CHAPTER IX
FROM THE DEATH OF DANTON, APRIL, 1794, TO THE 9TH THERMIDOR (27TH JULY, 1794)
Increase of terror; its cause—System of the democrats; Saint-Just— Robespierre's power—Festival of the Supreme Being—Couthon presents the law of the 22nd Prairial, which reorganizes the revolutionary tribunal; disturbances; debates; final obedience of the convention—The active members of the committee have a division—Robespierre, Saint-Just, and Couthon on one side; Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and the members of the committee of general safety on the other—Conduct of Robespierre—He absents himself from the committee, and rests on the Jacobins and the commune—On the 8th of Thermidor he demands the renewal of the committees; the motion is rejected—Sitting of the 9th Thermidor; Saint-Just denounces the committees; is interrupted by Tallien; Billaud- Varennes violently attacks Robespierre; general indignation of the convention against the triumvirate; they are arrested—The commune rises and liberates the prisoners—Peril and courage of the convention; it outlaws the insurgents—The sections declare for the convention—Defeat and execution of Robespierre.