sections have done no work for want of bread."* Brumaire 24， "Citizens of all classes refuse to mount guard because they have nothing to eat."* Brumaire 25， "In the 'Gravilliers' section the women say that they have sold all that they possessed， while others， in the 'Faubourg-Antoine' section， declare that it would be better to be shot down."* Brumaire 30， "A woman beside herself came and asked a baker to kill her children as she had nothing to give them to eat."* Frimaire 1， 2， 3， and 4， "In many of the sections bread is given out only in the evening， in others at one o'clock in the morning， and of very poor quality.... Several sections yesterday had no bread."* Frimaire 7， the inspectors declare that "the hospitals soon will not be vast enough to hold the sick and the wretched."* Frimaire 14， At the central market a woman nursing her child sunk down with inanition." A few days before this， "a man fell down from weakness， on his way to Bourg l'Abbé."" All our reports，" say the district administrators， "resound with shrieks of despair." People are infatuated； "it seems to us that a crazy spirit prevails universally， we often encounter people in the street who， although alone， gesticulate and talk to themselves aloud.""How many times，" writes a Swiss traveller，[147] who lived in Paris during the latter half of 1795， "how often have I chanced to encounter men sinking through starvation， scarcely able to stand up against a post， or else down on the ground and unable to get up for want of strength ！" A journalist states that he saw "within ten minutes， along the street， seven poor creatures fall on account of hunger， a child die on its mother's breast which was dry of milk， and a woman struggling with a dog near a sewer to get a bone away from him."[148]
Meissner never leaves his hotel without filling his pockets with pieces of the national bread. "This bread，" he says， "which the poor would formerly have despised， I found accepted with the liveliest gratitude， and by well educated persons；" the lady who contended with the dog for the bone was a former nun， without either parents or friends and everywhere repulsed." "I still hear with a shudder，" says Meissner， "the weak， melancholy voice of a well-dressed woman who stopped me in the rue du Bac， to tell me in accents indicative both of shame and despair： 'Ah， Sir， do help me！ I am not an outcast. I have some talent - you may have seen some of my works in the salon. I have had nothing to eat for two days and I am crazy for want of food.'"Again， in June， 1796， the inspectors state that despair and despondency have reached the highest point， only one cry being heard-misery ！.. . . Our reports all teem with groans and complaints. .
. . Pallor and suffering are stamped on all faces. . . . Each day presents a sadder and more melancholy aspect." And repeatedly，[149] they sum up their scattered observations in a general statement：
* "A mournful silence， the deepest distress on every countenance；* the most intense hatred of the government in general developed in all conversations；* contempt for all existing authority；* an insolent luxuriousness， insulting to the wretchedness of the poor rentiers who expire with hunger in their garrets， no longer possessing the courage to crawl to the Treasury and get the wherewithal to prolong their misery for a few days；* the worthy father of a family daily deciding what article of furniture he will sell to make up for what is lacking in his wages that he may buy a half-pound of bread；* every sort of provision increasing in price sixty times an hour；* the smallest business dependent on the fall of assignats；* intriguers of all parties overthrowing each other only to get offices；* the intoxicated soldier boasting of the services he has rendered and is to render， and abandoning himself shamelessly to every sort of debauchery；* commercial houses transformed into dens of thieves；* rascals become traders and traders become rascals； the most sordid cupidity and a mortal egoism-such is the picture presented by Paris."[150]
One group is wanting in this picture， that of the governors who preside over this wretchedness， which group remains in the background；one might say that it was so designed and composed by some great artist， a lover of contrasts， an inexorable logician， whose invisible hand traces human character unvaryingly， and whose mournful irony unfailingly depicts side by side， in strong relief， the grotesqueness of folly and the seriousness of death. How many perished on account of this misery？ Probably more than a million persons.[151] -Try to take in at a glance the extraordinary spectacle presented on twenty-six thousand square leagues of territory：
* The immense multitude of the starving in town and country， * the long lines of women for three years waiting for bread in all the cities， * this or that town of twenty-three thousand souls in which one-third of the population dies in the hospitals in three months， * the crowds of paupers at the poor-houses， * the file of poor wretches entering and the file of coffins going out， * the asylums deprived of their property， overcrowded with the sick， unable to feed the multitude of foundlings pining away in their cradles the very first week， their little faces in wrinkles like those of old men， * the malady of want aggravating all other maladies， the long suffering of a persistent vitality amidst pain and which refuses to succumb， the final death-rattle in a garret or in a ditch.
