第809章

Against large or medium properties it suffices to extend and aggravate the decrees already passed. - The spoliation of the last of existing corporations must be effected： the government， confiscates the property of hospitals， communes， and all scientific or literary associations.[31]

To this we must add the spoliation of State credits and all other credits： it issues in fourteen months 5 100 millions of assignats， at one time and with one decree 1，400 million and another time 2，000millions. It thus condemns itself to complete future bankruptcy. It also calls in the 1，500 million of assignats bearing the royal stamp (à face royale) and thus arbitrarily converts and reduces the public debt on the Grand Ledger， which is already， in fact， a partial and declared bankruptcy. Six months imprisonment for whoever refuses to accept assignats at par， twenty years in irons if the offence is repeated and the guillotine if there is an incivique intention or act， which suffices for all other creditors.[32]

The spoliation of individuals， a forced loan of a billion on the rich， requisitions for coin against assignats at par， seizures of plate and jewels in private houses， revolutionary taxes so numerous as not only to exhaust the capital， but likewise the credit， of the person taxed，[33] and the resumption by the State of the public domain pledged to private individuals for the past three centuries. How many years of labor are requisite to bring together again so much available capital， to reconstruct in France and to refill once again those private reservoirs which are to contain the accumulated savings essential for the out-flow required to drive the great wheel of each general enterprise？ Take into account， moreover， the enterprises which are directly destroyed， root and branch， by revolutionary executions， enforced against the manufacturers and traders of Lyons， Marseilles and Bordeaux， proscribed in a mass，[34] guillotined， imprisoned， or put to flight， their factories stopped， their storehouses put under sequestration， with their stocks of brandy， soap， silk， muslins， leather， paper， serges， cloth， canvas， cordage and the rest； the same at Nantes under Carrier， at Strasbourg under Saint-Just， and everywhere else.[35] - "Commerce is annihilated，" writes a Swiss merchant，[36] from Paris， and the government， one would say， tries systematically to render it impossible. On the 27th of June， 1793， the Convention closes the Bourse； on the 15th of April， 1794， it suppresses "financial associations" and "prohibits all bankers， merchants and other persons from organizing any establishment of the said character under any pretext or title whatsoever." On the 8th of September， 1793， the Commune places seals "in all the counting-houses of bankers， stockbrokers， agents and silver-dealers，"[37] and locks up their owners； as a favor， considering that they are obliged to pay the drafts drawn on them， they are let out， but provisionally， and on condition that they remain under arrest at home， "under the guard of two good citizens，" at their own expense. Such is the case in Paris and in other cities， not alone with prominent merchants， but likewise with notaries and lawyers， with whom funds are on deposit and who manage estates； a sans-culotte with his pike stands in their cabinet whilst they write， and he accompanies them in the street when they call on their clients. Imagine the state of a notary's office or a counting-room under a system of this sort！ The master of it winds up his business as soon as he can， no matter how， makes no new engagements and does as little as possible. Still more inactive than he， his colleagues， condemned to an indefinite listlessness， under lock and key in the common prison， no longer attend to their business.

- There is a general， total paralysis of those natural organs which， in economic life， produce， elaborate， receive， store， preserve， exchange and transmit in large quantities； and as an after effect， embarrass， saturate， or weaken all the lesser subordinate organs to which the superior ones no longer provide outlets， intermediary agencies or aliment.

It is now the turn of the small enterprises. Whatever their sufferings may be they are ordered to carry their work out as in normal times， and they will be forced to do this. The Convention， pursuing its accustomed rigid logical course with its usual shortsightedness， lays on them its violent and inept hands； they are trodden down， trampled upon and mauled for the purpose of curing them.