Rapport sur les principes du gouvernement révolutionnaire, fait au nom du comité de Salut Public par Maximilien Robespierre

First edition of this famous speech by Robespierre justifying the principle of revolutionary government and laying the foundations for the establishment of the Terror.
Small black ink stains, sometimes faded, and some foxing.
In autumn 1793, the threats weighing on the Republic had intensified both at the borders and in the heart of the country: Hébert the extremist "enragé" calling for a popular uprising, the royalist threat still present, the Indulgents demanding an end to the policy of Terror. On 5 Nivôse Year II (December 25, 1793), Robespierre went to the Committee of Public Safety to present the principles of revolutionary government.
He warns from the very first words of his speech: recent victories (Vendée defeats of December 12 and 23, recapture of Toulon on December 19 thanks to the notable action of Captain Bonaparte) must not lull patriots into complacency. Counter-revolution remains very active within the country, the Committee of Public Safety must confound the intrigues of the enemies of liberty and make revolutionary principles triumph. In his words: "Le gouvernement révolutionnaire doit aux bons citoyens toute la protection nationale ; il ne doit aux ennemis du peuple que la mort." ["Revolutionary government owes good citizens all national protection; it owes the enemies of the people nothing but death."]
To carry out its action successfully, the latter must find its way between two extremes: the moderatism preached by the "indulgents" and the excess aspired to by the "enragés."
For Robespierre, the dictatorship of the Committees like the Terror is justified because they alone will make it possible to end civil and foreign war. As long as the country is in conflict, citizens will not be able to fully enjoy the Constitution. Counter-revolution must be annihilated. To this end, Robespierre demands reform of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Reform that would find its culmination in the law of 22 Prairial Year II (June 10, 1794): suppression of defense, hearing of witnesses when material evidence is lacking, acquittal or death being the only possible verdicts.
Thus the machinery of Terror is set in motion, replacing with arbitrariness the principles and laws enacted by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and by the Constitution. (cf Delphine DUBOIS and Régis LAPASIN on the site Nouvel éclairage sur l'histoire - L'histoire par l'image).
Very rare copy of this founding speech of the policy of Terror which would ultimately lead its principal instigator, Maximilien Robespierre, to the scaffold.