NICE, March 23, 1766.
DEAR SIR,--You ask whether I think the French people are more taxed
than the English; but I apprehend, the question would be more apropos
if you asked whether the French taxes are more insupportable than the
English; for, in comparing burthens, we ought always to consider the
strength of the shoulders that bear them. 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. The king of France, in order to give
strength and stability to his administration, ought to have sense to
adopt a sage plan of oeconomy, and vigour of mind sufficient to execute
it in all its parts, with the most rigorous exactness. He ought to have
courage enough to find fault, and even to punish the delinquents, of
what quality soever they may be: and the first act of reformation ought
to be a total abolition of all the farms. There are, undoubtedly, many
marks of relaxation in the reins of the French government, and, in all
probability, the subjects of France will be the first to take advantage
of it. There is at present a violent fermentation of different
principles among them, which under the reign of a very weak prince, or
during a long minority, may produce a great change in the constitution.
In proportion to the progress of reason and philosophy, which have made
great advances in this kingdom, superstition loses ground; antient
prejudices give way; a spirit of freedom takes the ascendant. All the
learned laity of France detest the hierarchy as a plan of despotism,
founded on imposture and usurpation. The protestants, who are very
numerous in southern parts, abhor it with all the rancour of religious
fanaticism. Many of the commons, enriched by commerce and manufacture,
grow impatient of those odious distinctions, which exclude them from
the honours and privileges due to their importance in the commonwealth;
and all the parliaments, or tribunals of justice in the kingdom, seem
bent upon asserting their rights and independence in the face of the
king's prerogative, and even at the expence of his power and authority.
Should any prince therefore be seduced by evil counsellors, or misled
by his own bigotry, to take some arbitrary step, that may be extremely
disagreeable to all those communities, without having spirit to exert
the violence of his power for the support of his measures, he will
become equally detested and despised; and the influence of the commons
will insensibly encroach upon the pretensions of the crown. But if in
the time of a minority, the power of the government should be divided
among different competitors for the regency, the parliaments and people
will find it still more easy to acquire and ascertain the liberty at
which they aspire, because they will have the balance of power in their
hands, and be able to make either scale preponderate. I could say a
great deal more upon this subject; and I have some remarks to make
relating to the methods which might be taken in the case of a fresh
rupture with France, for making a vigorous impression on that kingdom.
But these I in list defer till another occasion, having neither room
nor leisure at present to add any thing, but that I am, with great
truth,--Dear Sir, Your very humble Servant.