[94] In
conformity with this rule there is a general rounding up, prolonged
for ten months, which places the fortunes of a city of one hundred and
twenty thousand souls in the hands of its scoundrels. Thirty-two
revolutionary committees "whose members are thick as thieves select
thousands of guards devoted to them."[95] In confiscated dwellings
and warehouses, they affix seals without an inventory; they drive out
women and children "so that there shall be no witnesses;" they keep
the keys; they enter and steal when they please, or install themselves
for a revel with prostitutes. -- Meanwhile, the guillotine is kept
going, and people are fired at and shot down with grape-shot. The
revolutionary committee officially avow one thousand six hundred and
eighty-two acts of murder committed in five months,[96] while a
confederate of Robespierre's privately declare that there were six
thousand.[97]
Blacksmiths are condemned to death for having shod the Lyonnese
cavalry, firemen for having extinguished fires kindled by republican
bombshells, a widow for having paid a war-tax during the siege, market
women for "having shown disrespect to patriots." It is an organized
"Septembrisade" made legal and lasting; its authors are so well aware
of the fact as to use the word itself in their public
correspondence.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79