The Directory renews and aggravates the measures of the Convention against the remainder of the property-holders： there is no longer a disguised but a declared bankruptcy. 386，000 fund-holders and pensioners are deprived of two-thirds of their revenue and of their capital.[104] A forced loan of 100 millions is levied progressively， and wholly on "the well-off class." Finally， there is the law of hostages， this being atrocious， conceived in the spirit of September， 1792， suggested by the famous motions of Collot d'Herbois against those in confinement， and of Billaud-Varennes against the youth， Louis XVII.， but extended， elaborated and drawn up with cool legal acumen， and enforced and applied with the foresight of an administrator. --Remark that， without counting the Belgian departments， where an extensive insurrection is under way and spreading， more than one-half of the territory falls under the operation of this law. for， out of the eighty-six departments of France，[105] properly so called， forty-five are at this moment， according to the terms of the decree，[106] "declared to be in a state of civil uprising." Actually， in these departments， according to official reports， armed mobs of conscripts are resisting the authorities charged with recruiting them， bands of two hundred， three hundred and eight hundred men overrun the country， troops of brigands force open the prisons， assassinate the gendarmes and set their inmates free； the tax-collectors are robbed， killed or maimed， municipal officers slain， proprietors ransomed， estates devastated， and diligences stopped on the highways." Now， in all these cases， in all the departments， cantons or communes， three classes of persons， at first the relations and allies of the émigrés， next the former nobles and ennobled， and finally the "fathers， mothers， grandfathers and grandmothers of persons who， without being ex-nobles or relations of émigrés，" nevertheless form a part of the bands or mobs， are declared "personally and civilly responsible" for the violent acts committed. Even when these acts are only "imminent，" the administration of the department must， in its report， give a list of all the men and women who are responsible； these are to be taken as "hostages，" and kept in confinement at their own expense in the local jail. If they escape， they must be put on the same footing as émigrés， that is to say punished with death. If any damage is sustained， they are to pay costs； if any murder is committed or abduction effected， four amongst them must be deported. Observe， moreover， that the local authorities are obliged， under severe penalties， to execute the law at once. Note that， at this date， they are ultra Jacobin， since to inscribe on the list of hostages， not a noble or a bourgeois， but an honest peasant or respectable artisan， it suffices for these local sovereigns to designate his son or grandson， who might either be absent， fugitive or dead， as being "notoriously "insurgent or refractory. The fortunes， liberties and lives of every individual in easy circumstances are thus legally surrendered to the despotism， cupidity and hostility of the levelers in office. -Contemporaries estimate that 200，000 persons were affected by this law.[107] The Directory， during the three months of existence yet remaining to it， enforces it in seventeen departments； thousands of women and old men are arrested， put in confinement， and ruined， while several are sent off to Cayenne -- and this is called respect for the rights of man.
VIII. Propaganda and Foreign Conquests.
Propaganda and foreign conquests. - Proximity and advantages of Peace. - Motives of the Fructidorians for breaking off peace negotiations with England， and for abandoning the invasion of foreign countries. - How they found new republics. - How governed. -Estimate of foreign rapine. - Number of French lives sacrificed in the war.
After the system which the Fructidoreans establish in France， we may consider the system they impose abroad - always the same contrast， between the name and the thing， the same phrases covering the same misdeeds， and， under proclamations of liberty the institution of brigandage. - Undoubtedly， in any invaded province which thus passes from an old to a new despotism， fine words cleverly spoken produce at first the intended effect. But， in a few weeks or months， the ransomed， enlisted and forcibly "Frenchified" inhabitants， discover that the revolutionary right is much more oppressive， more harassing and more rapacious than divine right.
It is the right of the strongest. The reigning Jacobins know no other， abroad as well as at home， and， in the use they make of it， they are not restrained like ordinary statesmen， by a thorough comprehension of the interests of the State， by experience and tradition， by far-reaching plans， by an estimate of present and future strength. Being a sect， they subordinate France to their dogmas， and， with the narrow views， pride and arrogance of the sectary， they profess the same intolerance， the same need of domination and his instincts for propagandas and invasion. - This belligerent and tyrannical spirit they had already displayed under the Legislative Assembly， and they are intoxicated with it under the Convention.
