_Saint Just_.--"The legislator commands the future. It is for him to _will_ for the good of mankind. It is for him to make men what he wishes them to be." _Robespierre_.--"The function of Government is to direct the physical and moral powers of the nation towards the object of its institution." _Billaud Varennes_.--"A people who are to be restored to liberty must be formed anew. Ancient prejudices must be destroyed, antiquated customs changed, depraved affections corrected, inveterate vices eradicated. For this, a strong force and a vehement impulse will be necessary.... Citizens, the inflexible austerity of Lycurgus created the firm basis of the Spartan republic. The feeble and trusting disposition of Solon plunged Athens into slavery. This parallel contains the whole science of Government." _Lepelletier._--"Considering the extent of human degradation, I am convinced of the necessity of effecting an entire regeneration of the race, and, if I may so express myself, of creating a new people." Men, therefore, are nothing but raw material. It is not for them to _will their own improvement_. They are not capable of it; according to Saint Just, it is only the legislator who is. Men are merely to be what he _wills_ that they should be. According to Robespierre, who copies Rousseau literally, the legislator is to begin by assigning the aim of the _institutions of the nation_. After this, the Government has only to direct all its _physical_ and _moral forces_ towards this end. All this time the nation itself is to remain perfectly passive; and Billaud Varennes would teach us that it ought to have no prejudices, affections, nor wants, but such as are authorised by the legislator. He even goes so far as to say that the inflexible austerity of a man is the basis of a republic. We have seen that, in cases where the evil is so great that the ordinary magistrates are unable to remedy it, Mably recommends a dictatorship, to promote virtue. "_Have recourse_," says he, "to an extraordinary magistracy, whose time shall be short, and his power considerable. The imagination of the people requires to be impressed." This doctrine has not been neglected. Listen to Robespierre:--