The Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre by David P. Jordan

Author:David P. Jordan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Press

CHAPTER 10

The Committee of Public Safety

PLATE XII

(Photo. Bibl. nat. Paris )

ON JULY 27 Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, the executive committee of the Convention, a brilliantly successful improvisation that replaced the executive authority that had been guillotined with the King. Much of the wavering in the face of distractions that had afflicted the Convention since its beginning was thought to result from the lack of an executive. The Committee of Public Safety would have, by delegation, all the powers of the Assembly itself, with the significant exceptions that it could not declare war, make peace, or legislate. These required majority vote of the Convention. But otherwise, in carrying out the will of the Convention, the Committee was unrestricted. Robespierre’s selection, so long delayed by reluctance, had now become irresistible. For the first time he shared a place at the head of the republic.

The Committee of Public Safety began life as the Committee of General Defense, in January 1793. By March it was commonly known by its now-notorious name and was charged with preparing all the laws and measures necessary for the interior and exterior defense of the republic. On April 6 the Committee of Public Safety, its new name and functions recognized, was officially created. Nine members were chosen by vote (eventually there would be twelve), and the legal basis for its immense powers were specified. 1 The Committee’s authority was further enhanced by its meetings conducted in secret. No record of its proceedings was kept. Decisions were reached by majority vote of all the members present, but no tally was ever made public: only unanimous decrees were announced. There was also no specified quorum needed for legality. The Committee would become the virtual government of France for about a year, the year of the Revolution’s greatest crisis, the year of the Terror, the year of Robespierre’s preponderance. To prevent the usurpation of power, the Committee was subject to monthly renewal, dismissal, and control. Yet once it had achieved its definitive personnel, in September 1793, neither mandate nor membership were tampered with (although Hérault de Sechelles, the author of the 1793 constitution, would be guillotined in April 1794 and not replaced on the Committee).

The twelve members, elected by their colleagues from among the deputies, could hardly have been different. The twelve were not harmoniously disposed toward each other; their skills and aptitudes were varied, as was their conception of the Revolution and the work of the Committee. Robespierre’s faction, which comprised himself, Saint-Just, and Couthon, was bound together not only by politics but by friendship, yet this was the only such group on the Committee. No individual ever dominated the Committee consistently, although on this or that issue the members might defer to the man thought to be expert in the matter at hand. The division of labor on the Committee was remarkable and perhaps the single most important reason for its survival and effectiveness. Seldom were all twelve members present in Paris at the same

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