necessity of combatting the Girondists, who had then a majority in the Convention, kept them united, but after that event the chasm became wider and wider every day. The Dantoni sts, who had combatted the Royalists and the, Girondists, only with a view to succeed them in authority, formed the^nucleus of a new Aristocracy; but having acquired their ascendancy solely by the people's favour, theg jpund it convenient still tq jjr ofess p opular principles ; conscious, however ^ that Kobespipr rf> knew th eir real designs, and dreading his extreme popu larity, and -Still more nis inttftxihlftTo lfigrity^^they naturally de- sired his downfall. Moreover, as Robespierre combatted against principles, not men, they felt that the same patriotic motives which had impelled him against the Royalists and the Girondists, would necessarily compel him at last to take a part against themselves, seeing that they had now usurped the places of the Aristocracy, to whose vices they added those also of brigandism and apostacy. These considerations, necessarily hastened the shock of parties.
The result is well told by Buonarroti. Suffice it to observe here, that dlebespjerre was overwhelm exi-on the 9th Thermidojr^^27 July, j794)^ by & -Conspiracy of all " i the~Cohvention , head " ~
the factions in t heTTonvention, headed b y theDejroera- does~or~Da ntonisis just described. His^ctmsaSon was decreed with acclamation^, amid cries of " Down with the tyrant ;" and after his execution he was, of course, saddle d with t he chief sha re_of aU.the crimes of the Resolution, ana especially^ with those that had been committed by his assassins. This is the way in all Revo- lutions. TheMjojaunaotj^SSyJ^ 68 . credit _ to. „itsel£Jbr all that & good^ and flin gs uporT the vang t ujsjiect the odkuiLg fall that is trad.
As aproof how little reliance can be placed in history, I shall just notice here some* of the opinions promulgated respecting Robespierre. Mark their inconsistency with facts, and with one another.
M. Dulaure, in the course of a long article inserted in the Censeur of 1816, proves (as he thinks) that Robespierre was a secret Royalist traitor, who had sold himself first to Orleans, and afterwards to the foreign enemy, for gold. Dulaure asserts, that beyond doubt
