登陆注册
14926100000175

第175章

Morris, in this universal delirium, can mention to Washington but one sane mind, that of Marmontel, and Marmontel speaks in the same style as Morris. At the preliminary meetings of the clubs, and at the assemblies of electors, he is the only one who opposes unreasonable propositions. Surrounding him are none but the excited, the exalted about nothing, even to grotesqueness[54]. In every act of the established régime, in every administrative measure, "in all police regulations, in all financial decrees, in all the graduated authorities on which public order and tranquility depend, there was naught in which they did not find an aspect of tyranny. . . . On the walls and barriers of Paris being referred to, these were denounced as enclosures for deer and derogatory to man." --"I saw," says one of these orators, "at the barrier Saint-Victor, sculptured on one of the pillars -- would you believe it? -- an enormous lion's head, with open jaws vomiting forth chains as a menace to those who passed it. Could a more horrible emblem of slavery and of despotism be imagined!" -- "The orator himself imitates the roar of the lion. The listeners were all excited by it and I, who passed the barrier Saint-Victor so often, was surprised that this horrible image had not struck me. That very day I examined it closely and, on the pilaster, I found only a small buckler suspended as an ornament by a little chain attached by the sculptor to a little lion's mouth, like those we see serving as door-knockers or as water-cocks." -- Perverted sensations and delirious conceptions of this kind would be regarded by physicians as the symptoms of mental derangement, and we are only in the early months of the year 1789! --In such excitable and over-excited brains the powerful fascination of words is about to create phantoms, some of them hideous, the aristocrat and the tyrant, and others adorable, the friend of the people and the incorruptible patriot, so many disproportionate, imaginary figures, but which will replace actual living persons, and which the maniac is to overwhelm with his praise or pursue with his fury.

VI. SUMMARY

Thus does the philosophy of the eighteenth century descend among the people and propagate itself. Ideas, on the first story of the house, in handsome gilded rooms, serve only as an evening illumination, as drawing room explosives and pleasing Bengal lights, with which people amuse themselves, and then laughingly throw from the windows into the street. Collected together in the story below and on the ground floor, transported to shops, to warehouses and into business cabinets, they find combustible material, piles of wood a long time accumulated, and here do the flames enkindle. The conflagration seems to have already begun, for the chimneys roar and a ruddy light gleams through the windows; but "No," say the people above, "those below would take care not to set the house on fire, for they live in it as we do. It is only a straw bonfire and a burning chimney, and a little water will extinguish it; and, besides, these little accidents clear the chimney and burn out the soot."Take care! Under the vast deep arches supporting it, in the cellars of the house, there is a magazine of powder.

___________________________________________________________________Notes:

[1] I have verified these sentiments myself, in the narration of aged people deceased twenty years ago. Cf. manuscript memoirs of Hardy the bookseller (analyzed by Aubertin), and the "Travels of Arthur Young."[2] Aubertin, ibid., 180, 362.

[3] Voltaire, "Siècle de Louis XV," ch. XXXI; "Siècle de Louis XIV," ch. XXX. "Industry increases every day. To see the private display, the prodigious number of pleasant dwellings erected in Paris and in the provinces, the numerous equipages, the conveniences, the acquisitions comprehended in the term luxe, one might suppose that opulence was twenty times greater than it formerly was. All this is the result of ingenuity, much more than of wealth. . . The middle class has become wealthy by industry. . . . Commercial gains have augmented. The opulence of the great is less than it was formerly and much larger among the middle class, the distance between men even being lessened by it. Formerly the inferior class had no resource but to serve their superiors; nowadays industry has opened up a thousand roads unknown a hundred years ago."[4] John Law (Edinbourgh 1672- dead in Venice 1729) Scotch financier, who founded a bank in Paris issuing paper money whose value depended upon confidence and credit. He had to flee France when his system collapsed and died in misery. (SR.)[5] Arthur Young, II. 360, 373.

[6] De Tocqueville, 255.

[7] Aubertin, 482.

[8] Roux and Buchez, "Histoire parlementaire." Extracted from the accounts made up by the comptrollers-general, I. 175, 205. - The report by Necker, I. 376. To the 206,000,000 must be added 15,800,000 for expenses and interest on advances.

[9] Compare this to the situation in year 1999 where irresponsible democratic governments sell enormous fortunes in the form of bonds to the popular pension funds, fortunes which they expect that the next generation shall repay. (SR.)[10] Roux and Buchez, I. 190. "Rapport," M. de Calonne.

[11] Champfort, p. 105.

[12] De Tocqueville, 261.

[13] D'Argenson, April 12, 1752, February 11, 1752, July 24, 1753, December 7, 1753. - Archives nationales, O1, 738.

[14] Characters in Molière's comedies. - TR.

[15] De Ségur. I. 17.

[16] Lucas de Montigny, Letter of the Marquis de Mirabeau, March 23, 1783.

[17] Mme. Vigée-Lebrun, I. 269, 231. (The domestic establishment of two farmers-general, M. de Verdun, at Colombes, and M. de St.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 浮华半生

    浮华半生

    我,叫若浮生,我从小便不怕各种毒虫毒蛇,她们的毒液伤害不了我,了却能转移到与我有着血缘关系的的人,之到,我的一段新生活的开始…
  • 黄昏年代

    黄昏年代

    这是一个魔法与科技,武力与智慧并存的时代。一个人拿着自己的枪行走在生存和毁灭的边缘,在黑暗中寻找着光明与未来
  • 武动云天

    武动云天

    平凡乞丐,逆天改命;武道杀戮,唯我独尊。
  • 云霄上的梦想

    云霄上的梦想

    凡人多烦恼,或为衣食奔波,或为庙堂操劳,然而求不得、爱难聚,红颜转瞬成白发,最终化为一抔黄土。修道就是要打破这个枷锁,探索长生,提升人的能力,这是人们亘古以来的追求,也是持之不懈的努力。夺天地之造化的修真者,被凡人看做高高在上的神仙,却也要时时为三灾九劫而烦恼,为天材地宝而奔波,甚至会因此而模糊了修道的初心,走入忘却自我的迷途,乃是戴着枷锁的神灵。追求自由、共担责任,靠众多修士的联合努力,一起挑战这命运的考验,成为云霄上神灵的梦想。而带头实现这理想的修士,注定要成为云霄上的英雄。
  • 血色蔷薇绽放之复仇杀手三公主

    血色蔷薇绽放之复仇杀手三公主

    曾经,天真,烂漫的她;快乐,活泼的她;好动,可爱的她,在一夜之间,仇恨使她们变得狠毒,冷漠!她们来到仇人的学校,展开了属于她们的复仇计划……
  • 灵曜苍穹

    灵曜苍穹

    一位腹黑的少年,一个异世的战魂,一条充满荆棘与鲜血的道路,一段流传万载的封神传说。看少年如何踏着鲜血与尸骨迈上顶点以手中长枪,破尽邪魔万千凭心中魂灵,灵曜苍穹万界
  • 阿閦如来念诵供养法

    阿閦如来念诵供养法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 玄水王朝(大结局)

    玄水王朝(大结局)

    她,冷酷、潇洒、神秘、可爱;“喂,请问一下,这还算是人吗?”她,武功、医术、才情、家世样样具备;“喂,请问一下,这还算是人吗?”在自己所爱和自己想走的路之间她会如何选择?“阿四,我让你失去了自由,老天罚我无法忘记你,不过,即使我也同你一样失去了自由,不过能够在你身边,值!”“皇后?不稀罕,烦!不过若是那样我便能名正言顺的站在你身边,我当!”“阿四,很抱歉,因为的自私让你受到那么大的压力,我回来是想陪你,帮你,可......既然事情是因我而起,那就让我来解决吧!原谅我的逃避,因为你的爱太博大了,我不敢要,也要不起!”谁说自古帝王都无情,谁说自古皇后要博爱。谁说自古皇子无亲情,谁说自古红颜均覆国!
  • 大宝广博楼阁善住秘密陀罗尼经

    大宝广博楼阁善住秘密陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 暴君BOSS,抱一抱

    暴君BOSS,抱一抱

    “我爱你,哪怕宇宙荒芜,我的魂魄也会化作漫天风雪陪着你!”洪荒初开时代,赢纣以燃烧元神的惨痛代价强行破开时空之门,送薰酒酒去往另一个空间,他则元神碎裂……重生后,薰酒酒突然开窍,振振有词对他道:“阿纣,我要嫁给你,给你生小猴子。”赢纣邪魅一笑,将她压在身下,强势堵住女孩的红唇低哑道:“本帝不才,除了一统万界,我的心愿,是想陪你烹雪煮茶,白首天涯,万家灯火,月落归家。”