french revolution-7 thermidor

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Thermidor

French Revolutionsession vii

the Thermidorian Reaction


Major topics for this session

• 9 Thermidor

•What Now?

• First White Terror

• 13 Vendémiaire

• Constitution of the Year III

• The Directory Begins


9 Thermidor


9 Thermidor

RobespierreSaint-Just

Couthon


The story is difficult to reconstruct, for all parties hid their operations in mystery, and the Thermidorians, as the revolutionists who overthrew Robespierre are called, either destroyed or disfigured the evidence for political reasons.

R.R. Palmer, Twelve Who Ruled, p. 362.


The Thermidorians’ Version

• Robespierre, consumed by ambition, and aided by Couthon and Saint-Just, meant to use the purges of Ventôse to make himself a dictator

• he contrived the religion of the Supreme Being and the law of 22 Prairial to achieve this aim

• he was overthrown by a band of patriots, including the others on the Committee of Public Safety, who rose up to defend liberty from a tyrant


Robespierre’s Friends’ Version

• Robespierre, along with his friends, finding that the purges of Ventôse didn’t purify the Republic, struggled as always to found a moral and democratic state

• the persons whom he menaced, joined by certain members of the Committee, united against him

• his fall brought the triumph of selfishness and corruption


In all versions a few leading facts are plain. The purges of Ventôse brought no peace. Once again it appeared that elimination of dissenters added nothing to unity. The execution of Danton and Hébert removed the visible heads of the factions, but the faction itself only became more elusive and dispersed. The Convention was alive with secret animosities, its members terrified by the fate that had struck Danton, those who belonged to the Committee of General Security laying up grievances against the greater committee, those who had been arbitrary or dishonest on missions in the provinces--Fouché, Tallien, Barras, Fréron--fearing investigation of their conduct.

Palmer, p. 363


Two Triggering Events...the Feast of the Supreme Being on June 8 and the law of 22 Prairial [emphasis added, jbp] on June 10. Both brought the disagreements [within the Committee] more clearly into the open. In both the initiative was taken by Robespierre and Couthon….

Robespierre, at the festival of June 8, exposed himself to charges of personal ambition, and some members of the Convention, muttering sarcasms and insults during the proceedings, exposed themselves to the anger of Robespierre, to whom nothing was more distasteful than the mockery of virtue and religion….

Two days later, on 22 Prairial, Couthon introduced into the Convention, in the name of the Committee…, a law reforming the Revolutionary Tribunal. The reform was, of course, in the revolutionary direction, and it marked the high-tide of the terrorist legislation.

Palmer, pp. 364-365


offenses under 22 Prairial• seeking to reestablish monarchy• discrediting the Convention• betraying the Republic• communicating with the enemy• interfering with provisioning• sheltering conspirators• speaking ill of patriotism• corrupting officials• misleading the people• giving out false news• outraging morality• depraving the public conscience• stealing public property• abusing public office• working against the liberty, unity and security of the state


offenses under 22 Prairial

For all these offenses the sole penalty was death


“...the Revolutionary Tribunal...condemned more people to death in the seven weeks between 22 Prairial and 9 Thermidor than in the fourteen

months preceding.”

Ibid., p. 366


executions acquittals

Germinal 155 59

Floréal 354 159

Prairial 509 164

Messidor 796 208

Thermidor 1-9 342 84

La Terreur Grande (the great terror)The law of Prairial had an immediate effect on the tempo of executions, which in weeks before had already been accelerated. With the closure of provincial revolutionary tribunals, except a southern branch at Orange that had dealt brutally with the culprits of Toulon, suspects were now brought to Paris for trial. The grim results were as follows:

From an average of five executions a day in Germinal, the rate then were to seventeen in Prairial and twenty-six in Messidor.

Schama, Citizens, p.837


Conflict between Robespierrists and anti-Robespierrists

• 29 June- Saint-Just returned from the victory at Fleurus. There was a fight in the green room where the Committee met

• he and Robespierre quarreled violent with Billaud and Collot, who branded Robespierre as a dictator

• Robespierre stormed out and ceased to attend meetings of the Committee for the month before Thermidor

• his ideas were brought in by Couthon and Saint-Just. The Incorruptible hurt himself by the boycott, “a lone and lofty individual looking down upon the government. His refusal to cooperate probably inclined the neutrals in the Committee, Barère and Lindet, to side against him.”-Palmer

• 23 July (5 Thermidor)-Robespierre was invited to a joint session of the two governing committees to “make peace”


But Robespierre was not really won over by the overtures of 5 Thermidor. He had reason to be suspicious. Billaud, Collot and Vadier [from the Committee of General Security] were not men to inspire trust. They represented the tail-end of Hébertism...fundamentally opposed to what Robespierre stood for. But Robespierre would not limit or clarify his suspicions, would not distinguish among his opponents, would not see that Barère and Lindet, and probably Carnot and Prieur...might welcome a compromise with him. He chose, therefore,...to lay his case before the Convention….Telling no one, not even Saint-Just, who would have tried to dissuade him, he spent the next few days composing a long speech, which he delivered on 8 Thermidor.

Palmer, p. 372


But Robespierre was not really won over by the overtures of 5 Thermidor. He had reason to be suspicious. Billaud, Collot and Vadier [from the Committee of General Security] were not men to inspire trust. They represented the tail-end of Hébertism...fundamentally opposed to what Robespierre stood for. But Robespierre would not limit or clarify his suspicions, would not distinguish among his opponents, would not see that Barère and Lindet, and probably Carnot and Prieur...might welcome a compromise with him. He chose, therefore,...to lay his case before the Convention….Telling no one, not even Saint-Just, who would have tried to dissuade him, he spent the next few days composing a long speech, which he delivered on 8 Thermidor.

Palmer, p. 372

“...Robespierre’s narrow way had become a tightrope, which stealthy hands were wa i t ing implacably to cut.”--Palmer, p. 304


Robespierre’s Last Speech; 8 Thermidor 1794

•“...eloquent, profoundly sincere, predominantly truthful...two hours long!

•“...predicted that if the Revolutionary Government should fail a military dictatorship would follow

•“But the speech was tactically a gigantic blunder.

•“If it expressed all Maximilien’s best qualities, it unloosed all his worst; and it confirmed the most deadly fears of those who heard it.

•“The members of the governing committees...were surprised….Having thought a compromise was in the making, they were now convinced that no compromise was possible.

•“He had always attacked indulgents and extremists together. Now indulgents and extremists joined against him.”

Palmer, pp. 372-373


He went on...to warn the Convention that a conspiracy was brewing that threatened the Republic with ruin. Defending himself against charges of dictatorship and tyranny, he gradually let the deputies piece together a picture of those he had in mind by alluding to “monsters” who had “plunged patriots into dungeons and carried terror into all ranks and conditions.” They were the true oppressors and tyrants. Resting on the basic doctrines of revolutionary sensibilité he declared, “I know only two parties, that of good citizens and that of bad citizens.”

Pressed...to name those he accused, Robespierre refused to do so….

Schama, pp. 841-842


ROBESPIERRE, guillotining the executioner after he has guillotined all the French


“In the groves of their academy, at the end of every [vista], you see nothing but the gallows.”

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Present Revolution 1790


9 Thermidor

• after Robespierre’s address, that night, a group of conspirators, fearing for their lives, resolved to move the next day

• 11 a.m. 9 Thermidor--tired from an all-night session, Saint-Just began to speak in the Convention

• he was attacked by the conspirators; Tallien, then Billaud

TALLIEN


leading Thermidorian• born in Paris, the son of the maître d'hôtel of the Marquis de Bercy,

who, noticing his ability, had him educated, and got him a place as a lawyer's clerk

• 10 August 1792-was one of the most active popular leaders in the storming of the Tuileries Palace; on that day he was appointed secretary to the insurrectional Commune of Paris

• September 1792-direct participant in the massacres, with the help of Georges Danton, elected a member of the National Convention

• took an active part in the coups d'état of 31 May and 2 June, which resulted in the overthrow of the Girondists

• 1793-was of the most notorious envoys sent to establish the Terror in the provinces, and soon established a revolutionary grip on Bordeaux. The young Tallien, who was barely 24, became notorious for his administration of justice in Bordeaux through his bloody affinity to “feed ‘la sainte gui%otine’”

• 1794-joined the growing opposition to the Robespierrists

Jean-Lambert Tallien1767 –1820


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majordomo_(domestic_staff)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majordomo_(domestic_staff)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marquis_de_Bercy&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marquis_de_Bercy&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawyer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawyer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_of_August_(French_Revolution)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_of_August_(French_Revolution)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune_(French_Revolution)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune_(French_Revolution)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Danton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Danton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girondist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girondist

showdown

• once the Commune heard of the arrests it refused to open any of its prisons to take the men and began to mobilize a popular insurrection

• but only 13 of the 48 sections of Paris sent troops. Still, they were enough to liberate the accused and to march against the Convention itself

• the Convention mobilized a counter-force from the western sections against the Commune

• they gave the command to Barras and declared the Robespierrists hors de la loi--outlaw

• this meant that they could be taken on the mere verification of their identity and summarily executed within twenty-four hours

• 10 Thermidor-when Robespierre’s defenders outside City Hall melted away at 2:00 a.m., Barras’ troops entered to seize the proscribed men


Barras”...it was known that he made money out of everything and surrounded himself

with a crowd of dishonest individuals and loose women.” -Lefebvre

• 1771-at 16, entered the Languedoc regiment as a “gentleman cadet

• 1776-1783--during the American Revolution, fought the British in India

• 1789-1792--participated as a reformer in administrative and court positions

• 1792-at the outbreak of war he became an army commissioner opposing the forces of Sardinia (Piedmont)

• he was also elected to the National Convention

• 1793-became a regicide (voted for Louis’ execution)

• representative on mission to the siege of Toulon, met Napoleon there, with Fréron, brutally repressed the federalists who had invited the British in

• 10 Thermidor l’an II (1794)-he led the forces which arrested the Robespierrists and became “the Man of Thermidor”

Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de

Barras

“King of the Republic”

1755 – 1829


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barras,_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barras,_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

Robespierre carried to the antechamber of the Committee of Public Safety, after he had wounded himself, on the 28th of July 1794


CLOSING THE HALL OF THE JACOBINSon the night of 27 or 28 July 1794 on 9 or 10 Thermidor, Year 2 of the Républic


CLOSING THE HALL OF THE JACOBINSon the night of 27 or 28 July 1794 on 9 or 10 Thermidor, Year 2 of the Républic

SOCIETY OF THE JACOBINSUNITY, LIBERTY, EQUALITY for the

entire FRATERNAL REPUBLIC or DEATH


the end of the terror?

• 10 Thermidor-seventeen of the Robespierrists were executed

• eighty-three members of the Commune and the mairie followed in the next two days

• the Thermidorians spent the next three months establishing their precarious authority by suppressing the Jacobins in Paris and the provinces, executing extreme terrorists, imprisoning others, pardoning those who would recognize the new régime

• to their right were those who would make some accommodation with monarchy, they also had to be made to accept the new régime

• for now, the majority lay not with the Mountain, nor the Right, but with the Plain (the center)

• the Thermidorians had to walk a similar, but broader, “narrow path” to the one which Robespierre had failed to navigate


What Now?


“Golden Youths”• “...they were known as “Fréron’s jeunesse dorée.

• “The singer Elleviou, the actor Quesnel of the Théatre &ançais, the dancer Trenitz, the musician Souriguères, and the journalists Martainville and Langlois were their lieutenants

• “...the latter soon hired a number of thugs, formerly reputed to be sans-culottes, such as the Marquis de Saint-Huruge and the “patriot” Gonchon, who undertook the violent operations

• “The “young men” could be recognized by the square collars of their coats and by their long lovelocks; they were armed with bludgeons and shouted: “Down with the Jacobins! Long live the Convention!


“Golden Youths”• “...they were known as “Fréron’s jeunesse dorée.

• “The singer Elleviou, the actor Quesnel of the Théatre &ançais, the dancer Trenitz, the musician Souriguères, and the journalists Martainville and Langlois were their lieutenants

• “...the latter soon hired a number of thugs, formerly reputed to be sans-culottes, such as the Marquis de Saint-Huruge and the “patriot” Gonchon, who undertook the violent operations

• “The “young men” could be recognized by the square collars of their coats and by their long lovelocks; they were armed with bludgeons and shouted: “Down with the Jacobins! Long live the Convention!

• “Every evening, they would meet at the Palais Égalité, where they had their headquarters at the Café de Chartres

• “According to Duval…‘Acting on a proposal made by Fréron and Barras...some auxiliary leaders...trained us [to use] a rifle….Some officers devoted to the Thermidorian party taught us how to drill.’ “

Georges Lefebvre, The Thermidorians & the Directory; Two Phases of the French Revolution, pp. 48-49


a close call with the “national razor”• Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie was born on

Martinique (West Indies) to a wealthy white Creole family that owned a sugar plantation

• 1766-the family struggled financially after hurricanes destroyed their estate. Edmée, Joséphine's paternal aunt, was the mistress of François, vicomte de Beauharnais. Edmée arranged the advantageous marriage of her niece, Joséphine, to François's son Alexandre

• 1779-aged 16, Joséphine travelled to France and married Alexandre de Beauharnais. She bore him a son and a daughter

• 2 March 1794-the Committee arrested him as a counter-revolutionary and later on 21 April, her, as well

• 23 July-he and his cousin were guillotined

• 9 Thermidor (27 July)-Tallien arranged for the release of her friend and his mistress, Thèrése Cabarrus. She convinced him to get Joséphine out of prison a few days later

Joséphine de Beauharnais 1763 – 1814


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre,_Vicomte_de_Beauharnais


















a close call with the “national razor”

• Marie Josèphe was born on Martinique to a wealthy Creole family

• Edmée arranged the advantageous marriage of her niece, Josephine, to François's son Alexandre

• 2 March 1794-the Committee arrested him

• 23 July-he and his cousin were guillotined. Tallien arranged for her friend’s, Thèrése Cabarrus’ release on 9 Thermidor (27 July). She convinced Tallien to get Joséphine out as well a few days later

• now a widow, Joséphine became the mistress of several politicians, including Barras, “the King of the Republic”

• 1795-she met a General Bonaparte, six years her junior, and became his mistress. She was a renowned spendthrift and Barras may have encouraged the relationship with Napoleon to get her off his hands

Joséphine de Beauharnais 1763 – 1814


























Les Mervei%euses (the marvelous ones)

“The ladies of the aristocracy are beside themselves with joy,” wrote Dyzès on 23 Brumaire (November 13 [1794]). “I venture to predict that it will be short-lived.” He was completely mistaken. Apart from the fact that the resistance of the majority of the Convention was weakening under the pressure of the jeunesse dorée, it was being undermined by the social life which was blossoming again in the salons of Paris….In the front rank shone Thérèse Cabarrus--since December 26, 1794, Madame Tallien--whom her admirers called “Notre-Dame de Thermidor” aloud, and under their breaths “Our Lady of September,” on account of the part her husband was said to have played in the massacres of 1792. She had left the Chaussée-d’Antin to install herself in the Cours-la-Reine in a house built for an actress…; here she lived on a grand scale and, setting the fashion for the mervei%euses, launched the knee-length Greek dress which left the wearer half naked.

Lefebvre, Thermidorians, pp. 53-54


Mme Tallien & friends


“Victim’s Balls”

The Terror had clearly unhinged a great many minds, and no eccentricity was found too shocking. The relatives of people who had been guillotined held “victim’s balls” among themselves, to which their guests came with Titus haircuts, the nape of their necks shaven as if by the executioner, and a red silk thread round their throats. The men did not bare their bodies like the women, but the incroyables [incredibles] were already vying with each other in luxury and eccentricity of dress, and in weird distortions of speech.

Lefebvre, Thermidorians, p. 55


“Victim’s Balls”

The Terror had clearly unhinged a great many minds, and no eccentricity was found too shocking. The relatives of people who had been guillotined held “victim’s balls” among themselves, to which their guests came with Titus haircuts, the nape of their necks shaven as if by the executioner, and a red silk thread round their throats. The men did not bare their bodies like the women, but the incroyables [incredibles] were already vying with each other in luxury and eccentricity of dress, and in weird distortions of speech.

Lefebvre, Thermidorians, p. 55

“...his elegantly disheveled hair, cut in the so-called 'a la Titus' style.”


a less favorable impression of the new fashions

French Incredibles 1794


a less favorable impression of the new fashions


repeal of the Maximum inflation

• pressure from both new (noveaux riches-recent war profiteers) and old bourgeois leads the Thermidorians to scrap the price controls, associated with the Enragés and the Jacobins

• 24 December 1794-the law of 4 Nivôse, de l’an III abolished the maximum and all controls

• there are also reductions in the national workshops and the guaranteed high wages which were also associated with the “Terrorists,” now out of favor

• with no price ceilings there would have inevitably been higher prices

• but the food shortages produced by a combination of cold wet summer weather and disruptions stemming from the war and unrest in agricultural regions plus the drafting of farm labor for the foreign wars produced the worst famine conditions in memory beginning in the winter of 1794-1795








bread line from Wajda’s film, DantonTuesday, September 14, 2010







• finding it almost impossible to fund the war with loans, the Convention “runs the printing presses,” issues more assignats, thus contributing to their depreciation and putting the scarce supply of bread further out of the hands of the poor

bread line from Wajda’s film, DantonTuesday, September 14, 2010

1795 “...about four billion livres were issued every month.”

July 1794

Dec 1794

April 1795

May 1795

June 1795

July1795

31%

20%

8%

7.5%

5%

3%


the fate of “the Four”

VADIERBARÉRE BILLAUD COLLOT

• fall 1794-the Thermidorians debated what to do with those “terrorists” who had helped them with the coup on 9 Thermidor

• during the winter when the lower classes began to rebel against the economic squeeze; the center, the “Plain,” came to regard the remaining Montagnards as the greater threat (vs the Royalist Right)

• many on the Right demanded that the three most “Jacobin” of the Twelve on the Committee, Barère, Billaud, Collot, plus Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier from the Committee of General Security be executed, or at least exiled

• 1 April 1795-Journée du 12 Germinal--the Convention was invaded by sans-culottes demanding “Bread! Bread!” This provided the justification for the Right to deal with their enemies

• that night, without trial, “the Four” were ordered deported to Guiana. Only Vadier managed to escape and lived on in France, dying in 1828. Collot died in Guiana of yellow fever in 1796

• Billaud lived on in Guiana, refusing a pardon from Napoleon, until 1816. Then he moved to Haiti, dying there of dysentery in 1819. Barère took the pardon, returned to France and died in 1841


Journée du I Prairial de l’an III

• 21 Germinal (10 April)-a decree which the reactionaries had been demanding for a long time ordered the terrorists to be disarmed throughout the Republic

• 17 Floréal (6 May) the trial of Fouquier-Tinville, the sinister prosecutor, came to an end and he was executed the next day along with Herman and fourteen jurors of the former revolutionary court

• debates over the constitution raged in the Convention, the Left demanding the implementation of the Constitution of the Year I, the Right demanding a new, more conservative fundamental law

• food riots and attacks on grain convoys increased

• 30 Floréal (19 May)-a pamphlet was published, Insurrection of the People to obtain bread and reconquer their rights demanded (1) Constitution of the Year I (2) replace the Convention with a new Assembly (3) release of the imprisoned “patriots” (sans-culottes)

• 1 Prairial-in the last demonstration of the women of Les Ha%es, the sections invaded the Convention for several hours, murdered a deputy who opposed them, until, finally, military force herded them out


On the Jacobin journée of 1st Prairial, he was presiding over the Convention, and remained in his post despite insults and menaces of the insurgents. When the head of the deputy, Jean Féraud, was presented to him on the end of a pike, he saluted it impassively.

François Antoine de Boissy d ' A n g l a s (1756–1828 ) was a French s ta tesman of the Revolution, First Republic and Empire


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_(politics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_(politics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Republic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Republic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empire

On the Jacobin journée of 1st Prairial, he was presiding over the Convention, and remained in his post despite insults and menaces of the insurgents. When the head of the deputy, Jean Féraud, was presented to him on the end of a pike, he saluted it impassively.

François Antoine de Boissy d ' A n g l a s (1756–1828 ) was a French s ta tesman of the Revolution, First Republic and Empire


These journées [12 Germinal & 1 Prairial] were decisive. For the first time since 1789, the government had put down a popular insurrection by force of arms, and thus broken the mainspring of the Revolution; for the first time the army had answered its appeal and broken the tacit pact which, since the fourteenth of July, had bound it to the common people of the journées. The gap would go on widening; the common people would not budge again until 1830, and the Army would gradually take control of the Republic for the benefit of its generals.

Lefebvre, p.131


First White Terror


First White Terror

Combat en Quiberon, 1795


The TimingThe death of Louis XVII

• 1785-1789--this second son was known as Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy

• 1789--with the death of his older brother, he became the new Dauphin of France

• 1791--now known as Prince Royal of France

• 21 January 1793--to Royalists, he became King Louis XVII at his father’s death

• 3 July 1793--in a horrible two-hour scene, the eight year old boy was separated from his mother, kept in solitary confinement and subjected to “republican” re-education

• apprenticed to a drunkard cobbler, Antoine Simon, he was brutally abused, forced to sing La Marsei%aise and curse his parents

• 8 June 1795--he died from malnutrition and consumption and was buried in a mass grave

1785-1795portrait in 1792, age seven


The Royalist CauseLouis XVI’s younger brothers

Louis Stanislas Xavier de France

17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824

Comte de Provence

to Royalists, Louis XVIII after 1795

to everyone, Louis XVIII (1815-1824)

Charles Philippe de France

9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836

Comte d’Artois

Charles X (1824-1830)


William Wickham, the British agent in Switzerland, lost all respect for the future Louis XVIII and Charles X. “When one has observed them as closely and as often behind the scenes as I have,” he wrote in 1796, “one is tempted to believe that God Almighty has willed this appalling revolution, among other aims, for their personal correction.”

Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution vol ii, p. 222


Quiberon

BRITTANY

VENDEE


Quiberon

BRITTANY

VENDEEQUIBERON

QuiberonBay


The Battle of Quiberon was a major landing on the Quiberon peninsula by émigré, counter-revolutionary troops in support of the Chouannerie and Vendée Revolt, beginning on 23 June and finally definitively repulsed on 21 July. It aimed to raise the whole of western France in revolt, bring an end to the French Revolution and restore the French monarchy. It had a major impact, dealing a disastrous blow to the royalist cause.Louis XVIII and the comte d’Artois (the future Charles X of France) divided the counter-revolutionary activities and theatres between them - to Louis went political generalities and the region from the Alps to the Pyrénées (including Lyon), and to the comte the western provinces (Vendée, Brittany, Normandy). The comte named Joseph de Puisaye général en chef of Brittany, a good choice since de Puisaye had military talent and political and diplomatic experience.

Wikipedia

The invasion of France in 1795


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiberon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiberon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89migr%C3%A9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89migr%C3%A9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chouannerie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chouannerie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vend%C3%A9e_Revolt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vend%C3%A9e_Revolt



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_monarchy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_monarchy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVIII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVIII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_X_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_X_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_de_Puisaye




Joseph-Geneviève comte dePuisaye

• 1773-cavalry officer• 1789-elected to the First Estate as a reformer• 1790-91--Girondin, constitutional monarchist• 1793-after the Jacobins outlawed his faction, he became a counter-revolutionary• 1793-94--fought in the Vendée• 1794-fled to England to organize a royalist invasion to provoke a general insurrection

1755-1827


Even the chosen landing-point - Brittany - was not unanimously accepted. Several émigrés preferred a landing in the Vendée, this was the position of François de Charette, who put himself up as a rival to Joseph de Puisaye. The surrounding of the Île de Quiberon were thus chosen as the landing-point despite their many disadvantages to the invaders - it was only a narrow strip of land, with the shoals blocking access to part of the coasts. It was also decided to put some of the émigré soldiers in red British uniforms, which proved unwise owing to the Bretons' dislike for British soldiers, and to make up the numbers by using Republican prisoners held on British prison hulks (many of whom would clearly have split loyalties and re-join the Republic forces, seeing as they hated the British as much as the émigrés). The comte d'Artois was not even consulted on the choice of date for the expedition, yet it was in his name that Joseph de Puisaye was acting, since the comte d'Artois had theoretically assumed command for all Royalist operations in western France.

Wikipedia

A controversial operation plan


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_de_Charette




no unity of command

• Charette served as a naval officer in the American War of Independence

• 1789-fled with the first wave of émigrés

• 10 August 1792-returning, he was one of the defenders during the mob attack on the Tuileries

• 1793-94--one of the more successful leaders of the Vendée

• 1795-Artois appointed him Lieutenant General, he challenged Puisaye and the Quiberon strategyFrançois Athanase de Charette de la Contrie

1763 – 26 March 1796


Un épisode de l'affaire de Quiberon by Paul-Emile Boutigny


“...ill-conceived and ill-conducted”--Lefebvre

• as the divided émigrés dithered, the Republican forces gathered and attacked, easily dispersing the Chouans guarding the fort guarding the causeway to Quiberon

• Hoche pushed them back onto the peninsula, where they quarreled with the émigrés who, full of contempt for the peasants, had failed to give them any support

• in a single week, Hoche established a solid line of trenches which turned the peninsula into a mousetrap

• 19 Messidor (7 July)-thoroughly alarmed, the Royalists attempted a breakthrough but suffered a costly defeat

• 21-22 Messidor-an attack on Saint-Malo from the Channel Island of Jersey failed because the men who were supposed to deliver the city into the émigrés’ hands were arrested in time


Lazare Hoche

Republican GeneralVictor of the Battle of

Quiberon(23 June-21 July 1795)


For a moment [Charette] had grounds for hoping that the English were at last going to come to his aid. On September 30, [Admiral] Warren appeared off the coast and captured the island of Yeu, where he landed the Comte d’Artois with a few troops. But the Prince was in no hurry to join the Vendean leaders, who were already hard pressed; he secretly asked the British government to recall the expedition, and finally the island of Yeu was evacuated without any attempt to reach the mainland.

Lefebvre, p.170


6,332 Chouans and émigrés were captured, along with members of their family. Lazare Hoche verbally promised that the Royalists would be treated as prisoners of war, but this promise was not kept. The women and children were freed a few days after the battle, but the soldiers were charged by commissaire Jean-Lambert Tallien. Charles de Virot, marquis de Sombreuil and 750 of his companions were condemned by a military tribunal and shot by firing squad at Auray. 430 of these were nobles, many of whom had served in the fleet of Louis XVI. The site of the execution is known as the Champ des martyrs, and those shot there remained buried on the site until 1814. In 1829, an expiatory chapel was built there in the form of a temple.The Charteuse at Auray holds the list of prisoners, printed quickly, and a vault with the remains of 952 prisoners from the Royal army who died between 1 and 25 August 1795 after the defeat of the Quiberon landings.

Wikipedia

Execution of the Royalists


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Lambert_Tallien

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Lambert_Tallien

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eug%C3%A8ne_Gabriel_de_Sombreuil




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auray

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auray

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI_of_France


6,332 Chouans and émigrés were captured, along with members of their family. Lazare Hoche verbally promised that the Royalists would be treated as prisoners of war, but this promise was not kept. The women and children were freed a few days after the battle, but the soldiers were charged by commissaire Jean-Lambert Tallien. Charles de Virot, marquis de Sombreuil and 750 of his companions were condemned by a military tribunal and shot by firing squad at Auray. 430 of these were nobles, many of whom had served in the fleet of Louis XVI. The site of the execution is known as the Champ des martyrs, and those shot there remained buried on the site until 1814. In 1829, an expiatory chapel was built there in the form of a temple.The Charteuse at Auray holds the list of prisoners, printed quickly, and a vault with the remains of 952 prisoners from the Royal army who died between 1 and 25 August 1795 after the defeat of the Quiberon landings.

Wikipedia

Execution of the Royalists

Capture of CharetteTuesday, September 14, 2010

The Friends of JehuWhite Terror in the Rest of France

• Thermidor 1794-taking their name from the king of Northern Israel, who slew Ahab, Jezebel and the priests of Baal, these bands of royalist youths attacked and murdered both real and suspected Jacobins

• June 1795-when the royalist underground became aware of the plans for the Quiberon invasion there was an effort to make a “fifth column” countrywide uprising to coincide with it and a similar offensive by Austria in the east

• early October 1795-despite Hoche’s defeat of the Quiberon landing and Charette’s guerilla resistance in the Vendée, the comte d’Artois landed on the Île de Yeu with 1000 émigré and 2000 British troops. It was expected that they would march on Paris.

• in Paris the jeunesse dorée(golden youth) royalist supporters began demonstrating by cutting down liberty trees and trampling tricoleur cockades in the Le Pelletier section


The Friends of JehuWhite Terror in the Rest of France

• Thermidor 1794-taking their name from the king of Northern Israel, who slew Ahab, Jezebel and the priests of Baal, these bands of royalist youths attacked and murdered both real and suspected Jacobins

• June 1795-when the royalist underground became aware of the plans for the Quiberon invasion there was an effort to make a “fifth column” countrywide uprising to coincide with it and a similar offensive by Austria in the east

• early October 1795-despite Hoche’s defeat of the Quiberon landing and Charette’s guerilla resistance in the Vendée, the comte d’Artois landed on the Île de Yeu with 1000 émigré and 2000 British troops. It was expected that they would march on Paris.

• in Paris the jeunesse dorée(golden youth) royalist supporters began demonstrating by cutting down liberty trees and trampling tricoleur cockades in the Le Pelletier section

• Perhaps more disturbing, rumors regarding the likely defection of the entire Paris National Guard began to circulate


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_(France)




The pitiful adventure of the émigrés, ill-conceived and ill-conducted, raised the hatred which England inspired in France to fever pitch. Moreover, the danger had reawakened the revolutionary spirit: Hoche’s victory finally consolidated the Republic.

Lefebvre, p.170


XIII Vendémiaire, l’an IV(5 October 1795)


XIII Vendémiaire, l’an IV(5 October 1795)

The Demonstration of 13 Vendémiaire, Year IV, The Église Saint-Roch, Honoré Street


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-Roch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-Roch

But First, a Star is Born• 1768-the Republic of Genoa cedes Corsica

to France

• 15 August 1769-Napoleone di Buonaparte is born the second of eight children in Ajaccio, Corsica

• 1779-he is admitted to a religious school in Autun, mainland France, to learn French

• May 1779-1784--transfers to a military academy at Brienne-le-Chateau

• 1784-admitted to the élite École Militaire in Paris. Here he trains for the artillery

• when his father’s death reduces his income, he completes the two-year course in one year

Napoleon's father Carlo Buonaparte was Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI of France


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Buonaparte

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Buonaparte



Napoleon & Corsica

• 1729-Corsicans began rebelling against Genoa seeking an independent state

• 1755-under General Paoli they gained their freedom and wrote the first Enlightenment constitution of “the Age of the Democratic Revolution”

• 1764-Genoa secretly sold Corsica to Louis XV

• 1768-France began trying to conquer its “possession.” Paoli fought a guerilla war, then exile in England

• 1790-after the revolution he returns to head the French Department of Corsica. Napoleon creates, then commands the Corsican National Guard

• June 1793-after the execution of Louis XVI Paoli splits from France and sabotages a military expedition which is under Napoleon’s command. Napoleon’s family, still loyal to the Revolution, flees to the mainland Pasquali di Paoli

1725-1807


The Siege of Toulon; 18 September-18 December 1793

• 31 May 1793-the arrest of the Girondist deputies provoked a series of “federalist” insurrections in Lyon, Avignon, Nîmes and Marseille. In Toulon, the Girondist revolutionaries evicted the Jacobins and were soon supplanted by the royalists

• when the Jacobins recaptured neighboring Marseille, word of the bloody reprisals spread. To avoid a similar fate the Toulon royalists called for aid from the the Anglo-Spanish fleet

• 28 August-Admirals Hood and Langara landed a force of 13,000 British, Spanish, Neapolitan and Piedmontese troops


The Siege of Toulon; 18 September-18 December 1793

• 31 May 1793-the arrest of the Girondist deputies provoked a series of “federalist” insurrections in Lyon, Avignon, Nîmes and Marseille. In Toulon, the Girondist revolutionaries evicted the Jacobins and were soon supplanted by the royalists

• when the Jacobins recaptured neighboring Marseille, word of the bloody reprisals spread. To avoid a similar fate the Toulon royalists called for aid from the the Anglo-Spanish fleet

• 28 August-Admirals Hood and Langara landed a force of 13,000 British, Spanish, Neapolitan and Piedmontese troops

• 18 September-the Republican army’s siege begins under General Carteaux

• as his chief of artillery was ill, the aged general had a young (just turned 24) captain Bonaparte imposed upon him by Napoleon’s friend, Representative en Mission, Augustin Robespierre

• 1 October--in the besieged city, Baron d’Imbert proclaimed young Louis XVII king


Napoleon’s Plan

Place cannons on this peninsula where they command the strait between the inner and outer harbor. The only problem, the British got there first and built a redoubt which they called “Little Gibraltar.”


for once, youth and inexperience triumphs!

• 22 September-Napoleon’s plan, to capture ground from the British whereupon his artillery could command the passage in and out of the harbor, is sabotaged by Carteaux and fails

• he continues to gather more artillery and press his ideas

• 11 November-Carteaux is replaced by an even more incompetent general. Recognizing his own failures, the second commander resigns

• 20 November-he is succeeded by a career soldier who recognizes the virtue of Bonaparte’s plan and supports him

• pressured by the bombardments, the Anglo-Neapolitan forces sortie. Bonaparte leads a counter-attack. A British sergeant gives Bonaparte a bayonet wound in the hip. British general O’Hara is captured. Surrender negotiations follow

• 19 December--the suppression, led by Paul Barras and Stanislaus Fréron is bloody. Between 800-2000 prisoners were shot or slain by bayonet on Toulon’s Champ de Mars. Bonaparte, treated for his injuries, is not involved

• 22 December 1793--he is promoted to Brigadier General, commander of artillery for the Army of Italy


end of flashbacknow fast forward from

December 1793to

October 1795Bonaparte has just turned

twenty-six


The Convention quickly realized that it was in severe danger, and that not only was an enemy force on French soil [Isle de Yeu], but the uprising in Paris meant that there was also now an enemy force within the capital itself. The Convention declared its intention to remain in their meeting rooms until the crisis was resolved. It called for the formation of three battalions of patriots, to be raised from the Jacobin military staff dismissed after 9 Thermidor. Général baron de Menou was given command of the defence of the capital, but was severely outnumbered with only 5,000 troops on hand to resist the 30,000 man Royalist Army.On 12 Vendémiaire (4 October), The National Guard arrived in Le Pelletier [the royalist section, home of the jeunesse dorée] in an attempt to put down the unrest.

Wikipedia

Vendémiaire, l’an IV


http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois,_baron_de_Menou&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois,_baron_de_Menou&action=edit&redlink=1

The Convention quickly realized that it was in severe danger, and that not only was an enemy force on French soil [Isle de Yeu], but the uprising in Paris meant that there was also now an enemy force within the capital itself. The Convention declared its intention to remain in their meeting rooms until the crisis was resolved. It called for the formation of three battalions of patriots, to be raised from the Jacobin military staff dismissed after 9 Thermidor. Général baron de Menou was given command of the defence of the capital, but was severely outnumbered with only 5,000 troops on hand to resist the 30,000 man Royalist Army.On 12 Vendémiaire (4 October), The National Guard arrived in Le Pelletier [the royalist section, home of the jeunesse dorée] in an attempt to put down the unrest.

Wikipedia

Vendémiaire, l’an IV Le Pelletier Section


The Military Committee of the Sections of the Capital announced that the decrees of the Convention were no longer recognized. Général Danican took command of the National Guard in the Le Pelletier section. The Convention ordered Menou to advance into Le Pelletier, to disarm the entire area and to close Danican's headquarters. Generals Despierres and Verdière were sent to Menou to assist him. Menou divided his force into three columns, and planned an advance into Le Pelletier on the evening of 12 Vendémiaire. When the advance was set to begin, Despierres reported that he is unwell and unable to proceed, and Verdière refused to advance. Menou timidly advanced towards the Royalist force, inviting the rebels to discuss terms of their dispersal. He withdrew after receiving the insurgent's promise to disarm.The Le Pelletier section, seeing this as a sign of weakness on the part of the Convention, called upon the other sections of Paris to rise up. Menou realised his mistake, and launched a cavalry attack down the Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, temporarily clearing the area of royalists. The Convention dismissed Menou from the command, and ordered Paul Barras to take over the defence of the Convention.

Ibid.

How not to quell an uprising


http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_Michel_Auguste_Th%C3%A9venet&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_Michel_Auguste_Th%C3%A9venet&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rue_du_Faubourg-Montmartre&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rue_du_Faubourg-Montmartre&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Fran%C3%A7ois_Jean_Nicolas_Barras

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Fran%C3%A7ois_Jean_Nicolas_Barras

The Military Committee of the Sections of the Capital announced that the decrees of the Convention were no longer recognized. Général Danican took command of the National Guard in the Le Pelletier section. The Convention ordered Menou to advance into Le Pelletier, to disarm the entire area and to close Danican's headquarters. Generals Despierres and Verdière were sent to Menou to assist him. Menou divided his force into three columns, and planned an advance into Le Pelletier on the evening of 12 Vendémiaire. When the advance was set to begin, Despierres reported that he is unwell and unable to proceed, and Verdière refused to advance. Menou timidly advanced towards the Royalist force, inviting the rebels to discuss terms of their dispersal. He withdrew after receiving the insurgent's promise to disarm.The Le Pelletier section, seeing this as a sign of weakness on the part of the Convention, called upon the other sections of Paris to rise up. Menou realised his mistake, and launched a cavalry attack down the Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, temporarily clearing the area of royalists. The Convention dismissed Menou from the command, and ordered Paul Barras to take over the defence of the Convention.

Ibid.

How not to quell an uprising


And what about Napoléon in all this? As if providence had been on a special watch, he is close by and moreover he is available. His departure for Constantinople had been delayed for diverse reasons. His hour has just arrived…as the royalist drums call for insurrection Bonaparte is in the neighborhood watching a performance at the Feydeau theatre. It is a well-known fact that Parisians never give up their entertainment even at the most critical times. The surrounding uproar causes him to guess that an important event is taking place. He proceeds to the Convention and takes a place in a meeting room gallery. He is recognized and is motioned to come and present himself.

Turreau and Fréron are in Barras’s entourage. Barras is at the time preoccupied with associating himself with the best swordsman of the moment. All three of them knew the intrepid “capitaine canon” when they were commissioners of the Convention at the siege of Toulon less than two years before. They agree to propose to him the post of operational assistant to Barras who gives him three minutes to think it over. One has to be daring to accept taking up a challenge which seems lost in advance, and risk compromising his whole career on a throw of the dice. But general Bonaparte has already had the occasion to show that he was a clear headed and responsible chief. He quickly accepts the impossible mission he has been given. He has immediately made an assessment of the situation. The stakes are nothing less than salvaging civil peace between Frenchmen, making sure that law prevails over force.

www.napoleonicsociety.com/english/13vendangl.html


http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/english/13venda

http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/english/13venda

In the first hour of 13 vendémiaire, Bonaparte rapidly assembles a few collaborators. In his closest entourage his eyes turn to a superb squadron commander of the 21st Regiment of Chasseurs, [age 28, two years older than Bonaparte] who looks very sure of himself. He hails him and asks what his name is: “Murat” is the answer he hears. The first quality of Bonaparte is being able to judge a man at first glance. He considers this one to be apt to perform the decisive mission entrusted to him. In a tone of voice as sharp as a knife, he gives him the following order, allowing for no response: “Murat, take two hundred horses, go immediately to the plain of Sablons. Bring the forty pieces [cannon] and the park [associated equipment]. Let them be there! Use the sword if necessary but bring them!” and, aware of the offhand manner of the one who will become a legendary swordsman, he adds in an even more peremptory tone of voice: “you will answer to me. Go!”

Ibid.


On this day of 13 vendémiaire, two hours were sufficient for Bonaparte to reverse the course of France’s History. The brutal collapse of the royalist insurrection proves, as if it were necessary, that it did not rest on any popular and democratic foundation.

This victory has cost 300 dead. It is a lot! But what is it in comparison to a civil war that would have exploded had the roya l is ts been successful?

In front of the Convention, the relieved parliamentarians run to congratulate their savior. In the meeting room he is given an ovation. On this memorable day, Bonaparte becomes a national hero. His popularity jumps as much with the people as in the political circles. On 16 October, he is promoted to the rank of General of Division. He is 26 years old. Ten days later he is nominated Commandant of the Army of the Interior, replacing Barras who is now one of five Directors. It is in this respect an undeniable show of confidence from the Directoire, which is a new and fragile institution of the country…

Ibid.


In the rue Honoré, however, the [Royalist] Sections remained in possession of the Church of Saint-Roch until the following day, and it is just a legend that depicts them shot down by gunfire from Bonaparte stationed on the steps of the church

Lefebvre, p.204


In the rue Honoré, however, the [Royalist] Sections remained in possession of the Church of Saint-Roch until the following day, and it is just a legend that depicts them shot down by gunfire from Bonaparte stationed on the steps of the church

Lefebvre, p.204

Well!(1) It certainly is a well-established legend(2) Lefebvre seems to misplace Bonaparte. The several pictures in this presentation show him opposite the church firing at the steps of the church(3) History is a never-ending process of viewing sources critically and weighing the evidence while maintaining the Cartesian stance of doubt

jbp


An extreme poverty afflicted the residents of the capital and often caused severe troubles. One day, among others, when the food distribution had failed, and he had formed a number of troopers at the door of the bakers, Napoleon visited the city to ensure that the orders of measurement he had prescribed were properly executed. Suddenly he and his staff were surrounded by a tumultuous group. Furious women seeking bread cried loudly, the crowd grew, the threats were increasing, and the situation was becoming increasingly critical. One of these women, monstrously large, stood out in the middle, the most excited by her actions and by her strong words: she was without a doubt someone notable in the halls [Les Ha%es, the open market].

—Nothing but a bunch of épauletiers [guys wearing epaulettes, i.e., officers], she cried, threatening and attacking the general and his officers, make fun of us, so while they eat and fatten themselves, they remain strong while the poor people die of hunger.

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/napoleon/PopularHistory/c_popularchapter6.html

an anecdote showing the affection which this young hero generates






Good woman, look at me well, and tell me which is the fatter of us two.

BAKERY


Constitution de l’an III


Ratified by the National Convention on 22 August 1795 (5 Fructidor l’an iii). It remained in effect until the coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) effectively ended the Revolution and began the ascendancy of Napoleon Bonaparte.

It was more conservative than the abortive democratic French Constitution of 1793. The Constitution of 1795 established a liberal republic with a franchise based on the payment of taxes, similar to that of the French Constitution of 1791; a bicameral legislature, (Council of Elders, Council of 500) to slow down the legislative process; and a five-man Directory. The central government retained great power, including emergency powers to curb freedom of the press and freedom of association.

It was succeeded by the Constitution of the Year VIII, which established the Consulate.

Wikipedia, French Constitution of 1795


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Constitution_of_1793




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Year_VIII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Year_VIII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Consulate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Consulate

A more conservative document• “...they were careful to eliminate from it the essential article: ‘Men are born free and

remain free and equal in rights.’ ...it was ambiguous and therefore dangerous

• “...it was banning in advance the property qualification for suffrage

• “The following definition was therefore adopted: ‘Equality consists in the fact that the law is the same for all.’ ...which in practice amounted to allowing one group of citizens to subjugate the rest by means of their ability and above all by means of their wealth

• “...the [Constitution of 1793] had expressed a different idea of the State, that of a social democracy which intervenes to restore, for the benefit of the poor, the equilibrium destroyed by money

• “…universal suffrage disappeared….The referendum suffered the same fate; the new régime was purely representative….The right to insurrection naturally went the same way. Freedom of the press was retained but the Legislature was authorized to suspend it for a period of one year.

• “Economic freedom on the other hand was, needless to say, fully consecrated.”

Lefebvre, pp. 176-178


the Legislature

•Consiel des Cinq-Cents (Council of Five Hundred)

• elected by a franchise limited to taxpayers for a term of three years

• a third of them would be replaced annually

• had the sole power to initiate legislation

• nominated the Directors (the five-man executive)

•Consiel des Anciens (Council of Elders) 250

• each member had to be at least 40; a third of them would also be replaced annually

• could accept or reject laws put forward by the lower chamber, but could not initiate laws

• any laws rejected could not be re-presented for at least a year

• besides legislative duties, they selected the five Directors from a list provided by the 500


Directoire exécutif (the Directory)(2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799)

La Révellière-Lépeaux Letourner

Reubell Carnot

Barras

the originaldirectors

“...since he had saved theConvention in Thermidor

and Vendémiaire, it was feltthat he was an inevitable

choice.”


Education

• "If a nation expects to be ignorant and &ee, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never wi% be."-- Jefferson

• in this spirit, the Constitution mandated free public education

• it also required a literacy test for voting after twelve years, long enough for the education system to have been available to French citizens

• these progressive measures would be imitated by the constitutions of later republics established by the victorious French armies such as the Cisalpine Republic in Italy, 1797

• none of these governments lasted long enough to bring this enlightened measure to life

• that would be the honor of Jefferson’s native land

• there, sadly, for better or worse, literacy tests came to be associated with élitism; and, first, Jacksonian democracy, then, the civil rights movement, removed them as a requirement for the right to vote


Taken by itself, outside the context of time and place, it may be that this Constitution of Year III deserves the praise which has often been given it. Destined for a country whose revolution, more social than political in nature, was not complete, a country which had to wage a war that showed no sign of coming to an end, without money, without currency and in the midst of a grave food shortage, it was a sort of wager since everything about it was arranged so that legislation should be as slow as possible and, above all, so that the Executive should remain weak and lifeless.

Lefebvre, p.182


The Convention broke up on 4 Brumaire, Year IV (26 October 1795), after sitting for over three years and studding its existence with some of the most striking contradictions in the history of parliamentary assemblies. The Thermidorians were guilty of some of these contradictions and their reputation stands very low because there was a certain duplicity in their conduct: they inveighed against the despotic actions of the revolutionary government, but, when dealing with their adversaries, they paid little attention to the law; they denounced the Red Terror, but they organized or tolerated a White Terror; they vilified the intervention of the State in the economy, but they gave free reign to businessmen greedy for scandalous speculation, and to corrupt deputies. Even historians hostile to the Montagnards admit that there was neither beauty nor grandeur in the reign of their enemies.

Lefebvre, pp.213-214


“We must be governed by the best citizens; ...those who are most educated and most interested in the keeping of the law….you will find such men only among those who posses s some property.”--Boissy d’Anglas

picture ca. 1820


“It is obvious that the property owners, without whose consent nobody would have either food or lodging, are that country’s leading citizens. They are sovereigns by the grace of God, of Nature, of their work, ...and [that] of their ancestors.”--Dupont de Nemours


Mme Gabrielle Dupont


“Madame de Staël, demanding the monopoly of power for the notables, claimed to be uniting in their ranks men of merit and men of wealth….”

Lefebvre, pp. 216-217picture ca. 1810


The Directory Begins


On 4 Brumaire, Year IV (26 October 1795), the Convention broke up; the Thermidorians abandoned power and right away, took it back again under cover of the Constitution of the Year III. Thermidorians and Directorials were all one: the same men, the same ends, the same means. They had outlawed the Jacobins and announced the return of liberty; but in destroying the organization of Year II, they had also ruined the assignat, abandoned the common people to the miseries of inflation, reduced the armies to impotence, and revived the hopes of counterrevolution. Then they had forced the electors to choose two-thirds of the new deputies from the Convention, broken the insurrection of the thirteenth of Vendémiaire, and revived the exceptional laws against the émigrés and the clergy. The whole history of the Directory lives up to these portents.

Lefebvre, pp.239-240


In the Year II the bourgeoisie had seen itself deprived of power: the nationalization of the economy...and the Montagnards...had put themselves at the head of the sans-culottes. [The bourgeoisie] had been frightened…. That is why...it became hard and gloomy in spirit. Its distrust of and contempt for the common people were revived...very little was needed to transform the bourgeoisie into a new aristocracy which would work unscrupulously to keep for itself all the benefits of the Revolution.

Lefebvre, p. 215


At the time the Directory was installing itself [November 1795], inflation was entering its final period. The assignatof 100 francs was worth from fifteen to sixteen sous [20 sous to the franc, so 0.75% of its face value], and prices were rising hour by hour.

Lefebvre, p. 264


In December, 1795 bread was selling in Paris at fifty francs a pound, or seven sous in metallic currency, whereas at the height of the food shortage in 1789 it had not exceeded four.

Lefebvre, p. 268


Since changing the name from livre to $anc in 1795 didn’t halt the inflation, the Directors thought ‘let’s try a new paper currency called mandat’ in 1796. But the Far Left had a better idea...


The “Conspiracy of Equals”• 1738-Babeuf ’s father deserted the French army for the Austrians.

Amnestied in 1755, he soon sank into poverty. He educated his son, but was unable to support the family

• Babeuf worked as a domestic servant, commissaire à terrier, who helped nobles and clergy assert their feudal rights over peasants

• 1789-freed by the revolution from this odious work, he became a revolutionary bureaucrat

• 1793-he joined Lindet’s Supply Commission and was involved with feeding the poor of Paris

• 1794-5--after Thermidor he became part of the “hard Left” resisting the political shift to the right

• he formed an underground group, Societé des égaux, (Society of Equals)

• Paris was placarded with posters headed Analyse de la Doctrine de Baboeuf [sic], Tribun du Peuple, of which the opening sentence ran: "Nature has given to every man the right to the enjoyment of an equal share in a% property", and which ended with a call to restore the Constitution of 1793.

François-Noël Babeuf

1760 - 27 May 1797

known as Gracchus Babeuf


Gracchus?


Gracchus?

Angelica Kauffmann, Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, 1785


Gracchus?

Caius Gracchusaddressing

the plebeians


radical journalism

THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLEGRACCHUSʼ NEWSPAPER


radical journalism


arrest • Babeuf 's song Mourant de faim, mourant de &oid ("Dying of Hunger, Dying of Cold"), set to a

popular tune, began to be sung in the cafés, with immense applause; and reports circulated that the disaffected troops of the French Revolutionary Army in the camp of Grenelle were ready to join an insurrection against the government


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolutionary_Army


Mourant de faim, mourant de &oid

“Dying of hunger, dying of cold, the people robbed of every right...newcomers gorged with gold, who have given neither work nor thought, are laying hold on the hive; while you, the toiling people, eat iron like an ostrich...A brainless double council, five frightened directors; the soldiers pampered and petted, the democrat crushed:

“Voilà la République!”

Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station, p. 74


arrest • Babeuf 's song Mourant de faim, mourant de &oid, began to be sung in the cafés, with immense

applause; disaffected troops of the French Revolutionary Army in the camp of Grenelle were ready to join an insurrection

• a police spy infiltrator reported that there was a conspiracy for an armed uprising on 22 Floréal

• 21 Floréal, l’an iv (10 May 1796)-on order of Director Carnot; Babeuf, his close collaborator Darthé, Lindet, Vadier, Drouet (of the “flight to Varennes”) and many others were arrested

• The government crackdown was extremely successful. The last number of the Tribun appeared on 24 April, although Lebois in the Ami du peuple tried to incite the soldiers to revolt, and for a while there were rumors of a military rising

• 20 February 1797-their trial began and lasted for two months. Although other more important politicians were involved the Directory portrayed the socialist Babeuf as their leader






Babeuf ’s speech at the trial

His defense, which lasted for six sittings of the court and fills more than three hundred pages, is an impressive and moving document [which was not published until 1884! jbp]. Babeuf knew well that he was facing death and that the Revolution was doomed. The French had been finally exhausted by the birth-throes of the seven years that had passed since the taking of the Bastille.All the fervor of which they were still capable was siphoned off into the revolutionary army, which that spring was being led by Bonaparte to the victories of the Italian campaign. At home, since the Terror, they were shy of violence, Babeuf had united with the last of the Jacobins, and the people had had enough of them. Uncompromising principles and the guillotine were inextricably associated in their minds; they were glad to be free to live, and a period of frivolity had set in….His defense is l ike a summing -up of the unrealized ideas of the Enlightenment and a vindication of their ultimate necessity. And it has moments of grandeur...

Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station, pp. 74-75


arrest and execution• Babeuf 's song Mourant de faim, mourant de &oid, began to be sung in the cafés, with immense

applause; disaffected troops of the French Revolutionary Army in the camp of Grenelle were ready to join an insurrection

• a police spy infiltrator reported that there was a conspiracy for an armed uprising on 22 Floréal

• 21 Floréal, l’an iv (10 May 1796)-on order of Director Carnot; Babeuf, his close collaborator Darthé, Lindet, Vadier, Drouet (of the “flight to Varennes”) and many others were arrested

• The government crackdown was extremely successful. The last number of the Tribun appeared on 24 April, although Lebois in the Ami du peuple tried to incite the soldiers to revolt, and for a while there were rumors of a military rising

• 20 February 1797-their trial began and lasted for two months. Although other more important politicians were involved the Directory portrayed the socialist Babeuf as their leader

• He and Darthé were sentenced to death. Some were deported, Lindet, Vadier and the other deputies were acquitted, former postmaster Drouet had been allowed to escape

• 8 Prairial (27 May 1797)-Babeuf and Darthé were guillotinedTuesday, September 14, 2010





Babeuf ’s Historical Importance

...Babeuf differed sharply from previous Utopians, who had all been more or less inspired by moralizing and asceticism and who had envisaged little more than a rural community….an incurable distrust of politicians, nor did he rely on the enslaved people whom it was...the revolution’s task to set free. That revolution would be carried out by the dictatorship of the minority, instituted by violence. It is probably in this idea that Babeuf ’s historical importance lies: he arrived at a clear concept of that popular dictatorship of which Marat and the Hébertists had spoken without defining it; ...he bequeathed it to Blanqui and then to Lenin, who turned it into reality.[emphasis added, jbp]



Corruption in the Directory

There is no doubt...that Tallien and Fouché, Barras and Talleyrand made money out of everything. Barras was openly associated with Ouvrard, the biggest speculator of the age and general contractor to the Navy, to whom he passed Madame Tallien when she started costing him too much; and when Talleyrand learned he was a Minister, his first reaction was to exclaim: “I must make a huge fortune!”

Lefebvre, p. 294


Then again, the whole country suffered from the dilapidation of the public services. The government officials were paid only at irregular intervals; the gendarmes sold their horses, which they could not afford to feed, at a time when brigands were scouring the country; the roads fell into disrepair. To relieve the budget, the cost of the courts, the central schools and public assistance had been transferred to the local administrations; they met this cost only by means of a special [tax], which was...inadequate, and which was as slow to come in as the [other] taxes.

The taxpayers showed no great eagerness to fulfill their obligations; they nonetheless lent a ready ear to the Royalist opposition which imputed to war, waste and corruption, in other words to the Directory, all the evils of which the financial crisis, so complex in its origins, was the inexhaustible source.



The difficulty was that the Directory occupied too narrow a band in the spectrum [of politics, left to right]. It was never able to broaden its base. Not even all moderates could agree on it. There were too many people who refused to accept it with any finality--Frenchmen who saw in it only an interim arrangement preceding one more to their liking, whether more royal or more democratic; and foreign powers, at war with it, which hoped and expected that if they waited long enough this republican experiment would collapse and be forgotten.

Palmer, Democratic Revolution vol ii, p. 216


french revolution-7 thermidor

Education

dictator robespierre

anger of robespierre

greater committee

prairial emphasis

committee of public

committee of general

public conscience

public oce