Occasionally, in a town, some steps taken collectively, either a vote
or petition,. furnish a ready-made list;[116] it suffices to read
this to know who are notables, the most upright people of the place;
henceforth, under the pretext of political repression, the levellers
may give free play to their social hatred. - At Montargis, nine days
after the attempt of June 20, 1792,[117] two hundred and twenty-eight
notables sign an address in testimony of their respectful sympathy for
the King; a year and nine months later, in consequence of a
retroactive stroke, all are hit, and, with the more satisfaction,
inasmuch as in their persons the most respected in the town fall
beneath the blow, all whom flight and banishment had left there
belonging to the noble, ecclesiastic, bourgeois or popular
aristocracy. Already, "on the purification of the constituted
authorities of Montargis, the representative had withdrawn every
signer from places of public trust and kept them out of all offices."
But this is not sufficient; the punishment must be more exemplary.
Four of them, the ex-mayor, an ex-collector, a district administrator
and a notable are sent to the revolutionary Tribunal in Paris, to be
guillotined in deference to principles.
Pages:
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722