ce and take
possession of the premises; the owner is allowed six hours to move
out and is forbidden, henceforth, to return; the bureaus, to which he
appeals, interpret his obedience as 'tacit adhesion,' and, very soon, he
himself is locked up."[3335]--Administrative tools that cut so sharply
need the greatest care, and, from time to time, they are carefully
oiled:[3336] on the 20th of July, 1793, two thousand francs are given to
each of the forty-eight committees, and eight thousand francs to General
Henriot, "for expenses in watching anti-revolutionary maneuvers;" on the
7th of August, fifty thousand francs "to indemnify the less successful
members of the forty-eight committees;" three hundred thousand francs
to Gen. Henriot "for thwarting conspiracies and securing the triumph of
liberty;" fifty thousand francs to the mayor, "for detecting the plots
of the malevolent;" on the 10th of September, forty thousand francs
to the mayor, president and procureur-syndic of the department, "for
measures of security;" on the 13th of September, three hundred thousand
francs to the mayor "for preventing the attempts of the malevolent;" on
the 15th of November, one hundred thousand francs to the popular
clubs, "because these are essential to the propagation of sound
principles."--Moreover, besides gratuities and a fixed salary, there
are the gratifications and perquisites belonging to the office.[3337]
Henriot appoints his comrades on the staff of paid spies and
denunciators, and, naturally, they take advantage of their position
to fill their pockets; under the pretext of incivism, they multiply
domiciliary visits, make the master of the house ransom himself, or
steal what suits them on the premises.[3338]--In the Commune, and on the
revolutionary-committees, every extortion can be, and is, practiced.

"I know," says Quevremont, "two citizens who have been put in prison,
without being told why, and, at the end of three weeks or a month,
let out and do you know how? By paying, one of them, fifteen thousand
livres, and the other, twenty-five thousand.... Gambron, at La Force,
pays one thousand five hundred livres a month for a room not to live
amongst lice, and besides this, he had to pay a bribe of two thousand
livres on entering. This happened to many others who, again, dared not
speak of it, except in a whisper."[3339]

Woe to the imprudent who, never concerning themselves with public
affairs, and relying on their innocence, discar