I've Been Reading Eugene Newton Curtis's Saint-just, Colleague Of Robespierre & He Provides A Quote From

i've been reading eugene newton curtis's saint-just, colleague of robespierre & he provides a quote from a letter from le bas & saint-just to robespierre:

Saint-Just added this postscript: Too many laws are made, too few examples: you punish only striking crimes, hypocritical crimes are unpunished. Punish a slight abuse in every party; that is the way to frighten evil persons and to make them see that the government has its eye on everything. Hardly does one turn his back when aristocracy becomes the fashion of the day and does harm under the color of liberty. Engage the Committee to give much prominence to the punish- ment of all faults in the government. You will not have done so for a month before you will have cleared up this labyrinth in which counter-revolution and revolution march pell-mell. Direct the society's attention, my friend [i.e., the Jacobins], to strong maxims of public welfare; let it occupy itself with the great measures needed to govern a free state. I invite you to take measures to find out whether all the factories and workshops of France are active and to favor them, for in a year our troops would be without clothing; the manufacturers are not patriotic, they do not want to work, they must be forced to and no useful establishment must be allowed to fail. We will do our best here. I embrace you and our common friends.

and then describes how saint-just talks to him in such a way that i can't help but think... why would you say that...

In this letter, Saint-Just's strong, dominating character stands out in sharp contrast to the chatty, amiable Le Bas. He talks to Robespierre as though he were the master. There was more in this than youthful bravado, for Saint-Just had wit and experience enough to realize that no one could reach the guillotine by any quicker road than by incurring Robespierre's hatred. That statesman was too serious to smile indulgently at the pertness of a handsome boy, too egotistical to listen patiently to advice from an inferior, hardly from an equal. It is clear that he was used to listening to it from Saint-Just, almost clear that he was used to taking it.

saint-just's strong, dominating character... talks to robespierre as though he were the master... almost clear that he was used to taking it... like that sure is some loaded language eugene