The FRENCH REVOLUTION

HISTORY IN THE MAKING The FRENCH REVOLUTION BY Georges Pernoud and Sabine Flaissier ,. PREFACE BY ANDRE MAUROIS THE FRENCH REVOLUTION +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE FRENCH REVOLUTION by GEORGES PERNOUD and SABINE FLAISSIER with a preface by ANDRE MAUROIS translated by RICHARD GRAVES FOUNDED 1138 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, 1961 ©196 0 BY MARTIN SECKER & WARBURG LTD. Allrights reserved. This book, or parts thereoI, must not be reproduced without permission. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-13673 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA /"Ii CONTENTS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 7 PREFACE 9 PREFATORY EXPLANATION 15 THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY 17 THE FIFTH AND SIXTH OF OCTOBER 56 THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 70 THE EMIGRES 108 LA MARSEILLAISE 123 THE TENTH OF AUGUST 126 THE SEPTEMBER MASSACRES 142 VALMY 160 THE MISFORTUNES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY 174 CHARLOTTE CORDAY 222 THE COLLAPSE OF THE EMIGRES 233 THE TERROR 242 THE SOLDIERS OF YEAR II 281 LA VENDEE 298 THERMIDOR 320 SOURCES 342 INDEX 347 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1789 January Louis XVI summons States General May States General meet at Versailles June States General in future called National Assembly July Fall of the Bastille-National Guard formed with Lafayette as Commandant October The Paris mob march on Versailles. King removed to Paris 1790 September Necker resigns as Chief Minister December King gives assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy 1791 June The flight to Varennes September National Assembly dissolved and Legisla October tive Assembly formed-Lafayette resigns from National Guard December King vetoes decrees against emigres and priests 1792 April Assembly declares war on Austria August Mob attacks Tuileries-King taken prisoner -Lafayette flees from France-Danton as Minister of Justice September The Cannonade at Valmy-Assembly abol ished and Convention meets-Girondins in power-Republic proclaimed November French victory at Jemappes December Trial of King 1793 January King executed February Convention declares war against England and Holland 8 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 1793 March Royalist revolt in La Vendee June Fall of the Girondins July Committee of Public Safety formed, dominated by Danton and Robespierre "The Terror" begins-Series of French military reverses-Assassination of Marat by Charlotte Corday October Execution of Marie Antoinette November Celebration of the "Feast of Reason" 1794 April Danton executed-Robespierre all-powerful June Celebration of the "Feast of the Supreme Being" July Fall and execution of Robespierre-Com mune of Paris abolished-end of "The Terror" PREFACE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HE MATERIAL of history is composed of remains, of Tdocuments, inscriptions and other objects. The Chateau of Versailles evokes the Court of Louis XIV: the arena of old Paris, a Roman city: the Arc de Triomphe reminds us of Napoleon's Grande Armee. Documents provide facts and figures; they need to be checked strictly-not everything written or printed by Governments is true: far from it. Letters are often valuable but sometimes mis leading. The evidence of eye-witnesses reflect at once events themselves and the prejudices of the witness. But they can be compared, contrasted and weighed, and the result brings one nearer to the truth. Unfortunately truth is not always the historian's target. A learned man is none the less a man-a man who will take sides for or against the French Revolution. If he is for, he will paint great epic canvases, in the style of Michelet, and wash away the blood in a torrent of epithets. If he is against, he will, like Taine, reduce the great passions of the epoch to a logical, abstract design. Moreover, there was more than one internal revolution within the Revolution itsel£ The historian may favour the Girondins at the expense of Danton. He may be for Danton and against Robespierre: for Robespierre and against Thermidor. As Paul Valery has said, the historians of the Revolution pelt each other with severed heads. "Monsters," cries one: "Heroes," replies another. The authors of this book and of its successors have preferred to present to the reader the evidence of witnesses, authentic, pure, uncommented and coming from every point of the compass. They leave to us the task of reading, weighing 10 THE fRENCH REVOLUTION and judging. I consider this a sound method. It strips the original stories of the usual crust of useless glosses and above all it puts us in touch with living reality. Except in the rare instance where the historian is a genius, the eye-witness will be more truthful. It is a task to prove our discernment by assigning to each witness his place and his position. At this point we should consider the notion, or rather the function of the reporter. The reporter is a witness of quality. When he comes home, he writes down his impressions, so as to preserve alive something he believes of capital importance, which has taken place before his eyes. The reporter knows how to use his eyes-he does not shrink fr om throwing himself into the heart of an action so as best to fo llow its episodes. He has the art of picking out what is important. He is able to make the reader see what he has seen himself. He achieves this by selecting his details, by the apposite quotation of something he has heard and by keeping his narrative in motion. Finally, if he is really a first class reporter, he knows how to master his own feelings. He sees not what he wants to see, but what is there before his eyes. This objectiveness is rare, but we fmd it more often among the great reporters of our day, who are obedient to a strict professional ethic, than among the eye-witnesses of historical events in the past. Nevertheless, some of the latter had enough spiritual great ness to escape from the trammels of contemporary prejudice. Roederer, who is often quoted in this work, is a signal example. When .the reporter possesses talent, this fo rm of journalism produces admirable writing. Victor Hugo excelled himself in Choses Vues on which this series will certainly draw in its subse quent volumes. That collection contains an account of the meetings of the Academie Franc;aise in the days of Guizot and Thiers, and visits to King Louis-Philippe-all overflowing with truth. There is no caricature and no flattery. A series of truthful proftles, of apt phrases, caught on the wing, and of attitudes re corded by the pencil-stroke of a master. It is life itself observed by a seeing eye and a noble intelligence. I would say the same of certain passages in the Memoirs of Vigny or Chateaubriand. Men of genius have not been involved in all the great events of history and we cannot always cite a Victor Hugo as witness. PREfACE II But the title of this series There is always a Reporter tells the truth. Whenever a group of men gathers together, to accomplish some important action, there is always to be found among them a born spectator, curiou� and intelligent-in a word, a reporter. The protagonists of the drama are often too deeply involved to have the time or the incli..ration to observe what is happening around them. The reporter is sometimes a minor personage, whom chance has associated with the historical event, or a man whose professional duties have involved him in it, or a detached outsider, temperamentally observant, like Goethe at the battle of Valmy. A valet, a secretary, a maid of honour-all these live in the shadow of powerful persons and are very likely to fmd themselves present on occasions when others of greater importance are excluded. If chance has placed in subordinate posts like these men or women superior to the positions they occupy, persons, that is, who are able to keep themselves free from the pettinesses and rancours which are too often inseparable from these minor functions then their evidence becomes a thing of inestimable value. They were present at the time: they received confidences: if their spirits were noble they loved their masters and mistresses. Such persons have contributed to history more often than one supposes, and we must admit that some men are heroes to their own valets. + I fmd it an excellent thing that this series opens with a volume on the French Revolution which is at once an extraordinary adventure, a sublime epic and an occasion of bloody or sordid scenes. It is almost impossible to disentangle this network of grandeur and horror and we have already said that most historians have not succeeded in doing so. Each author in claiming to deal with the events has cut away those strands of the tapestry which have inconvenienced him. That is why this epoch more than any other lends itself to the present method of treatment which is objective by defmition, consisting as it does in presenting the evidence of witnesses, nothing else, to the reader's judgement. All these "reporters" were no doubt at the time passionately involved in the drama as you and I would doubtless have been, 12 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION had we been in their place, but it is only by the comparison of so many views taken from different angles that we can form a credible image of the French Revolution. As many as ftfty thousand pieces of ftrst-hand evidence for this period are known to exist. It would of course have been possible to select other "reporters" -there is no lack in numbers or variety. No one could claim to have chosen the best texts, but it is fair to say that those which have been collected in this volume have been selected without bias and that it is impossible to read them .

Load more