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Taine, Hippolyte, 1828-1893

"The French Revolution - Volume 3"


After Thermidor, the friends and kindred of the dead, the oppressed,
make their voices heard, and he is forced to see collectively and in
detail all the crimes to which, nearly or remotely, he has contributed
either through his assent or through his vote, the same as in Mexico,
the priest of Huichilobos walks about in the midst of the six hundred
thousand skulls amassed in the vaults of his temple. - In quick
succession, during the whole of year III., through the freedom of the
press and the great public discussions, the truth becomes known.
First, comes an account of the funereal journey of one hundred and
thirty-two Nantese, dragged from Nantes to Paris,[4] and the solemn
acquittal, received with transports, of the ninety-four who survive.
After this, come the trials of the most prominent terrorists, that of
Carrier and the Revolutionary Committee of Nantes, that of Fouquier-
Tinville and the old revolutionary Tribunal of Paris, that of Joseph
Lebon,[5] and, during thirty or forty consecutive sessions, hundreds
of minute, verified depositions ending in the most complete and
satisfactory testimony. - In the mean time, revelations multiply at
the tribune of the Convention; these consist of the letters of the new
representatives on mission and the denunciations of the towns against
their overthrown tyrants; against Maignet, Dartigoyte, Piochefer-
Bernard, Levasseur, Crassous, Javogues, Lequinio, Lefiot, Piorry,
Pinet, Monestier, Fouch?, Laplanche, Lecarpentier, and many others.


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