0th of July. A number of Constitutionalists or neutrals have
done the same thing, some through a horror of civil war and a spirit of
conciliation, and others through fear of persecution and of being taxed
with royalism;[1113] one conception more: through docility they may
perhaps succeed in depriving the "Mountain" of all pretext for violence.

In this they greatly deceive themselves, and, from the first, they
are able to see once more the Jacobins interpretation of electoral
liberty.--At first, all the registered,[1114] and especially the
"suspects," are compelled to vote, and to vote Yes; otherwise, says a
Jacobin journal,[1115] "they themselves will indicate the true opinion
one ought to have of their attitudes, and no longer have reason to
complain of suspicions that are found to be so well grounded." They come
accordingly, "very humbly and very penitent." Nevertheless they meet
with a rebuff, and a cold shoulder is turned on them; they are consigned
to a corner of the room, or near the doors, and are openly insulted.
Thus received, it is clear that they will keep quiet and not risk the
slightest objection. At Macon "a few aristocrats muttered to themselves,
but not one dared say No."[1116] It would, indeed, be extremely
imprudent. At Montbrison, "six individuals who decline to vote," are
denounced in the proces-verbal of the Canton, while a deputy in the
Convention demands "severe measures" against them. At Nogent-sur-Seine,
three administrators, guilty of the same offense, are to be turned
out of office.[1117] A few months later, the offense becomes a capital
crime, and people are to be guillotined "for having voted against the
Constitution of 1793."[1118] Almost all the ill-disposed foresaw this
danger; hence, in nearly all the primary assemblies, the adoption is
unanimous, or nearly unanimous.[1119] At Rouen, there are but twenty-six
adverse votes; at Caen, the center of the Girondin opposition, fourteen;
at Rheims, there are only two; at Troyes, Besancon, Limoges and Paris,
there are none at all; in fifteen departments the number of negatives
varies from five to one; not one is found in Var; this apparent unity is
most instructive. The commune of St. Donau, the only one in France, in
the remote district of Cotes-du-Nord, dares demand the restoration of
the clergy and the son of Capet for king. All the others vote as
if directed with a baton; they have understood the secret of the
plebiscite; that it is a Jacobin