Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/214

* ROBESPIEBRE. 192 ROBESPIERRE. spierro familiar tliioiifjliout I'^rance. Mirabeau also noted him and i)io(liitcd. "That young man believos what he says: he will go far." But un- til the death of ilinibeau he. like others, was over- shadowed by the greatest of the Revolutionists. It was not until May. ITfll, that Robespierre be- gan to exereise a real intluenoe. In that mouth lie pronounced his discourse favoring the abolition of the death penalty, and carried his unwise mo- tion excluding from the future Legislative As- sembly all members of the Constituent Assem- bly. During the summer of 1791 he opposed Bar- uave, Duport. and Lameth in the conservative revision of the Constitution of 1791. During these two years, however, Robespierre's most important activity was not in the Assembly, but in the Jacobin Club. (See Jacobins.) He set about making himself the acknowledged head of the club, and the leader of the peo- ple of Paris. His triumph was made complete when the conservatives were forced to withdraw from the club and organize themselves as the Feuillants (q.v.). His success in winning the Parisian populace to his support was demon- strated on September 30, 1791. at the adjourn- ment of the Constituent Assembly, when he and Potion were crowned by the people as the true and incorruptible patriots. For a few months he held the office of public prosecutor, which he resigned because of the Girondist attacks. In his defense he started a journal called Le Defenseur <le la VonsUtiiiion, continued as Lcttrcs a mes f'oHiHiF/^Odfs after the opening of the Convention. Still the leading exponent of the radical views, he used his position in the .Jacobin Club to an- tagonize the Giirondists, especially in their war policy. JIarat was opposing the war as contrary to the interest of the State; Robespierre's grounds were rather humanitarian. Though a demagogiie who was daily swaying the people of Paris by his eloquence in the .Jacobin Club, he was not a man of action, and remained quiescent while the bolder spirits like Danton and Santerre directed the movement of .June 20 and of August 10, 1792, and it was only after the success of the latter day that he appeared at the city hall to take his place as a member of the Insurrection- ary Commune. Xo direct guilt attaches to Robespierre for the great crime of the Parisian mob, the jirison massacres of September; still he was at that moment the popular hero and leader, and was a few days later elected as the first Deputy from Paris in the new National Conven- tion. In the Convention Robespierre was the recog- nized leader of the radical popidar party, now known as the Jlontagnards, and from the first was denounced by the Girondists as a blood- thirsty demagogue. Of great importance was his famous speech on the King's trial, in which he carefully and clearly stated the logical position of the Convention, and proclaimed : "Louis ought to perish rather than a hundred thousand virtu- ous citizens; Louis must die. that the country may live." By this speech and by liis attitude throughout, the trial Robespierre completely out- generaled the Girondists, whom he forced to take what for them was an illogical position and vote for the execution of the King. His generalship, which took advantage of the mistakes and per- sonal dislikes of the Girondists, also won to his side Danton, Billaud-Varenne. and the other strong men of action. Though the French nation seemed on the point of being destroyed liy the for- eign foe, the Girondists continued their idle de- bates, clung to dreams of an impossible federal- ism, and persisted in their bickerings and their jiersonal attacks upon Robespierre and Danton. Danton and the men of action who had hitherto jireferred the company of the Girondists lost patience and were ready to turn to Robespierre, whom they regarded as a fanatic, but not yet dangerous. Taking advantage of these circum- stances, Robespierre in one of his characteristic speeches arraigned the Girondists on April 10, 1793. It was a struggle to the death, but its outcome was certain from the moment that Dan- ton and his followers joined Robespierre. The coup d'etat of May 31st and June 2d was the work of the men of action, but the victory was that of Robespierre. Robespierre was not a member of the First Committee of Public Safet}' and was not one of the original members of the Second or Great Committee of Public Safety, but was chosen to replace Gasparin, who resigned July 27, 1793. With tile other members he was continued on the Committee until his arrest exactly one year later on the fateful 9th Therniidor. The name of Robespierre has ever been almost synonymous with the Committee, and both Robespierre and the other members gave currency to the notion that he ran the Committee; but as a matter of fact, the other members were the workers and never allowed Robespierre to in- terfere with them, and finally overthrew him be- cause he attempted to make his reputed control of the Committee a reality. Virtually the Great Committee of Public Safety (see French Revo- LfTiON) was a semi-official Ministry, of which Robespierre was Prime Minister without port- folio. He was the most valuable man on the Com- mittee, for, though he did none of the routine work and rarely appeared at its sessions, he was the one member who was known outside of the Con- vention and who had a national reputation; he was the ideal patriot, the "virtuous,' the 'incor- ruptible;' and tmder his aegis the steady, clears headed, industrious men of action toiled quietly, relentlessly, successfully to save France from the foes and perils that beset her. The notion of Robespierre as a bloodthirsty demon who daily breathed forth threatcnings and slaughter is a total misconception: the truth is that the Com- mittee was convinced that the only way to ac- complish its task of saving France was by a gov- ernment of terror which should silence or de- stroy every foe of the nation. To the working members of the Committee like Carnot and Bil- laud-Varenne the Terror was simply a business afl'air; to Robespierre it was a necessary prepara- tion for the reign of virtue foreshadowed in the Ciospel according to Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose prophet he was. Robespierre was neither the dictator of the Committee nor yet its dupe. He consciously assumed his share of the responsi- bility for its acts, he defended its policies in set speeches in the Convention and before the Jacobin Club, and he personally carried through the Convention one of the acts which contributed most to make the Terror an orgy of blood: the decree of October 29, 1793, by which after a trial of three days it was made possible for the jury of the Revolutionary Tribunal to declare that they were convinced of the guilt of the accused even though they had not heard the defense.