in 1793, instead of being three sous the pound, costs six sous, in many
of the southern departments seven and eight sous, and in other places
ten and twelve sous.[4221] The reason is, that, since August 10, 1792,
after the King's fall and the wrenching away of the ancient keystone of
the arch which still kept the loosened stones of the social edifice in
place, the frightened peasant would no longer part with his produce; he
determined not to take assignats, not to let his grain go for anything
but ringing coin. To exchange good wheat for bad, dirty paper rags
seemed to him a trick, and justly so, for, on going to town every month
he found that the dealers gave him less merchandise for these rags.
Being distrustful and a hoarder, he must have good, old fashioned
crowns, with the ancient effigy, so as to lay them away in a jar or old
woollen stocking; give him specie or he will keep his grain. For he is
not, as formerly, obliged to part with it as soon as it is cut, to pay
taxes and rent; the bailiff and sheriff are no longer there to constrain
him; in these times of disorder and demagoguism, under impotent or
partial authorities, neither the public nor the private creditor has
the power to compel payment, while the spurs which formerly impelled the
farmer to seek the nearest market are blunted or broken. He therefore
stays away, and he has excellent reasons for so doing. Vagabonds and the
needy stand by the roadside and at the entrances of the towns to stop
and pillage the loaded carts; in the markets and on the open square,
women cut open bags of grain with their scissors and empty them, or the
municipality, forced to do it by the crowd, fixes the price at a reduced
rate.[4222]--The larger a town, the greater the difficulty in supplying
its market; for its provisions are drawn from a distance; each
department, each canton, each village keeps its own grain for itself
by means of legal requisitions or by brutal force; it is impossible
for wholesale dealers in grain to make bargains; they are styled
monopolists, and the mob, breaking into their storehouses, hangs them
out of preference.[4223] As the government, accordingly, has proclaimed
their speculations "crimes," it is going to interdict their trade and
substitute itself for them.[4224]--But this substitution only increases
the penury still more; in vain do the towns force collections, tax
their rich men, raise money on loan, and burden themselves beyond their
resources