182 ) BAILLY. 
may not be so generally known, that on the 13th of July, 
1788, a fall of hail of unprecedented size and quantity, 
in a few hours completely ravaged the two parallel zones 
lying between the department of the Charente and the 
frontiers of the Pays-Bas, and that in consequence of this 
frightful hail, the wheat partly failed, both in the north 
and in the west of France, until after the harvest of 
1789. 
The scarcity was already severely felt, when Bailly on 
the 15th of July accepted the appointment of Mayor of 
Paris. That day, it had been ascertained, from an ex- 
amination of the quantity of corn at the Market Hall 
and of the private stocks of the bakers, that the supply 
of grain and flour would be entirely exhausted in three 
days. The next day, the 16th of July, all the overseers 
in the victualling administration had disappeared. This 
flight, the natural consequence of the terrible intimida- 
tion that hovered over those who were in any way con- 
nected with the furnishing of provisions, interrupted the 
operations which had been commenced, and exposed the 
city of Paris to famine. 
Bailly, a magistrate of only one day’s standing, con- 
sidered that the multitude understands nothing, hears 
nothing when bread fails ; that a scarcity, either real or 
supposed, is the great promoter of riots; that all classes 
of the population grant their sympathy to whoever cries, 
Lam hungry ; that this lamentable cry soon unites indi- 
viduals of all ages, of both sexes, of every condition, in 
one common sentiment of blind fury; that no human 
power could maintain order and tranquillity in the bosom 
of a population that dreads the want of food; he there- 
fore resolved to devote his days and his nights to pro- 
visioning the capital; to deserve, as he himself said, the 
