07/04/2017
In almost any public space in the city of Paris, France you can find in it's history, at least one event of historical importance with stories of intrigue, drama, conflict, death, and great change. This story is about two of the most visited (by tourists and Parisienne) and recognizable places in Paris. Le Jardin du Luxembourg and Place de la Concorde. At every time of year, both places are filled with people; just walking through on the daily business of going from here to there, seeing the sights as a tourist, on the way to shopping, taking a break from the Senate or National Assembly ... there are hundreds of reasons why there are always people in these places. There are also hundreds of stories to tell about each of these places. This post will tell the story of April 5, 1794.
The Dantonists had led the instigation of the demise of the Girondists whom had been the leading voices of the French Revolution. The Girondists, led by men such as the Marquis Condorcet had aspirations for a constitutional monarchy. They championed ideas such as suffrage for women, and the universal liberation of all men/women from slavery worldwide. Dantonists, with the voice of Danton and the pen of Camille Desmoulins, won the ear of the mob in Paris, and wrestled control from the Girondists. The Girondists were executed or fled to other nations for safety.
Danton and his minions were in control of the Revolution. This was their 15 minutes of fame. It would last 9 months. Danton was a loud mouth, but he had style. He was not a handsome man, but he could win the crowd with his voice and his words. Early in the Revolution he had a merchant brought before a crowd at the Hotel de Ville. Danton railed against the man, accusing him of treason against the Revolution. Danton had convinced the crowd that this man must die, and die now. In truth, the man had done nothing. This was a grand show designed by Danton to focus attention toward himself. Power was up for grabs, and he wanted it all. Danton was on the precipice of a grand moment. He had convinced the crowd to kill for him. Just as the innocent merchant was to be executed on the spot, a tall fellow in the uniform of the Guard Nationale rode his tall white horse up the steps to face Danton. It was Lafayette, and he had arrived in time to save the innocent merchant. He implored the crowd to hear reason. The merchant was an innocent, like most of them. He urged them to go back to their homes, and they did. Such was the power of Lafayette in the early days of the Revolution. He was loved and admired by all but a few. Among the few was Danton. He never forgave Lafayette for that public humiliation. He swore vengeance and ruin for him and his allies; including the Girondists.
The power struggle the Dantonists had helped initiate would eat its own in the end. Their turn came April 5, 1794. It began at Jardin du Luxembourg (formerly a royal residence, made a prison during the Revolution, currently home to the Senate of France) and ended at Place de la Revolution (now Place de la Concorde, formerly Place Louis XV). The leading Dantonist, including Danton, Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles, Philippe Fabre d'Églantine, Pierre Philippeaux, and Camille Desmoulins would all be executed on this day.
Danton was the first to climb into the first of three carts at Luxembourg which were to take the group to the Place de la Revolution. He had to wait until all three carts were loaded so that they could go to ex*****on together. The loading took over an hour because Camille Desmoulins struggled a long time with the ex*****oner, and knocked him down twice. He refused to have his hands tied or his hair cut, and they say the gendarmes had to help the ex*****oner overcome Camille’s resistance.
During this time Danton was laughing in the cart and nodding to the other condemned men, who were by now bound and placed in their carts, to show that he was being kept waiting too long. He chatted to Lacroix and Herault, who were next to him, saying within the hearing of the people beside the carriages near the palace courtyard rails: ‘What annoys me most is that I am going to die six weeks before Robespierre’. Eventually Camille appeared in the cart. His shirt was in ribbons, he was out of breath, frenzied, loudly cursing Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety and the infamous Tribunal which served these monsters.
The condemned went to their deaths in the midst of a huge crowd. Seeing the procession pass, a woman in the Rue St-Honore looked at Danton and exclaimed: ‘How ugly he is!’ He smiled at her and said: ‘There’s no point in telling me that now, I shan’t be ugly much longer’.some said his face did in fact look like the head of a lion, while Robespierre’s is like that of a cat or a tiger. Personally, I say Danton resembled a pig in his visage and action. He was unclean in every respect.
When they reached the place of ex*****on, they were made to get out of the carts at the foot of the scaffold. They climbed up one by one to be executed and watched as the others died under the blade. Danton was the last. When he saw the ex*****oner coming for him at the foot of the scaffold, he cried out in a strong voice, ‘My turn now!’ and quickly climbed the fatal ladder. As they were tying him to the block, he looked calmly at the blade dripping with his friends’ blood, and bent his head saying: ‘It’s only a sabre cut’ (a phrase Desmoulins had once used to describe the new method of ex*****on). To his credit, the pig Danton accepted death with some measure of courage and a spot of humor.
How, other than the demise of a political enemy, is any of this related to Lafayette?
I am glad you asked. Palace Luxembourg was the childhood residence of Lafayette when he was summoned to Paris by his mother at age 10. He lived there in apartments with his mother and maternal grandfather. He called that place home for a time. And when you travel now, to visit Place de la Concorde, where Danton met his end, you may take the Paris Metro to the station Concorde; which you will find tiled with letters. The letters at the station Concorde spell out "The Rights of Man and the Citizen", penned by Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the earliest days of the Revolution. That document is the preamble to the current French Constitution, and can be found hanging on the walls of all government institutions, schools, and public buildings. It defines the Revolution.
Danton had the vision to see that Robespierre would soon follow him to the guillotine, and lamented only that he himself would be first. He lacked the vision to see what France might become and would become. Wether given proper credit or not, Lafayette saw France as it should be, and worked his entire adult life to realize his vision. It would not happen in his lifetime. But if you visit France today, you will find a nation once imagined by Lafayette, as it would be, as it should be, as it could be ... realized. And his footprints are everywhere
