The French Revolution - Volume 2

Hippolyte Taine, Svend [Annotator] Rom, John Durand

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• Publié par: unka
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 33
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 3 (of 6), by Hippolyte A. Taine This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 3 (of 6) The French Revolution, Volume 2 (of 3) Author: Hippolyte A. Taine Annotator: Svend Rom Translator: John Durand, 1880 Release Date: June 18, 2008 [EBook #2579] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRENCH REVOLUTION V2 *** Produced by Svend Rom and David Widger THE ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY FRANCE, VOLUME 3 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, VOLUME 2. by Hippolyte A. Taine Text Transcriber's Note: The numbering of Volumes, Books, Chapters and Sections are as in the French not the American edition. Annotations by the transcriber are initialled SR. Svend Rom, April 2000. HTML Producer's Note: Footnote numbering has been changed to include as a prefix to the original footnote number, the book and chapter numbers. A table of contents has been added with active links. David Widger, June 2008 Contents PREFACE: BOOK FIRST. THE JACOBINS. CHAPTER I. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW POLITICAL ORGAN. I.—Principle of the revolutionary party. II.—The Jacobins. III.—Psychology of the Jacobin. IV.—What the theory promises. CHAPTER II. THE JACOBINS I.—Formation of the party. II.—Spontaneous associations after July 14, 1789. III.—How they view the liberty of the press. IV.—Their rallying-points. V.—Small number of Jacobins. BOOK SECOND. THE FIRST STAGE OF THE CONQUEST. CHAPTER I. THE JACOBINS COME INTO IN POWER. I.—Their siege operations. II.—Annoyances and dangers of public elections. III.—The friends of order deprived of the right of free assemblage. V.—Intimidation and withdrawal of the Conservatives. CHAPTER II. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY I.—Composition of the Legislative Assembly. II.—Degree and quality of their intelligence and Culture. III.—Aspects of their sessions. IV.—The Parties. V.—Their means of action. VI.—Parliamentary maneuvers. CHAPTER III. POLICY OF THE ASSEMBLY I.—Policy of the Assembly.—State of France at the end of 1791. II.—The Assembly hostile to the oppressed and favoring oppressors. III.—War. IV.—Secret motives of the leaders. V.—Effects of the war on the common people. CHAPTER IV. THE DEPARTMENTS. I.—Provence in 1792.—Early supremacy of the Jacobins in Marseilles. II.—The expedition to Aix. III.—The Constitutionalists of Arles. IV.—The Jacobins of Avignon. V.—The other departments. CHAPTER V. PARIS. I.—Pressure of the Assembly on the King. II.—The floating and poor population of Paris. III.—Its leaders.—Their committee.—Methods for arousing the crowd. IV.—The 20th of June. CHAPTER VI. THE BIRTH OF THE TERRIBLE PARIS COMMUNE. I.—Indignation of the Constitutionalists. II.—Pressure on the King. III.—The Girondins have worked for the benefit of the Jacobins. IV.—Vain attempts of the Girondins to put it down. V.—Evening of August 8. VI.—Nights of August 9 and 10. VII.—August 10. VIII.—State of Paris in the Interregnum. BOOK THIRD. THE SECOND STAGE OF THE CONQUEST. CHAPTER I. TERROR I.—Government by gangs in times of anarchy. II.—The development of the ideas of killings in the mass of the party. III. Terror is their Salvation. IV.—Date of the determination of this.—The actors and their parts. V. Abasement and Stupor. VI. Jacobin Massacre. CHAPTER II. THE DEPARTMENTS. I. The Sovereignty of the People. II.—In several departments it establishes itself in advance. III.—Each Jacobin band a dictator in its own neighborhood. IV.—Ordinary practices of the Jacobin dictatorship. V.—The companies of traveling volunteers. VI.—A tour of France in the cabinet of the Minister of the Interior. CHAPTER III. SECOND STAGE OF THE JACOBIN CONQUEST I.—The second stage of the Jacobin conquest. II.—The elections. III.—Composition and tone of the secondary assemblies. IV.—Composition of the National Convention. V.—The Jacobins forming alone the Sovereign People. VI.—Composition of the party. VII. The Jacobin Chieftains. CHAPTER IV. PRECARIOUS SITUATION OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. I.—Jacobin advantages. II.—Its parliamentary recruits. III. Physical fear and moral cowardice. IV. Jacobin victory over Girondin majority. V. Jacobin violence against the people. VI. Jacobin tactics. VII. The central Jacobin committee in power. VIII. Right or Wrong, my Country. PREFACE: In this volume, as in those preceding it and in those to come, there will be found only the history of Public Authorities. Others will write that of diplomacy, of war, of the finances, of the Church; my subject is a limited one. To my great regret, however, this new part fills an entire volume; and the last part, on the revolutionary government, will be as long. I have again to regret the dissatisfaction I foresee this work will cause to many of my countrymen. My excuse is, that almost all of them, more fortunate than myself, have political principles which serve them in forming their judgments of the past. I had none; if indeed, I had any motive in undertaking this work, it was to seek for political principles. Thus far I have attained to scarcely more than one; and this is so simple that will seem puerile, and that I hardly dare express it. Nevertheless I have adhered to it, and in what the reader is about to peruse my judgments are all derived from that; its truth is the measure of theirs. It consists wholly in this observation: that HUMAN SOCIETY, ESPECIALLY A MODERN SOCIETY, IS A VAST AND COMPLICATED THING. Hence the difficulty in knowing and comprehending it. For the same reason it is not easy to handle the subject well. It follows that a cultivated mind is much better able to do this than an uncultivated mind, and a man specially qualified than one who is not. From these two last truths flow many other consequences, which, if the reader deigns to reflect on them, he will have no trouble in defining. H. A. Taine, Paris 1881. BOOK FIRST. THE JACOBINS. CHAPTER I. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW POLITICAL ORGAN. In this disorganized society, in which the passions of the people are the sole real force, authority belongs to the party that understands how to flatter and take advantage of these. As the legal government can neither repress nor gratify them, an illegal government arises which sanctions, excites, and directs these passions. While the former totters and falls to pieces, the latter grows stronger and improves its organization, until, becoming legal in its turn, it takes the other's place. I.—Principle of the revolutionary party. Its applications. As a justification of these popular outbreaks and assaults, we discover at the outset a theory, which is neither improvised, added to, nor superficial, but now firmly fixed in the public mind. It has for a long time been nourished by philosophical discussions. It is a sort of enduring, long-lived root out of which the new constitutional tree has arisen. It is the dogma of popular sovereignty. —Literally interpreted, it means that the government is merely an inferior clerk or servant.1101 We, the people, have established the government; and ever since, as well as before its organization, we are its masters. Between it and us no infinite or long lasting "contract". "None which cannot be done away with by mutual consent or through the unfaithfulness of one of the two parties." Whatever it may be, or provide for, we are nowise bound by it; it depends wholly on us. We remain free to "modify, restrict, and resume as we please the power of which we have made it the depository." Through a primordial and inalienable title deed the commonwealth belongs to us and to us only. If we put this into the hands of the government it is as when kings delegate authority for the time being to a minister He is always tempted to abuse; it is our business to watch him, warn him, check him, curb him, and, if necessary, displace him. We must especially guard ourselves against the craft and maneuvers by which, under the pretext of preserving law and order, he would tie our hands. A law, superior to any he can make, forbids him to interfere with our sovereignty; and he does interfere with it when he undertakes to forestall, obstruct, or impede its exercise. The Assembly, even the Constituent, usurps when it treats the people like a lazybones (roi fainéant), when it subjects them to laws, which they have not ratified, and when it deprives them of action except through their representatives.1102 The people themselves must act directly, must assemble together and deliberate on public affairs. They must control and censure the acts of those they elect; they must influence these with their resolutions, correct their mistakes with their good sense, atone for their weakness by their energy, stand at the helm alongside of them, and even employ force and throw them overboard, so that the ship may be saved, which, in their hands, is drifting on a rock.1103 Such, in fact, is the doctrine of the popular party. This doctrine is carried into effect July 14 and October 5 and 6, 1789. Loustalot, Camille Desmoulins, Fréron, Danton, Marat, Pétion, Robespierre proclaim it untiringly in the political clubs, in the newspapers, and in the assembly. The government, according to them, whether local or central, trespasses everywhere. Why, after having overthrown one despotism, should we install another? We are freed from the yoke of a privileged aristocracy, but we still suffer from "the aristocracy of our representatives."1104 Already at Paris, "the population is nothing, while the municipality is everything". It encroaches on our imprescriptible rights in refusing to let a district revoke at will the five members elected to represent it at the Hôtel-de-Ville, in passing ordinances without obtaining the approval of vote