Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-06-08
bespierre.


dress is faultlessly neat and precise. Head
powdered, not single hair awry. Bright
blue coat, buttoned tightly at the hips, but
open at the chest to display the spotless
white waistcoat; yellow breeches, white
stockings, shoes and buckles. This cos
tune is never varied, except that the shoes
are sometimes exchanged for. top boots.
The face is sharp and peaky; the forehead
projects over the temples, and is COM
pressed at each side like that of wild
beast; eyes blue, deeply sunken, with
heavy lids, and latent savage sparkle !;
nose small, straight, expanded at the nos
trils; mouth large; lips thin and pallid,
and compressed at the corners; chin small
and pointed; complexion yellow, livid,
cadaverous. Habitual expression grave,
with a half-sweet half sinister smile.
Every muscle of the face working with a
ceaseless twitch Over the whole terri
BILE expression of concentrated purpose.
When he speaks his gestures are awkward,
his fingers work nervously; his voice is
shrill and discordant; when agitated by
rage or exultation it sounds like the
scream Of a hyena.
After leaving college, Robespierre be.
came student of jurisprudence. His
studies completed, he returned Arras His
old friend, the Bishop, procured him an
appointment in the Criminal Court. He
now distinguished himself as strenuous
advocate for the abolition of capital pun
ishment; and not long after he had ac-
cepted the membership. being compelled,
in virtue of his office, to condemn crlm-
inal to death, he was so painfully affected
that rather than again undergo the
same infiction he chose to resign
his office. Does not this read
like the widest fable? 1t was no
hypocracy for what could he gain by it :?
Only the displeasure of his patrons No !;
the nature Of the man was utterly devoid
of physical courage; and all such natures
instinctiyely shrink from blood, which is,
in their minds, inextricably associated
with violence-with that physical conten-
ton for which their nerves unfit them. l
have said they instinctively shrink from
blood: yes, until they taste it; then their
appetite grows Unsuitable for it.
Even as late as 1901, we find him holly
maintaining his old war against capital
punishment. On the occasion of mo-
ton of Lepelletier Pargean for its aboli-
ton, he uttered these remarkable words ::
"In the eyes Of justice aud mercy these
death scenes, which are got up with so
much solemnity, are nothing less than
base assassinations, solemn crimes, com
mitted, not by individuals, but by nations,
and of which every individual must bear
the responsibility. 4
To take away from man the possibility of
expiating his misdeeds by repentance or
by acts of virtue is, in my eyes, the most
horrible refinement of cruelty'
Listen to these passages from the very
speech in which he was urging upon the
Assembly the death of the King: For
myself, l abhor the penalty OF death;
but a dethroned king in the heart of re-
public not yet cemented
neither prison nor exile can give him
harmless existence. 1t is with regret
pronounce the fatal truth. Louis must
perish because our country must live. 4
vote for death"
The mind of this man had passed
through many phases since he resigned
his office at Arras on similar question.
His was sluggish mind its qualities de-
veloped slowly and each quality required
separate stimulant to become active. Tie
felt but little of ambition then, for he be-
held no greater obj, ct within his reach ;
and remember, he possessed no daring, no
talent for the impracticable; but little OF
envy, for his associations were mediocre.
Egotism must have always been promi-
nent, but it was the egotism of ideas, the
worship of an ideal standard of lofty prin-
ciples which he had created within, the
worship of self in the abstract But now,
in the year 1891, the supreme greatness
was within his grasp; he might become
the founder of the republic of his dreams,
establish the idolized principles of his
Rousseau, be the creator of new order OF
things, the great philanthropist of all ages.
He had been brought into collision with
every phase of greatness-greatness OF
soul, Of intellect and of station; conscious
inferiority Inundated him, and in such a
mind envy grew in proportion to humilia-
ton.
The growth of egotism was natural
sequence to that of the other passions.
Although still a believer in the principle
of the abolition of capital punishment
for this strange being never forsook prin-
ciple once tormed-that principle was
dwarfed into insignihcance beside the
mightier ones that now burned within his
mind, filling him with a wild fanaticism,
fixing his eye afar off upon the future,
binding him to the present, hurrying him
on with the restless fury of demoniac.
Sweep away King, sweep away Queen,
mobiles, every enemy, every rival OF Maxi
] milan Robespierre! Let every stone OF
A al 10 otiCdm Win uioou piiO Wy SoiPoSo
until they crimson the face OF heaven ;
declimate the world, so that the great Ego
may triumph. Then for the millennium,
the reign of peace, equality, liberty, fra
] ternity, eternal love and good fellowship
no more hunger no more crime, no more
bloOd-spillingi
But this gigantic programme grew in
his mind only by degrees. The cowardice
OF his nature would have shrunk appalled,,
even on the very eve Of its realization, at
the vision Of the Reign of Terror. With
the short-sightedness of all great criminals,
ne thought he could stay his hand at any
moment. The King removed, the mobiles
swept away, and the bloody work was
done. How small sacrifice for SO grand
an end! But it was the old fable of the
hydra, in this case multiplied hundred
lold; for, for every head cut of, two
sprang up in its place, which doubled and
9ladrupled until the victims had to be
condemned in patches of fifty and sixty at
adme, until canals of blood ran through
the streets-until he was heard to cry in
ms solitude, Nothing but blood--how
much mOre-when will il end? ?"