2 10 56 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document In Paris and the large cities of France, there is a class of citizens that did not receive much attention during the Revolution. Holed up because of cowardice or by lack of emulation, only unwillingly did they take part in what was happening around them. They made their little calculations, resigned to their fate, yet [were] happy because they would not be the ones who would lose the most. Occupied with details, they could almost never see the big picture. They only live in the present and are too shortsighted to see into the depths of the future. Most of them have integrity, but being deeply concerned with their financial situation, they cannot always refrain from hoping that they might somehow make even a modest profit. Great passions, heightened feelings, anything that takes energy, strength, and a certain pride of spirit, is alien to them. They can be seen shrugging their shoulders, or looking stupidly at you. When being told about some patriotic sacrifice, they act as if they are hearing a foreign language. For the rest, they are egotistical, but this is not systemic. Rather, it is due to the fact that their hearts, compressed in the narrow scope of their education and their habits, could never find the room to grow. This is how the Paris bourgeois were before the Revolution, and how they are still, or very nearly. The bourgeois is not a democrat, or barely. He is a royalist by instinct. Sheep also look to a single leader. Nothing can make them stop following their shepherd, even though he shaves them so closely they bleed, sells them to the butcher when they're fattened up, or slits their throats for his own dinner. But sheep all alone, without a sheepdog or shepherd, would be confused and wouldn't know what to do with their freedom. The bourgeois is the same way. In the order of species he would be situated halfway between man and mule, and serve as the link between the two. He often has the straightforwardness of the latter and sometimes tries to think like the former . . . but at this he often doesn't succeed. Before the Revolution, several different types of bourgeois could be identified in Paris: the low, the high, and the moral [bonne.] Sometimes these last two are confused, and it might seem that they were one and the same. But that would be a big mistake. The high bourgeois is an aristocrat in the full sense of the word, but he does not have the energy or loyalty of the nobles. He is, however, proud to walk immediately behind them. This was the class from which municipal magistrates and other city officials were normally chosen. The good bourgeois was a lot healthier. This fairly large class included several families of strict magistrates and laudable attorneys, several businesses that deserved to be proud of themselves for never having failed to meet a commitment, even in the most difficult of times. There are also several influential men of letters, a few talented artists, several doctors, and a few good priests that belong to this class. Among the good bourgeois we find Voltaire, Hélvetius, Buffon, de Troyes, Coypel, Boulogne, etc. The petite bourgeoisie are in the middle, between the two previous kinds and the People. There were many of them, among whom were the lower clergy and retail merchants, bosses of small workshops, well-off artisans, clerks, and, especially lately, many writers. The Revolution has the biggest obligations to the small bourgeoisie, who were constantly and everywhere in evidence. It was they who contributed most effectively to containing the hordes of brigands that the Minister had let loose on us in the capital to try to make us abort the upcoming birth of French Freedom. One-third of the guard regiment was made up of small bourgeois. They have always sided with the people, who have not always treated them fairly. The high bourgeois never missed a chance to back the nobles, and every day they whisper how sorry they are that they are now extinct. Sortable Date 1791-03-12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Révolutions de Paris, no. 87 (12 March 1791), 453–60. Description An account of the resource The term "bourgeoisie" had many meanings in eighteenth–century France, from the most literal sense of "citizens of a city" to a more sociological meaning of talented and cultivated members of the Third Estate. Some eighteenth–century writers also used the term to refer to merchants. However, it did not yet connote upper–middle–class status or adherence to certain dominant social norms, as the term would suggest today. In this passage, from the newspaper Révolutions de Paris, the journalist distinguishes between the "bonne bourgeoisie," who he says are "aristocratic" and "monarchist by instinct" and who fear that any political change will cost money, and the "petite bourgeoisie," who are allied with "the people" and have shown themselves to be patriotic supporters of the Revolution. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 371 Title A name given to the resource Beware the Wealthy Bourgeoisie Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/371/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 12, 1791 Clubs Popular Politics Sans-culottes Text The Terror Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Society of Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen [Cordeliers Club] to the Representatives of the Nation (21 June 1791) Petition of the Cordelier Club (14 July 1791) We were slaves in 1789, we believed ourselves free in 1790, we are free at the end of June 1791. Legislators! You had allocated the powers of the nation you represent. You had invested Louis XVI with excessive authority. You had consecrated tyranny in establishing him as an irremovable, inviolable and hereditary king. You had sanctioned the enslavement of the French in declaring that France was a monarchy. Good citizens lamented and opinions clashed vehemently. But the law existed and we obeyed it, waiting for the progress of enlightenment and philosophy to bring us our salvation. It seemed that this so-called contract between a nation that gives everything, and an individual who gives nothing, had to maintained. Until that time when Louis XVI had become an ungrateful traitor, we believed that we had only ourselves to blame for our ruined work. But times have changed. This so-called convention between a people and its king no longer exists. Louis has abdicated the throne. From now on Louis is nothing to us, unless he become our enemy. . . . The Society of Friends of the Rights of Man considers that a nation must do everything, either by itself or through removable officers chosen by it. It [the Society] considers that no single individual in the state should reasonably possess enough wealth and prerogatives to be able to corrupt the agents of the political administration. It believes that there should be no employment in the state that is not accessible to all the members of that state. And finally, it believes that the more important a job is, the shorter and more transitory its duration should be. Convinced of this truth and of the greatness of these principles, it can no longer close its eyes to the fact that monarchy, above all hereditary monarchy, is incompatible with liberty. Such is its opinion, for which it stands accountable to all Frenchmen. It anticipates that such a proposition shall give rise to a host of opponents. But did not the Declaration of Rights itself encounter opposition? Nevertheless, this question is important to deserve serious debate by the legislators. They have already botched the revolution once because of lingering deference for the phantom of monarchy . . . let us therefore act without fear and without terror, and try not to bring it back to life. . . . Legislators, you have a great lesson before your eyes. Consider well that, after what has happened, it is impossible for you to inspire in the people any degree of confidence in an official called "king." We therefore call upon you, in the name of the fatherland, to declare immediately that France is no longer a monarchy, but rather that it is a republic. Or at a minimum, wait until all the departments and all of the primary assemblies have expressed their opinion on this important question before you consider casting the fairest empire in the world into the chains and shackles of monarchism for a second time. The society has decided that the present petition shall be printed, posted, and then sent to all the departments and patriotic societies of the French empire. Petition of the Jacobin Club (16 July 1791) The Frenchmen undersigned, members of the sovereign; Considering that in matters affecting the safety of the people, it has the right to express its desire in order to enlighten and direct the representatives who have received its mandate; that there has never been a more important question than that concerning the king's desertion; that the decree passed on 15 July contains no provision regarding Louis XVI; that while obeying this decree, it is important to decide promptly the matter of this individual's fate; that this decision must be based on his conduct; that Louis XVI, after having accepted the duties of kingship and sworn to defend the constitution, has deserted the post entrusted to him, has protested against this constitution by a declaration written and signed by his own hand, has sought to paralyze the executive power by his flight and orders, and to overthrow the constitution by his complicity with the men today accused of attacking it; that his betrayal, his desertion, protestation (to say nothing of all the other criminal acts preceding, accompanying, and following these) entail a formal abdication of the constitutional crown entrusted to him; that the National Assembly has judged him to this effect in taking over the executive authority, suspending the king's powers, and holding him under arrest; that new promises to observe the constitution on Louis XVI's part could not offer a sufficient guarantee to the nation against a new betrayal and a new conspiracy; Considering, finally, that it would be as contrary to the majesty of the outraged nation as to its interests to entrust the reins of the empire to a perfidious, traitorous fugitive; Formally and expressly demands that the National Assembly accept, in the nation's name, Louis XVI's abdication on 21 June of the crown delegated to him, and provide for his replacement by all constitutional means. The undersigned declare that they will never recognize Louis XVI as their king, unless the majority of the nation expresses a desire contrary to that contained in the present nation. Sortable Date 1791-07-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Albert Mathiez, Le Club des Cordeliers pendant la crise de Varennes et le massacre du Champ de Mars (Geneva: Slatkine, 1975), 45–47, 135–36. Description An account of the resource In the aftermath of the King’s failed flight in June 1791, the more radical clubs circulated petitions calling on the National Assembly to depose the King rather than grant him executive power as a constitutional monarch, under the new constitution. Below are excerpts from two such petitions, from the Cordeliers and Jacobin clubs, respectively; note that these efforts technically violated a law passed the previous 10 May, which had proscribed the circulation of petitions by clubs. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 390 Title A name given to the resource Champ de Mars: Petitions of the Cordelier and Jacobin Clubs Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/390/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 14, 1791 Clubs Popular Politics Public Opinion Text Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Blood has just flowed on the field of the federation, staining the altar of the fatherland. Men and women have had their throats slashed and the citizens are at a loss. What shall become of liberty? Some say that it has been destroyed, and that the counterrevolution has won. Others are certain that liberty has been avenged, and that the Revolution has been unshakably consolidated. Let us impartially examine these two such strangely differing views. . . . The majority of the National Assembly, the department, the Paris municipality, and many of the writers say that the capital is overrun by brigands, that these brigands are paid by agents of foreign courts, and that they are in alliance with the factions that secretly conspire against France. They say that at ten o'clock on Sunday morning, two citizens were sacrificed to their fury. They say these citizens insulted, molested and provoked the National Guard, assassinated several of the citizen soldiers; that they went so far as to try to kill the Commandant-General. And finally they say that they gathered at the Champ de Mars for the sole purpose of disturbing public peace and order, getting so carried away that perhaps it was hard to restrain themselves two hours later. From this point of view, it is certain that the Paris municipality could have and should have taken the severe measures that it did. It is better to sacrifice some thirty wretched vagabonds than to risk the safety of 25 million citizens. However, if the victims of Champ de Mars were not brigands, if these victims were peaceful citizens with their wives and children, and if that terrible scene is but the result of a formidable coalition against the progress of the Revolution, then liberty is truly in danger, and the declaration of martial law is a horrible crime, and the sure precursor of counterrevolution . . . . The field of the federation . . . is a vast plain, at the center of which the altar of the fatherland is located, and where the slopes surrounding the plain are cut at intervals to facilitate entry and exit. One section of the troops entered at the far side of the military school, another came through the entrance somewhat lower down, and a third by the gate that opens on to the Grande Rue de Chaillot, where the red flag was placed. The people at the altar, more than fifteen thousand strong, had hardly noticed the flag when shots were heard. "Do not move, they are firing blanks. They must come here to post the law." The troops advanced a second time. The composure of the faces of those who surrounded the altar did not change. But when a third volley mowed many of them down, the crowd fled, leaving only a group of a hundred people at the altar itself. Alas! they paid dearly for their courage and blind trust in the law. Men, women, even a child were massacred there. Massacred on the altar of the fatherland. . . . Sortable Date 1791-07-15 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Les Révolutions de Paris, no. 106, (16–23 July 1791), 53–55, 63, 65–66. Description An account of the resource On 15 July 1791, the Jacobins held a demonstration on the Champ de Mars in Paris to gain signatures for their petition. A contingent of National Guard soldiers, led by General Lafayette, fired on the crowd, killing at least fifty, in what became known as "the massacre of the Champ de Mars." To some observers, such as the radical newspaper writer whose account is reproduced here, the massacre proved definitively the counterrevolutionary desires of the royalists, the need for good patriots to mobilize on behalf of the more radical elements of the Parisian municipal council and the National Assembly, and the importance of taking direct action in defense of the "fatherland." Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 389 Title A name given to the resource The Massacre of the Champ de Mars [Parade ground], in the Révolutions de Paris Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/389/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 15, 1791 Clubs Popular Politics Public Opinion Text Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document August 17th. The hall in which the Jacobins meet, is fitted up nearly in the same style with that of the National Assembly. The tribune, or pulpit from which the members speak, is opposite to that in which the president is seated: there is a table for the secretaries and galleries for a large audience of both sexes, in the one as in the other. Men are appointed, who walk through the hall to command, or rather solicit, silence when the debate becomes turbulent at the club of Jacobins, in the same manner as the huissiers do at the National Assembly, and usually with as little effect: the bell of the president, and voices of the huissiers, are equally disregarded in stormy debates at both Assemblies. I have been told that some of the most distinguished members in point of talent and character, have lately with drawn from this society, and that it is not now on such a respectable footing as it has been. Robespierre, who was a member of the Constituent Assembly, and of course cannot be of the present, has great sway in the club of Jacobins, by which means his influence in the Assembly, and in the common council of Paris, is very considerable. There was not, properly speaking, a debate at the Jacobins to-day, but rather a series of violent speeches against him. I understand indeed, that of late the speakers are generally of one opinion; for Robespierre's partisans raise such a noise when any one attempts to utter sentiments opposite to what he is known to maintain, that the voice of the speaker is drowned, and he is obliged to yield the tribune to another orator whose doctrine is more palatable. There were abundance of women in the galleries; but as there were none in the body of the hall where the members are seated, I was surprised to see one enter and take her seat among them: she was dressed in a kind of English riding-habit, but her jacket was the uniform of the national guards. On enquiry, I was informed that the name of this amazon is Mademoiselle Theroigne: she distinguished herself in the action of the 10th, by rallying those who fled, and attacking a second time at the head of the Marseillois. She seems about one or two and thirty, is somewhat above the middle size of women, and has a smart martial air, which in a man would not be disagreeable. I walked home about nine: the night was uncommonly dark, my way lay across the Carousel, along the Pont Royal to the fauxbourg St. Germain. I have frequently come the same way alone from the Caffé de Foy in the Palais Royal after it was dark. I never was attacked, nor have I heard of a single street robbery, or house-breaking, since I have been in Paris. This seems to me very remarkable, in the ungovernable state in which Paris may be supposed to be since the 10th of this month. Sortable Date 1791-08-17 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Moore, Mordaunt: Sketches of Life, Characters and Manners in Various Countries, including the Memoirs of a French Lady (London: 1800). Description An account of the resource An observer of Jacobin club meetings in 1791, in the passage below, describes somewhat disorderly debates, in which speakers are shouted down from the rostrum and women participate openly. This is indicative of what this author sees as the "ungovernable" situation in Paris. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 402 Title A name given to the resource Women at the Jacobins Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/402/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 17, 1791 Clubs Popular Politics Text Women Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The nonjuring priests have sown division within almost all of the cantons of our department. Armed with the flame they took from the altar, they want to scorch the earth. The fatherly house is no longer the school of virtues. The father has taken up arms against the son, and respect and filial piety have disappeared. The mother is fleeing the temples . . . friendship seems to have abandoned the earth, which, in turn, wants to devour its inhabitants. Such are the problems that the priests have created. They penetrate every house, upset people's consciences, and seduce the weak. A few months ago, the bishop representing the eastern cities sent an administrator to be the parish priest of Grand-Sancey, in the district of Beaune [in Burgundy], where the local priest had not taken the oath. The administrator went to his post and then visited the county's public prosecutor to take the necessary steps in order to proceed with his installation. But the priest he was to replace soon learned about it. . . . All of a sudden, a deafening noise echoed throughout the parish that the inhabitants were going to lose their priest, and that he was to be replaced by a heretic. At the same moment, men, women, old folks, all hurried to the home of the public prosecutor and haughtily demanded, "Where is this heretical priest who comes to chase away our priest?" The administrator, named Vernier, tried in vain to escape. He was grabbed by the frenzied crowd and dragged from his house. They took him to the river to push him in. By some sort of miracle, he managed to escape, but not until he had endured a rain of insults and had to make a million promises. In Besançon itself, where they [refractory priests] are watched, they say that "a new Saint Bartholomew's day massacre is needed to bring back the old religion and reestablish peace in the city.". . . Fanaticism has spread throughout the department. Everywhere, the nonjurers have organized. . . . In the region of Pontarlier, made up of over seventy small towns, there are not ten constitutional priests. And, for lack of substitutes, the rest have not been replaced. Twelve nonjuring priests remain in Montliver, a large town in the same region, and keep themselves busy by tormenting those who had the courage to take charge of the parish . . . [other examples follow.] And Louis XVI grants the protection of his veto to these brigands! Sortable Date 1792-01-08 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived P. Robinet, Le Mouvement religieux à Paris pendant la Révolution, vol. 2 (Paris: 1896–1898), 141–43. Translated by Exploring the French Revolution project staff from original documents in French found in J.M. Roberts, French Revolution Documents, vol. 1 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1966), 387–88. Description An account of the resource A Jacobin club in Besançon in the Franche–Comté on the eastern borders of France sent this report to the Jacobin Club of Paris on 8 January 1792. The club sees the continuing presence of those who did not take the clerical oath to the new regime ["nonjurors"] as a destabilizing factor and is concerned that their agitation will turn to open resistance. This worry would become more and more widespread in 1793, particularly in the west, but the roots of the problem can be seen here. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 548 Title A name given to the resource Report by the Jacobin Society of Besançon on Refractory Priests Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/548/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource January 8, 1792 Clubs Counterrevolution Provinces Religion Text Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 3 August 1792 A delegation from Saint-Marcel came to request to be allowed to march under arms to the National Assembly with their brothers from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine next Sunday, the 5th of this month. Based on the unanimous agreement of all citizens making up the sectional assembly it was decreed: 1. That they would assemble with the citizens of the Faubourg Saint-Marcel promptly at nine o'clock in the morning on the Place de la Bastille; 2. That the drums would beat general quarters in the morning; 3. That the appointed commissioners would inform the other forty-seven sections, which would be asked to send notice of their wishes to the Assembly tomorrow evening, inviting them to assemble and conduct an armed march together. Citizens Desequelle and Huguenin have been appointed this task. 4. It has tasked citizens Duclos, Carré, Menant, and Leduc to teach their brothers The Marseillais and to invite them to join with them under arms. 4 August 1792 The Assembly sensed that the views of the mayor, as well as of those officers he sent to the assembly, were fair and decided that it would rescind yesterday's decision about tomorrow. The Assembly has decided to wait patiently and peaceably, and to keep a close watch until next Thursday at eleven o'clock in the evening, when it will announce its decision. However, if the legislative body fails to be just and fair with the people prior to Thursday at eleven o'clock in the evening, then at midnight they will sound the alarm and the drums will beat general quarters and everyone will rise up as one. 9 August 1792 ~It was decided that in order to save our country we would act upon a proposal by a member of the Paris section. This consisted of naming three commissioners per section who would join the commune and notify us of ways to promptly save the State, and that we would only take orders from the assembled commissioners from a majority of the assembled sections. Rossignol, Huguenin, and Balin were appointed to represent the Quinze-Vingts section. Then we heard the alarm sounded, and at that moment the Assembly went into permanent session. Afterwards, a letter arrived from Rossignol, one of the commissioners in the city hall, requesting that the alarm be delayed until the commissioners who had come together from the sections had taken the steps necessitated by the circumstances. A member proposed having the battalion assemble under arms, and the assembly, in the person of its president, ordered the second-in-command of said battalion to have it march to where our country's defenders were needed. [signed] Miette, secretary. Sortable Date 1792-08-03 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Philippe-Joseph-Benjamin Buchez and Prosper-Charles Roux, Histoire parlementaire de la Révolution Française (Paulin: Paris, 1834–38), 16:403–8. Description An account of the resource In late July and early August 1792, amid ongoing rancor over the King’s role in the government and fears that he would betray the nation to the invading Prussians, various Parisian sections began petitioning for Louis to be deposed. In the text below, the radical "Section of the 300" decides to join with other sections in a demonstration being organized against the King. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 405 Title A name given to the resource Proceedings of the Quinze–Vingts Section Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/405/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 3, 1792 Clubs Popular Politics Public Opinion Sans-culottes Text Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Legislators, when our country is in danger, all her children should hurry to her defense. Never has so great a peril threatened our country. We have been sent to this sanctuary of law by the commune of Paris to present the wishes of an immense nation. Imbued with respect for the nation's representatives and fully confident in their courageous patriotism, Paris has not despaired of the salvation of the people, but believes that for France's ills to be healed, they must be attacked at the source without waiting another minute. It is with sadness that Paris must hereby denounce the chief of the executive power. . . . We shall not retrace all of Louis XVI's misdeeds since the first days of the revolution: his bloody policies against the city of Paris, his predilection for nobles and priests, his aversion for the National Constituent Assembly, that body of the people has been outraged by court valets and besieged by armed men, as they wandered in the middle of a royal city, and found asylum only in a tennis court. We shall not retrace the oaths that have been broken so many times, protests ceaselessly renewed and ceaselessly belied by actions, until the moment when a perfidious flight opened the eyes of even those citizens who had been most blinded by the fanaticism of slavery. We shall put aside all that which is covered by the people's pardon, but to pardon is not to forget. Besides, it would be in vain to try to forget all these misdeeds. They will soil the pages of history, and will be remembered by posterity. Royal inviolability and perpetual changes in the ministry allowed the agents of the executive power to elude their responsibilities. A conspiratorial guard appears to have been dissolved, but it still exists; it is still funded by Louis XVI and sows the seeds of trouble which will yield a harvest of civil war. Priests, as agitators, abusing their power over timid consciences, turn sons against fathers and, from the sacred land of liberty, send new soldiers to march under the banners of servitude. These enemies of the people are protected by the appeal to the people, and Louis XVI upholds their right to conspire. . . . From without, enemy armies threaten our territory. A manifesto against the French nation, as insolent as it is absurd has been published by two despots. Treasonous Frenchmen, led by the King's brothers, relatives, and allies, are preparing to strike at the heart of the country. Already the enemy, at our frontiers is sending butchers against our warriors. . . . The chief of the executive power is the key link in the counterrevolutionary chain. He seems to participate in the plots of Pillnitz, which he has so tardily made known. Every day his name is in conflict with that of the nation, and has become a signal for discord between the people and its magistrates, between the soldiers and their generals. He has separated his interests from those of the nation. We, too, separate them. Far from having opposed the enemies without and within by any formal act, his conduct is a perpetual and formal act of disobedience to the constitution. As long as we have such a king, freedom cannot grow strong and we want to remain free. Out of the remnant of indulgence, we would have wanted to be able to ask you to suspend Louis XVI for as long as the danger to our country exists, but that would be unconstitutional. Louis XVI ceaselessly invokes the constitution; we invoke it in turn, and ask that he be deposed. As it is very doubtful that the nation can have confidence in the present dynasty, once this great motion is carried, we ask that the ministers named by the National Assembly from those outside its membership wield collective responsibility. They, in accordance with constitutional law and named by free men in voice vote, will wield executive power provisionally while waiting for the will of the people, our sovereign and yours, to be legally pronounced in a national convention as soon as the security of the State permits. Meanwhile, let all our enemies, whoever they may be, form ranks beyond our frontiers. Let the cowards and the perjurers abandon freedom's soil. Let three-hundred thousand slaves come forward for they will find before them ten million free men, as ready for death as for victory, fighting for equality, for their homes, their wives, their children, and their parents. Let each of us be a soldier in turn and if we are to have the honor of dying for our country, let each of us, before breathing his last, make his memory illustrious for the death of a tyrant or a slave. Sortable Date 1792-08-03 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Le Moniteur, no. 218 (5 August 1792), 916–17. Description An account of the resource Just after the Festival of 14 July, leaders of some of the more radical Parisian sections drafted, on behalf of the French nation, a petition calling on the Legislative Assembly to take emergency measures to ensure "the salvation of the people" by dethroning the King. This petition was presented to the assembly on 3 December by the mayor of Paris, Jérôme Pétion, and then printed as a pamphlet. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 318 Title A name given to the resource Parisian Petitions to Dethrone the King (3 August 1792) Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/318/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 3, 1792 Clubs Monarchy Popular Politics Public Opinion Text Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Paris 10 August, midnight, in session The 4th year of liberty, 1792 The indignation was so general that it was breaking out with no fear or restraint; everyone was expecting a terrible explosion; day and night, brave and valorous knights filled the chateau, which bristled with bayonets and cannon. Yesterday the fears intensified; nevertheless, there was no real threat to justify all this excitement, so just after midnight we went to bed. . . . [The next morning] upon entering the Assembly hall, I was greatly surprised to find the King, the Queen, the Prince, the King's oldest sister, Madame Elisabeth, and others [of the royal entourage] all very carefully dressed, with heads lowered like wet hens; they had all taken refuge in the National Assembly to seek there the safety which could no longer be found in the palace. The cannoneers, having being ordered to do their duty if the people were to force its way into the palace, had instead simply unloaded their cannon; knowing this, the King's closest advisers had advised him to flee the palace and come amongst the nation's representatives. [When I arrived], the National Assembly was not deliberating; [under the Constitution] it could not do so in the King's presence, although it urgently needed to. The King and the royal family could not be sent out, because they were done for if they left their asylum. After great and tumultuous debate, the King moved from the president's rostrum and his family moved from inside the rail, taking up places in the little box behind the rostrum, ordinarily used by journalists. Someone came to announce that the cannon filling the Place du Carrousel were aimed against the Tuileries Palace, which the people wanted to break down like the Bastille. After a short discussion, because time was pressing, the Assembly sent a deputation consisting of twenty of its members to speak to the people in the name of the law and to appease it by persuasion. . . . This deputation left at once, preceded by an usher and surrounded by a guard. I had the honor to be in it; although this was also nearly a misfortune, because we had barely reached the door of the Tuileries Palace when our eyes were dazzled by furious musket fire at the bottom of the stairway; at once, a second round; then a cannonade knocked down part of the façade. By God, we saw our death right before us! As we did not yet feel worthy to allow it to pass behind us, we stopped in our tracks and proposed a discussion, but a well-aimed cannon rejected our proposition. We then thought we had found a safe alternative of going to the other side of the Carrousel, preferring the cannon tails to the mouths; but scarcely had we emerged from the riding-school [in which the Assembly met] when a mass of sabers, pikes, and bayonets rushed from all sides, with indescribable rage, on our brave guards, who, angered by our obstinacy in advancing into the fire instead of retreating, finally grabbed us and swooped us back into the National Assembly. . . . [Back in the assembly hall,] brave sans-culottes had appeared at the rail and were promptly heard from. They explained to us that the sovereign people, making use of that sovereignty, had charged them to assure us of its respect, to affirm obedience to our decrees . . . and that we were the only constituted authority and there was no other in existence. They concluded by asking us to "Swear in the Nation's name to maintain liberty and equality with all your power or to die at your post." Seeing this declaration to be our only means of our salvation, all the deputies shouted eagerly and in a single voice: "I so swear!" The roll was called at once, and on the rostrum each deputy in turn pronounced the words indicated by the sans-culottes and the proposal was considered to be adopted. Our co-deputies, who had fled the hall earlier fearing for their lives, were now reassured by a declaration so easily pronounced . . . they returned to join us in session and showed the utmost courage in taking this charming oath, which they uttered with the greatest firmness, without troubling over the difficulty and even the impossibility for them of carrying it out. In the interim, a great brawl had broken out in the palace, in the Tuileries [gardens], and on the Champs Élysées. The Swiss guards, who had been deceived by the aristocratic instigators in the palace and had fired on the people . . . were now being hotly pursued and were defending themselves in the same way . . . so that corpses covered the ground. The royal palace had been pillaged, although everything of value had been carried scrupulously to the Assembly, which had in turn sent it to the Commune [i.e., city hall]; the people themselves did justice to those who concealed or stole the smallest thing . . . all the jewels, money, and other valuables found on the dead Swiss guards were carefully gathered up and returned; for instance, a true sans-culotte faithfully deposited 173 gold louis [equivalent to 3,460 livres] that he had discovered on the body of an abbot in the basement of the palace. Our sovereign people, truly French, respected the ladies of honor, or non-honor, of the court; they inflicted not the least scratch on them, ugly as certain of them may be; but they showed no mercy to the obsequious nobles of the court. . . . The King has been suspended from all his functions and powers; we have driven out his counterrevolutionary ministers and have named others worthy of public confidence. Louis, Antoinette, their children and hangers-on are still in their cell, the stenographer's box, from which they have not budged . . . and where their fare as this has consisted, deliberately, of scarcely more than bread, wine, and water. Good God, what a sight! It is really true that opinion is often all-important and that without opinion on their side the great, however great they may be, are nothing; these gods on earth, stripped and deprived of their masks . . . are now not even men, and in the end they have the same fate that false divinities have always had when the blindfolds of error fall away. Our assembly-hall commissioners are taking steps to prepare apartments for them in the former Capuchins' convent [next to the assembly-hall on the west]; for their majesties would run the risk of not being respected as they deserve if they were to go and stay in the Luxembourg Palace, which one of our decrees assigned to them today instead of the Tuileries Palace. Sortable Date 1792-08-10 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Camille Bloch, ed., La Révolution Française, no. 27 (1894), 177–82. Description An account of the resource In early August, the Legislative Assembly was deadlocked, unable to decide what to do about the King, the constitution, the ongoing war, and above all the political uprisings in Paris. On 4 August, the most radical Parisian section, "the section of the 300s," issued an "ultimatum" to the Legislative Assembly, threatening an uprising if no action was taken by midnight 9 August. On the appointed evening, the tocsin (alarm) sounded from the bell tower and a crowd gathered before the City Hall and headed toward the Tuileries Palace. As the King’s bodyguards prepared to defend him, Louis recognized that it would be more prudent to flee. He and his family escaped through a secret passage and placed themselves under the protection of the Legislative Assembly, which arrested him. A deputy, Michel Azema, describes in this letter, the dramatic events that came to be referred to as the "second French Revolution." Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 428 Title A name given to the resource The Journée of 10 August 1792 Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/428/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 10, 1792 Clubs Popular Politics Public Opinion Sans-culottes Text The Terror Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document At half-past two (in the morning) I received the somewhat reassuring news that it had been difficult to get the crowds to assemble, that the citizens of the faubourgs were growing tired, and that it looked as if they would not march. Soon afterwards (between three and four) it was reported to the ministers that Monsieur Manuel, the public prosecutor of the Commune had just given orders to withdraw the guns on the Pont-Neuf placed there by the Commandant-General in order to prevent the Faubourg Saint-Antoine from linking up with the Faubourg Saint-Marceau. The report added that Manuel had said to the Commune, "These cannon interfere with communications between the citizens of the two faubourgs. Together, they have to finish an important task today." The ministers discussed whether to replace the guns on the bridge despite Manuel's orders. At about four o'clock, I was summoned, I do not know by whom or how, to a room where the Queen was seated near the fireplace with her back to the window. I believe the room was that of Thierry, the King's valet. The King was not there. As far as I can remember, I went in by the door of the small room where the ministers, the commissioners of the department, and I had held our meeting. I assume she sent for me after one of the ministers had communicated the results of our conference. . . . She asked me what should be done in the present circumstances. I replied that in my opinion, it was necessary for the King and the Royal Family to go to the National [Legislative] Assembly. Monsieur Dobouchage (a minister) said, "What, you propose to deliver the King to his enemies?" "Not so much his enemies," I said. "You forget that they voted 400 to 200 in favor of Monsieur de La Fayette. In any case I propose this action as being the least dangerous." Then, in a very positive tone, the Queen said, "Monsieur, there are forces at work here, and it is finally time to know who shall prevail—the King and the constitution, or the rebels." "In that case, Madame, let us see what measures have been taken for the defense." Considering the circumstances, the Queen's remarks made me think that there was within the Palace a strong determination to fight and a faction that had promised the Queen a victory. I suspected that such a victory was needed to impress the National [Legislative] Assembly. All this filled me with confused fears of a resistance that would be both bloody and futile, and of a venture against the legislative body after the troops had withdrawn or been defeated. These anticipations added an unbearable burden to my responsibility. I insisted that the King should at least write to the National [Legislative] Assembly and ask for help. In these circumstances, seeing that the group seemed resolved to wait out events in the Palace itself, I proposed to the departmental council that we should go to the Assembly, communicate the most recent reports, and entrust the decision to their wisdom. This proposal met with their liking and we started to walk to the Assembly. When we had come to a point opposite the café on the terrace of the Feuillants, we met the two ministers coming back. "Where are you going, gentlemen?" they said. "To the Assembly." "To do what?" "Ask for help, beg them to send a deputation or to summon the King and his family to the Chamber." "That is just what we have been doing—quite unsuccessfully. The Assembly scarcely listened to us. They are not in sufficient numbers to issue a decree: there are only sixty or eighty members present." These considerations caused us to stop. Moreover, we saw a crowd of unarmed people running along the terrace who would reach the Gate of the Feuillants at the same time as us, and several members feared that we should be cut off. So we turned about and walked back to the Tuileries. The ministers went back up to the apartments. In the entrance my colleagues and I were stopped by some gunners who were posted with their cannons at the gate opening on the garden from the entrance-hall. In distressed tones a gunner said to us, "Gentlemen, will we have to fire on our brothers?" I replied, "You are here to guard this gate and prevent anyone from coming in. You will not have to fire at them unless they fire at you. And if they fire on you, they are not your brothers." Then my colleagues said to me, "You ought to go into the courtyard and tell that to the National Guards who are there. They all think they are going to be forced to attack and are tormented by the idea." Since I was tormented by the same thought after all that I had seen, I was very glad to do what they proposed. We walked through the hall and out into the courtyard. There were four or five pieces of artillery right in front of the Palace gate, as well as on the garden side. On the right there was a battalion of National Guards, grenadiers I believe, whose positions stretched from the Palace to the wall that closed the courtyard near the Carrousel. Parallel to them on the left was a battalion of Swiss Guards, and in the middle, at an equal distance from the Palace and the Royal Gate, were five or six artillery pieces facing the Carrousel. . . . "We must hesitate no longer," I said to my colleagues. . . . "If you agree, I shall go up now and explain to the King the necessity for him and the Royal Family to go and submit themselves to the Legislative Assembly." They said, "Let us all go." I ran to the palace followed by the others. . . . Sire," I said, "the department wishes to speak with your Majesty without any witnesses other than your family." The King gave a sign for people to leave, which they did. Monsieur de Joly said, "The King's ministers should remain at His Majesty's side." "If the King so wishes, I see no objection, Sire," I continued in an urgent tone. "Your Majesty has not five minutes to lose. There is no safety for you except in the National [Legislative] Assembly. The opinion of the department is that you should proceed there without delay. You do not have enough men in the courtyards of the palace to defend the building and their will [to fight] is in question. As soon as they were told to remain on the defensive, they unloaded their cannons." "But," said the King, "I did not see many people at the Carrousel." "Sire, there are twelve cannons, and a huge crowd is streaming in from the faubourgs." When we were under the trees opposite the café located on the terrace of the Feuillants, we walked through the leaves which had fallen during the night and which the gardeners had piled up in heaps. As they were in the King's path, we sank in them up to our knees. "What a lot of leaves!" said the King. "They have begun to fall very early this year." Several days before Manuel had written in a newspaper that the King would not last beyond the fall of the leaves. One of my colleagues told me that the Dauphin amused himself here by kicking the leaves into the legs of the persons walking in front of him. Since we progressed very slowly, a deputation from the Legislative Assembly met us in the garden, some twenty-five paces from the terrace. As far as I can remember, the President said, "The Assembly is anxious to contribute to your safety and offers to you and your family refuge within." At that point I stopped walking in front of the King. The King and his family reached the Assembly without hindrance. When they arrived at the gate of the passage leading into the building, there were several guards standing there and among them a National Guardsman from Provence, who placed himself on the King's left and said to him in his native accent: "Sire, don't be afraid. We are decent people, but we don't want to be betrayed any longer. Be a good citizen, Sire, and don't forget to sack those holy rollers out of the Palace. Don't forget. It's high time to do it." The King's reply was not lighthearted. He was the first to enter the Assembly. I followed him. There was a backup in the hallway which prevented the Queen and her son, whom she would not leave, from moving forward and following the King. I asked the Assembly if the National Guards who were obstructing the entrance, but could not go backwards because of the crowd behind them, could come into the chamber for a moment. Almost all of them were part of the Assembly's Guard. This caused a sharp hostile reaction in that part of the chamber called "the Mountain." Sortable Date 1792-08-10 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Pierre-Louis Roederer, Chronique de 50 jours, du 20 juin au 10 août 1792 (Paris, 1832), 352–79. Description An account of the resource The popular demonstration of 10 August 1792, occurred because the Legislative Assembly could not decide what to do about the King, the constitution, the ongoing war, and above all the political uprisings in Paris. On 4 August, the most radical Parisian section, "the Section of the 300s," issued an "ultimatum" to the Legislative Assembly, threatening an uprising if no action was taken by midnight August 9th. On the appointed evening, the tocsin (alarm) sounded from the bell tower, and a crowd gathered before the City Hall and headed toward the Tuileries Palace. The crowd overran the Swiss Guards defending the Tuileries Palace, from which the royal family fled. Here a member of the Paris municipality, Pierre–Louis Roederer, describes the scene. In Roederer’s account, it is the mob’s action rather than the vote of the assembly that deposes the King. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 391 Title A name given to the resource The "Second Revolution" of 10 August 1792 Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/391/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 10, 1792 Clubs Middle Classes – Bourgeoisie Popular Politics Sans-culottes Text Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Paris 10 August, midnight, in session The 4th year of liberty, 1792 The indignation was so general that it was breaking out with no fear or restraint; everyone was expecting a terrible explosion; day and night, brave and valorous knights filled the chateau, which bristled with bayonets and cannon. Yesterday the fears intensified; nevertheless, there was no real threat to justify all this excitement, so just after midnight we went to bed. . . . Upon entering the Assembly hall, I was greatly surprised to find the King, the Queen, the Prince, the King's oldest sister, Madame Elisabeth, and others [of the royal entourage] all very carefully dressed, with heads lowered like wet hens; they had all taken refuge in the Legislative Assembly to seek there the safety which could no longer be found in the palace. The cannoneers, having been ordered to do their duty if the people were to force its way into the palace, had instead simply unloaded their cannon; knowing this, the King's closest advisers had advised him to flee the palace and come amongst the nation's representatives. The Legislative Assembly was not deliberating; [under the Constitution] it could not do so in the King's presence, although it urgently needed to. The King and the royal family could not be sent out, because they were done for if they left their asylum. After great and tumultuous debate, the King moved from the president's rostrum and his family moved from inside the rail, taking up places in the little box behind the rostrum, ordinarily used by journalists. Someone came to announce that the cannon filling the Place du Carrousel were aimed against the Tuileries Palace, which the people wanted to break down like the Bastille. After a short discussion, because time was pressing, the Assembly sent a deputation consisting of twenty of its members to speak to the people in the name of the law and to appease it by persuasion. . . . This deputation left at once, preceded by an usher and surrounded by a guard. I had the honor to be in it; although this was also nearly a misfortune, because we had barely reached the door of the Tuileries Palace when our eyes were dazzled by furious musket fire at the bottom of the stairway; at once, a second round; then a cannonade knocked down part of the façade. By God, we saw our death right before us! As we did not yet feel worthy to allow it to pass behind us, we stopped in our tracks and proposed a discussion, but a well-aimed cannon rejected our proposition. We then thought we had found a safe alternative of going to the other side of the Carrousel, preferring the cannon tails to the mouths; but scarcely had we emerged from the riding-school [in which the Assembly met] when a mass of sabers, pikes, and bayonets rushed from all sides, with indescribable rage, on our brave guards, who, angered by our obstinacy in advancing into the fire instead of retreating, finally grabbed us and swooped us back into the Legislative Assembly. . . . [In the assembly hall,] brave sans-culottes had appeared at the rail and were promptly heard from. They explained to us that the sovereign people, making use of that sovereignty, had charged them to assure us of its respect, to affirm obedience to our decrees . . . and that we were the only constituted authority and there was no other in existence. They concluded by asking us to "Swear in the Nation's name to maintain liberty and equality with all your power or to die at your post." Seeing this declaration to be our only means of our salvation, all the deputies shouted eagerly and in a single voice: "I so swear!" The roll was called at once, and on the rostrum each deputy in turn pronounced the words indicated by the sans-culottes and the proposal was considered to be adopted. Our co-deputies, who had fled the hall earlier fearing for their lives, were now reassured by a declaration so easily pronounced . . . they returned to join us in session and showed the utmost courage in taking this charming oath, which they uttered with the greatest firmness, without troubling over the difficulty and even the impossibility for them of carrying it out. In the interim, a great brawl had broken out in the palace, in the Tuileries [gardens], and on the Champs Élysées. The Swiss guards, who had been deceived by the aristocratic instigators in the palace and had fired on the people . . . were now being hotly pursued and were defending themselves in the same way . . . so that corpses covered the ground. The royal palace had been pillaged, although everything of value had been carried scrupulously to the Assembly, which had in turn sent it to the Commune [i.e., city hall]; the people themselves did justice to those who concealed or stole the smallest thing . . . all the jewels, money, and other valuables found on the dead Swiss guards were carefully gathered up and returned; for instance, a true sans-culotte faithfully deposited 173 gold louis [equivalent to 3,460 livres] that he had discovered on the body of an abbot in the basement of the palace. Our sovereign people, truly French, respected the ladies of honor, or non-honor, of the court; they inflicted not the least scratch on them, ugly as certain of them may be; but they showed no mercy to the obsequious nobles of the court. . . . The King has been suspended from all his functions and powers; we have driven out his counterrevolutionary ministers and have named others worthy of public confidence. Louis, Antoinette, their children and hangers-on are still in their cell, the stenographer's box, from which they have not budged . . . and where their fare as this has consisted, deliberately, of scarcely more than bread, wine, and water. Good God, what a sight! It is really true that opinion is often all-important and that without opinion on their side the great, however great they may be, are nothing; these gods on earth, stripped and deprived of their masks . . . are now not even men, and in the end they have the same fate that false divinities have always had when the blindfolds of error fall away. Our assembly-hall commissioners are taking steps to prepare apartments for them in the former Capuchins' convent [next to the assembly-hall on the west]; for their majesties would run the risk of not being respected as they deserve if they were to go and stay in the Luxembourg Palace, which one of our decrees assigned to them today instead of the Tuileries Palace. Sortable Date 1792-08-10 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Camille Bloch, ed., La Révolution Française, no. 27 (1894), 177–82. Description An account of the resource In early August, the Legislative Assembly was deadlocked, unable to decide what to do about the King, the constitution, the ongoing war, and above all the political uprisings in Paris. On 4 August, the most radical Parisian section, "the section of the 300," issued an "ultimatum" to the Legislative Assembly, threatening an uprising if no action was taken by midnight 9 August. On the appointed evening, the tocsin sounded from the bell tower and a crowd gathered before the City Hall and headed toward the Tuileries Palace. As the King’s bodyguards prepared to defend him, Louis recognized that it would be more prudent to flee. He and his family escaped through a secret passage and placed themselves under the protection of the Legislative Assembly, which arrested him. A deputy, Michel Azema, describes in this letter the dramatic events that came to be referred to as the "second French Revolution." Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 319 Title A name given to the resource The Attack on the Tuileries (10 August 1792) Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/319/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 10, 1792 Clubs Monarchy Popular Politics Sans-culottes Text