People being not all that thrilled during the festival of the supreme being compilation
It should not be believed that there was much incense for the god of the day. I heard many imprecations uttered loud enough to reach even the ears of the priest. It has been said that he could have taken advantage of that day to declare his sovereignty; this is not to be believed, discontent was everywhere, satisfaction and joy nowhere. It is much truer to say that his downfall was sworn in this triumphal procession: many made no secret of it, and if the interval was not the principal cause, at least the conspirators took advantage of it to increase their numbers and make people believe in the dictatorship. Moreover, the ceremony ended with an amphibological speech without force, without vigor, and Robespierre gained nothing from his supposed triumph but the hatred of some and the contempt of others, having been unable to give either character or dignity to such a lofty declaration. There were no more than eight people between Robespierre and me, I heard all the curses; they came from Thirion de Montaut, from Ruamps and especially from Lecointre de Versailles, who more than twenty times called Robespierre dictator! tyrant! and threatened to kill him.
Notes historiques sur la Convention nationale, le Directoire, l'Empire et l'exil des votants (1893) by Marc-Antoine Baudot
On the day he had designated for his triumph (20 Prairial), I (Lecointre) was indignant at the applause that marked his presence; and I cried out that I despised him as much as I abhorred him, with a force of voice that the applause could not cover. I carried the expression of my hatred to his ears, every time the applause was renewed with affectation; he complained about it, saying, at the tribune of the Convention, on 8 Thermidor, that he had been insulted by a member; the day of the festival of the Supreme Being, and he demanded vengeance.
Conjuration formée dès le 5 préréal [sic] par neuf représentans du peuple contre Maximilien Robespierre, pour le poignarder en plein sénat: rapport et acte d'accusation dont la lecture devoit précéder dans la Convention cet acte de dévouement (1794) by Laurent Lecointre, p. 3.
Sure of having sown the seed, I (Fouché) had the courage to defy [Robespierre], on the 20th Prairial (June 8 1794), a day on which, actuated with the ridiculous idea of solemnly acknowledging the existence of the Supreme Being, he dared to proclaim himself both his will and agent, in presence of all the people assembled at the Tuileries. As he was ascending the steps of his lofty tribune, whence he was to proclaim his manifesto in favour of God, I predicted to him aloud (twenty of my colleagues heard it) that his fall was near.
Memoirs of Fouché (1825) page 20.
On the day of the Festival of the Supreme Being, before the people, [Bourdon de l’Oise] allowed himself the most vulgar sarcasms and the most indecent declamations on this subject. He remarked, with wickedness, to the members of the Convention, the signs of interest which the public gave to the president, in order to draw atrocious inductions against him, in the sense of the enemies of the Republic.
Robespierre in a note on Bourdon de l’Oise written somewhere after the passing of the law of 22 prairial.
On the Champ-de-Mars, when Babeuf, Bourdon and others said that Robespierre would perish by their hands, my husband said to me: “The homeland is lost!”
Memoirs of Élisabeth Le Bas, cited in Le conventionnel Le Bas : d'après des documents inédits et les mémoires de sa veuve (1901) by Stéfane-Pol, page 136.
On the day of the beautiful feast of the Eternal, a shameful masquerade and sacrilegious farce, which must cover us all with shame and humiliation, I said to a deputy, seeing the amiable Robespierre at the head of the Senate, which he had used as decoration for his pantomimes: Do you see Robespierre? I give him six more weeks to live...
Testament d'un électeur de Paris (1795) by Beffroy de Reigny, p. 142.
I attended this celebration, which was given in the Tuileries Gardens. A huge orchestra was set up at the foot of the Clock Pavilion, where the members of the Convention occupied the salons. Robespierre kept his colleagues waiting for a long time, which greatly upset them.
Souvenirs de M. Berryer, doyen des avocats de Paris (1839), volume 1, p. 222.
Among the members who would have thus come to insult [Robespierre] to the limit, Fréron, Lecointre and Bourdon d’Oise have been cited; one has even gone so far as to attribute these words to Lecointre: Robespierre, I like your festival, but I detest you. Only believe this with a grain of salt, and, if you want to know my way of thinking, don’t believe it at all. Robespierre was on this day at the height of his glory and power, and to defy him in the midst of his triumph would have demanded an audacity of which Lecointre, Bourdon d’Oise et Fréron, all three of whom I knew well, certainly weren’t capable.
Souvenirs de la Terreur de 1788 à 1793 (1842) by Georges Duval, volume 4, p. 356-357.
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