CHAPTER II. Paris up to the 14th of July
CHAPTER III. Anarchy from July 14th to October 6th, 1789
CHAPTER IV. PARIS
BOOK SECOND. The constituent Assembly, and the Result of its Labors
CHAPTER I. The Constituent Assembly
CHAPTER II. The Damage
CHAPTER III. The Constructions--The Constitution of 1791.
BOOK THIRD. The Application of the Constitution
CHAPTER I. The Federations
CHAPTER II. Sovereignty of Unrestrained Passions
CHAPTER III. Development of the ruling Passion
PREFACE
This second part of "Les Origines de la France Contemporaine" will
consist of two volumes.--Popular insurrections and the laws of the
Constituent Assembly end in destroying all government in France; this
forms the subject of the present volume.--A party arises around
an extreme doctrine, grabs control of the government, and rules in
conformity with its doctrine. This will form the subject of the second
volume.
A third volume would be required to criticize and evaluate the source
material. I lack the necessary space: I merely state the rule that I
have observed. The trustworthiest testimony will always be that of an
eyewitness, especially
* When this witness is an honorable, attentive, and intelligent man,
* When he is writing on the spot, at the moment, and under the dictate
of the facts themselves,
* When it is obvious that his sole object is to preserve or furnish
information,
* When his work instead of a piece of polemics planned for the needs
of a cause, or a passage of eloquence arranged for popular effect is a
legal deposition, a secret report, a confidential dispatch, a private
letter, or a personal memento.
The nearer a document approaches this type, the more it merits
confidence, and supplies superior material.--I have found many of
this kind in the national archives, principally in the manuscript
correspondence of ministers, intendants, sub-delegates, magistrates, and
other functionaries; of military commanders, officers in the army,
and gendarmerie; of royal commissioners, and of the Assembly; of
administrators of departments, districts, and municipalities, besides
persons in private life who address the King, the National Assembly, or
the ministry. Among these are men of every rank, profession, education,
and party. They are distributed by hundreds and thousands over the
whole surface of the territory. They write apart, without being able to
consult each other, and without even knowing each other. No one is so
well placed for collecting and transmitting accurate information. None
of them seek literary effect, or even imagine that what they write will
ever be published. They draw up their statements at once, under the
direct impression of local events. Testimony of this character, of the
highest order, and at first hand, provides the means by which all other
testimony ought to be verified.--The footnotes at the bottom of the
pages indicate the condition, office, name, and address of those
decisive witnesses. For greater certainty I have transcribed as often as
possible their own words. In this way the reader, confronting the texts,
can interpret them for himself, and form his own opinions; he will have
the same documents as myself for arriving at his conclusions, and, if he
is pleased to do so, he may conclude otherwise. As for allusions, if he
finds any, he himself will have introduced them, and if he applies them
he is alone responsible for them. To my mind, the past has features of
its own, and the portrait here presented resembles only the France of
the past. I have drawn it without concerning myself with the discussions
of the day; I have written as if my subject were the revolutions of
Florence or Athens. This is history, and nothing more, and, if I may
fully express myself, I esteem my vocation of historian too highly to
make a cloak of it for the concealment of another. (December 1877).
*****
BOOK FIRST. SPONTANEOUS ANARCHY.
CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNINGS OF ANARCHY.
I.--Dearth the first cause.
Bad crops. The winter of 1788 and 1789.--High price and poor
quality of bread.--In the provinces.--At Paris.
During the night of July 14-15, 1789, the Duc de la
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt caused Louis XVI to be aroused to inform him of
the taking of the Bastille. "It is a revolt, then?" exclaimed the King.
"Sire!" replied the Duke; "it is a revolution!" The event was even more
serious. Not only had power slipped from the hands of the King, but also
it had not fallen into those of the Assembly. It now lay on the
ground, ready to the hands of the unchained populace, the violent and
over-excited crowd, the mobs, which picked it up like some weapon that
had been thrown away in the street. In fact, there was no longer any
government; the artificial structure of human society was giving way
entirely; things were returning to a state of nature. This was not a
revolution, but a dissolution.
Two causes excite and maintain the universal upheaval. The first one is
food shortages and dearth, which being constant, lasting for ten years,
and aggravated by the very disturbances which it excites, bids fair to
inflame the popular passions to madness, and change the whole course of
the Revolution into a series of spasmodic stumbles.
When a stream is brimful, a slight rise suffices to cause an overflow.
So was it with the extreme distress of the eighteenth century. A poor
man, who finds it difficult to live when bread is cheap, sees death
staring him in the face when it is dear. In this state of suffering the
animal instinct revolts, and the universal obedience which constitutes
public peace depends on a degree more or less of dryness or damp, heat
or cold. In 1788, a year of severe drought, the crops had been poor. In
addition to this, on the eve of the harvest,[1101] a terrible hail-storm
burst over the region around Paris, from Normandy to Champagne,
devastating sixty leagues of the most fertile territory, and causing
damage to the amount of one hundred millions of francs. Winter came on,
the severest that had been seen since 1709. At the close of December the
Seine was frozen over from Paris to Havre, while the thermometer stood
at 180 below zero. A third of the olive-trees died in Provence, and the
rest suffered to such an extent that they were considered incapable of
bearing fruit for two years to come. The same disaster befell Languedoc.
In Vivarais, and in the Cevennes, whole forests of chestnuts had
perished, along with all the grain and grass crops on the uplands. On
the plain the Rhone remained in a state of overflow for two months.
After the spring of 1789 the famine spread everywhere, and it increased
from month to month like a rising flood. In vain did the Government
order the farmers, proprietors, and corn-dealers to keep the markets
supplied. In vain did it double the bounty on imports, resort to all
sorts of expedients, involve itself in debt, and expend over forty
millions of francs to furnish France with wheat. In vain do individuals,
princes, noblemen, bishops, chapters, and communities multiply their
charities. The Archbishop of Paris incurring a debt of 400,000 livres,
one rich man distributing 40,000 francs the morning after the hailstorm,
and a convent of Bernardines feeding twelve hundred poor persons for six
weeks[1102]. But it had been too devastating. Neither public measures
nor private charity could meet the overwhelming need. In Normandy, where
the last commercial treaty had ruined the manufacture of linen and
of lace trimmings, forty thousand workmen were out of work. In many
parishes one-fourth of the population[1103] are beggars. Here, "nearly
all the inhabitants, not excepting the farmers and landowners, are
eating barley bread and drinking water;" there, "many poor creatures
have to eat oat bread, and others soaked bran, which has caused the
death of several children."--"Above all," writes the Rouen Parliament,
"let help be sent to a perishing people. . .. Sire, most of your
subjects are unable to pay the price of bread, and what bread is given
to those who do buy it "--Arthur Young,[1104] who was traveling through
France at this time, heard of nothing but the high cost of bread and the
distress of the people. At Troyes bread costs four sous a pound--that is
to say, eight sous of the present day; and unemployed artisans flock
to the relief works, where they can earn only twelve sous a day. In
Lorraine, according to the testimony of all observers, "the people are
half dead with hunger." In Paris the number of paupers has been trebled;
there are thirty thousand in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine alone. Around
Paris there is a short supply of grain, or it is spoilt[1105]. In the
beginning of July, at Montereau, the market is empty. "The bakers could
not have baked" if the police officers had not increased the price of
bread to five sous per pound; the rye and barley which the intendant
is able to send "are of the worst possible quality, rotten and in a
condition to produce dangerous diseases. Nevertheless, most of the small
consumers are reduced to the hard necessity of using this spoilt grain."
At Villeneuve-le-Roi, writes the mayor, "the rye of the two lots last
sent is so black and poor that it cannot be retailed without wheat." At
Sens the barley "tastes musty" to such an extent that buyers of it throw
the detestable bread, which it makes in the face of the sub-delegate. At
Chevreuse the barley has sprouted and smells bad; the "poor wretches,"
says an employee, "must be hard pressed with hunger to put up with it."
At Fontainebleau "the barley, half eaten away, produces more bran than
flour, and to make bread of it, one is obliged to work it over several
times." This bread, such as it is, is an object of savage greed; "it
has come to this, that it is impossible to distribute it except through
wickets." And those who thus obtain their ration, "are often attacked on
the road and robbed of it by the more vigorous of the famished people."
At Nangis "the magistrates prohibit the same person from buying more
than two bushels in the same market." In short, provisions are so
scarce that there is a difficulty in feeding the soldiers; the minister
dispatches two letters one after another to order the cutting down
of 250,000 bushels of rye before the harvest[1106]. Paris thus, in
a perfect state of tranquility, appears like a famished city put on
rations at the end of a long siege, and the dearth will not be greater
nor the food worse in December 1870, than in July 1789.
"The nearer the 14th of July approached," says an eyewitness,[1107] "the
more did the dearth increase. Every baker's shop was surrounded by a
crowd, to which bread was distributed with the most grudging economy.
This bread was generally blackish, earthy, and bitter, producing
inflammation of the throat and pain in the bowels. I have seen flour of
detestable quality at the military school and at other depots. I have
seen portions of it yellow in color, with an offensive smell; some
forming blocks so hard that they had to be broken into fragments
by repeated blows of a hatchet. For my own part, wearied with the
difficulty of procuring this poor bread, and disgusted with that offered
to me at the tables d'hôte, I avoided this kind of food altogether. In
the evening I went to the Café du Caveau, where, fortunately, they
were kind enough to reserve for me two of those rolls which are called
flutes, and this is the only bread I have eaten for a week at a time."
But this resource is only for the rich. As for the people, to get bread
fit for dogs, they must stand in a line for hours. And here they fight
for it; "they snatch food from one another." There is no more work to
be had; "the work-rooms are deserted;" often, after waiting a whole
day, the workman returns home empty-handed. When he does bring back a
four-pound loaf it costs him 3 francs 12 sous; that is, 12 sous for the
bread, and 3 francs for the lost day. In this long line of unemployed,
excited men, swaying to and fro before the shop-door, dark thoughts are
fermenting: "if the bakers find no flour to-night to bake with, we shall
have nothing to eat to-morrow." An appalling idea;--in presence of which
the whole power of the Government is not too strong; for to keep order
in the midst of famine nothing avails but the sight of an armed force,
palpable and threatening. Under Louis XIV and Louis XV there had been
even greater hunger and misery; but the outbreaks, which were roughly
and promptly put down, were only partial and passing disorders. Some
rioters were at once hung, and others were sent to the galleys. The
peasant or the workman, convinced of his impotence, at once returned to
his stall or his plow. When a wall is too high one does not even think
of scaling it.--But now the wall is cracking--all its custodians, the
clergy, the nobles, the Third-Estate, men of letters, the politicians,
and even the Government itself, making the breach wider. The wretched,
for the first time, discover an issue: they dash through it, at first
in driblets, then in a mass, and rebellion becomes as universal as
resignation was in the past.
II.--Expectations the second cause
Separation and laxity of the administrative forces.--
Investigations of local assemblies. --The people become
aware of their condition.--Convocation of the States-
General.--Hope is born. The coincidence of early Assemblies
with early difficulties.
It is just through this breach that hope steals like a beam of light,
and gradually finds its way down to the depths below. For the last fifty
years it has been rising, and its rays, which first illuminated the
upper class in their splendid apartments in the first story, and next
the middle class in their entresol and on the ground floor. They have
now for two years penetrated to the cellars where the people toil, and
even to the deep sinks and obscure corners where rogues and vagabonds
and malefactors, a foul and swarming herd, crowd and hide themselves
from the persecution of the law.--To the first two provincial assemblies
instituted by Necker in 1778 and 1779, Loménie de Brienne has in 1787
just added nineteen others; under each of these are assemblies of the
arrondissement, under each assembly of the arrondissement are parish
assemblies[1108]. Thus the whole machinery of administration has been
changed. It is the new assemblies which assess the taxes and superintend
their collection; which determine upon and direct all public works; and
which form the court of final appeal in regard to matters in dispute.
The intendant, the sub-delegate, the elected representative[1109], thus
lose three-quarters of their authority. Conflicts arise, consequently,
between rival powers whose frontiers are not clearly defined; command
shifts about, and obedience is diminished. The subject no longer feels
on his shoulders the commanding weight of the one hand which, without
possibility of interference or resistance, held him in, urged him
forward, and made him move on. Meanwhile, in each assembly of the
parish arrondissement, and even of the province, plebeians,
"husband-men,"[1110] and often common farmers, sit by the side of lords
and prelates. They listen to and remember the vast figure of the taxes
which are paid exclusively, or almost exclusively, by them--the taille
and its accessories, the poll-tax and road dues, and assuredly on their
return home they talk all this over with their neighbor. These figures
are all printed; the village attorney discusses the matter with his
clients, the artisans and rustics, on Sunday as they leave the mass,
or in the evening in the large public room of the tavern. These little
gatherings, moreover, are sanctioned, encouraged by the powers above.
In the earliest days of 1788 the provincial assemblies order a board
of inquiry to be held by the syndics and inhabitants of each parish.
Knowledge is wanted in detail of their grievances. What part of the
revenue is chargeable to each impost? What must the cultivator pay and
how much does he suffer? How many privileged persons there are in the
parish, what is the amount of their fortune, are they residents, and
what their exemptions amount to? In replying, the attorney who holds the
pen, names and points out with his finger each privileged individual,
criticizes his way of living, and estimates his fortune, calculates the
injury done to the village by his immunities, inveighs against the taxes
and the tax-collectors. On leaving these assemblies the villager broods
over what he has just heard. He sees his grievances no longer singly as
before, but in mass, and coupled with the enormity of evils under which
his fellows suffer. Besides this, they begin to disentangle the causes
of their misery: the King is good--why then do his collectors take so
much of our money? This or that canon or nobleman is not unkind--why
then do they make us pay in their place?--Imagine that a sudden gleam of
reason should allow a beast of burden to comprehend the contrast between
the species of horse and mankind. Imagine, if you can, what its first
ideas would be in relation to the coachmen and drivers who bridle
and whip it and again in relation to the good-natured travelers and
sensitive ladies who pity it, but who to the weight of the vehicle add
their own and that of their luggage.
Likewise, in the mind of the peasant, athwart his perplexed brooding, a
new idea, slowly, little by little, is unfolded:--that of an oppressed
multitude of which he makes one, a vast herd scattered far beyond the
visible horizon, everywhere ill used, starved, and fleeced. Towards the
end of 1788 we begin to detect in the correspondence of the intendants
and military commandants the dull universal muttering of coming
wrath. Men's characters seem to change; they become suspicious and
restive.--And just at this moment, the Government, dropping the reins,
calls upon them to direct themselves.[1111]. In the month of November
1787, the King declared that he would convoke the States-General. On the
5th of July 1788, he calls for memoranda (des mémoires) on this subject
from every competent person and body. On the 8th of August he fixes the
date of the session. On the 5th of October he convokes the notables,
in order to consider the subject with them. On the 27th of December he
grants a double representation to the Third-Estate, because "its cause
is allied with generous sentiments, and it will always obtain the
support of public opinion." The same day he introduces into the
electoral assemblies of the clergy a majority of curés[1112], "because
good and useful pastors are daily and closely associated with the
indigence and relief of the people," from which it follows "that they
are much more familiar with their sufferings" and necessities. On
the 24th January 1789, he prescribes the procedure and method of the
meetings. After the 7th of February writs of summons are sent out one
after the other. Eight days after, each parish assembly begins to draw
up its memorial of grievances, and becomes excited over the detailed
enumeration of all the miseries which it sets down in writing.--All
these appeals and all these acts are so many strokes, which reverberate,
in the popular imagination. "It is the desire of His Majesty," says the
order issued, "that every one, from the extremities of his kingdom, and
from the most obscure of its hamlets, should be certain of his wishes
and protests reaching him." Thus, it is all quite true: there can be
no mistake about it, the thing is sure. The people are invited to speak
out, they are summoned, and they are consulted. There is a disposition
to relieve them; henceforth their misery shall be less; better times
are coming. This is all they know about it. A few month after, in
July,[1113] the only answer a peasant girl can make to Arthur Young is,
"something was to be done by some great folks for such poor ones, but
she did not know who nor how." The thing is too complicated, beyond the
reach of a stupefied and mechanical brain.--One idea alone emerges, the
hope of immediate relief. The persuasion that one is entitled to it, the
resolution to aid it with every possible means. Consequently, an anxious
waiting, a ready fervor, a tension of the will simply due to the waiting
for the opportunity to let go and take off like a irresistible arrow
towards the unknown end which will reveal itself all of a sudden. Hunger
is to mark this sudden target out for them.
The market must be supplied with wheat; the farmers and land-owners must
bring it; wholesale buyers, whether the Government or individuals, must
not be allowed to send it elsewhere. The wheat must be sold at a low
price; the price must be cut down and fixed, so that the baker can sell
bread at two sous the pound. Grain, flour, wine, salt, and provisions
must pay no more duties. Seignorial dues and claims, ecclesiastical
tithes, and royal or municipal taxes must no longer exist. On the
strength of this idea disturbances broke out on all sides in March,
April, and May. Contemporaries "do not know what to think of such
a scourge;[1114] they cannot comprehend how such a vast number of
criminals, without visible leaders, agree amongst themselves everywhere
to commit the same excesses just at the time when the States-General are
going to begin their sittings." The reason is that, under the ancient
régime, the conflagration was smoldering in a closed chamber; the great
door is suddenly opened, the air enters, and immediately the flame
breaks out.
III.--The provinces during the first six months of 1789
Effects of the famine.
At first there are only intermittent, isolated fires, which are
extinguished or go out of themselves; but, a moment after, in the same
place, or very near it, the sparks again appear. Their number, like
their recurrence, shows the vastness, depth, and heat of the combustible
matter, which is about to explode. In the four months, which precede the
taking of the Bastille, over three hundred outbreaks may be counted in
France. They take place from month to month and from week to week, in
Poitou, Brittany, Touraine, Orléanais, Normandy, Ile-de-France, Picardy,
Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Nivernais, Auvergne, Languedoc, and
Provence. On the 28th of May the parliament of Rouen announces robberies
of grain, "violent and bloody tumults, in which men on both sides have
fallen," throughout the province, at Caen, Saint-Lô, Mortain, Granville,
Evreux, Bernay, Pont-Andemer, Elboeuf; Louviers, and in other sections
besides. On the 20th of April Baron de Bezenval, military commander
in the Central Provinces, writes: "I once more lay before M. Necker a
picture of the frightful condition of Touraine and of Orléanais. Every
letter I receive from these two provinces is the narrative of three
or four riots, which are put down with difficulty by the troops and
constabulary,"[1115]--and throughout the whole extent of the kingdom a
similar state of things is seen. The women, as is natural, are generally
at the head of these outbreaks. It is they who, at Montlhéry, rip open
the sacks of grain with their scissors. On learning each week, on market
day that the price of a loaf of bread advances three, four, or seven
sous, they break out into shrieks of rage: at this rate for bread, with
the small salaries of the men, and when work fails,[1116] how can a
family be fed? Crowds gather around the sacks of flour and the doors of
the bakers. Amidst outcries and reproaches some one in the crowd makes a
push; the proprietor or dealer is hustled and knocked down. The shop
is invaded, the commodity is in the hands of the buyers and of the
famished, each one grabbing for himself, pay or no pay, and running
away with the booty.--Sometimes a party is made up beforehand[1117]
At Bray-sur-Seine, on the 1st of May, the villagers for four leagues
around, armed with stones, knives, and cudgels, to the number of four
thousand, compel the metayers and farmers, who have brought grain with
them, to sell it at 3 livres, instead of 4 livres 10 sous the bushel.
They threaten to do the same thing on the following market-day: but the
farmers do not return, the storehouse remains empty. Now soldiers must
be at hand, or the inhabitants of Bray will be pillaged. At Bagnols, in
Languedoc, on the 1st and 2nd of April, the peasants, armed with cudgels
and assembled by tap of drum, "traverse the town, threatening to burn
and destroy everything if flour and money are not given to them."
They go to private houses for grain, divide it amongst themselves at a
reduced price, "promising to pay when the next crop comes round," and
force the Consuls to put bread at two sous the pound, and to increase
the day's wages four sous.--Indeed this is now the regular thing; it is
not the people who obey the authorities, but the authorities who obey
the people. Consuls, sheriffs, mayors, municipal officers, town-clerks,
become confused and hesitating in the face of this huge clamor; they
feel that they are likely to be trodden under foot or thrown out of the
windows. Others, with more firmness, being aware that a riotous crowd
is mad, and having scruples to spill blood; yield for the time being,
hoping that at the next market-day there will be more soldiers
and better precautions taken. At Amiens, "after a very violent
outbreak,"[1118] they decide to take the wheat belonging to the Jacobin
monks, and, protected by the troops, to sell it to the people at a third
below its value. At Nantes, where the town hall is attacked, they are
forced to lower the price of bread one sou per pound. At Angoulême, to
avoid a recourse to arms, they request the Comte d'Artois to renounce
his dues on flour for two months, reduce the price of bread, and
compensate the bakers. At Cette they are so maltreated they let
everything take its course; the people sack their dwellings and get the
upper hand; they announce by sound of trumpet that all their demands are
granted. On other occasions, the mob dispenses with their services and
acts for itself. If there happens to be no grain on the market-place,
the people go after it wherever they can find it--to proprietors and
farmers who are unable to bring it for fear of pillage; to convents,
which by royal edict are obliged always to have one year's crop in
store; to granaries where the Government keeps its supplies; and to
convoys which are dispatched by the intendants to the relief of famished
towns. Each for himself--so much the worse for his neighbor. The
inhabitants of Fougères beat and drive out those who come from Ernée
to buy in their market; a similar violence is shown at Vitré to the
in-habitants of Maine.[1119] At Sainte-Léonard the people stop the grain
started for Limoges; at Bost that intended for Aurillac; at Saint-Didier
that ordered for Moulins; and at Tournus that dispatched to Macon. In
vain are escorts added to the convoys; troops of men and women, armed
with hatchets and guns, put themselves in ambush in the woods along the
road, and seize the horses by their bridles; the saber has to be used to
secure any advance. In vain are arguments and kind words offered, "and
in vain even is wheat offered for money; they refuse, shouting out that
the convoy shall not go on." They have taken a stubborn stand, their
resolution being that of a bull planted in the middle of the road and
lowering his horns. Since the wheat is in the district, it is theirs;
whoever carries it off or withholds it is a robber. This fixed idea
cannot be driven out of their minds. At Chant-nay, near Mans,[1120]
they prevent a miller from carrying that which he had just bought to
his mill. At Montdragon, in Languedoc, they stone a dealer in the act of
sending his last wagon load elsewhere. At Thiers, workmen go in force
to gather wheat in the fields; a proprietor with whom some is found
is nearly killed; they drink wine in the cellars, and leave the taps
running. At Nevers, the bakers not having put bread on their counters
for four days, the mob force the granaries of private persons, of
dealers and religious communities. "The frightened corn-dealers part
with their grain at any price; most of it is stolen in the face of the
guards," and, in the tumult of these searches of homes, a number of
houses are sacked.--In these days woe to all who are concerned in the
acquisition, commerce, and manipulation of grain! Popular imagination
requires living beings to who it may impute its misfortunes, and on whom
it may gratify its resentments. To it, all such persons are monopolists,
and, at any rate, public enemies. Near Angers the Benedictine
establishment is invaded, and its fields and woods are devastated.[1121]
At Amiens "the people are arranging to pillage and perhaps burn the
houses of two merchants, who have built labor-saving mills." Restrained
by the soldiers, they confine themselves to breaking windows; but other
"groups come to destroy or plunder the houses of two or three persons
whom they suspect of being monopolists." At Nantes, a sieur Geslin,
being deputized by the people to inspect a house, and finding no wheat,
a shout is set up that he is a receiver, an accomplice! The crowd rush
at him, and he is wounded and almost cut in pieces.--It is very evident
that there is no more security in France; property, even life, is in
danger. The primary possession, food, is violated in hundreds of places,
and is everywhere menaced and precarious. The local officials everywhere
call for aid, declare the constabulary incompetent, and demand
regular troops. And mark how public authority, everywhere inadequate,
disorganized, and tottering, finds stirred up against it not only the
blind madness of hunger, but, in addition, the evil instincts which
profit by every disorder and the inveterate lusts which every political
commotion frees from restraint.
IV.--Intervention of ruffians and vagabonds.
We have seen how numerous the smugglers, dealers in contraband salt,
poachers, vagabonds, beggars, and escaped convicts[1122] have become,
and how a year of famine increases the number. All are so many recruits
for the mobs, and whether in a disturbance or by means of a disturbance
each one of them fills his pouch. Around Caux,[1123] even up to the
environs of Rouen, at Roncherolles, Quévrevilly, Préaux, Saint-Jacques,
and in the entire surrounding neighborhood bands of armed bandits force
their way into the houses, particularly the parsonages, and lay their
hands on whatever they please. To the south of Chartres "three or four
hundred woodcutters, from the forests of Bellème, chop away everything
that opposes them, and force grain to be given up to them at their own
price." In the vicinity of Étampes, fifteen bandits enter the
farmhouses at night and put the farmer to ransom, threatening him with
a conflagration. In Cambrésis they pillage the abbeys of Vauchelles, of
Verger, and of Guillemans, the château of the Marquis de Besselard, the
estate of M. Doisy, two farms, the wagons of wheat passing along the
road to Saint-Quentin, and, besides this, seven farms in Picardy.
"The seat of this revolt is in some villages bordering on Picardy and
Cambrésis, familiar with smuggling operations and to the license of
that pursuit." The peasants allow themselves to be enticed away by the
bandits. Man slips rapidly down the incline of dishonesty; one who
is half-honest, and takes part in a riot inadvertently or in spite of
himself; repeats the act, allured on by impunity or by gain. In fact,
"it is not dire necessity which impels them;" they make a speculation of
cupidity, a new sort of illicit trade. An old soldier, saber in hand, a
forest-keeper, and "about eight persons sufficiently lax, put themselves
at the head of four or five hundred men, go off each day to three or
four villages. Here they force everybody who has any wheat to give it
to them at 24 livres," and even at 18 livres, the sack. Those among the
band, who say that they have no money, carry away their portion without
payment. Others, after having paid what they please, re-sell at a
profit, which amounts to even 45 livres the sack. This is a good
business, and one in which greed takes poverty for its accomplice. At
the next harvest the temptation will be similar: "they have threatened
to come and do our harvesting for us, and also to take our cattle and
sell the meat in the villages at the rate of two sous the pound."--In
every important insurrection there are similar evil-does and vagabonds,
enemies to the law, savage, prowling desperadoes, who, like wolves, roam
about wherever they scent a prey. It is they who serve as the directors
and executioners of public or private malice. Near Uzès twenty-five
masked men, with guns and clubs, enter the house of a notary, fire a
pistol at him, beat him, wreck the premises, and burn his registers
along with the title-deeds and papers which he has in keeping for the
Count de Rouvres. Seven of them are arrested, but the people are on
their side, and fall on the constabulary and free them.[1124]--They
are known by their acts, by their love of destruction for the sake of
destruction, by their foreign accent, by their savage faces and their
rags. Some of them come from Paris to Rouen, and, for four days, the
town is at their mercy.[1125] The stores are forced open, train wagons
are discharged, wheat is wasted, and convents and seminaries are put to
ransom. They invade the dwelling of the attorney-general, who has begun
proceedings against them, and want to tear him to pieces. They break his
mirrors and his furniture, leave the premises laden with booty, and go
into the town and its outskirts to pillage the manufactories and break
up or burn all the machinery.--Henceforth these constitute the new
leaders: for in every mob it is the boldest and least scrupulous
who march ahead and set the example in destruction. The example is
contagious: the beginning was the craving for bread, the end is murder
and arson; the savagery which is unchained adding its unlimited violence
to the limited revolt of necessity.
V.--Effect on the Population of the New Ideas.
Bad as it is, this savagery might, perhaps, have been overcome, in spite
of the dearth and of the brigands; but what renders it irresistible is
the belief of its being authorized, and that by those whose duty it is
to repress it. Here and there words and actions of a brutal frankness
break forth, and reveal beyond the somber present a more threatening
future--After the 9th of January, 1789, among the mob which attacks the
Hôtel-de-Ville and besieges the bakers' shops of Nantes, "shouts of Vive
la Liberté![1126] mingled with those of Vive le Roi! are heard." A
few months later, around Ploërmel, the peasants refuse to pay tithes,
alleging that the memorial of their seneschal's court demands their
abolition. In Alsace, after March, there is the same refusal "in many
places;" many of the communities even maintain that they will pay no
more taxes until their deputies to the States-General shall have fixed
the precise amount of the public contributions. In Isère it is decided,
by proceedings, printed and published, that "personal dues" shall no
longer be paid, while the landowners who are affected by this dare
not prosecute in the tribunals. At Lyons, the people have come to the
conclusion "that all levies of taxes are to cease," and, on the 29th of
June, on hearing of the meeting of the three orders, "astonished by the
illuminations and signs of public rejoicing," they believe that the good
time has come." They think of forcing the delivery of meat to them at
four sous the pound, and wine at the same rate. The publicans insinuate
to them the prospective abolition of octrois.[1127] and that, meanwhile,
the King, in favor of the re-assembling of the three orders, has granted
three days' freedom from all duties at Paris, and that Lyons ought
to enjoy the same privilege." Upon this the crowd, rushing off to
the barriers, to the gates of Sainte-Claire and Perrache, and to the
Guillotière bridge, burn or demolish the bureaux, destroy the registers,
sack the lodgings of the clerks, carry off the money and pillage the
wine on hand in the depot. In the mean time a rumor has circulated all
round through the country that there is free entrance into the town for
all provisions. During the following days the peasantry stream in with
enormous files of wagons loaded with wine and drawn by several oxen, so
that, in spite of the re-established guard, it is necessary to let them
enter all day without paying the dues. It is only on the 7th of July
that these can again be collected.--The same thing occurs in the
southern provinces, where the principal imposts are levied on
provisions. There also the collections are suspended in the name of
public authority. At Agde,[1128] "the people, considering the so-called
will of the King as to equality of classes, are foolish enough to think
that they are everything and can do everything." Thus do they interpret
in their own way and in their own terms the double representation
accorded to the Third-Estate. They threaten the town, consequently, with
general pillage if the prices of all provisions are not reduced, and if
the duties of the province on wine, fish, and meat are not suppressed.
They also wish to nominate consuls who have sprung up out of their
body." The bishop, the lord of the manor, the mayor and the notables,
against whom they forcibly stir up the peasantry in the country, are
obliged to proclaim by sound of trumpet that their demands shall be
granted. Three days afterwards they exact a diminution of one-half of
the tax on grinding, and go in quest of the bishop who owns the mills.
The prelate, who is ill, sinks down in the street and seats himself on
a stone; they compel him forthwith to sign an act of renunciation,
and hence "his mill, valued at 15,000 livres, is reduced to 7,500
livres."--At Limoux, under the pretext of searching for grain, they
enter the houses of the comptroller and tax contractors, carry off their
registers, and throw them into the water along with the furniture of
their clerks.--In Provence it is worse; for most unjustly, and through
inconceivable imprudence, the taxes of the towns are all levied on
flour. It is therefore to this impost that the dearness of bread is
directly attributed. Hence the fiscal agent becomes a manifest enemy,
and revolts on account of hunger are transformed into insurrections
against the State.
VI.--The first jacquerie in Province
Feebleness or ineffectiveness of repressive measures.
Here, again, political novelties are the spark that ignites the mass
of gunpowder. Everywhere, the uprising of the people takes place on
the very day on which the electoral assembly meets. From forty to
fifty riots occur in the provinces in less than a fortnight. Popular
imagination, like that of a child, goes straight to its mark. The
reforms having been announced, people think them accomplished and, to
make sure of them, steps are at once taken to carry them out. Now
that we are to have relief, let us relieve ourselves. "This is not an
isolated riot as usual," writes the commander of the troops;[1129]
"here the faction is united and governed by uniform principles; the same
errors are diffused through all minds. . . . . The principles impressed
on the people are that the King desires equality. No more bishops
or lords, no more distinctions of rank, no tithes, and no seignorial
privileges. Thus, these misguided people fancy that they are exercising
their rights, and obeying the will of the King."--The effect of sonorous
phrases is apparent. The people have been told that the States-General
were to bring about the "regeneration of the kingdom" The inference is
"that the date of their assembly was to be one of an entire and absolute
change of conditions and fortunes." Hence, "the insurrection against the
nobles and the clergy is as active as it is widespread." "In many
places it was distinctly announced that there was a sort of war declared
against landowners and property," and "in the towns as well as in the
rural districts the people persist in declaring that they will pay
nothing, neither taxes, duties, nor debts."--Naturally, the first
assault is against the piquèt, or flour-tax. At Aix, Marseilles, Toulon,
and in more than forty towns and market-villages, this is summarily
abolished; at Aupt and at Luc nothing remains of the weighing-house but
the four walls. At Marseilles the home of the slaughter-house contractor
and at Brignolles that of the director of the leather excise, are
sacked. The determination is "to purge the land of excise-men. "--This
is only a beginning; bread and other provisions must become cheap, and
that without delay. At Arles, the Corporation of sailors, presided over
by M. de Barras, consul, had just elected its representatives. By way of
conclusion to the meeting, they pass a resolution insisting that M. de
Barras should reduce the price of all comestibles. On his refusal, they
"open the window, exclaiming, 'We hold him, and we have only to throw
him into the street for the rest to pick him up.'" Compliance is
inevitable. The resolution is proclaimed by the town-criers, and at each
article which is reduced in price the crowd shout, "Vive le Roi, vive M.
Barras!"--One must yield to brute force. But the inconvenience is great
for, through the suppression of the flour-tax, the towns have no longer
a revenue. On the other hand, as they are obliged to indemnify the
butchers and bakers, Toulon, for instance, incurs a debt of 2,500 livres
a day.
In this state of disorder, woe to those who are under suspicion of
having contributed, directly or indirectly, to the evils, which the
people endure! At Toulon a demand is made for the head of the mayor, who
signs the tax-list, and of the keeper of the records. They are trodden
under foot, and their houses are ransacked. At Manosque, the Bishop
of Sisteron, who is visiting the seminary, is accused of favoring
a monopolist. On his way to his carriage, on foot, he is hooted and
menaced. He is first pelted with mud, and then with stones. The consuls
in attendance, and the sub-delegate, who come to his assistance, are
mauled and repulsed. Meanwhile, some of the most furious begin, before
his eyes, "to dig a ditch to bury him in." Protected by five or six
brave fellows, amidst a volley of stones, and wounded on the head and
on many parts of his body, he succeeds in reaching his carriage. He is
finally only saved because the horses, which are likewise stoned, run
away. Foreigners, Italians, bandits, are mingled with the peasants and
artisans, and expressions are heard and acts are seen which indicate a
jacquerie.[1130] "The most excited said to the bishop, 'we are poor and
you are rich, and we mean to have all your property.'"[1131] Elsewhere,
"the seditious mob exacts contributions from all people in good
circumstances. At Brignolles, thirteen houses are pillaged from top to
bottom, and thirty others partly half.--At Aupt, M. de Montferrat, in
defending himself, is killed and "hacked to pieces."--At La Seyne, the
mob, led by a peasant, assembles by beat of drum. Some women fetch a
bier, and set it down before the house of a leading bourgeois, telling
him to prepare for death, and that "they will have the honor of burying
him." He escapes; his house is pillaged, as well as the bureau of
the flour-tax. The following day, the chief of the band "obliges the
principal inhabitants to give him a sum of money to indemnify, as he
states it, the peasants who have abandoned their work," and devoted the
day to serving the public.--At Peinier, the Président de Peinier, an
octogenarian, is "besieged in his chateau by a band of a hundred and
fifty artisans and peasants," who bring with them a consul and a notary.
Aided by these two functionaries, they force the president "to pass an
act by which he renounces his seignorial rights of every description
"--At Sollier they destroy the mills belonging to M. de Forbin-Janson.
They sack the house of his business agent, pillage the château, and
demolish the roof, chapel, altar, railings, and escutcheons. They enter
the cellars, stave in the casks, and carry away everything that can
be carried, "the transportation taking two days;" all of which cause
damages of a hundred thousand crowns to the marquis.--At Riez they
surround the episcopal palace with fagots, threatening to burn it, "and
compromise with the bishop on a promise of fifty thousand livres," and
want him to burn his archives.--In short, the sedition is social for it
singles out for attack all that profit by, or stand at the head of, the
established order of things.
Seeing them act in this way, one would say that the theory of the
Contrat-Social had been instilled into them. They treat magistrates as
domestics, promulgate laws, and conduct themselves like sovereigns.
They exercise public power, and establish, summarily, arbitrarily,
and brutally, whatever they think to be in conformity with natural
right.--At Peinier they exact a second electoral assembly, and, for
themselves, the right of suffrage.--At Saint-Maximin they themselves
elect new consuls and officers of justice.--At Solliez they oblige the
judge's lieutenant to give in his resignation, and they break his
staff of office.--At Barjols "they use consuls and judges as their town
servants, announcing that they are masters and that they will themselves
administer justice."--In fact, they do administer it, as they understand
it--that is to say, through many exactions and robberies! One man has
wheat; he must share it with him who has none. Another has money;
he must give it to him who has not enough to buy bread with. On this
principle, at Barjols, they tax the Ursulin nuns 1,800 livres, carry off
fifty loads of wheat from the Chapter, eighteen from one poor artisan,
and forty from another, and constrain canons and beneficiaries to give
acquittances to their farmers. Then, from house to house, with club
in hand, they oblige some to hand over money, others to abandon their
claims on their debtors, "one to desist from criminal proceedings,
another to nullify a decree obtained, a third to reimburse the expenses
of a lawsuit gained years before, a father to give his consent to the
marriage of his son."--All their grievances are brought to mind, and we
all know the tenacity of a peasant's memory. Having become the master,
he redresses wrongs, and especially those of which he thinks himself the
object. There must be a general restitution; and first, of the feudal
dues which have been collected. They take of M. de Montmeyan's business
agent all the money he has as compensation for that received by him
during fifteen years as a notary. A former consul of Brignolles had, in
1775, inflicted penalties to the amount of 1,500 or 1,800 francs, which
had been given to the poor; this sum is taken from his strong box.
Moreover, if consuls and law officers are wrongdoers, the title deeds,
rent-rolls, and other documents by which they do their business
are still worse. To the fire with all old writings--not only office
registers, but also, at Hyères, all the papers in the town hall and
those of the principal notary.--In the matter of papers none are
good but new ones--those which convey some discharge, quittance, or
obligation to the advantage of the people. At Brignolles the owners of
the gristmills are constrained to execute a contract of sale by which
they convey their mills to the commune in consideration of 5,000 francs
per annum, payable in ten years without interest--an arrangement which
ruins them. On seeing the contract signed the peasants shout and cheer,
and so great is their faith in this piece of stamped paper that they at
once cause a mass of thanksgiving to be celebrated in the Cordeliers.
Formidable omens these! Which mark the inward purpose, the determined
will, and the coming deeds of this rising power. If it prevails, its
first work will be to destroy all ancient documents, all title deeds,
rent-rolls, contracts, and claims to which force compels it to submit.
By force likewise it will draw up others to its own advantage, and the
scribes who do it will be its own deputies and administrators whom it
holds in its rude grasp.
Those who are in high places are not alarmed; they even find that there
is some good in the revolt, inasmuch as it compels the towns to suppress
unjust taxation.[1132] The new Marseilles guard, formed of young men, is
allowed to march to Aubagne, "to insist that M. le lieutenant criminel
and M. l'avocat du Roi release the prisoners." The disobedience of
Marseilles, which refuses to receive the magistrates sent under letters
patent to take testimony, is tolerated. And better still, in spite
of the remonstrances of the parliament of Aix, a general amnesty is
proclaimed; "no one is excepted but a few of the leaders, to whom is
allowed the liberty of leaving the kingdom." The mildness of the King
and of the military authorities is admirable. It is admitted that the
people are children, that they err only through ignorance, that faith
must be had in their repentance, and, as soon as they return to order,
they must be received with paternal effusions.--The truth is, that the
child is a blind Colossus, exasperated by sufferings. hence whatever it
takes hold of is shattered--not only the local wheels of the provinces,
which, if temporarily deranged, may be repaired, but even the incentive
at the center which puts the rest in motion, and the destruction of
which will throw the whole machinery into confusion.
*****
[Footnote 1101: Marmontel, "Mémoires," II. 221.--Albert Babeau,
"Histoire de la Révolution Française," I. 91, 187. (Letter by Huez Mayor
of Troyes, July 30, 1788.)--Archives Nationales, H. 1274. (Letter by M.
de Caraman, April 22, 1789.) H. 942 (Cahier des demandes des Etats de
Languedoc).--Buchez et Roux, "Histoire Parlementaire," I. 283.]
[Footnote 1102: See "The Ancient Régime," p.34. Albert Babeau, I. 91.
(The Bishop of Troyes gives 12,000 francs, and the chapter 6,000, for
the relief workshops.)]
[Footnote 1103: "The Ancient Regime," 350, 387.--Floquet, "Histoire du
Parlement de Normandie," VII. 505-518. (Reports of the Parliament of
Normandy, May 3,1788. Letter from the Parliament to the King, July 15,
1789.)]
[Footnote 1104: Arthur Young, "Voyages in France," June 29th, July 2nd
and 18th--" Journal de Paris," January 2, 1789. Letter of the curé of
Sainte-Marguerite.]
[Footnote 1105: Buchez and Roux, IV. 79-82. (Letter from the
intermediary bureau of Montereau, July 9, 1789; from the maire of
Villeneuve-le-Roi, July 10th; from M. Baudry, July 10th; from M.
Prioreau, July 11th, etc.)--Montjoie, "Histoire de la Révolution de
France," 2nd part, ch. XXI, p. 5.]
[Footnote 1106: Roux et Buchez, ibid. "It is very unfortunate," writes
the Marquis d'Autichamp, "to be obliged to cut down the standing crops
ready to be gathered in; but it is dangerous to let the troops die of
hunger."]
[Footnote 1107: Montjoie, "Histoire de la Révolution de France,"
ch. XXXIX, V, 37.--De Goncourt, "La Société Française pendant la
Révolution," p. 5l3.--Deposition of Maillard (Criminal Inquiry of the
Châtelet concerning the events of October 5th and 6th).]
[Footnote 1108: De Tocqueville, "L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution,"
272-290. De Lavergne, "Les Assemblées provinciales," 109. Procès-verbaux
des assemblées provinciales, passim.]
[Footnote 1109: A magistrate who gives judgment in a lower court in
cases relative to taxation. These terms are retained because there are
no equivalents in English. (Tr.)]
[Footnote 1110: "Laboureurs,"--this term, at this epoch, is applied to
those who till their own land. (Tr.)]
[Footnote 1111: Duvergier. "Collection des lois et décrets," I. 1 to 23,
and particularly p. 15.]
[Footnote 1112: Parish priests. (SR.)]
[Footnote 1113: Arthur Young, July 12th, 1789 (in Champagne).]
[Footnote 1114: Montjoie, 1st part, 102.]
[Footnote 1115: Floquet, "Histoire du Parlement de Normandie," VII.
508.--" Archives Nationales," H. 1453.]
[Footnote 1116: Arthur Young, June 29th (at Nangis).]
[Footnote 1117: "Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of the Duc
de Mortemart, Seigneur of Bray, May 4th; of M. de Ballainvilliers,
intendant of Languedoc, April 15th.]
[Footnote 1118: "Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of the intendant,
M. d'Agay, April 30th; of the municipal officers of Nantes, January
9th; of the intendant, M. Meulan d'Ablois, June 22nd; of M. de
Ballainvilliers, April 15th.]
[Footnote 1119: "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the Count de
Langeron, July 4th; of M. de Meulan d'Ablois, June 5th; "Minutes of
the meeting of la Maréchaussée de Bost," April 29th. Letters of M. de
Chazerat, May 29th; of M. de Bezenval, June 2nd; of the intendant, M.
Amelot, April 25th.]
[Footnote 1120: '"Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of M. de
Bezenval, May 27th; of M. de Ballainvilliers, April 25th; of M. de
Foullonde, April 19th.]
[Footnote 1121: "Archives Nationales," H.1453. Letter of the intendant,
M. d'Aine, March 12th; of M. d'Agay, April 30th; of M. Amelot, April
25th; of the municipal authorities of Nantes, January 9th, etc.]
[Footnote 1122: "The Ancient Régime," pp. 380-389.]
[Footnote 1123: Floquet, VII. 508, (Report of February 27th).--Hippeau,
"La Gouvernement de Normandie," IV. 377. (Letter of M. Perrot, June
23rd.)--" Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of M. de Sainte-Suzanne,
April 29th. Ibid. F7, 3250. Letter of M. de Rochambeau, May 16th Ibid.
F7, 3250. Letter of the Abbé Duplaquet, Deputy of the Third Estate of
Saint-Quentin, May 17th. Letter of three husbandmen in the environs of
Saint-Quentin, May 14th.]
[Footnote 1124: "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the Count de
Perigord, military commandant of Languedoc, April 22nd.]
[Footnote 1125: Floquet, VII. 511 (from the 11th to the 14th July).]
[Footnote 1126: "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the municipal
authorities of Nantes, January 9th; of the sub-delegate of Ploërmel,
July 4th; ibid. F7, 2353. Letter of the intermediary commission of
Alsace, September 8th ibid. F7, 3227. Letter of the intendant, Caze de
la Bove, June 16th; ibid. H. 1453. Letter of Terray, intendant of Lyons,
July 4th; of the prévot des échevins, July 5th and 7th.]
[Footnote 1127: (A tax on all goods entering a town. SR.)]
[Footnote 1128: "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letter of the mayor and
councils of Agde, April 21st; of M. de Perigord, April 19th, May 5th.]
[Footnote 1129: "Archives Nationales," H. 1453. Letters of M. de
Caraman, March 23rd, 26th 27th 28th; of the seneschal Missiessy, March
24th; of the mayor of Hyères, March 25th, etc.; ibid. H. 1274; of M. de
Montmayran, April 2nd; of M. de Caraman, March 18th, April 12th; of
the intendant, M. de la Tour, April 2nd; of the procureur-géneral, M.
d'Antheman, April 17th, and the report of June 15th; of the municipal
authorities of Toulon, April 11th; of the sub-delegate of Manosque,
March 14th; of M. de Saint-Tropez, March 21st.--Minutes of the meeting,
signed by 119 witnesses, of the insurrection at Aix, March 5th, etc.]
[Footnote 1130: An uprising of the peasants. The term is used to
indicate a country mob in contradistinction to a city or town mob.-Tr.]
[Footnote 1131: "Archives Nationales," H.1274. Letter of M. de la Tour,
April 2nd (with a detailed memorandum and depositions).]
[Footnote 1132: "Archives Nationales," H. 1274. Letter of M. de Caraman,
April 22nd:--"One real benefit results from this misfortune. . . The
well-to-do class is brought to sustain that which exceeded the strength
of the poor daily laborers. We see the nobles and people in good
circumstances a little more attentive to the poor peasants: they are now
habituated to speaking to them with more gentleness." M. de Caraman
was wounded, as well as his Son, at Aix, and if the Soldiery, who were
stoned, at length fired on the crowd, he did not give the order.--Ibid,
letter of M. d'Anthéman, April 17th; of M. de Barentin, June 11th.]