《the origins of contemporary france-2》

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practical legislators。 … On the sick body entrusted to it; it

performed amputations which were as useless as they were excessive;

and applied bandages as inadequate as they were injurious。  With the

exception of two or three restrictions admitted inadvertently; and

the maintenance of the show of royalty; also the obligation of a

small electoral qualification; it carried out its principle to the

end; the principle of Rousseau。  It deliberately refused to consider

man as he really was under its own eyes; and persisted in seeing

nothing in him but the abstract being created in books。

Consequently; with the blindness and obstinacy characteristic of a

speculative surgeon; it destroyed; in the society submitted to its

scalpel and its theories; not only the tumors; the enlargements; and

the inflamed parts of the organs; but also the organs themselves;

and even the vital governing centers around which cells arrange

themselves to recompose an injured organ。  That is; the Assembly

destroyed on the one hand the time…honored; spontaneous; and lasting

societies formed by geographical position; history; common

occupations and interests; and on the other; those natural chiefs

whose name; repute; education; independence; and earnestness

designated them as the best qualified to occupy high positions。  In

one direction it despoils and permits the ruin and proscription of

the superior class; the nobles; the members of Parliament; and the

upper middle class。  In another it dispossesses and breaks up all

historic or natural corporations; religious congregations; clerical

bodies; provinces; parliaments; societies of art and of all other

professions and pursuits。  This done; every tie or bond which holds

men together is found to be severed; all subordination and every

graduated scale of rank have disappeared。  There is no longer rank

and file; or commander…in…chief。  Nothing remains but individual

particles; 26 millions of equal and disconnected atoms。  Never was

so much disintegrated matter; less capable of resistance; offered to

hands undertaking to mold it。  Harshness and violence will be

sufficient to ensure success。  These brutal hands are ready for the

work; and the Assembly which has reduced the material to powder has

likewise provided the mortar and pestle。  As awkward in destruction

as it is in construction; it invents for the restoration of order in

a society which is turned upside down a machine which would; of

itself; create disorder in a tranquil society。  The most absolute

and most concentrated government would not be strong enough to

effect without disturbance a similar equalization of ranks; the same

dismemberment of associations; and the same displacement of

property。  No social transformation can be peacefully accomplished

without a well…commanded army; obedient and everywhere present; as

was the case in the emancipation of the Russian serfs by Emperor

Alexander。  The new Constitution;'42' on the contrary; reduces the

King to the position of an honorary president; suspected and called

in question by a disorganized State。  Between him and the

legislative body it interposes nothing but sources of conflict; and

suppresses all means of concord。  The monarch has no hold whatever

on the administrative departments which he must direct; the mutual

independence of the powers; from the center to the extremities of

the State; everywhere produces indifference; negligence; and

disobedience between the injunctions issued and their execution。

France is a federation of forty thousand municipal sovereignties; in

which the authority of legal magistrates varies according to the

caprice of active citizens。  These active citizens; too heavily

loaded; shy away from the performance of public duty; in which a

minority of fanatics and ambitious men monopolize the right to

speak; to vote; all influence; the power and all action。  They

justify their multiple ursurpations; their unbridled despotism; and

their increasing encroachments by the Declaration of the Rights of

Man。  The masterpiece'43' of ideal abstractions and of practical

absurdities is accomplished。  In accordance with the Constitution

spontaneous anarchy becomes legalized anarchy。  The latter is

perfect; nothing finer of the kind has been seen since the ninth

century。



______________________________________________________________________



Notes:



'1' The name for the dreaded secret Royal warrant of arrest。  (SR。)



'2' The initiative rests with the King on one point: war cannot be

decreed by the Assembly except on his formal and preliminary

proposition。  This exception was secured only after a violent

struggle and a supreme effort by Mirabeau。



'3' Speech by Lanjuinais; November 7; 1789。  〃We determined on the

separation of the powers。  Why; then; should the proposal he made to

us to unite the legislative power with the executive power in the

persons of the ministers?〃



'4' See the attendance of the Ministers before the Legislative

Assembly。



'5' 〃Any society in which the separation of the powers is not

clearly defined has no constitution。〃 (Declaration of Rights;

article XVI。) … This principle is borrowed from a text by

Montesquieu; also from the American Constitution。  In the rest the

theory of Rousseau is followed。



'6' Mercure de France; an expression by Mallet du Pan。



'7' Constitution of 1791; ch。  II。  articles 5; 6; 7。   Decree of

September 25 … October 6; 1791; section III。  articles; 8 to 25。



'8' Speeches by Barnave and Roederer in the constituent Assembly。 …

Speeches by Barnave and Duport in the Jacobin Club。



'9' Principal texts。  (Duvergier; 〃Collection des Lois et Decrets。〃)

… Laws on municipal and administrative organization; December 14 and

22; 1789; August 12…20; 1790; March 12; 1791。  On the municipal

organization of Paris; May 21st; June 27; 1790。 … Laws on the

organization of the Judiciary; August 16…24; 1790; September 16…29;

1791; September 29; October 21; 1791。… Laws on military

organization; September 23; October 29; 1790; January 16; 1791; July

27; 28; 1791 … Laws on the financial organization; November 14…

24;。1790; November 23; 1790; March 17; 1791; September 26; October

2; 1791。



'10' The removal of such managerial authority has since the second

World war taken place inside the United Nations and other Western

public administrations and seems to be the aim of much communist

trade union effort。  The result has everywhere been added cost and

decreased efficiency。  (SR。)



'11' This principle has been introduced in Western educational

systems when clever self…appointed psychologists told parents and

teacher alike that they could and should not punish their children

but only talk and explain to them。  (SR。)



'12' This description fits the staff regulations of the United

Nations secretariat in which I served for 32 years。 (SR。)



'13' Decrees of December 14 and December 22; 1789: 〃In

municipalities reduced to three members (communes below five hundred

inhabitants); all executive functions shall belong to the mayor

alone。〃



'14' Could it be that Lenin took note of this and had 〃it this

translated in Russian and made use of it in his and later in Stalin's

schools for international revolutionaries。  It would in any case

have weakened the Bourgeois Capitalist countries。 In any case such

measures have been introduced both in the international

organizations and in most Western Democratic Governments after World

War II。 (SR。)



'15' This was in the United Nations called 'Rotation' and made the

administration of missions and forces difficult; expensive and

inefficient。  This rotation was also used in the Indian and other

armies in order to prevent the officers to reach an understanding or

achieve any power over the troops under their command。  (SR。)



'16' Laws of September 23 … October 29; 1790; January 16; 1791。

(Titles II。  And VII。) … Cf。  the legal prescriptions in relation to

the military tribunals。  In every prosecuting or judicial jury one…

seventh of the sworn members are taken from the non…commissioned

officers; and one…seventh from the soldiers; and again; according to

the rank of the accused; the number of those of the same rank is

doubled。



'17' Law of July 28th; August 12; 1791。



'18' Laws of November 24; 1789 (article 52); August 10…14; 1789。 …

Instruction of August 10…20; 1790; § 8 …  Law of October 21;

November 21; 1789。



'19' Laws of November 14 and 23; 1790; January 13th; September 26th;

October 9; 1792。



'20' Albert Babeau; I。  327 (Féte of the Federation; July14; 1790)。

… 〃Archives Nationales;〃 F7; 3215 (May 17;1791; Deliberation of the

council…general of the commune of Brest。  May 17 and 19; Letters of

the directory of the district)。 … Mercure; March 5; 1791。  〃Mesdames

are stopped until the return of the two deputies; whom the Republic

of Arnay…le…Duc has sent to the representatives of the nation to

demonstrate to them the necessity of keeping the king's aunts in the

kingdom。〃



'21' Moniteur; X。  132。  Speech by M。  Labergerie; November 8; 1791。



'22' At Montauban; in the intendant's salon; the ladies of the place

spoke patois only; the grandmother of the gentleman who has informed

me of this fact did not understand any other language。



'23' Moniteur; V。163; sitting of July 18; 1791。  Speech by M。

Lecoulteux; reporter。



'24' Moniteur; XI。  283; sitting of February 2; 1792。  Speech by

Cambon: 〃They go away thinking that they understand what is

explained to them; but return the following day to obtain fresh

explanations。  The attorneys refuse to give the municipalities any

assistance; stating that they know nothing about these matters。〃



'25' The same may happen when a subordinate is promoted to be placed

in charge of his or her former equals and colleagues。  This is why

it is often preferably to transfer someone who is recog
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