Robespierre and Mirabeaii at the Jacobins 15 



in the sections nor among the poor was it possible to gain a foot- 

 hold against the Jacobins. They had, in fact, merely furnished 

 the party of the Lameths an occasion for a new outbreak of vio- 

 lence by which they sustained themselves a little longer at the 

 head of the Jacobins. 



The failure of the Monarchical society's charity program fur- 

 nished a valuable object lesson to those interested in the lower 

 class of society. As long as these people were excluded from the 

 national guards, it was impossible to reach them effectively, except 

 through the sections with the officers of which they were bound 

 to come into some sort of contact. For obvious reasons, the press 

 could not influence them very much. The political agitator, there- 

 fore, who wished to base his power upon this class was greatly 

 handicapped because he had no ready means of communicating 

 with his adherents. This difficulty would have been in a large 

 measure overcome had Robespierre succeeded in having them ad- 

 mitted to the national guards. They could then have been reached 

 as effectively as the actual guards were reached by the Jacobins 

 in their endeavor to overthrow Lafayette.-" This problem was 

 finally solved for the radicals by the formation of a large number 

 of political societies among this class. 



We have seen from the paper of Desmoulins that it was not 

 Mirabeau but Charles Lameth who quieted the Jacobins aroused 

 over the reprimand administered to Robespierre. This is another 

 interesting contradiction of this remarkable session of the society. 

 Like Desmoulins the Lameths had really penetrated Mirabeau's 

 disguise. If they possessed no definite proof of his connection 

 with the court they did not fail to see the object toward which all 

 his efforts tended. But the Lameths had arrived at the turning 

 of the road. To continue their reckless course, they foresaw, 

 meant destruction. They stood at this moment perplexed over 



^ In his forty-seventh note to the court, Mirabeau wrote : " C'est sous 

 une infinite de rapports que je considere la garde nationale de Paris 

 comme un obstacle au retablissement de I'ordre. La plupart de ses chefs 

 sont membres des Jacobins, et, portant les principes de cette societe parmi 

 leurs soldats, ils leurs apprennent a obeir au peuple comme a la premiere 

 autorite." Bacourt, II, 418. 



357 



