ot comprehend how such a vast number of
criminals, without visible leaders, agree amongst themselves everywhere
to commit the same excesses just at the time when the States-General are
going to begin their sittings." The reason is that, under the ancient
regime, the conflagration was smoldering in a closed chamber; the great
door is suddenly opened, the air enters, and immediately the flame
breaks out.

III.--The provinces during the first six months of 1789

Effects of the famine.

At first there are only intermittent, isolated fires, which are
extinguished or go out of themselves; but, a moment after, in the same
place, or very near it, the sparks again appear. Their number, like
their recurrence, shows the vastness, depth, and heat of the combustible
matter, which is about to explode. In the four months, which precede the
taking of the Bastille, over three hundred outbreaks may be counted in
France. They take place from month to month and from week to week, in
Poitou, Brittany, Touraine, Orleanais, Normandy, Ile-de-France, Picardy,
Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Nivernais, Auvergne, Languedoc, and
Provence. On the 28th of May the parliament of Rouen announces robberies
of grain, "violent and bloody tumults, in which men on both sides have
fallen," throughout the province, at Caen, Saint-Lo, Mortain, Granville,
Evreux, Bernay, Pont-Andemer, Elboeuf; Louviers, and in other sections
besides. On the 20th of April Baron de Bezenval, military commander
in the Central Provinces, writes: "I once more lay before M. Necker a
picture of the frightful condition of Touraine and of Orleanais. Every
letter I receive from these two provinces is the narrative of three
or four riots, which are put down with difficulty by the troops and
constabulary,"[1115]--and throughout the whole extent of the kingdom a
similar state of things is seen. The women, as is natural, are generally
at the head of these outbreaks. It is they who, at Montlhery, rip open
the sacks of grain with their scissors. On learning each week, on market
day that the price of a loaf of bread advances three, four, or seven
sous, they break out into shrieks of rage: at this rate for bread, with
the small salaries of the men, and when work fails,[1116] how can a
family be fed? Crowds gather around the sacks of flour and the doors of
the bakers. Amidst outcries and reproaches some one in the crowd makes a
push; the proprietor or dealer is hustled and knocked down.