Chapter IX

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.

CHAPTER X

FROM THE 9TH THERMIDOR TO THE 1ST PRAIRIAL, YEAR III. (20TH MAY, 1795). EPOCH OF THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

The convention, after the fall of Robespierre; party of the committees; Thermidorian party; their constitution and object--Decay of the democratic party of the committees--Impeachment of Lebon and Carrier--State of Paris --The Jacobins and the Faubourgs declare for the old committees; the _jeunesse dorée_, and the sections for the Thermidorians--Impeachment of Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and Vadier--Movement of Germinal--Transportation of the accused, and of a few of the Mountain, their partisans--Insurrection of the 1st Prairial--Defeat of the democratic party; disarming of the Faubourgs--The lower class is excluded from the government, deprived of the constitution of '93, and loses its material power.

CHAPTER XI

FROM THE 1ST PRAIRIAL (20TH OF MAY, 1795) TO THE 4TH BRUMAIRE (26TH OF OCTOBER), YEAR IV., THE CLOSE OF THE CONVENTION

Campaign of 1793 and 1794--Disposition of the armies on hearing the news of the 9th Thermidor--Conquest of Holland; position on the Rhine--Peace of Basel with Prussia--Peace with Spain--Descent upon Quiberon--The reaction ceases to be conventional, and becomes royalist--Massacre of the revolutionists, in the south--Directorial constitution of the year III.-- Decrees of Fructidor, which require the re-election of two-thirds of the convention--Irritation of the sectionary royalist party--It becomes insurgent--The 13th of Vendémiaire--Appointment of the councils and of the directory--Close of the convention; its duration and character.

THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY

CHAPTER XII

FROM THE INSTALLATION OF THE DIRECTORY, ON THE 27TH OCTOBER, 1795, TO THE COUP-D'ÉTAT OF THE 18TH FRUCTIDOR, YEAR V. (3RD AUGUST, 1797)

Review of the revolution--Its second character of reorganization; transition from public to private life--The five directors; their labours for the interior--Pacification of La Vendée--Conspiracy of Babeuf; final defeat of the democratic party--Plan of campaign against Austria; conquest of Italy by general Bonaparte; treaty of Campo-Formio; the French republic is acknowledged, with its acquisitions, and its connection with the Dutch, Lombard, and Ligurian republics, which prolonged its system in Europe-- Royalist elections in the year V.; they alter the position of the republic--New contest between the counter-revolutionary party in the councils, in the club of Clichy, in the salons, and the conventional party, in the directory, the club of _Salm_, and the army--Coup d'état of the 18th Fructidor; the Vendémiaire party again defeated.