《旧制度与大革命·卷三·第三章·法国高等法院如何循着旧例反而倾覆了王权》第15节
Even in the towns the people remained a stranger to the excitement of the upper classes, and indifferent to the stir which was going on above its head. They listen; they watch, with some surprise, but with more curiosity than anger. But no sooner did the agitation make itself felt among them than it was found to have assumed a new character. When the magistrates re-entered Paris in triumph, the people, which had done nothing to defend these members of Parliament, arrested in their places, gathered together tumultuously to hail their return. I have said in another part of this book that nothing was more frequent under the old régime than riots. The Government was so strong that it willingly allowed these transient ebullitions to have free scope. But on this occasion there were numerous indications that a very different state of things had begun. It was a time when everything old assumed new features--riots like everything else. Corn-riots had perpetually occurred in France; but they were made by mobs without order, object, or consistence. Now, on the contrary, broke out insurrection, as we have since so often witnessed it, with its tocsin, its nocturnal cries, its sanguinary placards; a fierce and cruel apparition; a mob infuriated, yet organised and directed to some end, which rushes at once into civil war, and shatters every obstacle. Upon the intelligence that the Parliament had prevailed, and that the Archbishop of Sens retired from the Ministry, the populace of Paris broke out in disorderly manifestations, burnt the minister in effigy, and insulted the watch. These disturbances were, as usual, put down by force; but the mob ran to arms, burnt the guard-houses, disarmed the troops, attempted to set fire to the Hôtel Lamoignon, and was only driven back by the King’s household troops. Such was the early but terrible germ of the insurrections of the Revolution. The Reign of Terror was already visible in disguise. Paris, which nowadays a hundred thousand men scarcely keep in order, was then protected by an indifferent sort of police called the watch. Paris had in it neither barracks nor troops. The household troops and the Swiss Guards were quartered in the environs. This time the watch was powerless.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这里揭示了一个在革命酝酿期极为关键的现象：民众并非从一开始就投身于与王权的对抗。即便在高等法院的抗争掀起了贵族和资产阶级的激昂情绪时，城镇里的普通百姓仍然是这场政治戏剧的旁观者。他们观望、困惑，但并没有立即被愤怒裹挟。这种距离感恰恰说明，激发上层社会的王权滥用和体制危机，尚未直接转化为触发民众行动的燃料。然而，一旦这股骚动沉入民众的肌理，它的性质…