prospective abolition of octrois.[27] and that, meanwhile, the
King, in favor of the re-assembling of the three orders, has granted
three days' freedom from all duties at Paris, and that Lyons ought
to enjoy the same privilege." Upon this the crowd, rushing off to
the barriers, to the gates of Sainte-Claire and Perrache, and to the
Guillotière bridge, burn or demolish the bureaux, destroy the
registers, sack the lodgings of the clerks, carry off the money and
pillage the wine on hand in the depot. In the mean time a rumor
has circulated all round through the country that there is free
entrance into the town for all provisions. During the following
days the peasantry stream in with enormous files of wagons loaded
with wine and drawn by several oxen, so that, in spite of the re-
established guard, it is necessary to let them enter all day without
paying the dues. It is only on the 7th of July that these can again
be collected. -- The same thing occurs in the southern provinces,
where the principal imposts are levied on provisions. There also
the collections are suspended in the name of public authority. At
Agde,[28] "the people, considering the so-called will of the King as
to equality of classes, are foolish enough to think that they are
everything and can do everything." Thus do they interpret in their
own way and in their own terms the double representation accorded to
the Third-Estate. They threaten the town, consequently, with
general pillage if the prices of all provisions are not reduced, and
if the duties of the province on wine, fish, and meat are not
suppressed. They also wish to nominate consuls who have sprung up
out of their body." The bishop, the lord of the manor, the mayor and
the notables, against whom they forcibly stir up the peasantry in
the country, are obliged to proclaim by sound of trumpet that their
demands shall be granted. Three days afterwards they exact a
diminution of one-half of the tax on grinding, and go in quest of