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the origins of contemporary france-2-第99章

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the way。'43'  …   They have no scruples in relation to him。 Present

or absent; a noble officer must certainly be plotting with his

emigrant companions; and on this a story is concocted。  Formerly; to

prove that sacks of flour were being thrown into the river; the

soldiers alleged that these sacks were tied with blue cords (cordons

bleus)。  Now; to confirm the belief that an officer is conspiring

with Coblentz; it suffices to state that he rides a white horse; a

certain captain; at Strasbourg; barely escapes being cut to pieces

for this crime; 〃the devil could not get it out of their heads that

he was acting as a spy; and that the little grey…hound〃 which

accompanies him on his rides 〃is used to make signals。  〃  …   One

year after; at the time when the National Assembly completes its

work; M。 de Lameth; M。 Fréteau; and M。 Alquier state before it that

Luckner; Rochambeau; and the most popular generals; 〃no longer are

responsible for anything。〃 The Auvergne regiment has driven away its

officers and forms a separate society; which obeys no one。  The

second battalion of Beaune is on the point of setting fire to Arras。

It is almost necessary to lay siege to Phalsbourg; whose garrison

has mutinied。  Here; 〃disobedience to the general's orders is

formal。〃 There 〃are soldiers who have to be urged to stand sentinel;

whom they dare not put in confinement for discipline; who threaten

to fire on their officers; who stray off the road; pillage

everything; and take aim at the corporal who tries to bring them

back。〃 At Blois; a part of the regiment 〃has just arrived without

either clothes or arms; the soldiers having sold all on the road to

provide for their debauchery。〃 One among them; delegated by his

companions; proposes to the Jacobins at Paris to 〃de…aristocratise〃

the army by cashiering all the nobles。  Another declares; with the

applause of the club; that 〃seeing how the palisades of Givet are

constructed; he is going to denounce the Minister of War at the

tribunal of the。  sixth arrondissement of Paris。〃



It is manifest that; for noble officers; the situation is no longer

tenable。  After waiting patiently for twenty…three months; many of

them left through conscientiousness; when the National Assembly;

forcing a third oath upon them; struck out of the formula the name

of the King; their born general。'44'  …   Others depart at the end

of the Constituent Assembly; 〃because they risk being hung。〃 A large

number resign at the end of 1791 and during the first months of

1792; in proportion as the new code and the new recruiting system

for the army develop their results。'45' In fact; on the one hand;

through the soldiers and inferior officers having a voice in the

election of their chiefs and a seat in the military courts; 〃there

is no longer the shadow of discipline; verdicts are given from pure

caprice; the soldier contracts the habit of despising his superiors;

of whose punishments he has no fear; and from whom he expects no

reward; the officers are paralyzed to such a degree as to become

entirely superfluous personages。〃 On the other hand; the majority of

the National Volunteers are composed of 〃men bought by the communes

〃 and administrative bodies; worthless characters of the street…

corners; rustic vagabonds forced to march by lot or bribery;〃'46'

and along with them; enthusiasts and fanatics to such an extent

that; from March; 1792; from the spot of their enlistment to the

frontier; their track is everywhere marked by pillage; robbery;

devastation; and assassinations。  Naturally; on the road and at the

frontier; they denounce; drive away; imprison; or murder their

officers; and especially the nobles。  3/4 And yet; in this

extremity; numbers of noble officers; especially in the artillery

and engineer corps; persist in remaining at their posts; some

through liberal ideas; and others out of respect for their

instructions; even after the 10th of August; even after the 2nd of

September; even after the 21st of January; like their generals

Biron; Custine; de Flers; de Broglie; and de Montesquiou; with the

constant perspective of the guillotine that awaits them on leaving

the battlefield and even in the ministerial offices of Carnot。



VII。



Emigration and its causes。  …  The first laws against the emigrants。



It is; accordingly; necessary that the officers and nobles should go

away; should go abroad; and not only they; but also their families。

〃Gentlemen who have scarcely six hundred livres income set out on

foot;〃'47' and there is no doubt as to the motive of their

departure。  〃Whoever will impartially consider the sole and

veritable causes of the emigration;〃 says an honest man; 〃will find

them in anarchy。  If the liberty of the individual had not been

daily threatened; if;〃 in the civil as in the military order of

things; 〃the senseless dogma; preached by the factions; that crimes

committed by the mob are the judgments of heaven; had not been put

in practice; France would have preserved three fourths of her

fugitives。  Exposed for two years to ignominious dangers; to every

species of outrage; to innumerable persecutions; to the steel of the

assassin; to the firebrands of incendiaries; to the most infamous

charges; 'to the denouncement of' their corrupted domestics; to

domiciliary visits〃 prompted by the commonest street rumor; 〃to

arbitrary imprisonment by the Committee of Inquiry;〃 deprived of

their civil rights; driven out of primary meetings; 〃they are held

accountable for their murmurs; and punished for a sensibility which

would touch the heart in a suffering criminal。〃  …  〃 Resistance is

nowhere seen; from the prince's throne to the parsonage of the

priest; the tempest has prostrated all malcontents in resignation。〃

Abandoned 〃to the restless fury of the clubs; to informers; to

intimidated officials; they find executioners on all sides where

prudence and the safety of the State have enjoined them not even to

see enemies。  。  。  。  Whoever has detested the enormities of

fanaticism and of public ferocity; whoever has awarded pity to the

victims heaped together under the ruins of so many legitimate rights

and odious abuses; whoever; finally; has dared to raise a doubt or a

complaint; has been proclaimed an enemy of the nation。  After this

representation of malcontents as so many conspirators; every crime

committed against them has been legitimated in public opinion。'48'

The public conscience; formed by the factions and by that band of

political corsairs who would be the disgrace of a barbarous nation;

have considered attacks against property and towns simply as

national justice; while; more than once; the news of the murder of

an innocent person; or of a sentence which threatened him with

death; has been welcomed with shouts of joy Two systems of natural

right; two orders of justice; two standards of morality were

accordingly established; by one of these it was allowable to do

against one's fellow…creature; a reputed aristocrat; that which

would be criminal if he were a patriot。  。  。  。  Was it foreseen

that; at the end of two years; France; teeming with laws; with

magistrates; with courts; with citizen…guards; bound by solemn oaths

in the defense of order and the public safety; would still and

continually be an arena in which wild beasts would devour unarmed

men 〃  …  With all; even with old men; widows and children; it is a

crime to escape from their clutches。  Without distinguishing between

those who fly to avoid becoming a prey; and those who arm to attack

the frontier; the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies alike

condemn all absentees。  The Constituent Assembly'49' trebled their

real and personal taxes; and prescribed that there should be a

triple lien on their rents and dues。  The Legislative Assembly

sequestrates; confiscates; and puts into the market their

possessions; real and personal; amounting to nearly fifteen hundred

millions of cash value。  Let them return and place themselves under

the knives of the populace; otherwise they and their posterity shall

all be beggars。  …  At this stroke indignation overflows; and a

bourgeois who is liberal and a foreigner; Mallet du Pan;

exclaims;'50' 〃What! twenty thousand families absolutely ignorant of

the Coblentz plans and of its assemblies; twenty thousand families

dispersed over the soil of Europe by the fury of clubs; by the

crimes of brigands; by constant lack of security; by the stupid and

cowardly inertia of petrified authorities; by the pillage of

estates; by the insolence of it cohort of tyrants without bread or

clothes; by assassinations and incendiarism; by the base servility

of silent ministers; by the whole series of revolutionary scourges;

…  what' these twenty thousand desolate families; women and old men;

must see their inheritances become the prey of national robbery!

What! Madame Guillin; who was obliged to fly with horror from the

land where monsters have bur
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