nd workmen themselves," and
banishment is replaced by civic degradation. Henceforth,[5199] every
noble or ennobled person, even if he has not left the territory, even if
he has constantly and punctually obeyed revolutionary laws, even if he
be not related to, or allied with, any emigre, finds himself deprived
of his quality as a Frenchman. The fact alone of his being ennobled
or noble before 1789, obliged him to be naturalized according to legal
forms and conditions.--As to the 150,000 gentlemen, artisans and farmers
who have emigrated or who have been accused of emigration, if they
have returned to, or remain in France, they are to leave Paris and all
communes above 20,000 souls within twenty-four hours, and France in
fifteen days. If not, they are to be arrested, brought before the
military commissions and shot on the spot;[51100] in fact, in many
places, at Paris, Besancon and Lyons, they are shot.--Now, a large
number of pretended emigrants, who had never left France,[51101] nor
even their province, nor even their commune, and whose names have been
put on the lists simply to strip them of their property, find that they
are no longer protected either by the constancy or the notoriety of
their residence. The new law is no sooner read than they begin to
imagine the firing squad; the natal soil is too warm for them and they
speedily emigrate.[51102] On the other hand, once the name is down
on the list, rightly or wrongly, it is never removed. The government
purposely refuses to strike it off, while two decrees are applied which
render its removal impossible;[51103] each name maintained on the list
of spoliation and death relieves the Revolution of a probable adversary,
and places one more domain at its disposal.

The Directory renews and aggravates the measures of the Convention
against the remainder of the property-holders: there is no longer a
disguised but a declared bankruptcy. 386,000 fund-holders and pensioners
are deprived of two-thirds of their revenue and of their capital.[51104]
A forced loan of 100 millions is levied progressively, and wholly on
"the well-off class." Finally, there is the law of hostages, this being
atrocious, conceived in the spirit of September, 1792, suggested by the
famous motions of Collot d'Herbois against those in confinement, and
of Billaud-Varennes against the youth, Louis XVII., but extended,
elaborated and drawn up with cool legal acumen, and enforced and applied
with the foresight