Editing Bertrand Barère (section)

==Political career (1789–93)==
Barère was elected to the [[Estates General (France)|Estates-General]] in 1789 and elected judge of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|Constituent Assembly]] in 1791.<sup>[[Bertrand Barère#cite note-4|[4]]]</sup>

Soon after the king's [[flight to Varennes]] (June 1791), Barère joined the [[Republicanism|republican]] party and the [[Feuillant (political group)|Feuillants]]. However, he continued to keep in touch with the [[Louis Philip II, Duke of Orléans|Duke of Orléans]], whose natural daughter, Pamela, he [[tutor]]ed. After the Constituent Assembly ended its session, he was nominated one of the judges of the newly instituted ''[[Court of Cassation (France)|Cour de cassation]]'' from October 1791 to September 1792.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=398}}

In September 1792 he was elected to the [[National Convention]] for the ''[[département]]'' of the [[Hautes-Pyrénées]].<sup>[[Bertrand Barère#cite note-Lee 1902.2C p.151-5|[5]]]</sup> Barère served as presiding officer in the [[National Convention]] and chaired the [[trial of Louis XVI]] in December 1792–January 93.<sup>[[Bertrand Barère#cite note-7|[7]]]</sup> He voted with [[The Mountain]] for the king's execution "without appeal and without delay," and closed his speech with: "the tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants."{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=398}}<ref name=Gershoy427/>

He was a member of the Constitution Committee that drafted the [[Girondin constitutional project]] in February 1793. On 18 March Barère proposed to establish a Committee of Public Safety. On 7 April, Barère was elected to the [[Committee of Public Safety]].<ref>Gershoy 1962, p. 156.</ref> A member of "The Plain,"<ref name="Schama">{{cite book|last=Schama|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Schama|title=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/citizenschronic00scha|date=1989|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=0-394-55948-7|page=648}}</ref> who was unaligned with either [[The Mountain]] or the [[Girondins]], he was the first member elected to the Committee of Public Safety and one of two members (with [[Robert Lindet]]), who served on it during its entire existence. In this role he utilized his eloquence and popularity within the convention to serve as the voice of the committee.<ref name="palmer,31"/> Of 923 orders signed by the Committee of Public Safety in the fall of 1793, Barère was the author or first signatory on 244, the second most behind [[Lazare Carnot|Carnot]], with the majority of his orders dealing with police activities.<ref>Palmer, 1949, p. 109.</ref> The majority of [[the Plain]] was formed by independents as Barère, [[Pierre Joseph Cambon|Cambon]] and Carnot but they were dominated by the radical Mountain.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bernard|first=Jack F.|title=Talleyrand: a biography|url=https://archive.org/details/talleyrand00jack|date=1973|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|location=New York|isbn=0-399-11022-4|page=106}}</ref>

Despite his popularity, Barère was regarded by more extreme revolutionaries as a vacillating politician without true revolutionary ideals.<ref name=palmer,31/> Palmer (1949) analyzed that 'his commitment to the Revolution rather than any distinct faction separated him from other major Revolutionary figures'.<ref name=palmer,31>Palmer, 1949, p. 31.</ref> [[Jean-Paul Marat]] used the last edition of his paper ''Publiciste de la République Française'' (no. 242, 14 July 1793) to attack Barère directly:

{{blockquote|There is one whom I regard as the most dangerous enemy of the Nation: I mean Barère... I'm convinced that he plays both sides of every issue until he sees which one is coming out ahead. He has paralysed all vigorous efforts; he enchains us in order to strangle us.<ref>Clifford D. Conner, Jean Paul Marat, Scientist and Revolutionary, Humanities Press, New Jersey 1997 p. 254</ref>}}

On 1 August, on a report by Barère, the Convention decreed the systematic destruction of the Vendée.<ref name="erenow.net">Hazan, E. (2014) A People's History of the French Revolution. Chapter: June to October 1793. The 'federalist' uprisings, the Committee of Public Safety, the assassination of Marat, the Enragés and the popular movement, the general maximum</ref> On 5 September 1793 Barère incited the French [[National Convention]] with a speech glorifying terror and the founding of revolutionary armies by [[Sans-culottes]]:

{{blockquote|The aristocrats of Internal Affairs are since many days meditating a movement. Oh well! They'll have it, that movement, but they'll have it against them! It will be organized, regularized by a revolutionary army that at last will fulfill that great word that it owes to the [[Paris Commune (French Revolution)|Paris ''Commune'']]: Let's make terror the order of the day!<ref>Noah Shusterman – ''The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics''. Routledge, London and New York, 2014. Chapter 7 (pp. 175–203): The federalist revolt, the Vendée, and the start of the Terror (summer–fall 1793).</ref><ref>{{in lang|fr}} {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20181127234217/http://www.vendeensetchouans.com/archives/2011/08/30/21907332.html '30 août 1793 – La terreur à l'ordre du jour!']}} Website Vendéens & Chouans. Retrieved 6 July 2017.</ref>}}

Barère voiced the Committee of Public Safety's support for the measures desired by the assembly. He presented a decree that was passed immediately, establishing a paid armed force of 6,000 men and 1,200 gunners "designed to crush the counter-revolutionaries, to execute wherever the need arises the revolutionary laws and the measures of public safety that are decreed by the National Convention, and to protect provisions."<ref name="erenow.net"/> In a proclamation, Barère said:

{{blockquote|It is time that equality bore its scythe above all heads. It is time to horrify all the conspirators. So legislators, place Terror on the order of the day! Let us be in revolution because everywhere counter-revolution is being woven by our enemies. The blade of the law should hover over all the guilty.}}

On 12 October when Hébert accused Marie-Antoinette of incest with her son, Robespierre had dinner with Barère, Saint-Just and [[Joachim Vilate]]. Discussing the matter, Robespierre broke his plate with his fork and called Hébert an "imbécile".<ref>{{cite book |last=Vilate |first=Joachim |title=Causes secrètes de la Révolution du 9 au 10 thermidor |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k41180s |year=1794 |pages=12–13 |oclc=764013318 |language=fr |access-date=12 September 2020 |archive-date=27 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327040456/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k41180s |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Schama|1989|p=799}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IR5mAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA197|title=The French Revolution: Faith, Desire and Politics|date=15 October 2013|publisher=Routledge|page=197|isbn=9781134455935|access-date=12 September 2020|archive-date=7 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107230952/https://books.google.com/books?id=IR5mAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA197#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Barère voted for the death of the 21 Girondists in October 1793. His role as the chief communicator throughout the [[Reign of Terror]], combined with his lyrical eloquence, led to his nickname: "[[Anacreon]] Of The Guillotine."<ref>Carlyle, 1837, p. 161</ref> He changed his stance when the [[Hébertists]] called for another revolution in March 1794; the voluntary Guards and militant Sans-culottes lost influence quickly. He can be seen as a "weathervane" after changing his opinion on the revolutionary armies.{{efn|On 27 March on the proposal of Barère the ''armée revolutionnaire'', for seven months active in Paris and surroundings, was disbanded, except their artillery.<ref name="ReferenceA">Le Moniteur Universel 28 March 1793</ref><ref name="books.google.nl">{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZBCAQAAMAAJ&dq=%2228+mars%22+1794+armee+revolutionnaire&pg=PA149 |title=Collection complète des lois, décrets d'intérêe général, traités ..., Band 7, p. 149 |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423041215/https://books.google.com/books?id=uZBCAQAAMAAJ&dq=%2228+mars%22+1794+armee+revolutionnaire&pg=PA149 |url-status=live |author1=France |date=1825 }}</ref><ref name="Cobb, R. 1987 p. 601, 607">Cobb, R. (1987) The People's Armies, p. 601, 607, 611, 617</ref><ref name="Nn9N8pJUtYC p. 203">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNn9N8pJUtYC&q=Nationality+and+Citizenship+in+Revolutionary+France%3A+The+Treatment |title=Nationality and Citizenship in Revolutionary France: The Treatment of Foreigners by Michael Rapport, p. 203 |isbn=978-0-19-154323-4 |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408013150/https://books.google.com/books?id=jNn9N8pJUtYC&q=Nationality+and+Citizenship+in+Revolutionary+France:+The+Treatment |url-status=live |last1=Rapport |first1=Michael |date=6 July 2000 |publisher=OUP Oxford }}</ref> Their infantry and cavalry seem to be merged with other regiments.}} In summer he was one of the leading men in the power struggles between The Mountain and The Plain, involved in the [[Maximilien Robespierre#Downfall|downfall of Robespierre]].<ref name="Richard T. Bienvenu 1968 p. 175">Richard T. Bienvenu (1968) The Ninth of Thermidor, p. 175–176</ref> Barère, an opportunist who cooperated in the tyranny, then described him as "the Terror itself".