" Now, in all these
cases, in all the departments, cantons or communes, three classes of
persons, at first the relations and allies of the ?migr?s, next the
former nobles and ennobled, and finally the "fathers, mothers,
grandfathers and grandmothers of persons who, without being ex-nobles
or relations of ?migr?s," nevertheless form a part of the bands or
mobs, are declared "personally and civilly responsible" for the
violent acts committed. Even when these acts are only "imminent," the
administration of the department must, in its report, give a list of
all the men and women who are responsible; these are to be taken as
"hostages," and kept in confinement at their own expense in the local
jail. If they escape, they must be put on the same footing as
?migr?s, that is to say punished with death. If any damage is
sustained, they are to pay costs; if any murder is committed or
abduction effected, four amongst them must be deported. Observe,
moreover, that the local authorities are obliged, under severe
penalties, to execute the law at once. Note that, at this date, they
are ultra Jacobin, since to inscribe on the list of hostages, not a
noble or a bourgeois, but an honest peasant or respectable artisan, it
suffices for these local sovereigns to designate his son or grandson,
who might either be absent, fugitive or dead, as being "notoriously
"insurgent or refractory.
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