Editing Georges Danton (section)

==Arrest, trial, and execution==
[[File:Procès de Danton, Desmoulins, Chabot.jpg|thumb|Danton, [[Camille Desmoulins|Desmoulins]] and their allies tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal]] [[File:Danton Wille.jpg|thumb|Danton on 5 April 1794 by [[Pierre-Alexandre Wille]] ]]  [[File:Danton-croquis.jpg|thumb|Danton by [[Jacques-Louis David]] ]]

On 30 March, the two committees reached a decision to apprehend Danton, Desmoulins, [[Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles]], and [[Pierre Philippeaux]]. The trial began on 2 April, accusing them of conspiracy with [[count Mirabeau]], [[Marquis de Lafayette]], the [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Duke of Orléans]] and [[Dumouriez]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Manuel général de l'instruction primaire, 1 janvier 1911</ref> In Robespierre's eyes, the Dantonists had ceased to be true patriots prioritizing personal and foreign interests over the nation's welfare.<ref name="Le Siècle, 5 février 1898, p. 5/6">Le Siècle, 5 février 1898, p. 5/6</ref> The accusations of theft, corruption, and the scandal involving the [[Louis XIV's East India Company#Liquidation Scandal|French East India Company]] conveniently paved the way for Danton's downfall.<ref>W. Doyle (1990) The Oxford History of the French Revolution, pp. 272–74.</ref>

Danton, Desmoulins, and several others faced trial from 3–5 April before the [[Revolutionary Tribunal]], presided over by [[Martial Joseph Armand Herman|Martial Herman]]. Described as more politically charged than criminally focused, the trial proceeded in an irregular manner.<ref name="Le Siècle, 5 février 1898, p. 5/6"/> The tribunal constituted a jury of five judges, including Souberbielle, and [[François Topino-Lebrun]] (who both hesitated to condemn Danton); the law required twelve [[jurors]] but only seven were present.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MB9LAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA203 |title=Paul Gaulot (1897) Les grandes journées révolutionnaires: histoire anecdotique de la convention, p. 204 |access-date=27 December 2023 |archive-date=27 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231227065127/https://books.google.ru/books?id=MB9LAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA203&lr=&as_brr=4&hl=nl&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live |last1=Gaulot |first1=Paul |date=4 February 1897 }}</ref> Both [[Jean-François Delacroix|Delacroix]] and Danton requested the right to present about 15 witnesses in their defense, but President Herman denied their request.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="S. Schama 1989 Citizens, p. 820">S. Schama (1989) Citizens, p. 820</ref>

During the Convention, [[Louis Legendre]], who was also one of the witnesses, proposed hearing from Danton within the assembly, but Robespierre replied, "It would be violating the laws of impartiality to grant to Danton what was refused to others, who had an equal right to make the same demand." This answer silenced at once all solicitations in his favor.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dWxaDQaMcg4C&dq=Robespierre+National+Guard&pg=PA157 Annual Register, Band 36.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408013117/https://books.google.com/books?id=dWxaDQaMcg4C&dq=Robespierre+National+Guard&pg=PA157 |date=8 April 2023 }} Published by [[Edmund Burke]], p. 118</ref> No friend of the Dantonists dared speak up, in case he too should be accused of putting friendship before virtue.{{sfn|Linton|2013|p=225-226}} The death of Hébert had rendered Robespierre master of the Paris Commune; the death of Danton would make him master of the convention as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uekvAAAAMAAJ&q=Robespierre+master+of+the+convention&pg=PA418|title=History of the Girondists: Or, Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution|first=Alphonse de|last=Lamartine|date=9 September 1848|publisher=Henry G. Bohn|via=Google Books|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=5 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105214809/https://books.google.com/books?id=uekvAAAAMAAJ&q=Robespierre+master+of+the+convention&pg=PA418#v=snippet&q=Robespierre%20master%20of%20the%20convention&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the trial, [[Jean-François Delacroix|Delacroix]] and Danton's disruptive behavior unsettled [[Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville|Fouquier-Tinville]]. Danton vigorously criticized the [[Committee of Public Safety]], causing concern among the jury that he might win favor with the crowd. Following Robespierre's advice, a decree was accepted to present [[Louis Antoine de Saint-Just|Saint-Just's]] account on Danton's [[alleged]] [[royalist]] tendencies at the tribunal, effectively ending further debates and restraining any further insults to justice by the accused.

The Convention, amidst what was described as one of its "worst fits of cowardice",{{sfn|Morley|1911|p=819}} approved Saint-Just's proposal during the trial. This proposal allowed the tribunal to exclude any prisoner displaying disrespect for justice from further proceedings, enabling the tribunal to pronounce a sentence in the absentia of the accused.<ref>{{cite book|first=Simon|last=Schama|title=Citizens|year=1990|page=820|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=978-0679726104|url=https://archive.org/details/citizenschronicl00scha_0|url-access=registration}}</ref>

President Herman struggled to control the proceedings until the Convention enacted the aforementioned decree, limiting the accused from further self-defense.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> These events were compounded by confusing and often incidental accusations, such as a report suggesting that while engaged as a commissioner in Belgium, Danton had allegedly appropriated a carriage filled with table linen worth two or three hundred thousand [[Livre tournois|livres]] from the [[Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen|Archduchess of Austria]].<ref name="Le Siècle, 5 février 1898, p. 5/6"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Claretie|first=Jules|title=Camille Desmoulins and his wife|year=1876|publisher=Smith, Elder & Co.|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/camilledesmouli01clargoog/page/n338 313]|url=https://archive.org/details/camilledesmouli01clargoog|quote=Camille Desmoulins and his wife.}}</ref>  The ''[[Le Moniteur Universel|Moniteur]]'' published an account of the discussion in the Jacobin Club: Danton was accused of wanting to arrest [[Francois Henriot]] on 31 May 1793 and to become regent for [[Louis XVII]].<ref>Gazette nationale ou le Moniteur universel, 9 avril 1794</ref>

On the  last day Fouquier-Tinville asked the tribunal to order the defendants who "confused the hearing" and insulted "National Justice" to the guillotine. "I leave it all in a frightful welter", Danton said. "Not a man of them has an idea of government. Robespierre will follow me; he is dragged down by me. Ah, better to be a poor fisherman than to meddle with the government of men!".<ref>CARLYLE: French Revolution.[https://www.bartleby.com/344/130.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106061532/https://www.bartleby.com/344/130.html|date=6 January 2023}}</ref> Judge [[Joseph Souberbielle|Souberbielle]] asked himself: "Which of the two, Robespierre or Danton, is the more useful to the Republic?"{{sfn|Hampson|1974|pp=222–223, 258}}

Fouquier-Tinville resorted to his customary approach, "asking" the jury if they felt adequately "enlightened," ultimately leading to a verdict of guilty.<ref name="S. Schama 1989 Citizens, p. 820"/> The defendants, of whom nine were députés of the Convention, were removed from the room before the verdict was delivered and, by cutting their hair, prepared for the guillotine. Danton was  beheaded on 5 April 1794 at sunset, together with group of fifteen people which included Hérault de Séchelles, [[Francois Joseph Westermann|Westermann]] and Philippeaux among others. Hérault de Séchelle was first, Desmoulins died third and Danton last. It is said his last words, spoken to his executioner [[Charles-Henri Sanson|Sanson]] were "show the people my head. It is well worth seeing."

[[File:Exécution de Danton.jpg|thumb|Execution of Danton on 5 April 1794]]
[[Fabre d'Églantine]], [[Joseph Delaunay|Delaunay]], [[Moses Dobruška|Junius Frey]], [[Francois Chabot|Chabot]], [[Claude Basire|Bazire]]  were involved in the scandal around the French East India Company. Robespierre was sharply critical of <!--member of the Committee of of General Security--> [[Jean-Pierre-André Amar|Amar]]'s report, which presented the scandal as purely a matter of fraud. Robespierre insisted that it was a foreign plot, demanded that the report be re-written, and used the scandal as the basis for rhetorical attacks on [[William Pitt the Younger#French Revolution|William Pitt the Younger]] who he believed was involved.<ref>Matrat, J. ''Robespierre'', Angus & Robertson, 1971, p. 242</ref> The directors of the French East India Company were never interrogated at all.{{sfn|Hampson|1974|p=219}} Some scholars have supported this view, pointing to links between the Pitt government and the [[Jean, Baron de Batz|Baron de Batz]], who developed plans to use [[economic warfare]] to create discord among leaders of the Revolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Lestapis |first=Arnaud |date=1955 |title=Émigration Et Faux Assignats: Ii |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44595503 |journal=Revue des Deux Mondes (1829-1971) |pages=451–464 |jstor=44595503 |issn=0035-1962}}</ref><ref>*{{cite journal|last=Hampson |first=N. |year=1976 |title=Francois Chabot and His Plot |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |series=5th |volume=26 |pages=1–14|doi=10.2307/3679069 |jstor=3679069 |s2cid=159554090 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fremont-Barnes |first=Gregory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MEbPEAAAQBAJ&dq=La+conspiration+de+Batz+1793-1794&pg=PA232 |title=Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760-1815: [2 volumes] |date=2007-09-30 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-04951-4 |language=en}}</ref>

Danton and his associates were buried in the [[Errancis Cemetery]], a common place of interment for those executed during the Revolution. In the mid-19th century, their skeletal remains were transferred to the [[Catacombs of Paris]].<ref>Beyern, B., ''Guide des tombes d'hommes célèbres'', Le Cherche Midi, 2008, 377p, {{ISBN|978-2-7491-1350-0}}</ref> Martial Herman resigned as president on 7 April.

On [[9 Thermidor]], when [[Antoine Marie Charles Garnier|Garnier de l’Aube]] witnessed Robespierre's inability to respond, he shouted, "The blood of Danton chokes him!"{{sfn|Schama|1989|pp=842–44}} Robespierre then finally regained his voice to reply with his one recorded statement of the morning, a demand to know why he was now being blamed for the other man's death: "Is it Danton you regret? ... Cowards! Why didn't you defend him?"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=acBOAQAAIAAJ&q=%22+Cowards!+Why+didn%27t+you+defend+him Korngold, Ralph 1941, p. 365, ''Robespierre and the Fourth Estate''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318180222/https://books.google.com/books?id=acBOAQAAIAAJ&q=%22+Cowards%21+Why+didn%27t+you+defend+him |date=18 March 2023 }} Retrieved 27 July 2014</ref>