Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-02-15
PAGE FROM HISTORY.
JACOBINS AND THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION.

Their Excesses We're the Result of Oppres
sion-A Glance at the Leading Actors il
the Stirring Incidents of the Drama a-Th
Reign Of Terror Commune -Thes,
Conditions Do Not Come Without Warnin
May Predictions of the Revival of Sucl
Terrors Through Plutocratic Greed Be Re-
strained and Overcome by All-Wise Di
rection to Higher Plane of Life.
BY BYRON MILLETT
The backward swing of the pendu
lum is equivalent to its upward move
ment. 1t is an axiom in physica
and social science that action and re
action are opposite and equal. NJ
force in the universe is ever lost
when expended it is transferred OF
dissipated for the time being to again
manifest itself in some other sphere
Many volumes have been written
relative to the exceSSeS of the Jaco
bins in the French Revolution ol
17o9-1794, but it must be borne in
mind the oppression of centuries on
the part of mOnarchs and the feudal
nobility, was fresh in the popular
mind. If the people complained OF
the privileged lords, for hunting wild
bOars they had turned loose for the
purposes of sport in their gardens
and vineyards, which they had cult
waited with care, the complaining par
ties were met with punishment in
the prisons, or condemned to work
years as galley slaves, for daring to
protest against indignities and injus-
tice heaped upon theE by the ruling
class. Numerous political prisoners
had been incarcerated in the Bastile,
without the form of a trial. The ia
cobins, when they got control of the
revolutionary machinery, cognizant
of such acts of injustice, enforced
their mandates with the pike and
guillOtine. The rank and file of
the populace from past experiences
looked upon the ruling class and the
priesthood as possessing latent and
mysterious powers to arise agaR and
do them injury, unless they We're
hlilCNt OutI lSHb
Danton, a prominent leader among
the JacObin clubs of Paris and
France, was lawyer by profession,
an orator of no mean ability, was
asked by brother attorney how it
happened he took such an active part
in the Revolution? He replied that
the ancient regime made great mis-
take in giving him good education
and afforded him no means with
which to make use of it. He was
poor, involved in debt, found all ave-
nues closed to his high aspirations.
When the ancient regime collapsed,
he and others similarly situated, had
no other choice but to plunge into
the midst of the conflict. Journal
lists, lawyers, actors, clerks and con-
stables, enthusiasts and young men
of unsatisfied ambition, thought they
saw avenues open wherein their ego
tism might find vent and their abili-
ties be recognized.
Robespierre spoke of himself as:
The one and only, the pure, the in
infallible, the Incompatible, incapa-
BILE alike of sin and error" Madame
Roland described herself thus in her
writings: I am beautiful; l have a
heart and an intellect. inspire
love, reciprocate love, and remain
true to virtue. My mind is q supe-
riOr one; my courage is invincible.
l am a philosopher, a politician, a
writer worthy of the most exalted
destinies. Nevertheless, with all
her claims of virtue and intellectual
attainments, she went to the guillO-
zine under the decree of the Revolu-
tionary tribunal, afforded forcible
illustration of the proposition that
the gratitude of republics is a mock
cry. Marat, who was assassinated by
Charlotte COrday, beautiful wo-
man from Caen, aged 25 years, de-
scribed himself in his publications:
Il believe that l have exhausted ev-
cry combination of the human intel
lect, in all that concerns morals, phil
osophy and statecraft.
History abounds with comments
derOgatory to the character of Marat.
One author describes him as hall
maniac and half dwarf, calling for
heads by the hundred thousand in his
publication, which he claimed was
published in the interests of the pro-
letariat, a story which has gained
credence through the medium of un-
friendly historians to the effect that
when he was assassinated in his
bathroom, he was suffering from a
loathsome disease, seems unwar-
ranted from the facts. At or near
the time of the beginning of the
Revolution, he was hunted by his
enemies who pursued him with the
evident design to take his life. He
took refuge in the sewers of Paris
and there contracted a skin disease
of a scrofulous nature, which could
have been successfully treated, had
the physicians of that time under
stood how to treat such skin diseases
in the light of present medical knowl-
edge. When he was killed, it was
found his whole possessions amount
ed to only five francs. His personal
integrity was not questioned, but his
tcIcIllc1b Ocu VI tilC IAOOH-
ity and priesthood; his frequent
calls for blood prejudiced him greatly
in the estimation of contemporaries
and historians. When Louis XVI.
was arraigned before the Revolution
ary tribunal, he was offered a large
sum of money to make an address of
ten minutes duration in behalf of
the deposed monarch. The offer was
Indignantly refused. 1t is said the
knife, in the hands of Charlotte Cor
day, only anticipated the death of
Marat about eight days.
Violence is invariably the argu-
ment of falsehood. We find that
Danton and Robespeirre met the fate
they had dealt out to others. Though
the former seemed to have no politi-
cal ambition and there was a vein
of justice in his disposition which
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