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The French Revolution; Volume 1。

                                          
The Origins of Contemporary France; Volume 2
                                           
by Hippolyte A。 Taine








CONTENTS:



ANARCHY



PREFACE



BOOK FIRST。   Spontaneous Anarchy。



CHAPTER I。  The Beginnings of Anarchy



CHAPTER II。  Paris up to the 14th of July



CHAPTER III。  Anarchy from July 14th to October 6th; 1789



CHAPTER IV。  PARIS



BOOK SECOND。  The constituent Assembly; and the Result of its Labors



CHAPTER I。  The Constituent Assembly



CHAPTER II。  The Damage



CHAPTER III。  The Constructions … The Constitution of 1791。



BOOK THIRD。   The Application of the Constitution



CHAPTER I。  The Federations



CHAPTER II。  Sovereignty of Unrestrained Passions



CHAPTER III。  Development of the ruling Passion









PREFACE



This second part of 〃Les Origines de la France Contemporaine〃 will

consist of two volumes。  … Popular insurrections and the laws of the

Constituent Assembly end in destroying all government in France;

this forms the subject of the present volume。  … A party arises

around an extreme doctrine; grabs control of the government; and

rules in conformity with its doctrine。  This will form the subject

of the second volume。



A third volume would be required to criticize and evaluate the

source material。  I lack the necessary space: I merely state the

rule that I have observed。  The trustworthiest testimony will always

be that of an eyewitness; especially



* When this witness is an honorable; attentive; and intelligent man;



* When he is writing on the spot; at the moment; and under the

dictate of the facts themselves;



* When it is obvious that his sole object is to preserve or furnish

information;



* When his work instead of a piece of polemics planned for the needs

of a cause; or a passage of eloquence arranged for popular effect is

a legal deposition; a secret report; a confidential dispatch; a

private letter; or a personal memento。



The nearer a document approaches this type; the more it merits

confidence; and supplies superior material。  …  I have found many of

this kind in the national archives; principally in the manuscript

correspondence of ministers; intendants; sub…delegates; magistrates;

and other functionaries; of military commanders; officers in the

army; and gendarmerie; of royal commissioners; and of the Assembly;

of administrators of departments; districts; and municipalities;

besides persons in private life who address the King; the National

Assembly; or the ministry。  Among these are men of every rank;

profession; education; and party。  They are distributed by hundreds

and thousands over the whole surface of the territory。  They write

apart; without being able to consult each other; and without even

knowing each other。  No one is so well placed for collecting and

transmitting accurate information。  None of them seek literary

effect; or even imagine that what they write will ever be published。

They draw up their statements at once; under the direct impression

of local events。  Testimony of this character; of the highest order;

and at first hand; provides the means by which all other testimony

ought to be verified。  … The footnotes at the bottom of the pages

indicate the condition; office; name; and address of those decisive

witnesses。  For greater certainty I have transcribed as often as

possible their own words。  In this way the reader; confronting the

texts; can interpret them for himself; and form his own opinions; he

will have the same documents as myself for arriving at his

conclusions; and; if he is pleased to do so; he may conclude

otherwise。  As for allusions; if he finds any; he himself will have

introduced them; and if he applies them he is alone responsible for

them。  To my mind; the past has features of its own; and the

portrait here presented resembles only the France of the past。  I

have drawn it without concerning myself with the discussions of the

day; I have written as if my subject were the revolutions of

Florence or Athens。  This is history; and nothing more; and; if I

may fully express myself; I esteem my vocation of historian too

highly to make a cloak of it for the concealment of another。

(December 1877)。



_________________________________________________________________



 BOOK FIRST。   SPONTANEOUS ANARCHY。



CHAPTER I。  THE BEGINNINGS OF ANARCHY。



I。



Dearth the first cause。  … Bad crops。  The winter of 1788 and 1789。

… High price and poor quality of bread。  … In the provinces。  … At

Paris。



 During the night of July 14…15; 1789; the Duc de la Rochefoucauld…

Liancourt caused Louis XVI to be aroused to inform him of the taking

of the Bastille。  〃It is a revolt; then?〃 exclaimed the King。

〃Sire!〃 replied the Duke; 〃it is a revolution!〃 The event was even

more serious。  Not only had power slipped from the hands of the

King; but also it had not fallen into those of the Assembly。  It now

lay on the ground; ready to the hands of the unchained populace; the

violent and over…excited crowd; the mobs; which picked it up like

some weapon that had been thrown away in the street。  In fact; there

was no longer any government; the artificial structure of human

society was giving way entirely; things were returning to a state of

nature。  This was not a revolution; but a dissolution。



Two causes excite and maintain the universal upheaval。  The first

one is food shortages and dearth; which being constant; lasting for

ten years; and aggravated by the very disturbances which it excites;

bids fair to inflame the popular passions to madness; and change the

whole course of the Revolution into a series of spasmodic stumbles。



When a stream is brimful; a slight rise suffices to cause an

overflow。  So was it with the extreme distress of the eighteenth

century。  A poor man; who finds it difficult to live when bread is

cheap; sees death staring him in the face when it is dear。  In this

state of suffering the animal instinct revolts; and the universal

obedience which constitutes public peace depends on a degree more or

less of dryness or damp; heat or cold。  In 1788; a year of severe

drought; the crops had been poor。  In addition to this; on the eve

of the harvest;'1' a terrible hail…storm burst over the region

around Paris; from Normandy to Champagne; devastating sixty leagues

of the most fertile territory; and causing damage to the amount of

one hundred millions of francs。  Winter came on; the severest that

had been seen since 1709。  At the close of December the Seine was

frozen over from Paris to Havre; while the thermometer stood at 180

below zero。  A third of the olive…trees died in Provence; and the

rest suffered to such an extent that they were considered incapable

of bearing fruit for two years to come。  The same disaster befell

Languedoc。  In Vivarais; and in the Cevennes; whole forests of

chestnuts had perished; along with all the grain and grass crops on

the uplands。  On the plain the Rhone remained in a state of overflow

for two months。  After the spring of 1789 the famine spread

everywhere; and it increased from month to month like a rising

flood。  In vain did the Government order the farmers; proprietors;

and corn…dealers to keep the markets supplied。  In vain did it

double the bounty on imports; resort to all sorts of expedients;

involve itself in debt; and expend over forty millions of francs to

furnish France with wheat。  In vain do individuals; princes;

noblemen; bishops; chapters; and communities multiply their

charities。  The Archbishop of Paris incurring a debt of 400;000

livres; one rich man distributing 40;000 francs the morning after

the hailstorm; and a convent of Bernardines feeding twelve hundred

poor persons for six weeks'2'。  But it had been too devastating。

Neither public measures nor private charity could meet th

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