On the other hand, we cut deep into capital through revolutionary
taxes; our committees and provincial proconsuls levy arbitrarily what
suits them, three hundred, five hundred, up to one million two hundred
thousand francs,[53] on this or that banker, trader, bourgeois or
widow, payable within a week; all the worse for the person taxed if he
or she has no money on hand and is unable to borrow it; we declare
them "suspects," we imprison them, we sequestrate their property and
the State enjoys it in their place.
In any event, even when the amount is paid, we force him or her to
deposit their silver and gold coin in our hands, sometimes with
assignats as security, and often nothing; henceforth, money must
circulate and the precious metals are in requisition;[54] everybody
will deliver up what plate he possesses. And let nobody presume to
conceal his hoard; all treasure, whether silver-plate, diamonds,
ingots, gold or silver, coined or un-coined, "discovered, or that may
be discovered, buried in the ground or concealed in cellars, inside of
walls or in garrets, under floors, pavements, or hearthstones, or in
chimneys and other hiding places,"[55] becomes the property of the
Republic, with a premium of twenty per cent.
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