The revenue of the country was chiefly drawn from four sources known as the _Taille_, the _Gabelle_, the _Aides_, and the _Douanes_. Of these, the _taille_ was the most lucrative, and was originally a direct tax upon property. But in course of time its mode of assessment became varied in different parts of France. In the _pays d’election_, or those provinces which originally appertained to the monarchy of France, such as Normandy, Touraine, the Isle de France, etc., the _taille_ was still a property tax and was levied upon each man personally according to a computation of what he was worth; but in the _pays d’état_, or those provinces which had been annexed to the crown of France in more recent times, many of which had on annexation secured fiscal privileges which they had been accustomed to enjoy--such as Burgundy, Guienne, Provence, etc.--it was levied only upon land and was in fact a land tax and not a property tax. In the _pays d’élection_ the nobles, in the _pays d’état_ the _terres nobles_, i.e. the lands which were or once had been in the possession of the nobility, were free from _taille_, and so were the lands of the Church, which paid their tenths (_décimes_) instead. In itself there was nothing unjust about the _taille_, excepting the fact that as, owing to the exemptions, it fell almost entirely on the classes which had no political power, the temptation to increase it abnormally was a very strong one to a needy finance minister who was anxious not to make powerful enemies. But the real evil of the tax lay in the method of its assessment and collection in the _pays d’election_. The gross sum to be raised from each province was fixed by the government, and a contract made with a capitalist on the best terms available for the letting to him of the sole right of raising that sum from that particular province. The _Intendant_, the financial agent for the province, then proceeded to assess the total sum to be raised upon the different parishes, and the farmer general in his turn farmed out the raising of these smaller sums to subordinate agents of his own. Finally the inhabitants of each parish elected a committee to levy the parochial quota upon individuals. Nothing could well exceed the wastefulness and injustice of such a system. Every parish which had made or could make interest with the _Intendant_, every inhabitant who had interest with the assessment committee got the quota reduced at the expense of less fortunate neighbours. Each farmer and sub-farmer wrung the most he could out of an unfortunate peasantry, and was protected by a government which had already received all that was due to it of the tax. The only nominal check upon the farmers was the supervision of their accounts by the _chambre des comptes_, but that was a mere farce, as no attempt was made to ensure the accuracy of the registers upon which they worked. A system by which it mattered not a _sou_ to