《the origins of contemporary france-4》

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the origins of contemporary france-4- 第96部分


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find a coal…dealer and his wife with their seven sons and daughters;

from seventeen down to six years of age; a widow with her four

children from nineteen down to twelve years of age; another noble

widow with her nine children; from seventeen down to three years of

age; and six children; without father or mother; from twenty…three

down to nine years of age。'14' … These prisoners of State were

treated; almost everywhere; worse than robbers and assassins under the

ancient régime。  They began by subjecting them to rapiotage; that is

to say; stripping them naked or; at best; feeling their bodies under

their shirts; women and young girls fainted away under this

examination; formerly confined to convicts on entering the bagnio。'15'

… Frequently; before consigning them to their dungeons or shutting

them up in their cells; they would be left two or three nights pell…

mell in a lower hall on benches; or in the court on the pavement;

〃without beds or straw。〃 〃The feelings are wounded in all directions;

every point of sensibility; so to say; being played upon。  They are

deprived one after the other of their property; assignats; furniture;

and food; of daylight and lamp…light; of the assistance which their

wants and infirmities demand; of a knowledge of public events; of all

communication; either immediate or written; with fathers; sons and

husbands。〃'16' They are obliged to pay for their lodgings; their

keepers; and for what they eat; they are robbed at their very doors of

the supplies they send for outside; they are compelled to eat at a

mess…table; they are furnished with scant and nauseous food; 〃spoilt

codfish; putrid herrings and meat; rotten vegetables; all this

accompanied with a mug of Seine water colored red with some drug or

other。〃'17' They starve them; bully them; and vex them purposely as if

they meant to exhaust their patience and drive them into a revolt; so

as to get rid of them in a mass; or; at least; to justify the

increasing rapid strokes of the guillotine。  They are huddled together

in tens; twenties and thirties; in one room at La Force; 〃eight in a

chamber; fourteen feet square;〃 where all the beds touch; and many

overlap each other; where two out of the eight inmates are obliged to

sleep on the floor; where vermin swarm; where the closed sky…lights;

the standing tub; and the crowding together of bodies poisons the

atmosphere。  … In many places; the proportion of the sick and dying is

greater than in the hold of a slave…ship。  〃Of ninety individuals with

whom I was shut up two months ago;〃 writes a prisoner at Strasbourg;

〃sixty…six were taken to the hospital in the space of eight days。〃'18'

In the prisons of Nantes; 3000 out 13;000 prisoners die of typhoid

fever and of the rot in two months。'19'  400 priests'20' confined on a

vessel between decks; in the roadstead of Aix; stowed on top of each

other; wasted with hunger; eaten up by vermin; suffocated for lack of

air; half…frozen; beaten; mocked at; and constantly threatened with

death; suffer still more than Negroes in a slave…hold; for; through

interest in his freight; the captain of the slaver tries to keep his

human consignment in good health; whilst; through revolutionary

fanaticism; the crew of the Aix vessel detests its cargo of 〃black…

frocks〃 and would gladly send them to the bottom。  … According to this

system; which; up to Thermidor 9; grows worse and worse; imprisonment

becomes a torture; oftentimes mortal; slower and more painful than the

guillotine; and to such an extent that; to escape it; Champfort opens

his veins and Condorcet swallows poison。'21'The third expedient

consists of murder; with or without trial。  … 178 tribunals; of which

40 are ambulatory; pronounce in every part of the territory sentences

of death which are immediately executed on the spot。'22'  Between

April 6; 1793; and Thermidor 9; year II。; (July 27th; 1794) that of

Paris has 2;625 persons guillotined;'23' while the provincial judges

do as much work as the Paris judges。  In the small town of Orange

alone; they guillotine 331 persons。  In the single town of Arras they

have 299 men and 93 women guillotined。  At Nantes; the revolutionary

tribunals and military committees have; on the average; 100 persons a

day guillotined; or shot; in all 1;971。  In the city of Lyons the

revolutionary committee admit 1;684; while Cadillot; one of

Robespierre's correspondents; advises him of 6;000。'24' … The

statement of these murders is not complete; but 17;000 have been

enumerated;'25' 〃most of them effected without any formality; evidence

or direct charge;〃 among others the murder of 〃more than 1200 women;

several of whom were octogenarians and infirm;〃'26' particularly the

murder of 60 women or young girls; condemned to death; say the

warrants; for having attended the services of unsworn priests; or for

having neglected the services of a sworn priest。



 〃The accused; ranged in order; were condemned at sight。  Hundreds of

death…sentences took about a minute per head。  Children of seven; five

and four years of age; were tried。  A father was condemned for the

son; and the son for the father。  A dog was sentenced to death。  A

parrot was brought forward as a witness。  Numbers of accused persons

whose sentences could not be written out were executed。〃



 At Angers; the sentences of over four hundred men and three hundred

and sixty women; executed for the purpose of relieving the prisons;

were mentioned on the registers simply by the letters S or G (shot or

guillotined)。'27' At Paris; as in the provinces; the slightest

pretext'28' served to constitute a crime。  The daughter of the

celebrated painter; Joseph Vernet;'29' was guillotined for being a 〃

receiver;〃 for having kept fifty pounds of candles in her house;

distributed among the employees of La Muette by the liquidators of the

civil list。  Young de Maillé;'30' aged sixteen years; was guillotined

as a conspirator; 〃for having thrown a rotten herring in the face of

his jailer; who had served it to him to eat。〃 Madame de Puy…Verin was

guillotined as 〃guilty〃 because she had not taken away from her deaf;

blind and senile husband a bag of card…counters; marked with the royal

effigy。  … In default of any pretext;'31' there was the supposition of

a conspiracy; blank lists were given to paid emissaries; who undertook

to search the various prisons and select the requisite number of

heads; they wrote names down on them according to their fancy; and

these provided the batches for the guillotine。



 〃As for myself;〃 said the juryman Vilate; 〃I am never embarrassed。  I

am always convinced。  In a revolution; all who appear before this

tribunal ought to be condemned。〃 …



 At Marseilles; the Brutus Commission;'32' 〃sentencing without public

prosecutor or jurymen; sent to the prisons for those it wished to put

to death。  After having demanded their names; professions and wealth

they were sent down to a cart standing at the door of the Palais de

Justice; the judges then stepped out on the balcony and pronounced the

death…sentence。〃 The same proceedings took place at Cambrai; Arras;

Nantes; Le Mans; Bordeaux; N?mes; Lyons; Strasbourg; and elsewhere。  …

Evidently; the judicial comedy is simply a parade; they make use of it

as one of the respectable means; among others less respectable; to

exterminate people whose opinions are not what they should be; or who

belong to the proscribed classes;'33' Samson; at Paris; and his

colleagues in the provinces; the execution…platoons of Lyons and

Nantes; are simply the collaborators of murderers properly so called;

while legal massacres complete other massacres pure and simple。



Of this latter description; the fusillades of Toulon come first; where

the number of those who are shot largely surpasses one thousand;'34'

next the great drownings of Nantes; in which 4;800 men; women and

children perished;'35' the other drownings; for which no figures may

be given;'36' then the countless popular murders committed in France

between July 14; 1789; and August 10; 1792; the massacre of one 1;300

prisoners in Paris; in September; 1792; the long train of

assassinations which; in July; August and September; 1789; extends

over the entire territory; finally; the dispatch of the prisoners;

either shot or sabered; without trial at Lyons and in the West。  Even

excepting those who had died fighting or who; taken with arms in their

hands; were shot down or sabered on the spot; there were 10;000

persons slaughtered without trial in the province of Anjou alone:'37'

accordingly; the instructions of the Committee of Public Safety; also

the written orders of Carrier and Francastel; direct generals to

〃bleed freely〃 the insurgent districts;'38' and spare not a life: it

is estimated that; in the eleven western departments; the dead of both

sexes and of all ages exceeded 400;000。'39' … Considering the program

and principles of the Jacobin sect this is no great number; 
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