" Everybody for himself. Empty
stomachs feel that, to get anything, it is important to get ahead, not
to await for the distribution, the unloading or even the arrival of
the supplies. - "A boat laden with wine having been signaled, the
crowd rushed on board to pillage it and the boat sunk," probably along
with a good many of its invaders.[72] Other gatherings at the
barriers stop the peasants' wagons and take their produce before they
reach the markets. Outside the barriers, children and women throw
stones at the milkmen, forcing them to get down from their carts and
distribute milk on the spot. Still further out, one or two leagues
off on the highways, gangs from Paris go at night to intercept and
seize the supplies intended for Paris. "This morning," says a
watchman, "all the Faubourg St. Antoine scattered itself along the
Vincennes road and pillaged whatever was on the way to the city; some
paid, while others carried off without paying. . . . The
unfortunate peasants swore that they would not fetch anything more,"
the dearth thus increasing through the efforts to escape it.
In vain the government makes its requisitions for Paris as if in a
state of siege, and fixes the quantity of grain on paper which each
department, district, canton, and commune, must send to the capital.
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