"Here is the proclamation," said the Mayor, preparing to read, "which is about to be placarded on the streets of Paris:
"Citizens, the country is more than ever in danger. Scoundrels dictate laws to the Convention, which they overmaster. They pursue Robespierre, who declares for the consoling principles of the existence of the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul; St. Just and Lebas, those two apostles of virtue; Couthon, who has but his heart and head alive, though they are glowing with the ardor of patriotism; Robespierre the younger, who presided over the victories of the army in Italy.
People, arise! Lose not the fruit of the 10th of August and the 31st of May. Let us hurl all the traitors into their tomb!
Signed, FLEURIOT-LESCOT,
Mayor,
BLIN,
Secretary."
As the Mayor's proclamation was declared adopted by the session, John Lebrenn, who had approached one of the windows, remarked that not only had the number of armed Section representatives in the square diminished, but that the place was almost deserted. Soon the whole City Hall Place, with the exception of a group here and there, lay silent and empty. John had barely returned to his seat at the table when the doors were flung open with a crash by the press of people who sought to enter. They carried in Robespierre the elder, Robespierre the younger, Lebas, St. Just and Couthon, borne aloft in chairs. At the sight of the liberated Representatives of the people, surrounded by their Jacobin friends, the members of the Council rose spontaneously with cries of "Long live the Republic!" Gradually the tumult died down, and the Mayor of Paris began to speak:
"Citizens—from this moment the functions of the General Council of the Commune should undergo a change. I move that it be transformed into a committee of action, and that the presidency of it be conferred upon Maximilien Robespierre. The Revolution now commences!"
Robespierre responded in the following words:
"Citizens, I long resisted the entreaties of the patriots who sought to deliver me from prison. I wished to respect the law, for the very reason that our enemies make of it a football. I wished, in Marat's steps, to appear before the revolutionary tribunal. Had they pronounced me innocent, the villains of the Convention would have been confounded, and honest folks would triumph; on the contrary, had they pronounced my death sentence, I would have drunk the hemlock calmly. But I yield to events. I accept the presidency. The era of the Revolution has begun."
On the instant there rushed into the hall General Henriot, pale, excited, his clothing in disorder. "All is lost!" he cried.