书城公版The Origins of Contemporary France
35302100000475

第475章

In this operation each club has its neighbors for allies, offering to them or receiving from them offers of men and money. That of Caen tenders its assistance to the Bayeux association for expelling unsworn priests, and to help the patriots of the place "to rid themselves of the tyranny of their administrators."[67] That of Besan?on declares the three administrative bodies of Strasbourg "unworthy of the confidence with which they have been honored," and openly enters into a league with all the clubs of the Upper and Lower Rhine, to set free a Jacobin arrested as a fomenter of insurrections.[68] Those of the Puy-de-D?me and neighboring departments depute to and establish at Clermont a central club of direction and propaganda.[69] Those of the Bouches-du-Rh?ne treat with the commissioners of the departments of Dr?me, Gard, and Hérault, to watch the Spanish frontier, and send delegates of their own to see the state of the fortifications of Figuières.[70] -- There is no recourse to the criminal tribunals. In forty departments, these are not yet installed, in the forty-three others, they are cowed, silent, or lack money and men to enforce their decisions.[71]

Such is the foundation of the Jacobin State, a confederation of twelve hundred oligarchies, which maneuver their proletariat clients in obedience to the word of command dispatched from Paris. It is a complete, organized, active State, with its central government, its active force, its official journal, its regular correspondence, its declared policy, its established authority, and its representative and local agents; the latter are actual administrators alongside of administrations which are abolished, or athwart administrations which are brought under subjection. -- In vain do the latest ministers, good clerks and honest men, try to fulfill their duties; their injunctions and remonstrances are only so much waste paper.[72] They resign in despair, declaring that,"in this overthrow of all order, . . . in the present weakness of the public forces, and in the degradation of the constituted authorities, . . . it is impossible for them to maintain the life and energy of the vast body, the members of which are paralyzed." -When the roots of a tree are laid bare, it is easy to cut it down;now that the Jacobins have severed them, a push on the trunk suffices to bring the tree to the ground.

______________________________________________________________________NOTES:

[1] De Loménie, "Les Mirabeaus," I. 11. (Letter of the Marquis de Mirabeau).

[2] " Archives Nationales," F7, 7171, No. 7915. Report on the situation in Marseilles, by Miollis, commissioner of the Directory in the department, year V. Niv?se 15. "A good many strangers from France and Italy are attracted there by the lust of gain, a love of pleasure, the want of work, a desire to escape from the effects of ill conduct .

. . Individuals of both ***es and of every age, with no ties of country or kindred, with no profession, no opinions, pressed by daily necessities that are multiplied by debauched habit, seeking to indulge these without too much effort, the means for this being formerly found in the many manual operations of commerce, gone astray during the Revolution and, subsequently, scared of the dominant party, accustomed unfortunately at that time to receiving pay for taking part in political strife, and now reduced to living on almost gratuitous distributions of food, to dealing in small wares, to the menial occupations which chance rarely presents -- in short, to swindling.

Such is what the observer finds in that portion of the population of Marseilles most in sight; eager to profit by whatever occurs, easily won over, active through its necessities, flocking everywhere, and appearing very numerous . . . The patriot Escalon had twenty rations a day; Féri, the journalist, had six; etc. . . Civil officers and district commissioners still belong, for the most part, to that class of men which the Revolution had accustomed to live without work, to ****** those who shared their principles the beneficiaries of the nation's favors, and finally, to receiving contributions from gambling halls and brothels. These commissioners give notice to their protégés, even the crooks, when warrants against them are to be enforced."[3] Blanc-Gilly, "Réveil d'alarme d'un député de Marseilles" (cited in the Memoirs" of Barbaroux, 40, 41). Blanc-Gilly must have been acquainted with these characters, inasmuch as he made use of them in the August riot, 1789, and for which he was indicted. - Cf. Fabre "Histoire de Marseilles," II. 422.

[4] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3197. Correspondence of Messrs.

Debourge, Gay, and Lafitte, commissioners sent to Provence to restore order in accordance with an act of the National Assembly. Letter of May 10, 1791. Letter of May 10. 1791, and passim.

[5] Mayor Martin, says Juste, was a sort of Pétion, weak and vain. --Barbaroux, clerk of the municipality, is the principal opponent of M.

Lieutaud. - The municipal decree referred to is dated Sept. 10, 1790.

[6] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3197. Letters of three commissioners, April 13, 17, 18, and May 10, 1791.

[7] Blanc-Gilly, "Réveil d'Alarme." Ibid., "Every time that the national guard marched outside the city walls, the horde of homeless brigands never failed to close up in their rear and carry devastation wherever they went."[8] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3197. Correspondence of the three commissioners, letter of May 10,1791. "The municipality of Marseilles obeys only the decrees it pleases, and for eighteen months has not paid a cent into the city treasury.-Proclamation of April 13. -Letters of April 13 and 18.

[9] "Archives Nationales," letter of the municipal officers of Marseilles to the minister, June 11, 1791. -- They demand the recall of the three commissioners, one of their arguments being as follows: