The French Revolution - Volume 1

d not send their deputies to Paris to be insulted, and every insult shown to them is an insult to the department that elected them. I see but one effecti

rds removed to New York. It again removed from New York to Philadelphia, and, after experiencing in every one of these places the great inconvenience of a government within a government, it formed the project of building a town not within the limits of any municipal jurisdiction for the future residence of Congress. In every one

er; but the furrow is laid out, traced, and by himself. Since the 10th of August

bin adv

e section assemb

pletion of the Comm

and Pache.-The Nat

fficers and sub-off

c and secret fun

smooth-faced intriguer, who, with his simple air and seeming worth, pushes himself up to the head of the War Department, where he used all its resources for pillaging, and who, born in a door-keeper's lodgings, returns there, either through craft or inclination, to take his dinner.-The Jacobins, with the civil power in their hands, also grab the military power. Immediately after the 10th of August,3406 the National Guard is reorganized and distributed in as many battalions as there are sections, each battalion thus becoming "a section in arms"; by this we may judge its composition, and the kind of rabble-rousers they select as officers and non-commissioned officers. "The title of National Guard," writes a deputy, "can no longer be given to the lot of pikemen and substitutes, mixed with a few bourgeois, who, since the 10th of August, maintain the military service in Paris." There are, indeed, 110,000 names on paper; when called out on important occasions, all who are registered may respond, if not disarmed, but, in general, almost all stay at home and pay a sans-culotte to mount guard in their place. In fact, there is for the daily service only a hired reserve in each section, about one hundred men, always the same individuals. This makes in Paris a band of four or five thousand roughs, in which the squads may be distinguished which have already been seen in September: Maillard and his 68 men at the Abbaye, Gauthier and his 40 men at Chantilly, Audouin, the Sapper of the Carmelites," and his 350 men in the suburbs of Paris, Fournier, Lazowski and their 1,500 men at Orleans and Versailles.3407 As to the pay of these and that of their civil auxiliaries, the faction is not troubled

rliamentar

nd minds.-Saint-Ju

nvention.-Pressure

of the

,3415 "without any common sense, and patriotic only when drunk. Marat is nothing but a bawler. Legendre is fit for nothing but to cut up his meat. The rest are good for little else than voting by either sitting down or standing up, but they are cold blooded and have broad shoulders." From amongst these energetic nonentities we see ascending a young monster, with calm, handsome features, Saint-Just. He is a kind of precocious Sylla, 25 years old and a new-comer, who springs at once from the ranks and, by dint of atrocities, obtains a prominent position.3416 Six years before this he began life by a domestic robbery; on a visit to his mother, he left the house during the night, carrying off the plate and jewels, which he squandered while living in a lodging house in the Rue Fromenteau, in the center of Parisian prostitution;3417 on the strength of this, and at the demand of his friends, he is shut up in a house of correction for six months. On returning to his lodgings he occupied himself with writing

that if he "dares to read it he will assassinate him."3420 The chamber "has become an arena of gladiators."3421 Sometimes the entire "Mountain" darts from its benches on the left, while a similar human wave rolls down from those on the right; both clash in the center of the room amidst furious screams and shouts; in one of these hubbubs one of the "Mountain" having drawn a pistol the Girondist Duperret draws his sword.3422 After the middle of December prominent members of the "Right," constantly persecuted, th

majority in vain expresses its indignation at this "gang of hired ruffians," who beset and oppress it, while at the very time that it utters its complaints, it endures and tolerates it. "The struggle is frightful," says a deputy,3427 "screams, murmurs, stampings, shouts... The foulest insults were launched from the galleries." "For a long time," says another, "no one can speak here without obtaining their permission."3428 The day that Buzot obtains the floor to speak against Marat, "they break out furiously, yelling, stamping, and threatening";3429 every time that Buzot tries to begin his voice is drowned in the clamor, while he remains half an hour in the tribune without completing a sentence. On the calls of the House, especially, their cries resemble those of the excited crowd at a Spanish bull-fight, with their eager eyes and heaving breasts, watching the contest between the bull and the picadores; every time that a deputy votes against the death of the King or for an ap

ts who voted for an appeal to the people."3436 Some of the appelants are singled out by name through placards; Thibaut, bishop of Cantal, while reading the poster on the wall relating to him, hears some one along side of him say: "I should like to know that bishop of Cantal; I would make bread tasteless to him." Roughs point out certain deputies leaving the Assembly, and exclaim: "Those are the beggars to cut up!"-From week to week signs of insurrection increase and multiply, like flashes of lightning in a coming tempest. On the 1st of January, "it is rumored that the barriers are to be closed at night, and that domiciliary visits are going to begin again."3437 On the 7th of January, on the motion of the Gravilliers section, the Commune demands of the Minister of War 132 cannon stored at Saint Denis, to divide among the sections. On the 15th of January the same section proposes to the other forty-seven to appoint, as on the 10th of August, special commissaries to meet at the Evêché and watch over public safety. That same day, to prevent the Convention from misunderstanding the object of these proceedings, it is openly stated in the tribunes that the cannon brought to Paris "are for another 10th of August against that body." The same day, military force has to be employed to prevent bandits from going to the prisons "to renew the massacres." On the 28th of January the Palais-Royal, the resort of the pleasure-seeking, is surrounded by Santerre, at eight o'clock in the evening, and "about six thousand men, found without a certificate of civism," are arrested, subject to the decision one by one of their section.-Not only does the lightning flash, but already the bolt descends in isolated places.3438 On the 31st of De

fear and mor

e majority.-Effect

wardice.-Effect of

s of the Girondin

of the M

hat the strongest party is the safest," say to themselves "that it is prudent, and necessary not to annoy the people in their furor," make up their minds "to keep aloof shielded by their silence and insignificance."3441 Among the five hundred deputies of the Plain, many are of this stamp. They begin to be called "the Marsh Frogs." In six months they settle down of themselves into so many silent onlookers, or, rather, homicidal puppets, "whose hearts, shrunk through fear, rise in their throats"3442 every time that Robespierre looks at them. Long before the fall of the Girondists, "dow

f wine matter in this

shut the mouths of their Jacobin calumniators.3447 According to Berlier, it is essential to vote death for, why vote for exile? Louis XVI. would be torn to pieces before reaching the frontier.3448-On the eve of the verdict, Vergniaud says to M. de Ségur: "I vote Death? It is an insult to suppose me capable of such a disgraceful act!" And, "he sets forth the frightful iniquity of such a course, its uselessness, and even its danger." "I would rather stand alone in my opinion than vote Death!"3449 The next day, having voted Death, he excuses himself by saying "that he did not think he ought to put the life of one man in the scale a

of the action.-"There is no doubt that Carnot is as honest as they are, as honest as a fanatic spectator can be."3454 Cambon, undoubtedly with as much integrity as Roland, spoke as loudly up as he against the 2nd of September, the Commune, and anarchy.3455-But, to Carnot and Cambon, who pass their nights, one in establishing his budgets, and the other in studying his military maps, they require, first of all, a government which will provide them with money and with soldiers, and, therefore, an unscrupulous and unanimous Convention; that is to say, there being no other expedient, a Convention under compulsion, i.e. a Convention purged of troublesome some, dissentient speakers;3456 in other words, the dictato

his common dogma, like a concealed weight, causes them to sink lower and lower down, even into the bottomless pit, where the State, according to the formula of Jean Jacques, omnipotent, philosophic, anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, despotic, leveling, intolerant, and propagandist, seizes education, levels fortunes, persecutes the Church, oppresses consciences, crushes out the individual, and, by military foice, imposes its structures abroad.3459 Basically, apart from the Jacobin excess of brutality and of precipitation, the Girondists, setting out from the same principles as the Jacobin "Mountain," march for

ctory over Gir

f the Girondist maj

ndered by it to

ndefinitely postponed.3461-It has summoned to its bar Fournier, Lazowski, Deffieux, and other leaders, who, on the 10th of March, were disposed to throw it out of the windows, but, on making their impudent apology, it sends them away acquitted, free, and ready to begin over again.3462 At the War Department it raises up in turn two cunning Jacobins, Pache and Bouchotte, who are to work against it unceasingly. At the Department of the Interior it allows the fall of its firmest support, Roland, and appoints Garat in his place, an ideologist, whose mind, composed of glittering generalities, with a character mad

ibune, with Fouquier-Tinville as public prosecutor, and the

h, and the confiscation of his property "of either sex," e

"outlaws aristocrats and en

tablishes a tax on the wealth of the commune in

every bag of grain to declaration an

ards six years in irons for a

ders a forced loan of a billi

wn a paid army of sans-culottes "to hold ari

Safety,3472 fashions a central motor to set these sharp scythes

s which are needed to satisfy the thirst of their yelpers; but again, at the end of March, just at the moment when it happens to escape the first Jacobin invasion, it provides for the election by each section of a Committee of Supervision, authorized to make domiciliary visits and to disarm the suspected;3474 it al

lity of a representative of the French nation,"3476 it decides that, in

olence agains

vision after March

tember, 1792, rev

vism.-Forced enlist

sums raised.-Vain

festations by yo

ry of the Jacobins

sect

castic observer,3477 "addressing t

e heads, for the reason that, with a whip of this kind, you can lash every honest man in Paris, and thus regulate public opinion. We will do more than this, because our sacrifice is not yet complete; we are disposed to make you a present of our armed force, with authority to disarm anybody

oose against each other, after you are out of

28th of March, we see in Paris a resumption of the system which, instituted by the 10th of August, was completed by the 2nd of September. In the morning, drums beat to arms; at noon, the barriers are shut, the bridges and passages guarded, and sentinels stand on the corners of the streets; no one is allowed "to pass outside the limits of his section," or circulate within them without showing his certificate of civism; houses are invested, numbers of persons are ar

tee, on its own authority, interposes barriers as it pleases in all directions, public or private, to every inhabitant within its bounds. It is impossible for any person who has not obtained his certificate3485 to have a passport for traveling, although a tradesman; no public employee, no clerk of the administration, advocate or notary can keep his place without it; no one can go out of Paris or return late at night. If one goes out to take a walk, there is danger of being arrested and brought back between two soldiers to the committee of the section; if one stays at home, it is with the chance of being inspected as a harbourer of priests or nobles. Any Parisian opening his windows in the morning may find his house surrounded by a company of carmagnoles, if he has not the indispensable certificate in his pocket.3486 In the eyes of a Jacobin committee, there is no civism but in Jacobinism, and we can imagine whether this patent would be willingly conferred on opponents, or even on the lukewarm; what examinations they would have to undergo; what questions they would be obliged to answer; how many goings and comings, solicitations, appearances and waitings would be imposed on them; with what pe

m, besides 1,000 francs for his wife and 1,000 francs for each child; if the excess is over 15,000 or 20,000 francs, they assess it 5,000 francs; if more than 40,000 or 50,000 francs, they assess it 20,000; in no case may the surplus retained exceed 30,000 francs; all above this amount goes to the State. The first third of this sudden contribution to the public funds is required in forty-eight hours, the second in a fortnight, and the remaining third in a month, un

eady, in the tribune of the Jacobin club, estimated the fortunes of one hundred of the wealthiest notaries and financiers in Paris at 640,000,000 francs; the municipality sent a list of their

Robespierre, "should not have m

without work."3495 Already through the sovereign virtue of summary requisitions, everything is spoil; carriage-horses are seized in their stables, while vehicl

cures the firm loyalty of the needy and of vagabonds; thanks to the vigorous arms of its active clients, it completely overcomes th

to protest against the ordinance of the Commune, which drafts them for the expedition to La Vendée;34100 they shout, "Vive la Republique! Vive la Loi! Down with anarchists! Send Marat, Danton and Robespierre to the Devil!" Naturally, Santerre's paid guard disperses these young sparks; about a thousand are arrested, and henceforth the rest will be careful not to make any open demonstration on the public thoroughfares.-Again, for lack of something better to do, we see them frequently returning to the section assemblies, especially early in May; they find themselves in a majority, and enter on discussions against Jacobin tyranny; at the Bon-Conseil section, and at those of Marseilles and l'Unité, Lhuillier is hooted at, Marat threatened, and Chaumette denounced.34101-But these are only flashes in the pan; to be firmly in charge in these permanent assemblies, the moderates, like the sans-culottes, would have to be in constant attendance, and use their fists every night. Unfortunately, the young men of 1793 have not yet arrived at that painful experience, that implacable hate, that athletic ruggedness which is to sustain them in 1795. "After one evening, in which the seats everywhere were broken "34102 on the backs of the contestants, they falter, and never recover themselves, the professional roughs, at the end of a fortnight, being victorious all along the line.-The better to put resistance down, the roughs form a special league amongst themselves, and go around from section to

isa

on the

isp

ta

f to the

hoever gives

mament which they have obtained from the Convention against it, attack the Girondist

cobin

constrain the Con

he Girondins.-Mean

Convention decla

mmission of Twelve

assacres.-Intervent

ad

sent forth who present the same formal communication in writing at the same time in every section in Paris.34106 "Here is a petition for signatures."-"Read it."-"But that is unnecessary-it is already adopted by a majority of the sections."-This lie is accepted by some and several sign in good faith without reading it. In others they read it and refuse to sign it; in others, again, it is read and they pass to the order of the day. What happens? T

certificat

ir expulsion.-Another day it is found that a similar summons and similarly presented, in the name of the forty-eight sections, is authorized only by thirteen or fourteen.34109-Sometimes the political parade is still more incautious. Pretended deputies of the Faubourg St. Antoine appear before the Convention and assert the revolutionary program. "If you do not adopt it," they say, "we will declare ourselves in a state of insurrection; there are 40,000 men at the door."34110 The truth is, "about fifty bandits, scarcely known in the Faubourg," and led by a former upholsterer, now a commissary of police, "have gathered together on their route" all they could find in the workshops "and in the stores," the multitude packed into the Place Vend?me not knowing what was demanded in their name.34111-These dummy tumults are, however, useful; they show the Convention its master, and prepare the way for a more efficient invasion. The day Marat was acquitted, the whole of his sewer, male and female, came along wi

and close the barriers!" The following forenoon, "all the walls in Paris are covered with posters," calling on the Parisians to "hurry up and slit the throats of the statesmen."34116-" We must do something to put an end to this!" is the slogan of the sans-culottes.-The following week, at the Jacobin club, as elsewhere, "immediate insurrection is the order of the day.... What we formerly called the sacred enthusiasm of freedom and patriotism, is now metamorphosed into the fury of an excited populace, which can no longer be regulated or discipline

se arranged beforehand; each in turn is to be passed along to the last room, where he is to be killed and his body tumbled into a hole dug in the middle of the court, and then the whole covered over with quic

we ourselves, but men who are ready

0 or 32, and some 300; the suspected of each district may be added, while ten or a dozen proscription lists are already made out. Through a clean sweep, executed the same night, at the same hour, they may be conducted to the Carmelites, near the Luxembourg, and, "if there is not room enough there," to Bicêtre; here, "they will disappear from the surface of the globe."34121 Certain leaders desired

Legislative Assemblies, all nobles, priests, pettifoggers, etc.; exterminate the wh

l slaughterers are notified. A certain Laforet, an old-clothes dealer on the Quai-du-Louvre, who, with his wife, had already distinguished themselves on the 2nd of September, reckons that "there are in Paris 6,000 sans-culottes ready to massacre at the first sign all dangerous deputies, and eight

oon, and at better work. You won't have wood to car

lf tipsy, "we'll do it as we did the 2nd

manufacturing daggers, and the women of the tribun

e down on the Commission of Twelve," and another Jacobin declares that "those who

e and force us to place the disloyal deputies under arrest." Nothing can be more moderate, and, if they refer to principles, nothing can be more correct. The people always reserves the right to cooperate with its mandatories, which right it practices daily in the galleries. Through extreme precaution, which well describes the man,34126 Robespierre refuses to go any further in his interference. "I am incapable of advising the people what steps to take for its salvation. That is not given to one man alone. I, who am exhausted by four years of revolution, and by the heart-rending spectacle of the triumph of tyranny, am not thus favored.... I, who am wasted by a slow fever, and, above all by the fever of patriotism. As I have said, there remains for me no other duty to fulfill at the pre

al Jacobin com

.-The central revol

displaced and then

ding g

de théatre, always the same and always foreseen. Legendre, one of th

'Mountain' remains quiet any longer, I shall call in the people, and tel

read through the passages and obstructed the approaches"; the deputies, Meillan, Chiappe and Lydon, on attempting to leave, are arrested, Lydon being stopped "by the point of a saber at his breast,"34130 while the leaders on the inside encourage, protect and justify their trusty aids outdoors.-Marat, with his usual audacity, on learning that Raffet, the commandant, was clearing the passages, comes to him "with a pistol in his hand and puts him under arrest,"34131 on the ground that the people and its sacred rights of petition and the petitioners must be respected. There are "five or six hundred, almost all of them armed,"34132 stationed for three hours at the doors of the hall; at the last moment, two other troops, dispatched by the Gravilliers and Croix-Rouge sections, arrive and bring them their final afflux. Thus strengthened, they spring over the benches assigned to them, spread through the hall, and mingle with the deputies who still remain in their seats. It is after m

be done over again, but not the whole of it; for Hébert and the others imprisoned remain at liberty, while the majority, which, through a sense of propriety or the instinct of self-preservation, had again placed its sentinels on the outposts, consents, either through weakness or hope

orm, under the presidency of Dobsen, a central and revolutionary executive committee. These nine persons are entirely unknown;34135 all are obscure subordinates,34136 mere puppets and manikins; eight days later, on finishing their performance, when they are no longer needed, they will be withdrawn behind the scenes. In the mean time they pass for the mandatories of the popular sovereign, with full power in all directions, because he has delegated his omnipotence to them, and the sole power, because their investiture is the most recent; under this sanction, they stalk around somewhat like supernumeraries at the Opera, dressed in purple and gold, representing a conclave of cardinals or the Diet of the Holy Empire. Never has the political drama degenerated into suc

ract of all the departments, the mirror of opinion,"34139 the advance-guard of patriotism. "Remember the 10th of August;34140 previous to that time, the opinions in the Republic were divided; but, scarcely had you struck the decisive blow when all subsided into silence. Have no fear of the departments; w

to disarm the suspected and hand their arms over to patriots; "forty sous a day are allowed to citizens with small means while under arms."34142 Notice is given without fail the preceding evening to the trusty men of the quarter; accordingly, early in the morning, the Committee of Supervision has already selected from the Jacobin sections "the most needy companies in order to arm those the most worthy of combating for liberty," while all its

e petitioners, and the galleries, seem like the constant roar of a tempest. Outside, twenty or thirty thousand men will probably clash in the streets;34146 the battalion of Butte-des-Moulins, with detachments sent by neighboring sections, is entrenched in the Palais-Royal, and Henriot, spreading the report that the rich sections of the center have displayed the white cockade, send against it the sans-culottes of the faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marceau; cannon are pointed on both sides.-These loaded cannon must not be discharged; the signal of civil war must not be given; it is simply necessary "to forestall the consequences of a movement which could be only disastrous to liberty,"34147 and it is important to ensure public order. The majority, accordingly, think

rinting-rooms of Gorsas are sacked, seals placed on his presses,34150 and Prudhomme himself is locked up. All resistance is overcome in the Contrat-Social, Fraternity, Marais and Marseilles sections, leaving the Commune free, as far as the street is concerned, to recommence its attack on the Convention. "Lists of sans-culottes workmen" have been drawn up in each section, and six francs a head is allowed them, payable by the Convention, as indemnity for their temporary suspension from work;34151 this is a premium offered to voters, and as nothing is more potent than cash in hand, Pache provides the funds by diverting 150,000 francs intended for the colonists in San Domingo; the whole day on the 2nd of June, trusted men go about among the ranks distributing five-franc assignats.34152 Vehicles loaded with supplies accompany each battalion, the better to keep the men under arms;34153 the stomach needs filling up, and a pint of wine is excellent for strengthening patriotic sentiment. Henriot has ordered back from Courbevoie the battalions of volunteers which a few days before had been enlisted for La Vendée,34154 crooked adventurers and looters, later known as "the heroes of the 500 francs." Besides these he has under his thumb Rosenthal's hussars, a body of German veterans who do not understand French, and will remain deaf to any legal summons. Finally, he surrounds the Convention with a circle of picked sans-culottes, especially the artillerists, the best of Jacobins,34155 who drag along with them the most formidable park of artillery, 163 cannons, with grates and charcoal to heat the balls. The Tuileries is thus encircled by bands of

this last straw. It rises in a body, in spite of the vociferations in the galleries, descends the great staircase, and proceeds to the entrance of the Carrousel. There the Montagnard president, Hérault-Séchelles, reads the decree of Henriot, which enjoins him to withdraw, and he officially and correctly summons him in the usual way. But a large number of the Montagnards have followed the majority, and are there to encourage the insurrection; Danton takes Henriot's hand and tells him, in a low voice, "Go ahead, don't be afraid; we want to show that the Assembly is free, be firm."34164 At this the tall bedizened gawky recovers his assurance, and in his husky voice, he addresses the president: "Hérault, the people have not come here to listen to big words. You are a good patriot... Do you promise on your head that the Twenty-two shall be given up in twenty-four hours?"-"No."-"Then, in that case, I am not responsible. To arms, cannoneers, make your guns ready!" The cannoneers take their lighted matches, "the cavalry draw their sabers, and the infantry aim at the deputies."34165 Forced back on this side, the unhappy Convention turns to the left, passes through the archway, follows the broad avenue through the garden, and advances to the Pont-Tournant to find an outlet. There is no outlet; the bridge is raised, and everywhere the barrier of pi

where they will be safe.... It is better to put up with a lesser evil than encounter a greater one." Another exclaims: "It is better not to vote than to betray one's trust." The salvo being found, all consciences are easy. Two-thirds of the Assembly declare that they will no longer take part in the discussions, hold aloof; and remain in their seats at each calling of the vote. With the exception of about fifty members of the "Right," who rise on

or Wrong,

w governors.-Why Fr

er-workmen-in short, the prominent in every pursuit, profession, state, or occupation, whoever possesses capital, a revenue, an establishment, respectability, public esteem, education and mental and moral culture. The party in June, 1793, is composed of little more than unreliable workmen, town and country vagabonds, the habitués of hospices34169, sluts of the gutter, degraded and dangerous persons,34170 the déclassé, the corrupt, the perverted, the maniacs of all sorts. In Paris, from which they command the rest of France, their troop, an insignificant minority, is recruited from that

nd the convicted, all this has been accomplished by the party. On the evening of June 2nd its bosom friend, its conscience, the filthy monstrosity, charlatan, monomaniac and murderer, who regularly every morning, effuses his political pois

ditions, the secretary effacing or adding names as he suggested

rest, see with their own eyes this Central Committee which has just started the insurrection, a

shod like slippers; almost all were dirty and poorly clad; their clothes were unbuttoned, their hair uncombed, and their faces frightful; they wore pistols in their b

has actually existed since 1789. The agents of the Duke of Orleans formed its first nucleus. It grew, became organized, had officers appointed to it, mustering points, orders of the day, and a peculiar slang.... All the revolutions were carried out by its aid; it gave impetus to popular violence wherever it did not appear en masse. On the 12th of July, 1789, it had Necker's bust carried in public and the theaters closed; on the 5th of October it started the populace off to Versailles; on the 20th of April, 1791, it caused the king's arrest in the court of the Tuileries... Led by Westermann and Fournier, it formed the central battalion in the attack of August 10, 1792; it carried out the September massacres; it pro

the Jacobin Club, or to the Commune, which held its meetings in the evening.... They scarcely took time for their natural requirements; they were often seen dining and supping at their posts when some action or an important murder was in the offing. Henriot, the commander-in-chief of both hordes, was at one time a swindler, then a police-informer, then imprisoned at Bicêtre for robbery, and then one of the September murderers. His military bearing and popularity are due to parading the streets in the uniform

aided by Jacques Roux, Leclerc, Vincent, Ronsin, and other madmen of the slums, would have put aside Danton, suppressed Robespierre, and governed France. Such are the counselors, the favorite

hat he marches in the van and holds the banner with a firm hand.34183 To tear that flag from him, to contest his pretended right, to expel him and replace him by another, would be a complete destruction of the common weal. Brave men sacrifice their own repugnance for the sake of the common good; in order to serve France, they serve her unworthy government. In the committee of war, the engineering and staff officers who give their days to the study of military maps, think of nothing else than of knowing it thoroughly; one of them, d'Arcon, "managed the raising of the siege of Dunkirk, and of the blockade of Maubeuge;34184 nobody excels him in penetration, in practical knowledge, in quick perception and in imagination; it is a spirit of flame, a brain compact of resources. I speak of him, says Mallet du Pan, "from an intimate acquaintance of ten years. He is no more a revolutionnaire than I am." Carnot34185 does even more than this: he gives up his honor when, with his colleagues on the Committee of Public Safety, Billaud-Varennes, Couthon, Saint-Just, Robespierre, he puts his name to decrees which are assassinations. A similar devotion brings recruits into the armies by hundreds of thousands, bourgeois34186 and peasants, from the volunteers of 1791 to the levies of 1793; and the latter class fight not only for France, but also, and more than all, for the Revolution. For, now that the sword is drawn, the mutual and growing exasperation leaves only the extreme parties in the field. Since the 10th of August, and m

y wintered, with naked feet, among the snows of the Vosges. These ideas, in descending from heaven to earth, were not dishonored and distorted under their feet, they did not see them transformed in their hands to frightful caricatures. These men are not pillars of clubs, nor brawlers in the sections, nor the inquisitors of a committee, nor hired informers, nor providers for the scaffold. Apart from the sabbath

on of all the treachery and stupidity in the world... In 1794 our inmost, serious sentiment was wholly contained in this idea: to be useful to our country; all other things, our clothes, our food, advancement, were poor ephemeral details. As society did not exist, there was no such thing for us as social success, tha

te of its rulers, whatever their excesses may be, whatever their crimes; for the nation ato

(re

es," AF II, 45, May

(re

" Through the pressure of the mob Paris makes the law for the Convention and for all France.-Ibid., II. 534 (during the king's trial). "All the departments of France, including that of Paris, are in reality often obliged to su

(re

or the National Convention to convince the inhabitants of Paris that they alone do not constitute the entire republic. However absurd this idea may be, it is gaining ground every day."-Ibid., Letter of Damour, vice-president of the Pantheon section, Oct. 29: "The citizen

(re

23 (report by D

(re

ut one-twentieth of those registered. Chaumette is elected in his section by 53 votes; Hébert by 56; Gency, a master-cooper, by 34; Lech

(re

ssais," III. 454. "The National Guard ceased to exist after the 10th of August."-Buzot, 454.-Sc

(re

ters of the Oise administrators, Aug. 24, Sept. 12 and 20, 1792. Lett

(re

th all that they possessed in money, jewels, and assignats." The same commissaries carry off two of the hospital sisters of charity, with all the silver plate in the establishment; the sisters are released, but the plate is not returned.-Buchez et Roux, XXVI. 209 (Patriote Fran?ais).

(re

idt, I

(re

IV. 221 to 229, 242

(re

xty appointments,... from his son-in-law, who, a vicar, was made a director at 19,000 francs salary, to his hair-dresser, a young scapegrace of nineteen, whom he makes a commissary of war".. "It was proved that he paid in full regim

(re

000 francs of the Duke of Orleans as compensation for what he had done for him. Gouverneur Morris, I. 260 (Letter of Dec. 21, 1792). The galleries force the Convention to revoke its decree

(re

e Convention cannot count in all Paris

(re

call of the houses, April 13, 1793,

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, 1792.-De Barante, III.123. The same conversation, probably after another verbal

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acobin Club. His speech against Louis XVI. is significant. "Louis is another Catiline." He should be executed, firs

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tober, 1786, etc.) The articles stolen consisted of six pieces of plate, a fine ring, gold-mounted pistols, packets of silver lace, etc.-The youth declares that

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republican fury, which is wasting me away... It is unfortunate that I cannot remain in Paris. I feel something within me which tells me that I shall float on the waves of this century... You dastards, you have not appreciated me! My

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XXVII. 144, 145.-Moniteur, XIV 80 (terms emp

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t Roux, XXVII. 254, 257, ses

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(Session of Dec.26, 17

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ee times has he resisted. "-Vergnieud declares that "The majority of the Assembly is under the yoke of a seditiou

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uvet

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, and blunderbusses."-Moore, II. 235 (October, 1792). A number of de

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Letter of Brissot to his constituents: "The brigands and the bacchantes have found their way into the new hal

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4 (Oct. 10),

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5. Speech by Lanjui

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396. Speech by Duperret,

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iteur, XIV. 746, session of Dec. 14.-Ibid., 800, s

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ntion; but it is only under the dagger and cannon of the factions."-Moniteur. XV. 180,

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16, 18, 19. "There is fear of a bloody scene the first day."-Buchez e

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387, session of Nov. 4. Speech by Royer and

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699. Letter of

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V. 697, number

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the Assembly was then traced. Several deputies which the faction wished to put out of the way had voted for death (of the king). Almost all o

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oniteur, XV.180, session of Jan. 16.-Buchez et Roux, XXIV. 292.-Moniteur, XV. 182. Letter of the mayor o

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o'clock in the morning).-Ibid. 193. Narrative of Fournier at the bar of the Convention, March 12.-Report

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s I heard, 'You rascal, we'll have your head!' And I h

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o play, filling the galleries with its satellites, who shouted out to each other the name of each deputy as he stepped up to the president's table to give his vote, and yelling savagely at every one who did not vote for immedia

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aillane, 3

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n his "Fragments pour servir à

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" ed. Barrière et Berville,

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ators... The execution to be postponed until hostilities cease. In case of invasion of the French territory by the ene

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di," V. 209. ("Sièyes," according

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nd, II.56. No

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r-Ternaux

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r-Ternaux

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égur, "Mémoi

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the Convention), "Anecdotes rel

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is" (last months of 1795). Tes

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vet,

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llan,

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Guirot ("Mémo

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hy I shall always detest the 2nd of September; for never will I approve of assassinatio

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of Lepelletier, which is all that need be said with respect to our opinions and what we will do in the coming crisis, in which, perhaps,

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ambon: "The department of Hérault says to this or that individual: 'You are rich; your opinions cause us expenditure.. I mean to fix you to the Revolution in spite of yourself. You shall lend your fortune to the republic, and when liberty is established the republic will return your capital to you

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llan.

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nstruction will be drawn from books approved of by the legislative body, and followed by hymns also approved of by the legislative. A catechism, as simple as it is short, drawn up by the legislative body, shall be taught and every boy will know it by heart."-On the sentiments of the Girondists in relation to Christianity, see chapters V. and XI. of this volume.-On the means for equalizing the fortunes, see

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ion of May 28, vote on the mainten

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395, session o

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of March 1

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ks that this is equivalent to declaring war against all Europe except Switzerland.-Mallet du Pan, "Considerations sur la Revolution de France," p.37: "In a letter which chance h

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13; title II. articles 2, 3. Add to this the decree of March 29-31, establishing the penalty

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5 (article 6).-Cf. the decrees o

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of Marc

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e of Ap

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xing the highest price at wh

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ing on the reduction in value

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e of Ma

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ords used by Danton in t

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of Apri

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16, 22, 23, 24, 25,

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arch 21-23 and

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s of Mar

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e of Ap

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32. Report by D

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volutionary committees; for example, F7, 2475, the section of the Pikes or of the Place Vend?me. We see by the official reports dated March 28 and the foll

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Nationales," F7, 2494, section of th

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97, records of debate in the committees of supervision belonging to the sections of the Réunion and Droits de l'Homme. Quality of mind and education are both indicated by orthography. For instance: "Le dit jour et an que dé?us."-"Orloger."-"Lecture d'une lettre

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3294. Section of the Réunio

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168. An ordinance of

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23. Report by

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Ordinance of May 27. XXXVI

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cial reports of the month of April.-Buchez et Roux, XXV. 149,

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hter and a Saint-Bartholomew are all that are talked of. "-Meillan, 55. "Let anybody in any assemblage or club express any opinion not in unison with municipal views, and he is sure to be arrested the following night. "-Gouverneur Morris, March 29, 1793. "

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I. 384. Speech by Buz

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VI. 332. Ordinance o

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16. Report by D

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," AF, II. 43). Letter addressed to the representatives of the people by the administrators of the department of the Rh?ne, June 4, 1793. The revolutionary committee "designated for La Vendée those citizens who w

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rd the apportionment 'lists simply as guides, without regarding them as a basis of action."-Article 14. "The personal and real property of those who

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I. 238). The authorized tax by the commissaries of the convention amounted to six millions. The revolutionary committee levied thirty and forty millions, payable in twenty-f

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. 463, session of the

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llan,

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ve the country."-Ibid. N-: "Revolutionary battalions should be maintained in the department at the expense of the rich, who are cowards."-Ibid., XXVII. 317. Petition of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, May 11.-Schmidt, I. 315 (Report by Dut

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éunion, official reports of May 15 and 16.-Buchez e

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hatred of the rich by the poor. One must be a dull observer not to see by a thousand symptoms th

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Marat's journal of the 5th of January and of the 25th of February. The article whic

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y Marat,114. Bulletin of the revolutiona

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article by Marat.-Schmidt, I. 184. Report by Dutard, May 5.-Paris,

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358 Protests of the sections of Bon-Conseil and the Unité, (May 5).-XXVII. 71. Defeat of the anarchists in the section of Butté-des-Moulins. "A great many sections openly show a determination to put anarchy down." (Patrio

2 (r

I. 189. Dut

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ce."-Adhesion of the section of Les Amis de la Patrie.-Buchez et Roux, XXVII. 138. (Article of the Patriote Fran?ais, May 19): "This brigandage is called assembly of combined sections."-Ibid., 236, May 26, session of the commune. "Deputations of the Montreuil, Quinze-Vingts and Droits de l'Homme sections came to the assistance of the Arsenal patriots; the aristocrats took to flight, leaving their hats behind them."-Schmidt, I. 213, 313 (Dutard, May 13 and 27). Vio

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x, III. 220, on the vice-president Sagnier, May 10.-Buchez et Roux, XXVII. 231, May 26, on the five citizens of the U

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4. Speech of Léonard Bourdo

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lso by the commune, and presented to the Convention April 15.-Others have preceded it, like pilot ballons.-Ibid.

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215 signatures. "The petition was first signed by about 200 clubbists, who pretended to be the people... They spread the report among the people that all who would not sign the address would be blacklisted or proscribed. That's why they had desks set up in all the public squares, and seized by the arm all who came, and forced them to sign. As this approach did not prove fruitful they made children t

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ais (in the memoirs of D

9 (r

llan,

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XXVI. 3!9 (May 1

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s the crowd sent new deputies, the latter stating in

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et Roux,

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Roux, XXVII.

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I. 218. "A plot is really under way, and many

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9. Speech of Guadet to

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XXVII. 2. Patriote

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Report of Dutard,

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54. Report of

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8). Attempts at murder had already occurred. "Lanjuinais came near being killed. Many of the deputies were insulted and threatened. The armed force joins

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e by eye witnesses. The propositions for the massacre were made in the meetings

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rties is very marked in Gonchon's letters. ("Archives Nationales," AF, II. 43. letters of Gonchon to Garat, May 31, June 1 and 3.) "Keep up the courage of the Convention. It need not be afraid. The citizens of Lyons have covered themselves with glory. They displayed the greatest courage in every fight that took place in various quarters of the town, and the greatest magnanimity to their enemies, who behaved most villainously." The municipal body had sent a flag of truce, pretending to negotiate, and then treacherously opened fire with its cannon on the columns of the sections, and cast the wounded into the river. The citizens of

2 (r

35. Report of P

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etc.", p. 195.-Buche

4 (r

30,000 strong, has taken Marvejols, and is about to take Mende (Buchez et Roux XXVII. 387).-A threatening address from Bordeaux (May 14) and from th

5 (r

r-Ternaux

6 (r

II. 297, session of t

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the Convention, June 13). "Without the canon of the 31st of May, without the insurrection the conspirators would have triumphed; they would have given us the law. Let the crime of that insurrection be on our heads! That insurrection-I myself demanded it!... I demand a declaration by the Convention, that without the insurrection of May 31, liberty would be no more!"-Ibid., 220. Speech by Leclerc a

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44. Report by D

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session of May 27.-Mortimer-Ternaux, VII. 294.-Buc

0 (r

ux, XXVII. 258

1 (r

, XXVII. 259 (wo

2 (r

uchez et Roux, X

3 (r

ut to vote."-Buchez et Roux, XXVII. 278. Speech by Osselin, session of May 28: "I presented the decree as drawn up to the secretaries for their signatures this morning. One of them, after reading it, observed to me that the last article had not been decreed, but th

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he majority of the section, known for incivism and its antirevolutionary spirit, would decline this election or would elect commissarie

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a, Dubuisson, Gusman, the two brothers Frey, etc., were set up by the commune as an insurrectionary committee." M

6 (r

Mont-Blanc; Séguy, of the section of Butte-des-Moulins; Moissard, of Grenelle; Berot, canton d'Issy; Rousselin, section of the Unité; Marchand, section of Mont-Blanc; Grespin, section of Gravilliers." They resign on the 6th o

7 (r

l reports of the commune, May 31.-Ib

8 (r

74 Speech by Hassenfratz t

9 (r

46 (speech by Lhuillier in

0 (r

vention, May 30. Words uttered by Hassenfratz, V

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Conversation of Madam Roland on the evening of Ma

2 (r

323. Official reports

3 (r

revolutionary committee of the Réunion section, o

4 (r

ented by the commissaries in the name of forty-eight sections; their credentia

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le to accept the above important measures... until the perturbators of the Assembly, known under the title of the 'Right,' did themselves the justice to perceive

6 (r

aulieu, May 31.-Declaration of Henriot, Germi

7 (r

I. 565. Letter of the

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mation of the revolutionary committee, June 1. "Your delegates have ordered the arrest of all suspecte

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ry will be saved by awaiting (en atendans) with courage the decree which is to be rendered to prevent traitors (les traitre) from longer sitting in the senate house."-Ibid., June 4. The committee decides that it will add new members to its number, but they will be taken only from all "good sans-cullote; no notary, no notary's clerk, no lawyers nor their clerks, no banker nor rich landlord" being admissible, unless he gives evidence of unmistakable c

0 (r

t Roux, XX

1 (r

.357. Official reports

2 (r

.-"Diurnal," of Beaulieu, June 2.-Buchez

3 (r

. 357. Official reports

4 (r

Buchez et Roux, XXVIII.

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alist; that he was threatened with the lock-up, and that his liberty was solely due to the brave citizens of the Sans-culottes section and the gunners of the Beaurepaire section who went with him."-Preparations for the investment began on the 1st of June. ("Archives

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but without any evidence. Judging by various indications I should put the number much

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hrough the whole of one battalion; the men all said that they did not k

8 (r

ssion of the Convention, June 2.

9 (r

une 2 "The deputies were so surrounded as not to be able to go out e

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din.-Meillan, 237.-Mortimer-Ternaux VII. 547

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those called Girondists thought it best to stay away."-Letter of Vergniaud June 3 (in the R

2 (r

is, "Fragm

3 (r

t Roux, XX

4 (r

9. Words of Danton (according to the

5 (r

. Report by Saladin.-Meilla

6 (r

et Roux,

7 (r

569. Letter of the depu

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Chasles in the Convention, May 2: "The

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dom, have a right to be supported. Society pays the cost, but shuts them up and sets them to work. As this condition is repugna

0 (r

incessantly the approaches to the Convention... At the entrance or exit of the Convention the astonished spectator thought that a new invasion of barbarian hordes ha

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in America"-He often insists on this essential characteristic of the French Revolution.-On this ever-presen

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II. Letter of the dep

3 (r

In the afternoon Marat comes to the commune, harrangues the council, and gives the insurrect

4 (r

ion,

5 (r

Chaumette do everything he could to hinder this glorious revolution,... exclaim, shed tears, and tear his h

6 (r

0.-Cf. "Le vieux Cordelier,

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m that his staff 'was behaving very badly, acting tyrannically in the most outrageous manner at the theaters and everywhere else, striking women and tearing their bonnets to pieces. Your men commit rape, pillage, and massacre.' To which he replied; 'W

8 (r

et Roux,

9 (r

ais sur la Révol

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artisan who seemed to me to have been a soldier... Apparently he had associated only with disorderly men;

1 (r

bath. Adherent of the Revolution, she considered Marat as being responsible for the elim

2 (r

rit of counter-revolution was nothing else than the sentiment of self-preservation." It was

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a situation to know the truth and deeply interested to prove the contrary, it is an undoubted truth t

4 (r

du Pan,

5 (r

hematician, member of the committee of public safety, organized

6 (r

The second, composed of well-to-do people, fills the administrative positions. It is against them that the fury of the turbulent is aimed; but those of this class who could make resistance have gone to fight the enemy abroad. The third class, and the most numerous, is made up in part of the seditious and in part of laborers, who, not daring to mix in the revolt, content themselves with coveting the tax on grain."-Tou

7 (r

gns to France more than a hundred battalions, which, with

8 (r

t-Cyr, "Mémoires," and Fervel, "Campagnes de la Ré

9 (r

Memoires s

0 (r

tism made up for everything; it alone gave us