arrives, which they await as ravens await their prey.—­I have not told all;—­generals are prepared for this hideous army.  The friends of Jourdan, impatient to behold the man whom the amnesty had not delivered sufficiently soon, have broken open his prison at Avignon.  Already, he has been received in triumph in several cities of the south, like the Swiss of the Chateauvieux, and will arrive at Paris to-morrow; Sunday he will be present at the fete with his companions—­with the two Mainvielle—­with Pegtavin;—­with all those cold-blooded scoundrels who have killed in one night sixty-eight defenceless persons, and violated females before they murdered them.  Catiline!—­Cethegus!—­march forward, the soldiers of Sylla are in the city, and the consul himself undertakes to disarm the Romans.  The measure is full,—­it overflows!”

Petion strove miserably to justify himself in a letter in which his weakness and connivance revealed themselves beneath the multiplicity of excuses.  At the same time Robespierre, mounting the tribune of the Jacobins, exclaimed, “You do not trace to their source the obstacles that oppose the expansion of the sentiments of the people.  Against whom think you that you have to strive? against the aristocracy?—­No.  Against the court?—­No.  Against a general who has long entertained great designs against the people.  It is not the national guard that views these preparations with alarm; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires in the staff; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires in the directory of the department; it is the genius of La Fayette that perverts the minds of so many good citizens in the capital who would but for him be with us.

“La Fayette is the most dangerous of the enemies of liberty, because he wears the mask of patriotism; it is he who, after having wrought all the evil in his power in the Constituent Assembly, has affected to withdraw to his estates, and then comes to strive for this post of mayor of Paris, not to obtain it, but to refuse it, in order to affect disinterestedness; it is he who has been appointed to the command of the French armies, in order to turn them against the Revolution.  The national guards of Metz were as innocent as those of Paris, they can be nothing but patriots; it is La Fayette who, through the medium of Bouille his relation and accomplice, has deceived them.  How can we inscribe on the banners of this fete, Bouille is alone guilty?  Who sought to stifle the revolt at Nancy, and cover it with an impenetrable veil?  Who demands crowns for the assassins of the soldiers of Chateauvieux?  La Fayette.  Who prevented me from speaking?  La Fayette.  Who are those who now dart such threatening glances at me?  La Fayette and his accomplices.” (Loud applause.)

XIX.