Robespierre rose, smiled sternly on Dumouriez, and said, “I am not one of those who believe it is utterly impossible for a minister to be a patriot, and I accept with pleasure the promises that M. Dumouriez has just given us.  When he shall have verified these promises, when he has dissipated the foes armed against us by his predecessors, and by the conspirators who even now hold the reins of government, spite of the expulsion of several ministers, then, and then only, I shall be inclined to bestow on him the praises he will have merited, and I shall even in that case deem that every good citizen in this assembly is his equal.  The people only is great, is worthy in my eyes; the toys of ministerial power fade into insignificance before it.  It is out of respect for people, for the minister himself, that I demand that his presence here be not marked by any of those homages that mark the decay of public feeling.  He asks us to counsel the ministers; I promise him, on my part, to give him advice which will be useful to them and to the country at large.  So long as M. Dumouriez shall prove by acts of pure patriotism, and by real services to his country, that he is the brother of all good citizens, and the defender of the people, he shall find none but supporters here.  I do not dread the presence of any minister in this society, but I declare that the instant a minister possesses more ascendency here than a citizen, I will demand his ostracism.  But this will never happen.”

Robespierre left the tribune, and Dumouriez cast himself into his arms; the Assembly rose, and sealed by its applause their fraternal embrace, in which all saw the augury of the union of power and the people.  The president Doppet read (the bonnet rouge on his head) a letter from Petion to the society, on the subject of this new head-dress adopted by the patriots, and on which Petion spoke against this superfluous mark of civisme.

“This sign,” said he, “instead of increasing your popularity, alarms the public mind, and affords a pretext for calumnies against you.  The moment is serious, the demonstrations of patriotism should be serious as the times.  It is the enemies of the Revolution who urge it to these frivolities in order that they may have the right to accuse it of frivolity and thoughtlessness.  They thus give patriotism the appearance of faction, and these emblems divide those they should rally.  However great the vogue that counsels them to-day, they will never be universally adopted, for every man really devoted to the public welfare will be quite indifferent to a bonnet rouge.  Liberty will neither be more majestic nor more glorious in this garb, but the very signs with which you adorn her will serve as a pretext for dissension amongst her children.  A civil war, commencing in sarcasm and ending in bloodshed, may be caused by a ridiculous manifestation.  I leave you to meditate on these ideas.”

XV.