Texts from Saint-Just: Colleague of Robespierre by Eugene Curtis

Speech to the Assembly of Chauny

The following is the speech Saint-Just gave in April, 1790, when he was chosen by Blérancourt as their delegate in the decision of which town was to be the head of their department, Soissons or Laon. Saint-Just spoke on behalf of Soissons, but Laon was chosen. The speech is rather melodramatic, but coming from the young Saint-Just, that's to be expected :)

My age and the respect I owe you do not permit me to raise my voice among you, but you have already shown yourselves indulgent to me. I have been denounced, I have been envied the glory of serving my country; but if malice had succeeded in tearing my body from my fatherland and from you, it could not have torn away my heart. It is before your eyes that I shall perform my first feat of arms; it is here that my mind is being exercised in the use of liberty, and this liberty which you enjoy is younger still than I. The will of my constituents and the rigor of my mission force me to take sides in the quarrel which divides you; compelled to choose but one, my conscience belongs to one alone, though my heart to both; young as I am, I must watch for wise examples that I may profit by them and if anything has touched me, it is the moderation which you have shown on both sides in your discussions this morning.

Letter to Camille Desmoulins

Curtis claims that this letter, written in 1790, is Saint-Just's only letter to Desmoulins. Again, it is highly typical of Saint-Just. The "sieur Gellé" mentioned in the letter is likely Thérèse Gellé's father.

Monsieur,

If you were less busy, I would go into some detail about the Chauny assembly, where there were men of every stamp and every caliber. In spite of my being under age, I was received. The sieur Gellé, our colleague at the bailliage of Vermandois, had denounced me. They threw him out bodily [par les épaules]. We saw there your compatriots MM. Saulce, Violette and others, from whom I received much kindness. It is needless to tell you (for you do not care for stupid praise) that your home-folks are proud of you.

You knew before I did that the department went definitively to Laon. Is it a good, is it an evil for one or the other town? It seems to me that it is only a point of honor between the two towns and points of honor amount to very little in almost any connection.

I went up on the platform, I worked with the purpose of letting daylight into the county-seat question, but I accomplished nothing; I left loaded with compliments as the ass with relics, having moreover this confidence, that I may be among the rest of you in the National Assembly.

You had promised to write me, but I foresee clearly that you will not have the time. I am free at the present moment. Shall I return to you or shall I stay among the stupid aristocrats of this region?

On my return from Chauny, the peasants of my canton came to meet me at Manicamp. The Count of Lauraguais was very much astonished at this rustic-patriotic ceremony. I led them all to his house to pay him a visit. They told us that he was in the fields, so I copied Tarquin; I had a stick with which I cut off the head of a fern that happened to be near me beneath the chateau-windows, and without saying a word, we turned on our heels.

Farewell, my dear Desmoulins. If you need me, write to me. Your last numbers are full of excellent things. Don't be annoyed if I tell you that Apollo and Minerva have not quite abandoned you yet. If you have some message for your Guise people, I shall see them again in a week at Laon where I am going to make a trip on personal business.

Goodby again, glory, peace, and patriotic rage.

Saint-Just.

I am going to read you this evening, for I know your last numbers only by hearsay.

First Letter to Robespierre

Saint-Just's famous first letter to Robespierre, which Robespierre is said to have kept throughout his life

Blérancourt, near Noyon, August 19, 1790

You who sustain the tottering fatherland against the torrent of despotism and intrigue, you whom I only know like God, by miracles; I address myself to you, monsieur, begging you to join me in saving my saddened village. The town of Coucy has had the free markets of the borough of Blérancourt transferred to itself (so runs the rumor here). Why should the towns swallow up the privileges of country districts? Soon the latter will have nothing left but the taille and the imposts! Please support with all your talent an address I am sending in the same mail, in which I demand that my heritage be added to the national domains of the canton, that my native village may retain a privilege without which it must die of hunger.

I do not know you, but you are a great man. You are not only the deputy of a province, you represent humanity and the Republic. So act, if you please, that my demand be not despised.

Saint-Just,
Elector in the department of the Aisne