Bertrand Barère

Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac  was born in 1755.  His father was a lawyer and part of the minor nobility.  He began to practice as a lawyer at the parlement of Toulouse in 1770.  He gained local prominence as a brilliant orator.  On the back of his legal successes he was elected deputy to the Estates General for Bigorre.  During his initial years in politics he was more famed for his journalism than for his speaking.

As the revolution progressed and after the King’s failed attempt at escape Barère became more involved in politics and supported the demands for a Republic.  This did not stop him tutoring the Duke of Orléans daughter.  His career continued to accelerate as he was elected to the National Convention and became a member of the Committee of Public Safety in 1793.  He rose to even further prominence when he was the one who questioned the king.  He voted for the death of the king declaring, “the tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants.”   As time progressed he moved closer towards the Mountain joining the Jacobins and voting with them for the removal of the Girondists though he did seek reconciliation between the factions.  

Barère became increasingly important to the Revolution in January 1793 he wrote his Report to the French Nation in this he emphasised the importance of nationalism and war against the other European powers.  He saw the importance of the French language to the Revolution as he linked the Breton language to the Vendee’s instability and failure to accept the Revolution's ideals.  Throughout this time he championed the creation of events and rituals that would bind individuals and communities to the Nation.  

However when Robespierre was brought down in the events known as Thermidor it was said that he had two speeches in his pocket one supporting Robespierre the other one against.  In the counter revolution that occurred afterwards his closeness to Robespierre made people suspicious.  He was arrested and was going to be deported to French Guiana however he managed to escape.  In 1799 he was given a pardon by Napoleon who appointed him reporter of public opinion.  He was elected as a deputy during Napoleon’s return from Elba.  In 1815 he had to flee to Belgium when the monarchy was restored.  Although once again he was allowed back into France and lived a peaceful life until his eventual death in 1841 having completed four volumes of his memoirs.

Barère on the failures of Louis XVI ministers.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p196

At this critical point when the State was passing out of the hands of a financial charlatan, like M. Necker, into those of a squanderer like M. de Calonne.

These ministers of a day had by turns destroyed the monarchy and led the way to the Revolution by the increase of taxation, the persecution of the parliaments, the confusion of the exchequer, and the depletion of the national treasury. Twice had the Notables been summoned merely to dissolve before coming to any agreement; they had refused to make the property of the nobility and clergy pay taxes. A deficit of fifty-five millions was the only point that was settled, and by seeing the terrible confusion of the finances of every government of this period, it is easy to understand how a deficit of fifty-five millions could mount up, since several hundred millions have since been spent on unjust wars and useless conquests.

Barère on Louis XVI ’s minister M. de Brienne.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p197

An administrator full of wit but lacking in tact and ability, practising a versatile despotism rather than absolute power, having liberal views in his proposals but never carrying them out, M. de Brienne knew neither how to bend to public opinion, listen to public needs, nor foresee the dangers of the future.  He hated the parliaments through his ministerial traditions and made war on them. Above all, he believed in his genius for finance, while in reality he only knew how to take money from the treasury vaults. Public credit was destroyed, the fund holders were in terror, public honesty was forgotten and justice paralysed.

Barère on meeting up with the Estates General and seeing Mirabeau and Bailly.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p208-209

I was very young to form part of the finest assembly ever held in France, so I set myself to listen and observe. Two men attracted my attention more than the others: these were, on the one hand, the Count de Mirabeau, whose reputation as an orator, journalist, and politician was well known to this meeting; the other, M. Bailly, of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres, was eminent for his social virtues, and much more so for his scientific attainments and his works on astronomy and his historic researches on the

Atlantic races. I made every effort to make the acquaintance of these illustrious deputies; my youth and admiration for talent were my claim to their notice.  I conversed with Mirabeau whenever I could get near him; his conversation, at once striking, witty, amiable and profound, and always in good taste and good style, attracted to his side all who heard him. M. Bailly was reserved, although full of mildness and good humour; he had, amidst his urbanity and good fellowship, great austerity of principle, perfect rectitude of conduct and great intellectual energy. These opposite characteristics, these diverse qualifications were most valuable points for a young deputy to study. Here I was, so to speak, the satellite of these two planets, in the political perturbations found in the irregular system of the States-General, assembled for a ministerial motive, but lacking any direction towards a national purpose.

Barère on problems the Third Estate faced in the Estates General on the 23rd of June 1789.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p214-215

The Court hastened to peruse the list of grievances and to open its famous royal session of the 23rd of June. It was during this lit de justice, held at the Hotel des Menus, in the presence of the three estates, that it was sought to humiliate the Commons by allowing them to wait outside in the rain until the hall was opened, while the representatives of the two privileged orders had for some time taken their seats to prostrate themselves at the foot of the throne like the vile slaves who had repulsed the entry of the deputies of the Commons. These two orders went before the King : the Commons remained seated. The two orders cheered lustily each speech and act pronounced or read in the Assembly; the Commons were silent. When the meeting adjourned, the two orders, with the exception of the two minorities of the clergy and nobility which had already coalesced with the Commons, rushed to the doors by which the King was to pass in order to regain the equipages of the cortege. The Commons retained their seats. The King commanded the three orders to separate, and at once to repair to their chambers to vote, each in private. The master of the ceremonies had no need to advise the two orders : they had disappeared with the bodyguard and the royal procession.

The Commons, twice summoned by the Marquis de Breze to obey the command of the King, retorted with the fine and energetic apostrophe of the Count de Mirabeau : " Go and tell your master that we are here by the power of the people, and that we shall not go away save at the point of the bayonet." The president of the National Assembly, M. Bailly, added that the Commons were going to deliberate upon what they had just heard, and that they would not leave the chamber until they were ready to publish the result of their debate.

During all this time, and just as the King had risen to terminate the sitting, the deputies of the Commons (to the number of 600) put on their hats, and thus debated the annulling of the King's regulations and of the King's session, which had violated the rights of the French people. All this would be treated to-day as rebellion ; but it was only through the courage of its representatives that the French could regain and preserve their rights.

These events are undoubtedly known ; but here are some that are not. When the King had got into his carriage, which stood in the grand avenue of the castle, M. d'Artois bent forward and told him that the deputies of the Commons refused to leave the chamber, and that they ought to be sabred by the bodyguard. The King, in these words, coldly replied :

"To the castle!"

M. d'Artois insisted more energetically : " Give the order for them to be cut down ; otherwise all is lost."

" Go and do it yourself."

More insistence. The King, growing impatient, said to M. d'Artois : "Go to the devil! To the castle, to the castle!" I have these facts from one of the bodyguard, one of my countrymen, and from the King's private physician.

Barère on William Pitt and the British government’s reaction to the storming of the Bastille in 1789.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p221-222

When the French Revolution broke out on the i4th .of July, 1789, it was the object of Europe's admiration and England's dismay. The enemy and rival of France, England only busied herself henceforth in attempts to hinder the progress of French liberty; she was eager to revenge herself on the Bourbons, who had favoured the independence of the United States of America, and she resented the great influence France would possess when armed with all the rights and means which liberty would give to a warlike, intelligent and enlightened nation. At this period the Prime Minister, a Tory, a headstrong and semi -lunatic person, ruled England one William Pitt son of the famous Earl Chatham, who, in imitation of Hasdrubal, caused his son to swear eternal enmity to the French nation. Pitt dispatched diplomatic emissaries to frighten all the foreign cabinets at the great rebellion of the French. What was to become of the divine right of kings on the continent if this mania for reform was not arrested and condemned on principle ? Plots were started by intriguing agents from England, and were for some time overlooked, until the time came when the Committee of Investigation nominated by the National Assembly discovered the cause of the  disturbances in Paris and of the riots which disturbed the provinces.

The Cabinet of St. James' carried its plans of counter-revolution against this mainspring of liberty still further, and assembled a congress at Pillnitz, supported by the Bourbon princes who had emigrated from France. It was there that the partition of France was decided on, in imitation of the partition of Poland. To deprive a people of its nationality and of its territory was the radical policy of Pitt, the English minister, who found his model in the action of the three northern powers who partitioned Poland to prevent it being a nation or its people free. All these preparations for internal riots and for foreign wars were accomplished and subsidised in 1791, a period when the national constitution was just about to get to work.

This congress at Pillnitz, followed by the conference and treaty of Pavia, was the basis of all the coalitions of the kings of Europe against France and its liberty. It was a reaction which underwent changes of form and of leaders, but was constantly in opposition to France and her liberties. These cost the Cabinet of St. James' twenty-one milliards of francs, which formed its national debt from 1791 to 1815.

Barère on reaction after the great and the night of August 4th 1789.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p231

The session of the night of the 4th of August was crowded : everyone wanted to know what had happened in the provinces, the natural result of the great excitement in the capital. The details of these almost general insurrections were heard in most profound silence ; and after the report had been read, a generous feeling was universal. Some proposed to free the country from all traces of feudalism, others wished to declare the church rates abolished.

These decrees of abolition caused the issue of two remarkable works, remarkable from the names of their authors as by their disinterested character. One, written by the Abbe Maury, was entitled, "Return me my Eight Hundred Francs " ; the other, by the Abbe Sieyes, was against the suppression of the smaller taxes, which formed the revenue of his abbey. The latter chose as the motto of his pamphlet, "They want to be Free, but do not know how to be Just." These two protests showed the amount of patriotism of those abbes who preached either revolution or the cause of the monarchy, but who at the same time would much rather have retained their wealth and their livings. This night is to be remembered for the transfer of property and for the generous abandonment of so many privileges which formed the patrimony of whole families.

Barère on the creation of the Jacobin Club.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p247

A short time after the National Assembly became settled in Paris, a club was formed, which became so influential, so celebrated, and so exclusive under the name of the Jacobin Club. This name was given it because it was held in the church of the old Jacobin monks in the Rue St. Honore, towards the close of 1789. What was generally unknown was that the club already existed under another name, and with a less deliberative procedure, under the name of the Breton Club.

The Breton Club was founded at Versailles after the royal session of the 23rd of June. At first its members were the numerous and energetic deputies of the province of Brittany ; afterwards, its members elected MM. Sieyes, the brothers de Lameth, Charles de Noailles, the Duke d'Aiguillon, Adrien Duport, and several other deputies. I was never elected to the Breton Club ; it was only in Paris, a long time after it had been settled at the Jacobins', that my colleagues suggested I should be added to the deputies already there. There were then only the deputies and very few outsiders. Some months after, towards September, 1790, several deputies began to discover the club was becoming too large, too tumultuous, while increasing in power and influence; so some of its more distinguished members determined not to make a split, but to establish another club. This was to share the political influence of the Jacobins and guide public opinion by that spirit of opposition that does not destroy, but discusses ; which does not burn down, but enlightens.

Barère on spending time with the Duke D’Orleans.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p250

Sometimes on these evenings I met the Duke of Orleans, whose colleague I was in the Constitutional Assembly. He amused himself by chatting to me on the course of public affairs, and more often on the policy of England, with which he was intimately acquainted, as he was with the character of the French and the manners of the English. The Duke of Orleans concealed under an appearance of levity and recklessness the power of deep thought and sensible conclusions. They said he was far more fitted for company than politics ; but he was misunderstood. He was timid, although a great personage ; he was a citizen, though a prince ; and had he been able to conquer his natural indecision and his political fears, that were taken as flaws in his character, he might have proved fit to reign, and redoubled the part of Louis XII., also once Duke of Orleans, who had been calumniated, misunderstood and persecuted at Court as he was.

Barère on the royal families attempted flight from Paris in June 1791.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p269-271

The month of June offered a fresh excuse for the acceptance of the constitution by the flight of the King and Queen, with their children, to the frontier towns of the north, while Monsieur, the King's brother, also took flight to another part of the frontier. M. d'Artois and his family had left France on Sunday evening, the I2th of July, 1789, and had taken refuge at Coblentz.

The first news of the departure of the King and his family during the night of the 2ist of June, 1791, caused a general impression of astonishment, to which succeeded a feeling of anger at the violation of the royal promises and of so many pledges to form the constitution. But, little by little, public opinion was reassured, and by midday nothing survived but universal joy. Everyone felt delivered from what was then called " the evil of kings." A republic was not called for, but the people had republican sentiments without knowing it….

When the news of the King's arrest reached the Assembly a profound depression ensued. It was felt that the royal yoke, till then believed to be broken, would again weigh upon all, and the enforced return of a fugitive King at once annoyed the nation, which blushed at it, and the Assembly, which found it embarrassing. Two days afterwards, when the King and his family, whose dress and following are as difficult as annoying to describe, reached the Tuileries by the revolving bridge, a raging crowd surrounded the carriage with awful hoots, cat-calls, yells and execrations. The Assembly, being advised of this, and fearing lest some fatal accident would happen, immediately sent thirty deputies to escort the carriages of the King and his family through the garden to the palace, and to repress the fury of the populace.

Barère on the petition on the Champs de Mars massacre on the 17th July 1791.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p275-276

The mob was very excited, and collected in the Champ de Mars in order to sign, on the altar of the country, a petition to the National Assembly in order that the abdication of Louis XVI. might be proclaimed. The royal party in the Assembly had elected as president for the fortnight M. de Lameth, an old and crusted aristocrat in a democratic mask. He it was who received from that section, which had been termed by Mirabeau the Thirty Voices (in allusion to the Thirty Tyrants of Athens), the secret authority to give Bailly, the mayor of Paris, and Lafayette, the commandant of the National Guard, orders to expel the petitioners of the Champ de Mars by armed force and to fire on the people.  The National Assembly would not have permitted this; any such measure would have been rejected with indignation. It knew nothing about such a step, and only learned of its existence by its results and by the yell of public indignation. So, in order to palliate this step, false and exaggerated reports were made on the hidden intentions of this meeting, which was represented as a fanatical onslaught on the republican form of government. This sanguinary event on the Champ de Mars M. Charles Lameth has been so strangely naive as to boast in the tribune of the Chamber of Deputies, in 1832, of having given an order in July, 1791, as President of the National Assembly, to fire on the people. the cause of the outcry raised against the Constitutional Act since its birth ; an outcry which caused much trouble, and brought about the events of the loth of August, 1792.

Barère on the achievements of the Constituent Assembly.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p283

It was the Constituent Assembly, at once courageous, united, and disinterested, that struck off the fetters France had borne for fourteen centuries, that founded national unity by abolishing the peculiar privileges of the provinces, that re-established and handed over to the people exclusively the right to levy taxes, that destroyed the abuses and venalities of justice, and that has endowed the country with the tutelary institution of juries.

Barère on the Duke of Brunswick Manifesto.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p10-11

This Prusso-German insulter outrages the French nation in his insolent letter. In the same breath he attacks the Revolution, its principles, its supporters, its authors, and its defenders. He threatens liberty, and comes to destroy the sovereignty of the people and to punish the national representation. He does not dissimulate any of the evil designs of the absolute kings of the North. The foreigner declares himself the enemy of the French and the friend of their King, who henceforth must appear to the minds of all only as the friend of the enemies of France. Brunswick's manifesto enlightens the nation, and decides it to make the most energetic resistance.

Barère on the declaration of war against Austria.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p11

The Jacobins were firmly opposed to war, while the Girondins of the Legislative Assembly urgently demanded it. Brissot, a deputy, and Dumouriez, who was then Minister for Foreign Affairs, were the first to call for war against Austria. To them Robespierre and the Jacobins replied: "Before declaring war against Europe overthrow the Court and appoint new generals." How did they answer us ? They made excuses for the Court, and it was objected that to speak ill of Lafayette and the generals would be to disturb military discipline and to serve the enemies of the country. It was pointed out to us that all nations, especially Belgium, were ready to join the French, and we were shown the standard of liberty floating over the palaces of kings.

Barère on the events of August 10th 1792.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p15-17

The 9th was stormy, and marked by distrust and gloomy forebodings. The nobles armed themselves, and the patriots met together. The tocsin sounded at midnight. I awoke with a start in my lodging in the Rue de Richelieu, whence I could hear all the bells of Paris from the third story overlooking the boulevard. The tocsin rang all night. The battalions of Brest and Marseilles were in motion at daybreak. The inhabitants of the suburbs were armed with pikes and courage. The different parties were face to face after nine o'clock ; the artillery on both sides was ready to go into action ; the Swiss regiments were in arms in front of the railings and the booths which they used as a rampart. At ten o'clock the roar of cannon and the fusillade of small arms began, and the engagement commenced. It was not noon when all was over. The Swiss were exterminated. The nobles and the knights fled from the Tuileries by the galleries of the Museum, and escaped by the courts of the Louvre. The men of Brest, Marseilles, and Paris, entered the castle pell-mell. The King had already left, and had made his way into the hall of the Legislative Assembly with M. Roederer, procurator- general of the department, and two Swiss generals. When the King left the Tuileries the action was at its fiercest. The King was placed in the reporter's box which was behind the president's chair. When he had entered the box, the Swiss generals asked his Majesty what orders he desired to give them. " Return to your posts and do your duty," replied Louis XVL, coldly. The deliberations of the Assembly continued with the deputies of the minority ; the majority had been insulted and had fled. Everyone is acquainted with the melancholy events of that terrible day, the loth of August, which destroyed at one blow the monarchy, the constitution, and the prosperity of France for many years. On the evening of that sad day the King and his family were conducted to the Temple. A report made to the Assembly was followed by the fall of Louis XVI The people in their anger overthrew the four equestrian statues of Louis XIII., Louis XIV., Louis XV.The hatred of royalty had reached its climax, and public opinion no longer knew where to fix its hopes, or to go for advice.

Barère on La Marseillaise.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p25-26

If anything can recall the songs of Tyrtaeus in Lacedaemon, it is the battle-song of Rouget de Lisle. This hymn, called the Marseillaise, has presided over the formation of our armies, our battles and our victories. Ah ! who is there amongst us who will not remember until his last breath those ravishing impressions which made all hearts thrill when the beautiful hymn of the Marseillaise was heard ? Kings, armed in the cause of a treacherous king, were penetrating into the heart of France, who on her part was without an army, and, so to speak, without other arms than her courage and the holiness of her cause. The boldest, while rallying to the defence of the country, doubted its triumph, while timid minds had already lost all hope.

A poet-warrior grows indignant at these movements of weakness. He takes up his lyre and calls upon the children of the country ; he points out to them the day of glory is at hand; he shows them held aloft the bloody standard of tyranny ; those ferocious soldiers whom you hear raging in your fields ; they come to fall upon our daughters and our comrades, and to slaughter them in our arms. "To arms, citizens! Form your battalions!" And the thronging citizens arm themselves, and the battalions form up and close their ranks. " March ! march ! " And they march ; they rush forward already victorious and triumphant in hope. " Let their impure blood drench our furrows." And the blood of the enemies of liberty was shed, and avenged that of its defenders and martyrs. '

From Strasbourg, where this masterpiece, this lyrical phenomenon first appeared, it reached Paris. It began to circulate among the patriots, and soon the streets, the public squares and entertainments resound with it. On that pompous stage, where all the arts dispute the privilege of alluring, whose seductions should be more frequently turned to the benefit of public spirit, suddenly a performer with virile and sonorous voice would chant the hymn of the Marseillaise. The chorus repeats the warlike refrain after him ; the enthusiastic citizens mingle their voices with those of the chorus, and cheers and shouts of " Long live the Republic ! " burst from all sides. After each couplet, they have to wait until the frenzy has subsided before proceeding with the song.

Barère on the trial of Louis XVI at this point he was President of the National Convention.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p50-52

Towards eleven o'clock I sent for M. Pouchard, commander of the Guard of the Convention, and M. Santerre, commander-in-chief of the Paris National Guard. I informed them of the reports which had just been handed to the secretaries and president concerning the safety of Louis XVI., and I gave them an express order to take all the measures in their power to answer for the life of the King, and to prevent his person from being insulted by the actions or words of any seditious persons. " Yon will answer for the King with your heads," I said to them ; "you, M. le Commandant of the Paris Guard, from the Temple to the door of the Assembly; and you, M. Ic Commandant of the Guard of the Convention, from the door of the Assembly until the return of the King to that door, and the handing of his person to the commander of the National Guard." The orders were very punctually carried out. Everything was quiet, and, about half-past twelve, the King appeared at the bar of the Convention. The officers of the staff and Commander Pouchard, as well as Commander Santerre, were behind him. Before his arrival, there were several noisy demonstrations of disapproval on several untimely and imprudent motions of order which had been made. Cheers were raised from some quarters, while the occupants of other parts of the House shouted. About noon I thought it expedient to direct the minds of those present in another direction and to induce a better disposition in the galleries. I rose, and, after a moment of silence, I called upon the numbers of citizens of all classes who filled the hall to be calm and silent. " You owe respect to august misfortune and to a prisoner descended from the throne ; the eyes of France are on you as well as the attention of Europe and the judgment of posterity. If, what I cannot expect or anticipate, signs of disapproval or murmurs are manifested or heard in the course of this long sitting, I shall be obliged to clear the galleries immediately. National justice must not be affected by any outside influence." The effect of my speech was as sudden as it was efficacious. The sitting lasted until seven o'clock in the evening, and in that space of time not a murmur, not a movement was noticeable in the entire hail. Several persons of various political opinions, and even several royalists whom I knew, complimented me that evening and the next day on the energy and wisdom which I had displayed, as well as on my manner of presiding…

Republican as I was, I nevertheless found it very unbecoming, and even painful to support, to see Louis XVI., who had convened the States-General, and doubled the number of deputies of the Commons, brought thus before those same Commons, there to be questioned as a prisoner. This feeling oppressed me several times, and, although I was well aware that I was severely observed by the Spartan deputies of the Left, who asked for nothing better than to see me at fault to do me the injury of demanding that I should be superseded as president, I nevertheless ordered two attendants, who were near me, to carry an armchair to Louis XVI at the bar. The order was immediately carried out. Louis XVI seemed sensible of it, and his eyes looking towards me thanked me a hundredfold for a just action and a delicate attention, which I included in the scope of my duties. Nevertheless, the King remained standing with noble self-possession. He did not for one instant lose the dignity of the throne, and at the same time did not seem to remember his power.

Barère on Marat.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p69

Marat was a former horse doctor of M. d'Artois. Everyone distrusted his patriotic zeal, which was attributed to other causes, and thought that his revolutionary follies were paid for by the enemy. There are men whose natures can only be explained by venality, and acts whose prime cause can only be discerned in the factions, either at home or abroad, which set in motion things and persons apparently the most contrary and opposed.

Barère on the establishment of Revolutionary Tribunals.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p69-70

The establishment of a revolutionary tribunal had already been proposed to the Convention. I opposed it, as may be seen by reference to the Moniteur of that time. I even carried opposition to the establishment of this odious tribunal so far as to appear in the tribune with Sallust's work on the war of Catiline, a book in which that honest historian powerfully describes the dangers of such tribunals, which begin by attacking and punishing several guilty parties, and finish by ruining the best citizens. On the motion of Jean Debry revolutionary committees had also been established—frightful institutions, which, by their excesses and abuses, contributed more than any other institution of that epoch to provoke hatred of the revolution and to deprive France of liberty. Observe that the tribunal and the committees were decreed by the Convention on the simple motion of its members long before there was a Committee of Public Safety.

Barère on the establishment of the Committee of Public Safety.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p72

On the 5th of April the Convention formed the first Committee of Public Safety, composed of nine members, to supersede the Committee of General Defence, which was ineffective and consisted of too many members. The ministerial departments were recast and their powers limited in various ways. I was appointed member of the first committee with MM. Cambon, Guyton-Morveau, Treilhard, Danton, Delmas, Lacroix, and Lindet.

Barère on the establishment of the second Committee of Public Safety.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p86-87

When one considers what was done by the first Committee of Public Safety, it will be found that it was constantly occupied with the equipment of the battalions which came from all parts devoid of all means of carrying on war, owing to the measures taken prior to the Convention by the agents of the executive power. It also gave evidence how difficult it was to resist the threats of civil war which fell from every mouth, either in the southern departments, which were irritated by the events of the 31st of May, and federated ; or in the departments of the west, which were exasperated by the recruitings and influenced by the nobles and priests. This was enough for Danton (who heard truly national opinions expressed in the midst of the committee every day) to embrace the idea of changing the members of this council, and of placing, if possible, his faithful creatures in it ; while himself holding aloof from the committee to direct it, to make it act according to his pleasure, and not to incur any responsibility of government. One day in the month of July, he rose and declared to the Convention, with a disinterested air, that public affairs did not make sufficient progress, and had not a sufficiently pronounced character in the midst of the divisions of federalism and of La Vendee; that he believed that the members of the Committee of Public Safety should be renewed, or at least should be subjected to re-election; that this council of nine members was not numerous enough, and must be raised to twelve; that as for himself, he begged the Assembly to receive his resignation.  

"Being little fitted for this sort of work," said he, " I shall do better outside the committee. I shall thus be its spur instead of its agent, and I shall achieve more good." Danton, conscious of the part he played in the inauspicious events of the 31st of May, felt that he would not be re-elected by the National Convention to the new Committee of Public Safety. He then affected that tone of superiority and surveillance which displeased the independent members of the Convention. Thus he had the cynical imprudence to proclaim himself fitted for the dictatorship. This haughty speech, pronounced with vigorous lungs and a frank and disinterested show of patriotism, was followed by a decree renewing the members of the committee. The list of names was then read. R. Lindet and I were the only ones who remained in the second committee, into which entered Herault de Sechelles, Jean Bon Saint-Andre, Prieur of the Marne, Collot d'Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, Saint-Just, and Couthon. The first Committee of Public Safety had lasted from the 5th of April until the end of July, 1793.

Barère on Carnot’s action’s in the Committee of Public Safety.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p89

Hardly had Carnot become a member of the committee, when he felt the need of making a general requisition of young Frenchmen, from the age of eighteen to twenty-five. He had foreseen that this sort of levy, once carried out, would suffice for all the requirements of the armies necessary on all the frontiers of France, and would save her in the space of a year. Carnot made the plans of campaign, with a facility equal to that with which he drew up the bills and decrees, relative to their execution. He pointed out to me his needs of legislation in various respects, and I immediately wrote my report, in order to explain the objects of these laws from the tribune.

Barère on the Constitution of 1793.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p90-91

Without doubt this constitution was too perfect, too severe, too Spartan for Frenchmen. The Athenians themselves, who were worth more than we, not withstanding some points of resemblance, would not have borne it. But the assembly made the great mistake of not making a trial of it, and of not frankly carrying it through instead of shutting it up in a cradle which was its tomb. It added to this evident mistake the more dangerous error of substituting for it what was so improperly called the decree of the revolutionary government, as if government and revolution could ever go together. In the month of August, 1793, we had not yet reached that stage of exasperation and blindness which could lead us to forget the existence of the constitutional state in which everyone believed in good faith.

The constitution of 1793 has been so slandered that it has never been possible to discover whether it could receive the honours of political life in France, that is to say, in plain terms, whether it would work; for not a single one of its proposals was ever executed. When the committee saw all the departments in a commotion, some seeking to resist the Convention with armed force, while others federated and broke the political bond which united them to the metropolis ; it felt how important it was that the constitution should come to rally all separate opinions and conciliate all discordant interests, at the same time removing all pretext for anarchical passions. Saint-Just was charged to draw up several portions of the act of constitution. Several others were entrusted to me and to Herault de Sechelles. We worked for ten days, during which Herault de Sechelles composed the introductory speech as well. We met and made our work into a whole, and on the 15th of August I was able to submit to the Convention and the delegates of the primary assemblies the act of constitution and the declaration of rights, preceded by a report on the reasons for its acceptance by citizens of all classes.

Barère on proposal of the Law of Suspects.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p94

Unfortunately the Committee of Legislation caused Merlin to propose the terrible law of suspects, which made so many malcontents and victims, and which led to so much vexation and injustice. The prisons began to fill, war was waged against opinions, political consciences were vexed, all passions were appealed to ; a crowd of interests were injured. The sad autumn of 1793 became still more melancholy owing to the numerous imprisonments, against which it seemed that public opinion should have shielded us, for it censured the authors of the law, and still more those who executed it with so much passion and so little discernment. I informed the Committee of Public Safety of what I had perceived of the mournful and dangerous symptoms in public opinion and in the very heart of the most energetic republicans.

Barère on the rise of Robespierre and his entry to the Committee of Public Safety.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p96-97

About this time Robespierre felt his ambition growing, and he thought that the moment had come to employ his influence and take part in the government. He took steps with certain members of the committee and the Convention, asking them to show a desire that he, Robespierre, should become a member of the Committee of Public Safety. He told the Jacobins it would be useful to observe the work and conduct of the members of the committee, and he told the members of the Convention that there would be more harmony between the Convention and the committee if he entered it. Several deputies spoke to me about it, and the proposal was made to the committee by Couthon and Saint-Just. To ask was to obtain, for a refusal would have been a sort of accusation, and it was necessary to avoid any split during that winter which was inaugurated in such a sinister manner. The committee agreed to his admission, and Robespierre was proposed.

Hardly had he entered when rigorous measures became the order of the day, and time was devoted to proceeding with the charge against the deputies who had been arrested on the 31st of May. In this the Committee of Public Safety took no part. But Robespierre, having become one of its members, proceeded to excite the zeal and even to assist the operations of the Committee of General Surety, a body entirely distinct from the Committee of Public Safety, and alone charged with the execution of the decrees of arrest, and with bringing before the judicature all that related to the law of suspects. Consequently, arbitrary arrests speedily increased in the environs of Paris, in the castles and country houses, principally within a radius of ten or twelve leagues from the capital.

Barère on the National Convention.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p103

The dictatorship of the Convention could only save public liberties by sacrificing individual liberties, even as it could only preserve the integrity and independence of the territory of the country by making requisitions of men and supplies, and by means of battles and victories, which were always bought too dearly by arming the populace, thus causing the dis- orders of wholesale levies. Thus, the National Convention, having to defend France against civil wars, against federalism, and royalist conspiracies at home, at the same time that abroad it fought with its armies against the coalition of all the kings of Europe, who were paid and excited by the English government, must inevitably clash with many interests, commit many violent actions, injure a number of liberties, and thwart many political passions. The National Convention was fighting hand to hand with all Europe. At all points was it fighting the bands of royalists, fomenting conspiracies at home and corruption abroad. Resistance produced excesses, while the plots to be baffled justified the measures employed by the Convention.

For the nation it was a question of liberty and independence ; for France it was a question of her existence and nationality. All means of general defence became legitimate and just, since their object was to save the country from the fate of unhappy Poland, and to prevent the execution of the treaties for the partition of France, signed at Pilnitz and Pavia.

Barère on a Saint-Just proposal in 1794.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p139-140

Saint-Just had such indifference that, about this time, he came one evening to propose to the committee a strange means of promptly ending the struggle of the revolution against the suspected and imprisoned nobles. These were his words : " For a thousand years the nobility have been oppressing the French nation with exactions and feudal vexations of every kind ; feudalism and nobility exist no longer ; you want to repair all the frontier roads for the passage of the artillery, convoys, and transports of our army ; order the imprisoned nobles to go to work daily and mend the highways."

The truth must be told, and justice rendered to whom it is due ; when this writing appears I shall be in my tomb, I shall be suspected neither of lies nor flattery at that time, when probably none of the Committee of Public Safety will survive. When Saint- Just had finished there was a movement of silent indignation amongst us all, succeeded by a unanimous demand for the order of the day. I thought I ought to stipulate for the national character by saying to Saint-Just and the committee that we should be opposed to such a kind of punishment for prisoners even if the law pronounced it ; that the nobility could be abolished by wise laws, but that the nobles always preserved in the mass of the people a rank, a distinction due to education, which prevented us from acting at Paris as Marius did at Rome. " Ah ! " exclaimed Saint-Just, " Marius was more politic and a greater statesman than you will ever be. I wished to try the strength, the temperament, and the opinion of the Committee of Public Safety. You are not fit to combat nobility, since you cannot destroy it ; it will devour the Revolution and the revolutionists. I retire from the committee." He quickly withdrew, and set out for the army, until the moment when he thought himself capable of executing vaster projects with Robespierre, Couthon, and Lebas, his associates.

Barère on the Law of the 22nd of Prairial.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p165-166

The Feast of the Supreme Being having been decided, Robespierre affected, as everyone knows, to be the leader of the Convention. This haughty affectation of being the first amongst deputies who were all equal displeased the people and the Convention. Several called him the revolutionary Pope. It was to give him the sceptre and censer, like Mahomet. This was the forecast of his fall in public opinion. Yet he himself did not expect it, for on the following day he proposed the frightful law of the 22nd of Prairial, which deprived revolutionary justice of the little form it had, diminished the number of jurors, established a real judicial tyranny—or, rather, a system of assassination with the sword of revolutionary laws. I demanded the adjournment in vain. All were frightened at the ascendancy Robespierre had acquired among the Jacobins, or were bowed down by the yoke of terror he had organised. The law passed through the silence of legislators rather than by their consent. The murmurs produced by this legislative violence led the Committees of Public Safety and of General Surety to complain that the new law had not been proposed, known, or deliberated previously by either of the two committees, although the object of this law touched the functions of the Committee of General Surety, and it was proposed by a member of the Committee of Public Safety. The deputies of the Convention were very much astonished at learning that we had no part in it, and that the bill was the fabrication of the triumvirate of Couthon, Saint-Just, and Robespierre. The horrible law was passed ; its consequences were deplorable. It was by virtue of its clauses that those wholesale executions took place, and that monstrous huddling together of prisoners of all classes, astonished and frightened at being assembled in the same prisons and accused by the same laws.

Barère on the events of Thermidor.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 2, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p179-181

Saint-Just came stealthily to the tribune and read a speech to the Convention, in which he had the cowardice to attack the members of the committee in their absence, without any of the members being forewarned of the denunciation to reply to it. Tallien interrupted the speech for a moment, the only service he did that day, for which he vidshed to assign to himself all the honours. Robespierre, more curled and powdered than usual, is in his place near the tribune. He watches the effect the discourse is to produce. When Saint-Just denounces the opinions and works of the committee, the astonishment and indignation caused by so much cowardice and injustice produce murmurs in the Assembly. Tallien—who knows perfectly that he is one of the eighteen proscribed deputies, whose accusation is to be discussed on that day after the attack directed against the committee, which defended the lives of these eighteen deputies — with equal ingenuity and courage, profits by the first moment of public disapprobation to complain that Saint-Just is attacking the members of the committee in their absence, and demands that the speech be suspended till they be warned to come into the Assembly at once.That was the only thing Tallien did on the 9th of Thermidor. This simple fact was then too well known to the public to attribute to him the great influence which the agents of Coblenz and his contra- revolutionary friends have sought to give him since.

After the usher of the Convention had informed us, we all went to the meeting. I was by no means the last. I was asked to combat these ambitious dictators. On entering the hall I obtain permission to speak on measures of general safety. Saint-Just wishes to submit his discourse to the committee, but several deputies demanded the continuation of the reading, and afterwards that it be signed by its author, and deposited on the table to be a part of the minutes. After these preliminaries I mount the tribune. I was going to present the decree on the armed force of the sections when Robespierre ran and stood at my side, politely asking to speak to what was called the centre of the Assembly. He counted on this majority, which has always been a great force in number and inertia. This time the immobility of this quarter showed me that they were observant, awaiting the manifestation of the Assembly and of the galleries which had been crowded from five o'clock that morning. There were murmurs and signs of approbation, but their cause was unknown. They seemed to wish for order, and to depend on some object or individual. These great assemblies must be seen when agitated by unusual events or by strong passions to get an idea of the fluctuation of opinions and versatility of wishes. At last, in this tumultuous uncertainty, several cried out, "Down with the tyrant ! Hear Barere!" These cries, instead of hushing the tumult, increased it. At last I got a hearing. They show that the accusation of tyranny struck the head of Robespierre, and that I got a hearing by a unanimous and contrary sentiment….

Robespierre, hat in hand, again addresses the Assembly from the bar in front of the tribune, and begs to be heard before the reporter of the committee begins to speak. The cries, " Down with the tyrant ! Let Barere speak ! " …. Whilst I was speaking, my brother, who was behind the president's chair, observed Robespierre's movements. He was always agitated in the tribune. My brother and his neighbours feared that he would attempt to take my life, so violent was his fit of anger and convulsion….. This man was barbarous with the sword of the law or the iron of the revolution, but not man to man. I continued my reports, and Robespierre stayed in the tribune. He still hoped to get a hearing. A part of the Assembly was still doubtful. I was always reheard. Then I presented this proclamation….

Scarcely was the decree of proclamation voted, when a crowd demanded Robespierre's impeachment, and his descent to the bar for self-defence ; others wanted his arrest. These two motions suddenly changed the indifference of the centre into a movement conformable to that of the upper benches of the Mountain. Then I saw Robespierre, Couthon, and Saint-Just beaten. Public opinion abandoned them. They were arrested and impeached. The Assembly, astonished or perhaps frightened at its own courage and decrees, separated at five o'clock, adjourning till nine in the evening.

Barère reports on the order for him to be sent into exile in Cayenne.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 3, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p1-2

I had devoted the whole of my time for some days past to the preparation of my defence, and I was working from morning till night, unaware of what was taking place at Paris. I was hoping that I should again be heard in my de- fence on the morrow, when three men rushed violently into my room at 10 p.m., just as I was retiring for the night. Two of these were armed national guardsmen in private clothes, and the third was a magistrate. The magistrate informed me that he had received instructions to place seals upon my effects and papers, in obedience to a decree of the National Convention, which condemned me to transportation for life to Cayenne. I rose and asked permission to read an order which appeared to me to indicate an unusually summary procedure. It was then shown to me by the magistrate, and I was struck dumb with astonishment.

Barère reports on his escape.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 3, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p43-44

The next day my cousin Hector returned to the attack, bringing me, concealed under his coat, a long rope-ladder to enable me to escape over the garden walls, or from the end of the dormitory of which I have already spoken ; but the garden was distant, and the dormitory was closed.  The elder Vanderkand supplied me at Saintes with the means of leaving the precincts of the prison ; and the younger awaited me, disguised as a boatman, with two of his friends, to conduct me across the Charente. On the opposite bank three horses were waiting for us. At about eleven o'clock I heard the signal given by a worthy man whose name, although I am not at liberty to mention it, is written in my heart. I followed him, and reached the garden, where M. Vanderkand senior came and opened a gate for me which led into the fields. My cousin Hector and my good friend M. Vanderkand were stationed there ; they took me with them, and we passed rapidly over the spacious meadow which connects the town with the Charente. M. Vanderkand junior embraced me, and led me on board his boat. His countenance appeared full of joy. I embraced him again, and we mounted our horses.

Barère’s view on the Directory.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 3, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p53

This government of the Five was too weak and too ignorant to secure the confidence of the nation. It suited none of the parties, either of the Revolution or of the counter-revolution. This spurious and suspicious constitutionalism pro- duced a "see -saw" government which on one day aimed blows at the republicans whom it disliked, and on the next at the royalists whom it dreaded. No politician ventured to face the present, and still less to forecast the future.