Le Figaro
- THE 8TH OF THERMIDOR
- Food prices rising again
- In the hand of the ex-Kronprinz.
Le Figaro's front page of 27 October 1926 carried a signed historical column by Louis Barthou of the Académie française on the night of 8 Thermidor. Barthou argued that Robespierre ignored the warnings of the national agent Payan, who urged him to strike at the Committees, and that after being acclaimed he went calmly to bed at Duplay's, a sleep that cost him his life. In an editorial, Lucien Romier took up the rise in food prices after the Agriculture Minister had explained the export bans to the cabinet, and insisted that exports were not seriously to blame. A short news item, partly cut off, made fun of the former German crown prince, whom an Italian palmist reportedly told that he would be proclaimed Kaiser but would never sit on the throne.
Translation
THE 8TH OF THERMIDOR
Robespierre resisted the advice of energetic men who were urging him to act at once against the Committees. Among them was Payan, the national agent, who had already warned him of the conspiracy, whose threads he knew, and had asked him to use all his strength against it. Robespierre, whether out of respect for legality or out of weakness of temperament, had refused to do anything. On the evening of 8 Thermidor, having spoken and been acclaimed, he went calmly off to bed at Duplay's: that sleep cost him his life.
Louis Barthou, of the Académie française.
Food prices rising again
Yesterday, during the meeting of the Cabinet Council, the Minister of Agriculture, wishing no doubt to answer the criticisms of some of our fellow newspapers, set out the measures that have been taken to prohibit the export of food products. This statement, which we publish elsewhere, gives a very clear picture of the situation from the administrative point of view. Moved by the "revelations" and the facts that have been thrown into the debate, I have tried, through my own research, to get to the bottom of things. In practice, what interests the consumer is knowing where the rise in agricultural prices comes from. Does it come from exports? Seriously, no. Here is the proof, drawn from a few examples:
Lucien Romier.
In the hand of the ex-Kronprinz.
On the shores of Lake M…, where he is currently staying, the … yesterday granted an audience to … Italian … of palmistry … him his future. The professor predicted to … that he would be proclaimed Kaiser by the German …ists, but that he would not be on the throne. This prediction satisfies … only the self-esteem of the … Such are the latest … of Locarno.
Context
What happened between 8 and 10 Thermidor Year II
Barthou's column turns on the evening of 8 Thermidor, which fell on 26 July 1794. That day Robespierre addressed the National Convention; he was arrested the next day and executed on 28 July. Later on 26 July he delivered the same speech at the Jacobin Club, where it met overwhelming support despite some initial opposition. That is the acclaim Barthou describes before Robespierre went home to sleep. The speech was dangerous for him because he denounced conspirators without naming most of them, and deputies feared he was preparing another purge of the Convention. On 9 Thermidor the Convention turned on him. By about 2:30 a.m. on 10 Thermidor, armed forces sent by the Convention had entered the Hôtel de Ville, where he and his allies had gathered, and arrested them. Payan's warnings and the night at Duplay's come from Barthou's own telling, and his verdict that the sleep 'cost him his life' is his interpretation.
Louis Barthou, statesman turned historian of Thermidor
The author of the Thermidor column was Louis Barthou (1862–1934), a Third Republic politician who served several times as a minister and as président du Conseil, the head of government. He became a senator in 1922, and the paper's byline identifies him as a member of the Académie française. So the piece is a revolutionary turning point retold by a working parliamentarian. That shows in his emphasis. Barthou explains Robespierre's inaction either as respect for legality or as weakness of temperament, and he presents the fall of Thermidor as the result of a failure to act in time against enemies one already knew about. A footnote on the page explains that Barthou was about to publish a book on 9 Thermidor and had let Le Figaro print this chapter first.
The Agriculture Minister and Romier's argument over prices
Romier's editorial responds to a statement on export bans that the Minister of Agriculture made to the Cabinet Council, though the excerpt does not name him. A notice elsewhere on the page names him, directing readers to page three for the export bans taken by M. Queuille, minister of agriculture. Henri Queuille was a Radical politician prominent in the Third and Fourth Republics. Queuille was first appointed Minister of Agriculture in 1924 and held the office in numerous governments of the 1920s and 1930s, including a term running from 1926 to 1928. Romier accepts the minister's account as a clear administrative picture but shifts the question to what matters to consumers, namely the source of the price rise, and flatly denies that exports are the cause. The excerpt ends just before the examples he offers as proof, so this reading contains his conclusion but not his evidence.
Why a palm reading for the former crown prince made news
The fragmentary item mocks Wilhelm, the last German crown prince, son of Wilhelm II. After the 1918 revolution he went into exile. He was allowed back into Germany in 1923, once Stresemann had become chancellor, on his assurance that he would stay out of politics. He did not keep that promise. After returning he fought the Weimar Republic and campaigned for the restoration of the monarchy. The year 1926 mattered for the family: in June a referendum on expropriating Germany's former ruling princes without compensation failed, and the same year Adolf Hitler made the first of three visits to Wilhelm at Cecilienhof. Against this background, Le Figaro's joke that a palmist foresaw him proclaimed Kaiser by German monarchists but never on the throne targeted live restorationist hopes, and its closing jab at Locarno set them against the spirit of Franco-German reconciliation.
Original
LE HUIT THERMIDOR
Robespierre résista aux conseils d'hommes énergiques qui le poussaient à agir tout de suite contre les Comités. Parmi eux, il y avait Payan, l'agent national, qui, déjà, l'avait averti de la conspiration, dont il connaissait les fils, et lui avait demandé d'user contre elle de toute sa force. Robespierre, soit par respect de la légalité, soit par faiblesse de tempérament, n'avait rien voulu faire. Le soir du 8 thermidor, ayant parlé et ayant été acclamé, il s'en alla tranquillement coucher chez Duplay: ce sommeil lui coûta la vie.
Encore la hausse des denrées
Hier, au cours de la séance du Conseil de cabinet, le ministre de l'agriculture, désirant répondre, sans doute, aux critiques de certains de nos confrères, a exposé les mesures qui ont été prises pour interdire l'exportation de produits alimentaires. Cet exposé, que nous publions d'autre part, constitue un tableau très clair de la situation, du point de vue administratif. Emu par les «révélations» et les faits qui ont été jetés dans le débat, j'ai essayé, par des recherches personnelles, d'aller au fond des choses. Pratiquement, ce qui intéresse le consommateur, c'est de savoir d'où provient la hausse des produits agricoles. Provient-elle de l'exportation? Sérieusement, non. En voici la preuve tirée de quelques exemples:
Dans la main de l'ex-kronprinz.
Sur les bords du lac M séjourne actuellement, l ' a accordé hier audience à u italien de chiromancic pou de lui son avenir. Le professeur a prédit au serait proclamé kaiser pa mistes allemands, mais qu ' rait pas sur le trône. Cette prédiction ne satisf me, que l'amour-propre du Tels sont les derniers e Locarno.