PARIS · 1775-05-11
Executions follow a succession of disorders in the capital and the grain districts; M. Turgot maintains freedom of commerce against demands for cheaper bread.
Two men condemned for their part in the recent bread disturbances were hanged to-day in the Place de Grève. Their execution gives a terrible public expression to the Crown’s determination to restore obedience after disorders which have troubled Paris, Versailles, and numerous places supplying the capital with grain. Troops have been employed, arrests made, and the protection of markets and provisions strengthened. Yet punishment, however exemplary the ministers intend it to be, cannot of itself settle the question which has brought the crowds into the streets: whether working households can obtain sufficient bread at a price their earnings will bear. The disturbances have not proceeded from one assembly or followed the direction of a single acknowledged chief. In market towns, upon roads, and at places where grain is stored or flour prepared, crowds have intervened against the ordinary conduct of trade. Some have seized provisions; others have compelled their sale at prices fixed by the purchasers rather than the owners. Such proceedings are not everywhere simple pillage. Those taking part have sometimes offered payment, maintaining that they seek a just price rather than goods without charge. To merchants whose property and bargains are thus placed at the crowd’s disposal, that distinction affords little security.