KOBESPIERRE ROBIN 359 trial of the enemies of liberty. This court, af- terward remodelled as the revolutionary tribu- nal, was promptly organized, and Robespierre was named for presiding judge ; but he de- clined, on the ground that it was not just for him to be judge of those whom he had already denounced as enemies of the coun- try. He remonstrated with Danton against the frightful massacres in the prisons on Sept. 2-5 ; and after that he ceased to appear at the commune. He became a member of the na- tional convention, being elected to represent Paris. On Oct. 29 Louvet denounced him be- fore the convention as aspiring to the dicta- torship ; but he defended himself triumphant- ly. He published every Friday a newspaper, entitled Lettres de Haximilien Robespierre d ses commettants. He led the Jacobins in the condemnation of the king and in demanding his death. After this event (Jan. 21, 1793) he proposed the decree establishing the com- mittee of public safety, clothed with executive powers above the convention. He was not made a member of it until July 27 following, though on March 26 he was elected a member of what was called the committee of general security, which was only an auxiliary of the committee of public safety. His first great act as a member of this committee was the in- stitution of the reign of terror. The condem- nation of the Girondists he defended by saying that "there are periods in revolutions when to live is a crime." The feast of reason, de- creed by the convention, disgusted him as the degradation of the revolution. In opposition to Hebert and his adherents, he seems to have sincerely wished the reign of peace and justice, and thereby incurred from them the accusa- tion of moderatism, while he was at the same time preaching terror as the necessary instru- ment of the revolution. Fanatically bent on ridding the republic of its enemies and waver- ing friends, and naturally suspicious and en- vious, he readily caused or allowed the slaugh- ter of innocent victims. He sacrificed Hebert and others of "the impure" to make himself master of the commune, and Danton to make himself master of the convention ; while at the Jacobin club his supremacy had long been un- disputed. The knife of Charlotte Corday had delivered him of an unworthy rival, Marat. Though he formed a kind of triumvirate with Saint- Just and Couth on, all eyes were now riveted upon him. His commanding influence was signalized by the extraordinary spectacle of June 8, 1794, the festival of the Supreme Being, which he had caused to be decreed, and in which he was the principal actor. But he lacked the courage as well as the genius to or- ganize a dictatorship. On June 10 he proposed through Couthon the law for the reorganiza- tion of the revolutionary tribunal, his object being to rid the nation of " the great cul- prits" in the convention. That body now be- came alarmed for its own safety. Being un- able to control the committees, he withdrew from them and sought to overthrow them. For the last six weeks of his life he had little voice in the government. In his speech in the convention on July 26 he asked if in that in- terval " faction had been less audacious, or the country been happier." A tumult followed the speech, and the convention, now led by Tallien and his friends, refused to publish it. This was equivalent to his overthrow. He re- turned to the Jacobins, and announced him- self doomed. They rallied round him, and besought him to head an insurrection against the convention. This he refused to do, and on the following day (the 9th Thermidor) he reappeared in the convention, where his ar- rest, and that of his brother Augustin, Cou- thon, Lebas, and Saint-Just, was decreed. The commune instantly organized an insurrection, and rescued him ; but the insurrectionists were soon overpowered, and at the hotel de ville Robespierre was seized. At this time he was wounded in the face by a shot from his own pistol, or, as some assert, from one of the sol- diers. The form of trial was quickly enacted, and early in the evening of July 28 the guillo- tine terminated his existence and that of his most devoted supporters. See Histoire de Robespierre, by Tissot (2 vols., Paris, 1844); " Life of Robespierre," by Lewes (London, 1850) ; Histoire de Robespierre, by Hamel (3 vols., Paris, 1865-'7); and Leben Robespierre's, by J. Herzmann (Berlin, 1871 et seg.~). ROBIN, a name applied in the old world to several small dentirostral birds of the family of warblers, and subfamily erythacince. In these the bill is short, slender, tapering, depressed at the base, slightly curved and notched at the tip, and the gape and basal portion of the nasal groove covered with bristles; the tarsi are long and slender, covered in front with an entire scale, occasionally showing marks of division ; the toes are moderate, the hind one and claw usually the longest, and the claws curved and sharp ; tail usually short and broad, and wings moderate and rounded. Gray men- tions 15 genera, most of which are inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere, over which they are very generally distributed ; they feed on worms, insects, seeds, and fruits, which they seek on the ground or in trees, and when hard pressed approach familiarly human habitations ; the nests are large and carefully lined with soft materials, and the eggs generally pale blue. The only genus that can be mentioned here is erythacus (Cuv.), and the single species the robin redbreast (E. rubecula, Cuv.). It is about 5| in. long, with an alar extent of 9 in. ; the prevailing color above is olive-green ; the fore- head, cheeks, fore neck, and part of breast, light yellowish red. It is a permanent resident in temperate Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa, and is the most familiar of the small birds. The song is sweetly modulated, plain- tive, and not loud, heard through spring, sum- mer, and autumn, and even in dull and rainy weather when most other song birds are silent ;
