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[ Berryat Saint-Prix, 313. (Trial of Lacombe and his accomplices after Thermidor.)]
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[ Archives Nationales, AF., II., 46. (Letter of Julien to the Committee of Public Safety, Bordeaux, Messidor 12, year II.)—Moniteur, XXII., 713. (Report by Cambon, Frimaire 6, year III.) At Verins, citizens were imprisoned and then set at liberty "on consideration of a fee."—Albert Babeau, II., 164, 165, 206. (Report by Cambon, Frimaire 6, year II.) "Citoyenne (madame) Deguerrois, having come to procure the release of her husband, a public functionary demanded of her ten thousand livres, which he reduced to six thousand for doing what she desired."—"One document attests that Massey paid two thousand livres, and widow Delaporte six hundred livres, to get out of prison.">[
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[ Mallet-Dupan, "First letter to a Genoa merchant," (March I, 1796), pp.33-35. "One of the wonders of the reign of Terror is the slight attention given to the trafficking in life and death, characteristic of terrorism.... We scarcely find a word on the countless bargains through which 'suspect' citizens bought themselves out of captivity, and imprisoned citizens bought off the guillotine. ... Dungeons and executions were as much matters of trade as the purchase of cattle at a fair." This traffic "was carried on in all the towns, bourgs and departments surrendered to the Convention and Revolutionary Committees.".... "It has been established since the 10th of August." "I will only cite among a multitude of instances the unfortunate Duc du Châtelet: never did anybody pay more for his execution!"—Wallon, "Histoire du Tribunal Revolutionnaire de Paris," VI., 88. (Denunciation of Fouquier-Tinville, signed Saulnie.) According to Saulnie he dined regularly twice a week at No 6 rue Serpente, with one Demay, calling himself a lawyer and living with a woman named Martin. In this death-trap, in the middle of orgies, the freedom or death of those in prison was bargained for in money with impunity. One head alone, belonging to the house of Boufflers, escaping the scaffold through the intrigues of these vampires, was worth to them thirty thousand livres, of which one thousand were paid down and a bond given for the rest, payable on being set at liberty.—Morellet, "Memoires," II., 32. The agent of Mesdames de Bouffiers was Abbé Chevalier, who had formerly known Fouquier-Tinville in the office of a procureur an Parliament and who, renewing the acquaintance, came and drank with Fouquier. "He succeeded in having the papers of the ladies Bouffiers, which were ready to be sent to the Tribunal, placed at the bottom of the file."—Mallet-Dupan, " Memoires," II., 495. "Fouquier-Tinville received a pension of one thousand crowns a month from Mesdames de Bouffiers; the ransom increased one quarter each month on account of the atrocity of the circumstances. This method saved these ladies, whilst those who paid a sum in gross lost their lives... It was Du Vaucel, fermier-general, who saved the Princess of Tarente....for five hundred louis, after having saved two other ladies for three hundred louis, given to one of the Jacobin leaders.">[
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[ "Tableau des Prisons de Toulouse," 324. Coudert, of the Municipal Council, shoemaker, charged with the duty of taking silver-plate from the accused, did not know how, or was unwilling, to draw up any other than an irregular and valueless procès-verbal. On this, an accused party objected and refused to sign. "Take care, you," exclaims Coudert in a rage, "with your damned cleverness, you are playing the stubborn. You are nothing but a bloody fool! You are getting into a bad box! If you don't sign, I'll have you guillotined." Frequently, there are no papers at all. (De Martel, "Fouché," p.236. Memorial by the authorities of Allier, addressed to the Convention, document 9.) October 30, 1793. Order of the revolutionary committee enjoining nocturnal visits in all "suspect" houses in Moulins, to remove all gold, silver and copper. "Eleven parties are made up.. .. each to visit eight or ten houses. Each band is headed by one of the committee, with one municipal officer, accompanied by locksmiths and a revolutionary guard. The dwellings of the accused and other private individuals are searched. They force secretaries and wardrobes of which they do not find the keys. They pillage the gold and silver coin. They carry off plate, jewels, copper utensils and other effects, bed-clothes, docks, vehicles, etc. No receipt is given. No statement is made of what is carried off. They rest content by at the end of the month, reporting, in a sort of procès-verbal drawn up at a meeting of the committee, that, according to returns of the visits made, very little plate was found, and only a little money in gold and silver, all without any calculation or enumeration."—"Souvenirs et Journal d'un Bourgeois d'Evreux," p.93. (February 25, 1795.) The meetings of the popular club "were largely devoted to reading the infamous doings and robberies of the revolutionary committee.... The members who designated 'suspects' often arrested them themselves, and drew up a procès-verbal in which they omitted to state the jewels and gold they found.">[
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[ Ibid., 461. (Vendemaire 24, year III. Visit of Representative Malarmé.) The former Duc de Narbonne-Lorra aged eighty-four, says to Malarmé: "Citizen representative, excuse me if I keep my cap on; I lost my hair in that prison, without having been able to get permission to have a wig made; it is worse than being robbed on the road." "Did they steal anything from you?" "They stole one hundred and forty five louis d'or and paid me with an acquittance for a tax for the sans-culottes, which is another robbery done to the citizens of this commune where I have neither home nor possessions." "Who committed this robbery?" "It was Citizen Berger, of the municipal council." "Was nothing else taken from you?" "They took a silver coffee-pot, two soap-cases and a silver shaving-dish" "Who took those articles?" "It was Citizen Miot (a notable of the council)." Miot confesses to having kept these objects and not taken them to the Mint.-Ibid., 178. (Ventôse 20, year II.) Prisoners all have their shoes taken, even those who had but one pair, a promise being made that they should have sabots in exchange, which they never got. Their cloaks also were taken with a promise to pay for them, which was never done.—"Souvenirs et Journal d'un Bourgeois d'Evreux," p.92. (February 25, 1795.) "The sessions of the popular club were largely devoted to reading the infamies and robberies of the revolutionary committee. Its members, who designated the suspects, often arrested them themselves; they made levies and reports of these in which they omitted the gold and jewels found.">[