Much less than had now been said had before this been deemed sufficient
to mark as a victim for the revolutionary tribunal some servant of the
Republic, and few wished to experience the tender mercies of Fouquier
Tinville, the public accuser. Even Santerre was silenced; despite his
popularity, his well-known devotion to the cause, his hatred of the
aristocrats, and his aversion to royalty, so horridly displayed at the
execution of the King, even he felt that it might not be safe for him
to urge that the memory of Cathelineau was not despicable.
"His death must have much weakened them," said Bourbotte. "I know them
well, the miscreants! I doubt if they will follow any other leader, that
is, in great numbers. The fools looked on this man as a kind of god;
they now find that their god is dead. I doubt whether there is another
leader among them, who can induce them to leave their parishes."
"If they won't come to us," said Barrere, "we must go to them; they have
gone too far now to recede. Whether they return to their homes, or again
take up arms, matters little; they must all be destroyed, for blood
alone can establish the Republic on a basis which can never be
overturned.
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