Thus, the greater the pillage, the greater the service to the
public. According to the insurgents, it is important "to diminish
revenues enjoyed by the enemies of the nation, in order that they
may not send their revenues to Coblentz and other places out of the
kingdom." Consequently, bands of six or eight hundred or a thousand
men overrun the districts of Toulouse and Castelsarrasin. All
proprietors, aristocrats, and patriots are put under contribution.
Here, in the house of "the philanthropic but fanatical old maid,
they break open everything, destroy the furniture, taking away
eighty-two bushels of wheat and sixteen hogsheads of wine."
Elsewhere, at Roqueferri?re, feudal title-deeds are burnt, and a
chateau is pillaged. Farther on, at Lasserre, thirty thousand
francs are exacted and the ready money is all carried off. Almost
everywhere the municipal officers, willingly or unwillingly,
authorize pillaging. Moreover, "they cut down provisions to a price
in assignats very much less than their current rate in silver," and
they double the price of a day's work.
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