Status Updates From The Coming of the Terror in...

The court magistrates also appealed directly to the Convention… In their view, however, the outcome was already clear: "The proof of their crimes is evident; all of us maintain the firm conviction that they are guilty." The Jacobins also petitioned the deputies. In order that "these monsters may perish" and that “the terror remain the order of the day," they must end the trial and convict the accused.

Many rebels in the west had been influenced by the ideals of 1789. They were quick 2claim the right of self-determination & to view their uprising as a form of revolution. "Your so-called republican government,’ wrote a leader, ‘adopted the principle that sovereignty resides essentially in the people. Well! This sovereign people desires a king and the free exercise of religion. This has always been their will.’

Robespierre spoke in the Assembly in the name of Commune: "The people are resting," he announced, "but they are not sleep. They demand the punishment of the guilty." It was under this pressure that the deputies agreed on to create a new "Tribunal d'exception." Conceived to try political cases without appeal and with jury members elected by the sections. All found guilty would be immediately executed at the guillotine

Mirabeau: "In periods of calamity nothing is more striking to an observer than the widespread tendency to believe and to exaggerate the most appalling news. It would seem that logic no longer consists of calculating degrees of probabilicy, but of giving credence to even the most unlikely rumors.... We then resemble children, for whom the most frightening tales are always the most eagerly followed "

Sounds familiar.

Mercier underlined what he felt were the foolish credulity, irrational emotions, and excitability of the common people: "For them the imaginary world is the real." In the end, he concluded, "stupidity and political ignorance are characteristic of the masses of Paris,’Coming to grips with the behavior of the common people, their violence and their readiness to accept even the most unlikely rumors-was a challenge.

Following up that book focused on the granularities of the day of the fall of Robespierre with one exploring how the Revolution shifted from progressive idealism to mass-murder. As ever, the answer is already clear: "It's complicated, with many, many factors involved." Book's promising after the intro and first chapter, though.