e king
with the European league? That will crush us! In an instant you will see
all the men of 1789--mayor, general, ministers, orators,--enter this
room. How can you escape Antony?" continued he, alluding to La Fayette.
"Antony commands the legions that are about to avenge Caesar; and
Octavius, Caesar's nephew, commands the legions of the republic.

"How can the republic hope to avoid destruction? We are continually told
of the necessity of uniting ourselves; but when Antony encamped at the
side of Lepidus, and all the foes to freedom were united to those who
termed themselves its defenders, nought remained for Brutus and Cassius,
save to die.

"It is to this point that this feigned unanimity, this perfidious
reconciliation of patriots, tends. Yes, this is the fate prepared for
you. I know that by daring to unveil these conspiracies I sharpen a
thousand daggers against my own life. I know the fate that awaits me;
but if, when almost unknown in the National Assembly, I, amongst the
earliest apostles of liberty, sacrificed my life to the cause of truth,
of humanity, of my country; to-day, when I have been so amply repaid for
this sacrifice, by such marks of universal goodwill, consideration, and
regard, I shall look at death as a mercy, if it prevents my witnessing
such misfortunes. I have tried the Assembly, let them in their turn try
me."

XIX.

These words so artfully combined, and calculated to fill every breast
with suspicion, were hailed like the last speech of a martyr for
liberty. All eyes were suffused with tears. "We will die with you,"
cried Camille Desmoulins, extending his arms towards Robespierre, as
though he would fain embrace him. His excitable and changeable spirit
was borne away by the breath of each new enthusiastic impulse. He passed
from the arms of La Fayette into those of Robespierre like a courtezan.
Eight hundred persons rose _en masse_; and by their attitudes, their
gestures, their spontaneous and unanimous inspiration, offered one of
those most imposing tableaux, that prove how great is the effect of
oratory, passion, and circumstance over an assembled people. After they
had all individually sworn to defend Robespierre's life, they were
informed of the arrival of the ministers and members of the Assembly who
had belonged to the club in '89, and who in this perilous state of their
country, had come to fraternise with the Jacobins.

"Monsieur le President," cried Danton, "if the traitors