23 Messidor
An CCXXXIV
Pierre Vergniaud
Pierre Vergniaud was the last to mount the scaffold on 31 October 1793. All the other Girondins, twenty men in all, had been executed before him. Waiting for death – time to think. Why had he wanted war, although he had always hated violence? Why had he voted for the king’s execution while at the same time demanding an appeal to the people? Why had he not taken the last chance to flee Paris, save his life, and join the resistance against the emerging Terror? In his final moments, Vergniaud may have realized that inconsistency had been his greatest weakness. And yet he went down in history as one of the greatest orators of the Republic. Vergniaud remembered his own words: The Revolution devours its children.
Then the executioner called him.
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1753 - 1793
- May 31, 1753 · Born in Limoges, the son of an army supplier.
- 1781 · Admitted to the bar in Bordeaux.
- August 31, 1791 · Elected deputy for the département of Gironde to the Legislative Assembly.
- March 1792 · Vergniaud secures the dismissal of the foreign minister and opponent of war, de Lessart. One month later, France declares war on Austria.
- September 1792 · Elected to the National Convention as a deputy of the Gironde.
- January 17, 1793 · In the trial of the former king Louis XVI, Vergniaud votes for the death penalty with reservations.
- April 1793 · Robespierre turns against Vergniaud. He accuses him of moderation and claims that he had planned a conspiracy against the Revolution and in favor of the king the previous year.
- May 4, 1793 · Vergniaud calls on the inhabitants of Bordeaux to march on Paris in defense of the Girondin deputies.
- June 2, 1793 · Under pressure from the Paris Commune, the Convention orders the arrest of the Girondins. Vergniaud is also placed under house arrest. He refuses to flee.
Flight is an admission of guilt.
- October 24, 1793 · The trial of Vergniaud and twenty other Girondin deputies begins.
- October 31, 1793 · Execution on the Place de la Révolution in Paris.
Quotes
Reason thinks, religions dream.
Pierre Vergniaud
It took courage on 10 August to attack Louis in all his power. Does it take the same courage to send a defeated and disarmed Louis to his death? What courage do you see in committing an act of which a coward would be capable?
Vergniaud, 31 December 1792, on the condemnation of the former king
They tried to complete the Revolution by means of terror; I would have wanted to complete it through love.
Vergniaud, 10 April 1793
Le Moniteur
Execution of the Girondins, 31 October 1793
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