surped the place of king, and
Constitution, and law. The Jacobins were attaining the decided
ascendency. The guillotine was daily crimsoned with the blood of the
noblest citizens of France. The streets and the prisons were polluted
with the massacre of the innocent. The soul of Madame Roland recoiled
with horror at the scenes she daily witnessed. The Girondists
struggled in vain to resist the torrent, but they were swept before
it. The time had been when the proclamation of a republic would have
filled her soul with inexpressible joy. Now she could see no gleam of
hope for her country. The restoration of the monarchy was impossible.
The substitution of a republic was inevitable. No earthly power could
prevent it. In that republic she saw only the precursor of her own
ruin, the ruin of all dear to her, and general anarchy. With a
dejected spirit she wrote to a friend, "We are under the knife of
Robespierre and Marat. You know my enthusiasm for the Revolution. I am
ashamed of it now. It has been sullied by monsters. It is hideous."

CHAPTER VII.

MADAME ROLAND AND THE JACOBINS.

1792

Advance of the allies.--Hopes of the king's friends.--Consternation
at Paris.--Speech of Danton.--Despotic measures.--Domiciliary
visits.--Opening of the catacombs.--Terror of the people.--Scenes of
terror.--Vain attempts at concealment.--Numbers arrested.--The
priests.--A human fiend.--Butchery of the priests.--Arrival at the
prison.--Prison tribunal.--Massacre in the prisons.--Fiendish
orgies.--Female spectators.--Character of the victims.--The
Bicetre.--Numbers massacred.--Girls sent to the guillotine.--Their
heroism.--The assassins rewarded.--They threaten their
instigators.--Ascendency of the mob.--Peril of the Girondists.--The
Assembly surrounded.--Adroitness of the Jacobins.--Advance of the
allies.--Robespierre and Danton.--Bold measures proposed by Madame
Roland.--Decisive stand taken by MM. Roland and Vergniaud.--The
Girondists defeated.--Resignation of M. Roland.--Attacks upon Madame
Roland.--How received in the Assembly.--Letter from M. Roland.--Its
lofty tone.--Danton seeks a reconciliation.--His failure.--Plans of
the Jacobins.--Fearlessness of Madame Roland.

The Prussians were now advancing on their march to Paris. One after
another of the frontier cities of France were capitulating to the
invaders as the storm of bomb-shells, from the batteries of the allied
army, was rained down upon their roofs. The French we