Revolutionaries Regretting The Death Of Their Opponents Compilation

Revolutionaries regretting the death of their opponents compilation

I could not convince myself that among all those who, since May 31, had retained great popularity, there was not one who did not still retain a little humanity, and I went to Danton. He was ill, it only took me two minutes to see that his illness was above all a deep pain and a great dismay at everything that was coming. ”I won't be able to save them (the girondins)”, were the first words out of his mouth, and, as he uttered them, all the strength of this man, who has been compared to an athlete, was defeated, big tears strolled down his face, whose shapes could have been used to represent that of Tartarus. […] When the fate reserved for the twenty-two [girondins] seemed inevitable, Danton already heard, so to speak, his death sentence in theirs. All the strength of this triumphant athlete of democracy succumbed under the feeling of the crimes of democracy and its disorders. He could only talk about the countryside, he was suffocating, he needed to escape from men in order to be able to breathe. Memoirs of the revolution; or, an apology for my conduct, in the public employments which I have held (1795) by Dominique-Joseph Garat, p. 233-234, 241.

I observed that I was sitting, with Camille Desmoulins, on the bench placed in front of the jury table. When these returned from deliberation, Camille comes forward to speak to Antonelle, who was one of the last to return. Surprised by the change in his face, he said to him, quite loudly: ”ah my god, I pity you, these are very terrible functions.” Then, hearing the juror's declaration, he suddenly threw himself into my arms, agitated, tormenting himself: ”ah my god, my god, it's me who kills them: my Brissot dévoilé [sic], ah my god, it’s that which kills them.” As the accused returned to hear their judgment, eyes turned towards them. The deepest silence reigned throughout the room, the public prosecutor announced the death penalty, the unfortunate Camille, defeated, losing the use of his senses, let out these words: ”I'm leaving, I'm leaving, I want to leave.” He couldn't exit. […] The late hour of the night, the torches were lit, the judges and the public were tired from a long session, it was midnight, everything gave this scene a dark, imposing and terrible character, nature was suffering in all its ailments. Camille Desmoulins felt worse. Les mysterès de la mère de Dieu dévoilès (1794) by Joachim Vilate, p. 51-52.

Danton was in Arcis in the month of November 1793. One day, when he was walking in his garden with M. Doulet, a third person came towards them, walking with great steps and holding a paper in his hand (it was a journal). As soon as he could make himself heard he cried out: ”Good news! Good news!” and approached them.  ”What news?” said Danton.  ”Here, read! The girondins have been condemned and executed,” responded the person that had just arrived.  ”And you call this good news, you wretch?” cried Danton in his turn, Danton whose eyes immediately got filled with tears. ”The death of the girondins good news? Wretch!” ”Without a doubt,” responded his interlocuteur, ”weren’t they factious?   ”Factious,” said Danton. Aren’t we factious? We all deserve death just as much as the girondins, we will all suffer, one after the other, the same fate as them.” Mémoire écrit en 1846 par les deux fils de Danton le conventionnel, pour détruire les accusations de vénalité portées contre leur père, cited in Danton, mémoire sur sa vie privée(1865) by Jean François Eugène Robinet, p. 277-278. Danton’s sons claimed to have obtained this anecdote from the son of the M. Doulet mentioned in it.

I have just read what has been allowed to happen in Danton's trial, and I found myself regretting his death. What people are those of Paris! Such lightness, such inconstancy! How despicable it is! The others were no less charged with crimes than Danton, but they were not among those the accused. Note written by Buzot in 1794, cited in Mémoires de Buzot député à la Convention nationale(1822), p. 195. Shoutout to @sillyletterscomposingsillywords for discovering this.

Billaud's conversation was rich in clear and precise memories; his ideas were original, often bizarre, and sometimes great and right. His feelings and political opinions had not wavered either on men or on things, except on a few points only. For example, he had changed his opinion on the 9th of Thermidor, which he called his deplorable fault, and he added: We made a big mistake that day! After this day, we began again with all the chapters of the English reaction; we were inflicted, as happened on the death of Cromwel, with a system which, under the guise of moderation, has designated us as types of monsters, like wolves with human faces, fit at most to slit throats. This system led us, through terrible and implacable vengeance, even more cowardly palinodies, to famine, bankruptcy, vile bankruptcy and the events of the 1st Prairial, to torrents of patriotic and pure blood! Yes, it was on 14 Germinal, the date of Danton's conviction, and on 9 Thermidor, that the patriots made the two mistakes that lost everything. […] I repeat, the Puritan Revolution was lost on Thermidor 9; since then, how many times have I deplored having acted out of anger. Why don't we leave these untimely passions and all the vulgar anxieties at the gates of power? I saw the reaction which gave rise to the 9th Thermidor, it was terrible; slander came from everywhere. This disgusts many revolutions. […] The last political opinions of Billaud corrected the old ones only on purely individual points. Thus, the death of Danton was then in his eyes a crime, because of the immense services he had rendered.  "Alas!" he would often say, ”I was too directly involved in it and with a terrible hatred. The misfortune of revolutions is that you have to act too quickly; you have no time to examine: you act only in full and burning fever, in fear, I understand, of seeing your ideas aborted. Danton and his friends were clever people, invincible patriots at the tribune or in public action, and we massacred them! Unlike us, they did not, except for the brave Westermann, the Murat of the Republic, have their hands free from trafficking and plunder; they loved luxury too much but they had a noble and revolutionary heart; you will know their services one day, when the sincere history of our time is written. That of M. Lacretelle is only a work without facts, a work made up of a rhetorician. I remain with the intimate conviction that 18 Brumaire would not have been possible, if Danton, Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins had remained united at the foot of the tribune.”  Billaud Varennes — mémoires inédits et correspondance (1893) page 232-237. Statements made in 1817-1819.

In 1832, during Barère's stay in Paris after returning from his proscription, M. David went to see him and found him ill. Severe asthma forced him to stay in bed, which he called living a horizontal life. They talked about Robespierre. “He was a disinterested man, a republican at heart,” says Barère; his misfortune comes from having aspired to dictatorship. He believed that this was the only way to suppress the overflow of bad passions. He often spoke about it to us who were busy with the armies. We did not hide from ourselves that Saint-Just, modeled after a more dictatorial boss, would have ended up overthrowing him to put himself in his place; we also knew that we, who were contrary to his plans, would get guillotined by him; so we overthrew him. Since then I have reflected on this man; I have seen that his dominant idea was the establishment of republican government, that he was in fact pursuing men whose opposition hindered the workings of this government. Would to heaven that there was now someone in the Chamber of Deputies who would point out those who conspire against liberty! we were then on a battlefield; we did not understand this man. He was nervous, bilious; he had a contraction in his mouth; he had the temperament of great men, and posterity will grant him this title.” […] M. David having spoken of the project of making in sculpture the portraits of the most illustrious men of the Revolution, and having mentioned the name of Danton, Barère sat up quickly and exclaimed, making an imperative gesture: “Don't forget Robespierre! he was a pure, honest man, a true republican. What ruined him was his vanity, his irascible susceptibility and his unjust distrust of his colleagues. It was a great misfortune!” Then his head fell back on his chest and he remained buried in his thoughts for a long time. Notice historique sur Barère: député à l'Assemblée constituante, à la Convention nationale, et à la Chambre des représentants (1842) by Hippolyte Carnot, p. 118-119.

Certainly, if Vadier reread his speech [of 9 thermidor], he must have blushed at having joined with so little talent, let's say it, in such a ridiculous way, the enemies of Robespierre. Moreover, later a feeling nobler than self-esteem inspired him with deep repentance for his participation in the 9th of Thermidor. About to leave for exile in 1815, he called one of his friends to him and said: “L… forgive me for the 9th of Thermidor.” Refugee in Brussels, he only spoke about Robespierre with deep respect, and often repeated with regret full of bitterness: “Robespierre! We misunderstood him... We murdered him!...” (P. L) L'Univers. France, annales historiques (1840-1843), volume 2, p. 357, by Philippe Le Bas.