Democracy Thwarted in the Revolution of September 1797

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Illuminati of Bavaria 1

1 Democracy Thwarted In TheRevolution of September 1797

In Gaston Maugras,Memoirs of Marquise de Custine,

we read:

On th e 18th Fructid or (Septemb er 4 [1797]) the

troops of General Angerau took possession of

the Tuilleries, w here the coun cils w ere sitting;more than hal f the recent e lect i ons w ere

declared nul l and vo id; tw o directors Carnot

and Barthlemy, w ere imprisoned, with m ore

than sixty deputies, and deported to [New ]

Guina [South America].1

Maugras is describing the sad re-emergence of Ro

espierrist Jacobinism in 1796-1797. The French people had

previously made clear that they detested the Mountain party

of Robespierre. They proved this by the Civil War of 1793.

They demonstrated this again in the overthrow of the Moun-

tain in 1794-1795. And they proved this again in the elec-

tions of 1797 where anti-Robespierrists won a decisive

majority.

Wiht the gradual repression of Mountain-party Jaco-

binism, France underwent a rebirth. In this time, anyone who

could be associated in the past with the Jacobin clubs was

treated as a fallen and disgraced citizen, to be pitied and not

trusted. Barras, however, since he arrested Robespierre to

make his own coup which failed, was trusted as one of the

several Directors the chief executive committee who

led France. Forgotten or ignored was Barras past as aJacobin terrorist at Toulon. As his cousin wrote in 1798, Bar-

1. (1912), supra, at 217.

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Democracy Thwarted In The Revolutio n of September 1797


ras was in turn officer, Republican, Jacobin, and at last

Terrorist. . . .2 Finally, Talleyrand bribed one of the Direc-

tors to leave, and thereby was able to put Sieys on the Direc-

tory with Barras.

Up to that time, Barras had tried to move the nation

toward the Mountain policies once more between 1795-1797.

When the elections of 1797 appointed too many moderates

who would stall revival of the Mountain system, Barras sim-

ply cancelled the election results.

As a result of the revolution of September 4, 1797,

France descended into darkness once more. The French of

1794-1796 did not realize that they left far too many old

unprincipled men in government.

Enlightened Thinking in 1795-1797 Which

Embodied The Tactics of This Coup dEtat

The inspiration for Barras coup of 1797, and later the

imposition by Barras of a dictator (Napoleon) in1799, and

with this the revived plan of world domination had its blue-

prints in a book entitledPerpetual Peace; A Philosophical

Sketch.3 It was written by Immanuel Kant, a famous philoso-pher, who had it printed in 1795. Kant was one of the intel-

lectuals of the time whom the successor head of the Illuminati

2. Moritz von Kaisenberg, Ed. The Memoirs of the Baroness Cecile deCourtot, Lady-in-Waiting to the Princess de Lamballe, Princess of

Savoy-Carignan (translated from the German by Jessie Haynes) (N.Y.:Henry Holt & Co., 1900) at 118 (letter of 3d Frimaire, Year VII [1798]by Edme).

3. Kant,Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosphischer Entwurf(Liberal ArtsPress, 1957). When Kant wrote this work, there was a Congress ofBasel meeting to arrange peace among Germany, Spain, and France.This might have been the prompting for his work.



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Enlightened Think ing in 1795-1797 Which Embodied The Tactics of Thi s Coup

after J.C. Bode died in 1793 Reinhold strongly sup-

ported.4 It provides us startling examples of Macchiavelian

amorality.

Sieys, the architecht of the revolution of 1797-1799

with Talleyrand, indeed read the French translation ofPerpet-

ual Peace in 1796. After reading it, Sieys wrote Kant prais-

ing him and asked him to comment upon a proposed French

Constitution that he and Talleyrand were secretly planning to

introduce for France.5 Kant's book outlined the plan of world

government and how one would use military dictatorship to

do it. Reading the horrible ideas of Kants shows us in bold

print how totally unscrupulous were those sharing this partic-ular agenda.

First, in Perpetual Peace, Kant recommends the abol-

ishment of all standing armies. The world should enact a

law of world citizenship . . . of a universal state of men.6

A single common legislation should also be created.7 A

federal "league of nations" should be created within which

4. It is unknown whether Kant was an Illuminatus. He and Weishaupt had

an open public row on issues of philosophy, focused on Kants ideal-ism and Weishaupts realism. Regardless, we know that Kants workswere published through the good offices of two prominent members ofthe Illuminati Goethe and Karl August, Duke of Weimar. They pro-vided the publishing facilities for his controversial works on religion.Kant was otherwise unable to find a publisher. See footnote 32, infra.Also, it appears Nicolai alias "Lucian" in the Illuminati at Berlin didknow Kant. He even apparently introduced Mirabeau to Kant whenMirabeau was in Berlin in 1786. Claude Manceron,Age of the FrenchRevolution Vol. IV, Toward the Brink 1785-1787(N.Y.: Simon &Schuster, Inc., 1989) at 323. Finally, Kants greatest promoter wasReinhold. [cite] Reinhold became the successor leader over the Illumi-nati at the death of J.C. Bode in 1793. (Terry Melanson, Perfectibilists(2008) at ____.)

5. Luc Ferry, "Kant," Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution,supra, at 960.

6. . Kant, Perpetual Peace, supra, at 10-11 n. 1.

7. . Kant, Perpetual Peace, supra, at 11.



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disputes would be settled by each state pleading their cause

before a Tribunal.8 Here was the central idealistic doctrine

of the Illuminati put in print.

Kant continued. The laws of such a world government

must be so strong that if ones private intentions conflict

with them, they will check one's public conduct to such a

degree of extirpation as if one had no such intentions.9

Herein lies a suggestion of apolice state. Only in a police

state can the law be structured to remove any anti-social

thoughts.

Kant next taught that the morality that will bring this

one world system into being is aone world religion. There is"only one religion valid for all men and in all ages." Kant

concluded that the different religious textsthe Koran, Bible,

Zendavesta, and Vedawere nothing else than accidental

vehicles of religion, thus changing with times and places.10

To accomplish this universal religion, we can count on noth-

ing but force. Here, the Illuminatis second central tenet

8. . Kant, Perpetual Peace, supra, at 18.9. . Kant, Perpetual Peace, supra, at 30. A slightly tamer translation

appears in Kant, On History (Ed. Lewis White Beck) (Trans. L.W.Beck, R.A. Anchor, & E.L. Fackenheim) (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merril,1963) at 112, yet the meaning is still the same.

10.Kant, Perpetual Peace, supra, at 31 and n. 7. In 1792 the University ofJena at the urging of Goethe and Karl August published Kants thesison religion and law. Kant claimed that law does not depend on theidea of another Being over him to apprehend his duty, nor of anincentive, other than the law itself ... Hence, for its own sake moralitydoes not need religion at all. (Will & Ariel Durant,Rousseau andRevolution (N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1967) at 545 (quotingReligionwithin the Limit of Reason Alone by Kant).) Prayer to obtain Gods

grace is superstitious illusion, Kant said. Id., at 546. Kants philoso-phy also recommended that children should be made to work early asthe best discipline. Children should be taught moral lessons, stressingthe concept of duty, not religion. (Durant,Rousseau and Revolution,supra, at 548-49.)



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was taughtthe nothingness of all religions and the use of

government to force a religion of naturalism. This was Kantsendorsement of the Cloots phase of the 1793 revolution.

Kant then openly proposed the concept of adictator-

ship in a single vanguard state as the one which could bring

such a World Republic about. This state would have so

impressed law on the minds of its subjects that it could allow

the withering away of its state machineryto the extent, of

course, that the people now formed a cohesive thinking unit.

A state may exercise a republican rule, even though by its

present constitution it has adespotic sovereignty until gradu-

ally the people become susceptible to the influence simply of

the idea of the authority of law (as if it possessed physicalpower) and thus is found fit to be its own legislator . . . .

Thus, the dream is to use such a great degree of force

that people are so impressed with the "law" that one day they

have no need of government or religion to maintain their

good behavior.

In other words, Kant outlines in clearest terms the

maxims of the despotic rule which he advocated. He pro-

vides a revolutionary program that befits Nazi-like monsters,

not philosophers. He says the next revolutionary govern-

ments military leaders should follow these maxims, which

we quote verbatim in their shocking entirety. Kant explicitly

calls for these maxims to be followed to achieve the despotic

sovereignty to user in world peace by a revolutionary van-

guard state:

1. Seize every favorabl e opportunity for usu rp-

ing the right of the stat e over its ow n people or

over a neighboring people . . .;

2. What y ou ha ve committed, deny that it is

your fault for instance tha t you h ave brought

your people to despair and hence to rebel-lion...;



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3. Divi de et im pera. Tha t is, if there are certain

privileged persons in you r nation w ho ha vechosen you a s their chief, set them at var i ance

w i th one anothe r and embroi l them w i th t he

people. Show the latter visions of greater

fr eedom, and al l w i l l soon depend upon your

un t rammel led w i l l . Or if it is foreign states

that conc ern y ou, it is pretty safe means to sow

discord am ong themso that, by seeming to

protect the w eaker, you can conquer t hem one

af ter an other;

4. The rights of men must b e held sacred, how -

ever much sacrifice it ma y c ost the ruling

power;11

5. A maxim w hich I cannot divulge without

defeating my ow n purpose must be kept secret

if it is to succeed;

6. The rights of the people are injured ; no

injustice befalls the tyrant w hen h e is deposed.

There can be n o dou bt on th is point . . . . The

ruler and people, or nation do each other no

in j ust i ce by v io lence and f r aud th ey mak ew ar on each other , although they do commit

injustice in general in th at th ey they refuse to

respect the concept of right, w hich a lone could

establish perpetual peace; and

7. [R]ebellion . . . if openly a cknow ledged . . .

[and] publishing the maxim of its intention to

revolt . . . w ould ma ke its ow n purpose impos-

sible. Therefore, it w ould h ave to be kept

secret.12

11.This may be a veiled reference to the need to spill blood to protect the dictator-ship of the people.



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We thus see that Kant proposed that the end justifies

the means. The dictatorship of the sovereign people shouldbe deceptive and cunning to stay in power. If a "tyrant" is in

power (that is a government that is not a dictatorship of the

"sovereigns") then a "secret" movement to overthrow him is

justified, using duplicity as its assistant. Once established as

a nation, this peoples Republic (Kants own name for this

dictatorship) would sow discord amongst neighbors and take

over one after another until the world government dreamed of

by Kant is fulfilled.

Kant further taught that wars of conquest will teach

opponents to accept unification into a world government.

And revolutions can prepare the way for conquest by peoplesRepublics and are thus acceptable, but they take time to pre-

pare. Kant says when ruler and people war against each

other, there is no injustice in this except the delay in reaching

perpetual peace. "Each gets what he deserves when they

destroy each other. But enough of the race," Kant preached,

"still remains to let this game continue into theremotest ages

in order that posterity, some day, might take these perpetra-

tors as a warning example . . . While with advancing civiliza-

tion reason grows pragmatically in its capacity to realize

ideas of law . . . [and] humanity [is thereby] . . . improved."

13

12.Kant,Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosphischer Entwurf. (Englishtranslation) (Liberal Arts Press, 1957) at 40, 45, 47, 48. It is interest-ing to see how other later translations softened and apparently alteredthis translation. This is apparent reading Kant, On History (Ed. LewisWhite Beck) (Indianopolis: Bobbs-Merril, 1963) at 130. As to pointsix, for example, the Beck translation, in part, is: "Nevertheless, it is inthe hightest degree illegitimate for the subjects to seek their rights inthis way." The older translation has a much tamer statement thatrevolting citizens "do commit injustice in general" by revolting whichKant otherwise provides excuses for. The Beck translation thus altersthe meaning by making it appear Kant is more against revolution thanhe is for it. Another translation of what apparently started as numberfive has been altered into oblivion. The Beck translation is "All max-ims which stand in need of publicity in order not to fail their end agreewith politics and right combined." Id. at 134.

13.. Kant, Perpetual Peace, supra, at 45-46.



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Kant concludes: after many revolutions, with all

their transforming effects, the highest purpose of nature, acosmopolitan existence, will at last be realized within which

all the original capacities of the human race may be devel-

oped.14 Hence, Kant preached a sort of millennium where

perpetual peace would be established by wars and revolutions

leading men to wisely select his solution of world govern-

ment.

Most illuminating on these passages is that Kant else-

where originated the idea of a will to power that Hitler infa-

mously borrowed inMein Kampf. Kant taught the necessity

of abandoning reliance upon ones judgment of what is right

or wrong. Arendt explains how the faculty of judgment of

right and wrong had no place in Kants moral philosophy.

Instead, Kant said practical reason is identical with the will

and only the will lays down the law for each individual. It is

the will that utters commands; it alone speaks in imperatives.

Judgmentreflection on moralityby contrast is weak for it

arises from merely contemplative pleasure or inactive

delight.15 Only what one willed was right; all power rested

in each individual to tap into this will to power and action. In

this context Kant preached the advantage of ruthlessness and

war:

[W]ha t is that w hich is, even to the sava ge, an

object of th e greatest adm ir ati on? It is a ma n

w ho shr ink s from not hing, w ho fear s nothi ng,

and t herefore does not yi e ld to dan ger... Even

14. Kant, Kant's Political Writings (ed. Hans Reiss) (Trans. H.B. Nisbet)(Cambridge, England: At the University Press, 1971) at 184 (quotingKants The Contest of the Faculties).

15. Kant,Introduction to Metaphysics of Morals, section 1; see Kants

Critique of Practical Reason and Other Works on the Theory of Ethics(Trans. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott) (London: Longmans, Green & Co.,1898) at 267, as discussed in Hannah Arendt,Lecture on Kant's Politi-cal Philosophy (Ed. Ronald Biener) (The University of Chicago Press,1982) at 15.



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in the m ost highly civilized state this peculiar

veneration for the soldier remains . . . beca useeven [here] it is recognized that his min d is

unsubd ued by da nger. Hence . . . in the com-

parison of a statesman a nd a general, the aes-

thetical judgment decides for the latter. War

it sel f . . . has somethin g subl im e in i t. . . . On

the other hand, a long peace generally brings

about a predominant commercial spirit and,

along w ith it, low selfishness, cowardice, and

effeminacy, a nd debases the disposition of the

people.16

Preparation for war has many advantages, Kant says.In Hitlerian style he said they include the "motive for devel-

oping all talents serviceable for culture to the highest possible

pitch."17 And Kant believed intelligence was determined by

race.18

In this work, we see Kant, the enlightened philoso-

pher, in many respects is the originator of the notion of race

purity and race-war.19

Some commentators when confronted by the embar-

rassing passages in Perpetual Peace orCritique of Judgment

try to downplay Kants advocation of immoral activity. Bynot quoting him in any depth, they prevent the reader from

realizing where Kant stood on these principles.

16.Kant, Critique of Judgment(Trans. J.H. Bernard) (1951), section 28,quoted by Hannah Arendt,Lecture on Kant's Poli tical Philosophy,supra, at 53.

17. Kant, Critique of Judgement, section 28, quoted in Arendt.

18. Mosse, Toward the Final Solution, supra, at 31 citing Immanuel Kant,"Von den Verschiedenen Racen der Menschen," Kants Werke, Akade-mie-Textausgabe, Vol. II Vorkritische Schriften (Berlin: 1968), II, at431, 432.

19.Kant may be understood implicitly to suggest that breeding people forpurity just as some do with German shepard dogs, and firing them witha warrior mentality, will bring culture to its highest possible pitch.



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For example, Luc Ferry vaguely admits Kant in Per-

petual Peace dispassionately saw "the idea of politicalprogress in the wholly amoralinterplay of particular inter-

ests." Luc Ferry concludes from this, "No doubt Kants deep-

est feelings about the French Revolution were rooted in this

idea of a history that tends toward the better through the

action of imperfect (selfish) individuals."20 Ferry is suggest-

ing that Kant was a social scientist who explained the revolu-

tionary future would emerge from conflicting clashes without

specific intent, at an amoral level, which would bring about

his visionary new world order.

However, such a summary ignores Kants own view-

point and his advocacy of someone to follow these amoral

maxims (quoted above) to bring about his envisioned new

world order. Contrary to Ferrys tepid view of Kants goals,

Kant was providing a manifesto for the future revolution. He

is advocating and blessing amoral maxims to achieve one

world government. Ferrys view is an overly kind reading of

Kant.

Others claim Kant was satirizing amorality. For

example, Hannah Arendt regarded the Perpetual Peace as

intended to be understood in "an ironical tone." She claims

this is so because Kant did not take his political ideas "tooseriously." Arendt cites as proof a letter of Kants of October

15, 1795. In this letter, Kant says the bookPerpetual Peace

includes his "reveries" (dreams).21 From this Arendt deduces

a half-serious or cynical tone to the book.

However, such evidence is far too trite to claim the

bookPerpetual Peace is not to be taken as a serious work of

Kants. All political manifestos express the dreams of the

author. This vague letter should not have been construed to

mean Kant was not serious about the maxims in Perpetual

Peace. In fact, in Perpetual Peace, we never hear a syllable

20.Luc Ferry, "Kant,"A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution,supra, at 963.

21. Arendt,Lecture on Kant's Political Philosophy, supra, at 7.



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Impact of Kants Amoral Maxims

that is ironic, humorous, or cynical. Kants Perpetual Peace

uses a serious scholarly tone with the very apparent purposeof meaning exactly what it says. And this book was designed

as a manifesto for the enlightened "republicans" of his era

who would follow his prescriptions to gain power to inaugu-

rate a system of world peace based on world government that

was precisely the crucial point of the entire book. It is ines-

capable that the maxim portion of the book was a serious

message or manifesto for a group that Kant knew would want

guidelines for their revolutionary plans.

Impact of Kants Amoral Maxims

Were Kants unscrupulous maxims ever put into

effect? Did someone, following them, try to establish a world

government based on subversion of neighboring states and

then allying them as sister-republics with friends in control?

The answer is "yes."

Barras and Sieys were the first to do so as the leaders

inside the five-member Directory in 1798. They engineered

the rise to power of Barras proteg Napoleon Buonaparte

who was hand-picked by Sieys. Napoleon would ruth-lessly and unscrupulously seize power over France in 1799.

He used blatant fraud and force. Napoleon continued the

same plans as Barras and Sieys had unfolded earlier. Napo-

leon, like his precessors, spread sister republics throughout

Europe. Barras and Sieys marched armies to Egypt and the

Middle-East to create a world-wide empire.



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International Wars Ceased As of 1795

As of 1795, the French people sued and obtained

peace to stop the international wars of liberation started in

Jacobinic times. Prince Henry of Prussia had helped worked

out this peace.22

The Jacobin Coups of June and September

1797

By 1797, the Council of Five Hundred and Council ofAncients at Paris no longer had any Mountain sentiment

within it. It was dominated by moderate constitutionalists

"who were in full revolt against the revolutionary legislation

of its predecessors," Bernard says.23 By 1797, the legislature

repealed most laws enacted against the nobility, migrs, and

the church. There was a move even by Charles Pichegru,

President of the Council of Five Hundred and a moderate, to

replace the five Directors (who shared Presidential powers)

with men they approved. Barthlemy was appointed to the

Directory as a major victory for the moderates.

In 1797, the elections in France brought into officemany who opposed the Directorys course and who were

political moderates. They dominated the National Legisla-

22.Memoires of Marquise de Custine, supra, at 170.

23.J.F. Bernard, Talleyrand--A Biography (New York: G.P. Putnam'sSons, 1973) at 180. The Constitution of 1795 had overturned most ofthe Mountain policies. The local assemblies were restored, and the

national government was decentralized. The power over the treasuryhad been restored to the legislature. The Jacobin society was officiallyoutlawed. See Georges Lefebvre,Napoleon: From 18 Brumaire to Til-sit 1799-1807(Orig. Publ. 1935) (N.Y.: Columbia University Press,1990) at 4, 36.



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The Jacobin Coups o f June and September 1797

ture. However, three directors Le Reveillire-Lepeaux,

Rewbell, & Barras plotted to oust the moderates frompower.

On the very day that it was debated in the Council of

Five Hundred (June 18, 1797) whether the finances of state

be entirely removed from the Directory and given to the Trea-

sury, Barras convinced General Hoche, in command of the

army of the Sambre and Meuse, to send troops to Paris to be

used at Barras desire. (Hoche, incidentally, was a Freemason

pre-1789).24

When the troops were now at hand, Barras called a

Directors meeting, including the two Directors who repre-

sented the moderates Barnot and Barthlemy. He claimed

he wanted to discuss the latest proposal to transfer ministries

into more moderate hands. At this meeting, Barras defied

them, announcing his intention to retain Merlin de Douai and

Dominique Ramel the two ministers most odious to the

moderates. The ministers whom the moderates were happy to

have (Bnzach, Cochon, and Petiet) were dismissed by Bar-

ras fiat and replaced by men only loyal to Barras.25 Bar-

ras then expelled the two most conservative Directors from

the ruling Directory of five: Carnot and Barthlemy. Bar-

thlemy was exiled to French Guyana in South Americathe dry guillotine.26

Delacroix, minister of Foreign Affairs, a moderate,

was also dismissed and replaced by Talleyrand. Truguet, the

moderate Minister of War, was replaced by General Hoche,

the recent traitor to his country, despite a great uproar.27

The next step was to allow exiled radicals like Varlet

back into Paris in June 1797.28

24. See Serbanesco, supra, II, at 432.

25. Bernard, Talleyrand, supra, at 181.

26. R.R. Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolution: A Political Historyof Europe and America, 1760-1800, supra, at 257.

27.Id.



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Then, Barras followed this with the swift removal en

masse of Barras enemies on the moderate wing in the legis-lature. Barras called upon General Pierre-Franois Angereau

to inaugurate the Revolution of September 4, 1797, also

known as Eighteenth Fructidor, Year V. (Often, it is misno-

mered a simple coup dtat, but it was a far cry from that).

Talleyrand plotted this with Barras. Angereau was the

Commander of the Paris Military District. He was friends

with Louis Chrin, the commander of the private guard of the

Directory. Hoche, commander of the Army of the Sambre

and Meuse, had earlier shifted 9,000 men near Paris on the

pretext they were to be used to invade Ireland. On the eve of

September 4th, Hoche infiltrated some of this troops intoParis. At dawn, Paris was declared under martial law. The

conspirators put up posters about the city warning of a "royal-

ist" plot to overthrow the Republic. Anyone who tried to

reinstitute either the Monarchy or the Jacobin Constitution of

1793 was to be shot without trial. (The directors were pre-

tending to fight the extremism of 1793 because this resonated

with the beleaguered French.)

Edme, Barras cousin, wrote a very illuminating

memoir soon thereafter:

Within the last few m onths w e had an otherRevolution, on ly thi s time it started f rom

above instead of below. . . . Then ca me the

18th of Fructidor, on w hich d ay the Directory,

w itht Barras at their head, put an end to the

existing state of things and, assisted by

Bonapart e and his soldi ers, took the who le

cont r o l l ing power in to the i r hands. . . . . [O]n

the morning of the 19th a proclamation

appea red at the street corners declaring that th e

Directory had come upon a Royalist conspiracy

28. R.B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution,"John RylandsLibrary, supra, at 154.



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Terror Restored

set in motion by Pichegru, Barthelemy, and

others, all of w hom h ad been arrested.

No one seemed more delighted at this turn of events

than Cousin Barras. When a day or two after the coup

detat, he came to see me, he rubbed his hands gleefully and

said that now his time had come at last!He is the head of the

governmentand, I suppose the most powerful member of the

Directory.29

Terror Restored

With Barras in control, the Terror returned. Primarily,

this was directed at the power of the moderate group in the

Assembly. Lisa Hunt said with some accuracy "the Directory

government arrested, expelled, or refused seats to scores of

deputies in purges directed against presumed royalists in

1797 . . . ."30

On September 19th, the Directory annulled the elec-

tion results in forty-nine of the eighty-three departmens of

France as well as many elections of local officials throughout

France.

31

"More than half of the recent elections weredeclared null and void" writes Gaston Maugras, "with more

than sixty deputies deported to Guiana [in South Amer-

ica]."32 Seventeen of the legislative deputies were immedi-

ately driven in iron cages to Rochefort. This included

29.Moritz von Kaisenberg, Ed. The Memoirs of the Baroness Cecile deCourtot, Lady-in-Waiting to the Princess de Lamballe, Princess ofSavoy-Carignan (translated from the German by Jessie Haynes) (N.Y.:Henry Holt & Co., 1900) at 122 (dated 10 Pluviose, 1798 Letter byEdme, the Duchess).

30. Lisa Hunt, supra, at 130; Dennis Richet, "Coups d'tat," Critical Dic-tionary, supra, at 15-16.

31. Lisa Hunt, supra, at 158; Dennis Richet, "Coups d'tat," Critical Dic-tionary, supra, at 16.



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Pichegru. Two directors, Barthlemy and Carnot, joined

them. The deputies and directors then embarked on a sevenweek journey via a scooner until they were interned in pris-

ons in Guiana, South America.33

The new Directory then appointed half of the office-

holders. It also enacted laws reminiscent of 1792 against

emigrs and priests.34 It reinstituted oaths for priests. These

required them to take an oath to "hate royalty and anarchy" or

otherwise they would be removed from the pulpit. Those who

took it were pejoratively referred to as "hatefuls."35 All the

other trappings of the 1793 period of Jacobinism were

revived: the calendar, the state-control over education, theseizure and closure of churches, etc.36 The government

declared a new terror. Anyone suspected of disloyalty would

be deported, and no trial was needed. The Directory could do

it by simple administrative order. It was often applied to

priests.37

Deputies from the Council came to protest this to

General Angereau, but were dispersed by the troops. Upon

promulgation of martial law, the deputy Pichegru, the Direc-

tor Barthlemy, and Amde Willot were arrested. The mod-

erate Director Carnot fled. Barras called small groups of the

Council together to annul the election of 1797 that had filled

the Councils with moderates.

32.Memoires of Marquise de Custine (Ed. Gaston Maugras), supra, at217. Richet says fifty-three deputies were removed from office.Maugras may still be accurate if seven others were under arrest at thetime of the deportation. See Dennis Richet, "Coups d'tat," CriticalDictionary, supra, at 16. One such deputy was Pichegru.

33. Una Birch, Secret Societies and the French Revolution, supra, at 165;.

34. Dennis Richet, "Coups d'tat," Critical Dictionary, supra, at 16.

35.Mona Ozouf, "Dechristianization," Critical Dictionary, supra, at 30.

36. See page ____, infra.

37. McManners, The French Revolution and the Church, supra, at 120;Mona Ozouf, "Dechristianization," Critical Dictionary, supra, at 30.



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Domestic Policy Under Barras in 1797-1798

General Angereau discovered only one threat of resis-

tance, but he quelled this with his own threat to bring his fullarmy down on the defiant citizens inside Paris. Talleyrand

boasted at the end of the day that "Paris is quiet." Angereau

reported: "General: my mission is accomplished. The crisis

which it was feared would be terrible, has passed off like a

holiday."38

Talleyrand in his memoirs notes that the leaders of

Barras opponents were "in the course of a few hours,

arrested for the most part, charged with plotting against the

established government, convicted without being heard, and

transported to Cayenne [that is, French Guyana in South

America], by virtue of what was then termed a law."39

Talleyrand now as Minister of Foreign Affairs plotted

the subversion and overthrow of numerous neighboring states

using his state departments diplomatic immunity. France

showed the world how to use foreign ambassadors to foment

revolutionary movements. This was not because the French

people felt this way; it was because Talleyrand determined

that he would follow this course.

Domestic Policy Under Barras in 1797-

1798

Between July 1794 and June 1798, the French econ-

omy freed from 1793 policies of price controls went

through a phenomenal economic expansion.40 Rather than

preserve this blessing, the Directors intensified foreign wars

and sought conquests, thereby draining the treasury and

requiring new taxation.



40.. Id. at 229.



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First, after the September 4, 1797 Revolution, the

laws of the Terror was restored, with particular emphasis onrepressing free speech. Maugras says "all the emergency

laws [of the Terror] were reinforced, and it became almost

impossible to leave France or to enter it."41 Free speech was

also crushed. A news report in England described in Febru-

ary 1798 the situation: "Liberty of the Press is now so com-

pletely crushed by the power of arbitrary transportation; and

the wanton recurrence to this new Terror so frequent, as to

banish entirely from the French journals all observations and

conjectures on the public occurrences of their own or other

countries, except such as obviously flatter the views, and

coincide with the sentiments of the Directory."42

The Revolutions Marsellaise returned as a military

anthem. And in January 1798, the Directory policy was to

ignore the ban on celebrating the murder of Louis XVI. In

fact, according to indendent news services by foreign corre-

spondents, in January 1798 the directory government used

"coercion and pressure" to have this anniversary honored at

Paris.43

Restored Persecution of Religion &

Creation of A Civil Religion

Regarding religion, after September 4, 1797, the

Directory returned to the policies of 1793 as well. As men-

tioned already, after Robespierre had fallen, the French legis-

lature on September 18, 1794 revoked the infamous decree

41.Memoires of Marquise de Custine (Ed. Gaston Maugras), supra, at218.

42.The Anti-Jacobin (1798), supra, I, p. 458 (news story of February 5,1798 from Paris).

43.The Anti-Jacobin or Weekly Examiner(1798), supra, at 460 (report ofFebruary 5, 1798 from Paris).



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Restored Persecution of Religion & Creation of A Civil Religion

known as the Civil "Constitution" of the Clergy. It also ter-

minated the state-subsidy that held the church as a vassal.The priests had only to swear loyalty to the Republic. Reli-

gious freedom reigned once more. However, when Barras

and Talleyrand accomplished their revolution from above of

1797 and destroyed the Constitution, the Directory renewed

"the anti-clerical and anti-Christian persecution and propa-

gandathe worst since 1794."44

The Directory began to sell off churches once more

for state revenue,re-imposed the ten day week known as the

Decadi (which was designed to wipe out Sunday worship),

forbade by law all public religious observances (such as

Christmas and Easter parades), and required the Church

buildings be used to celebrate services on the 10th day where

the new state religion of "theophilanthropy" had to be

preached from the pulpit. And from 1797 to 1798, the

Directory ordered 8,000 priests to be deported. Also reli-

gious publications were banned.45 The Directorys attitude is

exemplified best by its vigorous persecution of anyone who

took work off on Sunday (and presumably Jews who took off

Saturday).46 Once more, "Sunday had to be a working day,

with the dcadi as the holiday."47

The Directory expected and required all teachers, stu-dents, and public officials to attend these state festivals of

"Theophilantropy" at the "temples" where the laws were

read, patriotic songs were sung, and so on. Yet, the majority

44. Palmer, supra, II at 247.

45. Emmet Kennedy,A Cultural History of the French Revolution, supra,at 353.

46. Georges Lefebvre,Napoleon: From 18 Brumaire to Tilsit 1799-1807(Orig. Publ. 1935), supra, at 37; Una Birch, Secret Societies and theFrench Revolution, supra, at 166; Emmet Kennedy,A Cultural Historyof the French Revolution, supra, at 353. The Director of the new reli-gion was Louise-Marie La Revelllire-Lpeaux. See Kennedy, id. at352.

47. McManners, The French Revolution and the Church, supra, at 120.



20/30



of the French refused to attend.48 The Minister of the Interior

circulated a "Manuel des Thophilanthropes" to explain the

new religion of France. The new religions goal was to

encourage morality. The altar was decorated with flowers

and fruit to match the season. The government gave the "Cult

of Thophilosophy" official funding (which it gave to no

other religious group). The ceremonies are reported by those

in attendance as a place of laughing, bravos and clapping as if

one was at a theater. The Directory ordered the Catholic

Church buildings would also have to be at the service of this

state religion on every Decadi (tenth day in the revived revo-

lutionary calendar). All emblems of the Christian faith were

covered in black veils during these ceremonies. And fifteen

churches were reconsecrated "temples dcadaires."49

The Directory then attacked the revived Church-

school system. The schools had to be closed unless there was

instruction on "civic virtue" to the satisfaction of the ideo-

logues at Paris.50 For those schools that the state supported,

no teaching of any religious charachter could be made. On

October 8, 1798, the instruction went out: "You must exclude

from your teaching all that relates to dogmas or rites of any

religion or sect whatever."51

The purpose of the 1793 Jacobins in promoting publicschool education all along over private education revealed

itself by this intolerance. Of course, public schools should

not support any religion, although it surely should be able to

48. Emmet Kennedy,A Cultural History of the French Revolution, supra,at 352.

49. Una Birch, Secret Societies and the French Revolution, supra, at 167-68.

50. Emmet Kennedy summarized the rapid changes, saying the elections"were annulled in the coup dtat of 18 fructidor of Year V (4 Septem-ber 1797), [and there was a] new wave of republican legislationonschools, on priests, and on the dcadi." See Emmet Kennedy, A Cul-tural History of the French Revolution (1989), supra at 352.

51.. Durant, The Age of Napoleon, supra, at 127.



21/30


Theophilosophy: The New Civil Religion

teach what are the maxims and beliefs of religions. However,

the revived Commune-Mountain policies of 1793 proved thatone purpose behind seizing the church property where

schools used to operate at no cost to the public, while block-

ing the tithe that supported the church, left the people with

need to rely upon state for education. In this manner, reli-

gious eduction would decrease and the new Thophilosophy

religion would be promoted. It was insidious, but a real

dilemma to the French people.

Then to make matters worse, under the Directory, the

Catholic Pope was captured. He was deported to France as a

prisoner. The pope was kept by the Directory in a dungeon

until two years later when he died.

Theophilosophy: The New Civil Religion

In 1798, the Directory revived the 1793 policy of

compulsory military service.52 Then in October 1798, all

places of Christian worship were abolished at Paris. The

churches were renamed Temples for use only by Theophi-

losophy. Parishes were abolished and new "Wards" were set

up with a Temple in each Ward. For example, the Church ofPhilip du Roule was renamed Concord. The Church of St.

Roche was renamed Genius. St. Eustache became Agricul-

ture. And so on.53 This was again too much for the French to

bear.

52.. Id. at 34.

53. Hon. Robert Clifford,Application of Barruel's Memoirs of Jacobinismto the Secret Societies and Ireland and Great Britain by the Translatorof that Work(London: E. Booker, 1798), Preliminary Observations.



22/30



Pestalozzi Hired By The Directory To Sell

The Revolution

To defend these revived 1793 policies, the Directory

had to go outside France. In Switzerland lived the education-

alist Pestalozzi who had not written anything for ten years.

However, the Directory apparently could find no one else

willing to do the job. So under the radicalized Directory,

Pestalozzi became the editor of an official journal designed to

spread the knowledge of "revolutionary principles."54 Pesta-

lozzi was an old Illuminatus of Weishaupts.55

The Nation Revolts

Predictably, just as in 1792-1793, the French people

rose in revolt again to such policies. The Directory then

agressively enforced a new Reign of Terror. This is called the

Second Terror. A police state atmosphere fell over France.

The Directory made it impermissible once again to even

leave the country. Those who were abroad were presumed to

be suspect emigrs and their property was seized just as the

Jacobins had done in 1792-93.56 In the Vende, Barras clev-

erly took precautions to kill off the leadership of the old anti-

Jacobin uprisings before he even attempted the coup of 1797.

In 1796, Hoches armies under control of the Directory went

into the Vende and repressed reaction to some of the radical

changes that Barras was already implementing. They

arrested Charette and Stofflettwo old Generals of the

Vende resistance of 1793and executed them in early

1796.57

54.H. Holman, Pestalozzi (N.Y.: Longman, Green & Co., 1908) at 68.

55. See Chapter Seven, Vol. I.

56.Memoires of Marquise de Custine (Ed. Gaston Maugras), supra, at201, 218.



23/30


Reaction to Oppression of Religion

Killing leaders, however, could not kill the spirit of

the people. In 1797, the civil revolt spread against theoppressive Directory policies. Lefebvre notes: "Religious

worship in secret continued and the ringing of church bells

and religious processions remained the subject of numerous

conflicts."58 The disaffection was strongest, as it was in

1793, in the Vende of the northwest. Outbreaks of violence

directed by peasants against the state burst out.


Forced to abide by the calendar of 1793, the people

again tried to resist use of it. Lambert, a deputy from the Cote

dOr said, after visiting eight eastern departments: "Every-

where I observed that the general mass of people would never

familiarize itself with ourdcadaire system . . . a continual

object of derision; that Sundays and feast days are observed

more regularly than ever, for the sole reason that they depend

on religious principles." If one claimed to be "apostles of rea-

son," that is the state messenger of the new religion of

theolanthropy, Lambert says the people "look at you with all

your pompous phrases either as charlatans . . . or as insanepeople whose brain is delirious and more worthy of pity than

of anger."59

57. Franois Furet, "Chouannerie,"A Critical Dictionary of the FrenchRevolution, supra, at 5; Franois Furet, "Vende,"A Critical Dictio-nary of the French Revolution, supra, at 169.

58. Id. at 92.

59. Charles Lambert, Sur la libert des cults (Paris: An III [1795?] andLambert les collgues, en rponse diffrentes objections sur la lib-

ert des cultes (n.p.: An III [1795?]) quoted in Emmet Kennedy,A Cul-tural History of the French Revolution (1989), supra, at 352.



24/30



Refounding of Jacobin Clubs Called Constitutional Circles

To counter the rising of the people against 1793 poli-

cies, the Directory encouraged and permitted the outlawed

Jacobin clubs to start up. This meant Barras and his allies

were no longer enforcing the laws which banned these pernis-

cious fascists. Soon the Jacobins were sponsoring meetings,

public banquets to influence the populace, and demonstra-

tions.60 They called themselves the Constitutional Circles.

They were, nevertheless, still as unpopular as their Mountain-

led Jacobin forerunners.

There is no secret about the connection of these soci-

eties to the old Jacobins. Typically, the founders of particularConstitutional Circle societes were old members of the

Jacobins of 1793. For example, at Bordeaux, an old Jacobin

named Pierre Balguerie, an official from the Directory, and

three of his family started up a Constitutional Circle. He was

joined by another old Jacobin of 1790-94, Soulignac. With

the purges of 1797, they became executives of the new Cen-

tral Municipal Bureau of Bordeaux, ruling this predominantly

anti-Mountain city. Both Balguerie and Solignac publicly

praised the coup of September 1797 that ousted the so-called

royalists from office, and they followed suit in Bordeaux.61

Just as in May of 1793, the renewed Jacobin societiesassisted Barras on 18 Fructidor (September 5, 1797) carry out

the expulsion by force from the Legislature of fifty-three

moderate deputies. In the election of 1798, the revived

Jacobins boasted of this political terrorism. A typical Jacobin

pamphlet of 1798this one was proclaimed at Amienssaid

60. Michael L. Kennedy, The Jacobin Club in the French Revolution: TheFirst Years (Princeton: 1982) at 210-23; Isser Woloch,Jacobin Leg-acy: The Democratic Movement under the Directory (Princeton: 1970)at 241-271.

61. Lisa Hunt, supra, at 204, citing Gaston Ducaunns, Ville de Bordeaux:Inventaire-Sommaire des Archives municipales: Priode rvolution-

naire (1789-an VIII [1800]) (4 vols.) (Bordeaux: 1896-1929) at III, 66and 76-77.



25/30



the Jacobins should resort to the campaign tactics of seizing

the power in electoral assemblies of verifying voters, andthen disqualify those they did not like:

Already, the Royalists in their sinister haunts

are preparing lists of cand ida tes for the elec-

tors, for the legislative councils, the ad minis-

trations, and th e courts. They w ant to

resuscitate those w ho w ere crushed by the

republican club on 18 Fructid or [the da te of the

an ti-right coup in the legislature]. Wha t

should therefore be your task at th e opening of

the primary assemb lies? Here it is: from the

first session, w eed out, i f I can use th is term ,

the voters; exami ne wi th at tent i on those w ho

w ish to exercise thi s honorabl e funct i on . . . .

Read on t he brow of those who pr esent t hem-

selv es as voters, and you w i l l see t he men

w ho are unfa i th fu l t o the i r engagements pa le

. . . . It is essential to na me energetic men w ho

profess our principles and sha re our senti-

ments. We need pronounced ch aract ers, strong

souls, muscular an d a thletic spirits.62

The Jacobins were ready to stage election fraud and

dirty tricks. The same writer soon thereafter openly urged his

fellow citizens to spread the new Jacobins known as the Con-

stitutional Circle. He wrote, "What are you waiting for, then,

before organizing Constitutional Circles? Hurry up! It is

there that you will find the arms for crushing the reactors

[les racteurs]: unite, be useful, support each other."63

Here was the first known use of the term reactionary

by a radical revolutionary to demean the opposition to tyr-

anny done in the name of progress. These defenders of liberty

62. Caron-Berquier,Aux Amis de la Rpublique (1798), quoted in LisaHunt, supra, at 129.

63. Lisa Hunt, supra, at 130.



26/30



of speech and religion, and true democracy, could not be seen

as freedom fighters; rather, the radical revolutionaries had toportray them as a party of reaction.

Soon the Jacobins achieved their former presence in

every community. An agent for the Ministry of Interior under

the Barras-controlled Directory wrote in 1798 that

there are in every canton a certain number of

energetic and virtuous men who are sincerely

attached to the Republic. They retain all the

influence necessary to n eutralize the efforts of

the malicious [that is, their opponents] and to

direct choices in th e sense of the Revolution.64

For example, at Le Mans in 1798 the Constitutional

Circle every 10th day went to a new suburb and started up a

new club. Each club focused on election candidates for the

national legislature. In early 1798, the Constitutional Circle

at Poitiers, the capital of the Vienne Department, had 600

members, and several connected clubs in smaller neighboring

towns.65

Yet, the Directory recognized how precarious were

their position with the people. In April 1799, an official

report concluded that only 8 out of over 60 Departments ofFrance could be considered reliable: Creuse, Meurthe, Haute-

Sane, Hautes-Pyrnes, Finistre, Jura, Haute-Garonne, and

Pyrnes-Orientales. Only two large cities were in these

departments: Nancy and Toulouse.66 That means, 52 out of



66.Flix Rocquain,LEtat de la France au 18 brumaire (Paris: 1874) at380 (quoting "Rsume des comptes-rendus au Ministre de l'Intrieurpar les Commissaires du Directoire xcutif prs les administrationscentrales des dpartments, pendant le mois de floral an VII [1799]"),quoted in Lisa Hunt, supra, at 141.



27/30



60 departments of France were opposed to the Directoryan

overwhelming percentage. The elections of 1798 and 1799

confirmed this.67

In a letter to Mme. Custine from a friend on June 2,

1798, we see a contemporary picture of France under the

revived 1793 policies by the Barras-controlled Directory.

As regard s the political situa tion of France I

w ill speak only of domestic affa irs. There is

certainly a genera l di scont ent and no one

l i kes the Government; the republican mad-

ness has diedaw ay among the element know n

as th e people.68

In the summer of 1799, the Directory tried to renew

conscription. This only provoked again, as it had in 1793,

massive demonstrations in opposition. At Amiens, for exam-

ple, the people cried, "Down with the Jacobins, down with

the Administration, down with the beggars, long live the

King, long live Louis XVIII."69

Again Commissioners from the Directory went to the

countryside and arrested citizens suspected of opposing the

Directory. Deputies in the Legislature were arrested and

deported. As an example of the subtle return of the tactics ofthe Terror, in 1797, the Commissioners began to proclaim in

67. On May 11, 1798, the Directory disqualified 106 deputies and dis-missed 200 administrative employees. The next elections of March1799 were a disaster for the Directory who now constituted the Direc-tory. Of 79 incumbent deputies who they sponsored, 43 were rejectedby the voters. Then the people defeated 39 of 64 new candidates whowere proposed by the Directory.

68.Memoires of Maquise de Custine, supra, at 229.

69. A. Dubois,Notes historiques sur Amiens, 1789-1083 (Amiens: 1883);Albric de Calonne,Histoire de la ville d'Amiens (3 vols.) (Amiens:1899-1900), Vol. II; F.I. Darsy,Amiens et la dpartment de la Sommependant la Rvolution: Episodes historiques (2 vols.) (Amiens: 1878-1883) I, at 181.



28/30



totalitarian language from the past that no one could wear

expensive clothes or otherwise they would be suspect ofcounter-revolution:

On learning of the triump h of the Republic an d

Constitution of Year III over the ROYALIST

CONSP IRATORS an d of their escape from the

rage of those wh o w ished to destroy them, it is

obviously p ermitted to every good citiz en to

show his joy . . . . Let taste and propriety pre-

side over your d ress; RENOUNCE THESE

SIGNS OF RALLYING, THESE COSTUMES OF

REVOLT, WHICH ARE THE UNIFORMS OF

AN ENEMY ARMY.70

More Machiavellian Tactics Than In 1793

Barras, Talleyrand and Siyes were now holding the

strings of government in their hand. They were not going to

repeat the mistakes of 1793 massive terror which

helped stir the backlash against the government. This time

they would usetrickery, stealth, a police state, government

benefits, and a military dictatorship to stop counter-revolu-tion.

In a letter of June 2, 1798 by a friend to Mme. de Cus-

tine, we learn that the Directory was now trying to gain sup-

port bypatronage andwelfare benefits. Although from July

1794-1797 France had incredible commercial re-emergence

as a result of a free market, the Directory moved the nation

stealthily and by force toward state socialism. On June 2,

1798, this friend observed a letter to Mme. Custine:

70. Lisa Hunt, supra, at 52 (quoting a commissioner to the Isre Depart-ment in an official proclamation).



29/30


More Machiavellian Tactics Than In 1793

The people are discontented but not unhappy,

for they h ave never been richer ... the Go vern-ment is not thought sufficiently strong to guar-

antee their possession of w hat they hold . . . . A

chan ge in Government would b e welcomed,

but as the people are not in distress they will

show no energy to bring about a chan ge.. ..

[N]ever have the p overty-str ick en been so

cared foran d never have w orking people been

better off . . . . [A]ll w ith in comes below a thou -

sand francs, receive fr om the Governm ent

thr ee quar ters of bread dai ly and one and a

hal f pounds of meat every t en days; in Paris

there are two h und red thousan d persons on

this list71 . . . .

Nothwith standin g the countless armies raised

and the requisitions of every kind , t he land is

bet t er cu l t i vaed than ever before. Produ ce is

so dear that no plot of land is left vacant . . . .

Commerce is so vigorous that its mainspring

breaks every three months and is replaced by

some new form.72

But state socialism came at a price. The "administra-

tive expenses [are] so vast that no taxes, however, enormous

could even cover the cost of collecting them." (Sound famil-

iar?) Also, "there is a vast bureaucracy with salaries of a

magnificence exceeding all dreams. Everyone can find some

place in a Government office."73

These were the ideas of Kant put into practice. They

simply had to find the right man to implement the doctrines

of Kant to make it work. That would wait for Napoleonnot

even a Frenchman but an Italian-speaking Corsican.

71. In 1789, the city only had 850,000 citizens.

72. Memoires of Maquise de Custine, supra , at 229.

73. Id.



30/30



Conclusion

Immediately after the coup of 1797, France under-

went a profound change. Its rulers resurrected the policies

and tactics from 1793. This time they acted prudently so as

not to incite a huge reaction. They also cut off the heads of

the potential leaders of reaction before enacting some of the

most likely inflammatory changes.

Yet, Barras proved the perfect social engineer. Barras

redistributed wealth in a manner that created a huge state

machinery where more and more people depended upon the

state for a livelihood. As Barras and his Directory tightened

the noose, the Directory kept saying that they would notallow the Jacobins to rise up again and take power, which

secretly they were helping their likes take power and were

trying to quickly silence opponents before anyone knew what

was happening.

The next chapter examines the foreign policy of the

French Directory under Barras from 1796-1798. This study

will further prove that Barras was reviving unquestionably

the policies of 1793-94 to the great chagrin of the French peo-

ple.

Democracy Thwarted in the Revolution of September 1797

Documents