ESTRANGEMENT BETWEEN PARIS AND FRANCE ‘ok what reaction i evencualy provoked and sine only a smal propor fon ofthe Paris population belonged to the exploiting cases, what forms of social tension existed within the capital city itself A few statistics will point out the dual nature of the problem. The popu lution of France at the beginning of the eighteenth century was about six: teen million, and it rose to perhaps ewenty-two million by midcentury and twenty-six million by 1789. At that time, the peasantry or agricultural pop ulstion numbered twentytwo million, The urban population may have reached two and a half million, with Paris by far the largest city, with about six hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, The nonagricultural, ru {ral population of lesser nobles, clergy, and artisans numbered about one snd a half million, One important relationship, therefore, was between the peasant and the urban citizen, with the latter outnumbered at least nine to one, A second relationship of perhaps greater importance was between the E peasant and the landowning classes. The hereditary aristocracy, including the old “nobles of the sword," who had been ennobled by serving the king in battle, and the “nobles of the robe,” who were hourgeois ennobled through royal service or purchase of office, owned about the cultivated land. The clergy held about fifteen per idle classes ow inty percent 0 ed about thirty percent of the la ey had bought near the towns where they lived. The peasantry, of whom about half were landowners, were left with the remaining thirty-five per cent, (Those who were not landowners worked the land of the other tity who chose élases as enters, sharecroppers, or lahorers ) me mrervention In the mind of the peasant, for very 8 n, resentment at these sly stagpane and two unegual relationships, of the country with the city and the peasar 7 th the landowner, tended to merge. Paris and Versailles represented agreed in 1772 %0 the Austrians into the ist place the insatiable eaters of state taxes that were squeezed emer ist proportion from the peasantry. The most important source ot direc tnation was the taille, a land tax levied almost exclusively on the peas of Europe of sia alone, and anary because most towns, including Paris, were exempt and most of th nobles and clergy paid only on land they let out to the peasants. Each p. nainder of Poland oo ish was assigned a lump sum to collect; the collectors were fellow villagers, what suited them, | icied to the unpopular job and responsible themselves for failure to ‘sage of liberty and. ment. It is often cts they inoculated: he philosophes. But 3 ‘of the philosophes: come up wi requited amount. The inditect taxes, however, which were collected with terrible efficiency, were just as great a nightmare as the ‘alle, The gabelle, or salt tax, was collected by thousands of gabelous and jduded by thousands of It smugglers, To buy for thei families! needs, many risked imprisonment or the galleys. Excise taxes E vere collected on individual items, like wine, tobacco, and leather, so that Condition of the French Peasancry ESTRANGEMENT BETWEEN PARIS AND IRpeasant to use the lord yehen he sold land The local lord could ease the peasant en! D present in the local cha Eighteenth Eproblem of Beiety was not chat sep. the line which separ the French popula hormous human « Old Peasant and Peas anted children, aband Woman, by Georges de lt e Here left extn when, medie: ee | peasant to use the lord's mill, oven and market, and the ment by the peasant of various monetary fees, stich as the lods et when he sold land, or th a kind of rent. The rights of the were held by the bourgeois who had bought land as well as by the m nd the peasant made little distinetion in his dislike. One may say that he had a nd unfocused dislike of the state machinery that imposed th direct and indirect taxes, but a cleat, well-directed hatred of the local lord case the peasant envied his ill-tended lands. The lord, however, was often curted in the secon the towns too. In one of the complaints presented to the Estates General in 789, the peasants were described as “bent over the earth which they water ith their sweat, from the 1 to the sett sun, and f which they bring forth by the labor hands that produce, that abun ance, which is t citizens of the towns Recent historic on the condition bor in thy hteenth century has increased our perception of the magnitude of the m of po nd nt of its re he basic social 1 France,” Cissie Fairchil i Catholic charitable instituci ef t I southern town, “was the chro demic povert ne line which separal from tiDangerous Isolation ‘The peasant of che Upper ‘Avistocracy CHAPTER 20 184 From about 1750 the character of Les ( “ity of the robe, who © ences in origin of th together in common _ had always been ope ‘quired wealth or ro maintain for those w Les Grands a monoy army, the Church, 2 = vancement into the | middle classes, for ‘made possible purch: recorded as training their children as beggars, and pethaps one-third of Trance’s beggars were women. Younger women sometimes joined the bands of thieves who could terrorize isolated farms or work out of hide pute in the city slums. The threat of starvation drove many into prostit Gon, The more fortunate were admitted to charitable institutions, oF poot houses, where they were not only supplied with the minimum of suste pence and clothing but also frequently made to work and undergo moral instruction. The more desperate of the men turned to easing, to per) {heft co smuggling, or to membership in criminal gangs. Their activities, | tneluding even smugeling of salt, could bring condemnation to the hor Uf the galleys or, after 1749, o imprisonment offshore in converted ves known as the bagne. Whether or not they were forced into crime, the in reasing numbers of the French poor were universally recognized 25 2 s Cal problem of tremendous magnitude, A royal office reported, one year before the outbreak of the revolution: Bhindertake not mere! “attempt to replace 10 a more decentra dominate | This exclusivene ‘and the majority of hough wealthy or ta had not broken into Hten the barrier was a Fyou a visit,” a provi aris I would have tc ith that one cuts a visit me, we Wi quently it caused bitt livelihood from anu lived frugally in rhe general temper ofthe populace atthe moment is so highly charged that cos Jering its present pressing needs it may well feel itself authorized to eae i poverty as soon as the harvest begins. They may seek more than the glean ce uwal part—driven t0 the last extremity by high prices and shortages, they icy well say. Make amends for our past misery: let us share and share ali re ings ate shor. fill our belles... An eruption from the people could wad as ¢ hail storm, Dire necessity considers neither what is right nor what reasonable yy, however, was not the only group in the French province hat felt disenchanted with the French ruling class. Both the nobility an the clergy were divided into those who were the beneficiaries of France social structure and those who felt exploited by it, and im a very rel sens he division was again between those who enjoyed the amenities of Pat lind Versailles and those who resented them. Of the four hundred thousand members of the nobility, only a few hundred constituted Les Grands, the real aristocrats for whom the coun ite of Versailles and the social whirl of Paris were formed: Theit way of life ony inordinately expensive, and many tan ¢hrough fortunes trying Lecpup with the requirements of society. Clothes and jewels, extraatit ween or hundreds of guests, carriages and servants, gambling and Bunt inee-these absorbed everincreasing sums as prices rose inexorably through a the second half of the century. But presence in this social sphere w out aeary to maintain one’s wealth also, co receive the pensions and f Tavable by the treasury, the governorships of wealthy provinces, oF in the Church. The wealthy stayed together bya P nomic survival was ¢ “avoid unnecessary © yrpmaker turned fir of satire The Barber a woman to Sevill ily won pleasures! Barber. “That's just w qitests that selt-inten jn!” But, once ma that epitome of soc: monologue that mac Breaks out against all pointments to benefic cessity as well as by inclination THe PARIS OF THE PHILOSOPHE+ onetind of hes joined the rout of hide tuvons, 0" POOe simom of suste Tndergo moral seszns 10 pet) oa tthe borer cograed a8 0 Sf one ear From about 1750 on, however, a vitally important change took place in the character of Les Grands. Both the nobility of the sword and the nobil ity of the robe, who had spurned each other for generations for the differ ences in origin of their wealth and social prestige, were prepared to drav together in common defense of their position The upper nobility, which had always been open at the bottom t0 new blood as a result of newly ac quired wealth or royal service, now sought to exclude new recruits, t0 maintain for those who had already been admitted to the happy circle of Les Grands a monopoly on all the major ofices in the government, the army, the Church, and the law. tn this efort to block the means of ad ancement into the upper ranks of society to the lesser nohility and to the middle classes, for whom acquisition of wealth would previously have made possible purchase of entie into aristocrat society, the upper nobil ity was largely successful, and its success encouraged its members to undertake not merely a holding action but a conservative revolution, the attempt to replace royal absolutism as created in the seventeenth century by a more decentralized administration that they thought they could dominate “This exclusiveness of Les Grands created a gulf between its members and the majority of the provincial nobility and those bourgeois who, though wealthy or talented enough to acquire the lesser tiles of nobility had not broken into the upper ranks before the middle of the century. OF ten the barrier was accepted with polite resignation, “I should hke to pay Jou a visit” a provincial noble wrote his sister at court, “but to liven Fars T would have to be your valet. We have 10 to 12,000 livres revenue With that one cuts a poor figure if one is a count or a baron. However, i You visit me, we will be high and powerful seigneurs"" But more fre quently it caused bitter resentme livelihood from an unwilling peasantry and an » ten lived frugally in a broken-down chateau, unable to afford a carriage avoiding visits even to t somie survival was to press more strongly for his scigneurial rights and t avoid unnecessary expenditure. Beaumarchais (1732-1799) expt auttage as a recently ennobled bourgeois—he himself was a watch 5 charged that con ‘porized to ease its than the leanings, and shortages, they are and share alike the people could be “4 is ight nor what Is 2 French provinces th the nobility and saries of France's ina very real sense amenities of Paris The country noble, barely squeezing a jcient agriculture, of neighboring towns. His only hope of eco robility, only a few or whom the court tmed, Their way of h fortunes trying to bins harpmaker turned financier and government I jewels, extravagant HMMM of satire The Barber of Seville and The M of Figaro. “Faney follow gambling and hunt ing a woman to Seville when Madrid and the Court offer such a vanety of inexorably through: aly won pleasures!” Count Almaviva remarks at the beginning of T Barber. “That's just what I'm trying to get away from. I'm weary of the can. guests that selfinterest or habit or vanity present us in endless succes Sion!” But, once married, Almaviva rouses the anger of his valet Figaro, that epitome of social awareness, by pursuing Figaro’s bride tobe. In the monologue that made Louis XVI forbid the play's presentation, Figaro Breaks out against all the abuses of aristocratic society ais social sphere was xe pensions and fees hy provinces, or ap tayed together by ne- 29-1670 Boston: Hough SSTRANGEMENT BETWEEN PARIS AND FRANCE‘The Split Within the Clergy (CHAPTER 20 / THE PARIS OF THE PHILOSOPHES No, my Lord Count, you shan’t have her, you shall not have her! Because you are @ great nobleman you think you are a great genius. Nobility, fortune, rank Sesition! How proud they make a man feel! What have you done to deserve such Pivanuages? Put yourself to the crouble of Being born—nothing more! For the testaa very ordinary man! Whereas I, lost among the obscure crowd, have had to Teploy more knowledge, move calewlation and skill merely to survive than has suafced co rule all the provinces of Spain for a century! Yer you would measure yourself against me, eaumarchais, however, opposed all forms of exploitation, and used The ‘Marriage of Figaro as a vehicle to rage not only at the abuses by the aristo Gratie clase but also at the treatment of women in every class. Marcelline's famous monologue lashes out at the treatment of poor and aristocratic women alike ‘You men, lost to all sense of obligation, who stigmatize with your contempt the Playthings of your passions—your unforeunate victims—Its you who Ought 10 Be Punished for the exrors of our youth—you and your magistrates so vain of She ripe to iudge us, you who by your culpable negligence allow us to be deprived of caeomest means of existence... Even in the more exalted walks of Ife you de aida women no more than 4 derisory consideration. In a state of servitude be hhind the alluring pretenses of respect, treated as children where our possessions ain oneemed we are punished as sponsible adults where our faults are in que ae ce ahr Whatever way one Tooks at it your conduct towards us must provoke horror or compassion! ‘And Figaro glances back at the ironies of his life J study Chemistry, Pharmacy, Surgery, and all the prestige of a great nobleman aaaenarely secure me the handling of a horse-doctor's probe... 1 fudge up a pley cro the manner of the Seraglo. ... Immediately, some envoy from goodness Knowswhere complains that some of my Lines offend the Sublime Porte, Persia vie part or other of the East indies, the whole of Egypt, and the Kingdoms of Corenaica, Tipolt, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, .. | was on the point of giving Spin despair when it occurred to someone to offer me a job. Unfortunately I had wane qualification for it~it needed a knowledge of figures—bur it was a dancet ‘sho gor it! Nothing was left to me but stealing, so I set up as a banker at Now notice what happens! I dine out in style. and so-called fashionable people tivow open their houses to me—Keeping three-quarters of the profits for them: salves But since everybody was involved in some sort of swindle and at the seve rime demanding honesty from me, I inevitably went under again The clergy of the Catholic Church was equally spit, the barrier again being ation to monopolize the higher offices. Ia the upper nobility’s determin: ‘as not noble, A majority of the archbishops 1789 only one French bishop w: phere Augustin Caron de Reawmarchats, The Barber of Seville The Marriage of Fig ‘ood Harmondsworth, England Yenguin, 1968), p_ 199 Copyright © Toh 3 and bishops and of the abl over half of the revenues ¢ country homes or, in the + and Pari, Frequently, a no ing abbot of three or four ‘Bows vocation, many thou fortable social lives in Par kking was known as "bein Auch for fifteen years and for the rural multitudes wa ungrateful task of collect tween one-twelfth and on in order to send more tha | noyance of the local priest the aspiring clergy in the bourgeois background whi || drals or as professors in ser = of the Church were close Church that had for centa to a poor boy of talent ha parts of the ancien régime |The function of Paris | of privileged society—and ¢ tithes—was therefore regard antry, by the lower groups “of the clergy. Iwas, owen ment into support for rem come unwillingly to share Tation to the royal govern ‘major propaganda effort to countryside THE RELUCTand bishops and of the abbots of the monasteries were absentees, drawing over half of the revenues of their office to support their life either in their country homes or, in the case of sons of the higher nobility, in Versailles and Paris. Frequently, a nobleman would make up his revenues by becom. ing abbot of three or four monasteries at once. Lacking any kind of reli gious vocation, many though by no means all of the upper clergy led com fortable social lives in Paris, To be sent to one’s diocese by order of the king was known as "being exiled." Cardinal de Polignac was bishop of Auch for fifteen years and never once went there. The real work of caring for the rural multitudes was done by the village priest or curé, who had the ungrateful task of collecting the Church's tithe, usually an amount be tween one-twelfth and one-twentieth of the value of a peasant’s produce, in order to send more than half of it to some absentee superior’ The an- noyance of the local priests was probably less great than che resentment of the aspiring clergy in the middle ranks, the bright young men of peasant or bourgeois background who had taken positions in monasteries or cathe drals or as professors in seminaries, and who found that the highest ranks of the Church were closed to them. This change in the character of a Church that had for centuries offered the main avenue of social mobility tw 2 poor boy of talent had again infected one of the relatively healthy parts of the ancien régime. The function of Paris and Versailles as the center of government and of privileged society—and thus as the source of taxes, seigneurial dues, and tithes—was therefore regarded with resentment by the majority of the peas: antry, by the lower groups of the nobility, and by lower and middle ranks ofthe clergy. It was, however, the bourgeoisie who were to turn that resent. ment into support for revolution; and they, as an urban class that had tome unwillingly to share the opposition of the nonurban French popw lation to the royal government and the closed aristocracy, had to make a major propaganda effort to win over the disaffected groups of the French countryside incto deserve such Ing more! For the sve, hove hed t0 wou would measure on, and used The ‘uses by the aristo- ‘lass. Marcelline’s yr and aristocratic your contempt the fou who ought to be ‘axes 30 vain of their rus tobe deprived of ‘walks of life you ac state of servitude be vere our possessions Dur faults are in ques: ands us must provoke of a great nobleman ige up a play envoy from goodness ime Porte, Persia, the Kingdoms of int of giving ely Uhad jut i¢ was a dancer THE RELUCTANT DISAFFECTION OF THE BOURGEOISIE tied fashionable people p as a bank ofthe Bros Oe he French bourgeoisie, that variegated class engaged in finance, bust under at ness, commerce, and the professions tha lay between the nobility on the one hand and the manual workers on the other, was by far the the barrier again being, the higher offices. In rity of the archbishops most economically progressive class in French society. Until the late eigh fenth century, it was also socially conservative. From the 1770s on, how: “eer, the bourgeoisie became annoyed at the combination of ineffective I government and of the newly imposed barriers to upward social mo: ity. They then reluctantly concluded that the teachings of the philo. fies on efficient administration could only be applied after political olution le; The Marriage of Figaro, rp. 98. Copyright © Toba “THE RELUCTANT DISAFFECTION OF THE BOURGEOISIEk “The bourgeoisie was not large in number. In Pars at the middle ofthe co” sane Petas been calculated to number only forty thousand ous of & total ver half-a million. (At the time, there were in Paris about Fr atad clergy and five thousand nobles, the rest of the population tolng shopkeepers, artisans, laborers, and unemployed ) There were also ene Giferences of wealth and occupation within the bourgeoisie ht Trad great influence on poktical attitudes of its members, The math divi had great Jerween those engaged in the professions, such as law, and ches so eascee There was, however, a constant movement berween che busy un putt professional groupings ofthe bourgeoisie, most notably because of whe tow social prestige attached to engaging in business, French econ evelopment was hampered throughout the eeneury by the dist that se sopmrdeclass people felt for making money in trade or indusey Many who had prospered sent their sons into law or the Church the way gather dhan into the family business, and instead of plowitg their frofts back into their companies, they preferred co snvest 10 socially 1e- rears rece purchases of country chateaux, land, government bonds of sevne marriages for their children. In other words the middle classes WOK aoa rraterented in the social mobility that wealth could buy. In his Hp senavoit du Seigneur, Voltaire summarized the social plans of & wealthy bourgeois: Character of the French Bourgeoisie population of 0 1 wane everything to happen at my plasute and in accordance with my wie a erech, So father in-ase, Hsten: To dignify myself in my mariage, | ot for ae elf neo a gentleman, and | arm huying from che Dal the Rowing ane royal receiver ia the sat granaries: that's not bad. My son wil be cow ee Toughter will ase herself some noble family: My grandsons il eee indenteAnd the descendant of my lord will ne day pay court 9 mine.” “Throughout most of the eighteenth century, and especially in the Yet Pe ae 1770. the middle classes became increasingly prosperous, Many few wealthy os a direct result of governmental inefficiency The gover sre ce inability to collec its own taxes, and especially its need for a Maee payment of taxes, enriched the farmers general and che thousands of va collectors they employed. Other financiers supplied provisions for the ta eine government the bullion 1€ needed for the coinage, and Pr a yjed the ships and capital for overseas colonization, These extremely videt ay men, with fortunes as great as any in the nobility and townhouses wea ay chateaux to match theit fortunes, were abe, even in the Be aac ccatple exclusivity im the later part of the century, co retain eel place in the ranks of Les Grands. But the widespread prosper easing productivity of the French economy Sources of che Bourgeoisie’s Wealth ty of the bourgeois class was due to the im To some extent, gover CCHAVTER 20 THE PARIS OF THE PHILOSOPHES 188 ‘mental measures | canals were impro’ panies considered manufacture as sil hhaps most importa quiring. piecemeal Tucrative. A few sh its were made in th Gorée in West Aft dian islands of M Newfoundland an trade with the Ou ‘Mogul Empire in nupled, and all its chants had accun boom unparilleed yundred fifty ships each year, was alt © the center of the 1 trade, also maintai commerce expand fine houses but ca ‘onto the river Gar Unit about 170 wealth cold bt iether eon Imposed by the not The most ima of mos ofthe clo Sdministatos, te enti ns god par of Ey Succession ral Bind colonial wars These underakig povrces Inthe fal mow al of Fane few of the possessic Bankrupt utdale of the cen. d out of a total ¢ in Paris about the population There were aso bourgeoisie that ‘The main divi 1s law, and those ‘esween the bust otably because of French economic. the distaste that rade or industry. ye Church or the of plowing their ist in socially re mnment bonds, oF riddle classes were Id buy. In his play plans of a wealthy SSS meee sulfite nosing i My grandsons will recially in the years yy prosperous. Many, fiency. The govern y its need for an adi and the thousands of ced provisions for the] fe coinage, and pr on. These extremel and townhouses able, even in the pe tury, to retain the lass was due to the if some extent, Zovertl ry Frence (Ponceton, mental measures helped. The currency w. 8 stabilized in 1726, roads and canals were improved; loans and state subsidies were given to private con panies considered of national importance, including not only such luxury ‘manufacture as silks or velvet but iron foundries and coal mines too. Per haps most important, che overseas empire, which the French had been ac quiring piecemeal during the seventeenth century, became extremely Iucrative. A few ships traded with Canada and Louisiana; but the real prot its were made in the sale of slaves from the French colonies of Senegal and Gorée in West Africa, from the sugar and tropical products of the West In dian islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and trom the fisheries off Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. French merchants also opened up trade with the Ottoman Empire in the eastern Mediterrancan and with the Mogul Empire in India. During the century, France's foreign trade quad. upled, and all its port cities showed evidence of the wealth their mer chants had accumulated, France’s provincial cities enjoyed a building boom unparalleled before the ewentieth century. Nantes, which sent one hundred fifty ships and as many as thirty thousand slaves to the Caribbean ach year, was almost completely rebuilt in the classical style. Bordeaux the center of the new trade with India and a participant in the African tade, also maintained its old commerce in wine with northern Europe. Its commerce expanded sixfold, and its merchants not only built themselves fine houses but called in Gabriel to build a monumental square opening ‘mo the river Garonne Patil about 1770 the French middle classes were therefore quite Sith their economic condition and with the social advancement that their malth could obtain for them. From that point on, however, they became ficreasingly outraged at the dai their economic status, aposed by the nobility aging effects of governmental inefficiency id at the barriers to their upward s The most immediate effect of governmental inefficiency was the loss ost of the colonial empire in the wars with England. French colonial iministrators, like Dupleix in India and Duquesne in Canada, had laid ftbitious plans for restricting English colonial expansion and for annexin, good part of England's overseas possessions. In the War of the Austrian pecession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), the French ge-scale land war in Europe and naval H colonial war in North America, the West Indies, Africa, and India ee undertakings proved completely beyond France’s ability and re tes, In the final campaigns of 1759-1763, the British took possession of post all of France's overseas settlements in Canada, West Africa, and the Bbbean, and its Indian trading stations, Although the British returned of the possessions in the West Indies, Africa, and India, French activ is henceforth greatly restricted, and during the war and after, many Ehents who were engaged in shipping and overseas commerce went it But the effect of the wars upon French governmental finances The Bourgeoisie Becomes Revolutionary THE RELUCTANT DISAFFECTION OF THE BOURGEOISIE190 ranks of the nobility at the wealthiest bourgec successfully in almost for lawyers to break in in the Parlement of Par as were the principal of the bourgeois were ¢ particularly sympathet bourgeois salons in Par a more efficient admin: cially under the influe mand institutional cha which was to make Fra THE PARIS Never: D. hand, the King's body practiced rioter auch a thing were ever should all bioo As early as 1761 the French gov at had that it was on the edge of pankrupte : « inefficient and unjust system of taxation, The root cause was France nobility and clergy largely untapped. Again hat ran from the defeats it al erisis that ran fron hed could be which left the wealth of th finance ministers sou Mercier was, however EProntent continually rea Serious uprisings that f Paris's food supply. In | ithe mob demonstrated Bread prices. In 1775 th Shungry crowds, which ae ‘would ensure that all Frenchmen would pay taxes TE fh case the privileged classes fought tn proportion to their wealth I naa aded dismiss the in their revolt against England ight cen back until the king was pi French support of the American colon ty by increased borrowing at interest rates 0 ing interest paid on the national effect of brin chet ruptcy again threatened. T Be clvc year afer tet acre ie diaswes, who bad made the greater part of the loans Bey many observers like S i ty of the state. If one simple solution were fol Pity itself were si spade tional debt—they would be the pal What was univ Tr nothin esta ot only would government bonds become worthless, butranks of the nobility and the Church had been closed to all except a few of the wealthiest bourgeois families. And this exclusion was being applied successfully in almost all parts of society. It had become almost impossible for lawyers to break into the nobility of the robe by gaining appointments in the Parlement of Paris. The upper levels of the bureaucracy were closed as were the principal commands in the army and navy. At this point most af the bourgeois were converted into followers of the philosophes and were particularly sympathetic to the demand for a more egalitarian society. The bourgeois salons in Paris turned first co the demands of the physioerats for Amore ecient administration of the country’s economy, but slowly, espe: cially under the influence of the revolution in America, they began to de mand institutional change. They were prepared in fact for the Revolution, ‘which was to make France—brieilya constitutional monarchy THE PARIS PROLETARIAT ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION uille, Louis Sebastian Mercier confidently asserted Dangerous rioting has become am P in Paris . ‘with countless individica 5 1761 the French gov twas on the edge of acted rioters, we Patisians fiould happen, and were met at the outse al # bloods ast system of taxation, raely untapped Again an trom the defeats im ministers sought a new Mercier was, however, closing his eves to the ¢ popular dis The Disaffection of hmen would pay taxes fontent continually ready to erupt rnto violence In 1725 there had heen the Parisian Worker wileged classes fought MMMM serious uprisings that torced the dismissal of th eforming munister, Pans’ tood supply vet minister had been mabhed lr “revolt against England, on th en ational’ theatened, The the mob dem to many obs and the five to six thousand reinforcements stationed 40, vers like Mercier that the fiftee red le solution were fol would be the principal ‘bankrupt and the result! Is become worthless, but ibe endangered ded with their discover din society. The uppel it itself were suflicient for any Future emergency What was universally accepted, however was the dangerous dis fatsfaction of large sections of Bury observers, the conditions of life in lower-class Panis were a sufficient ‘explanation to the sense of grievance Merit, The Wasting City pp 108-108Working-Class Grievances ent) fof their own quarte fhe inconveniences ot ha. fe tions” in 1790, wi th seurey is unt these working-class © sponded to their a th snc ae hac eran HE IRS a8 LE ne stata mceced oar ee Seed ohisson always effective measures 12 tor tear ot nots they did take elaborate tf not fioning, tod Convers chun the bread supply ofthe cities through requ Peon arraae Te times ut harvest tanlure, such as occurred in 1787 and fMBe There is no equivalen ot bread in Pars HR Paris in the Age of Ab vant to the later year Paris (1976) isa beats before the Revolucion othe test though based on mar pleasant though supe and I78x. these measures broke down completely. The p hhen a general economic depression had thrown up to doubled, at a cime w halt of the wagecarning population aut of work and reduced the sneome had a political plationm prescribed The Harisan wutking clinses there fate of Pais at the ou rare e rere Choi atuation, they wanted reliable brcad supa MMR yop capgor sna Hee price ad resular wrk at reasonable wages When thes be MME. teresting way to app aos eee ichve ah at tunics valent during the Revolution, chee ME” By traveler, especial rae tomo, But i was not the poorest and most de ME 1788. and 1769 969) eae workune clas that were most prepared 0 cemot- ME irs (1922), Tobias Sr eee cane ciechete conriuane: it wis sath the mace skilled and [Me™ Walpole, Lees vol 6 . GF Heenan hopleapere the arnsins and MR table Trp 0 Pare sn fhe mast si tendenee ehac these peuple wore directly im PME eller tn France, 1698-1 fueneed by Fe onan lune rher wore asitatig ME” Panis (1783-1788) sab eae 7 : rae ‘On the wen w régime, sec the mode te TE ot Tid tevin a atts 1600stacks or porters. h mie illnesses: It ile ofthat malig og this species of ters in seal Bow pavement of and dati al ee i Tincreased by thelr che mulienty of ty has been shown, pmal times the Pa tots of 1775, which 1" because the riot uced the price of a ments of Louis XV ing up the grain to cipitated, although fective measures to ning, food convoys, ccurred in 1787 and ce of bread in Paris 4 n had thrown up t0 reduced the income platform prescribed 4 reliable bread supply ages. When they be- be Revolution, these the more skied and ple were directly in g ic were agitating) F down to them, But velltodo, whom the isocrats a focling ‘nore specifically with sa sense of politic Ivement 19 the aff «Walpole, Ler of their own quarter of Paris, When Paris was divided into forty-eight “sec- tions" in 1790, with assemblies and committees for each neighborhood these working-class leaders would find the political instrument that corre sponded to their almost instinctive belief in direct democracy in preter ence to representative democracy. ‘There were few Parisians, therefore, who would have agreed with Tal: leyrand that one had to have lived before 1789 to know how sweet life could be (la douceur de vivre). As early as 1753 Lord Chesterfield had pre: dicted to his son ‘The affairs of France ... grow serious, and, in my opinion, will grow mote and ‘more so every day. The King is despised, and I do not wonder at it, but he has brought it about to be hated at the same time, which seldom happens to the same ‘man, His Ministers are known to be as disunited as incapable... The people are Poor, consequently discontented, those who have religion are divided in their no tions of it; which is saying that they hate one another... The French nation reasons freely, which they never did before, upon matters of religion and govern: ment, and begins to be spregiudicati [free of prejudice}, the officers do so t00, in short all che symptoms which I have ever met with in history, previous to great changes and revolutions in Government, now exist, and daily increase in France. am glad of it, the rest of Europe will be the quieter, and have time to recover SUGGESTED READING Thete 1s no equivalent for eighteenth:century Paris of Orest Ranum’s fine essay Paris in the Age of Absolutism (1968), although much of Ranum's material is rele vant to the later years of the ancien régime. Howard C. Rice, Thomas lefferson's Pars (1976) is a beautiful inttoduction to the areas of Paris Jefferson visited just befor XVille siecle (1968) is anecdotal though based on many contemporary memoirs. Henry Bidou, Paris (1939) 1s Pleasant though superficial account (pp. 184-265), Two older books cover the sate of Pari at the outbreak of the Revolution very thoroughly: A. Babeau, Paris en 1789 (1889) and H. Monin, Lat de Paris en 1789 (1889), Muh the most sn teresting way to approach the study of the eity 1s eo read the Revolution, Pierte Gaxotte, Paris me of the fine memoirs by travelers, especially Arthur Young, Travels in France During the Years 178 1788, and 1789 (1969), Carlo Goldont, Memoirs (1877), Jacques Casanova, Me is (1922), Tobias Smollet, Travels Through France and Italy (1919), Horace David Gartick Bi ng a Record of His Memo: rable Trip to Paris in 1751 (1928), and Constantia E, Maxwell, The English Trav eller in France, 1698-1815 (1982) Louis Sébastien Mercier's huge Le Tableau de Paris (1788-1788) is abridged in The Wasting City: # 1782-88 (1933), On the social structure of eighteenth .century Frante, that is, of the ancien me, see the modern synthesis by Allred Cobban, A History of Modern France Hol 1, Old Regime and Revolution 1715-1799 (1961), CB A Behrens, The An tien Régime (1968), a very suggestive and ambitious survey, Alexis de Tocque file, The Ancien Régime and the Revolution, first published im 1856, for the illance of its insights, and Pierre Goubert, The Ancien Régime. French Societ {00-1750 1974), for a survey by a fine contemporary French historian. Modern ord Chesterfield, Leters o His Son (London. Det, 1929), pp 274-275, SUGGESTED READING wm