No capital
invested in real or personal property, no income in money or produce,
whatever its source, whether leases, mortgages, private credits,
pensions, agricultural, industrial or commercial gains, the fruits of
economy or labor, from the farmers', the manufacturers' and the
merchant's stores to the robes, coats, shirts and shoes, even to the
beds and bed-rooms of private individuals - nothing escapes their
rapacious grasp: in the country, they carry off even seed reserved for
planting; at Strasbourg and in the Upper Rhine, all kitchen utensils;
in Auvergne and elsewhere, even the shepherd's pots. Every object of
value, even those not in public use, comes under requisition: for
instance,[44] the Revolutionary Committee of Bayonne seizes a lot of
"cotton cloth and muslin," under the pretext of making "breeches for
the country's defenders." On useful objects being taken it is not
always certain that they will be utilized; between their seizure and
putting them to service, robbery and waste intervene. At
Strasbourg,[45] on a requisition being threatened by the
representatives, the inhabitants strip themselves and, in a few days,
bring to the municipality "6,879 coats, breeches and vests, 4,767
pairs of stockings, 16,921 pairs of shoes, 863 pairs of boots, 1351
cloaks, 20,518 shirts, 4,524 hats, 523 pairs of gaiters, 143 skin
vests, 2,673, 900 blankets, besides 29 quintals of lint, 21 quintals
of old linen, and a large number of other articles.
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