song was sung to the same tune as Le Réveil du Peuple.)
Peuple Français, de qui la gloire / French People, whose glory
Est toujours l'effroi des tyrans, / Is always the terror of the tyrants,
Vois-tu les monstres de la Loire / Do you see the monsters of the Loire
Renaître ici plus dévorans? / Being reborn here, even more devouring?
Entends leurs cris, vois l'insolence / Here their cries, see the insolence
Des muscadins amis des rois; / Of the muscadins, friends of the kings;
Ils voudraient réduire au silence / They want to reduce to silence
Les vrais défenseurs de tes droits. / The true defenders of your rights.
Au sein de la place publique / Amidst the public square
Vois-tu ces bustes renversés? / To you see these smashed busts?
Des martyrs de la république / Hear the wrathful manes
Entends les mânes courroucés! / Of the martyrs of the republic!
Facts collected in the last moments of Robespierre and of his faction, from 9 to 10 Thermidor (Anonymous)
1. Robespierre, during the night, spoke seven or eight times in the room of the Commune amidst his officers, his speeches had little consequences, he invited them to rally around him and the Commune and treated all members of the Convention as assassins.
The tribunes were public, and one could enter the Maison commune by showing one's carte de citoyen as usual. Someone who gained entry by this simple means, and who left without experiencing difficulties, approached a group of gunners who remained on the Place de Grêve ; when he sought to hear what was said there, he was asked to move on.
2. The gunners were ordered to leave the square ; and soon, the square was only occupied by citizens who accompanied the People’s Representatives.
The gunners left the place in accordance with an order of the revolutionary committee of each of their sections.
One penetrates the interior of the Maison commune; one finds Robespierre, in a room next to the board room; he is lying on the ground, wounded by a gunshot that penetrated his jaw, one picks him up, and sans-culottes carry him by the feet and the head, there are at least twelve [people] around him; one tears apart the sleeve of his right hand, and the back of his redingote, which was blue.
During this time, a policeman had found Couthon, and fired a pistol shot at his body. One went to seek the other conspirators.
3. One takes Robespierre to the Committee of Public Safety, he is still carried in the same manner by the same men. He covers his face with his right hand. This kind of procession stops for a moment at the feet of the great staircase; curious [people] come to increase the crowd; some of them, who are the closest to him, lift his hand in order to see his face. One says: he is not dead, because he is still warm ; another one says: is he not a fine-looking king?, another one says: even if it were Caesar's body! why was it not thrown on the garbage dump!, the carriers do not want him to be touched, and those who hold his feet tell those at his head to hold him very high, with the intention of preserving the bit of life that remained to him.
One finally goes upstairs, with the burden, into a great room of the Committee; one deposes him on a great table, [...] one place his head on a box filled with dusty pieces of army bread.
He does not move, but he breathes a lot, he puts his right hand on his forehead; one sees that he seeks to hide his face, [and] in spite of being disfigured, he still gives some signs of affectation, sometimes the frontal muscles move closer [to each other] and his face becomes wrinkled. In spite of appearing half-asleep, one sees that his wound causes him great pains.
Many people enter in order to see Robespierre, everyone tells him what comes to their mind.
Among those who had carried him, there were a fire-fighter and a gunner who did not cease talking to him. They always had some pleasant words to address to him. One [of them] said to him: Sire, your majesty suffers, another one: well! it seems to me that you have lost your voice, you did not finish your motion, it began so well; oh! I must tell you the truth, you deceived me well, scoundrel, and another citizen said: I know only one man who had known the art of tyrants well, this man is Robespierre.
One brings St. Just, Dumas and Payan, all of them shackled, they are escorted by policemen. They stay a good quarter of an hour standing in front of the door of the Committee's room; one makes them sit down onto a windowsill; they have still not uttered a single word, pleasant [people] make the persons who surround these three men step aside, and say move back, let these gentlemen see their King sleep on a table, just like a man. St. Just moves his head in order to see Robespierre. Saint-Just's figure appeared dejected [and] humiliated, his swollen eyes expressed chagrin.
Dumas, whose figure is naturally skinny and scrawny, and by no means coloured, did not appear very affected, he had a dreamy look, a set look, and did not make any movement. He only moved his fingers next to his thigh.
Payan sometimes appeared to be mocking; one saw him smile; sitting, he gave a sign with his head, as if to say, I do not fear death. But this sentiment does not stay on his face for long, fear spreads among his traits, and his face becomes dejected.
Dumas says: could I have a glass of water, policeman? One went to search what he had asked for, and Payan, looking at St.-Juste, said: you might as well bring three. There was only water for two of them: and some time passed before another one was given to St.-Just. That is when the latter spoke. He had, for some moments, his eyes set on the Constitutional Act that was displayed on the room's wall. He raises his hand as if to point at it and says, with a very strong tone: and yet, this is my work, ... and the Revolutionary Government, too. He speaks some more and even uttered a rather long phrase, but it was heard only by the policeman who was the closest to him. The policeman answers him in a rather ironic tone. One brings him a glass of water, he only drank a small part and returned the glass, saying: thank you.
Soon after, Elie Lacoste arrived, one showed him the captives, he said: they must be taken to the Conciergerie, they are outlawed. One took them there.
He then speaks to a surgeon, and tells him to bandage Robespierre, in order to put him into the state of being able to be punished.
Those who surrounded the body continued to take vengeance, speaking freely; and during this time, one prepares linen and shredded cloth. When everything is ready, the surgeon advances, and says: carry the wounded [man] to the edge of the table. One lifts him onto his bottom. He supports himself on his hands. The surgeon washes his face. One returns him from the side of the light in order to bandage him easily. The surgeon put a key between his teeth, he sought with his fingers in the interior of the jaw, he finds two uprooted teeth, and takes them with a pincer; he says that the lower jawbone is shattered. He places several linen pads in his mouth in order to absorb the blood with which it is filled, he passes a needle through the bullet wound several times and made it leave through the mouth, he again washes the face and then puts a piece of shredded clotj onto the wound, onto which he puts a patch that is wrapped around the chin; he covers the upper part of the head with linen, [and] during this operation, everyone says something, a man says: this is where one places the diadem for his majesty, another one says: his head is covered like the one of a nun.
He must have heard all of these things, since he had some strength and often opened his eyes.
Once the bandaging was finished, one put him back onto the table, taking care to place the crate under his head again in order to serve, one said, as an oreillette to him, while waiting for his journey to the small window.
Nota. The clothes that St.-Just wore were not harmed in any way, even his tie was perfectly straight. His outfit was ochre, his waistcoat was white, and his culotte was made of grey-white cloth.
Dumas had a coloured silk tie, which ended in his shirt, in such a way that one saw his uncovered neck. He had a dark redingote, of a veil-like fabric; once could believe that this redingote came from one of his former cassocks.
The appearance of Payan was in no way harmed; he wore a white collar, greyish clothes, a white coat, and a darkened culotte.
As for Robespierre, he was missing his shoes, his stockings were folded down to the ankles, his culotte [was] unbuttoned, and his entire shirt [was] covered with blood.
Source: Faits recueillis aux derniers instants de Robespierre [...].
To be celebrated on 9 and 10 Thermidor of Year IV, in accordance with article I of title IV of the Law of 3 Brumaire.
First day.
On 9 Thermidor, at 5 o'clock in the morning, the solemnity will be announced by a salvo of artillery.
At 6 o'clock, a second salvo will be fired, and a third one at 7 o'clock.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, the twelve Municipalities will go to the site of the Bastille, accompanied by the Civil Authorities of their jurisdiction.
The Central Administration of the Seine Department the Tribunals and the Central Bureau of the Canton of Paris, preceded by a Military Band and accompanied by a Honour Guard, will also go to the site of the Bastille at the same time.
The president of the Central Administration of the Department, after having delivered a speech analogous to the ceremony, will plant a tricolour flag on the remains of this monument of royal despotism, bearing this inscription:
It will never rise again.
During this ceremony, the Military Band will play the patriotic tunes of 1789.
The Procession will then set off, escorted by large detachments of the National Guard and of the Army of the Interior.
The Procession will go to the Place du Carrousel, in front of the National Palace of the Tuileries, following the boulevard until the Porte Denis, the Rues de Cléry and Neuve-Eustache, the Place des Victoires, the Rues Neuve-des-Petits-Champs, de la Loi and Nicaise.
On the Place du Carrousel a pyre will be erected, upon which the attributes of Royalty and Feudality will be placed.
When the Central Administration of the Seine department will arrive in front of the pyre, the Procession will stop and the President will ignite this pyre.
He will then plant a tricolour flag, bearing this inscription:
10 AUGUST 1792 ; the Monarchy is abolished in France, it will never rise again.
During this ceremony, the Military Band will play the Marseillaise and Le Chant du Départ.
The Procession will again set off for the Champ de la Réunion, by the following way:
Place du Carrousel, Guichet du Carrousel, Le Quai, the Pont National, the Rue de Grenelle, the Place des Invalides and the Avenue of the Military Academy.
The Procession will cross the field, following the embankments on the right up to the hillock ; goint back alongside the embankments on the left, it will return to the hillock in a straight line.
The Music Conservatory will play a symphony, after which the Central Administration of the Department will descend to the foot of the hillock, where, on a pyre, the symbols and attributes of anarchy will be placed.
The President will ignite the pyre ; and during his ceremony, the Conservatory will perform analogous songs and symphonies.
Then the Central Administration of the Department and a part of the Procession will go to the Military Academy, in order to go in front of the Directory.
At one o'clock, the Directory will descend onto the Champ de la Réunion, directly go to the hillock and will take its place there.
The President will deliver a speech, after which he will ignite the sacred fire of Liberty on the Altar of the Patrie. Then the Music Conservatory will sing the Hymn to Liberty, lyrics by Rouget de Lille [sic], music by Pleyel.
The Directory will then take the oath to defend the Constitution of the Year III.
This oath will be repeated by the Constitutional Authorities and by the entire Procession.
A general salvo of artillery and a salvo of grapeshot and of bombs, mingling with the sound of drums and trumpets, will announce the performance of the oath and the end of the ceremony.
The Procession will return to the Military Academy.
In the afternoon of this day, orchestras placed on the Champ de la Réunion will play dance music until the night.
Second day.
This day will consist,
Of races on foot and on horseback, which will take place at 5 o'clock in the evening on the Champ de la Réunion. Prices will be awarded to the winners ;
Of a concert performed on the Champs-Élysées, at seven o'clock ;
Of a firework and of dances and illumination on the great square of the Champs-Élysées.
The present Program will be printed and sent to all Constitutional Authorities, in order to serve as notification letters. [...]
The General Director of Public Instruction,
Ginguené.
Source: République française... Programme de la fête de la liberté, à célébrer les 9 et 10 thermidor de l'an 4e, en exécution de l'article Ier du titre VI de la loi du 3 brumaire
