ROBESPIERRE. 



883 



co-operated with the greatest liberality in all the 

 improvements which have raised Edinburgh to its 

 present celebrity. His History of the Reign o 

 Charles V. appeared in 1769 (3 vols., 4to.), and his 

 History of America in 1777 (2 vols., 4to.) His 

 latest work appeared in 1791, under the title of an 

 Historical Disquisition concerning the Knowledge 

 which the Ancients had of India, and the Progress 

 of Trade with that Country prior to the Discovery 

 of the Cape of Good Hope (4to.) Doctor Robertson 

 died in 1793. As a historian, he is admired for 

 skilful and luminous arrangement, distinctness o: 

 narrative, and highly graphical description. His 

 style is pure, dignified, and perspicuous. See the Ac- 

 count of his Life and Writings by Dugald Stewart. 

 ROBESPIERRE, MAXIMILIAN ISIDORE, was born 

 at Arras, in French Flanders, in 1759, and was the 

 eldest son of an advocate of the superior council 

 of Artois. His father dying when he was young, 

 he was indebted for his education to the bishop oi 

 Arras, who gave him an exhibition at the college 

 of Louis le Grand, at Paris. He completed his 

 youthful studies in a manner creditable to his ta- 

 lents and application, and, at this period, is said to 

 have derived an attachment to republicanism from 

 the lessons of one of his tutors, M. Herivaux, who 

 was an enthusiastic admirer of the heroes of an- 

 cient Greece and Rome. In 1775, when Louis 

 XVI., after his accession to the crown, made his 

 entry into Paris, Robespierre was deputed by his 

 fellow students to present their homage to the new 

 sovereign. Having adopted the law as a profes- 

 sion, he became an advocate of the council of Ar- 

 tois. Previously to the revolution, he was advan- 

 tageously known, both on account of his profes- 

 sional abilities, and the liberal and enlightened 

 spirit which he exhibited in his conduct and writ- 

 ings. In 1789, he was elected a deputy from the 

 tiers Mat of the province of Artois to the states- 

 general. In that assembly, he advocated the li- 

 berty of the press, and other popular topics of dis- 

 cussion; but his eloquence did not attract much at- 

 tention, and he attached himself, in the first in- 

 stance, so closely to Mirabeau, that he acquired the 

 epithet of Le Singe de Mirabeau. At this time, 

 however, he frequented the Jacobin assemblies 

 and clubs of the lower orders, over whom he gained 

 an ascendency, of which he afterwards availed him- 

 self to make his way to despotic power. In Janu- 

 ary, 1791, he spoke repeatedly on criminal legisla- 

 tion ; and he subsequently displayed so much 

 moderation in discussions relative to the emigrants 

 and the priests, as led to suspicions that he was 

 actuated by some secret motives. In a speech on 

 the 30th of May, he recommended the abolition of 

 capital punishments. He is said to have been 

 much alarmed at the flight of the king from Paris, 

 and equally rejoiced at his forced return from Va- 

 rennes ; and, from that period, he seems to have 

 used all his influence in overturning the monarchy. 

 His projects now gradually became developed; 

 and, at the tumultuary meeting in the Champ de 

 Mars, July 17, an altar, with the inscription, A 

 celui qui a bien mertte de la Patrie, and below it 

 the name of Robespierre, testified his high favour 

 with the people. The closing of the constituent 

 assembly, Sept. 30, afforded him another triumph, 

 when the mob presented him with a garland of oak 

 leaves, and, taking the horses from his carriage, 

 drew him through the streets, exclaiming, " Behold 

 the friend of the people, the great defender of li- 

 berty !" It does not appear that he actively inter- 

 fered in the riot of Aug. 10, 1792, or in the mas- 

 sacres which took place in the prisons of Paris, in 

 the beginning of September; but he was connected 



with Marat and Danton, of whose crimes, and 

 those of their associates, he had sufficient address 

 to reap the fruits, and, like other tyrants, at length 

 made his instruments his victims. After the exe- 

 cution of the king, in promoting which the Brisso- 

 tins, or Girondists, co-operated with Robespierre 

 and the Jacobins, the former were sacrificed to the 

 ascendency of the latter. The Hebertists (see He- 

 berf), who had joined in this work of destruction, 

 were the next victims to the jealousy of the dicta- 

 tor, who had no sooner sent them to the scaffold, 

 with the assistance of Danton and his friends, than 

 he adopted measures for the ruin of that popular 

 demagogue, whom he dreaded as his most danger- 

 ous rival. His next measure was to throw the im- 

 putation of atheism and irreligion on those whom 

 lie had destroyed, and to establish a species of 

 religious worship. Barrere, by his direction, pro- 

 mulgated his new system of worship, and, June 8, 

 1794, Robespierre in person celebrated what he 

 termed " the feast of the Supreme Being." His 

 power seemed now to be completely established, 

 and the reign of terror was at its height ; but his 

 cruel tyranny and mysterious denunciations had 

 alarmed many of those who had been most inti- 

 mately connected with him, and a conspiracy was 

 formed for his destruction. (See Terrorism.) At 

 this critical juncture, far from acting with the de- 

 cision which previously marked his conduct, lie 

 waited for the attack of his enemies, and secluded 

 himself from the public for more than a month, 

 during which period he is said to have been em- 

 ployed in preparing an elaborate defence of his 

 conduct, to be delivered in the national convention, 

 where he made his appearance for that purpose 

 July 26 (8th Thermidor), 1794. He was indirectly 

 attacked by Bourbon de 1'Oise ; after which Va- 

 dier Cambon, Billaud-Varennes, and several other 

 members, spoke against him. He now perceived 

 the extent of his danger ; and the ensuing night 

 was passed in consultation with St Just, and others 

 of his most intimate partisans; but their delibera- 

 tions led to no decisive results. The next day, 

 when they appeared in the convention, Tallien and 

 Billaud openly accused Robespierre of despotism. 

 A tumult ensued, and, amidst cries of A has le ty- 

 ran ! he in vain endeavoured to obtain a hearing. 

 At length a decree of arrest was carried against 

 him ; and his brother, and his friends St Just, 

 Couthou, and Le Bas, were included in it. Robes- 

 pierre was sent to the Luxembourg prison ; but, in 

 ;he night, he was set free by the keeper, and was 

 conducted to the hall of the commune of Paris, 

 where Henriot, commander of the national guard, 

 Fleuriot, the mayor of Paris, and others of his 

 creatures, had assembled forces for his defence. 

 This was the critical moment; but neither Henriot, 

 nor Robespierre himself, had spirit sufficient to 

 lead the mob and lead it against the convention. 

 While they deliberated, their opponents proceeded 

 o action. Ba;-ras and others having been appointed 

 commissioners to direct the armed force of the me- 

 .ropolis, they, without difficulty, secured the per- 

 sons of the fallen tyrant and his associates, who 

 were all guillotined the next day, July 28, 1794. 

 Robespierre endeavoured in vain to escape a pub- 

 ic execution, by shooting himself with a pistol at 

 .he moment of his seizure; but he only fractured 

 lis lower jaw, and thus subjected himself to pn>- 

 racted suffering, which excited no compassion. 



Of the wretches who disgraced the revolution, 

 Robespierre was the most notorious, but not the 

 most infamous. He did not court the dregs of the 

 >eople, like Marat ; he amassed no money. He 

 vas politically insane, and was not, moreover, the 

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