a similar violence is shown at Vitré to the in-habitants of
Maine.[19] At Sainte-Léonard the people stop the grain started for
Limoges; at Bost that intended for Aurillac; at Saint-Didier that
ordered for Moulins; and at Tournus that dispatched to Macon. In
vain are escorts added to the convoys; troops of men and women,
armed with hatchets and guns, put themselves in ambush in the woods
along the road, and seize the horses by their bridles; the saber has
to be used to secure any advance. In vain are arguments and kind
words offered, "and in vain even is wheat offered for money; they
refuse, shouting out that the convoy shall not go on." They have
taken a stubborn stand, their resolution being that of a bull
planted in the middle of the road and lowering his horns. Since the
wheat is in the district, it is theirs; whoever carries it off or
withholds it is a robber. This fixed idea cannot be driven out of
their minds. At Chant-nay, near Mans,[20] they prevent a miller
from carrying that which he had just bought to his mill. At
Montdragon, in Languedoc, they stone a dealer in the act of sending
his last wagon load elsewhere. At Thiers, workmen go in force to
gather wheat in the fields; a proprietor with whom some is found is
nearly killed; they drink wine in the cellars, and leave the taps
running. At Nevers, the bakers not having put bread on their
counters for four days, the mob force the granaries of private
persons, of dealers and religious communities. "The frightened
corn-dealers part with their grain at any price; most of it is
stolen in the face of the guards," and, in the tumult of these
searches of homes, a number of houses are sacked. -- In these days
woe to all who are concerned in the acquisition, commerce, and
manipulation of grain! Popular imagination requires living beings to
who it may impute its misfortunes, and on whom it may gratify its
resentments. To it, all such persons are monopolists, and, at any