The French Revolution, vol 1 | Page 6

have eaten for a week at a time."
But this resource is only for the rich. As for the people, to get bread fit
for dogs, they must stand in a line for hours. And here they fight for it;
"they snatch food from one another." There is no more work to be had;
"the work-rooms are deserted;" often, after waiting a whole day, the
workman returns home empty-handed. When he does bring back a
four-pound loaf it costs him 3 francs 12 sous; that is, 12 sous for the
bread, and 3 francs for the lost day. In this long line of unemployed,

excited men, swaying to and fro before the shop-door, dark thoughts
are fermenting: "if the bakers find no flour to-night to bake with, we
shall have nothing to eat to- morrow." An appalling idea; -- in presence
of which the whole power of the Government is not too strong; for to
keep order in the midst of famine nothing avails but the sight of an
armed force, palpable and threatening. Under Louis XIV and Louis XV
there had been even greater hunger and misery; but the outbreaks,
which were roughly and promptly put down, were only partial and
passing disorders. Some rioters were at once hung, and others were sent
to the galleys. The peasant or the workman, convinced of his impotence,
at once returned to his stall or his plow. When a wall is too high one
does not even think of scaling it. -- But now the wall is cracking -- all
its custodians, the clergy, the nobles, the Third-Estate, men of letters,
the politicians, and even the Government itself, making the breach
wider. The wretched, for the first time, discover an issue: they dash
through it, at first in driblets, then in a mass, and rebellion becomes as
universal as resignation was in the past.
II.
Expectations the second cause. - Separation and laxity of the
administrative forces. - Investigations of local assemblies. - The people
become aware of their condition. - Convocation of the States-General. -
Hope is born. The coincidence of early Assemblies with early
difficulties.
It is just through this breach that hope steals like a beam of light, and
gradually finds its way down to the depths below. For the last fifty
years it has been rising, and its rays, which first illuminated the upper
class in their splendid apartments in the first story, and next the middle
class in their entresol and on the ground floor. They have now for two
years penetrated to the cellars where the people toil, and even to the
deep sinks and obscure corners where rogues and vagabonds and
malefactors, a foul and swarming herd, crowd and hide themselves
from the persecution of the law. -- To the first two provincial
assemblies instituted by Necker in 1778 and 1779, Loménie de Brienne
has in 1787 just added nineteen others; under each of these are
assemblies of the arrondissement, under each assembly of the
arrondissement are parish assemblies[8]. Thus the whole machinery of
administration has been changed. It is the new assemblies which assess

the taxes and superintend their collection; which determine upon and
direct all public works; and which form the court of final appeal in
regard to matters in dispute. The intendant, the sub-delegate, the elected
representative[9], thus lose three-quarters of their authority. Conflicts
arise, consequently, between rival powers whose frontiers are not
clearly defined; command shifts about, and obedience is diminished.
The subject no longer feels on his shoulders the commanding weight of
the one hand which, without possibility of interference or resistance,
held him in, urged him forward, and made him move on. Meanwhile, in
each assembly of the parish arrondissement, and even of the province,
plebeians, "husband- men,"[10] and often common farmers, sit by the
side of lords and prelates. They listen to and remember the vast figure
of the taxes which are paid exclusively, or almost exclusively, by them
-- the taille and its accessories, the poll-tax and road dues, and
assuredly on their return home they talk all this over with their
neighbor. These figures are all printed; the village attorney discusses
the matter with his clients, the artisans and rustics, on Sunday as they
leave the mass, or in the evening in the large public room of the tavern.
These little gatherings, moreover, are sanctioned, encouraged by the
powers above. In the earliest days of 1788 the provincial assemblies
order a board of inquiry to be held by the syndics and inhabitants of
each parish. Knowledge is wanted in detail of their grievances. What
part of the revenue is chargeable to each impost? What must the
cultivator pay and how much does he suffer? How many privileged
persons there are in the parish, what is the amount of