|
|
|
____________________________________________________________________
[1] Law of May 28, 29, 1791 (according to official statements, the
total of active citizens amounted to 4,288,360). -- Laws of July 23,
Sept. 12, Sept. 29, 1791. -- Buchez et Roux, XII. 310.
[2] Bucher Ct Roux, XII. 33. -- Mortimer-Ternaux, "Histoire de la
Terreur," II. 205, 348. -- Sauzay, II. ch. XVIII -- AIbert Babeau, I.
ch. XX.
[3] Lenin repeated this performance in 1917 and Stalin attempted to
do the same in the rest of the World. (SR)..
[4] The following letter, by Camille Desmoulins (April 3, 1792), shows
at once the time consumed by public affairs, the sort of attraction
they had, and the kind of men which they diverted from their business.
"I have gone back to my old profession of the law, to which I give
nearly all the time which my municipal or electoral functions, and the
Jacobins (club), allow me -- that is to say, very little. It is very
disagreeable to me to come down to pleading bourgeois cases after
having managed interests of such importance, and the affairs of the
government, in the face of all Europe."
[5] I cannot help but think of the willful proliferation of idle
functionaries, pensioners and other receivers of public funds which
today vote for the party which represents their interests. (SR.)
[6] Sauzay, II. 83-89 and 123. A resolution of the inhabitants of
Chalèze, who, headed by their municipal officers, declare themselves
unanimously "non-conformists," and demand "the right of using a temple
for the exercise of their religious opinions, belonging to them and
built with their contributions" On the strength of this, the municipal
officers of Chalèze are soundly rated by the district administration,
which thus states what principles are: "Liberty, indefinite for the
private individual, must be restricted for the public man whose
opinions must conform to the law: otherwise, . . he must renounce all
public functions."
[7] Archives Nationales," F7, 3,253 (letter of the department
directory, April 7, 1792). "On the 25th of January, in our report to
the National Assembly, we stated the almost general opposition which
the execution of the laws relating to the clergy has found in this
department . . . nine-tenths, at least, of the Catholics refusing to
recognize the sworn priests. The teachers, influenced by their old
curés or vicars, are willing to take the civic oath, but they refuse
to recognize their legitimate pastors and attend their services. We
are, therefore, obliged to remove them, and to look out for others to
replace them. The citizens of a large number of the communes,
persisting in trusting these, will lend no assistance whatever to the
election of the new ones; the result is, that we are obliged, in
selecting these people, to refer the matter to persons whom we
scarcely know, and who are scarcely better known to the directories of
the district. As they are elected against the will of the citizens,
they do not gain their confidence, and draw their salaries from the
commune treasury, without any advantage to public instruction,"
[8] Mercure de France, Sep. 3, 1791. "The right of attending primary
meetings is that of every citizen who pays a tax of three livres;
owing to the violence to which opinions are subject, more than one-
half of the French are compelled to stay away from these reunions,
which are abandoned to persons who have the least interest in
maintaining public order and in securing stable laws, with the least
property, and who pay the fewest taxes."
[9] "The French Revolution," Vol. I. p. 182 and following pages.
[10] "Correspondence of M. de Staël" (manuscript), Swedish ambassador,
with his court, Sept 4, 1791. "The change in the way of thinking of
the democrats is extraordinary; they now seem convinced that it is
impossible to make the Constitution work. Barnave, to my own
knowledge, has declared that the influence of assemblies in the future
should be limited to a council of notables, and that all power should
be in the government"
[11] Ibid. Letter of July 17, 1791. "All the members of the Assembly,
with the exception of three or four, have passed a resolution to
separate from the Jacobins; they number about 3oo." -- The seven
deputies who remain at the Jacobin Club, are Robespierre, Pétion,
Grégoire, Buzot, Coroller, and Abbé Royer.
[12] "Les Feuillants" Was a political club consisting of
constitutional monarchists who held their meetings in the former
Feuillants monastery in Paris from 1791 to 1792. (SR).
[13] Decree of Sept 29, 30, 1791, with report and instructions of the
Committee on the Constitution.
[14] Decree of May 17, 1791. -- Malouet, XII. 161. 'There was nothing
left to us but to make one great mistake, which we did not fail to
do."
[15] A few months after this, on the election of a mayor for Paris,
the court voted against Lafayette, and for Pétion
[16] M. de Montlosier, "Mémoires," II. 309. "As far as concerns
myself, truth compels me to say, that I was stuck on the head by three
carrots and two cabbages only." -- Archives of the prefecture of
police (decisions of the police court, May 15, 1790). Moniteur, V.
427. "The prompt attendance of the members at the hour of meeting, in
spite of the hooting and murmurings of the crowd, seemed to convince
the people that this was yet another conspiracy against liberty."
[17] This is what is, today in 1998, taking place whenever any
political faction, disliked by the Socialists, try to arrange a
meeting. (SR).
[18] Malout, II. 50. - Mercure de France, Jan. 7, Feb. 5, and April
9, 1791 (letter of a member of the Monarchical Club
[19] Ferrières, II. 222. "The Jacobin Club sent five or six hundred
trusty men, armed with clubs," besides "about a hundred national
guards, and some of the Palais-Royal prostitutes."
[20] Journal des Amis de la Constitution." Letter of the Café
National! Club at Bordeaux, Jan. 20, 1791. -- Letters of the "Friends
of the Constitution," at Brives and Cambray, Jan. 19, 1791.
[21] "The French Revolution," I. pp. 243, 324.
[22] Mercure de France, Dec.18, 1790, Jan. 17, June 8, and July 14,
1791. -- Moniteur, VI. 697. -- "Archives Nationales," F7, 3,193.
Letter from the Directory of the department of Aveyron, April 20,
1792. Narrative of events after the end of 1790. -- May 22, 1791, the
club of "The Friends of Order and Peace" is burned by the Jacobins,
the fire lasting all night and a part of the next day. (Official
report of the Directory of Milhau, May 22, 1791).
[23] "The French Revolution," I. 256, 307.
[24] Mercure de France, Dec. 14, 1790 (letter from Villeneuve-St.-
Georges, Nov.29).
[25] "Archives Nationales," II. 1,453. Correspondence of M. Bercheny.
Letter from Pau, Feb. 7, 1790. "No one has any idea of the actual
state of things, in this once delightful town. People are cutting each
other's throats. Four duels have taken place within 48 hours, and ten
or a dozen good citizens have been obliged to hide themselves for
three days past"
[26] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3,249. Memorial on the actual
condition of the town and district of Mortagne, department of Orne
(November, 1791).
[27] Revolutionary song with the refrain: "Les aristocrates, à la
lanterne, tous les aristocrates on les pendra" (all the aristocrats
will hang). (SR)
[28] On the 15th of August, 1791, the mother-superior of the Hôtel-
Dieu hospital is forcibly carried off and placed in a tavern, half a
league from the town, while the rest of the nuns are driven out and
replaced by eight young girls from the town. Among other motives that
require notice is the hostility of two pharmacists belonging to the
club; in the Hotel-Dieu the nuns, keeping a pharmacy from which they
sold drugs at cost and thereby brought themselves into competition
with the two pharmacists.
[29] Cf. "Archives Nationales," DXXIX. 13. Letter of the municipal
officers and notables of Champceuil to the administrators of Seine-et-
Oise, concerning elections, June 17, 1791. -- Similar letters, from
various other parishes, among them that of Charcon, June 16: "They
have the honor to inform you that, at the time of the preceding
primary meetings, they were exposed to the greatest danger; that the
curé of Charcon, their pastor, was repeatedly stabbed with a bayonet,
the marks of which he will carry to his grave. The mayor, and several
other inhabitants of Charcon, escaped the same peril with difficulty."
- Ibid., letters from the administrators of Hautes-Alpes to the
National Assembly (September, 1791), on the disturbances in the
electoral assembly of Gap, August 29, 1791.
[30] Police searches of private homes. (SR).
[31] "The French Revolution," pp. 159, 160, 310, 323, 324. -
Lauvergne, "Histoire du département du Var," (August 23).
[32] '"Archives Nationales," F7, 3,198, deposition of Vérand-Icard,
an elector at Arles, Sep. 8, 1791. - Ibid., F7, 3,195. Letter of the
administrators of the Tarascon district, Dec. 8, 1791. Two parties
confront each other at the municipal elections of Barbantane, one
headed by the Abbé Chabaud, brother of one of the Avignon brigands,
composed of three or four townsmen, and of "the most impoverished in
the country," and the other, three times as numerous, comprising all
the land-owners, the substantial métayers and artisans, and all "who
are most interested in a good administration" The question is, whether
the Abbé Chabaud is to be mayor. The elections took place Dec.5th,
1791. Here is the official report of the acting mayor: mayor: "We,
Pierre Fontaine, mayor, addressed the rioters, to induce them to keep
the peace. At this very moment, the said Claude Gontier, alias Baoque,
struck us with his fist on the left eye, which bruised us
considerably, and on account of which we are almost blind, and,
conjointly with others, jumped upon us, threw us down, and dragged us
by the hair, continuing to strike us, from in front of the church
door, till we came in front of the door a, the town hall."
[33] Ibid., F7, 3,229. Letters of M. de Laurède, June 18, 1791; from
the directory of the department, June 8, July 31, and Sept. 22, 1791;
from the municipality, July 15, 1791. The municipality "leaves the
release of the prisoners in suspense," for six months, because, it
says, the people is disposed to "insurrectionise against their
discharge." - Letter of many of the national guard, stating that the
factions form only a part of it.
[34] Mercure de France, Dec. 10, 1791, letter from Montpellier, dated
Nov. 17, 1791. -- " Archives Nationales," F7, 3,223. Extracts from
letters, on the incidents of Oct. 9 and 12, 1791. Petition by Messrs.
Théri and Devon, Nov. 17, 1791. Letter addressed them to the Minister,
Oct. 25. Letters of M. Dupin, syndical attorney of the department, to
the Minister, Nov.14 and 15, and Dec. 26, 1791 (with official
reports). -- Among those assassinated on the 14th and 15th of
November, we find a jeweler, an attorney, a carpenter, and a dyer.
"This painful Scene," writes the syndic attorney, "has restored quiet
to the town."
[35] Buchez et Roux, X. 223 (1'Ami du Peuple, June 17, 19, 21, 1791)
 |  |  |
|
|
|