" Universal applause; the delegates exclaim in one voice, "We
swear!" Everybody springs to his feet; the men in the tribunes wave
their hats and likewise should the same oath. -- The scheme is
successful; a semblance of popular will has authorized the staff of
officials, the policy, the principles and the very name of Terror. As
to the instruments for the operation they are all there ready to be
back into action. The delegates, of whose demands and interference
the "Mountain" is still in dread, are sent back to their departmental
holes, where they shall serve as agents and missionaries.[46] There is
no further mention of putting the Constitution into operation; this
was simply a bait, a decoy, contrived for fishing in turbid waters:
the fishing ended, the Constitution is now placed in a conspicuous
place in the hall, in a small monument for which David furnished the
design.[47] -- The Convention, now, says Danton, "will rise to a sense
of its dignity, for it is now invested with the full power of the
nation." In other words, artifice completes what violence has begun.
Through the outrages committed in May and June, the Convention had
lost its legitimacy; through the maneuvers of July and August it
recovered the semblance of it.
Pages:
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54