is a tragicomic drama in three acts, each winding up with a coup
de theatre, always the same and always foreseen. Legendre, one of the
principal stage hands, has taken care to announce beforehand that,

"If this lasts any longer," said he, at the Cordeliers club,[34128] "if
the 'Mountain' remains quiet any longer, I shall call in the people,
and tell the galleries to come down and take part with us in the
deliberations."

At first, on the 27th of May, in relation to the arrest of Hebert and
his companions, the "Mountain," supported by the galleries, becomes
furious.[34129] In vain does the majority again and again demonstrate
its numerical superiority. "We shall resist," says Danton, "so long as
there are a hundred true citizens to help us."--"President," exclaims
Marat to Isnard, you are a tyrant! a despicable tyrant!"--"I demand,"
says Couthon, "that the President be impeached!"--"Off with the
President to the Abbaye!"--The "Mountain" has decided that he shall not
preside; it springs from the benches and rushes at him, shouts "death
to him," becomes hoarse with its vociferations, and compels him to leave
the chair through weariness and exhaustion. It drives out his successor,
Fonfrede, in the same manner, and ends by putting Herault-Sechelles, one
of its own accomplices, in the chair.--Meanwhile, at the entrance of the
Convention, "the regulations have been violated"; a crowd of armed men
"have spread through the passages and obstructed the approaches";
the deputies, Meillan, Chiappe and Lydon, on attempting to leave,
are arrested, Lydon being stopped "by the point of a saber at his
breast,"[34130] while the leaders on the inside encourage, protect and
justify their trusty aids outdoors.--Marat, with his usual audacity, on
learning that Raffet, the commandant, was clearing the passages, comes
to him "with a pistol in his hand and puts him under arrest,"[34131]
on the ground that the people and its sacred rights of petition and the
petitioners must be respected. There are "five or six hundred, almost
all of them armed,"[34132] stationed for three hours at the doors of
the hall; at the last moment, two other troops, dispatched by the
Gravilliers and Croix-Rouge sections, arrive and bring them their final
afflux. Thus strengthened, they spring over the benches assigned to
them, spread through the hall, and mingle with the deputies who
still remain in their seats. It is after midnight; many of the
representatives, worn o