友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
九色书籍 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

the origins of contemporary france-2-第20章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



friend; be as gentle with them as you would be with your equals; and

rest assured that they are capable of responding to it。〃



 Thus does Huez act; and he even does more; paying no attention to

their menaces; refusing to provide for his own safety and almost

offering himself as a sacrifice。



 〃I have wronged no one;〃 he exclaimed; 〃why should any one bear me

ill…will?〃



His sole precaution is to provide something for the unfortunate poor

when he is gone: he bequeaths in his will 18;000 livres to the poor;

and; on the eve of his death; sends 100 crowns to the bureau of

charity。  But what avail self…abnegation and beneficence against

blind; insane rage! On the 9th of September; three loads of flour

proving to be unsound; the people collect and shout out;



 〃Down with the flour…dealers! Down with machinery! Down with the

mayor! Death to the mayor; and let Truelle be put in his place! 〃



Huez; on leaving his court…room; is knocked down; murdered by kicks

and blows; throttled; dragged to the reception hall; struck on his

head with a wooden…shoe and pitched down the grand staircase。  The

municipal officers strive in vain to protect him; a rope is put

around his neck and they begin to drag him along。  A priest; who

begs to be allowed at least to save his soul; is repulsed and

beaten。  A woman jumps on the prostrate old man; stamps on his face

and repeatedly thrusts her scissors in his eyes。  He is dragged

along with the rope around his neck up to the Pont de la Selle; and

thrown into the neighboring ford; and then drawn out; again dragged

through the streets and in the gutters; with a bunch of hay crammed

in his mouth。'23'



In the meantime; his house as well as that of the lieutenant of

police; that of the notary Guyot; and that of M。 de Saint…Georges;

are sacked; the pillaging and destruction lasts four hours; at the

notary's house; six hundred bottles of wine are consumed or carried

off; objects of value are divided; and the rest; even down to the

iron balcony; is demolished or broken; the rioters cry out; on

leaving; that they have still to burn twenty…seven houses; and to

take twenty…seven heads。  〃No one at Troyes went to bed that fatal

night。〃… During the succeeding days; for nearly two weeks; society

seems to be dissolved。  Placards posted about the streets proscribe

municipal officers; canons; divines; privileged persons; prominent

merchants; and even ladies of charity; the latter are so frightened

that they throw up their office; while a number of persons move off

into the country; others barricade themselves in their dwellings and

only open their doors with saber in hand。  Not until the 26th does

the orderly class rally sufficiently to resume the ascendancy and

arrest the miscreants。   Such is public life in France after the

14th of July: the magistrates in each town feel that they are at the

mercy of a band of savages and sometimes of cannibals。  Those of

Troyes had just tortured Huez after the fashion of Hurons; while

those of Caen did worse; Major de Belzance; not less innocent; and

under sworn protection;'24' was cut to pieces like Laperouse in the

Fiji Islands; and a woman ate his heart。



 VI。





Taxes are no longer paid。  … Devastation of the Forests。  … The new

game laws。



It is; under such circumstances; possible to foretell whether taxes

come in; and whether municipalities that sway about in every popular

breeze will have the authority to collect the odious revenues。  

Towards the end of September;'25' I find a list of thirty…six

committees or municipal bodies which; within a radius of fifty

leagues around Paris; refuse to ensure the collection of taxes。  One

of them tolerates the sale of contraband salt; in order not to

excite a riot。  Another takes the precaution to disarm the employees

in the excise department。  In a third the municipal officers were

the first to provide themselves with contraband salt and contraband

tobacco。



At Peronne and at Ham; the order having come to restore the toll…

houses; the people destroy the soldiers' quarters; conduct all the

employees to their homes; and order them to leave within twenty…four

hours; under penalty of death。  After twenty months' resistance

Paris will end the matter by forcing the National Assembly to give

in and by obtaining the final suppression of its octroi。'26'   Of

all the creditors whose hand each one felt on his shoulders; that of

the exchequer was the heaviest; and now it is the weakest; hence

this is the first whose grasp is to be shaken off; there is none

which is more heartily detested or which receives harsher treatment。

Especially against collectors of the salt…tax; custom…house

officers; and excisemen the fury is universal。  These;

everywhere;'27' are in danger of their lives and are obliged to fly。

At Falaise; in Normandy; the people threaten to 〃cut to pieces the

director of the excise。〃 At Baignes; in Saintonge; his house is

devastated and his papers and effects are burned; they put a knife

to the throat of his son; a child six years of age; saying; 〃Thou

must perish that there may be no more of thy race。〃

For four hours the clerks are on the point of being torn to pieces;

through the entreaties of the lord of the manor; who sees scythes

and sabers aimed at his own head; they are released only on the

condition that they 〃abjure their employment。〃  Again; for two

months following the taking of the Bastille; insurrections break out

by hundreds; like a volley of musketry; against indirect taxation。

》From the 23rd of July the Intendant of Champagne reports that 〃the

uprising is general in almost all the towns under his command。〃 On

the following day the Intendant of Alen?on writes that; in his

province; 〃the royal dues will no longer be paid anywhere。〃 On the

7th of August; M。 Necker states to the National Assembly that in the

two intendants' districts of Caen and Alen?on it has been necessary

to reduce the price of salt one…half; that 〃in an infinity of places

〃 the collection of the excise is stopped or suspended; that the

smuggling of salt and tobacco is done by 〃convoys and by open force

〃 in Picardy; in Lorraine; and in the Trois…évêchés; that the

indirect tax does not come in; that the receivers…general and the

receivers of the taille are 〃at bay〃 and can no longer keep their

engagements。  The public income diminishes from month to month; in

the social body; the heart; already so feeble; faints; deprived of

the blood which no longer reaches it; it ceases to propel to the

muscles the vivifying current which restores their waste and adds to

their energy。



〃All controlling power is slackened;〃 says Necker; 〃everything is a

prey to the passions of individuals。〃 Where is the power to

constrain them and to secure to the State its dues?  The clergy;

the nobles; wealthy townsmen; and certain brave artisans and

farmers; undoubtedly pay; and even sometimes give spontaneously。

But in society those who possess intelligence; who are in easy

circumstances and conscientious; form a small select class; the

great mass is egotistic; ignorant; and needy; and lets its money go

only under constraint; there is but one way to collect the taxes;

and that is to extort them。  From time immemorial; direct taxes in

France have been collected only by bailiffs and seizures; which is

not surprising; as they take away a full half of the net income。

Now that the peasants of each village are armed and form a band; let

the collector come and make seizures if he dare !  〃 Immediately

after the decree on the equality of the taxes;〃 writes the

provincial commission of Alsace;'28' 〃the people generally refused

to make any payments; until those who were exempt and privileged

should have been inscribed on the local lists。〃 In many places the

peasants threaten to obtain the reimbursement of their installments;

while in others they insist that the decree should be retrospective

and that the new rate…payers should pay for the past year。  〃No

collector dare send an official to distrain; none that are sent dare

fulfill their mission。〃  〃 It is not the good bourgeois〃 of whom

there is any fear; 〃but the rabble who make the latter and every one

else afraid of them;〃 resistance and disorder everywhere come from

〃people that have nothing to lose。〃  Not only do they shake off

taxation; but they usurp property; and declare that; being the

Nation; whatever belongs to the Nation belongs to them。  The forests

of Alsace are laid waste; the seignorial as well as communal; and

wantonly destroyed with the wastefulness of children or of maniacs。

〃In many places; to avoid the trouble of removing the woods; they

are burnt; and the people content themselves with carrying off the

ashes。〃  After the decrees of August 4th; and in spite of the law

which licenses the proprietor only to hunt on his own grounds; the

impulse to break the law becomes irresistible。  Every man who ca
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!