"The great art of the legislator consists, not in proposing many laws, but in rendering their execution easy; not in reigning over men by terror, but in rendering himself master through wisdom and the mildness of government; not in establishing inquisitorial commissions in order to find the greatest number of guilty, but in principally striking the chief conspirators and being indulgent towards weak and repentant citizens who have gone astray. If a people is in a state of revolution or not, its principles are those of eternal reason, of eternal justice. As Robespierre observed: Tyranny cannot save the state and freedom. When laws are made retroactive, when we multiply without any need violent measures, we announce ourselves to be ignorant or cruel. Fear only engenders slaves; humanity alone makes the conquest of liberty, and only crime should be punished on earth."
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"On the Decree Relating to the Arrest of Suspects" (1793)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Roux
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Jacques Roux
Jacques Roux (21 August 1752 – 10 February 1794) was a radical Roman Catholic priest who took an active role in politics during the French Revolution and represented the Enragés, a faction to the left of the Jacobins. A supporter of the revolution of 1793, Roux was a member of the Jacobins retaining a personal friendship with Jean-Paul Marat. Roux's most famous work Manifesto de les Enragés is considered by many to be an example of proto-socialist thought.
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