The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-02
some writer's seem incapable Of oonceivine


energy apart from chaos.
The researches OF the present bioRrapher
have convinced him that. In private life. Dan
ton was dominated by affection. Upon tho
faith OF some who did not know him.. he ac-
quired the character OF a debauchee. but we
are assured that. for the support Of this view,
there Is not a title OF direct evidence. He GER
tainly enjoyed the pleasures OF the senses
which Robespierre repudiated and which Io-
land was unable to enjoy. but there is no
shadow OF truth that his good dinners we're
orgies, or that he INDUCED In any Illicit loves
after he had married the woman to whom he
was devotedly attached. His friends he loved.
and. above all. from the bottom OF his soul he
loved France. His faults. which were many.
and his vices flowed from two sources: First,
he was too little OF an ideaiist, too much alb
sorbed In the thing Immediately before him
secondly. he suffered from the evil effects that
abundant energy may pr~oduce-the habit OF
oaths. the rhetoric Of sudden didtribes. vio-
lent and overstraincd action, with it's subse-
ouent demand for repose.
Such was the man who. at the age OF some
what less than 80. entered the tumultuous
arena which was about to witness the dissolu-
ton Of the old regime. What part did Danton
| take in the transformation OF France2 or his
| oplHlpuo III hcldll' hb HhDiJo vi bOuy III
mind. his convictions. the accidents OF his life.
1t Is the purport Of this biography to treat. An
attempt Is made. however. by our author to
make clear in a few preliminary paragraphs
the drift OF his evolutionary career. The iiTst
point that we are repeatedly asked to keep in
view is that Danton belonged to the bourgeoisie
in rank and to the less visionary members
thereof In the bent OF his mind. A young and
successfullawyer OF thirty. the revolution found
H.. ,.- 1-~r- - -1Af.. n-l .N Ill
election to a legislative body. 1t was the ac-
cident OF oratory that gave him his first po-
sitiou. He discovered him self to be a leader,
and there was soon grouped around him q knot
of the most ardent. including some OF the most
brilliant among the younger reformers. The
electoral district to which he happened to be-
long became through him the most demo-
cratic. and. in some ways. the most violent Of
Paris. In Mr.. Belloc's opinion. that part OF
Danton's character which led to his assump-
ton Of such a position was his sympathy. His
tenderness. a quality OF which he had a great
share. was hidden under the energy OF his
rough voice. great frame and violent gestures.
His pity he was slow to express. The great
crowd Of men. however. who were unrepre-
scented. and the smaller but more influential
class OF those who felt and knew. but could not
speak-these were attracted to him because
they instlnctively felt that he was sincerely
their friend. At moments. and for u purpose.
he was a demagogue. but never by profession.
nor for any period OF time. Our author would
say that. all his life. and by nature. he was a
Tribune OF the people. He Is pronounced the
most French. the most national. the nearest to
the mother-soil OF all the revolutionary group.
He summed up France; and. though he was.
as we have seen. the son OF a small lawyer In
Champagne. he was. at the same time. a peas
ant. a bourgeois, almost a soldier as we'll. Mr..
Belloc says that when we study him. II Is
like looking at a landscape OF Rous-
seau's or a figure of Millet's. We feel
France" 1t appears. too. that Danton's voice
was a good symbol Of his mind. for there was
heard In it not only the deep tone OF a multi
tude. but the quality which comes from the
mir Cling Of many parts the nose OF waters or
OF leavcs. In his political attitude. he attained
this collective quality. not by a varying point
Of view which would bring about confusion.
but by an indignation. His opinions erred on
the side OF bluntness and OF directness. They
were expressed in plain sentences OF a dozen
words he abhorred classical illusions. and was
even chary OF metaphors. He spoke as a crowd
would speak. or an army. or a tribe. IL it had a
voice.
This was Danton. the public orator and the
tribune who for two years was heard at the
club OF the Cordeliers. who spoke always for
purely democratic reforms. who opposed the
moderates and who helped to destroy the COM
promise between the monarchy and the de-
mocracy. Never identified with Paris. he yet
saw clearly the necessity OF Paris. considered
as a ~unifying centre. for the salvation OF
France. While he admitted her claim. how
eyor. he endeavored to check her arrogance.
and never worshipped her idols: once or twice
he even ventured to blame her worst follies.
Elected to the administrator OF the city. he
played but a slight role. and until the spring OF
1892 he affords no proof OF any supreinely use
full quality. 1t was the spring OF the year named
that produced the war with Europe. and from
that date Danton appears in another light.
Had he died then. we should have known him
only by chance references. a centre of strong
reforming speeches. an obscure man in oppo-
sltion. But. with the outbreak OF a war which
he had done nothing to bring on and which his
party thought unwise. Danton showed that his
character, in summing up that Of his fellows.
had caught especially their patriotism. France
was the first thought. and. II we could hear.
not the debaters only. but all the voices
OF France. when the invasion began, It
would he the Immediate necessity OF
saving the country that would crown all
other opinions. Thence and for a whole
year afterward Danton became the leading
man OF France. The ability which had led to
his success at the bar was turned upon the po-
iitical situation. and such ability. combined
with his representative quality. pushed him to
the front. Two qualities appeared in him
which he himself. perhaps. had not guessed
the power Of rapid organization and the power
OF 80 judging character as to bring diplomacy
to bear upon every accident as it arrived.
1t 10 not asserted by the author OF this book
that it was strictly Danton who brought
IA II tNl. r-AN