398 ROBESPIERRE ; 
bitterest enemies could discover no reason to impeach his integrity, 
or to question his unparalleled disinterestedness? Not the slightest 
‘race of the treasures with which it was imputed that Robespiérre 
enriched himself was discovered after his death, nor was any further 
proof established of his having maintained a correspondence with fo- 
reigners. He who sells his conscience, or barters away his convic- 
tion, does so for a valuable consideration ; but no one instance is- 
discernible, in the whole character and conduct of Robespiérre; 
wherein he betrayed any less worthy motive, or propensity, than to 
carry fully into practice his political principles ; and the very en- 
thusiasm with which he pursued his object superseded and subdued 
all other inclinations and passions. If any doubt oro bscurity be 
still considered attached to the history of the Revolution, it un- 
doubtedly is with respect to the influence exercised over Robespiérre 
by foreign agents, whose tool he might possibly have been, but not 
their conscious accomplice. 
The immense flow of blood which characterized the Reign of 
Terror, deluging the whole face of the land, and carrying with it 
dismay, disorder, and bitter lamentation among all classes, sects, and 
ages of the people, was undoubtedly calculated to excite the sympa- 
thy, and to revolt the feelings, of the most indulgent historian, who 
being unable or unwilling to attribute this dire affliction to any rea- 
sonable cause, felt a sort of gratification in imputing the monstrous 
phenomenon to a purely brutal thirst for blood in Robespiérre. The 
members of the aristocracy, who were at all times disposed to act 
upor the opinion that the most deadly and vindictive calumnies 
were by no means ill bestowed, if levelled against those whom they 
considered their enemies—persons, likewise, of a religious turn of 
mind, who recognized in all those cruelties the free work of Satan 
himself, as well as journalists and historians, have all, in short, con- 
spired to attach credence to that ill-founded and unjust hypothesis, 
which has at length become so prevalent as to bias the judgment, 
and prejudice the understanding, of even the most impartial and 
liberal inquirer. 
The propensity to shed blood, according to the opinion of natu- 
ralists, is inherent in the lowest order of animal life, and is peculiar- 
ly distinguishable among insects ; neither is man himself, in whom 
is concentrated the instinctive genius of all the other creatures of 
the animal world, exonerated by historians from partaking largely 
in this most brutal propensity. The aristocracy in France first set 
this odious example, by converting into a species of amusement the 
tortures to which they subjected the lower classes of society, who, 
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