A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Part II., 1793: Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady: with General and Incidental Remarks on the French Character and Manners — John Shaqi
A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Part II., 1793: Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady: with General and Incidental Remarks on the French Character and MannersBiggs, Charlotte
History
A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Part II., 1793: Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady: with General and Incidental Remarks on the French Character and Manners
Biggs, Charlotte
Biggs, Charlotte, approximately 1763-1827 -- Correspondence; France -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799; France -- Social life and customs -- 1789-1815
The situation of France has altered much within the last two months: the
seat of power is less fluctuating and the exercise of it more absolute--
arbitrary measures are no longer incidental, but systematic--and a
regular connection of dependent tyranny is established, beginning with
the Jacobin clubs, and ending with the committees of the sections. A
simple decree for instance, has put all the men in the republic,
(unmarried and without children,) from eighteen to forty-five at the
requisition of the Minister of War. A levy of three hundred thousand is
to take place immediately: each department is responsible for the whole
of a certain number to the Convention, the districts are answerable for
their quota to the departments, the municipalities to the district, and
the diligence of the whole is animated by itinerant members of the
legislature, entrusted with the disposal of an armed force. The latter
circumstance may seem to you incredible; yet is it nevertheless true,
that most of the departments are under the jurisdiction of these
sovereigns, whose authority is nearly unlimited. We have, at this
moment, two Deputies in the town, who arrest and imprison at their
pleasure. One-and-twenty inhabitants of Amiens were seized a few nights
ago, without any specific charge having been exhibited against them, and
are still in confinement. The gates of the town are shut, and no one is
permitted to pass or repass without an order from the municipality; and
the observance of this is exacted even of those who reside in the
suburbs. Farmers and country people, who are on horseback, are obliged
to have the features and complexion of their horses minuted on the
passport with their own. Every person whom it is found convenient to
call suspicious, is deprived of his arms; and private houses are
disturbed during the night, (in opposition to a positive law,) under
pretext of searching for refractory priests.--These regulations are not
peculiar to this department, and you must understand them as conveying a
general idea of what passes in every part of France.--I have yet to add,
that letters are opened with impunity--that immense sums of assignats are
created at the will of the Convention--that no one is excused mounting
guard in person--and that all housekeepers, and even lodgers, are
burthened with the quartering of troops, sometimes as many as eight or
ten, for weeks together.
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