The Shasta courier., 1864-09-24
SHASTA COURIER.
Robespierre.

The sub;oined character Of Robespierre
gives us better idea of his personal pecull-
arities. than any with which the revolution
arv historians have furnished Us.
Died, 2sth July. 1874, at Paris, aged 35,
under the guillotine with nearly seventy of
his party. members of the Convention, Max
imilian Robespierre. This emulator of Crom-
well was short in stature, being only feet
or three inches in hight. His step was firm,
great activity. By kind of contraction of
the nerves, he used often to fold and com
press his hands in each other; and spasmod-
ic contractions were perceived in his shoul-
ders and neck, the latter of which he moved
conyulsively from side to side. In his dress
he was neat and even elegant, ne, er failing
to have his hair in the best order. His fea-
lures had nothing remarkable about them,
unless that their general aspect was some
what forbidding; his complexion was livid
and bilious; his eyes dull and sunk in their
sockets. The constant blnking'of the eye
lids seemed to arise from convulsive agitation;
and he was never without a remedy in his
pocket. He could soften his voice, which
was naturally harsh and croaking, and could
give grace to his provincial accent. 1t was
remarked of him that he could never lock .
man full in the face. He was master of the
talent of defamation and as public speak
er was not amiss at composition. In his har-
angues, he was extremely fond Of the figure
called dnfitltesis; but failed whenever he at.
tempted irony. His diction was at times
harsh, at others harmonously moduiated,
frequently brilliant, but often trite, and was
constantly blended with common-p place d.
gressions virtue, crimes and conspiracles-
Even when prepared, he was but an lndiifer-
ent orator. His logic was often replete with
sophisms and subtleties; but he was in gen
eral sterile of ideas with but a very limited
scope of thought, as is almost always the case
with those who are too much taken up with
themselves. Pride formed tAe basis of his
character and be had a great thirst for lit
erary, but a still greater for political, fame.
He spoke with contempt Of Mr.. Pitt; and yet.
above Mr.. Pitt, he could see nobody unless
himself. The reproaches of the English
Journalists was high treat to his vanity
whenever he denounced them. his accent and
expression betrayed how much his self love
was hattered. 1t was delightful to him to
hear the French armies named the ''armes
of Robespierre :" and he was charmed with
being inclnded in the list of tyrants. Daring
and cowadly at the same time, he threw a
veil over his maneuvres, and was often i'm
prudent in pointing out his victims. If one
of the representatives made motion which
displeased him, he suddenly turned round
towards him with menscing aspect. for
some minutes, Weak and revengefu, sober,
and sensual, chaste by temperament. ard
libertine by the effect Of the imagination, he
was fond of attracting the notice of the wo-
men, and had them imprisoned, for the sole
pleasure of restoring them their liberty. He
made them shed tears, in order 20 wipe them
from their cheeks. In practising his delu-
sions 1t was his particular aim to act on ten
der and weak minds. lie spared the priests,
because they could forward his plans; and
the superstitious and deyotees, because he
could convert them into instruments to favor
his power. His style and depression were in
a manner mystical and, next to pride, sub
tlety was the most marked feature of his char
acter. He was surrounded by those only
whose conduct had been higly criminal, be-
cause be could, with one word, deliver them
over to the punishment of the law. He at
once protected and terrified part of the
Convention. lie converted crimes into err
rors, and errors into crimes. He dreaded
even the shades of the martyrs of liberty,
whose influence he weakened by substituting
his own. He was so extremely suspicious
and so distrustful, that he could have found
it in his heart to guillotIe the dead them
selves. To enter into a strict analysis of his
character, Robespierre. born without genius,
could not create circumstances, but profted
by them with address. To the profound hy
pocrisy of Cromwell he Joined the cruelty Of
Sylla, without possessing any of the great
military and political qualities of either of
these ambitious adventurers. His pride and
his ambition far above his means exposed him
to ridicule. To observe the emphasis, with
which he boasted of having proclaimed the
existence of Supreme Being. one might
have said, that, according to his opinion,
God would not have existed without him.
When, on the night of the p lth of July, he
found himself abandoned by his friends. he
discharged a pistol in his mouth, and. at the
same time, a gendarme wounded him by the
discharge Of another. Robespierre fell bath
ed in blood and a sans culotte, approaching
him, pronounced these words in his ear:
"There is Supreme Being" Previously
to his execution, the bandage being taken off
his head, his jaw fell down, in consequnce of
the wound which he had given himself. y
Aiual Register, l7S4.