EXECUTION OF ROBESPIERRE

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1523, 19 March 1886, Page 3

EXECUTION OF ROBESPIERRE

For a time, the Convention, the capital, the whole nation were paralysed with terror; but, towards the end of July, a powerful opposition to Robespierre arose, not merely in the Convention, but even the Committee of Public Sifety. On the 27 th of that month, two members of the Convention, Billaud-Varennes and Tallien, openly denounced the tyrant in words of fiery eloquence, which awakened a profound echo throughout the Assembly. The House voted itself in permanent session, and ordered the arrest of Robespierre, Couthon, and St Just, (h§ triumrin of (he Committee. Tbejl

were at once sent to prison, together with a few others; but Robespierre still depended with confidence on the action of the Commune, which dispatched detachments of troops to the pasong where the accused were confined, and set them at liberty. The Conventk n replied by pronouncing a decree of outlawry against | Robespierre, his colleagues and the whole Commune of Paris. At midnight on that eventful day, a large force surrounded the Hotel de Ville, aud the malcontents surrendered without resistance. Some attempted suicide, and one succeeded in his design. Robespierre was among those who discharged a pistol at his head; but, whether trepidation had unnerved his hand, or whatever may have been the cause, the only effect was to break his jaw. In this miserable state he was dragged to the building occupied by the Committee of Public Safety, where he was insulted, struck, and otherwise ill. treated by his late colleagues. On the following day he and his accomplices were brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and in the evening all were conveyed to the the scaffold. Pallid as and with his j>iw wrapped in a bloody cloth, Robespierre mounted the steps after the execution of his companions. His last utterance was a frightful shriek, as the executioioner tore the bandage from his neck. The next moment, his head fell beneath the descending blade, and the crowd hailed it witb shouts of delight. The sanguinary despotism of the man has never been surpassed; but he died penniless, and the title of " the Incorruptible," which he affected, seems not to have been unjustly claimed. — Illustrated Universal History.