166 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



promoters of his greatness. Siiame 

 and remorse were strangers to his 

 soul : it rioted, as it were, in the 

 perpetration of atrocities as in its 

 real element. This horrid propen- 

 sity could not always orij;inate in 

 the dread of those who wf-re its 

 victims : it must therefore have 

 arisen from a native thirst of biood 

 and vengeance, and a readiness to 

 indulgft it on every one that ex- 

 cited offensive sensations in his 

 ■inind. Such a disposition opened 

 a boundless career of barbarity to 

 the fatal power he had of exercising 

 it, and to the inhuman gratification 

 it afforded him. 



• After completely viewing thft 

 •dleformities of Robespierre's moral 

 character, it is but doinghim justice 

 to say, that his intellectual endow- 

 ments were far above the common 

 level : his education was classical j 

 and he was well conversant in the 

 ancit-nt writers, particnjarly the 

 historical. His talents for oratory 

 and politics lay in a great measure 

 concealed, laitil fortune call-.c liirr. 

 from theprovincial situationwhcre- 

 Jn the fi Mire he made, thougli by 

 no means contemptible, could ne- 

 ver have entitled him to any de- 

 gree of celebrity. Roused by that 

 ambitious temper, which imdcr due 

 restraint is the parent of all that is 

 great, he exerted those intriguing 

 arts wherein no man ever excelled 

 him, in persuading his fellow citi- 

 tths to elect him their representa- 

 tive. To this promotion he owed 

 the opportunity of perfecting him- 

 self in political knowledge, and Of 

 improving his sty'e and manner of 

 speaking. 



Ttie National Assembly was cer- 

 tainly a school wherein no man of 

 parts and of industry could fail to 

 learna number of profitable lessons. 



What he rriost excelled in was per- 

 sotial apology and dcclnmations oq 

 public affairs : the former suited 

 exactly his wary and gtjarded tem- 

 per j and the latter gave him those 

 opportunities, in which he so much 

 delighted, of pouring forth in'Vc- 

 tivcs on those individuals that were 

 obnoxious to him, and on those 

 measures tliat did not coincide with 

 his view.- ; or, what he l.ad ever 

 chiefly at heart, of rendering him- 

 self popular, by espousing with the 

 moststudlous ostentation every idea, 

 maxim, and prejudice that charac- 

 terize the multitude; and by as- 

 Buming the dc/cuce and protection 

 of the vulgar wi h as much anima- 

 tion and zeal as if his own imme- 

 diate V, elfare dcpcaded on the suc- 

 cess of his repress I Nations. Herein 

 he may indeed be truly taid tc hive 

 felt for himself, as on tiiem he re- 

 lied for essential support in his pro- 

 jected undertakings : but though it 

 cannot on the whole be denied that 

 he spoke well, it must be allowed 

 th^t he wrote better. FJis speeches, 

 when he was not personally con- 

 cerned, \\'ere often, if not generally, 

 marked with impetuosity, violence, 

 and inconsideration. These, iii 

 truth, were the characteristics of 

 the times ; but in his WTitings he 

 was polished and retined ; his dic- 

 tion was clear and correct j and be 

 knew well how todisplay wit, fancy, 

 and huruour, whenever occasion re- 

 quired. 



As h's speeches were inferior to 

 his written compositions, so his spe- 

 culative reasonings were unequal to 

 the practical energies of his mind.' 

 His argumi-ntations were apt to be 

 loose and inconclusive ; but in the 

 formation of his plans he was 

 shrewd and penetrating. Few or 

 none of these were strictly hisown; 



but 



