[Footnote 3234: On the concentration and accumulation of business, cf. Archives Nationales, ibid., acts of Aug. 4, 5, 6, 1793; and AF. II., 23, acts of Brumaire I and 15, year II.--On the distribution and dispatch of business in the Committee and the hours devoted to it, see Acts of April 6, June 13, 17, 18, Aug. 3, 1793, and Germinal 27, year II.--After August 3, two sessions were held daily, from 8 o'clock in the morning to 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and from 7 to 10 o'clock in the evening; at 10 o'clock, the Executive Council met with the Committee of Public Safety, and papers were signed about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning.--The files of AF. II., 23 to 42, contain an account of the doings of the Committee, the minutes of its meetings and of its correspondence. A perusal of these furnishes full details concerning the initiative and responsibility of the Committee. For example, (Nivôse 4, year II., letters to Freron and Barras, at Marseilles,) "The Committee commend the vigorous measures you have sanctioned in your orders at Marseilles.--Marseilles, through you, affords a great example. Accustomed, as you are, to wielding thunderbolts, you are best calculated for still governing it... How glorious, citizen colleagues, to be able like you, after long continued labors and immortal fame, how gratifying, under such auspices, to return to the bosom of the National Convention!"--(AF. II., 36, Pluviôse 7, year II., letter to the representatives on mission at Bordeaux, approving of the orders issued by them against merchants.) "concealed behind the obscurity of its complots, mercantilism cannot support the ardent, invigorating atmosphere of Liberty; Sybaritic indolence quails before Spartan virtue. "--(AF. II., 37, Pluviôse 20, letter to Prieur de la Marne, sent to Nantes to replace Carrier.) "Carrier, perhaps, has been badly surrounded;.... his ways are harsh, the means he employs are not well calculated to win respect for the national authority;... he is used up in that city. He is to leave and go elsewhere."--(AF. II., 36, Nivôse 21, letter to Fouché, Laporte, and Albitte, at Commune-affranchie, signed by Billaud-Varennes and composed by him.) "The convention, Nivôse I, has approved of the orders and other measures taken by you. We can add nothing to its approval. The Committee of Public Safety subjects all operations to the same principles, that is to say, it conforms to yours and acts with you."] [Footnote 3235: Sainte-Beuve, "Nouveaux Lundis," VIII., 105. (Unpublished report by Vice-admiral Villaret-Joyeuse, May 28, 1794.)] [Footnote 3236: Carnot, "Mémoires," I., 107.] [Footnote 3237: Ibid., I., 450, 523, 527, "we often ate only a morsel of dry bread on the Committee's table."] [Footnote 3238: Moniteur, XXI., 362. (Speech by Cambon, Session of Thermidor 11, year II.)] [Footnote 3239: Beugnot, "Mémoires," II., 15. (Stated by Jean Bon himself in a conversation at Mayence in 1813.)]