The Democratic Sphere Communications with the French National Assembly's Committee of Research,1789-1791
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Democratic Sphere Communications with the French National Assembly's Committee of Research,1789-1791 Maia Kirby Queen Mary, University of London Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 I, Maia Olive Claire Kirby, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Maia Kirby Date: 24.08.16 2 Abstract On 28 July 1789 the National Assembly established the Committee of Research as a mechanism through which it could identify threats to its existence from amongst its large correspondence. In the time it was active, the committee received thousands of letters from across France. In the early 1990s the archivist Pierre Caillet wrote a thorough inventory and a general synthesis of the communications which further opened them up as a resource that could provide insight into popular reponses to various themes. What was missing though was a comprehensive analysis of the letters that presented them as a single revolutionary practice. From clubs to newspapers and more recently elections, there has been a renewed effort amongst histories of the Revolution to recapture the democratic practices that flourished in 1789. But writing directly to the state has as yet not been added to these elements that supported popular involvement in the Revolution. These voices provide a fascinating insight into revolutionary enthusiasm and the channels of communication that existed between the state and its citizens in the period 1789 to 1791. This thesis looks at the major themes of the archive: subsistence, religion and counter-revolution as well as the practice of denunciation and the changing character and role of the Committee of Research itself. What emerges is a picture of a democratic sphere through which people presented their visions of the new regime. At the same time the letters also indicate that a process of institutional entrenchment was underway. An examination of how these two forces interacted with each other may go some way towards understanding why the Revolution developed in the way that it did. 3 Contents List of Maps and Figures List of Abbreviations Introduction ................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1 - The Committee of Research .................................... 38 Chapter 2 - Negotiating Subsistence........................................... 66 Chapter 3 - Denunciation ............................................................ 90 Chapter 4 - Denouncing the Clergy .......................................... 115 Chapter 5 - Fear of Counter-Revolution ................................... 147 Conclusion ................................................................................ 179 Bibliography .............................................................................. 183 4 List of Maps and Figures Figure 1: Number of Letters by Theme .................................................................................... 21 Figure 2: Letters by Location .................................................................................................... 25 Figure 3: Number of Letters by Department ............................................................................. 27 Figure 4: Fleury and Valmary's map of Maggiolo's literacy rates in 1786-90 .......................... 28 Figure 5: Letters by Authorship ................................................................................................ 30 Figure 6: Letters over time ........................................................................................................ 35 Figure 7: Letters on Subsistence by Location ........................................................................... 70 Figure 8: Rivers of France ........................................................................................................ 71 Figure 9: Letters on Subsistence over Time .............................................................................. 72 Figure 10: John Markoff’s graph of Subsistence events over time ........................................... 73 Figure 11: Letters on Subsistence over Time by Authorship .................................................... 74 Figure 12: Letters classified as ‘Denunciation’ over time ........................................................ 92 Figure 13: Timothy Tackett’s Map of Percentage of Jurors by District ................................. 120 Figure 14: Letters on Religion by Department ....................................................................... 121 Figure 15: Letters on Religion by Location ............................................................................ 122 Figure 16: Letters on Religion over Time ............................................................................... 123 Figure 17: Letters on Counter-Revolution over Time ............................................................. 150 Figure 18: Letters on Counter-Revolution by Location .......................................................... 151 Figure 19: Letters on Counter-Revolution sent in 1789 by Location ..................................... 152 Figure 20: Letters on Counter-Revolution sent in 1790 by Location ..................................... 153 Figure 21: Letters on Counter-Revolution sent in 1791 by Location ..................................... 154 Figure 22: Placard found in Paris, 14 August 1791 ................................................................ 174 List of Tables Table 1: Professions and Trades of Letter-writers ......................................................... 32 5 List of Abbreviations AN – Archives Nationales AP – Archives Parlementaires ADHP – Archives Départmentales de la Haute-Pyrénées This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council 6 Introduction Tel est, nosseigneurs, le tableau précis des abus, dont nous réclamons avec l’espoir consolant toutefois d’en voir bientot le terme, opéré par le résultat de vos sages et sublimes combinaisons. Mais un regret amer vient se meler à un sentiment si doux ; Pourquoi les Representans augustes, à la justice desquels nous déférons nos plaintes, ne peuvent-ils en apprécier le mérite et nous en faire raison ; et comment se fait-il , qu’en ayant comme opprimér, des droits à leur commisération, nous ne puissions en avoir, comme Concitoyen, à leur protection immédiate ? Sans doute, nous obtiendrons justice de tous les maux que nous avons endurés, et dont le sentiment devenu à la fin insupportables, a déterminé notre réclamation : elle nous sera rendue dans la juste proportion de notre infortune et de l’esprit d’équité qui préside au sistéme d’une constitution nouvelle : Elle nous sera rendice par quelque Tribunal que ce puisse etre ;Les vues de Justice et de bienfaisance, qui dirigent les opérations de l'Assemblée Nationale, ne manqueront pas de se communiquer à tous les esprits charger de concourir à l'importance d'une révolution tant desirée, et que les Restaurateurs du bonheur de la France, trouveront sans doute en tous lieux des Coopérateurs dignes d'eux [sic],closing paragraph of a letter from the principal inhabitants of Maubourguet 1 Nestled in the fork of two rivers, the Adour and its tributary the Echez in the Haute- Pyrénées, lies the little town of Maubourguet. With around a thousand inhabitants the little town was like many others in France in the eighteenth century; it had a church, a town hall, the remains of a former monastery, a market place and three faubourgs that lay about ancient walls. Although they had no seigneur, they had several families that could be described as petite noblesse. Alongside these there were numerous bourgeois- lawyers, doctors, notaries, shopkeepers and large-scale farmers amongst them and of course like any town a great number of peasants, labourers and servants who owned no substantial property.2 The affairs of the town were conducted by the town council 1 The Principal Inhabitants of Maubourguet (Haute-Pyrénées), October 1789, Paris, Archives Nationales hereafter AN DXXIXbis carton 2 dossier 14 documents 1+2. 2 Georges Fabre, Maubourguet sous la Révolution, Antenne Généalogique Parisienne Association Guillaume Mauran, Paris <http://roger.roucolle.pagesperso-orange.fr/agp/maubourguet.pdf> [accessed 11 July 2016] (pp.1-5). 7 which was organised like others in the south west of France with a mayor, a lieutenant de maire his second in command, six consuls or jurats and a procureur-syndic. There was also a royal official called the subdélégué, answerable to the Intendant of the area, who was the crown's representative in the province.3 In October 1789, thirty-five individuals