ROBESPIERRE. What is the use of talk? Let each one consult his own conscience.
HOCHE. They are mad with terror. If they're not made to do something, they are lost. [ROBESPIERRE takes manuscripts and printers' proofs from his pocket.]
HULIN. What's he going to read? Don't read! One really human word is worth a thousand from those papers!
ROBESPIERRE [opens out his papers, and reads in a quiet, but cutting tone]. "Declaration of Rights."
HOCHE. Listen!
ROBESPIERRE. "Declaration of Rights, proposed to the National Assembly, yesterday, Saturday July 11: The National Assembly proclaims abroad to the Universe and under the eye of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and citizen: Nature has made men free and equal—" [A thunder of applause, which drowns out the rest of the sentence.]
"Every man is born with inalienable and indefeasible rights: liberty of thought, the care of his honor and his life, the complete freedom of his person, the pursuit of happiness, and resistance to oppression." [The applause is redoubled.]
HOCHE [drawing his saber]. Resistance to oppression! [Others follow his example, and in a moment the Crowd bristle with arms.]
ROBESPIERRE. "Oppression exists against the social order, when even a single member of it is oppressed. There exists oppression against each and every member of the social order, when the whole is oppressed."
GONCHON. Are they going on with this? They must be got out of the way. If the army comes, they ought to go somewhere else and get killed! [He speaks to his associates.]