rvous spasms, the lukewarm and even the indifferent have not long
to wait before the delirium puts them in harmony with the converted.

V. Fete of August 10th

They make their profession of Jacobin faith.--Their part in
the Fete of August 10th.--Their enthusiasm.

On the 7th of August things come to a head.--Led by the department
and the municipality, a number of delegates march to the bar of the
Convention, and make a confession of Jacobin faith. "Soon," they
exclaim, "will search be made on the banks of the Seine for the foul
marsh intended to engulf us. Were the royalist and intriguers to die
of spite, we will live and die 'Montagnards.'"[1134] Applause and
embraces.--From thence they betake themselves to the Jacobin Club, where
one of them proposes an address prepared beforehand: the object of this
is to justify the 31st of May, and the 2nd of June, "to open the eyes"
of provincial France, to declare "war against the federalists."[1135]
"Down with the infamous libelers who have calumniated Paris!.... We
cherish but one sentiment, our souls are all melted into one... We form
here but one vast, terrible mountain, about to vomit forth its fires
on the royalists and supporters of tyranny." Applause and
cheers.--Robespierre declares that they are there to save the
country.[1136] On the following day, August 8th, this address is
presented to the Convention and Robespierre has a resolution adopted,
ordering it to be sent to the armies, to foreign powers and all the
Communes. More applause, more embraces, and more cheers.--On the 9th
of August,[1137] by order of the Convention, the delegates meet in
the Tuileries garden, where, divided into as many groups as there are
departments, they study the program drawn up by David, in order to
familiarize themselves with the parts they are to play in the festival
of the following day.

What an odd festival and how well it expresses the spirit of the time!
It is a sort of opera played in the streets by the public authorities,
with triumphant chariots, altars, censers, an Ark of the Covenant,
funeral urns, classic banners and other trappings! Its divinities
consist of plaster statues representing Nature, Liberty, the People, and
Hercules, all of which are personified abstractions, like those painted
on the ceiling of a theater. In all this there is no spontaneity nor
sincerity; the actors, whose consciences tell them that they are only
actors, render homage to symbo