书城公版The Origins of Contemporary France
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第511章

Nobody was so potent, so overbearing, so well endowed physically for the control of such a conventicle as Danton. Besides, among the new-comers he was the best known and with the most influence through his position as deputy of the syndic-attorney. Hence his prestige after the victory and appointment as Minister of Justice. His hierarchical superior, the syndic-attorney Manuel, who was there also and signed his name, showed himself undoubtedly the pitiful fellow he was, an affected, crazy, ridiculous loud-talker. For this reason he was allowed to remain syndic-attorney as a tool and servant. -- Beaulieu, "Essais sur la Révolution Fran?aise," III. 454. "Rossignal boasted of having committed this assassination himself."[75] "Pièces intéressantes pour l'histoire," by Pétion, 1793. "Idesired the insurrection, but I trembled for fear that it might not succeed. My position was a critical one. I had to do my duty as a citizen without sacrificing that of a magistrate; externals had to be preserved without derogating from forms. The plan was to confine me in my own house; but they forgot or delayed to carry this out. Who do you think repeatedly sent to urge the execution of this measure? Myself;yes, myself!"[76] In "Histoire de la Révolution Fran?aise" by Ferrand & Lamarque, Cavaillés, Paris 1851, vol. II. Page 225 we may read the following footnote: "This very evening, a young artillery lieutenant observed, from a window of a house in the rue de l'Echelle, the preparations which were being undertaken in the chateau des Tuileries: that was Napoleon Bonaparte. "-Well, right, asked the deputy Pozze di Borgo, his compatriot, what do you think of what is going on? This evening they will attack the chateau. Do you think the people will succeed? -I don't know, answered the future emperor, but what I can assure you is that if they gave me the command of two Swiss battalions and one hundred good horsemen, I should repel the insurgents in a manner which would for ever rid them of any desire to return." (SR)[77] Napoleon, at this moment, was at the Carrousel, in the house of Bourrienne's brother. "I could see conveniently," he says, "all that took place during the day. . . The king had at least as many troops in his defense as the Convention since had on the 13th Vendémaire, while the enemies of the latter were much more formidable and better disciplined. The greater part of the national guard showed that they favored the king; this justice must be done to it." (It might be helpful to some readers to know that when Napoleon refers to the 13th Vendémaire, (5th Oct. 1795) that was when he, as a young officer was given the task to defend the Convention against a royalist uprising.

He was quick-witted and got hold of some guns in time, loaded them with grape-shot, placed them in front of the Parisian church of Saint-Roch and completely eliminated the superior royalist force. SR.)[78] Official report of Leroux. On the side of the garden, along the terrace by the river, and then on the return were "a few shouts of Vive le roi! many for Vive la nation! Vivent les sans-culottes! Down with the king! Down with the veto! Down with the old porker! etc. --But I can certify that these insults were all uttered between the Pont-Turnant and the parterre, and by about a dozen men, among which were five or six gunners following the king, the same as flies follow an animal they are bent on tormenting."[79] Mortimer-Ternaux, III. 223, 273 -- Letter of Bonnaud, chief of the Sainte-Marguerite battalion: "I cannot avoid marching at their head under any pretext . . . Never will I violate the Constitution unless I am forced to." -- The Gravilliers section and that of the Faubourg Poissonnière cashiered their officers and elected others.

[80] Mortimer-Ternaux, IV. 342. Speech of Fabre d'Eglantine at the Jacobin Club, Nov. 5, 1792. "Let it be loudly proclaimed that these are the same men who captured the Tuileries, broke into the prisons of the Abbaye, of Orleans and of Versailles."[81] In this respect the riot of the Champ-de-Mars (July 17, 1791), the only one that was suppressed, is very instructive: "As the militia would not as usual ground their arms on receiving the word of command from the mob, this last began, according to custom, to pelt them with stones. To be deprived of their Sunday recreational activities, to be marching through the streets under a scorching sun, and then be remain standing like fools on a public holiday, to be knocked out with bricks, was a little more than they had patience to bear so that, without waiting for an order, they fired and killed a dozen or two of the raggamuffins. The rest of the brave chaps bolted. If the militia had waited for orders they might, I fancy, have been all knocked down before they received any. . . Lafayette was very near being killed in the morning; but the pistol failed to go off at his breast. The assassin was immediately secured, but he arranged to be let free"(Gouverneur Morris, letter of July 20, 1791). Likewise, on the 29th of August, 1792, at Rouen, the national guard, defending the H?tel-de-ville, is pelted with stones more than an hour while many are wounded.

The magistrates make every concession and try every expedient, the mayor reading the riot act five or six times. Finally the national guard, forced into it, exclaim: "If you do not allow us to repel force with force we shall leave." They fire and four persons are killed and two wounded, and the crowd breaks up. ("Archives Nationales," F7, 2265, official report of the Rouen municipality, Aug. 29; addresses of the municipality, Aug. 28; letter of the lieutenant-colonel of the gendarmerie, Aug. 30, etc.).

[82] Official report of Leroux. -- "Chronique des cinquante jours," by R?derer. -- "Détails particuliers sur la journée du 10 Aout," by a bourgeois of Paris, an eye-witness (1822).