[2] It is
calculated that, on issuing from the reign of Terror, the total number
of fugitives and banished) amounted to 150 000[3] the list would have
been still larger, had not the frontier been guarded by patrols and
one had to cross it at the risk of one's life; and yet, many do risk
their lives in attempting to cross it, in disguise, wandering about at
night, in mid-winter, exposed to gunshots, determined to escape cost
what it will, into Switzerland, Italy, or Germany, and even into
Hungary, in quest of security and the right of praying to God as one
pleases.[4] - If any exiled or deported person ventures to return, he
is tracked like a wild beast, and, as soon as taken, he is
guillotined.[5] For example, M. de Choiseul, and other unfortunates,
wrecked and cast ashore on the coast of Normandy, are not sufficiently
protected by the law of nations. They are brought before a military
commission; saved temporarily through public commiseration, they
remain in prison until the First Consul intervenes between them and
the homicidal law and consents, through favor, to deport them to the
Dutch frontier. - If they have taken up arms against the Republic
they are cut off from humanity; a Pandour[6] taken prisoner is treated
as a man; an ?migr? made prisoner is treated like a wolf - they shoot
him on the spot.
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