友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!
the origins of contemporary france-4-第186部分
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部! 如果本书没有阅读完,想下次继续接着阅读,可使用上方 "收藏到我的浏览器" 功能 和 "加入书签" 功能!
assemblies;〃 even pouncing on refractory Jacobins; invalidating the
returns of a majority when not satisfactory to them; and rendering the
choice of a minority valid; if it suited them; in short; constituting
itself the chief elector of all local and central authorities。 …
Finally; all institutions; laws; public and private rights; are down;
and the nation; body and soul; again becomes; as under Robespierre;
the property of its rulers with this sole difference; that the kings
of Terror; postponing their constitution; openly proclaim their
omnipotence; whilst the others hypocritically rule under a
constitution which they have themselves destroyed; and reign by virtue
of a title which interdicts royalty to them。
They; too; maintain themselves by Terror; only; like so many
Tartuffes; they are not disposed to act openly as executioners。 The
Directory; heir to the Convention; affects to repudiate its
inheritance: 〃Woe;〃 says Boulay de la Meurthe; 〃to whoever would re…
establish scaffolds。〃 There is to be no guillotine; its purveyors have
been too strongly denounced; they stand too near the red stream and
view with too great nervous horror those who fed it。 It is better to
employ death at a distance; lingering and spontaneous; with no
effusion of human blood; 〃dry;〃 less repulsive than the other sort;
but more painful and not less certain; this shall be imprisonment on
the marshes of Rochefort; and; better still; transportation to the
feverish coasts of Guyanna: there is no distinction between the mode
used by the Convention and that of the Directory; except the
distinction between to kill and to cause death。'84' Moreover; every
brutality that can be employed to repress the indignation of the
proscribed by fear is exhausted on the way。 … The first convoy which
bears away; with thirteen others; Barthélémy; who negotiated the
treaty of Basle; Pichegru; the conqueror of Holland; Lafond…Ladébat;
president of the council of the Five Hundred; Barbé…Marbois; president
of the council of the Ancients; was at first provided with
carriages。'85' An order of the Directory substitutes for these the
prison van; an iron car with one door bolted and padlocked; and;
overhead; openings through which the rain poured in streams; and with
common boards for seats。 This lumbering machine without springs rolls
along at a fast trot along the ruts in the road; each jolt sending the
condemned inmates against the hard oak sides and roof; one of these;
on reaching Blois; 〃shows his black…and…blue elbows。〃 The man selected
to command this escort is the vilest and most brutal reprobate in the
army; Dutertre; a coppersmith foreman before the Revolution; next an
officer and sentenced to be put in irons for stealing in the La Vendée
war; and such a natural robber that he again robs his men of their pay
on the road; he is evidently qualified for his work。 On stopping at
Blois; 〃he passes the night in an orgy with his brothers and friends;〃
fellow…thieves and murderers as above described。 He curses Madame
Barbé…Marbois who comes to take leave of her husband; dismissing on
the spot the commandant of the gendarmerie who supports her in a
swoon; and; noticing the respect and attentions which all the
inhabitants; even the functionaries; show to the prisoners; he cries
out; 〃Well; what airs and graces for people that will perhaps be dead
in three or four days!〃 On the vessel which transports them; and still
in sight of Rochelle; a boat is observed rowing vigorously to overtake
them and they hear a shout of 〃I am Lafond…Ladébat's son! Allow me to
embrace my father!〃 A speaking…trumpet from the vessel replies: 〃Keep
away or you'll be fired on!〃 … Their cabins; on the voyage; are
noxious; they are not allowed to be on deck more than four at a time;
one hour in the morning and an hour in the evening。 The sailors and
soldiers are forbidden to speak to them; their food consists of a
sailor's ration; and this is spoilt; toward the end of the voyage they
are starved。 In Guyanna they are allowed one candle to a mess; and no
table…linen; they lack water; or it is not drinkable; out of sixteen
taken to Sinnamary only two survive。
Those who are deported the following year; priests; monks; deputies;
journalists and artisans accused of emigration; fare worse。 On all
the roads leading to Rochefort; sorrowful crowds are seen on carts or
tramping along in files; on foot; the same as former chains of
convicts。 〃An old man of eighty…two; Monsieur Dulaurent of Quimper;
thus traverses four departments;〃 in irons which strangle him。
Following upon this; the poor creatures; between the decks of the
〃Décade〃 and the 〃Bayonnaise;〃 crammed in; suffocated through lack of
air and by the torrid heat; badly treated and robbed; die of hunger or
asphyxia; while Guyanna completes the work of the voyage: out of 193
conveyed on board the 'Décade;〃 only 39 remain at the end of twenty…
two months; and of the 120 brought by the 'Bayonnaise;〃 only one is
left。 … Meanwhile; in France; in the casemates of the islands of Rhé
and Oléron; over twelve hundred priests become stifled or rot away;
while; on all sides; the military commissioners in the departments
shoot down vigorously。 At Paris; and in its environs; at Marseilles;
Lyons; Bordeaux; Rennes; and in most of the large towns; sudden
arrests and clandestine abductions go on multiplying。'86' 〃Nobody; on
retiring to rest; is sure of awaking in freedom the next morning。 。
。 。 From Bayonne to Brussels; there is but one sentiment; that of
unbounded consternation。 No one dares either to speak to; encounter;
look at or help one another。 Everybody keeps aloof; trembles and
hides away。〃 … So that through this third offensive reaction; the
Jacobin Conquest is completed; and the conquering band; the new
feudalism; becomes a fixed installation。 〃All who pass here;〃 writes
a Tours habitant; 〃state that there is no difference in the country
between these times and Robespierre's'87'。。 。 。 。 It is certain
that the soil is not tenable; and that the people are continually
threatened with exactions as in a conquered country。 。 。 。
Proprietors are crushed down with impositions to such an extent that
they cannot meet their daily expenses; nor pay the cost of
cultivation。 In some of my old parishes the imposition takes about
thirteen out of twenty sous of an income。 。 。 The interest on money
amounts to four per cent。 a month。 。 。 Tours; a prey to the
terrorists who devour the department and hold all the offices; is in
the most deplorable state; every family at all well…off; every
merchant; every trader; is leaving it。〃 The veteran pillagers and
murderers; the squireens; (hobereaux) of the reign of Terror; again
appear and resume their fiefs。 At Toulouse; it is Barrau; a
shoemaker; famous up to 1792 for his fury under Robespierre; and
Desbarreaux; another madman of 1793; formerly an actor playing the
parts of valet; compelled i
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!