Two enemies, however, threatened the power of this dictatorial government.  Danton and his faction, whose established popularity gave him great weight, and who, as victory over the allies seemed more certain, demanded a cessation of the “Terror,” or martial law of the committee; and the commune, or extreme republican municipal government of Paris.

The Committee of Public Safety was too strong not to triumph over the commune, but, at the same time, it had to resist the moderate party, which demanded the cessation of the revolutionary government and the dictatorship of the committees.  The revolutionary government had only been created to restrain, the dictatorship to conquer; and as Danton and his party no longer considered restraint within and further victory abroad essential, they sought to establish legal order.  Early in 1794 it was time for Danton to defend himself; the proscription, after striking the commune, threatened him.  He was advised to be on his guard and to take immediate steps.  His friends implored him to defend himself.

“I would rather,” said he, “be guillotined than be a guillotiner; besides, my life is not worth the trouble, and I am sick of the world!”

“Well, then, thou shouldst depart.”

“Depart!” he repeated, curling his lip disdainfully, “Depart!  Can we carry your country away on the sole of our shoe?”

On Germinal 10, as the revolutionary calendar went (March 31, 1796), he was informed that his arrest was being discussed in the Committee of Public Safety.  His arrest gave rise to general excitement, to a sombre anxiety.  Danton and the rest of the accused were brought before the revolutionary tribunal.  They displayed an audacity of speech and a contempt of their judges wholly unusual.  They were taken to the Conciergerie, and thence to the scaffold.

They went to death with the intrepidity usual at that epoch.  There were many troops under arms, and their escort was numerous.  The crowd, generally loud in its applause, was silent.  Danton stood erect, and looked proudly and calmly around.  At the foot of the scaffold he betrayed a momentary emotion.  “Oh, my best beloved—­my wife!” he cried.  “I shall not see thee again!” Then suddenly interrupting himself:  “No weakness, Danton!”

Thus perished the last defender of humanity and moderation; the last who sought to promote peace among the conquerors of the revolution and pity for the conquered.  For a long time no voice was raised against the dictatorship of terror.  During the four months following the fall of the Danton party, the committee exercised their authority without opposition or restraint.  Death became the only means of governing, and the republic was given up to daily and systematic executions.

Robespierre, who was considered the founder of a moral democracy, now attained the highest degree of elevation and of power.  He became the object of the general flattery of his party; he was the great man of the republic.  At the Jacobins and in the Convention his preservation was attributed to “the good genius of the republic” and to the Supreme Being, Whose existence he had decreed on Floreal 18, the celebration of the new religion being fixed for Prairial 20.