1837.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



755 



reduce the prices of the provisions which they "mono- 

 polize" with the design of obtaining for tliem the liigh- 

 -est possible prices.] — Ed. Far. Reg. 



Extract from Arthur Young's Tnvels in France, during 1787, 



-■88, -89. 



Of all sub]ccfp. there is none comparable lo the 

 police of corn, for dii^piayiiifi; the folly to which 

 men can arrive, who do not betray a want of com- 

 mon sense in reasoninijon other to()ics. One tells 

 us (I confine myself chiefly to Freni'h authoriiies, 

 eniTatred as I am at present in researches in that 

 kiniidom,) that the price is in exact proportion to 

 the quantity of corn, and to the quantity of money 

 at the same time in the kint^doni ; * and that when 

 wheat sells at 36 liv. the septier, it is a proof there 

 is not half enough to last till harvest, t He pro- 

 poses to ha^-e mairazmes in every market, and to 

 prohibit, under severe penalties, a hi^:her price 

 than 24 liv. This would be the infdlible method 

 to have it very soon at 50, and perhaps at 100 liv. 

 That the price of corn does not depend on the 

 quantity of money, is proved by the sudden rise 

 proceedinfT from alarms, o( which this author 

 miaht have known an instance in the year he 

 printed; fijr Mons. Necker's memoir to the Na- 

 tional Assembly was no sooner dispersed, than 

 the price rose in one week 30 per cent. ; yet the 

 iQuantity in the kingdom, both of^ money and corn, 

 remained just as before that memoir was publish- 

 ed. Bat it has already been sufEcienlly proved, 

 that a very small deficiency of the crop will make 

 an enormous difference in the price. I may add, 

 that the mere apprehension of a deficiency, 

 whether ill or well founded, will have the same 

 effect. From this circumstance, I draw a conclu- 

 sion of no triflintj import to all Governments ; and 

 that is, never to express publicly any apprehen- 

 sion of a want of corn ; and the only method by 

 which governments can express their I'enrs:, is by 

 proclamations anainst export ; prohibitions; ordnn- 

 nances of regulation of sale ; arrets:, or laws against 

 monopolizers; or vain and frivolous boasts, like 

 those of Mons. Necker, of making great imports 

 from abroad. All these measures have the same 

 tendency; they confirm amongst the people the ap- 

 prehension of want ; for when it is found, amongst 

 the lowest orders, that government is alarmed as 

 well as they themselves, their own fears augment; 

 they rise in a rage against monopolizers, or spec- 

 ulators, as they ought rather to be called, and then 

 every step they take has the never-failing effect of 

 increasing the evd ; the price rises still higher, as 

 it must do inevitably, when such furious obstruc- 

 tions are thrown on the interior trade in corn, as 

 to make it a matter of great and serious danger to 

 have any thing to do with it. In such a situation 

 of madness and folly in the people, the plenty of 

 one district cannot supply the want of another, 

 without Buch a monstrous premium, as shall not 

 only pay the expence of transport, but insure the 

 corn, when lodged in granaries, against the blind 

 and violent suspicions of the people. To raise this 

 spirit, nothing more is necessary than for govern- 

 ment to issue any decree whatever that discovers 

 an alarm ; the people are immediately apprehen- 

 Bive of famine ; and this can never take place with- 



* Consid. sur la Cherte des Grains, par M. Vaudrey. 

 1789. 8vo. p. 5. 

 t lb. p. 7, 8, 19. 



out creating it in a great measure. It is therefore 

 the duty of a wise and enliifhtened government, if 

 at any time they should fear a short provision of 

 corn, to take the most private and cautious mea- 

 sures possible, either to prevent export, or lo en- 

 courage import, and to avoid making any public 

 decree or declaration. The history of corn, m 

 France, during the year 1789, was a most extra- 

 ordinary proof of the justness of these principles. 

 Wherever I passed, and it was through many pro- 

 vinces, I made inquiries into the causcsof the scar- 

 city; and was every where assured, that the dear- 

 ness was the most, extraordinary circumstance in 

 the world; for, though tlie crop had not been great, 

 yet it was about an average one ; and conse(juent- 

 ly, that the deficiency must certainly have been 

 occasioned by exportation. 1 demanded, il they 

 were sure that an exportation had taken place ? — 

 They replied, no; but that it minht have been 

 done privately; tiiis answer sufh'ciently showed, 

 that these exports were purely ideal. The dear- 

 riess, however, prevailed to such a degree, in i\lay 

 and June particularly (not without being fomented 

 by men who sought to blow the discontents of the 

 f)eople into absolute outrage.) that Mons. Necker 

 thought it right not only to order immersse cargoes 

 of wheat, and every other sort of corn, to be bought 

 all overEurope, but likewise, in June, lo announce 

 to the public, with great parade, the stcjis that he 

 had taken, in a paper called Memoire instnidif, 

 in which he stated, that he had bought, and or- 

 dered to be bought, 1.404,403 gw r/?/at/x of ditii^rent 

 sons of grain, of which more than 800,000 were 

 arrived. 1 was a personal witness, in many mar- 

 kets, of the effect ot" this publication; instead of 

 sinking the price, it raised it directly, and enor- 

 mously-. Upon one market-day, at Nangis. fi-om 

 38 liv. to 43 liv. the septier of 240 lb ; and u[;on the 

 Ibllowing one to 49 liv. which was July 1st ; and 

 on the next day, at Columiers, it was taxed by the 

 police at 4 liv. 5s. and 4 liv. 6s. the 25 lb. ; but as 

 the farmers would not bring it to market at that 

 price, they sold it at their farms at 5.^ liv. and even 

 6 liv. or 57 liv. the septier. At Nangis it advanc- 

 ed, in 14 daj's, 11 liv. a septier; and at Columiers a 

 great deal more. Now, it is to be observed, that 

 these markets are in the vicinity of the capital, for 

 which Mons. Necker's great loreign provision waa 

 chiefly designed; and consequently, if his measures 

 would have any where a good efiect, it might have 

 been expected here; but since the contrary hap- 

 pened, and the price, in two markets, was raised 

 25 per cent, we may reasonably conclude, that it 

 did good no where; yet, as appeared to the Comptes 

 Hevdus, this fine measure cost 40 millions of livrea. 

 But to what was this apparent scarcity imputable? 

 Absolutely to Mons. Necker's having said, in his 

 memoir, " a mon arivec dans le ministere je me 

 hdtai de prendre des informations sur le produit 

 de la recolte et sur les besoins des pays Stran- 

 gers.''''* [Upon entering the ministry, I hastened 



* He has introduced a tissue of the same stuff in his 

 Memoir svr L'Adminialraiion de Mons. Necker par lui 

 meme, p. .307, where he says, with the true ignorance 

 of the prohibitory system, " Mon systeme sur I'expor- 

 tation des grains est infiniment simple, ainsi que j'ai eu 

 souvent roccasion, de le developper ; il se borne a n'en 

 avoir aucun d'iminuable, mais a defendre ou perraette 

 cette exportation selon le temps and selon les circon- 

 stances." When a man starts upon a rotten founda- 

 tion, he is sure to flounder in this manner; the simpli- 



