or the party。
The first operation consists in expelling them from the territory。 …
Since 1789; they have been chased off through a forced emigration;
handed over to jacqueries; or popular uprisings; in the country; and
to insurrections in the cities;'1' defenseless and not allowed to
defend themselves; three…fourths of them have left France; simply to
escape popular brutalities against which neither the law nor the
government afforded them any protection。 According as the law and the
administration; in becoming more Jacobin; became more hostile to them;
so did they leave in greater crowds。 After the 10th of August and 2nd
of September; the flight necessarily was more general; for;
henceforth; if any one persisted in remaining after that date it was
with the almost positive certainty that he would be consigned to a
prison; to await a massacre or the guillotine。 About the same time;
the law added to the fugitive the banished; all unsworn priests;
almost an entire class consisting of nearly 40 000 persons。'2' It is
calculated that; on issuing from the reign of Terror; the total number
of fugitives and banished) amounted to 150 000'3' the list would have
been still larger; had not the frontier been guarded by patrols and
one had to cross it at the risk of one's life; and yet; many do risk
their lives in attempting to cross it; in disguise; wandering about at
night; in mid…winter; exposed to gunshots; determined to escape cost
what it will; into Switzerland; Italy; or Germany; and even into
Hungary; in quest of security and the right of praying to God as one
pleases。'4' … If any exiled or deported person ventures to return; he
is tracked like a wild beast; and; as soon as taken; he is
guillotined。'5' For example; M。 de Choiseul; and other unfortunates;
wrecked and cast ashore on the coast of Normandy; are not sufficiently
protected by the law of nations。 They are brought before a military
commission; saved temporarily through public commiseration; they
remain in prison until the First Consul intervenes between them and
the homicidal law and consents; through favor; to deport them to the
Dutch frontier。 … If they have taken up arms against the Republic
they are cut off from humanity; a Pandour'6' taken prisoner is treated
as a man; an émigré made prisoner is treated like a wolf … they shoot
him on the spot。 In some cases; even the pettiest legal formalities
are dispensed with。
〃When I am lucky enough to catch 'em;〃 writes Gen。 Vandamme; 〃I do
not trouble the military commission to try them。 They are already
tried … my saber and pistols do their business。〃'7'
The second operation consists in depriving 〃suspects〃 of their
liberty; of which deprivation there are several degrees; there are
various ways of getting hold of people。 … Sometimes; the 〃suspect〃 is
〃adjourned;〃 that is to say; the order of arrest is simply suspended;
he lives under a perpetual menace that is generally fulfilled; he
never knows in the morning that he will not sleep in a prison that
night。 Sometimes; he is put on the limits of his commune。 Sometimes;
he is confined to his house with or without guards; and; in the former
case; he is obliged to pay them。 Again; finally; and which occurs
most frequently; he is shut up in this or that common jail。 … In the
single department of Doubs; twelve hundred men and women are
〃adjourned;〃 three hundred put on the limits of the commune; fifteen
hundred confined to their houses; and twenty two hundred
imprisoned。'8' In Paris; thirty…six such prisons and more than
〃violins〃; or temporary jails; soon filled by the revolutionary
committees; do not suffice for the service。'9' It is estimated that;
in France; not counting more than 40;000 provisional jails; twelve
hundred prisons; full and running over; contain each more than two
hundred inmates。'10' At Paris; notwithstanding the daily void created
by the guillotine; the number of the imprisoned on Floréal 9; year
II。; amounts to 7;840; and; on Messidor 25 following; notwithstanding
the large batches of 50 and 60 persons led in one day; and every day;
to the scaffold; the number is still 7;502。'11' There are more than
one thousand persons in the prisons of Arras; more than one thousand
five hundred in those of Toulouse; more than three thousand in those
of Strasbourg; and more than thirteen thousand in those of Nantes。 In
the two departments alone of Bouches du…Rh?ne and Vaucluse;
Representative Maignet; who is on the spot; reports from 12;000 to
15;000 arrests。'12' 〃A little before Thermidor;〃 says Representative
Beaulieu; 〃the number of incarcerated arose to nearly 400;000; as is
apparent on the lists and registers then before the Committee of
General Security。〃'13' … Among these poor creatures; there are
children; and not alone in the prisons of Nantes where the
revolutionary searches have collected the whole of the rural
population; in the prisons of Arras; among twenty similar cases; I
find a coal…dealer and his wife with their seven sons and daughters;
from seventeen down to six years of age; a widow with her four
children from nineteen down to twelve years of age; another noble
widow with her nine children; from seventeen down to three years of
age; and six children; without father or mother; from twenty…three
down to nine years of age。'14' … These prisoners of State were
treated; almost everywhere; worse than robbers and assassins under the
ancient régime。 They began by subjecting them to rapiotage; that is
to say; stripping them naked or; at best; feeling their bodies under
their shirts; women and young girls fainted away under this
examination; formerly confined to convicts on entering the bagnio。'15'
… Frequently; before consigning them to their dungeons or shutting
them up in their cells; they would be left two or three nights pell…
mell in a lower hall on benches; or in the court on the pavement;
〃without beds or straw。〃 〃The feelings are wounded in all directions;
every point of sensibility; so to say; being played upon。 They are
deprived one after the other of their property; assignats; furniture;
and food; of daylight and lamp…light; of the assistance which their
wants and infirmities demand; of a knowledge of public events; of all
communication; either immediate or written; with fathers; sons and
husbands。〃'16' They are obliged to pay for their lodgings; their
keepers; and for what they eat; they are robbed at their very doors of
the supplies they send for outside; they are compelled to eat at a
mess…table; they are furnished with scant and nauseous food; 〃spoilt
codfish; putrid herrings and meat; rotten vegetables; all this
accompanied with a mug of Seine water colored red with some drug or
other。〃'17' They starve them; bully them; and vex them purposely as if
they meant to exhaust their patience and drive them into a revolt; so
as to get rid of them in a mass; or; at least; to justify the
increasing rapid strokes of the guillotine。 They are huddled together
in tens; twenties and thirties; in one room at La Force; 〃eight in a
chamber; fourteen feet square;〃 where all the beds touch; and many
overlap each other; where two out of the eight inmates are obliged to
sleep on the floor; where vermin swarm; where the closed sky…lights;
the standing tub; and the crowding together of bodies poisons the
atmosphere。 … In many places; the proportion of the sick and dying is
greater than in the hold of a slave…ship。 〃Of ninety individuals with
whom I was shut up two months ago;〃 writes a prisoner at Strasbourg;
〃sixty…six were taken to the hospital in the space of eight days。〃'18'
In the prisons of Nantes; 3000 out 13;000 prisoners die of typhoid
fever and of the rot in two months。'19' 400 priests'20' confined on a
vessel between decks; in the roadstead of Aix; stowed on top of each
other; wasted with hunger; eaten up by vermin; suffocated for lack of
air; half…frozen; beaten; mocked at; and constantly threatened with
death; suffer still more than Negroes in a slave…hold; for; through
interest in his freight; the captain of the slaver tries to keep his
human consignment in good health; whilst; through revolutionary
fanaticism; the crew of the Aix vessel detests its cargo of 〃black…
frocks〃 and would gladly send them to the bottom。 … According to this
system; which; up to Thermidor 9; grows worse and worse; imprisonment
becomes a torture; oftentimes mortal; slower and more painful than the
guillotine; and to such an extent that; to escape it; Champfort opens
his veins and Condorcet swallows poison。'21'The third expedient
consists of murder; with or without trial。 … 178 tribunals; of which
40 are ambulatory; pronounce in every part of the territory sentences
of death which are immediately executed on the spot。'22' Between
April 6; 1793; and Thermidor 9; year II。; (July 27th; 1794) that of
Paris has 2;625 persons guillotined;'23' while the provincial judges
do as much work as the Paris judges。 In the small town of Orange
alone; they guillotine 331 persons。 In the single town of Arras they
have 299 men and 93 women guillotined。 At Nantes; the revolutionary
tribunals and military committees have; on the average; 100 persons a
day guillotined; or shot; in all 1;971。 In the city of Lyons the
revolutionary committee admit 1;684; while Cadillot; one of
Robespierre's correspondents; advises him of 6;000。'24' … The
statement of these murders is not complete; but 17;000 have been
enumerated;'25' 〃most of them effected without any formality; evidence
or direct charge;〃 among others the murder of 〃more than 1200 women;
several of whom were octogenarians and infirm;〃'26' particularly the
murder of 60 women or young girls; condemned to death; say the
warrants; for having attended the services of unsworn priests; or for
having neglected the services of a sworn priest。
〃The accused; ranged in order; were condemned at sight。 Hundre