书城公版The Origins of Contemporary France
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第480章

[54] "The French Revolution," vol. I . pp. 344-352, on the sixth jacquerie, everywhere managed by the Jacobins. Two or three traits show its spirit and course of action. ("Archives Nationales," F7, 3202. Letter of the Directory of the district of Aurillac, March 27, 1792, with official reports.) "On the 20th of March, about forty brigands, calling themselves patriots and friends of the constitution, force honest and worthy but very poor citizens in nine or ten of the houses of Capelle-Viscamp to give them money, generally five francs each person, and sometimes ten, twenty, and forty francs." Others tear down or pillage the chateaux of Rouesque, Rode, Marcolès, and Vitrac and drag the municipal officers along with them. "We, the mayor and municipal officers of the parish of Vitrac, held a meeting yesterday, March 22, following the example of our neighboring parishes on the occasion of the demolition of the chateaux. We marched at the head of our national guard and that of Salvetat to the said chateaux. We began by hoisting the national flag and to demolish . . . The national guard of Boisset, eating and drinking without stint, entered the chateau and behaved in the most brutal manner; for whatever they found in their way, whether clocks, mirrors, doors, closets, and finally documents, all were made way with. They even sent off forty of the men to a patriotic village in the vicinity. They forced the inmates of every house to give them money, and those who refused were threatened with death." Besides this the national guard of Boisset carried off the furniture of the chateau. -- There is something burlesque in the conflicts of the municipalities with the Jacobin expeditions (letter of the municipal officers of Cottines to the Directory of St. Louis, March 26). "We are very glad to inform you that there is a crowd in our parish, amongst which are many belonging to neighboring parishes;and that they have visited the house of sieur Tossy and a sum of money of which we do not know the amount is demanded, and that they will not leave without that sum so that they cam have something to live on, these people being assembled solely to maintain the constitution and give greater éclat to the law."[55] Mercure de France, numbers for Jan. 1 and 14, 1792 (articles by Mallet du Pan). - " Archives Nationales," F7, 3185, 3186. Letter of the president of the district of Laon (Aisne) to the Minister, Feb. 8, 1792: "With respect to the nobles and priests, any mention of them as trying to sow discord among us indicates a desire to spread fear. All they ask is tranquility and the regular payment of their pensions." --De Dampmartin, II. 63 (on the evacuation of Arles, April, 1792). On the illegal approach of the Marseilles army, M. de Dampmartin, military commander, orders the Arlesians to rise in a body. Nobody comes forward. Wives hide away their husbands' guns in the night. Only one hundred volunteers are found to act with the regular troops.

[56] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3224. Speech of M. Saint-Amans, vice-president of the Directory of Lot-et-Garonne, to the mayor of Tonneins, April 20 and the letter of the syndic-attorney-general to M.

Roland, minister, April 22: "According to the principles of the mayor of Tonneins, all resistance to him is aristocratic, his doctrine being that all property-owners are aristocrats. You can readily perceive, sir, that he is not one of them." -- Dubois, formerly a Benedictine and now a Protestant minister. -- Act of the Directory against the municipality of Tonneins, April 13. The latter appeals to the Legislative Assembly. The mayor and one of the municipal counselors appear in its name (May 19) at the bar of the Assembly.

[57] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3198. Letter of M. Debourges, one of the three commissioners sent by the National Assembly and the king, Nov. 2, 1791 (apropos of the Marseilles club). "This club has quite recently obtained from the Directory of the department, on the most contemptible allegation, an order requiring of M. de Coincy, lieutenant-general at Toulon, to send the admirable Ernest regiment out of Marseilles, and M. de Coincy has yielded."[58] For instance (Guillon de Montléon, "Mémoires pour servir àl'histoire de Lyon," I. 109), the general in command of the national guard of this large town in 1792 is Juillard, a poor silk-weaver of the faubourg of the Grande C?te, a former soldier.

[59] "Archives Nationales," F7, 3215, affair of Plabennec (very curious, showing the tyrannical spirit of the Jacobins and the good disposition at bottom of the Catholic peasantry) -- The commune of Brest dispatches against that of Plabennec 400 men, with two cannon and commissioners chosen by the club. -- Many documents, among them: