Still the allies advanced into France. Fear deepened into panic.
Supreme control fell into the hands of the revolutionary commune:
Danton became virtual dictator. His policy was simple. The one path of
safety left open to the radicals was to strike terror into the hearts
of their domestic and foreign foes. "In my opinion," said Danton, "the
way to stop the enemy is to terrify the royalists. Audacity, more
audacity, and always greater audacity!" The news of the investment of
Verdun by the allies, published at Paris on 2 September, was the signal
for the beginning of a wholesale massacre of royalists in the French
capital. For five long days unfortunate royalists were taken from the
prisons and handed over by a self-constituted judicial body to the
tender mercies of a band of hired cutthroats. Slight discrimination was
made of rank, sex, or age. Men, women, and children, nobles and
magistrates, priests and bishops,--all who were suspected of royalist
sympathy were butchered. The number of victims of these September
massacres has been variously estimated from 2000 to 10,000.
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