complaint of a deputation from Ferney-Voltaire.) "The Gex
district was, for over a year, a prey to five or six scoundrels who
took refuge there. Under the mask of patriotism they succeeded in
getting possession of all the offices. Vexations of every kind,
robberies of private houses, squandering of public money, were
committed by these monsters." (The Ferney deputies brought with them
the testimony of witnesses.) - Ibid., 290. (Letters of Representative
Goupilleau, Beziers, Vend?miaire 28, year III. on the terrorists of
Vaucluse.) " These carnivorous fellows, regretting the times when they
could rob and massacre with impunity . . . . Who, six months ago,
were starving and who now live in the most scandalous opulence . . .
Squanderers of the public funds, robbers of private fortunes . . .
Guilty of rapine, of forced contributions, of extortions," etc. -
Prudhomme, "Les crimes de la R?volution," VI., 79. (On the
Revolutionary committee installed by Fouch? at Nevers.) The local
investigation shows that the eleven leaders were men of vile
character, unfrocked and disreputable priests, lawyers and notaries
driven out of their professional bodies, and even from the popular
clubs, on account of their dishonesty, penniless actors, surgeons
without patients, depraved, ruined, incapable men, and two jail-birds.
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