Chapter XII - Policing the General Subsistence, 1771–1774

Summary

I

Many monographs will have to be written before one can properly assess the impact of Terray's policy. De-liberalization wrought no miracles. It did not herald the general return of abundance and it did not restore universal social tranquility. Even in those places which enjoyed a marked change of fortune after the end of 1770, it would be difficult to show that the improvement in conditions was due to the reinstitution of controls. Yet there is no question that Terray's law buoyed the morale of the police, infusing them with a sense of confidence that they had not felt for years. There were still frequent denunciations of “disorders” and “monopolies” in the trade, but the police no longer complained that they were impotent to act; they once again located the source of the vice in the malice and greed of the dealers rather than in the laws, and they resorted to “the usages of authority” when necessary to furnish their markets. There is some evidence that consumers in parts of the Hainaut and the Paris region received the news of the government's regulatory law with enthusiasm. An observer in Champagne reported that the break with liberalization helped to “revive” the “courage” of the people. Large numbers of merchants began to register with the police in order to secure permission to traffic in grain.

As always, execution of the law depended heavily upon the parlements; in this regard the Maupeou purge changed very little. It was precisely in order to assure the widest possible diffusion and enforcement that Terray had the December law enveloped in letters patent requiring registration. Though a number of courts, such as the Parlements of Paris and Metz, gave their approbation without difficulty, it should not be imagined that registration was either universal or uncontested. None of the liberal parlements endorsed the letters patent. By not insisting on registration at the beginning of 1771, the government, after a fashion, discharged its debts to these courts for having supported the king's position on the grain question so fervently in the sixties. Aware that it would take a “combat of authority” to secure registration and convinced that a forced registration would serve no purpose, Terray decided to wait for the evolution of events and opinion to cause the liberal courts to gravitate toward the police system on their own.