友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!
the origins of contemporary france-3-第20部分
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部! 如果本书没有阅读完,想下次继续接着阅读,可使用上方 "收藏到我的浏览器" 功能 和 "加入书签" 功能!
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 H?tel…
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)
'36' 〃'Archives Nationales;' F7; 3204。 letter by M。 Melon de Tradou;
royal commissary at Tulle; Sept。 8; 1791
CHAPTER II。
I。
Composition of the Legislative Assembly。 Social rank of the
Deputies。 Their inexperience; incompetence; and prejudices。
If it be true that a nation should be represented by its superior men;
France was strangely represented during the Revolution。 From one
Assembly to another we see the level steadily declining; especially is
the fall very great from the Constituent to the Legislative Assembly。
The actors entitled to perform withdraw just as they begin to
understand their parts; and yet more; they have excluded themselves
from the theatre; while the stage is surrendered to their substitutes。
〃The preceding Assembly;〃 writes an ambassador;'1' 〃contained men of
great talent; large fortune; and honorable name; a combination which
had an imposing effect on the people; although violently opposed to
personal distinctions。 The actual Assembly is but little more than a
council of lawyers; got together from every town and village in
France。〃
In actual fact; out of 745 deputies; indeed; 〃400 lawyers belong; for
the most part; to the dregs of the profession〃; there are about twenty
constitutional priests; 〃as many poets and literary men of but little
reputation; almost all without any fortune;〃 the greater number being
less than thirty years old; sixty being less than twenty…six;'2'
nearly all of them trained in the clubs and the popular assemblies〃。
There is not one noble or prelate belonging to the ancient régime; no
great landed proprietor;'3' no head of a service; no eminent
specialist in diplomacy; in finance; in the administrative or military
arts。 But three general officers are found there; and these are of the
lower rank;'4' one of them having held his appointment but three
months; and the other two being wholly unknown。 At the head of the
diplomatic committee stands Brissot; itinerant journalist; lately
traveling about in England and the United States。 He is supposed to be
competent in the affairs of both worlds; in reality he is one of those
presuming; threadbare; talkative fellows; who; living in a garret;
lecture foreign cabinets and reconstruct all Europe。 Things; to them;
seem to be as easily worked out as words and sentences: one day;'5' to
entice the English into an alliance with France; Brissot proposes to
place two towns; Dunkirk and Calais; in their hands as security;
another day; he proposes 〃to make a descent on Spain; and; at the same
time; to send a fleet to conquer Mexico。〃 The leading member on the
committee on finances is Cambon; a merchant from Montpellier; a good
accountant; who; at a later period; is to simplify accounting and
regulate the Grand Livre of the public debt; which means public
bankruptcy。 Mean…while; he hastens this on with all his might by
encouraging the Assembly to undertake the ruinous and terrible war
that is to last for twenty…three years; according to him; 〃there is
more money than is needed for it。〃'6' In actual fact; the guarantee
of assignats is used up and the taxes do not come in。 They live only
on the paper money they issue。 The assignats lose forty per centum;
and the ascertained deficit for 1792 is four hundred millions。'7' But
this revolutionary financier relies upon the confiscations which he
instigates in France; and which are to be set agoing in Belgium; here
lies all his invention; a systematic robbery on a grand scale within
and without the kingdom。
As to the legislators and manufacturers of constitutions; we have
Condorcet; a cold…blooded fanatic and systematic leveler; satisfied
that a mathematical method suits the social sciences fed on
abstractions; blinded by formul?; and the most chimerical of perverted
intellects。 Never was a man versed in books more ignorant of mankind;
never did a lover of scientific precision better succeed in changing
the character of facts。 It was he who; two days before the 20th of
June; amidst the most brutal public excitement; admired 〃the calmness〃
and rationality of the multitude; 〃consi
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!