The Insurrection of October, 1789 13 



the grain received coming so far by water, yet it was harmlesss 

 and must of necessity be eaten. 1 



What were some of the results of this condition of affairs? 

 From the poverty-stricken country the people moved in a con- 

 stant stream to the cities. Paris had been increasing her number 

 of tramps and beggars for several years. In 1789 there were, it 

 was said, 40,000 residents who had no right to be called citizens. 

 The financial situation killed every enterprise. The fear of bank- 

 ruptcy stopped the circulation or investment of capital. There 

 was no money. Commerce was dead. Manufactories were 

 closed, and a great army of unemployed fermented in Paris. 

 This army had been greatly increased by servants of the emi- 

 grating nobility thrown out of employment. Since July an in- 

 credible number of passports had been issued, 20,000 according 

 to the Venetian ambassador. 2 No doubt the greater number of 

 these were used by persons seeking refuge in the country, as it 

 was forbidden to leave Paris without a passport, but many went 

 beyond the frontier. 3 Antonio Capello, who was ambassador 

 from Venice in Paris at this time, speaks of this "multitude 

 . . . who will become a burden through their misery if they 

 do not become formidable by their violence." 4 The same fear is 

 expressed in a letter from Bailly to Necker : "I can not describe 

 to you, Monsieur, the astonishing number of unfortunates who 

 besiege me. Paris is in a condition that makes one tremble, espe- 

 cially when one thinks what must be the result, the greater part 

 of the workingmen of this great city reduced to a state of abso- 

 lute inactivity, a condition of distress all the more frightful that it 

 strikes the poorest class, the class most apt to become enflamed." 5 



The danger of the situation was heightened by the constant 

 pillage of grain. Scarcity and high prices tempted to lawless 

 seizures of grain on the road. In the country, as already stated, 



bailly, Mimoires, II, 202. 



2 Capello, Dispacci degli ambasciatori Veniti alia corte di Francia du- 

 rante la rivoluzione, 62. 



3 Gomel, Histoiie financiere de V assemble* constituant, I, 363. 



4 Capello, Dispacci degli ambasciatori Veniti alia corte di Francia du- 

 rante la rivoluzione , 63. 



6 Histoire parlementaire, IV, 186. 



279 



