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the origins of contemporary france-2-第68章

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persons and things; they act in one place in one way and in another

place in another way。  Here; a department; acting for itself and

without referring elsewhere; puts an embargo on vessels; while

another orders the expulsion of a military detachment essential for

the security of places devastated by ruffians; and the minister; who

responds to the demands of those interested; replies: 'Such are the

orders of the department。' Elsewhere are administrative bodies

which; the moment the Assembly decrees relief of consciences and the

freedom of nonjuring priests; order the latter out of their homes

within 24 hours。  Always in advance of or lagging behind the laws;

alternately bold and cowardly; daring all things when seconded by

public license; and daring nothing to repress it; eager to abuse

their momentary authority against the weak in order to acquire

titles to popularity in the future; incapable of maintaining order

except at the expense of public safety and tranquility; entangled

in the reins of their new and complex administration; adding the

fury of passion to incapacity and inexperience; such are; for the

most part; the men sprung from nothing; void of ideas and drunk with

pretension; on whom now rests responsibility for public powers and

resources; the interest of security; and the foundations of the

power of government。  In all sections of the nation; in every branch

of the administration; in every report; we detect the confusion of

authorities; the uncertainty of obedience; the dissolution of all

restraints; the absence of all resources; the deplorable

complication of enervated springs; without any of the means of real

power; and; for their sole support; laws which; in supposing France

to be peopled with men without vices or passions; abandon humanity

to its primitive state of independence。〃



A few months after this; in the beginning of 1792; Malouet sums up

all in one phrase:



〃It is the Government of Algiers without the Dey。〃





II。



Independence of the municipalities。 … The causes of their

initiative。 … Sentiment of danger。… Issy…l'Evêque in 1789。 … Exalted

pride。 … Brittany in 1790。… Usurpations of the municipalities。 …

Capture of the citadels。 … Violence increased against their

commanders。 … Stoppage of convoys。… Powerlessness of the Directories

and the ministers。 … Marseilles in 1790。



Things could not work otherwise。  For; before the 6th of October;

and the King's captivity in Paris; the Government had already been

destroyed。  Now; through the successive decrees of the Assembly; it

is legally done away with; and each local group is left to itself。 …

The intendants have fled; military commanders are not obeyed; the

bailiwicks dare hold no courts; the parliaments are suspended; and

seven months elapse before the district and department

administrations are elected; a year before the new judgeships are

instituted; while afterwards; as well as before; the real power is

in the hands of the communes。 … The commune must arm itself; appoint

its own chiefs; provide its own supplies; protect itself against

brigands; and feed its own poor。  It has to sell its national

property; install the constitutional priest; and; amidst so many

eager passions and injured interest; accomplish the transformation

by which a new society replaces the ancient one。  It alone has to

ward off the perpetual and constantly reviving dangers which assail

it or which it imagines。  These are great; and it exaggerates them。

It is inexperienced and alarmed。  It is not surprising that; in the

exercise of its extemporized power; it should pass beyond its

natural or legal limit; and without being aware of it; overstep the

metaphysical line which the Constitution defines between its rights

and the rights of the State。  Neither hunger; fear; rage; nor any of

the popular passions can wait; there is no time to refer to Paris。

Action is necessary; immediate action; and; with the means at hand;

they must save themselves as well as they can。  This or that mayor

of a village is soon to find himself a general and a legislator。

This or that petty town is to give itself a charter like Laon or

Vezelay in the twelfth century。  〃On the 6th of October; 1789;'14'

near Autun; the market…town of Issy…l'Evêque declares itself an

independent State。  The parish assembly is convoked by the priest;

M。  Carion; who is appointed member of the administrative committee

and of the new military staff。  In full session he secures the

adoption of a complete code; political; judiciary; penal and

military; consisting of sixty articles。  Nothing is overlooked; we

find ordinances concerning



〃the town police; the laying out of streets and public squares; the

repairs of prisons; the road taxes and price of grain; the

administration of justice; fines; confiscations; and the diet of the

National Guards。〃



He is a provincial Solon;'15' zealous for the public welfare; and a

man of executive power; he expounds his ordinances from the pulpit;

and threatens the refractory。  He passes decrees and renders

judgments in the town…hall: outside the town limits; at the head of

the National Guard; saber in hand; he will enforce his own

decisions。  He causes it to be decided that; on the written order of

the committee; every citizen may be imprisoned。  He imposes and

collects taxes; he has boundary walls torn down; he goes in person

to the houses of cultivators and makes requisitions for grain; he

seizes the convoys which have not deposited their quote in his own

richly stored granaries。  One day; preceded by a drummer; he marches

outside the walls; makes proclamation of 〃his agrarian laws;〃 and

proceeds at once to the partition of the territory; and; by virtue

of the ancient communal or church property rights; to assign to

himself a portion of it。  All this is done in public and

consciously; the notary and the scrivener being called in to draw up

the official record of his acts; he is satisfied that human society

has come to an end; and that each local group has the right to begin

over again and apply in its own way the Constitution which it has

accorded to itself without reference to anybody else。 … This man;

undoubtedly; talks too loudly; an proceeds too quickly; and first

the bailiwick; next the Chatelet; and afterwards the National

Assembly temporarily put a stop to his proceedings; but his

principle is a popular one; and the forty thousand communes of

France are about to act like so many distinct republics; under the

sentimental and constantly more powerless reprimands of the central

authority。



Excited and invigorated by a new sentiment; men now abandon

themselves to the proud consciousness of their own power and

independence。  Nowhere is greater satisfaction found than among the

new local chiefs; the municipal officers and commanders of the

National Guard; for never before has such supreme authority and such

great dignity fallen upon men previously so submissive and so

insignificant。 … Formerly the subordinates of an intendant or sub…

delegate; appointed; maintained; and ill…used by him; kept aloof

from transactions of any importance; unable to defend themselves

except by humble protestations against the aggravation of taxation;

concerned with precedence and the conflicts of etiquette;'16' plain

townspeople or peasants who never dreamt of interfering in military

matters; henceforth become sovereigns in all military and civil

affairs。  This or that mayor or syndic of a little town or parish; a

petty bourgeois or villager in a blouse; whom the intendant or

military commander could imprison at will; now orders a gentleman; a

captain of dragoons; to march or stand still; and the captain stands

still or marches at his command。  On the same bourgeois or villager

depends the safety of the neighboring chateau; of the large land…

owner and his family; of the prelate; and of all the prominent

personages of the district。  in order that they may be out of harm's

way he must protect them; they will be pillaged if; in case of

insurrection; he does not send troops and the National Guard to

their assistance。  It is he who; lending or refusing public force to

the collection of their rents; gives them or deprives them of the

means of living。  He accordingly rules; and on the sole condition of

ruling according to the wishes of his equals; the vociferous

multitude; the restless; dominant mob which has elected him。 … In

the towns; especially; and notably in the large towns; the contrast

between what he was and what he is immense; since to the plenitude

of his power is added the extent of his jurisdiction。  Judge of the

effect on his brain in cities like those of Marseilles; Bordeaux;

Nantes; Rouen and Lyons; where he holds in his hand the lives and

property of eighty or a hundred thousand men。  And the more as; amid

the municipal officers of the towns; three…quarters of them;

prosecutors or lawyer
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