f. 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 Fougeres beat and drive out those who come from Ernee
to buy in their market; a similar violence is shown at Vitre to the
in-habitants of Maine.[1119] At Sainte-Leonard 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,[1120]
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 i