[110] Ibid.， AF.， II.， 74. (Letter of the Montreuil-sur-Mer municipality， Prairial 29.)[111] Ibid. (Letter of the Vervins administrators， Prairial 11 Letter of the commune of La Chapelle-sur-Somme， Prairial 24.)[112] Ibid.， AF.， II.， 70. (Letter of the procureur-syndic of the district of Saint-Germain， Thermidor 10.) This file， which depicts the situation of the communes around Paris， is specially heartrending and terrible. Among other instances of the misery of workmen the following petition of the men employed on the Marly water-works may be given， Messidor 28. "The workmen and employees on the machine at Marly beg leave to present to you the wretched state to which they are reduced by the dearness of provisions. Their moderate wages， which at the most have reached only five livres twelve sous， and again， for four months past， having received but two francs sixteen sous， no longer provide them with half a pound of bread， since it costs fifteen and sixteen francs per pound. We poor people have not been wanting in courage nor patience， hoping that times would mend. We have been reduced to selling most of our effects and to eating bread made of bran of which a sample is herewith sent， and which distresses us very much (nous incommode beaucoup)； most of us are ill and those who are not so are in a very feeble state." - Schmidt， "Tableaux de Paris，"Thermidor 9. "Peasants on the market square complain bitterly of being robbed in the fields and on the road， and even of having their sacks (of grain) plundered."[113] Archives Nationales， D.， § I， file 2. (Letter of the Ervy municipality， Floréal 17， year III.) "The indifference of the egoist farmers in the country is at its height； they pay no respect whatever to the laws， killing the poor by refusing to sell， or unwilling to sell their grain at a price they can pay." - (It would be necessary to copy the whole of this file to show the alimentary state of the departments.)[114] Ibid.， AF.， II.， 74. (Letter of the district administrators of Bapaume， Prairial 24. - Letter of the municipality of Boulogne-sur-Mer， Prairial 24.)[115] Ibid.，， AF.， II.， 73. (Letter of the municipality of Brionne， district of Bernay， Prairial 7.) The farmers do not bring in their wheat because they sell it elsewhere at the rate of fifteen hundred and two thousand francs the sack of three hundred and thirty pounds.
[116] Ibid.， AF.， II.， 71. (Letter of the procureur-syndic of the district of Meaux， Messidor 2.) "Their fate is shared by many of the rural communes" and the whole district has been reduced to this dearth "to increase the resources of Paris and the armies."[117] Schmidt， "Tableaux de Paris." (Reports of the Police， Pluvi？se 6， year III.) - Ibid.， Germinal 16. "A letter from the department of Drome states that they are dying of hunger there， bread selling at three francs the pound."[118] Archives Nationales， AF.， II.， 70. (Deliberations of the council-general of Franciade， Thermidor 9， year III.)[119] Ibid. (Letter of the procureur-syndic of the district of Saint-Germain， Thermidor 10.) - Delécluze， "Souvenirs de Soixante Années，"p. 10. (The Delécluze family live in Mendon in 1794 and for most of 1795. M. Delécluze， senior， and his son go to Meaux and obtain of a farmer a bag of good flour weighing three hundred and twenty five pounds for about ten louis d'or and fetch it home， taking the greatest pains to keep it concealed. Both father and son "after having covered the precious sack with hay and straw in the bottom of the cart， follow it on foot at some distance as the peasant drives along." Madame Delécluze kneads the bread herself and bakes it.
[120] Archives Nationales， AF.， II.， 74. The following shows some of the municipal expenditures. (Deliberations of the commune of Annecy， Thermidor 8， year II I.) "Amount received by the commune from the government， 1，200，000 francs. Fraternal subscriptions， 400，000francs. Forced loan， 2，400，000 francs. Amount arising from grain granted by the government， but not paid for， 400，000 francs." (Letter from the municipality of Lille， Fructidor 7 ) "The deficit， at the time we took hold of the government， which， owing to the difference between the price of grain bought and the price obtained for bread distributed among the necessitous， had amounted to 2，270，023 francs， so increased in Thermidor as to amount to 8，312，956 francs."consequently， the towns ruin themselves with indebtedness to an incredible extent. - Archives Nationales， AF.， II.， 72. (Letter of the municipality of Tours， Vendémiaire 19， year IV.) Tours has not sufficient money with which to buy oil for its street lamps and which are no longer lit at night. A decree is passed to enable the agent for provisions at Paris to supply its commissaries with twenty quintals of oil which， for three hundred and forty lamps， keeps one hundred agoing up to Germinal 1. The same at Toulouse. (Report of Destrene， Moniteur， June 24， 1798.) On November 26， 1794， Bordeaux is unable to pay seventy two francs for thirty barrels of water to wash the guillotine. (Granier de Cassagnac， I.， 13. Extract from the archives of Bordeaux.) Bordeaux is authorized to sell one thousand casks of wine which had formerly been taken on requisition by the government， the town to pay for them at the rate at which the Republic bought them and to sell them as dear as possible in the way of regular trade. The proceeds are to be employed in providing subsistence for its inhabitants. (Archives Nationales， AF.， II.， 72， orders of Vendémiaire 4， year IV.) As to aid furnished by the assignats granted to towns and departments cf. the same files； 400，000 francs to Poitiers， Pluvi？se 18， four millions to Lyons， Pluvi？se 17， three millions a month to Nantes， after Thermidor 14， ten millions to the department of Herault in Frimaire and Pluvi？se ， etc.
