The French Revolution, vol 1 | Page 9

wheat belonging to the Jacobin monks, and,
protected by the troops, to sell it to the people at a third below its value.
At Nantes, where the town hall is attacked, they are forced to lower the
price of bread one sou per pound. At Angoulême, to avoid a recourse to
arms, they request the Comte d'Artois to renounce his dues on flour for
two months, reduce the price of bread, and compensate the bakers. At
Cette they are so maltreated they let everything take its course; the
people sack their dwellings and get the upper hand; they announce by
sound of trumpet that all their demands are granted. On other occasions,
the mob dispenses with their services and acts for itself. If there
happens to be no grain on the market-place, the people go after it
wherever they can find it -- to proprietors and farmers who are unable
to bring it for fear of pillage; to convents, which by royal edict are
obliged always to have one year's crop in store; to granaries where the
Government keeps its supplies; and to convoys which are dispatched by
the intendants to the relief of famished towns. Each for himself -- so
much the worse for his neighbor. The inhabitants of Fougères beat and
drive out those who come from Ernée to buy in their market; a similar
violence is shown at Vitré to the in-habitants of Maine.[19] At
Sainte-Léonard the people stop the grain started for Limoges; at Bost
that intended for Aurillac; at Saint-Didier that ordered for Moulins; and
at Tournus that dispatched to Macon. In vain are escorts added to the
convoys; troops of men and women, armed with hatchets and guns, put
themselves in ambush in the woods along the road, and seize the horses
by their bridles; the saber has to be used to secure any advance. In vain

are arguments and kind words offered, "and in vain even is wheat
offered for money; they refuse, shouting out that the convoy shall not
go on." They have taken a stubborn stand, their resolution being that of
a bull planted in the middle of the road and lowering his horns. Since
the wheat is in the district, it is theirs; whoever carries it off or
withholds it is a robber. This fixed idea cannot be driven out of their
minds. At Chant-nay, near Mans,[20] they prevent a miller from
carrying that which he had just bought to his mill. At Montdragon, in
Languedoc, they stone a dealer in the act of sending his last wagon load
elsewhere. At Thiers, workmen go in force to gather wheat in the fields;
a proprietor with whom some is found is nearly killed; they drink wine
in the cellars, and leave the taps running. At Nevers, the bakers not
having put bread on their counters for four days, the mob force the
granaries of private persons, of dealers and religious communities.
"The frightened corn-dealers part with their grain at any price; most of
it is stolen in the face of the guards," and, in the tumult of these
searches of homes, a number of houses are sacked. -- In these days woe
to all who are concerned in the acquisition, commerce, and
manipulation of grain! Popular imagination requires living beings to
who it may impute its misfortunes, and on whom it may gratify its
resentments. To it, all such persons are monopolists, and, at any rate,
public enemies. Near Angers the Benedictine establishment is invaded,
and its fields and woods are devastated.[21] At Amiens "the people are
arranging to pillage and perhaps burn the houses of two merchants,
who have built labor-saving mills." Restrained by the soldiers, they
confine themselves to breaking windows; but other "groups come to
destroy or plunder the houses of two or three persons whom they
suspect of being monopolists." At Nantes, a sieur Geslin, being
deputized by the people to inspect a house, and finding no wheat, a
shout is set up that he is a receiver, an accomplice! The crowd rush at
him, and he is wounded and almost cut in pieces. -- It is very evident
that there is no more security in France; property, even life, is in danger.
The primary possession, food, is violated in hundreds of places, and is
everywhere menaced and precarious. The local officials everywhere
call for aid, declare the constabulary incompetent, and demand regular
troops. And mark how public authority, everywhere inadequate,
disorganized, and tottering, finds stirred up against it not only the blind

madness of hunger, but, in addition, the evil instincts which profit by
every disorder and the inveterate lusts which every political commotion
frees from restraint.
IV.
Intervention of ruffians and vagabonds.
We have seen how numerous the smugglers, dealers in contraband salt,
poachers, vagabonds, beggars, and