朱學勤：《道德理想國的覆滅》

第七章第五節：266至273頁         

Carol Blum: Rousseau and the Republic of Virtue

布魯姆：《盧梭與德性共和國》

   內外禁錮——輿論劃一與道德對抗

　　羅伯斯庇爾上臺之時，正是巴黎經受革命道德清洗之際。

　　在革命上層，人們推舉出比馬拉更具道德熱忱的羅伯斯庇爾；在革命下層，人們點火焚燒一切不合道德標準的文化“奢侈品”：燒書，燒畫，燒錦旗，燒舊制度文獻，燒所有從私人住宅抄檢出來的帶有貴族氣息的文化作品。據《導報》記載，從１７９３年至１７９４年，不斷有愛國者結隊沖進國民公會底樓，自發地進行焚書活動。(1. Blum: 220頁第三段第6行至第8行) 濃煙時常從國民公會的各個窗戶內飄逸而出，法國議會就在這種騰騰烈焰之上，大聲辯論他們的革命進程。(2. Blum: 220頁第三段第9行，承接上面來的)

　　１７９３年１０月２３日，一位革命前的精神貴族——主教蒂博實在心疼這些文化精品毀于一炬，詢問議會：(3. Blum: 220頁第三段第9行至第11行)

　　愛國者有什么權力燒毀這些從鄰居家里抄檢來的東西，即使這些東西證明是保皇主義或封建主義的標志？ (4. Blum: 220頁第三段第11行至第13行)

　　雅各賓黨人約瑟夫·德·謝尼埃平靜地回答說：(5. Blum: 220頁第13行至第14行)

　　不是有一些被公認是偉大的共和主義者的書籍嗎？比如說，他們之中有西尼和讓·雅克·盧梭。42（6. Blum: 220頁最后一行至221頁第2行）

        盧梭的著作和思想到了這種時候，就不限于一種無形的語言暴力了。它已與強大的群眾暴力、行政暴力相結合，形成一種公開的政教合一的政治暴力。(7. Blum: 243頁第三段第1行至第4行；作者曲解成“政教合一”，Blum并非這個意思)１７９３年６月１９日，《世界信使報》公然載文說：“人，僅僅是政府塑造的模樣。在一個民主政體下，在一種如此純潔的空氣里，在一個如此美好的政府下，母親毫無生產痛苦就生下了她的孩子”。(8. Blum: 264頁第二段倒數第7行至倒數第2行)

　　這正是盧梭改造新人思想，從哲學推行到政治實踐的關鍵點。盧梭當年曾抱恨沒有一個優秀的政府來塑造他所設計的至善人性，現在輕而易舉地由一家革命報紙堂皇說出，而且正在一個革命政府的行政推動下，輕而易舉地進入了社會實踐。

　　羅伯斯庇爾當然信奉這一主張。但是，他考慮得更為深遠。報紙雖有宣傳盧梭思想的這一作用，但是報紙七嘴八舌，有時可能爭奪政府對塑造人性的社會影響。１７８９年８月２４日，他在三級議會上的發言曾反對限制出版自由。但是到了１７９３年他顯然改變了這一看法。他更相信由政府來直接塑造人，也就是說，直接鉗制輿論，在此之后，掃蕩一切政府之外的文化媒體、知識分子。６月２４日先發出警報，他指出：

　　有一種最簡單最有力的力量，能把公共輿論引入各種主張和各色人等的混亂，這就是報紙為何在革命中總是扮演一種重要角色的原因。 敵人在出錢收買一些作者。43 (9. Blum: 265頁第3行至第5行; 此處朱文的注釋43照搬Blum注釋)

　　一個月后，羅伯斯庇爾進入救國委員會。８月８日，國民公會公布法令：“查禁所有陽奉陰違的學院、學術機構、醫學機構、藝術團體、法律機構。” (10. Blum: 235頁第三段第1行至第2行)８月１０日起，逮捕所有“反革命”的作家、記者。(11. Blum: 264頁腳注3第2行至第3行)《巴黎新聞報》的迪羅蘇瓦于８月２５日被推上斷頭臺，這是革命法庭處死的第一個新聞記者。44(12: Blum: 264頁腳注3第5行至第7行；此處朱文注釋44照搬Blum注釋) 根據這個月公布的監護者法令：民間街頭報紙要么被封閉，要么成為雅各賓派的喉舌。(13. Blum: 264頁第二段第1行至第4行)９月５日，在忿激派武裝示威要求下，國民公會決定把恐怖正式提上議事日程。救國委員會命令：關閉法蘭西劇院，逮捕所有演員。

　　下一步清洗的，是司法系統。這年圣誕節，羅伯斯庇爾簽署文件，由救國委員會發至各省，僅剩無幾的法理程序、科層制過程都被廢止。(14. Blum: 222頁第四段第1行至第4行)“加強革命，只能在一個自由的空間進行，這就是立法者之所以要清除阻礙道路的所有事物的原因。…… 到目前為止，我們清洗了不少人，但是還存在著很多有待清洗的任務。……革命法律的智慧只有在毫無阻礙的高空飛翔，如果增加它周圍的限制，它就會逐漸停頓下來”。45（15. Blum: 222頁最后一段；朱文注釋45照搬Blum注釋）

　　進入１７９４年春，恐怖主義呼聲更加高漲。馬賽軍事委員會宣稱：“法律的刀刃每天都應切下一些罪惡的頭顱，斷頭臺工作得越繁忙，共和國就越鞏固。” （16. Blum: 226頁第11行至第14行）（３月２６日）處死丹東派當日，奧布省來的議員說：“如果我們清洗了自己，我們就有權力去清洗法蘭西。我們不能讓異質團體再留在共和國軀體之內。”（17. Blum: 226頁第8行至第10行）處死丹東派后，圣鞠斯特也催促國民公會：“消滅所有幫派，只有這樣，共和國內才能只剩下人民和你們自己”。46（18. Blum: 227頁第5行至第7行；朱文注釋46照搬Blum注釋）

　　當時的國民公會形同虛設，大權已經集中在救國委員會少數人手中。羅伯斯庇爾等人進一步實踐盧梭政治哲學之真諦：讓人民的一盤散沙與最高寡頭的集權直接對位，中間削平一切社會團體。

　　１７９４年４月至５月，雅各賓派開始清洗巴黎各區的民眾團體。３９個區的民眾團體被迫解散。除限定每十天集會兩次的區會議以外，只有雅各賓俱樂部一個組織可以自由集會。雅各賓派俱樂部經多次清洗、分裂，此時亦辦成了官辦機關，成為政府之工具。即使如此，每逢集會，講壇上下亦派人嚴密監視。

　　在這一清洗民間團體的過程中，最具典型意義、亦具諷刺意義的是婦女參政命運的起落。

　　１７８９年三級會議所收到的民間陳情書中，有３３份要求改進婦女的命運。（19. Blum: 204頁第二段第1行至第2行）有一份稱為“法蘭西婦女的陳情書”寫道

“三級會議的組成，就概念來說，它既然能代表整個民族，也就應該代表我們。可是，民族一半以上的人口卻被排斥在外。先生們，這是一個問題，而這一問題傷害的是我們這個性別。” ：（20. Blum: 205頁第三段第6行至第11行）專門研究盧梭婦女觀與婦女運動關系的西方史學家保羅·費里茲和理查德·莫頓整理總結這批陳情書說：（21. Blum: 204頁第二段第2行至第4行。注：Blum原文是Ruth Graham，而不是保羅·費里茲和理查德·莫頓---Paul Fritz and Richard Morton，這兩人是Women in the 18th Century and Other Essays一書的編者，其中收錄了Ruth Graham的文章Rousseau's Sexism Revolutionized，這里Blum有注解，朱肯定看到了此注解，不然不會剛好用這兩個編者的名字，可惜弄巧成拙，搞錯了。）

　　婦女的陳情書雖不登大雅之堂，但正是這些陳情書提醒人們注意，婦女是被排斥三級會議之外的。１７８９年的法蘭西，危機四伏，也正是婦女們提出了一個治療藥方：盧梭的道德或倫理更新。47（22: Blum: 204頁第二段第4行至第8行；朱溫注釋47照搬Blum注釋）

　　婦女對盧梭的呼喚，在革命前夕和初期的盧梭熱中起了很大推動作用。革命前半階段的民眾運動中，婦女參政權確實大大推進了一步。（23. Blum: 208頁最后一行至209頁第一行）包括雅各賓俱樂部在內的許多政治性俱樂部都吸收了女性。《鐵嘴報》上也不斷鼓吹女權。（24. Blum: 209頁第一段第5行至第9行）但是，盧梭道德理想普及之時，恰恰正是婦女重回廚房之日。

　　法國大革命中，輕視婦女的封建傳統始終沒有全部消退。《人權宣言》中的“人”，指的是“男性”，而不是“女性”。(25. Blum: 209頁第二段第1行至第3行)１７９１年憲法中，亦將婦女劃入消極公民，這種觀念到了雅各賓專政時期，不僅沒有克服，反而由于盧梭幽閉婦女的理論影響，大大增加。（26. Blum: 212頁注解18第1行至第4行）１７９３年１月２５日，雅各賓黨人普律多姆反對里昂婦女組建政治俱樂部，（27. Blum: 209頁第二段第7行至第9行）首先發難：“里昂婦女俱樂部當她們這么做 時，是怎么考慮讓·雅各·盧梭在《社會契約論》里教育年輕女公民的那些完整章節呢？（原文如此，這些章節在該書中沒有，只出現在《致達朗貝爾——論觀賞》中）……婦女俱樂部將是家政的苦難淵源……。我們懇求里昂的那些好公民，留在家里吧，好好照看你們的子女吧，而不是妄稱什么懂得《社會契約論》！” （28. Blum: 209頁第三段全段）

　　有婦女代表用孟德斯鳩觀點反駁他：“在亞洲，從最古老的年代起，我們就被束縛在家務勞動中，用以配合專制統治！”（29. Blum: 210頁第二段最后三行）

        普律多姆用盧梭回敬孟德斯鳩：“有一個圣人曾經不斷重申，最好的婦女是說得最少的婦女，當他聽到這番高論時，恐怕會愁眉苦臉，頓生不快。盧梭斷斷不會喜歡一個婦女有如此高超的才智。如果婦女們也加入一個俱樂部，我們可就要把我們曾說要遵循自然、遵循理性、遵循盧梭所說的一切統統收回了”。48（30. Blum: 210頁第三段第1行至第5行；第9行至第10行；朱文注釋48照搬Blum注釋）

       １７９３年１０月，雅各賓專政出現反婦女參政高潮。１０月１日，王后受審，審訊中出現污穢不堪的性侮辱和性歧視。49１０ 月２４日，羅蘭夫人受審，３１日處死。１０月２９日，國民公會前 出現請愿者，要求“關閉所有的婦女社團”，“因為正是這些娘們才讓法蘭西受苦遭罪。”（31. Blum: 213頁第一段第1行至第3行）次日，阿馬爾以救國委員會名義在國民公會發言，提出三個問題，然后一一加以否定：（32. Blum: 213頁第一段第3行, 第5行，第9至第10行）

　　１、是否應允許婦女在那種特殊的社團里集會？

　　２、 婦女們能否掌握政治權力，在政府中任要職？

　　３、婦女們在政治生活或公共集會中能否保持頭腦冷靜，深思熟慮？（33. Blum: 213頁第二段第5行至第9行—包含以上三個問題）

　　他的否定理由是，“公共輿論拒絕承認”，？（34. Blum: 213頁第二段第14行至第15行）以及盧梭的理論如此規定——“男人們創造道德統治，女人們使得美德受人愛戴”。？（35. Blum: 214頁第二段倒數第4行至倒數第3行）

 　　經過一番辯論，接下來通過的法令是：“以任何名義建立的婦女俱樂部、婦女公眾團體，一律禁止。”１２月３１日，又發布補充法令：“婦女們只有在丈夫和孩子一起出席的情況下，才能參加社會活動。” ？（36. Blum: 215頁最后四行）

　　從此，曾熱烈呼喚過盧梭道德救國主張的法蘭西婦女，在雅各賓專政時期銷聲匿跡。（37. Blum: 215頁倒數第5行至倒數第4行）

 　　如此清洗，制鎮住國內輿論后，還有最后一筆，就是閉鎖國門，強化與外界的道德對抗。

　　法國大革命初期以世界主義面貌著稱。它曾以寬廣博大的胸懷，接納過歐洲各國的傾慕者和參加者。國民公會曾授予華盛頓、潘恩、克勞茨等外國革命家以“法蘭西榮譽公民”稱號，選舉潘恩為法國議會的正式議員。以世界主義為號召，法國革命甚至一度出現向外輸出革命的沖動。

　　但是，這種世界主義和輸出革命，本身就存在著道德優越和道德泛化的底色，一旦形勢逆轉，同樣的底色很快變幻為緊閉國門，排斥外人，關起門來實行“道德凈化”的另一面目。(38. Blum: 227頁倒數第7行至第6行)

        １７９３至１７９４年冬天，英國作出和平試探。（39. Blum: 224頁最后一行）接受或拒絕這一和平機會，一度成為丹東與羅伯斯庇爾的爭辯焦點。羅伯斯庇爾宣稱：“有必要注意英國的罪惡”。（40. Blum: 225頁第2行至第4行）科·德布瓦說，在英法兩國政府間沒有共同的基礎，“他不想拿英國的政府與法國的政府作比較，那就導致在所有美德的清單旁邊羅列一長串邪惡的清單。” （41. Blum: 225頁第4行至第8行）巴雷爾宣稱和平是腐敗的根本動力，“君主制需要和平，共和國需要戰爭精神；奴隸們需要和平，共和主義者則需要自由的酵母。” 。（42. Blum: 225頁第一段最后五行）

　　在牧月法令通過前幾個星期，羅伯斯庇爾簽署了一個報復英國的法令：獄中的英格蘭人和漢諾威人一律處死。(43. Blum: 263頁第3行至第6行) 英國隨之通過了一個對應法令。(44. Blum: 263頁第8行至第9行) 這樣，雙方都廢止了舊時代戰爭規則中不虐殺戰俘的人道規定。(45. Blum: 263頁第9行至第11行) 約克公爵呼吁對雙方戰俘都施仁政，羅伯斯庇爾以道德邏輯拒斥說——(46. Blum: 263頁第三段第1行至第2行)

　　自由與專制之間有什么共同點？美德與罪惡之間有什么共同點？……(47. Blum: 263頁第三段第2行至第4行) 那些與專制主義作戰的士兵應該得到救援，讓他們重回醫院，這是可以理解的；奴隸寬待奴隸，暴君寬待暴君，這是可以想象的。然而，一個自由人與一個暴君或暴 君的仆從相妥協，勇敢與怯懦相妥協，美德與罪惡相妥協，這是不可想象的，也是決不可能的！50 (48. Blum: 263頁第三段最后六行；朱文注釋50照搬Blum注釋)

這就把圣鞠斯特在國王審判案中的道德邏輯，延伸到外交事務中來了。盧梭抗英情結發展至此，雅各賓專政道德理想國實踐歷程行進于此，道德邏輯不僅磁化了國內事務，而且也磁化了國際事務。整個世界劃分為道德與非道德的兩個國際陣營，(49.Blum: 263頁最后一段)意識形態紛爭壓倒了民族利益，法蘭西政治文化的內戰風格延續到外部世界，不僅給法國人民造成長期的戰爭苦難，而且給近現代國際政治生活留下了深刻的歷史影響。

42.同③，Ｐ２２０—２２１。西尼（ＡｌｌｇｅｒｏｎＳｙｄｎｅｙ１６２２—１６

８３），英國政論家，曾參加英國革命，獨立派領袖之一，復辟時被處決，著有《論政

府》。

43.《羅伯斯庇爾全集》第１０卷，Ｐ５０３。

44. 吉爾克里斯特、瑪瑞合著：《法國革命中的出版界》，倫敦１９７１ 年版，Ｐ１２。

45. ＪB ＭB 湯姆遜編：《法國革命文件集（１７８９—１７９４）》，牛津１９４８

年版，Ｐ２７５—２７７。

46. 《圣鞠斯特全集》第２卷，Ｐ３７２。

47. 保羅·費里茲、理查頓·莫頓：“盧梭性觀念的革命化”，載《１８世紀的婦女及其問題論文集》，特累頓、薩拉索塔１９７６年版。

48. 里奧波德·拉科：《法國革命中的三個女性》，巴黎１９７１版，Ｐ１５—１５８。

49. 參見茨威格：《斷頭艷后》，Ｐ４４８—４５９。

50.《羅伯斯庇爾全集》第１０卷，Ｐ４９９。

1. Blum. P. 220: Throughout 1793-94, t h e Moniteur describes the Convention receiving groups of patriots bearing books, papers, paintings, flags, objects of all kinds which had been found in private homes, libraries, and collections, and burning them

2. Blum. P. 220: on the Convention floor while "dancing the Carmagnole in a circle around the flames."

3. Blum. P. 220: On October 23, Anne-Alexandre-Marie Thibault, former constitutional bishop of Cantal, had asked the Convention to clarify the situation.

4. Blum. P. 220: Were patriots really authorized to burn the belongings of their neighbors if they bore "signs of royalty or feudalism"? (Moniteur).

5. Blum. P. 220: Marie-Joseph Chenier replied cautiously that

6. Blum. P. 220-221: "there are some very republican books which are dedicated to princes, for example those of Sydney [sic] and Jean-Jacques Rousseau."

7. Blum. P. 243: Robespierre was accused of being a crypto-Catholic, working to restore the church's lost fortunes, but this is a misreading of his discourses. It was not the actual Catholic church for which he expressed admiration or respect, but rather the idea of a body of believers, held together in an ecstatic fusion of virtue.

8. Blum. P. 264: In the Mercure universel, for example, fidelity to the republican repudiation of original sin was demonstrated in the statement: "Men are only what the government makes of them. In a democracy (under a sky so pure, under such a beautiful government) the mother gives birth without labor pains...

9. Blum. P. 265: he pointed out on 6 messidor, "and one of the simplest and most powerful is to lead public opinion astray in regard to principles and men: this is why newspapers always play a role in Revolutions. The enemy has always hired writers; " (10: 503).

10. Blum. P. 235: A decree was passed on August 8, 1793, suppressing all literary organizations in France, including the Academic francaise.

11. Blum. P. 264: "Following 10 August [1793], the arrest of all counter-revolutionary authors was ordered

12. Blum. P. 264: Durosoi of the Gazette de Paris was executed on 25 August—the first journalist to be condemned to death by the new Revolutionary Tribunal." The Press in the French Revolution (London: Ginn, 1971), p. 12.

13. Blum. P. 264: The press, which had enjoyed a period of unprecedented liberty starting several years before the Revolution and lasting until the censorship decrees of August 1793, had become by the summer of 1794 a totally Jacobin organ.3

14. Blum. P. 222: On Christmas day, 1793, the Committee of Public Safety sent out a message to the departments, drafted by Robespierre, Billaud-Varenne, and Carnot, explaining the "reform of the laws." All red tape and bureaucratic procedures had to be eliminated:

15. Blum. P. 222: Revolutionary intensity can only be exercised in a free space, which is why the legislator clears the road of.. .everything which is an obstacle. Thus you will perform a useful sacrifice to the public good and to yourselves in rejecting from your functions everything which may act to the detriment of the fatherland, and thus against yourselves. Up until now we have purified men, there remains the task of purifying things The genius of revolutionary laws is to soar without being hindered in flight: it would be less rapid if it multiplied circles around itself.4

16. Blum. P. 226: The military commission at Marseilles announced to the Convention that "the blade of the law strikes off the heads of the guilty every day; the more the guillotine works, the more firm the republic becomes" (Moniteur, 6 germinal).

17. Blum. P. 226: Gamier (delegate from FAube) insisted: "if we purge ourselves it is to have the right to purge France. We will leave no heterogenous bodies in the republic" (Moniteur, 16 germinal [April 5, 1794]).

18. Blum. P. 227: "Destroy all the factions," he exhorted the Convention, "So that there remains in the republic only the people and you."

19. Blum. P. 204: Of the regular cahiers des doleances, according to Elizabeth Racz, thirty-three recommended educational reforms for women.1

20. Blum. P. 205: in a brochure, dated March 5, 1789, entitled "Doleances des Femmes franchises," was stated the following objection to the Estates General: "The notion that the organization of this respectable assembly of the Estates General, as it is presented to us, can really represent the entire Nation, while more than half the Nation is excluded; that, gentlemen, is a problem, and a problem injurious to our sex."

21. Blum. P. 204: Ruth Graham has studied the numerous pamphlets written by women in imitation of the authorized cahiers.

22. Blum. P. 204:  "The women's cahiers were unofficial but the very name reminded readers that women were excluded from the Estates-General. France in 1789 was in acute, economic distress; society was turned upside down and the women advocated one cure: Rousseau's regeneration of moeurs or morality."2

23. Blum. P. 208: under the National and Legislative Assemblies women enjoyed the beginnings of some direct influence in political affairs.

24. Blum. P. 209: A number of clubs admitted females to varying degrees of participation, including the Club des Indigents, Club des Halles, Club des Nomophiles, Club des Minimes, the Jacobins, and the Cordeliers.14 Several publications, including the Abb£ Fauchet's Bouche de Fer, pushed the cause of women's rights regularly and fairly aggressively.

25. Blum. P. 209: Under the "Jacobin Republic" these steps toward defining "man" as "human being" rather than as "male" were halted in the name of virtue, according to Rousseau's arguments.

26. Blum. P. 212: Paule-Marie Duhet comments: "The Constitution of 1791 had established the distinction between active and passive citizens: women... were part of the second category." Under Jacobin hegemony, however, this antidemocratic discrimination was jettisoned

27. Blum. 209: On January 25 of that year, Prudhomme had launched the attack against feminine participation in political life with an address to a recently formed women's club at Lyons.

28. Blum. 209: was a far cry from the behavior of the citizenesses of Lyons: What do they think they are doing, the club of Lyons women, teaching young girl citizens entire chapters of J.-J. Rousseau's Contrat social} In the name of the fatherland whose love they carry in their hearts, in the name of nature from which one must never stray, in the name of good  domestic morality, of which women's clubs are the scourge... we implore the good citizenesses of Lyons to stay home, to look after theirhouseholds ... without claiming to understand the Contrat social.15

29. Blum: P. 210: she finished him off with a quotation from Montesquieu: "In Asia from the earliest times we have seen domestic servitude marching in step with arbitrary government."

30. Blum. P. 210: Prudhomme rose to the challenge and responded: "The sage who repeated endlessly that the most estimable woman is she of whom the least is said would have been pained to read the letter of President Blandin-Demoulin; Rousseau did not like so much wit and such fine reasoning in women." If Cornelia had belonged to a club we would take back everything we have said according to nature, reason, and J.-J. Rousseau."

31. Blum. P. 213: On 8 brumaire a petitioner appeared before the Convention to demand "the abolition of all societies of women, because it is a woman who is responsible for the misfortunes of France" (Moniteur, 9 brumaire [October 30, 1793]).

32. Blum. P. 213: J. B. Andre Amar, who in April 1794 was to award Jean-Jacques Rousseau the honors of the Pantheon, spoke on 9 brumaire (the previous October), in the name of the Committee of General Security. He declared that no one could be forced to wear the cocarde, and then addressed himself to the three important questions: The Committee of General Security decided in the negative to all these questions.

33. Blum. P. 213: "(1) Must assemblages of women meeting in popular societies be permitted? (2) Can women exercise political rights and take an active part in government affairs? and (3) Can they deliberate in political or popular gatherings?" (Moniteur, 9 brumaire).

34. Blum. P. 213: Universal opinion rejects this idea

35. Blum. P. 214: Thus, in a republic where men "made virtue reign," women were charged with "making it loved."

36. Blum. P. 215: The Conseil general, however, did vote on 11 nivose (December 31) that at civic ceremonies patriotic women were to have a special place, "where they will be present with their husbands and children and where they will knit" (Moniteur, 11 nivose).

37. Blum. P. 215: they were, for all practical purposes, silenced.

38. Blum. P. 227: Jacobins seemed to turn away from the possibility of realizing their ambitions on earth and looked rather toward a divine reward.

39. Blum. P. 224: was challenged in the winter of 1793-94 by British peace feelers.

40. Blum. P. 225: Robespierre announced that it had become necessary "to pay attention to British crimes" (Moniteur, 21 nivose [January 10, 1794]).

41. Blum. P. 225: Collot d'Herbois began by saying that there could be no common ground between the two governments. "He did not want to compare the English government with that of France; that would be putting the excess of all vices up next to the sum of all virtue" (Moniteur, 24 nivose).

42. Blum. P. 225: Barere spoke up on 3 pluviose (January 22) announcing that peace was an essentially corrupt impulse: "Monarchies need peace," he claimed, "the republic needs the energy of war. Slaves need peace, republicans need the fermentation of liberty" (Moniteur).

43. Blum. P. 263:  A few weeks before passage of the Law of 22 prairial, a decree was drafted and passed under Robespierre's aegis declaring that no English or Hanoverian prisoners would be taken. This document served to destroy the conventions protecting prisoners of war

44. Blum. P. 263: Shortly thereafter, the English decreed denial of mercy, quarter, or acceptance of surrender of troops.

45. Blum. P. 263: Thus the old monarchical tradition, which had held that war was a bit of a game, one the soldier could sometimes quit before he lost too heavily, was abolished.

46. Blum. P. 263: Robespierre's response contemptuously dismissed the Duke of York's pleas for French clemency toward captured soldiers: "

47. Blum. P. 263: "What does liberty have in common with despotism?" he asked, "virtue with vice?"

48. Blum. P. 263: "That soldiers fighting for despots might give a hand to defeated soldiers to return to the hospital together, that is understandable; that a slave might deal with a slave, a tyrant with a tyrant, that also is conceivable, but a free man compromising with a tyrant or his satellite, courage with cowardice, virtue with crime, that is inconceivable, that is what's impossible" (10: 499).

49. Blum. 263: Thus in international affairs the world was divided into two moral camps; the French, and theoretically a few other republics1 personified virtue, while all other countries incarnated vice. Virtuous France's duty was to kill the wicked nations.