On October 8, 1793, Lyons surrendered; on December 19,
1793, the English evacuated Toulon; and, on December 23, the
insurrection in La Vendee received its death blow at Savenai. There had
also been success on the frontiers. Carnot put Hoche in command in the
Vosges. On December 23, 1793, Hoche defeated Wurmser at Freschweiller,
when the Austrians, abandoning the lines of Wissembourg, fell back
across the Rhine. Thus by the end of 1793, save for the great border
fortresses of Valenciennes and Conde to the north, which commanded the
road from Brussels to Paris, the soil of France had been cleared of the
enemy, and something resembling domestic tranquillity had been restored
at home. Simultaneously, as the pressure lessened, rifts began to appear
in the knot of men who held the Dictatorship in the Republic.
Robespierre, Couthon, and Saint-Just coalesced, and gained control of
the police, while Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, and, secretly and
as far as he dared, Barere, formed an opposition. Not that the latter
were more moderate or merciful than Robespierre, but because, in the
nature of things, there could be but one Dictator, and it became a
question of the survival of the fittest.
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