#committee of safety

[iridescentalchemyst]

What Are You Going To Do About It?

In case you missed it, mayor Bud Maynard "issued a request" for Vinton residents at the close of last week's city council meeting. But to clarify, his 'request' is actually a form of political gaslighting and you don't want to miss my response!

I wish I could ask each and every person that owns property or lives here that question. Preferably in a face-to-face conversation! Where’s ‘here,’ you ask? Welcome to Vinton I live in Vinton. It is the county seat in Benton County, Iowa with right around 5000 people according to the 2020 census. Located on the Cedar River, it is Home of the Vinton Vikings, site of the former Iowa Braille…

[quirinah]

please stay by me!

[super-firepaw119]

KOSA update 9/13/24:

According to Evan, there’s a mark up in the House committee next week (No specific date, but some time next week).

Again, this is a Committee mark up, not an actual vote, so don’t panic.

Evan doubts it’ll actually move through the House; still we need to fight like hell.

Proof:

https://x.com/evan_greer/status/1834741350664675570?s=46&t=yFN9Hf-JJHJ9o67VUawUqg

Expanding on that, here’s the general phone number for the Energy & Commerce Committee:

Again, a Committee mark up is not the same as an actual vote.

Please spread this around.

Keep calm & keep fighting!!

[enlitment]

I've just watched a movie where the line "you were the one who called the CPS on her, weren't you?" was uttered and my brain just kind of froze for a second.

then I realise they meant Child Protective Services. still, the idea of calling the Committee of Public Safety on someone is quite funny.

[citizen-card]

the cps wish they could have outfits as cool as the directors

[thatsbelievable]

[amateurvoltaire]

The Deputy of Humanity

In August 1790, Robespierre, then deputy in the National Assembly, received a letter from a young man in Aisne. The subject of the letter was of little consequence in the grand scheme of things: the author was expressing his concern that the free monthly markets for grain and sheep in his village of Blérancourt might be moved to the rival village of Coucy.

The subject of the letter may have been trivial, but its author was not. Louis Antoine Saint-Just, not yet twenty-three, was quickly outgrowing local politics and had his eyes on debuting on the national stage. In around two years’ time, he would become one of Robespierre’s closest allies. But back in 1790, the young man only knew him “like God, through miracles” ("comme Dieu, par des merveilles"). This would be the first contact between the two men.

The letter has been widely translated, quoted, and speculated on. It is very well-written, with the effusive admiration and almost hero worship of the young man practically jumping off the page. Whether Saint-Just was entirely genuine or not is hardly consequential. Robespierre clearly found his admiration touching because he kept the letter until the end of his life.

The fact that Robespierre kept the letter is a sweet gesture that can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways. Perhaps he enjoyed the flattery, or maybe he wanted to keep a memento of the beginning of their friendship with Saint-Just. Maybe he simply forgot to throw it away. In my opinion, it's not very important.

What I find more interesting and revealing about Robespierre's character is that a young lieutenant colonel of the National Guard of the department of Aisne felt empowered to raise his provincial concerns to a deputy who wasn't even representing his constituency. Why would he do that? Setting aside Saint-Just's audacity and desire for recognition, the simple reason is that he knew he would be heard.

Since the days of the Estates General, Robespierre had not only been gaining popularity but was also notorious for standing up for the interests of the common man beyond his own province (later on department). For all the flattery, Saint-Just was right: Robespierre wasn’t only the deputy from Arras; he was “[the deputy] of humanity and the Republic (1)”. He frequently weighed in, as a dissenting voice, on matters of national importance, maintaining a consistent stance that always favoured the underdog. This was nothing new. His entire career in Arras had been built on helping the common man. On a national stage, he vocally continued that work.

He opposed the king's veto power over constitutional laws and emphasized the sovereignty of the nation over monarchical traditions. He also opposed the exclusion of "passive" citizens (2) from the National Guard and advocated for extending voting rights. All this, along with his defense of civic equality for various groups, including actors, Protestants, and Jews, solidified his position as a defender of the people.

Despite facing mockery from royalist publications and some of his peers, he remained steadfast in his dedication to the universal principles of the Revolution, with the most crucial principle being the sovereignty of the people. If the people are sovereign, then their grievances are significant. It's understandable that Saint-Just would reach out to him regarding the issue with the village market. He wasn't the only one.

For what it's worth, Robespierre probably didn’t intervene in the matter, but Blérancourt ultimately did retain its markets.

Translation (3)

Blérancourt, near Noyon, August 19, 1790

You who support the faltering homeland against the torrent of despotism and intrigue, you whom I know only, like God, through miracles; I address you, sir, to ask you to join me in saving my sad country.

The town of Coucy has transferred (so the rumour goes here) the free markets from the village of Blérancourt. Why should the cities swallow up the privileges of the countryside? Then, nothing will remain for the latter but the taille (direct tax) and taxes! Please, support with all your talent a petition that I am sending by the same mail, in which I ask for my inheritance to be joined to the national domains of the district so that my country may retain a privilege without which it must starve.

I do not know you, but you are a great man. You are not just the representative of a province; you are that of humanity and the Republic. Please ensure that my request is not scorned.

I have the honour of being, sir, your humble and obedient servant,

Saint-Just,

elector (4) in the department of Aisne.

Notes

(1) Here Saint-Just doesn't refer to Republic as a form of government, but uses the word as a substitute for nation/country. In 1790 France was a constitutional monarchy.

(2)Passive citizens were those who, for a variety of reasons (mostly tax related), were not allowed to vote. (3) The parts that are in bold, are underlined in the original . As usual, this is my own translation and you can surely find much better ones out there!

(4) Touchy subject...

(BONUS) The letter is Recto-Verso. The small red arrows in the image indicate where the back page starts. I edited the two sides in one image for ease of reading.

Source

I really like Saint-Just but his handwriting is just as bad as mine (yes. I can barely read mine either). The french text of the letter comes from:

Saint-Just, Louis Antoine Léon. Œuvres. Paris: Gallimard, 2014

[helvidius]

a toast to not killing each other tomorrow

[comite-de-salut-public]

The Committee of Public Safety is a governmental body that deals with matters pertaining to national safety, foreign threats, and administrative duties, based in Paris and under the supervision of the National Convention.

Any questions, topics of interest, or other commentary can be sent in using the Inquiries button. If you require a notice posted, use the Notices button. Remember, by submitting material you are opening yourself to any applicable legal action that such statements could bring you.

If you wish to bring up a topic or dispute surrounding trials, court procedures, or sentencing, please take this matter to the Revolutionary Tribunal. Remember, we are not the ones who decide who gets guillotined!

If you need to report counterrevolutionary propaganda, travel law violations, or falsified papers/passports, please take these matters to the Committee of General Security. If they blow you off (usually saying something along the lines of "let Public Safety deal with it if they're so high and mighty" and/or grumbling about "indirect appointments"), feel free to bring it up in your local section/club meeting and proceed by their advice.

(Please refrain from asking about the "shouts and crashing noises, like things are being thrown" coming from inside our meeting location. It's nothing to worry about. We're dealing with it. We got everybody involved away from the window, it's all under control.)

OOC:

this is an intentionally humorous blog, in the style of other corporate/organization gimmick blogs. historical events that were serious/influential may be discussed flippantly as part of the bit. specific events referenced in posts may or may not have actually occurred in real life as described in the post. if you are unsure whether or not a post is about an actual event, are curious about what it is referencing, or just want to chat french revolution, feel free to hmu at my main @transrevolutions.

there's no fixed timeline for this blog. events and people may be referenced out of order. just don't think too hard about it.

I doubt this needs to be said, but just in case: neither I nor this blog are actually affiliated with the french government. the committee of public safety was disbanded in 1795. as such, any references to legality/arrest warrants/surveillance are tongue-in-cheek.

[max-de-robespierre]

[rosemary-rothlorein]

For those who haven’t read Twelve Who Ruled:

No matter what you think of French Revolution- a glorious step toward humanity progress, or something supposed to be glorious but went wrong and ended up in bloodshed- Palmer is going to show you it is technically a bunch of shit of:

1) arduous and underpaid work, and toxic and lethal working environment; 2) you are a lawyer who have no expertise outside the courtroom and now have to win a war against the whole Europe; 3) things get screwed up every moment, so you and your colleagues blame each other pretending to solve something; 4) the nation and the republic are at the high risk of being wiped out, and your colleague is too busy proposing growing potatoes outside Tuileries Palace to care about military affairs. 5) your whole team is useless at military issues, and you have to make all decisions, so others accuse you of being a military dictator.

[iridescentalchemyst]

Writ of Quo Warranto

What if I told you there is already a plan in the works to save America? Would you actually get off your ass and get involved? PROVE IT!!!

Quo Warranto is Latin for “by what warrant” (or authority). The Legal Information Institute at Cornell defines, “a writ of quo warranto is a common law remedy which is used to challenge a person’s right to hold a public or corporate office.” The Free Legal Dictionary reports that it is “was one of the most ancient and important writs” in English law. Unbeknownst to the American public, well…

[filipinawritcr]

Something tells me that this committee needs help with the amount of Earth signs here.

[lamarseillasie]

What did Marat think of the CPS members?

Hi, anon! 👋

First of all, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to answer your question. I was very busy with various things involving my end-of-year studies and could only reply now. I hope you weren't upset or disinterested!

Secondly, I didn't quite understand whether your question meant to ask what Marat thought of the CSP in general or what he thought of each of the members individually. So I decided to answer both questions!

It is important to note that, in my research, I have not been able to find much information about Marat's concrete views on the committee itself, nor have I been able to find his views on all the members. This is probably due to the fact that the CSP was created in April 1793, an extremely turbulent year for the Revolution in general and somewhat turbulent in Marat's political life, who, although he never stopped publishing his newspaper, didn't have much time to write. But it's possible that I'll find something more on this subject in the future, so I'll update this post whenever possible.

It can be said that, initially, Marat was committed to the creation of the CSP and was, in a way, in favor of it. Despite this, he never stopped criticizing and imposing his opinions on the organization of its functions and members. In issue no. 163 of his newspaper, Le Publiciste de La Republique Française, published the day after the official creation of the Committee of Public Safety, he points out some "ridiculous defects" in the draft of the Committee of General Defense presented by Isnard for the creation of the CSP. It's a rather poor quality document, which made my translation difficult, so bear in mind that it is subject to errors.

"This was the plan Isnard presented to the General Defense Committee. In vain did I search this plan for the men responsible for providing the means to repel enemies from without and within. I saw in it nothing more than a simple surveillance of the operations of the Minister of War and the Navy and an unlimited search for suspicious citizens, under the pretext of pursuing the schemers. This omission of the most important care and this accumulation of the very different functions of two committees into just one revolted me: I showed that this obviously tended to undermine tyranny, without fulfilling the main objective, which is the defense of the state. My reasons were heard, and the Committee of Public Safety was able to restrict itself to putting ministerial agents into action, in charge of carrying out means of general defense, with the simple power to request the assistance of the Committee of Security for the arrest of evildoers or suspicious persons."

In addition to this excerpt, there are a few other issues of Le Publiciste de La Republique Française in which Marat criticizes the poor functioning of the Committee of General Security. You can find his complaints mainly in the issues from April to July 1793. Despite these harsh criticisms, Marat seemed to believe that the creation of the CSP could bring benefits, or at least he defended the creation of a committee made up of "capable and politically enlightened patriots to put the state on the defensive". This thinking, however, changed dramatically just a few months later. This could be seen in the last issue of the LPRF, which was published the day after Marat's death, on July 14.

"What should we think of the Committee of Public Safety, or rather its leaders, given that most of its members are so careless that they attend committee meetings for only two hours out of twenty-four, ignore almost everything that is done there and perhaps have no knowledge of this room. They are very guilty, no doubt, for taking on a task they don't want to do: but the leaders are very criminal for carrying out their duties in such an unworthy manner."

It is possible to conjecture, especially from this excerpt, that Marat was very dissatisfied with the CSP - which, at the time, still didn't have very consolidated power - and one of the main reasons for this was its members, the vast majority of whom Marat despised. In the following excerpt, he talks about Bertrand Barère, calling him the "most dangerous enemy of the fatherland".

"Among them is one whom the mountain has just renamed in a very reckless manner and whom I consider to be the country's most dangerous enemy. This was Barére, who Sainte-Foi pointed out to the monarch as one of the constitutionalists with whom he could work best. As for me, I am convinced that he is swimming between two waters to see which party will win the day; it is he who has paralyzed all the measures of force and who is tying us up like this to let them cut our throats. I invite him to give me a reminder by finally making a statement so that he is no longer seen as a monarchist in disguise."

Barère is also mentioned by Marat in an interesting pamphlet he made in 1792, when the elections for deputies to the National Convention were taking place. The pamphlet is called Marat, l'Ami du Peuple, aux amis de la patrie and is available to read here (p. 310). In it, Marat comments on some of the candidates for deputies and shares his opinions about them with his readers, making a list of his nominations and also of those who, according to him, should be avoided at all costs. Barère was on the list "of unworthy people proposed by the author of La Sentinelle, with the aim of serving the faction of the enemies of liberty".

"Barère de Vieuzac, a useless man, without virtue or character".

Following the same pamphlet, Marat mentions other future members of the CSP: Billaud-Varenne, Tallien and Robespierre. They are included in the "list of men who have most deserved the patriciate".

Robespierre & Billaud: "All you have to do is name them, they are the true apostles of freedom; woe betide you if they are not the first objects of your vows."

Tallien: "Excellent patriots, who'll always be narrating with the intrepid defenders of the fatherland."

To say the least, we can consider that this list has aged a little badly. I haven't found any further mention or statements by Marat about those mentioned above (with the exception of Robespierre and Barère), so it's possible that his opinion changed from 1792 to 1793, although we don't have any proof of this in principle.

With regard to other members, such as Hérault, Carnot and Couthon: their names only appeared a few times in L'Ami du Peuple, and it's not very easy to identify exactly what Marat thought of each of them. In issue no. 614, Marat refers to Couthon as a "patriot", which I think is a good thing. Hérault, however, doesn't seem to be held in Marat's esteem, especially according to this excerpt from issue no. 510, in which he puts him on the same level as people like Bouillé and Necker, whom, to say the least, Marat didn't like very much.

As for Robespierre, Marat always supported him. In a way, they both always supported each other; Marat did so until his death. The two were never friends as such - in fact, little is known about the personal aspect of their relationship. Throughout the Revolution, they often shared very similar opinions about various situations, such as the case of the Nancy garrison, Simmoneau's death and especially the opposition to the revolutionary war, when both were politically isolated. Because of this, they were able to count on each other's support. Although it's not quite true to say that they were friends or that they had any affection for each other that wasn't entirely political. I plan to write a more complete post about these two in the future!

Apparently, Marat also had a positive opinion of Saint-Just. He appreciates his conduct in a discussion in issue no. 240 of LPRF, and there is also the fact that Saint-Just seemed to be favorable to Marat, which can be seen in some of his writings and speeches at the Convention. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any writings by Marat about other CSP members such as Lindet, Prieur and the others.

From all this, it can be concluded that Marat's opinion of the CSP members is somewhat fragmented, since he has different thoughts about each of them. In any case, it is certain that, at least before his death, Marat was against the committee and had a strong distrust of it. Let me know if you have any questions or corrections about any of the information I've included in this post, anon, and I hope I've helped you. :)

[enlitment]

I hope you're having a good day! It's always a delight seeing your thoughts on my dash. What modern invention do you think would be funniest to give to the French revolutionaries?

Hi, thank you so much for the lovely message! Same here 😊

I personally think it would be really fun to go back and give them a digital camera, along with some means of developing photos. (that's also me being just a tiny bit selfish with my answer, since it would give us a lot of great additional primary sources)

I'd be super curious to see the main events, but also:

I want to see the awkwardly staged group photos of the committee members (I'm picturing the kind where one is hugging the other person around the shoulders while the other is visibly uncomfortable and tries to keep as much distance as physically possible)

I just know Jacques-Louis David would learn to love photography! We'd have all the republican festivals aesthetic photos as well as a moving tribute from Marat's funeral

There would definitely be so many photos of Robespierre circulating throughout Paris. Everyone would want to get them signed. Same for Saint-Just probably.

I'd be really curious to find out who'd be the first one to take a selfie (one of these weird kind of blurry ones, with something cool in the background that you can't really see that much). My bets are on Camille or Bon Bon.

Last but not least, it leaves us with the great opportunity for Fabre d'Églantine to commission a Revolutionary photo calendar. Same pictures, but now with live models (preferably the revolutionaries themselves, or the women of the revolution - they definitely deserve a spotlight!)

[citizen-card]

OMG!!!