"We are at preſent calm, but our diſtreſs for bread is intolerable, and the people occaſionally aſſail the paſtry-cookſ' ſhops; which act of hoſtility is called, with more pleaſantry than truth or feeling, 'La guerre du pain bis contre la brioche.' [The war of brown bread againſt cakes.]—God knows, it is not the quality of bread, but the ſcarcity of it which excites theſe diſcontents.
"The new arithmetic* is more followed, and more intereſting, than ever, though our hopes are all vague, and we neither gueſs how or by whom they are to be fulfilled.
* This was a myſterious way of expreſſing that the royaliſts were ſtill gaining ground. It alluded to a cuſtom which then prevailed, of people aſking each other in the ſtreet, and ſometimes even aſſailing the Deputies, with the queſtion of "How much is eight and a half and eight and a half?"—By which was underſtood Louis the Seventeenth.
"I have done every thing that depends on me to obtain your paſſportſ without ſucceſs, and I ſtill adviſe you to come to Paris and ſolicit them in perſon. Your departure, in happier times, would be a ſubject of regret, at preſent I ſhall both envy and congratulate you when you are enabled to quit a country which promiſes ſo little ſecurity or ſatiſfaction.
"We receive, at this moment, the two loaves. My ſiſter joins me in acknowledgments, and expreſſes her fears that you muſt ſuffer by your kindneſs, though it is truly acceptable—for I have been ſeveral dayſ under arms, and have had no time to make my uſual excurſions in ſearch of bread.
"Yours, &c."
The propoſed diſſolution of the Aſſembly alluded to in the beginning of Mons. ————'s letter, occaſioned here a more general rejoicing than even the fall of the Jacobin club, and, not being influenced by the motives ſuggeſted to the Pariſians, we were ſincerely diſappointed when we found the meaſure poſtponed. The morning this news arrived, we walked about the town till dinner, and in every ſtreet people were collected in groupes, and engaged in eager diſcuſſion. An acquaintance whom we happened to meet, inſtead of the uſual ſalutations, exclaimed "Nouſ viola quittes, ils ſ'en vont les brigandſ" ["At length we are quit of them—the rogues are going about their buſineſs.">[; and I obſerved ſeveral recontres of this ſort, where people ſkipped and caracoled, as though unable to contain their ſatiſfaction. Nothing was talked of but Le Petit [An endearing appellation given to the young King by thoſe who would not venture to mention his name.], and the new elections; and I remarked with pleaſure, that every one agreed in the total excluſion of all the preſent Deputies.
Two mornings after we had been indulging in theſe agreeable viſions, we learned that the Convention, purely from a patriotic deſire of ſerving their country, had determined not to quit their poſt. We were at thiſ time in extreme want of bread, the diſtribution not exceeding a quarter of a pound per day; and numbers who are at their eaſe in other reſpects, could not obtain any. This, operating perhaps with the latent ill humour occaſioned by ſo unwelcome a declaration of perſeverance on the part of their Repreſentatives, occaſioned a violent ferment among the people, and on the ſecond of this month they were in open revolt; the magazine of corn for the uſe of the army was beſieged, the national colours were inſulted, and Blaux, a Deputy who is here on miſſion, was dragged from the Hotel de Ville, and obliged by the enraged populace to cry "Vive le Roi!" Theſe diſorders continued till the next day, but were at length appeaſed by a ſmall diſtribution of flour from the magazine.
In the debates of the Convention the whole is aſcribed to the Jacobins, though it is well known they have no influence here; and I wiſh you to attend to this circumſtance more particularly, as it proves what artifices are uſed to conceal the real ſentiments of the people. I, and every inhabitant of Amiens, can atteſt that this revolt, which waſ declared in the Aſſembly to have been inſtigated by the partizans of the Jacobins, was, as far as it had any decided political character, an efferveſcence of royaliſm.
At Rouen, Abbeville, and other places, the trees of liberty, (or, rather, the trees of the republic,) have been cut down, the tri-coloured flag torn, and the cry of "Vive le Roi!" was for ſome time predominant; yet the ſame miſrepreſentation was had recourſe to, and all theſe places were aſſerted to have eſpouſed the cauſe of that party to which they are moſt repugnant.