Editing Georges Danton (section)

==Revolution==
[[File:2018 No. 1 Cours du Commerce Saint-Andre, residence of Danton.jpg|thumb|left|The historic Cour du Commerce Saint-Andre in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The house at No. 1 was where Georges Danton lived when he was the District President.]] [[File:Couvent des Cordeliers - Paris - Front View.jpg|thumb|left|Cordeliers University Library – Paris – Front View (formerly Couvent des Cordeliers)]]

In the spring of 1789, Danton found his revolutionary beginnings as one of the many people giving speeches to the crowds gathered in the [[Palais-Royal|Palais Royal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawday |first=David |title=The Giant of the French Revolution |publisher=Grove Press |date=July 12, 2011 |isbn=978-0802145413 |pages=37–38}}</ref> His demanding voice and rhetorical skill quickly gained him fame, as well as his nickname of "The Thunderer".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawday |first=David |title=The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life |publisher=Grove Press |date=July 12, 2011 |isbn=978-0802145413 |pages=45}}</ref> As the Cordeliers district Danton resided in grew more persistent in its revolutionary ideals, it eventually formed its own street militia that was involved in the [[storming of the Bastille]] on July 14, 1789.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawday |first=David |title=The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life |publisher=Grove Press |date=July 12, 2011 |isbn=978-0802145413 |pages=40, 48–49}}</ref> Danton himself was not present for the event, however, he soon after led the Cordeliers militia, as well as other revolutionaries, on a mission to retake the Bastille from its provisional governor, which gained him more popular support from the revolutionaries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawday |first=David |title=The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life |publisher=Grove Press |date=July 12, 2011 |isbn=978-0802145413 |pages=49–52}}</ref><ref>S. Schama (1989) ''Citizens'', p. 452</ref> He and his district opposed the [[Marquis de LaFayette]], the commander of the [[National Guard]], as well as [[Jean Sylvain Bailly]], the provisional mayor. In early October, he was elected president of his section (around the [[Cordeliers Convent]]) and deputy to the Commune and wrote the poster for the [[Cordeliers]] which called Parisians to arms.

His house in the Rue des Cordeliers was open to many people from the neighborhood. Danton, [[Camille Desmoulins|Desmoulins]], and [[Jean-Paul Marat|Marat]], who lived around the corner, all used the nearby [[Cafe Procope]] as a meeting place. Danton protected Marat from legal proceedings, and in March 1790, LaFayette ordered Danton detained. Paris Commune was divided up into 48 sections and allowed to gather separately. Danton was removed from office by a redistricting of Paris, for which he was compensated.<ref>Hibbert, C. (1980) ''The French Revolution'', p. 167</ref><ref>N. Hampson (1978) ''Danton'', p. 58</ref>

On 27 April 1790, he became president of the [[Cordeliers|Club de Cordeliers]]. On 2 August, Bailly became Paris' first elected mayor; Danton had 49 votes, Marat and Louis XVI only one each.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TU1gDwAAQBAJ&dq=jacobin+club+%C3%A9lection+maire+1790+Bailly&pg=PA181|title=Petites et Grandes Révolutions de la Famille de Milly: Recherches sur et autour de Louis-Lézin de Milly de la Croix (1752–1804), Homme de Loi et Franc-Maçon|first=Alexandre|last=B|year=2018|publisher=Alexandre B.|isbn=9782956328100|via=Google Books|access-date=13 March 2023|archive-date=18 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318180225/https://books.google.com/books?id=TU1gDwAAQBAJ&dq=jacobin+club+%C3%A9lection+maire+1790+Bailly&pg=PA181|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e9EaAAAAYAAJ&dq=jacobin+club+%C3%A9lection+maire+1790+Bailly&pg=PA250|title=Les lundis révolutionnaires: 1790|date=24 May 1790|publisher=Lib. française|via=Google Books|access-date=13 March 2023|archive-date=18 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318180220/https://books.google.com/books?id=e9EaAAAAYAAJ&dq=jacobin+club+%C3%A9lection+maire+1790+Bailly&pg=PA250|url-status=live}}</ref> In spring 1791, Danton suddenly began investing in property, in or near his birthplace, on a large scale.<ref>N. Hampson (1978) Danton, p. 57</ref>

[[Maximilien Robespierre|Robespierre]], Pétion, Danton, and Brissot dominated the Jacobin Club. On 17 July 1791, Danton initiated a petition. Robespierre went to the Jacobin club to cancel the draft of the petition, according to [[Albert Mathiez]]. Robespierre persuaded the Jacobin clubs not to support the petition by Danton and Brissot.{{sfn|Schama|1989|p=567}} After the [[Champ de Mars massacre]], a series of repressive measures against the heads of popular societies forced him to take refuge in London for a few weeks.<ref>Andress, David. ''The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France'' (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005), p. 51.{{ISBN?}}</ref> Since Jean-Paul Marat, Danton, and Robespierre were no longer delegates of the Assembly, politics often took place outside the meeting hall.

After the amnesty voted in the Assembly on 13 September 1791, Danton returned to Paris. He sought election to the new [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]], but the opposition of the [[Modérantisme|moderates]] in the electoral assembly of Paris led to his defeat. In December 1791, during the partial renewal of the municipality, there was significant abstention. This led to the defeat of LaFayette and the resignation of Bailly, which revealed the decline of the "constitutional" party which had until then dominated the Hôtel de Ville. Danton was elected second deputy ''procureur'' ''public'' of the Commune. The debate at the beginning of December 1791 on whether to go to war with neighboring powers opposing the Revolution, triggered conflict between Jacobins  and led to the birth of the opposition between [[The Mountain|Montagnards]] and [[Girondins]]. Danton hesitated on the need for war. He leaned more towards Robespierre than the pro-war [[Jacques Pierre Brissot|Brissot]], but, overall, limited his participation in the dispute.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Soboul |first=Albert |title=Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution |publisher=PUF |year=1989 |location=Paris |pages=322}}</ref>

===1792===
On 9 August 1792, Danton returned from Arcis. In the evening before the [[storming of the Tuileries]], he was visited by Desmoulins, his wife, and Fréron. After dinner, he went to the Cordeliers and preferred to go to bed early. It seems he went to the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Maison-Commune]] after midnight.<ref>N. Hampson (1978) Danton, pp. 72–73</ref> Faced with the [[Paris Commune (1789–1795)|insurrectionary Commune]] which relied on the insurgent sections and which held Paris, the Legislative Assembly had no choice but to suspend [[Louis XVI]] and replace him with a provisional Executive Council of six members composed of former Girondin ministers ([[Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière|Roland]] in the Interior, [[Joseph Marie Servan de Gerbey|Servan]] in the War, [[Étienne Clavière|Clavière]] in Finance, [[Gaspard Monge|Monge]] in the Navy and [[Pierre Henri Hélène Marie Lebrun-Tondu|Lebrun]] in Foreign Affairs). The Girondins, hostile to revolutionary Paris, needed a popular man committed to the insurgents to liaise with the insurrectional Commune and had Danton appointed to Minister of Justice the next day; he appointed [[Fabre d'Églantine|Fabre]] and Desmoulins as his secretaries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chisholm |first=Hugh |title=Fabre d'Églantine, Philippe François Nazaire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1911 |edition=10th |pages=118}}</ref> More than a hundred decisions left the department within eight days. On 14 August, Danton invited Robespierre to join the Council of Justice, which Robespierre declined to do. <!--He appointed [[Pierre-Guillaume Seron]] as his secretary.-->

Danton seems to have dined almost every day at the Rolands'.<ref>N. Hampson (1978) Danton, p. 76</ref> On 28 August, the Assembly ordered a curfew for the next two days.<ref>[[Jean Massin]] (1959) Robespierre, pp. 133–134</ref> At the behest of Danton, thirty commissioners from the sections were ordered to search in every suspect house for weapons, munition, swords, carriages and horses.<ref>S. Schama, p. 626</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTg_AAAAcAAJ&q=28+AOUT&pg=PA417|title=Collection Complète des Lois, Décrets, Ordonnances, Réglements, et Avis du Conseil-d'État|date=24 May 1824|publisher=A. Guyot|via=Google Books|access-date=13 March 2023|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928235204/https://books.google.com/books?id=QTg_AAAAcAAJ&q=28+AOUT&pg=PA417|url-status=live}}</ref> By 2 September, between 520 and 1,000 people were taken into custody on the flimsiest of warrants. The exact number of those arrested will never be known.<ref>S. Loomis, p. 77</ref>

On Sunday 2 September, at about 13:00, Danton, as a member of the provisional government, delivered a speech in the assembly: "We ask that anyone refusing to give personal service or to furnish arms shall be punished with death".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/decouvrir-l-assemblee/histoire/grands-discours-parlementaires/danton-2-septembre-1792|title=Danton (2 septembre 1792) – Histoire – Grands discours parlementaires – Assemblée nationale|website=www2.assemblee-nationale.fr|access-date=24 May 2023|archive-date=12 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312155705/https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/decouvrir-l-assemblee/histoire/grands-discours-parlementaires/danton-2-septembre-1792|url-status=live}}</ref> "The [[wikt:tocsin|tocsin]] we are about to ring is not an alarm signal; it sounds the charge on the enemies of our country." He continued after the applause: "To conquer them we must dare, dare again, always dare, and France is saved!".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/hc/continental-europe-380-1906/georges-jacques-danton|title=Georges Jacques Danton|date=10 October 2022|website=Collection at Bartleby.com|access-date=24 May 2023|archive-date=24 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524191325/https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/hc/continental-europe-380-1906/georges-jacques-danton|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54946638|title=Discours de Danton / édition critique par André Fribourg|first=Georges-Jacques (1759–1794) Auteur du texte|last=Danton|date=24 May 1910|via=gallica.bnf.fr|access-date=4 February 2020|archive-date=5 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105214810/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54946638|url-status=live}}</ref> His speech acted as a call for direct action among the citizens, as well as a strike against the external enemy.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n15/hilary-mantel/he-roared |first=Hillary |last=Mantel |author-link=Hillary Mantel |magazine=[[London Review of Books]] |volume=31 |issue=15 |date=6 August 2009 |title=He Roared |access-date=4 February 2020 |archive-date=22 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522002318/https://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n15/hilary-mantel/he-roared |url-status=live }}</ref> <!--In reality, Danton was probably speaking of boldness needed in fighting the war but some French citizens took it as boldness needed in fighting within France to those who were viewed as "traitors" and killing occurred all over the streets.<ref>http://westerncivguides.umwblogs.org/2011/09/25/jacobins-vs-girondins-during-the-french-revolution/ {{Bare URL inline|date=May 2022}}</ref>  --> Many believe this speech was responsible for inciting the [[September Massacres]]. It is estimated that around 1,100–1,600 people were murdered. [[Madame Roland]] held Danton responsible for their deaths.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PaN4DwAAQBAJ&dq=charlotte+corday+marat+responsible+september+massacre&pg=PA97|title=Tracing the Heroic Through Gender|first1=Carolin|last1=Hauck|first2=Monika|last2=Mommertz|first3=Andreas|last3=Schlüter|first4=Thomas|last4=Seedorf|date=9 October 2018|publisher=Ergon Verlag|isbn=9783956504037|via=Google Books|access-date=13 March 2023|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928235208/https://books.google.com/books?id=PaN4DwAAQBAJ&dq=charlotte+corday+marat+responsible+september+massacre&pg=PA97|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIZBE5JmbJUC&q=Massacre+poisened&pg=PT98|title=The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life|first=David|last=Lawday|date=6 July 2010|publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic|isbn=9780802197023|via=Google Books|access-date=13 March 2023|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928235201/https://books.google.com/books?id=fIZBE5JmbJUC&q=Massacre+poisened&pg=PT98|url-status=live}}</ref> Danton was also accused by the [[French historians]] [[Adolphe Thiers]], [[Alphonse de Lamartine]], [[Jules Michelet]], [[Louis Blanc]] and [[Edgar Quinet]]. However, according to [[Albert Soboul]], there is no proof that the massacres were organized by Danton or by anyone else, though it is certain that he did nothing to stop them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Danton/Dantons-Committee-of-Public-Safety|title=Georges Danton – Committee of Public Safety, Indulgents, and Terror &#124; Britannica|website=www.britannica.com|access-date=4 February 2020|archive-date=4 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204104915/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Danton/Dantons-Committee-of-Public-Safety|url-status=live}}</ref>

He did intervene, however, in protecting Roland and Brissot from an arrest warrant from the Supervisory Committee of the Commune on 4 September, opposing Marat by having the mandates removed, and was complicit in the escape of [[Adrien Duport]], [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Talleyrand]], and [[Charles Malo François Lameth|Charles de Lameth]]. On 6 September, he was elected by his section, "[[Théâtre Français]]", to be a deputy for the convention, gathering on 22 September. Danton remained a member of the ministry, although holding both positions simultaneously was illegal. Danton, Robespierre, and Marat were accused of forming a [[triumvirate]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robespierre |first1=Maximilien |last2=Laponneraye |first2=Albert |last3=Carrel |first3=Armand |title=Oeuvres |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iSMVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA98 |publisher=Worms |year=1840 |page=98 |access-date=4 February 2020 |archive-date=7 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107223241/https://books.google.com/books?id=iSMVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA98#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> On 26 September, Danton was forced to give up his position in the government; he stepped down on 9 October.

At the new [[National Convention]] on 4 October 1792, Danton proposed to declare that the fatherland was no longer in danger, asking only to renounce extreme measures. He measured the risks posed to the Revolution by fratricidal quarrels between Republicans. He preached conciliation and calls the Assembly several times to "holy harmony". “It was in vain that we complained to Danton about the Girondine faction", wrote Robespierre, "he maintained that there was no faction there and that everything was the result of vanity and personal animosities". But the attacks from the Girondins concentrated on him, Marat and Robespierre—the “triumvirs”—accused of aspiring to dictatorship. Danton defends Robespierre at the end of October by declaring that "all those who talk about the Robespierre faction are, in my eyes, either prejudiced men or bad citizens", but dissociates himself from Marat by pronouncing "I don't like the individual Marat. I say frankly that I have experiences his temperament: he is volcanic, cantankerous and unsociable." The Girondins attacked Danton for his management of the secret funds of the Ministry of Justice. Roland, Minister of the Interior, scrupulously gave his accounts but Danton would not. Harassed by Brissot, he only escaped through weariness of the Convention and for months the Girondins shouted “And the accounts?" to interrupt him at the podium. Meanwhile, his influence began to decline in favor of Robespierre as the real leader of the Mountain.

[[File:Alfred Loudet - Marat.jpg|thumb|Imaginary meeting between Robespierre, Danton and Marat (illustrating [[Victor Hugo]]'s novel ''[[Ninety-Three]]'' ) by Alfred Loudet]]

===1793===
On 10 February 1793, while Danton was on a mission in [[Austrian Netherlands|Belgium]], his wife died while giving birth to their fourth child, who also died. Robespierre sent Danton a message.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/14191081 | title=Letter from Robespierre to Danton (15 February 1793) | last1=Kappelsberger | first1=Florian }}</ref> Danton was so affected by their deaths that he recruited the sculptor [[Claude André Deseine]] and, a week after Charpentier's death, brought him to Sainte-Catherine cemetery to exhume her body and execute a [[Plaster cast|plaster bust]] of her appearance.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'école française au dix-huitième siècle. Tome 1|author=Lami, Stanislas|author-link=Stanislas Lami|date=1910–1911|language=fr|page=275|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61251531|access-date=14 December 2020|archive-date=18 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118093945/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61251531|url-status=live}}</ref><!--His wife, Gabrielle, had died during his absence on his expedition to Belgium; he had her body exhumed so as to see her again.--><ref>{{cite book |last=Beesly |first=A.H. |title=Life of Danton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uwzdA9vq0v8C&q=danton+exhumed&pg=PA172 |access-date=25 February 2009 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2005 |page=172 |isbn=978-1-4179-5724-8 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105214809/https://books.google.com/books?id=uwzdA9vq0v8C&q=danton+exhumed&pg=PA172 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 10 March, Danton supported the foundation of a [[Revolutionary Tribunal]]. He proposed the release of all imprisoned debtors as conscripts in the army. On 6 April, the [[Committee of Public Safety]], which was then composed of only nine members, was installed on the proposal of [[Maximin Isnard]], who was supported by Georges Danton. Danton was appointed a member of the committee. He and other members of the committee, despite its primary charge of defeating invasion and internal rebellions, were advocates of the moderation necessary to minimize popular resistance to military requisitions. Due to military reversals in 1793, many{{snd}}especially among the ''sans-culottes''{{snd}}criticized its conduct, and subsequent committee membership included more radical thinkers who pressed for more extreme measures to ensure victory over enemies of the Revolution internal and external.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.coreknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/CKHG_G6_U4_French-Revolution-and-Romanticism_WTNK_C10_ReignOfTerror.pdf |title=The Reign of Terror |website=www.coreknowledge.org |access-date=20 May 2021 |archive-date=20 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520040329/https://www.coreknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/CKHG_G6_U4_French-Revolution-and-Romanticism_WTNK_C10_ReignOfTerror.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=December 2024}} On 20 March 1793 the National Convention send Danton and [[Charles-François Delacroix|Delacroix]] to Leuven to investigate [[Charles François Dumouriez|Dumouriez]] and his generals. On 27 April, the Convention decreed (on the proposal of Danton) to send additional military forces to the departments in revolt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkIUAAAAYAAJ&dq=27+avril+1793+Convention+National+lois+decrets+additionnel&pg=PA325|title=Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglemens et avis du Conseil d'état: publiée sur les éditions officielles du Louvre, de l'Imprimerie nationale par Baudouin et du Bulletin des lois, de 1788 à 1824 inclusivement. [Suivie d'une table analytique et raisonnée des matières.]|date=24 May 1825|publisher=A. Guyot et Scribe|via=Google Books|access-date=13 March 2023|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408013257/https://books.google.com/books?id=XkIUAAAAYAAJ&dq=27+avril+1793+Convention+National+lois+decrets+additionnel&pg=PA325|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 1 June [[François Hanriot|Hanriot]] was ordered to fire a cannon on the [[Pont-Neuf]] as a sign of alarm. When the Convention assembled Danton rushed to the tribune: "Break up the [[Commission of Twelve]]! You have heard the thunder of the cannon. Girondins protested against the closing of the city gates, against the tocsin and alarm-gun without the approval of the convention; Vergniaud suggested arresting Henriot. That night Paris changed into a military camp according to [[Otto Flake]]. On 2 June according to [[Louis Madelin]] and Mignet a large force of armed citizens, some estimated 80,000 or 100,000, but Danton spoke of only 30,000,<ref>Le Républicain français, 14 septembre 1793, p. 2</ref> surrounded the Convention with 48 pieces of artillery.<!--and being paid with an assignat worth five or six livres according to Michelet--> The next day the Interior minister [[Dominique Joseph Garat|Garat]] forced Danton to disavow the events from the evening before.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VES2yGHmEG0C&q=Marat|title=Mémoires de B. Barère ... publiés par MM. Hippolyte Carnot ... et David, d'Angers ... précédés d'une notice historique, par H. Carnot. [With a portrait.]|first=Bertrand BARÈRE DE|last=VIEUZAC|date=24 May 1842|via=Google Books|access-date=13 March 2023|archive-date=18 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718073322/https://books.google.com/books?id=VES2yGHmEG0C&q=Marat|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 1 July 1793, Danton married Louise Sébastienne Gély, aged 17, daughter of Marc-Antoine Gély, court usher (huissier-audiencier) at the [[Parlement of Paris]] and member of the Club des Cordeliers. He also married in a Catholic ceremony, confessing his sins first to the priest [[Pierre-Marie Grayo de Keravenan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Belloc |first=Hilaire |url=https://archive.org/details/dantonstudy00belluoft/page/n341/mode/2up?q=gely |title=Danton; a study |date=1910 |publisher=London T. Nelson |pages=336}}</ref> On 10 July, he was not re-elected as a member of the Committee of Public Safety. Seventeen days later, Robespierre joined the Committee of Public Safety, nearly two years after Danton had extended an invitation to him to do so. On 5 September, Danton argued for a law to give the [[sans-culottes]] a small compensation for attending the twice-weekly section meetings, and to provide a gun to every citizen.<ref>Soboul, A. (1975) De Franse Revolutie dl I, 1789–1793, p. 283.</ref>