They consider the Constitution as a
panacea, and they are going to consign it, like some dangerous drug,
to this coffer which they call an ark. They have just proclaimed the
liberty of the people, and are going to perpetuate the dictatorship of
the Convention.
VI. The Mountain.
Maneuvers of the "Mountain." -- The Jacobin Club on the eve of August
11th. -- Session of the Convention on the 11th of August. -- The
Delegates initiate Terror. -- Popular consecration of the Jacobin
dictatorship.
This volteface has, of course, to appear spontaneous and the hand of
the titular rulers remain invisible: the Convention, as usual with
usurpers, is to simulate reserve and disinterestedness. -
Consequently, the following morning, August 11, on the opening of
the session, it simply declares that "its mission is fulfilled:"[41]
on the motion of Lacroix, a confederate of Danton's, it passes a law
that a new census of the population and of electors shall be made with
as little delay as possible, in order to convoke the primary
assemblies at once; it welcomes with joy the delegates who bring to it
the Constitutional Ark; the entire Assembly rises in the presence of
this sacred receptacle, and allows the delegates to exhort it and
instruct it concerning its duties.
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