CHAPTER VIII.
REPRISALS.
Sublime was the picture thus presented by the 10th of August, 1792, apicture in which the heroism of the combatants blended with theirdisinterestedness, and with their generosity to their enemies.
Alas, why was it fated that, so shortly after, the wretched days of the2nd and 3rd of September should present so sad a contrast! Inexorablewas the law of reprisal!
Pitiless became the anger of the people when it saw its trust violated,its hopes blasted; when it saw its generosity towards its enemies onlyconfirm their high-handedness, and encourage them to new transgressions.Such were the experiences that brought about the occurrences of the 2ndand 3rd of September, known as the Prison Massacres--a pitiless popularretribution.
Petion, Mayor of the Commune of Paris, speaking at the bar of theAssembly, once said:
"The people demands justice on its enemies; legislators, it looks toyou!"
In those words of Petion's is contained almost entirely the secret ofthe days of September. The expectations of the people were deceived. Thecourts proved themselves unworthy of their trust by absolving provencriminals. Then the people, as highly angered as it had before shownitself magnanimous, took justice into its own hands.
The circumstances which produced the formidable explosion were many.After the victory of the 10th of August--a victory the consequences ofwhich were the deposition of Louis XVI, his imprisonment in the Temple,and the convocation of a National Convention to proclaim the Republicand institute proceedings against the former King--Paris calmly awaitedthe accomplishment of these great events. Everyone confidently expectedthe conviction of the accomplices of Louis XVI by the national HighCourt at Orleans. The High Court acquitted the prisoners, despite theirguilt, and among them the Count of Montmorin, the old Minister ofForeign Affairs, who had aided the flight of Louis. The High Court alsoacquitted the Prince of Poix, a high counter-revolutionist, and Bakman,a colonel of the Swiss, who was one of the instigators of the resistanceby the soldiers, and hence, a part author of the carnage at theTuileries.
The prisons, meanwhile, were filled with suspects, declared royalists,and refractory priests, taken red-handed in the incitation of civilwar--all guilty on the first count. It was also learned that in theinterior of the prisons themselves existed establishments for turningout false notes, which were put in circulation through channels ofcommunication between the prisoners and their friends outside. Thecollusion between the imprisoned nobles and priests on the one hand, andthe counterfeiters, their companions in captivity, on the other, wasindisputable.
Emboldened by the acquittal of the conspirators, the counter-revolutionreared its head again in Paris and in the provinces. Each day broughtfrom without news more and more alarming. Part of the west and south,lied to by the nobility, goaded to fanaticism by the clergy, was on theverge of rebellion. Rumors were rife that the Assembly had sent theKing's trial minutes to a Convention, not daring itself to pass upon thefate of Louis XVI; that the allied army would be upon Paris before the20th of September, the date set for the opening of the new Assembly.These predictions were, in fact, on the point of fulfilment. OnSeptember 1st, Paris learned that the Prussian army had crossed thefrontier; Longwy was taken; the enemy had invested Verdun; the fortifiedplace, left designedly by Louis XVI almost without defense, was unableto resist; from this city the allied army could in three days arrive inParis!
Judge of the excitement among the people of Paris!
The royalists only awaited the favorable moment to unchain theirvengeance on the capital. All these causes combined could do no lessthan let loose a whirlwind. And that is what happened on the terribledays of September 2nd and 3rd. The following are extracts from myjournal, which I wrote almost hour by hour, as these sad events unrolledthemselves.
* * * * *
September 2, about eleven in the morning, I heard the sound of a signalgun, to which were quickly added the rapid clanging of the tocsin andthe roll of drums. The news of the taking of Longwy by the Prussians hadspread through Paris the previous night, and had thrown the people intoconsternation.
I left my ironsmithy and hastily donned my uniform of the NationalGuard, in order to assemble with my Section of the Pikes. I was about togo to Victoria's room, where I supposed she was, as usual, busy sewing,when I saw her come in from out-of-doors.
"I was about to go in and tell you that I was bound for my Section," Isaid to her. "What is forward in Paris?"
"The great day of reprisals has dawned at last," replied my sistershrilly; "O, age-long martyrs of the Kings, the nobles, and the clergy!O, shades of our fathers, of our mothers! Daughters and sons of Joel,rejoice. The hour of vengeance has sounded! Ah, for centuries yoursweat, your tears, your blood have flowed! Martyrs of the Kings, priestsand nobles, the tyrant issue of a conquering race, at last upon yourtorturers has descended the day of expiation, the day of retribution!"
"Sister," I cried, shuddering for very fear, "what mean you?"
But Victoria, the victim of a sort of ecstatic hallucination, continuedwithout seeming to hear me: "Does not the blood of slaves, of serfs, ofvassals, despoiled, exploited, tortured, immolated by thousands, byseigniory and nobility since the Frankish conquest, cry 'Vengeance!'?Does not the blood of the Arians, massacred by thousands by Clovis'shordes at the word of the priests of Rome, cry 'Vengeance!'? Does notthe blood of the Vaudois, of the Albigensians, massacred by thousands bySimon of Montfort's bandits, at the voice of the priests of Rome, cry'Vengeance!'? Does not the blood of the Reformers, massacred bythousands by the Valois and the Guises, cry 'Vengeance!'? And theProtestants hanged, broken on the wheel, drawn and quartered by thesoldiers of Louis XIV, the Grand Monarch? Just God! if all that bloodhad flowed in a single day, the land of the Gauls would have become onecrimson sea! If they should heap together the bones of our fathers, ourmothers, the victims of royalty, nobility and clergy, the charnel-pilewould graze the heavens!"
Victoria's savage eloquence, the light in her glowing eyes, her darksomebeauty, which at the moment gave her the aspect of the goddess ofVengeance, wove over me a sort of fascination. The frightful enumerationof the victims of the Kings, the nobles, and the Romish Church, thememory of the martyrs whom we wept in our own family for so manycenturies, the general exasperation, which in that moment I shared,against the murderous plots of our eternal enemies, carried away myreason, and while the spell lasted, I, too, believed in the justice ofreprisal, and answered:
"You speak true, sister, you speak true. Too long has the vengeance ofheaven spared these scoundrels. Let now the sword of the people fallupon them!"
"Aye, brother, justice shall not be less terrible for having beendelayed! Retribution will recall to life none of the dead we mourn; butour enemies, annihilated or struck with terror, will hesitate to createnew victims! In avenging the past, we safeguard the future. The instinctof the people can be trusted--its history is ours! It does not know thedetails of its age-long martyrdom, but it feels itself therepresentative of martyrs; it is conscious of being the living legend ofthe miseries and tortures of generations past. It is in their name thatit will judge and execute."
Before I could reply, one of my companions in arms, a workman likemyself, the son of our neighbor Jerome, and like myself belonging to theSection of the Pikes, called to me, without: "John, hear you not thedrum? They have just posted placards in the street that the nation is indanger. Longwy is taken! The Prussians are marching upon Paris. They aresounding the assembly everywhere--come, come, let us to our place in thefray."
Fearing I should be lacking in duty should I further delay joining mySection, I bade my sister farewell and left our dwelling. My comrade andI directed our steps towards Vendome Place, the Section'sassembly-ground.
It were useless to attempt to portray the thousand aspects presented bythe multitude that packed the street corners and the crossings; for itwas in these places that were posted by preference the placards issuedby the patriot press or th
e clubs, as well as the decrees, issued almosthourly by the National Assembly, or by the Commune of Paris, elected bythe insurgent Sections on the night of the 9th of August.
How could one hope to describe the aspects, so diverse, presented bythose surging masses, or convey an idea of the tumultuous sentiments ofthe population?--now dumbfounded and seemingly crushed by the approachof grave public danger; now shrieking maledictions and cries of deathagainst the royalists and the foreign despots; and again, carried awayby a burst of patriotism, shouting: "To the frontiers!" All Parisoscillated in turn between terror, hatred and blind vengeance.
A reading of the placards and decrees alone can explain thedownheartedness, the fury, and the recurring ferocious appetites of thedelirious crowd. The following placard is from the _Courier of theDepartments_, published by the Girondin Gorsas:
PLAN OF THE ALLIES AGAINST PARIS.
More than two hundred Royalist chiefs, scattered about in the different centers of France, have their rendezvous.--They hold the signatures of numerous persons who are ready to join the armies of the allied Kings when they shall have cleared the frontier.--The combined armies will march on the fortified towns as if to lay siege to them; but will take only such as will open their gates.--The Duke of Brunswick will combine with his army those corps of the French forces which are scattered along the frontier, while the King of Prussia will advance at the head of his troops, swelled by the counter-revolutionists of the interior.--They will march first upon Paris.--They will reduce the city by starvation. No consideration, not even the danger of the royal family, will change the following dispositions:--The inhabitants, of Paris will be led into the open country. They will be sorted out. THE REVOLUTIONISTS WILL BE PUT TO DEATH.--As to the others they will be disposed of later.--Perhaps they will follow the system of the Emperor of Austria, not to spare any but the women and children. In case of unequal forces, they will set the cities on fire; for, according to the expression of the allied Kings, DESERTS ARE PREFERABLE TO PLACES INHABITED BY A REVOLTED PEOPLE.
To arms, citizens! The enemy is at our gates!
Another poster stuck on the walls of the city read:
TO ARMS, CITIZENS!!!
Citizens:
The enemy will soon be under the walls of Paris!
Longwy is taken!
Verdun can hold out but a few days. Its defenders appeal to the people.
The citizens who defend the citadel have sworn to die sooner than surrender it. They make for you a rampart with their bodies. It is your duty to succor them.
Citizens!
This very day, immediately, let all friends of liberty gather under its flag!
Let us assemble in the Field of Mars, and let an army of sixty thousand men be formed without delay.
Citizens!
Let us march on the enemy, either to fall under their blows or to exterminate them under ours!
The Commune of Paris decrees:
ARTICLE 1. The Sections shall give to the State the men ready to set out.
ARTICLE 2. The Military Committee shall sit in permanence, to receive enrolments.
ARTICLE 3. The alarm gun shall be fired, the tocsin shall ring, night and day.
CITIZENS, THE NATION IS IN DANGER!
TO ARMS!
"Save Paris! save France! Else, woe is us!" repeated the imploringvoices of women, whose cries and moans mingled with the clamor of thealarm bell.
At that moment there advanced, through the crowd which made way for him,a municipal officer bearing a banner, and followed by several drummersbeating the charge. They preceded a troop of volunteers of all ages andconditions, singing the Marseillaise, that sacred hymn of theRevolution. At the end of each stanza they waved their pikes, theirguns, their sabers, their caps, their hats, crying:
"To arms, brothers! To the Field of Mars! And to-night, off for thefrontier!"
The majority of the citizens, who, after reading the decree of theCommune, also cried "To arms!" fell in line with the volunteers. Amongthem I beheld a man in the prime of life, his face radiant with civicardor, embrace his wife and little daughters who accompanied him, and,his eyes filled with tears, exclaim--"Adieu! I go to defend you!"
I was still thrilling under the impression produced by this patrioticact, when I heard someone read, in a loud voice, this fragment of aplacard, posted, they said, by order of the ministry:
"--Citizens of Paris, you have traitors in your midst. Ah, but for them,the strife would soon be over!"
"Who are the traitors?" the word went 'round. "Who are they, if not theroyalists, hidden in the two hundred dens mentioned by Gorsas--if notthe priests and the monks?"
"And our fathers, our husbands, our sons, our brothers, are enrolling inmass to run to the frontiers!" cried a woman, in terror. "Who willdefend us against the fury of the enemies within?"
"The royalists will let slip upon Paris the counterfeiters and thebrigands shut up with them in the prisons!"
"Mercy of God! While we are at the front, these wretches will pillageour shops, assault our daughters, slaughter our wives. No, no, it shallnever be!"
"Can we go away and leave behind us our women, our children, the oldmen, exposed to the rage of our enemies? What shall we do?"
"The _Friend of the People_ tells us what to do!" cried a voice in thecrowd. "Long live Marat. To the lamp-post with the aristocrats! Here iswhat it says:
"'_The Friend of the People_ to the Parisians:
"'Folly! Folly! It is useless to proceed with law against thecounter-revolutionaries!
"'People, march in arms to the Abbey!
"'Drag out the traitors, the Swiss officers, and their accomplices, thepriests, the Jesuits, the monks--let them feel the edge of the sword!
"'People, strike your enemies with terror; otherwise you are lost!'"
"We approve the advice!" shouted several voices in response. "Legaljustice absolves the guilty. Let us replace the judges, and strike theculprits. To the Abbey!--to the Abbey!"
Frightened at the turn things were taking, and dreading the consequencesof the assent given to Marat's appeal, I attempted to fend off themassacre of the prisoners. Raising my voice above the tumult, Iaddressed myself to the speaker:
"Citizen, it is true there are great criminals in the Abbey; but all theprisoners are not guilty in the same degree. Are there not someimprisoned merely as suspects? Are you sure that among them there arenone innocent? And, with such doubt on your mind, would you kill all?No, citizen, such a crime would defile the Revolution!"
My intervention seemed for a moment to have recalled the throng to lessbarbarous sentiments. But just at that instant there arrived a pantingworkman, who jumped on a curbstone, exclaiming:
"Citizens--I come from the Assembly--I bring you serious news!"
"Silence!--Let us listen!"
"When the committee-men of the commune read their decrees to theAssembly, Vergniaud cried out: 'I thank Paris for its courage andenergy; now one may say the country is saved!' He called Longwy, whichhad surrendered to the Prussians, a city of cowards. Hearing the refrainof the Marseillaise he said 'There is enough singing of Liberty--we mustdefend it. It is no longer Kings of bronze that must be torn down--it isthe despots of Europe! Down with the Kings!' And he, Vergniaud, closedhis address to the Assembly with these words: 'I demand that theAssembly, at this moment more a military body than a legislative, sendat once, and every day hereafter, twelve delegates to the entrenchedcamp in the Field of Mars, not with empty discourses to exhort thecitizens to work, but to ply the pick-ax with their own hands. The timeis past for orating. We must dig the graves of our enemies. Our enemiesare both in front of and behind us, citizens; in front of us thePrussians, behind us the royalists, the priests, their lay communicants,and the brigands in the prisons!'"
And
the workman proceeded with his report of the occurrences in theAssembly:
"When Vergniaud left the platform, Roland, the Minister of the Interior,asked the floor to inform the Assembly of some very important matters.'The Vendee,' he said, 'spurred on by the dissident clergy, has risen inseveral places, and patriots have been massacred. One portion of thesouth, under the instigation of the priests and the former nobles, isthe breeding-ground of a vast conspiracy, with the Count of Saillant atits head. He has declared himself "the lieutenant-general of the army ofthe Princes."'"
Before the crowd had recovered from the stupefaction into which it wasthrown by these words the speaker continued:
"After Roland, Lebrun, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced thattwenty thousand Russians were advancing on us through Poland andGermany, at the same time that a Russian fleet, proceeding from theBlack Sea, was to pass through the Dardanelles and land at Marseilles.At this Danton became sublime! 'Everything stirs, drives on, burns, to acombat,' he exclaimed. 'Verdun is not yet in the hands of the enemy. Thegarrison has sworn to slay those who mention surrender. Part of thepeople is rushing to the frontiers; another part is diggingentrenchments; another army will defend the city at the point of theirpikes. Citizen Representatives,' continued Danton, 'we ask of you toconcur with us in directing this heroic movement of the people.Whosoever refuses to serve in person or to give up his arms, let him bepunished with death. All who are not with us are against us.' At theselast words pronounced by Danton, the Assembly rose with enthusiasm--"added the orator on the curb. "'That bell which now clangs is not asignal of alarm!' Danton cried. 'No! It is the signal for the chargeagainst the enemies of the country. To whip them we must dare, and dare,and dare again--and France is saved!'"
An electric thrill ran over the tossing multitude as these words ofDanton's were told it--heroic words accompanied by the tintinnabulationsof the tocsin, the prolonged echoes of the five-minute alarm gun, thedistant roll of the drums, and the strains of the Marseillaise, chantedin chorus by the column of volunteers. The massive energy of Dantonseemed to seize upon every spirit; it roused to its highest pitch theirsacred love of country, and reawakened the ardor of vengeance. In thatsupreme moment, the prison massacres were considered by the population,bourgeois and artisans alike, as a measure of public safety, a Spartanmeasure which many of the citizens deplored, but which they regarded asa fatal necessity, as a question of life and death for their families,for France, for the Revolution.
Bill-posters were now attaching to the walls the new decrees rendered bythe Commune of Paris, which had now declared itself a permanent body.The first of these was conceived as follows:
THE COMMUNE OF PARIS DECIDES AND DECREES:
ARTICLE 1. All horses fit for service are required at once to be turned over to the citizens who depart for the front.
ARTICLE 2. All citizens shall hold themselves in readiness to march at the first call.
ARTICLE 3. Those, who by reason of age or infirmity are unable to join the march, shall deposit their arms with their Sections, to equip those more fortunate citizens ready to go to the front.
ARTICLE 4. The ramparts shall be closed.
Paris, September 2, 1792,
COULOMBEAU.
The last paragraph, ordering the closing of the ramparts, caused ashudder not unmingled with savage joy to shoot through the crowd.Through all minds flashed the thought: "The Commune orders the rampartsto be closed in order to prevent our enemies within from escaping. Thework of justice will be the easier!"
Another decree which was posted, read:
THE COMMUNE OF PARIS
Decrees:
1.? Enlistment shall go on in the Sections, in the theaters, in the churches and in the public places.
2.? Foreign citizens shall enrol at the City Hall.
3.? The Department of Paris shall furnish at once sixty thousand men.
4.? The armorers, iron-workers and blacksmiths shall report to the Military Committee how fast they can turn out guns, pikes, swords, etc.
5.? All leaden coffins shall be melted up for bullets. The retired soldiers will take charge of this work.
Paris, September 2, 1792,
COULOMBEAU.
On this terrible day, everything converged to throw the population intoa somber vertigo. There was not an event which did not drive fatallyonward to the massacres in the prisons.
"Long live the Nation! Death to the traitors!" rose the cry.
The delegates of the Luxembourg Section declared to the Commune thatthey had adopted and recorded in their minutes the resolution "That itwas urgent to purge the prisons before marching to the front." Threecommittee-men were sent to notify the Commune of this decision. TheSections of the Julian Hot-Baths, the Blind Asylum, and Ill-Counsel tookthe same action. The crowd about me echoed the cry:
"To the prisons! To the prisons!"
"Exterminate the rogues!"
"Purge the prisons!"
"Down with the black caps!"
"Death to the aristocrats!"
I sank into a stupor of despair. There was room for doubt no longer;public opinion was pronouncing itself for the mass extermination of theprisoners. The Sections were despatching their delegates to the Communeto notify it of the urgency of the move. The Commune, through Tallien'sorgan, approved the massacre; finally, Danton also approved it, Danton,the Minister of Justice, elected by the Assembly. How could I stem sucha tide? Still I tried, not without the knowledge that I thereby riskedmy life; for in moments of popular impulse and enthusiasm, to pronounceoneself in opposition to the general opinion is to court being taken fora traitor. Nevertheless, I leaped upon a bench hard by, and cried in avoice vibrating with all the anguish of my heart:
"Citizens, in the name of the country, in the name of the Revolution,hear me!"
My paleness, my tears, my supplicating accents impressed the crowd;silence was given me, and I continued:
"Citizens, suppose that we all, patriots here present, were incarceratedby our triumphant enemies. Our enemies rush into our prison, surprise uswithout defense, without means of escape, and massacre us all! Wouldthat not be a cowardly, a horrible deed? Would you commit a likeatrocity?"
Outcries, hisses and curses drowned my voice.
"He is a wheedler!"
"A traitor!"
"A royalist in disguise!"
"Death to the traitors!"
I believed my last hour was come. Thrown down from my bench, I wassurrounded, seized, mauled back and forth by the crowd in its fury. Myuniform was torn to shreds. A sword was already raised over my head whensome patriots, interposing between my adversaries and me, tore me fromthe hands that grasped me, protected me with their own bodies, andpushed me under the arch of a carriage-gate, which they slammed upon me.I fell battered and almost fainting; and soon I heard the throngdisperse, crying:
"Long live the Nation!"
"To the prisons, to the prisons!"
"Death to the royalists!"
So, indeed, it occurred. The massacre was carried out.