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[1]"Correspondence (manuscript) of Baron de Staël," with his Court in
Sweden. Oct. 6, 1791.
[2] "Souvenirs", by PASQUIER (Etienne-Dennis, duc), chancelier de
France. in VI volumes, Librarie Plon, Paris 1893. - Dumouriez,
"Mémoires," III. ch. V: "The Jacobin party, having branches all over
the country, used its provincial clubs to control the elections. Every
crackbrain, every seditious scribbler, all the agitators were elected
. . . very few enlightened or prudent men, and still fewer of the
nobles, were chosen."-- Moniteur, XII. 199 (meeting of April 23,
1792). Speech M. Lecointe-Puyravaux. "We need not dissimulate; indeed,
we are proud to say, that this legislature is composed of persons who
are not rich."
[3] Mathieu Dumas, "Mémoires," I. 521. "The excitement in the
electoral assemblages was very great; the aristocrats and large land-
owners abstained from coming there." -- Correspondance de Mirabeau et
du Comte de la Mark, III. 246, Oct.10, 1791. "Nineteen twentieths of
this legislature have no other transportation (turn-out) than galoshes
and umbrellas. It has been estimated, that all these deputies put
together do not possess 300,000 livres solid income. The majority of
the members of this Assembly have received no education whatever."
[4] They rank as Maréchaux de camp, a grade corresponding to that of
brigadier-general. They are Dupuy-Montbrun (deceased in March, 1792),
Descrots-d'Estrée, a weak and worn old man whom his children forced
into the Legislative Assembly, and, lastly, Mathieu Dumas, a
conservative, and the only prominent one.
[5] "Correspondance du Baron de Staël," Jan.19, 1792. -- Gouverneur
Morris (II.162, Feb. 4, 1792) writes to Washington that M. de
Warville, on the diplomatic committee, proposed to cede Dunkirk and
Calais to England, as a pledge of fidelity by France, in any
engagement which she might enter into. You can judge, by this, of the
wisdom and virtue of the faction to which he belongs -- Buchez et
Roux, XXX 89 (defense of Brissot, Jan. 5, 1793) "Brissot, like all
noisy, reckless, ambitious men, started in full blast with the
strangest paradoxes. In 1780. in his 'Recherches philosophiques sur le
droit de propriété,' he wrote as follows: 'If 40 crowns suffice to
maintain existence, the possession of 200,000 crowns is plainly unjust
and a robbery . . . Exclusive ownership is a veritable crime against
nature . . . The punishment of robbery in our institutions is an act
of virtue which nature herself commands.'"
[6] Moniteur, speech by Cambon, sittings of Feb. 2 and April 20, 1792.
[7] Ibid., (sitting of April 3). Speech by M. Cailliasson. The
property belonging to the nation, sold and to be sold, is valued at
2,195 millions, while the assignats already issued amount to 2,100
millions. -- Cf. Mercure de France, Dec. 17, 1791, p.201; Jan.28,
1792, p. 215; May 19, 1792, p. 205. -- Dumouriez, "Mémoires," III.
296, and 339, 340, 344, 346. - "Cambon, a raving lunatic, without
education, humane principle, or integrity (public) a meddler, an
ignoramus, and very giddy. He tells me that one resource remained to
him, which is, to seize all the coin in Belgium, all the plate
belonging to the churches, and all the cash deposits . . . that, on
ruining the Belgians, on reducing them to the same state of suffering
as the French, they would necessarily share their fate with them; that
they would then be admitted members of the Republic, with the prospect
of always making headway, through the same line of policy; that the
decree of Dec. 15, 1792, admirably favored this and, because it tended
to a complete disorganization, and that the luckiest thing that could
happen to France was to disorganize all its neighbors and reduce them
to the same state of anarchy." (This conversation between Cambon and
Dumouriez occurs in the middle of January, 1793.) - Moniteur, XIV. 758
(sitting of Dec. 15, 1792). Report by Cambon.
[8] Chronique de Paris, Sept. 4, 1792. "It is a sad and terrible
situation which forces a people, naturally amiable and generous, to
take such vengeance! " - Cf. the very acute article, by St. Beuve, on
Condorcet, in "Causeries du Lundi," -- Hua (a colleague of Condorcet,
in the Legislative Assembly), "Mémoires," 89. "Condorcet, in his
journal, regularly falsified things, with an audacity which is
unparelleled. The opinions of the 'Right' were so mutilated and
travestied the next day in his journal, that we, who had uttered them,
could scarcely recognise them. On complaining of this to him and on
charging him with perfidy, the philosopher only smiled."
[9] Malouet, II. 215. -- Dumouriez, III. ch. V. "They were elected to
represent the nation to defend, they say, its interests against a
perfidious court."
[10] Moniteur, X. 223 (session of Oct. 26, 1791). Speech by M.
François Duval. -- Grandiloquence is the order of the day at the very
first meeting. On the 1st of October, 1791, twelve old men, marching
in procession, go out to fetch the constitutional act. "M. Camus,
keeper of the records, with a composed air and downcast eyes, enters
with measured steps," bearing in both hands the sacred document which
he holds against his breast, while the deputies stand up and bare
their heads. "People of France," says an orator, "citizens of Paris,
all generous Frenchmen, and you, our fellow citizens -- virtuous,
intelligent women, bringing your gentle influence into the sanctuary
of the law -- behold the guarantee of peace which the legislature
presents to you!" -- We seem to be witnessing the last act of an
opera.
[11] Ibid., XII. 230 (sessions of April 26 and May 5). Report and
speech by François de Nantes. The whole speech, a comic treasure from
the beginning to the end, ought to have been quoted: "Tell me, pontiff
of Rome, what your sentiments will be when you welcome your worthy and
faithful co-operators? . . I behold your sacred hands, ready to launch
those pontifical thunderbolts, which, etc. . . Let the brazier of
Scœvola be brought in, and, with our outstretched palms above the
burning coals, we will show that there is no species of torture, no
torment which can excite a frown on the brow of him whom the love of
country exalts above humanity!" -- Suppose that, just at this moment,
a lighted candle had been placed under his hand!
[12] Moniteur, XI. 179 (session of Jan. 20, 1792). - Ibid., 216
(session of Jan. 24). - XII. 426 (May 9).
[13] Ibid., XII. 479 (session of May 24). - XIII. 71 (session of July
7, speech by Lasource). - Cf. XIV. 301 (session of July 31) a
quotation from Voltaire brought in for the suppression of the
convents.
[14] Moniteur. Speech by Aubert Dubayer, session of Aug. 30.
[15] Speech by Chaumette, procureur of the commune, to the newly
married. (Mortimer-Ternaux, IV. 408).
[16] The class to which they belonged has been portrayed, to the life,
by M. Roye-Collard (Sainte-Beuve, "Nouveaux Lundis," IV. 263): "A
young lawyer at Paris, at first received in a few houses on the Ile
St. Louis, he soon withdrew from this inferior world of attorneys and
pettyfoggers, whose tone oppressed him. The very thought of the
impression this gallant and intensely vulgar mediocrity made upon him,
still inspired disgust. He much preferred to talk with longshoremen,
if need be, than with these scented limbs of the law."
[17] Etienne Dumont, "Mémoires," 40. -- Mercure de France, Nov. 19,
1791; Feb. 11 and March 3, 1792. (articles by Mallet du Pan).
[18] Moniteur, Dec. 17 (examination at the bar of the house of Rauch,
a pretended labor contractor, whom they are obliged to send off
acquitted). Rauch tells them: "I have no money, and cannot find a
place where I can sleep at less than 6 sous, because I pee in the
bed." -- Moniteur, XII. 574. (session of June 4), report by Chabot: "A
peddler from Mortagne, says that a domestic coming from Coblentz told
him that there was a troop about to carry off the king and poison him,
so as to throw the odium of it on the National Assembly." Bernassais
de Poitiers writes: "A brave citizen told me last evening: 'I have
been to see a servant-girl, living with a noble. She assured me that
her master was going to-night to Paris, to join the 30,000, who, in
about a month, meant to cut the throats of the National Assembly and
set fire to every corner of Paris!'" - "M. Gerard, a saddler at
Amiens, writes to us that Louis XVI is to be aided in his flight by
5,000 relays, and that afterwards they are going to fire red-hot
bullets on the National Assembly."
[19] Mercure de France, Nov. 5, 1791 (session of Oct. 25). -- Ibid.,
Dec. 23.-Moniteur, XII. 192 (session of April 21, 1792). -- XII. 447
(address to the French, by Clootz): "God brought order out of
primitive chaos; the French will bring order out of feudal chaos. God
is mighty, and manifested his will; we are mighty, and we will
manifest our will. . . The more extensive the seat of war the sooner,
and more fortunately, will the suit of plebeians against the nobles be
decided. . . We require enemies, . . Savoy, Tuscany, and quickly,
quickly!"
[20] Cf. Moniteur, XI. 192 (sitting of Jan. 22, 1792). "M. Burnet,
chaplain of the national guard, presents himself at the bar of the
house with an English woman, named Lydia Kirkham, and three small
children, one of which is in her arms. M. Burnet announces that she is
his wife and that the child in her arms is the fruit of their
affection. After referring to the force of natural sentiments which he
could not resist, the petitioner thus continues: 'One day, I met one
of those sacred questioners. Unfortunate man, said he, of what are you
guilty? Of this child, sir; and I have married this woman, who is a
Protestant, and her religion has nothing to do with mine. . . Death or
my wife! Such is the cry that nature now and always will, inspire me
with." - The petitioner receives the honors of the Assembly. - (Ibid.,
XII 369).
[21] The grotesque is often that of a farce. "M. Piorry, in the name
of poor; but virtuous citizens, tenders two pairs of buckles, with
this motto: 'They have served to hold the shoe-straps on my feet; they
will serve to reduce under them, with the imprint and character of
truth, all tyrants leagued against the constitution' (Moniteur, XII.
457, session of May 21)" - Ibid., XIII. 249 (session of July 25). "A
young citoyenne offers to combat, in person, against the enemies of
her country;" and the president, with a gallant air, replies: "Made
rather to soothe, than to combat tyrants, your offer, etc."
[22] Moniteur, XL 576 (session of March 6); XII. 237, 314, 368
(sessions of April 27, May 5 and 14).
[23] Mercure de France. Sept. 19,1791, Feb.11, and March 3, 1792. --
Buchez et Roux, XVI 185 (session of July 26, 1792).
[24] "Mémoires de Mallet du Pan," 1433 (tableau of the three parties,
with special information).
[25] Buchez et Roux, XII. 348 (letter by the deputy Chéron, president
of the Feuillants Club). The deputies of the Legislative Assembly,
registered at the Feuillants Club, number 264 besides a large number
of deputies in the Constituent Assembly. -- According to Mallet du Pan
the so-called Independents number 250.
[26] These figures are verified by decisive ballottings (Mortimer-
Ternauz, II. 205, 348.)
[27] Moniteur, XII. 393 (session of May 15, speech by Isnard): "The
Constituent Assembly only half dared do what it had the power to do.
It has left in the field of liberty, even around the very roots of the
young constitutional tree, the old roots of despotism and of the
aristocracy . . . It has bound us to the trunk of the constitutional
tree, like powerless victims given up to the rage of their enemies." -
- Etienne Dumont saw truly the educational defects peculiar to the
party. He says, apropos of Madame Roland: "I found in her too much of
that distrustful despotism which belongs to ignorance of the world . .
. What her intellectual development lacked was a greater knowledge of
the world and intercourse with men of superior judgment to her own.
Roland himself had little intellectual breadth, while all those who
frequented her house never rose above the prejudices of the vulgar."
[28] "Souvenirs", by PASQUIER (Etienne-Dennis, duc), chancelier de
France. in VI volumes, Librarie Plon, Paris 1893.
[29] Madame de Stael, "Considerations sur la Révolution Française,
IIIrd part, ch. III.-Madame de Staël conversed with them and judges
them according to the shrewd perceptions of a woman of the world.
[30] Louvet, "Mémoires" 32. "I belonged to the bold philosophers who,
before the end of 1791, lamented the fate of a great nation, compelled
to stop half-way in the career of freedom," and, on page 38 -- "A
minister of justice was needed. The four ministers (Roland, Servane,
etc.) "cast their eyes on me. . . Duranthon was preferred to me. This
was the first mistake of the republican party. It paid dear for it.
That mistake cost my country a good deal of blood and many tears."
Later on, he thinks that he has the qualifications for ambassador to
Constantinople.
[31] Buzot, "Mémoires" (Ed. Dauban), pp.31, 39. "Born with a proud and
independent spirit which never bowed at any one's command, how could I
accept the idea of a man being held sacred? With my heart and head
possessed by the great beings of the ancient republics, who are the
greatest honor to the human species, I practiced their maxims from my
earliest years, and nourished myself on a study of their virtues. . .
The pretended necessity of a monarchy . . . could not amalgamate, in
my mind, with the grand and noble conceptions formed by me, of the
dignity of the human species. Hope deceived me, it is true, but my
error was too glorious to allow me to repent of it." - Self-
admiration is likewise the mental substratum of Madame Roland, Roland,
Pétion, Barbaroux, Louvet, etc., (see their writings). Mallet du Pan
well says: "On reading the memoirs of Madame Roland, one detects the
actress, rehearsing for the stage. " -- Roland is an administrative
puppet and would-be orator, whose wife pulls the strings. There is an
odd, dull streak in him, peculiarly his own. For example, in 1787
(Guillon de Montléon, "Histoire de la ville de Lyon, pendant la
Révolution," 1.58), he proposes to utilize the dead, by converting
them into oil and phosphoric acid. In 1788, he proposes to the
Villefranche Academy to inquire "whether it would not be to the public
advantage to institute tribunals for trying the dead?" in imitation of
the Egyptians. In his report of Jan. 5, 1792, he gives a plan for
establishing public festivals, "in imitation of the Spartans," and
takes for a motto, Non omnis moriar (Baron de Girardot, "Roland and
Madame Roland". I. 83, 185)
[32] Political club uniting moderate and constitutional monarchists.
They got their nickname because they held their meetings in the old
convent formerly used by the feullants, a branch of Cistercians who,
led by LaBarrière, broke away in 1577. The Feuillant Club was
dissolved in 1791. (SR).
[33] Moniteur, XI. 61 (session of Jan 7, 1792). - Ibid., 204 (Jan.
25); 281 (Feb. 1); 310 (Feb. 4); 318 (Feb. 6); 343 (Feb. 9); 487 (Feb.
26). - XII. 22 (April 2). Reports of all the sessions must be read to
appreciate the force of the pressure. See, especially, the sessions of
April 9 and 16, May 15 and 29, June 8, 9, 15, and 25, July 1, 2, 5, 9,
11, 17, 18, and 21, and, after this date, all the sessions. -
Lacretelle, "Dix Ans d'Epreuves," p. 78-81. "The Legislative Assembly
served under the Jacobin Club while keeping up a counterfeit air of
independence. The progress which fear had made in the French character
was very great, at a time when everything was pitched in the
haughtiest key. . . The majority, as far as intentions go, was for the
conservatives; the actual majority was for the republicans."
[34] Moniteur, XIII. 212, session of July 22.
[35] Moniteur, XII. 22, session of April 2. - Mortimer-Ternaux, II.
95. - Moniteur, XIII. 222, session of July 22.
[36] Lacretelle, "Dix Ans d'Epreuves," 80.
[37] Mathieu Dumas, "Mémoires," II. 88 (Feb. 23). - Hua, "Mémoires"
d'un Avocat au Parliament de Paris," 106, 121, 134, 154. Moniteur,
XIII. 212 (session of July 21), speech by M. --- "The avenues to this
building are daily beset with a horde of people who insult the
representatives of the nation."
[38] De Vaublanc, "Mémoires," 344. - Moniteur, XIII. 368 (letters
and speeches of deputies, session of Aug. 9).
[39] Hua, 115. -- Ibid., 90. 3 out of 4 deputies of Seine-et-Oise were
Jacobins. "We met once a week to talk over the affairs of the
department. We were obliged to drive out the vagabonds who, even at
the table, talked of nothing but killing."
[40] Moniteur, XII. 702. For example, on the 19th of June, 1792, on a
motion unexpectedly proposed by Condorcet, that the departments be
authorized to burn all titles (to nobility) in the various depots. --
Adopted at once, and unanimously.
[41] Later Stalin and his successors should invest the United
Nations and other international organizations to indirectly propose
and ensure the acceptance of a new convention of human rights,
children's rights, the rights of refugees etc. In many cases these
became the base of national legislation which is now giving trouble to
many of the Western democracies. (SR).
[42] Hua, 114.
[43] Moniteur, XII. 664. - Mercure de France, June 23, 1792.
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