The
only approximate total which can be arrived at, is the authentic list
of robberies which the Jacobin corsair, authorized by letters of
marque, had already committed in December, 1798, outside of France, on
public or on private parties; exactions in coin imposed in Belgium,
Holland, Germany and Italy, amounting to 655 millions; seizure and
removal of gold and silver objects, plate, jewels, works of art and
other precious objects, 305 millions; requisitions of provisions, 361
millions; confiscations of the property, real estate and movables, of
deposed sovereigns, that of the regular and secular clergy, that of
corporations and associations even laic, of absent or fugitive
proprietors, 700 millions; in all, in three years 2 billion livres. -
If we closely examine this monstrous sum, we find, as in the coffers
of an Algerian pirate, a booty which up to this time, belligerent
Christians, commanders of regular armies, would have shrunk from
taking, and on which the Jacobin chiefs incontinently and preferably
lay hands:
* the plate and furniture of churches in the Netherlands, in Li?ge,
and in the Electoral sections of the Lower Rhine, 25 millions;
* the plate and furniture of churches in Lombardy, in the three
Legations, in the State of Venice, in Modena, and the States of the
Church, 65 millions;
* diamonds, plate, gold crosses and other depots of the Monts.
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