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diff --git a/old/02ocf10.txt b/old/02ocf10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..341d76c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/02ocf10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16356 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Origins of Contemporary France +#2 in our series by Hippolyte A. Taine + +The French Revolution, Volume 1. +The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Title: The French Revolution, Volume 1. +Title: The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 + +Author: Hippolyte A. Taine + +April, 2001 [Etext #2578] +[Most recently updated December 15, 2002] + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Origins of Contemporary France +*******This file should be named 02ocf10.txt or 02ocf10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, 02ocf11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 02ocf10a.txt + +This Etext prepared by Svend Rom. + +Translated by John Durand. Slightly corrected and +normalized by Svend Rom, whose remarks are signed (SR.) + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext prepared by Svend Rom <svendrom@aol.com> + + + + + +The French Revolution, Volume 1. +^M +The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2^M +^M +by Hippolyte A. Taine^M + + + + +CONTENTS: + +ANARCHY + +PREFACE + +BOOK FIRST. Spontaneous Anarchy. + +CHAPTER I. The Beginnings of Anarchy + +CHAPTER II. Paris up to the 14th of July + +CHAPTER III. Anarchy from July 14th to October 6th, 1789 + +CHAPTER IV. PARIS + +BOOK SECOND. The constituent Assembly, and the Result of its Labors + +CHAPTER I. The Constituent Assembly + +CHAPTER II. The Damage + +CHAPTER III. The Constructions - The Constitution of 1791. + +BOOK THIRD. The Application of the Constitution + +CHAPTER I. The Federations + +CHAPTER II. Sovereignty of Unrestrained Passions + +CHAPTER III. Development of the ruling Passion + + + + +PREFACE + +This second part of "Les Origines de la France Contemporaine" will +consist of two volumes. - Popular insurrections and the laws of the +Constituent Assembly end in destroying all government in France; +this forms the subject of the present volume. - A party arises +around an extreme doctrine, grabs control of the government, and +rules in conformity with its doctrine. This will form the subject +of the second volume. + +A third volume would be required to criticize and evaluate the +source material. I lack the necessary space: I merely state the +rule that I have observed. The trustworthiest testimony will always +be that of an eyewitness, especially + +* When this witness is an honorable, attentive, and intelligent man, + +* When he is writing on the spot, at the moment, and under the +dictate of the facts themselves, + +* When it is obvious that his sole object is to preserve or furnish +information, + +* When his work instead of a piece of polemics planned for the needs +of a cause, or a passage of eloquence arranged for popular effect is +a legal deposition, a secret report, a confidential dispatch, a +private letter, or a personal memento. + +The nearer a document approaches this type, the more it merits +confidence, and supplies superior material. - I have found many of +this kind in the national archives, principally in the manuscript +correspondence of ministers, intendants, sub-delegates, magistrates, +and other functionaries; of military commanders, officers in the +army, and gendarmerie; of royal commissioners, and of the Assembly; +of administrators of departments, districts, and municipalities, +besides persons in private life who address the King, the National +Assembly, or the ministry. Among these are men of every rank, +profession, education, and party. They are distributed by hundreds +and thousands over the whole surface of the territory. They write +apart, without being able to consult each other, and without even +knowing each other. No one is so well placed for collecting and +transmitting accurate information. None of them seek literary +effect, or even imagine that what they write will ever be published. +They draw up their statements at once, under the direct impression +of local events. Testimony of this character, of the highest order, +and at first hand, provides the means by which all other testimony +ought to be verified. - The footnotes at the bottom of the pages +indicate the condition, office, name, and address of those decisive +witnesses. For greater certainty I have transcribed as often as +possible their own words. In this way the reader, confronting the +texts, can interpret them for himself, and form his own opinions; he +will have the same documents as myself for arriving at his +conclusions, and, if he is pleased to do so, he may conclude +otherwise. As for allusions, if he finds any, he himself will have +introduced them, and if he applies them he is alone responsible for +them. To my mind, the past has features of its own, and the +portrait here presented resembles only the France of the past. I +have drawn it without concerning myself with the discussions of the +day; I have written as if my subject were the revolutions of +Florence or Athens. This is history, and nothing more, and, if I +may fully express myself, I esteem my vocation of historian too +highly to make a cloak of it for the concealment of another. +(December 1877). + +_________________________________________________________________ + + BOOK FIRST. SPONTANEOUS ANARCHY. + +CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNINGS OF ANARCHY. + +I. + +Dearth the first cause. - Bad crops. The winter of 1788 and 1789. +- High price and poor quality of bread. - In the provinces. - At +Paris. + + During the night of July 14-15, 1789, the Duc de la Rochefoucauld- +Liancourt caused Louis XVI to be aroused to inform him of the taking +of the Bastille. "It is a revolt, then?" exclaimed the King. +"Sire!" replied the Duke; "it is a revolution!" The event was even +more serious. Not only had power slipped from the hands of the +King, but also it had not fallen into those of the Assembly. It now +lay on the ground, ready to the hands of the unchained populace, the +violent and over-excited crowd, the mobs, which picked it up like +some weapon that had been thrown away in the street. In fact, there +was no longer any government; the artificial structure of human +society was giving way entirely; things were returning to a state of +nature. This was not a revolution, but a dissolution. + +Two causes excite and maintain the universal upheaval. The first +one is food shortages and dearth, which being constant, lasting for +ten years, and aggravated by the very disturbances which it excites, +bids fair to inflame the popular passions to madness, and change the +whole course of the Revolution into a series of spasmodic stumbles. + +When a stream is brimful, a slight rise suffices to cause an +overflow. So was it with the extreme distress of the eighteenth +century. A poor man, who finds it difficult to live when bread is +cheap, sees death staring him in the face when it is dear. In this +state of suffering the animal instinct revolts, and the universal +obedience which constitutes public peace depends on a degree more or +less of dryness or damp, heat or cold. In 1788, a year of severe +drought, the crops had been poor. In addition to this, on the eve +of the harvest,[1] a terrible hail-storm burst over the region +around Paris, from Normandy to Champagne, devastating sixty leagues +of the most fertile territory, and causing damage to the amount of +one hundred millions of francs. Winter came on, the severest that +had been seen since 1709. At the close of December the Seine was +frozen over from Paris to Havre, while the thermometer stood at 180 +below zero. A third of the olive-trees died in Provence, and the +rest suffered to such an extent that they were considered incapable +of bearing fruit for two years to come. The same disaster befell +Languedoc. In Vivarais, and in the Cevennes, whole forests of +chestnuts had perished, along with all the grain and grass crops on +the uplands. On the plain the Rhone remained in a state of overflow +for two months. After the spring of 1789 the famine spread +everywhere, and it increased from month to month like a rising +flood. In vain did the Government order the farmers, proprietors, +and corn-dealers to keep the markets supplied. In vain did it +double the bounty on imports, resort to all sorts of expedients, +involve itself in debt, and expend over forty millions of francs to +furnish France with wheat. In vain do individuals, princes, +noblemen, bishops, chapters, and communities multiply their +charities. The Archbishop of Paris incurring a debt of 400,000 +livres, one rich man distributing 40,000 francs the morning after +the hailstorm, and a convent of Bernardines feeding twelve hundred +poor persons for six weeks[2]. But it had been too devastating. +Neither public measures nor private charity could meet the +overwhelming need. In Normandy, where the last commercial treaty +had ruined the manufacture of linen and of lace trimmings, forty +thousand workmen were out of work. In many parishes one-fourth of +the population[3] are beggars. Here, "nearly all the inhabitants, +not excepting the farmers and landowners, are eating barley bread +and drinking water;" there, "many poor creatures have to eat oat +bread, and others soaked bran, which has caused the death of several +children." -- "Above all," writes the Rouen Parliament, "let help be +sent to a perishing people . . .. Sire, most of your subjects +are unable to pay the price of bread, and what bread is given to +those who do buy it " -- Arthur Young,[4] who was traveling through +France at this time, heard of nothing but the high cost of bread and +the distress of the people. At Troyes bread costs four sous a pound +-- that is to say, eight sous of the present day; and unemployed +artisans flock to the relief works, where they can earn only twelve +sous a day. In Lorraine, according to the testimony of all +observers, "the people are half dead with hunger." In Paris the +number of paupers has been trebled; there are thirty thousand in the +Faubourg Saint-Antoine alone. Around Paris there is a short supply +of grain, or it is spoilt[5]. In the beginning of July, at +Montereau, the market is empty. "The bakers could not have baked" +if the police officers had not increased the price of bread to five +sous per pound; the rye and barley which the intendant is able to +send "are of the worst possible quality, rotten and in a condition +to produce dangerous diseases. Nevertheless, most of the small +consumers are reduced to the hard necessity of using this spoilt +grain." At Villeneuve- le-Roi, writes the mayor, "the rye of the two +lots last sent is so black and poor that it cannot be retailed +without wheat." At Sens the barley "tastes musty" to such an extent +that buyers of it throw the detestable bread, which it makes in the +face of the sub-delegate. At Chevreuse the barley has sprouted and +smells bad; the " poor wretches," says an employee, "must be hard +pressed with hunger to put up with it." At Fontainebleau "the +barley, half eaten away, produces more bran than flour, and to make +bread of it, one is obliged to work it over several times." This +bread, such as it is, is an object of savage greed; "it has come to +this, that it is impossible to distribute it except through +wickets." And those who thus obtain their ration, "are often +attacked on the road and robbed of it by the more vigorous of the +famished people." At Nangis "the magistrates prohibit the same +person from buying more than two bushels in the same market." In +short, provisions are so scarce that there is a difficulty in +feeding the soldiers; the minister dispatches two letters one after +another to order the cutting down of 250,000 bushels of rye before +the harvest[6]. Paris thus, in a perfect state of tranquility, +appears like a famished city put on rations at the end of a long +siege, and the dearth will not be greater nor the food worse in +December 1870, than in July 1789. + +"The nearer the 14th of July approached," says an eyewitness,[7] +"the more did the dearth increase." Every baker's shop was +surrounded by a crowd, to which bread was distributed with the most +grudging economy. This bread was generally blackish, earthy, and +bitter, producing inflammation of the throat and pain in the bowels. +I have seen flour of detestable quality at the military school and +at other depots. I have seen portions of it yellow in color, with +an offensive smell; some forming blocks so hard that they had to be +broken into fragments by repeated blows of a hatchet. For my own +part, wearied with the difficulty of procuring this poor bread, and +disgusted with that offered to me at the tables d'hôte, I avoided +this kind of food altogether. In the evening I went to the Café du +Caveau, where, fortunately, they were kind enough to reserve for me +two of those rolls which are called flutes, and this is the only +bread I have eaten for a week at a time." + + But this resource is only for the rich. As for the people, to get +bread fit for dogs, they must stand in a line for hours. And here +they fight for it; "they snatch food from one another." There is no +more work to be had; "the work-rooms are deserted;" often, after +waiting a whole day, the workman returns home empty-handed. When he +does bring back a four-pound loaf it costs him 3 francs 12 sous; +that is, 12 sous for the bread, and 3 francs for the lost day. In +this long line of unemployed, excited men, swaying to and fro before +the shop-door, dark thoughts are fermenting: "if the bakers find no +flour to-night to bake with, we shall have nothing to eat to- +morrow." An appalling idea; -- in presence of which the whole power +of the Government is not too strong; for to keep order in the midst +of famine nothing avails but the sight of an armed force, palpable +and threatening. Under Louis XIV and Louis XV there had been even +greater hunger and misery; but the outbreaks, which were roughly and +promptly put down, were only partial and passing disorders. Some +rioters were at once hung, and others were sent to the galleys. The +peasant or the workman, convinced of his impotence, at once returned +to his stall or his plow. When a wall is too high one does not even +think of scaling it. -- But now the wall is cracking -- all its +custodians, the clergy, the nobles, the Third-Estate, men of +letters, the politicians, and even the Government itself, making the +breach wider. The wretched, for the first time, discover an issue: +they dash through it, at first in driblets, then in a mass, and +rebellion becomes as universal as resignation was in the past. + + +II. + +Expectations the second cause. - Separation and laxity of the +administrative forces. - Investigations of local assemblies. - The +people become aware of their condition. - Convocation of the +States-General. - Hope is born. The coincidence of early +Assemblies with early difficulties. + +It is just through this breach that hope steals like a beam of +light, and gradually finds its way down to the depths below. For +the last fifty years it has been rising, and its rays, which first +illuminated the upper class in their splendid apartments in the +first story, and next the middle class in their entresol and on the +ground floor. They have now for two years penetrated to the cellars +where the people toil, and even to the deep sinks and obscure +corners where rogues and vagabonds and malefactors, a foul and +swarming herd, crowd and hide themselves from the persecution of the +law. -- To the first two provincial assemblies instituted by Necker +in 1778 and 1779, Loménie de Brienne has in 1787 just added nineteen +others; under each of these are assemblies of the arrondissement, +under each assembly of the arrondissement are parish assemblies[8]. +Thus the whole machinery of administration has been changed. It is +the new assemblies which assess the taxes and superintend their +collection; which determine upon and direct all public works; and +which form the court of final appeal in regard to matters in +dispute. The intendant, the sub-delegate, the elected +representative[9], thus lose three-quarters of their authority. +Conflicts arise, consequently, between rival powers whose frontiers +are not clearly defined; command shifts about, and obedience is +diminished. The subject no longer feels on his shoulders the +commanding weight of the one hand which, without possibility of +interference or resistance, held him in, urged him forward, and made +him move on. Meanwhile, in each assembly of the parish +arrondissement, and even of the province, plebeians, "husband- +men,"[10] and often common farmers, sit by the side of lords and +prelates. They listen to and remember the vast figure of the taxes +which are paid exclusively, or almost exclusively, by them -- the +taille and its accessories, the poll-tax and road dues, and +assuredly on their return home they talk all this over with their +neighbor. These figures are all printed; the village attorney +discusses the matter with his clients, the artisans and rustics, on +Sunday as they leave the mass, or in the evening in the large public +room of the tavern. These little gatherings, moreover, are +sanctioned, encouraged by the powers above. In the earliest days of +1788 the provincial assemblies order a board of inquiry to be held +by the syndics and inhabitants of each parish. Knowledge is wanted +in detail of their grievances. What part of the revenue is +chargeable to each impost? What must the cultivator pay and how much +does he suffer? How many privileged persons there are in the parish, +what is the amount of their fortune, are they residents, and what +their exemptions amount to? In replying, the attorney who holds the +pen, names and points out with his finger each privileged +individual, criticizes his way of living, and estimates his fortune, +calculates the injury done to the village by his immunities, +inveighs against the taxes and the tax-collectors. On leaving these +assemblies the villager broods over what he has just heard. He sees +his grievances no longer singly as before, but in mass, and coupled +with the enormity of evils under which his fellows suffer. Besides +this, they begin to disentangle the causes of their misery: the King +is good -- why then do his collectors take so much of our money? +This or that canon or nobleman is not unkind -- why then do they +make us pay in their place? -- Imagine that a sudden gleam of reason +should allow a beast of burden to comprehend the contrast between +the species of horse and mankind. Imagine, if you can, what its +first ideas would be in relation to the coachmen and drivers who +bridle and whip it and again in relation to the good-natured +travelers and sensitive ladies who pity it, but who to the weight of +the vehicle add their own and that of their luggage. + +Likewise, in the mind of the peasant, athwart his perplexed +brooding, a new idea, slowly, little by little, is unfolded: -- that +of an oppressed multitude of which he makes one, a vast herd +scattered far beyond the visible horizon, everywhere ill used, +starved, and fleeced. Towards the end of 1788 we begin to detect in +the correspondence of the intendants and military commandants the +dull universal muttering of coming wrath. Men's characters seem to +change; they become suspicious and restive. -- And just at this +moment, the Government, dropping the reins, calls upon them to +direct themselves.[11]. In the month of November 1787, the King +declared that he would convoke the States-General. On the 5th of +July 1788, he calls for memoranda (des mémoires) on this subject +from every competent person and body. On the 8th of August he fixes +the date of the session. On the 5th of October he convokes the +notables, in order to consider the subject with them. On the 27th +of December he grants a double representation to the Third-Estate, +because "its cause is allied with generous sentiments, and it will +always obtain the support of public opinion." The same day he +introduces into the electoral assemblies of the clergy a majority of +curés[12], "because good and useful pastors are daily and closely +associated with the indigence and relief of the people," from which +it follows "that they are much more familiar with their sufferings" +and necessities. On the 24th January 1789, he prescribes the +procedure and method of the meetings. After the 7th of February +writs of summons are sent out one after the other. Eight days +after, each parish assembly begins to draw up its memorial of +grievances, and becomes excited over the detailed enumeration of all +the miseries which it sets down in writing. -- All these appeals +and all these acts are so many strokes, which reverberate, in the +popular imagination. "It is the desire of His Majesty," says the +order issued, "that every one, from the extremities of his kingdom, +and from the most obscure of its hamlets, should be certain of his +wishes and protests reaching him." Thus, it is all quite true: there +can be no mistake about it, the thing is sure. The people are +invited to speak out, they are summoned, and they are consulted. +There is a disposition to relieve them; henceforth their misery +shall be less; better times are coming. This is all they know about +it. A few month after, in July,[13] the only answer a peasant girl +can make to Arthur Young is, "something was to be done by some great +folks for such poor ones, but she did not know who nor how." The +thing is too complicated, beyond the reach of a stupefied and +mechanical brain. - One idea alone emerges, the hope of immediate +relief. The persuasion that one is entitled to it, the resolution +to aid it with every possible means. Consequently, an anxious +waiting, a ready fervor, a tension of the will simply due to the +waiting for the opportunity to let go and take off like a +irresistible arrow towards the unknown end which will reveal itself +all of a sudden. Hunger is to mark this sudden target out for them. + +The market must be supplied with wheat; the farmers and land-owners +must bring it; wholesale buyers, whether the Government or +individuals, must not be allowed to send it elsewhere. The wheat +must be sold at a low price; the price must be cut down and fixed, +so that the baker can sell bread at two sous the pound. Grain, +flour, wine, salt, and provisions must pay no more duties. +Seignorial dues and claims, ecclesiastical tithes, and royal or +municipal taxes must no longer exist. On the strength of this idea +disturbances broke out on all sides in March, April, and May. +Contemporaries " do not know what to think of such a scourge;[14] +they cannot comprehend how such a vast number of criminals, without +visible leaders, agree amongst themselves everywhere to commit the +same excesses just at the time when the States-General are going to +begin their sittings." The reason is that, under the ancient régime, +the conflagration was smoldering in a closed chamber; the great door +is suddenly opened, the air enters, and immediately the flame breaks +out. + + III. +The provinces during the first six months of 1789. - Effects of the +famine. + +At first there are only intermittent, isolated fires, which are +extinguished or go out of themselves; but, a moment after, in the +same place, or very near it, the sparks again appear. Their number, +like their recurrence, shows the vastness, depth, and heat of the +combustible matter, which is about to explode. In the four months, +which precede the taking of the Bastille, over three hundred +outbreaks may be counted in France. They take place from month to +month and from week to week, in Poitou, Brittany, Touraine, +Orléanais, Normandy, Ile-de-France, Picardy, Champagne, Alsace, +Burgundy, Nivernais, Auvergne, Languedoc, and Provence. On the 28th +of May the parliament of Rouen announces robberies of grain, +"violent and bloody tumults, in which men on both sides have +fallen," throughout the province, at Caen, Saint-Lô, Mortain, +Granville, Evreux, Bernay, Pont-Andemer, Elboeuf; Louviers, and in +other sections besides. On the 20th of April Baron de Bezenval, +military commander in the Central Provinces, writes: "I once more +lay before M. Necker a picture of the frightful condition of +Touraine and of Orléanais. Every letter I receive from these two +provinces is the narrative of three or four riots, which are put +down with difficulty by the troops and constabulary,"[15] -- and +throughout the whole extent of the kingdom a similar state of things +is seen. The women, as is natural, are generally at the head of +these outbreaks. It is they who, at Montlhéry, rip open the sacks +of grain with their scissors. On learning each week, on market day +that the price of a loaf of bread advances three, four, or seven +sous, they break out into shrieks of rage: at this rate for bread, +with the small salaries of the men, and when work fails,[16] how can +a family be fed? Crowds gather around the sacks of flour and the +doors of the bakers. Amidst outcries and reproaches some one in the +crowd makes a push; the proprietor or dealer is hustled and knocked +down. The shop is invaded, the commodity is in the hands of the +buyers and of the famished, each one grabbing for himself, pay or no +pay, and running away with the booty. -- Sometimes a party is made +up beforehand[17] At Bray-sur-Seine, on the 1st of May, the +villagers for four leagues around, armed with stones, knives, and +cudgels, to the number of four thousand, compel the metayers and +farmers, who have brought grain with them, to sell it at 3 livres, +instead of 4 livres 10 sous the bushel. They threaten to do the +same thing on the following market-day: but the farmers do not +return, the storehouse remains empty. Now soldiers must be at hand, +or the inhabitants of Bray will be pillaged. At Bagnols, in +Languedoc, on the 1st and 2nd of April, the peasants, armed with +cudgels and assembled by tap of drum, "traverse the town, +threatening to burn and destroy everything if flour and money are +not given to them." They go to private houses for grain, divide it +amongst themselves at a reduced price, "promising to pay when the +next crop comes round," and force the Consuls to put bread at two +sous the pound, and to increase the day's wages four sous. -- +Indeed this is now the regular thing; it is not the people who obey +the authorities, but the authorities who obey the people. Consuls, +sheriffs, mayors, municipal officers, town-clerks, become confused +and hesitating in the face of this huge clamor; they feel that they +are likely to be trodden under foot or thrown out of the windows. +Others, with more firmness, being aware that a riotous crowd is mad, +and having scruples to spill blood; yield for the time being, hoping +that at the next market-day there will be more soldiers and better +precautions taken. At Amiens, "after a very violent outbreak,"[18] +they decide to take the wheat belonging to the Jacobin monks, and, +protected by the troops, to sell it to the people at a third below +its value. At Nantes, where the town hall is attacked, they are +forced to lower the price of bread one sou per pound. At Angoulême, +to avoid a recourse to arms, they request the Comte d'Artois to +renounce his dues on flour for two months, reduce the price of +bread, and compensate the bakers. At Cette they are so maltreated +they let everything take its course; the people sack their dwellings +and get the upper hand; they announce by sound of trumpet that all +their demands are granted. On other occasions, the mob dispenses +with their services and acts for itself. If there happens to be no +grain on the market-place, the people go after it wherever they can +find it -- to proprietors and farmers who are unable to bring it for +fear of pillage; to convents, which by royal edict are obliged +always to have one year's crop in store; to granaries where the +Government keeps its supplies; and to convoys which are dispatched +by the intendants to the relief of famished towns. Each for himself +-- so much the worse for his neighbor. The inhabitants of Fougères +beat and drive out those who come from Ernée to buy in their market; +a similar violence is shown at Vitré to the in-habitants of +Maine.[19] At Sainte-Léonard the people stop the grain started for +Limoges; at Bost that intended for Aurillac; at Saint-Didier that +ordered for Moulins; and at Tournus that dispatched to Macon. In +vain are escorts added to the convoys; troops of men and women, +armed with hatchets and guns, put themselves in ambush in the woods +along the road, and seize the horses by their bridles; the saber has +to be used to secure any advance. In vain are arguments and kind +words offered, "and in vain even is wheat offered for money; they +refuse, shouting out that the convoy shall not go on." They have +taken a stubborn stand, their resolution being that of a bull +planted in the middle of the road and lowering his horns. Since the +wheat is in the district, it is theirs; whoever carries it off or +withholds it is a robber. This fixed idea cannot be driven out of +their minds. At Chant-nay, near Mans,[20] they prevent a miller +from carrying that which he had just bought to his mill. At +Montdragon, in Languedoc, they stone a dealer in the act of sending +his last wagon load elsewhere. At Thiers, workmen go in force to +gather wheat in the fields; a proprietor with whom some is found is +nearly killed; they drink wine in the cellars, and leave the taps +running. At Nevers, the bakers not having put bread on their +counters for four days, the mob force the granaries of private +persons, of dealers and religious communities. "The frightened +corn-dealers part with their grain at any price; most of it is +stolen in the face of the guards," and, in the tumult of these +searches of homes, a number of houses are sacked. -- In these days +woe to all who are concerned in the acquisition, commerce, and +manipulation of grain! Popular imagination requires living beings to +who it may impute its misfortunes, and on whom it may gratify its +resentments. To it, all such persons are monopolists, and, at any +rate, public enemies. Near Angers the Benedictine establishment is +invaded, and its fields and woods are devastated.[21] At Amiens "the +people are arranging to pillage and perhaps burn the houses of two +merchants, who have built labor-saving mills." Restrained by the +soldiers, they confine themselves to breaking windows; but other +"groups come to destroy or plunder the houses of two or three +persons whom they suspect of being monopolists." At Nantes, a sieur +Geslin, being deputized by the people to inspect a house, and +finding no wheat, a shout is set up that he is a receiver, an +accomplice! The crowd rush at him, and he is wounded and almost cut +in pieces. -- It is very evident that there is no more security in +France; property, even life, is in danger. The primary possession, +food, is violated in hundreds of places, and is everywhere menaced +and precarious. The local officials everywhere call for aid, +declare the constabulary incompetent, and demand regular troops. +And mark how public authority, everywhere inadequate, disorganized, +and tottering, finds stirred up against it not only the blind +madness of hunger, but, in addition, the evil instincts which profit +by every disorder and the inveterate lusts which every political +commotion frees from restraint. + + +IV. + +Intervention of ruffians and vagabonds. + +We have seen how numerous the smugglers, dealers in contraband salt, +poachers, vagabonds, beggars, and escaped convicts[22] have become, +and how a year of famine increases the number. All are so many +recruits for the mobs, and whether in a disturbance or by means of a +disturbance each one of them fills his pouch. Around Caux,[23] even +up to the environs of Rouen, at Roncherolles, Quévrevilly, Préaux, +Saint-Jacques, and in the entire surrounding neighborhood bands of +armed bandits force their way into the houses, particularly the +parsonages, and lay their hands on whatever they please. To the +south of Chartres "three or four hundred woodcutters, from the +forests of Bellème, chop away everything that opposes them, and +force grain to be given up to them at their own price." In the +vicinity of Étampes, fifteen bandits enter the farmhouses at night +and put the farmer to ransom, threatening him with a conflagration. +In Cambrésis they pillage the abbeys of Vauchelles, of Verger, and +of Guillemans, the château of the Marquis de Besselard, the estate +of M. Doisy, two farms, the wagons of wheat passing along the road +to Saint-Quentin, and, besides this, seven farms in Picardy. "The +seat of this revolt is in some villages bordering on Picardy and +Cambrésis, familiar with smuggling operations and to the license of +that pursuit." The peasants allow themselves to be enticed away by +the bandits. Man slips rapidly down the incline of dishonesty; one +who is half-honest, and takes part in a riot inadvertently or in +spite of himself; repeats the act, allured on by impunity or by +gain. In fact, "it is not dire necessity which impels them;" they +make a speculation of cupidity, a new sort of illicit trade. An old +soldier, saber in hand, a forest-keeper, and "about eight persons +sufficiently lax, put themselves at the head of four or five hundred +men, go off each day to three or four villages. Here they force +everybody who has any wheat to give it to them at 24 livres," and +even at 18 livres, the sack. Those among the band, who say that +they have no money, carry away their portion without payment. +Others, after having paid what they please, re-sell at a profit, +which amounts to even 45 livres the sack. This is a good business, +and one in which greed takes poverty for its accomplice. At the +next harvest the temptation will be similar: "they have threatened +to come and do our harvesting for us, and also to take our cattle +and sell the meat in the villages at the rate of two sous the +pound." -- In every important insurrection there are similar evil- +does and vagabonds, enemies to the law, savage, prowling +desperadoes, who, like wolves, roam about wherever they scent a +prey. It is they who serve as the directors and executioners of +public or private malice. Near Uzès twenty-five masked men, with +guns and clubs, enter the house of a notary, fire a pistol at him, +beat him, wreck the premises, and burn his registers along with the +title-deeds and papers which be has in keeping for the Count de +Rouvres. Seven of them are arrested, but the people are on their +side, and fall on the constabulary and free them.[24] -- They are +known by their acts, by their love of destruction for the sake of +destruction, by their foreign accent, by their savage faces and +their rags. Some of them come from Paris to Rouen, and, for four +days, the town is at their mercy.[25] The stores are forced open, +train wagons are discharged, wheat is wasted, and convents and +seminaries are put to ransom. They invade the dwelling of the +attorney-general, who has begun proceedings against them, and want +to tear him to pieces. They break his mirrors and his furniture, +leave the premises laden with booty, and go into the town and its +outskirts to pillage the manufactories and break up or burn all the +machinery. -- Henceforth these constitute the new leaders: for in +every mob it is the boldest and least scrupulous who march ahead and +set the example in destruction. The example is contagious: the +beginning was the craving for bread, the end is murder and arson; +the savagery which is unchained adding its unlimited violence to the +limited revolt of necessity. + + +V. + +Effect on the Population of the New Ideas. + +Bad as it is, this savagery might, perhaps, have been overcome, in +spite of the dearth and of the brigands; but what renders it +irresistible is the belief of its being authorized, and that by +those whose duty it is to repress it. Here and there words and +actions of a brutal frankness break forth, and reveal beyond the +somber present a more threatening future -- After the 9th of +January, 1789, among the mob which attacks the Hôtel-de-Ville and +besieges the bakers' shops of Nantes, "shouts of Vive la +Liberté![26] .mingled with those of Vive le Roi! are heard." A few +months later, around Ploërmel, the peasants refuse to pay tithes, +alleging that the memorial of their seneschal's court demands their +abolition. In Alsace, after March, there is the same refusal "in +many places;" many of the communities even maintain that they will +pay no more taxes until their deputies to the States-General shall +have fixed the precise amount of the public contributions. In Isère +it is decided, by proceedings, printed and published, that "personal +dues" shall no longer be paid, while the landowners who are affected +by this dare not prosecute in the tribunals. At Lyons, the people +have come to the conclusion "that all levies of taxes are to cease," +and, on the 29th of June, on hearing of the meeting of the three +orders, "astonished by the illuminations and signs of public +rejoicing," they believe that the good time has come." They think of +forcing the delivery of meat to them at four sous the pound, and +wine at the same rate. The publicans insinuate to them the +prospective abolition of octrois.[27] and that, meanwhile, the +King, in favor of the re-assembling of the three orders, has granted +three days' freedom from all duties at Paris, and that Lyons ought +to enjoy the same privilege." Upon this the crowd, rushing off to +the barriers, to the gates of Sainte-Claire and Perrache, and to the +Guillotière bridge, burn or demolish the bureaux, destroy the +registers, sack the lodgings of the clerks, carry off the money and +pillage the wine on hand in the depot. In the mean time a rumor +has circulated all round through the country that there is free +entrance into the town for all provisions. During the following +days the peasantry stream in with enormous files of wagons loaded +with wine and drawn by several oxen, so that, in spite of the re- +established guard, it is necessary to let them enter all day without +paying the dues. It is only on the 7th of July that these can again +be collected. -- The same thing occurs in the southern provinces, +where the principal imposts are levied on provisions. There also +the collections are suspended in the name of public authority. At +Agde,[28] "the people, considering the so-called will of the King as +to equality of classes, are foolish enough to think that they are +everything and can do everything." Thus do they interpret in their +own way and in their own terms the double representation accorded to +the Third-Estate. They threaten the town, consequently, with +general pillage if the prices of all provisions are not reduced, and +if the duties of the province on wine, fish, and meat are not +suppressed. They also wish to nominate consuls who have sprung up +out of their body." The bishop, the lord of the manor, the mayor and +the notables, against whom they forcibly stir up the peasantry in +the country, are obliged to proclaim by sound of trumpet that their +demands shall be granted. Three days afterwards they exact a +diminution of one-half of the tax on grinding, and go in quest of +the bishop who owns the mills. The prelate, who is ill, sinks down +in the street and seats himself on a stone; they compel him +forthwith to sign an act of renunciation, and hence "his mill, +valued at 15,000 livres, is reduced to 7,500 livres." -- At Limoux, +under the pretext of searching for grain, they enter the houses of +the comptroller and tax contractors, carry off their registers, and +throw them into the water along with the furniture of their clerks. +-- In Provence it is worse; for most unjustly, and through +inconceivable imprudence, the taxes of the towns are all levied on +flour. It is therefore to this impost that the dearness of bread is +directly attributed. Hence the fiscal agent becomes a manifest +enemy, and revolts on account of hunger are transformed into +insurrections against the State. + + VI. + +The first jacquerie in Province. - Feebleness or ineffectiveness of +repressive measures. + +Here, again, political novelties are the spark that ignites the mass +of gunpowder. Everywhere, the uprising of the people takes place on +the very day on which the electoral assembly meets. From forty to +fifty riots occur in the provinces in less than a fortnight. +Popular imagination, like that of a child, goes straight to its +mark. The reforms having been announced, people think them +accomplished and, to make sure of them, steps are at once taken to +carry them out. Now that we are to have relief, let us relieve +ourselves. "This is not an isolated riot as usual," writes the +commander of the troops;[29] "here the faction is united and +governed by uniform principles; the same errors are diffused through +all minds. . . . . The principles impressed on the people are +that the King desires equality. No more bishops or lords, no more +distinctions of rank, no tithes, and no seignorial privileges. +Thus, these misguided people fancy that they are exercising their +rights, and obeying the will of the King." -- The effect of +sonorous phrases is apparent. The people have been told that the +States-General were to bring about the "regeneration of the kingdom" +The inference is "that the date of their assembly was to be one of +an entire and absolute change of conditions and fortunes." Hence, +"the insurrection against the nobles and the clergy is as active as +it is widespread." "In many places it was distinctly announced that +there was a sort of war declared against landowners and property," +and "in the towns as well as in the rural districts the people +persist in declaring that they will pay nothing, neither taxes, +duties, nor debts." -- Naturally, the first assault is against the +piquèt, or flour-tax. At Aix, Marseilles, Toulon, and in more than +forty towns and market-villages, this is summarily abolished; at +Aupt and at Luc nothing remains of the weighing-house but the four +walls. At Marseilles the home of the slaughter-house contractor and +at Brignolles that of the director of the leather excise, are +sacked. The determination is "to purge the land of excise-men. " - +- This is only a beginning; bread and other provisions must become +cheap, and that without delay. At Arles, the Corporation of +sailors, presided over by M. de Barras, consul, had just elected its +representatives. By way of conclusion to the meeting, they pass a +resolution insisting that M. de Barras should reduce the price of +all comestibles. On his refusal, they "open the window, exclaiming, +'We hold him, and we have only to throw him into the street for the +rest to pick him up.'" Compliance is inevitable. The resolution is +proclaimed by the town-criers, and at each article which is reduced +in price the crowd shout, "Vive le Roi, vive M. Barras !" -- One +must yield to brute force. But the inconvenience is great for, +through the suppression of the flour-tax, the towns have no longer a +revenue. On the other hand, as they are obliged to indemnify the +butchers and bakers, Toulon, for instance, incurs a debt of 2,500 +livres a day. + +In this state of disorder, woe to those who are under suspicion of +having contributed, directly or indirectly, to the evils, which the +people endure! At Toulon a demand is made for the head of the mayor, +who signs the tax-list, and of the keeper of the records. They are +trodden under foot, and their houses are ransacked. At Manosque, +the Bishop of Sisteron, who is visiting the seminary, is accused of +favoring a monopolist. On his way to his carriage, on foot, he is +hooted and menaced. He is first pelted with mud, and then with +stones. The consuls in attendance, and the sub-delegate, who come +to his assistance, are mauled and repulsed. Meanwhile, some of the +most furious begin, before his eyes, "to dig a ditch to bury him +in." Protected by five or six brave fellows, amidst a volley of +stones, and wounded on the head and on many parts of his body, he +succeeds in reaching his carriage. He is finally only saved because +the horses, which are likewise stoned, run away. Foreigners, +Italians, bandits, are mingled with the peasants and artisans, and +expressions are heard and acts are seen which indicate a +jacquerie.[30] "The most excited said to the bishop, 'we are poor +and you are rich, and we mean to have all your property.'"[31] +Elsewhere, "the seditious mob exacts contributions from all people +in good circumstances. At Brignolles, thirteen houses are pillaged +from top to bottom, and thirty others partly half. -- At Aupt, M. +de Montferrat, in defending himself, is killed and "hacked to +pieces." -- At La Seyne, the mob, led by a peasant, assembles by +beat of drum. Some women fetch a bier, and set it down before the +house of a leading bourgeois, telling him to prepare for death, and +that "they will have the honor of burying him." He escapes; his +house is pillaged, as well as the bureau of the flour-tax. The +following day, the chief of the band "obliges the principal +inhabitants to give him a sum of money to indemnify, as he states +it, the peasants who have abandoned their work," and devoted the day +to serving the public. -- At Peinier, the Président de Peinier, an +octogenarian, is "besieged in his chateau by a band of a hundred and +fifty artisans and peasants," who bring with them a consul and a +notary. Aided by these two functionaries, they force the president +"to pass an act by which he renounces his seignorial rights of every +description " -- At Sollier they destroy the mills belonging to M. +de Forbin-Janson. They sack the house of his business agent, +pillage the château, and demolish the roof, chapel, altar, railings, +and escutcheons. They enter the cellars, stave in the casks, and +carry away everything that can be carried, "the transportation +taking two days;" all of which cause damages of a hundred thousand +crowns to the marquis. -- At Riez they surround the episcopal +palace with fagots, threatening to burn it, "and compromise with the +bishop on a promise of fifty thousand livres," and want him to burn +his archives. -- In short, the sedition is social for it singles +out for attack all that profit by, or stand at the head of, the +established order of things. + +Seeing them act in this way, one would say that the theory of the +Contrat-Social had been instilled into them. They treat magistrates +as domestics, promulgate laws, and conduct themselves like +sovereigns. They exercise public power, and establish, summarily, +arbitrarily, and brutally, whatever they think to be in conformity +with natural right. -- At Peinier they exact a second electoral +assembly, and, for themselves, the right of suffrage. -- At Saint- +Maximin they themselves elect new consuls and officers of justice. +-- At Solliez they oblige the judge's lieutenant to give in his +resignation, and they break his staff of office. -- At Barjols +"they use consuls and judges as their town servants, announcing that +they are masters and that they will themselves administer justice." +-- In fact, they do administer it, as they understand it -- that is +to say, through many exactions and robberies! One man has wheat; he +must share it with him who has none. Another has money; he must +give it to him who has not enough to buy bread with. On this +principle, at Barjols, they tax the Ursulin nuns 1,800 livres, carry +off fifty loads of wheat from the Chapter, eighteen from one poor +artisan, and forty from another, and constrain canons and +beneficiaries to give acquittances to their farmers. Then, from +house to house, with club in hand, they oblige some to hand over +money, others to abandon their claims on their debtors, "one to +desist from criminal proceedings, another to nullify a decree +obtained, a third to reimburse the expenses of a lawsuit gained +years before, a father to give his consent to the marriage of his +son." -- All their grievances are brought to mind, and we all know +the tenacity of a peasant's memory. Having become the master, he +redresses wrongs, and especially those of which he thinks himself +the object. There must be a general restitution; and first, of the +feudal dues which have been collected. They take of M. de +Montmeyan's business agent all the money he has as compensation for +that received by him during fifteen years as a notary. A former +consul of Brignolles had, in 1775, inflicted penalties to the amount +of 1,500 or 1,800 francs, which had been given to the poor; this sum +is taken from his strong box. Moreover, if consuls and law officers +are wrongdoers, the title deeds, rent-rolls, and other documents by +which they do their business are still worse. To the fire with all +old writings -- not only office registers, but also, at Hyères, all +the papers in the town hall and those of the principal notary. -- +In the matter of papers none are good but new ones -- those which +convey some discharge, quittance, or obligation to the advantage of +the people. At Brignolles the owners of the gristmills are +constrained to execute a contract of sale by which they convey their +mills to the commune in consideration of 5,000 francs per annum, +payable in ten years without interest -- an arrangement which ruins +them. On seeing the contract signed the peasants shout and cheer, +and so great is their faith in this piece of stamped paper that they +at once cause a mass of thanksgiving to be celebrated in the +Cordeliers. Formidable omens these! Which mark the inward purpose, +the determined will, and the coming deeds of this rising power. If +it prevails, its first work will be to destroy all ancient +documents, all title deeds, rent-rolls, contracts, and claims to +which force compels it to submit. By force likewise it will draw up +others to its own advantage, and the scribes who do it will be its +own deputies and administrators whom it holds in its rude grasp. + +Those who are in high places are not alarmed; they even find that +there is some good in the revolt, inasmuch as it compels the towns +to suppress unjust taxation.[32] The new Marseilles guard, formed +of young men, is allowed to march to Aubagne, "to insist that M. le +lieutenant criminel and M. l'avocat du Roi release the prisoners." +The disobedience of Marseilles, which refuses to receive the +magistrates sent under letters patent to take testimony, is +tolerated. And better still, in spite of the remonstrances of the +parliament of Aix, a general amnesty is proclaimed; "no one is +excepted but a few of the leaders, to whom is allowed the liberty of +leaving the kingdom." The mildness of the King and of the military +authorities is admirable. It is admitted that the people are +children, that they err only through ignorance, that faith must be +had in their repentance, and, as soon as they return to order, they +must be received with paternal effusions. -- The truth is, that +the child is a blind Colossus, exasperated by sufferings. hence +whatever it takes hold of is shattered -- not only the local wheels +of the provinces, which, if temporarily deranged, may be repaired, +but even the incentive at the center which puts the rest in motion, +and the destruction of which will throw the whole machinery into +confusion. + +__________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + + [1] Marmontel, "Mémoires," II. 221. -- Albert Babeau, "Histoire +de la Révolution Française," I. 91, 187. (Letter by Huez Mayor of +Troyes, July 30, 1788.)- -- Archives Nationales, H. 1274. (Letter +by M. de Caraman, April 22, 1789.) H. 942 (Cahier des demandes des +Etats de Languedoc). - Buchez et Roux, "Histoire Parlementaire," +I. 283. + +[2] See " The Ancient Régime," p.34. Albert Babeau, I. 91. (The +Bishop of Troyes gives 12,000 francs, and the chapter 6,000, for the +relief workshops.) + +[3] "The Ancient Regime," 350, 387.--Floquet, "Histoire du Parlement +de Normandie," VII. 505-518. (Reports of the Parliament of +Normandy, May 3,1788. Letter from the Parliament to the King, July +15, 1789.) + +[4] Arthur Young, "Voyages in France," June 29th, July 2nd and 18th +-- " Journal de Paris," January 2, 1789. Letter of the curé of +Sainte-Marguerite. + +[5] Buchez and Roux, IV. 79-82. (Letter from the intermediary +bureau of Montereau, July 9, 1789; from the maire of Villeneuve-le- +Roi, July 10th; from M. Baudry, July 10th; from M. Prioreau, July +11th, etc.) -- Montjoie, "Histoire de la Révolution de France," 2nd +part, ch. XXI, p. 5. + +[6] Roux et Buchez, ibid. "It is very unfortunate," writes the +Marquis d'Autichamp, "to be obliged to cut down the standing crops +ready to be gathered in; but it is dangerous to let the troops die +of hunger." + +[7] Montjoie, "Histoire de la Révolution de France," ch. XXXIX, V, +37. -- De Goncourt, "La Société Française pendant la Révolution," +p. 5l3. -- Deposition of Maillard (Criminal Inquiry of the +Châtelet concerning the events of October 5th and 6th). + +[8] De Tocqueville, "L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution," 272-290. De +Lavergne, "Les Assemblées provinciales," 109. Procès-verbaux des +assemblées provinciales, passim. + +[9] A magistrate who gives judgment in a lower court in cases +relative to taxation. These terms are retained because there are no +equivalents in English. (Tr.) + +[10] "Laboureurs," -- this term, at this epoch, is applied to those +who till their own land. (Tr.) + +[11] Duvergier. "Collection des lois et décrets," I. 1 to 23, and +particularly p. 15. + +[12] Parish priests. (SR.) + +[13] Arthur Young, July 12th , 1789 (in Champagne). + +[14] Montjoie, 1st part, 102. + +[15] Floquet, "Histoire du Parlement de Normandie," VII. 508. -- " +Archives Nationales," H. 1453. + +[16] Arthur Young, June 29th (at Nangis). + +[17] "Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of the Duc de Mortemart, +Seigneur of Bray, May 4th; of M. de Ballainvilliers, intendant of +Languedoc, April 15th. + +[18] "Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of the intendant, M. +d'Agay, April 30th; of the municipal officers of Nantes, January +9th; of the intendant, M. Meulan d'Ablois, June 22nd; of M. de +Ballainvilliers, April 15th. + +[19] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the Count de +Langeron, July 4th; of M. de Meulan d'Ablois, June 5th; "Minutes of +the meeting of la Maréchaussée de Bost," April 29th. Letters of M. +de Chazerat, May 29th; of M. de Bezenval, June 2nd; of the +intendant, M. Amelot, April 25th. + +[20] '"Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of M. de Bezenval, May +27th; of M. de Ballainvilliers, April 25th; of M. de Foullonde, +April 19th. + +[21] "Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of the intendant, M. +d'Aine, March 12th; of M. d'Agay, April 30th; of M. Amelot, April +25th; of the municipal authorities of Nantes, January 9th, etc. + +[22] "The Ancient Régime," pp. 380-389. + +[23] Floquet, VII. 508, (Report of February 27th). - Hippeau, "La +Gouvernement de Normandie," IV. 377. (Letter of M. Perrot, June +23rd.) -- " Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of M. de +Sainte-Suzanne, April 29th. Ibid. F7, 3250. Letter of M. de +Rochambeau, May 16th Ibid. F7, 3250. Letter of the Abbé Duplaquet, +Deputy of the Third Estate of Saint-Quentin, May 17th. Letter of +three husbandmen in the environs of Saint-Quentin, May 14th. + +[24] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the Count de +Perigord, military commandant of Languedoc, April 22nd. + +[25] Floquet, VII. 511 (from the 11th to the 14th July). + +[26] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the municipal +authorities of Nantes, January 9th; of the sub-delegate of Ploërmel, +July 4th; ibid. F7, 2353. Letter of the intermediary commission of +Alsace, September 8th ibid. F7, 3227. Letter of the intendant, +Caze de la Bove, June 16th ; ibid. H. 1453. Letter of Terray, +intendant of Lyons, July 4th; of the prévot des échevins, July 5th +and 7th. + +[27] (A tax on all goods entering a town. SR.) + +[28] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the mayor and +councils of Agde, April 21st; of M. de Perigord, April 19th, May +5th. + +[29] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letters of M. de Caraman, +March 23rd, 26th 27th 28th; of the seneschal Missiessy, March 24th; +of the mayor of Hyères, March 25th, etc.; ibid. H. 1274; of M. de +Montmayran, April 2nd; of M. de Caraman, March 18th , April 12th; of +the intendant, M. de la Tour, April 2nd; of the procureur-géneral, +M. d'Antheman, April 17th, and the report of June 15th; of the +municipal authorities of Toulon, April 11th; of the sub-delegate of +Manosque, March 14th; of M. de Saint-Tropez, March 21st. - Minutes +of the meeting, signed by 119 witnesses, of the insurrection at Aix, +March 5th, etc. + +[30] An uprising of the peasants. The term is used to indicate a +country mob in contradistinction to a city or town mob.-Tr. + +[31] "Archives Nationales," H.1274. Letter of M. de la Tour, April +2nd (with a detailed memorandum and depositions). + +[32] "Archives Nationales," H. 1274. Letter of M. de Caraman, +April 22nd: ---"One real benefit results from this misfortune. . . +The well-to-do class is brought to sustain that which exceeded the +strength of the poor daily laborers. We see the nobles and people +in good circumstances a little more attentive to the poor peasants: +they are now habituated to speaking to them with more gentleness." +M. de Caraman was wounded, as well as his Son, at Aix, and if the +Soldiery, who were stoned, at length fired on the crowd, he did not +give the order. -- Ibid, letter of M. d'Anthéman, April 17th; of M. +de Barentin, June 11th. + + + +CHAPTER II. PARIS UP TO THE 14TH OF JULY. + +I. + +Mob recruits in the vicinity.- Entry of vagabonds. - The number of +paupers. + +INDEED it is in the center that the convulsive shocks are strongest. +Nothing is lacking to aggravate the insurrection -- neither the +liveliest provocation to stimulate it, nor the most numerous bands +to carry it out. The environs of Paris all furnish recruits for it; +nowhere are there so many miserable wretches, so many of the +famished, and so many rebellious beings. Robberies of grain take +place everywhere -- at Orleans, at Cosne, at Rambouillet, at Jouy, +at Pont-Saint-Maxence, at Bray-sur-Seine, at Sens, at Nangis.[1] +Wheat flour is so scarce at Meudon, that every purchaser is ordered +to buy at the same time an equal quantity of barley. At Viroflay, +thirty women, with a rear-guard of men, stop on the main road +vehicles, which they suppose to be loaded with grain. At Montlhéry +stones and clubs disperse seven brigades of the police. An immense +throng of eight thousand persons, women and men, provided with bags, +fall upon the grain exposed for sale. They force the delivery to +them of wheat worth 40 francs at 24 francs, pillaging the half of it +and conveying it off without payment. "The constabulary is +disheartened," writes the sub-delegate; "the determination of the +people is wonderful; I am frightened at what I have seen and heard." +-- After the 13th of July, 1788, the day of the hail-storm, despair +seized the peasantry; well disposed as the proprietors may have +been, it was impossible to assist them. "Not a workshop is +open;[2] the noblemen and the bourgeois, obliged to grant delays in +the payment of their incomes, can give no work." Accordingly, "the +famished people are on the point of risking life for life," and, +publicly and boldly, they seek food wherever it can be found. At +Conflans-Saint-Honorine, Eragny, Neuville, Chenevières, at Cergy, +Pontoise, Ile-Adam, Presle, and Beaumont, men, women, and children, +the hole parish, range the country, set snares, and destroy the +burrows. "The rumor is current that the Government, informed of the +damage done by the game to cultivators, allows its destruction . . +. and really the hares ravaged about a fifth of the crop. At first +an arrest is made of nine of these poachers; but they are released, +"taking circumstances into account." Consequently, for two months, +there is a slaughter on the property of the Prince de Conti and of +the Ambassador Mercy d'Argenteau; in default of bread they eat +rabbits. -- Along with the abuse of property they are led, by a +natural impulse, to attack property itself. Near Saint-Denis the +woods belonging to the abbey are devastated. "The farmers of the +neighborhood carry away loads of wood, drawn by four and five +horses;" the inhabitants of the villages of Ville-Parisis, Tremblay, +Vert-Galant, Villepinte, sell it publicly, and threaten the wood- +rangers with a beating. On the 15th of June the damage is already +estimated at 60,000 livres. -- It makes little difference whether +the proprietor has been benevolent, like M. de Talaru,[3] who had +supported the poor on his estate at Issy the preceding winter. The +peasants destroy the dike which conducts water to his communal mill; +condemned by the parliament to restore it, they declare that not +only will they not obey. Should M. de Talaru try to rebuild it they +will return with three hundred armed men, and tear it away the +second time. + +For those who are most compromised Paris is the nearest refuge. For +the poorest and most exasperated, the door of nomadic life stands +wide open. Bands rise up around the capital, just as in countries +where human society has not yet been formed, or has ceased to exist. +During the first two weeks of May[4] near Villejuif a band of five +or six hundred vagabonds strive to force Bicêtre and approach Saint- +Cloud. They arrive from thirty, forty, and sixty leagues off, from +Champagne, from Lorraine, from the whole circuit of country +devastated by the hailstorm. All hover around Paris and are there +engulfed as in a sewer, the unfortunate along with criminals, some +to find work, others to beg and to rove about under the injurious +prompting of hunger and the rumors of the public thoroughfares. +During the last days of April,[5] the clerks at the tollhouses note +the entrance of "a frightful number of poorly clad men of sinister +aspect." During the first days of May a change in the appearance of +the crowd is remarked. There mingle in it "a number of foreigners, +from all countries, most of them in rags, armed with big sticks, and +whose very aspect announces what is to be feared from them." +Already, before this final influx, the public sink is full to +overflowing. Think of the extraordinary and rapid increase of +population in Paris, the multitude of artisans brought there by +recent demolition and constructions. Think of all the craftsmen +whom the stagnation of manufactures, the augmentation of octrois, +the rigor of winter, and the dearness of bread have reduced to +extreme distress. Remember that in 1786 "two hundred thousand +persons are counted whose property, all told, has not the intrinsic +worth of fifty crowns." Remember that, from time immemorial, these +have been at war with the city watchmen. Remember that in 1789 +there are twenty thousand poachers in the capital and that, to +provide them with work, it is found necessary to establish national +workshops. Remember "that twelve thousand are kept uselessly +occupied digging on the hill of Montmartre, and paid twenty sous per +day. Remember that the wharves and quays are covered with them, +that the Hôtel-de-Ville is invested by them, and that, around the +palace, they seem to be a reproach to the inactivity of disarmed +justice." Daily they grow bitter and excited around the doors of the +bakeries, where, kept waiting a long time, they are not sure of +obtaining bread. You can imagine the fury and the force with which +they will storm any obstacle to which their attention may be +directed. + + +II. The Press. + +Excitement of the press and of opinion. - The people make their +choice. + +Such an obstacle has been pointed out to them during the last two +years, it is the Ministry, the Court, the Government, in short the +entire ancient régime. Whoever protests against it in favor of the +people is sure to be followed as far, and perhaps even farther, than +he chooses to lead. -- The moment the Parliament of a large city +refuses to register fiscal edicts it finds a riot at its service. +On the 7th of June 1788, at Grenoble, tiles rain down on the heads +of the soldiery, and the military force is powerless. At Rennes, to +put down the rebellious city, an army and after this a permanent +camp of four regiments of infantry and two of cavalry, under the +command of a Marshal of France, is required.[6] - The following +year, when the Parliaments now side with the privileged class, the +disturbances again begin, but this time against the Parliaments. In +February 1789, at Besançon and at Aix, the magistrates are hooted +at, chased in the streets, besieged in the town hall, and obliged to +conceal themselves or take to flight. -- If such is the disposition +in the provincial capitals, what must it be in the capital of the +kingdom? For a start, in the month of August, 1788, after the +dismissal of Brienne and Lamoignon, the mob, collected on the Place +Dauphine, constitutes itself judge, burns both ministers in effigy, +disperses the watch, and resists the troops: no sedition, as bloody +as this, had been seen for a century. Two days later, the riot +bursts out a second time; the people are seized with a resolve to go +and burn the residences of the two ministers and that of Dubois, the +lieutenant of police. -- Clearly a new ferment has been infused +among the ignorant and brutal masses, and the new ideas are +producing their effect. They have for a long time imperceptibly +been filtering downwards from layer to layer After having gained +over the aristocracy, the whole of the lettered portion of the +Third-Estate, the lawyers, the schools, all the young, they have +insinuated themselves drop by drop and by a thousand fissures into +the class which supports itself by the labor of its own hands. +Noblemen, at their toilettes, have scoffed at Christianity, and +affirmed the rights of man before their valets, hairdressers, +purveyors, and all those that are in attendance upon them. Men of +letters, lawyers, and attorneys have repeated, in the bitterest +tone, the same diatribes and the same theories in the coffee-houses +and in the restaurants, on the promenades and in all public places. +They have spoken out before the lower class as if it were not +present, and, from all this eloquence poured out without precaution, +some bubbles besprinkle the brain of the artisan, the publican, the +messenger, the shopkeeper, and the soldier. + +Hence it is that a year suffices to convert mute discontent into +political passion. From the 5th of July 1787, on the invitation of +the King, who convokes the States-General and demands advice from +everybody, both speech and the press alter in tone.[7] Instead of +general conversation of a speculative turn there is preaching, with +a view to practical effect, sudden, radical, and close at hand, +preaching as shrill and thrilling as the blast of a trumpet. +Revolutionary pamphlets appear in quick succession: "Qu'est-ce que +le Tiers?" by Sieyès; "Mémoire pour le Peuple Français," by Cerutti; +"Considerations sur les Intérêts des Tiers-Etat," by Rabtau Saint- +Etienne; "Ma Pétition," by Target; "Les Droits des Etats-généraux," +by M. d'Entraigues, and, a little later, "La France libre," par +Camille Desmoulins, and others by hundreds and thousands.[8] All of +which are repeated and amplified in the electoral assemblies, where +new-made citizens come to declaim and increase their own +excitement.[9] The unanimous, universal and daily shout rolls along +from echo to echo, into barracks and into faubourgs, into markets, +workshops, and garrets. In the month of February, 1789, Necker +avows "that obedience is not to be found anywhere, and that even the +troops are not to be relied on." In the month of May, the +fisherwomen, and next the greengrocers, of the town market halls +come to recommend the interests of the people to the bodies of +electors, and to sing rhymes in honor of the Third-Estate. In the +month of June pamphlets are in all hands; "even lackeys are poring +over them at the gates of hotels." In the month of July, as the King +is signing an order, a patriotic valet becomes alarmed and reads it +over his shoulder. -- There is no illusion here; it is not merely +the bourgeoisie which ranges itself against the legal authorities +and against the established regime. It is the entire people as +well. The craftsmen, the shopkeepers and the domestics, workmen of +every kind and degree, the mob underneath the people, the vagabonds, +street rovers, and beggars, the whole multitude, which, bound down +by anxiety for its daily bread, had never lifted its eyes to look at +the great social order of which it is the lowest stratum, and the +whole weight of which it bears. + + III. + +The Réveillon affair. + +Suddenly the people stirs, and the superposed scaffolding totters. +It is the movement of a brute nature exasperated by want and +maddened by suspicion. -- Have paid hands, which are invisible +goaded it on from beneath? Contemporaries are convinced of this, and +it is probably the case.[10] But the uproar made around the +suffering brute would alone suffice to make it shy, and explain its +arousal. - On the 21st of April the Electoral Assemblies have +begun in Paris; there is one in each quarter, one for the clergy, +one for the nobles, and one for the Third-Estate. Every day, for +almost a month, files of electors are seen passing along the +streets. Those of the first degree continue to meet after having +nominated those of the second: the nation must needs watch its +mandatories and maintain its imprescriptible rights. If this +exercise of their rights has been delegated to them, they still +belong to the nation, and it reserves to itself the privilege of +interposing when it pleases. A pretension of this kind travels +fast; immediately after the Third-Estate of the Assemblies it +reaches the Third-Estate of the streets. Nothing is more natural +than the desire to lead one's leaders: the first time any +dissatisfaction occurs, they lay hands on those who halt and make +them march on as directed. On a Saturday, April 25th,[11] a rumor +is current that Réveillon, an elector and manufacturer of wall- +paper, Rue Saint-Antoine, and Lerat, a commissioner, have "spoken +badly" at the Electoral Assembly of Sainte-Marguerite. To speak +badly means to speak badly of the people. What has Réveillon said? +Nobody knows, but popular imagination with its terrible powers of +invention and precision, readily fabricates or welcomes a murderous +phrase. He said that "a working-man with a wife and children could +live on fifteen sous a day." Such a man is a traitor, and must be +disposed of at once; "all his belongings must be put to fire and +sword." The rumor, it must be noted, is false.[12] Réveillon pays +his poorest workman twenty-five sous a day, he provides work for +three hundred and fifty, and, in spite of a dull season the previous +winter, he kept all on at the same rate of wages. He himself was +once a workman, and obtained a medal for his inventions, and is +benevolent and respected by all respectable persons. -- All this +avails nothing; bands of vagabonds and foreigners, who have just +passed through the barriers, do not look so closely into matters, +while the Journeymen, the carters, the cobblers, the masons, the +braziers, and the stone-cutters whom they go to solicit in their +lodgings are just as ignorant as they are. When irritation has +accumulated, it breaks out haphazardly. + +Just at this time the clergy of Paris renounce their privileges in +way of imposts,[13] and the people, taking friends for adversaries, +add in their invectives the name of the clergy to that of Réveillon. +During the whole of the day, and also during the leisure of Sunday, +the fermentation increases; on Monday the 27th, another day of +idleness and drunkenness, the bands begin to move. Certain +witnesses encounter one of these in the Rue Saint-Sévérin, "armed +with clubs," and so numerous as to bar the passage. "Shops and +doors are closed on all sides, and the people cry out, 'There's the +revolt!'" The seditious crowd belch out curses and invectives +against the clergy, "and, catching sight of an abbé, shout +'Priest!'" Another band parades an effigy of Réveillon decorated +with the ribbon of the order of St. Michael, which undergoes the +parody of a sentence and is burnt on the Place de Grève, after which +they threaten his house. Driven back by the guard, they invade that +of a manufacturer of saltpeter, who is his friend, and burn and +smash his effects and furniture.[14] It is only towards midnight +that the crowd is dispersed and the insurrection is supposed to have +ended. On the following day it begins again with greater violence; +for, besides the ordinary stimulants of misery[15] and the craving +for license, they have a new stimulant in the idea of a cause to +defend, the conviction that they are fighting "for the Third- +Estate." In a cause like this each one should help himself; and all +should help each other. "We should be lost," one of them exclaimed, +"if we did not sustain each other." Strong in this belief, they sent +deputations three times into the Faubourg Saint-Marceau to obtain +recruits, and on their way, with uplifted clubs they enrol, +willingly or unwillingly, all they encounter. Others, at the gate +of Saint-Antoine, arrest people who are returning from the races, +demanding of them if they are for the nobles or for the Third- +Estate, and force women to descend from their vehicles and to cry +"Vive le Tiers-Etat "[16]. Meanwhile the crowd has increased +before Réveillon's dwelling; the thirty men on guard are unable to +resist; the house is invaded and sacked from top to bottom; the +furniture, provisions, clothing, registers, wagons, even the poultry +in the back-yard, all is cast into blazing bonfires lighted in three +different places; five hundred louis d'or, the ready money, and the +silver plate are stolen. Several roam through the cellars, drink +liquor or varnish at haphazard until they fall down dead drunk or +expire in convulsions. Against this howling horde, a corps of the +watch, mounted and on foot, is seen approaching;[17] also a hundred +cavalry of the "Royal Croats," the French Guards, and later on the +Swiss Guards. "Tiles and chimneys are rained down on the soldiers," +who fire back four files at a time. The rioters, drunk with brandy +and rage, defend themselves desperately for several hours; more than +two hundred are killed, and nearly three hundred are wounded; they +are only put down by cannon, while the mob keeps active until far +into the night. - Towards eight in the evening, in the rue +Vieille-du-Temple, the Paris Guard continue to make charges in order +to protect the doors which the miscreants try to force. Two doors +are forced at half-past eleven o'clock in the Rue Saintonge and in +the Rue de Bretagne, that of a pork-dealer and that of a baker. +Even to this last wave of the outbreak which is subsiding we can +distinguish the elements which have produced the insurrection, and +which are about to produce the Revolution. -- Starvation is one of +these: in the Rue de Bretagne the band robbing the baker's shop +carries bread off to the women staying at the corner of the Rue +Saintonge. -- Brigandage is another: in the middle of the night M. +du Châtelet's spies, gliding alongside of a ditch, "see a group of +ruffians" assembled beyond the Barrière du Trône, their leader, +mounted on a little knoll, urging them to begin again; and the +following days, on the highways, vagabonds are saying to each other, +"We can do no more at Paris, because they are too sharp on the look- +out; let us go to Lyons!" There are, finally, the patriots: on the +evening of the insurrection, between the Pont-au-Change and the +Pont-Marie, the half-naked ragamuffins, besmeared with dirt, bearing +along their hand-barrows, are fully alive to their cause; they beg +alms in a loud tone of voice, and stretch out their hats to the +passers, saying, "Take pity on this poor Third-Estate!" -- The +starving, the ruffians, and the patriots, all form one body, and +henceforth misery, crime, and public spirit unite to provide an +ever-ready insurrection for the agitators who desire to raise one. + + +IV. The Palais-Royal. + +But the agitators are already in permanent session. The Palais- +Royal is an open-air club where, all day and even far into the +night, one excites the other and urges on the crowd to blows. In +this enclosure, protected by the privileges of the House of Orleans, +the police dare not enter. Speech is free, and the public who avail +themselves of this freedom seem purposely chosen to abuse it. -- +The public and the place are adapted to each other.[18] The Palais- +Royal, the center of prostitution, of play, of idleness, and of +pamphlets, attracts the whole of that uprooted population which +floats about in a great city, and which, without occupation or home, +lives only for curiosity or for pleasure -- the frequenters of the +coffee-houses, the runners for gambling halls, adventurers, and +social outcasts, the runaway children or forlorn hopefuls of +literature, arts, and the bar, attorneys' clerks, students of the +institutions of higher learning, the curious, loungers, strangers, +and the occupants of furnished lodgings, these amounting, it is +said, to forty thousand in Paris. They fill the garden and the +galleries; "one would hardly find here one of what were called the +"Six Bodies,"[19] a bourgeois settled down and occupied with his own +affairs, a man whom business and family cares render serious and +influential. There is no place here for industrious and orderly +bees; it is the rendezvous of political and literary drones. They +flock into it from every quarter of Paris, and the tumultuous, +buzzing swarm covers the ground like an overturned hive. "Ten +thousand people," writes Arthur Young,[20] "have been all this day +in the Palais-Royal;" the press is so great that an apple thrown +from a balcony on the moving floor of heads would not reach the +ground. The condition of these heads may be imagined; they are +emptier of ballast than any in France, the most inflated with +speculative ideas, the most excitable and the most excited. In this +pell-mell of improvised politicians no one knows who is speaking; +nobody is responsible for what he says. Each is there as in the +theater, unknown among the unknown, requiring sensational +impressions and strong emotions, a prey to the contagion of the +passions around him, borne along in the whirl of sounding phrases, +of ready-made news, growing rumors, and other exaggerations by which +fanatics keep outdoing each other. There are shouting, tears, +applause, stamping and clapping, as at the performance of a tragedy; +one or another individual becomes so inflamed and hoarse that he +dies on the spot with fever and exhaustion. In vain has Arthur +Young been accustomed to the tumult of political liberty; he is +dumb-founded at what he sees.[21] According to him, the excitement +is "incredible. . . . We think sometimes that Debrett's or +Stockdale's shops at London are crowded; but they are mere deserts +compared to Desenne's and some others here, in which one can +scarcely squeeze from the door to the counter . . . .Every hour +produces its pamphlet; 13 came out to-day, 16 yesterday, and 92 last +week. 95% of these productions are in favor of liberty;" and by +liberty is meant the extinction of privileges, numerical +sovereignty, the application of the Contrat-Social, "The Republic", +and even more besides, a universal leveling, permanent anarchy, and +even the jacquerie. Camille Desmoulins, one of the orators, +commonly there, announces it and urges it in precise terms: + + "Now that the animal is in the trap, let him be battered to +death... Never will the victors have a richer prey. Forty thousand +palaces, mansions, and châteaux, two-fifth of the property of +France, will be the recompense of valor. Those who pretend to be +the conquerors will be conquered in turn. The nation shall be +purged." + + +Here, in advance, is the program of the Reign of Terror. + +Now all this is not only read, but declaimed, amplified, and turned +to practical account. In front of the coffee-houses "those who have +stentorian lungs relieve each other every evening."[22] "They get +up on a chair or a table, they read the strongest articles on +current affairs, . .. . the eagerness with which they are heard, +and the thunder of applause they receive for every sentiment of more +than common hardiness or violence against the present Government, +cannot easily be imagined." "Three days ago a child of four years, +well taught and intelligent, was promenaded around the garden, in +broad daylight, at least twenty times, borne on the shoulders of a +street porter, crying out, 'Verdict of the French people: Polignac +exiled one hundred leagues from Paris; Condé the same; Conti the +same; Artois the same; the Queen, -- I dare not write it.'" A hall +made of boards in the middle of the Palais-Royal is always full, +especially of young men, who carry on their deliberations in +parliamentary fashion : in the evening the president invites the +spectators to come forward and sign motions passed during the day, +and of which the originals are placed in the Café Foy.[23] They +count on their fingers the enemies of the country; "and first two +Royal Highnesses (Monsieur and the Count d'Artois), three Most +Serene Highnesses (the Prince de Condé, Duc de Bourbon, and the +Prince de Conti), one favorite (Madame de Polignac), MM. de +Vandreuil, de la Trémoille, du Châtelet, de Villedeuil, de Barentin, +de la Galaisière, Vidaud de la Tour, Berthier, Foulon, and also M. +Linguet." Placards are posted demanding the pillory on the Pont-Neuf +for the Abbeé Maury. One speaker proposes "to burn the house of M. +d'Espréménil, his wife, children and furniture, and himself: this is +passed unanimously." -- No opposition is tolerated. One of those +present having manifested some horror at such sanguinary motions, +"is seized by the collar, obliged to kneel down, to make an apology, +and to kiss the ground. The punishment inflicted on children is +given to him; he is ducked repeatedly in one of the fountain-basins, +after which they him over to the mob, who roll him in the mud." On +the following day an ecclesiastic is trodden under foot, and flung +from hand to hand. A few days after, on the 22nd of June, there are +two similar events. The sovereign mob exercises all the functions +of sovereign authority, with those of the legislator those of the +judge, and those of the judge with those of the executioner. -- Its +idols are sacred; if any one fails to show them respect he is guilty +of lése-majesté, and at once punished. In the first week of July, +an abbé who speaks ill of Necker is flogged; a woman who insults the +bust of Necker is stripped by the fishwomen, and beaten until she is +covered with blood. War is declared against suspicious uniforms. +"On the appearance of a hussar," writes Desmoulins, "they shout, +'There goes Punch!' and the stone-cutters fling stones at him. Last +night two officers of the hussars, MM. de Sombreuil and de Polignac, +came to the Palais-Royal. . . chairs were flung at them, and they +would have been knocked down if they had not run away. The day +before yesterday they seized a spy of the police and gave him a +ducking in the fountain. They ran him down like a stag, hustled +him, pelted him with stones, struck him with canes, forced one of +his eyes out of its socket, and finally, in spite of his entreaties +and cries for mercy, plunged him a second time in the fountain. His +torments lasted from noon until half-past five o'clock, and he had +about ten thousand executioners." -- Consider the effect of such a +focal center at a time like this. A new power has sprung up +alongside the legal powers, a legislature of the highways and public +squares, anonymous, irresponsible, without restraint. It is driven +onward by coffeehouse theories, by strong emotions and the vehemence +of mountebanks, while the bare arms which have just accomplished the +work of destruction in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, form its +bodyguard and ministerial cabinet. + + V. + +Popular mobs become a political force. - Pressure on the Assembly. - +Defection of the soldiery. + +This is the dictatorship of a mob, and its proceedings, conforming +to its nature, consist in acts of violence, wherever it finds +resistance, it strikes. -- The people of Versailles, in the streets +and at the doors of the Assembly, daily "come and insult those whom +they call aristocrats."[24] On Monday, June 22nd, "d'Espréménil +barely escapes being knocked down; the Abbé Maury. . . owes his +escape to the strength of a curé, who takes him up in his arms and +tosses him into the carriage of the Archbishop of Arles." On the +23rd, "the Archbishop of Paris and the Keeper of the Seals are +hooted, railed at, scoffed at, and derided, until they almost sink +with shame and rage." So formidable is the tempest of rage with +which they are greeted, that Passeret, the King's secretary, who +accompanies the minister, dies of the excitement that very day. On +the 24th, the Bishop of Beauvais is almost knocked down by a stone +striking him on the head. On the 25th, the Archbishop of Paris is +saved only by the speed of his horses, the multitude pursuing him +and pelting him with stones. His mansion is besieged, the windows +are all shattered, and, notwithstanding the intervention of the +French Guards, the peril is so great that he is obliged to promise +that he will join the deputies of the Third-Estate. This is the way +in which the rude hand of the people effects a reunion of the +Orders. It bears as heavily on its own representatives as on its +adversaries. "Although our hall was closed to the public," says +Bailly, "there were always more than six hundred spectators."[25] +These were not respectful and silent, but active and noisy, mingling +with the deputies, raising their hands to vote in all cases, taking +part in the deliberations, by their applause and hisses: a +collateral Assembly which often imposes its own will on the other. +They take note of and put down the names of their opponents, +transmit them to the chair-bearers in attendance at the entrance of +the hall, and from them to the mob waiting for the departure of the +deputies, these names are from now considered as the names of public +enemies.[26] Lists are made out and printed, and, at the Palais- +Royal in the evening, they become the lists of the proscribed. -- +It is under this brutal pressure that many decrees are passed, and, +amongst them, that by which the commons declare themselves the +National Assembly and assume supreme power. The night before, +Malouet had proposed to ascertain, by a preliminary vote, on which +side the majority was. In an instant all those against had gathered +around him to the number of three hundred. "Upon which a mans +springs out from the galleries, falls upon him and takes him by the +collar exclaiming, 'Hold your tongue, you false citizen!' " Malouet +is released and the guard comes forward, "but terror has spread +through the hall, threats are uttered against opponents, and the +next day we were only ninety." Moreover, the lists of their names +had been circulated; some of them, deputies from Paris, went to see +Bailly that very evening. One amongst them, "a very honest man and +good patriot," had been told that his house was to be set on fire. +Now his wife had just given birth to a child, and the slightest +tumult before the house would have been fatal. Such arguments are +decisive. Consequently, three days afterwards, at the Tennis-court, +but one deputy, Martin d'Auch, dares to write the word "opposing" +after his name. Insulted by many of colleagues, "at once denounced +to the people who had collected at the entrance of the building, he +is obliged to escape by a side door to avoid being cut to pieces," +and, for several days, to keep away from the meetings.[27] - Owing +to this intervention of the galleries the radical minority, +numbering about thirty,[28] lead the majority, and they do not allow +them to free themselves. -- On the 28th of May, Malouet, having +demanded a secret session to discuss the conciliatory measures which +the King had proposed, the galleries hoot at him, and a deputy, M. +Bourche, addresses him in very plain terms. "You must know, sir, +that we are deliberating here in the presence of our masters, and +that we must account to them for our opinions." This is the doctrine +of the Contrat-Social. Through timidity, fear of the Court and of +the privileged class, through optimism and faith in human nature, +through enthusiasm and the necessity of adhering to previous +actions, the deputies, who are novices, provincial, and given up to +theories, neither dare nor know how to escape from the tyranny of +the prevailing dogma. -- Henceforth it becomes the law. All the +Assemblies, the Constituent, the Legislative, the Convention,[29] +submit to it entirely. The public in the galleries is the admitted +representatives of the people, under the same title, and even under +a higher title, than the deputies. Now, this public is that of the +Palais-Royal, consisting of strangers, idlers, lovers of novelties, +Paris romancers, leaders of the coffee-houses, the future pillars of +the clubs, in short, the wild enthusiasts among the middle-class, +just as the crowd which threatens doors and throws stones is +recruited from among the wild enthusiasts of the lowest class. Thus +by an involuntary selection, the faction which constitutes itself a +public power is composed of nothing but violent minds and violent +hands. Spontaneously and without previous concert dangerous +fanatics are joined with dangerous brutes, and in the increasing +discord between the legal authorities this is the illegal league +which is certain to overthrow all. + +When a commanding general sits in council with his staff-officers +and his counselors, and discusses the plan of a campaign, the chief +public interest is that discipline should remain intact, and that +intruders, soldiers, or menials, should not throw the weight of +their turbulence and thoughtlessness into the scales which have to +be cautiously and firmly held by their chiefs. This was the express +demand of the Government;[30] but the demand was not regarded; and +against the persistent usurpation of the multitude nothing is left +to it but the employment of force. But force itself is slipping +from its hands, while growing disobedience, like a contagion, after +having gained the people is spreading among the troops. - From the +23rd of June,[31] two companies of the French Guards refused to do +duty. Confined to their barracks, they on the 27th break out, and +henceforth "they are seen every evening entering the Palais-Royal, +marching in double file." They know the place well; it is the +general rendezvous of the abandoned women whose lovers and parasites +they are.[32] "The patriots all gather around them, treat them to +ice cream and wine, and debauch them in the face of their officers." +-- To this, moreover, must be added the fact that their colonel, M. +du Châtelet, has long been odious to them, that he has fatigued them +with forced drills, worried them and diminished the number of their +sergeants; that he suppressed the school for the education of the +children of their musicians; that he uses the stick in punishing the +men, and picks quarrels with them about their appearance, their +board, and their clothing. This regiment is lost to discipline: a +secret society has been formed in it, and the soldiers have pledged +themselves to their ensigns not to act against the National +Assembly. Thus the confederation between them and the Palais-Royal +is established. -- On the 30th of June, eleven of their leaders, +taken off to the Abbaye, write to claim their assistance. A young +man mounts a chair in front of the Café Foy and reads their letter +aloud; a band sets out on the instant, forces the gate with a +sledge-hammer and iron bars, brings back the prisoners in triumph, +gives them a feast in the garden and mounts guard around them to +prevent their being re-taken. -- When disorders of this kind go +unpunished, order cannot be maintained; in fact, on the morning of +the 14th of July, five out of six battalions had deserted. -- As to +the other corps, they are no better and are also seduced. +"Yesterday," Desmoulins writes, "the artillery regiment followed the +example of the French Guards, overpowering the sentinels and coming +over to mingle with the patriots in the Palais-Royal . . .. We +see nothing but the rabble attaching themselves to soldiers whom +they chance to encounter. 'Allons, Vive le Tiers-Etat!' and they +lead them off to a tavern to drink the health of the Commons." +Dragoons tell the officers who are marching them to Versailles: "We +obey you, but you may tell the ministers on our arrival that if we +are ordered to use the least violence against our fellow-citizens, +the first shot shall be for you." At the Invalides twenty men, +ordered to remove the cocks and ramrods from the guns stored in a +threatened arsenal, devote six hours to rendering twenty guns +useless; their object is to keep them intact for plunder and for the +arming of the people. + +In short, the largest portion of the army has deserted. However +kind a superior officer might be, the fact of his being a superior +officer secures for him the treatment of an enemy. The governor, +"M. de Sombreuil, against whom these people could utter no +reproach," will soon see his artillerists point their guns at his +apartment, and will just escape being hung on the iron-railings by +their own hands. Thus the force which is brought forward to +suppress insurrection only serves to furnish it with recruits. And +even worse, for the display of arms that was relied on to restrain +the mob, furnished the instigation to rebellion. + + VI. + +July 13th and 14th 1789. + +The fatal moment has arrived; it is no longer a government which +falls that it may give way to another; it is all government which +ceases to exist in order to make way for an intermittent despotism, +for factions blindly impelled on by enthusiasm, credulity, misery, +and fear.[33] Like a tame elephant suddenly become wild again, the +mob throws off it ordinary driver, and the new guides who it +tolerates perched on its neck are there simply for show. In future +it will move along as it pleases, freed from control, and abandoned +to its own feelings, instincts, and appetites. -- Apparently, there +was no desire to do more than anticipate its aberrations. The King +has forbidden all violence; the commanders order the troops not to +fire;[34] but the excited and wild animal takes all precautions for +insults; in future, it intends to be its own conductor, and, to +begin, it treads its guides under foot. -- On the 12th of July, +near noon,[35] on the news of the dismissal of Necker, a cry of rage +arises in the Palais-Royal; Camille Desmoulins, mounted on a table, +announces that the Court meditates "a St. Bartholomew of patriots." +The crowd embrace him, adopt the green cockade which he has +proposed, and oblige the dancing-saloons and theaters to close in +sign of mourning: they hurry off to the residence of Curtius, and +take the busts of the Duke of Orleans and of Necker and carry them +about in triumph. -- Meanwhile, the dragoons of the Prince de +Lambesc, drawn up on the Place Louis-Quinze, find a barricade of +chairs at the entrance of the Tuileries, and are greeted with a +shower of stones and bottles.[36] Elsewhere, on the Boulevard, +before the Hôtel Montmorency, some of the French Guards, escaped +from their barracks, fired on a loyal detachment of the "Royal +Allemand." - The alarm bell is sounding on all sides, the shops +where arms are sold are pillaged, and the Hôtel-de-Ville is invaded; +fifteen or sixteen well-disposed electors, who meet there, order the +districts to be assembled and armed. -- The new sovereign, the +people in arms and in the street, has declared himself. + +The dregs of society at once come to the surface. During the night +between the 12th and 13th of July,[37] "all the barriers, from the +Faubourg Saint-Antoine to the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, besides those +of the Faubourgs Saint-Marcel and Saint-Jacques, are forced and set +on fire." There is no longer an octroi; the city is without a +revenue just at the moment when it is obliged to make the heaviest +expenditures; but this is of no consequence to the mob, which, above +all things, wants to have cheap wine. "Ruffians, armed with pikes +and sticks, proceed in several parties to give up to pillage the +houses of those who are regarded as enemies to the public welfare." +"They go from door to door crying, 'Arms and bread!' During this +fearful night, the bourgeoisie kept themselves shut up, each +trembling at home for himself and those belonging to him." On the +following day, the 13th, the capital appears to be given up to +bandits and the lowest of the low. One of the bands hews down the +gate of the Lazarists, destroys the library and clothes-presses, the +pictures, the windows and laboratory, and rushes to the cellars; +where it staves in the casks and gets drunk: twenty-four hours after +this, about thirty of them are found dead and dying, drowned in +wine, men and women, one of these being at the point of childbirth. +In front of the house[38] the street is full of the wreckage, and of +ruffians who hold in their hands, " some, eatables, others a jug, +forcing the passers-by to drink, and pouring out wine to all comers. +Wine runs down into the gutter, and the scent of it fills the air;" +it is a drinking bout: meanwhile they carry away the grain and flour +which the monks kept on hand according to law, fifty-two loads of it +being taken to the market. Another troop comes to La Force, to +deliver those imprisoned for debt; a third breaks into the Garde +Meuble, carrying away valuable arms and armour. Mobs assemble +before the hotel of Madame de Breteuil and the Palais-Bourbon, which +they intend to ransack, in order to punish their proprietors. M. de +Crosne, one of the most liberal and most respected men of Paris, +but, unfortunately for himself a lieutenant of the police, is +pursued, escaping with difficulty, and his hotel is sacked. -- +During the night between the 13th and 14th of May, the baker's shops +and the wine shops are pillaged; "men of the vilest class, armed +with guns, pikes, and turnspits, make people open their doors and +give them something to eat and drink, as well as money and arms." +Vagrants, ragged men, several of them "almost naked," and "most of +them armed like savages, and of hideous appearance;" they are " such +as one does not remember to have seen in broad daylight;" many of +them are strangers, come from nobody knows where.[39] It is stated +that there were 50,000 of them, and that they had taken possession +of the principal guard-houses. + +During these two days and nights, says Bailly, "Paris ran the risk +of being pillaged, and was only saved from the marauders by the +National Guard." Already, in the open street,[40] "these creatures +tore off women's shoes and earrings," and the robbers were beginning +to have full sway. -- Fortunately the militia organized itself and +the principal inhabitants and gentlemen enrolled themselves; 48,000 +men are formed into battalions and companies; the bourgeoisie buy +guns of the vagabonds for three livres apiece, and sabers or pistols +for twelve sous. At last, some of the offenders are hung on the +spot, and others disarmed, and the insurrection again becomes +political. But, whatever its object, it remains always wild, +because it is in the hands of the mob. Dusaulx, its panegyrist, +confesses[41] that "he thought he was witnessing the total +dissolution of society." There is no leader, no management. The +electors who have converted themselves into the representatives of +Paris seem to command the crowd, but it is the crowd which commands +them. One of them, Legrand, to save the Hôtel-de-Ville, has no +other resource but to send for six barrels of gun-powder, and to +declare to the assailants that he is about to blow everything into +the air. The commandant whom they themselves have chosen, M. de +Salles, has twenty bayonets at his breast during a quarter of an +hour, and, more than once, the whole committee is near being +massacred. Let the reader imagine, on the premises where the +discussions are going on, and petitions are being made, "a concourse +of fifteen hundred men pressed by a hundred thousand others who are +forcing an entrance," the wainscoting cracking, the benches upset +one over another, the enclosure of the bureau pushed back against +the president's chair, a tumult such as to bring to mind 'the day of +judgment," the death-shrieks, songs, yells, and "people beside +themselves, for the most part not knowing where they are nor what +they want." -- Each district is also a petty center, while the +Palais-Royal is the main center. Propositions, " accusations, and +deputations travel to and fro from one to the other, along with the +human torrent which is obstructed or rushes ahead with no other +guide than its own inclination and the chances of the way. One wave +gathers here and another there, their strategy consisting in pushing +and in being pushed. Yet, their entrance is effected only because +they are let in. If they get into the Invalides it is owing to the +connivance of the soldiers. -- At the Bastille, firearms are +discharged from ten in the morning to five in the evening against +walls forty feet high and thirty feet thick, and it is by chance +that one of their shots reaches an invalid on the towers. They are +treated the same as children whom one wishes to hurt as little as +possible. The governor, on the first summons to surrender, orders +the cannon to be withdrawn from the embrasures; he makes the +garrison swear not to fire if it is not attacked; he invites the +first of the deputations to lunch; he allows the messenger +dispatched from the Hôtel-de-Ville to inspect the fortress; he +receives several discharges without returning them, and lets the +first bridge be carried without firing a shot.[42] When, at length, +he does fire, it is at the last extremity, to defend the second +bridge, and after having notified the assailants that he is going to +do so. In short, his forbearance and patience are excessive, in +conformity with the humanity of the times. The people, in turn, are +infatuated with the novel sensations of attack and resistance, with +the smell of gunpowder, with the excitement of the contest; all they +can think of doing is to rush against the mass of stone, their +expedients being on a level with their tactics. A brewer fancies +that he can set fire to this block of masonry by pumping over it +spikenard and poppy-seed oil mixed with phosphorus. A young +carpenter, who has some archaeological notions, proposes to +construct a catapult. Some of them think that they have seized the +governor's daughter, and want to burn her in order to make the +father surrender. Others set fire to a projecting mass of buildings +filled with straw, and thus close up the passage. "The Bastille was +not taken by main force," says the brave Elie, one of the +combatants; "it surrendered before even it was attacked,"[43] by +capitulation, on the promise that no harm should be done to anybody. +The garrison, being perfectly secure, had no longer the heart to +fire on human beings while themselves risking nothing,[44] and, on +the other hand, they were unnerved by the sight of the immense +crowd. Eight or nine hundred men only[45] were concerned in the +attack, most of them workmen or shopkeepers belonging to the +faubourg, tailors, wheelwrights, mercers and wine-dealers, mixed +with the French Guards. The Place de la Bastille, however, and all +the streets in the vicinity, were crowded with the curious who came +to witness the sight; "among them," says a witness,[46] "were a +number of fashionable women of very good appearance, who had left +their carriages at some distance." To the hundred and twenty men of +the garrison looking down from their parapets it seemed as though +all Paris had come out against them. It is they, also, who lower +the drawbridge an introduce the enemy: everybody has lost his head, +the besieged as well as the besiegers, the latter more completely +because they are intoxicated with the sense of victory. Scarcely +have they entered when they begin the work of destruction, and the +latest arrivals shoot at random those that come earlier; "each one +fires without heeding where or on whom his shot tells." Sudden +omnipotence and the liberty to kill are a wine too strong for human +nature; giddiness is the result; men see red, and their frenzy ends +in ferocity. + +For the peculiarity of a popular insurrection is that nobody obeys +anybody; the bad passions are free as well as the generous ones; +heroes are unable to restrain assassins. Elie, who is the first to +enter the fortress, Cholat, Hulin, the brave fellows who are in +advance, the French Guards who are cognizant of the laws of war, try +to keep their word of honor; but the crowd pressing on behind them +know not whom to strike, and they strike at random. They spare the +Swiss soldiers who have fired at them, and who, in their blue +smocks, seem to them to be prisoners; on the other hand, by way of +compensation, they fall furiously on the invalides who opened the +gates to them; the man who prevented the governor from blowing up +the fortress has his wrist severed by the blow of a saber, is twice +pierced with a sword and is hung, and the hand which had saved one +of the districts of Paris is promenaded through the streets in +triumph. The officers are dragged along and five of them are +killed, with three soldiers, on the spot, or on the way. During the +long hours of firing, the murderous instinct has become aroused, and +the wish to kill, changed into a fixed idea, spreads afar among the +crowd which has hitherto remained inactive. It is convinced by its +own clamor; a hue and cry is all that it now needs; the moment one +strikes, all want to strike. "Those who had no arms," says an +officer, "threw stones at me;[47] the women ground their teeth and +shook their fists at me. Two of my men had already been +assassinated behind me. I finally got to within some hundreds of +paces of the Hôtel-de-Ville, amidst a general cry that I should be +hung, when a head, stuck on a pike, was presented to me to look at, +while at. the same moment I was told that it was that of M. de +Launay," the governor. - The latter, on going out, had received +the cut of a sword on his right shoulder; n reaching the Rue Saint- +Antoine "everybody pulled his hair out and struck him." Under the +arcade of Saint-Jean he was already "severely wounded." Around him, +some said, "his head ought to be struck off;" others, "let him be +hung;" and others, "he ought to be tied to a horse's tail." Then, in +despair, and wishing to put an end to his torments, he cried out, +"Kill me," and, in struggling, kicked one of the men who held him in +the lower abdomen. On the instant he is pierced with bayonets, +dragged in the gutter, and, striking his corpse, they exclaim, "He's +a scurvy wretch (galeux) and a monster who has betrayed us; the +nation demands his head to exhibit to the public," and the man who +was kicked is asked to cut it off. -- This man, an unemployed +cook, a simpleton who "went to the Bastille to see what was going +on," thinks that as it is the general opinion, the act is patriotic, +and even believes that he "deserves a medal for destroying a +monster." Taking a saber which is lent to him, he strikes the bare +neck, but the dull saber not doing its work, he takes a small black- +handled knife from his pocket, and, "as in his capacity of cook he +knows how to cut meat," he finishes the operation successfully. +Then, placing the head on the end of a three-pronged pitchfork, and +accompanied by over two hundred armed men, "not counting the mob," +he marches along, and, in the Rue Saint-Honoré, he has two +inscriptions attached to the head, to indicate without mistake whose +head it is. -- They grow merry over it: after filing alongside of +the Palais-Royal, the procession arrives at the Pont-Neuf, where, +before the statue of Henry IV., they bow the head three times, +saying, "Salute thy master ! " -- This is the last joke: it is to be +found in every triumph, and inside the butcher, we find the rogue. + + +VII. + +Murders of Foulon and Berthier. + +Meanwhile, at the Palais-Royal, other buffoons, who with the levity +of gossips sport with lives as freely as with words, have drawn u. +During the night between the 13th and 14th of July, a list of +proscriptions, copies of which are hawked about. Care is taken to +address one of them to each of the persons designated, the Comte +d'Artois, Marshal de Broglie, the Prince de Lambesc, Baron de +Bezenval, MM. de Breteuil, Foulon, Berthier, Maury, d'Espréménil, +Lefèvre d'Amécourt, and others besides.[48] A reward is promised to +whoever will bring their heads to the Café de Caveau. Here are +names for the unchained multitude; all that now is necessary is that +some band should encounter a man who is denounced; he will go as far +as the lamppost at the street corner, but not beyond it. - +Throughout the day of the 14th, this improvised tribunal holds a +permanent session, and follows up its decisions with its actions. +M. de Flesselles, provost of the merchants and president of the +electors at the Hôtel-de-Ville, having shown himself somewhat +lukewarm,[49] the Palais-Royal declares him a traitor and sends him +off to be hung. On the way a young man fells him with a pistol- +shot, others fall upon his body, while his head, borne upon a pike, +goes to join that of M. de Launay. -- Equally deadly accusations +and of equally speedy execution float in the air and from every +direction. "On the slightest pretext," says an elector, "they +denounced to us those whom they thought opposed to the Revolution, +which already signified the same as enemies of the State. Without +any investigation, there was only talk of the seizure of their +persons, the ruin of their homes, and the razing of their houses. +One young man exclaimed: 'Follow me at once, let us start off at +once to Bezenval's!'" -- Their brains are so frightened, and their +minds so distrustful, that at every step in the streets "one's name +has to be given, one's profession declared, one's residence, and +one's intentions . . .. One can neither enter nor leave Paris +without being suspected of treason." The Prince de Montbarrey, +advocate of the new ideas, and his wife, are stopped in their +carriage at the barrier, and are on the point of being cut to +pieces. A deputy of the nobles, on his way to the National +Assembly, is seized in his cab and conducted to the Place de Grève; +the corpse of M. de Launay is shown to him, and he is told that he +is to be treated in the same fashion. - Every life hangs by a +thread, and, on the following days, when the King had sent away his +troops, dismissed his Ministers, recalled Necker, and granted +everything, the danger remains just as great. The multitude, +abandoned to the revolutionaries and to itself, continues the same +bloody antics, while the municipal chiefs[50] whom it has elected, +Bailly, Mayor of Paris, and Lafayette, commandant of the National +Guard, are obliged to use cunning, to implore, to throw themselves +between the multitude and the unfortunates whom they wish to +destroy. + +On the 15th of July, in the night, a woman disguised as a man is +arrested in the court of the Hôtel-de-Ville, and so maltreated that +she faints away; Bailly, in order to save her, is obliged to feign +anger against her and have her sent immediately to prison. From the +14th to the 22nd of July, Lafayette, at the risk of his life, saves +with his own hand seventeen persons in different quarters.[51] -- On +the 22nd of July, upon the denunciations which multiply around Paris +like trains of gunpowder, two administrators of high rank, M. +Foulon, Councillor of State, and M. Berthier, his son-in-law, are +arrested, one near Fontainebleau, and the other near Compiègne. M. +Foulon, a strict master,[52] but intelligent and useful, expended +sixty thousand francs the previous winter on his estate in giving +employment to the poor. M. Berthier, an industrious and capable +man, had officially surveyed and valued Ile-de-France, to equalize +the taxes, and had reduced the overcharged quotas first one-eighth +and then a quarter. But both of these gentlemen have arranged the +details of the camp against which Paris has risen; both are publicly +proscribed for eight days previously by the Palais-Royal, and, with +a people frightened by disorder, exasperated by hunger, and +stupefied by suspicion, an accused person is a guilty one. -- With +regard to Foulon, as with Réveillon, a story is made up, coined in +the same mint, a sort of currency for popular circulation, and which +the people itself manufactures by casting into one tragic expression +the sum of its sufferings and rankling memories:[53] "He said that +we were worth no more than his horses; and that if we had no bread +we had only to eat grass." -- The old man of seventy-four is brought +to Paris, with a truss of hay on his head, a collar of thistles +around his neck, and his mouth stuffed with hay. In vain does the +electoral bureau order his imprisonment that he may be saved; the +crowd yells out: "Sentenced and hung!" and, authoritatively, +appoints the judges. In vain does Lafayette insist and entreat +three times that the judgment be regularly rendered, and that the +accused be sent to the Abbaye. A new wave of people comes up, and +one man, "well dressed," cries out: "What is the need of a sentence +for a man who has been condemned for thirty years?" Foulon is +carried off; dragged across the square, and hung to the lamp post. +The cord breaks twice, and twice he falls upon the pavement. Re- +hung with a fresh cord and then cut down, his head is severed from +his body and placed on the end of a pike.[54] Meanwhile, Berthier, +sent away from Compiègne by the municipality, afraid to keep him in +his prison where he was constantly menaced, arrives in a cabriolet +under escort. The people carry placards around him filled with +opprobrious epithets; in changing horses they threw hard black bread +into the carriage, exclaiming, "There, wretch, see the bread you +made us eat!" On reaching the church of Saint-Merry, a fearful storm +of insults burst forth against him. He is called a monopolist, +"although he had never bought or sold a grain of wheat." In the eyes +of the multitude, who has to explain the evil as caused by some +evil-doer, he is the author of the famine. Conducted to the Abbaye, +his escort is dispersed and he is pushed over to the lamp post. +Then, seeing that all is lost, he snatches a gun from one of his +murderers and bravely defends himself. A soldier of the "Royal +Croats" gives him a cut with his saber across the stomach, and +another tears out his heart. As the cook, who had cut off the head +of M. de Launay, happens to be on the spot, they hand him the heart +to carry while the soldiers take the head, and both go to the Hôtel- +de-Ville to show their trophies to M. de Lafayette. On their return +to the Palais-Royal, and while they are seated at table in a tavern, +the people demand these two remains. They throw them out of the +window and finish their supper, whilst the heart is marched about +below in a bouquet of white carnations. -- Such are the spectacles +which this garden presents where, a year before, "good society in +full dress" came on leaving the Opera to chat, often until two +o'clock in the morning, under the mild light of the moon, listening +now to the violin of Saint-Georges, and now to the charming voice of +Garat. + + +VIII. + +Paris in the hands of the people. + +Henceforth it is clear that no one is safe: neither the new militia +nor the new authorities suffice to enforce respect for the law. +"They did not dare," says Bailly,[55] "oppose the people who, eight +days before this, had taken the Bastille." -- In vain, after the +last two murders, do Bailly and Lafayette indignantly threaten to +withdraw; they are forced to remain; their protection, such as it +is, is all that is left, and, if the National Guard is unable to +prevent every murder, it prevents some of them. People live as they +can under the constant expectation of fresh popular violence. "To +every impartial man," says Malouet, "the Terror dates from the 14th +of July". - On the 17th, before setting out for Paris, the King +attends communion and makes his will in anticipation of +assassination. From the 16th to the 18th, twenty personages of high +rank, among others most of those on whose heads a price is set by +the Palais-Royal, leave France: The Count d'Artois, Marshal de +Broglie, the Princes de Condé, de Conti, de Lambesc, de Vaudemont, +the Countess de Polignac, and the Duchesses de Polignac and de +Guiche. -- The day following the two murders, M. de Crosne, M. +Doumer, M. Sureau, the most zealous and most valuable members of the +committee on subsistence, all those appointed to make purchases and +to take care of the storehouses, conceal themselves or fly. On the +eve of the two murders, the notaries of Paris, being menaced with a +riot, had to advance 45,000 francs which were promised to the +workmen of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine; while the public treasury, +almost empty, is drained of 30,000 livres per day to diminish the +cost of bread. -- Persons and possessions, great and small, private +individuals and public functionaries, the Government itself, all is +in the hands of the mob. "From this moment," says a deputy,[56] +"liberty did not exist even in the National Assembly . . . France +stood dumb before thirty factious persons. The Assembly became in +their hands a passive instrument, which they forced to serve them in +the execution of their projects." -- They themselves do not lead, +although they seem to lead. The great brute, which has taken the +bit in its mouth, holds on to it, and it's plunging becomes more +violent. Not only do both spurs which maddened it, I mean the +desire for innovation and the daily scarcity of food, continue to +prick it on. But also the political hornets which, increasing by +thousands, buzz around its ears. And the license in which it revels +for the first time, joined to the applause lavished upon it, urges +it forward more violently each day. The insurrection is glorified. +Not one of the assassins is sought out. It is against the +conspiracy of Ministers that the Assembly institutes an inquiry. +Rewards are bestowed upon the conquerors of the Bastille; it is +declared that they have saved France. All honors are awarded to the +people-to their good sense, their magnanimity, and their justice. +Adoration is paid to this new sovereign: he is publicly and +officially told, in the Assembly and by the press, that he possesses +every virtue, all rights and all powers. If he spills blood it is +inadvertently, on provocation, and always with an infallible +instinct. Moreover, says a deputy, "this blood, was it so pure?" +The greater number of people prefers the theories of their books to +the experience of their eyes; they persist in the idyll, which they +have fashioned for themselves. At the worst their dream, driven out +from the present, takes refuge in the future. To-morrow, when the +Constitution is complete, the people, made happy, will again become +wise: let us endure the storm, which leads us on to so noble a +harbor. + +Meanwhile, beyond the King, inert and disarmed, beyond the Assembly, +disobeyed or submissive, appears the real monarch, the people - that +is to say, a crowd of a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand +individuals gathered together at random, on an impulse, on an alarm, +suddenly and irresistibly made legislators, judges, and +executioners. A formidable power, undefined and destructive, on +which no one has any hold, and which, with its mother, howling and +misshapen Liberty, sits at the threshold of the Revolution like +Milton's two specters at the gates of Hell. + +. . Before the gates there sat +On either side a formidable shape; +The one seem'd woman to the waist, and fair, +but ended foul in many a scaly fold +Voluminous and vast, a serpent arm'd +With mortal sting: about her middle round +A cry of hell hounds never ceasing bark'd +With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung +A hideous peal: yet, when they list, would creep, +If aught disturb'd their noise, into her womb, +And kennel there; yet there still bark'd and howl'd +Within unseen . . . + ........the other shape, +If shape it might be call'd, that shape had none +Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb, +Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd +For each seem'd either: black it stood as night, +Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, +And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head +The likeness of a kingly crown had on. + * * * * * * +The monster moving onward came as fast, +With horrid strides; hell trembled as he strode. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + + +[1] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of M. Miron, lieutenant +de police, April 26th; of M. Joly de Fleury, procureur-général, May +29th; of MM. Marchais and Berthier, April 18th and 27th, March 23rd, +April 5th, May 5th. - Arthur Young, June 10th and 29th. "Archives +Nationales," H. 1453 Letter of the sub-delegate of Montlhéry, April +14th. + +[2] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the sub-delegate +Gobert, March 17th; of the officers of police, June 15th : -- " On +the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th of March the inhabitants of Conflans +generally rebelled against the game law in relation to the rabbit." + +[3] Montjoie, 2nd part, ch. XXI. p.14 (the first week in June). +Montjoie is a party man; but he gives dates and details, and his +testimony, when it is confirmed elsewhere, deserves, to be admitted. + +[4] Montjoie, 1st part, 92-101. - "Archives Nationales," H. +1453. Letter of the officer of police of Saint-Denis: "A good many +workmen arrive daily from Lorraine as well as from Champagne," which +increases the prices. + +[5] De Bezenval, "Mémoires," I.353. Cf. "The Ancient Regime," +p.509. - Marmontel, II, 252 and following pages. - De Ferrières, +I. 407. + +[6] Arthur Young, September 1st, 1788 + +[7] Barrère, "Mémoires," I. 234. + +[8] See, in the National Library, the long catalogue of those which +have survived. + +[9] Malouet, I. 255. Bailly, I. 43 (May 9th and 19th). -- +D'Hezecques, "Souvenirs d'un page de Louis XV." 293. --De +Bezenval, I. 368. + +[10] Marmontel, II, 249. -- Montjoie, 1st part, p. 92. -- De +Bezenval, I. 387: "These spies added that persons were seen +exciting the tumult and were distributing money." + +[11] "Archives Nationales," Y.11441. Interrogatory of the Abbé Roy, +May 5th. -- Y.11033, Interrogatory (April 28th and May 4th) of +twenty-three wounded persons brought to the Hôtel-Dieu -- These two +documents are of prime importance in presenting the true aspect of +the insurrection; to these must he added the narrative of M. de +Bezenval, who was commandant at this time with M. de Châtelet. +Almost all other narratives are amplified or falsified through party +bias. + +[12] De Ferrières, vol. III. note A. (justificatory explanation +by Réveillon). + +[13] Bailly I. 25 (April 26th). + +[14] Hippeau, IV. 377 (Letters of M. Perrot, April 29th). + +[15] Letter to the King by an inhabitant of the Faubourg Saint- +Antoine -"Do not doubt, sire, that our recent misfortunes are due to +the dearness of bread" + +[16] Dampmartin, "Evénements qui se sont passés sous mes yeux," etc. +I. 25: "We turned back and were held up by small bands of +scoundrels, who insolently proposed to us to shout 'Vive Necker! +Vive le Tiers-Etat !'" His two companions were knights of St. +Louis, and their badges seemed an object of "increasing hatred." +"The badge excited coarse mutterings, even on the part of persons +who appeared superior to the agitators." + +[17] Dampmartin, ibid. i. 25 : " I was dining this very day at the +Hôtel d'Ecquevilly, in the Rue Saint-Louis." He leaves the house on +foot and witnesses the disturbance. "Fifteen to Sixteen hundred +wretches, the excrement of the nation, degraded by shameful vices, +covered with rags, and gorged with brandy, presented the most +disgusting and revolting spectacle. More than a hundred thousand +persons of both sexes and of all ages and conditions interfered +greatly with the operations of the troops. The firing soon +commenced and blood flowed: two innocent persons were wounded near +me." + +[18] De Goncourt, "La Société Française pendant la Révolution." +Thirty-one gambling-houses are counted here, while a pamphlet of the +day is entitled "Pétition des deux mill cent filles du Palais- +Royal." + +[19] Montjoie, 2nd part, 144. -- Bailly, II, 130. + +[20] Arthur Young, June 24th, 1789. - Montjoie, 2nd part, 69. + +[21] Arthur Young, June 9th, 24th, and 26th. - "La France libre," +passim, by C. Desmoulins. + +[22] C. Desmoulins, letters to his father, and Arthur Young, June +9th. + +[23] Montjoie, 2nd part, 69, 77, 124, 144. C. Desmoulins, letter, +of June 24th and the following days. + +[24] Etienne Dumont, "Souvenirs," p.72. - C. Desmoulins, letter +of; June 24th. - Arthur Young, June 25th. - Buchez and Roux, +II. 28. + +[25] Bailly, I. 227 and 179. - Monnier, "Recherches sur les +causes," etc. I. 289, 291; II.61; -- Malouet, I. 299; II. 10. +-- "Actes des Apôtres," V.43. (Letter of M. de Guillermy, July +31st, 1790). - Marmontel, I. 28: "The people came even into the +Assembly, to encourage their partisans, to select and indicate their +victims, and to terrify the feeble with the dreadful trial of open +balloting." + +[26] Manuscript letters of M. Boullé, deputy, to the municipal +authorities of Pontivy, from May 1st, 1789, to September 4th, 1790 +(communicated by M. Rosenzweig, archivist at Vannes). June 16th, +1789: "The crowd gathered around the hall . . . was, during these +days, from 3,000 to 4,000 persons." + +[27] Letters of M. Boullé, June 23rd. "How sublime the moment, that +in which we enthusiastically bind ourselves to the country by a new +oath! . . . . Why should this moment be selected by one of our +number to dishonor himself? His name is now blasted throughout +France. And the unfortunate man has children! Suddenly overwhelmed +by public contempt he leaves, and falls fainting at the door, +exclaiming, 'Ah! this will be my death!' I do not know what has +become of him since. What is strange is, he had not behaved badly +up to that time, and he voted for the Constitution." + +[28] De Ferrières, I. 168. - Malouet, I. 298 (according to him +the faction did not number more than ten members), -- idem II. 10. +- Dumont, 250. + +[29] "Convention nationale" governed France from 21st September 1792 +until Oct. 26th 1796. We distinguish between three different +assemblies, "la Convention Girondine" 1792-93, "the Mountain," 1793- +94 and "la Thermidorienne, from 1794-1795. (SR). + +[30] Declaration of June 23rd, article 15. + +[31] Montjoie, 2nd part, 118. -- C. Desmoulins, letters of June +24th and the following days. A faithful narrative by M. de Sainte- +Fère, formerly an officer in the French Guard, p.9. -- De Bezenval, +III, 413. - Buchez and Roux, II. 35. -- "Souvenirs", by PASQUIER +(Etienne-Dennis, duc), chancelier de France. in VI volumes, +Librarie Plon, Paris 1893.. + +[32] Peuchet ("Encyclopédie Méthodique," 1789, quoted by Parent +Duchâtelet): "Almost all of the soldiers of the Guard belong to that +class (the procurers of public women): many, indeed, only enlist in +the corps that they may live at the expense of these unfortunates." + +[33] Gouverneur Morris, "Liberty is now the general cry; authority +is a name and no longer a reality." (Correspondence with Washington, +July 19th.) + +[34] Bailly. I. 302. "The King was very well-disposed; his +measures were intended only to preserve order and the public peace. +. . Du Châtelet was forced by facts to acquit M. de Bezenval of +attempts against the people and the country." -- Cf. Marmontel, +IV. 183; Mounier, II, 40. + +[35] Desmoulins, letter of the 16th July. Buchez and Roux, II. 83. + +[36] Trial of the Prince de Lambesc (Paris, 1790), with the eighty- +three depositions and the discussion of the testimony. - It is the +crowd which began the attack. The troops fired in the air. But one +man, a sieur Chauvel, was wounded slightly by the Prince de Lambesc. +(Testimony of M. Carboire, p.84, and of Captain de Reinack, p. +101.) "M. le Prince de Lambesc, mounted on a gray horse with a gray +saddle without holsters or pistols, had scarcely entered the garden +when a dozen persons jumped at the mane and bridle of his horse and +made every effort to drag him off. A small man in gray clothes +fired at him with a pistol. . . . The prince tried hard to free +himself, and succeeded by making his horse rear up and by +flourishing his sword; without, however, up to this time, wounding +any one. . . . He deposes that he saw the prince strike a man on +the head with the flat of his saber who was trying to close the +turning-bridge, which would have cut off the retreat of his troops +The troops did no more than try to keep off the crowd which assailed +them with stones, and even with firearms, from the top of the +terraces." -- The man who tried to close the bridge had seized the +prince's horse with one hand; the wound he received was a scratch +about 23 lines long, which was dressed and cured with a bandage +soaked in brandy. All the details of the affair prove that the +patience and humanity of the officer, were extreme. Nevertheless +"on the following day, the 13th, some one posted a written placard +on the crossing Bussy recommending the citizens of Paris to seize +the prince and quarter him at once." -- (Deposition of M. Cosson, +p.114. + +[37] Bailly, I. 3, 6. -- Marmontel, IV. 310 + +[38] Montjoie, part 3, 86. "I talked with those who guarded the +château of the Tuileries. They did not belong to Paris. . . . A +frightful physiognomy and hideous apparel." Montjoie, not to be +trusted in many places, merits consultation for little facts of +which he was an eye-witness. -- Morellet, "Mémoires," I. 374. - +Dusaulx, "L'œuvre des sept jours," 352. - Revue Historique," +March, 1876. Interrogatory of Desnot. His occupation during the +13th of July (published by Guiffrey). + +[39] Mathieu Dumas, "Mémoires," I. 531. "Peaceable people fled at +the sight of these groups of strange, frantic vagabonds. Everybody +closed their houses . . . . When I reached home, in the Saint- +Denis quarter, several of these brigands caused great alarm by +firing off guns in the air." + +[40] Dusaulx, 379. + +[41] Dusaulx, 359, 360, 361, 288, 336. " In effect their entreaties +resembled commands, and, more than once, it was impossible to resist +them." + +[42] Dusaulx, 447 (Deposition of the invalides).-- "Revue +Rétrospective," IV. 282 (Narrative of the commander of the thirty- +two Swiss Guards). + +[43] Marmontel, IV. 317. + +[44] Dusaulx, 454. "The soldiers replied that they would accept +whatever happened rather than cause the destruction of so great a +number of their fellow-citizens." + +[45] Dusaulx, 447. The number of combatants, maimed, wounded, dead, +and living, is 825. -- Marmontel, IV. 320. "To the number of +victors, which has been carried up to 800, people have been added +who were never near the place." + +[46] "Memoires", by PASQUIER (Etienne-Dennis, duc, 1767-1862), +chancelier de France. in VI volumes, Librarie Plon, Paris 1893. +Vol. I. p.52. Pasquier was eye-witness. He leaned against the fence +of the Beaumarchais garden and looked on, with mademoiselle Contat, +the actress, at his side, who had left her carriage in the Place- +Royale. -- Marat, "L'ami du peuple," No. 530. "When an unheard-of +conjunction of circumstances had caused the fall of the badly +defended walls of the Bastille, under the efforts of a handful of +soldiers and a troop of unfortunate creatures, most of them Germans +and almost all provincials, the Parisians presented themselves the +fortress, curiosity alone having led them there." + +[47] Narrative of the commander of the thirty-two Swiss. -- +Narrative of Cholat, wine-dealer, one of the victors. -- +Examination of Desnot (who cut off the head of M. de Launay). + +[48] Montjoie, part 3, 85. -- Dusaulx, 355, 287, 368. + +[49] Nothing more. No Witness states that he had seen the pretended +note to M. do Launay. According to Dusaulx, he could not have had +either the time or the means to write it. + +[50] Bailly, II. 32, 74, 88, 90, 95, 108, 117, 137, 158, 174. "I +gave orders which were neither obeyed nor listened to. . . . +They gave me to understand that I was not safe." (July 15th.) "In +these sad times one enemy and one calumnious report sufficed to +excite the multitude. All who had formerly held power, all who had +annoyed or restrained the insurrectionists, were sure of being +arrested." + +[51] M. de Lafayette, "Mémoires," III. 264. Letter of July 16th, +1789. "I have already saved the lives of six persons whom they were +hanging in different quarters." + +[52] Poujoulat. "Histoire de la Révolution Française," p.100 (with +supporting documents). Procès-verbaux of the Provincial Assembly, +lle-de-France (1787), p.127. + +[53] For instance: "He is severe with his peasants." -- "He gives +them no bread, and he wants them then to eat grass." "He wants them +to eat grass like horses."-- "He has said that they could very well +eat hay, and that they are no better than horses." -- The same story +is found in many of the contemporary jacqueries. + +[54] Bailly, II. 108. "The people, less enlightened and as +imperious as despots, recognize no positive signs of good +administration but success." + +[55] Bailly, II, 108, 95. - Malouet, II, 14. + +[56] De Ferrières, I. 168. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +I. + +Anarchy from July 14th to October 6th, 1789. - Destruction of the +Government. - To whom does real power belong? + +However bad a particular government may be, there is something still +worse, and that is the suppression of all government. For, it is +owing to government that human wills form a harmony instead of +chaos. It serves society as the brain serves a living being. +Incapable, inconsiderate, extravagant, engrossing, it often abuses +its position, overstraining or misleading the body for which it +should care, and which it should direct. But, taking all things +into account, whatever it may do, more good than harm is done, for +through it the body stands erect, marches on and guides its steps. +Without it there is no organized deliberate action, serviceable to +the whole body. In it alone do we find the comprehensive views, +knowledge of the members of which it consists and of their aims, an +idea of outward relationships, full and accurate information, in +short, the superior intelligence which conceives what is best for +the common interests, and adapts means to ends. If it falters and +is no longer obeyed, if it is forced and pushed from without by a +violent pressure, it ceases to control public affairs, and the +social organization retrogrades by many steps. Through the +dissolution of society, and the isolation of individuals, each man +returns to his original feeble state, while power is vested in +passing aggregates that like whirlwinds spring up from the human +dust. -- One may divine how this power, which the most competent +find it difficult to apply properly, is exercised by bands of men +springing out of nowhere. It is a matter of supplies, of their +possessions, price and distribution. It is a matter of taxes, its +proportion, apportionment and collection; of private property, its +varieties, rights, and limitations It is a problem of public +authority, its allocation and its limits; of all those delicate +cogwheels which, working into each other, constitute the great +economic, social, and political machine. Each band in its own +canton lays its rude hands on the wheels within its reach. They +wrench or break them haphazardly, under the impulse of the moment, +heedless and indifferent to consequences, even when the reaction of +to-morrow crushes them in the ruin that they cause to day. Thus do +unchained Negroes, each pulling and hauling his own way, undertake +to manage a ship of which they have just obtained mastery. -- In +such a state of things white men are hardly worth more than black +ones. For, not only is the band, whose aim is violence, composed of +those who are most destitute, most wildly enthusiastic, and most +inclined to destructiveness and to license. But also, as this band +tumultuously carries out its violent action, each individual the +most brutal, the most irrational, and most corrupt, descends lower +than himself, even to the darkness, the madness, and the savagery of +the dregs of society. In fact, a man who in the interchange of +blows, would resist the excitement of murder, and not use his +strength like a savage, must be familiar with arms. He must be +accustomed to danger, be cool-blooded, alive to the sentiment of +honor, and above all, sensitive to that stern military code which, +to the imagination of the soldier, ever holds out to him the +provost's gibbet to which he is sure to rise, should he strike one +blow too many. Should all these restraints, inward as well as +outward, be wanting, the man plunges into insurrection. He is a +novice in the acts of violence, which he carries out. He has no +fear of the law, because he abolishes it. The action begun carries +him further than he intended to go. Peril and resistance exasperate +his anger. He catches the fever from contact with those who are +fevered, and follows robbers who have become his comrades.[1] Add +to this the clamors, the drunkenness, the spectacle of destruction, +the nervous tremor of the body strained beyond its powers of +endurance, and we can comprehend how, from the peasant, the laborer, +and the bourgeois, pacified and tamed by an old civilization, we see +all of a sudden spring forth the barbarian. Or still worse, the +primitive animal, the grinning, sanguinary, wanton baboon, who +giggles while he slays, and gambols over the ruin he has +accomplished. Such is the actual government to which France is +given up, and after eighteen months' experience, the best qualified, +most judicious and profoundest observer of the Revolution will find +nothing to compare it to but the invasion of the Roman Empire in the +fourth century.[2] "The Huns, the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Goths +will come neither from the north nor from the Black Sea; they are in +our very midst." + + II. + +The provinces. - Destruction of old Authorities. - Inadequacy of +new Authorities + +When in a building the principal beam gives way, cracks follow and +multiply, and the secondary joists fall in one by one for lack of +the prop, which supported them. In a similar manner the authority +of the King being broken, all the powers, which he delegated, fall +to the ground.[3] Intendants, parliaments, military commands, grand +provosts, administrative, judicial, and police functionaries in +every province, and of every branch of the service, who maintain +order and protect property, taught by the murder of M. de Launey, +the imprisonment of M. de Besenval, the flight of Marshal de +Broglie, the assassinations of Foullon and Bertier, know what it +costs should they try to perform their duties. Should it be +forgotten local insurrections intervene, and keep them in mind of +it. + +The officer in command in Burgundy is a prisoner at Dijon, with a +guard at his door; and he is not allowed to speak with any one +without permission, and without the presence of witnesses.[4] The +Commandant of Caen is besieged in the old palace and capitulates. +The Commandant of Bordeaux surrenders Château-Trompette with its +guns and equipment. The Commandant at Metz, who remains firm, +suffers the insults and the orders of the populace. The Commandant +of Brittany wanders about his province "like a vagabond," while at +Rennes his people, furniture, and plate are kept as pledges. As +soon as he sets foot in Normandy he is surrounded, and a sentinel is +placed at his door. -- The Intendant of Besançon takes to flight; +that of Rouen sees his dwelling sacked from top to bottom, and +escapes amid the shouts of a mob demanding his head. - At Rennes, +the Dean of the Parliament is arrested, maltreated, kept in his room +with a guard over him, and then, although ill, sent out of the town +under an escort. -- At Strasbourg "thirty-six houses of magistrates +are marked for pillage."[5] -- At Besançon, the President of the +Parliament is constrained to let out of prison the insurgents +arrested in a late out-break, and to publicly burn the whole of the +papers belonging to the prosecution. - In Alsace, since the +beginning of the troubles, the provosts were obliged to fly, the +bailiffs and manorial judges hid themselves, the forest-inspectors +ran away, and the houses of the guards were demolished. One man, +sixty years of age, is outrageously beaten and marched about the +village, the people, meanwhile, pulling out his hair; nothing +remains of his dwelling but the walls and a portion of the roof. +All his furniture and effects are broken up, burnt or stolen. He is +forced to sign, along with his wife, an act by which he binds +himself to refund all penalties inflicted by him, and to abandon all +claims for damages for the injuries to which he has just been +subjected. -- In Franche-Comté the authorities dare not condemn +delinquents, and the police do not arrest them; the military +commandant writes that "crimes of every kind are on the increase, +and that he has no means of punishing them." Insubordination is +permanent in all the provinces; one of the provincial commissions +states with sadness: + + "When all powers are in confusion and annihilated, when public +force no longer exists, when all ties are sundered, when every +individual considers himself relieved from all kinds of obligation, +when public authority no longer dares make itself felt, and it is a +crime to have been clothed with it, what can be expected of our +efforts to restore order? "[6] + + All that remains of this great demolished State is forty thousand +groups of people, each separated and isolated, in towns and small +market villages where municipal bodies, elected committees, and +improvised National Guards strive to prevent the worst excesses. -- +But these local chiefs are novices; they are human, and they are +timid. Chosen by acclamation they believe in popular rights; in the +midst of riots they feel themselves in danger. Hence, they +generally obey the crowd. + +"Rarely," says one of the provincial commissions reports, "do the +municipal authorities issue a summons; they allow the greatest +excesses rather than enter upon prosecutions for which, sooner or +later, they may be held responsible by their fellow-citizens. . . +. Municipal bodies have no longer the power to resist anything." + +Especially in the rural districts the mayor or syndic, who is a +farmer, makes it his first aim to make no enemies, and would resign +his place if it were to bring him any "unpleasantness" with it. His +rule in the towns, and especially in large cities, is almost as lax +and more precarious, because explosive material is accumulated here +to a much larger extent, and the municipal officers, in their arm- +chairs at the town-hall, sit over a mine which may explode at any +time. To-morrow, perhaps, some resolution passed at a tavern in the +suburbs, or some incendiary newspaper just received from Paris, will +furnish the spark. - No other defense against the populace is at +hand than the sentimental proclamations of the National Assembly, +the useless presence of troops who stand by and look on, and the +uncertain help of a National Guard which will arrive too late. +Occasionally these townspeople, who are now the rulers, utter a cry +of distress from under the hands of the sovereigns of the street who +grasp them by the throat. At Puy-en-Velay,[7] a town of twenty +thousand inhabitants, the présidial,[8] the committee of twenty-four +commissioners, a body of two hundred dragoons, and eight hundred men +of the guard of burgesses, are "paralyzed, and completely stupefied, +by the vile populace. A mild treatment only increases its +insubordination and insolence." This populace proscribes whomsoever it +pleases, and six days ago a gibbet, erected by its hands, has announced +to the new magistrates the fate that awaits them. + + " What will become of us this winter," they exclaim, "in our +impoverished country, where bread is not to be had! We shall be the +prey of wild beasts!" + + III. + +Public feeling. - Famine + +These people, in truth, are hungry, and, since the Revolution, their +misery has increased. Around Puy-en-Velay the country is laid +waste, and the soil broken up by a terrible tempest, a fierce +hailstorm, and a deluge of rain. In the south, the crop proved to +be moderate and even insufficient. + +"To trace a picture of the condition of Languedoc," writes the +intendant,[9] "would be to give an account of calamities of every +description. The panic which prevails in all communities, and which +is stronger than all laws, stops traffic, and would cause famine +even in the midst of plenty. Commodities are enormously expensive, +and there is a lack of cash. Communities are ruined by the enormous +outlays to which they are exposed: The payment of the deputies to +the seneschal's court, the establishment of the burgess guards, +guardhouses for this militia, and the purchase of arms, uniforms, +and outlays in forming communes and permanent councils. To this +must be add the cost of the printing of all kinds, and the +publication of trivial deliberations. Further the loss of time due +to disturbances occasioned by these circumstances, and the utter +stagnation of manufactures and of trade." All these causes combined +"have reduced Languedoc to the last extremity."- + +In the Center, and in the North, where the crops are good, +provisions are not less scarce, because wheat is not put in +circulation, and is kept concealed. + + "For five months," writes the municipal assembly of Louviers,[10] +"not a farmer has made his appearance in the markets of this town. +Such a circumstance was never known before, although, from time to +time, high prices have prevailed to a considerable extent. On the +contrary, the markets were always well supplied in proportion to the +high price of grain." + + In vain the municipality orders the surrounding forty-seven +parishes to provide them with wheat. They pay no attention to the +mandate; each for himself and each for his own house; the intendant +is no longer present to compel local interests to give way to public +interests. + +"In the wheat districts around us," says a letter from one of the +Burgundy towns, "we cannot rely on being able to make free +purchases. Special regulations, supported by the civic guard, +prevent grain from being sent out, and put a stop to its +circulation. The adjacent markets are of no use to us. Not a sack +of grain has been brought into our market for about eight months." + +At Troyes, bread costs four sous per pound, at Bar-sur-Aube, and in +the vicinity, four and a half sous per pound. The artisan who is +out of work now earns twelve sous a day at the relief works, and, on +going into the country, he sees that the grain crop is good. What +conclusion can he come to but that the dearth is due to the +monopolists, and that, if he should die of hunger, it would be +because those scoundrels have starved him? -- By virtue of this +reasoning whoever has to do with these provisions, whether +proprietor, farmer, merchant or administrator, all are considered +traitors. It is plain that there is a plot against the people: the +government, the Queen, the clergy, the nobles are all parties to it; +and likewise the magistrates and the wealthy amongst the bourgeoisie +and the rich. A rumor is current in the Ile-de-France that sacks of +flour are thrown into the Seine, and that the cavalry horses are +purposely made to eat unripe wheat in stalk. In Brittany, it is +maintained that grain is exported and stored up abroad. In +Touraine, it is certain that this or that wholesale dealer allows it +to sprout in his granaries rather than sell it. At Troyes, a story +prevails that another has poisoned his flour with alum and arsenic, +commissioned to do so by the bakers. -- Conceive the effect of +suspicions like these upon a suffering multitude! A wave of hatred +ascends from the empty stomach to the morbid brain. The people are +everywhere in quest of their imaginary enemies, plunging forward +with closed eyes no matter on whom or on what, not merely with all +the weight of their mass, but with all the energy of their fury. + + IV. + +Panic. - General arming. + +>From the earliest of these weeks they were already alarmed. +Accustomed to being led, the human herd is scared at being left to +itself; it misses its leaders who it has trodden under foot; in +throwing off their trammels it has deprived itself of their +protection. It feels lonely, in an unknown country, exposed to +dangers of which it is ignorant, and against which it is unable to +guard itself. Now that the shepherds are slain or disarmed, suppose +the wolves should unexpectedly appear! - And there are wolves - I +mean vagabonds and criminals - who have but just issued out of the +darkness. They have robbed and burned, and are to be found at every +insurrection. Now that the police force no longer puts them down, +they show themselves instead of keeping themselves concealed. They +have only to lie in wait and come forth in a band, and both life and +property will be at their mercy. - Deep anxiety, a vague feeling of +dread, spreads through both town and country: towards the end of +July the panic, like a blinding, suffocating whirl of dusts, +suddenly sweeps over hundreds of leagues of territory. The brigands +are coming! They are burning the crops! They are only six leagues +off, and then only two - the refugees who have run away from the +disorder prove it. + +On the 28th of July, at Angoulême,[11] the alarm bell is heard about +three o'clock in the afternoon; the drums beat to arms, and cannon +are mounted on the ramparts. The town has to be put in a state of +defense against 15,000 bandits who are approaching, and from the +walls a cloud of dust on the road is discovered with terror. It +proves to be the post-wagon on its way to Bordeaux. After this the +number of brigands is reduced to 1,500, but there is no doubt that +they are ravaging the country. At nine o'clock in the evening +20,000 men are under arms, and thus they pass the night, always +listening without hearing anything. Towards three o'clock in the +morning there is another alarm, the church bells ringing and the +people forming a battle array. They are convinced that the brigands +have burned Ruffec, Vernenil, La Rochefoucauld, and other places. +The next day countrymen flock in to give their aid against bandits +who are still absent. "At nine o'clock," says a witness, "we had +40,000 men in the town, to whom we showed our gratitude." As the +bandits do not show themselves, it must be because they are +concealed; a hundred horsemen, a large number of men on foot, start +out to search the forest of Braçonne, and to their great surprise +they find nothing. But the terror is not allayed; "during the +following days a guard is kept mounted, and companies are enrolled +among the townsmen," while Bordeaux, duly informed, dispatches a +courier to offer the support of 20,000 men and even 30,000. "What +is surprising," adds the narrator, is that at ten leagues off in the +neighborhood, in each parish, a similar disturbance took place, and +at about the same hour." -- All that is required is that a girl, +returning to the village at night, should meet two men who do not +belong to the neighborhood. The case is the same in Auvergne. +Whole parishes, on the strength of this, betake themselves at night +to the woods, abandoning their houses, and carrying away their +furniture; "the fugitives trod down and destroyed their own crops; +pregnant women were injured in the forests, and others lost their +wits." Fear lends them wings. Two years after this, Madame Campan +was shown a rocky peak on which a woman had taken refuge, and from +which she was obliged to be let down with ropes. -- The people at +last return to their homes, and resume their usual routines. But +such large masses are not unsettled with impunity; a tumult like +this is, in itself, a lively source of alarm. As the country did +rise, it must have been on account of threatened danger and if the +peril was not due to brigands, it must have come from some other +quarter. Arthur Young, at Dijon and in Alsace,[12] hears at the +public dinner tables that the Queen had formed a plot to undermine +the National Assembly and to massacre all Paris. Later on he is +arrested in a village near Clermont, and examined because he is +evidently conspiring with the Queen and the Comte d'Entraigues to +blow up the town and send the survivors to the galleys. + +No argument, no experience has any effect against the multiplying +phantoms of an over-excited imagination. Henceforth every commune, +and every man, provide themselves with arms and keep them ready for +use. The peasant searches his hoard, and "finds from ten to twelve +francs for the purchase of a gun." "A national militia is found in +the poorest village." Burgess guards and companies of volunteers +patrol all the towns. Military commanders deliver arms, ammunition, +and equipment, on the requisition of municipal bodies, while, in +case of refusal, the arsenals are pillaged, and, voluntarily or by +force, four hundred thousand guns thus pass into the hands of the +people in six months.[13] Not content with this they must have +cannon. Brest having demanded two, every town in Brittany does the +same thing; their self-esteem is at stake as well as a need of +feeling themselves strong. - They lack nothing now to render +themselves masters. All authority, all force, every means of +constraint and of intimidation is in their hands, and in theirs +alone; and these sovereign hands have nothing to guide them in this +actual interregnum of all legal powers, but the wild or murderous +suggestions of hunger or distrust. + + V. + +Attacks on public individuals and public property. - At Strasbourg. +- At Cherbourg. - At Mauberge. - At Rouen. - At Besançon. - At +Troyes. + +It would take too much space to recount all the violent acts which +were committed, - convoys arrested, grain pillaged, millers and corn +merchants hung, decapitated, slaughtered, farmers called upon under +the threats of death to give up even the seed reserved for sowing, +proprietors ransomed and houses sacked.[14] These outrages, +unpunished, tolerated and even excused or badly suppressed, are +constantly repeated, and are, at first, directed against public men +and public property. As is commonly the case, the rabble head the +march and stamp the character of the whole insurrection. + +On the 19th of July, at Strasbourg, on the news of Necker's return +to office, it interprets after its own fashion the public joy, which +it witnesses. Five or six hundred beggars,[15] their numbers soon +increased by the petty tradesmen, rush to the town hall, the +magistrates only having time to fly through a back door. The +soldiers, on their part, with arms in their hands, allow all these +things to go on, while several of them spur the assailants on. The +windows are dashed to pieces under a hailstorm of stones, the doors +are forced with iron crowbars, and the populace enter amid a burst +of acclamations from the spectators. Immediately, through every +opening in the building, which has a facade frontage of eighty feet, +" there is a shower of shutters, sashes, chairs, tables, sofas, +books and papers, and then another of tiles, boards, balconies and +fragments of wood-work." The public archives are thrown to the wind, +and the surrounding streets are strewed with them; the letters of +enfranchisement, the charters of privileges, all the authentic acts +which, since Louis XIV, have guaranteed the liberties of the town, +perish in the flames. Some of the rabble in the cellars stave in +casks of precious wine; fifteen thousand measures of it are lost, +making a pool five feet deep in which several are drowned. Others, +loaded with booty, go away under the eyes of the soldiers without +being arrested. The havoc continues for three days; a number of +houses belonging to some of the magistrates "are sacked from garret +to cellar." When the honest citizens at last obtain arms and restore +order, they are content with the hanging of one of the robbers; +although, in order to please the people, the magistrates are changed +and the price of bread and meat is reduced. - It is not surprising +that after such tactics, and with such rewards, the riot should +spread through the neighborhood far and near: in fact, starting from +Strasbourg it overruns Alsace, while in the country as in the city, +there are always drunkards and rascals found to head it. + +No matter where, be it in the East, in the West, or in the North, +the instigators are always of this stamp. At Cherbourg, on the 21st +of July,[16] the two leaders of the riot are " highway robbers," who +place themselves at the head of women of the suburbs, foreign +sailors, the populace of the harbor, and it includes soldiers in +workmen's smocks. They force the delivery of the keys of the grain +warehouses, and wreck the dwellings of the three richest merchants, +also that of M. de Garantot, the sub-delegate: "All records and +papers are burnt; at M. de Garantot's alone the loss is estimated at +more than 100,000 crowns at least." -- The same instinct of +destruction prevails everywhere, a sort of envious fury against all +who possess, command, or enjoy anything. At Maubeuge, on the 27th +of July, at the very assembly of the representatives of the +commune,[17] the rabble interferes directly in its usual fashion. A +band of nail and gun-makers takes possession of the town-hall, and +obliges the mayor to reduce the price of bread. Almost immediately +after this another band follows uttering cries of death, and smashes +the windows, while the garrison, which has been ordered out, quietly +contemplates the damage done. Death to the mayor, to all rulers, +and to all employees! The rioters force open the prisons, set the +prisoners free, and attack the tax-offices. The octroi offices are +demolished from top to bottom: they pull down the harbor offices and +throw the scales and weights into the river. All the custom and +excise stores are carried off; and the officials are compelled to +give acquaintances. The houses of the registrar and of the sheriff, +that of the revenue comptroller, two hundred yards outside the town, +are sacked; the doors and the windows are smashed, the furniture and +linen is torn to shreds, and the plate and jewelry is thrown into +the wells. The same havoc is committed in the mayor's town-house, +also in his country-house a league off. "Not a window, not a door, +not one article or eatable " is preserved; their work, moreover, is +conscientiously done, without stopping a moment, "from ten in the +evening up to ten in the morning on the following day." In addition +to this the mayor, who has served for thirty-four years, resigns his +office at the solicitation of the well-disposed but terrified +people, and leaves the country. -- At Rouen, after the 24th of +July,[18] a written placard shows, by its orthography and its style, +what sort of intellects composed it and what kind of actions are to +follow it: + +"Nation, you have here four heads to strike off, those of Pontcarry +(the first president), Maussion (the intendant), Godard de Belbœuf +(the attorney-general), and Durand (the attorney of the King in the +town). Without this we are lost, and if you do not do it, people +will take you for a heartless nation." + +Nothing could be more explicit. The municipal body, however, to +whom the Parliament denounces this list of proscriptions, replies, +with its forced optimism, that + + "no citizen should consider himself or be considered as proscribed; +he may and must believe himself to be safe in his own dwelling, +satisfied that there is not a person in the city who would not fly +to his rescue." + +This is equal to telling the populace that it is free to do as it +pleases. On the strength of this the leaders of the riot work on in +security for ten days. One of them is a man named Jourdain, a +lawyer of Lisieux, and, like most of his brethren, a demagogue in +principles; the other is a strolling actor from Paris named Bordier, +famous in the part of harlequin,[19] a bully in a house of ill-fame, +"a night-rover and drunkard, and who, fearing neither God nor +devil," has taken up patriotism, and comes down into the provinces +to play tragedy, and that, tragedy in real life. The fifth act +begins on the night of the 3rd of August, with Bordier and Jourdain +as the principal actors, and behind them the rabble along with +several companies of fresh volunteers. A shout is heard, "Death to +the monopolists! death to Maussion! we must have his head!" They +pillage his hotel: many of them become intoxicated and fall asleep +in his cellar. The revenue offices, the toll-gates of the town, the +excise office, all buildings in which the royal revenue is +collected, are wrecked. Immense bonfires are lighted in the streets +and on the old market square; furniture, clothes, papers, kitchen +utensils, are all thrown in pell-mell, while carriages are dragged +out and tumbled into the Seine. It is only when the town-hall is +attacked that the National Guard, beginning to be alarmed, makes up +its mind to seize Bordier and some others. The following morning, +however, at the shout of Carabo, and led by Jourdain, the prison is +forced, Bordier set free, and the intendant's residence, with its +offices, is sacked a second time. When, finally, the two rascals +are taken and led to the scaffold, the populace is so strongly in +their favor as to require the pointing of loaded cannon on them to +keep them down. -- At Besançon,[20] on the 13th of August, the +leaders consist of the servant of an exhibitor of wild animals, two +goal-birds of whom one has already been branded in consequence of a +riot, and a number of "inhabitants of ill-repute," who, towards +evening, spread through the town along with the soldiers. The +gunners insult the officers they meet, seize them by the throat and +want to throw them into the Doubs. Others go to the house of the +commandant, M. de Langeron, and demand money of him; on his refusing +to give it they tear off their cockades and exclaim, "We too belong +to the Third-Estate!" in other words, that they are the masters: +subsequently they demand the head of the intendant, M. de Caumartin, +forcibly enter his dwelling and break up his furniture. On the +following day the rabble and the soldiers enter the coffee-houses, +the convents, and the inns, and demand to be served with wine and +eatables as much as they want, and then, heated by drink, they burn +the excise offices, force open several prisons, and set free all the +smugglers and deserters. To put an end to this saturnalia a grand +banquet in the open air is suggested, in which the National Guard is +to fraternize with the whole garrison; but the banquet turns into a +drinking-bout, entire companies remaining under the tables dead +drunk; other companies carry away with them four hogsheads of wine, +and the rest, finding themselves left in the lurch, are scattered +abroad outside the walls in order to rob the cellars of the +neighboring villages. The next day, encouraged by the example set +them, a portion of the garrison, accompanied by a number of workmen, +repeat the expedition in the country. Finally, after four days of +this orgy, to prevent Besançon and its outskirts from being +indefinitely treated as a conquered country, the burgess guard, in +alliance with the soldiers who have remained loyal, rebel against +the rebellion, go in quest of the marauders and hang two of them +that same evening. -- Such is rioting![21] an irruption of brute +force which, turned loose on the habitations of men, can do nothing +but gorge itself, waste, break, destroy, and do damage to itself; +and if we follow the details of local history, we see how, in these +days, similar outbreaks of violence might be expected at any time. + +At Troyes,[22] on the 18th of July, a market-day, the peasants +refuse to pay the entrance duties; the octroi having been suppressed +at Paris, it ought also to be suppressed at Troyes. The populace, +excited by this first disorderly act, gather into a mob for the +purpose of dividing the grain and arms amongst themselves, and the +next day the town-hall is invested by seven or eight thousand men, +armed with clubs and stones. The day after, a band, recruited in +the surrounding villages, armed with flails, shovels, and pitch- +forks, enters under the leadership of a joiner who marches at the +head of it with a drawn saber; fortunately, "all the honest folks +among the burgesses "immediately form themselves into a National +Guard, and this first attempt at a Jacquerie is put down. But the +agitation continues, and false rumors constantly keep it up. - On +the 29th of July, on the report being circulated that five hundred +"brigands" had left Paris and were coming to ravage the country, the +alarm bell sounds in the villages, and the peasants go forth armed. +Henceforth, a vague idea of some impending danger fills all minds; +the necessity of defense and of guarding against enemies is +maintained. The new demagogues avail themselves of this to keep +their hold on the people, and when the time comes, to use it against +their chiefs. - It is of no use to assure the people that the +latter are patriots; that the recently welcomed Necker with +enthusiastic shouts; that the priests, the monks, and canons were +the first to adopt the national cockade; that the nobles of the city +and its environs are the most liberal in France; that, on the 20th +of July, the burgess guard saved the town; that all the wealthy give +to the national workshops; that Mayor Huez, "a venerable and honest +magistrate," is a benefactor to the poor and to the public. All the +old leaders are objects of distrust. -- On the 8th of August, a mob +demands the dismissal of the dragoons, arms for all volunteers, +bread at two sous the pound, and the freedom of all prisoners. On +the 19th of August the National Guard rejects its old officers as +aristocrats, and elects new ones. On the 27th of August, the crowd +invade the town-hall and distribute the arms amongst themselves. On +the 5th of September, two hundred men, led by Truelle, president of +the new committee, force the salt depot and have salt delivered to +them at six sous per pound. -- Meanwhile, in the lowest quarters of +the city, a story is concocted to the effect that if wheat is scarce +it is because Huez, the mayor, and M. de St. Georges, the old +commandant, are monopolists, and now they say of Huez what they said +five weeks before of Foulon, that "he wants to make the people eat +hay." The many-headed brute growls fiercely and is about to spring. +As usual, instead of restraining him, they try to manage him. + + "You must put your authority aside for a moment," writes the deputy +of Troyes to the sheriffs," and act towards the people as to a +friend; be as gentle with them as you would be with your equals, and +rest assured that they are capable of responding to it." + + Thus does Huez act, and he even does more, paying no attention to +their menaces, refusing to provide for his own safety and almost +offering himself as a sacrifice. + + "I have wronged no one," he exclaimed; "why should any one bear me +ill-will?" + +His sole precaution is to provide something for the unfortunate poor +when he is gone: he bequeaths in his will 18,000 livres to the poor, +and, on the eve of his death, sends 100 crowns to the bureau of +charity. But what avail self-abnegation and beneficence against +blind, insane rage! On the 9th of September, three loads of flour +proving to be unsound, the people collect and shout out, + + "Down with the flour-dealers! Down with machinery! Down with the +mayor! Death to the mayor, and let Truelle be put in his place! " + +Huez, on leaving his court-room, is knocked down, murdered by kicks +and blows, throttled, dragged to the reception hall, struck on his +head with a wooden-shoe and pitched down the grand staircase. The +municipal officers strive in vain to protect him; a rope is put +around his neck and they begin to drag him along. A priest, who +begs to be allowed at least to save his soul, is repulsed and +beaten. A woman jumps on the prostrate old man, stamps on his face +and repeatedly thrusts her scissors in his eyes. He is dragged +along with the rope around his neck up to the Pont de la Selle, and +thrown into the neighboring ford, and then drawn out, again dragged +through the streets and in the gutters, with a bunch of hay crammed +in his mouth.[23] + +In the meantime, his house as well as that of the lieutenant of +police, that of the notary Guyot, and that of M. de Saint-Georges, +are sacked; the pillaging and destruction lasts four hours; at the +notary's house, six hundred bottles of wine are consumed or carried +off; objects of value are divided, and the rest, even down to the +iron balcony, is demolished or broken; the rioters cry out, on +leaving, that they have still to burn twenty-seven houses, and to +take twenty-seven heads. "No one at Troyes went to bed that fatal +night."- During the succeeding days, for nearly two weeks, society +seems to be dissolved. Placards posted about the streets proscribe +municipal officers, canons, divines, privileged persons, prominent +merchants, and even ladies of charity; the latter are so frightened +that they throw up their office, while a number of persons move off +into the country; others barricade themselves in their dwellings and +only open their doors with saber in hand. Not until the 26th does +the orderly class rally sufficiently to resume the ascendancy and +arrest the miscreants. -- Such is public life in France after the +14th of July: the magistrates in each town feel that they are at the +mercy of a band of savages and sometimes of cannibals. Those of +Troyes had just tortured Huez after the fashion of Hurons, while +those of Caen did worse; Major de Belzance, not less innocent, and +under sworn protection,[24] was cut to pieces like Laperouse in the +Fiji Islands, and a woman ate his heart. + + VI. + + +Taxes are no longer paid. - Devastation of the Forests. - The new +game laws. + +It is, under such circumstances, possible to foretell whether taxes +come in, and whether municipalities that sway about in every popular +breeze will have the authority to collect the odious revenues. -- +Towards the end of September,[25] I find a list of thirty-six +committees or municipal bodies which, within a radius of fifty +leagues around Paris, refuse to ensure the collection of taxes. One +of them tolerates the sale of contraband salt, in order not to +excite a riot. Another takes the precaution to disarm the employees +in the excise department. In a third the municipal officers were +the first to provide themselves with contraband salt and contraband +tobacco. + +At Peronne and at Ham, the order having come to restore the toll- +houses, the people destroy the soldiers' quarters, conduct all the +employees to their homes, and order them to leave within twenty-four +hours, under penalty of death. After twenty months' resistance +Paris will end the matter by forcing the National Assembly to give +in and by obtaining the final suppression of its octroi.[26] -- Of +all the creditors whose hand each one felt on his shoulders, that of +the exchequer was the heaviest, and now it is the weakest; hence +this is the first whose grasp is to be shaken off; there is none +which is more heartily detested or which receives harsher treatment. +Especially against collectors of the salt-tax, custom-house +officers, and excisemen the fury is universal. These, +everywhere,[27] are in danger of their lives and are obliged to fly. +At Falaise, in Normandy, the people threaten to "cut to pieces the +director of the excise." At Baignes, in Saintonge, his house is +devastated and his papers and effects are burned; they put a knife +to the throat of his son, a child six years of age, saying, "Thou +must perish that there may be no more of thy race." +For four hours the clerks are on the point of being torn to pieces; +through the entreaties of the lord of the manor, who sees scythes +and sabers aimed at his own head, they are released only on the +condition that they "abjure their employment." -- Again, for two +months following the taking of the Bastille, insurrections break out +by hundreds, like a volley of musketry, against indirect taxation. +>From the 23rd of July the Intendant of Champagne reports that "the +uprising is general in almost all the towns under his command." On +the following day the Intendant of Alençon writes that, in his +province, "the royal dues will no longer be paid anywhere." On the +7th of August, M. Necker states to the National Assembly that in the +two intendants' districts of Caen and Alençon it has been necessary +to reduce the price of salt one-half; that "in an infinity of places +" the collection of the excise is stopped or suspended; that the +smuggling of salt and tobacco is done by "convoys and by open force +" in Picardy, in Lorraine, and in the Trois-Évêchés; that the +indirect tax does not come in, that the receivers-general and the +receivers of the taille are "at bay" and can no longer keep their +engagements. The public income diminishes from month to month; in +the social body, the heart, already so feeble, faints; deprived of +the blood which no longer reaches it, it ceases to propel to the +muscles the vivifying current which restores their waste and adds to +their energy. + +"All controlling power is slackened," says Necker, "everything is a +prey to the passions of individuals." Where is the power to +constrain them and to secure to the State its dues? -- The clergy, +the nobles, wealthy townsmen, and certain brave artisans and +farmers, undoubtedly pay, and even sometimes give spontaneously. +But in society those who possess intelligence, who are in easy +circumstances and conscientious, form a small select class; the +great mass is egotistic, ignorant, and needy, and lets its money go +only under constraint; there is but one way to collect the taxes, +and that is to extort them. From time immemorial, direct taxes in +France have been collected only by bailiffs and seizures; which is +not surprising, as they take away a full half of the net income. +Now that the peasants of each village are armed and form a band, let +the collector come and make seizures if he dare ! -- " Immediately +after the decree on the equality of the taxes," writes the +provincial commission of Alsace,[28] "the people generally refused +to make any payments, until those who were exempt and privileged +should have been inscribed on the local lists." In many places the +peasants threaten to obtain the reimbursement of their installments, +while in others they insist that the decree should be retrospective +and that the new rate-payers should pay for the past year. "No +collector dare send an official to distrain; none that are sent dare +fulfill their mission." -- " It is not the good bourgeois" of whom +there is any fear, "but the rabble who make the latter and every one +else afraid of them;" resistance and disorder everywhere come from +"people that have nothing to lose." -- Not only do they shake off +taxation, but they usurp property, and declare that, being the +Nation, whatever belongs to the Nation belongs to them. The forests +of Alsace are laid waste, the seignorial as well as communal, and +wantonly destroyed with the wastefulness of children or of maniacs. +"In many places, to avoid the trouble of removing the woods, they +are burnt, and the people content themselves with carrying off the +ashes." -- After the decrees of August 4th, and in spite of the law +which licenses the proprietor only to hunt on his own grounds, the +impulse to break the law becomes irresistible. Every man who can +procure a gun begins operations;[29] the crops which are still +standing are trodden under foot, the lordly residences are invaded +and the palings are scaled; the King himself at Versailles is +wakened by shots fired in his park. Stags, fawns, deer, wild boars, +hares, and rabbits, are slain by thousands, cooked with stolen wood, +and eaten up on the spot. There is a constant discharge of musketry +throughout France for more than two months, and, as on an American +prairie, every living animal belongs to him who kills it. At +Choiseul, in Champagne, not only are all the hares and partridges of +the barony exterminated, but the ponds are exhausted of fish; the +court of the chateau even is entered, to fire on the pigeon-house +and destroy the pigeons, and then the pigeons and fish, of which +they have too many, are offered to the proprietor for sale -- It is +"the patriots" of the village with "smugglers and bad characters" +belonging to the neighborhood who make this expedition; they are +seen in the front ranks of every act of violence, and it is not +difficult to foresee that, under their leadership, attacks on public +persons and public property will be followed by attacks on private +persons and private property. + + VII. + +Attack upon private individuals and private property. - Aristocrats +denounced to the people as their enemies. - Effect of news from +Paris.- Influence of the village attorneys. - Isolated acts of +violence. - A general rising of the peasantry in the east. - War +against the castles, feudal estates, and property. - Preparations +for other Jacqueries. + +Indeed, an outlawed class already exists, they are called " +aristocrats." This deadly term, applied at first to the nobles and +prelates in the States-General who declined to take part in the +reunion of the three orders, is extended so as to embrace all whose +titles, offices, alliances, and manner of living distinguish them +from the multitude. That which entitled them to respect is that +which marks them out as objects of ill-will; while the people, who, +though suffering from their privileges, did not regard them +personally with hatred, are now taught to consider them as their +enemies. Each, on his own estate, is held accountable for the evil +designs attributed to his brethren at Versailles, and, on the false +report of a plot at the center, the peasants classify him as one of +the conspirators.[30] Thus does the peasant jacquerie commence, and +the fanatics who have fanned the flame in Paris are to do the same +in the provinces. "You wish to know the authors of the agitation," +writes a sensible man to the committee of investigation; "you will +find them amongst the deputies of the Third-Estate," and especially +among the attorneys and advocates. "These dispatch incendiary +letters to their constituents, which letters are received by +municipal bodies alike composed of attorneys and of advocates.... +they are read aloud in the public squares, while copies of them are +distributed among all the villages. In these villages, if any one +knows how to read besides the priest and the lord of the manor, it +is the legal practitioner," the born enemy of the lord of the manor, +whose place he covets, vain of his oratorical powers, embittered by +his power, and never failing to blacken everything.[31] It is +highly probable that he is the one who composes and circulates the +placards calling on the people, in the King's name, to resort to +violence. -- At Secondigny, in Poitou, on the 23rd of July,[32] the +laborers in the forest receive a letter "which summons them to +attack all the country gentlemen round about, and to massacre +without mercy all those who refuse to renounce their privileges.... +promising them that not only will their crimes go unpunished, but +that they will even be rewarded." M. Despretz-Montpezat, +correspondent of the deputies of the nobles, is seized, and dragged +with his son to the dwelling of the procurator-fiscal, to force him +to give his signature; the inhabitants are forbidden to render him +assistance "on pain of death and fire." "Sign," they exclaim, "or we +will tear out your heart, and set fire to this house !" At this +moment the neighboring notary, who is doubtless an accomplice, +appears with a stamped paper, and says to him, "Monsieur, I have +just come from Niort, where the Third-Estate has done the same thing +to all the gentlemen of the town; one, who refused, was cut to +pieces before our eyes." -- "We are compelled to sign renunciations +of our privileges, and give our assent to one and the same taxation, +as if the nobles had not already done so." The band gives notice +that it will proceed in the same fashion with all the chateaux in +the vicinity, and terror precedes or follows them. "Nobody dares +write," M. Despretz sends word; " I attempt it at the risk of my +life." -- Nobles and prelates become objects of suspicion +everywhere; village committees open their letters, and they have to +suffer their houses to be searched.[33] They are forced to adopt +the new cockade: to be a gentleman, and not wear it, is to deserve +hanging. At Mamers, in Maine, M. de Beauvoir refuses to wear it, +and is at the point of being put into the pillory and felled. Near +La F1èche, M. de Brissac is arrested, and a message is sent to Paris +to know if he shall be taken there, "or be beheaded in the +meantime." Two deputies of the nobles, MM. de Montesson and de Vassé +who had come to ask the consent of their constituents to their +joining the Third-Estate, are recognized near Mans; their honorable +scruples and their pledges to the constituents are considered of no +importance, nor even the step that they are now taking to fulfill +them; it suffices that they voted against the Third-Estate at +Versailles; the populace pursues them and breaks up their carriages, +and pillages their trunks. -- Woe to the nobles, especially if they +have taken any part in local rule, and if they are opposed to +popular panics! M. Cureau, deputy-mayor of Mans,[34] had issued +orders during the famine, and, having retired to his chateau of +Nouay, had told the peasants that the announcement of the coming of +brigands was a false alarm; he thought that it was not necessary to +sound the alarm bell, and all that was necessary was that they +should remain quiet. Accordingly he is set down as being in league +with the brigands, and besides this he is a monopolist, and a buyer +of standing crops. The peasants lead him off; along with his son- +in-law, M. de Montesson, to the neighboring village, where there +are judges. On the way "they dragged their victims on the ground, +pummeled them, trampled on them, spit in their faces, and besmeared +them with filth." M. de Montesson is shot, while M. Cureau is killed +by degrees; a carpenter cuts off the two heads with a double-edged +ax, and children bear them along to the sound of drums and violins. +Meanwhile, the judges of the place, brought by force, draw up an +official report stating the finding of thirty louis and several +bills of the Banque d'Escompte in the pockets of M. de Cureau, on +the discovery of which a shout of triumph is set up: this evidence +proves that they were going to buy up the standing wheat ! -- Such +is the course of popular justice. Now that the Third-Estate has +become the nation, every mob thinks that it has the right to +pronounce sentences, which it carries out, on lives and on +possessions. + +These explosions are isolated in the western, central and southern +provinces; the conflagration, however, is universal in the east. On +a strip of ground from thirty to fifty leagues broad, extending from +the extreme north down to Provence. Alsace, Franche-Comté, +Burgundy, Mâconnais, Beaujolais, Auvergne, Viennois, Dauphiny, the +whole of this territory resembles a continuous mine which explodes +at the same time. The first column of flame which shoots up is on +the frontiers of Alsace and Franche-Comté, in the vicinity of +Belfort and Vésoul, a feudal district, in which the peasant, over- +burdened with taxes, bears the heavier yoke with greater impatience. +An instinctive argument is going on in his mind without his knowing +it. "The good Assembly and the good King want us to be happy, +suppose we help them! They say that the King has already relieved us +of the taxes, suppose we relieve ourselves of paying rents! Down +with the nobles! They are no better than the tax-collectors! " -- On +the 16th of July, the chateau of Sancy, belonging to the Princesses +de Beaufremont, is sacked, and on the 18th those of Lure, Bithaine, +and Molans.[35] On the 29th, an accident which occurs with some +fire-works at a popular festival at the house of M. de Mesmay, leads +the lower class to believe that the invitation extended to them was +a trap, and that there was a desire to get rid of them by +treachery.[36] Seized with rage they set fire to the chateau, and +during the following week[37] destroy three abbeys, ruin eleven +chateaux and pillage others. " All records are destroyed, the +registers and court-rolls are carried off; and the deposits +violated." -- Starting from this spot, "the hurricane of +insurrection" stretches over the whole of Alsace from Huningue to +Landau.[38] The insurgents display placards, signed Louis, stating +that for a certain lapse of time they shall be permitted to exercise +justice themselves, and, in Sundgau, a well-dressed weaver, +decorated with a blue belt, passes for a prince, the King's second +son. They begin by falling on the Jews, their hereditary leeches; +they sack their dwellings, divide their money among themselves, and +hunt them down like so many fallow-deer. At Bâle alone, it is said +that twelve hundred of these unfortunate fugitives arrived with +their families. -- The distance between the Jew creditor and the +Christian proprietor is not great, and this is soon cleared. +Remiremont is only saved by a detachment of dragoons. Eight hundred +men attack the chateau of Uberbrünn. The abbey of Neubourg is taken +by storm. At Guebwiller, on the 31st of July, five hundred +peasants, subjects of the abbey of Murbach, make a descent on the +abbot's palace and on the house of the canons. Cupboards, chests, +beds, windows, mirrors, frames, even the tiles of the roof and the +hinges of the casements are hacked to pieces: "They kindle fires on +the beautiful inlaid floors of the apartments, and there burn up the +library and the title-deeds." The abbot's superb carriage is so +broken up that not a wheel remains entire. "Wine streams through +the cellars. One cask of sixteen hundred measures is half lost; the +plate and the linen are carried off." -- Society is evidently being +overthrown, while with the power, property is changing hands. + +These are their very words. In Franche-Comte[39] the inhabitants of +eight communes come and declare to the Bernardins of Grâce-Dieu and +of Lieu-Croissant "that, being of the Third-Estate, it is time now +for the people to rule over abbots and monks, considering that the +domination of the latter has lasted too long," and thereupon they +carry off all the titles to property and to rentals belonging to the +abbey in their commune. In Upper Dauphiny, during the destruction +of M. de Murat's chateau, a man named Ferréol struck the furniture +with a big stick, exclaiming, "Hey, so much for you, Murat; you have +been master a good while, now it's our turn!"[40] Those who rifle +houses, and steal like highway robbers, think that they are +defending a cause, and reply to the challenge, "Who goes there?" "We +are for the brigand Third-Estate!" -- Everywhere the belief prevails +that they are clothed with authority, and they conduct themselves +like a conquering horde under the orders of an absent general. At +Remiremont and at Luxeuil they produce an edict, stating that "all +this brigandage, pillage, and destruction" is permitted. In +Dauphiny, the leaders of the bands say that they possess the King's +orders. In Auvergne, "they follow imperative orders, being advised +that such is his Majesty's will." Nowhere do we see that an +insurgent village exercises personal vengeance against its lord. If +the people fire on the nobles they encounter, it is not through +personal hatred. They are destroying the class, and do not pursue +individuals. They detest feudal privileges, holders of charters, +the cursed parchments by virtue of which they are made to pay, but +not the nobleman who, when he resides at home, is of humane +intentions, compassionate, and even often beneficent. At Luxeuil, +the abbot, who is forced with uplifted ax to sign a relinquishment +of his seignorial rights over twenty-three estates, has dwelt among +them for forty-six years, and has been wholly devoted to them.[41] +In the canton of Crémieu, "where the havoc is immense," all the +nobles, write the municipal officers, are "patriots and benevolent." +In Dauphiny, the engineers, magistrates, and prelates, whose +chateaux are sacked, were the first to espouse the cause of the +people and of public liberties against the ministers. In Auvergne, +the peasants themselves "manifest a good deal of repugnance to act +in this way against such kind masters." But it must be done; the +only concession which can be made in consideration of the kindness +which had been extended to them is, not to burn the chateau of the +ladies of Vanes, who had been so charitable; but they burn all their +title-deeds, and torture the business agent at three different times +by fire, to force him to deliver a document which he does not +possess; they then only withdraw him from the fire half-broiled, +because the ladies, on their knees, implore mercy for him. They are +like the soldiers on a campaign who execute orders with docility, +for which necessity is the only plea, and who, without regarding +themselves as brigands, commit acts of brigandage. + +But here the situation is more tragic, for it is war in the midst of +peace, a war of the brutal and barbaric multitude against the highly +cultivated, well-disposed and confiding, who had not anticipated +anything of the kind, who had not even dreamt of defending +themselves, and who had no protection. The Comte de Courtivron, +with his family, was staying at the watering-place of Luxeuil with +his uncle, the Abbé of Clermont-Tonnerre, an old man of seventy +years. On the 19th of July, fifty peasants from Fougerolle break +into and demolish everything in the houses of an usher and a +collector of the excise. Thereupon the mayor of the place intimates +to the nobles and magistrates who are taking the waters, that they +had better leave the house in twenty-four hours, as "he had been +advised of an intention to burn the houses in which they were +staying," and he did not wish to have Luxeuil exposed to this danger +on account of their presence there. The following day, the guard, +as obliging as the mayor, allows the band to enter the town and to +force the abbey: the usual events follow, renunciations are +extorted, records and cellars are ransacked, plate and other effects +are stolen. M. de Courtivron escaping with his uncle during the +night, the alarm bell is sounded and they are pursued, and with +difficulty obtain refuge in Plombières. The bourgeoisie of +Plombières, however, for fear of compromising themselves, oblige +them to depart. On the road two hundred insurgents threaten to kill +their horses and to smash their carriage, and they only find safety +at last at Porentruy, outside of France. On his return, M. de +Courtivron is shot at by the band which has just pillaged the abbey +of Lure, and they shout out at him as he passes, "Let's massacre the +nobles!" Meanwhile, the chateau of Vauvilliers, to which his sick +wife had been carried, is devastated from top to bottom; the mob +search for her everywhere, and she only escapes by hiding herself in +a hay-loft. Both are anxious to fly into Burgundy, but word is sent +them that at Dijon "the nobles are blockaded by the people," and +that, in the country, they threaten to set their houses on fire. -- +There is no asylum to be had, either in their own homes nor in the +homes of others, nor in places along the roads, fugitives being +stopped in all the small villages and market-towns. In Dauphiny[42] +"the Abbess of St. Pierre de Lyon, one of the nuns, M. de Perrotin, +M. de Bellegarde, the Marquis de la Tour-du-Pin, and the Chevalier +de Moidieu, are arrested at Champier by the armed population, led to +the Côte Saint-André, confined in the town-hall, whence they send to +Grenoble for assistance," and, to have them released, the Grenoble +Committee is obliged to send commissioners. Their only refuge is in +the large cities, where some semblance of a precarious order exists, +and in the ranks of the City Guards, which march from Lyons, Dijon, +and Grenoble, to keep the inundation down. Throughout the country +scattered chateaux are swallowed up by the popular tide, and, as the +feudal rights are often in plebeian hands, it insensibly rises +beyond its first overflow. -- There is no limit to an insurrection +against property. This one extends from abbeys and chateaux to the +"houses of the bourgeoisie."[43] The grudge at first was confined +to the holders of charters; now it is extended to all who possess +anything. Well-to-do farmers and priests abandon their parishes and +fly to the towns. Travelers are put to ransom. Thieves, robbers, +and returned convicts, at the head of armed bands, seize whatever +they can lay their hands on. Cupidity becomes inflamed by such +examples; on domains which are deserted and in a state of confusion, +where there is nothing to indicate a master's presence, all seems to +lapse to the first comer. A small farmer of the neighborhood has +carried away wine and returns the following day in search of hay. +All the furniture of a chateau in Dauphin is removed, even to the +hinges of the doors, by a large reinforcement of carts. -- " It is +the war of the poor against the rich," says a deputy, "and, on the +3rd of August, the Committee on Reports declares to the National +Assembly "that no kind of property has been spared." In Franche- +Comté, "nearly forty chateaux and seignorial mansions have been +pillaged or burnt."[44] From Lancers to Gray about three out of +five chateaux are sacked. In Dauphin twenty-seven are burned or +destroyed; five in the small district of Viennese, and, besides +these, all the monasteries -- nine at least in Auvergne, seventy- +two, it is said, in Mâconnais and Beaujolais, without counting those +of Alsace. On the 31st of July, Lally-Tollendal, on entering the +tribune, has his hands full of letters of distress, with a list of +thirty-six chateaux burnt, demolished, or pillaged, in one province, +and the details of still worse violence against persons:[45] + + "in Languedoc, M. de Barras, cut to pieces in the presence of his +wife who is about to be confined, and who is dead in consequence; in +Normandy, a paralytic gentleman left on a burning pile and taken off +from it with his hands burnt; in Franche-Comté, Madame de Bathilly +compelled, with an ax over her head, to give up her title-deeds and +even her estate; Madame de Listenay forced to do the same, with a +pitchfork at her neck and her two daughters in a swoon at her feet; +Comte de Montjustin, with his wife, having a pistol at his throat +for three hours; and both dragged from their carriage to be thrown +into a pond, where they are saved by a passing regiment of soldiers; +Baron de Montjustin, one of the twenty-two popular noblemen, +suspended for an hour in a well, listening to a discussion whether +he shall be dropped down or whether he should die in some other way; +the Chevalier d'Ambly, torn from his chateau and dragged naked into +the village, placed on a dung-heap after having his eyebrows and all +his hair pulled out, while the crowd kept on dancing around him." + +In the midst of a disintegrated society, under the semblance only of +a government, it is manifest that an invasion is under way, an +invasion of barbarians which will complete by terror that which it +has begun by violence, and which, like the invasions of the Normans +in the tenth and eleventh centuries, ends in the conquest and +dispossession of an entire class. In vain the National Guard and +the other troops that remain loyal succeed in stemming the first +torrent; in vain does the Assembly hollow out a bed for it and +strive to bank it in by fixed boundaries. The decrees of the 4th of +August and the regulations which follow are but so many spiders' +webs stretched across a torrent. The peasants, moreover, putting +their own interpretation on the decrees, convert the new laws into +authority for continuing in their course or beginning over again. +No more rents, however legitimate, however legal! + +"Yesterday,"[46] writes a gentleman of Auvergne, we were notified +that the fruit-tithe (percières) would no longer be paid, and that +the example of other provinces was only being followed which no +longer, even by royal order, pay tithes." In Franche-Comté "numerous +communities are satisfied that they no longer owe anything either to +the King or to their lords. . . . The villages divide amongst +themselves the fields and woods belonging to the nobles." -- + + It must be noted that charter-holding and feudal titles are still +intact in three-fourths of France, that it is the interest of the +peasant to ensure their disappearance, and that he is always armed. +To secure a new outbreak of jacqueries, it is only necessary that +central control, already thrown into disorder, should be withdrawn. +This is the work of Versailles and of Paris; and there, at Paris as +well as at Versailles, some, through lack of foresight and +infatuation, and others, through blindness and indecision -- the +latter through weakness and the former through violence -- all are +laboring to accomplish it. + +____________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + +[1] Dusaulx, 374. " I remarked that if there were a few among the +people at that time who dared commit crime, there were several who +wished it, and that every one endured it." -- " Archives +Nationales," DXXIX, 3. (Letter of the municipal authorities of +Crémieu, Dauphiny, November 3, 1789.) "The care taken to lead them +first to the cellars and to intoxicate them, can alone give a +conception of the incredible excesses of rage to which they gave +themselves up in the sacking and burning of the chateaux." + +[2] Mercure de France, January 4, 1792. ("Revue politique de +l'année 1791," by Mallet du Pan.) + +[3] Albert Babeau, I. 206. (Letter of the deputy Camuzet de +Belombre, August 22, 1789.) The executive power is absolutely gone +to-day." -- Gouverneur Morris, letter of July 31, 1789: "This +country is now as near in a state of anarchy as it is possible for a +community to be without breaking up." + +[4] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of M. Amelot, July +24th; H. 784, of M. de Langeron, October 16th and 18th . -- KK. +1105. correspondence of M. de Thiard, October 7th and 30th, +September 4th. -- Floquet, VII. 527, 555. - Guadet, "Histoire +des Girondins" (July 29, 1789). + +[5] M. de Rochambeau, "Mémoires," I. 353 (July 18th). - Sauzay, +"Histoire de la Persécution Révolutionnaire dans le Département de +Doubs," I. 128 (July 19th.) -- "Archives Nationales," F7, 3253. +(Letter of the deputies of the provincial commission of Alsace, +September 8th.) D. XXIX. I. note of M. de Latour-du-Pin, October +28, 1789. - Letter of M. de Langeron, September 3rd; of Breitman, +garde-marteau, Val Saint-Amarin (Upper Alsace), July 26th. + +[6] Léonce de Lavergne, 197. (Letter of the intermediate commission +of Poitou, the last month in 1789.) -- Cf. Brissot (Le patriote +français, August, 1789). "General insubordination prevails in the +provinces because the restraints of executive power are no longer +felt. What were but lately the guarantees of that power? The +intendants, tribunals, and the army. The intendants are gone, the +tribunals are silent, and the army is against the executive power +and on the side of the people. Liberty is not a nourishment for +unprepared stomachs." + +[7] "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. I. (Letter of the clergy, +consuls, présidial-councillors and principal merchants of Puy-en- +Velay, September 16, 1789.) -- H. 1453. (letter of the Intendant +or Alençon, July 18th). "I must not leave you in ignorance of the +multiplied outbreaks we have in all parts of my jurisdiction. The +impunity with which they flatter themselves, because the judges are +afraid of irritating the people by examples of severity, only +emboldens them. Mischief-makers, confounded with honest folks, +spread false reports about particular persons whom they accuse of +concealing grain, or of not belonging to the Third-Estate, and, +under this pretext, they pillage their houses, taking whatever they +can find, the owners only avoiding death by flight." + +[8] A body of magistrates forming one of the lower tribunals.-[Tr.] + +[9] "Archives Nationales," H. 942. (Observations of M. de +Ballainvilliers, October 30, 1789.) + +[10] "Archives Nationales," D, XXIX. 1. Letter of the municipal +assembly of Louviers, the end of August, 1789. - Letter of the +communal assembly of Saint-Bris (bailiwick of Auxerre), September +25th. - Letter of the municipal officers of Ricey-Haut, near Bar- +sur-Seine, August 25th; of the Chevalier d'Allouville, September +8th. + +[11] "Archives Nationales," D, XXIX. I. Letter of M. Briand- +Delessart (Angoulême, August 1st). -- Of M. Bret, Lieutenant- +General of the provostship of Mardogne, September 5th. -- Of the +Chevalier de Castellas (Auvergue), September 15th (relating to the +night between the 2nd and 3rd of August). - Madame Campan, II. +65. + +[12] Arthur Young, "Voyages in France," July 24th and 31st, August +13th and 19th. + +[13] De Bouillé, 108. - " Archives Nationales," KK. 1105. +Correspondence of M. deThiard, September 20, 1789 (apropos of one +hundred guns given to the town of Saint-Brieuc). "They are not of +the slightest use, but this passion for arms is a temporary epidemic +which must be allowed to subside of itself. People are determined +to believe in brigands and in enemies, whereas neither exist." -- +September 25th, "Vanity alone impels them, and the pride of having +cannon is their sole motive." + +[14] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letters of M. Amelot, July +17th and 24th. "Several wealthy private persons of the town +(Auxonne) have been put to ransom by this band, of which the largest +portion consists of ruffians." - Letter of nine cultivators of +Breteuil (Picardy) July 23rd (their granaries were pillaged up to +the last grain the previous evening). "They threaten to pillage our +crops and set our barns on fire as soon as they are full. M. +Tassard, the notary, has been visited in his house by the populace, +and his life has been threatened." Letter of Moreau, Procureur du +Roi at the Senechal's Court at Bar-le-Duc, September 15, 1789, D, +XXIX, 1. "On the 27th of July the people rose and most cruelly +assassinated a merchant trading in wheat. On the 27th and 28th his +house and that of another were sacked," etc. + +[15] Chronicle of Dominick Schmutz ("Revue d'Alsace," V. III. 3rd +series. These are his own expressions: Gesindel, Lumpen-gesindel. +-- De Rochambeau, "Mémoires," I. 353. - Arthur Young (an eye- +witness), July 21st. -- Of Dampmartin (eye-witness), I. 105. M. +de Rochambeau shows the usual indecision and want of vigor: whilst +the mob are pillaging houses and throwing things out of the windows, +he passes in front of his regiments (8,000 men) drawn up for action, +and says, "My friends, my good friends, you see what is going on. +How horrible! Alas! these are your papers, your titles and those of +your parents." The soldiers smile at this sentimental prattle. + +[16] Dumouriez (an eye-witness), book III. ch. 3. - The trial +was begun and judgment given by twelve lawyers and an assessor, whom +the people, in arms, had themselves appointed. -- Hippeau, IV. +382. + +[17] Archives Nationales," F7 3248. (Letter of the mayor, M. +Poussiaude de Thierri, September 11th.) + +[18] Floquet, VII. 551. + +[19] De Goncourt, "La Société française pendant la Révolution," 37. + +[20] "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. 1. Letter of the officers of +the bailiwick of Dôle, August 24th. - Sauzay I. 128. + +[21] There is a similar occurrence at Strasbourg, a few days after +the sacking of the town-hall. The municipality having given each +man of the garrison twenty sous, the soldiers abandon their post, +set the prisoners free at the Pont-Couvert, feast publicly in the +streets with the women taken out of the penitentiary, and force +innkeepers and the keepers of drinking-places to give up their +provisions. The shops are all closed, and, for twenty-four hours, +the officers are not obeyed. (De Dampmartin, I. 105.) + +[22] Albert Babeau, I. 187-273. -- Moniteur, II. 379. (Extract +from the provost's verdict of November 27, 1789.) + +[23] Moniteur, ibid. Picard, the principal murderer, confessed +"that he had made him suffer a great deal; that the said sieur Huez +did not die until they came near the Chaudron Inn ; that he +nevertheless intended to make him suffer more by stabbing him in the +neck at the corner of each street, (and) by contriving it so that he +might do it often, as long as there was life in him; that the day on +which M. Huez died yielded him ten francs, together with the neck- +buckle of M. Hues, found on him when he was arrested in his flight." + +[24] Mercure de France, , September 26, 1789. Letters of the +officers of the Bourbon regiment and of members of the general +committee of Caen. - Floquet, VII. 545. + +[25] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. - Ibid. D. XXIX. I. +Note of M. de la Tour-du-Pin, October 28th. + +[26] Decree, February 5, 1789, enforced May 1st following. + +[27] "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. I. Letter of the count de +Montausier, August 8th, with notes by M. Paulian, director of the +excise (an admirable letter, modest and liberal, and ending by +demanding a pardon for people led astray). -- H. 1453. Letter of +the attorney of the election district of Falaise, July 17th, etc. - +- Moniteur, I. 303, 387, 505 (sessions of August 7th and 27th and +of September 23rd). "The royal revenues are diminishing steadily." +-- Buchez and Roux, III. 219 (session of October 24, 1789). +Discourse of a deputation from Anjou: "Sixty thousand men are armed; +the barriers have been destroyed, the clerks' horses have been sold +by auction; the employees have been told to withdraw from the +province within eight days. The inhabitants have declared that they +will not pay taxes so long as the salt-tax exists. + +[28] "Archives Nationales,"F7 3253 (Letter of September 8, 1789). + +[29] Arthur Young, September 30th. "It is being said that every +rusty gun in Provence is at work, killing all sorts of birds; the +shot has fallen five or six times in my chaise and about my ears." - +- Beugnot, I.142. - "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. I. Letter +of the Chevalier d'Allonville, September 8, 1789 (Near Bar-sur- +Aube). "The peasants go in armed bands into the woods belonging to +the Abbey of Trois-Fontaines, which they cut down. They saw up the +oaks and transport them on wagons to Pont-Saint-Dizier, where they +sell them. In other places they fish in the ponds and break the +embankments." + +[30] "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. 1. Letter of the assessor of +the police of Saint-Flour, October 3, 1789. On the 31st of July, a +rumor is spread that the brigands are coming. On the 1st of August +the peasants arm themselves. "They amuse themselves by drinking, +awaiting the arrival of the brigands; the excitement increases to +such an extent as to make them believe that M. le Comte d'Espinchal +had arrived in disguise the evening before at Massiac, that he was +the author of the troubles disturbing the province at this time, and +that he was concealed in his chateau." On the strength of this shots +are fired into the windows, and there are searches, etc. + +[31] "Archives Nationales," D, XXIX, I, Letter of Etienne Fermier, +Naveinne, September 18th (it is possible that the author, for the +sake of caution, took a fictitious name). - The manuscript +correspondence of M. Boullé, deputy of Pontivy, to his constituents, +is a type of this declamatory and incendiary writing. - Letter of +the consuls, priests, and merchants of Puy-en-Velay, September 16th. +- " The Ancient Régime," p. 396. + +[32] "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. 1. Letter of M. Despretz- +Montpezat, a former artillery officer, July 24th (with several other +signatures). On the same day the alarm bell is sounded In fifty +villages on the rumor spreading that 7,000 brigands, English and +Breton, were invading the country. + +[33] "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. I. Letter of Briand- +Delessart, August 1st (domiciliary visits to the Carmelites of +Angoulême where it is pretended that Mme. de Polignac has just +arrived. - Beugnot, I. 140. -- Arthur Young, July 20th, etc. - +Buchez and Roux, IV. 166. Letter of Mamers, July 24th; of Mans, +July 26th. + +[34] Montjoie, ch. LXXII, p. 93 (according to acts of legal +procedure). There was a soldier in the band who had served under M. +de Montesson and who wanted to avenge himself for the punishments he +had undergone in the regiment. + +[35] Mercure de France, August 20th (Letter from Vésoul, August +13th). + +[36] M. de Memmay proved his innocence later on, and was +rehabilitated by a public decision after two years' proceedings +(session of June 4, 1791; Mercure of June 11th). + +[37] Journal des Débats et Décrets, I. 258. (Letter of the +municipality of Vésoul, July 22nd. -- Discourse of M. de +Toulougeon, July 29th.) + +[38] De Rochambeau, "Mémoires," I. 353. -- "Archives Nationales," +F7, 3253. (Letter of M. de Rochamheau, August 4th.) -- Chronicle +of Schmutz (ibid. ), p. 284. "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. I. +(Letter of Mme. Ferrette, of Remiremont, August 9th.) + +[39] Sauzay, I. 180. (Letters of monks, July 22nd and 26th.) + +[40] "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. I. (Letter of M. de +Bergeron, attorney to the présidial of Valence, August 28th, with +the details of the verdict stated.) Official report of the militia +of Lyons, sent to the president of the National Assembly, August +10th. (Expedition to Serrière, in Dauphiny, July 31st.) + +[41] Letter of the Count of Courtivron, deputy substitute (an eye- +witness). -- "Archives Nationales," D. XXIX. I. Letter of the +municipal officers of Crémieu (Dauphiny), November 3rd. Letter of +the Vicomte de Carbonnière (Auvergne), August 3rd. -- Arthur Young, +July 30th (Dijon) says, apropos of a noble family which escaped +almost naked from its burning chateau, " they were esteemed by the +neighbors; their virtues ought to have commanded the love of the +poor, for whose resentment there was no cause." + +[42] "Archives Nationales," XXIX. I. (Letter of the commission of +the States of Dauphiny, July 31st.) + +[43] "Désastres du Mâconnais," by Puthod de la Maison-Rouge (August, +1789). "Ravages du Mâconnais." -- Arthur Young, July 27th. - +Buchez and Roux, IV. 215, 214. -- Mercure de France, September 12, +1789. (Letter by a volunteer of Orleans.) "On the 15th of August, +eighty-eight ruffians, calling themselves reapers, present +themselves at Bascon, in Beauce, and, the next day, at a chateau in +the neighborhood, where they demand within an hour the head of the +son of the lord of the manor, M. Tassin, who can only redeem himself +by a contribution of 1,600 livres and the pillaging of his cellars. + +[44] Letter of the Count de Courtivron. - Arthur Young, July 31st. +- Buchez and Roux, II. 243. - Mercure de France, August 15, 1789 +(sitting of the 8th, discourse of a deputy from Dauphiné.) -- +Mermet, "Histoire de la Ville de Vienne," 445 -- " Archives +Nationales," ibid. (Letter of the commission of the States of +Dauphiny, July 31st.) -- "The list of burnt or devastated chateaux +is immense." The committee already cites sixteen of them. -- +Puthod de la Maison-Rouge, ibid. : "Were all devastated places to +be mentioned, it would be necessary to cite the whole province " +(Letter from Mâcon). "They have not the less destroyed most of the +chateaux and bourgeois dwellings, either burning them and or else +tearing them down." + +[45] Lally-Tollendal, "Second Letter to my Constituents," 104. + +[46] Doniol, "La Révolution et la Féodalité," p.60 (a few days after +the 4th of August). - "Archives Nationales," H. 784. Letters of +M. de Langeron, military commander at Besançon, October 16th and +18th . -- Ibid. , D. XXIX. I. Letter of the same, September +3rd.-- Arthur Young (in Provence, at the house of Baron de la Tour- +d'Aignes). "The baron is an enormous sufferer by the Revolution; a +great extent of country which belonged in absolute right to his +ancestors, has been granted for quit-rents, ceus, and other feudal +payments, so that there is no comparison between the lands retained +and those thus granted by his family. . . . The solid payments +which the Assembly have declared to be redeemable are every hour +falling to nothing, without a shadow of recompense . . . The +situation of the nobility in this country is pitiable; they are +under apprehensions that nothing will be left them, but simply such +houses as the mob allows to stand unburned; that the small farmers +will retain their farms without paying the landlord his half of the +produce; and that, in case of such a refusal, there is actually +neither law nor authority in the country to prevent it. This +chateau, splendid even in ruins, with the fortune and lives of the +owners, is at the mercy of an armed rabble." + + +CHAPTER IV. PARIS. + +I. + +Paris. -- Powerlessness and discords of the authorities. -- The +people, king. + +THE powerlessness, indeed, of the heads of the Government, and the +lack of discipline among all its subordinates, are much greater in +the capital than in the provinces. -- Paris possesses a mayor, +Bailly; but "from the first day, and in the easiest manner +possible,"[1] his municipal council, that is to say, "the assembly +of the representatives of the commune, has accustomed itself to +carry on the government alone, overlooking him entirely." There is a +central administration, the municipal council, presided over by the +mayor; but, "at this time, authority is everywhere except where the +preponderating authority should be; the districts have delegated it +and at the same time retained it;" each of them acts as if it were +alone and supreme. -- There are secondary powers, the district- +committees, each with its president, its clerk, its offices, and +commissioners; but the mobs of the street march on without awaiting +their orders; while the people, shouting under their" windows, +impose their will on them; -- in short, says Bailly again, +"everybody knew how to command, but nobody knew how to obey." + +"Imagine," writes Loustalot[2] himself; "a man whose feet, hands, +and limbs possessed each its own intelligence and will, whose one +leg would wish to walk when the other one wanted to rest, whose +throat would close when the stomach demanded food, whose mouth would +sing when the eyelids were weighed down with sleep; and you will +have a striking picture of the condition of things in the capital" + +There are "sixty Republics"[3] in Paris; each district is an +independent, isolated power, which receives no order without +criticizing it, always in disagreement and often in conflict with +the central authority or with the other districts. It receives +denunciations, orders domiciliary visits, sends deputations to the +National Assembly, passes resolutions, posts its bills, not only in +its own quarter but throughout the city, and sometimes even extends +its jurisdiction outside of Paris. Everything comes within its +province, and particularly that which ought not to do so. -- On the +18th of July, the district of Petits-Augustins[4] "decrees in its +own name the establishment of justices of the peace," under the +title of tribunes, and proceeds at once to elect its own, nominating +the actor Molé. On the 30th, that of the Oratoire annuls the +amnesty which the representatives of the commune in the Hôtel-de- +Ville had granted, and orders two of its members to go to a distance +of thirty leagues to arrest M. de Bezenval. On the 19th of August, +that of Nazareth issues commissions to seize and bring to Paris the +arms deposited in strong places. From the beginning each assembly +sent to the Arsenal in its own name, and "obtained as many +cartridges and as much powder as it desired." Others claim the right +of keeping a watchful eye over the Hôtel-de-Ville and of +reprimanding the National Assembly. The Oratoire decides that the +representatives of the commune shall be invited to deliberate in +public. Saint-Nicholas des Champs deliberates on the veto and begs +the Assembly to suspend its vote. -- It is a strange spectacle, +that of these various authorities each contradicting and destroying +the other. To-day the Hôtel-de-Ville appropriates five loads of +cloth which have been dispatched by the Government, and the district +of Saint-Gervais opposes the decision of the Hôtel-de-Ville. To- +morrow Versailles intercepts grain destined for Paris, while Paris +threatens, if it is not restored, to march on Versailles. I omit +the incidents that are ridiculous:[5] anarchy in its essence is both +tragic and grotesque, and, in this universal breaking up of things, +the capital, like the kingdom, resembles a bear-garden when it does +not resemble a Babel. + +But behind all these discordant authorities the real sovereign, who +is the mob, is very soon apparent. -- On the 15th of July it +undertakes the demolition of the Bastille of its own accord, and +this popular act is sanctioned ; for it is necessary that +appearances should be kept up; even to give orders after the blow is +dealt, and to follow when it is impossible to lead.[6] A short time +after this the collection of the octroi at the barriers is ordered +to be resumed; forty armed individuals, however, present themselves +in their district and say, that if guards are placed at the octroi +stations, "they will resist force with force, and even make use of +their cannon." -- On the false rumor that arms are concealed in the +Abbey of Montmartre, the abbess, Madame de Montmorency, is accused +of treachery, and twenty thousand persons invade the monastery. -- +The commander of the National Guard and the mayor are constantly +expecting a riot; they hardly dare absent themselves a day to attend +the King fête at Versailles. As soon as the multitude can assemble +in the streets, an explosion is imminent. "On rainy days," says +Bailly, "I was quite at my ease." -- It is under this constant +pressure that the Government is carried on; and the elect of the +people, the most esteemed magistrates, those who are in best repute, +are at the mercy of the throng who clamor at their doors. In the +district of St. Roch,[7] after many useless refusals, the General +Assembly, notwithstanding all the reproaches of its conscience and +the resistance of its reason, is obliged to open letters addressed +to Monsieur, to the Duke of Orleans, and to the Ministers of War, of +Foreign Affairs, and of the Marine. In the committee on +subsistence, M. Serreau, who is indispensable and who is confirmed +by a public proclamation, is denounced, threatened, and constrained +to leave Paris. M. de la Salle, one of the strongest patriots among +the nobles, is on the point of being murdered for having signed an +order for the transport of gunpowder;[8] the multitude, in pursuit +of him, attach a rope to the nearest street-lamp, ransack the Hôtel- +de-Ville, force every door, mount into the belfry, and seek for the +traitor even under the carpet of the bureau and between the legs of +the electors, and are only stayed in their course by the arrival of +the National Guard. + +The people not only sentence but they execute, and, as is always the +case, blindly. At Saint-Denis, Chatel, the mayor's lieutenant, +whose duty it is to distribute flour, had reduced the price of bread +at his own expense: on the 3rd of August his house is forced open at +two o'clock in the morning, and he takes refuge in a steeple; the +mob follow him, cut his throat and drag his head along the streets. +-- Not only do the people execute, but they pardon -- and with equal +discernment. On the 11th of August, at Versailles, as a parricide +is about to be broken on the wheel, the crowd demand his release, +fly at the executioner, and set the man free.[9] Veritably this is +sovereign power like that of the oriental sovereign who arbitrarily +awards life or death! A woman who protests against this scandalous +pardon is seized and comes near being hung; for the new monarch +considers as a crime whatever is offensive to his new majesty. +Again, he receives public and humble homage. The Prime Minister, on +imploring the pardon of M. de Bezenval at the Hôtel-de-Ville, in the +presence of the electors and of the public, has put it in +appropriate words: + + "It is before the most unknown, the obscurest citizen of Paris that +I prostrate myself; at whose feet I kneel." + +A few days before this, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and at Poissy, the +deputies of the National Assembly not only kneel down in words, but +actually, and for a long time, on the pavement in the street, and +stretch forth their hands, weeping, to save two lives of which only +one is granted to them. - Behold the monarch by these brilliant +signs! Already do the young, who are eager imitators of all actions +that are in fashion, ape them in miniature; during the month which +follows the murder of Berthier and Foulon, Bailly is informed that +the gamins in the streets are parading about with the heads of two +cats stuck on the ends of two poles.[10] + + II. . + +The distress of the people. - The dearth and the lack of work. - +How men of executive ability are recruited. + +A pitiable monarch, whose recognized sovereignty leaves him more +miserable than he was before! Bread is always scarce, and before the +baker's doors the row of waiting people does not diminish. In vain +Bailly passes his nights with the committee on supplies; they are +always in a state of terrible anxiety. Every morning for two months +there is only one or two days' supply of flour, and often, in the +evening, there is not enough for the following morning.[11] The +life of the capital depends on a convoy which is ten, fifteen, +twenty leagues off; and which may never arrive: one convoy of twenty +carts is pillaged on the 18th of July, on the Rouen road; another, +on the 4th of August, in the vicinity of Louviers. Were it not for +Salis' Swiss regiment, which, from the 14th of July to the end of +September, marches day and night as an escort, not a boat-load of +grain would reach Paris from Rouen.[12] -- The commissaries charged +with making purchases or with supervising the expeditions are in +danger of their lives. Those who are sent to provinces are seized, +and a column of four hundred men with cannon has to be dispatched to +deliver them. The one who is sent to Rouen learns that he will be +hung if he dares to enter the place. At Mantes a mob surrounds his +cabriolet, the people regarding whoever comes there for the purpose +of carrying away grain as a public pest; he escapes with difficulty +out of a back door and returns on foot to Paris. -- From the very +beginning, according to a universal rule, the fear of a short supply +helps to augment the famine. Every one lays in a stock for several +days; on one occasion sixteen loaves of four pounds each are found +in an old woman's garret. The bakings, consequently, which are +estimated according to the quantity needed for a single day, become +inadequate, and the last of those who wait at the bakers' shops for +bread return home empty-handed. -- On the other hand the +appropriations made by the city and the State to diminish the price +of bread simply serve to lengthen the rows of those who wait for it; +the countrymen flock in thither, and return home loaded to their +villages. At Saint-Denis, bread having been reduced to two sous the +pound, none is left for the inhabitants. To this constant anxiety +add that of unemployment. Not only is there no certainty of there +being bread at the bakers' during the coming week, but many know +that they will not have money in the coming week with which to buy +bread. Now that security has disappeared and the rights of property +are shaken, work is wanting. The rich, deprived of their feudal +dues, and, in addition thereto of their rents, have reduced their +expenditure; many of them, threatened by the committee of +investigation, exposed to domiciliary visits, and liable to be +informed against by their servants, have emigrated. In the month of +September M. Necker laments the delivery of six thousand passports +in fifteen days to the wealthiest inhabitants. In the month of +October ladies of high rank, refugees in Rome, send word that their +domestics should be discharged and their daughters placed in +convents. Before the end of 1789 there are so many fugitives in +Switzerland that a house, it is said, brings in more rent than it is +worth as capital. With this first emigration, which is that of the +chief spendthrifts, the Count d'Artois, Prince de Conti, Duc de +Bourbon, and so many others, the opulent foreigners have left, and, +at the head of them, the Duchesse de l'Infantado, who spent 800,000 +livres a year. There are only three Englishmen in Paris. + +It used to be a city of luxury, it was the European hot-house of +costly and refined pleasures, but once the glass was broken then the +delicate plants perish, their lovers leave, and there is no +employment now for the innumerable hands which cultivated them. +Fortunate are they who at the relief works obtain a miserable sum by +handling a pick-axe! "I saw," says Bailly, "mercers, jewellers, and +merchants implore the favor of being employed at twenty sous the +day." Enumerate, if you can, in one or two recognized callings, the +hands which are doing nothing:[13] 1,200 hair-dressers keep about +6,000 journeymen; 2,000 others follow the same calling in private- +houses; 6,000 lackeys do but little else than this work. The body +of tailors is composed of 2,800 masters, who have under them 5,000 +workmen. "Add to these the number privately employed -- the +refugees in privileged places like the abbeys of Saint-Germain and +Saint-Marcel, the vast enclosure of the Temple, that of Saint-John +the Lateran, and the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and you will find at +least 12,000 persons cutting, fitting, and sewing." How many in +these two groups are now idle! How many others are walking the +streets, such as upholsterers, lace-makers, embroiderers, fan- +makers, gilders, carnage-makers, binders, engravers, and all the +other producers of Parisian nick-nacks! For those who are still at +work how many days are lost at the doors of bakers' shops and in +patrolling as National Guards! Gatherings are formed in spite of the +prohibitions of the Hôtel-de-Ville,[14] and the crowd openly discuss +their miserable condition: 3,000 journeymen-tailors near the +Colonnade, as many journeymen-shoemakers in the Place Louis XV., the +journeymen-hairdressers in the Champs-Elysees, 4,000 domestics +without places on the approaches to the Louvre, -- and their +propositions are on a level with their intelligence. Servants +demand the expulsion from Paris of the Savoyards who enter into +competition with them. Journeymen-tailors demand that a day's wages +be fixed at forty sous, and that the old-clothes dealers shall not +be allowed to make new ones. The journeymen-shoemakers declare that +those who make shoes below the fixed price shall be driven out of +the kingdom. Each of these irritated and agitated crowds contains +the germ of an outbreak -- and, in truth, these germs are found on +every pavement in Paris: at the relief works, which at Montmartre +collect 17,000 paupers; in the Market, where the bakers want to hang +the flour commissioners, and at the doors of the bakers, of whom +two, on the 14th of September and on the 5th of October, are +conducted to the lamp post and barely escape with their lives. -- In +this suffering, mendicant crowd, enterprising men become more +numerous every day: they consist of deserters, and from every +regiment; they reach Paris in bands, often 250 in one day. There, +"caressed and fed to the top of their bent,"[15] having received +from the National Assembly 50 livres each, maintained by the King in +the enjoyment of their advance-money, entertained by the districts, +of which one alone incurs a debt of 14,000 livres for wine and +sausages furnished to them, "they accustom themselves to greater +expense," to greater license, and are followed by their companions. +"During the night of the 31st of July the French Guards on duty at +Versailles abandon the custody of the King and betake themselves to +Paris, without their officers, but with their arms and baggage," +that "they may take part in the cheer which the city of Paris +extends to their regiment." At the beginning of September, 16,000 +deserters of this stamp are counted.[16] Now, among those who +commit murder these are in the first rank; and this is not +surprising when we take the least account of their antecedents, +education, and habits. It was a soldier of the "Royal Croat" who +tore out the heart of Berthier. They were three soldiers of the +regiment of Provence who forced the house of Chatel at Saint-Denis, +and dragged his head through the streets. It is Swiss soldiers who, +at Passy, knock down the commissioners of police with their guns. +Their headquarters are at the Palais-Royal, amongst women whose +instruments they are, and amongst agitators from whom they receive +the word of command. Henceforth, all depends on this word, and we +have only to contemplate the new popular leaders to know what it +will be. + + +III. + +The new popular leaders.- Their ascendancy .- Their education. - +Their sentiments.- Their situation. - Their councils. - Their +denunciations. - + +Administrators and members of district assemblies, agitators of +barracks, coffee-houses, clubs and public thoroughfares, writers of +pamphlets, penny-a-liners are multiplying as fast as buzzing insects +are hatched on a sultry night. After the 14th of July thousands of +jobs have become available for released ambitions; "attorneys, +notaries' clerks, artists, merchants, shopkeepers, comedians and +especially advocates;[17] each wants to be either an officer, a +director, a councillor, or a minister of the new reign; while +journals, which are established by dozens,[18] form a permanent +tribune, where speakers come to court the people to their personal +advantage." Philosophy, fallen into such hands, seems to parody +itself; and nothing equals its emptiness, unless it be its +mischievousness and success. Lawyers, in the sixty assembly +districts, roll out the high-sounding dogmas of the revolutionary +catechism. This or that one, passing from the question of a party +wall to the constitution of empires, becomes the improvised +legislator, so much the more inexhaustible and the more applauded as +his flow of words, showered upon his hearers, proves to them that +every capacity and every right are naturally and legitimately +theirs. + + "When that man opened his mouth," says a cold-blooded witness, "we +were sure of being inundated with quotations and maxims, often +apropos of street lamp posts, or of the stall of a herb-dealer. His +stentorian voice made the vaults ring; and after he had spoken for +two hours, and his breath was completely exhausted, the admiring and +enthusiastic shouts which greeted him amounted almost to frenzy. +Thus the orator fancied himself a Mirabeau, while the spectators +imagined themselves the Constituent Assembly, deciding the fate of +France." + +The journals and pamphlets are written in the same style. Every +brain is filled with the fumes of conceit and of big words; the +leader of the crowd is he who raves the most, and he guides the wild +enthusiasm which he increases. + +Let us consider the most popular of these chiefs ; they are the +green or the dry fruit of literature, and of the bar. The newspaper +is the stall which every morning offers them for sale, and if they +suit the overexcited public it is simply owing to their acid or +bitter flavor. Their empty, unpracticed minds are wholly void of +political conceptions; they have no capacity or practical +experience. Desmoulins is twenty-nine years of age, Loustalot +twenty-seven, and their intellectual ballast consists of college +reminiscences, souvenirs of the law schools, and the common-places +picked up in the houses of Raynal and his associates. As to Brissot +and Marat, who are ostentatious humanitarians, their knowledge of +France and of foreign countries consists in what they have seen +through the dormer windows of their garrets, and through utopian +spectacles. In minds like these, empty or led astray, the Contrat- +Social could not fail to become a gospel; for it reduces political +science to a strict application of an elementary axiom which +relieves them of all study, and hands society over to the caprice of +the people, or, in other words, delivers it into their own hands. - +- Hence they demolish all that remains of social institutions, and +push on equalization until everything is brought down to the same +level. + + "With my principles," writes Desmoulins,[19] "is associated the +satisfaction of putting myself where I belong, of showing my +strength to those who have despised me, of lowering to my level all +whom fortune has placed above me: my motto is that of all honest +people: 'No superiors!'" + +Thus, under the great name of Liberty, each vain spirit seeks its +revenge and finds its nourishment. What is sweeter and more natural +than to justify passion by theory, to be factious in the belief that +this is patriotism, and to cloak the interests of ambition with the +interests of humanity? + +Let us picture to ourselves these directors of public opinion as +they were three months earlier: Desmoulins, a briefless barrister, +living in furnished lodgings with petty debts, and on a few louis +extracted from his relations. Loustalot, still more unknown, was +admitted the previous year to the Parliament of Bordeaux, and has +landed at Paris in search of a career. Danton, another second-rate +lawyer, coming out of a hovel in Champagne, borrowed the money to +pay his expenses, while his stinted household is kept up only by +means of a louis which is given to him weekly by his father-in-law, +who is a coffee-house keeper. Brissot, a strolling Bohemian, +formerly employee of literary pirates, has roamed over the world for +fifteen years, without bringing back with him either from England or +America anything but a coat out at elbows and false ideas; and, +finally, Marat; a writer that has been hissed, an abortive scholar +and philosopher, a misrepresenter of his own experiences, caught by +the natural philosopher Charles in the act of committing a +scientific fraud, and fallen from the top of his inordinate ambition +to the subordinate post of doctor in the stables of the Comte +d'Artois. -- At the present time, Danton, President of the +Cordeliers, can arrest any one he pleases in his district, and his +violent gestures and thundering voice secure to him, till something +better turns up, the government of his section of the city. A word +of Marat's has just caused Major Belzunce at Caen to be +assassinated. Desmoulins announces, with a smile of triumph, that +"a large section of the capital regards him as one among the +principal instigators of the Revolution, and that many even go so +far as to say that he is the author of it." Is it to be supposed +that, borne so high by such a sudden jerk of fortune, they wish to +put on the drag and again descend? and is it not clear that they +will aid with all their might the revolt which hoists them towards +the loftiest summits? -- Moreover, the brain reels at a height like +this ; suddenly launched in the air and feeling as if everything was +tottering around them, they utter exclamations of indignation and +terror, they see plots on all sides, imagine invisible cords pulling +in an opposite direction, and they call upon the people to cut them. +With the full weight of their inexperience, incapacity, and +improvidence, of their fears, credulity, and dogmatic obstinacy, +they urge on popular attacks, and their newspaper articles or +discourses are all summed up in the following phrases: + +"Fellow-citizens, you, the people of the lower class, you who listen +to me, you have enemies in the Court and the aristocracy. The +Hôtel-de-Ville and the National Assembly are your servants. Seize +your enemies with a strong hand, and hang them, and let your +servants know that they must quicken their steps!" + +Desmoulins styles himself "District-attorney of the gallows,"[20] +and if he at all regrets the murders of Foulon and Berthier, it is +because this too expeditious judgment has allowed the proofs of +conspiracy to perish, thereby saving a number of traitors: he +himself mentions twenty of them haphazard, and little does he care +whether he makes mistakes. + + "We are in the dark, and it is well that faithful dogs should bark, +even at all who pass by, so that there may be no fear of robbers." + +>From this time forth Marat[21] denounces the King, the ministers, +the administration, the bench, the bar, the financial system and the +academies, all as "suspicious;" at all events the people only suffer +on their account. + + "The Government is monopolizing grain, to make us to pay through + the nose for a poisonous bread." + +The Government, again, through a new conspiracy is about to blockade +Paris, so as to starve it with greater ease. Utterances of this +kind, at such a time, are firebrands thrown upon fear and hunger to +kindle the flames of rage and cruelty. To this frightened and +fasting crowd the agitators and newspaper writers continue to repeat +that it must act, and act alongside of the authorities, and, if need +be, against them. In other words, We will do as we please; we are +the sole legitimate masters; + +"in a well-constituted government, the people as a body are the real +sovereign: our delegates are appointed only to execute our orders ; +what right has the clay to rebel against the potter?" + +On the strength of such principles, the tumultuous club which +occupies the Palais-Royal substitutes itself for the Assembly at +Versailles. Has it not all the titles for this office? The Palais- +Royal "saved the nation" on the 12th and 13th of July. The Palais- +Royal, "through its spokesmen and pamphlets," has made everybody and +even the soldiers "philosophers." It is the house of patriotism, +"the rendezvous of the select among the patriotic," whether +provincials or Parisians, of all who possess the right of suffrage, +and who cannot or will not exercise it in their own district. "It +saves time to come to the Palais-Royal. There is no need there of +appealing to the President for the right to speak, or to wait one's +time for a couple of hours. The orator proposes his motion, and, if +it finds supporters, mounts a chair. If he is applauded, it is put +into proper shape. If he is hissed, he goes away. This was the way +of the Romans." Behold the veritable National Assembly ! It is +superior to the other semi-feudal affair, encumbered with "six +hundred deputies of the clergy and nobility," who are so many +intruders and who "should be sent out into the galleries." -- Hence +the pure Assembly rules the impure Assembly, and "the Café Foy lays +claim to the government of France." + + IV. + +Intervention by the popular leaders with the Government. - Their +pressure on the Assembly. + +On the 30th of July, the harlequin who led the insurrection at Rouen +having been arrested, "it is openly proposed at the Palais Royal[22] +to go in a body and demand his release." -- On the 1st of August, +Thouret, whom the moderate party of the Assembly have just made +President, is obliged to resign; the Palais-Royal threatens to send +a band and murder him along with those who voted for him, and lists +of proscriptions, in which several of the deputies are inscribed, +begin to be circulated. -- From this time forth, on all great +questions-the abolition of the feudal system, the suppression of +tithes, a declaration of the rights of man, the dispute about the +Chambers, the King's power of veto,[23] the pressure from without +inclines the balance: in this way the Declaration of Rights, which +is rejected in secret session by twenty-eight bureaus out of thirty, +is forced through by the tribunes in a public sitting and passed by +a majority. -- Just as before the 14th of July, and to a still +greater extent, two kinds of compulsion influence the votes, and it +is always the ruling faction which employs both its hands to +throttle its opponents. On the one hand this faction takes post on +the galleries in knots composed nearly always of the same persons, +"five or six hundred permanent actors," who yell according to +understood signals and at the word of command.[24] Many of these +are French Guards, in civilian clothes, and who relieve each other: +previously they have asked of their favorite deputy "at what hour +they must come, whether all goes on well, and whether he is +satisfied with those fools of parsons (calotins) and the +aristocrats." Others consist of low women under the command of +Théroigne de Méricourt, a virago courtesan, who assigns them their +positions and gives them the signal for hooting or for applause. +Publicly and in full session, on the occasion of the debate on the +veto, "the deputies are applauded or insulted by the galleries +according as they utter the word 'suspensive,' or the word +'indefinite.' " "Threats," (says one of them) "circulated; I heard +them on all sides around me." These threats are repeated on going +out: "Valets dismissed by their masters, deserters, and women in +rags," threaten the refractory with the lamp post, "and thrust their +fists in their faces. In the hall itself, and much more accurately +than before the 14th of July, their names are taken down, and the +lists, handed over to the populace," travel to the Palais-Royal, +from where they are dispatched in correspondence and in newspapers +to the provinces.[25] - Thus we see the second means of +compulsion; each deputy is answerable for his vote, at Paris, with +his own life, and, in the province, with those of his family. +Members of the former Third-Estate avow that they abandon the idea +of two Chambers, because "they are not disposed to get their wives' +and children's throats cut." On the 30th of August, Saint-Hurugue, +the most noisy of the Palais-Royal barkers, marches off to +Versailles, at the head of 1,500 men, to complete the conversion of +the Assembly. This garden club indeed, from the heights of its +great learning, integrity, and immaculate reputation, decides that +the ignorant, corrupt, and doubtful deputies must be got rid of." +That they are such cannot be questioned, because they defend the +royal sanction; there are over 600 and more, 120 are deputies of the +communes, who must be expelled to begin with, and then must be +brought to judgment.[26] In the meantime they are informed, as well +as the Bishop of Langres, President of the National Assembly, that +"15,000 men are ready to light up their chateaux and in particular +yours, sir." To avoid all mistake, the secretaries of the Assembly +are informed in writing that " 2,000 letters" will be sent into the +provinces to denounce to the people the conduct of the malignant +deputies: "Your houses are held as a surety for your opinions: keep +this in mind, and save yourselves !" At last, on the morning of the +1st of August, five deputations from the Palais-Royal, one of them +led by Loustalot, march in turn to the Hôtel-de-Ville, insisting +that the drums should be beaten and the citizens be called together +for the purpose of changing the deputies, or their instructions, and +of ordering the National Assembly to suspend its discussion on the +veto until the districts and provinces could give expression to +their will: the people, in effect, alone being sovereign, and alone +competent, always has the right to dismiss or instruct anew its +servants, the deputies. On the following day, August 2nd, to make +matters plainer, new delegates from the same Palais-Royal suit +gestures to words; they place two fingers on their throats, on being +introduced before the representatives of the commune, as a hint +that, if the latter do not obey, they will be hung. + +After this it is vain for the National Assembly to make any show of +indignation, to declare that it despises threats, and to protest its +independence; the impression is already produced. "More than 300 +members of the communes," says Mounier, "had decided to support the +absolute veto." At the end of ten days most of these had gone over, +several of them through attachment to the King, because they were +afraid of "a general uprising," and "were not willing to jeopardize +the lives of the royal family." But concessions like these only +provoke fresh extortions. The politicians of the street now know by +experience the effect of brutal violence on legal authority. +Emboldened by success and by impunity, they reckon up their strength +and the weakness of the latter. One blow more, and they are +undisputed masters. Besides, the issue is already apparent to +clear-sighted men. When the agitators of the public thoroughfares, +and the porters at the street-corners, convinced of their superior +wisdom, impose decrees by the strength of their lungs, of their +fists, and of their pikes, at that moment experience, knowledge, +good sense, cool-blood, genius, and judgment, disappear from human +affairs, and things revert back to chaos. Mirabeau, in favor of the +veto for life, saw the crowd imploring him with tears in their eyes +to change his opinion : + + "Monsieur le Comte, if the King obtains this veto, what will be the +use of a National Assembly? We shall all be slaves "[27] + +Outbursts of this description are not to be resisted, and all is +lost. Already, near the end of September, the remark applies which +Mirabeau makes to the Comte de la Marck: + +"Yes, all is lost; the King and Queen will be swept away, and you +will see the populace trampling on their lifeless bodies." + +Eight days after this, on the 5th and 6th of October, it breaks out +against both King and Queen, against the National Assembly and the +Government, against all government present and to come; the violent +party which rules in Paris obtains possession of the chiefs of +France to hold them under strict surveillance, and to justify its +intermittent outrages by one permanent outrage. + + V. + +The 5th and 6th of October. + +Once more, two different currents combine into one torrent to hurry +the crowd onward to a common end. -- On the one hand are the +cravings of the stomach, and women excited by the famine: + +"Now that bread cannot be had in Paris, let us go to Versailles and +demand it there; once we have the King, Queen, and Dauphin in the +midst of us, they will be obliged to feed us;" we will bring back +"the Baker, the Bakeress, and the Baker's boy." + + -- On the other hand, there is fanaticism, and men who are pushed +on by the need to dominate. + + "Now that our chiefs yonder disobey us, -- let us go and make them +obey us forthwith; the King is quibbling over the Constitution and +the Rights of Man -- make him approve them ; his guards refuse to +wear our cockade -- make them accept it; they want to carry him off +to Metz -- make him come to Paris, here, under our eyes and in our +hands, he, and the lame Assembly too, will march straight on, and +quickly, whether they like it or not, and always on the right road." + +-- Under this confluence of ideas the expedition is arranged.[28] +Ten days before this, it is publicly alluded to at Versailles. On +the 4th of October, at Paris, a woman proposes it at the Palais- +Royal; Danton roars at the Cordeliers; Marat, "alone, makes as much +noise as the four trumpets on the Day of Judgment." Loustalot writes +that a second revolutionary paroxysm is necessary." "The day +passes," says Desmoulins, "in holding councils at the Palais-Royal, +and in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, on the ends of the bridges, and +on the quays... in pulling off the cockades of but one color.... +These are torn off and trampled under foot with threats of the lamp +post, in case of fresh offense; a soldier who is trying to refasten +his, changes his mind on seeing a hundred sticks raised against +him."[29] These are the premonitory symptoms of a crisis; a huge +ulcer has formed in this feverish, suffering body, and it is about +to break. + +But, as is usually the case, it is a purulent concentration of the +most poisonous passions and the foulest motives. The vilest of men +and women were engaged in it. Money was freely distributed. Was it +done by intriguing subalterns who, playing upon the aspirations of +the Duke of Orleans, extracted millions from him under the pretext +of making him lieutenant-general of the kingdom? Or is it due to the +fanatics who, from the end of April, clubbed together to debauch the +soldiery, and stir up a body of ruffians for the purpose of leveling +and destroying everything around them?[30] There are always +Machiavellis of the highways and of houses of ill-fame ready to +excite the foul and the vile of both sexes. On the first day that +the Flemish regiment goes into garrison at Versailles an attempt is +made to corrupt it with money and women. Sixty abandoned women are +sent from Paris for this purpose, while the French Guards come and +treat their new comrades. The latter have been treated at the +Palais-Royal, while three of them, at Versailles, exclaim, showing +some crown pieces of six livres, "What a pleasure it is to go to +Paris! one always comes back with money !" In this way, resistance +is overcome beforehand. As to the attack, women are to be the +advanced guard, because the soldiers will scruple to fire at them; +their ranks, however, will be reinforced by a number of men +disguised as women. On looking closely at them they are easily +recognized, notwithstanding their rouge, by their badly-shaven +beards, and by their voices and gait.[31] No difficulty has been +found in obtaining men and women among the prostitutes of the +Palais-Royal and the military deserters who serve them as bullies. +It is probable that the former lent their lovers the cast-off +dresses they had to spare. At night all will meet again at the +common rendezvous, on the benches of the National Assembly, where +they are quite as much at home as in their own houses.[32] -- In any +event, the first band which marches out is of this stamp, displaying +the finery and the gaiety of the profession; "most of them young, +dressed in white, with powdered hair and a sprightly air;" many of +them "laughing, singing, and drinking," as they would do at setting +out for a picnic in the country. Three or four of them are known by +name -- one brandishing a sword, and another, the notorious +Théroigne. Madeleine Chabry Louison, who is selected to address the +King, is a pretty grisette who sells flowers, and, no doubt, +something else, at the Palais-Royal. Some appear to belong to the +first rank in their calling, and to have tact and the manners of +society -- suppose, for instance, that Champfort and Laclos sent +their mistresses. To these must be added washerwomen, beggars, +bare-footed women, and fishwomen, enlisted for several days before +and paid accordingly. This is the first nucleus, and it keeps on +growing; for, by compulsion or consent, the troop incorporates into +it, as it passes along, all the women it encounters -- seamstresses, +portresses, housekeepers, and even respectable females, whose +dwellings are entered with threats of cutting off their hair if they +do not fall in. To these must be added vagrants, street-rovers, +ruffians and robbers -- the lees of Paris, which accumulate and come +to the surface every time agitation occurs: they are to be found +already at the first hour, behind the troop of women at the Hôtel- +de-Ville. Others are to follow during the evening and in the night. +Others are waiting at Versailles. Many, both at Paris and +Versailles, are under pay: one, in a dirty whitish vest, chinks gold +and silver coin in his hand. -- Such is the foul scum which, both +in front and in the rear, rolls along with the popular tide; +whatever is done to stem the torrent, it widens out and will leave +its mark at every stage of its overflow. + +The first troop, consisting of four or five hundred women, begin +operations by forcing the guard of the Hôtel-de-Ville, which is +unwilling to make use of its bayonets. They spread through the +rooms and try to burn all the written documents they can find, +declaring that there has been nothing but scribbling since the +Revolution began.[33] A crowd of men follow after them, bursting +open doors, and pillaging the magazine of arms. Two hundred +thousand francs in Treasury notes are stolen or disappear; several +of the ruffians set fire to the building, while others hang an abbé. +The abbé is cut down, and the fire extinguished only just in time: +such are the interludes of the popular drama. In the meantime, the +crowd of women increases on the Place de Grève, always with the same +unceasing cry, "Bread!" and "To Versailles!" One of the conquerors +of the Bastille; the usher Maillard, offers himself as a leader. He +is accepted, and taps his drum; on leaving Paris, he has seven or +eight thousand women with him, and, in addition, some hundreds of +men ; by dint of remonstrances, he succeeds in maintaining some kind +of order amongst this rabble as far as Versailles. -- But it is a +rabble notwithstanding, and consequently so much brute force, at +once anarchical and imperious. On the one hand, each, and the worst +among them, does what he pleases -- which will be quite evident this +very evening. On the other hand, its ponderous mass crushes all +authority and overrides all rules and regulations -- which is at +once apparent on reaching Versailles. -- Admitted into the +Assembly, at first in small numbers, the women crowd against the +door, push in with a rush, fill the galleries, then the hall, the +men along with them, armed with clubs, halberds, and pikes, all +pell-mell, side by side with the deputies, taking possession of +their benches, voting along with them, and gathering about the +President, who, surrounded, threatened, and insulted, finally +abandons the position, while his chair is taken by a woman.[34] A +fishwoman commands in a gallery, and about a hundred women around +her shout or keep silence at her bidding, while she interrupts and +abuses the deputies: + +"Who is that speaker there? Silence that blabbermouth; he does not +know what he is talking about. The question is how to get bread. +Let papa Mirabeau speak -- we want to hear him." + +A decree on subsistence having been passed, the leaders demand +something in addition; they must be allowed to enter all places +where they suspect any monopolizing to be going on, and the price of +"bread must be fixed at six sous the four pounds, and meat at six +sous per pound." + + "You must not think that we are children to be played with. We are +ready to strike. Do as you are bidden." + +All their political injunctions emanate from this central idea. And +further: + + "Send back the Flemish regiment -- it is a thousand men more to +feed, and they take bread out of our mouths." -- "Punish the +aristocrats, who hinder the bakers from baking." "Down with the +skull-cap; the priests are the cause of our trouble! " -- "Monsieur +Mounier, why did you advocate that villainous veto? Beware of the +lamp post ! " + +Under this pressure, a deputation of the Assembly, with the +President at its head, sets out on foot, in the mud, through the +rain, and watched by a howling escort of women and men armed with +pikes: after five hours of waiting and entreaty, it wrings from the +King, besides the decree on subsistence, about which there was no +difficulty, the acceptance, pure and simple, of the Declaration of +Rights, and his sanction to the constitutional articles. -- Such is +the independence of the King and the Assembly.[35] Thus are the new +principles of justice established, the grand outlines of the +Constitution, the abstract axioms of political truth under the +dictatorship of a crowd which extorts not only blindly, but which is +half-conscious of its blindness. + + "Monsieur le President," some among the women say to Mounier, who +returns with the Royal sanction, "will it be of any real use to us? +will it give poor folks bread in Paris?" + +Meanwhile, the scum has been bubbling up around the chateau; and the +abandoned women subsidized in Paris are pursuing their calling.[36] +They slip through into the lines of the regiment drawn on the +square, in spite of the sentinels. Théroigne, in an Amazonian red +vest, distributes money among them. + + "Side with us," some say to the men; "we shall soon beat the King's +Guards, strip off their fine coats and sell them." + +Others lie sprawling on the ground, alluring the soldiers, and make +such offers as to lead one of them to exclaim, "We are going to have +a jolly time of it !" Before the day is over, the regiment is +seduced; the women have, according to their own idea, acted for a +good motive. When a political idea finds its way into such heads, +instead of ennobling them, it becomes degraded there; its only +effect is to let loose vices which a remnant of modesty still keeps +in subjection, and full play is given to luxurious or ferocious +instincts under cover of the public good. -- The passions, +moreover, become intensified through their mutual interaction; +crowds, clamor, disorder, longings, and fasting, end in a state of +frenzy, from which nothing can issue but dizzy madness and rage. -- +This frenzy began to show itself on the way. Already, on setting +out, a woman had exclaimed, + + + "We shall bring back the Queen's head on the end of a pike!"[37] + +On reaching the Sèvres bridge others added, + + "Let us cut her throat, and make cockades of her entrails!" + +Rain is falling; they are cold, tired, and hungry, and get nothing +to eat but a bit of bread, distributed at a late hour, and with +difficulty, on the Place d'Armes. One of the bands cuts up a +slaughtered horse, roasts it, and consumes it half raw, after the +manner of savages. It is not surprising that, under the names of +patriotism and "justice," savage ideas spring up in their minds +against "members of the National Assembly who are not with the +principles of the people," against "the Bishop of Langres, Mounier, +and the rest." One man in a ragged old red coat declares that "he +must have the head of the Abbé Maury to play nine-pins with." But it +is especially against the Queen, who is a woman, and in sight, that +the feminine imagination is the most aroused. + + "She alone is the cause of the evils we endure .... she must be +killed, and quartered." + +-- Night advances; there are acts of violence, and violence +engenders violence. + +"How glad I should be," says one man, "if I could only lay my hand +on that she-devil, and strike off her head on the first curbstone !" + +Towards morning, some cry out, + +"Where is that cursed cat? We must eat her heart out... We'll take +off her head, cut her heart out, and fry her liver I " + +-- With the first murders the appetite for blood has been awakened; +the women from Paris say that "they have brought tubs to carry away +the stumps of the Royal Guards," and at these words others clap +their hands. Some of the riffraff of the crowd examine the rope of +the lamp post in the court of the National Assembly, and judging it +not to be sufficiently strong, are desirous of supplying its place +with another "to hang the Archbishop of Paris, Maury, and +d'Espréménil." -- This murderous, carnivorous rage penetrates even +among those whose duty it is to maintain order, one of the National +Guard being heard to say that "the body-guards must be killed to the +last man, and their hearts torn out for a breakfast." + +Finally, towards midnight, the National Guard of Paris arrives; but +it only adds one insurrection to another, for it has likewise +mutinied against its chiefs.[38] + + "If M. de Lafayette is not disposed to accompany us," says one of +the grenadiers, "we will take an old grenadier for our commander." + +Having come to this decision, they sought the general at the Hôtel- +de-Ville, and the delegates of six of the companies made their +instructions known to him. + + "General, we do not believe that you are a traitor, but we think +that the Government is betraying us.... The committee on +subsistence is deceiving us, and must be removed. We want to go to +Versailles to exterminate the body-guard and the Flemish regiment +who have trampled on the national cockade. If the King of France is +too feeble to wear his crown, let him take it off; we will crown his +son and things will go better." + +In vain Lafayette refuses, and harangues them on the Place de Grève; +in vain he resists for hours, now addressing them and now imposing +silence. Armed bands, coming from the Faubourgs Saint-Antoine and +Saint-Marceau, swell the crowd; they take aim at him; others prepare +the lamp-post. He then dismounts and endeavors to return to the +Hôtel-de-Ville, but his grenadiers bar the way: + +"Morbleu, General, you will stay with us; you will not abandon us !" + +Being their chief it is pretty plain that he must follow them; which +is also the sentiment of the representatives of the commune at the +Hôtel-de-Ville, who send him their authorization, and even the order +to march, "seeing that it is impossible for him to refuse." + +Fifteen thousand men thus reach Versailles, and in front of and +along with them thousands of ruffians, protected by the darkness. +On this side the National Guard of Versailles, posted around the +chateau, together with the people of Versailles, who bar the way +against vehicles, have closed up every outlet.[39] The King is +prisoner in his own palace, he and his, with his ministers and his +court, and with no defense. For, with his usual optimism, he has +confided the outer posts of the chateau to Lafayette's soldiers, +and, through a humanitarian obstinacy which he is to maintain up to +the last,[40] he has forbidden his own guards to fire on the crowd, +so that they are only there for show. With common right in his +favor, the law, and the oath which Lafayette had just obliged his +troops to renew, what could he have to fear? What could be more +effective with the people than trust in them and prudence? And by +playing the sheep one is sure of taming brutes! + +>From five o'clock in the morning they prowl around the palace- +railings. Lafayette, exhausted with fatigue, has taken an hour's +repose,[41] which hour suffices for them.[42] A populace armed with +pikes and clubs, men and women, surrounds a squad of eighty-eight +National Guards, forces them to fire on the King's Guards, bursts +open a door, seizes two of the guards and chops their heads off. +The executioner, who is a studio model, with a heavy beard, +stretches out his blood-stained hands and glories in the act; and so +great is the effect on the National Guard that they move off; +through sensibility, in order not to witness such sights: such is +the resistance! In the meantime the crowd invade the staircases, +beat down and trample on the guards they encounter, and burst open +the doors with imprecations against the Queen. The Queen runs off; +just in time, in her underclothes; she takes refuge with the King +and the rest of the royal family, who have in vain barricaded +themselves in the Œil-de-Boeuf, a door of which is broken in: here +they stand, awaiting death, when Lafayette arrives with his +grenadiers and saves all that can be save -- their lives, and +nothing more. For, from the crowd huddled in the marble court the +shout rises, "To Paris with the King !" a command to which the King +submits. + +Now that the great hostage is in their hands, will they deign to +accept the second one? This is doubtful. On the Queen approaching +the balcony with her son and daughter, a howl arises of "No +children!" They want to have her alone in the sights of their guns, +and she understands that. At this moment M. de Lafayette, throwing +the shield of his popularity over her, appears on the balcony at her +side and respectfully kisses her hand. The reaction is +instantaneous in this over-excited crowd. Both the men and +especially the women, in such a state of nervous tension, readily +jump from one extreme to another, rage bordering on tears. A +portress, who is a companion of Maillard's,[43] imagines that she +hears Lafayette promise in the Queen's name "to love her people and +be as much attached to them as Jesus Christ to his Church." People +sob and embrace each other; the grenadiers shift their caps to the +heads of the body-guard. Everything will be fine : "the people have +won their King back." -- Nothing is to be done now but to rejoice; +and the cortege moves on. The royal family and a hundred deputies, +in carriages, form the center, and then comes the artillery, with a +number of women bestriding the cannons; next, a convoy of flour. +Round about are the King's Guards, each with a National Guard +mounted behind him; then comes the National Guard of Paris, and +after them men with pikes and women on foot, on horseback, in cabs, +and on carts; in front is a band bearing two severed heads on the +ends of two poles, which halts at a hairdresser's, in Sèvres, to +have these heads powdered and curled;[44] they are made to bow by +way of salutation, and are daubed all over with cream; there are +jokes and shouts of laughter; the people stop to eat and drink on +the road, and oblige the guards to clink glasses with them; they +shout and fire salvos of musketry; men and women hold each other's +hands and sing and dance about in the mud. -- Such is the new +fraternity: a funeral procession of legal and legitimate +authorities, a triumph of brutality over intelligence, a murderous +and political Mardi-gras, a formidable masquerade which, preceded by +the insignia of death, drags along with it the heads of France, the +King, the ministers, and the deputies, that it may constrain them to +rule to until according to its frenzy, that it may hold them under +its them pikes until it is pleased to slaughter them. + + VI. + +The Government and the nation in the hands of the revolutionary +party. + +This time there can be no mistake: the Reign of Terror is fully and +firmly established. On this very day the mob stops a vehicle, in +which it hopes to find M. de Virieu, and declares, on searching it, +that "they are looking for the deputy to massacre him, as well as +others of whom they have a list."[45] Two days afterwards the Abbé +Grégoire tells the National Assembly that not a day passes without +ecclesiastics being insulted in Paris, and pursued with "horrible +threats." Malouet is advised that "as soon as guns are distributed +among the militia, the first use made of them will be to get rid of +those deputies who are bad citizens," and among others of the Abbé +Maury. "The moment I stepped out into the streets," writes Mounier, +"I was publicly followed. It was a crime to be seen in my company. +Wherever I happened to go, along with two or three of my companions, +it was stated that an assembly of aristocrats was forming. I had +become such an object of terror that they threatened to set fire to +a country-house where I had passed twenty-four hours; and, to +relieve their minds, a promise had to be given that neither myself +nor my friends should be again received into it." In one week five +or six hundred deputies have their passports[46] made out, and hold +themselves ready to depart. During the following month one hundred +and twenty give in their resignations, or no longer appear in the +Assembly. Mounier, Lally-Tollendal, the Bishop of Langres, and +others besides, quit Paris, and afterwards France. Mallet du Pan +writes, "Opinion now dictates its judgment with steel in hand. +Believe or die is the anathema which vehement spirits pronounce, and +this in the name of Liberty. Moderation has become a crime." After +the 7th of October, Mirabeau says to the Comte de la Marck: + + "If you have any influence with the King or the Queen, persuade +them that they and France are lost if the royal family does not +leave Paris. I am busy with a plan for getting them away." + +He prefers everything to the present situation, "even civil war;" +for "war, at least, invigorates the soul," while here, "under the +dictatorship of demagogues, we are being drowned in slime." Given up +to itself, Paris, in three months, "will certainly be a hospital, +and, perhaps, a theater of horrors." Against the rabble and its +leaders, it is essential that the King should at once coalesce "with +his people," that he should go to Rouen, appeal to the provinces, +provide a Centre for public opinion, and, if necessary, resort to +armed resistance. Malouet, on his side, declares that "the +Revolution, since the 5th of October, "horrifies all sensible men, +and every party, but that it is complete and irresistible." Thus the +three best minds that are associated with the Revolution -- those +whose verified prophecies attest genius or good sense; the only ones +who, for two or three years, and from week to week, have always +predicted wisely, and who have employed reason in their +demonstrations -- these three, Mallet du Pan, Mirabeau, Mabuet, +agree in their estimate of the event, and in measuring its +consequences. The nation is gliding down a declivity, and no one +possesses the means or the force to arrest it. The King cannot do +it : "undecided and weak beyond all expression, his character +resembles those oiled ivory balls which one vainly strives to keep +together."[47] And as for the Assembly, blinded, violated, and +impelled on by the theory it proclaims, and by the faction which +supports it, each of its grand decrees only renders its fall the +more precipitate. + +________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + + +[1] Bailly, " Mémoires," II. 195, 242. + +[2] Elysée Loustalot, journalist, editor of the paper "Révolutions +de Paris," was a young lawyer who had shown a natural genius for +innovative journalism. He was to die already in 1790. (SR.) + +[3] Montjoie, ch. LXX, p. 65. + +[4] Bailly, II. 74, 174, 242, 261, 282, 345, 392. + +[5] Such as domiciliary visits and arrests apparently made by +lunatics. ("Archives de la Préfecture de Police de Paris.") -- And +Montjoie, ch. LXX. p.67. Expedition of the National Guard against +imaginary brigands who are cutting down the crops at Montmorency and +the volley fired in the air. -- Conquest of Ile-Adam and Chantilly. + +[6] Bailly, II. 46, 95, 232, 287, 296. + +[7] "Archives de la Préfecture de Police," minutes of the meeting of +the section of Butte des Moulins, October 5, 1789. + +[8] Bailly, II. 224. -- Dusaulx, 418, 202, 257, 174, 158. The +powder transported was called poudre de traite (transport); the +people understood it as poudre de traître (traitor). M. de la Salle +was near being killed through the addition of an r. It is he who +had taken command of the National Guard on the 13th of July. + +[9] Floquet, VII. 54. There is the same scene at Granville, in +Normandy, on the 16th of October. A woman had assassinated her +husband, while a soldier who was her lover is her accomplice; the +woman was about to he hung and the man broken on the wheel, when the +populace shout, "The nation has the right of pardon," upset the +scaffold, and save the two assassins. + +[10] Bailly, II. 274 (August 17th). + +[11] Bailly, II, 83, 202, 230, 235, 283, 299. + +[12] Mercure de France, the number for September 26th. - De +Goncourt, p. 111. + +[13] Mercier, "Tableau de Paris," I, 58; X. 151. + +[14] De Ferrières, I. 178. -- Buchez and Roux, II. 311, 316. -- +Bai11y, II. 104, 174, 207, 246, 257, 282. + +[15] Mercure de France, September 5th, 1789. Horace Walpole's +Letters, September 5, 1789. -- M. de Lafayette, "Mémoires," I. 272. +During the week following the 14th of July, 6,000 soldiers deserted +and went over to the people, besides 400 and 800 Swiss Guards and +six battalions of the French Guards, who remain without officers, +and do as they please. Vagabonds from the neighboring villages +flock in, and there are more than "30,000 strangers and vagrants" in +Paris. + +[16] Bailly, II. 282. The crowd of deserters was so great that +Lafayette was obliged to place a guard at the barriers to keep them +from entering the city. "Without this precaution the whole army +would have come in." + +[17] De Ferrières, I. 103. -- De Lavalette, I. 39. -- Bailly, I. 53 +(on the lawyers). "It may be said that the success of the +Revolution is due to this class." -- Marmontel, II. 243 "Since the +first elections of Paris, in 1789, I remarked," he says, "this +species of restless intriguing men, contending with each other to be +heard, impatient to make themselves prominent....It is well known +what interest this body (the lawyers) had to change Reform into +Revolution, the Monarchy into a Republic; the object was to organize +for itself a perpetual aristocracy." -- Buchez and Roux, II. 358 +(article by C. Desmoulins). "In the districts everybody exhausts +his lungs and his time in trying to be president, vice-president, +secretary or vice-secretary" + +[18] Eugène Hatin, "Histoire de la Presse," vol. V. p. 113. "Le +Patriote français" by Brissot, July 28, 1789. -- "L'Ami du Peuple," +by Marat, September 12, 1789. -- "Annales patriotiques et +littéraires," by Carra and Mercier, October 5, 1789, -- "Les +Révolutions de Paris," chief editor Loustalot, July 17th, 1789. - +"Le Tribun du peuple," letters by (middle of 1789). - "Révolutions +de France et de Brabant," by C. Desmoulins, November 28, 1789; his +"France libre" (I believe of the month of August, and his "Discours +de la Lanterne" of the month of September). - "The Moniteur" does +not make its appearance until November 24, 1789. In the seventy +numbers which follow, up to February 3, 1790, the debates of the +Assembly were afterwards written out, amplified, and put in a +dramatic form. All numbers anterior to February 3, 1790, are the +result of a compilation executed in the year IV. The narrative part +during the first six months of the Revolution is of no value. The +report of the sittings of the Assembly is more exact, but should be +revised sitting by sitting and discourse by discourse for a detailed +history of the National Assembly. The principal authorities which +are really contemporary are, "Le Mercure de France," "Le Journal de +Paris," "Le point de Jour" by Barrère, the "Courrier de Versailles," +by Gorsas, the "Courrier de Provence" by Mirabeau, the "Journal des +Débats et Décrets," the official reports of the National assembly, +the "Bulletin de l'Asemblée Nationale," by Marat, besides the +newspapers above cited for the period following the 14th of July, +and the speeches, which are printed separately. + +[19] C. Desmoulins, letters of September 20th and of subsequent +dates. (He quote, a passage from Lucan in the sense indicated). -- +Brissot, "Mémoires," passim. -- Biography of Danton by Robinet. (See +the testimony of Madame Roland and of Rousselin de Saint-Albin.) + +[20] "Discours de la Lanterne." See the epigraph of the engraving. + +[21] Buchez and Roux; III. 55; article of Marat, October lst. +"Sweep all the suspected men out of the Hôtel-de-Ville. . . . . +Reduce the deputies of the communes to fifty; do not let them remain +in office more than a month or six weeks, and compel them to +transact business only in public." -- And II. 412, another article +by Marat. -- Ibid. III. 21. An article by Loustalot. - C. +Desmoulins, "Discours de la Lanterne," passim. -- Bailly, II. 326. + +[22] Mounier, "Des causes qui ont empêche les Français d'être +libre," I. 59. - Lally-Tollendal, second letter, 104. -- +Bailly, II. 203. + +[23] De Bouillé, 207. -- Lally-Tollendal, ibid, 141, 146. -- +Mounier, ibid., 41, 60. + +[24] Mercure de France, October 2, 1790 (article of Mallet du Pan: +"I saw it"). Criminal proceedings at the Châtelet on the events of +October 5th and 6th. Deposition of M. Feydel, a deputy, No. 178. - +- De Montlosier, i. 259. -- Desmoulins (La Lanterne). "Some members +of the communes are gradually won over by pensions, by plans for +making a fortune and by flattery. Happily, the incorruptible +galleries are always on the side of the patriots. They represent +the tribunes of the people seated on a bench in attendance on the +deliberations of the Senate and who had the veto. They represent +the metropolis and, fortunately, it is under the batteries of the +metropolis that the constitution is being framed." (C. Desmoulins, +simple-minded politician, always let the cat out of the bag.) + +[25] "Procédure du Châtelet," Ibid. Deposition of M. Malouet (No. +111). "I received every day, as well as MM. Lally and Mounier, +anonymous letters and lists of proscriptions on which we were +inscribed. These letters announced a prompt and violent death to +every deputy that advocated the authority of the King." + +[26] Buchez and Roux, I. 368, 376. -- -- Bailly, II. 326, 341. - +Mounier, ibid., 62, 75. + +[27] Etienne Dumont, 145. -- Correspondence between Comte de +Mirabeau and Comte de la Marck. + +[28] "Procédure criminelle du Châtelet," Deposition 148. - Buchez +and Roux, III. 67, 65. (Narrative of Desmoulins, article of +Loustalot.) Mercure de France, number for September 5, 1789. +"Sunday evening, August 30, at the Palais-Royal, the expulsion of +several deputies of every class was demanded, and especially some of +those from Dauphiny. . . They spoke of bringing the King to Paris as +well as the Dauphin. All virtuous citizens, every incorruptible +patriot, was exhorted to set out immediately for Versailles." + +[29] These acts of violence were not reprisals; nothing of the kind +took place at the banquet of the body-guards (October 1st). "Amidst +the general joy," says an eye-witness, I heard no insults against +the National Assembly, nor against the popular party, nor against +anybody. The only cries were 'Vive le Roi! Vive la Reine! We will +defend them to the death!'" (Madame de Larochejacquelein, p.40. - +Ibid. Madame Campan, another eye-witness.) -- It appears to be +certain, however, that the younger members of the National Guard at +Versailles turned their cockades so as to be like other people, and +it is also probable that some of the ladies distributed white +cockades. The rest is a story made up before and after the event to +justify the insurrection. -- Cf. Lerol, "Histoire de Versailles," +II. 20-107. Ibid. p. 141. "As to that proscription of the +national cockade, all witnesses deny it." The originator of the +calumny is Gorsas, editor of the Courrier de Versailles. + +[30] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Depositions 88, 110, 120, +126, 127, 140, 146, 148. -- Marmontel, "Mémoires," a conversation +with Champfort, in May, 1789. -- Morellet, "Mémoires," I. 398. +(According to the evidence of Garat, Champfort gave all his savings, +3,000 livres, to defray the expenses of maneuvers of this +description.) -- Malouet (II. 2). knew four of the deputies "who +took direct part in this conspiracy." + +[31] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." 1st. On the Flemish +soldiers. Depositions 17, 20, 24, 35, 87, 89, 98. -- 2nd. On the +men disguised as women. Depositions 5, 10, 14, 44, 49, 59, 60, 110, +120, 139, 145, 146, 148. The prosecutor designates six of them to +be seized. -- 3rd. On the condition of the women of the expedition. +Depositions 35, 83, 91, 98, 146, and 24. -- 4th. On the money +distributed. Depositions 49, 56, 71, 82, 110, 126. + +[32] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Deposition 61. "During the +night scenes, not very decent, occurred among these people, which +the witness thought it useless to relate." + +[33] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Depositions 35, 44, 81. -- +Buchez and Roux, III. 120. (Minutes of the meeting of the Commune, +October 5th.) Journal de Paris, October 12th. A few days after, M. +Pic, clerk of the prosecutor, brought "a package of 100,000 francs +which he had saved from the enemies' hands," and another package of +notes was found thrown, in the hubbub, into a receipt-box. + +[34] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Depositions 61, 77, 81, +148, 154. -- Dumont, 181. -- Mounier, "Exposé justificatif," and +specially "Fait relatif à la dernière insurrection." + +[35] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Deposition 168. The witness +sees on leaving the King's apartment " several women dressed as +fish-wives, one of whom, with a pretty face, has a paper in her +hand, and who exclaims as she holds it up, 'He! F..., we have forced +the guy to sign.' " + +[36] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Depositions 89, 91, 98. +"Promising all, even raising their petticoats before them." + +[37] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet," Depositions 9, 20, 24, 30, +49, 61, 82, 115, 149, 155. + +[38] Procédure criminelle du Châtelet." Depositions 7, 30, 35, 40. - +- Cf. Lafayette, "Mémoires," and Madame Campan, "Mémoires." + +[39] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Deposition 24. A number of +butcher-boys run after the carriages issuing from the Petite-Ecurie +shouting out, "Don't let the curs escape!" + +[40] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Depositions 101, 91, 89, +and 17. M. de Miomandre, a body-guard, mildly says to the ruffians +mounting the staircase: "My friends, you love your King, and yet you +come to annoy him even in his palace!" + +[41] Malouet, II. 2. "I felt no distrust," says Lafayette in 1798; +"the people promised to remain quiet." + +[42] "Procédure Criminelle du Chatelet." Depositions 9, 16, 60, 128, +129, 130, 139, 158, 168, 170. -- M. du Repaire, body-guard, being +sentry at the railing from two o'clock in the morning, a man passes +his pike through the bars saying, "You embroidered b. . . , your +turn will come before long." M. de Repaire, " retires within the +sentry-box without saying a word to this man, considering the orders +that have been issued not to act." + +[43] "Procédure Criminelle du Châtelet." Depositions 82, 170 -- +Madame Campan. II. 87. -- De Lavalette, I.33. -- Cf. Bertrand de +Molleville, Mémoires." + +[44] Duval," Souvenirs de la Terreur," I. 78. (Doubtful in almost +everything, but here he is an eye-witness. He dined opposite the +hair-dresser's, near the railing of the Park of Saint-Cloud.) -- M. +de Lally-Tollendal's second letter to a friend. "At the moment the +King entered his capital with two bishops of his council with him in +the carriage, the cry was heard, "Off to the lamp post with the +bishops!" + +[45] De Montlosier, I. 303. -- Moniteur, sessions of the 8th, 9th, +and 10th of October. -- Malouet, II. 9, 10, 20. -- Mounier, +Recherches sur les Causes, etc.," and "Addresse aux Dauphinois." + +[46] De Ferrières, I. 346. (On the 9th of October, 300 members have +already taken their passports.) Mercure de France, No. of the 17th +October. Correspondence of Mirabeau and M. de la Marck, I. 116, +126, 364. + +[47] Correspondence of Mirabeau and M. de la Marck, I.175. (The +words of Monsieur to M. de la Marck.) + + + + +BOOK SECOND. THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, AND THE RESULT OF ITS +LABORS. + +CHAPTER I. + +THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. - CONDITIONS REQUIRED FOR THE FRAMING OF +GOOD LAWS. + +Among the most difficult undertakings in this world is the +formulation of a national constitution, especially if this is to be +a complete and comprehensive work. To replace the old structures +inside which a great people has lived by a new, different, +appropriate and durable set of laws, to apply a mold of one hundred +thousand compartments on to the life of twenty-six million people, +to construct it so harmoniously, adapt it so well, so closely, with +such an exact appreciation of their needs and their faculties, that +they enter it of themselves and move about it without collisions, +and that their spontaneous activity should at once find the ease of +familiar routine, - is an extraordinary undertaking and probably +beyond the powers of the human mind. In any event, the mind +requires all its powers to carry the undertaking out, and it cannot +protect itself carefully enough against all sources of disturbance +and error. An Assembly, especially a Constituent Assembly, +requires, outwardly, security and independence, inwardly, silence +and order, and generally, calmness, good sense, practical ability +and discipline under competent and recognized leaders. Do we find +anything of all this in the Constituent Assembly? + + I. + + +These conditions absent in the Assembly - Causes of disorder and +irrationality - The place of meeting - The large number of deputies +- Interference of the galleries - Rules of procedure wanting, +defective, or disregarded.- The parliamentary leaders - +Susceptibility and over-excitement of the Assembly - Its paroxysms +of enthusiasm. - Its tendency to emotion. -It encourages +theatrical display - Changes which these displays introduce in its +good intentions. + + We have only to look at it outwardly to have some doubts about it. +At Versailles, and then at Paris, the sessions are held in an +immense hall capable of seating 2,000 persons, in which the most +powerful voice must be strained in order to be heard. It is not +calculated for the moderate tone suitable for the discussion of +business; the speaker is obliged to shout, and the strain on the +voice communicates itself to the mind; the place itself suggests +declamation; and this all the more readily because the assemblage +consists of 1,200, that is to say, a crowd, and almost a mob. 'At +the present day (1877), in our assemblies of five or six hundred +deputies, there are constant interruptions and an incessant buzz; +there is nothing so rare as self-control, and the firm resolve to +give an hour's attention to a discourse opposed to the opinions of +the hearers. -- What can be done here to compel silence and +patience? Arthur Young on different occasions sees "a hundred +members on the floor at once," shouting and gesticulating. +"Gentlemen, you are killing me!" says Bailly, one day, sinking with +exhaustion. Another president exclaims in despair, "Two hundred +speaking at the same time cannot be heard; will you make it +impossible then to restore order in the Assembly?" The rumbling, +discordant din is further increased by the uproar of the +galleries.[1] + + "In the British Parliament," writes Mallet du Pan, "I saw the +galleries cleared in a trice because the Duchess of Gordon happened +unintentionally to laugh too loud." + +Here, the thronging crowd of spectators, stringers, delegates from +the Palais-Royal, soldiers disguised as citizens, and prostitutes +collected and marshaled, applaud, clap their hands, stamp and hoot, +at their pleasure. This is carried to so great an extent that M. +de Montlosier ironically proposes "to give the galleries a voice in +the deliberations."[2] Another member wishes to know whether the +representatives are so many actors, whom the nation sends there to +endure the hisses of the Paris public. Interruptions, in fact, take +place as in a theater, and, frequently, if the members do not give +satisfaction, they are forced to desist. On the other hand, the +deputies who are popular with this energetic audience, on which they +keep and eye, are actors before the footlights: they involuntarily +yield to its influence, and exaggerate their ideas as well as their +words to be in unison with it. Tumult and violence, under such +circumstances, become a matter of course, and the chances of an +Assembly acting wisely are diminished by one-half; on becoming a +club of agitators, it ceases to be a conclave of legislators. + + +Let us enter and see how this one proceeds. Thus encumbered, thus +surrounded and agitated, does it take at least those precautions +without which no assembly of men can govern itself. When several +hundred persons assemble together for deliberation, it is evident +that some sort of an internal police is necessary; first of all, +some code of accepted usage, some written precedents, by which its +acts may be prepared and defined, considered in detail, and properly +passed. The best of these codes it ready to hand: at the request +of Mirabeau, Romilly has sent over the standing orders of the +English House of Commons.[3} But with the presumption of novices, +they pay no attention to this code; they imagine it is needless for +them; they will borrow nothing from foreigners; they accord no +authority to experience, and, not content with rejecting the forms +it prescribes, "it is with difficulty they can be made to follow any +rule whatever." They leave the field open to the impulsiveness of +individuals; any kind of influence, even that of a deputy, even of +one elected by themselves, is suspected by them; hence their choice +of a new president every fortnight. - They submit to no constraint +or control, neither to the legal authority of a parliamentary code, +nor to the moral authority of parliamentary chiefs. They are +without any such; they are not organized in parties; neither on one +side nor on the other is a recognized leader found who fixes the +time, arranges the debate, draws up the motion, assigns parts, and +gives the rein to or restrains his supporters. Mirabeau is the +only one capable of obtaining this ascendancy; but, on the opening +of the Assembly, he is discredited by the notoriety of his vices, +and, towards the last, is compromised by his connections with the +Court. No other is of sufficient eminence to have any influence; +there is too much of average and too little of superior talent. - +Their self-esteem is, moreover, as yet too strong to allow any +concessions. Each of these improvised legislators has come +satisfied with his own system, and to submit to a leader to whom he +would entrust his political conscience, to make of him what three +out of four of these deputies should be, a voting machine, would +require an apprehension of danger, some painful experience, an +enforced surrender which he is far from realizing.[4] For this +reason, save in the violent party, each acts as his own chief, +according to the impulse of the moment, and the confusion may be +imagined. Strangers who witness it, lift their hands in pity and +astonishment. "They discuss nothing in their Assembly," writes +Gouverneur Morris,[5] "One large half of the time is spent in +hallowing and bawling.... Each Man permitted to speak delivers the +Result of his Lubrications," amidst this noise, taking his turn as +inscribed, without replying to his predecessor, or being replied to +by his successor, without ever meeting argument by argument; so +that while the firing is interminable, "all their shots are fired in +the air." Before this "frightful clatter" can be reported, the +papers of the day are obliged to make all sorts of excisions, to +prune away "nonsense," and reduce the "inflated and bombastic +style." Chatter and clamor, that is the whole substance of most of +these famous sittings. + + "You would hear," says a journalist, "more yells than speeches; the +sittings seemed more likely to end in fights than in decrees. . . . +Twenty times I said to myself, on leaving, that if anything could +arrest and turn the tide of the Revolution, it would be a picture of +these meetings traced without caution or adaptation. . . All my +efforts were therefore directed to represent the truth, without +rendering it repulsive. Out of what had been merely a row, I +concocted a scene. . . I gave all the sentiments, but not always in +the same words. I translated their yells into words, their furious +gestures into attitudes, and when I could not inspire esteem, I +endeavored to rouse the emotions." + + There is no remedy for this evil; for, besides the absence of +discipline, there is an inward and fundamental cause for the +disorder. These people are too susceptible. They are Frenchmen, +and Frenchmen of the eighteenth century; brought up in the amenities +of the utmost refinement, accustomed to deferential manners, to +constant kind attentions and mutual obligations, so thoroughly +imbued with the instinct of good breeding that their conversation +seems almost insipid to strangers.[6] -- And suddenly they find +themselves on the thorny soil of politics, exposed to insulting +debates, flat contradictions, venomous denunciation, constant +detraction and open invective; engaged in a battle in which every +species of weapon peculiar to a parliamentary life is employed, and +in which the hardiest veterans are scarcely able to keep cool. +Judge of the effect of all this on inexperienced, highly strung +nerves, on men of the world accustomed to the accommodations and +amiabilities of universal urbanity. They are at once beside +themselves. - And all the more so because they never anticipated a +battle; but, on the contrary, a festival, a grand and charming +idyll, in which everybody, hand in hand, would assemble in tears +around the throne and save the country amid mutual embraces. +Necker himself arranges, like a theater, the chamber in which the +sessions of the Assembly are to be held.[7] "He was not disposed to +regard the Assemblies of the States-General as anything but a +peaceful, imposing, solemn, august spectacle, which the people would +enjoy;" and when the idyll suddenly changes into a drama, he is so +frightened that it seems to him as if a landslide had occurred that +threatened, during the night, to break down the framework of the +building. - At the time of the meeting of the States-General, +everybody is delighted; all imagine that they are about to enter the +promised land. During the procession of the 4thof May, + + "tears of joy," says the Marquis de Ferrières, "filled my eyes. . . +. In a state of sweet rapture I beheld France supported by +Religion" exhorting us all to concord. "The sacred ceremonies, the +music, the incense, the priests in their sacrificial robes, that +dais, that orb radiant with precious stones. .. I called to my +mind the words of the prophet. . . . My God, my country, and my +countrymen, all were one with myself! " + + +Such emotions repeatedly explode in the course of the session, and +resulted in the passage of laws which no one could have imagined. + + +"Sometimes,"[8] writes the American ambassador, "a speaker gets up +in the midst of a deliberation, makes a fine discourse on a +different subject, and closes with a nice little resolution which is +carried with a hurrah. Thus, in considering the plan of a national +bank proposed by M. Necker, one of them took it into his head to +move that every member should give his silver buckles, which was +agreed to at once, and the honorable mover laid his upon the table, +after which the business went on again." + + +Thus, over-excited, they do not know in the morning what they will +do in the afternoon, and they are at the mercy of every surprise. +When they are seized with these fits of enthusiasm, infatuation +spreads over all the benches; prudence gives way, all foresight +disappears and every objection is stifled. During the night of the +4th of August,[9] "nobody is master of himself . The Assembly +presents the spectacle of an inebriated crowd in a shop of valuable +furniture, breaking and smashing at will whatever they can lay their +hands on." + + + "That which would have required a year of care and reflection," +says a competent foreigner, "was proposed, deliberated over, and +passed by general acclamation. The abolition of feudal rights, of +titles, of the privileges of the provinces, three articles which +alone embraced a whole system of jurisprudence and statesmanship, +were decided with ten or twelve other measures in less time than is +required in the English Parliament for the first reading of an +important bill." + + + "Such are our Frenchmen," says Mirabeau again, "they spend a month +in disputes about syllables, and overthrow, in a single night, the +whole established system of the Monarchy !"[10] + + + The truth is, they display the nervousness of women, and, from one +end of the Revolution to the other, this excitability keeps on +increasing. + + +Not only are they excited, but the pitch of excitement must be +maintained, and, like the drunkard who, once stimulated, has +recourse again to strong waters, one would say that they carefully +try to expel the last remnants of calmness and common sense from +their brains. They delight in pompous phrases, in high-sounding +rhetoric, in declamatory sentimental strokes of eloquence: this is +the style of nearly all their speeches, and so strong is their +taste, they are not satisfied with the orations made amongst +themselves. Lally and Necker, having made "affecting and sublime" +speeches at the Hôtel-de-Ville, the Assembly wish them to be +repeated before them:[11] this being the heart of France, it is +proper for it to answer to the noble emotions of all Frenchmen. +Let this heart throb on, and as strongly as possible, for that is +its office, and day by day it receives fresh impulses. Almost all +sittings begin with the reading of flattering addresses or of +threatening denunciations. The petitioners frequently appear in +person, and read their enthusiastic effusions, their imperious +advice, their doctrines of dissolution. To-day it is Danton, in +the name of Paris, with his bull visage and his voice that seems a +tocsin of insurrection; to-morrow, the vanquishers of the Bastille, +or some other troop, with a band of music which continues playing +even into the hall. The meeting is not a conference for business, +but a patriotic opera, where the eclogue, the melodrama, and +sometimes the masquerade, mingle with the cheers and the clapping of +hands.[12] -- A serf of the Jura is brought to the bar of the +Assembly aged one hundred and twenty years, and one of the members +of the cortège, " M. Bourbon de la Crosnière, director of a +patriotic school, asks permission to take charge of an honorable old +man, that he may be waited on by the young people of all ranks, and +especially by the children of those whose fathers were killed in the +attack on the Bastille." [13] Great is the hubbub and excitement. +The scene seems to be in imitation of Berquin,[14] with the +additional complication of a mercenary consideration. + +But small matters are not closely looked into, and the Assembly, +under the pressure of the galleries, stoops to shows, such as are +held at fairs. Sixty vagabonds who are paid twelve francs a head, +in the costumes of Spaniards, Dutchmen, Turks, Arabs, Tripolitans, +Persians, Hindus, Mongols, and Chinese, conducted by the Prussian +Anacharsis Clootz, enter, under the title of Ambassadors of the +Human Race, to declaim against tyrants, and they are admitted to the +honors of the sitting. On this occasion the masquerade is a stroke +devised to hasten and extort the abolition of nobility.[15] At other +times, there is little or no object in it; its ridiculousness is +inexpressible, for the farce is played out as seriously and +earnestly as in a village award of prizes. For three days, the +children who have taken their first communion before the +constitutional bishop have been promenaded through the streets of +Paris; at the Jacobin club they recite the nonsense they have +committed to memory; and, on the fourth day, admitted to the bar of +the Assembly, their spokesman, a poor little thing of twelve years, +repeats the parrot-like tirade. He winds up with the accustomed +oath, upon which all the others cry out in their piping, shrill +voices, " We swear ! " As a climax, the President, Trejlhard, a +sober lawyer, replies to the little gamins with perfect gravity in a +similar strain, employing metaphors, personifications, and +everything else belonging to the stock-in-trade of a pedant on his +platform: + + "You merit a share in the glory of the founders of liberty, +prepared as you are to shed your blood in her behalf." + + Immense applause from the "left" and the galleries, and a decree +ordering the speeches of both president and children to be printed. +The children, probably, would rather have gone out to play; but, +willingly or unwillingly, they receive or endure the honors of the +sitting.[16] + +Such are the tricks of the stage and of the platform by which the +managers here move their political puppets. Emotional +susceptibility, once recognized as a legitimate force, thus becomes +an instrument of intrigue and constraint. The Assembly, having +accepted theatrical exhibitions when these were sincere and earnest, +is obliged to tolerate them when they become mere sham and +buffoonery. At this vast national banquet, over which it meant to +preside, and to which, throwing the doors wide open, it invited all +France, its first intoxication was due to wine of a noble quality; +but it has touched glasses with the populace, and by degrees, under +the pressure of its associates, it has descended to adulterated and +burning drinks, to a grotesque unwholesome inebriety which is all +the more grotesque and unwholesome, because it persists in believing +itself to be reason. + + II. + +Inadequacy of its information - Its composition - The social +standing and culture of the larger number - Their incapacity. +Their presumption - Fruitless advice of competent men.- Deductive +politics - Parties - The minority; its faults - The majority; its +dogmatism. + +If reason could only resume its empire during the lucid intervals! +But reason must exist before it can govern, and in no French +Assembly, except the two following this, have there ever been fewer +political intellects. - Strictly speaking, with careful search, +there could undoubtedly be found in France, in 1789, five or six +hundred experienced men, such as the intendants and military +commanders of every province; next to these the prelates, +administrators of large dioceses the members of the local +"parlements," whose courts gave them influence, and who, besides +judicial functions, possessed a portion of administrative power; and +finally, the principal members of the Provincial Assemblies, all of +them influential and sensible people who had exercised control over +men and affairs, at once humane, liberal, moderate, and capable of +understanding the difficulty, as well as the necessity, of a great +reform; indeed, their correspondence, full of facts, stated with +precision and judgment, when compared with the doctrinaire rubbish +of the Assembly, presents the strongest possible contrast. - But +most of these lights remain under a bushel; only a few of them get +into the Assembly; these burn without illuminating, and are soon +extinguished in the tempest.' I. The venerable Machault is not there, +nor Malesherbes; there are none of the old ministers or the marshals +of France. Not one of the intendants is there, except Malouet, and +by the superiority of this man, the most judicious of the Assembly, +one can judge the services which his colleagues would have rendered. +Out of two hundred and ninety-one members of the clergy,[17] there +are indeed forty-eight bishops or archbishops and thirty-five abbots +or canons, but, being prelates and with large endowments, they +excite the envy of their order, and are generals without any +soldiers. We have the same spectacle among the nobles. Most of +them, the gentry of the provinces, have been elected in opposition +to the grandees of the Court. Moreover, neither the grandees of +the Court, devoted to worldly pursuits, nor the gentry of the +provinces, confined to private life, are practically familiar with +public affairs. A small group among them, twenty-eight magistrates +and about thirty superior officials who have held command or have +been connected with the administration, probably have some idea of +the peril of society; but it is precisely for this reason that they +seem to be behind the age and remain without influence. - In the +Third-Estate, out of five hundred and seventy-seven members, only +ten have exercised any important functions, those of intendant, +councillor of state, receiver-general, lieutenant of police, +director of the mint, and others of the same category. The great +majority is composed of unknown lawyers and people occupying +inferior positions in the profession, notaries, royal attorneys, +register commissaries, judges and assessors of; the présidial, +bailiffs and lieutenants of the bailiwick, simple practitioners +confined from their youth to the narrow circle of an inferior +jurisdiction or to a routine of scribbling, with no escape but +philosophical excursions in imaginary space under the guidance of +Rousseau and Raynal. There are three hundred and seventy-three of +this class, to whom may be added thirty-eight farmers and +husbandmen, fifteen physicians, and, among the manufacturers, +merchants, and capitalists, some fifty or sixty who are their equals +in education and in political capacity. Scarcely one hundred and +fifty proprietors are here from the middle class.[18] To these four +hundred and fifty deputies, whose condition, education, instruction, +and mental range qualified them for being good clerks, prominent men +in a commune, honorable fathers of a family, or, at best, +provincial academicians, add two hundred and eight curés, their +equals; this makes six hundred and fifty out of eleven hundred and +eighteen deputies, forming a positive majority, which, again, is +augmented by about fifty philosophical nobles, leaving out the weak +who follow the current, and the ambitious who range themselves on +the strong side. - We may divine what a chamber thus made up can +do, and those who are familiar with such matters prophesy what it +will do.[19] + +"There are some able men in the National Assembly," writes the +American minister, "yet the best heads among them would not be +injured by experience, and, unfortunately, there are great numbers +who, with much imagination, have little knowledge, judgment, or +reflection." + +It would be just as sensible to select eleven hundred notables from +an inland province and entrust them to the repair of an old frigate. +They would conscientiously break the vessel up, and the frigate they +would construct in its place would founder before it left port. + +If they would only consult the pilots and professional shipbuilders! +-- There are several of such to be found around them, whom they +cannot suspect, for most of them are foreigners, born in free +countries, impartial, sympathetic, and, what is more, unanimous. +The Minister of the United States writes, two months before the +convocation of the States-General:[20] + +"I, a republican, and just, as it were, emerged from that Assembly +which has formed one of the most republican of republican +constitutions, - I preach incessantly respect for the prince, +attention to the rights of the nobility, and moderation, not only in +the object, but also in the pursuit of it." + + Jefferson, a democrat and radical, expresses himself no +differently. At the time of the oath of the Tennis Court, he +redoubles his efforts to induce Lafayette and other patriots to make +some arrangement with the King to secure freedom of the press, +religious, liberty, trial by jury, the habeas corpus, and a national +legislature, - things which he could certainly be made to adopt, - +and then to retire into private life, and let these institutions act +upon the condition of the people until they had rendered it capable +of further progress, with the assurance that there would be no lack +of opportunity for them to obtain still more. + + "This was all," he continues, "that I thought your countrymen able +to bear soberly and usefully." + + Arthur Young, who studies the moral life of France so +conscientiously, and who is so severe in depicting old abuses, +cannot comprehend the conduct of the Commons. + + "To set aside practice for theory . . . in establishing the +interests of a great kingdom, in securing freedom to 25,000,000 of +people, seems to me the very acme of imprudence, the very +quintessence of insanity." + + Undoubtedly, now that the Assembly is all-powerful, it is to be +hoped that it will be reasonable: + + "I will not allow myself to believe for a moment that the +representatives of the people can ever so far forget their duty to +the French nation, to humanity, and their own fame, as to suffer any +inordinate and impracticable views - any visionary or theoretic +systems - . . . to turn aside their exertions from that security +which is in their hands, to place on the chance and hazard of public +commotion and civil war the invaluable blessings which are certainly +in their power. I will not conceive it possible that men who have +eternal fame within their grasp will place the rich inheritance on +the cast of a die, and, losing the venture, be damned among the +worst and most profligate adventurers that ever disgraced humanity." + + As their plan becomes more definite the remonstrances become more +decided, and all the expert judges point out to them the importance +of the wheels which they are willfully breaking. + + "As they have[21] hitherto felt severely the authority exercised +over them in the name of their princes, every limitation of that +authority seems to them desirable. Never having felt the evils of +too weak an executive, the disorders to be apprehended from anarchy +make as yet no impression" -- "They want an American +Constitution,[22] but with a King instead of a President, without +reflecting they have no American citizens to support that +Constitution. . . If they have the good sense to give the nobles, +as nobles, some portion of the national power, this free +constitution will probably last, But otherwise it will degenerate +either into a pure monarchy, or a vast republic, or a democracy. +Will the latter last? I doubt it. I am sure that it will not, +unless the whole nation is changed." + + A little later, when they renounce a parliamentary monarchy to put +in its place "a royal democracy," it is at once explained to them +that such an institution applied to France can produce nothing but +anarchy, and finally end in despotism. + + "Nowhere[23] has liberty proved to be stable without a sacrifice +of its excesses, without some barrier to its own omnipotence. . . . +Under this miserable government . . . the people, soon weary of +storms, and abandoned without legal protection to their seducers or +to their oppressors, will shatter the helm, or hand it over to some +audacious hand that stands ready to seize it." + + Events occur from month to month in fulfillment of these +predictions, and the predictions grow gloomier and more gloomy. It +is a flock of wild birds:[24] + + "It is very difficult to guess whereabouts the flock will settle +when it flies so wild. . . . This unhappy country, bewildered in +the pursuit of metaphysical whims, presents to our moral view a +mighty ruin. The Assembly, at once master and slave, new in power, +wild in theory, raw in practice, engrossing all functions without +being able to exercise any, has freed that fierce, ferocious people +from every restraint of religion and respect. . . . Such a state +of things cannot last . . . The glorious opportunity is lost and +for this time, at least, the Revolution has failed." + + We see, from the replies of Washington, that he is of the same +opinion. On the other side of the Channel, Pitt, the ablest +practician, and Burke, the ablest theorist, of political liberty, +express the same judgment. Pitt, after 1789, declares that the +French have overleaped freedom. After 1790, Burke, in a work which +is a prophecy as well as a masterpiece, points to military +dictatorship as the termination of the Revolution, "the most +completely arbitrary power that has ever appeared on earth." Nothing +is of any effect. With the exception of the small powerless group +around Malouet and Mounier, the warnings of Morris, Jefferson, +Romilly, Dumont, Mallet du Pan, Arthur Young, Pitt and Burke, all of +them men who have experience of free institutions, are received with +indifference or repelled with disdain. Not only are our new +politicians incapable, but they think themselves the contrary, and +their incompetence is aggravated by their infatuation. + + "I often used to say, "writes Dumont,[25] "that if a hundred +persons were stopped at haphazard in the streets of London, and a +hundred in the streets of Paris, and a proposal were made to them to +take charge of the Government, ninety-nine would accept it in Paris +and ninety-nine would refuse it in London . . . The Frenchman +thinks that all difficulties can be overcome by a little quickness +of wit. Mirabeau accepted the post of reporter to the Committee on +Mines without having the slightest tincture of knowledge on the +subject." + + In short, most of them enter politics "like the gentleman who, on +being asked if he knew how to play on the harpsichord, replied, 'I +cannot tell, I never tried, but I will see.' " + + "The Assembly had so high an opinion of itself, especially the +left side of it, that it would willingly have undertaken the framing +of the Code of Laws for all nations. . . Never has so many men been +seen together, fancying that they were all legislators, and that +they were there to correct all the errors of the past, to remedy all +mistakes of the human mind, and ensure the happiness of all ages to +come. Doubt had no place in their minds, and infallibility always +presided over their contradictory decrees." -- + + This is because they have a theory and because, according to their +notion, this theory renders special knowledge unnecessary. Herein +they are thoroughly sincere, and it is of set purpose that they +reverse all ordinary modes of procedure. Up to this time a +constitution used to be organized or repaired like a ship. +Experiments were made from time to time, or a model was taken from +vessels in the neighborhood; the first aim was to make the ship +sail; its construction was subordinated to its work; it was +fashioned in this or that way according to the materials on hand; a +beginning was made by examining these materials, and trying to +estimate their rigidity, weight, and strength. - All this is +reactionary; the age of Reason has come and the Assembly is too +enlightened to drag on in a rut. In conformity with the fashion of +the time it works by deduction, after the method of Rousseau, +according to an abstract notion of right, of the State and of the +social compact.[26] According to this process, by virtue of +political geometry alone, they shall have the perfect vessel and +since it perfect it follows that it will sail, and that much better +than any empirical craft. - They legislate according to this +principle, and one may imagine the nature of their discussions. +There are no convincing facts, no pointed arguments; nobody would +ever imagine that the speakers were gathered together to conduct +real business. Through speech after speech, strings of hollow +abstractions are endlessly renewed as in a meeting of students in +rhetoric for the purpose of practice, or in a society of old +bookworms for their own amusement. On the question of the veto +"each orator in turn, armed with his portfolio, reads a dissertation +which has no bearing whatever" on the preceding one, which makes a +"sort of academical session,"[27] a succession of pamphlets fresh +every morning for several days. On the question of the Rights of +Man fifty-four speakers are placed on the list. + + "I remember," says Dumont, "that long discussion, which lasted for +weeks, as a period of deadly boredom, -- vain disputes over words, a +metaphysical jumble, and most tedious babble; the Assembly was +turned into a Sorbonne lecture-room," + + and all this while chateaux were burning, while town-halls were +being sacked, and courts dared no longer hold assize, while the +distribution of wheat was stopped, and while society was in course +of dissolution. In the same manner the theologians of the Easter +Roman Empire kept up their wrangles about the uncreated light of +Mount Tabor while Mahomet II was battering the walls of +Constantinople with his cannon. - Ours, of course, are another +sort of men, juvenile in feeling, sincere, enthusiastic, even +generous, and further, more devoted, laborious, and in some cases +endowed with rare talent. But neither zeal, nor labor, nor talent +are of any use when not employed in the service of a sound idea; and +if in the service of a false one, the greater they are the more +mischief they do. + + Towards the end of the year 1789, there can be not doubt of this; +and the parties now formed reveal their presumption, improvidence, +incapacity, and obstinacy. "This Assembly," writes the American +ambassador,[28] "may be divided into three parties; -- + + one called the aristocrats, consists of the high clergy, the +parliamentary judges, and such of the nobility as think they ought +to form a separate order." This is the party which offers resistance +to follies and errors, but with follies and errors almost equally +great. In the beginning "the prelates,[29] instead of conciliating +the curés, kept them at a humiliating distance, affecting +distinctions, exacting respect," and, in their own chamber, "ranging +themselves apart on separate benches." The nobles, on the other +hand, the more to alienate the commons, began by charging these +with, "revolt, treachery, and treason," and by demanding the use of +military force against them. Now that the victorious Third-Estate +has again overcome them and overwhelms them with numbers, they +become still more maladroit, and conduct the defense much less +efficiently than the attack. "In the Assembly," says one of them, +"they do not listen, but laugh and talk aloud;" they take pains to +embitter their adversaries and the galleries by their impertinence. +"They leave the chamber when the President puts the question and +invite the deputies of their party to follow them, or cry out to +them not to take part in the deliberation : through this desertion, +the clubbists become the majority, and decree whatever they please." +It is in this way that the appointment of judges and bishops is +withdrawn from the King and assigned to the people. Again, after +the return from Varennes, when the Assembly finds out that the +result of its labors is impracticable and wants to make it less +democratic, the whole of the right side refuses to share in the +debates, and, what is worse, votes with the revolutionaries to +exclude the members of the Constituent from the Legislative +Assembly. Thus, not only does it abandon its own cause, but it +commits self-destruction, and its desertion ends in suicide. -- + + A second party remains, "the middle party,"[30] which consists of +well-intentioned people from every class, sincere partisans of a +good government; but, unfortunately, they have acquired their ideas +of government from books, and are admirable on paper. But as it +happens that the men who live in the world are very different from +imaginary men who dwell in the heads of philosophers, it is not to +be wondered at if the systems taken out of books are fit for nothing +but to be upset by another book. Intellects of this stamp are the +natural prey of utopians. Lacking the ballast of experience they +are carried away by pure logic and serve to enlarge the flock of +theorists. - The latter form the third party, which is called the +"enragés (the wild men), and who, at the expiration of six months, +find themselves "the most numerous of all." + + "It is composed," says Morris, "of that class which in America is +known by the name of pettifogging lawyers, together with a host of +curates and many of those persons who in all revolutions throng to +the standard of change because they are not well.[31] This last +party is in close alliance with the populace and derives from this +circumstance very great authority." + + All powerful passions are on its side, not merely the irritation +of the people tormented by misery and suspicion, not merely the +ambition and self-esteem of the bourgeois, in revolt against the +ancient régime, but also the inveterate bitterness and fixed ideas +of so many suffering minds and so many factious intellects, +Protestants, Jansenists, economists, philosophers, men who, like +Fréteau, Rabout-Saint-Etienne, Volney, Sieyès, are hatching out a +long arrears of resentments or hopes, and who only await the +opportunity to impose their system with all the intolerance of +dogmatism and of faith. To minds of this stamp the past is a dead +letter; example is no authority; realities are of no account; they +live in their own Utopia. Sieyès, the most important of them all, +judges that "the whole English constitution is charlatanism, +designed for imposing on the people;"[32] he regards the English "as +children in the matter of a constitution," and thinks that he is +capable of giving France a much better one. Dumont, who sees the +first committees at the houses of Brissot and Clavières, goes away +with as much anxiety as "disgust." + + "It is impossible," he says, "to depict the confusion of ideas, +the license of the imagination, the burlesque of popular notions. +One would think that they saw before them the world on the day after +the Creation." + + They seem to think, indeed, that human society does not exist, and +that they are appointed to create it. Just as well might +ambassadors "of hostile tribes, and of diverse interests, set +themselves to arrange their common lot as if nothing had previously +existed." There is no hesitation. They are satisfied that the +thing can be easily done, and that, with two or three axioms of +political philosophy, the first man that comes may make himself +master of it. Immoderate conceit of this kind among men of +experience would seem ridiculous; in this assembly of novices it is +a strength. A flock which has lost its way follows those who +appears to forge ahead; they are the most irrational but they are +the most confident, and in the Chamber as in the nation it is the +daredevils who become leaders. + + + + III. THE POWER OF SIMPLE, GENERAL IDEAS. + + Ascendancy of the revolutionary party - Theory in its favor - The +constraint thus imposed on men's minds - Appeal to the passions - +Brute force on the side of the party - It profits by this - +Oppression of the minority. + + Two advantages give this party the ascendancy, and these advantages +are of such importance that henceforth whoever possesses them is +sure of being master. - In the first place the prevailing theory is +on the side of the revolutionaries, and they alone are, in the +second place, determined thoroughly to apply it. This party, +therefore, is the only one which is consistent and popular in the +face of adversaries who are unpopular and inconsequent. Nearly all +of the latter, indeed, defenders of the ancient régime, or partisans +of a limited monarchy, are likewise imbued with abstract principles +and philosophical speculation. The most refractory nobles have +advocated the rights of man in their memorials. Mounier, the +principal opponent of the demagogues, was the leader of the commons +when they proclaimed themselves to be the National -Assembly.[33] +This is enough: they have entered the narrow defile which leads to +the abyss. They had no idea of it at the first start, but one step +leads to another, and, willing or unwilling, they march on, or are +pushed on. When the abyss comes in sight it is too late; they have +been driven there by the logical results of their own concessions; +they can do nothing but wax eloquent and indignant; having abandoned +their vantage ground, they find no halting-place remaining. - There +is an enormous power in general ideas, especially if they are +simple, and appeal to the passions. None are simpler than these, +since they are reducible to the axiom which assumes the rights of +man, and subordinate to them every institution, old or new. None +are better calculated to inflame the sentiments, since the doctrine +enlists human arrogance and pride in its service, and, in the name +of justice, consecrates all the demands of independence and +domination. Consider three-fourths of the deputies, immature and +prejudiced, possessing no information but a few formulas of the +current philosophy, with no thread to guide them but pure logic, +abandoned to the declamation of lawyers, to the wild utterances of +the newspapers, to the promptings of self-esteem, to the hundred +thousand tongues which, on all sides, at the bar of the Assembly, at +the tribune, in the clubs, in the streets, in their own breasts, +repeat unanimously to them, and every day, the same flattery: + + "You are sovereign and omnipotent. Right is vested in you alone. +The King exists only to execute your will. Every order, every +corporation, every power, every civil or ecclesiastical association +is illegitimate and null the moment you declare it to be so. You +may even transform religion. You are the fathers of the country. +You have saved France, you will regenerate humanity. The whole +world looks on you in admiration; finish your glorious work -- +forward, always forward." + + Superior good sense and rooted convictions could alone stand firm +against this flood of seductions and solicitations; but vacillating +and ordinary men are carried away by it. In the harmony of +applause which rises, they do not hear the crash of the ruins they +produce. In any case, they stop their ears, and shun the cries of +the oppressed; they refuse to admit that their work could possibly +bring about evil results; they accept the sophisms and untruths +which justify it; they allow the assassinated to be calumniated in +order to excuse the assassins; they listen to Merlin de Douay, who, +after three or four jacqueries, when pillaging, arson, and murder +are going on in all the provinces, has just declared in the name of +the Committee on Feudalism[34] that "a law must be presented to the +people, the justice of which may enforce silence on the feudatory +egoists who, for the past six months, so indecently protest against +plunder; the wisdom of which may restore to a sense of duty the +peasant who has been led astray for a moment by his resentment of a +long oppression." And when Raynal, the surviving patriarch of the +philosophic party, one day, for a wonder, takes the plain truth with +him into their tribune, they resent his straightforwardness as an +outrage, and excuse it solely on the ground of his imbecility. An +omnipotent legislator cannot depreciate himself; like a king he is +condemned to self-admiration in his public capacity. "There were +not thirty deputies amongst us," says a witness, "who thought +differently from Raynal," but "in each other's presence the credit +of the Revolution, the perspective of its blessings, was an article +of faith which had to be believed in;" and, against their own +reason, against their conscience, the moderates, caught in the net +of their own acts, join the revolutionaries to complete the +Revolution. + + Had they refused, they would have been compelled; for, to obtain +the power, the Assembly has, from the very first, either tolerated +or solicited the violence of the streets. But, in accepting +insurrectionists for its allies, it makes them masters, and +henceforth, in Paris as in the provinces, illegal and brutal force +becomes the principal power of the State. "The triumph was +accomplished through the people; it was impossible to be severe with +them;"[35] hence, when insurrections were to be put down, the +Assembly had neither the courage nor the force necessary. "They +blame for the sake of decency; they frame their deeds by +expediency." and in turn justly undergo the pressure which they +themselves have sanctioned against others. Only three or four +times do the majority, when the insurrection becomes too daring -- +after the murder of the baker François, the insurrection of the +Swiss Guard at Nancy, and the outbreak of the Champ de Mars -- feel +that they themselves are menaced, vote for and apply martial law, +and repel force with force. But, in general, when the despotism of +the people is exercised only against the royalist minority, they +allow their adversaries to be oppressed, and do not consider +themselves affected by the violence which assails the party of the +"right:" they are enemies, and may be given up to the wild beasts. +In accordance with this, the "left " has made its arrangements; its +fanaticism has no scruples; it is principle, it is absolute truth +that is at stake; this must triumph at any cost. Besides, can +there be any hesitation in having recourse to the people in the +people's own cause? A little compulsion will help along the good +cause, and hence the siege of the Assembly is continually renewed. +This was the practice already at Versailles before the 6th of +October, while now, at Paris, it is kept up more actively and with +less disguise. + + At the beginning of the year 1790,[36] the band under pay comprises +seven hundred and fifty effective men, most of them deserters or +soldiers drummed out of their regiments, who are at first paid five +francs and then forty sous a day. It is their business to make or +support motions in the coffee-houses and in the streets, to mix with +the spectators at the sittings of the sections, with the groups at +the Palais-Royal, and especially in the galleries of the National- +Assembly, where they are to hoot or applaud at a given signal. +Their leader is a Chevalier de Saint-Louis, to whom they swear +obedience, and who receives his orders from the Committee of +Jacobins. His first lieutenant at the Assembly is a M. Saule, "a +stout, small, stunted old fellow, formerly an upholsterer, then a +charlatan hawker of four penny boxes of grease (made from the fat of +those that had been hung - for the cure of diseases of the kidneys) +and all his life a sot .... who, by means of a tolerably shrill +voice, which was always well moistened, has acquired some reputation +in the galleries of the Assembly." In fact, he has forged admission +tickets he has been turned out; he has been obliged to resume "the +box of ointment, and travel for one or two months in the provinces +with a man of letters for his companion." But on his return, +"through the protection of a groom of the Court, he obtained a piece +of ground for a coffee-house against the wall of the Tuileries +garden, almost alongside of the National Assembly," and now it is at +home in his coffee-shop behind his counter that the hirelings of the +galleries " come to him to know what they must say, and to be told +the order of the day in regard to applause." Besides this, he is +there himself; "it is he who for three years is to regulate public +sentiment in the galleries confided to his care, and, for his useful +and satisfactory services, the Constituent Assembly will award him a +recompense," to which the Legislative Assembly will add " a pension +of six hundred livres, besides a lodging in an apartment of the +Feuillants." + + We can divine how men of this stamp, thus compensated, do their +work. From the top of the galleries[37] they drown the demands of +the "right" by the force of their lungs; this or that decree, as, +for instance, the abolition of titles of nobility, is carried, "not +by shouts, but by terrific howls."[38] On the arrival of the news of +the sacking of the Hôtel de Castries by the populace, they applaud. +On the question coming up as to the decision whether the Catholic +faith shall be dominant, "they shout out that the aristocrats must +all be hung, and then things will go on well." Their outrages not +only remain unpunished, but are encouraged: this or that noble who +complains of their hooting is called to order, while their +interference and vociferations, their insults and their menaces, are +from this time introduced as one of the regular wheels of +legislative operations. Their pressure is still worse outside the +Chamber.[39] The Assembly is obliged several times to double its +guard. On the 27th of September, 1790, there are 40,000 men around +the building to extort the dismissal of the Ministers, and "motions +for assassination" are made under the windows, On the 4th of +January, 1791, whilst on a call of the house the ecclesiastical +deputies pass in turn to the tribune, to take or refuse the oath to +the civil constitution of the clergy, a furious clamor ascends in +the Tuileries, and even penetrates into the Chamber. "To the lamp +post with all those who refuse! " On the 27th of September, 1790, M. +Dupont, economist, having spoken against the assignats, is +surrounded on leaving the Chamber and hooted at, hustled, pushed +against the basin of the Tuileries, into which he was being thrown +when the guard rescued him. On the 21st of June, 1790, M. de +Cazalès just misses "being torn to pieces by the people."[40] +Deputies of the "right" are threatened over and over again by +gestures in the streets and in the coffee-houses; effigies of them +with ropes about the neck are publicly displayed. The Abbé Maury +is several times on the point of being hung: he saves himself once +by presenting a pistol. Another time the Vicomte de Mirabeau is +obliged to draw his sword. M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, having voted +against the annexation of the Comtat to France, is assailed with +chairs and clubs in the Palais-Royal, pursued into a porter's room +and from thence to his dwelling; the howling crowd break in the +doors, and are only repelled with great difficulty. It is +impossible for the members of the "right" to assemble together; they +are "stoned" in the church of the Capuchins, then in the Salon +Français in the Rue Royale, and then, to crown the whole, an +ordinance of the new judges shuts up their hall, and punishes them +for the violence which they have to suffer.[41] In short they are at +the mercy of the mob. The most moderate, the most liberal, and the +most manly both in heart and head, Malouet, declares that "in going +to the Assembly he rarely forgot to carry his pistols with him."[42] +"For two years," he says, "after the King's flight, we never enjoyed +one moment of freedom and security." + + " On going into a slaughter-house," writes another deputy, "you see +some animals at the entrance which still have a short time to live, +until the hour comes to dispatch them. Such was the impression +which the assemblage of nobles, bishops, and parliamentarians[43] on +the right side made on my mind every time I entered the Assembly, +the executioners of the left side permitting them to breathe a +little longer." + + They are insulted and outraged even upon their benches; "placed +between peril within and peril without, between the hostility of the +galleries,"[44] and that of the howlers at the entrance, " between +personal insults and the abbey of Saint-Germain, between shouts of +laughter celebrating the burning of their chateaux and the clamors +which, thirty times in a quarter of an hour, cry down their +opinions," they are given over and denounced "to the ten thousand +Cerberuses " of the journals and of the streets, who pursue them +with their yells and "cover them with their slaver." Any expedient +is good enough for putting down their opposition, and, at the end of +the session, in full Assembly, they are threatened with "a +recommendation to the departments," which means the excitement of +riots and of the permanent jacquerie of the provinces against them +in their own houses. - Parliamentary strategy of this sort, +employed uninterruptedly for twenty-nine months, finally produces +its effect. Many of the weak are gained over;[45] even on +characters of firm temper fear has a hold; he who would march under +fire with head erect shuddered at the idea of being dragged in the +gutter by the rabble ; the brutality of the populace always +exercises a material ascendancy over finely strung nerves. On the +12th of July, 1791,[46] the call of the house decreed against the +absentees proves that one hundred and thirty-two deputies no longer +appear in their places. Eleven days before, among those who take +no further part in the proceedings. Thus, before the completion of +the Constitution, the whole of the opposition, more than four +hundred members, over one-third of the Assembly, is reduced to +flight or to silence. By dint of oppression, the revolutionary +party has got rid of all resistance, while the violence which gave +to it ascendancy in the streets, now gives to it equal ascendance +within the walls of Parliament. + + + + IV. + + Refusal to supply the ministry - Effects of this mistake - +Misconception of the situation - The committee of investigation - +Constant alarms - Effects of ignorance and fear on the work of the +Constituent Assembly. + + Generally in an omnipotent assembly, when a party takes the lead +and forms a majority, it furnishes the Ministry; and this fact +suffices to give, or to bring back to it, some glimpse of common +sense. For its leaders, with the Government in their own hands, +become responsible for it, and when they propose or pass a law, they +are obliged to anticipate its effect. Rarely will a Secretary of +War or of the Navy adopt a military code which goes to establish +permanent disobedience in the army or in the navy. Rarely will a +Secretary of the Treasury propose an expenditure for which there is +not a sufficient revenue, or a system of taxation that provides no +returns. Placed where full information can be procured, daily +advised of every details, surrounded by skillful counselors and +expert clerks, the chiefs of the majority, who thus become heads of +the administration, immediately drop theory for practice; and the +fumes of political speculation must be pretty dense in their minds +if they exclude the multiplied rays of light which experience +constantly sheds upon them. Let the most stubborn of theorists +take his stand at the helm of a ship, and, whatever be the obstinacy +of his principles or his prejudices, he will never, unless he is +blind or led by the blind, persist in steering always to the right +or always to the left. Just so after the flight to Varennes, when +the Assembly, in full possession of the executive power, directly +controls the Ministry, it comes to recognize for itself that its +constitutional machine will not work, except in the way of +destruction; and it is the principal revolutionaries, Barnave, +Duport, the Lameths, Chapelier, and Thouret,[47] who undertake to +make alterations in the mechanisms so as to lessen its friction. +But this source of knowledge and reason, however, to which they are +momentarily induced to draw, in spite of themselves and too late, +has been turned off by themselves from the very beginning. On the +6th of November, 1789, in deference to principle and in dread of +corruption, the Assembly had declared that none of its members +should hold ministerial office. We see it in consequence deprived +of all the instruction which comes from direct contact with affairs, +surrendered without any counterpoise to the seductions of theory, +reduced by its own decision to become a mere academy of legislation +only. + + Nay, still worse, through another effect of the same error, it +condemns itself by its own act to constant fits of panic. For, +having allowed the power which it was not willing to assume to slip +into indifferent or suspect hands, it is always uneasy, and all its +decrees bear an uniform stamp, not only of the willful ignorance +within which it confines itself, but also of the exaggerated or +chimerical fears in which its life is passed. - Imagine a ship +conveying a company of lawyers, literary men, and other passengers, +who, supported by a mutinous and poorly fed crew, take full command, +but refuse to select one of their own number for a pilot or for the +officer of the watch. The former captain continues to nominate +them; through very shame, and because he is a good sort of man, his +title is left to him, and he is retained for the transmission of +orders. If these orders are absurd, so much the worse for him; if +he resists them, a fresh mutiny forces him to yield; and even when +they cannot be executed, he has to answer for their being carried +out. In the meantime, in a room between decks, far away from the +helm and the compass, our club of amateurs discuss the equilibrium +of floating bodies, decree a new system of navigation, have the +ballast thrown overboard, crowd on all sail, and are astonished to +find that the ship heels over on its side. The officer of the +watch and the pilot must, evidently, have managed the maneuver +badly. They are accordingly dismissed and others put in their +place, while the ship heels over farther yet and begins to leak in +every joint. Enough: it is the fault of the captain and the old +staff of officers, They are not well-disposed; for a beautiful +system of navigation like this ought to work well; and if it fails +to do so, it is because some one interferes with it. It is +positively certain that some of those people belonging to the former +régime must be traitors, who would rather have the ship go down than +submit; they are public enemies and monsters. They must be seized, +disarmed, put under surveillance, and punished. - Such is the +reasoning of the Assembly. Evidently, to reassure it, a message +from the Minister of the Interior chosen by the Assembly, to the +lieutenant of police whom he had appointed, to come to his office +every morning, would be all that was necessary. But it is deprived +of this simple resource by its own act, and has no other expedient +than to appoint a committee of investigation to discover crimes of +"treason against the nation."[48] What could be more vague than +such a term? What could be more mischievous than such an +institution? -- Renewed every month, deprived of special agents, +composed of credulous and inexperienced deputies, this committee, +set to perform the work of a Lenoir or a Fouché, makes up for its +incapacity by violence, and its proceedings anticipate those of the +Jacobine inquisition.[49] Alarmist and suspicious, it encourages +accusations, and, for lack of plots to discover, it invents them. +Inclinations, in its eyes, stand for actions, and floating projects +become accomplished outrages. On the denunciation of a domestic +who has listened at a door, on the gossip of a washerwoman who has +found a scrap of paper in a dressing-gown, on the false +interpretation of a letter, on vague indications which it completes +and patches together by the strength of its imagination, it forges a +coup d'état, makes examinations, domiciliary visits, nocturnal +surprises and arrests;[50] it exaggerates, blackens, and comes in +public session to denounce the whole affair to the National +Assembly. First comes the plot of the Breton nobles to deliver +Brest to the English;[51] then the plot for hiring brigands to +destroy the crops; then the plot of 14th of July to burn Paris; then +the plot of Favras to murder Lafayette, Necker, and Bailly; then the +plot of Augeard to carry off the King, and many others, week after +week, not counting those which swarm in the brains of the +journalists, and which Desmoulins, Fréron, and Marat reveal with a +flourish of trumpets in each of their publications. + + "All these alarms are cried daily in the streets like cabbages and +turnips, the good people of Paris inhaling them along with the +pestilential vapors of our mud."[52] + + ..............Now, in this aspect, as well as in a good many others, the +Assembly is the people; satisfied that it is in danger,[53] it makes +laws as the former make their insurrections, and protects itself by +strokes of legislation as the former protects itself by blows with +pikes. Failing to take hold of the motor spring by which it might +direct the government machine, it distrusts all the old and all the +new wheels. The old ones seem to it an obstacle, and, instead of +utilizing them, it breaks them one by one -- parliaments, provincial +states, religious orders, the church, the nobles, and royalty. The +new ones are suspicious, and instead of harmonizing them, it puts +them out of gear in advance -- the executive power, administrative +powers, judicial powers, the police, the gendarmerie, and the +army.[54] Thanks to these precautions it is impossible for any of +them to be turned against itself; but, also, thanks to these +precautions, none of them can perform their functions.[55] + + In building, as well as in destroying, the Assembly had two bad +counselors, on the one hand fear, on the other hand theory; and on +the ruins of the old machine which it had demolished without +discernment, the new machine, which it has constructed without +forecast, will work only to its own ruin. + +__________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + +[1] Arthur Young, June 15, 1789. - Bailly, passim, -- Moniteur, +IV. 522 (June 2, 1790). - Mercure de France (Feb. 11 1792). + +[2] Moniteur, v. 631 (Sep. 12, 1790), and September 8th (what is +said by the Abbé Maury). - Marmontel, book XIII. 237. - +Malouet, I. 261. - Bailly, I. 227. + +[3] Sir Samuel Romilly, "Mémoires," I. 102, 354. - Dumont, 158. +(The official rules bear are dated July 29, 1789.) + +[4] Cf. Ferrières, I. 3. His repentance is affecting. + +[5] Letter from Morris to Washington, January 24, 1790 See page 382, +"A diary of the French revolution", Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. +1972. - Dumont 125 - Garat, letter to Condorcet. + +[6] Arthur Young, I. 46. "Tame and elegant, uninteresting and +polite, the mingled mass of communicated ideas has power neither to +offend nor instruct. . . . . All vigor of thought seems excluded +from expression. . . . . Where there is much polish of character +there is little argument." -- Cabinet des Estampes. See +engravings of the day by Moreau, Prieur, Monet, representing the +opening of the States-General. All the figures have a graceful, +elegant, and genteel air. + +[7] Marmontel, book XIII. 237. - Malouet, I. 261. - Ferrières, I. +19. + +[8] Gouverneur Morris, January 24, 1790. - Likewise (De Ferrières, +I.71) the decree on the abolition of nobility was not the order of +the day, and was carried by surprise. + +[9] Ferrières, I. 189. - Dumont, 146. + +[10] Letter of Mirabeau to Sieyès, June 11, 1790. "Our nation of +monkeys with the throats of parrots." -- Dumont, 146. "Sieyès and +Mirabeau always entertained a contemptible opinion of the +Constituent Assembly." + +[11] Moniteur, I, 256, 431 (July 16 and 31, 1789). - Journal des +Débats et Décrets, 105, July 16th "A member demands that M. de Lally +should put his speech in writing. "The whole Assembly has repeated +this request." + +[12] Moniteur. (March 11, 1790). "A nun of St. Mandé, brought to the +bar of the house, thanks the Assembly for the decree by which the +cloisters are opened, and denounces the tricks, intrigues, and even +violence exercised in the convents to prevent the execution of the +decree." -- Ibid. March 29, 1790. See the various addresses which +are read. " At Lagnon, the mother of a family assembled her ten +children, and swore with them and for them to be loyal to the nation +and to the King." -- Ibid. June 5, 1790. "M. Chambroud reads the +letter of the collector of customs of Lannion, in Brittany, to a +priest, a member of the National Assembly. He implores his +influence to secure the acceptance of his civic oath and that of all +his family, ready to wield either the censer, the cart, the scales, +the sword, or the pen. On reading a number of these addresses the +Assembly appears to be a supplement of the Petites Affiches (a small +advertising journal in Paris). + +[13] Moniteur, October 23, 1789. + +[14] A well-known writer of children's stories.-[Tr.] + +[15] Ferrières, II. 65 (June 10,1790). - De Montlosier, I. +402. "One of these puppets came the following day to get his money +of the Comte de Billancourt, mistaking him for the Duc de Liancourt. +'Monsieur,' says he, 'I am the man who played the Chaldean +yesterday.' + +[16] Buchez and Roux, X. 118 (June 16, 1791). + +[17] See the printed list of deputies, with the indication of their +baillage or sénéchaussée, quality, condition, and profession. + +[18] De Bouillé, 75. - When the King first saw the list of the +deputies, he exclaimed," What would the nation have said if I had +made up my council or the Notables in this way?" (Buchez and Roux, +IV. 39.) + +[19] Gouverneur Morris, July 31, 1789. + +[20] Gouverneur Morris, February 25, 1789. - Lafayette, +"Mémoires," V. 492. Letter of Jefferson, February 14, 1815. - +Arthur Young, June 27 and 29, 1789. + +[21] Morris, July 1, 1789. + +[22] Morris, July 4, 1789. + +[23] Mallet du Pan, Mercure, September 26, 1789. + +[24] Gouverneur Morris, January 24, 1790; November 22, 1790. + +[25] Dumont, 33, 58, 62. + +[26] Sir Samuel. Romilly, "Mémoirs," I. 102. "It was their +constant course first, decree the principle and leave the drawing up +of what they had so resolved (or, as they called it, la rédaction) +for later. It is astonishing how great an influence it had on +their debates and measures. - Ibid. I. 354. Letter by +Dumont, June 2, 1789. "They prefer their own folly to all the +results of British experience. They revolt at the idea of +borrowing anything from our government, which is scoffed at here as +one of the iniquities of human reason; although they admit that you +have two or three good laws; but that you should presume to have a +constitution is not to be sustained." + +[27] Dumont, 138, 151. + +[28] Morris, January 24, 1790. + +[29] Marmontel, XII. 265. - Ferrières, . I. 48¸ II. 50, +58, 126. - Dumont, 74. + +[30] Gouverneur Morris, January 24, 1790. - According to Ferrières +this party comprised about three hundred members. + +[31] Here Ambassador Morris describes the kind of man who should +form the backbone of all later revolutions whether communist or +fascist ones. (SR.) + +[32] Dumont, 33, 58, 62. + +[33] De Lavergne, "Les Assemblées Provinciales," 384. +Deliberations of the States of Dauphiny, drawn up by Mournier and +signed by two hundred gentlemen (July, 1788). "The rights of man +are derived from nature alone, and are independent of human +conventions. + +[34] Report by Merlin de Douai, February 8, 1790, p.2. -- Malouet, +II, 51. + +[35] Dumont, 133. - De Montlosier, I, 355, 361. + +[36] Bertrand de Molleville, II. 221 (according to a police +report). - Schmidt, "Tableaux de la Révolution," I. 215. +(Report of the agent Dutard, May 13, 1793) -- Lacretelle, "Dix Ans +d'Epreuves," p.35. "It was about midnight when we went out in the +rain, sleet, and snow, in the piercing cold, to the church of the +Feuillants, to secure places for the galleries of the Assembly, +which we were not to occupy till noon on the following day. We +were obliged, moreover, to contend for them with a crowd animated by +passions, and even by interests, very different from our own. We +were not long in perceiving that a considerable part of the +galleries was under pay, and that the scenes of cruelty which gave +pain to us were joy to them. I cannot express the horror I felt on +hearing those women, since called tricoteuses, take a delight in the +already homicidal doctrines of Robespierre, enjoying his sharp voice +and feasting their eyes on his ugly face, the living type of envy." +(The first months of 1790.) + +[37] Moniteur, V. 237 (July 26, 1790); V. 594. (September 8, +1790); V. 631 (September 12, 1790); VI. 310 (October 6, 1790). +(Letter of the Abbé Peretti.) + +[38] De Ferrières, II. 75. - Moniteur, VI. 373 (September 6, +1790). - M. de Virieu. "Those who insult certain members and +hinder the freedom of debate by hooting or applause must be +silenced. Is it the three hundred spectators who are to be our +judges, or the nation?" M. Chasset, President: "Monsieur opinionist, +I call you to order. You speak of hindrances to a free vote; there +has never been anything of the kind in this Assembly." + +[39] Sauzay, I 140. Letter of M. Lompré, liberal deputy, to M. +Séguin, chanoine (towards the end of November, 1789). "The service +becomes more difficult every day; we have become objects of popular +fury, and, when no other resource was left to us to avoid the +tempest but to get rid of the endowments of the clergy, we yielded +to force. It had become a pressing necessity, and I should have +been sorry to have had you still here, exposed to the outrages and +violence with which I have been repeatedly threatened." + +[40] Mercure de France, Nos. of January 15, 1791; October 2, 1790; +May 14,1791.-- Buchez and Roux, V. 343 (April 13, 1790); VII. 76 +(September 2, 1790); X. 225 ( June 21, 1791). - De Montlosier, +I. 357. - Moniteur, IV, 427. + +[41] Archives of the Police, exposed by the Committee of the +district of Saint-Roch. Judgment of the Police Tribunal, May 15, +1790. + +[42] Malouet, II. 68. - De Montlosier, II. 217, 257 (Speech of +M. Lavie, September 18, 1791). + +[43] I.e. members of the old local parlements. + +[44] Mercure, October 1, 1791. (Article by Mallet du Pan.) + +[45] Malouet II. 66. "Those only who were not intimidated by +insults or threats, nor by actual blows, could come forward as +opponents." + +[46] Buchez and Roux, X. 432, 465. + +[47] Malouet, II, 153. + +[48] Decrees of July 23rd and 28th, 1789. - "Archives Nationales." +Papers of Committee of Investigation, passim. Among other affairs +see that of Madame de Persan (Moniteur, V. 611, sitting of September +9, 1790), and that of Malouet ("Mémoires II. 12). + +[49] Buchez and Roux, IV. 56 (Report of Garan de Coulon); V. 49 +(Decision of the Committee of Investigation, December 28, 1789). + +[50] The arrests of M. de Riolles, M. de Bussy, etc., of Madame de +Jumilhac, of two other ladies, one at Bar-le-Duc and the other of +Nancy, etc. + +[51] Sitting of July 28, 1789, the speeches of Duport and Rewbell, +etc. - Mercure, No. of January 1, 1791 (article by Mallet du +Pan). - Buchez and Roux, V. 146l "Behold five or six successive +conspiracies -- that of the sacks of flour, that of the sacks of +money, etc. (Article by Camille Desmoulins.) + +[52] "Archives de la Préfecture de Police." Extract from the +registers of the deliberations of the Conseil-Général of the +district of Saint-Roch, October 10 1789: Arrête: to request all the +men in the commune to devote themselves, with all the prudence, +activity, and force of which they are capable, to the discovery, +exposure, and publication of the horrible plots and infernal +treachery which are constantly meditated against the inhabitants of +the capital; to denounce to the public the authors, abettors, and +adherents of the said plots, whatever their rank may be; to secure +their persons and insure their punishment with all the rigor which +outrages of this kind call for." The commandant of the battalion and +the district captains come daily to consult with the committee. +"While the alarm lasts, the first story of each house is to be +lighted with lamps during the night: all citizens of the district +are requested to be at home by ten o'clock in the evening at the +latest, unless they should be on duty. . . . All citizens are +invited to communicate whatever they may learn or discover in +relation to the abominable plots which are secretly going on in the +capital." + +[53] Letter of M. de Guillermy, July 31, 1790 ("Actes des Apôtres," +V. 56). "During these two nights (July 13th and 14th, 1789) that we +remained in session I heard one deputy try to get it believed that +an artillery corps had been ordered to point its guns against our +hall; another, that it was undermined, and that it was to be blown +up; another went so far as to declare that he smelt powder, upon +which M. le Comte de Virieu replied that power had no odor until it +was burnt." + +[54] Dumont, 351. "Each constitutional law was a party triumph." + +[55] Here Taine indicates how subversive parties may proceed to +weaken a nation prior to their take-over.(SR.) + + + + +CHAPTER II. DESTRUCTION. + +I. +Two principal vices of the ancient régime. - Two principal reforms +proposed by the King and the privileged classes. - They suffice for +actual needs. - Impracticable if carried further. + + +In the structure of the old society there were two fundamental vices +which called for two reforms of corresponding importance.[1] + +In the first place, those who were privileged having ceased to +render the services for which the advantages they enjoyed +constituted their compensation and their privileges were no longer +anything but a gratuitous charge imposed on one portion of the +nation for the benefit of the other. Hence the necessity for +suppressing them. + +In the second place, the Government, being absolute, made use of +public resources as if they were its own private property, +arbitrarily and wastefully;[2] it was therefore necessary to impose +upon it some effective and regular restraints. + +To render all citizens equal before taxation, to put the purse of +the tax-payers into the hands of their representatives, such was the +twofold operation to be carried out in 1789; and the privileged +class as well as the King willingly lent themselves to it. Not +only, in this respect, were the memorials of nobles and clergy in +perfect harmony, but the monarch himself; in his declaration of the +23rd of June, 1789, decreed the two articles. Henceforth, every tax +or loan was to obtain the consent of the States-General; this +consent was to be renewed at each new meeting of the States; the +public estimates were to be annually published, discussed, +specified, apportioned, voted on and verified by the States; there +were to be no arbitrary assessments or use of public funds; +allowances were to be specially assigned for all separate services, +the household of the King included. In each province or district- +general, there was to be an elected Provincial Assembly, one-half +composed of ecclesiastics and nobles, and the other half of members +of the Third-Estate, to apportion general taxes, to manage local +affairs, to decree and direct public works, to administer hospitals, +prisons, workhouses, and to continue its function, in the interval +of the sessions, through an intermediary commission chosen by +itself; so that, besides the principal control of the center, there +were to be thirty subordinate controlling powers at the extremities. +There was to be no more exemption or distinction in the matter of +taxation; the roadtax (covée) was to be abolished, also the right of +franc-fief[3] imposed on plebeians; the rights of mortmain,[4] +subject to indemnity, and internal customs duties. There was to be +a reduction of the captaincies, a modification of the salt-tax and +of the excise, the transformation of civil justice, too costly for +the poor, and of criminal justice, too severe for the humbler +classes. Here we have, besides the principal reform, equalization +of taxes; the beginning and inducement of the more complete +operation which is to strike off the last of the feudal manacles. +Moreover; six weeks later, on the 4th of August; the privileged, in +an outburst of generosity, come forward of their own accord to cut +off or undo the whole of them. This double reform thus encountered +no obstacles, and, as Arthur Young reported to his friends, it +merely required one vote to have it adopted.[5] + +This was enough; for all real necessities were now satisfied. On +the one hand, through the abolition of privileges in the matter of +taxation, the burden of the peasant and, in general, on the small +tax-payer was diminished one-half, and perhaps two thirds; instead +of paying fifty-three francs on one hundred francs of net income, he +paid no more than twenty-five or even sixteen;[6] an enormous +relief, and one which, with the proposed revision of the excise and +salt duties, made a complete change in his condition. Add to this +the gradual redemption of ecclesiastical and feudal dues: and after +twenty years the peasant, already proprietor of a fifth of the soil, +would, without the violent events of the Revolution, in any case +have attained the same degree of independence and well-being which +he was to achieve by passing through it. On the other hand, through +the annual vote on the taxes, not only were waste and arbitrariness +in the employment of the public funds put a stop to, but also the +foundations of the parliamentary system of government were laid: +whoever holds the purse-strings is, or becomes, master of the rest; +henceforth in the maintenance or establishment of any service, the +assent of the States was to be necessary. Now, in the three +Chambers which the three orders were thenceforward to form, there +were two in which the plebeians predominated. Public opinion, +moreover, was on their side, while the King, the true constitutional +monarch, far from possessing the imperious inflexibility of a +despot, did not now possess the initiative of an ordinary person. +Thus the preponderance fell to the communes, and they could legally, +without any collision, execute multiply, and complete, with the aid +of the prince and through him, all useful reforms.[7] -- This was +enough; for human society, like a living body, is seized with +convulsions when it is subjected to operations on too great a scale, +and these, although restricted, were probably all that France in +1789 could endure. To equitably reorganize afresh the whole system +of direct and indirect taxation; to revise, recast, and transfer to +the frontiers the customs-tariffs; to suppress, through negotiations +and with indemnity, feudal and ecclesiastical claims, was an +operation of the greatest magnitude, and as complex as it was +delicate. Things could be satisfactorily arranged only through +minute inquiries, verified calculations, prolonged essays, and +mutual concessions. In England, in our day, a quarter of a century +has been required to bring about a lesser reform, the transformation +of tithes and manorial-rights; and time likewise was necessary for +our Assemblies to perfect their political education,[8] to get of +their theories, to learn, by contact with practical business, and in +the study of details, the distance which separates speculation from +practice; to discover that a new system of institutions works well +only through a new system of habits, and that to decree a new system +of habits is tantamount to attempting to build an old house. -- +Such, however, is the work they undertake. They reject the King's +proposals, the limited reforms, the gradual transformations. +According to them, it is their right and their duty to re-make +society from top to bottom. Such is the command of pure reason, +which has discovered the Rights of Man and the conditions of the +Social Contract. + + +II + +Nature of societies, and the principle of enduring constitutions. + +Apply the Social Contract, if you like, but apply it only to those +for whom it was drawn up. These were abstract beings, belonging +neither to a period nor to a country, perfect creatures hatched out +under the magic wand of a metaphysician. They had as a matter of +fact come into existence by removing all the characteristics which +distinguish one man from another,[9] a Frenchman from a Papuan, a +modern Englishman from a Briton in the time of Caesar, and by +retaining only the part which is common to all.[10] The essence thus +obtained is a prodigiously meager one, an infinitely curtailed +extract of human nature, that is, in the phraseology of the day, + + "A BEING WITH A DESIRE TO BE HAPPY AND THE FACULTY OF REASONING," + +nothing more and nothing else. After this pattern several million +individuals, all precisely alike, have been prepared while, through +a second simplification, as extraordinary as the first one, they are +all supposed to be free and all equal, without a past, without +kindred, without responsibility, without traditions, without +customs, like so many mathematical units, all separable and all +equivalent, and then it is imagined that, assembled together for the +first time, these proceed to make their primitive bargain. From the +nature they are supposed to possess and the situation in which they +are placed, no difficulty is found in deducing their interests, +their wills, and the contract between them. But if this contract +suits them, it does not follow that it suits others. On the +contrary, if follows that is does not suit others; the inconvenience +becomes extreme on its being imposed on a living society; the +measure of that inconvenience will be the immensity of the distance +which divides a hollow abstraction, a philosophical phantom, an +empty insubstantial image from the real and complete man. + +In any event we are not here considering a specimen, so reduced and +mutilated as to be only an outline of a human being; no, we are to +the contrary considering Frenchmen of the year 1789. It is for them +alone that the constitution is being made: it is therefore they +alone who should be considered; they are manifestly men of a +particular species, having their peculiar temperament, their special +aptitudes, their own inclinations, their religion, their history, +all adding up into a mental and moral structure, hereditary and +deeply rooted, bequeathed to them by the indigenous stock, and to +which every great event, each political or literary phase for twenty +centuries, has added a growth, a transformation or a custom. It is +like some tree of a unique species whose trunk, thickened by age, +preserves in its annual rings and in its knots, branches, and +curvatures, the deposits which its sap has made and the imprint of +the innumerable seasons through which it has passed. Using the +philosophic definition, so vague and trite, to such an organism, is +only a puerile label teaching us nothing. -- And all the more +because extreme diversities and inequalities show themselves on this +exceedingly elaborate and complicated background, -- those of age, +education, faith, class and fortune; and these must be taken into +account, for these contribute to the formation of interests, +passions, and dispositions. To take only the most important of +these, it is clear that, according to the average of human life,[11] +one-half of the population is composed of children, and, besides +this, one-half of the adults are women. In every twenty inhabitants +eighteen are Catholic, of whom sixteen are believers, at least +through habit and tradition. Twenty-five out of twenty-six millions +of Frenchmen cannot read, one million at the most being able to do +so; and in political matters only five or six hundred are competent. +As to the condition of each class, its ideas, its sentiments, its +kind and degree of culture, we should have to devote a large volume +to a mere sketch of them. + +There is still another feature and the most important of all. These +men who are so different from each other are far from being +independent, or from contracting together for the first time. They +and their ancestors for eight hundred years form a national body, +and it is because they belong to this body that they live, multiply, +labor, make acquisitions, become enlightened and civilized, and +accumulate the vast heritage of comforts and intelligence which they +now enjoy. Each in this community is like the cell of an organized +body; undoubtedly the body is only an accumulation of cells, but the +cell is born, subsists, develops and attains its individual ends +only be the healthy condition of the whole body. Its chief +interest, accordingly, is the prosperity of the whole organism, and +the fundamental requirement of all the little fragmentary lives, +whether they know it or not, is the conservation of the great total +life in which they are comprised as musical notes in a concert. -- +Not only is this a necessity for them, but it is also a duty. We +are all born with a debt to our country, and this debt increases +while we grow up; it is with the assistance of our country, under +the protection of the law, upheld by the authorities, that our +ancestors and parents have given us life, property, and education. +Each person's faculties, ideas, attitudes, his or her entire moral +and physical being are the products to which the community has +contributed, directly or indirectly, at least as tutor and guardian. +By virtue of this the state is his creditor, just as a destitute +father is of his able-bodied son; it can lay claim to nourishment, +services, and, in all the force or resources of which he disposes, +it deservedly demands a share. -- This he knows and feels, the +notion of country is deeply implanted within him, and when occasion +calls for it, it will show itself in ardent emotions, fueling steady +sacrifice and heroic effort. -- Such are veritable Frenchmen, and +we at once see how different they are from the simple, +indistinguishable, detached monads which the philosophers insist on +substituting for them. Their association need not be created, for +it already exists; for eight centuries they have a "common weal " +(la chose publique). The safety and prosperity of this common weal +is at once their interest, their need, their duty, and even their +most secret wish. If it is possible to speak here of a contract, +their quasi-contract is made and settled for them beforehand. The +first article, at all events, is stipulated for, and this overrides +all the others. The nation must not be dissolved. Public +authorities must, accordingly, exist, and these must be respected. +If there are a number of these, they must be so defined and so +balanced as to be of mutual assistance, instead of neutralizing each +other by their opposition. Whatever government is adopted, it must +place matters in the hands best qualified to conduct them. The law +must not exist for the advantage of the minority, nor for that of +the majority, but for the entire community. -- In regard to this +first article no one must derogate from it, neither the minority nor +the majority, neither the Assembly elected by the nation, nor the +nation itself, even if unanimous. It has no right arbitrarily to +dispose of the common weal, to put it in peril according to its +caprice, to subordinate it to the application of a theory or to the +interest of a single class, even if this class is the most numerous. +For, that which is the common weal does not belong to it, but to the +whole community, past, present, and to come. Each generation is +simply the temporary manager and responsible trustee of a precious +and glorious patrimony which it has received from the former +generation, and which it has to transmit to the one that comes after +it. In this perpetual endowment, to which all Frenchmen from the +first days of France have brought their offerings, there is no doubt +about the intentions of countless benefactors; they have made their +gifts conditionally, that is, on the condition that the endowment +should remain intact, and that each successive beneficiary should +merely serve as the administrator of it. Should any of the +beneficiaries, through presumption or levity, through rashness or +one-sidedness, compromise the charge entrusted to them, they wrong +all their predecessors whose sacrifices they invalidate, and all +their successors whose hopes they frustrate. Accordingly, before +undertaking to frame a constitution, let the whole community be +considered in its entirety, not merely in the present but in the +future, as far as the eye can reach. The interest of the public, +viewed in this far-sighted manner, is the end to which all the rest +must be subordinate, and for which a constitution provides. A +constitution, whether oligarchic, monarchist, or aristocratic, is +simply an instrument, good if it attains this end, and bad if it +does not attain it, and which, to attain it, must, like every +species of mechanism, vary according to the ground, materials, and +circumstances. The most ingenious is illegitimate if it dissolves +the State, while the clumsiest is legitimate if it keeps the State +intact. There is none that springs out of an anterior, universal, +and absolute right. According to the people, the epoch, and the +degree of civilization, according to the outer or inner condition of +things, all civil or political equality or inequality may, in turn, +be or cease to be beneficial or hurtful, and therefore justify the +legislator in removing or preserving it. It is according to this +superior and salutary law, and not according to an imaginary and +impossible contract, that he is to organize, limit, delegate and +distribute from the center to the extremities, through inheritance +or through election, through equalization or through privilege, the +rights of the citizen and the power of the community. + + +III. + +The estates of a society. - Political aptitude of the aristocracy. +- Its disposition in 1789. - Special services which it might have +rendered. - The principle of the Assembly as to original equality. +- Rejection of an Upper Chamber. - The feudal rights of the +aristocracy. - How far and why they were worthy of respect. - How +they should have been transformed. - Principle of the Assembly as +to original liberty. - Distinction established by it in feudal +dues; application of its principle. - The lacunae of its law. - +Difficulties of redemption. - Actual abolition of all feudal liens. +- Abolition of titles and territorial names. - Growing prejudice +against the aristocracy. - Its persecutions. - The emigration. - + +Was it necessary to begin by making a clean sweep, and was it +advisable to abolish or only to reform the various orders and +corporations? -- Two prominent orders, the clergy and the nobles, +enlarged by the ennobled plebeians who had grown wealthy and +acquired titled estates, formed a privileged aristocracy side by +side with the Government, whose favors it might receive on the +condition of seeking them assiduously and with due acknowledgment, +privileged on its own domains, and taking advantage there of all +rights belonging to the feudal chieftain without performing his +duties. This abuse was evidently an enormous one and had to be +ended. But, it did not follow that, because the position of the +privileged class on their domains and in connection with the +Government was open to abuse, they should be deprived of protection +for person and property on their domains, and of influence and +occupation under the Government. -- A favored aristocracy, when it +is unoccupied and renders none of the services which its rank admits +of, when it monopolizes all honors, offices, promotions, +preferences, and pensions,[12] to the detriment of others not less +needy and deserving, is undoubtedly a serious evil. But when an +aristocracy is subject to the common law, when it is occupied, +especially when its occupation is in conformity with its aptitudes, +and more particularly when it is available for the formation of an +upper elective chamber or an hereditary peerage, it is a vast +service. -- In any case it cannot be irreversibly suppressed; for, +although it may be abolished by law, it is reconstituted by facts. +The legislator must necessarily choose between two systems, that +which lets it lie fallow, or that which enables it to be productive, +that which drives it away from, or that which rallies it round, the +public service. In every society which has lived for any length of +time, a nucleus of families always exists whose fortunes and +importance are of ancient date. Even when, as in France in 1789, +this class seems to be exclusive, each half century introduces into +it new families; judges, governors, rich businessmen or bankers who +have risen to the tope of the social ladder through the wealth they +have acquired or through the important offices they have filled; and +here, in the medium thus constituted, the statesman and wise +counselor of the people, the independent and able politician is most +naturally developed. - Because, on the one hand, thanks to his +fortune and his rank, a man of this class is above all vulgar +ambitions and temptations. He is able to serve gratis; he is not +obliged to concern himself about money or about providing for his +family and making his way in the world. A political mission is no +interruption to his career; he is not obliged, like the engineer, +merchant, or physician, to sacrifice either his business, his +advancement, or his clients. He can resign his post without injury +to himself or to those dependent on him, follow his own convictions, +resist the noisy deleterious opinions of the day, and be the loyal +servant, not the low flatterer of the public. Whilst, consequently, +in the inferior or average conditions of life, the incentive is +self-interest, with him the grand motive is pride. Now, amongst the +deeper feelings of man there is none which is more adapted for +transformation into probity, patriotism, and conscientiousness; for +the first requisite of the high-spirited man is self-respect, and, +to obtain that, he is induced to deserve it. Compare, from this +point of view, the gentry and nobility of England with the +"politicians" of the United States. - On the other hand, with equal +talents, a man who belongs to this sphere of life enjoys +opportunities for acquiring a better comprehension of public affairs +than a poor man of the lower classes. The information he requires +is not the erudition obtained in libraries and in private study. He +must be familiar with living men, and, besides these, with +agglomerations of men, and even more with human organizations, with +States, with Governments, with parties, with administrative systems, +at home and abroad, in full operation and on the spot. There is but +one way to reach this end, and that is to see for himself, with his +own eyes, at once in general outline and in details, by intercourse +with the heads of departments, with eminent men and specialists, in +whom are gathered up the information and the ideas of a whole class. +Now the young do not frequent society of this description, either at +home or abroad, except on the condition of possessing a name, +family, fortune, education and a knowledge of social observances. +All this is necessary to enable a young man of twenty to find doors +everywhere open to him to be received everywhere on an equal +footing, to be able to speak and to write three or four living +languages, to make long, expensive, and instructive sojourns in +foreign lands, to select and vary his position in the different +branches of the public service, without pay or nearly so, and with +no object in view but that of his political culture Thus brought up +a man, even of common capacity, is worthy of being consulted. If he +is of superior ability, and there is employment for him, he may +become a statesman before thirty; he may acquire ripe capacities, +become prime Minister, the sole pilot, alone able, like Pitt, +Canning, or Peel, to steer the ship of State between the reefs, or +give in the nick of time the touch to the helm which will save the +ship. -- Such is the service to which an upper class is adapted. +Only this kind of specialized stud farm can furnish a regular supply +of racers, and, now and then, the favorite winner that distances all +his competitors in the European field. + +But in order that they may prepare and educate themselves for this +career, the way must be clear, and they must not be compelled to +travel too repulsive a road. If rank, inherited fortune, personal +dignity, and refined manners are sources of disfavor with the +people; if, to obtain their votes, he is forced to treat as equals +electoral brokers of low character; if impudent charlatanism, vulgar +declamation, and servile flattery are the sole means by which votes +can be secured, then, as nowadays in the United States, and formerly +in Athens, the aristocratic body will retire into private life and +soon settle down into a state of idleness. A man of culture and +refinement, born with an income of a hundred thousand a year, is not +tempted to become either manufacturer, lawyer, or physician. For +want of other occupation he loiters about, entertains his friends, +chats, indulges in the tastes and hobbies of an amateur, is bored or +enjoys himself. As a result one of society's great forces is thus +lost to the nation. In this way the best and largest acquisition of +the past, the heaviest accumulation of material and of moral +capital, remain unproductive. In a pure democracy the upper +branches of the social tree, not only the old ones but the young +ones, remain sterile. When a vigorous branch passes above the rest +and reaches the top it ceases to bear fruit. The élite of the +nation is thus condemned to constant and irremediable failures +because it cannot find a suitable outlet for its activity. It wants +no other outlet, for in all directions its rival, who are born below +it, can serve as usefully and as well as itself. But this one it +must have, for on this its aptitudes are superior, natural, unique, +and the State which refuses to employ it resembles the gardener who +in his fondness for a plane surface would repress his best +shoots.[13] -- Hence, in the constructions which aim to utilize the +permanent forces of society and yet maintain civil equality, the +aristocracy is brought to take a part in public affairs by the +duration and gratuitous character of its mission, by the institution +of an hereditary character, by the application of various machinery, +all of which is combined so as to develop the ambition, the culture, +and the political capacity of the upper class, and to place power, +or the control of power, in its hands, on the condition that it +shows itself worthy of exercising it. -- Now, in 1789, the upper +class was not unworthy of it. Members of the parliaments, the +noblemen, bishops, capitalists, were the men amongst whom, and +through whom, the philosophy of the eighteenth century was +propagated. Never was an aristocracy more liberal, more humane, and +more thoroughly converted to useful reforms;[14] many of them remain +so under the knife of the guillotine. The magistrates of the +superior tribunals, in particular, traditionally and by virtue of +their institution, were the enemies of excessive expenditure and the +critics of arbitrary acts. As to the gentry of the provinces, "they +were so weary," says one of them,[15] "of the Court and the +Ministers that most of them were democrats." For many years, in the +Provincial Assemblies, the whole of the upper class, the clergy, +nobles, and Third-Estate, furnishes abundant evidence of its good +disposition, of its application to business, its capacity and even +generosity. Its mode of studying, discussing, and assigning the +local taxation indicates what it would have done with the general +budget had this been entrusted to it. It is evident that it would +have protected the general taxpayer as zealously as the taxpayer of +the province, and kept as close an eye upon the public purse at +Paris as on that of Bourges or of Montauban. -- Thus were the +materials of a good chamber ready at hand, and the only thing that +had to be done was to convene them. On having the facts presented +to them, its members would have passed without difficulty from a +hazardous theory to common-sense practice, and the aristocracy which +had enthusiastically given an impetus to reform in its saloons +would, in all probability, have carried it out effectively and with +moderation in the Parliament. + +Unhappily, the Assembly is not providing a Constitution for +contemporary Frenchmen, but for abstract beings. Instead of seeing +classes in society one placed above the other, it simply sees +individuals in juxtaposition; its attention is not fixed on the +advantage of the nation, but on the imaginary rights of man. As all +men are equal, all must have an equal share in the government. +There must be no orders in a State, no avowed or concealed political +privileges, no constitutional complications or electoral +combinations by which an aristocracy, however liberal and capable, +may put its hands upon any portion of the public power. -- On the +contrary, because it was once privileged to enjoy important and +rewarding public employment, the candidacy of the upper classes is +now suspect. All projects which, directly or indirectly, reserve or +provide a place for it, are refused: At first the Royal Declaration, +which, in conformity with historical precedents, maintained the +three orders in three distinct chambers, and only summoned them to +deliberate together "on matters of general utility." Then the plan +of the Constitutional Committee, which proposed a second Chamber, +appointed for life by the King on the nomination of the Provincial +Assemblies. And finally the project of Mounier who proposed to +confide to these same Assemblies the election of a Senate for six +years, renewed by thirds every two years. This Senate was to be +composed of men of at least thirty-five years of age, and with an +income in real property of 30,000 livres per annum. The instinct of +equality is too powerful and a second Chamber is not wanted, even if +accessible to plebeians. Through it,[16] + +"The smaller number would control the greater;" ... "we should fall +back on the humiliating distinctions" of the ancient regime; "we +should revivify the germ of an aristocracy which must be +exterminated.".... "Moreover, whatever recalls or revives feudal +Institutions is bad, and an Upper Chamber is one of its remnants." +...."If the English have one, it is because they have been forced to +make a compromise with prejudice." + +The National Assembly, sovereign and philosophic, soars above their +errors, their trammel; and their example. The depository of truth, +it has not to receive lessons from others, but to give them, and to +offer to the world's admiration the first type of a Constitution +which is perfect and in conformity with principle, the most +effective of any in preventing the formation of a governing class; +in closing the way to public business, not only to the old noblesse, +but to the aristocracy of the future; in continuing and exaggerating +the work of absolute monarchy; in preparing for a community of +officials and administrators; in lowering the level of humanity; in +reducing to sloth and brutalizing or blighting the elite of the +families which maintain or raise themselves; and in withering the +most precious of nurseries, that in which the State recruits its +statesmen.[17] + +Excluded from the Government, the aristocracy is about to retire +into private life. Let us follow them to their estates: Feudal +rights instituted for a barbarous State are certainly a great draw- +back in a modern State. If appropriate in an epoch when property +and sovereignty were fused together, when the Government was local, +when life was militant, they form an incongruity at a time when +sovereignty and property are separated, when the Government is +centralized, when the regime is a pacific one. The bondage which, +in the tenth century, was necessary to re-established security and +agriculture, is, in the eighteenth century, purposeless thralldom +which impoverishes the soil and fetters the peasant. But, because +these ancient claims are liable to abuse and injurious at the +present day, it does not follow that they never were useful and +legitimate, nor that it is allowable to abolish them without +indemnity On the contrary, for many centuries, and, on the whole, so +long as the lord of the manor resided on his estates this primitive +contract was advantageous to both parties, and to such an extent +that it has led to the modern contract. Thanks to the pressure of +this tight bandage, the broken fragments of the community can be +again united, and society once more recover its solidity, force, and +activity. -- In any event, that the institution, like all human +institutions, took its rise in violence and was corrupted by abuses +is of little consequence; the State, for eight hundred years, +recognized these feudal claims, and, with its own consent and the +concurrence of its Courts, they were transmitted, bequeathed, sold, +mortgaged, and exchanged, like any other species of property. Only +two or three hundred, at most, now remained in the families of the +original proprietors. "The largest portion of the titled estates," +says a contemporary,[18] "have become the property of capitalists, +merchants, and their descendants; the fiefs, for the most part, +being in the hands of the bourgeois of the towns." All the fiefs +which, during two centuries past, have been bought by new men, now +represent the economy and labor of their purchasers. -- Moreover; +whoever the actual holders may be, whether old or whether new men, +the State is under obligation to them, not only by general right -- +and because, from the beginning, it is in its nature the guardian of +all property, -- but also by a special right, because it has itself +sanctioned this particular species of property. The buyers of +yesterday paid their money only under its guarantee; its signature +is affixed to the contract, and it has bound itself to secure to +them the enjoyment of it. If it prevents them from doing so, let it +make them compensation; in default of the thing promised to them, it +owes them the value of it. Such is the law in cases of +expropriation for public utility; in 1834, for instance, the +English, for the legal abolition of slavery, paid to their planters +the sum of £20,000,000. -- - But that is not sufficient: when, in +the suppression of feudal rights, the legislator's thoughts are +taken up with the creditors, he has only half performed his task; +there are two sides to the question, and he must likewise think of +the debtors. If he is not merely a lover of abstractions and of +fine phrases, if that which interests him is men and not words, if +he is bent upon the effective enfranchisement of the cultivator of +the soil, he will not rest content with proclaiming a principle, +with permitting the redemption of rents, with fixing the rate of +redemption, and, in case of dispute, with sending parties before the +tribunals. He will reflect that the peasantry, jointly responsible +for the same debt will find difficulty in agreeing among themselves; +that they are afraid of litigation; that, being ignorant, they will +not know how to set about it; that, being poor, they will be unable +to pay; and that, under the weight of discord, distrust, indigence, +and inertia, the new law will remain a dead letter, and only +exasperate their cupidity or kindle their resentment. In +anticipation of this disorder the legislator will come to their +assistance ; he will interpose commissions of arbitration between +them and the lord of the manor; he will substitute a scale of +annuities for a full and immediate redemption; he will lend them the +capital which they cannot borrow elsewhere; he will establish a +bank, rights, and a mode of procedure, -- in short, as in Savoy in +1771, in England in 1845,[19] and in Russia in 1861, he will relieve +the poor without despoiling the rich; he will establish liberty +without violating the rights of property; he will conciliate +interests and classes; he will not let loose a brutal peasant revolt +(Jacquerie) to enforce unjust confiscation; and he will terminate +the social conflict not with strife but with peace. + +It is just the reverse in 1789 In conformity with the doctrine of +the social contract, the principle is set up that every man is born +free, and that his freedom has always been inalienable. If he +formerly submitted to slavery or to serfdom, it was owing to his +having had a knife at his throat; a contract of this sort is +essentially null and void. So much the worse for those who have the +benefit of it at the present day; they are holders of stolen +property, and must restore it to the legitimate owners. Let no one +object that this property was acquired for cash down, and in good +faith; they ought to have known beforehand that man and his liberty +are not commercial matters, and that unjust acquisitions rightly +perish in their hands.[20] Nobody dreams that the State which was a +party to this transaction is the responsible guarantor. Only one +scruple affects the Assembly ; its jurists and Merlin, its reporter, +are obliged to yield to proof; they know that in current practice, +and by innumerable ancient and modern titles, the noble in many +cases is nothing but an ordinary lessor, and that if, in those +cases, he collects his dues, it is simply in his capacity as a +private person, by virtue of a mutual contract, because he has given +a perpetual lease of a certain portion of his land; and he has given +it only in consideration of an annual payment in money or produce, +or services, together with another contingent claim which the farmer +pays in case of the transmission of the lease. These two +obligations could not be canceled without indemnity; if it were +done, more than one-half of the proprietors in France would be +dispossessed in favor of the farmers. Hence the distinction which +the Assembly makes in the feudal dues. -- On the one hand it +abolishes without indemnity all those dues which the noble receives +by virtue of being the local sovereign, the ancient proprietor of +persons and the usurper of public. powers; all those which the +lessee paid as serf, subject to rights of inheritance, and as former +vassal or dependent. On the other hand, it maintains and decrees as +redeemable at a certain rate all those which the noble receives +through his title of landed proprietor and of simple lessor; all +those which the lessee pays by virtue of being a free contracting +party, former purchaser, tenant, farmer or grantee of landed estate. +-- By this division it fancies that it has respected lawful +ownership by overthrowing illegitimate property, and that in the +feudal scheme of obligations, it has separated the wheat from the +chaff.[21] + +But, through the principle, the drawing up and the omissions of its +law, it condemns both to a common destruction; the fire on which it +has thrown the chaff necessarily burns up the wheat. -- Both are +in fact bound up together in the same sheaf. If the noble formerly +brought men under subjection by the sword, it is also by the sword +that he formerly acquired possession of the soil. If the subjection +of persons is invalid on account of the original stain of violence, +the usurpation of the soil is invalid for the same reason. And if +the sanction and guarantee of the State could not justify the first +act of brigandage, they could not justify the second; and, since the +rights which are derived from unjust sovereignty are abolished +without indemnity, the rights which are derived from unjust +proprietorship should be likewise abolished without compensation. - +- The Assembly, with remarkable imprudence, had declared in the +preamble to its law that "it abolished the feudal system entirely," +and, whatever its ulterior reservations might be, the fiat has gone +forth. The forty thousand sovereign municipalities to which the +text of the decree is read pay attention only to the first article, +and the village attorney, imbued with the rights of man, easily +proves to these assemblies of debtors that they owe nothing to their +creditors. There must be no exceptions nor distinctions: no more +annual rents, field-rents, dues on produce, nor contingent rents, +nor lord's dues and fines, or fifths.[22] If these have been +maintained by the Assembly, it is owing to misunderstanding, +timidity, inconsistency, and on all sides, in the rural districts, +the grumbling of disappointed greed or of unsatisfied necessities is +heard:[23] + +"You thought that you were destroying feudalism, while your +redemption laws have done just the contrary. . . . Are you not +aware that what was called a Seigneur was simply an unpunished +usurper? . . That detestable decree of 1790 is the ruin of lease- +holders. It has thrown the villages into a state of consternation. +The nobles reap all the advantage of it. . Never will redemption +be possible. Redemption of unreal claims! Redemption of dues that +are detestable!" + +In vain the Assembly insists, specifies and explains by examples and +by detailed instructions the mode of procedure and the conditions of +redemption. Neither the procedure nor its conditions are +practicable. It has made no provisions for facilitating the +agreement of parties and the satisfaction of feudal liens, no +special arbitrators, nor bank for loans, nor system of annuities. +And worse still, instead of clearing the road it has barred it by +legal arrangements. The lease-holder is not to redeem his annual +rent without at the same time compounding for the contingent rent: +he is not allowed on his own to redeem his quota since he is tied up +in solidarity with the other partners. Should his hoard be a small +one, so much the worse for him. Not being able to redeem the whole, +he is not allowed to redeem a part. Not having the money with which +to relieve himself from both ground-rents and lord's dues he cannot +relieve himself from ground-rents. Not having the money to +liquidate the debt in full of those who are bound along with him- +self, he remains a captive in his ancient chains by virtue of the +new law which announces to him his freedom. + +In the face of these unexpected trammels the peasant becomes +furious: His fixed idea, from the outbreak of the Revolution, is +that he no longer owes anything to anybody, and, among the speeches, +decrees, proclamations, and instructions which rumor brings to his +ears, he comprehends but one phrase, and is determined to comprehend +no other, and that is, that henceforth his obligations are removed. +He does not swerve from this, and since the law hinders, instead of +aiding him, he will break the law. In fact, after the 4th of +August, 1789, feudal dues cease to be collected. The claims which +are maintained are not enforced any more than those which are +suppressed. Whole communities come and give notice to the lord of +the manor that they will not pay any more rent. Others, with sword +in hand, compel him to give them acquittances. Others again, to be +more secure, break open his safe, and throw his title-deeds into the +fire.[24] Public force is nowhere strong enough to protect him in +his legal rights. Officers dare not serve writs, the courts dare +not give judgment, administrative bodies dare not decree in his +favor. He is despoiled through the connivance, the neglect, or the +impotence of all the authorities which ought to defend him. He is +abandoned to the peasants who fell his forests, under the pretext +that they formerly belonged to the commune; who take possession of +his mill, his wine-press, and his oven, under the pretext that +territorial privileges are suppressed.[25] Most of the gentry of the +provinces are ruined, without any resource, and have not even their +daily bread; for their income consisted in seignorial rights, and in +rents derived from their real property, which they had let on +perpetual leases, and now, in accordance with the law, one-half of +this income ceases to be paid, while the other half ceases to be +paid in spite of the law. One hundred and twenty-three millions of +revenue, representing two thousand millions and a half of capital in +the money of that time, double, at least, that of the present day, +thus passes as a gift, or through the toleration of the National +Assembly, from the hands of creditors into those of their debtors. +To this must be added an equal sum for revenue and capital arising +from the tithes which are suppressed without compensation, and by +the same stroke. -- This is the commencement of the great +revolutionary operation, that is to say, of the universal bankruptcy +which, directly or indirectly, is to destroy all contracts, and +abolish all debts in France. Violations of property, especially of +private property, cannot be made with impunity. The Assembly +desired to lop off only the feudal branch; but, in admitting that +the State can annul, without compensation, the obligations which it +has guaranteed, it put the ax to the root of the tree, and other +rougher hands are already driving it in up to the haft. + +Nothing now remains to the noble but his title, his territorial +name, and his armorial bearings, which are innocent distinctions, +since they no longer confer any jurisdiction or pre-eminence upon +him, and which, as the law ceases to protect him, the first comer +may borrow with impunity. Not only, moreover, do they do no harm, +but they are even worthy of respect. With many of the nobles the +title of the estate covers the family name, the former alone being +made use of. If one were substituted for the other, the public +would have difficulty in discovering M. de Mirabeau, Lafayette, and +M. de Moutmorency, under the new names Riquetti, M. Mottié, and M. +Bouchard. Besides, it would be wrong to the bearer of it, to whom +the abolished title is a legitimate possession, often precious, it +being a certificate of quality and descent, an authentic personal +distinction of which he cannot be deprived without losing his +position, rank, and worth, in the human world around him. -- The +Assembly, however, with a popular principle at stake, gives no heed +to public utility, nor to the rights of individuals. The feudal +system being abolished, all that remains of it must be got rid of. +A decree is passed that "hereditary nobility is offensive to reason +and to true liberty;" that, where it exists, "there is no political +equality."[26] Every French citizen is forbidden to assume or retain +the titles of prince, duke, count, marquis, chevalier, and the like, +and to bear any other than the "true name of his family;" he is +prohibited from making his servants wear liveries, and from having +coats-of-arms on his house or on his carriage. In case of any +infraction of this law a penalty is inflicted upon him equal to six +times the sum of his personal taxes; he is to be struck off the +register of citizens, and declared incapable of holding any civil or +military office. There is the same punishment if to any contract or +acquittance he affixes his accustomed signature; if; through habit +or inadvertence, he adds the title of his estate to his family name +-- if; with a view to recognition, and to render his identity +certain, he merely mentions that he once bore the former name. Any +notary or public officer who shall write, or allow to be written, in +any document the word ci-devant (formerly) is to be suspended from +his functions. Not only are old names thus abolished, but an effort +is made to efface all remembrance of them. In a little while, the +childish law will become a murderous one. It will be but a little +while and, according to the terms of this same decree, a military +veteran of seventy-seven years, a loyal servant of the Republic, and +a brigadier-general under the Convention, will be arrested on +returning to his native village, because he has mechanically signed +the register of the revolutionary committee as Montperreux instead +of Vannod, and, for this infraction, he will be guillotined along +with his brother and his sister-in-law.[27] + +Once on this road, it is impossible to stop; for the principles +which are proclaimed go beyond the decrees which are passed, and a +bad law introduces a worse. The Constituent Assembly[28] had +supposed that annual dues, like ground-rents, and contingent dues, +like feudal duties (lods et rentes), were the price of an ancient +concession of land, and, consequently, the proof to the contrary is +to be thrown upon the tenant. The Legislative Assembly is about to +assume that these same rentals are the result of an old feudal +usurpation, and that, consequently, the proof to the contrary must +rest with the proprietor. His rights cannot be established by +possession from time immemorial, nor by innumerable and regular +acquittances; he must produce the act of enfeoffment which is many +centuries old, the lease which has never, perhaps, been written out, +the primitive title already rare in 1720,[29] and since stolen or +burnt in the recent jacqueries: otherwise he is despoiled without +indemnity. All feudal claims are swept away by this act without +exception and without compensation. + +In a similar manner, the Constituent Assembly, setting common law +aside in relation to inheritances ab intestato, had deprived all +eldest sons and males of any advantages.[30] The Convention, +suppressing the freedom of testamentary bequest, prohibits the +father from disposing of more than one-tenth of his possessions; and +again, going back to the past, it makes its decrees retrospective: +every will opened after the 14th of July, 1789, is declared invalid +if not in conformity with this decree; every succession from the +14th of June, 1789, which is administered after the same date, is +re-divided if the division has not been equal; every donation which +has been made among the heirs after the same date is void. Not only +is the feudal family destroyed in this way, but it must never be +reformed. The aristocracy, being once declared a venomous plant, it +is not sufficient to prime it away, but it must be extirpated, not +only dug up by the root, but its seed must be crushed out. -- A +malignant prejudice is aroused against it, and this grows from day +to day. The stings of self-conceit, the disappointments of +ambition, and envious sentiments have prepared the way. Its hard, +dry kernel consists of the abstract idea of equality. All around +revolutionary fervor has caused blood to flow, has embittered +tempers, intensified sensibilities, and created a painful abscess +which daily irritation renders still more painful. Through steadily +brooding over a purely speculative preference this has become a +fixed idea, and is becoming a murderous one. It is a strange +passion, one wholly of the brains, nourished by magniloquent +phrases, but the more destructive, because phantoms are created out +of words, and against phantoms no reasoning nor actual facts can +prevail. This or that shopkeeper who, up to this time, had always +formed his idea of nobles from his impressions of the members of the +Parliament of his town or of the gentry of his canton, now pictures +them according to the declamations of the club and the invectives of +the newspapers. The imaginary figure, in his mind, has gradually +absorbed the living figure: he no longer sees the calm and engaging +countenance, but a grinning and distorted mask. Kindliness or +indifference is replaced by animosity and distrust; they are +overthrown tyrants, ancient evil-doers, And enemies of the public; +he is satisfied beforehand and without further investigation that +they are hatching plots. If they avoid being caught, it is owing to +their address and perfidy, and they are only the more dangerous the +more inoffensive they appear. Their sub-mission is merely a feint, +their resignation hypocrisy, their favorable disposition, treachery. +Against these conspirators who cannot be touched the law is +inadequate; let us stretch it in practice, and as they wince at +equality let us try to make them bow beneath the yoke. + +In fact, illegal persecution precedes legal prosecution ; the +privileged person who, by the late decrees, seems merely to be +brought within the pale of the common law, is, in fact; driven +outside of it. The King, disarmed, is no longer able to protect +him; the partial Assembly repels his complaints ; the committee of +inquiry regards him as a culprit when he is simply oppressed. His +income, his property, his repose, his freedom, his home, his life, +that of his wife and of his children, are in the hands of an +administration elected by the crowd, directed by clubs, and +threatened or violated by the mob. He is debarred from the +elections. The newspapers denounce him. He undergoes domiciliary +visits. In hundreds of places his chateau is sacked; the assassins +and incendiaries who depart from it with their hands full and +steeped in blood are not prosecuted, or are shielded by an +amnesty:[31] it is established by innumerable precedents that he may +be run down with impunity. To prevent him from defending himself, +companies of the National Guard come and seize his arms: he must +become a prey, and an easy prey, like game kept back in its +enclosure for an approaching hunt. -- In vain he abstains from +provocation and reduces himself to the standing of a private +individual. In vain does he patiently endure numerous provocations +and resist only extreme violence. I have read many hundreds of +investigations in the original manuscripts, and almost always I have +admired the humanity of the nobles, their forbearance, their horror +of bloodshed. Not only are a great many of them men of courage and +all men of honor, but also, educated in the philosophy of the +eighteenth century, they are mild, sensitive, and deeds of violence +are repugnant to them. Military officers especially are exemplary, +their great defect being their weakness: rather than fire on the +crowd they surrender the forts under their command, and allow +themselves to be insulted and stoned by the people. For two +years,[32] "exposed to a thousand outrages, to defamation, to daily +peril, persecuted by clubs and misguided soldiers," disobeyed, +menaced, put under arrest by their own men, they remain at their +post to prevent the ranks from being broken up; "with stoic +perseverance they put up with contempt of their authority that they +may preserve its semblance, their courage is of that rarest kind +which consists in remaining at the post of duty, impassive beneath +both affronts and blows. -- Through a wrong of the greatest +magnitude, an entire class which have no share in the favors of the +Court, and which suffered as many injuries as any of the common +plebeians, is confounded with the titled parasites who besiege the +antechambers of Versailles. Twenty-five thousand families, "the +nursery of the army and the fleet," the elite of the agricultural +proprietors, also many gentlemen who look after and turn to account +the little estates on which they live, and "who have not left their +homes a year in their lives," become the pariahs of their +canton.[33] After 1789, they begin to feel that their position is +no longer tenable.[34] + +" It is absolutely in opposition to the rights of man," says another +letter from Franche-Comté, "to find one's self in perpetual fear of +having one's throat cut by scoundrels who are daily confounding +liberty with license." + +"I never knew anything so wearying," says another letter from +Champagne, "as this anxiety about property and security. Never was +there a better reason for it. A moment suffices to let loose an +intractable population which thinks that it may do what it pleases, +and which is carefully sustained in that error" + + "After the sacrifices that we have made," says a letter from +Burgundy, "we could not expect such treatment. I thought that our +property would be the last violated because the people owed us some +return for staying at home in the country to expend among them the +few resources that remain to us. . . (Now), I beg the Assembly to +repeal the decree on emigration; otherwise it may be said that +people are purposely kept here to be assassinated. . . In case it +should refuse to do us this justice, I should be quite as willing to +have it decree an act of proscription against us, for we should not +then be lulled to sleep by the protection of laws which are +doubtless very wise, but which are not respected anywhere." + + " It is not our privileges," say several others, "it is not our +nobility that we regret; but how is the persecution to which we are +abandoned to be supported? There is no safety for us, for our +property, or for our families. Wretches who are our debtors, the +small farmers who rob us of our incomes, daily threaten us with the +torch and the lamp post. We do not enjoy one hour of repose; not a +night that we are certain to pass through without trouble. Our +persons are given up to the vilest outrages, our dwellings to an +inquisition of armed tyrants; we are robbed of our rentals with +impunity, and our property is openly attacked. We, being now the +only people to pay imposts, are unfairly taxed; in various places +our entire incomes would not. suffice to pay the quota which +crushes us. We can make no complaint without incurring the risk of +being massacred. The tribunals and the administrative bodies, the +tools of the multitude, daily sacrifice us to its attacks. Even the +Government seems afraid of compromising itself by claiming the +protection of the laws on our behalf. It is sufficient to be +pointed out as an aristocrat to be without any security. If our +peasants, in general, have shown more honesty, consideration, and +attachment toward us, every bourgeois of importance, the wild +members of clubs, the vilest of men who sully a uniform, consider +themselves privileged to insult us, and these wretches go unpunished +and are protected! Even our religion is not free. One of our number +has had his house sacked for having shown hospitality to an old curé +of eighty belonging to his parish who refused to take the oath. +Such is our fate. We are not so base as to endure it. Our right to +resist oppression is not due to a decree of the National Assembly, +but to natural law. We are going to leave, and to die if necessary. +But to live under such a revolting anarchy ! Should it not be broken +up we shall never set foot in France again!" + +The operation is successful. The Assembly, through its decrees and +institutions, through the laws it enacts and the violence which it +tolerates, has uprooted the aristocracy and cast it out of the +country. The nobles, now the reverse of privileged, cannot remain +in a country where, while respecting the law, they are really beyond +its pale. Those who first emigrated on the 15th of July, 1789, +along with the Prince de Condé, received at their houses the evening +before they left a list of the proscribed on which their names +appeared, and a reward was promised to whoever would bring their +heads to the cellar of the Palais-Royal -- Others, in larger +numbers, left after the occurrences of the 6th of October. -- +During the last months of the Constituent Assembly,[35] + + "the emigration goes on in companies composed of men of every +condition. . .. Twelve hundred gentlemen have left Poitou alone; +Auvergne, Limousin, and ten other provinces have been equally +depopulated of their landowners. There are towns in which nobody +remains but common. workmen, a club, and the crowd of devouring +office-holders created by the Constitution. All the nobles in +Brittany have left, and the emigration has begun in Normandy, and is +going on in the frontier provinces. + + "More than two-thirds of the army will be without officers." On +being called upon to take the new oath in which the King's name is +purposely omitted, "six thousand officers send in their +resignation." + +The example gradually becomes contagious; they are men of the sword, +and their honor is at stake. Many of them join the princes at +Coblentz, and. subsequently do battle against France in the belief +that they are contending only against their executioners. + +The treatment of the nobles by the Assembly is the same as the +treatment of the Protestants by Louis XIV.[36] In both cases the +oppressed are a superior class of men. In both cases France has +been made uninhabitable for them. In both cases they are reduced to +exile, and they are punished because they exiled them selves. In +both cases it ended in a confiscation of their property, and in the +penalty of death to all who should harbor them. In both cases, by +dint of persecution, they are driven to revolt. The insurrection of +La Vendée corresponds with the insurrection of the Cévennes; and the +emigrants, like the refugees of former times, will be found under. +the flags of Prussia and of England. One hundred thousand Frenchmen +driven out at the end of the seventeenth century, and one hundred +thousand driven out at the end of the eighteenth century! Mark how +an intolerant democracy completes the work of an intolerant +monarchy. The moral aristocracy was mowed down in the name of +uniformity; the social aristocracy is mowed down in the name of +equality. For the second time, an absolute principle, and with the +same effect, buries its blade in the heart of a living society. + +The success is complete. One of the deputies of the Legislative +Assembly, early in its session, on being informed of the great +increase in emigration, joyfully exclaims, + +"SO MUCH THE BETTER; FRANCE IS BEING PURGED!" + +She is, in truth, being depleted of one-half of her best blood. + + + +IV. + +Abuse and lukewarmness in 1789 in the ecclesiastical bodies. - How +the State used its right of overseeing and reforming them. - Social +usefulness of corporations.- The sound part in the monastic +institution. - Zeal and services of nuns. - How ecclesiastical +possessions should be employed. - Principle of the Assembly as to +private communities, feudal rights and trust-funds. - Abolition and +expropriation all corporations. - Uncompensated suppression of +tithes.- Confiscation of ecclesiastical possessions. - Effect on +the Treasury and on expropriated services. -The civil constitution +of the clergy.- Rights of the Church in relation to the State. - +Certainty and effects of a conflict. - Priests considered as State- +functionaries.- Principal stipulations of the law. - Obligations of +the oath. - The majority of priests refuse to take it. - The +majority of believes on their side. - Persecution of believers and +of priests. + + +There remained the corporate, ecclesiastic, and lay bodies, and, +notably, the oldest, most opulent, and most considerable of all the +regular and secular clergy. -- Grave abuses existed here also, for, +the institution being founded on ancient requirements, had not +accommodated itself to new necessities.[37] There were too many +episcopal sees, and these were arranged according to the Christian +distribution of the population in the fourth century; a revenue +still more badly apportioned -- bishops and abbés with one hundred +thousand livres a year, leading the lives of amiable idlers, while +curés, overburdened with work, have but seven hundred; in one +monastery nineteen monks instead of eighty, and in another four +instead of fifty;[38] a number of monasteries reduced to three or to +two inhabitants, and even to one; almost all the congregations of +men going to decay, and many of them dying out for lack of +novices;[39] a general lukewarmness among the members, great laxity +in many establishments, and with scandals in some of them; scarcely +one-third taking an interest in their calling, while the remaining +two-thirds wish to go back to the world,[40] -- it is evident from +all this that the primitive inspiration has been diverted or has +cooled; that the endowment only partially fulfills its ends; that +one-half of its resources are employed in the wrong way or remain +sterile; in short, that there is a need of reformation in the body. +-- That this ought to be effected with the co-operation of the +State and even under its direction is not less certain. For a +corporation is not an individual like other individuals, and, in +order that it may acquire or possess the privileges of an ordinary +citizen, something supplementary must be added, some fiction, some +expedient of the law. If the law is disposed to overlook the fact +that a corporation is not a natural personage, if it gives to it a +civil personality, if it declares it to be capable of inheriting, of +acquiring and of selling, if it becomes a protected and respected +proprietor, this is due to the favors of the State which places its +tribunal and gendarmes at its service, and which, in exchange for +this service, justly imposes conditions on it, and, among others, +that of being useful and remaining useful, or at least that of never +becoming harmful. Such was the rule under the Ancient Régime, and +especially since the Government has for the last quarter of a +century gradually and efficaciously worked out a reform. Not only, +in 1749, had it prohibited the Church from accepting land, either by +donation, by testament, or in exchange, without royal letters-patent +registered in Parliament; not only in 1764 had it abolished the +order of Jesuits, closed their colleges and sold their possessions, +but also, since 1766, a permanent commission, formed by the King's +order and instructed by him, had lopped off all the dying and dead +branches of the ecclesiastical tree.[41] There was a revision of the +primitive Constitutions; a prohibition to every institution to have +more than two monasteries at Paris and more than one in other towns; +a postponement of the age for taking vows -- that of sixteen being +no longer permitted -- to twenty-one for men and eighteen for +women; an obligatory minimum of monks and nuns for each +establishment, which varies from fifteen to nine according to +circumstances; if this is not kept up there follows a suppression or +prohibition to receive novices: owing to these measures, rigorously +executed, at the end of twelve years "the Grammontins, the Servites, +the Celestins, the ancient order of Saint-Bénédict, that of the Holy +Ghost of Montpellier, and those of Sainte-Brigitte, Sainte-Croix-de- +la-Bretonnerie, Saint-Ruff, and Saint-Antoine," - in short, nine +complete congregations had disappeared. At the end of twenty years +three hundred and eighty-six establishments had been suppressed, the +number of monks and nuns had diminished one-third, the larger +portion of possessions which had escheated were usefully applied, +and the congregations of men lacked novices and complained that they +could not fill up their ranks. If the monks were still found to be +too numerous, too wealthy, and too indolent, it was merely necessary +to keep on in this way; before the end of the century, merely by the +application of the edict, the institution would be brought back, +without brutality or injustice, within the scope of the development, +the limitations of fortune, and the class of functions acceptable to +a modern State. + +But, because these ecclesiastical bodies stood in need of reform it +does not follow that it was necessary to destroy them, nor, in +general, that independent institutions are detrimental to a nation. +Organized purposely for a public service, and possessing, nearly or +remotely under the supervision of the State, the faculty of self- +administration, these bodies are valuable organs and not malign +tumors. + +In the first place, through their institution, a great public +benefit is secured without any cost to the government - worship, +scientific research, primary or higher education, help for the poor, +care of the sick - all set apart and sheltered from the cuts which +public financial difficulties might make necessary, and supported by +the private generosity which, finding a ready receptacle at hand, +gathers together, century after century, its thousands of scattered +springs: as an example, note the wealth, stability, and usefulness +of the English and German universities. + +In the second place, their institution furnishes an obstacle to the +omnipotence of the State; their walls provide a protection against +the leveling standardization of absolute monarchy or of pure +democracy. A man can here freely develop himself without donning +the livery of either courtier or demagogue, he can acquire wealth, +consideration and authority, without being indebted to the caprices +of either royal or popular favor; he can stand firm against +established or prevailing opinions sheltered by associates bound by +their esprit de corps. Such, at the present day (1885), is the +situation of a professor at Oxford, Göttingen, and Harvard Such, +under the Ancient Régime, were a bishop, a member of the French +Parliaments, and even a plain attorney. What can be worse than +universal bureaucracy, producing a mechanical and servile +uniformity! Those who serve the public need not all be Government +clerks; in countries where an aristocracy has perished, bodies of +this kind are their last place of refuge. + +In the third place, through such institutions, distinct original +societies may come to be inside the great commonplace world. Here +special personalities may find the only existence that suits them. +If devout or laborious, not only do these afford an outlet for the +deeper needs of conscience, of the imagination, of activity, and of +discipline, but also they serve as dikes which restrain and direct +them in a channel which will lead to the creation of a masterpiece +of infinite value. In this way thousands of men and women fulfill +at small cost, voluntarily and gratis, and with great effect, the +least attractive and more repulsive social needs, thus performing in +human society the role which, inside the ant-hill, we see assigned +to the sexless worker-ant.[42] + +Thus, at bottom, the institution was really good, and if it had to +be cauterized it was merely essential to remove the inert or +corrupted parts and preserve the healthy and sound parts. -- Now, +if we take only the monastic bodies, there were more than one-half +of these entitled to respect. I omit those monks, one-third of whom +remained zealous and exemplary-the Benedictines, who continue the +"Gallia Christiana," with others who, at sixty years of age, labor +in rooms without a fire; the Trappists, who cultivate the ground +with their own hands, and the innumerable monasteries which serve as +educational seminaries, bureaus of charity, hospices for shelter, +and of which all the villages in their neighborhood demand the +conservation by the National Assembly.[43] I have to mention the +nuns, thirty-seven thousand in fifteen hundred convents. Here, +except in the twenty-five chapters of canonesses, which are a semi- +worldly rendezvous for poor young girls of noble birth, fervor, +frugality, and usefulness are almost everywhere incontestable. One +of the members of the Ecclesiastical Committee admits in the +Assembly tribunal that, in all their letters and addresses, the nuns +ask to be allowed to remain in their cloisters; their entreaties, in +fact, are as earnest as they are affecting.[44] One Community +writes, + + "We should prefer the sacrifice of our lives to that of our +calling. . . . This is not the voice of some among our sisters, +but of all. The National Assembly has established the claims of +liberty-would it prevent the exercise of these by the only +disinterested beings who ardently desire to be useful, and have +renounced society solely to be of greater service to it?" + + "The little contact we have with the world," writes another "is the +reason why our contentment is so little known. But it is not the +less real and substantial. We know of no distinctions, no +privileges amongst ourselves; our misfortunes and our property are +in common. One in heart and one in soul . . . we protest before +the nation, in the face of heaven and of earth, that it is not in +the power of any being to shake our fidelity to our vows, which vows +we renew with still more ardor than when we first pronounced +them."[45] + +Many of the communities have no means of subsistence other than the +work of their own hands and the small dowries the nuns have brought +with them on entering the convent. So great, however is their +frugality and economy, that the total expenditure of each nun does +not surpass 250 livres a year. The Annonciades of Saint-Amour say, + + "We, thirty-three nuns, both choristers and those of the white +veil, live on 4,400 livres net income, without being a charge to our +families or to the public. . . If we were living in society, our +expenses would be three times as much;" + +and, not content with providing for themselves, they give in +charity. + +Among these communities several hundreds are educational +establishments; a very great number give gratuitous primary +instruction. -- Now, in 1789, there are no other schools for +girls, and were these to be suppressed, every avenue of instruction +and culture would be closed to one of the two sexes, forming one- +half of the French population. Fourteen thousand sisters of +charity, distributed among four hundred and twenty convents, look +after the hospitals, attend upon the sick, serve the infirm, bring +up foundlings, provide for orphans, lying-in women, and repentant +prostitutes. The "Visitation" is an asylum for "those who are not +favored by nature," -- and, in those days, there were many more of +the disfigured than at present, since out of every eight deaths one +was caused by the smallpox. Widows are received here, as well as +girls without means and without protection, persons "worn out. with +the agitation of the world," those who are too feeble to support the +battle of life, those who withdraw from it wounded or invalid, and +"the rules of the order, not very strict, are not beyond the health +or strength of the most frail and delicate." Some ingenious device +of charity thus applies to each moral or social sore, with skill and +care, the proper and proportionate dressing. And finally, far from +falling off, nearly all these communities are in a flourishing +state, and whilst among the establishments for men there are only +nine, on the average, to each, in those for women there is an +average of twenty-four. Here, at Saint-Flour, is one which is +bringing up fifty boarders; another, at Beaulieu, instructs one +hundred; another, in Franche-Comté, has charge of eight hundred +abandoned children.[46] -- Evidently, in the presence of such +institutions one must pause, however. little one may care for +justice and the public interest; and, moreover, because it is +useless to act rigorously against them the legislator crushes them +in vain, for they spring up again of their own accord; they are in +the blood of every Catholic nation. In France, instead of thirty- +seven thousand nuns, at the present day (1866) there are eighty-six +thousand-that is to say, forty-five in every ten thousand women +instead of twenty-eight.[47] + +In any case, if the State deprives them of their property, along +with that of other ecclesiastical bodies, it is not the State that +ought to claim the spoil. -- The State is not their heir, and +their land, furniture, and rentals are in their very nature devoted +to a special purpose, although they have no designated proprietor. +This treasure, which consists of the accumulations of fourteen +centuries, has been formed, increased, and preserved, in view of a +certain object. The millions of generous, repentant, or devout +souls who have made a gift of it, or have managed it, did so with a +certain intention. It was their desire to ensure education, +beneficence, and religion, and nothing else. Their legitimate +intentions should not be frustrated: the dead have rights in society +as well as the living, for it is the dead who have made the society +which the living enjoy, and we receive their heritage only on the +condition of executing their testamentary act. -- Should this be +of ancient date, it is undoubtedly necessary to make a liberal +interpretation of it; to supplement its scanty provisions, and to +take new circumstances into consideration. The requirements for +which it provided have often disappeared; for instance, after the +destruction of the Barbary pirates, there were no more Christians to +be ransomed; and only by transferring an endowment can it be +perpetuated. -- But if, in the original institution, several +accessory and special clauses have become antiquated, there remains +the one important, general intention, which manifestly continues +imperative and permanent, that of providing for a distinct service, +either of charity, of worship, or of instruction. Let the +administrators be changed, if necessary, also the apportionment of +the legacy bequeathed, but do not divert any of it to services of an +alien character; it is inapplicable to any but that purpose or to +others strictly analogous. The four milliards of investment in real +property, the two hundred millions of ecclesiastical income, form +for it an express and special endowment. This is not a pile of gold +abandoned on the highway, which the exchequer can appropriate or +assign to those who live by the roadside. Authentic titles to it +exist, which, declaring its origin, fix its destination, and your +business is simply to see that it reaches its destination. Such was +the principle under the ancient régime, in spite of grave abuses, +and under forced exactions. When the ecclesiastical commission +suppressed an ecclesiastical order, it was not for the purpose of +making its possessions over to the public treasury, but to apply +these to seminaries, schools, and hospitals. In 1789, the revenues +of Saint-Denis supported Saint-Cyr; those of Saint Germain went to +the Economats, and the Government, although absolute and needy, was +sufficiently honest to adjust that confiscation was robbery. The +greater our power, the greater the obligation to be just, and +honesty always proves in the end to be the best policy. -- It is, +therefore, both just and useful that the Church, as in England and +in America, that superior education, as in England and in Germany, +that special instruction, as in America, and that diverse endowments +for public assistance and utility, should be unreservedly secured in +the maintenance of their heritage. The State, as testamentary +executor of this inheritance, strangely abuses its mandate when it +pockets the bequest in order to choke the deficit of its own +treasury, risking it in bad speculations, and swallowing it up in +its own bankruptcy, until of this vast treasure, which has been +heaped up for generations for the benefit of children, the infirm, +the sick and the poor, not enough is left to pay the salary of a +school-mistress, the wages of a parish nurse, or for a bowl of broth +in a hospital.[48] + +The Assembly remains deaf to all these arguments, and that which +makes its refuse to listen is not financial distress. -- The +Archbishop of Aix, M. de Boisjelin, offered, in the name of the +clergy, to liquidate at once the debt of three hundred millions, +which was urgent, by a mortgage-loan of four hundred millions on the +ecclesiastical property, which was a very good expedient; for at +this time the credit of the clergy is the only substantial one. It +generally borrows at less than five per cent., and more money has +always been offered to it than it wanted, whilst the State borrows +at ten per cent., and, at this moment, there are no lenders. -- +But, to our new revolutionary statesmen, the cost-benefit of a +service is of much less consequence than the application of a +principle. In conformity with the Social Contract they establish +the maxim that in the State there is no need of corporate bodies: +they acknowledge nothing but, on the one hand, the State, the +depositary of all public powers, and, on the other hand, a myriad of +solitary individuals. Special associations, specific groups, +collateral corporations are not wanted, even to fulfill functions +which the State is incapable of fulfilling. "As soon as one enters +a corporation," says and orator, "one must love it as one loves a +family;"[49] whereas the affections and obedience are all to be +monopolized by the State. Moreover, on entering into an order a man +receives special aid and comfort from it, and whatever distinguishes +one man from another, is opposed to civil equality. Hence, if men +are to remain equal and become citizens they must be deprived of +every rallying point that might compete with that of the State, and +give to some an advantage over others. All natural or acquired +ties, consequently, which bound men together through geographical +position, through climate, history, pursuits, and trade, are +sundered. The old provinces, the old provincial governments, the +old municipal administrations, parliaments, guilds and masterships, +all are suppressed. The groups which spring up most naturally, those +which arise through a community of interests, are all dispersed, and +the broadest, most express, and most positive interdictions are +promulgated against their revival under any pretext whatever.[50] +France is cut up into geometrical sections like a chess-board, and, +within these improvised limits, which are destined for a long time +to remain artificial, nothing is allowed to subsist but isolated +individuals in juxtaposition. There is no desire to spare organized +bodies where the cohesion is great, and least of all that of the +clergy. + "Special associations," says Mirabeau,[51] "in the community at +large, break up the unity of its principles and destroy the +equilibrium of its forces. Large political bodies in a State are +dangerous through the strength which results from their coalition +and the resistance which is born out of their interests." ii -- +That of the clergy, besides, is inherently bad,[52] because "its +system is in constant antagonism to the rights of man." An +institution in which a vow of obedience is necessary is +"incompatible" with the constitution. Congregations "subject to +independent chiefs are out of the social pale and incompatible with +public spirit." As to the right of society over these, and also over +the Church, this is not doubtful. " Corporate bodies exist only +through society, and, in destroying them, society merely takes back +the life she has imparted to them." "They are simply instruments +fabricated by the law.[53] What does the workman do when the tool +he works with no longer suits him? He breaks or alters it." -- This +primary sophism being admitted the conclusion is plain. Since +corporate bodies are abolished they no longer exist, and since they +no longer exist, they cannot again become proprietors. + + "Your aim was to destroy ecclesiastical orders,[54] because their +destruction was essential to the safety of the State. If the clergy +preserve their property, the clerical order is not destroyed: you +necessarily leave it the right of assembling; you sanction its +independence." In no case must ecclesiastics hold possessions. "If +they are proprietors they are independent, and if they are +independent they will associate this independence with the exercise +of their functions." The clergy, cost what it will, must be in the +hands of the State, as simple functionaries and supported by its +subsidies. It would be too dangerous for a nation ,"to admit in its +bosom as proprietors a large body of men to whom so many sources of +credit already give so great power. As religion is the property of +all, its ministers, through this fact alone, should be in the pay of +the nation;" they are essentially "officers of morality and +instruction," and "salaried" like judges and professors. Let us +fetch them back to this condition of things, which is the only one +compatible with the rights of man, and ordain that " the clergy, as +well as all corporations and bodies with power of inheritance, are +now, and shall be for ever incapable of holding any personal or +landed estate."[55] + +Who, now, is the legitimate heir of all these vacated possessions? +Through another sophism, the State, at once judge and party in the +cause, assigns them to the State: + + "The founders presented them to the Church, that is to say, to the +nation."[56] "Since the nation has permitted their possession by the +clergy, she may re-demand that which is possessed only through her +authorization." "The principle must be maintained that every nation +is solely and veritably proprietor of the possessions of its +clergy." + +This principle, it must be noted, as it is laid down, involves the +destruction of ecclesiastical and lay corporations, along with the +confiscation of all their possessions, and soon we shall see +appearing on the horizon the final and complete decree[57] by which +the Legislative Assembly, + + "considering that a State truly free should not suffer any +corporation within its bosom, not even those which, devoted to +public instruction, deserve well of the country," not even those +"which are solely devoted to the service of the hospitals-and the +relief of the sick," + +suppresses all congregations, all associations of men or of women, +lay or ecclesiastical, all endowments for pious, charitable, and +missionary purposes, all houses of education, all seminaries and +colleges, and those of the Sorbonne and Navarre. Add to these the +last sweep of the broom: under the Legislative Assembly the division +of all communal property, except woods: under the Convention, the +abolition of all literary societies, academies of science and of +literature, the confiscation of all their property, their libraries, +museums, and botanical gardens; the confiscation of all communal +possessions not previously divided; and the confiscation of all the +property of hospitals and other philanthropic establishments.[58] -- +The abstract principle, proclaimed by the Constituent Assembly, +reveals, by degrees, its exterminating virtues. France now, owing +to it, contains nothing but dispersed, powerless, ephemeral +individuals, and confronting them, the State, the sole, the only +permanent body that has devoured all the others, a veritable +Colossus, alone erect in the midst of these insignificant dwarfs. + +Substituted for the others, it is henceforth to perform their +duties, and spend the money well which they have expended badly. -- +In the first place, it abolishes tithes, not gradually and by means +of a process of redemption, as in England, but at one stroke, and +with no indemnity, on the ground that the tax, being an abusive, +illegitimate impost, a private tax levied by individuals in cowl and +cassock on others in smock frocks, is a vexatious usurpation, and +resembles the feudal dues. It is a radical operation, and in +conformity with principle. Unfortunately, the puerility of the +thing is so gross as to defeat its own object. In effect, since the +days of Charlemagne, all the estates in the country which have been +sold and resold over and over again have always paid tithes, and +have never been purchased except with this charge upon them, which +amounts to about one-seventh of the net revenue of the country. +Take off this tax and one-seventh is added to the income of the +proprietor, and, consequently, a seventh to his capital. A present +is made to him of one hundred francs if his land is worth seven +hundred-francs, and of one thousand if it is worth seven thousand, +of ten thousand if it is worth seventy thousand, and of one hundred +thousand if it is worth seven hundred thousand. Some people gain +six hundred thousand francs by this act, and thirty thousand francs +in Income.[59] Through this gratuitous and unexpected gift, one +hundred and twenty-three millions of revenue, and two milliards and +a half of capital, is divided among the holders of real estate in +France, and in a manner so ingenious that the rich receive the most. +Such is the effect of abstract principles. To afford a relief of +thirty millions a year to the peasants in wooden shoes, an assembly +of democrats adds thirty millions a year to the revenue of wealthy +bourgeois and thirty millions a year to opulent nobles. The first +part of this operation moreover, is but another burden to the State; +for, in taking off the load from the holders of real property, it +has encumbered itself, the State henceforth, without pocketing a +penny, being obliged to defray the expenses of worship in their +place. - As to the second part of the operation, which consists in +the confiscation of four milliards of real estate, it proves, after +all, to be ruinous, although promising to be lucrative. It makes +the same impression on our statesmen that the inheritance of a great +estate makes on a needy and fanciful upstart. Regarding it as a +bottomless well of gold, he draws upon it without stint and strives +to realize all his fancies; as he can afford to pay for it all, he +is free to smash it all. It is thus that the Assembly suppresses +and compensates magisterial offices to the amount of four hundred +and fifty millions; financial securities and obligations to the +amount of three hundred and twenty-one millions; the household +charges of the King, Queen, and princes, fifty-two millions; +military services and encumbrances, thirty-five millions; enfeoffed +tithes, one hundred millions, and so on.[60] "In the month of May, +1789," says Necker, "the re-establishment of order in the finances +were mere child's-play." At the end of a year, by dint of involving +itself in debt, by increasing its expenses, and by abolishing or +abandoning its income, the State lives now on the paper-currency it +issues, eats up its capital, and rapidly marches onward to +bankruptcy. Never was such a vast inheritance so quickly reduced to +nothing, and to less than nothing. + +Meanwhile, we can demonstrate, from the first few months, what use +the administrators will be able to make of it, and the manner in +which they will endow the service to which it binds them. -- No +portion of this confiscated property is reserved for the maintenance +of public worship, or to keep up the hospitals, asylums, and +schools. Not only do all obligations and all productive real +property find their way into the great national crucible to be +converted into assignats[61], but a number of special buildings, all +monastic real estate and a portion of the ecclesiastical real +estate, diverted from its natural course, becomes swallowed up in +the same gulf. At Besançon,[62] three churches out of eight, with +their land and treasure, the funds of the chapter, all the money of +the monastic churches, the sacred vessels, shrines, crosses, +reliquaries, votive offerings, ivories, statues, pictures, tapestry, +sacerdotal dresses and ornaments, plate, jewels and precious +furniture, libraries, railings, bells, masterpieces of art and of +piety, all are broken up and melted in the Mint, or sold by auction +for almost nothing. This is the way in which the intentions of the +founders and donors are carried out. -- How are so many +communities, which are deprived of their rentals, to support their +schools, hospices, and asylums? Even after the decree[63] which, +exceptionally and provisionally, orders the whole of their revenue +to be accounted for to them, will it be paid over now that it is +collected by a local administration whose coffers are always empty, +and whose intentions are almost always hostile? Every establishment +for benevolent and educational purposes is evidently sinking, now +that the special streams which nourished them run into and are lost +in the dry bed of the public treasury.[64] Already, in 1790, there +are no funds with which to pay the monks and nuns their small +pensions for their maintenance. In Franche-Comté the Capuchins of +Baume have no bread, and, to live, they are obliged to re-sell, with +the consent of the district, a portion of the stores of their +monastery which had been confiscated. The Ursuline nuns of Ornans +live on the means furnished them by private individuals in order to +keep up the only school which the town possesses. The Bernardine +nuns of Pontarlier are reduced to the lowest stage of want: "We are +satisfied," the district reports, "that they have nothing to put +into their mouths. We have to contribute something every day +amongst ourselves to keep them from starving."[65] Only too +thankful are they when the local administration gives them something +to eat, or allows others to give them something. In many places it +strives to famish them, or takes delight in annoying them. In +March, 1791, the department of Doubs, in spite of the entreaties of +the district, reduces the pension of the Visitant nuns to one +hundred and one livres for the choristers, and fifty for the lay- +sisters. Two months before this, the municipality of Besançon, +putting its own interpretation on the decree which allowed nuns to +dress as they pleased, enjoins them all, including even the sisters +of charity, to abandon their old costume, which few among them had +the means of replacing. -- Helplessness, indifference, or +malevolence, such are the various dispositions which are encountered +among the new authorities whose duty it is to support and protect +them. To let loose persecution there is now only needed a decree +which puts the civil power in conflict with religious convictions. +That decree is promulgated, and, on the 12th of July, 1790, the +Assembly establishes the civil constitution of the clergy. + +Notwithstanding the confiscation of ecclesiastical property, and the +dispersion of the monastic communities, the main body of the +ecclesiastical corps remains intact: seventy thousand priests ranged +under the bishops, with the Pope in the center as the commander-in- +chief. There is no corporation more solid, more incompatible, or +more attacked. For, against it are opposed implacable hatreds and +fixed opinions: the Gallicanism of the jurists who, from St. Louis +downwards, are the adversaries of ecclesiastical power; the doctrine +of the Jansenists who, since Louis XIII., desire to bring back the +Church to its primitive form; and the theory of the philosophers +who, for sixty years, have considered Christianity as a mistake and +Catholicism as a scourge. At the very least the institution of a +clergy in Catholicism is condemned, and they think that they are +moderate if they respect the rest. + +"WE MIGHT CHANGE THE RELIGION," + +say the deputies in the tribune.[66] Now, the decree affects +neither dogma nor worship; it is confined to a revision of matters +of discipline, and on this particular domain which is claimed for +the civil power, it is pretended that demolition and re-construction +may be effected at discretion without the concurrence of the +ecclesiastical power. + +Here there is an abuse of power, for an ecclesiastical as well as +civil society has the right to choose its own form, its own +hierarchy, its own government. - On this point, every argument that +can be advanced in favor of the former can be repeated in favor of +the latter, and the moment one becomes legitimate the other becomes +legitimate also. The justification for a civil or of a religious +community or society may be the performance of a long series of +services which, for centuries, it has rendered to its members, the +zeal and success with which it discharges its functions, the +feelings of gratitude they entertain for it, the importance they +attribute to its offices, the need they have of it, and their +attachment to it, the conviction imprinted in their minds that +without it they would be deprived of a benefit upon which they set +more store than upon any other. This benefit, in a civil society, +is the security of persons and property. In the religious society +it is the eternal salvation of the soul. iii In all other +particulars the resemblance is complete, and the titles of the +Church are as good as those of the State. Hence, if it be just for +one to be sovereign and free on its own domain, it is just for the +other to be equally sovereign and free, If the Church encroaches +when it assumes to regulate the constitution of the State, then the +State also encroaches when it pretends to regulate the constitution +of the Church. If the former claims the respect of the latter on +its domain, the latter must show equal respect for the former on its +ground. The boundary-line between the two territories is, +undoubtedly, not clearly defined and frequent contests arise between +the two. Sometimes these may be forestalled or terminated by each +shutting itself up within a wall of separation, and by their +remaining as much as possible indifferent to each other, as is the +case in America. At another, they may, by a carefully considered +contract,[67] each accord to the other specific rights on the +intermediate zone, and both exercise their divided authority on that +zone, which is the case in France. In both cases, however, the two +powers, like the two societies, must remain distinct. It is +necessary for each of them that the other should be an equal, and +not a subordinate to which it prescribes conditions. Whatever the +civil system may be, whether monarchical or republican, oligarchic +or democratic, the Church abuses its credit when it condemns or +attacks it. Whatever may be the ecclesiastical system, whether +papal, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or congregational, the State +abuses its strength when, without the assent of the faithful, it +abolishes their systems or imposes a new one upon them. Not only +does it violate right, but its violence, most frequently, is +fruitless. It may strike as it will, the root of the tree is beyond +its reach, and, in the unjust war which it wages against an +institution as vital as itself, it often ends in getting the worst +of it. + +Unfortunately, the Assembly, in this as in other matters, being +preoccupied with principles, fails to look at practical facts; and, +aiming to remove only the dead bark, it injures the living trunk. -- +For many centuries, and especially since the Council of Trent, the +vigorous element of Catholicism is much less religion itself than +the Church. Theology has retired into the background, while +discipline has come to the front. Believers who, according to +Church law, are required to regard spiritual authority as dogma, in +fact attach their faith to the spiritual authority much more than to +the dogma. - + +Catholic Faith insists, in relation to discipline as well as to +dogma, that if one rejects the decision of the Roman Church one +ceases to be a Catholic; that the constitution of the Church is +monarchical, that the ordaining of priests and bishops is made from +above so that without communion with the Pope, its supreme head, one +is schismatic and that no schismatic priest legitimately can perform +a holy service, and that no true faithful may attend his service or +receive his blessings without committing a sin. - It is a fact that +the faithful, apart from a few Jansenists, are neither theologians +nor canonists; that they read neither prayers nor scriptures, and if +they accept the creed, it is in a lump, without investigation, +confiding in the hand which presents it; that their obedient +conscience is in the keeping of this pastoral guide; that the Church +of the third century is of little consequence to them; and that, as +far as the true form of the actual Church goes, the doctor whose +advice they follow is not St. Cyprian, of whom they know nothing, +but their visible bishop and their living curé. +Put these two premises together and the conclusion is self-evident: +it is clear that they will not believe that they are baptized, +absolved, or married except by this curé authorized by this bishop. +Let others be put in their places whom they condemn, and you +suppress worship, sacraments, and the most precious functions of +spiritual life to twenty-four millions of French people, to all the +peasantry, all the children, and to almost all the women; you stir +up in rebellion against you the two greatest forces which move the +mind, conscience and habit. -- And observe the result of this. +You not only convert the State into a policeman in the service of +heresy, but also, through this fruitless and tyrannous attempt of +Gallican Jansenism, you bring into permanent discredit Gallican +maxims and Jansenist doctrines. You cut away the last two roots by +which a liberal sentiment still vegetated in orthodox Catholicism. +You throw the clergy back on Rome; you attach them to the Pope from +whom you wish to separate them, and deprive them of the national +character which you wish to impose on them. They were French, and +you render them Ultramontane.[68] They excited ill-will and envy, +and you render them sympathetic and popular. They were a divided +body, and you give them unanimity. They were a straggling militia, +scattered about under several independent authorities, and rooted to +the soil through the possession of the ground; thanks to you, they +are to become a regular, manageable army, emancipated from every +local attachment, organized under one head, and always prepared to +take the field at the word of command. Compare the authority of a +bishop in his diocese in 1789 with that of a bishop sixty years +later. In 1789, the Archbishop of Besançon, out of fifteen hundred +offices and benefices, had the patronage of one hundred, In ninety- +three incumbencies the selections were made by the metropolitan +chapter; in eighteen it was made by the chapter of the Madeleine; in +seventy parishes by the noble founder or benefactor. One abbé had +thirteen incumbencies at his disposal, another thirty-four, another +thirty-five, a prior nine, an abbess twenty; five communes directly +nominated their own pastor, while abbeys, priories and canonries +were in the hands of the King.[69] At the present day (1880) in a +diocese the bishop appoints all the curés or officiating priests, +and may deprive nine out of ten of them; in the diocese above named, +from 1850 to 1860, scarcely one lay functionary was nominated +without the consent or intervention of the cardinal-archbishop.[70] +To comprehend the spirit, discipline, and influence of our +contemporary clergy, go back to the source of it, and you will find +it in the decree of the Constituent Assembly. A natural +organization cannot be broken up with impunity; it forms anew, +adapting itself to circumstances, and closes up its ranks in +proportion to its danger. + +But even if, according to the maxims of the Assembly, faith and +worship are free, as far as the sovereign State is concerned, the +churches are subjects.-- For these are societies, administrations, +and hierarchies, and no society, administration, or hierarchy may +exist in the State without entering into its ---departments under +the title of subordinate, delegate, or employee. A priest is now +essentially a salaried officer like the rest, a functionary[71] +presiding over matters pertaining to worship and morality. If the +State is disposed to change the number, the mode of nomination, the +duties and the posts of its engineers, it is not bound to assemble +its engineers and ask their permission, least of all that of a +foreign engineer established at Rome. If it wishes to change the +condition of "its ecclesiastical officers," its right to do so is +the same, and therefore unquestioned. There is no need of asking +anybody's consent in the exercise of this right, and it allows no +interference between it and its clerks. The Assembly refuses to +call a Gallican council; it refuses to negotiate with the Pope, and, +on its own authority alone, it recasts the whole Constitution of the +Church. Henceforth this branch of the public administration is to +be organized on the model of the others. -- In the first +place[72] the diocese is to be in extent and limits the same as the +French department; consequently, all ecclesiastical districts are +marked out anew, and forty-eight episcopal sees disappear. -- In +the second place, the appointed bishop is forbidden "to refer to the +Pope to obtain any confirmation whatever." All he can do is to write +to him "in testimony of the unity of faith and of the communion +which he is to maintain with him." The bishop is thus no longer +installed by his canonical chief, and the Church of France becomes +schismatic. -- In the third place, the metropolitan or bishop is +forbidden to exact from the new bishops or curés "any oath other +than that they profess the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion." +Assisted by his council he may examine them on their doctrine and +morals, and refuse them canonical installation, but in this case his +reasons must be given in writing, and be signed by himself and his +council. His authority, in other respects, does not extend beyond +this for it is the civil tribunal which decides between contending +parties. Thus is the catholic hierarchy broken up; the +ecclesiastical superior has his hands tied; if he still delegates +sacerdotal functions it is only as a matter of form. Between the +curé and the bishop subordination ceases to exist just as it has +ceased to exist between the bishop and the Pope, and the Church of +France becomes Presbyterian. -- The people now, in effect, choose +their own ministers, as they do in the Presbyterian church; the +bishop is appointed by the electors of the department, the cure by +the district electors, and, what is an extraordinary aggravation, +these need not be of his communion. It is of no consequence whether +the electoral Assembly contains, as at Nîmes, Montauban, Strasbourg, +and Metz, a notable proportion of Calvinists, Lutherans, and Jews, +or whether its majority, furnished by the club, is notoriously +hostile to Catholicism, and even to Christianity itself. The bishop +and the curé must be chosen by the electoral body; the Holy Ghost +dwells with it, and with the civil tribunals, and these may install +its elect in spite of any resistance. -- To complete the +dependence of the clergy, every bishop is forbidden to absent +himself more than fifteen days without permission from the +department; every curé the same length of time without the +permission of the district, even to attend upon a dying father or to +undergo the operation of lithotomy. In default of this permission +his salary is suspended: as a functionary under salary, he owes all +his time to his bureau, and if he desires a leave of absence he must +ask for it from his chiefs in the Hôtel-de-Ville.[73] -- He must +assent to all these innovations, not only with passive obedience, +but by a solemn oath. All old or new ecclesiastics, archbishops, +bishops, curés, vicars, preachers, hospital and prison chaplains, +superiors and directors of seminaries, professors of seminaries and +colleges, are to state in writing that they are ready to take this +oath: moreover, they must take it publicly, in church, "in the +presence of the general council, the commune, and the faithful," and +promise "to maintain with all their power" a schismatic and +Presbyterian Church. -- For there can be no doubt about the sense +and bearing of the prescribed oath. It was all very well to +incorporate it with a broader one, that of maintaining the +Constitution. But the Constitution of the clergy is too clearly +comprised in the general Constitution, like a chapter in a book, and +to sign the book is to sign the chapter. Besides, in the formula to +which the ecclesiastics in the Assembly are obliged to swear in the +tribune, the chapter is precisely indicated, and no exception or +reservation is allowed.[74] The Bishop of Clermont, with all those +who have accepted the Constitution in full, save the decrees +affecting spiritual matters, are silenced. Where the spiritual +begins and where it ends the Assembly knows better than they, for it +has defined this, and it imposes its definition on canonist and +theologian; it is, in its turn, the Pope, and all consciences must +bow to its decision. Let them take the "oath, pure and simple," or +if they do not they are 'refractory." The fiat goes forth, and the +effect of it is immense, for, along with the clergy, the law reaches +to laymen. On the one hand, all the ecclesiastics who refuse the +oath are dismissed. If they continue "to interfere with public +functions which they have personally or corporately exercised" they +"shall be prosecuted as disturbers of the peace, and condemned as +rebels against the law," deprived of all rights as active citizens, +and declared incompetent to hold any public office. This is the +penalty already inflicted on the nonjuring bishop who persists in +considering himself a bishop, who ordains priests and who issues a +pastoral letter. Such is soon to be the penalty inflicted on the +nonjuring curé who presumes to hear confession or officiate at a +mass.[75] On the other hand, all citizens who refuse to take the +prescribed oath, all electors, municipal officers, judges and +administrative agents, shall lose their right of suffrage, have +their functions revoked, and be declared incompetent for all public +duties.[76] The result is that scrupulous Catholics are excluded +from every administrative post, from all elections, and especially +from ecclesiastical elections; from which it follows that, the +stronger one's faith the less one's share in the choice of a +priest.[77] -- What an admirable law, that which, under the pretext +of doing away with ecclesiastical abuses, places the faithful, lay +or clerical, outside the pale of the law! + +This soon becomes apparent. One hundred and thirty four +archbishops, bishops, and coadjutors refuse to take the oath; there +are only four of them who do so, three of whom, MM. de Talleyrand, +de Jarente, and de Brienne, are unbelievers and notorious for their +licentiousness; the others are influenced by their consciences, +above all, by their esprit de corps and a point of honor. Most of +the curés rally around this staff of officers. In the diocese of +Besançon,[78] out of fourteen hundred priests, three hundred take +the oath, a thousand refuse it, and eighty retract. In the +department of Doubs, only four consent to swear. In the department +of Lozère, there are only "ten out of two hundred and fifty." It is +stated positively," writes the best informed of all observers that +everywhere in France two-thirds of the ecclesiastics have refused +the oath, or have only taken it with the same reservations as the +Bishop of Clermont." + +Thus, out of seventy thousand priests, forty-six thousand are turned +out of office, and the majority of their parishioners are on their +side. This is apparent in the absence of electors convoked to +replace them: at Bordeaux only four hundred and fifty came to the +poll out of nine hundred, while elsewhere the summons brings +together only "a third or a quarter" In many places there are no +candidates, or those elected decline to accept. They are obliged, +in order to supply their places, to hunt up unfrocked monks of a +questionable character. There are two parties, after this, in each +parish; two faiths, two systems of worship, and permanent discord. +Even when the new and the old curés are accommodating, their +situations bring them into conflict. To the former the latter are +"intruders." To the latter the former are " refractories." By virtue +of his being a guardian of souls, the former cannot dispense with +telling his parishioners that the intruder is excommunicated, that +his sacraments are null or sacrilegious, and that it is a sin to +attend his mass. By virtue of his being a public functionary, the +latter does not fail to write to the authorities that the " +refractory " entraps the faithful, excites their consciences, saps +the Constitution, and that he ought to be put down by force. In +other words, the former draws everybody away from the latter, while +the latter sends the gendarmes against the former, and persecution +begins. - In a strange reversal, it is the majority which undergoes +persecution, and the minority which carries it out. The mass of the +constitutional curé is, everywhere, deserted.[79] In La Vendée there +are ten or twelve present in the church out of five or six hundred +parishioners; on Sundays and holidays whole villages and market- +towns travel from one to two leagues off to attend the orthodox +mass, the villagers declaring that "if the old curé can only be +restored to them, they will gladly pay a double tax." In Alsace, +"nine tenths, at least, of the Catholics refuse to recognize the +legally sworn priests." The same spectacle presents itself in +Franche-Comté, Artois, and in ten of the other provinces. -- +Finally, as in a chemical composition, the analysis is complete. +Those who believe, or who recover their belief, are ranged around +the old curé; all who, through conviction or tradition, hold to the +sacraments, all who, through faith or habit, wish or feel a need to +attend the mass. The auditors of the new curé consist of +unbelievers, deists, the indifferent members of the clubs and of the +administration, who resort to the church as to the Hôtel-de-ville or +to a popular meeting, not through religious but through political +zeal, and who support the "intruder" in order to sustain the +Constitution. All this does not secure to him very fervent +followers, but it provides him with very zealous defenders; and, in +default of the faith which they do not possess, they give the force +which is at their disposal. All means are proper against an +intractable bishop or curé; not only the law which they aggravate +through their forced interpretation of it and through their +arbitrary verdicts, but also the riots which they stir up by their +instigation and which they sanction by their toleration.[80] He is +driven out of his parish, consigned to the county town, and kept in +a safe place. The Directory of Aisne denounces him as a disturber +of the public peace, and forbids him, under severe penalties, from +administering the sacraments. The municipality of Cahors shuts up +particular churches and orders the nonjuring ecclesiastics to leave +the town in twenty-four hours. The electoral corps of Lot denounces +them publicly as "ferocious brutes," incendiaries, and provokers of +civil war. The Directory of the Bas-Rhin banishes them to +Strasbourg or to fifteen leagues from the frontier. At Saint-Leon +the bishop is forced to fly. At Auch the archbishop is imprisoned; +at Lyons M. de Boisboissel, grand vicar, is confined in Pierre- +Encize, for having preserved an archiepiscopal mandate in his house; +brutality is everywhere the minister of intolerance. A certain cure +of Aisne who, in 1789, had fed two thousand poor, having presumed to +read from his pulpit a pastoral charge concerning the observance of +Lent, the mayor seizes him by the collar and prevents him from going +to the altar; "two of the National Yeomanry" draw their sabers on +him, and forthwith lead him away bareheaded, not allowing him to +return to his house, and drive him to a distance of two leagues by +beat of drum and under escort. At Paris, in the church of Saint- +Eustache, the curé is greeted with outcries, a pistol is pointed at +his head, he is seized by the hair, struck with fists, and only +reaches the sacristy through the intervention of the National Guard. +In the church of the Théatins, rented by the orthodox with all legal +formality, a furious band disperses the priests and their +assistants, upsets the altar and profanes the sacred vessels. A +placard, posted up by the department, calls upon the people to +respect the law, "I saw it," says an eye-witness, "torn down amidst +imprecations against the department, the priests, and the devout. +One of the chief haranguers, standing on the steps terminated his +speech by stating that schism ought to be stopped at any cost, that +no worship but his should be allowed, that women should be whipped +and priests knocked on the head." And, in fact, "a young lady +accompanied by her mother is whipped on the steps of the church." +Elsewhere nuns are the sufferers, even the sisters of Saint-Vincent +de Paul; and, from April, 1793, onward; the same outrages on modesty +and against life are propagated from town to town. At Dijon, rods +are nailed fast to the gates of all the convents; at Montpellier, +two or three hundred ruffians, armed with large iron--bound sticks, +murder the men and outrage the women. -- Nothing remains but to +put the gangsters under the shelter of an amnesty, which is done by +the Constituent Assembly, and to legally sanction the animosity of +local administrations, which is done by the Legislative +Assembly.[81] Henceforth the nonjuring ecclesiastics are deprived +of their sustenance; they are declared " suspected of revolt against +the law and of evil intentions against the country." - Thus, says a +contemporary Protestant, "on the strength of these suspicions and +these intentions, a Directory, to which the law interdicts judicial +functions, may arbitrarily drive out of his house the minister of a +God of peace and charity, grown gray in the shadow of the altar" +Thus, "everywhere, where disturbances occur on account of religious +opinions, and whether these troubles are due to the frantic +scourgers of the virtuous sisters of charity or to the ruffians +armed with cow-hides who, at Nîmes and Montpellier, outrage all the +laws of decorum and of liberty for six whole months, the non-juring +priests are to be punished with banishment. Torn from their +families whose means of living they share, they are sent away to +wander on the highways, abandoned to public pity or ferocity the +moment any scoundrel chooses to excite a disturbance that he can +impute to them." - Thus we see approaching the revolt of the +peasantry, the insurrections of Nîmes, Franche-Comté, la Vendée and +Brittany, emigration, transportation; imprisonment, the guillotine +or drowning for two thirds of the clergy of France, and likewise for +myriads of the loyal, for husbandmen, artisans, day-laborers, +seamstresses, and servants, and the humblest among the lower class +of the people. This is what the laws of the Constituent Assembly +are leading to. -- In the institution of the clergy, as in that of +the nobles and the King, it demolished a solid wall in order to dig +through it an open door, and it is nothing strange if the whole +structure tumbles down on the heads of its inmates. The true course +was to respect, to reform, to utilize rank and corporations: all +that the Assembly thought of was the abolition of these in the name +of abstract equality and of national sovereignty. In order to +abolish these it executed, tolerated, or initiated all the attacks +on persons and on property. Those it is about to commit are the +inevitable result of those which it has already committed; for, +through its Constitution, bad is changed to worse, and the social +edifice, already half in ruins through the clumsy havoc that is +effected in it, will fall in completely under the weight of the +incongruous or extravagant constructions which it proceeds to +extemporize. + +___________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + +[1] Cf. "The Ancient Régime," books I. and V. + +[2] Perhaps we are here at the core of why all regimes end up +becoming corrupt, inefficient and sick; their leaders take their +privileges for granted and become more and more inattentive to the +work which must be done if the people are to be kept at work and +possible adversaries kept under control. (SR.) + +[3] A special tax paid the king by a plebeian owning a fief. (TR) + +[4] The right to an income from trust funds. (SR.) + +[5] Arthur Young, I. 209, 223. "If the communes steadily refuse +what is now offered to them, they put immense and certain benefits +to the chance of fortune, to that hazard which may make posterity +curse instead of bless their memories as real patriots who had +nothing in view but the happiness of their country. + +[6] According to valuations by the Constituent Assembly, the tax on +real estate ought to bring 240,000,000 francs, and provide one-fifth +of the net revenue of France, estimated at 1,200,000,000. +Additionally, the personal tax on movable property, which replaced +the capitation, ought to bring 60,000,000. Total for direct +taxation, 300,000,000, or one-fourth -- that is to say, twenty-five +per cent, of the net revenue.-- If the direct taxation had been +maintained up to the rate of the ancient régime (190,000,000, +according to Necker's report in May, 1689), this impost would only +have provided one-sixth of the net revenue, or sixteen percent. + +[7] Dumont, 267. (The words of Mirabeau three months before his +death:) "Ah, my friend, how right we were at the start when we +wanted to prevent the commons from declaring themselves the National +Assembly! That was the source of the evil. They wanted to rule the +King, instead of ruling through him." + +[8] Gouverneur Morris, April 29, 1789 (on the principles of the +future constitution), "One generation at least will be required to +render the public familiar with them." + +[9] Cf. "The Ancient Régime," book II, ch. III. + +[10] French women did not obtain the right to vote until 1946. (SR.) + +[11] According to Voltaire ("L'Homme aux Quarante Écus"), the +average duration of human life was only twenty-three years. + +[12] Mercure, July 6, 1790. According to the report of Camus +(sitting of July 2nd), the official total of pensions amounted to +thirty-two millions; but if we add the gratuities and allowances out +of the various treasuries, the actual total was fifty-six millions. + +[13] I note that today in 1998, 100 years after Taine's death, +Denmark, my country, has had total democracy, that is universal +suffrage for women and men of 18 years of age for a considerable +time, and a witty author has noted that the first rule of our +unwritten constitution is that "thou shalt not think that thou art +important". I have noted, however, that when a Dane praises Denmark +and the Danes even in the most excessive manner, then he is not +considered as a chauvinist but admired as being a man of truth. In +spite of the process of 'democratization' even socialist chieftains +seem to favor and protect their own children, send them to good +private schools and later abroad to study and help them to find +favorable employment in the party or with the public services. A +new élite is thus continuously created by the ruling political and +administrative upper class. (SR.). + +[14] The Ancient Régime," p.388, and the following pages.-" Le Duc de +Broglie," by M. Goizot, p. 11. (Last words of Prince Victor de +Broglie, and the opinions of M. d'Argenson.) + +[15] De Ferrières, I. p.2. + +[16] Moniteur, sitting of September 7, 1790, I. 431-437. Speeches, +of MM. de Sillery, de Lanjuinais, Thouret, de Lameth, and Rabaut- +Saint-Etienne. Barnave wrote in 1791: "It was necessary to be +content with one single chamber; the instinct of equality required +it. A second Chamber would have been the refuge of the +aristocrats." + +[17] Lenin should later create an elite, an aristocracy which, under +his leadership was to become the Communist party. Lenin could not +have imagined or at least would not have been concerned that the +leadership of this party would fall into the hands of tyrants later, +under the pressure of age and corruption, to be replaced by the KGB +and later the FSB. (SR.) + +[18] "De Bouillé," p. 50: "All the old noble families, save two or +three hundred, were ruined." + +[19] Cf. Doniol, "La Révolution et la Féodalité." + +[20] Moniteur, sitting of August 6, !789. Speech of Duport: +"Whatever is unjust cannot last. Similarly, no compensation for +these unjust rights can be maintained." Sitting of February 27, +1790. M. Populus: "As slavery could not spring from a legitimate +contract, because liberty cannot be alienated, you have abolished +without indemnity hereditary property in persons." Instructions and +decree of June 15-19, 1791: "The National Assembly has recognized in +the most emphatic manner that a man never could become the +proprietor of another man, and consequently, that the rights which +one had assumed to have over the person of the other, could not +become the property of the former." Cf. the diverse reports of +Merlin to the Committee of Feudality and the National Assembly. + +[21] Duvergier, "Collection des Lois et Décrets." Laws of the 4-11 +August, 1789; March 15-28, 1790; May 3-9, 1790; June 15-19, 1791. + +[22] Agrier percières -- terms denoting taxes paid in the shape of +shares of produce. Those which follow: lods, rentes, quint, requint +belong to the taxes levied on real property. [Tr.] + +[23] Doniol ("Noveaux cahiers de 1790"). Complaints of the copy- +holders of Rouergues and of Quercy, pp. 97-105. + +[24] See further on, book III. ch. II. § 4 and also ch. III. + +[25] Moniteur, sitting of March 2, 1790. Speech by Merlin: "The +peasants have been made to believe that the annulation of the +banalities (the obligation to use the public mill, wine-press, and +oven, which belonged to the noble) carried along with it the loss to +the noble of all these; the peasants regarding themselves as +proprietors of them." + +[26] Moniteur; sitting of June 9, !790. Speech of M. Charles de +Lameth -- Duvergier (laws of June 19-23 1790; September 27 and +October 16, 1791). + +[27] Sauzay, V. 400 -410. + +[28] Duvergier, laws of June 15-19, 1791; of June 18 -July 6, 1792; +of August 25-28, 1792. + +[29] "Institution du Droit Français," par Argou, I.103. (He wrote +under the Regency.) "The origin of most of the feoffs is so ancient +that, if the seigneurs were obliged to produce the titles of the +original concession to obtain their rents, there would scarcely be +one able to produce them. This deficiency is made up by common +law." + +[30] Duvergier (laws of April 8-15, 1791; March 7-11; October 26, +1791; January 6-10, 1794). -- Mirabeau had already proposed to +reduce the disposable portion to one-tenth. + +[31] See farther on, book III, ch. III. + +[32] Mercure, September 10, 1791. Article by Mallet du Pan. - Ibid. +October 15, 1791. + +[33] Should Hitler or Lenin have read and understood the +consequences of these events they would have deduced that given the +command from official sources or recognized leaders ordinary people +all over the world could easily be tempted to attack any group, +being it Jews, Protestants, Hindus or foreigners. (SR.) + +[34] "Archives Nationales," II. 784. Letters of M. de Langeron, +October 16 and 18, 1789. -- Albert Babeau, "Histoire de Troyes," +letters addressed to the Chevalier de Poterats , July, 1790. -- +"Archives Nationales," papers of the Committee on Reports, bundle 4, +letter of M. le Belin-Chatellenot to the to the President of the +National Assembly, July 1, 1791. -- Mercure, October 15, 1791. +Article by Mallet du Pan: "Such is literally the language of these +emigrants; I do not add a word." - Ibid. May 15, 1790. Letter of +the Baron de Bois d'Aizy, April 29,1790, demanding a decree of +protection fur the nobles. "We shall know (then) whether we are +outlawed or are of any account in the rights of man written out with +so much blood, or whether, finally, no other option is left to us +but that of carrying to distant skies the remains of our property +and our wretched existence." + +[35] Mercure, October 15, 1791, and September 10, 1791. Read the +admirable letter of the Chevalier de Mesgrigny, appointed colonel +during the suspension of the King, and refusing his new rank. + +[36] Cf. the "Mémoires" of M. de Boustaquet, a Norman gentleman. + +[37] Cf. "The Ancient Régime," books I. and II. + +[38] Boivin- Champeaux, "Notice Historique sur la Révolution dans le +Département de L'Eure," the register of grievances. In 1788, at +Rouen, there was not a single profession made by men. In the +monastery of the Deux-Amants the chapter convoked in 1789 consisted +of two monks. -- "Archives Nationales," papers of the ecclesiastic +committee, passim. + +[39] "Apologie de l'État Religieux" (1775), with statistics. Since +1768 the decline is "frightful." "It is easy to foresee that in ten +or twelve years most of the regular bodies will be absolutely +extinct, or reduced to a state of feebleness akin to death." + +[40] Sanzay, I. 224 (November, 1790). At Besançon, out of 266 +monks, "79 only showed any loyalty to their engements or any +affection for their calling." Others preferred to abandon it, +especially all the Dominicans but five, all but one of the bare +footed Carmelites, and all the Grand Carmelites. The same +disposition is apparent throughout the department, as, for instance, +with the Benedictines of Cluny except one, all the Minimes but +three, all the Capuchins but five, the Bernandins, Dominicans, and +Augustins, all preferring to leave. -- Montalembert, "Les Moines +d'Occident," introduction, pp. 105-164. Letter of a Benedictine of +Saint-Germain-des-Prés to a Benedictine of Vannes. "Of all the +members of your congregation which come here to lodge, I have +scarcely found one capable of edifying us. You may probably say the +same of those who came to you from our place." -- Cf. in the +"Mémoires" of Merlin de Thionville the description of the Chartreuse +of Val St. Pierre. + +[41] Ch. Guerin, "Revue des Questions Historiques" (July 1, 1875; +April 1, 1876). -- Abbé Guettée, "Histoire de l'Eglise de France," +XII, 128. ("Minutes of the meeting of l'Assemblée du Clergé," in +1780.) -- "Archives nationales," official reports and memorandums of +the States-General in 1789. The most obnoxious proceeding to the +chiefs of the order is the postponement of the age at which vows may +be taken, it being, in their view, the ruin of their institutions. +-- "The Ancient Régime," p. 403. + +[42] In order for a modern uninstructed non-believing reader to +understand the motivation which moved thousands of self-less +sisters and brothers to do their useful and kind work read St. +Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 to 46 where Jesus predicts how he will +sit in judgment on mankind and separate the sheep from the goats. (SR.) + +[43] "The Ancient Régime," P.33 -- Cf. Guerin "The monastery of the +Trois-Rois, in the north of Franche-Comté, founded four villages +collected from foreign colonists. It is the only center of charity +and civilization in a radius of three leagues. It took care of two +hundred of the sick in a recent epidemic; it lodges the troops which +pass from Alsace into Franche-Comté, and in the late hailstorm it +supplied the whole neighborhood with food." + +[44] Moniteur, sitting of February 13,1790. (Speech of the Abbé de +Montesquiou). -- Archives Nationales," papers of the +Ecclesiastical Committee, DXIX. 6, Visitation de Limoges, DXIX. +25, Annonciades de Saint-Denis; ibid. Annonciades de Saint Amour, +Ursulines d'Auch, de Beaulieu, d'Eymoutier, de la Ciotat, de Pont +Saint-Esprit, Hospitalières d'Ernée, de Laval; Sainte Claire de +Laval, de Marseilles, etc. " + +[45] Sauzay, I. 247. Out of three hundred and seventy-seven nuns +at Doubs, three hundred and fifty-eight preferred to remain as they +were, especially at Pontarlier, all the Bernardines, Annonciades, +and Ursulines; at Besançon, all the Carmelites, the Visitandines, +the Annonciades, the Clarisses, the Sisters of Refuge, the Nuns of +the Saint-Esprit and, save one, all the Benedictine Nuns. + +[46] "Archives Nationales." Papers of the Ecclesiastical Committee, +passim.-- Suzay, I. 51. -- Statistics of France for 1866. + +[47] In 1993 this number has once more fallen, and continues to +fall, to 55 900. "Quid", 1996 page 623. (SR.) + +[48] Felix Rocquain, "La France aprés le 18 Brumaire." (Reports of +the Councillors of State dispatched on this service, passim). + +[49] Moniteur, October 24, 1789. (Speech of Dupont de Nemours.) All +these speeches, often more fully reported and with various +renderings, may be found in "Les Archives Parlementaires," 1st +series, vols. VIII. and IX. + +[50] Duvergier, decree of June 14-17, 1791. "The annihilation of +every corporation of citizens of any one condition or profession +being on of the foundation-stones of the French constitution, it is +forbidden to re-establish these de-facto under any pretext or form +whatever. Citizens of a like condition or profession, such as +contractors, shopkeepers, workmen of all classes, and associates in +any art whatever shall not, on assembling together, appoint either +president, or secretaries, or syndics, discuss or pass resolutions, +or frame any regulations in relation to their assumed common +interests." + +[51] Moniteur, sitting of November 2nd, 1789. + +[52] Moniteur, sitting of February 12, 1790. Speeches of Dally +d'Agier and Barnave. + +[53] Moniteur, sitting of August 10, 1789. Speech by Garat; +February 12, 1790, speech by Pétion; October 30, 1789, speech by +Thouret. + +[54] Moniteur, sitting of November 2, 1789. Speech by Chapelier; +October 24, 1789, speech by Garat; October 30, 1789, speech by +Mirabeau, and the sitting of August 10, 1789. + +[55] Moniteur, sitting of October 23, 1789. Speech by Thouret. + +[56] Moniteur, sitting of October 23, 1789. Speech by Treilhard; +October24th, speech by Garat; October 30, speech by Mirabeau. -- On +the 8th of August, 1789, Al. de Lameth says in the tribune: "When +an foundation was set up, it is to the nation, which the grant was +given." + +[57] Duvergier, laws of August 18, 1792; August 8-14, 1793; July 11, +1794; July 14, 1792; August 24, 1793. + +[58] Moniteur, sitting of July 31, 1792. Speech of M. Boistard; +the property of the hospitals, at this time was estimated at eight +hundred millions. -- Already in 1791 (sitting of January 30th) M. +de Larochefoucauld-Liancourt said to the Assembly: Nothing will more +readily restore confidence to the poor than to see the nation +assuming the right of rendering them assistance." He proposes to +decree; accordingly, that all hospitals and places of beneficence he +placed under the control of the nation. (Mercure, February 12, +1791.) + +[59] Moniteur, sitting of August 10, 1789. Speech by Sieyès. -- +The figures given here are deduced from the statistics already given +in the "Ancient Régime." + +[60] Moniteur, v. 571.sitting of September 4, 1790. Report of the +Committee on Finances -- V. 675, sitting of September 17, 1790. +Report by Necker. + +[61] A Revolutionary Government promissory bank note. (SR.) + +[62] Sauzay, I. 228 (from October 10, 1790, to February 20, 1791). +"The total weight of the spoil of the monastic establishments in +gold, silver, and plated ware, sent to the Mint amounted to more +than 525 kilograms (for the department)." + +[63] Duvergier, law of October 8-14. + +[64] Moniteur, sitting of June 3,1792. Speech of M. Bernard, in +the name of the committee of Public Assistance: "Not a day passes in +which we do not receive the saddest news from the departments on the +penury of their hospitals." -- Mercure de France, December 17, 1791, +sitting of December 5. A number of deputies of the Department of +the North demand aid for their hospitals and municipalities. Out of +480,000 livres revenue there remains 10,000 to them. "The property +of the Communes is mortgaged, and no longer affords them any +resources. 280,000 persons are without bread. + +[65] Sauzay, I. 252 (December 3, 1790. April 13, 1791). + +[66] Moniteur, sitting of June 1, 1790. Speeches by Camus, +Treilhard, etc. + +[67] But on the assumption that all religion has been invented by +human beings for their own comfort or use, then what would be more +natural than clever rulers using their power to influence the +religious authorities to their own advantage. (SR.) + +[68] Ultramontane: Extreme in favoring the Pope's supremacy. (SR.) + +[69] Sauzay, I. 168. + +[70] Personal knowledge, as I visited Besançon four times between +1863 and 1867. + +[71] Moniteur, sitting of May 30, 1790, and others following. +(Report of Treilhard, speech by Robespierre.) + +[72] Duvergier, laws of July 12th-August 14th; November 14-25, 1790; +January 21-26, 1791. + +[73] Moniteur, sitting of May 31, 1790. Robespierre, in covert +terms, demands the marriage of priests. -- Mirabeau prepared a +speech in the same sense, concluding that every priest and monk +should be able to contract marriage; on the priest or monk +presenting himself with his bride before the curé, the latter should +be obliged to give them the nuptial benediction etc. Mirabeau +wrote, June 2, 1790: "Robespierre... has juggled me out of my +motion on the marriage of priests." -- In general the germ of all +the laws of the Convention is found in the Constituent Assembly. +(Ph. Plan, "Un Collaborateur de Mirabeau," p.56, 144.) + +[74] Duvergier, laws of November 27th -- December 26, 1790; February +5th, March 22nd, and April 5, 1791. -- Moniteur, sitting of +November 6, 1790, and those that follow, especially that of December +27th. "I swear to maintain with all my power the French +Constitution and especially the decrees relating to the Civil +Constitution of the clergy." -- Cf. sitting of January 2, 1791, +speech by the Bishop of Clermont. + +[75] Duvergier, law of May 7, 1791, to maintain the right of +nonjuring priests to perform mass in national or private edifices. +(Demanded by Talleyrand and Sieyès.) + +[76] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3235. Letter of M. de Château- +Randon, deputy of la Lozère, May 28, 1791. After the decree of May +23rd, all the functionaries of the department handed in their +resignations. + +[77] Duvergier, law of May 21-29, 1791. + +[78] Sauzay, I. 366, 538 to 593, 750. -- Archives Nationales," F7, +3235, Letter of M. de Chânteau-Randon, May 10, 1791. -- Mercure, +April 23rd, and April 16, 1701. Articles of Mallet du Pan, letter +from Bordeaux, March 20, 1791. + +[79] Buchez and Roux, XII, 77. Report of Gallois and Gensonné sent +to La Vendée and the Deux Sévres (July 25, 1791). -- " Archives +Nationales," F7, 3253, letter of the Directory of the Bas-Rhin +(letter of January 7, 1792). -- " Le District de Machecoul de 1788 +à 1793," by Lallier. --" Histoire de Joseph Lebon," by Paris. -- +Sauzay, vol. I. and II. in full. + +[80] Mercure, January 15th, April 23rd, May 16th and 30th, June 1st, +November 23rd, 1791. -- "Le District de Machecoul," by Lallier, +173. -- Sauzay, I. 295. -- Lavirotte, "Annales d'Arnay-le-Duc +(February 5, 1792). -- "Archives Nationales," F7, 3223. Petition +of a number of the inhabitants of Montpellier, November 17, 1791. + +[81] Duvergier, decree of November 29, 1791. -- Mercure, November +30, 1791 (article by Mallet du Pan). + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE CONSTRUCTIONS - THE CONSTITUTION OF 1791.. + +That which is called a Government is a concert of powers, each with +a distinct function, and all working towards a final and complete +end. The merit of a Government consists in the attainment of this +end; the worth of a machine depends upon the work it accomplishes. +The important thing is not to produce a good mechanical design on +paper, but to see that the machine works well when set up on the +ground. In vain might its founders allege the beauty of their plan +and the logical connection of their theorems; they are not required +to furnish either plan or theorems, but an instrument. + +Two conditions are requisite to render this instrument serviceable +and effective. In the first place, the public powers must harmonize +with each other, if not, one will neutralize the other; in the +second place they must be obeyed, or they are null. + +The Constituent Assembly made no provision for securing this harmony +or this obedience. In the machine which it constructed the motions +all counteract each other; the impulse is not transmitted; the +gearing is not complete between the center and the extremities; the +large central and upper wheels turn to no purpose; the innumerable +small wheels near the ground break or get out of order: the machine, +by virtue of its own mechanism, remains useless, over-heated, under +clouds of waste steam, creaking and thumping in such a matter as to +show clearly that it must explode. + + +I. + +Powers of the Central Government. - The Assembly on the partition of +power. - Rupture of every tie between the Legislature and the King. +- The Assembly on the subordination of the executive power. - How +this is nullified. - Certainty of a conflict. - The deposition of +the King is inevitable. + +Let us first consider the two central powers, the Assembly and the +King. - Ordinarily when distinct powers of different origin are +established by a Constitution, it makes, in the case of conflict +between them, a provision for an arbiter in the institution of an +Upper Chamber. Each of these powers, at least, has a hold on the +other. The Assembly must have one on the King: which is the right +to refuse taxation. The King must have one on the Assembly: which +is the right of dissolving it. Otherwise, one of the two being +disarmed, the other becomes omnipotent, and, consequently, insane. +The peril here is as great for an omnipotent Assembly as it is for +an absolute King. If the former is desirous of remaining in its +right mind, it needs repression and control as much as the latter. +If it is proper for the Assembly to restrain the King by refusing +him subsidies, it is proper for him to be able to defend himself by +appealing to the electors. - But, besides these extreme measures, +which are dangerous and rarely resorted to, there is another which +is ordinarily employed and is safe, that is, the right for the King +to take his ministers from the Chamber. Generally, the leaders of +the majority form the ministry, their nomination being the means of +restoring harmony between the King and Assembly; they are at once +men belonging to the Assembly and men belonging to the King. +Through this expedient not only is the confidence of the Assembly +assured, since the Government remains in the hands of its leaders, +but also it is under restraint because these become simultaneously +both powerful and responsible. Placed at the head of all branches +of the service, they are, before proposing it or accepting it, in a +position to judge whether a law is useful and practicable. Nothing +is so healthy for a majority as a ministry composed of its own +chiefs; nothing is so effective in repressing rashness or +intemperance. A railway conductor is not willing that his +locomotive should be deprived of coal, nor to have the rails he is +about to run on broken up. - This arrangement, with all its +drawbacks and inconveniences, is the best one yet arrived at by +human experience for the security of societies against despotism and +anarchy. For the absolute power which establishes or saves them may +also oppress or exhaust them, there is a gradual substitution of +differentiated powers, held together through the mediation of a +third umpire, caused by reciprocal dependence and an which is common +to both. + +Experience, however, is unimportant to the members of the +Constituent Assembly; under the banner of principles they sunder one +after another all the ties which keep the two powers together +harmoniously. - There must not be an Upper Chamber, because this +would be an asylum or a nursery for aristocrats. Moreover, "the +nation being of one mind," it is averse to "the creation of +different organs." So, applying ready-made formulas and metaphors, +they continue to produce ideological definitions and distinctions. + +The King must not have a hold on the legislative body: the executive +is an arm, whose business it is to obey; it is absurd for the arm to +constrain or direct the head. Scarcely is the monarch allowed a +delaying veto. Sieyès here enters with his protest declaring that +this is a "lettre de cachet[1] launched against the universal will," +and there is excluded from the action of the veto the articles of +the Constitution, all money-bills, and some other laws. - -Neither +the monarch nor the electors of the Assembly are to convoke the +Assembly; he has no voice in or oversight of the details of its +formation; the electors are to meet together and vote without his +summons or supervision. Once the Assembly is elected he can neither +adjourn nor dissolve it. He cannot even propose a law;[2] per- +mission is only granted to him "to invite it to take a subject into +consideration." He is limited to his executive duties; and still +more, a sort of wall is built up between him and the Assembly, and +the opening in it, by which each could take the other's hand, is +carefully closed up. The deputies are forbidden to become ministers +throughout the term of their service and for two years afterwards. +This is because fears are entertained that they might be corrupted +through contact with the Court, and, again, whoever the ministers +might be, there is no disposition to accept their ascendancy.[3] If +one of them is admitted into the Assembly it is not for the purpose +of giving advice, but to furnish information, reply to +interrogatories, and make protestations of his zeal in humble terms +and in a dubious position.[4] By virtue of being a royal agent he +is under suspicion like the King himself, and he is sequestered in +his bureau as the King is sequestered in his palace.- Such is the +spirit of the Constitution: by force of the theory, and the better +to secure a separation of the powers,[5] a common understanding +between them is for ever rendered impossible, and to make up for +this impossibility there remains nothing but to make one the master +and the other the clerk. + +This they did not fail to do, and for greater security, the latter +is made an honorary clerk, The executive power is conferred on him +nominally and in appearance; he does not possess it in fact, care +having been taken to place it in other hands. - In effect, all +executive agents and all secondary and local powers are elective. +The King has no voice, directly or indirectly, in the choice of +judges, public prosecutors, bishops, curés, collectors and assessors +of the taxes, commissaries of police, district and departmental +administrators, mayors, and municipal officers. At most, should an +administrator violate a law, he may annul his acts and suspend him; +but the Assembly, the superior power, has the right to cancel this +suspension. - As to the armed force, of which he is supposed to be +the commander-in-chief, this escapes from him entirely: the National +Guard is not to receive orders from him; the gendarmerie and the +troops are bound to respond to the requisitions of the municipal +authorities, whom the King can neither select nor displace: in +short, local action of any kind - that is to say, all effective +action - is denied to him. - The executive instrument is purposely +destroyed. The connection which existed between the wheels of the +extremities and the central shaft is broken, and henceforth, +incapable of distributing its energy, this shaft, in the hands of +the monarch, stands still or else turns to no purpose. The King, +"supreme head of the general administration, of the army, and of the +navy, guardian of public peace and order, hereditary representative +of the nation," is without the means, in spite of his lofty titles, +of directly applying his pretended powers, of causing a schedule of +assessments to be drawn up in a refractory commune, of compelling +payment by a delinquent tax-payer, of enforcing the free circulation +of a convoy of grain, of executing the judgment of a court, of +suppressing an outbreak, or of securing protection to persons and +property. For he can bring no constraint to bear on the agents who +are declared to be subordinate to him; he has no resources but those +of warning and persuasion. He sends to each Departmental Assembly +the decrees which he has sanctioned, requesting it to transmit them +and cause them to be carried out; he receives its correspondence and +bestows his censure or approval - and that is all. He is merely a +powerless medium of communication, a herald or public advertiser, a +sort of central echo, sonorous and empty, to which news is brought, +and from which laws depart, to spread abroad like a common rumor. +Such as he is, and thus diminished, he is still considered to be too +strong. He is deprived of the right of pardon, "which severs the +last artery of monarchical government."[6] All sorts of precautions +are taken against him. He cannot declare war without a decree of +the Assembly; he is obliged to bring war to an end on the decree of +the Assembly; he cannot make a treaty of peace, an alliance, or a +commercial treaty, without the ratification of these by the +Assembly. It is expressly declared that he is to nominate but two- +thirds of the rear-admirals, one-half of the lieutenant-generals, +field-marshals, captains of Vessels and colonels of the gendarmerie, +one-third of the colonels and lieutenant-colonels of the line, and a +sixth of the naval lieutenants. He must not allow troops to stay or +pass within 30,000 yards of the Assembly. His guard must not +consist of more than 1,800 men, duly verified, and protected against +his seductions by the civil oath. The heir-presumptive must not +leave the country without the Assembly's assent. It is the Assembly +which is to regulate by law the education of his son during +minority. - All these precautions are accompanied with threats. +There are against him five possible causes of dethronement; against +his responsible Ministers, eight causes for condemnation to from +twelve to twenty years of constraint, and eight grounds for +condemnations to death.[7] Everywhere between the lines of the +Constitution, we read the constant disposition to assume an attitude +of defense, the secret dread of treachery, the conviction that +executive power, of whatever kind, is in its nature inimical to the +public welfare. - For withholding the nomination of judges, the +reason alleged is that "the Court and the Ministers are the most +contemptible portion of the nation."[8] If the nomination of +Ministers is conceded, it is on the ground that" Ministers appointed +by the people would necessarily be too highly esteemed." The +principle is that "the legislative body alone must possess the +confidence of the people," that royal authority corrupts its +depository, and that executive power is always tempted to commit +abuses and to engage in conspiracies. If it is provided for in the +Constitution it is with regret, through the necessity of the case, +and on the condition of its being trammeled by impediments; it will +prove so much the less baneful in proportion as it is restrained, +guarded, threatened, and denounced. - A position of this kind is +manifestly intolerable; and only a man as passive as Louis XVI. +could have put up with it. Do what he will, however, he cannot make +it a tenable one. In vain does he scrupulously adhere to the +Constitution, and fulfill it to the letter. Because he is powerless +the Assembly regards him as lukewarm, and imputes to him the +friction of the machine which is not under his control. If he +presumes once to exercise his veto it is rebellion, and the +rebellion of an official against his superior, which is the +Assembly; the rebellion of a subject against his Sovereign, which is +the people. In this case dethronement is proper, and the Assembly +has only to pass the decree; the people have simply to execute the +act, and the Constitution ends in a Revolution. - A piece of +machinery of this stamp breaks down through its own movement. In +conformity with the philosophic theory the two wheels of government +must be separated, and to do this they have to be disconnected and +isolated one from the other. In conformity with the popular creed, +the driving-wheel must be subordinated and its influence +neutralized: to do this it is necessary to reduce its energy to a +minimum, break up its connections, and raise it up in the air to +turn round like a top, or to remain there as an obstacle to +something else. It is certain that, after much ill-usage as a +plaything, it will finally be removed as a hindrance. + + + +II. THE CREATION OF POPULAR DEMOCRACY. + +Administrative powers. - The Assembly on the hierarchy. - Grades +abolished. - Collective powers. - Election introduced, and the +influence of subordinates in all branches of the service. - +Certainty of disorganization. - Power in the hands of municipal +bodies. + +Let us leave the center of government and go to the extremities, and +observe the various administrations in working operation.[9] + +For any service to work well and with precision, there must be a +single and unique chief who can appoint, pay, punish and dismiss his +subordinates. - For, on the one hand, he stands alone and feels his +responsibility; he brings to bear on the management of affairs a +degree of attention and consistency, a tact and a power of +initiation of which a committee is incapable; corporate follies or +defects do not involve any one in particular, and authority is +effective only when it is in one hand. - On the other hand, being +master, he can rely on the subalterns whom he has himself selected, +whom he controls through their hopes or fears, and whom he +discharges if they do not perform their duties; otherwise he has no +hold on them and they are not instruments to be depended on. Only +on these conditions can a railway manager be sure that his pointsmen +are on the job. Only on these conditions can the foreman of a +foundry engage to execute work by a given day. In every public or +private enterprise, direct, immediate authority is the only known, +the only human and possible way to ensure the obedience and +punctuality of agents. - Administration is thus carried on in all +countries, by one or several series of functionaries, each under +some central manager who holds the reins in his single grasp.[10] + +This is all reversed in the new Constitution. In the eyes of our +legislators obedience must be spontaneous and never compulsory, and, +in the suppression of despotism, they suppress government. The +general rule in the hierarchy which they establish is that the +subordinates should be independent of their superior, for he must +neither appoint nor displace them: the only right he has is to give +them advice and remonstrate with them.[11] At best, in certain +cases, he can annul their acts and inflict on them a provisional +suspension of their functions, which can be contested and is +revocable.[12] We see, thus, that none of the local powers are +delegated by the central power; the latter is simply like a man +without either hands or arms, seated in a gilt chair. The Minister +of the Finances cannot appoint or dismiss either an assessor or a +collector; the Minister of the Interior, not one of the +departmental, district, or communal administrators; the Minister of +Justice, not one judge or public prosecutor. The King, in these +three branches of the service, has but one officer of his own, the +commissioner whose duty it is to advocate the observance of the laws +in the courts, and, on sentence being given, to enforce its +execution. - All the muscles of the central power are paralyzed by +this stroke, and henceforth each department is a State apart, living +by itself. + +An similar amputation, however, in the department itself, has cut +away all the ties by which the superior could control and direct his +subordinate. - If the administrators of the department are suffered +to influence those of the district, and those of the district those +of the municipality, it is only, again, in the way of council and +solicitation. Nowhere is the superior a commander who orders and +constrains, but everywhere a censor who gives warnings and scolds. +To render this already feeble authority still more feeble at each +step of the hierarchy, it is divided among several bodies. These +consist of superposed councils, which administer the department, the +district, and the commune. There is no directing head in any of +these councils. Permanency and executive functions throughout are +vested in the directories of four or eight members, or in bureaus of +two, three, four, six, and even seven members whose elected chief, a +president or mayor,[13] has simply an honorary primacy. Decision +and action, everywhere blunted, delayed, or curtailed by talk and +the processes of discussion, are brought forth only after the +difficult, tumultuous assent of several discordant wills.[14] +Elective and collective as these powers are, measures are still +taken to guard against them. Not only are they subject to the +control of an elected council, one-half renewable every two years, +but, again, the mayor and public prosecutor of the commune after +serving four years, and the procureur-syndic of the department or +district after eight years service, and the district collector after +six years' service, are not re-elected. Should these officials have +deserved and won the confidence of the electors, should familiarity +with affairs have made them specially competent and valuable, so +much the worse for affairs and the public ; they are not to be +anchored to their post.[15] Should their continuance in office +introduce into the service a spirit of order and economy, that is of +no consequence; there is danger of their acquiring to much +influence, and the law sends them off as soon as they become expert +and entitled to rule. - Never has jealousy and suspicion been more +on the alert against power, even legal and legitimate. Sapping and +mining goes on even in services which are recognized as essential, +as the army and the gendarmerie.[16] In the army, on the +appointment of a non-commissioned officer, the other non- +commissioned officers make up a list of candidates, and the captain +selects three, one of whom is chosen by the colonel. In the choice +of a sub-lieutenant, all the officers of the regiment vote, and he +who receives a majority is appointed. In the gendarmerie, for the +appointment of a gendarme, the directory of the department forms a +list; the colonel designates five names on it, and the directory +selects one of them. For the choice of a corporal, quartermaster or +lieutenant, there is, besides the directory and the colonel, another +intervention, that of the officers, both commissioned and non- +commissioned. It is a system of elective complications and lot- +drawings; one which, giving a voice in the choice of officers to the +civil authorities and to military subordinates, leaves the colonel +with only a third or one-quarter of his former ascendancy. In +relation to the National Guard, the new principle is applied without +any reservation. All the officers and non-commissioned officers up +to the grade of captain are elected by their own men. All the +superior officers are elected by the inferior officers. All under- +officers and all inferior and superior officers are elected for one +year only, and are not eligible for re-election until after an +interval of a year, during which they must serve in the ranks.[17] +- The result is manifest: command, in every civil and in every +military order, becomes upset; subalterns are no longer precise and +trustworthy instruments; the chief no longer has any practical hold +on them; his orders, consequently, encounter only tame obedience, +doubtful deference, sometimes even open resistance; their execution +remains dilatory, uncertain, incomplete, and at length is utterly +neglected; a latent and soon flagrant system of disorganization is +instituted by the law. Step by step, in the hierarchy of +Government, power has slipped downwards, and henceforth belongs by +virtue of the Constitution to the authorities who sit at the bottom +of the ladder. It is not the King, or the minister, or the +directory of the department or of the district who rules, but its +municipal officers; and their sway is as omnipotent as it can be in +a small independent republic. They alone have the "strong hand" +with which to search the pockets of refractory tax-payers, and +ensure the collection of the revenue; to seize the rioter by the +throat, and protect life and property; in short, to convert the +promises and menaces of the law into acts. Every armed force, the +National Guard, the regulars, and the gendarmerie, must march on +their requisition. They alone, among the body of administrators, +are endowed with this sovereign right; all that the department or +the district can do is to invite them to exercise it. It is they +who proclaim martial law. Accordingly, the sword is in their +hands.[18] Assisted by commissioners who are appointed by the +council-general of the commune, they prepare the schedule of +taxation of real and personal property, fix the quota of each tax- +payer, adjust assessments, verify the registers and the collector's +receipts, audit his accounts, discharge the insolvent, answer for +returns and authorize prosecutions.[19] Private purses are, in this +way, at their mercy, and they take from them whatever they determine +to belong to the public. - With the purse and the sword in their +hands they lack nothing that is necessary to make them masters, and +all the more because the application of every law belongs to them; +because no orders of the Assembly to the King, of the King to the +ministers, of ministers to the departments, of departments to the +districts, of the districts to the communes, brings about any real +local result except through them; because each measure of general +application undergoes their special interpretation, and can always +be optionally disfigured, softened, or exaggerated according to +their timidity, inertia, violence or partiality. Moreover, they are +not long in discovering their strength. We see them on all sides +arguing with their superiors against district, departmental, and +ministerial orders, and even against the Assembly itself; alleging +circumstances; lack of means, their own danger and the public +safety, failing to obey, acting for themselves, openly disobeying +and glorying in the act,[20] and claiming, as a right, the +omnipotence which they exercise in point of fact. Those of Troyes, +at the festival of the Federation, refuse to submit to the +precedence of the department and claim it for themselves, as +"immediate representatives of the people." Those of Brest, +notwithstanding the reiterated prohibitions of their district, +dispatch four hundred men and two cannon to force the submission of +a neighboring commune to a cure' who has taken the oath. Those of +Arnay-le-Duc arrest Mesdames (the King's aunts), in spite of their +passport signed by the ministers, hold them in spite of departmental +and district orders, persist in barring the way to them in spite of +a special decree of the National Assembly, and send two deputies to +Paris to obtain the sanction of their decision. What with arsenals +pillaged, citadels invaded, convoys arrested, couriers stopped, +letters intercepted, constant and increasing insubordination, +usurpations without truce or measure, the municipalities arrogate to +themselves every species of license on their own territory and +frequently outside of it. Henceforth, forty thousand sovereign +bodies exist in the kingdom. Force is placed in their hands, and +they make good use of it. They make such good use of it that one of +them, the commune of Paris, taking advantage of its proximity, lays +siege to, mutilates, and rules the National Convention, and through +it France. + + + +III. MUNICIPAL KINGDOMS. + +The Municipal bodies. - Their great task. - Their incapacity. - +Their feeble authority.- Insufficiency of their means of action. - +The role of the National Guard. - + +Let us follow these municipal kings into their own domain: the +burden on their shoulders is immense, and much beyond what human +strength can support. All the details of executive duty are +confided to them; they have not to busy themselves with a petty +routine, but with a complete social system which is being taken to +pieces, while another is reconstructed in its place. - They are in +possession of four milliards of ecclesiastical property, real and +personal, and soon there will be two and a half milliards of +property belonging to the emigrants, which must be sequestered, +valued, managed, inventoried, divided, sold, and the proceeds +received. They have seven or eight thousand monks and thirty +thousand nuns to displace, install, sanction, and provide for. They +have forty-six thousand ecclesiastics, bishops, canons, curés, and +vicars, to dispossess, replace, often by force, and later on to +expel, intern, imprison, and support. They are obliged to discuss, +trace out, teach and make public new territorial boundaries, those +of the commune, of the district and of the department. They have to +convoke, lodge, and protect the numerous primary and secondary +Assemblies, to supervise their operations, which sometimes last for +weeks. They must install those elected by them, justices of the +peace, officers of the National Guard, judges, public prosecutors, +curés, bishops, district and departmental administrators. They are +to form new lists of tax-payers, apportion amongst themselves, +according to a new system of impost, entirely new real and personal +taxes, decide on claims, appoint an assessor, regularly audit his +accounts and verify his books, aid him with force, use force in the +collection of the excise and salt duties, which being reduced, +equalized, and transformed in vain by the National Assembly, afford +no returns in spite of its decrees. They are obliged to find the +funds for dressing, equipping, and arming the National Guard, to +step in between it and the military commanders, and to maintain +concord between its diverse battalions. They have to protect +forests from pillage, communal land from being invaded, to maintain +the octroi, to protect former functionaries, ecclesiastics, and +nobles, suspected and threatened, and, above all, to provide, no +matter how, provisions for the commune which lacks food, and +consequently, to raise subscriptions, negotiate purchases at a +distance and even abroad, organize escorts, indemnify bakers, supply +the market every week notwithstanding the dearth, the insecurity of +roads, and the resistance of cultivators. - Even an absolute chief; +sent from a distance and from high place, the most energetic and +expert possible, supported by the best-disciplined and most obedient +troops, would scarcely succeed in such an undertaking; and there is +instead only a municipality which has neither the authority, the +means, the experience, the capacity, nor the will. + +In the country, says an orator in the tribune,[21] "the municipal +officers, in twenty thousand out of forty thousand municipalities, +do not know how to read or write." The curé, in effect, is excluded +from such offices by law, and, save in La Vendée and the noble is +excluded by public opinion. Besides, in many of the provinces, +nothing but patois is spoken.[22] French, especially the philosophic +and abstract phraseology of the new laws and proclamations, remains +gibberish to their inhabitants. They cannot possibly understand and +apply the complicated decrees and fine-spun instructions which reach +them from Paris. They hurry off to the towns, get the duties of the +office imposed on them explained and commented on in detail, try to +comprehend, imagine they do, and then, the following week, come back +again without having understood anything, either the mode of keeping +state registers, the distinction between feudal rights which are +abolished and those retained, the regulations they should enforce in +cases of election, the limits which the law imposes as to their +powers and subordination. Nothing of all this finds its way into +their rude, untrained brains; instead of a peasant who has just left +his oxen, there is needed here a legal adept aided by a trained +clerk. - Prudential considerations must be added to their ignorance. +They do not wish to make enemies for themselves in their commune, +and they abstain from any positive action, especially in all tax +matters. Nine months after the decree on the patriotic +contribution, "twenty-eight thousand municipalities are overdue, not +having (yet) returned either rolls or estimates."[23] At the end of +January, 1792, "out of forty thousand nine hundred and eleven +municipalities, only five thousand four hundred and forty-eight have +deposited their registers; two thousand five hundred and eighty +rolls only are definitive and in process of collection. A large +number have not even begun their sectional statements."[24] - It is +much worse when, thinking that they do understand it, they undertake +to do their work. In their minds, incapable of abstraction, the law +is transformed and deformed by extraordinary interpretations. We +shall see what it becomes when it is brought to bear on feudal dues, +on the forests, on communal rights, on the circulation of corn, on +the taxes on provisions, on the supervision of the aristocrats, and +on the protection of persons and property. According to them, it +authorizes and invites them to do by force, and at once, whatever +they need or desire for the time being. - The municipal officers of +the large boroughs and towns, more acute and often able to +comprehend the decrees, are scarcely in a better condition to carry +them out effectively. They are undoubtedly intelligent, inspired by +the best disposition, and zealous for the public welfare. During +the first two years of the Revolution it is, on the whole, the best +informed and most liberal portion of the bourgeoisie which, in the +department as in the district, undertakes the management of affairs. +Almost all are men of the law, advocates, notaries, and attorneys, +with a small number of the old privileged class imbued with the same +spirit, a canon at Besançon, a gentleman at Nîmes. Their intentions +are of the very best; they love order and liberty, they give their +time and their money, they hold permanent sessions and accomplish an +incredible amount of work, and they often voluntarily expose +themselves to great danger. - But they are bourgeois philosophers, +and, in this latter particular, similar to their deputies in the +National Assembly, and, with this twofold character, as incapable as +their deputies of governing a disintegrated nation. In this twofold +character they are ill-disposed towards the ancient régime, hostile +to Catholicism and feudal rights, unfavorable to the clergy and the +nobility, inclined to extend the bearing and exaggerate the rigor of +recent decrees, partisans of the Rights of Man, and, therefore, +humanitarians and optimists, disposed to excuse the misdeeds of the +people, hesitating, tardy and often timid in the face of an outbreak +- in short, admirable writers, exhorters, and reformers, but good +for nothing when it comes to breaking heads and risking their own +bones. They have not been brought up in such a way as to become men +of action in a single day. Up to this time they have always lived +as passive administrators, as quiet individuals, as studious men and +clerks, domesticated, conversational, and polished, to whom words +concealed facts, and who, on their evening promenade, warmly +discussed important principles of government, without any +consciousness of the practical machinery which, with a police-system +for its ultimate wheel, rendered themselves, their promenade, and +their conversation perfectly secure. They are not imbued with that +sentiment of social danger which produces the veritable chief; the +man who subordinates the emotions of pity to the exigencies of the +public service. They are not aware that it is better to mow down a +hundred conscientious citizens rather than let them hang a culprit +without a trial. Repression, in their hands, is neither prompt, +rigid, nor constant. They continue to be in the Hôtel-de-Ville what +they were when they went into it, so many jurists and scribes, +fruitful in proclamations, reports, and correspondence. Such is +wholly their role, and, if any amongst them, with more energy, +desires to depart from it, he has no hold on the commune which, +according to the Constitution, he has to direct, and on that armed +force which is entrusted to him with a view to insure the observance +of the laws. + +To insure respect for authority, indeed, it must not spring up on +the spot and under the hands of its subordinates. It loses its +prestige and independence when those who create it are precisely +those who have to submit to it. For, in submitting to it, they +remember that they have created it. This or that candidate among +them who has but lately solicited their suffrages is now a +magistrate who issues orders, and this sudden transformation is +their work. It is with difficulty that they pass from the role of +sovereign electors to that of docile subjects of the administration, +and recognize a commander in one of their own creatures.[25] On the +contrary, they will submit to his control only in their own fashion, +reserving to themselves in practice the powers the right to which +they have conferred on him. + + "We gave him his place, and he must do as we want him to do," + +Such popular reasoning is the most natural in the world. It is as +applicable to the municipal officer wearing his scarf as to the +officer in the National Guard wearing his epaulettes; the former as +well as the latter being conferred by the arbitrary voice of the +electors, and always seeming to them a gift which is revocable at +their pleasure. The superior always, and more particularly in times +of danger or of great public excitement, seems, if directly +appointed by those whom he commands, to be their clerk. - Such is +municipal authority at this epoch, intermittent, uncertain, and +weak; and all the weaker because the sword, whose hilt the men of +the Hôtel-de-Ville seem to hold, does not always leave its scabbard +at their bidding. They alone are empowered to summon the National +Guard, but it does not depend on them, and it is not at their +disposal. To obtain its support it is needful that its independent +chiefs should be willing to respond to their requisition; that the +men should willingly obey their elected officers; that these +improvised soldiers should consent to quit their plow, their stores, +their workshops and offices, to lose their day, to patrol the +streets at night, to be pelted with stones, to fire on a riotous +crowd whose enmities and prejudices they often share. Undoubtedly, +they will fire on some occasions, but generally they will remain +quiet, with their arms at rest; and, at last, they will grow weary +of a trying, dangerous, and constant service, which is disagreeable +to them, and for which they are not fitted. They will not answer +the summons, or, if they do, they will come too late, and in too +small a number. In this event, the regulars who are sent for, will +do as they do and remain quiet, following their example, while the +municipal magistrate, into whose hands the sword has glided, will be +able to do no more than make grievous reports, to his superiors of +the department or district, concerning the popular violence of which +he is a powerless witness. - In other cases, and especially in the +country, his condition is worse. The National Guard, preceded by +its drums, will come and take him off to the town hall to authorize +by his presence, and to legalize by his orders, the outrages that it +is about to commit. He marches along seized by the collar, and +affixes his signature at the point of the bayonet. In this case not +only is his instrument taken away from him, but it is turned against +of holding it by the hilt, he feels the point: the armed force which +he ought to make use of makes use of him. + + + +IV. On Universal Suffrage. + +The National Guard as electors. - Its great power.- Its important +task. - The work imposed on active citizens. - They avoid it. + +Behold, then, the true sovereign, the elector, both National Guard +and voter. They are the kings designed by the Constitution; there +he is, in every hierarchical stage, with his suffrage, with which to +delegate authority, and his gun to assure its exercise. - Through +his free choice he creates all local powers, intermediary, central, +legislative, administrative, ecclesiastical, and judiciary. He +appoints directly, and in the primary assemblies, the mayor, the +municipal board, the public prosecutor and council of the commune, +the justice of the peace and his assessors, and the electors of the +second degree. Indirectly, and through these elected electors, he +appoints the administrators and procureurs-syndics of both district +and department, the civil and criminal judges, the public +prosecutor, bishops, and priests, the members of the National +Assembly and jurors of the higher National Court[26]. All these +commissions which he issues are of short date, the principal ones, +those of municipal officer, elector, and deputy, having but two +years to run; at the end of this brief term their recipients are +again subject to his vote, in order that, if he is displeased with +them, he may replace them by others. He must not be fettered in his +choice; in every well-conducted establishment the legitimate +proprietor must be free easily and frequently to renew his staff of +clerks. He is the only one in whom confidence can be placed, and, +for greater security, all arms are given up to him. When his clerks +wish to employ force he is the one to place it at their disposal. +Whatever he desired as elector he executes as National Guard. On +two occasions he interferes, both times in a decisive manner; and +his control over the legal powers is irresistible because these are +born out of his vote and are obeyed only through his support. - But +these rights are, at the same time, burdens. The Constitution +describes him as an "active citizen," and this he eminently is or +should be, since public action begins and ends with him, since +everything depends on his zeal and capacity, since the machine is +good and only works well in proportion to his discernment, +punctuality, calmness, firmness, discipline at the polls, and in the +ranks. The law requires his services incessantly day and night, in +body and mind, as gendarme and as elector. - How burdensome this +service of gendarme must be, can be judged by the number of riots. +How burdensome that of elector must be, the list of elections will +show. + +In February, March, April, and May, 1789, there are prolonged parish +meetings, for the purpose of choosing electors and writing out +grievances, also bailiwick meetings of still longer duration to +choose deputies and draw up the memorial. During the months of July +and August, 1789, there are spontaneous gatherings to elect or +confirm the municipal bodies; other spontaneous meetings by which +the militia is formed and officered; and then, following these, +constant meetings of this same militia to fuse themselves into a +National Guard, to renew officers and appoint deputies to the +federative assemblies. In December, 1789, and January, 1790, there +are primary meetings, to elect municipal officers and their +councils. In May, 1790, there are primary and secondary meetings, +to appoint district and departmental administrators. In October, +1790, there are primary meetings, to elect the justice of the peace +and his assessors, also secondary meetings, to elect the district +courts. In November, 1790, there are primary meetings, to renew +one-half of the municipal bodies. In February and March, 1791, +there are secondary meetings, to nominate the bishop and curés. In +June, July, August, September, 1791, there are primary and secondary +meetings, to renew one-half of the district and departmental +administrators, to nominate the president, the public prosecutor, +and the clerk of the criminal court, and to choose deputies. In +November, 1791, there are primary meetings to renew one-half of the +municipal council. Observe that many of these elections drag along +because the voters lack experience, because the formalities are +complicated, and because opinions are divided. In August and +September, 1791, at Tours, they are prolonged for thirteen days;[27] +at Troyes, in January, 1790, instead of three days they last for +three weeks; at Paris, in September and October, 1791, only for the +purpose of choosing deputies, they last for thirty-seven days; in +many places their proceedings are contested, annulled, and begun +over again. To these universal gatherings, which put all France in +motion, we must add the local gatherings by which a commune approves +or gainsays its municipal officers, makes claims on the department, +on the King, or on the Assembly, demands the maintenance of its +parish priest, the provisioning of its market, the arrival or +dispatch of a military detachment, - and think of all that these +meetings, petitions, and nominations presuppose in the way of +preparatory committees and preliminary meetings and debates! Every +public representation begins with rehearsals in secret session. In +the choice of a candidate, and, above all, of a list of candidates; +in the appointment in each commune of from three to twenty-one +municipal officers, and from six to forty-two notables; in the +selection of twelve district administrators and thirty-six +departmental administrators, especially as the list must be of a +double length and contain twice as many officers as there are places +to fill, immediate agreement is impossible. In every important +election the electors are sure to be in a state of agitation a month +beforehand, while four weeks of discussion and caucus is not too +much to give to inquiries about candidates, and to canvassing +voters. Let us add, accordingly, this long preface to each of the +elections, so long and so often repeated, and now sum up the +troubles and disturbances, all this loss of time, all the labor +which the process demands. Each convocation of the primary +assemblies, summons to the town-hall or principal town of the +canton, for one or for several days, about three million five +hundred thousand electors of the first degree. Each convocation of +the assemblies of the second class compels the attendance and +sojourn at the principal town of the department, and again in the +principal town of the district, of about three hundred and fifty +thousand elected electors. Each revision or re-election in the +National Guard gathers together on the public square, or subjects to +roll-call at the town-hall, three or four millions of National +Guards. Each federation, after exacting the same gathering or the +same roll-call, sends delegates by hundreds of thousands to the +principal towns of the districts and departments, and tens of +thousands to Paris. - The powers thus instituted at the cost of so +great an effort, require an equal effort to make them work; one +branch alone of the administration[28] keeps 2,988 officials busy in +the departments, 6,950 in the districts, 1,175,000 in the communes - +in all, nearly one million two hundred thousand administrators, +whose places, as we have seen above, are no sinecures. Never did a +political machine require so prodigious an expenditure of force to +set it up and keep it in motion. In the United States, where it is +now (around 1875) deranged by its own action, it has been estimated +that, to meet the intentions of the law and keep each wheel in its +proper place, it would be necessary for each citizen to give one +whole day in each week, or on-sixth of his time, to public business. +In France, under the newly adopted system, where disorder is +universal, where the duty of National Guard is added to and +complicates that of elector and administrator, I estimate that two +days would be necessary. This is what the Constitution comes to, +this is its essential and supreme requirement: each active citizen +has to give up one-third of his time to public affairs. + +Now, these twelve hundred thousand administrators and three or four +million electors and National Guards, are just the men in France who +have the least leisure. The class of active citizens, indeed, +comprises about all the men who labor with their hands or with their +heads. The law exempts only domestics devoted to personal service +or common laborers who, possessing no property or income, earn less +than twenty-one sous a day. Every journeyman-miller, the smallest +farmer, every village proprietor of a cottage or of a vegetable- +garden, any ordinary workman, votes at the primary meetings, and may +become a municipal officer. Again, if he pays ten francs a year +direct tax, if he is a farmer or yeomen on any property which brings +him in four hundred francs, if his rent is one hundred and fifty +francs, he may become an elected elector and an administrator of the +district or department. According to this standard the eligible are +innumerable; in Doubs, in 1790,[29] they form two-thirds of the +active citizens. Thus, the way to office is open to all, or almost +all, and the law has taken no precaution whatever to reserve or +provide places for the elite, who could best fill them. On the +contrary, the nobles, the ecclesiastical dignitaries, the members of +the parliaments, the grand functionaries of the ancient regime, the +upper class of the bourgeoisie, almost all the rich who possess +leisure, are practically excluded from the elections by violence, +and from the various offices by public opinion: they soon retire +into private life, and, through discouragement or disgust, through +monarchical or religious scruples, abandon entirely a public career. +- The burden of the new system falls, accordingly, on the most +occupied portion of the community: on merchants, manufacturers, +agents of the law, employees, shopkeepers, artisans, and +cultivators. They are the people who must give up one-third of +their time already appropriated, neglect private for public +business, leave their harvests, their bench, their shop, or their +briefs to escort convoys and patrol the highways, to run off to the +principal town of the canton, district, or department, and stay and +sit there in the town-hall,[30] subject to a deluge of phrases and +papers, conscious that they are forced to gratuitous drudgery, and +that this drudgery is of little advantage to the public. - For the +first six months they do it with good grace; their zeal in penning +memorials, in providing themselves with arms against "brigands," and +in suppressing taxes, rents, and tithes, is active enough. But now +that this much is obtained or extorted, decreed as a right, or +accomplished in fact, they must not be further disturbed. They need +the whole of their time: they have their crops to get in, their +customers to serve, their orders to give, their books to make up, +their credits to adjust, all which are urgent matters, and neither +ought to be neglected or interrupted. Under the lash of necessity +and of the crisis they have put their backs to it, and, if we take +their word for it, they hauled the public cart out of the mud; but +they had no idea of putting themselves permanently in harness to +drag it along themselves. Confined as this class has been for +centuries to private life, each has his own wheelbarrow to trundle +along, and it is for this, before all and above all, that he holds +himself responsible. From the beginning of the year 1790 the +returns of the votes taken show that as many are absent as present; +at Besançon there are only nine hundred and fifty-nine voters out of +thirty-two hundred inscribed; four months after this more than one- +half of the electors fail to come to the polls;[31] and throughout +France, even at Paris, the indifference to voting keeps on +increasing. Puppets of such an administration as that of Louis XV. +and Louis XVI. do not become Florentine or Athenian citizens in a +single night. The hearts and heads of three or four millions of men +are not suddenly endowed with faculties and habits which render them +capable of diverting one-third of their energies to work which is +new, disproportionate, gratuitous, and supererogatory. - A fallacy +of monstrous duplicity lies at the basis of the political theories +of the day and of those which were invented during the following ten +years. Arbitrarily, and without any examination, a certain weight +and resistance are attributed to the human metal employed. It is +found on trial to have ten times less resistance and twenty times +more weight than was supposed. + + + +V. The Ruling Minority. + +The restless minority. - Its elements.- The clubs.- Their +ascendancy.- How they interpret the Rights of Man. - Their +usurpations and violence. + +In default of the majority, who shirk their responsibilities, it is +the minority which does the work and assumes the power. The +majority having resigned, the minority becomes sovereign, and public +business, abandoned by the hesitating, weak, and absent multitude, +falls into the hands of the resolute, energetic, ever-present few +who find the leisure and the disposition to assume the +responsibility. In a system in which all offices are elective, and +in which elections are frequent, politics becomes a profession for +those who subordinate their private interests to it, and who find it +of personal advantage; every village contains five or six men of +this class, every borough twenty or thirty, every town its hundreds +and Paris its many thousands.[32] These are veritable active +citizens They alone give all their time and attention to public +matters, correspond with the newspapers and with the deputies at +Paris, receive and spread abroad the party watchword on every +important question, hold caucuses, get up meetings, make motions, +draw up addresses, overlook, rebuke, or denounce the local +magistrates, form themselves into committees, publish and push +candidates, and go into the suburbs and the country to canvass for +votes. They hold the power in recompense for their labor, for they +manage the elections, and are elected to office or provided with +places by the successful candidates. There is a prodigious number +of these offices and places, not only those of officers of the +National Guard and the administrators of the commune, the district, +and the department, whose duties are gratuitous, or little short of +it, but a quantity of others which are paid,[33] - eighty-three +bishops, seven hundred and fifty deputies, four hundred criminal +judges, three thousand and seven civil judges, five thousand +justices of the peace, twenty thousand assessors forty thousand +communal collectors, forty-six thousand curés, without counting the +accessory or insignificant places which exist by tens and hundreds +of thousands, from secretaries, clerks, bailiffs and notaries, to +gendarmes, constables, office-clerks, beadles, grave-diggers, and +keepers of sequestered goods. The pasture is vast for the +ambitious; it is not small for the needy, and they seize upon it. +Such is the rule in pure democracies: hence the swarm of politicians +in the United States. When the law incessantly calls all citizens +to political action, there are only a few who devote themselves to +it; these become expert in this particular work, and, consequently, +preponderant. But they must be paid for their trouble, and the +election secures to them their places because they manage the +elections. + +Two sorts of men furnish the recruits for this dominant minority: on +the one hand the enthusiasts, and on the other those who have no +social position. Towards the end of 1789, moderate people, who are +minding their own business, retire into privacy, and are daily less +disposed to show themselves. The public square is occupied by +others who, through zeal and political passion, abandon their +pursuits, and by those who, finding themselves hampered in their +social sphere, or repelled from ordinary circles, were merely +awaiting a new opening to take a fresh start. In these utopian and +revolutionary times, there is no lack of either class. Flung out by +handfuls, the dogma of popular sovereignty falls like a seed +scattered around, to end up vegetating in heated brains, in the +narrow and rash minds which, once possessed by an idea, adhere to it +and are mastered by it. It falls amongst a class of reasoners who, +starting from a principle, dash forward like a horse who has had +blinders put on. This is especially the case with the legal class, +whose profession accustoms them to deductions; nor less with the +village attorney, the unfrocked monk, the "intruding" and +excommunicated curé, and above all, the journalist and the local +orator, who, for the first time in his life, finds that he has an +audience, applause, influence and a future before him. These are +the only people who can do the complicated and constant work which +the new Constitution calls for; for they are the only men whose +desires are unlimited, whose dreams are coherent, whose doctrine is +explicit, whose enthusiasm is contagious, who cherish no scruples, +and whose presumption is unbounded. Thus has the rigid will been +wrought and tempered within them, the inward spring of energy which, +being daily more tightly wound up, urges them on to propaganda and +to action. - During the second half of the year 1790 we see them +everywhere following the example of the Paris Jacobins, styling +themselves friends of the Constitution, and grouping themselves +together in popular associations. Each town and village gives birth +to a club of patriots who regularly every evening, or several times +a week, meet "for the purpose of co-operating for the safety of the +commonwealth."[34] This is a new and spontaneous organ,[35] an +cancer and a parasite, which develops itself in the social body +alongside of its legal organizations. Its growth insensibly +increases, attracting to itself the substance of the others, +employing them for its own ends, substituting itself for them, +acting by and for itself alone, a sort of omnivorous outgrowth the +encroachment of which is irresistible, not only because +circumstances and the working of the Constitution nourish it, but +also because its germ, deposited at a great depth, is a living +portion of the Constitution itself. + +For, placed at the head of the Constitution, as well as of the +decrees which are attached to it, stands the Declaration of the +Rights of Man. According to this, and by the avowal of the +legislators themselves, there are two parts to be distinguished in +the law, the one superior, eternal, inviolable, which is the self- +evident principle, and the other inferior, temporary, and open to +discussion, which comprehends more or less exact or erroneous +applications of this principle. No application of the law is valid +if it derogates from the principle. No institution or authority is +entitled to obedience if it is opposed to the rights which it aims +to guarantee. These sacred rights, anterior to all society, take +precedence of every social convention, and whenever we would know if +a legal order is legitimate, we have merely to ascertain if it is in +conformity with natural right. Let us, accordingly, in every +doubtful or difficult case, refer to this philosophic gospel, to +this incontestable catechism, this primordial creed proclaimed by +the National Assembly. - The National Assembly itself invites us to +do so. For it announces that + +"ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole +causes + of public misfortune, and of the corruption of governments." + +It declares that + +"the object of every political association is the preservation of +natural and + imprescriptible rights." + +It enumerates them, "in order that the acts of legislative power and +the acts of executive power may at once be compared with the purpose +of every political institution." It desires "that every member of +the social body should have its declaration constantly in mind." - +Thus we are told to control all acts of application by the +principle, and also we are provided with the rule by which we may +and should accord, measure, or even refuse our submission to, +deference for, and toleration of established institutions and legal +authority. + +What are these superior rights, and, in case of dispute, who will +decide as arbitrator? - There is nothing here like the precise +declarations of the American Constitution,[36] those positive +prescriptions which serve to sustain a judicial appeal, those +express prohibitions which prevent beforehand certain species of +laws from being passed, which prescribe limits to public powers, +which mark out the province not to be invaded by the State because +it is reserved to the individual. + +On the contrary, in the declaration of the national Assembly, most +of the articles are abstract dogmas,[37] metaphysical definitions, +more or less literary axioms, that is to say, more or less false, +now vague and now contradictory, open to various interpretations and +to opposite constructions, These are good for platform display but +bad in practice, mere stage effect, a sort of pompous standard, +useless and heavy, which, hoisted in front of the Constitutional +house and shaken every day by violent hands, cannot fail soon to +tumble on the heads of passers by.[38] - Nothing is done to ward +off this visible danger. There is nothing here like that Supreme +Court which, in the United States, guards the Constitution even +against its Congress, and which, in the name of the Constitution, +actually invalidates a law, even when it has passed through all +formalities and been voted on by all the powers; which listens to +the complaints of the individual affected by an unconstitutional +law; which stays the sheriff's or collector's hand raised against +him, and which above their heads gives judgment on his interests and +wrongs. Ill-defined and discordant laws are proclaimed without any +provision being made for their interpretation, application or +sanction. No means are taken to have them specially expounded. No +district tribunal is assigned to consider the claims which grow out +of them, to put an end to litigation legally, peacefully, on a last +appeal, and through a final decision which becomes a precedent and +fixes the loose sense of the text. All this is made the duty of +everybody, that is to say of those who are disposed to charge +themselves with it, - in other words, the active minority in council +assembled. - Thus, in each town or village it is the local club +which, by the authorization of the legislator himself, becomes the +champion, judge, interpreter and administrator of the rights of man, +and which, in the name of these superior rights, may protest or +rebel, as it seems best, not only against the legitimate acts of +legal powers, but also against the authentic text of the +Constitution and the Laws.[39] + +Consider, indeed, these rights as they are proclaimed, along with +the commentary of the speaker who expounds them at the club before +an audience of heated and daring spirits, or in the street to the +rude and fanatical multitude. Every article in the Declaration is a +dagger pointed at human society, and the handle has only to be +pressed to make the blade enter the flesh.[40] Among "these natural +and imprescriptible rights" the legislator has placed "resistance to +oppression." We are oppressed : let us resist and take up arms. +According to this legislator, "society has the right to bring every +public agent of the Administration to account." Let us away to the +Hôtel-de-Ville, and interrogate our lukewarm or suspected +magistrates, and watch their sessions to see if they prosecute +priests and disarm the aristocrats; let us stop their intrigues +against the people; let us force these slow clerks to hasten their +steps. - According to this legislator "all citizens have the right +to take part in person, or through their representatives, in the +formation of the law." There must thus be no more electors +privileged by their payment of a three-franc tax. Down with the new +aristocracy of active citizens! Let us restore to the two millions +of proletarians the right of suffrage, of which the Constitution has +unjustly defrauded them! - According to this legislator, "men are +born and remain free, and equal in their rights." Consequently, let +no one be excluded from the National Guard; let everybody, even the +pauper, have some kind of weapon, a pike or gun, to defend his +freedom! - In the very terms of the Declaration, "the law is the +expression of the universal will." Listen to these clamors in the +open streets, to these petitions flowing in from the towns on all +sides; behold the universal will, the living law which abolishes the +written law! On the strength of this the leader of a few clubs in +Paris are to depose the King, to violate the Legislative Assembly +and decimate the National Convention. - In other terms, the +turbulent, factious minority is to supplant the sovereign nation, +and henceforth there is nothing to hinder it from doing what it +pleases just when it pleases. The operation of the Constitution has +given to it the reality of power, while the preamble of the +Constitution clothes it with the semblance of right. + + + +VI. Summary of the work of the Constituent Assembly. + +Such is the work of the Constituent Assembly. In several of its +laws, especially those which relate to private interests, in the +institution of civil regulations, in the penal and rural codes,[41] +in the first attempts at, and the promise of, a uniform civil code, +in the enunciation of a few simple regulations regarding taxation, +procedure, and administration, it planted good seed. But in all +that relates to political institutions and social organization its +proceedings are those of an academy of Utopians, and not those of +practical legislators. - On the sick body entrusted to it, it +performed amputations which were as useless as they were excessive, +and applied bandages as inadequate as they were injurious. With the +exception of two or three restrictions admitted inadvertently, and +the maintenance of the show of royalty, also the obligation of a +small electoral qualification, it carried out its principle to the +end, the principle of Rousseau. It deliberately refused to consider +man as he really was under its own eyes, and persisted in seeing +nothing in him but the abstract being created in books. +Consequently, with the blindness and obstinacy characteristic of a +speculative surgeon, it destroyed, in the society submitted to its +scalpel and its theories, not only the tumors, the enlargements, and +the inflamed parts of the organs, but also the organs themselves, +and even the vital governing centers around which cells arrange +themselves to recompose an injured organ. That is, the Assembly +destroyed on the one hand the time-honored, spontaneous, and lasting +societies formed by geographical position, history, common +occupations and interests, and on the other, those natural chiefs +whose name, repute, education, independence, and earnestness +designated them as the best qualified to occupy high positions. In +one direction it despoils and permits the ruin and proscription of +the superior class, the nobles, the members of Parliament, and the +upper middle class. In another it dispossesses and breaks up all +historic or natural corporations, religious congregations, clerical +bodies, provinces, parliaments, societies of art and of all other +professions and pursuits. This done, every tie or bond which holds +men together is found to be severed; all subordination and every +graduated scale of rank have disappeared. There is no longer rank +and file, or commander-in-chief. Nothing remains but individual +particles, 26 millions of equal and disconnected atoms. Never was +so much disintegrated matter, less capable of resistance, offered to +hands undertaking to mold it. Harshness and violence will be +sufficient to ensure success. These brutal hands are ready for the +work, and the Assembly which has reduced the material to powder has +likewise provided the mortar and pestle. As awkward in destruction +as it is in construction, it invents for the restoration of order in +a society which is turned upside down a machine which would, of +itself, create disorder in a tranquil society. The most absolute +and most concentrated government would not be strong enough to +effect without disturbance a similar equalization of ranks, the same +dismemberment of associations, and the same displacement of +property. No social transformation can be peacefully accomplished +without a well-commanded army, obedient and everywhere present, as +was the case in the emancipation of the Russian serfs by Emperor +Alexander. The new Constitution,[42] on the contrary, reduces the +King to the position of an honorary president, suspected and called +in question by a disorganized State. Between him and the +legislative body it interposes nothing but sources of conflict, and +suppresses all means of concord. The monarch has no hold whatever +on the administrative departments which he must direct; the mutual +independence of the powers, from the center to the extremities of +the State, everywhere produces indifference, negligence, and +disobedience between the injunctions issued and their execution. +France is a federation of forty thousand municipal sovereignties, in +which the authority of legal magistrates varies according to the +caprice of active citizens. These active citizens, too heavily +loaded, shy away from the performance of public duty; in which a +minority of fanatics and ambitious men monopolize the right to +speak, to vote, all influence, the power and all action. They +justify their multiple ursurpations, their unbridled despotism, and +their increasing encroachments by the Declaration of the Rights of +Man. The masterpiece[43] of ideal abstractions and of practical +absurdities is accomplished. In accordance with the Constitution +spontaneous anarchy becomes legalized anarchy. The latter is +perfect; nothing finer of the kind has been seen since the ninth +century. + +______________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + +[1] The name for the dreaded secret Royal warrant of arrest. (SR.) + +[2] The initiative rests with the King on one point: war cannot be +decreed by the Assembly except on his formal and preliminary +proposition. This exception was secured only after a violent +struggle and a supreme effort by Mirabeau. + +[3] Speech by Lanjuinais, November 7, 1789. "We determined on the +separation of the powers. Why, then, should the proposal he made to +us to unite the legislative power with the executive power in the +persons of the ministers?" + +[4] See the attendance of the Ministers before the Legislative +Assembly. + +[5] "Any society in which the separation of the powers is not +clearly defined has no constitution." (Declaration of Rights, +article XVI.) - This principle is borrowed from a text by +Montesquieu, also from the American Constitution. In the rest the +theory of Rousseau is followed. + +[6] Mercure de France, an expression by Mallet du Pan. + +[7] Constitution of 1791, ch. II. articles 5, 6, 7. -- Decree of +September 25 - October 6, 1791, section III. articles, 8 to 25. + +[8] Speeches by Barnave and Roederer in the constituent Assembly. - +Speeches by Barnave and Duport in the Jacobin Club. + +[9] Principal texts. (Duvergier, "Collection des Lois et Decrets.") +- Laws on municipal and administrative organization, December 14 and +22, 1789; August 12-20, 1790; March 12, 1791. On the municipal +organization of Paris, May 21st, June 27, 1790. - Laws on the +organization of the Judiciary, August 16-24, 1790; September 16-29, +1791; September 29, October 21, 1791.- Laws on military +organization, September 23, October 29, 1790; January 16, 1791; July +27, 28, 1791 - Laws on the financial organization, November 14- +24,.1790; November 23, 1790; March 17, 1791; September 26, October +2, 1791. + +[10] The removal of such managerial authority has since the second +World war taken place inside the United Nations and other Western +public administrations and seems to be the aim of much communist +trade union effort. The result has everywhere been added cost and +decreased efficiency. (SR.) + +[11] This principle has been introduced in Western educational +systems when clever self-appointed psychologists told parents and +teacher alike that they could and should not punish their children +but only talk and explain to them. (SR.) + +[12] This description fits the staff regulations of the United +Nations secretariat in which I served for 32 years. (SR.) + +[13] Decrees of December 14 and December 22, 1789: "In +municipalities reduced to three members (communes below five hundred +inhabitants), all executive functions shall belong to the mayor +alone." + +[14] Could it be that Lenin took note of this and had "it this +translated in Russian and made use of it in his and later in Stalin's +schools for international revolutionaries. It would in any case +have weakened the Bourgeois Capitalist countries. In any case such +measures have been introduced both in the international +organizations and in most Western Democratic Governments after World +War II. (SR.) + +[15] This was in the United Nations called 'Rotation' and made the +administration of missions and forces difficult, expensive and +inefficient. This rotation was also used in the Indian and other +armies in order to prevent the officers to reach an understanding or +achieve any power over the troops under their command. (SR.) + +[16] Laws of September 23 - October 29, 1790; January 16, 1791. +(Titles II. And VII.) - Cf. the legal prescriptions in relation to +the military tribunals. In every prosecuting or judicial jury one- +seventh of the sworn members are taken from the non-commissioned +officers, and one-seventh from the soldiers, and again, according to +the rank of the accused, the number of those of the same rank is +doubled. + +[17] Law of July 28th, August 12, 1791. + +[18] Laws of November 24, 1789 (article 52), August 10-14, 1789. - +Instruction of August 10-20, 1790; § 8 - Law of October 21, +November 21, 1789. + +[19] Laws of November 14 and 23, 1790; January 13th, September 26th, +October 9, 1792. + +[20] Albert Babeau, I. 327 (Féte of the Federation, July14, 1790). +- "Archives Nationales," F7, 3215 (May 17,1791, Deliberation of the +council-general of the commune of Brest. May 17 and 19, Letters of +the directory of the district). - Mercure, March 5, 1791. "Mesdames +are stopped until the return of the two deputies, whom the Republic +of Arnay-le-Duc has sent to the representatives of the nation to +demonstrate to them the necessity of keeping the king's aunts in the +kingdom." + +[21] Moniteur, X. 132. Speech by M. Labergerie, November 8, 1791. + +[22] At Montauban, in the intendant's salon, the ladies of the place +spoke patois only, the grandmother of the gentleman who has informed +me of this fact did not understand any other language. + +[23] Moniteur, V.163, sitting of July 18, 1791. Speech by M. +Lecoulteux, reporter. + +[24] Moniteur, XI. 283, sitting of February 2, 1792. Speech by +Cambon: "They go away thinking that they understand what is +explained to them, but return the following day to obtain fresh +explanations. The attorneys refuse to give the municipalities any +assistance, stating that they know nothing about these matters." + +[25] The same may happen when a subordinate is promoted to be placed +in charge of his or her former equals and colleagues. This is why +it is often preferably to transfer someone who is recognized as +being of superior talent whenever a promotions is to take place. (SR.) + +[26] Law of May 11-15, 1791. + +[27] Minutes of the meeting of the Electoral Assembly of the +Department of Indre-et-Loire (1791, printed). + +[28] De Ferrières, I. 367. + +[29] Suzay, I, 191 (21,711 are eligible out of 32,288 inscribed +citizens). + +[30] Official report of the Electoral Assembly of the Department of +Indre-et-Loire, Aug. 27, 1791. "A member of the Assembly made a +motion that all the members composing it should be indemnified for +the expenses which would be incurred by their absence from home and +the long sojourn they had to make in the town where the Assembly was +held. He remarked that the inhabitants of the country were those +who suffered the most, their labor being their sole riches; that if +no attention was paid to this demand, they would be obliged, in +spite of their patriotism, to withdraw and abandon their important +mission; that the electoral assemblies would then be deserted, or +would be composed of those whose resources permitted them to make +this sacrifice." + +[31] Sauzay, I. 147, 192. + +[32] For the detail of these figures, see vol. II. Book IV. + +[33] De Ferrières, I. 367. Cf. The various laws above mentioned. + +[34] Constant, "Histoire d'un Club Jacobin en Province" +(Fontainebleau) p.15. (Procés-verbaux of the founding of the clubs +of Moret, Thomery, Nemours, and Montereau.) + +[35] Later to change and become socialist and communist parties +everywhere. (SR.) + +[36] Cf. The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 (except the +first phrase, which is a catchword thrown out for the European +philosophers). - Jefferson proposed a Declaration of Rights for the +Constitution of March 4, 1789, but it was refused. They were +content to add to it the eleven amendments which set forth the +fundamental rights of the citizen. + +[37] Article I. "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights +common to all. Social distinctions are founded solely on public +utility." + + The first phrase condemns the hereditary royalty which is +sanctioned by the Constitution. The second phrase can be used to +legitimate hereditary monarchy and an aristocracy. - Articles 10 and +11 bear upon the manifestations of religious convictions and on +freedom of speech and of the press. By virtue of these two articles +worship, speech, and the press may be made subject to the most +repressive restrictions, etc. + +[38] The International Bill of Human Rights of 1948 is quite +different from the one approved in 1789. In 1948 there is no more +any mention of any "right to resistance to oppression", there is a +softening of the position on the right of property and new rights, +to free education, to a country, to rest and leisure, to a high +standard of health and to an adequate standard of living have been +introduced. (SR.) + +[39] Stalin and his successors organized such a system of "clubs" +world-wide which even today remain active as "protectors" of the +environment, refugees, prisoners, animals and the environment. +(SR.) + +[40] Buchez and Roux , XI. 237. (Speech by Malouet in relation to +the revision, August 5, 1791.) "You constantly tempt the people with +sovereignty without giving them the immediate use of it." + +[41] Decrees of September 25 - October 6, 1791; September 28 - +October 6, 1791. + +[42] Impartial contemporaries, those well qualified to judge, agree +as to the absurdity of the Constitution. + +"The Constitution was a veritable monster. There was too much of +monarchy in it for a republic, and too much of a republic for a +monarchy. The King was a side-dish, un hors d'œuvre, everywhere +present in appearance but without any actual power." (Dumont, 339.) + +"It is a general and almost universal conviction that this +Constitution is inexecutable. The makers of it to a man condemn it. +(G. Morris, September 30, 1791.) + +"Every day proves more clearly that their new Constitution is good +for nothing." (ibid. , December 27, 1791.) + +Cf. The sensible and prophetic speech made by Malouet (August 5, +1791, Buchez and Roux, XI. 237). + +[43] Taine's vivid description is likely to have encouraged any +radical revolutionary having the luck to read his explicit +description of how to proceed with the destruction of a naïve +corrupt capitalist, bourgeois society. (SR.) + + + + +BOOK THIRD. THE APPLICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.[1] + + +CHAPTER I. + +I. The Federations. - Popular application of philosophic theory. - +Idyllic celebration of the Contrat-Social. - The two strata of the +human mind. - Permanent disorder. + +If there ever was an Utopia which seemed capable of realization, or, +what is still more to the purpose, was really applied, converted +into a fact, fully established, it is that of Rousseau, in 1789 and +during the three following years. For, not only are his principles +embodied in the laws, and the Constitution throughout animated with +his spirit, but it seems as if the nation looked upon his +ideological gambols, his abstract fiction, as serious. This fiction +it carried out in every particular. A social contract, at one +spontaneous and practical, an immense gathering of men associating +together freely for the first time for the recognition of their +respective rights, forming a specific compact, and binding +themselves by a solemn oath: such is the social recipe prescribed by +the philosophers, and which is carried out to the letter. Moreover, +as this recipe is esteemed infallible, the imagination is worked +upon and the sensibilities of the day are brought into play. It is +admitted that men, on again becoming equals, have again become +brothers.[2] A sudden and amazing harmony of all volitions and all +intelligences will restore the golden age on earth. It is proper, +accordingly, to regard the social contract as a festival, an +affecting, sublime idyll, in which, from one end of France to the +other, all, hand in hand, should assemble and swear to the new +compact, with song, with dance, with tears of joy, with shouts of +gladness, the worthy beginning of public felicity. With unanimous +assent, indeed, the idyll is performed as if according to a written +program. + +On the 29th of November, 1789, at Etoile, near Valence, the +federations began.[3] Twelve thousand National Guards, from the two +banks of the Rhône, promise "to remain for ever united, to insure +the circulation of grain, and to maintain the laws passed by the +National Assembly." On the 13th of December, at Montélimart, six +thousand men, the representatives of 27 000 other men, take a +similar oath and confederate themselves with the foregoing. - Upon +this the excitement spreads from month to month and from province to +province. Fourteen towns of the bailiwicks of Franche-Comté form a +patriotic league. At Pontivy, Brittany enters into federal +relations with Anjou. One thousand National Guards of Vivarais and +Languedoc send their delegates to Voute. 48 000 in the Vosges send +their deputies to Epinal. During February, March, April, and May, +1790, in Alsace, Champagne, Dauphiny, Orléanais, Touraine, Lyonnais, +and Provence, there is the same spectacle. At Draguignan eight +thousand National Guards take the oath in the presence of 20 000 +spectators. At Lyons 50 000 men, delegates of more than 500 000 +others take the civic oath. - But local unions are not sufficient to +complete the organization of France ; a general union of all +Frenchmen must take place. Many of the various National Guards have +already written to Paris for the purpose of affiliating themselves +with the National Guard there; and, one the 5th of June, the +Parisian municipal body having proposed it, the Assembly decrees the +universal federation. It is to take place on the 14th of July, +everywhere on the same day, both at the center and at the +extremities of the kingdom. There is to be one in the principal +town of each district and of each department, and one in the +capital. To the latter each body of the National Guards is to send +deputies in the proportion of one man to every two hundred; and each +regiment one officer, one non-commissioned officer, and four +privates. Fourteen thousand representatives of the National Guard +of the provinces appear on the Champ de Mars, the theater of the +festival; also eleven to twelve thousand representatives of the land +and marine forces, besides the National Guard of Paris, and sixty +thousand spectators on the surrounding slopes, with a still greater +crowd on the heights of Chaillot and of Passy. All rise to their +feet and swear fidelity to the nation, to the law, to the King and +to the new Constitution. When the report of the cannon is heard +which announces the taking of the oath, those of the Parisians who +have remained at home, men, women, and children, raise their hands +in the direction of the Champ de Mars and likewise make their +affirmation. In every principal town of every district, department, +and commune in France there is the same oath on the same day. Never +was there a more perfect social compact heard of. Here, for the +first time in the world, everybody beholds a veritable legitimate +society, for it is founded on free pledges, on solemn stipulations, +and on actual consent. They possess the authentic act and the dated +official report of it.[4] + +There is still something more - the time and the occasion betoken a +union of all hearts. The barriers which have hitherto separated men +from each other are all removed and without effort. Provincial +antagonisms are now to cease: the confederates of Brittany and Anjou +write that they no longer desire to be Angevins and Bretons, but +simply Frenchmen. All religious discords are to come to an end: at +Saint-Jean-du-Gard, near Alais, the Catholic curé and the Protestant +pastor embrace each other at the altar; the pastor occupies the best +seat in the church, and at the Protestant meeting-house the curé has +the place of honor, and listens to the sermon of the pastor.[5] +Distinctions of rank and condition will no longer exist; at Saint- +Andéol " the honor of taking the oath in the name of the people is +conferred on two old men, one ninety-three and the other ninety-four +years of age, one a noble and a colonel of the National Guard, and +the other a simple peasant." At Paris, two hundred thousand persons +of all conditions, ages, and sexes, officers and soldiers, monks and +actors, school-boys and masters, dandies and ragamuffins, elegant +ladies and fishwives, workmen of every class and the peasants from +the vicinity, all flocked to the Champ de Mars to dig the earth +which was not ready, and in a week, trundling wheelbarrows and +handling the pick-ax as equals and comrades, all voluntarily yoked +in the same service, converted a flat surface into a valley between +two hills. - At Strasbourg, General Luckner, commander-in-chief, +worked a whole afternoon in his shirt-sleeves just like the +commonest laborer. The confederates are fed, housed, and have their +expenses paid everywhere on all the roads. At Paris the publicans +and keepers of furnished houses lower their prices of their own +accord, and do not think of robbing their new guests. "The +districts," moreover, "feast the provincials to their heart's +content.[6] There are meals every day for from twelve to fifteen +hundred people." Provincials and Parisians, soldiers and bourgeois, +seated and mingled together, drink each other's health and embrace. +The soldiers, especially, and the inferior officers are surrounded, +welcomed, and entertained to such an extent that they lose their +heads, their health, and more besides. One "old trooper, who had +been over fifty years in the service, died on the way home, used up +with cordials and excess of pleasure." In short, the joy is +excessive, as it should be on the great day when the wish of an +entire century is accomplished. - Behold ideal felicity, as +displayed in the books and illustrations of the time! The natural +man buried underneath an artificial civilization is disinterred, and +again appears as in early days, as in Tahiti, as in philosophic and +literary pastorals, as in bucolic and mythological operas, +confiding, affectionate, and happy. "The sight of all these beings +again restored to the sweet sentiments of primitive brotherhood is +an exquisite delight almost too great for the soul to support," and +the Frenchman, more light-hearted and far more childlike than he is +to-day, gives himself up unrestrainedly to his social, sympathetic, +and generous instincts. Whatever the imagination of the day offers +him to increase his emotions, all the classical, rhetorical, and +dramatic material at his command, are employed for the embellishment +of his festival. Already wildly enthusiastic, he is anxious to +increase his enthusiasm. - At Lyons, the fifty thousand confederates +from the south range themselves in line of battle around an +artificial rock, fifty feet high, covered with shrubs, and +surmounted by a Temple of Concord in which stands a huge statue of +Liberty; the steps of the rock are decked with flags, and a solemn +mass precedes the administration of the oath. - At Paris, an alter +dedicated to the nation is erected in the middle of the Champ de +Mars, which is transformed into a colossal circus. The regular +troops and the federations of the departments stand in position +around it, the King being in front with the Queen and the dauphin, +while near them are the princes and princesses in a gallery, and the +members of the National Assembly in an amphitheater; two hundred +priests, draped in their albs and with tricolored belts, officiate +around Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun; three hundred drums and twelve +hundred musicians all play at once; forty piece of cannon are +discharged at one volley, and four hundred thousand cheers go up as +if from one threat. Never was such an effort made to intoxicate the +senses and strain the nerves beyond their powers of endurance! - The +moral machine is made to vibrate to the same and even to a greater +extent. For more than a year past, harangues, proclamations, +addresses, newspapers and events have daily added one degree more to +the pressure. On this occasion, thousands of speeches, multiplied +by myriads of newspapers, carry the enthusiasm to the highest pitch. +Declamation foams and rolls along in a steady stream of rhetoric +everywhere throughout France.[7] In this state of excitement the +difference between magniloquence and sincerity, between the false +and the true, between show and substance, is no longer +distinguishable. The Federation becomes an opera which is seriously +played in the open street - children have parts assigned them in it; +it occurs to no one that they are puppets, and that the words taken +for an expression of the heart are simply memorized speeches that +have been put into their mouths. At Besançon, on the return of the +confederates, hundreds of "youthful citizens" from twelve to +fourteen years of age,[8] in the national uniform, "with sword in +hand," march up to the standard of Liberty. Three little girls from +eleven to thirteen years old and two little boy of nine years each +pronounce "a discourse full of fire and breathing nothing but +patriotism;" after which, a young lady of fourteen, raising her +voice and pointing to the flag, harangues in turn the crowd, the +deputies, the National Guard, the mayor, and the commander of the +troops, the scene ending with a ball. This is the universal finale +- men and women, children and adults, common people and men of the +world, chiefs and subordinates, all, everywhere, frisk about as in +the last act of a pastoral drama. At Paris, - writes an eye- +witness, "I saw chevaliers of Saint-Louis and chaplains dancing in +the street with people belonging to their department."[9] At the +Champ de Mars, on the day of the Federation, notwithstanding that +rain was falling in torrents, "the first arrivals began to dance, +and those who came after them, joining in, formed a circle which +soon spread over a portion of the Champ de Mars. . . .Three +hundred thousand spectators kept time with their hands." On the +following days dancing is kept up on the Champ de Mars and in the +streets, and there is drinking and carousing; "there was a ball with +refreshments at the Corn-Exchange, and on the site of the Bastille." +- At Tours, where fifty-two detachments from the neighboring +provinces are collected, about four o'clock in the afternoon,[10] +through an irresistible outburst of insane gaiety, "the officers, +inferior officers, and soldiers, pell-mell, race through the +streets, some with saber in hand and others dancing and shouting +'Vive le Roi!' 'Vive la Nation!' flinging up their hats and +compelling every one they met to join in the dance. One of the +canons of the cathedral, who happens to be passing quietly along, +has a grenadier's cap put on his head," and is dragged into the +circle, and after him two monks; "they are often embraced," and then +allowed to depart. The carriages of the mayor and the Marquise de +Montausier arrive; people mount up behind, get inside, and seat +themselves in front, as many as can find room, and force the +coachmen to parade through the principal streets in this fashion. +There is no malice in it, nothing but sport and the overflow of +spirits. "Nobody was maltreated or insulted, although almost every +one was drunk." - Nevertheless, there is one bad symptom: the +soldiers of the Anjou regiment leave their barracks the following +day and "pass the whole night abroad, no one being able to hinder +them." And there is another of still graver aspect; at Orleans, +after the companies of the National Militia had danced on the square +in the evening, "a large number of volunteers marched in procession +through the town with drums, shouting out with all their might that +the aristocracy must be destroyed, and that priests and aristocrats +should be strung up to the lamp post. They enter a suspected +coffee-house, drive out the inmates with insults, lay hands on a +gentleman who is supposed not to have cried out as correctly and as +lustily as themselves, and come near to hanging him.[11] - Such is +the fruit of the philosophy and the attitudes of the eighteenth +century. Men believed that, for the organization of a perfect +society and the permanent establishment of freedom, justice, and +happiness on earth, an inspiration of sentiments and an act of the +will would suffice. The inspiration came and the act was fulfilled; +they have been carried away, delighted, affected and out of their +minds. Now comes the reaction, when they have to fall back upon +themselves. The effort has succeeded in accomplishing all that it +could accomplish, namely, a deluge of emotional demonstrations and +slogans, a verbal and not a real contract ostentatious fraternity +skin-deep, a well-meaning masquerade, an outpouring of feeling +evaporating through its own pageantry - in short, an agreeable +carnival of a day's duration. + +The reason is that in the human mind there are two strata. One +superficial, of which men are conscious, the other deep down, of +which they are unconscious.[12] The former unstable and vacillating +like shifting sand, the latter stable and fixed like a solid rock, +to which their caprices and agitation never descend. The latter +alone determines the general inclination of the soil, the main +current of human activity necessarily following the bent thus +prepared for it. - Certainly embraces have been interchanged and +oaths have been taken; but after, as before the ceremony, men are +just what many centuries of administrative thralldom and one century +of political literature have made them. Their ignorance and +presumption, their prejudices, hatreds, and distrusts, their +inveterate intellectual and emotional habits are still preserved. +They are human, and their stomachs need to be filled daily. They +have imagination, and, if bread be scarce, they fear that they may +not get enough of it. They prefer to keep their money rather than +to give it away. For this reason they spurn the claims which the +State and individuals have upon them as much as possible. They +avoid paying their debts. They willingly lay their hands on public +property which is badly protected; finally they are disposed to +regard gendarmes and proprietors as detrimental, and all the more so +because this has been repeated to them over and over again, day +after day, for a whole year. - On the other hand there is no change +in the situation of things. They are ever living in a disorganized +community, under an impracticable constitution, the passions which +sap public order being only the more stimulated by the semblance of +fraternity under which they seemed to be allayed. Men cannot be +persuaded with impunity that the millennium has come, for they will +want to enjoy it immediately, and will tolerate no deception +practiced on their expectations. In this violent state, fired by +boundless expectations, all their whims appear reasonable and all +their opinions rational. They are no longer able to find faults +with or control themselves. In their brain, overflowing with +emotions and enthusiasm, there is no room but for one intense, +absorbing, fixed idea. Each is confident and over-confident in his +own opinion; all become impassioned, imperious, and intractable. +Having assumed that all obstacles are taken out of the way, they +grow indignant at each obstacle they actually encounter. Whatever +it may be, they shatter it on the instant, and their over-excited +imagination covers with the fine name of patriotism their natural +appetite for despotism and domination. + +France, accordingly, in the three years which follow the taking of +the Bastille, presents a strange spectacle. In the words we find +charity and in the laws symmetry; while the actual events present a +spectacle of disorder and violence. Afar, is the reign of +philosophy; close up is the chaos of the Carlovingian era. + +"Foreigners," remarks an observer,[13] "are not aware that, with a +great extension of political rights, the liberty of the individual +is in law reduced to nothing, while in practice it is subject to the +caprice of sixty thousand constitutional assemblies; that no citizen +enjoys any protection against the annoyances of these popular +assemblies; that, according to the opinions which they entertain of +persons and things, they act in one place in one way and in another +place in another way. Here, a department, acting for itself and +without referring elsewhere, puts an embargo on vessels, while +another orders the expulsion of a military detachment essential for +the security of places devastated by ruffians; and the minister, who +responds to the demands of those interested, replies: 'Such are the +orders of the department.' Elsewhere are administrative bodies +which, the moment the Assembly decrees relief of consciences and the +freedom of nonjuring priests, order the latter out of their homes +within 24 hours. Always in advance of or lagging behind the laws; +alternately bold and cowardly; daring all things when seconded by +public license, and daring nothing to repress it; eager to abuse +their momentary authority against the weak in order to acquire +titles to popularity in the future; incapable of maintaining order +except at the expense of public safety and tranquility; entangled +in the reins of their new and complex administration, adding the +fury of passion to incapacity and inexperience; such are, for the +most part, the men sprung from nothing, void of ideas and drunk with +pretension, on whom now rests responsibility for public powers and +resources, the interest of security, and the foundations of the +power of government. In all sections of the nation, in every branch +of the administration, in every report, we detect the confusion of +authorities, the uncertainty of obedience, the dissolution of all +restraints, the absence of all resources, the deplorable +complication of enervated springs, without any of the means of real +power, and, for their sole support, laws which, in supposing France +to be peopled with men without vices or passions, abandon humanity +to its primitive state of independence." + +A few months after this, in the beginning of 1792, Malouet sums up +all in one phrase: + +"It is the Government of Algiers without the Dey." + + +II. + +Independence of the municipalities. - The causes of their +initiative. - Sentiment of danger.- Issy-l'Evêque in 1789. - Exalted +pride. - Brittany in 1790.- Usurpations of the municipalities. - +Capture of the citadels. - Violence increased against their +commanders. - Stoppage of convoys.- Powerlessness of the Directories +and the ministers. - Marseilles in 1790. + +Things could not work otherwise. For, before the 6th of October, +and the King's captivity in Paris, the Government had already been +destroyed. Now, through the successive decrees of the Assembly, it +is legally done away with, and each local group is left to itself. - +The intendants have fled, military commanders are not obeyed, the +bailiwicks dare hold no courts, the parliaments are suspended, and +seven months elapse before the district and department +administrations are elected, a year before the new judgeships are +instituted, while afterwards, as well as before, the real power is +in the hands of the communes. - The commune must arm itself, appoint +its own chiefs, provide its own supplies, protect itself against +brigands, and feed its own poor. It has to sell its national +property, install the constitutional priest, and, amidst so many +eager passions and injured interest, accomplish the transformation +by which a new society replaces the ancient one. It alone has to +ward off the perpetual and constantly reviving dangers which assail +it or which it imagines. These are great, and it exaggerates them. +It is inexperienced and alarmed. It is not surprising that, in the +exercise of its extemporized power, it should pass beyond its +natural or legal limit, and without being aware of it, overstep the +metaphysical line which the Constitution defines between its rights +and the rights of the State. Neither hunger, fear, rage, nor any of +the popular passions can wait; there is no time to refer to Paris. +Action is necessary, immediate action, and, with the means at hand, +they must save themselves as well as they can. This or that mayor +of a village is soon to find himself a general and a legislator. +This or that petty town is to give itself a charter like Laon or +Vezelay in the twelfth century. "On the 6th of October, 1789,[14] +near Autun, the market-town of Issy-l'Evêque declares itself an +independent State. The parish assembly is convoked by the priest, +M. Carion, who is appointed member of the administrative committee +and of the new military staff. In full session he secures the +adoption of a complete code, political, judiciary, penal and +military, consisting of sixty articles. Nothing is overlooked; we +find ordinances concerning + +"the town police, the laying out of streets and public squares, the +repairs of prisons, the road taxes and price of grain, the +administration of justice, fines, confiscations, and the diet of the +National Guards." + +He is a provincial Solon,[15] zealous for the public welfare, and a +man of executive power, he expounds his ordinances from the pulpit, +and threatens the refractory. He passes decrees and renders +judgments in the town-hall: outside the town limits, at the head of +the National Guard, saber in hand, he will enforce his own +decisions. He causes it to be decided that, on the written order of +the committee, every citizen may be imprisoned. He imposes and +collects taxes; he has boundary walls torn down; he goes in person +to the houses of cultivators and makes requisitions for grain; he +seizes the convoys which have not deposited their quote in his own +richly stored granaries. One day, preceded by a drummer, he marches +outside the walls, makes proclamation of "his agrarian laws," and +proceeds at once to the partition of the territory, and, by virtue +of the ancient communal or church property rights, to assign to +himself a portion of it. All this is done in public and +consciously, the notary and the scrivener being called in to draw up +the official record of his acts; he is satisfied that human society +has come to an end, and that each local group has the right to begin +over again and apply in its own way the Constitution which it has +accorded to itself without reference to anybody else. - This man, +undoubtedly, talks too loudly, an proceeds too quickly; and first +the bailiwick, next the Châtelet, and afterwards the National +Assembly temporarily put a stop to his proceedings; but his +principle is a popular one, and the forty thousand communes of +France are about to act like so many distinct republics, under the +sentimental and constantly more powerless reprimands of the central +authority. + +Excited and invigorated by a new sentiment, men now abandon +themselves to the proud consciousness of their own power and +independence. Nowhere is greater satisfaction found than among the +new local chiefs, the municipal officers and commanders of the +National Guard, for never before has such supreme authority and such +great dignity fallen upon men previously so submissive and so +insignificant. - Formerly the subordinates of an intendant or sub- +delegate, appointed, maintained, and ill-used by him, kept aloof +from transactions of any importance, unable to defend themselves +except by humble protestations against the aggravation of taxation, +concerned with precedence and the conflicts of etiquette,[16] plain +townspeople or peasants who never dreamt of interfering in military +matters, henceforth become sovereigns in all military and civil +affairs. This or that mayor or syndic of a little town or parish, a +petty bourgeois or villager in a blouse, whom the intendant or +military commander could imprison at will, now orders a gentleman, a +captain of dragoons, to march or stand still, and the captain stands +still or marches at his command. On the same bourgeois or villager +depends the safety of the neighboring chateau, of the large land- +owner and his family, of the prelate, and of all the prominent +personages of the district. in order that they may be out of harm's +way he must protect them; they will be pillaged if, in case of +insurrection, he does not send troops and the National Guard to +their assistance. It is he who, lending or refusing public force to +the collection of their rents, gives them or deprives them of the +means of living. He accordingly rules, and on the sole condition of +ruling according to the wishes of his equals, the vociferous +multitude, the restless, dominant mob which has elected him. - In +the towns, especially, and notably in the large towns, the contrast +between what he was and what he is immense, since to the plenitude +of his power is added the extent of his jurisdiction. Judge of the +effect on his brain in cities like those of Marseilles, Bordeaux, +Nantes, Rouen and Lyons, where he holds in his hand the lives and +property of eighty or a hundred thousand men. And the more as, amid +the municipal officers of the towns, three-quarters of them, +prosecutors or lawyers, are imbued with the new dogmas, and are +persuaded that in themselves alone, the directly elected of the +people, is vested all legitimate authority. Bewildered by their +recent elevation, distrustful as upstarts, in revolt against all +ancient or rival powers, they are additionally alarmed by their +imagination and ignorance, their minds being vaguely disturbed by +the contrast between their role in the past and their present role: +anxious on their own account, they find no security but in abuse and +use of power. The municipalities, on the strength of the reports +emanating from the coffee-houses, decide that the ministry are +traitors. With an obstinacy of conviction and a boldness of +presumption alike extraordinary, they believe that they have the +right to act without and against their orders, and against the +orders of the National Assembly itself, as if, in the now +disintegrated France, each municipality constituted the nation. + +Thus, if the armed force of the country is now obedient to any body, +it is to them and to them alone, and not only the National Guard, +but also the regular troops which, placed under the orders of +municipalities by a decree of the National Assembly,[17] will comply +with no other. Military commanders in the provinces, after +September, 1787, declare themselves powerless; when they and the +municipality give orders, it is only those of the municipality which +the troops recognize. "However pressing may be the necessity for +moving the troops where their presence is required, they are stopped +by the resistance of the village committee."[18] "Without any +reasonable motive," writes the commander of the forces in Brittany, +"Vannes and Auray made opposition to the detachment which I thought +it prudent to send to Belle-Ile, to replace another one . . . The +Government cannot move without encountering obstacles. . . . The +Minister of War no longer has the direction of the army. . . . +No orders are executed. . . Every one wants to command, and no +one to obey. . . How could the King, the Government, or the +Minister of War send troops where they are wanted if the towns +believe that they have the right to countermand the orders given to +the regiments and change their destination? "-And it is still worse, +for, "on the false supposition of brigands and conspiracies which do +not exist,[19] the towns and villages make demands on me for arms +and even cannon. . . The whole of Brittany will soon be in a +frightful belligerent state on this account, for, having no real +enemies, they will turn their arms against each other." - This is +of no consequence. The panic is an "epidemic." People are +determined to believe in "brigands and enemies." At Nantes, the +assertion is constantly repeated that the Spaniards are going to +land, that the French regiments are going to make an attack, that an +army of brigands is approaching, that the castle is threatened, that +it is threatening, and that it contains too many engines of war. +The commandant of the province writes in vain to the mayor to +reassure him, and to explain to him that "the municipality, being +master of the chateau, is likewise master of its magazine. Why then +should it entertain fear about that which is in its own possession? +Why should any surprise be manifested at an arsenal containing arms +and gunpowder? " - Nothing is of any effect. The chateau is +invaded; two hundred workmen set to work to demolish the +fortifications; they listen only to their fears, and cannot exercise +too great precaution. However inoffensive the citadels may be, they +are held to be dangerous; however accommodating the commanders may +be, they are regarded with suspicion. The people chafe against the +bridle, relaxed and slack as it is. It is broken and cast aside, +that it may not be used again when occasion requires. Each +municipal body, each company of the National Guard, wants to reign +on its own plot of ground out of the way of any foreign control; and +this is what is called liberty. Its adversary, therefore, is the +central power. This must be disarmed for fear that it may +interpose. On all sides, with a sure and persistent instinct, +through the capture of fortresses, the pillage of arsenals, the +seduction of the soldiery, and the expulsion of generals, the +municipality ensures its omnipotence by guaranteeing itself +beforehand against all repression. + +At Brest the municipal authorities insist that a naval officer shall +be surrendered to the people, and on the refusal of the King's +lieutenant to give him up, the permanent committee orders the +National Guard to load its guns.[20] At Nantes the municipal body +refuses to recognize M. d'Hervilly, sent to take command of a camp, +and the towns of the province write to declare that they will suffer +no other than the federated troops on their territory. At Lille the +permanent committee insists that the military authorities shall +place the keys of the town in its keeping every evening, and, a few +months after this, the National Guard, joined by mutinous soldiers, +seize the citadel and the person of Livarot, its commander. At +Toulon the commander of the arsenal, M. de Rioms, and several naval +officers, are put in the dungeon. At Montpellier the citadel is +surprised, and the club writes to the National Assembly to demand +its demolition. At Valence, the commandant, M. de Voisin, on +taking measures of defense, is massacred, and henceforth the +municipality issues all orders to the garrison. At Bastia, Colonel +de Rully falls under a shower of bullets, and the National Guard +takes possession of the citadel and the powder magazine. These are +not passing outbursts: at the end of two years the same +insubordinate spirit is apparent everywhere.[21] In vain do the +commissioners of the National Assembly seek to transfer the Nassau +regiment from Metz. Sedan refuses to receive it; while Thionville +declares that, if it comes, she will blow up the bridges, and +Sarrebuis threatens, if it approaches, that it will open fire on it. +At Caen neither the municipality nor the directory dares enforce the +law which assigns the castle to the troops of the line; the National +Guard refuses to leave it, and forbids the director of the artillery +to inspect the munitions. - In this state of things a Government +subsists in name but not in fact, for it no longer possesses the +means of enforcing obedience. Each commune arrogates to itself the +right of suspending or preventing the execution of the simplest and +most urgent orders. Arnay-le-Duc, in spite of passports and legal +injunctions, persists in retaining Mesdames; Arcis-sur-Aube retains +Necker, and Montigny is about to retain M. Caillard, Ambassador of +France.[22] - In the month of June, 1791, a convoy of eighty +thousand crowns of six livres sets out from Paris for Switzerland; +this is a repayment by the French Government to that of Soleure; the +date of payment is fixed, the itinerary marked out; all the +necessary documents are provided; it is important that it should +arrive on the day when the bill falls due. But they have counted +without the municipalities and the National Guards. Arrested at +Bar-sur-Aube, it is only at the end of a month, and on a decree of +the National Assembly, that the convoy can resume. its march. At +Belfort it is seized again, and it still remains there in the month +of November. In vain has the directory of the Bas-Rhin ordered its +release; the Belfort municipality paid no attention to the order. +In vain the same directory dispatches a commissioner, who is near +being cut to pieces. The personal interference of General Luckner, +with the strong arm, is necessary, before the convoy can pass the +frontier, after five months of delay.[23] In the month of July 1791, +a French vessel on the way from Rouen to Caudebec, said to be loaded +with kegs of gold and silver, is stopped. On the examination being +made, it has a right to leave; its papers are all correct, and the +department enjoins the district to respect the law. The district, +however, replies that it is impossible, since "all the +municipalities on the banks of the Seine have armed and are awaiting +the passing of the vessel," and the National Assembly itself is +obliged to pass a decree that the vessel shall be discharged. + +If the rebellion of the small communes is of this stamp, what must +be that of the larger ones?[24] The departments and districts summon +the municipality in vain; it disobeys or pays no attention to the +summons. + + "Since the session began," writes the directory of Saône-et-Loire; +"the municipality of Maçon has taken no step in relation to us which +has not been an encroachment. It has not uttered a word, which has +not been an insult. It has not entered upon a deliberation which +has not been an outrage." + + "If the regiment of Aunis is not ordered here immediately," writes +the directory of Calvados, "if prompt and efficient measures are not +taken to provide us with an armed force, we shall abandon a post +which we can not longer hold due to insubordination, license, +contempt for all the authorities. We shall in this case be unable to +perform the duties which were imposed upon us." + +The directory of the Bouches-du-Rhone, on being attacked, flies +before the bayonets of Marseilles. The members of the directory of +Gers, in conflict with the municipality of Auch, are almost beaten +to death. As to the ministers, who are distrusted by virtue of +their office, they are still less respected than the directories, +They are constantly denounced to the Assembly, while the +municipalities send back their dispatches without deigning to open +them,[25] and, towards the end of 1791, their increasing +powerlessness ends in complete annihilation. We can judge of this +by one example. In the month of December 1791, Limoges is not +allowed to carry away the grain, which it had just purchased in +Indre, a force of sixty horsemen being necessary to protect its +transportation. The directory of Indre at once calls upon the +ministers to furnish them with this small troop.[26] After trying +for three weeks, the minister replies that it is out of his power; +he has knocked at all doors in vain. "I have pointed out one way," +he says, "to the deputies of your department in the National +Assembly, namely, to withdraw the 20th regiment of cavalry from +Orleans, and I have recommended them to broach the matter to the +deputies of Loiret." The answer is still delayed: the deputies of +the two departments have to come to an agreement, for, otherwise, +the minister dares not displace sixty men to protect a convoy of +grain. It is plain enough that there is no longer any executive +power. There is no longer a central authority. There is no longer +a France, but merely so many disintegrated and independent communes, +like Orleans and Limoges, which, through their representatives, +carry on negotiations with each other, one to secure itself from a +deficiency of troops, and the other to secure itself from a want of +bread. + +Let us consider this general dissolution on the spot, and take up a +case in detail. On the 18th of January 1790, the new municipal +authorities of Marseilles enter upon their duties. As is generally +the case, the majority of the electors have had nothing to do with +the balloting. The mayor, Martin, having been elected by only an +eighth of the active citizens.[27] If, however, the dominant +minority is a small one, it is resolute and not inclined to stop at +trifles. "Scarcely is it organized,"[28] when it sends deputies to +the King to have him withdraw his troops from Marseilles. The King, +always weak and accommodating, finally consents; and, the orders to +march being prepared, the municipality is duly advised of them. But +the municipality will tolerate no delay, and immediately "draws up, +prints, and issues a denunciation to the National Assembly" against +the commandant and the two ministers who, according to it, are +guilty of having forged or suppressed the King's orders. In the +meantime it equips and fortifies itself as for a combat. At its +first establishment the municipality broke up the bourgeois guard, +which was too great a lover of order, and organized a National +Guard, in which those who have no property are soon to be admitted. +"Daily additions are made to its military apparatus;[29] +entrenchments and barricades at the Hôtel-de-Ville, are increasing, +the artillery is increased; the town is filled with the excitement +of a military camp in the immediate presence of an enemy." Thus, in +possession of force, it makes use of it, and in the first place +against justice. -- A popular insurrection had been suppressed in +the month of August 1789, and the three principal leaders, Rebecqui, +Pascal, and Granet, had been imprisoned in the Chateau d'If. They +are the friends of the municipal authorities, and they must be set +free. At the demand of this body the affair is taken out of the +hands of the grand-prévôt and put into those of the sénéchaussée, +the former, meanwhile, together with his councilors, undergoing +punishment for having performed their duty. The municipality, on +its own authority, forbids them from further exercise of their +functions. They are publicly denounced, "threatened with poniards, +the scaffold, and every species of assassination." [30] No printer +dares publish their defense, for fear of "municipal annoyances." It +is not long before the royal procureur and a councillor are reduced +to seeking refuge in Fort Saint-Jean, while the grand-prévôt after +having resisted a little longer, leaves Marseilles in order to save +his life. As to the three imprisoned men, the municipal authorities +visit them in a body and demand their provisional release. One of +them having made his escape, they refuse to give the commandant the +order for his re-arrest. The other two triumphantly leave the +chateau on the 11th of April, escorted by eight hundred National +Guards. They go, for form's sake, to the prisons of the +sénéchaussée but the next day are set at liberty, and further +prosecution ceases. As an offset to this, M. d'Ambert, colonel in +the Royal Marine, guilty of expressing himself too warmly against +the National Guard, although acquitted by the tribunal before which +he was brought, can be set at liberty only in secret and under the +protection of two thousand soldiers. The populace want to burn the +house of the criminal lieutenant that dared absolve him. The +magistrate himself is in danger, and is forced to take refuge in the +house of the military commander.[31] Meanwhile, printed and written +papers, insulting libels by the municipal body and the club, the +seditious or violent discussions of the district assemblies, and a +lot of pamphlets, are freely distributed among the people and the +soldiers: the latter are purposely stirred up in advance against +their chiefs. - - In vain are the officers mild, conciliatory, and +cautious. In vain does the commander-in-chief depart with a portion +of the troops. The object now is to dislodge the regiment occupying +the three forts. The club sets the ball in motion, and, forcibly or +otherwise, the will of the people must be carried out. On the 29th +of April, two actors, supported by fifty volunteers, surprise a +sentinel and get possession of Notre-Dame de la Garde. On the same +day, six thousand National Guards invest the forts of Saint-Jean and +Saint-Nicolas. The municipal authorities, summoned to respect the +fortresses, reply by demanding the opening of the gates to the +National Guard, that it may do duty jointly with the soldiers. The +commandants hesitate, refer to the law, and demand time to consult +their superiors. A second requisition, more urgent, is made; the +commandants are held responsible for the disturbances they provoke +by their refusal. If they resist they are declared promoters of +civil war.[32] They accordingly yield and sign a capitulation. +One among them, the Chevalier de Beausset, major in Fort Saint-Jean, +is opposed to this, and refuses his signature. On the following day +he is seized as he is about to enter the Hôtel-de-Ville, and +massacred, his head being borne about on the end of a pike, while +the band of assassins, the soldiers, and the rabble dance about and +shout over his remains. - " It is a sad accident," writes the +municipality.[33] How does it happen that, "after having thus far +merited and obtained all praise, a Beausset, whom we were unable to +protect against the decrees of Providence, should sully our laurels? +Having had nothing to do with this tragic affair, it is not for us +to prosecute the authors of it." Moreover, he was "culpable . . .. +rebellious, condemned by public opinion, and Providence itself seems +to have abandoned him to the irrevocable decrees of its vengeance." +- As to the taking of the forts, nothing is more legitimate. "These +places were in the hands of the enemies of the State, while now they +are in the hands of the defenders of the Constitution of the empire. +Woe to whoever would take them from us again, to convert them into a +focus of counter-revolution " - M. de Miran, commandant of the +province, has, it is true, made a demand for them. But, "is it not +somewhat pitiable to see the requisition of a Sieur de Miran, made +in the name of the King he betrays, to surrender to his Majesty's +troops places which, henceforth in our hands, guarantee public +security to the nation, to the law, and to the King?" In vain does +the King, at the request of the National Assembly,[34] order the +municipality to restore the forts to the commandants, and to make +the National Guards leave them. The municipal authorities become +indignant, and resist. According to them the wrong is all on the +side of the commandant and the ministers. It is the commandants +who, "with the threatening equipment of their citadels, their stores +of provisions and of artillery, are disturbers of the public peace. +What does the minister mean by driving the national troops out of +the forts, in order to entrust their guardianship to foreign troops? +His object is apparent in this plan . . . . he wants to kindle +civil war." - "All the misfortunes of Marseilles originate in the +secret under-standing existing between the ministers and the enemies +of the State." The municipal corps is at last obliged to evacuate +the forts, but it is determined not to give them up. The day +following that on which it receives the decree of the National +Assembly, it conceives the design of demolishing them. On the 17th +of May, two hundred laborers, paid in advance, begin the work of +destruction. To save appearances the municipal body betakes itself +at eleven o'clock in the morning to the different localities, and +orders them to stop. But, on its departure, the laborers keep on; +and, at six o'clock in the evening, a resolution is passed that, "to +prevent the entire demolition of the citadel, it is deemed advisable +to authorize only that of the part overlooking the town." On the +18th of May the Jacobin club, at once agent, accomplice, and +councilor of the municipal body, compels private individuals to +contribute something towards defraying the expenses of the +demolition. It "sends round to every house, and to the syndics of +all corporations, exacting their quotas, and making all citizens +subscribe a document by which they appear to sanction the action of +the municipal body, and to express their thanks to it. People had +to sign it, pay, and keep silent. Woe to any one that refused !" On +the 20th of May the municipal body presumes to write to the +Assembly, that "this threatening citadel, this odious monument of a +stupendous despotism, is about to disappear." To justify its +disobedience, it takes occasion to remark, "that the love of country +is the most powerful and most enduring of an empire's ramparts." On +the 28th of May it secures the performance in two theaters of a +piece representing the capture of the forts of Marseilles, for the +benefit of the men engaged in their demolition. Meanwhile, it has +summoned the Paris Jacobins to its support; it has proposed to +invite the Lyons federation and all the municipalities of the +kingdom to denounce the minister. It has forced M. de Miran, +threatened with death and watched by a party in ambush on the road, +to quit Aix, and then demands his recall.[35] Only on the 6th of +June does it decide, at the express command of the National +Assembly, to suspend the almost completed demolition. - ?Authorities +to which obedience is due could not be treated more insolently. The +end, however, is attained; there is no longer a citadel, and the +troops have departed; the regiment commanded by Ernest alone +remains, to be tampered with, insulted, and then sent off. It is +ordered to Aix, and the National Guard of Marseilles will go there +to disarm and disband it. Henceforth the municipal body has full +sway. It "observes only those laws which suit it, makes others to +its own liking, and, in short, governs in the most despotic and +arbitrary manner."[36] And not only at Marseilles, but throughout +the department where, under no authority but its own, it undertakes +armed expeditions and makes raids and sudden attacks. + + + +III. + +Independent Assemblies. - Why they took the initiative. - The people +in council. - Powerlessness of the municipalities. - the violence to +which they are subject. - Aix in 1790. - Government disobeyed and +perverted everywhere. + +Were it but possible for the dissolution to stop here! But each +commune is far from being a tranquil little state under the rule of +a body of respected magistrates. The same causes which render +municipalities rebellious against the central authority render +individuals rebellious against local authority. They also feel that +they are in danger and want to provide for their own safety. They +also, in virtue of the Constitution and of circumstances, believe +themselves appointed to save the country. They also consider +themselves qualified to judge for themselves on all points and +entitled to carry out their judgments with their own hands. The +shopkeeper, workman or peasant, at once elector and National Guard, +furnished with his vote and a musket, suddenly becomes the equal and +master of his superiors; instead of obeying, he commands, while all +who see him again after some years' absence, find that "in his +demeanor and manner all is changed." "There was great agitation +everywhere,"[37] says M. de Ségur; "I noticed groups of men talking +earnestly in the streets and on the squares. The sound of the drum +struck my ear in the villages, while I was astonished at the great +number of armed men I encountered in the little towns. On +interrogating various persons among the lower classes they would +reply with a proud look and in a bold and confident tone. I +observed everywhere the effect of those sentiments of equality and +liberty which had then become such violent passions." - Thus +exalted in their own eyes they believed themselves qualified to take +the lead in everything, not only in local affairs, but also in +general matters. France is to be governed by them; by virtue of the +Constitution they arrogate to themselves the right, and, by dint of +ignorance, attribute to themselves the capacity, to govern it. A +torrent of new, shapeless, and disproportionate ideas have taken +possession of their brains in the space of a few months. Vast +interests about which they have never thought, have to be +considered. Government, royalty, the church, creeds, foreign +powers, internal and external dangers, what is occurring at Paris +and at Coblentz, the insurrection in the Low Countries, the acts of +the cabinets of London, Vienna, Madrid, Berlin; and, of all this, +they inform themselves as they best can. An officer,[38] who +traverses France at this time, narrates that at the post-stations +they made him wait for horses until he had "given them details. The +peasants stopped my carriage in the middle of the road and +overwhelmed me with questions. At Autun, I was obliged, in spite of +the cold, to talk out of a window opening upon the square and tell +what I knew about the Assembly." - These on-dits are all changed +and amplified in passing from mouth to mouth. They finally become +circumstantial stories adapted to the caliber of the minds they pass +into and to the dominant passion that propagates them. Trace the +effect of these fables in the house of a peasant or fish-woman in an +outlying village or a populous suburb, on brutish or almost brutal +minds, especially when they are lively, heated, and over-excited - +the effect is tremendous. For, in minds of this stamp, belief is at +once converted into action, and into rude and destructive action. +It is an acquired self-control, reflection, and culture which +interposes between belief and action the solicitude for social +interests, the observance of forms and respect for the law. These +restraints are all wanting in the new sovereign. He does not know +how to stop and will not suffer himself to be stopped. Why so many +delays when the peril is urgent? What is the use of observing +formalities when the safety of the people is at stake? What is there +sacred in the law when it protects public enemies? What is more +pernicious than passive deference and patient waiting under timid or +blind officials? What can be more just than to do one's self justice +at once and on the spot? - Precipitation and passion, in their +eyes, are both duties and merits. One day "the militia of Lorient +decide upon marching to Versailles and to Paris without considering +how they are to get over the ground or what they will do on their +arrival."[39] Were the central government within reach they would +lay their hands on it. In default of this they substitute +themselves for it on their own territory, and exercise its functions +with a full conviction of right, principally those of gendarme, +judge, and executioner. + +During the month of October, 1789, at Paris, after the assassination +of the baker François, the leading murderer, who is a porter at the +grain depot, declares "that he wanted to avenge the nation." It is +quite probable that this declaration is sincere. In his mind, +assassination is one of the forms of patriotism, and it does not +take long for his way of thinking to become prevalent. In ordinary +times, social and political ideas slumber in uncultured minds in the +shape of vague antipathies, restrained aspirations, and fleeting +desires. Behold them aroused - energetic, imperious, stubborn, and +unbridled. Objection or opposition is not to be tolerated; dissent, +with them, is a sure sign of treachery. - Apropos of the nonjuring +priests,[40] five hundred and twenty-seven of the National Guards of +Arras write, "that no one could doubt their iniquity without being +suspected of being their accomplices. . . . Should the whole +town combine and express a contrary opinion, it would simply show +that it is filled with enemies of the Constitution;" and forthwith, +in spite of the law and the remonstrances of the authorities, they +insist on the closing of the churches. At Boulogne-sur-Mer, an +English vessel having shipped a quantity of poultry, game, and eggs, +"the National Guards, of their own authority," go on board and +remove the cargo. On the strength of this, the accommodating +municipal body approves of the act, declares the cargo confiscated, +orders it to be sold, and awards one-half of the proceeds to the +National Guards and the other half to charitable purposes. The +concession is a vain one, for the National Guards consider that one- +half is too little, "insult and threaten the municipal officers," +and immediately proceed to divide the booty in kind, each one going +home with a share of stolen hams and chickens.[41] The magistrates +must necessarily keep quiet with the guns of those they govern +pointed at them. - Sometimes, and it is generally the case, they are +timid, and do not try to resist. At Douai,[42] the municipal +officers, on being summoned three times to proclaim martial law, +refuse, and end by avowing that they dare not unfold the red flag: +"Were we to take this course we should all be sacrificed on the +spot." Neither the troops nor the National Guards, in fact, are to +be relied on. In this universal state of apathy the field is open +to savages, and a dealer in wheat is hung. - Sometimes the +administrative corps tries to resist, but in the end it has to +succumb to violence. "For more than six hours," writes one of the +members of the district of Etampes,[43] "we were closed in by +bayonets leveled at us and with pistols at our breasts ; and they +were obliged to sign a dismissal of the troops which had arrived to +protect the market. At present "we are all away from Etampes; there +is no longer a district or a municipality;" almost all have handed +in their resignations, or are to return for that purpose. - +Sometimes, and this is the rarest case,[44] the officials do their +duty to the end, and perish. In this same town, six months later, +Simoneau, the mayor, having refused to cut down the price of wheat, +is beaten with iron-pointed sticks, and his corpse is riddled with +balls by the murderers. - Municipal bodies must take heed how they +undertake to stem the torrent; the, slightest opposition will soon +be at the expense of their lives. In Touraine,[45] "as the +publication of the tax-rolls takes place, riots break out against +the municipal authorities; they are forced to surrender the rolls +they have drawn up, and their papers are torn up." And still more, +"they kill, they assassinate the municipal authorities." In that +large commune men and women "beat and kick them with their fists and +sabots. . . . The mayor is laid up after it, and the procureur +of the commune died between nine and ten o'clock in the morning. +Véteau, a municipal officer, received the last sacrament this +morning ;" the rest have fled, being constantly threatened with +death and incendiarism. They do not, consequently, return, and "no +one now will take the office of either mayor or administrator." - +The outrages which the municipalities thus commit against their +superiors are committed against themselves. The National Guards, +the mob, the controlling faction, arrogating to themselves in the +commune the same violent sovereignty which the commune pretends to +exercise against the State. + +I should never finish if I undertook to enumerate the outbreaks in +which the magistrates are constrained to tolerate or to sanction +popular usurpations, to shut up churches, to drive off or imprison +priests, to suppress octrois, tax grain, and allow clerks; bakers, +corn-dealers, ecclesiastics, nobles, and officers to be hung, beaten +to death, or to have their throats cut. Ninety-four thick files of +records in the national archives are filled with these acts of +violence, and do not contain two-thirds of them. It is worth while +to take in detail one case more, a special one, and one that is +authentic, which serves as a specimen, and which presents a +foreshortened image of France during one tranquil year. At Aix, in +the month of December, 1790,[46] in Opposition to the two Jacobin +clubs, a club had been organized, had complied with all the +formalities, and, like the " Club des Monarchiens" at Paris, claimed +the same right of meeting as the others. But here, as at Paris, the +Jacobins recognize no rights but for themselves alone, and refuse to +admit their adversaries to the privileges of the law. Moreover, +alarming rumors are circulated. A person who has arrived from Nice +states that he had "heard that there were twenty thousand men +between Turin and Nice, under the pay of the emigrants, and that at +Nice a neuvaine[47] was held in Saint François-de-Paule to pray God +to enlighten the French." A counter-revolution is certainly under +way. Some of the aristocrats have stated "with an air of triumph, +that the National Guard and municipalities are a mere toy, and that +this sort of thing will not last long." One of the leading members +of the new club, M. de Guiraitiand, an old officer of seventy-eight +years, makes speeches in public against the National Assembly, tries +to enlist artisans in his party, "affects to wear a white button on +his hat fastened by pins with their points jutting out," and, as it +is stated, he has given to several mercers a large order for white +cockades. In reality, on examination, not one is found in any shop, +and all the dealers in ribbons, on being interrogated, reply that +they know of no transaction of that description. But this simply +proves that the culprit is a clever dissimulator, and the more +dangerous because he is eager to save the country. - On the 12th of +December, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the two Jacobin clubs +fraternise, and pass in long procession before the place of meeting, +"where some of the members, a few officers of the Lyons regiment and +other individuals, are quietly engaged at play or seeing others +play." The crowd hoot, but they remain quiet. The procession passes +by again, and they hoot and shout, "Down with the aristocrats to the +lamp post with them! " Two or three of the officers standing on the +threshold of the door become irritated, and one of them, drawing his +sword, threatens to strike a young man if he keeps on. Upon this +the crowd cries out, "Guard! Help! An assassin!" and rushes at the +officer, who withdraws into the house, exclaiming, "To arms!" His +comrades, sword in hand, descend in order to defend the door; M. de +Guiramand fires two pistol shots and receives a stab in the thigh. +A shower of stones smashes in the windows, and the door is on the +point of being burst open when several of the members of the club +save themselves by taking to the roof. About a dozen others, most +of them officers, form in line, penetrate the crowd with uplifted +swords, strike and get struck, and escape, five of them being +wounded. The municipality orders the doors and windows of the club- +house to be walled up, sends the Lyons regiment away, decrees the +arrest of seven officers and of M. de Guiramand, and all this in a +few hours, with no other testimony than that of the conquerors. + +But these prompt, vigorous and partial measures are not sufficient +for the Jacobin club; other conspirators must be seized, and it is +the club which designates them and goes to take them. - Three months +before this, M. Pascalis, an advocate, on addressing along with +some of his professional brethren the dissolved parliament, deplored +the blindness of the people, "exalted by prerogatives of which they +knew not the danger." A man who dared talk in this way is evidently +a traitor. - There is another, M. Morellet de la Roquette, who +refused to join the proscribed club. His former vassals, however, +had been obliged to bring an action against him to make him accept +the redemption of his feudal dues; also, six years before this, his +carriage, passing along the public promenade, had run over a child; +he likewise is an enemy of the people. While the municipal officers +are deliberating, "a few members of the club" get together and +decide that M. Pascalis and M. de la Roquette must be arrested. +At eleven o'clock at night eighty trustworthy National Guards, led +by the president of the club, travel a league off to seize them in +their beds and lodge them in the town prison. - Zeal of this kind +excites some uneasiness, and if the municipality tolerates the +arrests, it is because it is desirous of preventing murder. +Consequently, on the following day, December 13th, it sends to +Marseilles for four hundred men of the Swiss Guard commanded by +Ernest, and four hundred National Guards, adding to these the +National Guard of Aix, and orders this company to protect the prison +against any violence. But, along with the Marseilles National +Guards, there came a lot of armed people who are volunteers of +disorder. On the afternoon of the 13th the first mob strives to +force the prison, and the next day, fresh squads congregate around +it demanding the head of M. Pascalis. The members of the club head +the riot with "a crowd of unknown men from outside the town, who +give orders and carry them out." During the night the populace of +Aix are tampered with, and the dikes all give way at the same +moment. At the first clamors the National Guard on duty on the +public promenade disband and disperse, while, as there is no signal +for the assemblage of the others, notwithstanding the regulations, +the general alarm is not sounded. "The largest portion of the +National Guard draws off so as not to appear to authorize by its +presence outrages which it has not been ordered to prevent. +Peaceable Citizens are in great consternation;" each one takes to +flight or shuts himself up in his house, the streets being deserted +and silent. Meanwhile the prison gates are shattered with axes. +The procureur-syndic of the department, who requests the commandant +of the Swiss regiment to protect the prisoners, is seized, borne +off, and runs the risk of losing his life. Three municipal officers +in their scarves, who arrive on the ground, dare not give the order +required by the commandant. At this decisive moment, when it is +necessary to shed blood and kill a number of men, they obviously +fear to take the responsibility; their reply is, "We have no orders +to give." - An extraordinary spectacle now presents itself in this +barrack courtyard surrounding the prison. On the side of the law +stand eight hundred armed men, four hundred of the "Swiss" and four +hundred of the National Guard of Marseilles. They are drawn up in +battle array, with guns to their shoulders, with special orders +repeated the evening before at three different times by the +municipal district and departmental authorities and they have the +sympathies of all honest people and of most of the National Guard. +But the legal indispensable phrase does not pass the lips of those +who by virtue of the Constitution should utter it, and a small group +of convicts are found to be sovereign. -- The three municipal +officers are seized in their turn under the eyes of their own +soldiers who remain motionless, and "with bayonets at their breasts +they sign, under constraint, the order to give up M. Pascalis to +the people." M. de la Roquette is likewise surrendered. "The only +portion of the National Guard of Aix which was visible," that is to +say, the Jacobin minority, form a circle around the gate of the +prison and organize themselves into a council of war. And there +they stand; at once "accusers, witnesses, judges, and executioners." +A captain conducts the two victims to the public promenade where +they are hung. Very soon after this old M. de Guiramand, whom the +National Guard of his village have brought a prisoner to Aix, is +hung in the same manner. + +There is no prosecution of the assassins. The new tribunal, +frightened or forestalled, has for some time back ranged itself on +the popular side; its writs, consequently, are served on the +oppressed, against the members of the assaulted dub. Writs of +arrest, summonses to attend court, searches, seizures of +correspondence, and other proceedings, rain down upon them. Three +hundred witnesses are examined. Some of the arrested officers are +"loaded with chains and thrust into dungeons." Henceforth the club +rules, and "makes everybody tremble."[48] "From the 23rd to the +27th of December, more than ten thousand passports are delivered at +Aix." "If the emigrations continue," write the commissioners, "there +will be no one left at Aix but workmen without work and with no +resources. Whole streets are uninhabited. . . . . As long as +such crimes can be permitted with impunity fear will drive out of +this town every one who has the means of living elsewhere." - ?Many +come back after the arrival of the commissioners, hoping to obtain +justice and security through them. But, "if a prosecution is not +ordered, we shall scarcely have departed from Aix when three or four +hundred families will abandon it. . . . And what man in his +senses would dare guarantee that each village will not soon have +some one hung in it? . . . Country valets arrest their masters. +. . . The expectation of impunity leads the inhabitants of +villages to commit all sorts of depredations in the forests, which +is very harmful in a region where woods are very scarce. They set +up the most absurd and most unjust pretensions against rich +proprietors, and the fatal rope is ever the interpreter and the +signal of their will." There is no refuge against these outrages. +"The department, the districts, the municipalities, administer only +in conformity with the multiplied petitions of the club." In the +sight of all, and on one solemn day, a crushing defeat has +demonstrated the weakness of the government officials; and, bowed +beneath the yoke of their new masters, they preserve their legal +authority only on the condition that it remains at the service of +the victorious party. + +_____________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + +[1] Festivals approving the federation of all the National Guards in +France. (SR.) + +[2] See the address of the commune of Paris, June 5, 1790. "Let the +most touching of all utterances be heard on this day (the +anniversary of the taking of the Bastille), Frenchmen, we are +brothers! Yes, brothers, freemen and with a country!" Roux et +Buchez, VI. 275. + +[3] Buchez and Roux, IV. 3, 309; V. 123; VI. 274, 399. - +Duvergier, Collection of Laws and Decrees. Decree of June 8 and 9, +1790. + +[4] For one who, like myself, has lived for years among the Moslems, +the 5 daily ritual prayers all performed while turned towards Mecca, +this description of the French taking of the oath, has something +familiar in it. (SR.) + +[5] Michelet, "Histoire de la Révolution Française," II, 470, 474. + +[6] De Ferrières, II. 91. - Albert Babeau, I. 340. (Letter +addressed to the Chevalier de Poterat, July 18, 1790.) - De +Dampmartin, "Evénements qui se sont passés sous mes yeux,"etc., 155. + +[7] One may imagine the impression Taine's description made upon the +thousands of political science students and others in the years +after this book was printed and widely sold all over Europe. (SR.) + +[8] Sauzay, I. 202. + +[9] Albert Babeau, ib. I, 339 - De Ferrières, II, 92. + +[10] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453, Correspondence of M. de +Bercheney, May 23, 1790. + +[11] "Archives Nationales," ibid, May 13, 1790. "M. de la +Rifaudière was dragged from his carriage and brought to the guard- +house, which was immediately filled with people, shouting, 'To the +lamp post, the aristocrat!' - The fact is this: after his having +repeatedly shouted Vive le Roi et la Nation! They wanted him to +shout Vive la Nation! alone, upon which he gave Vive la Nation tant +qu'elle pourra." - At Blois, on the day of the Federation, a mob +promenades the streets with a wooden head covered with a wig, and a +placard stating that the aristocrats must be decapitated. + +[12] Might Freud ( 1856- 1939) have been inspired, directly or +indirectly, by Taine's observation? 'La Révolution' vol. I, was +published in 1877 when Freud was 21 years old!! (SR.) + +[13] Mercure de France, the articles by Mallet du Pan (June 18th and +August 16, 1791; April 14, 1792). + +[14] Moniteur, IV. 560. (sitting of June 5, 1790) report of M. +Freteau. "These facts are attested by fifty witnesses." - Cf. +The number of April 19, 1791. + +[15] Solon was a famous legislator who reformed Athens some 2500 +years ago. (SR.) + +[16] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105, Correspondence of M. de +Thiard, military commandant in Brittany (September, 1789), "There +are in every petty village three conflicting powers, the présidial, +the bourgeois militia, and the permanent committee. Each is anxious +to outrank the other, and, on this occasion, a scene happened to +come under my eyes at Landivisiau which might have had a bloody +termination, but which turned out to be simply ridiculous. A lively +dispute arose between three speakers to determine which should make +the first address. They appealed to me to decide. Not to offend +either of the parties, I decided that all three should speak at the +same time; which decision was immediately carried out. + +[17] Decree of August 10-14, 1789. + +[18] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105. Correspondence of M. de +Thiard, September 21, 1789. "The troops now obey the municipalities +only." -- Also July 30th, August 11, 1790. + +[19] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105. Correspondence of 31. M. de +Thiard, September 11 and 25, November 20, December 25 and 30, 1789. + +[20] Buchez and Roux, V.304 (April, 1790). - "Archives Nationales," +Papers of the committee of Investigation, DXXIX. I (note of M. +Latour-du-Pin, October 28, 1789) - ? Buchez and Roux, IV. 3 +(December 1, 1789); IV. 390 (February, 1790); VI. 179 (April and +May, 1790). + +[21] Mercure de France, Report of M. Emery, sitting of July 21, +1790, Number for July 32. -- "Archives Nationales," F7, 3200. +Letter of the directory of Calvados, September 26 and October 20, +1791. + +[22] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3207. Letter of the minister +Dumouriez, June 15, 1792. Report of M. Caillard, May 29, 1792. + +[23] Mercure de France, No. for July, 1791 (sitting of the 6th); +Nos. for November 5 and 26, 1791. + +[24] Albert Babeau, "Histoire de Troyes," vol. I. passim. -- " +Archives Nationales," F7, 3257. Address of the Directory of Saône- +et-Loire to the National Assembly, November 1, 1790. -- F7, 3200. +Letter of the Directory of Calvados, November 9, 1791. -- F 7, +3195. Minutes of the meeting of the municipality of Aix, March 1, +1792 (on the events of February 26th); letter of M. Villard, +President of the Directory, March 20, 1792. -- F7, 3220. Extracts +from the deliberations of the Directory of Gers, and a letter to the +King, January 28, 1792. Letter of M. Lafitau, President of the +Directory, January 30. (He was dragged along by his hair and +obliged to leave the town.) + +[25] Mercure de France, No. for October 30, 1790. + +[26] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3226. Letter of the directory of +Indre to M. Cahier, minister, December 6, 1791. -- Letter of M. +Delessart, minister, to the directory of Indre, December 31, 1791. + +[27] Fabre, "Histoire de Marseille," II. 442. Martin had but 3,555 +votes, when shortly after the National Guard numbered 24,000 men. + +[28] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196. Letter of the minister, M. +de Saint-Priest, to the President of the National Assembly, May 11, +1790. + +[29] "Archives Nationales," F7 3196. Letters of the military +commandant, M. de Miran, March 6, 14, 30, 1790. + +[30] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196. Letter of M. de Bournissac, +grand-privot, March 6,1790. + +[31] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196. Letters of M. du Miran, +April 11th and 16th, and May 1, 1790. + +[32] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196. Procés-verbal of events on +the 30th of April. + +[33] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196. Letters of the Municipality +of Marseilles to the National Assembly, May 5 and 20, 1790. + +[34] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196. Order of the king, May10. +Letter of M. de Saint-Priest to the National Assembly, May 11. +Decree of the National Assembly, May 12. Letter of the Municipality +to the King. May 20. Letter of M. de Rubum, May 20. Note sent +from Marseilles, May 31. Address of the Municipality to the +President of the Friends of the Constitution, at Paris, May 5. In +his narration of the taking of the forts we read the following +sentence: "We arrived without hindrance in the presence of the +commandant, whom we brought to an agreement by means of the +influence which force, fear and reason give to persuasion." + +[35] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196, Letter of M. de Miran, May 5. +-- The spirit of the ruling party at Marseilles is indicated by +several printed documents joined to the dossier, and, among others, +by a "Requéte à Desmoulins, procureur-général de la Lanterne." It +relates to a "patriotic inkstand," recently made out of the stones +of the demolished citadel, representing a hydra with four heads, +symbolizing the nobility, the clergy, the ministry and the judges. +"It is from the four patriotic skulls of the hydra that the ink of +proscription will he taken for the enemies of the Constitution. +This inkstand, cut out of the first stone that fell in the +demolition of Fort Saint-Nicolas, is dedicated to the patriotic +Assembly of Marseilles. The magic art of the hero of the liberty of +Marseilles, that Renaud who, under the mask of devotion, surprised +the watchful sentinel of Notre-Dame de la Garde, and whose manly +courage and cunning ensured the conquest of that key of the great +focus of counter-revolution, has just given birth to a new trait of +genius a new Deucalion, he personifies this stone which Liberty has +flung from the summit of our menacing Bastilles, etc." + +[36] "Archives Nationales," F7. 3198. Letters of the royal +commissioners, April 13 and 5, 1791. + +[37] De Ségur, "Memoires," III, 482 (early in 1790). + +[38] De Dampmartin, I. 184 (January, 1791). + +[39] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105. Correspondence of M. de +Thiard (October 12, 1789). + +[40] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3250. Minutes from the meeting of +the directory of the department. March 28, 1792. "As the ferment +was at the highest point and fears were entertained that greater +evils would follow, M. le Président, with painful emotion declared +that he yielded and passed the unconstitutional act." Reply of the +minister, June 23: " If the constituted authorities are thus forced +to yield to the arbitrary will of a wild multitude, government no +longer exists and we are in the saddest stage of anarchy. If you +think it best I will propose to the King to reverse your last +decision." + +[41] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3250. Letter of M. Duport, +minister of justice, December 24, 1791. + +[42] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3248, Report of the members of the +department, finished March 18, 1792. -- Buchez and Roux, IX. 240 +(Report of M. Alquier). + +[43] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268. Extract from the +deliberations of the directory of Seine-et-Oise, with the documents +relating to the insurrection at Etampes, September 16, 1791. Letter +of M. Venard, administrator of the district, September 20 -- " I +shall not set foot in Etampes until the re-establishment of order +and tranquility, and the first thing I shall do will be to record +my resignation in the register. I am tired of making sacrifices, +for ungrateful wretches." + +[44] Moniteur, March 16, 1792. -- Mortimer-Ternaux, "Histoire de la +Terreur" (Proceedings against the assassins of Simoneau), I. 381. + +[45] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3226. Letter and memorandum of +Chenantin, cultivator, November 7, 1792. Extract from the +deliberations of the directory of Langeais, November 5, 1792 +(sedition at Chapelle-Blanche, near Langeais, October 5, 1792). + +[46] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3105. Report of the commissioners +sent by the National Assembly and the King, February 23, 1791. (On +the events of December 12 and 14, 1790) -- Mercure de France, +February 29, 5791. (Letters from Aix, and notably a letter from +seven officers shut up in prison at Aix, January 30, 1791.) The +oldest Jacobin Club formed in February, 1790, was entitled "(Club +des vrais amis de la Constitution." The second Jacobin club, formed +in October, 1790, was "composed from the beginning of artisans and +laborers from the faubourgs and suburbs." Its title was" Société des +frères anti-politiques," or "frères vrais, justes et utiles à la +patrie." The opposition club, formed in December, 1790, bore the +title, according to some, of "Les Amis du Roi, de la paix et de la +religion;" according to others, "Les amis de la paix;" and finally, +according to another report, "Les Défenseurs de la religion, des +personnes et des proprietés." + +[47] A special series of religious services. (TR) + +[48] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3195. Letters of the commissioners, +March 20, February 11, May 10, 1791. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. SOVEREIGNTY OF UNRESTRAINED PASSIONS. + +Under these conditions when passions are freed; any determined and +competent man who can gather a couple of hundred men may form a band +and slip through the enlarged or weakened meshes of the net held by +the passive or ineffective government. An experiment on a grand +scale is about to be made on human society; owing to the slackening +of the regular restraints which have maintained it, it is now +possible to measure the force of the permanent instincts which +attack it. They are always there even in ordinary times; we do not +notice them because they are kept in check; but they are not the +less energetic and effective, and, moreover, indestructible. The +moment their repression ceases, their power of mischief becomes +evident; just as that of the water which floats a ship, but which, +at the first leak enters into it and sinks it. + + +I. + +Old Religious Grudges - Montauban and Nîmes in 1790. + +Religious passions, to begin with, are not to be kept down by +federations, embraces, and effusions of fraternity. In the south, +where the Protestants have been persecuted for more than a century, +hatreds exist more than a century old.[1] In vain have the odious +edicts which oppressed them fallen into desuetude for the past +twenty years; in vain have civil rights been restored to them since +1787: The past still lives in transmitted recollections; and two +groups are confronting each other, one Protestant and the other +Catholic, each defiant, hostile, ready to act on the defensive, and +interpreting the preparations of its adversary as a plan of attack. +Under such circumstances the guns go off of their own accord. - On +a sudden alarm at Uzès[2] the Catholics, two thousand in number, +take possession of the bishop's palace and the Hôtel-de-Ville; while +the Protestants, numbering four hundred, assemble outside the walls +on the esplanade, and pass the night under arms, each troop +persuaded that the other is going to massacre it, one party +summoning the Catholics of Jalès to its aid, and the other the +Protestants of Gardonnenque. - There is but one way of avoiding +civil war between parties in such an attitude, and that is the +ascendancy of an energetic third party, impartial and on the spot. +A plan to this effect, which promises well, is proposed by the +military commandant of Languedoc.[3] According to him the two +firebrands are, on the one hand, the bishops of Lower Languedoc, and +on the other, MM. Rabaut-Saint-Etienne, father and two sons, all +three being pastors. Let them be responsible "with their heads" for +any mob, insurrection, or attempt to debauch the army; let a +tribunal of twelve judges be selected from the municipal bodies of +twelve towns, and all delinquents be brought before it; let this be +the court of final appeal, and its sentence immediately executed. +The system in vogue, however, is just the reverse. Both parties +being organized into a body of militia, each takes care of itself, +and is sure to fire on the other; and the more readily, inasmuch as +the new ecclesiastical regulations, which are issued from month to +month, strike like so many hammers on Catholic sensibility, and +scatter showers of sparks on the primings of the already loaded +guns. + +At Montauban, on the 10th of May, 1790, the day of the inventory and +expropriation of the religious communities,[4] the commissioners are +not allowed to enter. Women in a state of frenzy lie across the +thresholds of the doors, and it would be necessary to pass over +their bodies; a large mob gathers around the "Cordeliers," and a +petition is signed to have the convents maintained. - The +Protestants who witness this commotion become alarmed, and eighty of +their National Guards march to the Hôtel-de-Ville, and take forcible +possession of the guard-house which protects it. The municipal +authorities order them to withdraw, which they refuse to do. +Thereupon the Catholics assembled at the "Cordeliers" begin a riot, +throw stones, and drive in the doors with pieces of timber, while a +cry is heard that the Protestants, who have taken refuge in the +guard-house, are firing from the windows. The enraged multitude +immediately invade the arsenal, seize all the guns they can lay +their hands on, and fire volleys on the guard-house, the effect of +which is to kill five of the Protestants and wound twenty-four +others. The rest are saved by a municipal officer and the police; +but they are obliged to appear, two and two, before the cathedral in +their shirts, and do public penance, after which they are put in +prison. During the tumult political shouts have been heard: "Hurrah +for the nobles! Hurrah for the aristocracy! Down with the nation! +Down with the tricolor flag!" Bordeaux, regarding Montauban as in +rebellion against France, dispatches fifteen hundred of its National +Guard to set the prisoners free. Toulouse gives its aid to +Bordeaux. The fermentation is frightful. Four thousand of the +Protestants of Montauban take flight; armed cities are about to +contend with each other, as formerly in Italy. It is necessary that +a commissioner of the National Assembly and of the King, Mathieu +Dumas, should be dispatched to harangue the people of Montauban, +obtain the release of the prisoners, and re-establish order. + +One month after this a more bloody affray takes place at Nîmes[5] +against the Catholics. The Protestants, in fact, are but twelve +thousand out of fifty-four thousand inhabitants, but the principal +trade of the place is in their hands; they hold the manufactories +and support thirty thousand workmen; in the elections of 1789 they +furnished five out of the eight deputies. The sympathies of that +time were in their favor; nobody then imagined that the dominant +Church was exposed to any risk. It is to be attacked in its turn, +and the two parties are seen confronting each other. - The +Catholics sign a petition,[6] hunt up recruits among the market- +gardeners of the suburbs, retain the white cockade, and, when this +is prohibited, replace it with a red rosette, another sign of +recognition. At their head is an energetic man named Froment, who +has vast projects in view; but as the soil on which he treads is +undermined, he cannot prevent the explosion. It takes place +naturally, by chance, through the simple collision of two equally +distrustful bodies; and before the final day it has commenced and +recommenced twenty times, through mutual provocations and +denunciations, through insults, libels, scuffles, stone-throwing, +and gun-shots. - On the 13th of June, 1790, the question is which +party shall furnish administrators for the district and department, +and the conflict begins in relation to the elections. The Electoral +Assembly is held at the guard-house of the bishop's palace, where +the Protestant dragoons and patriots have come "three times as many +as usual, with loaded muskets and pistols, and with full cartridge- +boxes," and they patrol the surrounding neighborhood. On their +side, the red rosettes, royalists and Catholics, complain of being +threatened and "treated contemptuously" (nargués). They give notice +to the gate-keeper "not to let any dragoon enter the town either on +foot or mounted, at the peril of his life," and declare that "the +bishop's quarters were not made for a guard-house." - A mob +forms, and shouting takes place under the windows; stones are +thrown; the bugle of a dragoon, who sounds the roll-call, is broken +and two shots are fired.[7] The dragoons immediately fire a volley, +which wounds a good many people and kills seven. From this moment, +firing goes on during the evening and all night, in every quarter of +the town, each party believing that the other wants to exterminate +it, the Protestants satisfied that it is another St. Bartholomew, +and the Catholics that it is "a Michelade."[8] There is no one to +act between them. The municipality authorities, far from issuing +orders, receive them: they are roughly handled, hustled and jostled +about, and made to march about like servants. The patriots seize +the Abbé de Belmont, a municipal officer, at the Hôtel-de-Ville, +order him, on pain of death, to proclaim martial -law, and place the +red flag in his hand. "March, rascal, you bastard! Hold up your +flag - higher up still - you are big enough to do that!" Blows +follow with the but-ends of their muskets. The poor man spits +blood, but this is of no consequence; he must be in full sight at +the head of the crowd, like a target, whilst his conductors +prudently remain behind. Thus does he advance, exposed to bullets, +holding the flag, and finally becomes the prisoner of the red +rosettes, who release him, but keep his flag. There is a second +march with a red flag held by a town valet, and fresh gunshots; the +red rosettes capture this flag also, as well as another municipal +officer. The rest of the municipal body, with a royal commissioner, +take refuge in the barracks and order out the troops. Meanwhile +Froment, with his three companies, posted in their towers and in the +houses on the ramparts, resist to the last extremity. Daylight +comes, the tocsin is sounded, the drums beat to arms, and the +patriot militia of the neighborhood, the Protestants from the +mountains, the rude Cévenols, arrive in crowds. The red rosettes +are besieged; a Capuchin convent, from which it is pretended that +they have fired, is sacked, and five of the monks are killed. +Froment's tower is demolished with cannon and taken by assault. His +brother is massacred and thrown from the walls, while a Jacobin +convent next to the ramparts is sacked. Towards night, all the red +rosettes who have fought are slain or have fled, and there is no +longer any resistance.-- But the fury still lasts; the fifteen +thousand rustics who have flooded the town think that they have not +yet done enough. In vain are they told that the other fifteen +companies of red rosettes have not moved; that the pretended +aggressors "did not even put themselves in a state of defense;" that +during the battle they remained at home, and that afterwards, +through extra precaution, the municipal authorities had made them +give up their arms. In vain does the Electoral Assembly, preceded +by a white flag, march to the public square and exhort the people to +keep the peace. "Under the pretext of searching suspicious houses, +they pillage or destroy, and what-ever cannot be carried away is +broken." One hundred and twenty houses are sacked in Nîmes alone, +while the same ravages are committed in the environs, the damage, at +the end of three days, amounting to seven or eight hundred thousand +livres. A number of poor creatures, workmen, merchants, old and +infirm men, are massacred in their houses; some, "who have been +bedridden for many years, are dragged to the sills of their doors to +be shot." Others are hung on the esplanade and at the Cours Neuf, +while others have their noses, ears, feet, and hands cut off; and +are hacked to pieces with sabers and scythes. Horrible stories, as +is commonly the case, provoke the most atrocious acts. + +A publican, who refuses to distribute anti-Catholic lists, is +supposed to have a mine in his cellar filled with kegs of gunpowder +and with sulfur matches all ready; he is hacked to pieces with a +saber, and twenty guns are discharged into his corpse: they expose +the body before his house with a long loaf of bread on his breast, +and they again stab him with bayonets, saying to him: "Eat, you +bastard, eat" - More than five hundred Catholics were +assassinated, and many others, covered with blood, "are crowded +together in the prisons, while the search for the proscribed is +continued; whenever they are seen, they are fired upon like so many +wolves." Thousands of the inhabitants, accordingly, demand their +passports and leave the town. The rural Catholics, meanwhile, on +their side, massacre six Protestants in the environs - an old man +of eighty-two years, a youth of fifteen, and a husband and his wife +in their farm-house. In order to put a stop to the murderous acts, +the National Guard of Montpellier have to be summoned. But the +restoration of order is for the benefit of the victorious party. +Three-fifths of the electors have fled; one-third of the district +and departmental administrators have been appointed in their +absence, and the majority of the new directories is taken from the +club of patriots. It is for this reason that the prisoners are +prejudged as guilty. "No bailiff of the court dares give them the +benefit of his services; they are not allowed to bring forward +justifying facts in evidence, while everybody knows that the judges +are not impartial."[9] + +Thus do the violent measures of political and religious discord come +to an end. The victor stops the mouth of the law when it is about +to speak in his adversary's behalf; and, under the legal iniquity of +an administration which he has himself established, he crushes those +whom the illegal force of his own strong hand has stricken down. + + + +II. + +Passion Supreme. - Dread of hunger its most acute form. - The +non-circulation of grain. - Intervention and usurpations of the +electoral assemblies. - The rural code in Nivernais. - The four +central provinces in 1790. - Why high prices are kept up. - +Anxiety and insecurity. - Stagnation of the grain market. - +The departments near Paris in 1791. - The supply and price of +grain regulated by force. - The mobs in 1792. - Village armies +of Eure and of the lower Seine and of Aisne. - Aggravation of the +disorder after August 10th. - The dictatorship of unbridled +instinct. - Its practical and political expedients. + + +Passions of this stamp are the product of human cultivation, and +break loose only within narrow bounds. Another passion exists which +is neither historic nor local, but natural and universal, the most +indomitable, most imperious, and most formidable of all, namely, the +fear of hunger. There is no such thing with this passion as delay, +or reflection, or looking beyond itself. Each commune or canton +wants its bread, and a sure and unlimited supply of it. Our +neighbor may provide for himself as best he can, but let us look out +for ourselves first and then for other people. Each group of +people, accordingly, through its own decrees, or by main force, +keeps for itself whatever subsistence it possesses, or takes from +others the subsistence which it does not possess. ii + +At the end of 1789,[10] "Roussillon refuses aid to Languedoc; Upper +Languedoc to the rest of the province, and Burgundy to Lyonnais; +Dauphiny shuts herself up, and Normandy retains the wheat purchased +for the relief of Paris." At Paris, sentinels are posted at the +doors of all the bakers; on the 21st of October one of the latter is +hung, and his head is borne about on a pike. On the 27th of +October, at Vernon, a corn-merchant named Planter, who the preceding +winter had supported the poor for six leagues around, has to take +his turn. At the present moment the people do not forgive him for +having sent flour to Paris, and he is hung twice, but is saved +through the breaking of the rope each time. -- It is only by force +and under an escort that it is possible to insure the arrival of +grain in a town; the excited people or the National Guards +constantly seize it on its passage. In Normandy the militia of Caen +stops wheat on the highways which is destined for Harcourt and +elsewhere.[11] In Brittany, Auray and Vannes retain the convoys for +Nantes, and Lannion those for Brest. Brest having attempted to +negotiate, its commissioners are seized, and, with knives at their +throats, are forced to sign a renunciation, pure and simple, of the +grain which they have paid for, and they are led out of Lannion and +stoned on the way. Eighteen hundred men, consequently, leave Brest +with four cannon, and go to recover their property with their guns +loaded. These are the customs prevalent during the great famines of +feudal times; and, from one end of France to the other, to say +nothing of the out-breaks of the famished in the large towns, +similar outrages or attempts at recovery are constantly occurring. +- " The armed population of Nantua, Saint-Claude, and Septmoncel," +says a dispatch,[12] "have again cut off provisions from the Gex +region; there is no wheat coming there from any direction, all the +roads being guarded. Without the aid of the government of Geneva, +which is willing to lend to this region eight hundred Cuttings of +wheat, we should either die of starvation or be compelled to take +grain by force from the municipalities which keep it to themselves." +Narbonne starves Toulon; the navigation of the Languedoc canal is +intercepted; the people on its banks repulse two companies of +soldiers, burn a large building, and want to destroy the canal +itself." Boats are stopped, wagons are pillaged, bread is forcibly +lowered in price, stones are thrown and guns discharged; the +populace contend with the National Guard, peasants with townsmen, +purchasers with dealers, artisans and laborers with farmers and +land-owners, at Castelnaudary, Niort, Saint-Etienne, in Aisne, in +Pas-de-Calais, and especially along the line stretching from +Montbrison to Angers - that is to say, for almost the whole of the +extent of the vast basin of the Loire, - such is the spectacle +presented by the year 1790. - And yet the crop has not been a bad +one. But there is no circulation of grain. Each petty center has +formed a league for the monopoly of food; and hence the fasting of +others and the convulsions of the entire body are the first effects +of the unbridled freedom which the Constitution and circumstances +have conferred on each local group. + +"We are told to assemble, vote, and elect men that will attend to +our business; let us attend to it ourselves. We have had enough of +talk and hypocrisy. Bread at two sous, and let us go after wheat +where it can be found!" Such is the reasoning of the peasantry, and, +in Nivernais, Bourbonnais, Berri, and Touraine, electoral gatherings +are the firebrands of the insurrections.[13] At Saint-Sauge, "the +first work of the primary meeting is to oblige the municipal +officers to fix the price of wheat under the penalty of being +decapitated." At Saint-Géran the same course is taken with regard to +bread, wheat, and meat; at Châtillon-en-Bayait it is done with all +supplies, and always a third or a half under the market price, +without mentioning other exactions. - They come by degrees to the +drafting of a tariff for all the valuables they know, proclaiming +the maximum price which an article may reach, and so establishing a +complete code of rural and social economy. We see in the turbulent +and spasmodic wording of this instrument their dispositions and +sentiments, as in a mirror.[14] It is the program of villagers. +Its diverse articles, save local variations, must be executed, now +one and now the other, according to the occasion, the need, and the +time, and, above all, whatever concerns provisions. - The wish, as +usual, is the father of the thought; the peasantry thinks that it is +acting by authority: here, through a decree of the King and the +National Assembly, there, by a commission directly entrusted to the +Comte d'Estrées. Even before this, in the market-place of Saint- +Amand, "a man jumped on a heap of wheat and cried out, 'In the name +of the King and the nation, wheat at one-half the market-price!"' An +old officer of the Royal Grenadiers, a chevalier of the order of +Saint-Louis, is reported to be marching at the head of several +parishes, and promulgating ordinances in his own name and that of +the King, imposing a fine of eight livres on whoever may refuse to +join him. - On all sides there is a swarm of working people, and +resistance is fruitless. There are too many of them, the +constabulary being drowned in the flood. For, these rustic +legislators are the National Guard itself, and when they vote +reductions upon, or requisitions for, supplies, they enforce their +demands with their guns. The municipal officials, willingly or +unwillingly, must needs serve the insurgents. At Donjon the +Electoral Assembly has seized the mayor of the place and threatened +to kill him, or to burn his house, if he did not put the cutting of +wheat at forty sous; whereupon he signs, and all the mayors with +him, "under the penalty of death." As soon as this is done the +peasants, "to the sound of fifes and drums," spread through the +neighboring parishes and force the delivery of wheat at forty sous, +and show such a determined spirit that the four brigades of +gendarmes sent out against them think it best to retire. - Not +content with taking what they want, they provide for reserve +supplies; wheat is a prisoner. In Nivernais and Bourbonnais, the +peasants trace a boundary line over which no sack of grain of that +region must pass; in case of any infraction of this law the rope and +the torch are close at hand for the delinquent. - It remains to +make sure that this rule is enforced. In Berri bands of peasants +visit the markets to see that their tariff is everywhere maintained. +In vain are they told that they are emptying the markets; "they +reply that they know how to make grain come, that they will take it +from private hands, and money besides, if necessary." In fact, the +granaries and cellars belonging to a large number of persons are +pillaged. Farmers are constrained to put their crops into a common +granary, and the rich are put to ransom; "the nobles are compelled +to contribute, and obliged to give entire domains as donations; +cattle are carried off; and they want to take the lives of the +proprietors," while the towns, which defend their storehouses and +markets, are openly attacked.[15] Bourbon-Lancy, Bourbon- +l'Archambault, Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, Montluçon, Saint-Amand, +Chateau-Gontier, Decises, each petty community is an islet assailed +by the mounting tide of rustic insurrection. The militia pass the +night under arms; detachments of the National Guards of the large +towns with regular troops come and garrison them. The red flag is +continuously raised for eight days at Bourbon-Lancy, and cannon +stand loaded and pointed in the public square. On the 24th of May +an attack is made on Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, and fusillades take +place all night on both sides. On the 2nd of June, Saint-Amand, +menaced by twenty-seven parishes, is saved only by the preparations +it makes and by the garrison. About the same time Bourbon-Lancy is +attacked by twelve parishes combined, and Chateau-Gontier by the +sabotiers of the forests in the vicinity. A band of from four to +five hundred villagers arrests the convoys of Saint-Amand, and +forces their escorts to capitulate; another band entrenches itself +in the Chateau de la Fin, and fires throughout the day on the +regulars and the National Guard. - The large towns themselves are +not safe. Three or four hundred rustics, led by their municipal +officers, forcibly enter Tours, to compel the municipality to lower +the price of corn and diminish the rate of leases. Two thousand +slate-quarry-men, armed with guns, spits, and forks, force their way +into Angers to obtain a reduction on bread, fire upon the guard, and +are charged by the troops and the National Guard; a number remain +dead in the streets, two are hung that very evening, and the red +flag is displayed for eight days. "The town," say the dispatches, +"would have been pillaged and burnt had it not been for the Picardy +regiment." Fortunately, as the crop promises to be a good one, +prices fall. As the Electoral Assemblies are closed, the +fermentation subsides; and towards the end of the year, like a clear +spell in a steady storm, the gleam of a truce appears in the civil +war excited by hunger. + +But the truce does not last long, as it is broken in twenty places +by isolated explosions; and towards the month of July, 1791, the +disturbances arising from the uncertainty of basic food supplies +begin again, to cease no more. We will consider but one group in +this universal state of disorder - that of the eight or ten +departments which surround Paris and furnish it with supplies. +These districts, Brie and Beauce, are rich wheat regions, and not +only was the crop of 1790 good, but that of 1791 is ample. +Information is sent to the minister from Laon[16] that, in the +department of Aisne, "there is a supply of wheat for two years . . +. that the barns, generally empty by the month of April, will not +be so this season before July," and, consequently, "subsistence is +assured." But this does not suffice, for the source of the evil is +not in a scarcity of wheat. In order that everybody, in a vast and +populous country, where the soil, cultivation, and occupations +differ, may eat, it is essential that food should be attainable by +the non-producers; and for it to reach them freely, without delay, +solely by the natural operation of supply and demand, it is +essential that there should be a police able to protect property, +transactions, and transport. Just in proportion as the authority of +a State becomes weakened, and in proportion as security diminishes, +the distribution of subsistence becomes more and more difficult: a +gendarmerie, therefore, is an indispensable wheel in the machine by +which we are able to secure our daily bread. Hence it is that, in +1791, daily bread is wanting to a large number of men. Simply +through the working of the Constitution, all restraints, already +slackened both at the extremities and at the center, are becoming +looser and more loose each day. The municipalities, which are +really sovereign, repress the people more feebly, some because the +latter are the bolder and themselves more timid, and others because +they are more radical and always consider them in the right. The +National Guard is wearied, never comes forward, or refuses to use +its arms. The active citizens are disgusted, and remain at home. +At Étampes,[17] where they are convoked by the commissioners of the +department to take steps to re-establish some kind of order, only +twenty assemble; the others excuse themselves by saying that, if the +populace knew that they opposed its will, "their houses would be +burnt," and they accordingly stay away. "Thus," write the +commissioners, "the common-weal is given up to artisans and laborers +whose views are limited to their own existence." - It is, +accordingly, the lower class which rules, and the information upon +which it bases its decrees consists of rumors which it accepts or +manufactures, to hide by an appearance of right the outrages which +are due to its cupidity or to the brutalities of its hunger. At +Étampes, "they have been made to believe that the grain which had +been sold for supplying the departments below the Loire, is shipped +at Paimbœuf and taken out of the kingdom from there to be sold +abroad." In the suburbs of Rouen they imagine that grain is +purposely " engulfed in the swamps, ponds, and clay-pits." At Laon, +imbecile and Jacobin committees attribute the dearness of provisions +to the avidity of the rich and the malevolence of the aristocrats +according to them, "jealous millionaires grow rich at the expense of +the people. They know the popular strength," and, not daring to +measure their forces with it, "in an honorable fight," have recourse +"to treachery." To conquer the people easily they have determined to +reduce them in advance by extreme suffering and by the length of +their fast, and hence they monopolize "wheat, rye, and meal, soap, +sugar, and brandy."[18] - Similar reports suffice to excite a +suffering crowd to acts of violence, and it must inevitably accept +for its leaders and advisers those who urge it forward on the side +to which it is inclined. The people always require leaders, and +they are chosen wherever they can be found, at one time amongst the +elite, and at another amongst the dregs. Now that the nobles are +driven out, the bourgeoisie in retirement, the large cultivators +under suspicion, while animal necessities exercise their blind and +intermittent despotism, the appropriate popular ministers consist of +adventurers and of bandits. They need not be very numerous, for in +a place full of combustible matter a few firebrands suffice to start +the conflagration. "About twenty, at most, can be counted in the +towns of Étampes and Dourdan, men with nothing to lose and +everything to gain by disturbances; they are those who always +produce excitement and disorder, while other citizens afford them +the means through their indifference." Those whose names are known +among the new guides of the crowd are almost all escaped convicts +whose previous habits have accustomed them to blows, violence, +frequently to murder, and always to contempt for the law. At +Brunoy,[19] the leaders of the outbreak are "two deserters of the +18th regiment, sentenced and unpunished, who, in company with the +vilest and most desperate of the parish, always go about armed and +threatening." At Étampes, "the two principal assassins of the mayor +are a poacher repeatedly condemned for poaching, and an old +carabiniere dismissed from his regiment with a bad record against +him."[20] Around these are artisans "without a known residence," +wandering workmen, journeymen and apprentices, vagrants and highway +rovers, who flock into the towns on market-days and are always - +ready for mischief when an opportunity occurs. Vagabonds, indeed, +now roam about the country everywhere, all restrictions against them +having ceased. + +"For a year past," write several parishes in the neighborhood of +Versailles, "we have seen no gendarmes except those who come with +decrees," and hence the multiplication of "murders and brigandage " +between Étampes and Versailles, on the highways and in the country. +Bands of thirteen, fifteen, twenty and twenty-two beggars rob the +vineyards, enter farm-houses at night, and compel their inmates to +lodge and feed them, returning in the same way every fortnight, all +farms or isolated dwellings being their prey. An ecclesiastic is +killed in his own house in the suburbs of Versailles, on the 26th of +September, 1791, and, on the same day, a bourgeois and his wife are +garroted and robbed. On the 22nd of September, near Saint-Rémi- +Honoré, eight bandits ransack the dwelling of a farmer. On the 25th +of September, at Villers-le-Sec, thirteen others strip another +farmer, and then add with much politeness, "It is lucky for your +masters that they are not here, for we would have roasted them at +yonder fire." Six similar outrages are committed by armed ruffians +in dwelling-places, within a radius of from three to four leagues, +accompanied with the threats of the chauffeurs.[21] "After +enterprises of such force and boldness," write the people of this +region, "there is not a well-to-do man in the country who can rely +upon an hour's security in his house. Already many of our best +cultivators are giving up their business, while others threaten to +do the same in case these disorders continue." - What is worse +still is the fact that in these outrages most of the bandits were +"in the national uniform." The most ignorant, the poorest, and most +fanatical of the National Guard thus enlist for the sake of plunder. +It is so natural for men to believe in their right to that of which +they feel the need, that the possessors of wheat thus become its +monopolists, and the superfluity of the rich the property of the +poor! This is what the peasants say who devastate the forest of +Bruyères-le-Chatel: "We have neither wood, bread, nor work - +necessity knows no law." + +The necessaries of life are not to be had cheap under such a system. +There is too much anxiety, and property is too precarious; there are +too many obstacles to commerce ; purchases, sales, shipments, +arrivals and payments are too uncertain. How are goods to be stored +and transported in a country where neither the central government, +the local authorities, the National Guard, nor the regular troops +perform their duties, and where every transaction in produce, even +the most legal and the most serviceable, is subject to the caprice +of a dozen villains whom the populace obey. - Wheat remains in the +barn, or is secreted, or is kept waiting, and only reaches by +stealth the hands of those who are rich enough to pay, not only its +price, but the extra cost of the risk. Thus forced into a narrow +channel, it rises to a rate which the depreciation of the assignats +augments, its dearness being not only maintained, but ever on the +increase. -- Thereupon popular instinct invents for the cure of the +evil a remedy which serves to aggravate it: henceforth, wheat must +not travel; it is impounded in the canton in which it is gathered. +At Laon, "the people have sworn to die rather than let their food be +carried off." At Étampes, to which the municipality of Angers +dispatches an administrator of its hospital to buy two hundred and +fifty sacks of flour, the commission cannot be executed, the +delegate not even daring to avow for several days the object of his +coming; all he can do is "to visit incognito, and at night, the +different flour-dealers in the valley, who would offer to furnish +the supply, but fear for their lives and dare not even leave their +houses." - The same violence is shown in the more distant circle of +departments which surround the first circle. At Aubigny, in +Cher,[22] grain-wagons are stopped, the district administrators are +menaced; two have a price set on their heads; a portion of the +National Guard sides with the mutineers. At Chaumont, in Haute- +Marne, the whole of the National Guard is in a state of mutiny; a +convoy of over three hundred sacks is stopped, the Hôtel-de-Ville +forced, and the insurrection lasts four days; the directory of the +department takes flight; and the people seize on the powder and +cannons. At Douai, in the "Nord," to save a grain-dealer, he is put +in prison; the mob forces the gates, the soldiers refuse to fire, +and the man is hung, while the directory of the department takes +refuge in Lille. At Montreuil-sur-Mer, in Pas-de-Calais, the two +leaders of the insurrection, a brazier and a horse-shoer, "Bèquelin, +called Petit-Gueux," the latter with his saber in hand, reply to the +summons of the municipal authorities, that "not a grain shall go now +that they are masters," and that if they dare to make such +proclamations "they will cut off their heads." There are no means of +resistance. The National Guard, when it is convoked, does not +respond; the volunteers when called upon turn their muskets down, +and the crowd, assembled beneath the windows, shouts out its +huzzahs. So much the worse for the law when it opposes popular +passion: "We will not obey it," they say; "people make laws to +please themselves." - By way of practical illustration, at Tortes, +in Seine-Inférieure, six thousand armed men belonging to the +surrounding parishes form a deliberative armed body; the better to +establish their rights, they bring two cannon with them fastened by +ropes on a couple of carts; twenty-two companies of the National +Guard, each under its own banner, march beside them, while all +peaceable inhabitants are compelled to fall in "under penalty of +death," the municipal officers being at their head. This improvised +parliament promulgates a complete law in relation to grain, which, +as a matter of form, is sent for acceptance to the department, and +to the National Assembly; and one of its articles declares that all +husbandmen shall be forbidden "to sell their wheat elsewhere than on +the market-places." With no other outlet for it, wheat must be +brought to the corn markets (halles), and when these are full the +price must necessarily fall. + +What a profound deception! Even in the granary of France wheat +remains dear, and costs about one-third more than would be necessary +to secure the sale of bread at two sous the pound, in conformity +with the will of the people. For instance,[23] at Gonesse, Dourdan, +Corbeil, Mennecy, Brunoy, Limours, Brie-Comte-Robert, and especially +at Étampes and Montlhéry, the holders of grain are compelled almost +weekly, through the clamors and violence of the people, to reduce +prices one-third and more. It is impossible for the authorities to +maintain, on their corn-exchange, the freedom of buying and selling. +The regular troops have been sent off by the people beforehand. +Whatever the tolerance or connivance of the soldiers may be, the +people have a vague sentiment that they are not there to permit the +ripping open of sacks of flour, or the seizing of farmers by the +throat. To get rid of all obstacles and of being watched, they make +use of the municipality itself, and force it to effect its own +disarmament. The municipal officers, besieged in the town-hall, at +times threatened with pistols and bayonets,[24] dispatch to the +detachments they are expecting an order to turn back, and entreat +the Directory not to send any more troops, for, if any come, they +have been told that "they will be sorry for it." Nowhere are there +regular troops. At Étampes, the people repeat that "they are sent +for and paid by the flour-dealers;" at Montlhéry, that "they merely +serve to arm citizens against each other;" at Limours, that "they +make grain dearer." All pretexts seem good in this direction; the +popular will is absolute, and the authorities complacently meet its +decrees half-way. At Montlhéry, the municipal body orders the +gendarmerie to remain at the gates of the town, which gives full +play to the insurrection. - The administrators, however, are not +relieved by leaving the people free to act; they are obliged to +sanction their exactions by ordinances. They are taken out of the +Hôtel-de-Ville, led to the marketplace, and there forthwith, under +the dictation of the uproar which establishes prices, they, like +simple clerks, proclaim the reduction. When, moreover, the armed +rabble of a village marches forth to tyrannize over a neighboring +market, it carries its mayor along with it in spite of himself, as +an official instrument which belongs to it.[25] "There is no +resistance against force," writes the mayor of Vert-le-Petit; "we +had to set forth immediately." - " They assured me," says the +Mayor of Fontenay, "that, if I did not obey them, they would hang +me." - On any municipal officer hazarding a remonstrance, they +tell him that "he is getting to be an aristocrat." Aristocrat and +hung, the argument is irresistible, and all the more so because it +is actually applied. At Corbeil, the procureur-syndic who tries to +enforce the law is almost beaten to death, and three houses in which +they try to find him are demolished. At Montlhéry, a seed merchant, +accused of mixing the flour of beans (twice as dear) with wheaten +flour, is massacred in his own house. At Étampes, the mayor who +promulgates the law is cudgeled to death. Mobs talk of nothing but +"burning and destroying," while the farmers, abused, hooted at, +forced to sell, threatened with death and robbed, run away, +declaring they will never return to the market again. + +Such is the first effect of popular dictatorship. Like all +unintelligent forces, it operates in a direction the reverse of its +intention: to dearness it adds dearth, and empties, instead of +replenishing, the markets. That of Étampes often contained fifteen +or sixteen hundred sacks of flour; the week following this +insurrection there were, at most, sixty brought to it. At +Montlhéry, where six thousand men had collected together, each one +obtains for his share only a small measure, while the bakers of the +town have none at all. This being the case, the enraged National +Guards tell the farmers that they are coming to see them on their +farms. And they really go.[26] Drums roll constantly on the roads +around Montlhéry, Limours, and other large market-towns. Columns of +two, three, and four hundred men are seen passing under the lead of +their commandant and of the mayor whom they take along with them. +They enter each farm, mount into the granaries, estimate the +quantity of grain thrashed out, and force the proprietor to sign an +agreement to bring it to market the following week. Sometimes, as +they are hungry, they compel people to give them something to eat +and drink on the spot, and it will not do to enrage them, - a +farmer and his wife come near being hung in their own barn. + +Their effort is useless: Wheat is impounded and hunted up in vain; +it takes to the earth or slips off like a frightened animal. In +vain do insurrections continue. In vain do armed mobs, in all the +market-towns of the department,[27] subject grain to a forced +reduction of price. Wheat becomes scarcer and dearer from month to +month, rising in price from twenty-six francs to thirty-three. And +because the outraged farmer "brings now a very little," just "what +is necessary to sacrifice in order to avoid threats, he sells at +home, or in the inns, to the flour-dealers from Paris." - The +people, in running after abundance, have thus fallen deeper down +into want: their brutality has aggravated their misery, and it is to +themselves that their starvation is owing. But they are far from +attributing all this to their own insubordination; the magistrates +are accused; these, in the eyes of the populace, are "in league with +the monopolists." On this incline no stoppage is possible. Distress +increases rage, and rage increases distress; and on this fatal +declivity men are precipitated from one outrage to another. + +After the month of February, 1792, such outrages are innumerable; +the mobs which go in quest of grain or which cut down its price +consist of armies. One of six thousand men comes to control the +market of Montlhéry.[28] There are seven to eight -thousand men who +invade the market-place of Verneuil, and there is an army of ten and +another of twenty-five thousand men, who remain organized for ten +days near Laon. One hundred and fifty parishes have sounded the +tocsin, and the insurrection spreads for ten leagues around. Five +boats loaded with grain are stopped, and, in spite of the orders of +district, department, minister, King, and National Assembly, they +refuse to surrender them. Their contents, in the meantime, are made +the most of: "The municipal officers of the different parishes, +assembled together, pay themselves their fees, to wit : one hundred +sous per diem for the mayor, three livres for the municipal +officers, two livres ten sous for the guards, two livres for the +porters. They have ordered that these sums should be paid in grain, +and they reduce grain, it is said, fifteen livres the sack. It is +certain that they have divided it amongst themselves, and that +fourteen hundred sacks have been distributed." In vain do the +commissioners of the National Assembly make speeches to them three +hours in length. The discourse being finished, they deliberate, in +presence of the commissioners, whether the latter shall be hung, +drowned, or cut up, and their heads put on the five points of the +middle of the abbey railing. On being threatened with military +force, they make their dispositions accordingly. Nine hundred men +who relieve each other watch day and night on the ground, in a well +chosen and permanent encampment, while lookouts stationed in the +belfries of the surrounding villages have only to sound the alarm to +bring together twenty-five thousand men in a few hours. - So long +as the Government remains on its feet it carries on the combat as +well as it can; but it grows weaker from month to month, and, after +the 10th of August, when it lies on the ground, the mob takes its +place and becomes the universal sovereign. From this time forth not +only is the law which protects provisioning powerless against the +disturbers of sale and circulation, but the Assembly actually +sanctions their acts, since it decrees[29] the stoppage of all +proceedings commenced against them, remits sentences already passed, +and sets free all who are imprisoned or in irons. Behold every +administration, with merchants, proprietors, and farmers abandoned +to the famished, the furious, and to robbers; henceforth food +supplies are for those who are disposed and able to take them. + +"You will be told," says a petition,[30] "that we violate the law. +We reply to these perfidious insinuations that the salvation of the +people is the supreme law. We come in order to keep the markets +supplied, and to insure an uniform price for wheat throughout the +Republic. For, there is no doubt about it, the purest patriotism +dies out (sic) when there is no bread to be had. . . . +Resistance to oppression - yes, resistance to oppression is the +most sacred of duties; is there any oppression more terrible than +that of wanting bread? Undoubtedly, no . . . . Join us and 'Ça +ira, ça ira!' We cannot end our petition better than with this +patriotic air." + +This supplication was written on a drum, amidst a circle of +firearms; and with such accompaniments it is equivalent to a +command. - They are well aware of it, and of their own authority +they often confer upon themselves not only the right but also the +title. In Loire-et-Cher,[31] a band of from four to five thousand +men assume the name of "Sovereign Power." They go from one market- +town to another, to Saint-Calais, Montdoubleau, Blois, Vendôme, +reducing the cost of provisions, their troop increasing like a +snowball - for they threaten "to burn the effects and set fire to +the houses of all who are not as courageous as themselves." + +In this state of social disintegration, insurrection is a gangrene +in which the healthy are infected by the morbid parts. Mobs are +everywhere produced and re-produced, incessantly, large and small, +like abscesses which break out side by side, and painfully irritate +each other and finally combine. There are the towns against the +rural districts and rural districts against the towns. On the one +hand "every farmer who transports anything to the market passes (at +home) for an aristocrat,[32] and becomes the horror of his fellow- +citizens in the village." On the other hand the National Guards of +the towns spread themselves through the rural districts and make +raids to save themselves from death by hunger.[33] It is admitted +in the rural districts that each municipality has the right to +isolate itself from the rest. It is admitted in the towns that each +town has the right to derive its provisions from the country. It is +admitted by the indigent of each commune that the commune must +provide bread gratis or at a cheap rate. On the strength of this +there is a shower of stones and a fusillade; department against +department, district against district, canton against canton, all +fight for food, and the strongest get it and keep it for themselves. +- I have simply described the North, where, for the past three +years, the crops are good. I have omitted the South, where trade is +interrupted on the canal of the Deux Mers, where the procureur- +syndic of Aude has lately been massacred for trying to secure the +passage of a convoy; where the harvest has been poor; where, in many +places, bread costs eight sous the pound; where, in almost every +department, a bushel of wheat is sold twice as dear as in the North! + +Strange phenomenon! and the most instructive of all, for in it we +see down into the depths of humanity; for, as on a raft of +shipwrecked beings without food, there is a reversion to a state of +nature. The light tissue of habit and of rational ideas in which +civilization has enveloped man, is torn asunder and is floating in +rags around him; the bare arms of the savage show themselves, and +they are striking out. The only guide he has for his conduct is +that of primitive days, the startled instinct of a craving stomach. +Henceforth that which rules in him and through him is animal +necessity with its train of violent and narrow suggestions, +sometimes sanguinary and sometimes grotesque. Incompetent or +savage, in all respects like a Negro monarch, his sole political +expedients are either the methods of a slaughter house or the dreams +of a carnival. Two commissioners whom Roland, Minister of the +Interior, sends to Lyons, are able to see within a few days the +carnival and the slaughter-house.[34] - On the one hand the +peasants, all along the road, arrest everybody; the people regard +every traveler as an aristocrat who is running away - which is so +much the worse for those who fall into their hands. Near Autun, +four priests who, to obey the law, are betaking themselves to the +frontier, are put in prison "for their own protection;" they are +taken out a quarter of an hour later, and, in spite of thirty-two of +the mounted police, are massacred. "Their carriage was still +burning as I passed, and the corpses were stretched out not far off. +Their driver was still in durance, and it was it vain that I +solicited his release." - On the other hand, at Lyons, the power +has fallen into the hands of the degraded women of the streets. +"They seized the central club, constituted themselves commissaries +of police, signed notices as such, and paid visits of inspection to +store-houses;" they drew up a tariff of provisions, "from bread and +meat up to common peaches, and peaches of fine quality." They +announced that "whoever dared to dispute it would be considered a +traitor to the country, an adherent of the civil list, and +prosecuted as such." All this is published, proclaimed and applied +by "female commissaries of police," themselves the dregs of the +lowest sinks of corruption. Respectable housewives and workwomen +had nothing to do with it, nor "working-people of any class." The +sole actors of this administrative parody are " scamps, a few +bullies of houses of ill-fame, and a portion of the dregs of the +female sex." - To this end comes the dictatorship of instinct, +yonder let loose on the highway in a massacre of priests, and here, +in the second city of France, in the government of strumpets. + + +III. + +Egotism of the tax-payer. - Issoudun in 1790. - Rebellion against +taxation. - Indirect taxes in 1789 and 1790. - Abolition of the +salt tax, excise, and octrois. - Direct taxation in 1789 and 1790. +- Delay and insufficiency of the returns. - New levies in 1791 +and 1792. - Delays, partiality, and concealment in preparing the +rolls. - Insufficiency of, and the delay in, the returns. - +Payment in assignats.- The tax-payer relieves himself of one-half. +- Devastation of the forests. - Division of the communal +property. + +The fear of starvation is only the sharper form of a more general +passion, which is the desire of possession and the determination not +to give anything up. No popular instinct, had been longer, more +rudely, more universally offended under the ancient régime; and +there is none which gushes out more readily under constraint, none +which requires a higher or broader public barrier, or one more +entirely constructed of solid blocks, to keep it in check. Hence it +is that this passion from the commencement breaks down or engulfs +the slight and low boundaries, the tottering embankments of +crumbling earth between which the Constitution pretends to confine +it. - The first flood sweeps away the pecuniary claims of the +State, of the clergy, and of the noblesse. The people regard them +as abolished, or, at least, they consider their debts discharged. +Their idea, in relation to this, is formed and fixed; for them it is +that which constitutes the Revolution. The people have no longer a +creditor; they are determined to have none, they will pay nobody, +and first of all, they will make no further payment to the State. + +On the 14th of July, 1790, the day of the Federation, the population +of Issoudun, in Touraine, solemnly convoked for the purpose, had +just taken the solemn oath which was to ensure public peace, social +harmony, and respect for the law for evermore.[35] Here, probably, +as elsewhere, arrangements had been made for an stirring ceremonial; +there were young girls dressed in white, and learned and +impressionable magistrates were to pronounce philosophical +harangues. All at once they discover that the people gathered on +the public square are provided with clubs, scythes, and axes, and +that the National Guard will not prevent their use; on the contrary, +the Guard itself is composed almost wholly of wine growers and +others interested in the suppression of the duties on wine, of +coopers, innkeepers, workmen, carters of casks, and others of the +same stamp, all rough fellows who have their own way of interpreting +the Social Contract. The whole mass of decrees, acts, and +rhetorical flourishes which are dispatched to them from Paris, or +which emanate from the new authorities, are not worth a halfpenny +tax maintained on each bottle of wine. There are to be no more +excise duties; they will only take the civic oath on this express +condition, and that very evening they hang, in effigy, their two +deputies, who "had not supported their interests" in the National +Assembly. A few months later, of all the National Guard called upon +to protect the clerks, only the commandant and two officers respond +to the summons. If a docile taxpayer happens to be found, he is not +allowed to pay the dues; this seems a defection and almost +treachery. An entry of three puncheons of wine having been made, +they are stove in with stones, a portion is drunk, and the rest +taken to the barracks to debauch the soldiers; M. de Sauzay, +commandant of the "Royal Roussillon," who was bold enough to save +the clerks, is menaced, and for this misdeed he barely escapes being +hung himself. When the municipal body is called upon to interpose +and employ force, it replies that "for so small a matter, it is not +worth while to compromise the lives of the citizens," and the +regular troops sent to the Hôtel-de-Ville are ordered by the people +not to go except with the but-ends of their muskets in the air. +Five days after this the windows of the excise office are smashed, +and the public notices are torn down; the fermentation does not +subside, and M. de Sauzay writes that a regiment would be necessary +to restrain the town. At Saint-Amand the insurrection breaks out +violently, and is only put down by violence. At Saint-Étienne-en- +Forez, Bertheas, a clerk in the excise office, falsely accused of +monopolizing grain,[36] is fruitlessly defended by the National +Guard; he is put in prison, according to the usual custom, to save +his life, and, for greater security, the crowd insist on his being +fastened by an iron collar. But, suddenly changing its mind, it +breaks upon the door and drags him outside, beating him till he is +unconscious. Stretched on the ground, his head still moves and he +raises his hand to it, when a woman, picking up a large stone, +smashes his skull. - These are not isolated occurrences. During +the months of July and August, 1789, the tax offices are burnt in +almost every town in the kingdom. In vain does the National +Assembly order their reconstruction, insist on the maintenance of +duties and octrois, and explain to the people the public needs, +pathetically reminding them, moreover, that the Assembly has already +given them relief; - the people prefer to relieve themselves +instantly and entirely. Whatever is consumed must no longer be +taxed, either for the benefit of the State or for that of the towns. +"Entrance dues on wine and cattle," writes the municipality of +Saint-Etienne, "scarcely amount to anything, and our powers are +inadequate for their enforcement." At Cambrai, two successive +outbreaks compel the excise office and the magistracy of the +town[37] to reduce the duties on beer one-half. But "the evil, at +first confined to one corner of the province, soon spreads ;" the +grands baillis of Lille, Douai, and Orchies write that "we have +hardly a bureau which has not been molested, and in which the taxes +are not wholly subject to popular discretion." Those only pay who +are disposed to do so, and, consequently, "greater fraud could not +exist." The taxpayers, indeed, cunningly defend themselves, and find +plenty of arguments or quibbles to avoid paying their dues. At +Cambrai they allege that, as the privileged now pay as well as the +rest, the Treasury must be rich enough.[38] At Noyon, Ham, and +Chauny, and in the surrounding parishes, the butchers, innkeepers, +and publicans combined, who have refused to pay excise duties, pick +flaws in the special decree by which the Assembly subjects them to +the law, and a second special decree is necessary to circumvent +these new legal experts. The process at Lyons is simpler. Here the +thirty-two sections appoint commissioners; these decide against the +octroi, and request the municipal authorities to abolish it. They +must necessarily comply, for the people are at hand and are furious. +Without waiting, however, for any legal measures, they take the +authority on themselves, rush to the toll-houses and drive out the +clerks, while large quantities of provisions, which "through a +singular predestination" were waiting at the gates, come in free of +duty. - The Treasury defends itself as it best can against this +universally bad disposition of the tax-payer, against these +irruptions and infiltrations of fraud; it repairs the dike where it +has been carried away, stops up the fissures and again resumes +collections. But how can these be regular and complete in a State +where the courts dare not condemn delinquents, where public force +dares not support the courts,[39] where popular favor protects the +most notorious bandits and the worst vagabonds against the tribunals +and against the public powers? At Paris, where, After eight months +of impunity, proceedings are begun against the pillagers who, on the +13th of August, 1789, set fire to the tax offices, the officers of +the election, "considering that their audiences have become too +tumultuous, that the thronging of the people excites uneasiness, +that threats have been uttered of a kind calculated to create +reasonable alarm," are constrained to suspend their sittings and +refer matters to the National Assembly, while the latter, +considering that "if prosecutions are authorized in Paris it will be +necessary to authorize them throughout the kingdom," decides that it +is best "to veil the statue of the Law."[40] + +Not only does the Assembly veil the statue of the Law, but it takes +to pieces, remakes, and mutilates it, according to the requirements +of the popular will; and, in the matter of indirect imposts all its +decrees are forced upon it. The outbreak against the salt impost +was terrible from the beginning; sixty thousand men in Anjou alone +combined to destroy it, and the price of salt had to be reduced from +sixteen to six sous.[41] The people, however, are not satisfied +with this. This monopoly has been the cause of so much suffering +that they are not disposed to put up with any remains of it, and are +always on the side of the smugglers against the excise officers. In +the month of January, 1790, at Béziers, thirty-two employees, who +had seized a quantity of contraband salt on the persons of armed +smugglers,[42] are pursued by the crowd to the Hôtel-de-Ville; the +consuls decline to defend them and run away; the troops defend them, +but in vain. Five are tortured, horribly mutilated, and then hung. +In the month of March, 1790, Necker states that, according to the +returns of the past three months, the deficit in the salt-tax +amounts to more than four millions a month, which is four-fifths of +the ordinary revenue, while the tobacco monopoly is no more +respected than that of salt. At Tours,[43] the bourgeois militia +refuse to give assistance to the employees, and "openly protect +smuggling," "and contraband tobacco is publicly sold at the fair, +under the eyes of the municipal authorities, who dare make no +Opposition to it." All receipts, consequently, diminish at the same +time.[44] From the 1st of May, 1789, to the 1st of May, 1790, the +general collections amount to 127 millions instead of 150 millions; +the dues and excise combined return only 31, instead of 50 millions. +The streams which filled the public exchequer are more and more +obstructed by popular resistance, and under the popular pressure, +the Assembly ends by closing them entirely. In the month of March, +1790,[45] it abolishes salt duties, internal customs-duties, taxes +on leather, on oil, on starch, and the stamp of iron. In February +and March, 1791, it abolishes octrois and entrance-dues in all the +cities and boroughs of the kingdom, all the excise duties and those +connected with the excise, especially all taxes which affect the +manufacture, sale, or circulation of beverages. The people have in +the end prevailed, and on the 1st of May, 1791, the day of the +application of the decree, the National Guard of Paris parades +around the walls playing patriotic airs. The cannon of the +Invalides and those on the Pont-Neuf thunder out as if for an +important victory. There is an illumination in the evening, there +is drinking all night, a universal revel. Beer, indeed, is to be +had at three sous the pot, and wine at six sous a pint, which is a +reduction of one-half; no conquest could be more popular, since it +brings intoxication within easy reach of the thirsty.[46] + +The object, now, is to provide for the expenses which have been +defrayed by the suppressed octrois. In 1790, the octroi of Paris +had produced 35,910,859 francs, of which 25,059,446 went to the +State, and 10,851,413 went to the city. How is the city going to +pay for its watch, the lighting and cleaning of its streets, and the +support of its hospitals? What are the twelve hundred other cities +and boroughs going to do which are brought by the same stroke to the +same situation? What will the State do, which, in abolishing the +general revenue from all entrance-dues and excise, is suddenly +deprived of two-fifths of its revenue? - In the month of March, +1790, when the Assembly suppressed the salt and other duties, it +established in the place of these a tax of fifty millions, to be +divided between the direct imposts and dues on entrance to the +towns. Now, consequently, that the entrance-dues are abolished, the +new charge falls entirely upon the direct imposts. Do returns come +in, and will they come in? - In the face of so many outbreaks, any +indirect taxation (VAT) is, certainly, difficult to collect. +Nevertheless it is not so repulsive as the other because the levies +of the State disappear in the price of the article, the hand of the +Exchequer being hidden by the hand of the dealer. The Government +clerk formerly presented himself with his stamped paper and the +seller handed him the money without much grumbling, knowing that he +would soon be more than reimbursed by his customer: the indirect tax +is thus collected. Should any difficulty arise, it is between the +dealer and the taxpayer who comes to his shop to lay in his little +store; the latter grumbles, but it is at the high price which he +feels, and possibly at the seller who pockets his silver; he does +not find fault with the clerk of the Exchequer, whom he does not see +and who is not then present In the collection of the direct tax, on +the contrary, it is the clerk himself whom he sees before him, who +abstracts the precious piece of silver. This authorized robber, +moreover, gives him nothing in exchange; it is an entire loss. On +leaving the dealer's shop he goes away with a jug of wine, a pot of +salt, or similar commodities; on leaving the tax office he has +nothing in hand but an acquittance, a miserable bit of scribbled +paper. - But now he is master in his own commune, an elector, a +National Guard, mayor, the sole authority in the use of armed force, +and charged with his own taxation. Come and ask him to unearth the +buried mite on which he has set all his heart and all his soul, the +earthen pot wherein he has deposited his cherished pieces of silver +one by one, and which he has laid by for so many years at the cost +of so much misery and fasting, in the very face of the bailiff in +spite of the prosecutions of the sub-delegate, commissioner, +collector, and clerk! + +>From the 1st of May, 1789, to the 1st of May, 1790,[47] the general +returns, the taille and its accessories, the poll-tax and +"twentieths," instead of yielding 161.000,000 francs, yield but +28,000,000 francs in the provinces which impose their own taxes +(pays d'Etats); instead of 28,000,000 francs, the Treasury obtains +but 6,000,000. On the patriotic contribution which was to deduct +one quarter of all incomes over four hundred livres, and to levy two +and a half per cent. on plate, jewels, and whatever gold and silver +each person has in reserve, the State received 9.700,000 francs. As +to patriotic gifts, their total, comprising the silver buckles of +the deputies, reaches only 361,587 francs; and the closer our +examination into the particulars of these figures, the more do we +see the contributions of the villager, artisan, and former subjects +of the taille diminish. - Since the month of October, 1789, the +privileged classes, in fact, appear in the tax-rolls, and they +certainly form the class which is best off, the most alive to +general ideas and the most truly patriotic. It is therefore +probable that, of the forty-three millions of returns from the +direct imposts and from the patriotic contribution, they have +furnished the larger portion, perhaps two thirds of it, or even +three-quarters. If this be the case, the peasant, the former tax- +payer, gave nothing or almost nothing from his pocket during the +first year of the Revolution. For instance, in regard to the +patriotic contribution, the Assembly left it to the conscience of +each person to fix his own quota; at the end of six months, +consciences are found too elastic, and the Assembly is obliged to +confer this right on the municipalities. The result is[48] that +this or that individual who taxed himself at forty-eight livres, is +taxed at a hundred and fifty; another, a cultivator, who had offered +six livres, is judged to be able to pay over one hundred. Every +regiment contains a small number of select brave men, and it is +always these who are ready to advance under fire. Every State +contains a select few of honest men who advance to meet the tax- +collector. Some effective constraint is essential in the regiment +to supply those with courage who have but little, and in the State +to supply those with probity who do not possess it. Hence, during +the eight months which follow, from May 1st, 1790, to January 1st, +1791, the patriotic contribution furnishes but 11,000,000 livres. +Two years later, on the 1st of February, 1793, out of the forty +thousand communal tax-rolls which should provide for it, there are +seven thousand which are not yet drawn up; out of 180,000,000 livres +which it ought to produce, there are 70,000,000 livres which are +still due. - The resistance of the tax-payer produces a similar +deficit, and similar delays in all branches of the national +income.[49] In the month of June, 1790, a deputy declares in the +tribune that "out of thirty-six millions of imposts which ought to +be returned each month only nine have been received."[50] In the +month of November, 1791, a reporter on the budget states that the +receipts, which should amount to forty or forty-eight millions a +month, do not reach eleven millions and a half. On February 1, +1793, there remains still due on the direct taxes of 1789 and 1790 +one hundred and seventy-six millions. It is evident that the people +struggle with all their might against the old taxes, even authorized +and prolonged by the Constituent Assembly, and all that is obtained +from them is wrested from them. + +Will the people be more docile under the new taxation? The Assembly +exhorts them to be so and shows them how, with the relief they have +gained and with the patriotism they ought to possess, they can and +should discharge their dues. The people are able to do it because, +having got rid of tithes, feudal dues, the salt-tax, octrois and +excise duties, they are in a comfortable position. They should do +so, because the taxation adopted is indispensable to the State, +equitable, assessed on all in proportion to their fortune, collected +and expended under rigid scrutiny, without perversion or waste, +according to precise, clear, periodical and audited accounts. No +doubt exists that, after the 1st of January, 1791, the date when the +new financial scheme comes into operation, each tax-payer will +gladly pay as a good citizen, and the two hundred and forty millions +of the new tax on real property, and the sixty millions of that on +personal property, leaving out the rest - registries, license, and +customs duties - will flow in regularly and easily of their own +accord. + +Unfortunately, before the tax-gatherer can collect the first two +levies these have to be assessed, and as there are complicated +writings and formalities, claims to settle amidst great resistance +and local ignorance, the operation is indefinitely prolonged. The +personal and land-tax schedule of 1791 is not transmitted to the +departments by the Assembly until June, 1791. The departments do +not distribute it among the districts until the months of July, +August, and September, 1791. It is not distributed by the districts +among the communes before October, November, and December, 1791. +Thus in the last month of 1791 it is not yet distributed to the tax- +payers by the communes; from which it follows that on the budget of +1791 and throughout that year, the tax-payer has paid nothing. - At +last, in 1792, everybody begins to receive this assessment. It +would require a volume to set forth the partiality and dissimulation +of these assessments. In the first place the office of assessor is +one of danger; the municipal authorities, whose duty it is to assign +the quotas, are not comfortable in their town quarters. Already, in +1790,[51] the municipal officers of Monbazon have been threatened +with death if they dared to tax industrial pursuits on the tax-roll, +and they escaped to Tours in the middle of the night. Even at +Tours, three or four hundred insurgents of the vicinity, dragging +along with them the municipal officers of three market-towns, come +and declare to the town authorities "that for all taxes they will +not pay more than forty-five sous per household." I have already +narrated how, in 1792, in the same department, "they kill, they +assassinate the municipal officers" who presume to publish the tax- +rolls of personal property. In Creuse, at Clugnac, the moment the +clerk begins to read the document, the women spring upon him, seize +the tax-roll, and "tear it up with countless imprecations;" the +municipal council is assailed, and two hundred persons stone its +members, one of whom is thrown down, has his head shaved, and is +promenaded through the village in derision. - When the small tax- +payer defends himself in this manner, it is a warning that he must +be humored. The assessment, accordingly, in the village councils is +made amongst a knot of cronies. Each relieves himself of the burden +by shoving it off on somebody else. "They tax the large +proprietors, whom they want to make pay the whole tax." The noble, +the old seigneur, is the most taxed, and to such an extent that in +many places his income does not suffice to pay his quota. - In the +next place they make themselves out poor, and falsify or elude the +prescriptions of the law. "In most of the municipalities, houses, +tenements, and factories[52] are estimated according to the value of +the area they cover, and considered as land of the first class, +which reduces the quota to almost nothing." And this fraud is not +practiced in the villages alone. "Communes of eight or ten thousand +souls might be cited which have arranged matters so well amongst +themselves in this respect that not a house is to be found worth +more than fifty sous." - Last expedient of all, the commune defers +as long as it can the preparation of its tax-rolls. On the 30th of +January, 1792, out of 40,211, there are only 2,560 which are +complete; on the 5th of October, 1792, the schedules are not made +out in 4,800 municipalities, and it must be noted that all this +relates to a term of administration which has been finished for more +than nine months. At the same date, there are more than six +thousand communes which have not yet begun to collect the land-tax +of 1791, and more than fifteen thousand communes which have not yet +begun to collect the personal tax; the Treasury and the departments +have not yet received 152,000,000 francs, there being still +222,000,000 to collect. On the 1st February, 1793, there still +remains due on the same period 161,000,000 francs, while of the +50,000,000 assessed in 1790, to replace the salt-tax and other +suppressed duties, only 2,000,000 have been collected. Finally, at +the same date, out of the two direct taxes of 1792, which should +produce 300,000,000, less than 4,000,000 have been received. - It +is a maxim of the debtor that he must put off payment as long as +possible. Whoever the creditor may be, the State or a private +individual, a leg or a wing may be saved by dint of procrastination. +The maxim is true, and, on this occasion, success once more +demonstrates its soundness. During the year 1792, the peasant +begins to discharge a portion of his arrears, but it is with +assignats. In January, February, and March, 1792, the assignats +diminish thirty-four, forty-four, and forty-five per cent. in +value; in January, February, and March, 1793, forty-seven and fifty +percent.; in May, June, and July, 1793, fifty-four, sixty, and +sixty-seven per cent. Thus has the old credit of the State melted +away in its hands; those who have held on to their crowns gain fifty +per cent. and more. Again, the greater their delay the more their +debts diminish, and already, on the strength of this, the way to +release themselves at half-price is found. + +Meanwhile, hands are laid on the badly defended landed property of +this feeble creditor. - It is always difficult for rude brains to +form any conception of the vague, invisible, abstract entity called +the State, to regard it as a veritable personage and a legitimate +proprietor, especially when they are persistently told that the +State is everybody. The property of all is the property of each, +and as the forests belong to the public, the first-comer has a right +to profit by them. In the month of December, 1789,[53] bands of +sixty men or more chop down the trees in the Bois de Boulogne and at +Vincennes. In April, 1790, in the forest of Saint-Germain, "the +patrols arrest all kinds of delinquents day and night:" handed over +to the National Guards and municipalities in the vicinity, these are +"almost immediately released, even with the wood which they have cut +down against the law." iii There is no means of repressing "the +reiterated threats and insults of the low class of people." A mob of +women, urged on by an old French guardsman, come and pillage under +the nose of the escort a load of faggots confiscated for the benefit +of a hospital; and in the forest itself, bands of marauders fire +upon the patrols. - At Chantilly, three game-keepers are mortally +wounded;[54] both parks are devastated for eighteen consecutive +days; the game is all killed, transported to Paris and sold. - At +Chambord the lieutenant of the constabulary writes to announce his +powerlessness; the woods are ravaged and even burnt; the poachers +are now masters of the situation; breaches in the wall are made by +them, and the water from the pond is drawn off to enable them to +catch the fish. - At Claix, in Dauphiny, an officer of the +jurisdiction of woods and forests, who has secured an injunction +against the inhabitants for cutting down trees on leased ground, is +seized, tortured during five hours, and then stoned to death. - In +vain does the National Assembly issue three decrees and regulations, +placing the forests under the supervision and protection of +administrative bodies, - he latter are too much afraid of their +charge. Between the central power, which is weak and remote, and +the people, present and strong, they always decide in favor of the +latter. Not one of the five municipalities surrounding Chantilly is +disposed to assist in the execution of the laws, while the +directories of the district and department respectively, sanction +their inertia. - Similarly, near Toulouse,[55] where the +magnificent forest of Larramet is devastated in open day and by an +armed force, where the wanton destruction by the populace leaves +nothing of the underwood and shrubbery but "a few scattered trees +and the remains of trunks cut at different heights," the +municipalities of Toulouse and of Tournefeuille refuse all aid. And +worse still, in other provinces, as for instance in Alsace, "whole +municipalities, with their mayors at the head, cut down woods which +are confided to them, and carry them off."[56] If some tribunal is +disposed to enforce the law, it is to no purpose; it takes the risk, +either of not being allowed to give judgment, or of being +constrained to reverse its decision. At Paris the judgment prepared +against the incendiaries of the tax-offices could not be given. At +Montargis, the sentence pronounced against the marauders who had +stolen cartloads of wood in the national forests had to be revised, +and by the judges themselves. The moment the tribunal announced the +confiscation of the carts and horses which had been seized, there +arose a furious outcry against it; the court was insulted by those +present; the condemned parties openly declared that they would have +their carts and horses back by force. Upon this "the judges +withdrew into the council-chamber, and when soon after they resumed +their seats, that part of their decision which related to the +confiscation was canceled." + +And yet this administration of justice, ludicrous and flouted as it +may be, is still a sort of barrier. When it falls, along with the +Government, everything is exposed to plunder, and there is no such +thing as public property. - After August 10, 1792, each commune or +individual appropriates whatever comes in its way, either products +or the soil itself. Some of the plunderers go so far as to say +that, since the Government no longer represses them, they act under +its authority.[57] "They have destroyed even the recent plantation +of young trees." "One of the villages near Fontainebleau cleared off +and divided an entire grove. At Rambouillet, from August 10th to +the end of October," the loss is more than 100,000 crowns; the rural +agitators demand with threats the partition of the forest among the +inhabitants. "The destruction is enormous" everywhere, prolonged +for entire months, and of such a kind, says the minister, as to dry +up this source of public revenue for a long time to come. - +Communal property is no more respected than national property. In +each commune, these bold and needy folk, the rural populace, are +privileged to enjoy and make the most of it. Not content with +enjoying it, they desire to acquire ownership of it, and, for days +after the King's fall, the Legislative Assembly, losing its footing +in the universal breaking up, empowers the indigent to put in force +the agrarian law. Henceforth it suffices in any commune for one- +third of its inhabitants of both sexes, servants, common laborers, +shepherds, farm-hands or cowherds, and even paupers, to demand a +partition of the communal possessions. All that the commune owns, +save public edifices and woods, is to be cut up into as many equal +lots as there are heads, the lots to be drawn for, and each +individual to take possession of his or her portion.[58] The +Operation is carried out, for "those who are least well off are +infinitely flattered by it." In the district of Arcis-sur-Aube, +there are not a dozen communes out of ninety in which more than two- +thirds of the voters had the good sense to pronounce against it. +>From this time forth the commune ceases to be an independent +proprietor; it has nothing to fall back upon. In case of distress +it is obliged to lay on extra taxes and obtain, if it can, a few +additional sous. Its future revenue is at present in the tightly +buttoned pockets of the new proprietors. - The prevalence of +short-sighted views is once more due to the covetousness of +individuals. Whether national or communal, it is always public +interest which succumbs, and it succumbs always under the +usurpations of indigent minorities, at one time through the +feebleness of public authority, which dares not oppose their +violence, and at another through the complicity of public authority, +which has conferred upon them the rights of the majority. + + +IV. + +Cupidity of tenants. - The third and fourth jacquerie. - +Brittany and other provinces in 1790 and 1791. - The burning of +chateaux. - Title-deeds destroyed. - Refusal of claims. - +Destruction of reservoirs. - Principal characteristics, prime +motive and ruling passion of the revolution + +When there is a lack of public force for the protection of public +property, there is also a lack of it for the protection of private +property, for the same greed and the same needs attack both. Let a +man owe anything either to the State or to an individual, and the +temptation not to pay is equally the same. In both cases it +suffices to find a pretext for denying the debt; in finding this +pretext the cupidity of the tenant is as good as the selfishness of +the tax-payer. Now that the feudal system is abolished let nothing +remain of it: let there be no more seignorial claims. "If the +Assembly has maintained some of them, yonder in Paris, it did so +inadvertently or through corruption: we shall soon hear of all being +suppressed. In the meantime we will relieve ourselves, and burn the +agreements in the places where they are kept." + +Such being the argument, the jacquerie breaks out afresh: in truth, +it is permanent and universal. Just as in a body in which some of +the elements of its vital substance are affected by an organic +disease, the evil is apparent in the parts which seem to be sound: +even where as yet no outbreak has occurred, one is imminent; +constant anxiety, a profound restlessness, a low fever, denote its +presence. Here, the debtor does not pay, and the creditor is afraid +to prosecute him. In other places isolated eruptions occur. At +Auxon,[59] on an estate spared by the great jacquerie of July, 1789, +the woods are ravaged, and the peasants, enraged at being denounced +by the keepers, march to the chateau, which is occupied by an old +man and a child; everybody belonging to the village is there, men +and women; they hew down the barricaded door with their axes, and +fire on the neighbors who come to the assistance of its inmates. - +In other places, in the districts of Saint-Étienne and Montbrison, +"the trees belonging to the proprietors are carried away with +impunity, and the walls of their grounds and terraces are +demolished, the complainants being threatened with death or with the +sight of the destruction of their dwellings." Near Paris, around +Montargis, Nemours, and Fontainebleau, a number of parishes refuse +to pay the tithes and ground-rent (champart) which the Assembly has +a second time sanctioned; gibbets are erected and the collectors are +threatened with hanging, while, in the neighborhood of Tonnerre, a +mob of debtors fire upon the body of police which comes to enforce +the claims. - Near Amiens, the Comtesse de la Mire,[60] on her +estate of Davencourt, is visited by the municipal authorities of the +village, who request her to renounce her right to ground-rent +(champart) and thirds (tiers). She refuses and they insist, and she +refuses again, when they inform her that " some misfortune will +happen to her." In effect, two of the municipal officers cause the +tocsin to be rung, and the whole village rushes to arms. One of the +domestics has an arm broken by a ball, and for three hours the +countess and her two children are subject to the grossest insults +and to blows: she is forced to sign a paper which she is not allowed +to read, and, in warding off the stroke of a saber, her arm is cleft +from the elbow to the wrist; the chateau is pillaged, and she owes +her escape to the zeal of some of her servants. - Large eruptions +take place at the same time over entire provinces; one succeeds the +other almost without interruption, the fever encroaching on parts +which were supposed to be cured, and to such an extent that the +virulent ulcers finally combine and form one over the whole surface +of the social body. + +By the end of December, 1789, the chronic fermentation comes to a +head in Brittany. Imagination, as usual, has forged a plot, and, as +the people say, if they make an attack it is in their own defense. +- A report spreads[61] that M. de Goyon, near Lamballe, has +assembled in his chateau a number of gentlemen and six hundred +soldiers. The mayor and National Guard of Lamballe immediately +depart in force; they find everything tranquil there, and no company +but two or three friends, and no other arms than a few fowling- +pieces. - The impulse, however, is given, and, on the 15th of +January, the great federation of Pontivy has excited the wildest +enthusiasm. The people drink, sing, and shout in honor of the new +decrees before armed peasants who do not comprehend the French +tongue, still less legal terms, and who, on their return home, +arguing with each other in bas-breton, interpret the law in a +peculiar way. "A decree of the Assembly, in their eyes, is a decree +of arrest" and as the principal decrees of the Assembly are issued +against the nobles, they are so many decrees of arrest against them. +- Some days after this, about the end of January, during the whole +of February, and down to the month of April, the execution of this +theory is tumultuously carried out by mobs of villagers and +vagabonds around Nantes, Auray, Redon, Dinan, Ploërmel, Rennes, +Guingamp, and other villages. Everywhere, writes the Mayor of +Nantes,[62] "the country-people believe that in burning deeds and +contracts they get rid of their debts; the very best of them concur +in this belief," or let things take their course; the excesses are +enormous, because many gratify "special animosities, and all are +heated with wine. - At Beuvres, "the peasants and vassals of the +manor, after burning title-deeds, establish themselves in the +chateau, and threaten to fire it if other papers, which they allege +are concealed there, are not surrendered." Near Redon the Abbey of +Saint-Sauveur is reduced to ashes. Redon is menaced, and Ploërmel +almost besieged. At the end of a month thirty-seven chateaux are +enumerated as attacked: twenty-five in which the title-deeds are +burnt, and twelve in which the proprietors are obliged to sign an +abandonment of their rights. Two chateaux which began to burn are +saved by the National Guard. That of Bois-au-Voyer is entirely +consumed, and several have been sacked. By way of addition, "more +than fifteen procureurs-fiscaux, clerks, notaries, and officers of +seignorial courts have been plundered or burnt," while proprietors +take refuge in the towns because the country is now uninhabitable +for them. + +A second tumor makes its appearance at the same time at another +point.[63] It showed itself in Lower Limousin in the beginning of +January. From thence the purulent inflammation spreads to Quercy, +Upper Languedoc, Perigord, and Rouergue, and in February from Tulle +to Montauban, and from Agen to Périgueux and Cahors, extending over +three departments. - Then, also, expectancy is the creator, +according to rule, of its own object. By dint of longing for a law +for the suppression of all claims, it is imagined that it is passed, +and the statement is current that "the King and the National +Assembly have ordered deputations to set up the maypole[64] and to +'light up' the chateaux." - Moreover, and always in accordance +with current practice, bandits, people without occupation, take the +lead of the furious crowd and manage things their own way. As soon +as a band is formed it arrests all the peaceable people it can find +on the roads, in the fields, and in isolated farmhouses, and takes +good care to put them in front in case of blows. - These +miscreants add terror to compulsion. They erect gibbets for any one +that pays casual duties or annual dues, while the parishes of Quercy +threaten their neighbors of Perigord with fire and sword in a week's +time if they do not do in Perigord as they have done in Quercy. - +The tocsin rings, the drums beat, and "the ceremony " is performed +from commune to commune. The keys of the church are forcibly taken +from the curé the seats are burned, and, frequently, the woodwork +marked with the seigneur's arms. They march to the seigneur's +mansion, tear down his weathercocks, and compel him to furnish his +finest tree, together with feathers and ribbons with which to deck +it, without omitting the three measures which he uses in the +collection of his dues in grain or flour. The maypole is planted in +the village square, and the weathercocks, ribbons, and feathers are +attached to its top, together with the three measures and this +inscription, "By order of the King and National Assembly, the final +quittance for all rentals." When this is done it is evident that the +seigneur, who no longer possesses weathercocks, or a seat in the +church, or measures to rate his dues by, is no longer a seigneur, +and can no longer put forth claims of any kind. Huzzahs and +acclamations accordingly burst forth, and there is a revel and an +orgy on the public square. All who can pay - the seigneur, the +curé, and the rich - are put under contribution for the festival, +while the people eat and drink "without any interval of sobriety." +- In this condition, being armed, they strike, and when resistance +is offered, they burn. In Agénois, a chateau belonging to M. de +Lameth, and another of M. d'Aiguillon; in Upper Languedoc, that of +M. de Bournazel, and in Perigord that of M. de Bar, are burnt down: + +M. de Bar is almost beaten to death, while six others are killed in +Quercy. A number of chateaux in the environs of Montauban and in +Limousin are assaulted with firearms, and several are pillaged. - +Bands of twelve hundred men swarm the country; "they have a spite +against every estate;" they redress wrongs; "they try over again +cases disposed of thirty years ago, and give judgments which they +put into execution." - If anybody fails to conform to the new code +he is punished, and to the advantage of the new sovereigns. In +Agénois, a gentleman having paid the rent which was associated with +his fief the people take his receipt from him, mulct him in a sum +equal to that which he paid, and come under his windows to spend the +money on good cheer, in triumph and with derision. + +Many of the National Guards who still possess some degree of energy, +several of the municipalities which still preserve some love of +order, and a number of the resident gentry, employ their arms +against these excited swarms of brutal usurpers. Some of the +ruffians, taken in the act, are judged somewhat after the fashion of +a drum-head court-martial, and immediately executed as examples. +Everybody in the country sees that the peril to society is great and +urgent, and that if such acts go unpunished, there will be no such +thing as law and property in France. The Bordeaux parliament, +moreover, insists upon prosecutions. Eighty-three boroughs and +cities sign addresses, and send a special deputation to the National +Assembly to urge on prosecutions already commenced, the punishment +of criminals under arrest, and, above all, the maintenance of the +prévôtés.[65] In reply to this, the Assembly inflicts upon the +parliament of Bordeaux its disapprobation in the rudest manner, and +enters upon the demolition of every judicial corporation.[66] After +this, the execution of all prévotal decisions is adjourned. A few +months later the Assembly will oblige the King to declare that the +proceedings begun against the jacquerie of Brittany shall be +regarded as null and void, and that the arrested insurgents shall be +set free. For repressive purposes, it dispatches a sentimental +exhortation to the French people, consisting of twelve pages of +literary insipidity, which Florian might have composed for his +Estilles and his Nemorins.[67] - New conflagrations, as an +inevitable consequence, kindle around live coals which have been +imperfectly extinguished. In the district of Saintes,[68] M. +Dupaty, counselor of the parliament of Bordeaux, after having +exhausted mild resources, and having concluded by issuing writs +against those of his tenantry who would not pay their rents, the +parish of Saint-Thomas de Cosnac, combined with five or six others, +puts itself in motion and assails his two chateaux of Bois-Roche and +Saint-George-des-Agouts; these are plundered and then set on fire, +his son escaping through a volley of musket-balls. They visit +Martin, the notary and steward, in the same fashion; his furniture +is pillaged and his money is taken, and "his daughter undergoes the +most frightful outrages." Another detachment pushes on to the house +of-the Marquis de Cumont, and forces him, under the penalty of +having his house burnt down, to give a discharge for all the claims +he has upon them. At the head of these incendiaries are the +municipal officers of Saint-Thomas, except the mayor, who has taken +to flight. + +The electoral system organized by the Constituent Assembly is +beginning to take effect. "Almost everywhere," writes the royal +commissioner, "the large proprietors have been eliminated, and the +offices have been filled by men who strictly fulfill the conditions +of eligibility. The result is a sort of rage of the petty rich to +annoy those who enjoy large heritages." - Six months later, the +National Guards and village authorities in this same department at +Aujean, Migron, and Varaise, decide that no more tithes, agriers or +champarts, nor any of the dues which are retained, shall be paid. +In vain does the department annul the decision, and send its +commissioners, gendarmes, and law-officers. The commissioners are +driven away, and the officers and gendarmes are fired upon; the +vice-president of the district, who was on his way to make his +report to the department, is seized on the road and forced to give +in his resignation. Seven parishes have coalesced with Aujean and +ten with Migron; Varaise has sounded the tocsin, and the villages +for four leagues round have risen; fifteen hundred men, armed with +guns, scythes, hatchets and pitchforks, lend their aid. The object +is to set free the principal leader at Varaise, one Planche, who was +arrested, and to punish the mayor of Varaise, Latierce, who is +suspected of having denounced Planche. Latierce is unmercifully +beaten, and "forced to undergo a thousand torments during thirty +hours;" then they set out with him to Saint-Jean-d'Angely, and +demand the release of Planche. The municipality at first refuses, +but finally consents on the condition that Latierce be given up in +exchange for him. Planche, consequently, is set at liberty and +welcomed with shouts of triumph. Latierce, however, is not given +up; on the contrary, he is tormented for an hour and then massacred, +while the directory of the district, which is less submissive than +the municipal body, is forced to fly. - Symptoms of this kind are +not to be mistaken, and similar ones exist in Brittany. It is +evident that the minds of the people are permanently in revolt. +Instead of the social abscess being relieved by the discharge, it is +always filling up and getting more inflamed. It will burst a second +time in the same places; in 1791 as in 1790, the jacquerie spreads +throughout Brittany as it has spread over Limousin. + +This is because the determination of the peasant is of another +nature than ours, his will being more firm and tenacious. When an +idea obtains a hold on him it takes root in an obscure and profound +conviction upon which neither discussion nor argument have any +effect; once planted, it vegetates according to his notions, not +according to ours, and no legislative text, no judicial verdict, no +administrative remonstrance can change in any respect the fruit it +produces. This fruit, developed during centuries, is the feeling of +an excessive plunder, and, consequently, the need of an absolute +release. Too much having been paid to everybody, the peasant now is +not disposed to pay anything to anybody, and this idea, vainly +repressed, always rises up in the manner of an instinct. - In the +month of January, 1791,[69] bands again form in Brittany, owing to +the proprietors of the ancient fiefs having insisted on the payment +of their rents. At first the coalesced parishes refuse to pay the +stewards, and after this the rustic National Guards enter the +chateaux to constrain the proprietors. Generally, it is the +commander of the National Guard, and sometimes the communal +attorney, who dictates to the lord of the manor the renunciation of +his claims; they oblige him, moreover, to sign notes for the benefit +of the parish, or for that of various private individuals. This is +considered by them to be compensation for damages; all feudal dues +being abolished, he must return what he received from them during +the past year, and as they have been put to inconvenience he must +indemnify them by "paying them for their time and journey." Such are +the operations of two of the principal bands, one of them numbering +fifteen hundred men, around Dinan and St. Malo; for greater +security they burn title-deeds in the chateaux of Saint-Tual, Besso, +Beaumanoir, La Rivière, La Bellière, Chateauneuf, Chenay, +Chausavoir, Tourdelon, and Chalonge; and as a climax they set fire +to Chateauneuf just before the arrival of the regular troops. - In +the beginning, a dim conception of legal and social order seems to +be floating in their brains; at Saint-Tual, before taking 2,000 +livres from the steward, they oblige the mayor to give them his +consent in writing; at Yvignac, their chief, called upon to show the +authority under which he acted, declares that "he is authorized by +the general will of the populace of the nation."[70] - But when, at +the end of a month, they are beaten by the regular troops, made +furious by the blows given and taken, and excited by the weakness of +the municipal authorities who release their prisoners, they then +become bandits of the worst species. During the night of the 22nd +of February, the chateau of Villefranche, three leagues from +Malestroit, is attacked. Thirty-two rascals with their faces +masked, and led by a chief in the national uniform, break open the +door. The domestics are strangled. The proprietor, M. de la +Bourdonnaie, an old man, with his wife aged sixty, are half killed +by blows and tied fast to their bed, and after this a fire is +applied to their feet and they are warmed (chauffé). In the +meantime the plate, linen, stuffs, jewelry, two thousand francs in +silver, and even watches, buckles, and rings, - everything is +pillaged, piled on the backs of the eleven horses in the stables, +and carried off. - ?When property is concerned, one sort of +outrage provokes another, the narrow cupidity of the lease-holder +being completed by the unlimited rapacity of the brigand. + +Meanwhile, in the south-western provinces, the same causes have +produced the same results; and towards the end of autumn, when the +crops are gathered in and the proprietors demand their dues in money +or in produce, the peasant, immovably fixed in his idea, again +refuses.[71] In his eyes, any law that may be against him is not +that of the National Assembly, but of the so-called seigneurs, who +have extorted or manufactured it; and therefore it is null. The +department and district administrators may promulgate it as much as +they please: it does not concern him, and if the opportunity occurs, +he knows how to make them smart for it. The village National +Guards, who are lease-holders like himself, side with him, and +instead of repressing him give him their support. As a +commencement, he replants the maypoles, as a sign of emancipation, +and erects the gibbet by way of a threat. - In the district of +Gourdon, the regulars and the police having been sent to put them +down, the tocsin is at once sounded: a crowd of peasants, amounting +to four or five thousand, arrives from every surrounding parish, +armed with scythes and guns; the soldiers, forming a body of one +hundred, retire into a church, where they capitulate after a siege +of twenty-four hours, being obliged to give the names of the +proprietors who demanded their intervention of the district, and who +are Messrs. Hébray, de Fontange, and many others. All their houses +are destroyed from top to bottom, and they effect their escape in +order not to be hung. The chateaux of Repaire and Salviat are +burned. At the expiration of eight days Quercy is in flames and +thirty chateaux are destroyed. - The leader of a band of rustic +National Guards, Joseph Linard, at the head of a village army, +penetrates into Gourdon, installs himself in the Hôtel-de-Ville, +declares himself the people's protector against the directory of the +district, writes to the department in the name of his "companions in +arms," and vaunts his patriotism. Meanwhile he commands as a +conqueror, throws open the prisons, and promises that, if the +regular troops and police be sent off; he and his companions will +withdraw in good order. - This species of tumultuous authority, +however, instituted by acclamation for attack, is powerless for +resistance. Scarcely has Linard retired when savagery is let loose. +"A price is set upon the heads of the administrators; their houses +are the first devastated; all the houses of wealthy citizens are +pillaged; and the same is the case with all chateaux and country +habitations which display any signs of luxury." - Fifteen +gentlemen, assembled together at the house of M. d'Escayrac, in +Castel, appeal to all good citizens to march to the assistance of +the proprietors who may be attacked in this jacquerie, which is +spreading everywhere;[72] but there are too few proprietors in the +country, and none of the towns have too many of them for their own +protection. M. d'Escayrac, after a few skirmishes, abandoned by the +municipal officers of his village, and wounded, withdraws to the +house of the Comte de Clarac, a major-general, in Languedoc. Here, +too, the chateau, is surrounded,[73] blockaded, and besieged by the +local National Guard. M. de Clarac descends and tries to hold a +parley with the attacking party, and is fired upon. He goes back +inside and throws money out of the window; the money is gathered up, +and he is again fired upon. The chateau is set on fire, and M. +d'Escayrac receives five shots, and is killed. M. de Clarac, with +another person, having taken refuge in a subterranean vault, are +taken out almost stifled the next morning but one by the National +Guard of the vicinity, who conduct them to Toulouse, where they are +kept in prison and where the public prosecutor takes proceedings +against them. The chateau of Bagat, near Montcuq, is demolished at +the same time. The abbey of Espagnac, near Figeac, is assaulted +with fire-arms; the abbess is forced to refund all rents she has +collected, and to restore four thousand livres for the expenses of a +trial which the convent had gained twenty years before. + +After such successes, the extension of the revolt is inevitable; and +at the end of some weeks and months it becomes permanent in the +three neighboring departments. - In Creuse,[74] the judges are +threatened with death if they order the payment of seignorial dues, +and the same fate awaits all proprietors who claim their rents. In +many places, and especially in the mountains, the peasants, +"considering that they form the nation, and that clerical +possessions are national," want to have these divided amongst +themselves, instead of their being sold. Fifty parishes around La +Souterraine receive incendiary letters inviting them to come in arms +to the town, in order to secure by force, and by staking their +lives, the production of all titles to rentals. The peasants, in a +circle of eight leagues, are all stirred up by the sound of the +tocsin, and preceded by the municipal officers in their scarves; +there are four thousand of them, and they drag with them a wagon +full of arms: this is for the revision and re-constitution of the +ownership of the soil. - In Dordogne,[75] self-appointed +arbitrators interpose imperiously between the proprietor and the +small farmer, at the time of harvest, to prevent the proprietor from +claiming, and the farmer from paying, the tithes or the réve;[76] +any agreement to this end is forbidden; whoever shall transgress the +new order of things, proprietor or farmer, shall be hung. +Accordingly, the rural militia in the districts of Bergerac, +Excideuil, Ribérac, Mucidan, Montignac, and Perigueux, led by the +municipal officers, go from commune to commune in order to force the +proprietors to sign an act of withdrawal; and these visits "are +always accompanied with robberies, outrages, and ill-treatment from +which there is no escape but in absolute submission." Moreover, +"they demand the abolition of every species of tax and the partition +of the soil. " - It is impossible for "proprietors moderately +rich " to remain in the country; on all sides they take refuge in +Perigueux, and there, organizing in companies, along with the +gendarmerie and the National Guard of the town, overrun the cantons +to restore order. But there is no way of persuading the peasantry +that it is order which they wish to restore. With that stubbornness +of the imagination which no obstacle arrests, and which, like a +vigorous spring, always finds some outlet, the people declare that +"the gendarmes and National Guard" who come to restrain them "are +priests and gentlemen in disguise." - The new theories, moreover, +have struck down to the lowest depths; and nothing is easier than to +draw from them the abolition of debts, and even the agrarian law. +At Ribérac, which is invaded by the people of the neighboring +parishes, a village tailor, taking the catechism of the Constitution +from his pocket, argues with the procureur-syndic, and proves to him +that the insurgents are only exercising the rights of man. The book +states, in the first place, "that Frenchmen are equals and brethren, +and that they should give each other aid;" and that "the masters +should share with their fellows, especially this year, which is one +of scarcity." In the next place, it is written that "all property +belongs to the nation," and that is the reason why "it has taken the +possessions of the Church." Now, all Frenchmen compose the nation, +and the conclusion is clearly apparent. Since, in the eyes of the +tailor, the property of individual Frenchmen belongs to all the +French, he, the tailor, has a right to at least the quota which +belongs to him. - One travels fast and far on this downhill road, +for every mob considers that this means immediate enjoyment, and +enjoyment according to its own ideas. There is no care for +neighbors or for consequences, even when imminent and physical, and +in twenty places the confiscated property perishes in the hands of +the usurpers. + +This voluntary destruction of property can be best observed in the +third department, that of Corrèze.[77] Not only have the peasants +here refused to pay rents from the beginning of the Revolution; not +only have they "planted maypoles, supplied with iron hooks, to hang +" the first one that dared to claim or to pay them; not only are +violent acts of every description committed "by entire communes," +"the National Guards of the small communes participating in them;" +not only do the culprits, whose arrest is ordered, remain at +liberty, while "nothing is spoken of but the hanging of the +constables who serve writs," but farther, together with the +ownership of the water-sources, the power of collecting, directing, +and distributing the water is overthrown, and, in a country of in a +country of steep slopes, the consequences of such an operation may +be imagined. Three leagues from Tulle, in a forming a semi-circle, a +pond twenty feet in depth, and covering an area of three hundred +acres, was enclosed by a broad embankment on the side of a very deep +gorge, which was completely covered with houses, mills, and +cultivation. On the 17th of April, 1791, a troop of five hundred +armed men assembled by the beat of a drum, and collected from three +villages in the vicinity, set themselves to demolish the dike. The +proprietor, M. de Sedières, a substitute-deputy in the National +Assembly, is not advised of it until eleven o'clock in the evening. +Mounting his horse, along with his guests and domestics, he makes a +charge on the insane wretches, and, with the aid of pistol and gun +shots, disperses them. It was time, for the trench they had dug was +already eight feet deep, and the water was nearly on a level with +it: a half-hour later and the terrible rolling mass of waters would +have poured out on the inhabitants of the gorge. - But such +vigorous strokes, which are rare and hardly ever successful, are no +defense against universal and continuous attacks. The regular +troops and the gendarmerie, both of which are in the way of +reorganization or of dissolution, are not trustworthy, or are too +weak. There are no more than thirty of the cavalry in Creuse, and +as many in Corrèze. The National Guards of the towns are knocked up +by expeditions into the country, and there is no money with which to +provide for their change of quarters. And finally, as the elections +are in the hands of the people, this brings into power men disposed +to tolerate popular excesses. At Tulle, the electors of the second +class, almost all chosen from among the cultivators, and, moreover, +catechized by the club, nominate for deputies and public prosecutor +only the candidates who are pledged against rentals and against +water privileges. - Accordingly, the general demolition of the +dikes begins as the month of May approaches. This operation +continues unopposed on a vast pond, a league and a half from the +town, and lasts for a whole week; elsewhere, on the arrival of the +guards or of the gendarmerie, they are fired upon. Towards the end +of September, all the embankments in the department are broken down: +nothing is left in the place of the ponds but fetid marshes; the +mill-wheels no longer turn, and the fields are no longer watered. +But those who demolish them carry away baskets full of fish, and the +soil of the ponds again becomes communal. - Hatred is not the +motive which impels them, but the instinct of acquisition: all these +violent outstretched hands, which rigidly resist the law, are +directed against property, but not against the proprietor; they are +more greedy than hostile. One of the noblemen of Corrèze,[78] M. de +Saint-Victour, has been absent for five years. From the beginning +of the Revolution, although his feudal dues constitute one-half of +the income of his estate, he has given orders that no rigorous +measures shall be employed in their collection, and the result is +that, since 1789, none of them were collected. Moreover, having a +reserve stock of wheat on hand, he lent grain, to the amount of four +thousand francs, to those of his tenants who had none. In short, he +is liberal, and, in the neighboring town, at Ussel, he even passes +for a Jacobin. In spite of all this, he is treated just like the +rest. It is because the parishes in his domain are "clubbist," +governed by associations of moral and practical levelers; in one of +them "the brigands have organized themselves into a municipal body," +and have chosen their leader as procureur-syndic. Consequently, on +the 22nd of August, eighty armed peasants opened the dam of his +large pond, at the risk of submerging a village in the neighborhood, +the inhabitants of which came and closed it up. Five other ponds +belonging to him are demolished in the course of the two following +weeks; fish to the value of from four to five thousand francs are +stolen, and the rest perish in the weeds. In order to make this +expropriation sure, an effort is made to burn his title-deeds; his +chateau, twice attacked in the night, is saved only by the National +Guard of Ussel. His farmers and domestics hesitate, for the time +being, whether or not to cultivate the ground, and come and ask the +steward if they could sow the seeds. There is no recourse to the +proper authorities: the administrators and judges, even when their +own property is concerned, "dare not openly show themselves," +because "they do not find themselves protected by the shield of the +law. " - Popular will, traversing both the old and the new law, +obstinately persists in its work, and forcibly attains its ends. +Thus, whatever the grand terms of liberty, equality, and fraternity +may be, with which the Revolution graces itself, it is, in its +essence, a transfer of property; in this alone consists its chief +support, its enduring energy, its primary impulse and its historical +significance. - Formerly, in antiquity, similar movements were +accomplished, debts were abolished or lessened, the possessions of +the rich were confiscated, and the public lands were divided; but +this operation was confined to a city and limited to a small +territory. For the first time it takes place on a large scale and +in a modern State. - Thus far, in these vast States, when the +deeper foundations have been disturbed, it has ever been on account +of foreign domination or on account of an oppression of conscience. +In France in the fifteenth century, in Holland in the sixteenth and +in England in the seventeenth century, the peasant, the mechanic, +and the laborer had taken up arms against an enemy or in behalf of +their faith. On religious or patriotic zeal has followed the +craving for prosperity and comfort, and the new motive is as +powerful as the others; for in our industrial, democratic, and +utilitarian societies it is this which governs almost all lives, and +excites almost all efforts. Kept down for centuries, the passion +recovers itself by throwing off government and privilege, the two +great weights which have borne it down. At the present time this +passion launches itself impetuously with its whole force, with +brutal insensibility, athwart every kind of proprietorship that is +legal and legitimate, whether it be public or private. The +obstacles it encounters only render it the more destructive , beyond +property it attacks proprietors, and completes plunder with +proscriptions. + +______________________________________________________________________ + +Notes: + + +[1] The expression is that of Jean Bon Saint-André to Mathieu Dumas, +sent to re-establish tranquillity in Montauban (1790): "The day of +vengeance, which we have been awaiting for a hundred years, has +come!" + +[2] De Dampmartin, I. 187 (an eye-witness). + +[3] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3223 and 3216. Letters of M. de +Bouzols, major general, residing at Montpellier, May 21, 25, 28, +1790. + +[4] Mary Lafon, "Histoire d'une Ville Protestante ".(with original +documents derived from the archives of Montauban). + +[5] Archives Nationales," F7, 2216. Procés-verbal of the +Municipality of Nîmes and report of the Abbé de Belmont. - Report +of the Administrative commissioners, June 28, 1790. - Petition of +the Catholics, April 20. - Letters of the Municipality, the +commissioners, and M. de Nausel, on the events of May 2 and 3. - +Letter of M. Rabaut Saint-Etienne, May 12 - Petition of the widow +Gas, July 30. - Report (printed) of M. Alquier, February 19, +1791. - Memoir (printed) of the massacre of the Catholics at +Nîmes, by Froment (1790). - New address of the Municipality of +Nîmes, presented by M. de Marguerite, mayor and deputy (1790), +printed. Mercure de France, February 23, 1791. + +[6] The petition is signed by 3,127 persons, besides 1560 who put a +cross declaring that they could not write. The counter-petition of +the club is signed by 262 persons. + +[7] This last item, stated in M. Alquier's report, is denied by the +municipality. According to it, the red rosettes gathered around the +bishop's quarters had no guns. + +[8] An insurrection in the sixteenth century, when the Protestants +fired on the Catholics on St. Michael's Day.-[TR.] + +[9] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3216. Letter of M. de Lespin, Major +at Nîmes, to the commandant of Provence, M de Perigord, July 27, +1790: "The plots and conspiracies which were attributed to the +vanquished party, and which, it was believed, would be discovered in +the depositions of the four hundred men in prison, vanish as the +proceedings advance. The veritable culprits are to be found among +the informers. + +[10] Buchez and Roux, III. 240 (Memorandum of the Ministers, +October 28, 1789). - " Archives Nationales," D, XXIX. 3. +Deliberation of the Municipal council of Vernon (November 4, 1789) + +[11] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105. correspondence of M. de +Thiard, November 4, 1789. - See similar occurrences, September 4, +October 23, November 4 and 19, 1789, January 27 and March 27, 1790 + +[12] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3257. Letter from Gex, May 29, +1790. - Buchez and Roux, VII. 198, 369 (September, October, +1790). + +[13] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. correspondence of M. de +Bercheny, Commandant of the four central provinces. Letters of May +25, June 11, 19, and 27, 1790. - " Archives Nationales," D. +XXIX. 4. Deliberations of the district administrators of Bourbon- +Lancy, May 26. + +[14] "Archives Nationales," H. 2453. Minutes of the meeting of a +dozen parishes in Nivernais, June 4. "White bread is to be 2 sous, +and brown bread 11/2 sous. Husbandmen are to have 30 sous, reapers +10 sous, wheelwrights 10 sous, bailiffs 6 sous per league. Butter +is to be at 8 sous, meat at 5 sous, pork at 8 sous, oil at 8 sous +the pint, a square foot of masonry-work 40 sous, a pair of large +sabots 3 sous. All rights of pasturage and of forests are to he +surrendered. The roads are to be free everywhere, as formerly. All +seignorial rents arc to be suppressed. Millers are to take only one +thirty-second of a bushel. The seigneurs of our department are to +give up all servile holidays and ill-acquired property. The curé of +Bièze is simply to say mass at nine o'clock in the morning and +vespers at two o'clock in the afternoon, in summer and winter; he +must marry and bury gratis, it being reserved to us to pay him a +salary. He is to be paid 6 sous for masses, and not to leave his +curé except to repeat his breviary and make proper calls on the men +and women of his parish. Hats must be had from 3 livres to 30 sous. +Nails 3 livres the gross. Curés are to have none but circumspect +females of fifty for domestics. Curés are not to go to either fairs +or markets. All curés are to he on the same footing as the one at +Bièze. There must he no more wholesale dealers in wheat. Law +officers who make unjust seizures must return the money. Farm +leases must expire on St. Martin's Day. M. le Comte, although not +there, M. de Tontenelle, and M. de Commandant must sign this +document without difficulty. M. de Mingot is formally to resign his +place in writing: he went away with his servant-woman - he even +missed his mass on the first Friday of the Fête-Dieu, and it is +supposed that he slept in the woods. Joiners' wages shall he fixed +at the same rate as wheelwrights'. Ox-straps are not to cost over +40 sous, yokes 10 sous. Masters must pay one-half of the tailles . +Notaries are to take only the half of what they had formerly, as +well as comptrollers. The Commune claims the right of protest +against whatever it may have forgotten in the present article, in +fact or in law." (It is signed by about twenty persons, several of +them being mayors and municipal clerks.) + +[15] "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. The same correspondence, May +29, June 11 and 17, September 15, 1790. - ibid, F7, 3257. Letter of +the municipal authorities of Marsigny, May 3; of the municipal +officers of Bourbon-Lancy, June 5. Extract from letters written to +M. Amelot, June 1st. + +[16] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3185, 3186. Letter of the President +of the Tribunal of the district of Laon, February 8, 1792. + +[17] "Archives Nationales F7, 3268. Procés-verbal and observations +of the two commissioners sent to Étampes September 22-25, 1791. + +[18] "Archives Nationales F7, 3265. The following document, among +many others, shows the expedients and conceptions of the popular +imagination. Petition of several inhabitants of the commune of +Forges (Seine Inférieure) "to the good and incorruptible Minister of +the Interior" (October 16, 1792). After three good crops in +succession, the famine still continues. Under the ancient régime +wheat was superabundant; hogs were fed with it, and calves were +fattened with bread. It is certain, therefore, that wheat is +diverted by monopolists and the enemies of the new regime. The +farms are too large; let them he divided. There is too much +pasture-ground: sow it with wheat. Compel each farmer and land- +owner to give a statement of his crop: let the quantity be published +at the church service, and in case of falsehood let the man be put +to death or imprisoned, and his grain he confiscated. Oblige all +the cultivators of the neighborhood to sell their wheat at Forges +only, etc." + +[19] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268. Report of the commissioners +sent by the department, March 11, 1792 (apropos of the insurrection +of March 4). - Mortimer-Ternaux, I. 381. + +[20] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268. Letters of several mayors, +district administrators, cultivators of Velizy, Villacoublay, La +celle-Saint-Cloud, Montigny, etc. November 12, 1791. - Letter of +M. de Narbonne, January 13, 1792; of M. Sureau, justice of the peace +in the canton of Étampes, September 17, 1791. - Letter of +Bruyères-le-Châtel, January 28, 1792. + +[21] A term applied to brigands at this epoch who demand money and +objects of value, and force their delivery by exposing the soles of +the feet of their victims to a fire. - [TR.] + +[22] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3203. Letter of the Directory of +Cher, August 25, 1791. - F7, 3240. Letter of the Directory of +Haute Marne, November 6, 1791. - F7, 3248. Minutes of the +meeting of the members of the department of the Nord, March 18, +1791. - F7, 3250. Minutes of the meeting of the municipal +officers of Montreuil-sur-Mer, October 16, 1791. - F7, 3265. +Letter of the Directory of Seine Infereure, July 22, 1791. - D, +XXIX. 4. Remonstrances of the municipalities assembled at Tostes, +July 21, 1791. - Petition, of the municipal officers of the +districts of Dieppe, Cany, and Caudebec, July 22, 1791. + +[23] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268 and 3269, passim. + +[24] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268 and 3269, passim. +Deliberations of the Directory of Seine-et-Oise, September 20, 1791 +(apropos of the insurrection. September 16, at Étampes). - +Letter of Charpentier, president of the district, September 19. - +Report of the Department Commissioners, March 11, 1792 (on the +insurrection at Brunoy, March 4.) - Report of the Department +Commissioners, March 4, 1792 (on the insurrection at Montlhéry, +February 13 to 20). - Deliberation of the Directory of Seine-et- +Oise, September 16, 1791 (on the insurrection at Corbeil). - +Letters of the mayors of Limours, Lonjumeau, etc. + +[25] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268 and 3269, passim. - Minutes of +the meeting of the Municipality of Montlhéry, February 28, 1792: "We +cannot enter into fuller details without exposing ourselves to +extremities which would be only disastrous to us." - Letter of the +justice of the peace of the canton, February 25: "Public outcry +teaches me that if I issue writs of arrest against those who +massacred Thibault, the people would rise." + +[26] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268 and 3269, passim. Reports of +the gendarmerie, February 24, 1792, and the following days. - +Letter of the sergeant of Limours, March 2; of the manager of the +farm of Plessis-le-Comte, February 23. + +[27] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268 and 3269, passim. - Memorandum +to the National Assembly by the citizens of Rambouillet, September +17, 1792. + +[28] "Archives Nationales," F7 3268 and 3269, Passim. Minutes of +the meeting of the Municipality of Montlhéry, February 27, 1792. - +Buchez and Roux, XIII. 421, (March, 1792); and XIII., 317. - +Mercure de France, February 25, 1792. (Letters of M. Dauchy, +President of the Directory of the Department; of M. de Gouy, +messenger sent by the minister, etc.) - Moniteur, sitting of +February 15, 1792. + +[29] Decree of September 3, 1792. + +[30] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268 and 3269. Petition of the +citizens of Montfort-l'Amaury, Saint-Léger, Gros-Rouvre, Gelin, +Laqueue, and Méré, to the citizens of Rambouillet. + +[31] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3230. Letter of an administrator of +the district of Vendôme, with the deliberation of the commune of +Vendôme, November 24, 1792. + +[32] Archives Nationales," F7, 3255. Letter of the administrators +of the Department of Seine-Inférieure, Octobers 23, 1792. - +Letters of the Special Comittee of Rouen, October 22 and 23, 1792: +"The more the zeal and patriotism of the cultivators is stimulated, +the more do they seem determined to avoid the market-places, which +are always in a State of absolute destitution." + +[33] Archives Nationales," F7, 3265. Letter of David, a cultivator, +October 20, 1792. - Letter of the Department Administrators, +October 13, 1792, etc. - Letter (printed) of the minister to the +convention, November 4. - Proclamation of the Provisional +Executive council, October 31, 1792. (The setier of grain of two +hundred and forty pounds is sold at 60 francs in the south, and at +half that sum in the north.) + +[34] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3255. Letters of Bonnemant, +September 11, 1792; of Laussel, September 22, 1792. + +[35] "Archives Nationales," H, 1453. Correspondence of M. de +Bercheny, July 28, October 24 and 26, 1790. - The same +disposition lasted. An insurrection occurred in Issoudun after the +three days of July, 1830, against the combined imposts. Seven or +eight thousand wine growers burnt the archives and tax-offices and +dragged an employee through the streets, shouting out at each +street-lamp, "Let him be hung!" The general sent to repress the +outbreak entered the town only through a capitulation; the moment he +reached the Hôtel-de-Ville a man of the Faubourg de Rome put his +pruning-book around his neck, exclaiming, "No more clerks where +there is nothing to do!" + +[36] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3203. Letter of the Directory of +Cher, April 9, 1790. - Ibid, F7, 3255. Letter of August 4, 1790. +Verdict of the présidial, November 4, 1790. - Letter of the +Municipality of Saint-Etienne, August 5, 1790. + +[37] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3248. Letter of M. Sénac de +Mejlhan, April 10, 1790. - Letter of the grands baillis, June 30, +1790. + +[38] Buchez and Roux, VI. 403. Report of Chabroud on the +insurrection at Lyons, July 9 and 10, 1790. - Duvergier, +"Collection des Décrets." Decrees of August 4 and 15, 1790. + +[39] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3255. Letter of the Minister, July +2, 1790, to the Directory of Rhône-et-Loire. "The King is informed +that, throughout your department, and especially in the districts of +Saint-Etienne and Montbrison, license is carried to the extreme; +that the judges dare not prosecute; that in many places the +municipal officers are at the head of the disturbances; and that, in +others, the National Guard do not obey requisitions." - Letter of +September 5, 1790. "In the bourg of Thisy, brigands have invaded +divers cotton-spinning establishments and partially destroyed them +and after having plundered them, they have sold the goods by public +auction." + +[40] Buchez and Roux, VI. 345. Report of M. Muguet, July 1, 1790. + +[41] Minutes of the meeting of the National Assembly. (Sitting of +October 24, 1789.) - Decree of September 27, 1789, applicable the +1st of October. There are other alleviations applicable on the 1st +of January, 1790. + +[42] Mercure de France, February 27, 1790. (Memorandum of the garde +des sceaux, January 16. - Observations of M. Necker on the report +made by the Financial committee, at the sitting of March 12, 1790. + +[43] "Archives Nationales," H, 1453. Correspondence of M. de +Bercheny, April 24, May 4 and 6, 1790: "It is much to be feared that +the tobacco-tax will share the fate of the salt-tax." + +[44] Mercure de France, July 31, 1790 (sitting of July 10.) M. +Lambert, Comptroller General of the Finances, informs the Assembly +of "the obstacles which continual outbreaks, brigandage, and the +maxims of anarchical freedom impose, from one end of France to the +other, on the collection of the taxes. On one side, the people are +led to believe that, if they stubbornly refuse a tax contrary to +their rights, it abolition will be secured. Elsewhere, smuggling is +openly carried on by force; the people favor it, while the National +Guards refuse to act against the nation. In other places hatred is +excited, and divisions between the troops and the overseers at the +toll-houses: the latter are massacred, the bureaus are pillaged, and +the prisons are forced open." - Memorandum from M. Necker to the +National Assembly, July 21, 1790. + +[45] Decrees of March 21 and 22, 1790, applicable April 21 +following. - Decrees of February 19 and March 2, 1791, applicable +May 1 following. + +[46] De Goncourt, "La Societé Française pendant la Révolution," 204. +- Maxime Du Camp, "Paris, sa vie et ses organes," VI. 11. + +[47] "Compte des Revenus et Dépenses au 1er Mai, 1789." - +Memorandum of M. Necker, July 21, 1790. - Memoranda presented by +M. de Montesquiou, September 9, 1791. - Comptes-rendus by the +minister, Clavières, October 5, 1792, February 1, 1792. - Report +of Cambon, February, 1793. + +[48] Boivin-Champeaux, 231. + +[49] Mercure de France, May 28, 1791. (Sitting of May 22.) - +Speech of M. d'Allarde: "Burgundy has paid nothing belonging to +1790." + +[50] Moniteur, sitting of June 1, 1790. Speech by M. Freteau. - +Mercure de France. November 26, 1791. Report by Lafont-Ladebat. + +[51] "Archives Nationales," H, 2453. correspondence of M. de +Bercheny, June 5, 1790, etc. - F7, 3226. Letters of Chenantin, +cultivator, November 7, 1792, also of the prosecuting attorney , +November 6. - F7, 3269. Minutes of the meeting of the +municipality of Clugnac, August 5th, 1792. - F7, 3202. Letter of +the Minister of Justice, Duport, January 3, 1792. "The utter +absence of public force in the district of Montargis renders every +operation of the Government and all execution of the laws +impossible. The arrears of taxes to be collected is here very +considerable, while all proceedings of constraint are dangerous and +impossible to execute, owing to the fears of the bailiffs, who dare +not perform their duties, and the violence of the tax-payers, on +whom there is no check." + +[52] Report of the Committee on Finances, by Ramel, 19th Floréal, +year II (The Constituent Assembly had fixed the real tax of a house +at one-sixth of its letting value.) + +[53] Mercure de France, December 12, 1789. - "Archives +Nationales," F7, 3268. Memorandum from the officers in command of +the detachment of the Paris National Guard stationed at Conflans- +Sainte-Honorine (April, 1790). Certificate of the Municipal +Officers of Poissy, March 31. + +[54] Mercure de France, March 12 and 26, 1791. - "Archives +Nationales," H, 1453. Letter of the police-lieutenant of Blois, +April 22, 1790. - Mercure de France, July 24, 1790. Two of the +murderers exclaimed to those who tried to save one of the keepers, +"Hanging is well done at Paris! Bah, you are aristocrats! We shall +be talked about in the gazettes of Paris." (Deposition of +witnesses.) - Decrees and proclamations regarding the protection +of the forests, November 3 and December 11, 1789. - Another in +October, 1790. - Another June 29, 1791. + +[55] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3219. Letter of the bailli de +Virieu, January 26, 1792. + +[56] Mercure de France, December 3, 1791. (Letter from Sarreluis, +November 15, 1791.) - "Archives Nationales," F7, 3223. Letter of +the Municipal Officers of Montargis. January 8, 1792. + +[57] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3268. Letter of the overseer of the +national domains at Rambouillet, October 31, 1792. - Report of +the minister Clavières, February 1. 1793. + +[58] Decrees of August 14, 1792, June 10, 1793. - " Archives +Nationales," Missions des Représentants, D, § 7. (Deliberation of +the district of Troyes, 2 Ventose, an. III.) - At Thunelières, +the drawing took place on the 10th Fructidor, year II, and was done +over again in behalf of a servant of Billy, an influential municipal +officer who "was the soul of his colleagues." - Ibid. Abstract of +operations in the district of Arcis-sur-Aube, 30 Pluviose, year III. +"Two-thirds of the communes hold this kind of property. Most of +them have voted on and effected the partition, or are actually +engaged on it. + +[59] Mercure de France, January 7, 1790. (Chateau of Auxon in +Haute-Saone.) - "Archives Nationales," F7, 3255. (Letter of the +minister to the Directory of Rhone-et-Loire, July 2, 1790.) - +Mercure de France, July 17, 1790. (Report of M. de Broglie, July +13, and decree of July 13-18.) - "Archives Nationales," H, 1453. +(Correspondence of M. de Bercheny, July 21, 1790.) + +[60] Mercure de France, March 19, 1790. Letter from Amien, February +28. (Mallet du Pan publishes in the Mercure only letters which are +signed and authentic.) + +[61] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105. (Correspondence of M. de +Thiard; letters of Chevalier de Bévy, December 26, 1789, and others +up to April 5, 1790.) - Moniteur, sitting of February 9, 1790. - +Mercure de France, February 6 and March 6, 1790 (list of chateaux). + +[62] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105. (correspondence of M. de +Thiard.) Letters of the Mayor of Nantes, February 16, !790, of the +Municipality of Redon, February 19, etc. + +[63] Mercure de France, February 6 and 27, 1790. (Speech of M. de +Foucault, sittings of February 2 and 5) - Moniteur (same dates). +(Report of Grégoire, February 9; speeches by MM. Sallé de Chaux and +de Noailles, February 9.) - Memorandum of the deputies of the town +of Tulle, drawn up by the Abbé Morellet (from the deliberations and +addresses of eighty-three boroughs and cities in the province). + +[64] In allusion to the feudal custom of paying seignorial dues on +the first of May around a maypole. See further on. [TR] + +[65] Criminal Courts without appeal.-[TR.) + +[66] Moniteur, sitting of March 4, 1790. - Duvergier, decrees of +March 6, 1790, and August 6-10 1790 + +[67] The address is dated February 11, 1793. This singularly comic +document would alone suffice to make the history of the Revolution +perfectly comprehensible. + +[68] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3203. (Letters of the royal +commissioner, April 30 and May 9, 1790.) - Letter of the Duc de +Maillé, May 6. - Report from the administrators of the +department, November 12, 1790. - Moniteur VI. 515. + +[69] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3225. Letter of the Directory from +Ille-et-Vilaine, January 30, 1791, and letter from Dinan, January 29 +- Mercure de France, April 2 and 16, 1791. Letters from Rennes, +March 20th; from Redon, March 12. + +[70] So expressed in the minutes of the meeting. + +[71] Moniteur, sitting of December 15, 1790. (Address of the +department of Lot, December 7.) - Sitting of December 20 (Speech +by M. de Foucault.) - Mercure de France, December 18, 1790. +(Letter from Belves, in Perigord, December 7.) - Ibid., January +22, 29, 1791. (Letter from M. de Clarac, January 18.) + +[72] December 17, 1790. + +[73] January 7, 1791. + +[74] Revolutionary archives of the department of Creuse, by Duval. +(Letter of the administrators of the department, March 31, 1791.) - +" Archives Nationales," F7, 3209. (Deliberation of the Directory of +the Department, May 12, 1791 - Minutes of the meeting of the +municipality of La Souterraine, August 23, 1791.) + +[75] "Archives Nationales", F7, 3269. - Order of the directory of +the district of Ribérac, August 5, 1791, and requisitions of the +prosecuting attorney of the department, August 24, and September 11. +- Letter of the king's commissioner, August 22. + +[76] A sort of export duty.-[TR.] + +[77] "Archives Nationales," P7, 3204. - Letter, from the +Directory of the Department, June 2, 1791; September 8 and 22. - +Letter from the Minister of Justice, May 15, 1791. - Letter from +M. de Lentilhac, September 2. - Letter from M. Melon-Padon, Royal +Commissioner, September. - Mercure de France, May 14, 1791. +(Letter of an eye-witness, M.de Loyac, April 25, 1791.) + +[78] "Archives Nationales," F7. 3204. Letters from M. de Saint- +Victour, September 25, October 2 and 10, 1791. - Letter from the +steward of his estate, September 18. + + + + +CHAPTER III. Development of the ruling Passion. + +I. Attitude of the nobles. Their moderate resistance. + +IF popular passion ended in murder it was not because resistance was +great or violent. On the contrary, never did an aristocracy undergo +dispossession with so much patience, or employ less force in the +defense of its prerogatives, or even of its property. To speak with +exactness, the class in question receives blows without returning +them, and when it does take up arms, it is always with the bourgeois +and the National Guard, at the request of the magistrates, in +conformity with the law, and for the protection of persons and +property. The nobles try to avoid being either killed or robbed, +nothing more: for nearly three years they raise no political banner. +In the towns where they exert the most influence and which are +denounced as rebellious, for ex-ample in Mende and Arles, their +opposition is limited to the suppression of riots, the restraining +of the common people, and ensuring respect for the law, It is not +the new order of things against which they conspire, but against +brutal disorder. - At Mende," says the municipal body,[1] "we had +the honor of being the first to furnish the contributions of 1790. +We supplied the place of our bishop and installed his successor +without disturbance, and without the assistance of any foreign force +. . . . We dispersed the members of a cathedral body to which we +were attached by the ties of blood and friendship; we dismissed all, +from the bishop down to the children of the choir. We had but three +communities of mendicant monks, and all three have been suppressed. +We have sold all national possessions without exception." - The +commander of their gendarmerie is, in fact, an old member of the +body-guard, while the superior officers of the National Guard are +gentlemen, or belong to the order of Saint-Louis. It is very +evident that, if they defend themselves against Jacobins, they are +not insurgent against the National Assembly. - In Arles,[2] which +has put down its populace, which has armed itself, which has shut +its gates, and which passes for a focus of royalist conspiracy, the +commissioners sent by the King and by the National Assembly, men of +discretion and of consideration, find nothing, after a month's +investigation, but submission to the decrees and zeal for the public +welfare. + + "Such," they say, "are the men who have been calumniated because, +cherishing the Constitution, they hold fanaticism, demagogues and +anarchy, in horror. If the citizens had not roused themselves when +the moment of danger arrived, they would have been slaughtered like +their neighbors (of Avignon). It is this insurrection against crime +which the brigands have slandered." If their gates were shut it was +because "the National Guard of Marseilles, the same which behaved so +badly in the Comtat, flocked there under the pretext of maintaining +liberty and of forestalling the counter-revolution, but, in reality, +to village the town." + + Vive la Nation! Vive la Loi! Vive le Roi were the only cries heard +at the very quiet and orderly elections that had just taken place. + + "The attachment of the citizens to the Constitution has been spoken +of. . . . Obedience to the laws, the readiest disposition to +discharge public contributions, were remarked by us among these +pretended counter-revolutionaries. Those who are subject to the +license-tax came in crowds to the Hôtel-de-Ville." Scarcely "was the +bureau of receipts opened when it was filled with respectable +people; those on the contrary who style themselves good patriots, +republicans or anarchists, were not conspicuous on this occasion; +but a very small number among them have made their submission. The +rest are surprised at being called upon for money; they had been +given a quite different hope." + +In short, during more than thirty months, and under a steady fire of +threats, outrages, and plunder, the nobles who remain in France +neither commit nor undertake any hostile act against the Government +that persecutes them. None of them, not even M. de Bouillé, attempts +to carry out any real plan of civil war; I find but one resolute man +in their ranks at this date, ready for action, and who labors to +form one militant party against another militant party: he is really +a politician and conspirator; he has an understanding with the Comte +d'Artois; he gets petitions signed for the freedom of the King and +of the Church; he organizes armed companies; he recruits the +peasants; he prepares a Vendée for Languedoc and Provence; and this +person is a bourgeois, Froment of Nîmes.[3] But, at the moment of +action, he finds only three out of eighteen companies, supposed by +him to be enlisted in his cause, that are willing to march with him. +Others remain in their quarters until, Froment being overcome, they +are found there and slaughtered; the survivors, who escape to Jalès, +find, not a stronghold, but a temporary asylum, where they never +succeed in transforming their inclinations into determinations.[4] +- The nobles too, like other Frenchmen, have been subject to the +lasting pressure of monarchical centralization. They no longer form +one body.; they have lost the instinct of association. They no +longer know how to act for themselves; they are the puppets of +administration awaiting an impulse from the center, while at the +center the King, their hereditary general, a captive in the hands of +the people, commands them to be resigned and to do nothing.[5] +Moreover, like other Frenchmen, they have been brought up in the +philosophy of the eighteenth century. "Liberty is so precious," +wrote the Duc de Brissac,[6] "that it may well be purchased with +some suffering; a destroyed feudalism will not prevent the good and +the true from being respected and loved." - They persist in this +illusion for a long time and remain optimists. As they feel kindly +towards the people, they cannot comprehend that the people should +entertain other sentiments toward them; they firmly believe that the +troubles are transient. Immediately on the proclamation of the +Constitution they return in crowds from Spain, Belgium, and Germany; +at Troyes there are not enough post-horses for many days to supply +the emigrants who are coming back.[7] Thus they accept not only the +abolition of feudalism with civil equality, but also political +equality and numerical sovereignty. + +Some consideration for them, some outward signs of respect, a few +bows, would, in all probability, have rallied them sincerely to +democratic institutions. They would soon consent to be confounded +with the crowd, to submit to the common level, and to live as +private individuals. Had they been treated like the bourgeois or +the peasant, their neighbors, had their property and persons been +respected, they might have accepted the new régime without any +bitterness of feeling. That the leading emigrant nobles and those +forming a part of the old court carry on intrigues at Coblentz or at +Turin is natural, since they have lost everything: authority, +places, pensions, sinecures, pleasures, and the rest. But, to the +gentry and inferior nobles of the provinces, chevaliers of Saint- +Louis, subaltern officers and resident proprietors, the loss is +insignificant. The law has suppressed one-half of their seignorial +dues; but by virtue of the same law their lands are no longer +burdened with tithes. Popular elections will not provide them with +places, but they did not enjoy them under the arbitrary ministerial +rule. Little does it matter to them that power, whether ministerial +or popular, has changed hands: they are not accustomed to its +favors, and will pursue their ordinary avocations - the chase, +promenading, reading, visiting, and conversing - provided they, +like the first-comer, the grocer at the corner, or their farm- +servant, find protection, safety, and security on the public road +and in their dwellings.[8] + +II. + +Workings of the popular imagination with respect to them. - The +monomania of suspicion. - The nobles distrusted and treated as +enemies. - Situation of a gentleman on his domain. - M. de. +Bussy + +Popular passion, unfortunately, is a blind power, and, for lack of +enlightenment, suffers itself to be guided by spectral illusions. +Imaginary conceptions work, and work in conformity with the +structure of the excited brain which has given birth to them: + +What if the Ancient Regime should return! + +What if we were obliged to restore the property of the clergy! + +What if we should be again forced to pay the salt tax, the excise, +the taille, and other dues which, thanks to the law, we no longer +pay, besides other taxes and dues that we do not pay in spite of the +law! + +What if all the nobles whose chateaux are burnt, and who have given +rent acquittances at the point of the sword, should find some way to +avenge themselves and recover their former privileges! + +Undoubtedly they brood over these things, make agreements amongst +each other, and plot with the strangers; at the first opportunity +they will fall upon us: we must watch them, repress them, and, if +needs be, destroy them. - This instinctive process of reasoning +prevailed from the outset, and, in proportion as excesses increase, +prevails to a much greater extent. The noble is ever the past, +present, and future creditor, or, at the very least, a possible one, +which means that he is the worst and most odious of enemies. All +his ways are suspicious, even when he is doing nothing; whatever he +may do it is with a view of arming himself. + +M. de Gilliers, who lives with his wife and sister one league out of +Romans in Dauphiny,[9] amuses himself by planting trees and flowers; +a few steps from his house, on another domain, M. de Montchorel, an +old soldier, and M. Osmond, an old lawyer from Paris, with their +wives and children, occupy their leisure hours in somewhat the same +manner. M. de Gilliers having ordered and received wooden water- +pipes, the report spreads that they are cannon. His guest, M. +Servan, receives an English traveling-trunk, which is said to be +full of pistols. When M. Osmond and M. Servan stroll about the +country with pencils and drawing-paper, it is averred that they are +preparing topographical plans for the Spaniards and Savoyards. The +four carriages belonging to the two families go to Romans to fetch +some guests: instead of four there are nineteen, and they are sent +for aristocrats who are coming to hide away in underground passages. +M. de Senneville, decorated with a cordon rouge (red ribbon), pays a +visit on his return from Algiers: the decoration becomes a blue one, +and the wearer is the Comte d'Artois[10] in person. There is +certainly a plot brewing, and at five o'clock in the morning +eighteen communes (two thousand armed men) arrive before the doors +of the two houses; shouts and threats of death last for eight hours; +a gun fired a few paces off at the suspects misfires; a peasant who +is aiming at them says to his neighbor, "Give me a decent gun and I +will plant both my balls in their bodies!" Finally, M. de Gilliers, +who was absent, attending a baptism, returns with the Royal +Chasseurs of Dauphiny and the National Guard of Romans, and with +their assistance delivers his family. - It is only in the towns, +that is, in a few towns, and for a very short time, that an +inoffensive noble who is attacked obtains any aid; the phantoms +which people create for themselves there are less gross; a certain +degree of enlightenment, and a remnant of common sense, prevent the +hatching of too absurd stories. - But in the dark recesses of +rustic brains nothing can arrest the monomania of suspicion. +Fancies multiply there like weeds in a dark hole: they take root and +vegetate until they become belief, conviction, and certainty; they +produce the fruit of hostility and hatred, homicidal and incendiary +ideas. With eyes constantly fixed on the chateau, the village +regards it as a Bastille which must be captured, and, instead of +saluting the lord of the manor, it thinks only of firing at him. + +Let us take up one of these local histories in detail.[11] In the +month of July, 1789, during the jacquerie in Mâçonnais, the parish +of Villiers appealed for assistance to its lord, M. de Bussy, a +former colonel of dragoons. He had returned home, treated the +people of his village to a dinner, and attempted to form them into a +body of guards to protect themselves against incendiaries and +brigands; along with the well-disposed men of the place "he +patrolled every evening to restore tranquillity to the parish." On a +rumor spreading that "the wells were poisoned," he placed sentinels +alongside of all the wells except his own, "to prove that he was +acting for the parish and not for himself." In short, he did all he +could to conciliate the villagers, and to interest them in the +common safety. - But, by virtue of being a noble and an officer he +is distrusted, and it is Perron, the syndic of the commune, to whom +the commune now listens. Perron announces that the King "having +abjured his sworn word," no more confidence is to be placed in him, +and, consequently, neither in his officers nor in the gentry. On M. +de Bussy proposing to the National Guards that they should go to the +assistance of the chateau of Thil, which is in flames, Perron +prevents them, declaring that "these fires are kindled by the nobles +and the clergy." M. de Bussy insists, and entreats them to go, +offering to abandon "his terrier," that is to say all his seignorial +dues, if they will only accompany him and arrest this destruction. +They refuse to do so. He perseveres, and, on being informed that +the chateau of Juillenas is in peril, he collects, after great +efforts, a body of one hundred and fifty men of his parish, and, +marching with them, arrives in time to save the chateau, which a mob +was about to set on fire. But the popular excitement, which he had +just succeeded in calming at Juillenas, has gained the upper hand +amongst his own troop: the brigands have seduced his men, "which +obliges him to lead them back, while, along the road, they seem +inclined to fire at him." - Having returned, he is followed with +threats even to his own house: a band comes to attack his chateau; +finding it on the defensive, they insist on being led to that of +Courcelles. - ?In the midst of all this violence M. de Bussy, with +about fifteen friends and tenants, succeeds in protecting himself +and, by dint of patience, energy, and cool blood, without killing or +wounding a single man, ends in bringing back security throughout the +whole canton. The jacquerie subsides, and it seems as if the newly +restored order would be maintained. He sends for Madame de Bussy to +return, and some months pass away. - The popular imagination, +however, is poisoned, and whatever a gentleman may do, he is no +longer tolerated on his estate. A few leagues from there, on April +29, 1790, M. de Bois-d'Aisy, deputy to the National Assembly, had +returned to his parish to vote at the new elections.[12] "Scarcely +has he arrived," when the commune of Bois-d'Aisy gives him notice +through its mayor "that it will not regard him as eligible." He +attends the electoral meeting which is held in the church there, a +municipal officer in the pulpit inveighs against nobles and priests, +and declares that they must not take part in the elections. All +eyes turn upon M. de Boisd'Aisy, who is the only noble present. +Nevertheless, he takes the civic oath, which nearly costs him dear, +for murmurs arise around him, and the peasants say that he ought to +have been hanged like the lord of Sainte-Colombe, to prevent his +taking the oath. In fact, the evening before, the latter, M. de +Vitteaux, an old man of seventy-four years of age, was expelled from +the primary assembly, then torn out of the house in which he had +sought refuge, half killed with blows, and dragged through the +streets to the open square; his mouth was stuffed with manure, a +stick was thrust into his ears, and "he expired after a martyrdom of +three hours." The same day, in the church of the Capuchins, at +Sémur, the rural parishes which met together excluded their priests +and gentry in the same fashion. M. de Damas and M. de Sainte-Maure +were beaten with clubs and stones; the curé of Massigny died after +six stabs with a knife, and M. de Virieu saved himself as he best +could. - With such examples before them it is probable that many +of the nobles will no longer exercise their right of suffrage. M. +de Bussy does not pretend to do it. He merely tries to prove that +he is loyal to the nation, and that he meditates no wrong to the +National Guard or to the people. He proposed, at the out-set, to +the volunteers of Mâçon to join them, along with his little troop; +they refused to have him and thus the fault is not on his side. On +the 14th of July, 1790, the day of the Federation on his domain, he +sends all his people off to Villiers, furnished with the tricolour +cockade. He himself, with three of his friends, attends the +ceremony to take the oath, all four in uniform, with the cockade on +their hats, without any weapons but their swords and a light cane in +their hands. They salute the assembled National Guards of the three +neighboring parishes, and keep outside the enclosure so as not to +give offense. But they have not taken into account the prejudices +and animosities of the new municipal bodies. Perron, the former +syndic, is now mayor. A man named Bailly, who is the village +shoemaker, is another of the municipal officers; their councilor is +an old dragoon, one of those soldiers probably who have deserted or +been discharged, and who are the firebrands of almost every riot +that takes place. A squad of a dozen or fifteen men leave the ranks +and march up to the four gentlemen, who advance, hat in hand, to +meet them. Suddenly the men aim at them, and Bailly, with a furious +air, demands: "What the devil do you come here for?" M. de Bussy +replies that, having been informed of the Federation, he had come to +take the oath like the rest of the people. Bailly asks why he had +come armed. M. de Bussy remarks that "having been in the service, +the sword was inseparable from the uniform," and had they come there +without that badge they would have been at fault; besides, they must +have observed that they had no other arms. Bailly, still in a rage, +and, moreover, exasperated by such good reasons, turns round with +his gun in his hand towards the leader of the squad and asks him +three times in succession, "Commander, must I fire?" The commander +not daring to take the responsibility of so gratuitous a murder, +remains silent, and finally orders M. de Bussy to "clear out;" +"which I did," says M. de Bussy. - Nevertheless, on reaching home, +he writes to the municipal authorities clearly setting forth the +motive of his coming, and demands an explanation of the treatment he +had received. Mayor Perron throws aside his letter without reading +it, and, on the following day, on leaving the mass, the National +Guards come, by way of menace, to load their guns in sight of M. de +Bussy, round his garden. - A few days after this, at the instigation +of Bailly, two other proprietors in the neighborhood are +assassinated in their houses. Finally, on a journey to Lyons, M. de +Bussy learns "that the chateaux in Poitou are again in flames, and +that the work is to begin again everywhere." - Alarmed at all +these indications, "he resolves to form a company of volunteers, +which, taking up their quarters in his chateau, can serve the whole +canton on a legal requisition." He thinks that about fifteen brave +men will be sufficient. He has already six men with him in the +month of October, 1790; green coats are ordered for them, and +buttons are bought for the uniform. Seven or eight domestics may be +added to the number. In the way of arms and munitions the chateau +contains two kegs of gunpowder which were on hand before 1789, seven +blunderbusses, and five cavalry sabers, left there in passing by M. +de Bussy's old dragoons: to these must be added two double-barreled +fowling-pieces, three soldiers' muskets, five brace of pistols, two +poor common guns, two old swords, and a hunting-knife. Such is the +garrison, such the arsenal, and these are the preparations, so well +justified and so slight, which prejudice conjointly with gossip is +about to transform into a great conspiracy. + +The chateau, in effect, was an object of suspicion in the village +from the very first day. All its visitors, whenever they went out +or came in, with all the details of their actions, were watched, +denounced, exaggerated, and misinterpreted. If through the +awkwardness or carelessness of so many inexperienced National +Guards, a stray ball reaches a farm-house one day in broad daylight, +it comes from the chateau; it is the aristocrats who have fired upon +the peasants. - There is the same state of suspicion in the +neighboring towns. The municipal body of Valence, hearing that two +youths had ordered coats made "of a color which seemed suspicious," +send for the tailor; he confesses the fact, and adds that "they +intended to put the buttons on themselves." Such a detail is +alarming. An inquiry is set on foot and the alarm increases; people +in a strange uniform have been seen passing on their way to the +chateau of Villiers; from thence, on reaching the number of two +hundred, they will go and join the garrison of Besançon; they will +travel four at a time in order to avoid detection. At Besançon they +are to meet a corps of forty thousand men, commanded by M. +Autichamp, which corps is to march on to Paris to carry off the +King, and break up the National Assembly. The National Guards along +the whole route are to be forced into the lines. At a certain +distance each man is to receive 1,200 francs, and, at the end of the +expedition, is to be enrolled in the Artois Guard, or sent home with +a recompense of 12,000 francs. - ?Meanwhile, the Prince de Condé; +with forty thousand men, will come by the way of Pont Saint-Esprit +in Languedoc, rally the disaffected of Carpentras and of the Jalès +camp to his standard, and occupy Cette and the other seaports; and +finally, the Comte d'Artois, on his side, will enter by Pont- +Beauvoisin with thirty thousand men. - A horrible discovery! The +municipal authorities of Valence immediately inform those of Lyons, +Besançon, Châlons, Maçon, and others beside. On the strength of +this the municipal body of Maçon, "considering that the enemies of +the Revolution are ever making the most strenuous efforts to +annihilate the Constitution which secures the happiness of this +empire," and "that it is highly important to frustrate their +designs," sends two hundred men of its National Guard to the chateau +of Villiers," empowered to employ armed force in case of +resistance." For greater security, this troop is joined by the +National Guards of the three neighboring parishes. M. de Bussy, on +being told that they were climbing over the wall into his garden, +seizes a gun and takes aim, but does not fire, and then, the +requisition being legal, throws all open to them. There are found in +the house six green coats, seven dozens of large buttons, and +fifteen dozens of small ones. The proof is manifest. He explains +what his project was and states his motive - it is a mere pretext. +He makes a sign, as an order, to his valet - there is a positive +complicity. M. de Bussy, his six guests, and the valet, are +arrested and transported to Maçon. A trial takes place, with +depositions and interrogatories, in which the truth is elicited in +spite of the most adverse testimony; it is clear that M. de Bussy +never intended to do more than defend himself. - But prejudice is +a blindfold to hostile eyes. It cannot be admitted that, under a +constitution which is perfect, an innocent man could incur danger; +the objection is made to him that "it is not natural for an armed +company to be formed to resist a massacre by which it is not menaced +;" they are convinced beforehand that he is guilty. On a decree of +the National Assembly the minister had ordered all accused persons +to be brought to Paris by the constabulary and hussars; the National +Guard of Maçon, "in the greatest state of agitation," declares that, +"as it had arrested M. de Bussy, it would not consent to his +transport by any other body. . . Undoubtedly, the object is to +allow him to escape on the way," but it will know how to keep its +captive secure. The guard, in fine, of its own authority, escorts +M. de Bussy to Paris, into the Abbaye prison, where he is kept +confined for several months - so long, indeed, that, after a new +trial and investigation, the absurdity of the accusation being too +palpable, they are obliged to set him at liberty. - Such is the +situation of most of the gentry on their own estates, and M. de +Bussy, even acquitted and vindicated, will act wisely in not +returning home. + +III. + +Domiciliary visits. - The fifth jacquerie. - Burgundy and +Lyonnais in 1791. - M. de Chaponay and M. Guillin-Dumoutet + +He would be nothing but a hostage there. Alone against thousands, +sole survivor and representative of an abolished régime which all +detest, it is the noble against whom everybody turns whenever a +political shock seems to shake the new régime. He is at least +disarmed, as he might be dangerous, and, in these popular +executions, brutal instincts and appetites break loose like a bull +that dashes through a door and rages through a dwelling-house. In +the same department, some months later, on the news arriving of the +arrest of the King at Varennes, "all nonjuring[13] priests and ci- +devant nobles are exposed to the horrors of persecution." Bands +forcibly enter houses to seize arms: Commarin, Grosbois, Montculot, +Chaudenay, Créancé, Toisy, Chatellenot, and other houses are thus +visited, and several are sacked. During the night of June 26-27, +1791, at the chateau of Créancé "there is pillaging throughout; the +mirrors are broken, the pictures are torn up, and the doors are +broken down." The master of the house, "M. de Comeau-Créncé, Knight +of St. Louis, horribly maltreated, is dragged to the foot of the +stairs, where he lies as if dead:" previous to this, "he was forced +to give a considerable contribution, and to refund all penalties +collected by him before the Revolution as the local lord of the +manor. " - Two other proprietors in the neighborhood, both +Knights of St. Louis, are treated in the same way. "That is the +way in which three old and brave soldiers are rewarded for their +services!" A fourth, a peaceable man, escapes beforehand, leaving +his keys in the locks and his gardener in the house. +Notwithstanding this, the doors and the clothes-presses were broken +open, the pillaging lasting five hours and a half; with threats of +setting the house on fire if the seigneur did not make his +appearance. Questions were asked "as to whether he attended the +mass of the new curé whether he had formerly exacted fines, and +finally, whether any of the inhabitants had any complaint to make +against him." No complaint is made; on the contrary, he is rather +beloved. - But, in tumults of this sort, a hundred madmen and +fifty rogues prescribe the law to the timid and the indifferent. +These outlaws declared that "they were acting under orders; they +compelled the mayor and prosecuting attorney to take part in their +robberies; they likewise took the precaution to force a few honest +citizens, by using the severest threats, to march along with them." +These people come the next day to apologize to the pillaged +proprietor, while the municipal officers draw up a statement of the +violence practiced against them. The violence nevertheless, is +accomplished, and, as it will go unpunished, it is soon to be +repeated. + +A beginning and an end are already made in the two neighboring +departments. There, especially in the south, nothing is more +instructive than to see how an outbreak stimulated by enthusiasm for +the public good immediately degenerates under the impulse of private +interest, and ends in crime. - Around Lyons,[14] under the same +pretext and at the same date, similar mobs perform similar +visitations, and, on all these occasions, "the rent-rolls are burnt, +and houses are pillaged and set on fire. Municipal authority, +organized for the security of property, is in many hands but one +facility more for its violation. The National Guard seems to be +armed merely for the protection of robbery and disorder." - For +more than thirty years, M. de Chaponay, the father of six children +of whom three are in the service, expended his vast income on his +estate of Beaulieu, giving occupation to a number of persons, men, +women, and children. After the hailstorm of 1761, which nearly +destroyed the village of Moranée, he rebuilt thirty-three houses, +furnished others with timber for the framework, supplied the +commune with wheat, and, for several years, obtained for the +inhabitants a diminution of their taxation. In 1790, he celebrated +the Federation Festival on a magnificent scale, giving two banquets, +one of a hundred and thirty seats, for the municipal bodies and +officers of the National Guards in the vicinity, and the other of a +thousand seats for the privates. If any of the gentry had reason to +believe himself popular and safe it was certainly this man. - On +the 24th of June, 1791, the municipal authorities of Moranée, +Lucenay, and Chazelai, with their mayors and National Guards, in all +nearly two thousand men, arrive at the chateau with drums beating +and flags flying. M. de Chaponay goes out to meet them, and begs to +know to what he owes "the pleasure" of their visit. They reply that +they do not come to offend him, but to carry out the orders of the +district, which oblige them to take possession of the chateau and to +place in it a guard of sixty men: on the following day the +"district" and the National Guard of Villefranche are to come and +inspect it. - Be it noted that these orders are imaginary, for M. +de Chaponay asks in vain to see them; they cannot be produced. The +cause of their setting out, probably, is the false rumor that the +National Guard of Villefranche is coming to deprive them of a booty +on which they had calculated. - Nevertheless M. de Chaponay +submits; he merely requests the municipal officers to make the +search themselves and in an orderly manner. Upon this the +commandant of the National Guard of Lucenay exclaims, with some +irritation, that "all are equal and all must go in," and at the same +moment all rush forward. "M. de Chaponay orders the apartments to +be opened; they immediately shut them up, purposely to let the +sappers break through the doors with their axes." - Everything is +pillaged, "plate, assignats, stocks of linen, laces and other +articles; the trees of the avenues are hacked and mutilated; the +cellars are emptied, the casks are rolled out on the terrace, the +wine is suffered to run out, and the chateau keep is demolished. . +. . The officers urge on those that are laggard." Towards nine +o'clock in the evening M. de Chaponay is informed by his servants +that the municipal authorities have determined upon forcing him to +sign an abandonment of his feudal dues and afterwards beheading him. +He escapes with his wife through the only door which is left +unguarded, wanders about all night, exposed to the gun-shots of the +squads which are on his track, and reaches Lyons only on the +following day. - ?Meanwhile the pillagers send him notice that if +he does not abandon his rentals, they will cut down his forests and +burn up everything on his estate. The chateau, indeed, is fired +three distinct times, while, in the interval, the band sack another +chateau at Bayère, and, on again passing by that of M. de Chaponay, +demolish a dam which had cost 10,000 livres. - The public +prosecutor, for his part, remains quiet, notwithstanding the appeals +to him: he doubtless says to himself that a gentleman whose house +has been searched is lucky to have saved his life, and that others, +like M. Guillin-Dumoutet, for example, have not been as fortunate. + +The latter gentleman, formerly captain of a vessel belonging to the +India Company, afterwards Commandant at Senegal, now retired from +active life, occupied his chateau of Poleymieux with his young wife +and two infant children, his sisters, nieces, and sister-in-law - +in all, ten women belonging to his family and domestic service - +one Negro servant and himself; an old man of sixty years of age; +here is a haunt of militant conspirators which must be disarmed as +soon as possible.[15] Unfortunately, a brother of M. Guillin, +accused of treason to the nation, had been arrested ten months +previously, which was quite sufficient for the clubs in the +neighborhood. In the month of December, 1790, the chateau had +already been ransacked by the people of the parishes in the +vicinity: nothing was found, and the Department first censured and +afterwards interdicted these arbitrary searches. On this occasion +they will manage things better. - On the 26th of June, 1791, at +ten o'clock in the morning, the municipal body of Poleymicux, along +with two other bodies in their scarves, and three hundred National +Guards, are seen approaching, under the usual pretext of searching +for arms. Madame Guillin presents herself; reminds them of the +interdict of the Department, and demands the legal order under which +they act. They refuse to give it. M. Guillin descends in his turn +and offers to open his doors to them if they will produce the order. +They have no order to show him. During the colloquy a certain man +named Rosier, a former soldier who had deserted twice, and who is +now in command of the National Guard, seizes M. Guillin by the +throat; the old captain defends himself; presents a pistol at the +man, which misses fire, and then, throwing the fellow off, withdraws +into the house, closing the door behind him. - Soon after this, the +tocsin sounds in the neighborhood, thirty parishes start up, and two +thousand men arrive. Madame Guillin, by entreaties, succeeds in +having delegates appointed, chosen by the crowd, to inspect the +chateau. These delegates examine the apartments, and declare that +they can find nothing but the arms ordinarily kept on hand. This +declaration is of no effect: the multitude, whose excitement is +increased by waiting, feel their strength, and have no idea of +returning empty-handed. A volley is fired, and the chateau windows +are riddled with balls. As a last effort Madame Guillin, with her +two children in her arms, comes out, and going to the municipal +officers, calls upon them to do their duty. Far from doing this +they retain her as a hostage, and place her in such a position that, +if there is firing from the chateau, she may receive the bullets. +Meanwhile, the doors are forced, the house is pillaged from top to +bottom, and then set on fire; M. Guillin, who seeks refuge in the +keep, is almost reached by the flames. At this moment, some of the +assailants, less ferocious than the rest, prevail upon him to +descend, and they answer for his life. Scarcely has he shown +himself when others fall on him; they cry that he must be killed, +that he has a life-rent of 36,000 francs from the State, and "this +will be so much saved for the nation." "He is hacked to pieces +alive;" his head is cut off and borne upon a pike; his body is cut +up, and sent piece by piece to each parish; several wash their hands +in his blood, and besmear their faces with it. It seems as if +tumult, clamor, incendiarism, robbery, and murder had aroused in +them not only the cruel instincts of the savage, but the carnivorous +appetites of the brute; some of them, seized by the gendarmerie at +Chasselay, had roasted the dead man's arm and dined upon it.[16] - +Madame Guillin, who is saved through the compassion of two of the +inhabitants of the place, succeeds, after encountering many dangers, +in reaching Lyons; she and her children lost everything, "the +chateau, its dependencies, the crop of the preceding year, wine, +grain, furniture, plate, ready money, assignats, notes, and +contracts." Ten days later, the department gives notice to the +National Assembly that "similar projects are still being plotted and +arranged, and that there are (always) threats of burning chateaux +and rent-rolls;" that no doubt of this can possibly exist: "the +inhabitants of the country only await the opportunity, to renew +these scenes of horror."[17] + +IV. + +The nobles obliged to leave the rural districts. - They take +refuge in towns. - The dangers they incur. - The eighty-two +gentlemen of Caen + +Amidst these multiplied and reviving Jacqueries there is nothing +left but flight, and the nobles, driven out of the rural districts, +seek refuge in the towns. But here also a jacquerie awaits them. As +the effects of the Constitution are developed, successive +administrations become feebler and more partial; the unbridled +populace has become more excitable and more violent; the enthroned +club has become more suspicious and more despotic. Henceforth the +club, through or in opposition to the administrative bodies, leads +the populace, and the nobles will find it as hostile as the +peasants. All their reunions, even when liberal, are closed like +that in Paris, through the illegal interference of mobs, or through +the iniquitous action of the popular magistrates. All their +associations, even when legal and salutary, are broken up by brute +force or by municipal intolerance, They are punished for having +thought of defending themselves, and slaughtered because they try to +avoid assassination. - Three or four hundred gentlemen, who were +threatened on their estates, sought refuge with their families in +Caen;[18] and they trusted to find one there, for, by three +different resolutions, the municipal body promised them aid and +protection. Unfortunately, the club thinks otherwise, and, on +August 23, 1791, prints and posts up a list of their names and +residences, declaring that since "their suspected opinions have +compelled them to abandon the rural districts," they are emigrants +in the interior;" from which it follows that "their conduct must be +scrupulously watched," because "it may be the effect of some +dangerous plot against the country." Fifteen are especially +designated; among others "the former curé of Saint-Loup, the great +bloodhound of the aristocrats, and all of them very suspicious +persons, harboring the worst intentions." - Thus denounced and +singled out, it is evident that they can no longer sleep peacefully: +moreover, now that their addresses are published, they are openly +threatened with domiciliary visits and violence. As to the +administrative authorities, their intervention cannot be expected +on; the department itself gives notice to the minister that, as the +law stands, it cannot put the chateau in the hands of the +regulars,[19] as this would, it is said, excite the National Guard. +Besides, how without an army is this post to be wrested from the +hands which hold it? It is impossible with only the resources which +the Constitution affords us." Thus, in the defense of the oppressed, +the Constitution is a dead letter. - Hence it is that the +refugees, finding protection only in themselves, undertake to help +each other. No association can be more justifiable, more pacific, +more innocent. Its object is "to demand the execution of the laws +constantly violated, and to protect persons and property." In each +quarter they will try to bring together "all good citizens;" they +will form a committee of eight members, and, in each committee, +there will always be "an officer of justice or a member of the +administrative body with an officer or subaltern of the National +Guard." Should any citizen be attacked in person or property the +association will draw up a petition in his favor. Should any +particular act of violence require the employment of public force, +the members of the district will assemble under the orders of the +officer of justice and of the National Guard to enforce obedience. +"In all possible cases" they "will avoid with the greatest care any +insult of individuals; they will consider that the object of the +meeting is solely to ensure public peace, and that protection from +the law to which every citizen is entitled." - In short, they are +volunteer constables. Turn the inquiry which way they will, a +hostile municipality and a prejudiced tribunal can put no other +construction upon it; they find nothing else. The only evidence +against one of the leaders is a letter in which he tries to prevent +a gentleman from going to Coblentz, striving to prove to him that he +will be more useful at Caen. The principal evidence against the +association is that of a townsman whom they wished to enroll, and of +whom they demanded his opinions. He had stated that he was in favor +of the execution of the laws; upon which they told him: "In this +case you belong to us, and are more of an aristocrat than you think +you are. Their aristocracy, in effect, consists wholly in the +suppression of brigandage. No claim is more unpalatable, because it +interposes an obstacle to the arbitrary acts of a party which thinks +it has a right to do as it pleases. On the 4th of October the +regiment of Aunis left the town, and all good citizens were handed +over to the militia, "in uniform or not," they alone being armed. +That day, for the first time in a long period, M. Bunel, the former +curé of Saint-Jean, with the consent and assistance of his sworn +successor, officiates at the mass. There is a large gathering of +the orthodox, which causes uneasiness among the patriots. The +following day M. Bunel is to say mass again; whereupon, through the +municipal authorities, the patriots forbid him to officiate, to +which he submits. Nevertheless, for lack of due notice, a crowd of +the faithful have arrived and the church is filled. A dangerous +mob! The patriots and National Guards arrive "to preserve order," +which has not been disturbed, and which they alone disturb. +Threatening words are exchanged between the servants of the nobles +and the National Guard. The latter draw their swords, and a young +man is hewn down and trampled on; M. de Saffrey, who comes to his +assistance unarmed, is himself cut down and pierced with bayonets, +and two others are wounded. - Meanwhile, in a neighboring street, +M. Achard de Vagogne, seeing a man maltreated by armed men, +approaches, in order to make peace. The man is shot down and M. +Achard is covered with saber and bayonet gashes: "there is not a +thread on him which is not dyed with the blood that ran down even +into his shoes." In this condition he is led to the chateau along +with M. de Saifrey. Others break down the door of the house of M. +du Rosel, an old officer of seventy-five years, of which fifty-nine +have been passed in the service, and pursue him even over the wall +of his garden. A fourth squad seizes M. d'Héricy, another venerable +officer, who, like M. du Rosel, was ignorant of all that was going +on, and was quietly leaving for his country seat. - The town is +full of tumult, and, through the orders of the municipal +authorities, the general alarm is sounded. + +The time for the special constables to act has come; about sixty +gentlemen, with a number of merchants and artisans, set out. +According to the rules of their association, and with significant +scruple, they beg an Officer of the National Guard, who happens to +be passing, to put himself at their head; they reach the Place +Saint-Sauveur, encounter the superior officer sent after them by the +municipal authorities, and, at his first command, follow him to the +Hôtel-de-Ville. On reaching this, without any resistance on their +part, they are arrested, disarmed, and searched. The rules and +regulations of their league are found on their persons; they are +evidently hatching a counter-revolution. The uproar against them is +terrible. "To keep them safe," they are conducted to the chateau, +while many of them are cruelly treated on the way by the crowd. +Others, seized in their houses - M. Levaillant and a servant of M. +d'Héricy - are carried off bleeding and pierced with bayonets. +Eighty-two prisoners are thus collected, while fears are constantly +entertained that they may escape. "Their bread and meat are cut up +into little pieces, to see that nothing is concealed therein; the +surgeons, who are likewise treated as aristocrats, are denied access +to them." Nocturnal visits are, at the same time, paid to their +houses; every stranger is ordered to present himself at the Hôtel- +de-Ville, to state why he comes to the town to reside, and to give +up his arms; every nonjuring priest is forbidden to say mass. The +Department, which is disposed to resist, has its hands tied and +confesses its powerlessness. "The people," it writes, "know their +strength: they know that we have no power; excited by disreputable +citizens, they permit whatever serves their passions or their +interests; they influence our deliberations, and force us to those +which, under other circumstances, we should carefully avoid." - +Three days after this the victors celebrate their triumph "with +drums, music, and lighted torches; the people are using hammers to +destroy on the mansions the coats-of-arms which had previously been +covered over with plaster;" the defeat of the aristocrats is +accomplished. - And yet their innocence is so clearly manifest +that the Legislative Assembly itself cannot help recognizing it. +After eleven weeks of durance the order is given to set them free, +with the exception of two, a youth of less than eighteen years and +an old man, almost an octogenarian, on whom two letters, +misunderstood, still leave a shadow of suspicion. - But it is not +certain that the people are disposed to give them up. The National +Guard refuses to discharge them in open daylight and serve as their +escort. Even the evening before numerous groups of women, a few men +mingled with them, talk of murdering all those fellows the moment +they set foot outside the chateau." They have to be let out at two +o'clock in the morning, secretly, under a strong guard, and to leave +the town at once as six months before they left the rural districts. +- Neither in country nor in the town[20] are they under the +protection of civil or religious law; a gentleman, who is not +compromised in the affair, remarks that their situation is worse +than that of Protestants and vagabonds during the worst years of the +Ancient Régime. of them and who abuse the use of them? Why should +one be on an equality for purposes of payment, and distinguished + +"Does not the law allow (nonjuring) priests the liberty of saying +mass? Why then can we not listen to their mass except at the risk of +our lives? Does not the law command all citizens to preserve the +public peace? Why then are those whom the cry to arms has summoned +forth to maintain public order assailed as aristocrats? Why is the +refuge of citizens which the laws have declared sacred, violated +without orders, without accusation, without any appearance of wrong- +doing? Why are all prominent citizens and those who are well off +disarmed in preference to others? Are weapons exclusively made for +those but lately deprived only for purposes of annoyance and insult" + +He has spoken right. Those who now rule form an aristocracy in an +inverse sense, contrary to the law, and yet more contrary to +nature.[21] For, by a violent inversion, the lower grades in the +graduated scale of civilization and culture now are found uppermost, +while the superior grades are found at the uniform. The Constitution +having suppressed inequality, this has again arisen in an inverse +sense. The populace, both of town and country, taxes, imprisons, +pillages, and slays more arbitrarily, more brutally, more unjustly +than feudal barons, and for its serfs or villains it has its ancient +chieftains. + +V. +Persecutions in private life. + +Let us suppose that, in order not to excite suspicion, they are +content to be without arms, to form no more associations, not to +attend elections, to shut themselves up at home, to strictly confine +themselves within the harmless precincts of domestic life. The same +distrust, the same animosity, still pursues them there. - At +Cahors,[22] where the municipal authorities, in spite of the law, +had just expelled the Carthusians who, under legal sanction, chose +to remain and live in common, two of the monks, before their +departure, give to M. de Beaumont, their friend and neighbor, four +dwarf pear-trees and some onions in blossom in their garden. On the +strength of this, the municipal body decree that + + "the sieur Louis de Beaumont, formerly count, is guilty of having +audaciously and maliciously damaged national property," condemns him +to pay a fine of three hundred livres, and orders "that the four +pear-trees, pulled up in the so-called Carthusian garden, be brought +on the following day, Wednesday, to the door of the said sieur de +Beaumont, and there remain for four consecutive days, guarded, day +and night, by two fusiliers, at the expense of the said sieur de +Beaumont; and upon the said trees shall be placed the following +inscription, to wit: Louis de Beaumont, destroyer of the national +property. And the judgment herewith rendered shall be printed to +the number of one thousand copies, read, published, and posted at +the expense of the said sieur de Beaumont, and duly addressed +throughout the department of Lot to the districts and municipalities +thereof, as well as to all societies of the Friends of the +Constitution and of Liberty." + +Every line of this legal invective discloses the malignant envy of +the local recorder, who revenges himself for having formerly bowed +too low. - The following year, M. de Beaumont, having formally and +under notarial sanction bought a church which was sold by the +district, along with the ornaments and objects of worship it +contained, the mayor and municipal officers, followed by a lot of +workmen, come and carry away and destroy everything - +confessionals, altars, and even the saint's canonised body, which +had been interred for one hundred and fifty years: so that, after +their departure, "the edifice resembled a vast barn filled with +ruins and rubbish."[23] It must be noted that, at this very time, M. +de Beaumont is military commandant at Perigord. The treatment he +undergoes shows what is in reserve for ordinary nobles. I do not +recommend them to attend official sales of property.[24] - Will +they even be free in their domestic enjoyments, and on entering a +drawing-room are they sure of quietly passing an evening there? - +At Paris, even, a number of persons of rank, among them the +ambassadors of Denmark and Venice, are listening to a concert in a +mansion in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré given by a foreign virtuoso, +when a cart enters the court loaded with fifty bundles of hay, the +monthly supply for the horses. A patriot, who sees the cart driven +in, imagines that the King is concealed underneath the hay, and that +he has come there for the purpose of plotting with the aristocrats +about his flight. A mob gathers, and the National Guard arrives, +along with a commissioner, while four grenadiers stand guard around +the cart. The commissioner, in the meantime, inspects the hotel; he +sees music-stands, and the arrangements for a supper; comes back, +has the cart unloaded, and states to the people that he has found +nothing suspicious. The people do not believe him, and demand a +second inspection. This is made by twenty-four delegates; the +bundles of hay, moreover, are counted, and several of them are +unbound, but all in vain. Disappointed and irritated, having +anticipated a spectacle, the crowd insists that all the invited +guests, men and women, should leave the house on foot, and only get +into their carriages at the end of the street. "First comes a file +of empty carriages;" next, "all the guests in their evening attire, +and the ladies in full dress, trembling with fear, with downcast +eyes, between two rows of men, women, and children, who stare them +in the face, and overwhelm them with insults."[25] + +Suspected of holding secret meetings, and called to account in his +own house, has the noble at least the right to frequent a public +saloon, to eat in a restaurant, and to take the fresh air in a +balcony? - The Vicomte de Mirabeau, who has just dined in the +Palais-Royal, stands at the window to take the air, and is +recognized; there is a gathering, and the cry is soon heard, "Down +with Mirabeau-Tonneau (barrel-Mirabeau)!"[26] "Gravel is flung at +him from all sides, and occasionally stones. One of the window- +panes is broken by a stone. Immediately picking up the stone, he +shows it to the crowd, and, at the same time, quietly places it on +the sill of the window, in token of moderation." There is a loud +outcry; his friends force him to withdraw inside, and Bailly, the +mayor, comes in person to quiet the aggressors. In this case there +are good reasons for their hatred. The gentleman whom they stone is +a bon-vivant, large and fat, fond of rich epicurean Suppers; and on +this account the populace imagine him to be a monster, and even +worse, an ogre. With regard to these nobles, whose greatest +misfortune is to be over-polished and too worldly, the over-excited +imagination revives its old nursery tales. - M. de Montlosier, +living in the Rue Richelieu, finds that he is watched on his way to +the National Assembly. One woman especially, from thirty to thirty- +two years of age, who sold meat at a stall in the Passage Saint- +Guillaume, "regarded him with special attention. As soon as she saw +him coming she took up a long, broad knife which she sharpened +before him, casting furious looks at him." He asks his housekeeper +what this means. Two children of that quarter have disappeared, +carried off by gipsies, and the report is current that M. de +Montlosier, the Marquis de Mirabeau, and other deputies of the +"right," meet together "to hold orgies in which they eat little +children." + +In this state of public opinion there is no crime which is not +imputed to them, no insult which is not freely bestowed on them. +"Traitors, tyrants, conspirators, assassins," such is the current +vocabulary of the clubs and newspapers in relation to them. +"Aristocrat" signifies all this, and whoever dares to refute the +calumny is himself an aristocrat. - At the Palais-Royal, it is +constantly repeated that M. de Castries, in his last duel, made use +of a poisoned sword, and an officer of the navy who protests against +this false report is himself accused, tried on the spot, and +condemned "to be shut up in the guard-house or thrown into the +fountain."[27] - The nobles must beware of defending their honor +in the usual way and of meeting an insult with a challenge! At +Castelnau, near Cahors,[28] one of those who, the preceding year, +marched against the incendiaries, M. de Bellud, Knight of Saint- +Louis, on coming down the public square with his brother, a +guardsman, is greeted with cries of "The aristocrat! to the lamp +post !" His brother is in a morning coat and slippers, and not +wishing to get into trouble they do not reply. A squad of the +National Guard, passing by, repeats the cry, but they still remain +silent. The shout continues, and M. de Bellud, after some time has +elapsed, begs the captain to order his men to be quiet. He refuses, +and M. de Bellud demands satisfaction outside the town. At these +words the National Guards rush at M. de Bellud with fixed bayonets. +His brother receives a saber-cut on the neck, while he, defending +himself with his sword, slightly wounds the captain and one of the +men. The two brothers, alone against the whole body, fight on, +retreating to their house, in which they are blockaded. Towards +seven o'clock in the evening, two or three hundred National Guards +from Cahors arrive to reinforce the besiegers. The house is taken, +and the guardsman, escaping across the fields, sprains his ankle and +is captured. M. de Bellud, who has found his way into another +house, continues to defend himself there: the house is set on fire +and burnt, together with two others alongside of it. Taking refuge +in a cellar he still keeps on firing. Bundles of lighted straw are +thrown in at the air-holes. Almost suffocated, he springs out, +kills his first assailant with a shot from one pistol, and himself +with another. His head is cut off with that of his servant. The +guardsman is made to kiss the two heads, and, on his demanding a +glass of water, they fill his mouth with the blood which drops from +the severed head of his brother. The victorious gang then set out +for Cahors, with the two heads stuck on bayonets, and the guardsman +in a cart. It comes to a halt before a house in which a literary +circle meets, suspected by the Jacobin club. The wounded man is +made to descend from the cart and is hung: his body is riddled with +balls, and everything the house contains is broken up, "the +furniture is thrown out of the windows, and the house pulled down." +- Every popular execution is of this character, at once prompt and +complete, similar to those of an Oriental monarch who, on the +instant, without inquiry or trial, avenges his offended majesty, +and. for every offense, knows no other punishment than death. At +Tulle, M. de Massy,[29] lieutenant of the "Royal Navarre," having +struck a man that insulted him, is seized in the house in which he +took refuge, and, in spite of the three administrative bodies, is at +once massacred. - At Brest, two anti-revolutionary caricatures +having been drawn with charcoal on the walls of the military coffee- +house, the excited crowd lay the blame of it on the officers; one of +these, M. Patry, takes it upon himself, and, on the point of being +torn to pieces, attempts to kill himself. He is disarmed, but, when +the municipal authorities come to his assistance, they find him +"already dead through an infinite number of wounds," and his head is +borne about on the end of a pike.[30] - + +VI. + +Conduct of officers. - Their self-sacrifice.- Disposition of the +soldiery. - Military outbreaks.- Spread and increase of +insubordination. - Resignation of the officers. + +Much better would it be to live under an Eastern king, for he is not +found everywhere, nor always furious and mad, like the populace. +Nowhere are the nobles safe, neither in public nor in private life, +neither in the country nor in the towns, neither associated together +nor separate. Popular hostility hangs over them like a dark and +threatening cloud from one end of the territory to the other, and the +tempest bursts upon them in a continuous storm of vexations, outrages, +calumnies, robberies, and acts of violence; here, there, and almost +daily, bloody thunderbolts fall haphazard on the most inoffensive +heads, on an old man asleep, on a Knight of Saint-Louis taking a +walk, on a family at prayers in a church. But, in this aristocracy, +crushed down in some places and attacked everywhere, the thunderbolt +finds one predestined group which attracts it and on which it constantly +falls, and that is the corps of officers. + +VI. + +Conduct of the officers. - Their self-sacrifice. - Disposition +of the soldiery. - Military outbreaks. - Spread and increase of +insubordination. - Resignation of the officers. + +With the exception of a few fops, frequenters of drawing-rooms, and +the court favorites who have reached a high rank through the +intrigues of the antechamber, it was in this group, especially in +the medium ranks, that true moral nobility was then found. Nowhere +in France was there so much tried, substantial merit. A man of +genius, who associated with them in his youth, rendered them this +homage: many among them are men possessing " the most amiable +characters and minds of the highest order."[31] Indeed, for most of +them, military service was not a career of ambition, but an +obligation of birth. It was the rule in each noble family for the +eldest son to enter the army, and advancement was of but little +consequence. He discharged the debt of his rank; this sufficed for +him, and, after twenty or thirty years of service, the order of +Saint-Louis, and sometimes a meager pension, were all he had a right +to expect. Amongst nine or ten thousand officers, the great +majority coming from the lower and poorer class of provincial +nobles, body-guards, lieutenants, captains, majors, lieutenant- +colonels, and even colonels, have no other pretension. Satisfied +with favors[32] restricted to their subordinate rank, they leave the +highest grades of the service to the heirs of the great families, to +the courtiers or to the parvenus at Versailles, and content +themselves with remaining the guardians of public order, and the +brave defenders of the State. Under this system, when the heart is +not depraved it becomes exalted; it is made a point of honor to +serve without compensation; there is nothing but the public welfare +in view, and all the more because, at this moment, it is the +absorbing topic of all minds and of all literature. Nowhere has +practical philosophy, that which consists in a spirit of abnegation, +more deeply penetrated than among this unrecognized nobility. Under +a polished, brilliant, and sometimes frivolous exterior, they have a +serious soul ; the old sentiment of honor is converted into one of +patriotism. Set to execute the laws, with force in hand to maintain +peace through fear, they feel the importance of their mission, and, +for two years, fulfill its duties with extraordinary moderation, +gentleness, and patience, not only at the risk of their lives, but +amidst great and multiplied humiliations, through the sacrifice of +their authority and self-esteem, through the subjection of their +intelligent will to the dictation and incapacity of the masters +imposed upon them. For a noble officer to respond to the +requisitions of an extemporized bourgeois municipal body,[33] to +subordinate his competence, courage, and prudence to the blunders +and alarms of five or six inexperienced, frightened, and timid +attorneys, to place his energy and daring at the service of their +presumption, feebleness, and lack of decision, even when their +orders or refusal of orders are manifestly absurd or injurious, even +when they are opposed to the previous instructions of his general or +of his minister, even when they end in the plundering of a market, +the burning of a chateau, the assassination of an innocent person, +even when they impose upon him the obligation of witnessing crime +with his sword sheathed and arms folded,[34] - this is a hard +task. It is hard for the noble officer to see independent, popular, +and bourgeois troops organized in the face of his own troops, rivals +and even hostile, in any case ten times as numerous and no less +exacting than sensitive - hard to be expected to show them +deference and extend civilities to them, to surrender to them posts, +arsenals, and citadels, to treat their chiefs as equals, however +ignorant or unworthy, and whatever they may be - here a lawyer, +there a Capuchin, elsewhere a brewer or a shoemaker, most generally +some demagogue, and, in many a town or village, some deserter or +soldier drummed out of his regiment for bad conduct, perhaps one of +the noble's own men, a scamp whom he has formerly discharged with +the yellow cartridge, telling him to go and be hung elsewhere. It +is hard for the noble officer to be publicly and daily calumniated +on account of his rank and title, to be characterized as a traitor +at the club and in the newspapers, to be designated by name as an +object of popular suspicion and fury, to be hooted at in the streets +and in the theater, to submit to the disobedience of his men, to be +denounced, insulted, arrested, fleeced, hunted down and slaughtered +by them and by the populace, to see before him a cruel, ignoble, and +unavenged death - that of M. de Launay, murdered at Paris - +that of M. de Belzunce, murdered at Caen - that of M. de +Beausset, murdered at Marseilles - that of M. de Voisins, +murdered at Valence - that of M. de Rully, murdered at Bastia, or +that of M. de Rochetailler, murdered at Port-au-Prince.[35] All +this is endured by the officers among the nobles. Not one of the +municipalities, even Jacobin, can find any pretext which will +warrant the charge of disobeying orders. Through tact and deference +they avoid all conflict with the National Guards. Never do they +give provocation, and, even when insulted, rarely defend themselves. +Their gravest faults consist of imprudent conversations, vivacious +expressions and witticisms. Like good watch-dogs amongst a +frightened herd which trample them under foot, or pierce them with +their horns, they allow themselves to be pierced and trampled on +without biting, and would remain at their post to the end were they +not driven away from it. + +All to no purpose: doubly suspicious as members of a proscribed +class, and as heads of the army, it is against them that public +distrust excites the most frequent explosions, and so much the more +as the instrument they handle is singularly explosive. Recruited by +volunteer enlistment "amongst a passionate, turbulent, and somewhat +debauched people," the army is composed of "all that are most fiery, +most turbulent, and most debauched in the nation."[36] Add to these +the sweepings of the alms-houses, and you find a good many +blackguards in uniform! When we consider that the pay is small, the +food bad, discipline severe, no promotion, and desertion endemic, we +are no longer surprised at the general disorder: license, to such +men, is too powerful a temptation. With wine, women, and money they +have from the first been made turncoats, and from Paris the +contagion has spread to the provinces. In Brittany,[37] the +grenadiers and chasseurs of Ile-de-France "sell their coats, their +guns, and their shoes, exacting advances in order to consume it in +the tavern;" fifty-six soldiers of Penthièvre "wanted to murder +their officers," and it is foreseen that, left to themselves, they +will soon, for lack of pay, "betake themselves to the highways, to +rob and assassinate." In Euree-et-Loir, the dragoons,[38] with saber +and pistols in hand, visit the farmers' houses and take bread and +money, while the foot soldiers of the "Royal-Comtois" and the +dragoons of the "Colonel-Général" desert in bands in order to go to +Paris, where amusement is to be had. The main thing with them is +"to have a jolly time." In fact, the extensive military +insurrections of the earliest date, those of Paris, Versailles, +Besançon, and Strasbourg, began or ended with a revel. - Out of +these depths of gross desires there has sprung up natural or +legitimate ambitions. A number of soldiers, for twenty years past, +have learned how to read, and think themselves qualified to be +officers. One quarter of those enlisted, moreover, are young men +born in good circumstances, and whom a caprice has thrown into the +army. They choke in this narrow, low, dark, confined passage where +the privileged by birth close up the issue, and they will march over +their chiefs to secure advancement. These are the discontented, the +disputants, the orators of the mess-room, and between these barrack +politicians and the politicians of the street an alliance is at once +formed. - Starting from the same point they march on to the same +end, and the imagination which has labored to blacken the Government +in the minds of the people, blackens the officers in the minds of +the soldiers. + +The Treasury is empty and there are arrears of pay. The towns, +burdened with debt, no longer furnish their quotas of supplies; and +at Orleans, with the distress of the municipality before them, the +Swiss of Chateauvieux were obliged to impose on themselves a +stoppage of one sou per day and per man to have wood in winter.[39] +Grain is scarce, the flour is spoilt, and the army bread, which was +bad, has become worse. The administration, worm-eaten by old +abuses, is deranged through the new disorder, the soldiers suffering +as well through its dissolution as through their extravagance. - +They think themselves robbed and they complain, at first with +moderation; and justice is done to their well-founded claims. Soon +they exact accounts, and these are made out for them. At Strasbourg, +on these being verified before Kellermann and a commissioner of the +National Assembly, it is proved that they have not been wronged out +of a sou; nevertheless a gratification of six francs a head is given +to them, and they cry out that they are content and have nothing +more to ask for. A few months after this fresh complaints arise, +and there is a new verification: an ensign, accused of embezzlement +and whom they wished to hang, is tried in their presence; his +accounting is tidy; none of them can cite against him a proven +charge, and, once more, they remain silent. On other occasions, +after hearing the reading of registers for several hours, they yawn, +cease to listen, and go outside to get something to drink. - But +the figures of their demands, as these have been summed up by their +mess-room calculators, remain implanted in their brains; they have +taken root there, and are constantly springing up without any +account or refutation being able to extirpate them. No more writings +nor speeches - what they want is money: 11,000 livres for the +Beaune regiment, 39,500 livres for that of Forez, 44,000 livres for +that of Salm, 200,000 livres for that of Chateauvieux, and similarly +for the rest. So much the worse for the officers if the money-chest +does not suffice for them; let them assess each other, or borrow on +their note of hand from the municipality, or from the rich men of +the town. - For greater security, in divers places, the soldiers +take possession of the military chest and mount guard around it: it +belongs to them, since they form the regiment, and, in any case, it +is better that it should be in their hands than in suspected hands. +- Already, on the 4th of June, 1790, the Minister of War announces +to the Assembly that "the military body threatens to fall into a +perfect state of anarchy." His report shows "the most incredible +pretensions put forth in the most plain-spoken way - orders +without force, chiefs without authority, the military chest and +flags carried away, the orders of the King himself openly defied, +the officers condemned, insulted, threatened, driven off; some of +them even captive amidst their own troops, leading a precarious life +in the midst of disgust and humiliations, and, as the climax of +horror, commanders having their throat cut under the eyes and almost +in the arms of their own soldiers." + +It is much worse after the July Federation. Entertained, flattered, +and indoctrinated at the clubs, their delegates, inferior officers +and privates, return to the regiment Jacobins; and henceforth +correspond with the Jacobins of Paris, "receiving their instructions +and reporting to them,"[40] - Three weeks later, the Minister of +War gives notice to the National Assembly that there is no limit to +the license in the army. "Couriers, the bearers of fresh +complaints, are arriving constantly." In one place "a statement of +the fund is demanded, and it is proposed to divide it." Elsewhere, a +garrison, with drums beating, leaves the town, deposes its officers, +and comes back sword in hand. Each regiment is governed by a +committee of soldiers. "It is in this committee that the detention +of the lieutenant-colonel of Poitou has been twice arranged; here it +is that 'Royal-Champagne' conceived the insurrection" by which it +refused to recognize a sub-lieutenant sent to it. "Every day the +minister's cabinet is filled with soldiers who are sent as +representatives to him, and who proudly come and intimate to him the +will of their constituents." Finally, at Strasbourg, seven +regiments, each represented by three delegates, formed a military +congress. The same month, the terrible insurrection of Nancy breaks +out - three regiments in revolt, the populace with them, the +arsenal pillaged, three hours of furious fighting in the streets, +the insurgents firing from the windows of the houses and from the +cellar openings, five hundred dead among the victors, and three +thousand among the vanquished. - The following month, and for +six weeks,[41] there is another insurrection, less bloody, but more +extensive, better arranged and more obstinate, that of the whole +squadron at Brest, a mutiny of twenty thousand men, at first against +their admiral and their officers, then against the new penal code +and against the National Assembly itself. The latter, after +remonstrating in vain, is obliged not only not to take rigorous +measures, but again to revise its laws.[42] + +>From this time forth, I cannot enumerate the constant outbreaks in +the fleet and in the army. - Authorized by the minister, the +soldier goes to the club, where he is repeatedly told that his +officers, being aristocrats, are traitors. At Dunkirk, he is +additionally taught how to get rid of them. Clamors, denunciations, +insults, musket-shots - these are the natural means, and they are +put in practice: but there is another, recently discovered, by which +an energetic officer of whom they are afraid may be driven away. +Some patriotic bully is found who comes and insults him. If the +officer fights and is not killed, the municipal authorities have him +arraigned, and his chiefs send him off along with his seconds "in +order not to disturb the harmony between the soldier and the +citizen." If he declines the proposed duel, the contempt of his men +obliges him to quit the regiment. In either case he is got out of +the way.[43] - They have no scruples in relation to him. Present +or absent, a noble officer must certainly be plotting with his +emigrant companions; and on this a story is concocted. Formerly, to +prove that sacks of flour were being thrown into the river, the +soldiers alleged that these sacks were tied with blue cords (cordons +bleus). Now, to confirm the belief that an officer is conspiring +with Coblentz, it suffices to state that he rides a white horse; a +certain captain, at Strasbourg, barely escapes being cut to pieces +for this crime; "the devil could not get it out of their heads that +he was acting as a spy, and that the little grey-hound" which +accompanies him on his rides "is used to make signals. " - One +year after, at the time when the National Assembly completes its +work, M. de Lameth, M. Fréteau, and M. Alquier state before it that +Luckner, Rochambeau, and the most popular generals, "no longer are +responsible for anything." The Auvergne regiment has driven away its +officers and forms a separate society, which obeys no one. The +second battalion of Beaune is on the point of setting fire to Arras. +It is almost necessary to lay siege to Phalsbourg, whose garrison +has mutinied. Here, "disobedience to the general's orders is +formal." There "are soldiers who have to be urged to stand sentinel; +whom they dare not put in confinement for discipline; who threaten +to fire on their officers; who stray off the road, pillage +everything, and take aim at the corporal who tries to bring them +back." At Blois, a part of the regiment "has just arrived without +either clothes or arms, the soldiers having sold all on the road to +provide for their debauchery." One among them, delegated by his +companions, proposes to the Jacobins at Paris to "de-aristocratise" +the army by cashiering all the nobles. Another declares, with the +applause of the club, that "seeing how the palisades of Givet are +constructed, he is going to denounce the Minister of War at the +tribunal of the. sixth arrondissement of Paris." + +It is manifest that, for noble officers, the situation is no longer +tenable. After waiting patiently for twenty-three months, many of +them left through conscientiousness, when the National Assembly, +forcing a third oath upon them, struck out of the formula the name +of the King, their born general.[44] - Others depart at the end +of the Constituent Assembly, "because they risk being hung." A large +number resign at the end of 1791 and during the first months of +1792, in proportion as the new code and the new recruiting system +for the army develop their results.[45] In fact, on the one hand, +through the soldiers and inferior officers having a voice in the +election of their chiefs and a seat in the military courts, "there +is no longer the shadow of discipline; verdicts are given from pure +caprice; the soldier contracts the habit of despising his superiors, +of whose punishments he has no fear, and from whom he expects no +reward; the officers are paralyzed to such a degree as to become +entirely superfluous personages." On the other hand, the majority of +the National Volunteers are composed of "men bought by the communes +" and administrative bodies, worthless characters of the street- +corners, rustic vagabonds forced to march by lot or bribery,"[46] +and along with them, enthusiasts and fanatics to such an extent +that, from March, 1792, from the spot of their enlistment to the +frontier, their track is everywhere marked by pillage, robbery, +devastation, and assassinations. Naturally, on the road and at the +frontier, they denounce, drive away, imprison, or murder their +officers, and especially the nobles. 3/4 And yet, in this +extremity, numbers of noble officers, especially in the artillery +and engineer corps, persist in remaining at their posts, some +through liberal ideas, and others out of respect for their +instructions; even after the 10th of August, even after the 2nd of +September, even after the 21st of January, like their generals +Biron, Custine, de Flers, de Broglie, and de Montesquiou, with the +constant perspective of the guillotine that awaits them on leaving +the battlefield and even in the ministerial offices of Carnot. + +VII. + +Emigration and its causes. - The first laws against the emigrants. + +It is, accordingly, necessary that the officers and nobles should go +away, should go abroad; and not only they, but also their families. +"Gentlemen who have scarcely six hundred livres income set out on +foot,"[47] and there is no doubt as to the motive of their +departure. "Whoever will impartially consider the sole and +veritable causes of the emigration," says an honest man, "will find +them in anarchy. If the liberty of the individual had not been +daily threatened, if;" in the civil as in the military order of +things, "the senseless dogma, preached by the factions, that crimes +committed by the mob are the judgments of heaven, had not been put +in practice, France would have preserved three fourths of her +fugitives. Exposed for two years to ignominious dangers, to every +species of outrage, to innumerable persecutions, to the steel of the +assassin, to the firebrands of incendiaries, to the most infamous +charges, 'to the denouncement of' their corrupted domestics, to +domiciliary visits" prompted by the commonest street rumor, "to +arbitrary imprisonment by the Committee of Inquiry," deprived of +their civil rights, driven out of primary meetings, "they are held +accountable for their murmurs, and punished for a sensibility which +would touch the heart in a suffering criminal." - " Resistance is +nowhere seen; from the prince's throne to the parsonage of the +priest, the tempest has prostrated all malcontents in resignation." +Abandoned "to the restless fury of the clubs, to informers, to +intimidated officials, they find executioners on all sides where +prudence and the safety of the State have enjoined them not even to +see enemies. . . . Whoever has detested the enormities of +fanaticism and of public ferocity, whoever has awarded pity to the +victims heaped together under the ruins of so many legitimate rights +and odious abuses, whoever, finally, has dared to raise a doubt or a +complaint, has been proclaimed an enemy of the nation. After this +representation of malcontents as so many conspirators, every crime +committed against them has been legitimated in public opinion.[48] +The public conscience, formed by the factions and by that band of +political corsairs who would be the disgrace of a barbarous nation, +have considered attacks against property and towns simply as +national justice, while, more than once, the news of the murder of +an innocent person, or of a sentence which threatened him with +death, has been welcomed with shouts of joy Two systems of natural +right, two orders of justice, two standards of morality were +accordingly established; by one of these it was allowable to do +against one's fellow-creature, a reputed aristocrat, that which +would be criminal if he were a patriot. . . . Was it foreseen +that, at the end of two years, France, teeming with laws, with +magistrates, with courts, with citizen-guards, bound by solemn oaths +in the defense of order and the public safety, would still and +continually be an arena in which wild beasts would devour unarmed +men " - With all, even with old men, widows and children, it is a +crime to escape from their clutches. Without distinguishing between +those who fly to avoid becoming a prey, and those who arm to attack +the frontier, the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies alike +condemn all absentees. The Constituent Assembly[49] trebled their +real and personal taxes, and prescribed that there should be a +triple lien on their rents and dues. The Legislative Assembly +sequestrates, confiscates, and puts into the market their +possessions, real and personal, amounting to nearly fifteen hundred +millions of cash value. Let them return and place themselves under +the knives of the populace; otherwise they and their posterity shall +all be beggars. - At this stroke indignation overflows, and a +bourgeois who is liberal and a foreigner, Mallet du Pan, +exclaims,[50] "What! twenty thousand families absolutely ignorant of +the Coblentz plans and of its assemblies, twenty thousand families +dispersed over the soil of Europe by the fury of clubs, by the +crimes of brigands, by constant lack of security, by the stupid and +cowardly inertia of petrified authorities, by the pillage of +estates, by the insolence of it cohort of tyrants without bread or +clothes, by assassinations and incendiarism, by the base servility +of silent ministers, by the whole series of revolutionary scourges, +- what' these twenty thousand desolate families, women and old men, +must see their inheritances become the prey of national robbery! +What! Madame Guillin, who was obliged to fly with horror from the +land where monsters have burnt her dwelling, slaughtered and eaten +her husband, and who live with impunity by the side of her home - +shall Madame Guillin see her fortune confiscated for the benefit of +the communities to which she owes her dreadful misfortunes! Shall M. +de Clarac, under penalty of the same punishment, go and restore the +ruins of his chateau, where an army of scoundrels failed to smother +him!" - So much the worse for them if they dare not come back! +They are to undergo civil death, perpetual banishment, and, in case +the ban be violated, they will be given up to the guillotine. In +the same case with them are others who, with still greater +innocence, have left the territory, magistrates, ordinary rich +people, burgesses, or peasants, Catholics, and particularly one +entire class, the nonjuring clergy, from the cardinal archbishop +down to the simple village vicar, all prosecuted, then despoiled, +then crushed by the same popular oppression and by the same +legislative oppression, each of these two persecutions exciting and +aggravating the other to such an extent that, at last, the populace +and the law, one the accomplice of the other, no longer leave a roof +nor a piece of bread, nor an hour's safety to a gentleman or to a +priest.[51] + +VIII. + +Attitude of the non-juring priests. - How they become distrusted. +- Illegal arrests by local administrations. - Violence or +complicity of the National Guards. - Outrages by the populace. - +Executive power in the south. - The sixth jacquerie. - Its two +causes. - Isolated outbreaks in the north, east, and west, - +General eruption in the south and in the center. + +The ruling passion flings itself on all obstacles, even those placed +by itself across its own track. Through a vast usurpation the +minority of non-believers, indifferent or lukewarm, has striven to +impose its ecclesiastical forms on the Catholic majority, and the +situation thereby created for the Catholic priest is such that +unless he becomes schismatic, he cannot fail to appear as an enemy. +In vain has he obeyed! He has allowed his property to be taken, he +has left his parsonage, he has given the keys of the church to his +successor, he has kept aloof; he does not transgress, either by +omission or commission, any article of any decree. In vain does he +avail himself of his legal right to abstain from taking an oath +repugnant to his conscience. This alone makes him appear to refuse +the civic oath in which the ecclesiastical oath is included, to +reject the constitution which he accepts in full minus a parasite +chapter, to conspire against the new social and political order of +things which he often approves of; and to which he almost always +submits.[52] In vain does he confine himself to his special and +recognized domain, the spiritual direction of things. Through this +alone he resists the new legislators who pretend to furnish a +spiritual guidance, for, by virtue of being orthodox, he must +believe that the priest whom they elect is excommunicated, that his +sacraments are vain; and, in his office as pastor, he must prevent +his sheep from going to drink at an impure source. In vain might he +preach to them moderation and respect. Through the mere fact that +the schism is effected, its consequences unfold them selves, and the +peasants will not always remain as patient as their pastor. They +have known him for twenty years; he has baptized them and married +them; they believe that his is the only true mass; they are not +satisfied to be obliged to attend another two or three leagues away, +and to leave the church, their church which their ancestors built, +and where from father to son they have prayed for centuries, in the +hands of a stranger, an intruder and heretic, who officiates before +almost empty benches, and whom gendarmes, with guns in their hands, +have installed. Assuredly, as he passes through the street, they +will look upon him askance: it is not surprising that the women and +children soon hoot at him, that stones are thrown at night through +his windows, that in the strongly Catholic departments, Upper and +Lower Rhine, Doubs and Jura, Lozère, Deux-Sêvres and Vendée, +Finistère, Morbihan, and Côtes-du-Nord, he is greeted with universal +desertion, and then expelled through public ill-will. It is not +surprising that his mass is interrupted and that his person is +threatened;[53] that disaffection which thus far had only reached +the upper class, descends to the popular strata; that, from one end +of France to the other, a sullen hostility prevails against the new +institutions; for now the political and social constitution is +joined to the ecclesiastical constitution like an edifice to its +spire, and, through this sharp pinnacle, seeks the storm even within +the darkening clouds of heaven. The evil all springs out of this +unskillful, gratuitous, compulsory fusion, and, consequently, from +those who effected it. + +But never will a victorious party admit that it has made a mistake. +In its eyes the nonjuring priests are alone culpable; it is +irritated against their factious conscience; and, to crush the +rebellion even in the inaccessible sanctuary of personal conviction, +there is no legal or brutal act of violence which it will not allow +itself to commit. + +Behold, accordingly, a new sport thrown open; and the game is +immensely plentiful. For it comprises not only the black or gray +robes, more than forty thousand priests, over thirty thousand nuns, +and several thousand monks, but also the devoted orthodox, that is +to say the women of the low or middle class, and, without counting +provincial nobles, a majority of the serious, steady bourgeoisie, a +majority of the peasantry-almost the whole population of several +provinces, east, west, and in the south. A name is bestowed on +them, as lately on the nobles; it is that of fanatic, which is +equivalent to aristocrat, for it also designates public enemies +likewise placed by it beyond the pale of the law. + +Little does it matter whether the law favors them, for it is +interpreted against them, arbitrarily construed and openly violated +by the partial or intimidated administrative bodies which the +Constitution has withdrawn from the control of the central authority +and subjected to the authority of popular gatherings. From the +first months of 1791, the hounding begins; the municipalities, +districts, and departments themselves often take the lead in beating +up the game. Six months later, the Legislative Assembly, by its +decree of November 29,[54] sounds the tally-ho, and, in spite of the +King's veto, the hounds on all sides dash forward. During the month +of April, 1792, forty-two departments pass against nonjuring priests +"acts which are neither prescribed nor authorized by the +Constitution," and, before the end of the Legislative Assembly, +forty-three others will have followed in their train. - Through +this series of illegal acts, without offense, without trial, non- +jurors are everywhere in France expelled from their parishes, +relegated to the principal town of the department or district, in +some places imprisoned, put on the same footing with the emigrants, +and despoiled of their property, real and personal.[55] Nothing +more is wanting against them but the general decree of deportation +which is to come as soon as the Assembly can get rid of the King. + +In the meantime, the National Guards, who have extorted the laws, +endeavor to aggravate them in their application; and there is +nothing strange in their animosity. Commerce is at a standstill, +industry languishes, the artisan and shopkeeper suffer, and, in +order to account for the universal discontent, it is attributed to +the insubordination of the priest. Were it not for his stubbornness +all would go well, since the Constitution is perfect, and he is the +only one who does not accept it. But, in not accepting it, he +attacks it. He, therefore, is the last obstacle in the way of +public happiness; he is the scapegoat, let us drive the obnoxious +creature away! And the urban militia, sometimes on its own +authority, sometimes instigated by the municipal body its +accomplice; is seen disturbing public worship, dispersing +congregations, seizing priests by the collar, pushing them by the +shoulders out of the town, and threatening them with hanging if they +dare to return. At Douay,[56] with guns in hand, they force the +directory of the department to order the closing of all the +oratories and chapels in hospitals and convents. At Caen, with +loaded guns and with a cannon, they march forth against the +neighboring parish of Verson, break into houses, gather up fifteen +persons suspected of orthodoxy - canons, merchants, artisans, +workmen, women, girls, old men, and the infirm - cut off their +hair, strike them with the but-ends of their muskets, and lead them +back to Caen fastened to the breach of the cannon; and all this +because a nonjuring priest still officiated at Verson, and many +pious persons from Caen attended his mass: Verson, consequently, is +a focal center of counter-revolutionary gatherings. Moreover, in +the houses which were broken into, the furniture was smashed, casks +stove in, and the linen, money, and plate stolen, the rabble of Caen +having joined the expedition. - Here, and everywhere, there is +nothing to do but to let this rabble have its own way; and as it +operates against the possessions, the liberty; the life, and the +sense of propriety of dangerous persons, the National Militia is +careful not to interfere with it. Consequently, the orthodox, both +priests and believers, men and women, are now at its mercy, and, +thanks to the connivance of the armed force, which refuses to +interpose, the rabble satisfy on the proscribed class its customary +instincts of cruelty, pillage, wantonness, and destructiveness. + +Whether public or private, the order of the day is always to hinder +worship, while the means employed are worthy of those who carry them +out. - Here, a nonjuring priest having had the boldness to +minister to a sick person, the house which he has just entered is +taken by assault, and the door and windows of a house occupied by +another priest are smashed.[57] There, the lodgings of two workmen, +who are accused of having had their infants baptized by a refractory +priest, are sacked and nearly demolished. Elsewhere, a mob refuses +to allow the body of an old curé, who had died without taking the +oath, to enter the cemetery. Farther on, a church is assaulted +during vespers, and everything is broken to pieces: on the following +day it is the turn of a neighboring church, and, in addition, a +convent of Ursuline nuns is devastated. - At Lyons, on Easter-day, +1791, as the people are leaving the six o'clock mass, a troop, armed +with whips, falls upon the women.[58] Stripped, bruised, prostrated, +with their heads in the dirt, they are not left until they are +bleeding and half-dead; one young girl is actually at the point of +death; and this sort of outrage occurs so frequently that even +ladies attending the orthodox mass in Paris dare not go out without +sewing up their garments around them in the shape of drawers. - +Naturally, to make the most of the prey offered to them, hunting +associations are formed. These exist in Montpellier, Arles, Uzès, +Alais, Nîmes, Carpentras, and in most of the towns or burgs of Gard, +Vaucluse, and l'Hérault, in greater or less number according to the +population of the city: some counting from ten to twelve, and others +from two to three hundred determined men, of every description: +among them are found "strike-hards" (tape-dur), former brigands, and +escaped convicts with the brand still on their backs. Some of them +oblige their members to wear a medal as a visible mark of +recognition; all assume the title of executive power, and declare +that they act of their own authority, and that it is necessary to +"quicken the law."[59] Their pretext is the protection of sworn +priests; and for twenty months, beginning with April, 1791, they +operate to this effect with heavy knotted dubs garnished with iron +points," without counting sabers and bayonets. Generally, their +expeditions are nocturnal. Suddenly, the houses of "citizens +suspected of a want of patriotism," of nonjuring ecclesiastics, of +the monks of the Christian school, are invaded; everything is broken +or stolen, and the owner is ordered to leave the place in twenty- +four hours: sometimes, doubtless through an excess of precaution, he +is beaten to death on the spot. Besides this, the band also works +by day in the streets, lashes the women, enters the churches saber +in hand, and drives the nonjuring priest from the altar. All of +this is done with the connivance and in the sight of the paralyzed +or complaisant authorities, by a sort of occult and complementary +government, which not only supplies what is missing in the +ecclesiastical law, but also searches the pockets of private +individuals. - At Nîmes, under the leadership of a patriotic +dancing-master, not content with "decreeing proscriptions, killing, +scourging, and often murdering," these new champions of the Gallican +Church undertake to reanimate the zeal of those liable to +contribution. A subscription having been proposed for the support +of the families of the volunteers about to depart, the executive +power takes upon itself to revise the list of offerings: it +arbitrarily taxes those who have not given, or who, in its opinion, +have given too little some "poor workmen fifty livres, others two +hundred, three hundred, nine hundred, and a thousand, under penalty +of wrecked houses and severe treatment." Elsewhere, the volunteers +of Baux and other communes near Tarascon help themselves freely, +and, "under the pretext that they are to march for the defense of +the country, levy enormous contributions on proprietors," on one +four thousand, and on another five thousand livres. In default of +payment, they carry away all the grain on one farm, even to the +reserve seed, threatening to make havoc with everything, and even to +burn, in case of complaint, so that the owners dare not say a word, +while the attorney-general of the neighboring department, afraid on +his own account, begs that his denunciation may be kept secret. - +>From the slums of the towns the jacquerie has spread into the rural +districts. This is the sixth and the most extensive seen for three +years.[60] + +Two spurs impel the peasant on. - On the one hand he is frightened +by the clash of arms, and the repeated announcements of an +approaching invasion. The clubs and the newspapers since the +declaration of Pilnitz, and the Orators in the Legislative Assembly +for four months past, have kept him alarmed with their trumpet- +blasts, and he urges on his oxen in the furrow with cries of "Woa, +Prussia!" to one, and to the other, "Gee up, Austria!" Austria and +Prussia, foreign kings and nobles in league with the emigrant +nobles, are going to return in force to re-establish the salt-tax, +the excise, feudal-dues, tithes, and to retake national property +already sold and re-sold, with the aid of the gentry who have not +left, or who have returned, and the connivance of non-juring priests +who declare the sale sacrilegious and refuse to absolve the +purchasers. - On the other hand, Holy Week is drawing near, and +for the past year qualms of conscience have disturbed the +purchasers. Up to March 24, 1791, the sales of national property +had amounted to only 180 millions; but, the Assembly having +prolonged the date of payment and facilitated further sales in +detail, the temptation proves too strong for the peasant; stockings +and buried pots are all emptied of their savings. In seven months +the peasant has bought to the amount of 1,346 millions,[61] and +finally possesses in full and complete ownership the morsel of land +which he has coveted for so many years, and sometimes an unexpected +plot, a wood, a mill, or a meadow. At the present time he has to +settle accounts with the church, and, if the pecuniary settlement is +postponed, the Catholic settlement comes on the appointed day. +According to immemorial tradition he is obliged to take the +communion at Easter,[62] his wife also, and likewise his mother; and +if he, exceptionally, does not think this of consequence, they do. +Moreover, he requires the sacraments for his old sick father, his +new-born child, and for his other child of an age to be confirmed. +Now, communion, baptism, confession, all the sacraments, to be of +good quality, must proceed from a safe source, just as is the case +with flour and coin; there is only too much counterfeit money now in +the world, and the sworn priests are daily losing credit, like the +assignats. There is no other course to pursue, consequently, but to +resort to the non-juror, who is the only one able to give valid +absolutions. And it so happens that he not only refuses this, but +be is said to be inimical to the whole new order of things. - In +this dilemma the peasant falls back upon his usual resource, the +strength of his arms; he seizes the priest by the throat, as +formerly his lord, and extorts an acquittance for his sins as +formerly for his feudal dues. At the very least he strives to +constrain the non-jurors to swear, to close their separatist +churches, and bring the entire canton to the same uniform faith. - +Occasionally also he avenges himself against the partisans of the +non-jurors, against chateaux and houses of the opulent, against the +nobles and the rich, against proprietors of every class. +Occasionally, likewise, as, since the amnesty of September, 1791, +the prisons have been emptied, as one-half of the courts are not yet +installed,[63] as there has been no police for thirty months, the +common robbers, bandits, and vagrants, who swarm about without +repression or surveillance, join the mob and fill their pockets. + +Here, in Pas-de-Calais,[64] three hundred villagers, headed by a +drummer, burst open the doors of a Carthusian convent, steal +everything, eatables, beverages, linen, furniture, and effects, +whilst, in the neighboring parish, another band operates in the same +fashion in the houses of the mayor and of the old curé, threatening +"to kill and burn all," and promising to return on the following +Sunday. - There, in Bas-Rhin, near Fort Louis, twenty houses of +the aristocrats are pillaged. - Elsewhere in Ile-et-Vilaine, +bodies of rural militia, combined, go from parish to parish, and, +increasing in numbers in consequence of their very violence until +they form bands of two thousand men. They close churches, drive +away nonjuring priests, remove clappers from the bells, eat and +drink what they please at the expense of the inhabitants, and often, +in the houses of the mayor or tax-registrar, indulge in the pleasure +of breaking everything to pieces. Should any public officer +remonstrate with them they shout, "At the aristocrat!" One of these +unlucky counselors is struck on the back with the but-end of a +musket, and two others have guns aimed at them; the chiefs of the +expedition are in no better predicament, and, according to their own +admission, if they are at the head of the mob it is to make sure +they themselves will not be pillaged or hung. The same spectacle +presents itself in Mayenne, in Orne, in Moselle, and in the +Landes.[65] - These, however, are but isolated irruptions, and +very mild; in the south and in the center, the plague is apparent in +an immense leprous spot, which extending from Avignon to Perigueux, +and from Aurillac to Toulouse, suddenly covers, nearly without with +any discontinuity, ten departments, Vaucluse, Ardèche, Gard, Cantal, +Corrèze, Lot, Dordogne, Gers, Haute-Garonne, and Hérault. Vast +rural masses are set in motion at the same time, on all sides and +owing to the same causes: the approach of war and the coming of +Easter. - In Cantal, at the assembly of the canton held at +Aurillac for the recruitment of the army,[66] the commander of a +village National Guard demands vengeance "against those who are not +patriots," and the report is spread that an order has come from +Paris to destroy the chateaux. Moreover, the insurgents allege that +the priests, through their refusal to take the oath, are bringing +the nation into civil war: "we are tired of not having peace on +their account; let them become good citizens, so that everybody may +go to mass." On the strength of this, the insurgents enter houses, +put the inhabitants to ransom, not only priests and former nobles, +"but also those who are suspected of being their partisans, those +who do not attend the mass of the constitutional priest," and even +poor people, artisans and tillers of the ground, whom they tax five, +ten, twenty, and forty francs, and whose cellars and bread-bins they +empty. Eighteen chateaux are pillaged, burnt, or demolished, and +among others, those of several gentlemen and ladies who have not +left the country. One of these, M. d'Humières, is an old officer of +eighty years; Madame de Peyronenc saves her son only by disguising +him as a peasant; Madame de Beauclerc, who flies across the +mountain, sees her sick child die in her arms. At Aurillac, gibbets +are set up before the principal houses; M. de Niossel, a former +lieutenant of a criminal court, put in prison for his safety, is +dragged out, and his severed head is thrown on a dunghill; M. +Collinet, just arrived from Malta, and suspected of being an +aristocrat, is ripped open, cut to pieces, and his head is carried +about on the end of a pike. Finally, when the municipal officers, +judges, and royal commissioner commence proceedings against the +assassins, they find themselves in such great danger that they are +obliged to resign or to run away. In like manner, in Haute- +Garonne,[67] it is also "against non-jurors and their followers" +that the insurrection has begun. This is promoted by the fact that +in various parishes the constitutional curé belongs to the club, and +demands the riddance of his adversaries. One of them at Saint-Jean- +Lorne, "mounted on a cart, preaches pillage to a mob of eight +hundred persons." Each band, consequently, begins by expelling +refractory priests, and by forcing their supporters to attend the +mass of the sworn priest. - ?But such success, wholly abstract and +barren, is of little advantage, and peasants in a state of revolt +are not satisfied so easily. When parishes march forth by the dozen +and devote their day to the service of the public, they must have +some compensation in wood, wheat, wine, or money,[68] and the +expense of the expedition may be defrayed by the aristocrats. Not +merely the upholders of non-jurors are aristocrats, as, for example, +an old lady here and there, "very fanatical, and who for forty years +has devoted all her income to acts of philanthropy," "but well-to-do +persons, peasants or gentlemen;" for, "by keeping their wine and +grain unsold in their cellars and barns, and by not undertaking more +work than they need, so as to deprive workmen in the country of +their means of subsistence," they design "to starve out" the poor +folk. Thus, the greater the pillage, the greater the service to the +public. According to the insurgents, it is important "to diminish +revenues enjoyed by the enemies of the nation, in order that they +may not send their revenues to Coblentz and other places out of the +kingdom." Consequently, bands of six or eight hundred or a thousand +men overrun the districts of Toulouse and Castelsarrasin. All +proprietors, aristocrats, and patriots are put under contribution. +Here, in the house of "the philanthropic but fanatical old maid, +they break open everything, destroy the furniture, taking away +eighty-two bushels of wheat and sixteen hogsheads of wine." +Elsewhere, at Roqueferrière, feudal title-deeds are burnt, and a +chateau is pillaged. Farther on, at Lasserre, thirty thousand +francs are exacted and the ready money is all carried off. Almost +everywhere the municipal officers, willingly or unwillingly, +authorize pillaging. Moreover, "they cut down provisions to a price +in assignats very much less than their current rate in silver," and +they double the price of a day's work. In the meantime, other bands +devastate the national forests, and the gendarmes, in order not to +be called aristocrats, have no idea but of paying court to the +pillagers. + +After all this, it is manifest that property no longer exists for +anybody except for paupers and robbers. - In effect, in +Dordogne,[69] under the pretext of driving away nonjuring priests, +frequently mobs gather to pillage and rob whatever comes in their +way. . . . All the grain that is found in houses with +weathercocks is sequestrated." The rustics exploit, as communal +property, all the forests, all the possessions of the emigrants; and +this operation is radical; for example, a band, on finding a new +barn of which the materials strike them as good, demolish it so as +to share with each other the tiles and timber. - In Corrèze, +fifteen thousand armed peasants, who have come to Tulle to disarm +and drive off the supporters of the non-jurors, break everything in +suspected houses, and a good deal of difficulty is found in sending +them off empty-handed. As soon as they get back home, they sack the +chateaux of Saint-Gal, Seilhac, Gourdon, Saint-Basile, and La +Rochette, besides a number of country-houses, even of absent +plebeians. They have found a quarry, and never was the removal of +property more complete. They carefully carry off, says an official +statement, all that can be carried - furniture, curtains, mirrors, +clothes-presses, pictures, wines, provisions, even floors and wooden +panels, "down to the smallest fragments of iron and wood-work," +smashing the rest, so that nothing "remains of the house but its +four walls, the roof and the staircase." In Lot, where for two years +the insurrection is permanent, the damage is much greater. During +the night between the 30th and 31st of January, "all the best houses +in Souillac" are broken open, "sacked and pillaged from top to +bottom,"[70] their owners being obliged to fly, and so many +outbreaks occur in the department, that the directory has no time to +render an account of them to the minister. Entire districts are in +revolt; as, "in each commune all the inhabitants are accomplices, +witnesses cannot be had to support a criminal prosecution, and crime +remains unpunished." In the canton of Cabrerets, the restitution of +rents formerly collected is exacted, and the reimbursement of +charges paid during twenty years past. The small town of Lauzerte +is invaded by surrounding bodies of militia, and its disarmed +inhabitants are at the mercy of the Jacobin suburbs. For three +months, in the district of Figeac, "all the mansions of former +nobles are sacked and burnt;" next the pigeon-cots are attacked, +"and all country-houses which have a good appearance." Barefooted +gangs "enter the houses of well-to-do people, physicians, lawyers, +merchants, burst open the doors of cellars, drink the wine," and +riot like drunken victors. In several communes these expeditions +have become a custom; "a large number of individuals are found in +them who live on rapine alone," and the club sets them the example. +For six months, in the principal town, a coterie of the National +Guard, called the Black Band, expel all persons who are displeasing +to them, "pillaging houses at will, beating to death, wounding or +mutilating by saber-strokes, all who have been proscribed in their +assemblies," and no official or advocate dares lodge a complaint. +Brigandage, borrowing the mask of patriotism, and patriotism +borrowing the methods of brigandage, have combined against property +at the same time as against the ancient régime, and, to free +themselves from all that inspires them with fear, they seize all +which can provide them with booty. + +And yet this is merely the outskirts of the storm; the center is +elsewhere, around Nîmes, Avignon, Arles, and Marseilles, in a +country where, for a long time, the conflict between cities and the +conflict between religions have kindled and accumulated malignant +passions.[71] Looking at the three departments of Gard, Bouches-de- +Rhône and Vaucluse, one would imagine one's self in the midst of a +war with savages. In fact, it is a Jacobin and plebeian invasion, +and, consequently, conquest, dispossession, and extermination, - +in Gard, a swarm of National Guards copy the jacquerie: the dregs of +the Comtat come to the surface and cover Vaucluse with its scum; an +army of six thousand from Marseilles sweeps down on Arles. - In +the districts of Nîmes, Sommières, Uzès, Alais, Jalais, and Saint- +Hippolyte, title-deeds are burnt, proprietors put to ransom, and +municipal officers threatened with death if they try to interpose; +twenty chateaux and forty country-houses are sacked, burnt, and +demolished. - The same month, Arles and Avignon,[72] given up to +the bands of Marseilles and of the Comtat, see confiscation and +massacres approaching. - Around the commandant, who has received +the order to evacuate Aries,[73] "the inhabitants of all parties" +gather as suppliants, "clasping his hands, entreating him with tears +in their eyes not to abandon them; women and children cling to his +boots," so that he does not know how to free himself without hurting +them; on his departure twelve hundred families emigrate. After the +entrance of the Marseilles band we see eighteen hundred electors +proscribed, their country-houses on the two banks of the Rhone +pillaged, "as in the times of Saracen pirates," a tax of 1,400,000 +livres levied on all people in good circumstances, absent or +present, women and girls promenaded about half-naked on donkeys and +publicly whipped." "A saber committee" disposes of lives, proscribes +and executes: it is the reign of sailors, porters, and the dregs of +the populace. - At Avignon,[74] it is that of simple brigands, +incendiaries and assassins, who, six months previously, converted +the Glacière[75] into a charnel-house. They return in triumph and +state that "this time the Glacière will be full." Five hundred +families had already sought asylum in France before the first +massacre; now, the entire remainder of the honest bourgeoisie, +twelve hundred persons, take to flight, and the terror is so great +that the small neighboring towns dare not receive emigrants. In +fact, from this time forth, both departments throughout Vaucluse and +Bouches-de-Rhône are a prey: Bands of two thousand armed men, with +women, children, and other volunteer followers, travel from commune +to commune to live as they please at the expense of "fanatics." The +well-bred people are not the only ones they despoil. Plain +cultivators, taxed at 10,000 livres, have sixty men billeted on +them; their cattle are slain and eaten before their eyes, and +everything in their houses is broken up; they are driven out of +their lodgings and wander as fugitives in the reed-swamps of the +Rhone, awaiting a moment of respite to cross the river and take +refuge in the neighboring department.[76] Thus, from the spring of +1792, if any citizen is suspected of unfriendliness or even of +indifference towards the ruling faction, if, through but one opinion +conscientiously held, he risks the vague possibility of mistrust or +of suspicion, he undergoes popular hostility, pillage, exile, and +worse besides; no matter how loyal his conduct may be, nor how loyal +he may be at heart, no matter that he is disarmed and inoffensive; +it is all the same whether it be a noble, bourgeois, peasant, aged +priest, or woman; and this while public peril is yet neither great, +present, nor visible, since France is at peace with Europe, and the +government still subsists in its entirety. + + +IX. + +General state of opinion. - The three convoys of non-juring +priests on the Seine. - Psychological aspects of the Revolution. + +What will it be, then, now when the peril, already become palpable +and serious, is daily increasing, now when war has begun, when +Lafayette's army is falling back in confusion, when the Assembly +declares the country in danger, when the King is overthrown, when +Lafayette defects and goes abroad, when the soil of France is +invaded, when the frontier fortresses surrender without resistance, +when the Prussians are entering Champagne, when the insurrection in +La Vendée adds the lacerations of civil war to the threats of a +foreign war, and when the cry of treachery arises on all sides? - +Already, on the 14th of May, at Metz,[77] M. de Fiquelmont, a former +canon, seen chatting with a hussar on the Place Saint-Jacques, was +charged with tampering with people on behalf of the princes, carried +off in spite of a triple line of guards, and beaten, pierced, and +slashed with sticks, bayonets, and sabers, while the mad crowd +around the murderers uttered cries of rage: and from month to month, +in proportion as popular fears increase, popular imagination becomes +more heated and its delirium grows. - You can see this yourself by +one example. On the 31st of August, 1792,[78] eight thousand non- +juring priests, driven out of their parishes, are at Rouen, a town +less intolerant than the others, and, in conformity with the decree +which banishes them, are preparing to leave France. Two vessels +have just carried away about a hundred of them; one hundred and +twenty others are embarking for Ostend in a larger vessel. They +take nothing with them except a little money, some clothes, and one +or at most two portions of their breviary, because they intend to +return soon. Each has a regular passport, and, just at the moment +of leaving, the National Guard have made a thorough inspection so as +not to let a suspected person escape. It makes no difference. On +reaching Quilleboeuf the first two convoys are stopped. A report +has spread, indeed, that the priests are going to join the enemy and +enlist, and the people living round about jump into their boats and +surround the vessels. The priests are obliged to disembark amidst a +tempests of "yells, blasphemies, insults, and abuse:" one of them, a +white-headed old man, having fallen into the mud, the cries and +shouts redouble; if he is drowned so much the better, there will be +one less! On landing all are put in prison, on bare stones, without +straw or bread, and word is sent to Paris to know what must be done +with so many cassocks. In the meantime the third vessel, short of +provisions, has sent two priests to Quilleboeuf and to Pont-Audemer +to have twelve hundred pounds of bread baked: pointed out by the +village militia, they are chased out like wild beasts, pass the +night in a wood, and find their way back with difficulty empty- +handed. The vessel itself being signaled, is besieged. "In all the +municipalities on the banks of the river drums beat incessantly to +warn the population to be on their guard. The appearance of an +Algerian or Tripolitan corsair on the shores of the Adriatic would +cause less excitement. One of the seamen of the vessel published a +statement that the trunks of the priests transported were full of +every kind of arms." and the country people constantly imagine that +they are going to fall upon them sword and pistol in hand. For +several long days the famished convoy remains moored in the stream, +are carefully watched. Boats filled with volunteers and peasants +row around it uttering insults and threats: in the neighboring +meadows the National Guards form themselves in line of battle. +Finally, a decision is arrived at. The bravest, well armed get into +skiffs, approach the vessel cautiously, choose the most favorable +time and spot, rush on board, and take possession; and are perfectly +astonished to find neither enemies nor arms. - Nevertheless, the +priests are confined on board, and their deputies, must make their +appearance before the mayor. The latter, a former usher and good +Jacobin, being the most frightened, is the most violent. He refuses +to stamp the passports, and, seeing two priests approach, one +provided with a sword-cane and the other with an iron-pointed stick, +thinks that there is to be a sudden attack. "Here are two more of +them," he exclaims with terror; "they are all going to land. My +friends, the town is in danger! " - On hearing this the crowd +becomes alarmed, and threatens the deputies; the cry of "To the lamp +post!" is heard, and, to save them, National Guards are obliged to +conduct them to prison in the center of a circle of bayonets. - +It must be noted that these madmen are "at bottom the kindest people +in the world." After the boarding of the ship, one of the most +ferocious, by profession a barber, seeing the long beards of these +poor priests, instantly cools down, draws forth his tools, and good- +naturedly sets to work, spending several hours in shaving them. In +ordinary times ecclesiastics received nothing but salutations; three +years previously they were "respected as fathers and guides." But at +the present moment the rustic, the man of the lower class, is out of +his bearings. Forcibly and against nature, he has been made a +theologian, a politician, a police captain, a local independent +sovereign; and in such a position his head is turned. Among these +people who seem to have lost their senses, only one, an officer of +the National Guard, remains cool; he is, besides, very polite, well- +behaved, and an agreeable talker; he comes in the evening to comfort +the prisoners and to take tea with them in prison; in fact, he is +accustomed to tragedies and, thanks to his profession, his nerves +are in repose - this person is the executioner. The others, "whom +one would take for tigers," are bewildered sheep; but they are not +the less dangerous; for, carried away by their delirium, they bear +down with their mass on whatever gives them umbrage. - On the +road from Paris to Lyons[79] Roland's commissioners witness this +terrible fright. "The people are constantly asking what our +generals and armies are doing; they have vengeful expressions +frequently on their lips. Yes, they say, we will set out, but we +must (at first) purge the interior." + +Something appalling is in preparation. The seventh jacquerie is +drawing near, this one universal and final - at first brutal, and +then legal and systematic, undertaken and carried out on the +strength of abstract principles by leaders worthy of the means they +employ. Nothing like it ever occurred in history; for the first +time we see brutes gone mad, operating on a grand scale and for a +long time, under the leadership of blockheads who have become +insane. + +There is a certain strange malady commonly encountered in the +quarters of the poor. A workman, over-taxed with work, in misery +and badly fed, takes to drink; he drinks more and more every day, +and liquors of the strongest kind. After a few years his nervous +system, already weakened by spare diet, becomes over-excited and out +of balance. An hour comes when the brain, under a sudden stroke, +ceases to direct the machine; in vain does it command, for it is no +longer obeyed; each limb, each joint, each muscle, acting separately +and for itself starts convulsively through discordant impulses. +Meanwhile the man is gay; he thinks himself a millionaire, a king, +loved and admired by everybody; he is not aware of the mischief he +is doing to himself he does not comprehend the advice given him, he +refuses the remedies offered to him, he sings and shouts for entire +days, and, above all, drinks more than ever. - At last his face +grows dark and his eyes become blood-shot. Radiant visions give way +to black and monstrous phantoms; he sees nothing around him hut +menacing figures, traitors in ambush, ready to fall upon him +unawares, murderers with upraised arms ready to cut his throat, +executioners preparing torments for him; and he seems to be wading +in a pool of blood. So he precipitates, and, in order that he +himself may not be killed, he kills. No one is more to be dreaded, +for his delirium sustains him; his strength is prodigious, his +movements unforeseen, and he endures, without heeding them, +suffering and wounds under which a healthy man would succumb. - +France, like such a madman, exhausted by fasting under the monarchy, +drunk by the unhealthy drug of the Social-Contract, and by countless +other adulterated or fiery beverages, is suddenly struck with +paralysis of the brain; at once she is convulsed in every limb +through the incoherent play and contradictory twitching of her +discordant organs. At this time she has traversed the period of +joyous madness, and is about to enter upon the period of somber +delirium: behold her capable of daring, suffering, and doing all, +capable of incredible exploits and abominable barbarities, the +moment her guides, as erratic as herself, indicate an enemy or an +obstacle to her fury. + + + THE END. + +__________________________________________________________________ + +NOTES: + +[1] Moniteur, XI. 763. (Sitting of March 28, 1792.) - "Archives +Nationales," F7, 3235. (Deliberation of the Directory of the +Department, November 29, 1791, and January 27, 1792. - Petition +of the Municipality of Mende and of forty-three others, November 30, +1791.) + +[2] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3198. Minutes of the meeting of the +municipal officers of Arles, September 2, 1791. - Letters of the +Royal Commissioners and of the National Assembly, October 24, +November 6, 14, 17, 21, and December 21, 1791. - The +Commissioners, to be impartial, attend in turn a mass by a nonjuring +priest and one by a priest of the opposite side. "The church is +full" with the former and always empty with the latter. + +[3] "Mémoire" of M. Mérilhon, for Froment, passim. - Report of M. +Alquier, p. 54. - De Dampmartin, I. 208. + +[4] - De Dampmartin, I. 208.They would exclaim to the catholic +peasants: "Allons, mes enfants, Vive le Roi!" (shouts of enthusiasm): +"those wretches of democrats, let us make an example of them, and +restore the sacred rights of the throne and the altar!" - "As you +please," replied the rustics in their patois, "but we must hold fast +to the Revolution, for there are some good things about it." - They +remain calm, refuse to march to the assistance of Uzès, and withdraw +into their mountains on the first sign of the approach of the +National Guard. + +[5] This is what the author Soljenitsyne observed about his Russian +countrymen in an interview with M. Pivot in the French television in +1998. (SR.) + +[6] Dauban, "La Demagogie à Paris," p.598; Letter of M. de Brissac, +August 25, 1789. + +[7] Moniteur, X. 339. (Journal de Troyes, and a letter from +Perpignan, November, 1791.) + +[8] Mercure de France, No. for September 3, 1791. "Let Liberty be +presented to us, and all France will kneel before her; but noble and +proud hearts will eternally resist the oppression which assumes her +sacred mask. They will invoke liberty, but liberty without crime, +the liberty which is maintained without dungeons, without +inquisitors, without incendiaries, without brigands, without forced +oaths, without illegal coalitions, without mob outrages; that +liberty, finally, which allows no oppressor to go unpunished, and +which does not crush peaceable citizens beneath the weight of the +chains it has broken." + +[9] Rivarol, "Mémoires," p.367. (Letter of M. Servan, published in +the "Actes des Apôtres.") + +[10] The King's brother, later to become King of France under the +name of Louis XVIII. (SR.) + +[11] "Archives Nationa1es," F7. 3257. Official reports, +investigations, and correspondence in relation with the affair of M. +Bussy (October, 1790). + +[12] Mercure de France, May 15, 1790. (Letter of Baron de Bois- +d'Aisy, April 29, read in the National Assembly.) - Moniteur, IV. +302. Sitting of May 6. (Official statement of the Justice of the +Peace of Vitteaux, April 28.) + +[13] "Archives Nationales," DXXIX. 4. Letter of M. Belin- +Chatellenot (near Asnay-le-Duc) to the President of the National +Assembly, July 1, 1791. "In the realm of liberty we live under the +most cruel tyranny, and in a state of the most complete anarchy, +while the administrative bodies and the police, still in their +infancy, seem to act only in fear and trembling. . . . So far, +in all crimes, they are more concerned with extenuating the facts, +than in punishing the offense. The result is that the guilty have +had no other restraint on them than a few gentle phrases like this: +Dear brothers and friends, you are in the wrong, be careful," etc. +- Ibid. , F7, 3229. Letter of the Directory of the Department of +Marne, July 13, 1791. (Searches by the National Guard in chateaux +and the disarming of formerly privileged persons.) "None of our +injunctions were obeyed." For example, there is breakage and +violence in the residence of M. Guinaumont at Merry, the gun, shot +and powder of the game-keeper even are carried off. "M. de +Guinaumont is without the means of defending himself against a mad +dog or any other savage brute that might come into his woods or into +his courtyard." The Mayor of Merry, with the National Guard, under +compulsion, tells them in vain that they are breaking the law. - +Petition of Madame d'Ambly, wife of the deputy, June 28, 1791. Not +having the guns which she had already given up, she is made to pay +150 francs. + +[14] Archives Nationales," DXXIX. 4. Letters of the Administrators +of the Department of Rhône-et-Loire, July 6, 1791. (M. Vilet is one +of the signers.) - Mercure de France, October 8, 1791. + +[15] Mercure de France, August 20, 1791, the article by Mallet du +Pan. "The details of the picture I have just sketched were all +furnished me by Madame Dumoutet herself." I am "authorized by her +signature to guarantee the accuracy of this narrative." + +[16] Mercure de France, August 20, 1791, the article by Mallet du +Pan. "The proceedings instituted at Lyons confirmed this banquet of +cannibals." + +[17] The letter of the Department ends with this either naïve or +ironical expression: "You have now only one conquest to make, that +of making the people obey and submit to the law." + +[18] "Archives Nationales," P7, 3,200. See documents relating to +the affair of November 5, 1792, and the events which preceded it or +followed it, and among others "Lettres du Directoire et du +Procureur-syndic du Departement;" "Pétition et Mémoire pour les +Déténus;" "Lettres d'un Témoin," M. de Morant. - Moniteur, X. +356. "Minutes of the meeting de la Municipalité de Caen" and of the +"Directoire du Departement," XI.1264, 206. "Rapport de Guadet," and +documents of the trial. - "Archives Nationales," ibid. . - +"Lettres de M. Cahier," Minister of the Interior, January 26, 1792, +of M. C. D. de Pontécoulant, President of the Department +Directory, February 3, 1792. - Proclamation by the Directory. + +[19] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3200. Letter of September 26, 1791. +- Letter found on one of the arrested gentlemen. "A cowardly +bourgeoisie, directors in cellars, a clubbist (Jacobin) +municipality, waging the most illegal war against us." + +[20] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3200. Letter of the Attorney- +General of Bayeux, May 14, 1792, and of the Directory of Bayeux, May +21, 1792. - At Bayeux, likewise; the refugees are denounced and in +peril. According to their verified statements they scarcely +amounted to one hundred. "Several nonjuring priests, indeed, are +found among them. (But) the rest, for the most part, consist of the +heads of families who are known to reside habitually in neighboring +districts, and who have been forced to leave their homes after +having been, or fearing to become, victims of religious intolerance +or of the threats of factions and of brigands." + +[21] Lenin has probably read this during his studies in Paris and +maybe been confirmed in his plan to create a new elite, an elite he +eventually began to make use of from 1917 and onwards, an elite +which continues to rule Russia and a great part of the world today. +(SR.) + +[22] Mercure de France, June 4, 1790 (letter from Cahors, May 17, +and an Act of the Municipality, May 10, 1790). + +[23] "Archives Nationales," F7,, 1223. Letter of count Louis de +Beaumont, November 9, 1791. His letter, in a very moderate tone, +thus end: "You must admit, sir, that it is very disagreeable and +even incredible, that the Municipal Officers should be the +originators of the disorders which occur in this town." + +[24] Mercure de France, January 7, 1792. M. Granchier de Riom +petitions the Directory of his Department in relation to the +purchase of the cemetery, where his father had been interred four +years before; his object is to prevent it from being dug up, which +was decreed, and to preserve the family vault. He at the same time +wishes to buy the church of Saint-Paul, in order to insure the +continuance of the masses in behalf of his father's soul. The +Directory replies (December 5, 1791): "considering that the motives +which have determined the petitioner in his declaration are a +pretense of good feeling under which there is hidden an illusion +powerless to pervert a sound mind, the Directory decides that the +application of the sieur Granchier cannot be granted." + +[25] De Ferrières, II. 268 (April 19, 1791). + +[26] De Montlosier, II. 307, 309, 312. + +[27] Moniteur, VI. 556. Letter of M d'Aymar, commodore, November 18, +1790. + +[28] Mercure de France, May 28, and June 16, 1791 (letters from +Cahors and Castelnau, May 18). + +[29] Mercure de France, number of May 28, 1791. At the festival of +the Federation, M. de Massy would not order his cavalry to put their +chapeaux on the points of their swords, which was a difficult +maneuver. He was accused of treason to the nation on account of +this, and obliged to leave Tulle for several months. - " Archives +Nationales," F7, 3204. Extract from the minutes of the tribunal of +Tulle, May 10, 1791. + +[30] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3215, "Minutes of the meeting des +Officiers Municipaux de Brest," June 23, 1791. + +[31] "Mémoires de Cuvier" ("Eloges Historiques," by Flourens), I, +177. Cuvier, who was then in Havre (1788), had pursued the higher +studies in a German administrative school. "M. de Surville," he +says, an officer in the Artuis regiment, has one of the must refined +minds and most amiable characters I ever encountered. There were a +good many of this sort among his comrades, and I am always +astonished how such men could vegetate in the obscure ranks of an +infantry regiment." + +[32] De Dampmartin, I. 133. At the beginning of the year 1790, +"inferior officers said: 'We ought to demand something, for we have +at least as many grievances as our troopers,' " - M. de la +Rochejacquelein, after his great success in La Vendée, said: "I hope +that the King, when once he is restored, will give me a regiment." +He aspired to nothing more ("Mémoires de Madame de la +Rochejacquelein"). - Cf. "Un Officier royaliste au Service de la +Republique," by M. de Bezancenet, in the letters and biography of +General de Dommartin killed in the expedition to Egypt. + +[33] Correspondence of MM. de Thiard, de Caraman, de Miran, de +Bercheny, etc., above cited, passim. - Correspondence of M. de +Thiard, May 5, 1780: "The town of Vannes has an authoritative style +which begins to displease me. It wants the King to furnish drum- +sticks. The first log of wood would provide these, with greater +ease and promptness." + +[34] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3248, March 16, 1791. At Douai, +Nicolon, a grain-dealer, is hung because the municipal authorities +did not care to proclaim martial law. The commandant, M. de la +Noue, had not the right of ordering his men to move, and the murder +took place before his eyes. + +[35] The last named, especially, died with heroic meekness (Mercure +de France, June 18, 1791). - Sitting of June 9, speeches by two +officers of the regiment of Port-au-Prince, one of them an eye- +witness. + +[36] "De Dampmartin," II. 214. Desertion is very great, even in +ordinary times, supplying foreign armies with "a fourth of their +effective men." - Towards the end of 1789, Dubois de Crancé, an +old musketeer and one of the future "men of the mountain," stated to +the National Assembly that the old system of recruiting supplied the +army with "men without home or occupation, who often became soldiers +to avoid civil penalties" (Moniteur, II. 376, 381, sitting of +December 12, 1789). + +[37] "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105, Correspondence of M. de +Thiard, September 4 and 7, 1789, November 20, 1789, April 28, and +May 29, 1790. "The spirit of insubordination which begins to show +itself in the Bassigny regiment is an epidemic disease which is +insensibly spreading among all the troops. . . . The troops are +all in a state of gangrene, while all the municipalities oppose the +orders they receive concerning the movements of troops." + +[38] "Archives Nationales," H,1453. Correspondence of M. de +Bercheny, July 12, 1790. + +[39] "Mémoire Justificatif" (by Grégoire), on behalf of two +soldiers, Emery and Delisle. - De Bouillé, "Mémoires." - De +Dampmartin, I.128, 144. - "Archives Nationales," KK, 1105, +Correspondence of M. de Thiard, July 2 and 9, 1790. - Moniteur, +sittings of September 3 and June 4, 1790. + +[40] De Bouillé, p. 127. - Moniteur, sitting of August 6, 1790, +and that of May 27, 1790. - Full details in authentic documents +of the affair at Nancy, passim. - Report of M. Emmery, August 16, +1790, and other documents in Buchez and Roux, VII. 59-162. - De +Bezancenet, p.35. Letters of M. de Dommartin (Metz, August 4, +1790). "The Federation there passed off quietly, only, a short time +after, some soldiers of a regiment took it into their heads to +divide the (military) fund, and at once placed sentinels at the door +of the officer having charge of the chest, compelling him to open it +(désacquer). Another regiment has since put all its officers under +arrest. A third has mutinied, and wanted to take all its horses to +the market-place and sell them. . . . Everywhere the soldiers are +heard to say that if they want money they know where to find it." + +[41] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3215, letters of the Royal +Commissioners, September 27, October 1, 4, 8, 11, 1790. the +commencement of the Revolution, had most to do with the +insurrections in the interior. "What means can four commissioners +employ to convince 20,000 men, most of whom are seduced by the real +enemies of the public welfare? In consequence of the replacing of +the men the crews are, for the most part, composed of those who are +almost ignorant of the sea, who know nothing of the rules of +subordination, and who, at the commencement of the Revolution, had +most to do with the insurrections in the interior." + +[42] Mercure de France. October 2, 1790. Letter of the Admiral, M. +d'Albert de Rioms, September 16. The soldiers of the Majestueux +have refused to drill, and the sailors of the Patriote to obey. - +"I wished to ascertain beforehand if they had any complaint to make +against their captain? - No. - If they complained of myself? - +No. - If they had any complaints to make against their officers ? +- No. - It is the revolt of one class against another class; +their sole cry is 'Vive la Nation et les Aristocrates à la +lanterne!' The mob have set up a gibbet before the house of M. de +Marigny, major-general of marines; he has handed in his resignation. +M. d'Albert tenders his resignation." - Ibid, June 18, 1791 +(letter from Dunkirk, June 3). + +[43] De Dampmartin, I. 222, 219. Mercure de France, September 3, +1791. (Sitting of August 23.) - Cf. Moniteur (same date). "The +Ancient Régime," p.377. + +[44] Marshal Marmont, "Mémoires," I. 24. "The sentiment I +entertained for the person of the King is difficult to define. . . +(It was) a sentiment of devotion of an almost religious character, a +profound respect as if due to a being of a superior order. At this +time the word king possessed a magic power in all pure and upright +hearts which nothing had changed. This delicate sentiment . . . +still existed in the mass of the nation, especially among the well- +born, who, sufficiently remote from power, were rather impressed by +its brilliancy than by its imperfections." De Bezancenet, 27. +Letter of M. de Dommartin, August 24, 1790. "We have just renewed +our oath. I hardly know what it all means. I, a soldier, know only +my King; in reality I obey two masters, who, we are told, will +secure my happiness and that of my brethren, if they agree +together." + +[45] De Dampmartin, I. 179. See the details of his resignation +(III. 185) after June 20, 1792. - Mercure de France, April 14, +1792. Letter from the officers of the battalion of the Royal +chasseurs of Provence (March 9). They are confined to their +barracks by their soldiers, who refuse to obey their orders, and +they declare that, on this account, they abandon the service and +leave France. + +[46] Rousset, "Les Volontaires de 1791 à 1794, p. 106. Letter of +M. de Biron to the minister (August, 1792); p.225, letter of Vezu, +commander of the 3rd battalion of Paris, to the army of the north +(July 24, 1793). - "A Residence in France from 1792 to 1795" +(September, 1792. Arras). See notes at the end of vol. II. for +the details of these violent proceedings. + +[47] Mercure de France, March 5, June 4, September 3, October 22, +1791. (Articles by Mallet du Pan. - Ibid. , April 14, 1792. More +than six hundred naval officers resigned after the mutiny of the +squadron at Brest. "Twenty-two grave revolts in the ports on +shipboard remained unpunished, and several of them through the +decisions of the naval jury." "There is no instance of any +insurrection, in the ports or on shipboard, or any outrage upon a +naval officer, having been punished. . . . It is not necessary +to seek elsewhere for the causes of the abandonment of the service +by naval officers. According to their letters all offer their lives +to France, but refuse to command those who will not obey." + +[48] This was done by Hitler against the Jews and by the Communists +against their "enemy" the bourgeois. (SR.) + +[49] Duvergier, "Decrees of August 1-6, 1791; February 9-11, 1792; +March 30 to April 8, 1792; July 24-28, 1792; March 28 to April 5, +1793." - Report by Roland, January 6, 1793. He estimates this +property at 4,800 millions, of which 1,800 millions must he de- +ducted for the creditors of the emigrants; 3,000 millions remain. +Now, at this date, the assignats are at a discount of 55 per cent. +from their nominal figure. + +[50] Mercure de France,, February 18, 1792. + +[51] Already Tacitus noted some 2000 years ago that, "It is part of +human nature to hate the man you have hurt." (SR.) + +[52] Cf. on this general attitude of the clergy, Sauzay, V. I. +and the whole of V. II. - Mercure de France, September 10, 1791: +"No impartial man will fail to see that, in the midst of this +oppression, amidst so many fanatical charges of which the reproach +of fanaticism and revolt is the pretext, not one act of resistance +has yet been manifest. Informers and municipal bodies, governed by +clubs, have caused a large number of non-jurors to be cast into +dungeons. All have come out of them, or groan there untried, and no +tribunal has found any of them guilty." - Report of M. Cahier, +Minister of the Interior, February 18, 1792. He declares that "he +had no knowledge of any priest being convicted by the courts as a +disturber of the public peace, although several had been accused." +- Moniteur May 6, 1792. (Report of Français de Nantes) "Not one +has been punished for thirty months." + +[53] On these spontaneous brutal acts of the Catholic peasants, cf. +"Archives Nationales," F7, 3236 (Lozère, July-November, 1791). +Deliberation of the district of Florac, July 6, 1791, and the +official statement of the commissioner of the department on the +disturbances in Espagnac. On the 5th of July, Richard, a +constitutional curé, calls upon the municipality to proceed to his +installation. "The ceremony could not take place, owing to the +hooting, of the women and children, and the threats of various +persons who exclaimed: 'Kill him! strangle him, he is a Protestant, +is married, and has children;' and owing to the impossibility of +entering the church, the doors of which were obstructed by the large +number of women standing in front of them:"- On the 6th of July, he +is installed, but with difficulty. "Inside the church a crowd of +women uttered loud cries and bemoaned the removal of their old curé +On returning, in the streets, a large number of women, unsettled by +the sight of the constitutional cure, turned their faces aside . . +. and contented themselves with uttering disjointed words . - +without doing anything more than cover their faces with their +bonnets, casting themselves on the ground." - July 15. The clerk +will no longer serve at the mass nor ring the bells; the curé, +Richard, attempting to ring them himself, the people threaten him +with ill-treatment if he runs the risk. - September 8, 1791. +Letter from the curé of Fau, district of Saint-Chély. "That night I +was on the brink of death through a troop of bandits who took my +parsonage away from me, after having broken in the doors and +windows." - December 30, 1791. Another curé who goes to take +possession of his parsonage is assailed with stones by sixty women, +and thus pursued beyond the limits of the parish . - August 5, +1791. Petition of the constitutional bishop of Mende and his four +vicars. "Not a day passes that we are not insulted in the +performance of our duties. We cannot take a step without +encountering hooting. If we go out we are threatened with cowardly +assassination, and with being beaten with clubs."- F7, 3235 (Bas- +Rhin, letter from the Directory of the Department, April 9, 1792): +"Ten out of eleven, at least, of the Catholics refuse to recognize +sworn priests." + +[54] Duvergier, decrees (not sanctioned) of November 29 and May 27, +1792. - Decree of August 26, 1792, after the fall of the throne. +- Moniteur, XII. 200 (sitting of April 23, 1793). Report of the +Minister of the Interior. + +[55] Lallier, "Le District de Machecoul," p.261, 263. - "Archives +Nationales," F7, 3234. Demand of the prosecuting attorney of the +commune of Tonneins (December 21, 1791) for the arrest or expulsion +of eight priests "at the slightest act of internal or external +hostility." - Ibid., F7, 3264. Act of the Council-general of +Corrèze (July 16, 17, 18, 1792) to place in arrest all nonjuring +priests. - Between these two dates, act, of various kinds and of +increasing severity are found in nearly all the departments against +the non-jurors. + +[56] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3250. Official statement by the +directory of the department, March 18, 1791, with all the documents +in relation thereto. - F7, 3200. Letter of the Directory of +Calvados, June 13, 1792, with the interrogations. The damages are +estimated at 15,000 livres. + +[57] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3234. An Act of the Directory of +Lot, February 24, 1792, on the disturbances at Marmande. - F7, +3239, official statement of the municipal body of Rheims, November +5, 6, 7, 1791. The two workmen are a harness-maker and a wool- +carder. The priest who administered the baptism is put in prison as +a disturber of the public peace. - F7, 3219. Letter of the royal +commissioner at the tribunal of Castelsarrasin, March 5, 1792. - +F7, 3203. Letter of the directory of the district of La Rochelle, +June 1, 1792. "The armed force, a witness of these crimes and +summoned to arrest these persons in the act, refused to obey." + +[58] Memorandum by Camille Jourdan (Sainte-Beuve, "Causeries du +Lundi," XII. 250). The guard refuses to give any assistance, +coming too late and merely "to witness the disorder, never to +repress it." + +[59] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3217. Letters of the curé of Uzès, +January 29, 1792; of the curé of Alais, April 5, 1792; of the +administrators of Gard, July28, 1792; of the prosecuting attorney , +M. Griolet, July 2, 1792 ; of Castanet, former gendarme, August 25, +1792; of M. Griolet, September 28, 1792. - Ibid. , F7, 3223. +Petition by M.M. Thueri and Devès in the name of the oppressed of +Montpellier, November 17, 1791; letter of the same to the minister, +October28, 1791; letter of M. Dupin, prosecuting attorney , August +23, 1791; Act of the Department, August 9, 1791; Petition of the +inhabitants of Courmonterral, August 25, 1791 + +[60] Moniteur, XII. 16, sitting of April 1, 1792. Speech by M. +Laureau. "Behold the provinces in flames, insurrection in nineteen +departments, and revolt everywhere declaring itself . . . The +only liberty is that of brigandage; we have no taxation, no order, +no government." Mercure de France, April 7, 1792. "More than twenty +departments are now participating in the horrors of anarchy and in a +more or less destructive insurrection." + +[61] Moniteur, XII. 30. Speech by M. Caillasson. The total amount +of property sold up to November 1, 1791, is 1,526 millions; the +remainder for sale amounts to 669 millions. + +[62] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3225. Letter of the Directory of +Ille-et-Vilaine, March 24, 1792. "The National Guards of the +district purposely expel all nonjuring priests, who have not been +replaced, under the pretext of the trouble they would not fail to +cause at Easter." + +[63] Moniteur, XI. 420. (Sitting of February 18, 1792.) Report by +M. Cahier, Minister of the Interior. + +[64] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3250. Deposition of the municipal +officers of Gosnay and Hesdiguel (district of Béthune), May 18, +1792. Six parishes took part in this expedition; the mayor's wife +had a rope around her neck, and came near being hung. - Moniteur, +XII, 154, April 15, 1792. - "Archives Nationales," F7, 3225. +Letter of the Directory of Ile-et-Vilaine, March 24, 1792, and +official statement of the commissioners for the district of Vitré; +letter of the same directory, April 21, 1792, and report of the +commissioners sent to Acigné, April 6. + +[65] Moniteur, XII. 200. Report of M. Cahier, April 23, 1792. The +directories of these four departments refuse to cancel their illegal +acts, alleging that "their armed National Guards pursue refractory +priests." + +[66] Mercure de France, April 7, 1792. Letters written from +Aurillac. - "Archives Nationales," F7, 3202. - Letter of the +directory of the district of Aurillac, March 27, 1792 (with seven +official statements); of the directory of the district of Saint- +Flour, March 19 (with the report of its commissioners); of M. +Duranthon, minister of justice, April 22; petition of M. Lorus, +municipal officer of Aurillac. - Letter of M. Duranthon, June 9, +1792. "I am just informed by the royal commissioner of the district +of Saint-Flour that, since the departure of the troops, the +magistrates dare no longer exercise their functions in the midst of +the brigands who surround them." + +[67] "Archives Nationales," F7,, 3219. Letters of M. Niel, +administrator of the department of Haute-Garonne, February 27, 1792; +of M. Sainfal, March 4; of the directory of the department, March 1; +of the royal commissioner, tribunal of Castelsarrasin, March 13. + +[68] The following are some examples of these rustic desires: + +At Lunel, 4000 peasants and village National Guards strive to enter, +to hang the aristocrats. Their wives are along with them, leading +their donkeys with "baskets which they hope to carry away full." +("Archives Nationales," F7, 3523. Letter of the municipal body of +Lunel, November 4, 1791.) + +At Uzès it is with great difficulty that they can rid themselves of +the peasants who came in to drive out the Catholic royalists. In +vain "were they given plenty to eat and to drink;" they go away "in +bad humor, especially the women who led the mules and asses to carry +away the booty, and who had not anticipated returning home with +empty hands." (De Dampmartin, I. 195.) + +In relation to the siege of Nantes by the Vendéans: "An old woman +said to me, 'Oh, yes, I was there, at the siege. My sister and +myself had brought along our sacks. We counted on entering at least +as far as the Rue de la Casserie'" (the street of jeweler's shops). +(Michelet, V 211.) + +[69] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3209. Letters of the royal +commissioner at the tribunal of Mucidan, March 7, 1792; of the +public prosecutor of the district of Sarlat, January. 1792. - +Ibid. , F7, 3204. Letters of the administrators of the district of +Tulle, April 15, 1792; of the directory of the department, April 18; +petition of Jacques Labruc and his wife, with official statement of +the justice of the peace, April 24. "All these acts of violence +were committed under the eyes of the municipal authorities. They +took no steps to prevent them, although they had notice given them +in time." + +[70] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3223. Letters of M. Brisson, +commissioner of the naval classes of Souillac, February 2, 1792; of +the directory of the department, March 14, 1792. - Petition of +the brothers Barrié (with supporting documents), October 11, 1791. +- Letter of the prosecuting attorney of the department, April 4, +1792. Report of the commissioners sent to the district of Figeac, +January 5, 1792. Letter of the administrators of the department, +May 27, 1792. + +[71] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3217. Official reports of the +commissioners of the department of Gard, April 1, 2, 3, and 6, 1792, +and letter of April 6. One land-owner is taxed 100,000 francs. - +Ibid., F7, 3223. Letter of M Dupin, prosecuting attorney of +l'Hérault, February 17 and 26, 1792. "At the chateau of Pignan, +Madame de Lostanges has not one complete piece of furniture left. +The cause of these disturbances is religious passion. Five or six +nonjuring priests had retreated to the chateau," - Moniteur, +sitting of April 16, 1792. Letter from the directory of the +department of Gard. - De Dampmartin, II, 85. At Uzès, fifty or +sixty men in masks invade the ducal chateau at ten o'clock in the +evening, set fire to the archives, and the chateau is burnt. + +[72] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196. Official statements of Augier +and Fabre, administrators of the Bouches-de-Rhône, sent to Avignon, +May 11, 1792. (The reappearance of Jourdan, Mainvielle, and the +assassins of La Glacière took place April 29.) + +[73] De Dampmartin, II. 63. Portalis, "Il est temps de parler" +(pamphlet), passim. "Archives Nationales," F7, 7090. Memorandum of +the commissioners of the municipal administration of Arles, year +IV., Nivôse 22. + +[74] Mercure de France, May 19, 1792. (Sitting of May 4.). +Petition of forty inhabitants of Avignon at the bar of the +Legislative Assembly. - "Archives Nationales," F7, 3195. Letter +of the royal commissioners at the tribunal of Apt, March 15, 1792; +official report of the municipality, March 22; Letters of the +Directory of Apt, March 23 and 28, 1792. + +[75] Large cellar where the ice collected during the winter was kept +for later use. (SR.) + +[76] "Archives Nationales," ibid. Letter of Amiel, president of the +bureau of conciliation at Avignon, October 28, 1792, and other +letters to the minister Roland. - F7, 3217, Letter of the Justice +of the Peace at Roque-Maure, October 31, 1792. + +[77] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3246. Official report of the +municipality of Metz (with supporting documents), May 15, 1792. + +[78] "Mémoires de l'Abbé Baton," one of the priests of the third +convoy (a bishop is appointed from Séez), p. 233. + +[79] "Archives Nationales" F7, 3225. Letter of citizen Bonnemant, +commissioner to minister Roland, September 11, 1792. + + + + + +End of The French Revolution, Volume 1. + |