INVECTIVE AGAINST DANTON[1]
(1794)
Born in 1757, died in 1794; elected to the Convention in 1792; served as a member of the Committee of Public Safety; became a chief promoter of the Reign of Terror; opposed Danton, securing his overthrow, and involved in the final downfall of Robespierre.
Danton, you have served the cause of tyranny. You were, it is true, opposed to Lafayette; but Mirabeau, Orleans, Dumouriez were also opposed to him. Dare you deny that you were sold to these three men, the most violent of conspirators against liberty? It was by the protection of Mirabeau that you were named administrator of the department of Paris, at a time when the electoral assembly was decidedly royalist. All the friends of Mirabeau openly boasted that they had shut your mouth. Moreover, as long as that frightful personage lived you remained silent. At that time you charged a rigid patriot in the course of a dinner that he would compromise the
- ↑ This attack on Danton was made in the " Report on the Conspiracy of the Dantonists," delivered by St. Just before the Convention on March 31, 1794, material for it having been furnished by Robespierre. Translated by Scott Robinson from the text given by Stephens. Thiers, in commenting on this speech, says St. Just urged against Danton "the falsest accusations, and distorted known facts in the most atrocious manner."
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