the sections
the day the convention proclaimed the constitution of the year iii., every one exclaimed: "the convention has signed its death-warrant."
in fact it was expected that, as in the case of the constituent assembly, it would, by a self-sacrifice little understood, forbid to its retiring members election to the assembly which was to succeed them. it did nothing of the kind. the convention understood very well that the last vital spark of republicanism was hidden within its own body. with a people so volatile as the french, who in a moment of enthusiasm had overturned a monarchy which had endured eight centuries, the children of the republic could not in three years have become so rooted in their habits and customs as safely to be left to follow the natural course of events. the republic could be adequately guarded only by those who had created it, and who were interested in perpetuating it.
but who were they?
who, indeed, save the members of the convention which had abolished the feudal constitution on the 10th of july and the 4th of august, 1789; which had overturned the[pg 243] throne on the 10th of august, 1792, and which, from the 21st of january to the time of which we are writing, had fought the whole of europe, had compelled prussia and spain to sue for peace, and had driven austria beyond the frontiers. therefore, on the 5th fructidor (august 22), the convention decreed that the legislative assembly should be composed of two bodies—the council of the five hundred and the council of the ancients; that the first should comprise five hundred members, upon whom should devolve the duty of originating bills, and the second two hundred and fifty, whose sanction should be necessary to make them law; that these two bodies should include two-thirds of the present convention, and that one-third only should therefore be composed of new members.
it remained to be seen who should have the responsibility of the choice. would the convention itself name those of its members who were to become part of the new body, or would that duty devolve upon the electoral colleges?
on the 13th fructidor (august 30), after a stormy session, it was decided that the electoral colleges should make the selection. the determination once arrived at, these two days were designated the 5th fructidor and the 13th fructidor, respectively.
perhaps we are dwelling a little longer than is necessary upon this purely historical portion of our work; but we are rapidly approaching the terrible day of the 13th vendémiaire—the first on which the parisians heard the sound of cannon in their streets—and we wish to fasten the crime upon its real authors.
paris then, as now, although in a lesser degree, since its centralization had lasted only four or five years at the time—paris was then the brain of france. what paris accepted, france sanctioned. this was clearly demonstrated when the girondins unsuccessfully attempted to unite the provinces.
now paris was divided into forty-eight sections. these sections were not royalist; on the contrary, they protested[pg 244] that they were attached to the republic. except for two or three, whose reactionary opinions were well-known, none would have fallen into the error of sacrificing so many citizens, among them some truly great men, for a principle, and then have rejected that principle before it had borne fruit. but paris, terrified at finding herself knee-deep in blood, stopped short three-quarters of the way and roused herself to fight the terrorists, who wanted the executions to continue, while the city was desirous that they should cease. so that, without deserting the flag of the revolution, she showed herself unwilling to follow that flag further than the girondins and the cordeliers had carried it.
this flag would then become her own, since it sheltered the remains of the two parties we have named. it would henceforth be that of the moderate republic, and would carry the device: "death to the jacobins!"
but the precautions of the convention were designed to save those few jacobins who had escaped the 9th thermidor, and in whose hands alone the convention wished to place the holy ark of the republic.
without suspecting it, however, the sections, fearful of a return of the reign of terror, served the royalists better than their most devoted friends could have done.
never had so many strangers been seen in paris. the hotels were crowded from cellar to garret. the faubourg saint-germaine, which had been deserted for six months, was crowded with returned emigrés, chouans, refractory priests, men who had been employed on the military trains, and divorced women.
there was a rumor that tallien and hoche had gone over to the royalists. the truth was that the latter had converted rovère and saladin, and that there was no occasion for them to hold out inducements to lanjuinais, boissy d'anglas, henry de larivière and lesage, who had always been royalists, even when they wore the republican masks.
it was reported that the royalists had made pichegru extraordinary offers, and that, although he had refused[pg 245] them at first, he had at last yielded to them, and that, for a million francs in ready money, two hundred thousand francs from the funds, the chateau of chambord, the duchy of artois, and the government of alsace, the transaction had been arranged.
much astonishment was occasioned by the great number of returned emigrés, some with false passports and under assumed names, others giving their real names, and demanding that they should be erased from the list of the proscribed; others with false certificates of residence, which vouched for the fact that they had never left france. decrees, insisting that all returned emigrés should return to their own districts, and there await the decision of the committee of public safety, were issued in vain. they found means to evade these decrees and to remain in paris. it was felt, not without uneasiness, that accident alone had not brought so many men of the same political faith to the capital at the same time. it was generally conceded that some malign influence was at work, and that at a given moment the earth would open beneath the feet of one of the numerous parties which abounded in paris.
a great many gray coats with black and green collars were seen, and every one turned to look at them. they were the chouan colors. wherever these young men, who wore the royal livery, were seen, brawls were almost sure to ensue, which thus far had passed for private quarrels.
dessault and marchenna, the most famous pamphleteers of the day, covered the walls with posters inciting the parisians to insurrection. old la harpe, the pretended pupil of voltaire, who began by vowing him the most servile adoration and ended by rejecting him—la harpe, after being a furious demagogue, during an imprisonment became a most violent reactionary, and insulted the convention which had honored him. a man named lemaistre kept a house in paris where the royalist propagande was openly carried on, and was in communication with several provincial branches. he hoped by increasing their number to convert france into[pg 246] one immense vendée. there was an important branch at nantes, which, of course, received its orders from paris. now lemaistre, as was well known, had given a splendid dinner to the electors of nantes, at the end of which the host, in imitation of the guards of versailles, had had a dish of white cockades served. each guest took one and fastened it in his hat.
not a day passed that did not bring with it news of the death of some patriot by clubbing. the murderer was always either an incoyable or a young man in a gray coat. these attacks usually occurred in the cafés of the rue de la loi, formerly the rue richelieu, at the restaurateur garchi's house, at the théatre feydeau, or on the boulevard des italiens. the cause of these disturbances was evidently to be found in the opposition made by the sections to the decrees of the 5th and the 13th fructidor, which had declared that the council should be composed of two-thirds of the members of the convention. it is true, as we have already said, that these two-thirds were to be named, not by the convention itself, as the sections had at first feared, but by the primary assemblies. still, they had hoped for a complete change, and for an entirely reactionary chamber.
a president had at first been talked of; but the monarchical tendencies of that proposed installation were so evident, that louvet, the girondin who had escaped being murdered, cried out at the convention: "yes, so that a bourbon may be appointed in a day or two!" on this hint, which showed that a presidency would inevitably lead to royalty, the council was led to propose an executive directory composed of five members, a majority of whom should rule, each member retiring by rotation, and appointing responsible ministers.
these propositions were voted upon in the following manner (for never, even in the most progressive days of the revolution, had elections been upon such a broad basis as now): votes were cast at two elevated stages which served[pg 247] as polling places. all citizens of the age of twenty-one met at the primary assemblies, on the 1st prairial, and selected the electoral colleges. these electoral colleges met on the 20th prairial to appoint the two councils. the two councils, in their turn, elected the directory.
