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 FRANCE 389 at an end, and the mob plundered as it chose, or was "supported" by the government of the commune on the property seized from the rich. Barere had openly declared in an ad- dress-that "terror was the order of the day." The convention passed a decree (Sept. 17) against all those persons whom it defined as "suspected," and a course of violence that re- sembled that of the old Eoman proscriptions began against those held to be enemies of the new regime. The queen, Marie Antoinette (who had been a close prisoner since the death of Louis), and the imprisoned Giron- dists, were among the first victims. After a brief form of trial in the first part of October, Marie Antoinette was guillotined on the 16th. The Girondists, after a brilliant defence, were executed Oct. 81. Several acts of the conven- tion strongly marked the prevailing anarchy. By a decree of Oct. 5 the Gregorian calendar was done away with and a new revolutionary cal- endar introduced, which, by a retroactive pro- vision, was supposed to have begun Sept. 22, 1792. Soon afterward the Christian religion was formally abolished, and the worship of Eeason substituted, through the influence of Hebert, Anacharsis Clootz, and their followers that party in the revolutionary commune which comprised the most violent extremists, arid which was already known under the name of the Hebertists or enrages. But the "men of terror " now approached the first of those dissensions which preluded their fall. Robes- pierre,* who was rapidly making his way to- ward nearly absolute power, saw that the acts of the Hebertists would weaken his influence with the populace, and for this and other rea- sons he desired to be rid of them. Through his influence they were arrested and accused on various grounds, and 20 of them were executed March 24, 1794. Danton and his adherents, including Camille Desmoulins, who now ad^vo- cated clemency, were the next opponents to be cleared from Robespierre's path ; and though the conflict was in this case harder, his influence was sufficient to carry it through successfully. On March 31 the Danton party were arrest- ed, the fear of Robespierre forced the conven- tion to bring accusations against them, and on April 5 they were also brought to the guillo- tine, leaving Robespierre, with his companions St. Just and Couthon, in power. Under these leaders the order of affairs was again changed. Robespierre introduced still another religion, under the name of the worship of the Supreme Being, proclaiming a solemn fete at its intro- duction, which was little more than a farcical display of his own egotism. The rule of vio- lence redoubled its horrors and cruelties ; in- deed, the period now following is that which is generally known especially as the reign of terror. The convention could not refuse the most extravagant commands of the powerful triumvirate ; it was even obliged to assent to a proposal giving to the revolutionary tri- bunal the right to summon before it, without question, the deputies themselves. The terri- ble executions parfournees began, before a re- organized tribunal that was to " act more vig- orously" than the former one. These execu- tions were nothing less than promiscuous slaughters of all those against whom the most trifling accusation could be brought forward or invented ; 60 to 70 persons, according to the most temperate statements, being daily brought to the guillotine. In Paris alone there are said by good authorities to have been 1,500 execu- tions during the seven weeks through which this state of affairs endured. Such a course could not be long continued, and at length the reaction came. Opposition to Robespierre sprang up within the committee of public safety itself; and when on July 26 he demanded its renewed reorganization, the convention for the first time dared to refuse him. This step gave an opportunity to his enemies to fforn against him ; and in a single day his almost dictatorial power was gone. On July 27 (9th Therrnidor) his arrest was ordered. Paris was now once more in uproar ; a violent conflict ensued be- tween the adherents of Robespierre and the troops of the convention, on whose side the sections and the national guards arrayed them- selves. At first he was rescued by his party, but their success was only temporary. Their opponents won in the end a complete victory, and on July 28 Robespierre and a great num- ber of the leaders of the terror were guil- lotined on the same spot where their victims had suffered. With this act of justice an end may be said to have been put to the reign of the proletariat and the worst classes of the Paris population ; and the more intelligent cit- izens began to regain that share of influence of which they had been so long deprived. On Nov. 12 the Jacobin club was closed. The more moderate deputies of the convention, who had fled or been banished, gradually reappeared in Paris. Although insurrections, caused part- ly by the prevailing want and suffering, partly by intrigues of the former leaders of the mob, broke out from time to time (especially on April 1 and May 20, 1795), they were put down, after sharp conflicts, in one of which (May 20) the convention was driven from its hall for a time. Under the influence of the more mode- rate opinions that now again gained the upper hand in the convention, a new constitution was formed. This was "the constitution of the year III.," bearing throughout the traces of the re- turn of an intelligent and responsible class to the conduct of public affairs. It provided for the institution of two legislative bodies, the council of 500 and the council of ancients, num- bering 250. The executive power was placed in the hands of a directory of five members. But a decree of the convention, by which it prescribed that two thirds of the new assem- bly of 500 must be chosen from the conven- tion's own members a measure designed to prevent either royalists or ultra democrats from controlling the new body gave rise to a new