They
lived upon a town or province for six months, fifteen months, two
years, until the town or province was exhausted. They alone were
armed, master of the inhabitants, using and abusing things and persons
according to their caprices. But they were declared bandits, calling
themselves scorchers, (ecorcheurs) riders and adventurers, and not
pretending to be humanitarian philosophers. Moreover, beyond an
immediate and personal enjoyment, they demanded nothing; they employed
brutal force only to satiate their greed, their cruelty, their lust.
- The latter add to private appetites a far greater devastation, the
systematic and gratuitous ravages enforced upon them by the
superficial theory with which they are imbued.
________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
[1] "The Revolution," II., pp. 298-304, and p. 351.
[2] "The Revolution," II., pp.298-304, and p. 351. Should the
foregoing testimony be deemed insufficient, the following, by those
foreigners who had good opportunities for judging, may be added:
(Gouverneur Morris, letter of December 3, 1794.) "The French are
plunged into an abyss of poverty and slavery, a slavery all the more
degrading because the men who have plunged them into it merit the
utmost contempt.
Pages:
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594