Georges Couthon

Georges Auguste Couthon (22 December 1755 – 28 July 1794) a French politician and lawyer in the French Revolution. Couthon would befriend Robespierre and serve on the Committee of Public Safety with him from 30 May 1793 until his and Robespierre’s deaths in 1794. Couthon would also play an important role in the development of the 22 Prairial.

Couthon was born on December 22, 1755 in Orcet in the province of Auvergne. His father was a notary and his mother was the daughter of a shopkeeper. Couthon, just as the generations of his family before him, found himself the member of the lower bourgeoisie. Following in his father’s footsteps, Couthon would become a notary. His aspirations would take him away from Orcet and to Paris where he would join the Freemasons in 1790 in Clermont. In 1791, Couthon would become one of the deputies of the Legislative Assembly.

In 1791, Couthon traveled to Paris to fulfill his duty as a deputy to the Legislative Assembly. He then joined the growing Jacobin Club of Paris. He chose to sit on the Left at the first meeting of the Assembly, but soon decided against associating himself with such radicals as he feared they were "shocking the majority." He was a very proficient speaker, and there is evidence that he exploited his infirmity—he was paralyzed in his lower body, and so confined to a wheelchair—in order to gain the ear of the Assembly on certain issues.

In September 1792 Couthon was elected to the National Convention. During a visit to Flanders, where he was treating his health, he met and befriended Charles François Dumouriez. At the trial of the king he voted for the death sentence without appeal. He hesitated for a time as to which party he should join, but finally decided for The Montagnards and the inner group formed around Maximilien Robespierre - with whom he shared many opinions, especially on religious issues such as revolutionary dechristianization (to which he was opposed- see Cult of the Supreme Being). He was the first to demand the arrest of the proscribed Girondists.

Growing unrest had been occurring in Lyon in late February and early May. By 5 July 1793 the National Convention determined the city of Lyon to be “in a state of rebellion”, and by September the Committee of Public Safety decided to send representatives to Lyon to end the rebellion. Couthon would be the representative that Lyon would surrender to on 9 October 1793.

On 12 October 1793 the Committee of Public Safety would pass a decree which they believed would make an example out of Lyon. The decree specified that the city itself be destroyed. Following the decree, Couthon established special courts that would supervise the demolition of the richest homes in Lyon, leaving the homes of the poor untouched. In addition to the demolition of the city, the decree dictated that the rebels and the traitors were to be executed. Couthon had difficulty accepting the destruction of Lyon and proceeded slowly with his orders. Eventually he would find that he could not stomach the task at hand and by the end of October he would request the National Convention send a replacement. The Republican atrocities began after Couthon was replaced, on 3 November 1793, by Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois.

Following his departure from Lyon Couthon returned to Paris, and on 21 December was elected president of the Convention. He contributed to the prosecution of the Hébertists, and was responsible for the Law of 22 Prairial, which in the case of trials before the Revolutionary Tribunal deprived the accused of the aid of counsel or of witnesses for their defence, on the pretext of shortening the proceedings.

During the crisis preceding the Thermidorian Reaction, Couthon showed considerable courage, giving up a journey to Auvergne in order, as he wrote, that he might either die or triumph with Robespierre and liberty. Robespierre had disappeared from the political arena for an entire month because of a supposed nervous breakdown, and therefore did not realize the situation in the Convention had changed. His last speech seemed to indicate that another purge of the Convention was necessary, though he refused to name names. In a panic of self-preservation, the Convention called for the arrest of Robespierre and his affiliates, including Couthon, Saint-Just and Robespierre's own brother, Augustin Robespierre. Couthon was guillotined on 10 Thermidor alongside Robespierre, although it took the executioner fifteen minutes (amidst Couthon's screams of pain) to arrange him on the board correctly due to his paralysis.