men of twenty and
twenty-five are married to women of seventy-two and eighty years of age,
and even to those who have long been dead; then, an extract from the
death register clears a man who is alive and well."--"Forged contracts
are presented to avoid military service, young soldiers are married to
women of eighty; one woman, thanks to a series of forgeries, is found
married to eight or ten conscripts." (Letter of an officer of the
Gendarmerie to Roanne, Ventose 9, year VIII.)]

[Footnote 51139: Words of De Tocqueville.--"Le Duc de Broglie," by M.
Guizot, p. 16. (Words of the Duc de Broglie.) "Those who were not living
at this time could form no idea of the profound discouragement into
which France had fallen in the interval between Fructidor 18 and
Brumaire 18."]

[Footnote 51140: Buchez et Roux, XXXVIII., 480. (Message of the
Directory, Floreal 13, year IV., and report of Bailleul, Floreal 18.)
"When an election of deputies presented a bad result to us we thought
it our duty to propose setting it aside.... It will be said that your
project is a veritable proscription."--"Not more so than the 19 of
Fructidor."--Cf. for dismissals in the provinces, Sauzay, V., ch.
86.--Albert Babeau, II., 486. During the four years the Directory lasted
the municipal council of Troyes was renewed seven times, in whole or in
part.]

[Footnote 51141: Buchez et Roux, XXXIX., 61. (Session of Prairial
30, year VII.)-Sauzay, X., ch. 87.--Leouzon-Leduc, "Correspondence
Diplomatique avec la cour de Suede," P. 203.--(Letters of July 1, 7 11,
19 August 4; September 23, 1799.) "The purification of functionaries,
so much talked about now, has absolutely no other end in view but the
removal of the partisans of one faction in order to substitute those
of another faction without any regard to moral character.... It is this
choice of persons without probity, justice or any principles of honesty
whatever for the most important offices which makes one tremble,
and especially, at this moment, all who are really attached to their
country."--"The opening of the clubs must, in every relation, be deemed
a disastrous circumstance.... All classes of society are panic-stricken
at the faintest probability of the re-establishment of a republican
government copied after that of 1793".... "The party of political
incendiaries in France is the only one which carries out such designs
energetically and directly."]

[Footnote 51142: Leouzon-Leduc, ibid, 328, 329. (