(Report by Bar?re, Flor?al 22, year II.) - Decrees
on public assistance, June 28, 1793, July 25, 1793, Frimaire 2, and
Flor?al 22, year II.) - this principle, moreover, was set forth in the
Constitution of 1793. "Public help is a sacred obligation; society
owes a subsistence to unfortunate citizens, whether by providing work
for them, or by ensuring the means of existence to those who are not
in a condition to work." - Archives Nationales, AF. II., 39. The
character of this measure is very clearly expressed in the following
circular of the Committee of Public Safety to its representatives on
mission in the departments, Vent?se, year II. "A summary act was
necessary to put the aristocracy down. The national Convention has
struck the blow. Virtuous indigence had to recover the property which
crime had encroached upon. The national Convention has proclaimed its
rights. A general list of all prisoners should be sent to the
Committee of General Security, charged with deciding on their fate.
The Committee of Public Safety will receive the statement of the
indigent in each commune so as to regulate what is due to them. Both
these proceedings demand the utmost dispatch and should go together.
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