pacificus

21 April — Joseph Leblond, adjutant general and brother of the jury member Gabriel Leblond, writes a letter to Guffroy with the following message regarding Arras: "I hasten to inform you, Republican, that the patriots of 89 in this commune are oppressed; Lebon is losing his way; his surroundings, composed of men who want to rule, are making him do foolish things." The very same day, Leblond gets arrested in the village Brebières after having been overheard calling Lebon ”rascal, scoundrel, rogue, villain, supporter of Hébert.” (decree cited in La terreur dans le Pas-de-Calais et dans le Nord, volume 2, page 13).

22 April — Lebon writes a letter to the Committee of Public Safety, beginning with informing them that the decision to keep Arras’ revolutionary tribunal running has been a ”thunderbolt [striking] intrigue, moderation and aristocracy.” He reports that, upon reading aloud the letter announcing these news, ”a thousand cries of rejoicing rise up, and patriotism takes on a new form” and that seven people have since been sentenced to death and one acquitted. Lebon then announces the arrest of Gabriel Leblond, Beugniet and Démuliez, writing that they three days earlier ”compromised themselves by shamelessly influencing the absolution of a counter-revolutionary lawyer” and ”indulged in remarks unworthy in the mouth of a simple citizen, atrocious in that of public officials.” Since then, ”to the great satisfaction of the people,” they have been imprisoned and replaced with men ”who feel no need to smash the scaffolds.” In a PS note he informs them of the arrest of Joseph Leblond as well, and writes he shall be sent to Paris to appear before the Revolutionary Tribunal.

25 April — one ”Bruslé, employed by citizen Richard” who has just passed through Arras, writes a letter to Charlotte Robespierre painting a picture over the current situation in the city as she seemingly has asked him to do:

While the horses were being changed I fulfilled your commission. What has been said of your country is true; in six weeks 150 people have been guillotined and about 3000 imprisoned. […] I don’t doubt that there existed in Arras counter-revolutionaires and fanatics, but terror must weigh on them only and the patriot be able to rest on the impassivity of the judges and the freedom of debate and opinion. I’ll spare you the other details that are too atrocious to be believed when one has not been an eyewitness.

Bruslé also informs Charlotte about the arrest of Démuliez and the closing of the surveillance committee, and that the citizens were disappointed to hear the news that the decree of 27 Germinal is not going to be applied to Arras. He also reveals citizens have gone to look for ”a friend of your brother” (probably Antoine Buissart) telling him that him alone can make the truth about Arras known since Robespierre trusts him. To that, Buissart would have replied: ”how could I write, when each evening they go through the letters before sending them off?”

4 May — Lebon authors a decree ordering the arrest of Danten, a member of both the Arras tribunal jury and surveillance committee, ”considering his intimate liasons with the protectors of the aristocrat Démuliez and others, his even closer ties with the émigré Saint-Rémy, the fact he since a long time back left the society of 1793, and only suddenly reappeared to support the aristocratic operations of a corrupt surveillance committee” (decree cited in La terreur dans le Pas-de-Calais et dans le Nord, volume 2, page 142-143). The very same day, Danten gets arrested and put in the Abbatiale prison in Arras.

6 May — Démuliez, Beugniet and the two Leblond brothers arrive in Paris, and head over to the Committee of General Security in the company of Guffroy. Committee member Élie Lacoste shows his surprise over the fact they have been arrested, considering he has witnessed their civism with his own eyes during a mission. Nevertheless, seeing as the committee doesn’t know the details regarding this particular case, the four are then escorted to the Madelonnettes prison (Les secrets de Joseph Lebon et de ses complices, page 72, prison registry cited in Feuille de la République, number 311 (10 May 1794), page 4).

6 May — Antoine Buissart writes a letter from Arras to Guffroy letting him know he’s already written multiple times to Robespierre and Carnot and for the past four months tried to get the former to ”remove from all administrations and even from the Convention, everything that had once been attached to the frock and the tonsure.” At this point in Arras, all letters are however gone through by the authorities before getting sent off, so Buissart is afraid his have never reached their destination.

7 May — Buissart writes yet another letter from Arras to Guffroy informing him he’s going to write to Robespierre: ”But will he react? Will he leave this state of torpor where he is for his country and and especially for the city where he was born? I intend to write to him from day to day, he will be so spurred on that he gets active, leaves his superb speeches and perhaps thinks about us...” The letter also confirms Charlotte Robespierre’s interest in Arras’ situation: ”we salute the citoyenne Robespierre, my wife has just received her letter. Tell her as soon as possible that I will immediately give her the clarifications she asks for.” Buissart ends by asking Guffroy to hand his letter to Carnot.

7 May — Guffroy writes a letter to Robespierre, after having been unable to meet him both at the Committee of Public Safety and at his house. The letter is filled with grave accusations against Lebon, Guffroy writing only an ”extravagant despot” or ”vapid tyrant” can act the way he currently does in Arras, a city that at the moment is ”filled with mourning” and where no one dares to speak or write freely. Lebon is preaching both atheism and the absolute sharing of property, to the extent that one hears citizens openly state: ”We can do whatever we want, there is no God.” His attachment to the Oratory has led to him giving six or seven Oratorians important posts, even having made a former Capuchin friar public prosecutor. Lebon also threatens and dismisses jury members that don’t vote for the punishment ”that he himself has decided upon” and then he has ”the ferocity” to watch the executions from the theater balcony and have Ça ira played while people are getting guillotined. Guffroy concludes that Lebon is either ”atrociously cruel and punishable, or horribly insane.” He hopes for the latter alternative, underlining that Lebon was considered ”insane” and ”mad with fanaticism” back when he was an Oratorian, and that both of his parents are insane as well, the mother even being locked up as such at the moment. Guffroy also takes up the cudgets for the four ”patriots” — ”If, as I believe, justice is the order of the day in your heart, you won’t do anything today before having secured the oppressed patriotism of Démuliez, Beugnet and the two Leblonds, that Lebon persecute with a guilty achernement for having displayed a just opinion contrary to his own.” Guffroy claims that if they hadn’t been in Paris they would have already been guillotined at this point. He demands Robespierre receive Démuliez for him to explain himself, as he had apparently already promised him, and that the Committee of Public Safety must immediately also charge the Committee of General Security with temporarily setting all four patriots free so that they can hand over a declaration they’ve written. Finally, Guffroy begs Robespierre to ”in the name of the homeland” recall Lebon and replace him with someone else. Had Augustin Robespierre not been away with the army he would have been the best alternative, but for the moment he instead suggests sending ”Florent Guyot with Bollet” to check up all the information contained both in this letter and in notes he has previously given Collot d’Herbois. He also suggests sending Delbrel, Élie Lacoste and Peyssart to Arras with the four patriots’ declaration, and if said declaration, ”AS I’M SURE, is exact” Lebon can be recalled. After having recalled Lebon he also proposes sending Buissard, Delleville, Milhaud, Danten, Lefebvre Roche and Durut in his place.

7 May — Guffroy writes yet another letter to Robespierre, this time telling him that he tomorrow at the latest must let out the four ”patriots” from the Madelonnettes prison so that they can tell him what’s going on in Arras. He repeats the claim that Lebon was once locked up as a madman and has since then made himself a ”fanatic patriot through avarice” as a substitute for being a ”superstitious fanatic,” that he makes patriotism hated through his ”atrocious conduct,” that he watches the executions while listening to Ça ira, that he is an atheist and that Robespierre must revoke the decree from April 19 ”which, after the false report from Joseph Lebon, authorizes the tribunal of Arras, that is to say, Lebon only, to continue to judge conspirators.” He also shows some frustration over the recipient’s silence — ”Respond to me then at last, this is the fourth time I’ve written to you. I’m your colleague, I have the rights to your friendship.” — and warns him that he’s going to tell the Convention about Lebon the next day if something isn’t done.

7 May — Lebon writes a letter to Saint-Just and Lebas revealing he arrived in Cambrai yesterday evening together with ”twenty brave men I brought with me.” He now hopes to ”do good in Cambrai, and inspire civic terror here.” This very day, he is going to assemble and speak ”the language of truth and reason” to the people, after which the Revolutionary tribunal is going to enter into activity and ”do justice to all the traitors.”

8 May — Lebon writes a letter to Saint-Just and Lebas from Cambrai, announcing that he’s held a speech against ”fanaticism” which has had intended effect — ”The room was packed, and I think they left furious with the old peddlers of deception.” He also reveals that the sans-culottes are gaining courage and feeling supported, while denunciations are beginning to get heard and lead to new arrests. The same day Lebon also writes a letter to Duquesnoy, telling him that he has come to Cambrai ”at the request of Saint-Just and Lebas” while ”the guillotine continues to be used with all its force in Arras.” He announces that before leaving Arras, he had Démuliez, Beugniet and Gabriel and Joseph Leblond temporarily transferred to a Paris prison, the first four for ”maneuvering in favor of the aristocracy,” the latter ”for having called me a scoundrel in a rural commune and for having attempted to incite an uprising.”

10 May — the revolutionary tribunal in Cambrai enters into force.

11 May — Lebon writes a letter to the Committee of Public Safety announcing that he’s been in Cambrai since five days back with a section of the Arras tribunal, ”and this through the orders of Saint-Just and Lebas,” who will be able to report on his conduct.

12 May — Lebon writes a letter to Saint-Just and Lebas from Cambrai, announcing that ”the machine is in full swing,” with the aristocracy ”trembling” and the sans-culottes ”raising their so long humiliated heads.” He also announces the conduct of all officials will be scrupulously examined, and a ”fight to the death” launched against spies. Thirteen people have been sentenced to death over the past two days — three spies, five ”former Frenchmen that had become Austrian aldermen,” a former prosecutor, a rich devout woman, a millionaire banker, a marquess and a brigadier general who abandoned his post — and ”Messieurs relatives and friends of emigrants and refractory priests are monopolizing the guillotine.”

14 May — Robespierre, on behalf of the Committee of Public Safety, writes the following letter telling Lebon to make a short trip to Paris:

Dear colleague,  The Committee of Public Safety needs to confer with you on important objects, it does justice to the energy with which you have suppressed the enemies of the revolution, and the result of our conference will be to direct it in an even more useful way. Come as soon as possible, to return promptly to the post where you currently are. Barère, Billaud-Varennes, Couthon, C-A Prieur, Carnot, Robespierre.

15 May — Charlotte Buissart writes a letter to Robespierre from Arras begging him to intervene in their current situation: ”Allow an old friend to address to you a weak and light picture of the evils which have overwhelmed the homeland. You advocate virtue; for six months we have been persecuted, governed by all vices; all kinds of seduction are used to mislead the people. Contempt for virtuous men; outrages against nature, justice, reason, divinity; the lure of riches, thirst for the blood of one's brothers. If my letter reaches you, I will regard it as a favor from heaven. Our evils are very great, but our fate is in your hands; all virtuous souls cry out to you. Our deliverance or death, that is the general cry.” Antoine Buissart references this letter in an undated one it too addressed to Robespierre: ”My wife, outraged by your silence, has wanted to write to you and speak to you about the position where we find ourselves. As for me, I have finally decided not to tell you more. It’s been more than four months of me not ceasing to warn you. Will I represent to you what I have already told you one hundred times?”

15 May — the administrators of Arras send Lebon a letter alerting him that Guffroy has just released a ”diabolical memorandum” against him (said memorandum can be seen here). ”In this memorandum, all your actions since five months back are distorted, made counter-revolutionary, they incite the people to resist oppression, because you are portrayed there as a tyrant, all your words are reported, blackened, perverted; you are made guilty of a thousand crimes.” They tell Lebon to travel to Arras immediately to respond to the libel.

16 May — Lebon is back in Paris. We have different accounts over his short stay there. Lebon, when defending himself a year later, claimed the committee called him back to ask him to establish two new revolutionary tribunals, one in Saint-Quentin, the other in Guise. To that, he did however reply that he ”[didn’t] know enough honest and dedicated men for these delicate and rigorous duties.” (statement cited in La terreur dans le Pas-de-Calais et dans le Nord (1864), volume 2, page 161). In a letter written May 19, Darthé reports that ”the Committee of Public Safety gave [Lebon] all the justice he deserved, and his slanderers were covered with the contempt and opprobrium that their infamous conduct has long brought upon them,” that the committee told him that ”it hoped we would get better and better every day,” while Robespierre personally stated he ”would like each of us to be able to form a tribunal on our own and each seize a border town.” Guffroy for his part writes Lebon stayed in Paris for only 24 hours, and that he spoke to both the Committee of Public Safety as a whole, Saint-Just and Lebas (this can hardly be true given the fact they were with the Army of the North at the time) and Robespierre personally, whom he treated ”very diligently.” Guffroy also claims Charlotte Robespierre confronted Lebon during this visit and ”reproached him for his cruelty.” Lebon did however deny it and under pretext of proving it he brought Charlotte with him when he shortly thereafter set out for Cambrai again. (Les secrets de Joseph Lebon et de ses complices, page 180). To this last allegation can be added an undated letter from Augustin to Maximilien Robespierre, telling him they need to send Charlotte to Arras since she is caluminating the two, and the memoirs of Maurice Gaillard which they too record Charlotte to in May 1794 have ”named [for Gaillard] with great bitterness the prodigious number of very honest people dragged to the scaffold by Joseph Lebon.” Gaillard claims Charlotte willingly travelled to Arras in order to ”collect evidence of the massacres,” but that Maximilien ”devoted mortal hatred” to her because of it.

17 May — Lebas, having received a letter from Darthé about Lebon being in Paris, writes a letter to Robespierre telling him to quickly send him back. He praises Lebon ”who has done, and continues to do, a great deal of good, and who is worth a garrison in Cambrai” and writes: ”It seems like Guffroy’s made a lot of effort to belittle him, but I am far from thinking that it influenced the opinion of the committee.”

18 May — Lebon orders for the wives and children of Démuliez, Beugniet and Leblond to be imprisoned.

19 May — Darthé writes a letter to Lebas from Cambrai informing him that Lebon came back there in the evening the 17th with Charlotte Robespierre and a letter from Élisabeth Lebas by his side. Having explained that Lebon was ”rendered all the justice he deserved” by the Committee of Public Safety, he aims some cold words at Guffroy, arguing that all he’s said is a lie:

Guffroy had written a memorandum against him, the most virulent and pitiful that could be fabricated. They wanted to make us out to be murderers, reeking with innocent blood; they hoped to have us mounted on the scaffold that has long awaited them. It was not us, specifically, that they wanted to strike; it was the homeland. They saw with pain the conspirators crushed, the unfortunates relieved, the public spirit rising daily, consequently preparing a future of success for our brave armies in this beautiful campaign: their abominable plots are foiled. 

Darthé argues that if it wasn’t for political reasons, Guffroy would have already been indicted. He then informs Lebas that Démuliez, Beugniet and the Leblond brothers ”will be delivered to the revolutionary tribunal of Paris.”

19 May — Guffroy writes the following letter to Robespierre concerning Arras and Lebon:

Yesterday you told the Jacobins that in wanting to make virtues reign we did not want to be persecutors. I believe you mean what you say. Why then do you protect the persecuting priest Joseph Lebon, who killed patriotism in Arras, and who made villainy and crime reign there? Have a commission of three members appointed quickly, otherwise you will be complicit in the atrocities of this horrible man, who is deceiving you and making the revolution hated by persecuting patriots. Hébert did no more harm than him. Robespierre, you must know my truth, you must believe in it; I’ve never lied to patriotism. Yes, the ills of our fellow citizens of this country will weigh on your heart. It is only politics that still prevents me from giving publicity to Lebon's conduct; but soon politics will make it my duty to print it.

23 May — in Arras, Solon, an ally of Guffroy, writes a letter to a friend explaining that, during a recent session at the local ”so-called republican society”, in the presence of Charlotte Robespierre, Guffroy got covered with sarcasms.

24 May — Lebon is back in Arras and writes a letter to Duquesnoy stating that "the machine is still running smoothly here […] and I tell you that we will ensure the triumph of liberty in these lands or we will perish to the last man." According to Guffroy, soon after his arrival Lebon also went to the Temple of Reason of the city in order to refute what he had written about him and also communicate a letter from Duquesnoy stating: ”I was having dinner with Robespierre when he received your letter, we laughed. Go on, and don’t worry about a thing. The guillotine must go faster than ever.” (Les Secrets de Joseph Lebon (1795), page 107-108)

24 May — Guffroy, together with fellow Convention deputies Lecointre, Fréron, Tallien, Barras, Rovère, Thirion, Courtois and Garnier de l’Aube form a group plotting to stab Robespierre to death in the middle of the Convention. This is revealed by Lecointre in the fittingly named pamphlet Conjuration formée dès le 5 préréal [sic] par neuf représentans du peuple contre Maximilien Robespierre, pour le poignarder en plein sénat, released shortly after thermidor.

27 May — in Arras, Solon writes a letter to Guffroy telling him to not remember the fact Lebon ”drew his saber against Citizeness Lefebvre Dupré — against a woman — to slit open her belly.”

27 May — Daillet writes a letter to his, as he calls him, friend Robespierre, showing indignation over the assassination attemps against him and Collot d’Herbois on the 21st and 22st the same month and telling him to take precautions. He then gives a short summary over the atmosphere in Cambrai: ”We are still moving forward with activity; but we are not supported. It seems that all the inhabitants of Cambrai are guilty, since no one dares to denounce another. However, we have just opened the registers of the constituted authorities and of the popular society; we have already found immense riches there, and we will also find, I hope, the names of the royalists and the oppressors of the people.”

28 May — Lebon writes a letter to Robespierre. In light of the two assassination attempts, he begins by calling him out for having come off as too trusting during his last short stay in the capital: ”I saw men come to you imploring you for this and that, and I don't know if, under the circumstances, they could be so easily believed. Beware, my good friend, with the same confidence in 1790 and 1792 you would have been assassinated ten thousand times over.” Lebon then complains that ”the Committee of Public Safety has destroyed me with its multitude of exceptions concerning the nobility,” and asks that they quickly legislate the following:

Any man who demonstrated wit and eloquence under the old regime, any man with more than X of income, shall be arrested immediately as a suspect, if he has not shown himself, since the beginning of the Revolution, to be a constant and incorruptible friend of the people. This enduring friendship is proven by the conduct shown during the great periods of the Revolution, which constitute the splendor of the new regime.

5 June — the Committee of Public Safety authors the following letter to Lebon, letting him know they’ve liberated the Leblond brothers, Beugniet, Démuliez and Danten:

Citizen representative, Still full of confidence in your energy and your principles, we inform you that we have set free citizens Démeuliez, Danten, Beugniet and the two Leblond brothers, despite the wrongs they may have committed. We have ascertained their intentions and we believe that we have thereby given new friends to the Republic, and to yourself. Continue to do good and do it with the wisdom and dignity that does not give way to the slander of the aristocracy. Robespierre, Collot d’Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, Saint-Just.

The same day, the committee also authors the following decree, liberating the wives of the ”patriots” as well:

The Committee of Public Safety decrees that Citizen Danten and his wife, and Citizenesses Leblond, Beugniet, and Démuliez, detained in a prison in Arras, shall be released. The national agent of the municipality of Arras shall enforce this decree. Billaud-Varennes, Collot d'Herbois, Carnot, Couthon, C.-A. Prieur, Barère, Saint-Just, Robespierre, Robert Lindet.

In the pamphlet Censuré républicaine released around a month later, Guffroy writes that it was through ”the efforts and courage” of Démuliez’s daughter, who had fled Arras for Paris to evade arrest, that the ”patriots” were released. In Les secrets de Joseph Lebon… (page 111) he again underlines the efforts of her and other female relatives of those involved, writing ”Leblond’s sister, Démuliez’s daughter, Buissart’s wife, Robespierre’s sister, for whom he was also almost invisible, took all the means to reach him.” He does however then immediately follow this up with claiming it was ultimately Duquesnoy who convinced the committee to release the five ”patriots,” and that Augustin Robespierre was the one who managed to bring the ”patriots” to the committee to get heard. This last part can however hardly be true seeing as Augustin was still away serving as representative on mission at this point.

The ”patriots” also write the following letter to Lebon upon getting released. Again according to Guffroy, this was the CPS’ ultimatum for releasing them, and the letter was written under the dictation of Robespierre:

Citizen, The Committee of Public Safety, which has a deserved confidence in your energy and zeal for the public good, believed it had fulfilled both the wish of the public interest and yours by putting an end to our detention. The first use we make of our freedom is to assure you of our civic and fraternal feelings. Sure of your principles and the purity of your intentions, far from giving ourselves over to personal animosities towards anyone, you will see us eager to strengthen, as much as it is in our power, the union that must reign among all true patriots, and to second your courage in fighting the conspirators. If we have committed any error, we will repair it by this frank and loyal conduct, to give an example of the virtues that are the foundations of the republic. This is the wish of the Committee of Public Safety, these are our personal feelings, these are yours.

8 June — a disgruntled Lebon writes a letter from Cambrai to Lebas, complaining about the fact the five ”conspirators” have been liberated: 

What! Conspirators are being freed by the Committee of Public Safety, because by asking me to come immediately to Cambrai ready to be surrounded, you have forced me to delay information about them! Either I cannot believe it, or all the principles established in the reports of Saint-Just, Robespierre, etc, are destroyed. Listen to Darthé whom I am sending you, and who has orders to remain in Paris until I have passed you all the documents against the second volume of the public prosecutor of Strasbourg and his associates. I must be ten thousand times right in order to not have been massacred yet, after all the maneuvers of these perverts and their worthy supporter Guffroy. Tell the two committees, if they are in a hurry to receive all the denunciations that are being collected each day, that they’re ordering me to leave everything to satisfy their impatience. I had believed, until this moment, that it was better to save Cambrai and this frontier, than to occupy myself in responding to the sacrilegious furies of a Rougiff. Remember that it is essential that the Committee of Public Safety or the Convention either pronounce themselves outloud on my conduct during in my mission, or that they recall me. Salut et fraternité.

12 June — The Committee of Public Safety authors the following decree, revoking its order from a week before:

The Committee of Public Safety, enlightened by the documents which have been placed before it concerning citizens Démuliez, Beugniet and Leblond, draws back the decree which sets them free and charges the representative of the people Lebon to take with regard to them the measures which he deems appropriate. B. Barère, Carnot, C. A. Prieur, Billaud-Varenne, R. Lindet, Couthon, Robespierre, Collot d'Herbois.

16 June — Lebon writes a letter to Lebas stating: ”There is not a minute to lose, we must arrest Démuliez, Beugniet and Adjutant General Leblond immediately, who are said to be in Paris. There are an infinite number of the most serious denunciations against these scoundrels, you will shudder with horror. The man named Danten, in whose favor Robespierre seemed to me to be biased, has shown his worth by following Démuliez.”

17 June — Gabriel Leblond, who has just come back to Arras, is rearrested and sent to the Baudet prison (prison registry cited in La terreur dans le Pas-de-Calais et dans le Nord… (1864), page 218).

18 June — Guffroy and the newly released Danten run into Collot d’Herbois in the Tuilerie garden. Guffroy complains to Collot about Lebon’s conduct and the fact he has gotten Gabriel Leblond arrested again and is trying to go after Démuliez and the other Leblond as well (he claims he was left unaware of the committee’s order six days earlier revoking the decree setting the ”patriots” free). Collot listens half-heartedly before responding: ”We need memorandums.” Guffroy briskly responds: ”I know very well the way affairs are treated, but for fuck’s sake, I’ve already given memorandums to you, to Robespierre, to Couthon, to the Committee…” Collot walks away as Guffroy rants on. (Les secrets de Joseph Lebon et de ses complices, page 125) Ten o’clock in the evening the same day, Guffroy writes to Collot and Robespierre, having been directed to those two whenever he tried to speak with someone else. In the letter to Collot, he suggests that Lebon putting Gabriel Leblond under arrest once again should be enough to result in him getting recalled immediately and send a commission in his place ”as I have already proposed to you [and] Couthon, in my notes and verbally.” In the letter to Robespierre, Guffroy explains that he went over to the Committee of Public Safety the day before but couldn’t find him, which is why he’ll try to write to him instead. He then once again repeats that ”Lebon's conduct in Arras and elsewhere continues to weigh on the patriots,” lamenting the fact that he at this point has written to Robespierre about the issue four or five times without getting a response. He reminds Robespierre that, in spite of the Committee of Public Safety having set the patriots free, Lebon continues to ”vex” them, and that he’s succeeded in rearresting Gabriel Leblond ”whose child you are godfather to” (this information would appear to be incorrect, Leblond had on the other hand named the child after Robespierre). Guffroy ends by declaring it the duty of both him and Robespierre to ”put an end to this oppressive conduct,” that he’s going to tell the Convention everything and that ”the truth and public happiness” obliges Robespierre to support him. Finally, he lets him know he’s talked to Couthon about the issue this very morning and is going to write to him.

23 June — Joseph Leblond goes to the Convention and asks that his brother be released, affirming that a ”hébertist system” is in control of the Commune of Arras and ”the warmest patriots” have been imprisoned there. He explains how he and ”several other patriots from 1789” were transported to Paris and ”treated with an unprecedented inhumanity on the part of the men surrounding your colleague (Lebon)” before being set free by the Committee of Public Safety, but that Lebon despite this had his brother rearrested ”without there being any new charges against him,” and that he too would meet the same fate if he tried to return to Arras. ”So I throw myself into the arms of the Convention, with this surrender of a truly republican soul, and ask only for the full and complete execution of the decree issued by the Committee of Public Safety on 18 Prairial (the decree setting Leblond and the others free, though it was actually written on 17 Prairial), and the right to have my weapons, my accounting papers, my equipment and my horses returned to me.” Guffroy supports Leblond’s speech before denouncing Lebon in his turn, calling him ”the terror of the patriots of Arras” where ”patriotism is oppressed and in mourning, popular society scattered, shops closed, citizens trembling and fleeing their homes, the local farmer discouraged, the officials chosen by the people replaced by monks, priests and lackeys, blood shed, the prisons overflowing, and the action of the revolutionary government thwarted.” The Convention proposes that the decree from 17 prairial be faithfully executed, that the citizens of Arras and those with knowledge about the political situation in the city within three days write what they know to the two government committes to serve as an examination of Lebon’s conduct, and for the committees to make a report on whether it would be useful to send a commission made up of three people to Arras to examine things.  These three proposals are then sent to the Committee of Public Safety to be looked over. (Moniteur universel, number 277 (25 June 1794), page 1130, Journal de la Montagne, number 58, page 474)

24 June — at the jacobins, Couthon regrets the way certain journalists have reported about the speeches held by Joseph Leblond and Guffroy the day before:  ”I do not intend to prejudge what Guffroy and his clients wanted to do; their denunciations have been brought to the Committees, and the Convention will judge; but what I want to say is that several newspapers supported with a certain affectation in reporting what had been said against Lebon.” Couthon also doesn’t show himself particularly convinced by what Guffroy has said about Lebon and Arras: ”it appears that Lebon has regenerated the department where he had been on mission, and that he has done the greatest good there.”

26 June — Guffroy writes a letter to the Committee of Public Safety revealing that he, on his return from the Convention that day, received a letter in which they ask for a copy for the speech he made in support of Joseph Leblond's petition. Guffroy writes that he’s already begun copying the speech and that the committee will have it tomorrow. He adds that they in the meantime can go over the different notes he’s handed to Couthon and Collot d’Herbois or just left in the committe’s offices, as well as ”everything that’s been written or said” to Carnot or the committee directly. They can also tell the Committee of General Security to gather all the denunciations and complaints it has obtained against both Lebon and his agents and ask Robespierre (who Guffroy himself can’t find either at home or anywhere else) for the five or six letters he’s written to him. Guffroy writes he’s convinced Robespierre must have already gathered together everything Buissart and other patriots from Arras have written to him and taken note of everything Buissart’s wife and son, Charlotte Robespierre and ”the patriots that have managed to reach him” have told him about the subject.

28 June — a deputation from ”the republican, revolutionary, regenerated popular society of Cambrai” presents itself before the Convention to demand that Lebon be kept as the city’s representative on mission: ”No sooner had Joseph Lebon arrived than the enemies withdrew; monarchists, traitors, and known aristocrats were imprisoned, enemies of every kind were delivered to the sword of the law, and oppressed patriots were restored to liberty. He protects and honors the elderly, the destitute, and the unfortunate; he practices all the virtues you have put on the agenda, and makes them practiced and cherished.” The petition, which is covered with ”a huge number of signatures,” is sent to the Committee of Public Safety. (Moniteur universel, number 281 (June 29 1794) page 1146).

28 June — Antoine Buissart writes a letter to Robespierre, beginning by reproaching him for his silence: ”it’s been a month since I last wrote to you, and it seems to me, Maximilien, like you sleep and let the patriots be slaughtered.” He writes that Guffroy’s recent ”alarm” has put the schemers, made up entirely of ”priests and servants” into action, and throws shade on a petition that has just been signed in Arras to asservate Lebon and is to be presented to the Convention, writing that while ”all good citizens” were encouraged to publically sign it, ”cunning and treachery” were employed, and that those who didn’t sign got told that they would pay for it dearly later. Commissioners also made sure to write down all signatories on a seperate list, making it easy to see who had ”the courage not to sign.” Buissart reveals that he belongs to this group ”because I have made it my duty never to sign anything against the truth and the salvation of the public good, whatever terror a guillotine at the disposal of priests might inspire.” He points out that the commune of Arras houses 20 000 inhabitants, while the petition has been signed by only 3000 people, of which he insists one must subtract those who have been sold off for three months (which he judges to be around half of them), as well as those of women and those of boys aged 12-15. Buissart therefore urges Robespierre not to trust the petition, adding that one of the two commissioners who have been sent to deliver it to the Convention is an administrator by the name of Carlier, who since a month back has ”much injured” both him, his wife and Charlotte Robespierre: ”you must know that since then, I am a conspirator in the eyes of this famous Carlier, and my wife and your sister are two schemers. Should such infamies ever be uttered publicly if the people hadn't been corrupted beforehand?” Buissart then once again asks Robespierre to help them out: ”grant nothing to friendship, but everything to justice! Do not see me, see only the public good, and perhaps yourself, since you defend it so well.” He announces that this letter will be handed to Robespierre by his wife (who at that point is in Paris or just about to go there), ”because I don’t have the greatest confidence in your secretary, and the same goes for many other people that surround you.” Finally, he ends by asking when Augustin Robespierre is coming to Arras: ”when will Bonbon come, so desired, him alone can calm the evils that sadden our homeland.”

29 June — the petition from Arras Buissart spoke of in the letter from the day before shows up at the Convention. The two commissioners presenting it — Planés and Carlier — object to the way their town has been displayed and argues that it ”far from being a hotbed of intrigue, remains a haven of republican virtues, and all its citizens are in step with the revolutionary cause.” Before the Convention orders for the petition and petitioners to be sent to the Committee of General Security, Guffroy takes to the floor and ”pays tribute to the patriotism that the commune of Arras has displayed on more than one occasion,” but adds that it is now ”sullied by new men.” As proof of this he lifts the two commissioners themselves — the first being a former nobleman's servant, the second a former priest who has dared to declare that he regards the people as an animal needing to be muzzled. Barère then takes to the floor and reads a long report about the French taking of Charleroi on June 25. Near the end of the report, Barère assures that ”all representatives of the people near these armies assisted in the fight,” and praises Joseph Lebon in particular: ”Lebon, so much slandered by the enemies of Liberty, Lebon, on the recommendation of Saint-Just, had the spies executed in Cambrai and all the enemy's intelligence agents guillotined. (Applause.) The police operation carried out in Cambrai over the past two months, against which foreign newspapers and émigrés hurl the most horrific imprecations, caused our enemies to change their plans. This fact is attested to by the reports of several prisoners interrogated by Guyton, Saint-Just, and Lebas.” Barère adds that a report focused solely on Lebon — a ”republican and loyal representative” — is coming up soon. (Mercure Universel, number 1205 (June 30 1794), page 189-191, Moniteur universel, number 282 (June 30 1794) page 1151-1152).

29 June — the Committee of General Security issues a decree ordering the arrest of Danten, Démuliez, Beugniet and Leblond once more. (Joseph Le Bon, 1765-1795; la terreur à la frontière (1932), volume 2, page 276) It would not appear to have had any effect.

1 July — Buissart writes a letter to his wife in Paris, telling her that yesterday, Barère’s report was read aloud to the people gathered at the foot of the Liberty Tree in Arras, to the sound of a band playing patriotic tunes and cries of ”Long live Saint-Just, Lebas and Lebon!” and that today, a ball is being held at the Temple of Reason in honor of the battle and ”for the glory of Lebon and his companions.” Buissart is however sceptical as to why Lebon’s name was included with the others in Barère’s report, not seeing how he could have possibly played any role in the taking of Charleroi. ”May Maximilien open his eyes, it is time for that, if he wants to see clearly.” Buissart also aims some suspicions at Lebas who is ”the son of a tax collector, of an émigré prince, ci-devant Guistelle,” and again puts his hopes to the idea Augustin Robespierre will come to Arras to sort things out — ”Bonbon’s arrival […] is the hope of the true patriots and the terror of those who dare to persecute them. He knows the individuals of Arras all too well to not do justice to those who deserve it.” No one other than Augustin would work, he can’t be replaced. Buissart ends by asking his wife to embrace their son Poulo, all three Robespierre siblings ”and our other good friends” for him. Through the letter’s suscription, we see that Charlotte Buissart had moved in ”at Maximilien Robespierre’s, Rue Saint-Honoré, Paris.” Guffroy is on the other hand going to claim she lodged with Charlotte Robespierre (Les secrets de Joseph Lebon et de ses complices… page 78).

1 July — Guffroy sends Barère his Censuré républicaine ou Lettre aux Français habitants d’Arras et des communes environnantes, à la Convention nationale et à l’opinion publique, an 80 pages long pamphlet which begins with the revelations that ”my fellow citizens of Arras and its surroundings are oppressed, I will name the subordinate despots who silenced them, who imprisoned them, I don’t fear the despicable threats from their persecutors.” Before doing that, Guffroy does however spend 30 pages with citing long passages from reports made by Robespierre, Billaud-Varennes and Saint-Just over the past year to show that the CPS most definitely must have his back regarding this matter (for example, he underlines the following part from Robespierre’s Rapport sur les principes de la morale politique (February 1794): ”perish the scroundrel who dares to abuse the sacred law of liberty to carry death and sorrow into the heart of patriots!” (page 30). After that, he finally gets around to naming his enemy — ”It is with the unyielding rod of austere virtue that I forge the political dagger with which I’m going to strike you, Joseph Lebon.” He accuses Lebon of having made people tremble to just pass through Arras, of using child soldiers as young as nine without the government’s knowledge, of also leading children into denouncing their parents and going through all letters in the commune before they get sent off, of having arrested farmers only for not having attended constitutional mass, of preaching atheism, of watching executions while playing Ça ira, of having discredited national estates and the property of emigrants, of threatening people with the sabre he’s always carrying and saying he’ll cut their stomachs open, of having allowed people to threaten Buissart with an arrest warrant for corresponding with Carnot, Robespierre and Guffroy himself in order to ”save our commune from the oppression you subject it to,” and of letting his surveillance committee to strip women naked when searching them. As for Démeuliez, Beugniet, the Leblond brothers and Danten, whom he claims all of Arras recognizes as patriots, he writes the reason Lebon had the first four arrested, imprisoned and sent to Paris was ”to punish them for having the courage to oppose his turbulent orders with the very decrees he was violating,” (42) while the émigré Saint-Rémy that Danten was accused of having ties to actually isn’t an émigré at all. (50-51) He also underlines the fact Lebon also had their wives arrested, one of whom, he claims, had just given birth and had a child that was ill. Towards the end of the pamphlet, Guffroy inserts a footnote in which he reminds Robespierre of how the two used to work as lawyers together before the revolution and how the latter then had much bigger qualms about signing a death warrant than he had. Guffroy writes that he in spite of this has ”more than him the soul exercised in sensitivity, in the love of humanity” than Robespierre, since ”I am a husband and father, he is not.” (page 66) This is the only place in the entire pamphlet he writes something that could resemble criticism of the CPS or its members, otherwise he simply accuses Lebon of having misled them. In Les secrets de Joseph Lebon… (page 150) released the following year, Guffroy recalls that Charlotte Buissart nevertheless would have adviced against including the passage and suggested printing a letter praising Robespierre instead. To that he would have replied ”that Robespierre was deceiving her, toying with her, deceiving the patriots of Arras, deceiving everyone, and I predicted his imminent fate.”

In a letter Guffroy sends Barère alongside the pamphlet, he tells him to read all of it, expresses his surprise over the fact Barère praised Lebon at the Convention two days earlier and warns him not to put to much trust in what Saint-Just has said about Lebon, given that the former is only reporting what the latter has told him. (Les secrets de Joseph Lebon… page 146-149)

6 July — Charlotte Robespierre, as already seen through Buissart’s letter from five days earlier, is back in Paris and writes a letter to her younger brother with whom she has had a fallout, after which she moves in with a friend on Rue de la Réunion. According to Guffroy, Charlotte was forced to flee Arras after having been denounced as an ”aristocrat” at the popular society there, and would have been imprisoned had she stayed. Guffroy speculates that the pretext for her arrest was having been at the house of Payen de Neuville, a farmer executed in Cambrai on June 26 (for his affair, see this post). Charlotte was however able to go to Lille to meet representative on mission Florent Guyot, who then drove her directly to Paris (Les secrets de Joseph Lebon et de ses complices…, page 180-181).

8 July — Guffroy writes a letter to Augustin Robespierre, who has recently returned to Paris after an eight months long mission. Guffroy begins by admitting the letter is long, but that Augustin should read all of it. He suggests they should avoid meeting with each other, ”lest anyone accuse us of plotting against one of our colleagues,” and then says he’s going to give him an account over all the steps he’s taken with the two government committees in this affair, ”so that they do not interfere with those you must take, and which you have undoubtedly already taken, to bring the scoundrels and schemers of Arras to justice.” He brings up his new pamphlet, assuring Augustin that ”I wouldn’t have spoken like that about that madman if the patriots hadn’t been oppressed,” and defends the little jab he took at Maximilien in it: ”You know me, had I wanted to attack your brother in a note, like it is insinuated I did, then I'm loyal enough to do it out loud.” Guffroy then tells Augustin to tell his brother to look over the four or five letters he’s sent to him about the subject and get him to ”renounce the prejudices that ill-intentioned people have given him against me,” as well as to speak to the Committee of General Security members Élie Lacoste, Vadier and Rühl who ”must fear that I am acting with passion, yet they all know my love for the truth.” He complains about having been expelled from the jacobins three months earlier, dismisses the petition from Arras read at the Convention on June 29 as ”a work of violence and cunning,” and accuses Lebon of having gotten elected to the Convention ”only on the basis of negative evidence of his civic-mindedness.” He ends with some encouraging words: ”Courage, brave comrade, put an end to the suffering of the true and sincere friends of liberty in Arras,” and, like Buissart, expresses his surprise over the fact Augustin has not gotten sent to Arras: ”Why don't they put you in charge of restoring order? Only you or I can do it: local knowledge is absolutely necessary.”

In Les Secrets de Joseph Lebon… Guffroy writes that Augustin, who ”soon seemed to want to seriously help and serve [the ’patriots’]” showed this letter to his brother and also succeeded in organizing several meetings between Danten, Démuliez, Joseph Leblond and Maximilien. Guffroy claims to have been present at one of the meetings where it was just Augustin and the ”patriots.” Augustin would then indeed have reproached him for ”having sought to harm his brother” with the above mentioned note in Censuré républicaine where Guffroy had written he had more humanity and sensitivity than Maximilien. In Guffroy’s own words, Augustin was ”completely furious” over it. (Les secrets de Joseph Lebon et de ses complices…, page 128-129, 150). Barère, when speaking at the Convention on August 30 1794, also claimed that ”Robespierre the younger spoke against this representative of the people (Lebon),” while ”Robespierre the older and Saint-Just spoke in his favor.” (Le Républicain français, number 648 (3 September 1794), page 2664

9 July — Barère, in the name of the Committee of Public Safety, climbs the tribune of the Convention and, as promised on June 29, reads a report in the name of the Committee of Public Safety regarding the conduct of Lebon. Barère once again praises the representative and affirms that the Committee of Public Safety stands with him: ”Joseph Lebon, although with some forms of which the Committee disapproved, completely defeated the aristocrats, he suppressed the malevolent, the vigorous measures which he took saved Cambrai covered in treasons.” He regrets the fact citizens started retorting to petitions and also aims a veiled denounciation at Guffroy, saying that ”representatives must not be allowed to attack each other with polemical writings and to put the revolutionary spirit and movement on trial.” (Moniteur Universel, number 292 (July 10), page 1194-1195)

10 July — the Committee of Public Safety, considering that the successes of the northern armies makes it possible to eliminate local police forces, authors a decree ordering for the commission established by Lebon in the Pas-de-Calais department be shut down and those accused of counter-revolution brought without delay to the Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris, while Lebon himself will gather together all information he has collected concerning conspiracies and bring it before the commmitte, together with a table of the operations he has carried out. The Committee once again underlines that ”the examples of severity set at Cambrai have had a beneficial effect on the armies of the Republic.” The decree is signed by Barère, Carnot, Billaud-Varennes, Couthon, Saint-Just, Lindet, Collot d’Herbois, Robespierre and C-A Prieur. The very same day, Barère, in the name of the Committee, authors the following letter to Lebon:

The Committee has just learned that you were preparing to leave; do not go, and come to the Committee without delay. B. Barère, Collot d’Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, C-A. Prieur.

18 July — Régis Deshorties, the Robespierre siblings step-cousin, writes a letter to Augustin to give him an update on how his friends in Arras are doing. Deshorties writes Buissart is waiting for his wife to come back ”after she has given to the Committe of Public Safety every instruction to which her deep knowledge in politics grant their justness.” Similar to Buissart, Deshorties both notes Maximilien’s silence towards them — ”Entirely belonging to the homeland and the great interests of the entire humankind, Robespierre has ceased to exist for his friends.” — and seems to have erroneously come to believe Augustin will get sent to Arras — ”Charlotte Robespierre had promised me to give me a note as soon as you return to the capital. Since I have received no letter of hers on that subject, nor another letter of which she should have pointed out the reception, I figured (as several persons have assured me) that you would come to Arras and that this was the reason for your sister’s silence.”

22 or 23 July — Augustin Robespierre brings Joseph Leblond and another one of the ”patriots” to Maximilien’s room, and they start a discussion about Arras. Soon enough however, Augustin tries to change the subject, encouraging Leblond to ”tell my brother what it is you know about Carnot, against whom Duquesnoy has said that he’s going to bring papers and proofs on fifteen facts capable of guillotining Carnot fifteen times.” When Leblond instead starts talking about the despotism of both Duquesnoy and his brother, the general Florent Joseph Duquesnoy, Maximilien gets mad and tells Augustin: ”Let’s go!” The two leave, but in the middle of the stairs Augustin turns around and tells Leblond: ”Damn beast, we should only talk about Carnot; why talk about the two Duquesnoys? My brother and the Committee of Public Safety have the biggest confidence in them… You’re lucky to be free… Duquesnoy!” (Les Secretes de Joseph Lebon (1795), page 337-338)

25 July — Herman, commissioner of civil administration, police and courts in Paris, forwards the following decree to the national agent in Arras, confirming that the ”patriots” from now on are to be left alone:

The Committee of Public Safety, having received clarification on the detention of citizens Démuliez, the two Leblond brothers and the wife of Gabriel, and testimony of their constant patriotism since the beginning of the Revolution, decrees that they shall be set free; [and] charges the national agent of the district of Arras with the execution of this decree. Couthon, Carnot, Saint-Just, Collot d’Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, Barère, Prieur, Robespierre, Lindet.

28 July — execution of Robespierre, Saint-Just, Lebas, Couthon and Augustin Robespierre in Paris. The very same day, Collot d’Herbois authors the following decree recalling Lebon to Paris:

The Committee of Public Safety orders that the representative Lebon, who for the moment is in Cambrai, immediately returns to the Convention. Collot d’Herbois, Carnot, C-A. Prieur, Billaud-Varennes, B. Barère.

31 July — Charlotte Robespierre is arrested and interrogated. When asked why she isn’t living with her brothers, she responds that ”she used to […], but her brothers and femme Duplay had told her to leave her apartment, and that femme Duplay reproached her for seeing counter-revolutionaries, among which was Guffroy, representative of the people.” A woman arrested alongside Charlotte and interrogated the very same day, does in her turn claim that Daillet and Topino-Le Brun, juror at the parisian Revolutionary Tribunal, had told a friend of hers to stop seeing Charlotte, ”given that Le Brun knew that all those who came to see citoyenne Robespierre would be guillotined.” (see this post)

Forty years after the fact, Sergent-Marceau claimed that he on the morning of the day in question had been at Danton’s place together with Desmoulins, Fréron, Fabre, Santerre, Brune, Duplain and Momoro, discussing the lynching of two men at the Champ-de-Mars. At nine o’clock, Legendre arrives and tells the group that two men had come home to him and said: We are charged with warning you to get out of Paris, bring Danton, Camille and Fréron, let them not be seen in the city all day, it is Alexandre Lameth who engages this. Camille, Danton and Fréron follow this advice and leave, and were therefore most likely not present for the demonstration and shootings (Revue rétrospective, ou Bibliothèque historique: contenant des mémoires et documens authentiques, inédits et originaux, pour servir à l'histoire proprement dite, à la biographie, à l'histoire de la littérature et des arts (1834),p. 284-285). Desmoulins is nevertheless confirmed to have shown up at the jacobins’ evening session the very same day to talk about the split with the Feuillants and bring to attention the fact that his journal since six weeks back has been unable to reach Marseille. Sergent-Marceau too was there.

Robespierre did, according to the memoirs of his sister Charlotte, see the shootings with his own eyes. He is confirmed to have been at the jacobins’ evening session and there have intervened twice, first asking that commissioners be appointed to find out and report back what exactly is going on in Paris, and then lamenting the sad state of affairs. Both Charlotte, Fréron and Philippe Lebas Jr. write it was on this day Robespierre moved in with the Duplay family on rue Saint-Honoré 398 Charlotte claims that this happened when he was walking away from the massacre following said street. A considerable crowd then showed up, recognized him and started shouting vive Robespierre!, which caused Maurice Duplay to come out and offer Robespierre to rest up in his house. Fréron on the other hand writes that when leaving the jacobins in the evening and crossing its courtyard, which was filled with Lafayette’s soldiers who ”vomit[ed] imprecations and threats against the Jacobins” Robespierre got so scared that he had to grab onto Lecointre and La Poype in order to support himself. Not daring to go home he asked Lecointre if he knew any patriot in the vicinity of the Tuileries who could give him shelter for the night, whereupon the latter brought him to the Duplays. Philippe jr simply writes that on the day in question, a rumor had spread that ”the most influential members of the democratic party, and in particular Robespierre” were going to get arrested, causing his grandfather to offer him asylum. Charlotte claims her brother wanted to leave after an hour or two, but was made to stay for dinner and kept in the house for days.

Pétion too was at the jacobins’ evening session, where he held speech about the founding of the Feuillant club the day before, calling for calm in these ”stormy times” and for a circular to be sent to all the sister clubs.

Brissot admitted in a interrogation held October 15 1793 that his ”great occupations” had hindered him from attending the demonstration. He is confirmed to have been at the jacobin club in the evening and there have read aloud the circular to the sister societies regarding the split with the Feuillants Pétion proposed writing. At the very end the circular says the following, apropos of the day’s event on Champ-de-Mars: ”Something has just happened at Champ-de-Mars: the blood of the people has flowed. Brothers and friends, beware of false stories and slander that may be directed at you. We owe you the truth, you know that.” The circular was approved.