Terror on the Horizon. Part 1

11th. They have set up a new criminal court that judges without appeal anyone accused of Counter-Revolution. Disturbances at Les Halles and at the city gates. It appears that they want to kill various members of the Convention and government ministers. Monsieur Beurnonville has handed in his resignation as Minister of War.

Summary

This entry is dated the same day that the creation of a new Paris Revolutionary Tribunal was announced by the Convention. This was one of the building blocks put in place in Spring 1793 for the Terror that developed over the next year. Tensions had been rising in the capital during February and early March over food prices and news of various military setbacks. This entry comes from the section of the Elbeuf manuscript comprising short daily entries rather than the much longer letter entries found earlier in the notebook series.

Date and place of writing

11 March 1793, Paris

Themes

Source

Archives nationales de France, F7 4775/1 ( notebook 5, p. 148).