- And yet the crop has not been a bad
one. But there is no circulation of grain. Each petty center has
formed a league for the monopoly of food; and hence the fasting of
others and the convulsions of the entire body are the first effects
of the unbridled freedom which the Constitution and circumstances
have conferred on each local group.
"We are told to assemble, vote, and elect men that will attend to
our business; let us attend to it ourselves. We have had enough of
talk and hypocrisy. Bread at two sous, and let us go after wheat
where it can be found!" Such is the reasoning of the peasantry, and,
in Nivernais, Bourbonnais, Berri, and Touraine, electoral gatherings
are the firebrands of the insurrections.[13] At Saint-Sauge, "the
first work of the primary meeting is to oblige the municipal
officers to fix the price of wheat under the penalty of being
decapitated." At Saint-G?ran the same course is taken with regard to
bread, wheat, and meat; at Ch?tillon-en-Bayait it is done with all
supplies, and always a third or a half under the market price,
without mentioning other exactions.
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