《the origins of contemporary france-4》

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other object but to rule over captives and the dead。



But this is precisely the Jacobin aim; for; he is not satisfied with

less than absolute submission ; he must rule at any cost; just as he

pleases; by fair means or foul; no matter over what ruins。  A despot

by instinct and installation; his dogma has consecrated him King ; he

is King by natural and divine right; in the name of eternal verity;

the same as Philip II。; enthroned by his religious system and blessed

by his Holy Office。  Hence he can abandon no jot or title of his

authority without a sacrifice of principle; nor treat with rebels;

unless they surrender at discretion; simply for having risen against

legitimate authority; they are traitors and villains。  And who are

greater rascals the renegades who; after three years of patient

effort; just as the sect finally reaches its goal; oppose its

accession to power!'81' At N?mes; Toulouse; Bordeaux; Toulon; and

Lyons; not only have they interfered with or arrested the blow which

Paris struck; but they have put down the aggressors; closed the club;

disarmed the fanatical and imprisoned the leading Maratists; and worse

still; at Lyons and at Toulon; five or six massacreurs; or promoters

of massacre; Chalier and Riard; Jassaud; Sylvestre and Lemaille;

brought before the courts; have been condemned and executed after a

trial in which all the forms were strictly adhered to。   That is the

inexpiable crime; for; in this trial; the 〃Mountain〃 is involved; the

principles of Sylvestre and Chalier are its principles; what is

accomplished in Paris; they have attempted in the provinces; if they

are guilty; it is also guilty; it cannot tolerate their punishment

without assenting to its own punishment。  Accordingly;



* it must proclaim them heroes and martyrs;



* it must canonize their memory;'82'



* it must avenge their tortures;



* it must resume and complete their assaults;



* it must restore their accomplices to their places;



* it must render them omnipotent;



* it must force each rebel city to accept the rule of its rabble and

villains。



It matters little whether the Jacobins be a minority; whether at

Bordeaux; they have but four out of twenty…eight sections on their

side; at Marseilles five out of thirty…two; whether at Lyons they can

count up only fifteen hundred devoted adherents。'83'  Suffrages are

not reckoned; but weighed; for legality is founded; not on numbers;

but on patriotism; the sovereign people being composed wholly of sans…

culottes。  So much the worse for towns where the anti…revolutionary

majority is so great; they are only more dangerous; under the

republican demonstrations is concealed the hostility of old parties

and of the 〃suspect〃 classes; the Moderates; the Feuillants and

Royalists; merchants; men of the legal profession; property…owners and

muscadins。'84' These towns are nests of reptiles and must be crushed

out。







IX。



Destruction of Rebel Cities。   Bordeaux。   Marseilles。   Lyons。…

… Toulon。



Consequently; obedient or disobedient; they are crushed out。  They are

declared traitors to the country; not merely the members of the

departmental committees; but; at Bordeaux; all who have 〃aided or

abetted the Committee of Public Safety;〃 at Lyons; all administrators;

functionaries; military or civil officers who 〃convoked or tolerated

the Rh?ne…et…Loire congress;〃 and furthermore; 〃every individual whose

son; clerk; servant; or even day…laborer; may have borne arms or

contributed the means of resistance;〃 that is to say; the entire

National Guard who took up arms; and nearly all the population which

gave its money or voted in the sections。'85'  By virtue of this

decree; all are 〃outlaws;〃 or; in other words subject to the

guillotine just on the establishment of their identity; and their

property confiscated。  Consequently; at Bordeaux; where not a gun had

been fired; the mayor Saige; and principal author of the submission;

is at once led to the scaffold without any form of trial;'86' while

eight hundred and eighty…one others succeed him amidst the solemn

silence of a dismayed population。'87'  Two hundred prominent merchants

are arrested in one night; more than fifteen hundred persons are

imprisoned; all who are well off are ransomed; even those against who

no political charge could be made; nine millions of fines are levied

against 〃rich egoists。〃 One of these;'88' accused of 〃indifference and

moderatism;〃 pays twenty thousand francs 〃not to be harnessed to the

car of the Revolution;〃 another 〃convicted of having shown contempt

for his section and for the poor by giving thirty livres per months;〃

is taxed at one million two hundred thousand livres; while the new

authorities; a crooked mayor and twelve knaves composing the

Revolutionary Committee; traffic in lives and property。89 At

Marseilles; says Danton;'90' the object is 〃to give the commercial

aristocracy an important lesson;〃 we must 〃show ourselves as terrible

to traders as to nobles and priests;〃 consequently; twelve thousand of

them are proscribed and their possessions sold。'91' From the first day

the guillotine works as fast as possible; nevertheless; it does not

work fast enough for Representative Fréron who finds the means for

making it work faster。



 〃The military commission we have established in place of the

revolutionary tribunal;〃 he writes; 〃works frightfully fast against

the conspirators。  。  。  。  They fall like hail under the sword of the

law。  Fourteen have already paid for their infamous treachery with

their heads。  To…morrow; sixteen more are to be guillotined; all

chiefs of the legion; notaries; sectionists; members of the popular

tribunal; to…morrow; also; three merchants will dance the carmagnole;

and they are the ones we are after。〃'92'



Men and things; all must perish; he wishes to demolish the city and

proposes to fill up the harbor。  Restrained with great difficulty;

Fréron contents himself with a destruction of 〃the haunts〃 of the

aristocracy; two churches; the concert…hall; the houses around it; and

twenty…three buildings in which the rebel sections had held their

meetings。



At Lyons; to increase the booty; the representatives had taken pains

to encourage the manufacturers and merchants with vague promises;

these opened their shops and brought their valuable goods; books and

papers out of their hiding…places。  No time is lost in seizing the

plunder; 〃a list of all property belonging to the rich and to anti…

revolutionaries〃 is drawn up; which is 〃confiscated for the benefit of

the patriots of the city;〃 in addition to this a tax of six millions

is imposed; payable in eight days; by those whom the confiscation may

have still spared;'93' it is proclaimed; according to principle; that

the surplus of each individual belongs by right to the sans…culottes;

and whatever may have been retained beyond the strictly necessary; is

a robbery by the individual to the detriment of the nation。'94'  In

conformity with this rule there is a general rounding up; prolonged

for ten months; which places the fortunes of a city of one hundred and

twenty thousand souls in the hands of its scoundrels。  Thirty…two

revolutionary committees 〃whose members are thick as thieves select

thousands of guards devoted to them。〃'95'  In confiscated dwellings

and warehouses; they affix seals without an inventory; they drive out

women and children 〃so that there shall be no witnesses;〃 they keep

the keys; they enter and steal when they please; or install themselves

for a revel with prostitutes。   Meanwhile; the guillotine is kept

going; and people are fired at and shot down with grape…shot。  The

revolutionary committee officially avow one thousand six hundred and

eighty…two acts of murder committed in five months;'96' while a

confederate of Robespierre's privately declare that there were six

thousand。'97'



Blacksmiths are condemned to death for having shod the Lyonnese

cavalry; firemen for having extinguished fires kindled by republican

bombshells; a widow for having paid a war…tax during the siege; market

women for 〃having shown disrespect to patriots。〃 It is an organized

〃Septembrisade〃 made legal and lasting; its authors are so well aware

of the fact as to use the word itself in their public

correspondence。'98'  At Toulon it is worse; people are slaughtered

in heaps; almost haphazard。  Notwithstanding that the inhabitants the

most compromised; to the number of four thousand; take refuge on board

English vessels; the whole city; say the representatives; is guilty。

Four hundred workmen in the navy…yard having marched out to meet

Fréron; he reminds them that they kept on working during the English

occupation of the town; and he has them put to death on the spot。  An

order is issued to all 〃good citizens to assemble in the Champ de Mars

on penalty of death。〃 They come there to the number of three thousand;

Fréron; on horseback; surrounded by cannon and troops; arrives with

about a hundred Maratists; the former accomplices of Lemaille;

Sylvestre; and other well…known assassins; who form a body of local

auxiliaries and counselors; he tells them to select out of the crowd

at pleasure according to their grudge; fancy; or caprice; all who are

designated are ranged along a wall and shot。  The next morning; and on

the following days; the operation is renewed: Fréron writes on the

16th of Nivose that 〃eight hundred Toulonese have already been shot。〃

。  。  。  〃A volley of musketry;〃 says he; in another letter; and after

that; volley after volley; until 〃the traitors are all gone。〃 Then;

for three months after this; the guillotine dispatches eighteen

hundred persons; eleven young women have to mount the scaffold

together; in honor of a republican festival; an old woman of ninety…

four is borne to it in an armchair。  The population; initially of

twenty…eight thousand people; is reduced to
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