* put on the index,
* displace,
* tax,
* send off to the army, and
* imprison whoever gives them umbrage,
they are able now, with the municipality at their back and as guides, to turn the armament which they have obtained from the Convention against it, attack the Girondists in their last refuge, and possess themselves of the only fort not yet surrendered.
VI. Jacobin tactics.
Jacobin tactics to constrain the Convention.—Petition of
April 15 against the Girondins.—Means employed to obtain
signatures.—The Convention declares the petition
calumnious.—The commission of Twelve and the arrest of
Hébert.—Plans for massacres.—Intervention of the Mountain
leaders.
To conquer the last bastion of the Girondists all they have to do is simultaneously in all sections to do what they used to do separately in each section: substituting themselves, by fraud and by force, for the Veritable people, they are able to conjure up before the Convention the phantom of popular disapproval.—From the municipality, holding its sessions at the Hôtel-de-ville, and from the conventicle established at the Evêché, emissaries are sent forth who present the same formal communication in writing at the same time in every section in Paris.[34106] "Here is a petition for signatures."—"Read it."—"But that is unnecessary—it is already adopted by a majority of the sections."—This lie is accepted by some and several sign in good faith without reading it. In others they read it and refuse to sign it; in others, again, it is read and they pass to the order of the day. What happens? The plotters and ringleaders remain behind until all conscientious citizens have withdrawn; then, masters of the debate, they decide that the petition must be signed, and they accordingly affix their signatures. The next day, on the arrival of citizens at the section, the petition is handed to them for their names, and the debate of the previous evening is advanced against them. If they offer any remarks, they are met with these terrifying words: