ROBESPIERRE (Maximilien). Rapport sur les principes de moral - Lot 225

ROBESPIERRE (Maximilien). Rapport sur les principes de morale politique qui doivent guider la Convention nationale dans l'administration intérieure de la République [...], le 18 Pluviôse, l'an 2e de la République. [Paris], De l'Imprimerie nationale, s.d. [1794]. Brochure in-8, 31 pages, in sheets. Important speech of February 6, 1794, in which Robespierre outlines his vision of a government guided by virtue and terror. In particular, the Incorruptible justifies his policy of terror: If the mainspring of popular government in peace is virtue, the mainspring of popular government in revolution is both virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is nothing other than swift, severe, inflexible justice; it is therefore an emanation of virtue [...]. Let the despot govern his dumb subjects by terror; he is right, as a despot: tame the enemies of liberty by terror; and you will be right, as founders of the Republic. The government of the revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny (p. 13). This report is one of the two selected for the En français dans le texte catalog (no. 191) as an introduction to Robespierre's thought: To know, resolutely, what one thinks of Robespierre, rather than counting the victims of the Terror, one must read these texts, vibrant with faith, and whose provocation is otherwise fundamental (Patrick Berthier). Mouillure at the corner of a few pages.