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.