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the origins of contemporary france-2-第47章

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burnt in the recent jacqueries: otherwise he is despoiled without

indemnity。  All feudal claims are swept away by this act without

exception and without compensation。



In a similar manner; the Constituent Assembly; setting common law

aside in relation to inheritances ab intestato; had deprived all

eldest sons and males of any advantages。'30'  The Convention;

suppressing the freedom of testamentary bequest; prohibits the

father from disposing of more than one…tenth of his possessions; and

again; going back to the past; it makes its decrees retrospective:

every will opened after the 14th of July; 1789; is declared invalid

if not in conformity with this decree; every succession from the

14th of June; 1789; which is administered after the same date; is

re…divided if the division has not been equal; every donation which

has been made among the heirs after the same date is void。  Not only

is the feudal family destroyed in this way; but it must never be

reformed。  The aristocracy; being once declared a venomous plant; it

is not sufficient to prime it away; but it must be extirpated; not

only dug up by the root; but its seed must be crushed out。    A

malignant prejudice is aroused against it; and this grows from day

to day。  The stings of self…conceit; the disappointments of

ambition; and envious sentiments have prepared the way。  Its hard;

dry kernel consists of the abstract idea of equality。  All around

revolutionary fervor has caused blood to flow; has embittered

tempers; intensified sensibilities; and created a painful abscess

which daily irritation renders still more painful。  Through steadily

brooding over a purely speculative preference this has become a

fixed idea; and is becoming a murderous one。  It is a strange

passion; one wholly of the brains; nourished by magniloquent

phrases; but the more destructive; because phantoms are created out

of words; and against phantoms no reasoning nor actual facts can

prevail。  This or that shopkeeper who; up to this time; had always

formed his idea of nobles from his impressions of the members of the

Parliament of his town or of the gentry of his canton; now pictures

them according to the declamations of the club and the invectives of

the newspapers。  The imaginary figure; in his mind; has gradually

absorbed the living figure: he no longer sees the calm and engaging

countenance; but a grinning and distorted mask。  Kindliness or

indifference is replaced by animosity and distrust; they are

overthrown tyrants; ancient evil…doers; And enemies of the public;

he is satisfied beforehand and without further investigation that

they are hatching plots。  If they avoid being caught; it is owing to

their address and perfidy; and they are only the more dangerous the

more inoffensive they appear。  Their sub…mission is merely a feint;

their resignation hypocrisy; their favorable disposition; treachery。

Against these conspirators who cannot be touched the law is

inadequate; let us stretch it in practice; and as they wince at

equality let us try to make them bow beneath the yoke。



In fact; illegal persecution precedes legal prosecution ; the

privileged person who; by the late decrees; seems merely to be

brought within the pale of the common law; is; in fact; driven

outside of it。  The King; disarmed; is no longer able to protect

him; the partial Assembly repels his complaints ; the committee of

inquiry regards him as a culprit when he is simply oppressed。  His

income; his property; his repose; his freedom; his home; his life;

that of his wife and of his children; are in the hands of an

administration elected by the crowd; directed by clubs; and

threatened or violated by the mob。  He is debarred from the

elections。  The newspapers denounce him。  He undergoes domiciliary

visits。  In hundreds of places his chateau is sacked; the assassins

and incendiaries who depart from it with their hands full and

steeped in blood are not prosecuted; or are shielded by an

amnesty:'31' it is established by innumerable precedents that he may

be run down with impunity。  To prevent him from defending himself;

companies of the National Guard come and seize his arms: he must

become a prey; and an easy prey; like game kept back in its

enclosure for an approaching hunt。    In vain he abstains from

provocation and reduces himself to the standing of a private

individual。  In vain does he patiently endure numerous provocations

and resist only extreme violence。  I have read many hundreds of

investigations in the original manuscripts; and almost always I have

admired the humanity of the nobles; their forbearance; their horror

of bloodshed。  Not only are a great many of them men of courage and

all men of honor; but also; educated in the philosophy of the

eighteenth century; they are mild; sensitive; and deeds of violence

are repugnant to them。  Military officers especially are exemplary;

their great defect being their weakness: rather than fire on the

crowd they surrender the forts under their command; and allow

themselves to be insulted and stoned by the people。  For two

years;'32' 〃exposed to a thousand outrages; to defamation; to daily

peril; persecuted by clubs and misguided soldiers;〃 disobeyed;

menaced; put under arrest by their own men; they remain at their

post to prevent the ranks from being broken up; 〃with stoic

perseverance they put up with contempt of their authority that they

may preserve its semblance; their courage is of that rarest kind

which consists in remaining at the post of duty; impassive beneath

both affronts and blows。    Through a wrong of the greatest

magnitude; an entire class which have no share in the favors of the

Court; and which suffered as many injuries as any of the common

plebeians; is confounded with the titled parasites who besiege the

antechambers of Versailles。  Twenty…five thousand families; 〃the

nursery of the army and the fleet;〃 the elite of the agricultural

proprietors; also many gentlemen who look after and turn to account

the little estates on which they live; and 〃who have not left their

homes a year in their lives;〃 become the pariahs of their

canton。'33'  After 1789; they begin to feel that their position is

no longer tenable。'34'



〃 It is absolutely in opposition to the rights of man;〃 says another

letter from Franche…Comté; 〃to find one's self in perpetual fear of

having one's throat cut by scoundrels who are daily confounding

liberty with license。〃



〃I never knew anything so wearying;〃 says another letter from

Champagne; 〃as this anxiety about property and security。  Never was

there a better reason for it。  A moment suffices to let loose an

intractable population which thinks that it may do what it pleases;

and which is carefully sustained in that error〃



 〃After the sacrifices that we have made;〃 says a letter from

Burgundy; 〃we could not expect such treatment。  I thought that our

property would be the last violated because the people owed us some

return for staying at home in the country to expend among them the

few resources that remain to us。  。  。  (Now); I beg the Assembly to

repeal the decree on emigration; otherwise it may be said that

people are purposely kept here to be assassinated。  。  。  In case it

should refuse to do us this justice; I should be quite as willing to

have it decree an act of proscription against us; for we should not

then be lulled to sleep by the protection of laws which are

doubtless very wise; but which are not respected anywhere。〃



 〃 It is not our privileges;〃 say several others; 〃it is not our

nobility that we regret; but how is the persecution to which we are

abandoned to be supported? There is no safety for us; for our

property; or for our families。  Wretches who are our debtors; the

small farmers who rob us of our incomes; daily threaten us with the

torch and the lamp post。  We do not enjoy one hour of repose; not a

night that we are certain to pass through without trouble。  Our

persons are given up to the vilest outrages; our dwellings to an

inquisition of armed tyrants; we are robbed of our rentals with

impunity; and our property is openly attacked。  We; being now the

only people to pay imposts; are unfairly taxed; in various places

our entire incomes would not。  suffice to pay the quota which

crushes us。  We can make no complaint without incurring the risk of

being massacred。  The tribunals and the administrative bodies; the

tools of the multitude; daily sacrifice us to its attacks。  Even the

Government seems afraid of compromising itself by claiming the

protection of the laws on our behalf。  It is sufficient to be

pointed out as an aristocrat to be without any security。  If our

peasants; in general; have shown more honesty; consideration; and

attachment toward us; every bourgeois of importance; the wild

members of clubs; the vilest of men who sully a uniform; consider

themselves privileged to insult us; and these wretches go unpunish
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