COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY (Comite du Salut Publique), a body elected by the French Convention, 6 April 1793, from among its own members, at first having lim ited power conferred upon it—that of super vising the executive and of accelerating its ac tions. Later, its powers became extended; all the. executive authority passed into its hands, and the ministers became merely its scribes. At first composed of nine, it was increased to 12 members—Robespierre, Danton, Couthon, Saint Just, Prieur, Robert-Lindet,Herault de Sechelles, Jean-Bon Saint-Andre, Barrere, Carnot, Col lot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varennes. In the terms of its constitution the members should have been elected only for one month, but all the above-mentioned held their seats for a whole year. The prevailing party acted on the ground that France, threatened from within and without, could not be governed as if at peace, but could only be saved by desperate measures, as in times of the greatest danger. But after the downfall of the Girondists, I and 2 June 1793, when the Mountain, on the recommenda tion of the Cordmittee of Safety, declared that the population of France consisted' of but two parties — patriots and enemies of the Revolu tion — and consigned the latter to the persecu tion of all good citizens, terror took the place of law. From this time the committee gov erned the Mountain party, and through it the Convention. As the sole rule of his conduct Robespierre declared that the mainspring of a popular government in a state of revolution was to vertu et la terreur! Carnot confined himself to the direction of the armies, and left to his colleagues the affairs of the interior. At the motion of these men the new constitution was suspended for a time, and the revolutionary government conferred on the Committee of Safety by a decree of the Convention of 4 Dec. 1793. The committee now instituted in all the communes of the republic, as judges of the sus pected, revolutionary committees, composed of the most furious zealots: the number of these new tribunals was as great as 20,000. The last remaining forms of regular process were abol ished; their place was supplied by violence, and often by avarice and folly. In this time of internal revolutions and danger from without, it was not in the power of man to restrain the exasperated fury which probably alone pre vented France from being conquered. Finally Danton, who had absented himself for a time from the committee on account of the influence of Robespierre, declared himself against the system of bloodshed; and Robespierre himself acquiesced in the condemnation of the ring leaders of the Paris mob (24 March 1794), among whom was Hebert; but soon after (5 April) Danton, with Herault de Sechelles, was himself overthrown by Robespierre. Till 28
July 1794 the latter now remained master of the lives of 30,000,000 of men. He appointed Fou quier-Tinville public accuser. Prisons were multiplied and crowded,• the prisoners were cruelly treated, betrayed by spies 'and con demned without being allowed the privilege of defense; the property of all imprisoned on suspicion was confiscated, and the guillotine remained en permanence. The same violence was practised in the provinces by some of the delegates of the committee. Among the num berless victims of the system were the noble Malesherbes and the celebrated Lavoisier. The members of the Committee of Public Safety and of the comite de surete gintrale at last disagreed among themselves. Each committee contained three parties. These, and not Tallien, were the real causes of the 9th Thermidor (27 July). In the Committee of Public Safety Robespierre, Couthon and Saint-Just (gems de la haute main) formed one party; Barrire, Bil laud and Collot d'Herbois (les gene revolution noires) another, and Carnot, Prieur and Lindet (les gens d'examen) a third. In the comiti de surete gentrale one party comprised Vadier, Amor, Jagot, Louis (du bas Rhin) and Voul land (the gens d'expiclition); to a second be longed Danton and Lebas (ecouteurs); to the third Moise Bayle, Lavicomterie, Elie Lacoste, Dubarran (les gens de centrepoids). Robes pierre attempted to remove the unyielding Car not from the Committee of Safety. On the other hand Billaud-Varennes labored to effect Robespierre's downfall. Couthon, Saint-Just, the Jacobins and the commune of Paris alone adhered to Robespierre. But when Saint-Just actually proposed in the committee a dictator ship for the safety of the state aa opposition was raised against Robespierre in the National Convention by Vadier, Collot d'Herbois, Billaud Varennes, and especially by Tallien and Freron; the dictator and his faction were proscribed, and the victory of Barras (q.v.) on the 9th Thermidor brought Robespierre, his brother, Saint-Just, Couthon and others, 105 in all, to the scaffold, 28 July.. 'The Convention now re covered its authority; the Jacobins and the partisans of terrorism (le queue de Robes pierre) were completely overthrown; at the same time the Convention gave the Committee of Safety and the revolutionary tribunal a more limited power and jurisdiction. The bloody despotism ceased; and when a new constitution introduced (28 Oct. 1795) a directorial govern ment (see DutEcroax), the Convention was dis solved, and with it sank into its grave the revo lutionary government, the reign of terror and the Committee of Public Safety.