Letters are
addressed to him as "the founder of the Republic, the incorruptible
genius who foresees all and saves all, who can neither be deceived nor
seduced;"[115] who has "the energy of a Spartan and the eloquence of
an Athenian;"[116] "who shields the Republic with the aegis of his
eloquence;"[117] who "illuminates the universe with his writings,
fills the world with his renown and regenerates the human species here
below;"[118] whose" name is now, and will be, held in veneration for
all ages, present and to come;"[119] who is "the Messiah promised by
the Eternal for universal reform."[120] An extraordinary popularity,"
says Billaud-Varennes,[121] a popularity which, founded under the
Constituent Assembly, "only increased during the Legislative
Assembly," and, later on, so much more, that, "in the National
Convention he soon found himself the only one able to fix attention on
his person. . . . and control public opinion. . . . With this
ascendancy over public opinion, with this irresistible preponderance,
when he reached the Committee of Public Safety, he was already the
most important being in France." After three years, a chorus of a
thousand voices,[122] which he formed and directs, repeats again and
again in unison his litany, his personal creed, a hymn of three
stanzas composed by him in his own honor, and which he daily recites
to himself in a low tone of voice, and often in a loud one:
"Robespierre alone has discovered the best type of citizen!
Robespierre alone, modestly and without shortcomings, fits the
description! Robespierre alone is worthy of and able to lead the
Revolution!"[123]
Cool infatuation carried thus far is equivalent to a raging fever, and
Robespierre almost attains to the ideas and the ravings of Marat.
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