"[126] To compel their return, they are hunted
down and brought to the depot with their hands tied. If they hide
away, soldiers are stationed in their parents' houses. If the
conscript or drafted man has sought refuge in a foreign country, even
in an allied country as in Spain, he is officially inscribed on the
list of ?migr?s, and therefore, in case of return, shot within twenty-
four hours; meanwhile, his property is sequestrated and likewise that
of "his father, mother and grandparents."[127] -- "Formerly," says a
contemporary, "reason and philosophy thundered against the rigors of
punishment inflicted on deserters; but, since French reason has
perfected Liberty it is no longer the small class of regular soldiers
whose evasion is punished with death, but an entire generation. An
extreme penalty no longer suffices for these legislative
philanthropists: they add confiscation, they despoil parents for the
misdemeanors of their children, and render even women responsible for
a military and personal offence."
Such is the admirable calculation of the Directory - that, if it
loses a soldier it gains a patrimony, and if the patrimony fails, it
recovers the soldier: in any event, it fills its coffers and its
ranks, while the faction, well supplied with men, may continue turning
all Europe to account, wasting, in the operation, as many French lives
as it pleases; requiring more than one hundred thousand men per annum,
which, including those which the Convention has squandered, makes
nearly nine hundred thousand in eight years.
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