留美博士：朱学勤剽窃Blum 中英对照系列之二

朱学勤：《道德理想国的覆灭》

第七章第五节：266至273页         

Carol Blum: Rousseau and the Republic of Virtue

布鲁姆：《卢梭与德性共和国》

   内外禁锢——舆论划一与道德对抗

　　罗伯斯庇尔上台之时，正是巴黎经受革命道德清洗之际。

　　在革命上层，人们推举出比马拉更具道德热忱的罗伯斯庇尔；在革命下层，人们点火焚烧一切不合道德标准的文化“奢侈品”：烧书，烧画，烧锦旗，烧旧制度文献，烧所有从私人住宅抄检出来的带有贵族气息的文化作品。据《导报》记载，从１７９３年至１７９４年，不断有爱国者结队冲进国民公会底楼，自发地进行焚书活动。(1. Blum: 220页第三段第6行至第8行) 浓烟时常从国民公会的各个窗户内飘逸而出，法国议会就在这种腾腾烈焰之上，大声辩论他们的革命进程。(2. Blum: 220页第三段第9行，承接上面来的)

　　１７９３年１０月２３日，一位革命前的精神贵族——主教蒂博实在心疼这些文化精品毁于一炬，询问议会：(3. Blum: 220页第三段第9行至第11行)

　　爱国者有什么权力烧毁这些从邻居家里抄检来的东西，即使这些东西证明是保皇主义或封建主义的标志？ (4. Blum: 220页第三段第11行至第13行)

　　雅各宾党人约瑟夫·德·谢尼埃平静地回答说：(5. Blum: 220页第13行至第14行)

　　不是有一些被公认是伟大的共和主义者的书籍吗？比如说，他们之中有西尼和让·雅克·卢梭。42（6. Blum: 220页最后一行至221页第2行）

        卢梭的著作和思想到了这种时候，就不限于一种无形的语言暴力了。它已与强大的群众暴力、行政暴力相结合，形成一种公开的政教合一的政治暴力。(7. Blum: 243页第三段第1行至第4行；曲解成“政教合一”，Blum并非这个意思)１７９３年６月１９日，《世界信使报》公然载文说：“人，仅仅是政府塑造的模样。在一个民主政体下，在一种如此纯洁的空气里，在一个如此美好的政府下，母亲毫无生产痛苦就生下了她的孩子”。(8. Blum: 264页第二段倒数第7行至倒数第2行)

　　这正是卢梭改造新人思想，从哲学推行到政治实践的关键点。卢梭当年曾抱恨没有一个优秀的政府来塑造他所设计的至善人性，现在轻而易举地由一家革命报纸堂皇说出，而且正在一个革命政府的行政推动下，轻而易举地进入了社会实践。

　　罗伯斯庇尔当然信奉这一主张。但是，他考虑得更为深远。报纸虽有宣传卢梭思想的这一作用，但是报纸七嘴八舌，有时可能争夺政府对塑造人性的社会影响。１７８９年８月２４日，他在三级议会上的发言曾反对限制出版自由。但是到了１７９３年他显然改变了这一看法。他更相信由政府来直接塑造人，也就是说，直接钳制舆论，在此之后，扫荡一切政府之外的文化媒体、知识分子。６月２４日先发出警报，他指出：

　　有一种最简单最有力的力量，能把公共舆论引入各种主张和各色人等的混乱，这就是报纸为何在革命中总是扮演一种重要角色的原因。 敌人在出钱收买一些。43 (9. Blum: 265页第3行至第5行; 此处朱文的注释43照搬Blum注释)

　　一个月后，罗伯斯庇尔进入救国委员会。８月８日，国民公会公布法令：“查禁所有阳奉阴违的学院、学术机构、医学机构、艺术团体、法律机构。” (10. Blum: 235页第三段第1行至第2行)８月１０日起，逮捕所有“反革命”的作家、记者。(11. Blum: 264页脚注3第2行至第3行)《巴黎新闻报》的迪罗苏瓦于８月２５日被推上断头台，这是革命法庭处死的第一个新闻记者。44(12: Blum: 264页脚注3第5行至第7行；此处朱文注释44照搬Blum注释) 根据这个月公布的监护者法令：民间街头报纸要么被封闭，要么成为雅各宾派的喉舌。(13. Blum: 264页第二段第1行至第4行)９月５日，在忿激派武装示威要求下，国民公会决定把恐怖正式提上议事日程。救国委员会命令：关闭法兰西剧院，逮捕所有演员。

　　下一步清洗的，是司法系统。这年圣诞节，罗伯斯庇尔签署文件，由救国委员会发至各省，仅剩无几的法理程序、科层制过程都被废止。(14. Blum: 222页第四段第1行至第4行)“加强革命，只能在一个自由的空间进行，这就是立法者之所以要清除阻碍道路的所有事物的原因。…… 到目前为止，我们清洗了不少人，但是还存在着很多有待清洗的任务。……革命法律的智慧只有在毫无阻碍的高空飞翔，如果增加它周围的限制，它就会逐渐停顿下来”。45（15. Blum: 222页最后一段；朱文注释45照搬Blum注释）

　　进入１７９４年春，恐怖主义呼声更加高涨。马赛军事委员会宣称：“法律的刀刃每天都应切下一些罪恶的头颅，断头台工作得越繁忙，共和国就越巩固。” （16. Blum: 226页第11行至第14行）（３月２６日）处死丹东派当日，奥布省来的议员说：“如果我们清洗了自己，我们就有权力去清洗法兰西。我们不能让异质团体再留在共和国躯体之内。”（17. Blum: 226页第8行至第10行）处死丹东派后，圣鞠斯特也催促国民公会：“消灭所有帮派，只有这样，共和国内才能只剩下人民和你们自己”。46（18. Blum: 227页第5行至第7行；朱文注释46照搬Blum注释）

　　当时的国民公会形同虚设，大权已经集中在救国委员会少数人手中。罗伯斯庇尔等人进一步实践卢梭政治哲学之真谛：让人民的一盘散沙与最高寡头的集权直接对位，中间削平一切社会团体。

　　１７９４年４月至５月，雅各宾派开始清洗巴黎各区的民众团体。３９个区的民众团体被迫解散。除限定每十天集会两次的区会议以外，只有雅各宾俱乐部一个组织可以自由集会。雅各宾派俱乐部经多次清洗、分裂，此时亦办成了官办机关，成为政府之工具。即使如此，每逢集会，讲坛上下亦派人严密监视。

　　在这一清洗民间团体的过程中，最具典型意义、亦具讽刺意义的是妇女参政命运的起落。

　　１７８９年三级会议所收到的民间陈情书中，有３３份要求改进妇女的命运。（19. Blum: 204页第二段第1行至第2行）有一份称为“法兰西妇女的陈情书”写道

“三级会议的组成，就概念来说，它既然能代表整个民族，也就应该代表我们。可是，民族一半以上的人口却被排斥在外。先生们，这是一个问题，而这一问题伤害的是我们这个性别。” ：（20. Blum: 205页第三段第6行至第11行）专门研究卢梭妇女观与妇女运动关系的西方史学家保罗·费里兹和理查德·莫顿整理总结这批陈情书说：（21. Blum: 204页第二段第2行至第4行。注：Blum原文是Ruth Graham，而不是保罗·费里兹和理查德·莫顿---Paul Fritz and Richard Morton，这两人是Women in the 18th Century and Other Essays一书的编者，其中收录了Ruth Graham的文章Rousseau's Sexism Revolutionized，这里Blum有注解，朱肯定看到了此注解，不然不会刚好用这两个编者的名字，可惜弄巧成拙，搞错了。）

　　妇女的陈情书虽不登大雅之堂，但正是这些陈情书提醒人们注意，妇女是被排斥三级会议之外的。１７８９年的法兰西，危机四伏，也正是妇女们提出了一个治疗药方：卢梭的道德或伦理更新。47（22: Blum: 204页第二段第4行至第8行；朱温注释47照搬Blum注释）

　　妇女对卢梭的呼唤，在革命前夕和初期的卢梭热中起了很大推动作用。革命前半阶段的民众运动中，妇女参政权确实大大推进了一步。（23. Blum: 208页最后一行至209页第一行）包括雅各宾俱乐部在内的许多政治性俱乐部都吸收了女性。《铁嘴报》上也不断鼓吹女权。（24. Blum: 209页第一段第5行至第9行）但是，卢梭道德理想普及之时，恰恰正是妇女重回厨房之日。

　　法国大革命中，轻视妇女的封建传统始终没有全部消退。《人权宣言》中的“人”，指的是“男性”，而不是“女性”。(25. Blum: 209页第二段第1行至第3行)１７９１年宪法中，亦将妇女划入消极公民，这种观念到了雅各宾专政时期，不仅没有克服，反而由于卢梭幽闭妇女的理论影响，大大增加。（26. Blum: 212页注解18第1行至第4行）１７９３年１月２５日，雅各宾党人普律多姆反对里昂妇女组建政治俱乐部，（27. Blum: 209页第二段第7行至第9行）首先发难：“里昂妇女俱乐部当她们这么做 时，是怎么考虑让·雅各·卢梭在《社会契约论》里教育年轻女公民的那些完整章节呢？（原文如此，这些章节在该书中没有，只出现在《致达朗贝尔——论观赏》中）……妇女俱乐部将是家政的苦难渊源……。我们恳求里昂的那些好公民，留在家里吧，好好照看你们的子女吧，而不是妄称什么懂得《社会契约论》！” （28. Blum: 209页第三段全段）

　　有妇女代表用孟德斯鸠观点反驳他：“在亚洲，从最古老的年代起，我们就被束缚在家务劳动中，用以配合专制统治！”（29. Blum: 210页第二段最后三行）

        普律多姆用卢梭回敬孟德斯鸠：“有一个圣人曾经不断重申，最好的妇女是说得最少的妇女，当他听到这番高论时，恐怕会愁眉苦脸，顿生不快。卢梭断断不会喜欢一个妇女有如此高超的才智。如果妇女们也加入一个俱乐部，我们可就要把我们曾说要遵循自然、遵循理性、遵循卢梭所说的一切统统收回了”。48（30. Blum: 210页第三段第1行至第5行；第9行至第10行；朱文注释48照搬Blum注释）

       １７９３年１０月，雅各宾专政出现反妇女参政高潮。１０月１日，王后受审，审讯中出现污秽不堪的性侮辱和性歧视。49１０ 月２４日，罗兰夫人受审，３１日处死。１０月２９日，国民公会前 出现请愿者，要求“关闭所有的妇女社团”，“因为正是这些娘们才让法兰西受苦遭罪。”（31. Blum: 213页第一段第1行至第3行）次日，阿马尔以救国委员会名义在国民公会发言，提出三个问题，然后一一加以否定：（32. Blum: 213页第一段第3行, 第5行，第9至第10行）

　　１、是否应允许妇女在那种特殊的社团里集会？

　　２、 妇女们能否掌握政治权力，在政府中任要职？

　　３、妇女们在政治生活或公共集会中能否保持头脑冷静，深思熟虑？（33. Blum: 213页第二段第5行至第9行—包含以上三个问题）

　　他的否定理由是，“公共舆论拒绝承认”，？（34. Blum: 213页第二段第14行至第15行）以及卢梭的理论如此规定——“男人们创造道德统治，女人们使得美德受人爱戴”。？（35. Blum: 214页第二段倒数第4行至倒数第3行）

 　　经过一番辩论，接下来通过的法令是：“以任何名义建立的妇女俱乐部、妇女公众团体，一律禁止。”１２月３１日，又发布补充法令：“妇女们只有在丈夫和孩子一起出席的情况下，才能参加社会活动。” ？（36. Blum: 215页最后四行）

　　从此，曾热烈呼唤过卢梭道德救国主张的法兰西妇女，在雅各宾专政时期销声匿迹。（37. Blum: 215页倒数第5行至倒数第4行）

 　　如此清洗，制镇住国内舆论后，还有最后一笔，就是闭锁国门，强化与外界的道德对抗。

　　法国大革命初期以世界主义面貌著称。它曾以宽广博大的胸怀，接纳过欧洲各国的倾慕者和参加者。国民公会曾授予华盛顿、潘恩、克劳茨等外国革命家以“法兰西荣誉公民”称号，选举潘恩为法国议会的正式议员。以世界主义为号召，法国革命甚至一度出现向外输出革命的冲动。

　　但是，这种世界主义和输出革命，本身就存在着道德优越和道德泛化的底色，一旦形势逆转，同样的底色很快变幻为紧闭国门，排斥外人，关起门来实行“道德净化”的另一面目。(38. Blum: 227页倒数第7行至第6行)

        １７９３至１７９４年冬天，英国作出和平试探。（39. Blum: 224页最后一行）接受或拒绝这一和平机会，一度成为丹东与罗伯斯庇尔的争辩焦点。罗伯斯庇尔宣称：“有必要注意英国的罪恶”。（40. Blum: 225页第2行至第4行）科·德布瓦说，在英法两国政府间没有共同的基础，“他不想拿英国的政府与法国的政府作比较，那就导致在所有美德的清单旁边罗列一长串邪恶的清单。” （41. Blum: 225页第4行至第8行）巴雷尔宣称和平是腐败的根本动力，“君主制需要和平，共和国需要战争精神；奴隶们需要和平，共和主义者则需要自由的酵母。” 。（42. Blum: 225页第一段最后五行）

　　在牧月法令通过前几个星期，罗伯斯庇尔签署了一个报复英国的法令：狱中的英格兰人和汉诺威人一律处死。(43. Blum: 263页第3行至第6行) 英国随之通过了一个对应法令。(44. Blum: 263页第8行至第9行) 这样，双方都废止了旧时代战争规则中不虐杀战俘的人道规定。(45. Blum: 263页第9行至第11行) 约克公爵呼吁对双方战俘都施仁政，罗伯斯庇尔以道德逻辑拒斥说——(46. Blum: 263页第三段第1行至第2行)

　　自由与专制之间有什么共同点？美德与罪恶之间有什么共同点？……(47. Blum: 263页第三段第2行至第4行) 那些与专制主义作战的士兵应该得到救援，让他们重回医院，这是可以理解的；奴隶宽待奴隶，暴君宽待暴君，这是可以想象的。然而，一个自由人与一个暴君或暴 君的仆从相妥协，勇敢与怯懦相妥协，美德与罪恶相妥协，这是不可想象的，也是决不可能的！50 (48. Blum: 263页第三段最后六行；朱文注释50照搬Blum注释)

这就把圣鞠斯特在国王审判案中的道德逻辑，延伸到外交事务中来了。卢梭抗英情结发展至此，雅各宾专政道德理想国实践历程行进于此，道德逻辑不仅磁化了国内事务，而且也磁化了国际事务。整个世界划分为道德与非道德的两个国际阵营，(49.Blum: 263页最后一段)意识形态纷争压倒了民族利益，法兰西政治文化的内战风格延续到外部世界，不仅给法国人民造成长期的战争苦难，而且给近现代国际政治生活留下了深刻的历史影响。

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

８３），英国政论家，曾参加英国革命，独立派领袖之一，复辟时被处决，着有《论政

府》。

43.《罗伯斯庇尔全集》第１０卷，Ｐ５０３。

44. 吉尔克里斯特、玛瑞合著：《法国革命中的出版界》，伦敦１９７１ 年版，Ｐ１２。

45. ＪB ＭB 汤姆逊编：《法国革命文件集（１７８９—１７９４）》，牛津１９４８

年版，Ｐ２７５—２７７。

46. 《圣鞠斯特全集》第２卷，Ｐ３７２。

47. 保罗·费里兹、理查顿·莫顿：“卢梭性观念的革命化”，载《１８世纪的妇女及其问题论文集》，特累顿、萨拉索塔１９７６年版。

48. 里奥波德·拉科：《法国革命中的三个女性》，巴黎１９７１版，Ｐ１５—１５８。

49. 参见茨威格：《断头艳后》，Ｐ４４８—４５９。

50.《罗伯斯庇尔全集》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.