It accounts for the
"colossal wealth peaceably enjoyed," after Thermidor, of the well-
known "thieves" who, before Thermidor, were so many "little
Robespierres," each in his own canton, "the patriots " who, around
Orleans, "built palaces," who, "exclusives" at Valenciennes, "having
wasted both public and private funds, possess the houses and property
of emigrants, knocked down to them at a hundred times less than their
value."[135] On this side, their outstretched fingers shamelessly
clutch all they can get hold of; for the obligation of each arrested
party to declare his name, quality and fortune, as it now is and was
before the Revolution, gives local cupidity a known, sure, direct and
palpable object. - At Toulouse, says a prisoner,[136] "the details
and value of an object were taken down as if for a succession," while
the commissioners who drew up the statement, "our assassins,
proceeded, beforehand and almost under our eyes, to take their share,
disputing with each other on the choice and suitableness of each
object, comparing the cost of adjudication with the means of lessening
it, discussing the certain profits of selling again and of the
transfer, and consuming in advance the pickings arising from sales and
leases.
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