There is not one of these favors that is not
precious; consequently, ransoms without number are tendered, while the
rascals[114] who swarm on the revolutionary committees, need but open
their hands to fill their pockets. They run very little risk, for
they are held in check only by their own kind, or are not checked at
all. In any large town, two of them suffice for the issue of a
warrant of arrest save a reference to the Committee within twenty-four
hours, with the certainty that their colleagues will kindly return the
favor.[115] Moreover, the clever ones know how to protect themselves
beforehand. For example, at Bordeaux, where one of these clandestine
markets had been set up, M. Jean Davilliers, one of the partners in a
large commercial house, is under arrest in his own house, guarded by
four sans-culottes; on the 8th of Brumaire, he is taken aside and told
"that he is in danger if he does not come forward and meet the
indispensable requirements of the Revolution in its secret
expenditures." An important figure, Lemoal, member of the
revolutionary committee and administrator of the district, had spoken
of these requirements and thought that M. Davilliers should
contribute the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand livres.
Pages:
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562