It was perfectly true that schemers like the one-eyed man were active, and that some of them were agents of foreign powers. It was probably true also that the Jacobins could assure their position only if they put a stop to such machinations. Where the Jacobins went astray was in believing that such plotters were the real cause of the disorders. This belief led to a fatal delusion—the idea that the country would be pacified if certain individuals, perhaps a few hundred or a few thousand, were put to death.
