- The same appetite is visible in Collot d'Herbois,
who, no longer on the stage, plays before the town the melo-dramatic
tyrant with all becoming ostentation. One morning, at Lyons, he
directs the revolutionary Tribunal to arrest, examine and sentence a
youthful "suspect" before the day is over. "Towards six o'clock,[153]
Collot being at table enjoying an orgy with prostitutes, buffoons and
executioners, eating and drinking to choice music, one of the judges
of the Tribunal enters; after the usual formalities, he is led up to
the Representative, and informs him that the young man had been
arrested and examined, and the strictest inquiries made concerning
him; he is found irreproachable and the Court decided to set him free.
Collot, without looking at the judge, raises his voice and says to
him:
"I ordered you to punish that young man and I want him out of the way
before night. If the innocent are spared, too many of the guilty will
escape. Go."
The music and gaiety begin again, and in an hour the young man is
shot." - And so in most of the other pachalics; if any head mentally
condemned by the pacha escapes or does not fall soon enough, the
latter is indignant at the delays and forms of justice, also against
the judges and juries, often selected by himself.
Pages:
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453