Bailly pitifully apologising with his eyes brought in the representative body of Paris. It was present for the first time in the National Parliament, and before three years were over Paris was to be the mistress of the Parliament. At present they were out of place; their demand frightened them. It needed Danton’s voice to reassure them and to bring the opposing forces to a battle.
His voice, big, rough, and deep, perhaps with a slight provincial accent, helped to strengthen the false idea that the gentlemen of the Parliament had formed. This Danton, of whom they heard so much, had appeared suddenly out of his right place—for he had no official position—and the Right was furious.
Yet Danton’s harangue was moderate and sensible. There is, indeed, one passage on the position of Paris in France which is interesting because it is original, but the bulk of the speech is a string of plain arguments. This passage is as follows:—
“That Commune, composed of citizens who belong in a fashion to the eighty-three Departments—(The Right, No! no!)—jealously desiring to fulfil in the name of all good citizens the duties of a sentinel to the constitution, is in haste to express a demand which is dear to all the enemies of tyranny—a demand which would be heard from all the Sections of the Empire, could they be united with the same promptitude as the Sections of Paris.”[79]
For the rest, he is continually insisting upon the right of the Parliament to govern—the right, above all, of a representative body to dismiss a ministry. He had in this, as in certain other matters, a very English point of view, and certainly the arguments he used were able. But he was interrupted continually, and we get, even in the dry account of the Moniteur, a good picture of what the scene must have been like—
“A dismissal which the Assembly has the right to demand.”
The Abbé Maury: “Who ever said that?” [Murmurs and discussion followed. The Abbé was called to order, when....]
M. Cazales remarked: “It is our duty to listen, even if they talk nonsense.”
Danton began again with: “The Commune of Paris is better able to judge the conduct of ministers than....”
The Abbé Maury: “Why?” [He is again called to order.]