CHAPTER IX. From the Death of Danton, April, 1794, to the 9th Thermidor

FROM THE DEATH OF DANTON, APRIL, 1794, TO THE 9TH THERMIDOR (27TH JULY, 1794)

Increase of terror; its cause--System of the democrats; Saint-Just-- Robespierre's power--Festival of the Supreme Being--Couthon presents the law of the 22nd Prairial, which reorganizes the revolutionary tribunal; disturbances; debates; final obedience of the convention--The active members of the committee have a division--Robespierre, Saint-Just, and Couthon on one side; Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and the members of the committee of general safety on the other--Conduct of Robespierre--He absents himself from the committee, and rests on the Jacobins and the commune--On the 8th of Thermidor he demands the renewal of the committees; the motion is rejected--Sitting of the 9th Thermidor; Saint-Just denounces the committees; is interrupted by Tallien; Billaud- Varennes violently attacks Robespierre; general indignation of the convention against the triumvirate; they are arrested--The commune rises and liberates the prisoners--Peril and courage of the convention; it outlaws the insurgents--The sections declare for the convention--Defeat and execution of Robespierre.