Georges Couthon

Georges Auguste Couthon was born in 1755 in Orcet in the province of Auvergne.  In his time before the Revolution he was a lawyer, freemason and local government official as his father had been.  Shortly before the outbreak of the Revolution Couthon began to lose sensation in his legs.  Couthon was diagnosed with meningitis although he himself believed it might have come from sexual experiences in his youth.

In 1791 Couthon was elected to as deputy to the Legislative Assembly and joined the Jacobin Club.  He placed himself initially on the left but soon settled as someone who believed in the monarchy.  This ended with the Flight to Varennes thereafter he joined the Mountain and voted with them for the execution of King Louis XVI.

By 1793 he had become close to Robespierre sharing his views particularly on his opposition to dechristianisation.  He soon became a member of the Committee of Public Safety in 1793.  During this time period his health had deteriorated to the point where he was confined to a wheelchair.  His increasing commitment to the ideals of Robespierre could be seen when he was the first to call for the expulsion of the Girondins.

By 5th July 1793 the National Convention decreed that the city of Lyon was in a state of rebellion.  Couthon was the initial Representative on a Mission.  The city surrender to him but the Committee of Public Safety vowed an example had to be made of the city and it should be destroyed.  Couthon started to destroy the richest houses leaving untouched the poorer dwellings.  He did not take on his task with much enthusiasm and would return to Paris leaving the way for Collot d’Herbois and Fouché to wreak a far greater sentence on the city leaving thousands dead.

Couthon was elected president of the Convention and assisted in the prosecution of the Hébertists.  He went on to draft the Law of 22 Prairial on 10th June 1794.  The law meant that defendants at the Revolutionary Tribunal were not allowed to call witnesses for their defence or have any form of representation.  The only judgement the Tribunal could pass was now innocence or death.  It was designed to speed up the process up of trials which it certainly did leading to the deaths of many more.

Couthon was arrested as part of the Thermidorian Reaction when Robespierre had tried to accuse unnamed members of the Convention of being counter revolutionaries leading to Robespierre himself being arrested.  After Robespierre, Couthon and various others were freed by Hanriot and some san-culottes he was rearrested at the Hôtel De Ville but not before he tried to escape by pushing his wheelchair down a flight of stairs.  When he executed on the 28th of July 1794 the executioner had to spend a long time rearranging his paralysed legs before the blade eventually fell.