"[35] "Down with the infamous libelers who have
calumniated Paris! .... We cherish but one sentiment, our souls are
all melted into one ... We form here but one vast, terrible mountain,
about to vomit forth its fires on the royalists and supporters of
tyranny." Applause and cheers. -- Robespierre declares that they are
there to save the country.[36] On the following day, August 8th, this
address is presented to the Convention and Robespierre has a
resolution adopted, ordering it to be sent to the armies, to foreign
powers and all the Communes. More applause, more embraces, and more
cheers. -- On the 9th of August,[37] by order of the Convention, the
delegates meet in the Tuileries garden, where, divided into as many
groups as there are departments, they study the program drawn up by
David, in order to familiarize themselves with the parts they are to
play in the festival of the following day.
What an odd festival and how well it expresses the spirit of the time!
It is a sort of opera played in the streets by the public authorities,
with triumphant chariots, altars, censers, an Ark of the Covenant,
funeral urns, classic banners and other trappings! Its divinities
consist of plaster statues representing Nature, Liberty, the People,
and Hercules, all of which are personified abstractions, like those
painted on the ceiling of a theater.
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