Maximilien Robespierre
December 1793

On 3 December, Robespierre accused Danton in the Jacobin Club of feigning an illness to emigrate to Switzerland. Danton, according to him, showed too often his vices and not his virtue. Robespierre was stopped in his attack. The gathering was closed after applause for Danton. On 4 December, by the Law of Revolutionary Government, the independence of departmental and local authorities came to an end when extensive powers of the Committee of Public Safety were codified. Submitted by Billaud and implemented within 24 hours, the law was a drastic decision against the independence of deputies and commissionaires on a mission; coordinated action among the sections became illegal. On 5 December, the journalist Camille Desmoulins launched a new journal, Le Vieux Cordelier. He defended Danton, attacked the de-Christianisers, and later compared Robespierre with Julius Caesar as dictator. Robespierre made a counterproposal of setting up a Committee of Justice to examine some of the cases under the Law of Suspects. Seventy-three deputies who had voted against the insurrection on 2 June were allowed to take their seats in the Convention. On 6 December, Robespierre warned in the Convention against the dangers of dechristianization, and attacked "all violence or threats contrary to the freedom of religion ".

On 12 December, Robespierre attacked the wealthy foreigner Cloots in the Jacobin club of being a Prussian spy. Robespierre denounced the "de-Christianisers" as foreign enemies. The Indulgents mounted an attack on the Committee of Public Safety, accusing them of being murderers. Desmoulins addressed Robespierre directly, writing, "My dear Robespierre... my old school friend... Remember the lessons of history and philosophy: love is stronger, more lasting than fear."

On 25 December, provoked by Desmoulins' insistent challenges, Robespierre produced his "Report on the Principles of Revolutionary Government". Robespierre replied to the plea for an end to the Terror, justifying the collective authority of the National Convention, administrative centralisation, and the purging of local authorities. He said he had to avoid two cliffs: indulgence and severity. He could not consult the 18th-century political authors, because they had not foreseen such a course of events. He protested against the various factions that he believed threatened the government, such as the Hébertists and Dantonists. Robespierre strongly believed that the strict legal system was still necessary:

The theory of the revolutionary government is as new as the revolution from which this government was born. This theory may not be found in the books of the political writers who were unable to predict the Revolution, nor in the law books of the tyrants...

The goal of a constitutional government is the protection of the Republic; that of a revolutionary government is the establishment of the Republic.

The Revolution is the war waged by liberty against its foes—but the Constitution is the régime of victorious and peaceful freedom.

The Revolutionary Government will need to put forth extraordinary activity, because it is at war. It is subject to no constant laws, since the circumstances under which it prevails are those of a storm, and change with every moment. This government is obliged unceasingly to disclose new sources of energy to oppose the rapidly changing face of danger.

Robespierre would suppress chaos and anarchy: "the Government has to defend itself" and "to the enemies of the people it owes only death". According to R.R. Palmer and Donald C. Hodges, this was the first important statement in modern times of a philosophy of dictatorship. Others see it as a natural consequence of political instability and conspiracy.
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