When the populace invaded the legislature on the
1 Prairial Year III (20 May 1795), he proposed the immediate establishment of a special commission to ensure delivery of the changes demanded by the insurgents and assume the functions of the various committees. The failure of the Prairial insurrection led to the immediate fall of those deputies who had supported the demands of the populace. Before the close of the sitting, Goujon, with
Gilbert Romme,
Jean-Michel Duroy,
Adrien Duquesnoy,
Pierre Bourbotte,
Pierre-Aimable de Soubrany, and others were placed under arrest by their colleagues. Taken out of Paris, he and his fellow prisoners had a narrow escape from a mob at
Avranches on their way to the
château du Taureau (
fr) in
Brittany. While being held in prison there, he composed revolutionary poetry. They were brought back to Paris for trial before a military commission on 17 June, although no proof of their complicity in organizing the insurrection could be found. (In fact, with the exception of Goujon and Bourbotte, the accused did not know each other). They were
sentenced to death. In accordance with a pre-arranged plan, they attempted
suicide on the staircase leading from the courtroom with a knife that Goujon had concealed. Goujon succeeded, as did Romme, Bourbotte and Soubrany but the others merely wounded themselves, before being taken immediately to the
guillotine. Before his suicide, he said: "I swore to defend her (i.e.
the Constitution of Year I) and die for her, I die happy not to have betrayed my oath... I would die happier if I were certain that after me, she would not be destroyed and replaced by another constitution (i.e.
the Constitution of Year III) where equality is disregarded, rights violated, and that the masses will be completely subservient to the rich, sole masters of the government and of the state." ==Family==