“Then get rid of Hebert.”
“And we’re back to a policy of Terror.” Robespierre looked up. “Danton, you haven’t spoken of your own place in this. You must have an opinion.”
Danton laughed. “You wouldn’t be so confident of that, if you knew me better. I shall bide my time. I suggest you do the same.”
“You know you’ll be attacked as soon as you appear in public? Hebert has insinuated certain things about your Belgian venture. I’m afraid your illness was regarded as largely mythical. People were saying you had emigrated to Switzerland with your ill-gotten gains.”
“We need a bit of solidarity, then.”
“Yes. I’ll speak for you, of course, at every opportunity. Get Camille to write something, do you think? Take his mind off things? I told him to stay away from trials. He’s very emotional, isn’t he?”
“You say that as if it were a surprise to you. As if you only met him last week.”
“I suppose the degree of it always does come as a surprise to me. Camille’s feelings seem uncontainable. Like natural disasters.”
“That can be useful, or it can be a nuisance.”
“That sounds cynical, Danton.”
“Does it? Well, perhaps it is.”
“So perhaps you feel cynical about Camille’s affection for you?”
“No, I rather feel grateful. I take what comes my way.”
“It’s a trait we have observed in you,” Robespierre said, with interest.
“Was that the royal plural?”
“No, I meant, Camille and I.”
“You discuss me?”
“We discuss everybody. Everything. But you know that. No one is closer than we are.”
“I accept your rebuke. Our friendships with Camille are both of a high order. Oh, that all his friendships had been the same!”
“I don’t see how they could have been, really.”
“No, you are pleased to be obtuse.”
Robespierre put his chin on his hand. “I am. Because I’ve had to compromise a lot to keep Camille’s friendship. It’s like everything else in my life. I spend my days crying, ‘Don’t tell me,’ and ‘Sweep that under the carpet before I come into the room.’”
“I didn’t know you knew that about yourself.”
“Oh yes. I am not a hypocrite myself, but I breed hypocrisy in other people.”
“You must, of course. Robespierre doesn’t lie or cheat or steal, doesn’t get drunk, doesn’t fornicate—overmuch. He’s not a hedonist or a mainchancer or a breaker of promises.” Danton grinned. “But what’s the use of all this goodness? People don’t try to emulate you. Instead they just pull the wool over your eyes.”
“They?” Robespierre echoed gently. “Say ‘we,’ Danton.” He smiled.
Maximilien Robespierre, private notebooks:
What is our aim?
The use of the constitution for the benefit of the people.
Who are likely to oppose us?
The rich and corrupt.
What methods will they employ?
Slander and hypocrisy.
What factors will encourage the use of such means?
The ignorance of ordinary people.
When will the people be educated?
When they have enough to eat, and when the rich and the government
stop bribing treacherous tongues and pens to deceive them; when their
interests are identified with those of the people.
When will this be?
Never.
FABRE: So what will you do?
DANTON: I won’t see you humiliated. It would reflect on me.
FABRE: But your plans—you must have plans?
DANTON: I do, but there is no call for you to go around the city saying Danton has plans. I want a reconciliation with the Right in the Convention. Robespierre says we must be united, not factious—he’s correct. Patriots should not torment each other.
FABRE: You expect them to forgive you for cutting their colleagues’ heads off?
DANTON: Camille will launch a press campaign in favor of clemency. In the end I want a negotiated peace, the controls off the economy and a return to constitutional government. It’s a big program and you can’t do it in a country that’s falling apart, so we have to strengthen the Committee. Keep Robespierre, get rid of Collot and Billaud-Varennes and Saint-Just.
FABRE: You admit now you were mistaken? You should never have let yourself be voted off the Committee last summer.
DANTON: Yes, I should have listened to you. Well, first you admit your mistakes, then you start to retrieve them. All of us made a mistake in treating Hebert as a hack writer with no talents. Before we had recovered from our mistake he had ministers and generals in his pocket—not to mention the rabble. It will take courage to break him, and luck.
