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>> Speaker A: Take a look, in the book and let's see
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Speaker:so many adventures and
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Speaker:line, one bite at a time.
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: Welcome.
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: To bite at a time books where we read you your favorite
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Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: Values today well be
Speaker:continuing.
Speaker:Les miserables by Victor
Speaker:Hugo chapter
Speaker:three the ankle
Speaker:chain must have undergone a certain preparatory
Speaker:manipulation to be thus broken with a blow from a
Speaker:hammer towards
Speaker:the end of October. In that same year,
Speaker:1823, the inhabitants of
Speaker:Toulon beheld the entry into their port
Speaker:after heavy weather, and for the purpose
Speaker:of repairing some damages of the ship Orion,
Speaker:which was employed later at Brest as a school
Speaker:ship, and which then formed a part of the
Speaker:mediterranean squadron. This
Speaker:vessel, battered as it was for the sea, had handled
Speaker:it roughly, produced a fine effect as it entered
Speaker:the roads. It flew some
Speaker:colors, which procured for it the regulation salute of
Speaker:eleven guns, which it returned
Speaker:shot for shot, total
Speaker:22. It has been
Speaker:calculated that what with salvos, royal and
Speaker:military politeness, courteous exchanges of
Speaker:uproar, signals of etiquette,
Speaker:formalities of roadsteads and citadels,
Speaker:sunrises and sunsets,
Speaker:saluted every day by all the fortresses and all
Speaker:ships of war, openings and closings
Speaker:of ports, etcetera, the civilized
Speaker:world, discharged all over the earth in the course
Speaker:of four and 20 hours,
Speaker:150,000 useless shots
Speaker:at six francs, the shot that comes to
Speaker:900,000 francs a day, 300
Speaker:millions a year, which vanish in smoke.
Speaker:This is a mere detail. All
Speaker:this time, the poor were dying of hunger.
Speaker:The year 1823 was what the restoration
Speaker:called the epoch of the Spanish War.
Speaker:This war contained many events in one
Speaker:and a quantity of peculiarities.
Speaker:A grand family affair for the house of Bourbon,
Speaker:the branch of France succoring and protecting the branch
Speaker:of Madrid, that is to say, performing an
Speaker:act devolving on the elder, an apparent return
Speaker:to our national traditions, complicated by
Speaker:servitude and by subjection to the cabinets of the
Speaker:north. Monsieur le duc
Speaker:d'Englemine, surnamed by the liberal
Speaker:sheets, the hero of Andijar, compressing in
Speaker:a triumphal attitude that was somewhat contradicted by his
Speaker:peaceable air. The ancient and
Speaker:very powerful terrorism of the Holy Office, at
Speaker:variance with the chimerical terrorism of the liberals.
Speaker:The sanchalots resuscitated to
Speaker:the great terror of dowagers under the
Speaker:name of Descamycedos, monarchy,
Speaker:opposing an obstacle to progress described as
Speaker:anarchy. the theories of 89 roughly
Speaker:interrupted in the SAP, a european halt
Speaker:called to the french idea which was making the tour of the
Speaker:world. Beside the son of France is
Speaker:Generalissimo the prince de
Speaker:Kerregnen. Afterwards, Charles
Speaker:Albert, enrolling himself in that crusade of
Speaker:kings against people as a volunteer with
Speaker:grenadier epaulettes of red, worsted the
Speaker:soldiers of the empire, setting out on a fresh campaign.
Speaker:But aged, saddened after
Speaker:eight years of repose. And under the white
Speaker:cockade, the tricolored standard waved
Speaker:abroad by a heroic handful of frenchmen, as the
Speaker:white standard had been 30 years earlier. At
Speaker:Koblenz, monks mingled with our
Speaker:troops. A spirit of liberty and of
Speaker:novelty brought to its senses by bayonets
Speaker:principles, slaughtered by cannonades. France,
Speaker:undoing by her arms that which she had done by her mind.
Speaker:In addition to this, hostile leaders
Speaker:sold soldiers hesitating cities,
Speaker:besieged by millions, no military
Speaker:perils, and yet possible explosions,
Speaker:as in every mine, which is surprised
Speaker:and invaded. But little
Speaker:bloodshed, little honor won.
Speaker:Shame for some, glory for no one.
Speaker:Such was this war made by the princes, descended
Speaker:from Louis XIV and conducted by generals
Speaker:who had been under Napoleon. Its
Speaker:sad fate was to recall neither the grand war
Speaker:nor grand politics. Some feats
Speaker:of arms were serious. A taking of
Speaker:Trocadero, among others, was a fine
Speaker:military action. But after all,
Speaker:we repeat the trumpets of this war. Give back a cracked
Speaker:sound. The whole effect was
Speaker:suspicious. History approves of France for
Speaker:making a difficulty about accepting this false triumph.
Speaker:It seemed evident that certain spanish
Speaker:officers charged with resistance yielded too easily.
Speaker:The idea of corruption was connected with the victory.
Speaker:It appears as though generals, and not battles, had been
Speaker:won, and the conquering soldier returned
Speaker:humiliated. A debasing war, in
Speaker:short, in which the bank of France could be read in the folds
Speaker:of the flag. Soldiers of the war of
Speaker:1808, on whom Saragossa had fallen in formidable,
Speaker:ruinous, frowned in 1823 at the
Speaker:easy surrender of citadels, and began to regret
Speaker:palafox. It is the nature of France
Speaker:to prefer to have rostopchine rather
Speaker:than balustros in front of her.
Speaker:From a still more serious point of view,
Speaker:and one which it is also proper to insist upon
Speaker:here. This war which wounded the military spirit
Speaker:of France, enraged the democratic
Speaker:spirit of it, was an enterprise of
Speaker:enthrallment. In that campaign,
Speaker:the object of the french soldier, the son of
Speaker:democracy, was the conquest of yoke. For others,
Speaker:a hideous contradiction. France is
Speaker:made to arouse the soul of nations, not to
Speaker:stifle it all. The revolutions of Europe since
Speaker:1792 are, the french revolution
Speaker:liberty darts raised from France. That is
Speaker:a solar fact. Blind is he who will not
Speaker:see. It was Bonaparte who said it.
Speaker:The war of 1823, an
Speaker:outrage of the generous spanish nation, was then
Speaker:at the same time an outrage on the French
Speaker:Revolution. It was France who committed this
Speaker:monstrous violence by foul means.
Speaker:For with the exception of wars of
Speaker:liberation, everything that armies do is by
Speaker:foul means. The words passive
Speaker:obedience indicate an army
Speaker:is a strange masterpiece of combination, where force results from
Speaker:an enormous sum of impotence. Thus is
Speaker:war made by humanity against humanity,
Speaker:despite humanity explained. As for
Speaker:the Bourbons, the war of 1823 was
Speaker:fatal to them. They took it for
Speaker:success. They did not perceive the danger that
Speaker:lies in having an idea. Slain to order, they
Speaker:went astray in their innocence to such a degree that they
Speaker:introduced the immense enfeeblement of a crime into their
Speaker:establishment. As an element of strength,
Speaker:the spirit of the ambush entered into their politics.
Speaker:1830 had its germ. In 1823,
Speaker:the spanish campaign became in their councils an argument
Speaker:for force and for adventures. By right, divine
Speaker:France, having re established el Renero in Spain,
Speaker:might well have reestablished the absolute king at
Speaker:home. They fell into the alarming error
Speaker:of taking the obedience of the soldier for the consent of the
Speaker:nation. Such confidence
Speaker:is the ruin of thrones. It is
Speaker:not permitted to fall asleep, either in the shadow of a
Speaker:machinel tree, nor in the shadow of an army.
Speaker:Let us return to the ship Orion.
Speaker:During the operations of the army commanded by the prince
Speaker:Generalissimo, a squadron had been cruising
Speaker:in the Mediterranean. We have just stated that the
Speaker:Orion belonged to this fleet and that accidents
Speaker:of the sea had brought it into port at Toulon.
Speaker:The presence of a vessel of war in a port has something
Speaker:about it which attracts and engages a crowd.
Speaker:It is because it is great, and the crowd
Speaker:loves what is great. A ship of the
Speaker:line is one of the most magnificent combinations of the genius
Speaker:of man with the powers of nature. A ship
Speaker:of the line is composed at the same time of the
Speaker:heaviest and the lightest of possible matter, for it
Speaker:deals at, ah, one and the same time with three forms of
Speaker:solid, liquid and fluid,
Speaker:and it must do battle with all three. It has
Speaker:eleven claws of iron with which to seize the granite on the bottom
Speaker:of the sea, and more wings and more
Speaker:antennae than winged insects to catch the wind in
Speaker:the clouds. Its breath pours out through
Speaker:its 120 cannons as through enormous
Speaker:trumpets and replies proudly to the
Speaker:thunder. The ocean seeks to lead it
Speaker:astray in the alarming sameness of its billows.
Speaker:But the vessel has its
Speaker:compass, which counsels it and
Speaker:always shows it the north. In the blackest
Speaker:nights, its lanterns supply the place of the
Speaker:stars. Thus, against the
Speaker:wind it has its cordage and its canvas
Speaker:against the water, wood against the
Speaker:rocks, its iron brass and lead
Speaker:against the shadows, its light against
Speaker:immensity. A ah, needle. If one
Speaker:wishes to form an idea of all those gigantic proportions
Speaker:which, taken as a whole, constitute the ship of the
Speaker:line, one has only to enter one of the six
Speaker:story covered construction stocks in the ports of
Speaker:Brest or Toulon. The vessels in
Speaker:process of construction are under a bell glass. There, as it
Speaker:were. This colossal beam is
Speaker:a yard. That great column of wood which
Speaker:stretches out on the earth as far as eye can reach, is the main
Speaker:mast, taking it from its root in
Speaker:the stalks to its tip in the clouds. It is
Speaker:60 fathoms long, and its diameter at
Speaker:its base is 3ft. The
Speaker:english mainmast rises to a height of 217ft
Speaker:above the waterline. The navy of our
Speaker:fathers employed cables. Ours
Speaker:employs chains. The simple pile of
Speaker:chains on a ship of 100 guns is 4ft high,
Speaker:20ft in breadth and 8ft in
Speaker:depth. And how much wood is required to make
Speaker:this ship? 3000
Speaker:m³. It is a floating
Speaker:forest. And moreover, let this be borne
Speaker:in mind. It is only a question here of the military
Speaker:vessel 40 years ago of the simple sailing
Speaker:vessel. Steam, then in its infancy,
Speaker:has since added new miracles to that prodigy, which is called a war
Speaker:vessel. At the present time, for
Speaker:example, the mixed vessel with a screw is a surprising
Speaker:machine, propelled by 3000
Speaker:canvas and by an engine of 2500
Speaker:hp. Not to mention these new
Speaker:marvels. The ancient vessel of Christopher
Speaker:Columbus and de Ruyter is one of the masterpieces of
Speaker:man. It is as inexhaustible in force
Speaker:as is the infinite in gales. It
Speaker:stores up the wind in its sails. It is
Speaker:precise in the immense vagueness of the billows.
Speaker:It floats and it rains.
Speaker:There comes an hour, nevertheless, when the gale breaks that
Speaker:60 foot yard like a straw. When the
Speaker:wind bends that mast 400ft tall,
Speaker:when that anchor, which weighs tens of thousands,
Speaker:is twisted in the jaws of the waves like a fisherman's hook in the
Speaker:jaws of a pike. When those monstrous
Speaker:cannons utter plaintive and futile roars,
Speaker:which the hurricane bears forth into the void and into the
Speaker:night, when all that power and all
Speaker:that majesty are engulfed in a power and majesty which are
Speaker:superior. Every time that
Speaker:immense force is displayed to culminate in an immense feebleness,
Speaker:it affords men food for thought.
Speaker:Hence, in the ports, curious people abound around these marvelous
Speaker:machines of war and of navigation. Without being
Speaker:able to explain perfectly to themselves why.
Speaker:Every day, accordingly, from morning until night,
Speaker:the quays sluices and the jetties of the port
Speaker:of Toulon were covered with a multitude of idlers
Speaker:and loungers, as they say in Paris,
Speaker:whose business consisted in staring at the Orion.
Speaker:The Orion was a ship that had been ailing for a long
Speaker:time. In the course of its previous cruises,
Speaker:thick layers of barnacles had collected on its keel to such
Speaker:a degree as to deprive it of half its speed.
Speaker:It had gone into the dry dock the year before this
Speaker:in order to have the barnacles scraped off.
Speaker:Then it had put to sea again. But
Speaker:this cleaning had affected the bolts of the keel.
Speaker:In the neighborhood of the Bearlik Isles, the sides had
Speaker:been strained and had opened. And as
Speaker:the plating in those days was not of sheet iron,
Speaker:the vessel had sprung a league. A
Speaker:violent equinoctial gale had come up, which
Speaker:had first staved in a grating and a porthole on the larboard
Speaker:side and damaged to the foretop gallant
Speaker:shrouds. In consequence of these injuries,
Speaker:the Orion had run back to Toulon. It
Speaker:anchored near the arsenal. It was fully
Speaker:equipped, and repairs were begun. The hull
Speaker:had received no damage on the starboard, but some of
Speaker:the planks had been unnailed here and there, according to custom
Speaker:to permit of air entering the hold.
Speaker:One morning, the crowd which was gazing at it witnessed an
Speaker:accident. The crew was
Speaker:busy bending the sails. The top man, who
Speaker:had to take the upper corner of the main topsail on the starboard, lost
Speaker:his balance. He was seen to waver.
Speaker:The multitude thronging the arsenal quay uttered a cry. the
Speaker:mans head overbalanced his body. The man fell
Speaker:around the yard with his hands outstretched towards the abyss.
Speaker:On his way, he seized the foot rope,
Speaker:first with one hand, then with the other,
Speaker:and remained hanging from it. The sea
Speaker:lay below him at a dizzy depth. The shock
Speaker:of his fall had imparted to the foot rope a violent swinging
Speaker:motion. The man swayed back and
Speaker:forth at the end of that rope like a stone in a
Speaker:sling. It was incurring a frightful risk to
Speaker:go to his assistance. Not one of the
Speaker:sailors, all fishermen of the coast, recently levied
Speaker:for the service, dared to attempt it. In the
Speaker:meantime, the unfortunate top man was losing his
Speaker:strength. His anguish could not be discerned on
Speaker:his face. But his exhaustion was
Speaker:visible in every limb. His arms were
Speaker:contracted in horrible twitchings. Every
Speaker:effort which he made to reascend. Served to augment the
Speaker:oscillations of the foot rope.
Speaker:He did not shout for fear of
Speaker:exhausting his strength. All were
Speaker:awaiting the minute when he should release his hold on the rope.
Speaker:And from instant to instant, heads were turned aside
Speaker:that his fall might not be seen.
Speaker:There are moments when a bit of rope, a
Speaker:pole, the branch of a tree, is life
Speaker:itself. And it is a terrible thing to see a
Speaker:living being detach himself from it and fall like ripe
Speaker:fruit. All at once a man
Speaker:was seen climbing into the rigging. With the agility of a tiger
Speaker:cat. This man was dressed in
Speaker:red. He was a convict.
Speaker:He wore a green cap. He was a life
Speaker:convict. On arriving on a level with the top, a
Speaker:gust of wind carried away his cap. And allowing a
Speaker:perfectly white head to be seen. He was not a
Speaker:young man. A convict, employed on
Speaker:board with a detachment from the galleys. Had in fact, at the very
Speaker:first instant, hastened to the officer of the
Speaker:watch. And in the midst of the consternation and the
Speaker:hesitation of the crew, while all the sailors
Speaker:were trembling and drawing back, he had asked
Speaker:the officers permission to risk his life to save the top
Speaker:man. At an affirmative sign from the officer,
Speaker:he had broken the chain riveted to his ankle with one blow of a
Speaker:hammer. Then he had caught up a rope and had
Speaker:dashed into the rigging. No one
Speaker:noticed at the instant with what
Speaker:ease that chain had been broken. It was only later
Speaker:on that the incident was recalled. In a
Speaker:twinkling, he was on the yard. He
Speaker:paused for a few seconds and appeared to be measuring it with
Speaker:his eye. 3 seconds. During which the breeze swayed. The top man
Speaker:at the extremity of a thread seemed sentries to those
Speaker:who were looking on. At last,
Speaker:the convict raised his eyes to heaven and advanced a
Speaker:step. The crowd drew a long
Speaker:breath. He was seen to run out along
Speaker:the yard. On arriving at the point, he fastened
Speaker:the rope which he had brought to it. And allowed the other end to hang
Speaker:down. Then he began to descend
Speaker:the rope hand over hand.
Speaker:And then. And the anguish was
Speaker:indescribable. Instead of one man
Speaker:suspended over the gulf, there were
Speaker:two. One would have said it was
Speaker:a spider coming to seize a flyde. Only here
Speaker:the spider brought life, not death.
Speaker:10,000 glances were fastened on this group.
Speaker:Not a cry, not a word.
Speaker:The same tremor contracted every brow.
Speaker:All mouths held their breath as though they feared to add, the slightest
Speaker:puff to the wind, which was swaying the two unfortunate men.
Speaker:In the meantime, the convict had succeeded in lowering himself
Speaker:to a position near the sailor. It was
Speaker:high time. 1 minute more, and the
Speaker:exhausted and despairing man would have allowed himself to fall into the
Speaker:abyss. The convict had moored him
Speaker:securely with a cord to which he clung with one hand while
Speaker:he was working with the other. At, ah last, he was
Speaker:seen to climb back on the yard and to drag the sailor
Speaker:up after him. He held him there a
Speaker:moment to allow him to recover his strength.
Speaker:Then he grasped him in his arms and carried him
Speaker:walking on the yard himself to the captain. And from there
Speaker:to the main top, where he left him in the hands of his
Speaker:comrades. At that moment, the
Speaker:crowd broke into applause.
Speaker:Old convict sergeants among them wept, and women
Speaker:embraced each other on the quay. And all voices
Speaker:were heard to cry with a sort of tender rage. Pardon
Speaker:for that man. He in the meantime,
Speaker:had immediately begun to make his descent, to rejoin his
Speaker:detachment. In order to reach them the
Speaker:more speedily he dropped into the rigging and ran along one of the lower
Speaker:yards. All eyes were following
Speaker:him. At a certain moment, fear
Speaker:assailed them. Whether it was that he was
Speaker:fatigued or that his head turned. They thought they saw
Speaker:him hesitate and stagger. All
Speaker:at once. The crowd uttered a loud shout.
Speaker:A convict had fallen into the sea.
Speaker:The fall was perilous. The frigate Agasiris,
Speaker:was anchored alongside the Orion, and the poor convict
Speaker:had fallen between the two vessels.
Speaker:It was to be feared that he would slip under one or the other of
Speaker:them. Four men flung themselves hastily
Speaker:into the boat. The crowd cheered them on.
Speaker:Anxiety again took possession of all souls.
Speaker:The man had not risen to the surface.
Speaker:He had disappeared in the sea without leaving a ripple,
Speaker:as, though he had fallen into a cask of oil.
Speaker:They sounded. They dived
Speaker:in vain. The search was continued
Speaker:until the evening. They did not even
Speaker:find the body. On the following day, the
Speaker:Toulon newspaper printed these lines. November
Speaker:17, 1823. Yesterday,
Speaker:a convict belonging to the detachment on board of the
Speaker:Orion, on his return from rendering assistance to a
Speaker:sailor, fell into the sea and was
Speaker:drowned. The body has not yet been
Speaker:found. It is supposed that it is
Speaker:entangled among the piles of the arsenal point.
Speaker:This man was committed under the number 9430
Speaker:and his name was
Speaker:Jean Valjean.
Speaker:Thank you for joining Byte at a time books today while
Speaker:we read a bite of one of your favorite classics.
Speaker:Again, my name is Brie Carlisle and.
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: I hope you come back tomorrow,
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: For the next bite of Le
Speaker:Miserable.
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: Dont forget to sign up for our
Speaker:newsletter@byteadatimebooks.com, and check
Speaker:out the shop. You can check out the show notes or
Speaker:our website, byteaditimebooks.com, for
Speaker:the rest of the links for our show. Wed love to
Speaker:hear from you on social media as well.
Speaker:>> Speaker A: Many adventures and mountains
Speaker:we can climb.
Speaker:Take it worth the word, line by
Speaker:line, one bite at a time.