to undergo; what questions
they would be obliged to answer; how many goings and comings,
solicitations, appearances and waitings would be imposed on them; with
what persistency it would excite delay, and with what satisfaction it
would be refused. Buzot presented himself four times at the Committee of
Quatre-Nations to obtain a certificate for his domestic, and failed
to get it.[3487] There is another still more effective expedient for
keeping the ill-disposed in check The committee of each section, aided
by a member of the Commune,[3488] designates the twelve thousand men
drafted for the expedition into La Vendee, and picks them by name, one
by one, as it may select them; the effect of this is to purge Paris of
twelve thousand anti-Jacobins, and tranquilize the section assemblies,
where opposition is often objectionable. To this end the committee
selects first, and gives the preference to, the clerks of lawyers and
notaries, those of banking-houses, the administration, and of merchants,
the unmarried in all offices and counting-rooms, in short, all
the Parisian middle class bachelors, of which there are more than
twenty-five thousand.[3489] The ordinance stipulates that one out of two
should be taken, undoubtedly those with the poorest reputation with the
Committee, this proceeding will silence the others and prevent them from
speaking up in their sections.[3490]

While one hand clutches the collar, the other rummages the pocket. The
Committee of Supervision of each section, always aided by a member
of the Commune,[3491] designates all persons in easy circumstances,
estimates their incomes as it pleases, or according to common report,
and sends them an order to pay a particular sum in proportion to their
surplus, and according to a progressive tax. The allowance which is
exempt for the head of a family is 1,500 francs per annum, besides 1,000
francs for his wife and 1,000 francs for each child; if the excess is
over 15,000 or 20,000 francs, they assess it 5,000 francs; if more
than 40,000 or 50,000 francs, they assess it 20,000; in no case may the
surplus retained exceed 30,000 francs; all above this amount goes to the
State. The first third of this sudden contribution to the public funds
is required in forty-eight hours, the second in a fortnight, and the
remaining third in a month, under serious penalties. If the tax happens
to be exaggerated, if an income is uncertain or imaginary, if receipts
are yet to come in, if