Tell me who the fanatics are that shut
their shops on Sunday and I will have them guillotined." "When will
the heads of those rascally merchants fall ? " - " I see beggars here
in rags; you are as big fools at Ancenis as at Nantes. Don't you know
that the money, the wealth of these old merchants, belongs to you, and
is not the river there?" "My brave bastards, my good sansculottes your
time is come! Denounce them to me! The evidence of two good sans-
culottes is all I want to make the heads of those old merchants
tumble! " - "We will make France a grave-yard rather than not
regenerate it in our own way."[133] - His steady howl ends in a cry of
anguish:
"We shall all be guillotined, one after the other!"[134] -
Such is the mental state to which the office of representative on
mission leads. Below Carrier, who is on the extreme verge, the
others, less advanced, likewise turn pale at the lugubrious vision,
which is the inevitable effect of their work and their mandate.
Beyond every grave they dig, they catch a glimpse of the grave already
dug for them. There is nothing left for the gravedigger but to dig
mechanically day after day, and, in the meantime, make what he can out
of his place; he can at least render himself insensible by having "a
good time.
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