Why did Camille Desmoulins criticize the Reign of Terror in Le Vieux Cordelier?

Camille Desmoulins criticized the Reign of Terror in his newspaper Le Vieux Cordelier because he and his close associate Georges Danton had emerged as leaders of a moderate faction known as the Indulgents or Dantonists.1

By late 1793, Desmoulins sought to challenge the radical policies enforced by the Jacobins and their allies among the Parisian lower classes. While his initial critiques focused on the dechristianizing movement led by Jacques Hébert, he subsequently used the later issues of his publication to lash out against the Committee of Public Safety and its reliance on political terror and state-regulated economic controls. This opposition to the escalating violence ultimately led to his arrest and execution alongside Danton in April 1794.1