m go. In the morning, he sent word that he
was too much hurt by their treatment of him to keep his promise.
Barere meanwhile undertook to have a report ready against St. Just.

Before the Assembly began business on the morning of Sunday the 9th of
Thermidor, Tallien was in the lobby cementing the alliance which
secured the majority; and Bourdon came up and shook hands with Durand,
saying, "Oh! the good men of the Right." When the sitting opened, St.
Just at once mounted the tribune and began to read. Tallien, seeing
him from outside, exclaimed, "Now is the moment, come and see. It is
Robespierre's last day!" The report of St. Just was an attack on the
committee. Tallien broke in, declaring that the absent men must be
informed and summoned, before he could proceed. St. Just was not a
ready speaker, and when he was defied and interrupted, he became
silent. Robespierre endeavoured to bring him aid and encouragement;
but Tallien would not be stopped, Billaud followed in the name of the
government; Barere and Vadier continued, while Robespierre and St.
Just insisted vainly on being heard. The interrupters were turbulent,
aggressive, out of order, being desperate men fighting for life.
Collot d'Herbois, the President, did not rebuke them, and having
surrendered his place to a colleague whom he could trust, descended to
take part in the fray. If the Convention was suffered once more to
hear the dreaded voice of Robespierre, nobody could be sure that he
would not recover his ascendency. These tactics succeeded. Both
parties to the overnight convention were true to it, and Robespierre
was not allowed to make his speech. The galleries had been filled from
five in the morning. Barere moved to divide the command of Hanriot,
the general of the Commune, on whose sword the triumvirs relied; and
the Convention outlawed him and his second in command as the
excitement increased. This was early in the afternoon; and it was on
learning this that the Commune called out its forces, and Paris began
to rise.

All this time Robespierre had not been personally attacked. Decrees
were only demanded, and passed, against his inferior agents. The
struggle had lasted for hours; he thought that his adversaries
faltered, and made a violent effort to reach the tribune. It had
become known in the Assembly that his friends were arming, and they
began to cry, "Down with the tyrant!" The President rang his bell and
refused to let him speak. At last his voi