I will save liberty'; but that the 50,000,000 francs might be deposited at the national treasury and drawn from only by order of the Committee.

This speech produced a great sensation in the Assembly, but Robespierre opposed it and Danton's proposals were referred to the Committee of Safety for consideration. The idea, however, rapidly took root. Within a fortnight the Committee had accepted the 50 millions from which it shrank on the 1st, and its autocracy practically dates from that day.

On August 5 Danton left the Chair to interpose generously and successfully in behalf of Garat, Minister of the Interior, who, having been arrested and summoned to the bar of the House, was assailed by Collot d'Herbois. As the rescued Minister passed by the Chair Danton whispered to him, 'Write a perfectly simple circular. Throw your literary production into the fire. Reserve all that for history.' The incident is illustrative of the character of the two men, and Danton's estimate of Garat, 'Il aime la Révolution,' il a montré de la faiblesse,' has been endorsed by history.

On the 1st he again interfered on the side of moderation. A Deputy belonging to the 6,000 members of the Primary Assemblies who had come to Paris for the national fête called on the Assembly to decree a levée en masse, and at the same time seize all suspects, enrol them, send them to the frontiers, and there place them in the forefront of the battle. In his usual fashion when about to attenuate too Draconic proposals Danton began with some generalities to which no Draco could take exception.

The Deputies have just suggested 'terror' towards the enemy within our gates. Shall we disappoint them? No! No amnesty for any traitor!

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Honest men do not favour knaves. Let us signalise the people's vengeance by summary punishment of domestic traitors, but let us try and turn this memorable day to account. You have been told that the levée en masse is wanted; and so assuredly it is, but it should be made in an orderly way.

He went on to suggest that the Deputies of the Primary Assemblies should, each man of them, incite twenty others to come in arms and enlist, that they should be invested with authority to make inventories of arms, food, and munitions of war, to enrol 40,000 recruits for the armies of the North, and to announce the Constitution to the enemy by cannon-shot. And he felt sure, he said, that the Deputies, of whose energy he had seen many proofs, would swear to rouse their fellow citizens to action when they went home.

The enthusiasm with which this sagacious appeal was received pledged each Deputy to a missionary zeal for the conscription. Taking advantage of it the orator insinuated counsels of moderation. He demanded

the arrest of all persons suspected-justly-but this should be done more circumspectly than hitherto, when, instead of seizing great criminals, real conspirators, men who were less than insignificant were arrested. It would never do to send them to the armies, where they would be more dangerous than useful. Let them be confined and kept as hostages.

In this characteristic speech he advocated moderation, but for men shirking their share of the war's burdens either in purse or person he had no indulgence. Of the rich he said

If the tyrants were getting the better of us we should surpass them in daring, should devastate French

soil before they could traverse it, and the rich, vile egotists that they are, would be the first victims of the people's wrath. You who hear me report what I say to the rich men of your communes. Say to them,What are you hoping for?' See what would happen if France were overrun. On the most favourable supposition you would have an imbecile's regency, a minor's rule, the ambition of foreign Powers, the partition of the land, eating up your property; you would lose more as serfs than by all the sacrifices you could make to maintain yourselves free.

And then he insisted on the agents of the Primary Assemblies being authorised to enforce conscription and requisitions vigorously.

For soldiers wishing to quit the service when every man was wanted he advocated not the blind sentence proposed against the men of Bordeaux, but still stern severity. Any citizen deserting the flag before some one has been found to take his place should be punished with death.' Equally stern was the view he took of the conduct of the merchant-princes of Marseilles, who had exulted in the abasement of their priests and nobles in the hope of getting fat on their wealth, and had then basely turned against the Revolution, to which they owed that wealth. They should be treated like those priests and nobles and pay the penalty of their treason with confiscation or death.'

Having said so much to urge on the levée en masse, he warned the Committee to beware

of its being abused or misused. It should be regulated methodically, and men should not be concentrated unless where they could be properly organised. By all means have numbers, but only efficient numbers,

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directed to points where they were imperatively needed; not a mere herd which it might be impossible to equip, to feed, or to employ properly. But, lest enthusiasm should be damped by delay, instant measures should be taken for the proper provision of a force amply sufficient for all contingencies.

CHAPTER XXIV

1793-continued

DISINTERESTEDNESS OF DANTON DAMAGING TO HIM-EFFECTS OF MARAT'S MURDER AND CAPTURE OF TOULON-SCARCITY IN PARIS-DANTON'S ISOLATION-GARAT'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM— THE MAXIMUM-' SANS-CULOTTE ARMY-DANTON'S SPEECH-HE SUPPORTS COMMITTEE OF SAFETY-HIS SPEECH ON THE WAR IN LA VENDÉE-HÉBERT—ILLNESS-RETIREMENT TO ARCIS

THOUGH the Revolutionary Tribunal was only, as Danton said, the least bad' remedy, when France was honeycombed with Royalist and Girondin disaffection, it was beyond all doubt efficacious, having, in fact, all the force of a civilian court-martial. Equally efficacious for the national defence was the levée en masse, the dictatorship of the Committee of Safety, and, taken as a whole, the missions of members of the Convention to the armies. If the speeches quoted in previous chapters prove anything, it is that it was always for France Danton was thinking as he urged these measures, and not for himself. He might flatter Paris, he might parley with men he disliked, he might court popularity, but it was for public not personal ends.

Such disinterested patriotism placed him at terrible disadvantage amid the bitter rivalries and selfish ambitions by which he was surrounded in September. He had come into collision with Robespierre, and, worse offence still in Robespierre's eyes, he had shielded him with his own popularity. He had