200 



JACOBINS JACOBITES. 



ries on the night of Aug. 9 ; the carrying- of the king 

 and his family as prisoners to the Temple l>y the 

 municipal officers of Paris, Aug. 13 ; the massacre 

 of the prisoners, Sept. 2 7, who were murdered 

 without trial ; the choice of nesv members of the 

 convention, in September of the same year ; all the 

 acts of Uie national convention, from Sept. 21, 1792, 

 to May 20, 1795, even after the ninth Thermidor 

 (July 28, 1794), especially the execution of the king; 

 and, finally, the establishment of the revolutionary 

 tribunal, March 9, 1793 may be regarded as more 

 at less effected by the Jacobins. The Jacobins were 

 divided into two parties ; agreeing as to the end, 

 they thought differently concerning the means. 

 Tallien, who overthrew Robespierre, was as true a 

 Jacobin as the latter was. The enthusiastic sus- 

 pected the moderate. The victory was long doubt- 

 ful. Finally, the moderate were vanquished. The 

 genuine republicans the Girondists, or the party of 

 the Plain were subdued May 31 and June 2, 1793, 

 by the more violent Jacobins, or Mountain party.* 

 These again were governed by the Maratists or Cor- 

 deliers, who ruled in the Jacobin club with iron sway, 

 under the duiimvirate of Robespierre the Incorrupti- 

 ble, and Danton, the formidable creator of the revo- 

 lutionary tribunal, with Marat for an assistant. On 

 the other hand, the moderate party was victorious 

 in the provinces, at Marseilles,Bourdeaux and Lyons. 

 The south took up arms against the Jacobin con- 

 vention. But the Mountain party succeeded in 

 depriving the convention of power, and, on the pro- 

 posal of Billaud de Varennes, the constitution gave 

 way to the reign of terror (from August, 1793, to 

 July, 1794). But the triumph of Jacobinism was 

 the establishment of the committee of safety which 

 completed the reign of terror under Robespierre, 

 and, by means of the revolutionary armies, suppress- 

 ed rebellion with fire and sword in Vendee, and in 

 the south. Cities like Lyons, Marseilles, Toulon, 

 were to be demolished, and all Vendee to be trans- 

 formed into a great field of blood and ashes. Four- 

 teen armies, the guillotine and an iron stubbornness, 

 finally won the victory for the system of terror. 

 France, it was said (and, for the moment, it was 

 true), wanted only iron and bread. Not till the 

 dictator Robespierre had perished under the guillo- 

 tine, July 28, 1794, and with him 104 of his partisans, 

 together with the municipal council of Paris, did 

 the convention recover its authority. It denied 

 to all popular assemblies any interference with 

 the government. In vain did the Jacobin club 

 attempt an insurrection, Nov. 11, 1794, in order 

 to tear the monster Carrier from the sword of 

 the law. This was its last struggle. The citizens 

 of Paris surrounded the hall of the Jacobins till 

 the military arrived and dispersed the meeting: 

 Legendre closed the hall. The finishing stroke 

 was given to this victory by the decree of the 

 convention, that the Jacobins should not renew 

 their meetings. But their principles survived 

 their defeat. They took advantage of the general 



* The common fate of parties in period* of great popular 

 commotion, whose exasperated feelings lead them to put 

 the worst construction on each other's doings, was never 

 more clearly exhibited than in the case ot the Girondists 

 and Jacobins. Whilst the Girondists accused the Jacobins of 

 being in the pay of foreigners, of having admitted the Brit, 

 ish into Toulon, &c. (the Memoirs of Brissotare full of these 

 charges), the Jacobins accused the Girondists of being for 

 the king, &c. It must be acknowledged that the Girondists 

 as virtuous a party as perhaps ever existed were mere. 

 ly theoretical politicians, and never could have saved 

 Prance, in the state in which it then was. They made the 

 virtue of the nation the basis of their political edifice a 

 mistake which never could have been more serious than at 

 that very time. Both parties, it was evident, could no 

 longer exist fopether. 



famine to stir up a rebellion, April 1, and May 20 

 23, 1 795. The last one brought the convention to the 

 verge of dissolution. A member named Ferrand 

 was murdered ; all the rest took to flight, except 

 fourteen of the former Mountain party, who immedi- 

 ately passed a number of decrees conformably with 

 the will of the Jacobins. Not without difficulty 

 were the Paris committee able to quell this bloody 

 tumult. By the disarming of the fauxbourg St An- 

 toine, the Jacobin party lost its principal support, as 

 it hail already lost its boldest orators Barrere, Col- 

 lot d'Herbois, and Billaud de Varennes, who were 

 transported to Cayenne, April 2, 1795. Of the 

 fourteen deputies who had desired to restore the sys- 

 tem of terror, six killed themselves after their con- 

 demnation, July 17, among whom was the talented 

 Romme. Even in Toulon, the Jacobins were at first 

 victorious ; but the troops of the convention occupied 

 the city again, May 29. Thus the Jacobins pre- 

 pared, May 20, their own downfall. Courts-martial 

 condemned them every where to death as terrorists, 

 and the fury of the prevailing moderate party, as it 

 was called, outstripped the demands of justice. The 

 constitution soon after drawn up, June 23, 1795, 

 and the directorial government, which was actually 

 commenced October 27 of the same year, suppressed 

 the last struggles of the Jacobins and terrorists, till 

 the execution of Baboeuf and his associates, May 25, 

 1796. But, when the constitution of 1795 seemed 

 annihilated by the victory of the directors, Barras, 

 Rewbel, and Lareveillere, on the 18th Fructidor 

 (September 4, 1797), Jacobinism arose anew. It 

 sought to penetrate into the offices of the legislative 

 councils, but found nowhere a point of union. Many 

 of the party soon denounced republicanism. Most 

 of them became the friends of Napoleon. 



Much has been written respecting the Jacobins, 

 and the supporters of old institutions in Europe have 

 been in the habit of branding with the name of 

 Jacobinism every attempt to promote the cause of 

 liberal principles. See, for instance, Robinson's 

 Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and 

 Governments of Europe, &c. (fourth edition, London, 

 1798) ; and the prolix but empty accusation of the 

 abbe Barruel, founded on Robinson's work, and on 

 similar emissions of party spirit, and directed against 

 philosophy and secret societies in general Mvmoires 

 pour servir a VHistoire du Jacolinisme (five volumes, 

 Hamburg, 1800) ; also the Lettres d'un F'oyageur d 

 I' Abbe Barruel, ou nouveaux Documens pour ses 

 Memoires (London, 1800), written in a similar spirit. 

 To learn the true character of the Jacobins, the de- 

 bates of the national assembly should be studied. 



In 1814, the violent ultras (q. v.) were called 

 white Jacobins; whilst, in turn, the adherents of 

 Napoleon were called red Jacobins. As the aristo- 

 cracy, before the revolution of 1792, called the 

 people, in contempt, la canaille (q. v.), so, before the 

 revolution of 1830, every liberal, however loyal he 

 might be, was called a Jacobin. Immediately after 

 the revolution of 1830, popular societies were formed, 

 or at least appeared openly, two of which soon gave 

 uneasiness to government, and their proceedings 

 were subjected to a judicial investigation. The 

 names of these societies were L'ami du peuple and 

 Aide-toi et Dieu faidera. They were abolished. 



JACOBITES; Monophysite Christians in the 

 East, who, oppressed and dispersed amidst the reli- 

 gious contests of the sixth century, were united by a 

 Syrian monk, James (Jacobus) Bardai, or Janzalos 

 (578), during the reign of Justinian, into a distinct 

 religious sect. Out of gratitude to their founder, 

 they called themselves by his name, and had, in 

 Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, numerous com- 

 munities, with bishops and patriarchs. On account 



