Such was our military history of the year 1706--history of losses and
dishonour. It may be imagined in what condition was the exchequer with
so many demands upon its treasures. For the last two or three years the
King had been obliged, on account of the expenses of the war, and the
losses we had sustained, to cut down the presents that he made at the
commencement of the year. Thirty-five thousand louis in gold was the sum
he ordinarily spent in this manner. This year, 1707, he diminished it by
ten thousand Louis. It was upon Madame de Montespan that the blow fell.
Since she had quitted the Court the King gave her twelve thousand Louis
of gold each year. This year he sent word to her that he could only give
her eight. Madame de Montespan testified not the least surprise. She
replied, that she was only sorry for the poor, to whom indeed she gave
with profusion. A short time after the King had made this reduction,
that is, on the 8th of January, Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne gave
birth to a son. The joy was great, but the King prohibited all those
expenses which had been made at the birth of the first-born of Madame de
Bourgogne, and which had amounted to a large sum. The want of money
indeed made itself felt so much at this time, that the King was obliged
to seek for resources as a private person might have done. A mining
speculator, named Rodes, having pretended that he had discovered many
veins of gold in the Pyrenees, assistance was given him in order that he
might bring these treasures to light.
He declared that with eighteen hundred workmen he would furnish a million
(francs' worth of gold) each week. Fifty-two millions a-year would have
been a fine increase of revenue. However, after waiting some little
time, no gold was forthcoming, and the money that had been spent to
assist this enterprise was found to be pure loss.
The difficulty of finding money to carry on the affairs of the nation
continued to grow so irksome that Chamillart, who had both the finance
and the war departments under his control, was unable to stand against
the increased trouble and vexation which this state of things brought
him. More than once he had represented that this double work was too
much for him. But the King had in former times expressed so much
annoyance from the troubles that arose between the finance and war
departments, that he would not separate them, after having once joined
them together. At last, Chamillart could bear up against his heavy load
no longer. The vapours seized him: he had attacks of giddiness in the
head; his digestion was obstructed; he grew thin as a lath. He wrote
again to the King, begging to be released from his duties, and frankly
stated that, in the state he was, if some relief was not afforded him,
everything would go wrong and perish. He always left a large margin to
his letters, and upon this the King generally wrote his reply.
Chamillart showed me this letter when it came back to him, and I saw upon
it with great surprise, in the handwriting of the King, this short note:
"Well! let us perish together."
The necessity for money had now become so great, that all sorts of means
were adopted to obtain it. Amongst other things, a tax was established
upon baptisms and marriages. This tax was extremely onerous and odious.
The result of it was a strange confusion. Poor people, and many of
humble means, baptised their children themselves, without carrying them
to the church, and were married at home by reciprocal consent and before
witnesses, when they could find no priest who would marry them without
formality. In consequence of this there were no longer any baptismal
extracts; no longer any certainty as to baptisms or births; and the
children of the marriages solemnised in the way I have stated above were
illegitimate in the eyes of the law. Researches and rigours in respect
to abuses so prejudicial were redoubled therefore; that is to say, they
were redoubled for the purpose of collecting the tax.
From public cries and murmurs the people in some places passed to
sedition. Matters went so far at Cahors, that two battalions which were
there had great difficulty in holding the town against the armed
peasants; and troops intended for Spain were obliged to be sent there.
It was found necessary to suspend the operation of the tax, but it was
with great trouble that the movement of Quercy was put down, and the
peasants, who had armed and collected together, induced to retire into
their villages. In Perigord they rose, pillaged the bureaux, and
rendered themselves masters of a little town and some castles, and forced
some gentlemen to put themselves at their head. They declared publicly
that they would pay the old taxes to King, curate, and lord, but that
they would pay no more, or hear a word of any other taxes or vexation.
In the end it was found necessary to drop this tax upon baptism and
marriages, to the great regret of the tax-gatherers, who, by all manner
of vexations and rogueries, had enriched themselves cruelly.
It was at this time, and in consequence, to some extent, of these events,
that a man who had acquired the highest distinction in France was brought
to the tomb in bitterness and grief, for that which in any other country
would have covered him with honour. Vauban, for it is to him that I
allude, patriot as he was, had all his life been touched with the misery
of the people and the vexations they suffered. The knowledge that his
offices gave him of the necessity for expense, the little hope he had
that the King would retrench in matters of splendour and amusement, made
him groan to see no remedy to an oppression which increased in weight
from day to day. Feeling this, he made no journey that he did not
collect information upon the value and produce of the land, upon the
trade and industry of the towns and provinces, on the nature of the
imposts, and the manner of collecting them. Not content with this, he
secretly sent to such places as he could not visit himself, or even to
those he had visited, to instruct him in everything, and compare the
reports he received with those he had himself made. The last twenty
years of his life were spent in these researches, and at considerable
cost to himself. In, the end, he convinced himself that the land was the
only real wealth, and he set himself to work to form a new system.
He had already made much progress, when several little books appeared by
Boisguilbert, lieutenant-general at Rouen, who long since had had the
same views as Vauban, and had wanted to make them known. From this
labour had resulted a learned and profound book, in which a system was
explained by which the people could be relieved of all the expenses they
supported, and from every tax, and by which the revenue collected would
go at once into the treasury of the King, instead of enriching, first the
traitants, the intendants, and the finance ministers. These latter,
therefore, were opposed to the system, and their opposition, as will be
seen, was of no slight consequence.
Vauban read this book with much attention. He differed on some points
with the author, but agreed with him in the main. Boisguilbert wished to
preserve some imposts upon foreign commerce and upon provisions. Vauban
wished to abolish all imposts, and to substitute for them two taxes, one
upon the land, the other upon trade and industry. His book, in which he
put forth these ideas, was full of information and figures, all arranged
with the utmost clearness, simplicity, and exactitude.
But it had a grand fault. It described a course which, if followed,
would have ruined an army of financiers, of clerks, of functionaries of
all kinds; it would have forced them to live at their own expense,
instead of at the expense of the people; and it would have sapped the
foundations of those immense fortunes that are seen to grow up in such a
short time. This was enough to cause its failure.
All the people interested in opposing the work set up a cry. They saw
place, power, everything, about to fly from their grasp, if the counsels
of Vauban were acted upon. What wonder, then, that the King, who was
surrounded by these people, listened to their reasons, and received with
a very ill grace Marechal Vauban when he presented his book to him. The
ministers, it may well be believed, did not give him a better welcome.
From that moment his services, his military capacity (unique of its
kind), his virtues, the affection the King had had for him, all were
forgotten. The King saw only in Marechal Vauban a man led astray by love
for the people, a criminal who attacked the authority of the ministers,
and consequently that of the King. He explained himself to this effect
without scruple.
The unhappy Marechal could not survive the loss of his royal master's
favour, or stand up against the enmity the King's explanations had
created against him; he died a few months after consumed with grief, and
with an affliction nothing could soften, and to which the King was
insensible to such a point, that he made semblance of not perceiving that
he had lost a servitor so useful and so illustrious. Vauban, justly
celebrated over all Europe, was regretted in France by all who were not
financiers or their supporters.
Boisguilbert, whom this event ought to have rendered wise, could not
contain himself. One of the objections which had been urged against his
theories, was the difficulty of carrying out changes in the midst of a
great war. He now published a book refuting this point, and describing
such a number of abuses then existing, to abolish which, he asked, was it
necessary to wait for peace, that the ministers were outraged.
Boisguilbert was exiled to Auvergne. I did all in my power to revoke
this sentence, having known Boisguilbert at Rouen, but did not succeed
until the end of two months. He was then allowed to return to Rouen, but
was severely reprimanded, and stripped of his functions for some little
time. He was amply indemnified, however, for this by the crowd of
people, and the acclamations with which he was received.
It is due to Chamillart to say, that he was the only minister who had
listened with any attention to these new systems of Vauban and
Boisguilbert. He indeed made trial of the plans suggested by the former,
but the circumstances were not favourable to his success, and they of
course failed. Some time after, instead of following the system of
Vauban, and reducing the imposts, fresh ones were added. Who would have
said to the Marechal that all his labours for the relief of the people of
France would lead to new imposts, more harsh, more permanent, and more
heavy than he protested against? It is a terrible lesson against all
improvements in matters of taxation and finance.
But it is time, now, that I should retrace my steps to other matters,
which, if related in due order of time, should have found a place ere
this. And first, let me relate the particulars concerning a trial in
which I was engaged, and which I have deferred allusion to until now, so
as not to entangle the thread of my narrative.
My sister, as I have said in its proper place, had married the Duc de
Brissac, and the marriage had not been a happy one. After a time, in
fact, they separated. My sister at her death left me her universal
legatee; and shortly after this, M. de Brissac brought an action against
me on her account for five hundred thousand francs. After his death, his
representatives continued the action, which I resisted, not only
maintaining that I owed none of the five hundred thousand francs, but
claiming to have two hundred thousand owing to me, out of six hundred
thousand which had formed the dowry of my sister.
When M. de Brissac died, there seemed some probability that his peerage
would become extinct; for the Comte de Cosse, who claimed to succeed him,
was opposed by a number of peers, and but for me might have failed to
establish his pretensions. I, however, as his claim was just, interested
myself in him, supported him with all my influence, and gained for him
the support of several influential peers: so that in the end he was
recognised as Duc de Brissac, and received as such at the parliament on
the 6th of May, 1700.
Having succeeded thus to the titles and estates of his predecessor, he
succeeded also to his liabilities, debts, and engagements. Among these
was the trial against me for five hundred thousand francs. Cosse felt so
thoroughly that he owed his rank to me, that he offered to give me five
hundred thousand francs, so as to indemnify me against an adverse
decision in the cause. Now, as I have said, I not only resisted this
demand made upon me for five hundred thousand francs, but I, in my turn,
claimed two hundred thousand francs, and my claim, once admitted, all the
personal creditors of the late Duc de Brissac (creditors who, of course,
had to be paid by the new Duke) would have been forced to stand aside
until my debt was settled.
I, therefore, refused this offer of Cosse, lest other creditors should
hear of the arrangement, and force him to make a similar one with them.
He was overwhelmed with a generosity so little expected, and we became
more intimately connected from that day.
Cosse, once received as Duc de Brissac, I no longer feared to push
forward the action I had commenced for the recovery of the two hundred
thousand francs due to me, and which I had interrupted only on his
account. I had gained it twice running against the late Duc de Brissac,
at the parliament of Rouen; but the Duchesse d'Aumont, who in the last
years of his life had lent him money, and whose debt was in danger,
succeeded in getting this cause sent up for appeal to the parliament at
Paris, where she threw obstacle upon obstacle in its path, and caused
judgment to be delayed month after month. When I came to take active
steps in the matter, my surprise--to use no stronger word--was great, to
find Cosse, after all I had done for him, favouring the pretensions of
the Duchesse d'Aumont, and lending her his aid to establish them.
However, he and the Duchesse d'Aumont lost their cause, for when it was
submitted to the judges of the council at Paris, it was sent back to
Rouen, and they had to pay damages and expenses.
For years the affair had been ready to be judged at Rouen, but M.
d'Aumont every year, by means of his letters of state, obtained a
postponement. At last, however, M. d'Aumont died, and I was assured that
the letters of state should not be again produced, and that in
consequence no further adjournment should take place. I and Madame de
Saint-Simon at once set out, therefore, for Rouen, where we were
exceedingly well received, fetes and entertainments being continually
given in our honour.
After we had been there but eight or ten days, I received a letter from
Pontchartrain, who sent me word that the King had learnt with surprise I
was at Rouen, and had charged him to ask me why I was there: so attentive
was the King as to what became of the people of mark, he was accustomed
to see around him! My reply was not difficult.
Meanwhile our cause proceeded. The parliament, that is to say, the Grand
Chamber, suspended all other business in order to finish ours. The
affair was already far advanced, when it was interrupted by an obstacle,
of all obstacles the least possible to foresee. The letters of state had
again been put in, for the purpose of obtaining another adjournment.
My design is not to weary by recitals, which interest only myself; but I
must explain this matter fully. It was Monday evening. The parliament
of Rouen ended on the following Saturday. If we waited until the opening
of the next parliament, we should have to begin our cause from the
beginning, and with new presidents and judges, who would know nothing of
the facts. What was to be done? To appeal to the King seemed
impossible, for he was at Marly, and, while there, never listened to such
matters. By the time he left Marly, it would be too late to apply to
him.
Madame de Saint-Simon and others advised me, however, at all hazards, to
go straight to the King, instead of sending a courier, as I thought of
doing, and to keep my journey secret. I followed their advice, and
setting out at once, arrived at Marly on Tuesday morning, the 8th of
August, at eight of the clock. The Chancellor and Chamillart, to whom I
told my errand, pitied me, but gave me no hope of success. Nevertheless,
a council of state was to be held on the following morning, presided over
by the King, and my petition was laid before it. The letters of state
were thrown out by every voice. This information was brought to me at
mid-day. I partook of a hasty dinner, and turned back to Rouen, where I
arrived on Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning, three hours after a
courier, by whom I had sent this unhoped-for news.
I brought with me, besides the order respecting the letters of state, an
order to the parliament to proceed to judgment at once. It was laid
before the judges very early on Saturday, the 11th of August, the last
day of the parliament. From four o'clock in the morning we had an
infinite number of visitors, wanting to accompany us to the palace. The
parliament had been much irritated against these letters of state, after
having suspended all other business for us. The withdrawal of these
letters was now announced. We gained our cause, with penalties and
expenses, amid acclamations which resounded through the court, and which
followed us into the streets. We could scarcely enter our street, so
full was it with the crowd, or our house, which was equally crowded. Our
kitchen chimney soon after took fire, and it was only a marvel that it
was extinguished, without damage, after having strongly warned us, and
turned our joy into bitterness. There was only the master of the house
who was unmoved. We dined, however, with a grand company; and after
stopping one or two days more to thank our friends, we went to see the
sea at Dieppe, and then to Cani, to a beautiful house belonging to our
host at Rouen.
As for Madame d'Aumont, she was furious at the ill-success of her affair.
It was she who had obtained the letters of state from the steward of her
son-in-law. Her son-in-law had promised me that they should not be used,
and wrote at once to say he had had no hand in their production. M. de
Brissac, who had been afraid to look me in the face ever since he had
taken part in this matter, and with whom I had openly broken, was now so
much ashamed that he avoided me everywhere.