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[1] 'Thierry, son of Clovis, unwilling to take part in an expedition
of his brothers into Burgundy, was told by his men: "If thou art
unwilling to march into Burgundy with thy brothers, we will leave thee
and follow them in thy place."-- Clotaire, another of his sons,
disposed to make peace with the Saxons, "the angry Francs rush upon
him, revile him, and threaten to kill him if he declines to accompany
them. Upon which he puts himself at their head."
[2] Social condition and degree of culture are often indicated
orthographically. -- Granier de Cassagnac, II. .480. Bécard,
commanding the expedition which brought back the prisoners from
Orleans, signs himself: "Bécard, commandant congointement aveque M.
Fournier generalle. " -- "Archives Nationales," F7, 4426. Letter of
Chemin, commissioner of the Gravilliers section, to Santerre, Aug.11,
1792. "Mois Charles Chemin commissaire . . . fait part à Monsieur
Santaire générale de la troupe parisiene que le nommé Hingray
cavaliers de la gendarmeris nationalle . . me délarés qu'ille sestes
trouvés aux jourduis 11 aoux avec une home attachés à la cours aux
Equris; quille lui aves dis quiere 800 home a peupres des sidevant
garde du roy étes tous près a fondre sure Paris pour donaire du sécour
a naux rébelle et a signer avec moi la presante."
[3] On the 19th of March, 1871, I met in the Rue de Varennes a man
with two guns on his shoulder who had taken part in the pillage of the
Ecole d'Etat-major and was on his way home. I said to him: "But this
is civil war, and you will let the Prussians in Paris."- "I'd rather
have the Prussians than Thiers. Thiers is Prussian on the inside!"
[4] Today, 115 years after these words were written, we have seen
others, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, etc following in
the Jacobin's footsteps. Nobles, Bourgeois, Jews and other
undesirables have been methodically put away. The sheeplike majority
did not read Taine or did not profit from his warnings while most of
the great tyrants learned from him or from the events he described
(SR.)
[5] Moniteur, Nov. 14, 1792.
[6] "Archives Nationales," F7, 4426. Letter of the police
administrators, Aug. 11. Declaration of Delaunay, Aug. 12.
[7] Buchez et Roux, XVII. 59 (session of Aug. 12) Speech by Leprieur
at the bar of the house.
[8] Buchez et Roux, XVII. 47. - Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 31. Speech by
Robespierre at the bar of the Assembly in the name of the commune,
Aug. 15.
[9] Brissot, in his report on Robespierre's petition. - The names of
the principal judges elected show its character: Fouquier-Tinville,
Osselin, Coffinhal.
[10] Buchez et Roux, XVII.91 (Aug. 17).
[11] Stated by Pétion in his speech (Moniteur, Nov. 10, 1792).
[12] Buchez et Roux, XVII. 116 (session of Aug. 23).
[13] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 461. - Moore, I. 273 (Aug. 31).
[14] Buchez et Roux, XVII. 267 (article by Prudhomme in the
"Révolutions de Paris").
[15] "Les Révolutions de Paris," Ibid., "A number of sans-culottes
were there with their pikes; but these were largely outnumbered by the
multitude of uniforms of the various battalions." -- Moore, Aug, 31:
"At present the inhabitants of the faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-
Marceau are all that is felt of the sovereign people in Paris."
[16] More, Aug. 26.
[17] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 471. Indictment against Jean-Julien. -- In
referring to M. Mortimer-Ternaux we do so because, like a true critic,
he cites authentic and frequently unedited documents.
[18] Rétif de la Bretonne, "les Nuits de Paris," 11th night, p. 372.
[19] Moore, Sept. 2.
[20] Moore, Sept. 3. -- Buchez et Roux, XVI. 159 (narrative by
Tallien).-- Official report of the Paris commune, Sept. 4 (in the
collection of Barrière and Berville, the volume entitled "Mémoires sur
les journées de Septembre"). The commune adopts and expands the fable,
probably invented by it. Prudhomme well says that the story of the
prison plot, so scandalously circulated during the Reign of Terror,
appears for the first time on the 2d of September. The same report was
spread through the rural districts. At Gennevilliers, a peasant while
lamenting the massacres, said to Malouet: "It is, too, a terrible
thing for the aristocrats to want to kill all the people by blowing up
the city" (Malouet, II. 244).
[21] Official reports of the commune, Aug. 11.
[22] Mortimer-Ternaux, II. 446. List of the section commissioners
sitting at the Hôtel-de-ville, Aug. 10, before 9 o'clock in the
morning.
[23] Official reports of the commune, Aug. 21. "Considering that, to
ensure public safety and liberty, the council-general of the commune
required all the power delegated to it by the people, at the time it
was compelled to resume the exercise of its rights," sends a
deputation to the National Assembly to insist that "the new department
be converted, pure and simple, into a tax-commissioners' office." --
Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 25. Speech of Robespierre in the name of the
commune: "After the people have saved the country, after decreeing a
National Convention to replace you, what remains for you to do but to
gratify their wishes? . . . The people, forced to see to its own
salvation, has provided for this through its delegates. . . It is
essential that those chosen by itself for its magistrates should enjoy
the plenary powers befitting the sovereign."
[24] Official reports of the commune, Aug. 10. - Mortimer-Ternaux,
III. 155. Letter of the Minister Servan, Aug. 30.-Ibid., 149.-- Ibid.,
148. The commission on supplies having been broken up by the commune,
Roland, the Minister of the Interior, begs the Assembly to act
promptly, for "he will no longer be responsible for the supplies of
Paris."
[25] Official reports of the commune, Aug. 21. A resolution requiring
that, on trials for lésé-nation, those who appear for the defendants
should be provided with a certificate of their integrity, issued by
their assembled section, and that the interviews between them and the
accused be public. - Ibid., Aug.17, a resolution to suspend the
execution of the two assassins of mayor Simonneau, condemned to death
by the tribunal of Seine-et-Oise.
[26] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 11. Decree of Aug.11.
[27] Prudhomme, "Révolutions de Paris" (number for Sep. 22).. Report
by Roland to the National Assembly (Sept. 16, at 9 o'clock in the
morning).
[28] Madame Roland, "Mémoires," II. 414 (Ed. Barrière et Berville).
Report by Roland Oct. 29. The seizure in question tool place Aug.27.
[29] Mémoirs sur les journées de Septembre" (Ed. Barrière et Berville,
pp. 307-322). List of sums paid by the treasurer of the commune. --
See, on the prolongation of this plundering, Roland's report, Oct. 29,
of money, plate, and assignats taken from the Senlis Hospital (Sept.
13), the Hotel de Coigny emptied, and sale of furniture in the Hotel
d'Egmont, etc.
[30] Official reports of the commune, Aug. 17 and 20. -- List of sums
paid by the treasurer of the commune, p. 321. -- On the 28th of August
a "Saint-Roch in silver is brought to the bar of the National
Assembly.
[31] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 150, 161, 511. -- Report by Roland, Oct.
29. P. 414.
[32] Moniteur.514, 542 (sessions of Aug. 23 and 26).
[33] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 99 (sessions of Aug.15 and 23). "Procès-
verbaux de la Commune," Aug. 18, a resolution to obtain a law
authorizing the commune "to collect together with wives and children
of the émigrés in places of security, and to make use of the former
convents for this purpose."
[34] Procès-verbaux de la Commune," Aug. 12. - Ibid., Aug. 18. Not
being able to find M. Geoffrey, the journalist, the commune "passes a
resolution that seals be affixed to Madame Geoffroy's domicile and
that she be placed in arrest until her husband appears to release
her."
[35] Procès-verbaux de la Commune." Aug.17 and 18. Another resolution,
again demanding of the National Assembly a list of the signers for
publication.
[36] Procès-verbaux de la Commune," Aug. 18, 19, 20. -- On the 20th of
August the commune summons before it and examines the Venetian
Ambassador. "A citizen claims to be heard against the ambassador, and
states that several carriages went out of Paris in his name. The name
of this citizen is Chevalier, a horse-shoer's assistant . . . The
Council decrees that honorable mention be made of the affidavits
brought forward in the accusation." On the tone of these examinations
read Weber ("Mémoires," II. 245), who narrates his own.
[37] Buchez et Roux, XVII. 215. Narration by Peltier. -- In spite of
the orders of the National Assembly the affair is repeated on the
following day, and it lasts from the 19th to the 31st of August, in
the evening. -- Moore, Aug.31. The stupid, sheep-like vanity of the
bourgeois enlisted as a gendarme for the sans-culottes is here well
depicted. The keeper of the Hôtel Meurice, where Moore and Lord
Lauderdale put up, was on guard and on the chase the night before: "He
talked a good deal of the fatigue he had undergone, and hinted a
little of the dangers to which he had been exposed in the course of
this severe duty. Being asked if he had been successful in his search
after suspected persons --'Yes my lord, infinitely; our battalion
arrested four priests.' He could not have looked more lofty if he had
taken the Duke of Brunswick,"
[38] According to Rœderer, the number arrested amounted to from 5,000
to 6,000 persons.
[39] Mortimer-Ternaux, III.147, 148, Aug.28 and 29. - Ibid., 176.
Other sections complain of the Commune with some bitterness. -- Buchez
et Roux, XVII. 358. -- "Procès-verbaux de la Commune," Sept. 1. "The
section of the Temple sends a deputation which declares that by virtue
of a decree of the National Assembly it withdraws its powers entrusted
to the commissioners elected by it to the council-general."
[40] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 154 (session of Aug. 30).
[41] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 171 (session of Aug. 31). -- Ibid., 208. -
- On the following day, Sept. 1, at the instigation of Danton, Thuriot
obtains from the National Assembly an ambiguous decree which seems to
allow the members of the commune to keep their places, provisionally
at least, at the Hotel-de-ville.
[42] "Procès-verbaux de la Commune," Sept. 1.
[43] "Procès-verbaux de la Commune," Sept. 1. "It is resolved that
whatever effects fell into the hands of the citizens who fought for
liberty and equality on the 10th of August shall remain in their
possession; M. Tallien, secretary-general, is therefore authorized to
return a gold watch to M. Lecomte, a gendarme."
[44] Four circumstances, simultaneous and in full agreement with each
other, indicate this date:
1. On the 23d of August the council-general resolves "that a tribune
shall be arranged in the chamber for a journalist (M. Marat), whose
duty it shall be to conduct a journal giving the acts passed and what
goes on in the commune" ("Procès-verbaux de la Commune," Aug.23)
2. On the same day, "on the motion of a member with a view to
separate the prisoners of lése-nation from those of the nurse's
hospital and others of the same stamp in the different prisons, the
council has adopted this measure" (Granier de Cassagnac, II. 100).
3. The same day the commune applauds the deputies of a section, which
"in warm terms" denounce before it the tardiness of justice and
declare to it that the people will "immolate" the prisoners in their
prisons (Moniteur, Nov. 10, 1793, Narrative of Pétion).
The same day it sends a deputation to the Assembly to order a transfer
of the Orleans prisoners to Paris (Buchez et Roux, XVII. 116). The
next day, in spite of the prohibitions of the Assembly, It sends
Fournier and his band to Orleans (Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 364), and
each knows beforehand that Fournier is commissioned to kill them on
the way. (Balleydier, "Histoire politique et militaire du people de
Lyon," I.79. Letter of Laussel, dated at Paris, Aug.28): "Our
volunteers are at Orleans for the past two or three days to bring the
anti-revolutionary prisoners here, who are treated too well there." On
the day of Fournier's departure (Aug. 24) Moore observes in the Palais
Royal and at the Tuileries "a greater number than usual of stump-
speakers of the populace, hired for the purpose of inspiring the
people with a horror of monarchy."
[45] Moniteur, Sept. 25,1792, speech by Marat in the Convention.
[46] See his two journals, "L'Ami du people" and the "Journal de la
Républic Française," especially for July and October 1792. -- The
number for August 16 is headed: "Development of the vile plot of the
court to destroy all patriots with fire and sword." -- That of August
19: "The infamous conscript Fathers of the Circus, betraying the
people and trying to delay the conviction of traitors until Mottié
arrives, is marching with his army on Paris to destroy all patriots!"
-- That of Aug. 21: "The rotters of the Assembly, the perfidious
accomplices of Mottié arranging for flight . . . The conscript
Fathers, the assassins of patriots at Nancy, the Champ de Mars and in
the Tuileries, etc." -- All this was yelled out daily every morning by
those who hawked these journals through the streets.
[47] Ami du Peuple, Aug.19 and 21.
[48] "Lettres autographs de Madame Roland," published by Madame Bancal
des Issarts, Sept. 9. "Danton leads all; Robespierre is his puppet;
Marat holds his torch and dagger."
[49] Madame Roland "Mémoires," II. 19 (note by Roland). - Ibid., 21,
23, 24. Monge says: "Danton wants to have it so; if I refuse he will
denounce me to the Commune and at the Cordeliers, and have me hung."
Fournier's commission to Orleans was all in order, Roland probably
having signed it unawares, like those of the commissioners sent into
the departments by the executive council (Cf. Mortimer-Ternaux, III.
368.)
[50] The person who gives me the following had it from the king, Louis
Philippe, then an officer in Kellerman's corps:
On the evening of the battle of Valmy the young officer is sent to
Paris to carry the news. On his arrival (Sept. 22 or 23. 1792) he
learns that he is removed from his post and appointed governor of
Strasbourg. He goes to Servan's house, Minister of War, and at first
they refuse to let him in. Servan is unwell and in bed, with the
ministers in his room. The young man states that he comes from the
army and is the bearer of dispatches. He is admitted, and finds,
indeed, Servan in bed with various personages around him, and he
announces the victory. -- They question him and he gives the details.
-- He then complains of having been displaced, and, stating that he is
too young to command with any authority at Strasbourg, requests to he
reinstated with the army in the field. "Impossible," replies Servan;
"your place is given to another." Thereupon one of the personages
present, with a peculiar visage and a rough voice, takes him aside and
says to him: "Servan is a fool! Come and see me to-morrow and I will
arrange the matter." "Who are you?" "I am Danton, the Minister of
Justice." -- The next day he calls on Danton, who tells him: "It is
all right; you shall have your post back -- not under Kellerman,
however, but under Dumouriez; are you content?" The young man,
delighted, thanks him. Danton resumes: "Let me give you one piece of
advice before you go: You have talent and will succeed. But get rid of
one fault . You talk too much. You have been in Paris twenty-four
hours, and already you have repeatedly criticized the affair of
September. I know this; I have been informed of it" "But that was a
massacre; how can one help calling it horrible?" "I did it," replies
Danton, "The Parisians are all so many j--- f---. A river of blood had
to flow between them and the émigrés.. You are too young to understand
these matters. Return to the army; it is the only place nowadays for a
young man like you and of your rank. You have a future before you; but
mind this -- keep your mouth shut!"
[51] Hua, 167.. Narrative by his guest, the physician Lambry, an
intimate friend of Danton ultra-fanatical and member of a committee in
which the question came up whether the members of the "Right" should
likewise be put out of the way. "Danton had energetically repelled
this sanguinary proposal. 'Everybody knows,' he said, 'that I do not
shrink from a criminal act when necessary; but I disdain to commit a
useless one."'
[52] Mortimer-Ternaux, Iv. 437. Danton exclaims, in relation to the
hot-headed commissioners sent by him into the department: "Eh! damn
it, do you suppose that we would send you young ladies?"
[53] Philippe de Ségur, "Mémoires,"I.12. Danton, in a conversation
with his father, a few weeks after the 2nd of September.
[54] See above, narrative of the king, louis Philippe.
[55] Buchez et Roux, xvii. 347. The words of Danton in the National
Assembly, Sept. 2nd a little before two o'clock, just as the tocsin
and cannon gave the signal of alarm agreed upon. Already on the 31st
of August, Tailien, his faithful ally, had told the National Assembly:
"We have arrested the priests who make so much trouble. They are in
confinement in a certain domicile, and in a few days the soil of
liberty will be purged of their presence."
[56] Meillan, "Mémoires," 325 (Ed. Barrière et Berville). Speech by
Fabre d'Eglantine at the Jacobin Club, sent around among the
affiliated clubs, May 1, 1793.
[57] Robinet, "Procès des Dantonistes," 39, 45 (words of Danton in
the committee on general defense). - Madame Roland, 2Mémoires," II.
30. On the 2nd of September Grandpré ordered to report to the Minister
of the Interior on the state of the prisons, waits for Danton as he
leaves the council and tells him his fears. "Danton, irritated by the
description, exclaims in his bellowing way, suiting his word to the
action. 'I don't give a damn about the prisoners! Let them take care
of themselves! And he proceeded on in an angry mood. This took place
in the second ante-room, in the presence of twenty persons." -
Arnault, II. 101. About the time of the September massacres "Danton,
in the presence of one of my friends, replied to someone that urged
him to use his authority in stopping the spilling of blood: 'Isn't it
time for the people to take their revenge?' "
[58] Prudhomme, "Crimes de la Révolution," iv. 90. On the 2nd of
September, at the alarm given by the tocsin and cannon, Prudhomme
calls on Danton at his house for information. Danton gives him the
agreed story and adds: "The people, who are now aroused and know what
to do, want to administer justice themselves on the nasty imprisoned
persons. -- Camille Desmoulins enters: "Look here," says Danton,
"Prudhomme has come to ask what is going to be done?" -- "Didn't you
tell him that the innocent would not be confounded with the guilty?
All those that are demanded by their Sections will be given up." --
On the 4th, Desmoulins calls at the office of the journal and says to
the editors: "Well, everything has gone off in the most perfect order.
The people even set free a good many aristocrats against whom there
was no direct proof. I trust that you will state all this exactly,
because the Journal des Révolutions is the compass of public opinion."
[59] Prudhomme, "Crimes de la Révolution," IV. 123. According to the
statements of Théophile Mandar, vice-president of a section, witness
and actor in the scene; he authorizes Prudhomme to mention his name. -
- Afterwards, in the next room, Mandar proposes to Pétion and
Robespierre to attend the Assembly the next day and protest against
the massacre; if necessary, the Assembly may appoint a director for
one day. "Take care not to do that," replied Robespierre; "Brissot
would be the dictator." -- Pétion says nothing. "The ministers were in
perfect agreement to let the massacres continue."
[60] Madame Roland, II. 37. -- "Angers et le départment de Maine-et-
Loire de 1787 à 1830," by Blordier Langlois. Appended to the circular
was a printed address bearing the title of Compte rendu au peuple
souverain, "countersigned by the Minister of Justice and with the
Minister's seal on the package," and addressed to the Jacobin Clubs of
the departments, that they, too, might preach massacre.
[61] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 391, 398. -- Warned by Alquier,
president of the criminal court of Versailles, of the danger to which
the Orleans prisoners were exposed, Danton replied: "What is that to
you? That affair does not concern you. Mind your own business, and do
not meddle with things outside of it!" -- "But, Monsieur, the law
says that prisoners must be protected."-- "What do you care? Some
among them are great criminals, and nobody knows yet how the people
will regard them and how far their indignation will carry them."
Alquier wished to pursue the matter, but Danton turned his back on him
[62] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 217
[63] Madame Roland, "Lettres autographes, etc.," Sept. 5, 1792. "We
are here under the knives of Marat and Robespierre. These fellows are
striving to excite the people and turn them against the National
Assembly and the council. They have organized a Star Chamber and they
have a small army under pay, aided by what they found or stole in the
palace and elsewhere, or by supplies purchased by Danton, who is
underhandedly the chieftain of this horde." -- Dusaulx, "Mémoires,"
441. "On the following day (Sept. 3) I went to see one of the most
estimated personalities at this epoch. 'You know,' said I to him,
'what is going on?' -- 'Very well; but keep quiet; it will soon be
over. A little more blood is still necessary.' -- I saw others who
explained themselves much more definitely. " -- Mortimer-Ternaux, II.
445.
[64] Madame Roland, "Lettres autographes, etc.," Sept. 5, 1792. "We
are here under the knives of Marat and Robespierre. These fellows are
striving to excite the people and turn them against the National
Assembly and the council. They have organized a Star Chamber and they
have a small army under pay, aided by what they found or stole in the
palace and elsewhere, or by supplies purchased by Danton, who is
underhandedly the chieftain of this horde." -- Dusaulx, "Mémoires,"
441. "On the following day (Sept. 3) I went to see one of the most
estimated personalities at this epoch. 'You know,' said I to him,
'what is going on?' -- 'Very well; but keep quiet; it will soon be
over. A little more blood is still necessary.' -- I saw others who
explained themselves much more definitely. " -- Mortimer-Ternaux, II.
445.
[65] Madame de Staël, "Considérations sur la Révolution Française,"
3rd part, ch. X.
[66] Prudhomme, "Les Révolutions de Paris" (number for Sept. 22). At
one of the last sessions of the commune "M. Panis spoke of Marat as of
a prophet, another Siméon Stylite. 'Marat,' said he, 'remained six
weeks sitting on one thigh in a dungeon.' " - Barbaroux, 64.
[67] Weber, II. 348. Collot dwells at length, "in cool-blooded
gaiety," on the murder of Madame de Lamballe and on the abominations
to which her corpse was subjected. "He added, with a sigh of regret,
that if he had been consulted he would have had the head of Madame de
Lamballe served in a covered dish for the queen's supper."
[68] On the part played by Robespierre and his presence constantly at
the Commune see Granier de Cassagnac, II. 55. -- Mortimer-Ternaux,
III. 205. Speech by Robespierre at the commune, Sept. 1: "No one dares
name the traitors. Well, I give their names for the safety of the
people: I denounce the libertycide Brissot, the Girondist factionists,
the rascally commission of the Twenty-One in the National Assembly; I
denounce them for having sold France to Brunswick, and for having
taken in advance the reward for their dastardly act." On the 2nd of
September he repeats his denunciation, and consequently on that day
warrants are issued by the committee of supervision against thirty
deputies and against Brissot and Roland (Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 216,
247).
[69] "Procès-verbaux de la Commune," Aug. 30. - Mortimer-Ternaux, III.
217 (resolutions of the sections Poissonnière and Luxembourg). --
Granier de Cassagnac, II. 104 (adhesion of the sections Mauconseil,
Louvre, and Quinze-Vingt).
[70] Granier de Cassagnac, II. 156.
[71] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 265. -- Granier de Cassagnac, XII. 402.
(The other five judges were also members of the commune.)
[72] Granier de Cassagnac, II. 313. Register of the General Assembly
of the sans-culottes, section, Sept. 2. -- "Mémoires sur les journées
de Septembre," 151 (declaration of Jourdan).
[73] "Mémoires sur les journées de Septembre," narrative of Abbé
Sicard, 111.
[74] Buchez et Roux, XVIII. 109, 178. ("La vérite tout entière," by
Méhée, Jr.) - Narrative of Abbé Sicard, 132, 134.
[75] Granier de Cassagnac, II. 92, 93. - On the presence and
complicity of Santerre. Ibid, 89-99.
[76] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 277 and 299 (Sept. 3). - Granier de
Cassagnac, II. 257. A commissary of the section of the Quatre-Nations
states in his report that "the section authorized them to pay expenses
out of the affair." - Declaration of Jourdan, 151. - Lavalette,
"Mémoires," I. 91. The initiative of the commune is further proved by
the following detail: "Towards five o'clock (Sept. 2) city officials
on horseback, carrying a flag, rode through the streets crying: 'To
arms! To arms!' They added: 'The enemy is coming; you are all lost;
the city will be burnt and given up to pillage. Have no fear of the
traitors or conspirators behind your backs. They are in the hands of
the patriots, and before you leave the thunderbolt of national justice
will fall on them!" - Buchez et Roux, XXVIII. 105. Letter of Chevalier
Saint-Dizier, member of the first committee of supervision, Sept. 10.
"Marat, Duplain, Fréron, etc., generally do no more in their
supervision of things than wreak private vengeance. . . Marat states
openly that 40,000 heads must still be knocked off to ensure the
success of the revolution."
[77] Buchez et Roux, XVIII. 146. "Ma Résurrection," by Mathon de la
Varenne. "The evening before half-intoxicated women said publicly on
the Feuillants terrace: 'To-morrow is the day when their souls will be
turned inside out in the prisons."
[78] "Mémoires sur les journées de Septembre. Mon agonie," by Journiac
de Saint-Méard. -- Madame de la Fausse-Landry, 72. The 29th of August
she obtained permission to join her uncle in prison: "M. Sergent and
others told me that I was acting imprudently; that the prisons were
not safe."
[79] Granier de Cassagnac, -- II. 27. According to Roch Marcandier
their number "did not exceed 300." According to Louvet there were
"200, and perhaps not that number." According to Brissot, the
massacres were committed by about "a hundred unknown brigands." --
Pétion, at La Force (Ibid., 75), on September 6, finds only about a
dozen executioners. According to Madame Roland (II. 35), "there were
not fifteen at the Abbaye." Lavalette the first day finds only about
fifty killers at the La Force prison.
[80] Mathon de la Varenne, ibid., 137.
[81] Buchez et Roux, XVII. 183 (session of the Jacobin Club, Aug. 27).
Speech by a federate from Tarn. - Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 126.
[82] Sicard, 80. -- Méhée, 187. -- Weber, II. 279. -- Cf., in Journiac
de Saint-Méard, his conversation with a Provençal. -- Rétif de la
Bretonne, "Les Nuits de Paris," 375. "About 2 o'clock in the morning
(Sept. 3) I heard a troop of cannibals passing under my window, none
of whom appeared to have the Parisian accent; they were all
strangers."
[83] Granier de Cassagnac, II. 164, 502. -- Mortimer-Ternaux, III.
530. -- Maillard's assessors at the Abbaye were a watchmaker living in
the Rue Childebert, a fruit-dealer in the Rue Mazarine, a keeper of a
public house in the Rue du Four-Saint-Germain, a journeyman hatter in
the Rue Sainte-Marguerite, and two others whose occupation is not
mentioned. -- On the composition of the tribunal at La Force, Cf.
Journiac de Saint-Méard, 120, and Weber, II. 261.
[84] Granier de Cassagnac, II. 507 (on Damiens), 513 (on L'empereur).
-- Meillan, 388 (on Laforet and his wife, old-clothes dealers on the
Quai du Louvre, who on the 31st of May prepare for a second blow, and
calculate this time on having for their share the pillaging of fifty
houses).
[85] Sicard, 98
[86] De Ferrières (Ed. Berville et Barrière), III. 486. -- Rétif de la
Bretonne, 381. At the end of the Rue des Ballets a prisoner had just
been killed, while the next one slipped through the railing and
escaped. "A man not belonging to the butchers, but one of those
thoughtless machines of which there are so many, interposed his pike
and stopped him. . . The poor fellow was arrested by his pursuers and
massacred. The pikeman coolly said to us: 'I couldn't know they wanted
to kill him.'"
[87] Granier de Cassagnac, II. 511.
[88] The judges and slaughterers at the Abbaye, discovered in the
trial of the year IV., almost all lived in the neighborhood, in the
rues Dauphine, de Nevers, Guégénaud, de Bussy, Childebert, Taranne, de
l'Egoût, du Vieux Colombier, de l'Echaudé-Saint-Benoit, du Four-Saint-
Germain, etc.
[89] Sicard, 86, 87, 101. -- Jourdan, 123. "The president of the
committee of supervision replied to me that these were very honest
persons; that on the previous evening or the evening before that, one
of them, in a shirt and wooden shoes, presented himself before their
committee all covered with blood, bringing with him in his hat twenty-
five louis in gold, which he had found on the person of a man he had
killed." -- Another instance of probity may be found in the "Procès-
verbaux du conseil-général de la Commune de Versailles," 367, 371. --
On the following day, Sept. 3, robberies commence and go on
increasing.
[90] Méhée, 179. "'Would you believe that I have earned only twenty-
four francs?' said a baker's boy armed with a club. 'I killed more
than forty for my share.'"
[91] Granier de Cassagnac. II. 153. -- Cf. Ibid., 202-209, details on
the meals of the workmen and on the more delicate repast of Maillard
and his assistants.
[92] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 175-176. - Granier de Cassagnac. II. 84. -
- Jourdan, 222. -- Méhée, 179. "At midnight they came back swearing,
cursing, and foaming with rage, threatening to cut the throats of the
committee in a body if they were not instantly paid."
[93] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 320. Speech by Pétion on the charges
preferred against Robespierre.
[94] Mathon de la Varenne, 156. -- Journiac de Saint-Méard, 129. -
Moore, 267.
[95] Journiac de Saint-Méard, 115.
[96] Weber, II. 265. -- Journiac de Saint-Méard, 129. -- Mathon de la
Varenne, 155.
[97] Moore, 267. -- Cf. Malouet, II. 240. Malouet, on the evening of
Sept. 1, was at his sister-in-law's; there is a domiciliary visit at
midnight; she faints on hearing the patrol mount the stairs. "I
begged them not to enter the drawing-room, so as not to disturb the
poor sufferer. The sight of a woman in a swoon and pleasing in
appearance affected them, and they at once withdrew, leaving me alone
with her." -- Beaulieu, "Essais," I. 108. (Regarding the two Abbaye
butchers he meets in the house of Journiac-de-Saint-Méard, and who
chat with him while issuing him with a safe-conduct): "What struck me
was to detect generous sentiments through their ferocity, those of men
determined to protect any one whose cause they adopted."
[98] Weber, II. 265, 348.
[99] Sicard, 101. Billaud-Varennes, addressing the slaughterers. -
Ibid.75. "Greater power," replied a member of the committee of
supervision, "what are you thinking of? To give you greater power
would be limiting those you have already. Have you forgotten that you
are sovereigns? That the sovereignty of the people is confided to you,
and that you are now in full exercise of it?"
[100] Méhée, 171.
[101] Sicard, 81. At the beginning the Marseilles men themselves were
averse to striking the disarmed, and exclaimed to the crowd: "Here,
take our swords and pikes and kill the monsters!"
[102] Macbeth by Shakespeare: "I have supped full with horrors."
[103] Observe children drowning a dog or killing a snake. Tenacity of
life irritates them, as if it were a rebellion against their
despotism, the effect of which is to render them only the more violent
against their victim.
[104] One may recall to mind the effect of bull-fights, also the
irresistible fascination which Saint-Augustin experienced on first
hearing the death-cry of a gladiator in the amphitheater.
[105] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 131. Trial of the September actors; the
judge's summing up. "The third and forty-sixth witnesses stated that
they saw Monneuse (member of the commune) go to and come from la
Force, express his delight at those sad events that had just occurred,
acting very immorally in relation thereto, adding that there was
violin playing in his presence, and that his colleague danced." -
Sicard, 88.
[106] Sicard, 87, 91. This expression by a wine-merchant, who wants
the custom of the murderers. - Granier de Cassagnac, II. 197-200. The
original bills for wine, straw, and lights have been found.
[107] Sicard, 91. - Maton de la Varenne, 150.
[108] Mathon de la Varenne, 154. A man from the suburbs said to him
(Mathon is an advocate):
"All right, Monsieur Fine-skin; I shall treat myself to a glass of
your blood
[109] Rétif de la Bretonne, "Les Nuits de Paris," 9th night, p.388.
"She screamed horribly, whilst the brigands amused themselves with
their disgraceful acts. Her body even after death was not exempt.
These people had heard that she had been beautiful."
[110] Prudhomme, "Les Révolutions de Paris," number for Sept. 8, 1792.
"The people subjected the flower-girl of the Palais-Royal to the law
of retaliation." - Granier de Cassagnac, II. 329. According to the
bulletin of the revolutionary tribunal, number for Sept. 3. --
Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 291. Deposition of the caretaker's office of
the Conciergerie prison. -- Buchez et Roux, XVII.198. "Histoire des
hommes de proi," by Roch Marcandier.
[111] Mortimer-Ternaux III, 257. Trial of the September murderers;
deposition of Roussel. - Ib., 628.
[112] Deposition of the woman Millet, ibid., 63. -- Weber, II. 350. -
- Roch Marcandier, 197, 198. - Rétif de la Bretonne, 381.
[113] Deposition of the woman Millet, ibid., 63. -- Weber, II. 350. -
- Roch Marcandier, 197, 198. - Rétif de la Bretonne, 381.
[114] On this mechanical and murderous action Cf: Dusaulx, "Mémoires,"
440. He addresses the bystanders in favor of the prisoners, and,
affected by his words, they hold out their hands to him. "But before
this the executioners had struck me on the cheeks with the points of
their pikes, from which hung pieces of flesh. Others wanted to cut off
my head, which would have been done if two gendarmes had not kept them
back."
[115] Jourdan, 219.
[116] Méhée, 179.
[117] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 558. The same idea is found among the
federates and Parisians composing the company of the Egalité, which
brought the Orleans prisoners to Versailles and then murdered them.
They explain their conduct by saying that they "hoped to put an end to
the excessive expenditure to which the French empire was subject
through the prolonged detention of conspirators."
[118] Rétif de la Bretonne, 388.
[119] Méhée, 177.
[120] Prudhomme, "Les Crimes de la Révolution." III. 272.
[121] Rétif de la Bretonne, 388. There were two sorts of women at the
Salpétrière, those who were banded and young girls brought in the
prison. Hence the two alternatives.
[122] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 295. See list of names, ages, and
occupations.
[123] Barthélemy Maurice, "Histoire politique and anecdotique des
prisons de la Seine," 329.
[124] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 295. See list of names, ages, and
occupations.