The journal des hommes libres de tous les pays 1792–1800 9783111382395, 9783111023212

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The Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays 1792-1800

New Babylon

Studies in the social sciences 20

Mouton • The Hague • Paris

Max Fajn

The Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays 1792-1800

Mouton • The Hague • Paris

ISBN: 2-7193-0905-2 Jacket Design by Gerard Zuidvoijk © 1975, Mouton Printed in Hungary

Preface

Public opinion affects policy makers and political leaders in two ways. First, the elite which determines government policy is not completely free from the prejudices, attitudes, and opinions of the masses. Second, public opinion has to be reckoned with as an independent factor in the formulation and the execution of government policy. Consequently, the perception the public has of reality is at least as important as the objective state of affairs in the determination of public behavior. Students of contemporary political life can utilize survey techniques to evaluate the state of public opinion. The investigator of past public opinion must, however, rely on indirect evidence, the most useful being the press. The press is not an impartial witness giving testimony, but an active agent in the process of conflict and change. It conveys to or impresses upon decision makers the opinion of individual members or segments of the public. It formulates and circulates among the public ideas about current issues. Accordingly, the study of a newspaper can yield valuable information about the state of mind and the ideology of a significant segment of the public. The press contributed substantially to the development of the French Revolution by playing an important role in the shaping of public opinion. In addition, newspapers constitute one of the main sources of the history of the Revolution. Yet, although the neglect of the past in this domain is now being remedied by an increasing amount of research, the press of the Revolution, and especially that of the Directory (1795-1799), remains to be studied. The study of any newspaper of the French Revolution is made difficult by the limited documentation available. Most journalists were obscure individuals for whom biographical data are hard to find. Most publishers kept no record of their business transactions or destroyed them for political reasons. Finally, complete collections of many 5

6

Preface

newspapers are not available. These problems affected the study of the Journal des hommes libres. This daily newspaper has been quoted by historians, especially by scholars dealing with the Thermidorian and the Directory periods of the French Revolution. It has been described as a typical exponent of the Jacobin point of view and characterized both by contemporaries and by historians as the Journal of the 'Tigres' or Terrorists; the spokesman of the Babouvists; and the organ of the neo-Jacobin Société du Manège. This study will describe, analyze, and evaluate the organization and the content of this newspaper with two purposes in mind. The first aim is to make a contribution to the history of the press during the French Revolution. This study will throw additional light upon the problems of newspaper publishing during the period 1792-1800, and particularly on the political and material conditions with which publishers had to cope. The second aim is to add to our knowledge of the French Revolution itself. The study of the newspaper that has been described as a major spokesman for radical republicans will permit the evaluation of the political evolution of these republicans from 1792 onwards and contribute to the knowledge of the ideology of the French Revolution. Because of its lengthy existence and its nearly perfect record of publication, this newspaper is admirably suited for such a study. Each phase in the development of the newspaper will be handled as a unit incorporating all the major elements relevant to the evolution of both the newspaper and the historical situation. Each phase will accordingly contain an account of the political, legal, and material problems encountered in the course of publication and an evaluation of the geographical and occupational distribution of the circulation of the newspaper; a description of its managerial and editorial staff"; and finally, an analysis of its content. Since the primary subject of this study is the newspaper itself, the periodizationofthe analysis will only be incidentally related to the periodization of either the political history or the history of the press of the Revolution. In preparing this study, I incurred many obligations. I wish to make special acknowledgement of the advice and interest of Professors Louis R. Gottschalk and Keith Baker, of the University of Chicago, who directed the doctoral dissertation on which this

Preface

7

work is based, and Professor Jacques Godechot, of the University of Toulouse, France. I am indebted to the staff of the following libraries: the Library of the University of Chicago, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Archives Nationales, the Archives de la Préfecture de Police (Paris), the Bibliothèque municipale of Versailles, the Library of Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), the Library of Indiana State University (Terre Haute, Indiana), and the Library of Loyola University (Chicago).

Contents

Preface

5

List of tables and maps

10

Introduction

11

1. Until the elimination of the Girondins, 1792-1793

17

2. During the Terror, 1793-1794

27

3. From the fall of Robespierre to the loss of government contracts, 1794—1795 39 4. From the insurrections of April-May 1795 to the arrest of the Babouvists, 1795-1796 51 5. From the arrest of the Babouvists to the suppression of the Journal des hommes libres, 1796-1798 69 6. The continuations of the Journal des hommes libres in 1798

87

7. The last months of Vatar's Journal des hommes libres, 1799

99

8. The Journal des hommes libres during the Consulate

113

Conclusion

129

Selected bibliography

133

Appendix

151

Notes

169

Index

185

List of tables and maps

Tables 1. Occupational distribution of the correspondents 2. Geographical distribution of the correspondents 3. The correspondence from Paris 4. The urban/non-urban sources of the correspondence 5. The cost of publication 6. The increases in the subscription rates Maps The maps show the distribution of correspondents 1. From November 2, 1792 to June 1, 1793 2. From June 2, 1793 to July 27, 1794 3. From July 28, 1794 to April 28, 1795 4. From April 29, 1795 to May 19, 1796 5. From May 20, 1796 to April 12, 1798 6. From April 16, 1798 to December 7, 1798 7. From June 19, 1799 to November 27, 1799 8. From November 28, 1799 to September 14, 1800

10

152/153 154/155 156 157 158 159

160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167

Introduction

1 . THE FOUNDERS OF THE NEWSPAPER

René Vatar and Charles Duval were the founders of the Républicain Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays, par un député à la législative réélu à la Convention et plusieurs autres écrivains patriotes, the first issue of which appeared on November 2, 1792. Vatar, the descendant of a famous family of printers-publishers established in Brittany since 1631, was the publisher and responsible for all unsigned articles (rédacteur et garant de tous les articles non signés). His father, Julien-Charles, was the dean of the printers of Rennes in 1788. Born on June 2, 1761, Vatar supported the Revolution from its inception. In 1788-1789, he participated in the anti-nobiliary riots organized by the angry young men of Rennes. In May 1789, he began publishing the newsletter of the representatives of the Third Estate of Brittany to the Estates Generals, entitled États Généraux. Correspondance de Bretagne. Bulletin, which appeared until 29 Prairial Year III (June 17, 1795) under various titles. This newspaper contained the writings of the more radical elements in Brittany, particularly those of Charles Duval. In 1790, Vatar opened his own printing-shop and subsequently bought out several of his local competitors although his radicalism cost him several rewarding printing contracts. After four years of successful publishing and politics in Rennes, Vatar came to Paris in 1792, with a delegation of the Popular Society of Rennes, of which he was the secretary, sent to congratulate the Paris Commune on its victory on August 10. Without giving up his provincial enterprise, he opened a printing establishment in Paris, at 139 and 926 rue de l'Université. Duval wrote the accounts of legislative sessions, in addition to playing a role in the management and the editorial board of the newspaper. He was born in Rennes on February 2, 1750, in a 11

12

Introduction

family of petty robe nobility. His father was councillor of the King and presiding judge of the police court and the court of the presidency of Rennes (juge magistral en la maréchaussée et siège présidial). Between 1780 and 1790, Duval was himself councillor of the King and assistant to the judge presiding over the police court in Rennes (assesseur de la maréchaussée). In October 1790, he was elected judge to the district court of La Guerche. In 1791, he acquired some notoriety after Louis XVI's attempted flight, when he asked for the trial of the King as an émigré and for the government of France by her legislators. In September of this year, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly, where he never belonged to any of the important committees and where he rarely participated in any debate, because of his poor voice and his numerous absences. H e was absent on April 9, 1792, when the legislators debated the vote of the motion in favor of the Swiss of Chateauvieu, and his votes, when the war was voted and Jean-Paul Marat ordered arrested, have not been recorded. However, on J u n e 28, he voted with all the Jacobins the motion denouncing General Lafayette and on August 8 he voted for his arrest. Duval did not participate in the Revolution of August 10, but he was appointed to the commission that made the inventory of the papers found in the Tuileries Palace. In September, he was elected to the National Convention, where he played no significant role during the first months of its session and where he belonged to none of the important committees.

2 . THE PROSPECTUS OF THE N E W DAILY

The founders of the newspaper promised to propagate the principles of equality, indispensable to liberty; to awaken the public spirit and the love of the fatherland ; to attack selfishness ; to enlighten the unfortunate victims of fanaticism and superstition; to educate the people in the knowledge of its rights and duties ; to awaken the hatred of tyrants; and finally to show that happiness depended upon obedience to the law. Except for this last admonition, which undoubtedly reflected the legalistic spirit of Duval, there was nothing very surprising in this program, which was acceptable to all the factions of the republican camp. A summary of the events of August 10, a list of the deputies to the National Convention, and

Introduction

13

a brief account of its sessions before the publication of the newspaper, were promised before the first issue of the daily. Finally, the founders described the content of their forthcoming newspaper, but they were unable to deliver the exact reproduction of the model that they had promised. 3 . T H E A P P E A R A N C E A N D T H E ORGANIZATION OF T H E N E W S P A P E R

The drab looking quarto newspaper was four pages long, unless special events or an extraordinary amount of information made it necessary to increase its size with a Supplement. Except for the title and the date on the first page, and the address of the printer and information relative to subscription rates on the last page, the whole daily was occupied by text, until 23 Ventôse Year I I I (March 13 1795) when a summary immediately followed the title on page one. The column 'Nouvelles politiques' ('Relations extérieures' after 20 Messidor Year VI) began on page one. It dealt with military, diplomatic, and foreign news. It occupied an average of nearly a page : its high points were reached during the Convention, prior to the Ninth of Thermidor, and in 1798. The relative importance of domestic news on the one hand, and foreign and diplomatic news on the other, together with the degree of freedom of the press, explain the fluctuation of the size of this column. The column 'Nouvelles législatives' (or 'Législature') occupied on average a full page - nearly two until the elimination of the Girondins from power in May 1793 and over a page and a h^lf afterward - until May 1795, when the size of the column declined. At the end of the Directory, it occupied less than a page, and during the Consulate less than a quarter of a page. The greater part of the column was occupied by an account of the legislative sessions and, until he resigned from the newspaper, it was written by Duval. The division of the legislature into two chambers during the Directory dealt a heavy blow to this column, for Duval sat in only one of the councils. More importantly, the decline of the role of the Jacobins in the legislature reduced the interest of the editors in the content of the legislative debates. Editorials, including letters that were clearly editorials, accounted for an average of half a page, except in 1796 and 1797 when they accounted for over a page.

14

Introduction

The rest of the newspaper was occupied by temporary columns dealing with the Jacobin Club, the Paris Commune, the Société du Manège, the Revolutionary Tribunal, the High Court of Vendôme, the Military Commission that tried the Babouvists caught at the Camp of Grenelle in 1796, as well as army news (after May 1796), stock market reports (after February 1798), government bulletins and business advertisements, the reviews and the announcements of books (seven per month on the average, the high point being reached in 1799-1800), plays (none from the spring of 1794 to the summer of 1799), maps, prints, and a great number of letters (an average of 16 per month, the high point being reached in 17951798).

4 . BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Vatar's biography remains to be written. The most useful information is in Isser WOLOCH, Jacobin Legacy. The Democratic Movement Under The Directory (Princeton, 1970), pp. 413-415 and Jean BRICAUD, L'administration du département d'Ille-et-Vilaine au début de la Révolution 1790-1791 (Rennes, France, 1965), pp. 352-356. There are useful bits of information relative to Vatar in Barthélémy POCQUET, Les origines de la Révolution en Bretagne (2 vols.; Paris, 1885), II, 147, n. 1, and 267-268, n. 1; Arthur DE LA BORDERIE, 'Histoire de l'imprimerie en Bretagne. Les races typographiques. Les Vatars, imprimeurs à Rennes', Revue de Bretagne, de Vendée, et d'Anjou, X (1893), 405—421; G. ROUANET, 'Mélanges. La Correspondance de Bretagne', Annales révolutionnaires, X (1918) 542-549; and Augustin COCHIN, Les Sociétés de pensée et la Révolution an Bretagne (1788-1789) (2 vols.; Paris, 1925), II, 259 and 232. Because of his legislative career, Duval's biography has attracted more attention. Unfortunately, everything that has been published so far is either studded with errors or provides only a fragmentary description of his career. See my criticism of the article in the Dictionnaire de biographiefrançaise (12 vols. ; Paris, 1933 onward), X I I , 958-959, in 'Charles-François Duval, Journaliste et Homme d'État (1750-1829)', Annales de Bretagne, L X X I X (1972), 417-424. In addition to the biographical dictionaries, there are bits of information in Charles VATEL, Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins (4 vols.; Paris, 1864—1872), III, 535; Marc-Antoine BAUDOT, Motes historiques sur la Convention nationale, le Directoire, l'Empire et l'exile des votants, ed. by Mme Edgar Quinet (Paris, 1893), p. 93; René KERVILER, La Bretagne pendant la Révolution

( R e n n e s , 1 9 1 2 ) , p p . 1 2 0 - 1 2 1 , 142 a n d 1 4 9 ; BRICAUD, p p . 2 0 1 ,

n. 402, 428, 445, 448, and nn. 70, 71, 72; and DUVAL'S own Coup d'oeil sur

Introduction

15

la conduite de Louis XVI (extrait d'un tableau historique de la Révolution du 10 août imprimé par ordre de la Convention nationale) (Paris, 1793). I have also made extensive use of the material available in Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860. Première série (1787-1799), ed. by J . M A V I D A L , E. L A U R E N T , and others (82 vols.; Paris, 1862 onward); Moniteur universel (Réimpression) (32 vols.; Paris, 1858-1870) ; P. J . B . B U C H E Z and P. C. Roux, Histoire parlementaire de la Révolution française (40 vols, in 20; Paris, 1834—1838); and Index des procès-verbaux des séances de la Convention nationale. Table analythique, ed. by Georges LEFEBVRE, Marcel R E I N H A R D , and Marc BOULOISEAU (3 vols.; Paris, 1959-1963).

1 Until the elimination of the Girondins 1792-1793

The Républicain appeared at a time when the political atmosphere and the legislative and administrative conditions were favorable to the success of the republican press. Thanks to the Revolution of August 10, the fluctuations of the war against Austria and Prussia, and the conflict between Girondins and . Montagnards, there was excitement in the months that preceded and followed the opening of the session of the National Convention, excitement that benefited newspapers.

1. THE CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION

Until August 10, 1792, the government failed to limit the liberty of the press. The law of August 23, 1791, against provocation to murder, arson, pilferage, disobedience of the law, and calumny of officials had not beenapplied. The Revolution of August was followed by the suppression of the royalist press in Paris, the arrest of its journalists, and the confiscation of its equipment for the benefit of the journalists favorable to the Revolution. However, no attempt was made to limit the liberty of the press of the various revolutionary factions. This came in the winter of 1792 and in the spring of 1793, as a result of the deterioration of the political, economic, and military situation. The National Convention took steps to regulate newspapers, but it also prevented individual action from destroying the freedom of the press altogether. There were a lot of bad feelings against newspapers and journalists, and on August 10, 1792, a mob had lynched the editor of the royalist Actes des Apôtres, and several days later, mobs attacked the printing-shops of the royalist newspapers that had been suppressed. On March 10, 1793, it was the printing-shop of the Girondin Antoine J. Gorsas that felt the anger of the crowd. 2

17

18

Until the elimination of the Girondins

The Jacobin Club also was suspicious of the press. On December 21, 1792, it forbade all newspapers, except Pierre J. Audouin's Journal universel and Claude M. L. Milscent's Créole patriote, to report its sessions. On January 4, 1793, the Républicain Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays was added to the list of favored periodicals. The national assembly also tended to blame the press for the social, economic, and political difficulties of the régime. On March 9, 1793, a decree ordered legislators to choose between the profession ofjournalist and the function of legislator. In the departments, some representatives on mission encouraged local authorities to limit the liberty of the press. Thus, on April 18, 1793, the department of Indre-et-Loire banned some periodicals from within its boundaries while placing a stamp of approval on others, among which was the Républicain. On May 13, the representatives on mission Pierre Bourbotte and Jean Julien de Toulouse forbade the circulation within the department of Loiret of all newspapers but nine, one of which was Vatar's. The national assembly refused to allow the liberty of the press trampled in this fashion. On April 2, it annulled the decree against legislators-journalists, and on May 25 it struck down all the measures adopted by representatives on mission and local authorities that infringed upon the circulation of the press. The National Convention adopted five laws that regulated the liberty of the press: that of December 4, 1792, punishing with death the advocates of a monarchy; that of December 16, punishing with death the advocates of the division of France; that of March 18, 1793, punishing with death the advocates of the agrarian law; and finally, those of March 29, punishing with death or six years of hard labor provocation to murder or the violation of the rights of property, the carriers an distributors of printed material advocating the dissolution of the national assembly and the return of the monarchy. Despite postal rates considered outrageously high, the cost of newspaper publishing remained low. On January 8, 1791, Pierre L. Roederer wrote in the Feuille villageoise that postal expenses ate away half the newspaper's revenue. On August 17, 1791, postal rates were increased to 8 deniers per printed sheet for dailies and 12 deniers for periodicals. Except for the Moniteur universel, almost all newspapers, including the Républicain, were printed on half a sheet, and accordingly paid half those rates, or 6 livres per year, or approx-

1792-1793

19

imately 15 per cent of the subscription rates of an average newspaper. Still, a small budget was needed to undertake the publication of a neswpaper. According to the publicist and politician Camille Desmoulins, the first thousand copies of an issue cost 44 livres, the price of a good dinner for two and a lodge at the Opera ; the next thousand copies 28 livres, having already taken care of the cost of composition. Desmoulins included the cost of depreciation of the printing presses and the characters, the cost of paper, coal, candles, labor, rent, but not postage. At the end of 1794, the Courrier républicain still estimated the cost of printing 3,000 copies of the newspaper-poster L'Ami du citoyen at 130 livres, which was very cheap since a poster used twise as much paper as a newspaper. According to the legislator François Barbé-Marbois, at the end of 1795, a newspaper could still make a profit for the publisher if the postal expenses did not surpass 80 per cent of the revenue. Printers in general and publishers in particular considered a 25 per cent gross profit normal. The devaluation of the assignat, whose value diminished by 50 per cent from January to July 1793, contributed to the financial difficulties of the press. Some newspapers ceased to appear, temporarily, at the end of February 1793. This was the case of the Créole patriote, whose publisher told his subscribers to select in its stead the Républicain.1 The financial difficulties compelled publishers to pay more attention than ever to the quality of their service and to the strict collection of subscriptions. They often complained about postal services. On January 28, 1793, the editors of Vatar's daily asserted that because of poor service their newspaper was not sold outside Paris. The larger the circulation, the bigger the profit, but most revolutionary newspapers had a small circulation, and the more radical they were the smaller it was. Consequently, many newspapers depended on government subsidies. The government had always aided a portion of the press. In 1791, following the advice of the Comte de Mirabeau, Louis XVI had subsidized the royalist press. In the spring of 1792, the Girondins, in command of the Ministries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, and War, had undertaken to help the republican press. After August 10, 1792, the Legislative Assembly voted funds to pay for propaganda. On August 18, this assembly gave 100,000 livres to Jean-Marie Roland, the 2»

20

Until the elimination of the Girondins

Girondin Minister of the Interior, so that he could publish and distribute propaganda in the departments and in the armies. On August 28, another decree gave 2,000,000 livres to the Provisional Executive Council, half of which was to go to the secret funds. Georges J. Danton, the Minister of Justice, and Roland each received 400,000 livres, and they utilized part of this money to subsidize the press. Roland gave the little money that he spent to Girondin newspapers, and especially Jean-Baptiste Louvet's Sentinelle. By 1793, some newspapers were published only thanks to government purchases and subsidies, the Girondin papers being the main beneficiaries, and an increasing number of local administrations and army units subscribed to newspapers. This was the case with the department of the Nord and the Army of the North, which subscribed on March 30, 1793, to the Républicain. On April 16, 1793, the National Convention voted 6,000,000 livres for the Provisional Executive Council, part of the sum to be spent on propaganda. On May 22, this council gave 50,000 livres to the Minister of War to buy newspapers for the armies. Two days later, Colonel Bouchotte subscribed to 2,000 copies of the Journal of the Jacobin Club, 3,000 copies of the Père Duchesne, and 2,000 copies of the Petit Républicain, that is to say Vatar's newspaper.

2 . T H E C I R C U L A T I O N OF T H E N E W S P A P E R

The distribution of the Républicain, evaluated through an analysis of the letters to the editor, shows clearly that 59 per cent (65 per cent if we include the members of the political clubs who often were bureaucrats and the military men) of the readers were employed by the government and that 46 per cent of them resided in Paris. Nearly all civil servants worked in municipal and departmental administrations ; most legislators were obscure individuals ; and officers dominated the correspondents in the military. None of the readers were members of the economic professions and few were in the professions, physicians and lawyers not being represented at all in the correspondence. Most letters from the zones of civil war came from cities, which tends to prove that they were islands of republicanism in seas of royalism. Most letters came from large or average

1792-1793

21

towns, small communities hardly being represented. Fifteen of the 23 departments represented in the correspondence were north of the line formed by the Loire valley and the Alps and from these 15 came 83 per cent of the letters. This narrow distribution reflects the difficulties of the new newspaper. It seems also that the small circulation was to some extent the result of the political attitude of the editors of the Républicain. 3 . THE WRITERS OF THE NEWSPAPER

Their names were disclosed one by one, the newspaper being for a long time ruled collectively. The Républicain published writings by such Montagnard legislators as Anacharsis Clootz, Jean Bassa-1, Bertrand Barère, Armand B. J . Guffroy. However, it is Vatar, Duval, and Joseph Lavallée who played the main role in the editorial board. On March 22 and June 30, 1793, it was finally disclosed that Lavallée wrote the column 'Nouvelles politiques*. Lavallée, born Marquis de Bois-Robert, on August 23, 1747, near Dieppe, in Normandy, was the grandson of a clerk of the court at the Court of Accounts ( g r e f f i e r à la Chambre des Comptes) of Rouen. After having served as captain in the Regiment of Brittany, he became a man of letters, he was once a theater manager (directeur des spectacles) and even an actor, and he spent seven years at the Bastille, allegedly for having preached freedom for the Blacks. His most important writings dated back to 1786. From 1789 to the end of 1792, he published a novel, several pamphlets, and two plays, before beginning in collaboration with the brothers Brion and B. J . Breton a work entitled Voyages dans les départements de la France, which was not completed until 1800. 4 . THE CONTENT OF THE NEWSPAPER

Until June 1793, the conflict between Girondins and Montagnards was in the background of the discussion in the newspaper of the various problems faced by the new regime. The analysis of the development of the attitude of the editors towards the Girondins and the Montagnards sheds some light on the motives behind the division of the Jacobins into two bitterly opposed factions.

22

Until the elimination of the Girondins

Until the trial of Louis XVI, the editors denied that the National Convention was divided into factions. They considered purely personal antagonisms responsible for the existing divisions. They hardly mentioned more than the near paralysis that, they felt, affected the national assembly because of the personal disputes between political leaders. They supported a centrist policy, halfway between the one represented by Marat, 'limier utile, mais sanguinaire,' and the one represented by Roland, 'contrôleur utile, mais équivoque,' as Clootz described them in his pamphlet Ni Roland Ni Marat, extracts of which appeared in the Républicain. The close relations that existed between the editors and the Girondins must have played a role in the determination of their political stand. Lavallée was one of the editors of the Girondin Sentinelle and Bulletin des Amis de la Vérité. In December 1792, the Girondins' lack of enthusiasm for Louis XVI's trial became evident and many Jacobins — until then neutral in the conflict opposing Girondins to Montagnards - began to suspect the revolutionary commitment of the first. The editors of Vatar's journal suddenly became very critical of the Girondin control over the press (thanks to the publications of Jacques P. Brissot, Louvet, Gorsas, and Jean L. Carra) ; their attacks against Paris, its municipality and its representatives at the National Convention; and of their inability to deal with the food shortages. On December 21, 22, and 23, 1792, the newspaper contained large extracts taken from Edmond L. A. Dubois-Crancé's attacks against the Girondins. Less than a month later, it was the Girondins' arguments in favor of a referendum to decide the fate of the king that came under attack in the newspaper.2 Duval voted against the referendum, for death, and against a reprieve, but it is not possible to use these votes to determine his political orientation since many so-called Girondins voted like him. Following the king's execution, the editors began again to minimize the differences between Girondins and Montagnards. In the Précis historique de la Révolution du dix août and the Précis des séances de la Convention nationale, finally published at the end of January 1793, almost nothing was said about the legislative sessions of September 25 and October 29, 1792, when Marat and Maximilien de Robespierre had been attacked and insulted by the Girondins, and the Girondins Jérôme Péthion, Charles J . M. Barbaroux, Louvet, and

1792-1793

23

Roland, were characterized as good patriots. In the Républicain, the editors cold-shouldered Jean H. Hassenfratz and the legislator Pierre J. Duhem, who had attacked (renerai Dumouriez and the Girondins on January 9, 1793, at the Jacobin Club.3 On several occasions the former Due d'Orléans, now Louis P. J. Égalité, was allowed to publish articles in the newspaper denying that he, or his sons, had any royal ambitions, and the editors themselves came to the defense of the d'Orléans family.4 Like most Montagnards, the editors were pleased with the evolution of events. It seemed to them that the National Convention had adopted good laws : particularly on the amalgamation of the military units; the call of draftees; the establishment of a revolutionary court; and the widening of the powers of government commissioners. Except for a few criticisms directed at the Minister of War, Pierre de Riel de Beurnonville, and the Minister of the Navy, Gaspard Monge, they were also pleased with the work of the Provisional Executive Council. Consequently, together with most of the Montagnards, including Marat, the editors opposed the demands made by the more radical elements in Paris early in March, of the elimination of the Girondins. The Républicain congratulated the districts (sections) when they gave up this demand.5 The editors of Vatar's newspaper on one hand, and the Girondins on the other, agreed on socio-economic matters. Most of the Montagnards considered Roland responsible for the food shortages at the end of November 1792, but at the same time they blamed the émigrés for the food riots of Lyon the same month and they congratulated the authorities in Chartres who had severely handled the crowd trying to impose the maximum. The editors of the Républicain wrote: 'This is how French republicans answer those who would like to blacken Liberty with the excesses of despotism'.6 In February 1793, after the food riots in Paris, the editors of the newspaper accused the enemies of the regime of having created a factitious food shortage to create disorders and discredit Paris. They did not ignore the distress of the popular classes and the scandalous prosperity of those who took advantage of inflation and shortages. In fact, they condoned the violent reactions of the popular classes, but they could not approve government taxation. Instead, they proposed to punish the profiteers. They blamed the rich for the fate of the poor, but their hostility was partially directed against the

24

Until the elimination of the Girondins

Jews as a group. This is especially clear from the account in November 1792 of the investigation by the National Convention of the army contracts made with 'le juif Benjamin'. The anti-semitism of the editors of the Républicain did not disappear with the removal of the Girondins from power. In July 1793, the editors singled out Jewish businessmen as speculators and profiteers. And in the winter of 1793, the newspaper published a letter by the legislator MarcAntoine Baudot, accusing Jews of failing to appreciate at their just value the benefits that they derived from the Revolution, which gave them back their rights of man, and of remaining slaves of greed and superstition.7 The position of Vatar's newspaper on economic problems was eventually altered by military disasters, widespread internal disorders, and economic chaos. On May 4, 1793, under pressure from the Paris municipality and the Jacobin Club, the National Convention imposed the maximum on grain prices. The editors of the Républicain supported this limited taxation, but they continued to adhere in principle to the theories of free trade, while arguing that they were not justifiable in times of war.8 It was in March 1793 that their politics began to change noticeably. Defeats in Holland and Belgium, Dumouriez' betrayal, and growing economic problems, awoke in France doubts about the reliability of the Girondins and their ability to govern. It was at this time that the editors of Vatar's newspaper began to ridicule the effort to conciliate the Girondins and the Montagnards. Instead, the editors advocated the extreme measures suggested by the radical elements in Paris, and in particular the elimination of all foreign officers from the army, the status of suspect imposed on all former privileged, and the formation of a Committee of Public Safety staffed with legislators unconnected to Dumouriez. On March 22, Lavallée, who had quit the Bulletin des Amis de la Vérité, even defended Marat. In April, the editors of the Républicain criticized the decree ordering the arrest of Marat, because it violated his parliamentary immunity and because Marat had not been allowed to defend himself; they accused the Girondins, Armand Gensonné, Claude Fauchet, François Buzot, and Maximilien Isnard, of paralyzing the national assembly with idiotic speeches; they ridiculed the proposition of the Montagnard Louis A. de Saint Just to resolve the

1792-1793

25

political crisis by creating an executive committee of sixty and Laurent Lecointre's proposal to accomplish the same goal by sending on mission 12 representatives of each faction. In May, they criticized Robespierre for his failure to support the demands of the extremists, as expressed by Théophile Leclerc, and also increased the tempo of their attacks against the Girondins. They reminded the reading public of the bonds of friendship that had linked this faction to Dumouriez and his aids, the Generals Valence, Biron, Kellerman, and the former Duc de Chartres, all responsible for the defeat in Holland and Belgium. They accused this faction of having sabotaged the Revolutionary Tribunal, the application of the maximum, and the collection of the extraordinary taxes; of being responsible for the lack of good leadership in the armies; of having initiated the irresponsible attacks against the Jacobins, the Commune of Paris, and the Parisian sections ; and finally, of having failed to create an acceptable constitution. Happily, the National Convention 'had postponed Gondorcet's incendiary proposal, which has however the advantage for the true friends of Liberty, that they were able to see who are the real disorganize«'.9 On May 21, the Girondins obtained from the national assembly that a Commission of Twelve be appointed to investigate the activities of the extremists in Paris. On May 28, the Montagnards had this commission suppressed. Duval had been elected one of the twelve substitutes of this commission and was either absent or he abstained on that day. The difference between Duval's posture at the National Convention and that of his newspaper was small. In the Républicain, Duval had always leaned toward the Montagnards, and after the events of March and April 1793, he supported the elimination of the Girondins from the leadership of the country. However, he had reached this position slowly, as if reluctantly. At the National Convention, his attitude was different, as if he sought to balance the radicalism of his journalistic writings. His frequent absences and his general lack of participation in the work of the national assembly made him appear sufficiently colorless to be acceptable to all factions.

26

Until the elimination of the Girondins

5 . B I B L I O G R A P H I C A L NOTE

There is very little published information on Lavallée. His answer to the journalist J . L. F A I N in Républicain, I, No. 241, March 22, 1793, pp. 609-10, and Archives Nationales [henceforth AN.] AF II 61, plaq. 453, pièce 10 [demande No. 32] contain some useful biographical information. Except for A. L I É B Y , 'La presse révolutionnaire et la censure théatrale sous la Terreur', La Révolution française, XLV (1903), 509, n. 2, and V A T E L , III, 529, no one mentions his collaboration to the Journal des hommes libres, and Vatel begins it in 1795. Data on Lavallée's literary career can be gathered in André M O N G L O D , La France révolutionnaire et impériale. Annales eie bibliographie méthodique et descriptive des livres illustrés ( 7 vols. ; Grenoble, France, 1930-1949) and J . M. Q U É R A R D , La France littéraire ou dictionnaire bibliographique (12 vols. ; Paris, 1827-1844), who claims that Lavallée was imprisoned before the Revolution at the request of his family, because of his homosexual practices. See also J . J . BARBÉ, 'Le théâtre à Metz pendant la Révolution (1790-an II)', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, IV (1927), 369, n. 1, and Henri W E L S C H I N G E R , 'Le Comité de Salut public et la Comédie française' in his Le Roman de Dumouriez (Paris, 1890).

2 During the Terror 1793-1794

From the fall of the Girondins to the fall of Robespierre, the Revolution was dominated by the Montagnards, who established the fully-fledged dictatorship of the Committee of Public Safety. The liberty of the press was naturally affected, the revolutionary government being particularly aware of the need to educate public opinion to accept radical measures in order to save the regime. The Journal des hommes libres was one of the main beneficiaries of State subsidies to the press and it was considered one of its main spokesmen.

1 . THE CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION

Except for the law of September 17,1793, against suspects, no new text of law relative to the liberty of the press was voted by the legislature. The existing laws were sufficient to eliminate a great portion of the non-Montagnard press and to control the rest. Already on July 17 and August 1, 1793, the moderate Annales de la République française warned its readers not to expect any real news : letters from abroad were stopped at the frontiers, no one dared mention controversial domestic events, the authorities did not allow the publication of articles likely to influence unfavorably public opinion, and the publisher would not risk the publication of unsigned articles. Until the arrest, trial, and execution of the Hébertists and the Dantonists, a kind of liberty of the press continued to exist, however, each faction having its spokesman. After the elimination of the factions, the press became insipid. Local censorship continued to play an important role, thanks to the control over postal services by the local authorities. In Paris, the Committee of Public Safety of the department suppressed the Girondin press and repeatedly interfered with the distribution of moderate 27

28

During the Terror

and even Montagnard newspapers. In order to prevent any possibility of error, their newspaper often being mistaken for the Journal de la République française or even the Républicain français, the owners and managers of the Républicain changed its title on June 28. After that date it was called Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays ou Républicain. Nevertheless, the distribution of Vatar's newspaper continued to be impeded in numerous localities. On September 29, 1793, the editors complained that they had received thousands of complaints from subscribers who did not receive the newspapers, received it irregularly, or received moderate newspapers in its stead. Economic difficulties contributed to the problems of newspaper publishers, and by the end of 1793 postal expenses amounted to a third of the subscription rates. Higher costs of labor and materials, until the end of 1793, forced many newspapers to increase their subscription rates, only those receiving subsidies being able to retain the old tariffs. In December 1793, Vatar even succeeded in offering discounts to those subscribing to both the Journal des hommes libres and his Rennes newspaper. The government helped the press with subscriptions and outright subsidies. This policy had been carefully thought out by the leaders of the government. Robespierre, for example, considered it very important to control the press, encourage good writers, and suppress the others. Consequently, even though the various branches of the government often worked at cross purposes, some even helping newspapers hostile to the Committee of Public Safety, the policy of aid to the press was never abandoned. At first, aid to the press came out of the 6,000,000 livres allocated to the Provisional Executive Council on April 16, 1793. On June 29, the National Convention allocated another 10,000,000 livres to purchase food for the departments and to fight counter-revolutionary activity, and on August 2 the national assembly gave the Committee of Public Safety 5,000,000 in secret funds. It is impossible to know exactly how much was spent on the press, since only the Ministry of War kept an exact account of its expenditures. It is from this Ministry that the Journal des hommes libres received the greatest portion of its aid. On July 2, 1793, Bouchotte received 1,000,000 livres and on 30 Ventôse Year II (March 20, 1794) another 150,000 livres. According to his 30 Germinal Year II

1793-1794

29

(April 19, 1794) report, he had accumulated 1,200,000 livres and had spent 600,000 on newspaper subscriptions. The Journal des hommes libres received 81,900 livres for 2,000 copies per day from June 1, 1793 to 1 Brumaire Year II (October 29, 1793) and 5,000 copies from 1 Brumaire to 1 Ventôse Year II (February 19, 1794) ; 1,500 livres for 75 complete collections of the newspaper; 11,250 livres for 5,000 copies per day in Ventôse Year II (February-March 1794); 13,500 livres for 6,000 copies per day in Germinal Year II (March-April 1794). Altogether, the Journal des hommes libres received 108,500 livres from June 1, 1793 to the middle of April 1794, less than Jacques R. Hébert's Père Duchesne, but more than any of the other subsidized newspapers. It does not seem that the other departments of the government or the National Convention subscribed to the Journal des hommes libres. The national assembly voted to send the newspaper to all army units, and particularly, on June 28, 1793, to the First Battalion of the Gironde, but this was not done. On 28 Ventôse Year II (March 18, 1794), the assembly voted to send the newspaper and three other periodicals to the representatives on mission in the Army of the North. In contrast, the Committee of Public Safety subscribed to the Journal des hommes libres. On 23 Brumaire Year II (November 13, 1793), it ordered the sending to the popular societies of the Moniteur universel, the Journal universel, the U anti-fédéraliste, and the Journal des hommes libres, 600 copies daily at a cost of 5,400 livres the first quarter. After the elimination of the ministries, the Committee of Public Safety took over the subscriptions arranged earlier. On 28 Floréal Year II (May 17, 1794), it renewed for a quarter the subscription of the Journal universel and Vatar's newspaper. The decree also arranged for the supply of all the materials needed for the publication of these two newspapers, and on 23 Messidor (July 11, 1794), another decree requisitioned the personnel necessary for their publication. After Robespierre's demise, the editors of the Journal des hommes libres claimed that the government had only paid half the regular subscription rate. An examination of the accounts of the Ministry of War confirms this assertion. The government would have paid 56 per cent of the regular tariff and Vatar made a profit of 36-37 per cent before the payment of authors' fees, and probably 20-25 per cent net, a profit normal in the printing trade.

30

During the Terror

Vatar was not only a major recipient of government propaganda subsidies, but also its major printing contractor. On 9 Nivôse Year II (January 28, 1794), he had been appointed manager of the printingshop of the Committee of Public Safety. He supplied the machinery, labor and management, and limited his profits to 25 per cent, the committee paying for the installation of the equipment and supplying all the necessary paper. The large volume of business forced Vatar to enlarge the size of his staff and enabled him to buy out some of his competitors. He acquired new collaborators: his cousin Paul M. B. D. Éon, who became his assistant; C. S. Camus, who managed the subscription office; and another relative, François Jouannet-Vatar, who served as foreman in the printing-shop of the committee. On 25 Frimaire Year II (December 15, 1793), the Dantonist legislator Pierre Philippeaux informed his readers that he would no longer publish the Défenseur de la vérité ou l'Ami du genre humain and he advised them to buy the Journal des hommes libres. On 3 Pluviôse (May 22, 1794), a more formal contract gave Vatar the ownership of the printing presses and the business of the L"Anti-fédéraliste.1

2 . THE CIRCULATION OF THE NEWSPAPER

Despite very favorable political and administrative conditions, the occupational distribution of the journal remained narrow; 87 per cent of the readers, individuals or organizations including the armed forces, received their copy of the newspaper from the government. The percentage of army officers among the readers had increased thanks to the propaganda drive in the armies and, for the first time, there were members of the professions (a man of letters and the editor of the Argus du Nord) and three craftsmen (two carpenters and a tanner). The geographical distribution was, however, wider than ever. Most readers lived in large urban centers in 28 departments (38.7 per cent in Paris alone), but concentrated in the Paris region, the north, and the southern part of the Rhône valley. There was a higher percentage of readers in small towns, located in 22 departments concentrated in regions of relative calm or in contact with foreign war north of the Loire valley and the Rhône valley. The influence of the newspaper over public opinion

1793-1794

31

obviously remained limited. According to the editors themselves, only aristocrats, provincial popular societies, rural patriots, village priests, and in general, people living too far from Paris to be good republicans, read newspapers; while in Paris, even government officials and political activists hardly read anything.2

3 . THE WRITERS OF THE NEWSPAPER

The Journal des hommes libres contained articles by Clootz, Tiesel, Barère, St. Just, Claude Payan, François Chabot, Jean-Nicolas Billaud-Varennes, René F. Dumas, Jean-Baptiste Lacoste, Marc G. A. Vadier, Jean M. Coupé de l'Oise, but Vatar, Lavallée, and Duval remained the main editors, even though the latter no longer needed to spend as much time to report parliamentary debates, since all important discussions during the Terror took place in the committees. Vatar's political orthodoxy was a matter of course. He was unaffected by the purge of the Jacobin Club in the winter of 1793. Duval's importance at the National Convention and the Jacobin Club steadily increased. On June 26, 1793, he became a substitute and on September 26 a full member of the Committee of Legislation; on October 6, he was selected a member of the Committee of Public Education; and on October 26 he was elected one of the secretaries of the national assembly. At the Jacobin Club, he survived the purge and was elected secretary on 29 Nivôse (January 18, 1794) and president on 18 Ventôse Year II (March 10, 1794) As for Lavallée, he ran into some difficulties with the authorities because of his nobiliar antecedents, and his name does not appear in the newspaper after the spring of 1794.

4 . THE CONTENT OF THE NEWSPAPER

An ambiguous political situation prevailed after the elimination of the Girondins, until the organization of the terrorist government and the domination of the Committee of Public Safety. The elimination of the Hébertist and Dantonist factions temporarily enabled the Robespierrists to dominate, but they were themselves suppressed in

32

During the Terror

the summer of 1794. The attitude of the Journal des hommes libres reflected this evolution of the Revolution. The editors of Vatar's newspaper had wholeheartedly approved the Revolution of May 31, 1793, which eliminated the Girondin leaders from the National Convention and the government. They asserted that the event fulfilled the wishes of a department inhabited by 2,500,000 people originally from all parts of the country and therefore of the whole nation. The Revolution had been Paris's answer to the calumnies of the Girondins. Their support of this Revolution had been predicated on the assumption that the elimination of the Girondins would be followed by the end of the political, economic, and social crisis in progress since March 1793. The immediate progress realized in the constitutional field reinforced their hopes. Within days of the Revolution, the Montagnard project of constitution was adopted and it seemed a remarkable improvement over the alleged indigest compilation proposed by Jacques Marie de Caritat de Condorcet. 3 However, this constitution was the only positive achievement between June 2 and September 5, 1793 that the editors could point to: the elimination of Girondin leadership had solved nothing since the institutions continued to operate as before and the government followed the conciliatory policy advocated by Danton to deal with external and internal problems. Danton's policy bore some fruit on the home front, but not before the editors of the Journal des hommes libres had severely criticized it. 4 All the Jacobins blamed Jacques Roux and the Enragés for the June and July 1793 disorders in Paris, which were to a large extent a reaction to the food situation and the failure of the government to deal with it. The Journal des hommes libres contributed to the chorus against Roux a lengthy account of the June 25 evening session of the National Convention: The rise of food prices has provoked a host of addresses whose examination was forwarded to the committee of agriculture and commerce. But very often the aristocrats pity the fate of the people in order to drive them to excesses or to inspire them with respect for the old regime: the proof of this was given in a petition read by the priest Jacques Roux in the name of the Gravilliers section. In it he bitterly complained about the rise in food prices, the schemes of the speculators, and he seemed to blame the Convention, that he reproached with having failed to include the death

1793-1794

33

penalty against hoarders in the constitution. We see by this single trait that he accused the assembly of carelessness for the needs of the people, and at the same time he heaped disfavor on the new constitution, in order to alienate the nation from it even before it had been proposed for ratification. Consequently violent whispers often covered the voice of this inflammatory speaker: more than once this feeling was shared by the citizens in whose name he spoke, and one of them cried out that the address that he had just read was not the one that they had adopted. T h e president congratulated the citizen of the Gravilliers section for this honorable denial and he answered to the speaker that the language that he had used was that of Pitt and Coburg, and refused him admission to the session. Thuriot, Robespierre, and Charlier have strongly criticized the man who dishonored, like the fanatics of Vendée, the august title of minister of a God of peace, came to openly preach revolt, and hid, so to say, under the cloth of friendship, the dagger that he wanted to thurst into the breast of the patriots. Billaud-Varennes has added a fact that makes Roux even better understood: he went with other priests to the Cordelier Club to stir up people against the constitution, but when asked to answer if they had any knowledge of it, they were forced to confess that they had not read it. Let every one judge now of the perversity of their intentions. 5

Nevertheless, the editors agreed with the Enragés and the Hébertists upon the need for revolutionary legislation to cope with the counterrevolution and the economic situation. Duval even proposed a mass levy for one month, a suggestion that Danton dismissed very summarily. It is no accident that Hébert proposed on 19 Brumaire Year II (November 9, 1793) that Duval be appointed the manager of the Journal de la Montagne published by the Jacobin Club, an honor that Duval turned down. The position of the Journal des hommes libres was closer to that of the Hébertists than to that of either the Dantonists or the Robespierrists. The affinities between the newspaper and the Hébertists should not be exaggerated, however. It is clear, for example, that the journal paid no attention at all to the activities of the Hébertist-dominated Cordelier Club until it was attacked by the Committee of Public Safety. The editors of the newspaper were, of course, elated by the events of September 1793, that they considered a victory for their point of view. They assumed that the program of the Hébertists would be implemented and that a regime of political and economic terror would mobilize the citizenry around the government and suppress

34

During the Terror

the enemies of the regime. For a while, they continued to support the extremist movement of opinion spearheaded by the Hdbertists. They demanded that the moderate partisans of the regime be suppressed and they denounced the 'men-women called muscadins': What history will not believe, undoubtedly, it is that in the midst of a revolution which upsets all of Europe, in the midst of the great struggle between the tyrants and a people which wants to be free, there existed a youth without honor, which too cowardly to dare align itself under the flags of our enemies, waits ignominiously at home, that fate decides against Caesar and Pompei, remains insensitive to the cry of the fatherland, and while fathers shed their blood at the frontiers, they give all their attention and seek only glory from elegantly combed hair, and good dress, and they carry the lack of civism to the point of copying the fashion of the people that wages against us a barbaric war. Will this youth fail to pull out of this guilty slumber and ignore the just danger of a people decided to consider henceforth as enemies all those who have til now stood aside, so to say, from the revolution.®

Duval called for the arrest and the trial of the legislators who had protested the arrest of the Girondins, and he attacked the legislators of the so-called Plain or Marsh, accusing them of having supported the Revolution out of opposition to earlier privileges and concern for their own careers, and of denying the possibility of a republic and opposing true equality. 7 At the end of 1793, the editors of Vatar's newspaper abandoned their extremist positions and supported the Committee of Public Safety against the H^bertists. They opposed the attempts to limit the power of the revolutionary government, in particular when Pierre G. Chaumette, the H^bertist mayor of Paris, tried to unite all the revolutionary committees and the Paris Commune into one organization, and when it became clear that the local authorities and the representatives on mission were demonstrating too much independence from the government in Paris. On 6 Vent6se Year I I (February 23, 1794), Duval wrote: The law on the revolutionary government, ill interpreted by the authorities which have perhaps secret interests to paralyze its action, is a weapon that the unbeaten federation still uses in some cantons of the republic, to lead to an independence that could not fail to destroy the administrative

1793-1794

35

machine, and especially its unity, if a central authority does not promptly stop this power struggle, which would produce anarchy, instead of a well ordered revolutionary movement.8

Consequently, the newspaper was considered to be a spokesman for the government, especially by its enemies. The Dantonist Camille Desmoulins, during the 'campaign of clemency' directed against the strict application of the terrorist legislation against suspects, attacked the servility of the Journal des hommes libres and of Duval. 9 The elimination of the factions, the decline of political life, and the religious policy of the government ended up, nevertheless, by straining the relations between the newspaper and the Robespierrists. The editors of the newspaper were not opposed to the Terror. On 16 Frimaire Year II (December 6, 1793), Duval even suggested that 600,000 men would have to be executed before the Revolution could be secure.10 On 24 Frimaire (December 14,1793), he suggested that true patriots would happily sacrifice themselves in order to ensure the final victory of the Revolution, thus implying that some patriots became the tools of the counter-revolution, while others were wrongly the victims of the Terror.11 The editors were, nevertheless, shocked by the elimination of the factions. They became extremely cautious in their pronouncements, opposition no longer being possible and government aid remaining a necessity, but they made strenuous efforts to differentiate themselves from the politics of the men in power. They applauded the foresight that had enabled the government to save the country from the traitors, but at the same time, they criticized the cult of personality that was beginning to pervade government practices and public opinion, and whose most visible beneficiary was Robespierre. On 18 Germinal (April 7, 1794), they pointed out that 'the revolution is in the people, and not in the renown of a few people'.12 While publishing long extracts of the reports made at the National Convention in the name of the various committees and especially the Committee of Public Safety, they abstained from discussing the policy of the government. Instead, they praised the achievements of the regime, which seemed so firmly established thanks to the strong morale and material bonds uniting the people to the Revolution, and especially the property of 3*

36

During the Terror

the Church that had been acquired by property owners. Their insistence on the solidity of the regime was an indirect indictment of the increasing terroristic policy of the government. T h e i n d e p e n d e n c e of t h e Journal

des hommes libres w a s o p e n l y

demonstrated in the case of the discussion of three major problems. The editors of Vatar's newspaper approved the criticism by Abbé Grégoire of the public education plan prepared by Louis Michel Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau and supported by Robespierre. They described it as a plan conceived for a Spartan city of 25,000 and not for a large country like France, and they criticized the large amount of power and the many responsibilities that it placed in the hands of the teachers. 13 The editors were also critical of the official policy toward the United States. They did not subscribe to the view of the government that American neutrality was in France's interest because of the weakness of the American republic. 14 Even greater was the difference between the Journal des hommes libres and the Robespierrists in the field of religious policy. The newspaper celebrated the Cult of the Supreme Being, favored by Robespierre, and it praised the alliance between morality and politics that the Revolution had allegedly brought about and that the Robespierrists emphasized. 15 This was a very superficial endorsement, however. The editors of Vatar's newspaper had supported in the winter of 1793 the anti-religious campaign of the Hébertists. According to Le Coz, the constitutional bishop of Illeet-Vilaine, Duval had organized a vast anti-clerical and even atheistic campaign in that department. In the newspaper, the editors had asked the suppression of the clergy, in the interest of the State and morality. Lavallée had proclaimed that the days of organized religion were counted. Duval had praised Jean Meslier, the famous curé of Etrépigny, in Champagne, whose Testament had been one of the most successful atheistic and anti-clerical pamphlets of the eighteenth century, and he denounced all forms of organized religion, including the Cult of Reason : It is the country priests who first had the courage to admit that they had been charlatans; they had had for a long time, it is true, the example of this virtuous and good curé of Etrépigny and But, in Champagne, Jean Meslier, so famous because of his testament, who asked forgiveness for having fooled his parishioners all his l i f e . . . But at a time when morals

1793-1794

37

and healthy philosophy at last take back the place that is coming to them, at a time when falsehoods flee from them, why is it that old habits, which look too much like prejudices, still guide the most educated men? Why don't they see that by perpetuating with their speeches and their actions religious ideas, whatever they are, they only have changed fanaticism, superstition and error? Why always religion, a cult, a gospel? Don't we have other words to express our love for morality, for principles, for the fatherland, for Liberty? Why defy all the things that are dear to us? Why temples? Beware, citizens, who assumes a god necessarily creates a cult, priests, and all the evils that they have done to us . . . No more gods therefore, no more cults, no more religions. Let every one keep his, if he needs them, but let no one mention them in his speeches.16

At the end ofJuly 1794, the reluctant support of the government by the Journal des hommes libres became apparent, at least to the keen observer. On 2 Thermidor Year II (July 20, 1794), the editors of the newspaper explained to their readers that they did not criticize the policy of the government solely out of fear that their criticism would be mistaken for criticism of the regime.17 In any event, it is probable that the Robespierrists never completely trusted Vatar's daily. The position of the newspaper had once been too close to that of the H^bertists. In addition, Duval had repeatedly clashed with Robespierre in the Committee of Public Education, which had played an important role in the dechristianization campaign of the winter of 1793. By the time Robespierre and his allies came under attack, the Journal des hommes libres and its editors were supporting his enemies. This is especially the case with Duval, who was, according to Filippo Buonarroti, one of the plotters denounced by Robespierre on 8 Thermidor (July 26, 1794). Baudot claimed that Duval was at least as much responsible as Jean L. Tallien for the fall of Robespierre. And in fact, it is the editor-in-chief of Vatar's newspaper, who had been run out of the Jacobin Club on 8 Thermidor, who proposed on 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794), together with Louis Louchet and Jean F. Loiseau, the decree of accusation of Robespierre. It must be emphasized, however, that the Journal des hommes libres gave no inkling of the power struggle while it was taking place. Only on 10 Thermidor (July 28, 1794) did the newspaper begin to publish the account of the legislative sessions of July 26 and 27, and without attacking Robespierre.18 One year of co-operation with the

38

During the Terror

government had taught Vatar and his editors the value of government subsidies and caution in political matters. After the Ninth of Thermidor, the editors were repeatedly accused of pusillanimity in the face of evil and the newspaper was labelled Robespierrist or terrorist. The term terrorist seems more appropriate than Robespierrist, because of the kinship of the policy advocated by the newspaper to that of the Hébertists and because of the support by the newspaper of the policy of Terror. However, the Journal des hommes libres never was the spokesman of a faction.

3 From the fall of Robespierre to the loss of the government contracts 1794-1795 The first months of the Thermidorian Reaction were a period of uneasy relations between the former Montagnards and a government increasingly influenced by the National Convention and in the country by moderates dedicated to the dismantling of the institutions and the legislature of the Terror. The Jacobin Club was closed ; the former terrorists were tried, dismissed from government service, and generally repressed; and the financial and economic situation steadily grew worse, eventually arousing the popular rage that erupted in the insurrection of 12 Germinal Year III (April 1, 1795). Vatar was one of the victims of this evolution. He lost the very profitable government subscription to the Journal des hommes libres and the printing contract for the Committee of Public Safety.

1 . THE CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION

After the fall of Robespierre, a relative liberty of the press was restored. Already hurt by the end of government subsidies and galloping inflation, the Jacobin press was further affected by the competition of the new pro-royalist and moderate newspapers. On 1 Fructidor Year II (August 18, 1794), the Thermidorians annuled all government subscriptions, officially at least. In fact, the Committee of Public Education subscribed to 2,000 copies of the Feuille villageoise; on 3 Pluviôse Year III (January 22, 1795), the Minister of Foreign Affairs subscribed to 350 copies of the Gazette de France ; and the government continued to purchase the Journal des hommes libres until 24 Nivôse Year III (January 13, 1795), when Vatar cancelled the subscription.1 Inflation (the value of the assignat fell to 20 per cent of its nominal value in December 1794 and to 3 per cent in July 1795) forced the increase of postal rates (from 6 deniers to 1 sou per sheet, that is to say a 50 per cent increase) 39

40

From the fall of Robespierre

and all other publishing expenses, paper in particular (the cost of a ream of paper passed from 18 to 60 livres from September 1794 to March 1795). All newspapers were forced to increase their subscription rates. Vatar increased his tariffs after 1 Ventôse Year III (February 19, 1795) and he tried to generate some new revenue by publishing political pamphlets by Jacobin personalities, such as BillaudVarennes, Lecointre, Pierre A. Antonelle, Félix Lepeletier, and Jean A. Rossignol. Vatar's financial difficulties were great because the government paid him only 222,614 out of the 500,000 livres it owed him for printing done in the printing-shop of the Committee of Public Safety.

2 . THE CIRCULATION OF THE NEWSPAPER

The Thermidorian Reaction did not encourage the circulation of Jacobin newspapers. The Journal des hommes libres seems to have had a circulation of 3,000 to 4,000. The anti-Jacobin L'Orateur du peuple had a circulation of 15,000 and the pro-royalist UAccusateur publique 10,000.2 As long as the government continued to subscribe to Vatar's newspaper, the same number of its copies were sent to legislators, civil servants, soldiers, and political societies. However, judging from the correspondence, the newspaper depended increasingly on the independent subscribers and readers. A new category of readers even appeared, that of former civil servants. According to the letters to the editor, the percentage of readers dependent on the government for their copies of the Journal des hommes libres had dropped from 81.7 per cent to 54 per cent. The analysis of the geographical distribution of the correspondence shows that an important change had taken place : only 28 per cent of the letters came from Paris, while 51.2 per cent came from the areas of civil war (especially Toulon). Many Jacobins had fled to Paris, but it is the wide scope of the Thermidorian Reaction in the zones of civil war that promoted the increased circulation of the newspaper, the Journal des hommes libres acting as an intermediary between the isolated and oppressed provincial Jacobin centers and Paris. As earlier, most letters came from large urban centers, but the mere 15 departments represented

to the loss of government contracts, 1794-1795

41

in the correspondence were dispersed north of the Loire valley, in the Rhône valley, the Midi, and around Bordeaux. 3 . THE WRITERS OF THE NEWSPAPER

Except for Lavallée's departure, there were no major changes in the management and the editorial board of the newspaper. Lavallée did not contribute to its publication after the spring of 1794. T h e Journal des hommes libres contained numerous committee reports (by Philippe Ch. A. Goupilleau, Joseph Cambon, Robert Lindet, and others) ; speeches at the National Convention and the Jacobin Club ; articles by the publisher Audouin, the banker F. V. Aigeoin, P. F. Delcher, a member of the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the legislators Joseph Eschassériaux the elder, Claude Gleizal, Coupé de l'Oise, and the Jacobin Antonelle; and extracts from Pierre F. Réal's Journal de l'opposition, the Courrier patriotique des départements de l'Isère, des Alpes et du Mont Blanc, Audouin's Journal universel, and Louis Chasles' L'Ami du peuple. 4 . THE CONTENT OF THE NEWSPAPER

The Thermidorian Reaction imposed its themes to the editors. They were accused of having been Robespierre's agents; revolutionary institutions and laws were attacked ; the Jacobin Club, the popular societies, and the servants of the terrorist government were abused. The Thermidorians resented the attitude of the newspaper toward Robespierre. They had not forgotten that the account of the session of 8 Thermidor published on the 10th still characterized the Incorruptible as 'a man of great reputation'. The editors of the Journal des hommes libres did not defend their newspaper directly. Duval claimed that the public was responsible for the apparent pusillanimity of the legislators. According to him, they had not been fooled by his demagogy, but popular hero worship had forced them to postpone their attack on the dictator. 3 Vatar bewailed the repression of thousands of patriots and especially the heroes of the Revolution of May 31, 1793, thus reaffirming his approval of the elimination of the Girondins, while damning the repression of the Hébertists and the Dantonists. 4

42

From the fall of Robespierre

The attacks against the newspaper grew in intensity after the publication in December 1794 of Édmé B. Courtois' report on the papers of the Robespierrists. Courtois accused the Journal des hommes libres and the Journal universel of having been devoted to Robespierre and having been used by him to disorganize the armies. Duval and Vatar were also accused of having collaborated in the Père Duchesne; Vatar of having participated in the Paris September Massacres in 1792 ; and Duval of having denounced some of his colleagues to the Committee of Public Safety. Neither Vatar nor Duval were, however, personally persecuted. In Paris, though, these accusations found an echo in the populace : some copies of Vatar's newspaper were publicly burnt. The editors of the Journal des hommes libres panicked. On 25 Nivôse Year III (January 14, 1795), Duval resigned from the staff of the newspaper. His position at the National Convention had steadily deteriorated since the fall of Robespierre. On 11 Thermidor Year II (July 29, 1794), the legislature refused to appoint him to the Committee of Public Safety. On 25 Thermidor (August 12, 1794), he resigned from the commission investigating the papers of the Robespierrists, remaining the editor of the account of the legislative session of 9 Thermidor. After 7 Fructidor (August 26, 1794), when he lost his seat in the Committee of Public Education, he was only a member of the insignificant Committee of House Whips (inspecteurs de salle). As for Vatar, he cancelled the subscription of the government, which must have been delighted. Its agents blamed the newspaper for the disorders provoked in Brittany by food shortages. The emotional reaction of Duval and Vatar is not difficult to understand. The Thermidorian Reaction had upset all their expectations. After having been for so long members of the dominant faction, they found themselves in the opposition. For months, they tried to shore up their position, and that of the Jacobins, and to find the political formula that would return them to a position of power, and they failed. The editors of the newspaper concluded almost immediately after the attacks against the Jacobins began that their most urgent goal was to further the unity of the former Montagne. They admitted that some errors had been made during the Terror, and in particular, that too much power had been concentrated in the Committee of Public Safety. However, they warned that a relaxation of the

to the loss of government contracts,

1794-1795

43

Terror and the release of thousands of political prisoners would weaken the institutions of the Revolution and lead to anarchy.5 The Jacobins succeeded to stall their enemies until the suppression of the Jacobin Club. The first attacks by Louis M . S . Fréron, Tallien, and Lecointre, against the former members of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security failed. The Jacobin Club expulsed the reactionary legislators and Duval, its president, felt sufficiently secure to threaten them with the people's wrath. Unfortunately, the club was very vulnerable. Even the editors of the Journal deshommes libres had admitted that it had become so much of an instrument of Robespierre that they had avoided giving an account of its sessions in the days that preceded the Ninth of Thermidor. The club nevertheless became the national center of resistance to the Thermidorian Reaction, and the Journal des hommes libres reminded the public that attacks against the Jacobins had always amounted to attacks against the Revolution.6 It was all to no avail. All societies were ordered to disclose their membership and to cease communicating with one another, and on 22 Brumaire Year III (November 12, 1794) the club was closed. The Jacobins realized that the deterioration of the political situation was to a large extent the result of their loss of popular support. The editors of Vatar's newspaper refused to believe that the popular classes supported the Thermidorian Reaction and that public opinion was equivalent to popular opinion. Nevertheless, they recognized that few sans-culottes had forgotten that the Jacobin leaders had sat at Robespierre's feet during the Terror; that many people believed that the elimination of the men most identified with the Terror would bring back political and social peace; and that many sans-culottes had doubts about the Ninth of Thermidor. On 6 Frimaire Year III (November 26, 1794), Aigeoin wrote: If the effect of the magnificent and ever memorable day of 9 Thermidor had only been to crush the terrorists, and to set free, to help and to confort their wretched and innocent victims, everything would end up to the benefit of the democratic republic. But I say more, I say that the great evil has been to allow also public opinion to be perverted and misled by the multitude of aristocrats given back to society; but once this harm done, to resist to the first heat of their counter-revolutionary rage, temporarily supported by public opinion so miserably misled . . , 7

44

From the fall of Robespierre

The Journal des hommes libres made a deliberate effort to obtain the support of the popular classes. On 15 Vendémiaire Year I I I (October 7, 1794), Duval, in one of his very rare speeches, urged the Jacobins to pursue the struggle for the happiness of the 24 million citizens still oppressed by the one million rich. After the transfer of Marat's remains to the Pantheon, the newspaper published the speeches at the Jacobin Club that contrasted the poverty of the majority of the population, which had supported the revolutionary government, with the wealth of the minority; denounced the policy that enabled counter-revolutionaries to financially benefit from the Revolution ; and warned that a republic could not survive when collossal fortunes coexisted with wretched hospitals. The speeches also glorified the shoemakers, carpenters, and other sans-culottes who had made up the revolutionary committees attacked by the so-called honest people and they alleged that the armies became victorious only after a poor corporal and a poor sergeant had been appointed generals-in-chief. On 11 Nivôse Year III (December 30, 1794), Duval denounced the constitutional proposal to disfranchise the thousands who did not pay direct taxes and had less than a year of permanent residence. On 23 Nivôse (January 12, 1795), the editors proclaimed their support of the Montagnard Constitution of 1793.8 Shortly after, on 2 Pluviôse (January 21, 1795), they warned that the 'men in rags' who had made the Revolutions of August 10, 1792, and 9 Thermidor would not allow other tyrants to dominate them, even though any insurrection weakened the Revolution : The people can reason only on the present and on the basis of experience. You are its representatives, you must be its physical and moral agents, making it consider the future, and at least place the books on the cup of liberty and public and individual property. You bless the day of Ten Thermidor, and we do too. But if we wagered about your intentions according to your behavior, we would say that you want the old regime. You protect the émigrés. You avenge the ashes of the people's executioners. You make war on us, because we have nothing. You are ashamed of our consistency because we are covered with rags. Despise us as much as it pleases you, but don't proscribe us. Like you we have been under the tyrant's rod. We were the mainspring which brought about the 10 August and the 10 Thermidor. Our tricoteuses [women sans-culottes], our weaponmakers, our fathers, are not worth your shop-keepers, your financeers,

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1794-1795

45

your émigrés, your pacifiers, your Vendeans, etc.. . These are knead out of gold, and we are knead out of clay. Whatever it is, we will no longer be a passive instrument of the revolution. We want to obey, but we do not want to obey to tyrants. We have not erased from our annals the name of monarch to place in its stead that of dictator or decemvir. We have exterminated Capet and Robespierre, to be free and independent . . . If we must again do a 10 Thermidor, we will not retreat . . . but we will not be the aggressors, for while we are blood drinkers, we know from experience, that each revolutionary upheaval is a double palette [pint] of blood drawn out of an already weak patient.9

The editors of the Journal des hommes libres capitalized on the deterioration of the economic situation. In December 1794, they had supported the abolition of the maximum, without recanting their support of economic dirigism during the Terror. They argued that the policy of economic control, which allowed the terrorist government to wage war with success in 1793-1794 and to satisfy the needs of the civilian population, was no longer necessary. They now favored a nationalist economic policy similar to the mercantilism of the Old Regime. 10 They disagreed among themselves about the origins of material wealth — land, according to Eschassériaux the elder; industry, according to the mysterious C. However, they agreed that commerce and luxury were not the 'causes' of the ruin of states and they dismissed the assertion that Sparta was the model state where Liberty and work had been worshipped. Duval reminded the readers that Sparta had been a republic of slaves and masters. 11 The worsening of the economic situation in the winter of 1794 forced the editors of Vatar's newspaper to re-evaluate their position. They denounced free trade - that favored the interests of a few at the expense of the majority, and the alleged immoral behavior of the producers and intermediaries - that they accused of artificially creating the food shortage to satisfy their own selfish ends. On 29 Floréal Year I I I (May 19 1795), Vatar wrote: Every one knows that it is not the lack of grain that produces the famine that devours today the poor and republican portion of the people; but only the lack of a just allocation in favor of the cantons [counties] which lack of it. The enormous difference that exists between the price of bread in one department or in another one, is proof of it. It is not without wonder that a pound of bread is seen to cost, for example,

46

From the fall of Robespierre

6 sous in the countryside and 4 livres in the department of Morbihan . . . The lack of allocation is therefore the only cause of the famine that we are experiencing, and then will the freedom of trade cause the death of all those who are neither rich nor royalist?12 Despite the rethoric, the position of the Journal des hommes libres was a moderate one. Already in November 1794, the editors of the newspaper had warned the Jacobins not to allow themselves to become exasperated and to express violently their opposition to the government. They castigated Tallien who had criticized Gracchus Babeuf and Joseph Fouché's defense of the right of the people to revolt. In February 1795, Duval tried to calm the Jacobins, aroused by the campaign of mutilation of Marat's busts, by insinuating that the government would soon put an end to the reaction. Shortly after, on 15 Ventôse Year I I I (March 5, 1795), the newspaper echoed the assertion of Réal's Journal de Vopposition that the government did not know that patriots were oppressed in the departments. 13 The moderate politics of the Journal des hommes libres corresponded to that of the Jacobins. On 18 Ventôse Year I I I (March 8, 1795), nearly all the Jacobin legislators approved the seating of the Girondins imprisoned during the Terror. A few abstained, but only Louis J . M. A. Goujon voted against their return. The Jacobins believed that the best way to prevent the dismantling of the regime was to allow the Reaction to run its course. They thought that eventually every one would understand that the goal of the moderates and the crypto-royalists was to destroy the republic. Accordingly, it was necessary to prevent extremists among the republicans from creating disorders which would give the pretext for more attacks against the Jacobins and divide the republican camp. The position of the Journal des hommes libres seemed justified by that of the National Convention. The national assembly protected the Jacobins, reaffirmed the legality of the sale of the property of émigrés, and reinforced the legislation against them. The optimism of the newspaper was echoed by that of the Journal universel, which claimed that the regime was secure as long as the National Convention stood guard. The editors of Vatar's newspaper had many reasons to complain about the National Convention, but they found solace in the expectation that sooner or later the majority of

to the loss of government contracts, 1794-1795

47

republicans would have to oppose the Reaction in order to protect their own interests.14 The inconvenience with the policy of the Journal des hommes libres and the Jacobins was that it could not please, or even be understood by, the sans-culottes. The journée of 12 Germinal Year I I I (April 1, 1795) proved it. The editors were shocked by this spontaneous rising and they blamed it on royalist provocation. During the winter, they focused nearly all their attention on the political situation, and especially the fate of the former members of the revolutionary government and the projects of a new constitution. Audouin's warning on 2 Germinal Year I I I (March 22,1795), that the food crisis could lead to civil war, was unique and not very forceful. 15 The eight issues that followed the one in which his warning appeared discussed at length the sessions of the National Convention where the future of Barère, Billaud-Varennes, Vadier, and Jean M. Collot d'Herbois, was debated. The editors saw in the decision of the national assembly not to put them on trial the vindication of their own political stand. It is ironical that Duval's appeal for the reconciliation of all republicans, including the Girondins, was published on 12 Germinal. For eight days after the journée, no editorial appeared in the Journal des hommes libres, and then the editors bitterly denounced the rising against which they had so often warned and which would give the pretext, as they had predicted, to another assault against the Jacobins. On 12 Germinal, despite the opposition of 53 legislators, Duval included, the National Convention ordered the deportation of the former members of the committees spared til then. The editors urged the popular classes to draw from the event of Germinal one lesson: Everything that tends toward concord and the meeting of minds and citizens was always in our principles and in our hearts, never perhaps were they more necessary and especially more urgent.16

It was imperative to prevent a 'crowd of maniacs, fanatics' from upsetting the tranquility of the State and keeping alive the hopes of the royalists : Yes, undoubtedly, we must restore peace, order and tranquility, concord must finally reign and the social pact insured . . . But a rabble of mad-

48

From, the fall of Robespierre

men, fanatics, taking advantage of national forbearance, cannot be allowed to disturb the peace of the State, to return the hope of restoring the monarchy... 1 7

And on 29 Germinal Year III (April 19, 1795), Duval wrote: Let the good citizens be on their guards, let them enjoy the liberty granted to cults, but let them hold the hand of the execution of the law that forbids all violence, all coercion in the necessary contributions to their exercice; let them themselves denounce any man who would like to fanaticize them, or trangress the l a w . . . 1 8

While echoes of the radical fringe of the Montagne found their way into the pages of the Journal des hommes libres, this newspaper essentially reflected the point of view of what could be called the loyal Montagnard opposition, critical of the government and yet anxious to safeguard the regime and therefore enemy of any movement on the Left or the Right which could endanger the prospects of political stabilization. There obviously were as many kinds of Montagnards after the Ninth of Thermidor as before that date. The division of the Montagne into Robespierrists, Dantonists, and Hebertists, valid up to the Ninth of Thermidor, is not of great value for the understanding of the Thermidorian period unless one mistakenly assumes that the overwhelming influence of past allegiances continued. Earlier divisions and persecutions undoubtedly provided the material for many of the emotional and personal confrontations of the Thermidorian period, but new issues were at hand and new political divisions came into existence. Some advocated the stabilization of the Revolution, others sought to return to some of the earlier institutions of the Revolution, and others still of carrying the Revolution forward to fulfil all its promises. Between the moderates and the constitutional monarchists looking backward towards the Constitution of 1791, and the democrats looking forward to the Constitution of 1793, there were those who agreed on the institutions erected between August 10, 1792 and May 31, 1793, which they looked upon as making up a kind of minimum program acceptable to both former Girondins and many former Montagnards. This was the point of view supported by the Journal des hommes libres. This middle-of-the-road politics made the newspaper a natural target for criticism, but both the criticism

to the loss of government contracts, 1794-1795

49

against the newspaper and the criticism that its editors directed at the government were beneficial to this periodical for they demonstrated its independence from factions and government. In view of the business relations between Vatar and the government during this period, the cautious attitude of the editors of the Journal des hommes libres is not surprising, but the animosity of the attacks of the moderates is, unless the violence of their attacks is an indication of the influence of Vatar's newspaper.

4

4 From the insurrections of April-May 1795 to the arrest of the Babouvists 1795-1796 In the year that followed the cancellation of the government subscription to the Journal des hommes libres and the printing contract for the Committee of Public Safety, the Thermidorian Reaction went through its last gasps and the Executive Directory began its see-saw policy. It was an eventful year, marked by the insurrections of Prairial and Vendémiaire and the arrest of the Babouvists.

1. THE CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION

In order to limit the liberty of the press, new laws were adopted : on 12 Floréal Year III (May 1, 1795), to deport individuals encouraging the debasement of the national asembly and the return of the monarchy; Article 145 of the Constitution of Year III (1795) gave the government the right to arrest people suspected of action detrimental to the internal and external security of the State, and Article 355 gave the government the right to place the press under police control for a year. In spite of this legislation, a quasi total liberty existed until the end of December 1795, when the Executive Directory initiated the systematic harassment of the opposition press. It must be pointed out, however, that the government did not obtain the full co-operation of the judiciary. Juries refused to find editors and publishers guilty unless they were guilty of provocation to murder, arson, and similar crimes, this leniency being, of course, greater toward moderates and neo-royalist newspapers than toward others. On the eve of the arrest of the Babouvists, the government finally obtained two laws which effectively organized the liberty of the press. The law of 27 Germinal Year IV (April 16, 1796) punished with deportation provocations to disobey the national assembly and the executive ; to assassinate the legislators ; to re4»

51

52

From the insurrections of April-May 1795

establish the monarchy ; the Constitution of 1793; or any government different from the one founded on the Constitution of 1795; to destroy public property; to pilfer; and to abolish private property. The law of 28 Germinal (April 17) ordered newspapers to indicate the names of their authors and printers, and stipulated that the law of 27 Germinal applied to authors, printers, distributors, salesmen, and bill-stickers. The new legislation regulated a press which had considerably grown since the Ninth of Thermidor. O n 26 Frimaire Year I V (December 17, 1795), the legislator, Jacques Ramel, claimed that 95,000 copies of newspapers were daily shipped from Paris to the departments. The moderate Censeur des journaux published on 4 Brumaire, 19 and 20 Nivose Year IV (October 26 and December 31, 1795, and January 1, 1796) articles to help the public find its way in the mass of newspapers available. In Paris, newspaper salesmen were surrounded by crowds anxious to know if the National Convention had reduced the cost of food early in 1795, and section (district) assemblies continued to close their sessions with the reading of newspapers. In the provinces, the press was just as prosperous, some departments having several newspapers representative of the several political tendencies. The main beneficiary of the recovery of the liberty of the press was the moderate and the royalist press. T h e moderate Journal de Perlet boasted 21,000 subscribers; the circulation of the Journal des hommes libres can be indirectly evaluated. On 2 Messidor Year I V (June 20, 1796), the royalist UiZclair estimated at 4,000 the circulation of the four most important republican newspapers - the Sentinelle, the JJ Ami des lois, the Journal des patriotes de 89, which were subsidized by the government, had each a circulation of 500-600, which would leave 2,200-2,500 for the Journal des hommes libres. This was a very respectable amount at a time when Babeuf's newspaper only had 590 subscribers. Many of the newspapers survived only because of government subsidies. A number of anti-royalist journals had been founded in the summer of 1795, when the Thermidorian government had began to worry about the scope of the royalist resurgence. Eventually, on 7 Frimaire Year I V (November 28, 1795), a Bureau d'esprit publique co-ordinated the propaganda effort of the government. Antoine F. Lemaire, of the Journal du Bonhomme Richard, and perhaps, R£al and

to the arrest of the Babouvists,

1795-1796

53!

Jean-Claude Méhée de la Touche, of the Journal des patriotes de 89, Pierre L. Ginguené and AntohëUe, worked in that office. On 4 Pluviôse Year IV (February 22, 1796), the neo-royalist L'Historien asserted, with some exaggeration that the government spent 26 million livres a year to support the Sentinelle, the Journal des patriotes de 89, the VAmi

des lois, a n d the Rédacteur. T h e government p u r -

chased large quantities of the newspapers just named and the Journal du Bonhomme Richard, the U Orateur plébéien, the Courrier de Paris, a n d

the Censeur des journaux, but, in most cases, the susbçriptions were of short duration and the subsidies small. In addition, the government created its own press, with such newspapers as the Rédacteur and the Journal des défenseurs de la patrie, that Lavallée managed. Except for the.subscription to one copy, made on 9 Frimaire Year IV (November 29, 1795) for the office of military history and topography, the Journal des hommes libres did not receive a n y government aid. I t is

true, however, that the Ministry of War subscribed to 100 copies of the Moniteur batave that Vatar printed and distributed in France. 1 Inflation was the major culprit for the dependence of many newspapers on government subsidies. By July 1795, the assignat was worth only three per cent of its nominal value, 0.4 per cent in February 1796, and on 28 Ventôse Year IV (March 18, 1796) the mandats territoriaux were introduced. Repeatedly, newspapers were forced to hike their rates, to the great anger of the poor who were not even able to afford the journals where the rate of exchange of the currency was quoted. The Journal des hommes libres had had its first tariff increase on 1 Ventôse Year I I I (February 19, 1795). The second increase on 1 Fructidor {August 18, 1795) was accompanied by an attempt to reduce the cost of printing by using cheap paper, but the move infuriated the subscribers. Each decade, the rates were increased. On 29 Frimaire Year IV (December 20, 1795), Vatar warned that he would no longer accept subscriptions for oyer three months, a decision that he was forced to abandon on 23 Nivôse (January 13, 1796). On 4 Nivôse (December 25, 1795), the subscribers paying in species were offered the 1792 rates and the newspaper on better grade paper. The annual rates had passed from fifty livres on 1 Ventôse Year I I I (February 19, 1795) to 2,000 livres in assignats on 23 Nivôse Year IV (January 13, 1796). Out of all the costs, the most resented was that of postage. On 6 Nivôse Year IV (December 27, 1795), postal rates had been in-

54

From the insurrections of April-May 1795

creased to one livre five sous in assignats per sheet for dailies. The laws of 9 and 11 Pluviôse Year IV (January 29 and 31, 1796) called for the payment of half the postage in species and half in assignats at the rate of 100 per one mandat (the official rate of exchange was 30 to 1). This legislation was hated the more since the government shipped free of charge some of the subsidized newspapers. Some publishers tried to organize their own postal service, in contravention of the laws of August 29, 1790, and September 20 1792. Vatar's financial plight remained critical. At the end of 1795, the government settled its debt for the printing done for the Committee of Public Safety. It gave him only 12,000 out of the 400,000 livres that he expected and confiscated the twenty printing presses that he had used in the printing-shop of the committee. Even though the Journal des hommes libres failed to appear on two occasions (on January 22, 1796, a national holiday, and on November 2, 1795), Vatar eventually was able to keep his newspaper alive. He was helped financially by Duval, who sacrificed his whole fortune to the journal, and perhaps by Méhée de la Touche, Tallien, and Lepeletier. Vatar himself made some sacrifices, since he stopped the publication of the Rennes-based Journal des municipalités on 29 Prairial Year III (June 18, 1795).

2 . THE CIRCULATION OF THE NEWSPAPER

Despite all the difficulties, the Journal des hommes libres retained as wide an occupational and geographical distribution as before. An analysis of the correspondence discloses that a sizeable contingent of the readers were legislators (26), that a third of the civil servants were local administrators, that there were a great many military officiers, two défenseurs officieux (lawyers), two notaries, a physician, an actor, a newspaper editor, three négociants (merchants), a manufacturer, a limonadier (café-keeper), a property owner, an entrepreneur, a worker from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and many former civil servants and prisoners. Babeuf's Tribun du peuple had the same kind of readership. As far as the geographical distribution is concerned, no newspaper had a better one than the Journal des hommes libres. It was known as the best source of information for the departments. Large cities continued to provide the great majority

to the arrest of the Babouvists,

1795-1796

55

of readers (86.2 per cent), undoubtedly because they provided shelter from the White Terror. Half the small towns represented in the correspondence were in the zones of civil war. There were letters from almost all the departments, half being in the zones of civil war. From Paris came 33.4 per cent of all the letters and there were thirty departments in the regions of relative calm. The distribution of the circulation of Babeuf's Tribun du peuple was very different. Most of its subscribers from zones of civil war resided in the departments of the Alps and the Rhône valley, and 58 per cent of the subscribers were in Paris. The distribution of Babeuf's newspaper reflected a more radical readership.

3 . THE WRITERS OF THE NEWSPAPER

The composition of the editorial staff of the Journal des hommes libres was modified in at least one major respect. Duval lost his preponderant position and even resigned, to be replaced by Antonelle. After a short absence, Duval had returned to the newspaper in Pluviôse Year III (January-February 1795), but he never recovered his earlier influence. In Thermidor Year III (August-September 1795), he fell ill and, except for a few days in September, he remained absent until 11 Vendémiaire Year IV (October 3, 1795). He had been elected to the Council of Five Hundred by the department of Nord. Illness forced him to reduce his collaboration to the newspaper to the writing of the accounts of the legislative sessions and a few editorials. He announced his resignation for the first time on 11 Ventôse Year IV (March 1, 1796). Ten days later, he announced that he had given up his position in the management and the editorial board of the newspaper. He did not contribute any article after the middle of April 1796. Duval's earlier role had been filled since December 1795 by Pierre Antoine, Marquis d'Antonelle. Born in Aries on June 17, 1747, in a rich and aristocratic family, he had been in the military until 1782. In 1789, he welcomed the Revolution with a pamphlet entitled Catéchisme du Tiers État, à Vusage de toutes les provinces de France

et spécialement de la Provence. He was the mayor of Arles in 1790—1791 during the violent disorders that also affected Avignon and Carpentras. Elected to the Legislative Assembly, he sat after November 1791

56

From the insurrections of April-May

1795

in the Committee of Correspondence. On January 1, 1792, he was elected president of the Jacobin Club. However, he was not reelected in 1792 to the national assembly and he henceforth occupied only minor positions. As foreman of the jury of the Revolutionary Tribunal, he participated in the trial of Queen Marie Antoinette and the Girondins. Some authors claimed that the reluctantly voted the death of the latter. On 28 Frimaire Year II (December 18, 1793), he was expelled from the Jacobin Club because of his aristocratic antecedents and on 28 Ventôse (March 18, 1794) he was arrested, at Robespierre's insistence if we are to believe BillaudVarennes and Collot d'Herbois. He remained jailed until the Ninth of Thermidor. During the Thermidorian Reaction, he wrote a few pamphlets and especially Observations sur le droit de cité et sur quelques parties du travail de la Commission de Onze, printed by

Vatar, where he suggested that the poor should be guaranteed the means to survive and land should belong to the nation. He also wrote for the L'Orateur plébéien. On 18 Brumaire Year IV (November 9, 1795), together with Réal, Méhée de la Touche, and Ginguené, he was appointed editor of the proclamations, addresses and instructions of the Executive Directory, and on 9 Frimaire (December 1, 1795) editor of the Bulletin officiel, created by the government. On 18 Frimaire (December 9, 1795), he was dismissed from this post. Félix Lepeletier was the most outstanding of the new contributing editors. The brother of Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, who had been assassinated a day after the execution of Louis XVI, Ferdinand Louis Félix Michel Lepeletier was born on October 1, 1767, in a family of upper robe nobility. The death of his brother transformed him into an ardent revolutionary. Admitted into the Jacobin Club on January 21, 1793, he was elected its secretary on August 7, 1793. He was excluded from the club on 13 Pluviôse Year II (February 4, 1794) because of his aristocratic antecedents. During the Thermidorian Reaction, he defended the Montagne and opposed the projects of a new constitution, in particular in the pamphlet entitled Réflexion sur le moment présent. Together with Antonelle and hundreds of Jacobins, he participated in the defense of the National Convention against the royalist insurrection of 13 Vendémiaire Year IV (October 5, 1795), but he refused any reward from the government. In the winter of 1795, he became one of the first members of the

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neo-Jacobin Société du Panthéon. It is possible that he provided funds for the publication of Babeuf's Tribun du peuple, and even Vatar's newspaper, but it is not certain because his personal fortune was small. Most of Lepeletier's revenues were in fact his niece's, the ward of the nation Suzanne Lepeletier. He remained in control of her fortune until 21 Pluviôse Year IV (February 10, 1796), when the Council of Five Hundred gave her the authorization to marry.

4 . THE CONTENT OF THE NEWSPAPER

The content of the newspaper reflected the various elements described so far: Vatar's alienation from the government, the wide distribution of the circulation of the newspaper, and the composition of the editorial staff. Until the anti-republican and anti-National Convention insurrection of 13 Vendémaire, the editors were essentially interested in the political stabilization of the regime. The failure by the government to undertake an energetic anti-aristocratic and anti-clerical policy, growing economic unrest, and the repression of extreme Left republicans, transformed them into vehement critics of the Executive Directory and sympathizers of the Babouvists, while remaining advocates of restraint. I n the spring of 1795, the editors of the Journal des hommes libres

refused to acknowledge the relationship between the evolution of the Revolution since the Ninth of Thermidor and the dissatisfaction of the popular classes from the revolutionary cause. They saw only contradictions in the popular behavior and they blamed the popular classes for the failure of the Jacobins to regain control of the regime. They had blamed the events of April 1, 1795, on royalist provocation. Between these events and those of 1 Prairial Year I I I (May 20, 1795), they debated the economic situation only twice.2 Their reaction to the journée of 1 Prairial was frankly hostile. Vatar himself denounced the event as a royalist provocation and he attacked the Montagnard legislators who supported it. Denying that misery had played any role in the insurrection, he castigated the government for its failure to prevent this royalist provocation to mature. 3 In order to forestall further disorders, the editors supported the

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rapid elaboration of a new constitution, which would reaffirm the results of the Revolution. According to the editors, the Jacobins wanted to defend the government, insure its stability, and support the National Convention. They realized that many veterans of the Revolution were in the armies, dead, or in prisons. Accordingly, they considered it wisest that the Jacobins resist all provocations and show by their behavior that they opposed a return to the Terror and wanted only Liberty and Justice. 4 The editors were far from enthusiastic about the constitutional project supported by the Thermidorian majority. They were especially opposed to the limitations to the electoral franchise. On 4 Messidor Year III (June 22, 1795), they wrote: Two years ago, passion and fashion had indistinctively proclaimed French citizens all inhabitants of France. Today passion and fashion would like to exclude 99 Frenchmen out of 100. In 1793 it was common to consider big landed property criminal against the rights of man; now it is fashionable to place national sovereignty only in landed property, and to relegate the owner of capital, the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant in the class of simple proletarians.5

In final analysis, however, the editors were more concerned with the outcome of the first elections than with the constitution, for they feared a moderate and neo-royalist triumph. Consequently, they were delighted by the decision of the National Convention to guarantee two-thirds of the seats in the forthcoming legislature to its own members. This decision seemed to prove that despite their differences of opinion, the republicans agreed upon the need to uphold the republican regime. The editors of the Journal des hommes libres applauded the suppression of the insurrection of Vendémiaire, but they were disappointed by the anti-royalist repression that followed. They had demanded the integral application of the terrorist legislation, the expulsion of the returned émigrés, the suppression of speculation, and the dismissal of aristocratic civil servants. Duval argued : In what country have not been suppressed, and severely, those who do not want to submit to the laws of the State ; have the enemies of the State been allowed the audacity to call this severity terror, and men weak or stupid enough to join the chorus and also yell that it is terror! . . . Terror!

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isn't it necessary to use it against those who express publicly by their speeches and acts, the will to overthrow the republic.®

From the middle of October on, the editors acknowledged that the government did not intend to redress the harm done to the Jacobins after the Ninth of Thermidor. Some of them joined the radical republicans who met after the end of October at the Société du Panthéon; others such as Duval, joined the moderates at the Hotel de Noailles after the end of December. On 7 Frimaire (November 28, 1795), the Journal des hommes libres published one of the two addresses of the society ever found. However, the editors continued to assume, at least publicly, that the Executive Directory would end up aligning itself with the Jacobins and the democrats : Government, government, you must strike the royalists, if you do not want that they strike you. Executive Directory, toward which the patriots repeatedly turned, fulfill their hopes, save the republic: you can do it, you must do it. Your deliberations tend toward the salvation of the people . . . There are neither slaughterers nor émigrés among your members. Fulfill your destiny and act.7

The relations between the editors of the Journal des hommes libres and Babeuf were far from harmonious. On November 4, 1795, the newspaper had published the prospectus of Babeuf's Tribun du peuple. The editors were very upset by the content of issue No. 34 of 15 Brumaire (November 5, 1795) of this newspaper. Babeuf attacked the republicans rallied to the government, made the apology of the Robespierrist Montagne, and denounced the Termidorians as gravediggers of democracy. The republican press subsidized by the government reacted angrily. Vatar's newspaper denounced his call for a civil war that could only serve royalist interests, but acknowledged Babeuf's good republican intentions, and asked the government to initiate a more active policy against the royalists and the economic crisis: We have denounced in one of our last issues the newspaper of the Tribun du peuple, or rather we only published an article given to us by a patriot charged with the task to announce it. We have just read the issue of this newspaper about which we must express ourselves very frankly, and we do not fear to say that our opinion is that of all true friends of the republic, and that all repudiate the imprudent pages which can rekindle today the

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torch of discord, serve royalism and ruin the fatherland... We don't question the intentions of the Tribun du peuple that we believe to be a good republican; but we strongly accuse, we repudiate, in the name of the patriots, this imprudent sheet which could be a firebrand of civil war; and we proclaim here the political profession of faith, round which must rally in these times of crisis, all sincere friends of the fatherland. We must meet, we must establish the republic ; we must deal with subsistance and the people's happiness; we must repress monopolizing and speculation, destroy royalism and fanaticism. 8

However, Duval accused Babeuf of being an agent provocateur seeking to promote the kind of insurrection that had already failed in the spring of 1795 : No, gentlemen, no, the republicans, twice fooled, will not be fooled again. You have in vain sent among us your bloodhounds, your ordinary barkers, to sow terror, to capture the minds, misled or exasperated by the atrocious persecution that you have provoked, and from which they barely are coming out, to yell very loud, and to make yell, if they can, that a coup is necessary; that is the big word coming from the royalists . . . The republicans will not fall in the trap and you will not have the pleasure of seeing the citizens slaughter each other. The republicans are stationary toward the government; they do not want to overthrow it. 9

Babeuf countered his critics in issue No. 35 of his newspaper with an attack against Fouché and the journalists Méhée, Réal, René Lebois, and Duval. He praised Antonelle's Observation sur le droit de cité, and he directed his most violent criticism against Duval, that he characterized as a man unworthy of proscriptions and always silent when his personal safety was at stake, as a great opponent of already defeated opponents and a man hiding behind the common and misleading label of republican. It is after these developments that the Executive Directory began its repression of the neo-Jacobins and the democrats. On 14 Frimaire (December 5, 1795) Lebois, the editor of the L'Ami du peuple, and Babeuf were arrested ; and Antonelle — who had answered to Babeuf in the issue of 16 Frimaire (December 7, 1795) of the L'Orateur plébéien, where he criticized his attacks against republican personalities and denied the possibility of an ideal society, while admitting the possibility of one in which the inequalities of fortune were

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bearable — was dismissed from his position of editor of the Bulletin officiel four days later. The Journal des hommes libres did not become an outlet for Babeuf's ideas even after Antonelle joined its editorial staff, nor did it radically alter its position. Antonelle's concern for economic and social justice corresponded to the growing concern of the other editors. They had finally recognized the importance of economic and social problems, and particularly their role in the crisis of confidence in the regime. To deal with the economic crisis, they proposed to expulse all émigrés and non-juring priests, to suppress speculation, to impose a surtax on the property of émigrés and parents of émigrés ; to regulate the use of assignats used to pay for taxes; to re-evaluate the national property put up for sale; and to create a central national bank. In addition, they favored the return of the maximum, earlier characterized as 'a disastrous law, made necessary by circumstances, contrary to all principles'.10 The editors of the Journal des hommes libres disagreed among themselves on the principles of economics and social policy. Some saw in government intervention a necessary evil, others a necessary aspect of the policy of a truly republican government. They also disagreed on the vital question of a central bank. On 8 Ventôse Year IV (February 27, 1796), the Council of Five Hundred had rejected the project to authorize a group of Paris bankers to redeem all the paper money in exchange for the privilege to establish a central bank. Most of the neo-Jacobins were opposed to the project, but on 9 Ventôse (February 28, 1796) the Journal des hommes libres gave its support to the principle of such an institution. The editors of the newspaper took an ambivalent position toward the fantastic speculation in national property. While they denounced the squandering of national property that followed the issue of the mandats territoriaux, they could not help applaud the creation of a class of property owners bound to the regime. 11 Antonelle's views were radical, but they did not rejoin those of Babeuf. On 17 Nivôse Year III (January 17, 1796), he praised absolute equality, 'the immobile and salutary level', after Lebois had been arrested for allegedly preaching the agrarian law with quotations taken from the writings of Rousseau and Mably, 'the most forceful defender of equality", and he denounced private property with arguments borrowed from Helvétius, Rousseau,

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Diderot [in fact Morelly] and Mably. 1 2 O n 5 Pluviôse (January 25, 1796), he defended the policy of taxation, requisition, and repression, of the Terror : They are nearly dumb on all crimes of these last years, but they do not tire of telling us, in the style that characterizes them, and the good faith that we know is theirs, about all the calumnies of another time. They present us inceasingly, and always to no purpose, with the alleged king Robespierre and his horrible reign, and Robespierre again, and what they call his dictatorship and his regime. They speak of the epoch prior to the 9 Thermidor, in the system of deadly generality and inflexible rigidity of principles, that does not take into account the most extreme and imperious circumstances, and they do not distinguish either the time or the things or the persons ; in such a way that all democrat revolutionaries are included in a common proscription, and stricken by one anathema. They make sure that they do not point that the democrat revolutionaries, all seeking intentionally a praiseworthy goal, the conquest of political equality of rights, and the strengthening of real popular sovereignty, took for guide and faithfully followed the public spirit then very decided, the constant example of the representatives of the people, their speeches, their acts, their decrees, their commands, all the laws of the National Convention, and the well declared will of the Nation itself, or what seemed to form its majority ; whereas since the 9 Thermidor, the crowd of these passionate reactors seems to have only one goal and motives just as hideous, comdemnable and personal; counter-revolution is the atrocious vengeance, the triump of inequality, the misery and the enslavement of the people, the massacre of its defenders. 13 O n 24 Pluviôse (February 3, 1796), the newspaper praised the terrorist government for its ability to ensure political equality and subsistance for all, and it proclaimed that it was the duty of government to care for the needs of the less fortunate victims of a faulty organization of society. 1 4 T h e Journal des hommes libres had been accused of advocating the agrarian l a w before Antonelle joined its staff. His writings confirmed the enemies of the newspaper in their prejudice, and yet it is worth noting that the position of V a tar's daily was not very different from that of the L'Ami du peuple and the U Orateur plébéien, which were receiving government subsidies. T h e Journal des hommes libres was radicalized by the events from the end of February to the end of M a y 1796. O n 1 Ventôse (Febru-

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ary 20), Babeuf's wife was arrested while selling the Tribun du peuple and on 8 Ventôse (February 27) the Société du Panthéon was closed. The editors of Vatar's newspaper immediately came to Babeuf's rescue, defending his right to discuss private property, discussion which had served as a pretext to arrest his wife. 15 O n 3 Ventôse (February 22), Duval suddenly expressed his regrets over the fall of Robespierre. The editors criticized severely the closing of the society, alleging that shutting the clubs harmed the political education of the poor. 16 The newspaper published Buonarroti, Antonelle, and Lepeletier's denials of having played an important role in this club, of having been members of a plot, and advocating the establishment of a dictatorship. 17 The Journal des hommes libres became the target of violent attacks by the moderate and neoroyalist press, which accused 'the former Comte Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau' and the 'Chevalier d'Antonelle' of preparing an upheaval so radical that it would dwarf the Robespierrist Terror. In fact, the position of the newspaper and each of its editors was far more complex than their critics were willing to admit. Antonelle's attitude was symptomatic of th e Journal des hommes libres toward the Babouvists and the government. O n 28 Ventôse (March 19, 1796), he criticized the views expressed by Babeuf in the issue No. 37 of the Tribun du peuple : Men in society can find happiness in the community of goods. This opinion is undoubtedly not particular to him [Mably] . . . It's one of the points, rare enough, as we know, on which poets and philosophers . . . were and will always be unanimous . . . This does not mean, assuredly, that we need today vote the effective abolition of property and the establishment of the community of goods ; for evidently, we could march toward the goal only by brigandage and the horrors of civil war . . . But it means that all our lives must be directed against ambition and greed . . , 18

Nevertheless, on 19 Germinal (April 8), he became a member of the secret Directory of the conspiracy for equality, together with Babeuf, Sylvain Maréchal, and Lepeletier, at least according to Buonarroti. The Italian scholar Armando Saitta believes that Antonelle had by then drawn away from the plot, but also that he and Babeuf had a secret agreement which allowed the latter to

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publicize his views through a public dialogue in the pages of the Journal des hommes libres. This may be the case, but Antonelle's

public position and that of the newspaper were hardly favorable to Babeuf's plans. The newspaper warned its readers against provocations to violence: These signs of malaise, which have become more evident, and, so to say, contagious, because of the ease with which the poor can meet in good season and discuss their ills, have scared the ardent imaginations . . . We shall not undertake to answer the insults against the people who thus meet in groups. It is not those who insult who are most opposed" to the disorder where one would like to involve them; faithful to the principles that we have already developed, we will try to calm, either the people itself, if it needs to be calmed, or at least the worries of those who insist on seeing in these groups a powerful conspiracy. No, the people does not plot, it has not forgotten Prairial . . . Has the people the means to insurrect? Who would provide the people with cannons and weapons? where are the leaders . . . ? 19

And two days later: There will not be any disorder, all true patriots have loudly spoken out against any kind of disorder. Only a royalist faction has wanted one; the crime can, indeed, be attributed only to those who can benefit from disorders . . . We again repeat, we shall repeat a thousand times: Patriots, stay calm, people beware of agitators. 20

On 9 Floréal (April 28), the government ordered the dissolution of the Babouvist-infiltrated Legion of Police and on Floréal 19 (May 8) the arrest of the Babouvists. Many of them, including Antonelle and Lepeletier, escaped. From the beginning, the editors of Vatar's newspaper denied the very existence of the conspiracy. The apathy of the people was definitive proof that the denounced neo-Jacobin plot did not exist, but that there was, instead, a royalist plot: At this time when the mass is calm, even apathetic, people insist on rejecting the reality of this conspiracy, at least in its entirety, while only a few royalists and their vile writers, play it u p with all the furor and the imaginable falsehood, everything leads us to believe that already the

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nature of the peril has changed, and that perhaps even the Directory has noticed it (a) (In reality, the government must be aware of a true committee of insurrection, hidden behind a so-called Société de Clichy, a royalist society . . . ) 2 1 T h e y characterized the Plan of Insurrection and the Address to the Twelve Arrondissements as mere writings intended for publication ; they protested the arrest of Jean-Baptiste Drouet, despite his parliamentary i m m u n i t y ; and they described Babeuf in very sympathetic terms : It must be pointed out, as we have already done it, that the issues of Babeuf carry the mark of a soul profoundly embittered, by the display of a great and long misery, of a real humbling of the people, of the collapse of the national spirit, of several signs, unfortunately not very doubtful, of a funest propensity imparted to things and to men, toward aristocracy . . . For these reasons, it is clear that Babeuf's sheets are themselves a big plan of conspiracy. Thus he took the name of Tribun du peuple, but he forgot that only in Rome were the interests of the people and their defenders holy. 22 From his hiding place, Antonelle repeated his appeals for the unity o f all republicans a n d expressed his confidence in the government : Let us therefore unite with the present government, to strive with it toward that end [strengthen public liberty, make the holy cause of the revolution triumph, insure to all full enjoyment of all the rights, concord, happiness...], and to help it lead us to it. But if it ever happened that the government separated itself from the people and disregarded the principles, then we would surround it to bring it back to the rallying point from which it had been diverted. And for that, I repeat it, let all republicans agree and not cease to come to terms. Down with hatreds, resentments, distrusts, and expedients; the order of the day is general trust, reciprocal confessions, mutual forgiveness... 2 3 T h e presence of several editors of the Journal des hommes libres in the alleged conspiracy m a y have had something to d o with this position. It must be said, however, that the skepticism expressed by Vatar's newspaper was not different from that of the L'Ami des lois, the Sentinelle, a n d the Journal des patriotes de 89, w h i c h were subsidized by the government. A n d the fear of the royalists expressed by its 5

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editors corresponded to the fears expressed by the moderate republicans who met at the Hotel de Noailles, that the attacks against extremist republicans would degenerate into an attack against all republicans. The Executive Directory chose to ignore the ambiguities in the attitude of the Journal des hommes libres and to see only its defense of the Babouvists. The authorities had assembled a large dossier on Vatar since the end of October 1795. There was some evidence that his newspaper was reprinted in the departments and distributed in the armies, particularly the Army of the Coasts of Brest. The arrest of the Babouvist leaders placed in the hands of the police the lists of subscribers to the Tribun du peuple, one of which was Vatar. The daily attacks by the newspaper and its skepticism toward the Babouvist plot irritated and worried the government. It seemed expedient to scare Vatar, since no attempt was made to arrest him or to close down his newspaper. On 26 Floréal (May 15, 1796), the printer of the Journal des hommes libres was ordered arrested. Four days later, another warrant called for the arrest of Vatar, printer and editor of the newspaper. Vatar was allegedly very shocked by what he characterized as 'cette espèce de disgrace', as if to imply that he had fallen out of favor. 24 5 . BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

For Duval's health and legislative career, see J. hommes libres, IV, No. 88, 13 Fructidor Year III, p. 348, n. 1; No. 94, 19 Fructidor Year III, p. 392; No. 123, 12 Vendémiaire Year IV, pp. 477-78; and 'Paris', J. hommes libres, V, No. 26, 3 Frimaire Year IV, pp. 103-4; and Jean-René SURATTEAU, 'Les élections de l'an IV. Troisième partie', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, XXIV (1952), 33, n. 70, and 35-36, n. 79. All the authors who have dealt with the history of the press and the Babouvist conspiracy insist that Duval was the author of the Journal des hommes libres during the development of the Babouvist Affair. The evidence contradicts this assertion. See J. hommes libres, V, No. 123, 11 Ventôse Year IV, p. 495; 'Aux rédacteurs du Journal des hommes libres', No. 142, 30 Ventôse Year IV, pp. 571-72; 'Paris', No. 203, 1 Prairial Year IV, p. 818; 'Les rédacteurs du Journal des hommes libres aux rédacteurs des Nouvelles politiques', No. 314, 27 Fructidor Year IV, p. 1277. The only available biography of Félix Lepeletier is in two articles by Ph. DALLY, 'Félix Lepeletier' and 'Suzanne Lepeletier, fille de la nation',

ot the arrest of the Babouvists,

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67

La Révolution française, LXII and LXIII (1912). I gathered a few additional pieces of information in MONGLOD, II, 802-804; Œuvres de Michel Félix Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau (Brussels, 1926), p. 431, and note DD pp. 69 and 225; MATHIEZ, La France sous le Directoire (Paris, 1929), p. 67; Claude MAZAURIC, Babeuf et la conspiration pour l'égalité (Paris, 1962), p. 110 ; Gérard WALTER, Babeuf1760-1797et

la Conjuration des égaux (Paris, 1937), pp. 256-57;

Maurice DOMMANGET, Pages choisies de Babeuf (Paris, 1935), p. 309, n. 1; Georges DUVAL, Souvenirs thermidoriens (2 vols.; Paris, 1844), II, 133; Courrier universel, of August 19, 1793, p. 1, and 28 Nivôse and 18 Pluviôse Year II, pp. 1 and 3; and Moniteur universel (Réimpression) (32 vols.; Paris, 1858— 1870), X I X , 17 a n d 22 Pluviôse Year I I , p p . 381-82 a n d 426, and X X I X ,

8, 14 and 15 Nivôse Year VI, pp. 110 and 115. The biography of Antonelle remains to be written. The article in the Dictionnaire de biographie française, I I I , 64-65, and E. AVENARD and P. G u i -

RARD, 'Essai d'explication du Marquis d'Antonelle', Provence historique, V (1955), 263-88, leave m u c h to be desired. For his career in 1789-1793,

I have used information found in Edouard BIRÉ, Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris (5 vols. ; new ed. ; Paris, 1895-1911), III, 392, n. 4; Mémoires de Charles Barbaroux, in Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution française, ed. by Saint-Albin BERVILLE and Jean François BARRIÈRE (56 vols.; Paris, 1820— 1828), X L V I I I ,

18, 4 1 8 , 4 2 2 , a n d 4 4 ; DUVAL, Souvenirs,

I V , 98; C. F.

BEAULIEU, Essai historiques sur les causes et les effets de la Révolution de France (6 vols.; Paris, 1801-1803), V , 217-220; André MARTIN and Gérard

WALTER, Catalogue de l'histoire de la Révolution française (6 vols.; Paris, 1936— 1943), I, 25-27; François Alphonse AULARD (ed.), La Société des Jacobins (6 vols.; Paris, 1889-1897), III, 180, 253, 306, and Recueil des actes du Comité de salut public (28 vols.; Paris, 1889-1951), V I I I : 671, I X : 4, X V : 459; BÛCHEZ a n d R o u x , X V I I , 178 a n d 381 ; MAZAURIC, Babeuf, p . 1 0 6 ; WALTER,

Babeuf, p p . 126-27; MONGLOD, I I I , 295 a n d 15; M a u r i c e TOURNEUX,

Bibliographie de l'histoire de Paris pendant la Révolution française (5 vols. ; Paris, 1890-1913), I V , Nos. 21, 684, 685, 22419; Albert MÉTIN, 'Les origines d u

comité de sûreté générale de la convention nationale. Suite et fin', La Révolution française, XXVIII (1895), 356 and 359 ; Moniteur (Réimp.J Introduction, p . 5 9 6 , a n d V I I I : 2 8 3 a n d 6 0 4 , X I V : 2 1 8 , 372 a n d 5 5 1 ,

XVIII:

268, X X I V : 72, of May 5 and June 8, 1791, October 17, December 3 and 24, 1792, 6th Day, 2nd Month, Year II, and 9 Germinal Year III; and Archives parlementaires, X X X I V : 387, X X X V : 370, X L V I I I : 204, X L I : 321 a n d 489, X L V I I : 304, 338 a n d 654, X L V I I I : 112-13, X L I X : 276, L I I I : 549.

On his incarceration and release, see AN. F 7 4435, plaq. 3, piece 78, and AF II* 294, fol. 144. On his relations with the Executive Directory in the Fall of 1795, see A. DEBIDOUR (ed.), Recueil des actes du Directoire exécutif (4 vols.; Paris, 1910-1917), I, 43, 151, 212-13, 257, 258, n. 1; 5*

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Louis BIGARD, Le comte Real, ancien jacobin (De la Commune révolutionnaire de Paris à la Police générale de VEmpire (Versailles, 1937), p. 91; MATHIEZ, Le Directoire du 11 Brumaire an IV au 18 Fructidor an V, ed. by Jacques Godechot ( P a r i s , 1 9 3 4 ) , p p . 1 4 0 , 1 7 5 , n n . 1 a n d 2 ; M O N G L O D , I I I , 5 6 6 ; AULARD,

Paris pendant la Réaction thermidorienne et sous le Directoire (5 vols.; Paris, 1 8 9 8 - 1 9 0 2 ) , I I , 5 0 0 , n . 1, 5 2 7 , a n d I I I , 5 3 - 5 4 ; a n d A N . A F I I I * 1, f o l .

43 and 58, AF I I I 314, dos. 1245, pièce 12, AF I I I 328, dos. 1360, pièce 14, AF I I I 335, dos. 1448, F 18 21, dos. Seine, pièce X L V I I I (L'Orateur plébéien) ; and 'Paris', J. hommes libres, V, No. 45, 22 Frimaire Year IV, p. 180.

5 From the arrest of the Babouvists to the suppression of the Journal des hommes libres 1796-1798

The two years that followed the issue of a warrant for the arrest of Vatar were filled with capital events in the history of the French Revolution. The Journal des hommes libres played a major role in shaping the policy of the neojacobins and the democrats until its own demise on 23 Germinal Year V I (April 12, 1798). The newspaper had survived the fall of Robespierre, the Thermidorian Reaction, the repression of the Babouvists, and the rise of the neoroyalists until the coup d'etat of 18 Fructidor Year V (September 4, 1797). It was unable to escape the repression of the republican Left in the spring of 1798.

1. THE CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION

Until the anti-royalist coup d'état of 18 Fructidor, the Executive Directory failed to obtain any meaningful new legislation to limit the liberty of the press. The moderates and the neo-royalists, who controlled most of the circulation of the press, feared government controls and resented government subsidies to anti-royalist newspapers. The legislature adopted only two minor laws : on 6 Messidor Year I V (June 24, 1796), newspapers were made responsible for the extracts of foreign journals that they published ; and on 5 Pluviôse Year V (December 27, 1796) the regulation of newspaper pedlars applied in Paris was extended to the whole country. The coup d'état of 18 Fructidor eliminated for a while the moderate and neo-royalist leaders from the legislative councils, and their allies in the Executive Directory, and enabled the government to strengthen its control of the press. On 19 Fructidor (September 5, 1797), the press was placed under police control for one year, all dailies being compelled to send two copies of each issue to the police authorities for review. On 22 Fructidor (September 8), a law 69

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provided for the deportation of the advocates of a monarchy : 42 moderate and neo-royalist newspapers were immediately closed; sixty authors and printers ordered arrested, and 42 ordered deported (most escaped). Many of these newspapers reappeared under new titles and 16 were again suppressed on 27 Frimaire Year VI (December 17, 1797). In spite of the new legislation against private postal services, on 2 Nivôse Year VI (December 22, 1797), the authorities were unable to curb the circulation of moderate and neo-royalist opposition newspapers, especially in the departments. Newspapers were reminded daily of the government control the press through the activities of the Bureau politique and State monopoly of the post office. The Bureau politique watched the press and prepared articles, sometimes written by ministers and Directors, which were planted in co-operating newspapers. On 21 Fructidor Year VII (September 6, 1799), the editors of Vatar's L'Ennemi des oppresseurs disclosed that two months prior to the elections of 1798 the government had offered to supply the republican press with articles written in its Bureau d'esprit public in exchange for a monthly subsidy of 600 francs. Vatar had turned down the offer.1 Government manipulation of postal rates was an ideal weapon against the press. On 6 Messidor Year IV (June 24, 1796), the rate was set at 5 centimes per printed sheet for newspapers sold within the city where they were published, and up to 10 centimes when they were sold elsewhere. The outcry forced the government to rescind the increase, and the Journal des hommes libres was able to cancel the rate increase set to compensate for this hike in postal rates. Local postal authorities also contributed to the problems of the press because of their interference with circulation. On 4 Germinal Year V (March 24, 1797), the editors of the Journal des hommes libres claimed that they had received complaints against the post office from subscribers in Amiens, Givet, Angers, Metz, Bordeaux, Daumartin, Avesnes, Toulouse, and Laval. On 1 Frimaire Year VI (November 21, 1797), Bourg-sur-Rhône (formerly St Audéol) was added to this list. In addition, on 9 Vendémiaire Year VI (September 30, 1797), the government imposed a stamp tax on the press, at the rate of 5 cents per sheet and 3 cents per half sheet. The Executive Directory argued that only a minority of the population read newspapers and that the elimination of the marginal publications would create a more healthy press. It was not impressed at all by the arguments of

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the publishers that a diminution of the circulation would produce a reduction of State revenues and do considerable damage to the political life. To offset this artificial rate increase, the Journal des hommes libres was forced to request additional funds from its subscribers. The ability of the government to exercise financial pressure on the press was a very effective weapon. Unlike a few newspapers, such as the moderate L'Ami des lois, most republican newspapers had a small circulation and could hardly stand the additional financial burden imposed by government fiat. They were already hurt by the inflation which only came to an end with the demonetization of the paper currency on 16 Pluviôse Year V (February 4, 1797). O n 8 Prairial Year I V (May 27, 1796), the Journal des hommes libres announced its subscription rates in assignats and in mandats, and it periodically did so until 30 Messidor Year I V (July 16 1796), when the forced use of the mandats and the periodic rate changes came to an end. Financial difficulties had a negative effect on the circulation of the whole press. On 2 Messidor Year I V (June 20, 1796), the L'Éclair estimated the circulation of the moderate and neo-royalist press at 150,000, and that of the neo-Jacobin press at 4,000. About a year later, on 30 Floréal Year V (May 19, 1797), the Journal d'économie politique estimated the total circulation of the press at 80,000, out of which 50,000 went to the moderate newspapers, 18,000-20,000 to the neutral, 10,000 to the neo-royalist, and a mere 2,000 to the neo-Jacobin. Publishers could not depend on government subsidies, for they were too small, and, except for the Courrier de Paris and the Journal des campagnes et des armées, the government subscribed only to its own Journal des défenseurs de la patrie and the Rédacteur. Despite some problems, the Journal des hommes libres was regularly published. It failed to appear on only six occasions : on 4, 5, and 6 Prairial Year I V (May 23, 24, and 25, 1796), when Vatar's printing-shop was closed and sealed ; on 2 and 4 Thermidor Year I V (July 20 and 22, 1796); and on the 5th Sans-culottide Year I V (September 21, 1796), the anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, a day without mail distribution. There were rumours, on the eve of the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor, that the Journal des hommes libres was subsidized by the government. In August 1797, some

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legislators claimed that the newspaper was distributed to the soldiers of General Hoche's approaching armies. On 18 Thermidor Year V (August 5, 1797), Vatar denied the charge, admitting only that he had some subscribers in that army. A month later, the well-known author Jean-François Laharpe reiterated the charges. On 16 Fructidor (September 2, 1797), the Mirroir pointed to Vatar's progovernment Démocrate constitutionnel as proof of the mysterious links between Vatar and the Executive Directory. 2 In fact, his relations with the government were never very cordial. During the period of the anti-Babouvist repression, the attitude of the Journal des hommes libres precluded close relations between Vatar and the government. On 30 Floréal Year IV (May 19, 1796), seals were placed on Vatar's personal property and his printing-shop and they were not removed until 3 Messidor (June 21, 1796). For a short while, Vatar was unable to consult his lists of subscribers and the newspaper was not allowed to circulate through the mail. As for the presses that he had used in the printing-shop of the Committee of Public Safety, they remained denied to him. His own printingshop remained under police surveillance. On 16 Ventôse Year V (March 6, 1797), Vatar was even arrested, on a warrant issued by the Paris police.3 From April to September 1797, a common goal — the defeat of the neo-royalists — contributed to the establishment of adequate relations between Vatar and the republicans in the Executive Directory. He published two pro-government newspapers — Les Candidats à la nouvelle législature ou les grands hommes de

Van cinq, which had four issues, all lampooning the newly-elected moderate and neo-royalist legislators and their supporters in the press, and the Démocrate constitutionnel, which had 23 issues and which appeared in Fructidor — and several violently anti-royalist pamphlets. In return, the republican-controlled Council of Five Hundred refused to consider, on 18 Fructidor, Antoine Ch, Merlin de Thionville's proposal to arrest and deport Lepeletier and Antonelle. After the coup d'état, the relations between Vatar and the government deteriorated rapidly. He refused to co-operate with the Paris police and send copies of his newspaper for review. In Frimaire (November-December 1797), the authorities began compiling a file on Vatar and his newspaper. In Germinal (March-April 1798), the Ministry of Police made a thorough analysis of the newspaper, which provided the basis for the decision to suppress it on 23

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Germinal Year VI (April 12, 1798). The newspaper had allegedly become the echo of a disorganizing faction, it misled the public, and it calumniated the legislature, the government, and public servants.

2 . THE CIRCULATION OF THE NEWSPAPER

The analysis of the correspondence published in the newspaper gives some substance to the accusation of the government. There were still a few legislators among the readers, many civil servants and army officers, but there was especially a large number of former officials and political prisoners. The professional men included Pierre H6sine, the editor of the democrat Journal de la Haute Cour; R6al, the defense attorney of the Babouvists at Vendome; Leymerie, a physician with democratic sympathies; Leclerc des Vosges, Jh. Fauvel, and Antonelle, all men of letters; and Salar, a musician. The Journal des hommes libres remained favored by neo-Jacobin faithfuls in the bureaucracy, the Army, and the educated middle classes. As for the geographical distribution of its circulation, it had been little affected by the repression of the Babouvist movement. The correspondence came from 45 departments, but 23 were located north of the Loire valley. The main concentration of readers were in the Midi (the departments of Bouches-du-Rhone, Vaucluse, and Var), which accounted for one-fifth of the total correspondence, two-thirds of these coming from areas of civil war; the suburbs of Paris which accounted for one-third of all the letters, two-thirds of those from areas of relative calm. As earlier, nearly all (83 per cent) of the correspondence came from large urban centers, the small communities represented being dispersed all over the French territory. This relatively wide geographical distribution of the circulation gives some substance to the exaggerated claim by the American scholar Isser Woloch that Vatar was the paterfamilias of the Jacobin press and the Journal des homines libres the basic source of information for provincial editors and the national clearing-house of information about the neo-Jacobin movement. This conclusion is not born out by his documentation. He shows that Vatar's newspaper was purchased and read in Metz, Cherbourg, Lorient, and Ath (department of Jemmapes), but also that the Cherbourg Jacobin who

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purchased Vatar's newspaper bought the Rédacteur and the L'Ami des lois and probably read the. Journal des patriotes de 89. The purchase of Vatar's newspaper cannot be used as an index of Jacobinism. Woloch shows that a news item provided by the constitutional club of Pau was published by the Journal des hommes libres on 11 Pluviôse Year VI (January 30, 1798), in the L'Indépendant on 12 Pluviôse, in the L'Ami des principes on 16 Pluviôse, and in the Journal des Hautes Pyrénées on 16 Germinal Year V I (April 6, 1798), or a month later, and that another item originally published in the UAnti-royaliste ou le républicain du midi [Marseilles] appeared in the Journal de Toulouse on 2 Pluviôse (January 21, 1798), the Journal des hommes libres on 6 Pluviôse, the L'Indépendant on 7 Pluviôse, the Républicain du Nord [Brussels] and the Journal des Amis [Metz] on 10 Pluviôse. 4 The diffusion of these news items through these newspapers does not demonstrate that the Journal des hommes libres played the role of national clearing-house. Woloch is undoubtedly correct to point out that provincial neo-Jacobins obtained some of their news from Vatar's newspaper, but there is no reason to assume that they did not obtain a considerable portion of their news from other newspapers.

3 . THE WRITERS OF THE NEWSPAPER

The events of 1796-1798 had a sizeable impact on the composition of the editorial staff and the management of the newspaper. Vatar, who bore the greater part of the burden of management because of the flight of Antonelle, tended to rely more on his assistant Éon, on Camus, who also served as the intermediary between Babeuf and some of the subscribers to the Tribun du peuple, and on Nicolas Régnard and Pierre Giraud. Antonelle sent 58 articles from his hiding place (43 before the middle of August 1796), many of them signed 'L'hermite des environs de Paris', but after the trial of the Babouvists he became too involved in political activity to play an important role in the newspaper. Lepeletier had ceased all active collaboration in May 1796. The Journal des hommes libres did not lack in contributing editors. The most important were Lindet, Leclerc des Vosges, the legislators François Lamarque (his speech in defense of Drouet was serialized

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in 19 issues of the newspaper), Jacques Brival, François M . J . Riou, Honoré J . Riouffe, and Drouet, Réal, Barère, Charles A. G. Germain, Augustin J . Darthé, and P. F. T. [Tissot]. However, signed editorials diminished drastically after the middle of August 1796. There were 42 in Prairial (May-June), 34 in Messidor (June-July), and 24 in Thermidor (July-August), but only between two and seven in the months that followed. Fear of government repression undoubtedly prompted this craving for anonymity.

4 . THE CONTENT OF THE NEWSPAPER

T o the casual observer, the continued publication of the Journal des hommes libres is surprising - after all, the newspaper provided comfort and asylum to the Babouvists. The mystery is cleared up by an analysis of its content. The main themes developed in Vatar's daily reflected the concern of its editors for the fate of the Babouvists, their disenchantment with government policies, but also their fear of royalism and military despotism, and their opposition to the use of violence in politics and their pleas for republican unity. The editors never varied from the position that the Babouvist conspiracy had either never existed or had been grossly exaggerated. They never stopped defending the Babouvists, without government interference as the moderates and the royalists justly pointed out. They used two tactics in their defense : they distinguished among the arrested men various shades of guilt, motives, goals, and they emphasized the role that the neo-royalists would have played in the conspiracy. According to the editors, there were four conflicting elements among the alleged plotters. Some, like François M. Poultier, the editor of the UAmi des lois, sought to impose change through legislative action ; others, with Babeuf, wanted to assassinate all the legislators and the Directors ; others still, wanted to bring back the monarchy; and finally, there were agents of the government. 5 The editors indirectly praised the neo-Jacobins who had supported Babeuf by eulogizing the Montagnard legislators who had foolishly lost their lives in the spring of 1795.® At the same time, they minimized the importance of the alleged conspiracy. On 15 Prairial Year I V (June 4, 1796), they wrote:

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We have never denied the existence of a plan or project of conspiracy r but we have not believed, we still don't believe, that Babeuf ever had the means proportional to the success of his monstrous dreams; these were our expressions.7

They argued that the royalist aspect of the plot was the d o m i n a n t one, a n d that this was demonstrated by the failure of the plan of insurrection to provide for popular participation in the conspiracy and by the fact that only the royalists h a d benefited from the conspiracy. T h e position of the editors was not very different f r o m t h a t of the majority of republicans, who feared that over-emphasis on the Babouvist Affair would distract from the more dangerous royalist threat. T h e campaign of the newspaper in favor of Drouet was matched by the opposition of Tallien, Louvet, E m m a n u e l J . Sieyes, and M a r i e J . B. Chenier, to the lifting of Drouet's parliamentary immunity on 21 Prairial Year I V ( J u n e 9, 1796). 8 I t is no wonder that the moderates and the neo-royalists abused the conservative republicans as m u c h as the Babouvists and the neo-Jacobins. Nor is it surprising that Babeuf was critical of the position of the Journal des hommes libres and even of Antonelle. T h e ill-fated attempt of some Babouvists to seize the military c a m p of Grenelle in Paris in the first decade of September 1796 did not alter the position of the editors of the Journal des hommes libres, who suspected the police of having encouraged the expedition. Although critical of this type of action, they could not help sympathize with the 'poor ignorant wretches' who h a d foolishly become involved in this affair. They wrote: We shall examine, in our next issues, the consequences of all these machiavellian conceptions of intrigue and madness; and we shall make it clear how royalism in the background, helped by the low passions of some agitators either insane or corrupt, even utilizing police spies, excited or got excited an ignorant crowd, which, to the docility of need, adds the stubborness of misery, that the rich are very pleased to get punished, because it instinctively attached itself to the revolution, embraced with enthusiasm equality, and because the royalists are very interested in finding culprits, because placing all republicans in the same class they have proposed the means to have all patriots bear the punishment for the straying of a few men who were of the revolution, and who, instead of being slaughtered, could have been submitted to the government.9

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U n d e t e r r e d by the attacks in the moderate and neo-royalist press, t h e Journal des hommes libres stood by the Babouvists throughout their trial, echoing their position. At the trial, Babeuf presented himself as a wronged idealist, persecuted for his controversial views. T h e newspaper described the conspiracy as a fable d r e a m e d u p by a warped imagination. 1 0 I t denied now that the defendants were divided into four parties, an allegation by the governmental Rédacteur that Vatar's newspaper h a d earlier accepted. I t praised the defendants, sympathized with the Babouvists who were fugitive f r o m justice, a n d it attacked the procedure followed at the trial. O n 10 Ventôse Year V (March 1, 1797), the newspaper said: The prosecutor Vieillard has shown himself not as a judge, but an executioner, but as a hired persecutor; he has really been revolting. He was not inspired by anger, but rage; it was emitted with an ease, an abundance that makes one shudder. Unable to find in the documents the proofs to demonstrate the reality of the means that could have made possible the conspiracy, he recalled, painting them in the most hideous colors, the different phases of the revolution.11

I t h a d particularly w a r m words for Antonelle, after he overcame his 'natural timidity and lazyness'. 12 T h e editors of the newspaper were very pleased with the verdict of the Vendôme High Court. They did not expect the court to be as lenient as the courts which h a d dealt with the neo-royalists arrested in J a n u a r y 1797, b u t they still considered that the verdict would be a test of the intentions of the government. Consequently, they were elated to see most of the defendants exhonerated. They praised the verdict, even while bewailing the execution of Babeuf and D a r t h é : The tirai of Vendôme is over; and the government, after a year of persecution, despite the good will of the judges, the purchase of witnesses, the falsification of documents, the furors of Vieillard, the sordid actions of Cochon, the wickedness of Carnot, has not been able to subdue the conscience of the jurors. This frightful conspiracy no longer exists; it declared on all counts that there was no conspiracy.

But republican blood was needed to water, as always, the olive tree of peace; but human sacrifices had to be offered to priests and kings.13

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Antonelle and Lepeletier, who had never been in real danger since there was very little evidence against them, were among the freed defendants. The Journal des hommes libres organized the collection of

funds to help Babeuf's widow and children. General Thureau and Lepeletier eventually adopted the two youngest because an insufficient sum was collected.14 Throughout the development of the Babouvist Affair, the editor's concern, first expressed on 30 Ventôse Year IV (March 20, 1796), that the various coups had contributed some tolerance toward military rule, played an important role in their evaluation of the political situation.15 They feared that the people, tired of arbitrary rule and trained to obey, would eventually accept a return to despotism. Had military commanders, especially in France, been known republicans, they would not have been very concerned. After all, they did not object at all to the use of General Hoche's troops during the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor. It was at the end of September 1796 that Tissot provided the best statement of this fear of military despotism : Since the tragic end of these friends of the people [the Montagnard legislators executed after Prairial Year III], I have often remembered their fears on this subject, and more than once I have found, in our internal and even our external state reasons, unhappily too well founded, to share it. Indeed, everything has been or still is ruled militarily for us since a certain epoch. It is the military who represent us in foreign lands ; it is the military, it is our generals who govern the countries where victory has allowed us to enter as masters; it is the military who command in our large cities; it is the military who are called upon to maintain peace and order as if there were no longer any citizens in France . . . it is the military who commanded exclusively a short time ago, in 12 departments of the republic; it is the military who are the executors of the measures of general security, or even those of ordinary justice, who arrest the citizens at their houses, who take them to prison or to the courts; it is the military who guard the two councils and the Directory, in the middle of an immense and populous city, whose inhabitants have given so many proofs of devotion to the national representation; finally, and it is here that one can become convinced of the danger to allow principles to be violated even once, it is the military who have become judges. 16

After the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor, moderates and neo-royalists began openly to advocate saving the constitution by means of a

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military dictatorship or even the dictatorship typified by Cromwell and Robespierre who 'slaughtered the warmest partisans of liberty and equality, as demagogues and levellers'.17 Still others wanted the Directory to destroy the fundamental clauses of the constitution on the pretext that one must destroy it in order to save it. The editors realized now that the stability of the regime could only be insured by constitutional means, and they warned that 'à force de sauver la République, on finirait par la tuer'. 18 Fear of the neo-royalists overshadowed, however, all the others that the editors of the Journal des hommes libres may have had. I have already alluded to their belief that royalist provocateurs had engineered the Babouvist plot in order to create the pretext for another repression of the neo-Jacobins and the democrats and to divert attention from their own activities. The neo-royalist victory at the elections of 1797 gave substance to the warnings of the editors of Vatar's newspaper and made them aware of popular apathy and the divisions of the republican camp, that could facilitate the task of the neo-royalists. The editors suddenly realized the size of the gap that existed between Jacobin leaders and the popular classes who now tended to blame the financial and economic crisis on the republican regime and its leaders. There was a good harvest in the autumn of 1796 and, consequently, the pro-royalist 'mouvement des haillons' that the editors had feared did not materialize. 19 Because of their divisions, however, the republicans were unable to capitalize on this good behavior. The editors urged all republicans to unite and support the existing regime : The intrigues, the cabals of the enemies of the public, the plans, the means of counter-revolution perfectly organized, the thefts and the words, the proscription ceaselessly called upon the head, especially of the members of the Convention, this is the distressing tableau, and unhappily too true, that is offered by a host of departments . . . It will soon be time to stand close to the government; and whatever mistakes it made, there are no other means to save ourselves, than for the patriots to cling strongly to the government and the constitution; without the unique, cautious, sovereignly necessary way of proceeding, they are lost one by the other they fall one and the other under their common enemies. It is clear like daylight that the royalist reaction, before attacking openly and in mass, sows everywhere crimes and excesses in detail, destroys

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public security; so that the people tired to such a violent state, will be more willing to accept the return of a monarchy... Right now, it's the Robespierrists that are murdered, that is to say those who were in public office or who provoked the revolution of that t i m e . . . Next, the Thermidorians will be sacrificed, their trial has already taken place before public opinion, even though a few still are allowed to serve ; then it will be the turn of the Vendémiairists, the Orléanists . . . The prospect is inevitable, if the reunion of the patriots and their support of the existing order does not save them, and that is why it is necessary to put it under everyone's eyes. Without their calm, without their caution, without their just distrust of bad advice, of the ambitions of some, the perfidy and Machiavellianism of others, they will deliver the departments into the reaction, they will insure the victory of the royalists at the next elections, and they will bear the horrible responsability for the civil war. 20

The editors considered the resurgence of Catholicism a major indication of the neo-royalist renaissance. A considerable number of articles in the newspaper dealt with the Catholic clergy, even the constitutional one, and religion, both being described as natural allies of royalism. The editors stopped short of advocating the persecution of the worshippers and the clergy, but they praised atheism in the spring of 1797 and Theophilanthropy at the end of the same year. 21 Only the neo-royalist victory at the elections of 1797 brought about republican unity. Before the elections, the neo-royalists were alone in putting the Journal des hommes libres on equal footing with the government-subsidized or owned Sentinelle, L'Ami des lois, Père Duchesne, Rédacteur, and Défenseur de la patrie. However, most former members of the National Convention were defeated, many elected republicans were denied their seats, and the legislature fell into the hands of people like Laharpe, Roederer, Anne P. Montesquiou, Charles M. Talleyrand, and Pierre L. Lacretelle. After the elections, the neo-royalists used their power to prepare a monarchist restoration. They prevented the transfer of the control of the State finances from the Treasury to the Executive Directory ; they annuled the law of October 25, 1795, outlawing the parents of émigrés; on 7 Thermidor Year V (July 25, 1797), they suppressed the newlyformed constitutional circles; on 24 Thermidor (August 12), they reorganized the National Guard in such a way as to eliminate from

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it the popular classes; and on 7 Fructidor (August 24), they revoked the decrees deporting or incarcerating the non-juring priests. The message of the Journal des hommes libres was made credible by these events, which in turn increased the ardor of the editors. They urged all republicans to support the republican Executive Directory, warning that the defeat of the government would be a blow to all those who had benefited from the Revolution. A number of personalities who had played a part in the Terror, but had since become moderates, were reminded that their past marked them for repression in the event of a neo-royalist victory : this was the case of Antoine G. Thibaudeau, who had been a member of the Montagne; of François A. Boissy d'Anglas, who had written poems in praise of Robespierre, and Laharpe, who had lectured during the same period with the red phrygian cap of the sans-culottes on his head. At the end of May 1797, the first constitutional circles were organized in Paris. Vatar's newspaper supported immediately these new political clubs, realizing at once that they be the vehicle for a renaissance of the neo-Jacobin movement as well as an instrument for the reconstruction of a unified republican camp. The editors of the newspaper reported the establishment of these clubs in the various departments and they used the information obtained from their members to prepare their description of political activity throughout the country. Their enthusiasm for the Paris clubs was smaller, because they were dominated by moderate republicans, people like Dominique J . Garat, Jean-Jacques Bréard, Philippe A. Merlin de Douai, Pierre Cl. Daunou, Benjamin Constant, Réal, Chénier, General Jourdan, Siéyès, Méhée de la Touche, and Talleyrand. Similarly, the dismissal on 26 Messidor (July 14, 1797) of the ministers Charles Cochon, Pierre Bénezech, Laurent J . Fr. Truguet, Claude L. Petiet, and Charles Delacroix, pleased very much the editors of the Journal des hommes libres, but they were less enthusiastic about their successors, except for the new Minister of Police, Pierre J . M. S. Sotin. 22 The coup d'état of 18 Fructidor did not fulfil the hopes of the editors of Vatar's newspaper, even though their political allies derived immediate benefits from the changes brought about by this coup. Sotin, for example, distributed funds to many former Jacobins and to several neo-Jacobin newspapers, and he appointed a number of former Jacobins to government positions, including Tissot who 6

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was placed in charge of the secret political bureau at the Ministry of Police. The editors had wanted a policy to regenerate public opinion and measures to eliminate the neo-royalists from the administration. Instead, the republicans began immediately after the coup to squabble among themselves and the repression of the neoroyalist press proved to be largely ineffective. The advocates of a constitutional monarchy were soon strong enough to speak out openly in favor of their views. On 2 Vendémiaire Year VI (September 23, 1797), the newspaper wrote: Republicans and royalists believed that this journée [the 18 Fructidor] would be the last bout of fever of revolution. The example of 13 Vendémiaire (memorable day which had been misused to make the counterrevolution) was so hideous and so vivid in the memory of all, that it seemed useless to recall that the royal commission imagined and presided by Louis' intendant (de Fernand) had paralyzed victory, and had even metamorphosed it into defeat . . . What has the government done since that time? A lot - and not enough. Where has it done a lot? It has dismissed the slaughtering generals of the Midi . . . Where has it not done enough? It has not regenerated its thinking, smothered its prejudices, driven away its flatterers, despaired its enemies . . . Why is the government wrong not to have done enough? The royalists, victorious, would have done more . . . 2 3

The editors of the Journal des hommes libres placed all their hopes on a republican electoral victory in 1798, and, until March 1798, they assumed that the government would favor the victory of the republican candidates and the defeat of the neo-royalists. The editors had no illusion about the political consciousness of the popular classes and the strength of the republican camp. Accordingly, they wanted legislation to prevent the election of royalists, that 'royaliser Germinal, c'est cadavériser la République'. 2 4 They urged republicans to support the candidates of the government; they advocated the immediate removal from office of all neo-royalists, and an end of the persecution of the bureaucrats who had served during the Terror, and especially the elimination of the neo-royalists from the primary assemblies.25 In Paris, the main center of neo-Jacobin activity was the club of the rue du Bac. Vatar, Camus, Éon, and Giraud, were members of this club, which was located in Vatar's district of Fontaine-de-Grenelle. The publisher of the Journal des hommes libres was not elected to the primary assembly of this district, a fact which

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presents some doubt as to his importance in the neo-Jacobin camp, but he published in 1798 a Résumé des travaux du cercle constitutionnel

de la rue du Bacq. The Executive Directory and its supporters in the legislative councils feared, however, that the elections would result in a victory of the neo-Jacobins and the democrats. To preclude such an eventuality, the government refused to bar the neo-royalists from the elections, dismissed some neo-Jacobins from the administration, and closed some of the clubs. Encouraged by the government, the moderates and the neo-royalists began again to attack the republican Left. The coup d'état of 18 Fructidor was openly criticized in the councils. The moderate L'Ami des lois accused Vatar of having been an agent of Robespierre and Antonelle a worshipper of Marat, and both of having resurrected the Montagnard press. The outcome of the primaries justified to some extent the fears of the government. According to Woloch, organized Jacobin activity played a role in over fifty cities. In Paris the neo-Jacobins and democrats were able to seize control of several electoral assemblies. In the district of Fontaine-de-Grenelle, the electors selected four well-known democrats among the elect — François E. J. Raisson, J. F. Gaultier Biauzat, Antonelle, and Magendie. On 29 Germinal Year VI (April 18, 1798), the scared government issued a warning against another 'terrorist' conspiracy. The editors of Vatar's newspaper saw clearly that the neo-royalists had succeeded once again in capturing the mind of the government and that the events of 1796-1797 were about to reoccur: Magistrates, remember the Year IV, beware that not seeing more than anarchy everywhere, perfidious agents spread once again the funereal snare on the mass of republicans. Think that, if Carnot, the Cochons, had not transformed into plotters a few embittered, exalted unhappy men, that were pictured as powerful, and who were no more than imprudent, there would not have been the choice of the Year V and the show of Fructidor. Don't transform into conspiracies against the republic this immense mass of republicans who rose this year to wrest the magistracy from the traitors of Year V. Remember that these assemblies of the people where there are allegedly many friends are, in fact, occupied, in the absence of patriots, by Vendémiairists and men dismissed in Fructidor : whom do you place between the murderers, and the republicans and who defended you from their blows.26 6*

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Aware now that the government would interfere in the elections, but against the republicans, the editors urged elections absolutely free of government interference. 27 T h e Journal des hommes libres had never ceased to criticize the

policy of the Executive Directory. In 1796, the editors blamed the government for the waste of national property, the widespread popular apathy, the insecurity of the countryside, the religious revival, and the discredit of all republicans. After the elections of 1797, they blamed the government, and especially Carnot and the police, for the royalist victory, the popular insurrections of 1795 and the Babouvist Plot. After the 18 Fructidor coup, they blamed the government for the political instability, the slowdown of the economy, and they were critical of the financial policy, and particularly the repudiation of two-thirds of the national debt, which ruined many small rentiers.26 A considerable amount of their criticism dealt with foreign policy and French presence in Holland and in Italy. The editors opposed any peace settlement that would cost France territories conquered in the war and, even more, negotiations with England, on the assumption that the political evolution in the British Empire would force the English to sue for peace. The editors applauded at first the preliminaries of Leoben signed by Bonaparte and the Austrians, abruptly reversing their attitude in April 1797, a few days after the ratification of this treaty. Together with the republicans in the government, they were suddenly shocked by Bonaparte's renunciation of the Rhineland and the fortress of Mantua. On 10 Fructidor Year V (August 27, 1797), the editors wrote: The explanation of these numerous advantages ceded to Austria would depend on the perfect knowledge of the opinions and plans of Bonaparte, the first negotiator of the treaty; but this man is inaccessible and we must wait to judge him. But if he was the first to favor Austria, the approval of the Directory became independent of the reasons that may have misled Bonaparte; and that's were til now the thread of explanations, is lost. Why did Carnot, in whose republicanism no one believes any longer, have the upper hand on the negotiations.29

The treaty was not altered by the removal of Carnot, to the great chagrin of the editors. They were, even more critical of French policy in the Cisalpine and the Ligurian Republics. They contend-

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ed that military rule and support of traditional elites had cancelled out the good will toward France of many Italians and they argued that a united and republican Italy would be in the interest of France. They were less sanguine in their appraisal of French presence in Holland, because they considered the Dutch republic undemocratic and unreliable as an ally.30 At the same time, however, Vatar's newspaper had never ceased to oppose popular insurrection, to plead for republican unity, and to defend the existing institutions. Even at the height of the repression of the Babouvists, the editors had asked the democrats and the neo-Jacobins to support the government. On 12 Fructidor Year IV (August 29, 1796), they wrote: T h e measures seem taken, the signals are given, the traps are set, stay calm til royalism advances; royalism is making large strides; it will denounce the Directory, the Directory that voted the death of the tyrant ; it will attack ; then you will join the government ; then you will march as in Vendémiaire, then you will win, and liberty will triumph. You know that we have never betrayed your cause ; you know that we never ceased to defend the people and liberty. Believe us; march with the government; prepare against a new Vendée, be united and you shall win. 31

On the eve of the elections of 1797, they again proclaimed their support of the government : Regardless of the vigor with which we complained against the conduct of the Directory on several occasions, and we believe that we must declare again that it is only by maintaining the existing order that we can save the republic ; because in the royalist crisis, the patriots can only side with the Directory. We believe that to take another road is to risk the public thing. We shall therefore say to you : remember Grenelle and the Marquis de Latour-Foissac; to others, remember your laurels of Vendémiaire; and to all, remember the royalists and the émigrés, the sedition-mongers and the ambitious that put you forward to abandon you and to lead you astray. No terrorist movement, no division, let us save ourselves with the government, or we shall perish with it. 32

And, again, on the eve of the elections of 1798, the same theme was sounded :

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Those who would destroy, as much as it is within their power, those who would provoke anarchy, the true enemies of the republic and the constitution, who, working to divide the government from the people, spurring it to substitute its decisions to the will of the law, to make prevail its presumptions.33

The Journal des hommes libres did not compromise on its republicanism and its sympathy for the popular classes. It supported without reservation the government and the constitution, but it constantly criticized in detail the policy of the Executive Directory; it defended the right of the democrats to express their opinions, even while repeatedly warning against the advocates of violence. The Executive Directory and the public were not, however, in the mood for subtleties. The public tended to identify radicals with their liberal defenders and the Executive Directory identified critics of the government with advocates of its overthrow. As long as there existed a strong neo-royalist block, the government was moderately worried by the democrats and the neo-Jacobins. The elimination of many neo-royalists from the legislative councils on September 4, 1797, and the setback meted out to the neo-royalist press created a vacuum that the neo-Jacobins and the democrats hurriedly tried to fill. The government and its moderate allies had no intention of falling under the sway of the Left after having escaped that of the Right. The Executive Directory began its repression in the spring of 1798 and eventually it compelled the electoral assemblies to select moderate republicans and the legislature to unseat many of the elected neo-Jacobins and democrats. Better economic conditions and the prestige derived from successes in war and in diplomacy made the government very strong. Despite their sizeable vote, the neo-Jacobins and the democrats could only count on a small minority of dissatisfied citizens and a very weak organization. The Executive Directory did what even the ultra-reactionary governments that had presided over the Thermidorian Reaction and the suppression of the Babouvist movement had not dared: it suppressed the Journal des hommes libres.

6 The continuation of the Journal des hommes libres

in 1798 In internal affairs, the government attacked with renewed fervor the Catholic clergy and the neo-Jacobin Left and it reorganized State finances; in external affairs, it repeatedly intervened in the affairs of the sister republics and launched the Egyptian expedition. T h e continuations of the Journal des hommes libres devoted more attention to the events in the satellite republics and to diplomatic affairs than to French politics, because legislative subordination to the executive and government disregard for the liberty of the press made candid appraisal of French internal developments too dangerous. Despite this cautiousness, Vatar's continuations were all suppressed and he finally suspended the publication of his newspaper.

1 . THE CONTINUATIONS OF THE NEWSPAPER

No major new legislation regarding the press was adopted in 1798. The authorities applied with greater severity the legislation relative to newspaper peddling, the listing of the authors and the name and addresses of the printer in each issue, and the use of private carriers to distribute newspapers. On 9 Fructidor Year VI (August 26, 1798), police control of the press was extended for another year. Political surveillance, control of the post office, manipulation of postal rates, a stamp tax, and repeated suppressions, prevented the press from playing an important role in the shaping of public opinion. The Bureau politique watched the newspapers and provided them with articles, that few dared refuse. Even fewer could resist the financial effect of repeated suppressions. The government could seize the funds sent by the subscribers of a discontinued newspaper and still deposited at the post office. 1 Many newspapers went out of business, even those owned by the government, others merged in 87

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order to survive. The pro-royalist Journal de Paris and the moderate republican L'Ami des lois were among the rare publications with large circulations, the last one claiming 5,000 subscribers. In contrast, the governmental Rédacteur disclosed in Brumaire Year V I (October-November 1797) that it had only 1,030 subscribers. T h e government, which had provided limited subsidies, prefering no press to even a pro-government one, succeeded in destroying the effectiveness of the press, most newspapers at the end of 1798 being short-lived and uninfluential. None of the neo-Jacobin newspapers was as much harassed as the continuations of the Journal des hommes libres. The newspaper was suppressed on 23 Germinal Year VI (April 12, 1798). After a threeday lapse in circulation, it was succeeded on 27 Germinal (April 16) by the Persévérant, which was suppressed after four issues. It was immediately replaced on i Floréal (April 20) by the Républicain. Camus, Vatar's subscription manager, had requested the authorization to publish the newspaper on 24 Germinal (April 13) and the subscribers of the Journal des hommes libres were told that they would be compensated with issues of the new Républicain, all in an attempt to mislead the government into thinking that no relation existed between the two periodicals. The new journal antagonized the authorities from the beginning by failing to send copies of each issue to the police for review. The Minister of Police personally watched the newspaper. On 17 Messidor (July 5), the Républicain was ordered suppressed, along with nine other newspapers, for allegedly endangering the social order, perverting public opinion, and calumniating the authorities. Régnard, now employed by the Bureau politique, tried to save Vatar's newspaper by suggesting that it was useful to monitor neo-Jacobin public opinion. T h e suppressed newspaper was immediately followed by the Journal des Francs par les représentants du peuple Marquézy (Var), Guesdon (Manche), et les autres écrivains patriotes. Its printing-shop, offices, and manager [Camus], convinced the government that it was just another continuation of the Journal des hommes libres, despite Camus's allegation that he had sold the presses and the type of the Républicain. From the start, the authorities were upset by its praise of the Montagnard Constitution of 1793 and its violent criticism of French policy toward the sister republics. The Director J e a n F. Rewbell himself wrote a placard describing François Guesdon and André T. Marquézy as

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agents of England. 2 On 26 Fructidor Year V I (September 12, 1798), the government suppressed it, along with two other newspapers, for alleged irreverence toward the legislators. 3 Seals were placed not only on the printing-shop, but also on Vatar's apartment. The Journal des Francs was continued on 1 Vendémiaire Year V I I (September 22, 1798) by the Correspondance des représentants Stêvenotte (Sambre-et-Meuse), Dessaix (Mont Blanc), Dêthier (L'Ourthe) et plusieurs autres députés avec leurs commettons, the only successor of the Journal des hommes libres in octavo. Once again the filiation of the new journal left no doubt, for Camus was its manager and its offices were in those of the former Journal des hommes libres. From the outset Vatar's newspaper was abused by the Directorial press and the authorities considered it potentially dangerous because of the presence of legislators on its editorial staff. The Executive Directory placed articles in the moderate press accusing the editors of Vatar's newspaper of being agents of a faction and even of foreign powers. O n 1 Frimaire Year V I I (November 22, 1798), it was ordered suppressed, even though the Minister of Police, George Duval, admitted that it generally followed a very cautious policy. The next continuations never had a life span of more than a few days. The Tribune nationale, published on 4 and 5 Frimaire (November 24 and 25) was managed by Larua, edited by Rivière, and printed at 257 rue Thomas-du-Louvre, but with the type of the Correspondance. It was suppressed on 4 Frimaire and the La Lumière, openly published by Vatar, did not appear until 12 Frimaire (December 2). Ordered suppressed on 14 Frimaire (December 4), it disappeared after five issues had been published. The Consolateur, which followed on 18 Frimaire (December 8), had only one issue. Vatar temporarily abandoned the newspaper publishing business after the Consolateur. The government, well informed of his affairs, had effectively blocked the continuations of the Journal des hommes libres. It is unlikely that it was the influence of the newspaper that had motivated the government repression. On September 12, 1798, the commissioner of the government in the Seine department claimed that only four minor newspapers continued to publish reprehensible material, but they were without influence outside Paris. The analysis of the correspondence of the continuations of the Journal des hommes libres bears this out.

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2 . THE CIRCULATION OP THE NEWSPAPER

The occupational distribution of the circulation of these newspapers was narrower than earlier. There were few letters by legislators, and they were all obscure men, except for Pierre J . Briot, Robert F. Crachet, Lucien Buonaparte [wc], Philippe C. A. Goupilleau de Montaigu, and Louis F. Santhonax; there were many by civil servants, considering the difficult relations between these newspapers and the government, and most were provincials, the few employees of the national government usually being in lowly positions. A great number of letters were by military men, mostly officers, and many at the rank of general; finally, there were among the correspondents four newspaper editors (three of them of newspapers that had disappeared) and few former officials, perhaps because the Executive Directory had appointed many of them after 18 Fructidor. The geographical distribution was even narrower. From Paris came 54 per cent of the correspondence, only 10 per cent of which came from small towns, usually located in areas of foreign or civil war. The letters came from only 25 departments, but the 16 departments north of the Loire valley accounted for 84 per cent of the correspondence. The narrower occupational and geographical distribution of the correspondence suggests a sharp decline in the circulation of the newspaper, as much as a reason for its disappearance at the end of 1798 as a consequence of government harassment. It is reasonable to assume that this decline in circulation had a financial impact on the Vatar enterprise. According to the police, he was more busy than ever at the end of 1798 publishing placards, organizing political banquets, and propagandizing in popular districts, but the reports of police spies cannot be taken at their face value.

3 . THE WRITERS OF THE NEWSPAPERS

Vatar and his close collaborators Éon and Camus bore the burden of publishing the continuations of the Journal des hommes libres. Camus acted as the manager in charge of subscriptions and correspondence for nearly all of them and as the actual owner of the Républicain. Antonelle and Lepeletier did not play an active role in

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the continuations. Marquézy, Guesdon, Bernard Stévenotte, Joseph M. Dessaix, and Laurent F. Déthier, the nominal editors of these newspapers, only provided some editorials. Among the other contributors, there were the legislators Crachet, Gaultier Biauzat, Lamarque, Chénier, L. Bonaparte, Santhonax, and Jean A. Marbot; the former terrorist Julien de Toulouse, the publicist Méhée de la Touche, and Adjudant-General Jorry, a former Babouvist. A special place must be reserved for Charles de Hesse, whose first article appeared in the issue of 1 Brumaire Year V I I (October 22, 1798) of the Correspondance.

Charles Constantin de Rothenburg, Prince of Hesse-Rhinfeld, had had a very successful military career until 1794. A Maréchal de camp by 1789, his promotion was facilitated by the depletion of the French officer corps through émigration and by his own ardent support of the Revolution, even though he was a foreigner and he did not participate in any military campaign. He was promoted to Lieutenant-General on May 22, 1792, and a year later, on May 16, 1793, he was appointed commander at Orléans and charged with the organization of the troops to be used in Vendée. On October 13, 1793, he was relieved of his command and, a month later, on November 11, incarcerated. He was freed on November 3, 1794, only thanks to the intervention of Dubois-Crancé. He was reintegrated in the Army and appointed inspector general of the cavalry depots, but released from active duty on 5 Messidor Year I I I (June 23, 1795) and pensioned off on 15 Nivôse Year IV (January 6, 1796). His military career ended, he began a journalistic one, and wrote military and diplomatic articles for the Directorial L'Ami des lois in 1796-1797, the democrat L'Ami de la patrie in 1797-1798, and t h e Journal des campagnes et des armées in 1798, until its demise in

October.

4 . THE CONTENT OF THE NEWSPAPER

In domestic affairs, the editors dealt especially with the Executive Directory's disregard for legality in matters relative to the electoral process and the liberty of the press. The editors had been hopeful that the government would not strike down the elected officials who had secured its trust, as it was

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in the case of Nimes. The mass of articles and posters streaming from the pens of the supporters of the government pointed, however, toward another unfortunate direction. Once again, the editors noted with fear and sadness, a concerted assault was organized against the republicans, despite 'the experience of two years of butchery'. On the political front, it was rumoured that the Executive Directory would favor the minority electoral assemblies, in order to prevent democrat republicans to be elected. Gaultier Biauzat denounced this system which: would make prevail the wishes of the minority over those of the majority, and would give to the elect of the minority the right to express the wishes of the majority that they disapprove.4

A few days later, on 18 and 19 Floréal Year VI (May 7 and 8, 1798), their worst fears were confirmed. The Council of Five Hundred adopted the project sponsored by the Executive Directory that annulled the election of 106 legislators, Antonelle among them, and seated the candidates of the government. The text of the project was published on 21 Floréal (May 10) in the newspaper. The editors were convinced that it had long been planned: Seeing this immense piece of work, no one has been, able to guard against some astonishment that the commission could have verified the facts in 24 hours.5

After the elections, government tampering with legality continued, providing more material for criticism. The editors were not without acknowledging that the Executive Directory had done some positive work. Thus they were pleased with the appointment of numerous former members of the National Convention and Jacobins. However, they found more to criticize than to praise. The coup d'état of 22 Floréal Year VI (May 11, 1798) had allowed not only the elimination of the elected democrat republicans from the councils, but also that of many of the republicans elected to local administrative positions. On 16 Messidor Year VI (July 4, 1798), discussing the composition of the new criminal court of Blois, the editors wrote : . . . the Directory has just given us a criminal court after its fashion, and made up of the most heterogeneous elements, of a public prosecutor the

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people's choice in the Year V, and a president elected by the legitimate sons of the Year V. The intrigue which was forcefully pushed forward, did not allow to hope for very pure choices ; but we did not expect such an amalgamation, an alloy so monstrous of royalism and republicanism. We are led to believe that the Directory has been singularly deceived and outwitted... 6

Even worse, in August 1798, the democrat republicans who had packed one of the electoral assemblies were threatened with criminal prosecution. The editors denounced this project not only because it affected excellent republicans, but also because : Who does not see that a clear, precise, legislation, does not ward off the dangers that it seems that a deep system of disorganization enjoys to surround the exercice of the rights of citizenship, soon the assemblies of the people would be only fruitless representation and its sovereignty a word without meaning.7

Fortunately the councils rejected the proposal, leading the editors to hope that the conservative principles of popular sovereignty would be strengthened. They refused, nevertheless, to discuss the coup d'état of 22 Floréal, realizing that any criticism of the 'journée chérie' would be used to pretext more attacks on the newspaper. T h e suppression of t h e Journal des hommes libres a n d its c o n t i n u a t i o n s

was, of course, sufficient reason for the editors to be very concerned for the liberty of the press. They were outraged by the discovery that the suppression of the continuations was not justified by the content of the newspapers affected, but only by the assumption that they continued the Journal des hommes libres. O n 16 Vendémiaire Year V I I (October 8, 1798), Marquézy denounced the campaign of calumnies directed by government spokesmen against the infinitievely small number of disinterested and pure journalists and the arbitrary suppression of the four continuations of the Journal des hommes libres.8 In addition, there were numerous signs of the weak condition of the press in general and government interference with the normal publication of newspapers. As already mentioned many newspapers disappeared because of lack of funds and some survived by merging. The government took advantage of the poor financial condition of the press. On 24 Fructidor Year V I (September 11, 1798), the editors disclosed that the publisher of the Patriote français had admitted printing in his newspaper articles proposed by the

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government and that he did not approve.9 The best statement of the editors' view on the liberty of the press appeared on 20 Messidor (July 9): It has been said that without the liberty of the press, there could not b e either civil liberty or political liberty. O n e of our writers has justly remarked that this statement contains a pleonasm, so much are these two ideas inseparable, and their relationship necessary. O u r constitution, which has consecrated the principle, seems to have feared the consequence of the liberty of the press, joining to the constitutional limitation of thought, a regulatory and coercive faculty. This vague faculty would tend to open the door to arbitrary and to smother the rule under exceptions, if the people's magistrates could separate their cause from that of the principle, if the circumstances themselves, if the progress of enlightenment, a n d the power of T r u t h , did not contribute to the envy to bring t h e m back to it. Among all the citizens called by their tastes, their talents, their duties, to speak aloud, to exercise the honorable a n d sometimes dangerous magistracy of thought, we must necessarily include the representatives of the people. Accountable to their electors, to t h e whole republic, for their faculties and their work, we feel nevertheless that many of t h e m are pushed aside from the rostrum by thousand general or personal reasons, and remain without communication with the people that has m a d e them its first m a g i s t r a t e s . . . A free press gives t h e m t h e easy and natural m e a n to re-establish these communications, to compensate for the inadequacy of the rostrum. It is by the free press that surges u p and multiplies in a fashion the thought of the national representation ; it is by the press that this representation enjoys fully and entirely its inviolable liberty of opinion ; by it that crossing the distance it makes its presence felt in all the republic, a n d will bind to itself this general consideration, this moral interest that makes its character, its strength, and its guaranty. 1 0

In foreign affairs, the editors dealt especially with the political developments in the sister republics, the Egyptian expedition, and the relations with the United States. The editors had believed the Dutch republicans to be firmly in control after the coup d'état of 2 Pluviôse Year VI (January 21,1798), the Dutch equivalent of the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor in France. They blamed the subsequent deterioration of the political situation on the stagnation of the Dutch economy, English threats, and continuous French interference. On 24 Prairial Year VI (June 12, 1798), Dutch moderates and aristocrats supported by the French

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government engineered a replica of the coup d'état of 22 Floréal in Paris. The editors were particularly distressed because the military coup was praised in Paris as re-establishing liberty and the constitution, and because the example of The Hague could not help have an impact on the course of events in Paris : . . . if a soldier happily reckless is proclaimed the savior of his country and the restorer of liberty in such a wrong fashion, the first to try will have the modesty to give up the place that he has just conquered; the second, a little more bold, will appoint himself, and will believe he acts in moderation by selecting colleagues, but the third will take all the power for himself. Liberty will still be saved: Caesar, the triumvirs, Cromwell and Monk did they not also invoke the name of Liberty?11

The moderates in power launched a wide-scale attack against the Dutch republicans, executing some, driving others into exile, and they sought a rapprochement with England until finally the Executive Directory was unable to ignore the facts, to the editors' delight. 12 The editors were even more distressed by the evolution of events in Italy. They had once hoped that Italy would be united, independent, and an ally of France. Instead, the country was treated like conquered territory, and the enemies of France allowed to stay in power. On 11 Messidor Year VI (June 30, 1798), they denounced the last decrees adopted by Rapinat, the French representative in Italy. 13 Soon afterward, a coup d'état similar to the one that had taken place in The Hague and Paris, took place in Milan, and men earlier found guilty of supporting France's enemies were proclaimed her friends. On 26 Thermidor (August 14), they denounced the various pretexts used to justify the coup d'état and the French agents who had supported it: No, brave inhabitants of the Cisalpine republic, keep your promise, and be assured that there is an end to diplomatic crimes.. . You are free and independent; the French people itself has guaranteed your existence by the voice of its representatives, who have sanctioned the treaty that unites the two peoples. If your enemies, if these men who wanted to get your senate to reject this conservative treaty, dared to infringe on the terms of the treaty, you would find defenders.14

The editors were especially disturbed because, from the comments of such moderate newspapers as the Publiciste, it was obvious that

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French reactionaries considered the constitutional changes in Italy a dress rehearsal for similar changes in France. The plans in Italy seemed to call for giving the initiative of the laws of urgency to the executive, freeing for four months the executive from the surveillance of the legislature, adjourned on the pretext of vacation, and diminishing the number of civil servants. The strongest condemnation of these plans was penned by Lucien Bonaparte: The French Directory has exceeded its powers by changing of its own accord the Cisalpine constitution; for if it had the right to make such a change yesterday, it would have that of changing it again today, and to give a king or triumvirs... 1 5

T h e attitude of the editors toward the Egyptian adventure provides an example of their position on military strategy. They had already denounced foreign adventures in 1797, when it was rumored that France would attack Portugal in order to hurt England, pointing out that the shortest route to the British Islands was obviously accross the Channel. 16 They reported the rumors of an expedition to Egypt as early as the end of April 1798. By the time that it was confirmed, the Executive Directory had suppressed the Journal des hommes libres and two of its continuations. Their first report of Bonaparte's landing in Egypt was anything but enthusiastic: Bonaparte, arrived at Alexandria, seems exiled from Europe. The English fleet still whole and strong can claim to be more useful now, than the arrival of the French in Egypt can create fears for the English in the future; for from now on to the end of their expedition, the fate of kings will have been decided in Europe.. . 17

They found little reason to cheer the victory over the Mamelucks, news of which they announced at the same time as that of the French defeat at Abukir. Once again it had been demonstrated that France did not have the means to control the seas and that the defeat of England could only occur on the battlefields of Europe, through the defeat of her allies. Hesse predicted Bonaparte's ultimate defeat unless some diversion was created in Europe, preferably in Portugal, which could be used as a base to cut off England from the Mediterranean. 1 8 By the 26 Brumaire Year V I I (November 17, 1798), having discounted the military value of Bonaparte's presence in Egypt and the alleged plans to march on

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India, they began to wonder who was responsible for the ill-fated expedition. 1 9 This criticism of the Egyptian adventure was especially upsetting to the government because it coincided with the fiasco of its American foreign policy. As late as 4 Germinal Year V I (March 24, 1798), the editors of the Journal des hommes libres h a d reaffirmed their long-standing position toward the United States, that France should strengthen the already influential pro-French party in that country a n d obtain that American foreign policy became more favorable to France. 2 0 T h e suppression of the Journal des hommes libres and the development of the famous X Y Z Affair combined to promote a maj o r change of heart on the part of the editors. O n 3 Prairial (May 22), they stated their new position, which was t h a t France, at the height of her power, could afford to be 'magnanimous a n d generous toward her elder sister'. 21 They accepted entirely the American version of the affair, especially since it gave t h e m an opportunity to attack Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs : Périgors has had, at the Directory, an explanation, he has gotten the official newspapers to print a 7-8 columns article, where, mixing the cause of his honor with that of the republic, he established that he does not know any intermediary negotiators, that Mr. Gerry gave him their names, on condition that they remain secret; that they are foreigners, and that no one knows any longer where they are; and that the only thing true about the financial proposition is that the Americans were given to understand that they could lend money to France who lent some to them; that especially, it would be a friendly gesture to negotiate the Batavian rescriptions that France had. .. So, here is Périgord's honesty officially re-established.22

T h e X Y Z Affair and hatred of Talleyrand did not, however, change the attitude of the editors so drastically that they could applaud the American warning against French interference with American trade and French West Indies trade with the United States, t h a t they refrained f r o m d e m a n d i n g the repayment of the American debt to France, and f r o m criticizing American handling of French prisoners a n d deportees. Despite these criticisms, the editors claimed that they remained enthusiastic about the Executive Directory. O n 6 Vendémiaire Year V I I (September 27, 1798), Stévenotte expressed his 'intimate 7

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conviction that the Executive Directory wants a republic'.23 Even on 26 Vendémiaire (October 18), in their answer to the claim of the L'Ami des lois that they were not qualified to speak for France since they represented foreign departments, they called on republicans to 'rally around the representatives, support the government, swear again an inviolable attachment to the Constitution of Year III'. 24 The Executive Directory, however, was more concerned with the criticism of its policy than with the appeals to support the government and the constitution. The press campaign that it instigated against the continuations of the Journal des hommes libres

and their suppression is proof of it, each protagonist in the struggle growing increasingly intolerant of the other.

5 . BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

T h e best biography of Hesse is Arthur C H U Q U E T , Un prince jacobin. Charles de Hesse ou le Général Marat (Paris, 1906). See also AN. F ' 4743, dos. 4 (Hesse) made u p of various letters by Hesse seeking to obtain his release from jail during the Terror; Charles N O D I E R , Souvenirs de la Révolution et de l'Empire (new éd.; 2 vols.; Paris, 1872), I , 317-18; Louis M O R T I M E R - T E R N A U X , Histoire de la Terreur 1792-1794 (3 vols.; 3rd éd.; Paris, 1862-1881), I I I , 340-41, n. 2; Georges BOUVARD, Un organisateur de la victoire. Prieur de la Côte d'or, membre du comité de salut public (Paris, 1946), pp. 119 and 124—25; and Paul GAFFAREL, 'L'opposition républicaine sous le Consulat (Suite et fin)', La Révolution française, X I C (1888), 630. For his military career, see also A U L A R D , Société, IV, 304; Étienne CHARAVAY (éd.), Correspondance générale de Camot (4 vols.; Paris, 1910-1917), I I I , 24, n. 1, and 200, n. 1, and IV, 123-24 and 177; A U L A R D , Recueil, X X I V , 631, n. 1; Archive, parlementaires, X L I I , 200, and L X X X I , 348; Adrien SÉE, Le procès Pache (extrait du dossier) (Paris, 1911), pp. 25-26 and 31-33; MATHIEZ,'Le carnet de Robespierre' in Études sur Robespierre 1758-1794 (new éd.; Paris, 1958), p. 219 and n. 4, and La Révolution et les étrangers. Cosmopolitanisme et défense nationale (Paris, 1918), p. 174; and Th. I U N G , Dubois-Crancé (Armand-Louis Alexis ) (2 vols.; Paris, 1884), II, 172-73 and nn. 1 and 2. For his journalistic career u p to his collaboration to Vatar's newspapers, see also M A T H I E Z , La Révolution et les étrangers, p. 187, and Le Directoire, p. 360.

7 The last months of Vatar's Journal des hommes libres 1799

The history of the Journal des hommes libres in 1799, from 1 Messidor Year VII (June 19, 1799) to 6 Frimaire Year VIII (November 27, 1799), when it was sold to Fouché, coincided with a critical period in the history of the Directory, when the power of the executive was challenged by the legislative councils and then by General Bonaparte. The hopes aroused in neo-Jacobin circles by the coup d'état of 28-30 Prairial Year VII (June 16-18, 1799), that they would reassume control of the government or at least that the trend toward greater executive power would be reversed, were rapidly destroyed. Anti-Jacobin and anti-democratic attacks began anew and the Journal des hommes libres, the major spokesman of the republican Left, was twice suppressed. By the time of the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire Year VIII (November 9, 1799), the newspaper was so hostile to the Executive Directory that it reacted only mildly to this latest attack against the constitutional regime.

1 . THE CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION

Until the coup d'etat of June 1799, there were no major legislative changes relative to the liberty of the press. In March, the government renewed its prohibition against private carriers and against the hawking of newspapers, except for their title, in Paris. The Bureau politique still provided the press with articles. More significantly, the stamp tax was raised to 25 centimes on 30 Prairial Year VII (June 18), forcing all publishers to increase their subscription rates, and postal authorities were ordered to levy a 4 per cent tax on all funds sent through their services. The defeat of the Directorial forces in the elections of 1799 was immediately followed by a greater liberty of the press. On 28 Prairial (June 16), the very day that the legislature cancelled the election 7*

99

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of Jean-Baptiste Treilhard to the Executive Directory, several newspapers among which was the Journal des hommes libres, announced their forthcoming reappearance. After the coup d'état, the press benefited from a climate of opinion decidedly hostile to the policies of the defeated Executive Directory. O n 2 Messidor (June 20), the Minister of Police ordered the post office to allow all the newspapers to circulate, an order implemented on 4 Messidor (June 22). The Bureau d'esprit public was practically dismantled and was placed under the direction of Ledere des Vosges, a contributor to Vatar's newspapers. O n 14 Thermidor (August 1), the law of 1798 renewing for a year the police control of the press, disregarded anyway, was abrogated. The government could still use Article 145 of the constitution and the law of September 1797, against advocates of a monarchical form of government. In August, the liberalization trend came to an end. O n 16 Thermidor (August 1), the editors of the Journal des hommes libres informed its readers that they were forced to ignore some facts and mitigate some of their judgements in order to remain in circulation. By October, the editors of the newspaper refrained from referring directly to the members of the government out of fear that their criticism would be construed as attacks against the government itself. 1 By the middle of August, the Bureau d'esprit public had been reactivated. O n 16 Fructidor (September 2), the Executive Directory ordered sixty owners, managers, and editors of 16 royalist newspers, published despite their suppression on 19 Fructidor Year V (September 5, 1797), deported to the island of Oléron, on the west coast of France. The next day, another decree suppressed 11 newspapers, among them the Journal des hommes libres, and ordered the arrest of their owners, printers, and editors. The suppression of Vatar's newspaper had been motivated by its violent attacks against the Director Siéyès and its identification with the neo-Jacobin club du Manège. O n 29 Thermidor (August 16), the Council of Anciens voted a resolution against the issues Nos. 58 and 59 of the newspaper, which were highly critical of the Directors Paul J . Barras and Siéyès. With the Council of Five Hundred refusing to take any action, the government at first tried, on 1 Fructidor (August 18), to prosecute Vatar for defamation, but the court exhonerated him for lack of evidence. Despite the unwillingness of the Council of Five Hundred to co-

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operate against the press, the government proceeded with its attack. O n 29 Fructidor (September 15), the Executive Directory requested legislation to allow the authorities to send the editors of opposition newspapers before military courts. Without waiting, however, it began its harassment of the neo-Jacobin press. The L'Ennemi des oppresseurs, which had replaced the Journal des hommes libres, was denied the use of the postal facilities before being suppressed on 4 Brumaire Year V I I I (October 26). On 14 and 28 Vendémiaire Year V I I I (October 6 and 20) respectively, the L'Ennemi des tyrans and the Défenseur des droits du peuple had been suppressed. For a few weeks the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire created the conditions for a relative liberty of the press. Already on 29 Brumaire Year V I I I (November 20), however, the Paris police ordered the post office to prevent the departure of the Postillon de Paris. O n 1 Frimaire Year V I I I (November 22), the Minister of Police, Fouché, ordered that police bulletins, a major source of news, would be made available only to some favored newspapers. A few days later, several periodicals were suppressed and their authors arrested. The L'Ennemi des oppresseurs had been replaced by the Journal des hommes rédigé par plusieurs écrivains patriotes, with an assistant managing editor named V. Roho. O n 22 Brumaire Year V I I I (November 13), it became the Journal des républicains, whose assistant managing editor was Vincent. O n 6 Frimaire Year V I I I (November 27), Vatar took leave of his readers in a lengthy article in which he proudly took credit for the long and courageous struggle waged since November 1792 by the Journal des hommes libres and its continuations : Since September 22, 1792 [Vatar errs of course], the Journal des hommes libres has been the terror of all those who did not sincerely want the republic, and the sole consolation in their sufferings and their proscription, of all the patriots that vigorously wanted it. A few powerful men were entrusted with the task to dishearten the last and to soothe the first. Shameless violators of the most sacred of the rights of any man who is not a slave, the right to express his thoughts, they suppressed the Journal des hommes libres, and since that time they reiterated with a scandalous tenacity the proceedings and vexations of all kinds against the owner main editor of this newspaper of patriots. Today I must vindicate the republicans in their own eyes, for having granted me this sincere esteem and this complete trust, that with some pride I believe I have well deserved ;

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First, by reminding them here, by making known to them the efforts that I have been able to make, to preserve for them, after each suppression of my newspaper, a truthful and courageous journal, free from any influence, worthy finally of the republican cause. I therefore declare that I successively wrote under the titles whose list follows, and that this succession of newspapers is till today, the continuation of the Journal des hommes libres: 1 0 Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays 2° Le Persévérant 3° Le Républicain 4° Le Journal des Francs 5° Correspondance des représentants du peuple 6° La Lumière 7° Le Consolateur 8° Reprise du Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays 9 ° L'Ennemi des oppresseurs 10° Journal des Hommes 11" Journal des Républicains. 2

2 . THE CIRCULATION OF THE NEWSPAPER

The circulation of the newspaper was affected by Vatar's temporary resignation from the newspaper publishing business at the end of 1798 and the repeated suppressions of the Journal des hommes litres and its continuations. All neo-Jacobin newspapers and, in fact, the whole press, were in a state of crisis. At the beginning of 1799, a considerable number of departments did not publish any newspapers. In the same year, 47 newspapers were mailed out of Paris and 26 out of the other departments. On the last day of Fructidor Year V I I (September 16, 1799), Parisian subscriptions totalled 1877 for 43 newspapers (357 for 16 weeklies, 497 for 7 monthlies, and 1023 for 23 dailies), a very small circulation indeed. The analysis of the occupational distribution of the circulation of the newspaper does not suggest that it benefited from a widely distributed readership. Despite the coup dyitat and the elections of a few neo-Jacobins, the percentage of legislators (nearly 50 per cent) among the correspondents remained constant. Many were members of the Council of Five Hundred: Dithier, Briot, Marqudzy, Santhonax, Guesdon, Dessaix, Gaspard J . J . Lesage-Senault,

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Joseph M . J . Grandmaison fils aîné, and Barthélémy Aréna. I n contrast, the percentage of letters f r o m civil servants a n d army personnel h a d shrunk dramatically. As usual, there were few members of the professions among the correspondents : a physician (Bach), a lawyer (Metge), a n d a bailiff (Jourdeuil). T h e number of former officials represented in the correspondence was markedly higher t h a n earlier. A m o n g them were Antonelle, Crachet, A r m a n d B. J . Guffroy, a n d Pierre F. Piorry. A similar inbalance apparently existed in the geographical distribution of the readership. Paris accounted for 85 per cent of the correspondence. Only six departments were represented in the letters, three of them were near Paris (Seine, Aisne, and Somme), the other area of concentration being in the R h ô n e valley (Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône). None of the letters came from small communities.

3 . T H E W R I T E R S OF T H E N E W S P A P E R

Legislators (Déthier, L. Bonaparte, Grandmaison fils ainé, Antoine François de Nantes, and Pierre J . G. Cabanis), high government officials (Charles Delacroix and the Director Louis J . Gohier), a n d various personalities (the artist Hennequin, the former diplomatic agent Ruelle, General André Rigaud, and M a r c h a n d ) , contributed to the newspaper. Hesse remained the m a i n contributing editor, writing nine out of the 24 editorials published in the Journal des hommes libres during this period. H e was far less active politically t h a n either Antonelle or Lepeletier, probably out of fear of being deported as an alien. Antonelle, who had been politically very active in the months preceding the republication of the newspaper, was the m a i n editor of the Journal des hommes libres after 1 Messidor ( J u n e 19). After its suppression, he continued to write m a n y of its articles under the alias 'Bonnèfoi'. 3 Éon, the assistant manager until 17 Fructidor (September 3), was also Vatar's legal representative (fondé de pouvoir) and an agent of the police after the coup d'état of 30 Prairial. 4 Camus, who signed the first issue of the VEnnemi des oppresseurs, managed the subscription office. H e had been arrested early in 1799 for distributing a very successful antigovernment pamphlet entitled Hommage à la vérité. O n 2 Vendémiaire Year V I I I

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(September 24), perhaps mistaken for Vatar, he was assaulted a n d seriously wounded. V a t a r continued to care for the overall direction of the newspaper. After the suppression of the Consolateur in December 1798, he published numerous political pamphlets, in particular several brochures in defense of the liberty of the press, by Déthier, Dessaix, and Guesdon. O n the eve of the coup d'état of Prairial, he frequently met with neo-Jacobin leaders, former or future associates of his Journal des hommes libres and its continuations such as Antonelle, Germain, Hennequin, Marquézy, Giraud, Lepeletier, Dessaix, and Leclerc des Vosges. Without adequate funds and printing equipment, he was unable to publish a newspaper for six months or to find any one willing to finance him. T h e funds sent in 1798 to the discontinued continuations of the Journal des hommes libres remained sequestred until 7 Messidor Year V I I (June 25, 1799). His presses, placed under seals on 22 Germinal Year V I (April 11, 1798), h a d not yet been released in September 1799, despite the favorable opinion of the Minister of Police in December 1798, the decree of the Executive Directory in J a n u a r y 1799, and the request of the Minister of W a r in May 1799. 5 However, the coup d'état of 30 Prairial helped V a t a r resume his publishing activities. Not only was he able to resume the publication of his newspaper, b u t he was also appointed to the financially rewarding post of official printer of the Seine department.

4 . THE CONTENT OF THE NEWSPAPER

Until the end ofJ u l y 1799, the Journal des hommes libres supported t h e government even though all the changes it had hoped would result from the coup d'état of Prairial did not materialize. T h e editors applauded the appointment of Gohier, Roger Ducos, and General Moulin, to the Executive Directory and most of the ministers. They were pleased with the appointment of m a n y former Jacobins to important positions, such as Fouché, appointed Minister to the Batavian Republic, and Baudot, appointed chief of the seventh section of the Ministry of W a r . However, they were disappointed that Duval, their candidate for the post of Minister of Justice, was not selected, and that Talleyrand remained at the

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs until the middle of July and was followed by his protégé Charles F. Reinhard. 6 Government non-interference with the liberty of the press and liberty of assembly gratified them also. Several past and present editors of Vatar's newspaper were among the leaders of the neoJacobin Société du Manège-Hesse, Lepeletier, Dessaix, Giraud, and Stévenotte. Contemporaries considered the Journal des hommes libres the spokesman for the club, which held its first session on 18 Messidor (July 6), even though the newspaper did not report its session until 28 Messidor (July 16) and publish regular daily accounts until 4 Thermidor (July 22). The policy advocated by the editors of the Journal des hommes libres was moderate. They were pleased with the end of the system of political oscillation so unfavorable to the republican Left. They did not advocate a new constitution, but only a reduction of the power of the executive. 7 They favored a return to the government of assembly, as it had existed in 1792-1795, even praising the dictatorship of the Committee of Public Safety : Yes, we have paid hommage to the Truth. When we created the revolutionary government, the purpose was to save France and unhappily it could not have been done without sacrificing many Frenchmen... The excess of evil was the cause of the violence of the remedy. Liberty despaired, it is true; but France defeated her enemy. The committee of public safety was at times terrible, it is true, but also it almost always was very great. Finally, it saved the fatherland. . . . If the revolutionary government temporarily deprived the French of civil liberty, at least it kept France for them . . . . It created for them 14 armies . . . It did more, it created a public spirit to animate them, to encourage them, and to cause them to conquer. On the home front, it forced men to be honest. At the time, corruption was nearly unknown.8

The editors were moderate out of realism. They realized that the victory won in Prairial was very fragile. A few days after the coup d'état, some of the supporters of the old Executive Directory dared propose that political power be vested in a super commission made up of legislators and the Executive Directory. O n 5 Messidor (June 23), Sauveur F. L. Sherlock, one of the more reactionary legislators, attacked the Council of Five Hundred where sat some of the republicans considered outstanding by Vatar's collaborators.

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Three days later, the L'Ami des lois blamed the Journal des hommes libres and the so-called Vatar committee for the appointment made up by the government after the coup d'ttat, and the republican legislator Lesage-Senault denounced as anarchists Antonelle, Lepeletier, and Delacroix. Contrary to the expectations of the editors of the Journal des hommes libres, the government very reluctantly dismissed Talleyrand, Ramel and Lambrecht from their cabinet posts. Si6yes defended Talleyrand against his critics and the Executive Directory asked the Council of Anciens for legislation to prevent the press from interfering with the conduct of diplomatic affairs. And in fact, a considerable portion of the content of the Journal des hommes libres dealt with foreign affairs, and especially with French policy in Holland and Italy, where moderates and pro-British elements were in control.9 The political effectiveness of Vatar's newspaper was reduced by the exaggerated optimism of its editors and the fears of the moderates, of the Terror and Jacobinism. The editors overemphasized the influence exercised by the neo-Jacobins in political affairs, refusing to acknowledge that their expectations had not been fulfilled even when it became clear that another anti-Jacobin reaction had begun. To offset the damage done to the image of the newspaper by the association of Antonelle, Lepeletier and Vatar, with the Babouvists, they made clear their belief that equal rights and popular sovereignty were possible only under a republican form of government; they emphasized their support for the existing constitution and their opposition to any form of terror; and they urged republicans to remain united and to support the existing institutions and the Executive Directory.10 They claimed that they were unequivocally opposed to the Terror or any other system of political oppression: Let us leave here especially once and for all, these crazy apprehensions of the terror of 1794, Year II, no one can want it today, neither the people who once had the misfortune to judge it necessary, nor those who, after having decreed it, did not know how to direct it, contain it, and stop it; no one wants it, except for the royalists who, unable to give it back to us, scare us consistently, with the probability of its return. No one finally will want it, nor will succeed in establishing it. We do not want the scaffolds of 94 Year II any more than the famine and the daggers of the armies of slaughter which followed, or the abominable trium-

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virate which, after having injected gangrene in all the bodies, was devouring the healthy parts. We want the Constitution of Year III, we want through it liberty, equality, the happiness of the people.11

None of these arguments convinced the moderate republicans that the Journal des hommes libres did not advocate the use of the methods of the Terror and the Jacobin Constitution of 1793. The main reason for the evaluation of the moderates was the support that the newspaper gave to the Société du Manège, which was obviously very sympathetic to the more radical among the republicans. The consequence of the identification of Vatar's newspaper with this club was that the attacks against the neo-Jacobins was directed at once against the club and the Journal des hommes libres. On 24 Messidor (July 12), a gang of young men attacked the Société du Manège, in a fashion reminiscent of similar attacks against the Jacobin Club during the Thermidorian Reaction. Soon after, on 2 Thermidor (July 20), the Council of Anciens, meeting in a secret session ordered the club removed from the Manège, which was located in the same premises occupied by the legislative council. The editors saw that this decision announced the end of the liberalization phase begun on 30 Prairial: What happened yesterday would seem to announce a beginning of execution of this terrible system of alleged equilibrium ; for at the very moment that one of the councils erased from our legislation the war cry of all the slaughterers, of all the drinkers of republican blood — the other council seemed to bear with complacency the least ambiguous reactionary provocateurs vociferate. If sometimes the republicans sow — it is almost always the counter-revolutionaries who reap. Soon after 13 Vendémiaire the slaughter of the republicans again began and shortly after 18 Fructidor proscriptions again began. Forty days after the days of Prairial, what is being done, and especially what is being proposed to be done?12

From the end of July to September 3, when it was suppressed, the Journal des hommes libres grew increasingly critical of the Executive Directory. What had begun as a campaign to protect the Société du Manège evolved into general opposition to the government and complete identification with the most radical elements in the republican party. On 13 Thermidor (July 31), several members in the Council of

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Anciens accused the Société du Manège of (a) organizing illegal centers of authority competing with the Executive Directory; (b) publishing addresses under the name of a collectivity; and (c) having organized a meeting place where leaders and rank and file wore distinguishable insignia. The Journal des hommes libres denied these accusations. It accused the Executive Directory of having agreed to close the club under the pressure of Paris bankers; of having initiated a bloody reaction throughout the country; and it demanded the trial of the Directors and ministers dismissed after the coup d'état of Prairial. 13 At the same time, at the club, Lepeletier called for the repeal of anti-constitutional laws, measures to insure the freedom of assembly, equal and public education, the distribution of property to veterans, and the creation of public workshops to end pauperism. O n 23 Thermidor (August 10), in a speech celebrating the Revolution of August 10, 1792, Siéyès denounced the Société du Manège and the Journal des hommes libres, and several days later the club was closed. The editors of Vatar's newspaper reacted violently to this suppression. They had already alleged that Siéyès was speaking for or inspiring the moderate press; they now accused him of harboring royalist principles and of demanding extra constitutional powers for the executive branch of the government; and they blamed him for the arrest of the Babouvists, the provocation of the Camp of Grenelle, and the coups d'état of 1797, 1798, and even 1799. They continued their attacks against Siéyès after the suppression of the Journal des hommes libres, eventually claiming that the election of Siéyès to the Executive Directory had been illegal. As for the government they accused it of having provoked the club into acts of violence, of persecuting the republicans, of interfering with the liberty of the press. They warned that unless the government changed its course of action, the 'administration of Siéyès would have its 30 Prairial or its 18 Fructidor'. 1 4 Many republicans had been alienated by the tone of the attacks of the Journal des hommes libres against the Directors and its support of the Société du Manège. The attacks against personalities upset other readers. 15 The stabilization of the currency, the healthier public finances, and a series of good crops, had done more to alleviate the worst aspects of the economic and financial crisis that earlier aroused so much opposition against the Executive Directory.

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Between the suppression of the newspaper and the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, the editors became increasingly pessimistic about France's political future. They claimed that, while not responsible for the mismanagement and the persecution of the government it replaced, the existing Executive Directory was responsible for its failure to fulfil the promises made upon its accession to power after the coup d'état of Prairial. They warned republicans against Fouché, Antoine J . C. J . Boulay de la Meurthe, whom they accused of being a fierce advocate of stability and order, and Benjamin Constant, allegedly a partisan of oligarchy. The dismissal of many republicans, the resignation of others, and the persecution of still others, and various other examples of the repression of the republicans, convinced them that the coup d'état of Prairial had been wasted. 16 Consequently, they were not as much shocked by the defeat of General Jourdan's proposal to declare the country in danger as they would have been before the attacks against the neo-Jacobins : So what! Not long ago, and very recently, weren't patriotic meeting places opened everywhere? wasn't the liberty of the press proclaimed? weren't newspapers twenty times buried ressuscitated? weren't the republicans called to public offices? wasn't the zeal, the arms, the voice and the pen of all sincere friends of liberty sollicitated openly and heatedly, because we wanted to rise again from the abyss?.. . 17

T h e y began to suspect that the Executive Directory was planning another coup, probably with the help of the Army : Then this is where we are already ! The 30 Prairial would have had no other results than to convince a few representatives of the people that their personal safety depends from now on on bayonets. 18

T h e coup d'état of 18 Brumaire had no impact on the circulation of Vatar's newspaper and its political posture. T h e editors did not openly criticize the coup, but their description of the events of 18 and 19 Brumaire emphasized its illegal and arbitrary aspects and they dared contradict Fouché, who had publicly accused some of the members of the Council of Five Hundred of having attempted to kill Bonaparte. They even allowed the legislator Aréna to defend himself in their columns against this accusation. At the same time, however, they allowed ample space for the expression of opinions

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favorable to the coup, praising it as an event that saved the legislators from murder a n d that would usher the nation into an era o f happiness. 1 9 T h e editors themselves h a d never doubted Bonaparte's republicanism. 2 0 Regardless of their true opinion of the coup d'état, the editors w e r e frank in their defense of the radical republicans. M a n y of t h e m h a d b e e n arrested immediately after the coup, including some former editors of Vatar's newspaper, such as Hesse, and even subscribers, such as Leymerie. I n the departments, these arrests gave the signal for the beginning of a anti-republican reaction. T h e editors took the defense of the arrested. T h e y pointed out that several, as it was i n the case of L a m a r q u e , Stévenotte, a n d J e a n L. Chalmel, were o n leave or absent at the time of the coup d'état.21 T h e y asked the governm e n t to put an end to these attacks against republicans : How to make agree the well expressed will of the government, the orders of the minister of justice, and the announcement for tonight of the continuation of the performances of these plays of division and disorders, which are made only to create a reaction and to support the existence of very distinct parties that are thus prepared to be either proscribed or proscribers — Undoubtedly a strong government, or what is the same thing, a just government, according to the expressions of his minister, will not want to tolerate the public organization of this immoral system which gives to the person who wants to abuse of power, the ability t o place at will whoever it wants to destroy, under a banner proscribed beforehand. Undoubtedly a government in which the whole universe has the eyes trained, which has undertaken to give peace back to Europe and the republic to France, cannot have the intention to allow the reorganization of this long murder of nearly five years that cost the lives of 100,000 republicans with the name of Jacobins! But if today it can prevent the attempt of a very easy proscription against a party with essentially republican men, if it does not stop from the start the reactionary torrent, will it be able to do so in a few days? We don't believe i t . . . T o give a simple warning to bloodthirsty projects, not yet put into practice, is to attract against one's self the cries of rage of all those whose designs are to impede with this warning. T h e government will see in these very cries a proof of the truth of our apprehensions, it will carefully watch the complaint of the enemies of everything that is republican, and it will oppose when there is still time to do so, any attempt at reaction, easy it is true to fight in Paris, but impossible to stop in the departments . . . 2 2

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The government decided otherwise on 26 Brumaire (November 17). Among those slated for deportation to La Rochelle were Antonelle, Guesdon, and Stdvenotte; and among those destined for deportation to Guyana were Giraud, Hesse, Lepeletier, and Marqu^zy. The editors published in one issue the text of the decree of deportation and the text of the speech made on November 10 by Grandmaison, who was one of those exiled, and they continued to press for the release of the arrested republicans. They argued that this persecution endangered the government, belied the principles that it had proclaimed upon acceding to power, and that the cancellation of the deportation order would increase its prestige.23 Their campaign may have played a role in the cancellation on 4 Frimaire (November 25) of the deportation orders and the removal of the seals placed on Marqu£zy, Antonelle, Guesdon, and Lepeletier's homes. It must have been in a very optimistic mood that Vatar took leave of the newspaper publishing business and the republican public that had supported him for several years.

8 The Journal des hommes libres during the Consulate

The last phase in the history of the Journal des hommes libres coincided with the early months of the Consulate, which, still a weak regime, sought to rally the support of public opinion and to demonstrate its own viability. After J a n u a r y 17, 1800, the press came under the close surveillance of the authorities. Fouché's newspaper was used by the government to woo radical republican support or at least acceptance of the new regime. Nevertheless, its defense of the interests of former Jacobins and its attacks against moderates, neoroyalists, and Catholics, irked the government and led to its definitive suppression. 1. THE CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION

O n 27 Nivôse Year V I I I (January 17, 1800), the relative liberty of the press which existed since the coup d'état ended when all but 13 political dailies published in Paris were suppressed and new publications were forbidden. The decree, which did not affect provincial as well as non-political newspapers, prevented a discontinued periodical from reassuming its circulation under a new title. Additional legislation subjected newspapers to immediate suppression if they attacked the constitution, the Army, the governments of allied countries, and forbade them to publish extracts from the foreign press. More restrictions were subsequently added and a press bureau kept watch over newspapers and book publishers. O n 6 Ventôse (February 25), the Paris police interfered with the sale and the distribution of newspapers containing articles describing troop and ship movements. After 16 Germinal (April 6), each issue of a newspaper had to carry the signature of its editor; a special authorization was needed to hawk a newspaper ; and it was forbidden to placard newspapers. O n several occasions, before as well as 8

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after January 17, the Journal des hommes libres praised the policy of the government toward the press!1 The wholesale suppression of January 17,1800, and the subsequent regulations had no impact on the total circulation of the press. On January 17, the press in Paris had a circulation of 60,000; by the middle of March, the 19 political dailies and the 21 periodicals published in Paris had a daily circulation in the departments of 49,313 and 4,365 respectively; by 30 Floréal (May 20,1801), when only 16 dailies were left published, 33,931 copies were mailed to the departments daily. These figures do not take into account the copies sold in Paris, which accounted always for a sizeable portion of the circulation of the press. Accordingly, it must be assumed that most newspapers reacted in the manner of the Gazette de France, which admitted at the end ofJanuary 1800 that it expected to benefit from the decree of January 17. Nevertheless, few newspapers were really independent. The Minister of Police subsidized several, pitting one newspaper against another in order to create the illusion of diversity of opinion. One of these newspapers was the Journal des hommes libres. The exact terms of the contract of sales of the newspaper to Fouché are unknown, but there is no doubt that he owned the Journal des hommes libres. Vatar may have been forced to sell because of his financial plight, unless Fouché compelled him to do so. The nineteenth-century French historian Charles Vatel believed that Vatar had given up the newspaper when he realized that he would not be able to write as he pleased. The contemporary French author René de Livois asserts that Fouché's purchase of Vatar's newspaper was part of a master plan devised by Bonaparte to secure control of public opinion. They may both be right. On 7 Frimaire (November 28, 1799), the newspaper recovered its original title and kept it until its final demise in September 1800. The daily, despite the protection of Fouché, continued to have problems with the post office and to be watched by the police. On 11 Nivôse (January 1, 1800), the editors acknowledged that the subscribers in Verneuil, Rouen, and a few other places, failed to receive the Journal des hommes libres or to get it on time. On 20 Nivôse (January 10, 1800), they admitted their inability to do anything about the delivery of the royalist Ange Gabriel to their subscribers. On 28 Pluviôse (February 17, 1800), they promised that the delivery of the newspaper would henceforth be more adequate. The police

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surveillance demonstrates the ambiguous position of the Journal des hommes libres. On 24 Nivôse (January 14), the police report noted that many of the views expressed in the newspaper were reproduced by the Publiciste and the Gazette de France. On 15 Pluviôse (February 4), the monthly police report pointed out the similarity between the views of the Journal des hommes libres, the Publiciste, the Gazette de France, and the Diplomate, all of which supported a review of the appointments made by the government after the coup d'état. On 22 Pluviôse (February 12), the police report blamed an article in the Journal des hommes libres for the curiosity of the public about the subversive Mercure britannique. Bonaparte had apparently never been very pleased with Fouché's newspaper. The Journal des hommes libres was allowed to survive as long as the government felt too weak to cope with republican opposition. The recrudescence of republican agitation on the eve of the spring military campaign and before the new constitution had even been tested aroused Bonaparte's ire against the so-called Septembriseurs. On 15 Germinal (April 5), he ordered the Journal des hommes libres, the Journal des défenseurs de la patrie, and the Bien informé, suspended. Three days later, Fouché's newspaper reappeared, bolder than ever in its defense of republicans and neo-Jacobins and in its attacks against neo-royalists and moderates. The publication of the Journal des hommes libres was quietly stopped on 27 Fructidor (September 14), after the victorious campaign in Italy. The antiroyalist Antidote, published by Méhée de la Touche was also suppressed at that time, on 21 Thermidor (August 10).

2 . THE CIRCULATION OF THE NEWSPAPER

Thanks to the suppression of most political newspapers on January 17, 1800, and the protection of Fouché, the Journal des hommes libres had the widest occupational distribution that it had ever had. The correspondence contained very few letters by legislators, a fair number by civil servants (equally divided between local administrators and agents of the national government), and army officers; a sharp increase in the number of letters from a great variety of members of the professions (six physicians, one author, three newspaper editors, one professor, one artist, one theater manager, 8*

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two engineers, a priest, and three members of the prestigious Institut de France), and one by a farmer. The geographical analysis of this correspondence shows, however, that the Journal des hommes libres remained dependent on the readers in Paris and the Midi. The letters from Paris alone accounted for 72.4 per cent of the correspondence. The letters came from only 12 departments, four of them close to Paris (Seine, Eure, Somme, and Seine-etMarne) and four in the Rhône valley and the Midi (Saône-etLoire, Vaucluse, Gard, and Hérault). Practically all the mail came from major urban centers. The coup d'état of 18 Brumaire had not been followed by any large anti-republican reaction, but, at the same time, government protection did not broaden the appeal of the newspaper. Accordingly, the Journal des hommes libres continued to depend on the support of the segment of the citizenry that had supported it earlier in its history.

3 . T H E WRITERS OF T H E

NEWSPAPER

Unlike earlier practices, the permanent staff was responsible for most of the articles published in the newspaper. Temporary contributors supplied one each of the 17, out of 53, pieces of writing which can be considered either articles or editorials. Among them, we note the former legislators Barère, Briot, J e a n G. Lacué, J e a n A. Pénières, Moyse Bayle, Aimé T. J . Masclet; the celebrities Buonarroti and Germain; the physician J e a n Méhée; the astronomer Joseph J . Lalande; and the authors Tissot and Constantin F. C. Volney. The Journal des hommes libres was for a short time managed by François, Marin, and Camus, the three men to whom mail for the newspaper was to be delivered, the first issue of the newspaper being signed Marin. However, its definitive managing editor was the famous Méhée de la Touche, whose role in the Journal des hommes libres was disclosed at the end of December 1799 by the V Ami des lois and Roederer, the editor of the neo-royalist Journal de Paris. O n 10 Frimaire (December 1, 1799), the subscribers of Méhée's Démocrate and Journal des défenseurs des droits du peuple were informed that they would receive the Journal des hommes libres.2 Méhée was the son of the famous surgeon J e a n Méhée of Meaux,

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near Paris. Expelled in 1791 from Poland where he published a prorevolutionary newspaper, the Journal de Varsovie, he became after the insurrection of August 10, 1792, the assistant secretary of the Paris Commune. During the Terror, he was general inspector of the train of artillery supplies in the Army of the North, until his dismissal on 27 Brumaire Year I I (November 27, 1793). After the Ninth of Thermidor, he wrote several anti-Robespierrist pamphlets, that he signed 'Féthésémi', and he published two newspapers, the Spectateurfrançais ou l'ami des citoyens from 13 Frimaire to 13 Germinal Year I I I (December 2, 1794, to April 5, 1795), and with Réal the government-subsidized Journal des patriotes de 89 from 1 Fructidor Year I I I to 30 Thermidor Year I V (August 18, 1795, to August 17, 1796). O n 18 Brumaire Year I V (November 9, 1795), he was appointed, together with Réal, Antonelle, and Ginguené, to write proclamations, addresses, and instructions, for the Executive Directory, and later in the same month general secretary of the Ministry of War. From December 1795 to April 1796, he headed the political division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which dealt with the relations with Prussia, Poland, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Barbaresk states. His trial, after the arrest of the Babouvists, for alleged participation in the September Massacres of 1792 forced him to resign. Méhée expressed at the time his distate for the Babouvists, even while offering to defend the legislator Drouet. H e published the Démocrate Journal politique et littéraire from 24 Fructidor Year V to 7 Vendémiaire Year V I (September 11 to September 28, 1797), before being appointed general secretary of the department of Rhin-et-Moselle, where he remained until the middle of 1799. After the coup d'état of J u n e 1799, he became the head of the office of public works, aid, and education, in the Seine department and then general secretary of the Commission of the Armies. The Démocrate, which he had recreated, was suppressed as often and as many times as the Journal des hommes libres, each time reappearing under another title — first as the L'Ennemi des tyrans, then as the Journal des défenseurs des droits du peuple. Méhée rendered many services to the Jacobin cause, especially after the coup d'état of J u n e 1799, but his political and journalistic career does not warrant his description as the greatest Jacobin of the press.

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4 . T H E C O N T E N T OF T H E N E W S P A P E R

Opposed by some of the former participants in the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, who felt that Bonaparte had misled them, the government felt the need to reassure the public about its motives and to demonstrate the viability of the new regime. The role of the Journal des hommes libres was to insure that republicans would not actively oppose the consular government. The newspaper accomplished this task by defending the new regime as the culmination of the Revolution, while at the same time urging the government to follow a more sympathetic policy toward advanced republicans and a more severe one toward moderates and neo-royalists. Until the proclamation of the new constitution on 22 Frimaire (December 15, 1799), the editors of the Journal des hommes libres campaigned hard to destroy the prejudice of their readers against the government and its policy. They urged those upset by the coup d'état and the legislation already adopted to postpone their final evaluation of the government until the new constitution was completed, to consider the content rather than the form of this legislation, and to accept the new constitution if it guaranteed political liberty and protected civil liberties, and if the legislative and executive branches of the government were well separated, and usurpation made impossible by the establishment of a strong conservative power able to insure the respect of the constitution. The policy that the newspaper would support was unequivocally stated in its first issue : That at the time of a future and inevitable dissolution, the various parties rallied to each other, that they busied themselves, each on its side, to secure their own safety, only bad faith characterizes this as a crime. The first instinct of man is to attend to his own conservation. But that after the establishment of an order of things that can improve each day, and present to France, so long troubled, a perhaps modified result of our hopes, but incontestably, preferable to the turmoil in which we are tumbling, to the great detriment of men and things; that after the establishment of this order, we saw republicans . . . combine against the efforts of the new government is a falsehood that strikes today the least discerning. Everywhere the law of 19 Brumaire is received and even welcomed with expressions of hope. In vain, some suspicious men, more ignorant than ill-disposed, have protested on the form of some of the acts of the

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revolution, the people of good faith have been frank enough to agree that, in a similar move, it is the foundation that must be considered, and that only the future will tell .us what was the revolution of 18 Brumaire. Meanwhile, the most sinister rumors have been spread concerning the projects of the republicans. Everywhere they have been described in a state of resistance against the new authority and it is with these schemings that a measure had been extracted from it that only despair could justify. Happily, we are today more enlightened on the true state of the republic, and the fatal decree has been withdrawn as soon as the government could d o it with impunity. If all the government needed to renounce to its first rigor was to be reassured regarding the projects of the republicans, it should recall that the fall of the preceeding institutions has justified the various opinions expressed by the Hommes libres: let the government note that this newspaper proscribed by the oppressors of all times, has never manifested the pretense to establish, as it had been accused, such or such a theory, incoherent work of an exalted imagination, but that it never ceased to request against the evident injustices, the abuses of authority, the acts of a abominable arbitrary, and the constant and never abandoned persecution of the purest republicans, on the pretext really curious that their energetic love of the least contested principles can only be in harmony with the best accomodating dispositions of those who find everything well as long as they rule over the class said of the people. No, the Journal d&r hommes libres is not the newspaper of an opposition against the government; it is the newspaper of honest republicans, who want to have a rostrum from which the oppressed can make themselves heard to the government often and necessarily misled. T h e Journal des hommes libres would always have been the bulwark of a just and paternal government; and it is because the one that begins is strong and powerful, it is because it wants to be just without danger, and that its interest orders it to it that we take back with confidence the title always dear which has brought many misfortunes and honorable persecutions to this newspaper. 3

The editors blamed the continued incarceration of some republicans, such as Hesse, the dismissal of others from local administrations, such as the department of Eure, and the appointment of many neo-royalists, on intrigues, claiming that in time the good republicans so far pushed aside would be rewarded with government positions, and they refused to publish too outspoken criticisms of government policy. They warned, however, that because of the royalist threat, the republicans could not afford the luxury of being alienated from the government and they urged them to support the

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government and avoid any action which could be used by the neoroyalists and the moderates to promote an anti-republican reaction. 4 Between the proclamation of the constitution and the suppression of almost all political newspapers in January 1800, the editors of the Journal des hommes libres grew increasingly fearful of the influence exercised over Bonaparte by the neo-royalists. The editors had campaigned hard to detach the republicans from their 'worn-out and vague principles', and to answer the complaints that the constitution failed to ensure many of the civil liberties. On 26 Frimaire (December 18, 1799), they wrote: As for the republicans who after so many set-backs and griefs endured for the liberty and the republic, have the right to regret that several principles which were dear to them, had been ignored in the new social pact, they ought to remember the inutility of the efforts they made in the past, to put into practice and get implemented, even by their dearest representatives, the most just and best agreed upon things; let them think that what they did not obtain of their written convention, liberty, equality, and respect for the sovereignty of the people, they can own it to the real good citizenship and to the generous and liberal sentiment of a stronger, freer, and less fettered government. 5

The constitution received overwhelming support in Paris, where more people went to the polls than in 1792. The editors considered the vote a demonstration of the desire of the radical republicans for peace and tranquility and they urged the government to reward the government to reward their good behavior. They pointed out that the liberalism of the government had already made possible the large turn-out of voters in Paris ; that the government had not used reprisals against the republicans who had voted against the constitution, and that the lack of anti-republican persecution demonstrated the desire of the government to serve all citizens and erase the wounds of the earlier years of the Revolution. The editors conveniently ignored that many republicans were still imprisoned, some since the coup d'état, while the royalist journalists incarcerated in 1797 had all been released. Their arguments may have influenced the government. On 14 Nivôse (January 4, 1800), Fouché was allowed to stop the deportation of most of the 130 republicans arrested after the coup d'état.6 The editors of the Journal des hommes libres were less successful in

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their campaign to obtain more republicans appointed to public office. They blamed the Senate, under the influence of Siéyès who had appointed most of its members, and especially the neo-royalists for the precarious situation of the republicans. They denounced the Orléanist propaganda of Benjamin Constant and Madame de Staël, the provocations of the neo-royalists in the legislature, and their attacks against all the symbols of republicanism. 7 They had very harsh words for Madame de Staël: It's not your fault if you are ugly; but it is your fault if you are an intriguer. Amend promptly, for your rule is no longer of this world. You know the road to Switzerland ; try another trip to it, if you do not want any harm to come to you . . . take with you your Benjamin . . . 8

Finally, they asked the government to reward the republicans before they lost courage and fell prey to the intrigues of the enemies of the regime; to consider that the republicans alone stood for stability and the existing republican government; and to cater only to republican interests. 9 Between the suppression of most of the Parisian political press and the suspension of the Journal des hommes libres on 17 and 18 Germinal (April 7 and 8), the editors increased their criticism of the government and their apologies of the Jacobins. The decree of January 17 against the press contradicted the statements made earlier by the editors about the alleged liberalism of the government and it revealed the close relations that existed between the newspaper and the government, while the disclosure that Vatar no longer published the newspaper destroyed the aura of republican respectability that his presence had given to the Journal des hommes libres. In order to bolster their credibility, the editors had to exaggerate the extent of their independence from the government and their identification with the neo-Jacobins. The editors pressed for a policy more favorable to the republicans. They pointed out that most were pleased that the Revolution was over; they urged the release of the Babouvists incarcerated at Cherbourg; they advised the government to lean on the men who had throughout the Revolution remained closer to the republican majority of the population. 10 They intensified their campaign to rehabilitate the Jacobins. O n 3 Pluviôse (January 23), they praised the Committee of Public Safety of the Terror as a model of strong

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organization. They defended the Jacobins, admitting the crimes of some and the errors of others, but praising those who had been motivated by generous ideas, as in the case of Condorcet, the Comte de Mirabeau, Danton, Antonelle, Desmoulins, Lamarque, General Jourdan, and Jean-Baptiste Salaville, and Jacobinism in general, that they defined as the will to resist aggression, oppression, and slavery.11 They urged the government to give the republicans a greater share of the public offices : If the present government wants to acquire the stability desired fay the republicans, it must give the posts only to men who have crossed the revolution, not only without getting tarnished by the title of reactionary or of embezzler, but without having changed their opinions or their behavior. It is not with civil servants without repute near the republican masses, without the courage to sacrifice themselves for the fatherland, that we will see the coffers get filled, the army completely assembled, and the internal administration brought back to the principles of order and integrity.12

The editors made it perfectly clear that they did not advocate turning the clock back to 1793 or building an ideal city. They derided the notion that institutions could be transferred from other ages and places, particularly from Rome and Sparta; they warned republicans against those, as in the case of the former legislator Destrem, who tried to provoke them to violence; they threatened those who actively opposed the government. The argued that the time of conspiracies was past and that republicans must be patient until the royalists in office unmask themselves.13 At the same time, however, they denounced the amnesty of the Chouans, the leniency toward the émigrés, the lukewarm republicanism of many government officials. They also criticized the economic policy of the Consulate, and in particular its leniency toward the banker and army supplier Gabriel J . Ouvrard, accused of profiteering; its failure to stop the export of grain at a time when its high price was already causing considerable hardship for workers.14 The two-edged position of the editors is evident in this letter by a volunteer in the armies stationed in Vendée : For a long time undoubtedly you have been expecting a pacification, which will take place only if we take wise precautions to get it respected;

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for whatever the intentions of those who submitted in good faith, you cannot doubt that these intentions change as they confer with the priests and the émigrés that arrive. The surrender of the weapons is characterized by the priests as an unforgivable weakness and a rebellion against the orders of God and the legitimate sovereign. So that only a few are handed in for the principle of it, and only the bad weapons. Everywhere where the mobile columns have been disbanded, the chouans have taken back their weapons or get ready to do so. Our generals, who suspect it, have taken their measures accordingly, and the enemy projects will once again be foiled ; but we need greater surveillance. When the administrations were republican, the patriots were sufficient for the defense of the country; today we need weapons that could have been used to defeat the Austrians... I know that we are capable to prevent harm to be done, and that a strong government, as you say, you people of Paris, can impose upon all evil minded persons. But if the government as we don't doubt it, wants to govern free men, it must bring back to life public opinion.15

Unfortunately for the Journal des hommes libres, the growth of its radical tone coincided with that of republican opposition to Bonaparte. The First Consul was accordingly too upset to notice the efforts of the newspaper to rally the republicans in support of the government and he ordered the newspaper suspended. The editors never admitted that the newspaper had been suspended, but they denounced the proposal to further limit the liberty of the press.16 Afterwards, the Journal des hommes libres curtailed its criticism of the government, but increased its attacks against the royalists and its efforts to attach the republicans to the government. They justified the return of some of the émigrés on the ground that their pardon was merely an act of justice; they praised the return of order and security in the departments; and they promised that the government would bring back peace and prosperity, and a greater degree of stability and morality. However, they were critical of the attacks of the government against the republicans. To offset the impact of these attacks and the favoritism shown for the neoroyalists on the morale of the republicans, the editors used four major arguments. They argued that national unity was a necessity in times of war; that the government did not intend to allow all the émigrés to return to France; that military victory would make reforms possible, while defeat would bring down he regime and

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lead to anarchy; and that the regime wanted peace and that with peace equality of rights and opportunity would become a reality. 17 On 6 Floréal (April 26), the newspaper wrote: What then is the mischievous genius which presides over the indications given to the first consul for the choice that the constitution grants him? One cannot prevent from expressing fears for the fate of liberty, when all public offices seem to be the exclusive domain of the royalists, the former nobles, etc. . . while we hardly see and as if by chance, a few names dear to the republicans. All energy is extinct or dead, the public spirit is no more than a ghost; the republican institutions have been entirely absorbed by fanaticims; the pride of the counter-revolutionaries has no limits; they do not hide any more their designs; and the patriot who would like the republic, is obliged to question it, to watch everything that happens, if the monarchy is not to be re-established. There is not a republican who does not believe in good faith that the first consul is very much in favor of the republic; but he is so besieged by flatteries that the partisans of the ancient order of things heaped upon him, that it is permissible to fear that they do not take advantage of him and restore the throne and the altar; b u t . . . these men don't calculate w e l l . .

According to the editors, the foreign policy of the government was not motivated by the noble projects promoted by early republicans or by the desire for illusory territorial gains, but only by the desire for peace. However, they insisted on an honorable peace, that would not waste away the gains in population and territory made on the battlefield and would guarantee the security of France's natural frontiers. 19 At the same time, they cautioned against the hope that the nation could be regenerated overnight, they admitted that some individuals had been treated too severely, and they urged republicans to denounce to the authorities the promoters of disorser who would try to contact them. 20 As it had been the case since the Ninth of Thermidor, the advice to support the government was justified by the existence of a royalist threat to the regime. The editors denied that the neo-royalists exercised a strong influence on Bonaparte, but at the same time, they warned republicans to take seriously the efforts of the neoroyalists to rebuild the influence of the Catholic Church, thus arousing a moral revulsion against the Revolution and the anger of the republicans against the tolerant government. Three decrees adopted on 7 Nivôse (December 28, 1799) per-

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mitted churches to open every day, returned non-alienated church property to religious use, and cancelled the various oaths requested from the clergy, except for one of loyalty to the constitution. In J u n e 1800, the compulsory observance of the decadi, the revolutionary equivalent of the Christian Sunday, was abolished and Bonaparte attended a Te Deum at Notre Dame Cathedral celebrating his victory in Italy. In the middle of July, the government allowed the reopening of the Church-operated Collège de Navarre, which would compete with the State-operated Pry tanné school. The editors feared that the Catholics and the neo-royalists would recapture control of the government. They accused the Catholic clergy of promoting civil war in the western department; they opposed the resumption of the payment by the State of the salary of the clergy; and they proposed legislation to limit the activity and the influence of the various cults and the censorship of plays praising kings and priests. 21 They went as far as praising atheism and its neutrality toward the State, reprinting anti-clerical pamphlets that had been published earlier in the Revolution; denouncing the mastery of the priests over the minds of the credulous and the timid; and denying that any priest, constitutional or non-juring, could ever be a true friend of the Republic. 22 In their struggle against Catholic influence, the editors rediscovered the rationalism of the Enlightenment. They abandoned their earlier denunciation of pure science, they denounced the inhumanity of works like the Marquis de Sade's Justine, and they praised the philosophes and their successors, including Madame de Staël and William Godwin. 23 The favorite target of the Journal des hommes libres was the Journal de Paris, published by Roederer, which it accused of dealing only with trivia and of being an admirer of the Old Regime and in the pay of the English. 24 The editorial attacks against the Journal de Paris and other moderate and neo-royalist newspapers, which coincided with the praise of republican institutions and such heroes of the Revolution as the Babouvists, were especially dangerous to the future of the Journal des hommes libres since Roederer was very close to Bonaparte. In Thermidor (July-August), claiming that he had been calumniated by the Journal des hommes libres for eight months, he petitioned the First Consul for its suppression or its removal from the control of Fouché. 25 His request was granted a month later. By then, the military campaign in Italy had been victorious and

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Bonaparte had received a tremendous popular welcome upon his return to Paris. Contrary to the allegations of the French historians Albert Vandal and Louis Madelin, the Journal des hommes libres by Meh^e de la Touche was not an updated version of Hubert's Pire Duchesne> nor was it preoccupied with decrying the crimes of the royalists and the threat of counter-revolution. Rather, this newspaper was directed toward the goal of keeping alive Jacobin hopes that they might regain significant influence on the government. In this pursuit, the dominant themes of the Journal des homines libres were those emphasizing the community of interests and the interdependence of the neo-Jacobins and the government. The vituperations heaped on the Right was only one among several tools used by the editors to achieve this end. The combination of praise and criticism of the government which characterized the politics of the Journal des hommes libres under Mdhde de la Touche's leadership was not very different from the attitude of the newspaper under Vatar's. During the Directory, the newspaper, under its various guises, had always supported the constitution and nearly always advised the republicans to rally around the government to prevent a royalist counter-revolution. Mdhde's newspaper continued this tradition. In one major respect, however, the attitude of the Journal des hommes libres had changed. As spokesman for a government which claimed to stand above parties and represent the national interest, the newspaper defended the republicans without advocating their supremacy; it advocated a national reconciliation and liberation from the yoke of the factions and worn-out ideas, but no longer for a republican commonwealth in which inactive opponents would be merely tolerated.

5 . BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Th. LHUILLIER'S biography of Méhée is not very useful. The basic source for the biography of the journalist is his own writings, and particularly Mémoires sur procès, avec des éclaitcissemens sur divers évènemens politiques et des pièces justificatives (Paris, 1814). His career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is dealt with in MASSON, pp. 370-71. For his career as a whole after the Ninth of Thermidor, see MATHIEZ, After Robespierre. The Thermidorians, trans.

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by Catherine Alison (New York, 1965), p. 223 and n. 15, and La France, p . 5 8 5 ; BIGARD, p p . 8 3 , 8 5 , 8 9 a n d 9 1 , n . 1 ; a n d DEBIDOUR, I , 4 3 . M É H É E

expressed his feelings toward the Babouvists in 'Paris', J. hommes libres, V, No. 204,2 Prairial Year IV, p. 822. T h e announcement to the subscribers of the Démocrate and the Journal des défenseurs is in 'N. B.', J. hommes libres, X , No. 4, 10 Frimaire Year V I I I , p. 16, and in No. 7, 13 Frimaire Year V I I I , p. 28. For the suppression of the L'Antidote, see Antoine PÉRIVIER, Napoléon journaliste (Paris, 1918), p. 112.

Conclusion

Freedom of the press never existed during the period 1792-1800. Until the Directory, however, there were no express constitutional limitations on the liberty of the press. The Constitution of Year I I I allowed the arrest of those suspected of acts detrimental to the security of the State and it gave the government the power to place the press under police control for one year. Some of the means used to control the press were political. Advocates of a monarchical regime, of the abolition of private property, of the federalization of France, and of the use of physical force to effect political change, were punishable by death until 1796 and by deportation afterward. Opposition and unfriendly newspapers were suppressed, especially after the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor Year V. The government did not prevent the discontinued publication from reappearing under a new title, but each suppression cost the publisher the good will of some of his subscribers as well as the funds sent to the discontinued newspaper and held by the postal authorities. It was only during the Consulate that the policy of suppression became fully effective, for the government did not allow new journals to appear. Finally, a special office, the Bureau d'esprit public, reviewed during the Directory the content of the press and supplied articles to newspapers. Some of the means were administrative. Postal authorities could, on their own accord or acting under orders of the government, prevent the circulation of the newspaper. The financial means were especially powerful. The promise, or the threat of withdrawal, of subsidies, manipulation of postal rates, and imposition of extraordinary taxes, such as the stamp tax of 1798, were very effective means of pressure, since most newspapers had a small circulation and were always on the verge of financial disaster. Their situation was, of course, worsened by the inflation which affected the whole economy in 1794-1797. Government support was more systematic 9

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and larger during the Terror than afterward, but it never completely stopped. The amount of subsidies mattered less than their timing and distribution, since in periods of newspaper prosperity, government aid could not have any impact. T h e analysis of the readership of t h e Journal des hommes libres

clearly demonstrates that the press as a mass medium had not yet come of age. Paris alone accounted for between 50 and 75 per cent of its readers. The clientele of the press was essentially urban. In the case of Vatar's newspaper, smaller towns and rural areas never accounted for more than between 10 and 15 per cent of the readers. In fact, large portions of France were unaffected by the press. In the case of the Journal des hommes libres, the readers came from only half the departments, and 75 per cent were in areas of relative calm or affected by foreign war, the majority being north of the Loire valley. The occupational analysis of the readers of Vatar's newspaper confirms the narrow distribution of this newspaper. Half the readers were legislators, civil servants, military officers, and political individuals. The legal and medical professions supplied the next greatest number of readers, while businessmen, entrepreneurs, technicians, craftsmen, and farmers, supplied practically none. The historians of the press have exaggerated the conflict between the Journal

des hommes libres a n d the Executive Directory. T h e

newspaper remained the recipient of a sizeable amount of government aid and its publisher retained a government printing contract until April 30, 1795, over nine months after the end of the Terror and well into the Thermidorian Reaction. Not until May 17, 1798, did the newspaper become a target of government repression. T h e Journal des hommes libres was above all a journal

d'information,

that is to say, a newspaper seeking to provide its readers with as much political news as possible, as well as leading articles, and news items relative to the economic, social, and cultural scene. It is probably this vocation of the newspaper that prevented it from ever becoming the spokesman of a faction and enabled it to survive for nearly eight years despite the political fluctuations. Inasmuch as the Journal des hommes libres spoke for eight years for a sizeable portion of republican opinion, a correct appreciation of its ideology is important for our understanding of the history of the French Revolution. Despite its attempt to appeal to a broad public, Vatar's newspaper was politically orientated, looking upon intellectual, economic, and

Conclusion

131

religious considerations as secondary to the political goal of ensuring the preservation of the institutions created by the Revolution especially in 1792-1793. The Journal des hommes libres was always considered a Montagnard newspaper, but it never was the medium of a faction. After the Ninth of Thermidor, it was identified with the government of the Terror, the democrats, and the neo-Jacobins of the Société du Panthéon, the Babouvists, and the neo-Jacobin Société du Manège. Throughout much of its existence, it was an opposition newspaper, but it was frankly hostile to the government in office on only three occasions : in the spring of 1793, in the autumn and the winter of 1798, and in the autumn and winter of 1799. While it opened its columns to the radical fringe of the republican camp, and defended the right of the most radical republicans to speak out, the Journal des hommes libres was as a rule the enemy of adventures and violence. It consistently opposed the attempts to overthrow the exiting governments and the constitutional regime. If the newspaper was radical, it was only in its uncompromising republicanism. The Jacobinism of the Journal des hommes libres evolved with the political situation and tended to represent the consensus of Jacobin public opinion, rather than any of its extremist fringes. Until the Ninth of Thermidor, it supported the Montagne, although never completely at ease with either the Hébertists or the Robespierrists. During the Thermidorian Reaction, the newspaper fought to preserve the institutions of the Terror, to protect the men who had served it, and to prevent its opponents, including the Girondins, from returning to power. However, by the spring of 1795, the Journal des hommes libres had abandoned this doctrinaire position. The royalist renaissance, the fiasco of the popular uprisings of that spring , and the weakness of the neo-Jacobins, convinced the editors of Vatar's newspaper that the immediate and primary task of all republicans was the defense of the regime. In order to salvage as much as possible of the revolutionary institutions, the Journal des hommes libres advocated from then on the unity of the republican camp, the support of the government and the constitution, even while criticizing in detail government policies, and especially the overtures of the Executive Directory toward the Right and the persecution of the neo-Jacobins and the democrats. Until more newspapers of the French Revolution have been 9*

132

Conclusion

studied, it is impossible to determine with accuracy to what extent the circulation a n d the ideology of t h e Journal des hommes libres are

characteristic of the republican press in general and the Jacobin one in particular. The extent of the influence exercised by the Journal des hommes libres on the course of events is even harder to assess. There is probably a direct relationship between the circulation of a newspaper and its influence on the public. Similarly, the ability of a newspaper to survive against a variety of pressures can be attributed to the support that this newspaper received from a faithful clientele. Whether or not this influence on the public was eventually translated into influence on policy making is another matter. It is evident, however, that the governments of the period 1792-1800 in France considered the state of public opinion in their decision. In doing so, they could hardly ignore the evidence of the Journal des hommes libres.

Selected bibliography

Many of the documents found at the Archives Nationales had already been published in the collections of documents edited by François A. A U L A R D and A. D E B I D O U R , but these authors had omitted from these collections important documents relative to the history of the press, and that of the Journal des hommes libres in particular. In addition, they rarely gave the exact location of the documents reproduced, usually indicating only the carton and the dossier where they could be found. The Bibliothèque Nationale and the Archives de la Préfecture de Police in Paris contain very few documents of immediate interest to the history of this newspaper. None of the libraries consulted, including the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris which is so rich in newspapers, owned a copy of the Consolateur, the continuation of the Journal des hommes libres which had only one issue on December 8, 1798. The general studies of the press that I found most useful were Alma SODERHJELM, Le régime de la presse pendant la Révolution française (2 vols. ; Helsingfors, 1900-1901), and Claude BELLANGER et al., Histoire générale de la presse française (2 vols.; Paris, 1969-1970). To analyze the readership of the newspaper, I used the letters it pulished, a method suggested by G O D E C H O T , 'The origins of mass communication media. The coverage of the French press during the French Revolution', Gazette, VIII (1962), 81-86. A succinct presentation of the results of my analysis can be found in 'Le tirage du Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays 1792-1800' to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Annales historiques de la Révolution française. In spite of the many works on the history of the press, the dates of the decrees relative to the press and the figures relative to circulation and subsidies are often quoted inaccurately, as it is in the case of government subsidies to the press during the Terror. See M A T H I E Z , 'La presse subventionnée en l'an I I ' , Annales révolutionnaires, X (1918), 112-13, and J. M . T H O M P S O N , Robes133

134

Selected bibliography

pierre (2 vols.; Oxford, 1935), II, 86. The best source for these subsidies are AN. AF II 10, plaq 66, pièces 15 and 29, and Auguste P. HERLAUT, Le Colonel Bouchotte ministre de la guerre en Van II (2 vols. ; Paris, 1946), II, 93-100. It is also the case with the number of subscribers to BABEUF'S Tribun du peuple. I have used the figures quoted by SOBOUL, 'Personnel sectionnaire et personnel babouviste' in Colloque international de Stockholm {21 août 1960). Babeuf et les problèmes du babouvisme (Paris, 1964), pp. 107-31, for Mathiez erred when he claimed that Babeuf had 642 subscribers in La France, pp. 83-84. Similarly, the dates of the decrees relative to the press and the number of newspapers and publishers affected after the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor Year V are often quoted inaccurately. Vatar's ability to publish the Journal des hommes libres for so many years was predicated upon his ability to obtain the necessary funds, and he did by generating revenues through printing or by obtaining subsidies. I was unable to elucidate completely the matter of the settlement of the government debt to Vatar for printing done during the Terror and the Thermidorian Reaction. My own findings are based essentially on AN. AF II 33, dos. 272, pièces 49, 50, 51, and 52; AF III* 2, fol. 85; BB16 708, documents A through H ; G 5 0 7 , dos. 3 9 8 , plaq. 12 to 3 0 [Nivôse Year IV]; VATAR'S statement in J. hommes libres, V, No. 206, 7 Prairial Year IV, p. 830; Marc-Antoine BAUDOT, pp. 33-34, who claimed that Duval sacrificed his fortune to the newspaper; A. DOUARCHE (éd.), Les tribunaux civils de Paris pendant la Révolution (1791-1800) (3 vols.; Paris, 1905-1907), II, 206, n. 1, who cited a document according to which Méhée and Tallien lent money to Vatar; and DALLY, 'Félix Lepeletier', who acknowledged Lepeletier's alleged role as a patron of the Jacobin press after the Ninth of Thermidor. Few historians of the Convention and Directory correctly assessed the politics of the Journal des hommes libres. Georges AVENEL, Anacharsis Clootz. L'orateur du genre humain (2 vols.; Paris, 1865), II, 293, 305, 306, 341-42 and 383-84, exaggerated the affinities between the newspaper and the Hébertists. There is a considerable amount of disagreement about the attitude of the Journal des hommes libres toward the Babouvists. Armando SAITTA, 'Autour de la Conjuration de Babeuf. Discussion sur le communisme (1796)', in Babeuf {1760-1797). Buonarroti {1771-1837). Pour le deuxième centenaire de leur naissance (Nancy, 1961), pp. 7 9 - 8 2 , Claude MAZAURIC,

Primary sources : unpublished material

135

Babeuf et la conspiration pour Végalité (Paris, 1962), pp. 1 3 9 - 4 0 , and

Jean-René SURATTEAU, 'Les Babouvistes, le péril rouge et le Directoire (1796-1798)', p. 152, claim that the Journal des hommes libres was a vehicle for Babeuf's ideas. I dealt at length with the relationship between Vatar's newspaper and the Babouvists in ' T h e Journal des hommes libres and the Babouvists' to be published in a a forthcoming issue of the International Review of Social History.

1. PRIMARY SOURCES: UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL

At the Archives

Nationales

I n the serie AA (section législative and judiciaire) : 40, dos. 1228, pièces 85, 88, and 91 (on the origins of the Républicain universel). I n the serie A F I I (Délibérations du Comité de Salut public) : 1 4 10 12 13 20 33 33

33 33 33 57 60

fols. 43 and 58. fols. 13-15. plaq. 66, pièces 15 and 29 (Bouchotte's accounts). fols. 29, 82, and 199. fols. 135 and 142. fols. 47. dos. 270, pièces 3,4, 5, 6, 7 , 8 , 9 , 1 0 , 18, 19, and 20. (The operation of Vatar's printing-shop of the Committee of Public Safety before the Ninth of Thermidor.) dos. 271, pièces 1, 2, 3 , 4 , 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44,46, 48, 49, 50, 53,54, 55, 56, and 57. (The operation of the same printing-shop during the Thermidorian period.) dos. 272, pièces 49, 50, 51, and 52. (Documents dealing with the negotiations for the settlement of the debt due Vatar, in 1795.) dos. 273, pièces 15, 16, 49, 50, 51, and 52. (Documents also dealing with the negotiations in 1795 for the settlement of the debt due Vatar.) dos. 274, pièces 6 and 41. (Vatar's detailed bills of the work done for the Committee of Public Safety.) plaq. 414, pièce 82. plaq. 438, pièce 56.

136

Selected

bibliography

61 plaq. 453, pièces 10 and 14; plaq. 446, pièce 3; and plaq. 445. (Documents on the operation of Vatar's printing-shop of the Committee of Public Safety during the Terror.) 66 plaq. 489, pièces 12, 46, 63, 68, and 71. (Documents on the newspapers and the printing ordered by the Committee of Public Safety.) 280 plaq. 2339, pièce 6. 323 plaq. 2655, pièce 1. In the serie AF II* (Délibérations secrètes et dépenses du Comité de Salut public) : 7 fols. 1 and 16. 294 fol. 144. In the serie AF III (Délibérations du Directoire) : 13 fol. 170. 45 (made up of letters and articles of the Directory and documents on the subscriptions purchased by the government), dos. 161, pièce 22. 45 dos. 162-163, pièces 107, 108, 110 and 250. 45 dos. 162, plaq. 12, pièce 267. 45 dos. 162, plaq. 32, pièce 90. 45 dos. 162, plaq. 42, pièce 8. 45 dos. 162, plaq. 48, pièce 300. 47 dos. 171, pièces particulières (Prairial and Messidor Year VII). (Reports of police undercover agents.) 314 dos. 1245, pièce 12. 328 dos. 1360, pièce 14. 329 dos. 1373. 335 dos. 1448. 336 dos. 1460. 342 dos. 1527. 363 dos. 1700. 365 dos. 1766. 381 dos. 1938. 516 dos. 3301, pièces 6 and 7. 610 dos. 4268, pièces 26, 27 and 28. 621 dos. 4393, pièces 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. 622 dos. 4396, pièces 15, 16, 17, 37 and 38. 622 dos. 4402, pièce 38. 622 dos. 4404, pièce 38. 625 dos. 4441, pièces 212, 214, 218, 254 and 275. In the serie AF III* (Délibérations secrètes du Directoire) : 1 fols. 11, 15, 43, 45 and 58.

Primary sources : unpublished material

2 3 12 20 42

137

fols. 8, 9, 12, 44, 45, 56, 58, 85, 123, 125 and 135. fols. 1 , 2 , 9 , 13,46-48,67, 69,83-86, 110,118, 135,142 and 170. fols. 28, 29 and 199. fols. 3 and 47. dos. Babeuf.

In the serie AF I V (Délibérations du Consulat) : 1329 (22 Nivôse, 15 Pluviôse, and 12 Ventôse Year V I I I reports of the Bureau central). In the serie BB (Justice) : 3 81 1 , fols. 152-54 and 158-59. (Requests by the Committee of Public Safety of the department of Paris to the Journal des hommes libres.) 16 708, dos. 4912. (Twenty-five documents of Messidor Year I V dealing with the attempt of Vatar to obtain the printing equipment used earlier in the printing-shop of the Committee of Public Safety.) In the serie C (Procès-verbaux des assemblées nationales) : 507 dos. 398, plaqs. 12 through 30. (Documents dated Nivôse Year IV.) 585 liasse 165. (Documents from the Council of Anciens, dated 1 through 30 Fructidor Year VII.) In the serie F ' (Police générale) : 3448 (Reports of the Bureau d'esprit public for the period 24 Brumaire Year IV through 22 Pluviôse Year IV.) 3449 dos. B5 188. (Reports from the authorities in the departments answering a query of the Minister of Police dated 4 Pluviôse Year I V relative to the circulation of the press.) 3449 dos. B5 5581. (Dossier on the Journal des hommes libres and its continuations in 1798-1799.) 3451 (Documents on the press and the Journal des hommes libres in 1799.) 3452 (Documents on the press in Year V I I I ) . 4276 (Babeuf Affair dossier), particularly plaq. 22 and pièce 37. 4278 dos. 1. (List of subscribers to Babeuf's Tribun du peuple.) 4373 paq. Germinal Year VI, pièces 1609 through 1626. 4373 paq. Messidor Year VI, pièce 1729. 4373 paq. Fructidor Year VI, pièce 1814. 4373 paq. Frimaire Year V I I , pièces 1927, 1947, 1971, and 1978. 4373 paq. Thermidor Year V I I , pièce 2437. 4374 paq. Fructidor Year V I I . 4374 paq. Nivôse Year V I I I . 4435 plaq. 3, pièce 78. 436 A plaq. 4, pages 164, 165, and 166.

Selected bibliography

138

4637 pièce 7. 4696 plaq. 4. (Dossier Scipion Duroure, who, according to Barbier, I I , 1219, wrote for the Journal des hommes libres.) 4743 plaq. 4. (Hesse dossier.) 4771 dos. 1. (List of subscribers to Lebois' L'Ami du peuple.) 6139 plaq. 8, dos. 100. 6194 plaq. 5, dos. 2627, pièces 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, and 24. (Documents related to the surveillance of Vatar, suspect of printing, after the temporary disappearance of his newspaper at the end of 1798.) 6239"* plaq. 3 and 4. (List of subscribers to the Gazette française and notes on the journalists of Year VIII.) 6274 (Hesse dossier, dealing with the Saint Niçaise Affair of December 1800.) 6276 (Vatar dossier, dealing with the Saint Niçaise Affair.) 7148 dos. 4010. (On Vatar.) 7422 dos. B5 5961. I n the serie F 18 (Imprimerie et librairie) : 12 plaq. 1. (Documents on the press in 1793—1800, but not on the Journal des hommes libres and its continuations.) 21 dos. Seine, documents X L I , X L I I I , X L I V , X L V , X L V I , and X L V I I . (Documents on Marat's L'Ami du peuple, Royou's L'Ami du roi, Gournay's Journal militaire, the Courrier républicain, the Censeur des journaux, and the Postillon des armées.) 11 dos. Seine, document X L V I I I . (Dealing especially with the Orateur du peuple.) I n the serie T (Séquestre) : 528 pièce 14. (The sales agreement turning over control of the L'Antifédéraliste to Vatar (part of the Payan papers making up this dossier).)

At the Archives de la Préfecture de Police de Paris I n the cartons dealing with the Saint Niçaise Affair of December 1800: carton A 273, pièce 340. carton 274, pièces 125 and 126.

At the Bibliothèque

Nationale

Lb 4 1 2 (Recueil des circulaires du Comité de Salut public), and especially Nos. 50, 58 and 81.

Primary sources : printed material

139

Nouveau Ancien fonds 21076, II. (A letter by Vatar, dated 9 Nivôse Year II.)

At the Bibliothèque Municipale de Versailles I n the papers of Charles Vatel, the nineteenth-century French historian of the Girondins, his notes on the Journal des hommes libres and Vatar, all in one small notebook.

2 . PRIMARY SOURCES: P R I N T E D MATERIAL

Newspapers I n order of importance : Républicain Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays, a n d its continuations. 10 vols. (Bibliothèque Nationale, hereafter B. N., call numbers 4° Le 2 732, 733, 734, 735, 736, 737, 738, 739 and 8° Le 2 735.) Moniteur universel (Réimpression). 32 vols. Paris, 1858-1870. Annales de la République française (B. N. : Le 2 758 and 759). Courrier universel and its continuations (B. N. : Le 2 2558 and Le 2 764). Feuille villageoise (B. N.: Le 2 463). Résurrection des Gaulois. 1 issue. Paris, Floréal Year I I I . (B. N. : 8° Le 2 883). Démocrate constitutionnel. 23 issues. Paris, Fructidor Year V. (B. N. : Fol. Le 2 2680.) Les Candidats à la nouvelle législature ou les grands hommes de Van cinq. 4 issues. Paris, Year V. (B. N. : 8° Le 2 2662.) DOMMANGET, Maurice, (éd.), Pages choisies de Babeuf. Paris, 1 9 3 5 . DESMOULINS, Camille, Le Vieux Cordelier, Vol. L U of Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution française. Edited by Saint-Albin Berville and J e a n François Barrière. 56 vols. Paris, 1820-1826. VELLAY, Charles, ' L e numéro V I I du Vieux Cordelier', Annales révolutionnaires, 1 (1908), pp. 622-40.

Pamphlets Charles Duoal député par le département d'Ille-et-Vilaine à la Convention nationale à ses commettons. Paris, 24 juin 1792, l'an 2 de la république [«V]. (B. N . : 8° Lb 4 1 701.)

140

Selected bibliography

Coup d' œil sur la conduite de Louis XVI par Charles Duval député à la Convention nationale par le département d'Ille-et-Vilaine. Extrait d'un tableau historique de la Révolution du 10 août imprimé par ordre de la Convention nationale (on January 7, 1793, according to Archives parlementaires, LVI, 389-390). Paris, n.d. (B. N. : 8° Le 3 ' 2. 6. [133].) Charles Duval à Dubois-Crancé. Paris, 20 Nivôse Year III. (B. N. : 8° Lb 4 1 1578.) Charles Duval à ses collègues et à ses concitoyens. Paris, 25 Nivôse Year III. (B. N. : 8° Lb 41 1579.)

Memoirs Charles, Mémoires de Barbaroux, Vol. X L V I I (Part I) of Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution française. Edited by Saint-Albin Berville and Jean François Barrière. 56 vols. Paris, 1820-1828. B A R E R E , Bertrand, Mémoirs of Bertrand Borire. Edited by H. G. Carnot and R. David. Translated by V. Payen-Payne. 4 vols. London, 1896. BARRAS, Paul, Mémoires de Barras. Edited by George Duruy. 4 vols. Paris, 1895-1896. B A U D O T , Marc-Antoine, Notes historiques sur la Convention nationale, le Directoire, l'Empire et l'exil des votants. Edited by Mme. Edgar Quinet. Paris, 1893. B I L L A U D - V A R E N N E S , Jacques Nicolas, Mémoires inédits et correspondance accompagnés de notices biographiques sur Billaud-Varennes et Collot d'Herbois. Edited by A. Régis. Paris, 1893. B I R É , Edmond, Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris. 5 vols, new ed. Paris, 1895-1911. BRISSOT, Jacques-Pierre, Correspondance et papiers de Jacques-Pierre Brissot. Edited by Claude Perroud. Paris, 1912. C H A U M E T T E , Pierre Gaspard, Papiers de Chaumette. Edited by Fritz Braesch. Paris, 1908. C H O U D I E U , Pierre René, Mémoires et notes. Edited by Victor Barrucaud. Paris, 1897. C O U R T O I S , Edmé Bonaventure, Papiers inédits trouvés chez Robespierre, Saint Just, Payan, etc. précédés du rapport de ce député à la Convention nationale. Vols XXV, X X V I , and X X V I I of Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution française. Edited by Saint-Albin Berville and Jean François Barrière. 56 vols. Paris, 1820-1828. Documents biographiques sur J. F. Rewbell (1747—1807), membre du Directoire executif. Edited by Raymond Guyot. Tours (France), 1911. D U V A L , Georges, Souvenirs thermidoriens. 2 vols. Paris, 1 8 4 4 . F O U C H É , Joseph, Les Mémoires deFouché. Edited by Louis Madelin. Paris, 1 9 4 5 . G O H I E R , Louis Jérôme, Mémoires de Louis Jérôme Gohier, président du Directoire au 18 Brumaire. 2 vols. Paris, 1824. BARBAROUX,

Primary sources : printed

material

141

Henri (Abbé), Mémoires de Grégoire, ancien Évêque de Blois. Edited by Henri Carnot. 2 vols. Paris, 1837. L A R E V E L L I E R E - L É P E A U X , Louis Marie, Mémoires de La Revellière-Lépeaux. Edited by David D'Angers. 3 vols. Paris, 1895. LE COZ, Claude, Correspondance de Le Coz, Évêque constitutionnel d'Ille-et-Vilaine. Edited by Père A. Roussel. 2 vols. Paris, 1900-1903. M É H É E DE L A T O U C H E , Jean-Claude, Mémoires sur procès, avec des êclaircissemens sur divers évènemens politiques et des pièces justificatives. Paris, 1814. (B. N . : 8° L b 45 378.) N O D I E R , Charles, Souvenirs de la Révolution et de l'Empire. New ed., 2 vols. Paris, 1872. Œuvres de Michel Lepeletier Saint Fargeau. Edited by Félix Lepeletier. Brussels, 1826. R O E D E R E R , Pierre Louis, Œuvres. 8 vols. Paris, 1 8 5 3 - 1 8 5 9 . R O L A N D , Mme. Marie J e a n n e , Mémoires de Madame Roland. Vol. I I of Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution française. Edited by SaintAlbin Berville and J e a n François Barrière. 56 vols. Paris, 1820-1828. T H I B A U D E A U , Antoine Clair, Mémoires sur la Convention nationale et le Directoire Vols. X X V and X X V I of Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution française. Edited by Saint-Albin Berville and J e a n François Barrière. 56 vols. Paris, 1820-1828. V I L A T E , Causes secrètes de la Révolution du 9 au 10 Thermidor, par Vilate, ex-juré au Tribunal révolutionnaire, détenu à la Force. Vol. L I I of Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution française. Edited by Saint-Albin Berville and J e a n François Barrière. 56 vols. Paris, 1820-1828.

GRÉGOIRE,

Collection of documents François Alphonse, (ed.), La Société des Jacobins. 6 vols. Paris, 1889-1897. - , (ed.), Receuil des actes du Comité de salut public. 28 vols. Paris, 1889-1951. - , (ed.), Paris pendant la Réaction thermidorienne et sous le Directoire. 5 vols. Paris, 1898-1902. - , (ed.), Paris sous le Consulat. 5 vols. Paris, 1903-1906. B Û C H E Z , P. J . B . a n d R o u x , P. C., Histoire parlementaire de la Révolution française ou Journal des assemblées depuis 1789 jusqu'à 1815. 40 vols, in 20. Paris, 1834-1838. C H A R A V A Y , Étienne, (ed.), Correspondance générale de Carnot. 4 vols. Paris, 1910-1917. D E B I D O U R , A., (ed.), Receuil des actes du Directoire exécutif. 4 vols. Paris, 1910— 1917. AULARD,

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(ed.), Les tribunaux civils de Paris pendant la Révolution (1791— 1800). 3 vols. Paris, 1905-1907. G U I L L A U M E , M . J . , (ed.), Procès-verbaux du Comité d'instruction publique de la Convention nationale. 7 vols. Paris, 1891-1907. L E F E B V R E , Georges, R E I N H A R D , Marcel and B O U L O I S E A U , Marc, (eds.), Index des procès-verbaux des séances de la Convention nationale. Table analythique. 3 vols. Paris, 1959-1963. M A V I D A L , J . and L A U R E N T , E . , (eds.), Archives parlementaires de 1789 à 1860* Première série (1787-1799). 82 vols. Paris, 1862-. S C H M I D T , Adolphe, (ed.), Tableaux de la Révolution française publiés sur les papiers inédits du département et de la police secrète de Paris. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1867-1870. SÉE, Adrien, (ed.), Le procès Pache {extraits du dossier). Paris, 1911. T O U R NE ux, Maurice, (ed.), Procès-verbaux de la Commune cle Paris (10 août 1792— 1er juin 1793). Paris, 1894. DOUARCHE, A . ,

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SOURCES

Biographical and bibliographical dictionaries Olivier, et al., Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes. 4 vols, 3rd éd. Paris, 1882. B O L T E A U , J . et al., (eds.), Dictionnaire de biographie française. 11 vols. Paris, 1933-. F R È R E , Edouard, Manuel du bibliographe normand. 2 vols. Rouen (France), 1860. R E R V I L E R , René, Répertoire général de bio-bibliographie bretonne. 17 vols. Rennes (France), 1886-1908. K U S C I N S K I , A . , Dictionnaire des Conventionnels. Paris, 1 9 1 9 . L E B R E T O N , Th., Biographie normande. 3 vols. Rouen (France), 1857-1867. M A R T I N , André, and W A L T E R , Gérard, Catalogue de l'histoire de la Révolution française. 6 vols. Paris, 1936-1943. M I C H A U D , Joseph (éd.), Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne. 45 vols. 2nd ed. Paris, 1842-1865. M O N G L O D , André, La France révolutionnaire et impériale. Annales de bibliographie méthodique et descriptive des livres illustrés. 1 vols. Grenoble (France), 1930-1949. Q U É R A R D , J . M., La France littéraire ou Dictionnaire bibliographique. 12 vols. Paris, 1827-1844. R O B I N E T , Jean-François Eugène, et al., Dictionnaire historique et biographique de la Révolution et de l'Empire 1789-1815. 2 vols. Paris, 1898. BARBIER,

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143

Maurice, Bibliographie de l'histoire de Paris pendant la Révolution française. 5 vols. Paris, 1890-1913. T U E T E Y , Alexandre, Répertoire général des sources manuscrites de l'histoire de Paris pendant la Révolution fançaise. 1 1 vols. Paris, 1 9 0 1 - 1 9 1 4 . W A L T E R , Gérard, Répertoire de l'histoire de la Révolution française. 3 vols. Paris, TOURNEUX,

1941-1953.

General works François Alphonse, The French Revolution. A Political History 1789— 1814. Translated by Bernard Miall. 4 vols, 3rd ed. New York, 1920. B E A U L I E U , G. F., Essai historique sur les causes et effets de la Révolution de France. 6 vols. Paris, 1802-1803. C A B E T , Étienne, Histoire populaire de la Révolution de 1789 à 1830. 4 vols. Paris,

AULARD,

1839-1840.

Louis de, La province pendant la Révolution. Histoire des clubs jacobins (1789-1795). Paris, 1929. C H U Q U E T , Arthur, Les guerres de la Révolution. 1 1 vols. Paris, 1 8 8 7 - 1 9 1 4 . D A N S E T T E , Adrien, Religious History of Modem France. Translated by John Dingle. 2 vols. New York, 1961. F A J N , Man,'Le Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays et les relations diplomatiques entre la France et les Etats-Unis de 1792 à 1800', Revue d'histoire diplomatique, 85 (1971), 116-26. F A Y E T , Joseph, La Révolution française et la science 1789-1795. Paris, 1 9 6 0 . F U G I E R , André, La Révolution française et l'Empire napoléonien. Vol. IV of Histoire des relations internationales. Edited by Pierre Renouvin. 8 vols. Paris, 1953-1958. G O D E C H O T , Jacques, Les institutions de la France sous la Révolution et l'Empire. Paris, 1951. —, La Grande Nation. L'expansion révolutionnaire de la France clans le monde de 1789 à 1799. 2 vols. Paris, 1956. G U É R I N , Daniel, La lutte des classes sous la première République: bourgeois et ' bras-nus' (1793-1797). 2 vols. Paris, 1964. R E R V I L E R , René, La Bretagne pendant la Révolution. Rennes (France), 1912. M A S S O N , Frédéric, Le département des affaires étrangères pendant la Révolution 1787-1804. Paris, 1877. M A T H I E Z , Albert, La Révolution et les étrangers. Cosmopolitanisme et défense nationale. Paris, 1918. P A R I S E T , Georges, La Révolution française 1792-1799. Vol. I I of Histoire de la France contemporaine depuis la Révolution jusqu'à la paix de 1919. Edited by Ernest Lavisse. 9 vols. Paris, 1920-1922. GARDÉNAL,

144

Selected bibliography

François, Les Idéologues. Essai sur l'histoire des idées et des théories scientifiques, sociales, et religieuses en France depuis 1789. Paris, 1891. S O B O U L , Albert, ' L'audience des Lumières sous la Révolution. Jean-Jacques Rousseau et les classes populaires' in Utopies et institutions au XVIIIème siècle. Le pragmatisme des lumières. Edited by Pierre Francastel, pp. 289303, Paris, 1963. PICAVET,

The Revolution until the Ninth of Thermidor ' L a Convention nationale. Liste des députés et suppléants (Suite)', Revue de la Révolution, 4 (1884), 94. - , ' L a proclamation de la République, 22 Septembre 1792', Revue de la Révolution, 4 (1884), 339. B A R B É , J . J . , ' L e théâtre à Metz pendant la Révolution (1790-an I I ) ' , Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 4 (1927), 359-88. B O U L O I S S E A U , Marc, ' Les débats parlementaires pendant la Terreur et leur diffusion', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 35, (1963), 337—45. B R I C A U D , Jean, Uadministration du département d'Ille-et-Vilaine au début de la Révolution (1790-1791). Rennes (France), 1965. C A R O N , Pierre, ' Le registre des dépenses secrètes du conseil exécutif provisoire', La Révolution française, 83 (1930), 224-54, 326-43, and 21-A1. C H A M P A N D , Claude, Une tentative de pacification des esprits en 1794. La commission philanthrophique de Rennes. Paris, 1962. C O C H I N , Augustin, Les sociétés dépensée et la Révolution en Bretagne (1788-1789). 2 vols. Paris, 1925. D A U B A N , Charles Aimé, La démagogie en 1793 à Paris. Paris, 1 8 6 8 Do WD, David L., 'Security and the Secret Police during the reign of the Terror (Committee of General Security)', South Atlantic Quarterly, 54 (1955), 328-39 G R E E R , Donald, The Incidence of the Terror during the French Revolution. Cambridge, Mass., 1935. H A M E L , Ernest, Thermidor. 2nd ed. Paris, 1 8 9 7 . H É R I C A U L T , Charles d', 'Robespierre et la Révolution de Thermidor', Revue des questions historiques, 15 (1874), 436-98, and 16, 110-68. J A U R È S , Jean, La Legislative, La Convention, and La Revolution en Europe. Vols. II, III, and IV of Histoire socialiste 1789-1900. Edited by Jean Jaurès. 13 vols. Paris, 1901-1908. L E F E B V R E , Georges, Le gouvernement révolutionnaire 2 juin 1793 - 9 Thermidor II. Paris, 1947. —, La Première Terreur. Paris, 1952. ANONYMOUS,

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145

Scott H., ' Robespierre, Danton, and the levée en masse', Journal of Modern History, 30 (1958), 325-37. M A T H I E Z , Albert, ' L e carnet de Robespierre. Essai d ' édition critique'. In Études sur Robespierre 1758-1794:, by the same author, pp. 215-35, Paris, 1958. - , ' La politique de Robespierre et le 9 Thermidor expliqués par Buonarroti'. In Études sur Robespierre 1758-1794, by the same author, pp. 251-80, Paris, 1958. M É T I N , Albert, ' Les origines d u Comité de Sécurité générale de la Convention nationale. Suite et fin', La Révolution française, 25 (1895), 341-63. M O R T I M E R - T E R N A U X , Louis, Histoire de la Terreur 1792-1794. 8 vols, 3rd ed. Paris, 1862-1881. P A L M E R , Robert R., Twelve Who Ruled. The Tear of the Terror in the French Revolution. Princeton, 1946. P I C A U D , R., ' L'esprit public à Rennes et le fédéralisme dans l'Ille-et-Vilaine, août 1792-septembre 1793', Annales de Bretagne, 25 (1910), 287-94. P O C Q U E T , Barthélémy, Les origines de la Révolution en Bretagne. 2 vols. Paris, 1885. R E I N H A R D , Marcel, La Révolution démocratique. 3 vols. Paris, 1959. -, Paris pendant la Révolution. 2 vols. Paris, 1964. S O B O U L , Albert, Les sans-culottes parisiens en l'an II, mouvement populaire et gouvernement révolutionnaire 2 juin 1793- 9 Thermidor an II. Paris, 1958. S Y D E N H A M , Michael, The Girondins. London, 1961. W E L S C H I N G E R , Henri, ' Le Comité de Salut public et la Comédie française'. I n Le Roman de Dumouriez, by the same author, 179-243. Paris, 1890. LYTTLE,

The Thermidorian

Reaction and the Directory

François Alphonse, 'Les derniers jacobins', La Révolution française, 26 (1894), 385-407. B A L L O T , Charles, Le coup d'état du 18 Fructidor an V. Paris, 1906. Bouis, R., ' À propos d'une lettre de Babeuf à Hésine', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 37 (1965), 94-98. B U O N A R R O T I , Filippo, Conspiration pour l'égalité dite de Babeuf. 2 vols. Paris, 1957. C O B B , Richard, ' Note sur la répression contre le personnel sans-culotte de 1795 à 1801', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 26 (1954), 23^49. D A L I N E , V,,'Marc-Antoine Julien après le 9 thermidor', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 37 (1965), 186-203. D A U B A N , Charles Aimé, Paris en 1794 et en 1795. Paris, 1869.

AULARD,

10

146

Selected bibliography

Jean, ' Les démocrates pauvres avant et après le coup d'état du 18 Fructidor an V'. Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 22 (1950), 141-51. D E J O I N T , Georges, La politique économique du Directoire. Paris, 1 9 5 1 . D E V I L L E , Gabriel, Thermidor & Le Directoire (1794—1799). Vol. V of Histoire socialiste 1789-1900. Edited by Jean Jaurès. 13 vols. Paris, 1901-1908. D O M M A N G E T , Maurice, ' Tempérament et formation de Babeuf'. I n Colloque international de Stockholm (21 août 1960). Babeuf et les problèmes du babouvisme, pp. 11-33, Paris, 1963. - , ' Le système de défense des babouvistes au procès de Vendôme'. Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 39 (1967), 255-58. D U N A N , Marcel, Histoire intérieure du Directoire. Paris, 1953. F A J N , Max, ' T h e Journal des hommes libres and the Babouvists', International Review of Social History, 1974 forthcoming. G O N C O U R T , Edmond and Jules de, Histoire de la Société française pendant le Directoire. 3rd ed. Paris, 1864. G U Y O T , Raymond, Le Directoire et la paix de l'Europe. Paris, 1911. L E F E B V R E , Georges, Le Directoire. Paris, 1 9 4 6 . -, The Thermidorians and the Directory. Two phases of the French Revolution. Translated by Robert Baldich. New York, 1964. M A T H I E Z , Albert, La France sous le Directoire. Paris, 1929. -, Le Directoire du 11 Brumaire an IV au 18 Fructidor an V. Edited by Jacques Godechot. Paris, 1934. -, After Robespierre. The Thermidorian Reaction. Translated by Catherine Alison. New York, 1965. M A Z A U R I C , Claude, Babeuf et la conspiration pour V égalité. Paris, 1962. - , 'Babeuf, Buonarroti, et les problèmes du Babouvisme. État actuel des recherches'. In Colloque international de Stockholm (21 août 1960). Babeuf et les problèmes du babouvisme, pp. 283-309. Paris, 1963. M E Y N I E R , Albert, ' L a journée du 18 Fructidor an V (4 septembre 1797)', La Révolution française, 80 (1927), 22-45. -, Les coups d'état du Directoire. 3 vols. Paris, 1928. M I T C H E L L , Harvey, 'Vendémiaire, a réévaluation', Journal of Modem History, 30 (1958), 325-37. P A L M E R , Robert R., ' Much in little : The Dutch Revolution of 1 7 9 5 ' , Journal of Modem History, 26 ( 1 9 5 4 ) , 1 5 - 3 5 . P I C Q U E N A R D , Charles, ' L a Société du Panthéon et le parti patriotique à Paris de Brumaire à Ventôse an IV', La Révolution française, 33 (1897), 318-48. R E I N H A R D , Marcel, La France du Directoire. 2 vols. Paris, 1956. S A I T T A , Armando, 'Autour de la Conjuration de Babeuf. Discussion sur le communisme (1796)'. In Babeuf (1760-1797). Buonarroti (1761-1837). Pour le 2e centenaire de leur naissance, pp. 73-82, Nancy (France), 1961.

DAUTRY,

Secondary sources

147

SCIOUT, L., 'Lascission électorale de l'an VI à Paris', Revue de la Révolution, 6 (1885), 295-309. SIRICH, John B., 'Revolutionary Committees after Thermidor', Journal of Modem History, 26 (1954), 329-39. SOBOUL, Albert, ' Personnel sectionnaire et personnel babouviste'. In Colloque international de Stockholm (21 août 1960). Babeuf et les problèmes du babouvisme, pp. 107-31, Paris, 1963. - , ' Une lettre de Babeuf à Hésine ( 16 décembre 1796) ', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 35 (1963), 79-84. SURATTEAU, Jean-René, ' Les élections de l'an IV. Troisième partie. L'orientation politique des nouveaux conseils', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 24 (1952), 32-62. - , 'Les Babouvistes, le péril rouge et le Directoire (1796-1798)'. In Colloque international de Stockholm (21 août 1960). Babeuf et les problèmes du babouvisme, pp. 147-73, Paris, 1963. TONNESON, Kore D., La défaite des sans-culottes. Mouvement populaire et réaction bourgeoise en l'an III. Paris, 1959. WOLOCH, Isser, Jacobin legacy: the democratic movement under the Directory. Princeton, 1970. ZIVY, Henry, Le treize Vendémiaire an IV. Paris, 1898.

The Consulate BROUSSE, Paul, and TUROT, Henri, Consulat et Empire 1799-1815. Vol. VI of Histoire socialiste 1789-1900. Edited by Jean Jaurès. 13 vols. Paris, 19011908.

DESTREM, Jean, 'Documents sur les déportations du Consulat', Revue historique, 7 ( 1 8 7 8 ) , 8 3 - 1 1 0 . - , 'Le lendemain de Brumaire' La Révolution française, 60 ( 1 9 1 1 ) , 3 8 - 5 0 . GAFFAREL, Paul, 'L'opposition républicaine sous le Consulat (suite et fin)', La Révolution française, 14 ( 1 8 8 8 ) , 6 0 9 - 3 9 . GOSSELIN, Louis, Les derniers terroristes. Paris, 1932. OLLIVIER, Albert, Le Dix-huit Brumaire. Paris, 1959. PARISET, Georges, Le Consulat et l'Empire 1799-1815. Vol. I l l of Histoire de la France contemporaine depuis la Révolution jusqu'à la paix de 1919. Edited by Ernest Lavisse. 10 vols. Paris, 1 9 2 0 - 1 9 2 2 . VANDAL, Albert, L'avènement de Bonaparte. 2 vols. Paris, 1 9 0 3 - 1 9 0 7 .

10«

148

Selected bibliography

Biographies Georges, Anacharsis Clootz• L'orateur du genre humain. 2 vols. Paris, 1865. B A R T H O U , Louis, Danton. Paris, 1 9 3 2 . B I G A R D , Louis, Le comte Real, ancien jacobin. (De la Commune révolutionnaire eie Paris à la Police générale de l'Empire.) Versailles, 1937. B O U C H A R D , Georges, Un organisateur de la victoire. Prieur de la Côte d'Or, membre du Comité de salut public. Paris, 1946. B R I N T O N , Crane, The lives of Talleyrand. New York, 1 9 3 6 . C H U Q U E T , Arthur, 1 9 0 6 , Un prince jacobin. Charles de Hesse ou le général Marat. Paris, 1906. C L A P H A M , J o h n H., The Abbé Siéyès. London, 1912. D A L L Y , Ph., ' Suzanne Lepeletier, fille de la nation', La Révolution française, 62 (1912), 17-38. - , 'Félix Lepeletier', La Révolution française, 63 (1912), 193-213. D E L S A U X , Hélène, Condorcet journaliste 1790-1794. Paris, 1931. D O M M A N G E T , Maurice, Sylvain Maréchal. L'égalitaire. 'L'homme sans Dieu'. Sa vie. Son œuvre (1750-1803). Paris, 1950. F A J N , Max, 'Charles François Duval Journaliste et Homme d'état (1750— 1829)', Annales de Bretagne, 79 (1972), 417-24. G E R S H O Y , Leo, Bertrand Bar ère, a reluctant terroriste. Princeton, 1962. G U I R A R D , P. and A V E N A R D , E., ' Essai d'explication d u Marquis d'Antonelle', Provence historique, 5 (1955), 263-88. H E R L A U T , Auguste Philippe, Le colonel Bouchotte Ministre de la guerre en l'an II. 2 vols. Paris, 1946. I U N G , Th., Dubois-Crancé (Edmond-Louis-Alexis). 2 vols. Paris, 1884. L A M O T H E , L . M. de, Jouannet, sa vie et ses écrits. Bordeaux, 1847. (B. N. : 4* Ln 27 10369.) L A P O U Y A D E , M. J . , Essai sur la vie et les travaux de F. R. A. Vatar-Jouannet. A la Réole (France), 1 8 4 8 . (B.N.: 8 ° Ln 27 1 0 3 7 0 . ) L É V Y - S C H N E I D E R , Léon, Le conventionnel Jeanbon Saint-André. Paris, 1 9 0 1 . L H U I L L I E R , Th., Méhée de la Touche, né à Meaux en 1762, mort à Paris en 1827. Meaux (France), 1 8 8 0 . (B.N.: 8 ° Ln 2 7 3 2 2 1 5 . ) M A D E L I N , Louis, Fouché 1759-1820. 2 vols. Paris, 1 9 0 1 . R E I N H A R D , Marcel, Le Grand Carnot. 2 vols. Paris, 1 9 5 0 - 1 9 5 2 . R O B I N S O N , Georgia, La Revellière-Lépeaux, Citizen Director 1753—1824. New York, 1938. T H O M P S O N , J . M., Robespierre. 2 vols. Oxford (England), 1935. T O U R N I E R , Albert, Vadier, président du Comité de sécurité générale sous la Terreur. Paris, 1896. V A T E L , Charles, Charlotte Corday et les Girondins. 4 vols. Paris, 1 8 6 4 - 1 8 7 3 . AVENEL,

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149

Gérard, Robespierre. 3 vols. Paris, 1 9 3 6 - 1 9 4 0 . -, Babeuf 1760-1797 et la Conjuration des égaux. Paris, 1937. -, Hébert et le Père Duchesne. Paris, 1946.

WALTER,

The press François Alphonse, ' U n e statistique des journaux en l'an V I I I à la veille d u 18 Brumaire', La Révolution française, 26 (1894), 289-98. - , ' U n e gazette militaire de l'an I I ' . In Vol. I of Études et leçons sur la Révolution française, by the same author, pp. 212-26. 6 vols. Paris, 1901-1910. - , ' La presse officieuse sous la Terreur'. I n Vol. I of Études et leçons sur la Révolution française, by the same author, pp. 227—40. 6 vols. Paris, 1901— 1910. A V E N E L , Henri, Histoire de la presse française depuis 1789jusqu'à nos jours. Paris, 1900. B E L L A N G E R , Claude, et al., Histoire générale de la presse française. 2 vols. Paris,

AULARD,

1969-1972.

Arthur de la, 'Histoire de l'imprimerie en Bretagne. Les races typographiques. Les Vatars, imprimeurs à Rennes e t à Nantes', Revue de Bretagne, de Vendée et d'Anjou, 10 (1893), 405-21. C A R O N , Pierre, ' Les publications officieuses d u Ministère de l'intérieure en 1793 et 1794', Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, 14 (1910), 5-43. C U N O W , Heinrich, Die revolutionäre ^eitungsliteratur Frankreichs wahrend der Jahre 1789-1794. Berlin, 1908. D E L A L A I N , Paul, L'imprimerie et la librairie à Paris de 1789 à 1813. Paris, 1899. D E S C H I E N S , François Joseph, Collection de matériaux pour l'histoire de la Révolution de France depuis 1787jusqu'à nos jours. Paris, 1829, F A J N , M a x ' L a diffusion de la presse révolutionnaire dans le Lot, le T a r n , et l'Aveyron, sous la Convention et le Directoire', Annales du Midi, 83 (1971), 299-314. - , ' T h e circulation of the French press during the French Revolution : t h e case of R . F. Lebois' L'Ami d u peuple a n d the royalist Gazette française', English Historical Review, 87 (1972), 100-5. - , ' L e tirage d u J o u r n a l des hommes libres de tous les pays 1792-1800', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 1974, forthcoming. G A L L O I S , Léonard, Histoire des journaux et des journalistes de la Révolution française 1789-1796. 2 vols. Paris, 1845-1846. G É R A R D , René, Un journal de province sous la Révolution. Le'Journal de Marseilles' de Ferréol Beaugeard 1781-1797. Paris, 1964. G O D E C H O T , Jacques, ' T h e origins of mass communication media. T h e coverage of the French press during the French Revolution', Gazette, 8 (1962), 81-86.

BORDERIE,

150

Selected bibliography

Eugène, Histoire politique et littéraire de la presse en France. 8 vols. Paris, 1859-1861. -, Histoire du journal en France 1631-1853. 2nd ed. Paris, 1853. K I T C H I N , Joanna, Un journal 'philosophique' : La Décade (1794—1807). Paris, 1965. L E D R É , Charles, Histoire de la presse. Paris, 1958. L I É B Y , A., ' La presse révolutionnaire et la censure théatrale sous la Terreur (suite)', La Révolution française, 45 (1903), 502-29. L I V O I S , René de, Histoire de la presse française. 2 vols. Lausanne, 1965. M A N É V Y , Raymond, La presse française de Renaudot à Rochefort. Paris, 1 9 5 8 . -, La Révolution et la liberté de la presse. Paris, 1964. M A T H I E Z , Albert, ' La presse subventionnée en l'an II', Annales révolutionnaires, 10 (1918), 112-13. - , ' Le traité de cession de L'Anti-féderaliste au Journal des hommes libres', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 4 (1927), 168-69. P É R I V I E R , Antoine, Napoléon journaliste. Paris, 1 9 1 8 . P E R R O U D , Claude, ' Roland et la presse subventionnée', La Révolution française, 62 (1912), 206-13, 315-32, and 396-419. R O U A N N E T , G., ' L a Correspondance de Bretagne', Annales révolutionnaires, 10 (1918), 542-49. SÉE, Henri, ' Note sur la presse provinciale à la fin de l'ancien régime. Les Affiches de Rennes', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 4, 18-25. S O D E R H J E L M , Aima, Le régime de la presse pendant la Révolution française. 2 vols. Helsingfors (Finland), 1900-1901. W A L T E R , Gérard, La Révolution vue par ses journaux. Paris, 1948. W E I L , Georges, Le journal, origines, évolution et rôle de la presse périodique. Paris, 1934. W E L S C H I N G E R , Henri, La censure sous le Premier Empire. Paris, 1 8 8 7 . HATIN,

Appendix

The Journal

152

des hommes

Table 1. Occupational Letters Deputies used N (%) Total November 2, 1792 to June 1, 1793 June 2, 1793 to 9 Thermidor Year II 10 Thermidor Year II to 9 Floréal Year III

libres

distribution

Societies N (%)

Administrators N (%)

63 28(45.0)

4( 6.0)

9(14.0)

171 51(29.8)

23(13.5)

26(15.2)

3( 6.3)

5(11.0)

46

12(26.0)

10 Floréal Year III to 30 Floréal Year IV

209

33(15.6)

39(18.6)

1 Prairial Year IV to 23 Germinal Year VI

141

13( 9.2)

17(12.0)

65

28(43.0)

13(20.0)

1 Messidor Year VII to 6 Frimaire Year VIII

82

39(47.0)

9(10.9)

7 Frimaire Year VIII to 27 Fructidor Year VIII

93

6( 6.5)

11(11.8)

27 Germinal Year VI to 17 Frimaire Year VII

* Societies include popular, revolutionary, and Jacobin societies ; Administrators include national, departmental, and municipal civil servants ; Military includes soldiers, sailors, gendarmes, and volunteers; Liberal professions include lawyers, physicians, intellectuals, men of letters, etc.; Economic professions include business people, entrepreneurs, craftsmen, farmers; Finally, all the otherwise unclassified are placed in the category Miscellaneous.

153

The distribution

of the correspondents* Liberal E c o n o " , Army . mic c Military r „ ' professi„ „ , . officers profesW N (%) sions N ( % ) N(%)

SubFormer Prison- Miscel, rn • , scnbers officials ers laneous N (%) N (%) N (%) N (%)

5( 8.0) 6 (10.0) 3( 4.0)

8(13.0)

16( 9.3) 24(14.0) 2( 1.2) 3( 1.8) 3( 1.8) 5(11.0)

23(13.5)

10(22.0) 5(11.0)

6(13.0)

9( 4.3) 24(11.4) 9( 4.3) 7( 3.5) 11( 5.2) 18( 8.6) 5( 2.4) 54(26.0) 7( 5.0) 19(13.4) 27(19.4) 1( 0.8)

13( 9.2) 20(14.0) 24(17.0)

2( 3.0) 8(12.0) 4( 6.0)

4( 6.0)

6(10.0)

3( 3.5) 6( 7.2) 3( 3.6)

11(13.3)

12(14.4)

2( 2.1) 9( 9.7) 22(23.3) 1( 1.1) 13(14.3) 9( 9.7)

20(21.5)

154

The Journal des hommes libres

Table 2. Geographical distribution Departments (D) Total

Letters used (L) Total

War L (%)

D

November 2, 1792 to J u n e 1, 1793

23

67

9 (12.4)

4

J u n e 2, 1793 to 9 Thermidor Year II

43

144

23 (16.0)

9

10 Thermidor Year I I to 9 Floréal Year I I I

14

68

4 ( 6.0)

4

10 Floréal Year I I I to 30 Floréal Year IV

69

601

54 ( 9.0) 11

1 Prairial Year IV to 23 Germinal Year VI

45

188

19 (10.1)- 8

27 Germinal Year V I to 17 Frimaire Year V I I

25

81

1 Messidor Year V I I to 6 Frimaire Year V I I I

6

76

7 Frimaire Year V I I I to 27 Fructidor Year V I I I

12

58

9(11.1)

5

3 ( 5.2) 2

* Letters from correspondents in the departments carved out of the conquered territories are not included, unless they are today part of the French territory. Two patterns are available to assess the geographical distribution of the circulation: Jean René Surratteau's analysis of the elections of 1795 and 1797 ['Les élections de l'an IV. Troisième partie. L'orientation politique des nouveaux conseils', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, X X I V (1952), 32-62, and 'Les élections de l'an V aux Conseils du Directoire', Annales historiques de la Révolution française, X X X (1958), 21-63] or Richard Bienvenue's division of France in 1793-1794 into areas of relative calm, civil war, minor disturbances, and threatened

The

distribution

155

of the correspondents* Calm L

(%)

Civil war D

(%)

D

L

11 (16.8)

5

5 ( 7.8)

4

87 (60.0) 17

26 (18.0) 10

8 ( 6.0)

7

26 (38.0)

35 (51.2)

3 ( 4.8)

2

42 (63.0) 10

5

L

Minor disturbances

3

321 (53.6) 30

179 (29.7) 15

95 (50.5) 19

59 (31.3) 10

54 (66.6)

9

13 (16.0)

70 (92.1)

3

49 (84.4)

6

(%)

D

47 ( 7.7) 13

15 ( 8.0)

8

8

5 ( 6.3)

3

5 ( 6.6)

2

1 ( 1.3)

1

5 ( 8.6)

3

1 ( 1.8)

1

by war [The Ninth of Thermidor (New York, 1968), p. 65]. Neither of these patterns is fully satisfying. Bienvenue's conclusions reflect those reached by Donald Greer in his statistical study of the Terror [The Incidence of the Terror during the French Revolution (Cambridge, Mass., 1935)]. Suratteau's conclusions are especially relevant to the understanding of the behavior of the electorate dominated by a minority of the u r b a n bourgeoisies. I have used Bienvenue's pattern, on the assumption that it substantially reflects t h e geography of political opinions between 1792 and 1800, the fluctuations taking place after 1794 not altering significantly the political geography of t h e period (see the maps).

The Journal des hommes libres

156

T a b l e 3. The correspondence from Paris Calm Correspondence %

Total correspondence %

73,8

46.2

64.4

38.8

73.0

28.0

101 Floréal Floréal Year I I IIV to to Germinal Year 30 Year IV 23 Germinal Year V I

62.6 66.3

33.4 33.5

27 Germinal Year V I to 17 Frimaire Year V I I

81.5

54.3

1 Messidor Year V I I to 6 Frimaire Year V I I I

89.1

90

7 Frimaire Year V I I I to 27 Fructidor Year V I I I

84.7

72.4

November 2, 1792 to J u n e 1, 1793 J u n e 2, 1792 to 9 Thermidor Year II 10 Thermidor Year II to 9 Floréal Year I I I

157

The sources

Table 4. The urban /non-urban sources of the correspondence* Urban

Non-urban

Total correspondence

Total correspondence

89.06

11.94

81.76

18.24

95.72

4.28

(%)

(%)

November 2, 1792 to J u n e 1, 1793 J u n e 2, 1793 to 9 Thermidor Year II 10 Thermidor Year I I to 9 Floréal Year I I I 10 30 1 23 27 17

Floréal I I to Floréal Year Year II V Germinal Year IV to Germinal Year V I Germinal Year VI to Frimaire Year V I I

1 Messidor Year V I I to 6 Frimaire Year V I I I 7 Frimaire Year V I I I to 27 Fructidor Year V I I I

86.2

13.8

83.0

17.0

90.0

10.0

100.0 95.24

4.76

* According to Marcel Reinhard and André Armengaud, Histoire de la population mondiale (Paris, 1961), p. 196, eighteenth-century demographers considered an agglomeration of 2,000 a bowrg (market-town) and one of 4000 a ville (town), cities of 12,000 or more being placed in a special category. In this analysis, the urban correspondence is made u p of letters from towns of 4,000 inhabitants or more, all sufficiently important to be immediately recognizable. Nearly all the non-urban correspondence comes from towns of 2,000 or less.

158

The Journal des hommes libres

Subscriptions (terms)

Subscriptions

Total cost of publication

Postage

Printing costs

Received from Bouchotte

Table 5. The costs of publication (in livres)*

5 months: June 1, 1793 to 1 Brumaire II 2000 copies daily

52,000

15,000

5,000

10,800

4 months : 1 Brumaire to 1 Ventôse II 5000 copies daily

80,000

28,720

10,000

18,720

132,000

44,520

15,000

29,520

81,900

1 month: Ventôse II 5000 copies daily

20,000

7,180

2,500

4,680

11,250

1 month: Germinal II 6000 copies daily

24,000

8,520

3,000

5,520

13,500

176,000

60,220

20,500

39,720

106,650

Total for June 1, 1793 to 1 Ventôse II

Grand total

* The following costs were used in this computation: (a) for the cost of printing, the evaluation by C. Desmoulins, according to whom the first 1000 copies of one issue of a newspaper cost 44 livresT the next 1000 only 28 litres', (b) the subscription rates remained 12 livres for three months, 21 limes for six months, and 36 livres for a year; and (c) the cost of postage was 1 lime 10 sous for three months, 3 livres for six months, and 6 limes for a year.

The costs of publication

159

T a b l e 6. The increases in the subscription

rates*

1 month 2 months 3 months 6 months November 2, 1792 1 Ventôse III 1 Thermidor III 1 Fructidor III 1 Brumaire IV 1 Frimaire IV 1 Nivôse IV 4 Nivôse IV 150 A 12 Nivôse IV 250 A 23 Nivôse IV 8 Prairial IV 20 Prairial IV 1 Messidor IV 9 Messidor IV 13 Messidor IV 30 Messidor IV

450 A

12 A 15 A 35 A 50 A 75 A 125 A 250 A 12 S 600 A

21 A 27 A 60 A 100 A 150 A 250 A 400 A 21 S

1000 A A 1500 A M 50 M A 5750 A A 3000 A A 11 500 A 100 M 75 M 150 M 125 M 250 M 300 M 500 M

750 25 3000 1500 6000

12 months 36 50 100 200 300 500 800 36

A A A A A A A S

2000 A 3000 A 100 M 11000 A 6000 A 22 000 A 200 M 300 M 500 M 1200 M

* A = assignat; S = species; M = mandat. On 1 Messidor Year IV, two rates in assignats are quoted: the lower is for big denomination assignats, and the larger for small denominations.

The Journal des hommes libres

160

/Pyr-'OnjliJ W|IS!i|j||lîi!iia I Calm > Corse

EÜ!ÜiiäWar Minor disorders

EZZZ3Civil

war

Map. 1 The distribution of correspondents from November 2, 1792 to June 1, 1793

The geographical

Map 2. The distribution of correspondents from June to July 27,1794

ll

161

distribution of correspondents

2, 1793

162

The Journal des hommes libres

Map 3. The distribution of correspondents from July 28, 1793 to April 28,1795

163

The geographical distribution of correspondents

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