VI。 The Directory。
Dictatorship of the Directory。 … Its new prerogatives。 … Purge of
the Legislative Corps。… Purification of the administrative and
judicial authorities。 … Military commissions in the provinces。 …
Suppression of newspapers。 … The right of voting reserved to Jacobins
alone。 … Despotism of the Directory。 … Revival of Terror。 …
Transportation substituted for the guillotine。 … Treatment of the
deported on the way; in Guyana; and on the islands of Rhé and Oléron。
… Restoration of Jacobin feudalism。
This is the way in which the government of 1793 is brought back to
life:
The concentration of all public powers in the hands of an oligarchy; a
dictatorship exercised by about a hundred men grouped around five or
six leaders。
More independent; more despotic and less provisional than any
Committee of Public Safety; the Directory has arrogated to itself the
legal right of placing a commune in a state of siege; of introducing
troops within the constitutional circle'75' in such a way that it may;
at its discretion; violate Paris and the Legislative Corps。 In this
body; mutilated by it and watched by its hireling assassins;'76' sit
the passive mutes who feel themselves 〃morally proscribed and half…
deported;〃'77' who abandon debate; and vote with its stipendiaries and
valets。'78' As a matter of fact; the two councils have; as formerly
the Convention; become chambers 〃of registry〃 of legislative mechanism
charged with the duty of countersigning its orders。 … Its sway over
the subordinate authorities is still more absolute。 In forty…nine
departments; specially designated by decree; all the administrators of
departments; cantons and municipalities; all mayors; civil and
criminal judges; all justices of the peace; all elected by popular
suffrage; are dismissed en masse;'79' while the cleaning out in the
rest of France is almost as sweeping。 We can judge by one example: in
the department of Doubs; which is not put down among those to be
purged; five hundred and thirty administrators or municipal
magistrates are dismissed in 1797; and; in addition; forty…nine others
in 1798。 The Directory puts its creatures in their places: suddenly;
the departmental; cantonal; municipal and judicial system; which was
American; becomes Napoleonic so that the local officials; instead of
being delegates of the people; are government delegates。 … Note;
especially; the most threatening of all usurpations; the way in which
this government takes justice into its hands and attributes to itself
the right of life and death over persons: not only does it break up
common criminal courts and reorganize them as it pleases; not only
does it renew and select among the purest Jacobins judges of the court
of appeals; but again; in each military division; it institutes a
special and expeditious court without appeal; composed of docile
officers; sub…officers and soldiers; which is to condemn and execute
within twenty…four hours; under pretext of emigration or priesthood;
every man who is obnoxious to the ruling factions。 As to the
twenty…five millions of subjects it has just acquired; there is no
refuge: it is forbidden even to complain。 Forty…two opposition or
〃suspect〃 journals are silenced at one stroke; their stock plundered;
or their presses broken up ; three months after this; sixteen more
take their turn; and; in a year; eleven others ; the proprietors;
editors; publishers and contributors; among whom are La Harpe;
Fontanes; Fièvé; Michaud and Lacretelle; a large body of honorable or
prominent writers; the four or five hundred men who compose the staff
of the profession; all condemned without trial to banishment;'80' or
to imprisonment; are arrested; take flight; conceal themselves; or
keep silent。 The only voice now heard in France is the mega…phone of
the government。
Naturally; the faculty of voting is as restricted as the faculty of
writing; so that the victors of Fructidor; together with the right to
speak; now also monopolize the right of electing。 … Right away the
government renewed the decree which the expiring Convention had
rendered against allies or relations of émigrés。 moreover; it
excluded all relatives or supporters of the members of the primary
assemblies; and forbade the primary assemblies to choose any of these
for electors。 Henceforth; all upright or even peaceful citizens
consider themselves as warned and stay at home。 Voting is the act of
a ruler; and therefore a privilege of the new sovereigns; which is the
view of it entertained by both sovereigns and subjects:'81' 〃a
republican minority operating legally must prevail against a majority
influenced by royalism。〃'82' They are to see the government on
election days; launching forth 〃in each department its commission
agents; and controlling votes by threats and all sorts of promises and
seductions;'83' arresting the electors and presidents of the primary
assemblies;〃 even pouncing on refractory Jacobins; invalidating the
returns of a majority when not satisfactory to them; and rendering the
choice of a minority valid; if it suited them; in short; constituting
itself the chief elector of all local and central authorities。 …
Finally; all institutions; laws; public and private rights; are down;
and the nation; body and soul; again becomes; as under Robespierre;
the property of its rulers with this sole difference; that the kings
of Terror; postponing their constitution; openly proclaim their
omnipotence; whilst the others hypocritically rule under a
constitution which they have themselves destroyed; and reign by virtue
of a title which interdicts royalty to them。
They; too; maintain themselves by Terror; only; like so many
Tartuffes; they are not disposed to act openly as executioners。 The
Directory; heir to the Convention; affects to repudiate its
inheritance: 〃Woe;〃 says Boulay de la Meurthe; 〃to whoever would re…
establish scaffolds。〃 There is to be no guillotine; its purveyors have
been too strongly denounced; they stand too near the red stream and
view with too great nervous horror those who fed it。 It is better to
employ death at a distance; lingering and spontaneous; with no
effusion of human blood; 〃dry;〃 less repulsive than the other sort;
but more painful and not less certain; this shall be imprisonment on
the marshes of Rochefort; and; better still; transportation to the
feverish coasts of Guyanna: there is no distinction between the mode
used by the Convention and that of the Directory; except the
distinction between to kill and to cause death。'84' Moreover; every
brutality that can be employed to repress the indignation of the
proscribed by fear is exhausted on the way。 … The first convoy which
bears away; with thirteen others; Barthélémy; who negotiated the
treaty of Basle; Pichegru; the conqueror of Holland; Lafond…Ladébat;
president of the council of the Five Hundred; Barbé…Marbois; president
of the council of the Ancients; was at first provided with
carriages。'85' An order of the Directory substitutes for these the
prison van; an iron car with one door bolted and padlocked; and;
overhead; openings through which the rain poured in streams; and with
common boards for seats。 This lumbering machine without springs rolls
along at a fast trot along the ruts in the road; each jolt sending the
condemned inmates against the hard oak sides and roof; one of these;
on reaching Blois; 〃shows his black…and…blue elbows。〃 The man selected
to command this escort is the vilest and most brutal reprobate in the
army; Dutertre; a coppersmith foreman before the Revolution; next an
officer and sentenced to be put in irons for stealing in the La Vendée
war; and such a natural robber that he again robs his men of their pay
on the road; he is evidently qualified for his work。 On stopping at
Blois; 〃he passes the night in an orgy with his brothers and friends;〃
fellow…thieves and murderers as above described。 He curses Madame
Barbé…Marbois who comes to take leave of her husband; dismissing on
the spot the commandant of the gendarmerie who supports her in a
swoon; and; noticing the respect and attentions which all the
inhabitants; even the functionaries; show to the prisoners; he cries
out; 〃Well; what airs and graces for people that will perhaps be dead
in three or four days!〃 On the vessel which transports them; and still
in sight of Rochelle; a boat is observed rowing vigorously to overtake
them and they hear a shout of 〃I am Lafond…Ladébat's son! Allow me to
embrace my father!〃 A speaking…trumpet from the vessel replies: 〃Keep
away or you'll be fired on!〃 … Their cabins; on the voyage; are
noxious; they are not allowed to be on deck more than four at a time;
one hour in the morning and an hour in the evening。 The sailors and
soldiers are forbidden to speak to them; their food consists of a
sailor's ration; and this is spoilt; toward the end of the voyage they
are starved。 In Guyanna they are allowed one candle to a mess; and no
table…linen; they lack water; or it is not drinkable; out of sixteen
taken to Sinnamary only two survive。
Those who are deported the following year; priests; monks; deputies;
journalists and artisans accused of emigration; fare worse。 On all
the roads leading to Rochefort; sorrowful crowds are seen on carts or
tramping along in files; on foot; the same as former chains of
convicts。 〃An old man of eighty…two; Monsieur Dulaurent of Quimper;
thus traverses four departments;〃 in irons which strangle him。
Following upon this; the poor creatures; between the decks of the
〃Décade〃 and the 〃Bayonnaise;〃 crammed in; suffocated through lack of
air and by the torrid heat; badly treated and robbed; die of hunger or
asphyxia; while Guyanna completes the work of the voyage: out of 193
conveyed on board the 'Décade;〃 only 39 remain at the end of twenty…
two months; and of the 120 brought
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