434 Chapter XVIII
ber of votes, not with the number of adult males, but with figures for total popula-
tion in which women and children are included.^15
For the election in each primary assembly a French commissioner or general
would set a day and place, to which men over twenty- one from surrounding vil-
lages would repair. The French official was present, but the assembly chose its own
chairman, usually a local lawyer or other radical Democrat. Club members made
speeches, urging that for safety against the Austrians, or against counter-
revolutionary reprisals, there was no protection except in union with the mighty
Republic. Someone usually called for a vote by acclamation, and so it would be
ruled; but figures for a minority as well as the majority were often recorded.
It is a curious fact that the farm population, in many regions, attended the as-
semblies in larger numbers than inhabitants in the towns. The best explanation is
that the French and Democratic propaganda consisted in more than words—that
the abolition of tithes and seigneurial dues appealed strongly to the peasants. That
peasants voted as requested under these circumstances is not surprising; they un-
doubtedly had a hazy idea of what they were doing, and in accepting the benefits
had no particular thought of any legal obligation which French citizenship, espe-
cially in time of war, might impose upon them. If they at first favored the new
order, taking the gains it offered, and then soon lost interest, or turned furiously
against it on other grounds (religion, conscription, or price controls) they would
only be behaving like many peasants in France itself.
In any event, in February 1793, France annexed Belgium, on the advanced prin-
ciples of the Revolution which were then dominant, abolishing tithes and dues
without compensation, encouraging an extreme anti- clericalism, favoring the most
radical of the Belgian Democrats. The old Austrian provinces and Liège were to
dissolve, and be reorganized as départements. Belgians were to be in principle not
subjects, but equal citizens of the French Republic. They were to use assignats, and
pay war costs, drawing on the wealth of former privileged classes, just as the French
did in France itself.
These events in Belgium were watched by the Dutch with a mixture of excite-
ment and chagrin. They wanted no December decree, and no annexation. But the
Patriots did want some kind of a revolution, to undo the Orange counter- revolution
of 1787. Those in Amsterdam, Utrecht, and other cities became very restless. They
knew from experience that there could be no Dutch revolution without French
aid. Who were these Patriots? To the British ambassador at The Hague they were
15 Tassier, 305–308. For example, she says that at Couvin, “la réunion à la France ne fut voulue
que par une minorité,” and tabulates the figures for twenty communes in Couvin, with the following
totals:
The real elements of doubt are in the accuracy of the figures as reported, and in what voters had in
mind in declaring their votes in the assemblies.
Population 9,523
Voters 1,855
For annexation 1,747
Against annexation 108
Citizens taking the oath to Liberty and Equality 1,366