Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1871-10-27

\ small mean looking man. weak limbs
always palpitating with a nervous shiver and
q timid, irresoiute gait. His dress was
faultlessly neat and precise. Head powdered.
not a single hair awry. Bright blue coat.
buttoned tightly at the hips, but open az the
chest TO display the spOtess white waistcoat.
yellow breeches white stockings, shoes and
buckles. This costume is never varied. ez-
cept that the shoes are sometimes Cxchang-
ed for top boots The face is sharp and
peaky, the forehead projects over the TEN
pies, and Is compressed at each side ike that
Of a wild beast; eyes blue, deeply sunken,
with heavy lids, and latent. savage spar
kle; nose small. straight. expanded at the
n0strils; mouth large. lips thin and Valid:
compressed at the corners; chin small and
POINTED; complexion yellow, livld, clJaycr
ous. Habltual expression grave, with o
half sweet, halt sinister smile. Every mus
cle of the face working with a ceaseioss
twitch Over the whole. terrible cxp1cs-
sion of concentrated purpose. When be
speaks his gestures are awkward. his fingers
work neryously; his voice is shriil and dis
cordant; when agitated by rage OF ezulra-
ton it sounds like the scream Of hyena.
After leaving college, Bobespierre became
a student Of jurisprudence. His studies com
pleted, he returned to Arras. His old friend,
the Bishop, procured him an appointment in
the Criminal Court. lie now distinguished
himself as a strenuous advocate tor the abo-
litiOn of capital punishment: and not long
after he had accepted the membership, being
compelled, in virtue Of his Office, To condemn
a criminal TO death, he was so Painfully af-
iecteG that rather than undergo the same III
Fiction he chose to resign his Office Does
not this read like the widest fable? Il was
no hypocrisy; for what could he gain by il?
Only the displeasure of his patrons. No;
the nature Of the man was utterly devoid Of
physical courage and all such natures in-
stinctivelY shrink from blood. which il in
their minds, inextricably associated with vio-
lence-with that physical contention for
which their nerves unfit them. ] hate said
they instinctively shrink from blood; yes,
until they taste it; then their appetite grows
Unsuitable for it.
Even as late as l79l, We find him hotly
maintaining his old war against capital pun
ishment On the occasion Of motion Of
Lepelhter Pargeau for Tor its abolition, be
uttered these remarkable words in the
eyes of Justice and mercy these death-scenes,
which are gotten up with so much sclemnty,
are nothing less than base assassinations, sol
emn crimes, committed, not by iudi-
viduals, but by nations, and Of which every
individual must bear the responsibility.
To take away from man the posi-
bility of expiating his misdeeds byrepentlnee
or by acts Of virtue, If, in my eyes, the most
horrible refinement Of cruelty -
Listen to these passages from the very
speech in which he was urging upcn the as
sembly the death Of the King For my
self, abhor the penalty Of death; D..
but dethroned king in the heart Of re-
public not yet cemented neither
prison nor exile can give him harmless ez-
istence. 1t is with regret pronounce the
fatal truth, Louis must perish because our
country must live l vote Tor
death.
The mind of this man had passed through
many phases since he resigned his Office at
Arras on a similar question. His was a
sluggish mind-its qualities developed slow
ly, and each quality required separate
stimulant to become active. lie felt but lit
tie ofambltion then for he beheld no great
object within his reach; and remember, be
p ssessed no daring, no talent for the i'm
practicable; but little Of envy, for his asso-
Citations were mediocre Egotism must have
always been prominent, but it was the ego
tism of ideas, the worship of an IDEAL stan
dard of lofty principles which he had created
within. the worship of self in the abstract.
But now. in the year 1871, the supreme
greatness WAS within bis grasp; he might
| become the the founderof the republic of his
dreams. establish the idolized pridciples OF
his Rousseau, be the creator of a new
order of things, the great philan-
Ihropist of all ages. He had been brought
into collision with every phase of greatness
greatness of soul, of intellect, and Of station;
conscious inferiority hGmiliated him, and in
such mind envy grew in proportion to hu-
initiation.
The growth of egotism was a natural
sequence to that of the other passions. Al
though still believer in the principle Of the
abolition of capital punishment-for this
strange being never fOrsook a principle once
formed-that principle was dwarfed into in
significance beside the mightier ones that
nog burned within his mind filling him with
wild fanaticism, fixing his eye afar off upon
the future, binding him to the present, hur-
rying hrm on with the resistleGs fury of a