and hurry on the matter, the sans-culottes, with
fixed bayonets, gesticulate and threaten them from the galleries.
Outside and inside, necessity, with its iron hand, has seized them and
holds them fast. There is a dead silence. Couthon, a paralytic, tries
to stand up; his friends carry him in their arms to the tribune; an
intimate friend of Robespierre's, he is a grave and important personage;
he sits down, and in his mild tone of voice, he speaks: "Citizens, all
members of the Convention must now be satisfied of their freedom.... You
are now aware that there is no restraint on your deliberations."[34166]

The comedy is at an end. Even in Moliere there is none like it. The
sentimental cripple in the tribune winds up by demanding that the
Twenty-two, the Twelve, and the Ministers, Claviere and Lebrun be
placed in arrest. Nobody opposes the motion,[34167] "because physical
necessities begin to be felt, and an impression of terror pervades the
Assembly." Several say to themselves, "Well, after all, those who are
proscribed will be as well off at home, where they will be safe.... It
is better to put up with a lesser evil than encounter a greater one."
Another exclaims: "It is better not to vote than to betray one's trust."
The salvo being found, all consciences are easy. Two-thirds of the
Assembly declare that they will no longer take part in the discussions,
hold aloof; and remain in their seats at each calling of the vote. With
the exception of about fifty members of the "Right," who rise on the
side of the Girondists, the "Mountain," whose forces are increased by
the insurgents and amateurs sitting fraternally in its midst, alone
votes for, and finally passes the decree.--Now that the Convention has
mutilated itself; it is check-mated, and is about to become a governing
machine in the service of a clique; the Jacobin conquest is completed,
and in the hands of the victors, the grand operations of the guillotine
are going to commence.

VIII. Right or Wrong, my Country.

Character of the new governors.--Why France accepted them.

Let us observe them at this decisive moment. I doubt if any such
contrast ever presented itself in any country or in any age.--Through
a series of purifications in an inverse sense, the faction has become
reduced to its dregs; nothing remains of the vast surging wave of 1789
but its froth and its slime; the rest has been cast off or has withdrawn
to one side; at first the highest clas