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, 
