I was born on the 6th May 1758 in a small town in France, called Arras. Dad was a lawyer, and my grandparents on my Mums side were Brewers. Being the eldest of four children, expectations were high, but unfortunatly my Mum died when I was very young, and then Dad decided to go wandering around Europe leaving ME to care for my siblings!
However, I decided to throw my self into my studying, and became a star pupil, and I even had to read the Latin address to Louis XVI when he visited Arras. What a shit. He paid me no interest at all.
My real interests were in studying my hero, Jean Jaques Rousseau, and I was never without a copy of 'The Social Contract' in my pocket throughout my later life. In 1770 I obtained a scholarship at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, and I idealised the Roman Republic, reading Cicero and Cato. I also made friends with a pupil called Camille Desmoulins.
Returning to Arras, I then practised as a Lawyer. The Bishop of Arras, M. de Conzié, appointed me criminal judge in the diocese of Arras in March 1782. This appointment, which I soon resigned to avoid pronouncing a sentence of death (well..), did not prevent my practicing at the bar. I quickly became a successful advocate. I then turned to literature and society and came to be regarded as one of the best writers as well as one of the most popular 'dandies' of Arras.
I liked cravats, always carrying a spare, and carried a hat, but I never wore it because it might have messed up my hair! God forbid! I also never drink alchohol. I recall being completey debauched one day, and I remember writing:
"Every moment since our arrival has been devoted to pleasure. Ever since saturday I have eaten a Tart. What a temptation to spend the night eating more!"
How debauched can one get! I then later reflected on the beauty of mastering ones passions. It earned me the nickname of 'The Incorruptable'.
In 1786 I was elected as President of the Arras Academy, and produced pamphlets relating to the poverty of local peasants. I managed to also get elected to the Estates General, being the fifth deputy of the tiers état of Artois to the States-General. Then came the Revolution of 1789.
While the Constituent Assembly occupied itself with drawing up a constitution, I turned from the assembly of provincial lawyers and wealthy bourgeois to the people of Paris. I was a frequent speaker in the Constituent Assembly (over 150 speeches up to 1791!); often with great success although my voice was noted as being "high-pitched and metallic". I became eventually recognized as second only to Pétion de Villeneuve if second he was as a leader of the small body of the extreme left; "the thirty voices" as Mirabeau contemptuously called them. Wanker.
I turned to the Jacobins, but they decided to idolise me later on from my speeches. Idiots the lot of them! I then moved into a cabient makers house, Maurice Dupley, and some say I fucked his daughter, Éléonore Duplay, but I did become engaged to her later on...
I then developed an opposition to militarism, because it might play into the hands of reactionary forces against the young revolution. The Girondins were furious, especially Brissot, who attacked me violently. In April 1792, I resigned the post of public prosecutor at the tribunal of Paris, which I had held since February, and started a journal, Le Defenseur de la Constitution, in my own defence. In 1792, I took part in the Commune of Paris, as a means to check the ambitions of the Girondins.
This is when we get to the debate regarding what should be done about Louis XVI. I remember writing:
This is no trial; Louis is not a prisoner at the bar; you are not judges; you are you cannot but be statesmen, and the representatives of the nation. You have not to pass sentence for or against a single man, but you have to take a resolution on a question of the public safety, and to decide a question of national foresight. It is with regret that I pronounce, the fatal truth: Louis ought to perish rather than a hundred thousand virtuous citizens; Louis must die, that the country may live.
Yes, the sod was a persistent problem so had to be killed. Good riddence!
Chop Suey...
The Girondins proved to be a problems afterwards, so, along with my friends Danton, Marat and Desmoulins, we decided to arrest them all. Off with their heads! heh. In 1793 we decided to form the Committe of Public Saftey..my crowning glory. What happened next is just history.
Terror is only justice that is prompt, severe and inflexible. Terror without virtue is disastrous; virtue without terror is powerless.
The period 1793/94 saw the begining of the fallout with my close friends Danton and Desmoulins. The 'Terror' was begining to spiral out of control, but it was a complete necessity to save the Revolution from reaction! Dr. Guillotins invention was an, er, godsend at this point!
We needed to save the Revolution and establish a Republic of Virtue. Continuing the Terror was the only way we could do this. Danton and Desmoulins had to go, I am sorry to say.
In accordance with Rousseaus Social Contract, in 1794 I set up the cult of the Supreme Being. I abhorred Catholicism, as it was an integral part of the ancient regime, but athiesm also was not good. The Supreme Being was "...a constant reminder of justice...its is both socially valuable and Republican". In June we put on the 'Festival of the Supreme Being', where a effigy of Athiesm was burnt, revealing a monmument to Wisdom inside. Things were begining to look good.
The Supreme Cult
But not for long. I was begining to notice the odd jeer against me when in public. 'Down with the Tyrant'? I mean, honestly, all I ever did was try and preserve the Revolution! On July 27th (9th of Thermidor), after some hectic debating at the Convention, I was ordered along with St.Just, Couthon and my brother to be arrested. The sans-culottes made a poor show in opposing the arrests, damn them all! Next day, 10th Thermidor, they chopped off my head.
Myself, St.Just and Couthon in happier times.
"What is the end of our revolution? The tranquil enjoyment of liberty and equality; the reign of that eternal justice, the laws of which are graven, not on marble or stone, but in the hearts of men, even in the heart of the slave who has forgotten them, and in that of the tyrant who disowns them. "
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