nd, secretly and
as far as he dared, Barere, formed an opposition. Not that the latter
were more moderate or merciful than Robespierre, but because, in the
nature of things, there could be but one Dictator, and it became a
question of the survival of the fittest. Carnot took little or no part
in active politics. He devoted himself to the war, but he disapproved of
the Terror and came to a breach with Saint-Just. Robespierre's power
culminated on June 10, 1794, with the passage of the Law of 22 Prairial,
which put the life of every Frenchman in his hand, and after which, save
for some dozen or two of his most intimate and devoted adherents like
Saint-Just, Couthon, Le Bas, Fouquier, Fleuriot the Mayor of Paris, and
Henriot, the commander of the national guard, no one felt his head safe
on his shoulders. It needed but security on the northern frontier to
cause the social centre of gravity to shift and Robespierre to fall, and
security came with the campaign of Fleurus.

Jourdan and Pichegru were in command on the Belgian border, and on June
26, 1794, just sixteen days after the passage of the Law of Prairial,
Jourdan won the battle of Fleurus. This battle, though not decisive in
itself, led to decisive results. It uncovered Valenciennes and Conde,
which were invested, closing the entrance to France. On July 11, Jourdan
entered Brussels; on July 16, he won a crushing victory before Louvain
and the same day Namur opened its gates. On July 23, Pichegru, driving
the English before him, seized Antwerp. No Frenchman could longer doubt
that France was delivered, and with that certainty the Terror ended
without a blow. Eventually the end must have come, but it came
instantly, and, according to the old legend, it came through a man's
love for a woman.

John Lambert Tallien, the son of the butler of the Marquis of Bercy, was
born in 1769, and received an education through the generosity of the
marquis, who noticed his intelligence. He became a journeyman printer,
and one day in the studio of Madame Lebrun, dressed in his workman's
blouse, he met Therezia Cabarrus, Marquise de Fontenay, the most
seductive woman of her time, and fell in love with her on the instant.
Nothing, apparently, could have been more hopeless or absurd. But the
Revolution came. Tallien became prominent, was elected to the
Convention, grew to be influential, and in September, 1793, was sent to
Bordeaux, as representative of the Chamber, or as proconsul, as the