Chapter 139: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (3)
Chapter 139: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (3)
June 30, 1792.
Summer was almost here, but the early morning wind still carried a chill sharp enough to sting the bridge of my nose.
They say even dogs don’t catch colds in summer, but at this rate I might.
“Welcome, sir! Where would you like to go?”
“To the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal.”
“Yes, sir! We’ll depart right away!”
The coachman whistled and snapped the reins sharply.
We crossed district after district, passed over a bridge spanning the Seine River, and finally came to a stop. I pressed a few silver coins into the coachman’s hand and stepped down from the carriage.
How long had it been since I last came here?
Probably the first time since I thoroughly humiliated that fellow Duke of Orléans.
With my hands shoved in my pockets, I slowly walked toward the courthouse entrance.
As I reached the main gate, a soldier on guard approached and spoke.
“Halt. What business do you have here?”
“I came to visit a prisoner.”
“Your identity?”
“A citizen of Paris’s Sixteenth District. Guillaume de Toulon.”
“Y-Your Excellency?”
Hmm.
Was my arrival really enough to make someone’s face turn that pale?
“Y-Your Excellency… may I speak with my superior for a moment?”
“That’s fine. Do as you wish.”
I nodded.
The soldier hurried over to the noncommissioned officer standing beside the gate.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“T-the Finance Minister has arrived.”
“What? Is this some kind of surprise inspection?”
“I don’t think so. He said he came for a visitation.”
“What should we do? Let him in?”
“What if we get disciplined later?”
“You want to make the Finance Minister stand outside? Are you insane?”
“Then what should we do?!”
“Damn it… damn it.”
The NCO wiped cold sweat from his brow as if a sudden storm had struck early in the morning, then slowly walked toward the eye of the hurricane.
“Ah. Have you finished discussing it?”
“Y-Your Excellency… there are procedures we must follow, so you may need to wait a moment.”
“Could you perhaps speed up those procedures?”
“Of course, Your Excellency!”
After the two guards ran back and forth for a while, I was allowed into the visiting room without any meaningful inspection.
“Your Excellency, which prisoner would you like us to bring?”
“Bring Toussaint Bréda.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
I sat down in a chair in the visiting room.
After a short wait, the opposite door opened with the clatter of chains, and a sturdy man entered.
“Are you General Toussaint Bréda?”
“I am.”
The man nodded and sat down.
“I never expected anyone to come visit me here in Paris, of all places. Who are you?”
“I am Guillaume de Toulon, Finance Minister of the Revolutionary Government.”
Interest flashed in the man’s eyes.
“You are Guillaume de Toulon?”
“That’s correct, Toussaint Bréda.”
“…You’re even younger than I imagined.”
“I rose to a position far beyond my years.”
“But why has the Finance Minister come to see me? I cannot think of any reason. Please do not misunderstand. I’m not displeased that you came. I’m simply curious. In fact, I am quite pleased.”
The man turned his hands—locked in wooden manacles—and showed his open palms.
“Well, think of it as part of employee welfare. One of my employees earnestly asked me to meet you.”
“Employee welfare? I have no idea what strange phrase that is.”
“I believe that the happiness of employees leads to higher efficiency.”
“Ha. Finance Minister, you are quite a strange person.”
Hmm. Strange person? That’s a bit harsh.
“No matter how strange I am, I doubt I’m as strange as someone accused of killing three hundred people.”
“You believe that nonsense?”
“I never said I believed it. I only said that is the accusation. Do you understand, strange man?”
“…Very well. Then what does this employee of yours want? It doesn’t seem like they asked you to punish some evil terrorist.”
The man stroked his thick beard with his shackled hands.
“My employee asked me to listen to what you have to say.”
“…Listen to my words? A white employee made such a request? Are you mocking me?”
“I never said my employee was white.”
“…Then you mean a black person?”
“He’s also from your homeland—Saint-Domingue.”
“…From Saint-Domingue.”
Toussaint Bréda lowered his head briefly before raising it again.
“I will believe that you are not lying simply to humiliate me.”
“I am not such a villain that I would waste precious time teasing someone.”
“True enough. A man sitting in your position must already lack enough hours in the day. It seems I worried unnecessarily.”
The man adjusted his seat and looked directly into my eyes.
“Guillaume de Toulon, I have something I wish to ask you. Will you answer?”
“As long as it does not involve company secrets.”
“Oh! Then you are the greatest villain in the world!”
We both chuckled.
“This is the first time I’ve laughed since arriving in Paris. Thank you. Now, enough joking. Guillaume de Toulon—what are liberty, equality, and fraternity to you?”
“Liberty, equality, and fraternity… I suppose they are the natural rights and duties of human beings. The right to be free, the right to be equal, and the duty to love one another.”
“The natural rights and duties of human beings. What sweet words.”
Toussaint Bréda’s gaze drifted beyond the walls of the small visiting room, as if looking toward something far away.
“Finance Minister Guillaume de Toulon.”
“I am listening, Toussaint Bréda.”
“Who belongs in that category of ‘human’?”
Who is permitted to taste that sweet fruit?
“That category of ‘human’? Naturally, everyone living in this world.”
I tapped the wooden armrest of the chair with my fingers as I spoke.
“Finance Minister, you know that is not the answer I mean.
Are only free men human? Are slaves human?
Are slaves with white skin human, while slaves with black skin are not?
Are those who live on the European continent human, while those in the colonies are something else?
Or merely something resembling human?”
Toussaint Bréda shook his head slowly.
“Please answer.”
Flames burned in the eyes of the man sitting across from me.
As if fueled by every drop of life he possessed, a fire blazed within the eyes of the black man from the distant Atlantic island of Saint-Domingue—a fire that would not go out until it found an answer.
Facing that bright flame, I slowly spoke.
“Toussaint Bréda, you may think I’m speaking nonsense, but let me say it anyway.”
Looking straight into the fire, I continued.
“I have once seen a world where all people are equal. I don’t know whether it was a dream or the truth.
A world where everyone, regardless of skin color or race, carves their path with their own abilities and receives fair rewards for what they achieve.”
Beyond the flames, my own reflection appeared in his eyes.
“Some will call it absurd. Even three years after the revolution, people still talk about counts, viscounts, and commoners.
But let me say this: three years ago, before July 14—before the people stormed the Bastille—the words proclaiming the rights of man and citizen sounded just as absurd.
Yet today, have those absurd words not become reality?
The world continues to change.
For centuries, kings, lords, and religious rulers drew their swords and rode across the world on swift horses.
But now, citizens themselves have drawn their swords and risen up.
Even if these words cannot yet see the light of day, the future will be different.
Perhaps in several generations.
Perhaps in a hundred years.
Or two hundred.
Because I believe that future will come, I will answer your question with confidence.”
The two flames filled the narrow visiting room with light.
“All of them are human.
All of them are human beings who are free, equal, and worthy of love.”
The brightest and fiercest flame slowly faded.
“What will become of me now, Finance Minister?”
“You will be judged under the Constitution—the just sword of Minerva.”
“And you believe that constitution applies to me as well?”
“Yes.”
“Hahaha! Then there is nothing more to say.”
Toussaint Bréda smiled brightly, not at all like a man about to stand trial.
“Finance Minister.”
“I’m listening, Toussaint Bréda.”
“I stand with a clear conscience. I have nothing to be ashamed of before heaven.”
“You mean the accusations are false?”
“They are.”
“Even so, the verdict will be delivered by the judge. I cannot interfere.”
“I never expected you to. I simply wanted someone to know that I might be innocent.”
“Do not worry. I trust in the fairness of our judiciary. If you are innocent, you will be released.”
“Haha. Everyone in Paris is shouting that I should die. I wonder whether any judge will have the courage to rule otherwise.”
Toussaint Bréda grinned and nodded.
“Finance Minister.”
“Yes, Toussaint Bréda.”
“Will you come to my trial?”
“If I have the time, gladly.”
“Good. That is enough.”
Toussaint nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly looked at me again.
“By the way… do you smoke?”
“I do.”
“Could you lend me one cigarette? My withdrawal symptoms have become so severe that I’ve grown weak.”
“Weak… you say?”
That muscular body was supposed to be weak?
Hmm.
I opened the cigarette case in my coat and pushed a cigarette and a match through the slot in the visiting room partition.
“Thank you. Haha… I’ve missed this so much.”
With his shackled hands, Toussaint Bréda slowly placed the cigarette in his mouth and lit it.
“Ugh, what is this…”
“Is there a problem?”
“It tastes worse than the tobacco from Saint-Domingue.”
“If you’re not going to smoke it, give it back.”
“Ahem. I never said I wouldn’t.”
After several minutes, once Toussaint finished the cigarette, I slowly stood.
“I should be going now. I’ll see you on the day of the trial.”
“Yes. Until then, Finance Minister Guillaume de Toulon. Thank you very much for coming today.”
“It was nothing, Monsieur Toussaint Bréda.”
“Monsieur Toussaint Bréda… Thank you for calling me that.”
Toussaint’s teeth gleamed white in the morning sunlight streaming into the visiting room.
.