THE LAST YEARS 381 



from which escaped dishevelled locks, bearded, with pipes in their 

 mouths, and often pistols in their belts, bottles and glasses between 

 their legs, swords and pistols on the table.' * 



Other executions, or rather murders, quickly followed on 

 the crime of the bastions. The gang who were responsible for 

 them sat for eighteen days, during which they pronounced 500 

 sentences, 37 of death (of which, fortunately, 26 were on absentees) 

 and 98 of exile. Meantime a second tribunal occupied itself in 

 organising pillage by confiscating the property of the rich and 

 distributing daily allowances to the insurgents and their families, 

 a welcome boon to those who having ceased to be workers learnt 

 that idleness has its drawbacks. The activity of this body pro- 

 duced a fund of five millions of francs the undistributed residue 

 of which was subsequently declared to be national property. 

 Idleness was encouraged and trade lost, the watchmakers and 

 shawl producers ceased to work, the upper class left the town, or 

 if forced to stay did their best to avoid attracting attention. 



It must be put to the credit of the Genevese, always emotional, 

 that their brief Reign of Terror left behind it some feelings of 

 remorse in the hearts of the mass of citizens. But these did not 

 result in any practical effort to put an end to disorder or a curb on 

 cruelty. 



Up to this moment de Saussure had grudged no expense of 

 energy or time in the attempt to save his country from the 

 destruction to which it was being brought by the folly of its own 

 children and the intrigues of French anarchists. But the murders 

 of 1794 drove him finally out of politics. He refused to be 

 associated with an administration stained by the blood of its 

 fellow-citizens. Called on to give his reasons for his retirement, 

 he explained that the events of the last summer had made on him 

 an impression which time only deepened. He would, he added, 

 have left his unhappy country had he not the hope that the day 

 would come when the punishment of the guilty would be demanded 

 by those who had had no share in their crimes. Until that day 

 came he could take no part in public affairs. 



1 Histoire de Geneve racontee aux jeunes Genevois, Jullien, 1863. I quote 

 from a school-book which attempts to be impartial. The picture of the tribunal 

 drawn by Cornuaud, the leader of the ' Natifs,' who successfully defended himself 

 before it, is even more revolting. 



