History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814Mignet, M. (François-Auguste-Marie-Alexis)
History
History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814
Mignet, M. (François-Auguste-Marie-Alexis)
France -- History -- 1789-1815; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799
saddle horses shall be placed in requisition for the cavalry; all draught
horses for the artillery; fowling-pieces, pistols, swords and pikes,
belonging to individuals, shall be employed in the service of the
interior. The republic being but a large city, in a state of necessity,
France must be converted into a vast camp."
The measures proposed by Barrère were at once decreed. All Frenchmen, from
eighteen to five-and-twenty, took arms, the armies were recruited by
levies of men, and supported by levies of provisions. The republic had
very soon fourteen armies, and twelve hundred thousand soldiers. France,
while it became a camp and a workshop for the republicans, became at the
same time a prison for those who did not accept the republic. While
marching against avowed enemies, it was thought necessary to make sure of
secret foes, and the famous law, _des suspects_, was passed. All
foreigners were arrested, on the ground of their hostile machinations, and
the partisans of constitutional monarchy and a limited republic were
imprisoned, to be kept close, until the peace was effected. At the time,
this was so far only a reasonable measure of precaution. The bourgeoisie,
the mercantile people, and the middle classes, furnished prisoners after
the 31st of May, as the nobility and clergy had done after the 10th of
August. A revolutionary army of six thousand soldiers and a thousand
artillerymen was formed for the interior. Every indigent citizen was
allowed forty sous a day, to enable him to be present at the sectionary
meetings. Certificates of citizenship were delivered, in order to make
sure of the opinions of all who co-operated in the revolutionary movement.
The functionaries were placed under the surveillance of the clubs, a
revolutionary committee was formed in each section, and thus they prepared
to face the enemy on all sides, both abroad and at home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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