South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-06-02
Miscellaneous.
RObespierre.


limbs, always palpitating with a nervou
shiyer, and a timid, irresolute gait. hi
dress is faultlessly neat and precise. Hea
powdered, not single hair awry. Brigh
blue coat, buttoned tightly at the hips. bu
open at the chest to display the spotls S
white waistcoat; yellow breeches, whit
stockings, shoes and buckles. This cos
tune is never varied, except that the shoe
are sometimes exchanged for top boots
The face is sharp and peaky; the foreheai
projects over the temples, and is com
pressed at each side like that of a wilt
beast; eyes blue, deeply sunken, witt
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, hvid
cadaverous. Habitual expression grave
with half-sweet, half sinister smile
Every muscle of the face working with &
ceaseless twitch. Over the whole terri
bic expression of concentrated purpose
When he speaks his gestures are awkward
his fingers work nerVously; his voice i:
shrill and discordant; when agitated by
rage or exultation it sounds like the
scream of 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 a strenuous
advocate for the abolition of capital pun.
ishment; and not long after he had &C
cepted the membership, being compelled,
in virtue of his Office, to condemn a Grim
inal to death, he was so painfully affected
that rather than again undergo the
same iDfiction 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
instinctively shrink from blood, which is,
in their minds, inextricably associated
with Violence-with that physical conten-
ton for which their nerves unfit them
have said they instinetively shrink from
blood: yes, until they taste it; then their
appetite grows Unsuitable for it.
Even as late as 1891, we find him hotly
maintaining his old war against capital
punishment On the occasion of mo-
tion 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.
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 crueltyl"
Listen to these passages from the very
speech in which he was urging upon the
Assembly the death of the King: +" For
myself, abhor the penalty of death;
but dethroned king in the heart of re-
public not yet cemented
neither prison nor exile can give him a
harmless existence 1t is with regret
pronounce the fatal truth. Louis must
perish because our country must live.
l 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 a sluggish mind-its qualities de-
veloped slowly, and each quality required
q separate stimulant to become active. He
felt but little of ambition then, for he be-
held no greater object within his reach;
fA-AA ASA-AOA44bC2y AO POooCooCO AO III
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 humilisted him, and in such a
mind envy grew In proportion to humilia-
tion.
The growth of egotism was a 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-
clple once formed-that principle was
dwarfed into insignifcance beside the
mightier ones that now burned within his
mind, filling him with avid fanatieism,
fixing his eye afar off upon the future,
bin ding himsto the present, hurTying him
on with the restless fury of q demOniac.
sweep away King, sweep away Queen,
mobiles, every enemy, every rival of Maxi
milan Robespierrel Let every stone OF
Paris stream with blood; pile up corpses
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
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-sightednes of all great criminals,
he thought he could stay his hand at any
The King removed, the mobiles
swept away, and the bloody work was
done. How small sacrifice for so grand
an endi But it was the old fable of the
Hydra, in this case multiplied a hundred
fold; for, for every head cut off, two
sprang up in its place, which doubled and
quadrupled until the victims had to be
condemned in patches of fifty and sixty at
time, until canals of blood ran through
the streets-until he was heard to cry in
his solitude, Nothing but blood-how
much nore-when will it end?"
But it was not the cry of humanity-of
that he possessed not a particle; human
suffering touched him not at alto that
he was utterly callous. Amid all the
butchery he lived through, he
never once raised his voice to save one
human life. There is an anecdote told of
him which will better exemplify his nature
than pages of description.
A friend with whom he was most init
mate, and who was sincerely attached to
him, begged him to save the life of GER
tain prisoner who was ordered for execu.
ton. "At what hour is he to suffer"
asked Robespierre. At eight" was the
reply. al would most willingly oblige
you, but never rise till nine 1t is i'm
possible" answered the despot. The man
was marble.-Ienple Bar.