" - "Marais
frogs"[6] is the appellation bestowed on them before the 2nd of June,
when, amongst the dregs of the "Center," they "broke" with the
"Mountain;" now, they still number four hundred and fifty, three times
as many as the " Montagnards; "but they purposely keep quiet; their
old name "renders them, so to say, soft; their ears ring with eternal
menaces; their hearts shrivel up with terror;[7] while their tongues,
paralyzed by habitual silence, remain as if glued to the roofs of
their mouths. In vain do they keep in the back-ground, consent to
everything, ask nothing for themselves but personal safety, and
surrender all else, their votes, their wills and their consciences;
they feel that their life hangs by a thread. The greatest mute among
them all, Si?y?s, denounced in the Jacobin Club, barely escapes, and
through the protection of his shoemaker, who rises and exclaims :
"That Si?y?s ! I know him. He don't meddle with politics. He does
nothing but read his book. I make his shoes and will answer for
him."[8]
Of course, previous to the 9th of Thermidor, none of them open their
mouths; it is only the "Montagnards" who make speeches, and on the
countersign being given.
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