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partjes _agree that this _was,a period- of unexampled distress^ aitnough the liarvest had been singularly abun- (JSnt: — The fact is acknowledged, but the cause is left to conjecture. The following, however, shows pretty clearly what the cause was : — " S uch/ ' observes Mignet, " wa s the d isjrfissin g s ituation o f the country after the fa ll oftEeCommittee of Pubhc Safety, which had durin g its.rei gn provided against snar nty, h " th in thp ftrm y ^ thg _interior, by requisitio ns and the maximum. No person could escape thi s " financial feg ' illation by which the mercantile and the wealthy classes were rendered tributary to the soldiers and the mob. Du«ng— that * p'HBfldi therefore, the^pscessawes ^ life wptp not npfft- tfi^y ^oarfe** *n warehouses. BuCsinee, when an end was put to violence and confiscation, tlia. pqoplp^ thp r^i wpn^iop 1 and t he armies had been at the mercy_of pr^pript^rg anrl app^i^l 01 ** ' thp oqa^iej^ien ce was r a £gmiu1~defflee of^bverty" the reactiou of the maxi- mum" &c. Mignet calls tne requisitions and maximum violent, though they were absolutely necessary to support 1,400,000 soldiers fighting in defence of the country on the frontiers ; but he does not call the hoarding by the vampire profit-hunters violent, although the effect of that was certain death, and torments the most excruciating, to hundreds of thousands. But so it is with aristocratic historians. The middleman's gains being of more con- sequence in his eyes than the poor man's life, whatever interferes with the one is " violent ," while the other is very lightly dealt with. Thus Mignet sums up for the poor quietly — " they attributed their distress to the merchants, to the contractors, to the landholders, to the Government (all with good reason), and they called to mind, not without regret, thftf not fang agn they h'f d froth bread f«"* pn»rr mtder 4he~ Committee of Pu blic Safety "

Suph^vas the condit ion of France two years after the death o f Robespierre^ when the famous consj nrarjjntf tt***>nf w Qa toi^gfij— and th't* hi-ir^ ir| f to my thinf reason for publishing this book.

3rd. .Because " Bab eufs Conspiracy for Eq uality" appears to me the only event of the kind recorded in history that was sincerely and comprehensively designed