Choosing Death by Jeffrey R. Watt

Author:Jeffrey R. Watt [Watt, Jeffrey R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781935503330
Publisher: TrumanStateUP
Published: 2017-07-20T05:00:00+00:00

Table 32: Civil Status of Suicides, 1781–1798

Nonetheless, how can we explain that the suicidal urge seemed to hit the Bourgeoisie and foreigners a trifle harder than others, and the Habitants a bit less? An explanation that immediately comes to mind centers on the political changes of the 1780s and 1790s. As for foreigners, they were without a political [198] voice in the Republic both before and after the Revolution. As the group that was most marginalized politically, economically, and socially, foreigners might be expected to kill themselves in greater numbers than others. The Habitants, by contrast, gained the most from the Revolution. Until December 1792, they were third-class residents of Geneva, having no political rights and economic rights that were, at least theoretically, below those of the Natifs. With the Revolution of 1792 the Habitants attained citizenship, achieving political parity with the former Citizens, Bourgeois, and Natifs. One would think therefore that the relative paucity of Habitant suicides reflected their general satisfaction as they approached the end of the 1700s.

Members of the upper Bourgeoisie, by contrast, lost more than anyone else with the fall of the Old Regime. Many members of Geneva’s traditional elite were so distraught with the change of events that they emigrated. The former members of the upper Bourgeoisie who remained lost their privileged status, as the oligarchy that had defended the rights of the Bourgeoisie for over two and a half centuries came to an end. What the Bourgeoisie had hated and feared most—democracy—had become a reality, as all nonforeign men living in Geneva attained citizenship. The peak year for suicide in early modern Geneva was 1793, immediately after the fall of the Old Regime. This fact conjures up visions of former Citizens taking their lives out of despair over the course of events.

Certain problems arise with these explanations, however, if we look at the pre-Revolutionary political status of those who committed suicide between December 1792 and the end of the Republic in 1798 (see table 33). The former Citizens and Bourgeois, who had just witnessed the elimination of their privileged status, made up just over a fifth of the suicides, almost exactly equal to their share of the pre-Revolutionary population. Had they been so devastated to see the Old Regime fall, one would think the former Citizens and Bourgeois would have killed themselves in greater numbers than others. Although ex-Habitants were underrepresented among suicides after 1792, the former Natifs, having comprised about a fourth of the population, made up almost half the suicides during these years. Together with lesser Citizens, the Natifs had been largely responsible for establishing this democratic republic. They, along with the Habitants, were the primary beneficiaries of the New Regime, achieving equality with members of the former Bourgeoisie. The years of the democratic Republic also marked the only [199] period in early modern Geneva when foreigners were underrepresented among suicides. In short, the data for suicides after 1792 militate against a simple political explanation for suicides in the waning years of the Genevan Republic.

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