Maximilien Robespierre: Encyclopedia II - Maximilien Robespierre - The great question regarding the execution of Louis XVI

Maximilien Robespierre - The great question regarding the execution of Louis XVI

All personal disputes, however, gave way by the month of December 1792 before the great question of the king's trial, and here Robespierre took up a position which is easily understood. These are his words spoken on December 3:

Robespierre argued that the King, having "betrayed" the people by attempt to flee the country (or indeed, in Robespierre's opinion, in having been a King at all) was not just a criminal but a danger to the state- a threat through the unifying symbol he presented to the enemies of the newborn Republic.

In this debate (which took place throughout January of 1793), he opposed the Girondins and the few remaining Royalists. The Royalists, of course, objected to any trial or punishment of the King whatsoever, but were too few to make any significant difference. The Girondins believed that the King, having been dethroned, was now a citizen with the right to trial. Because of the exceptional nature of the defendant, the Girondins also believed that the National Convention was the competent body to judge Louis. A rather heated debate—primarily involving Robespierre and his close follower Saint-Just on one side, with Marie de Condorcet and Pierre Vergniaud on the other—helped to widen the increasing rift and personal animosity between Robespierre and the more moderate elements of the Convention, and played no small part towards the later purge of the Girondins.

The Girondin arguments, though, ended up convincing the convention that there should indeed be a trial. By a vote of 716-0 (with 29 deputies absent for the vote), the King was found guilty. This, however, only contributed more fuel for debate. The Girondins felt uneasy about executing the King and proposed that his verdict and sentence be submitted to a popular referendum.

The response of Robespierre and his associates was to hint that requests for such a referendum betrayed sympathy for the King, and further were blatant attempts to delay the execution of the Convention's sentence. The condemnatory rhetoric of Robespierre began to sway the Convention, and it voted 424-283 against submitting the verdict to the people. Last minute attempts to delay (at least) the execution of the King failed. A motion on January 19 was defeated by a single vote, 361-360; the following day, January 20, the margin widened to 380-310. Thus Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The great question regarding the execution of Louis XVI", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki