[164] Naturally, the three
bands which operate along with them, or under their orders, comprise
only men of their species. In the first one, called the Marat
company, each of the sixty members swears, on joining it, to adopt
Marat's principles and carry out Marat's doctrine. Goullin,[165] one
of the founders, demands in relation to each member, "Isn't there some
one still more rascally? For we must have that sort to bring the
aristocrats to reason!"[166] After Frimaire 5 "the Maratists" boast
of their arms being "tired out" with striking prisoners with the flat
of their sabers to make them march to the Loire,[167] and we see that,
notwithstanding this fatigue, the business suited them, as their
officers tried to influence Carrier to be detailed on the "drowning"
service and because it was lucrative. The men and women sentenced to
death, were first stripped of their clothes down to the shirt, and
even the shift; it would be a pity to let valuable objects go to the
bottom with their owners, and therefore the drowners divide these
amongst themselves; a wardrobe in the house of the adjutant Richard is
found full of jewelry and watches.[168] This company of sixty must
have made handsome profits out of the four or five thousand drowned.
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