But the total effect of all this is yet more damaging， for， out of the vast numbers of workers it ruins it forms beggars unwilling to work， dangerous sluggards going about begging and extorting bread from peasants who have not too much for themselves. "The vagabonds about the country，" says Letrosne，[31] "are a terrible pest； they are like an enemy's force which， distributed over the territory， obtains a living as it pleases， levying veritable contributions. . . . They are constantly roving around the country， examining the approaches to houses， and informing themselves about their inmates and of their habits.- Woe to those supposed to have money！ . . . What numbers of highway robberies and what burglaries！ What numbers of travelers assassinated， and houses and doors broken into！ What assassinations of curates， farmers and widows， tormented to discover money and afterwards killed！ Twenty-five years anterior (page 384/284) to the Revolution it was not infrequent to see fifteen or twenty of these "invade a farm-house to sleep there， intimidating the farmers and exacting whatever they pleased." In 1764， the government takes measures against them which indicate the magnitude of the evil[32].
"Are held to be vagabonds and vagrants， and condemned as such， those who， for a preceding term of six months， shall have exercised no trade or profession， and who， having no occupation or means of subsistence， can procure no persons worthy of confidence to attest and verify their habits and mode of life. . . . The intent of His Majesty is not merely to arrest vagabonds traversing the country but， again， all mendicants whatsoever who， without occupations， may be regarded as suspected of vagabondage."The penalty for able-bodied men is three years in the galleys； in case of a second conviction， nine years； and for a third， imprisonment for life. Under the age of sixteen， they are put in an institution. "Amendicant who has made himself liable to arrest by the police，" says the circular， "is not to be released except under the most positive assurance that he will no longer beg； this course will be followed only in case of persons worthy of confidence and solvent guaranteeing the mendicant， and engaging to provide him with employment or to support him， and they shall indicate the means by which they are to prevent him from begging." This being furnished， the special authorization of the intendant must be obtained in addition. By virtue of this law， 50，000 beggars are said to have been arrested at once， and， as the ordinary hospitals and prisons were not large enough to contain them， jails had to be constructed. Up to the end of the ancient régime this measure is carried out with occasional intermissions： in Languedoc， in 1768， arrests were still made of 433in six months， and， in 1785， 205 in four months[33]. A little before this time 300 were confined in the depot of Besan？on， 500 in that of Rennes and 650 in that of Saint Denis. It cost the king a million a year to support them， and God knows how they were bedded and fed！
Water， straw， bread， and two ounces of salted grease， the whole at an expense of five sous a day； and， as the price of provisions for twenty years back had increased more than a third， the keeper who had them in charge was obliged to make them fast or ruin himself. - With respect to the mode of filling the depots， the police are Turks in their treatment of the lower class； they strike into the heap， their broom bruising as many as they sweep out. According to the ordinance of 1778， writes an intendant，[34]
"the police must arrest not only beggars and vagabonds whom they encounter but， again， those denounced as such or as suspected persons.
The citizen， the most irreproachable in his conduct and the least open to suspicion of vagabondage， is not sure of not being shut up in the depot， as his freedom depends on a policeman who is constantly liable to be deceived by a false denunciation or corrupted by a bribe. I have seen in the depot at Rennes several husbands arrested solely through the denunciation of their wives， and as many women through that of their husbands； several children by the first wife at the solicitation of their step-mothers； many female domestics pregnant by the masters they served， shut up at their instigation， and girls in the same situation at the instance of their seducers； children denounced by their fathers， and fathers denounced by their children； all without the slightest evidence of vagabondage or mendicity. . . . No decision of the provost's court exists restoring the incarcerated to their liberty， notwithstanding the infinite number arrested unjustly."Suppose that a human intendant， like this one， sets them at liberty： there they are in the streets， without a penny， beggars through the action of a law which proscribes mendicity and which adds to the wretched it prosecutes the wretched it creates， still more embittered and corrupt in body and in soul.
"It nearly always happens，" says the same intendant， "that the prisoners， arrested twenty-five or thirty leagues from the depot， are not confined there until three or four months after their arrest， and sometimes longer. Meanwhile， they are transferred from brigade to brigade， in the prisons found along the road， where they remain until the number increases sufficiently to form a convoy. Men and women are confined in the same prison， the result of which is， the females not pregnant on entering it are always so on their arrival at the depot.
The prisons are generally unhealthy； frequently， the majority of the prisoners are sick on leaving it；"and many become rascals on coming in contact with rascals.-Moral contagion and physical contagion， the ulcer thus increasing through the remedy， centers of repression becoming centers of corruption.
And yet with all its rigors the law does not attain its ends.