An influential member of the commune of Paris,
he was largely instrumental in crystallizing public opinion in favor of
republicanism, Danton was rough and courageous, but neither venal nor
bloodthirsty.
[Sidenote: Robespierre]
Less practical than Danton and further removed from the proletariat
than Marat, Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) nevertheless combined
such qualities as made him the most prominent exponent of democracy and
republicanism. Descended from a middle-class family of Irish
extraction, Robespierre had been a classmate of Camille Desmoulins in
the law school of the University of Paris, and had practiced law with
some success in his native town of Arras. He was appointed a criminal
judge, but soon resigned that post because he could not endure to
inflict the death penalty. In his immediate circle he acquired a
reputation as a writer, speaker, and something of a dandy. Elected to
the Third Estate in 1789, he took his place with the extreme radicals
in that body--the "thirty voices," as Mirabeau contemptuously called
them.
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