New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-06-28
Jean PAM MIarat.

Marat spoke the language which the
lower classes nderstood, and his Ami du
| TO say that Marat is solely responsible for
the troubles of the years 1912, which
paved the way for the reign of terror.
Robespierre and Dant0n were each potent
in their way, but they would have been
nothing if Marat had not been there to
point to them the road they should follow.
and to breathe courage into them. Day
after day for fifteen months, the indetati-
gable fanatic poured his murderous advice
into the ears of all the farnished, the igno-
rant and the greedy. He repeated that the
people would never be secure in possession
of their rights until king. nobility and
clergy had all been crushed; and he it was
not Danton-who first wrote, The trau-
uuillity of the people demands that 100000
heads should fall" To dispel any senti-
mental qualms that might Enger in the
breasts of his readers, Marat exerted all
his talent to depict his intended victims as
the basest and most depraved of mankind.
PrOletaries learned of him how the King
and Queen, whom they had been compelled
TO reverence and obey, the no bles whom they
had feared and the bishops to whom they
had knelt for absolutiOns and blessings,
were creatures whose private lives reeked
with crime and immortality; and there was
unfortunately just enough truth ID some
az the aspersions to lend the semblance OF
fact TO the remainder. One Is confounded
by the amount of bodily and mental labor
which Marat must have gone through to
bring out his paper every day unaided and
this without ever being remiss in his at
tendance at the Jacobin Club. He wrote
all the An,i du People himself, and dealt
with every class of subjects in it. showing
all the vigilance as well as the teroeity OF
q ubiquitous watchdog. However. he had
his reward at last. The throne was over
turned and, content with his first victory.
Marat changed the title of his paper 10
that of Journal dc la Republique-a mode
of hnilrg that no took. the new order OF
things under his special Protection.
And now imagine France given over to
the garrulous convention. in which there
was not man who clearly knew what he
wanted save this one, Marat. Forty-eight
wears old at this date, Marat was less than
five feet high, and had head enormously
disproportiOnate to the size OF his body.
The upper part OF his face was handsome,
but the lower part, beginning with the nose,
was that of wild beast. The nose was
fiat and large, with nostrils that quivered;
the mouth huge, and filed with blkpek,
Jagged teeth; the chin square, and gel PEI
ally ill.shaved. covered with a stubbl, "
several days growth. Naturally unclea y.
his person, Marat cultivated slovenlil /
tor the purpose Of inspiring greater cd
dom wore hat, but covered his head -
a twisted handkerchief, red, yellow aH,,
greasy. His linen was worse than ding
his shoes stringless, h,s stockings torn anI
down at the heel, and his brown coat GOV
cred with stains, ink FLASHES and fakes OF
dry mud.
In constant terror of his life, he never
ventured out alone, but was always at
tended by tattered mob of rufiians who
called themselves his body guard, and piled
cudgels about them to clear him passage
through the street crowds. Women when
they saw him trembled and turned their
heads aside, children ran away from him, at
the Convention House his entrance was the
signal for general silence, and often for a
dispersion of half the number present.
Marat, who was eaten up with q bilious
vanity, glored in the universal repulsion
which he excited, aud he had grim,
vicious way Of smiling when, fixing mis-
eye on any member whom no disliked, he
saw the man turn pale and crouch. Such
was the man who, by means of all the scum
of Paris kept the convention IN terror, ano
through it governed France.-CoymhM
Magazine.