THE REIGN OF TERROR

“ THE 2nd of September,” said Collot d’Herbois, “ is the great article of the Credo of our liberty.” In other words, the massacres in the prisons were the prelude to the Reign of Terror, the first manifestation of that organized system of destruction which for ten months held sway over France. This is why, in relating the history of the Terror, it is necessary to begin at September 1792, in order to show the progressive stages which led up to the final climax.

For, before this system could be pursued with impunity, the demagogues were obliged to remove three principal obstacles from their path ; these were, firstly, the monarchy, and consequently the Constitution of 1791 ; secondly, the King ; and thirdly, the Girondins. It was the struggle to effect this threefold purpose that for a year arrested the course of the Terror, which otherwise must have followed directly on the September massacres. We shall now see how one by one these obstacles were overthrown, and how, in each case, the schemes of the demagogues triumphed over the will of the people.