At Lyons， to increase the booty， the representatives had taken pains to encourage the manufacturers and merchants with vague promises；these opened their shops and brought their valuable goods， books and papers out of their hiding-places. No time is lost in seizing the plunder； "a list of all property belonging to the rich and to anti-revolutionaries" is drawn up， which is "confiscated for the benefit of the patriots of the city；" in addition to this a tax of six millions is imposed， payable in eight days， by those whom the confiscation may have still spared；[93] it is proclaimed， according to principle， that the surplus of each individual belongs by right to the sans-culottes， and whatever may have been retained beyond the strictly necessary， is a robbery by the individual to the detriment of the nation.[94] In conformity with this rule there is a general rounding up， prolonged for ten months， which places the fortunes of a city of one hundred and twenty thousand souls in the hands of its scoundrels. Thirty-two revolutionary committees "whose members are thick as thieves select thousands of guards devoted to them."[95] In confiscated dwellings and warehouses， they affix seals without an inventory； they drive out women and children "so that there shall be no witnesses；" they keep the keys； they enter and steal when they please， or install themselves for a revel with prostitutes. -- Meanwhile， the guillotine is kept going， and people are fired at and shot down with grape-shot. The revolutionary committee officially avow one thousand six hundred and eighty-two acts of murder committed in five months，[96] while a confederate of Robespierre's privately declare that there were six thousand.[97]
Blacksmiths are condemned to death for having shod the Lyonnese cavalry， firemen for having extinguished fires kindled by republican bombshells， a widow for having paid a war-tax during the siege， market women for "having shown disrespect to patriots." It is an organized "Septembrisade" made legal and lasting； its authors are so well aware of the fact as to use the word itself in their public correspondence.[98] -- At Toulon it is worse， people are slaughtered in heaps， almost haphazard. Notwithstanding that the inhabitants the most compromised， to the number of four thousand， take refuge on board English vessels， the whole city， say the representatives， is guilty.
Four hundred workmen in the navy-yard having marched out to meet Fréron， he reminds them that they kept on working during the English occupation of the town， and he has them put to death on the spot. An order is issued to all "good citizens to assemble in the Champ de Mars on penalty of death." They come there to the number of three thousand；Fréron， on horseback， surrounded by cannon and troops， arrives with about a hundred Maratists， the former accomplices of Lemaille， Sylvestre， and other well-known assassins， who form a body of local auxiliaries and counselors； he tells them to select out of the crowd at pleasure according to their grudge， fancy， or caprice； all who are designated are ranged along a wall and shot. The next morning， and on the following days， the operation is renewed： Fréron writes on the 16th of Nivose that "eight hundred Toulonese have already been shot.". . . "A volley of musketry，" says he， in another letter， and after that， volley after volley， until "the traitors are all gone." Then， for three months after this， the guillotine dispatches eighteen hundred persons； eleven young women have to mount the scaffold together， in honor of a republican festival； an old woman of ninety-four is borne to it in an armchair. The population， initially of twenty-eight thousand people， is reduced to six or seven thousand only.