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the origins of contemporary france-3-第65部分

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with lewdness to add debasement to torture; while life is violated

through outrages on modesty。  In Madame de Lamballe; killed too

quickly; the libidinous butchers could outrage only a corpse; but for

the widow;'109' and especially the flower…girl; they revive; like so

many Neros; the fire…circle of the Iroquois。'110'  From the Iroquois

to the cannibal; the gulf is small; and some of them jump across it。

At the Abbaye; an old soldier named Damiens; buries his saber in the

side of the adjutant…general la Leu; thrusts his hand into the

opening; tears out the heart 〃and puts it to his mouth as if to eat

it〃; 〃the blood;〃 says an eye…witness; 〃trickled from his mouth and

formed a sort of mustache for him。〃'111' At La Force; Madame de

Lamballe is carved up。 What Charlot; the wig…maker; who carried her

head did; I to it; should not be described。 I merely state that

another wretch; in the Rue Saint…Antoine; bore off her heart and 〃ate

it。〃'112'



They kill and they drink; and drink and kill again。 Weariness comes

and stupor begins。  One of them; a wheelwright's apprentice; has

dispatched sixteen for his share; another 〃has labored so hard at this

merchandise as to leave the blade of his saber sticking in it〃; 〃I was

more tired;〃 says a Federate; 〃with two hours pulling limbs to pieces;

right and left; than any mason who for two days has been plastering a

wall。〃'113'  The first excitement is gone; and now they strike

automatically。'114' Some of them fall asleep stretched out on benches。

Others; huddled together; sleep off the fumes of their wine; removed

on one side。  The exhalation from the carnage is so strong that the

president of the civil committee faints in his chair;'115' the fumes

of the tavern blending with those from the charnel…house。 A heavy;

dull state of torpor gradually overcomes their clouded brains; the

last glimmerings of reason dying out one by one; like the smoky lights

on the already cold breasts of the corpses lying around them。 Through

the stupor spreading over the faces of butchers and cannibals; we see

appearing that of the idiot。  It is the revolutionary idiot; in which

all conceptions; save two; have vanished; two fixed; rudimentary; and

mechanical ideas; one destruction and the other that of public safety。

With no others in his empty head; these blend together through an

irresistible attraction; and the effect proceeding from their contact

may be imagined。 〃Is there anything else to do? 〃asks one of these

butchers in the deserted court。   〃If there is no more to do;〃 reply

a couple of women at the gate; 〃you will have to think of

something;〃'116' and; naturally; this is done。



As the prisons are to be cleaned out; it is as well to clean them all

out; and do it at once。 After the Swiss; priests; the aristocrats; and

the 〃white…skinned gentlemen;〃 there remain convicts and those

confined through the ordinary channels of justice; robbers; assassins;

and those sentenced to the galleys in the Conciergerie; in the

Chatelet; and in the Tour St。 Bernard; with branded women; vagabonds;

old beggars; and boys confined in Bicêtre and the Salpétrière。 They

are good for nothing; cost something to feed;'117' and; probably;

cherish evil designs。 At the Salpétrière; for example; the wife of

Desrues; the poisoner; is; assuredly; like himself; 〃cunning; wicked;

and capable of anything〃; she must be furious at being in prison; if

she could; she would set fire to Paris; she must have said so; she did

say it'118'  one more sweep of the broom。 This time; as the job is

more foul; the broom is wielded by fouler hands; among those who seize

the handle are the frequenters of jails。 The butchers at the Abbaye

prison; especially towards the close; had already committed

thefts;'119' here; at the Chatelet and the Conciergerie prisons; they

carry away 〃everything which seems to them suitable;〃 even to the

clothes of the dead; prison sheets and coverlids; even the small

savings of the jailers; and; besides this; they enlist their cronies。

〃Out of 36 prisoners set free; many were assassins and robbers; the

killers attached them to their group。 There were also 75 women;

confined in part for larceny; who promised to faithfully serve their

liberators。〃  Later on; indeed; these are to become; at the Jacobin

and Cordeliers clubs; the tricoteuses (knitters) who fill their

tribunes。'120'  At the Salpétrière prison; 〃all the pimps of Paris;

former spies; 。 。 。 libertines; the rascals of France and all Europe;

prepare beforehand for the operation;〃 and rape alternates with

massacre。'121'  Thus far; at least; slaughter has been seasoned with

robbery; and the grossness of eating and drinking; at Bicétre;

however; it is crude butchery; the carnivorous instinct alone

satisfying itself。 Among other prisoners are 43 youths of the lowest

class; from 17 to 19 years of age; placed there for correction by

their parents; or by those to whom they are bound;'122' one need only

look at them to see that they are genuine Parisian scamps; the

apprentices of vice and misery; the future recruits for the reigning

band; and these the band falls on; beating them to death with clubs。

At this age life is tenacious; and; no life being harder to take; it

requires extra efforts to dispatch them。 〃In that corner;〃 said a

jailer; 〃they made a mountain of their bodies。 The next day; when they

were to be buried; the sight was enough to break one's heart。 One of

them looked as if he were sleeping like one of God's angels; but the

rest were horribly mutilated。〃'123'  Here; man has sunk below

himself; down into the lowest strata of the animal kingdom; lower that

the wolf; for wolves do not strangle their young。







VI。 Jacobin Massacre。



Effect of the massacre on the public。   General dejection and the

dissolution of society。   The ascendancy of the Jacobins assured in

Paris。   The men of September upheld in the Commune and elected to

the Convention。



There are six days and five nights of uninterrupted butchery;'124' 171

murders at the Abbaye; 169 at La Force; 223 at the Chatelet; 328 at

the Consciergerie; 73 at the Tour…Saint…Bernard; 120 at the

Carmelites; 79 at Saint Firmin; 170 at Bicêtre; 35 at the Salpétrière;

among the dead;'125' 250 priests; 3 bishops or archbishops; general

officers; magistrates; one former minister; one royal princess;

belonging to the best names in France; and; on the other side; one

Negro; several working class women; kids; convicts; and poor old men:

What man now; little or big; does not feel himself threatened?  And

all the more because the band has grown larger。 Fournier; Lazowski;

and Bécard; the chiefs of robbers and assassins; return from Orleans

with fifteen hundred cut…throats。'126'  One the way they kill M。 de

Brissac; M。 de Lessart; and 42 others accused of lése…nation; whom

they wrested from their judges' hands; and then; by the way of

surplus; 〃following the example of Paris;〃 twenty…one prisoners taken

from the Versailles prisons。  At Paris the Minister of Justice thanks

them; the Commune congratulates them; and the sections feast them and

embrace them。'127'  Can anybody doubt that they were ready to begin

again? Can a step be taken in or out of Paris without being subject to

their oppression or encountering their despotism? Should one leave the

city; sentinels of their species are posted at the barriers and on the

section committees in continuous session。 Malouet; led before that of

Roule;'128' sees before him a pandemonium of fanatics; at least a

hundred individuals in the same room; the suspected; those denouncing

them; collaborators; attendants; a long; green table in the center;

covered with swords and daggers; with the committee around it; 〃twenty

patriots with their shirt sleeves rolled up; some holding pistols and

others pens;〃 signing warrants of arrest; 〃quarreling with and

threatening each other; all talking at once; and shouting: Traitor! 

Conspirator!  Off to prison with him!  Guillotine him!  and

behind these; a crowd of spectators; pell…mell ; yelling; and

gesticulating〃 like wild beasts pressed against each other in the same

cage; showing their teeth and trying to spring at each other。 〃One of

the most excited; brandishing his saber in order to strike an

antagonist; stopped on seeing me; and exclaimed; 'There's Malouet!' 

The other; however; less occupied with me than with his enemy; took

advantage of the opportunity; and with a blow of his club; knocked him

down。〃  Malouet had a close shave; in Paris escapes take place by such

accidents。  If one remains in the city; one is beset with lugubrious

fears by;



1。 the hurrying step of squads of men in each street; leading the

suspected to prison or before the committee;



2。 around each prison the crowds that have come 〃to see the

disasters〃;



3。 in the court of the Abaye the cry of the auctioneer selling the

clothes of the dead;



4。 the rumbling of carts on the pavement bearing away 1;300 corpses;



5。 the songs of the women mounted aloft on the carts; beating time on

the naked bodies。'129'



Is there a man who; after one of these encounters; does not see

himself in imagination before the green table of the section

committee; after this; in prison with sabers over his head; and then

in the cart in the midst of the bloody pile?



Courage falters before a vision like this。 All the journals approve;

palliate; or keep silent; nobody dares offer resistance。'130' Property

as well as lives belong to whoever wants to take them。 At the

barriers; at the markets; on the boulevard of the Temple; thieves;

decked with the tricolor ribbon; stop people as they pass along; seize

whatever they carry; and; under the pretext that jewels should be

deposited on the altars of Patriotism; take purses; watches; rings;

and other articles; so rudely that women who are not quick enough;

have the lobes of their ears torn in unhoo
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