BREAD, POLITICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE REIGN OF LOUIS XV ARCHIVES INTERNATIONALES D'HISTOIRE DES IDEES INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS 86 STEVEN L. KAPLAN BREAD, POLITICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE REIGN OF LOUIS XV Directors: P. Dibon (Paris) and R. Popkin (Washington Univ., St. Louis) Editorial Board: J. Aubin (Paris)~ J. Collins (St. Louis Univ.)~ P. Costa bel (Paris)~ A. Crombie (Oxford) ~ I. Dambska (Cracow); H. de la Fontaine-Verway (Amsterda~); H. Gadamer (Heidelberg)~ H. Gouhier (Paris); T. Gregory (Rome)~ T.E. Jessop (Hull); P.O. Kristeller (Columbia Univ.)~ Elisabeth Labrousse (Paris); A. Lossky (Los Angeles); S. Lindroth (Upsala)~ J. Orcibal (Paris); I.S. Revaht (Paris); Wolfgang Rod (Miinchen); J. Roger (Paris); G.S. Rousseau (Los Angeles); H. Rowen (Rutgers Univ., N.J.); Ch. B. Schmitt (Warburg Inst. London); G. Sebba (Emory Univ., Atlanta); R. Shackleton (Oxford); J. Tans (Groningen); G. Tonelli (Binghamton, N.Y.). R' " D L A' T '_ TE I MER DIT' Plate 1. Map of France in the eighteenth century showing provinces and customs divisions. Necker, Compte-rendu (Paris, 1781). BREAD, POLITICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE REIGN OF LOUIS XV by STEVEN L. KAPLAN Volume One MARTINUS NIJHOFF - THE HAGUE - 1976 THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PUBLISHED WITH THE AI D OF A GRANT FROM THE HULL MEMORIAL PUBLICATION FUND OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY ~ 1976 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1976 A II rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this journal or parts thereof in any form ISBN-13: 978-94-010-1406-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-1404-5 001: 10.1007/978-94-010-1404-5 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME ONE List of Illustrations IX Acknowledgements XI List of Abbreviations. XIII Introduction XV Chapter I. THE POLICE OF PROVISIONING 1 The state and subsistence, the police and the consumer, 1. The notion of police, 8. The structure of police, 14. Police rivalries, Paris versus France, 28. The police from below, 42. II. THE REGULATIONS AND THE REGULATORS . 52 The police view of the grain trade, monopoly, and the just price, 52. The rules of the trade, 63. The application of the rules, 72. The police of provisioning in the eighteenth century, 86. The radical departure, 90. III. THE ORIGINS OF LIBERTY 97 Grain liberalism and enlightenment, 97. Physiocracy, agromania, and the "economic years" (1750-70), Ill. The liberty lobby, 121. The government prepares the reforms, 125. Silhouette (1759), 126. Bertin (1759-63),130. Laverdy (1763-68), 140. Choiseul, 142. Why the government risked liberty, 144. The thesis of circumstances, 145. The thesis of conspiracy, 146. The government and the new political economy, 149. Political economy and the nation, 150. Political economy and the parlements, 153. The thesis of fiscality, 155. The pacte de famine, 160. The royal thesis, 162. IV. THE RESPONSE TO LIBERALIZATION: THEORY AND PRACTICE . 164 Early criticism of the liberal system (1763-64), 166. The Parisian municipality, 168. Joly de Fleury, 171. The state-of-the-nation, 174. The idea of abundance, 177. The parlements and the liberal VI TABLE OF CONTENTS laws, 180. The storm after the calm (1764-70), 187. Women rioters, 190. Merchants beware! 192. The forces of order and disorder collaborate, 194. Police anomie and anger, 200. V. FORCING GRAIN To BE FREE: THE GOVERNMENT HOLDS THE LINE . 215 Laverdy and the people, 215. Laverdy and the local police, 220. Laverdy and the "grand" police, 229. The price rise, 236. Encouraging speculation, 238. Laverdy's liberalism, 241. Un­ expected disgrace (1768), 249. VI. THE REFORMS AND THE GRAIN TRADE . 252 Reform and dearth, 252. Exports, 254. The fruits of liberalization, 263. Domestic grain trade, 266. "Abuses," 269. Grain fever and new faces, 276. Recruitment, 281. Paris, 285. Meaux, 288. Other registries, 292. The sinister "companies," 293. VII. PARIS . 300 Quarantine, 300. Paris and the hinterland, 304. Incipient panic, 307. A "critical" time (1768),310. Wallposters and sedition, 319. Misery, crime, and charity, 322. Sartine seeks grain, 323. The Paris police and the liberal ministry, 326. The police and the bakers, 328. Crisis and subsistence innovation, 335. Helping bakers help themselves, 340. VIII. THE ROYAL TRUMP . 344 The beginnings of the Paris grain fund (1750-60), 347. Malisset, 349. The "famine pact" contract (1765), 356. Leray de Chaumont and the guarantors, 360. Corbeil, 363. The company "royalized" (1767), 364. Rumors and calumnies, 367. The quality of the king's grain and flour, 373. The company attacked from the inside and the outside, 377. Maynon d'Invau, Daure, and the end of the king's grain (1769), 382. Malisset's resilience, 383. The royal "visa," 386. Lepn!vost de Beaumont, hero, 389. Denouncing the famine pact l1768), 391. Conspiratorial mentality and political consciousness, 395. Lepn!vost: social critic and political theorist, 397. The liberals and the plot accusations, 400. The critique of royal victualing, 403. TABLE OF CONTENTS VII VOLUME TWO IX. THE GOVERNMENT, THE PARLEMENTS, AND THE BATTLE OVER LIBERTY: I. 408 The Paris Parlement and the unfolding crisis (1767), 410. Rouen's violent turn-about (1767-68), 414. The letters patent of Novem- ber 1768, 418. A seance de flagellation: the Assembly of General Police (November 1768),424. Vox populi, 437. Louis XV and the Paris Parlement brawl (1769), 439. The meaning of parlementary opposition, 444. X. THE GOVERNMENT, THE PARLEMENTS, AND THE BATTLE OVER LIBERTY: II 451 The antiliberal parlements: brittle solidarities, 451. The case of Rouen, 453. The liberal parlements: riposte and counteroffensive (1768-70), 457. The Parlement of Dauphine, 459. The Estates of Languedoc, 464. The Parlement of Languedoc, 466. The Parlement of Provence, 467. The rebuttal of the economistes, 472. The ministry buoyed, 482. General economic crisis (1770), 488. XI. FROM POLITICAL ECONOMY TO POLICE: THE RETURN TO ApPREHENSIVE PATERNALISM. 491 Terray's liberalism, 492. Spring and summer riots (1770), 497. Eating grass and dying of hunger, 502. The "subsistence of Paris," 505. The royal arret of July 1770 bans exports, 510. The triumphant revenge of the Paris Parlement (August 1770), 513. Monopolists beware! 516. Maupeou and the parlements: the constitutional crisis and the crisis over liberalization (1770-71), 520. The Brittany affair and liberalization, 527. Terray's grain law (December 1770), 532. Consumers versus producers, 539. Con- trolling the "general subsistence," 545. Savoir equals pouvoir, 549. XII. POLICING THE GENERAL SUBSISTENCE, 1771-1774 . 555 The parlements and Terray's law (1771), 556. Enforcing the law: moderation and tolerance, 558. A nightmare of chaos, 563. The Midi's Flour War, 565. ~4The general and literal execution" of the law, 568. The laboureur as villain, 570. Laboureur opulence, 572. Illicit exports, 576. Problems in the south and southwest: Bordeaux, 581. The Parlement of Grenoble, 583. The Parlement of Aix, 584. The Parlement of Toulouse, 586. Antiphysiocracy, 590. Galiani's "bomb" (1770), 591. The "dangerous sect," 602. Galiani refuted, 603. The Bagarre, 605. Morellet versus Diderot, 607. Turgot's letters to Terray on the grain trade (1770), 611. VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS XIII. THE KING'S GRAIN AND THE RETREAT FROM LIBERALIZATION 614 The king's grain at the end of 1769,614. Terray's regie: Doumerc and Sorin, 616. 1770: improvisations, 618. Pascaud, 622. The regie (1771-1774), 630. Planning, 631. The regie's purchases, 632. The regie's public relations, 634. Terray's pledges, 636. Doumerc and Sorin as managers, 637. The regie's agents, 639. Sales and accounts, 641. Guys and Company, 642. Embastille; 643. Guys and the regie, 644. Doumerc-Sorin versus Malisset, 646. The reputation of the king's grain, 647. The famine pact persuasion, 648. Bethmann, 652. The A Imanach royal, 658. A new king and a new ministry (1774), 660. Turgot's crusade against police and paternalism, 662. St.-Prest, 663. Turgot proclaims liberty, 13 Sep- tember 1774, 664. Dismantling the regie, 665. The regie indicted, 667. Flour War, 670. Albert interrogates Doumerc, 671. The fate of Doumerc and Sorin, 673. Terray versus Turgot, 674. CONCLUSION 677 Bibliography . 703 Index . 777 ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME I plate 1. Map of France frontispiece 2. Itinerant market-bakers facing page 130 3. The making of the mercuriale: the measurers' register 131 4. Grain passport 146 5. Grain arrivals and sales: the porters 147 VOLUME II plate 6. Grain-to-bread cycle facing page 480 7. Paris bakeshop 481 8. Economic milling 496 9. Leprevost and the famine plot 497 10. The Bagarre by Galiani 608 11. The international grain market at Marseilles 609 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For helping me to crystalize issues at the outset of this project, I am indebted to Professors Franklin Baumer, Harry Miskimin, and Henri Peyre of Yale University and Professors David Bien of the University of Michigan, Fran~ois Billacois, formerly of the University of Paris-X, Darline Levy of Barnard College, and Jeffry Kaplow of the University of Paris-VIII. I am grateful to my teachers and friends at the ex-Sixieme Section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris for their guidance and for the rigorous demands they made upon me: Professors Louis Bergeron, Fran~ois Furet, Pierre Goubert; and the late Jean Meuvret. Professors Robert R. Palmer and Peter Gay of Yale University provided me with useful comments on an earlier version of this work. I talked about it endlessly with my former colleague Mack Walker, now of the Johns Hopkins University ~ I am deeply obliged to him and to my colleagues Daniel Baugh, Michael Kammen, and Dominick LaCapra for their probing criticism and helpful suggestions. It is not enough for me to thank Professor Charles C. Gillispie of Princeton University for his illuminating remarks on an early draft; he has been my mentor and friend since my freshman year of college.