Old and New Paris Part 19

Some time afterwards two women were arrested at Corbeil and thrown into prison at Paris. They were accused of believing and saying to everyone that the Maid of Orleans was sent from G.o.d; that Jesus often appeared to her, and that the last time she had seen Him He was clothed in a long white robe with a scarlet cloak above it. The elder of the two women refused to retract, and was consequently, on the 3rd of September, 1430, burnt alive.

Some time after the burning of the Maid herself at Rouen, an inquisitor of the Jacobin order, master in theology, preached at Paris in the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; and his sermon was nothing less than a violent satire against the courageous girl. He said in the pulpit that from the age of fourteen she had been in the habit of wearing men's clothes; that her parents would have killed her had they not been afraid of wounding their conscience; that she quitted her family accompanied by the devil, and became a slayer of Christians; and that since that time she had committed an infinity of murders; that in prison she caused herself to be waited on like a lady, and the devils came to her in the form of St. Catherine, St. Marguerite, and St. Michael. He added that, having been frightened into quitting her man's apparel to dress like a woman, the devil made her resume her customary dress, though he did not come to her succour at her execution as she had expected.

This monk said moreover in this remarkable sermon that there were four Maids: namely, the two taken at Corbeil, one of whom was burnt at Paris; Jeanne d'Arc, burnt at Rouen; and the fourth, called Catherine de la Roch.e.l.le, who followed the army of Charles VII., and who had visions like Joan of Arc.

Ten years after the execution of Joan of Arc another Maid appeared, and the people firmly believed that this was the same one who had been burnt at Rouen, and who had miraculously risen from the dead. Another version was that someone had been executed in her place.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUE CASTIGLIONE.]

"What appears strange," says Dulaure in the "Singularites Historiques,"

"and what perhaps suggested the idea put forth in our century that Joan of Arc was not burnt, and that she even left descendants, is that the inhabitants of Orleans who saw this Maid took her for Joan of Arc, and in consequence paid her much honour."

The University and the Parliament of Paris, who ten years before had condemned the veritable Maid, wished now to deceive the people. They brought the false Maid by force to Paris, exhibited her publicly in the princ.i.p.al court of the Palace of Justice, and made her stand up on the famous marble slab and there p.r.o.nounce a biographical confession, in which she declared that she was not a Maid; that she had been married to a knight by whom she had had two sons; that in a moment of anger against one of her neighbours, instead of striking one of the women she quarrelled with she struck her mother who was holding her back; that she had also struck priests or clerks in defence of her own honour, and that to obtain absolution for her crime she had been to Rome, and in order to make the journey in safety had put on man's clothes; finally, that she had served as a soldier in the army of the Pope, and while so serving had committed two homicides. The speech and the ceremony being finished, the Maid left Paris and returned to the war.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FIRST NIGHT AT THE COMeDIE FRANcAISE.--THE FOYER.]

CHAPTER XV.

THE JACOBIN CLUB.

The Jacobins--Chateaubriand's Opinion of Them--Arthur Young's Descriptions--The New Club.

Between the Church of St. Roch and the Place Vendome is the Rue du Marche and the Marche, or market, itself; chiefly interesting at the present day as occupying the ground on which stood the ancient Monastery of the Jacobins, where from 1791 to 1794--from before the beginning until the very end of the Reign of Terror--the meetings of the famous Jacobin Club were held.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MIRABEAU.]

The name of Jacobin soon became familiar in England, and, as in France itself when the fury of the Revolution was quite at an end, was often applied as a term of reproach to all persons of Liberal ideas. The word, however, is now chiefly known among us from the _Anti-Jacobin_ of Canning and Frere, and latterly from the excellent, but short-lived, weekly newspaper of the same name edited by Mr. Frederick Greenwood.

Under the Restoration, everyone in France who was not an ardent supporter of the ancient monarchy was called a Jacobin. But though towards the end of the Revolution Jacobinism became something hateful indeed, the principles which first brought the Jacobins together were such as neither lovers of liberty nor lovers of order could object to.

In 1789 a number of popular a.s.sociations were rapidly organised; this being the natural result of the reactionary feeling against a system which had subjected books, newspapers, and even conversation in public places (such as cafes) to a rigid censorship supported by officials and by spies. A pa.s.sion suddenly arose throughout France for public speaking, and in a thousand different a.s.semblies orators were formed.

The States-General had just met; and, not content with the formal sittings, the deputies loved to address in a direct manner the outside public. With this view, the deputies from Brittany established a club called the Breton Club, which was joined by other deputies, and which presently changed its t.i.tle to "Society of the Friends of the Const.i.tution." This a.s.sociation included men of all shades of politics, who were afterwards to make war upon one another. Among the most famous may be mentioned Sieyes, Volney, Barnave, Petion, Barrere, Lameth, Robespierre, the Duke of Orleans (Philippe egalite), the Duke de La Rochefoucauld, Boissy d'Anglas, Talleyrand, La Fayette, and Mirabeau.

The Society had its head-quarters at Versailles, in a building called Le Reposoir, which, later on, became a Protestant church.

After the days of October the a.s.sembly followed the King to Paris; and the famous club was established, first in a large hall which served as library to the Dominican monks at the convent of the Rue Saint-Honore, and afterwards, when this order had been dissolved, in the Convent Church. As the Dominicans were more generally spoken of as the Jacobins, the latter name was soon applied to the Friends of the Const.i.tution, who willingly adopted it. The same thing, strangely enough, happened to the Cordeliers and the Feuillants; so that the princ.i.p.al Revolutionary parties got to be known throughout Europe by appellations formerly monastic.

What is still more curious is that the last of the Jacobin monks (in 1789 and 1790) took part in the meetings of which their convent was the scene, as, in like manner, did the last members of the Order of Cordeliers. The Jacobin Club possessed a large staff of officers, including a president, vice-president, four secretaries, twelve inspectors, four censors, eight commissaries, treasurer, and librarian, all appointed at quarterly elections. The privilege of membership was only granted under very strict conditions, and every newly-elected Jacobin had, before being formally admitted, to take the following oath:--

"I swear to live free or die; to remain faithful to the principles of the Const.i.tution; to obey the laws; to cause them to be respected; to help with all my might to make them perfect; and to conform to the customs and regulations of the society."

The sittings were held, first three, then four times a week. Little by little, however, the usual course in such a.s.semblies was drifted into.

The leaders went to extremes, and soon the most extravagant of them obtained the largest following. Then the moderate members retired to form counter-a.s.sociations, until in time the hostile organisations made war upon one another, with the guillotine as their final weapon.

"The Jacobins," says Michelet, "by their _esprit de corps_, which went on constantly increasing, by their hardened, uncompromising faith, by their harsh, inquisitorial ways, had something of a priestly character.

They formed a sort of revolutionary clergy."

Another great admirer of the Revolution, and especially of Robespierre, in whom the principle of Jacobinism was incarnate, sums up the Jacobin spirit in the following words:--

"Hatred of the conventional inequalities of former times, of unalterable beliefs, a sort of methodical fanaticism, intolerance of all that interfered with the development of the most daring innovations, and, fundamentally, a pa.s.sion for regular forms; these, whatever may be said on the subject, were the components of the Jacobin spirit. The true Jacobin had something about him at once powerful, original and sombre.

He stood midway between the agitator and the statesman; between the Protestant and the Monk; between the inquisitor and the tribune. Hence that ferocious vigilance transformed into a virtue: that spy system raised to the rank of a patriotic organisation: and that mania for denunciation, which made people at first laugh, and at last tremble."

France, like England soon afterwards, had its _Anti-Jacobin_. _Les Sabbats Jacobites_ was the t.i.tle of the French publication, and the Jacobin "mania for denunciation" was thus satirised in its columns:--

Je denonce l'Allemagne, Le Portugal et l'Espagne, Le Mexique et la Champagne, La Sardaigne et le Perou.

Je denonce l'ltalie, L'Afrique et la Barbarie, L'Angleterre et la Russie Sans meme excepter Moscou.

In spite of these attacks and a thousand others, the importance of the Jacobin Club went on constantly increasing; and at the funeral of Mirabeau, who died in the first year of the Revolution, the President of the Jacobin Club marched side by side with the President of the National a.s.sembly, and had precedence of the Ministers. After the death of Mirabeau the influence of the Lameths, the Duports, the Barnaves, etc., gave way to that of Robespierre, in whom, says Louis Blanc, "Jacobinism in its extremest points was personified."

Chateaubriand, the Royalist, ought, however, to be heard on this subject as well as Louis Blanc, the Republican; and this is what the former writes in his "Essay on Revolutions," published in 1797:--

"Much has been said about the Jacobins, but few people have known them. Nearly everyone rushes into declamations, and publishes the crimes of this society without enlightening us as to the general principle which directed its views. This principle consisted in a system of perfection towards which the first step to take was to restore the laws of Lycurgus. If, moreover, it be considered that France is indebted to the Jacobins for its numerous armies, courageous and disciplined; that it was the Jacobins who found the means of paying them, and of victualling a country without resources and surrounded by enemies; that it was they who created a navy as if by miracle, and who, through intrigues and money, ensured the neutrality of some of the powers; that under their reign the greatest discoveries in natural history were made, and great generals formed; that, in a word, they gave vigour to a warlike body, and, so to say, organised anarchy; one must then of necessity admit that these monsters, escaped from h.e.l.l, had infernal talents."

In 1791 the Jacobins were still Royalists, not from attachment to the Monarchy, but from a scrupulous regard for Const.i.tutional legality.

Nevertheless, after the flight to Varennes they departed from their former principles so far as to demand the abdication of the king. The next day, however, on the proposition of Robespierre, they returned to their customary prudence, p.r.o.nounced against the Republic, and sent commissaries to the Champ de Mars to take back their demand.

In connection with most of the great revolutionary events their conduct was the same, though the aristocratic Jacobins of 1789 had now quitted the society, to be replaced by men of extreme views--journalists, orators, and members of the National a.s.sembly, who desired to place themselves in direct contact with the outside world.

Among the questions put to candidates for election to the Jacobin Club were the following: "What were you in 1789? What have you done since?

What was your fortune until 1789, and what is it now?" Every candidate was bound to answer all questions addressed to him, and he was to do this publicly in a loud voice. Anyone rejected by the Jacobin Club became at once an object of suspicion; and to be denounced by the Jacobin leaders was to receive a sentence of death. In this way perished the unfortunate Anacharsis Clootz, Fabre d'eglantine, and many others.

At the critical moment the Jacobins remained faithful to the fortune of their chief. On the news of his arrest they ordered permanent sittings and voted unanimously their approval of the insurrectionary att.i.tude of the Paris Commune. They spoke of resistance. But, though men of action abounded in the Jacobin Club, the members, as a body, were pusillanimous and could do nothing.

Arthur Young in his "Travels in France" gives an interesting account of a meeting, which he attended, of the Jacobin Club at the time of the Revolution:--

"At night," he says, writing in diary form, "M. Decretot and M. Blin carried me to the revolutionary club of the Jacobins; the room where they a.s.semble is that in which the famous league was signed. There were above one hundred deputies present, with a president in the chair; I was handed to him and announced as the author of the _Arithmetique Politique_. The President, standing up, repeated my name to the company and demanded if there were any objections. None; and this was all the ceremony, not merely of an introduction, but election; for I was told that now I was free to be present when I pleased, being a foreigner. Ten or a dozen other elections were made. In this Club the business that is to be brought into the National a.s.sembly is regularly debated; the motions are read that are intended to be made there, and rejected, or corrected and approved. When these have been fully agreed to, the whole party are engaged to support them. Plans of conduct are here determined; proper persons nominated to act on committees and as presidents of the a.s.sembly named. And I may add that such is the majority of members that whatever pa.s.ses in this Club is almost sure to pa.s.s in the a.s.sembly."

Arthur Young also gives a description of a debate in the National a.s.sembly on the subject of the conduct of the Chamber of Vacation in the Parliament of Rennes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBESPIERRE.]

M. l'Abbe Maury, a zealous royalist, "made a long and eloquent speech, which he delivered with great fluency and precision and without any notes, in defence of the Parliament; he replied to what had been urged by the Count de Mirabeau on a former day, and strongly censured his unjustifiable call on the people of Bretagne to a _redoutable denombrement_. He said that it would better become the members of such an a.s.sembly to count their own principles and duties and the fruits of their attention to the privileges of the subject than to call for a _denombrement_ that would fill a province with fire and bloodshed.

He was interrupted by the noise and confusion of the a.s.sembly and of the audience six several times, but it had no effect on him; he waited calmly till it subsided, and then proceeded as if no interruption had occurred. The speech was a very able one and much relished by the Royalists; but the _enrages_ condemned it as good for nothing. No other person spoke without notes; the Count de Clermont read a speech that had some brilliant pa.s.sages, but was by no means an answer to the Abbe Maury, as, indeed, it would have been wonderful if it were, being prepared before he heard the Abbe's oration.... Disorder and every kind of confusion prevails now almost as much as when the a.s.sembly sat at Versailles. The interruptions are frequent and long, and speakers who have no right by the rules to speak will attempt to hold forth. The Count de Mirabeau pressed to deliver his opinion after the Abbe Maury; the president put it to the vote whether he should be allowed to speak a second time, and the whole house rose up to negative it, so that the first orator of the a.s.sembly has not the influence even to be heard to explain. We have no conception of such rules, and yet their great numbers must make this necessary. I forgot to observe that there is a gallery at each end of the saloon which is open to all the world, and side ones for admission of the friends of the members by tickets. The audience in these galleries are very noisy; they clap when anything pleases them, and they have been known to hiss, an indecorum which is utterly destructive of freedom of debate."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PALAIS ROYAL.]

With Robespierre the grand period of the Jacobins came to an end, and nearly a hundred and twenty of them perished on the scaffold. Their hall was now closed and the club forbidden to meet except as a "regenerated society." At last the Committees of Public Safety and of General Security issued a decree which put an end to the Society of Jacobins.

In the year 1796 a new Jacobin club was formed in the Riding School of the Tuileries, which soon afterwards moved to the church in the Rue du Bac, and boldly announced that it meant to revive the Jacobin traditions. "Jacobins of the Riding School" this society was called, and, after some ridicule (for the French public had grown sick of the Revolution), it was suppressed by an order from the Directory (1799).

The Jacobin Club, however, as Arthur Young knew and described it, not only dictated the proceedings of the National a.s.sembly, using this body as a sort of tool or cat's-paw by which it practically governed France, but exerted such an influence on Parisian society that enthusiasm for Liberal ideas took possession even of the fair s.e.x. "The present devotion to liberty," he writes, "is a sort of rage. It absorbs every other pa.s.sion and permits no other object to remain in view than what promises to confirm it. Dine with a large party at the Duke de La Rochefoucauld's, ladies and gentlemen are all equally politicians."

Young adds, however, that one effect of the Revolution was to lessen the enormous influence of the gentler s.e.x. Previously they had "mixed themselves in everything in order to govern everything," and the men of the kingdom had been mere "puppets moved by their wives." But now, "instead of giving the _ton_ to questions of national debate, they must receive it and be content to move in the political sphere of some celebrated leader." They were thus sinking into the position which, as Young considered, Nature had intended for them; and he maintained that the daughters of France would now become "more amiable and the nation better governed."