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The Beginnings of Anarchy
[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.
Paris up to the 14th of July
[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.
[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).