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the origins of contemporary france-3-第84部分

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in most characters; this respect has taken very deep root。 A theory;

even if adopted; does not wholly succeed in destroying this respect;

only in rare instances is it successful; when it encounters coarse and

defective natures; to take full hold; it is necessary that it should

fall on the scattered inheritors of former destructive appetites; on

those hopelessly degenerate souls in which the passions of an anterior

date are slumbering; then only does its malevolence fully appear; for

it rouses the ferocious or plundering instincts of the barbarian; the

raider; the inquisitor; and the pasha。 On the contrary; with the

greatest number; do what it will; integrity and humanity always remain

powerful motives。 Nearly all these legislators; who originate in the

middle class; are at bottom; irrespective of a momentary delusion;

what they always have been up to now; advocates; attorneys; merchants;

priests; or physicians of the ancient regime; and what they will

become later on; docile administrators or zealous functionaries of

Napoleon's empire;'33' that is to say; ordinary civilized persons

belonging to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; sufficiently

honest in private life to have a desire to be equally so in public

life。   Hence their horror of anarchy; of Marat;'34' and of the

September butchers and robbers。 Three days after their assembling

together they vote; 〃almost unanimously;〃 the preparation of a law

〃against the instigators of murder and assassination。〃  〃Almost

unanimously;〃 they desire to raise a guard; recruited in the 83

departments; against the armed bands of Paris and the Commune。

Pétition is elected as their first president by 〃almost the totality

of suffrages。〃 Roland who has just read his report to them; is greeted

with the 〃loudest〃 applause from nearly the 〃entire〃 Assembly。 In

short they are for the ideal republic against actual brigands。 This

accounts for their ranging themselves around those upright and sincere

deputies; who; in the two preceding Assemblies or alongside of them;

were the ablest defenders of both principles and humanity; around

Buzot; Lanjuinais; Pétition; and Rabaut…Saint…Etienne; around Brissot;

Vergniaud; Guadet; Gensonné; Isnard; and Condorcet; around Roland;

Louvet; Barbaroux; and the five hundred deputies of the 〃Plain;〃'35'

marching in one body under the leadership of the 180 Girondists who

now form the 〃Right。〃'36'



These latter; among the republicans; are the most sincere and have the

most faith; for they have long been such; after much thought; study

and as a matter of principle。 Nearly all of them are well…read

educated men; reasoners; philosophers; disciples of Diderot or of

Rousseau; satisfied that absolute truth had been revealed by their

masters; thoroughly imbued with the Encyclopédie'37' or the Contrat

Social; the same as the Puritans formerly were with the Bible。'38'  At

the age when the mind is maturing; and fondly clings to general

ideas;'39' they embraced the theory and aimed at a reconstruction of

society according to abstract principles。 They have accordingly set to

work as pure logicians; rigorously applying the superficial and false

system of analysis then in vogue。'40'  They have formed for themselves

an idea of man in general; the same in all times and ages; an extract

or minimum of man; they have pondered over several thousands of or

millions of these abstract mortals; erected their imaginary wills into

primordial rights; and drawn up in anticipation the chimerical

contract which is to regulate their impossible union。  There are to be

no more privileges; no more heredity; no qualifications of any kind;

all are to be electors; all eligible and all of equal members of the

sovereignty; all powers are to be of short date; and conferred through

election; there must be but one assembly; elected and entirely renewed

annually; one executive council elected and one…half renewed annually;

a national treasury…board elected and one…third renewed annually; all

local administrations and tribunals must be elected; a referendum to

the people; the electoral body endowed with the initiative; a constant

appeal to the sovereignty; which; always consulted and always active;

will manifest its will not alone by the choice of its mandatories but;

again; through 〃the censure〃 which it will apply to the laws  such

is the Constitution they forge for themselves。'41'  〃The English

Constitution;〃 says Condorcet; 〃is made for the rich; that of America

for citizens well…off; the French Constitution should be made for all

men。〃 … It is; for this reason; the only legitimate one; every

institution that deviates from it is opposed to natural rights and;

therefore; fit only to be put down。…This is what the Girondists have

done during the Legislative sessions; we know how they; armed with the

illusions'42' of their new philosophy and triumphing through a rigid;

rash and hasty reason; have



* persecuted Catholic consciences;



* violated feudal property;



* encroached on the legal authority of the King;



* persecuted the remains of the ancient regime;



* tolerated crimes committed by the crowds;



* even plunged France into an European war;



* armed even the paupers;



* caused the overthrow of all government。 …



As far as his Utopia is concerned; the Girondist is a sectarian; and

he knows no scruples。



* Little does he care that nine out of ten electors do not vote:  he

regards himself as the authorized representative of all ten。



* Little does he care whether the great majority of Frenchmen favor

the Constitution of 1791; it is his business to impose on them his

own。



* Little does he care whether his former opponents; King; émigrés;

unsworn ecclesiastics; are honorable men or at least excusable; he

will launch against them every rigorous legal proceeding;

transportation; confiscation; civil death and physical death。'43'



In his own eyes he is the justiciary; and his investiture is bestowed

upon him by eternal right。 There is no human infatuation so pernicious

to man as that of absolute right; nothing is better calculated for the

destruction in him of the hereditary accumulation of moral

conceptions。   Within the narrow bounds of their creed; however; the

Girondins are sincere and consistent。 They are masters of their

formulae; they know how to deduce consequences from them; they believe

in them the same as a surveyor in his theorems; and a theologian in

the articles of his faith; they are anxious to apply them; to devise a

constitution; to establish a regular government; to emerge from a

barbarous state; to put an end to fighting in the street; to

pillaging; to murders; to the sway of brutal force and of naked arms。



The disorder; mover; so repugnant to them as logicians is still more

repugnant to them as cultivated; polished men。 They have a sense of

what is proper;'44' of becoming ways; and their tastes are even

refined。 They are not familiar with; nor do they desire to imitate;

the rude manners of Danton; his coarse language; his oaths; and his

low associations with the people。 They have not; like Robespierre;

gone to lodge with a master joiner; to live him and eat with his

family。 Unlike Pache; Minister of War; no one among them 〃feels

honored〃 by 〃going down to dine with his porter;〃 and by sending his

daughters to the club to give a fraternal kiss to drunken

Jacobins。'45'  At Madame Roland's house there is a salon; although it

is stiff and pedantic; Barbaroux send verses to a marchioness; who;

after the 2nd of June; elopes with him to Caen。'46'  Condorcet has

lived in high society; while his wife; a former canoness; possess the

charms; the repose; the instruction; and the elegance of an

accomplished woman。  Men of this stamp cannot endure close alongside

of them the inept and gross dictatorship of an armed rabble。 In

providing for the public treasury they require regular taxes and not

tyrannical confiscations。'47' To repress the malevolent they propose

〃punishment and not banishment。〃'48'  In all State trials they oppose

irregular courts; and strive to maintain for those under indictment

some of the usual safeguards。'49' On declaring the King guilty they

hesitate in pronouncing the sentence of death; and try to lighten

their responsibility by appealing to the people。 The line 〃laws and

not blood;〃 was a line which; causing a stir in a play of the day;

presented in a nutshell their political ideas。 And; naturally; the

law; especially Republican law; is the law of all; once enacted;

nobody; no citizen; no city; no party; can refuse to obey it without

being criminal。 It is monstrous that one city should arrogate to

itself the privilege of ruling the nation; Paris; like other

departments; should be reduced to its on…eighty…third proportion of

influence。 It is monstrous that; in a capital of 700;000 souls; five

or six thousand radical Jacobins should oppress the sections and alone

elect their candidates; in the sections and at the polls; all

citizens; at least all republicans; should enjoy an equal and free

vote。 It is monstrous that the principle of popular sovereignty should

be used to cover up attacks against popular sovereignty; that; under

the pretense of saving the State; the first that comes along may kill

whom he pleases; that; on the pretext that they are resisting

oppression; each mob should have the 〃Right〃 to put the government

down。  Hence; this militant 〃Right〃 must be pacified; enclosed

within legal boundaries; and subjected to a fixed process。'50' Should

any individual desire a law; a reform or a public measure; let him

state his on paper over his own signature and that of fifty other

citizens of the same primary assembly; then the proposition must be

submitted to his own primary assembly; then in case it obtains a

majority; to the primary assemblies of his arrondissement;  then; in

case of a majority; t
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