182 BAILLT. 



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, 

 I am 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 



