Georges Danton - Arrest, Trial, and Execution

Arrest, Trial, and Execution

On 30 March, Danton, Desmoulins and others of the indulgent party were suddenly arrested. Danton displayed such vehemence before the revolutionary tribunal that his enemies feared he would gain the crowd's favour. The Convention, in one of its "worst fits of cowardice" (1911 Britannica), assented to a proposal made by Saint-Just that, if a prisoner showed want of respect for justice, the tribunal might pronounce sentence without further delay.

Danton, Desmoulins, and many other actual or accused Dantonist associates were tried from April 3 through 5th before the Revolutionary Tribunal. The trial was less criminal in nature than political, and as such unfolded in an irregular fashion. The accused were prevented from defending themselves by a decree of the National Convention. This fact, together with confusing and often incidental denunciations (for instance, a report that Danton, while engaged in political work in Brussels, had appropriated a carriage filled with several hundred thousand livres of table linen) and threats made by prosecutor Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville towards members of the jury, helped to ensure a guilty verdict. Additionally, the accused were denied the right to have witnesses appear on their behalf, though they had submitted requests for several - including, in Desmoulins' case, Robespierre. The verdict was passed in the absence of the accused, who had been removed from the courtroom to prevent unrest among the trial's observers. Their execution was scheduled for the same day.

Of the group of fifteen who were guillotined together on April 5, 1794, including Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles, Philippe Fabre d'Églantine and Pierre Philippeaux, Desmoulins died third, and Danton last.

Danton was at once condemned, and led, in company with fourteen others, including Camille Desmoulins, to the guillotine. "I leave it all in a frightful welter," he said; "not a man of them has an idea of government. Robespierre will follow me; he is dragged down by me. Ah, better be a poor fisherman than meddle with the government of men!" The phrase 'a poor fisherman' was almost certainly a reference to Saint Peter, Danton having reconciled to Catholicism. In reference to his belief that Robespierre would meet a similar fate, his last words to the crowd were, "My only regret is that I am going before that rat Robespierre." (Danton's true last words, however, were addressed to his executioner: "Don't forget to show my head to the people. It's well worth seeing.")

Events went as Danton foresaw. The committees presently came to quarrel with the pretensions of Robespierre. Three months after Danton's execution, Robespierre and his party were deposed, and Robespierre was himself executed. His assent to the execution of Danton had deprived him of the single great force that might have supported him against the committee.

The 1911 Britannica wrote that Danton stands out as a master of commanding phrase. One of his fierce sayings has become a proverb. Against the Duke of Brunswick and the invaders, "il nous faut de l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace"—"We need audacity, and yet more audacity, and always audacity!" Throughout his life, he was referred to as "Jove the Thunderer", the "rebel Satan", a "Titan", and "Sardanapalus", as well as the "Mirabeau of the sansculottes", and "Mirabeau of the markets".