warehouses, and wreck the dwellings of the three richest merchants,
also that of M. de Garantot, the sub-delegate: "All records and
papers are burnt; at M. de Garantot's alone the loss is estimated at
more than 100,000 crowns at least." -- The same instinct of
destruction prevails everywhere, a sort of envious fury against all
who possess, command, or enjoy anything. At Maubeuge, on the 27th
of July, at the very assembly of the representatives of the
commune,[17] the rabble interferes directly in its usual fashion. A
band of nail and gun-makers takes possession of the town-hall, and
obliges the mayor to reduce the price of bread. Almost immediately
after this another band follows uttering cries of death, and smashes
the windows, while the garrison, which has been ordered out, quietly
contemplates the damage done. Death to the mayor, to all rulers,
and to all employees! The rioters force open the prisons, set the
prisoners free, and attack the tax-offices. The octroi offices are
demolished from top to bottom: they pull down the harbor offices and
throw the scales and weights into the river. All the custom and
excise stores are carried off; and the officials are compelled to
give acquaintances. The houses of the registrar and of the sheriff,
that of the revenue comptroller, two hundred yards outside the town,
are sacked; the doors and the windows are smashed, the furniture and
linen is torn to shreds, and the plate and jewelry is thrown into
the wells. The same havoc is committed in the mayor's town-house,
also in his country-house a league off. "Not a window, not a door,
not one article or eatable " is preserved; their work, moreover, is
conscientiously done, without stopping a moment, "from ten in the
evening up to ten in the morning on the following day." In addition
to this the mayor, who has served for thirty-four years, resigns his
office at the solicitation of the well-disposed but terrified
people, and leaves the country. -- At Rouen, after the 24th of