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the origins of contemporary france-3-第93部分

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sentinels and provide the censors and auditors。 Five or six spies;

familiar with the section; and paid forty sous a day; remain during

the session; and ready to undertake any enterprise。 These same

individuals will take orders from one Committee of Surveillance to

another; 。 。 so that if the sans…culottes of one section are not

strong enough they may call in those of a neighboring section。〃  In

such assemblies the elections are decided beforehand; and we see how

the faction keeps forcibly in its hands; or obtains by force; every

elective position。 The Council of the Commune; in spite of the hostile

inclinations of the Legislative Assembly and the Convention; succeeds

at first in maintaining itself four months; then; in December;'5' when

it is at last compelled to break up; it reappears through the

authorization of the suffrage; reinforced and completed by its own

class; with three chiefs; a syndic…attorney; a deputy and a mayor; all

three authors or abettors of the September massacre; with Chaumette;

Anaxagoras; so…called; once a cabin…boy; then a clerk; always in debt;

a windbag; and given to drink; Hébert; called 〃Père Duchesne;〃 which

states about all that is necessary for him; Pache; a subaltern busy…

body; a bland; smooth…faced intriguer; who; with his simple air and

seeming worth; pushes himself up to the head of the War Department;

where he used all its resources for pillaging; and who; born in a

door…keeper's lodgings; returns there; either through craft or

inclination; to take his dinner。  The Jacobins; with the civil power

in their hands; also grab the military power。 Immediately after the

10th of August;'6' the National Guard is reorganized and distributed

in as many battalions as there are sections; each battalion thus

becoming 〃a section in arms〃; by this we may judge its composition;

and the kind of rabble…rousers they select as officers and non…

commissioned officers。 〃The title of National Guard;〃 writes a deputy;

〃can no longer be given to the lot of pikemen and substitutes; mixed

with a few bourgeois; who; since the 10th of August; maintain the

military service in Paris。〃 There are; indeed; 110;000 names on paper;

when called out on important occasions; all who are registered may

respond; if not disarmed; but; in general; almost all stay at home and

pay a sans…culotte to mount guard in their place。  In fact; there is

for the daily service only a hired reserve in each section; about one

hundred men; always the same individuals。 This makes in Paris a band

of four or five thousand roughs; in which the squads may be

distinguished which have already been seen in September:  Maillard and

his 68 men at the Abbaye; Gauthier and his 40 men at Chantilly;

Audouin; the Sapper of the Carmelites;〃 and his 350 men in the suburbs

of Paris; Fournier; Lazowski and their 1;500 men at Orleans and

Versailles。'7'  As to the pay of these and that of their civil

auxiliaries; the faction is not troubled about that; for; along with

power; it has seized money。 To say nothing of its rapine in

September;'8' and without including the lucrative offices at its

disposition; four hundred of these being distributed by Pache alone;

and four hundred more by Chaumette;'9' the Commune has 850;000 francs

per month for its military police。 Other bleedings at the Treasury

cause more public money to flow into the pockets of its clients。  One

million per month supports the idle workmen which fife and drum have

collected together to form the camp around Paris。  Five millions of

francs protect the petty tradesmen of the capital against the

depreciation in value of certificates of credit。 Twelve thousand

francs a day keep down the price of bread for the Paris poor。'10'  To

these regularly allowed subsidies add the funds which are diverted or

extorted。  On one side; in the War Department; Pache; its accomplice

before becoming its mayor; organizes a steady stream of waste and

theft; in three months he succeeds in bringing about a deficiency of

130;000;000; 〃without vouchers。〃'11'  On another side; the Duke of

Orleans; become Philippe…Egalité; dragged along by the men once in his

pay; with a rope around his neck and almost strangled; has to pay out

more than ever; even down to the very depths of his purse; to save his

own life he consents to vote for the King's death; besides resigning

himself to other sacrifices;'12' it is probable that a large portion

of his 74;000;000 of indebtedness at his death is due to all this。 

Thus in possession of civil and military offices; of arms and money;

the faction; masters of Paris; has nothing to do but master the

isolated Convention; and this it invests on all sides。'13'





II。



Its parliamentary recruits。  Their characters and minds。   Saint…

Just。  Violence of the minority in the Convention。  Pressure of

the galleries。   Menaces of the streets。



Through the elections; the Jacobin advance…guard of fifty deputies is

already posted there; while; owing to the fascination it has to

excitable and despotic natures; to brutal temperaments; narrow;

disjointed minds; weak imaginations; doubtful honesty; and old

religious or social rancor; it succeeds in doubling this number at the

end of six months。'14'  On the benches of the extreme 〃Left;〃 around

Robespierre; Danton and Marat; the original nucleus of the September

faction; sit men of their stamp; first; the corrupt; like Chabot;

Tallien and Barras; wretches like Fouché; Guffroy and Javogues; crazy

enthusiasts like David; savage maniacs like Carrier; paltry simpletons

like Joseph Lebon; common fanatics like Levasseur; Baubot; Jeanbon…

Saint…André; Romme and Lebas。 Add also; and especially; the future

iron…handed representatives; uncouth; authoritarian; and narrow…

minded; excellent troopers for a political militia; Bourbotte;

Duquesnoy; Rewbell; and Bentabole; 〃a lot of ignorant bastards;〃 said

Danton;'15' 〃without any common sense; and patriotic only when drunk。

Marat is nothing but a bawler。  Legendre is fit for nothing but to cut

up his meat。 The rest are good for little else than voting by either

sitting down or standing up; but they are cold blooded and have broad

shoulders。〃 From amongst these energetic nonentities we see ascending

a young monster; with calm; handsome features; Saint…Just。 He is a

kind of precocious Sylla; 25 years old and a new…comer; who springs at

once from the ranks and; by dint of atrocities; obtains a prominent

position。'16'  Six years before this he began life by a domestic

robbery; on a visit to his mother; he left the house during the night;

carrying off the plate and jewels; which he squandered while living in

a lodging house in the Rue Fromenteau; in the center of Parisian

prostitution;'17' on the strength of this; and at the demand of his

friends; he is shut up in a house of correction for six months。  On

returning to his lodgings he occupied himself with writing an obscene

poem in the style of La Pucelle and then; through a fit of rage

resembling a spasm; he plunged headlong into the Revolution。 He

possessed a 〃blood calcified by study;〃 a colossal pride; an unhinged

conscience; a pompous; gloomy imagination haunted with the bloody

recollections of Rome and Sparta; an intelligence so warped and

twisted as to be comfortable only among excessive paradoxes; shameless

sophistry; and devastating lies。'18'  All these dangerous ingredients

which; mingled in the crucible of suppressed; concentrated ambition;

long and silently boiling within him; have led to a constant defiance;

a determined callousness; an automatic rigidity; and to the summary

politics of the Utopian dictator and exterminator。   It is plain

that such a minority will not obey parliamentary rules; and; rather

than yield to the majority that it will introduce into the debate boos

and hisses; insults; threats; and scuffles with daggers; pistols;

sabers and even the 〃blunder busses〃 of a veritable combat。



〃Vile intriguers; calumniators; scoundrels; monsters; assassins;

blackguards; fools and hogs;〃 such are the usual terms in which they

address each other; and these form the least of their outrages。'19'

The president; at certain sessions; is obliged three times to put on

his hat and; at last; breaks his bell。 They insult him; force him to

leave his seat and demand that 〃he be removed。' Bazire tries to snatch

a declaration presented by him 〃out of his hands。〃 Bourdon; from the

department of Oise; cries out to him that if he 〃dares to read it he

will assassinate him。〃'20' The chamber 〃has become an arena of

gladiators。〃'21' Sometimes the entire 〃Mountain〃 darts from its

benches on the left; while a similar human wave rolls down from those

on the right; both clash in the center of the room amidst furious

screams and shouts; in one of these hubbubs one of the 〃Mountain〃

having drawn a pistol the Girondist Duperret draws his sword。'22'

After the middle of December prominent members of the 〃Right;〃

constantly persecuted; threatened and outraged;〃 reduced to 〃being out

every night; are compelled to carry arms in self…defense;〃'23' and;

after the King's execution; 〃almost all〃 bring them to the sessions of

the Convention。 Any day; indeed; they may look for the final attack;

and they are not disposed to die unavenged: during the night of March

9; finding that they are only forty…three; they agree to launch

themselves in a body 〃at the first hostile movement; against their

adversaries and kill as many as possible〃 before perishing。'24'



It is a desperate resource; but the only one。 For; besides the madmen

belonging to the Convention; they have against them the madmen in the

galleries; and these likewise are September murderers。 The vilest

Jacobin rabble purposely takes its stand near them; at first in the

old Riding…school; and then in the new hall in the Tuileries。 They see

above and in a circle around them drilled adversaries; eight or nine

hundred heads
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