l visits to
the dwellings of the accused and takes what suits him."--"Grandmaison
appropriates plate under sequestration, and Bachelier plate given as
a present."--"Joly superintends executions and takes all he can find,
plate, jewelry, precious objects."--"Bolognie forces the return of a
bond of twenty thousand livres already paid to him."--Perrochaux demands
of citoyenne Ollemard-Dudan "fifty thousand livres, to prevent her
imprisonment," and confiscates for his own benefit sixty thousand
livres worth of tobacco, in the house of the widow Daigneau-Mallet,
who, claiming it back, is led off by him to prison under the pretext of
interceding for her.--Chaux frightens off by terrorism his competitors
at auction sales, has all the small farms on the Baroissiere domain
knocked down to him, and exclaims concerning a place which suits him: "I
know how to get it! I'll have the owner arrested. He'll be very glad
to let me have his ground to get out of prison.' "--The collection is
complete, and gathered on a table, it offers specimens which can be
found scattered all over France.

VII. The Armed Forces.

The Armed Force, the National Guard and the Gendarmerie.
--Its purgation and composition.--The Revolutionary Armies in
Paris and in the departments.--Quality of the recruits.
--Their employment.--Their expeditions into the countryside
and the towns.--Their exploits in the vicinity of Paris and
Lyons.--The company of Maratists, the American Hussars and
the German Legion at Nantes.--General character of the
Revolutionary government and of the administrative staff of
the Reign of Terror.

The last manipulators of the system remain, the hands which seize, the
armed force which takes bodily hold of men and things.--The first who
are employed for this purpose are the National Guard and the ordinary
gendarmerie. Since 1790, these bodies are of course constantly weeded
out until only fanatics and robots are left;[33143] nevertheless,
the weeding-out continues as the system develops itself. At
Strasbourg,[33144] on Brumaire 14, the representatives have dismissed,
arrested and sent to Dijon the entire staff of the National Guard
to serve as hostages until peace is secured; three days afterwards,
considering that the cavalry of the town had been mounted and equipped
at its own expense, they deem it aristocratic, bourgeois, and "suspect,"
and seize the horses and put the officers in arr