[39] - Considering the program
and principles of the Jacobin sect this is no great number; they might
have killed a good many more. But time was wanting; during their
short reign they did what they could with the instrument in their
hands. Look at their machine, the gradual construction of its parts,
the successive stages of its operation from its starting up to
Thermidor 9, and see how limited the period of its operation was.
Organized March 30 and April 6, 1793, the Revolutionary Committees and
the Revolutionary Tribunal had but seventeen months in which to do
their work. They did not drive ahead with all their might until after
the fall of the Girondists, and especially after September, 1763 that
is to say for a period of eleven months. Its loose wheels were not
screwed up and the whole was not in running order under the impulse of
the central motor until after December, 1793, that is to say during
eight months. Perfected by the law of Prairial 22, it works for the
past two months, faster and better than before, with an energy and
rapidity that increase from week to week. - At that date, and even
before it, the theorists have taken the bearings of their destinies
and accepted the conditions of their undertaking.
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