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[1] Guillon de Montléon, I. 122. Letter of Laussel, dated Paris, 28th
of August, 1792, to the Jacobins of Lyons: "Tell me how many heads
have been cut off at home. It would be infamous to let our enemies
escape."
1792).
[2] "Les Révolutions de Paris," by Prudhomme, Vol. XIII. pp. 59-63
(14th of July, 3 Decrees of the 10th and 11th of August, 1792.
[4] Prudhomme, number of the 15th of September, p. 483. - Mortimer-
Ternaux, IV. 430.
[5] Mortimer-Ternaux. IV. II. Fauchet's report, Nov. 6, 1792. - Ib.,
IV. 91, 142. Discourse of M. Fockedey, administrator of the department
of the north, and of M. Bailly, deputy de Seine-et-Marne.
[6] Prudhomme, number of Sept. 1, 1792, pp. 375, 381, 385: number of
Sept. 22, pp. 528-530, -Cf. Guillon de Montléon, I. 144. Here are some
of the principles announced by the Jacobin leaders of Lyons, Châlier,
Laussel, Cusset, Rouillot, etc. "The time has come when this prophecy
must be fulfilled: The rich shall be put in the place of the poor, and
the poor in the place of the rich." - If a half of their property be
left them the rich will still be happy." - "If the laboring people of
Lyons are destitute of work and of bread, they can profit by these
calamities in helping themselves to wealth in the quarter where they
find it." - "No one who is near a sack of wheat can die of hunger. Do
you wish the word that will buy all that you want? Slay! - or perish!"
[7] Prudhomme, number for the 28th of August, 1792, pp. 284-287.
[8] Cf.. "The French Revolution," I.346. In ten of the departments the
seventh jacquerie continues the sixth without a break. Among other
examples, this letter from the administrators of Tarn, June 18, 1792,
may be read ("Archives Nationales," F7, 3271). "Numerous bands overran
both the city (Castres) and the country. They forcibly entered the
houses of the citizens, broke the furniture to pieces, and pillaged
everything that fell into their hands. Girls and women underwent
shameful treatment. Commissioners sent by the district and the
municipality to advocate peace were insulted and menaced. The pillage
was renewed; the home of the citizen was violated." The administrators
add: "In many places the progress made by the constitution was
indicated by the speedy and numerous emigrations of its enemies."
[9] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3272. Letter of the administrators of
the Var, May 27, 1792. --Letter of the minister, Duranthon, May 28.--
Letter of the commission composing the directory Oct. 31.
[10] "Archives Nationales," Letter of the administrators of Var, May.
27.-- The saying is the summary of the revolutionary spirit; it recurs
constantly. -- Cf. the Duc de Montpensier, "Mémoires," p. 11. At Aix
one of his guards said to the sans-culotte who were breaking into the
room where he had been placed: "Citizens, by what order do you enter
here? and why have you forced the guard at the door?" One of them.
answered: "By order of the people. Don't you know that the people is
sovereign?"
[11] "Archives Nationales," letter of the public prosecutor, May 23. -
Letters of the administrators of the department, May 22, and 27 (on
the events of the 13th of May at Beausset).
[12] "Archives Nationales," F7 3193 and 3194. Previous details may be
found in these files. This department is one of those in which the
seventh jacquerie is merely a prolongation of the sixth. -Cf. F7,
3193. Letter of the royal Commissioner at Milhau, May 5, 1791.
"The situation is getting worse; the administrative bodies continue
powerless and without resources. Most of their members are still
unable to enter upon their duties; while the factions, who still rule,
multiply their excesses in every direction. Another house in the
country, near the town, has been burnt; another broken into, with a
destruction of the furniture and a part of the dinner-service, and
doors and windows broken open and smashed; several houses visited,
under the pretense of arms or powder being concealed in them; all that
is found with private persons and dealers not of the factious party is
carried off; tumultuous shouts, nocturnal assemblages, plots for
pillage or burning; disturbances caused by the sale of grain, searches
under this pretext in private granaries, forced prices at current
reductions; forty louis taken from a lady retired into the country,
found in her trunk, which was broken into, and which, they say, should
have been in assignats. The police and municipal officers witnesses of
these outrages, are sometimes forced to sanction them with their
presence; they neither dare suppress them nor punish the well-known
authors of them. Such is a brief statement of the disorders committed
in less than eight days." - In relation specially to Saint-Afrique.
Cf. F7, 3194, the letter, among others, of the department
administrator, march 29, 1792.
[13] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3193. Extract from the registers of
the clerk of the juge-de-paix of Saint-Afrique, and report by the
department commissioners, Nov. 10, 1792, with the testimony of the
witnesses, forming a document of 115 pages.
[14] Deposition of Alexis Bro, a volunteer, and three others.
[15] Deposition of Pons, a merchant. After this devastation he is
obliged to address a petition to the executive power, asking
permission to remain in the town.
[16] Deposition of Capdenet, a shoemaker.
[17] Depositions of Marguerite Galzeng, wife of Guibal a miller,
Pierre Canac and others.
[18] Depositions of Martin, syndic-attorney of the commune of Brusque;
Aussel, curé of Versol; Martial Aussel, vicar of Lapeyre and others.
[19] Deposition of Anne Tourtoulon.
[20] Depositions of Jeanne Tuffon, of Marianne Terral, of Marguerite
Thomas, of Martin syndic-attorney of the commune of Brusque, of Virot,
of Brassier, and othes. The details are too specific to allow
quotation.
[21] Depositions ,of Moursol, wool-carder; Louis Grand, district-
administrator, and others.
[22] For example, at Limoges, Aug. 16. - Cf. Louis Guibert, "le Parti
Girondin dans la Haute-Vienne," p. 14.
[23] Paris, "Histoire de Joseph Lebon," I. 60. Restoration of the
Arras municipality. Joseph Lebon is proclaimed mayor Sept. 16.
[24] For example, at Caen and at Carcassonne.
[25] For example, at Toulon.
[26] "Un séjour en France," 19, 29. ("Letters of a Wittness to the
French Revolution," translated by H. Taine.1872)
[27] Ibid., p. 38: 2M. de M ---, who had served for thirty years
gave up his arms to a boy who treated him with the greatest
insolence."
[28] Paris, Ibid., p. 55 and the following pages. - Albert Babeau,
"Histoire de Troyes," I. 503-515. - Sausay, III. ch. I.
[29] "The Ancient Régime," 381, 391, 392.
[30] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3217. Letter of Castanet, an old
gendarme, Aug. 21 1792.
[31] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3219. Letter of M. Alquier to the
first consul, Pluviôse 18, year VIII.
[32] Lauvergne, "Histoire du Var," p. 104.
[33] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 325, 327.
[34] "Archives-Nationales," F7, 3271. Letter of the Minister of
Justice, with official reports of the municipality of Rabastens. "The
juge-de-paix of Rabastens was insulted in his place by putting an end
to the proceedings commenced against an old deserter at the head of
the municipality, and tried for robbery. They threatened to stab the
judge if he recommenced the trial. Numerous gangs of vagabonds overrun
the country, pillaging and putting to ransom all owners of property. .
. The people has been led off by a municipal officer, a constitutional
curé, and a brother of sieur Tournal, one of the authors of the evils
which have desolated the Comtat." (March 5, 1792).
[35] Guillon de Montléon, I. 84, 109, 139, 155, 158, 464. -- Ibid.,
p.441, details concerning Châlier by his companion Chassagnon. --
"Archives Nationales," F7, 3255. Letter by Laussel, Sept. 22, 1792.
[36] Barbaroux, "Mémoires," 85. Barbaroux is an eye-witness, for he
has just returned to Marseilles and is about to preside over the
electoral assembly of the Bouches-du-Rhône.
[37] C. Rousset, "Les Volontaires," p. 67. -- In his report of June
27, 1792, Albert Dubayet estimates the number of volunteers at 84,000.
[38] C. Rousset, "Les Volontaires," 101. Letter of Kellermann, Aug.23,
1792. -- " Un séjour en France," I. 347 and following pages. --
"Archives Nationales," F7, 3214. Letter of an inhabitant of Nogent-le-
Rotrou (Eure). "Out of 8,000 inhabitants one-half require assistance,
and two-thirds of these are in a sad state, having scarcely straw
enough to sleep on.(Dec. 3, 1792). -- In his report of June 27, 1792,
Albert Dubayet estimates the number of volunteers at 84,000.
[39] C. Rousset, "Les Volontaires," 106 (Letter of General Biron, Aug.
23, 1792).- -- 226, Letter of Vezu, major, July 24, 1793.
[40] C. Rousset, "Les Volontaires," 144 (Letter of a district
administrator of Moulins to General Custines, Jan. 27, 1793).-- "Un
séjour en France," p.27: "I am sorry to see that most the volunteers
about to join the army are old men or very young boys." -- C. Rousset,
Ibid., 74, 108, 226 (Letter of Biron, Nov. 7, 1792); 105 (Letter of
the commander of Fort Louis, Aug. 7); 127 (Letter of Captain Motmé).
One-third of the 2d battalion of Haute-Saône is composed of children
13 and 14 years old.
[41] Moniteur, XIII. 742 (Sept. 21). Marshal Lückner and his aids-de-
camp just miss being killed by Parisian volunteers. -- Archives
Nationales," BB, 16703. Letter by Labarrière aide-de-camp of General
Flers, Antwerp, March 19, 1793. On the desertion en masse of
gendarmes from Dumouriez's army, who return to Paris.
[42] Cf. "L'armée et la garde nationale," by Baron Poisson, III. 475.
"On hostilities being declared (April, 1792), the contingent of
volunteers was fixed at 200,000 men. This second attempt resulted in
nothing but confused and disorderly levies. Owing to the spinelessness
of the volunteer troops it was impossible to continue the war in
Belgium, which allowed the enemy to cross the frontier." -- Gouverneur
Morris, so well informed, had already written, under date of Dec.27,
1791: "The national guards, who have turned out as volunteers, are in
many instances that corrupted scum of overgrown population of which
large cities purge themselves, and which, without constitutions to
support the fatigues.. . of war, have every vice and every disease
which can render them the scourge of their friends and the laughing
stock of their foes." -- Buchez et Roux, XXVI. 177. Plan of the
administrators of Hérault, presented to the Convention April 27, 1793.
"The composition of the enlistment should not be concealed. Most of
those of which it is made up are not volunteers; they are not citizens
all classes of society, who, submitting to draft on the ballot, have
willingly made up their minds to go and defend the Republic. The
larger part of the recruits are substitutes who, through the
attraction of a large sum, have concluded to leave their homes."
[43] C. Rousset, 47. Letter of the directory of Somme, Feb. 26, 1792.
[44] "Archives Nationales," F 7, 3270. Deliberations of the council-
general of the commune of Roye, Oct. 8, 1792 (in relation to the
violence committed by two divisions of Parisian gendarmerie during
their passage, Oct. 7 and 8).
[45] Moore, I. 338 (Sept. 8, 1792). - (The Condés were proud princes
from a branch of the royal house of Bourbon. (SR).
[46] C Rousset, 189 (Letter of the Minister of War, dated at Dunkirk,
April 29, 1793). -- Archives Nationales," BB, 16, 703. (Parisian
national guard staff major-general, order of the day, letter of
citizen Férat, commanding at Ostend, to the Minister of War, March 19,
1793): "Since we have had the gendarmes with us at Ostend there is
nothing but disturbance every day. They attack the officers and
volunteers, take the liberty of pulling off epaulettes and talk only
of cutting and slashing, and declare that they recognize no superior
being equals with everybody, and that they will do as they please.
Those who are ordered to arrest them are chased and attacked with
saber cuts and pistols
[47] C. Rousset, 20 (Letter of General Wimpfen, Dec. 30, 1791). --
"Souvenirs" of General Pelleport, pp.7 and 8.
[48] C. Rousset, 45 (Report of General Wimpfen, Jan. 20, I792). -
Letter of General Biron, Aug. 23, 1792.
[49] C. Rousset, 47, 48. -- "Archives Nationales," F7, 3249. Official
report of the municipality of Saint-Maxence, Jan. 21, 1792. -- F 7,
3275. Official report of the municipality of Châtellerault, Dec. 27,
1791. -- F7, 3285 and 3286 -- F7, 3213. Letter of Servan, Minister of
War, to Roland, June 12, 1792: "I frequently receive, as well as
yourself and the Minister of Justice, complaints against the national
volunteers. They commit the most reprehensible offenses daily in
places where they are quartered, and through which they pass on their
way to their destination." - Ibid., Letter of Duranthon, Minister of
Justice, May 5: "These occurrences are repeated, under more or less
aggravating circumstances, in all the departments."
[50] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3193. Official report of the
commissaries of the department of Aveyron, April 4, 1792. "Among the
pillagers and incendiaries of the chateaux of Privesac, Vaureilles,
Péchins, and other threatened mansions, were a number of recruits who
had already taken the road to Rhodez to join their respective
regiments." Nothing remains of the château of Privesac but a heap of
ruins. The houses in the village "are filled to over flowing with
pillaged articles, and the inhabitants have divided the owners'
animals amongst themselves." -- Comte de Seilhac, "Scènes et portraits
de la Révolution dans le bas Limousin," P.305. Pillage of the
châteaux of Saint-Jéal and Seilhac, April 12, 1792, by the 3rd
battalion of la Corrèze, commanded by Bellegarde, a former domestic in
the château.
[51] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3270. Deliberation of the council-
general of the commune of Roye, Oct. 8, 1792 (passage of two divisions
of Parisian gendarmes). "The inhabitants and municipal officers were
by turns the sport of their insolence and brutality, constantly
threatened in case of refusal with having their heads cut off, and
seeing the said gendarmes, especially the gunners, with naked sabers
in their hands, always threatening. The citizen mayor especially was
treated most outrageously by the said gunners . . . forcing him to
dance on the Place d'armes, to which they resorted with violins and
where they remained until midnight, rudely pushing and hauling him
about, treating him as an aristocrat, clapping the red cap on his
head, with constant threats of cutting it off and that of every
aristocrat in the town, a threat they swore to carry out the next day,
openly stating, especially two or three amongst them, that they had
massacred the Paris prisoners on the 2nd of September, and that it
cost them nothing to massacre."
[52] Summaries, in the order of their date or locality, and similar to
those about to be placed before the reader, sometimes occur in these
files. I pursue the same course as the clerk, in conformity with
Roland's methodical habits.
[53] Aug. 17, 1792 (Moniteur, XIII, 383, report of M. Emmery).
54
[54] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3271. Letter of the administrators of
Tarn, July 21.
[55] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3234. Report of the municipal officers
of Clairac, July 20.-Letter of the syndic-attorney of Lot-et-Garonne,
Sept. 16.
[56] Mercure de France, number for July 28, (letters from Bordeaux).
[57] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3275. Letter of the administrators of
Haute-Vienne, July 28 (with official reports).
[58] '"Archives Nationales," F7, 3223. Letter of the directory of the
district of Neuville to the department-administrators, Sept 18.
[59] "Archives Nationales," report of the administrators of the
department and council-general of the commune of Orleans, Sept 16 and
17. (The disarmament had been effected through the decrees of Aug.26
and Sept. 2.)
[60] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3249. Letter of the lieutenant of the
gendarmerie of Dampierre, Sept 23 (with official report dated Sept
19).
[61] "Archives Nationales," draft of a letter by Roland, Oct 4, and
others of the same kind. --Letter of the municipal officers of Ray,
Sept 24. -- Letter of M. Desdouits, proprietor, Sept 30. -- Letter of
the permanent council of Aigle, Oct 1, etc.
[62] "Archives Nationales," Letter of the administrators of the Orne
department, Sept 7.
[63] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 337 (Sept. 6).
[64] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3265. Letter of the lieutenant-general
of the gendarmerie, Aug. 30. -- Official report of the Rouen
municipality on the riot of Aug. 29. -- Letters of the department-
administrators, Sept 18 and Oct. 11. -- Letter of the same, Oct 13,
etc. -- Letter of David, cultivator and department administrator Oct
11.
[65] Albert Babean, "Letters of a deputy of the municipality of Troyes
to the army of Dumuriez," p. 8. -- (Sainte-Menehould, Sept. 7, 1792):
"Our troops burn with a desire to meet the enemy. The massacre
reported to have taken place in Paris does not discourage them; on the
contrary, they are glad to know that suspected persons in the interior
are got rid of."
[66] Moore, I.338 (Sept. 4). At Clermont, the murder of a fish-dealer,
killed for insulting the Breton volunteers. -- 401 (Sept. 7), the son
of the post-master at Saint-Amand is killed on suspicion of
communicating with the enemy. -- "Archives Nationales," F7; 3249.
Letter of the district-administrators of Senlis, Oct. 31 (Aug. 15). At
Chantilly, M. Pigean is assassinated in the midst of 1,200 persons. --
C. Rousset, p.84 (Sept. 21), lieutenant-colonel Imonnier is
assassinated at Châlons-sur-Marne. - Mortimer-Ternaux, IV. 172. Four
Prussian deserters are murdered at Rethel, Oct. 5, by the Parisian
volunteers
[67] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 378, 594 and following pages.
[68] Lacretelle, "Dix années d'épreuves," p. 58. Description of
Liancourt. - "Archives Nationales," F7, 3249. Letter of the
department-administrators of the Eure, Sept. 11 (with official report
of the Gisors municipality, Sept 4). - Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 550.
[69] Archives Nationales," F7, 4394. Letter of Roland to the
convention, Oct. 31 (with a copy of the documents sent by the
department of the Nord on the events of Oct. 10 and 11).
[70] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3191. Official report of the
municipality of Charleville; Sept. 4, and letter, Sept. 6.-- Moniteur,
XIII. 742, number for Sept. 21,1792 (letter of Sept. 17, On the
Parisian volunteers of Marshal Lückner's army). "The Parisian
volunteers again threatened to have several heads last evening, among
others those of the marshal and his aids. He had threatened to return
some deserters to their regiments. At this the men exclaimed that the
ancient régime no longer existed, that brothers should not be treated
in that way, and that he general should be arrested. Severa1 of them
had already seized the horse's bridle."
[71] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3185. Documents relating to the case
of M. de Fossés. (The pillage takes place Sept. 4.)
[72] Letter of Goulard, mayor of Coucy, Oct. 4. -- Letter of Osselin,
notary, Nov. 7. "Threats of setting fire to M. de Fossés' two
remaining farm-houses are made." -- Letter of M. de Fossés, Jan. 28,
1793. He states that he has entered no complaint, and if anybody has
done so for him he is much displeased. "A suit might place me in the
greatest danger, from my knowledge of the state of the public mind in
Coucy, and of what the guilty have done and will do to affect the
minds of the people in the seventeen communes concerned in the
devastation."
[73] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3249 letter of M. de Gouy to Roland,
Sept. 21. (An admirable letter, which, if copied entire, would show
the character of the gentleman of 1789. Lots of heart, many illusions
and much verbosity.) The first attack was made Sept. 4 and the second
on the 13th.
[74] Most of the domiciliary visits end in similar damages. For
example, ("Archives Nationales," F7, 3265, letter of the
administrators of Seine-Inferieure, Sept. 18, 1792). Visit to the
château de Catteville, Sept. 7, by the national guard of the
neighborhood. "The national guard get drunk, break the furniture to
pieces, and fire repeated volleys at the windows and mirrors; the
château is a complete ruin." The municipal officers on attempting to
interfere are nearly killed.
[75] The letter ends with the following: "No, never will I abandon the
French soil!" He is guillotined at Paris, Thermidor 5, year II., as an
accomplice in the pretended prison-plot.
[76] Raid on Protestants under Louis XIV. (SR).
[77] '"Archives Nationales," Letter of the Oise administrators, Sept.
12 and 15. -- Letter of the syndic-attorney of the department, Sept.
23. -- Letter of the administrators, Sept. 20 (on Chantilly). "The
vast treasures of this domain are being plundered." In the forest of
Hez and in the park belonging to M. de Fitz-James, now national
property, "the finest trees are sold on the spot, cut down, and
carried off." - F7, 3268, Letter of the overseer of the national
domains at Rambouillet, Oct. 31. Woods devastated "at a loss of more
than 100,000 crowns since August 10." -- "The agitators who preach
liberty to citizens in the rural districts are the very ones who
excite the disorders with which the country is menaced. They provoke
the demand for a partition of property, with all the accompanying
threats."
[78] Albert Babeau, I.504 (Aug.20).
[79] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 322 (Sept 4).
80
[80] Mortimer-Ternaux, III.325. -"Archives Nationales," F7, 3239.
Official report of the municipality of Rheims, Sept 6.
[81] "Archives Nationales," F7, 4394. Correspondence of the ministers
in 1792 and 1793. Lists presented by Roland to the convention, on the
part of various districts and departments, containing the names of
priests demanding passports to go abroad, those who have gone without
passports, and of sick or aged priests in the department asylums.
[82] Albert Babeau, I. 515-517. Guillon de Montléon, I. 120. At Lyons
after the 10th of August the unsworn conceal themselves; the
municipality offers them passports; many who come for them are
incarcerated; others receive a passport with a mark on it which serves
for their recognition on the road, and which excites against them the
fury of the volunteers. "A majority of the soldiers filled the air
with their cries of 'Death to kings and priests!' " -- Sauzay, III.
ch. IX., and especially p. 193: "M. Pescheu; while running along the
road from Belfort to Porentruy, is seen by a captain of the
volunteers, riding along the same road with other officers; demanding
his gun, he aimed at M. Pescheur and shot him."
[83] "Histoire de Chalons-sur-Marne et de ses monuments," by L.
Barbat, pp. 420, 425
[84] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3207. Letter of the directory of the
Côte d'Or, Aug. 28 and Sept. 26. Address of the Beaune municipality,
Sept. 2. Letter of M. Jean Sallier, Oct. 9: "Allow me to appeal to you
for justice and to interest yourself in behalf of my brother, myself,
and five servants, who on the 14th of September last, at the order of
the municipality of La Roche-en-Bressy, where we have lived for three
years, were arrested by the national guard of Saulieu, and, first
imprisoned here in this town, were on the 18th transferred to Semur,
no reason for our detention being given, and where we have in vain
demanded a trial from the directory of the district, which body,
making no examination or inquiry into our case, sent us on the 25th,
at great expense, to Dijon, where the department has imprisoned us
again without, as before, giving any reason therefore." -- The
directory of the department writes "the communes of the towns and of
the country arrest persons suspected by them, and instead of caring
for these themselves, send them to the district" -- Such arbitrary
imprisonment multiply towards the end of 1792 and early in 1793. The
commissaries of the convention arrest at Sedan 55 persons in one day:
at Nancy, 104 in three weeks; at Arras, more than 1,000 in two months;
in the Jura, 4,000 in two months. At Lons-le-Saulnier all the nobles
with their domestics, at Aix all the inhabitants of one quarter
without exception are put in prison. (De Sybel, II. 305.)
[85]"Archives Nationales," F7, 3276. Letters of the administrators of
the Yonne, Aug. 20 and 21 .-Ibid., F7, 3255. Letter of the
commissary, Bonnemant, Sept. 22. -- Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 338. --
Lavalette, "Mémoires," I.100.
[86] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3,255. Letter of the district
administrator of Roanne, Aug. 18. Fourteen volunteers of the canton of
Néronde betake themselves to Chenevoux, a mansion belonging to M.
Dulieu, a supposed émigré. They exact 200 francs from the keeper of'
the funds of the house under penalty of death, which he gives them. --
Letter of the same. Sept. 1. "Every day repressive means are non-
existent. Juges-de-paix before whom complaints are made dare not
report them, nor try citizens who cause themselves to be feared.
Witnesses dare not give testimony for fear of being maltreated or
pillaged by the criminals." -- Letter of the same, Aug. 22. --
Official report of the municipality of Charlieu, Sept. 9, on the
destruction of the land registry books. "We replied that not having
the force with which to oppose them, since they themselves were the
force, we would abstain." -- Letter of an officer of the gendarmerie,
Sept.9, etc.
[87] "Lettres autographes de Madame Roland," published by Madame
Bancal des Issarts, p. 5 (June 2, 1790)
[88] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3245. -- Letter of the mayor and
municipal officers of Lyons, Aug. 2. -- Letter of the deputy procureur
of the commune, Aug. 29. -- Copy of a letter by Dodieu, Aug. 27.
(Roland replies with consternation and says that there must be a
prosecution.) -- Official report of the 9th of September, and letter
of the municipality, Sept. 11. -- Memorandum of the officers of the
Royal-Pologne regiment, Sept. 7. -- Letter of M. Perigny, father-in-
law of one of the officers slain, Sept. 19. -- Mortimer-Ternaux, III.
342. - Guillon de Montléon, I. 124. - Balleyder, "Histoire du peuple
de Lyon," 91.
[89] "Archives Nationales," Letter of Danton, Oct. 3.
[90] Decius, Roman emperor from 248 to 251 famous for having
persecuted the Christians. He was unable to tolerate their refusal to
join in communal corporate pagan observances. He insisted that they do
so and once they had done it, a Certificate of Sacrifice (libellus),
was issued. (SR).
[91] "Etude sur Madame Roland," by Dauban, 82. Letter of Madame
Roland to Bosc, July 26, 1798. "You busy yourselves with a
municipality and allow heads to escape which will devise new horrors.
You are mere children; your enthusiasm is merely a straw bonfire! If
the National Assembly does not try two illustrious heads in regular
form or some generous Décius strike them down, you are all lost. -- "
Ibid.,, May 17, 1790: "Our rural districts are much dissatisfied with
the decree on feudal privileges . . . A reform is necessary, in which
more châteaux must be burnt. It would not be a serious evil were there
not some danger of the enemies of the Revolution profiting by these
discontents to lessen the confidence of the people in the National
Assembly." -- Sept. 27, 1790. "The worst party is successful; it is
forgotten that insurrection is the most sacred of duties when the
country is in danger." -- Jan.24, 1791. "The wise man shuts his eyes
to the grievances or weaknesses of the private individual; but the
citizen should show no mercy, even to his father, when the public
welfare is at stake."
[92] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3202. Report of the commissary, member
of the Cantal directory, Oct. 24. On the 16th of October at
Chaudesaigues the volunteers break open a door and then kill one of
their comrades who opposes them, whom the commissary tries to save.
The mayor of the place, in uniform, leads them to the dwellings of
aristocrats, urging them on to pillage; they enter a number of houses
by force and exact wine. The next day at Saint-Urcize they break into
the house of the former curé, devastate or pillage it, and "sell his
furniture to different persons in the neighborhood." The same
treatment is awarded to sieur Vaissier, mayor, and to lady Lavalette;
their cellars are forced open, barrels of wine are taken to the public
square, and drinking takes place from the tap. After this "the
volunteers go in squads into the neighboring parishes and compel the
inhabitants to give them money or effects." The commissary and
municipal officers of St. Urcize who tried to mediate were nearly
killed and were saved only through the efforts of a detachment of
regular cavalry. As to the Jacobin mayor of Chaudesaigues, it was
natural that he should preach pillage; on the sale of the effects of
the nuns "he kept all bidders away, and had things knocked down to him
for almost nothing."
[93] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3217. Letter or Castanet, an old
gendarme, Nîmes, Aug.21. -- Letter of M. Griolet, syndic-attorney of
the Gard, Sept. 8: "I beg, sir, that this letter may he considered as
confidential; I pray you do not compromise me. " -- Letter of M.
Gilles, juge-de-paix at Rocquemaure, Oct.31 (with official reports).
[94] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3227. Letter of the municipal officers
of Tullins, Sept. 8.
[95] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3190. Letter of Danton, Oct. 9. --
Memorandum of M. Casimir Audiffret (with documents in support of it).
His son had been locked up by mistake, instead of another Audiffret,
belonging to the Comtat; he was slashed with a saber in prison Aug.25.
Report of the surgeon, Oct. 17: "The wounded man has two gashes more
on the head, one on the left cheek and the right leg is paralyzed; he
has been so roughly treated in carrying him from prison to prison as
to bring on an abscess on the wrist; if he is kept there he will soon
die."
[96] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3195. Letter of M. Amiel, president
of the bureau of conciliation, Oct. 28. -- Letter of an inhabitant of
Avignon, Oct. 7. -- Other letters without signatures. -- Letter of M.
Gilles, juge-de-paix, Jan. 23, 1793.
[97] Fabre, "Histoire de Marseilles," II. 478 and following pages. --
"Archives Nationales," F7, 3195. Letter of the Minister of Justice, M.
de Joly (with supporting documents), Aug. 6. -- Official reports of
the Marseilles municipality, July 21, 22, 23. -- Official report of
the municipality of Aix, Aug. 24. -- Letter of the syndic-attorney of
the department (with a letter of the municipality of Aubagne), Sept.
22, etc., in which M. Jourdan, a ministerial officer, is accused of
"aristocracy." A guard is assigned to him. About midnight the guard is
overcome, he is carried off, and then killed in spite of the
entreaties of his wife and son. The letter of the municipality ends
with the following: "Their lamentations pierced our hearts. But, alas,
who can resist the French people when aroused? We remain, gentlemen,
very cordially yours, the municipal officers of Aubagne."
[98] This stage of revolution seems to be sought after by the secret
communist revolutionaries arranging for the break-up of formerly
powerful independent states such as Germany, Yougoslavia, India etc.
(SR).
[99] Moniteur, XIII. 560. Act passed by the administrators of the
Bouches-du-Rhône, Aug. 3, "forbidding special collectors from
henceforth paying taxes with the national treasury." -Ibid., 744. A
report by Roland. The department of Var, having called a meeting of
commissaries at Avignon to provide for the defense of these regions,
the Minister says: "This step, subversive of all government, nullifies
the general regulations of the executive power." -- "Archives
Nationales," F7, 3195. Deliberation of the three administrative bodies
assembled at Marseilles, Nov. 5, 1792. -- Petition of Anselme, a
citizen of Avignon, residing in Paris, Dec. 14. - Report of the Saint-
Rémy affair, etc.
[100] "Archives Nationales," CII. I. 32. Official Report of the
Electoral Assembly of Bouches-du-Rhône, Sept. 4. "To defray the
expenses of this expenditure the syndic-attorney of the district of
Tarascon is authorized to draw upon the funds of public registry and
vendor of revenue stamps, and in addition thereto on the collector of
direct taxation. The expenses of this expedition will be borne by the
anti-revolutionary agitators who have made it necessary. A list,
therefore, is to be drawn up and sent to the National Assembly. The
commissioners will be empowered to suspend the district
administrations, municipal officers, and generally all public
functionaries who, through incivism or improper conduct, shall have
endangered the public weal. They may even arrest them as well as
suspected citizens. They will see that the law regarding the disarming
of suspected citizens and the banishment of priests be faithfully
executed." - Ibid., F7, 3195. Letter of Truchement, commissary of the
department, Nov. 15. -- Memorandum of the community of Eyguières and
letter of the municipality of Eyguières, Sept. 13. -- Letter of M.
Jaubert, secretary of the Salon popular club, Oct. 22: "The department
of Bouches-du-Rhône has for a month past been ravaged by commissions.
. . The despotism of one is abolished, and we now stagger under the
much more burdensome yoke of a crowd of despots." -- Situation of the
department in September and October, 1792 (with supporting documents).
[101] Barbaroux, "Mémoires," 89.
[102] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3196 .-- Letters and petition of
citizen de Sades, Nov., 1792, Feb.17, 1793, and Ventose 8, year III.:
"Towards the middle of Sept., 1792 (old style), some Marseilles
brigands broke into a house of mine near Apt. Not content with
carrying away six loads of furniture . . they broke the mirrors and
wood-work." The damage is estimated at 80,000 francs. Report of the
executive council according to the official statement of the
municipality of Coste. On the 27th of September Montbrion,
commissioner of the administration of the Bouche-du-Rhône, sends two
messengers to fetch the furniture to Apt. On reaching Apt Montbrion
and his colleague Bergier have the vehicles unloaded, putting the most
valuable effects on one cart, which they appropriate to themselves,
and drive away with it to some distance out of sight, paying the
driver out of their own pockets: "No doubt whatever exists as to the
knavery of Montbrion and Bergier; administrators and commissioners of
the administration of the department." -- De Sades, the author of
"Justine," pleads his well-known civism and the ultra-revolutionary
petitions drawn up by him in the name of the section of the Pikes.
[103] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3272. Read in this file the entire
correspondence of the directory and the public prosecutor.
[104] Deliberation of the commune of Toulon. July 28 and following
days. -- That of the three administrative bodies, Sep. 10 --
Lauvergne, "Histoire du department du Var," 104-137.
[105] "Mémoires" of Chancelier Pasquier. Vol. I. p. 106. Librarie
Plon, Paris 1893 - Pasquier and his wife stopped in Picardy, brought
to Paris by a member of the commune, a small, bandy-legged fellow
formerly a chair-letter in his parish church, imbued with the
doctrines of the day and a determined leveler. At the village of
Saralles they passed the house of M. de Livry, a rich man enjoying an
income of 50,000 francs, and the lover of Saunier, an opera-dancer.
"He is a good fellow," exclaims Pasquier's bandy-legged guardian: "we
have just made hint marry. Look here, we said to him, it is time that
to put a stop to that behavior! Down with prejudice! Marquises and
dancers ought to marry each other. He made her his wife, and it is
well he did; otherwise he would have been done for a long time ago, or
caged behind the Luxembourg walls." - Elsewhere, on passing a chateau
being demolished, the former chair-letter quotes Rousseau: "For every
chateau that falls, twenty cottages rise in its place." His mind was
stored with similar phrases and tirades, uttered by him as the
occasion warranted. This man may be considered as an excellent
specimen of the average Jacobin.
[106] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3,207. Letter of the administrators
of the Côte d'Or to the Minister, Oct. 6, 1792.
[107] "Archives Nationales" F7, 3195. Letter of the administrators
of the Bouche-du-Rhône, Oct 29, and the Minister's answer on the
margin.
[108] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3249. Letter of the administrators
of the Orne, Sept. 7, and the Minister's reply noted on the margin.
[109] "Archives Nationales," F', 3,249. Correspondence with the
municipality of Saint-Firmin (Oise). Letter of Roland, Dec. 3: "I have
read the letter addressed to me on the 25th of the past month, and I
cannot conceal from you the pain it gives me to find in it principles
so destructive of all the ties of subordination existing between
constituted authorities, principles so erroneous that should the
communes adopt them every form of government would be impossible and
all society broken up. Can the commune of Saint-Firmin, indeed, have
persuaded itself that it is sovereign, as the letter states? and have
the citizens composing it forgotten that the sovereign is the entire
nation, and not the forty-four thousandth part of it? that Saint-
Firmin is simply a fraction of it, contributing its share to endowing
the deputies of the National Convention, the administrators of
departments and districts with the power of acting for the greatest
advantage of the commune, but which, the moment it elects its own
administrators and agents, can no longer revoke the powers it has
bestowed, without a total subversion of order? etc." -- All the
documents belonging to this affair ought to be quoted; there is
nothing more instructive or ludicrous, and especially the style of the
secretary-clerk of Saint-Firmin: "We conjure you to remember that the
administrators of the district of Senlis strive to play the part of
the sirens who sought to enchant Ulysses."
[110] Letter of the central bureau of the Rouen sections, Aug. 30.
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