Policing the General Subsistence, 1771–1774

Abstract

Many monographs will have to be written before one can properly assess the impact of Terrays’s policy. De-liberalization wrought no miracles. It did not herald the general return of abundance and it did not restore universal social tranquility. Even in those places which enjoyed a marked change of fortune after the end of 1770, it would be difficult to show that the improvement in conditions was due to the reinstitution of controls. Yet there is no question that Terray’s law buoyed the morale of the police, infusing them with a sense of confidence that they had not felt for years. There were still frequent denunciations of “disorders” and “monopolies” in the trade but the police no longer complained that they were impotent to act; they once again located the source of the vice in the malice and greed of the dealers rather than in the laws, and they resorted to “the usages of authority” when necessary to furnish their markets.¹ There is some evidence that consumers in parts of the Hainaut and the Paris region received the news of the government’s regulatory law with enthusiasm.² An observer in Champagne reported that the break with liberalization helped to “revive” the “courage” of the people.³ Large numbers of merchants began to register with the police in order to secure permission to traffic in grain.⁴

1 See, for example, Dépêches, 16 June 1771, AN O¹* 413, fol. 393; 19 Sept. 1772, AN, O¹* 414, fols. 853-55; and 26 June 1774, AN, O1* 416, fols. 407-408.

2 Terray to Taboureau, 16 Jan. 1771, C. 5977, A.D. Nord.

3 “Administration des grains,” BN, mss. fr. 11561, fol. 6.

4 AN, Y 9648. Cf. 8 March 1771, Archives Seine-Paris, D5B6 4910. The Paris municipality reconstituted its clientele of licensed suppliers. It issued new credentials to qualified merchants and their hinterland commissioners and no longer had cause to bemoan defections from the ranks. See Ordonnance de Police, Bureau de Ville, 21 Feb. 1771, AN, F¹¹ 264; deliberations of the Bureau, 21 Feb. 1771, AN, H* 1874, fols. 116-17.