The policy of some Deputies who have
acquired too much, or the malice of others who have acquired nothing, has
frequently proposed, that every member of the Convention should publish
an account of his fortune before and since the revolution. An
enthusiastic and acclamatory decree of assent has always insued; but
somehow prudence has hitherto cooled this warmth before the subsequent
debate, and the resolution has never yet been carried into effect.
The crimes of Maignet, though they appear to occasion but little regret
in his colleagues, have been the source of considerable embarrassment to
them. When he was on mission in the department of Vaucluse, besides
numberless other enormities, he caused the whole town of Bedouin to be
burnt, a part of its inhabitants to be guillotined, and the rest
dispersed, because the tree of liberty was cut down one dark night, while
they were asleep.*
* Maignet's order for the burning of Bedouin begins thus: "Liberte,
egalite, au nom du peuple Francais!" He then states the offence of
the inhabitants in suffering the tree of liberty to be cut down,
institutes a commission for trying them, and proceeds--"It is hereby
ordered, that as soon as the principal criminals are executed, the
national agent shall notify to the remaining inhabitants not
confined, that they are enjoined to evacuate their dwellings, and
take out their effects in twenty-four hours; at the expiration of
which he is to commit the town to the flames, and leave no vestige
of a building standing.
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