Maximilien Robespierre’s Revolutionary tribunal, equating dissidence with counterrevolutionary agitation, guillotines not only such extremist leaders as Hebert but also such moderate Montagnards as Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins.

Towards the end of the Reign of Terror, Danton is accused of various financial misdeeds, as well as using his own position in the Revolution for personal gain.

Many contemporaries have commented on Danton's financial success during the Revolution, an acquisition of money that he cannot adequately explain.

Many of the specific accusations directed against him are based on insubstantial or ambiguous evidence.

During his tenure on the Committee of Public Safety, Danton had been behind a peace treaty agreement with Sweden.

Although the Swedish government had not ratified the treaty, on June 28, 1793, the convention had voted to give 4 million livres for diplomatic negotiations.

According to Bertrand Barère, a journalist and member of the Convention, Danton had taken a portion of this money that was shared with the Swedish Regent Although Barere’s accusation is the only evidence against him, this is not the first time that Danton had been implicated in profiting from political service.

Between 1791 and 1793, Danton has faced many allegations, including taking bribes during the insurrection of August 1792, helping his secretaries to line their pockets, and even forging assignats during his mission to Belgium.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence of financial corruption is a letter from Mirabeau to Danton in March 1791 that casually refers to 30,000 livres that Danton had received in payment.

The final serious accusation, which haunts him during his arrest and forms a chief ground for his execution, is his alleged involvement with a scheme to appropriate the wealth of the French East India Company.

During the reign of the Old Regime the original French East India Company had gone bankrupt, but was brought back in 1785, backed by royal patronage.

The Company had eventually fallen under the notice of the National Convention for profiteering during the war.

Soon the Company is to be liquidated and certain members of the Convention try to push through a decree that will cause the share prices to rise before the liquidation.

Discovery of the profits from this insider trading lead to the blackmailing of the directors of the Company to turn over half a million livres to known associates of Danton.

While there is no hard evidence that Danton is involved, he is vigorously denounced by François Chabot, and implicated by the fact that Fabre d’Eglantine, a member of the Dantonists, is implicated in the scandal.

On March 30, Danton, Desmoulins, and others of the indulgent party are suddenly arrested.