198 BAILLY. 



They ascribe to Foulon the barbarous vaunt ; &quot; I will 

 force the people to eat hay ; &quot; and without any order from 

 the constituted authorities, some peasants, neighbours of 

 the old minister, arrest him, take him to Paris, his son-in- 

 law experiences the same fate, and the famished popu 

 lace immolates both of them. 



In proportion as the multitude appear to me unjust and 

 culpable, in attacking certain men respecting a scarcity of 

 provisions, when it is the manifest consequence of the 

 severity of the seasons, I should be disposed to excuse 

 their rage against the authors of factitious scarcities. 

 Well, Gentlemen, at the time that Foulon was assassi 

 nated, the people, deceived by some impassioned orators 

 of the Assembly, might, or let us rather say, ought to 

 believe, that they were wilfully famished. Foulon per 

 ished the 22d of July, 1789 ; on the 15th, that is to say, 

 seven days before, Mirabeau had addressed the following 

 incendiary words to the inhabitants of the capital, from 

 the National Tribune : 



&quot; Henry IV. allowed provisions to be taken into be 

 sieged and rebellious Paris ; but now, some perverse 

 ministers intercept convoys of provisions destined for 

 famished and obedient Paris.&quot; 



Yet people have been so inconsiderate as to be aston 

 ished at the assassinations of Foulon and of Berthier. 

 Going back in thought to the month of July, 1789, I 

 perceive in the imprudent apostrophe of the eloquent 

 tribune, more sanguinary disorders than the contemporary 

 history has had to record. 



One of the most honourable, one of the most respect 

 able and the most respected members of the institute, 

 having been led, in a recent work, to relate the assassina 

 tion of Foulon, has thrown on the conduct of Bailly, 



