ion of the "vicaire Savoyard." In March 1792 he
proposed a resolution, that the belief in Providence and a future life
is a necessary condition of Jacobinism. In November, he argued that
the decline of religious conviction left only a residue of ideas
favourable to liberty and public virtue, and that the essential
principles of politics might be found in the sublime teaching of
Christ. He objected to disendowment, because it is necessary to keep
up reverence for an authority superior to man. Therefore, on December
5, he induced the Club to break in pieces the bust of Helvetius.

Although Rousseau, the great master, had been a Genevese Calvinist,
nobody thought of preserving Christianity in a Protestant form. The
Huguenot ministers themselves did nothing for it, and Robespierre had
a peculiar dislike of them. Immediately after the execution of Danton
and before the trial of Chaumette, the restoration of religion was
foreshadowed by Couthon. A week later it was resolved that the remains
of Rousseau, the father of the new church, should be transferred to
the Pantheon.

On May 7, Robespierre brought forward his famous motion that the
Convention acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. His argument,
stripped of parliamentary trappings, was this. The secret of the life
of a Republic is public and private virtue, that is, integrity, the
consciousness of duty, the spirit of self-sacrifice, submission to the
discipline of authority. These are the natural conditions of pure
democracy; but in an advanced stage of civilisation they are difficult
to maintain without the restraint of belief in God, in eternal life,
in government by Providence. Society will be divided by passion and
interest, unless it is reconciled and controlled by that which is the
universal foundation of religions. By this appeal to a higher power
Robespierre hoped to strengthen the State at home and abroad. In the
latter purpose he succeeded; and the solemn renunciation of atheism
impressed the world. It was very distinctly a step in the Conservative
direction, for it promised religious liberty. There was to be no
favour to churches, but also no persecution. Practically, the
advantage was for the Christian part of the population, and
irreligion, though not proscribed, was discouraged. The Revolution
appeared to be turning backwards, and to seek its friends among those
who had acquired their habits of life and thought under the fallen
order. The change was