Speeches of Maximilien Robespierre/Report on the External Situation of the Republic
REPORT ON THE EXTERNAL SITUATION
OF THE REPUBLIC
Robespierre became a member of the Committee of Public Safety on July 26, 1793. A few months later he was instructed to report to the Convention on the external situation of the Republic. This speech was translated as a manifesto into almost every European language, was distributed in great quantities and read aloud in all the communes of France, as well as to the army. In this speech, Robespierre maintained that the Girondiste cabinet had intentionally involved France in a war with all of Europe for the purpose of destroying the Republic. There was no doubt that Robespierre was wrong in this opinion. The Gironde has many sins and mistakes on its conscience; many of its members were outright traitors; but to speak of a desire on the part of the Gironde to sell France would not be a mere exaggeration but an absolute untruth. Robespierre was in the opposition to war at first, and denounced the war, but later, precisely at the time when he delivered this speech, he was the soul of the national resistance against the foreign enemy, and the real deliverer of France, the Republic, and the Revolution.
It is now time to tell all those so weak in intellect that they will not understand, and all the simpletons who pretend to be ignorant of the facts, that the French Republic is a fact and that the victories and the nations of despotism are only temporary phenomena. It is also time for our allies to feel confidence in our caution and in our fate, and it is time that all our enemies may no longer have any doubts as to our might or our courage.
The French Revolution has shaken the world; the soaring flight to liberty of a great people was naturally displeasing to the kings who live about us. But to proceed from such displeasure to a declaration of war, to an establishment of the monstrous alliance of powers hostile to us, this was indeed a long journey.
Those fighting against us have no common interest and only the policy of two powerful countries, only an alliance with the French King himself, has rendered possible the creation of this federation. The treason of many conspirators in our own country was necessary before this alliance so full of contradictions could come to life. …
It is now known to all the world that the policy of the London Cabinet gave a mighty impulse to our Revolution. London's plans were extensive, the English Cabinet desired to lead a ruined and mutilated France through the political storms into the meshes of the English monarchy. It desired to set a Duke of York on the throne of Louis XVI.
The English plans were bold. But genius consists not in the outlining of great plans, but rather in the ability to adapt those means that are available to the realization of these plans. …
And Pitt was crudely mistaken as to our Revolution. He was as much mistaken as Louis XVI and the French aristocracy. And they all made their mistakes, because they felt nothing but contempt for the masses of the French people. Being too immoral to believe in the virtues of the Revolution, too backward to venture a step into the future, the English King's minister was far behind his century. All the facts of the situation have hitherto jeopardized his plans. He has learned that all the forces thus far sent against us by him and his allies have been annihilated. He has seen the destruction of Necker, of the Orléans, of Lafayette, of Lameth, of Dumouriez, of Custine, of Brissot, and of all the other little pygmies of the Gironde, one after the other. The French people has thus far been able to dispose of all these intrigues.
Every crisis of our Revolution, contrary to the calculation of our enemies, has enabled the Revolution to advance beyond the initial point of this crisis. Toward the end of 1792 our enemies believed that the downfall of the Capetian King might be neutralized by the act of proclaiming his son to be king of the French. But then came August 10 and the Republic was proclaimed..…
On May 31 the people destroyed all the intrigues, the demon of civil war, the hydra of Federalism, and the monster of aristocracy. The Convention is now at the height of the situation. A new social compact is proclaimed and consolidated by the will of the Frenchmen.
Since the year 1791, the English faction and all the enemies of freedom have been brought to recognize that there exists a Republican party in France which will not negotiate with tyranny, and that this party is the people itself. The various massacres carried out against Republicans, the mass murder at Nancy, and the mass murder on the Champ de Mars will not suffice to destroy the Republic. Our enemies therefore determined to make war on the Republic and there followed the monstrous alliance between Austria and Prussia, and later the alliance of all the allies now united against us. But it would be an exaggeration to see nothing behind this mighty alliance than the babble and the machinations of the émigrés, who have wandered from country to country in the course of their intrigues against us. Not even the credit of the French court was sufficient to lay firm foundations for the alliance against us.
This alliance was produced above all by the labor, the support of certain factions which ruled France itself and which were afraid of the further evolution of things within the country.
In order to lead all the kings into this audacious enterprise against us, it was not enough to convince them that—with the exception of a small band of Republicans—the entire nation secretly hates the new régime, and that the entire nation would welcome them, the foreigners, as deliverers. It was not enough to convince them that all the leaders of the armies would at once pass over to their side. To justify this enterprise in the eyes of their subjects themselves, they had to be relieved of the responsibility of declaring war on us, and therefore war was declared on them from Paris. You know with what monstrous levity war was declared; you know that you were then without arms, that our forts had no munitions, that our army was in the hands of traitors, and that they nevertheless talked of carrying the tricolor up to the ends of the earth. These orators and gossips who were our leaders at the time were insulting the tyrants only in order to do their bidding. …
The true friends of the Republic had different intentions. Before bursting the chains of the universe they wished first to consolidate liberty in their own country. Before undertaking to wage war on foreign tyrants, they wished first to annihilate the tyrants at home, who were daily betraying them. They did not wish to march against other kings while they were led by a king themselves. …
Those who planned at the end of the year 1791 to overthrow all the thrones of the world, are the same as those who in August 1792 wish to ward off with all their might the blow against their own King. The chariot of the Revolution was advancing over stony soil. They wished it to travel on a smooth and easy road and therefore they guided it into dangerous paths and sought to demolish the chariot before it had attained its goal. … Let us now picture to ourselves the present countenance of Europe. We must clearly estimate the forces which are at work for us and against us. From the very moment that the plan of the alliance against France had been drawn up, it was attempted to interest the various powers in the struggle against us by a prospective division of. France. And the plans for this division are now in our hands; they are proved not only by the outcome, but we have also the necessary documents and papers. At the moment when the Committee of Public Safety was established, the plan of the English cabinet had already been elaborated for the division of France, and we of the Committee were acquainted with this plan. At the time, we assigned no particular importance to it, since we did not trust the confidantes, but the facts have since confirmed the entire situation. Now, citizens of the Convention! England did not forget its share in this general division. Dunkirk, Toulon, the colonies, and even the coveting of the French crown itself—these were to be the British share. England found it easy to draw the Lieutenant Governor of Holland into the alliance. And we have already discussed the plan of alliance of the Prussian King with the head of the House of Hapsburg. Like two brigands who make peace with each other after a long period of disunion, Prussia and Austria again come to terms. For a moment they forget their struggle in order to devote themselves to the immediate business of plundering France. And yet, this alliance is destined to fall to pieces. Austria will again find itself the deceived deceiver.
Together with the King of Prussia, the Empress of Russia has divided Poland, while the House of Hapsburg has been promised, as an indemnity, concessions in France, i.e., Alsace-Lorraine and French Flanders. Even the King of Sardinia has been promised a share in our dominions. But what was it possible to give to the Italian powers? Nothing! And the latter therefore resisted all entreaties and requests and yielded only at the end, or rather, they submitted to England's orders, and these orders were supported by the English fleet.
Among all the impostors who adorn themselves with the title of Emperor, King, or Minister, we consider Catherine of Russia and her Minister to be the most cunning. …
Russia's policy is categorically determined by the very nature of her situation. In this country, the characteristics of savage, barbarous hordes are fused into a single whole with the vices of civilized nations. The rulers of Russia have great power and great wealth; surrounded by barbarism, they yet have acquired the tastes and the ideas of Western Europe; they would love to be served and flattered by the Athenians, but their subjects are only Tartars. …
The Court of St. Petersburg has long been attempting to overwhelm Europe, Turkey and Poland. … It has aided much in the construction of the league of kings now united against us, and this court—not its allies—has drawn many advantages from the alliance. While the allies of the Russian Empress are exhausting their strength in the struggle against us, this lady of St. Petersburg is husbanding all her resources and casting her glances on Turkish, Polish and German domains. She believes the hour to be near at hand in which she can dictate to Europe.
THE END