SAINT JUST, Lours ANTOINE DE, a notable figure in the first French revolution, was b. at Decize, in Nivernais, Aug. 25, 1767; educated at Soissons by the Oratorians, and afterward went to Rheims to study law, but soon returned to his native village, where he devoted himself exclusively to literature. When the revolution broke out, Saint Just was transported with enthusiasm, and became one of its most ardent apostles. Proba bly no man in France was a more genuine fanatical believer in the brilliant delusions of the period. Spotless, even austere, in his morals, reserved in manner but eloquent in speech, and rigorously earnest in his convictions, he rapidly rose into consideration among the inhabitants of his native commune, who• elected him liet.col. of the national guard, sent to Paris in 1790 to assist at the Pie of the federation. In 1791 appeared his Esprit de la Revolution et de Sr Constitution, de to France, in which the various causes of the revolution are sketched in a calm, keen, precise sort of way; and in the following year he was chosen deputy to the convention by the electors of Aisne. Saint Just entered Paris on Sept. 18, 15 days after the frightful massacres which Lamartine in his Histare des Girondies with melodramatic inaccuracy represents him as ordering in con junction with Robespierre! Ile votedil for the death of the king, and in an oration full of stern hut exar.gerated republican sentiment, gave his "reasons." It was this speech that made him 'famous and influential. The Girondins tried to win him over, but in vain. In all the fierce debates of this period, Saint Just took a leading part; hut he also displayed a great capacity for administrative organization, and on Feb. 11, 1793, carried his project for the formation of a committee to superintend the war. After the fall of
the Girondins in June (Saint Just took no part in their overthrow, and never once spoke during the disastrous struggle between the two sections), the civil war broke out, and it is from this point that we date the exhibition of that intense and merciless republicanism which fitted him so well to be the associate of Robespierre. It is commonly thought that Saint Just—perhaps because he was so young—was merely an instrument in the hands of Robespierre; but the known facts of his career lead to a very different conclu sion, and some writers have not scrupled to make Saint Just the real head of the extreme part who exvcised government in France during the reign of terror. Almost all the energetic, or, as some would prefer to say, sanguinary measures drawn. pp to repress the royalists and timid republicans at home, and to repel the forces of the allied monarchs on the frontier, were devised by hint On Feb. 19 be was elected president of the convention. He drew up the terrible report which led to the arrestment and execution of Hebert, Denton, and their adherents. Saint Just had no scruples in cut ting off his opponents. The intensity of his convictions rendered him indifferent to deeds of cruelty, however appalling. When the political reaction set in, and the party of moderation had got the upper hand in the convention, Robespierre and Saint Just were seized and imprisoned (July 27, 1794), and ordered to be guillotined next day. Saint Just suffered with sullen calmness—not a word escaping his lips. See Ern. Hamel's Histoirre de Saint Just (Paris, 1859).