I
AGAINST GRANTING THE KING A TRIAL[1]
(1792)
Born in 1758, died in 1794; elected a Deputy to the States-General in 1789; leader of the Extreme Left in the Assembly and one of the chief orators of the Jacobin Club; after the death of Mirabeau, his influence increasing, opposed the Girondists; became a member of the Committee of Public Safety and was closely identified with the horrors of The Reign of Terror; finally overthrown and put to death.
The Assembly has unwittingly been drawn far from the actual question. There is no question of a trial. Louis is not an accused; you are not judges; you are only, you can be only, statesmen, and the representatives of the nation. You have no sentence to render for or against a man; but a measure of public safety to take, an act of national providence to perform. A de-throned king, in a Republic, is good only for two purposes — either to trouble the tranquillity of the State and to unsettle liberty, or to establish
- ↑ Delivered in the Convention on December 3, 1792. Translated for this edition by Scott Robinson from the original text as given in Stephens's "Orators of the French Revolution." Robespierre spoke in opposition to the Girondists, who desired to have the king tried in a ceremonious and impressive manner.
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