respecting Robespierre is in a considerable degree fallacious; nay, it
is almost thought that this man was, in reality, a most kind-hearted,
simple, unambitious, and well-disposed individual--a person who, to
say the least of it, deeply deplored the horrors in which
considerations of duty had unhappily involved him. To attempt an
unravelment of these contradictions, let us call up the phantom of
this mysterious personage, and subject him to review.

To understand Robespierre, it is necessary to understand the French
Revolution. The proximate cause of that terrible convulsion was, as is
well known, an utter disorder in all the functions of the state, and
more particularly in the finances, equivalent to national bankruptcy.
That matters might have been substantially patched up by judicious
statesmanship, no one doubts; but that a catastrophe, sooner or later,
was unavoidable, seems to be equally certain. The mind of France was
rotten; the principles of society were undermined. As regards
religion, there was a universal scepticism, of which the best
literature of the day was the exponent; but this unbelief was greatly
strengthened by the scandalous abuses in the ecclesiastical system. It
required no depth of genius to point out that the great principles of
brotherly love, humility, equality, liberty, promulgated as part and
parcel of the Christian dispensation eighteen centuries previously,
had no practical efficacy so far as France was concerned. Instead of
equality before God and the law, the humbler classes were feudal
serfs, without any appeal from the cruel oppressions to which they
were exposed. In the midst of gloom, Rousseau's vague declamations on
the rights of man fell like a ray of light. A spark was communicated,
which kindled a flame in the bosoms of the more thoughtful and
enthusiastic. An astonishing impulse was almost at once given to
investigation. The philosopher had his adherents all over France.