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BOOK VII.

Orators of the French Revolution

EVER within the history of mankind has there been a more unbridled outburst of human pas

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sion than in the great Revolution that overturned the feudal establishment of France, putting an end to a long era of cruelty and oppression. Terrible as was the Revolution, the sum of misery it occasioned was inconsiderable as compared with that caused by the system of which it was the legitimate termination. The former was dramatically centred within a few years; the latter had pursued its slow course through many centuries. We can well comprehend the fiery vehemence of the oratory to which the Revolution gave rise. In the veins of the orators burned the same intense flame of hatred which was shown in the frightful excesses of the people. First and greatest of them, Mirabeau, a member of the titled class, but a democrat in grain,-poured forth his thoughts in a torrent of fiery eloquence that has rarely been equaled. Vehemence was his forte, and his verbal blows fell as sudden and swift as the knife of the guillotine upon the necks of its victims. Those who followed him were of the same type. Danton, with his sledge-hammer sentences; Vergniaud, with his more polished but equally implacable speeches; Marat, in whom thirst for blood permeated his very words; Robespierre, uttering platitudes about God and the hereafter while his hands are reeking with the blood of his late friends and associates. The Revolution was a phenomenal event, and its orators were not the least of its phenomena.

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GABRIEL HONORE RIQUETTI, COUNT DE MIRABEAU (1749-1791)

THE DEMOSTHENES OF FRANCE

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MAN man of passion, of youthful vices, of disorderly habits, of dangerous intrigues, rebellious at once against father and State, Mirabeau might have died unknown to fame had not the States General of 1789 given him an opportunity for the display of his remarkable eloquence, and the exertion of his gigantic energy against the system of oppression and injustice which had so long afflicted France. It was with difficulty that he obtained an election to that body, but once there, "He trod the tribune with the supreme authority of a master and the imperial air of a king." One of his critics says: "He was a man who, by his qualities no less than by the singularity of his fortune, is destined to take his place in history by the side of the Demosthenes, the Gracchi, and the other kindred spirits of an antiquity whose gigantic characteristics he so frequently reproduced." Vehement and imperious in temper, irresistible in his command over an audience, he swayed the States-General at his will, and had he lived the Revolution might have taken quite another form than that hideous one by which it made itself execrable.

As concerns the oratory of Mirabeau, Carlyle says, "His short and pithy sentences became the watchwords of the Revolution; his ges tures were commands, his motions were coups d'etat." Macaulay thus compares him with Chatham, England's most famous orator: "Sudden bursts which seemed to be the effect of inspiration, short sentences which came like lightning, dazzling, burning, striking down everything before them, in these chiefly lay the oratorical power both of Chatham and Mirabeau. There have been far greater speak

ers and far greater statesmen than either of them; but we doubt

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whether any men have, in modern times, exercised such vast personal influence over stormy and divided assemblies." Mirabeau did not live till the whirlwind of the Revolution reached its height. The rein fell from his hands on April 2, 1791, when he lay down in death, his last words a prose poem of the materialistic faith: "Envelop me with perfumes and crown me with flowers, that I may pass away into everlasting sleep."

AND YET YOU DELIBERATE

[Of Mirabeau's orations, one of the most characteristic was that upon a project of Necker, the distinguished financier, for tiding over the financial difficulties which troubled alike the Court and the States-General. We give the peroration of this famous and powerful speech.]

In the midst of this tumultous debate can I not bring you back to the question of the deliberation by a few simple questions. Deign, gentlemen, to hear me and to vouchsafe a reply.

Have we any other plan to substitute for the one he proposes? "Yes," cries some one in the assembly! I conjure the one making this reply of "Yes" to consider that this plan is unknown; that it would take time to develop, examine, and demonstrate it; that even were it at once submitted to our deliberation, its author may be mistaken; were he even free of all error, it might be thought he was wrong, for when the whole world is wrong, the whole world makes wrong right. The author of this other project in being right might be wrong against the world, since without the assent of public opinion the greatest talents could not triumph over such circumstances.

And I-I myself-do not believe the methods of M. Necker the very best possible. But Heaven preserve me in such a critical situation from opposing my views to his! Vainly I might hold them preferable! One does not in a moment rival an immense popularity achieved by brilliant services; a long experience, the reputation of the highest talent as a financier, and, it can be added, a destiny such as has been achieved by no other man!

Let us then return to this plan of M. Necker. But have we the time to examine, to prove its foundation, to verify its calculations? No, no, a thousand times no! Insignificant questions, hazardous conjectures, doubts and gropings, these are all that at this moment are in our power. What shall we accomplish by rejecting this deliberation? Miss our deci. sive moment, injure our self-esteem by changing something we neither know nor understand, and diminish by our indiscreet intervention the influence of a minister whose financial credit is, and ought to be, much

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greater than our own. Gentlemen, there assuredly is in this neither wisdom nor foresight. Does it even show good faith? If no less solemn declarations guarantee our respect for the public faith, our horror of the infamous word "bankruptcy," I might dare to scrutinize the secret motives which make us hesitate to promulgate an act of patriotic devotion which will be inefficacious if not done immediately and with full confidence. I would say to those who familiarize themselves with the idea of failing to keep the public faith, either by fear of taxes or of excessive sacrifices: What is bankruptcy, if not the most cruel, the most iniquitous, the most unequal, the most disastrous of imposts? My friends, hear but a word-a single word :

Two centuries of depredations and brigandage have made the chasm in which the kingdom is ready to engulf itself. We must close this fearful abyss. Well, here is a list of French proprietors. Choose among the richest, thus sacrificing the least number of citizens. But choose! For must not a small number perish to save the mass of the people? Well, these two thousand notables possess enough to make up the deficit. This will restore order in the finances and bring peace and prosperity to the kingdom.

Strike, immolate without pity these wretched victims, cast them into the abyss until it is closed! You recoil in horror, inconsistent and pusillanimous men! Do you not see that in decreeing bankruptcy, or what is still more odious, in rendering it inevitable, without decreeing it, you do a deed a thousand times more criminal, and-folly inconceivable—gratuitously criminal? For at least this horrible sacrifice would cause the disappearance of the deficit. But do you imagine that in refusing to pay, you will cease to owe? Do you believe that the thousands, the millions of men, who will lose in an instant, by the terrible explosion or its repercussion, all that made the consolation of their lives, and constituted, perhaps, the sole means of their support, would leave you peaceably to enjoy your crime? Stoical contemplators of the incalculable evils, which this catastrophe would disgorge upon France! Impassive egotists who think that these convulsions of despair and misery shall pass like so many others, and the more rapidly as they are the more violent! Are you sure that so many men without bread will leave you tranquilly to the enjoyment of those dainties, the number and delicacy of which you are unwilling to diminish! No! you will perish, and in the universal conflagration you do not hesitate to kindle, the loss of your honor will not save a single one of your detestable enjoyments.

Look where we are going! . . . I hear you speak of patriotism, and the elan of patriotism, of invocations to patriotism. Ah! do not prostitute

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It is so very magnani

the words, "country" and "patriotism"! mous-the effort to give a portion of one's revenue to save all of one's possessions! This, gentlemen, is only simple arithmetic; and he who hesitates cannot disarm indignation except by the contempt he inspires through his stupidity. Yes, gentlemen, this is the plainest prudence, the commonest wisdom. It is your gross material interest I invoke. I shall not say to you as formerly: Will you be the first to exhibit to the nations the spectacle of a people assembled to make default in their public obligations? I shall not say again: What titles have you to liberty? What means remain to you to preserve it, if in your first act you surpass the turpitude of the most corrupt governments; if the first care of your vigilant co-operation is not for the guarantee of your constitution? I tell you, you will all be dragged into a universal ruin, and you yourselves have the greatest interests in making the sacrifices the Government asks of you. Vote, then, for this extraordinary subsidy; and it may be sufficient. Vote for it,-for if you have any doubts on the means adopted (vague and unenlightened doubts), you have none as to its necessity, or our inability to provide an immediate substitute. Vote, then, because public necessity admits no delay, and we shall be held accountable for any delay that occurs. Beware of asking for time! Misfortune never grants it!

Gentlemen, apropos of a ridiculous disturbance at the Palais Royal, of a laughable insurrection, which never had any importance save in the weak imaginations or perverted designs of a few faith-breakers, you have heard these mad words: "Catiline is at the gates of Rome! And yet you deliberate ! "

And certainly there has been about us no Catiline, no peril, no faction, no Rome. But to-day bankruptcy-hideous bankruptcy—is here; it threatens to consume you, your properties, your honor! And yet you deliberate!

THE PRIVILEGED AND THE PEOPLE

[A second brief extract will further serve to show the impetuous and striking character of Mirabeau's oratory.]

In all countries, in all ages, have aristocrats implacably pursued the friends of the people; and when, by I know not what combination of fortune, such a friend has uprisen from the very bosom of the aristocracy, it has been at him pre-eminently that they have struck, eager to inspire wider terror by the elevation of their victim. So perished the last of the Gracchi by the hands of the Patricians. But, mortally smitten, he flung dust towards heaven, calling the avenging gods to witness: and from

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