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, 



