[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Safety, instituted in April, 1793, and composed of nine members. Directed at first by Danton, and in the
July of the same year by Robespierre, it gradually absorbed all the powers of government, including that
Page 93
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
of giving orders to ministers and generals. Carnot directed the operations of the war, Cambon the
finances, and Saint-Just and Collot-d'Herbois the general policy.
Although the laws voted by the technical committees were often very wise, and constituted the lasting
work of the Convention, those which the Assembly voted in a body under the threats of the delegations
which invaded it were manifestly ridiculous.
Among these laws, which were not greatly in the interests of the public or of the Convention itself, were
the law of the maximum, voted in September, 1793, which pretended to fix the price of provisions, and
which merely established a continual dearth; the destruction of the royal tombs at Saint-Denis; the trial of
the queen, the systematic devastation of the Vendée by fire, the establishment of the Revolutionary
Tribunal, &c.
The Terror was the chief means of government during the Convention. Commencing in September,
1793, it reigned for six months--that is, until the death of Robespierre. Vainly did certain Jacobins--
Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Hérault de Séchelles, &c.--propose that clemency should be given a trial.
The only result of this proposition was that its authors were sent to the scaffold. It was merely the
lassitude of the public that finally put an end to this shameful period.
The successive struggles of the various parties in the Convention and its tendency towards extremes
eliminated one by one the men of importance who had once played their part therein. Finally it fell under
the exclusive domination of Robespierre. While the Convention was disorganising and ravaging France,
the armies were winning brilliant victories. They had seized the left bank of the Rhine, Belgium, and
Holland. The treaty of Basle ratified these conquests.
We have already mentioned, and we shall return to the matter again, that the work of the armies must be
considered absolutely apart from that of the Convention. Contemporaries understood this perfectly, but
to-day it is often forgotten.
When the Convention was dissolved, in 1795, after lasting for three years, it was regarded with universal
distrust. The perpetual plaything of popular caprice, it had not succeeded in pacifying France, but had
plunged her into anarchy. The general opinion respecting the Convention is well summed up in a letter
written in July, 1799, by the Swedishchargé d'affaires , Baron Drinkmann: I venture to hope that no
people will ever be governed by the will of more cruel and imbecile scoundrels than those that have ruled
France since the beginning of her new liberty.
3.The End of the Convention.
The Beginnings of the
Directory .
At the end of its existence, the Convention, always trusting to the power of formula, drafted a new
Constitution, that of the year III., intended to replace that of 1793, which had never been put into
execution. The legislative power was to be shared by a so-called Council of Ancients composed of 150
members, and a council of deputies numbering 500. The executive power was confided to a Directory of
five members, who were appointed by the Ancients upon nomination by the Five Hundred, and renewed
Page 94
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
every year by the election of one of their number. It was specified that two-thirds of the members of the
new Assembly should be chosen from among the deputies of the Convention. This prudent measure was
not very efficacious, as only ten departments remained faithful to the Jacobins.
To avoid the election of royalists, the Convention had decided to banish allemigrés in perpetuity.
The announcement of this Constitution did not produce the anticipated effect upon the public. It had no
effect upon the popular riots, which continued. One of the most important was that which threatened the
Convention on the 5th of October, 1795. The leaders hurled a veritable army upon the Assembly. Before
such provocation, the Convention finally decided to defend itself, and sent for troops, entrusting the
command to Barras.
Bonaparte, who was then beginning to emerge from obscurity, was entrusted with the task of repression.
With such a leader action was swift and energetic. Vigorously pounded with ball near the church at St.
Roch, the insurgents fled, leaving some hundreds of dead on the spot.
This action, which displayed a firmness to which the Convention was little habituated, was only due to
the celerity of the military operations, for while these were being carried out the insurgents had sent
delegates to the Assembly, which, as usual, showed itself quite ready to yield to them.
The repression of this riot constituted the last important act of the Convention. On the 26th of October,
1795, it declared its mission terminated, and gave way to the Directory.
We have already laid stress upon some of the psychological lessons furnished by the government of the
Convention. One of the most striking of these is the impotence of violence to dominate men's minds in
permanence. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szamanka888.keep.pl
Safety, instituted in April, 1793, and composed of nine members. Directed at first by Danton, and in the
July of the same year by Robespierre, it gradually absorbed all the powers of government, including that
Page 93
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
of giving orders to ministers and generals. Carnot directed the operations of the war, Cambon the
finances, and Saint-Just and Collot-d'Herbois the general policy.
Although the laws voted by the technical committees were often very wise, and constituted the lasting
work of the Convention, those which the Assembly voted in a body under the threats of the delegations
which invaded it were manifestly ridiculous.
Among these laws, which were not greatly in the interests of the public or of the Convention itself, were
the law of the maximum, voted in September, 1793, which pretended to fix the price of provisions, and
which merely established a continual dearth; the destruction of the royal tombs at Saint-Denis; the trial of
the queen, the systematic devastation of the Vendée by fire, the establishment of the Revolutionary
Tribunal, &c.
The Terror was the chief means of government during the Convention. Commencing in September,
1793, it reigned for six months--that is, until the death of Robespierre. Vainly did certain Jacobins--
Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Hérault de Séchelles, &c.--propose that clemency should be given a trial.
The only result of this proposition was that its authors were sent to the scaffold. It was merely the
lassitude of the public that finally put an end to this shameful period.
The successive struggles of the various parties in the Convention and its tendency towards extremes
eliminated one by one the men of importance who had once played their part therein. Finally it fell under
the exclusive domination of Robespierre. While the Convention was disorganising and ravaging France,
the armies were winning brilliant victories. They had seized the left bank of the Rhine, Belgium, and
Holland. The treaty of Basle ratified these conquests.
We have already mentioned, and we shall return to the matter again, that the work of the armies must be
considered absolutely apart from that of the Convention. Contemporaries understood this perfectly, but
to-day it is often forgotten.
When the Convention was dissolved, in 1795, after lasting for three years, it was regarded with universal
distrust. The perpetual plaything of popular caprice, it had not succeeded in pacifying France, but had
plunged her into anarchy. The general opinion respecting the Convention is well summed up in a letter
written in July, 1799, by the Swedishchargé d'affaires , Baron Drinkmann: I venture to hope that no
people will ever be governed by the will of more cruel and imbecile scoundrels than those that have ruled
France since the beginning of her new liberty.
3.The End of the Convention.
The Beginnings of the
Directory .
At the end of its existence, the Convention, always trusting to the power of formula, drafted a new
Constitution, that of the year III., intended to replace that of 1793, which had never been put into
execution. The legislative power was to be shared by a so-called Council of Ancients composed of 150
members, and a council of deputies numbering 500. The executive power was confided to a Directory of
five members, who were appointed by the Ancients upon nomination by the Five Hundred, and renewed
Page 94
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
every year by the election of one of their number. It was specified that two-thirds of the members of the
new Assembly should be chosen from among the deputies of the Convention. This prudent measure was
not very efficacious, as only ten departments remained faithful to the Jacobins.
To avoid the election of royalists, the Convention had decided to banish allemigrés in perpetuity.
The announcement of this Constitution did not produce the anticipated effect upon the public. It had no
effect upon the popular riots, which continued. One of the most important was that which threatened the
Convention on the 5th of October, 1795. The leaders hurled a veritable army upon the Assembly. Before
such provocation, the Convention finally decided to defend itself, and sent for troops, entrusting the
command to Barras.
Bonaparte, who was then beginning to emerge from obscurity, was entrusted with the task of repression.
With such a leader action was swift and energetic. Vigorously pounded with ball near the church at St.
Roch, the insurgents fled, leaving some hundreds of dead on the spot.
This action, which displayed a firmness to which the Convention was little habituated, was only due to
the celerity of the military operations, for while these were being carried out the insurgents had sent
delegates to the Assembly, which, as usual, showed itself quite ready to yield to them.
The repression of this riot constituted the last important act of the Convention. On the 26th of October,
1795, it declared its mission terminated, and gave way to the Directory.
We have already laid stress upon some of the psychological lessons furnished by the government of the
Convention. One of the most striking of these is the impotence of violence to dominate men's minds in
permanence. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]