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the origins of contemporary france-3-第96章

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even less disposed than the independent gentleman; to give up his

private affairs for public affairs。 His business will not wait for

him; he being confined to his office; store or counting…room。 For

example; 〃the wine…dealers'76' are nearly all aristocrats in the sense

of this word at this period;〃 but 〃never were their sales so great as

during the insurrections of the people and in revolutionary days。〃

Hence the impossibility of obtaining their services in those days。

〃They are seen on their premises very active; with three or four of

their assistants;〃 and turn a deaf ear to every appeal。 〃How can we

leave when custom is so good? People must have their wants supplied。

Who will attend to them if I and the waiters should go away? 〃 

There are other causes of their weakness。 All grades in the National

Guard and all places in the municipality having been given up to the

Jacobin extremists; they have no chiefs: the Girondists are incapable

of rallying them; while Garat; the Minister; is unwilling to employ

them。 Moreover; they are divided amongst themselves; no one having any

confidence in the other; 〃it being necessary to chain them together to

have anything accomplished。〃'77' Besides this; the remembrance of

September weighs upon their spirits like a nightmare。  All this

converts people into a timid flock; ready to scamper at the slightest

alarm。  〃In the Contrat Social section;〃 says an officer of the

National Guard; 〃one…third of those who are able to defend the section

are off in the country; another third are hiding away in their houses;

and the other third dare not do anything。〃'78'  〃If; out of fifty

thousand moderates; you can collect together three thousand; I shall

be very much astonished。 And if; out of these three thousand; five

hundred only are found to agree; and have courage enough to express

their opinion; I shall be still more astonished。  The latter; for

instance; must expect to be Septemberized!〃'79'  This they know; and

hence they keep silent and bend beneath the yoke。 〃What; indeed; would

the majority of the sections do when it is demonstrated that a dozen

raving maniacs at the head of a sans…culottes section puts the other

forty…seven sections of Paris to flight? 〃  Through this desertion

of the state and themselves; they surrender in advance; and; in this

great city; as formerly in ancient Athens and Rome; we see alongside

of an immense population of subjects without any rights; a small

despotic oligarchy in itself composing the sovereign people。'80'





VI。



Composition of the party。  Its numbers and quality decline。  The

Underlings。  Idle and dissipated workmen。  The suburban rabble。 

Bandits and blackguards。  Prostitutes。  The September actors。



Not that this minority has been on the increase since the 10th of

August; quite the reverse。  On the 19th of November; 1792; its

candidate for the office of Mayor of Paris; Lhuillier; obtains only

4;896 votes。'81'  On the 18th of June; 1793; its candidate for the

command of the National Guard; Henriot; will secure but 4;573 votes;

to ensure his election it will be necessary to cancel the election

twice; impose the open vote; and relieve voters from showing their

section tickets; which will permit the trusty to vote successively in

other quarters and apparently double their number by allowing each to

vote two or three times。'82'  Putting all together; there are not six

thousand Jacobins in Paris; all of them sans…culottes and partisans of

the 〃Mountain。〃'83' Ordinarily; in a section assembly; they number

〃ten or fifteen;〃 at most 〃thirty or forty;〃 〃organized into a

permanent tyrannical board。〃 。 。 。 〃The rest listen and raise their

hands mechanically。〃 。 。 。 〃Three or four hundred Visionaries; whose

devotion is as frank as it is stupid; and two or three hundred more to

whom the result of the last revolution did not bring the places and

honors they too evidently relied on;〃 form the entire staff of the

party; 〃these are the clamorers of the sections and of the groups; the

only ones who have clearly declared themselves against order; the

apostles of a new sedition; scathed or ruined men who need disturbance

to keep alive;〃 while under these comes the train of Marat; vile

women; worthless wretches; and 〃paid shouters at three francs a

day。〃'84'







To this must be added that the quality of the factious is still more

reduced than their number。 Plenty of honest men; small tradesmen; wine

dealers; cook…shop keepers; clerks; who; on the 10th of August; were

against the Court; are now against the Commune。'85' The September

affair; probably; disgusted them; and they were not disposed to

recommence the massacres。 A workman named Gonchon; for example; the

usual spokesman of the faubourg SaintAntoine; an upright man; sincere

and disinterested; supports Roland; and; very soon; at Lyons; seeing

how things are with his own eyes; he is to loyally endorse the revolt

of the moderates against the Maratists。'86'   〃The respectable class

of the arts; says observers; 〃 is gradually leaving the faction to

join the sane party。〃'87' 〃Now that water…carriers; porters and the

like storm the loudest in the sections; it is plain to all eyes that

the gangrene of disgust has reached the fruit…sellers; tailors; shoe…

makers; bar owners;〃 and others of that class。'88'   Towards the

end; 〃butchers of both classes; high and low; are aristocratized。〃 

In the same way; 〃the women in the markets; except a few who are paid

and whose husbands are Jacobins; curse and swear; fume; fret and

storm。〃 〃This morning;〃 says a merchant; 〃four or five of them were

here; they no longer insist on being called citoyennes; they declare

that they 〃spit on the republic。〃'89' … The only remaining patriot

females are from the lowest of the low class; the harpies who pillage

shops as much through envy as through necessity; 〃boat…women;

embittered by hard labor;'90' 。 。 。 jealous of the grocer's wife;

better dressed than herself; as the latter was of the wives of the

attorney and counselor; as these were of those of the financier and

noble。 The woman of the people thinks she cannot do too much to lower

the grocer's wife to her own level。〃







Thus reduced to its dregs through the withdrawal of its tolerably

honest recruits; the faction now comprises none but the scum of the

populace; first; 〃subordinate workmen who look upon the downfall of

their employers with a certain satisfaction;〃 then; the small

retailers; the old…clothes dealers; plasterers; 〃those who offer

second…hand coats for sale on the fringes of the market; fourth…rate

cooks who; at the cemetery of the Innocents; sell meat and beans under

umbrella tops;〃'91' next; domestics highly pleased with now being

masters of their masters; kitchen helpers; grooms; lackeys; janitors;

every species of valet; who; in contempt of the law; voted at the

elections'92' and at the Jacobin club form a group of 〃silly people〃

satisfied 〃that they were universal geographers because they had

ridden post once or twice;〃 and that they were politicians 〃because

they had read 'The Four Sons of Aymon。'〃'93'  But; in this mud;

spouting and spreading around in broad daylight; it is the ordinary

scum of great cities which forms the grossest flux; the outcasts of

every trade and profession; dissipated workmen of all kinds; the

irregular and marauding troops of the social army; the class which;

〃discharged from La Pitié; run through a career of disorder and end in

Bicêtre。〃'94'  〃From La Pitié to Bicêtre〃 is a well known popular

adage。  Men of this stamp are without any principle whatever。 If they

have fifty francs they live on fifty; and if they have only five they

live on five; spending everything; they are always out of pocket and

save nothing。 This is the class that took the Bastille;'95' got up the

10th of August; etc。  It is the same class which filled the galleries

in the Assembly with all sorts of characters; filling up the groups;〃

and; during all this time it never did a stroke of work。 Consequently;

〃a wife who owns a watch; ear…rings; finger…rings; any jewels; first

takes them to the pawnbrokers where they end up being sold。 At this

period many of these people owe the butcher; the baker; the wine…

dealer; etc。; nobody trusts them any more。 They have ceased to love

their wives; and their children cry for food; while the father is at

the Jacobin club or at the Tuileries。  Many of them have abandoned

their position and trade;〃 while; either through 〃indolence〃 or

consciousness 〃of their incapacity;〃 。 。 。  〃they would with a kind of

sadness see this trade come back to life。〃 That of a political gossip;

of a paid claqueur; is more agreeable; and such is the opinion of all

the idlers; summoned by the bugle to work on the camps around Paris。 …

… Here;'96' eight thousand men are paid forty sous a day 〃to do

nothing〃; 〃the workmen come along at eight; nine and ten o'clock in

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