arbitrarily, and brutally, whatever they think to be in conformity
with natural right. -- At Peinier they exact a second electoral
assembly, and, for themselves, the right of suffrage. -- At Saint-
Maximin they themselves elect new consuls and officers of justice.
-- At Solliez they oblige the judge's lieutenant to give in his
resignation, and they break his staff of office. -- At Barjols
"they use consuls and judges as their town servants, announcing that
they are masters and that they will themselves administer justice."
-- In fact, they do administer it, as they understand it -- that is
to say, through many exactions and robberies! One man has wheat; he
must share it with him who has none. Another has money; he must
give it to him who has not enough to buy bread with. On this
principle, at Barjols, they tax the Ursulin nuns 1,800 livres, carry
off fifty loads of wheat from the Chapter, eighteen from one poor
artisan, and forty from another, and constrain canons and
beneficiaries to give acquittances to their farmers. Then, from
house to house, with club in hand, they oblige some to hand over
money, others to abandon their claims on their debtors, "one to
desist from criminal proceedings, another to nullify a decree
obtained, a third to reimburse the expenses of a lawsuit gained
years before, a father to give his consent to the marriage of his
son." -- All their grievances are brought to mind, and we all know
the tenacity of a peasant's memory. Having become the master, he
redresses wrongs, and especially those of which he thinks himself
the object. There must be a general restitution; and first, of the
feudal dues which have been collected. They take of M. de
Montmeyan's business agent all the money he has as compensation for
that received by him during fifteen years as a notary. A former
consul of Brignolles had, in 1775, inflicted penalties to the amount
of 1,500 or 1,800 francs, which had been given to the poor; this sum