" There was not a well-bred man who
did not live in dread of this; examine the lists of "suspects," of the
arrested, of exiles, of those executed, in any town, district or
department,[139] and you will see immediately, through their quality
and occupations, first, that three-quarters of the cultivated are
inscribed on it, and next, that intellectual culture in itself is
suspect. "They were equally criminal,"[140] write the Strasbourg
administrators, "whether rich or cultivated . . . . The (Jacobin)
municipality declared the University federalist; it proscribed public
instruction and, consequently, the professors, regents, and heads of
schools, with all instructors, public as well as private, even those
provided with certificates of civism, were arrested; . . . . every
Protestant minister and teacher in the Lower-Rhine department was
incarcerated, with a threat of being transferred to the citadel at
Besan?on." - Fourcroy, in the Jacobin Club at Paris, excusing himself
for being a savant, for giving lectures on chemistry, for not devoting
his time to the rantings of the Convention and of the clubs, is
obliged to declare that he is poor, that he lives by his work, that he
supports "his father, a sans-culotte, and his sans-culotte sisters;"
although a good republican, he barely escapes, and the same with
others like him.
Pages:
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732