Bread, Politics and Political Economy in the Reign of Louis XV: Volume One

844 Pages·1976·21.957 MB·English

by  Steven L. Kaplan (auth.)

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 LA'
T '_TE
MER I 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 oft he 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. 1
THE POLICE OF PROVISIONING
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
215
THE LINE .
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
I. 408
OVER LIBERTY:
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
II 451
OVER LIBERTY:
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
491
ApPREHENSIVE PATERNALISM.
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. 1771-1774 . 555
POLICING THE GENERAL SUBSISTENCE,
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