II. Danton.
Danton. - Richness of his faculties. - Disparity between his
condition and instincts. - The Barbarian. - His work. - His
weakness.
There is nothing of the madman about Danton; on the contrary, not only
is his intellect sound, but he possesses political aptitudes to an
eminent degree, and to such an extent that, in this particular, none
of his associates or adversaries compare with him, while, among the
men of the Revolution, only Mirabeau equals or surpasses him. He is
an original, spontaneous genius and not, like most of his
contemporaries, a disputatious, quill-driving theorist,[43] that is to
say, a fanatical pedant, an artificial being composed of his books, a
mill-horse with blinkers, and turning around in a circle without an
issue. His free judgment is not hampered by abstract prejudices: he
does not carry about with him a social contract, like Rousseau, nor,
like Si?y?s, a social art and cabinet principles or combinations;[44]
he has kept aloof from these instinctively and, perhaps, through
contempt for them; he had no need of them; he would not have known
what to do with them. Systems are crutches for the impotent, while he
is able-bodied; formulas serve as spectacles for the short-sighted,
while his eyes are good.
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