France -- Civilization; France -- Politics and government; France -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
[Footnote 3203: "Discours prononcé par l'ordre du roi et en sa presence,
le 22 février 1787," by M. de Calonne, contrôleur-général, p.22. "What
remains then to fill this fearful void (in the finances)? Abuses.
The abuses now demanding suppression for the public weal are the most
considerable and the best protected, those that are the deepest rooted
and which send out the most branches. They are the abuses which weigh
most heavily on the working and producing classes, the abuses of
financial privileges, the exceptions to the common law and to so many
unjust exemptions which relieve only a portion of the taxpayers
by aggravating the lot of the others; general inequality in the
distribution of subsidies and the enormous disproportion which exists
in the taxation of different provinces and among the offices filled
by subjects of the same sovereign; severity and arbitrariness in the
collection of the taille; bureaux of internal transportation, and
obstacles that render different parts of the same kingdom strangers
to each other; rights that discourage industry; those of which the
collection requires excessive expenditure and innumerable collectors."]
[Footnote 3204: De Ségur, "Mémoires," III., 591. In 1791, on his return
from Russia, his brother says to him, speaking of the Revolution:
"Everybody, at first, wanted it.. From the king down to the most
insignificant man in the kingdom, everybody did something to help it
along; one let it come on up to his shoe-buckle, another up to his
garter, another to his waist, another to his breast, and some will not
be content until their head is attacked!"]
[Footnote 3205: My French dictionary tells me that the Carmagnole is
not only a popular revolutionary dance but also a short and tight jacket
worn by the revolutionaries between 1792 and 1795 and that it came via
Marseille with workers from the town of Carmagnola in Piedmont. (SR.)]
[Footnote 3206: "The Revolution," pp. 271-279. (Laff. I. 505 to
509.)--Stourm "Les Finances de l'ancien régime et de la Révolution," I.,
171 to 177.--(Report by Ramel, January 31, 1796.) "One would scarcely
believe it--the holders of real-estate now owe the public treasury over
13 milliards."--(Report by Gaudin, Germinal, year X. on the assessment
and collection of direct taxes.) "This state of things constituted a
permanent, annual deficit of 200 millions."]
[Footnote 3207: "The Ancient Régime," p. 99, and "The Revolution,"
p.407. (Laff. I. pp 77-78 and II. 300) (About 1,200 millions per annum
in bread for Paris, instead of 45 millions for the civil and military
household of the King at Versailles.)]
[Footnote 3208: "The Ancient Régime," p. 68. (Laff. I. p. 55)--Madame
Campan, "Mémoires," I., 291, 292.]
[Footnote 3209: "The Revolution," II., 151, and III., 500. (Laff. II.
282-283)]
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