Robespierre received bribes from foreign Courts; and that previously to his death he was meditating how to smooth the way for the return of royalty in the person of Louis XVIII. A strange character this, to give of a man whom France called the Incorruptible, from his well-known contempt of riches — a man of whom Napoleon said that if he had been offered 2,000,000f. to betray the Repubr lie, he would have rejected it with disdain — of a man, in short, who, though the most influential in France during a period of eighteen months, and consequently with un- bounded opportunities of enriching himself, nevertheless died so poor that the sale of all his effects after his death fetched only 240 livres, or less than 10 J. !
Arufrhpr flhflriMftpr of Robespie rre is, .that he " was of a _eold« sanguinary cfepositionT^ witt^ an,d
w ithout conscience — ready to exteim matQESeribwths of- tke French people — devoid of ,aj p&pacjty, and aspi-
" n g fo ?0 mp iTiftYplif>fth|e SOT* nf Hnndy riirtfltorskip."
&c. Such is the sapient opinion of Fantin Desodoards, author of a history on the French Revolution. Dulaure and he would be not a little puzzled to reconcile these two characters. It would non-plus them to explain how a man, aspiring to a dictatorship for himself, could at the same time be plotting for the royalty of another. Both these writers, by the way, represent Robespierre as an unparalleled liar and hypocrite, &c. &c.
Sow, what say Messrs, Thiers and Mignet ? According to these worthies, Robespierre was " an honest fanatic (un fanatique de bonne foi), of mediocre capacity, devoured with envy and pride, incapable of courage ; for the rest, a sincere and incorruptible Republican, but beneath the mission which he supposed himself called to fill," &c. &c. It would be a nice matter to reconcile this; with the two preceding characters. TheJiopest fnnfrt^ ^ nAr nn*-4ror. monise well with th p piofiouSa kyrw»™»A " without con- viction or conscience :" much less does the " incorruptible Republican " harmonise with Dulaure's mercenary con- spirator receiving the wages of treason from the hands of royalty, &c.
Another writer, named Nodier, has improved on Thiers and Mignet. According to him, Robjespierre was not only honest, but horribly honest ! His expression is " hor-
