The Fall of Robespierre. An Historic Drama/Act 3
ACT III.
SCENE Continues.
Collot d'Herbois.Cæsar is fallen! The baneful tree of Java,Whose death-distilling boughs dropt poisonous dew,Is rooted from its base. This worse than Cromwell,The austere, the self denying Robespierre,Even in this hall, where once with terror muteWe listened to the hypocrite's harangues,Has heard his doom.
Billaud Varennes.Yet must we not supposeThe tyrant will fall tamely. His sworn hirelingHenriot, the daring desperate HenriotCommands the force of Paris. I denounce him.
Freron.I denounce Fluriot too, the mayor of Paris.
Enter Dubois Crance.
Dubois Crance.Robespierre is rescued. Henriot at the headOf the arm'd force has rescued the fierce tyrant.
Collot d'Herbois.Ring the tocsin—call all the citizensTo save their country—never yet has ParisForsook the representatives of France.
Tallien.It is the hour of danger. I proposeThis sitting be made permanent.(Loud applauses.)
Collot d'Herbois.The national Convention shall remainFirm at its post.
Enter a Messenger.
Messenger.Robespierre has reach'd the Commune. They espouseThe tyrant's cause. St. Just is up in arms!St. Just—the young ambitious bold St. JustHarangues the mob. The sanguinary CouthonThirsts for your blood.(Tocsin rings.)
Tallien.These tyrants are in arms against the law:Outlaw the rebels.
Enter Merlin of Douay.
Merlin.Health to the representatives of France!I past this moment through the armed force—They ask'd my name—and when they heard a delegate,Swore I was not the friend of France.
Collot d'Herbois.The tyrants threaten us as when they turn'dThe cannon's mouth on Brissot.
Enter another Messenger.
Second Messenger.Vivier harangues the Jacobins—the clubEspouse the cause of Robespierre.
Enter another Messenger.
Third Messenger.All's lost—the tyrant triumphs. Henriot leadsThe soldiers to his aid.———Already I hearThe rattling cannon destin'd to surroundThis sacred hall.
Tallien.Why, we will die like men then. The representatives of France dare death,When duty steels their bosoms.(Loud applauses.)
Tallien addressing the galleries.Citizens!France is insulted in her delegates—The majesty of the republic is insulted—Tyrants are up in arms. An armed forceThreats the Convention. The Convention swearsTo die, or save the country!(Violent applauses from the galleries.)
Citizen from above.We too swearTo die, or save the country. Follow me.(All the men quit the galleries.)
Enter another Messenger.
Fourth Messenger.Henriot is taken!—(Loud applauses.) Henriot is taken. Three of your brave soldiersSwore they would seize the rebel slave of tyrants,Or perish in the attempt. As he patroll'dThe streets of Paris, stirring up the mob,They seiz'd him.(Applauses.)
Billaud Varennes.Let the names of these brave menLive to the future day.
Enter Bourdon l'Oise sword in hand.
Bourdon l'Oise.I have clear'd the Commune.(Applauses.) Through the throng I rush'd,Brandishing my good sword to drench its bladeDeep in the tyrant's heart. The timid rebelsGave way. I met the soldiery—I spakeOf the dictator's crimes—of patriots chain'dIn dark deep dungeons by his lawless rage—Of knaves secure beneath his fostering power.I spake of Liberty. Their honest heartsCaught the warm flame. The general shout burst forth,"Live the Convention—Down with Robespierre!"(Applauses.) (Shouts from without—Down with the tyrant!)
Tallien.I hear, I hear the soul-inspiring sounds,France shall be saved! her generous sons attached To principles, not persons, spurn the idolThey worshipp'd once. Yes, Robespierre shall fallAs Capet fell! Oh! never let us deemThat France shall crouch beneath a tyrant's throne,That the almighty people who have brokeOn their oppressors heads the oppressive chain,Will court again their fetters! easier were itTo hurl the cloud-capt mountain from its base,Than force the bonds of slavery upon menDetermined to be free!(Applauses.)
Enter Legendre—A pistol in one hand. Keys in the other.
Legendre. Flinging down the keys.So—let the mutinous Jacobins meet nowIn the open air.(Loud applauses.) A factious turbulent partyLording it o'er the state since Danton died,And with him the Cordeliers.—A hireling bandOf loud-tongued orators controull'd the club,And bade them bow the knee to Robespierre.Vivier has 'scap'd me. Curse his coward heart—This fate-fraught tube of Justice in my handI rush'd into the hall. He mark'd mine eyeThat beam'd its patriot anger, and flash'd fullWith death-denouncing meaning. 'Mid the throngHe mingled. I pursued—but staid my hand,Lest haply I might shed the innocent blood.(Applauses.)
Freron.They took from me my ticket of admission—Expell'd me from their sittings.—Now, forsooth,Humbled and trembling re-insert my name. But Freron enters not the club again'Till it be purg'd of guilt—'till, purifiedOf tyrants and of traitors, honest menMay breathe the air in safety.(Shouts from without.)
Barrere.What means this uproar! if the tyrant bandShould gain the people once again to rise—We are as dead!
Tallien.And wherefore fear we death?Did Brutus fear it? or the Grecian friendsWho buried in Hipparchus breast the sword,And died triumphant? Cæsar should fear death,Brutus must scorn the bugbear.(Shouts from without. Live the Convention—Down with the Tyrants!)
Tallien.Hark! againThe sounds of honest Freedom!
Enter Deputies from the Sections.
Citizen.Citizens! representatives of France!Hold on your steady course. The men of ParisEspouse your cause. The men of Paris swearThey will defend the delegates of Freedom.
Tallien.Hear ye this, Colleagues? hear ye this, my brethren?And does no thrill of joy pervade your breasts?My bosom bounds to rapture. I have seen The sons of France shake off the tyrant yoke;I have, as much as lies in mine own arm,Hurl'd down the usurper.—Come death when it willI have lived long enough.(Shouts without.)
Barrere.Hark! how the noise increases! through the gloomOf the still evening—harbinger of deathRings the tocsin! the dreadful generaleThunders through Paris—(Cry without—Down with the Tyrant!)
Enter Lecointre.
Lecointre.So may eternal justice blast the foesOf France! so perish all the tyrant brood,As Robespierre has perished! Citizens,Cæsar is taken.(Loud and repeated applauses.) I marvel not, that with such fearless front,He braved our vengeance, and with angry eyeScowled round the hall defiance. He reliedOn Henriot's aid—the Commune's villain friendship,And Henriot's boughten succours. Ye have heardHow Henriot rescued him—how with open armsThe Commune welcom'd in the rebel tyrant—How Fluriot aided, and seditious VivierStirr'd up the Jacobins. All had been lost—The representatives of France had perish'd—Freedom had sunk beneath the tyrant armOf this foul parricide, but that her spiritInspir'd the men of Paris. Henriot call'd"To arms" in vain, whilst Bourdon's patriot voiceBreath'd eloquence, and o'er the Jacobins Legendre frown'd dismay. The tyrants fled—They reach'd the Hotel. We gather'd round—we call'dFor vengeance! Long time, obstinate in despairWith knives they hack'd around them. 'Till forebodingThe sentence of the law, the clamorous cryOf joyful thousands hailing their destruction,Each sought by suicide to escape the dreadOf death. Lebas succeeded. From the windowLeapt the younger Robespierre, but his fractur'd limbForbade to escape. The self-will'd dictatorPlung'd often the keen knife in his dark breast,Yet impotent to die. He lives all mangledBy his own tremulous hand! All gash'd and goredHe lives to taste the bitterness of death.Even now they meet their doom. The bloody Couthon,The fierce St. Just, even now attend their tyrantTo fall beneath the axe. I saw the torchesFlash on their visages a dreadful light—I saw them whilst the black blood roll'd adownEach stern face, even then with dauntless eyeScowl round contemptuous, dying as they lived,Fearless of fate!(Loud and repeated applauses.)
Barrere mounts the Tribune.
For ever hallowed be this glorious day,When Freedom, bursting her oppressive chain,Tramples on the oppressor. When the tyrantHurl'd from his blood-cemented throne, by the armOf the almighty people, meets the deathHe plann'd for thousands. Oh! my sickening heartHas sunk within me, when the various woesOf my brave country crowded o'er my brainIn ghastly numbers—when assembled hordes Dragg'd from their hovels by despotic powerRush'd o'er her frontiers, plunder'd her fair hamlets,And sack'd her populous towns, and drench'd with bloodThe reeking fields of Flanders.—When within,Upon her vitals prey'd the rankling toothOf treason; and oppression, giant form,Trampling on freedom, left the alternativeOf slavery, or of death. Even from that day,When, on the guilty Capet, I pronouncedThe doom of injured France, has faction rearedHer hated head amongst us. Roland preach'dOf mercy—the uxorious dotard Roland,The woman-govern'd Roland durst aspireTo govern France; and Petion talk'd of virtue,And Vergniaud's eloquence, like the honeyed tongueOf some soft Syren wooed us to destruction.We triumphed over these. On the same scaffoldWhere the last Louis pour'd his guilty blood,Fell Brissot's head, the womb of darksome treasons,And Orleans, villain kinsman of the Capet,And Hebert's atheist crew, whose maddening handHurl'd down the altars of the living God,With all the infidels intolerance.The last worst traitor triumphed—triumph'd long,Secur'd by matchless villainy. By turnsDefending and deserting each accompliceAs interest prompted. In the goodly soilOf Freedom, the foul tree of treason struckIts deep-fix'd roots, and dropt the dews of deathOn all who slumbered in its specious shade.He wove the web of treachery. He caughtThe listening crowd by his wild eloquence,His cool ferocity that persuaded murder,Even whilst it spake of mercy!—never, neverShall this regenerated country wear The despot yoke. Though myriads round assail,And with worse fury urge this new crusadeThan savages have known; though the leagued despotsDepopulate all Europe, so to pourThe accumulated mass upon our coasts,Sublime amid the storm shall France arise,And like the rock amid surrounding wavesRepel the rushing ocean.—She shall wieldThe thunder-bolt of vegeance—she shall blastThe despot's pride, and liberate the world!
FINIS.