so i<: 
FRANCE. 
to reflft Robelpierre, and that they were not more culpa¬ 
ble in having acquiefced in his tyranny than the other 
members of the convention, rvho had all been overpower¬ 
ed by the knowledge that inftant deftru&ion awaited every 
man who (liould dare to oppofe hi is meafures. Except in 
the cafe of the cruelties committed by Coilot d’Herbois 
at Lyons, this defence was by no means-deftitute of foun¬ 
dation. It had much weight with the nation at large ; 
in whofe eyes it tended, not only to-exculpate the three 
perfons now accufed, but to criminate and degrade the 
character of the whole convention, 
i-Carnot, Lindet, Gambon, awl, other leading members 
of the Jacobin party, defended the accufed perfons with 
great vehemence ; and, in the morning of the firft of April, 
they proceeded to an open infurretlion. An immenfe 
multitude having affe'mbled in the fuburbs, proceeded to 
the hall of the convention. A real or fiuSfitious fcarcity 
exifted at the time. Taking advantage of this circum- 
ffance, they pretended they were going to petition for 
bread ; and this pretence drew numbers along with them 
who had no fit a re- in their defigns. Boilfy d’Anglas, a 
cor.fpicuous member of the moderate party, was add re (ling 
the convention upon the means of removing the fcarcity 
when the infurgents arrived, drove the centinels from 
their ports, and fuddenly filled the hall. They tumul- 
tuonfly demanded “ Bread, and the conrtitution.” The 
Jacobin party fupported tire infurgents ; and one of the 
multitude, in a vehement harangue, exclaimed, “ We 
are men of the 14th of July, of the 10th of Auguft, and 
of the jirtof May.” He demanded that the convention 
fhould change its meafures, that the people fhonld no 
longer be the victims of mercantile rapacity, and that the 
«ccufed patriots fhould not be facrificed to the partions of 
their antagonifts. The convention ordered the tocfin tb 
be rung, and the people of Paris to be called to arms. 
Pichegru was in Paris at the time ; and, upon the motion 
of Barras, he was appointed to the command of the mili¬ 
tary force. 
The citizens of Paris, who remembered with horror 
the domination of Robefpierre, and now faw themjelves 
menaced by his adherents, inftantly artembled for the pro¬ 
tection of the convention, to the amount of 20,000 men. 
Till that time the afl'embly had remained under no fmall 
cmbarraftrr.ent, furrounded by the infurgents,and infulted 
by the fpeeches of the Jacobin party. The convention 
was now, however, refcuea from this ftate of conftraint; 
and, on the motion of Dumont, without proceeding in the 
trial, it was decreed that Barrere, Coilot d’Herbois, and 
Billaud Varennes, fhould be tranfported to Guiana. 
The following day the convention decreed the arreft 
and confinement, in the cattle of Ham in Picardy, of 
feveral others of the mod obnoxious of the Jacobins. 
Among tliefe were Leonard Bourdon, Duhenr, Chafles, 
Clioudieu, Ruamps, Foulfedoire, Huguet, Bayle, Le- 
cointre, Carnbon, Thuriot Maignet, Heutz, CrafTous, 
and Levadeur. By departing from the punilhment of 
death, and adopting that of banirtmient, the convention 
expefted to diminilh the ferocity of the contending fac¬ 
tions in the ftate, by rendering the refult of a political 
defeat lefs fatal than before. The defign was good ; but 
in attempting to accomplifh it, they eftablifhed the perni¬ 
cious precedent of inflicting punirtiment without a trial, 
tfhich could fcarcely fail to prove highly dangerous, if 
not ultimately fatal, to all their profpeCts of a free and 
equitable government. This is called by the French 
writers, the infurrection du douze Germinal. 
The convention now followed up its victory with the 
popular meafure of preparing for its own difTolution, by 
endeavouring to frame a fixed conrtitution for the re¬ 
public. The conrtitution which had been decreed in 1793 
under Robefpierre, was confidered as impracticable, and 
a committee was appointed to report upon the meafures 
which ought to be adopted. It confifted of Syeyes, Cam- 
baceres, Merlin of Douay, Thibaudeau, Mathieu, Le 
Sage of Eure and Loire, and Latouche. On the 19th of 
April, Cambaceres reported, that it was the opinion of 
this committee that a commiflion ftiould be appointed t« 
frame an entirely new conrtitution. The convention ac- 
cordingly appointed the following perfons to this impor¬ 
tant office, LeSage, Louvet, Boifly d’Anglas, Creuz-e, 
Latouche, Bertier, Daunow, Baudin, Durand, Mailhtne, 
Languinais, La Reveillere Lepaux, and Thibaudeau. AU 
other citizens of every defeription were at the fame time 
invited to communicate projects upon tire fubjeCt, and 
the committee was required to feleCt the belt of them to 
be printed. 
The convention now brought to trial Fouquier Tinville 
the prefident, and the principal judges and jurors of the 
late revolutionary tribunal. Their accufation was founded 
on all their barbarous perverlions of jurtice, their con¬ 
tempt of form, of feeling, and of manifeft innocence, 
their inhuman pleafantries, and their imtnodeft ribaldry. 
The whole population of Paris were at once the accufers, 
witnertes, judges, and jury, in this remarkable profecu- 
tion. Fouquier, maintained an undaunted countenance; 
and-his colleagues in guilt were not behind him in audacity; 
they crofs-examined the witnertes, and made a defence re¬ 
plete with ingenuity. Fouquier, whofe conduct attracted 
thegreateft attention,was obferved, during the time the ac¬ 
cufation was read, and the public accufer was reciting faCts 
in fupport of it, to appearas if writing ; but his eyes wan¬ 
dered incelfantly in piercing infpection of the prefident and 
the whole court, the witnertes, and even the audience. His 
defence formed an aftonifhing production of impudence 
and dexterity: “ It was not poftible (fays Mercier) to 
fhew more alTurance in denying, or more addrefs in quali¬ 
fying faCts, in feparating them from confequences with 
which they were ftridtly connected, and particularly in 
offering a feafonable alibi. With an unaltered voice he 
denied his own hand-writing; and with an unruffled 
countenance confronted the witnertes for the profecution.”’ 
The number put on trial exceeded thirty : the individuals 
condemned were Fouquier Tir.ville, public accufer under 
the revolutionary tribunal ; Scellier, the prefident ; Fou¬ 
cault and Gamier-Delaunay, judges ; Leroi, called Dir; 
Aout ; Renaudin, Vilatte, Pricin', Chatelet, Gerard, and 
Boyenval, jurymen of that-court; Benoilt, agent of the 
executive power; Lafne, allirtant commillionerin the civil 
adminirtration of the tribunals ; Verney, keeper of the 
prifon of the Luxembourg ; Dupommier, adminiftrator 
of police; and Hermann, prefident of the revolutionary tri¬ 
bunal. The trial laded twenty-four hours; and they were 
all executed the next morning, being the 7th of May. 
Though thus defeated and depreffed, the Jacobins by 
no means confidered themfelves as fubdued. On the con¬ 
trary, they meditated a new infurreCtion, and fixed upon 
the 20th of May as the day of revolt. Thuriot, and 
Robefpierre’s financier Carnbon, had found means to 
efcape from the calile of Flam in Picardy, and were come 
to Paris. They concealed themfelves in the fuburb St. 
Antoine, and there urged the flame of difeord. The 
price of bread had inereafed, and advantage was taken of 
this circumftance. On the evening of the 19th, a paper 
was diftributed accufmg the convention of withholding 
bread from the people ; it declared infurreiStion to be 
the moft facred duty of the people, and called upon the 
citizens of Paris to proceed in a mafs to the convention, 
to demand bread, and the eftabliftiment of Robefpierre’s 
conrtitution, with a new election of national reprefenta- 
tives. On the 20th, the tocfin was rung, and drums beat 
to arms in the fuburb of St. Antoine, which had always 
been the quarter of the city in which the Jacobins pof- 
ferted the greateft (Length. Upon this alarm the conven¬ 
tion artembled; general Hoche was appointed to command 
the armed force, and the citizens artembled for the defence 
of the convention. In the mean time, the multitude fur- 
rounded the hall ; and by their fuperior numbers they 
foon overpowered the guards, and burft into the midft of 
the aftembly. After fome fruitlefs efforts to reftore tran¬ 
quillity, Vernier the prefident, refigned the chair to Boifly 
d’Anglas, who remained in it with much firmnefs during 
the day. The whole ftrength of the infurgents now en¬ 
tered 
