|
|
|
The Constituent Assembly
[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.)
The Damage
[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.