168 ANNUAL REGISTE R, 1794. 



sense. His design, after he came chy in France, was just and noble^ 

 to form a design *, to controul the and that this end would sanctify all 



possible means by which it might 



National Assembly, by means of 

 the committee of public safety, the 

 revolutionary tribunal, the munici- 

 pality of Paris, the Jacobin club, ta- 

 mifitd into every part of France, and 

 by changing the democratical con- 

 stitution of the civil authorities and 

 armed forces into a chain of depen- 

 dencies, at the head of which he was 

 to place himself, was in the highest 

 deg^^ee complicated and extravagant. 

 Tf hehad duiyreflectedontheinvete- 

 rate pas.-=Ion for liberty that had per- 

 vaded all France, and discomfited so 

 ih2ny attennpts to preserve'orrestore 

 monarchical government, he cquld' 

 not have supposed that the French 

 nation could brook tyranny in, the 

 person of an upstart dictator': a 

 dictator unadorned with the splen- 

 dor of military atchievements, and 

 sullied in the public opinion, atleast 

 (however his vices might be veiled 

 by self-conceit from his own view) 

 by that littleness and chicane which 

 are ascribed^ unfortunately with too 

 n?uch justice, to the profession of 

 the lavr, in every nation in Europe; 

 so that the abilities and formidable 

 (for we cannot say respectable) 

 qualities of Robespierre were all 

 of them contaminated and pervert- 

 ed by the most blind and deter- 

 mined fanaticism : — a fanaticism 

 inspired pot merely by personal 

 ambition, but a conviction that the 

 end which he ultimately pursued, 

 the complete pvcrthro\y of monar- 



be accomplished. 



The fall of Robespierre was at- 

 tended bycircumbtaixcs that strong- 

 ly proved his popularity to have 

 declined much more than was ge-- 

 nerally beheved. The lower, or 

 .rather indeed the lowest orders of 

 society, were considered his parti- 

 zans almost to a man ; but instead 

 of affordirg any testimonials of re- 

 spect to his memory, the populace 

 expressed universal satisfaction at 

 the triumph of the Convention, 

 Groupes of them were seen through 

 every quarter of the. metropohs, 

 congratulating each other on their 

 deliverance from the monster (the 

 term now appropriated to him), and 

 testifying reciprocally their hopes 

 of never seeing his like. again. But 

 indeed so unaccountable and des- 

 picable is the levity of the mob, 

 tliat they have a temporary satisfac- 

 tion in every change:, tight or 

 wrong, good or bad f. 



Two days after his execution, 

 about seventy accomplices of the 

 insurrection in his favour, were 

 put to death. Thty were mostly 

 members of the municipality, and 

 officers of the national guards. Jii 

 the rootn of tlrase of the committee 

 of piibljc safety who had been exe- 

 cuted with Robespierre, others 

 were appointed, who.se attachment 

 to the republican system and the 

 party fjiatliid'oyerthrpvvn' the late 



* At first it is prqfbablf he was actuated solely by a restless and intnguing dis- 

 position, in order to appear a man of consequence, in some shape or other. — It was 

 said by Cromwell, that a. man never mounted higher than when he knew not 

 uhither he was gomg. 



+ The following epitaph was written on Robespierre, and appeau'd in the farisiaQ 

 ropers about this time: 



Passant, <|ui que tu sois, ne pleule^ pas mon sort ; ^ 



Si je vivais, tu serais mort.' 



tyranny 



