ge." Upon this the crowd, rushing off to
the barriers, to the gates of Sainte-Claire and Perrache, and to the
Guillotiere bridge, burn or demolish the bureaux, destroy the registers,
sack the lodgings of the clerks, carry off the money and pillage the
wine on hand in the depot. In the mean time a rumor has circulated all
round through the country that there is free entrance into the town for
all provisions. During the following days the peasantry stream in with
enormous files of wagons loaded with wine and drawn by several oxen, so
that, in spite of the re-established guard, it is necessary to let them
enter all day without paying the dues. It is only on the 7th of July
that these can again be collected.--The same thing occurs in the
southern provinces, where the principal imposts are levied on
provisions. There also the collections are suspended in the name of
public authority. At Agde,[1128] "the people, considering the so-called
will of the King as to equality of classes, are foolish enough to think
that they are everything and can do everything." Thus do they interpret
in their own way and in their own terms the double representation
accorded to the Third-Estate. They threaten the town, consequently, with
general pillage if the prices of all provisions are not reduced, and if
the duties of the province on wine, fish, and meat are not suppressed.
They also wish to nominate consuls who have sprung up out of their
body." The bishop, the lord of the manor, the mayor and the notables,
against whom they forcibly stir up the peasantry in the country, are
obliged to proclaim by sound of trumpet that their demands shall be
granted. Three days afterwards they exact a diminution of one-half of
the tax on grinding, and go in quest of the bishop who owns the mills.
The prelate, who is ill, sinks down in the street and seats himself on
a stone; they compel him forthwith to sign an act of renunciation,
and hence "his mill, valued at 15,000 livres, is reduced to 7,500
livres."--At Limoux, under the pretext of searching for grain, they
enter the houses of the comptroller and tax contractors, carry off their
registers, and throw them into the water along with the furniture of
their clerks.--In Provence it is worse; for most unjustly, and through
inconceivable imprudence, the taxes of the towns are all levied on
flour. It is therefore to this impost that the dearness of bread is
directly attributed. Hence the fiscal agent becomes a mani