[17] A few months later, the
offense becomes a capital crime, and people are to be guillotined "for
having voted against the Constitution of 1793."[18] Almost all the
ill-disposed foresaw this danger; hence, in nearly all the primary
assemblies, the adoption is unanimous, or nearly unanimous.[19] At
Rouen, there are but twenty-six adverse votes; at Caen, the center of
the Girondin opposition, fourteen; at Rheims, there are only two; at
Troyes, Besan?on, Limoges and Paris, there are none at all; in fifteen
departments the number of negatives varies from five to one; not one
is found in Var; this apparent unity is most instructive. The
commune of St. Donau, the only one in France, in the remote district
of Cot?s-du-Nord, dares demand the restoration of the clergy and the
son of Capet for king. All the others vote as if directed with a
baton; they have understood the secret of the plebiscite; that it is a
Jacobin demonstration, not an honest vote, which is required.[20] The
operation undertaken by the local party is actually carried out. It
beats to arms around the ballot-box; it arrives in force; it alone
speaks with authority; it animates officers; it moves all the
resolutions and draws up the report of proceedings, while the
representatives on mission from Paris add to the weight of the local
authority that of the central authority.
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