《the origins of contemporary france-4》

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nothing;〃 the swindlers who acquired it never being without a

satisfactory warrant for this in their own eyes。  Into whose hands

could the property of anti…revolutionists better fall than into those

of patriots? According to Marat; the martyr apostle and canonised

saint of the Revolution; what is the object of the Revolution but to

give to the lowly the fortunes of the great?'141' In all national

sales everywhere; in guarding sequestrations; in all revolutionary

ransoms; taxes; loans and seizures; the same excellent argument

prevails; nowhere; in printed documents or in manuscripts; do I find

any revolutionary committee which is at once terrorist and honest。

Only; it is rare to find specific and individual details regarding all

the members of the same committee。  … Here; however; is one case;

where; owing to the lucky accident of an examination given in detail;

one can observe in one nest; every variety of the species and of its

appetites; the dozen or fifteen types of the Jacobin hornet; each

abstracting what suits him from whatever he lights on; each indulging

in his favorite sort of rapine。  … At Nantes; 〃Pinard; the great

purveyor of the Committee;'142' orders everything that each member

needs for his daily use to be carried to his house。〃 … 〃Gallou takes

oil and brandy;〃 and especially 〃several barrels from citizen

Bissonneau's house。〃 … 〃Durassier makes domiciliary visits and exacts

contributions;〃 among others 〃he compels citizen Lemoine to pay

twenty…five hundred livres; to save him from imprisonment。〃 … 〃Naud

affixes and removes seals in the houses of the incarcerated; makes

nocturnal visits to the dwellings of the accused and takes what suits

him。〃 … 〃Grandmaison appropriates plate under sequestration; and

Bachelier plate given as a present。〃 … 〃Joly superintends executions

and takes all he can find; plate; jewelry; precious objects。〃 …

〃Bolognié forces the return of a bond of twenty thousand livres

already paid to him。〃 … Perrochaux demands of citoyenne Ollemard…Dudan

〃fifty thousand livres; to prevent her imprisonment;〃 and confiscates

for his own benefit sixty thousand livres worth of tobacco; in the

house of the widow Daigneau…Mallet; who; claiming it back; is led off

by him to prison under the pretext of interceding for her。  … Chaux

frightens off by terrorism his competitors at auction sales; has all

the small farms on the Baroissière domain knocked down to him; and

exclaims concerning a place which suits him: 〃I know how to get it!

I'll have the owner arrested。  He'll be very glad to let me have his

ground to get out of prison。' 〃 … The collection is complete; and

gathered on a table; it offers specimens which can be found scattered

all over France。



VII。  The Armed Forces。



The Armed Force; the National Guard and the Gendarmerie。  … Its

purgation  and composition。  … The Revolutionary Armies in Paris and

in the departments。  … Quality of the recruits。  … Their employment。

… Their expeditions into the countryside and the towns。  … Their

exploits in the vicinity of Paris and Lyons。  … The company of

Maratists; the American Hussars and the German Legion at Nantes。  …

General character of the Revolutionary government and of the

administrative staff of the Reign of Terror。



The last manipulators of the system remain; the hands which seize; the

armed force which takes bodily hold of men and things。  … The first

who are employed for this purpose are the National Guard and the

ordinary gendarmerie。  Since 1790; these bodies are of course

constantly weeded out until only fanatics and robots are left;'143'

nevertheless; the weeding…out continues as the system develops itself。

At Strasbourg;'144' on Brumaire 14; the representatives have

dismissed; arrested and sent to Dijon the entire staff of the National

Guard to serve as hostages until peace is secured; three days

afterwards; considering that the cavalry of the town had been mounted

and equipped at its own expense; they deem it aristocratic; bourgeois;

and 〃suspect;〃 and seize the horses and put the officers in arrest。  …

At Troyes; Rousselin; 〃National civil commissioner;〃 dismisses; for

the same reason; and with not less dispatch; all of the gendarmes at

one stroke; except four; and 〃puts under requisition their horses;

fully equipped; also their arms; so as to at once mount well known and

tried sans…culottes。〃 On principle; the poor sans…culottes; who are

true at heart and in dress; alone have the right to bear arms; and

should a bourgeois be on duty he must have only a pike; care being

taken to take it away from him the moment he finishes his rounds。'145'



But; alongside of the usual armed force; there is still another; much

better selected and more effective; the reserve gendarmerie; a

special; and; at the same time; movable and resident body; that is to

say; the 〃revolutionary army;〃 which; after September 5; 1793; the

government had raised in Paris and in most of the large towns。  … That

of Paris; comprising six thousand men; with twelve hundred cannoneers;

sends detachments into the provinces … two thousand men to Lyons; and

two hundred to Troyes;'146' Ysabeau and Tallien have at Bordeaux a

corps of three thousand men ; Salicetti; Albitte and Gasparin; one of

two thousand men at Marseilles; Ysoré and Duquesnoy; one of one

thousand men at Lille; Javogues; one of twelve hundred at Montbrison。

Others; less numerous; ranging from six hundred down to two hundred

men; hold Moulins; Grenoble; Besan?on; Belfort; Bourg; Dijon;

Strasbourg; Toulouse; Auch and Nantes。3147When; on March 27; 1794; the

Committee of Public Safety; threatened by Hébert; has them disbanded

for being Hébertists; in any of them are to remain at least as a

nucleus; under various forms and names; either as kept by the local

administration under the title of 〃paid guards;〃'148' or as disbanded

soldiers; loitering about and doing nothing; getting themselves

assigned posts of rank in the National Guard of their town on account

of their exploits; in this way they keep themselves in service; which

is indispensable; for it is through these that the régime is

established and lasts。  〃The revolutionary army;'149' say the orders

and decrees promulgated; 〃is intended to repress anti…revolutionaries;

to execute; whenever it is found necessary; revolutionary laws and

measures for public safety;〃 that is to say; 〃to guard those who are

shut up; arrest 'suspects;' demolish chateaux; pull down belfries;

ransack vestries for gold and silver objects; seize fine horses and

carriages;〃 and especially 〃 to seek for private stores and

monopolies;〃 in short; to exercise manual constraint and strike every

one on the spot with physical terror。  … We readily see what sort of

soldiers the revolutionary army is composed of。



Naturally; as it is recruited by voluntary enlistment; and all

candidates have passed the purifying scrutiny of the clubs; it

comprises none but ultra…Jacobins。  Naturally; the pay being forty

sous a day; it comprises none but the very lowest class。  Naturally;

as the work is as loathsome as it is atrocious; it comprises but few

others'150' than those out of employment and reduced to an enlistment

to get a living; 〃hairdressers without customers; lackeys without

places; vagabonds; wretches unable to earn a living by honest labor;〃

〃thick and hard hitters〃 who have acquired the habit of bullying;

knocking down and keeping honest folks under their pikes; a gang of

confirmed scoundrels making public brigandage a cloak for private

brigandage; inhabitants of the slums glad to bring down their former

superiors into the mud; and themselves take precedence and strut about

in order to prove by their arrogance and self…display that they; in

their turn; are princes。  … 〃Take a horse; the nation pays for

it!〃'151' said the sans…culottes of Bordeaux to their comrades in the

street; who; 〃in a splendid procession;〃 of three carriages; each

drawn by six horses; escorted by a body on horseback; behind; in

front; and each side; conducting Riouffe and two other 〃suspects〃 to

the Réole prison。  The commander of the squad who guards prisoners on

the way to Paris; and who 〃starves them along the road to speculate on

them;〃 is an ex…cook of Agen; having become a gendarme; he makes them

travel forty leagues extra; 〃purposely to glorify himself;〃 and 〃let

all Agen see that he has government money to spend; and that he can

put citizens in irons。〃 Accordingly; in Agen; 〃he keeps constantly and

needlessly inspecting the vehicle;〃 winking at the spectators; 〃more

triumphant than if he had made a dozen Austrians prisoners and brought

them along himself。〃 At last; to show the crowd in the street the

importance of his capture; he summons two blacksmiths to come out and

rivet; on the legs of each prisoner; a cross…bar cannon…ball weighing

eighty pounds。'152' The more display these henchmen make of their

brutality; the greater they think themselves。  At Belfort; a patriot

of the club dies; and a civic interment takes place; a detachment of

the revolutionary army joins the procession; the men are armed with

axes; on reaching the cemetery; the better to celebrate the funeral;

〃they cut down all the crosses (over the graves) and make a bonfire of

them; while the carmagnole ends this ever memorable day。〃'153' …

Sometimes the scene; theatrical and played by the light of flambeaux;

makes the actors think that they have performed an extraordinary and

meritorious action; 〃that they have saved the country。〃  〃This very

night;〃 writes the agent at Bordeaux;'154' nearly three thousand men

have been engaged in an important undertaking; with the members of the

Revolutionary Committee and of the municipality at the head of it。

They visited every wholesale dealer's store in town and in the

Faubourg des Chartrons; taking possession of their letter…books;

sealing up their desks; arresting the merchants and putti
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