CONTENTS
[ PREFACE. ]
[ BOOK FIRST. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT. ]
[ CHAPTER I. JACOBIN GOVERNMENT ][ I. The despotic creed and instincts of the Jacobin. ]
[ BOOK SECOND. THE JACOBIN PROGRAM. ]
[ II. Jacobin Dissimulation. ]
[ III. Primary Assemblies ]
[ IV. The Delegates reach Paris ]
[ V. Fête of August 10th ]
[ VI. The Mountain. ]
[ VII. Extent and Manifesto of the departmental insurrection ]
[ VIII. The Reasons for the Terror. ]
[ IX. Destruction of Rebel Cities ]
[ X. Destruction of the Girondin party ]
[ XI. Institutions of the Revolutionary Government ]
[ CHAPTER I. THE JACOBIN PARTY ][ I. The Doctrine. ]
[ CHAPTER II. REACTIONARY CONCEPT OF THE STATE. ]
[ II. A Communist State. ]
[ III. The object of the State is the regeneration of man. ]
[ IV. Two distortions of the natural man. ]
[ V. Equality and Inequality. ]
[ VI. Conditions requisite for making a citizen. ]
[ VII. Socialist projects. ]
[ VIII. Indoctrination of mind and intellect. ][ I. Reactionary concept of the State. ]
[ BOOK THIRD. THE MEN IN POWER. ]
[ II. Changed minds. ]
[ III. Origin and nature of the modern State. ]
[ IV. The state is tempted to encroach. ]
[ V. Direct common interest. ]
[ VI. Indirect common interest. ]
[ VII. Fabrication of social instruments. ]
[ VIII. Comparison between despotisms. ]
[ CHAPTER I. PSYCHOLOGY OF THE JACOBIN LEADERS. ][ I. Marat. ]
[ CHAPTER II. THE RULERS OF THE COUNTRY. ]
[ II. Danton. ]
[ III. Robespierre. ][ I. The Convention. ]
[ CHAPTER III. THE RULERS. (continued). ]
[ II. Its participation in crime. ]
[ III. The Committee of Public Safety. ]
[ IV. The Statesmen. ]
[ V. Official Jacobin organs. ]
[ VI. Commissars of the Revolution. ]
[ VII. Brutal Instincts. ]
[ IX. Vice. ][ I. The Central Government Administration. ]
[ BOOK FOURTH. THE GOVERNED. ]
[ II. Subaltern Jacobins. ]
[ III. A Revolutionary Committee. ]
[ IV. Provincial Administration. ]
[ V. Jacobins sent to the Provinces. ]
[ VI. Quality of staff thus formed. ]
[ VII. The Armed Forces. ]
[ CHAPTER I. THE OPPRESSED. ][ I. Revolutionary Destruction. ]
[ CHAPTER II. FOOD AND PROVISIONS. ]
[ II. The Value of Notables in Society. ]
[ III. The three classes of Notables. ]
[ IV. The Clergy. ]
[ V. The Bourgeoisie. ]
[ VI. The Demi-notables. ]
[ VII. Principle of socialist Equality. ]
[ VIII. Rigor against the Upper Classes. ]
[ IX. The Jacobin Citizen Robot. ]
[ X. The Governors and the Governed. ][ I. Economical Complexity of Food Chain. ]
[ BOOK FIFTH. THE END OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT. ]
[ II. Conditions in 1793. A Lesson in Market Economics. ]
[ III. Privation. ]
[ IV. Hunger. ]
[ V. Revolutionary Remedies. ]
[ VI. Relaxation. ]
[ VII. Misery at Paris. ]
[ CHAPTER I. THE CONVENTION. ][ I. The Convention. ]
[ II. Re-election of the Two-thirds. ]
[ III. A Directory of Regicides. ]
[ IV. Public Opinon. ]
[ VI. The Directory. ]
[ VII. Enforcement of Pure Jacobinism. ]
[ VIII. Propaganda and Foreign Conquests. ]
[ IX. National Disgust. ]
[ X. Contrast between Civil and Military France. ]
PREFACE.
"In Egypt," says Clement of Alexandria,[1101] "the sanctuaries of the temples are shaded by curtains of golden tissue. But on going further into the interior in quest of the statue, a priest of grave aspect, advancing to meet you and chanting a hymn in the Egyptian tongue, slightly raises a veil to show you the god. And what do you behold? A crocodile, or some indigenous serpent, or other dangerous animal, the Egyptian god being a beast sprawling on a purple carpet."
We need not visit Egypt or go so far back in history to encounter crocodile worship, as this can be readily found in France at the end of the last century.—Unfortunately, a hundred years is too long an interval, too far away, for an imaginative retrospect of the past. At the present time, standing where we do and regarding the horizon behind us, we see only forms which the intervening atmosphere embellishes, shimmering contours which each spectator may interpret in his own fashion; no distinct, animated figure, but merely a mass of moving points, forming and dissolving in the midst of picturesque architecture. I was anxious to take a closer view of these vague points, and, accordingly, deported myself back to the last half of the eighteenth century. I have now been living with them for twelve years, and, like Clement of Alexandria, examined, first, the temple, and next the god. A passing glance at these is not sufficient; it was also necessary to understand the theology on which this cult is founded. This one, explained by a very specious theology, like most others, is composed of dogmas called the principles of 1789; they were proclaimed, indeed, at that date, having been previously formulated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
* The well known sovereignty of the people.
* The rights of Man.