"
It is impossible to count on one's life, or that of another, for
twenty-four hours; should the iron hand which holds one by the throat
tighten its grasp, all will be over that evening.
"There were certain days so difficult that one could see no way to
control circumstances; those who were directly menaced resigned
themselves wholly to chance."[55] - " The decisions for which we are
so much blamed," says another,[56] "were not generally thought of two
days, or one day, beforehand; they sprung out of the crisis of the
moment. We did not desire to kill for the sake of killing . . .
but to conquer at all hazards, remain masters, and ensure the sway of
our principles." - That is true, - they are subjects as well as
despots. At the Committee table, during their nocturnal sessions,
their sovereign presides, a formidable figure, the revolutionary Idea
which confers on them the right to slay, on condition of exercising it
against everybody, and therefore on themselves. Towards two o'clock,
or three o'clock in the morning, exhausted, out of words and ideas,
not knowing where to slay, on the right or on the left, they anxiously
turn to this figure and try to read its will in its fixed eyes.
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