Meanwhile, Carrier, at Nantes, surpassed in outrage all that had gone before him. It was charitable to suppose he was sheer mad.
Men, women, children, and especially priests, were shot down by Carrier’s orders. He said trial was useless. His rivals had abandoned the guillotine for the butchery of the soldier’s lead. Carrier improved upon this. He said he hated blood, so he positively sank hundreds, thousands of accused, in huge barges. They were carried down to the bottom, and there to this day they remain.
Carrier was the deputy sent by the Convention, of which Robespierre was now King.
These massacres lasted months. Some complaints were sent to Paris. Carrier seized two hundred of the principal merchants of the place, cast them into prison, tortured them, and then drowned the men.
At last, his madness becoming apparent, he was recalled. Robespierre did not demand his punishment; and this omission of justice was one of the accusations brought against Robespierre at his trial.
A woman began the attack upon Robespierre. She was Rose Lacombe, beautiful, eloquent, revolutionary; but pitying and hating blood. She was seized with love for a young prisoner, tried to save him, failed, and she devoted herself to Robespierre’s death.
Robespierre, to retain his popularity, determined to sacrifice Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and others. They fell—all of them.
As these victims, on their way to execution, passed Duplay’s house, the shutters of which were closed, the crowd burst into a roar of applause. Robespierre watching, trembled.
A very short span, and his time was to come.