-
Articles/Ads
Article MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF ROBERSPIERRE. ← Page 10 of 10
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Memoirs Of The Life Of Roberspierre.
was delightful to him to hear the French armies named , the armies © f Roberspierre ; and he was charmed with being included in the list of tyrants . Daring and cowardly at the same time , he threw a veil over his manoeuvres , and was often imprudent in pointing out his victims . If one cf the representatives made a motion which displeased him , he suddenly turned round towards him , and eyed him with a
menacing aspect for some minutes . Weak and revengeful , sober and sensual , chaste b y temperament , and a libertine by the effect of imagination ; he was fond of attracting the notice of the women , and had them imprisoned for the sole pleasure of restoring to them their liberty . He made them shed tears to wipe them from their cheeks . In practising his delusions , it was his particular aim to act on tender and weak minds . He spared the priests , because they could forward his plans ; arrd the superstitious and devotees , because he could convert them into instruments to favour his power . .
His stile and expression were in a manner mystical ; and , next to pride , subtilty was the most marked feature of his character . He was surrounded by those only , whose conduct had been hig hly criminal , because he could with one word deliver them over to the punishment of the law . He at once protected and terrified a part of the Convention . He converted crimes into errors , and errors into crimes . He dreaded even the shades of the martyrs of liberty
, whose influence he weakened , by substituting his own . He was so extremely suspicious and distrustful , that he could have found it in his heart to guillotine the dead themselves . To enter into a strict analysis of his character , Roberspierre , born without genius , could not create circumstances , but profited by them with address . To the profound hypocrisy of Cromwellhe joined
, the cruelty of Sylla , without possessing any of the great military and political qualities of either of those ambitious adventurers . His pride and his ambition , far above his means , exposed him to ridicule . To observe the emphasis with which he boasted of having proclaimed the existence of the Supreme Being , one might have said , that according to his opinion , God would not have existed without him .
When , on the night of the 27 th of July , he found himself abandoned by his friends , he discharged a pistol in his mouth ; and at the same time a gens d ' arme wounded him by the discharge of another . Roberspierre fell bathed in blood ; and a Sans-Culotte approaching him , very coolly pronounced these words in his ear— " There exists a * ' Supreme Being . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Memoirs Of The Life Of Roberspierre.
was delightful to him to hear the French armies named , the armies © f Roberspierre ; and he was charmed with being included in the list of tyrants . Daring and cowardly at the same time , he threw a veil over his manoeuvres , and was often imprudent in pointing out his victims . If one cf the representatives made a motion which displeased him , he suddenly turned round towards him , and eyed him with a
menacing aspect for some minutes . Weak and revengeful , sober and sensual , chaste b y temperament , and a libertine by the effect of imagination ; he was fond of attracting the notice of the women , and had them imprisoned for the sole pleasure of restoring to them their liberty . He made them shed tears to wipe them from their cheeks . In practising his delusions , it was his particular aim to act on tender and weak minds . He spared the priests , because they could forward his plans ; arrd the superstitious and devotees , because he could convert them into instruments to favour his power . .
His stile and expression were in a manner mystical ; and , next to pride , subtilty was the most marked feature of his character . He was surrounded by those only , whose conduct had been hig hly criminal , because he could with one word deliver them over to the punishment of the law . He at once protected and terrified a part of the Convention . He converted crimes into errors , and errors into crimes . He dreaded even the shades of the martyrs of liberty
, whose influence he weakened , by substituting his own . He was so extremely suspicious and distrustful , that he could have found it in his heart to guillotine the dead themselves . To enter into a strict analysis of his character , Roberspierre , born without genius , could not create circumstances , but profited by them with address . To the profound hypocrisy of Cromwellhe joined
, the cruelty of Sylla , without possessing any of the great military and political qualities of either of those ambitious adventurers . His pride and his ambition , far above his means , exposed him to ridicule . To observe the emphasis with which he boasted of having proclaimed the existence of the Supreme Being , one might have said , that according to his opinion , God would not have existed without him .
When , on the night of the 27 th of July , he found himself abandoned by his friends , he discharged a pistol in his mouth ; and at the same time a gens d ' arme wounded him by the discharge of another . Roberspierre fell bathed in blood ; and a Sans-Culotte approaching him , very coolly pronounced these words in his ear— " There exists a * ' Supreme Being . "