At Troyes, a story
prevails that another has poisoned his flour with alum and arsenic,
commissioned to do so by the bakers. -- Conceive the effect of
suspicions like these upon a suffering multitude! A wave of hatred
ascends from the empty stomach to the morbid brain. The people are
everywhere in quest of their imaginary enemies, plunging forward
with closed eyes no matter on whom or on what, not merely with all
the weight of their mass, but with all the energy of their fury.
IV.
Panic. - General arming.
>From the earliest of these weeks they were already alarmed.
Accustomed to being led, the human herd is scared at being left to
itself; it misses its leaders who it has trodden under foot; in
throwing off their trammels it has deprived itself of their
protection. It feels lonely, in an unknown country, exposed to
dangers of which it is ignorant, and against which it is unable to
guard itself. Now that the shepherds are slain or disarmed, suppose
the wolves should unexpectedly appear! - And there are wolves - I
mean vagabonds and criminals - who have but just issued out of the
darkness.
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