Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
I
GEuRGE RUDE
HISTORY
How were the crowds composed that stormed the Bastille, march�d
to Versailles to fetch the King and Queen to the capital in October,
overthrew the monarchy in August 1792, or silently witnessed the
downfall of Robespierre in Thermidor? Who led them or influenced
them? What were the motives that prompted them?
Here a first attempt is made, with the aid of poli:e records and
other research materials, to bring the Parisian revolutiona:)' crowds
of 1787 to 1795 to life, by identifying the various social groups that
composed them and the ideas and motives that prompted ar,d i,,·
spired them.
(885014/6/67)
- :. net
U.K. ONLY
THE CROWD
IN THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
BY
GEORGE RUDE
GEORGE RUDE
TO
GEORGES LEFEBVRE
TO
GEORGES LEFEBVRE
being have made the writing of this book a pleasure rather than
wife, whose patience, understanding, and concern for my well
a burden.
G.R.
PREFACE
being have made the writing of this book a pleasure rather than
wife, whose patience, understanding, and concern for my well
a burden.
G.R.
CONTENTS
PART 1
Introduction
I. INTRODUCTION
PART 11
,
IX. THERMIDOR
X. GERMiNAL·PRAIRIAL
XI. VENDtMIAIRE
PART III
2 10
XIV. THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY
, ACTIVITY
PART 1
Introduction
I. INTRODUCTION
PART 11
,
IX. THERMIDOR
X. GERMiNAL·PRAIRIAL
XI. VENDtMIAIRE
PART III
2 10
XIV. THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY
, ACTIVITY
PART I
'4'
population of the Paris Seclions in 1791-5
I.
II. The '4'
III. Paris Sections and Insurgents of 1787--95 '44
IV. Paris Trades and Insurgents of 1787--95 '46 Introduction
v. Parisian Insurgents and Rioters of 1775--95 '49
VI. The Revolutionary Calendar '50
VII. Prices and Wages in Paris '789--93 '5' I
GLOSSARY '53
I N T R O D UCTI O N
NE
BIBLIOGRAPHY '58
PART I
'4'
population of the Paris Seclions in 1791-5
I.
II. The '4'
III. Paris Sections and Insurgents of 1787--95 '44
IV. Paris Trades and Insurgents of 1787--95 '46 Introduction
v. Parisian Insurgents and Rioters of 1775--95 '49
VI. The Revolutionary Calendar '50
VII. Prices and Wages in Paris '789--93 '5' I
GLOSSARY '53
I N T R O D UCTI O N
NE
BIBLIOGRAPHY '58
schools on _that is, from the elevation of the committee room of the
Great as has been the influence of these two rival
Revolutio n in France, Committee of Public Safety, of the rostrum of the National
the historiography and teaching of the
been Assembly or Jacobin Club, or of the columns of the revolu
tionary press. This being the case, the revolutionary crowd,
in this country perhaps an even greater influence has
exerted on generations of students, teachers, and textbook
writers by the striking imagery of Carlyle. The social forces whose voice was seldom refl«:ted in the speeches of the politicians
unleashed by the Revolution and composing the active elements or the writings of the pamphleteers and journalists, tended to be
in each one of its decisive phases are variously described as an lost sight of as a thing of flesh and blood and to assume whatever
'enraged National Tiger'; 'the World Chimera, bearing fire'; complexion accorded with the interests, opinions, Or ideals of
'Victorious Anarchy'; and 'the funeral flame, enveloping all the revolutionary leaders, their critics, or adherents.
things ... the Death·Bird of a World'. With all this, it is During the past half·century, however, the work of a number
perhaps not surprising that he should gravely warn his readers of eminent historians hall made it possible to approach the
against attempting a more precise analysis: 'But to gauge and subject in a mOre detached, or scientific, spirit. It is not so much
measure this immeasurable Thing, and what is called account that they have unearthed new archival materials that were
for it, and reduce it to a dead logic-formula, attempt not.'1 unknown or inaccessible to their predecessors, This has some
Yet, widely dife f rent as these interpretations arc and the times been so, though, in the case of Paris, at least, rather the
influences they have exerted, there is one common thread run opposite is true: important materials that were available to
ning through them all: whether the revolutionary crowd is rep Michelet and Mortimer-Ternaux, the historian of the Terror,
resented as 'Ia canaille' or 'swinish multitude' by Taine and have subsequently been destroyed, It is rather that the new
Burke; as 'Victorious Anarchy' by Carlyle; or as 'Ie peuple' or social patterns and problems of the twentieth century have
'tout Paris' by Michelet and Aulard-it has been treated by prompted historians to seek answers to new questions and, as the
result of these considerations, to view the history of the Revolu
tion from a new angle. An important consequence of their
one and all as a disembodied abstraction and the personifica
tion of good or evil, according to the particular fancy or preju
dice of the writer. This should perhaps not surprise us as, in inquiries has been that the popular elements composing the
the nineteenth century, to which most of these writers belonged, Jans-culotw-the peasants, craftsmen,journeymen, and labourers
the debate on the French Revolution was conducted almost -have begun to appear as social groups with their own dis
exclusively in political or ideological terms. This applied equally tinctive identity, interests, and aspirations, whose actions and
to constitutional monarchists like Mignet and Thiers in the attitudes can no longer be treated as mere echoes or reflections
1820'S; to those, like Michelet and Louis Blanc, who drew of the ideas, speeches, and decrees of the journalists, lawyers,
their inspiration from the events of February 1848; to a dis orators, and politicians established in the capital.This new
conception of the Revolution-seen as it were from below
was first given expression by Jaures in his Histoire sociaiiste tit ia
gruntled Liberal like Taine in the 1870's; and even, though less
obviously, to a Radical of the Third Republic like Aulard.
Though dife f ring profoundly in their attitude to the revolu Revolution frllllfaise which, in spite of its tendentious titie, won
tionary tradition and in their hostility or reverence for the the unstinting praise of Aulard, then holding the chair of
leaders or victims of the great Revolution, they have all been French Revolution studies at the Sorbonne.1 During the next
inclined to view these events and their participants 'from above': fifty years this field of inquiry has been enonnously widened by
• The phrase has been frequently used in this connexion by Georgetl Lefcbvr.., '�.Jaurtl, L'His/oire s«ialisle th fa Rlw/uliQlljra"faist (4 volt" Pari., 1901-4.
title 'A Hillory of Sansculottism'.
PIJrn (Berlin, 19,57), p. viii. La V.. ,hir, If U IIICIIU.'tmIIII s«uu sow la Tmlll1' (Paris, 1927)'
i
• A, Mathiez,
,5
•
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
schools on _that is, from the elevation of the committee room of the
Great as has been the influence of these two rival
Revolutio n in France, Committee of Public Safety, of the rostrum of the National
the historiography and teaching of the
been Assembly or Jacobin Club, or of the columns of the revolu
tionary press. This being the case, the revolutionary crowd,
in this country perhaps an even greater influence has
exerted on generations of students, teachers, and textbook
writers by the striking imagery of Carlyle. The social forces whose voice was seldom refl«:ted in the speeches of the politicians
unleashed by the Revolution and composing the active elements or the writings of the pamphleteers and journalists, tended to be
in each one of its decisive phases are variously described as an lost sight of as a thing of flesh and blood and to assume whatever
'enraged National Tiger'; 'the World Chimera, bearing fire'; complexion accorded with the interests, opinions, Or ideals of
'Victorious Anarchy'; and 'the funeral flame, enveloping all the revolutionary leaders, their critics, or adherents.
things ... the Death·Bird of a World'. With all this, it is During the past half·century, however, the work of a number
perhaps not surprising that he should gravely warn his readers of eminent historians hall made it possible to approach the
against attempting a more precise analysis: 'But to gauge and subject in a mOre detached, or scientific, spirit. It is not so much
measure this immeasurable Thing, and what is called account that they have unearthed new archival materials that were
for it, and reduce it to a dead logic-formula, attempt not.'1 unknown or inaccessible to their predecessors, This has some
Yet, widely dife f rent as these interpretations arc and the times been so, though, in the case of Paris, at least, rather the
influences they have exerted, there is one common thread run opposite is true: important materials that were available to
ning through them all: whether the revolutionary crowd is rep Michelet and Mortimer-Ternaux, the historian of the Terror,
resented as 'Ia canaille' or 'swinish multitude' by Taine and have subsequently been destroyed, It is rather that the new
Burke; as 'Victorious Anarchy' by Carlyle; or as 'Ie peuple' or social patterns and problems of the twentieth century have
'tout Paris' by Michelet and Aulard-it has been treated by prompted historians to seek answers to new questions and, as the
result of these considerations, to view the history of the Revolu
tion from a new angle. An important consequence of their
one and all as a disembodied abstraction and the personifica
tion of good or evil, according to the particular fancy or preju
dice of the writer. This should perhaps not surprise us as, in inquiries has been that the popular elements composing the
the nineteenth century, to which most of these writers belonged, Jans-culotw-the peasants, craftsmen,journeymen, and labourers
the debate on the French Revolution was conducted almost -have begun to appear as social groups with their own dis
exclusively in political or ideological terms. This applied equally tinctive identity, interests, and aspirations, whose actions and
to constitutional monarchists like Mignet and Thiers in the attitudes can no longer be treated as mere echoes or reflections
1820'S; to those, like Michelet and Louis Blanc, who drew of the ideas, speeches, and decrees of the journalists, lawyers,
their inspiration from the events of February 1848; to a dis orators, and politicians established in the capital.This new
conception of the Revolution-seen as it were from below
was first given expression by Jaures in his Histoire sociaiiste tit ia
gruntled Liberal like Taine in the 1870's; and even, though less
obviously, to a Radical of the Third Republic like Aulard.
Though dife f ring profoundly in their attitude to the revolu Revolution frllllfaise which, in spite of its tendentious titie, won
tionary tradition and in their hostility or reverence for the the unstinting praise of Aulard, then holding the chair of
leaders or victims of the great Revolution, they have all been French Revolution studies at the Sorbonne.1 During the next
inclined to view these events and their participants 'from above': fifty years this field of inquiry has been enonnously widened by
• The phrase has been frequently used in this connexion by Georgetl Lefcbvr.., '�.Jaurtl, L'His/oire s«ialisle th fa Rlw/uliQlljra"faist (4 volt" Pari., 1901-4.
title 'A Hillory of Sansculottism'.
PIJrn (Berlin, 19,57), p. viii. La V.. ,hir, If U IIICIIU.'tmIIII s«uu sow la Tmlll1' (Paris, 1927)'
i
• A, Mathiez,
• INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ,
18g0-1914); also M. Rouff, 'Le Penonnel des prcmi�res bneutes de '8g il Paris',
prisoner's occupation, address, province of origin, age, and his
LtJ RkDlulu", F'lUIflliu, Ivii (Igog), �13-31.
degree of literacy and previous criminal record. Already fifty
years ago Alexandre Tuetey and Marcel Rouff', in a number I Thus, even a great work of tocial history lki e u. V04 drJr, tI Ie ""'U� soritJ
of studies, illustrated the great value of such records as a IOIU U. Terrtur is based almost entirely on reports of spea::hes in the National Con.
vention, the Paris Commune, and thcJacobin Club.
source for social history,l Yet, unaccountably, they were neg-
• Archives National"", series Y: archives du Chitde! dc Paris; series Z: juridic_
• C.-K Labrol,USe, EsqllisM all _"",tnt au pI/au rtmIW m Fr(UfU till XYIII'
tion, '¢eiales ct ordinaires.
siJd. (� vols., Paris, '933); u. Criu d. l'Iwnomufrtu/flliu .! lafin ddanrim rl,iwutt verbaux de, commisuira de police.
• Auhives dc la P1if«tun: dc Police, series AJ..: sections dc Paris. Prods.
till "bill a� til RIvollltiOtl (Paris, 19+4). • Arehives National"", series F> (police gtntrale).
• G. u e bvre, UI Pa,Y11UIS all Nttra pmdtJ1tI ill R/voIutiM frallfaise (Parit-Lille,
f , The most useful of these is the list of 662 NinqlJ.tll1S d, la BIIS/iU, among the
'924); 'Foulel' livolutionnaira', AnMlu /rislDriql4s d, I.. Rkolutilm fra1l{aise, xi Cuelin papen o f thc Archives Nationalel', ICries T 514(1).
(1934), 1-26; LtJ Grand, />tUT d� 1789 (Paris, 1932). • Arch. Nat., F" 3267-74; F" 4426.
• Arch. Nat., BB'60.
lits SOurcel m41IUJa'ita dl j'/risloi'l Ik Ptuispmdmd ill RJwiu/iMJ'IllIf«iu (II vola., Paris, I Auh. Nat., W �6-8, 556-8.
• See, for example, A. Tue,cy's Introduction to volume I of his RlpntoiTf ,InIr.,J
• INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ,
18g0-1914); also M. Rouff, 'Le Penonnel des prcmi�res bneutes de '8g il Paris',
prisoner's occupation, address, province of origin, age, and his
LtJ RkDlulu", F'lUIflliu, Ivii (Igog), �13-31.
degree of literacy and previous criminal record. Already fifty
years ago Alexandre Tuetey and Marcel Rouff', in a number I Thus, even a great work of tocial history lki e u. V04 drJr, tI Ie ""'U� soritJ
of studies, illustrated the great value of such records as a IOIU U. Terrtur is based almost entirely on reports of spea::hes in the National Con.
vention, the Paris Commune, and thcJacobin Club.
source for social history,l Yet, unaccountably, they were neg-
• Archives National"", series Y: archives du Chitde! dc Paris; series Z: juridic_
• C.-K Labrol,USe, EsqllisM all _"",tnt au pI/au rtmIW m Fr(UfU till XYIII'
tion, '¢eiales ct ordinaires.
siJd. (� vols., Paris, '933); u. Criu d. l'Iwnomufrtu/flliu .! lafin ddanrim rl,iwutt verbaux de, commisuira de police.
• Auhives dc la P1if«tun: dc Police, series AJ..: sections dc Paris. Prods.
till "bill a� til RIvollltiOtl (Paris, 19+4). • Arehives National"", series F> (police gtntrale).
• G. u e bvre, UI Pa,Y11UIS all Nttra pmdtJ1tI ill R/voIutiM frallfaise (Parit-Lille,
f , The most useful of these is the list of 662 NinqlJ.tll1S d, la BIIS/iU, among the
'924); 'Foulel' livolutionnaira', AnMlu /rislDriql4s d, I.. Rkolutilm fra1l{aise, xi Cuelin papen o f thc Archives Nationalel', ICries T 514(1).
(1934), 1-26; LtJ Grand, />tUT d� 1789 (Paris, 1932). • Arch. Nat., F" 3267-74; F" 4426.
• Arch. Nat., BB'60.
lits SOurcel m41IUJa'ita dl j'/risloi'l Ik Ptuispmdmd ill RJwiu/iMJ'IllIf«iu (II vola., Paris, I Auh. Nat., W �6-8, 556-8.
• See, for example, A. Tue,cy's Introduction to volume I of his RlpntoiTf ,InIr.,J
8 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION •
them together and led thousands of Parisians to participate in Revolution in Paris singularly unmarked by mass political
P. Caron, Puis jJeIIdmIl u. TurWT. &P/I«ts du oKmU J«r.1s d", MiN,I,.,u flllllri,..,.
social and historical background against which the events of
(4 vob., Paris, 1910-49); A. Aulard, Pflris pnu/4rrJ u. """'ion tJrmnidtw,mn. It JtlIlS U the Revolution in Paris took place.
• S. Hardy, /I{os lam,l, �",jMmusI d',r:InnnmJ.s his q",'iis /HJnMnNnl d mtl ((mM.-ssone<
Dim/Qi,. (5 vob., Pam, 18g8-190'),
4 A. Soboul, Lu Ptlpins dos s.cliDIII,u Ptlris (I7!JCH1" IV) (Pari., '9�); Ln $/IJU_
, For a fuller record o{lOurces ICC Bibliography.
CuIDI/'S parisiens ttl I'an fl. lI[ou<"<Imtfll ""pula" ••, Goullrl"lUlJUnt rlvo/utionnair. II juin
'793-9 thm"jdor I'anll (Paris, '958); (with W. Markov), Du S/lIIUuloUITI VOn Paris:
Dokwnmh zur GtSthichlt dOT Volksh.u.�gUJtg '793-1794 (Berlin, 1957).
8 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION •
them together and led thousands of Parisians to participate in Revolution in Paris singularly unmarked by mass political
P. Caron, Puis jJeIIdmIl u. TurWT. &P/I«ts du oKmU J«r.1s d", MiN,I,.,u flllllri,..,.
social and historical background against which the events of
(4 vob., Paris, 1910-49); A. Aulard, Pflris pnu/4rrJ u. """'ion tJrmnidtw,mn. It JtlIlS U the Revolution in Paris took place.
• S. Hardy, /I{os lam,l, �",jMmusI d',r:InnnmJ.s his q",'iis /HJnMnNnl d mtl ((mM.-ssone<
Dim/Qi,. (5 vob., Pam, 18g8-190'),
4 A. Soboul, Lu Ptlpins dos s.cliDIII,u Ptlris (I7!JCH1" IV) (Pari., '9�); Ln $/IJU_
, For a fuller record o{lOurces ICC Bibliography.
CuIDI/'S parisiens ttl I'an fl. lI[ou<"<Imtfll ""pula" ••, Goullrl"lUlJUnt rlvo/utionnair. II juin
'793-9 thm"jdor I'anll (Paris, '958); (with W. Markov), Du S/lIIUuloUITI VOn Paris:
Dokwnmh zur GtSthichlt dOT Volksh.u.�gUJtg '793-1794 (Berlin, 1957).
PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION II
410. 4�;u, 425, 432, 4411-3, 444. 448, 45.5, ¥is, .519 ; iv. +06, 4.5"
the boundaries of the city were further extended; and, in 1785, (4 vols., Pans, ' ....
work was completed on the new mctinu, a ring of fifty-four
•
For a discussion of the possi bl� reliability of these �.,.rious estimates � C. Rud4!,
of Saint-Victor, Saint-Marcel, Saint-Jacques, and Saint-Ger
• Thc tcrm 'ICtded' is, of COUrJC. used only in a "dative 1ICf\IC. Thcre was �
checking smuggling, to increase substantially the royal revenues. Parisian Sections in '7gG--,600 � Appendix II below.
I A. Dcmangeon, P(1.rU. La Yill . II S(1. banti.tu (Paris, '933). p. 16 . eon.inuOUJ movement of population to and from Paris (th�ugh mostly to Pa�1
A. Babeau, Ptuis In 'llig (Pam, ISSg), p. 113; H. Monin, L'tltJI. J. Ptuis from'the provinces) throughout the century. Rccords of poh� and other �bhc
authorities reveal the high proportion of provincial·bom among the rcadent
• til
17* (Pam, 188g), pp. '0-'3. , Dcmangeon,iO(;. cit.
Parisian population or thc revolutionary period.
PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION II
410. 4�;u, 425, 432, 4411-3, 444. 448, 45.5, ¥is, .519 ; iv. +06, 4.5"
the boundaries of the city were further extended; and, in 1785, (4 vols., Pans, ' ....
work was completed on the new mctinu, a ring of fifty-four
•
For a discussion of the possi bl� reliability of these �.,.rious estimates � C. Rud4!,
of Saint-Victor, Saint-Marcel, Saint-Jacques, and Saint-Ger
• Thc tcrm 'ICtded' is, of COUrJC. used only in a "dative 1ICf\IC. Thcre was �
checking smuggling, to increase substantially the royal revenues. Parisian Sections in '7gG--,600 � Appendix II below.
I A. Dcmangeon, P(1.rU. La Yill . II S(1. banti.tu (Paris, '933). p. 16 . eon.inuOUJ movement of population to and from Paris (th�ugh mostly to Pa�1
A. Babeau, Ptuis In 'llig (Pam, ISSg), p. 113; H. Monin, L'tltJI. J. Ptuis from'the provinces) throughout the century. Rccords of poh� and other �bhc
authorities reveal the high proportion of provincial·bom among the rcadent
• til
17* (Pam, 188g), pp. '0-'3. , Dcmangeon,iO(;. cit.
Parisian population or thc revolutionary period.
" INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION ·s
varied from one season to another and for which official re� chants had no such qualms and had long vied with one another
tums only rarely provided.' Bearing this in mind, Necker's in building new town houses in the more fashionable western
private estimate o f a population of between 640,000 and 66o,oooJ quarters of the Palais Royal, the Cours-Ia-Reine, and the
may be nearer to the truth than the lower figure of 524,000 Faubourg Saint.Honore, which had begun to spring up with
yielded by the census of 1788--9 and accepted by several writers the court's removal to Venailles under Louis XIV.' The
as a reasonable computation,l Marais, the old aristocratic quarter of the Right Bank which,
In either case, the privileged, or wealthier classes, formed but in the time of Henri IV and Louis XIII, had been the centre
a small proportion of the population as a whole. Leon Cahen, of fashion, was becoming deserted; in the 1780's Sebastien
who made some attempt to calculate the size of the various Mercier described it as 'un triste quartier',: where the tower of
social groups or orders inhabiting Paris in the mid-eighteenth the Hotel de Bourgogne and the Hotels de Sens and de Cluny,
century, concluded that the clergy numbered about 10,000, both converted to commercial uses, bore witness to past, rather
the nobility 5,000, and the financial, commercial, manufactur than present, glories.]
bourgeoisie about 40,000;4 the rest-the
ing, and professional Meanwhile, wrote Mercier, in the last twenty-five years,
great majority-were the small shopkeepers, petty traden, 10,000 houses had been constructed and one-third of Paris had
craftsmen, journeymen, labourers, vagrants, and city poor, been rebuilt.4 Regiments of building workers had been enrolled
who formed what later became known as the stmS-cuiottes.J from the central provinces and the speed of construction was
To a large extent it was to promote the economic interests often phenomenal: the Opera was built in seventy-five days
and to flatter the social ambitions of the nobility and wealthy and the Chateau de Bagatelle in six weeks_s Whole new streets
bourgeoisie that the outward face of Paris was being transformed were being opened up, specially in the northern and western
and its fashionable centre was moving westwards; the clergy districts_ MoDin, the historian of Paris in 1789, gives us some
had too large a stake in the 140 religious houses that still lay idea of the scale and speed of this development during the last
scattered over the old city and Jau.bourgsfJ to indulge in large fifteen years of the old regime. Off the Champs Elysees, which
scale plans of extension: it was even said that Louis XV's inten then marked the extreme western fringe of the new fashionable
tion to demolish and rebuild the Cite had been blocked by residential areas, the Comte d'Artois, the king's younger
brother, opened up the rues de Berry and d'Angouleme, which
,
clerical obstruction.1 Aristocrats, banken, and wealthy mer-
were soon followed by the rues du Colisee and Milet (the present
, Thl:' numbcrof"",.-t!(//tIuiliis-thOSl:' Jiving in MJeu ,amis and lodgings ofvariou.l
typ<";S-aTl:' rewrd<:d in the lint of thl:' IWO ccnsusa of 179,S, but only in thl:' case of
("de Matignon). In the adjoining Faubourg Saint-Honore, the
• Neckc-r, Gp. cit. i. 277. rue d'Astorg was planned-though uncompleted by 1789;
, Sec, for ex&mpl�, F. Bnach, /...4 Comm..,., tIu '0 Moit '79!l (Pari., 1911). p. 14j
2,S of thl:' ¥I Sections (Mcuriol. op. Cil., p. 32).
Municip.al Council in 188g} there were, at this lim�, 68 'COUVCOQ <:1 communautb'
of their town howes. The sale of a part af the Due de ChoiseuI's
• Dcmangron, op. cit., p.
L. S_ Mercier, TlIliuau.u Parir (12 vob., Amsterdam,
fot men and 73 for women. 16.
j
7 Ba�au, op. cit., p. 19. There wo:re, however, "",,eeplions: thw, the abbess and • 17B3). i. 25B-fi1-
,treel, a market, and fountain on their atate, lying can of the liastiUe (Monin. Mercier, op. cil., viii. 19o.
communny of Ihl:' Abbaye Royale de Saint-Anloine_da_Champo buill a new Babeau, op. cit., p. lB.
varied from one season to another and for which official re� chants had no such qualms and had long vied with one another
tums only rarely provided.' Bearing this in mind, Necker's in building new town houses in the more fashionable western
private estimate o f a population of between 640,000 and 66o,oooJ quarters of the Palais Royal, the Cours-Ia-Reine, and the
may be nearer to the truth than the lower figure of 524,000 Faubourg Saint.Honore, which had begun to spring up with
yielded by the census of 1788--9 and accepted by several writers the court's removal to Venailles under Louis XIV.' The
as a reasonable computation,l Marais, the old aristocratic quarter of the Right Bank which,
In either case, the privileged, or wealthier classes, formed but in the time of Henri IV and Louis XIII, had been the centre
a small proportion of the population as a whole. Leon Cahen, of fashion, was becoming deserted; in the 1780's Sebastien
who made some attempt to calculate the size of the various Mercier described it as 'un triste quartier',: where the tower of
social groups or orders inhabiting Paris in the mid-eighteenth the Hotel de Bourgogne and the Hotels de Sens and de Cluny,
century, concluded that the clergy numbered about 10,000, both converted to commercial uses, bore witness to past, rather
the nobility 5,000, and the financial, commercial, manufactur than present, glories.]
bourgeoisie about 40,000;4 the rest-the
ing, and professional Meanwhile, wrote Mercier, in the last twenty-five years,
great majority-were the small shopkeepers, petty traden, 10,000 houses had been constructed and one-third of Paris had
craftsmen, journeymen, labourers, vagrants, and city poor, been rebuilt.4 Regiments of building workers had been enrolled
who formed what later became known as the stmS-cuiottes.J from the central provinces and the speed of construction was
To a large extent it was to promote the economic interests often phenomenal: the Opera was built in seventy-five days
and to flatter the social ambitions of the nobility and wealthy and the Chateau de Bagatelle in six weeks_s Whole new streets
bourgeoisie that the outward face of Paris was being transformed were being opened up, specially in the northern and western
and its fashionable centre was moving westwards; the clergy districts_ MoDin, the historian of Paris in 1789, gives us some
had too large a stake in the 140 religious houses that still lay idea of the scale and speed of this development during the last
scattered over the old city and Jau.bourgsfJ to indulge in large fifteen years of the old regime. Off the Champs Elysees, which
scale plans of extension: it was even said that Louis XV's inten then marked the extreme western fringe of the new fashionable
tion to demolish and rebuild the Cite had been blocked by residential areas, the Comte d'Artois, the king's younger
brother, opened up the rues de Berry and d'Angouleme, which
,
clerical obstruction.1 Aristocrats, banken, and wealthy mer-
were soon followed by the rues du Colisee and Milet (the present
, Thl:' numbcrof"",.-t!(//tIuiliis-thOSl:' Jiving in MJeu ,amis and lodgings ofvariou.l
typ<";S-aTl:' rewrd<:d in the lint of thl:' IWO ccnsusa of 179,S, but only in thl:' case of
("de Matignon). In the adjoining Faubourg Saint-Honore, the
• Neckc-r, Gp. cit. i. 277. rue d'Astorg was planned-though uncompleted by 1789;
, Sec, for ex&mpl�, F. Bnach, /...4 Comm..,., tIu '0 Moit '79!l (Pari., 1911). p. 14j
2,S of thl:' ¥I Sections (Mcuriol. op. Cil., p. 32).
Municip.al Council in 188g} there were, at this lim�, 68 'COUVCOQ <:1 communautb'
of their town howes. The sale of a part af the Due de ChoiseuI's
• Dcmangron, op. cit., p.
L. S_ Mercier, TlIliuau.u Parir (12 vob., Amsterdam,
fot men and 73 for women. 16.
j
7 Ba�au, op. cit., p. 19. There wo:re, however, "",,eeplions: thw, the abbess and • 17B3). i. 25B-fi1-
,treel, a market, and fountain on their atate, lying can of the liastiUe (Monin. Mercier, op. cil., viii. 19o.
communny of Ihl:' Abbaye Royale de Saint-Anloine_da_Champo buill a new Babeau, op. cit., p. lB.
pp. lil� el aeq. Lettres de Par.., 19i17-8, pow Ie ('".erl. d'tt. Sup. d'}litl. Mod., Paris, 19i1S), p. 84·
14 INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION 1.5
estates on the boulevards paved the way for the erection of the were streets of lodging houses and chamhres gami es, like the rue
Comedie Italienne and the opening of the rues Neuve Saint
de la MorteUerie, adjoining the Hotel de Ville, or the rues
Marc, Toumante, d'Amboise, and de la Terrasse. Two years Galande and des Jardins, a stone's throw from Notre Dame,
before the Revolution. the rues de Breteuil, Baynes. and Crosne where riverside work('fS, porters, stonemasons, and other
were built in the former grounds of the Hotel de Boynes.' Even
seasonal workers lived closely huddled in lodgings at one to four
more spectacular was the construction by the Duke of Orleans, sous a night.1 But, generally, small masters, independent crafts
wealthiest and most popular of the princes of the blood, of the )
men, and journeymen lived cheek by owl: during the Paris
magnificent arcades and gardens of the Palais Royal, shortly to .
revolution, we shall find masters and Journeymen settmg out
become a centre of lavish entertainment and a meeting place
from the same house in the rue de Lappe or in the rue du
ofjoumalists. pamphleteers, and political gossipsj while, on the Faubourg Saint-Antoine to join in the siege o� the Bas i11e.l �
Left Bank, the Theatre Franfijais (the later Odeon) was built In this fauhourg even wealthy manufacturers hke Revelllon,
in 1789 on the site of the Hotel Conde, recently purchased for who owned a 'manufactory' employing 350 workers in the rue
3 million Livres.1 Yet from all this feverish construction, Jaures de Montreuil, and the famous brewer, Antoine-Joseph San�
noted, it was the wealthy hourgeoisie that emerged as the largest terre, lived in close proximity to their workpeople. In such
holders of real estate in the capital : 'Sauf quelques centaines de districts. it was not so much the wage-earners, but the whole
grandes familIes: he wrote, 'Ia noblesse elle-meme etait locataire menu peuple of shopkeepers, craftsmen, and labourers, who could,
de la bourgeoisie'; and he concluded: 'La bourgeoisie parisienne
etait, a 1a veille de 1 789, la force souveraine de propriete. de
broadly speaking, be identified by their lodging, speech. and
dress their mode of living, and their weekly outings to the
production et de consommation.'l wine:shops and taverns of La Courtille, Les POTcherons, or La
Yet, for all these changes, the old medieval Paris remained Nouvelle France.l
substantially intact, and was to remain so for seventy-five years Yet certain districts had taken on a distinctive character from
to come. The splendours ofNotre Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle the trades and occupations of their inhabitants. There were.
still dominated the approaches to the Cite; the numerous of course, the famous fish-wives or market-women, the poissardes
religious houses and the Temple and Chatelet prisons vied with or dames de La halle, of the Place Maubert and the central
the Bastille, with its eight towers and eighty-foot walls, as markets· there were the goldsmiths andjewellers of the quai de
survival, from a feudal past. Above all there still remained �
I'Horlo e, the quai des Orfevres, and the Place Dauphine in
the old tenements. the courtyards and alleys, workshops, and the Cite, or in the arcades of the Palais Royal. The newly
lodging houses in which nine out of every ten Parisians lived developed Faubourg de Chaillot was famous for the PerieT
and worked-in the Cite and central market districts and in the Brothers' Compagnie des Eaux de Paris, equipped with steam
fauhourgs lying east of the great pilgrims' way and thoroughfare, power and the first firm in France to manufacture steam
formed by the rues Saint-Martin, Saint-Jacques, and their ex engines based on James Watt's mode1.4 The area north of the
tensions and cutting the city in two from the barriere Saint markets formed by the rue des Lombards, the rue Saint-Denis,
Martin in the north to the barriere Saint-Jacques in the south. and the rue des Gravilliers was the main commercial centre,
There were as yet no distinctive working-class areas: these where lived also a large proportion of the city's home-workers,
only fully emerged under the Second Empire.• At most, there
, These amounts appear in various police reports (or Ihe period 1 7B9-9�; s<:c
, Monin, op. cit., pp. 15-16. See abo Babcau, op. cil., pp. 1-3S, 1 See pp. 58-59 below.
• A. Soboul, 'La SaN-CUlottCl pa...weru en I'an II', /IIir,,;r dl fltiJlqjrt.July 1956,
aho Babcau, op. cit., p. ISS.
• Babcau, op. cil., p. il4.
I J. Jaurb, L'HiJkIi" -wiJt. u III RJIJIIlIllUirr/rllnflJw (8 vob., ParU, 19i1�-4), i.
• By 1791, Ihey had produced forty and had begun to export {A. Malhiez, fA
PP· 9 1'"'99.
pp. lil� el aeq. Lettres de Par.., 19i17-8, pow Ie ('".erl. d'tt. Sup. d'}litl. Mod., Paris, 19i1S), p. 84·
,.
INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION "
like those '20,000' ribbon-weavers who, in November 179', poor-relief that were dilItributed from time to time during both
petitioned the Legislative Assembly in protest against the the old regime and the Revolution, When, for example, in
introduction of mechanical frames,' The greater number of the February 1790 the Paris Commune voted 64,000 liures for
new textile manufactories, several of which employed 400 or distribution to the poor, 7,000 liurts were allotted to the Dis
5�ven 800-workpeople, lay in the northemftmbourgs on trict of Saint-ttienne-du-Mont, lying between the Faubourgs
either side of the rue Saint-Martin and the rue Saint-Denis.' Saint-Marcel and Saint-Jacques; 5,300 liures to the Val-de-Grace
Porters, dockers, and seasonal building workers gave a distinc and Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas Districts in the Faubourg
tive quality to the busy, teeming streets around the Hotel de Saint-Jacques; and sums of 5,100 and 4,800 liures respectively
Vj!le and the Place de Greve. The Faubourg Saint-Antoine, to the Enfants-Trouves and Sainte-Marguerite Districtll of the
the traditional focal point of popular agitation,] had several Faubourg Saint-Antoine: these were by far the largest alloca
brewtries and a glassworks employing 500, but was, above all, tions.' And, in 179I,
nearly one-quarter of all those receiving
a typical centre of petty crafts-particularly of small workshops poor-relief resided in the four sections of the Faubourg Saint
engaged in furnishing and upholstery.• Marcel.l
More variegated and (some thought) even more turbulent It may be considerations such as these that have led even
was the population composing the Faubourg Saint-Marcel and recent historians to speak of these faubourgs, soon to play so
the adjoining faubourgs of Saint-Jacques and Saint-Victor. For prominent a part in the Revolution, as working-class suburbs.)
long its most conspicuous industry had been the tanneries, The term is misleading for more than one reason. In the first
expelled by Colbert from the quays of the Cite to the slopes of place, as M. Braesch has shown, the largest concentrations of
the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve a hundred years previously; wage-earners were to be found in the central market area and
yet they appear to have declined in the yean before the Revolu the nonhernfaubourgs of the capital-and not in the Faubourg
tion, as a return of 179' records the exi3tence ofa mere dozen Saint-Marcel, still less in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, or any
masters employing less than 200 assistants.5 Other trades other district in which the petty crafts predominated, This
included dyeing, cloth-making and laundries, besides the famous emerges from the results of an inquiry which the Paris Muni
Gobelins tapestry works installed by Louis XIV in 1662.6 cipality conducted in early 1791
to determine the number of
workers employed by each industrial undertaking in the forty
, Many of the dyers and cloth-makers were of Flemish or Dutch
origin, and beer flowed freely in the ale-houses dotted along the eight Sections of the capital." The retums-though not fully com
faubourg's main thoroughfare, the rue Mouffetard, which wound plete-suggest that the total wage-eaming population (workers
its way up from the barriere de Fontainebleau to the place and their families) at this time fell little short of 300,000. By
Contrescarpe on the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve. 'Ce peuple relating the figures for each Section to those yielded by the
, A. Tuelcy, L'Asrul4Nf pllbliqw d Paril pmJanJ la RlooirdiOfl (4 VOII., Paril,
boit pour huit jours,' wrote Mercier, who thought them
dangerous-'plus mechant, plus inflammable, plw querelleur,
& plus dispose a la mutinerie que dans les autres quartiers.'7 • 27,'58 out of 118,784 (Chabrol de Volvic, R,rMrrMS s/atisliq!l# J, la vilu dI
1895-7), vol. i, pp. cxxxiii-v.
• Arc:h. NaL, F" 1430; cited by F. Braetch, La C-_ liN IOaoGl I7!P, p. 24' • F. BraClCh, 'Un Es.a.i de atatistique de la population ouvntre de Paria vers
� F. BraClCh, 'Un Eaai do: .tatistiquo: do: la population ouvrihe de Paris vcrs 1791', La Rluolulilmjr41ltdiH, heiii (1912), 28g-3�1. M. Braach'l findings are based
1791', La RJuHulianfrwlfgiJf, lxi
I C. Ldeuve, Lu AMifMu m4iSDftl th Paril. L'nuf(1i" th Paris, rw par nil, tMiJOfI asn"gMu
ii (1912), 269-321. on the returns made by 4' of the 4B ScctiOIll n
i response to a request by the Paris
j1Qr lnII iJ<Ift (,S volJ., Paris, 1875), vol. i, pp. m, 147.
Municipality late in '790 for information as to the numbCT of (rcvolu·
• F. Braesch, La Co,nm""" JIl IO /UJIl1 '?!P, pp. 6-8. The returns are in Arch. Nat., F'o, nos. 109"""24, 129, 13 [-4. 13&-60. For a docw•
tiona,), pIper-money) oflow denomination required for dislribution to employers.
I Braach, op. cit., p. 10. ' Ibid. ' MCTciCT, op. cit., i. 2's7-8. siou of Braesch's calculations and a�umplions secl'ariJilm Wage-Eanu-fs i. 46-51.
,.
INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION "
like those '20,000' ribbon-weavers who, in November 179', poor-relief that were dilItributed from time to time during both
petitioned the Legislative Assembly in protest against the the old regime and the Revolution, When, for example, in
introduction of mechanical frames,' The greater number of the February 1790 the Paris Commune voted 64,000 liures for
new textile manufactories, several of which employed 400 or distribution to the poor, 7,000 liurts were allotted to the Dis
5�ven 800-workpeople, lay in the northemftmbourgs on trict of Saint-ttienne-du-Mont, lying between the Faubourgs
either side of the rue Saint-Martin and the rue Saint-Denis.' Saint-Marcel and Saint-Jacques; 5,300 liures to the Val-de-Grace
Porters, dockers, and seasonal building workers gave a distinc and Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas Districts in the Faubourg
tive quality to the busy, teeming streets around the Hotel de Saint-Jacques; and sums of 5,100 and 4,800 liures respectively
Vj!le and the Place de Greve. The Faubourg Saint-Antoine, to the Enfants-Trouves and Sainte-Marguerite Districtll of the
the traditional focal point of popular agitation,] had several Faubourg Saint-Antoine: these were by far the largest alloca
brewtries and a glassworks employing 500, but was, above all, tions.' And, in 179I,
nearly one-quarter of all those receiving
a typical centre of petty crafts-particularly of small workshops poor-relief resided in the four sections of the Faubourg Saint
engaged in furnishing and upholstery.• Marcel.l
More variegated and (some thought) even more turbulent It may be considerations such as these that have led even
was the population composing the Faubourg Saint-Marcel and recent historians to speak of these faubourgs, soon to play so
the adjoining faubourgs of Saint-Jacques and Saint-Victor. For prominent a part in the Revolution, as working-class suburbs.)
long its most conspicuous industry had been the tanneries, The term is misleading for more than one reason. In the first
expelled by Colbert from the quays of the Cite to the slopes of place, as M. Braesch has shown, the largest concentrations of
the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve a hundred years previously; wage-earners were to be found in the central market area and
yet they appear to have declined in the yean before the Revolu the nonhernfaubourgs of the capital-and not in the Faubourg
tion, as a return of 179' records the exi3tence ofa mere dozen Saint-Marcel, still less in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, or any
masters employing less than 200 assistants.5 Other trades other district in which the petty crafts predominated, This
included dyeing, cloth-making and laundries, besides the famous emerges from the results of an inquiry which the Paris Muni
Gobelins tapestry works installed by Louis XIV in 1662.6 cipality conducted in early 1791
to determine the number of
workers employed by each industrial undertaking in the forty
, Many of the dyers and cloth-makers were of Flemish or Dutch
origin, and beer flowed freely in the ale-houses dotted along the eight Sections of the capital." The retums-though not fully com
faubourg's main thoroughfare, the rue Mouffetard, which wound plete-suggest that the total wage-eaming population (workers
its way up from the barriere de Fontainebleau to the place and their families) at this time fell little short of 300,000. By
Contrescarpe on the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve. 'Ce peuple relating the figures for each Section to those yielded by the
, A. Tuelcy, L'Asrul4Nf pllbliqw d Paril pmJanJ la RlooirdiOfl (4 VOII., Paril,
boit pour huit jours,' wrote Mercier, who thought them
dangerous-'plus mechant, plus inflammable, plw querelleur,
& plus dispose a la mutinerie que dans les autres quartiers.'7 • 27,'58 out of 118,784 (Chabrol de Volvic, R,rMrrMS s/atisliq!l# J, la vilu dI
1895-7), vol. i, pp. cxxxiii-v.
• Arc:h. NaL, F" 1430; cited by F. Braetch, La C-_ liN IOaoGl I7!P, p. 24' • F. BraClCh, 'Un Es.a.i de atatistique de la population ouvntre de Paria vers
� F. BraClCh, 'Un Eaai do: .tatistiquo: do: la population ouvrihe de Paris vcrs 1791', La Rluolulilmjr41ltdiH, heiii (1912), 28g-3�1. M. Braach'l findings are based
1791', La RJuHulianfrwlfgiJf, lxi
I C. Ldeuve, Lu AMifMu m4iSDftl th Paril. L'nuf(1i" th Paris, rw par nil, tMiJOfI asn"gMu
ii (1912), 269-321. on the returns made by 4' of the 4B ScctiOIll n
i response to a request by the Paris
j1Qr lnII iJ<Ift (,S volJ., Paris, 1875), vol. i, pp. m, 147.
Municipality late in '790 for information as to the numbCT of (rcvolu·
• F. Braesch, La Co,nm""" JIl IO /UJIl1 '?!P, pp. 6-8. The returns are in Arch. Nat., F'o, nos. 109"""24, 129, 13 [-4. 13&-60. For a docw•
tiona,), pIper-money) oflow denomination required for dislribution to employers.
I Braach, op. cit., p. 10. ' Ibid. ' MCTciCT, op. cit., i. 2's7-8. siou of Braesch's calculations and a�umplions secl'ariJilm Wage-Eanu-fs i. 46-51.
INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION 19
.8
census of 1792 1 we find that the wage-earners and their families for their living on a wage, still rented their frames from their
accounted for some two-thirds of the resident population in employers and worked in their own homes; 1 and, in August
seven northern and north-central Sectionsz and for nearly half 1789, we shall find a substantial body of hairdressers' journey
the population in four Sections of the central market area,J men in Paris insisting on their right to set up in business on their
while accounting for only one-third to one-half the population own irrespective of their masters' wishes.1
of the Faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marcel.4 About one-third of all the wage-earners recorded in the 1791
But, even when they formed a majority of the local popula return were in the building trades ;l they were largely composed
tion, the wage-earners lacked the attributes of a distinctive of seasonal workers or recent immigrants from the Creuse and
social class. In eighteenth-century France, the term ournin- might Limoges-hence their nick-name of limousins-and lodged in
be applied as readily to independent craftsmen, small work barely furnished rooms in the rue Mouffetard or the city centre.4
shop masters--or even, on occasion, to substantial manu Among them, too, we find the joumeyman�employer, or
facturers-as to ordinary wage-earners; in its most frequent maitre-ouuner who, while himself living on a wage paid by the
use itwas synonymous with artisan.s Such usage corresponded to building contractor, hired his own compagnons or garfons at a
the social realities of the time, when the wage-earner had as daily or seasonal rate.S The great mass of porters, carriers, and
yet no defined and distinctive status as a producer and there riverside workers, often recent immigrants from Picardy, Savoy,
were often numerous intermediate stages between workman or Auvergne, and lodging around the markets or in the
and employer. The typical unit of production was still the small neighbourhood of the docks, are harder to define ; yet there
workshop, which generally employed but a small number of must have been numerous grades and distinctions separating
journeymen and apprentices. Even in Paris, where the propor� the common labourers from such highly organized communautis
rion of workers to employers was larger and the restrictions as formed by the forts de la halle or the more aristocratic of the
imposed by the guild-system had become more relaxed than various types of gagne-denins.'> Even more variegated were the
elsewhere,6 the journeyman still often ate at his master's table 14,000 inmates of the hOpiltlJJX and alms�houses,7 soon to be
and slept under his roof.' The distinction between a wage reinforced by the many thousands of workless peasants, small
earning journeyman and an independent craftsman, or even a tradesmen, and country-workers who flocked into the capital on
workshop master, was ill defined: the 2,000 Parisian stocking� the eve of revolution and were herded into the ateliers de chan'U
weavers who struck against wage-cuts in 1724, while depending on the hill of Montmartre and elsewhere.s It is, in fact, only
, N. Karf:iev, op. cit., pp. '4-15. I F. Fund,-Brentana, 'La Ql.Iestion ouvriere soW! l'Ancien R�me', JUuw
rllTo.pecl;w, xvii ( 1 8911). l-la4.
l For this and other categories ofwockeC$ in Paris at this time I« PIJrisilJ1l WIJgt_
These a.n:: Bcaubourg, Gravillicn, Ponttau, Mauoonseil, Bonne Nouvelle,
•
• Arch. Nat., T 5'4 (').
• G. Mauco, La Afigral;olU ou.,. • i/ruell FrtlllCe au dlbw du X/){I file/, (Paris, 19311),
1 The,e are: Louvre, Oratoire, March9 des Innocents (later Hailes), Lombards.
that the term 'se dit en genual de tout artisan qui travaille de que1que �tier que XVIII· sitele', JU/JUI his/Qr;tpa d. droit /rDrlfais II /tranger, '94:', pp. 1156-7; ' 948,
qui travaille de la main et fait que1que ouvrage'; and Diderot'l Encydopidu explains
tt lOit'. The earliest edition of the DietimuuJu i df rArodimu which defines the term pp. 1 13-' 7·
in ib modem sense of a wage-eamer is that of 1935. For a recent discus&on of the
difficulties of definition in the Itudy of $OCial history see Alfred Cobban, 'The RtvUl hisloriq..., ev (1910), 3311-48. None of the,e categories of workers appear in
• For the latter, see M. Rouff, 'Une GN:ve de gagne-denieC$ en 1786 a Paria',
7 Besides the evidence of the poliee rl:COnh we find the assertion in a Motion I Lafayette estimated the number of 'brangers OU gens sans aveu' in Paris in
pp. 1I8'-4·
.us arlislls, artis/IIU 1/ ouurins du dislrid .us WpuriM tU Itl Ciliuml, d'Allti.. of July 1he wetk following the eaptun: of the Ba�nil!e at 'over 30,000'; yet thia may have
178g: 'Nolr<: domicile est chez nOl maitrel, nOlI pecCI ou en chambre gamie' been exaggerated for partisan enw (MbN;;rts, rorrtspondana II 1/IlUUI.UT;ls du GmirIJ/
(Bibliothl:que Nationale, nouvel.les acqW$itioou fra�aisa, no. la6411, fols. 13-15). La/aft/Ie (6 vok, Paris, 1837), i. la7la-3).
INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION 19
.8
census of 1792 1 we find that the wage-earners and their families for their living on a wage, still rented their frames from their
accounted for some two-thirds of the resident population in employers and worked in their own homes; 1 and, in August
seven northern and north-central Sectionsz and for nearly half 1789, we shall find a substantial body of hairdressers' journey
the population in four Sections of the central market area,J men in Paris insisting on their right to set up in business on their
while accounting for only one-third to one-half the population own irrespective of their masters' wishes.1
of the Faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marcel.4 About one-third of all the wage-earners recorded in the 1791
But, even when they formed a majority of the local popula return were in the building trades ;l they were largely composed
tion, the wage-earners lacked the attributes of a distinctive of seasonal workers or recent immigrants from the Creuse and
social class. In eighteenth-century France, the term ournin- might Limoges-hence their nick-name of limousins-and lodged in
be applied as readily to independent craftsmen, small work barely furnished rooms in the rue Mouffetard or the city centre.4
shop masters--or even, on occasion, to substantial manu Among them, too, we find the joumeyman�employer, or
facturers-as to ordinary wage-earners; in its most frequent maitre-ouuner who, while himself living on a wage paid by the
use itwas synonymous with artisan.s Such usage corresponded to building contractor, hired his own compagnons or garfons at a
the social realities of the time, when the wage-earner had as daily or seasonal rate.S The great mass of porters, carriers, and
yet no defined and distinctive status as a producer and there riverside workers, often recent immigrants from Picardy, Savoy,
were often numerous intermediate stages between workman or Auvergne, and lodging around the markets or in the
and employer. The typical unit of production was still the small neighbourhood of the docks, are harder to define ; yet there
workshop, which generally employed but a small number of must have been numerous grades and distinctions separating
journeymen and apprentices. Even in Paris, where the propor� the common labourers from such highly organized communautis
rion of workers to employers was larger and the restrictions as formed by the forts de la halle or the more aristocratic of the
imposed by the guild-system had become more relaxed than various types of gagne-denins.'> Even more variegated were the
elsewhere,6 the journeyman still often ate at his master's table 14,000 inmates of the hOpiltlJJX and alms�houses,7 soon to be
and slept under his roof.' The distinction between a wage reinforced by the many thousands of workless peasants, small
earning journeyman and an independent craftsman, or even a tradesmen, and country-workers who flocked into the capital on
workshop master, was ill defined: the 2,000 Parisian stocking� the eve of revolution and were herded into the ateliers de chan'U
weavers who struck against wage-cuts in 1724, while depending on the hill of Montmartre and elsewhere.s It is, in fact, only
, N. Karf:iev, op. cit., pp. '4-15. I F. Fund,-Brentana, 'La Ql.Iestion ouvriere soW! l'Ancien R�me', JUuw
rllTo.pecl;w, xvii ( 1 8911). l-la4.
l For this and other categories ofwockeC$ in Paris at this time I« PIJrisilJ1l WIJgt_
These a.n:: Bcaubourg, Gravillicn, Ponttau, Mauoonseil, Bonne Nouvelle,
•
• Arch. Nat., T 5'4 (').
• G. Mauco, La Afigral;olU ou.,. • i/ruell FrtlllCe au dlbw du X/){I file/, (Paris, 19311),
1 The,e are: Louvre, Oratoire, March9 des Innocents (later Hailes), Lombards.
that the term 'se dit en genual de tout artisan qui travaille de que1que �tier que XVIII· sitele', JU/JUI his/Qr;tpa d. droit /rDrlfais II /tranger, '94:', pp. 1156-7; ' 948,
qui travaille de la main et fait que1que ouvrage'; and Diderot'l Encydopidu explains
tt lOit'. The earliest edition of the DietimuuJu i df rArodimu which defines the term pp. 1 13-' 7·
in ib modem sense of a wage-eamer is that of 1935. For a recent discus&on of the
difficulties of definition in the Itudy of $OCial history see Alfred Cobban, 'The RtvUl hisloriq..., ev (1910), 3311-48. None of the,e categories of workers appear in
• For the latter, see M. Rouff, 'Une GN:ve de gagne-denieC$ en 1786 a Paria',
7 Besides the evidence of the poliee rl:COnh we find the assertion in a Motion I Lafayette estimated the number of 'brangers OU gens sans aveu' in Paris in
pp. 1I8'-4·
.us arlislls, artis/IIU 1/ ouurins du dislrid .us WpuriM tU Itl Ciliuml, d'Allti.. of July 1he wetk following the eaptun: of the Ba�nil!e at 'over 30,000'; yet thia may have
178g: 'Nolr<: domicile est chez nOl maitrel, nOlI pecCI ou en chambre gamie' been exaggerated for partisan enw (MbN;;rts, rorrtspondana II 1/IlUUI.UT;ls du GmirIJ/
(Bibliothl:que Nationale, nouvel.les acqW$itioou fra�aisa, no. la6411, fols. 13-15). La/aft/Ie (6 vok, Paris, 1837), i. la7la-3).
.0 INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION "
among the workers in the new textile manufactories of the argued with Lenoir, the lieutenant of police, and others had
northemfaubourgs, who may have amounted to a quarter or a marched in search of the king at the chiiteau de Bounoy.1 The
fifth of the total working population, I that we begin to find the following year, Sebastien Hardy, the bookseller-diarist, reported
distinctive characteristics of a modem industrial working class; a far wider movement embracing carpenters, farriers, lock
but, as we shall see, unlike the small craftsmen andjourneymen, smiths, bakers, and stonemasons;1 and, the same year, striking
they were to play a relatively minor role in the events of the parten and carriers, protesting against a rival monopoly set
Revolution. up by court favourites, marched to Versailles to petition the
Yet, for all their lack of cohesion as a social class, the Parisian king and aroused widespread popular sympathy) In June
journeymen and labourers had long since learned to express 1789. on the very eve of the Paris revolution, there was a further
their particular economic demanrls-often by violent means. strike ofhatters-this time over rivaljourneymen's associations.4
With the break-down in the purposes and organization of the Such movements may, as Marcel Rouff has suggested, have
old medieval guild, the journeyman had found himself reduced contributed to the revolutionary temper of 1 789;5 but they were
to the status of a wage-earner with nothing but the slenderest not decisive. In the conditions of the time conflicts between
chance of ever becoming a master.1 This gradual divergence in capital and labour were generally of secondary importance and
the material interests of masters and journeymen is reflected the wage�earner was usually more concerned with the price of
in the increasingly bitter strikes and social movements of the food-particularly of bread-than with the amount of his
century, becoming aU the more bitter as prices tended pro earnings. This was partly due to the absence of large-scale
gressively to outstrip wages.l To take a few examples. In 17'24 capitalist industry and of a national trade union movement:
there was a strike of stocking-frame weavers against a reduction more particularly, it was due to the large part played by bread
of wages, which was broken by the arrest of their leaders.4 In in the budget of the wage-earners, as of all small property_
1737 the journeymen weavers rebelled against the new regula owners. In Paris, in 1789. a labourer's daily wage might bt
t.:...ns governing, and restricting. entry to the maitrise.5 In 1 749 20 30 sous,
to a journeyman mason might earn and 40 sous,
the journeymen hatters were forbidden by an arTlt of the Paris a carpenter or locksmith 50 sous.6
According to Professor
to interfere with their employers' freedom to hire Labrousse an eighteenth-century French worker would nor
mally spend something like 50 per cent. of his income on bread;
Par/emenl
labour;6 and, in 1765, a similar arrlt forbade these workers to
carry swords and hunting-knives.' In 1776 there was a feneral 1 6 per cent. on vegetables, fau, and wine; 15 per cent. on
strike among bookbinders for a fourteen-hour day.' In 1 785 clothing; 5 per cent. on fuel; and I per cent. on lighting.'
workers in the building trades, striking against a wage-cut Thus the wage-earners, and other sma11 income-earners, were
imposed by the cont�actors. won a notable victory: the Parle vitally interested in the price of bread which, in Paris, in
menl declared in their favour after several hundred of them had 'normal' times, would be eight or nine sous
for the 4-lb. loaf.
Should its price, as all too frequently happened, rise sharply to
'7�6-4' and 177,-8g, nomina.! waga increased by only �� IX'r cent. between the
eatentiaJ. of popular eoruumption increased by 6� per ccnt. betwccn the periods I Routl', op. cit., p. 3-4.7.
.ame periodt (C.·E. ubrowae, EslJuisu tIu mollMllflll du prix II Ju "lit"'" 0/1 Fr4IIU Revolution', Economic Histqry Rluim., vol. vi, no. 3, 19,5.4, p. �¥I. The worker',
• G. Ru<U, 'Priu:s, Wages and Popular Movement. in Pari. during the French
_.. XVlIl' Si�e/I, ii. 597-&8). average 'effective' eamin� weN:. however, cOllliderably lea than this owing to the
• Funek.BN:ntano, cp. cit. ..t da)'J during the old ngime: Ihese amounlcd to about I I I per
6 A. Franklin, DiJ:IWMiJi,. JIS lITis, milins II P"'flSSions until JaIlS P.ris J,pui.t II year (ibid.). See also Appendix VII.
• Routl', op. cit., p. 333. large number offe
.' Lal]rowse, op. cit. ii. 597-608; G. Lefebvre, 'Le Mouvement des prix et les
I S. Hardy, Mu wi.tirs, oujounuJ J'IMwmmls .uts qu'iis plUllimNm a /II<Z <0-'11_
XliI' .iull (Paria, '(06). p. 37�. ' Ibid., p. 573·
.
(MS. in 8 vob., Paria, 176.t--8g. Bib. Nat., fooda fran�aiI, no.. 6680-7), iii. 1181.
o�,gme:s de la R�volution fran�aUe', AMlIlls hi.tIori'lwl d, kl Rioo/uli01l fra",.isl,
XIV ('937), 1ISg-s�9.
.0 INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION "
among the workers in the new textile manufactories of the argued with Lenoir, the lieutenant of police, and others had
northemfaubourgs, who may have amounted to a quarter or a marched in search of the king at the chiiteau de Bounoy.1 The
fifth of the total working population, I that we begin to find the following year, Sebastien Hardy, the bookseller-diarist, reported
distinctive characteristics of a modem industrial working class; a far wider movement embracing carpenters, farriers, lock
but, as we shall see, unlike the small craftsmen andjourneymen, smiths, bakers, and stonemasons;1 and, the same year, striking
they were to play a relatively minor role in the events of the parten and carriers, protesting against a rival monopoly set
Revolution. up by court favourites, marched to Versailles to petition the
Yet, for all their lack of cohesion as a social class, the Parisian king and aroused widespread popular sympathy) In June
journeymen and labourers had long since learned to express 1789. on the very eve of the Paris revolution, there was a further
their particular economic demanrls-often by violent means. strike ofhatters-this time over rivaljourneymen's associations.4
With the break-down in the purposes and organization of the Such movements may, as Marcel Rouff has suggested, have
old medieval guild, the journeyman had found himself reduced contributed to the revolutionary temper of 1 789;5 but they were
to the status of a wage-earner with nothing but the slenderest not decisive. In the conditions of the time conflicts between
chance of ever becoming a master.1 This gradual divergence in capital and labour were generally of secondary importance and
the material interests of masters and journeymen is reflected the wage�earner was usually more concerned with the price of
in the increasingly bitter strikes and social movements of the food-particularly of bread-than with the amount of his
century, becoming aU the more bitter as prices tended pro earnings. This was partly due to the absence of large-scale
gressively to outstrip wages.l To take a few examples. In 17'24 capitalist industry and of a national trade union movement:
there was a strike of stocking-frame weavers against a reduction more particularly, it was due to the large part played by bread
of wages, which was broken by the arrest of their leaders.4 In in the budget of the wage-earners, as of all small property_
1737 the journeymen weavers rebelled against the new regula owners. In Paris, in 1789. a labourer's daily wage might bt
t.:...ns governing, and restricting. entry to the maitrise.5 In 1 749 20 30 sous,
to a journeyman mason might earn and 40 sous,
the journeymen hatters were forbidden by an arTlt of the Paris a carpenter or locksmith 50 sous.6
According to Professor
to interfere with their employers' freedom to hire Labrousse an eighteenth-century French worker would nor
mally spend something like 50 per cent. of his income on bread;
Par/emenl
labour;6 and, in 1765, a similar arrlt forbade these workers to
carry swords and hunting-knives.' In 1776 there was a feneral 1 6 per cent. on vegetables, fau, and wine; 15 per cent. on
strike among bookbinders for a fourteen-hour day.' In 1 785 clothing; 5 per cent. on fuel; and I per cent. on lighting.'
workers in the building trades, striking against a wage-cut Thus the wage-earners, and other sma11 income-earners, were
imposed by the cont�actors. won a notable victory: the Parle vitally interested in the price of bread which, in Paris, in
menl declared in their favour after several hundred of them had 'normal' times, would be eight or nine sous
for the 4-lb. loaf.
Should its price, as all too frequently happened, rise sharply to
'7�6-4' and 177,-8g, nomina.! waga increased by only �� IX'r cent. between the
eatentiaJ. of popular eoruumption increased by 6� per ccnt. betwccn the periods I Routl', op. cit., p. 3-4.7.
.ame periodt (C.·E. ubrowae, EslJuisu tIu mollMllflll du prix II Ju "lit"'" 0/1 Fr4IIU Revolution', Economic Histqry Rluim., vol. vi, no. 3, 19,5.4, p. �¥I. The worker',
• G. Ru<U, 'Priu:s, Wages and Popular Movement. in Pari. during the French
_.. XVlIl' Si�e/I, ii. 597-&8). average 'effective' eamin� weN:. however, cOllliderably lea than this owing to the
• Funek.BN:ntano, cp. cit. ..t da)'J during the old ngime: Ihese amounlcd to about I I I per
6 A. Franklin, DiJ:IWMiJi,. JIS lITis, milins II P"'flSSions until JaIlS P.ris J,pui.t II year (ibid.). See also Appendix VII.
• Routl', op. cit., p. 333. large number offe
.' Lal]rowse, op. cit. ii. 597-608; G. Lefebvre, 'Le Mouvement des prix et les
I S. Hardy, Mu wi.tirs, oujounuJ J'IMwmmls .uts qu'iis plUllimNm a /II<Z <0-'11_
XliI' .iull (Paria, '(06). p. 37�. ' Ibid., p. 573·
.
(MS. in 8 vob., Paria, 176.t--8g. Bib. Nat., fooda fran�aiI, no.. 6680-7), iii. 1181.
o�,gme:s de la R�volution fran�aUe', AMlIlls hi.tIori'lwl d, kl Rioo/uli01l fra",.isl,
XIV ('937), 1ISg-s�9.
INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION '3
"
that the price of bread had risen higher than in 1 709 and that
to appease popular anger ('iI y avait eu a Paris des seditions
12 or 15 (or even to 20) sow, it is evident that the bulk of the
wage-earners faced sudden disaster. It is not surprising, there
fore, that they tended to think in terms of cheaper and more serieuses') M. d'Ombreval, the minister responsible, had been
relieved of his post.1 In September 1 740 the price of the 4-lb.
loaf rose to 20 SOIlS (equivalent to the daily wage of an unskilled
plentiful bread-rather than in terms of higher wages and
better workshop conditions; and, with rare exceptions, this
continued to be the case during the Revolution as wel!.1 In worker) ; the king was assailed with cries of 'Misere! du pain!
consequence it was the food riot rather than the strike that was du pain !'; Cardinal Fleury was mobbed by a crowd of angry
still the traditional and typical form of popular protest; and in women; and fifty prisoners at Bicetre were shot dead after
this not only journeymen, labourers, and city poor, but small rioting in protest against a reduction in their bread-ration.�
shopkeepers, craftsmen, and workshop masters joined in com In December 1752 bread riots were coupled with angry demon
mon opposition to farmers, millers, bakers, hoarders, grain strations against the Archbishop of Paris who had refused the
merchants, and city authorities. This basic identityofinterest was sacrament to a dying nun suspected ofJansenism;l six months
to prove one of the most solid of the links that bound together later the price of bread was still abnormally high and seditious
the social groups forming the sans-culottes of the Revolution. leaflets were circulated, bearing the inscription, 'Vive Ie Parle
Paris, like other big cities, had, throughout the century, been ment! meurent Ie Roi et Ies eveques!'4 It was the same king
continually threatened with such outbreaks. To avert them an Louis XV-who was popularly believed to have devised the
elaborate system had been devised to ensure the regular and sinister pacte defamine.s
adequate supply of wheat to suburban millers and flour to the More widespread and even more alarming to the authorities
Paris bakers-often at the expense of the supplying areas them were the food riots that broke out in Paris and its adjoining
selves, or at the reputed expense of the villages lying on the provinces in the spring of 1775. Turgot had been appointed
rivers and roads along which food-convoys bound for the Comptroller-General in August 1774. He started with no
capital travelled.1 But the margin ofsafety was rarely sufficient particular record of unpopularity as far as the common people
to withstand the onslaught or vagaries of bad harvests, drought, were concerned: in fact, his predecessor and most vocal oppo
hail, frost, poor communications, or the peculations of grain nent, the abbe Terray, was, soon after his appointment,
burned in effigy in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.' Yet, to the
delight of his enemies at court, he was soon to lose any sem
monopolists and speculators. In such cases the system broke
down and panic-buying led to steep rises in the price of bread
and outbursts of anger and violence by the Parisian menu peuple. blance of popular favour by his over-haste in applying Physio
In the great famine year of '709 the break-down had been so cratic doctrine to the grain-trade : an arrll of '3 September
nearly complete and so protracted that hundreds had died of
, }tnn'IUll d mImoirtJ du Marquis d'ArpIUOJI (9 vol,., Pari., ,859), i. 54. According
starvation.' In August 1 725 the Marquis d'Argenson recorded to another memonali3t, the lawyer Barbier, the price of the 4-1b. loaf had risen
, Thil lendeney it cleuly rdla:ted in lhe few provincial win. tit dOUllJlt# of to the almost fantastic sum of lIB-:!lI SlItIS (E. J. F. Barbier, ]IIIITfW hutorif{W �I
a1l«dotiqut du rtgM de lAuis XV (4 vois., Paris, ,847), i. �24-5).
• D'A�nson, op. cit. iii. 169-73.
wage_urnen; that have come down to us. In Pam .here ;s no such evidcnce, in
properly-ownen from the Parisian preliminary �mblics (ChUllin, op. cit. i. • Ibid. viii. 35.
view of the special regulations drawn up to exclude wage�amcn and small
119, tee R. C. Cobb, 'Lea DiRtto de \'an II et de I'an III dans Ie district de Manta
et la yall�e de la Basse-Seine', Mtmhim dt la fUtmliOll dts soci/lis Ju'swriquts 1/
�nod of office, had been largely in the hands of a group ofweahhy 'monopoli3ts',
h,s name had become popularly associated with Ihe notorious pacil d. famjru. In
DrelrJologiqtJtlS d, Pllris tI dt 1'f1t-d._Franu, iii (1954), pp. 227-:J:J.
) A. de Boi,lille, 'Le Grand Hiver et la di3eue de 1709', R,vld dtS quutiDJU flScn to ,6 SOUl, and minor disturbances had followed (S. Lacroix, Ac�s dt la
�ovem1r'r 1768, while Tcrray wM in office, the price of the 4-lb. loafin Paris had
that the price of bread had risen higher than in 1 709 and that
to appease popular anger ('iI y avait eu a Paris des seditions
12 or 15 (or even to 20) sow, it is evident that the bulk of the
wage-earners faced sudden disaster. It is not surprising, there
fore, that they tended to think in terms of cheaper and more serieuses') M. d'Ombreval, the minister responsible, had been
relieved of his post.1 In September 1 740 the price of the 4-lb.
loaf rose to 20 SOIlS (equivalent to the daily wage of an unskilled
plentiful bread-rather than in terms of higher wages and
better workshop conditions; and, with rare exceptions, this
continued to be the case during the Revolution as wel!.1 In worker) ; the king was assailed with cries of 'Misere! du pain!
consequence it was the food riot rather than the strike that was du pain !'; Cardinal Fleury was mobbed by a crowd of angry
still the traditional and typical form of popular protest; and in women; and fifty prisoners at Bicetre were shot dead after
this not only journeymen, labourers, and city poor, but small rioting in protest against a reduction in their bread-ration.�
shopkeepers, craftsmen, and workshop masters joined in com In December 1752 bread riots were coupled with angry demon
mon opposition to farmers, millers, bakers, hoarders, grain strations against the Archbishop of Paris who had refused the
merchants, and city authorities. This basic identityofinterest was sacrament to a dying nun suspected ofJansenism;l six months
to prove one of the most solid of the links that bound together later the price of bread was still abnormally high and seditious
the social groups forming the sans-culottes of the Revolution. leaflets were circulated, bearing the inscription, 'Vive Ie Parle
Paris, like other big cities, had, throughout the century, been ment! meurent Ie Roi et Ies eveques!'4 It was the same king
continually threatened with such outbreaks. To avert them an Louis XV-who was popularly believed to have devised the
elaborate system had been devised to ensure the regular and sinister pacte defamine.s
adequate supply of wheat to suburban millers and flour to the More widespread and even more alarming to the authorities
Paris bakers-often at the expense of the supplying areas them were the food riots that broke out in Paris and its adjoining
selves, or at the reputed expense of the villages lying on the provinces in the spring of 1775. Turgot had been appointed
rivers and roads along which food-convoys bound for the Comptroller-General in August 1774. He started with no
capital travelled.1 But the margin ofsafety was rarely sufficient particular record of unpopularity as far as the common people
to withstand the onslaught or vagaries of bad harvests, drought, were concerned: in fact, his predecessor and most vocal oppo
hail, frost, poor communications, or the peculations of grain nent, the abbe Terray, was, soon after his appointment,
burned in effigy in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.' Yet, to the
delight of his enemies at court, he was soon to lose any sem
monopolists and speculators. In such cases the system broke
down and panic-buying led to steep rises in the price of bread
and outbursts of anger and violence by the Parisian menu peuple. blance of popular favour by his over-haste in applying Physio
In the great famine year of '709 the break-down had been so cratic doctrine to the grain-trade : an arrll of '3 September
nearly complete and so protracted that hundreds had died of
, }tnn'IUll d mImoirtJ du Marquis d'ArpIUOJI (9 vol,., Pari., ,859), i. 54. According
starvation.' In August 1 725 the Marquis d'Argenson recorded to another memonali3t, the lawyer Barbier, the price of the 4-1b. loaf had risen
, Thil lendeney it cleuly rdla:ted in lhe few provincial win. tit dOUllJlt# of to the almost fantastic sum of lIB-:!lI SlItIS (E. J. F. Barbier, ]IIIITfW hutorif{W �I
a1l«dotiqut du rtgM de lAuis XV (4 vois., Paris, ,847), i. �24-5).
• D'A�nson, op. cit. iii. 169-73.
wage_urnen; that have come down to us. In Pam .here ;s no such evidcnce, in
properly-ownen from the Parisian preliminary �mblics (ChUllin, op. cit. i. • Ibid. viii. 35.
view of the special regulations drawn up to exclude wage�amcn and small
119, tee R. C. Cobb, 'Lea DiRtto de \'an II et de I'an III dans Ie district de Manta
et la yall�e de la Basse-Seine', Mtmhim dt la fUtmliOll dts soci/lis Ju'swriquts 1/
�nod of office, had been largely in the hands of a group ofweahhy 'monopoli3ts',
h,s name had become popularly associated with Ihe notorious pacil d. famjru. In
DrelrJologiqtJtlS d, Pllris tI dt 1'f1t-d._Franu, iii (1954), pp. 227-:J:J.
) A. de Boi,lille, 'Le Grand Hiver et la di3eue de 1709', R,vld dtS quutiDJU flScn to ,6 SOUl, and minor disturbances had followed (S. Lacroix, Ac�s dt la
�ovem1r'r 1768, while Tcrray wM in office, the price of the 4-lb. loafin Paris had
restored freedom of trade in grain and flour. This, combined Paris, referred to the dangers ofa repetition ofthe scenes enacted
with a bad haIVest, led to a shortage and a rapid increase in the
price of corn, flour, and bread in the following spring and
in May 1 775.1
In Paris, at least, this was the last ofthe great popular revolts
summer. The price of the 4-1b. loaf in Paris ros.e to I i �olLS �
in early March and to lsi sous at the end of Apnl. Gram nots
of the old regime. The twelve yean that followed were years of
comparatively stable food·prices and social peace.' The most
had already broken out at Bordeaux, Dijon, Tours, Meu,
Rheims, and Montauban-and in their wake sprang up that
that Hardy records are protests against the newly erected
�
majority stationed in the capital-who could be called upon
prising that the movement yielded no tangi le results. I � was in an emergency.4 While these combined forces were greatly
essentially a movement of wage-earners, artisans, and V illage inferior to those later available to the revolutionary authorities,
and city poor : neither the bourgeoisie nor the bulk ofthe peasantry
played any part. However, it gave a severe jolt to the govern , Hardy, ]DIlTfIIl,l vii. 123.
ment and 'respectable' classes : twelve years later, Hardy, w o � • During this period, the price of the 4·lb. loaf remained remarkably Itcady,
generally ranging between 8 and 9 SOUSj it rote to loi or II UJUS only {or briefspell,
had witnessed the invasion of markets and bakers' shops In in 1784 (ibid., vok 3-7, prusim).
• G. Rud�, 'La Taxation populaire de m:ai 1775 a Pari. et danl la rtgion • H!de Montb:as, La PoIu, paririntM sour Louu XVI (Puis, 1(49), pp. 7a-s...,
J Ibid. v. 322-3, 394-5, 410; vi. 16, 35, 330, 3 2, 435, 479.
3
p arUienne',ANIllles hutoriquu <h III RJool"lilmjr/l1JfIlUt, Apri
1956, pp. lI39-79.
l -June 93-101. See abo Monin,op. cit.,pp. 479, :143.
" INTRODUCTION PARIS ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION lI5
restored freedom of trade in grain and flour. This, combined Paris, referred to the dangers ofa repetition ofthe scenes enacted
with a bad haIVest, led to a shortage and a rapid increase in the
price of corn, flour, and bread in the following spring and
in May 1 775.1
In Paris, at least, this was the last ofthe great popular revolts
summer. The price of the 4-1b. loaf in Paris ros.e to I i �olLS �
in early March and to lsi sous at the end of Apnl. Gram nots
of the old regime. The twelve yean that followed were years of
comparatively stable food·prices and social peace.' The most
had already broken out at Bordeaux, Dijon, Tours, Meu,
Rheims, and Montauban-and in their wake sprang up that
that Hardy records are protests against the newly erected
�
majority stationed in the capital-who could be called upon
prising that the movement yielded no tangi le results. I � was in an emergency.4 While these combined forces were greatly
essentially a movement of wage-earners, artisans, and V illage inferior to those later available to the revolutionary authorities,
and city poor : neither the bourgeoisie nor the bulk ofthe peasantry
played any part. However, it gave a severe jolt to the govern , Hardy, ]DIlTfIIl,l vii. 123.
ment and 'respectable' classes : twelve years later, Hardy, w o � • During this period, the price of the 4·lb. loaf remained remarkably Itcady,
generally ranging between 8 and 9 SOUSj it rote to loi or II UJUS only {or briefspell,
had witnessed the invasion of markets and bakers' shops In in 1784 (ibid., vok 3-7, prusim).
• G. Rud�, 'La Taxation populaire de m:ai 1775 a Pari. et danl la rtgion • H!de Montb:as, La PoIu, paririntM sour Louu XVI (Puis, 1(49), pp. 7a-s...,
J Ibid. v. 322-3, 394-5, 410; vi. 16, 35, 330, 3 2, 435, 479.
3
p arUienne',ANIllles hutoriquu <h III RJool"lilmjr/l1JfIlUt, Apri
1956, pp. lI39-79.
l -June 93-101. See abo Monin,op. cit.,pp. 479, :143.
26 INTRODUCTION
RADITIONALLY
policed as Paris ;' yet, at the time of writing, he appeared to
have reasonable grounds for self-satisfaction.
the French Revolution has been treated
T �
However, behind the apparent calm there were forces matur.
as one single protracted episode, whic opened with the
ing, not immediately discernible to even the most enlightened .
meeting of the States General at Versrulles m May 1789,
and far-seeing observers, that would soon shatter these illusions
or with the fall of the Bastille in July. In recent years, however,
and involve Parisians in events far more cataclysmic than any
historians have tended to revise this view and both to present
experienced in the preceding century. Though, in their out
the Revolution as a series of distinct, though interrelated,
come, these events left the outward appearance of Paris
episodes and to ante-date its outbreak by two years-to May
singularly untouched/ they drastically disturbed the lives and
1787, when the dismissal of the Assembly of Notables unleashed
properties of its citizens.
the 'revolte nobiliaire' or 'revolution aristocratique'.1 The
, Mercier, op. cil., vi. 2�-25. arguments in favour of presenting the Revolution as a gradual
r
26 INTRODUCTION
RADITIONALLY
policed as Paris ;' yet, at the time of writing, he appeared to
have reasonable grounds for self-satisfaction.
the French Revolution has been treated
T �
However, behind the apparent calm there were forces matur.
as one single protracted episode, whic opened with the
ing, not immediately discernible to even the most enlightened .
meeting of the States General at Versrulles m May 1789,
and far-seeing observers, that would soon shatter these illusions
or with the fall of the Bastille in July. In recent years, however,
and involve Parisians in events far more cataclysmic than any
historians have tended to revise this view and both to present
experienced in the preceding century. Though, in their out
the Revolution as a series of distinct, though interrelated,
come, these events left the outward appearance of Paris
episodes and to ante-date its outbreak by two years-to May
singularly untouched/ they drastically disturbed the lives and
1787, when the dismissal of the Assembly of Notables unleashed
properties of its citizens.
the 'revolte nobiliaire' or 'revolution aristocratique'.1 The
, Mercier, op. cil., vi. 2�-25. arguments in favour of presenting the Revolution as a gradual
r
18 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION 29
parallels in our own national history. Yet the argument is not Sens and Toulouse, and soon to be promoted Cardinal. Brienne's
fully convincing: the divisions between the monarchy and proposals being nomoreacceptable than Calonne's and being met
privileged orders who launched the 'revolte nobiliaire', though with similar obstruction, the Notables in turn were dismissed on
deep, were not fundamental; and these divisions were rapidly 25 May, and the 'revolte nobiliaire' followed. k so often in the
healed as soon as the Third Estate----<:omprising both the past, it was the Paro Parlemrnt, with its vaguely defined consti
bourgeoisie and the masses of town and countryside-joined tutional powers, that fired the opening shot. While accepting
forces in support of their own, more far·reaching, claims, as Brienne's plan to relax controls on the sale and export of grain
they began to do in the spring of '78g. According to this view, and endorsing, under protest, the stamp-duty, the Pa,lnnrnJ re
the real point of revolutionary outbreak was only reached when fused categorically to tegister the decree on the land-tax and
the separate and scattered actions of peasants, urban craHsmen demanded that the States General be convened to deal with the
and bourgeois journalists, lawyers. and deputies merged in matter. When the decrees were, none the less, promulgated in a
common struggle in July 1 789,I lit dt justue
in August, the provincial Par/mlenu rallied to the
In this study, therefore, the 'revolte nobiliaire' is presented as support of Paris, and Brienne was forced to capitulate: the
a prelude or curtain-raiser, rather than as the opening act of decrees on the land-tax and stamp·duty were withdrawn on
the revolutionary drama. Yet its profound significance and its 21 September and the Paris Par/mlent, whose memben had
particular importance for the present subject are not denied : been exiled, was reinstated a few days later.t
not only did it pave the way directly for the triumph of the The return of the Parlmlenl to the capital was the occasion of
Third Estate but, by drawing the urban masses into activity, it wildscenesofjubilationin the Place Dauphine, the ruedu Harlay,
ended the period of social peace which, in the case of Paris, had and other approaches to the Law Courts. Anti-royalist tracts had
lasted, more or less undisturbed, since the 'guerre des farines' begun to appear in AugusP and the authorities were prepared
twelve years before. This new period. of intense social struggle for trouble: the Palais de Justice was ringed with 500 Gardes de
was to include both six years of revolution and the two years Paris, supported by a regiment of Gardes Frantyaises. Hardy,
preceding it. This is therefore the point at which our study of the himself a supporter of the Parlemrnt, tells us that 'une jeunesse
Parisian revolutionary crowd, in its wider context, must begin. eA'rc�nee', composed of the clerks of the Palais and the appren
28-42.
18 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION 29
parallels in our own national history. Yet the argument is not Sens and Toulouse, and soon to be promoted Cardinal. Brienne's
fully convincing: the divisions between the monarchy and proposals being nomoreacceptable than Calonne's and being met
privileged orders who launched the 'revolte nobiliaire', though with similar obstruction, the Notables in turn were dismissed on
deep, were not fundamental; and these divisions were rapidly 25 May, and the 'revolte nobiliaire' followed. k so often in the
healed as soon as the Third Estate----<:omprising both the past, it was the Paro Parlemrnt, with its vaguely defined consti
bourgeoisie and the masses of town and countryside-joined tutional powers, that fired the opening shot. While accepting
forces in support of their own, more far·reaching, claims, as Brienne's plan to relax controls on the sale and export of grain
they began to do in the spring of '78g. According to this view, and endorsing, under protest, the stamp-duty, the Pa,lnnrnJ re
the real point of revolutionary outbreak was only reached when fused categorically to tegister the decree on the land-tax and
the separate and scattered actions of peasants, urban craHsmen demanded that the States General be convened to deal with the
and bourgeois journalists, lawyers. and deputies merged in matter. When the decrees were, none the less, promulgated in a
common struggle in July 1 789,I lit dt justue
in August, the provincial Par/mlenu rallied to the
In this study, therefore, the 'revolte nobiliaire' is presented as support of Paris, and Brienne was forced to capitulate: the
a prelude or curtain-raiser, rather than as the opening act of decrees on the land-tax and stamp·duty were withdrawn on
the revolutionary drama. Yet its profound significance and its 21 September and the Paris Par/mlent, whose memben had
particular importance for the present subject are not denied : been exiled, was reinstated a few days later.t
not only did it pave the way directly for the triumph of the The return of the Parlmlenl to the capital was the occasion of
Third Estate but, by drawing the urban masses into activity, it wildscenesofjubilationin the Place Dauphine, the ruedu Harlay,
ended the period of social peace which, in the case of Paris, had and other approaches to the Law Courts. Anti-royalist tracts had
lasted, more or less undisturbed, since the 'guerre des farines' begun to appear in AugusP and the authorities were prepared
twelve years before. This new period. of intense social struggle for trouble: the Palais de Justice was ringed with 500 Gardes de
was to include both six years of revolution and the two years Paris, supported by a regiment of Gardes Frantyaises. Hardy,
preceding it. This is therefore the point at which our study of the himself a supporter of the Parlemrnt, tells us that 'une jeunesse
Parisian revolutionary crowd, in its wider context, must begin. eA'rc�nee', composed of the clerks of the Palais and the appren
28-42.
,. THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD I N ACTION PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION ,.
were committed to the Force jail, included two apprentices in down the Law Courts. 1 A new phase of violence followed-at
small crafts, two journeymen goldsmiths and a master tailor; first mainly in the provinces : there were mass riots in Gre
two Jived in the immediate vicinity of the Palais, two other! in noble and Rennes in June; in Dauphine nobility and Third
the university quarter across the river. ' Estate joined forces against the Crown in July. Early that
The disorders continued for a week, during which bonfires month, angry placards threatening the king with mass revolt
were lit in the square before the Palais, anti-royalist tracts were appeared in the Cite : 'Tremblez, Tyrans, votre Regne va
distributed, and Calonne and the Comtesse de Polignac, the finir' ; and Hardy feared that a serious popular outbreak was
governess of the royal children, were burned in effigy.a Finally, pending.i Anticipating further trouble, the government began,
on 3 October, the Parltmtnt issued an arrit, solemnly proscribing in early August, to draft new regiments into the villages
all gatherings and firework displays in the neighbourhood of the adjoining the capital-this time not so much for fear of the
Palais,3 and the movement subsided-although Hardy recorded clerks and apprentices of the Palais as of the menu peuple of the
a further minor outbreak and the mustering of 600 troops as markets and faubourgs. l
late as 12
November.4 Though thus protracted, this had been These fears proved well founded. The government, com
a localized affair without widespread repercussions : only a small pelled to bow before the storm, promised that the States
part of the bourgeoi sie was engaged ; and the faubourgs and General should be called in May 1789; on 24 August Brienne
markets, perhaps because the price of bread remained stable, was replaced by Necker and the Parlemtnt was recalled soon
were not yet involved. after. This double victory was greeted two days later with
In the following months, however, the crisis deepened-not another outburst of celebrations in the Place Dauphine and its
least because the return to Turgot's free-trade measures had neighbourhood : under the noses of the guards fireworks were
led to a sharp rise in the price of grain. To reach a settlement let off in profusion, bonfires were lit, and the occupants of
of the financial crisis Brienne fell back on the expedient of coaches crossing the Pont Neuf were made to bow low to the
raising a loan, which the Paris PaTUmtnt was willing to accept equestrian statue of Henri IV and to shout 'A bas Lamoignon!'
provided that the Stales General be summoned. But negotia A new factor, however, was to extend these disturbances far
tions broke down again in November; the popular Duke of beyond the scope and limits ofthe previous year. On 1 7 August
Orleans and two consnllns were exiled; on his return in April the price of the 4-lb. loaf, after long remaining at 9 SOUS, rose
! the duke was welcomed with another round of fireworks.5 In to 9t sow, on the 20th to 0 SOUS, on 2 September to lOt SOUS,
1
May 1788 the Parlement won further popularity by issuing a and on 7 September to I I SOUS.4 After the first increase Hardy
declaration condemning the whole system of arbitrary govern
[litres de cachet.
noted. a slight commotion in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine;5
ment, including the The government riposted and, on 28 August, the ouvn·ns and menu peuple of the markets
by once more ringing the Palais with troops, forced the parle and faubourgs joined the riots started two days earlier by the
men/aires to surrender their ringleaders to royal justice, and Palais clerks in the Place Dauphine, and changed their wh('le
promulgated six edicts, drafted by Lamoignon, the garde des character.6 The next day they became more violent and spread
sceaux, which restricted the jurisdiction of the Parltments, into other districts : guard-posts on the Pont Neuf and on both
reduced the number of corunllers, and vested the royal courts sides of the river were ransacked and burned to the ground.
and officials with greater legal powers; on this occasion only Meanwhile supreme command of all troops stationed in the
the presence of troops prevented an angry crowd from burning I Ibid. 470. Th� wa.. another minor dilturbance in the rue del Lombards ten
, Arch. Nat., Y ' 30 14. In addition, a domestic leTV;mt had been brought daya later (ibid. 4B').
• Ibid. 4g-66.
' Ibid. viii. 10-1/.
before Commissioner Uger on :I September, charged with inciling the crowd , Ibid. 35, 7�-7J. I Ibid. 49.
were committed to the Force jail, included two apprentices in down the Law Courts. 1 A new phase of violence followed-at
small crafts, two journeymen goldsmiths and a master tailor; first mainly in the provinces : there were mass riots in Gre
two Jived in the immediate vicinity of the Palais, two other! in noble and Rennes in June; in Dauphine nobility and Third
the university quarter across the river. ' Estate joined forces against the Crown in July. Early that
The disorders continued for a week, during which bonfires month, angry placards threatening the king with mass revolt
were lit in the square before the Palais, anti-royalist tracts were appeared in the Cite : 'Tremblez, Tyrans, votre Regne va
distributed, and Calonne and the Comtesse de Polignac, the finir' ; and Hardy feared that a serious popular outbreak was
governess of the royal children, were burned in effigy.a Finally, pending.i Anticipating further trouble, the government began,
on 3 October, the Parltmtnt issued an arrit, solemnly proscribing in early August, to draft new regiments into the villages
all gatherings and firework displays in the neighbourhood of the adjoining the capital-this time not so much for fear of the
Palais,3 and the movement subsided-although Hardy recorded clerks and apprentices of the Palais as of the menu peuple of the
a further minor outbreak and the mustering of 600 troops as markets and faubourgs. l
late as 12
November.4 Though thus protracted, this had been These fears proved well founded. The government, com
a localized affair without widespread repercussions : only a small pelled to bow before the storm, promised that the States
part of the bourgeoi sie was engaged ; and the faubourgs and General should be called in May 1789; on 24 August Brienne
markets, perhaps because the price of bread remained stable, was replaced by Necker and the Parlemtnt was recalled soon
were not yet involved. after. This double victory was greeted two days later with
In the following months, however, the crisis deepened-not another outburst of celebrations in the Place Dauphine and its
least because the return to Turgot's free-trade measures had neighbourhood : under the noses of the guards fireworks were
led to a sharp rise in the price of grain. To reach a settlement let off in profusion, bonfires were lit, and the occupants of
of the financial crisis Brienne fell back on the expedient of coaches crossing the Pont Neuf were made to bow low to the
raising a loan, which the Paris PaTUmtnt was willing to accept equestrian statue of Henri IV and to shout 'A bas Lamoignon!'
provided that the Stales General be summoned. But negotia A new factor, however, was to extend these disturbances far
tions broke down again in November; the popular Duke of beyond the scope and limits ofthe previous year. On 1 7 August
Orleans and two consnllns were exiled; on his return in April the price of the 4-lb. loaf, after long remaining at 9 SOUS, rose
! the duke was welcomed with another round of fireworks.5 In to 9t sow, on the 20th to 0 SOUS, on 2 September to lOt SOUS,
1
May 1788 the Parlement won further popularity by issuing a and on 7 September to I I SOUS.4 After the first increase Hardy
declaration condemning the whole system of arbitrary govern
[litres de cachet.
noted. a slight commotion in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine;5
ment, including the The government riposted and, on 28 August, the ouvn·ns and menu peuple of the markets
by once more ringing the Palais with troops, forced the parle and faubourgs joined the riots started two days earlier by the
men/aires to surrender their ringleaders to royal justice, and Palais clerks in the Place Dauphine, and changed their wh('le
promulgated six edicts, drafted by Lamoignon, the garde des character.6 The next day they became more violent and spread
sceaux, which restricted the jurisdiction of the Parltments, into other districts : guard-posts on the Pont Neuf and on both
reduced the number of corunllers, and vested the royal courts sides of the river were ransacked and burned to the ground.
and officials with greater legal powers; on this occasion only Meanwhile supreme command of all troops stationed in the
the presence of troops prevented an angry crowd from burning I Ibid. 470. Th� wa.. another minor dilturbance in the rue del Lombards ten
, Arch. Nat., Y ' 30 14. In addition, a domestic leTV;mt had been brought daya later (ibid. 4B').
• Ibid. 4g-66.
' Ibid. viii. 10-1/.
before Commissioner Uger on :I September, charged with inciling the crowd , Ibid. 35, 7�-7J. I Ibid. 49.
517, 15309-', 18751, ,8795; X Ib B98g {cited by Monin, op. cit., p . 48g.
Bib: Nat., Collection Joly de Fleury, dou. 1113; Arch. Nat., Y 9"91, 9989,
r:�, "
[
517, 15309-', 18751, ,8795; X Ib B98g {cited by Monin, op. cit., p . 48g.
Bib: Nat., Collection Joly de Fleury, dou. 1113; Arch. Nat., Y 9"91, 9989,
r:�, "
[
Rcveillon's factory-should be forcibly kept at work; but The numbers of killed and wounded in the Reveillon riots
have never been established. In order not to in8ame opinion
I itinerant bands broke in the doors and persuaded or compelled
the workers to join them. In the Temple district an attempt was further the authorities were careful to play down the number of
made to fetch workers out from their lodgings.l By 5 o'clock, victims and, in so doing, gave rise to the wildest rumours and
specul�tion The Marquis de Sillery, deputy for the nobility
ofRhelms, In reportmg the events to his constituents, estimated
noted Hardy, demonstrators were assembling on the Pont : .
Neuf, the Pont au Change (adjoining the Chatelet), the Porte
better and put the figure above 900.7 Another writer speaks of
the number of killed at 'several hundred'.' Hardy went one
Saint-Antoine, and off the boulevards.4
The climax came between six and eight in the evening.
s�venty or eighty corpses being placed in the garden of one
R�veillon's house was stormed, the fifty Guards of the Royal
Cravate Regiment were swept aside, and the destruction of the smgle house in the rue de Montreuil.' In contrast, the various
previous night was repeated on a vaster scale. The Duc du reports of the commissioners of the Chatelet account for a
Chatelet, commanding the Gardes Franr,;aises, gave the order � J. Collot, 'L'affaire Rt!vt:illon', Rnw dl$ qu<sl;(IfI.l histMiquu, (:XlIi (193....5),
I Arch. Nat., KK 641, fol. '7.
..
, A,1o /Jtltri#tiqu< Ih trois 1Itt:�!I>'$ du Ti l
35 5 ' 239-54·
178g), Bib. Nat., Lb 39
.. Hardy, viii. 299.
m itat (Paris, , rch. Nat., C 221, no. 160/'46, fol. 52.
Rcveillon's factory-should be forcibly kept at work; but The numbers of killed and wounded in the Reveillon riots
have never been established. In order not to in8ame opinion
I itinerant bands broke in the doors and persuaded or compelled
the workers to join them. In the Temple district an attempt was further the authorities were careful to play down the number of
made to fetch workers out from their lodgings.l By 5 o'clock, victims and, in so doing, gave rise to the wildest rumours and
specul�tion The Marquis de Sillery, deputy for the nobility
ofRhelms, In reportmg the events to his constituents, estimated
noted Hardy, demonstrators were assembling on the Pont : .
Neuf, the Pont au Change (adjoining the Chatelet), the Porte
better and put the figure above 900.7 Another writer speaks of
the number of killed at 'several hundred'.' Hardy went one
Saint-Antoine, and off the boulevards.4
The climax came between six and eight in the evening.
s�venty or eighty corpses being placed in the garden of one
R�veillon's house was stormed, the fifty Guards of the Royal
Cravate Regiment were swept aside, and the destruction of the smgle house in the rue de Montreuil.' In contrast, the various
previous night was repeated on a vaster scale. The Duc du reports of the commissioners of the Chatelet account for a
Chatelet, commanding the Gardes Franr,;aises, gave the order � J. Collot, 'L'affaire Rt!vt:illon', Rnw dl$ qu<sl;(IfI.l histMiquu, (:XlIi (193....5),
I Arch. Nat., KK 641, fol. '7.
..
, A,1o /Jtltri#tiqu< Ih trois 1Itt:�!I>'$ du Ti l
35 5 ' 239-54·
178g), Bib. Nat., Lb 39
.. Hardy, viii. 299.
m itat (Paris, , rch. Nat., C 221, no. 160/'46, fol. 52.
• Arch. Nat., Y 1�1I18. do Pretro St. S<!verin, in Ihe universityquarter. oftwo porters in connexionwith this
de Pa,u m '78g, iii. 7� fr. • Jauro, Hil/o;,e rocja/iste i. 14�'
, Collot, op. cit., pp. 4�-49.
• In a leUer to Commissioner Joron of 8 May 1789, he writes: 'Vow leur fer� affair (Hardy, viii. 307). If we add these to the other 35 men and women arn:S1ed
entendre que la plupart do seditieux <!tant du faubourg St. Antoine . . . " &c. and recorded in the police reports, we find that all many all 32 out of 37 arrested
(Arch. Nat., Y 13g81). pecsops Were wage_eullers-an cven more significanl figure than that givel1 above,
• Arch. Nat., Y 1�1I18. do Pretro St. S<!verin, in Ihe universityquarter. oftwo porters in connexionwith this
de Pa,u m '78g, iii. 7� fr. • Jauro, Hil/o;,e rocja/iste i. 14�'
, Collot, op. cit., pp. 4�-49.
• In a leUer to Commissioner Joron of 8 May 1789, he writes: 'Vow leur fer� affair (Hardy, viii. 307). If we add these to the other 35 men and women arn:S1ed
entendre que la plupart do seditieux <!tant du faubourg St. Antoine . . . " &c. and recorded in the police reports, we find that all many all 32 out of 37 arrested
(Arch. Nat., Y 13g81). pecsops Were wage_eullers-an cven more significanl figure than that givel1 above,
i
trants, Ics uns par argent, les autres par violence, a suivre cette
remarks attributed to Reveillon and Henriot concerning the un grand nombre d'ouvrien de differcntes professions ont tte con
high level of wages. Whether they actually advocated a reduc
tion, as was widely believed; or whether they merely regretted
troupe de (arcenes. 1.
the passing of happier days, as some of their apologists main The reports ofall the investigating commissioners show the same
tained ;' or whether, as they themselves insisted, they never preoccupation with outside agents; and, having failed to obtain
made the reported remarks at a1l2 does not really make mU'ch
difference. What is important is what they were believed to
satisfaction on this score from any of the existing prisoners, the
police proceeded to arrest on 3 May the abbe Roy, a man who
have said by the wage-earners of the faubourg and the effect it had already been publicly denounced as a government agent
had on them. Some of the more coherent of the accused ad� and a personal enemy of ReveilJon. But he proved a disappoint
mitted under cross-examination that it was the veiled threat to ing witness and was released a few days later.J The belief in
their wages that had made them join in the riots. For example. clerical conspirators seems to have been strong at the Chatelet,
the harness-maker, Le Blanc, who confessed to having entered for when one ofthe defendants, the paper-worker Sirier, claimed
Reveillon's house and thrown furniture out of the window, to have been given money in the rue Saint-Honore some days
explained his reasons for joining the demonstrators as follows : after the riots, he was asked 'si ce n'etait point un abbe ou
d'autres particuliers qui Ie lui avait donne.'. Yet, as in the
riots of 1 775, the beliefin a clerical plot appears to have had no
Qu'il y a ete par curio!ite et parce qu'il y a ete entraine par la
multitude, qu'il avait aimi que les autres ouvriers du faubourg de
I'humeur contre Ie sr. Revdllon parce qu'il avait dit dans I'assem solid foundation.
blee du tien etat a Ste. Margueri te que les ouvrien pouvaient vivre Nor did there prove ro be any more substance in another
avec quinze sols par jour, qu'il avait chez lui des ouvrien qui
gagnaient vingt sols par jour et avaient la montre dans Ie gousset et
aspect of the conspiracy theory-that the rioters had been
bribed. Montjoie, the editor of the ultra-royalist L'Ami du Roi,
qu'ils scraient bient6t plw riches que lui.
, And he added, perhaps significantly, that it was his own em�
reported that each of the wounded brought to the Hotel-Dieu
were found to have 12 francs in his possession, in most cases
player, Olivier, a well-known porcelain manufacturer of the wrapped in paper as though newly counted.s It appears to
rue de la Raquette, who had told him so.) have been a fabrication, as the police, who had every reason for
Taking place when they did, at a time of intense political wishing to confirm their own belief in a clerical, Orleanist, or
ferment, these riots were bound to appear to the authorities as other plot, found nothing suspicious on any one ofthe prisoners,
something more than a mere spontaneous outbreak over wages. all ofwhom were subjected to a personal search. On the eighteen
As none of the arrested workers appeared to be a leader, who corpses taken to Montrouge cemetery and examined by Com
then had incited them by bribery, or other means? Hardy missioner Odent. not a brass farthing was found-only a few
refers to the rioters as '(des) ouvriers . . . souleves par des cheap tobacco-pouches, keys, trade instruments and, in one
instance, a small silver object that may have been stolen.6 The
, Arch. Nat., KK 6.p, fol. , 6.
1 &/IOJ'JWliJicalif""lI1" k ,uur lYvri/Jon and &poslJWliJictl/if""1I1" Ie linn- H,lUiol
only person who admitted any monetary payment and who was
(Paris, I 18g). Bib. Nat., L'> 39 16,8--' 9. I Hardy, viii. 299. • Bib. Nat., Lb 39 115S.
1 Arch. Nat., Y 13319. Similar lIatemenli w<:re made by Deldevae, a lCulptor,
and Verpy, a joiner (Arch. Nat., Y 122'S). O!ivi�r later achieved fame for his
, H.ardy, viii. 308-9; Cha..sin, op. cit., iii. 104; Tuetey, Rlptr/tli" glnba/, vol. i,
pp. xl.'v-v. r ha.ve been unable 10 find Roy'. douier in the a.rchivCl ofthe Chatdet.
porcelain models of the Bastille (sec 'La Bastille el lei faiencien' in l..tJ R'<'O/wli(nl : Arch. Nat., Y 141 t9. I Tuetey, op. cit., p. xlv.
T/Ulftl;'t, i (18SI), • •6-IS). Arch. Nat., Y '50'9.
,0 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION 41
PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION
What drove these journeymen, labourers, and petty crafts brigands' ;I and the author of the pamphlet, Courtes rlflexions
sur l' ivinnnent du .28 auril, points to an aristocratic or clerical plot
men to such violent outbursts of anger and to behave with such
reckless courage? The immediate cause of the disturbance is, of
in which
course, not in doubt: it flowed directly from the 'inconsiderate'
i
trants, Ics uns par argent, les autres par violence, a suivre cette
remarks attributed to Reveillon and Henriot concerning the un grand nombre d'ouvrien de differcntes professions ont tte con
high level of wages. Whether they actually advocated a reduc
tion, as was widely believed; or whether they merely regretted
troupe de (arcenes. 1.
the passing of happier days, as some of their apologists main The reports ofall the investigating commissioners show the same
tained ;' or whether, as they themselves insisted, they never preoccupation with outside agents; and, having failed to obtain
made the reported remarks at a1l2 does not really make mU'ch
difference. What is important is what they were believed to
satisfaction on this score from any of the existing prisoners, the
police proceeded to arrest on 3 May the abbe Roy, a man who
have said by the wage-earners of the faubourg and the effect it had already been publicly denounced as a government agent
had on them. Some of the more coherent of the accused ad� and a personal enemy of ReveilJon. But he proved a disappoint
mitted under cross-examination that it was the veiled threat to ing witness and was released a few days later.J The belief in
their wages that had made them join in the riots. For example. clerical conspirators seems to have been strong at the Chatelet,
the harness-maker, Le Blanc, who confessed to having entered for when one ofthe defendants, the paper-worker Sirier, claimed
Reveillon's house and thrown furniture out of the window, to have been given money in the rue Saint-Honore some days
explained his reasons for joining the demonstrators as follows : after the riots, he was asked 'si ce n'etait point un abbe ou
d'autres particuliers qui Ie lui avait donne.'. Yet, as in the
riots of 1 775, the beliefin a clerical plot appears to have had no
Qu'il y a ete par curio!ite et parce qu'il y a ete entraine par la
multitude, qu'il avait aimi que les autres ouvriers du faubourg de
I'humeur contre Ie sr. Revdllon parce qu'il avait dit dans I'assem solid foundation.
blee du tien etat a Ste. Margueri te que les ouvrien pouvaient vivre Nor did there prove ro be any more substance in another
avec quinze sols par jour, qu'il avait chez lui des ouvrien qui
gagnaient vingt sols par jour et avaient la montre dans Ie gousset et
aspect of the conspiracy theory-that the rioters had been
bribed. Montjoie, the editor of the ultra-royalist L'Ami du Roi,
qu'ils scraient bient6t plw riches que lui.
, And he added, perhaps significantly, that it was his own em�
reported that each of the wounded brought to the Hotel-Dieu
were found to have 12 francs in his possession, in most cases
player, Olivier, a well-known porcelain manufacturer of the wrapped in paper as though newly counted.s It appears to
rue de la Raquette, who had told him so.) have been a fabrication, as the police, who had every reason for
Taking place when they did, at a time of intense political wishing to confirm their own belief in a clerical, Orleanist, or
ferment, these riots were bound to appear to the authorities as other plot, found nothing suspicious on any one ofthe prisoners,
something more than a mere spontaneous outbreak over wages. all ofwhom were subjected to a personal search. On the eighteen
As none of the arrested workers appeared to be a leader, who corpses taken to Montrouge cemetery and examined by Com
then had incited them by bribery, or other means? Hardy missioner Odent. not a brass farthing was found-only a few
refers to the rioters as '(des) ouvriers . . . souleves par des cheap tobacco-pouches, keys, trade instruments and, in one
instance, a small silver object that may have been stolen.6 The
, Arch. Nat., KK 6.p, fol. , 6.
1 &/IOJ'JWliJicalif""lI1" k ,uur lYvri/Jon and &poslJWliJictl/if""1I1" Ie linn- H,lUiol
only person who admitted any monetary payment and who was
(Paris, I 18g). Bib. Nat., L'> 39 16,8--' 9. I Hardy, viii. 299. • Bib. Nat., Lb 39 115S.
1 Arch. Nat., Y 13319. Similar lIatemenli w<:re made by Deldevae, a lCulptor,
and Verpy, a joiner (Arch. Nat., Y 122'S). O!ivi�r later achieved fame for his
, H.ardy, viii. 308-9; Cha..sin, op. cit., iii. 104; Tuetey, Rlptr/tli" glnba/, vol. i,
pp. xl.'v-v. r ha.ve been unable 10 find Roy'. douier in the a.rchivCl ofthe Chatdet.
porcelain models of the Bastille (sec 'La Bastille el lei faiencien' in l..tJ R'<'O/wli(nl : Arch. Nat., Y 141 t9. I Tuetey, op. cit., p. xlv.
T/Ulftl;'t, i (18SI), • •6-IS). Arch. Nat., Y '50'9.
411: THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION
found to have considerable sums in his pockets was the paper
bated accapareurs, or food-hoarders, the most ready !arget for
worker Sirier, and his connexion with the case only began a
popular fury The a�thor �fthe pamphlet Lettre,� Rot eems to
have appreciated this mouve when he wrote : Slfe, c est a la
week after the riots ended,l : �
Nor, again, does Taine's charge that the riot�rs wer� 'bri
gands' stand up to investigation, unless the tenn 1$ us�d 10 the
cherte du pain que l'on doit attribuer nos dernien malheurs.'1
We also note Hardy's entry in his Journal that, after wrecking
widest sense, Among the prisoners, only three had Incurred
previous convictions of any kin � an�, in two cases, these had Reveillon's house, the rioten had announced their intention of
demanding a reduction in the price of bread ;l and it is a re
merely involved short terms of Impruonment at the Hotel de
markable feature of the riots that the only premises broken
la Force; only one man had a criminal record ofany accoun�
the port-worker Teteigne, who was found to b� branded Wlth
into, apart from Reveillon's and Henriot's own properties,
, were food-shops.l All the evidence, in fact, points to hunger as
a ·V'.l The majority of these pnsoners appear, In fact, to have
the main motive force behind the disturbances.
been ordinary working men of a variety oftrades, most of them
This does not, of course, rule out altogether the possibility
employed,' and to have come out of the affair without monetary
that other outside agents intervened to fan discontent. Was
gain or loot.
Yet there was a hidden hand behmd these dIsturbances 10 so
. . . popular anger deliberately ��mented and directed agains.t R6-
.
veillon and Henriot by pohbc:al opponents or busmcss nvals?
far as there lay at the back of them deeper economic causes than
The fonner seems unlikely: the rioten, as we saw, c:hanted the
were immediately apparent. A few random remarks on wages
by two local manufacturers could hardly in �emselves h�ve new fashionable slogan, 'Vive Ie Tiers Etat!', as they set about
their work ofdestruction. This may seem all the more incompre
,
provoked a conflagration ofsuch proportions. It IS also a stnking
hensible, as Rc!veillon himself was a prominent figure in the
fact that not one of Reveillon's 350 workers were among the
local Third Estate. But to the Re!veillon rioters, as to the men
killed wounded or arrested and that no suggestion is made in
f �
any o the repor of attempts to bring them out with the other
who destroyed the Paris c:ustoms posts in the following July, the
words 'Tiers Etat' had a more limited social application: in their
workers on 28 April. It would, therefore, be n�nsense �o try
mouths it appears to have been a rallying cry ofthe poor against
to explain the Reveillon riots in terms of a stnke or SImple
the rich rather than of the nation as a whole against a handful
of privileged persons, as conceived. by the abbe! Sieyes. In this
wages protest against an unpopula: employer. It wa:' much more
a violent, though partly uncoDSClOUS, protest against the pre
sense, of course, the slogan 'Vive Ie Tiers Etat' could be used
vailing scarcity and high cost ofbread: the 4-lb. loaf, � we sa.w,
against a wealthy manufacturer like Re!veillon.
More mysterious is the attitude of the porcelain·manu.
had since February remained at the phenomenally hIgh pnce
of I41 sow. This protest was directed against Reveillon and
facturer Olivier, said to have reponed Reveillon's indiscretions
in the Sainte-Marguerite District Assembly to his own work
Henriot but not because they had shown themselves to be bad
;
employ rs or because the workers had been agitated by clerical
. people in the most lurid and provocative terms.4 Had some
or aristocratic agents. Personal eneoues of the two manufac
local employers a penonal grudge against Re!veillon and did
turers may, as they themselves suspected, have played some
they deliberately stir up their workers and the poor of the
part in stimulating popular anger; but they could only hope for
faubourg against a successful business rival?
It is an interesting possibility, though it would offer no
success because Reveillon's offending remarks about wages had
associated him and his colleague in the public mind with the fundamental explanation: neither business rivals nor clerical
1789
accounted for something like three-quarters of the wage
JULY
earner's budget.1 A further cause, which gave the riots their
A
facturers which, by rdating the question of bread to that of
wages, roused the particular fury of the wage-earners. been excused for not anticipating the cataclysm that was
Another important factor was, of course, the current political brewing or even for not observing any particular change
atmosphere, in which the ideas and slogans ofthe revolutionary in the �t�tude of the common people to the problems ofthe day.
bourgeow, already challenging the privileged orders for the The pnvileged orders had, ofcourse, taken resolute and vigorous
control of the States General, were beginning to take root action to assert their claims against the Crown ; but this was
among the menu peuple and to be turned by them to their own part of the traditional pattern and had been done, though less
advantage. This atmosphere was to be raised to an even higher successfully, under Louis XV. Again, the economic crisis had
pitch by the events of the next months. gravely deepened and the small consumers showed obvious
signs of disaffection over the rising price of wheat, flour, and
, G. Rudl!, 'Prices, Wages and Popular Movements in Paris during the French
bread ; but might not this end in much the same way as in 1740,
Revolution', &on. Hill. R,U., vol. vi, no. 3, April 1954, pp. 247-9. See also
Appendix VII. ' 768, or 177S? Even the severe frQst ofJanuary 1 789, which
added to the already alarming industrial unemployment
generally attributed to Vergennes's 'free' Trade Treaty with
England,1 did not substantially alter the picture. The talk of
'revolution', commonly voiced in fashionable-philosophic circles,
hac! been going on for years. The government, it is true, had
lately promised that the States General should meet in May
and this was certainly an event without recent precedent; but
r might not the Third Estate agree to accept submissively the
humble role prescribed for it by the nobility and bishops who
had taken the initiative in its calling? It was, in fact, not so
much the decision to convene the Estates as the consequences
that flowed (unexpected by its promoters) from this decision
that entirely transformed the situation and the perspective o f
future developments in France.
An intelligent traveller like Arthur Young or a shrewd native
observer like Mallet du Pan could note this difference once the
! hird Estate had decided to accept the challenge-by demand
Ing not only double representation in the Estates, which was
SOOn conceded, but the right to vote par lite, i.e. as part of a
1789
accounted for something like three-quarters of the wage
JULY
earner's budget.1 A further cause, which gave the riots their
A
facturers which, by rdating the question of bread to that of
wages, roused the particular fury of the wage-earners. been excused for not anticipating the cataclysm that was
Another important factor was, of course, the current political brewing or even for not observing any particular change
atmosphere, in which the ideas and slogans ofthe revolutionary in the �t�tude of the common people to the problems ofthe day.
bourgeow, already challenging the privileged orders for the The pnvileged orders had, ofcourse, taken resolute and vigorous
control of the States General, were beginning to take root action to assert their claims against the Crown ; but this was
among the menu peuple and to be turned by them to their own part of the traditional pattern and had been done, though less
advantage. This atmosphere was to be raised to an even higher successfully, under Louis XV. Again, the economic crisis had
pitch by the events of the next months. gravely deepened and the small consumers showed obvious
signs of disaffection over the rising price of wheat, flour, and
, G. Rudl!, 'Prices, Wages and Popular Movements in Paris during the French
bread ; but might not this end in much the same way as in 1740,
Revolution', &on. Hill. R,U., vol. vi, no. 3, April 1954, pp. 247-9. See also
Appendix VII. ' 768, or 177S? Even the severe frQst ofJanuary 1 789, which
added to the already alarming industrial unemployment
generally attributed to Vergennes's 'free' Trade Treaty with
England,1 did not substantially alter the picture. The talk of
'revolution', commonly voiced in fashionable-philosophic circles,
hac! been going on for years. The government, it is true, had
lately promised that the States General should meet in May
and this was certainly an event without recent precedent; but
r might not the Third Estate agree to accept submissively the
humble role prescribed for it by the nobility and bishops who
had taken the initiative in its calling? It was, in fact, not so
much the decision to convene the Estates as the consequences
that flowed (unexpected by its promoters) from this decision
that entirely transformed the situation and the perspective o f
future developments in France.
An intelligent traveller like Arthur Young or a shrewd native
observer like Mallet du Pan could note this difference once the
! hird Estate had decided to accept the challenge-by demand
Ing not only double representation in the Estates, which was
SOOn conceded, but the right to vote par lite, i.e. as part of a
The other side of the picture was the conviction that the
date the pamphleteers and journalists in the entourage of �e
privileged orders would stop at nothing to see that these hopes
Duke of Orleans (who had gone over to the Third Estat.c at
were defeated-and so the notion ofthe 'complot aristocratique',
Versailles) began to estabish
l a permanent headquarters at the
with its deep traditional roots, came simultaneously into being.
Palais Royal; here thousands congregated nightly and acquired
How closely it was related to the old notion of the 'pacte de the slogans and directives-and, possibly, too, the funds-of
famine' is illustrated by Hardy, who tells us that when the price �
w at !fardy called 'the extreme revolutionary party'.] Also at
ofbread rose, in February, to 141 sow, people began to say thiS time the 407 Electors of the Paris Third Estate whose
que les princes avaient accapare les grains tout expres pour mieux ori �
inal task it had been to appoint the Parisian deputi to the �
reWlsir a culbuter Ie sieur Necker qu'ils avaient un si grand interet Third Estate at Versailles. began to meet regularly at the Hotel
de renvener.J
; For the events ofJune-July '78g, the following authoriliQ have been eon.
The events taking place at Versailles that summer were to ���d.: P. Caron, 'Une Tentative de COntr�.r�volulion en juin.juillet 1789', Rzou,
. 'IIt/;)", TIIIHkrn.,. viii (,906--7), 5-34; 649-78; J. Flammermonl, lA Jo�rn" du 14
deepen these ft'ars and to stimulate the insurrectionary temper
��s / 17/JrJ (�aru, 18g�); P. Chauvel, 17/JrJ. L'iMllmc/ion fNltisifflM ,I la firin d. la
. �It lPans? 1946) ; C. Lefebvre, op. cit., Pi>. 107-98; J. M. Thompaon, Th#
:
Arthur Young, TrlWlls ill Frtma tIIId lw./y (Everyman Library, London, '9'$). R�lJD/lillOn (Oxford, '943), pp. 45-59. Documentary lOurCei are separaleiy
, C. Lefebvre, Qpal".oi"l'-IUUj, p. lIil.
•
p. '59. I Hardy, viii. �50·
iFndi
r
cate. • i. 94il.
Hardy, vii ) Ibid. viii. 36il.
.. THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION JULY 1 789
single deliberative body, in which the Tiers would inevitably already developing in the capital.' The States General were
carry the day provided it could win over even a small minority deadlocked over the rival claims of the Third Estate-which
of nobles and c:1ergy. It was to further this demand and to win soon constituted itselfa National Assembly-and of the majority
support for it beyond the ranks of the bourgeoisie that the abbe of the nobility and bishops, To force the pace and overawe
Sieyes wrote his pamphlet Qu'esl-ct que k Tiers £Ial?, and that Paris foreign troops were being concentrated on the outskirts of
there was all this talk about 'Tiers Etat', 'Ia nation') and the the city: on 3
June already Hardy had noted the arrival of
Rights of Man. Once these ideas began to permeate the common German and Hungarian regiments, brought in on the pretext
people, as they did in the spring of 1789, a new direction of preventing a renewed outburst of rioting in the Faubourg
and purpose were given to popular unrest, already nurtured on Saint-Antoine.z The intentions of the Court Party, grouped
economic hardship and traditional grievances. The very realiza. around Marie-Antoinette and the king's younger brother, the
tion, indeed, that the States General were about to meet and Comte d'Anois, were becoming clear : on the night of22 June
that the people's complaints, as voiced in the ,allier! de doUan&ts, the king was persuaded to dismiss Necker and to overawe the
should be heard, aroused what historians have called 'la grande National Assembly by a display of military force. The plot
esperance', miscarried: thousands invaded the courtyard of the palace to
demand that Necker be retained in office ; soldien under the
Un evenement si etrange [writes Lefebvre] a eveille I'espoir,
eciatant et nebuleux tout a Ia fois, d'uDe regeneration nationale,
command of the Prince de Conti refused to obey the command
to fire; and the deputies, rallied by Mirabeau in an historic
d'uDe ere nouvelle ou Ies hommes seraient plus heureux.'
The other side of the picture was the conviction that the
date the pamphleteers and journalists in the entourage of �e
privileged orders would stop at nothing to see that these hopes
Duke of Orleans (who had gone over to the Third Estat.c at
were defeated-and so the notion ofthe 'complot aristocratique',
Versailles) began to estabish
l a permanent headquarters at the
with its deep traditional roots, came simultaneously into being.
Palais Royal; here thousands congregated nightly and acquired
How closely it was related to the old notion of the 'pacte de the slogans and directives-and, possibly, too, the funds-of
famine' is illustrated by Hardy, who tells us that when the price �
w at !fardy called 'the extreme revolutionary party'.] Also at
ofbread rose, in February, to 141 sow, people began to say thiS time the 407 Electors of the Paris Third Estate whose
que les princes avaient accapare les grains tout expres pour mieux ori �
inal task it had been to appoint the Parisian deputi to the �
reWlsir a culbuter Ie sieur Necker qu'ils avaient un si grand interet Third Estate at Versailles. began to meet regularly at the Hotel
de renvener.J
; For the events ofJune-July '78g, the following authoriliQ have been eon.
The events taking place at Versailles that summer were to ���d.: P. Caron, 'Une Tentative de COntr�.r�volulion en juin.juillet 1789', Rzou,
. 'IIt/;)", TIIIHkrn.,. viii (,906--7), 5-34; 649-78; J. Flammermonl, lA Jo�rn" du 14
deepen these ft'ars and to stimulate the insurrectionary temper
��s / 17/JrJ (�aru, 18g�); P. Chauvel, 17/JrJ. L'iMllmc/ion fNltisifflM ,I la firin d. la
. �It lPans? 1946) ; C. Lefebvre, op. cit., Pi>. 107-98; J. M. Thompaon, Th#
:
Arthur Young, TrlWlls ill Frtma tIIId lw./y (Everyman Library, London, '9'$). R�lJD/lillOn (Oxford, '943), pp. 45-59. Documentary lOurCei are separaleiy
, C. Lefebvre, Qpal".oi"l'-IUUj, p. lIil.
•
p. '59. I Hardy, viii. �50·
iFndi
r
cate. • i. 94il.
Hardy, vii ) Ibid. viii. 36il.
JULY 1789 ..
.. THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
de Ville in the heart of the capital. These two bodies were scene offre�uent disturbance and attempted smuggling.1 From
play distinctive, yet complementary, parts in the events ofJuly. the proceedings opened against the raiders nine months later,
In the early days, however, it was the Palais Royal alone in the course of which more than eighty witnesses were heard,
gave a positive direction to the popular movement. Whereas we learn that no less than forty of the fifty·four customs posts
Hotd de Ville contented itself with drafting paper schemes for were destroyed by fire in the course offour days' rioting.1 The
the institution of a milice bourgeoise, or citizens' militia, the destruction was systematic: documents, registers, and customs
PaJais Royal took effective measures, by public agitation and receipts were burned, iron railings were pulled down, offices and
liberal expenditure, to win over the Gardes Franc;aises from furniture were fired, and the customs officers-where they had
their loyalty to the court. On 30 June crowds directed from the not already taken flight-were forcibly expelled. Many, taken
Palais Royal forcibly released from the Abbaye prison eleven by surprise, had no time to remove their personal belongings
guardsmen who had been jailed for refusing to fire on the j and suffered considerable loss : one official of the barriere du
people at Versailles on the night Of22-23]um:.I Tracts support· Trone later claimed for the loss of property valued at 25,413
trying to sell such materials to officers and men encamped at plan as conceived by its organizers : at the barriere S�int.
the Champ de Mars.Z On 10 July eighty artillerymen, who had Martin, a looter was thus reprimanded by a fellow rioter:
broken out of their barracks in the Hotel des Invalides, were 'Bnilons, s'il Ie faut, puisque ceJa nous est ordonne, mais ne
publicly feted in the Palais Royal and the Champs Elysees. volons (pas), puisque cela nous est defendu.' From such and
Reacting to these developments, the Court Party attempted even more specific evidence it is clear that the Palais Royal had
a show·down: on 1 1 July Necker was sent into exile and re· a hand in the affair: it is no doubt significant that two posts
placed by the Baron de Breteuil. This proved to be the spark said to belong to the Duke of Orleans were deliberately spared
that touched off the insurrection in Paris. The news reached the by the incendiaries. It does not appear that the main purpose
of 'the extreme revolutionary party' was so much to give free
capital at noon on the 12th. During the afternoon Parisians
entry of consumers' goods into the capital-though this inevit·
flocked to the Palais Royal, where orators-the young Camille
, Desmoulins among them-gave the call to arms. Groups of
ably followed-as to destroy the monopoly of the Farmers
General and to control the entry and exit of arms and penons.
�ut
marchers quickly formed ; the busts of Necker and the Duke of
the people carrying out their orders-and often acting
Orleans, the heroes of the hour, were paraded on the boule·
mdependcntly of them-had their own accounts to settle with
vards; theatres were compelled to close as a sign of mourning;
an institution that added substantially to the cost of wine,
in the Place Louis XV demonstrators clashed with cavalry
fi�ewood, eggs, and livestock: they were the petty traders,
commanded by the Prince de Lambesc, who had been ordered
wm,:-merchants, barrel and building workers, dockers, water·
to clear the TuiJeries gardens. Besenval, commander of the
earners, labourers, and workers employed on public-works
Paris garrison, withdrew to the Champ de Mars; the capital
schem�, who, the documents tell us, played a large part in this
de Ville in the heart of the capital. These two bodies were scene offre�uent disturbance and attempted smuggling.1 From
play distinctive, yet complementary, parts in the events ofJuly. the proceedings opened against the raiders nine months later,
In the early days, however, it was the Palais Royal alone in the course of which more than eighty witnesses were heard,
gave a positive direction to the popular movement. Whereas we learn that no less than forty of the fifty·four customs posts
Hotd de Ville contented itself with drafting paper schemes for were destroyed by fire in the course offour days' rioting.1 The
the institution of a milice bourgeoise, or citizens' militia, the destruction was systematic: documents, registers, and customs
PaJais Royal took effective measures, by public agitation and receipts were burned, iron railings were pulled down, offices and
liberal expenditure, to win over the Gardes Franc;aises from furniture were fired, and the customs officers-where they had
their loyalty to the court. On 30 June crowds directed from the not already taken flight-were forcibly expelled. Many, taken
Palais Royal forcibly released from the Abbaye prison eleven by surprise, had no time to remove their personal belongings
guardsmen who had been jailed for refusing to fire on the j and suffered considerable loss : one official of the barriere du
people at Versailles on the night Of22-23]um:.I Tracts support· Trone later claimed for the loss of property valued at 25,413
trying to sell such materials to officers and men encamped at plan as conceived by its organizers : at the barriere S�int.
the Champ de Mars.Z On 10 July eighty artillerymen, who had Martin, a looter was thus reprimanded by a fellow rioter:
broken out of their barracks in the Hotel des Invalides, were 'Bnilons, s'il Ie faut, puisque ceJa nous est ordonne, mais ne
publicly feted in the Palais Royal and the Champs Elysees. volons (pas), puisque cela nous est defendu.' From such and
Reacting to these developments, the Court Party attempted even more specific evidence it is clear that the Palais Royal had
a show·down: on 1 1 July Necker was sent into exile and re· a hand in the affair: it is no doubt significant that two posts
placed by the Baron de Breteuil. This proved to be the spark said to belong to the Duke of Orleans were deliberately spared
that touched off the insurrection in Paris. The news reached the by the incendiaries. It does not appear that the main purpose
of 'the extreme revolutionary party' was so much to give free
capital at noon on the 12th. During the afternoon Parisians
entry of consumers' goods into the capital-though this inevit·
flocked to the Palais Royal, where orators-the young Camille
, Desmoulins among them-gave the call to arms. Groups of
ably followed-as to destroy the monopoly of the Farmers
General and to control the entry and exit of arms and penons.
�ut
marchers quickly formed ; the busts of Necker and the Duke of
the people carrying out their orders-and often acting
Orleans, the heroes of the hour, were paraded on the boule·
mdependcntly of them-had their own accounts to settle with
vards; theatres were compelled to close as a sign of mourning;
an institution that added substantially to the cost of wine,
in the Place Louis XV demonstrators clashed with cavalry
fi�ewood, eggs, and livestock: they were the petty traders,
commanded by the Prince de Lambesc, who had been ordered
wm,:-merchants, barrel and building workers, dockers, water·
to clear the TuiJeries gardens. Besenval, commander of the
earners, labourers, and workers employed on public-works
Paris garrison, withdrew to the Champ de Mars; the capital
schem�, who, the documents tell us, played a large part in this
But the main feature ofthe night of 12-13July was the search revolutionary movement lay in the Palais Royal to which,
for arms : religious houses were visited and gunsmiths, armourers, rather than to the Hotel de Ville the angry, bewildered, but
and harness-makers were raided in different parts of the capital. elated, citizens looked for leadership and guidance.z
A number ofstatements drawn up in support of their claims for On the morning of the 13th, however. the Electors made a
compensation have come down to w. Thus, Marcel Arlot, firm bid to gain control of the silUation. They formed a Per
master gunsmith of the rue Greneta in the parish of Saint-Leu manent Committee to act as a provisional government of the
reported that his shop was broken into at 2 a.m. by a crowd city and detennined to put a stop to the indiscriminate arming
headed by a journeyman armourer of the rue Jean Robert; ?f the whole population. They had been alarmed by the burn
. Ing of the barneres and the sacking of the monastery of Saint
muskets, putals, sabres, and swords to the value of 24,000 livres
were removed. A harness-maker of the Pont Saint-Michel Lazare. To them the bands of unemployed and homeless, who
reported the theft of belts and shoulder-straps to the value of had played some part in these operations, were as great a
390 livres. Brun, master gunsmith and sword-cuder of the rue m,:nace to the security and properties of the citizens as the
.
pnvlleged orders conspiring at Versailles.l Accordingly the
• Arch. Nat., Y u�18, 116gB; C " 4, doss. B, pike Ui D VI 6, no. 39, piece 19.
Bar-du-Bec, parish of Saint-Jean-en-Greve, in submitting a
• i,ylmftlltitm el llI r�qtJlu '" 1'rowtaafi=l ill BlliJlW.l� t4 SI. �(J", �illi/"' 11B!;.
I TheK wen:': soon to be increucd by the rc\elUe ofpn.onen from the Force and
Arch. Nat., Z' 469 •. Arch. Nat., Z' 4691.
• The name. of about fifty .uch perJOm appear n i Arch. Nat., Y 106'4, fol. 149i
• Arch. Sa6ne-et·Loire, B. 705. • Arch. Nat., Z' 4691.
the police the next day (Arch. Nat., Y 13454).
10649, foil. '7-2' i .8,95, fol. 46�i 1 151B; I�.,oai 1��IBi 14�40; 15101; '568,.
�o THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION JULY 1.789 ,.
claim for 4.348 livres, stated that his shop had been broken into
no less than thirty times, in the course of which 150 swords,
brotherhood on the northern fringe of the city, searched it for
But the main feature ofthe night of 12-13July was the search revolutionary movement lay in the Palais Royal to which,
for arms : religious houses were visited and gunsmiths, armourers, rather than to the Hotel de Ville the angry, bewildered, but
and harness-makers were raided in different parts of the capital. elated, citizens looked for leadership and guidance.z
A number ofstatements drawn up in support of their claims for On the morning of the 13th, however. the Electors made a
compensation have come down to w. Thus, Marcel Arlot, firm bid to gain control of the silUation. They formed a Per
master gunsmith of the rue Greneta in the parish of Saint-Leu manent Committee to act as a provisional government of the
reported that his shop was broken into at 2 a.m. by a crowd city and detennined to put a stop to the indiscriminate arming
headed by a journeyman armourer of the rue Jean Robert; ?f the whole population. They had been alarmed by the burn
. Ing of the barneres and the sacking of the monastery of Saint
muskets, putals, sabres, and swords to the value of 24,000 livres
were removed. A harness-maker of the Pont Saint-Michel Lazare. To them the bands of unemployed and homeless, who
reported the theft of belts and shoulder-straps to the value of had played some part in these operations, were as great a
390 livres. Brun, master gunsmith and sword-cuder of the rue m,:nace to the security and properties of the citizens as the
.
pnvlleged orders conspiring at Versailles.l Accordingly the
• Arch. Nat., Y u�18, 116gB; C " 4, doss. B, pike Ui D VI 6, no. 39, piece 19.
Bar-du-Bec, parish of Saint-Jean-en-Greve, in submitting a
• i,ylmftlltitm el llI r�qtJlu '" 1'rowtaafi=l ill BlliJlW.l� t4 SI. �(J", �illi/"' 11B!;.
I TheK wen:': soon to be increucd by the rc\elUe ofpn.onen from the Force and
Arch. Nat., Z' 469 •. Arch. Nat., Z' 4691.
• The name. of about fifty .uch perJOm appear n i Arch. Nat., Y 106'4, fol. 149i
• Arch. Sa6ne-et·Loire, B. 705. • Arch. Nat., Z' 4691.
the police the next day (Arch. Nat., Y 13454).
10649, foil. '7-2' i .8,95, fol. 46�i 1 151B; I�.,oai 1��IBi 14�40; 15101; '568,.
JULY 1789
,. THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
plan to establish a regular citizens' militia, or milice bourgeoise. District of Saint-Roch alone purchased 250 muskets and 12
was hastily adopted with the dual object of defending the pistols in this way.1 Besides, crowds continued to besiege the
capital from the military threat without and from the danger Hotel de Ville, demanding arms and gunpowder. Jacques de
of 'anarchy' within: it needs hardly be said that it was on the Flesselles, privot des marchands and acting head of the provisional
latter score alone that the king was persuaded to give his con city government, being anxious to limit their distribution, made
sent the next day.1 Householders were summoned to meetings vague promises and sent parties off on fruitless expeditions to
the arsenal and the Carthusian monastery; this 'treachery' was
to cost him his life on the morrow. Meanwhile, the Electors had
in the sixty Electoral Districts : each District was to contribute
200 (later 800) men. The same day, wrote Barnave, 13,200
citizens were registered and equipped ;! two days later, he was deputed one of their number, the abbe Lefevre, to guard the
happy to claim : considerable stocks of powder and ammunition that they had
ete possible de faire aJouter aux bons des r�w. Les diu 96 barilll
mediately disarmed. An English observer, Dr. Rigby, recorded
t",\l this operation had already been largely carried through
pesent ensemble 96.000 Iivres.�
by the evening of the same day, 'at which time {he wrote) the
regularly armed citizens almost exclusively occupied the streets'.S The quest for arms and ammunition continued : on the
The point is ofinteresl as it illustrates thc degree of authority morning of the 14th, a spectacular raid was made on the Hotel
quickly asserted by the Electors; yet it is doubtful if the process des Invalides across the river. According to Salmour, the Saxon
ambassador, who witnessed the affair, 7,000
to 8,000 citizens
took part;} many, wrote Hardy, were crushed in the milie.4 The
of disarming went so far as suggested by Dr. Rigby as long as
the insurrection lasted. Even after its completion, the new city
Governor, the Marquis de Sombreuil, was abandoned by his
troops and forced to open his gates_ He later reported the re
authorities fell compelled to invite the Paris workers and
craftsmen to surrendcr their arms in return for a payment of
9 [;vres per headj6 and, between 22 July and 3 August, the moval ofmore than 30,000 muskets, ofwhich 12,000 at least had
, MImoirn d, B4i/ly (li vou. Paris, ,821), i. 267. faUen 'into dangerous hands'.s Meanwhile, the cry had gone u p'
recordm thai 30,000 had bc:c:n enrolled (]<nJTMI., viii. 386); on .5 July liarmlye
, Arch. Nat., W 12, fols. 197-9 (leiter of 15 July '789)· On 14 July Hardy 'to the Bastille!'
Royalist historians have scoffed at the picture of thousands of
estimatm the enrolment at 48,000 (loc. cit.) and on 18 July at 90,000 (Arch. Nat.,
Parisians hurling themselves at the Bastille in order to release
• Arch. Nat., C '34, dOlI. r .
W 13, foL. 105).
I D•. R1lby'j Lellm frDm F,�, ele. in 1789, ed. Lady Eastlake (London, .9(6),
, Arch. Nal., W .2, fob. 197--8. seven prisoners, all of them either lunatics or of unsavoury
.Iunil d {'H61./.d._Vi/l" (, '4juiU.l 178t) (3 vots., Paris, 1790), ii. • 5f>-H. Brit. Mus., • A. Mathiez, US Gmndu j�"",,es d, In Gollll;lllanU (/789-91) (Paru., 1913),
�
•-. 6oll-4. A large part of these minutes ar" r"prooucm in L. G. Wickham Legg,
Srlld Oflnlmtrlh • • • ofI," F.t",11 &",,/UI;an (Oxford, 19(5), i. 49-95. I Prrxts-wrbaJ d. l'a.mmbUe du Ile<UII.S, i. 371.
PP· 1I2.1.23• • Hardy, viii. 390.
JULY 1789
,. THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
plan to establish a regular citizens' militia, or milice bourgeoise. District of Saint-Roch alone purchased 250 muskets and 12
was hastily adopted with the dual object of defending the pistols in this way.1 Besides, crowds continued to besiege the
capital from the military threat without and from the danger Hotel de Ville, demanding arms and gunpowder. Jacques de
of 'anarchy' within: it needs hardly be said that it was on the Flesselles, privot des marchands and acting head of the provisional
latter score alone that the king was persuaded to give his con city government, being anxious to limit their distribution, made
sent the next day.1 Householders were summoned to meetings vague promises and sent parties off on fruitless expeditions to
the arsenal and the Carthusian monastery; this 'treachery' was
to cost him his life on the morrow. Meanwhile, the Electors had
in the sixty Electoral Districts : each District was to contribute
200 (later 800) men. The same day, wrote Barnave, 13,200
citizens were registered and equipped ;! two days later, he was deputed one of their number, the abbe Lefevre, to guard the
happy to claim : considerable stocks of powder and ammunition that they had
ete possible de faire aJouter aux bons des r�w. Les diu 96 barilll
mediately disarmed. An English observer, Dr. Rigby, recorded
t",\l this operation had already been largely carried through
pesent ensemble 96.000 Iivres.�
by the evening of the same day, 'at which time {he wrote) the
regularly armed citizens almost exclusively occupied the streets'.S The quest for arms and ammunition continued : on the
The point is ofinteresl as it illustrates thc degree of authority morning of the 14th, a spectacular raid was made on the Hotel
quickly asserted by the Electors; yet it is doubtful if the process des Invalides across the river. According to Salmour, the Saxon
ambassador, who witnessed the affair, 7,000
to 8,000 citizens
took part;} many, wrote Hardy, were crushed in the milie.4 The
of disarming went so far as suggested by Dr. Rigby as long as
the insurrection lasted. Even after its completion, the new city
Governor, the Marquis de Sombreuil, was abandoned by his
troops and forced to open his gates_ He later reported the re
authorities fell compelled to invite the Paris workers and
craftsmen to surrendcr their arms in return for a payment of
9 [;vres per headj6 and, between 22 July and 3 August, the moval ofmore than 30,000 muskets, ofwhich 12,000 at least had
, MImoirn d, B4i/ly (li vou. Paris, ,821), i. 267. faUen 'into dangerous hands'.s Meanwhile, the cry had gone u p'
recordm thai 30,000 had bc:c:n enrolled (]<nJTMI., viii. 386); on .5 July liarmlye
, Arch. Nat., W 12, fols. 197-9 (leiter of 15 July '789)· On 14 July Hardy 'to the Bastille!'
Royalist historians have scoffed at the picture of thousands of
estimatm the enrolment at 48,000 (loc. cit.) and on 18 July at 90,000 (Arch. Nat.,
Parisians hurling themselves at the Bastille in order to release
• Arch. Nat., C '34, dOlI. r .
W 13, foL. 105).
I D•. R1lby'j Lellm frDm F,�, ele. in 1789, ed. Lady Eastlake (London, .9(6),
, Arch. Nal., W .2, fob. 197--8. seven prisoners, all of them either lunatics or of unsavoury
.Iunil d {'H61./.d._Vi/l" (, '4juiU.l 178t) (3 vots., Paris, 1790), ii. • 5f>-H. Brit. Mus., • A. Mathiez, US Gmndu j�"",,es d, In Gollll;lllanU (/789-91) (Paru., 1913),
�
•-. 6oll-4. A large part of these minutes ar" r"prooucm in L. G. Wickham Legg,
Srlld Oflnlmtrlh • • • ofI," F.t",11 &",,/UI;an (Oxford, 19(5), i. 49-95. I Prrxts-wrbaJ d. l'a.mmbUe du Ile<UII.S, i. 371.
PP· 1I2.1.23• • Hardy, viii. 390.
" THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION JULY 1 7 8 9 "
character. I Such criticism falls wide ofits mark. The immediate .
JTl1sed not to fire unless attacked. Up to this point the crowds
aim was not to release prisoners but to find the powder that
of the two courtyards leadmg to the mam draw-
.
'
from the rue Saint-Antoine had penetrated only
was known to have been lately sent there from the arsenal. surgmg in .
. outer
Into the
le. The outer courtyard was, u
Other motives no doubt played a part. It was believed that the .
gate of the Bast Il
b 'dge and
n a1 unguarded; it was separated from the inner Cour du
fortress was heavily manned ; its guns, which that morning
were trained on the rue Saint-Antoine, could play havoc
among the crowded tenements. In the night it had been
�; u ernement by a wall and a drawbridge which de Launay
!
after Thuriot's departure, two men climbed the wall f:o� a
Faubourg Saint-Antoine and had begun to slaughter its c tizens. eighbouring building and lowered the drawbridge. BelIevmg
Besides, though it had ceased to harbour more than a tnckle of
State prisoners, the Bastille was widely hated as a symbol of
� frontal attack to be imminent, de Launay gave the order to
fire. In the affray that followed, the besiegen lost ninety-eight
ministerial despotism : the cahim de do!ioTlus of the Paris Dis dead and seventy-three wounded; 1 only one of the defenden
tricts bear witness to this fact.l Yet there does not appear to was struck. Two further deputations, sent to the Bastille in the
have been any serious intention to take it by storm,l least of all
coune oflhis affray, were fired on and failed to gain admittance,
on the part of the Permanent Committee of Electors, who The worthy Electon were now at their wits' end. Their policy
directed operations, with fumbling uncertainty, from the H6tel
of peaceful negotiations had proved a complete failure. Had It
de Ville. They made their intentions clear from the start : to
not been for the angry insistence of the bands of armed citizens
negotiate with the Governor, de Launay, for the surrender of
who swarmed in the rooms of the Hotel de Ville, in the Place de
the gunpowder in his keeping and for the withdrawal of the
Greve outside, and along all the approaches of the Bastille.
guns from his battlements. That this plan failed, and that the
calling for vengeance for blood spilt and suspected treachery,
Bastille fell only after the threat of a frontal assault, was due to
they would certainly have abandoned their efforts. Meanwhile,
circumstances outside their control.
two detachments of Gardes Fran�aises, drawn up outside the
Numerous eye-witness accounts of the siege of the Bastille, or
H6tel de Ville, responded to the summons of Pierre-Augustin
accounts purporting to be such, have come down to us. Fact and
Hulin a former non-commissioned officer, who marched them
fiction are often richly blended in them. Among the most trust
�
off to he Bastille with five cannon removed from the Invalides
worthy, perhaps, are those left by the Electors themselves.·
that morning. Joined at the fortress by a few hundred armed
From these it appears that the first deputation sent to parley
with de Launay arrived at the Bastille at 1 0 o'clock. Having
civilians, they fought their way under fire to the inner courtyard
and trained their cannon on the main gate. This proved to be
received a friendly welcome and an invitation to dine, they did
decisive. The Governor offered to surrender provided that the
not emerge for some time. The dense crowds waiting outside,
garrison were spared; but the angry crowds would not hear of
fearing a trap, now raised a shout for the surrender or capture
conditions and the siege continued. At this point de Launay
of the fortress. To allay suspicions, a second delegation, sent by
seems to have lost his head and threatened to blow up the
the neighbouring District of La Culture, urged the Governor
fortress. He was, however, dissuaded by the garrison and, in
to surrender. Its leader, Thuriot de la Roziere, brought back
desperation, gave orders for the main drawbridge to be lowered.
word to thc Permanent Committee that the Governor, while So the Bastille fell.
refusing to surrender, had withdrawn his cannon and had pro-
, A. Bq:ilI, U !bgistr. J'krou tU u. &ulilk tU 17B!; .tIl� (Paris, 1880) .
It is perhaps surprising that the angry and triumphant crowds,
• Thae are the provillional figures givm by Duuaulx in his fint official report
• Ch.-L. Chassin, op. (:it. ii. ptwim.
J But .ee Hardy: 'La ouvriers du fauxbourg avaient entl'CprU de faire CJI
prize ti, u. BlUtilk (Paris, 1790), pp. 161-2. Bib. Nat. Lb 39 1972). Hardy'S lower
\0 the Clmltituent Assembly a few months later (D. /'i/UUft'UtiOtt JN2risinuu d ti, III
• The asc:ntial passages appear in Wickham Lcgg, op. cit. i. 49-95.
forme Ie li�gc de (:e (:hateau' (viii. 388).
figures of2o-& killed and 17 wounded were based on early bcanay (viii. 388).
" THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION JULY 1 7 8 9 "
character. I Such criticism falls wide ofits mark. The immediate .
JTl1sed not to fire unless attacked. Up to this point the crowds
aim was not to release prisoners but to find the powder that
of the two courtyards leadmg to the mam draw-
.
'
from the rue Saint-Antoine had penetrated only
was known to have been lately sent there from the arsenal. surgmg in .
. outer
Into the
le. The outer courtyard was, u
Other motives no doubt played a part. It was believed that the .
gate of the Bast Il
b 'dge and
n a1 unguarded; it was separated from the inner Cour du
fortress was heavily manned ; its guns, which that morning
were trained on the rue Saint-Antoine, could play havoc
among the crowded tenements. In the night it had been
�; u ernement by a wall and a drawbridge which de Launay
!
after Thuriot's departure, two men climbed the wall f:o� a
Faubourg Saint-Antoine and had begun to slaughter its c tizens. eighbouring building and lowered the drawbridge. BelIevmg
Besides, though it had ceased to harbour more than a tnckle of
State prisoners, the Bastille was widely hated as a symbol of
� frontal attack to be imminent, de Launay gave the order to
fire. In the affray that followed, the besiegen lost ninety-eight
ministerial despotism : the cahim de do!ioTlus of the Paris Dis dead and seventy-three wounded; 1 only one of the defenden
tricts bear witness to this fact.l Yet there does not appear to was struck. Two further deputations, sent to the Bastille in the
have been any serious intention to take it by storm,l least of all
coune oflhis affray, were fired on and failed to gain admittance,
on the part of the Permanent Committee of Electors, who The worthy Electon were now at their wits' end. Their policy
directed operations, with fumbling uncertainty, from the H6tel
of peaceful negotiations had proved a complete failure. Had It
de Ville. They made their intentions clear from the start : to
not been for the angry insistence of the bands of armed citizens
negotiate with the Governor, de Launay, for the surrender of
who swarmed in the rooms of the Hotel de Ville, in the Place de
the gunpowder in his keeping and for the withdrawal of the
Greve outside, and along all the approaches of the Bastille.
guns from his battlements. That this plan failed, and that the
calling for vengeance for blood spilt and suspected treachery,
Bastille fell only after the threat of a frontal assault, was due to
they would certainly have abandoned their efforts. Meanwhile,
circumstances outside their control.
two detachments of Gardes Fran�aises, drawn up outside the
Numerous eye-witness accounts of the siege of the Bastille, or
H6tel de Ville, responded to the summons of Pierre-Augustin
accounts purporting to be such, have come down to us. Fact and
Hulin a former non-commissioned officer, who marched them
fiction are often richly blended in them. Among the most trust
�
off to he Bastille with five cannon removed from the Invalides
worthy, perhaps, are those left by the Electors themselves.·
that morning. Joined at the fortress by a few hundred armed
From these it appears that the first deputation sent to parley
with de Launay arrived at the Bastille at 1 0 o'clock. Having
civilians, they fought their way under fire to the inner courtyard
and trained their cannon on the main gate. This proved to be
received a friendly welcome and an invitation to dine, they did
decisive. The Governor offered to surrender provided that the
not emerge for some time. The dense crowds waiting outside,
garrison were spared; but the angry crowds would not hear of
fearing a trap, now raised a shout for the surrender or capture
conditions and the siege continued. At this point de Launay
of the fortress. To allay suspicions, a second delegation, sent by
seems to have lost his head and threatened to blow up the
the neighbouring District of La Culture, urged the Governor
fortress. He was, however, dissuaded by the garrison and, in
to surrender. Its leader, Thuriot de la Roziere, brought back
desperation, gave orders for the main drawbridge to be lowered.
word to thc Permanent Committee that the Governor, while So the Bastille fell.
refusing to surrender, had withdrawn his cannon and had pro-
, A. Bq:ilI, U !bgistr. J'krou tU u. &ulilk tU 17B!; .tIl� (Paris, 1880) .
It is perhaps surprising that the angry and triumphant crowds,
• Thae are the provillional figures givm by Duuaulx in his fint official report
• Ch.-L. Chassin, op. (:it. ii. ptwim.
J But .ee Hardy: 'La ouvriers du fauxbourg avaient entl'CprU de faire CJI
prize ti, u. BlUtilk (Paris, 1790), pp. 161-2. Bib. Nat. Lb 39 1972). Hardy'S lower
\0 the Clmltituent Assembly a few months later (D. /'i/UUft'UtiOtt JN2risinuu d ti, III
• The asc:ntial passages appear in Wickham Lcgg, op. cit. i. 49-95.
forme Ie li�gc de (:e (:hateau' (viii. 388).
figures of2o-& killed and 17 wounded were based on early bcanay (viii. 388).
�6 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION JULY 1789
pouring through the open gates of the Bastille, did not exact a
Assembly.
1 One of these lists-that drawn up an held by �
more complete and indiscriminate vengeance. They had lived .
secretary of the varnqueur.s-<oDSlsts of the
Stanisla! Maillard,
through day! of nervous tension, continuously subject to the mcsof662 survivors, ofwhom nearly 600 are thoseof CIVl · . ,.lans.�
fear of sudden attack and disaster; they had been betrayed,
they believed, by some of their leaden; over 1 50
of their fellows
� though incomplete,l it is the only one that will serve our
picture. in F. Uoumon, Ln. Bas/ill, (P:;lTis, 1893), pp. �1g-23; NQI1U aU w;/Ujuturs a' Ie
The vainqutur.s de La Ba.stilu, as they came to be called, Dallill, (662 names), An:h. Nat., T 514!» .
numbered between 800 and goo persons. Those were they who
1 Arch. Nal., T 5'41').
J Among notable omissiOilli arc �nOI, who chopped off de LaunaY'1 head; the
managed, after careful sifting of evidence, to establish their
• Jaurk, Hi.J/";u lQCU,fu�. i. 303.
abW, Fauehet; Fournier l'Amtricain; lhe an:hitect Palloy; and Maillard himself.
come down to us in three separate lists, each one of which was, makers, 7 potters, 9 monumental mUOIlll, 9 nailsmiths, 9 dealers in fancy ware,
17go, approved
and 3 uphoblerers. For a similar classification see G. Bord, 'La Con'pin.tion
at various times during by the Constituent 8 printers, 7 braziers, 9 tailOR, 9 foundeR, 5jewcllcn, 5 goldsmiths, � 'love-makers,
• Arch. Nat., Y '2823. Th!not had, according to his own story, joined his local
ma(onnique dc '789', u COTTls/Xmdmll, May 1905, pp. 52'-44' M. Bard must have
milia on 13 July and talten pari in the attaclt on the Invalides.
Z For /irlXb-IHfMwt relaling 10 these variOUll victi
Thev include I I wine-merchants, 3 eaf<!·proprie,o"" 2 innkeepeR, 21 shop"
used Maillard's lin to arrive al his results, but he gives no reference.
n u I«: Arch. Nat., Y 1128�;
14&4 ; and 10634, fait. 14g-�1.
•
picture. in F. Uoumon, Ln. Bas/ill, (P:;lTis, 1893), pp. �1g-23; NQI1U aU w;/Ujuturs a' Ie
The vainqutur.s de La Ba.stilu, as they came to be called, Dallill, (662 names), An:h. Nat., T 514!» .
numbered between 800 and goo persons. Those were they who
1 Arch. Nal., T 5'41').
J Among notable omissiOilli arc �nOI, who chopped off de LaunaY'1 head; the
managed, after careful sifting of evidence, to establish their
• Jaurk, Hi.J/";u lQCU,fu�. i. 303.
abW, Fauehet; Fournier l'Amtricain; lhe an:hitect Palloy; and Maillard himself.
come down to us in three separate lists, each one of which was, makers, 7 potters, 9 monumental mUOIlll, 9 nailsmiths, 9 dealers in fancy ware,
17go, approved
and 3 uphoblerers. For a similar classification see G. Bord, 'La Con'pin.tion
at various times during by the Constituent 8 printers, 7 braziers, 9 tailOR, 9 foundeR, 5jewcllcn, 5 goldsmiths, � 'love-makers,
• Arch. Nat., Y '2823. Th!not had, according to his own story, joined his local
ma(onnique dc '789', u COTTls/Xmdmll, May 1905, pp. 52'-44' M. Bard must have
milia on 13 July and talten pari in the attaclt on the Invalides.
Z For /irlXb-IHfMwt relaling 10 these variOUll victi
Thev include I I wine-merchants, 3 eaf<!·proprie,o"" 2 innkeepeR, 21 shop"
used Maillard's lin to arrive al his results, but he gives no reference.
n u I«: Arch. Nat., Y 1128�;
14&4 ; and 10634, fait. 14g-�1.
•
workel1 (n), porten (17), riverside worlr.en and bargemen (8), .hipyard worken
Committee of Electors, who set up a City Council with Bailly as
mayor and Lafayette as commander-in-chief of its National
($), coachmen (4), Itonemasons ($). stonecutters (4). ribbon weavcn (3)·
• Jaurb, op. cit. i. 303. Guard. On 1 7 July the king himself made the journey to Paris,
• Arch. Nat., Y '4" 9. I Arch. Nat., Y 10634, fol. l$Oi 11I6g8; 10$g8.
' Hardy, viii. 388.
J . Duricux, Us Vain.q1ll1lN tit. Us B<Jilil/, (Pari., 19.1), pp. 261 ff. , In the c:;ue of6 out ofevery 7 civilians on Maillard', list the name ofthc com_
• Most ofthac were from the streets adjoining theB:;utille-the rue du Fauboul'I
•
Saint.Antoine and adjacent streets (1I4�), ruede Lappe ($3), rue de Chll.r�:nton (44).
pany and/or battalion of the National Guard il indicated. I have asaumed that the
remainin� t in 7 (they include a boy of '4, another of 16 and a woman) were not
I Fournier l'Am�ricain'l claim, therefore, to have led 400 of hiJ band of 800 1 �icolas de BonneviUe, the original promoter of the milin bowglOise, later wrote
rue de Scrcy (Ill), rue de Montreuil (7). enroUed In the milic,.
workel1 (n), porten (17), riverside worlr.en and bargemen (8), .hipyard worken
Committee of Electors, who set up a City Council with Bailly as
mayor and Lafayette as commander-in-chief of its National
($), coachmen (4), Itonemasons ($). stonecutters (4). ribbon weavcn (3)·
• Jaurb, op. cit. i. 303. Guard. On 1 7 July the king himself made the journey to Paris,
• Arch. Nat., Y '4" 9. I Arch. Nat., Y 10634, fol. l$Oi 11I6g8; 10$g8.
' Hardy, viii. 388.
J . Duricux, Us Vain.q1ll1lN tit. Us B<Jilil/, (Pari., 19.1), pp. 261 ff. , In the c:;ue of6 out ofevery 7 civilians on Maillard', list the name ofthc com_
• Most ofthac were from the streets adjoining theB:;utille-the rue du Fauboul'I
•
Saint.Antoine and adjacent streets (1I4�), ruede Lappe ($3), rue de Chll.r�:nton (44).
pany and/or battalion of the National Guard il indicated. I have asaumed that the
remainin� t in 7 (they include a boy of '4, another of 16 and a woman) were not
I Fournier l'Am�ricain'l claim, therefore, to have led 400 of hiJ band of 800 1 �icolas de BonneviUe, the original promoter of the milin bowglOise, later wrote
rue de Scrcy (Ill), rue de Montreuil (7). enroUed In the milic,.
consent of the Assembly's majority; yet, far from throwing a no more helpless accessories, willing to stage an insurrection for
bright light into dark corners, it served effectively as a smoke the sole benefit ofthe constitutional monarchists in October, than
screen to divert attention from the real authors of the October they had been for the Palais Royal or the Paris Electors in July.
'days'. It suited the court, the police, the Paris administ�atjon. While they might share the general alarm of all 'patriots' at the
and the dominant party in the Assembly to present the violence neW 'conspiracies' hatching at Versailles, they also had their
and haste with which the king had been hustled to Paris as the own particular preoccupations. Barnave, who often showed a
outcome of a vaguely definro Orleanist plot or of the sinister deeper understanding of social realities than most of his
machinations of the discredited Mirabeau; it would have been colleagues, drew attention to this division of interest when he
impolitic to reveal it as the execution of plans long nurtured by wrote to his constituents that while, in October, bourgeoisie and
the respectable bourgeois and liberal aristocrats who controlled ptuple acted together in a common cause, the former were
the Assembly and Paris city government. Mystery undoubtedly actuated solely by the desire to defeat the plots of the aristo
attaches to the exact part played by Mirabeau, Orleans, or cracy, whereas the latter, while sharing this desire, were equally
even Lafayette-a mystery which the Chatelet inquiry succeeded concerned with the scarcityofbread. 1 This duality ofinterest was
in deepening. It is not the purpose of the present chapter to by no meanspeculiarto the events ofOctober; but to be aware of
seek to throw a fresh light on the respective guilt, or responsi it is to begin, at least, to understand an episode which, in some re
bility, of the various parties concerned: this has .already been spects, is more shrouded in mystery than any othersimilareventof
attempted, with remarkable success under the clf.cumstances, the Revolution. It will perhaps emerge more clearlyifwe first try
by Albert Mathiez,1 Suffice it here to say �hat It would be to trace the origins of these separate trends, follow their develop
strange indeed if those who benefited most dlfectly from these ment and see how they merged in common action on 5 October.
events did not have at least as effective a control of the October Again, as in July, it was the menu propie rather than the
insurrection as they had of the Paris revolution ofJuly. With�n
certain limits they would no more hesitate in October t�an 10
bourgeoisi� that was first involved in active protest; nor was their
movement to cease with the realization of the immediate political
July to turn to their advantage the anger and revolutlO.n.ary objectives. For them the calm following the July revolution
energies of the menu prople in order to achieve d�fined political was short-lived. In terms of the political movement, the events
objectives, Had not Academician Dussaulx, a highly respected ofJuly and October, though linked by common ties, are clearly
member of the Centre party in the Assembly, told Farmer defined and distinctive episodes; in terms of the popular-social
General Augeart already on 26 August that the king must be movement however, it would perhaps be more correct to
brought to Paris-by violence if need be?: A".d did not �a�ave's speak of an almost continuous agitation, springing up in April
letters written after the event explain to hiS Dauphmols con or May, rising to a climax in July and again in October, but
stituents the necessity for the insurrection-however distasteful not finally subsiding until the early days of November. In this
certain ofits features undoubtedly were-and praise the city of movement the problem of bread was uppermost, dominated
Paris for once more saving 'la liberte publique'?3 �U other considerations, and drew together the largest numbers
So much, in brief, for the main political results and �espon In common protest. Yet there were other elements which,
sibilities for the October days; but the menu plUple of Pans were though affecting smaller groups, added to the general unrest
• A. Malhia, '£t\lde eritique sur les joum�es des S el 6 octobre 1789', RlfJ. hist.
and, therefore, must have contributed to the volume of anger
and to the numbers of demonstrators on 5 October.
bvii (18gB), 241--th; Ixviii (1899). 2�; bix (IBgg). 41---6.6 I have made
eonsiderable usc or this study in puparing this chapter. '. ' Ar�h. Nal., W 12, foil. 200-1. Thepassage rum: 'Pendant que nousd�li�rioru,
I 'mpa .ence des Parisierll l'�tait portee a I'excb;
I Arch. Nat., W 13, foJ•. 317--18. He, ne"erthdcss, spoke ofil as '�e mouvement
• Quoted by Mathiez. op. cil. Ixvii. 249· � la bourgeoisie el Ie peuple, les
UIlI �n'rnb uniquemenl conlU la dernil:rc c(lnduile du
been for gouvernemcnl el de I'arilto
terrible', which, he coruidered, might have ended in disaster, had II not crahe, tlus aul,tsy 1IIIItmJ I'inllr/l du pain 'lui CtImmfll(ail
d II,. rart, sc sont a.sacmblb
the p;m played by Wayelle and the Aucmbly (Arch. Nat W 12, fols. 200-1),
.• dans IOUli les districts' (my italics).
0, THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES 0,
consent of the Assembly's majority; yet, far from throwing a no more helpless accessories, willing to stage an insurrection for
bright light into dark corners, it served effectively as a smoke the sole benefit ofthe constitutional monarchists in October, than
screen to divert attention from the real authors of the October they had been for the Palais Royal or the Paris Electors in July.
'days'. It suited the court, the police, the Paris administ�atjon. While they might share the general alarm of all 'patriots' at the
and the dominant party in the Assembly to present the violence neW 'conspiracies' hatching at Versailles, they also had their
and haste with which the king had been hustled to Paris as the own particular preoccupations. Barnave, who often showed a
outcome of a vaguely definro Orleanist plot or of the sinister deeper understanding of social realities than most of his
machinations of the discredited Mirabeau; it would have been colleagues, drew attention to this division of interest when he
impolitic to reveal it as the execution of plans long nurtured by wrote to his constituents that while, in October, bourgeoisie and
the respectable bourgeois and liberal aristocrats who controlled ptuple acted together in a common cause, the former were
the Assembly and Paris city government. Mystery undoubtedly actuated solely by the desire to defeat the plots of the aristo
attaches to the exact part played by Mirabeau, Orleans, or cracy, whereas the latter, while sharing this desire, were equally
even Lafayette-a mystery which the Chatelet inquiry succeeded concerned with the scarcityofbread. 1 This duality ofinterest was
in deepening. It is not the purpose of the present chapter to by no meanspeculiarto the events ofOctober; but to be aware of
seek to throw a fresh light on the respective guilt, or responsi it is to begin, at least, to understand an episode which, in some re
bility, of the various parties concerned: this has .already been spects, is more shrouded in mystery than any othersimilareventof
attempted, with remarkable success under the clf.cumstances, the Revolution. It will perhaps emerge more clearlyifwe first try
by Albert Mathiez,1 Suffice it here to say �hat It would be to trace the origins of these separate trends, follow their develop
strange indeed if those who benefited most dlfectly from these ment and see how they merged in common action on 5 October.
events did not have at least as effective a control of the October Again, as in July, it was the menu propie rather than the
insurrection as they had of the Paris revolution ofJuly. With�n
certain limits they would no more hesitate in October t�an 10
bourgeoisi� that was first involved in active protest; nor was their
movement to cease with the realization of the immediate political
July to turn to their advantage the anger and revolutlO.n.ary objectives. For them the calm following the July revolution
energies of the menu prople in order to achieve d�fined political was short-lived. In terms of the political movement, the events
objectives, Had not Academician Dussaulx, a highly respected ofJuly and October, though linked by common ties, are clearly
member of the Centre party in the Assembly, told Farmer defined and distinctive episodes; in terms of the popular-social
General Augeart already on 26 August that the king must be movement however, it would perhaps be more correct to
brought to Paris-by violence if need be?: A".d did not �a�ave's speak of an almost continuous agitation, springing up in April
letters written after the event explain to hiS Dauphmols con or May, rising to a climax in July and again in October, but
stituents the necessity for the insurrection-however distasteful not finally subsiding until the early days of November. In this
certain ofits features undoubtedly were-and praise the city of movement the problem of bread was uppermost, dominated
Paris for once more saving 'la liberte publique'?3 �U other considerations, and drew together the largest numbers
So much, in brief, for the main political results and �espon In common protest. Yet there were other elements which,
sibilities for the October days; but the menu plUple of Pans were though affecting smaller groups, added to the general unrest
• A. Malhia, '£t\lde eritique sur les joum�es des S el 6 octobre 1789', RlfJ. hist.
and, therefore, must have contributed to the volume of anger
and to the numbers of demonstrators on 5 October.
bvii (18gB), 241--th; Ixviii (1899). 2�; bix (IBgg). 41---6.6 I have made
eonsiderable usc or this study in puparing this chapter. '. ' Ar�h. Nal., W 12, foil. 200-1. Thepassage rum: 'Pendant que nousd�li�rioru,
I 'mpa .ence des Parisierll l'�tait portee a I'excb;
I Arch. Nat., W 13, foJ•. 317--18. He, ne"erthdcss, spoke ofil as '�e mouvement
• Quoted by Mathiez. op. cil. Ixvii. 249· � la bourgeoisie el Ie peuple, les
UIlI �n'rnb uniquemenl conlU la dernil:rc c(lnduile du
been for gouvernemcnl el de I'arilto
terrible', which, he coruidered, might have ended in disaster, had II not crahe, tlus aul,tsy 1IIIItmJ I'inllr/l du pain 'lui CtImmfll(ail
d II,. rart, sc sont a.sacmblb
the p;m played by Wayelle and the Aucmbly (Arch. Nat W 12, fols. 200-1),
.• dans IOUli les districts' (my italics).
"
..
THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES
(Arch. Nat., T 514U»). �ue 'o.ooo domtlliqua ttaient capables de [Ie bal a 10UI la j. [
abul blew :I reven blanc; C1 que tOUll IQ bourg«>iI ttaimt tOUI
j. f. sanl en
workshoE»-two navviQ, a foreman, and a (�fd'atrli#r . qui portaient dca
thing Iirni.Lllr.
• Arch. Nat., Y IS'O�; 18766; 18795. fols. 463, 466-7·
.�cc. leun [ habits.' Though denying
a mIlled saying IOmc
I Jaura, op. cil. i. 356.
"
..
THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES
(Arch. Nat., T 514U»). �ue 'o.ooo domtlliqua ttaient capables de [Ie bal a 10UI la j. [
abul blew :I reven blanc; C1 que tOUll IQ bourg«>iI ttaimt tOUI
j. f. sanl en
workshoE»-two navviQ, a foreman, and a (�fd'atrli#r . qui portaient dca
thing Iirni.Lllr.
• Arch. Nat., Y IS'O�; 18766; 18795. fols. 463, 466-7·
.�cc. leun [ habits.' Though denying
a mIlled saying IOmc
I Jaura, op. cil. i. 356.
.,
66 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES
the ?
contempt and hostility sh wn to the cleric �� Despite their quasi.religious objects, there is already a foretaste
greeted with �houts �f a bas la caloue .
Assembly, was
of the march to Versailles in these great demonstrations of the
�nu peuple of the markets andfauhourgs. Hardy seems
and "d mort Ies calottins !'1 While this hostility had been recently
deputies, who were
.
to have
stimulated by the clergy's refusal to give up theIr ' had,
" tlthe It
�
� sensed these potentialities when he writes of the Faubourg
of course, far deeper roots. Hardy heard the slogan a bas la Saint-Antoine procession in mid.September, in which
people took part:
1,200
caloue!' in the Palais Royal on 12 July;: and, �arly the same
month the pamphlet Prnnier dialogue entre U1le powarde tt un fort Bien des gem trouvaient qu'il avait quelque chose
d'effrayant par
de La lz:Ule showed the degree of disrespect for the ChUTC�
that, son arrangement, sa composition et son immensite. Les personnes
it may be assumed. had by this time become gen eral 10 the sensees tTouvaient bien ridicules ces aetes publics dont it etait
im
fonnait pas
, possible d'interrompre Ie cours et dont la Piete ne
held on
rnalheureusernent tout Ie motif.1
markets,l A month later Hardy noted that a �rocesslo�
on was threatened In the neIghbou r
hood of Notre Dame with cries of '3. b� la �alott� !' and 'II
the Feast of the Assumpti
faudrait les mettre ala lanterne !'4 That this anu-dencal feeling
. The price of the 4-1b. loaf had been reduced, on 22
July,
from r4t to 131 sous.2 The period. of calm that followed did not
was on the increase among the mtnU peuple is suggested by the last long. With �rief interludes the popular movement
that
incidents that took place at the end ?f 8epte�ber �t the flared up again over the high price or shortage ofbread
in early
churches of 8aint-Jacques-de-la-Bouchene and Satnt-Nlcolas August was to continue until November. It was to
des-Champs, both
in the area of the central markets. When the form ofacts ofviolence against bakers and alleged
take the
hoarders and
curl of Saint-Jacques refused to bury a journeyman carpenter ofprotest meetings or deputations to the municipal
authorities.
without the payment of the full fee of 23 liures, th: church was On 2 August Chatel, the litutenant de maire of Saint-D
enis, to
taken by storm and the curl compelled to suhnut. A solemn the north of Paris, was massacred by an angry
requinn W3..11 sung for the deceased to approving shouts of 'bravo'
crowd of small
tradesmen, craftsmen, and wage-earnen: he
had, they said,
from the assembled crowds. The mood soon changed to on� of caused an artificial scarcity of corn and refused,
in insulting
fury when the choir-leader of the neighbouring cburch of8a1Ot and contemptuous terms, to reduce the price
Nicolas--des-Cbamps announced that he
bad been dismissed for 'qu'i\ ne fallait point donner a la canaille du
of bread
pain a deux sols la
taking part in the service. Tbe cburch was stormed by a large livre'. Chatel, it appears, was chased to the
steeple of the parish
crowd who threatened to hang the curl; it was only dispersed by church, where he was stabbed to death; his
head was severed
the National Guard after the arrest of one of the rioters and the by a soldier ofthe Provence Regiment. As
. a result of the murder
promise that the choir-leader would be reinst.a�ed 5 .This sharp 2 I persons, including 4 women, were arreste d: among
them
hostility to the ministers of the Church-ansmg, m the first
place over such economic issues as the .
payment of tithe or 12
2
were master craftsmen, 4 tradesmen,
9
wage-earners. Another
wage-earners were among 18 others who,
�
funer l expenses-was, of course, highly significant for arrest, were charged in their absence.
In April
having evaded
1790
two ofthese,
future. Hardy had perhaps good cause w.hen he a print worker and ajourneyma
n tailor, were found guilty and
alarm at the discipline, pageantry, and magnttude hanged in effigy.]
daily processions of market w�men, laundrc:sses, On 8 August after great demonstrations
. outside the Hotel de
and workers of different DlStncts that, dunng August
September, wound up the rue Saint-Jacques t? the
Ville, the 4-lb. loaf was furthe
considerable gain. To take
r reduced to 12
SOUS.4 This was a
. two examples : it meant that a
I Ibid., pp. 429, 431, 437-8, 44', 4
built church of Sainte-Genevieve for thanksglVmg services.
43, 445-0, 453, 455-0, 462, 469-70, +73,
·nt·; • Ibid., p. 401.
4 Hardy, Vlli. 435. .<::
• Bib. Nal., Lb 39 .862.
I Mathiez, loc. cil. R.o. hiJI. Ixviii. 261. Hardy, �!!. 385.
...
d.
'
Ar . Nat., Y 1�?.79; '0479; .0649, fol. 27; 10530,
f Ard>. Nal., Y ,0650; .0649, fol. 42 i Hardy, vw.4-93-4,497. • Ibid., p. 4116.
. fot.. • 8'-3i 18795. fols.
....3. . 470-1; Hardy, VUI. 417.
.,
66 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES
the ?
contempt and hostility sh wn to the cleric �� Despite their quasi.religious objects, there is already a foretaste
greeted with �houts �f a bas la caloue .
Assembly, was
of the march to Versailles in these great demonstrations of the
�nu peuple of the markets andfauhourgs. Hardy seems
and "d mort Ies calottins !'1 While this hostility had been recently
deputies, who were
.
to have
stimulated by the clergy's refusal to give up theIr ' had,
" tlthe It
�
� sensed these potentialities when he writes of the Faubourg
of course, far deeper roots. Hardy heard the slogan a bas la Saint-Antoine procession in mid.September, in which
people took part:
1,200
caloue!' in the Palais Royal on 12 July;: and, �arly the same
month the pamphlet Prnnier dialogue entre U1le powarde tt un fort Bien des gem trouvaient qu'il avait quelque chose
d'effrayant par
de La lz:Ule showed the degree of disrespect for the ChUTC�
that, son arrangement, sa composition et son immensite. Les personnes
it may be assumed. had by this time become gen eral 10 the sensees tTouvaient bien ridicules ces aetes publics dont it etait
im
fonnait pas
, possible d'interrompre Ie cours et dont la Piete ne
held on
rnalheureusernent tout Ie motif.1
markets,l A month later Hardy noted that a �rocesslo�
on was threatened In the neIghbou r
hood of Notre Dame with cries of '3. b� la �alott� !' and 'II
the Feast of the Assumpti
faudrait les mettre ala lanterne !'4 That this anu-dencal feeling
. The price of the 4-1b. loaf had been reduced, on 22
July,
from r4t to 131 sous.2 The period. of calm that followed did not
was on the increase among the mtnU peuple is suggested by the last long. With �rief interludes the popular movement
that
incidents that took place at the end ?f 8epte�ber �t the flared up again over the high price or shortage ofbread
in early
churches of 8aint-Jacques-de-la-Bouchene and Satnt-Nlcolas August was to continue until November. It was to
des-Champs, both
in the area of the central markets. When the form ofacts ofviolence against bakers and alleged
take the
hoarders and
curl of Saint-Jacques refused to bury a journeyman carpenter ofprotest meetings or deputations to the municipal
authorities.
without the payment of the full fee of 23 liures, th: church was On 2 August Chatel, the litutenant de maire of Saint-D
enis, to
taken by storm and the curl compelled to suhnut. A solemn the north of Paris, was massacred by an angry
requinn W3..11 sung for the deceased to approving shouts of 'bravo'
crowd of small
tradesmen, craftsmen, and wage-earnen: he
had, they said,
from the assembled crowds. The mood soon changed to on� of caused an artificial scarcity of corn and refused,
in insulting
fury when the choir-leader of the neighbouring cburch of8a1Ot and contemptuous terms, to reduce the price
Nicolas--des-Cbamps announced that he
bad been dismissed for 'qu'i\ ne fallait point donner a la canaille du
of bread
pain a deux sols la
taking part in the service. Tbe cburch was stormed by a large livre'. Chatel, it appears, was chased to the
steeple of the parish
crowd who threatened to hang the curl; it was only dispersed by church, where he was stabbed to death; his
head was severed
the National Guard after the arrest of one of the rioters and the by a soldier ofthe Provence Regiment. As
. a result of the murder
promise that the choir-leader would be reinst.a�ed 5 .This sharp 2 I persons, including 4 women, were arreste d: among
them
hostility to the ministers of the Church-ansmg, m the first
place over such economic issues as the .
payment of tithe or 12
2
were master craftsmen, 4 tradesmen,
9
wage-earners. Another
wage-earners were among 18 others who,
�
funer l expenses-was, of course, highly significant for arrest, were charged in their absence.
In April
having evaded
1790
two ofthese,
future. Hardy had perhaps good cause w.hen he a print worker and ajourneyma
n tailor, were found guilty and
alarm at the discipline, pageantry, and magnttude hanged in effigy.]
daily processions of market w�men, laundrc:sses, On 8 August after great demonstrations
. outside the Hotel de
and workers of different DlStncts that, dunng August
September, wound up the rue Saint-Jacques t? the
Ville, the 4-lb. loaf was furthe
considerable gain. To take
r reduced to 12
SOUS.4 This was a
. two examples : it meant that a
I Ibid., pp. 429, 431, 437-8, 44', 4
built church of Sainte-Genevieve for thanksglVmg services.
43, 445-0, 453, 455-0, 462, 469-70, +73,
·nt·; • Ibid., p. 401.
4 Hardy, Vlli. 435. .<::
• Bib. Nal., Lb 39 .862.
I Mathiez, loc. cil. R.o. hiJI. Ixviii. 261. Hardy, �!!. 385.
...
d.
'
Ar . Nat., Y 1�?.79; '0479; .0649, fol. 27; 10530,
f Ard>. Nal., Y ,0650; .0649, fol. 42 i Hardy, vw.4-93-4,497. • Ibid., p. 4116.
. fot.. • 8'-3i 18795. fols.
....3. . 470-1; Hardy, VUI. 417.
..
68
THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES
Y CROWD IN ACT ION
THE REVOLUTIONAR
On 1 3 September a bread riot took place at Versailles where
�
been
een February and July, had
builder's labourer who, betw an angry c�owd trie to hang a baker for selling good:quality
loaves to his wealthier customers at 18 sow and poor-quality
ings on
cent. of his effective earn
compelled to spend 80 per cen t.
the same amount with 67 per
bread, could now purchase ente r bread to the rest at a cheaper price. The baker was cut down
h or carp
journeyman locksmit
of his income; whereas a now be in the nick of time by the Io:al militia. The king was brought
a Reveillon labourer ) wou ld
(earning twice the wage of t �8 along ,pour calmer les esprits
. . Several people were injured and
.
d where he prevlou�ly spen
I<:>
spending 40 per cent. on brea
wee m twenty-one arrested, ofwhom three were hanged ten days later.[
ing the seco nd and thir d
per cent. Consequently, dur
I
d cn . :
siS By now, the women had begun to take a hand. The bread
report a lull in the brea
August, Hardy was able to .
Im crisis was peculiarly their own and, from this time on, it was
the quality of the flour had
�
wer e mor e plen tifu l,
supplies akers' they rather than the men that played the leading role in the
were withdrawn from the
proved and armed guards In full movement. On 1 6 September Hardy recorded that women had
ever, the crisis had returned
shops.' On 2 1 August, how l nged stopped five c�rts laden wi�h grain at Chaillot and brought
n good, but owing to a pro � .
strength : the harvest had bee pnc e of them �o the H�tel de Ville 10 Paris. On the 17th, at midday,
to grind their corn. The
drought, millers were unable hun gry the Hotel de VIlle was besieged by angry women complaining
the resulting scarcity cau sed
bread remained stable, but about the conduct of the bakers ; they were received by Bailly
queues in the mar kets and shop �.
stomachs and ever-lengthening sonn ene a�d the Municipal Council. 'Ces femmes [wrote Hardy]
-maker of the rue de la Cos
On 24 August a master wig ded
.
dlsalent hautement que les hommes n'y entendaient rien et
was charged with thre aten ing a baker with the drea
se du Rem part was .' �
qu elles vo�laient se �eler es affaires.' The next day the
�
the rue Bas
lanttrrll; on the 25th, a cooper of de1i bera te y Hotel de Ville was agam besieged, and promises were made.
city gov ernm ent f or
arrested for blaming the es tlc Th7 s�me evening Hardy saw women hold up a cartload of
; and, two days later, a dom
causing the flour shortage With. gram m the Place des Trois Maries and esCOrt it to the local
a bread-queue and charged
servant was arrested in on
. .
Dlstnct headquarte� 1 This movement was to continue up to
Ano ther brief lull followed ; but, :
causing a disturbance.l and beyon� the p?htlcal demonstration of 5 October.'
1 September, the guards
ers' shop s and
reappeared in the bak .
lie, Meanwhtle, as 10 June, a political movement had begun to
there for x
si teen day s in the month. Meanwh
were to remain ing develop in Paris in response to the new deadlock that had
that he was reduced to buy
Hardy bitterly complained oO,t' .· On
.
�nsen between Court and Assembly at Versailles. Once more
s ayant fort mau vais &:
'Ia moitie d'un pain de 4 livre
3 Sep
rue It was the journalists and lawyers in the entourage of the Duke
tem ber a jour ney man roof -maker was arrested m the
. a party of Orleans, with their headquarters at the Palais Royal that
� �
accu sing Lafa yett e ofb emg
de la Ferronnerie for publicly flour too �he l ad. According to Mathiez, the leading part amo g the
and force up the price of ;
to a plot to cause scarcity Panslan patriots' was played by Duport, Desmoulins Danton
and Loustalot, the editor of us RIIJ()/utions de Paris'' M rat, with
falla it Ie
�
l filait sa corde et qu'i t
!
'
'qu'il etait un traitre; qu'i
h ml' du peupIe, played, as usual, a lone hand. It was they who,
a veng e anc e
had returned �ith .
pendre'.5 The pactt de famine hisA
l rough thelr
' press, clubs, and Districts, launched and popu-
kmg men Wai ted In
d, as wor
Nerves were becoming fraye
's pay in cons eque nce. .
queues and lost part of their day Ian�ed the slogan that the king should be removed from the
Hardy) Its hommes plus pressst .
jusqu'a Its
Intngues of the Court at Versailles and brought to Paris.•
Pour y avoir du pain [wrote
cherchaient a ccarter les
femmes et allaient meme
Its premien.6 �
' A ch' s.:',ne-et.Oise, seria B. PrMt� de I'HOte! du Roi. Proc&luret. 17!!g. Fir-
.
maltraiter pour s'en procurer teen a cused (all men) mcluded
. � '"1
:I wheelwrights and a maUras-worker (hanged)'
�
� bu'ld' wo =, 4 porters, 2 waiten, a IOldier, 2 labouren, and a laddie-maker.
• s at y, VIII. 478-80.
during the French �.
R.u.,
Popular Movements in Paris
rdy'" entries for 3-7 and I� October 178g (viii. 499-�O�, �I:I). The
&11. Hisl.
}OUT�� �
I G. Rud�, 'Prica, Waga and
Revolution',
• Hardy, viii. 4�g-40'
vol. vi, no. 3, April [9�4, p. �48.
�
1 Arch. Nat., Y 18'9�, oIS. 46�-7 ..
; �8766.
en on 14 October. • Mathlez, op. cil. Ixvii. �66-8; Ixviii. 269-73.
Hardy. vul. 460.
Arch. Nat .• Y [876,.
• Hardy, viii. 4�8. J
..
68
THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES
Y CROWD IN ACT ION
THE REVOLUTIONAR
On 1 3 September a bread riot took place at Versailles where
�
been
een February and July, had
builder's labourer who, betw an angry c�owd trie to hang a baker for selling good:quality
loaves to his wealthier customers at 18 sow and poor-quality
ings on
cent. of his effective earn
compelled to spend 80 per cen t.
the same amount with 67 per
bread, could now purchase ente r bread to the rest at a cheaper price. The baker was cut down
h or carp
journeyman locksmit
of his income; whereas a now be in the nick of time by the Io:al militia. The king was brought
a Reveillon labourer ) wou ld
(earning twice the wage of t �8 along ,pour calmer les esprits
. . Several people were injured and
.
d where he prevlou�ly spen
I<:>
spending 40 per cent. on brea
wee m twenty-one arrested, ofwhom three were hanged ten days later.[
ing the seco nd and thir d
per cent. Consequently, dur
I
d cn . :
siS By now, the women had begun to take a hand. The bread
report a lull in the brea
August, Hardy was able to .
Im crisis was peculiarly their own and, from this time on, it was
the quality of the flour had
�
wer e mor e plen tifu l,
supplies akers' they rather than the men that played the leading role in the
were withdrawn from the
proved and armed guards In full movement. On 1 6 September Hardy recorded that women had
ever, the crisis had returned
shops.' On 2 1 August, how l nged stopped five c�rts laden wi�h grain at Chaillot and brought
n good, but owing to a pro � .
strength : the harvest had bee pnc e of them �o the H�tel de Ville 10 Paris. On the 17th, at midday,
to grind their corn. The
drought, millers were unable hun gry the Hotel de VIlle was besieged by angry women complaining
the resulting scarcity cau sed
bread remained stable, but about the conduct of the bakers ; they were received by Bailly
queues in the mar kets and shop �.
stomachs and ever-lengthening sonn ene a�d the Municipal Council. 'Ces femmes [wrote Hardy]
-maker of the rue de la Cos
On 24 August a master wig ded
.
dlsalent hautement que les hommes n'y entendaient rien et
was charged with thre aten ing a baker with the drea
se du Rem part was .' �
qu elles vo�laient se �eler es affaires.' The next day the
�
the rue Bas
lanttrrll; on the 25th, a cooper of de1i bera te y Hotel de Ville was agam besieged, and promises were made.
city gov ernm ent f or
arrested for blaming the es tlc Th7 s�me evening Hardy saw women hold up a cartload of
; and, two days later, a dom
causing the flour shortage With. gram m the Place des Trois Maries and esCOrt it to the local
a bread-queue and charged
servant was arrested in on
. .
Dlstnct headquarte� 1 This movement was to continue up to
Ano ther brief lull followed ; but, :
causing a disturbance.l and beyon� the p?htlcal demonstration of 5 October.'
1 September, the guards
ers' shop s and
reappeared in the bak .
lie, Meanwhtle, as 10 June, a political movement had begun to
there for x
si teen day s in the month. Meanwh
were to remain ing develop in Paris in response to the new deadlock that had
that he was reduced to buy
Hardy bitterly complained oO,t' .· On
.
�nsen between Court and Assembly at Versailles. Once more
s ayant fort mau vais &:
'Ia moitie d'un pain de 4 livre
3 Sep
rue It was the journalists and lawyers in the entourage of the Duke
tem ber a jour ney man roof -maker was arrested m the
. a party of Orleans, with their headquarters at the Palais Royal that
� �
accu sing Lafa yett e ofb emg
de la Ferronnerie for publicly flour too �he l ad. According to Mathiez, the leading part amo g the
and force up the price of ;
to a plot to cause scarcity Panslan patriots' was played by Duport, Desmoulins Danton
and Loustalot, the editor of us RIIJ()/utions de Paris'' M rat, with
falla it Ie
�
l filait sa corde et qu'i t
!
'
'qu'il etait un traitre; qu'i
h ml' du peupIe, played, as usual, a lone hand. It was they who,
a veng e anc e
had returned �ith .
pendre'.5 The pactt de famine hisA
l rough thelr
' press, clubs, and Districts, launched and popu-
kmg men Wai ted In
d, as wor
Nerves were becoming fraye
's pay in cons eque nce. .
queues and lost part of their day Ian�ed the slogan that the king should be removed from the
Hardy) Its hommes plus pressst .
jusqu'a Its
Intngues of the Court at Versailles and brought to Paris.•
Pour y avoir du pain [wrote
cherchaient a ccarter les
femmes et allaient meme
Its premien.6 �
' A ch' s.:',ne-et.Oise, seria B. PrMt� de I'HOte! du Roi. Proc&luret. 17!!g. Fir-
.
maltraiter pour s'en procurer teen a cused (all men) mcluded
. � '"1
:I wheelwrights and a maUras-worker (hanged)'
�
� bu'ld' wo =, 4 porters, 2 waiten, a IOldier, 2 labouren, and a laddie-maker.
• s at y, VIII. 478-80.
during the French �.
R.u.,
Popular Movements in Paris
rdy'" entries for 3-7 and I� October 178g (viii. 499-�O�, �I:I). The
&11. Hisl.
}OUT�� �
I G. Rud�, 'Prica, Waga and
Revolution',
• Hardy, viii. 4�g-40'
vol. vi, no. 3, April [9�4, p. �48.
�
1 Arch. Nat., Y 18'9�, oIS. 46�-7 ..
; �8766.
en on 14 October. • Mathlez, op. cil. Ixvii. �66-8; Ixviii. 269-73.
Hardy. vul. 460.
Arch. Nat .• Y [876,.
• Hardy, viii. 4�8. J
70 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES 7'
The idea that the king should return to his capital and reside "e-
Palais Royal and the Cafe de FoyI uroing that the ,OCSln
" be
among his subjects in 'la bonne ville de Paris' was not a new ,oundedI ,he D"�tncts
" aIerted, and the citizens called to anns .
one: it had been voiced in the , aheri of the Parisian Third There was certamly no mystery about the precise objects of these
Estate and in a pamphlet inJuly; it was perhaps in the minds of ma�ce�vres ! the �bbe Bernard was specifically cbarged with
many that gave Louis XVI so vociferous a welcome when he saytng m the Cafe de Foy:
visited the revolutionary capital on 1 7 July. Now it was revived, Qu'il fallait all�r chercher Ie Roy et Ie Dauphin 3. Versailles
Its amener .3. Pans, aux Thuileries, soU! la sauve-ganle paris,PO
ur
:a
Assembly. Broadly speaking, the Right, or moderates, wished The project came to nothing because the 'patriots" th
to invest the king with an absolute right of veto; while the �embly had not yet given up hope of a settlement by n: tia�
'patriots', among whom Bamave was emerging as leader, up llon; and, even more important, because the project still lacked
held the legislative supremacy of the Assembly; yet, unlike the deg�ee �f sUP rt among the Parisian menu ptuple that alone
r:'
their allies in the Palais Royal, they were prepared to negotiate could gtve It realIty. The situation changed radically during
with the help of a Centre grovp, who favoured a compromise. September. The anger roused by the bread crisis had as we
. direc,ed, l�
saw, b�en
It was while these negotiations were going on, at the end of '
" the first place, against bakers and city
August, that Academician Dussaulx is reported to have made .
authon�� ; at urnes It found expression in violent outbursts of
his declaration that the king must be brought to Paris, if need �
denunClallon .of the Hotel e Ville or the National Guard, or
be by violence, in order to break the deadlock. When, three of Lafayette m person as Its cornmander-in-chief: in August
���
days later, negotiations broke down Duport launched a public and early September numerous arrests on such charges were
campaign against the veto in the Palais Royal, and Des of cr� �
ftsme , clerks, servants, and other wage-earners.1
moulins, though without Bamave's approval, put out the slogan t�e e Journalists-both Marat and those associated with
that the king should be made to return to the capital. the Pal�lS Royal-were not averse to allowing Lafayette, whom
Thus the extreme 'patriots' of the Palais Royal, perhaps with
some secret support in the Assembly, tried to force the pace;
� �
hey . dlS sted, to become the target of popular abuse' the
patnots of both Assembly and Paris Districts had a common
the result was the fi�[, abortive, attempt to stage a march to mterest in fi
. . . �usm�
. t
h " d'
JSContent into channels that better
iate political aims The .'..... -ulu were soon to
I
S
Versailles on the last day of August. It is an obscure episode, but SUIted theIr Immed
be seen. In early September Malouet noted ., '0n VI, des por
•
it appears from the police reports of the Chatelet that the lead -
"
The idea that the king should return to his capital and reside "e-
Palais Royal and the Cafe de FoyI uroing that the ,OCSln
" be
among his subjects in 'la bonne ville de Paris' was not a new ,oundedI ,he D"�tncts
" aIerted, and the citizens called to anns .
one: it had been voiced in the , aheri of the Parisian Third There was certamly no mystery about the precise objects of these
Estate and in a pamphlet inJuly; it was perhaps in the minds of ma�ce�vres ! the �bbe Bernard was specifically cbarged with
many that gave Louis XVI so vociferous a welcome when he saytng m the Cafe de Foy:
visited the revolutionary capital on 1 7 July. Now it was revived, Qu'il fallait all�r chercher Ie Roy et Ie Dauphin 3. Versailles
Its amener .3. Pans, aux Thuileries, soU! la sauve-ganle paris,PO
ur
:a
Assembly. Broadly speaking, the Right, or moderates, wished The project came to nothing because the 'patriots" th
to invest the king with an absolute right of veto; while the �embly had not yet given up hope of a settlement by n: tia�
'patriots', among whom Bamave was emerging as leader, up llon; and, even more important, because the project still lacked
held the legislative supremacy of the Assembly; yet, unlike the deg�ee �f sUP rt among the Parisian menu ptuple that alone
r:'
their allies in the Palais Royal, they were prepared to negotiate could gtve It realIty. The situation changed radically during
with the help of a Centre grovp, who favoured a compromise. September. The anger roused by the bread crisis had as we
. direc,ed, l�
saw, b�en
It was while these negotiations were going on, at the end of '
" the first place, against bakers and city
August, that Academician Dussaulx is reported to have made .
authon�� ; at urnes It found expression in violent outbursts of
his declaration that the king must be brought to Paris, if need �
denunClallon .of the Hotel e Ville or the National Guard, or
be by violence, in order to break the deadlock. When, three of Lafayette m person as Its cornmander-in-chief: in August
���
days later, negotiations broke down Duport launched a public and early September numerous arrests on such charges were
campaign against the veto in the Palais Royal, and Des of cr� �
ftsme , clerks, servants, and other wage-earners.1
moulins, though without Bamave's approval, put out the slogan t�e e Journalists-both Marat and those associated with
that the king should be made to return to the capital. the Pal�lS Royal-were not averse to allowing Lafayette, whom
Thus the extreme 'patriots' of the Palais Royal, perhaps with
some secret support in the Assembly, tried to force the pace;
� �
hey . dlS sted, to become the target of popular abuse' the
patnots of both Assembly and Paris Districts had a common
the result was the fi�[, abortive, attempt to stage a march to mterest in fi
. . . �usm�
. t
h " d'
JSContent into channels that better
iate political aims The .'..... -ulu were soon to
I
S
Versailles on the last day of August. It is an obscure episode, but SUIted theIr Immed
be seen. In early September Malouet noted ., '0n VI, des por
•
it appears from the police reports of the Chatelet that the lead -
"
01 .
to Paris.l Yet, as we noted before, it is an extremely one·sided
: �'a�e rnmw/il . .
111I0Il, I (1883), 1-7).
01 .
to Paris.l Yet, as we noted before, it is an extremely one·sided
: �'a�e rnmw/il . .
111I0Il, I (1883), 1-7).
�
'patriots', Maillard let himself be persuade to lead t em on � u thai followed
.. VmaiJkJ (Paris, III!}I),
• ,llIkrrt)ta/Qir� du NI &llllHrt. 6 &" r;8tJ.
. pp. '5- '7·
Arch. Scine.et·Oise, series 8. Prt\'Ot<!
the twelve-miles march to Versailles to pelltlon the kmg and
de I HOtel du Roi, Greffe '711!}. Us RlwllI/i
, Ibid., witneu no. 8. (Stanishu Maillard). Q1U u Paris,
Hardy, however, describes it mer�ly as 'une insu�rcc��?n de femmes des Hailes
. while not mentioning Vaugi.
rard, also maintained that the womcn divided
et de diff<!rents march<!l accourues it. I HOtel de Vi. lle (VIII. SOt).
1
into two separate contingents taking
M:pa�ale routes: 'Ies unes avaient pau� par Saint·Cloud;
les autrCl avaicnl prilla
y '33'9; see allO Tuetcy, R!pn/Qirt, vol. i, no. 950·
, For the above account sce the evidence or twelve witnCUCI in Arch. N!lt., rOUle de Sev�' (no. xiii, 3-10 Octob '789,
er p. 15).
• Hardy, viii. 506.
" THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES
"
the Assembly to provide bread for Paris.' As they set out, in the
workers nearby; the workers, doubtless remembering that the
same force had forcibly dispersed their comrades at Montmartre
early afternoon. they removed the cannon from the Chatelet
a few weeks earlier, were inclined to be truculent; but Maillard
and (wrote Hardy) compelled every son and condition
woman that they met-'m€me des femmes a chape
(so he tells us) was able to persuade them to disperse without of
au'-to
bloodshed. '
join them.l
From these beginnings the women now converged on the Thus reinforced, the contingents crossed the river
to the Cite
:
Hotel de Ville.l Their first object was bread, the second followed the quai des Orfevres to the Pont Neuf. crossed
ove
probably arms and ammunition for their men. A �erchant again to the Louvre. passed through the Tuileries Garde
ns and
draper, passing by the old market hall at half put eight, saw halted, 6.000 or 7.000 strong. in the Place Louis XV.
At the
groups of women stopping strangers in the streets and co�pell
ing them to go with them to e Town Hall, 'oil l'or� devrut aller
�
Place des Armes in the Champs �lysees. Maillard tells
us, the
women agreed to go on unarmed. According to the
. traditional
pour se faire donner du pam . The guards wer� disarmed and account. the marchers then continued along the Right
Bank to
their arms handed to the men who followed behmd the women ChaiIlot, and so to Shrres, Viroflay, and Versailles.l
However.
and urged them on. Another eyewitness, a cashier in the Hotel it would seem from other evidence that, while the main body
of
de Ville, described how, about half past nine, larg� numbers of mar�hers accompanied Maillard through Chaill
ot. another
women, with men amongst them, rushed up the strurs and broke contmgent may have broken off at the Place des
Armes and
into all the offices of the building. One witneS! said they bore followed the southern route via Vaugirard. This is
suggested.
sticks and pikes, while another itlSisted they were armed with at least, by the statement made to the Versailles
:
axes, crowbars, bludgeons. and muskets. A cuhler, wh h�d
,
? Bernard Salabert. a mill-worker at the �cole Milita
police by
ire and one
the temerity to remonstrate with the invaders, was told qu I1s of two wage-earners arrested for looting sword
s and other
etaient les maitres et maitresses dud. Hotel de Ville'. In their weapons at the Hotel des Gardes du Corps at
Versailles. From
search for arms and powder the demonstrators tore up docu this it appears that Salabert was picked up at Vaugi
he was having his dinner. by a band of 3.000
rard. where
ments and ledgers. and a wad of a hundred I,ooo-liures notes �f
or 4.000 women
the Caisse des Comptes disappeared from a cabinet. But their who compelled him to join them on the march
.4
object was neither money nor loot: the City Treasurer later Arriving at Versailles in the early evenin
g, the marchers
told the police that something over 3 i million livm in cash and made straight for the meeting of the Assembly.
crowded into the
notes were left untouched; and the �issing banknotes we:e benches alongside the stanled deputies and,
with swords and
returned intact a few weeks later. HavlOg sounded the tocslO hunting-knives slung from their skirts,5 waited
for Maillard to
from the steeple. the demonstrators retired to the Place de present their petition. In his speech, Mailla
Greve outside at about I I o'c1ock.l
rd quoted liberally
from the new popular pamphlet Q.uand
aurons-nous du pain?
It was at this stage that Maillard and his voiontaires arrived.on In which the authorities rather than the
bakers were held
I For thiI and much that rollow. ICe Prod,,," uimiNlk " ' , witnes
the scene. According to his account, tile women were threaterung
the lives of Bailly and Lafayette. Whether it was to avert such (Maillard). . s no. 81
I Thts wnlon, based on Maillard'.cvidcnoe befon: the Chltelct,
Hardy, viii. 5�.
by M. L. Batiffol, Lt.s JtnImiu du 5 II 6 IIdlJIm '78tJ
a disaster or merely to promote the political aims of the .
�
'patriots', Maillard let himself be persuade to lead t em on � u thai followed
.. VmaiJkJ (Paris, III!}I),
• ,llIkrrt)ta/Qir� du NI &llllHrt. 6 &" r;8tJ.
. pp. '5- '7·
Arch. Scine.et·Oise, series 8. Prt\'Ot<!
the twelve-miles march to Versailles to pelltlon the kmg and
de I HOtel du Roi, Greffe '711!}. Us RlwllI/i
, Ibid., witneu no. 8. (Stanishu Maillard). Q1U u Paris,
Hardy, however, describes it mer�ly as 'une insu�rcc��?n de femmes des Hailes
. while not mentioning Vaugi.
rard, also maintained that the womcn divided
et de diff<!rents march<!l accourues it. I HOtel de Vi. lle (VIII. SOt).
1
into two separate contingents taking
M:pa�ale routes: 'Ies unes avaient pau� par Saint·Cloud;
les autrCl avaicnl prilla
y '33'9; see allO Tuetcy, R!pn/Qirt, vol. i, no. 950·
, For the above account sce the evidence or twelve witnCUCI in Arch. N!lt., rOUle de Sev�' (no. xiii, 3-10 Octob '789,
er p. 15).
• Hardy, viii. 506.
THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES 77
re5ponsible for the shortage. I He ended with twO demands-the surged outside the chateau. awaiting a solution. To the National
provision of bread for the capital and �he punishment of the Guard-to the tradesmen, small masters, and journeymen at
. least, who had lost a day's work to accompany Lafayette to
ganus du corps who had insulted the nauonal cockade. Vanous
deputies gave reassuring replies. There were angry shouts of Versailles-there could only be one solution: the king must be
'A bas la calotte!' at the clergy; but Robespierre was heard in made to come back to Paris, whether their commander-in
respectful silence, and there were calls for 'notre petite �ere. chief was willing or not.1 So much appears, too, from the
Mirabeau'.z A deputation of six women were elected to walt on evidence of Elizabeth Girard, 'bourgeoise de Paris', who later
the king-the Marquis de Paroy considered two of them told the Chatelet
'assez bien'J-and the meeting broke up in more or less orderly qu'A Versailles tout Ie peuple indistinctement, et principalement des
fashion. compagnons serruriers au grand nombre, disaient qu'ils avaient
�e perdu leur jou:nee ; que si Ie roi ne venait pas a Paris, et les gardes
du corps n'etalent pas tues, it fa1lait mettre la tete de Lafayette au
Meanwhile, in Paris, the National Guard, summoned by
tocsin, had crowded into the place de Greve. There were cnes
of 'To Versailles!' The intentions of Lafayette in this episode are bout d'une pique.'
obscure. It seems that he hesitated for many hours to put him The women may have needed more persuading. At any rate,
self at the head of what was only too clearly an armed insurrec �
F�urn er thought it necessary to indoctrinate a group of fish
tion; he temporized and, according to Fournier, made long WJves to the language that he thought they would most readily
speeches; but in the end, in response to popular clamour, he understand: 'Sac . . . B . . . esses, vous ne voyes pas que Lafayette
gave the order to march.� The forces that entered Versailles et Ie Roi vous couillonnent. . . . II faut emmener a Paris toute
that night, between ten and midnight, consisted of three com la sacree boutique.') However that may be, when the king,
panies of grenadiers, one company of fuseliers, with three can queen, and Lafayette appeared on the palace balcony, there
�
non, 20,000 National Guards of e Paris Distri�t.s, and a �otley was a great shout of 'To Paris !' A few hours later the royal
band of 700 to 800 men armed With muskets, sucks, and pikes. .
family, escorted by the Parisian National Guard and the march
Early next morning there was a clash between the Parisians ing women, made their triumphal return to the capital.
and the garties du corps guarding the palace. Some demon I Mathia! op. cit. lxix. "�-46. In 'hit ropect, it would be of great interetl !O
strators had managed to enter the chtitlau and penetrated as far know the 1OC\.&1 or occupatI.onal compolilion ofthe Parisian National Guard .1.1 this
.
ome; but unforlUnately only a handful ortists have IUrvived to enlighten UI. The
as the antechamber to the queen's apartments. In the course .
battaholl& of the Faubourg Saint_Anloine and of the central market Districts
of this incident, a garde du corps, from a window, shot dead who were probably the main promoten of the anned iruumxtion of the Naliona i
Jer6me Lheritier, a 17-year-old volunteer and journeyman Cuard on 5 Oclober, appear 10 have included a fair sprinkling of journeymen,
ponen, and labouren as well as a majorilY of Ihopkeepen and masten or indc
cabinet-maker of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, who was in the pend��t (:raftsmen. We know, for example, that the journeyman cabinet.maker
courtyard below.s Provoked to anger, the crowd slaughtered Lho!nuer wu a volunteer of the Sainte_Marguerite District and that Edm�
two of the gardts du corps and cut off their heads.6 Order was Farey, a journeyman goldsmith, abo arrested for pillaging the H61e1 des Gardea
du Corps, was a volu�lteer of the neighbouring Dittricl of Saint·Gervais. Bc:sidea,
restored by the Parisian National Guard, while great crowds the enrolments m �e In AUluJl 178g 10 the Battalion of Sainte-Opportune, inthe
central markets, >Deluded, together with a host of small mUle... and tra
�6 men::h�t'l derks, .. tIImtn� and .. mployls, II market·pone..., a journeym�
I Bib. Nat. L" 39 113+4; Mathiez, op. cit. lxix. 411-43' domt:/l
• Prrtddun critni..nu . . . , witness no. 81; Taine, op. cit. i.
�Iler, a JOUrneym..an gunsmIth, and ajourneymangilder (Bril. Mus.,F. 830 (6)).
13t.
, Rnrw dt 1,. RJv«�litm, i (1B83), 1-7. By way of oontnut, of 10� grenadiers �ruited to the Baualion ofLes Filla S.int.
• Mimoim ,, I. Sec
d, Foltmilr, A""",iI alJo Barnavc (AN;h. Nat., W ill,
Thomas, ne,ar the Bounc, in November 178g, II� were 'bourgeois' (usually applied
urn/s
fol. 1101).
o B. PrMu! de I'H6tei du Roi, Greffe, 178g·
• Arch. Scine-ct·Oise, seri to a man ofIndependent means), 119civiJ servants,6lawyen 7 merchants 'l banken
Lh�ritier'l burial, U well u that of the two ,IJfdtl tiu _P', il recorded m Ihe and 3 Itock exchange jobbers, while only 16 were ttad�men-and �ot one or
1U,ulro ties /UIeJ til sipwlllf' tie I,. p,.nXsJ# &Y/JI, " IIDI•• DdtrU ti, VlrsdiUes, fol. 811 th� wage·earne... (Arch. Nat., W 357, no. 750, 1st part, pi�ce 100).
h(J(:Irillft crimilllih . . . , witnell no. go.
6
(Arch. S.-CI'O., series E). Of the three, LMritier alone ra:cived full mi
, M'"",i"s sIDe/s " FDurrUtr. A�u..
l itary
honoun.
THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES 77
re5ponsible for the shortage. I He ended with twO demands-the surged outside the chateau. awaiting a solution. To the National
provision of bread for the capital and �he punishment of the Guard-to the tradesmen, small masters, and journeymen at
. least, who had lost a day's work to accompany Lafayette to
ganus du corps who had insulted the nauonal cockade. Vanous
deputies gave reassuring replies. There were angry shouts of Versailles-there could only be one solution: the king must be
'A bas la calotte!' at the clergy; but Robespierre was heard in made to come back to Paris, whether their commander-in
respectful silence, and there were calls for 'notre petite �ere. chief was willing or not.1 So much appears, too, from the
Mirabeau'.z A deputation of six women were elected to walt on evidence of Elizabeth Girard, 'bourgeoise de Paris', who later
the king-the Marquis de Paroy considered two of them told the Chatelet
'assez bien'J-and the meeting broke up in more or less orderly qu'A Versailles tout Ie peuple indistinctement, et principalement des
fashion. compagnons serruriers au grand nombre, disaient qu'ils avaient
�e perdu leur jou:nee ; que si Ie roi ne venait pas a Paris, et les gardes
du corps n'etalent pas tues, it fa1lait mettre la tete de Lafayette au
Meanwhile, in Paris, the National Guard, summoned by
tocsin, had crowded into the place de Greve. There were cnes
of 'To Versailles!' The intentions of Lafayette in this episode are bout d'une pique.'
obscure. It seems that he hesitated for many hours to put him The women may have needed more persuading. At any rate,
self at the head of what was only too clearly an armed insurrec �
F�urn er thought it necessary to indoctrinate a group of fish
tion; he temporized and, according to Fournier, made long WJves to the language that he thought they would most readily
speeches; but in the end, in response to popular clamour, he understand: 'Sac . . . B . . . esses, vous ne voyes pas que Lafayette
gave the order to march.� The forces that entered Versailles et Ie Roi vous couillonnent. . . . II faut emmener a Paris toute
that night, between ten and midnight, consisted of three com la sacree boutique.') However that may be, when the king,
panies of grenadiers, one company of fuseliers, with three can queen, and Lafayette appeared on the palace balcony, there
�
non, 20,000 National Guards of e Paris Distri�t.s, and a �otley was a great shout of 'To Paris !' A few hours later the royal
band of 700 to 800 men armed With muskets, sucks, and pikes. .
family, escorted by the Parisian National Guard and the march
Early next morning there was a clash between the Parisians ing women, made their triumphal return to the capital.
and the garties du corps guarding the palace. Some demon I Mathia! op. cit. lxix. "�-46. In 'hit ropect, it would be of great interetl !O
strators had managed to enter the chtitlau and penetrated as far know the 1OC\.&1 or occupatI.onal compolilion ofthe Parisian National Guard .1.1 this
.
ome; but unforlUnately only a handful ortists have IUrvived to enlighten UI. The
as the antechamber to the queen's apartments. In the course .
battaholl& of the Faubourg Saint_Anloine and of the central market Districts
of this incident, a garde du corps, from a window, shot dead who were probably the main promoten of the anned iruumxtion of the Naliona i
Jer6me Lheritier, a 17-year-old volunteer and journeyman Cuard on 5 Oclober, appear 10 have included a fair sprinkling of journeymen,
ponen, and labouren as well as a majorilY of Ihopkeepen and masten or indc
cabinet-maker of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, who was in the pend��t (:raftsmen. We know, for example, that the journeyman cabinet.maker
courtyard below.s Provoked to anger, the crowd slaughtered Lho!nuer wu a volunteer of the Sainte_Marguerite District and that Edm�
two of the gardts du corps and cut off their heads.6 Order was Farey, a journeyman goldsmith, abo arrested for pillaging the H61e1 des Gardea
du Corps, was a volu�lteer of the neighbouring Dittricl of Saint·Gervais. Bc:sidea,
restored by the Parisian National Guard, while great crowds the enrolments m �e In AUluJl 178g 10 the Battalion of Sainte-Opportune, inthe
central markets, >Deluded, together with a host of small mUle... and tra
�6 men::h�t'l derks, .. tIImtn� and .. mployls, II market·pone..., a journeym�
I Bib. Nat. L" 39 113+4; Mathiez, op. cit. lxix. 411-43' domt:/l
• Prrtddun critni..nu . . . , witness no. 81; Taine, op. cit. i.
�Iler, a JOUrneym..an gunsmIth, and ajourneymangilder (Bril. Mus.,F. 830 (6)).
13t.
, Rnrw dt 1,. RJv«�litm, i (1B83), 1-7. By way of oontnut, of 10� grenadiers �ruited to the Baualion ofLes Filla S.int.
• Mimoim ,, I. Sec
d, Foltmilr, A""",iI alJo Barnavc (AN;h. Nat., W ill,
Thomas, ne,ar the Bounc, in November 178g, II� were 'bourgeois' (usually applied
urn/s
fol. 1101).
o B. PrMu! de I'H6tei du Roi, Greffe, 178g·
• Arch. Scine-ct·Oise, seri to a man ofIndependent means), 119civiJ servants,6lawyen 7 merchants 'l banken
Lh�ritier'l burial, U well u that of the two ,IJfdtl tiu _P', il recorded m Ihe and 3 Itock exchange jobbers, while only 16 were ttad�men-and �ot one or
1U,ulro ties /UIeJ til sipwlllf' tie I,. p,.nXsJ# &Y/JI, " IIDI•• DdtrU ti, VlrsdiUes, fol. 811 th� wage·earne... (Arch. Nat., W 357, no. 750, 1st part, pi�ce 100).
h(J(:Irillft crimilllih . . . , witnell no. go.
6
(Arch. S.-CI'O., series E). Of the three, LMritier alone ra:cived full mi
, M'"",i"s sIDe/s " FDurrUtr. A�u..
l itary
honoun.
'
,8 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES 79
The traditional account of the women's march to Versailles
the regular supply offiour to bakers was ensured. There followed
has it that, as they marched, the women chanted, 'Allons
a remarkabl: period of social calm, while the Assembly con
tinued, rel�tlvely undisturb..-d, with its task of giving the nation
chercher Ie boulanger, la boulangere et Ie petit mitron!' It was
supposed that the king would, by his very presence among his .
a constltuUon. The first Festival of the Federation, celebrated in
subjects, ensure a plentiful supply of bread. These hopes were
the Champs de Mars on 1 4 July 1 790, was a great symbol of
not immediately realized: the bread crisis continued for another . .
natlonal uruty and peaceful advance. To most it must have
seemed that the Revolution was all but completed.
month. The day after the royal family's return, crowds of
women invaded the corn-market and dumped 150 barrels of
rotten flour into the river after samples had been shown to the
king.1 On 2 1 October, during a bread riot in the Hotel de Ville
area, the baker Fran�ois was hanged from the notorious lamp
post on the Place de Greve ; for his murder, F. Blin, a market
porter, was sentenced to death and]. Advenel, a metal-gilder,
to nine years' prison.l The next day in the rue Thibault-au-de,
off the central markets, women caused a riot by insisting on
searching a house for hidden grain and fiour.l On 2 November
Bailly had to order military protection for a baker in the
Marche Saint-Germain;4 the next day a woman was arrested
for causing a disturbance outside a baker's shop in the rue des
Cordeliers.5 Finally, ten days later, Nicolas Billon, a mill
worker, was arrested on a charge of creating riots and threaten
ing to hang the baker at the Ecole Militaire on two occasions in
October and November.6
But the majority in the Assembly, having driven out the
'moderates' and established itself in the capital, had no further
use for the insurrectionary energies of the menu peuple : these had
served their purpose. Accordingly, on 2 1 October new measures
were introduced to curb social disorder and the agitation con
ducted by Marat's du peuple: they included the death
Ami
penalty for 'rebellion', a press censorship and martial law. The
first victim of these restraints on liberty, Michel Adrien, a
Bastille labourer, was hanged the same day for attempting to
stir up a 'sedition' in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.7
But, simultaneously, energetic measures were taken by both
Commune and Assembly to solve the food crisis. Though the
price of bread remained at 12 sous for many months to come,
I Hardy, viii. 505.
I Arch. Nat., Y ,<1.795, Cob. 4,6-,; 10530, fob. 157--9; 18766.
, Arch. Nat., Y 18768. • Arch. Nat., AF" 48, no. 375, fo]. �.
I Arch. Nat., Y 131'�, 6 Arch. Nat. Y 18,69·
� Arch. Nat., Y 10530, fol. 157; 18768·
'
,8 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES 79
The traditional account of the women's march to Versailles
the regular supply offiour to bakers was ensured. There followed
has it that, as they marched, the women chanted, 'Allons
a remarkabl: period of social calm, while the Assembly con
tinued, rel�tlvely undisturb..-d, with its task of giving the nation
chercher Ie boulanger, la boulangere et Ie petit mitron!' It was
supposed that the king would, by his very presence among his .
a constltuUon. The first Festival of the Federation, celebrated in
subjects, ensure a plentiful supply of bread. These hopes were
the Champs de Mars on 1 4 July 1 790, was a great symbol of
not immediately realized: the bread crisis continued for another . .
natlonal uruty and peaceful advance. To most it must have
seemed that the Revolution was all but completed.
month. The day after the royal family's return, crowds of
women invaded the corn-market and dumped 150 barrels of
rotten flour into the river after samples had been shown to the
king.1 On 2 1 October, during a bread riot in the Hotel de Ville
area, the baker Fran�ois was hanged from the notorious lamp
post on the Place de Greve ; for his murder, F. Blin, a market
porter, was sentenced to death and]. Advenel, a metal-gilder,
to nine years' prison.l The next day in the rue Thibault-au-de,
off the central markets, women caused a riot by insisting on
searching a house for hidden grain and fiour.l On 2 November
Bailly had to order military protection for a baker in the
Marche Saint-Germain;4 the next day a woman was arrested
for causing a disturbance outside a baker's shop in the rue des
Cordeliers.5 Finally, ten days later, Nicolas Billon, a mill
worker, was arrested on a charge of creating riots and threaten
ing to hang the baker at the Ecole Militaire on two occasions in
October and November.6
But the majority in the Assembly, having driven out the
'moderates' and established itself in the capital, had no further
use for the insurrectionary energies of the menu peuple : these had
served their purpose. Accordingly, on 2 1 October new measures
were introduced to curb social disorder and the agitation con
ducted by Marat's du peuple: they included the death
Ami
penalty for 'rebellion', a press censorship and martial law. The
first victim of these restraints on liberty, Michel Adrien, a
Bastille labourer, was hanged the same day for attempting to
stir up a 'sedition' in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.7
But, simultaneously, energetic measures were taken by both
Commune and Assembly to solve the food crisis. Though the
price of bread remained at 12 sous for many months to come,
I Hardy, viii. 505.
I Arch. Nat., Y ,<1.795, Cob. 4,6-,; 10530, fob. 157--9; 18766.
, Arch. Nat., Y 18768. • Arch. Nat., AF" 48, no. 375, fo]. �.
I Arch. Nat., Y 131'�, 6 Arch. Nat. Y 18,69·
� Arch. Nat., Y 10530, fol. 157; 18768·
THE 'MASSACRE' OF THE CHAMP DE MARS BI
I
for the first time since early 1788, to its nonnal level oCS sow.
It was not to rise appreciably again until August 1791-a
VI month after the Champ de Man affray. In this case at least
THE
the price or supply of bread was to play no great �art as �
T H E 'M A S S A C R E' O F stimulant to revolutionary activity.
CHAMP DE MARS The first serious breach of the peace occurred on 28 February,
when an attempt was made to demolish a part ofthe Chlteau de
e�:�:.���:t�
tru 1e flow pnson for the capital. With memories ofits former use as a
prison for those detained by lettres de caclut, 'patriots' began to
T in July 179 1 marked an
for power between co�titu
and Jacobins. betw een hbe ral
tional mo�archists�
.
bourgeotIU a?d r .
ly
protest and, on 2S January, there was talk in theJacobin Club
of a projected assault by 'one of the faubourgs',: A month later
directly to the eclipse of Bail
democrats. In Paris it led
Lafayette as the leaders aft
he city adm inis tr �tio � ; ye t,
. s
i,
n the movement came to a head when over 1,000 oumlT! of the
. stltu tlon alIst Faubourg Saint.Antoine, among whom Bastille demolition
eat of the con
National Assembly, the def . workers were in evidence,l placed Santerre as commander of
by the outb reak ofwar and was not completed u�tll
delayed . al the Enfants-Trouves battalion of the National Guard in much
ust 1792 In terms of the SOCi
fall of the monarchy in Aug the same position as Lafayette had found himself in in October
affair both repr ese�ted
�
Ma rs
tory of Paris the Champ de
:;��: :�:����
1789: they eo�pelled him to lead them, escorted by his
Third Estate-the growmg
first bloody clash within the .
battahon, to Vmcennes, where they proceeded to demolish
already been noted-" aDdl the �
sians within which have l the tfonjan. Before long, however, Lafayette arrived with 1 200
tion of several months of soci
al upheaval and
k
c
. troops, publicly reprimanded Santerre, and marched bac to
Pari� with sixty-four prisoners and to the accompaniment of
ts or anize d in
ch the democra �
agitation, at the end of whi l...den
bs appear as the u �dlsputed
Jacobin and CordtHers Clu eme nt the Jeers of the people of Saint-Antoine.• The prisoners were
cour se of thiS mov
t�l
In the
of the Parisian sam-culottes.
i eD ,., ·ge lodged in the Conciergerie, whence they were released three
,;�:�:: �
e-ea rner s f the cap
tradesmen, artisans, and wag � .
In weeks later after considerable agitation by the democrats
which the malO protagomsts
more clearly as elements amo�g whom a prominent part was played by Buirette�
struggle for power cann ot afford to ignore ..nd whose
Vemeres, Santerre's defence·counsel and a leading figure in
at least, must affect to . .
the revolutionary democrats, the Cordeliers Club.s
then , the Cha mp de Mar s demonstr�uon
In this sense, This is but one example ofthe continuous efforts made by the
ion ofa process and, as tn the
, £"" 'I!;I dll r.gU'" du dllihbtJIilms du mpi mllllkipol. A"ill collttrntllll u prix " lo.
should be seen as the culminat
, treated in the context of the
of the October insurrection
nt that pr�cede it. � ""'.k �W/>lljn (17 August 1791). Brk Mus., r. �9· (18).
social and political moveme
d, wtth mmor en,pljOl". u � Des B,b. Nat., nouv. �. f�., no. 26�6 fob. 1�g-62 (account of day'l evenu by
B�b. Nat., fonds fran�, no. I 16g7, P .130 (Bailly-Lafayette correspondence).
The period of social calm laste � .
t I A.D.C.) . According to one eyewimas the� W� also
I
. ha �
�Ie f�om the Faubourg! $,aint.Man::e! and Saint-Martin among them (H.IlTU
Q90 the pnce of mottes, La fay<:te
the spring of 1 7 9 1 . InJune
to I I sow; soon after, control SG I: )MInt/, dwllllioMai,. dll �f't";" 179'. MS. aocount by Alexis Houuau•
""!'
e
s were removed and the pnc
pitc: plus ardente It . Nkur now •1ft the CUI"'"y oeM. o . ".-
"",taUC-l ofFontenay-tOua-Bois' to whom I am
�:
";'��� �'::�' lrId.,bled 'for itil use).
<!d"
u iJun�e �ormidable du
I In Jaure.' worm: 'En obligeant la faction bour
dans Ie pwple ui contr e p • For an 'official' account.ee P/�. tk I'I� flTTit.>ld VillMtllU, U lund; �fllJ'i"
pwb/il /JtIr l'ordu dt II! mlmiriptJill U Vi",mIIU, f IMrl 1791. Arch. Nat., F>.62,
d'app I
bourgeois, les divisiom de la bour
un point �
geoiSIe �randusalent �e rMe des
en�alent i apparaltr<: comme
:�?', . '
ccux-ci, bien faiblement encore, comm 2,0 1 ,; for an apologia by Santern: lee Rapporl dt }.I. SIIIIJtrT• • • • " Ialil!mlnll d
I'Gff,G,,, III V.1I&tIIIUJ (ibid., fol. 202),
,
op . cit. i. 367). I Ulume that the
• Arch. Nat., F> 4622, fob. I�I� (Verritra papen).
possibles de la R�volution' (Jaur k,
uJolks or I7UIUI ",up/., rathcr than
l�taira' il hen: intended to me.n slUls-c
eamerl'.
THE 'MASSACRE' OF THE CHAMP DE MARS BI
I
for the first time since early 1788, to its nonnal level oCS sow.
It was not to rise appreciably again until August 1791-a
VI month after the Champ de Man affray. In this case at least
THE
the price or supply of bread was to play no great �art as �
T H E 'M A S S A C R E' O F stimulant to revolutionary activity.
CHAMP DE MARS The first serious breach of the peace occurred on 28 February,
when an attempt was made to demolish a part ofthe Chlteau de
e�:�:.���:t�
tru 1e flow pnson for the capital. With memories ofits former use as a
prison for those detained by lettres de caclut, 'patriots' began to
T in July 179 1 marked an
for power between co�titu
and Jacobins. betw een hbe ral
tional mo�archists�
.
bourgeotIU a?d r .
ly
protest and, on 2S January, there was talk in theJacobin Club
of a projected assault by 'one of the faubourgs',: A month later
directly to the eclipse of Bail
democrats. In Paris it led
Lafayette as the leaders aft
he city adm inis tr �tio � ; ye t,
. s
i,
n the movement came to a head when over 1,000 oumlT! of the
. stltu tlon alIst Faubourg Saint.Antoine, among whom Bastille demolition
eat of the con
National Assembly, the def . workers were in evidence,l placed Santerre as commander of
by the outb reak ofwar and was not completed u�tll
delayed . al the Enfants-Trouves battalion of the National Guard in much
ust 1792 In terms of the SOCi
fall of the monarchy in Aug the same position as Lafayette had found himself in in October
affair both repr ese�ted
�
Ma rs
tory of Paris the Champ de
:;��: :�:����
1789: they eo�pelled him to lead them, escorted by his
Third Estate-the growmg
first bloody clash within the .
battahon, to Vmcennes, where they proceeded to demolish
already been noted-" aDdl the �
sians within which have l the tfonjan. Before long, however, Lafayette arrived with 1 200
tion of several months of soci
al upheaval and
k
c
. troops, publicly reprimanded Santerre, and marched bac to
Pari� with sixty-four prisoners and to the accompaniment of
ts or anize d in
ch the democra �
agitation, at the end of whi l...den
bs appear as the u �dlsputed
Jacobin and CordtHers Clu eme nt the Jeers of the people of Saint-Antoine.• The prisoners were
cour se of thiS mov
t�l
In the
of the Parisian sam-culottes.
i eD ,., ·ge lodged in the Conciergerie, whence they were released three
,;�:�:: �
e-ea rner s f the cap
tradesmen, artisans, and wag � .
In weeks later after considerable agitation by the democrats
which the malO protagomsts
more clearly as elements amo�g whom a prominent part was played by Buirette�
struggle for power cann ot afford to ignore ..nd whose
Vemeres, Santerre's defence·counsel and a leading figure in
at least, must affect to . .
the revolutionary democrats, the Cordeliers Club.s
then , the Cha mp de Mar s demonstr�uon
In this sense, This is but one example ofthe continuous efforts made by the
ion ofa process and, as tn the
, £"" 'I!;I dll r.gU'" du dllihbtJIilms du mpi mllllkipol. A"ill collttrntllll u prix " lo.
should be seen as the culminat
, treated in the context of the
of the October insurrection
nt that pr�cede it. � ""'.k �W/>lljn (17 August 1791). Brk Mus., r. �9· (18).
social and political moveme
d, wtth mmor en,pljOl". u � Des B,b. Nat., nouv. �. f�., no. 26�6 fob. 1�g-62 (account of day'l evenu by
B�b. Nat., fonds fran�, no. I 16g7, P .130 (Bailly-Lafayette correspondence).
The period of social calm laste � .
t I A.D.C.) . According to one eyewimas the� W� also
I
. ha �
�Ie f�om the Faubourg! $,aint.Man::e! and Saint-Martin among them (H.IlTU
Q90 the pnce of mottes, La fay<:te
the spring of 1 7 9 1 . InJune
to I I sow; soon after, control SG I: )MInt/, dwllllioMai,. dll �f't";" 179'. MS. aocount by Alexis Houuau•
""!'
e
s were removed and the pnc
pitc: plus ardente It . Nkur now •1ft the CUI"'"y oeM. o . ".-
"",taUC-l ofFontenay-tOua-Bois' to whom I am
�:
";'��� �'::�' lrId.,bled 'for itil use).
<!d"
u iJun�e �ormidable du
I In Jaure.' worm: 'En obligeant la faction bour
dans Ie pwple ui contr e p • For an 'official' account.ee P/�. tk I'I� flTTit.>ld VillMtllU, U lund; �fllJ'i"
pwb/il /JtIr l'ordu dt II! mlmiriptJill U Vi",mIIU, f IMrl 1791. Arch. Nat., F>.62,
d'app I
bourgeois, les divisiom de la bour
un point �
geoiSIe �randusalent �e rMe des
en�alent i apparaltr<: comme
:�?', . '
ccux-ci, bien faiblement encore, comm 2,0 1 ,; for an apologia by Santern: lee Rapporl dt }.I. SIIIIJtrT• • • • " Ialil!mlnll d
I'Gff,G,,, III V.1I&tIIIUJ (ibid., fol. 202),
,
op . cit. i. 367). I Ulume that the
• Arch. Nat., F> 4622, fob. I�I� (Verritra papen).
possibles de la R�volution' (Jaur k,
uJolks or I7UIUI ",up/., rathcr than
l�taira' il hen: intended to me.n slUls-c
eamerl'.
82 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE 'MASSACRE' OF THE CHA
MP DE MARS 83
democrats in the course of the spring and summer of 1791 work�rs had been continuously engaged since
in mid-June, the. Constitu�nt Assembly decreed the g
July 178g' and
indoctrinate and to win the allegiance of the small tn,d'''n''''.
craftsmen, and employed and unemployed workers of � dosu�e of the ale/,m de chant/, while making
nera � i
certain indefinite
capital. This agitation was to culminate in the great m'ot,;nl! o'n promises to open other .workshops to abso
17 July, when people gathered from all parts of the city for
rb the unemployed,l
The workers, faced With the prospect oflo
�
sing their bare sub
purely political purpose of signing a petition drawn up by sistence o 20 SOIlS a day, reacted vigorously ; the
Bastille workers,
Cordeliers Club.! though dupersed by troops, carried on a
lively agitation for
Among the many persons arrested in Paris during this some weeks to come and sought Support amon
period, one is struck by the large number ofunemployed, ",,«01
g the journey_
men of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.1 The
closure of the other
of them from the public workshops maintained by the workshops aroused a far greater
commotion in which th
cipality, arrested and imprisoned for their declared hostility
the city administration and the National Guard.
.
democrats in theJacobin and Cordeliers
part. Three separate petitions were prese
Clubs �layed a certai �
nted to the Assembl
both the development ofa certain political consciousness urging them to reeonsider thei decision.
!
� The first, presented o !
:��:�
2B �ne and draft�d WIth .
the wage-earners and the growth of unemployment in a the aid ofthe Point Central des Arts
�
1;:
et
of trades : one finds, among such persons, former �ue:s, a Cordeliers Club affiliate,
was extremely moderate :
sculptors, tailors, barbers, domestic servants, jewell�"' It Ju�ufied th� event�al closure of the atdim
in the interest of
public sec
and basket-makers.1 Meanwhile the numbers of those �?ty, while begging for a postponement,J The
to the public workshops were continually increasing: i� second peuUon was presented by
Camille Desmouliru in the
Bailly put their number at 24,000 ; by June it had risen name of the Bastille workers on 3 July
h,e and had, he claimed
3 1 ,000.3 Apart from the expense of their maintenance �n app�ved by Robespierre : it demanded subsistence as
CItizen' s ng t and suggested that
� �
were seen as a constant threat to the newly established the workshops be maintained
they were widely believed to be the ready tools of coun'Ie'· from a portlon of the profits accr
uing from the sale of Church
revolutionary intrigue (even extreme democrats like lands.4 � third petjti�n, fOllOwing closely after
the second, was
shared this view);4 they were frequently involved in ,ki"ni"h. threaterung, almost VIolent, in tone
: the workers (it declared)
with customs officials at the barritres, which the authorities must have bread by one mea
ns or another ' 'c'est Ie besoin
c'est le plus pressant besoin, et rien
hoped to keep in being;S and such episodes as the march of
parel.l langage' ,5
autre qui' leur fait tenir u �
Bastille workers to Vincennes did little to allay public di','q"iet
In brief the administration did not need much persuasion The Assembly took no notice;
but, meanwhile, the unem
decide on their dispersal : on 8 May Bailly announced �
ployed ha res.orted to more
direct forms of pressure. In a
demonstrauon In the Place Vend
decision to close down the Bastille workshop, where ome, on 24 June, there had
, For the bat detailed acoount of thi, process 'C,
been calls for a Republic.6 Afte
COrt/tUtTl /HM
r,��;,���t�£:�:��r{if�'�� ;;.i�,::,'� follow109
A. M.
" hi, r two more demonstrations in the
allt la ,rise de
Ie<:
' we�k, there was laIk of a projecte
d tum-out of 22,000
unem loyed I� the rue Sain
'en, �!i
• Or�38 penons t i i
� t-Honore on 3July.7 Two days later
a hOstile gOSSip-sheet,
Lt Bahillard, reported a march of
1791, and whose occ upal ions are gi\ �
unemployed rrom other tradal, 10 of them 400
them then: i
, Dioliothbjue Hinorique de la Ville de
de Police, series Aa (various cartons) I . Nat., ,on....
.� ,' n�ll,
ra . no. I ,6g7, pp. �54-g.
and several Pan. MS. 1044/ ' Areh. Nat C "
, A
1'IO· 6g5 '
" ,
) Bib. Nat., nouv. acq. rrant;., no.
' B'b
rc"h. Nat., C 7 1 , no.
' op. Cit., �nd lCn.es, v. 261; Arch. Nat. F' 46�2 plaq
700.
artisans
be noted, that not even the Revolutionary Government of the
bourgeo is, les crient contrc
ces gens soudoyes par Ies seditieux. . . . On dit hautem
marchands, les fabrican ts, les 'Year I�', at th� heigh� of Jacobin democracy, thought fit to
repeal; 10 fact, It remamed law for nearly a hundred years to
ent qu'il
faut 10 balayer a coups de canon. � come. I Thi�dly. and of greater moment to our present argu.
ment, the Journeymen carpenters received considerable aid
explain the
Such an attitude docs, of course, a great deal to
and encouragement from the revolutionary democrats. Thus
ferocity with which the bourgeois
and of themarchands
National
we find the carpenters not merely meeting in the same hall
as that used by the Cordeliers Club; but it turns out that the
demon strators less than
Guard dispersed the Champ de Mars
a fortnight later. ' U�ion !ratemell� des Ou�ers en l'ATt de la Chacpente',
the
A paraliel movement to that of the unemployed, in which
which directed their camprugn, was an affiliate of the Comite
��
Cordeli ers Club were also involve d, was that of
democrats and
Central set by the club in May 1791.
Moreover, the secretary
of the Comne Central was Fran�ois Robert who with his wife
men of various trades in suppor t of higher wages;
the journey
the July
these, as we saw, had not risen appreciably since
revolution. The movement began in April with a
concer ted Lo.uis:. �ited . th� Mucure national et ltranger,
�hjcb. though
, us RJ<KIltditJftS d� Par;', no. xcvi, 7-14 May 1791; La.;roi., op. cit., 2nd series.
• Ibid., no. xxiv, 6July 1791. p. 3.
i i. 700 ff; G. M. Jalft, op. cit., Part II. • Jafft, op. cit., p. 124. l L'Ami tfu /Jf�ple, no. 487, 12 June 179/, pp. 1-5.
N THE 'MASSACRE' OF THE CHAMP DE MARS 8�
84 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTIO
artisans
be noted, that not even the Revolutionary Government of the
bourgeo is, les crient contrc
ces gens soudoyes par Ies seditieux. . . . On dit hautem
marchands, les fabrican ts, les 'Year I�', at th� heigh� of Jacobin democracy, thought fit to
repeal; 10 fact, It remamed law for nearly a hundred years to
ent qu'il
faut 10 balayer a coups de canon. � come. I Thi�dly. and of greater moment to our present argu.
ment, the Journeymen carpenters received considerable aid
explain the
Such an attitude docs, of course, a great deal to
and encouragement from the revolutionary democrats. Thus
ferocity with which the bourgeois
and of themarchands
National
we find the carpenters not merely meeting in the same hall
as that used by the Cordeliers Club; but it turns out that the
demon strators less than
Guard dispersed the Champ de Mars
a fortnight later. ' U�ion !ratemell� des Ou�ers en l'ATt de la Chacpente',
the
A paraliel movement to that of the unemployed, in which
which directed their camprugn, was an affiliate of the Comite
��
Cordeli ers Club were also involve d, was that of
democrats and
Central set by the club in May 1791.
Moreover, the secretary
of the Comne Central was Fran�ois Robert who with his wife
men of various trades in suppor t of higher wages;
the journey
the July
these, as we saw, had not risen appreciably since
revolution. The movement began in April with a
concer ted Lo.uis:. �ited . th� Mucure national et ltranger,
�hjcb. though
, us RJ<KIltditJftS d� Par;', no. xcvi, 7-14 May 1791; La.;roi., op. cit., 2nd series.
• Ibid., no. xxiv, 6July 1791. p. 3.
i i. 700 ff; G. M. Jalft, op. cit., Part II. • Jafft, op. cit., p. 124. l L'Ami tfu /Jf�ple, no. 487, 12 June 179/, pp. 1-5.
.,
THE 'MASSACRE' OF THE CHAMP DE MARS
WD IN ACTION
Q. Why had she been there?
THE REVOLUTIONARY CRO
the Club des Indigents and of 'pauv Fraternal Societies are pelltlon.
res porteurs d'eau', Q. Had she thrown stones or seen any stones thrown?
described as being composed Far great e, were A. No.h
'artisans' and 'simples ouvriers'.4 c agitationer,ofofthecours demo crats Q. W o had invited her to sign the petition?
the numbers touched by the publie political question-inclu A. No o�:, but s�e h�d heard various people say that there was
and their press on every imaginablas the denial of the vote d a pet uon to sign m Champ de Man.
ing such burning topical issues sion of manual workers from to �. �as �It true that herthe
name had appeared in papers?
'passive' citizens, the virtu al exclu • her name had appeared in u.s Ri/J()the /ulions tk p .
the National Guard, or the restrictions imposed on the right of b'rnuse she had expressed grief at the death of Loustalo t.
eli,
am,
dsma
abusing the wife of a National Guar Mars the same
in the 'massacre' of the Cham police commissionaft
p de ernoon.
of the ag't ' n f Lh� democrats and radical journalists had a on the
c1;arly
•
the Club des Indigents and of 'pauv Fraternal Societies are pelltlon.
res porteurs d'eau', Q. Had she thrown stones or seen any stones thrown?
described as being composed Far great e, were A. No.h
'artisans' and 'simples ouvriers'.4 c agitationer,ofofthecours demo crats Q. W o had invited her to sign the petition?
the numbers touched by the publie political question-inclu A. No o�:, but s�e h�d heard various people say that there was
and their press on every imaginablas the denial of the vote d a pet uon to sign m Champ de Man.
ing such burning topical issues sion of manual workers from to �. �as �It true that herthe
name had appeared in papers?
'passive' citizens, the virtu al exclu • her name had appeared in u.s Ri/J()the /ulions tk p .
the National Guard, or the restrictions imposed on the right of b'rnuse she had expressed grief at the death of Loustalo t.
eli,
am,
dsma
abusing the wife of a National Guar Mars the same
in the 'massacre' of the Cham police commissionaft
p de ernoon.
of the ag't ' n f Lh� democrats and radical journalists had a on the
c1;arly
•
h could, � yet, hope to ?nd Unfortunately for the petitioners, before their arrival, a
certamly there IS little
guarded in expressing views whic
little support among the menu
.
ptuple: curious incident took place that morning in the Champ de
ion among th� fiftee� or tw�nty Mars that, in the tense political atmosphere prevailing, pro
trace of such a body of opin .
for expressmg sedillous viewS vided the authorities with a pretext for intervention. Two
persons arrested in the Sections
king's flight and ignominious individuals who had hidden under the 'autd de la patrie'
during the week following the
possibly with the intention ofgetting a better view of the ladies'
return from Varennes.1
not slow to react to the new ankles-were pulled out by suspicious bystanders and uncere
But the Club was certainly
developments: on 2 1 June it call
c:d on the Assembly to delay a moniously hanged from a nearby window. During the afternoon
I the Departments had been a peaceful demonstration of 50,000 citizens gathered according
decision on the king's future untJ.
nteen similar petitions by the to plan;' of these, over 6,000 had signed the petition before the
eonsulted ; this, the first of seve
�
Three ays l�ter there fo lowed � troops arrived.1 Meanwhile Bailly had been alerted of what
e1ub, was posted all over Paris.1
30,000 WhiCh, accordmg to was going on by his municipal officers and put into operation a
the so-called 'Petition of the
d by the Faubourg Saint.An plan that appears to have been premeditated.l Martial law
Madame Roland, was supporte
the agitati0r;t co�tinued ! but, was declared, the red flag of executive violence was unfurled
toine in full strength.) DuringJuly
on the 15th, the Constitu ent � sembly, WIth Its Feutllant and 10,000 Guardsmen, under the command of Lafayette,
r oflet tJ.ng well alone and of renewed advanced on the demonstrators.• Accounts of what followed
majority, declared in favou .
head of the executIve power. vary; but it appears that stones were thrown at the Guards
confidence in Louis XVI as the
the ranks of the democrats. (including Lafayette himself), and that perhaps fifty persons
The decision led to a breach in
for in a petition drafte by lh � � were killed and a dozen wounded.! In the words of a tailor,
A protest demonstration, called
oved by theJacobln Cl�b . arrested two days later in the Henri IV Section for protesting at
Cordeliers Club on I6July, was appr
re's initiative, the J�coblns the Guard's conduct: 'on tirait sur les ouvriers comme de la
but the same evening, on Robespier
withdrew their support .• The Cord
elier �
s. now face with the volaille'.' Many arrests were made: only a dozen in the Champ
.
atIon or of gomg ahead de Mars itself; but maybe another 200 in the Sections, includ-
�
onstr
alternative of cancelling the dem .
the latte r cour se. The result was t e I�g a handful of Cordeliers Club members and other supposed
on their own, decided on
petition of 17 July, drafted by Fran ?
c; is Robert and �ouched 10 nngleaders, and a far greater number of ordinary petitioners
fically demandmg a Re who presumed to criticize the administration or the Guard for
more radical tenru : while not speCl
'de convoquer un nouveau their behaviour.' Many of these were released within a month .
rem lace�ent et a 1'0r l;
public it called on the Assembly
�
corps onstituant pour procede� au
p the rest were discharged under a general amnesty of
Champ de Mars to hold a peac eful demonstration. Lu Rlro/u/w..s de Paris. no. cvi. pp. 53 fr.
• Contemporary ....Limato oftholc: killed rang<: between an official figure of 13
, Mh. prtr. Pol., Aa 74,84, 134, 157, 172, 182, 206, 2'5'
• F. Bracsch, 'w P.!titions du Champ de Mars', &!J. hut. exliii !
167,
(1923), '7-18. and Ol1e, based on the wild"'t rumour, of, � (Arch Nal W
I\r�h. PrHo Pol., Aa 2 IS. roL 460). In Rlvoiu/1lmS
. ., 294' '"v. -"',.,
(Ioc. cit.). According to the official accounl, I I or 12 penoru (indud;ng a
de Paris (Robert's account) giv",
1 Mathia, op. cit., p. 52.
• Ibid., pp. ' 18-20. r.atlOnal Guardsman) were taken to the nearby Gros Caillou Military Hospital
�o
• Ln R/lJ(!lutilms d, Paris, no. cvi, .6-23 July '79', pp. 60-6• r trcatment for wounds {P/v. des 17 '/ 18juilld, p. 12 (printed lext). Arch. Nat.,
.
member of the Soei�t� da Hailes ct
• A. E. Primery, a raney.ware worker and � 15;.,no · .737) ·
rch. PrH. PoL, Aa, Ab «(or dctails see page 91 ' note ,, below) ,' Mathiez,
Faubourg Saint-Antoine thc ,ame day for • Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa 215. rot. 463 .
collecling ,ignatulU (Arch. Pr.!r. Pol., Aa 220, . ., p. , '- J
de Ja Libert.!, was arrested in the rue du
lip. CIt >. , .
L< 0,""", oe fa RiIJ(!/UtlO�, no. 402, 18 September ' 791.
fol. 142).
• Ibid., Ln RIIJ(!Iwilms de Paris, no. cvi, p. 157.
13�·
Y CROWD IN ACT ION THE 'MASSACRE' OF THE CHAMP DE MARS 89
88 THE REVOLUTIONAR
h could, � yet, hope to ?nd Unfortunately for the petitioners, before their arrival, a
certamly there IS little
guarded in expressing views whic
little support among the menu
.
ptuple: curious incident took place that morning in the Champ de
ion among th� fiftee� or tw�nty Mars that, in the tense political atmosphere prevailing, pro
trace of such a body of opin .
for expressmg sedillous viewS vided the authorities with a pretext for intervention. Two
persons arrested in the Sections
king's flight and ignominious individuals who had hidden under the 'autd de la patrie'
during the week following the
possibly with the intention ofgetting a better view of the ladies'
return from Varennes.1
not slow to react to the new ankles-were pulled out by suspicious bystanders and uncere
But the Club was certainly
developments: on 2 1 June it call
c:d on the Assembly to delay a moniously hanged from a nearby window. During the afternoon
I the Departments had been a peaceful demonstration of 50,000 citizens gathered according
decision on the king's future untJ.
nteen similar petitions by the to plan;' of these, over 6,000 had signed the petition before the
eonsulted ; this, the first of seve
�
Three ays l�ter there fo lowed � troops arrived.1 Meanwhile Bailly had been alerted of what
e1ub, was posted all over Paris.1
30,000 WhiCh, accordmg to was going on by his municipal officers and put into operation a
the so-called 'Petition of the
d by the Faubourg Saint.An plan that appears to have been premeditated.l Martial law
Madame Roland, was supporte
the agitati0r;t co�tinued ! but, was declared, the red flag of executive violence was unfurled
toine in full strength.) DuringJuly
on the 15th, the Constitu ent � sembly, WIth Its Feutllant and 10,000 Guardsmen, under the command of Lafayette,
r oflet tJ.ng well alone and of renewed advanced on the demonstrators.• Accounts of what followed
majority, declared in favou .
head of the executIve power. vary; but it appears that stones were thrown at the Guards
confidence in Louis XVI as the
the ranks of the democrats. (including Lafayette himself), and that perhaps fifty persons
The decision led to a breach in
for in a petition drafte by lh � � were killed and a dozen wounded.! In the words of a tailor,
A protest demonstration, called
oved by theJacobln Cl�b . arrested two days later in the Henri IV Section for protesting at
Cordeliers Club on I6July, was appr
re's initiative, the J�coblns the Guard's conduct: 'on tirait sur les ouvriers comme de la
but the same evening, on Robespier
withdrew their support .• The Cord
elier �
s. now face with the volaille'.' Many arrests were made: only a dozen in the Champ
.
atIon or of gomg ahead de Mars itself; but maybe another 200 in the Sections, includ-
�
onstr
alternative of cancelling the dem .
the latte r cour se. The result was t e I�g a handful of Cordeliers Club members and other supposed
on their own, decided on
petition of 17 July, drafted by Fran ?
c; is Robert and �ouched 10 nngleaders, and a far greater number of ordinary petitioners
fically demandmg a Re who presumed to criticize the administration or the Guard for
more radical tenru : while not speCl
'de convoquer un nouveau their behaviour.' Many of these were released within a month .
rem lace�ent et a 1'0r l;
public it called on the Assembly
�
corps onstituant pour procede� au
p the rest were discharged under a general amnesty of
Champ de Mars to hold a peac eful demonstration. Lu Rlro/u/w..s de Paris. no. cvi. pp. 53 fr.
• Contemporary ....Limato oftholc: killed rang<: between an official figure of 13
, Mh. prtr. Pol., Aa 74,84, 134, 157, 172, 182, 206, 2'5'
• F. Bracsch, 'w P.!titions du Champ de Mars', &!J. hut. exliii !
167,
(1923), '7-18. and Ol1e, based on the wild"'t rumour, of, � (Arch Nal W
I\r�h. PrHo Pol., Aa 2 IS. roL 460). In Rlvoiu/1lmS
. ., 294' '"v. -"',.,
(Ioc. cit.). According to the official accounl, I I or 12 penoru (indud;ng a
de Paris (Robert's account) giv",
1 Mathia, op. cit., p. 52.
• Ibid., pp. ' 18-20. r.atlOnal Guardsman) were taken to the nearby Gros Caillou Military Hospital
�o
• Ln R/lJ(!lutilms d, Paris, no. cvi, .6-23 July '79', pp. 60-6• r trcatment for wounds {P/v. des 17 '/ 18juilld, p. 12 (printed lext). Arch. Nat.,
.
member of the Soei�t� da Hailes ct
• A. E. Primery, a raney.ware worker and � 15;.,no · .737) ·
rch. PrH. PoL, Aa, Ab «(or dctails see page 91 ' note ,, below) ,' Mathiez,
Faubourg Saint-Antoine thc ,ame day for • Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa 215. rot. 463 .
collecling ,ignatulU (Arch. Pr.!r. Pol., Aa 220, . ., p. , '- J
de Ja Libert.!, was arrested in the rue du
lip. CIt >. , .
L< 0,""", oe fa RiIJ(!/UtlO�, no. 402, 18 September ' 791.
fol. 142).
• Ibid., Ln RIIJ(!Iwilms de Paris, no. cvi, p. 157.
13�·
THE 'MASSACRE' OF THE CHAMP DE MARS 91
go
WD IN ACT ION
THE REVOLUTIONARY CRO
by name.1 Of thuse arrested in the Sections after the demon_
to qualify these peaceful peti .
Perhaps we should hesitate strauon, the only five who admitted having been in the Champ
d'. Yet, in a wider sense, the
tioners as a 'revolutionary crow de Mars that afternoon were a cook, a tailo' " a J'ourneyman
is certa inly of interest to our present
term is apposite; and it cab'met-maker, a cafe-waiter, and an unemployed boot-black.'
composed and from which
study to inquire how they were .
O� these the boot-black descnbed the resistance offered to the
e. The direct evidence on this .
parts of the capital they cam m
,
�tary by tow les ouvriers perruquiers et autres'; and the
than in the case of the October
point, though more plentiful taIlor, as we alrea�y �w, claimed 'qu'on tirait sur les ouvriers
ng the 6,000 signatures col
insurrection, is rather slight. Amo comme de la vola llle . Further evidence of the attendance of
military, the organizers claimed wa�e-earners at the Champ de Man is suggested by u
lected before the arrival of the
municipal BaMI
that more than 2,000
were those of gardn naJionaux,
Roux, lard.r report that po!1-workers had visited journeymen in their
othe r hand , Buch ez and
officers, and e1ectors.1 On the
befo re its destructio n by fire in �or�hops an� l
lodgmgs !o bring them along to the demonstra
who saw the completed petit ion
qui bon, and B� rette-Vemeres, when accwed of inciting OUmlerS
e des signa tures est de gens
r871 , maintained that 'la mass
(0 assemble In the champ de Mars, replied 'qu'it est laux ' . . .
en
savaient a peine lire'. and poin
ted, in support of their cont
ion shee ts.a parce que ceux auxquels iI aurait preche (?) etaient prets a
aring on the petit
tion, to the many crosses appe y entrer'.4
mar y
Again, Lt
with custo
wrote of the demonstrators
Babillard . We have,. besid�, the far more considerable, though largely
. . . pas un, je crois , ne s�ait
venom : 'Parmi tous ces hommes clrcumstantlal, eVldence of the police commissionen' re rts
lire.'l
in the highly partisan
and the prison register of the Hotel de la Force, relating k all
Even if we aUow for exaggeration to �me penons arrested for political offences in the Paris
�50
account presented by u
and the uncertainty of the
Babillard Sectlons 10 the months preceding and following the ChamP d
literacy test as a guide to socia
accept Buchez's and Roux's infer
l analy s, we should perhaps
si
ence that the demonstrators
Mars demonstration.s Admittedly these cannot furnish an
cle�� proofofattendance or ofwillingness to sign the Cordeliers'
;
er sections ofthe Parisian
were composed in the main ofthe poor peuuon; but they provide a rich source for the study of the
rmed by the few surviving
population. Such a picture is confi popular move�ent of the period and of the classes ofpeople and
documents in the Paris archives whic
h directly relate to par
parts of the �apl�al that were drawn into the political movement
instance the report
ticipants in the demonstration. For
pared by municipal officer Filleul
on those killed in the, �� :�; � I
that had as ts climax the petition and demonstration of 1 7 July
Caillou � i
Onl� a handful of these persons were arrested for remarh
in the Gros
de Mars and examined by him �ha� �ght, even remotely, be construed as counter-revolution_
of nine identifi ed corpses,
Hospital nearby reveals that, ry? �� nearly every case they were charged with abusing or
eyme n, one of a wom an with 'a skirt
were of workshop journ �nt1C1zmg the administration, the National Guard or Lafoay'tte
of a
ID person 10
were
h reveal the m
s
. terms whic
while other
' fluence exerted
many colours and of many pieces',
by the
of two
saddler, a wine-merchant's son, and
•
>�:�::
(,
!l14'
one of the twelve,
, • ••
of only
Force gives the occupation Arch. Pr6. Pol' A. 56 7!1, 74, 76 A. 85, 134, '37, l.a. 1.53, 155. 157. 166.
: he was an abbi, I ,' �'
.•
arrested in the Cham p de Mars itself , !lOS. !lIS, !II , !llg, !120, 2!14, !l39'' Ab ..., pp . �• �.
" CIUCt appalt in Arch Nat., ,.
...., dlIl.ona
A few ....
167, 17!1, 173. 18!1 I" •
Caillou � i
Onl� a handful of these persons were arrested for remarh
in the Gros
de Mars and examined by him �ha� �ght, even remotely, be construed as counter-revolution_
of nine identifi ed corpses,
Hospital nearby reveals that, ry? �� nearly every case they were charged with abusing or
eyme n, one of a wom an with 'a skirt
were of workshop journ �nt1C1zmg the administration, the National Guard or Lafoay'tte
of a
ID person 10
were
h reveal the m
s
. terms whic
while other
' fluence exerted
many colours and of many pieces',
by the
of two
saddler, a wine-merchant's son, and
•
>�:�::
(,
!l14'
one of the twelve,
, • ••
of only
Force gives the occupation Arch. Pr6. Pol' A. 56 7!1, 74, 76 A. 85, 134, '37, l.a. 1.53, 155. 157. 166.
: he was an abbi, I ,' �'
.•
arrested in the Cham p de Mars itself , !lOS. !lIS, !II , !llg, !120, 2!14, !l39'' Ab ..., pp . �• �.
" CIUCt appalt in Arch Nat., ,.
...., dlIl.ona
A few ....
167, 17!1, 173. 18!1 I" •
����;���
onse. Not surprisingly the
bourg Saint-Antoine. Lafayette had filled the Pla.ce d� la Bastll e most conccntrated body of
support appears to have com
with troops, and this may well be why FourDier l'! a number of Sections on e from
the Left Bank and not far dist
�u!t ,
found so few people assembled there early that the Cordeliers Club itse ant from
. lf: in this quarter three Sec
but Primery, the commissioner appointed by the S e. (Quatre Nations, Thermes tions alone
de Julien, and Sainte.Gene
Halles, not only found a poor attendance at the rallymg-pelOt, account for thirty-eight vieve)
arrests. Another fifty arreste
but met with little response in the faubourg
when he tned to wer� from the five cen d persons
tral and north-central Sec
arouse interest.l The distance from the Champ de Arcls, Ponceau, GravilJ tions of the
. iers, Louvre, and Oratoire.
three and a half miles, as the crow flies, from the Porte Samt- to have been the two The se appear
main areas of support.
I Arch. Pr<!f. Pol., � 2:06, fols. 363-9; 2::10, fol. 14:1; Ar<:h. Nat., DXXIX"
central districts betwee Th e crowded
n the Hotel de Ville and the
no. 37:1, fols. 7-10.
as lJsual, made Louvre had
no. cvi; Arch. PrH. Pol., A2. 2;20, fol. 142:· h
a substantial contribution to
W RiIlOl�liON tit PllrU, I Crinus de L4 FaftlU tot Franc
a movement wit
t (printed telll, 1791). Arch. Nat.
, F' 6504.
o
9:1 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE 'MASSACRE'
����;���
onse. Not surprisingly the
bourg Saint-Antoine. Lafayette had filled the Pla.ce d� la Bastll e most conccntrated body of
support appears to have com
with troops, and this may well be why FourDier l'! a number of Sections on e from
the Left Bank and not far dist
�u!t ,
found so few people assembled there early that the Cordeliers Club itse ant from
. lf: in this quarter three Sec
but Primery, the commissioner appointed by the S e. (Quatre Nations, Thermes tions alone
de Julien, and Sainte.Gene
Halles, not only found a poor attendance at the rallymg-pelOt, account for thirty-eight vieve)
arrests. Another fifty arreste
but met with little response in the faubourg
when he tned to wer� from the five cen d persons
tral and north-central Sec
arouse interest.l The distance from the Champ de Arcls, Ponceau, GravilJ tions of the
. iers, Louvre, and Oratoire.
three and a half miles, as the crow flies, from the Porte Samt- to have been the two The se appear
main areas of support.
I Arch. Pr<!f. Pol., � 2:06, fols. 363-9; 2::10, fol. 14:1; Ar<:h. Nat., DXXIX"
central districts betwee Th e crowded
n the Hotel de Ville and the
no. 37:1, fols. 7-10.
as lJsual, made Louvre had
no. cvi; Arch. PrH. Pol., A2. 2;20, fol. 142:· h
a substantial contribution to
W RiIlOl�liON tit PllrU, I Crinus de L4 FaftlU tot Franc
a movement wit
t (printed telll, 1791). Arch. Nat.
, F' 6504.
o
D IN ACTION
9-t.
TIONARY CROW
TH E REVOLU
appeal; but what is of greate r interest
more than a purely local po cal scene of the Fa ub ou rg Saint VII
is the emergence on the sliti bourg
Marcel. Only a few monthparti before, the citizen s of tha tJau
cul ar praise by the city adm ini THE FALL O F THE MONARCHY
had bee n sin gle d out for r since the
stration for their peacefuon
ou tbr eak of the Re vol uti
l and orderly behaviour eveer
,' Th is reputa tio
Faubourg Saint-Marcel wasper
n wa s nev to be re
to remain HE king's illght to Varennes' though 1'18 Imme . d'late effects
gained: from now on, the po
in the forefront in every sup
We have seen that the ply
litical commotion of the can
and price of bread
p
iod,
de
have
Ma rs
T were masked by the Assembl�� , a�t�mp18 to �o�et and for
give and to unite the nation n e Constitution of.1 79 I,
h far-r�aching consequences, In Augus�, �e ?curts ofVienna
ad
ting support for the Ch ocrats, It am
played little part in stimula cal activities of the dem and Berhn, incited by the French Imlgres, Issued the joint
petition or for the other politi e aft er the political movementgon had Declaration ofPiIlnitz with the purpose ofrallying the European
only reappeared as an issu
�
ed or ha d e Great Powers against the Reva1uUon · Though' not IOvo '
' lvlOg
been crushed and its leaho ders had been arr
to
est
a ba d ha rve st an d any l. �med'late armed intervention' the' De arauon both served
abroad, In mid-August, ur, wever, owing an to umte the forces of counter-revolution at orne and abroad by
the price of the 4-1b. loaf beg : m :�d �rovided the new Left within
the Assembly, �:��e� ;�� Bnssot and the deputies of the
the bakers' shortage of fio che d giving them
s, by September, to have rea
a
1 I'ordre e't a la onee more as in 1789, it �� the economic crisis that first
calme.'6
aCtiVity ' but? th" time, It. was not
• 'Le Corps municipal
sion d'l.ppll.udirdam
, U " IISIIIT
�ilit , . . cette occa
nt cas<! dc r<!gner UlrPS ""m�jf4l drew the men� peupie mto
l'.!tenduc du
rh<
uis II. R.!v olut ion
(Extrllit tIu ",utT. tUJ dilibh
dep
so much a shorta
tranquillit.! qui n'o .uitms
' IS
1 I'ordre e't a la onee more as in 1789, it �� the economic crisis that first
calme.'6
aCtiVity ' but? th" time, It. was not
• 'Le Corps municipal
sion d'l.ppll.udirdam
, U " IISIIIT
�ilit , . . cette occa
nt cas<! dc r<!gner UlrPS ""m�jf4l drew the men� peupie mto
l'.!tenduc du
rh<
uis II. R.!v olut ion
(Extrllit tIu ",utT. tUJ dilibh
dep
so much a shorta
tranquillit.! qui n'o .uitms
' IS
those in the Faubourg Saint_Marcel in : Zen. PrH, Pol., Aa 72, foJ. 54.
those in the Faubourg Saint_Marcel in : Zen. PrH, Pol., Aa 72, foJ. 54.
• For a detailed account, sec: Laura B. Pfeiffer, The UprIsIng ofJune 20, ,,
,, ,,," au l/Ojliin 17fp). Alexandre
N crainla de marcher .am arma'
; (Arch
claimed creeli;
�
Uniu.-sily $tuditJ �ftM Univ. QfN66raWJ (Lincoln), XII, 3 (July '912), pp. • RIb. Nat
.
• For a detailed account, sec: Laura B. Pfeiffer, The UprIsIng ofJune 20, ,,
,, ,,," au l/Ojliin 17fp). Alexandre
N crainla de marcher .am arma'
; (Arch
claimed creeli;
�
Uniu.-sily $tuditJ �ftM Univ. QfN66raWJ (Lincoln), XII, 3 (July '912), pp. • RIb. Nat
.
command
THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
force marched, witho�t encounten g enfants' that we noted earlier.1 From other accounts, howeve' r,
THE FAL L OF THE MO
"
. a' the combined
. NA RCH Y
h the rue de la Verrene, the rue ;e5 it would appear that the mai impetus to the demonstration
������ :�� �; :Je Saint Hooore t.O the la
o
n was given by the shopkeepers,nwor
h ' g ts halted and awalted thPe ��s�� !:�:� of the fauDourgs, with the full suppor kshop masters, and artisans
� :�b;Y� ���; �ere invited to prese t their petition, and working women. In the Faubourg Saint t-A of the journeymen and
ntoine, for example,
paraded befor� the deputies�nd;��rms�� shOps and workshops remained closed for nea rly a week;1 and,
The. more . notous scenes at pl ce that afternoon and in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel, it si evident from
evenlOg 10 the Tuileries have often been tald.l It appears that detailed relation of events that the main driving forcAle e
xandre's
was
the Porte R yalei a �::::����o�h��;Ia had unaccounl- vided by the active citizens organized in the National Guapro
ably been Ie�t u o � r h ��is breach that the from which most wage-earners and smaller property-ownerd,
�
�emonstrato�, ea�ed by the citizens ofSaint-Antoine. strea.med were at this time excluded. At the same time Alexandre rela rs
lOto the Toya ap�rtments.3 And so until eight or ten at mght, an incident that both sho the active interest taken in tes
a constant proceSSiOn fmen and w�men filed past the king who, cvent by the working womws en of the f(wDourg and provides the
having donned the �ap Of L"b l erty, was compelled to listen interesting link with the grocery an
to the endlessly repeated sl�gan�,of the ur . 'A bas Ie veto!', when an order was sent out for hisriot s of the previous February:
'Rappel des ministres patnotes. '. prob��IY intersPersed with the demonstration, the bearer wasown nea
arrest in connexion with
rly
more homely or chaIIen.g�ng eplthets . such as 'Gros Louis' saved from arrest by some of the same womlyn en
ched and he was
d 'T mblez tyrans., VOICI les Sans-Culottes .1'4 Petion arrived few months previously, he had defended the proaga per
inst whom, a
ties ofAuger
�: full :unicipa.1 regalia and m � s a II and Monnery.3
though no promises 0f redressha� �:::��;, �h;��;�����:to� It is simple enough, in rctrospect, to present the eve
dis �Jee c f !I
��� :� � :�t knowledge of the in urge
1 0 August, when the Tuileri
es Was captured by armed nts forc
of
for lack of police reports or I�. ts of �em�ers :r;! �a���:�
and the king suspended from offi
outcome of the humiliation inflicte ce, as the logical and inevitablee
Guard we have the. most In one sense it is true enough : the antd on the monarchy in June.
enera I d . .too rely,
np s The
for ou.r )mpresslon of the
Pans Department, n o ::;;
u �� to Junify fauDourgs persisted and, in the course
i-royalist agitation in the
� � oUf P�tion from office momentum and spread to the other Section of July, both gained local
Its suspension a fortnight
. the Nabona later, thought fit s: by the end of the
to describe those not organized lD ' I Guard as month, forty-seven of them had declared for
sides, the dignity ofthe king's office, despite his per abdication. Be
des hommes pour la plupart inconn� et sans d t
etat de rebellion ouverte . . . et pann� iesquds,a:i:i q�: .i'���n�� of courage, had bee
teers, too, who werentosevplaerely undermined; the fedsoneraall disp
vol
lay
un
ment l'a demontre, it existait des bngands et des . the Tuileries, had alreadyy bee a prominent part in the attack on
meies de femmes et d'enfants.s perhaps even more important, na inv
assasms
s . .
command
THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
force marched, witho�t encounten g enfants' that we noted earlier.1 From other accounts, howeve' r,
THE FAL L OF THE MO
"
. a' the combined
. NA RCH Y
h the rue de la Verrene, the rue ;e5 it would appear that the mai impetus to the demonstration
������ :�� �; :Je Saint Hooore t.O the la
o
n was given by the shopkeepers,nwor
h ' g ts halted and awalted thPe ��s�� !:�:� of the fauDourgs, with the full suppor kshop masters, and artisans
� :�b;Y� ���; �ere invited to prese t their petition, and working women. In the Faubourg Saint t-A of the journeymen and
ntoine, for example,
paraded befor� the deputies�nd;��rms�� shOps and workshops remained closed for nea rly a week;1 and,
The. more . notous scenes at pl ce that afternoon and in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel, it si evident from
evenlOg 10 the Tuileries have often been tald.l It appears that detailed relation of events that the main driving forcAle e
xandre's
was
the Porte R yalei a �::::����o�h��;Ia had unaccounl- vided by the active citizens organized in the National Guapro
ably been Ie�t u o � r h ��is breach that the from which most wage-earners and smaller property-ownerd,
�
�emonstrato�, ea�ed by the citizens ofSaint-Antoine. strea.med were at this time excluded. At the same time Alexandre rela rs
lOto the Toya ap�rtments.3 And so until eight or ten at mght, an incident that both sho the active interest taken in tes
a constant proceSSiOn fmen and w�men filed past the king who, cvent by the working womws en of the f(wDourg and provides the
having donned the �ap Of L"b l erty, was compelled to listen interesting link with the grocery an
to the endlessly repeated sl�gan�,of the ur . 'A bas Ie veto!', when an order was sent out for hisriot s of the previous February:
'Rappel des ministres patnotes. '. prob��IY intersPersed with the demonstration, the bearer wasown nea
arrest in connexion with
rly
more homely or chaIIen.g�ng eplthets . such as 'Gros Louis' saved from arrest by some of the same womlyn en
ched and he was
d 'T mblez tyrans., VOICI les Sans-Culottes .1'4 Petion arrived few months previously, he had defended the proaga per
inst whom, a
ties ofAuger
�: full :unicipa.1 regalia and m � s a II and Monnery.3
though no promises 0f redressha� �:::��;, �h;��;�����:to� It is simple enough, in rctrospect, to present the eve
dis �Jee c f !I
��� :� � :�t knowledge of the in urge
1 0 August, when the Tuileri
es Was captured by armed nts forc
of
for lack of police reports or I�. ts of �em�ers :r;! �a���:�
and the king suspended from offi
outcome of the humiliation inflicte ce, as the logical and inevitablee
Guard we have the. most In one sense it is true enough : the antd on the monarchy in June.
enera I d . .too rely,
np s The
for ou.r )mpresslon of the
Pans Department, n o ::;;
u �� to Junify fauDourgs persisted and, in the course
i-royalist agitation in the
� � oUf P�tion from office momentum and spread to the other Section of July, both gained local
Its suspension a fortnight
. the Nabona later, thought fit s: by the end of the
to describe those not organized lD ' I Guard as month, forty-seven of them had declared for
sides, the dignity ofthe king's office, despite his per abdication. Be
des hommes pour la plupart inconn� et sans d t
etat de rebellion ouverte . . . et pann� iesquds,a:i:i q�: .i'���n�� of courage, had bee
teers, too, who werentosevplaerely undermined; the fedsoneraall disp
vol
lay
un
ment l'a demontre, it existait des bngands et des . the Tuileries, had alreadyy bee a prominent part in the attack on
meies de femmes et d'enfants.s perhaps even more important, na inv
assasms
s . .
que ce 2f
p a� :'ns
nu o a't
et l PIus question que d achever .
iIe National Guard even felt secure enough to beat up peaceful
d' 'd
IVI u nomme , ai rui que de sa farm
.
. •
m
.
1I 'tmp arer de
nLD Ui crowds in the Tuileries Gardens;1 while the air was thick with
a er bnga ..1. q
roi
du chateau toUS les scelerats et
I"
royal� e� dc t h s
S •
que ce 2f
p a� :'ns
nu o a't
et l PIus question que d achever .
iIe National Guard even felt secure enough to beat up peaceful
d' 'd
IVI u nomme , ai rui que de sa farm
.
. •
m
.
1I 'tmp arer de
nLD Ui crowds in the Tuileries Gardens;1 while the air was thick with
a er bnga ..1. q
roi
du chateau toUS les scelerats et
I"
royal� e� dc t h s
S •
• Arch. Nat, F' 4774'-: uUru II pmos rtlatives aU dix Mill. There Wall a strlkc of
P�tion (MlmuirtS S"'tr..s
. . • ). •
II""al, vol. iv, pp. i-;u:i; see abo Sagoac, op. cit., pp. 300 IT.
• Arch. Nat, F' 4774'-: uUru II pmos rtlatives aU dix Mill. There Wall a strlkc of
P�tion (MlmuirtS S"'tr..s
. . • ). •
II""al, vol. iv, pp. i-;u:i; see abo Sagoac, op. cit., pp. 300 IT.
4 wig_maken, 4 hallen, 3 J1r tler pay and a grant Of2 1 4 ['I�res. Another hardened warrior
lockamit lu, 3 pain len. ..., subsequently awarded 50 /"
carpenten, 3
g to'la cJasse ouvritre'
ribes the majority :u lxlongin
•
4 wig_maken, 4 hallen, 3 J1r tler pay and a grant Of2 1 4 ['I�res. Another hardened warrior
lockamit lu, 3 pain len. ..., subsequently awarded 50 /"
carpenten, 3
g to'la cJasse ouvritre'
ribes the majority :u lxlongin
•
;:n ;;
of the e .
a combatant-h
the Tuileries after
a long career as which he :
had stormed the Tuile es t e me tality that led to the groe
·
�� ;
nd, she writes . ed
t the JaubouTgs : the same
evident : her husba rut
and family, is
to Citoyent pour aide
avange la patrie joun day, similar threats were re r d rom the Gravilliers and
fut oblige de partir ave<: qu audameurant Ponceau Sections in the ce t o � e C.lly;l and, on 2 September,
.
� :
souvenir puisqu' il est VTai
�� �
trop funeste a man enfant trouve ctant the day that Verdun fell t ;ruSSians, the general assembly
s aussi du distric des
mort l i
mon frhe nomme Damoime fut annoncc que mon mari cloit tue.1 of Poissonniere decided t s e other forty-seven Sections
blesse et presque copies of a resolution th:t I :
they en·
QII'il n'y avait d'autre rno�en a prend� pour eviter Ie danger et
and anguish thal
these and the fear
Such events as agita
pour parUr aux frontieres que faire
the state offev erish
s help to explain
gendered may perhap the
even after augmenter Ie zele des citoye
continu ed
many of the citizens ed. $U� Ie champ une justice r
tion in which
le/p=��4
been remov de tous les malfaiteurs et con-
s had
coup directe d from the Tuilerie most
Splrateurs detenus dans
Tear of office, the Swiss (his
a
suspended from .
The king had been or imprisoned;
open The same afternoon' pnsoners
' betng brought under armed
had been massacred
Nat.' F' ¥i11' PiJu: '�I liWJ " l0 coUt, fol. 19·
�;
l defende rs)
loya rounded up and their
. N,. , F' 477�", fo . 3· N her of Ihese I documents is ciled by
, Arch.
court had been
supporters of the .... _' Arch
c �
ondence. Yet the f� ... T (see ";,;8e � 10, nOle I, below).
n anns or corresp t:
ell wo
pp.
Ih� ...
� I to. n could have had any �ffe<:1 (
. ., 1 '
�aon,h�howMIUJIlffU tk s.pumb,�,
ever, Ilaried before
, Ar<:h. Nat., P" 3Wg-70, 3�71. fol. I t l 3 .
• Ar<:h. Nat., P" 3174, no. 159�, .
THE FALL OF THE MONARCHY .og
ACTION
ARY CROWD IN .
THE REVOLUTION enemies of the Revolution a d a h?�t of fo.rgers whose faked
were held respo ibr: fior n�tng pnces and inflation.
to
leave from work
t
108
given six month
s' sick assgnats
i �
These were thought to be so fi an allies for the Duke of Bruns
Bastille and been for two
recover ; wounded again at the Tuiler ies, he was treated
nsation of 1 12 livres,
h
and awarded a compe wick, who were but waiting or t e volunteers to leave for the
and a half months four of them in
la Bastille (there are
10 SOIlS.
lIainqu de
eur worker frontiers in order to break out 0f prison and massacre the aged,
women, and children left behind. ki
Anothe r
aged 52, a port-
was less fortunate: E. Benoit, killed at Thus grew among the mili
these lists)
rue Deligr e in the Quinze
Vingts Section, was
held the �
tants of the Sections-of the s me 'nd, no doubt, as those who
;:n ;;
of the e .
a combatant-h
the Tuileries after
a long career as which he :
had stormed the Tuile es t e me tality that led to the groe
·
�� ;
nd, she writes . ed
t the JaubouTgs : the same
evident : her husba rut
and family, is
to Citoyent pour aide
avange la patrie joun day, similar threats were re r d rom the Gravilliers and
fut oblige de partir ave<: qu audameurant Ponceau Sections in the ce t o � e C.lly;l and, on 2 September,
.
� :
souvenir puisqu' il est VTai
�� �
trop funeste a man enfant trouve ctant the day that Verdun fell t ;ruSSians, the general assembly
s aussi du distric des
mort l i
mon frhe nomme Damoime fut annoncc que mon mari cloit tue.1 of Poissonniere decided t s e other forty-seven Sections
blesse et presque copies of a resolution th:t I :
they en·
QII'il n'y avait d'autre rno�en a prend� pour eviter Ie danger et
and anguish thal
these and the fear
Such events as agita
pour parUr aux frontieres que faire
the state offev erish
s help to explain
gendered may perhap the
even after augmenter Ie zele des citoye
continu ed
many of the citizens ed. $U� Ie champ une justice r
tion in which
le/p=��4
been remov de tous les malfaiteurs et con-
s had
coup directe d from the Tuilerie most
Splrateurs detenus dans
Tear of office, the Swiss (his
a
suspended from .
The king had been or imprisoned;
open The same afternoon' pnsoners
' betng brought under armed
had been massacred
Nat.' F' ¥i11' PiJu: '�I liWJ " l0 coUt, fol. 19·
�;
l defende rs)
loya rounded up and their
. N,. , F' 477�", fo . 3· N her of Ihese I documents is ciled by
, Arch.
court had been
supporters of the .... _' Arch
c �
ondence. Yet the f� ... T (see ";,;8e � 10, nOle I, below).
n anns or corresp t:
ell wo
pp.
Ih� ...
� I to. n could have had any �ffe<:1 (
. ., 1 '
�aon,h�howMIUJIlffU tk s.pumb,�,
ever, Ilaried before
, Ar<:h. Nat., P" 3Wg-70, 3�71. fol. I t l 3 .
• Ar<:h. Nat., P" 3174, no. 159�, .
THE FALL OF THE MONARCHY ...
corupirateun a la juste
Tit!. REV OLU TIO NARY CROWD IN ACTION
des lois ce qui pourrait avoir echappe
110
Germain de
escort to the Abbaye prison near the church of Saint·
crow ds an� vengeance.'
,
des-Pres "'ere seized on arri val by wai ting
ts a reli
summarily executed. The massacre spread to th� Carm ? But once the moment of crisis was past, there was no party or
t, to
gious hOUSe in the rue de Vaugirard; and, dunng the rugh faction that would justify or claim credit for the massacres ; and
la For ce ; at
the Conciergerie. the Chatelet. and the Hotel de the charge of baving provoked or organized them-or even of
the latter, it went on spasmodically until the 6� or 7th. On the
, t
having merely failed to put a stop to them-became an accepted
ma of Sam weapon in the struggle between parties, in which the Mountain
3Td, executions were carried out at the Sem TY.
Firmin, � the rue Saint-Victor, and at
the Bema �tOs monas sought to discredit the Gironde and the Gironde to blacken the
tery, where common criminals were awa itin g thei r transfer to Mountain; while royalists and 'moderates' hurled the accusa
the galleys at Toulon, Brest, and Roc hef ort. The :
same a ter tion at both Gironde and Mountain indiscriminately. After
Robespierre's fall in Thermidor, the struggle became more
.
an wer e slau ght ered a� BlcelTe,
noon d the next day, prisoners
; a?d,
a prison-hospital for the poor, vagrants, and lunatics bitter, and the most common epithet to attach to a Jacobin,
detentlon
though few in number, at the Salpetriere, a �lace of apart from being a terrorist or a bUDror de sang, was to have been
alon e were
for female thieves and prostitutes. Two pns��s a septembriStur.It has become all the more difficult to identify
In the rue de la ma.rsacrnm.
untouched._the debtors' prison of Sainte-Pelagte the real Were they many? were they a small band
n, in the rue du
Clef, and Saint-Lazare, now a women's priso of resolute fanatics? were they, in any sense, typical of Paris as a
6th or
7
ped on the
Faubourg Saint-Denis. The massacres stop whole? No certain answer is possible. Pierre Caron, in the course
7th; by that time, between 1,100 and 1,400 prisone rs (onl y � of a detailed study of the affair, examined every possible piece
2,800 In
of th�m women) had been slaug�tered out of a total of of evidence that he could lay hands on to determine the
tly larg er num ber- perhaps authenticity of the numerous documents purporting to give full
the rune llrisons concerned. A shgh
J ,500 or l ,60had 0- been spared by hastily c�nsti
tuted courts �f lists and details of the septnnbristurs; he concluded that the
Mall
justice, o f which the most famous is that preSIded over b� great majority, even when put forward in good faith, were
lard at the: Abbaye. Surprisingly, only one_quarte.ro� the pnso ners
apocryphal. Apart from eyewitness accounts of the presence
were pric:.sts, nobles, or 'politicals' ; the great maJo nty wer � com
of federal volunteers, gardes nalionaux,
and other individuals
mon-or-garden thieves, prostitutes, forgers, and vagrants. many of which may be authentic enough-the only solid
s after,
While the massacres were going on, and for some day evidence is provided by the records of the judicial proceedings
there wel""e persons in authority who were prep ared to appl aud
taken against thirty·nine persons in the Year IV (1796) for
them as a necessary act of popular
just ice, and eve � to reco
,
m
t
believed participation in the massacres of I7g2.
Though all but
mend the.rn as an example for others to follow. The Circular � three were acquitted for lack of evidence-thus reducing an
of th Pan s
to the D�partments on 3 September in the name � already small sample to derisory proportions-the list is signifi
at) IS wel l
Commu1l.e (often associated with the pen of Mar , cant as showing the sort of persons and classes from which con
pres sera d ado pter
known : �t sans doute la nation entiere . . . s'em temporary opinion was willing to believe that the massacrturs
�bly
ce moye1l. necessaire de salut public'. Again, th� general asse
c
were Uns a
an vour y
eventas t
of h
� epi
hi stoso
r ide
c almusim appea
port ance:r i n thit s
eyd f, t
comph e m''''
le ted'crc,
ion of th e in t ernal
desteertsructat Valmy, on 20 SeptemberThus enem y so me week s bef or e th e THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOUNTAIN
ltoailno-whos
wing among intthheemiAugus lita nt ts.revolAgaiuntsitonthemhadstlooodst tthheme Moun their
alParil ssatSectin itohense lConvent
eaders, Robes io n-whi pierre,ch wasDantstroon,nglandy backed Maratby, nowthe
rolauteumn,theythhade conflandplayediccltubecame bsin, where
Augusmorett.hGradual eir crediltystunfol ood hidignhg fionr tthhee
bitetreandr witshpritnhg,e newand round
ofinttoreacheri
open vi eosl and
ence defeat
in t h e s in
earl ythse
u wi
mmer. n It was onl y res o l vbroke
edtbyhe
tGiherondirevolnsutwereion offorMay- cenrol J
ibly expel une 1 7 93, when t h e le ader s of
saTIJ-cu.ioUes
Paribin disiacntatorship, however, ledonlinlyetdhbecameefrNatomiothnalconse Convent
Guard. iTheon byJacothe
olidated, and its
, Work"rI and others living in furniJhed TOOI1lJ and lodging·houses IUm, how
(ATch. Nat., "fl. 2$20, fol. 53). Women and dome.tie servants, ofcourse, remained
ev"r, to havc .bttn debarred from voting until the revolution of May-June 1793
were Uns a
an vour y
eventas t
of h
� epi
hi stoso
r ide
c almusim appea
port ance:r i n thit s
eyd f, t
comph e m''''
le ted'crc,
ion of th e in t ernal
desteertsructat Valmy, on 20 SeptemberThus enem y so me week s bef or e th e THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOUNTAIN
ltoailno-whos
wing among intthheemiAugus lita nt ts.revolAgaiuntsitonthemhadstlooodst tthheme Moun their
alParil ssatSectin itohense lConvent
eaders, Robes io n-whi pierre,ch wasDantstroon,nglandy backed Maratby, nowthe
rolauteumn,theythhade conflandplayediccltubecame bsin, where
Augusmorett.hGradual eir crediltystunfol ood hidignhg fionr tthhee
bitetreandr witshpritnhg,e newand round
ofinttoreacheri
open vi eosl and
ence defeat
in t h e s in
earl ythse
u wi
mmer. n It was onl y res o l vbroke
edtbyhe
tGiherondirevolnsutwereion offorMay- cenrol J
ibly expel une 1 7 93, when t h e le ader s of
saTIJ-cu.ioUes
Paribin disiacntatorship, however, ledonlinlyetdhbecameefrNatomiothnalconse Convent
Guard. iTheon byJacothe
olidated, and its
, Work"rI and others living in furniJhed TOOI1lJ and lodging·houses IUm, how
(ATch. Nat., "fl. 2$20, fol. 53). Women and dome.tie servants, ofcourse, remained
ev"r, to havc .bttn debarred from voting until the revolution of May-June 1793
in the archiva of the PrtrCClure de Polic<:, .ee G. Rudi!, 'La £meula da 2�,
, For a detailed account, mainly billCd on the police reports ofthe rari, ScctionJ
eXlr�mitts de la vil!e leo propri�tts ont �t� vioUel' (Arch. Nat., C 247, no. 360,
prnpagoY avre la rapidil� de la foudn:; du centre ou il avait pris nai!L1ance aux
�6f �vricr 1793'. Ann.ltilt. Rh./rQItf., no. '30, 1953. pp. 3S-�7· rol. 36).
... THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOUNTAIN
instrument, the Revolutionary Government of the Year n,
"5
in the archiva of the PrtrCClure de Polic<:, .ee G. Rudi!, 'La £meula da 2�,
, For a detailed account, mainly billCd on the police reports ofthe rari, ScctionJ
eXlr�mitts de la vil!e leo propri�tts ont �t� vioUel' (Arch. Nat., C 247, no. 360,
prnpagoY avre la rapidil� de la foudn:; du centre ou il avait pris nai!L1ance aux
�6f �vricr 1793'. Ann.ltilt. Rh./rQItf., no. '30, 1953. pp. 3S-�7· rol. 36).
N
THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOUNTAIN 117
THE REVOLUTIONA
RY CROWD IN ACTIO
onial products, as wecorll.dan This
. These riots had other remarkable features. Their main victims
number of other gr�a en'es and colthe
116
ark abl e con ce were, as one would expect, the big merchants and wholesalers,
was gene��; ��:t ';"h\: ;�es wererem fixed in one P",:T t afthe who were generally considered responsible for hoarding and
between t le aII f which suggests concerted actton. The forcing up prices. This probably explains why the movement
city a�d another- g �s most commonly demanded by the started in the Gravilliers and Lombards Sections, where there
followmg wererange the . bythem: sugar at2IB-SOILS; 25 was a concentration of such dealers. But as the riots spread
rioters and the ar pnc_es impILSose' dtallow
0 candles 1 at outwards, there appears to have been less discrimination shown,
SOILS; unrefined SUg;-
f a 12 SO lOU!. Ha d these amounts and the shops of small chandlers and grocers suffered with the
soap at 10-12 SOILS, dan� ��ff ee at do to rest. In the Quinze Vingts Section, for example, the police
been strict�y adhereet���gw�i��o�wo Id ex eet the shopkelfepeofrsthe commissioner drew up a list of twenty-five grocers, of whom
hs or one -ha
have received sam i' goods' but th'-fl iS, . l'I·act was rarely the
m thirteen had incurred losses of some kind or another-in some
markel-vaIue 0r the . rng with the rioters cases amounting to only a few livrts.1 Another significant fact
•
case. There w�re .undoub that emcrged was that not only the very poor took part in what
•
Bleu a 28
cs s.
248 livres Blanc the grocers in order to send their cooks or servants, garrons or
s. 347 1. 8 5.
Savon,
1,850 1. 8 s. journeymen, along to mingle with the invading crowds and
Avoir comptant
754 1. 5 5•1- buy sugar, soap, candles, or coffee at prices highly favourable
. market value of to themselves.l
showing a rec eip t of nearIy two�fifthsr ofPiethe
rre Merville of the It is hard to determine how far the riots were the outcome of
Anoth�; �:o��;
the goods distribu.tedn,. wa he had received a concerted plan of action. The Municipal Council, theJacobin
that
Place .Royale Secho. n retusrna fore goods wpnce . d at , ,547 Ii.",.' Club, and the various parties in the Convention, who all
521 hurtS, 1 5 sous '. others receivt'.edr denounced them in most downright terms, while admitting that
But these Sbopkeepers ofwethere exceed·ngly lucofkythe
I
ir wares-lo �ardship had arisen from rising prices, sought to explain them
market value
I
.
asngnaIs w,appcd in a tea-to
wel, lor '! , d" Ville) must have disappeared in the fire of 1871.
documents (lik.. w m\leh oth... malmal in the form... ke.-ping of the
� We !'i.nd the .arne sort oflhing happening in the corn riots of 1775, when small
at 27,043 liures.l :en took advantag.. of th" laxnl;/Jff /JdIIulni., to buy wheat from the wn.\thi".
10
ark abl e con ce were, as one would expect, the big merchants and wholesalers,
was gene��; ��:t ';"h\: ;�es wererem fixed in one P",:T t afthe who were generally considered responsible for hoarding and
between t le aII f which suggests concerted actton. The forcing up prices. This probably explains why the movement
city a�d another- g �s most commonly demanded by the started in the Gravilliers and Lombards Sections, where there
followmg wererange the . bythem: sugar at2IB-SOILS; 25 was a concentration of such dealers. But as the riots spread
rioters and the ar pnc_es impILSose' dtallow
0 candles 1 at outwards, there appears to have been less discrimination shown,
SOILS; unrefined SUg;-
f a 12 SO lOU!. Ha d these amounts and the shops of small chandlers and grocers suffered with the
soap at 10-12 SOILS, dan� ��ff ee at do to rest. In the Quinze Vingts Section, for example, the police
been strict�y adhereet���gw�i��o�wo Id ex eet the shopkelfepeofrsthe commissioner drew up a list of twenty-five grocers, of whom
hs or one -ha
have received sam i' goods' but th'-fl iS, . l'I·act was rarely the
m thirteen had incurred losses of some kind or another-in some
markel-vaIue 0r the . rng with the rioters cases amounting to only a few livrts.1 Another significant fact
•
case. There w�re .undoub that emcrged was that not only the very poor took part in what
•
Bleu a 28
cs s.
248 livres Blanc the grocers in order to send their cooks or servants, garrons or
s. 347 1. 8 5.
Savon,
1,850 1. 8 s. journeymen, along to mingle with the invading crowds and
Avoir comptant
754 1. 5 5•1- buy sugar, soap, candles, or coffee at prices highly favourable
. market value of to themselves.l
showing a rec eip t of nearIy two�fifthsr ofPiethe
rre Merville of the It is hard to determine how far the riots were the outcome of
Anoth�; �:o��;
the goods distribu.tedn,. wa he had received a concerted plan of action. The Municipal Council, theJacobin
that
Place .Royale Secho. n retusrna fore goods wpnce . d at , ,547 Ii.",.' Club, and the various parties in the Convention, who all
521 hurtS, 1 5 sous '. others receivt'.edr denounced them in most downright terms, while admitting that
But these Sbopkeepers ofwethere exceed·ngly lucofkythe
I
ir wares-lo �ardship had arisen from rising prices, sought to explain them
market value
I
.
asngnaIs w,appcd in a tea-to
wel, lor '! , d" Ville) must have disappeared in the fire of 1871.
documents (lik.. w m\leh oth... malmal in the form... ke.-ping of the
� We !'i.nd the .arne sort oflhing happening in the corn riots of 1775, when small
at 27,043 liures.l :en took advantag.. of th" laxnl;/Jff /JdIIulni., to buy wheat from the wn.\thi".
10
of thelT
the machinations
�
darkly
. Mountain spoke In April and May there were reporu that market-women and
example, who ha D? t �
yet J l d the
O OC
in dis uise' , and, to g
'
others were preparing for a new prison massacre ; and, from
ent of aristocrats
UXUrv
'l article 'I
ous lOcltem
��
of 'the perfidi s as sugar this time on, Marat, the arch-advocate ofspeedy revolutionary
justice, becomes the hero of the mnw peupu. On
.l 'ISted that sueh
underline his polOt,.
not 1 lY 10 �to excite popul ar pas May a 2
and coffee were . themselves
, cupation when he added : deputation of 10,000
unarmed citizens of the Faubourg Saint
sions', but he showed , .
societb ; car Ii ou Je ne
his malO pre«
. '
pnnCIpe5 d tautes les
Antoine paraded before the Convention and demanded that
perhaps to draw Convention, with considerable reluctance, voted the .6r.;t law
the CommuDe '
The Mountain and recom mende d hangin g a
of the Maximum which controlled the price of bread and
whose �aper had
.
away from Marat, oorstep'• picked on Jacques
flour throughout the country.z
'� Section, whlch
n over thelT own d
Dumber 0f groce ·Ilie- ,
, as we
And now, as so often in the past, the party contending for
power began to turn this movement to its own advantage and
.
pnes t' of the G ra Vl
Roux, the 're d nces, as the malO
' disturba
' lined to share thi
,
startmg-po � I t of the
saw, had been a s view,'
h 0 rot't li
lez is, mc to guide it into channels that accorded with its own political
riots' Math
instiga tor f
t
� time that an upper interests. The struggle between Gironde and Mountain had
reached a point of open breach, and it is evident from the
had certam ly demanded for some ho w far
Roux s', but ,
the pn' ces of all co
nsume>'> ...,' good
b� � lac ed on imposs ible to
Section it is Girondin's attempt to incriminate Danton over the treachery of
Dumouriez and their subsequent arrest of Marat and his
bey?nd his own
hIS 10fluence spread evidence that he
played any
there IS no rea1
say ,' and anvway summons before the Revolutionary Tribunal tha.t, had the
ever.
" th'IS affair whatso
direct part 10 Bureau de Mountain not struck when the occasion arose, they would
The riots had no lIl �
, med'late esults .' a report of the
e of '27 ebrua :
insisted that the po leeof
themselves have fallen a victim to their opponenu.
Surveilla nc e de la po hc
leather, s
r;;
d s et remained
at the same
At fir.;t, however, it was not the Mountain or the Jacobin
sugar, cofree, oil,
, ore , t e Commu ���t� ne took
the A lb loaf at
the oppor.
t '2
'1"- .
Club, but the extreme revolutionary group of Enrages, whose
0
el as bef
,
'exorb itant lev ,
1
leader.; were Jean Varlet and Jacques Roux, that did the
tumty, on 4: March' .
to fix the pnce f
�
·
0
. s ite of the increase 1 running and tried to push the Paris Commune and Sections
at th leve , in
and maintamed It
0 w:ages, b
�
ubsidies to baker.;.4
Yet,
into a premature insurrection. Varlet's speeches on the Terrasse
consumer.;' goods and
police reports for
the commg we s
show the � authori
, ' e to come, anotlnel
ties
des Feuillants, within earshot of the Tuileries. drew great crowds
exp ct, for som e tIm of supporters ; but the attempt made by Varlet's insurrectional
to
Committee to stage a popular joumie on 10 March with the
tinued to fear an d �
outbreak of taxatio�
populalft.5
crept in to sloke up
the agitation. object of settling accounts with the Girondin leader.;, Roland
But soon other Issues , there
;-v hortag e of bread' and Brissot, and of introducing the death penalty for hoarders
as a temporary s
mid-Apn' l there Ho tel de Vi lle and and speculators, proved still-born: the resolute opposition of the
n s protest arch to the
:n
tal k of a wo me ore
the rue Saint-Hon Jacobin Club, the Commune, and the Faubourg Saint-Antoine
a baker s Shop in
Convention; and
.
doomed it to failure,' Yet the Enrages continued to have a
i I 789
AfClti.'Cs jl<JT/lmelllafeJ ; Mathia, op. cit., pp.
-1799 80 voll., Par
i$,
(ut senes, follOwing and there was talk, for several weeks to come, of the
. r. . I Ibid. (report. ror '5-16 April, 4 April, '4 May, .s-$ April, 2-3 May).
L
0
Arch. Nat., AF I Henceforth, the pnee
272-4.
lll la .ffrtU';' -1 9 n ; 9
V
of thelT
the machinations
�
darkly
. Mountain spoke In April and May there were reporu that market-women and
example, who ha D? t �
yet J l d the
O OC
in dis uise' , and, to g
'
others were preparing for a new prison massacre ; and, from
ent of aristocrats
UXUrv
'l article 'I
ous lOcltem
��
of 'the perfidi s as sugar this time on, Marat, the arch-advocate ofspeedy revolutionary
justice, becomes the hero of the mnw peupu. On
.l 'ISted that sueh
underline his polOt,.
not 1 lY 10 �to excite popul ar pas May a 2
and coffee were . themselves
, cupation when he added : deputation of 10,000
unarmed citizens of the Faubourg Saint
sions', but he showed , .
societb ; car Ii ou Je ne
his malO pre«
. '
pnnCIpe5 d tautes les
Antoine paraded before the Convention and demanded that
perhaps to draw Convention, with considerable reluctance, voted the .6r.;t law
the CommuDe '
The Mountain and recom mende d hangin g a
of the Maximum which controlled the price of bread and
whose �aper had
.
away from Marat, oorstep'• picked on Jacques
flour throughout the country.z
'� Section, whlch
n over thelT own d
Dumber 0f groce ·Ilie- ,
, as we
And now, as so often in the past, the party contending for
power began to turn this movement to its own advantage and
.
pnes t' of the G ra Vl
Roux, the 're d nces, as the malO
' disturba
' lined to share thi
,
startmg-po � I t of the
saw, had been a s view,'
h 0 rot't li
lez is, mc to guide it into channels that accorded with its own political
riots' Math
instiga tor f
t
� time that an upper interests. The struggle between Gironde and Mountain had
reached a point of open breach, and it is evident from the
had certam ly demanded for some ho w far
Roux s', but ,
the pn' ces of all co
nsume>'> ...,' good
b� � lac ed on imposs ible to
Section it is Girondin's attempt to incriminate Danton over the treachery of
Dumouriez and their subsequent arrest of Marat and his
bey?nd his own
hIS 10fluence spread evidence that he
played any
there IS no rea1
say ,' and anvway summons before the Revolutionary Tribunal tha.t, had the
ever.
" th'IS affair whatso
direct part 10 Bureau de Mountain not struck when the occasion arose, they would
The riots had no lIl �
, med'late esults .' a report of the
e of '27 ebrua :
insisted that the po leeof
themselves have fallen a victim to their opponenu.
Surveilla nc e de la po hc
leather, s
r;;
d s et remained
at the same
At fir.;t, however, it was not the Mountain or the Jacobin
sugar, cofree, oil,
, ore , t e Commu ���t� ne took
the A lb loaf at
the oppor.
t '2
'1"- .
Club, but the extreme revolutionary group of Enrages, whose
0
el as bef
,
'exorb itant lev ,
1
leader.; were Jean Varlet and Jacques Roux, that did the
tumty, on 4: March' .
to fix the pnce f
�
·
0
. s ite of the increase 1 running and tried to push the Paris Commune and Sections
at th leve , in
and maintamed It
0 w:ages, b
�
ubsidies to baker.;.4
Yet,
into a premature insurrection. Varlet's speeches on the Terrasse
consumer.;' goods and
police reports for
the commg we s
show the � authori
, ' e to come, anotlnel
ties
des Feuillants, within earshot of the Tuileries. drew great crowds
exp ct, for som e tIm of supporters ; but the attempt made by Varlet's insurrectional
to
Committee to stage a popular joumie on 10 March with the
tinued to fear an d �
outbreak of taxatio�
populalft.5
crept in to sloke up
the agitation. object of settling accounts with the Girondin leader.;, Roland
But soon other Issues , there
;-v hortag e of bread' and Brissot, and of introducing the death penalty for hoarders
as a temporary s
mid-Apn' l there Ho tel de Vi lle and and speculators, proved still-born: the resolute opposition of the
n s protest arch to the
:n
tal k of a wo me ore
the rue Saint-Hon Jacobin Club, the Commune, and the Faubourg Saint-Antoine
a baker s Shop in
Convention; and
.
doomed it to failure,' Yet the Enrages continued to have a
i I 789
AfClti.'Cs jl<JT/lmelllafeJ ; Mathia, op. cit., pp.
-1799 80 voll., Par
i$,
(ut senes, follOwing and there was talk, for several weeks to come, of the
. r. . I Ibid. (report. ror '5-16 April, 4 April, '4 May, .s-$ April, 2-3 May).
L
0
Arch. Nat., AF I Henceforth, the pnee
272-4.
lll la .ffrtU';' -1 9 n ; 9
V
re rea dy to for mu late the ir programme, win the suptpoon a police reports of April and M�y�e ;c� � e popular .view that
we (in which they could como un
the Sectional assemblies lea vem ent a purge of the Convention, as :C e y theJacoblDS, might
ship of the popular lead to more energetic measur� t deal with . hoarders and to
majority). and wrest the mider sts'. Accordingly. on 5 April, in the . t�ere are indications that
from either group of 'extre 's yo unger brother, Augu stin, pu blicly ensure supplies At the saffie brne
Z
rem on 29 Ma
wo deputies,.. whose
and,
better by naming twenty-t
10
around which the insurrect-fiv the forty-eight Sectio ed ns When It came to the pomt, the or�amzers .
of the Revolution
fOUnd, as we shall see, a more practIcal expedient for ensunng
.
th flJll ll (Parill, 1
P Sainte·C1air
'
, It was from the "",eon
.
......;,. N
, I«
, at., AFIV I470 (reporu for April-May) '' F' 3683', d011. 11•
missioners to discuss their Ibid.
- .
.
re rea dy to for mu late the ir programme, win the suptpoon a police reports of April and M�y�e ;c� � e popular .view that
we (in which they could como un
the Sectional assemblies lea vem ent a purge of the Convention, as :C e y theJacoblDS, might
ship of the popular lead to more energetic measur� t deal with . hoarders and to
majority). and wrest the mider sts'. Accordingly. on 5 April, in the . t�ere are indications that
from either group of 'extre 's yo unger brother, Augu stin, pu blicly ensure supplies At the saffie brne
Z
rem on 29 Ma
wo deputies,.. whose
and,
better by naming twenty-t
10
around which the insurrect-fiv the forty-eight Sectio ed ns When It came to the pomt, the or�amzers .
of the Revolution
fOUnd, as we shall see, a more practIcal expedient for ensunng
.
th flJll ll (Parill, 1
P Sainte·C1air
'
, It was from the "",eon
.
......;,. N
, I«
, at., AFIV I470 (reporu for April-May) '' F' 3683', d011. 11•
missioners to discuss their Ibid.
- .
.
ing to plan. The Cen nary Co mm on behalf of those who had lost wor: :y �:: u!:' ar�ns. We
into permanent sessrep ion on 29 May; the nex t nig ht the Co mm une
learn, for example, that, ofthirt e S ctlons . ngputtIng In f?r a
ented on it, and HaNa nriot, a former
became officia givres
lly
command of the tion tional Guard. total claim of 114,291 livm : �-::.� o/another two Sectlons
customs clerk, wass decenidethe d to raise in the Secd at sthea rev olu separately listed,l the following' were able to muster the k"rgest
In addition it wa 20,000 san lottlS to be pai
rat e of contingents of sans-tulOllts:
tionary militia ofspent unders-cuarm On the 31 S t the tocs in
40 SOIlS per day and the barriJress,l we sed -t he cer tain Montreuil . 2,946 Montmartre IA38
pealed at 3 a.m., nts. But it was a workirengcloday (Friday) and, Quinze Vingts 2,039
Croix Rouge 1,458
Bon Corueil
Invalides .
1,400
1,358
prelude to great eveen and workers responded. Consequently, Gravilliers . 1,457 Popincourt 970
as yet, few craftsm nd itself under compar atively little externaJg
the Convention fou e to win tiJ;lel. and sav e its face by passinof In fact once again the Fa bo S ' i t
pressure and was abl ition to its new RemevoldutiCoona
ly for mmittee n::ly �� apPslic�n� ouUt�fa�:t�������I!So:er �:,!:�
on the inevitable apetrep ort. The Central pace: on rySunCoday m� :�\�e F urg atnt-Marcel-wtth 907 cIalrnants · from
•
Public Safety for decide ce the , the Observatoire and 660 from Finiste ems to have played
mittee, however,rounded dthetoTufor ies with loyal bat tali oM a smaller part. Yet the point t o � e presse� too far: there
2 June, they sur , supported iler by additional detachoic ments are considerable gaps in the�wr;es,�.. nd. whtle they are a
the National Guard es, after attemptied ng an her rough guide to the number 0 sans-cu�ottn enrolled by the
sans-culottes. The deputi der ignominiously Sections making claims we h��; no means of knowing what
and finding everydem exit blocke d, sur ren proportion they formed'of the al nurnbers under arms.
ands. Twenty-nine dep uties and
the insurgents' jority party were pla about foohou
ced und er se anres·C' But, wh·le we may be reasonablY certam ' tha.t the numbers
ministers of the mag said, for d prices, herelisted areofsans-culottes_though not necessanly as members
\
moment,
I
operation, carrie,dwe
• The Bon Consetl Section claimed in a ..:parate note, to have had 1,400 men
ain a pic
not hope to obt s case, are there tur e of d'
under anna on 2 June (Areh Nat BB: 80 d0lIl. 1 1 ) ; whi l e Bonne Nouvelle, which
cases, of course policecan had requisitioned on behalf of iu'�r�rt1 armes, 490 4·lb. loava from II baken
'
insurgents from records;l nor, in thi �. 1 June and 213 loaves from
(��cd
ln bak
that it had returned : list
��� 2�un��.
e
Pr��. Po!., AI. 71. fa!. 4�),
mmmtt ad, p�mably, 1011
dca. 1 6. c . Nat., BB80, dOlll. 7). Montreu'l
, Arch. Nat., BB' 50,
te-CIa.iff; Deville, op.
cit., pp.
• Ldebvu, op. cit., pp. 34HZ; Sain look-out for women anned·w;<hkn ;� · . 1 had gone one better in the provision orfood
)
for iu 'volontaires indigenu" on 2 une we find tho
r
. .
" j lb. 0r sausage, 30 lb. of (heac' &c., to a total value of 542 livru, e sow (Arch.
Ill. ralllng :i6 4·lb. loaves,
ho�vcr, on the p '
ing to plan. The Cen nary Co mm on behalf of those who had lost wor: :y �:: u!:' ar�ns. We
into permanent sessrep ion on 29 May; the nex t nig ht the Co mm une
learn, for example, that, ofthirt e S ctlons . ngputtIng In f?r a
ented on it, and HaNa nriot, a former
became officia givres
lly
command of the tion tional Guard. total claim of 114,291 livm : �-::.� o/another two Sectlons
customs clerk, wass decenidethe d to raise in the Secd at sthea rev olu separately listed,l the following' were able to muster the k"rgest
In addition it wa 20,000 san lottlS to be pai
rat e of contingents of sans-tulOllts:
tionary militia ofspent unders-cuarm On the 31 S t the tocs in
40 SOIlS per day and the barriJress,l we sed -t he cer tain Montreuil . 2,946 Montmartre IA38
pealed at 3 a.m., nts. But it was a workirengcloday (Friday) and, Quinze Vingts 2,039
Croix Rouge 1,458
Bon Corueil
Invalides .
1,400
1,358
prelude to great eveen and workers responded. Consequently, Gravilliers . 1,457 Popincourt 970
as yet, few craftsm nd itself under compar atively little externaJg
the Convention fou e to win tiJ;lel. and sav e its face by passinof In fact once again the Fa bo S ' i t
pressure and was abl ition to its new RemevoldutiCoona
ly for mmittee n::ly �� apPslic�n� ouUt�fa�:t�������I!So:er �:,!:�
on the inevitable apetrep ort. The Central pace: on rySunCoday m� :�\�e F urg atnt-Marcel-wtth 907 cIalrnants · from
•
Public Safety for decide ce the , the Observatoire and 660 from Finiste ems to have played
mittee, however,rounded dthetoTufor ies with loyal bat tali oM a smaller part. Yet the point t o � e presse� too far: there
2 June, they sur , supported iler by additional detachoic ments are considerable gaps in the�wr;es,�.. nd. whtle they are a
the National Guard es, after attemptied ng an her rough guide to the number 0 sans-cu�ottn enrolled by the
sans-culottes. The deputi der ignominiously Sections making claims we h��; no means of knowing what
and finding everydem exit blocke d, sur ren proportion they formed'of the al nurnbers under arms.
ands. Twenty-nine dep uties and
the insurgents' jority party were pla about foohou
ced und er se anres·C' But, wh·le we may be reasonablY certam ' tha.t the numbers
ministers of the mag said, for d prices, herelisted areofsans-culottes_though not necessanly as members
\
moment,
I
operation, carrie,dwe
• The Bon Consetl Section claimed in a ..:parate note, to have had 1,400 men
ain a pic
not hope to obt s case, are there tur e of d'
under anna on 2 June (Areh Nat BB: 80 d0lIl. 1 1 ) ; whi l e Bonne Nouvelle, which
cases, of course policecan had requisitioned on behalf of iu'�r�rt1 armes, 490 4·lb. loava from II baken
'
insurgents from records;l nor, in thi �. 1 June and 213 loaves from
(��cd
ln bak
that it had returned : list
��� 2�un��.
e
Pr��. Po!., AI. 71. fa!. 4�),
mmmtt ad, p�mably, 1011
dca. 1 6. c . Nat., BB80, dOlll. 7). Montreu'l
, Arch. Nat., BB' 50,
te-CIa.iff; Deville, op.
cit., pp.
• Ldebvu, op. cit., pp. 34HZ; Sain look-out for women anned·w;<hkn ;� · . 1 had gone one better in the provision orfood
)
for iu 'volontaires indigenu" on 2 une we find tho
r
. .
" j lb. 0r sausage, 30 lb. of (heac' &c., to a total value of 542 livru, e sow (Arch.
Ill. ralllng :i6 4·lb. loaves,
ho�vcr, on the p '
Wine (litre)
Comntodity
ployers as well as workpeo m these
ught it possible to show fro
101. 16 • 201.
'. .
figures the proportion of pro
BUller (lb.)
the ump
26. ,. 35"
ass
His argument is based on 5° '·
of the various Sections)
2 1 I. 27' •.
lost were 1 0 1.
1
Egg! (25) .
d
before the Convention, ha erwise
be pa id on ly to tho se whose attendance would oth What these figures do not reveal are the sudden fluctuations in
sho uld newly
Commune, in asking the price that roused suddcn t neou outbursts of anger. A
entail hardship;. and the draw up bare week after the June r:� �� �
mmittees of the Sections to �
0 u on t ere was further talk of
formed Revolutionary Co re in need
uld be only of such as we a general assault on gro ers an butchers. A few days later
lists, stresscd that they sho e Sections acted strictly according .::.
queues began to form ag n a�b kers' shops ; and even police
of assistance.s Yet, while som ons,' others-for a variety of agents spoke of the need t� cur . �e greed of the wealthy shop
tructi
to the letter of these ins urning
erwise; and we find them ret keepers and wholesaler s' q�e �ette c1asse en masse est
reasons-decidcd to do oth
•
dtoyens pm aisJs, or
s jou rna liers, la seule qui ait profite d� l:��a va \
l utlon .� T�ere were soap riots
not only DOlontaires indigents,
)'en
e of
dlo
ing far me r Gu err between 25 and 28 Jun " n one u h mCldent, on the 25th,
eep ers and em ployers-includ
bu t sho pk a crowd in the rue Sain� ·� zare �e�d p a lorry loaded with
fixed up a total of four
� �
atlendancc: hinuelf and ten crates of soap and sold Its contents 10 the street at 20 sous
allen
, The farmer made one
duoca for hiJ twO
labourcft (ibid.).
1 Arch. Nat., p. 2507.
rol. 22.
"anent du 31 mai-I"-2juiJa ' Cf. returns or Panlh&wi. Pont Ncuf.• and MUJbJm Scctiom (A r
ch Nat P
tion da sections aumou 52 .s+' BB doll
1
, H. Calvet, 'La Panicipa
793'. AJI.II ,hisl. Rio.friUOf
· " (t928). 366-9·
en de rake a la rtpu
ISW. foil.
tl �1,I'au�n �e " ,
;""
' 80 ��
c:.
,6. toUi
g o e t i t�in
�
�crordin t � . la� CT: 'quctowav en
ne paruapaJtnt i. ca sc.coun '
touS Ie qui n'on! piu Ie moy
blique Ie
, Haml, op. tiL, pp. 1
Iait
66-
rcce ront ¥IS.
• '� e ouv rien dOlI. 16).
v jou r', Nat.• BB' 50,
par
ecux qui IOltl sous la
(Arch.
�:v�lulion" Eam.
&e.
avoir C. Rud�, 'Prica W a d o lar Movementl in Par
laerifiee de leurs joun arma et qui pcuVi:nt � during the French
• 'Falta une lisle de tOUS Hi�l.
::-V., v� "i ��
3
ch. Nat., P' 2517. fol. s (Arch- ue wu one of ahOl'lagC and n0t 0', pncc.
. 19 , pp. 254-7· Wu h bread. of coune'
14)' , 5<1
besoln de seeours' (Ar
Arch. Nat., AF1V 1.70 (1tp01'tI for 7-10, 14. 16-17, 25, 2?-29June).
its de I'Homme Section i 'a
,
Wine (litre)
Comntodity
ployers as well as workpeo m these
ught it possible to show fro
101. 16 • 201.
'. .
figures the proportion of pro
BUller (lb.)
the ump
26. ,. 35"
ass
His argument is based on 5° '·
of the various Sections)
2 1 I. 27' •.
lost were 1 0 1.
1
Egg! (25) .
d
before the Convention, ha erwise
be pa id on ly to tho se whose attendance would oth What these figures do not reveal are the sudden fluctuations in
sho uld newly
Commune, in asking the price that roused suddcn t neou outbursts of anger. A
entail hardship;. and the draw up bare week after the June r:� �� �
mmittees of the Sections to �
0 u on t ere was further talk of
formed Revolutionary Co re in need
uld be only of such as we a general assault on gro ers an butchers. A few days later
lists, stresscd that they sho e Sections acted strictly according .::.
queues began to form ag n a�b kers' shops ; and even police
of assistance.s Yet, while som ons,' others-for a variety of agents spoke of the need t� cur . �e greed of the wealthy shop
tructi
to the letter of these ins urning
erwise; and we find them ret keepers and wholesaler s' q�e �ette c1asse en masse est
reasons-decidcd to do oth
•
dtoyens pm aisJs, or
s jou rna liers, la seule qui ait profite d� l:��a va \
l utlon .� T�ere were soap riots
not only DOlontaires indigents,
)'en
e of
dlo
ing far me r Gu err between 25 and 28 Jun " n one u h mCldent, on the 25th,
eep ers and em ployers-includ
bu t sho pk a crowd in the rue Sain� ·� zare �e�d p a lorry loaded with
fixed up a total of four
� �
atlendancc: hinuelf and ten crates of soap and sold Its contents 10 the street at 20 sous
allen
, The farmer made one
duoca for hiJ twO
labourcft (ibid.).
1 Arch. Nat., p. 2507.
rol. 22.
"anent du 31 mai-I"-2juiJa ' Cf. returns or Panlh&wi. Pont Ncuf.• and MUJbJm Scctiom (A r
ch Nat P
tion da sections aumou 52 .s+' BB doll
1
, H. Calvet, 'La Panicipa
793'. AJI.II ,hisl. Rio.friUOf
· " (t928). 366-9·
en de rake a la rtpu
ISW. foil.
tl �1,I'au�n �e " ,
;""
' 80 ��
c:.
,6. toUi
g o e t i t�in
�
�crordin t � . la� CT: 'quctowav en
ne paruapaJtnt i. ca sc.coun '
touS Ie qui n'on! piu Ie moy
blique Ie
, Haml, op. tiL, pp. 1
Iait
66-
rcce ront ¥IS.
• '� e ouv rien dOlI. 16).
v jou r', Nat.• BB' 50,
par
ecux qui IOltl sous la
(Arch.
�:v�lulion" Eam.
&e.
avoir C. Rud�, 'Prica W a d o lar Movementl in Par
laerifiee de leurs joun arma et qui pcuVi:nt � during the French
• 'Falta une lisle de tOUS Hi�l.
::-V., v� "i ��
3
ch. Nat., P' 2517. fol. s (Arch- ue wu one of ahOl'lagC and n0t 0', pncc.
. 19 , pp. 254-7· Wu h bread. of coune'
14)' , 5<1
besoln de seeours' (Ar
Arch. Nat., AF1V 1.70 (1tp01'tI for 7-10, 14. 16-17, 25, 2?-29June).
its de I'Homme Section i 'a
,
building sites. Meanwhile ards, near the Ministry of War, The new problems th reate� �ere of the future. For the
�
have started on the boulevbert's lieutenants, had his offices. moment shopkeepers m'.:t ' an Journey�en welcomed the
where Vincent, one of He traton advanced on the Place de Maximum, their ow� creatio "n, WI. th enthuSIasm
. ' . Le peupIe',
Calling for bread, the demoru s, Hebert and Chaumette, tried wrote an agent of the Ministry of the Intenor, a ret;u avec
'
to demand severe measurespromised to join in. The same of the Year II.
suspects; the Jacobins also ered workshops to close on the
evening the Commune ord journeymen might attend the
• See Nationd Guard and police .gen�' r.eports for September: Arch. Nit.,
AFlv 1 �10; F" 3688' dOSl , . Ca.ro , op. c
-
) Caron, op. cit. i. 210.
,t.I . !j6 210.
morrow, so that masters andwe should therefore be tempted .... )', xvu.
"T" 11,5...... .
_
; .: ' c: n
' MotlikllT (rl
demonstration. But, in case erin, that the 'insurrection' of
to consider, with Daniel Gurking-class affair,s we should note
4 September was a largely wo Commune gave instructions that
that, at the same sessio
n, the g
a military for ce sho uld be mustered to disperse buildin ges !'
g for bread and higher wa
workers who were demonstratin
fob. 329-30. See abo Mathia
2�'
, Arcb. Prtf. Pol., Aa 226,
, op. cit., pp.
building sites. Meanwhile ards, near the Ministry of War, The new problems th reate� �ere of the future. For the
�
have started on the boulevbert's lieutenants, had his offices. moment shopkeepers m'.:t ' an Journey�en welcomed the
where Vincent, one of He traton advanced on the Place de Maximum, their ow� creatio "n, WI. th enthuSIasm
. ' . Le peupIe',
Calling for bread, the demoru s, Hebert and Chaumette, tried wrote an agent of the Ministry of the Intenor, a ret;u avec
'
to demand severe measurespromised to join in. The same of the Year II.
suspects; the Jacobins also ered workshops to close on the
evening the Commune ord journeymen might attend the
• See Nationd Guard and police .gen�' r.eports for September: Arch. Nit.,
AFlv 1 �10; F" 3688' dOSl , . Ca.ro , op. c
-
) Caron, op. cit. i. 210.
,t.I . !j6 210.
morrow, so that masters andwe should therefore be tempted .... )', xvu.
"T" 11,5...... .
_
; .: ' c: n
' MotlikllT (rl
demonstration. But, in case erin, that the 'insurrection' of
to consider, with Daniel Gurking-class affair,s we should note
4 September was a largely wo Commune gave instructions that
that, at the same sessio
n, the g
a military for ce sho uld be mustered to disperse buildin ges !'
g for bread and higher wa
workers who were demonstratin
fob. 329-30. See abo Mathia
2�'
, Arcb. Prtf. Pol., Aa 226,
, op. cit., pp.
was
THERMJDOR
,
e
ndrt, prieur de la (;6te d'O
Public Safety wer
. .
the 'gN:at' Committee of
rft_ � d'JU'" '793· Arch, Nat., F" 1 " �
73�4' 188-.:109.
retu E�rpdu
, The other memben. of
y_.
I ' d- . The report campn':
,
nbon Sain t_A -
Carnot, Robert Lind et, Ju ·
de la Marne.
• For the most detailed, recent and
ques ion, the reader is referred
to A
h' :'�:!:::r.:'::�'F.:.�:_:�";:��.��;::
lbert
:�n and wage! n
. .
i about
eaae of Paris),
t '
... ,rom ¥I Dtpartm��lI ;:�I:: �:v�r�g th� prices of 38 articles of eonsum
e u IDg Ole of daily labourers (except in
was
THERMJDOR
,
e
ndrt, prieur de la (;6te d'O
Public Safety wer
. .
the 'gN:at' Committee of
rft_ � d'JU'" '793· Arch, Nat., F" 1 " �
73�4' 188-.:109.
retu E�rpdu
, The other memben. of
y_.
I ' d- . The report campn':
,
nbon Sain t_A -
Carnot, Robert Lind et, Ju ·
de la Marne.
• For the most detailed, recent and
ques ion, the reader is referred
to A
h' :'�:!:::r.:'::�'F.:.�:_:�";:��.��;::
lbert
:�n and wage! n
. .
i about
eaae of Paris),
t '
... ,rom ¥I Dtpartm��lI ;:�I:: �:v�r�g th� prices of 38 articles of eonsum
e u IDg Ole of daily labourers (except in
repas, se rejouissent de la
Les ouvrien qui se trouvent en gran
commune sur la place, a l'heure des
keepers were becoming daily more blatant. But the real problem
Harril, n, AJsifMls, pp. 176-85·114 . For li.mil.ar expraaiOlll sec abo pp. 168, .
L
-4 merchant.!
unlcLpai) , ere were ��Imall manufacturers and tradesmen;
ac� '
• '
profCU'Olll• J . .. 1 7•
. <;11.11.
• Caron Pilril JIntdaN lIS Tmwr, i. 1 .. bJ -eoated workers; and busin�men' and 1 members ofJiberal
�
'
I Ibid. ii. 14· CaTOn, op II.
, ��9, �51, �99, 330; iii. 30; iv.
1 97.
CROWD IN ACT ION
THERMIDOR . ,.
. ,.
Y
THE REVOLUTIONAR
S�boul has f?und that, of 454 members of Revolutionary Com
enactment of the Maximum
results, it is undoubted that the nuttees holding office in Paris in the course of the Year 11, 9'9
te consequences that both
General had important immedia per cent. were wage-earners, 63·8 per cent were shopkeepers
strengthen the government's
served to arrest inflation and to smaU workshop masters, and independent craftsmen whil�
by itself the law might not act
ties with the sans-cuJotus. Taken only 26·3 per cent. were rentiers, manufacturers, civil s�rvantJ,
as any great deterrent to hoardin
g and speculation ; but intro.
er measures to strengthen and members of the liberal professioru.1 Similarly, Sainte
duced as it was with a host of oth .
Claire Deville has shown that, of 132 General Councillors of
tect the currency, and to en
the organs of government, to pro the Commune, holding office between July 1 793 and July
means of terror, it helped
force compliance with the law by 1794, and whose occupations are listed, 82 were small manu
prices and to ensure the pro
for a period at least-to stabilize facturers, craftsmen, and tradesmen; 2 were manual workers
both the army and the
vision of adequate supplies to feed
civilian population. 1'll fact is
U mos t grap hically illustr�ted by and 9 'blackcoated' workers; while 8 were merchants and con
nt of the a1Stgnat dunng the tractors, and 3 1 belonged to the professions.1 This was' of
the sudden reversal in the moveme course, not just a fortuitous distribution of public setvants
passed: from 22 per cent.
first three months after the law was
, it rose to 33 per cent. in thrown up by the tide of revolution; we shall see in the nex;
of its nominal value in August 1793 chapter what Robespierre's successors did after Thermidor to
in December.1 During these
November and to 48 per cent. redress the social balance.
in the government appears
weeks the confidence of the people
that its policy will ensure the Mean�hile t�e �ve�n?Ient's inability to operate the law of
to be based on the double hope the M�xlmum 10 Its eXlstmg form was proving evident. Even
to feed the citizens and of
supply of cheap and adequate food' 10 P�ns, where the Revolutionary Committeees and com
c s enemies; 50 we real1 in a
military victories over the Republi
er: mtIsalres �. (UcaparemenLr were vigilant and strongly backed by
police agent's report of 30 Sept emb
d nombre a la maison
pubhc . OpInIOn, breaches of the law by merchants and shop
repas, se rejouissent de la
Les ouvrien qui se trouvent en gran
commune sur la place, a l'heure des
keepers were becoming daily more blatant. But the real problem
Harril, n, AJsifMls, pp. 176-85·114 . For li.mil.ar expraaiOlll sec abo pp. 168, .
L
-4 merchant.!
unlcLpai) , ere were ��Imall manufacturers and tradesmen;
ac� '
• '
profCU'Olll• J . .. 1 7•
. <;11.11.
• Caron Pilril JIntdaN lIS Tmwr, i. 1 .. bJ -eoated workers; and busin�men' and 1 members ofJiberal
�
'
I Ibid. ii. 14· CaTOn, op II.
, ��9, �51, �99, 330; iii. 30; iv.
1 97.
.,' THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THERMIDOR
'33
back streets and markets, selling sugar, butter, and poor cuts nounced: 'Si je ne me reten
ais, j'enverrais faire foutre
in the same market, butter was
Ie
of meat above the controlled price ;1 and, in December and nouveau regime.' The next day,
January, agents of the Ministry of the Interior reported that �eized from a merchant by angry women, and others, asse
lD the HaIles, held up five cart
mbled
butter was being sold in Paris markets at 36-44 sow per lb. loads of eggs and butter and com
pelled the drivers to sell the butt
(controlled price : 22 sow) and eggs at 80-100 sous for 25 (com er at 22 soU! a pound and
pared with 2 1 sow in June 1790, 271 so� in June 1
.
and 50 �93, _
at 24 soU! for
. . of
.
sow in September) .z The sans-culottes, while complammg bltterly
at this evasion of the law at their expense, were inclined to see
the merchants and the shopkeepers rather than the Government
as the villains of the piece, and called upon the authorities
insistently to remedy the abuses by a more continuous and
effective use of the organs of repression. It was in fact im
possible to leave things as they were: either t e Government
� extsting aw 0J!!.ensifyfug
must seek to en oree tlie . t e error,
or it must try to win the more wholehearted co-o ,trati S)fi of
peasants and prOducers b relaxin the re ulations andIn
creasmg t e margms of profit. It deci ed on the second course.
'n fallait guenr Ie commcrcc', said Barcre, 'et non Ie tuer:l
But it meant losing friends and allies elsewhere. Hebert and
his
- associates, the champions of domiciliary visits and sterner
Guard, a threatening
NA RY
:�i'�'::���������������
itselfat���
a patchwork of widely diff
tion, or non_operation, of
erent schemes, in which
the maximu m des sala ires var
of
the opera
ied with the
the local
e took
When a dele
authority, the resistance
social composition of the the inte r .
presented the Hotel de Ville in
.
in existing rates, and
sans-culoUtS to any reductions is the pro b
Payan, t�e national agent of the reconstituted . Ro1.. -- ler-
. uc:;p
t or its agents. In Par Commune, mvoked the Loi Le Chapelier,
ference of the governmen ' forbidding associ
lem was merely twofol d:
in the case of the workshop
Com
s for the
mittee
.
abons I
ofworkpeop e, and referred the matter to the police, wh0
decision rested wit h the made five arrests. Otherstrikesand wage-c13..l. ms followed involv·
manufacture of arms the
109 plasterers bakers
h the Paris .
t of private ind ustr y wit
of Public Safety; in tha
Commune. The governme
nt, not bei ng han dic app ed by the
� �
making furth r ar res ' e
c � :
rk b tchers, and port-workers. Besides
mmune threatened to prosecute
rival pressures of employer
s and wo rkers, app lied the law to the .
[ceux] qUI, au mepris des I°ll'S, abandolUlalent des travaux qui
ber skilled
. I sont nccessaires A
°
Guard, a threatening
NA RY
:�i'�'::���������������
itselfat���
a patchwork of widely diff
tion, or non_operation, of
erent schemes, in which
the maximu m des sala ires var
of
the opera
ied with the
the local
e took
When a dele
authority, the resistance
social composition of the the inte r .
presented the Hotel de Ville in
.
in existing rates, and
sans-culoUtS to any reductions is the pro b
Payan, t�e national agent of the reconstituted . Ro1.. -- ler-
. uc:;p
t or its agents. In Par Commune, mvoked the Loi Le Chapelier,
ference of the governmen ' forbidding associ
lem was merely twofol d:
in the case of the workshop
Com
s for the
mittee
.
abons I
ofworkpeop e, and referred the matter to the police, wh0
decision rested wit h the made five arrests. Otherstrikesand wage-c13..l. ms followed involv·
manufacture of arms the
109 plasterers bakers
h the Paris .
t of private ind ustr y wit
of Public Safety; in tha
Commune. The governme
nt, not bei ng han dic app ed by the
� �
making furth r ar res ' e
c � :
rk b tchers, and port-workers. Besides
mmune threatened to prosecute
rival pressures of employer
s and wo rkers, app lied the law to the .
[ceux] qUI, au mepris des I°ll'S, abandolUlalent des travaux qui
ber skilled
. I sont nccessaires A
°
wages to operate in the capital . This disastr ous doc �ment purposes the same armed force with the same commander at
of the origin al law of the MaXlm u�
followed the provisions .
its head which, in June '793, had compelled the Convention to
took no accoun t of recent Increas es In
General to the letter, submit to its will ; this time it was to abandon the Commune and
pri es, and face the� grea ma jority o the �
either wages or food �
working population With substantla re u�tlOns, ? �
�
� s me mes � the Jacobin leaders and rally to their enemies after a few hours
of indecision by a minority ofits units. When every allowance is
gs.
amounting to one-half or more of their e.xlSting earmn made for the bungling of Hanriot and the refusal or inability
calcula ted to make
Such a provocative measure was hardly ofRobespierre and Saint-Just to lead a popular revolt against a
for social peace or to bind the worken more closely to th e d
. � hostile majority in the Assembly, and for all the chances and
deep politica l crisis. After comml tung
ministration at a time of mischances in a tangled series ofevents, the essential fact remains
Comm une seems to have realized the that they had lost the support of the ParisianJQQ,[-cul2llls.
this imprudence, the
prevent ive action in case of further disturb ances:
need. to take
• � A. Ording, Lt 81lWJIl ti, �ict till Comi" tit $tUM/ /Nblu (Oslo, 1930) ; A.
worke�, Nat., AFII 47, plaq. 368, fol. 38; AFII 48, plaq. 374, fol. 10.
on the 25th Hanriot was warned that several arms
, Arch.
cam;ng 8 UIJI'IS would be rcdu«:d to 3 /ierts, 15 JDI<S, and P4""<ns;t/t /'C� II. pp. 9 ' 7 (T.
. �ri.i. by Ihe Parisian Seclions and SC"s-<:IlWllts, A. Soboui, us SeIlS.GIl/CI/II
ThUll.
I �.rpcnter the
wages to operate in the capital . This disastr ous doc �ment purposes the same armed force with the same commander at
of the origin al law of the MaXlm u�
followed the provisions .
its head which, in June '793, had compelled the Convention to
took no accoun t of recent Increas es In
General to the letter, submit to its will ; this time it was to abandon the Commune and
pri es, and face the� grea ma jority o the �
either wages or food �
working population With substantla re u�tlOns, ? �
�
� s me mes � the Jacobin leaders and rally to their enemies after a few hours
of indecision by a minority ofits units. When every allowance is
gs.
amounting to one-half or more of their e.xlSting earmn made for the bungling of Hanriot and the refusal or inability
calcula ted to make
Such a provocative measure was hardly ofRobespierre and Saint-Just to lead a popular revolt against a
for social peace or to bind the worken more closely to th e d
. � hostile majority in the Assembly, and for all the chances and
deep politica l crisis. After comml tung
ministration at a time of mischances in a tangled series ofevents, the essential fact remains
Comm une seems to have realized the that they had lost the support of the ParisianJQQ,[-cul2llls.
this imprudence, the
prevent ive action in case of further disturb ances:
need. to take
• � A. Ording, Lt 81lWJIl ti, �ict till Comi" tit $tUM/ /Nblu (Oslo, 1930) ; A.
worke�, Nat., AFII 47, plaq. 368, fol. 38; AFII 48, plaq. 374, fol. 10.
on the 25th Hanriot was warned that several arms
, Arch.
cam;ng 8 UIJI'IS would be rcdu«:d to 3 /ierts, 15 JDI<S, and P4""<ns;t/t /'C� II. pp. 9 ' 7 (T.
. �ri.i. by Ihe Parisian Seclions and SC"s-<:IlWllts, A. Soboui, us SeIlS.GIl/CI/II
ThUll.
I �.rpcnter the
I
More evident still ":as the particular hostility of the wage
Sainte-Claire Deville, who made a deta and comymitt stud
ee on that ear�ers, who ha� been IOcensed by the recent publication of the
bly
and affiliations of every local assem all the civil authorities in
of maxImum des sa/Qlres by the Robespierrist Communc. Presumably
day, found that less than one-fifth however half-hearted, to
the capital showed any inclination,e : these mclu : Ibid., pp. 273-8.
p' Arch. Pr�r. Pol., Aa 163, rol. 293.There is also the rather eonfwcd account of
Arch. P..ef. Po\., Aa 266, rol, 242.
•
. ded n:-elve
rally to the side of the Commun . h that of the FIDl , st�re
Revolutionary Committees, among whic t conclUSive �'erre Rose, gunpowder worker of the Homme Arm� (Marais) Scction' who was
ked "-tp fo� reporting to his neighboUr! what he had heard in the Place de
showed the most eager response. Finally-and mos he that n'ght�that anyone publicly announcing the oullawry of Robespierre
and othen would be arrested by the Commune (Arch. Pr�f, PoL, Ab 356, fol, 2).
l , op. cit., pp. 201-14·
, Sainle-CI.ire Devile
."
CROWD I N ACTION THERMIDOR
158 THE REVOLUTIONARY
every chance to make up evide�ce of all-during the night thirty·nine of the Sectioru
The militanu in the Sections had pres ented to them by the were 10 �ennanent session, debating and receiving reports. Of
their minds on the important issue ughout the afternoon and these, thirty·five declared unequivocally for the Convention;
two contending parties which, thro ers, threau, and decla�a. tw� others-Sans-Culottes (Hanriot's Section) and Finistere
evening, sent mutually conflicting ord should they rally to the SIde hesltate� at first, but rallied later; only two--the Observatoire
tions, appealing to their loyalties:uld reject and abandon and Chaher . (Cluny) Sections of the Faubourg Saint-Marcel
of 'les patriotes opprimes' or shoned,they and finally outlawed, by showed clea�ly their sy�pathies for the Robespierrists; yet,
them to their fate as men condem Convention ? The Com�une under the weight of opposlOg opinion and seeing that the game
l
the lawfully constituted Nationa n of the thir , ty compa of was lost, they too surrendered to the majority before the night
had some early successes: seventee ional Guard) rem�� atmng was out.1
canonnUrs (forming part of the Pari
s Nat
de in the Pla� e de Gr� e; The repo.rts of these proceedings were, in the great majority
in the capital obeyed the call to para bourg Sam t-An tom e, of cases, wntten after the event-at a time when the victors of
they included two companies from the Fau the Bon , . ne t Rou ge and T�e�midor were already seated firmly in the saddle. The
two from the markeu, and two from ��n k. In a�dtuon �nother OplDlOns of the minority who favoured the Commune were
Luxembourg Sect ions on the Left
dozen Sections sent battalions of fosth ers and plkeme,n, I�clud. therefore rar:ly recorded; but here and there we find among
ing a strong force of 1,200 from t�e Pantheon Section m the them the vOice of a sans·ctJiotte, who was not so easily to be
Faubourg Saint-Marcel. At .one hme there we�e over 3,000 swayed fro� his pas� loyalties, In the general assembly of the
armed men drawn up outside and, el the Hot de Ville. But they ��atre �atlOns SectIOn, for example, we read of a citizen who
� debate went o� InSisted 10 the face of hostile interruption that a letter from
lacked both direction and purp assembhes,thethe whole of this
ose;
J:Ianriot should be read, instead of being ignored as the cmana.
in the Sectional committees and gradually melted a,,:,ay : t1?n of '1a Commune co�pi�atrice'. When challenged to give
force, left largely idle and unattended,or,
at 1.30 in the morning of 10 Thermid 200 .men of the. Fmls hiS name, he stoutly replies: le me nomme Lanbrine, demeu
tere Section, the last armed support of Robbou esplerre.and hIS � rant. rue du Sepulcre, compagnon [journryman] de Graseau .'J
ciates, marched silently back to the Fau rg Satnt.Marce�. , AgalD, �e r�ad of Charles Joly, wallpaper worker and corporal
of
More significant still was the lack trad?� resp o e from the cl�l ofthe Reumon (Beaubo,urg) Section, who tore up the papers ofa
authorities in the Sections, Tha mps Elysees,ally
the luon bour�tots woman newsvendor which announced the arrest of HanriOl' he
w�s arr�sted as an �ccomplice of the Communc and kep� in
t
Cha Rep ubhque
Sections of the west-Tuileries, (Pon t Neu f), a d even pmon till the followmg December.l But these are but isolated
(Roule), Louvre, Revolut ionn �jre �
�l� have qUic sup kly de cases; once the tide had begun to turn, Robespierre's vocal
Piques (Robespierre's own Secuon)-sho nslOg;. but ear� y defenders o� that day were but a small and ineffectual body,
clared for the Convention is hardly surp such radIcal Secuons as ,
whose 0plOlOns ,
were qUIckly submerged in the growing flood
porters of the Asse mbly also inclu de�
the Quinze Vingu, Unite, and Mal�tled n Com mune, as ,,:,ell. of anti-Jacobin reaction.
of the achons
I
More evident still ":as the particular hostility of the wage
Sainte-Claire Deville, who made a deta and comymitt stud
ee on that ear�ers, who ha� been IOcensed by the recent publication of the
bly
and affiliations of every local assem all the civil authorities in
of maxImum des sa/Qlres by the Robespierrist Communc. Presumably
day, found that less than one-fifth however half-hearted, to
the capital showed any inclination,e : these mclu : Ibid., pp. 273-8.
p' Arch. Pr�r. Pol., Aa 163, rol. 293.There is also the rather eonfwcd account of
Arch. P..ef. Po\., Aa 266, rol, 242.
•
. ded n:-elve
rally to the side of the Commun . h that of the FIDl , st�re
Revolutionary Committees, among whic t conclUSive �'erre Rose, gunpowder worker of the Homme Arm� (Marais) Scction' who was
ked "-tp fo� reporting to his neighboUr! what he had heard in the Place de
showed the most eager response. Finally-and mos he that n'ght�that anyone publicly announcing the oullawry of Robespierre
and othen would be arrested by the Commune (Arch. Pr�f, PoL, Ab 356, fol, 2).
l , op. cit., pp. 201-14·
, Sainle-CI.ire Devile
140 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION THERMIDOR '.'
ignorant of the political struggle that had just broken into the wage-earners, who, in Paris, formed so substantial a part of
the open, workers gathered for a protest meeting in the place
de Greve on 4 o'clock that afternoon: it must have made an
the sans-culottes, had come to believe that the removal or Robes
pier�e and his �iates would mean the end of the hated
maxImum des salal�u and clear the way for higher wages.t In a
impression, as it is recorded in the minutes of five Civil Com
mittees of neighbouring Sections. It must also have been some sense they were fight; but the outcome was neither what they
what confusing to observers to see the demonstrators converging hopcd nor expected.
ce Barere qui appartient a touta Its factions tour a tour et qui a fait
fixer Ie pri}!.:des joumees des ouvriers pour les faire perir de faim.1
But it was too late to have any effect on the course of events.
The workers remained either hostile, or indifferent to such
pleas. Earlier that evening, eyewitnesses reported that General
Hanriot, seeking to win allies for the arrested deputies,
harangued a score of paviors, urging them to leave their work,
as their 'protector' and 'father' was in danger. 'Les ouvriers',
concludes the report, 'I'ecoutent un moment, crient Vive la
Rtpublique, et reprennent leur ouvrage.') Others showed more
marked hostility. When, two days later, after Robespierre and
his principal lieutenants had been disposed of, the councillors
of the Commune were, in turn, being driven to the place of
execution, workers are said to have shouted as they passed,
'foutu maximum !'. From other accounts, too, it appears that
• Arch. N..t., AFII 47, pl..q. 365, fob:. 8, 28; plaq. 366, fob:. 1, 6, 34, 50. Sainte_
, Areh. N..t., f1 #32, plaq. I, fol. 40. ' Ibid., pl..q. 9, fol. 4·
Cl..ire Deville, surprisingly, don not mention this incident .
ce Barere qui appartient a touta Its factions tour a tour et qui a fait
fixer Ie pri}!.:des joumees des ouvriers pour les faire perir de faim.1
But it was too late to have any effect on the course of events.
The workers remained either hostile, or indifferent to such
pleas. Earlier that evening, eyewitnesses reported that General
Hanriot, seeking to win allies for the arrested deputies,
harangued a score of paviors, urging them to leave their work,
as their 'protector' and 'father' was in danger. 'Les ouvriers',
concludes the report, 'I'ecoutent un moment, crient Vive la
Rtpublique, et reprennent leur ouvrage.') Others showed more
marked hostility. When, two days later, after Robespierre and
his principal lieutenants had been disposed of, the councillors
of the Commune were, in turn, being driven to the place of
execution, workers are said to have shouted as they passed,
'foutu maximum !'. From other accounts, too, it appears that
• Arch. N..t., AFII 47, pl..q. 365, fob:. 8, 28; plaq. 366, fob:. 1, 6, 34, 50. Sainte_
, Areh. N..t., f1 #32, plaq. I, fol. 40. ' Ibid., pl..q. 9, fol. 4·
Cl..ire Deville, surprisingly, don not mention this incident .
HE
the �.ll
popularinsufrections of12thGerm
inal and t st·4th Prairial �
govern�ent. T e old comites tie surveillance and Revolutionary
pp.
I For a general account ofthese events
T��� .. (� is, 1937). merchants, and shipbuilders, 'the hard·faced men who had
(Paris, 19119), 166-209, �36-.s8 ; G. Lerebvr e. us
Jtr1I1lM I !
done wei out of the war'-to liberate the economy from the
Ul dts controls Imposed by their predecessors. AJ a first step, in
inJ (Moscow.
T 6nneao n, SIIIU�JW ;
'lUdi� ,..;e E. Tad!!, 1 pm
(Arch. pur.
.
a1phabl!tiquel [Police Bl!n�rale]). and ,he procb-_ba= ....,_febvre. op. Cit pp. '4-IIQ.
.•
HE
the �.ll
popularinsufrections of12thGerm
inal and t st·4th Prairial �
govern�ent. T e old comites tie surveillance and Revolutionary
pp.
I For a general account ofthese events
T��� .. (� is, 1937). merchants, and shipbuilders, 'the hard·faced men who had
(Paris, 19119), 166-209, �36-.s8 ; G. Lerebvr e. us
Jtr1I1lM I !
done wei out of the war'-to liberate the economy from the
Ul dts controls Imposed by their predecessors. AJ a first step, in
inJ (Moscow.
T 6nneao n, SIIIU�JW ;
'lUdi� ,..;e E. Tad!!, 1 pm
(Arch. pur.
.
a1phabl!tiquel [Police Bl!n�rale]). and ,he procb-_ba= ....,_febvre. op. Cit pp. '4-IIQ.
.•
wed in addition toounbed We knowr1 about .wages for this period. At first the
bread was now allo Thermidoria u
1+4
in July to 28 per cember, 17 per cent. in Februa policy of fostering inflation an1of��t� ;:;�� re.c y competltlve
20 per cent. in De market. From the limited evidence. v le It appears that
71 per cent. in May 179 pared with the r � In £A�n1' 1795 were far lower
the real wages of Parisian worke
5.1
Although Paris vinceswa s a privileged area comwe re abandoned than in 1793-4 and had ! oba I� ;1 cn back to the cata-
large towns in theose pro , where con trols strophic level of the early onths f 789·z
citizens were to suffer nea r-famine condi
altogether and wh n peo ple of the capitalultcam e to face con But long before this, and even before the repeal of the
tions,' the commolonged har the new policy. Maxtmum
' Iaws m
' December the co�mon people of Paris had
siderable and pro side by dship as the res ofsed t, still begun to voice their hostil!ty to t e government's policy,
There now developed, an opensidmae rke with the clo markeatio ned though at first in terms '0f ��athy and sullen resentment. The
I
\!
�rtaking to pro manner :I:gtng . .the �ple into a state of wretchedness and
y 10
inability of the govntit ernment to honour its controlled despair 'tha; to ImaglOe.
bread and meat at the
at
price, compelled ad and mend the open ma rke Th us, for The first ope? clashes with the authorities involved the arms
their income on brethe autumnatofin 179 w I Robe�pier"'s fal�, had remained relatively
l
wed in addition toounbed We knowr1 about .wages for this period. At first the
bread was now allo Thermidoria u
1+4
in July to 28 per cember, 17 per cent. in Februa policy of fostering inflation an1of��t� ;:;�� re.c y competltlve
20 per cent. in De market. From the limited evidence. v le It appears that
71 per cent. in May 179 pared with the r � In £A�n1' 1795 were far lower
the real wages of Parisian worke
5.1
Although Paris vinceswa s a privileged area comwe re abandoned than in 1793-4 and had ! oba I� ;1 cn back to the cata-
large towns in theose pro , where con trols strophic level of the early onths f 789·z
citizens were to suffer nea r-famine condi
altogether and wh n peo ple of the capitalultcam e to face con But long before this, and even before the repeal of the
tions,' the commolonged har the new policy. Maxtmum
' Iaws m
' December the co�mon people of Paris had
siderable and pro side by dship as the res ofsed t, still begun to voice their hostil!ty to t e government's policy,
There now developed, an opensidmae rke with the clo markeatio ned though at first in terms '0f ��athy and sullen resentment. The
I
\!
�rtaking to pro manner :I:gtng . .the �ple into a state of wretchedness and
y 10
inability of the govntit ernment to honour its controlled despair 'tha; to ImaglOe.
bread and meat at the
at
price, compelled ad and mend the open ma rke Th us, for The first ope? clashes with the authorities involved the arms
their income on brethe autumnatofin 179 w I Robe�pier"'s fal�, had remained relatively
l
'
la Rue du Vert-Bois, the latter said to be composed largely
February 1795.' But after December we hear no more of wages 'd'ouvriers et d'hommes peu instruits, tres faciles a egarer'.
movements. Once the full effects ofinBation were felt, the wage- Occasionally this propaganda is reflected in the police reports;
earners joined with the rest of the sans-culottes in common pro
test against the fantastic rise in prices of aU consumers' goods;
as, for example, in late November, when members of the Bonne
Nouvelle Section, marching to the Convention to congratulate
once more the food riot rather than the strike became the order the legislators on their decision to close down theJacobin Club,
of the day. were greeted with cat-calls and derisive shouts of 'Voila les
In fact the repeal of the Maximum laws in late December petits muscadins de Bonne-Nouvelle qui Vont a la Convention';
touched off a popular movement which, with short lulls, con or, again, when an arms worker, arrested for creating a distur
tinued till the early summer. A police report of 27 December bance at the Tuileries on 9 February, accompaD:ied his criticism
warned of growing social unrest: 'La classe incligente donne de of the Convention for closing the workshops with attacks on the
I'inquietude aux citoyens paisibles sur les suites de cette cherte deputies for feathering their own nests while the people starved,
excessive.' By early January prices of many goods had already and for destroying monuments to Marat; while petitioners from
doubled since the repeal of the Maximum; and workers, the Sections that had come to applaud thest.: measures were
assembled at the Tuileries, threatened merchants and shop apostrophized as 'des intriguans, des marchands, des factieux,
keepers with violence: 'Qu'a l'egard des marchands� c'etaient un tas de gueux et des hommes a la houppelande'. This atmo
des cochons qu'il faudrait tuer.' Some voiced royalist propa sphere of class-hostility-reminiscent of that prevailing in the
ganda: 'Au diable la Republique! nous manquons de tout, il
n'y a que Ie riche qui ne manque de rien: It was rumoured that
capital on the eve of the Champ de Mars 'massacre' of July
1791-Was further intensified by the counter-measures taken
the Faubourg Saint-Antoine was once more preparing to march by the Convention. The remaining clubs were closed down and
on the Convention, this time to demand a reduction in food
prices; it was even suggested that the Assembly should be
some of the local leaders-Babeuf among them-were arrested.
Even more significant perhaps was the suggestion made to the
dispersed by force.�
But it was not only the rising cost of living that kept this
Committee of General Security that better use might be made
ofthe anti�Jacobin youth, thejeutuSSt dOTie led by Freron, to act
movement in being: political issues entered into it as well. On as a counter-weight to the activities of 'la faction' :
the one hand, there were the measures taken by the Govern
ment-the persecuti.on of the 'patriots' of 1793-4, the closure Ce contrepoids est d'autant plus necessaire qu'il [Ie Cornite] n'a
of the Jacobin Club, the abolition of the 40 sous, the destruction nuls moyens de repression, nulle force armee sur laquelle il puisse
of the busts of Marat, the encouragement given to speculators entier-ernent compter.'
and war-profiteers and to the middle-class youth (or muscadins),
whose arrogance excited the particular fury and hostility of the
The suggestion did not fall on deaf ears, as subsequent events
were to reveal.
sans-culottes; on the other hand, there was the Jacobin propa
ganda kept up by Lebois's journal, L'Ami du proP/t, and the
It was against this background that the insurrectionary move
ment developed that culminated in the explosion of 12th
, For the .� -= m.l.inly Pr«u·_6awr tie La w-nli01l national" xlvii. 1311 i
Germinal (I April 1795)' The new element that brought it to
:dix. :I+4-63 ; 1. ag...go, II�; Ii. '55-7; !iv. :166. a head'was the growing shortage of rationed bread, which began
a Aulard, op. dt. i. 3+3, 3�7-8. 367, 369-70, 377. 380.
I See Cobb and Rudl!, op. cit., pp. 1I�7-9.
146 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION GERMINAL-PRAIRIAL '47
on 20 January. The workers, faced with the prospect of un clubs and societies that had managed to survive in the Fau
employment in mid-winter, reacted vigo�usly and, aft�r a bourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marcel and the Section des
series of demonstrations, in the course of which a score of nng Gravilliers-prominent among which were the Society of Re
leaders were arrested, persuaded the authorities to grant them publican Virtues in the Observatoire Section and the Club de
a few weeks' respite. The workshops were closed down on 8
'
la Rue du Vert-Bois, the latter said to be composed largely
February 1795.' But after December we hear no more of wages 'd'ouvriers et d'hommes peu instruits, tres faciles a egarer'.
movements. Once the full effects ofinBation were felt, the wage- Occasionally this propaganda is reflected in the police reports;
earners joined with the rest of the sans-culottes in common pro
test against the fantastic rise in prices of aU consumers' goods;
as, for example, in late November, when members of the Bonne
Nouvelle Section, marching to the Convention to congratulate
once more the food riot rather than the strike became the order the legislators on their decision to close down theJacobin Club,
of the day. were greeted with cat-calls and derisive shouts of 'Voila les
In fact the repeal of the Maximum laws in late December petits muscadins de Bonne-Nouvelle qui Vont a la Convention';
touched off a popular movement which, with short lulls, con or, again, when an arms worker, arrested for creating a distur
tinued till the early summer. A police report of 27 December bance at the Tuileries on 9 February, accompaD:ied his criticism
warned of growing social unrest: 'La classe incligente donne de of the Convention for closing the workshops with attacks on the
I'inquietude aux citoyens paisibles sur les suites de cette cherte deputies for feathering their own nests while the people starved,
excessive.' By early January prices of many goods had already and for destroying monuments to Marat; while petitioners from
doubled since the repeal of the Maximum; and workers, the Sections that had come to applaud thest.: measures were
assembled at the Tuileries, threatened merchants and shop apostrophized as 'des intriguans, des marchands, des factieux,
keepers with violence: 'Qu'a l'egard des marchands� c'etaient un tas de gueux et des hommes a la houppelande'. This atmo
des cochons qu'il faudrait tuer.' Some voiced royalist propa sphere of class-hostility-reminiscent of that prevailing in the
ganda: 'Au diable la Republique! nous manquons de tout, il
n'y a que Ie riche qui ne manque de rien: It was rumoured that
capital on the eve of the Champ de Mars 'massacre' of July
1791-Was further intensified by the counter-measures taken
the Faubourg Saint-Antoine was once more preparing to march by the Convention. The remaining clubs were closed down and
on the Convention, this time to demand a reduction in food
prices; it was even suggested that the Assembly should be
some of the local leaders-Babeuf among them-were arrested.
Even more significant perhaps was the suggestion made to the
dispersed by force.�
But it was not only the rising cost of living that kept this
Committee of General Security that better use might be made
ofthe anti�Jacobin youth, thejeutuSSt dOTie led by Freron, to act
movement in being: political issues entered into it as well. On as a counter-weight to the activities of 'la faction' :
the one hand, there were the measures taken by the Govern
ment-the persecuti.on of the 'patriots' of 1793-4, the closure Ce contrepoids est d'autant plus necessaire qu'il [Ie Cornite] n'a
of the Jacobin Club, the abolition of the 40 sous, the destruction nuls moyens de repression, nulle force armee sur laquelle il puisse
of the busts of Marat, the encouragement given to speculators entier-ernent compter.'
and war-profiteers and to the middle-class youth (or muscadins),
whose arrogance excited the particular fury and hostility of the
The suggestion did not fall on deaf ears, as subsequent events
were to reveal.
sans-culottes; on the other hand, there was the Jacobin propa
ganda kept up by Lebois's journal, L'Ami du proP/t, and the
It was against this background that the insurrectionary move
ment developed that culminated in the explosion of 12th
, For the .� -= m.l.inly Pr«u·_6awr tie La w-nli01l national" xlvii. 1311 i
Germinal (I April 1795)' The new element that brought it to
:dix. :I+4-63 ; 1. ag...go, II�; Ii. '55-7; !iv. :166. a head'was the growing shortage of rationed bread, which began
a Aulard, op. dt. i. 3+3, 3�7-8. 367, 369-70, 377. 380.
I See Cobb and Rudl!, op. cit., pp. 1I�7-9.
14B THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION GERMINAL-PRAIRIAL ."
to be felt in January and reached near-famine proportions by petition Conventi�n : Qui�ze Vingts deputation reminds deputies
that, on occasIOn, msurrectlon a sacred duty and calls for jwtice for
.
the end of March. Police reports for the fortnight leading up to
the outbreak present a graphic picture of a growing movement imprisoned 'patriots', for steps to alleviate hunger and for the
of anger and frustration, which may be summarized as follows : implementation of the Constitution of 1 793. 1
16 March. Meetings of women in the Gravillien Section. Th�e demands were voiced on a far larger scale on the
17 March. Deputations from Saint-Jacques and Saint-Marcel followmg day (nuh Germinal). Meetings and processions
petition the Convention: 'We lack bread and are beginning to regret formed at .an ea:ly hour. The bread ration failed completely in
all the sacrifices we have made for the Revolution.' some SectIOns; 10 others, a ration of 4 or 8
ounces was distri
18 March. A waiter arrested in the Montagne (Palais Royal) buted. In the Droits de I'Homme women came to blows at
16 March. Meetings of women in the Gravillien Section. Th�e demands were voiced on a far larger scale on the
17 March. Deputations from Saint-Jacques and Saint-Marcel followmg day (nuh Germinal). Meetings and processions
petition the Convention: 'We lack bread and are beginning to regret formed at .an ea:ly hour. The bread ration failed completely in
all the sacrifices we have made for the Revolution.' some SectIOns; 10 others, a ration of 4 or 8
ounces was distri
18 March. A waiter arrested in the Montagne (Palais Royal) buted. In the Droits de I'Homme women came to blows at
�
placed under the supreme command of a regula� Army officer, l'esclavage'; while one of two craftsmen arrested for seditious
General Pichegru ; local leaders were arrested In the Contrat talk, the next day, in Arsenal excused his conduct by saying,
Social, Gravilliers, Arcis, and Montmartre Sections; a dozen 'qu'it croyait que c'etait pour cause de pain'.
deputies (including Leonard Bourdon, Amar, and Cambon Similar incidents are reported almost daily during the next
all opponents of Robespierre in Thermidor) were also arrested; month in the public opinion bulletins issued by the police;'
and three of the leaders of the Thermidorian eoup d'ltal, but and, occasionally, we find signs, besides, of a more organized
now denounced as terrorists-Barere, Billaud·Varennes, and mo,:ement once more beginning to take shape. Thus, on 29
Collot d'Herbois-were sentenced to deportation.I Apnl, the Montreuil Section declared itself to be in permanent
The authorities showed less energy in dealing with the food session for the purpose of discussing food supplies and called on
crisis. The Convention decreed, on 2 April, that the bread other Sections to follow its example; a similar attempt in the
ration, where insufficient, should be supplemented with riee Jardin des Plantes was nipped in the bud by the arrest of a
and biscuits, and that priority should be given in their distribu· number ofringleaders. On 12 May building workers threatened
tion to 'les ouvriers, artisans et indigents'. But this did nothing, to go on strike if the bread ration were not increased; and a
ofcourse, to solve the largerproblem ofsupplies, and the shortage police agent sadly noted that it would be impossible to arrest
of rationed bread continued unchecked: we still read during all those who cursed the government, 'as it would mean arrest
April and May of distributions of 2, 4, or 6 ounces per head. ing over half the population of Paris'. The next day demonstra
supplemented by small portions of rice. There were reports, tors in a number of central Sections-Museum, Lombards,
besides, of increasing numbers of beggars, of people dying of and Marches-went from one baker to another to persuade the
hunger in the streets, and of suicides.2 There was a further women to refuse to accept their bread ration. On the 16th,
revival of royalist propaganda: 'Prenons patience [some were when the ration fell to two ounces per head, police agents
heard to say], nous aurons un roi avant quinze jours; alaI'S spoke of a pending popular insurrection, allegedly inspired by
nous ne manquerons pas de pain.' But the prevailing m� terrorists; and, on the 18th, it was rumoured that, if the ration
was one of resignation and despair, tempered by outbursts were not increased, the Faubourg Saint-Antoine would rise
of militancy. again on 1st Prairial (20 May) and invite the rest of Paris to
Yet, despite the attempts to overawe the menu peup!e by a follow its example. The next day, there was general talk of a
display of force, the popular movement started up agam aftee march on the Convention : in the Invalides Section (reported
4
a brief lull. On April the familiar complaints were voiced the police) the ouuners were ready to join with those of the
again in the markets; on the 9th a porcelain-painter was Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Illegal assemblies were held in Droits
de I'Homme and Quinze Vingts, where it was urged 'q:.J'il
fallait marcher en masse et en armes pour demander a la Con
arrested at the Porte Saint-Denis for bitterly attacking the
Convention before a large crowd and complaining of the
insufficiency and poor quality of bread. The next day some 500 �ention du pain ou la mort'. The same evening and the follow
women gathered in the Bonnet de la Liberte (Croix Rouge) �ng morning an anonymous manifesto was widely distributed
10 thtfaubourgs and city centre, bearing the title : insurrution du
, Ma,hiez, op. cit.• pp. 201-8.
• Au\ard, op. cit. i. 660, 714-1:), 7'9. 721, 724, 728. , Cobb and Rud�, op. cit., pp. 267-7Q•
" . THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD I N ACTION GERMJNAL-PRAIRJAL " ,
and Pantheon-went into pennanent session; and the gunners Section to shouts of 'A bas les annes! nous ne voulons plus de
of the Gravilliers Section ('composes en grande partie d'on. soldats, puisqu'il n'y a plus de pain!' On 1 7 April women in
vriers') talked of marching to the Champs Elyttes to release the Gravilliers and Lombards refused to accept their bread ration;
'patriots' from prison. But the Convention took stern measures on the 20th a domestic servant was arrested in the Pont Neuf
to re-establish order and to prevent a renewed outbreak. Paris Section, charged with saying, 'II y a huh mois que nous avions
was declared to be in a state of siege and its armed forces were du pain; aujourd'hui nous o'en avons plus, nous sommes dans
�
placed under the supreme command of a regula� Army officer, l'esclavage'; while one of two craftsmen arrested for seditious
General Pichegru ; local leaders were arrested In the Contrat talk, the next day, in Arsenal excused his conduct by saying,
Social, Gravilliers, Arcis, and Montmartre Sections; a dozen 'qu'it croyait que c'etait pour cause de pain'.
deputies (including Leonard Bourdon, Amar, and Cambon Similar incidents are reported almost daily during the next
all opponents of Robespierre in Thermidor) were also arrested; month in the public opinion bulletins issued by the police;'
and three of the leaders of the Thermidorian eoup d'ltal, but and, occasionally, we find signs, besides, of a more organized
now denounced as terrorists-Barere, Billaud·Varennes, and mo,:ement once more beginning to take shape. Thus, on 29
Collot d'Herbois-were sentenced to deportation.I Apnl, the Montreuil Section declared itself to be in permanent
The authorities showed less energy in dealing with the food session for the purpose of discussing food supplies and called on
crisis. The Convention decreed, on 2 April, that the bread other Sections to follow its example; a similar attempt in the
ration, where insufficient, should be supplemented with riee Jardin des Plantes was nipped in the bud by the arrest of a
and biscuits, and that priority should be given in their distribu· number ofringleaders. On 12 May building workers threatened
tion to 'les ouvriers, artisans et indigents'. But this did nothing, to go on strike if the bread ration were not increased; and a
ofcourse, to solve the largerproblem ofsupplies, and the shortage police agent sadly noted that it would be impossible to arrest
of rationed bread continued unchecked: we still read during all those who cursed the government, 'as it would mean arrest
April and May of distributions of 2, 4, or 6 ounces per head. ing over half the population of Paris'. The next day demonstra
supplemented by small portions of rice. There were reports, tors in a number of central Sections-Museum, Lombards,
besides, of increasing numbers of beggars, of people dying of and Marches-went from one baker to another to persuade the
hunger in the streets, and of suicides.2 There was a further women to refuse to accept their bread ration. On the 16th,
revival of royalist propaganda: 'Prenons patience [some were when the ration fell to two ounces per head, police agents
heard to say], nous aurons un roi avant quinze jours; alaI'S spoke of a pending popular insurrection, allegedly inspired by
nous ne manquerons pas de pain.' But the prevailing m� terrorists; and, on the 18th, it was rumoured that, if the ration
was one of resignation and despair, tempered by outbursts were not increased, the Faubourg Saint-Antoine would rise
of militancy. again on 1st Prairial (20 May) and invite the rest of Paris to
Yet, despite the attempts to overawe the menu peup!e by a follow its example. The next day, there was general talk of a
display of force, the popular movement started up agam aftee march on the Convention : in the Invalides Section (reported
4
a brief lull. On April the familiar complaints were voiced the police) the ouuners were ready to join with those of the
again in the markets; on the 9th a porcelain-painter was Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Illegal assemblies were held in Droits
de I'Homme and Quinze Vingts, where it was urged 'q:.J'il
fallait marcher en masse et en armes pour demander a la Con
arrested at the Porte Saint-Denis for bitterly attacking the
Convention before a large crowd and complaining of the
insufficiency and poor quality of bread. The next day some 500 �ention du pain ou la mort'. The same evening and the follow
women gathered in the Bonnet de la Liberte (Croix Rouge) �ng morning an anonymous manifesto was widely distributed
10 thtfaubourgs and city centre, bearing the title : insurrution du
, Ma,hiez, op. cit.• pp. 201-8.
• Au\ard, op. cit. i. 660, 714-1:), 7'9. 721, 724, 728. , Cobb and Rud�, op. cit., pp. 267-7Q•
GERMINAL-PRAIRIAL '53
CROWD IN ACTION
THE REVOLUTIONARY
sa
1511
et
its.1 It was the call ar�ouries, distributed arms to their comrades, and compelled
pain rtconquJrir dro
jNuplt pour obtenir duwas st remarkable and their commanders to lead them to the Convention. In others
the 'party o� order' retained the upper hand, but marched t �
to be one of the mo
to arms for what
the �nvenuon, nevertheless, in response to the general call to
the Revolution. .
stubborn popular revolts of . g
sm was sounded m the Faubou:
Early on 1St Prairial the toc as 10 arms Issued by the Government later that morning. It was,
din des Plantes. On�e .�o�e,
Saint.Antoine and in the Jar and therefore, a mixed force of insurgents and would-be defenders of
men that took the 10luatlve
October 1 789, it was the wo Fau bou rg the Convention that converged on the Place du Carrousel in the
ion after them. In the
brought their menfolk into act me n out fro m wake of the marching women at 3,30 that afternoon,'
is) they called the
du Nord (Faubourg Saint·Den
the morning . T � ere w �re foo d The second invasion of the Tuileries quickly followed. A
the workshops at 7 o'clock in ,
n at bakers sho . ps I n � opm co � rt, d�puty, Feraud, who opposed their entry, was struck down and
riots and assemblies of wome In the Tu lenes Sectlo� hiS head was severed and paraded on a pike. This time the
its de l'H om me . ..
Gravilliers, and Dro women were amply supported by armed citizens of the rebel.
housewives queuemg 2t bakers
to the Convention. In th� Left
bands of women compelled IiOllS Sections, though few battalions broke into the building in
shops to join them in a march des full strength. Yet the demonstrators were in sufficient numbers
evola (Luxembourg), Jardm
I
Accordl�g to an
du pam ou la morl'. d�flan leaders time to call in the support of the loyal Sectioru
in tbeir caps the inscription,
eyewitness, as they marched, t
�� co�pelle� wom e� �n shops with the Bu�te des M�ulins (Palais Royal), Museum (Louvre),
ng 10 carn age s, to Jom th�m. and Lepeletler at their head-and the insurgents were driven
and private houses, and others ndi fron t of the TUl. lenes, out of the Tuileries.z
rousel, in
They reached the Place du Car
, bonnets, and blou�es .were The arme� rebellion continued the next day. From 2 o'clock
at 2 o'clock ; pinned to tbeir hats tn the mornmg, the cali to arms had sounded in the Quinze
n, Du
.
V�. ngts. The tocsm
1the twin slogans of the rebellio
Pain tt la ConstitutIon de . tolled before 10 o'clock in Fid(:lite (H6tel de
1793. Thus equipped, they
.
aevoIa (Luxem'-.
ts forced the doors of the . pp. l
1144-5). At leUI two of the .nsurgent battaions--thO$e of the Cravil-
• For a rhumi of this pl.mp cit., pp. �43-4· • Mathia:, op. <:it., pp. 1145-�3.
IlogalU and political
Ih4,th Prairial, see
hlet, in which appear all the
Mathio:z, op.
demands of the insurgenu or I
GERMINAL-PRAIRIAL '53
CROWD IN ACTION
THE REVOLUTIONARY
sa
1511
et
its.1 It was the call ar�ouries, distributed arms to their comrades, and compelled
pain rtconquJrir dro
jNuplt pour obtenir duwas st remarkable and their commanders to lead them to the Convention. In others
the 'party o� order' retained the upper hand, but marched t �
to be one of the mo
to arms for what
the �nvenuon, nevertheless, in response to the general call to
the Revolution. .
stubborn popular revolts of . g
sm was sounded m the Faubou:
Early on 1St Prairial the toc as 10 arms Issued by the Government later that morning. It was,
din des Plantes. On�e .�o�e,
Saint.Antoine and in the Jar and therefore, a mixed force of insurgents and would-be defenders of
men that took the 10luatlve
October 1 789, it was the wo Fau bou rg the Convention that converged on the Place du Carrousel in the
ion after them. In the
brought their menfolk into act me n out fro m wake of the marching women at 3,30 that afternoon,'
is) they called the
du Nord (Faubourg Saint·Den
the morning . T � ere w �re foo d The second invasion of the Tuileries quickly followed. A
the workshops at 7 o'clock in ,
n at bakers sho . ps I n � opm co � rt, d�puty, Feraud, who opposed their entry, was struck down and
riots and assemblies of wome In the Tu lenes Sectlo� hiS head was severed and paraded on a pike. This time the
its de l'H om me . ..
Gravilliers, and Dro women were amply supported by armed citizens of the rebel.
housewives queuemg 2t bakers
to the Convention. In th� Left
bands of women compelled IiOllS Sections, though few battalions broke into the building in
shops to join them in a march des full strength. Yet the demonstrators were in sufficient numbers
evola (Luxembourg), Jardm
I
Accordl�g to an
du pam ou la morl'. d�flan leaders time to call in the support of the loyal Sectioru
in tbeir caps the inscription,
eyewitness, as they marched, t
�� co�pelle� wom e� �n shops with the Bu�te des M�ulins (Palais Royal), Museum (Louvre),
ng 10 carn age s, to Jom th�m. and Lepeletler at their head-and the insurgents were driven
and private houses, and others ndi fron t of the TUl. lenes, out of the Tuileries.z
rousel, in
They reached the Place du Car
, bonnets, and blou�es .were The arme� rebellion continued the next day. From 2 o'clock
at 2 o'clock ; pinned to tbeir hats tn the mornmg, the cali to arms had sounded in the Quinze
n, Du
.
V�. ngts. The tocsm
1the twin slogans of the rebellio
Pain tt la ConstitutIon de . tolled before 10 o'clock in Fid(:lite (H6tel de
1793. Thus equipped, they
.
aevoIa (Luxem'-.
ts forced the doors of the . pp. l
1144-5). At leUI two of the .nsurgent battaions--thO$e of the Cravil-
• For a rhumi of this pl.mp cit., pp. �43-4· • Mathia:, op. <:it., pp. 1145-�3.
IlogalU and political
Ih4,th Prairial, see
hlet, in which appear all the
Mathio:z, op.
demands of the insurgenu or I
GERMINAL-PRAIRIAL '55
.
.
I
insurgents thereupon s�ms that the Panthion, Sans-Culottes (Jardin :US Plantes), Frnuttre,
nsum r
hopes of promises ious Sections.l Ill, and G,auilliers Sections and a Iarge part of the Thmnu de ]u/im
retired to their vartion was determined to make an end of the have declared in their favour.1
C
But the Conven l regular army units But no material support was forthc . .
business. On the mo rning of 3rd PrairiadoTi
were mustered, in add ition to the jeunt'sse ma e and battalions of surrendered, few hours later, wjthou�����'t �����t:.u.b;�ge
s, and preparations werofe hosde to enclose the movement was totally crushed. Two days later a police agent
a
the western Sectionnto ine within a ring urgtile forces. The noted:
•
Faubourg Saint-A ture sortie into thefaubo from and was forced . . de Paris, pendant
jeutu'SSe made a prema Les rapports de ce jour presentent �I posl�on
ntoine workers rescued the police la journee d'hier, dans l'itat Ie plw e . . . es hommes regardent,
to retreat, and Saint-A to
s of Feraud on his wayme the resiion exe cut . But, les femmes se taisent.
one of the assassinthe ernment overca stan ce of
during the night, insuGov , on the 4th , the T1 , . e � epression was thorough and ruthless. It struck
most of the other uporge nt Sections;
n to hand ove r
and
Fer aud 's mu rde rers both �t��e 'l �:rs�r presumed leaders-of the insurrection
faubourg was called sal it would itself and a: the pote�bal leaders of similar revolts in the future'
and all arm s at its disp osal: in the event of refu Sections would w
to behead h:sans-cu ottes on�e and for all as a political force i�
be declared to be in pa to state of rebellion andofallarm or to starve as thought :cessal' to st ke a� the remnants ofJacobinism
be called upon to hel reduce it by force Gensera l Menou in the Convenbon an .n thenSecbonal assemblies and Nat'10naI
it into surrender. Mee anw hile an army under Guard. Twelve deputiesI were arrested 'n IUd' g ;I.X .��t �d
prepared to advanc aga inst the rebels. was made in supported the demonstrators' demandsI �n II� na . n
was
Their situation g the hop eless; yet some attemptnier 23 May (4th Prairial) a Military Com . .
nu
other Sections to brin m relief. In Poi sson e ttienne the summary. trial a�d executiOn . of all persons was
m1$Slon set up for
captured with
Chefson, a cobbler and old soldier of the ie rlvo lutionnaire.
arms ' th ::'l:: lo; ,O' weannk . g the insi�ia of rebellion.
s of the
ann
trying to org aniz e bui ldin g wor ker � � : o ten wee s and tned J 32
was later arrested for de l'tchiquier to marchuttointhe help of The
.run teenmof these, including s
rues d'Hauteville and en were heard to sho avoir raisonets:
the stre six deputies of the MO�::i� ';
thefaubourg ; in Arcis, wom , :Th:!': Nat., P 4743, doss. 3 (my it.lia).
'II faut soutenir nos freres
du faubourg Antoine, rchands et adesX BourboIte, D roy, and Soubrany.
.
.
I
insurgents thereupon s�ms that the Panthion, Sans-Culottes (Jardin :US Plantes), Frnuttre,
nsum r
hopes of promises ious Sections.l Ill, and G,auilliers Sections and a Iarge part of the Thmnu de ]u/im
retired to their vartion was determined to make an end of the have declared in their favour.1
C
But the Conven l regular army units But no material support was forthc . .
business. On the mo rning of 3rd PrairiadoTi
were mustered, in add ition to the jeunt'sse ma e and battalions of surrendered, few hours later, wjthou�����'t �����t:.u.b;�ge
s, and preparations werofe hosde to enclose the movement was totally crushed. Two days later a police agent
a
the western Sectionnto ine within a ring urgtile forces. The noted:
•
Faubourg Saint-A ture sortie into thefaubo from and was forced . . de Paris, pendant
jeutu'SSe made a prema Les rapports de ce jour presentent �I posl�on
ntoine workers rescued the police la journee d'hier, dans l'itat Ie plw e . . . es hommes regardent,
to retreat, and Saint-A to
s of Feraud on his wayme the resiion exe cut . But, les femmes se taisent.
one of the assassinthe ernment overca stan ce of
during the night, insuGov , on the 4th , the T1 , . e � epression was thorough and ruthless. It struck
most of the other uporge nt Sections;
n to hand ove r
and
Fer aud 's mu rde rers both �t��e 'l �:rs�r presumed leaders-of the insurrection
faubourg was called sal it would itself and a: the pote�bal leaders of similar revolts in the future'
and all arm s at its disp osal: in the event of refu Sections would w
to behead h:sans-cu ottes on�e and for all as a political force i�
be declared to be in pa to state of rebellion andofallarm or to starve as thought :cessal' to st ke a� the remnants ofJacobinism
be called upon to hel reduce it by force Gensera l Menou in the Convenbon an .n thenSecbonal assemblies and Nat'10naI
it into surrender. Mee anw hile an army under Guard. Twelve deputiesI were arrested 'n IUd' g ;I.X .��t �d
prepared to advanc aga inst the rebels. was made in supported the demonstrators' demandsI �n II� na . n
was
Their situation g the hop eless; yet some attemptnier 23 May (4th Prairial) a Military Com . .
nu
other Sections to brin m relief. In Poi sson e ttienne the summary. trial a�d executiOn . of all persons was
m1$Slon set up for
captured with
Chefson, a cobbler and old soldier of the ie rlvo lutionnaire.
arms ' th ::'l:: lo; ,O' weannk . g the insi�ia of rebellion.
s of the
ann
trying to org aniz e bui ldin g wor ker � � : o ten wee s and tned J 32
was later arrested for de l'tchiquier to marchuttointhe help of The
.run teenmof these, including s
rues d'Hauteville and en were heard to sho avoir raisonets:
the stre six deputies of the MO�::i� ';
thefaubourg ; in Arcis, wom , :Th:!': Nat., P 4743, doss. 3 (my it.lia).
'II faut soutenir nos freres
du faubourg Antoine, rchands et adesX BourboIte, D roy, and Soubrany.
were conde�ned to dea th�The Sections wer e invited to hold from the political slogans voiced by the insurgents in Genninal:
special meetings on �4 McobY. to denou nce and disarm allwasus and La Constitution de I793. In Prairial, too, we
Liberti des patriotes
ath izer s Th e resu lt s a saw that a number of Sections in theflWbourgs and the centre
peeted 'terrorists' an�ptIo J� ,lIn � S!�i�h the se�tling ofold scores resorted to the purely political action of forming illegal assem·
ma ssive toll of pro scn . of political orthodoxy. By blies and declaring themselves to be in permanent session; and,
played as large a part asiTtlIIf�aue e. tes�::
put their number at even more significantly, that the insurgents paraded the twin
the 28th the Gaz;etuntufal total of ady d disarmed must slogans of'bread' and 'the Constitution of 1793'. The police had
10,000; and the ,everably la ger, :r��edse��ral Sections, all some justice in considering the latter slogan as 'the soul of the
have been conside RevoIuuo : y Co ' mm ittee s aU soldiers of movement': without it the movement would have lacked
former IDemhers. of ' were arrnar or disa rme d
•
irre spe cttve 0f coherence and even the beginnings of a conscious political
the annie rivolutlonnazTthave playeedsted
.
any. �art they may nt thus establis " the eveD" of Genninal or
10
direction. It would be wrong, however, to ascribe anything but
was to be followed on a minor role to the small group of Jacobin deputies in the
Pralna1. The preeed n dur' th hed Directory and Consulate.' Convention in either of these events: in Germinal, as we saw,
mo.;� th;;:� :c:� no o:::r s�ution to offer fO� th����
� they were only too anxious to persuade the demonstrators to
e: ti leave the assembly�hall as quickly � possible; and, in Prairial,
that had arisen; it was nat�ural, th"eior�:;:��ir:ir�:1 as the they followed the lead already given by the insurgent Sections
to represent the spir' acy l h tchef dGeby
insu rrec ons 0 ,m , s and
diss iden t Jac obm and echoed the demands put to them by the women and
outcome of � con
�rs of the disbandedputs popular sode· armed sans·ClJlottes.
f�rmer terro"'''Aanpodl�:�ep ort S of 1 t Prairia l the official When all is said and done, however, it was not the political
ties and clubs' agitation but economic hardship that was the primary cause of
view clearly and succinctly enough : the movement. A3 we have seen, the constantly recurring
We are inclined believe th�eb 5h::a:���0�0 =I�
to,
l"'tlXt�n1y too plausIble, alas
theme running through all the stages of the movement from its
- ement that has t
first beginnings in December 794 was shortage and rising
the credulous,longbut tha���caus�en of t�e Y ular mov on by the food prices-particularly the shortage of rationed bread and its
arisen over a r leaderspen e �: tatio n caried r
, ��h0�v�P�
as
le up
t the peop the Con5utu to demand precipitous increase on the open market: this resulted, in the
faction of fonne the :evt
not only bread but , mmune
deputi� of the Mo unta
tion
in
main, from the deliberate policy of the government, which was
one of rapidly freeing the whole economy from controls in a
of 1793' and theofrelea se r,om pnson o�ryaUCor ruruttee5 , period of war and shortage; but it was further aggravated by
and L_ the old Revolutiona
mu,
me ""
:
, �
in agitation naturallyat p!aY cd natural factors such as the unprecedented severity of the winter
Political motives andnJacob , d
ust , e5 <'cn 'bed We saw th 10 the of 1795. A sure indication that the bread·and·butter question
their part in"the movemeth"GJermm al, the ew surviving po'ntpular lay uppermost in the minds ofthe insurgents was theoutstanding
mo� , th s Iead m g u p tO l2 l'
e , litical direction to a moveme that part played by the women in both Germinal and Prairial, which
es
:��� o�::;}S� �� �p;�!: s�����:,, ��i:u:�e���;
was second only to the part they had played in October 1789.
The bulk ofthe rioters were, as so often before, the men and
anger over rutng pnces an Women of the great popularfaubourgs and the Sections adjoin
, d ltmS� eadra during thiI
I Foe the systematie rqlro::saton of Jacob.'n an U'f! Ie
personnel saru-cu1otte de
ing the markets and city centre, Of the few hundred persons
period tee R. C. Co,?b',, I7·'r 1:0· n;.rr
'Nou.pte'-�: aTTested for direct participation in the events of 1St and 2nd
..r;-
' :�
'
J u
. )
MlU'ch 1954, pp. 2)-49'
were conde�ned to dea th�The Sections wer e invited to hold from the political slogans voiced by the insurgents in Genninal:
special meetings on �4 McobY. to denou nce and disarm allwasus and La Constitution de I793. In Prairial, too, we
Liberti des patriotes
ath izer s Th e resu lt s a saw that a number of Sections in theflWbourgs and the centre
peeted 'terrorists' an�ptIo J� ,lIn � S!�i�h the se�tling ofold scores resorted to the purely political action of forming illegal assem·
ma ssive toll of pro scn . of political orthodoxy. By blies and declaring themselves to be in permanent session; and,
played as large a part asiTtlIIf�aue e. tes�::
put their number at even more significantly, that the insurgents paraded the twin
the 28th the Gaz;etuntufal total of ady d disarmed must slogans of'bread' and 'the Constitution of 1793'. The police had
10,000; and the ,everably la ger, :r��edse��ral Sections, all some justice in considering the latter slogan as 'the soul of the
have been conside RevoIuuo : y Co ' mm ittee s aU soldiers of movement': without it the movement would have lacked
former IDemhers. of ' were arrnar or disa rme d
•
irre spe cttve 0f coherence and even the beginnings of a conscious political
the annie rivolutlonnazTthave playeedsted
.
any. �art they may nt thus establis " the eveD" of Genninal or
10
direction. It would be wrong, however, to ascribe anything but
was to be followed on a minor role to the small group of Jacobin deputies in the
Pralna1. The preeed n dur' th hed Directory and Consulate.' Convention in either of these events: in Germinal, as we saw,
mo.;� th;;:� :c:� no o:::r s�ution to offer fO� th����
� they were only too anxious to persuade the demonstrators to
e: ti leave the assembly�hall as quickly � possible; and, in Prairial,
that had arisen; it was nat�ural, th"eior�:;:��ir:ir�:1 as the they followed the lead already given by the insurgent Sections
to represent the spir' acy l h tchef dGeby
insu rrec ons 0 ,m , s and
diss iden t Jac obm and echoed the demands put to them by the women and
outcome of � con
�rs of the disbandedputs popular sode· armed sans·ClJlottes.
f�rmer terro"'''Aanpodl�:�ep ort S of 1 t Prairia l the official When all is said and done, however, it was not the political
ties and clubs' agitation but economic hardship that was the primary cause of
view clearly and succinctly enough : the movement. A3 we have seen, the constantly recurring
We are inclined believe th�eb 5h::a:���0�0 =I�
to,
l"'tlXt�n1y too plausIble, alas
theme running through all the stages of the movement from its
- ement that has t
first beginnings in December 794 was shortage and rising
the credulous,longbut tha���caus�en of t�e Y ular mov on by the food prices-particularly the shortage of rationed bread and its
arisen over a r leaderspen e �: tatio n caried r
, ��h0�v�P�
as
le up
t the peop the Con5utu to demand precipitous increase on the open market: this resulted, in the
faction of fonne the :evt
not only bread but , mmune
deputi� of the Mo unta
tion
in
main, from the deliberate policy of the government, which was
one of rapidly freeing the whole economy from controls in a
of 1793' and theofrelea se r,om pnson o�ryaUCor ruruttee5 , period of war and shortage; but it was further aggravated by
and L_ the old Revolutiona
mu,
me ""
:
, �
in agitation naturallyat p!aY cd natural factors such as the unprecedented severity of the winter
Political motives andnJacob , d
ust , e5 <'cn 'bed We saw th 10 the of 1795. A sure indication that the bread·and·butter question
their part in"the movemeth"GJermm al, the ew surviving po'ntpular lay uppermost in the minds ofthe insurgents was theoutstanding
mo� , th s Iead m g u p tO l2 l'
e , litical direction to a moveme that part played by the women in both Germinal and Prairial, which
es
:��� o�::;}S� �� �p;�!: s�����:,, ��i:u:�e���;
was second only to the part they had played in October 1789.
The bulk ofthe rioters were, as so often before, the men and
anger over rutng pnces an Women of the great popularfaubourgs and the Sections adjoin
, d ltmS� eadra during thiI
I Foe the systematie rqlro::saton of Jacob.'n an U'f! Ie
personnel saru-cu1otte de
ing the markets and city centre, Of the few hundred persons
period tee R. C. Co,?b',, I7·'r 1:0· n;.rr
'Nou.pte'-�: aTTested for direct participation in the events of 1St and 2nd
..r;-
' :�
'
J u
. )
MlU'ch 1954, pp. 2)-49'
\
158 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION GERMINAL-PRAIRIAL
consulted; ofthese some45 to 50 seemto have been wage-earnen. classes of the western Sections. But, above all, the S61/.S-ntloltes
while the rest were small shopkeepers, workshop masten. failed to secure and maintain in Prairial, as they had in the
craftsmen, and clerk!. They are drawn from no Jess than 40 great Journiu of 1 7�3, the solid alliance of at least the
Sections-most prominent among them being Popincourt ( 1 3 radical wing of the hourgeouie. When this faltered and failed,
arrests), Anenal (12), Quinze Vingts (10), and Arcis (10).1 their movement, as in 1 775. for all its breadth and militancy,
But the records ofthe comparatively few persons arrested give was reduced to a futile explosion without hope of political
but a limited picture of Sectional participation in the events of gains. I
I FQr luggcstiQnI U til th� longeT-tenn UUICS Q[ the final defeat QC the
Germinal and Prairial. A fuller picture emerges from the events
tulmf#s after Pr;o.iri;o.l sec Cobb and Rud�, QP. cil., pp. ::80-1 .
smu
already related. From these it appears that the Sections mainly
engaged in the movement culminating on 12th Germinal were
Quinze Vingts and Popincourt
(FaJJhouTg Sainl-Antoiru) ; Obser
vatoire and Pantheon
(Fauhourg Saint-Marcel) ; Cite, Droits de
I'Homme. Amis de Ja Patrie, and Gravilliers (centre) j and
Temple and Faubourg Montmartre (north). In Prairial, more
Sections were engaged-some fully, others only in part. Leading
the movement again were the three Sections of the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine and four of the five Sections of the Faubourg
Saint-Marcel (Observatoire only excepted). They were
closely supported by the central Sections-Arcis, Droits de
l'Homme, Fidelite (Hotel de Ville) , Cite, Lombards, Marches,
Gravilliers, and Halle au Ble; and (less wholeheartedly) by the
northern Sections of Poissonniere and Faubourg du-Nord, and
by Mutius Scaevola (Luxembourg) and Invalides in the south.
There were even supporting contingents ofwomen from Museum
and Tuileries in the west; but the western Sections, generally,
formed a solid block of defenders of the Convention and its
Committees. As. we shall see in the next chapter, in Vende
miaire (October 1 795) these roles were to some extent reversed.
Why then, with such solid support, were the Parisian sa1/.S
culotus defeated in May 1795? Partiy, as we have seen, it was
for lack of a clear political programme and plan of action;
partiy through the weakness of the deputies of the Mountain;
partly through political inexperience and the failure to follow
up an advantage once gained; partiy, too, through the corre
spondingly greater skill and experience of the Convention and
its C'..ommittees and the support that these were able to muster
even without the active intervention of the regular army-from
the Jeurusse dorte and the merchants, civil servants, and monied
, In G",,,ilIi�n th�re wen: 7 ;anats, in &ndy (7), Lomb;ards (6), H;all�;au Bie
(6), and-mQre Iwprisingly-in TuileriCi (6) and Mw6un (6).
."
\
158 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION GERMINAL-PRAIRIAL
consulted; ofthese some45 to 50 seemto have been wage-earnen. classes of the western Sections. But, above all, the S61/.S-ntloltes
while the rest were small shopkeepers, workshop masten. failed to secure and maintain in Prairial, as they had in the
craftsmen, and clerk!. They are drawn from no Jess than 40 great Journiu of 1 7�3, the solid alliance of at least the
Sections-most prominent among them being Popincourt ( 1 3 radical wing of the hourgeouie. When this faltered and failed,
arrests), Anenal (12), Quinze Vingts (10), and Arcis (10).1 their movement, as in 1 775. for all its breadth and militancy,
But the records ofthe comparatively few persons arrested give was reduced to a futile explosion without hope of political
but a limited picture of Sectional participation in the events of gains. I
I FQr luggcstiQnI U til th� longeT-tenn UUICS Q[ the final defeat QC the
Germinal and Prairial. A fuller picture emerges from the events
tulmf#s after Pr;o.iri;o.l sec Cobb and Rud�, QP. cil., pp. ::80-1 .
smu
already related. From these it appears that the Sections mainly
engaged in the movement culminating on 12th Germinal were
Quinze Vingts and Popincourt
(FaJJhouTg Sainl-Antoiru) ; Obser
vatoire and Pantheon
(Fauhourg Saint-Marcel) ; Cite, Droits de
I'Homme. Amis de Ja Patrie, and Gravilliers (centre) j and
Temple and Faubourg Montmartre (north). In Prairial, more
Sections were engaged-some fully, others only in part. Leading
the movement again were the three Sections of the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine and four of the five Sections of the Faubourg
Saint-Marcel (Observatoire only excepted). They were
closely supported by the central Sections-Arcis, Droits de
l'Homme, Fidelite (Hotel de Ville) , Cite, Lombards, Marches,
Gravilliers, and Halle au Ble; and (less wholeheartedly) by the
northern Sections of Poissonniere and Faubourg du-Nord, and
by Mutius Scaevola (Luxembourg) and Invalides in the south.
There were even supporting contingents ofwomen from Museum
and Tuileries in the west; but the western Sections, generally,
formed a solid block of defenders of the Convention and its
Committees. As. we shall see in the next chapter, in Vende
miaire (October 1 795) these roles were to some extent reversed.
Why then, with such solid support, were the Parisian sa1/.S
culotus defeated in May 1795? Partiy, as we have seen, it was
for lack of a clear political programme and plan of action;
partiy through the weakness of the deputies of the Mountain;
partly through political inexperience and the failure to follow
up an advantage once gained; partiy, too, through the corre
spondingly greater skill and experience of the Convention and
its C'..ommittees and the support that these were able to muster
even without the active intervention of the regular army-from
the Jeurusse dorte and the merchants, civil servants, and monied
, In G",,,ilIi�n th�re wen: 7 ;anats, in &ndy (7), Lomb;ards (6), H;all�;au Bie
(6), and-mQre Iwprisingly-in TuileriCi (6) and Mw6un (6).
VEND�MIAIRE ,6,
the first time since 1 789, that the revolutionary Assembly might
maintain itself in office and impose its will on the country as a
XI whole even without the active support of any substantial social
group or body of opinion in the caphal. In Thermidor the
VENDEMIAIRE Convention had been able to depend on the support, or at least
the benevolent neutrality, of the bulk of the Parisian Sections
H I L £ the story of popular insurrection during the Re including those in which the sans-culottes were still firmly en
I.e Tui�. wMimiaiu, a" IV (Paris, t898). Though the author makc:$ full
, For themost compkte account of the n i surrection and its political background
to overthrow the Republic by force of arms.
I«: H. Zivy,
The events of Vendemiaire have a further importance in use of the correspondence or the Commiue<:s ofPublic Safety and General Security,
that they opened up new perspectives in the relations between the minuta of the Sectional assemblies, the police reports edited by Sehmidt
the government and the citizens of Paris. They revealed, for ( Tabl,allJt tit/" Riw/gli"n j.a"fa;u), and the recordl of the Military Courts sct up on
'5th Vendemiaire tojudge the arraled ringleaders, his tludy appeared too early
II).
to mike usc or the fuller police reports ediled by Aulard (PaT;� /'fndanl/tl riu.:tlon
the first time since 1 789, that the revolutionary Assembly might
maintain itself in office and impose its will on the country as a
XI whole even without the active support of any substantial social
group or body of opinion in the caphal. In Thermidor the
VENDEMIAIRE Convention had been able to depend on the support, or at least
the benevolent neutrality, of the bulk of the Parisian Sections
H I L £ the story of popular insurrection during the Re including those in which the sans-culottes were still firmly en
I.e Tui�. wMimiaiu, a" IV (Paris, t898). Though the author makc:$ full
, For themost compkte account of the n i surrection and its political background
to overthrow the Republic by force of arms.
I«: H. Zivy,
The events of Vendemiaire have a further importance in use of the correspondence or the Commiue<:s ofPublic Safety and General Security,
that they opened up new perspectives in the relations between the minuta of the Sectional assemblies, the police reports edited by Sehmidt
the government and the citizens of Paris. They revealed, for ( Tabl,allJt tit/" Riw/gli"n j.a"fa;u), and the recordl of the Military Courts sct up on
'5th Vendemiaire tojudge the arraled ringleaders, his tludy appeared too early
II).
to mike usc or the fuller police reports ediled by Aulard (PaT;� /'fndanl/tl riu.:tlon
a Ibid. ii. 326. 'une Uuurrcction pfO(:baine oU la reprbc:ntantl et la marchands puiuent lTOuver
ii. 1-319 (29 May-14 October 179's)'
• Ibid. i. 'SS, 760, 767; ii. 8, 34,,.s, loB, 120,
'38, 14S, �cllr tornbeau', in Lepclcticr, Place Vendllrne, and BUlle da MouJi.... lee AuJard,
i. 102, '51, ,81, 186-g, 199, 208, 210, 213, 277·
4 Ibid. i 7,sS, 767; ii. ,.s, 50, 6,5,
J Ibid. i. 'S6; ii. 36, 139; Zivy, op: dt., p. 1�4- I cr. a report or.5 Oetober (13th Vendmu.aire); 'C'at du Kin de ca deux
I. loS.
• Aulard, op. cit. ii. 24, 34, '13; ZlVY, loe. CIt. ar�ondi&sementl (Lepclctier and Bulle da Mou.fuu ; G.R.) que IOrtent
7 AuJard, i. 368, 376, 750; ii. 3, 8, 36, 6" 113, 191, 271, 291, 327. A """ '''OtCUD, qui, au Palaia tplit�, fOI" Ie tr&fic Ie put inflmc au �t de la
1011& lei
coITC'"
_pond. to S6 CII. ft.
•
a Ibid. ii. 326. 'une Uuurrcction pfO(:baine oU la reprbc:ntantl et la marchands puiuent lTOuver
ii. 1-319 (29 May-14 October 179's)'
• Ibid. i. 'SS, 760, 767; ii. 8, 34,,.s, loB, 120,
'38, 14S, �cllr tornbeau', in Lepclcticr, Place Vendllrne, and BUlle da MouJi.... lee AuJard,
i. 102, '51, ,81, 186-g, 199, 208, 210, 213, 277·
4 Ibid. i 7,sS, 767; ii. ,.s, 50, 6,5,
J Ibid. i. 'S6; ii. 36, 139; Zivy, op: dt., p. 1�4- I cr. a report or.5 Oetober (13th Vendmu.aire); 'C'at du Kin de ca deux
I. loS.
• Aulard, op. cit. ii. 24, 34, '13; ZlVY, loe. CIt. ar�ondi&sementl (Lepclctier and Bulle da Mou.fuu ; G.R.) que IOrtent
7 AuJard, i. 368, 376, 750; ii. 3, 8, 36, 6" 113, 191, 271, 291, 327. A """ '''OtCUD, qui, au Palaia tplit�, fOI" Ie tr&fic Ie put inflmc au �t de la
1011& lei
coITC'"
_pond. to S6 CII. ft.
•
existing members of the Convention, whiltors. AntlClpabng an syste� of indirect election and restricted the suffrage, even at
alone should be freely chosen by the elec n to draft regular the pn�ary stage, to tax-payers and, at the electoral stage, to
unfavourable response, the Convention bega ; and, to hc::lp redress substantla1 p�pertr-ownel"3. All Sections had, in fact, accepted
troops into the capital on the same �ay were perm itted, by a .
�e Consbtutlon With large majorities by 6 September.' Quite
nsts
the balance of opinion, former terro primary assemblies.'
decree of 2 September, to atten d the different was the reception given to the decrees of the 'two
The Parisian Sections to whom these proposals were put had thirds'. When, after heated debates and violent recriminations
changed greatly since Ther m idor. By a s� ccess ion of purges all against the Convention and its Committees, the vote was
Jacobins had been driven off the comnutteesern and o�t of the finally announced in the Assembly, it was found that no less
weekly general assemblies of not only the west Sections, .but than forty-seven of the Parisian Sections had rejected the decrees
those oftheJaubourgs and city centre as well.on Whe the �ec�ons
n -the one exception being the Quinze Vingts, in the Faubourg
Co�tltutlo.n, Saint-Antoine, which accepted them by 433 to 139 vote3.1
were convened as primary assemblies to vote lsthe as ArClS, Drolts �t was not only the decrees of 22 and 30 August themselves
a dozen of them-including such recent rebe tes, Lom bards, a�d which aroused the political opposition of the Sections' further
de I'Homme, Gravitliers, Jardin des Plan
ded all form er Jacobllu hostility was. �roused by the drafting of troops into th; capital
Thennes de Julien-specifically exclu and the deemon to allow former terrorists, so assiduously dis
from their deliberations;l and, in June , the Jard in d � Pla�tes
arres t of no less than thirt y-eight armed and disfranchised by the Sectional authorities only a
Section had announced the
alleged 'massacreurs des et 3 septe mbre '.J The purg e of un few. mon�� before, to attend the assemblies and vote alongside
2
lly whol ehea rted: .
since their polibcal opponents. It was the combination of these
desirable social elem ents had been equa
excused service, factors, bitterly resented by the main body of conservative
Prairial workers and artisans had either been�atio Gua�; o�inion in �e capi�, which gave the small group of deter
or specifically excluded from serving, i? �e y a nal ,un
Ii n qu petit nune� royalists thar opportunity to build up a centre of
and, in September, an observer noted qu ' ... The asseI? op�lbon, . based on the Parisian primary assemblies and in
bMes
nombre d'ouvriers qui assistent aux assem to resemble, In
and more volvmg many who would have rejected their ultimate aims,
blies were, in fact, coming more become had they been openly proclaimed.
miniature, that 'Republique des propribaires' �hatr,had and whose The main nucleus of this royalist agitation lay in the Section
fashionable in governing circle s since Ther mldo . of
well expre ssed by the Lepeletier, 'Ie quartier de I'argent' and centre of finance and
social philosophy was Ga.t.et te J ran;a ue
stock-jobbing, t?e mon�rchist and moderate leanings of whose
24 September: leaders and mi.litary umts have been noted in earlier episodes
ietaires seuis com of the Revolution-the Section whose grenadiers had opposed
Dans toutes Ies associations policees, lesdespropr
proletaires qui, ran�
posent la societe. Les autres ne sont que the Marsei.llats. and defended the monarchy in August 1792,
dans la dasse des citoyens surnumeraires, atten
dent Ie moment qUi . had most eagerly rallied to the Convention against
which
ietc.J
puisse leur permettre d'acquerir une propr
Robespierre in Thermidor, had been the first to destroy the
Such citizens were not likely to hesitate long before accept busts of Marat in February 1795,3 and had led the armed
ing the draft Constitution of the Year III, whose most signifi- opposition to the insurgents of Genninal and Prairial. At the
Outset they found allies in the Butte des Moulins (Palais Royal)
(Bonnet Rouge) , LeY"'�
, Aula.d, iL ,87, l1l8. _, . I Zivy, op. cil., pp. 24-25.
, Othe� we.e PII.ce VendOme, Bon Conseil, Ouest 204�5 (pasJinl).
� .Ibjd. Aular
• Ibid.;d, ii.
op. cit ., p. lI8; Aulard, ii. lI2]).
Brutul, and Butte des MoulilU (Zivy,
'f,. lion during the whole period 1789-94 and ill wei" basis
¢7. For the lurvival ofcounler-revolutionary intrigue in the Lepeletie.
i.
•
ACTION VENDtMIAIRE 167
THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN
e the re��ni�g 250 cant departures from that of 1793 were that it reintroduced the
166
existing members of the Convention, whiltors. AntlClpabng an syste� of indirect election and restricted the suffrage, even at
alone should be freely chosen by the elec n to draft regular the pn�ary stage, to tax-payers and, at the electoral stage, to
unfavourable response, the Convention bega ; and, to hc::lp redress substantla1 p�pertr-ownel"3. All Sections had, in fact, accepted
troops into the capital on the same �ay were perm itted, by a .
�e Consbtutlon With large majorities by 6 September.' Quite
nsts
the balance of opinion, former terro primary assemblies.'
decree of 2 September, to atten d the different was the reception given to the decrees of the 'two
The Parisian Sections to whom these proposals were put had thirds'. When, after heated debates and violent recriminations
changed greatly since Ther m idor. By a s� ccess ion of purges all against the Convention and its Committees, the vote was
Jacobins had been driven off the comnutteesern and o�t of the finally announced in the Assembly, it was found that no less
weekly general assemblies of not only the west Sections, .but than forty-seven of the Parisian Sections had rejected the decrees
those oftheJaubourgs and city centre as well.on Whe the �ec�ons
n -the one exception being the Quinze Vingts, in the Faubourg
Co�tltutlo.n, Saint-Antoine, which accepted them by 433 to 139 vote3.1
were convened as primary assemblies to vote lsthe as ArClS, Drolts �t was not only the decrees of 22 and 30 August themselves
a dozen of them-including such recent rebe tes, Lom bards, a�d which aroused the political opposition of the Sections' further
de I'Homme, Gravitliers, Jardin des Plan
ded all form er Jacobllu hostility was. �roused by the drafting of troops into th; capital
Thennes de Julien-specifically exclu and the deemon to allow former terrorists, so assiduously dis
from their deliberations;l and, in June , the Jard in d � Pla�tes
arres t of no less than thirt y-eight armed and disfranchised by the Sectional authorities only a
Section had announced the
alleged 'massacreurs des et 3 septe mbre '.J The purg e of un few. mon�� before, to attend the assemblies and vote alongside
2
lly whol ehea rted: .
since their polibcal opponents. It was the combination of these
desirable social elem ents had been equa
excused service, factors, bitterly resented by the main body of conservative
Prairial workers and artisans had either been�atio Gua�; o�inion in �e capi�, which gave the small group of deter
or specifically excluded from serving, i? �e y a nal ,un
Ii n qu petit nune� royalists thar opportunity to build up a centre of
and, in September, an observer noted qu ' ... The asseI? op�lbon, . based on the Parisian primary assemblies and in
bMes
nombre d'ouvriers qui assistent aux assem to resemble, In
and more volvmg many who would have rejected their ultimate aims,
blies were, in fact, coming more become had they been openly proclaimed.
miniature, that 'Republique des propribaires' �hatr,had and whose The main nucleus of this royalist agitation lay in the Section
fashionable in governing circle s since Ther mldo . of
well expre ssed by the Lepeletier, 'Ie quartier de I'argent' and centre of finance and
social philosophy was Ga.t.et te J ran;a ue
stock-jobbing, t?e mon�rchist and moderate leanings of whose
24 September: leaders and mi.litary umts have been noted in earlier episodes
ietaires seuis com of the Revolution-the Section whose grenadiers had opposed
Dans toutes Ies associations policees, lesdespropr
proletaires qui, ran�
posent la societe. Les autres ne sont que the Marsei.llats. and defended the monarchy in August 1792,
dans la dasse des citoyens surnumeraires, atten
dent Ie moment qUi . had most eagerly rallied to the Convention against
which
ietc.J
puisse leur permettre d'acquerir une propr
Robespierre in Thermidor, had been the first to destroy the
Such citizens were not likely to hesitate long before accept busts of Marat in February 1795,3 and had led the armed
ing the draft Constitution of the Year III, whose most signifi- opposition to the insurgents of Genninal and Prairial. At the
Outset they found allies in the Butte des Moulins (Palais Royal)
(Bonnet Rouge) , LeY"'�
, Aula.d, iL ,87, l1l8. _, . I Zivy, op. cil., pp. 24-25.
, Othe� we.e PII.ce VendOme, Bon Conseil, Ouest 204�5 (pasJinl).
� .Ibjd. Aular
• Ibid.;d, ii.
op. cit ., p. lI8; Aulard, ii. lI2]).
Brutul, and Butte des MoulilU (Zivy,
'f,. lion during the whole period 1789-94 and ill wei" basis
¢7. For the lurvival ofcounler-revolutionary intrigue in the Lepeletie.
i.
•
168 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
'6g
VENO£;MIA IRE
SeCtlOD,1 and were sOOD to find more elsewhere. L�peletier
•
II urs royalistes' in
managcd t0 win the support
Sections, During the the
and, on I 6 September Lepcietlcr . night of 25-26 Septe
critics were insulted mber, three such
('cxprcsscment e� . unamm
' .
���:
t') of thirty Sections for an tier Sections, and
and manhandled in
brought before the
the Mail and
Lepele.
Address of the Cuu:ens �f to all the Primary Assemblies police commissioner of the
, Butte des Moulins
for having suggest
of France,4 Meanwhile " In a scparat- ... addrcss to the Convcn- ed that the primary
... ...
"'laim, not heard Since
, assemblies were com
posed of 'brigand
tion, the Butte des Mouhns" revive
' d th" s' and for having
the Gironde-Mountam d pute of I 3, that Paris, because 0r
pressed their suppo ex
rt for the Convent
.
Its po mca I" I ��
nd g<ographIcal 51tUati , 'doit avoir I'initiative
� � Que quand on baltra
ion in downright ter
it demain la generale
ms :
'6g
VENO£;MIA IRE
SeCtlOD,1 and were sOOD to find more elsewhere. L�peletier
•
II urs royalistes' in
managcd t0 win the support
Sections, During the the
and, on I 6 September Lepcietlcr . night of 25-26 Septe
critics were insulted mber, three such
('cxprcsscment e� . unamm
' .
���:
t') of thirty Sections for an tier Sections, and
and manhandled in
brought before the
the Mail and
Lepele.
Address of the Cuu:ens �f to all the Primary Assemblies police commissioner of the
, Butte des Moulins
for having suggest
of France,4 Meanwhile " In a scparat- ... addrcss to the Convcn- ed that the primary
... ...
"'laim, not heard Since
, assemblies were com
posed of 'brigand
tion, the Butte des Mouhns" revive
' d th" s' and for having
the Gironde-Mountam d pute of I 3, that Paris, because 0r
pressed their suppo ex
rt for the Convent
.
Its po mca I" I ��
nd g<ographIcal 51tUati , 'doit avoir I'initiative
� � Que quand on baltra
ion in downright ter
it demain la generale
ms :
'70
NARY CROWD IN
ACTION
���d fiea� of � �eneral pillag7, .o� attack on food-shops, as in
;' it Wall a direct
TH E REVOLUTIO
not signed the Addre ss of 16 Septemberon s ary 79.3- ut, far from JOlmng forces with the rebels. in
challenge to the autden hority of the Conve nti which, twO day tte rs the Secuons In order to settle accounts with the Conve:t°,?'
assemblies to deliberat e on ma the sans-culotw and ouvriers moved closer to the Assem y m
earlier. had forbid tinthe g to the electi ons .' Th e gov ernment's common defence of the Re ubli a�: cas�.�.te� the sectWn-
other than those rela t the Paris Sectionsedfroammotakreing joi nt action naires as both royalists and m�rchands e 1 ed
measures to prevencom vok ser iou s threat : o :�� ""rac" from police 'repor����e�,::�� a��
with neighb our ing mu nesl pro
etier and Theatre the Fram;:ais invited the :I; �� "
on 2 October Lepel mary assemblies of cap ital to assemble �ptember. 'Les oumers reunis en �upes, dans dlff
electors ofthe otherpri
.
meeting-hall of theitaryeat Th re Franc;ais quarhers, se prononcent pour la ConventlOn, et attribuent aux
erents
on the morrow in the
10
invitation, though s, Theatre Fraend ed. deerets de 5 et 13 fructidor (22 and 30 A gust)
Sections accepted the tte des Moulin elves to be 'inis,a olia I October. fLes motions SORt tres a �mces .contre Its Sections,
That night, Lepeleoftierthe, Bu
_ •
and four Sections againscen t the Convention.4 Th 0"06". 'Les groupes des rtes M tm ' et D�nis, composes en
state of rebellion' partie d'artisans, soot tous r,�:l:s
:
a Convent o�, et leur opinion
r
2
property-owners, of the Sections such stepsibe 4 Odober. 'Dans plusieurs quartiers" des o vnen nusembl6,
venail lts attrister.'
.
conscious acts of agg ression-far less asbut del rate attempts to .
quorque St plaignant de la chut! disaient qu co
�
Codeplt des royalistes qui
the Republic- sashad measures of self i souti�dral'en, la
weaken and overthrow embly whose dec and whinf
ree ringed the menent Its Section.! ts • nvenUon."
.
defence against an Ass ular sovereignty by the ich was now In the Champs tlysees, the workers m�nmng . . the .local fire
sacred principle of pop
•
by military force and wholesale pumps went even further : they locked t e sectumnazrtS out of
trying to impose them sts or buveurs de sang. Tothrthe m the their meeting-place and threatened the electors that if they
release of the dreadedrs'terrwaoris being undermined and ntion ene eat d, joined the rebels, 'lls Ies mettralent . a la raison' )
'Republic of propriouseto nve itse lf. The same day (Blth VendeRUalfe: . . ), most Sections armed in
Sections, but by theto Co
.
n('t by the rebdli by ernment pro tec t itself and defence of property which �P�::::' f�o.m one quarter or
Every measure takenness ofthethegov s-culotUs served to dev elop a another, to be thre�tened I �u;e; at�en�d the
the growing restivemany ways rem san
iniscen t of the def ens ive �rima.ry assemblies under �rms and o� y e ed t � . nven
state of mind in of the parisian bour in the sum me r of uon; In others, they stood read without .any ffenslve mtent,
offensive attitude threat from the Sections, the government or were too deeply divided to tJe a.,ny acuon;4�m others again,
geo isie
1789. Faced with the d and armed they were com elled to arm b ectors.against their will
not only summoned furthevol r army units but enrolle ny who had or .persuaded t� do so by tales �r;'�a�� bn�ands or es�aped
a special force of 1,500 unteers, including ma p�soners. In Marches there ,"'as talk at;
been disarmed afteerthr Prairia1.5 Meanwhile, inst with prices rising . �rronsts prepanng to
hands and dISarm Paris and cut the thr�ats of l� Inhabitants. In Mail
further, there wer rkeeat s once more aga marc re wer e wide- armed citizens paraded to s outs 0f a bas les terroristes!'
a&capareurs in the ma ts and Jmlbourgs,
and the
I , pp. 23�, 283, 290, 297 (my ita.\ia).
p. :195.
1 Aulard, ii. :179 -
were arn:atcd; and,
Aulard, ii. :183" :190 • Ib'd
from Dreux at Nonancourt. : Ibid.,
T
.
Comnuttce
, Zivy, op. cil., p. 43.
trO O
ps of refu.ed the uaembly'.
reqUell to" ordu the amen! call t?
the regular army (Zivy.
anns l� IOUnded, however, againJt the
Fot example, in Lombards the Civil
and
Comnumc'.
l militia .
Social-the lalter DOC
loca
Pr6: Pol. Aa 166. (oL (76).
fighting broke out between
ni e. Temple, and Contra!
wiIbes, the IZIOOWI(
was
'70
NARY CROWD IN
ACTION
���d fiea� of � �eneral pillag7, .o� attack on food-shops, as in
;' it Wall a direct
TH E REVOLUTIO
not signed the Addre ss of 16 Septemberon s ary 79.3- ut, far from JOlmng forces with the rebels. in
challenge to the autden hority of the Conve nti which, twO day tte rs the Secuons In order to settle accounts with the Conve:t°,?'
assemblies to deliberat e on ma the sans-culotw and ouvriers moved closer to the Assem y m
earlier. had forbid tinthe g to the electi ons .' Th e gov ernment's common defence of the Re ubli a�: cas�.�.te� the sectWn-
other than those rela t the Paris Sectionsedfroammotakreing joi nt action naires as both royalists and m�rchands e 1 ed
measures to prevencom vok ser iou s threat : o :�� ""rac" from police 'repor����e�,::�� a��
with neighb our ing mu nesl pro
etier and Theatre the Fram;:ais invited the :I; �� "
on 2 October Lepel mary assemblies of cap ital to assemble �ptember. 'Les oumers reunis en �upes, dans dlff
electors ofthe otherpri
.
meeting-hall of theitaryeat Th re Franc;ais quarhers, se prononcent pour la ConventlOn, et attribuent aux
erents
on the morrow in the
10
invitation, though s, Theatre Fraend ed. deerets de 5 et 13 fructidor (22 and 30 A gust)
Sections accepted the tte des Moulin elves to be 'inis,a olia I October. fLes motions SORt tres a �mces .contre Its Sections,
That night, Lepeleoftierthe, Bu
_ •
and four Sections againscen t the Convention.4 Th 0"06". 'Les groupes des rtes M tm ' et D�nis, composes en
state of rebellion' partie d'artisans, soot tous r,�:l:s
:
a Convent o�, et leur opinion
r
2
property-owners, of the Sections such stepsibe 4 Odober. 'Dans plusieurs quartiers" des o vnen nusembl6,
venail lts attrister.'
.
conscious acts of agg ression-far less asbut del rate attempts to .
quorque St plaignant de la chut! disaient qu co
�
Codeplt des royalistes qui
the Republic- sashad measures of self i souti�dral'en, la
weaken and overthrow embly whose dec and whinf
ree ringed the menent Its Section.! ts • nvenUon."
.
defence against an Ass ular sovereignty by the ich was now In the Champs tlysees, the workers m�nmng . . the .local fire
sacred principle of pop
•
by military force and wholesale pumps went even further : they locked t e sectumnazrtS out of
trying to impose them sts or buveurs de sang. Tothrthe m the their meeting-place and threatened the electors that if they
release of the dreadedrs'terrwaoris being undermined and ntion ene eat d, joined the rebels, 'lls Ies mettralent . a la raison' )
'Republic of propriouseto nve itse lf. The same day (Blth VendeRUalfe: . . ), most Sections armed in
Sections, but by theto Co
.
n('t by the rebdli by ernment pro tec t itself and defence of property which �P�::::' f�o.m one quarter or
Every measure takenness ofthethegov s-culotUs served to dev elop a another, to be thre�tened I �u;e; at�en�d the
the growing restivemany ways rem san
iniscen t of the def ens ive �rima.ry assemblies under �rms and o� y e ed t � . nven
state of mind in of the parisian bour in the sum me r of uon; In others, they stood read without .any ffenslve mtent,
offensive attitude threat from the Sections, the government or were too deeply divided to tJe a.,ny acuon;4�m others again,
geo isie
1789. Faced with the d and armed they were com elled to arm b ectors.against their will
not only summoned furthevol r army units but enrolle ny who had or .persuaded t� do so by tales �r;'�a�� bn�ands or es�aped
a special force of 1,500 unteers, including ma p�soners. In Marches there ,"'as talk at;
been disarmed afteerthr Prairia1.5 Meanwhile, inst with prices rising . �rronsts prepanng to
hands and dISarm Paris and cut the thr�ats of l� Inhabitants. In Mail
further, there wer rkeeat s once more aga marc re wer e wide- armed citizens paraded to s outs 0f a bas les terroristes!'
a&capareurs in the ma ts and Jmlbourgs,
and the
I , pp. 23�, 283, 290, 297 (my ita.\ia).
p. :195.
1 Aulard, ii. :179 -
were arn:atcd; and,
Aulard, ii. :183" :190 • Ib'd
from Dreux at Nonancourt. : Ibid.,
T
.
Comnuttce
, Zivy, op. cil., p. 43.
trO O
ps of refu.ed the uaembly'.
reqUell to" ordu the amen! call t?
the regular army (Zivy.
anns l� IOUnded, however, againJt the
Fot example, in Lombards the Civil
and
Comnumc'.
l militia .
Social-the lalter DOC
loca
Pr6: Pol. Aa 166. (oL (76).
fighting broke out between
ni e. Temple, and Contra!
wiIbes, the IZIOOWI(
was
cJairm for damage to property in the Tuileri"" Section &I Ihe rault of the battle
Meanwhile the government had orgaruzed Its '
' delences In , There were 1100-300 killed and wounded on cach 'ide (ibid., p. 95), For
: •
fir
"'
••,. N.,. , W 556-8. i Sa propritt� dont la garantic lui elIl aIIurtt par
• • L la loi' (ibid.).
, Zivy, op. eil., pp. 66-g. • Arch. Nat., W ��7-8, doss. II.
• Aulard, ii. 1197·
• Ard/. Pr(!f. Pol., Aa 136, fols. ��4-5.
tnlalre, teo:
I ZiVY. op. cit., pp. 84-�· • See, e.g., Baiza.c's Cisar BiTIJlllau (III edition, 1837).
17:1 THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION VENo tMIAIRE 17'
n of
Crowds gathen;d in the Carrcfo�r de Bud, at the junctio command of the Parisian forces, numbering 5,000 troops of the
the Luxembourg and Unite Sectlons , when the rumour spre �d line and a few hundred volunteers, including 250 from the
that prisoners had escaped from Bici:t �e. l� Theatre
.
Frans: � . Quinze Vingts.1 General Bonaparte, who was as yet unknown
were guarded by armed sectlonna lrlS; and, In Vmte, to the public, was put in charge of the artillery; he sent Murat
prisons
Abb�ye I:
citizens were ordered to parade in arms in the Cour de with 300 men to Les Sablons to fetch forty cannon, converted the
Its
comites de gouvernement ont arme ce �urd h� J
!
! Tuileries into a fortress, and manned all its approaches.1 When
tous Its buveurs de sang, Its terroristes et Its
'parce que
malvel11�nts . the rebels advanced from the north, where they were solidly
In Lepe1etier alone royalist aims were openly p�lalm�d : entrenched in their home territory of Lepeletier and Butte des
arters in the rue des FlUes Samt Moulins, they were met by withering gun�fire-Bonaparte's
outside the Section's headqu
to ta e up � �
es, d lsant
Thomas (the present Bourse) , passe rs-by were invite famous 'whiffofgrape-shot'. A stiffbatt1e took place, with heavy
. terronst
arms 'pour combatt re Ia Convenu on, et Its casualties on both sides, in the rue de la Convention (the present
qu'i1 n'y a qu'un roi qui puisse nOllS rendre heureux ' ,l _ rue Dauphin), which connected the rue Saint-Honore with
That night the governme�� ordered tT?DPS �nder General the Tuileries,l At 6
o'clock the rebels were driven back, They
e
Menou, commanding the mlhtary forces 10 .Pans, to advan� still held the church ofSaint-Roeh, the Theatre de la Republique
on the headquarters of the Lepeletier Section and arr t Its � (Comedie Franc;aise), and the Palais Royal; but the two latter
ith the
leaders. General Menou, a royalist at heart, parleyed W fell shortly after nightfall, In the Droits de l'Homme Section
to their homes. The same
rebels and allowed them to return there were prison riots at the H6tel de la Force, whose inmates
, Mail, and !uilc ies met t sh uts of feared-not without justice-a repetition of the September
night Butte des Moulins � ? ?
'A bas les terroristes ! vive la Repubh que ! and rallied m sup 'massacres'.'
.
la
port of Lepeletier; they were followed by Brutus, Amls de The last and best·known incident in this affair, the battle for
PatrieJ and TheAtre Fran.yai s. A general staff now emerged Saint-Roeh,s was fought out on the morning of 6
October
under avowedly monarchist direction, with Rich�r-Scrisy, a (14th Vendemiaire). During the night a general call to arms
royalist journalist, as its chairman and Ge�eral .DaOl<:an, ofth � had once more been sounded in Lepeletier, Theatre Franc;ais,
Theatre Fran'Yllis Section, as commander-I�-chief of Its forces. and Butte des Moulins; barricades were built ; but the response
An important link between the two malO centres .of re e1- � was halfhearted. Saint-Roeh quickly fell to General Vachot;
lion on the two Banks was established when Arcls, which and Barras, soon after, occupied the headquarters of the
controlled the vital Pont au Change, declared for the insur Lepeletier Section. The next day the Committees ordered the
gents at 9 o'c1oek the next morning.4 By. n�w some 25,000 disarmament of all grenadiers and ,hass�rs of the Parisian
.
sectionnaires were under arms; but the maJonty remruned on , The other hilberto ·loyal' 5«tionl-Montreuil, Popincourt, Gravillierl,
the defensive, waiting for the non-existent buveurs de sang Gard"" Fran�i""", and Panthwn-n:fwcd to !'espond. Gravi l Jieri actually voted
to strike; and only 7,000-8,000 of them-mostly �rom the to join I.epeJetier (ibid., p. 6g).
cJairm for damage to property in the Tuileri"" Section &I Ihe rault of the battle
Meanwhile the government had orgaruzed Its '
' delences In , There were 1100-300 killed and wounded on cach 'ide (ibid., p. 95), For
: •
fir
"'
••,. N.,. , W 556-8. i Sa propritt� dont la garantic lui elIl aIIurtt par
• • L la loi' (ibid.).
, Zivy, op. eil., pp. 66-g. • Arch. Nat., W ��7-8, doss. II.
• Aulard, ii. 1197·
• Ard/. Pr(!f. Pol., Aa 136, fols. ��4-5.
tnlalre, teo:
I ZiVY. op. cit., pp. 84-�· • See, e.g., Baiza.c's Cisar BiTIJlllau (III edition, 1837).
VEND 2MIAIRE
.,.
ACTION ."
THE REVOLUTIONARY CRO WD IN
ens, without distinction, of the
� �
ut, q te apart from the differences in thelr aims, the par
National Guard and of all citiz .
UClpants In these two events: were, of course, of a very different
st universally conde� ned as
rebellious Lepeletier, now almo kind. Among those killed and wounded in Vendemiaire' the
I'agiotag e et de l'ana rchte' .l All
'Ie foyer du royalisme, de authorities purported to find a predominance of imigrls and
hardened royalists. 'Parmi les blesses [wrote Barras in his
more, ordered to close dow n;
primary assemblies were, once
ts were set up to try those of
and three separate Military Cour Memoirs] on releve surtout des emigres, des collets verts ou
gators of the rebe llion ' who h �d
'the principal authors and insti noin, peu de boutiquien . . .' ;1 and a press report of 1 2 October
t 10
9
escape-they were t? mee
not already made good their
Theatre Franliais, Lepeletier, and
Butte des �
ouli � .
.
On �peaks of corpses dressed in rough outer garments, but swathed
repo rted 10 fanuh ar a ?d In fine underclothes bedecked withjleurs de lis!l Yet the govern
police
October(1 7th Vendemiaire), the
spec tacle de la plus parf aIte �ent and its agents had too obvious an interest in presenting the
reassuring tones: 'Paris offre Ie l�surgents as a small minority of royalists for such reports to be
ed to add: 'Les plaintes et
tranquillite" , though they felt oblig given much credence. Such elements may well have existed
among the jeu1llSse dorle taking part in the rebellion; but they
des denr ee5 . . . sont Ies mem . es."
Ies murmures contre la cherte
Having crushed the revo lt the gove rnme nt was a �
ous �ot
itself and the Secuons which are no more typical of the insurgents as a whole than those
to drive too deep a wedge between
decided to treat the massof the 'ouvrien pris de vin' whom a police observer's report describes
had nourished it. It was therefore
been led astray, and to con as enrolling among the armed citizens of Lepeletier on 12th
rebels as ignorant sheep who had
agai?st a small �umber of Vendemiaire.J More typical of the active elements, at least,
centrate its repressive measures
royabsts, and preSIdents and were the few hundred penons whom the Committees arrested,
'instigators'-journalists, known
or sought to arrest, after the rebellion had been crushed. Those
whose homes and papers were searched by the police in the
. Even most of these were
secretaries of Sectional assemblies
allowed to get away, as the harrie
res were left open : in �e
n penons whom the pohce Sections were (as far as their identity can be traced) mainly
Theatre Section alone of fiftee
wished to arrest or int rrog �
ate durin g the following fortnight, journalists, printe�, civil servants, deputies, and stock-jobbers;
t 7�
h e was also a wme-merchant among them, Those tried by the
e their escap e.} Of maybe 200 persom
no less than twelve mad
or wished to arrest4 only thirty Mthtary Courts, apart from their official positions in the pri
whom the Committees arrested mary Sections, were professional soldiers, civil servants, and
absence) before the three
were tried (in penon or in their
centres of revolt. Of these, members of the professions; in addition, they included a former
Military Courts set up in the main
were capitally convicted in �
o cer of the Royal Household, a wholesale grocer, and a shop
two were executed (five others
itted, and the rest were sen assistant (the only sans-culotte among them).4 Doubtless, there
their absence), eight were acqu .
were other SOCIal elements among the rank-and-file of the armed
A year later the sentences on
tenced to fines or imprisonment.
were quashed as part of a gene�al citizens of the Lepeletier, Butte des Moulins, Brutus, Theatre
those tried in their absence
�
en e�iaire were treate WIth � Fran�ais, Arcis, Luxembourg, and other actively rebellious
amnesty.s In short the rebels ofV .
Pramal-a fact WhICh dId not Secti�ns of 13th Vendemiaire ; but, apart from those specially
far greater leniency than those of
recruited for the purpose,s they must have been made up in the
escape public notice and comment.6
main, of the tax-payers, shopkeepers, and property-o ers of �
Aulard, ii. �06. 313.
• Ibid., p.
que ceux-ci voulaient attaquer et anbntir la repri:sentation nationale, et eepen_
Areh. Prtf. Pol., Aa
I
dant . . . ceux e pra . .al ont �rouvi une bien plUl grande Kv�rit� el prompti
but the pollee n-ccmh are very In
I have found 66 such Casel in 16 Sections,
243, fob. 2�-&. .
�
ude daru leur Jugement q':l� ccux du I� vend�miaire' (police observer'l report or
.
:
l
m
.
s for Lcpeletier for this period (Arch
4
252) .
. Aulard/ ii. 318.
. A few luch cues are reported ;n the recordlL of the Military Couru'' but it is
1 Arch. Nat., W 5�6-8 . ZIVY, op. CLt., �
. 1.
les
•
al �tai�t mOL� coup�b1d
Iinpouible 10 estimate their importance (Arcl!. Nat., W 556-8).
que celolX du 13 vend�miaire, puitque la premi
nl obser vent que r�olt b de prairi
, 'Q)..Ldques.u pain d
eL"l ne demandlJ.ent que du
VEND 2MIAIRE
.,.
ACTION ."
THE REVOLUTIONARY CRO WD IN
ens, without distinction, of the
� �
ut, q te apart from the differences in thelr aims, the par
National Guard and of all citiz .
UClpants In these two events: were, of course, of a very different
st universally conde� ned as
rebellious Lepeletier, now almo kind. Among those killed and wounded in Vendemiaire' the
I'agiotag e et de l'ana rchte' .l All
'Ie foyer du royalisme, de authorities purported to find a predominance of imigrls and
hardened royalists. 'Parmi les blesses [wrote Barras in his
more, ordered to close dow n;
primary assemblies were, once
ts were set up to try those of
and three separate Military Cour Memoirs] on releve surtout des emigres, des collets verts ou
gators of the rebe llion ' who h �d
'the principal authors and insti noin, peu de boutiquien . . .' ;1 and a press report of 1 2 October
t 10
9
escape-they were t? mee
not already made good their
Theatre Franliais, Lepeletier, and
Butte des �
ouli � .
.
On �peaks of corpses dressed in rough outer garments, but swathed
repo rted 10 fanuh ar a ?d In fine underclothes bedecked withjleurs de lis!l Yet the govern
police
October(1 7th Vendemiaire), the
spec tacle de la plus parf aIte �ent and its agents had too obvious an interest in presenting the
reassuring tones: 'Paris offre Ie l�surgents as a small minority of royalists for such reports to be
ed to add: 'Les plaintes et
tranquillite" , though they felt oblig given much credence. Such elements may well have existed
among the jeu1llSse dorle taking part in the rebellion; but they
des denr ee5 . . . sont Ies mem . es."
Ies murmures contre la cherte
Having crushed the revo lt the gove rnme nt was a �
ous �ot
itself and the Secuons which are no more typical of the insurgents as a whole than those
to drive too deep a wedge between
decided to treat the massof the 'ouvrien pris de vin' whom a police observer's report describes
had nourished it. It was therefore
been led astray, and to con as enrolling among the armed citizens of Lepeletier on 12th
rebels as ignorant sheep who had
agai?st a small �umber of Vendemiaire.J More typical of the active elements, at least,
centrate its repressive measures
royabsts, and preSIdents and were the few hundred penons whom the Committees arrested,
'instigators'-journalists, known
or sought to arrest, after the rebellion had been crushed. Those
whose homes and papers were searched by the police in the
. Even most of these were
secretaries of Sectional assemblies
allowed to get away, as the harrie
res were left open : in �e
n penons whom the pohce Sections were (as far as their identity can be traced) mainly
Theatre Section alone of fiftee
wished to arrest or int rrog �
ate durin g the following fortnight, journalists, printe�, civil servants, deputies, and stock-jobbers;
t 7�
h e was also a wme-merchant among them, Those tried by the
e their escap e.} Of maybe 200 persom
no less than twelve mad
or wished to arrest4 only thirty Mthtary Courts, apart from their official positions in the pri
whom the Committees arrested mary Sections, were professional soldiers, civil servants, and
absence) before the three
were tried (in penon or in their
centres of revolt. Of these, members of the professions; in addition, they included a former
Military Courts set up in the main
were capitally convicted in �
o cer of the Royal Household, a wholesale grocer, and a shop
two were executed (five others
itted, and the rest were sen assistant (the only sans-culotte among them).4 Doubtless, there
their absence), eight were acqu .
were other SOCIal elements among the rank-and-file of the armed
A year later the sentences on
tenced to fines or imprisonment.
were quashed as part of a gene�al citizens of the Lepeletier, Butte des Moulins, Brutus, Theatre
those tried in their absence
�
en e�iaire were treate WIth � Fran�ais, Arcis, Luxembourg, and other actively rebellious
amnesty.s In short the rebels ofV .
Pramal-a fact WhICh dId not Secti�ns of 13th Vendemiaire ; but, apart from those specially
far greater leniency than those of
recruited for the purpose,s they must have been made up in the
escape public notice and comment.6
main, of the tax-payers, shopkeepers, and property-o ers of �
Aulard, ii. �06. 313.
• Ibid., p.
que ceux-ci voulaient attaquer et anbntir la repri:sentation nationale, et eepen_
Areh. Prtf. Pol., Aa
I
dant . . . ceux e pra . .al ont �rouvi une bien plUl grande Kv�rit� el prompti
but the pollee n-ccmh are very In
I have found 66 such Casel in 16 Sections,
243, fob. 2�-&. .
�
ude daru leur Jugement q':l� ccux du I� vend�miaire' (police observer'l report or
.
:
l
m
.
s for Lcpeletier for this period (Arch
4
252) .
. Aulard/ ii. 318.
. A few luch cues are reported ;n the recordlL of the Military Couru'' but it is
1 Arch. Nat., W 5�6-8 . ZIVY, op. CLt., �
. 1.
les
•
al �tai�t mOL� coup�b1d
Iinpouible 10 estimate their importance (Arcl!. Nat., W 556-8).
que celolX du 13 vend�miaire, puitque la premi
nl obser vent que r�olt b de prairi
, 'Q)..Ldques.u pain d
eL"l ne demandlJ.ent que du
, THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD IN ACTION
"
VEND2 MIAIRE
the spring of I 795· p
' lans were also suitabl
77
'
the capital, who alone had escaped the social purges carried out .
ans
restrained by the new y cowed and
since Thermidor. Such citizens had applauded the siege of the element that had entere
. d the po'Ile. '. ,
Bastille and supported, or condoned, the overthrow of the scenesmce Vendem a
I'air� ; the army, brough
. t in to the capital by
O:; ���; � �� � �
monarchy; but it was the first-and last-time that they them the Co n a d �
selves fonned the predominant element in a revolutionary crowd � aved �::�: f;: �:
y
�
li
P
�i��:
t
r h
o
irect ry d
� : : ;� �c;:a:: ;:/
or bore the main brunt of street-fighting during the years of the ays of 'revolutionary apar e. e
crowds' h th
culottes or of dissident hour d ans-
Revolution in Paris.
Yet, though playing little part in these events, the sans
geois, er o e o
I Fo� early euntpl of the .. . ..
y
a
ocC\lpymg army (pilfering of
menace to Parw ovilu.n. conUltlu ed by
goods da thc
to properly, danger 10 life
.
an
ICC Arch, Prif. Pol.
culottes were, as always since Thermidor, the principal victims.
The Convention, it is true, played to the gallery by decredng , � 25� (Tuilcrla)m:ot.
, 3 .)6-68 and limb)
, 373 -,5, 378, 417- 1 9.
on 6
October that all who could afford to do so should forego
their bread ration and buy on the open market;! but the
measure was of little practical value. High prices and scarcity
continued and, as winter approached, became more severe, In
November the price of bread on the open market rose to 24
liures a pound and a voie of coal to 300 iiuTeS.1 On the 20th, in
the Bon Conseil Section, a dealer was forced by a crowd to sell
his bread at I O livres a pound.l But the prevailing mood was one
of hopelessness and despair in the face of mounting hardships
to which there no longer appeared to be any hopes of a solution,
O:; ���; � �� � �
monarchy; but it was the first-and last-time that they them the Co n a d �
selves fonned the predominant element in a revolutionary crowd � aved �::�: f;: �:
y
�
li
P
�i��:
t
r h
o
irect ry d
� : : ;� �c;:a:: ;:/
or bore the main brunt of street-fighting during the years of the ays of 'revolutionary apar e. e
crowds' h th
culottes or of dissident hour d ans-
Revolution in Paris.
Yet, though playing little part in these events, the sans
geois, er o e o
I Fo� early euntpl of the .. . ..
y
a
ocC\lpymg army (pilfering of
menace to Parw ovilu.n. conUltlu ed by
goods da thc
to properly, danger 10 life
.
an
ICC Arch, Prif. Pol.
culottes were, as always since Thermidor, the principal victims.
The Convention, it is true, played to the gallery by decredng , � 25� (Tuilcrla)m:ot.
, 3 .)6-68 and limb)
, 373 -,5, 378, 417- 1 9.
on 6
October that all who could afford to do so should forego
their bread ration and buy on the open market;! but the
measure was of little practical value. High prices and scarcity
continued and, as winter approached, became more severe, In
November the price of bread on the open market rose to 24
liures a pound and a voie of coal to 300 iiuTeS.1 On the 20th, in
the Bon Conseil Section, a dealer was forced by a crowd to sell
his bread at I O livres a pound.l But the prevailing mood was one
of hopelessness and despair in the face of mounting hardships
to which there no longer appeared to be any hopes of a solution,
OR
underlying the revolutionary journits; but, before doing so, we
design,
all their diversity of scope, organization, and must also look once more at the elements taking part in them.
!he riots of the autumn of I 7B7 and 1 788 broke out, as we saw,
F
us revol u
does a common thread run through the vario
in l he prece � In response to the agitation of the Paris Parlement in the course
tionary commotions and joumies described
IS
.
there a cert of its struggle with the king and his ministers in the period of
ing pages? In the first place, it is. evident th.a� ��
10 the social compositIO
n of the paruCl the rluolte nohiliaire. The original impulse to them was given by
the I�wyers' clerks and ushers of the Palais de Justice ; yet, ru
unif ormi ty of pattern
exc�ption. of the
the �IOts continued, the clerks were joined by the apprentices
pants in these movement s: with the single
were draw n 10 their over
armed rebels of Vendemiaire, they
Paris ian sa1IS- l
cu ottes-from the and Journeymen of the Cite and, in 1 788, by the mnw peuple of
whelming majority from the the markets and the Faubourgs Saint-Marcel and Saint-Ger
shopk e�pers•. �nd
SOCial
-earn ers,
m�n 3.5 well. In fact those arrested were composed, in the
workshop masters, crafts men, wage
capital. Thus , in respe ct of ongms,
o� demonstrat?n
petty traders of the
maIO, of small shopkeepers, craftsmen, and journeymen, of
a sharp division is revealed between the m� whom one-halfwere wage-earners in a variety of trades. ! Work
or making
Electors of
and insurgents and the political leaders directmg,
Paris shop journeymen and labourers played an even more con
political capital out of, these operations-the spicuous part in the Reveillon riots of April 17B9, when the
the leade rs ofthe
May-July 1789, the revolutionary journalists! houses ?f two manufacturers were pulled down by angry
Nabo nal Assem bly, of
Paris Commune, or the members of the
s. Thes e, with rema rkabl y few crow�s In the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. We saw that, on this
the Cordeliers and Jacobin Club
the comm ercial hourge oisie, the occasion, special efforts were made by the itinerant bands,
exceptions, were drawn from who formed the most active elements among the rioters, to
l l aristocracy . ' We shall see later how
professions, or the ibera
eh laser lights ..
enrol wage-earners both at their places of work-at docks, in
Mirabe:a u and Waye tleandwere, ofMarquis noblet -as were
urug e. R�bcsp i�ts and
workshops and manufactories-and in their lodgings; and wage
de Saint-F tlix the de Saint·H
....
in et
Musqu weN: former ,,_.IU; Damoulins. Brisso., and Htbc:rt were)O
oourx,
Urnah. and
•
earners of every sort accounted for over fifty of some seventy
Danton and Jacques Roux were priests,·
J.�������������t?��f
Marat aendre tllmo:<!rousjourna
doctorprotp l menSieyb
ill.
M · ".ro � I
persons killed, wounded, or arrested as a result of the distur
Legora
andson c:: tradesEven bances. While this is an unusually high proportion, it is perhaps
�
the
oftheaParisia
was
lOCial sense
was
well·to
that
-do Guard in the' Year. :II, though the
n Nationalofficial.
formerofcwtorru
lH/urlfOis.
OR
underlying the revolutionary journits; but, before doing so, we
design,
all their diversity of scope, organization, and must also look once more at the elements taking part in them.
!he riots of the autumn of I 7B7 and 1 788 broke out, as we saw,
F
us revol u
does a common thread run through the vario
in l he prece � In response to the agitation of the Paris Parlement in the course
tionary commotions and joumies described
IS
.
there a cert of its struggle with the king and his ministers in the period of
ing pages? In the first place, it is. evident th.a� ��
10 the social compositIO
n of the paruCl the rluolte nohiliaire. The original impulse to them was given by
the I�wyers' clerks and ushers of the Palais de Justice ; yet, ru
unif ormi ty of pattern
exc�ption. of the
the �IOts continued, the clerks were joined by the apprentices
pants in these movement s: with the single
were draw n 10 their over
armed rebels of Vendemiaire, they
Paris ian sa1IS- l
cu ottes-from the and Journeymen of the Cite and, in 1 788, by the mnw peuple of
whelming majority from the the markets and the Faubourgs Saint-Marcel and Saint-Ger
shopk e�pers•. �nd
SOCial
-earn ers,
m�n 3.5 well. In fact those arrested were composed, in the
workshop masters, crafts men, wage
capital. Thus , in respe ct of ongms,
o� demonstrat?n
petty traders of the
maIO, of small shopkeepers, craftsmen, and journeymen, of
a sharp division is revealed between the m� whom one-halfwere wage-earners in a variety of trades. ! Work
or making
Electors of
and insurgents and the political leaders directmg,
Paris shop journeymen and labourers played an even more con
political capital out of, these operations-the spicuous part in the Reveillon riots of April 17B9, when the
the leade rs ofthe
May-July 1789, the revolutionary journalists! houses ?f two manufacturers were pulled down by angry
Nabo nal Assem bly, of
Paris Commune, or the members of the
s. Thes e, with rema rkabl y few crow�s In the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. We saw that, on this
the Cordeliers and Jacobin Club
the comm ercial hourge oisie, the occasion, special efforts were made by the itinerant bands,
exceptions, were drawn from who formed the most active elements among the rioters, to
l l aristocracy . ' We shall see later how
professions, or the ibera
eh laser lights ..
enrol wage-earners both at their places of work-at docks, in
Mirabe:a u and Waye tleandwere, ofMarquis noblet -as were
urug e. R�bcsp i�ts and
workshops and manufactories-and in their lodgings; and wage
de Saint-F tlix the de Saint·H
....
in et
Musqu weN: former ,,_.IU; Damoulins. Brisso., and Htbc:rt were)O
oourx,
Urnah. and
•
earners of every sort accounted for over fifty of some seventy
Danton and Jacques Roux were priests,·
J.�������������t?��f
Marat aendre tllmo:<!rousjourna
doctorprotp l menSieyb
ill.
M · ".ro � I
persons killed, wounded, or arrested as a result of the distur
Legora
andson c:: tradesEven bances. While this is an unusually high proportion, it is perhaps
�
the
oftheaParisia
was
lOCial sense
was
well·to
that
-do Guard in the' Year. :II, though the
n Nationalofficial.
formerofcwtorru
lH/urlfOis.
de femmes assez
redingote blanche'. Among eighty persons for whose ernj sabres.. es Couteaux de chasseeieougam des,
writs were subsequently issued by the Procureur-General, We know great deal less about th
described as wearing 'un habit bleu et canne a pomme
and another as being 'monte sur un cheval blanc'. Yet paraded inathe Pla-,
... e G '
rev
e 20,000 gardes naJioTU1llx that
e that
�pparently reluctant Lafayette to mo�'ng and com�elled the
were exceptional and the description most often given of
d
rioters by eyewitnesses was of roughly dressed men and In the evening in the wake 0f thIeeama d t e� to Versailles later
rchmg women-but it
of the people-local tradesmen, craftsmen and w"."·,,,""" , Arch. �at.
Z'. ...
• See pp • An:h
: . Nat., Z' 4691.
.
See Appendixes Ill-IV and pp. 58-!)9 above. . 73-7.5 above.
'
de femmes assez
redingote blanche'. Among eighty persons for whose ernj sabres.. es Couteaux de chasseeieougam des,
writs were subsequently issued by the Procureur-General, We know great deal less about th
described as wearing 'un habit bleu et canne a pomme
and another as being 'monte sur un cheval blanc'. Yet paraded inathe Pla-,
... e G '
rev
e 20,000 gardes naJioTU1llx that
e that
�pparently reluctant Lafayette to mo�'ng and com�elled the
were exceptional and the description most often given of
d
rioters by eyewitnesses was of roughly dressed men and In the evening in the wake 0f thIeeama d t e� to Versailles later
rchmg women-but it
of the people-local tradesmen, craftsmen and w"."·,,,""" , Arch. �at.
Z'. ...
• See pp • An:h
: . Nat., Z' 4691.
.
See Appendixes Ill-IV and pp. 58-!)9 above. . 73-7.5 above.
'
V and pp. 90 j
2 abo...c. For a fullcr , A,ch. dep. Seine.el-Oille, llerieo B, Tribunal Crimine] de VcrsaiUeo, May 1793.
rioters of 1789-9' see
, See Ap�ndix IV and G. Rude, 'Lea tmeutes des 25, 26 ftwier 1793', Amr.
de t789 a 1791',
) Sec Ap�ndixeo IV_ . my
.
nlll .
social composition of
the msurg� tiM. hlSf.
in,urr<:eUOII$ a l5lCf\nes
par Itut. Rh.frmlf., no. 130, 1953, pp. 46-51 .
Composition sociale des
J,�1tf., no. 127, 1952, pp. 256-
.
-88.
THE COMPOSITION OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS 183
VO LU TI ON AR Y CROWD
Y OF THE RE
TH E AN AT OM
.1 Pa s expect the insurgents of 10 August to be as broadly representa.
witnesses before the
.
.
18.:1
V and pp. 90 j
2 abo...c. For a fullcr , A,ch. dep. Seine.el-Oille, llerieo B, Tribunal Crimine] de VcrsaiUeo, May 1793.
rioters of 1789-9' see
, See Ap�ndix IV and G. Rude, 'Lea tmeutes des 25, 26 ftwier 1793', Amr.
de t789 a 1791',
) Sec Ap�ndixeo IV_ . my
.
nlll .
social composition of
the msurg� tiM. hlSf.
in,urr<:eUOII$ a l5lCf\nes
par Itut. Rh.frmlf., no. 130, 1953, pp. 46-51 .
Composition sociale des
J,�1tf., no. 127, 1952, pp. 256-
.
-88.
D THE COMPOSITION OF REVOLUTIONARY CROW
IS. THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROW DS 185
w
cases the women of the markets and'faubourgs played a signifi thejoumies than in others. This seems particularly to have
been
cant part and an insurrection of trades men and craftsm en en �e case w�en a district of small crafts became substantially
, ,
roUed in battalions of the National Guard foUowed c1oseI� �)D 1Ovolved-like the Cite 10 the riots of 1787 and 1788
or the
�al
the heels of a women's revolt for bread. In the case of Pral Faubourg Saint-Antoine on various other occasions; but
it also
this feature is reflected in the lists of civilians a� ted �or t �king appears to have been a feature of the more organized, politic
al
of
part in the disturbances: alongside a substantJal mmonty movements-such as the Champ de Mars affair and the armed
women we find a prevalence of workshop masters, indepe ndent attacks on the Bastille and the Tuileries-when the
driving
craftsmen, and journeymen of a wide variety of trades.' element was no doubt the small shopkeepers and works
, hop
From this brief review we may note both the com�on feature masters who, !n many cases, brought their gar;ons, journeymen
,
and certain significant differences in the composlbon of t�e and apprenuces along with them. In this connexion
it is
rioten and insurgents of this period. Th� common feature 11, perhaps of interest to note the sustained militancy of memb
ers
ofcoune, the predominance ofsaru..t.aJo te.s In all but ooe of these of certain trades s,uch as furnishing, building, metal-work,
and
joumies. Yet other social elements played some part: overw dr�, Most COnspiCUOUS of all were the locksmiths, joiners
and
whelmingly so in Vendemiaire of the Year IV; bU,t �ere were ca�1Oet-maktrs, shoemakers, and tailors ; others frequently
in
also small groups of bourgeois, renlitrs, merchants, ClVlI servants, eVIdence were stone-masons, hairdressers, and engravers;
and,
and professional men engaged in the d�tructi�n of the barriJre: of those e?gaged in less skilful occupations, wine-merchants,
(possibly as direct agents of the Orleamst facbon at the Pah us water-camers, porters, cooks, and domestic servants, Work
Mars ers
Royal) in the capture of the Bastille, the Champ de employ�d in manufa�tories (textiles, glass, tobacco, tapest
ries,
affair 'the assault on the Tuileries, and in the outbreak of porcelain) played, With the exception of the gauze-workers
'a
Prairlal.1 Women, as we have seen, were particularly in eviden�e relatively inconspicuous role in these movements,'
in the march to Versailles, the food riots of 1792-3, and In A study ofthese records confirms the traditional view that the
Prairial, This is, of course, not altogether surprising, � in these par� of Pa� most fr�quently and wholeheartedly engaged
in
episodes food prices and other bread and butter questions were th� nots an? I nsurrecU?DS ofthe Revolution were the Faubourgs
well to the fore; we find women playing a less conspicuo� p.art �alnt-Antome a?d Satnt Marcel. This is strikingly borne
� out
in such an essentially political movement as t�at culnunau�g �n, t�e case of Sa:II�t-Anto1Oe, whose craftsmen and journeymen
in the 'massacre' ofthe Champ de Mars-less sbll, of co�rse, 10 Imtt�ted and dommated the Reveillon riots, the capture of
the
largely military operations like the assaults o� the �asulle a?d Bastille, and the overthrow of the monarchy, and played
an
the Tuileries and in the expUlsion of the Glrondm deputies outstanding part in the revolution of May-June 1793 and
the
from the Convention, Again, while wage-earners played a popular revolt o� Prairial; the police reports suggest, in
fact,
, was only In the
substantial part on all these occasions, the only imp?rtant out that It events of 1787-8 and in the Champ de
break in which they appear to have clearly predommated was Mars affair �at Saint-Antoine played little or no part.
The
the Reveillon riots,in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The re�n Faubourg Salnt-Marcel, on the other hand, while it contri
buted
for this is not hard to find: though it cannot be termed a stnke substantially to the commotions of September-October
or a wages movement (Reveillon's own workers do not �ppe�
1788
and was represented by a score ofvoluntetrs at the siege
, of the
to have been engaged), it was the only �ne of thes� acuons 10 B�ulIe, only began to play a really conspicuous role in the
which there is the slightest trace of a direct �nfl�ct between spnng and summer of 1791. After this the part it played
was
workers and employers. It is also no doubt slgmficant that , See Appendix, IV, We have noted, of course,
craftsmen-whether masters, independent craftsmen, or workers engaged on the Qulitrl d'_1 in '794 and the early
the particular militancy of the
f�e lIP, 134, '36, '45-0 above); but thcsc wen:: generally fOmler
journeymen-were more conspicuously in evidence in some of
months of 1795
JOiners, and metal·workers from Imall worbhop$ of whom mentio locksmiths,
, Sec Appendixes IV-V. • Sec Appendix IV. been made, n hal already
D THE COMPOSITION OF REVOLUTIONARY CROW
IS. THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROW DS 185
w
cases the women of the markets and'faubourgs played a signifi thejoumies than in others. This seems particularly to have
been
cant part and an insurrection of trades men and craftsm en en �e case w�en a district of small crafts became substantially
, ,
roUed in battalions of the National Guard foUowed c1oseI� �)D 1Ovolved-like the Cite 10 the riots of 1787 and 1788
or the
�al
the heels of a women's revolt for bread. In the case of Pral Faubourg Saint-Antoine on various other occasions; but
it also
this feature is reflected in the lists of civilians a� ted �or t �king appears to have been a feature of the more organized, politic
al
of
part in the disturbances: alongside a substantJal mmonty movements-such as the Champ de Mars affair and the armed
women we find a prevalence of workshop masters, indepe ndent attacks on the Bastille and the Tuileries-when the
driving
craftsmen, and journeymen of a wide variety of trades.' element was no doubt the small shopkeepers and works
, hop
From this brief review we may note both the com�on feature masters who, !n many cases, brought their gar;ons, journeymen
,
and certain significant differences in the composlbon of t�e and apprenuces along with them. In this connexion
it is
rioten and insurgents of this period. Th� common feature 11, perhaps of interest to note the sustained militancy of memb
ers
ofcoune, the predominance ofsaru..t.aJo te.s In all but ooe of these of certain trades s,uch as furnishing, building, metal-work,
and
joumies. Yet other social elements played some part: overw dr�, Most COnspiCUOUS of all were the locksmiths, joiners
and
whelmingly so in Vendemiaire of the Year IV; bU,t �ere were ca�1Oet-maktrs, shoemakers, and tailors ; others frequently
in
also small groups of bourgeois, renlitrs, merchants, ClVlI servants, eVIdence were stone-masons, hairdressers, and engravers;
and,
and professional men engaged in the d�tructi�n of the barriJre: of those e?gaged in less skilful occupations, wine-merchants,
(possibly as direct agents of the Orleamst facbon at the Pah us water-camers, porters, cooks, and domestic servants, Work
Mars ers
Royal) in the capture of the Bastille, the Champ de employ�d in manufa�tories (textiles, glass, tobacco, tapest
ries,
affair 'the assault on the Tuileries, and in the outbreak of porcelain) played, With the exception of the gauze-workers
'a
Prairlal.1 Women, as we have seen, were particularly in eviden�e relatively inconspicuous role in these movements,'
in the march to Versailles, the food riots of 1792-3, and In A study ofthese records confirms the traditional view that the
Prairial, This is, of course, not altogether surprising, � in these par� of Pa� most fr�quently and wholeheartedly engaged
in
episodes food prices and other bread and butter questions were th� nots an? I nsurrecU?DS ofthe Revolution were the Faubourgs
well to the fore; we find women playing a less conspicuo� p.art �alnt-Antome a?d Satnt Marcel. This is strikingly borne
� out
in such an essentially political movement as t�at culnunau�g �n, t�e case of Sa:II�t-Anto1Oe, whose craftsmen and journeymen
in the 'massacre' ofthe Champ de Mars-less sbll, of co�rse, 10 Imtt�ted and dommated the Reveillon riots, the capture of
the
largely military operations like the assaults o� the �asulle a?d Bastille, and the overthrow of the monarchy, and played
an
the Tuileries and in the expUlsion of the Glrondm deputies outstanding part in the revolution of May-June 1793 and
the
from the Convention, Again, while wage-earners played a popular revolt o� Prairial; the police reports suggest, in
fact,
, was only In the
substantial part on all these occasions, the only imp?rtant out that It events of 1787-8 and in the Champ de
break in which they appear to have clearly predommated was Mars affair �at Saint-Antoine played little or no part.
The
the Reveillon riots,in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The re�n Faubourg Salnt-Marcel, on the other hand, while it contri
buted
for this is not hard to find: though it cannot be termed a stnke substantially to the commotions of September-October
or a wages movement (Reveillon's own workers do not �ppe�
1788
and was represented by a score ofvoluntetrs at the siege
, of the
to have been engaged), it was the only �ne of thes� acuons 10 B�ulIe, only began to play a really conspicuous role in the
which there is the slightest trace of a direct �nfl�ct between spnng and summer of 1791. After this the part it played
was
workers and employers. It is also no doubt slgmficant that , See Appendix, IV, We have noted, of course,
craftsmen-whether masters, independent craftsmen, or workers engaged on the Qulitrl d'_1 in '794 and the early
the particular militancy of the
f�e lIP, 134, '36, '45-0 above); but thcsc wen:: generally fOmler
journeymen-were more conspicuously in evidence in some of
months of 1795
JOiners, and metal·workers from Imall worbhop$ of whom mentio locksmiths,
, Sec Appendixes IV-V. • Sec Appendix IV. been made, n hal already
I86 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY C OWD
�
THE COMPOSITIO
second only to that of Sam
' t-Antoine in the revoluuons 0f N OF REVOLUTION
ARY CROW DS 187
August 1792 and May-June ' 93. and in the days oCPrairial. l least, it has little
foundation in fact
. Among
In Vendemiaire, of course, :'
P Hem was quite different.
persons arrested,
wounded, and killed in
the Sixty-eight
the Reveillon riots
Although propeny-owners aD �� �
erates' had by now taken whom details are
available, there were for
.
only three withou
� lOns, 1, was not they but the
charge of even th poPular S tet� abode-a cobbler, t fixed
. a carter, and a nav
vy. I Of nearly ei
traditional Sec�OJ
bourgeou ;:
0f Le detice (Bibliotheque) and scheduled for arrest
after the burning of
the
ghty
Butte des Moulins (PaialS oyaI)
. . . . .
�
at took the lead and held arrested for breaking
all were of fixed abode
the windows of the and
barribu
Barriere Saint.O
four
•:
the Imtl auve, Wh,·ie--c.haractensuca lly-it was the Quinze and OCcupation.: Of enis,
. . . some sixty perso
Vingts in the Faubourg Samt-Antome Which alone di . 1... d
spakllc arrested at the time ns
ofthe looting ofthe
Saint.Lazare monas
a contingent of armed volunteers to oppose the counter-revoIu-
in July 1 789, nine tery
were unemployed
abode, who were workers withou t
tionary rehels. caught up in the fixed
against vagrants, general drag-net directed
. . . aveu, and dwellers
gens sans
But even If It can �e demonstrated that the overwhelrrung at the time of the in lodging-hou
JUly revolution, and ses
, . aIl but the last of the revolu- probab ly had no direct
majority of the partl.Clp��ts m connexion with this
tionary were Pans an
journles -<ulolltS how far can they be
sans de la affair at all.l Every one
Bastille and of those of the 662 vainqfJeUrs
l . claiming compensatio
�
considered typical o� th SOCial rou
f
rom which they were and their depende
nts in August 1792
n for themselves
drawn? T�ine and hiS fo ghil ot denying the presence
:n settled occupation.4
In the weeks preced
was of fixed abode
and
in revolutlOnary crowds �;Vt:�d�men, wage.earners, and city
ing the Champ de
demonstration one Mars
. beggar was arrested
and queen, another for abusing the
poor, inSisted, neverthel�, that the dominant element �mong for applaUding their king
them were
.
is• and
vagabonds, mml1l� In View of
ens sans avtU.l two more for causing
a disturbance and
flight from Paris, and
the panic·fear engendered �mong l r e and small property. � Guard; three other
persons are described
insulting the Natio
as being sans
nal
owners by vagran", petty thieves, and nemployed at different
. .
� rest ofthe 250 arrested
during this period appe
ar to have been
the Itat;
stages of the Revolutio , . l settled abode.$ Noris
a charge should be m� e .. I
; .1\ :� �
e haps not surpnsmg. that sueh
ertainly voiced on more than or beggars among
there any mention in
the records ofvagr
of
ants
. those arrested in
Germinal and Prairia
one occasion by hosule Journ�lists' memorialists, and pohce Year III; nor, even l of the
. more surprisingly
perhaps, among those
authorities of the day. Yet, In ItS application to the capital at implicated in the
grocery riots of 1 792
these elements mingle and 1 793. Doubtl
. . d with the rioters ess
and
1 . . .n
See Ap�ndix III. ACC(lrdmg 0 the records aamined other fairly eoDSUl�ently insurgents on such
'�volutionary' Sections wen: th_ �dJO'
1
Ho
occasions, and we know
the i
tel de V lle,lueh til Ar al a �� that they caused
Concern to the Paris
Arsenal, and certain c.entra� �UOrll
:' : Electors during the
h Ii'! Louvre, Oratoi�, M l!colliel. revolution of July
oa da Innocenti" GravdlJen, and Loml»rdt-with occasional It king out-
March� � to have played an 1 789 ;6 but they appear
altogether minor role
hurstl ofmilitancy from Temp e, Bondy and Faubourg MonunartN: in the north
n
in these movements.
w;' t
. . This does not mean,
and from Invalida in the -outh.w t. W are of course, only dcahng h the of Course, that unempl
oyed
.
'trttt demonstration. and 'IUUrrecu���g
�
�
�
active participation of Sect�ons, or rge ou� of individual. within SecIJ� In
No accounl h.l..!. therefore, been ta �
. workers and crafts
houses (the often
men living in furnishe
workers or
d rOOms or lodgin
g.
here of such purely p repa
despised
....tory nary initiative til shown, for "",amp\e In did nOI form a
non-domicilils)
A ril 1793 by the Halle au BI� an
�� 'Con�il tttion There
S s.
j
ii, in fact, no� OJ(:
stantial elem( :It in
revolutionary crowds. sub_
e!cordance (e�ecpt for brief Jl:C" nods a d
This was particularly
bly in the cue: of the Fau urg
. . the case in Ihe early
Saint·Antoine) between the .
years of the Revoluti
eral asscmbly--often ta ng
m�'�;! ��;:i� � in �e Seclional committee room
�f �titions and raoluli n.
o � �d �
from the influx of
unemployment in
workless countrymen,
on,
there
when, quite apart
was considerable
�; !�er bodia-and that of demo.....tra.l o rs d . 1.1 enl:S resident n a large number
II be bccaUJ<': the X>Cl& .,� w ..-; I
�n of the two, except for a h. Nat., Y 18795, fola. ..
of Parisian crafts ;
this,
Arch. Nat., Z" 886; Y 'o6 --62
.. .
i " . e sa
m=
.
Section. Thll may we
. m
.ki I
I Arc
b ef ...riod
· . in 1793-4, w.. .trl ng y diffe",nt.
. f9, fol. 18.
y- I. ' 8,4', " _,., 8', 130,135.. P. Gaxolle, LA RlurXlI1_!,,'tIflJU4,
n•
inc, op. Cit.
. , Ibid., fob. �o-1
•
Ta - 1.
Arch. Pr�r. Pol., � p. 3�6g-74; F' 44�6.
4 Aren. Nat., T 5141;
pp. 112, '33-4, 146. 167, fol. 5 ' ; '57, fol.
• •
• P,�h'lInNJ
tkJ scIanas • . . tit 1'�DnMit 134; Ab 314, pp. 1�9, 32, 36, 37.
J
eral asscmbly--often ta ng
m�'�;! ��;:i� � in �e Seclional committee room
�f �titions and raoluli n.
o � �d �
from the influx of
unemployment in
workless countrymen,
on,
there
when, quite apart
was considerable
�; !�er bodia-and that of demo.....tra.l o rs d . 1.1 enl:S resident n a large number
II be bccaUJ<': the X>Cl& .,� w ..-; I
�n of the two, except for a h. Nat., Y 18795, fola. ..
of Parisian crafts ;
this,
Arch. Nat., Z" 886; Y 'o6 --62
.. .
i " . e sa
m=
.
Section. Thll may we
. m
.ki I
I Arc
b ef ...riod
· . in 1793-4, w.. .trl ng y diffe",nt.
. f9, fol. 18.
y- I. ' 8,4', " _,., 8', 130,135.. P. Gaxolle, LA RlurXlI1_!,,'tIflJU4,
n•
inc, op. Cit.
. , Ibid., fob. �o-1
•
Ta - 1.
Arch. Pr�r. Pol., � p. 3�6g-74; F' 44�6.
4 Aren. Nat., T 5141;
pp. 112, '33-4, 146. 167, fol. 5 ' ; '57, fol.
• •
• P,�h'lInNJ
tkJ scIanas • . . tit 1'�DnMit 134; Ab 314, pp. 1�9, 32, 36, 37.
J
•
great jollrnies of the Revolution; yet this evidence, as far
as it
1789, pp. III, n. 5; 419, n. 4·
See pp. 180-1 above. goes, is overwhelming and should prove conclusive. By
• In the eeruus of 1795-the only cc:nsw ofthe
period in which the rrtm-fIom idli/s
4 Monin, PfIris til and
'��1IU7I IIIU
a printet", lod� with a wine-merchant orthe rue de Pllue,
and Gamhi and Semain, rivenide worken, lodged
• • .
(1. de la Monneraye.
Nal., T 5141).
hOlds ..,'d lodgi�g.houses of a large part o.f their �Clidents r Arch. Nat., Y 1,5101, 13454.
L4 eriu ill wpnwU d Paril penJaN III RlI1IIiIltIOlt (Pam, 19118) � pp. -: •
• Ar<:h. Nat., Z' 46g1.
�. Nat., Y 10497; Arch. dq,. Seine-et-Oix, teriCi B, PJiv6lt
lud I 1151 of the Mill'
!!I 13).
dix V To take a random sample from M a d du Ro•. Proo!dura, '78g, fob. 7--21.
.
, Sec A
de j'H6td
S iU �7:.stilu: J. A. Lamoureu.x a tinamith, lodged with one Boicharnp , 4 Ar<:b'. Pr�f. Pol., Aa 137, foil. '71-8; 173, foil. 114, 115�;
r:;"ging-howe keeper of the roe de Lappe; Marc-Anu:nne Saint·Paul. a tnaI�er See abo Appendix V.
!lIS, fob. 451-!l.
•
great jollrnies of the Revolution; yet this evidence, as far
as it
1789, pp. III, n. 5; 419, n. 4·
See pp. 180-1 above. goes, is overwhelming and should prove conclusive. By
• In the eeruus of 1795-the only cc:nsw ofthe
period in which the rrtm-fIom idli/s
4 Monin, PfIris til and
'��1IU7I IIIU
a printet", lod� with a wine-merchant orthe rue de Pllue,
and Gamhi and Semain, rivenide worken, lodged
• • .
(1. de la Monneraye.
Nal., T 5141).
hOlds ..,'d lodgi�g.houses of a large part o.f their �Clidents r Arch. Nat., Y 1,5101, 13454.
L4 eriu ill wpnwU d Paril penJaN III RlI1IIiIltIOlt (Pam, 19118) � pp. -: •
• Ar<:h. Nat., Z' 46g1.
�. Nat., Y 10497; Arch. dq,. Seine-et-Oix, teriCi B, PJiv6lt
lud I 1151 of the Mill'
!!I 13).
dix V To take a random sample from M a d du Ro•. Proo!dura, '78g, fob. 7--21.
.
, Sec A
de j'H6td
S iU �7:.stilu: J. A. Lamoureu.x a tinamith, lodged with one Boicharnp , 4 Ar<:b'. Pr�f. Pol., Aa 137, foil. '71-8; 173, foil. 114, 115�;
r:;"ging-howe keeper of the roe de Lappe; Marc-Anu:nne Saint·Paul. a tnaI�er See abo Appendix V.
!lIS, fob. 451-!l.
r
y a wit nes s of the Samt-L�zare aff:u �
c�all�ned y the police n �he testimony of their agents 'qu'on
Again, in Jul 178 9,
ile,
n displaying bags of silver; wh �
. ete d
claimed that he had seen me rioter dlSaJ.� qu Ii avalt lStnbue des assignats dans Ie faubourg.
orted that he had heard a
at the barrrii es, a witness rep wo rker Antome pour fomenter la rebellion'.z
Mirabeau, and a gauze-
boast of having been paid by a day 'po ur In the case of persons arrested, wounded, or killed in such
.
t he received 9 liures .
was reputed to have said tha a.l the dlSturbances, the autho��ies ha�, of course, a ready-ta-hand
rdy noted in his Journ tha t
commettre ces dtsordres'.J Ha a me�hod ?f not only vOICIng their suspicions but of checking
ad- riot ers, who attempted to �ang . �� their approach to this problem the French
ringleaders among the bre fou nd WIt h th�r valIdity.
ber, were each
33
baker at Versailles in Septem te polic� and mumclpal o� government committees of the day were
in their pockets.4 Th e Cb ate let inquiry set up to investig� no different from their counterparts in Britain or elsewhere
liures from num ero � s WIt
er solicited
the events of 5 and 6 Octob Fla nde rs Re gtm ent , w�en faced with a challenge to the existing order by 'the in
iers of the
nesses the testimony that sold fenor set of people': the venality of the masses was taken for
ers of more dubious occupation
Paris market-women and oth ist granted �nd the remedy for popular insurrection was sought in
-presumably by the Orlean
had been handsomeiy bribed sou rce the trackmg down of presumed conspirators rather than in the
out to discredit. On this
faction which the inquiry set to removal of social grievances. Thus, after the Reveillon riots,
wn freely to give substance
Taine and his followers have dra the arreste,d and wounded are asked in their cross-examination
their arguments.s n by the polIce commissioners whether they have any knowledge
preceding the Champ de Ma
In the period of social tension rall y br� nde d as o� the pay,,?ent of money to instigate disturbances,J Jean
ion were libe
affray critics of the administrat . N�colas PepI�, tallow-porter, when questioned in connexion
mie s of the new regtme. The gOSSip-sheet,
paid agents of the ene ed workers of the
WIth the lootlng of Saint-Lazare and the general events of 1 2
July at the Palais Royal and elsewhere is asked 's'il a
and
I.e Babillard describes the recently disb
itieux' ,6 Bailly, to J4
ateliers de'h�ritJ as 'ces gens soudoyes Fauboused
par les
rg Saint-Antoine rec;u �e l·argent de ces particuliers'.• Michel 'Adden, Bastille
d the . worker, later hanged for provoking a 'sedition' in the
mayor of Paris, had earlier ascribe by demohtlon
thieves were done t? death. �
riots of May 1790, when three est 105- � �ubo� rg a int-Antoine, is asked 'si avant ou depuis Ie 1 2
tives: 'L'administranon
excited crowds, to similar mo r JUlI �et II n a rec;u de l'argent de differentes personneS pour
and u dans Ie dessein d'entreteni
truite que I'argent a ete rep cha rge s o ma ss exciter �es tumultes a Paris'.5 Franc;ois Billon, charged with
Nor were such � .
une dangereuse fermentation." to the Revolutlon or threatenmg to hang a baker at the Ecole MTt ' 10 the
I I alre
ely by tho se hostile
corruption voiced mer , �utu �n 0f 1 789� 15 asked 's'i! a ete excite acela par quelques
.
.
mal
Bailly. To the Jaco�1O depu ". . en lUi remettant
1Otenuonnes quo au·•..· •nt cherche"a Ie ScuUlre
by constitutional monarchists like
ities of February 1793 It seem�
ties and Paris municipal author de I 'argent•.6 And so we can go on-with those arrested in the
rioters should have been mon-
inconceivable that the grocery
• �8
, Arch. Nat.' AFIV I470 (reporu ,or 2<r"• February (793). See a!Jo Mathia'
, Paris, 192'), ii. 346.
lection des Mtmoitel
IHhJrHI u �1tJriGJJl><lS14 T
au BorG" BUI_I (Col
,�.","' L4.Vi'
Ikrville and Samue, Mimoim
rchuifs l la Rtvolution .... . !I
I
H
. 2 vob.
tnriM
o;aiJe ,"tIlT' PP" !i3tr.
Exposijusl�ifpour k �iIUT
fran 6 ) Q
.
•
.
",
(Bib. Nat., Lb" . '9 ; Expoll )'
_
; Z'. 886.
6
l Arch. Nat., Z' ,,69'
. .
•
. .8).
9, ,,�,
ul tU p",u (IC<' especially witnessca not. 20, 2
• Pr«iJur, ,ri",iM1J4 GU CMte
Arqh. Nal., Z' 469' (29 July 1 78g).
6 6 37 387) · , Arch. Nat., Y .8768 (2. October '78g).
• 1.1 BGbUliUJ. no. lOOv,
71, 87, Bg, 9', '44, 1 " 1 .j., 3, • Arch. Nat., Y .8769 (16 November 1789).
r
y a wit nes s of the Samt-L�zare aff:u �
c�all�ned y the police n �he testimony of their agents 'qu'on
Again, in Jul 178 9,
ile,
n displaying bags of silver; wh �
. ete d
claimed that he had seen me rioter dlSaJ.� qu Ii avalt lStnbue des assignats dans Ie faubourg.
orted that he had heard a
at the barrrii es, a witness rep wo rker Antome pour fomenter la rebellion'.z
Mirabeau, and a gauze-
boast of having been paid by a day 'po ur In the case of persons arrested, wounded, or killed in such
.
t he received 9 liures .
was reputed to have said tha a.l the dlSturbances, the autho��ies ha�, of course, a ready-ta-hand
rdy noted in his Journ tha t
commettre ces dtsordres'.J Ha a me�hod ?f not only vOICIng their suspicions but of checking
ad- riot ers, who attempted to �ang . �� their approach to this problem the French
ringleaders among the bre fou nd WIt h th�r valIdity.
ber, were each
33
baker at Versailles in Septem te polic� and mumclpal o� government committees of the day were
in their pockets.4 Th e Cb ate let inquiry set up to investig� no different from their counterparts in Britain or elsewhere
liures from num ero � s WIt
er solicited
the events of 5 and 6 Octob Fla nde rs Re gtm ent , w�en faced with a challenge to the existing order by 'the in
iers of the
nesses the testimony that sold fenor set of people': the venality of the masses was taken for
ers of more dubious occupation
Paris market-women and oth ist granted �nd the remedy for popular insurrection was sought in
-presumably by the Orlean
had been handsomeiy bribed sou rce the trackmg down of presumed conspirators rather than in the
out to discredit. On this
faction which the inquiry set to removal of social grievances. Thus, after the Reveillon riots,
wn freely to give substance
Taine and his followers have dra the arreste,d and wounded are asked in their cross-examination
their arguments.s n by the polIce commissioners whether they have any knowledge
preceding the Champ de Ma
In the period of social tension rall y br� nde d as o� the pay,,?ent of money to instigate disturbances,J Jean
ion were libe
affray critics of the administrat . N�colas PepI�, tallow-porter, when questioned in connexion
mie s of the new regtme. The gOSSip-sheet,
paid agents of the ene ed workers of the
WIth the lootlng of Saint-Lazare and the general events of 1 2
July at the Palais Royal and elsewhere is asked 's'il a
and
I.e Babillard describes the recently disb
itieux' ,6 Bailly, to J4
ateliers de'h�ritJ as 'ces gens soudoyes Fauboused
par les
rg Saint-Antoine rec;u �e l·argent de ces particuliers'.• Michel 'Adden, Bastille
d the . worker, later hanged for provoking a 'sedition' in the
mayor of Paris, had earlier ascribe by demohtlon
thieves were done t? death. �
riots of May 1790, when three est 105- � �ubo� rg a int-Antoine, is asked 'si avant ou depuis Ie 1 2
tives: 'L'administranon
excited crowds, to similar mo r JUlI �et II n a rec;u de l'argent de differentes personneS pour
and u dans Ie dessein d'entreteni
truite que I'argent a ete rep cha rge s o ma ss exciter �es tumultes a Paris'.5 Franc;ois Billon, charged with
Nor were such � .
une dangereuse fermentation." to the Revolutlon or threatenmg to hang a baker at the Ecole MTt ' 10 the
I I alre
ely by tho se hostile
corruption voiced mer , �utu �n 0f 1 789� 15 asked 's'i! a ete excite acela par quelques
.
.
mal
Bailly. To the Jaco�1O depu ". . en lUi remettant
1Otenuonnes quo au·•..· •nt cherche"a Ie ScuUlre
by constitutional monarchists like
ities of February 1793 It seem�
ties and Paris municipal author de I 'argent•.6 And so we can go on-with those arrested in the
rioters should have been mon-
inconceivable that the grocery
• �8
, Arch. Nat.' AFIV I470 (reporu ,or 2<r"• February (793). See a!Jo Mathia'
, Paris, 192'), ii. 346.
lection des Mtmoitel
IHhJrHI u �1tJriGJJl><lS14 T
au BorG" BUI_I (Col
,�.","' L4.Vi'
Ikrville and Samue, Mimoim
rchuifs l la Rtvolution .... . !I
I
H
. 2 vob.
tnriM
o;aiJe ,"tIlT' PP" !i3tr.
Exposijusl�ifpour k �iIUT
fran 6 ) Q
.
•
.
",
(Bib. Nat., Lb" . '9 ; Expoll )'
_
; Z'. 886.
6
l Arch. Nat., Z' ,,69'
. .
•
. .8).
9, ,,�,
ul tU p",u (IC<' especially witnessca not. 20, 2
• Pr«iJur, ,ri",iM1J4 GU CMte
Arqh. Nal., Z' 469' (29 July 1 78g).
6 6 37 387) · , Arch. Nat., Y .8768 (2. October '78g).
• 1.1 BGbUliUJ. no. lOOv,
71, 87, Bg, 9', '44, 1 " 1 .j., 3, • Arch. Nat., Y .8769 (16 November 1789).
sioner Odenl of 18 COI'pICI, which had been brought 10 the Monlro\lge cemelery • Arch. Pdf. Pol., Aa 88, rob. ,546-7' ; �'9, 32; 262, fob. 42-44. Sre alo.o
44; �6�, fols. *0-42.
rol.
for identification (Arch. Nat., Y 15019), and pp. 41-42 above. Sagnac, La ChuJI: it /Q fOJH"'ll, pp. 291-8.
J Arch. Nat., Y 10634, fol. '49; 15683.
THE MOTIVES OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS 195
19+ THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD
sioner Odenl of 18 COI'pICI, which had been brought 10 the Monlro\lge cemelery • Arch. Pdf. Pol., Aa 88, rob. ,546-7' ; �'9, 32; 262, fob. 42-44. Sre alo.o
44; �6�, fols. *0-42.
rol.
for identification (Arch. Nat., Y 15019), and pp. 41-42 above. Sagnac, La ChuJI: it /Q fOJH"'ll, pp. 291-8.
J Arch. Nat., Y 10634, fol. '49; 15683.
196 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE MOTIVES OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS 197
and that even bitterly hostile witnesses felt compelled to admit of Lafayette, supporting his claim to a fair hearing with an
that the armed battalions, far from condoning or taking part in appeal to 'Ie droit de I'homme'. 1 In the following weeks, as the
pillage, summarily executed those weaker brethren among rift developed in the National Assembly between the constitu
their unarmed supporters who attempted to engage in it.1 The tional monarchists and the Court Party over the royal veto,
same fate befell many who tried to pillage during the September the Parisian menu peuple openly championed the former against
massacres.1 the latter, and we have seen that unemployed workers of the
In response to what motives, then, did the Parisian sans Ecole Militaire and wage-earners and soldiers in the Place de
culottes participate in such large numbers in these events? And Greve and the Palais Royal expressed their readiness, several
how far did they differ from the aims of those who promoted or days before the actual event, to go and fetch the royal family
initiated them? In the first place, it is evident that revolutionary " back to Paris_1 Another feature of this period was, of course, the
crowds, far from being mere passive instruments, absorbed adoption by demonstrators and rioters of anti-clerical slogans;
and adapted the slogans and ideas of the political groups and, at Versailles, the marchers treated the deputies of the
contending for power both on the eve and in the course of the clergy with scant respect and greeted them with shouts of
Revolution. During the rivolte nobiliaire, for example, we saw 'A bas la calotte!' l
how the rioting crowds of clerks and journeymen on the Pont In the midst of the social calm of the year 1790 Parisians
Neufburned Lamoignon, the unpopular garde in effigy des sceaux, rallied in tens of thousands, at the call ofthe National Assembly,
and chanted the slogans of the parltmentairts, 'A bas Lamoignon !' to the Champ de Mars to celebrate the first anniversary of the
and 'Vive Henri IV!') Later, during the Reveillon riots, when Revolution; but, before many months had passed, the social and
popularity had already switched to the Third Estate, shortly to political ideas of the democrats and Republicans were begin
meet at Versailles, the demonstrators (though widely believed ning to find a 'response among the more active, at least, of the
to have been incited by royalist agents) shouted the revolu sans-culottes. The results of this indoctrination were clearly
tionary slogans of the day: 'Vive Ie Roi ! Vive M, Necker! Vive evident in the Champ de Mars demonstration of July 1 7 9 1 ,
Ie Tiers Etat!'4 The same political rallying cry of 'Tiers Etat' called by the Cordeliers Club with a purely political object
was voiced by crowds who burned down the bamires and sacked to sign a petition questioning the king's right to continue in
the monastery of the Saint-Lazare brotherhood in July5- office after his flight to Varennes. Among the 6,000 who had
though, on occasion, its meaning appears to have been trans time to sign the petition or scratch their crosses on it before the
formed into a call to action of the poor against the rich.6 The arrival of the National Guard, there may have been many who
new ideas of 'liberty' and 'the rights of man' were also gaining did so without a clear understanding of its contents; yet the
ground among the menu peuplt, and we find ajourneyman gun cook, Constance Evrard, at least, clearly stated under cross
smith, arrested at Versailles in August for speaking slightingly examination that she believed its purposes were 'it faire
, Sagnac, op. cit., pp. 136, 195. Sagnac quotes the MiITw;res of the royali,t organiser autrement Ie pouvoir executif' ; and of nearly 130
and that even bitterly hostile witnesses felt compelled to admit of Lafayette, supporting his claim to a fair hearing with an
that the armed battalions, far from condoning or taking part in appeal to 'Ie droit de I'homme'. 1 In the following weeks, as the
pillage, summarily executed those weaker brethren among rift developed in the National Assembly between the constitu
their unarmed supporters who attempted to engage in it.1 The tional monarchists and the Court Party over the royal veto,
same fate befell many who tried to pillage during the September the Parisian menu peuple openly championed the former against
massacres.1 the latter, and we have seen that unemployed workers of the
In response to what motives, then, did the Parisian sans Ecole Militaire and wage-earners and soldiers in the Place de
culottes participate in such large numbers in these events? And Greve and the Palais Royal expressed their readiness, several
how far did they differ from the aims of those who promoted or days before the actual event, to go and fetch the royal family
initiated them? In the first place, it is evident that revolutionary " back to Paris_1 Another feature of this period was, of course, the
crowds, far from being mere passive instruments, absorbed adoption by demonstrators and rioters of anti-clerical slogans;
and adapted the slogans and ideas of the political groups and, at Versailles, the marchers treated the deputies of the
contending for power both on the eve and in the course of the clergy with scant respect and greeted them with shouts of
Revolution. During the rivolte nobiliaire, for example, we saw 'A bas la calotte!' l
how the rioting crowds of clerks and journeymen on the Pont In the midst of the social calm of the year 1790 Parisians
Neufburned Lamoignon, the unpopular garde in effigy des sceaux, rallied in tens of thousands, at the call ofthe National Assembly,
and chanted the slogans of the parltmentairts, 'A bas Lamoignon !' to the Champ de Mars to celebrate the first anniversary of the
and 'Vive Henri IV!') Later, during the Reveillon riots, when Revolution; but, before many months had passed, the social and
popularity had already switched to the Third Estate, shortly to political ideas of the democrats and Republicans were begin
meet at Versailles, the demonstrators (though widely believed ning to find a 'response among the more active, at least, of the
to have been incited by royalist agents) shouted the revolu sans-culottes. The results of this indoctrination were clearly
tionary slogans of the day: 'Vive Ie Roi ! Vive M, Necker! Vive evident in the Champ de Mars demonstration of July 1 7 9 1 ,
Ie Tiers Etat!'4 The same political rallying cry of 'Tiers Etat' called by the Cordeliers Club with a purely political object
was voiced by crowds who burned down the bamires and sacked to sign a petition questioning the king's right to continue in
the monastery of the Saint-Lazare brotherhood in July5- office after his flight to Varennes. Among the 6,000 who had
though, on occasion, its meaning appears to have been trans time to sign the petition or scratch their crosses on it before the
formed into a call to action of the poor against the rich.6 The arrival of the National Guard, there may have been many who
new ideas of 'liberty' and 'the rights of man' were also gaining did so without a clear understanding of its contents; yet the
ground among the menu peuplt, and we find ajourneyman gun cook, Constance Evrard, at least, clearly stated under cross
smith, arrested at Versailles in August for speaking slightingly examination that she believed its purposes were 'it faire
, Sagnac, op. cit., pp. 136, 195. Sagnac quotes the MiITw;res of the royali,t organiser autrement Ie pouvoir executif' ; and of nearly 130
evidence of this in the long lists of labou rers, craftsmen, and ,,:cknowledged and in whose interest they demonstrated, peti.
tloned, or took up arms. These were the objects, ideas, and
journeymen that volun teered to man the fronti � in the autumn
I1 .
hops and slogans of the hberal, democratic, and republican bourgeoisie
of 1 79',: and in the great numbers ofworkers 10 works . . (accord .
tng to the stage reached by the Revolution as it moved
patrw tlques,
manufactories who sent their contributions, or dons leftwards), which the active elements among the Parisian nunu
of the armie s of
to the Assembly for the feeding and equipment peuple, from whom the great bulk of these insurgents and demon
to the captu re of the
1 792.J Again, we see a curtain-raiser strators were drawn, adopted as their own, because they
palac e on 20 June , when
Tuileries in the mass invasion of the appeared to correspond to their own interests in the fight to
�Antoine
man", thousands of citizens of the Faubourgs Saint destroy the old regime and to safeguard the RepUblic. Yet they
arme d and unarm ed, prese nted a
and Saint-Marcel, both cannot be regarded as the particular demands of wage-earners,
petition to the king and shout ed the curre nt slogan s �f the
four days befor e the revol ution of small shopkeepers, and workshop masters as such.l Therefore
while acknowledging, against the opinion of Taine and hi�
'patriots' ; and it was only
mp de Mars
10 August that a vast assembly ofcitizens in the C�� followers, the part played by the political ideas of the leaders in
prepara�
demanded the king's abdication.4 The same pohtIcal stimulating �ass revolu�onary activity, we can accept this
• 5« pp. 86-87, 9"
pnuJdnJ Id Rlw/lilldl<
only .as a partial explanatIOn. It does little to explain such non
• Chassin and Hennet, W YoI""",;". ..alionaux
.
b rols.., pohtJ.cal movements as the Reveillon riots, the social unrest that
, ':V>3-2�, 17F-g· Th� . ... � - - � ,� , � .
. �
Paris, 1899-'9(4), i. ,6-136.
, A. Tuetey, Ripnl11i" ,11Ihg!, vol. iv, not. 2aS-392
_.,.,.., tU I. V .II, d, PIIT1S,
appeared, it is true, in March '79\1, an Adruu. U.
men (the Jailer �.n a.sm�
' not suggested that the SdlU-cJlllII/ts-particularly the Ihopkeepers, work_
' It IS
pers, crafUm en, and Journey lhop m�lers, and �Iher small proprietors among them-had, at no Itage, any
2.'10 shopkee .
.H:e�,. luch dements were very active in the Paris Scclionl, there we:e numerous
signed by about
minority), which Wall frankly hostile to the Revolution
.., 'l.'lo-' (10 MS.): Bib. Nat.,
and !o the agtl�t,on 1ft political .deall of ,he" own. In the period June 1793-July '794 when all we have
" .'I,
There teems lillie dou�t
fols. 249b
pellllons and resolutionl that expressed their particular lOCial and political claima
favour of war {Arch. Nat., C 284, no.
Lb" 1 1 162 (printed copy with significant variations)).
of 1792, though ,t (1«=�arkov and Soboul, Dil $alUkW/Ollell <'Oil PM;S, chaps. 2-5, passim). Tiles<: can
however, have playcd no part in lIimulating participation in revolutionary move-:
less popula r afier the autumn
that the waT became progressively
documentary lOurcCl.
would be difficult to illustrate the point adequately from
• See pp. '00, '04·
menlS, �ccpt In ' that of 4-5 September 1793.
LUTIONARY CRO WD THE MOTIVES OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS '99
,g8 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVO
evidence of this in the long lists of labou rers, craftsmen, and ,,:cknowledged and in whose interest they demonstrated, peti.
tloned, or took up arms. These were the objects, ideas, and
journeymen that volun teered to man the fronti � in the autumn
I1 .
hops and slogans of the hberal, democratic, and republican bourgeoisie
of 1 79',: and in the great numbers ofworkers 10 works . . (accord .
tng to the stage reached by the Revolution as it moved
patrw tlques,
manufactories who sent their contributions, or dons leftwards), which the active elements among the Parisian nunu
of the armie s of
to the Assembly for the feeding and equipment peuple, from whom the great bulk of these insurgents and demon
to the captu re of the
1 792.J Again, we see a curtain-raiser strators were drawn, adopted as their own, because they
palac e on 20 June , when
Tuileries in the mass invasion of the appeared to correspond to their own interests in the fight to
�Antoine
man", thousands of citizens of the Faubourgs Saint destroy the old regime and to safeguard the RepUblic. Yet they
arme d and unarm ed, prese nted a
and Saint-Marcel, both cannot be regarded as the particular demands of wage-earners,
petition to the king and shout ed the curre nt slogan s �f the
four days befor e the revol ution of small shopkeepers, and workshop masters as such.l Therefore
while acknowledging, against the opinion of Taine and hi�
'patriots' ; and it was only
mp de Mars
10 August that a vast assembly ofcitizens in the C�� followers, the part played by the political ideas of the leaders in
prepara�
demanded the king's abdication.4 The same pohtIcal stimulating �ass revolu�onary activity, we can accept this
• 5« pp. 86-87, 9"
pnuJdnJ Id Rlw/lilldl<
only .as a partial explanatIOn. It does little to explain such non
• Chassin and Hennet, W YoI""",;". ..alionaux
.
b rols.., pohtJ.cal movements as the Reveillon riots, the social unrest that
, ':V>3-2�, 17F-g· Th� . ... � - - � ,� , � .
. �
Paris, 1899-'9(4), i. ,6-136.
, A. Tuetey, Ripnl11i" ,11Ihg!, vol. iv, not. 2aS-392
_.,.,.., tU I. V .II, d, PIIT1S,
appeared, it is true, in March '79\1, an Adruu. U.
men (the Jailer �.n a.sm�
' not suggested that the SdlU-cJlllII/ts-particularly the Ihopkeepers, work_
' It IS
pers, crafUm en, and Journey lhop m�lers, and �Iher small proprietors among them-had, at no Itage, any
2.'10 shopkee .
.H:e�,. luch dements were very active in the Paris Scclionl, there we:e numerous
signed by about
minority), which Wall frankly hostile to the Revolution
.., 'l.'lo-' (10 MS.): Bib. Nat.,
and !o the agtl�t,on 1ft political .deall of ,he" own. In the period June 1793-July '794 when all we have
" .'I,
There teems lillie dou�t
fols. 249b
pellllons and resolutionl that expressed their particular lOCial and political claima
favour of war {Arch. Nat., C 284, no.
Lb" 1 1 162 (printed copy with significant variations)).
of 1792, though ,t (1«=�arkov and Soboul, Dil $alUkW/Ollell <'Oil PM;S, chaps. 2-5, passim). Tiles<: can
however, have playcd no part in lIimulating participation in revolutionary move-:
less popula r afier the autumn
that the waT became progressively
documentary lOurcCl.
would be difficult to illustrate the point adequately from
• See pp. '00, '04·
menlS, �ccpt In ' that of 4-5 September 1793.
IlOO THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE MOTIVES OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS �Ol
led up to the march to Vc:rsaiUes or the overthrow of the Re�eillon; or if the women of the markets had been merely
Girondiru the invasion of the grocers' shops in 1 792 and 1793. satiSfied to march to Versailles to fetch the royal family to Pam
or even th
e essential character of the riots of Germinal and -as required by the constitutional monarchists-without
Prairial-and yet these movemenU were an intrinsic part of agitating so violently and vociferously for more bread and
the Revolution and involved people drawn from (broadly) the better quality flour. This divergence of interest is perhaps best
same social groups as those who stormed the Bastill�• overthrew illustrated in the grocery riots of 1 792 and 1793. In the first it
.
the monarchy, and signed the Champ de Mars petlllon. Above was solemnly proposed by theJacobins that the crisis might be
all it does not explain the almost continuous undertone of solved if only the small consumers would voluntarily abstain
� ial unrest among the menu peuple, which characterized the from purchasing such 'luxuries' as coffee and sugar-'ces
whole period under review, and with<>.u� which it would �ve � chetives marchandises', as Robespierre termed them; in the
been impossible for the contending po��cal
FUPS
to mobtlize
the popular battalions o� the great polib�Joumtes themselves.
second, the rioters who, when the authorities refused to act,
imposed their own particular form of price-control, were
To arrive at a more satlS factory explanal10n we shall have to castigated by both Marat and Robespierre as the dupes of
find some more constant factor than the changing political Pitt and the counter.rC\·olution. 'Les hommes du 14 juitlet
slogans of the leaders, look more closely at the al demands � ne se battent pas pour des bonbons.'1 It was the old social
.
of the participants themselves, and test the validity of Georges dilemma that few of the revolutionary leaders-the Jacobins
Lefebvre's contention: 'L'intervention de la foule suppose des only for a brief period in 1794-were prepared to face.
motifs particuliers." Yet Barnave at least showed some appreciation of the
�
Perhaps not surprisingly such an nquiry �evea1s �hat the problem and its significance for the Revolution when, in
most constant motive of popular insurrection dunng the relating the events of October 1789 to his constituents, he
Revolution' as in the eighteenth century as a whole, was the clearly distinguished between the purely political aims of the
compelling need of the menu peuph for the provision of cheap bourgeoisie and the predominantly economic preoccupations of
the people-'y melant l'interet du pain qui commen�ait a
.
and plentiful bread and other esse�tIals, and the necessary
administrative measures to ensure It. We have already ob
served that, on more than one occasion, this preoccupation,
etre rare'.2
The theme ofshortage and high prices (particularly of bread)
being at variance with the ideas on free trade an property ? as a major cause of social disturbance in eighteenth-century
held by all bourgeois groups, was apt to put a st��m on their France has been given a new emphasis by Professor Labrousse's
alliance with even the most advanced of the politIcal leaders. studies in price fluctuations and budgets in the years preceding
It would, of course, have been comforting for the journalists the outbreak of the Revolution. He has shown the catastrophic
of the Palais Royal and the deputies and orators of the revolu effects on the poorer sections of the urban population in parti
tionary Assemblies and Jacobin Club if the common people of cular of the chronic shortage and high price of wheat during
the markets and faubourgs had been content to bedeck them these years, reaching a climax in the period 1787 to 1 789.3
selves with tricolour cockades and bonnets rouges and to mouth We can appreciate better the Parisian wage-earners' hosti
patriotic-radical slogans without concerning themselves over lity to the old regime and their willingness to join with the
much with the satisfaction of their own particular needs and bourgeoisie in destroying it, when we learn, for example, that
•
�
grievances-if the R veillo� riote�, for example, h�d not the proportion of his income that a Paris builder's labourer
insisted on accompanymg their shoutmg of the unexceptIOnable would have to spend on bread in order to maintain his normal
�
slogan of'Vive Ie Tiers Iltat!' wi�h the estruction of the �roper
ties of such stalwarts of the officl<ll Third Estate as HenrlOt and
• Arch. Nat., W. I�, no.. �OO-I.
, Mathiez, op. cil., pp. 46-49, 151-7
G. Lefebvre, l.tJ. RlutH�lionjrQ"'QiJl. l.tJ. r/oolutitnl dl 178g, pp. 14'-�'
.
�
fact, as we ha e seen, it was this high cost and scarcity ofbrea � cheaper food and drink : as a locksmith seen smashing the
that served as the prime cause of the disturbances, thoug It � furniture in the office of the Chaillot barriire put it, 'nous allons
boire Ie vin it trois sols'.l
was not their immediate pretext.l Apart from other suppor�ng
?
It has, of course, already been amply demonstrated that the
evidence, the point is underlined by a report �ent to t e king
�
popular insurrection of5-6 October, which achieved its political
by the lieutenant of police, Thiroux e Cros�e, 10 t � Illiddle of
� purpose of bringing the royal family to Paris, was even more
the riots: 'Quoique la sedition paralsse touJ�u� dl?gee cont�e clearly connected with the provision of bread for the hungry
Ie sr Reveillon: on demande vivement la dlmmutIon du pnx
�
Parisian masses. We have seen that the lull following the murder
du pain.'4 Afer this temporary erup on the br�ad motive of Foullon and his son-in-law, Berthier, on 22 July was short
.
appears almost continuously as the malO stImulus m the pr.o lived. After a good harvest the price of bread was reduced
tracted popular movement which sprang up �t the end of May, to 12 sow in early August ; but, partly owing to drought, the
rose to a climax in the days of 12-J4July, again on 5-6 October, expected abundance in the bakers' shops did not materialize
and did not visibly subside until the early days of November, and the resultant shortage which lasted until November kept
when the first stage of the political revolution, which placed the popular movement in a state of continuous animation.
power firmly in the hands of the constitutional monarchists, was There followed the remarkable series of demonstrations of
already long completed. market-women and others at the Hotel de Ville and at bakers'
. . '
In the weeks preceding theJuly revolution, which culmmated shops, culminating in the great march to Versailles. Note
in the seizure of the Bastille, Hardy vividly illustrates in his worthy features of this journie were of course the slogans
Journal the popular mood and the authorities' constant fear of shouted by the marchers-'Cherchons Ie boulanger, la bou
an outbreak on a larger and more violent scale than that which langere et Ie petit mitron'-and the persistence with which the
, See Ap�ndix VII, Table . . • Sec pp. 31-32; Hardy, op. <:it. viii. 72. , Hardy, op. cit. viii. 310, 312, 3<1;0, 33<1;, 341, 3+" 3¥i,
,
• See pp. 42-43. An:h. Nat., C -221, no. 160/146, fo!. 48. 35[, 378, 384.
Arch. Nat., Z' ¥>gl; Z'· 886.
• •
202 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE MOTIVES OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS 203
consumption rose from about 50 per cent. in August 1788 to had occurred in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine at the end of
.
over 80 per cent. between February andJul� 1 789 [ April. On nine occasions during May, June, and the early days
It is, therefore, not surprising that the pnce and supply of ofJuly he records the posting ofspecial guards in the markets to
bread should emerge so clearly from contemporary documents quell bread riots. On 13 June he noted that the police had
as a constant source of popular disquiet during the insurrec forbidden a rise in the 4-lb. loaf from 141 to 1 5 sous, as re
tionary movements of 1788 and the early yean of the Revolu quested by the bakers, for fear of social disturbance. A few days
tion. We saw, for instance, that the movement launched by the before the political revolution itself, a crowd publicly' burned the
Palau clerks in the Place Dauphine and on the Pont Neuf to pamphlet, Esperance du peuple, which suggested two prices for
celebrate the recall of the Parlemmt in August 1788 coincided bread-3 sow and 5 sous per lb. 'Le but avait ete mal saisi par
with a sudden sharp rise in the price of bread-and that, a few
�
la c1asse inferieure du peuple', wrote Hardy.1 During the July
days later, th menu ptIJple of the faubourgs :"nd markets joined revolution the same theme constantly recurs. A major purpose
the riots and changed their character. Agam, the fact that the of the organized attack on the Saint-Lazare monastery in the
riots, after a fortnight's respite, started up again wi�h renew�d
vigour may have been due as much to the further 1Ocreas� 10
early houn of 13 July was to remove grain stored in its barns to
the central markets, and among the local raiders, who looted
the price of bread in early September as to the. enthUSiasm its rooms, the cry of 'allons chercher du pain' was heard; while to
aroused by the dismissal of Lamoignon.1 Further mes followed the wage-earners, shopkeepers, and petty traders who burned
in November and December and, by the time of the Reveillon down the customs posts under orders from the poitical
l leaders
riots in April, the price of the 4-lb. loaf had already, for thr�e
whole months stood at the unusually high level of 141 sow; 10
at the Palais Royal the issue was quite a simple one-to ensure
�
fact, as we ha e seen, it was this high cost and scarcity ofbrea � cheaper food and drink : as a locksmith seen smashing the
that served as the prime cause of the disturbances, thoug It � furniture in the office of the Chaillot barriire put it, 'nous allons
boire Ie vin it trois sols'.l
was not their immediate pretext.l Apart from other suppor�ng
?
It has, of course, already been amply demonstrated that the
evidence, the point is underlined by a report �ent to t e king
�
popular insurrection of5-6 October, which achieved its political
by the lieutenant of police, Thiroux e Cros�e, 10 t � Illiddle of
� purpose of bringing the royal family to Paris, was even more
the riots: 'Quoique la sedition paralsse touJ�u� dl?gee cont�e clearly connected with the provision of bread for the hungry
Ie sr Reveillon: on demande vivement la dlmmutIon du pnx
�
Parisian masses. We have seen that the lull following the murder
du pain.'4 Afer this temporary erup on the br�ad motive of Foullon and his son-in-law, Berthier, on 22 July was short
.
appears almost continuously as the malO stImulus m the pr.o lived. After a good harvest the price of bread was reduced
tracted popular movement which sprang up �t the end of May, to 12 sow in early August ; but, partly owing to drought, the
rose to a climax in the days of 12-J4July, again on 5-6 October, expected abundance in the bakers' shops did not materialize
and did not visibly subside until the early days of November, and the resultant shortage which lasted until November kept
when the first stage of the political revolution, which placed the popular movement in a state of continuous animation.
power firmly in the hands of the constitutional monarchists, was There followed the remarkable series of demonstrations of
already long completed. market-women and others at the Hotel de Ville and at bakers'
. . '
In the weeks preceding theJuly revolution, which culmmated shops, culminating in the great march to Versailles. Note
in the seizure of the Bastille, Hardy vividly illustrates in his worthy features of this journie were of course the slogans
Journal the popular mood and the authorities' constant fear of shouted by the marchers-'Cherchons Ie boulanger, la bou
an outbreak on a larger and more violent scale than that which langere et Ie petit mitron'-and the persistence with which the
, See Ap�ndix VII, Table . . • Sec pp. 31-32; Hardy, op. <:it. viii. 72. , Hardy, op. cit. viii. 310, 312, 3<1;0, 33<1;, 341, 3+" 3¥i,
,
• See pp. 42-43. An:h. Nat., C -221, no. 160/146, fo!. 48. 35[, 378, 384.
Arch. Nat., Z' ¥>gl; Z'· 886.
• •
110+ THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD
THE MOTIVES OF REVO LUTIO NARY
CROWDS 20:;
women and their spokesman, Maillard, urged the National Their demands or protests assum
e, rather, a political form
Assembly to feed the people of Paris,1
? �
as witness the numerous insults hurled
The Champ de Mars demonstration, on t e othe: and, at the National Guard
�
stage which was to give a new intensity
The demonstration was, it is true, preceded by � conslderab e the popular movement. The fall in the
and a new direction to
value of the tl.fsignat had
wages movement, involving many thousa�ds ofJourneymen 10 already begun to react on prices in the
, autumn of 1791, but it
a variety of trades, and by months of agttaUon among the un· was the outbreak of war that ushered
in a long period of
employed, threatened with starvation by the closure of the catastrophic inflation, during which the
attention of the sans
ateliers de chariti, Yet these movements, though taken under the
c,o
culottes was almost continuously riveted to the probl
protective wing of the rdeliers Club and its affiliates, can�ot em of prices,
food shortage, and the compelling need
to force measures of
be directly connected With the Champ de Mars demonst�auon control in the price and supply of the necess
ities of life on un·
itself, and the demands of these workers are not reflected 10 the willing authorities. From the point ofview
ofthe social historian
cross.examination of the numerous wage·earners, shopkee�ers, the whole period is dominated by this
preoccupation, It was
and workshop masters arrested during this period in the vano� only by degrees, however, that the Parisi
an sans-culottes, with
Paris Sections,: In this respect the Champ de Mars affair the assistance of the Hebertists and, even
more, of the Enrages,
appears to fall outside the general pattern of social disturbance
,
that is here emerging, The parucular dem�nds of the commo � found a programme of social demands
that corresponded to
qu'il mange' (Arch. Pr8". Pol., � '53, fol. 7); and the kitchen·maid who, when small chang<: (Arch. PUr. Pol., Aa 8:).
Guard, said me found difficulty in
buying bn:ad owing to the baken' lack of
rol. 117).
110+ THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD
THE MOTIVES OF REVO LUTIO NARY
CROWDS 20:;
women and their spokesman, Maillard, urged the National Their demands or protests assum
e, rather, a political form
Assembly to feed the people of Paris,1
? �
as witness the numerous insults hurled
The Champ de Mars demonstration, on t e othe: and, at the National Guard
�
stage which was to give a new intensity
The demonstration was, it is true, preceded by � conslderab e the popular movement. The fall in the
and a new direction to
value of the tl.fsignat had
wages movement, involving many thousa�ds ofJourneymen 10 already begun to react on prices in the
, autumn of 1791, but it
a variety of trades, and by months of agttaUon among the un· was the outbreak of war that ushered
in a long period of
employed, threatened with starvation by the closure of the catastrophic inflation, during which the
attention of the sans
ateliers de chariti, Yet these movements, though taken under the
c,o
culottes was almost continuously riveted to the probl
protective wing of the rdeliers Club and its affiliates, can�ot em of prices,
food shortage, and the compelling need
to force measures of
be directly connected With the Champ de Mars demonst�auon control in the price and supply of the necess
ities of life on un·
itself, and the demands of these workers are not reflected 10 the willing authorities. From the point ofview
ofthe social historian
cross.examination of the numerous wage·earners, shopkee�ers, the whole period is dominated by this
preoccupation, It was
and workshop masters arrested during this period in the vano� only by degrees, however, that the Parisi
an sans-culottes, with
Paris Sections,: In this respect the Champ de Mars affair the assistance of the Hebertists and, even
more, of the Enrages,
appears to fall outside the general pattern of social disturbance
,
that is here emerging, The parucular dem�nds of the commo � found a programme of social demands
that corresponded to
qu'il mange' (Arch. Pr8". Pol., � '53, fol. 7); and the kitchen·maid who, when small chang<: (Arch. PUr. Pol., Aa 8:).
Guard, said me found difficulty in
buying bn:ad owing to the baken' lack of
rol. 117).
ARY CROWD THE MOTIVES OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS 207
THE REVOLUTION
THE ANATOMY OF
int-Marcel and hathdthe no the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety managed,
ml-Antoine and tSa
\I06
to the FauboUf85 Saences: ne xio n wi by a policy of controls, to halt inflation and to arrest for several
•
The expulsIOn the �?�ron.dlO all ay this unrest. of Germinal and Prairial. As we saw, this movement merged
the Mountain, did nothl�g 'mmed.''atJelu�etoare almost identical with and drew strength from the political movement directed by
The reports sent i�lbyorpoMalice a of bre ad in bakers' the surviving popular societies and Jacobin remnants, but its
se of Ap n y. i� :� �: rta ge
wi th tho
shops had agam . begun to arouse concemriots in March, and by the most consistent and continuous element was the hunger for
qu��es d b dwas thehad again become bread.1
end of August bree ad
of,Panslan��r. e. ';��s immediate back Yet we must avoid the temptation, to which some historians
a familiar featu� mt'ts n�
a 5 Se tembemer ue 1 793, directed by have succumbed, of presenting the popular insurrection! of the
ground to the JOu der o�\ e crt and thau nventio . It was undeatr Revolution as being almost exclusively dominated by short
the Commune un we sa,,; h t the CoGeneral nanddecid ed term economic considerations-as though each of these move
their �timulus, as law of t :e ;; aXl. m urn. to set on ments were, in essence, an 'emeute de la faim'. This was, of
last to decree the t wh'ICh, as an instr u- COurse, far from being the case. Not only have we seen that the
a rmt.1 fl'7){JlUtlonnalr of
foot the long-delayer,dwa s.Intended to ensure the provisi on sons-culottes identified themselves fully with a wide and varying
ment of the Terro of gram and ffih:nsi the
t to Paris from pressure su'" range of political ideas and calls to action as the Revolution
adequate suppliesvside suc stent popular 8 advanc�d; but we noted in particular the essentially political
round'10g countr J 4 Under
.
� Sec nature of the Champ de Mars demonstration and the whole
, Ste pp. 95-g6, 10
•
to the FauboUf85 Saences: ne xio n wi by a policy of controls, to halt inflation and to arrest for several
•
The expulsIOn the �?�ron.dlO all ay this unrest. of Germinal and Prairial. As we saw, this movement merged
the Mountain, did nothl�g 'mmed.''atJelu�etoare almost identical with and drew strength from the political movement directed by
The reports sent i�lbyorpoMalice a of bre ad in bakers' the surviving popular societies and Jacobin remnants, but its
se of Ap n y. i� :� �: rta ge
wi th tho
shops had agam . begun to arouse concemriots in March, and by the most consistent and continuous element was the hunger for
qu��es d b dwas thehad again become bread.1
end of August bree ad
of,Panslan��r. e. ';��s immediate back Yet we must avoid the temptation, to which some historians
a familiar featu� mt'ts n�
a 5 Se tembemer ue 1 793, directed by have succumbed, of presenting the popular insurrection! of the
ground to the JOu der o�\ e crt and thau nventio . It was undeatr Revolution as being almost exclusively dominated by short
the Commune un we sa,,; h t the CoGeneral nanddecid ed term economic considerations-as though each of these move
their �timulus, as law of t :e ;; aXl. m urn. to set on ments were, in essence, an 'emeute de la faim'. This was, of
last to decree the t wh'ICh, as an instr u- COurse, far from being the case. Not only have we seen that the
a rmt.1 fl'7){JlUtlonnalr of
foot the long-delayer,dwa s.Intended to ensure the provisi on sons-culottes identified themselves fully with a wide and varying
ment of the Terro of gram and ffih:nsi the
t to Paris from pressure su'" range of political ideas and calls to action as the Revolution
adequate suppliesvside suc stent popular 8 advanc�d; but we noted in particular the essentially political
round'10g countr J 4 Under
.
� Sec nature of the Champ de Mars demonstration and the whole
, Ste pp. 95-g6, 10
•
wlU the pu�ly technical difficulty o{staging a concerted action after the cnahinl
• II iI true that the� were other raclo... involved, or which the mOl.t importAllt
defeat of Prairia1; but this docs not invalidate the argument in any way.
'l08 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE MOTIVES OF REVO LUTI ONAR
Y CROWDS 'log
preparatory movement leading up to it, not to mention the oc�asional outbreaks of i dependent activi
? � ty by the menu peuple,
active support of the sans-culottts for such exclusively military gomg ey�nd or runnmg counter to the intere
sts of their
political actions as the assault on the Bastille and the Tuileries bourgeolS allIes and castigated by them as 'coun
ter-revolutionary'
-5uch outbreaks as the bhnd .
and the expulsion of the Girondins from the Convention. In the fury of the Reveillon rioters or the
case of the Champ de Mars affair at least, the threat of famine more cons�ructive eff rts of Parisians
to impose a form of
��oce,!, riots of 1 792 and 1793.
�
or ofrising prices played no part whatsoever. On the other hand, popul�r pnce-c ntrol 10 the
�
Yet wlthou� the Impact ofpolltlcal ldeas
we have noted the abstention of the sans-culottes from any direct , mainly derived from
political intervention in the events ofVendemiaire of the Year the bourgeoIS leaders, such movements
would have remained
IV-in striking contrast with their active participation, a few strangely purposeless and barren of resul
t; and had the sans
months earlier, in the days of Germinal and Prairial, though �ulottes not been able to absorb and to adapt these ideas, their
mfluence on the course and Outcome
popular concern with bread-shortage and inflation was as acute of the Revolution would
have been far less substantial than in
in the one case as in the other.' The essential difference lay of fact it was.
course in the changed political conditions and in the very
differing ainu of the rebels of Vendemiaire from those of
Prairial :1 in spite of continuing inflation and near-famine
conditions, the active sans-culottts were not prepared to carry
their hostility to the Therrnidorian Convention to the point of
giving comfort to the declared enemies of the Republic. The
point is of interest: for one thing, it serves to disprove the con
tention that the mtnu peuple, for lack of political maturity, were
prepared to follow the lead of any demagogue irrespective of
their own interests or inclinations; for another, it shows that a
satisfactory explanation of popular participation in, or absten
tion from, these movements cannot be given without proper
account being taken of both political and economic factors and
that concentration on the one to the exclusion of the other will
only produce a distorted picture.
Yet, when all is said and done, the inescapable conclusion
remains that the primary and most constant motive impelling
revolutionary crowds during this period was the concern for the
provision of cheap and plentiful food. This, more than any
other factor, was the raw material out of whieh the popular
Revolution was forged. It alone accounts for the continuity of
the social ferment that was such a marked feature of the
capital in these years and out of whieh the great political
joumitJ themselves developed. Even more it accounts for the
wlU the pu�ly technical difficulty o{staging a concerted action after the cnahinl
• II iI true that the� were other raclo... involved, or which the mOl.t importAllt
defeat of Prairia1; but this docs not invalidate the argument in any way.
THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY l li l
Y
we
remain, to some of w ich
1
appears to have been considerably higher than in the provinces :
this is attested by both contemporary observers and police
.
rev olu ona ry eas
wece the �
attem t an answer. How
and oga l ns tran smi tted ? Ho w did the particular atm
, , t at ? ark
o
d
records, Restif de la Bretonne no doubt exaggerated when he
ous )oumteS
or her oISm
�
e, audacity, � � wrote in 1789:
sphere of tension, violenc
� � Depuis quelque temps, les ouvriers de la capitale sont devenw:
elop ? How were th� va
revolutionary crowds, dev Wh t we
prepared and orgaruzed. :
crthc Revolution in Paris
ers and the crowds that
r 0
ten orr;: intraitables parce qu'ils ont lu, dans nos livres, une verilt� trop forte
the links between the lead nt were t elT
. pour eux : que l'ouvrier est un homme precieux,)
resp ons e to thei r call s to action? To what exte
in
�
But the police reports of the Chatelet and the Sections on those
actions spontaneous? . .
t popular OpiniOn e 0rmaD}0
. ' f arrested in riots in this period suggest that the great majority of
It is evident, of course, tha
, fonned the main y 0
re ".o u the small workshop masters and tradesmen, and a large propor
those who as individuals
�
cr wds-w as. in larg e par t, mo � ?
ulded Y t C direct tion of the adult male wage-eamers-the journeymen, in
tiona
Z
ex e nce of the sans-cul
ottts themselves. Some hl5t �
o ans h�ve
reac�
particular-could at least sign their names,4 While we may
�
de ied this,, but "
we have already said c:
rising food pnc
nou
ts
gh
not
of
to
theu
hav e to p .. .. ....
perhaps take it for granted that no considerable body of sans
culottes read Rousseau or any other philosopht first-hand,s there is
to economiC cnsls and to
the Oint further, Yet her
:
thos ideas and slogans
e we are mainly concer�
that the mtnU peupu den
,
ed
ved
Wit
a
' h
r:: ample evidence that some pamphleteers and political writers
addressed themselves directly to them, their women-folk in
al groups and whi ch, as we sa , cluded, This is suggested by the large number of pamphlets not
assimilated from other soci
�
tical voc�bula and drew , , ,
them mto
,
only purporting to reflect the views oftheJauhourgs and markets,
both gave them a new poli �
� clans
on but written in popular language, Hebert's Pht Duchtsm is an
obvious case in point ; and it is interesting to note the remark
lutionary Journali sts and poI
action as allies of the revo
olution, How wer e the: e I eas con
the reat 'ournitS of the Rev , eracy was
� i
con e e to them? In the
villages �t leas t, whe re lllit attributed to a market-woman in a tract of 1789, Premitr dialogut
, Thedainumber of
i ly as fromcopiesScplember
ordered by'793the(Tuetcy,
Ministry was increased from 8,000 to
n largelY
municauon must have bee
IB RlpnlOirt, vol. lI, no. �'.I2'),
almos ene ral such com
� �
oral '! a d eve in provincial
capital s and mar ket tow ns,
�
where
• !>IITCIIT.
1'.1,000
naJional II Ilfll",", no, viii, 23 April 1791,
, Reatifop.detil.,la Brelmlne, !>ItS iflSl7ijlliDtu. ]tnaMJ illlinu, p. 130; uot by
q O.
rep rts
h
Art ur Young found such a
dearth of newspapers,l the
� ��
rd Estate of 1789 were read
alo
� I� �Iornet,
• Sec
p. 426. ed
betw«n
one typeAppend; lI V. Theandincidence of lileracy orbetweenvaried
of the dcputies of the Thi , To � a
their constituents in the mai
n squa re or outs ide the
lCh w
an of wage-catn« another--cvc n more coone
one type of Satu..culDlu
widely
S ''nk/J
FrlVlt. d'""," Ed
t O ; ..nd D. Momet, "
us 0"l·nt workers, lowell among the many unemployed worken and
'7119 l, (Paris,pp.1933), og- women; ¥Id, of
.
1 FOf"
pp. 4�pp.o-�·174, J7�, 18�, I8!j-6 P-t':uanu who fillnl. Ihe Dltiirrs ,/will in the early months of the Revolution,
19�1 ), �
coJrinl de
Y
we
remain, to some of w ich
1
appears to have been considerably higher than in the provinces :
this is attested by both contemporary observers and police
.
rev olu ona ry eas
wece the �
attem t an answer. How
and oga l ns tran smi tted ? Ho w did the particular atm
, , t at ? ark
o
d
records, Restif de la Bretonne no doubt exaggerated when he
ous )oumteS
or her oISm
�
e, audacity, � � wrote in 1789:
sphere of tension, violenc
� � Depuis quelque temps, les ouvriers de la capitale sont devenw:
elop ? How were th� va
revolutionary crowds, dev Wh t we
prepared and orgaruzed. :
crthc Revolution in Paris
ers and the crowds that
r 0
ten orr;: intraitables parce qu'ils ont lu, dans nos livres, une verilt� trop forte
the links between the lead nt were t elT
. pour eux : que l'ouvrier est un homme precieux,)
resp ons e to thei r call s to action? To what exte
in
�
But the police reports of the Chatelet and the Sections on those
actions spontaneous? . .
t popular OpiniOn e 0rmaD}0
. ' f arrested in riots in this period suggest that the great majority of
It is evident, of course, tha
, fonned the main y 0
re ".o u the small workshop masters and tradesmen, and a large propor
those who as individuals
�
cr wds-w as. in larg e par t, mo � ?
ulded Y t C direct tion of the adult male wage-eamers-the journeymen, in
tiona
Z
ex e nce of the sans-cul
ottts themselves. Some hl5t �
o ans h�ve
reac�
particular-could at least sign their names,4 While we may
�
de ied this,, but "
we have already said c:
rising food pnc
nou
ts
gh
not
of
to
theu
hav e to p .. .. ....
perhaps take it for granted that no considerable body of sans
culottes read Rousseau or any other philosopht first-hand,s there is
to economiC cnsls and to
the Oint further, Yet her
:
thos ideas and slogans
e we are mainly concer�
that the mtnU peupu den
,
ed
ved
Wit
a
' h
r:: ample evidence that some pamphleteers and political writers
addressed themselves directly to them, their women-folk in
al groups and whi ch, as we sa , cluded, This is suggested by the large number of pamphlets not
assimilated from other soci
�
tical voc�bula and drew , , ,
them mto
,
only purporting to reflect the views oftheJauhourgs and markets,
both gave them a new poli �
� clans
on but written in popular language, Hebert's Pht Duchtsm is an
obvious case in point ; and it is interesting to note the remark
lutionary Journali sts and poI
action as allies of the revo
olution, How wer e the: e I eas con
the reat 'ournitS of the Rev , eracy was
� i
con e e to them? In the
villages �t leas t, whe re lllit attributed to a market-woman in a tract of 1789, Premitr dialogut
, Thedainumber of
i ly as fromcopiesScplember
ordered by'793the(Tuetcy,
Ministry was increased from 8,000 to
n largelY
municauon must have bee
IB RlpnlOirt, vol. lI, no. �'.I2'),
almos ene ral such com
� �
oral '! a d eve in provincial
capital s and mar ket tow ns,
�
where
• !>IITCIIT.
1'.1,000
naJional II Ilfll",", no, viii, 23 April 1791,
, Reatifop.detil.,la Brelmlne, !>ItS iflSl7ijlliDtu. ]tnaMJ illlinu, p. 130; uot by
q O.
rep rts
h
Art ur Young found such a
dearth of newspapers,l the
� ��
rd Estate of 1789 were read
alo
� I� �Iornet,
• Sec
p. 426. ed
betw«n
one typeAppend; lI V. Theandincidence of lileracy orbetweenvaried
of the dcputies of the Thi , To � a
their constituents in the mai
n squa re or outs ide the
lCh w
an of wage-catn« another--cvc n more coone
one type of Satu..culDlu
widely
S ''nk/J
FrlVlt. d'""," Ed
t O ; ..nd D. Momet, "
us 0"l·nt workers, lowell among the many unemployed worken and
'7119 l, (Paris,pp.1933), og- women; ¥Id, of
.
1 FOf"
pp. 4�pp.o-�·174, J7�, 18�, I8!j-6 P-t':uanu who fillnl. Ihe Dltiirrs ,/will in the early months of the Revolution,
19�1 ), �
coJrinl de
the wage-earning populat propnately selected districts of the capital on the eve of t
lished letters from journeym
en cobblers and building wor
ent of 'Ia
kers j1
c1asse
revolt of 1st Prairial of the Year III.' Yet, by and large, it see �
cribing the enrolm
and Louise Robert, in des ietie s in May
probable th�t the great body of participants in these events
on' in Fratern al Soc
la moins eclairee de la nati ils lui ava ient
were drawn m by other means.
ne lui suffisaie nt plu s:
179 1, wrote : 'Lesjournaux amo ng the
A more systematic indoctrination of the sans-culottes with the
'l There is evidenc e, too, . .
inspire Ie desir de s'instruire. Ideas of the advanced political groups took place by th
police reports drawn up in con
nexion with the Cha mp de Ma
tion
rs
,
enrolme?t in the Natio?al Guard and, above all, in the c1u ��
ch suggests that a fair propor . -
affair of the same year, whi the
and Socletlcs and SectIOnal committees. It IS- m- terestmg to
mcn and other workers read
at least, of the active journey observ� h�w the sons-culottes, at first excluded from positions of
the cook, Constance Evrard, told
revolutionary press. Thus Section
authonty 10 such bodies, gradually came to 'capture' them and
the Fontaine de Crenelle
the police commissioner of even, for a brief period, to convert them into vehicl- ..... '
!or the
l at
Cam ille Des
Marat, Audouin, .
'qu'elle lisait Prudhomme, expression - 0fthelr. own views rather than those of the porti
ateur du Peuple' j4 a toba cco
:
moulins et tres souvent l'Or
worker, when arrested, was
found in possessio
med to deri ve
n
his
of L'A
view s
mi
from
du
i
leaders �ho established them. When the National Guard as
}
orme� m Ju y 1 789, Barnave rejoiced that, in large part at
peuplej a commercial traveller clai
-
. . .
.
'M· I.
�,
I Bib. Nat., Lb'" 7577, p. 16.
June 1791, pp. 1-5'
no. 468, 24 May 1791, p. 7; no. 487, 12
", Nal., \
II 12,
A. Aulard, Paris ptruliJn.l14 r'tJtli01l IhmnidiJr
,--· - 735·
1 L'Ami dupeupl.,
( 1 M. Tourncux, Bibliogrophil. d. l'hiJ/Qir' tit Pilris Y' 0,00IU,-"'" fi,allflUU
-
p. 376.
,
,,
.._.... '
., Ia ....
no. 10 May 1791, ' Are,
, nos. 197-8.
See p. 87.
, }'I.r<�" "a/iaMl d 'trang.f, xxiv,
fol. 40; Arch. Nat., DXXIXb
Arch. l'rH. Pol., Ab 324, p. 44; Nt. 76, ' 1 Il...":12-1913), II, • Sec pp. 85-86.
"
• 36, .. no, 670�.
• IV.
o
5 v J..s. Pans,
• �e Appendix
no. 376, fo!. 37.
THE GENERATION O F REVOLUTIONARY A CT I V I TY 1I13
CRO WD
212 THE ANATOMY OF TH
E REV OL UT ION AR Y
� �
to t e atmosp ere of the grocery riots that immediately followed
f
,
la halle: 'Dame! j'savons lire
entre une poissarde et un fort de orts to reach
Aga1O, accordmg to police informers, more than 500 copies o
in 179 1 made special eff
j'espere !'L The democrats the p �mphlet, L'lnsurrectjon du peuple, were distributed in a
ion : Marat's Ami du prop
le pub
e
_
the wage-earning populat propnately selected districts of the capital on the eve of t
lished letters from journeym
en cobblers and building wor
ent of 'Ia
kers j1
c1asse
revolt of 1st Prairial of the Year III.' Yet, by and large, it see �
cribing the enrolm
and Louise Robert, in des ietie s in May
probable th�t the great body of participants in these events
on' in Fratern al Soc
la moins eclairee de la nati ils lui ava ient
were drawn m by other means.
ne lui suffisaie nt plu s:
179 1, wrote : 'Lesjournaux amo ng the
A more systematic indoctrination of the sans-culottes with the
'l There is evidenc e, too, . .
inspire Ie desir de s'instruire. Ideas of the advanced political groups took place by th
police reports drawn up in con
nexion with the Cha mp de Ma
tion
rs
,
enrolme?t in the Natio?al Guard and, above all, in the c1u ��
ch suggests that a fair propor . -
affair of the same year, whi the
and Socletlcs and SectIOnal committees. It IS- m- terestmg to
mcn and other workers read
at least, of the active journey observ� h�w the sons-culottes, at first excluded from positions of
the cook, Constance Evrard, told
revolutionary press. Thus Section
authonty 10 such bodies, gradually came to 'capture' them and
the Fontaine de Crenelle
the police commissioner of even, for a brief period, to convert them into vehicl- ..... '
!or the
l at
Cam ille Des
Marat, Audouin, .
'qu'elle lisait Prudhomme, expression - 0fthelr. own views rather than those of the porti
ateur du Peuple' j4 a toba cco
:
moulins et tres souvent l'Or
worker, when arrested, was
found in possessio
med to deri ve
n
his
of L'A
view s
mi
from
du
i
leaders �ho established them. When the National Guard as
}
orme� m Ju y 1 789, Barnave rejoiced that, in large part at
peuplej a commercial traveller clai
-
. . .
.
'M· I.
�,
I Bib. Nat., Lb'" 7577, p. 16.
June 1791, pp. 1-5'
no. 468, 24 May 1791, p. 7; no. 487, 12
", Nal., \
II 12,
A. Aulard, Paris ptruliJn.l14 r'tJtli01l IhmnidiJr
,--· - 735·
1 L'Ami dupeupl.,
( 1 M. Tourncux, Bibliogrophil. d. l'hiJ/Qir' tit Pilris Y' 0,00IU,-"'" fi,allflUU
-
p. 376.
,
,,
.._.... '
., Ia ....
no. 10 May 1791, ' Are,
, nos. 197-8.
See p. 87.
, }'I.r<�" "a/iaMl d 'trang.f, xxiv,
fol. 40; Arch. Nat., DXXIXb
Arch. l'rH. Pol., Ab 324, p. 44; Nt. 76, ' 1 Il...":12-1913), II, • Sec pp. 85-86.
"
• 36, .. no, 670�.
• IV.
o
5 v J..s. Pans,
• �e Appendix
no. 376, fo!. 37.
ill4- THE ANATOM Y OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE GEN ERA TIO N OF
REVOLUTIONARY ACT
This being the case, it is not surp
IVIT Y
des HaIles, and the Societe des Ennemis du Despotisme. argely ! rising that these bodies often
215
composed of such dements, were able to a�tract meeu!"gs of became centres for the propaga
, , tion of the views of the sans
300 to 800 persons,' By early 1792 the SOCIeues wer� s�nngtng �otUs themselves-derived in
up everywhere and, in May of that year, the complatnt lS ade � part, it is true, from the revolu
tlon�ry leaders- ther than
':" of those of the majority in the
tbat the workers of the Gobelins tapestry manufacture sont National Convention. This, of
, course, helps to explain why the
toujours de garde ou de club',1 A year later a bookhmde r of larg�r part of the societies was
, compelled to close down and
the Pantheon quarter protests at the scandalous behaVIour the mdependence of the Sect
of the workers employed on the construction of the c urch of � J 7941-a process that
ions restricted in the spring
of
Sainte.Genevieve, 'qui sc sont formes en club d se reuDissent en
was completed by' the more 'mo
dera te'
. , .,
Conventio after Thermidor,
dehors et apres l'assemhlee de Ia seeUon
� with the wholesale 'purging'
e, the comitis ciuils and comitls
reconstrucllon of the Commun and
composed of such dements, were able to a�tract meeu!"gs of became centres for the propaga
, , tion of the views of the sans
300 to 800 persons,' By early 1792 the SOCIeues wer� s�nngtng �otUs themselves-derived in
up everywhere and, in May of that year, the complatnt lS ade � part, it is true, from the revolu
tlon�ry leaders- ther than
':" of those of the majority in the
tbat the workers of the Gobelins tapestry manufacture sont National Convention. This, of
, course, helps to explain why the
toujours de garde ou de club',1 A year later a bookhmde r of larg�r part of the societies was
, compelled to close down and
the Pantheon quarter protests at the scandalous behaVIour the mdependence of the Sect
of the workers employed on the construction of the c urch of � J 7941-a process that
ions restricted in the spring
of
Sainte.Genevieve, 'qui sc sont formes en club d se reuDissent en
was completed by' the more 'mo
dera te'
. , .,
Conventio after Thermidor,
dehors et apres l'assemhlee de Ia seeUon
� with the wholesale 'purging'
e, the comitis ciuils and comitls
reconstrucllon of the Commun and
I See pp. !i1 -�5, 74-75, ' 37-9. Police soundings on the Iiale of 1IHU-(;�IQ�1t.
, See pp. ¥I-�'. I Sec pp. 40, 43.
opinion tended, in the year ' 793-4, to be taken in �he Place de Grhe; later lD • Se<: Appendix IV and pp. 181, 185.
, Arch. PrH. PoL, Aa 1�3, fol. 6; Arch. Nat.
, f14707, doss. �; f'l' 4735, dOlI. 2.
R See pp. 8, 107, 124.
5
179�, however, the favourite ccntre for such opcr�uonl appea" to have move�
north 10 the Portes Saint-Martin and Saint-Dctm (lICe Caron., and Aulard I
� 'Jihe ReveilJon riOtll and women
't mardi of 17B!l and the grocery riOtll of 1793
eolle(tions of police raPJKnI3 for the period, pew;,"). Man demonstratIon ofJuly 1791 Will held
were on Monda ; Ihe Parit revolution of 1789
� began on a Sunday; the Champ de
on a Sunday; � June 1793 (the crucial
1116 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONA RY CROWD THE GENE RAT ION OF REVO LUT
IONA RY ACT IVIT Y
1117
demonstrated at Versailles against the attempt to dismiss and slept, under the same roof, and wher
e the former's influence
Necker a week before.1 It was at the Palais Royal, too, that
Camille Desmoulins and others gave the call to arms on 1 2
affecting the questions of the day must
often have been decisive.
Yet we catch occasional glimpses
of this relationship in the
July, which touched off the Paris revolution; a?d it was from police reports. We saw, for instance,
how the porcelain manu
here that parties set out to destroy the bam eres, to search facturer Olivier, deliberately or other
wise, incited his work
religious houses and gunsmiths' shops for arms, and to fetch people against Reveillon by relating
. in lurid detail the speech
grain to the central markets from the monastery of the S�lI�t that the latter was reputed to have
made in the local assembly
Lazare brotherhood.1 The Palais Royal played its part agam 10 of the Sainte.Marguerite District
- concerning his workmen's
preparing opinion for the march to Versailles in October: it was wages.' More typical are the cases
in its gardens and cafes that the Marquis �e �",:int-Hux:u�e and men shoulder arms together to parti
where masters and journey_
I See pp. !i1 -�5, 74-75, ' 37-9. Police soundings on the Iiale of 1IHU-(;�IQ�1t.
, See pp. ¥I-�'. I Sec pp. 40, 43.
opinion tended, in the year ' 793-4, to be taken in �he Place de Grhe; later lD • Se<: Appendix IV and pp. 181, 185.
, Arch. PrH. PoL, Aa 1�3, fol. 6; Arch. Nat.
, f14707, doss. �; f'l' 4735, dOlI. 2.
R See pp. 8, 107, 124.
5
179�, however, the favourite ccntre for such opcr�uonl appea" to have move�
north 10 the Portes Saint-Martin and Saint-Dctm (lICe Caron., and Aulard I
� 'Jihe ReveilJon riOtll and women
't mardi of 17B!l and the grocery riOtll of 1793
eolle(tions of police raPJKnI3 for the period, pew;,"). Man demonstratIon ofJuly 1791 Will held
were on Monda ; Ihe Parit revolution of 1789
� began on a Sunday; the Champ de
on a Sunday; � June 1793 (the crucial
D
218 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROW THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY 2'9
nts
than a grain of truth in hi� asse.rtion tha� many of the assail� perspective or exact documentation, may just as easily go
of the Bastille were recnu ted lD the WIne-s hops of 0e Salnt astray, as was the case with Gustave Lebon, the author of a
Antoine quarter.' Certainly the marble-dealer,Josep� Cha�ot, number of books on this subject. According to Lebon revolu
who was injured by a falling tile during the RtvC;lllon nots, tionary crowds tended to be formed of criminal elements,
admitted being picked up by an itinerant band of noters as he degenerates, and persons with destructive instincts, who re�
sat drinking in a wine-shop; other pe�ns arrestc;d on that occ�
sponded more or less passively to the call of 'leaders" -which
sion told a similar tale.1 AndJean-Nicolas Pepm, a chandl er s suggests both that the author had fed on a surfeit of Taine and
tallow-bearer, related, in the course of a detailed �c�ount of that his generalized conception of revolutionary crowds would
his experiences during the July revolution, how he ��med .the be equally appropriate to all times and to all places. Georges
insurgents on the night of the 12th near the B�n:ere Samt Lefebvre, on the other hand, has argued that the revolutionary
Martin, after spending the evening drinking and d m mg 'chez Ie
a
crowd is not an abstraction but a social phenomenon which,
Sr Chevet Md de vin au Soleil d'Or la Nouve lle F:ance'.J though responding to certain general laws of development,
Food-shops and market s were ev :n mo �e obviou s centres of arises in particular historical circumstances and as the result of
agitation. In days of shortag e and high pnces tem ers becam,e particular social pressures and ideas; so it was in the case of the
�
easily frayed in the queues that formed at grocers , butchers , French Revolution.:
and bakers' shops. We have seen , on the eviden ce .ofHard y, t�e In this respect it is of course necessary to distinguish
precautions taken by the Government to keep disturb ances 10
from the rest those occasions when crowds collected in direct
check during the weeks preceding the outbreak of the Rev o.lu response to the call of leaders-for such demonstrations, for
tion in Paris by drafting troops into the marke� and posung instance, as that in the Champ de Mars on 1 7 July '791, or
guards at the door of bakers' shops; and how, dunng the follow such organized military operations as the armed assault on the
ing summer and autumn, when such measures �ere no I�n�er Tuileries in August 1792 and the expulsion of the Girondin
possible, bakers became, on more than one occ�lOn, the VlctUns deputies on 2 June 1 793. In such cases as these the participants
of popular violence." Although there was ?o further .resort have already been won over, both in general and in particular,
to 'Ia lanterne' after 1 789. bakers' and grocers shops conunue.d, to the objects ofthe demonstration, the collective mentality ofthe
as has been amply illustrated, to be common centr:s of d lS crowd corresponds closely to that of the groups of individuals
turbance and starting-points for popular demonstratIons that forming it, and there is no sharp mutation from one state of
often assumed insurrectionary proportions.
How then from such comparatively small begmrungs 10
. . . mind to anotherJ-unless, of course, some new and unexpected
factor intervenes to upset the balance.' A demonstration
marke�, bak;rs', and wine-shops did gatherings of cra�men, like that of 20 June 1792 belongs to a somewhat different
wage-earners, and housewives devel�p int� great revoluuo�ary category: on this occasion, the break-through into the Tuileries
crowds with all the attendant mamfestatIons of fear, herOIsm, I G. Lebon, 1.G Rivolwu. fiattftU-u It III psydtoiogU iUs r/DD/uJUms (Paris, '912),
pp. 55-fJ., 6g-g3· By the same author: pqdtolQtie iUs/QrJn (Paria, .8g5).
• G. Lefebvn:, 'Foulet �volutionnairea', AJI>I. "isl. Riv.JrtUIf. xi (1934), 1-26;
or destructive violence? Historians have shown a certain reluc
tance to deal with such questions, believing that they �lo�g reprinted in Ehuus s.... /" RIlXJlwWn/rlUlf"is, (Pans, '954), pp. �7.-87. Although
more particularly to the province of the sociologist or s�ecl�hst
generally applicable to the whole period 1,87"""95. I am largely indebted to him for
Lefebvre's Itudy is concerned mainly with the year • 789, his condUlio!l$ are
the ideas diKuaed in the present chapter.
in crowd psychology.5 Yet the specialist, for lack of histoncal
day in the anti-Cirondin revolution) was abo a Sunday; 1 0 August 17�, on the • Ibid., p. 11711.
• Iu., for example, in the early Slagel of the Champ de Mars demorutration,
, G. Bord, 'La Co!l$piration m�onnique de 1789·, U (A,.,.,npondtml .0 and
other hand, was a Friday.
(Jtt p. 8t), and the 'treachery' of the Swiu guards who, On 10 August 1792,
when IWO unknown individuals were found hiding under Ihe 'aule! de ta patrie'
• Sec pp. 67-6g, 78. unexpeetedly opened fire on the Marseillais (see p. '04). Both n
2.5 May ' gOO, pp. 52'-44, 7.57-fJ7. • Arch. Nat., Y 11033, 15'01.
J Arch. Nat., Z' 46gJ. i cidenta led to
J See Caron, Lu M4JS4lTIS Ik s'iJnlllm, p. vi. paniea and provoked masucra.
D
218 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROW THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY 2'9
nts
than a grain of truth in hi� asse.rtion tha� many of the assail� perspective or exact documentation, may just as easily go
of the Bastille were recnu ted lD the WIne-s hops of 0e Salnt astray, as was the case with Gustave Lebon, the author of a
Antoine quarter.' Certainly the marble-dealer,Josep� Cha�ot, number of books on this subject. According to Lebon revolu
who was injured by a falling tile during the RtvC;lllon nots, tionary crowds tended to be formed of criminal elements,
admitted being picked up by an itinerant band of noters as he degenerates, and persons with destructive instincts, who re�
sat drinking in a wine-shop; other pe�ns arrestc;d on that occ�
sponded more or less passively to the call of 'leaders" -which
sion told a similar tale.1 AndJean-Nicolas Pepm, a chandl er s suggests both that the author had fed on a surfeit of Taine and
tallow-bearer, related, in the course of a detailed �c�ount of that his generalized conception of revolutionary crowds would
his experiences during the July revolution, how he ��med .the be equally appropriate to all times and to all places. Georges
insurgents on the night of the 12th near the B�n:ere Samt Lefebvre, on the other hand, has argued that the revolutionary
Martin, after spending the evening drinking and d m mg 'chez Ie
a
crowd is not an abstraction but a social phenomenon which,
Sr Chevet Md de vin au Soleil d'Or la Nouve lle F:ance'.J though responding to certain general laws of development,
Food-shops and market s were ev :n mo �e obviou s centres of arises in particular historical circumstances and as the result of
agitation. In days of shortag e and high pnces tem ers becam,e particular social pressures and ideas; so it was in the case of the
�
easily frayed in the queues that formed at grocers , butchers , French Revolution.:
and bakers' shops. We have seen , on the eviden ce .ofHard y, t�e In this respect it is of course necessary to distinguish
precautions taken by the Government to keep disturb ances 10
from the rest those occasions when crowds collected in direct
check during the weeks preceding the outbreak of the Rev o.lu response to the call of leaders-for such demonstrations, for
tion in Paris by drafting troops into the marke� and posung instance, as that in the Champ de Mars on 1 7 July '791, or
guards at the door of bakers' shops; and how, dunng the follow such organized military operations as the armed assault on the
ing summer and autumn, when such measures �ere no I�n�er Tuileries in August 1792 and the expulsion of the Girondin
possible, bakers became, on more than one occ�lOn, the VlctUns deputies on 2 June 1 793. In such cases as these the participants
of popular violence." Although there was ?o further .resort have already been won over, both in general and in particular,
to 'Ia lanterne' after 1 789. bakers' and grocers shops conunue.d, to the objects ofthe demonstration, the collective mentality ofthe
as has been amply illustrated, to be common centr:s of d lS crowd corresponds closely to that of the groups of individuals
turbance and starting-points for popular demonstratIons that forming it, and there is no sharp mutation from one state of
often assumed insurrectionary proportions.
How then from such comparatively small begmrungs 10
. . . mind to anotherJ-unless, of course, some new and unexpected
factor intervenes to upset the balance.' A demonstration
marke�, bak;rs', and wine-shops did gatherings of cra�men, like that of 20 June 1792 belongs to a somewhat different
wage-earners, and housewives devel�p int� great revoluuo�ary category: on this occasion, the break-through into the Tuileries
crowds with all the attendant mamfestatIons of fear, herOIsm, I G. Lebon, 1.G Rivolwu. fiattftU-u It III psydtoiogU iUs r/DD/uJUms (Paris, '912),
pp. 55-fJ., 6g-g3· By the same author: pqdtolQtie iUs/QrJn (Paria, .8g5).
• G. Lefebvn:, 'Foulet �volutionnairea', AJI>I. "isl. Riv.JrtUIf. xi (1934), 1-26;
or destructive violence? Historians have shown a certain reluc
tance to deal with such questions, believing that they �lo�g reprinted in Ehuus s.... /" RIlXJlwWn/rlUlf"is, (Pans, '954), pp. �7.-87. Although
more particularly to the province of the sociologist or s�ecl�hst
generally applicable to the whole period 1,87"""95. I am largely indebted to him for
Lefebvre's Itudy is concerned mainly with the year • 789, his condUlio!l$ are
the ideas diKuaed in the present chapter.
in crowd psychology.5 Yet the specialist, for lack of histoncal
day in the anti-Cirondin revolution) was abo a Sunday; 1 0 August 17�, on the • Ibid., p. 11711.
• Iu., for example, in the early Slagel of the Champ de Mars demorutration,
, G. Bord, 'La Co!l$piration m�onnique de 1789·, U (A,.,.,npondtml .0 and
other hand, was a Friday.
(Jtt p. 8t), and the 'treachery' of the Swiu guards who, On 10 August 1792,
when IWO unknown individuals were found hiding under Ihe 'aule! de ta patrie'
• Sec pp. 67-6g, 78. unexpeetedly opened fire on the Marseillais (see p. '04). Both n
2.5 May ' gOO, pp. 52'-44, 7.57-fJ7. • Arch. Nat., Y 11033, 15'01.
J Arch. Nat., Z' 46gJ. i cidenta led to
J See Caron, Lu M4JS4lTIS Ik s'iJnlllm, p. vi. paniea and provoked masucra.
�20 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVO LUTIO NARY
CROW D THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY �UI
transformed a
(which may have been purely spontaneous� by even the most astute and determined ofthe court's opponents:
acknowledg�d
peaceful procession of citizens, headed by thetr the parades on the boulevards with the busts ofNecker and the
to the authonty
leaders, into a riotous and spontaneous challenge Duke of Orleans; the assaults on the barrieres and the Saint
of the king in person.1 Lazare monastery; the search for arms in gunsmiths' shops, re
on that
It is in fact this element of mutauon or transformatJ ligious houses, and arsenals; the massive demonstrations outside
•
•
'
�
marks the rev lutionary crowd in its most typica l form- such the Hotel de Ville, where the new city government was in the
tly in the openin g stages of the process of formation ; the storming of the Invalides in search of
as it appeared most frequen
n of the Nation al Guard and the weapons to arm the newly created mili,e bourgtoise; and finally
Revolution I before the creatio
:
Sections h d provided a framework �ithin which.
the challenge (partly planned, but mainly the outcome of a whole series of
be more system aucally orgam zed. We saw, fortuitous events) the frontal assault on the Bastille and the
to authority might
le, that the more or less harmles s jubilati ons of the murders of de Launay and de FlesseUes.1 In October we have a
for examp
clerks and Cite journe ymen in August 1788 were trans� similar pattern of growth and development, though the final
Palais
entry of
formed into riots of insurrectionary proportions by the stages of the insurrection bear the mark of a more conscious
the small masters and journeymen of the faubourgs and �arkets; political direction. Certainly, to the majority of the housewives
. .
t about by the Insidious
and this transformation was not brough and market-women demonstrating for cheaper and more
believe).
agitation of leaders (as Taine or Lebon would have us plentiful bread in the early morning of 5 October, as to the
consum er of the sudden rise in the casual obselVer, the opening shots of the uprising must have
but by the effect on the small
such abrupt transfor m tion took place in seemed no more than a continuation of a whole series of similar
price of bread.l No �
the course of the Revcillo n riots, whose contnb utory causes were demonstrations during September. Even the mass invasion of
their
already in being after Rev-eillon and Hanriot had made the Hotel de Ville was but a repetition on a larger and more
ed
offending speeches on 23 April. But nevertheless they develop violent scale of similar forms of protest in preceding weeks. Yet
ps and
from murmuring groups in wine�shops and worksho the diversion of the women to Versailles (partly the outcome of
into
marching bands parading through adjoining djstric� weeks ofagitation by the 'patriots' and partly ofthe intervention
. bullets- m the
orgies of destruction-and heroic � r lStance to of Maillard and his gave an entirely new,
volontaires de la Bastille)
on the mght of the 28th: here the political content to their demonstration. From this point,
Faubourg Saint�Antoine
tempo and characte r of the insurrec tion develope d not so m�ch although still professing mainly economic aims, it merged with
through the intervention of external factors as by the 5welhng the political insurrection launched by the 'patriots' and sup
of the numbers of demonstrators by recruitment and the pre ported by the marching contingents of the Parisian National
vailing atmosphere of nervous excitement engendered by the Guard.l
approach of the meeting of the Sta�es General.4 We have seen that the transformation in the nature and
.
The classic examples of thiS k tnd of transformatJon are activities of revolutionary crowds may result from the interven
•
afforded by the two great Parisian insurrections of the summer tion of widely varying factors. Leaders are undoubtedly an
and autumn of 1789. In the first a more or less peacefully important element, though they do not play the outstanding
disposed Sunday crowd of strollers in the Palais Royal was g�l� part assigned to them by Taine and Gustave Lebon; we shall
vanized into revolutionary vigour by the news of Necker's dIS return to them later. But one factor should be noted here,
missal and the call to arms issued by orators of the entourage of though it is by no means peculiar to the events of the French
the Duke of Orleans. From this followed a sequence of events Revolution and may be, in fact, one of the most constant
that could not possibly have been planned or foreseen in detail elements contributing to certain states of collective mentality
Lefebvre, op. cit., p. 279. at all times and in all places. This is the element of panic�fear,
, Set: p. 1 00.
.. Set: pp. 34-36. See pp. 7 3 ft'.
I
transformed a
(which may have been purely spontaneous� by even the most astute and determined ofthe court's opponents:
acknowledg�d
peaceful procession of citizens, headed by thetr the parades on the boulevards with the busts ofNecker and the
to the authonty
leaders, into a riotous and spontaneous challenge Duke of Orleans; the assaults on the barrieres and the Saint
of the king in person.1 Lazare monastery; the search for arms in gunsmiths' shops, re
on that
It is in fact this element of mutauon or transformatJ ligious houses, and arsenals; the massive demonstrations outside
•
•
'
�
marks the rev lutionary crowd in its most typica l form- such the Hotel de Ville, where the new city government was in the
tly in the openin g stages of the process of formation ; the storming of the Invalides in search of
as it appeared most frequen
n of the Nation al Guard and the weapons to arm the newly created mili,e bourgtoise; and finally
Revolution I before the creatio
:
Sections h d provided a framework �ithin which.
the challenge (partly planned, but mainly the outcome of a whole series of
be more system aucally orgam zed. We saw, fortuitous events) the frontal assault on the Bastille and the
to authority might
le, that the more or less harmles s jubilati ons of the murders of de Launay and de FlesseUes.1 In October we have a
for examp
clerks and Cite journe ymen in August 1788 were trans� similar pattern of growth and development, though the final
Palais
entry of
formed into riots of insurrectionary proportions by the stages of the insurrection bear the mark of a more conscious
the small masters and journeymen of the faubourgs and �arkets; political direction. Certainly, to the majority of the housewives
. .
t about by the Insidious
and this transformation was not brough and market-women demonstrating for cheaper and more
believe).
agitation of leaders (as Taine or Lebon would have us plentiful bread in the early morning of 5 October, as to the
consum er of the sudden rise in the casual obselVer, the opening shots of the uprising must have
but by the effect on the small
such abrupt transfor m tion took place in seemed no more than a continuation of a whole series of similar
price of bread.l No �
the course of the Revcillo n riots, whose contnb utory causes were demonstrations during September. Even the mass invasion of
their
already in being after Rev-eillon and Hanriot had made the Hotel de Ville was but a repetition on a larger and more
ed
offending speeches on 23 April. But nevertheless they develop violent scale of similar forms of protest in preceding weeks. Yet
ps and
from murmuring groups in wine�shops and worksho the diversion of the women to Versailles (partly the outcome of
into
marching bands parading through adjoining djstric� weeks ofagitation by the 'patriots' and partly ofthe intervention
. bullets- m the
orgies of destruction-and heroic � r lStance to of Maillard and his gave an entirely new,
volontaires de la Bastille)
on the mght of the 28th: here the political content to their demonstration. From this point,
Faubourg Saint�Antoine
tempo and characte r of the insurrec tion develope d not so m�ch although still professing mainly economic aims, it merged with
through the intervention of external factors as by the 5welhng the political insurrection launched by the 'patriots' and sup
of the numbers of demonstrators by recruitment and the pre ported by the marching contingents of the Parisian National
vailing atmosphere of nervous excitement engendered by the Guard.l
approach of the meeting of the Sta�es General.4 We have seen that the transformation in the nature and
.
The classic examples of thiS k tnd of transformatJon are activities of revolutionary crowds may result from the interven
•
afforded by the two great Parisian insurrections of the summer tion of widely varying factors. Leaders are undoubtedly an
and autumn of 1789. In the first a more or less peacefully important element, though they do not play the outstanding
disposed Sunday crowd of strollers in the Palais Royal was g�l� part assigned to them by Taine and Gustave Lebon; we shall
vanized into revolutionary vigour by the news of Necker's dIS return to them later. But one factor should be noted here,
missal and the call to arms issued by orators of the entourage of though it is by no means peculiar to the events of the French
the Duke of Orleans. From this followed a sequence of events Revolution and may be, in fact, one of the most constant
that could not possibly have been planned or foreseen in detail elements contributing to certain states of collective mentality
Lefebvre, op. cit., p. 279. at all times and in all places. This is the element of panic�fear,
, Set: p. 1 00.
.. Set: pp. 34-36. See pp. 7 3 ft'.
I
propagated by rumour-particularly liable to develop where expression, however, was the panic that seized large parts of the
communications are scaree and news 18 slow and hard to come
. countryside and affected Paris itself in the summer of 178g--
by. Whatever its immediate origins in other circunutances, the episode known to historians as 'la Grande Peur'. It had its
here it arose from the threat, real or imaginary, to three matters origins in the combination ofrural unemployment and vagrancy.
ofvital moment-to property, life, and the means of subsistence. arising from the economic crisis of 1787-9, with the widespread
In various forms we find such panics arising intermittently belief that the privileged orders were about to shatter the hopes
during the revolutionary years-both in towns and country and illusions aroused by the summoning of the States General.
side-and becoming more frequent with the outbreak of war Thus the vagrants of the countryside-the errants or brigands
in April 1792. The latter years of the old regime were haunt� were seen as the agents of a complot aristocratique, whose assault
by the ptuk dt famine, according to which the king and .his on small rural properties was hourly expected and aroused
ministers were credited with the deliberate intention of seeking widespread panic. In the villages, where the peasants armed
to starve the people by creating an artificial scarcity of bread. to meet a danger that proved illusory, their defensive units soon
A similar notion gained credence-though this time associated transformed themselves into aggressive bands that fired chdteaux
with Turgol and not with the king-at the time ofthe grain ri� ts and destroyed manorial rolls.' In Paris, which felt its back
wash, the presence of several thousands of rural unemployed,
many of them herded into the ateliers de chariti on the hill of
of 1 775, and probably contributed to their scope and penlS
tence.1 During the Revolution, the new authorities, and some
times millers and bakers, were cparged with similar designs : we Montmartre, while others roamed the streets, inspired similar
see it in the fermentation in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the terrors. This was, of course, in part the background to the
weeks following the Reveillon riots, in the persistent outcries creation of the Parisian milice bourgeoise, set up to meet the
against accapareurs, in the violent assaults on millers and bakers double danger of an attack on property by the dreaded gens sans
and on Chatel, mayor's lieutenant of Saint-Derus; and the aveu and a military coup against the capital by the Court Party
notion is almost continuously present, though diverted tempo at Versailles : Hardy echoes these terrors in his relation of events
rarily by the 'patriots', in the insurrection of 5-6 October. It on the morrow of the fall of the Bastille.1 The theme recurs in
reappears in the invasions of grocers' shops in 1792 and 1793; the spring of 1791 and, particularly. in the weeks following the
again in Prairial and on the eve ofVendemiaire; and the R.evo king's flight to Varennes: to the Parisian municipal authorities
lutionary Government of the Year II was able to turn It to and the majority in the Constituent Assembly, the unemployed,
good advantage in its indictment of Hebert and his associates soon to be finally disbanded from the ateliers de chante, seemed
the actual or potential agenu of the imigris at Coblenz-'ces
gens soudoyes par les seditieux·. as I.e Babillard called them.3
who, in the spring of 1794, were charged, along with other
crimes, with the design of creating disorders in order to starve
the capital of supplies.1 Some democrats inclined to this view : the radical journalist
The panic-fear of an attack on property, another recurrent 1.oustalot equated the 'proIetaires' with 'tollS les citoyens
theme, particularly affected the bourgeoisie, substantial farmers, susceptibles d'etre facilement corrompus'; and even Maral, for
and peasant proprietors, but it also vitally concerned the small all his deep compassion for the poor, feared that the inmates of
property-owners among the sans-culottes. We see it graphicall�
illustrated in the constant repetition of the scare of 'Ia 10l
the public workshops might become the ready tools of counter-
Jacobin and other bourgeois democrats, who might threaten to 30.0(10 homm<':l dans la capit.a.le, ICOJndb par do brigandi' (Hardy, op. cit.
effect even a partial distribution of property. Its most famous viii. 395). Se.: aoo the Chevalier de Bcaurepalrc'l pamphlet of August 1789, in
whicH it is alleged that the Montmartre unemployed were building fortifications
• Arch. Nat., W 76, 78; Tuetey, Ri�loiTl, vol. xi, nos. '-'71.
, See pp. 23-24. for training artillery against Par;"'(IUo"JH1r1 II MM. du dis/rid dIS PI/its M4l1wriN:
Bib. Nat., Lb40 28S). I U Bdillflrd, no. xxiv, 6July 1791, p. ,.
2�� T H E ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY �23
propagated by rumour-particularly liable to develop where expression, however, was the panic that seized large parts of the
communications are scaree and news 18 slow and hard to come
. countryside and affected Paris itself in the summer of 178g--
by. Whatever its immediate origins in other circunutances, the episode known to historians as 'la Grande Peur'. It had its
here it arose from the threat, real or imaginary, to three matters origins in the combination ofrural unemployment and vagrancy.
ofvital moment-to property, life, and the means of subsistence. arising from the economic crisis of 1787-9, with the widespread
In various forms we find such panics arising intermittently belief that the privileged orders were about to shatter the hopes
during the revolutionary years-both in towns and country and illusions aroused by the summoning of the States General.
side-and becoming more frequent with the outbreak of war Thus the vagrants of the countryside-the errants or brigands
in April 1792. The latter years of the old regime were haunt� were seen as the agents of a complot aristocratique, whose assault
by the ptuk dt famine, according to which the king and .his on small rural properties was hourly expected and aroused
ministers were credited with the deliberate intention of seeking widespread panic. In the villages, where the peasants armed
to starve the people by creating an artificial scarcity of bread. to meet a danger that proved illusory, their defensive units soon
A similar notion gained credence-though this time associated transformed themselves into aggressive bands that fired chdteaux
with Turgol and not with the king-at the time ofthe grain ri� ts and destroyed manorial rolls.' In Paris, which felt its back
wash, the presence of several thousands of rural unemployed,
many of them herded into the ateliers de chariti on the hill of
of 1 775, and probably contributed to their scope and penlS
tence.1 During the Revolution, the new authorities, and some
times millers and bakers, were cparged with similar designs : we Montmartre, while others roamed the streets, inspired similar
see it in the fermentation in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the terrors. This was, of course, in part the background to the
weeks following the Reveillon riots, in the persistent outcries creation of the Parisian milice bourgeoise, set up to meet the
against accapareurs, in the violent assaults on millers and bakers double danger of an attack on property by the dreaded gens sans
and on Chatel, mayor's lieutenant of Saint-Derus; and the aveu and a military coup against the capital by the Court Party
notion is almost continuously present, though diverted tempo at Versailles : Hardy echoes these terrors in his relation of events
rarily by the 'patriots', in the insurrection of 5-6 October. It on the morrow of the fall of the Bastille.1 The theme recurs in
reappears in the invasions of grocers' shops in 1792 and 1793; the spring of 1791 and, particularly. in the weeks following the
again in Prairial and on the eve ofVendemiaire; and the R.evo king's flight to Varennes: to the Parisian municipal authorities
lutionary Government of the Year II was able to turn It to and the majority in the Constituent Assembly, the unemployed,
good advantage in its indictment of Hebert and his associates soon to be finally disbanded from the ateliers de chante, seemed
the actual or potential agenu of the imigris at Coblenz-'ces
gens soudoyes par les seditieux·. as I.e Babillard called them.3
who, in the spring of 1794, were charged, along with other
crimes, with the design of creating disorders in order to starve
the capital of supplies.1 Some democrats inclined to this view : the radical journalist
The panic-fear of an attack on property, another recurrent 1.oustalot equated the 'proIetaires' with 'tollS les citoyens
theme, particularly affected the bourgeoisie, substantial farmers, susceptibles d'etre facilement corrompus'; and even Maral, for
and peasant proprietors, but it also vitally concerned the small all his deep compassion for the poor, feared that the inmates of
property-owners among the sans-culottes. We see it graphicall�
illustrated in the constant repetition of the scare of 'Ia 10l
the public workshops might become the ready tools of counter-
Jacobin and other bourgeois democrats, who might threaten to 30.0(10 homm<':l dans la capit.a.le, ICOJndb par do brigandi' (Hardy, op. cit.
effect even a partial distribution of property. Its most famous viii. 395). Se.: aoo the Chevalier de Bcaurepalrc'l pamphlet of August 1789, in
whicH it is alleged that the Montmartre unemployed were building fortifications
• Arch. Nat., W 76, 78; Tuetey, Ri�loiTl, vol. xi, nos. '-'71.
, See pp. 23-24. for training artillery against Par;"'(IUo"JH1r1 II MM. du dis/rid dIS PI/its M4l1wriN:
Bib. Nat., Lb40 28S). I U Bdillflrd, no. xxiv, 6July 1791, p. ,.
��4 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE GENERAT ION OF REVOLUT IONARY ACTIVITY �1I
5
tionaria in thoe early yean to stir up diseonlent-with the Revolution and the
journeymen who rioted in August-October 1 788 hailed Henri
IV and acclaimed the Par/tment as the custodian of 'ancient
�
new autho.ritia-am<.>ng the wage-eamcn of lhe fo.ul.tturls and. particularly,
among the unemployed in the public worluhops; but, allhough taken ICriowly li erties· against the innovations of the king's ministers. The
.
by the authorities and the democrats, they met with surprisingly little lueeos. .
Reveillon nots arose as a defensive action by Saint-Antoine
Itituante', Lo. Rivolutitmfill1l(o.iu, lvii (1909), 304-26, 38S-404; and my PaliJilUl
(Sec E. Tarl�, 'La Cluse ouvri�re et Ie parti eontre.r4!voh.tionnaire SOul la Con·
, Sec pp. t08-IO.
• Areh. Nat., DXXIX' 33, 00. 3¥'. rot 26.
. ' �, e.g., J. L. T�lm�n, The Ori,itU of ToIJJi/Mitut lJrmDao.q (London, 19511).
W.,f-£o.mm, i. �60-9.)
tionaria in thoe early yean to stir up diseonlent-with the Revolution and the
journeymen who rioted in August-October 1 788 hailed Henri
IV and acclaimed the Par/tment as the custodian of 'ancient
�
new autho.ritia-am<.>ng the wage-eamcn of lhe fo.ul.tturls and. particularly,
among the unemployed in the public worluhops; but, allhough taken ICriowly li erties· against the innovations of the king's ministers. The
.
by the authorities and the democrats, they met with surprisingly little lueeos. .
Reveillon nots arose as a defensive action by Saint-Antoine
Itituante', Lo. Rivolutitmfill1l(o.iu, lvii (1909), 304-26, 38S-404; and my PaliJilUl
(Sec E. Tarl�, 'La Cluse ouvri�re et Ie parti eontre.r4!voh.tionnaire SOul la Con·
, Sec pp. t08-IO.
• Areh. Nat., DXXIX' 33, 00. 3¥'. rot 26.
. ' �, e.g., J. L. T�lm�n, The Ori,itU of ToIJJi/Mitut lJrmDao.q (London, 19511).
W.,f-£o.mm, i. �60-9.)
wage-earners against the threats to wages and living standards Flesselles, Foullon, and Berthier: they hark back to thejtuquerits
of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries and other more
recent outbreaks of popular fury, The taxation populajrt of 1 789
that were said to have been uttered by two employers of the
Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The Paris revolution of July 1 789
and 1793 has its antecedents in that of 1 752' and 1775. Caron
tells us that the prison massacres of September 1 792 marked the
began as a protest against the dismissal of a popular minister
and developed into a massive defensive action against the
'aristocratic plot' visibly being hatched at Versailles. In the assertion by the people of the ancient right of'lajustice retenue'
-the sovereign's prerogative right to dispense justice without
recourse to the nonnal juridical processes-traditionally vested
following weeks the assaults of peasant bands on the chattaux of
the nobility and the destruction of fiscal records were a forceful
riposte to the innovations of the sagnmrs, whose systematization in the king, but since iO August devolving upon the sovereign
people,1 The march to Versailles to solicit the intercession of the
king as protector of his people had precedents in the riots of
of feudal contract and extension of seigneurial obligations con
stituted an attack on the traditional property rights of the
peasantry, The October insurrection took the form of a de 1775' and, more recently, in the Parisian carriers' strike of
mand for the restoration of cheaper and more plentiful bread 1786,4 Even the chant of the marchers, 'Allons chercher Ie
and of a defensive action against the military measures being boulanger, la boulangere et Ie petit mitron', expressed sentiments
prepared by the court ; and the forcible return of the king to similar to those expressed in the Bordeaux peasants' slogan of
the capital revived an ancient tradition in the relations between 1674: 'Vive Ie Roi et sans gabelle !';5 and in the cry ofa Parisian
the monarch and the people of Paris. Even the overthrow of the master locksmith of May 1775: 'Vive Ie Roi et que Ie pain
monarchy was as much the final act in a movement of self ramende!'6 The same conception of the king as protector is
defence against counter-revolutionary intrigue as the logical evident in the assumption by leaders of the rebellious peasantry
outcome of plans hatched by consistent Republicans. 1 We have of July 1789 of the royal authority ('de par Ie Roi') for their
seen how the majority of the Sections that armed before Vende acts ofa�n and destruction against the property of the nobility ;
as such It echoes the conviction of the grain rioters of 1775 that
�
miaire, far from considering themselves as rebels against law
fully constituted authority, believed that they were defending the king had persona ly intervened to reduce the price of corn,
themselves against the attacks of a tyrannous Assembly,1 And flour, and bread to aJust level.1 Apart from the armed insurrec
what were the repeated outbreaks of popular price-control or tions of to August and 2 June 1 793, it is perhaps only in the
taxation populairt, but the assertion of the traditional right of the
arms workers of I 794 that we find the emergence of new forms
petitions ofJuly 1791 and June 1792 and the agitation of the
small consumers to protection against the capitalist innovation
of the 'free market' and the new-fangled principles of supply ofaction that look forward to the urban-industrial society of the
and demand? And yet, in the prevailing conditions of revolu future.
tionary crisis, each one of these movements, with the exception We should not under-estimate either the degree to which the
ofthat ofVendemiaire, tended to carry the Revolution forwards, revolutionary leaders themselves, though steeped in the ideas
to drive another nail into the coffin offeudalism, and to advance of the new philosophy, relied upon precedent and, far from
the aims of more consciously radical groups. following a consistent programme of total renovation, stumbled
It is not surprising perhaps that the actions of such insurgents
, ]ocrrNJi.1 mJmoiUI au nu:rq�u d'A'lflUGfI, vii. il2g.
and demonstrators should also tend to be clothed in traditional
forms and that in so many journitS of the Revolution we should , G. Rud�, 'La Taxalion popuJaire de mai 1 115 i Paris ct dans [a r�gion
, Caron, op. <:il., pp. 435-45.
catch echoes of past events. There is no innovation about the parillienn.,', Ann. frill. Riu.ftiltlf., no. 143, '956, p. 148. • Sec p. 21.
• Traditional.
destruction of the chdttaux or the violent assaults on individuals
1 C. t.ef.,bvre, l.tJ Grorui. Ptlll' d, 11119, pp. 1 1 1-'7, 141; C. Rudl!, op. cit.,
6 GJRud�, op. <:it., p. '11.
wage-earners against the threats to wages and living standards Flesselles, Foullon, and Berthier: they hark back to thejtuquerits
of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries and other more
recent outbreaks of popular fury, The taxation populajrt of 1 789
that were said to have been uttered by two employers of the
Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The Paris revolution of July 1 789
and 1793 has its antecedents in that of 1 752' and 1775. Caron
tells us that the prison massacres of September 1 792 marked the
began as a protest against the dismissal of a popular minister
and developed into a massive defensive action against the
'aristocratic plot' visibly being hatched at Versailles. In the assertion by the people of the ancient right of'lajustice retenue'
-the sovereign's prerogative right to dispense justice without
recourse to the nonnal juridical processes-traditionally vested
following weeks the assaults of peasant bands on the chattaux of
the nobility and the destruction of fiscal records were a forceful
riposte to the innovations of the sagnmrs, whose systematization in the king, but since iO August devolving upon the sovereign
people,1 The march to Versailles to solicit the intercession of the
king as protector of his people had precedents in the riots of
of feudal contract and extension of seigneurial obligations con
stituted an attack on the traditional property rights of the
peasantry, The October insurrection took the form of a de 1775' and, more recently, in the Parisian carriers' strike of
mand for the restoration of cheaper and more plentiful bread 1786,4 Even the chant of the marchers, 'Allons chercher Ie
and of a defensive action against the military measures being boulanger, la boulangere et Ie petit mitron', expressed sentiments
prepared by the court ; and the forcible return of the king to similar to those expressed in the Bordeaux peasants' slogan of
the capital revived an ancient tradition in the relations between 1674: 'Vive Ie Roi et sans gabelle !';5 and in the cry ofa Parisian
the monarch and the people of Paris. Even the overthrow of the master locksmith of May 1775: 'Vive Ie Roi et que Ie pain
monarchy was as much the final act in a movement of self ramende!'6 The same conception of the king as protector is
defence against counter-revolutionary intrigue as the logical evident in the assumption by leaders of the rebellious peasantry
outcome of plans hatched by consistent Republicans. 1 We have of July 1789 of the royal authority ('de par Ie Roi') for their
seen how the majority of the Sections that armed before Vende acts ofa�n and destruction against the property of the nobility ;
as such It echoes the conviction of the grain rioters of 1775 that
�
miaire, far from considering themselves as rebels against law
fully constituted authority, believed that they were defending the king had persona ly intervened to reduce the price of corn,
themselves against the attacks of a tyrannous Assembly,1 And flour, and bread to aJust level.1 Apart from the armed insurrec
what were the repeated outbreaks of popular price-control or tions of to August and 2 June 1 793, it is perhaps only in the
taxation populairt, but the assertion of the traditional right of the
arms workers of I 794 that we find the emergence of new forms
petitions ofJuly 1791 and June 1792 and the agitation of the
small consumers to protection against the capitalist innovation
of the 'free market' and the new-fangled principles of supply ofaction that look forward to the urban-industrial society of the
and demand? And yet, in the prevailing conditions of revolu future.
tionary crisis, each one of these movements, with the exception We should not under-estimate either the degree to which the
ofthat ofVendemiaire, tended to carry the Revolution forwards, revolutionary leaders themselves, though steeped in the ideas
to drive another nail into the coffin offeudalism, and to advance of the new philosophy, relied upon precedent and, far from
the aims of more consciously radical groups. following a consistent programme of total renovation, stumbled
It is not surprising perhaps that the actions of such insurgents
, ]ocrrNJi.1 mJmoiUI au nu:rq�u d'A'lflUGfI, vii. il2g.
and demonstrators should also tend to be clothed in traditional
forms and that in so many journitS of the Revolution we should , G. Rud�, 'La Taxalion popuJaire de mai 1 115 i Paris ct dans [a r�gion
, Caron, op. <:il., pp. 435-45.
catch echoes of past events. There is no innovation about the parillienn.,', Ann. frill. Riu.ftiltlf., no. 143, '956, p. 148. • Sec p. 21.
• Traditional.
destruction of the chdttaux or the violent assaults on individuals
1 C. t.ef.,bvre, l.tJ Grorui. Ptlll' d, 11119, pp. 1 1 1-'7, 141; C. Rudl!, op. cit.,
6 GJRud�, op. <:it., p. '11.
from one political expedient to another-in which process the assemblies, or committees. Again, there is little mystery about
exigencies of war, the needs of social conciliation, and the ab the channel ofcommunication between leaders and participants
sence of any traditions of political experience all played their on tho.se occasions when the operation in hand was carried
part. Yet their interests, or circumstance, led them to attempt through by military units acting under their own commanders.
new solutions; and these, as we have seen, on more than one Yet, in the early months of the Revolution, there is still an
occasion led them into conAict with the sans-cutoUtS or involved element that escapes us and on which the records are too often
them in devious attempts to conciliate them or to divert their silent: how and at what stage were the mass of the participants
energies into 'safe' political channels. Such attempts were engaged and the slogans and plans of action communicated?
Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this process of communica
tion in action-at the burning of the harriirlS, for example,
successful, as we saw, in the preparation of the great political
journJts from the fall of the Bastille to the expulsion of the
Girondins. They failed when the sans-culottes followed their own where we learn from the testimony of numerous witnesses that
head, as in the Reveillon riots and food riots of February 1793; local leaders were acting under the direct orders of the Palais
yet these werc not irretrievable disasters. Far more serious was Royal.' Again, on 5 October, we find Stanislas Maillard direct
the failure of the Jacobins to regain the allegiance of the saru ing operations in consultation with spokesmen for the women;
cutoUts in the summer of 1794, when the gap between them and Fournier l'Americain hurrying back to stir up support for
and the Revolutionary Government proved unbridgeable and the marchers in his own District ofSaint-Eustache, and inciting
hastened the fall of Rob�spierre and his associates in Ther the poissartks at Versailles to call for the king' s return to PariS.2
midor. 1 This only goes to show once more that the elements But such glimpses are rare and the exact mechanism of revolt
composing revolutionary crowds, though permeated by the generally eludes us; yet we may assume from examples such as
political ideas of the Jacobins and advanced democrats, had these that it was through secondary leaders like Maillard and
Fournier-and otbers like Saint-Huruge. Saint-Felix, Theroigne
de Mericourt, and Claire Lacombe-that liaison was maintained,
social claims of their own which they persisted in advancing
even against the advice and, on occasion, the interests of the
revolutionary leaders themselves. on these and similar occasions, between the topmost leaders and
It remains to consider by what human agency the sans tbe rank-and-file participants.
culoUts were directly involved in or recruited for the great These intermediaries, however, were not of the sans-culollts
political demonstrations and insurrections of the Revolution themselves, being drawn from other social groups.' Thus the
and for those occasions when they acted on their own account. further question arises-did the san.I-culoties have leaders of their
It has become evident of course t.hat each of the great political own to co-operate with, or receive the orders of, the agents or
journits, though its exact result might rarely be foreseen, was the emissaries of the bourgtois groups and factions, or to inspire and
outcome of considerable preparations, often carried out in full guide them when they acted on their own account? Or was the
view of the authorities of the day, involving Sectional resolu element of spontaneity considerable in this respect? There is,
of course, little doubt that, on these occasions, some showed
even-as on 10 August, in May-June 1 793, and again in
tions and deputations, speeches, and newspaper articles, or
more spirit, enterprise, and daring, or engaged in more spec-
at .everal Cl,lStonu POSII, lold a witnes, 'qu'ib avaient dell orol"Q pour en agir aina;
•
Am/,;till;".
228 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY 229
from one political expedient to another-in which process the assemblies, or committees. Again, there is little mystery about
exigencies of war, the needs of social conciliation, and the ab the channel ofcommunication between leaders and participants
sence of any traditions of political experience all played their on tho.se occasions when the operation in hand was carried
part. Yet their interests, or circumstance, led them to attempt through by military units acting under their own commanders.
new solutions; and these, as we have seen, on more than one Yet, in the early months of the Revolution, there is still an
occasion led them into conAict with the sans-cutoUtS or involved element that escapes us and on which the records are too often
them in devious attempts to conciliate them or to divert their silent: how and at what stage were the mass of the participants
energies into 'safe' political channels. Such attempts were engaged and the slogans and plans of action communicated?
Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this process of communica
tion in action-at the burning of the harriirlS, for example,
successful, as we saw, in the preparation of the great political
journJts from the fall of the Bastille to the expulsion of the
Girondins. They failed when the sans-culottes followed their own where we learn from the testimony of numerous witnesses that
head, as in the Reveillon riots and food riots of February 1793; local leaders were acting under the direct orders of the Palais
yet these werc not irretrievable disasters. Far more serious was Royal.' Again, on 5 October, we find Stanislas Maillard direct
the failure of the Jacobins to regain the allegiance of the saru ing operations in consultation with spokesmen for the women;
cutoUts in the summer of 1794, when the gap between them and Fournier l'Americain hurrying back to stir up support for
and the Revolutionary Government proved unbridgeable and the marchers in his own District ofSaint-Eustache, and inciting
hastened the fall of Rob�spierre and his associates in Ther the poissartks at Versailles to call for the king' s return to PariS.2
midor. 1 This only goes to show once more that the elements But such glimpses are rare and the exact mechanism of revolt
composing revolutionary crowds, though permeated by the generally eludes us; yet we may assume from examples such as
political ideas of the Jacobins and advanced democrats, had these that it was through secondary leaders like Maillard and
Fournier-and otbers like Saint-Huruge. Saint-Felix, Theroigne
de Mericourt, and Claire Lacombe-that liaison was maintained,
social claims of their own which they persisted in advancing
even against the advice and, on occasion, the interests of the
revolutionary leaders themselves. on these and similar occasions, between the topmost leaders and
It remains to consider by what human agency the sans tbe rank-and-file participants.
culoUts were directly involved in or recruited for the great These intermediaries, however, were not of the sans-culollts
political demonstrations and insurrections of the Revolution themselves, being drawn from other social groups.' Thus the
and for those occasions when they acted on their own account. further question arises-did the san.I-culoties have leaders of their
It has become evident of course t.hat each of the great political own to co-operate with, or receive the orders of, the agents or
journits, though its exact result might rarely be foreseen, was the emissaries of the bourgtois groups and factions, or to inspire and
outcome of considerable preparations, often carried out in full guide them when they acted on their own account? Or was the
view of the authorities of the day, involving Sectional resolu element of spontaneity considerable in this respect? There is,
of course, little doubt that, on these occasions, some showed
even-as on 10 August, in May-June 1 793, and again in
tions and deputations, speeches, and newspaper articles, or
more spirit, enterprise, and daring, or engaged in more spec-
at .everal Cl,lStonu POSII, lold a witnes, 'qu'ib avaient dell orol"Q pour en agir aina;
•
Am/,;till;".
OLU TION ARY CRO WD THE GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY �31
�30 THE ANATOMY OF THE REV
fellows and, as such, drew lead their local units of the insurgent National Guard because
tacular acts of violence, than their
the attention of the police, National
G:
uard, or bystanders. In
.
of their known record of militancy in the Year II.' In such a
c�, then, we are dealing with experienced cadres of Jace
mg part was ascnbed. to
the Reveillon riots, for instance, a lead
Bertin, a market-woman, bmlSm, who have emerged as leaders in the course of the
one Marie-Jeanne Trumeau, jmlTrU
gh later reprieved) for having revolutionary years; but this is a later phenomenon and we see
who was sentenced to death (thou
with cries of 'Allons, vive Ie little trace of it before the summer of 1791,1 In the earlier
incited the rioters to loot and bum
Prom inent among the sans examples cited those reported as playing leading parts may
Tiers !!'tat!' and 'A la R�ve illon !"
were , said witnesses, well h�v� ha no previous records as militants and probably
�
culottes that burned down the barrii res
and Dum ont (alias Cadet), only distlOgwshed themselves by thcir vigour or violence on
Bataille a wine-merc hant's assist ant,
�
a dock r.1 In the women's marc
h to Versailles, their chief this particular occasion; we may even accept at its face value
the frequently voiced assertion that such 'leaders' were present
was the jmlme Lavarenne,
spokesman, according to Maillard,
porter, though she herself as much by accident as design, or were brought along by the
an illiterate sick-nurse and wife of a
r compulsion) Among penuasion or compulsion of neighbours or itinerant bands. In
claimed to have been brought along unde
demo nstration we have fact, may not Marie-Jeanne Trumeau or thefemme Lavarenne
those taking part in the Champ de Mars
Evra rd-m ore remark f?r all their momentary militancy, have had experienc �
noted the remarkable cook, Constance .
.
politi cal opini ons than slmIlar to that of a village woman who appeared to be the
able, it is true, for the maturity of her
.4 Durin g the groce ry nots l�ader of the rioters at Brie-Comte-Robert during the grain
for the part she played in the event
of February '793, the police recorded
that several persons nots of Ins? When asked by the police to explain her dis
up dissatisfaction and orderly conduct, shc answered simply
played a prominent part in stirrin g
at which sugar , candl es, and coffee should be qu'elle a ete entrainee . . . et convient que sa tete ,'cst montee
fixing the price
t of the commissioner comme celle des autres, et qu'elle ne savait plw ce qu'elle disait ni
sold. Among these, so ran a detailed repor
of the Arsenal Section, was
ce qu'elle faisait.l
Une femme, assez bien, a nous n i connue . . . de la taille d'e�viron In such cases there are no leaders in the commonly accepted
cinq pieds un pouce, agee de trente ans . . . vetue d'un d6h�bllle de sense of the term and the distinction between militants or
a dessin coura nt, un mantdet de taffetas nOir et une active elements, and rank-and-file participants disappears As :
toile fond bleu
a fait tout ce qui
montre d'or a chaine d'acier. . . . Cctte femme we have seen, this was not so in the later stages of the Revolu
1a sedition u t elle qui fixa Ie prix
etait en elle pour augmenter . . . ce f tion, when the clubs and societies had had time to train and
du savon a douze sols la livre et Ie sucre a dix-hu it.s equip militants and leaders from the ranb of the sQJU-culottu
themselves. But, in the early years at least, once we have
several persons de
After the events of Prairial, there were accounted for the efficacy of pamphlets and journals and the
ity and the specially
nounced to the Committee of General Secur spoken propaganda in public meeting-places, food-shops, and
playe d leading parts
appointed Military Commission as having markets to generate revolutionary activity, there still remains
memb ers of the annie
in the revolt; among these were former an element of spontaneity that defies a more exact analysis.
at least, had been elected to
, R. Cobb and C. Rudt!, 'Lea Joumm dc germinal ct de pTairial an III''
rivolutionnaire, of whom some,
, Arch. Nat., Y 13gBl , ' 3454. ' Arch. Nat., Z" 886. R.UUf h.islori'lUf, t9.l5, p. 219, n. 2.
• We find Ihe earliellt signs in .he Champ dc Man movement of July 119 ' :
• Arch. Prtf. Pol., Aa '4B, rol. 30. among th ose arrellied in thc Sections for prOlellting al the brutality of the National
, /'roc/dure ui",illt/f, witnas a nOS. 8.-82.
Guard werc three WJinqutU's de la BIJJlil/e (Arch. Prt!f. Pol., Aa 85, foll. 8.l-86; .61,
. . . •
Une femme, assez bien, a nous n i connue . . . de la taille d'e�viron In such cases there are no leaders in the commonly accepted
cinq pieds un pouce, agee de trente ans . . . vetue d'un d6h�bllle de sense of the term and the distinction between militants or
a dessin coura nt, un mantdet de taffetas nOir et une active elements, and rank-and-file participants disappears As :
toile fond bleu
a fait tout ce qui
montre d'or a chaine d'acier. . . . Cctte femme we have seen, this was not so in the later stages of the Revolu
1a sedition u t elle qui fixa Ie prix
etait en elle pour augmenter . . . ce f tion, when the clubs and societies had had time to train and
du savon a douze sols la livre et Ie sucre a dix-hu it.s equip militants and leaders from the ranb of the sQJU-culottu
themselves. But, in the early years at least, once we have
several persons de
After the events of Prairial, there were accounted for the efficacy of pamphlets and journals and the
ity and the specially
nounced to the Committee of General Secur spoken propaganda in public meeting-places, food-shops, and
playe d leading parts
appointed Military Commission as having markets to generate revolutionary activity, there still remains
memb ers of the annie
in the revolt; among these were former an element of spontaneity that defies a more exact analysis.
at least, had been elected to
, R. Cobb and C. Rudt!, 'Lea Joumm dc germinal ct de pTairial an III''
rivolutionnaire, of whom some,
, Arch. Nat., Y 13gBl , ' 3454. ' Arch. Nat., Z" 886. R.UUf h.islori'lUf, t9.l5, p. 219, n. 2.
• We find Ihe earliellt signs in .he Champ dc Man movement of July 119 ' :
• Arch. Prtf. Pol., Aa '4B, rol. 30. among th ose arrellied in thc Sections for prOlellting al the brutality of the National
, /'roc/dure ui",illt/f, witnas a nOS. 8.-82.
Guard werc three WJinqutU's de la BIJJlil/e (Arch. Prt!f. Pol., Aa 85, foll. 8.l-86; .61,
. . . •
xv
and the urge to satisfy immediate and particular grievances all
played their part.
Are such conclusions only valid within the comparatively
THE 'R E V O L U T I O N A R Y C R O W D' restricted context of the French Revolution, or have they a
IN H I STORY certain validity, as well, in the Ca5C of other 'revolutionary
more discriminating, label of 'the people' or 'the patriOtl'. Thil has generally
term to those participants in revolutionary events who were , Some!ima, of eourse, crowds are given Michekt', mort: sympathetic, if nOI
neither of the aristocracy nor or the bourgeoisie. Yet it is too
ba:n the case n i British historians' dexriptions of the European and South
indefinite; for while the rrunu peuple, or sans-culotte.s, taken. collec Amerkan national movemenUo of the nineteenth centory in whkh erowds Were
tively, formed the main body ofrioters and insurgents, the part promoting causes with which the writers w("re manifatly in sympathy. Even, on
played by their constituent elements-women, wage-earners, oecasion. from a change of fashion or of official policy. a 'I""iteh' is made, in
, See the conchuion. to my article on the grain riott of 1775 (cited, "III. alia, on
Decembc:r 1956.)
from being social abstractions, were composed of ordinary men
and women with varying social needs, who responded to a p. 2"17, note J, above).
THE 'REVOLUTIONARY CROWD' IN H I STORY 233
xv
and the urge to satisfy immediate and particular grievances all
played their part.
Are such conclusions only valid within the comparatively
THE 'R E V O L U T I O N A R Y C R O W D' restricted context of the French Revolution, or have they a
IN H I STORY certain validity, as well, in the Ca5C of other 'revolutionary
more discriminating, label of 'the people' or 'the patriOtl'. Thil has generally
term to those participants in revolutionary events who were , Some!ima, of eourse, crowds are given Michekt', mort: sympathetic, if nOI
neither of the aristocracy nor or the bourgeoisie. Yet it is too
ba:n the case n i British historians' dexriptions of the European and South
indefinite; for while the rrunu peuple, or sans-culotte.s, taken. collec Amerkan national movemenUo of the nineteenth centory in whkh erowds Were
tively, formed the main body ofrioters and insurgents, the part promoting causes with which the writers w("re manifatly in sympathy. Even, on
played by their constituent elements-women, wage-earners, oecasion. from a change of fashion or of official policy. a 'I""iteh' is made, in
, See the conchuion. to my article on the grain riott of 1775 (cited, "III. alia, on
Decembc:r 1956.)
from being social abstractions, were composed of ordinary men
and women with varying social needs, who responded to a p. 2"17, note J, above).
234 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE 'REVOLUTIONARY CROWD' IN HISTORY .:1:35
rural riots as latc as 1848.1 In the urban revolutions oClhe early arrested and charged in this affair, there were 554 stonemasons,
nineteenth century, too, a large measure of continuity with that
286 tailors, 283 painters, and 191 wine-merchants.I But the
510joiners, 416 shoemakers, 321 cabinet-makers, 28s locksmiths,
of 1789 still persists, though new features emerge with industrial
advance and gradual social change. The external appearance differences are equally, ifnot more, striking. Even in February
of Paris and the geographical distribution of its population the proportion of wage-earners among the insurgents was far
remained much the same in 1848 as sixty years before;2 the greater than it was in 1789: de Tocqueville actually believed
small workshop still predominated and, far from disappearing, that the victors of the Revolution-up to May, at least-were
was increasing its holdil while the main centres of the menu the working classes and that its sole victims were the bourgeoisie,'
peuple were still the Faubourgs Saint·Antoine and Saint-Marcd
and the districts north of the markets.4 As far as can be told
This is an exaggeration; yet the fact remains that the wage
earners and independent craftsmen, who played the principal
from limited records, the composition of the participants in the part in the insurrections and journles of the period, were now
J
'trois gJorieuses' of July 830 was not very different from that organized in their own political clubs, marched under their
of the captors of the Bastille,s Like their forbears of 10 August own banners and leaders, and, far from responding to the ideas
1792 the ouvriers of 1830 left their workshops to take up arms and slogans of the bourgeoisie, were deeply imbued with the new
and, far from encouraging looting, shot those who engaged in it ideas of Socialism.l The Industrial Revolution of Louis
out ofhand,6 In 1848, again, masters and journeymen marched Philippe's reign had brought in railways and the beginnings
together, and jointly manned the barricades and occupie the � of mechanized industry: among the arrested irJSurgents ofJune,
Chamber of Deputies in the February days.' De Tocquevllle's we note, alongside the joiners, cabinet-makers, and locksmiths
descriptions of the popular invasion of the parliamentary of the traditional crafts and small workshops, the names of
sessions of 24 February and 15 May of that year read like some eighty railwaymen and 257 micaniciens.4 As June 1848
accounts of the great demonstrations in the National Convention marks the first great armed collision between ouvriers and
in Germinal and Prairial of the Year III;8 and even in theJune bourgeoisie, so it marks the final eclipse of the Jons-culoUts and the
revolution that followed, when bourgeois and ouurim found them emergence of the wage-earners as the new shock-troops of in
selves ranged in armed conflict on opposing sides, we find the surrection and the predominant element in revolutionary
insurgents largely belonging to the familiar trades of those who crowds.
stormed the Bastille and reduced the Tuileries: of J 1 ,6g3 persons We find a similar process taking place in Britain, though it
, Sec R. Gossez'J 'earle des troubles' n i E. Lab� (ed.), N� 14 III tris� begins at an earlier date. Even more than in France the typical
141" "lJNlRUm Ik I'ko,."mu/rtulf"in IIU milint tW m sikk (18f6-185r) (Paris, 19�6) ;
G. Lefebv�, LD CrllNU p,,,, d� IJlIfJ. pp. 61-6�.
d rural riot of the eighteenth century had its origins in the high
• G. Vaulhier, 'La MiJtre des ouvnen en I831 ', .... (""'ulttm. L 18"r, leUl
owners, farmers, or magistrates, the destruction of fences, turn
pikes, houses, or mills, the seizure of stocks of grain and stop
P· 77· . ..
'-. R '-" ...
{192�}, 607-17. .
participation in the eventJ of 27-29Juiy 1830 in Par;' (Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa. ,6g-
J Sec the very incomplete luIS or those killed and decorated a:t a result of their
page of food convoys, to great demonstrations of farm-workers,
, Lis� gbtlraJe ." Drd" aJp!ul!Jitiqllt des iN;U/fJls drjwin I¥. Ar<:h. Nat., F>. 2585-6.
• 'Une Leurc intdite lur 10 joum� de juiUet 1830', LD Rlwlution th 18pJ, • Ruo//tc/ions, pp. 78 If.
70,420).
the absence of looting (Titt R,colltdiotu of AItJ:;s dt Toc�uillt, ed. J. P. Mayer mann, 'Le Club de Ra$pail en 1848', LD Rivoiulion d, 18�, v ( l goS-g), 589-605,
vii (1910), 272-�. In 184B, too, de Toequevillc noted (without surpriJC, he added) • �ignobos, op. cit., pp. 24-.:1:5, 57-58, 67-70, 89-106, T38-g; Sunnne Wauer_
(London, 1948), p. 80). 655-74, 74B--6�; R. Gossez , 'L'organisalion ouvricre a Paris $<)\1$ I" Se.:onde
LD Rivolul;rm dt 18.,8, viii (1911), 99-1.:1:4; F. Dutacq, 'Un Rkit da journ� de • p• .:1:585-6. See also G. Duveau, LD Vit OUlTiir, In FraNt ltIUI It StroM Em"i,.
7 A. CrtmieUK, 'La Fusillade du boulevard des Capudnes du 23 revrie. 1848', R�publlque', 18�. Rtl'Ut dts r(voiuliotu (onltmporai/ltS, xli (1949), 31-45.
f�vrier 1848', ibid. ix (1912), 266-70. I R,col/«lionJ, pp. 5 1-:;9, 13:;-4�· (Par;', 1946), pp. 42-..3.
234 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE 'REVOLUTIONARY CROWD' IN HISTORY .:1:35
rural riots as latc as 1848.1 In the urban revolutions oClhe early arrested and charged in this affair, there were 554 stonemasons,
nineteenth century, too, a large measure of continuity with that
286 tailors, 283 painters, and 191 wine-merchants.I But the
510joiners, 416 shoemakers, 321 cabinet-makers, 28s locksmiths,
of 1789 still persists, though new features emerge with industrial
advance and gradual social change. The external appearance differences are equally, ifnot more, striking. Even in February
of Paris and the geographical distribution of its population the proportion of wage-earners among the insurgents was far
remained much the same in 1848 as sixty years before;2 the greater than it was in 1789: de Tocqueville actually believed
small workshop still predominated and, far from disappearing, that the victors of the Revolution-up to May, at least-were
was increasing its holdil while the main centres of the menu the working classes and that its sole victims were the bourgeoisie,'
peuple were still the Faubourgs Saint·Antoine and Saint-Marcd
and the districts north of the markets.4 As far as can be told
This is an exaggeration; yet the fact remains that the wage
earners and independent craftsmen, who played the principal
from limited records, the composition of the participants in the part in the insurrections and journles of the period, were now
J
'trois gJorieuses' of July 830 was not very different from that organized in their own political clubs, marched under their
of the captors of the Bastille,s Like their forbears of 10 August own banners and leaders, and, far from responding to the ideas
1792 the ouvriers of 1830 left their workshops to take up arms and slogans of the bourgeoisie, were deeply imbued with the new
and, far from encouraging looting, shot those who engaged in it ideas of Socialism.l The Industrial Revolution of Louis
out ofhand,6 In 1848, again, masters and journeymen marched Philippe's reign had brought in railways and the beginnings
together, and jointly manned the barricades and occupie the � of mechanized industry: among the arrested irJSurgents ofJune,
Chamber of Deputies in the February days.' De Tocquevllle's we note, alongside the joiners, cabinet-makers, and locksmiths
descriptions of the popular invasion of the parliamentary of the traditional crafts and small workshops, the names of
sessions of 24 February and 15 May of that year read like some eighty railwaymen and 257 micaniciens.4 As June 1848
accounts of the great demonstrations in the National Convention marks the first great armed collision between ouvriers and
in Germinal and Prairial of the Year III;8 and even in theJune bourgeoisie, so it marks the final eclipse of the Jons-culoUts and the
revolution that followed, when bourgeois and ouurim found them emergence of the wage-earners as the new shock-troops of in
selves ranged in armed conflict on opposing sides, we find the surrection and the predominant element in revolutionary
insurgents largely belonging to the familiar trades of those who crowds.
stormed the Bastille and reduced the Tuileries: of J 1 ,6g3 persons We find a similar process taking place in Britain, though it
, Sec R. Gossez'J 'earle des troubles' n i E. Lab� (ed.), N� 14 III tris� begins at an earlier date. Even more than in France the typical
141" "lJNlRUm Ik I'ko,."mu/rtulf"in IIU milint tW m sikk (18f6-185r) (Paris, 19�6) ;
G. Lefebv�, LD CrllNU p,,,, d� IJlIfJ. pp. 61-6�.
d rural riot of the eighteenth century had its origins in the high
• G. Vaulhier, 'La MiJtre des ouvnen en I831 ', .... (""'ulttm. L 18"r, leUl
owners, farmers, or magistrates, the destruction of fences, turn
pikes, houses, or mills, the seizure of stocks of grain and stop
P· 77· . ..
'-. R '-" ...
{192�}, 607-17. .
participation in the eventJ of 27-29Juiy 1830 in Par;' (Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa. ,6g-
J Sec the very incomplete luIS or those killed and decorated a:t a result of their
page of food convoys, to great demonstrations of farm-workers,
, Lis� gbtlraJe ." Drd" aJp!ul!Jitiqllt des iN;U/fJls drjwin I¥. Ar<:h. Nat., F>. 2585-6.
• 'Une Leurc intdite lur 10 joum� de juiUet 1830', LD Rlwlution th 18pJ, • Ruo//tc/ions, pp. 78 If.
70,420).
the absence of looting (Titt R,colltdiotu of AItJ:;s dt Toc�uillt, ed. J. P. Mayer mann, 'Le Club de Ra$pail en 1848', LD Rivoiulion d, 18�, v ( l goS-g), 589-605,
vii (1910), 272-�. In 184B, too, de Toequevillc noted (without surpriJC, he added) • �ignobos, op. cit., pp. 24-.:1:5, 57-58, 67-70, 89-106, T38-g; Sunnne Wauer_
(London, 1948), p. 80). 655-74, 74B--6�; R. Gossez , 'L'organisalion ouvricre a Paris $<)\1$ I" Se.:onde
LD Rivolul;rm dt 18.,8, viii (1911), 99-1.:1:4; F. Dutacq, 'Un Rkit da journ� de • p• .:1:585-6. See also G. Duveau, LD Vit OUlTiir, In FraNt ltIUI It StroM Em"i,.
7 A. CrtmieUK, 'La Fusillade du boulevard des Capudnes du 23 revrie. 1848', R�publlque', 18�. Rtl'Ut dts r(voiuliotu (onltmporai/ltS, xli (1949), 31-45.
f�vrier 1848', ibid. ix (1912), 266-70. I R,col/«lionJ, pp. 5 1-:;9, 13:;-4�· (Par;', 1946), pp. 42-..3.
236 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD
THE 'REVOLUTIONARY CROWD' I N HISTORY iJ�7
miners and rural craftsmen in the local market towns. Such
t?
' nocturnal antics were called off and gave way to mass meetings
activities are, of course, remioucent of 0se engaged i� by
�
and petitions to Parliament-not so much owing to successful
French peasants and village tradesmen dunng t e same penod; government repression as to the farmers' change of heart when
but none is more strikingly similar than the wIdespread resort faced with their labourers' insistence on pressing their own
to the taxation populaire, or popular price·control, examples of particular claims.'
.
which seem to have been even more abundant in the Enghsh It was similar changes in the relations of social classes that
countryside than in the French : for the year 1766 alone Dr. transformed the nature of English urban riots. During the
Wearmouth has recorded no less than twenty·two such instances eighteenth century, despite the wide variety ofissues involvt:d
,
from market towns and villages all over the country;1 and local there is a certain continuity of pattern which, again, is reminis
records would no doubt reveal many more. It was only in the cent of the French. In market towns and all but the largest
rural districts of England and Wales that this type of riot-with
its emphasis on popular, or 'natural', justice -pers ted �ell � cities the prevailing form continued to be the food. riot.
London it rarely took this form, though the high price of food.
In
into the nineteenth century, at a time when such maru festaUons might be a contributory cause of disturbance.1 The constant
had long been superseded in urban communities. Perhaps the
repetition by historians ofsuch catch-phrases as Tory or Wilkite
latest and certainly the most spectacular, example of It was
i
'mobs' has of course tended to obscure the true nature of such
seen n the Rebecca Riots which broke out in West Wales in disturbances and the fact that crowds taking part in them were
1839 and again in I842-ostensibly direct�d against toll-gates,
both socially identifiable and were impelled by specific grievances
but actually expressing the accumulated gnevances �fthe Wel�h and by motives other than those of loot or monetary gain. The
peasantry over tithe, 'alien' landowners, tyranmcal magts
trates, church rates, high rents, and the New Poor �w, � East London riots ofJuly 1736 were largely the work ofjourney
mt:n and labourers, who had been roused to violence against
besides.' Here again, even at this late d�te, ther� are st
n king
. the local Irish by the employment of Irish workt:rs at lower
resemblances with certain of the French nots and JDsurrecuoru, rates of wages;' yet otht:r factors, such as the Gin Act of that
both urban and rural, of the late eighteenth century-the
year and mt:mories of Walpole's threatened Excise, entered
appeal to tradition in both the propaganda and the costume of into the picture. In the 'Wilkes and Liberty' riots of 1 768-g and
the rioters ·J the sporadic emergence of local leaders or 'Re
h
the Gordon Riots of a dozen years later, those taking part were
beccas" 4 t e visible expression of ,naturaljustice' in the destruc
;
mainly journt:ymen, apprentices. servants, labourers, small
tion of oll-gates and workhouses ; thejoint action offarmers and
crafumen, and petty traders. Though the immediate causes of
farm-labourers; and the spontaneous spreading of rioting, as
disturbance were very differt:nt in the two cases, both movt:
though by contagion, from one area to another.s But new social
mt:nts were movements ofsocial protest, in which the underlying
forces were at work ; and it is certainly significant that 'Rebecca's'
, R. W. Wunnouth, .M�t1wJism and 1M Commoll Pwpk of 1M Eighlnfllh unJury
conflict of poor against rich (though not yet of labour against
capital) is clearly visible beneath the surface. All these move-
v
(London, 1945), pp. 19-50, 51-76, 77-91 .
had been cnslav«t by the 'Norman yoke'}; and rioten commonly disguised them.
'som of HengUt' (ibid., p. 192) (cr. the Engsh
il radiul tndiuon that Englishmen
movements of 1763 <:K 176g, or in the Gordon Riots of 1780. {For these and other
and Liberty' riots of March.May 1jii8, though probably not 10 in the Wilkct
Idva by blackening their face! « by draaing up aI women (th� last was a charge
points �Iating 10 these movements lICe G. Rud�, '''Mother Gin" and the London
I
iruill:lently made agaiNt the Parniam who marched to Vertalll"" on 5 October
Riots of 1736', Th GuildMlI Mual/any, no. 10, 1959; 'WiJl<a and Liberty, 768-6g',
"Sg). ibid., no. 8, '957, pp. 3--'24; 'The Cordon Riots: a Study of the Rioters
'gentlemen', publicans, and even labourers (ibid., p�. 19o, '95, �g8, 221 ' 250).
• Thae were mod often tenant farmers, though OCCallona . 1 reports spcak of and
their Victims', TTQ/1J4Clions q/lh, R...,ol Hisltnical Sarj,v, 5th seria, vol. vi, 1956,
• Ibid., p. 212. Some of these featura appear In th� English agnC\lhural
pp.
•
. 93-1,+)1
Dapite their origins, these riots, like the Pam R�veil1on riots of fitly years
later, had little in common with the ninftCC:llth-century ()'pC of
wacct movement,
labouren' revolt of 18�()-1, the 11.11 movement ofits kind In rural England.
236 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD
THE 'REVOLUTIONARY CROWD' I N HISTORY iJ�7
miners and rural craftsmen in the local market towns. Such
t?
' nocturnal antics were called off and gave way to mass meetings
activities are, of course, remioucent of 0se engaged i� by
�
and petitions to Parliament-not so much owing to successful
French peasants and village tradesmen dunng t e same penod; government repression as to the farmers' change of heart when
but none is more strikingly similar than the wIdespread resort faced with their labourers' insistence on pressing their own
to the taxation populaire, or popular price·control, examples of particular claims.'
.
which seem to have been even more abundant in the Enghsh It was similar changes in the relations of social classes that
countryside than in the French : for the year 1766 alone Dr. transformed the nature of English urban riots. During the
Wearmouth has recorded no less than twenty·two such instances eighteenth century, despite the wide variety ofissues involvt:d
,
from market towns and villages all over the country;1 and local there is a certain continuity of pattern which, again, is reminis
records would no doubt reveal many more. It was only in the cent of the French. In market towns and all but the largest
rural districts of England and Wales that this type of riot-with
its emphasis on popular, or 'natural', justice -pers ted �ell � cities the prevailing form continued to be the food. riot.
London it rarely took this form, though the high price of food.
In
into the nineteenth century, at a time when such maru festaUons might be a contributory cause of disturbance.1 The constant
had long been superseded in urban communities. Perhaps the
repetition by historians ofsuch catch-phrases as Tory or Wilkite
latest and certainly the most spectacular, example of It was
i
'mobs' has of course tended to obscure the true nature of such
seen n the Rebecca Riots which broke out in West Wales in disturbances and the fact that crowds taking part in them were
1839 and again in I842-ostensibly direct�d against toll-gates,
both socially identifiable and were impelled by specific grievances
but actually expressing the accumulated gnevances �fthe Wel�h and by motives other than those of loot or monetary gain. The
peasantry over tithe, 'alien' landowners, tyranmcal magts
trates, church rates, high rents, and the New Poor �w, � East London riots ofJuly 1736 were largely the work ofjourney
mt:n and labourers, who had been roused to violence against
besides.' Here again, even at this late d�te, ther� are st
n king
. the local Irish by the employment of Irish workt:rs at lower
resemblances with certain of the French nots and JDsurrecuoru, rates of wages;' yet otht:r factors, such as the Gin Act of that
both urban and rural, of the late eighteenth century-the
year and mt:mories of Walpole's threatened Excise, entered
appeal to tradition in both the propaganda and the costume of into the picture. In the 'Wilkes and Liberty' riots of 1 768-g and
the rioters ·J the sporadic emergence of local leaders or 'Re
h
the Gordon Riots of a dozen years later, those taking part were
beccas" 4 t e visible expression of ,naturaljustice' in the destruc
;
mainly journt:ymen, apprentices. servants, labourers, small
tion of oll-gates and workhouses ; thejoint action offarmers and
crafumen, and petty traders. Though the immediate causes of
farm-labourers; and the spontaneous spreading of rioting, as
disturbance were very differt:nt in the two cases, both movt:
though by contagion, from one area to another.s But new social
mt:nts were movements ofsocial protest, in which the underlying
forces were at work ; and it is certainly significant that 'Rebecca's'
, R. W. Wunnouth, .M�t1wJism and 1M Commoll Pwpk of 1M Eighlnfllh unJury
conflict of poor against rich (though not yet of labour against
capital) is clearly visible beneath the surface. All these move-
v
(London, 1945), pp. 19-50, 51-76, 77-91 .
had been cnslav«t by the 'Norman yoke'}; and rioten commonly disguised them.
'som of HengUt' (ibid., p. 192) (cr. the Engsh
il radiul tndiuon that Englishmen
movements of 1763 <:K 176g, or in the Gordon Riots of 1780. {For these and other
and Liberty' riots of March.May 1jii8, though probably not 10 in the Wilkct
Idva by blackening their face! « by draaing up aI women (th� last was a charge
points �Iating 10 these movements lICe G. Rud�, '''Mother Gin" and the London
I
iruill:lently made agaiNt the Parniam who marched to Vertalll"" on 5 October
Riots of 1736', Th GuildMlI Mual/any, no. 10, 1959; 'WiJl<a and Liberty, 768-6g',
"Sg). ibid., no. 8, '957, pp. 3--'24; 'The Cordon Riots: a Study of the Rioters
'gentlemen', publicans, and even labourers (ibid., p�. 19o, '95, �g8, 221 ' 250).
• Thae were mod often tenant farmers, though OCCallona . 1 reports spcak of and
their Victims', TTQ/1J4Clions q/lh, R...,ol Hisltnical Sarj,v, 5th seria, vol. vi, 1956,
• Ibid., p. 212. Some of these featura appear In th� English agnC\lhural
pp.
•
. 93-1,+)1
Dapite their origins, these riots, like the Pam R�veil1on riots of fitly years
later, had little in common with the ninftCC:llth-century ()'pC of
wacct movement,
labouren' revolt of 18�()-1, the 11.11 movement ofits kind In rural England.
1138 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE 'REVOLUTIONARY CROWD' IN HISTORy '"
ments are typical of French and English urban popular move proc� started sooner and, by the advent of Chartism i the
. n
ments of the period, in which the peupJe of wage-earners, 1830 s, It was already completed.
From these. few examples it would appear, then, that
craftsmen, and small tradesmen, led by local captains, dispense Q. new
mltW
a rough and ready kind of natural justice by breaking windows, type of 'revolutionary crowd'-to use the term in its b�
. dest
burning their enemies of the moment in effigy, or 'pulling down' pos.S1bl� sense-with new social objectives and new mO(i�
of
their dwelling-houses, pubs, or mills.' In the Gordon Riots this expressIOn was evolving in western Europe in the first p t
ar of
activity reached alarming proportions, settled claims for damage the mneteent
" h century; wit" h the advance of capitalist i n
" " " ..l t�
- -,
to private buildings and personal property alone amounting It was to spread raptdly elsewhere. Thl! newer type of c�
wd is
to over £70,000. This particular feature was due not so much prob�bly easier to identify than the older type that prevlt
il d at
to the deeper social antagonisms as to the immediate panic the Ume of the French Revolution, and historians of tht l':
. ade
fear of the consequences of the believed increase in the numbers Uruon an� La�ur m�vement, in particular, have nOt
been
and influence of the Roman Catholics: it was even rumoured �ackward 10 USlOg av�la�le sources of inquiry to brit'lg t
i to
that Lord Mansfield, the Lord ChiefJustice, 'had made the �gh�. Bu! bad old hab ts die hard, and the general histo
i rian is
IOchned 10 such matters to cover up his tracks by reso... "••
.:
king one' overnight ! An interesting by-product of all this was " w
that the merchants and householders of the City of London, a convement and ready-to-hand vocabulary which, III
gh
facing a double threat-to their liberties from the Govern hallowed by time, is none the less misleading and inadeo
�uaOUte.
ment's military measures and to their properties from the The term ' rnabs'� "10 the sense of hired bands operatin.
on
destructive zeal of 'the inferior set of people'-anticipated the behalf of external 1Oterests, doubtless has its place in the \v �
. " . htm g
request made nine years later by their counterparts in of sooa " I histo,?,; but It
· should be mvoked With dlscrel.J.ol), nd
•
. a
Paris for the institution of a milice hourgeoise to defend their only when Jusl:l.fied by the particular occasion. In so far as ny
a
interests.' conclusion of general validity emerges from the present ttudy
" "
Such forms ofpopular demonstration did not long survive the It IS, perhaps, that such occasions are rare and that "tai e's
arrival of the new industrial age. With the growth of urban 'mob' should be seen as a term of convenience, or as \ Cifi k
population and the dawn of the factory system at the end of the symbol of prejudice, rather than as a verifiable hQt()�C�
century, trade unions became more frequent and more stable, phenomenon.
and direct conflicts between wage-earners and employers a more
common feature of industrial and urban communities. From
the 1780'S onwards strikes were beginning to eclipse food riots
and other movements of natural justice as the typical form of
social protest. At the same time, as we have seen, the wage
earners were beginning to replace such social groupings as
'the urban poor', 'the inferior set of people', or the menu peuple-
tcrms appropriate to an earlier age-as the main participants
in urban social movemcnts. In Britain this process was not
attended by as much violence or as rapid a maturing ofpolitical
ideas as was witnessed in France in 1848; but the general
1 Thge features also appear in the 'Church and King' riots of '79O-ll in
Birmingham and Manchater; but in these CMeil other demenu enter which
require to be separately studied.
• G. Rud�, ·r "tumulti di Gordon" (1 780)', MOl.'imtl!l� Op"(Ji� (Milan), 19:'0:'0.
p. 8:'o�. Not lurprisingly the uque$t Willi coldly received and had 10 be droppW..
1138 THE ANATOMY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CROWD THE 'REVOLUTIONARY CROWD' IN HISTORy '"
ments are typical of French and English urban popular move proc� started sooner and, by the advent of Chartism i the
. n
ments of the period, in which the peupJe of wage-earners, 1830 s, It was already completed.
From these. few examples it would appear, then, that
craftsmen, and small tradesmen, led by local captains, dispense Q. new
mltW
a rough and ready kind of natural justice by breaking windows, type of 'revolutionary crowd'-to use the term in its b�
. dest
burning their enemies of the moment in effigy, or 'pulling down' pos.S1bl� sense-with new social objectives and new mO(i�
of
their dwelling-houses, pubs, or mills.' In the Gordon Riots this expressIOn was evolving in western Europe in the first p t
ar of
activity reached alarming proportions, settled claims for damage the mneteent
" h century; wit" h the advance of capitalist i n
" " " ..l t�
- -,
to private buildings and personal property alone amounting It was to spread raptdly elsewhere. Thl! newer type of c�
wd is
to over £70,000. This particular feature was due not so much prob�bly easier to identify than the older type that prevlt
il d at
to the deeper social antagonisms as to the immediate panic the Ume of the French Revolution, and historians of tht l':
. ade
fear of the consequences of the believed increase in the numbers Uruon an� La�ur m�vement, in particular, have nOt
been
and influence of the Roman Catholics: it was even rumoured �ackward 10 USlOg av�la�le sources of inquiry to brit'lg t
i to
that Lord Mansfield, the Lord ChiefJustice, 'had made the �gh�. Bu! bad old hab ts die hard, and the general histo
i rian is
IOchned 10 such matters to cover up his tracks by reso... "••
.:
king one' overnight ! An interesting by-product of all this was " w
that the merchants and householders of the City of London, a convement and ready-to-hand vocabulary which, III
gh
facing a double threat-to their liberties from the Govern hallowed by time, is none the less misleading and inadeo
�uaOUte.
ment's military measures and to their properties from the The term ' rnabs'� "10 the sense of hired bands operatin.
on
destructive zeal of 'the inferior set of people'-anticipated the behalf of external 1Oterests, doubtless has its place in the \v �
. " . htm g
request made nine years later by their counterparts in of sooa " I histo,?,; but It
· should be mvoked With dlscrel.J.ol), nd
•
. a
Paris for the institution of a milice hourgeoise to defend their only when Jusl:l.fied by the particular occasion. In so far as ny
a
interests.' conclusion of general validity emerges from the present ttudy
" "
Such forms ofpopular demonstration did not long survive the It IS, perhaps, that such occasions are rare and that "tai e's
arrival of the new industrial age. With the growth of urban 'mob' should be seen as a term of convenience, or as \ Cifi k
population and the dawn of the factory system at the end of the symbol of prejudice, rather than as a verifiable hQt()�C�
century, trade unions became more frequent and more stable, phenomenon.
and direct conflicts between wage-earners and employers a more
common feature of industrial and urban communities. From
the 1780'S onwards strikes were beginning to eclipse food riots
and other movements of natural justice as the typical form of
social protest. At the same time, as we have seen, the wage
earners were beginning to replace such social groupings as
'the urban poor', 'the inferior set of people', or the menu peuple-
tcrms appropriate to an earlier age-as the main participants
in urban social movemcnts. In Britain this process was not
attended by as much violence or as rapid a maturing ofpolitical
ideas as was witnessed in France in 1848; but the general
1 Thge features also appear in the 'Church and King' riots of '79O-ll in
Birmingham and Manchater; but in these CMeil other demenu enter which
require to be separately studied.
• G. Rud�, ·r "tumulti di Gordon" (1 780)', MOl.'imtl!l� Op"(Ji� (Milan), 19:'0:'0.
p. 8:'o�. Not lurprisingly the uque$t Willi coldly received and had 10 be droppW..
APPENDIX I
P...-.
'Ik,w,,' ,800 :
Jncsity
APPENDIX I I
iff 179"
Wagf-unorrS
iM4bs.
ll
i
ntiuv
PopuWiort: ill
The PopuilJtion <if the Paris Sections In IJ91-5 Sa"",' _On, -, '79" ,,... ''1. _Ins'
EmpJ..�tl No. oj i. "' ,-
,,,,'
86
" goo "
.•
39. Fonl. de Grcnelle ,as " 2,100 10,878 12,55-4
Po;.d4liM
',000
40. Qualrc Nations 2,310 ' .. 21,516 21,&>1
Ut ,b:
dmsi�
itt '79" Croix Rouge
W..,...,.,.. 41. Th,utre F,..n� 2,207 '" 16,600 14,.fOG '75
cili.{.11U ;Md,.
'AtliI¥'
Popu/4Iiott: ill 8;
42. ' ,'" ,,8 1,551 17,600 16,7'" .,
43. Luxembourg 1,061 2,100 '7,000 17,633 "
..
.---
4. Palais Royal 1,334 9' '.395 ,, 16,719 " , TOlals 62,743 ],776 82,270 6]5,504 636,772 ..
5. PI� VcndOmc . 1 ,030 -
14,000 75
. 13�8 (41 Sections)
6. Biblioth�uc ,8, .' 1,5" 12,gB, 9.930 '"
,. Grange Batclib-e /,197 55 8,. 11,570 10,920 "
I Names of Sc:ctiolll as in 1790"'1. (For later changes Ice Appendix I.)
8. Louvre ' ,'" ., 2,0'23 11,800 22,6g1 '59
1791', La Rlv. ftO"f. lxiii (July-Dee. 1912), 289-321. For a dilCws;on of the gaps ll i
•
J.'rom F. Braesch, 'Un Euai de natillique de la population ou"ri�re de Paris ven
7,DI I
9. Oraloire 1,677 77 ',,.., 6,612 12,567 444
II. ..
10. Halle au BI� ." , ,870 1 1 ,640 '94
1 From E. Charavay, Alumbll� oIode,au.u Paris (3 VOII., pam., ,8g0-S), vol. ii, pp. \/-vii.
"
M, B,..esch'l ligures see my Parisia" Wagf-EarlllTs, i. 46-5 1 .
,66
POIta .. ' ,'" 9,.... 12,567 33'
• From N, Kamev, La Dnui/l .u /4 population .us dill""II" udWtu til Paris /JtftdtuIt In
12. Louis XIV '" " ',394 '3,000 9,,....
=-=1'
13. Fontaine Mont·
I Arch. Nat., F' 3688\ doss. 1 (Jaouary 179S).
JU""'�lion, pp. 14-15.
"" '9 1,08, 12.472 9>424 ";
'<"
'4. Bonne Nouvelle 2,369 ..8 1,60, 9.950 ' ..... ,,,,
' 5- Ponceau 5,268 1,60, 13,645 16,648 , Kareiev, loe. cit.
,'"
I,.
.6. Maucoruc:il ',866 '" 1,,08 1 1 ,000 '3,8·8 ,88
18.
Man:bb da Innocenti 1.705 •• 1,072 '4,722 13.146 55'
,so
Lombanb '",, ' no ',,... 12,550 '4.811 .,8
Ig. Arcit . . .. 1,753 12,000 1 1,600
1I1. Poissonni�rc
20. Faub. Monlmarlre ',242 ,8 68, 13,800 10,104 "
1,517 97 834 11I,000 8,435 "
99 ',660 ;8
n. Bondy . . .. 1 0439 13,315 "..... "
..
]1. Roi de Sicile 1,028 6, 1,81 i 10,500 12,321 ,,,
32. Hiltel de Ville . . 1,729 1 1 ,230 12,2]1 ''4
33. Place Royale /,172 75 1,883 1,f,5°° 11,836 '"
P...-.
'Ik,w,,' ,800 :
Jncsity
APPENDIX I I
iff 179"
Wagf-unorrS
iM4bs.
ll
i
ntiuv
PopuWiort: ill
The PopuilJtion <if the Paris Sections In IJ91-5 Sa"",' _On, -, '79" ,,... ''1. _Ins'
EmpJ..�tl No. oj i. "' ,-
,,,,'
86
" goo "
.•
39. Fonl. de Grcnelle ,as " 2,100 10,878 12,55-4
Po;.d4liM
',000
40. Qualrc Nations 2,310 ' .. 21,516 21,&>1
Ut ,b:
dmsi�
itt '79" Croix Rouge
W..,...,.,.. 41. Th,utre F,..n� 2,207 '" 16,600 14,.fOG '75
cili.{.11U ;Md,.
'AtliI¥'
Popu/4Iiott: ill 8;
42. ' ,'" ,,8 1,551 17,600 16,7'" .,
43. Luxembourg 1,061 2,100 '7,000 17,633 "
..
.---
4. Palais Royal 1,334 9' '.395 ,, 16,719 " , TOlals 62,743 ],776 82,270 6]5,504 636,772 ..
5. PI� VcndOmc . 1 ,030 -
14,000 75
. 13�8 (41 Sections)
6. Biblioth�uc ,8, .' 1,5" 12,gB, 9.930 '"
,. Grange Batclib-e /,197 55 8,. 11,570 10,920 "
I Names of Sc:ctiolll as in 1790"'1. (For later changes Ice Appendix I.)
8. Louvre ' ,'" ., 2,0'23 11,800 22,6g1 '59
1791', La Rlv. ftO"f. lxiii (July-Dee. 1912), 289-321. For a dilCws;on of the gaps ll i
•
J.'rom F. Braesch, 'Un Euai de natillique de la population ou"ri�re de Paris ven
7,DI I
9. Oraloire 1,677 77 ',,.., 6,612 12,567 444
II. ..
10. Halle au BI� ." , ,870 1 1 ,640 '94
1 From E. Charavay, Alumbll� oIode,au.u Paris (3 VOII., pam., ,8g0-S), vol. ii, pp. \/-vii.
"
M, B,..esch'l ligures see my Parisia" Wagf-EarlllTs, i. 46-5 1 .
,66
POIta .. ' ,'" 9,.... 12,567 33'
• From N, Kamev, La Dnui/l .u /4 population .us dill""II" udWtu til Paris /JtftdtuIt In
12. Louis XIV '" " ',394 '3,000 9,,....
=-=1'
13. Fontaine Mont·
I Arch. Nat., F' 3688\ doss. 1 (Jaouary 179S).
JU""'�lion, pp. 14-15.
"" '9 1,08, 12.472 9>424 ";
'<"
'4. Bonne Nouvelle 2,369 ..8 1,60, 9.950 ' ..... ,,,,
' 5- Ponceau 5,268 1,60, 13,645 16,648 , Kareiev, loe. cit.
,'"
I,.
.6. Maucoruc:il ',866 '" 1,,08 1 1 ,000 '3,8·8 ,88
18.
Man:bb da Innocenti 1.705 •• 1,072 '4,722 13.146 55'
,so
Lombanb '",, ' no ',,... 12,550 '4.811 .,8
Ig. Arcit . . .. 1,753 12,000 1 1,600
1I1. Poissonni�rc
20. Faub. Monlmarlre ',242 ,8 68, 13,800 10,104 "
1,517 97 834 11I,000 8,435 "
99 ',660 ;8
n. Bondy . . .. 1 0439 13,315 "..... "
..
]1. Roi de Sicile 1,028 6, 1,81 i 10,500 12,321 ,,,
32. Hiltel de Ville . . 1,729 1 1 ,230 12,2]1 ''4
33. Place Royale /,172 75 1,883 1,f,5°° 11,836 '"
.. .. .. ..
Paris Sections and Insurgents tif q87-95 . , , , ..
.. '" . .
42. , , 5 , ,
.. ..
.
C�) ,,110 C,)
43. Luxembourg
',J
,
'oJ
. , , , ,
�.
44. ThermQ deJulien
t
3
.
',J '" , , , , ,
�
,OJ
RlotiJ.
,,,
. .. I ,00.
.
.. Sainl�eviM. , " " . ,
I'r.rn.J .;.u,
. .
..
•
..
...
,,#]4 � U,,/JI '111')
M•• C.o� M.�
47- Jardin des Plantes .. , , , , ,
..
I. '.0
0 $<,,;_ ", " 48. Gobclins 3 " 5 660 ,
.
,� , -, 'm , ,
' Tuilerie.
-
� ..
..
.
.
..
, , ,
.
, 68
..
,
..
,
Outside Paril , , ..
'or i-'-'-
..
-.!.. n,860
..
,68
..
,. 660
'
,. Champs tl a . , 5 . .. Total. 5' " .'
' ,, " '9
•• ..
Roule .. .. ..
j
, ,
• Names of Sections ;...e as in 1790-"
, , 5
• •
Palai, Royal , , , , , ", , ,
For later changes Ice Ap�ndix I.
I: .. •
Vend6mc , , , , 33' , ,
(' Arch. Nat., Y '3014, 9491, 99B9, 1 1 206, 11517, t53Q9A. 1875', 18795; X') S98g.
Bibliolhtque .. , , , .. 59 , Sourcu:
•• 6
,. Gr;o.nge Batclihe .. .. , , , , 5" ..
... .. .. ..
PaStes ..
(s) AT<::h Nat., F" 32!ig-74; F' #26.
, , , " , , seep. 91, n. 5-1
(6) Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa 9, t I (arrestation.) ; Ab 3�5, 3�1; AM. hill. •Iv. frll1lf.
Louis XIV . .. .. , , , ,
• • (8) Arch Nat., W 55+-5, F> (variow); Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa (varioua).
Ponen.... .. , , , .. .. mates b:aKd on incomplete return•.
, Maueonseil , 8 5 , 1,400 , ..
centi , .. .
" . Mareht da Inno- (9) " .. W 556-8·
• .. .. 6 .
, . . , , , .
sso n.:
..
.8. LombardJ . 5 • .. .
ro.
.
Faubourg �'font-
" . Arcis . , , , '7 , .. " ,
. .. . .
Poi nnit .. .. ' ..
marlre .. .. , ,6 •...38 .
22.
. .
..
or. • , • • 5 ,
2]. .. ..
Bondy .. , , , 5 , 8" ,
.. .. ..
Temple .. , • , 66, 5 ,
:tao .. ..
2._ Popincourt , " , 6 97' "
. .. ..
Montreuil . " ,,, , ,. , :1.946 ,
. •
:I Quin�c Vingu " , ,, , 5' .. 2,<>39 "
. ..
• , , .. ,
. .. . .
" 8caubourg . , .. 5 , , .. " , , ,
.. ..
" . En(antll Rouges . , , 5 , ..
" . lillie! de Ville .. ..
,' - Rai de Sidle , , , 6 , .. ,
.. .. ..
.. 6 ,8 5 , 700. ,
.. ..
33· Place Royale '7 , .. 5 6
� .. .. ..
34. Arsenal . , " , , , ',8 ,
3 • Notre L>ame , .. ..
3 . tie Saint.Loui. , , •
.. • ..
, , 7 , ..
:I .. ..
3�. Henri IV , , .. " , ..
. Invalida , 5 , 5 1,3.'iU .. ..
. '!)O. ..
39· Funtaine de
Grcndle . , . ,
Names orSectionl are as in '790-1. For later changes see Appendix 1.
5 , , ,
•
APPENDIX I I I '"
.. .. .. ..
Paris Sections and Insurgents tif q87-95 . , , , ..
.. '" . .
42. , , 5 , ,
.. ..
.
C�) ,,110 C,)
43. Luxembourg
',J
,
'oJ
. , , , ,
�.
44. ThermQ deJulien
t
3
.
',J '" , , , , ,
�
,OJ
RlotiJ.
,,,
. .. I ,00.
.
.. Sainl�eviM. , " " . ,
I'r.rn.J .;.u,
. .
..
•
..
...
,,#]4 � U,,/JI '111')
M•• C.o� M.�
47- Jardin des Plantes .. , , , , ,
..
I. '.0
0 $<,,;_ ", " 48. Gobclins 3 " 5 660 ,
.
,� , -, 'm , ,
' Tuilerie.
-
� ..
..
.
.
..
, , ,
.
, 68
..
,
..
,
Outside Paril , , ..
'or i-'-'-
..
-.!.. n,860
..
,68
..
,. 660
'
,. Champs tl a . , 5 . .. Total. 5' " .'
' ,, " '9
•• ..
Roule .. .. ..
j
, ,
• Names of Sections ;...e as in 1790-"
, , 5
• •
Palai, Royal , , , , , ", , ,
For later changes Ice Ap�ndix I.
I: .. •
Vend6mc , , , , 33' , ,
(' Arch. Nat., Y '3014, 9491, 99B9, 1 1 206, 11517, t53Q9A. 1875', 18795; X') S98g.
Bibliolhtque .. , , , .. 59 , Sourcu:
•• 6
,. Gr;o.nge Batclihe .. .. , , , , 5" ..
... .. .. ..
PaStes ..
(s) AT<::h Nat., F" 32!ig-74; F' #26.
, , , " , , seep. 91, n. 5-1
(6) Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa 9, t I (arrestation.) ; Ab 3�5, 3�1; AM. hill. •Iv. frll1lf.
Louis XIV . .. .. , , , ,
• • (8) Arch Nat., W 55+-5, F> (variow); Arch. PrU. Pol., Aa (varioua).
Ponen.... .. , , , .. .. mates b:aKd on incomplete return•.
, Maueonseil , 8 5 , 1,400 , ..
centi , .. .
" . Mareht da Inno- (9) " .. W 556-8·
• .. .. 6 .
, . . , , , .
sso n.:
..
.8. LombardJ . 5 • .. .
ro.
.
Faubourg �'font-
" . Arcis . , , , '7 , .. " ,
. .. . .
Poi nnit .. .. ' ..
marlre .. .. , ,6 •...38 .
22.
. .
..
or. • , • • 5 ,
2]. .. ..
Bondy .. , , , 5 , 8" ,
.. .. ..
Temple .. , • , 66, 5 ,
:tao .. ..
2._ Popincourt , " , 6 97' "
. .. ..
Montreuil . " ,,, , ,. , :1.946 ,
. •
:I Quin�c Vingu " , ,, , 5' .. 2,<>39 "
. ..
• , , .. ,
. .. . .
" 8caubourg . , .. 5 , , .. " , , ,
.. ..
" . En(antll Rouges . , , 5 , ..
" . lillie! de Ville .. ..
,' - Rai de Sidle , , , 6 , .. ,
.. .. ..
.. 6 ,8 5 , 700. ,
.. ..
33· Place Royale '7 , .. 5 6
� .. .. ..
34. Arsenal . , " , , , ',8 ,
3 • Notre L>ame , .. ..
3 . tie Saint.Loui. , , •
.. • ..
, , 7 , ..
:I .. ..
3�. Henri IV , , .. " , ..
. Invalida , 5 , 5 1,3.'iU .. ..
. '!)O. ..
39· Funtaine de
Grcndle . , . ,
Names orSectionl are as in '790-1. For later changes see Appendix 1.
5 , , ,
•
."
APPI!.ND
IX 1V
,.J
APPENDIX IV
y,"".
,.(
•
ii'l
(sl·
J.::l. (.1 1(,1 .• (.)
,'I;)
,.J 'oJ (.)0 OJ ''I ',J {OJ ,.J
2(')
.� . _,
;i.)
I, F'-. Dri..t
1 1:1
" 1 (,) 0
Bu'ch.n : ' ,) ,
, • (II ,
. ( .) ; 1;1
! -- --
•
....�
(,)
- - - - - - ( - - --
M. • , (,) • • , (.
·
sC,) ) ,
- - - - -- - - --
c.u., R"Ia"'�
0!0c0Ia.'; • ,oW
.
Frul'nen' • 0 , ,'(;)
-- -- -- -- -- --
Coob
. (.) . (.) •
-- -- -- -- -- --
IlIkeepcn'
• 0
�!:!
-- -- - - --
Tobotto .
-- • • - - --
, (.)
,
Wine-m<n:haou • • (S) :1:1
- - •
�(.) . <.)
- - -- - - --
' •
t. S"uu." R.J. , (.) .. ;i.)
-- - - - - - - - - - - - -
'7 -- " -- • - -
4 (S)
Clu;on . :\:\ ,( .) . (.)
,'i,) ,;(6)
,
,is) 6 (5)
c..,..,.,ten .
: 1:1
s. T ..us.
.
M.,.,......
.. ..
-- •
-- --
, 4' c..�
( ,) is) WU�
G._
:• !!l �Ml
.J
.'i.) ii.)
Silk
P';n,.".
lItl •
•
3 {')
- - - - --
•
Na..... ics
•
, " -- -- --
,
PI....,... ' ('1
-- -- - - - -
",""",- ,
- - - - - - - - - - - - -- --
- - - - - - - - -- --
'i,) •
im
-- - - - - - - -- --
ilil
-
•
'"- - - - - - - -- -- -- --
: 1:1
-
, •
i.l
- -
8(4)
,. (o) 3 (I)
•
•
,� -- -- -- -- -- ' -- --
T�" - - -- -- -- -- -- t -- -- --
'
oncI Shoe : , (I) ,'(s) " (IJ .8(�) 11'(.S) , . (.) .' i.)
,. 1),...
,
1 (.) • ,. (I)
Belt-mu.... -- • -- --
,'i,) , . (.)
Boot , •• --
' ('I
Onsmab.. -- -- -- -- -- -- --
• (0)
- "'-
• 0(.) (,) • . (.) , ( .)
-- -- -- -- -- --
,'"""-
F�
.:111
,
.
,
t(,) .-�S)
-- -- . --
� l:l
•
,'j;'
-- -- -- -- -- --
,OJ
,
,'i,)
, , ,
--
Ht.ird.-n -- "'J -- -- ,
' .J
--
. ,J
'I"
..
"I -
Hanen -- -- -- -- --
• •
.. FwoU/oi.,
--
" -- - --
� (.)
T.iLon , -- -- I , -- • ,
• (I)
,
.( ) .
,
Cabind�"'" ;i.) 8 (,)
.. ;i.)
1I.uk ••.....u..n -- -- -
;(;
-- -- -- -- -- - - -
" (I I) 0(0) 0 (0)
" i,)
,
l )
&0- •
-- -- -- -- -- --
"
FaDCyW� (,) sis)
..ml t " '
-- -- -- -- --
<>ia<rt ,
-- -- -- --
Lphohl..... • '\4} •
· ' • --
, (,I
,
• (I)
--
� --
• - ,,
5, T,...,... 4(4)
.
2'i,) ,'i,) .)
,
.• [.).J ,, (
/mh -- -- -- -- -- - - -- - - --
Cort," -- --
.
� -- -- , .J - - --
."
APPI!.ND
IX 1V
,.J
APPENDIX IV
y,"".
,.(
•
ii'l
(sl·
J.::l. (.1 1(,1 .• (.)
,'I;)
,.J 'oJ (.)0 OJ ''I ',J {OJ ,.J
2(')
.� . _,
;i.)
I, F'-. Dri..t
1 1:1
" 1 (,) 0
Bu'ch.n : ' ,) ,
, • (II ,
. ( .) ; 1;1
! -- --
•
....�
(,)
- - - - - - ( - - --
M. • , (,) • • , (.
·
sC,) ) ,
- - - - -- - - --
c.u., R"Ia"'�
0!0c0Ia.'; • ,oW
.
Frul'nen' • 0 , ,'(;)
-- -- -- -- -- --
Coob
. (.) . (.) •
-- -- -- -- -- --
IlIkeepcn'
• 0
�!:!
-- -- - - --
Tobotto .
-- • • - - --
, (.)
,
Wine-m<n:haou • • (S) :1:1
- - •
�(.) . <.)
- - -- - - --
' •
t. S"uu." R.J. , (.) .. ;i.)
-- - - - - - - - - - - - -
'7 -- " -- • - -
4 (S)
Clu;on . :\:\ ,( .) . (.)
,'i,) ,;(6)
,
,is) 6 (5)
c..,..,.,ten .
: 1:1
s. T ..us.
.
M.,.,......
.. ..
-- •
-- --
, 4' c..�
( ,) is) WU�
G._
:• !!l �Ml
.J
.'i.) ii.)
Silk
P';n,.".
lItl •
•
3 {')
- - - - --
•
Na..... ics
•
, " -- -- --
,
PI....,... ' ('1
-- -- - - - -
",""",- ,
- - - - - - - - - - - - -- --
- - - - - - - - -- --
'i,) •
im
-- - - - - - - -- --
ilil
-
•
'"- - - - - - - -- -- -- --
: 1:1
-
, •
i.l
- -
8(4)
,. (o) 3 (I)
•
•
,� -- -- -- -- -- ' -- --
T�" - - -- -- -- -- -- t -- -- --
'
oncI Shoe : , (I) ,'(s) " (IJ .8(�) 11'(.S) , . (.) .' i.)
,. 1),...
,
1 (.) • ,. (I)
Belt-mu.... -- • -- --
,'i,) , . (.)
Boot , •• --
' ('I
Onsmab.. -- -- -- -- -- -- --
• (0)
- "'-
• 0(.) (,) • . (.) , ( .)
-- -- -- -- -- --
,'"""-
F�
.:111
,
.
,
t(,) .-�S)
-- -- . --
� l:l
•
,'j;'
-- -- -- -- -- --
,OJ
,
,'i,)
, , ,
--
Ht.ird.-n -- "'J -- -- ,
' .J
--
. ,J
'I"
..
"I -
Hanen -- -- -- -- --
• •
.. FwoU/oi.,
--
" -- - --
� (.)
T.iLon , -- -- I , -- • ,
• (I)
,
.( ) .
,
Cabind�"'" ;i.) 8 (,)
.. ;i.)
1I.uk ••.....u..n -- -- -
;(;
-- -- -- -- -- - - -
" (I I) 0(0) 0 (0)
" i,)
,
l )
&0- •
-- -- -- -- -- --
"
FaDCyW� (,) sis)
..ml t " '
-- -- -- -- --
<>ia<rt ,
-- -- -- --
Lphohl..... • '\4} •
· ' • --
, (,I
,
• (I)
--
� --
• - ,,
5, T,...,... 4(4)
.
2'i,) ,'i,) .)
,
.• [.).J ,, (
/mh -- -- -- -- -- - - -- - - --
Cort," -- --
.
� -- -- , .J - - --
APPENDIX IV
.� APPENDIX V
."'.. .� :t
,....
4-
c.-, I'r.tn.l ....
.. "" .. • '-' ,- ,-
..
._,
.. • .. • •
..
.
• .. .
.
.
..
..... • ..
Parisian Insurgents and Rioters of 1775-95
medicine) ..
......
LardU-.... •
Age, leX, literacy, ongu" previous convie:Uoru, .!te:.
, I,) ..
.. ..
.
.
•
.. ..
10(')
,
' I')
w,
, ,
..
.......
T..., . ..
�. ..
(.,
••
,,>
sil)' ;i,)
..
Trades (om-IL) • ,'i,) ..
..
ii.)
.. ..
�(,) No.
..
B�) r.;;".-
',,!:..,.
1 ....
..
, (0)
" .. ..
I
. ..
�_t
• •
14 (%1
, "'-
"'-
u.
Ann " poIi«. ....lkl. Wq._ U..._ ,to. P....... _.........
-
-C
I. ::-
�,
.-. iotsof'775
:·'-"·"'-:'·: I_'·"'-I
_ 139 '· �102 I'_"'""
18 �W"'_"'· I 30 --!!L..�
N.,..,..al C'd:
'4
__ �...
II) •
(0) 0fS«t0r,.
I
.. _
N.CO.• .. .. .. .. • .. .. 0 • ComR 33 '5 80 37'
3. R�vCllon Riots . I
2. Riots of 1787-8 . 60 ?
0'
''''''
55 28 ? 23 _ 31 10
&e
68 52 8 29 62 '3 66
4. BIUT;;m ?
1'1' N.,., Z" 8861 Y ,06f�
s-,,"
,o6tv; An::h. 5&_ et Loire, B 70). Sou.- eo. noo. (,)-(.), bl-{,o)
77 26 ? 9 ? ? ? ?
4 Arch N.\., Z· ,.&p,; Y '4'40,
.,.., .. 10 Appo<>d... Ill.
Arc".
' . 5. Saint·Lazare
affair 37 33 ..
,
"
6. Bastille '49 6,
".
662 ,. "
9. Gro«ry Riots or
8. 10 August t792 . u3 ,. 3 "
1792-3 . '7
.,
58 " 7 "
II.
10. Prainal Year III tB6 ,6 " ,6 7°
.. ,�
Vendbniaire
Year IV 3' ,
$mur:n:
For Com Riots of 1775 see G . Rud�, 'La Taulion popula.ire de mai 1775 & Pari. et
dam la region parisienne', A"". hUt. rllI.filUlf., 1956, p. 239-
(Other sour<:es as for Ap(>Cfldix,," Ill-IV.]
b 1
APPENDIX IV
.� APPENDIX V
."'.. .� :t
,....
4-
c.-, I'r.tn.l ....
.. "" .. • '-' ,- ,-
..
._,
.. • .. • •
..
.
• .. .
.
.
..
..... • ..
Parisian Insurgents and Rioters of 1775-95
medicine) ..
......
LardU-.... •
Age, leX, literacy, ongu" previous convie:Uoru, .!te:.
, I,) ..
.. ..
.
.
•
.. ..
10(')
,
' I')
w,
, ,
..
.......
T..., . ..
�. ..
(.,
••
,,>
sil)' ;i,)
..
Trades (om-IL) • ,'i,) ..
..
ii.)
.. ..
�(,) No.
..
B�) r.;;".-
',,!:..,.
1 ....
..
, (0)
" .. ..
I
. ..
�_t
• •
14 (%1
, "'-
"'-
u.
Ann " poIi«. ....lkl. Wq._ U..._ ,to. P....... _.........
-
-C
I. ::-
�,
.-. iotsof'775
:·'-"·"'-:'·: I_'·"'-I
_ 139 '· �102 I'_"'""
18 �W"'_"'· I 30 --!!L..�
N.,..,..al C'd:
'4
__ �...
II) •
(0) 0fS«t0r,.
I
.. _
N.CO.• .. .. .. .. • .. .. 0 • ComR 33 '5 80 37'
3. R�vCllon Riots . I
2. Riots of 1787-8 . 60 ?
0'
''''''
55 28 ? 23 _ 31 10
&e
68 52 8 29 62 '3 66
4. BIUT;;m ?
1'1' N.,., Z" 8861 Y ,06f�
s-,,"
,o6tv; An::h. 5&_ et Loire, B 70). Sou.- eo. noo. (,)-(.), bl-{,o)
77 26 ? 9 ? ? ? ?
4 Arch N.\., Z· ,.&p,; Y '4'40,
.,.., .. 10 Appo<>d... Ill.
Arc".
' . 5. Saint·Lazare
affair 37 33 ..
,
"
6. Bastille '49 6,
".
662 ,. "
9. Gro«ry Riots or
8. 10 August t792 . u3 ,. 3 "
1792-3 . '7
.,
58 " 7 "
II.
10. Prainal Year III tB6 ,6 " ,6 7°
.. ,�
Vendbniaire
Year IV 3' ,
$mur:n:
For Com Riots of 1775 see G . Rud�, 'La Taulion popula.ire de mai 1775 & Pari. et
dam la region parisienne', A"". hUt. rllI.filUlf., 1956, p. 239-
(Other sour<:es as for Ap(>Cfldix,," Ill-IV.]
b 1
APPENDIX VI A P PENDIX VII
I� H I� ��� I i n 11
no.
�
,
R� •
�
•
..
�
1.
' "
::: .;: j'
�
"i
� �, d � H�
1 1 �tt !H PP· 248-55]
• • .,
. .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . " . " . ., . .,
Percentage of ineome spent on bread by PariJian workers in 17/Jg
..
TADLE I ,
. " . ., · .. . .. . .. . ., .. • .. . .. . .. .. . "
• ••
•
� - ..... .. �
, .. . ' " . ., , .. , .. , ., ,.. , .. , .. , .. , .. , "
'£I"';"
. " . .. . .. . . ..
. " . .. .. ... . ., . .. .
.. . "
, ,, , ,, , .. . ., . .. , ., . ., , .. . .. , .. . ., , .. , ..
• •• .
' ...
, ., p' ' " ' " , ,, , .. , ., , ,, , ,, , .. , .. p. "-"" ..."
- AI " ..
�
10 " 30
' " ' " " ' oO . .. ' " ' " . .. ' oO ' "
.. • t o 28 10 .8 10 ,. .
Labour... in �'. f.o.clOo'y '
�.
Builckt', labourer
30 30
. ,. .. .. .. ., .. ,. .. .. .... '7 ." ,. .. " "
• ..
.g .
Journeyman muon .. ,.
'3 3'
" • " " • " " " ,. " ,. " ..
., • • •
" , " .. • .. .. " • " " " I, I, ., loum<ymaD loc:bmilh. eatp<nIU.
•• • .. • '4
• ,. • 'V
• .. • .. .. •
•
,. . ,. .. ..
., , ., • ., • " • • •• ..
•
, " " , " • " .,
" ,. ,..
.. • .. .. Sculp..... ..<>Id.milh •00 • �. .. .., ..
•
.. , , .. • .. , , " ,.
• ., ., • •
'W",.. Ii""" hue. wtJ.. oIhuwiM: "ated. _ r ....... 1.. BioIla,. I..I Jriz .. 'n- (P..... .886).
., , " , " , " • " , .. , ., • .. • ., , ., .
, , • .,
•
. there • r.... " eg
" , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., ., , .,
, ••
., , , " , ., " , " , " , " , ., .,
, ••
., , " , " , ,
•
pp. '4-71. Narly aU thae, fat. lad:. oroth.. �. _ ..... I,..,. Whal ma. ....
.... cue 01 <he jooumeymcn tailon who, In A,..uot " eg, obtalntd an Incteuc or ,.. ... _ day by
., • ., , ., • •• , •• , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., • l
."'...... �. tha. <he ditr<rUlCef bctweao <he 1_ yurt ate ¥Ul' oIi.hL A DOlabIe _iaa 10
"
.. .. •• • " , " • •• , ., , ., , ., , •• , " ,
•
••
" .... 'riJecli",' urn""" .u.:.w....u hao b«t> Inade fat. <he tt_ ....pUd F.ul
.. " .. .. .. .. .. • .. , .. . .. , .. , .. , .. , .. , .. ,
•
.
Dap ollh• .,.."", ,IZ;_. Hcn: I..... ...,. -.mod 10 ,,,,bet , , , _ rut (C. M. Jafl"�. I.. M_
" " " " .. " " • " " .. .. .. , " .. I " ,
• I.. com"".
i
...""' . "v;, � t. RhoI.n. ""rD. pp. �l). FtItth.. ..uow""c< ohouId aIoo be made ro.
.. . . .. " .. " .. " .. . . .. . . .. " .. .. .. .. .. .. • ..
•• ..
.. .. . . .. " ., .. .. .. " .. " .. .. .. ,,,
.. ., ., . , ., .. " " ,
..
•1 •• .1 ••
.. •
" ., " " " " " ., " .. . , ., " ., ., ., " ., " .. " .. " .,
.. ., .1 •• • • •1 " •• ., •• •• " ., ., ., .1 . , .1 . , .,
.... .. " .. " .. •• .. " ..
•
" ., 1 " . 1 .. . , .. . , .. . , .. ..
,. . . ,. .. ,. .. ,. ., ,. ., ,. .. ,. " ,. •• ,. ., ,. .1 ,. . , ,. .,
n.., R<M>Iu.ionuy (or lI.opublka.a) Calcodt.. w.. in offio:ia1 ux bet_ n �'<mbcr IXl3
C .., V...&!mi."" oI,hc Yc"," 11) '0 the end ",,� (0 tlh Ni.(l,c "rob. v••• XIV). In lea!».....
•
('7&6• •500. '....). " ,II V...,o..: wnuponded 10 09 rcbtuuy "nd the Uk. day "'1M R<""bG<.o.n
Ye.< __ 'found' by .eldin, .. ,iJuh .joout ....uIouid.'
.. (or 'jour """,pUmen'a",,') 10 the 6..., TABLE !2. Hypotluticai budgds oj Parisian workus 111 JUfII! 17f19 and
.!Iowa above.
JUfII! 1791
B"" "',�"'",-,
BtJt.1 O{. hiU.,·, w-... t.oU.'.Ilt. U••
( _ ,.. .. ; ',I""... .-- " ..) (_"' ''' ''1 '" .ai.' .-- " ..)
J- .,., joo ,� joo .,., :1-,,,,
4 110. br..d 14l .. 4 Ib. bt.o.d I. 4 1b. bRad '41 .. 4 Ib. bRad "
..
R_, ,. �. ,. R_. ,. Roo.
••
BJolance ror oil, vq._
tabl.., dOlhl"". 8oc. Balance , .. Bala"""
TOT"� •1 .
,. BaI"".. ., .
., . ,. . ,. .
APPENDIX VI A P PENDIX VII
I� H I� ��� I i n 11
no.
�
,
R� •
�
•
..
�
1.
' "
::: .;: j'
�
"i
� �, d � H�
1 1 �tt !H PP· 248-55]
• • .,
. .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . " . " . ., . .,
Percentage of ineome spent on bread by PariJian workers in 17/Jg
..
TADLE I ,
. " . ., · .. . .. . .. . ., .. • .. . .. . .. .. . "
• ••
•
� - ..... .. �
, .. . ' " . ., , .. , .. , ., ,.. , .. , .. , .. , .. , "
'£I"';"
. " . .. . .. . . ..
. " . .. .. ... . ., . .. .
.. . "
, ,, , ,, , .. . ., . .. , ., . ., , .. . .. , .. . ., , .. , ..
• •• .
' ...
, ., p' ' " ' " , ,, , .. , ., , ,, , ,, , .. , .. p. "-"" ..."
- AI " ..
�
10 " 30
' " ' " " ' oO . .. ' " ' " . .. ' oO ' "
.. • t o 28 10 .8 10 ,. .
Labour... in �'. f.o.clOo'y '
�.
Builckt', labourer
30 30
. ,. .. .. .. ., .. ,. .. .. .... '7 ." ,. .. " "
• ..
.g .
Journeyman muon .. ,.
'3 3'
" • " " • " " " ,. " ,. " ..
., • • •
" , " .. • .. .. " • " " " I, I, ., loum<ymaD loc:bmilh. eatp<nIU.
•• • .. • '4
• ,. • 'V
• .. • .. .. •
•
,. . ,. .. ..
., , ., • ., • " • • •• ..
•
, " " , " • " .,
" ,. ,..
.. • .. .. Sculp..... ..<>Id.milh •00 • �. .. .., ..
•
.. , , .. • .. , , " ,.
• ., ., • •
'W",.. Ii""" hue. wtJ.. oIhuwiM: "ated. _ r ....... 1.. BioIla,. I..I Jriz .. 'n- (P..... .886).
., , " , " , " • " , .. , ., • .. • ., , ., .
, , • .,
•
. there • r.... " eg
" , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., ., , .,
, ••
., , , " , ., " , " , " , " , ., .,
, ••
., , " , " , ,
•
pp. '4-71. Narly aU thae, fat. lad:. oroth.. �. _ ..... I,..,. Whal ma. ....
.... cue 01 <he jooumeymcn tailon who, In A,..uot " eg, obtalntd an Incteuc or ,.. ... _ day by
., • ., , ., • •• , •• , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., , ., • l
."'...... �. tha. <he ditr<rUlCef bctweao <he 1_ yurt ate ¥Ul' oIi.hL A DOlabIe _iaa 10
"
.. .. •• • " , " • •• , ., , ., , ., , •• , " ,
•
••
" .... 'riJecli",' urn""" .u.:.w....u hao b«t> Inade fat. <he tt_ ....pUd F.ul
.. " .. .. .. .. .. • .. , .. . .. , .. , .. , .. , .. , .. ,
•
.
Dap ollh• .,.."", ,IZ;_. Hcn: I..... ...,. -.mod 10 ,,,,bet , , , _ rut (C. M. Jafl"�. I.. M_
" " " " .. " " • " " .. .. .. , " .. I " ,
• I.. com"".
i
...""' . "v;, � t. RhoI.n. ""rD. pp. �l). FtItth.. ..uow""c< ohouId aIoo be made ro.
.. . . .. " .. " .. " .. . . .. . . .. " .. .. .. .. .. .. • ..
•• ..
.. .. . . .. " ., .. .. .. " .. " .. .. .. ,,,
.. ., ., . , ., .. " " ,
..
•1 •• .1 ••
.. •
" ., " " " " " ., " .. . , ., " ., ., ., " ., " .. " .. " .,
.. ., .1 •• • • •1 " •• ., •• •• " ., ., ., .1 . , .1 . , .,
.... .. " .. " .. •• .. " ..
•
" ., 1 " . 1 .. . , .. . , .. . , .. ..
,. . . ,. .. ,. .. ,. ., ,. ., ,. .. ,. " ,. •• ,. ., ,. .1 ,. . , ,. .,
n.., R<M>Iu.ionuy (or lI.opublka.a) Calcodt.. w.. in offio:ia1 ux bet_ n �'<mbcr IXl3
C .., V...&!mi."" oI,hc Yc"," 11) '0 the end ",,� (0 tlh Ni.(l,c "rob. v••• XIV). In lea!».....
•
('7&6• •500. '....). " ,II V...,o..: wnuponded 10 09 rcbtuuy "nd the Uk. day "'1M R<""bG<.o.n
Ye.< __ 'found' by .eldin, .. ,iJuh .joout ....uIouid.'
.. (or 'jour """,pUmen'a",,') 10 the 6..., TABLE !2. Hypotluticai budgds oj Parisian workus 111 JUfII! 17f19 and
.!Iowa above.
JUfII! 1791
B"" "',�"'",-,
BtJt.1 O{. hiU.,·, w-... t.oU.'.Ilt. U••
( _ ,.. .. ; ',I""... .-- " ..) (_"' ''' ''1 '" .ai.' .-- " ..)
J- .,., joo ,� joo .,., :1-,,,,
4 110. br..d 14l .. 4 Ib. bt.o.d I. 4 1b. bRad '41 .. 4 Ib. bRad "
..
R_, ,. �. ,. R_. ,. Roo.
••
BJolance ror oil, vq._
tabl.., dOlhl"". 8oc. Balance , .. Bala"""
TOT"� •1 .
,. BaI"".. ., .
., . ,. . ,. .
-5- APPENDIX vn
.t Ii..... wi...,
Ren" ,. R�. .. R�. R�. ••
I lb. mea.
r Ii,,,, win. .. . ,I I;,res win. ,. . , �". wiDe .. . ,..
. ..
,. ,. •••
8oJanc< !'or ""Iet.bl..,
oil, dOlhinr. "'- c. Bal."". • •• B.t.nc<o • &,- .8 •.
Auul de la
•
A1Signal. Revolulionarypaper.money,in general we after the summer of I 791 .
TOTA� . ••
,0. " �. 18 Palm. A civic altar, dedicated 10 the Nation and erected in the
.... . ,-day worw.. wHk. Many ....'hc old Btmihu. The customs posta lurrounding the City of Paris, erected by the
eentre of the Champ de Man (Jet below).
F_, 0.0,.. had, by dlil ,i..... hem .bandoned, bu. "'" lI.�tioDartCale<>dot, ...hid. -..id....bly
, ·Elfcc';�.' casni_ ... her. bued "" ,he ....mpl;.,.,.
Bcon. Hist. JUD., vol. vi, '954. no. 3. pp. 257--64_ In view of their
For budgets and tables of wages and prices for ' 793-5, see
Cllhm
i rk dollanus. The lists oC grievances drawn up by specially convened
this theme are: 'septembriseur' and 'terroriste'.
.t Ii..... wi...,
Ren" ,. R�. .. R�. R�. ••
I lb. mea.
r Ii,,,, win. .. . ,I I;,res win. ,. . , �". wiDe .. . ,..
. ..
,. ,. •••
8oJanc< !'or ""Iet.bl..,
oil, dOlhinr. "'- c. Bal."". • •• B.t.nc<o • &,- .8 •.
Auul de la
•
A1Signal. Revolulionarypaper.money,in general we after the summer of I 791 .
TOTA� . ••
,0. " �. 18 Palm. A civic altar, dedicated 10 the Nation and erected in the
.... . ,-day worw.. wHk. Many ....'hc old Btmihu. The customs posta lurrounding the City of Paris, erected by the
eentre of the Champ de Man (Jet below).
F_, 0.0,.. had, by dlil ,i..... hem .bandoned, bu. "'" lI.�tioDartCale<>dot, ...hid. -..id....bly
, ·Elfcc';�.' casni_ ... her. bued "" ,he ....mpl;.,.,.
Bcon. Hist. JUD., vol. vi, '954. no. 3. pp. 257--64_ In view of their
For budgets and tables of wages and prices for ' 793-5, see
Cllhm
i rk dollanus. The lists oC grievances drawn up by specially convened
this theme are: 'septembriseur' and 'terroriste'.
of both internal and external affairs, its powers OVffiapped with those to the men of Maneilles, Brest, &c., that took part in the assault on the
Festival of the Federation on 14July 1792. Here appied, l in particular,
wu given to the Paris local government that emerged after the fall of broke with the Jacobins to fonn their own Club n i protest agailUt the
the Ba,tille. It disappearul. shortly after ThermidOl' and reappeared campaign to depose the king or suspend him from office after the Flight
Onnplot tlrU/QcTtlliqw. The name popularly a3Cribed to attempts made by the (or milia bouTg�). Citizens' army. or militia, originally
(briefty) in 1f48 and 1871. to Varennes in June 1791.
dispene the newly fonned. National Assembly in the summer of 1789. Gardu Frlmfllius. The main body of royal lrOOPS stationed in the capital on
niscd. by the Paris Di1lriclS n i July 178g.
Used lui»equendy in relation to other genuine, or believed, plots of the eve ofthe Revolution. Whi l e loyal 10 the Government in the Reveil·
counter-revolut
ionariet. Ion riots ofApril l 78g, they began to be won over by the revolutionaries
leaders in the Assembly were Barnave, Duport, and the Lameths and, in war' in the autumn and winter of 1791 and many ofwhom (like Brissot)
ber) had been defeated and broken up in the October 'days'. Their Legislative Assembly, who supported Brisaot's policy of a 'revolutionary
the Paris administration, Bailly and Lafayette. (See abo Ftuillanu.) came from the Gironde region. Later applied to a wider group sharing
]tulUJSt dllTi
that of the main body ofJacobins.
charged a lower lubseription than the Jacobin Club, and generally e. Bands of anti-Jacobin youths organi:(ed by the journali1t
adopted more advanced policies (e.g. in July 1791 and the !pring of Fr\!;ron after the overthrow of Robespierre. In Vendemiaire of the
1794). lIS best-known leaden were Danton, Marat, Hebert, and Year IV they supported the royali1t uprising against the Convention.
Courl Pos(y. A tenn here applied, in particular, to the group led by the Marllis (or PfllW). Name given 10 the Centre group in the Convention orthe
..ense to denote an opponent of the Revolution at any one of ilS stages.
Thennidor, made it possible for his enemies to isolate and arrest him.
Comte d'Artois in the lunutter of 17B9; more generally, applied to those Year I I which, by withdrawing iu support from Robespierre on 9th
the press and the Assembly, at all stages up to August 1792. Mllrimwn. There were two laWi of thc Muimwn: that of May 1793 im
enjoying the confidence of the king and queen, and their supporters in
DictuM. The I(I-day periods into which the Republican 3o-day month was posing a limit on the price of grain only; and that of September
1793 extcnding price-control 10 ncarly all articles of prime necessily,
Dislricts. In April 178g, Parill was divided into 60 Districu for electoral
divided.
June 1790. when they were replaced by the Sections (see below). owners. (See also Jt/IU-ru/Ollts.)
powers of local government organs. They survived as such until May
Jacobins alike, yet had considerable n i fluence on the JII1IS-aM11ls in the assembled in September t792. It was from their ranb that the Revolu
tionary Governmc:nt of the Year II WQ fonned after the expuillion of
the Girondins.
spring, sununer, and autumn of 1793.
of both internal and external affairs, its powers OVffiapped with those to the men of Maneilles, Brest, &c., that took part in the assault on the
Festival of the Federation on 14July 1792. Here appied, l in particular,
wu given to the Paris local government that emerged after the fall of broke with the Jacobins to fonn their own Club n i protest agailUt the
the Ba,tille. It disappearul. shortly after ThermidOl' and reappeared campaign to depose the king or suspend him from office after the Flight
Onnplot tlrU/QcTtlliqw. The name popularly a3Cribed to attempts made by the (or milia bouTg�). Citizens' army. or militia, originally
(briefty) in 1f48 and 1871. to Varennes in June 1791.
dispene the newly fonned. National Assembly in the summer of 1789. Gardu Frlmfllius. The main body of royal lrOOPS stationed in the capital on
niscd. by the Paris Di1lriclS n i July 178g.
Used lui»equendy in relation to other genuine, or believed, plots of the eve ofthe Revolution. Whi l e loyal 10 the Government in the Reveil·
counter-revolut
ionariet. Ion riots ofApril l 78g, they began to be won over by the revolutionaries
leaders in the Assembly were Barnave, Duport, and the Lameths and, in war' in the autumn and winter of 1791 and many ofwhom (like Brissot)
ber) had been defeated and broken up in the October 'days'. Their Legislative Assembly, who supported Brisaot's policy of a 'revolutionary
the Paris administration, Bailly and Lafayette. (See abo Ftuillanu.) came from the Gironde region. Later applied to a wider group sharing
]tulUJSt dllTi
that of the main body ofJacobins.
charged a lower lubseription than the Jacobin Club, and generally e. Bands of anti-Jacobin youths organi:(ed by the journali1t
adopted more advanced policies (e.g. in July 1791 and the !pring of Fr\!;ron after the overthrow of Robespierre. In Vendemiaire of the
1794). lIS best-known leaden were Danton, Marat, Hebert, and Year IV they supported the royali1t uprising against the Convention.
Courl Pos(y. A tenn here applied, in particular, to the group led by the Marllis (or PfllW). Name given 10 the Centre group in the Convention orthe
..ense to denote an opponent of the Revolution at any one of ilS stages.
Thennidor, made it possible for his enemies to isolate and arrest him.
Comte d'Artois in the lunutter of 17B9; more generally, applied to those Year I I which, by withdrawing iu support from Robespierre on 9th
the press and the Assembly, at all stages up to August 1792. Mllrimwn. There were two laWi of thc Muimwn: that of May 1793 im
enjoying the confidence of the king and queen, and their supporters in
DictuM. The I(I-day periods into which the Republican 3o-day month was posing a limit on the price of grain only; and that of September
1793 extcnding price-control 10 ncarly all articles of prime necessily,
Dislricts. In April 178g, Parill was divided into 60 Districu for electoral
divided.
June 1790. when they were replaced by the Sections (see below). owners. (See also Jt/IU-ru/Ollts.)
powers of local government organs. They survived as such until May
Jacobins alike, yet had considerable n i fluence on the JII1IS-aM11ls in the assembled in September t792. It was from their ranb that the Revolu
tionary Governmc:nt of the Year II WQ fonned after the expuillion of
the Girondins.
spring, sununer, and autumn of 1793.
Rluoil4 rw/Jiliai". The revolt of the nObility and Parhmmtl of 1787-8, which
opinion.
social class they might be drawn. Historians have frequently used the
the.e classes or 10 extend it to the 'popular' leaden, from whatever
S«iJtJs popuLDiru. General term applied to the local du� and societies after
the lumrn,er of 1791. Many were affiliated to the jacobin Club but,
owing to their tendency (in Paris, at least) to promote advanced view.
of Hl!bert; more were closed after Thermidor; a few survived until the
societies set up after 9 September 1793) were dosed down after the fall
Terror. The term is used here not so much to describe a method as to define
here given: May 1775, january-February 1792, February 1793).
Rluoil4 rw/Jiliai". The revolt of the nObility and Parhmmtl of 1787-8, which
opinion.
social class they might be drawn. Historians have frequently used the
the.e classes or 10 extend it to the 'popular' leaden, from whatever
S«iJtJs popuLDiru. General term applied to the local du� and societies after
the lumrn,er of 1791. Many were affiliated to the jacobin Club but,
owing to their tendency (in Paris, at least) to promote advanced view.
of Hl!bert; more were closed after Thermidor; a few survived until the
societies set up after 9 September 1793) were dosed down after the fall
Terror. The term is used here not so much to describe a method as to define
here given: May 1775, january-February 1792, February 1793).
collections-suc:h as those edited by Aulard, C. Bloch. Caron, Chan.vay. Series B. VlTJDilles: Prevote de I'HOtd du Roi. Procb, 1775; Greffe, '78g;
i , correspondence, or published
Chass.io, Lacroix, Monin, Toumeux, and Tuc:tey. Proc&l.ures, 178g; Tribunal crimind de mai I793. SI. G.mwi!l.m
U;w: Prtvale Royale. Pi«es du Greffe. '775.
(jwlice) : BBJ 73, 76, So, 222; BB'� 702; BBlO '7. 79, 87:
Nouvelles acquisitioru frant;:aise3, nos. 2654, 2666, 266g, 2670, 2673,
.. BB 2678, 2716,28". 3241.
" C (Proc�.vc:rbaux des Asscmbl6es nationale), nos. '.1,7. 3[, 35.
Some use has been made of the Revolutionary Press, particularly of:
" F"- (Registres). nos. 2497. 2505. 2507. 2517, 2520, 2585-6.
L'Ami du fJtIJPle. u Babilltutf, u ]fJIlf7Ial ,u 14 RilPOlulioll. MlTewf national d
ilrCIIIl.lT Us Rivol/lli(ms ,u FuUlu d dI BrManl, and Us RJwllltions,u Paris.
.. F" (Commerce et Industrie). nos. '430. '544, 1546-7.
" F" (B!limenu Civils). nos. 1 1 37-8.
have also been freely consulted (but have yidded comparatively little) ·
.. FIJ (Hospices el Secours). nos. 3267-74-. 3564. The following contemporary (or ncu-contcmporary) accounu of events
KK (Monumenu hQtoriquc:s. Registres). nos. 641. 147. Buch� et Roux, Huloi" parumml<lir' dI 14 Rholulion frt11lf4iu (40 vols.,
.. H (Gtntralil�. Bureau de la Ville). nos. '453, 2 ' 2 1 .
z
/'!It-d,_FrClllu : nos. ,8748-70. 18794-6.
" (Juridic:tions speciales et ordinaires), nos. 1-/640, 886; 2/469 I .
collections-suc:h as those edited by Aulard, C. Bloch. Caron, Chan.vay. Series B. VlTJDilles: Prevote de I'HOtd du Roi. Procb, 1775; Greffe, '78g;
i , correspondence, or published
Chass.io, Lacroix, Monin, Toumeux, and Tuc:tey. Proc&l.ures, 178g; Tribunal crimind de mai I793. SI. G.mwi!l.m
U;w: Prtvale Royale. Pi«es du Greffe. '775.
(jwlice) : BBJ 73, 76, So, 222; BB'� 702; BBlO '7. 79, 87:
Nouvelles acquisitioru frant;:aise3, nos. 2654, 2666, 266g, 2670, 2673,
.. BB 2678, 2716,28". 3241.
" C (Proc�.vc:rbaux des Asscmbl6es nationale), nos. '.1,7. 3[, 35.
Some use has been made of the Revolutionary Press, particularly of:
" F"- (Registres). nos. 2497. 2505. 2507. 2517, 2520, 2585-6.
L'Ami du fJtIJPle. u Babilltutf, u ]fJIlf7Ial ,u 14 RilPOlulioll. MlTewf national d
ilrCIIIl.lT Us Rivol/lli(ms ,u FuUlu d dI BrManl, and Us RJwllltions,u Paris.
.. F" (Commerce et Industrie). nos. '430. '544, 1546-7.
" F" (B!limenu Civils). nos. 1 1 37-8.
have also been freely consulted (but have yidded comparatively little) ·
.. FIJ (Hospices el Secours). nos. 3267-74-. 3564. The following contemporary (or ncu-contcmporary) accounu of events
KK (Monumenu hQtoriquc:s. Registres). nos. 641. 147. Buch� et Roux, Huloi" parumml<lir' dI 14 Rholulion frt11lf4iu (40 vols.,
.. H (Gtntralil�. Bureau de la Ville). nos. '453, 2 ' 2 1 .
z
/'!It-d,_FrClllu : nos. ,8748-70. 18794-6.
" (Juridic:tions speciales et ordinaires), nos. 1-/640, 886; 2/469 I .
ArgelUOn, Marquis d'. lIlI�3. &.u,His, Mr,toisW, 9, III, 14, 24, 27,
Aristocracy, Il1-14> 117, 34, 45. 61. 73, 118, SO, 33. 34, ,57, 61, 62, 63, 50, 83.
17S and n. 1, 180.
Aritloeratic revolt, 1tt ,1wlU Mbililli,t.
86. 90, 117, 138. 143, 1s8-9. 160.
163. 166,1']0, 17,5--6, 177. 178, 180-1,
Arm ,/Nlll1ilnwsirt, IlI7, 13l1, 154, 156, 1st. 186, 1100, 1105, 11l1li, 11119, 1132,
lIOO. lI30. 1135·
Artoia, Comte d', 13, 47,59. BfllC:K:h. F., 17.
Assi,MU. 17 n. 4, gfi and n. I, IllS. 130. Brienne. Lomtnie de, 2S--::Z9. 30, 31.
I« aUt. Revolut
16, liS, 48. 49 n. 1. 64> 82, 1103, 2170 Chaumelle, Anuagorat, 1116, 1106.
IJlu
73, 81, 811, 83, 104. 108, lilli, 176; CoI�,j., 3B.
I« Revolutkm�· 'days' ; Cornmard (merchant-grocer). gfi, 97·
ArgelUOn, Marquis d'. lIlI�3. &.u,His, Mr,toisW, 9, III, 14, 24, 27,
Aristocracy, Il1-14> 117, 34, 45. 61. 73, 118, SO, 33. 34, ,57, 61, 62, 63, 50, 83.
17S and n. 1, 180.
Aritloeratic revolt, 1tt ,1wlU Mbililli,t.
86. 90, 117, 138. 143, 1s8-9. 160.
163. 166,1']0, 17,5--6, 177. 178, 180-1,
Arm ,/Nlll1ilnwsirt, IlI7, 13l1, 154, 156, 1st. 186, 1100, 1105, 11l1li, 11119, 1132,
lIOO. lI30. 1135·
Artoia, Comte d', 13, 47,59. BfllC:K:h. F., 17.
Assi,MU. 17 n. 4, gfi and n. I, IllS. 130. Brienne. Lomtnie de, 2S--::Z9. 30, 31.
I« aUt. Revolut
16, liS, 48. 49 n. 1. 64> 82, 1103, 2170 Chaumelle, Anuagorat, 1116, 1106.
IJlu
73, 81, 811, 83, 104. 108, lilli, 176; CoI�,j., 3B.
I« Revolutkm�· 'days' ; Cornmard (merchant-grocer). gfi, 97·
Conti, Prince de, 47. affair, 93-94; and the grocery nou
80, 197.201.
tionary Crowds, Riou, &.C.
InsurgentJ, iruurreetloru, u, Revolu. 1 10, 113, 1 18, 119, 133, 10j.6, 147,
ag...,.p
97; and 20 June 1792, g&-
Fanners General, I I . Gunsmiths, 50-51• Lefevre, ablX, 53.
Faubourp, 12, '4-17, 24-li15, 30-31,
and the overthrow of the
Legendre, Louis, '78 n. I.
47, 67, 91, 101, 151, 157, 166, 170, Hanriot, Fran�ois, 122, '33, 136, 137,
Rober•• 128 n. I.
Lt"rts dt tfIClul, 30, 81. 101;
200, 20'l, 215, 217. 220, 224 n. I. 139, 140, 178 n. 1, 213' Lindet, monarchy, 102-7, 1 1 1 , 1 1 3 ; and the
Conti, Prince de, 47. affair, 93-94; and the grocery nou
80, 197.201.
tionary Crowds, Riou, &.C.
InsurgentJ, iruurreetloru, u, Revolu. 1 10, 113, 1 18, 119, 133, 10j.6, 147,
ag...,.p
97; and 20 June 1792, g&-
Fanners General, I I . Gunsmiths, 50-51• Lefevre, ablX, 53.
Faubourp, 12, '4-17, 24-li15, 30-31,
and the overthrow of the
Legendre, Louis, '78 n. I.
47, 67, 91, 101, 151, 157, 166, 170, Hanriot, Fran�ois, 122, '33, 136, 137,
Rober•• 128 n. I.
Lt"rts dt tfIClul, 30, 81. 101;
200, 20'l, 215, 217. 220, 224 n. I. 139, 140, 178 n. 1, 213' Lindet, monarchy, 102-7, 1 1 1 , 1 1 3 ; and the
48, 49, &.I, 44, 69, 101 and n. I, 'l1.5, miJecllancous, ofS. 66, 67, 68. 69, 81, chant'. journeyman), 1130; Denoil, E.
Orleans, Philip Duke of, '4, 30, 47, Revolutionary Commiltces, 124, 130-
Revolutionary Crowm. behaviour of. 125-6, 236-,; srI tdfD Revolutionary (port.worker), 108; Bernard, Agnb
1, 143, 156, lgo.
OWN'/, definition of, 18 and n. .5; 31, 29-30, 31-311, 35-37. 40, 49. 50, 67, 'Days'. (fish_wife), 183, 1130 n. 5; Billon,
35, 39,56, 81, 86.91, 124, 130, 148, 73-77. ag, 100, '04-5, Iog-IO, 115- Robert, Fran<;ois, 85, 88. Nicolas (mill-worker), 78, 193; Blin,
150, 15[, 165, 166, 1,1, 21[, 2[3, 17, 122, 1116, 149, 1511-5, 173, 1119- Robert, Louise, 85, 212, Fran�oil (market-porter), 7a; But�,
234· 117, 1129-31; composition of, 119-30, Robespierre. Augustin (the Younger), Henri(jeweller), 107; Chagnot,joseph
88, 95. 1011, I I I , 113, 128, '30, 134, vet, Louis (wata-<:arrier), 107;
73, 90-92. 98, 100-1, 105--6, I I ' , Robespierrc. Maximilien, I, ,6, 83,85, Marie-Anne (Iaund.ea). 58; Chau_
229 and n. I.
and n. 3, 173. 194. 197. 200, 215, 108-g, 1 14, 156-7, 191-209. 141 n. I ; 142, 145, ISO, 160, 161, 108; Che&on. ttienne (cobbler),
I!p, 197, 204. 2oS. 224; Grrminfll, maker), sS; tvrard, Constance
Paroy, Marquis dc, ;ti. Roland. Madame. 88, 1130; Dusson, Charles (edge-tool
Payan, Claude-Fran<;oi.. 135. Rornme, Gilbert, 155 n, I,
Prices, of bread, Rour, wheat, 21-22. harness-maker), 40; I.e Roy, Louis
,'. 193, 199; $/Iinl-U!.(IIr•• 49-50, 51, Saint-Huruge, Marquis de, 70. 178 n. I,
181, 192, 193. 203; Stpkm"' MIIJ 1116, �1I9.
t4 /tJ Rim/will", 94; us RlwiuliMu t4 3, 146, 156 n. I, 157--6, 159 and n. I ; worka), 41, 42; Trumeau. Marie
14, 110; Concicrgerie, 61, 98, 110; 83--64. go. 91, I!p, 1123. U J�II'rllJl 137-41; an� GcrminaJ-Prairial, t42- (mill.worker), 75; Sirier, C. (paper.
212. u Pb. DUCM11II, 1110, 210, 2 1 1 ; role in revolutionary crowds, 178 fr.,
Sal�tritre, 110; Sainte-Pelagic, 110; dIlrflrllrr. 85; L'O'IIIn.r dll peupI., 87, n. I, 170, 176-7, 178 n. I ; and their 230.
48, 49, &.I, 44, 69, 101 and n. I, 'l1.5, miJecllancous, ofS. 66, 67, 68. 69, 81, chant'. journeyman), 1130; Denoil, E.
Orleans, Philip Duke of, '4, 30, 47, Revolutionary Commiltces, 124, 130-
Revolutionary Crowm. behaviour of. 125-6, 236-,; srI tdfD Revolutionary (port.worker), 108; Bernard, Agnb
1, 143, 156, lgo.
OWN'/, definition of, 18 and n. .5; 31, 29-30, 31-311, 35-37. 40, 49. 50, 67, 'Days'. (fish_wife), 183, 1130 n. 5; Billon,
35, 39,56, 81, 86.91, 124, 130, 148, 73-77. ag, 100, '04-5, Iog-IO, 115- Robert, Fran<;ois, 85, 88. Nicolas (mill-worker), 78, 193; Blin,
150, 15[, 165, 166, 1,1, 21[, 2[3, 17, 122, 1116, 149, 1511-5, 173, 1119- Robert, Louise, 85, 212, Fran�oil (market-porter), 7a; But�,
234· 117, 1129-31; composition of, 119-30, Robespierre. Augustin (the Younger), Henri(jeweller), 107; Chagnot,joseph
88, 95. 1011, I I I , 113, 128, '30, 134, vet, Louis (wata-<:arrier), 107;
73, 90-92. 98, 100-1, 105--6, I I ' , Robespierrc. Maximilien, I, ,6, 83,85, Marie-Anne (Iaund.ea). 58; Chau_
229 and n. I.
and n. 3, 173. 194. 197. 200, 215, 108-g, 1 14, 156-7, 191-209. 141 n. I ; 142, 145, ISO, 160, 161, 108; Che&on. ttienne (cobbler),
I!p, 197, 204. 2oS. 224; Grrminfll, maker), sS; tvrard, Constance
Paroy, Marquis dc, ;ti. Roland. Madame. 88, 1130; Dusson, Charles (edge-tool
Payan, Claude-Fran<;oi.. 135. Rornme, Gilbert, 155 n, I,
Prices, of bread, Rour, wheat, 21-22. harness-maker), 40; I.e Roy, Louis
,'. 193, 199; $/Iinl-U!.(IIr•• 49-50, 51, Saint-Huruge, Marquis de, 70. 178 n. I,
181, 192, 193. 203; Stpkm"' MIIJ 1116, �1I9.
t4 /tJ Rim/will", 94; us RlwiuliMu t4 3, 146, 156 n. I, 157--6, 159 and n. I ; worka), 41, 42; Trumeau. Marie
14, 110; Concicrgerie, 61, 98, 110; 83--64. go. 91, I!p, 1123. U J�II'rllJl 137-41; an� GcrminaJ-Prairial, t42- (mill.worker), 75; Sirier, C. (paper.
212. u Pb. DUCM11II, 1110, 210, 2 1 1 ; role in revolutionary crowds, 178 fr.,
Sal�tritre, 110; Sainte-Pelagic, 110; dIlrflrllrr. 85; L'O'IIIn.r dll peupI., 87, n. I, 170, 176-7, 178 n. I ; and their 230.
n. 3. '41, 168 n. 4; Ouunps ilJSlts. Q}linu Vmlls, 93. 106, 107. 108, IloS,
lfig, 173 n. I ; POSUI, 150, 170 n. 4. crowd., 17g-80. l&of-S, 180S n. I •
'tS. 168 n. 4; Fltuboll', }'fllll/marl,., and n. 4-. 1711; /lDi tU Siliu, 115. Muimum laWi (waga).
'72 n. • ; E"j41l4&lIlfl, I'5, '39n· 3. QiUUfI Nil/ioN, 93, 1114-, 138. 139, 168 tionary crowds, 187-8, 11113, 11114- and
n. I.
1114 n. 6. I¥I, 14-9. 151. loSlI, loS�h
'34--6, 145-6; Stt alSII Slrika.
1113. '.50, '58, .86 n. J ; FIlIibtJIUI Waga Movements. 39. 6of-65, &of-8oS,
n. 4-, 170 n. 4. 1711 n. I, 186 n. I ; 511, 59; and their part in revolu
106, "5, 138, Tmljlu, l,.s. IsS, 168 Vagrancy, vagrants, 19 and n. 8, 50, 5', Walpok. Sir Robert, 115, 1137.
138, 150, ISS, 158, '73 n. 1 ; "ThI61" Vainqwurl d. III BllStille, 7, 56 If., 64-.
MMlmoWlC,Y• •66 n. II, ,68 n. 4, tionary crowdJ, 186-7. Wea.rtnouth. R. W., 1136.
.Gg n. 5; Crllvillitrs. 18 n. II. 93. 96. ]ulil1l, 93, 139, 155, 166; Tuiuriu,
'55; Granl' BIIUli;,t, 1'5, ,68 n. 4, Var<:nn"", 87-88, 95, 197, 1123. Young, Arthur, 45, 4-6, IgS n. 6, 1110.
log. I loS. 117. 118. 1113. 147, l,.a, 100 n. 3. "5, 138, loSlI, 168 n. 4,
lMnb/Urls. 18 n. 3. I loS, 117. 141, Its. 135-6, ,63; u, alw Wa.get Moye
Plmtw, 151. loSli. loSoS. 166. 168 n. 4; Strika,
n. 3. '41, 168 n. 4; Ouunps ilJSlts. Q}linu Vmlls, 93. 106, 107. 108, IloS,
lfig, 173 n. I ; POSUI, 150, 170 n. 4. crowd., 17g-80. l&of-S, 180S n. I •
'tS. 168 n. 4; Fltuboll', }'fllll/marl,., and n. 4-. 1711; /lDi tU Siliu, 115. Muimum laWi (waga).
'72 n. • ; E"j41l4&lIlfl, I'5, '39n· 3. QiUUfI Nil/ioN, 93, 1114-, 138. 139, 168 tionary crowds, 187-8, 11113, 11114- and
n. I.
1114 n. 6. I¥I, 14-9. 151. loSlI, loS�h
'34--6, 145-6; Stt alSII Slrika.
1113. '.50, '58, .86 n. J ; FIlIibtJIUI Waga Movements. 39. 6of-65, &of-8oS,
n. 4-, 170 n. 4. 1711 n. I, 186 n. I ; 511, 59; and their part in revolu
106, "5, 138, Tmljlu, l,.s. IsS, 168 Vagrancy, vagrants, 19 and n. 8, 50, 5', Walpok. Sir Robert, 115, 1137.
138, 150, ISS, 158, '73 n. 1 ; "ThI61" Vainqwurl d. III BllStille, 7, 56 If., 64-.
MMlmoWlC,Y• •66 n. II, ,68 n. 4, tionary crowdJ, 186-7. Wea.rtnouth. R. W., 1136.
.Gg n. 5; Crllvillitrs. 18 n. II. 93. 96. ]ulil1l, 93, 139, 155, 166; Tuiuriu,
'55; Granl' BIIUli;,t, 1'5, ,68 n. 4, Var<:nn"", 87-88, 95, 197, 1123. Young, Arthur, 45, 4-6, IgS n. 6, 1110.
log. I loS. 117. 118. 1113. 147, l,.a, 100 n. 3. "5, 138, loSlI, 168 n. 4,
lMnb/Urls. 18 n. 3. I loS, 117. 141, Its. 135-6, ,63; u, alw Wa.get Moye
Plmtw, 151. loSli. loSoS. 166. 168 n. 4; Strika,
�.
, --� 1
IIIIUtl'G'.
..v� __ _ /
�-
�.
, --� 1
IIIIUtl'G'.
..v� __ _ /
�-