Committee of General Security

The Committee of General Security was a parliamentary committee of the French National Convention which acted as police agency during the French Revolution. Along with the Committee of Public Safety it oversaw the Reign of Terror. The Committee of General Security supervised the local police committees in charge of investigating reports of treason, and was one of the agencies with authority to refer suspects to the Revolutionary Tribunal for trial and possible execution by guillotine. The Committee of General Security was established as a committee of the National Convention in October 1792. It was designed to protect the Revolutionary Republic from its internal enemies. By 1794 the committee became part of the opposition to Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, and was involved in the 9 Thermidor coup d'état. On 4 November 1795, along with the end of the National Convention, the Committee of General Security dissolved. Among its prominent members, there were Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier, Jean-Pierre-André Amar, Jean-Paul Marat or Jacques-Louis David. Origins and evolution On 2 October 1792, the National Convention created the Committee of General Security from its predecessors: the Search Committee (Comité des recherches) and the Committee of Surveillance (Comité de Surveillance). The committee was not large and never exceeded 16 members. The committee's main responsibility was the internal security of France and to protect the Republic from both external and internal enemies. One way of ensuring the security of France was through the passport system. Through this system the members of the committee had the knowledge of who was entering France and where they were going. The committee had the authority to decide who was sent to the Revolutionary Tribunal for judgment during the Reign of Terror. Once the evidence was fully considered in an individual case the members of the committee made the decision on the innocence or guilt of the suspect, which determined if that person would be released or sent to the Tribunal.