revolution_fr | Marat Mondays! (Reply)

Hi everyone! *ducks flying tomatoes* Alright, alright! I get it, sorry! I went on hiatus to finish my school year and NOT only do I have my random fact of the day - I ALSO have a comic I recently got published :D It's a cracky story and I'm really proud of myself! The sucky part (for you guys) is that I TOTALLY forgot to save it as a psd so I had to erase the bubbles then use a font because I couldn't remember the original ^^;

SO! For today - I'm going to tell you guys a story I was going to use for one of my comics for class - but changed my mind at the last minute ^^;;
((..)) = me
(..) = part of the story :D

From 5 through 19 November ((1789)), the genuine Ami du Peuple appeared fairly regularly; then there was another three-week hiatus ((heeey! Like me! :D)) On 11 December ((grammar so good in this book)) a new issue appeared, but again publication was interrupted as Marat was rearrested. He was soon released and was able to start up Ami du Peuple again on 19 December. In that issue he described the circumstances of his 12 December arrest and release:

Spies, shadowing some friends who were visiting me, discovered my hideout, and last Saturday at dawn I was assailed by a detachment of 25 men, led by the vice president of the Saint-Nicolas-du Chardonnet district. My host {the person who had been hiding Marat}, half dead with fear, led them to my door. I opened them in my pajamas ((and I the only one who finds this mental image absolutly adorable?!))

"What can I do for you, gentlemen?"

"We've come to arrest you."

"May I see your warrant? All right; I'm your man. Please allow me to get dressed."

My papers were confiscated. I asked for a carriage and was taken to the investigations committee.

"The People's Friend has come to see you, gentlemen."

"We're not ready for you yet."

"How many must there be to form a tribunal?"

"Three."

There were only two of them. I turned my back on them and took a seat in the corner. One of the gentlemen sat down near me and made small talk.

They had awakened me rather brusquely; I hadn't eaten breakfast. I accepted a cup of chocolate and continued to chat.

They where then ready to begin the proceedings. They asked me (and they knew the answer as well as I did) where I had been and why, and how long I had stayed in each place.

After the interrogation, Mr. Lafayette came in. The comittee members presented me to him.

"I have been done an injustice, sir." I said "by those who claim that I've attacked your principles. You have fought to break the Americans' chains; why should anyone think you would want to forge new ones for your own countrymen?"

After a rather long conversation on political subjects, I went into an adjoining room and then returned to the investigations commitee.

Soon thereafter Marat was simply released with all charges apparently dropped. He went to the opera and then returned to his residence. "Today," he wrote, "I am peaceful at home - a fact that the Châtelet cannot be aware of."

This last comment suggest that for the moment Marat felt safa enough to publish with relative openness. He was so bold as to return to City Hall to demand that his confiscated presses be returned to him; they where. "Here I am, then," he announced to his readers. "In order to serve the Nation more effectively I have made myself a printer." He was able to produce his journal uninterruptedly for a month, until the fateful date of 22 January 1790.

The most remarkable aspect of Marat's account of his arrest was the interview with Lafayette. All the more noteworthy is that Lafayette never mentioned the meeting in his memoirs. It is highly unlikely that Marat invented the episode; apparently Lafayette found it embarrassing in retrospect because it represented a political blunder on his part. He had Marat in his grasp and let him go. Why?

Lafayette seems to have misjudged the danger Marat represented him. ((LOL, what a douche))