COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY. 37 



to land from the waves of the people, that motto which 

 moreover every sincere patriot endowed with any warmth 

 of soul might avow : Perish my reputation sooner than 

 my country. 



You will have already understood, Gentlemen, that my 

 design is to divide into two distinct categories the mem 

 bers of the Committee of Public Safety, and the long 

 series of its acts. 



The terrible Committee contributed powerfully to the 

 defence of the territory : thanks to the Committee ! 

 There was no other way of resisting the thousand pas 

 sions let loose, than by vigour of determination ; by 

 energy of will ; by seizing everywhere with a grasp of 

 iron the barbarians who, auxiliaries of the foreigner, 

 would have torn out the entrails of their country ; the 

 Committee showed itself energetic and vigorous ; it 

 often showed the grasp of iron : all praise to the Com 

 mittee ! 



But, Gentlemen, firmness soon degenerates into frenzy ; 

 soon they immolate the rich for the sole reason that they 

 are rich ; soon terror reigns through France from one 

 end to the other ; terror carries mourning and despair 

 without distinction, as well into the family of the com 

 mon soldier as into that of the general ; she seizes her 

 victims equally in the humble dwelling of the artisan, as 

 in the gilded palace of the former duke and peer ; she 

 spares neither age nor sex ; she strikes blindly all shades 

 of opinion ; finally, adding dissimulation to cruelty, she 

 parodies the forms of justice ! Ah ! Gentlemen, at this 

 spectacle the heart grows faint, and hope withers ; the 

 liveliest and most ardent sympathies gives place to pro 

 found grief. 



I am aware that attempts have been made to explain, 



