第 54 节
作者:开了      更新:2021-02-18 23:01      字数:9309
  replace them: at Bordeaux only four hundred and fifty came to the
  poll out of nine hundred; while elsewhere the summons brings
  together only 〃a third or a quarter〃 In many places there are no
  candidates; or those elected decline to accept。  They are obliged;
  in order to supply their places; to hunt up unfrocked monks of a
  questionable character。  There are two parties; after this; in each
  parish; two faiths; two systems of worship; and permanent discord。
  Even when the new and the old curés are accommodating; their
  situations bring them into conflict。  To the former the latter are
  〃intruders。〃 To the latter the former are 〃 refractories。〃 By virtue
  of his being a guardian of souls; the former cannot dispense with
  telling his parishioners that the intruder is excommunicated; that
  his sacraments are null or sacrilegious; and that it is a sin to
  attend his mass。  By virtue of his being a public functionary; the
  latter does not fail to write to the authorities that the 〃
  refractory 〃 entraps the faithful; excites their consciences; saps
  the Constitution; and that he ought to be put down by force。  In
  other words; the former draws everybody away from the latter; while
  the latter sends the gendarmes against the former; and persecution
  begins。 … In a strange reversal; it is the majority which undergoes
  persecution; and the minority which carries it out。  The mass of the
  constitutional curé is; everywhere; deserted。'79' In La Vendée there
  are ten or twelve present in the church out of five or six hundred
  parishioners; on Sundays and holidays whole villages and market…
  towns travel from one to two leagues off to attend the orthodox
  mass; the villagers declaring that 〃if the old curé can only be
  restored to them; they will gladly pay a double tax。〃 In Alsace;
  〃nine tenths; at least; of the Catholics refuse to recognize the
  legally sworn priests。〃 The same spectacle presents itself in
  Franche…Comté; Artois; and in ten of the other provinces。
  Finally; as in a chemical composition; the analysis is complete。
  Those who believe; or who recover their belief; are ranged around
  the old curé; all who; through conviction or tradition; hold to the
  sacraments; all who; through faith or habit; wish or feel a need to
  attend the mass。  The auditors of the new curé consist of
  unbelievers; deists; the indifferent members of the clubs and of the
  administration; who resort to the church as to the H?tel…de…ville or
  to a popular meeting; not through religious but through political
  zeal; and who support the 〃intruder〃 in order to sustain the
  Constitution。  All this does not secure to him very fervent
  followers; but it provides him with very zealous defenders; and; in
  default of the faith which they do not possess; they give the force
  which is at their disposal。  All means are proper against an
  intractable bishop or curé; not only the law which they aggravate
  through their forced interpretation of it and through their
  arbitrary verdicts; but also the riots which they stir up by their
  instigation and which they sanction by their toleration。'80'  He is
  driven out of his parish; consigned to the county town; and kept in
  a safe place。  The Directory of Aisne denounces him as a disturber
  of the public peace; and forbids him; under severe penalties; from
  administering the sacraments。  The municipality of Cahors shuts up
  particular churches and orders the nonjuring ecclesiastics to leave
  the town in twenty…four hours。  The electoral corps of Lot denounces
  them publicly as 〃ferocious brutes;〃 incendiaries; and provokers of
  civil war。  The Directory of the Bas…Rhin banishes them to
  Strasbourg or to fifteen leagues from the frontier。  At Saint…Leon
  the bishop is forced to fly。  At Auch the archbishop is imprisoned;
  at Lyons M。  de Boisboissel; grand vicar; is confined in Pierre…
  Encize; for having preserved an archiepiscopal mandate in his house;
  brutality is everywhere the minister of intolerance。  A certain cure
  of Aisne who; in 1789; had fed two thousand poor; having presumed to
  read from his pulpit a pastoral charge concerning the observance of
  Lent; the mayor seizes him by the collar and prevents him from going
  to the altar; 〃two of the National Yeomanry〃 draw their sabers on
  him; and forthwith lead him away bareheaded; not allowing him to
  return to his house; and drive him to a distance of two leagues by
  beat of drum and under escort。  At Paris; in the church of Saint…
  Eustache; the curé is greeted with outcries; a pistol is pointed at
  his head; he is seized by the hair; struck with fists; and only
  reaches the sacristy through the intervention of the National Guard。
  In the church of the Théatins; rented by the orthodox with all legal
  formality; a furious band disperses the priests and their
  assistants; upsets the altar and profanes the sacred vessels。  A
  placard; posted up by the department; calls upon the people to
  respect the law; 〃I saw it;〃 says an eye…witness; 〃torn down amidst
  imprecations against the department; the priests; and the devout。
  One of the chief haranguers; standing on the steps terminated his
  speech by stating that schism ought to be stopped at any cost; that
  no worship but his should be allowed; that women should be whipped
  and priests knocked on the head。〃 And; in fact; 〃a young lady
  accompanied by her mother is whipped on the steps of the church。〃
  Elsewhere nuns are the sufferers; even the sisters of Saint…Vincent
  de Paul; and; from April; 1793; onward; the same outrages on modesty
  and against life are propagated from town to town。  At Dijon; rods
  are nailed fast to the gates of all the convents; at Montpellier;
  two or three hundred ruffians; armed with large ironbound sticks;
  murder the men and outrage the women。    Nothing remains but to
  put the gangsters under the shelter of an amnesty; which is done by
  the Constituent Assembly; and to legally sanction the animosity of
  local administrations; which is done by the Legislative
  Assembly。'81'  Henceforth the nonjuring ecclesiastics are deprived
  of their sustenance; they are declared 〃 suspected of revolt against
  the law and of evil intentions against the country。〃 … Thus; says a
  contemporary Protestant; 〃on the strength of these suspicions and
  these intentions; a Directory; to which the law interdicts judicial
  functions; may arbitrarily drive out of his house the minister of a
  God of peace and charity; grown gray in the shadow of the altar〃
  Thus; 〃everywhere; where disturbances occur on account of religious
  opinions; and whether these troubles are due to the frantic
  scourgers of the virtuous sisters of charity or to the ruffians
  armed with cow…hides who; at N?mes and Montpellier; outrage all the
  laws of decorum and of liberty for six whole months; the non…juring
  priests are to be punished with banishment。  Torn from their
  families whose means of living they share; they are sent away to
  wander on the highways; abandoned to public pity or ferocity the
  moment any scoundrel chooses to excite a disturbance that he can
  impute to them。〃 … Thus we see approaching the revolt of the
  peasantry; the insurrections of N?mes; Franche…Comté; la Vendée and
  Brittany; emigration; transportation; imprisonment; the guillotine
  or drowning for two thirds of the clergy of France; and likewise for
  myriads of the loyal; for husbandmen; artisans; day…laborers;
  seamstresses; and servants; and the humblest among the lower class
  of the people。  This is what the laws of the Constituent Assembly
  are leading to。   In the institution of the clergy; as in that of
  the nobles and the King; it demolished a solid wall in order to dig
  through it an open door; and it is nothing strange if the whole
  structure tumbles down on the heads of its inmates。  The true course
  was to respect; to reform; to utilize rank and corporations: all
  that the Assembly thought of was the abolition of these in the name
  of abstract equality and of national sovereignty。  In order to
  abolish these it executed; tolerated; or initiated all the attacks
  on persons and on property。  Those it is about to commit are the
  inevitable result of those which it has already committed; for;
  through its Constitution; bad is changed to worse; and the social
  edifice; already half in ruins through the clumsy havoc that is
  effected in it; will fall in completely under the weight of the
  incongruous or extravagant constructions which it proceeds to
  extemporize。
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  Notes:
  '1' Cf。  〃The Ancient Régime;〃 books I。  and V。
  '2' Perhaps we are here at the core of why all regimes end up
  becoming corrupt; inefficient and sick; their leaders take their
  privileges for granted and become more and more inattentive to the
  work which must be done if the people are to be kept at work and
  possible adversaries kept under control。  (SR。)
  '3' A special tax paid the king by a plebeian owning a fief。  (TR)
  '