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the origins of contemporary france-1-第149章

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The citizen; the most irreproachable in his conduct and the least open

to suspicion of vagabondage; is not sure of not being shut up in the

depot; as his freedom depends on a policeman who is constantly liable

to be deceived by a false denunciation or corrupted by a bribe。  I have

seen in the depot at Rennes several husbands arrested solely through

the denunciation of their wives; and as many women through that of

their husbands; several children by the first wife at the solicitation

of their step…mothers; many female domestics pregnant by the masters

they served; shut up at their instigation; and girls in the same

situation at the instance of their seducers; children denounced by

their fathers; and fathers denounced by their children; all without

the slightest evidence of vagabondage or mendicity。  。  。  。  No decision

of the provost's court exists restoring the incarcerated to their

liberty; notwithstanding the infinite number arrested unjustly。〃



Suppose that a human intendant; like this one; sets them at

liberty: there they are in the streets; without a penny; beggars

through the action of a law which proscribes mendicity and which adds

to the wretched it prosecutes the wretched it creates; still more

embittered and corrupt in body and in soul。



〃It nearly always happens;〃 says the same intendant; 〃that the

prisoners; arrested twenty…five or thirty leagues from the depot; are

not confined there until three or four months after their arrest; and

sometimes longer。  Meanwhile; they are transferred from brigade to

brigade; in the prisons found along the road; where they remain until

the number increases sufficiently to form a convoy。  Men and women are

confined in the same prison; the result of which is; the females not

pregnant on entering it are always so on their arrival at the depot。

The prisons are generally unhealthy; frequently; the majority of the

prisoners are sick on leaving it;〃



and many become rascals on coming in contact with rascals。…Moral

contagion and physical contagion; the ulcer thus increasing through

the remedy; centers of repression becoming centers of corruption。



And yet with all its rigors the law does not attain its ends。



〃Our towns;〃 says the parliament of Brittany;'35' 〃are so filled

with beggars it seems as if the measures taken to suppress mendicity

only increase it。〃   …   〃The principal highways;〃 writes the

intendant; 〃are infested with dangerous vagabonds and vagrants; actual

beggars; which the police do not arrest; either through negligence or

because their interference is not provoked by special solicitations。〃



What would be done with them if they were arrested? They are too

many; and there is no place to put them。  And; moreover; how prevent

people who live on alms from demanding alms? The effect; undoubtedly;

is lamentable but inevitable。  Poverty; to a certain extent; is a slow

gangrene in which the morbid parts consume the healthy parts; the man

scarcely able to subsist being eaten up alive by the man who has

nothing to live on。



〃The peasant is ruined; perishing; the victim of oppression by the

multitude of the poor that lay waste the country and take refuge in

the towns。  Hence the mobs so prejudicial to public safety; that crowd

of smugglers and vagrants; that large body of men who have become

robbers and assassins; solely because they lack bread。  This gives but

a faint idea of the disorders I have seen with my own eyes'36'。  The

poverty of the rural districts; excessive in itself; becomes yet more

so through the disturbances it engenders; we have not to seek

elsewhere for frightful sources of mendicity and for all the

vices。〃'37'



Of what avail are palliatives or violent proceedings against an

evil which is in the blood; and which belongs to the very constitution

of the social organism? What police force could effect anything in a

parish in which one…quarter or one…third of its inhabitants have

nothing to eat but that which they beg from door to door? At

Argentré;'38' in Brittany; 〃a town without trade or industry; out of

2;300 inhabitants; more than one…half are anything else but well…off;

and over 500 are reduced to beggary。〃 At Dainville; in Artois; 〃out of

130 houses sixty are on the poor…list。〃'39'  In Normandy; according to

statements made by the curates; 〃of 900 parishioners in Saint…Malo;

three…quarters can barely live and the rest are in poverty。〃 〃Of 1;500

inhabitants in Saint…Patrice; 400 live on alms。〃 Of 500 inhabitants in

Saint…Laurent three…quarters live on alms。〃 At Marboef; says a report;

〃of 500 persons inhabiting our parish; 100 are reduced to mendicity;

and besides these; thirty or forty a day come to us from neighboring

parishes。〃'40'  At Bolbone in Languedoc'41' daily at the convent gate

is 〃general almsgiving to 300 or 400 poor people; independent of that

for the aged and the sick; which is more numerously attended。〃 At

Lyons; in 1787; 〃30;000 workmen depend on public charity for

subsistence;〃 at Rennes; in 1788; after an inundation; 〃two…thirds of

the inhabitants are in a state of destitution;〃'42' at Paris; out of

650;000 inhabitants; the census of 1791 counts 118;784 as

indigent。'43' … Let frost or hail come; as in 1788; let a crop fail;

let bread cost four sous a pound; and let a workman in the charity…

workshops earn only twelve sous a day;'44'  can one imagine that

people will resign themselves to death by starvation? Around Rouen;

during the winter of 1788; the forests are pillaged in open day; the

woods at Baguères are wholly cut away; the fallen trees are publicly

sold by the marauders'45'。  Both the famished and the marauders go

together; necessity making itself the accomplice of crime。  From

province to province we can follow up their tracks: four months later;

in the vicinity of Etampes; fifteen brigands break into four

farmhouses during the night; while the farmers; threatened by

incendiaries; are obliged to give; one three hundred francs; another

five hundred; all the money; probably; they have in their coffers'46'。

〃Robbers; convicts; the worthless of every species;〃 are to form the

advance guard of insurrections and lead the peasantry to the extreme

of violence'47'。  After the sack of the Reveillon house in Paris it is

remarked that 〃of the forty ringleaders arrested; there was scarcely

one who was not an old offender; and either flogged or branded。〃'48'

In every revolution the dregs of society come to the surface。  Never

had these been visible before; like badgers in the woods; or rats in

the sewers; they had remained in their burrows or in their holes。  They

issue from these in swarms; and suddenly; in Paris; what figures!'49'

〃Never had any like them been seen in daylight。  。  。  Where do they come

from? Who has brought them out of their obscure hiding places? 。  。  。

strangers from everywhere; armed with clubs; ragged; 。  。  。  some almost

naked; others oddly dressed〃 in incongruous patches and 〃frightful to

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