I Know No Better Way Of Estimating The Strength, Than By
Examining The Face Of The Country, And Observing The Appearance
Of The Common People, Who Constitute The Bulk Of Every Nation.
When I, therefore, see the country of England smiling with
cultivation; the grounds exhibiting all the perfection of
agriculture,
Parcelled out into beautiful inclosures, cornfields,
hay and pasture, woodland and common, when I see her meadows well
stocked with black cattle, her downs covered with sheep; when I
view her teams of horses and oxen, large and strong, fat and
sleek; when I see her farm-houses the habitations of plenty,
cleanliness, and convenience; and her peasants well fed, well
lodged, well cloathed, tall and stout, and hale and jolly; I
cannot help concluding that the people are well able to bear
those impositions which the public necessities have rendered
necessary. On the other hand, when I perceive such signs of
poverty, misery and dirt, among the commonalty of France, their
unfenced fields dug up in despair, without the intervention of
meadow or fallow ground, without cattle to furnish manure,
without horses to execute the plans of agriculture; their farm-houses
mean, their furniture wretched, their apparel beggarly;
themselves and their beasts the images of famine; I cannot help
thinking they groan under oppression, either from their
landlords, or their government; probably from both.
The principal impositions of the French government are these:
first, the taille, payed by all the commons, except those that
are privileged: secondly, the capitation, from which no persons
(not even the nobles) are excepted: thirdly, the tenths and
twentieths, called Dixiemes and Vingtiemes, which every body
pays. This tax was originally levied as an occasional aid in
times of war, and other emergencies; but by degrees is become a
standing revenue even in time of peace. All the money arising
from these impositions goes directly to the king's treasury; and
must undoubtedly amount to a very great sum. Besides these, he
has the revenue of the farms, consisting of the droits d'aydes,
or excise on wine, brandy, &c. of the custom-house duties; of the
gabelle, comprehending that most oppressive obligation on
individuals to take a certain quantity of salt at the price which
the farmers shall please to fix; of the exclusive privilege to
sell tobacco; of the droits de controlle, insinuation, centieme
denier, franchiefs, aubeine, echange et contre-echange arising
from the acts of voluntary jurisdiction, as well as certain law-suits.
These farms are said to bring into the king's coffers
above one hundred and twenty millions of livres yearly, amounting
to near five millions sterling: but the poor people are said to
pay about a third more than this sum, which the farmers retain to
enrich themselves, and bribe the great for their protection;
which protection of the great is the true reason why this most
iniquitous, oppressive, and absurd method of levying money is not
laid aside. Over and above those articles I have mentioned, the
French king draws considerable sums from his clergy, under the
denomination of dons gratuits, or free-gifts; as well as from the
subsidies given by the pays d'etats such as Provence, Languedoc,
and Bretagne, which are exempted from the taille. The whole
revenue of the French king amounts to between twelve and thirteen
millions sterling. These are great resources for the king: but
they will always keep the people miserable, and effectually
prevent them from making such improvements as might turn their
lands to the best advantage. But besides being eased in the
article of taxes, there is something else required to make them
exert themselves for the benefit of their country. They must be
free in their persons, secure in their property, indulged with
reasonable leases, and effectually protected by law from the
insolence and oppression of their superiors.
Great as the French king's resources may appear, they are hardly
sufficient to defray the enormous expence of his government.
About two millions sterling per annum of his revenue are said to
be anticipated for paying the interest of the public debts; and
the rest is found inadequate to the charge of a prodigious
standing army, a double frontier of fortified towns and the
extravagant appointments of ambassadors, generals, governors,
intendants, commandants, and other officers of the crown, all of
whom affect a pomp, which is equally ridiculous and prodigal. A
French general in the field is always attended by thirty or forty
cooks; and thinks it is incumbent upon him, for the glory of
France, to give a hundred dishes every day at his table. When don
Philip, and the marechal duke de Belleisle, had their quarters at
Nice, there were fifty scullions constantly employed in the great
square in plucking poultry. This absurd luxury infects their
whole army. Even the commissaries keep open table; and nothing is
seen but prodigality and profusion. The king of Sardinia proceeds
upon another plan. His troops are better cloathed, better payed,
and better fed than those of France. The commandant of Nice has
about four hundred a year of appointments, which enable him to
live decently, and even to entertain strangers. On the other
hand, the commandant of Antibes, which is in all respects more
inconsiderable than Nice, has from the French king above five
times the sum to support the glory of his monarch, which all the
sensible part of mankind treat with ridicule and contempt. But
the finances of France are so ill managed, that many of their
commandants, and other officers, have not been able to draw their
appointments these two years. In vain they complain and
remonstrate. When they grow troublesome they are removed. How
then must they support the glory of France? How, but by
oppressing the poor people. The treasurer makes use of their
money for his own benefit. The king knows it; he knows his
officers, thus defrauded, fleece and oppress his people: but he
thinks proper to wink at these abuses. That government may be
said to be weak and tottering which finds itself obliged to
connive at such proceedings.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 127 of 141
Words from 128472 to 129485
of 143308
