Prev | Current Page 432 | Next

Taine, Hippolyte, 1828-1893

"The French Revolution - Volume 3"

"
IX. Vice.
The development of vice. - Vanity and the need of gambling. - Collot
d'Herbois, Ysabeau, Tallien. - The Robbers. - Tallien, Javogues,
Rov?re, Fouch?. - Two sources of cruelty. - Need of demonstrating
one's power. - Saint-Just in the Pas-de-Calais department, and in
Alsace. - Collot d'Herbois at Lyons. - Pressure exercised by the
Representatives on the tribunals. - Pleasure caused by death and
suffering. - Monestier, Fouch?, Collot d'Herbois, Lebon and Carrier.
Most of them follow this course, some instinctively and through
lassitude, and others because the display they make adds to their
authority. "Dragged along in Carriages with six horses, surrounded by
guards, seated at sumptuous tables set for thirty persons, eating to
the sound of music along with a Cortege of actors, courtesans and
praetorians,"[135] they impress the imagination with an idea of their
omnipotence, and people bow all the lower because they make a grand
show. - At Troyes, on the arrival of young Rousselin, cannon are
discharged as if for the entry of a prince. The entire population of
Nevers is called upon to honor the birth of Fouch?'s child; the civil
and military authorities pay their respects to him, and the National
Guards are under arms.


Pages:
420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444