Part 11

The 22d and 23d, the Prisons being filled with Malefactors, and the Effects of a vast Number of Houses being exposed to Robbery, by the Death of all the Persons who inhabited them; he sends Orders into the Territory, to oblige the Commissaries de Police to return, to bring to Tryal those Malefactors, and to secure those Effects for the lawful Claimants.

The 24th M. de Langeron, the Marquess de Pilles and the Sheriffs, publish an Ordinance at my Instance, commanding all those who have taken into their Possession the Keys of Houses, or the Effects of Persons deceased, or who have had them put into their Hands in Trust, of what Nature soever they are, to appear within twenty four Hours at the Town-House, and make Declaration thereof before the Commissaries de Police, that the same may be properly secured.

The 25th another Ordinance is issued for the Publick Safety and Health, importing, that for preventing Robberies in the Night, and the Increase of the Contagion by removing from one Place to another infected Apparel, those who after ringing the warning Bell at Night shall be taken robbing Houses, or removing Apparel, or Houshold Goods, shall be punish'd with Death; and that those who shall have forbidden Arms found upon them, shall be condemned to the Gallies.

The 26th, tho' the Plague seems to have decreased, want of Provisions increases; the Distemper having got into the neighbouring Places, and even into the Capital of the Province, hardly any Corn or other Necessaries are brought any longer to the Markets at the Barriers; even all the Barriers are chang'd and remov'd so far off, that they are out of reach, and Marseilles is in the greatest Extremities that it ever felt. M. de Langeron and the Sheriffs see the Necessity there is, for avoiding a speedy Famine, to send Vessels to divers Parts to fetch Bread-Corn, and other Provisions; but having neither Money nor Means to procure any, they are obliged to send Dispatches to Court for Supplies.

The 27th the Hospitals of the Mall, of La Charité, and of the Rive Neuve, being by the Decrease of the Distemper more than sufficient to hold all the Sick; and that des Convalescens being become altogether superfluous, it is resolv'd to make Use of it for those who have recovered, and not of the College de l'Oratoire, as was design'd.

The 28th and 29th are spent in putting it in Order and Furnishing it with new Beds, after all the Sick who were in it had been remov'd to the Hospital at the Mall.

The 30th the great Number of Surgeons, as well Masters as others, who are come from all Parts, allur'd by the Advertisements of the 30th of September, that had been sent out to be publickly affix'd every where, which promised great Rewards to those that would come and serve; makes it necessary to publish contrary Advertisements, signifying, that the Distemper having happily decreased very much, there is no further Occasion for them.

The 31th, to get together, in Order to confine and put under Quarantain, those who have recovered from the Plague, who with their Buboes broke and running wander about the Streets and infect all whom they approach, the Chevalier de Soissans finds out a very easy Expedient; they are all necessitous People who beg about, and do not fail to go wherever Alms are distributed daily to all Comers; he orders Soldiers to hide themselves near the House whither the Bishop has retir'd; in less than half an Hour above five hundred of these Beggars flock thither, whom the Soldiers surround and carry to the Hospital des Convalescens, where the Surgeons search them, and detain all who ought to be kept there.

The First of November, being the Feast of all Saints, the Bishop comes out of his Palace in Procession, accompany'd by the Canons of the Church des Acoulles, by those whom he has newly nominated Canons of the Church of St. Martin, and by the Parson and Priests of the Parish of St. Ferriol; and chusing to appear like the Scape Goat, loaded with the Sins of all the People, and like a Victim destin'd to expiate them, he walks with a Halter about his Neck, the Cross in his Arms, and bare-Foot; thus he proceeds by the Ring towards the Gate of Aix, where he celebrates Mass publickly, at an Altar which he had caused to be erected; and after a pathetick Exhortation to the People to move them to Repentance, for appeasing the Wrath of God, and obtaining Deliverance from the raging Pestilence; he pronounces a solemn Consecration of the City to the sacred Heart of Jesus, in Honour of which he had instituted a Festival to be kept yearly by a Mandate which he caus'd to be read: The Tears which are seen running down his Cheeks during this devout Ceremony, join'd to his very moving Expressions, excite Compunction in the most obdurate Hearts, and every one pierc'd with unfeigned Sorrow cries to the Lord for Mercy: St. Charles did the like formerly at Milan on the same Festival of all Saints, when that City was under the Calamity of the Plague; and nothing is wanting to this Imitator of the Zeal, Piety, Charity, and all the Virtues of so great a Saint, but the Roman Purple which he deserves, and which a whole People on whom he heaps spiritual and temporal Blessings, wish him from the bottom of their Hearts.

From the second to the fifth, M. de Langeron with the Sheriffs divide all the Quarters of the Town into new Districts, and appoint at every District, containing a certain number of Houses, a Commissary to see to the Execution of the several Orders issued, and to prevent whatever may contribute to the Continuance of the Plague, or to its Return.

The 5th, for restraining the excessive Price of all Provisions, which is raised every Day by those who take Advantage of the general Scarcity, they hold in the Town-house an Assembly of Merchants and Tradesmen to settle a general Rate; they continue drawing it up the next Day, and the 8th they publish an Ordinance forbidding all Shopkeepers, Retailers, and Regraters, to sell at a higher Price than what is specified in that general Rate, on the Penalty of the Pillory, of Refunding the Money taken, and Confiscation of the Goods sold.

From the 6th to the 13th M. de Langeron sends out Orders on all Sides for regulating and relieving all the Quarters of the Territory, where the Plague continues to rage; and the 14th he publishes an Ordinance with the Marquess de Pilles and the Sheriffs, which prescribes such exact and judicious Precautions to be observ'd at the Gates, that the indispensible Commerce between the City and the Territory is maintain'd, and yet the Distemper which is there cannot any way be brought into the City, to make that which still continues here rage the more.

The 15th, the Bakers having almost spent all the Fuel for their Ovens, so that they must leave off Baking, Vessels are sent towards Toulon to fetch Wood.

The 16th the Bishop takes a holy Resolution to exorcise the Plague, which he has the Grief to see continue: In order to this, having called together the Remains of his Clergy in the Church des Acoulles, he begins by causing all the Prayers to be read which his Holiness had sent to him, and which are daily repeated in all the Churches of Rome, to incline the Almighty to deliver Marseilles from this Scourge; and after a very eloquent and very moving Exhortation, he carries up the Holy Sacrament to the Leads over the Roof of the Church, from whence all the City and its Territory lye open to the View, gives his Benediction, and performs the Exorcism against the Plague, with all the Prayers and Ceremonies which the Church has prescribed.

The 17th, M. de Langeron receives an Answer from Court, to the Dispatches he had sent thither: M. le Blanc, and M. le Pelletier des Forts write to him, that his Royal Highness being extremely concerned at the Calamity of Marseilles, had given Orders to the India Company to remit hither twenty five thousand Pieces of Eight, and one thousand nine hundred Marks of Silver, with which he is pleased to assist this City, till he can provide for its further Relief: The Marquess de la Vrilliere writes the same thing to the Sheriffs, and that his Royal Highness will do all that lies in his Power to succour them: That August Prince has had all possible Regard for this unfortunate City; from the Time he knew of its Distress, he has not neglected sending Orders every where, for supplying it with all necessary Help, as well to cure the Distemper, as to provide against Scarcity and Want: All his Ministers have seconded his Intentions with so much Earnestness and Application, that they seem to have had no other Business upon their Hands, than to hasten its Supplies, and to render them effectual. What Gratitude for this will not Subjects so obedient and so faithful ever cherish in their Hearts? This Gratitude for their Preservation, joined to the Ardour and Zeal which have always distinguished them in the Submission and Obedience due to his Majesty; will inflame them with a Desire to sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes, for the Honour and Glory of his Service.

Never was there greater Scarcity, nor ever was such Scarcity so plentifully supplied; so that having been continually just falling into Want, or in fear of wanting every thing, by the Interdiction of Communication and Commerce, we have hardly ever wanted any thing, by Means of the continual Succours which came in successively from all Parts, by the Orders of his Royal Highness, and the particular Care of M. le Pelletier des Forts, and M. le Blanc, to cause them to be executed: Corn and other Provisions, and especially large Cattle, and Sheep, have been brought in such Quantity and Numbers, notwithstanding all Difficulties, that for a long time we have had a kind of Plenty of them; from the Mint at Aix, the first President has remitted very considerable Sums of Money, he has procured all Necessaries to be sent in from divers Parts; he has caused almost whole Forests to be cut down, that we might not want Wood for firing; and not contenting himself with procuring Credit for us to a great Sum, he has had the Goodness to find Means to discharge a considerable Part of that Debt; from Languedoc the Intendant, M. de Bernage, has taken infinite Pains to get sent hither all the Succours that fertile Province could furnish.

Several eminent Citizens have contributed very largely; M. Constans and Remusat, have by their Credit and Money procured twenty thousand Measures (called Charges) of Bread-Corn; M. Martins, Grimaud, and Beoland, have voluntarily taken inconceivable Pains so keep the Shambles supplied, and with very great Success; several others have contributed Money for buying up Corn in the Levant; even some of the Magistrates of the Soveraign Courts of the Province, as soon as the Plague had broke out, moved by their Generosity of Heart, and Grandeur of Soul, offered and even sent in all the Corn that was reaped on their own Lands; such are M. de Lubieres and de Ricardi, Counsellors of the Parliament, and M. de Rauville President of the Court of Accompts, Aids and Finances: We could not perish with so great and various Supplies; but Marseilles and its Territory are an Abyss; it cannot otherwise be filled, than by that prodigious Abundance, which Liberty, and the Concourse of the Commerce of Nations, bring into it.

The 18th M. Taxil, Agent of the India Company at Marseilles, remits to the Sheriffs one thousand six hundred Marks of Bullion, and twenty thousand and forty nine Marks in Pieces of Eight, which they cause to be conveyed to the Mint at Montpellier, there to be converted into new Specie.

The 19th the Distemper which had extremely decreased, having increased again a little, and there being Ground to believe that the Communication in some Churches which were opened, had occasioned it, the Bishop is desired to be pleased to order them to be shut up again.

The 20th, 21st, and 22d Vessels are fitted out to fetch Corn from the Levant, that we might not be wholly in want of it this Winter, and after the Plague and Scarcity fall into Famine.

The 23d Advice comes that one of the Vessels in which his Holiness's Ministers had caused to be laden at Civita-Vecchia, the Bread-Corn designed for the Poor of Marseilles, is unhappily wrecked on the Island of Porcherolles, and that of one thousand Measures it carried, not three hundred could be saved.

The 24th and 25th, the Contagion still continuing in the Territory, and the Persons who live there, or have retired thither, especially those who are struck with it, or suspect they are, using all manner of Artifice to steal into the City, where the Distemper has almost intirely ceased, M. de Langeron establishes such proper and exact Precautions, that no Endeavours of that kind can succeed.

The 26th he publishes an Ordinance, to serve for Rules at the Gates, prescribing the several Certificates which must be brought to obtain Permission to enter, and describing the Condition of Health and other Circumstances a Person must be in to be qualified for a Certificate from the Parish-Priests, Captains, and Commissaries.

The 27th he sends this Ordinance to be published in the Territory, and with it a circular Letter to all the Parish-Priests, Captains and Commissaries of the Quarters, for their more ample Instruction.

The 28th two other Vessels laden with the rest of the Bread-Corn given by his Holiness, arrive at Toulon: The Bishop comes to the Town-house, to concert with M. de Langeron and the Sheriffs, the Means of getting it brought to this City, whither those Vessels will not come because of the Contagion.

The 29th, the Difficulty made by the Masters of Vessels of Languedoc, to come laden with Provisions to the Port of Frioul in the Island of Roteneau, one of the Isles of Marseilles, whither the Barrier is removed from Lestaque, because after they have unladen at that Island, no Ballast is to be had there, without which they cannot sail empty, and return to their own Ports; this Difficulty, I say, obliges M. de Langeron and the Sheriffs to send for the Regulators of the Fishermen to the Town-house, and order them to see that no Boat goes out to fish, till it has first carried a lading of Ballast to that Isle of Roteneau.

The 30th the Chevalier Rose undertakes for the Execution of this Order; and he succeeds so well in it, that all the Ballast necessary for all the Vessels which may come to that Island, is presently carried thither.

The First of December the Hospital of the Rive-Neuve, governed and directed by the Chevalier Rose, being become useless, the few Sick remaining in it are removed to that of la Charité, and the other is entirely shut up: M. Boyer de Paradis, one of the Physicians who came from Paris by Order of his Royal Highness, served in it with all the Ardour and Zeal, that the Love of his native Country could inspire.