We will consider but one group in
this universal state of disorder - that of the eight or ten
departments which surround Paris and furnish it with supplies.
These districts, Brie and Beauce, are rich wheat regions, and not
only was the crop of 1790 good, but that of 1791 is ample.
Information is sent to the minister from Laon[16] that, in the
department of Aisne, "there is a supply of wheat for two years . .
. that the barns, generally empty by the month of April, will not
be so this season before July," and, consequently, "subsistence is
assured." But this does not suffice, for the source of the evil is
not in a scarcity of wheat. In order that everybody, in a vast and
populous country, where the soil, cultivation, and occupations
differ, may eat, it is essential that food should be attainable by
the non-producers; and for it to reach them freely, without delay,
solely by the natural operation of supply and demand, it is
essential that there should be a police able to protect property,
transactions, and transport.
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