Part 2
The 4th, the Officers of the Garison of Fort _St. John_ come to the Town-House, acquaint the Sheriffs that they are in want of Bread-Corn, and desire a Supply from them; declaring, that otherwise they cannot answer that the Troops of their Garison will not come into the City, and take Corn by Force. The Sheriffs reply, that they would willingly furnish them if they had Stores sufficient; but the Want themselves are in, is so great, that they cannot do it; and if Violence should be offered to the Inhabitants, they would appear at their Head to defend them.
The same Day it being taken into Consideration, that the Arrêt issued by the Chamber of Vacations, having interdicted all Communication between the Inhabitants of the Province, and those of _Marseilles_; if Things should remain at this Pass, and no Body should bring in Corn, and other Provisions, we should soon be reduced to the Extremity of Famine, the Sheriffs resolve to have Recourse to the First President. Accordingly they send to intreat him to establish, as had been done formerly, Markets, and Barriers for Conference, at certain proper Places, whither Strangers, without being exposed to any Risque, might bring us Provisions: At the same time they write to the Procurators of the Country of _Provence_, to be pleas'd to concur therein. It is impossible, certainly, to exert more Compassion to the Miseries of an afflicted City, than they did; and particularly the Consuls of the several Towns: _Marseilles_ will never forget the Services done her in this Calamity, nor the Kindness, Zeal and Readiness with which they were done.
The same Day, the Sheriffs considering the Disorders which often happen in a Time of Contagion, the Necessity of using speedy Means to suppress them, and of making Examples of Malefactors and Rebels; and that as often as this City has been visited with the Plague, as in 1580, 1630, 1649, and 1650, our Kings have constantly granted to their Predecessors in the Magistracy, by Letters Patents, the Power of judging all Crimes finally, and without Appeal; they write again to the First President, desiring him to procure for them from his Majesty the like Letters Patents.
The 5th, they repeat their Instances to him, to get them supplied with Corn: They write likewise to the same purpose, to the Consuls of _Toulon_, and to those of all the Maritime Towns of the Coasts of _Languedoc_ and _Provence_; proposing to go to receive the Corn at any Place distant from the Town which they shall chuse to land it at; and they desire those of the Town of _Martignes_ to send Vessels to _Arles_, to fetch Corn from thence.
The 6th, an Ordinance is publish'd at my Instance, forbidding all Persons to remove from one House to another the Moveables and Apparel of the Sick or Dead, or to touch them, or make any use of them, on Pain of Death. Another Ordinance fixes the Rates of Victuals and necessary Commodities, to restrain the excessive Price to which, because of the Scarcity, those who would make Advantage of the Publick Misery, would raise them.
The 7th, the Chamber of Vacations having permitted the Procurators of the Country to come to a Conference with the Sheriffs, at a Place on the Road to _Aix_, call'd _Notre-Dame_, two Leagues distant from _Marseilles_; the Marquess _de Vauvenargues_, first Procurator of the Country, comes thither, accompanied by several Gentlemen, and the principal Officers of the Province, attended by the Marshal de _Villars_'s Guards, and by a Brigade of Archers of the _Marshalsea_. A Town afflicted with, or suspected of the Plague, out of which even almost all the Inhabitants are ready to run, cannot make a Figure, conformable to such Honour. M. _Estelle_, one of the chief Sheriffs, goes to the Place, without Retinue, without Attendants, and without any Guard, accompanied only by M. _Capus_, Keeper of the Records of the City, who, by his Ability, Probity, and Application, is become the Pilot, as it were, of this whole Community.
At this Conference, where the Precaution is used to speak to each other at a great Distance, an Agreement is made, importing, that at that Place a Market shall be establish'd, where a double Barrier shall be fixed; and that another Market shall be settled at the Sheep-Inn, on the Road to _Aubagne_, which is likewise two Leagues from _Marseilles_; another for Vessels bringing Provisions by Sea, at a Creek called _Lestaque_, in the Gulph of the Islands of _Marseilles_; and that at all these Markets and Barriers, the Guards shall be placed by the Procurators of the Country, and paid by the Sheriffs of _Marseilles_.
The 8th, this Agreement is confirm'd by an Arret of the Chamber of Vacations: In Consequence of which, the Sheriffs write to all the Consuls of the Towns and Places of _Provence_, pressing them to send, with all Expedition, Corn, and other Provisions, Wood and Coal, to these Markets and Barriers, where all shall be transacted without Communication.
They apply themselves the same Day to the drawing up of general Instructions, in which they specify all the Duties the Commissaries whom they have already appointed, are to perform, for relieving the Poor, and taking Care of the Sick.
In the mean time, it being evident that M. _Estelle_ and _Moustier_, who hitherto have sat up by Turns every Night, to see the Dead, Sick, and Suspected, carried to the Infirmaries, and Houses fasten'd up or perfumed, cannot possibly undergo such Fatigues much longer; especially the Distemper beginning to break out in divers Quarters of the Town, far distant from each other; altho' M. _Audimar_ and _Dieudé_ offer'd to relieve them; The Marquis _de Pilles_ judging it necessary they should manage their Health and Life, it was resolved in the Assembly,
1. That Carts shall be used to carry off the Dead; that all the sturdiest Beggars who can be found, shall be seized, and made Buriers of the Dead; that Four Lieutenants of Health shall direct them, and M. _Bonnet_, Lieutenant to the Governor, shall command them.
2. Men shall forthwith be set to work, to dig large and deep Pits without the Walls of the Town, in which the Dead shall be buried with Lime.
3. A Pest-House or Hospital shall be immediately establish'd: The Hospital _de la Charité_ is first thought of; but the Difficulty of removing out of it, and lodging elsewhere, above 800 of both Sexes who are in it, renders it necessary to resolve upon that _des Convalescens_, which is near the Walls of the Town, on the side of the Gate of St. _Bernard du Bois_.
The 9th of _August_, it is observ'd, that some Physicians, and almost all the Master-Surgeons, are fled. An Ordinance is issued at my Instance, to oblige them to return; on the Penalty to the former, of being expell'd for ever from the College of their Faculty; and to the latter, of being expell'd the Company of Surgeons, and of being proceeded against extraordinarily.
Another Ordinance is publish'd at my Instance, forbidding Butchers, when they flea and cut up Beef or Mutton at the Slaughter-House, to blow it up with their Mouth, by which the Plague might be communicated to the Meat; but to make use of Bellows, on Pain of Death.
Another, forbidding Bakers to convert into Biscuit, the Meal the City gives them to make Bread of for the Poor; or to make any White Bread, in order to prevent their bolting the Meal designed for the Poor's Bread.
And another, forbidding all Persons to divert the publick Waters for overflowing their Grounds; that the Conduits may not become dry, but that Water may run the more plentifully through all the Streets of the City to carry off the Filth.
This Day and the following, it is found not a little difficult, to get all that had been resolved upon the Day before put in Execution: Carts, Horses, Harness are wanted; they must be had from the Country, and no Person will furnish them to serve to carry infected Bodies. Men are wanted to harness the Horses, to put them to the Carts, and to drive them; and every one abhors lending a Hand to so dangerous a Service. Buriers of the Dead are wanted to take them out of the Houses; and tho' excessive Pay be offered, the poorest of the Populace dread such hazardous Work, and make all possible Efforts to shun it. Peasants are wanted to open the Pits, and none will come to dig, such Affright and Horror has seiz'd them: The Sheriffs are oblig'd to exert themselves to the utmost, to get some by Management, and others by Force and Rigor.
To put into Order as speedily as is requisite, a Pest-House, and to furnish it with all Necessaries, which are almost numberless, is a Task no less perplexed with Difficulties. The Hospital _des Convalescens_, which was resolved to be made use of, is found to be too little; it is necessary to enlarge it, by joining to it a Building called the _Fas_, which stands very near it; a thousand Things are to be done, and yet none could easily be made to stir about them: M. _Moustier_ is obliged to repair thither, and to abide upon the Spot; and by keeping Hands at Work Night and Day, he makes such Expedition, that in 48 Hours he gets it put in Order, all Necessaries sorted and laid ready, and the whole made fit to receive the Sick.
A very great Difficulty still remains, which is to find Stewards, Overseers, Cooks, and other lower Officers, and especially so great a Number of Servants as are requisite to tend the Sick: Advertisements are affixed throughout the City, to invite those sordid Creatures whom Avarice draws into Dangers, or those of better Minds, whom superabundant Charity disposes to devote themselves for the Publick; and by seeking such out, by encouraging, giving, and promising, they are procured: Apothecaries and Surgeons are engaged; and two Physicians, Strangers, named _Gayon_, come in voluntarily, and offer their Service, and to be shut up in the Hospital: Unhappily, Death puts an End too soon to their Charity and Zeal.
Three Pits of Sixty Foot long, as many broad, and Twenty four deep, are begun at once without the Walls, between the Gate of _Aix_ and that of _Joliette_: To compel the Peasants to work at them, M. _Moustier_ is obliged to keep with them daily, exposed to the Heat of the Sun.
The Chevalier _Rose_, appointed Captain and Commissary-General at the _Rive Neuve_, beyond the Port, does the same: He puts into proper Order another vast Hospital, under the Sheds of a Rope-yard; causes large and deep Pits to be dug near the Abbey of St. _Victor_; gets together Carts, Buriers of the Dead, and all Persons needful to look to the Living, the Dying, and the Dead; and what is no less remarkable than his Activity, his Courage, and his Zeal for his unfortunate Country, he furnishes out of his own Purse the great Expences necessary for maintaining that Hospital, and the many Hands he employs, without troubling himself when and how he shall be reimbursed.
No sooner are these Pest-Houses in any Readiness to receive the Sick, but in less than Two Days they are quite filled; but are not long so by those who are carried thither: The Distemper is so violent, that those who are brought in at Night are carried out next Day to the Pits; and so the Dead make Room every Day successively for the Sick.
The 12th of _August_, M. _de Chicoyneau_ and _Verny_, the chief Physicians of _Montpellier_, arrive at the Barrier of _Notre-Dame_, to come and examine, by Order of his Royal Highness, the true Nature of the Distemper that afflicts this City: Lodgings are made ready for them, and a Coach is sent to bring them hither from the Barrier.
The 13th, the Marquess _de Pilles_, and the Sheriffs invite them to the Town-House, whither they had summoned all the Physicians and Master-Surgeons of the City; after they had conferred a long Time upon the Symptoms of the Distemper, they agree among themselves, to go together the following Days, to visit as well the sick in the Hospitals, as those in the several Quarters of the Town, and to make such Experiments as they should judge proper.
Hitherto the Distemper has not exerted all its Rage; it kills indeed those it seizes, hardly one escaping; and whatever House it enters, it carries off the whole Family; but as yet, it has fallen only on the poorer Sort of People, which keeps many Persons in a false Notion, that it is not really the Plague, but proceeds from bad Diet and Want of other Necessaries: those who use the Sea, and have frequently seen the Plague in the _Levant_, think they observe some Difference: In short, Abundance of People still remain in doubt, and expecting with the utmost Impatience the Decision of the Physicians of _Montpellier_, to determine them whether to stay or fly.
The 14th, the Sheriffs write to the Council of Marine, most humbly to thank his Royal Highness for his Care and Goodness, in sending to them these Physicians.
The 15th they write to the Marshal _de Villars_, to acquaint him with the Condition of the City, and the extreme Want it is in, having near a hundred thousand Souls in it, without Bread and without Money: they write likewise to M. _de Bernage_, Intendant in _Languedoc_, and to the Marquess _de Caylus_ the commanding Officer in _Provence_, then at _Montpellier_, to desire them to procure them Bread-Corn, to preserve them from Famine, which they had no less Reason to fear than the Plague. The Marquess _de Caylus_ has the Goodness to engage his own Credit for procuring them a good Quantity.
The 16th being the Festival of St. _Roch_, which has at all Times been solemnized at _Marseilles_, for imploring Deliverance from the Plague, the Marquess _de Pilles_, and the Sheriffs, for preventing Communication, would have the Procession usually made every Year, in which the Bust and Relicks of that Saint are carried, be now forborn; but they are obliged to yield to the Outcries of the People, who become almost raving in Matters of Devotion, when they are under so terrible a Scourge as the Plague, whose dire Effects they already feel; they even judge it convenient to assist at the Procession themselves, with all their Halbardiers and Guards, to hinder its being followed by a Crowd, and to prevent all Disorder.
The 17th the Physicians of _Montpellier_ come to the Town-House, to acquaint the Sheriffs with what they have discover'd of the Nature of the Distemper, and in plain Words declare it to be certainly the Plague.
But considering how many People have already left the City, and that the Terror and Affright in it have put all into Confusion, they think fit, lest they should increase it, to dissemble; and that, for quieting Peoples Minds, a publick Notification should be affixed; importing, that they find the Distemper to be only a contagious Fever, occasion'd by unwholsome Diet, and that it will soon cease by the Supplies which are preparing to be sent in from all Parts, and which will produce Plenty of all Things.
This Notification is forthwith affixed, but without any Effect: The Mortality which for some Days past has extremely increas'd, the Malignity and Violence with which it begins to rage in all Parts without Distinction, and the Suddenness with which it is observ'd to communicate it self imperceptibly, has already convinced the most obstinate, and those who were most disposed to deceive themselves, that it is really the Plague; and without waiting to hear or reason any longer, every one runs away so precipitately, that all the Gates of the Town are hardly sufficient to let out the Crowds.
Were those only the useless Mouths, nothing could be more convenient and beneficial; but the most necessary Persons, and even those whose Functions oblige them most indispensably to tarry, are the forwardest to desert; almost all the Intendants of Health, those of the Office of Plenty, the Councellors of the Town, the Commissaries _de Police_, the chief Director of the Hospitals and other Houses of publick Charity; the very Commissaries, who but a few Days ago, were established in the Parishes and Quarters to take care of relieving the Poor; the Tradesmen of all Professions, and those who are the most necessary in Life, the Bakers, the Sellers of Provisions and common Necessaries; even those whose Duty it is to watch others, and hinder them from leaving the Town; that is to say, the Captains and Officers of the _Militia_, do all desert, abandon, and fly from the City: In short, the Marquis _de Pilles_, and the Sheriffs are left by themselves, with the Care upon them of an infinite Number of poor People, ready to attempt any Thing in the Extremity to which they are reduced by Want, and by the Calamities which are multiplied by the Contagion.
The Town has now an Aspect that moves Compassion; an Air of Desolation appears throughout; all the Shops are every where shut up; the greatest Part of the Houses, Churches and Convents, all the publick Markets and Places of Resort are deserted; and no Person is to be found in the Streets, but poor groaning Wretches; the Port is empty, the Gallies have withdrawn from the Keys, and are enclosed within a Stockade on the Side of the Arsenal, where the Bridges are drawn up, and high Barriers erected, and all the Merchant-Ships and Vessels have left the Wharfs, and gone out to Anchor at a Distance.
This proud _Marseilles_, but a few Days before so flourishing; this Source of Plenty, and (if I may use the Expression) of Felicity; is become the true Image of _Jerusalem_ in its Desolation: Happy still if it could stop here; and if the Hand which has begun to chastise her, did not within less than Two Weeks, render her the most dreadful Scene of human Misery, that ever Destruction formed in any City of the World.
The 18th, a Crowd of People from the Quarter of St. _John_ come before the Gates of the Town-House, crying out that they will have Wine; and that there is no body left in the Town who will sell any. The Guards make ready to drive them away, M. _Estelle_ repairs thither, and soon after M. _Moustier_; they pacify them, promise to let them have what they desire; and accordingly an Ordinance is immediately published, commanding all those who have Wine by them, to expose it to Sale all that Day, otherwise their Cellars to be broke open, and the Wine sold by the Guards, who shall go the Rounds through all the Quarters.
At this Time the Contagion has spread into all Parts of the Town, notwithstanding all the Care and Pains taken to hinder Communication, and begins to make a general Ravage: It is necessary for carrying off the Dead, to employ in the Streets a greater Number of Carts, and especially to increase the Number of Buriers of the Dead.
But this is utterly impossible, almost all of that Sort of People of the Town that could be sacrificed in so dangerous a Work are consumed; they do not live in it above Two Days; they catch the Plague the first Corpse they touch, whatever Precaution is used; they are furnished with Hooks fastened to the End of long Staves; but the coming any thing near the Bodies infects them: They are paid no less than Fifteen Livres a Day; but as alluring a Bait as that is to beggarly Wretches, they will not touch it, in the Sight of certain and inevitable Death; they must be hunted for, and dragged to the Work by downright Force: Now whether they are able to keep themselves hid, or whether they are all dead, there are no longer any to be found; in the mean while, the dead Bodies remain in the Houses, and at the Gates of the Hospitals, cast in Heaps one upon another, there being no Means to remove them and bury them in the Pits.
In this Extremity the Sheriffs have recourse to the Officers commanding the Gallies, most earnestly beseeching them to let them have some of their Slaves to serve for Buriers of the Dead, offering them Security for supplying their Room at the Cost of the City, or to make the Loss good to his Majesty. They condescend, considering the absolute Necessity, to give them Twenty Six of their Invalids, to whom they promise Liberty to excite them to the Work.
It cannot be denied that the City was in some Measure saved by the Help of these Slaves, and of those afterwards granted, but it must be allowed too, that to Sheriffs who are oppress'd with the Weight of Business, and deserted by all Persons on whom they could repose any Part of their Care, such Buriers of the Dead are very burdensome.
They are destitute of all Necessaries; they must be provided with Shooes when there are neither Shooes nor a Shooemaker left in the City: They must have Lodgings and Victuals, and no body will harbour, or come near, or have any Communication with Gally-Slaves, Buriers of infected Bodies: A watchful Eye must be kept over them Night and Day; they rob all Houses from whence they fetch the dead Bodies; and not knowing how to harness the Horses, or drive the Carts, they often overturn them, breaking the Carts or the Harness, which cannot be mended, not only because there is neither Wheelwright nor Collarmaker left, but because no body will touch Things infected; so that the Sheriffs must be continually begging or borrowing of Carts from the Country, where every Body contrives to hide them; and must often be at a Stand in a Work requiring the most Haste of all others, which those Slaves affect to perform so slowly and lazily, that it is very provoking.
In what City of the World was it ever seen, that the Consuls were harrassed with so many Cares, and reduced to the Necessity of going through all the dismal and dangerous Offices, to which the Sheriffs of _Marseilles_ are forced to sacrifice themselves? Seeing that very quickly, to oblige those Slaves to make more Dispatch, and carry off putrified Bodies which they cannot endure to touch, nor even so much as to approach, without being excited and urged on, the Sheriffs are forced to put themselves at their Head, and go the foremost where the Infection rages most, to make them carry them off: M. _Moustier_ for near Two Months together was forced to rise constantly at Day-break, to see them put the Horses to the Carts, and prevent their breaking them; to follow them to the Pits, lest they should leave the Bodies on the Sides of the Pits without burying them; and at Night to see the Horses unharnessed; put into the Stables, and the Harness hung where they may be found next Morning, and thereby prevent the Inconveniences which might interrupt the Continuance of a Work, the Delay of which is dangerous. Even the _Roman_ Consuls, so full of the Love of their Country, did certainly never carry their Zeal to so high a Pitch.
The 19th, Persons are chosen in all the Parishes to make Broth for the sick Poor, and to distribute it among them; and a particular Hospital is established, which the most moving Accidents such a Calamity can produce, render absolutely necessary.
Many Women who suckled Children, dye of the Contagion; and the Infants are found crying in their Cradles, when the Bodies of the Mothers or Nurses are taken away; no Body will receive these Children, much less suckle, or feed them: There is no Pity stirring in the Time of a Plague, the Fear of catching the Contagion stifles all Sentiments of Charity, and even those of Humanity: To save as many as possible of these little Innocents, and of so many other unhappy Children of tender Age, whom the Pestilence has made Orphans, the Sheriffs take the Hospital of St. _James_ of _Galicia_, and the Convent of the Fathers of _Loretto_, which were become empty by the Death or Flight of all those Monks; and there Care is taken to feed them, with Spoon-Meat, or by holding them to Goats to suck. The Number of them is so great, that tho' 30 or 40 die in a Day, there are always 12 or 1300, by the Addition of those who are brought in successively every Day.
The 20th, Part of the Slaves, which had been received into the Town but Two Days before, are struck with the Plague, and disabled from Working; more are asked of the Officers of the Gallies, who grant Thirty Three.