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the origins of contemporary france-3-第34部分
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the Swiss regiment is stationed in garrison and where the superior
authorities are installed。 This operation is the more necessary
inasmuch as the Directory of the department loudly commends the
loyalty of the Swiss Guard and takes occasion to remind the Marseilles
municipality of the respect due to the law。 Such remonstrance is an
insult; and the municipality; in a haughty tone; calls upon the
Directory to avow or disavow its letter; 〃if you did not write it; it
is a foul report which it is our duty to examine into; and if you did;
it is a declaration of war made by you against Marseilles。〃'16' The
Directory; in polite terms and with great circumspection; affirms both
its right and its utterance; and remarks that 〃the prorata list of
taxes of Marseilles for 1791 is not yet reported;〃 that the
municipality is much more concerned with saving the State than with
paying its contribution and; in short; it maintains its censure。 If
it will not bend it must break; and on the 4th of February; 1792; the
municipality sends Barbaroux; its secretary; to Paris; that he may
mitigate the outrages they are preparing。 During the night of the 25…
26; the drums beat the general alarm; and three or four thousand men
gather and march to Aix with six pieces of cannon。 As a precaution
they pretend to have no leaders; no captains or lieutenants or even
corporals; to quote them; all are equal; all volunteers; each being
summoned by the other; in this fashion; as all are responsible; no one
is。'17' They reach Aix at eleven o'clock in the forenoon; find a gate
open through the connivance of those in league with them among the
populace of the town and its suburbs; and summon the municipality to
surrender the sentinels。 In the mean time their emissaries have
announced in the neighboring villages that the town was menaced by the
Swiss regiment; consequently four hundred men from Aubagne arrive in
haste; while from hour to hour the National Guards from the
surrounding villages likewise rush in。 The streets are full of armed
men; shouts arise and the tumult increases; the municipal body; in the
universal panic; loses its wits。 This body is afraid of a nocturnal
fight 〃between troops of the line; citizens; National Guards and armed
strangers; no one being able to recognize one another or know who is
an enemy。〃 It sends back a detachment of three hundred and fifty
Swiss Guards; which the Directory had ordered to its support; and
consigns the regiment to its quarters。 At this the Directory takes
to flight。 Military sentinels of all kinds are disarmed while the
Marseilles throng; turning its advantages to account; announces to the
municipality at two o'clock in the morning that; 〃allow it or not 〃 it
is going to attack the barracks immediately; in fact; cannon are
planted; a few shots are fired; a sentinel killed; and the hemmed…in
regiment is compelled to evacuate the town; the men without their guns
and the officers without their swords。 Their arms are stolen; the
people seize the suspected; the street…lamp is hauled down and the
noose is made ready。 Cayol; the flower…girl; is hung。 The
municipality; with great difficulty; saves one man who is already
lifted by the rope two feet from the ground; and obtains for three
others 〃a temporary refuge〃 in prison。
Henceforth there is no authority at the department headquarters; or
rather it has changed hands。 Another Directory; more pliable; is
installed in the place of the fugitive Directory。 Of the thirty…six
administrators who form the Council only twelve are present at the
election。 Of the nine elected only six consent to sit; while often
only three are found at its sessions; which three; to recruit their
colleagues; are obliged to pay them。'18' Hence; notwithstanding their
position is the best in the department; they are worse treated and
more unfortunate than their servants outside。 The delegates of the
club; with the municipal officers of Marseilles seated alongside of
them; oblige them either to keep silent; or to utter what they dictate
to them。'19' 〃Our arms are tied;〃 writes one of them; 〃we are wholly
under the yoke〃 of these intruders。 〃We have twice in succession seen
more than three hundred men; many of them with guns and pistols; enter
the hall and threaten us with death if we refused them what they
asked。 We have seen infuriate motionnaires; nearly all belonging to
Avignon; mount the desks of the Directory; harangue their comrades and
excite them to rioting and crime。 〃You must decide between life or
death;〃 they exclaimed to us; 〃you have only a quarter of an hour to
choose。〃 〃National guards have offered their sabers through the
windows; left open on account of the extreme heat; to those around us
and made signs to them to cut our throats。〃 Thus fashioned; reduced
and drilled; the Directory is simply an instrument in the hands of the
Marseilles demagogues。 Camo?n; Bertin and Rebecqui; the worst
agitators and usurpers; rule there without control。 Rebecqui and
Bertin; appointed delegates in connection with matters in Arles; have
themselves empowered to call for defensive troops; they immediately
demand them for attack; to which the Directory vainly remonstrates;
they declare to it that 〃not being under its inspection; it has no
authority over them; being independent of it; they have no orders to
receive from it nor to render to it any account of their conduct。〃 So
much the worse for the Directory on attempting to revoke their powers。
Bertin informs its vice…president that; if it dares do this he will
cut off his head。 They reply to the Minister's observations with the
utmost insolence。'20' They glory in the boldness of the stroke and
prepare another; their march on Aix being only the first halt in the
long…meditated campaign which involves the possession of Arles。
III。
The Constitutionalists of Arles。 The Marseilles expedition against
Arles。 Excesses committed by them in the town and its vicinity。
Invasion of 〃Apt;〃 the club and its volunteers。
No city; indeed; is more odious to them。 For two years; led or
pushed on by its mayor; M。 d'Antonelle; it has marched along with them
or been dragged along in their wake。 D'Antonelle; an ultra…
revolutionary; repeatedly visited and personally encouraged the
bandits of Avignon。 To supply them with cannon and ammunition he
stripped the Tour St。 Louis of its artillery; at the risk of
abandoning the mouths of the Rhone to the Barbary pirates。'21' In
concert with his allies of the Comtat; the Marseilles club; and his
henchmen from the neighboring boroughs; he rules in Arles 〃by terror。〃
Three hundred men recruited in the vicinity of the Mint; artisans or
sailors with strong arms and rough hands; serve him as satellites。 On
the 6th of June 1791; they drive away; on their own authority; the
unsworn priests; who had taken refuge in the town。'22' At this;
however; the 〃property…owners and decent people;〃 much more numerous
and for a long time highly indignant; raise their heads; twelve
hundred of them assemble in the church of Saint…Honorat; swore to
maintain the constitution and public order;〃'23' and then moved to the
(Jacobin) club; where; in their quality of national guards and active
citizens and in conformity with its by…laws; they were admitted en
masse。 At the same time; acting in concert with the municipality;
they reorganize the National Guard and form new companies; the effect
of which is to put an end to the Mint gang; thus depriving the faction
of all its strength。 Thenceforth; without violence or illegal acts;
the majority of the club; as well as of the National Guard; consists
of constitutional monarchists; the elections of November; 1791; giving
to the partisans of order nearly all the administrative offices of the
commune and of the district。 M。 Loys; a physician and a man of
energy; is elected mayor in the place of M。 d'Antonelle; he is known
as able to suppress a riot; 〃holding martial law in one hand; and his
saber in the other。〃 This is too much; so Marseilles feel
compelled to bring Arles under control 〃to atone for the disgrace of
having founded it。〃'24' In this land of ancient cities political
hostility is embittered with old municipal grudges; similar to those
of Thebes against Plat?e; of Rome against Veii; of Florence against
Pisa。 The Guelphs of Marseilles brooded over the one idea of crushing
the Ghibellins of Arles。 Already; in the electoral assembly of
November; 1791; M。 d'Antonelle; the president; had invited the
communes of the department to take up arms against this anti…jacobin
city。'25' Six hundred Marseilles volunteers set out on the instant;
install themselves at Salon; seize the syndic…attorney of the hostile
district; and refuse to give him up; this being an advance…guard of
4;000 men promised by the forty or fifty clubs of the party。'26' To
arrest their operations requires the orders of the three
commissioners; resolutions passed by the Directory still intact; royal
proclamations; a decree of the Constituent Assembly; the firmness of
the still loyal troops and the firmer stand taken by the Arlesians
who; putting down an insurrection of the Mint band; had repaired their
ramparts; cut away their bridges and mounted guard with their guns
loaded。'27' But it is only a postponement。 Now that the commissioners
have gone; and the king's authority a phantom; now that the last loyal
regiment is disarmed; the terrified Directory recast and obeying like
a servant; with the Legislative Assembly allowing everywhere the
oppression of the Constitutionalists by the Jacobins; a fresh Jacobin
expedition may be started against the Constitutionalists with
impunity。 Accordingly; on the 23rd of March; 1792; the Marseilles army
of 4;500 men sets out on its march with nineteen pieces of cannon。
In vain the commissioners of the neighboring departments; sen
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