, July 25, 1793, Frimaire 2, and
Floreal 22, year II.)--this principle, moreover, was set forth in the
Constitution of 1793. "Public help is a sacred obligation; society owes
a subsistence to unfortunate citizens, whether by providing work for
them, or by ensuring the means of existence to those who are not in a
condition to work."--Archives Nationales, AF. II., 39. The character of
this measure is very clearly expressed in the following circular of
the Committee of Public Safety to its representatives on mission in the
departments, Ventose, year II. "A summary act was necessary to put the
aristocracy down. The national Convention has struck the blow. Virtuous
indigence had to recover the property which crime had encroached upon.
The national Convention has proclaimed its rights. A general list of all
prisoners should be sent to the Committee of General Security, charged
with deciding on their fate. The Committee of Public Safety will receive
the statement of the indigent in each commune so as to regulate what
is due to them. Both these proceedings demand the utmost dispatch and
should go together. It is necessary that terror and justice be brought
to bear on all points at once. The Revolution is the work of the people
and it is time they should have the benefit of it."]

[Footnote 2169: Moniteur, XX., 449. (Report by Barere, Floreal 22, year
II.)]

[Footnote 2170: Decree of April 2-5, 1793.]

[Footnote 2171: Moniteur, XVIII., 505. (Orders of Fouche and Collet
d'Herbois, dated at Lyons and communicated to the commune of Paris,
Frimaire 3, year II.)--De Martel, "Etude sur Fouche," 132. Orders of
Fouche on his mission in the Nievre, Sept. 19, 1793. "There shall
be established in each district town a Committee of Philanthropy,
authorized to levy on the rich a tax proportionate to the number of the
indigent."]

[Footnote 2172: Decree of April 2-5, 1793. "There shall be organized
in each large commune a guard of citizens selected from the least
fortunate. These citizens shall be armed and paid at the expense of the
Republic."]

[Footnote 2173: Moniteur, XX., 449. (Report of Barere, Floreal 22, year
II.)]

[Footnote 2174: Ibid., XIX., 689. (Report by Saint-Just, Ventose 23,
year II.) "We spoke of happiness. It is not the happiness of Persepolis
we have offered to you. It is that of Sparta or Athens in their best
days, the happiness of virtue, that of comfort and moderation, the
happiness which springs from the enjoyme