It is one of life's persisting ironies that those who believe in the perfectibility of the world through human agency, whether it be moral, social or economic, almost always come to the conclusion, sooner or later, that the rest of the world needs to be shown, forcibly, the way.
It might therefore be, only superficially strange, if tolerance and democracy found themselves more at home amongst those who rely upon superhuman intervention for our salvation, although the Christian church, in its various incarnations, has been able to resort to social and political tyrannies regardless of whether it relied on faith or works.
The Jacobins assumed more and more power during the spring of 1793, with the support of the Parisian mob, which overawed the Convention, culminating in a coup at the end of May. They were to hold power until the summer of 1794, and they repeatedly purged the Convention of those they held disloyal to the Republic, ending with a widespread program of execution, the Reign of Terror in their last months. Robespierre, generally the spokesman for the successful faction, had great esteem for his reputation as "the sea-green incorruptible", and set up the slogan of the Republic of Virtue, until the Jacobins' last purge, 9 Thermidor, July 27, 1794. Although some eye-witnesses said Robespierre was shot by a soldier, some historians state he attempted suicide; in any event, his lower jaw was shattered. He was executed the next day on Thermidor 10, July 28, 1794.
