The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1

H >> Hippolyte A. Taine >> The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1

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[42]. Boivin-Champeaux, "Notice historique sue la Révolution dans
le département de l'Eure," p. 63, 61.

[43]. Archives nationales, Reports of the States-General of 1789,
T, XXXIX., p. 111. Letter of the 6th March, 1789, from the curate of
St. Pierre de Ponsigny, in Berry. D'Argenson, 6th July, 1756. "The
late cardinal de Soubise had three millions in cash and he gave
nothing to the poor."

[44]. De Tocqueville, ibid.. 405. - Renauldon, ibid.. 628.

[45]. The example is set by the king who sells to the farmer-
generals, for an annual sum, the management and product of the
principal indirect taxes.

[46]. Voltaire, "Politique et Législation, La voix du Curé," (in
relation to the serfs of St. Claude). - A speech of the Duke
d'Aiguillon, August 4th, 1789, in the National Assembly: "The
proprietors of fiefs, of seigniorial estates, are rarely guilty of the
excesses of which their vassals complain; but their agents are often
pitiless."

[47]. Beugnot. "Mémoires," V. I. p.136. - Duc de Lévis, "Souvenirs
et portraits," p. 156. - "Moniteur," the session of November 22,
1872, M. Bocher says: "According to the statement drawn up by order of
the Convention the Duke of Orleans's fortune consisted of 74,000,000
of indebtedness and 140,000,000 of assets." On the 8th January, 1792,
he had assigned to his creditors 38,000,000 to obtain his discharge.

[48]. King Louis the XVI's brother. (SR.)

[49]. In 1785, the Duke de Choiseul In his testament estimated his
property at fourteen millions and his debts at ten millions. (Comte de
Tilly, "Mémoires," II. 215.)

[50]. Renauldon, ibid.. 45, 52, 628. - Duvergier, "Collection des
Lois," II. 391; law of August 31; - October 18, 1792. - Statements
(cahier) of grievances of a magistrate of the Chatelet on seigniorial
courts (1789), p. 29. - Legrand, " l'Intendance du Hainaut," p.119.

[51]. Archives Nationales, H, 654 ("Mémoire" by René de Hauteville,
advocate to the Parliament, Saint-Brieuc, October 5, 1776.) In
Brittany the number of seigniorial courts is immense, the pleaders
being obliged to pass through four or five jurisdictions before
reaching the Parliament. "Where is justice rendered? In the cabaret,
in the tavern, where, amidst drunkards and riff-raff, the judge sells
justice to whoever pays the most for it."

[52]. Beugnot, "Mémoires," vol. I. p. 35.

[53]. Boivin-Champeaux, ibid.. 48. - Renauldon, 26, 416. -
Manuscript reports of the States-general (Archives nationales), t.
CXXXII. pp. 896 and 901. - Hippeau, "Le Gouvernement de Normandie,"
VII. 61, 74. - Paris, "La Jeunesse de Robespierre," pp.314-324. -
"Essai sur les capitaineries royales et autres," (1789) passim. - De
Loménie, "Beaumarchais et son emps," I. 125. Beaumarchais having
purchased the office of lieutenant-general of the chase in the
bailiwicks of the Louvre warren (twelve to fifteen leagues in
circumference. approx. 60 km. SR.) tries delinquents under this title.
July 15th, 1766, he sentences Ragondet, a farmer to a fine of one
hundred livres together with the demolition of the walls around an
enclosure, also of his shed newly built without license, as tending to
restrict the pleasures of the king.

[54]. Marquis D'Argenson, "Mémoires," ed. Rathery, January 27,
1757. "The sieur de Montmorin, captain of the game-preserves of
Fontainebleau, derives from his office enormous sums, and behaves
himself like a bandit. The population of more than a hundred villages
around no longer sow their land, the fruits and grain being eaten by
deer; stags and other game. They keep only a few vines, which they
preserve six months of the year by mounting guard day and night with
drums, making a general turmoil to frighten off the destructive
animals." January 23, 1753. - " M. le Prince de Conti has established
a captainry of eleven leagues around Ile-Adam and where everybody is
vexed at it." September 23, 1753. - M. le Duc d'Orléans came to
Villers-Cotterets, he has revived the captainry; there are more than
sixty places for sale on account of these princely annoyances.

[55]. The old peasants with whom I once have talked still had a
clear memory of these annoyances and damages. - They recounted how, in
the country around Clermont, the gamekeepers of Prince de Condé in the
springtime took litters of wolves and raised them in the dry moats of
the chateau. They were freed in the beginning of the winter, and the
wolf hunting team would then hunt them later. But they ate the sheep,
and, here and there, a child.

[56]. The estates of the king encompassed in forest one million
acres, not counting forests in the appanages set aside for his eldest
son or for factories or salt works.

[57]. De Montlosier, "Mémoires," I. 175.

CHAPTER IV. PUBLIC SERVICES DUE BY THE PRIVILEGED CLASSES.

I. England compared to France.

An English example. - The Privileged class renders no service in
France. - The influence and rights which remain to them. - They use it
only for themselves.

USELESS in the canton, they might have been useful at the Center of
the State, and, without taking part in the local government, they
might have served in the general government. Thus does a lord, a
baronet, a squire act in England, even when not a "justice" of his
county or a committee-man in his parish. Elected a member of the Lower
House, a hereditary member of the upper house, he holds the strings of
the public purse and prevents the sovereign from spending too freely.
Such is the régime in countries where the feudal seigniors, instead of
allowing the sovereign to ally himself with the people against them,
allied themselves with the people against the sovereign. To protect
their own interests better they secured protection for the interests
of others, and, after having served as the representatives of their
compeers they became the representatives of the nation. Nothing of
this kind takes place in France. The States-General are fallen into
desuetude, and the king may with truth declare himself the sole
representative of the country. Like trees rendered lifeless under the
shadow of a gigantic oak, other public powers perish through his
growth; whatever still remains of these encumbers the ground, and
forms around him a circle of clambering briers or of decaying trunks.
One of them, the Parliament, an offshoot simply of the great oak,
sometimes imagined itself in possession of a root of its own; but its
sap was too evidently derivative for it to stand by itself and provide
the people with an independent shelter. Other bodies, surviving,
although stunted, the assembly of the clergy and the provincial
assemblies, still protect an order, and four or five provinces; but
this protection extends only to the order itself or to the province,
and, if it protects a special interest it is commonly at the expense
of the general interest.

II. The Clergy

Assemblies of the clergy. - They serve only ecclesiastical
interests. - The clergy exempted from taxation. - Solicitation of its
agents. - Its zeal against the Protestants.

Let us observe the most vigorous and the best-rooted of these
bodies, the assembly of the clergy. It meets every five years, and,
during the interval, two agents, selected by it, watch over the
interests of the order. Convoked by the government, subject to its
guidance, retained or dismissed when necessary, always in its hands,
used by it for political ends, it nevertheless continues to be a
refuge for the clergy, which it represents. But it is an asylum solely
for that body, and, in the series of transactions by which it defends
itself against fiscal demands, it eases its own shoulders of the load
only to make it heavier on the shoulders of others. We have seen how
its diplomacy saved clerical immunities, how it bought off the body
from the poll-tax and the vingtièmes, how it converted its portion of
taxation into a "free gift," how this gift is annually applied to
refunding the capital which it has borrowed to obtain this exemption,
by which delicate art it succeeds, not only in not contributing to the
treasury, but in withdrawing from it every year about 1,500,000
livres, all of which is so much the better for the church but so much
the worse for the people. Now run through the file of folios in which
from one period of five years to another the reports of its agents
follow each other, - so many clever men thus preparing themselves for
the highest positions in the church, the abbés de Boisgelin, de
Périgord, de Barral, de Montesquiou; at each moment, owing to their
solicitations with judges and the council, owing to the authority
which the discontent of the powerful order felt to be behind them
gives to their complaints, some ecclesiastic matter is decided in an
ecclesiastical sense; so feudal right is maintained in favor of a
chapter or of a bishop; some public demand is thrown out.[1] In 1781,
notwithstanding decision of the Parliament of Rennes, the canons of
St. Malo are sustained in their monopoly of the district baking oven.
This is to the detriment of the bakers who prefer to bake at their own
domiciles as well as of the inhabitants who would have to pay less for
bread made by the bakers. In 1773, Guénin, a schoolmaster, discharged
by the bishop of Langres, and supported in vain by inhabitants, is
compelled to hand his place over to a successor appointed by the
bishop. In 1770, Rastel, a Protestant, having opened a public school
at Saint-Affrique, is prosecuted at the demand of the bishop and of
clerical agents; his school is closed and he is imprisoned. When an
organized body keeps purse strings in its own hands it secures many
favors; these are the equivalent for the money it grants. The
commanding tone of the king and the submissive air of the clergy
effect no fun mental change; with both of them it is a bargain,[2]
giving and taking on both sides, this or that law against the
Protestants going for one or two millions added to the free gift. In
this way the revocation of the Edict of Nantes is gradually brought
about, article by article, one turn of the rack after another turn,
each fresh persecution purchased by a fresh largess, the clergy
helping the State on condition that the State becomes an executioner.
Throughout the eighteenth century the church sees that this operation
continues.[3] In 1717, an assemblage of seventy-four persons having
been surprised at Andure the men are sent to the galleys and the women
are imprisoned. In 1724, an edict declares that all who are present at
any meeting, or who shall have any intercourse, direct or indirect,
with preachers, shall be condemned to the confiscation of their
property, the women to have their heads shaved and be shut up for
life, and the men to sent to the galleys for life. In 1745 and 1746,
in Dauphiny, 277 Protestants are condemned to the galleys, and numbers
of women are whipped. Between 1744 and 1752, in the east and in the
south, six hundred Protestants are imprisoned and eight hundred
condemned to various penalties. In 1774, the two children of Roux, a
Calvinist of Nimes, are carried off. Up to nearly the beginning of the
Revolution, in Languedoc, ministers are hung, while dragoons are
dispatched against congregations assembled to worship God in deserted
places. The mother of M. Guizot here received shots in the skirts of
her dress. This is owing to the fact that, in Languedoc, through the
provincial States-Assembly "the bishops control temporal affairs more
than elsewhere, their disposition being always to dragoon and make
converts at the point of the bayonet." In 1775, at the coronation of
the king, archbishop Loménie of Brienne, a well-known unbeliever,
addresses the young king: "You will disapprove of the culpable systems
of toleration... Complete the work undertaken by Louis the Great. To
you is reserved the privilege of giving the final blow to Calvinism in
your kingdom." In 1780, the assembly of the clergy declares "that the
altar and the throne would equally be in danger if heresy were allowed
to throw off its shackles." Even in 1789, the clergy in its registers,
while consenting to the toleration of non-Catholics, finds the edict
of 1788 too liberal. They desire that non-Catholics should be excluded
from judicial offices, that they should never be allowed to worship in
public, and that mixed marriages should be forbidden. And much more
than this; they demand preliminary censure of all works sold by the
bookshops, an ecclesiastical committee to act as informers, and
ignominious punishment to be awarded to the authors of irreligious
books. Lastly they claim for their body the direction of public
schools and the oversight of private schools. - There is nothing
strange in this intolerance and selfishness. A collective body, as
with an individual, thinks of itself first of all and above all. If,
now and then, it sacrifices some one of its privileges it is for the
purpose of securing the alliance of some other body. In that case,
which is that of England, all these privileges, which compound with
each other and afford each other mutual support, form, through their
combination, the public liberties. - In this case, only one body
being represented, its deputies are neither directed nor tempted to
make concession to others; the interest of the body is their sole
guide; they subordinate the common interest to it and serve it at any
cost, even to criminal attacks on the public welfare.

III. Influence of the Nobles..

Regulations in their favor. - Preferment obtained by them in the
Church. - Distribution of bishoprics and abbeys. - Preferment obtained
from them from the State. - Governments, offices, sinecures, pensions,
gratuities. - Instead of being useful they are an expense.

Thus do public bodies work when, instead of being associated
together, they are separate. The same spectacle is apparent on
contemplating castes and associations; their isolation is the cause of
their egoism. From the top to the bottom of the scale the legal and
moral powers which should represent the nation represent themselves
only, while each one is busy in its own behalf at the expense of the
nation. The nobility, in default of the right to meet together and to
vote, exercises its influence, and, to know how it uses this, it is
sufficient to read over the edicts and the Almanac. A regulation
imposed on Marshal de Ségur[4]has just restored the old barrier, which
excluded commoners from military rank, and thenceforward, to be a
captain, it is necessary to prove four degrees of nobility. In like
manner, in late days, one must be a noble to be a master of requests,
and it is secretly determined that in future "all ecclesiastical
property, from the humblest priory to the richest abbeys, shall be
reserved to the nobility." In fact, all the high places, ecclesiastic
or laic, are theirs; all the sinecures, ecclesiastic or laic, are
theirs, or for their relations, adherents, protégés, and servitors.
France[5] is like a vast stable in which the blood-horses obtain
double and triple rations for doing nothing, or for only half-work,
whilst the draft-horses perform full service on half a ration, and
that often not supplied. Again, it must be noted, that among these
blood-horses is a privileged circle which, born near the manger, keeps
its fellows away and feeds bountifully, fat, shining, with their skins
polished, and up to their bellies in litter, and with no other
occupation than that of appropriating everything to themselves. These
are the court nobles, who live within reach of favors, brought up from
infancy to ask for them, to obtain and to ask again, solely attentive
to royal condescension and frowns, for whom the OEil de boeuf[6]
forms the universe. They are as "indifferent to the affairs of the
State as to their own affairs, allowing one to be governed by
provincial intendants as they allowed he other to be governed by their
own intendants."

Let us contemplate them at work on the budget. We know how large
that of the church is; I estimate that they absorb at east one-half of
it. Nineteen chapters of male nobles, twenty-five chapters of female
nobles, two hundred and sixty commanderies of Malta belong to them by
institution. They occupy, by favor, all the archbishoprics, and,
except five, all the bishoprics.[7] They furnish three out of four
abbés-commendatory and vicars-general. If, among the abbeys of females
royally nominated, we set apart those bringing in twenty thousand
livres and more, we find that they all have ladies of rank for
abbesses. One fact alone shows the extent of these favors: I have
counted eighty-three abbeys of men possessed by the almoners,
chaplains, preceptors or readers to the king, queen, princes, and
princesses; one of them, the abbé de Vermont, has 80,000 livres income
in benefices. In short, the fifteen hundred ecclesiastical sinecures
under royal appointment, large or small, constitute a flow of money
for the service of the great, whether they pour it out in golden rain
to recompense the assiduity of their intimates and followers, or keep
it in large reservoirs to maintain the dignity of their rank. Besides,
according to the fashion of giving more to those who have already
enough, the richest prelates possess, above their episcopal revenues,
the wealthiest abbeys. According to the Almanac, M. d'Argentré, bishop
of Séez,[8] thus enjoys an extra income of 34,000 livres; M. de
Suffren, bishop of Sisteron, 36,000; M. de Girac, bishop of Rennes,
40,000; M. de Bourdeille, bishop of Soissons, 42,000; M. d'Agout de
Bonneval, bishop of Pamiers, 45,000; M. de Marboeuf bishop of Autun,
50,000; M. de Rohan, bishop of Strasbourg, 60,000; M. de Cicé,
archbishop of Bordeaux, 63,000; M. de Luynes, archbishop of Sens,
82,000; M. de Bernis, archbishop of Alby, 100,000; M. de Brienne,
archbishop of Toulouse, l06,000; M. de Dillon, archbishop of Narbonne,
120,000; M. de Larochefoucauld, archbishop of Rouen, 130,000 ; that is
to say, double and sometimes triple the sums stated, and quadruple,
and often six times as much, according to the present standard. M. de
Rohan derived from his abbeys, not 60,000 livres but 400,000, and M.
de Brienne, the most opulent of all, next to M. de Rohan, the 24th of
August, 1788, at the time of leaving the ministry,[9] sent to
withdraw from the treasury "the 20,000 livres of his month's salary
which had not yet fallen due, a punctuality the more remarkable that,
without taking into account the salary of his place, with the 6,000
livres pension attached to his blue ribbon, he possessed, in
benefices, 678,000 livres income, and that, still quite recently, a
cutting of wood on one of his abbey domains yielded him a million."

Let us pass on to the lay budget; here also are prolific sinecures,
and almost all belong to the nobles. Of this class there are in the
provinces the thirty-seven great governments-general, the seven small
governments-general, the sixty-six lieutenancies-general, the four
hundred and seven special governments, the thirteen governorships of
royal palaces, and a number of others, all of them for ostentation and
empty honors. They are all in the hands of the nobles, all lucrative,
not only through salaries paid by the treasury, but also through local
profits. Here, again, the nobility allowed itself to evade the
authority, the activity and the usefulness of its charge on the
condition of retaining its title, pomp and money.[10] The intendant is
really the governor; "the titular governor, exercising a function with
special letters of command," is only there to give dinners; and again
he must have permission to do that, "the permission to go and reside
at his place of government." The place, however, yields fruit. The
government-general of Berry is worth 35,000 livres income, that of
Guyenne 120,000, that of Languedoc 160,000; a small special
government, like that of Havre, brings in 35,000 livres, besides the
accessories; a medium lieutenancy-general, like that of Roussillon,
13,000 to 14,000 livres; one special government from 12,000 to 18,000
livres; and observe that, in the Isle of France alone, there are
thirty-four, at Vervins, Senlis, Melun, Fontainebleau, Dourdan, Sens,
Limours, Etampes, Dreux, Houdan and other towns as insignificant as
they are pacific; it is the staff of the Valois dynasty which, since
the time of Richelieu, has ceased to perform any service, but which
the treasury continues to pay. - Consider these sinecures in one
province alone, in Languedoc, a country with its own provincial
assembly, which ought to provide some protection the taxpayer's purse.
There are three sub-commandants at Tournon, Alais, and Montpelier,
"each one paid 16,000 livres, although without any functions since
their places were established at the time of the religious wars and
troubles, to keep down the Protestants." Twelve royal lieutenants are
equally useless, and only for parade. The same with three lieutenants-
general, each one "receiving in his turn, every three years, a
gratuity of 30,000 livres, for services rendered in the said province.
These are vain and chimerical, they are not specified" because none of
them reside there, and, if they are paid, it is to secure their
support at the court. "Thus the Comte de Caraman, who has more than
600,000 livres income as proprietor of the Languedoc canal, receives
30,000 livres every three years, without legitimate cause, and
independently of frequent and ample gifts which the province awards to
him for repairs on his canal." - The province likewise gives to the
commandant, Comte de Périgord, a gratuity of 12,000 livres in addition
to his salary, and to his wife another gratuity of 12,000 livres on
her honoring the states for the first time with her presence. It
again pays, for the same commandant, forty guards, "of which twenty-
four only serve during his short appearance at the Assembly," and who,
with their captain, annually cost 15,000 livres. It pays likewise for
the Governor from eighty to one hundred guards, " who each receive 300
or 400 livres, besides many exemptions, and who are never on service,
since the Governor is a non-resident." The expense of these lazy
subalterns is about 24,000 livres, besides 5,000 to 6,000 for their
captain, to which must be added 7,500 for gubernatorial secretaries,
besides 60,000 livres salaries, and untold profits for the Governor
himself. I find everywhere secondary idlers swarming in the shadow of
idlers in chief,[11] and deriving their vigor from the public purse
which is the common nurse. All these people parade and drink and eat
copiously, in grand style; it is their principal service, and they
attend to it conscientiously. The sessions of the Assembly are
junketings of six weeks' duration, in which the intendant expends
25,000 livres in dinners and receptions.[12]

Equally lucrative and useless are the court offices[13], so many
domestic sinecures, the profits and accessories of which largely
exceed the emoluments. I find in the printed register 295 cooks,
without counting the table-waiters of the king and his people, while
"the head butler obtains 84,000 livres a year in billets and
supplies," without counting his salary and the "grand liveries" which
he receives in money. The head chambermaids to the queen, inscribed in
the Almanac for 150 livres and paid 12,000 francs, make in reality
50,000 francs by the sale of the candles lighted during the day.
Augeard, private secretary, and whose place is set down at 900 livres
a year, confesses that it is worth to him 200,000. The head huntsman
at Fontainebleau sells for his own benefit each year 20,000 francs
worth of rabbits. "On each journey to the king's country residences
the ladies of the bedchamber gain eighty per cent on the expenses of
moving; it is said that the coffee and bread for each of these ladies
costs 2,000 francs a year, and so on with other things." "Mme. de
Tallard made 115,000 livres income out of her place of governess to
the children of France, because her salary was increased 35,000 livres
for each child." The Duc de Penthièvre, as grand admiral, received an
anchorage due on all vessels "entering the ports and rivers of
France," which produced annually 91,484 francs. Mme. de Lamballe,
superintendent of the queen's household, inscribed for 6,000 francs,
gets 50,000.[14] The Duc de Gèvres gets 50,000 crowns[15] by one show
of fireworks out of the fragments and scaffolding which belong to him
by virtue of his office.[16] - Grand officers of the palace,
governors of royal establishments, captains of captaincies,
chamberlains, equerries, gentlemen in waiting, gentlemen in ordinary,
pages, governors, almoners, chaplains, ladies of honor, ladies of the
bedchamber, ladies in waiting on the King, the Queen, on Monsieur, on
Madame, on the Comte D'Artois, on the Comtesse D'Artois, on Mesdames,
on Madame Royale, on Madame Elisabeth, in each princely establishment
and elsewhere, hundreds of places provided with salaries and
accessories are without any service to perform, or simply answer a
decorative purpose. "Mme. de Laborde has just been appointed keeper of
the queen's bed, with 12,000 francs pension out of the king's privy
purse; nothing is known of the duties of this position, as there has
been no place of this kind since Anne of Austria." The eldest son of
M. de Machault is appointed intendant of the classes. "This is one of
the employments called complimentary: it is worth 18,000 livres income
to sign one's name twice a year." And likewise with the post of
secretary-general of the Swiss guards, worth 30,000 livres a year and
assigned to the Abbé Barthélemy; and the same with the post of
secretary-general of the dragoons, worth 20,000 livres a year, held in
turn by Gentil Bernard and by Laujon, two small pocket poets.? - It
would be simpler to give the money without the place. There is,
indeed, no end to them. On reading various memoirs day after day it
seems as if the treasury was open to plunder. The courtiers,
unremitting in their attentions to the king, force him to sympathize
with their troubles. They are his intimates, the guests of his
drawing-room; men of the same stamp as himself, his natural clients,
the only ones with whom he can converse, and whom it is necessary to
make contented; he cannot avoid helping them. He must necessarily
contribute to the dowries of their children since he has signed their
marriage contracts; he must necessarily enrich them since their
profusion serves for the embellishment of his court. Nobility being
one of the glories of the throne, the occupant of the throne is
obliged to regild it as often as is necessary.[17] In this connection
a few figures and anecdotes among a thousand speak most
eloquently.[18] - "The Prince de Pons had a pension of 25,000 livres,
out of the king's bounty, on which his Majesty was pleased to give
6,000 to Mme. de Marsan, his daughter, Canoness of Remiremont. The
family represented to the king the bad state of the Prince de Pons's
affairs, and his Majesty was pleased to grant to his son Prince
Camille, 15,000 livres of the pension vacated by the death of his
father, and 5,000 livres increase to Mme. de Marsan." - M. de
Conflans espouses Mlle. Portail. "In honor of this marriage the king
was pleased to order that out of the pension of 10,000 livres granted
to Mme. la Presidente Portail, 6,000 of it should pass to M. de
Conflans after the death of Mme. Portail." - M. de Séchelles, a
retiring minister, "had 12,000 livres on an old pension which the king
continued; he has, besides this, 20,000 livres pension as minister;
and the king gives him in addition to all this a pension of 40,000
livres." The motives, which prompt these favors, are often remarkable.
M. de Rouillé has to be consoled for not having participated in the
treaty of Vienna; this explains why "a pension of 6,000 livres is
given to his niece, Mme. de Castellane, and another of 10,000 to his
daughter, Mme. de Beuvron, who is very rich." - "M. de Puisieux
enjoys about 76,000 or 77,000 livres income from the bounty of the
king; it is true that he has considerable property, but the revenue of
this property is uncertain, being for the most part in vines." - "A
pension of 10,000 livres has just been awarded to the Marquise de Lède
because she is disagreeable to Mme. Infante, and to secure her
resignation." - The most opulent stretch out their hands and take
accordingly. "It is estimated that last week 128,000 livres in
pensions were bestowed on ladies of the court, while for the past two
years the officers have not received the slightest pension: 8,000
livres to the Duchesse de Chevreuse, whose husband has an income of
500,000 livres; 12,000 livres to Mme. de Luynes, that she may not be
jealous; 10,000 to the Duchesse de Brancas; 10,000 to the dowager
Duchesse de Brancas, mother of the preceding," etc. At the head of
these leeches come the princes of the blood. "The king has just given
1,500,000 livres to M. le Prince de Conti to pay his debts, 1,000,000
of which is under the pretext of indemnifying him for the injury done
him by the sale of Orange, and 500,000 livres as a gratuity." "The Duc
d'Orléans formerly had 50,000 crowns pension, as a poor man, and
awaiting his father's inheritance. This event making him rich, with an
income of more than 3,000,000 livres, he gave up his pension. But
having since represented to the king that his expenditure exceeded his
income, the king gave him back his 50,000 crowns." - Twenty years
later, in 1780, when Louis XVI., desirous of relieving the treasury,
signs "the great reformation of the table, 600,000 livres are given to
Mesdames for their tables." This is what the dinners, cut down, of
three old ladies, cost the public! For the king's two brothers,
8,300,000 livres, besides 2,000,000 income in appanages; for the
Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame Elisabeth, and Mesdames 3,500,000
livres; for the queen, 4,000,000: such is the statement of Necker in
1784. Add to this the casual donations, admitted or concealed; 200,000
francs to M. de Sartines, to aid him in paying his debts; 200,000 to
M. Lamoignon, keeper of the seals; 100,000 to M. de Miromesnil for
expenses in establishing himself; 166,000 to the widow of M. de
Maurepas; 400,000 to the Prince de Salm; 1,200,000 to the Duc de
Polignac for the pledge of the county Fenestranges; 754,337 to
Mesdames to pay for Bellevue.[19] M. de Calonne," says Augeard, a
reliable witness,[20] "scarcely entered on his duties, raised a loan
of 100,000,000 livres, one-quarters of which did not find its way into
the royal treasury; the rest was eaten up by people at the court; his
donations to the Comte Artois are estimated at 56,000,000; the portion
of Monsieur is 5,000,000; he gave to the Prince de Condé, in exchange
for 300,000 livres income, 12,000,000 paid down and 600,000 livres
annuity, and he causes the most burdensome acquisition to be made for
the State, in exchanges of which the damage is more than five to one."
We must not forget that in actual rates all these donations, pensions,
and salaries are worth double the amount. - Such is the use of the
great in relation to the central power; instead of constituting
themselves representatives of the people, they aimed to be the
favorites of the Sovereign, and they shear the flock which they ought
to preserve.