HIS PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTER. 401 
by lerror, receiving no support from the love and attachment of the 
French people ; and yet it is as perfectly certain that he possessed 
the confidence of the mass to a far greater extent than even the most 
philanthropic monarchs ever commanded. 
The true basis, however, on which his popularity rested, was his 
own conviction of the feasibility of his designs. Already, during the 
earliest sittings of the National Assembly, Mirabeau, the political 
prophet of that period, after silently listening to the unenlightened 
effusions of Robespiérre, which were received with sncers by the 
other members, exclaimed “ That man will prevail, for he believes 
what he says” (il ira loin, il croit ce qu’il dit). He derived much 
popular esteem, likewise, from the respectful language in which he 
invariably couched all observations having reference to the people, 
terming them the grand focus from whence all virtues flowed ; from 
the felicitous concord at all times existing between his words and 
actions: and the moral conviction he himself entertained of the jus- 
tice of that creed by which he regarded all descriptions of moral de- 
linquents as the people’s foes. So firmly was his popularity esta- 
blished by these circumstances, that it was withdrawn from him 
only with his life, and his fall was compassed rather by surprise 
than by the more powerful influence of his opponents. Oelsner, a 
German writer, who was an eye-witness of all the revolutionary 
scenes in the capital, thus speaks of Robespiérre :— The people 
were so convinced of his honesty, that they could have actually seen 
him pick pockets, and yet would have been but ill disposed to con- 
fide in the correctness of their own vision.” 
In like manner, Burke explains the popularity of the Jacobins, 
when he says* that the Jacobin Revolution is the offspring of men 
neither elevated in rank nor meriting esteem—of a wild and impe- 
tuous temper and disposition—full of levity, arrogance, and pre- 
sumption—and as destitute of any governing moral principles as of 
wisdom. Whence, then, did they derive that popular power and 
authority which, overcoming all obstacles, alarmed even the most 
resolute men? From a qualification infinitely surpassing all others 
in worth—ENERGY oF PURPOSE! It is to an unconquerable men- 
tal impulse, an enterprising spirit, but above all to the exercise of 
this energy of purpose, that men are indebted for the positions they 
hold, considering the confused and unsettled state of affairs in 
France. 
Fanaticism is not to be acquired simply by resolution ; in other 
Remarks on the Policy of the Allies with respect to France. 
VOL. IX., NO. XXVII. 51 
