90 Ethel Lee Howie 



shown the dangers of famine and in other provinces death had 

 occurred. Obstacles were multiplying each day and misfortunes 

 increasing. A free circulation of grain, a month ago, he thought 

 could have prevented such calamities. He had proposed this in 

 the order of the clergy, but by so doing had been accused of 

 having little respect for laws and the authority of the court. The 

 cure stated that the confidence of the princes was often deceived 

 and that it was the duty of every good citizen to enlighten the 

 princes by the truth. He felt that free circulation of grain should 

 still be considered, but this was not enough in the time of a public 

 disaster. Every one should share the common misfortune and 

 this was why he believed a voluntary subscription should be 

 raised. Subscriptions would remedy the lack of money until the 

 time of harvests, even in the most backward provinces. It would 

 also show the humanity and generosity of the assembly and the 

 court, the influential people and the rich, Paris especially, would 

 follow the good example. A loan was dangerous, a tax forced, 

 but the benevolence of subscribers voluntary .*^^ 



That a sum should be advanced was advised by the twenty- 

 seventh bureau and by Target. The idea of the twenty-seventh 

 bureau was that in places where the harvest would begin within 

 fifteen days and in places where bread cost more than three sous 

 a pound, the lords, cures, municipal assemblies, if there were 

 such assemblies, would advance a sum for the purchase of grain. 

 This grain was to be distributed to the poor from week to week, 

 even after the harvest, those charged with the distribution being 

 responsible for the proper distribution. These advances were 

 to be guaranteed by the nation which would consider these loans 

 as the first debt of the state.*^^ Target, who spoke for the 

 twenty-fourth bureau, said that it was dangerous to discuss taxes. 

 His bureau felt that each municipal assembly should be author- 

 ess ^j,yew&/^^ nationale, I, 358; Point du jour, I, 116; Courrier de 

 Provence, I, 17th letter, 6; Bulletins de I'assemblee nationale, July 6. The 

 Point du jour states that the cure said that " la Beauce, qui nourrit 

 rOrleanais, a ete ruinee par la grele ; la Sologne n'a pas recueilli de quoi 

 semer; la situation de leurs habitants est telle qu'ils ne peuvent se nourrir 

 que de la chair des animaux, de I'herbe qui couvre les champs." 

 ^^^ Assemblee nationale, I, 371. 



