The Physiology of Taste Read Online Free PDF Page B

Prussian army; panic in Paris leads mob to storm prisons and massacre inmates (2–10 September).
Dumouriez wins unexpected victory against the Duke of Brunswick at Valmy (20 September). French occupation of Nice and Savoy (the latter is annexed in October). Custine crosses the Rhine (October); Dumouriez invades Austrian Netherlands, taking Brussels (November). Decree of Convention promising help to all peoples desirous of recovering their liberty (19 November).
First meeting of National Convention (only 7.5 per cent of those now eligible to vote in the elections had done so) which proceeds to abolish the monarchy (22 September). Girondists, strongly supported in the provinces, retain considerable influence. The Jacobin deputation from Paris (known as the
Montagne)
with Robespierre as their chief spokesman, press for an indictment of the king. Discovery of a secret
armoire de fer
containing royal correspondence with Austria makes the king’s trial inevitable; it takes place on 10 and 11 December.
Divorce legalized. Slave rebellion in West Indies causes sugar shortage in France.
    DATE: 1793
    AUTHOR’S LIFE: By this time BS has allied himself with the Girondists, presiding over the
Société des amis de la Liberté et de l’Egalité
in Belley. (BS’s mayoral speeches stress the importance of liberty but refute the idea that equality applies to equality of wealth.) They are split over the question of the king’s indictment (BS’s views are unknown) but all support a limited federalism as a counterbalance to the power of the Paris mob (which supports the more radical Jacobins). He chairs several meetings in which speeches are made in support of the reaction in Lyons, Marseilles and Bordeaux to the fall of the Gironde, one by his own cousin. However, ordered by the Convention to raise men to suppress revolt of the federalists in Lyons, BS prudently complies. Personally leads another group of volunteers to the assistance of neighbouring Chambéry, threatened by Sardinian troops (August). Unimpressed by this show of patriotishm, local Jacobins led by café-owner Antoine Bonnet campaign successfully for his removal (13 October). BS fights back, gaining time, a useful passport, and a temporary reinstatement as mayor. But learning that a representative of the Convention has been dispatched to Belley to investigate his case, he quickly leaves the town (10/11 December). In his absence he is denounced as a federalist and traitor. His goods and papers are sequestered.
    LITERARY CONTEXT: Paine:
The Age of Reason
(and 1794).
Kant:
Religion within the Boundaries of Reason
.
Desmoulins (ed.):
Le Vieux Cordelier
(to 1794).
Mirabeau (younger):
Les Lettres à Sophie
.
    HISTORICAL EVENTS: Louis XVI having been found guilty of treason, a vote on the death penalty is taken in the Convention, and agreed by a small majority. Sentence carried out on 21 January.
France declares war on Great Britain and Holland (February) and Spain (March). Inflation leads to food riots in Paris led by
enragés
Roux and Varlet (Febrary–March). Revolt of the Vendée. Revolutionary Tribunal set up to institutionalize revolutionary justice; decree condemning to summary execution all criminals taken in the act (the latter claiming even more victims than the former). Watch committes set up in every commune (March). Defeat of Girondist General Dumouriez in the Netherlands and his defection to the Austrians. Committe of Public Safety established where middle-men Danton and Barère try to mediate between warring factions in the Convention (April).
Huge mob, probably stirred up by the
Montagne
, surrounds the Convention (2 June); leading Girondists arrested. Many moderate members leave Paris, leaving Jacobins in control. Constitution of 1793 voted but never implemented as country in state of war. New Committe of Public Safety re-elected, including Robespierre (July).
Marat murdered (13 July). Revolts in Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux and other southern towns (May).
Girondist