Y aurait-il parmi mes abonnĂ©s un-e germanophone qui voudrait bien traduire deux pages du journal prussien la Minerva pour moi ? Il sâagit dâun tĂ©moignage sur la harangue de Prieur de la Marne Ă lâarmĂ©e du Centre fin septembre 1792.
Au cas oĂč, voici le lien (la partie Ă traduire commence p. 173, le paragraphe qui commence âDie Armeen der RepublikâŠâ et finit avec la lettre p. 175).
A quick translation:
The armies of the Republic assumed formation in the face of the enemy, who was watching bewilderedly. Proclaiming the decree of the Convention and holding it in their hand, the Commissars of the Convention passed through the lines of soldiers; not a single sound of muttering was heard; the order appeared desirable to all of them and they waited for it. Prieur, supported by iron lungs [?], surrendered himself to his rapture, spoke [while] fighting against the echo and the tumultuous noise of delight, and closed [his speech] by exclaiming: "Behold, the army of the enemies; you are called either to annihilate it or to enlighten it. May no king sully the soil of our fatherland with his presence! Away with regality! â â â â â â â as far as the globe's frontiers reach! Long live the Republic! ââ It shall be annihilated! Long live the Republic!", the unanimous mass of the army repeated under the clang of arms, waving their hats. â And the duke had to watch calmly, as regality was mocked right before his eyes. He, the avenger of dukes and duchesses, why didn't he let fly his fists? Rather, it seems that he benevolently came to the aid of the Revolution with a favourable crisis, to make it sweat out the last remains of feudality, otherwise he would have won victories, as Phyrrus, before he admiringly retreated before the Romans. The decree, which abolished regality in France forever in spite of the aristocrats' wrath, deserves respect in this regard, and it may appear audacious, if the despots' dignity had not fallen off by itself like a rotten fruit. Their overthrow is nothing but the harbinger of what, sooner or later, is also bound to happen in other realms. The dukes' pride falls with accelerated force, and at the end of the century we will see beggar kings, as there had been beggar kings in the beginning; as for myself, if, as I project now, the pickled cabbage [= Sauerkraut] factory does not fail, I hope [to be able] to give alms and something to eat [= Vesperbrot] to more than one of them.
(As the language is quite antiquated, it was not easy to find corresponding terms, so the translation is rather loose at times. Still, I hope this helps!)














