his dogs in the Cordeliers and the Commune,
"to one 20,000 francs, and to another 10,000," "for the Revolution,
and on account of their patriotism,"--such is a summary report of
his doings. Thus gorged, the pack of hungry "brawlers" and grasping
intriguers, the whole serviceable force of the sections and of the
clubs, is in his hands. One is strong in times of anarchy at the head of
such a herd. Indeed, during the months of August and September, Danton
was king, and, later on, he may well say of the 2d of September, as he
did of the 10th of August, "I did it!"[3150]

Not that he is naturally vindictive or sanguinary: on the contrary,
with a butcher's temperament, he has a man's heart, and, at the risk
of compromising himself, against the wills of Marat and Robespierre, he
will, by-and-by, save his political adversaries, Duport, Brissot, and
the Girondists, the old party of the "Right."[3151] Not that he is
blinded by fear, enmities, or the theory; furious as a clubbist, he
has the clear-sightedness of the politician; he is not the dupe of
the sonorous phrases he utters, he knows the value of the rogues he
employs;[3152] he has no illusions about men or things, about other
people or about himself; if he slays, it is with a full consciousness
of what he is doing, of his party, of the situation, of the revolution,
while the crude expressions which, in the tones of his bull's voice, he
flings out as he passes along, are but a vivid statement of the precise
truth "We are the rabble! We spring from the gutters!" With the normal
principles of mankind, "we should soon get back into them. We can only
rule through fear!"[3153] "The Parisians are so many j... f...; a river
of blood must flow between them and the emigres."[3154] The tocsin about
to be rung is not a signal of alarm, but a charge on the enemies of
the country... What is necessary to overcome them? Boldness, boldness,
always boldness![3155] I have brought my mother here, seventy years of
age; I have sent for my children, and they came last night. Before
the Prussians enter Paris, I want my family to die with me. Let
twenty thousand torches be applied, and Paris instantly reduced to
ashes!"[3156] "We must maintain ourselves in Paris at all hazards.
Republicans are in an extreme minority, and, for fighting, we can rely
only on them. The rest of France is devoted to royalty. The royalists
must be terrified!"[3157]--It is he who, on the 28th of August, obtains
from the A