Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-08-24
VOL. 55--WH0LE NO. 2,735,
RoBESPIERRE, DANTON AND
MARAT.

search the annals OF the criminal courts
History will furnish us with man,
instances, The French Revolution
brought to the surface creatures Ink,
Gniteau in shoals. Even its leader
were guilty OF the most wanton ant
J, brutal outrages upon mankind. II
America as well as France are to day
villains who would willingly play The
parts of Robespierre, Danton and Ma
rat if the opportunity offered. Social
ism and vagabondlsm have given birtl
to this bad creed, and nothing but the
strong hand of the law will save the
e land from their excesses.
MaXimilien Marie lsidore dc Robes
pierre was born at ArrdS, May 6, 175S
b His father was an advocate before him
7 Of small talents and less business and
means. Young Robespierre was sent
to the village academy n aArras. There
he was fortunate enough to attract
the notice Of the worthy canon of the
cathedral, who used his influence to
forward the youth to the College Of
Louis le-Grand, at Paris. We are told
that in his studies he was noticed for
diligence, regularity and intelligence
and that on the completion of his
conrse at college he devoted himself
to the reading OF Jurisprudence. When
he was legalized to practice he returned
to his native town in order to follow
the profession of his father, in which
pursuit his own success was pro-
nounced. He became a person Of con.
siderable local note. Literature he
associated with law in his daily avo.
cations, and in 1888 was created q
fellow OF the Academy of Arras. At
this time Robespierrc is stated to have
been extremely tender and sensitive
OF feeling, having, in discharge of his
duty as a member of the criminal
court, so great repugnanco to the
harsher business that upon being
obliged to condemn a oulprit to death,
he rather resigned his commission on
a point of conscientious objection than
direct the in6iction of capital punish.
meni.
When the states general were con.
voked in 1889 Robespierre was a person
OF sufficient Importance in Arras to be
elected one Of the deputies of the tiers
etdt, in which capacity he repaired to
Versailles. In this national assembly
ho was of but little account for q while
among 20 many prominent representa-
tlves OF the nobility, the church and
the common classes; but the observing
Mlrabeau soon remarked of him, This
man will 60 far, for he believes every
word he says" Robespierre spoke
frequently in the constituent assembly,
and despite the disadvantages of an
insignificant physiqe, a harsh, shrll
voice aud a most ungainly manner,
acquired increasing influence. 1t was
outside, however, as an ardent mem.
Der of the famous Jacobin Club that
his chief strength was felt. In this
iield bis power was almost unrestricted.
On the death of Mirabeau, whose giant
statue dwarfed all meancr men, Robes.
pierre seemed Of more Importance.
He was the idol Of the Jacobns, still
conspicuous, strangely enough, for his
humanity, delivering an address
against capital punishment in the
assembly, May 80, 1871. When the
constituent assembly dissolved in DC.
tobcr Of the same year Robespierre
visited his birthplace and was wei. |
coined with distinguished honors, the
citizens in every way testifying com
mendation of their worthy deputy for
his consistent and conservative course.
Thus temperate he appeared until he
became triumvir.
His colleague, George Jacques Dan.
ton, was born October 2S, 1853, at
Arcis-SW.Aube, whence his fortunes
took him to Paris, whore he too prac.
ticed the profession of an advocate.
Young Danton was of dissolute habits,
the fierce, barbaric nature of the man
leading him into every extreme of
Partisan dissipation, so allurlng to the
provincial. Danton flung himself, with
the zest of youth, into licentiousness,
and, with the zeal of the enthusiast,
into the early movements of the revo.
luton. With Marat and Camille
Desmoulins he originated the Corde.
liers' Club, a servile copy of the Jaco.
bin Club, and which soon became the
rallying.place of the hotter insurgents
and Jewelers.. Danton, brawny, ath.
letic, with somi.savago countenance,
black beetle.brows and chest voice
ofprodigious compass, there thundered
against the aristocrats till he had
lashed the passions OF the populace
into ungovernable fury. Danton, the
demagogue, was likewise the Domitian
Of the French Revolution and the nj.
oneer of the commune Of our own day.
With him no social or political ex.
tremity had q limit. Fit coadiutor of
Robespierre, the covert, and Marat,
tho mean, in the worthless work ofI
demolition 1t was Danton who ex.
cited the sans culoheS to murder and
melted the sanguinary outrages of the
rabblc which on the 10Th of August, ,
1892, stormed the Tuileres, butchered |
the Swiss Guards and urged to motion
more metbodically the oblique blade /
of the guillotine. 1t was Danton who ,
stood forth as the incarnatc spirit of {
the times In The midst of the death. 1
harvest news reached Paris that the :
Prussians, thealways feared and hated
Prussians, were rapidly marching to. q
ward the capital The kings had '
eagued against the republic. France q
was panic stricken-the thud of the /
yuillotine was for the instant hushed. +
On the 2d of September Danton c
the tribune and uttered before n
-he legislative assembly the most ef. i
ective speech delivered during the v
debates Of the revolution. Its peror. a
Ition thus flung the gauntlet on the In
ground before tho allied enemies of Q
France; "Pow les pdincre, pour les p
,tterrer, que fdutR9 De Pdudace, s
moore dePduddce et toyj0urS de pdudace." b
Paris quivered with excitement and |
In a few weeks fourteen q
epublcan armies faced the hostile 81
orces in the field and drove them b
,aok from the frontiers of France. In ii
wrath, as natural sequence Of the il
invited advance of foreign foes, the II
massacre Of the imprisoned q
oyalists, the massacres of September, u
ook place; and Danton publicly p
banked the assassins in the sei.as. D
umed character of minister of tho ii