I acknowledge that the chief ſource of theſe uſeleſs exceſſes is famine, and that it is for the moſt part the lower claſſes only who promote them; but the ſame cauſe and the ſame deſcription of people were made the inſtruments for bringing about the revolution, and the poor ſeek now, aſ they did in 1789, a remedy for their accumulated ſufferings in a change of government. The maſs of mankind are ever more readily deluded by hope than benefited by experience; and the French, being taught by the revolutioniſts to look for that relief from changes of government which ſuch changes cannot afford, now expect that the reſtoration of the monarchy will produce plenty, as they were before perſuaded that the firſt efforts to ſubvert it would baniſh want.
We are now tolerably quiet, and ſhould ſeriouſly think of going to Paris, were we not apprehenſive that ſome attempt from the Jacobins to reſcue their chiefs, may create new diſturbances. The late affair appears to have been only a retaliation of the thirty-firſt of May, 1792; and the remains of the Girondiſts have now proſcribed the leaders of the Mountaineers, much in the ſame way as they were then proſcribed themſelves.—Yours.
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.