genii of the French peasantry. Like vampires, they had for years been sucking the very life-blood of the nation. No redress was open to their victims, and resistance only had the effect of increasing the burdens laid upon their shoulders. The institution of the Chamber of Justice was accordingly received with unbounded joy. Every tax-farmer was arraigned before this tribunal. The most searching investigation was made, not only into his own dealings, but also into the dealings of the hordes of satellites whom he employed to bleed his unfortunate victims. Where information was withheld, or even where it was suspected that the information given was tainted with inaccuracy, encouragement was given to informers by holding out promises of 20 per cent. of any fines that might be levied. Such a system, of course, was bound to bring evils in its train as great as those it was intended to remove. A reign of terror set in amongst the farmers-general. No sympathy was extended to them by their judges. All confidence in their honesty had long ago been destroyed. They were already prejudged. No effort on their part could by any possibility ward off the weight of accusation against them. Prison accommodation was soon taxed beyond its capacity. Those who were fortunate enough to escape this Jeddart justice by bribery, by payment of enormous fines, or by quietly submitting to wholesale confiscation, left the country as a measure of personal safety. The records of the period teem with the decisions of the Chamber of Justice and their consequences. Most of the cases reflect a degree of moral obliquity on the part of the judges not less than on the part of the accused. We are told of one instance where a contractor had been taxed, in proportion to his wealth and guilt, at the sum of twelve millions livres. A courtier, possessing considerable influence with the Government, offered to procure a remission of the fine for a bribe of one hundred thousand crowns. “You are too late, my friend,” replied the contractor, “I have already made a bargain with your wife for fifty thousand.” In the course of a few weeks almost the whole of the fraternity had run the gauntlet of the Chamber of Justice. They had been stript of their power, their influence and their possessions. The country had been effectively cleared of their presence, but to comparatively small advantage. The total fines and confiscations amounted to one hundred and eighty million livres, of which the Government received only one half, and its parasites the other. As a consequence, its career was brought to a close, and with it the ingenious financial devices of the Council of Ministers.