Accordingly, an assignat of one hundred francs is worth in June, 1795,
four francs, in August three francs, in November fifteen sous, in
December ten sous, and then five sous. Naturally, all provisions rise
proportionately in price. A pound of bread in Paris, January 2, 1796,
costs fifty francs, a pound of meat sixty francs, a pound of candles
one hundred and eighty francs, a bushel of potatoes two hundred
francs, a bottle of wine one hundred francs. The reader may imagine,
if he can, the distress of people with small incomes, pensioners and
employees, mechanics and artisans in the towns out of work,[102] in
brief, all who have nothing but a small package of assignats to live
on, and who have nothing to do, whose indispensable wants are not
directly supplied by the labor of their own hands in producing wine,
candles, meat, potatoes and bread.
Immediately after the abolition of the "maximum,"[103] the cry of
hunger increases. From month to month its accents become more painful
and vehement in proportion to the increased dearness of provisions,
especially in the summer of 1795, as the harvesting draws near, when
the granaries, filled by the crop of 1794, are getting empty.
Pages:
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860