HIS ADMINISTRATION AS MAYOR. 203 



palace during the twenty-eight months of his adminis- 

 tration ! No, undoubtedly ! for, first it was necessary to 

 give bread to the inhabitants of Paris ; now the revenues 

 of the town, added to the daily sums furnished by Necker, 

 scarcely sufficed for those principal wants. Some years 

 before, the Parisians had been very much displeased at 

 the establishment of import dues on all alimentary sub- 

 stances. The writers of that epoch preserved the bur- 

 lesque Alexandrine, which was placarded all over the 

 town, on the erection of the Octroi circumvallation : 



" Le mur mttrant Paris, rend Paris murmurant. 1 " * 



The multitude was not content with murmuring ; the 

 moment that a favourable opportunity occurred, it went 

 to the barriers and broke them down. These were re- 

 established by the administration with great trouble, and 

 the smugglers often took them down .by main force. 

 The Octroi revenue from the imports, which used to 

 amount to 70,000 francs, now fell to less than 30,000. 

 Those persons who have considered the figures of the 

 present revenue, will assuredly not compare such very 

 dissimilar epochs. 



But it is said that ameliorations in the moral world 

 may often be effected without expense. What were 

 those for which the public was indebted to the direct 

 exertions of Bailly? The question is simple, but re- 

 pentance will follow the having asked it. My answer 

 is this : One of the most honourable victories gained by 

 mathematics over the avaricious prejudices of the ad- 

 ministrations of certain towns has been, in our own times, 

 the radical suppression of gambling-houses. I will hasten 

 to prove that such a suppression had already engaged 



* " The wall walling Paris, renders Paris wailing." 



