Amiens, May 9, 1795.
Whilſt all Europe is probably watching with ſolicitude the progreſs of the French arms, and the variations of their government, the French themſelves, almoſt indifferent to war and politics, think only of averting the horrors of famine. The important news of the day is the portion of bread which is to be diſtributed; and the ſiege of Mentz, or the treaty with the King of Pruſſia, are almoſt forgotten, amidſt enquiries about the arrival of corn, and anxiety for the approach of harveſt. The ſame paper that announces the ſurrender of towns, and the ſucceſs of battles, tells us that the poor die in the ſtreets of Paris, or are driven to commit ſuicide, through want. We have no longer to contend with avaricious ſpeculations, but a real ſcarcity; and detachments of the National Guard, reinforced by cannon, often ſearch the adjacent villages ſeveral days ſucceſſively without finding a ſingle ſeptier of corn. The farmers who have yet been able to conceal any, refuſe to diſpoſe of it for aſſignats; and the poor, who have neither plate nor money, exchange their beſt clothes or linen for a loaf, or a ſmall quantity of flour. Our gates are ſometimes aſſailed by twenty or thirty people, not to beg money, but bread; and I am frequently accoſted in the ſtreet by women of decent appearance, who, when I offer them aſſignats, refuſe them, ſaying, "We have enough of this ſorry paper—it is bread we want."—If you are aſked to dine, you take your bread with you; and you travel as though you were going a voyage—for there are not many inns on the road where you can expect to find bread, or indeed proviſions of any kind.
Having procured a few ſix-livre pieces, we were enabled to purchaſe a ſmall ſupply of corn, though by no means enough for our conſumption, ſo that we are obliged to oeconomiſe very rigidly. Mr. D———— and the ſervants eat bread made with three-parts bran to one of flour. The little proviſion we poſſeſs is, however, a great embarraſſment to us, for we are not only ſubject to domiciliary viſits, but continually liable to be pillaged by the ſtarving poor around us; and we are often under the neceſſity of paſſing ſeveral meals without bread, becauſe we dare not ſend the wheat to be ground, nor bake except at night. While the laſt operation is performing, the doors are carefully ſhut, the bell rings in vain, and no gueſt is admitted till every veſtige of it is removed.—All the breweries have ſeals put upon the doors, and ſevere penal laws are iſſued againſt converting barley to any other purpoſe than the making of bread. If what is allowed us were compoſed only of barley, or any other wholeſome grain, we ſhould not repine; but the diſtribution at preſent iſ a mixture of grown wheat, peas, rye, &c. which has ſcarcely the reſemblance of bread.
I was aſked to-day, by ſome women who had juſt received their portion, and in an accent of rage and deſpair that alarmed me, whether I thought ſuch food fit for a human creature.—We cannot alleviate this miſery, and are impatient to eſcape from the ſight of it. If we can obtain paſſportſ to go from hence to Paris, we hope there to get a final releaſe, and a permiſſion to return to England.
My friend Madame de la F———— has left us, and I fear is only gone home to die. Her health was perfectly good when we were firſt arreſted, though vexation, more than confinement, has contributed to undermine it. The revolution had, in various ways, diminiſhed her property; but thiſ ſhe would have endured with patience, had not the law of ſucceſſionſ involved her in difficulties which appeared every day more interminable, and perplexed her mind by the proſpect of a life of litigation and uncertainty. By this law, all inheritances, donations, or bequeſts, ſince the fourteenth of July 1789, are annulled and ſubjected to a general partition among the neareſt relatives. In conſequence, a large eſtate of the Marquiſe's, as well as another already ſold, are to be accounted for, and divided between a variety of claimants. Two of the number being emigrants, the republic is alſo to ſhare; and as the live ſtock, furniture, farming utenſils, and arrears, are included in thiſ abſurd and iniquitous regulation, the confuſion and embarraſſment which it has occaſioned are indeſcribable.
Though an unlucky combination of circumſtances has rendered ſuch a law particularly oppreſſive to Madame de la F————, ſhe is only one of an infinite number who are affected by it, and many of whom may perhaps be ſtill greater ſufferers than herſelf. The Conſtituent Aſſembly had attempted to form a code that might counteract the ſpirit of legal diſputation, for which the French are ſo remarkable; but this ſingle decree will give birth to more proceſſes than all the pandects, canons, and droits feodaux, accumulated ſince the days of Charlemagne; and I doubt, though one half the nation were lawyers, whether they might not find ſufficient employment in demalgamating the property of the other half.
This mode of partition, in itſelf ill calculated for a rich and commercial people, and better adapted to the republic of St. Marino than to that of France, was introduced under pretext of favouring the ſyſtem of equality; and its tranſition from abſurdity to injuſtice, by giving it a retroactive effect, was promoted to accommodate the "virtuouſ" Herault de Sechelles, who acquired a conſiderable addition of fortune by it. The Convention are daily beſet with petitions from all parts on this ſubject; but their followers and themſelves being ſomewhat in the ſtyle of Falſtaff's regiment—"younger ſons of younger brothers," they ſeem determined, as they uſually are, to ſquare their notions of juſtice by what is moſt conducive to their own intereſt.
An apprehenſion of ſome attempt from the Jacobins, and the diſcontentſ which the ſcarcity of bread give riſe to among the people, have produced a private order from the Committees of government for arming and re-organizing the National Guard.*
* Though I have often had occaſion to uſe the term National Guard, it is to be underſtood only as citizens armed for ſome temporary purpoſe, whoſe arms were taken from them as ſoon as that ſervice waſ performed. The Garde Nationale, as a regular inſtitution, had been in a great meaſure ſuppreſſed ſince the ſummer of 1793, and thoſe who compoſed it gradually diſarmed. The uſual ſervice of mounting guard was ſtill continued, but the citizens, with very few exceptions, were armed only with pikes, and even thoſe were not entruſted to their own care, each delivering up his arms when he retired more exactly than if it were an article of capitulation with a ſucceſſful enemy.
—I remember, in 1789 and 1790, when this popular militia was firſt inſtituted, every one, either from policy or inclination, appeared eager to promote it; and nothing was diſcuſſed but military fetes, balls, exerciſe, and uniforms. Theſe patriotic levities have now entirely vaniſhed, and the buſineſs proceeds with languor and difficulty. One dreads the preſent expence, another future perſecution, and all are ſolicitous to find cauſe for exemption.
This reluctance, though perhaps to be regretted, is in a great meaſure juſtifiable. Where the lives and fortunes of a whole nation are dependent on the changes of party, obſcurity becomes the ſureſt protection, and thoſe who are zealous now, may be the firſt ſacrificeſ hereafter. Nor is it encouraging to arm for the defence of the Convention, which is deſpiſed, or to oppoſe the violence of a populace, who, however miſguided, are more objects of compaſſion than of puniſhment.
Fouquier Tinville, with ſixteen revolutionary Judges and Jurymen, have been tried and executed, at the moment when the inſtigators of their crimes, Billaud-Varennes, Collot, &c. were ſentenced by the Convention to a baniſhment, which is probably the object of their wiſhes. Thiſ Tinville and his accomplices, who condemned thouſands with ſuch ferociouſ gaiety, beheld the approach of death themſelves with a mixture of rage and terror, that even cowardice and guilt do not always exhibit. It ſeems an awful diſpenſation of Providence, that they who were inhuman enough to wiſh to deprive their victims of the courage which enabled them to ſubmit to their fate with reſignation, ſhould in their laſt momentſ want that courage, and die deſpairing, furious, and uttering imprecations, which were returned by the enraged multitude.*
—Yours, &c.
* Some of the Jurymen were in the habit of taking caricatures of the priſoners while they condemned them. Among the papers of the Revolutionary Tribunal were found blank ſentences, which were occaſionally ſent to the Committee of Public Safety, to be filled up with the names of thoſe intended to be ſacrificed.—The name of one of the Jurymen executed on this occaſion was Leroi, but being a very ardent republican, he had changed it for that of Citizen Tenth of Auguſt.