CHAP. XVII.--Marat, Danton, Robespierre--Marat poniarded--Danton and Robespierre become Rivals--Commune of Paris--their gross Irreligion--Gobel--Goddess of Reason--Marriage reduced to a Civil Contract--Views of Danton--and of Robespierre--Principal Leaders of the Commune arrested--and Nineteen of them executed--Danton arrested by the influence of Robespierre--and, along with Camille Desmoulins, Westermann, and La Croix, taken before the Revolutionary Tribunal, condemned, and executed--Decree issued, on the motion of Robespierre, acknowledging a Supreme Being--Cécilée Regnault--Gradual Change in the Public Mind--Robespierre becomes unpopular--Makes every effort to retrieve his power--Stormy Debate in the Convention--Collot D'Herbois, Tallien, &c., expelled from the Jacobin Club at the instigation of Robespierre--Robespierre denounced in the Convention on the 9th Thermidor, (27th July, 1794,) and, after furious struggles, arrested, along with his brother, Couthon, and Saint Just--Henriot, Commandant of the National Guard, arrested--Terrorists take refuge in the Hotel de Ville--Attempt their own lives--Robespierre wounds himself--but lives, along with most of the others, long enough to be carried to the Guillotine, and executed--His character--Struggles that followed his Fate--Final Destruction of the Jacobinical System--and return of Tranquillity--Singular colour given to Society in Paris--Ball of the Victims, 321 CHAP. XVIII.--Retrospective View of the External Relations of France--Her great Military Successes--Whence they arose--Effect of the Compulsory Levies--Military Genius and Character of the French--French Generals--New Mode of Training the Troops--Light Troops--Successive Attacks in Column--Attachment of the Soldiers to the Revolution--Also of the Generals--Carnot--Effect of the French principles preached to the Countries invaded by their Arms--Close of the Revolution with the fall of Robespierre--Reflections upon what was to succeed, 364 [Illustration] CHAPTER I. VIEW OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. _Review of the state of Europe after the Peace of Versailles--England--France--Spain--Prussia--Imprudent Innovations of the Emperor Joseph--Disturbances in his Dominions--Russia--France--Her ancient System of Monarchy--how organized--Causes of its Decay--Decay of the Nobility as a body--The new Nobles--The Country Nobles--The Nobles of the highest Order--The Church--The higher Orders of the Clergy--The lower Orders--The Commons--Their increase in Power and Importance--Their Claims opposed to those of the Privileged Classes._