第180章

Examine administrative correspondence for the last thirty years preceding the Revolution. Countless statements reveal excessive suffering， even when not terminating in fury. Life to a man of the lower class， to an artisan， or workman， subsisting on the labor of his own hands， is evidently precarious； he obtains simply enough to keep him from starvation and he does not always get that[15]. Here， in four districts， "the inhabitants live only on buckwheat，" and for five years， the apple crop having failed， they drink only water. There， in a country of vine-yards，[16] "the wine-growers each year are reduced， for the most part， to begging their bread during the dull season."Elsewhere， several of the day-laborers and mechanics， obliged to sell their effects and household goods， die of the cold； insufficient and unhealthy food generates sickness， while， in two districts， 35，000persons are stated to be living on alms[17]. In a remote canton the peasants cut the grain still green and dry it in the oven， because they are too hungry to wait. The intendant of Poitiers writes that "as soon as the workhouses open， a prodigious number of the poor rush to them， in spite of the reduction of wages and of the restrictions imposed on them in behalf of the most needy." The intendant of Bourges notices that a great many tenant farmers have sold off their furniture， and that "entire families pass two days without eating，"and that in many parishes the famished stay in bed most of the day because they suffer less. The intendant of Orleans reports that "in Sologne， poor widows have burned up their wooden bedsteads and others have consumed their fruit trees，" to preserve themselves from the cold， and he adds， "nothing is exaggerated in this statement； the cries of want cannot be expressed； the misery of the rural districts must be seen with one's own eyes to obtain an idea of it." From Rioni， from La Rochelle， from Limoges， from Lyons， from Montauban， from Caen， from Alen？on， from Flanders， from Moulins come similar statements by other intendants. One might call it the interruptions and repetitions of a funeral knell； even in years not disastrous it is heard on all sides. In Burgundy， near Chatillon-sur-Seine，"taxes， seigniorial dues， the tithes， and the expenses of cultivation， split up the productions of the soil into thirds， leaving nothing for the unfortunate cultivators， who would have abandoned their fields， had not two Swiss manufacturers of calicoes settled there and distributed about the country 40，000 francs a year in cash."[18]

In Auvergne， the country is depopulated daily； many of the villages have lost， since the beginning of the century， more than one-third of their inhabitants[19].

"Had not steps been promptly taken to lighten the burden of a down-trodden people，" says the provincial assembly in 1787， "Auvergne would have forever lost its population and its cultivation."In Comminges， at the outbreak of the Revolution， certain communities threaten to abandon their possessions， should they obtain no relief[20].

"It is a well-known fact，" says the assembly of Haute-Guyenne， in 1784，" that the lot of the most severely taxed communities is so rigorous as to have led their proprietors frequently to abandon their property[21]. Who is not aware of the inhabitants of Saint-Servin having abandoned their property ten times， and of their threats to resort again to this painful proceeding in their recourse to the administration？ Only a few years ago an abandonment of the community of Boisse took place through the combined action of the inhabitants， the seignior and the décimateur of that community；" and the desertion would be still greater if the law did not forbid persons liable to the taille abandoning over-taxed property， except by renouncing whatever they possessed in the community. In the Soissonais， according to the report of the provincial assembly，[22] "misery is excessive." In Gascony the spectacle is "heartrending." In the environs of Toul， the cultivator， after paying his taxes， tithes and other dues， remains empty-handed.

"Agriculture is an occupation of steady anxiety and privation， in which thousands of men are obliged to painfully vegetate."[23] In a village in Normandy， "nearly all the inhabitants， not excepting the farmers and proprietors， eat barley bread and drink water， living like the most wretched of men， so as to provide for the payment of the taxes with which they are overburdened." In the same province， at Forges， "many poor creatures eat oat bread， and others bread of soaked bran， this nourishment causing many deaths among infants."[24] People evidently live from day to day； whenever the crop proves poor they lack bread. Let a frost come， a hailstorm， an inundation， and an entire province is incapable of supporting itself until the coming year； in many places even an ordinary winter suffices to bring on distress. On all sides hands are seen outstretched to the king， who is the universal almoner. The people may be said to resemble a man attempting to wade through a pool with the water up to his chin， and who， losing his footing at the slightest depression， sinks down and drowns. Existent charity and the fresh spirit of humanity vainly strive to rescue them； the water has risen too high. It must subside to a lower level， and the pool be drawn off through some adequate outlet. Thus far the poor man catches breath only at intervals， running the risk of drowning at every moment.

II. THE PEASANTS.

The condition of the peasant during the last thirty years of the Ancient Regime. - His precarious subsistence. - State of agriculture.

- Uncultivated farms. - Poor cultivation. - Inadequate wages. - Lack of comforts.

Between 1750 and 1760，[25] the idlers who eat suppers begin to regard with compassion and alarm the laborers who go without dinners.