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CHAPTER XXXVII.

CHARLES HENRI SANSON'S DIARY-continued.

Germinal 5.-Everybody looked pleased yesterday. A rumour had spread that Citizens Robespierre and Danton had made peace; that one had demanded the execution of Hébert and his friends as a token of reconciliation, while the other asked for the heads of the great royalist conspirators, of the deputies accused of malversation, and of Chaumette and Simon, arrested on Ventôse 28, but that after these executions the Tribunal should be ordered to measure real justice. This was

one of the reasons for which such an enormous multitude was out yesterday. This morning there was as much alarm as there was confidence yesterday. It was said that, far from thinking of making it up with Danton, Robespierre had only struck his enemies in order to strike Danton himself. Our democracy is very much like a despotism, for those who exercise power cannot resign themselves to share it with others. One of the jurors, Naudin, was saying to Sellier: To walk behind Robespierre, Danton is too tall by a head.' It is also said that Danton, on being warned of the danger which threatens him, answered: They would not dare; I am

the holy ark; and if I supposed that Robespierre thinks of arresting me, I would eat his heart.' I think he is mistaken. The only holy ark, nowadays, is the guillotine. It is as difficult for a tribune as for a king to know the real sentiments of the people. The people admires the great demolishers, but their admiration has something of terror. Danton speaks and acts like a man, Robespierre like a prophet: the empire shall always belong to prophets. The man with the blue coat has already his devotees; the wife of Desmorets, my assistant, recites prayers before a portrait of Robespierre; a good many women do as she does. However zealous in the discharge of its functions the Tribunal may be, the prisons are nevertheless full to overflowing. To-day we executed three natives of the department of Allier, sentenced for speaking against the Revolution. Two were brothers; the third was the son of one of them.

Germinal 6.-To-day we led to the scaffold Jean Louis Gouth, formerly constitutional bishop of Autun and member of the Constituent Assembly; the two brothers Balleroy Charles Auguste and François Auguste; the former was a marquis and a lieutenantgeneral, the second a marshal; Denis Joisel, servant of Monsieur, the King's brother, and Etienne Théry. The latter had usurped the title of representative of the people, with the mere object of obtaining gratis a good dinner in an inn. His assumption has cost him his life. Germinal 7.-It is said everywhere that the Com

1 Robespierre.

mittees are discussing the arrest of Danton. In my humble judgment, big dogs are preparing to bite, for curs bark too boldly. Valate, a terrorist, is reported to have said yesterday: 'Before a week Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Philippeaux will be arrested.' If they are taken, it will be their own fault, for the rumour is public. But one cannot run away when one's name is Danton. Executed a man and a woman: Claude Marie Lambertye and Henri Moreau, convicted of conspiracy,

Germinal 8.-Jean-Baptiste Peusselet, formerly a monk; Jacques Pernet, captain of dragoons and general in the service of Bavaria, suffered to-day.

Germinal 9.-The Hébertists were sold by a man named Laboureau. He called his former friends rascals, and was discharged by the Revolutionary Tribunal for his pains. The day before yesterday Laboureau went to the meeting of the Jacobins; Legendre, who presided, complimented him and congratulated the Tribunal on its equity. Poor Citizen Legendre, you may get to know to your cost what this equity is! Executed Jean-Baptiste Collignon, printer; Jean-Baptiste Courtin, abbot of the Order of Cluny; Nicolas Jean Adam, monk; Antoine Meffre, monk; Louis François Poire, one of Talleyrand's servants; and Jacques Harille, merchant.

Germinal 11.-Citizens Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Lacroix, and Philippeaux were arrested to-day and taken to the Luxembourg. Seven executions yesterday and to-day.

Germinal 12.-Citizen Legendre, member of the

Convention, has not been arrested with Danton, as was rumoured yesterday. Richard, of the Conciergerie, has received orders to prepare No. 4, the cell formerly tenanted by Hébert, and the other cells occupied by his companions. These preparations show that Danton and his friends will be transferred to the Conciergerie this evening or to-morrow at the latest, and that their trial will take place immediately. Such prisoners are not easy to keep. To-day we guillotined Euloge Schneider, formerly a priest, who was prosecutor of the Revolutionary Tribunal of Strasburg. He used openly to turn the Terror to his profit—that is to say, to the profit of his vices; he went about Alsace with his tribunal, his guillotine, and my colleague of Strasburg, obliging the inhabitants to illuminate their houses when he passed, levying contributions, passing capital sentences, and inciting to plunder, theft, &c., wherever he stopped. One of his friends named Tunck wishing to marry, he required the attendance of all the girls of Barr, and allowed him to choose in the lot; and to complete his kindness, he ordered the executioner to collect money around the scaffold for the bride and bridegroom.

Soon after, he felt a desire to establish himself also, and at one o'clock in the morning he sent a peremptory order to a citizen of Barr to bring him his daughter, who was young and handsome. The unfortunate man dared not refuse. On the following day he returned to Strasburg with the poor child, in a carriage drawn by sixhorses. But Citizen Saint-Just had arrived during his absence, and Schneider was arrested on the

same day, exhibited during three hours on his own guillotine, and sent off to Paris in the evening, there to be tried. This terrible Schneider has been very humble and small in my hands. He was a broad-shouldered, thick-necked man, well knit, and as strong as a bull; his face was sinister and altogether repulsive. He tried to joke, and spoke jocosely of the thickness of his neck; but he could not go on; tears came to his eyes, and a tremor shot over his frame. On the Place de la Révo. lution, he called me 'Sir, sir, sir!' not knowing what he was saying. Before him, Louis Simon Collivet, grocer; Charles Brochet de Saint Priest, nobleman; and Charles Victor François de Sulabery, nobleman, were executed.

Germinal 13.-Citizen Danton and his friends have been transferred to the Conciergerie. Their trial is to take place to-morrow. The trial of the deputies charged with malversation is to take place at the same time. Fifteen men in all.

Germinal 14.-Executed Jean Masquet, cattle-dealer, and Étienne Jacques Armand de Rougemont, nobleman.