Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/215

ROBESPIERRE. 193 ROBIN. ■Robespierre was the only nioiulier of the Com- iiiitti'e who had a iletinitc policy for the future, who dared to dream of and plan for better days for France. In personal life and principle a Puritan, in religion a deist, in all things a true believer in Rousseau, this he preached, for this he labored, and in preparation for this lie would destroy the vicious. His notions wore clarified by his disgust at the follies and nuininieries of the Worship of Reason, and by liis abhorrence for the members of the Connnune of Paris who were the authors of violent and evil measures. At these men, Hubert (q,v.) and his fellows, he would strike the first decisive blow. With the aid of Camilla Desmoulins and Danton. who also detest- ed the extravagances of the Hebertists, he was able to send H^l)ert and eighteen others to the guillotine after a trial that was a parody of justice. Danton, C'amille Desmoulins, and the Dantonists were the next victims, because they laughed at the notions of Rousseau, because they saw that the Terror had done its work and that the time had come to exercise clemency, and be- cause Danton was a possible rival to be feared both by Robespierre and by the Committee, On April 5, 1794, Danton perished, a victim of his own greatness, and of the injustice and fanaticism of his enemies — the men who were most indebted to him. After the death of Danton and his friends, the work of destroying the victims went on more rapidly, and after Couthon had carried the outrageous decree of June lOtli accelerat- ing the procedure of the Revolutionary Trilmnal, 200 victims a week were sacrificed to the guillo- tine. In the meantime Robespierre was busy in- augurating his reign of virtue by instituting the Worship of the Supreme Being. On Jlay 7th he delivered his famous speech in the Conven- tion on the relation of religion and morality to republican principles, after Avhich the Convention decreed a festival of the Supreme Being, which took place on June 8th with Robespierre, then president of the Convention, acting as the pontiff of the new religion. One more hecatomb of victims would clear away the remaining leaders who stood in the way of tile reign of virtue. At these, some of whom were his associates in the Committee or in the Convention, Robespierre planned to strike. But it was one dreamer against twenty men of action, and the dreamer failed. After a prolonged absence from the Convention and the Committee, Robespierre appeared in the Convention on July 20, 1794, and delivered one of his carefully pre- pared speeches intended to preface and justify the destruction of his foes. The next day Saint- Just, his fearless and vigorous supporter, ap- peared in the tribune to secure the passage of the measure of proscription. Stormy scenes fol- lowed, but at last the intended victims, Barras, Tallien, and the men of action from the Commit- tee, with the skillful aid of Bar&re (q.v.), secured the arrest of Robespierre, and bis younger brother Augustin, Couthon, Saint-Just, and Le Bas. All was not over, however, for Henriot with the National Guards of Paris rescued Robespierre and his friends and installed them at the City Hall. Had Robespierre been able to decide quick- ly and act quickly, he might still have won ; but indecision and inactivity gave his foes time to act and to attack him in the City Hall. In the affray Robespierre shot himself or was shot in the jaw, his brother leaped from the window and broke his leg, and Le lias committed suicide. The Convention reassembled and declared Robespierre and his friends and Henriot and the members of the Connnune of Paris outlaws. This was tlic famous Revolution of tin- 9th TherMii<lor. On the next day these men were all brought Ih-- fore the Revolutionary Tribunal and identitietl and immediately guillotined. Robespierre's jirivate character was above re- proach ; his manners, dress, and tastes were those of a gentleman of the Ancien Regime; his oratory depended for its success upon his elaboratidy finished style, upon his logic, anil above all upon his earnestness; on several occasions he mani- fested a political ability of no mean order. Kipiippcd as a philosoplier of the Ancien Regime, Ue came upon the field after the day of philosophiz- ing had iiassed and when the day of action had dawned. For this reason he failed and in his fall dragged a multitude to destruction. BiBUOGRAi'iiv. Hamel. flisloiir <lr Itohrs- picrrc (Paris, lS0o-li7), is the authoritative work, though inclined to !)!■ eulogistic. Aularil, .Les orateuis de la h^gislalirt: ct tic la con- vention (Paris, 1885-80), deals with Robespierre as an orator, while his most important speeches are published in Morse-Stepliens, I'rincipal Speeches of the Orators and Statesmen of the French Revolution (Oxford, 1892). Consult, also, Bclloc. Robespierre (London, 1902). ROBIN (originally a quasi-proper name), or Roni.v Redbreast. A name given affectionately in the first instance to a familiar little European song-bird, which especially endears itself to the people by coming around the house and barns in winter; and later applied to the most com- mon and familiar of American tluushes, because of its friendly association with niun, and its red breast. The European robin is technically a warbler, of the family Sylviidac. It is about 5.57 inches in length, and of a remarkably round, ]dump form. (See Plate of Wke.x.s, WAiUiLEH.s, etc.) The general color is olive-brown. an<l the reddish-orange breast is a conspicuous charac- teristic, particularly of the male. The redbreast is a native not only of Europe l)ut of the western temperate parts of Asia and of Xortberii Africa. In the northern parts of Fiirope it is niigrat<uy. but never congregates in Hocks. The attachment of pairs seems to extend beyonii the mere breed- ing season (early spring), and to be stronger than in most birds. The nest is nnide of moss, dead leaves, and dried grass, lined with hair, often placed a little above the ground in a bush or in ivy on a wall; the eggs, 5 to 7 in immlier. are white spotted with pale reddish brown. In win- ter the redbreast seeks the neighborhood of human habitations more than in summer, and becomes more bold and familiar. Its food ordi- narily consists of worms, insects, and berries; and it readily becomes a pensioner at any iloor or window to which it is invited by the spread- ing of crumbs. The -American robin (Menila mifiralnrin) is the largest and most numerous of our thrushes, and closely related to the European blackbird (q.v.). It is 10 inches long, olive-gray, the top and sides of the head black, the chin and throat white with black streaks, and the under parts orange. The female is of duller hues. Large fiocks are to be seen in the Southern States in winter where great numbers are killed for the