the first that openly invaded the Liberties of his Subjects was also the first that raised this Tax without the Consent of the Three Estates and who made it successive likewise The Taille is threefold viz. Real Personal and Mix'd Real is when it is only imposed upon Lands as in some parts of the Province of Gueinne where a Man must pay a certain Summ to the King for every Acre of Land he is possess'd of Personal is when it is Assess'd upon any Personal Estate that is among the French the Money that a Man is supposed to have in his own hands or to be worth in Lands and Houses in his Industry Art or Ability to get Money Lastly the Mix'd is so denominated because in some parts of that Kingdom the Lands are not only assessed so much per Acre but the Proprietor besides is taxed for his Money Art and Ability This Explanation I thought necessary for the better understanding of my Subject The Real Taille though very burthensome yet however it is the least heavy upon the People For if a Man has but forty Acres of Land he cannot be assessed for fifty whereas in all Provinces of France except Guienne the Taille being every-where Personal or Mix'd a Man is assessed for what he has and for what he has not that being at the Discretion of the Intendants of the Provinces or some other Officer called Eleus who are not only appointed for those things Hence it comes to pass abundance of People are assessed much more than what their yearly Rent is really worth and a Cobler or other poor Fellow that hath nothing in the World to live on but the benefit of his Arms shall yet notwithstanding be taxed four or five Crowns a Year Were it not beyond my Design I could easily give you many instances of the extream heaviness of this Tax but for brevity sake I shall content my self with this That a Baker of Gonesse near Paris was assessed for his Personal Estate though he had not an Inch of Land 1200 French Crowns a Year that is 270 l. Sterling This is a Pattern by which we may readily judge of the whole Piece To say positively what the whole Summ amounts to that is imposed upon the Kingdom for this Taille it is in a manner impossible for the French King does encrease or diminish it according as he Himself pleaseth That is to say according to the Expences he sees himself oblig'd to be at An. 1684. when I was in France the said Summ amounted to Forty millions of French Livres that is above Three millions Sterling But if we consider that at that time the French King had Peace with all the World we may easily believe that this Tax exceeds now Fifty millions and above How this Tax is imposed and levied all inquisitive Persons I hope will be glad to know and therefore for their satisfaction I 'll relate it as plainly as the darkness of the matter will permit The King resolveth first in his Council what Summ of Money is to be levied on his Subjects then Commissions are issued forth to the General Treasures of the Generalities of the Kingdom to give them power to levy the Summ agreed upon These Commissions being received the Treasurers make a Division of the Summ to be levied proportionable to the extent of the several Elections under them which Division or Repartition is sent to the King who thereupon sends a Commission to the Officers of each Election by which they are ordered and enabled to raise such a Summ in their respective Districts These Officers meet and make the Registers of Taxes wherein each Town Borough Hamlet or Parish is assessed Each Parish has one of those Registers sent to it whereupon the Inhabitants make choice of one or more of them to raise the Summ assessed by the Officers of the Elections These are called Collectors and they tax each Inhabitant according to his Estate But though they are forbiden to do it out of any ill-will or malice yet they will ease their Friends though they crush the others And this is the cause of a great many Mischiefs and of divers Families being absolutely ruined by these unjust Stewards The Kingdom of France being so very great it is not Forty nor Fifty millions that would ruine its Inhabitants were that Summ but equally shared but as I have already observed some being eased when others are over-charged and this Misfortune coming upon every Man in his tâ—â—â— the Collectors being changed so every Year it happens that at last all become poor and miserable Well we have now seen how that Tax is imposed let us in the next place see how it is levied Should I say that the manner of collecting the Taille is very near as grievous as the Taille it self I should say nothing but what is very true though at first it seems almost incredible To clear therefore this point I shall observe to you only That the People being grown very poor they cannot exactly pay all that they are assessed and upon failure thereof which must be Quarterly the General Receiver or Treasurer of each Election immediately sends an Officer called Porteur de Contrainte or Commissary to quarter upon the Collectors or Inhabitants of such a Parish which is so in Arrear with two or three Men whose Pay amounts to Thirteen or Fourteen Shillings a Day where they remain till they have other Orders from the Receiver which he never grants but upon full payment And tho' this way of Levying is rude and severe yet it is very gentle if compared with what they do in some Provinces of France where the Receiver instead of Commissaries make use of Soldiers whom they Quarter at discretion upon those who make the least default in payment And this is nothing less than Dragooning 'T is also worth our Remark to observe That when an Inhabitant is become so poor as he is utterly unable to pay his Tax or suppose that the Collector should prove a Rogue and play away the King's Money the other Inhabitants are bound to answer for each of these Disasters There are some Provinces in France that are not liable to the Taille for those of Burgundy Brittany and Languedoc are free from it at least as to the Name For truly at the bottom they pay too as well as the rest but with this only difference That instead of Taille their Subsidy is called Don Gratuit a Free Gift of the Estates of those Provinces What those of Burgundy give I cannot tell at present but the Free Gift of Brittany and Languedoc amount every Year to above Six hundred thousand Pounds of our English Money Those who are not throughly acquainted with the State of France will likely fall into a great Mistake at the first reading of this and fancy to themselves That the State of those Provinces are like the Parliament of England but lest I should give any occasion for so great an Errour I think it
necessary to explain my self The truth is That the States of Languedoc and Britanny were formerly like those of England but now they are only a Shadow of what they have been They meet every Year and upon their meeting the Governour of the Provinces or some other Great Lord demands from them in the Name of the King Three or Four millions of Livres more or less as the King pleaseth His Speech for the Formality sake is indeed taken into Consideration but the Summ must be granted with this only Shadow or Remain of Authority That they grant somewhat less perhaps by Fifty Crowns than the King hath demanded This is all for they have no Power to meddle with any other Affairs After such a Digression which I have thought necessary for my Reader 's Information give me leave to resume the Thread of my Discourse Some Towns also are free from the Taille but instead of that they pay some other Duties more than an Equivalent with that Horrid Tax Those Duties are called Entries but they deserve to be considered a-part by themselves in another Article which will be no less curious or useful to be known Where the Taille is Personal the Noblemen and Chief Magistrates as Councellors in Parliament are also free from it at least as to their Personal Estate but their Lands are assessed as well as those of other Men except seven or eight Acres and provided they plough them themselves that as the King is resolved to lose nothing it happens that their Farmers are a great deal more Taxed than other Men and I remember thereupon That a Farmer of a Mannor at Villeneuve St. George called Les Bergeries about four Leagues from Paris was Assessed every Year * 69 l. 4. s. 6 d. sterl Nine hundred Livres though he paid but Five hundred to his Landlord Monsieur de Commartin Councellor of State These are the Observations I have thought fit to make upon the Taille which I hope will give a pretty clear Idea of it I will now proceed to consider the Consequences of it For it is not of this Monster like that of the Naturals that those die without any Issue but this has a numerous Posterity The first is the Taillon which is an additional Tax and that was raised at first by Henry II. Anno 1549. towards the encrease of the Pay of his Gens d'Armes who then lay Billetted in Villages and to enable them to pay their Hosts whatever they had from them The poor Country-men thought then to have got a little ease but soon after they became as much oppressed by their unruly Guests as ever So that whatever had been pretended to them for their Ease proved only a Trick to drain their Purses the more Now every-body knows that the custom of Billetting the Gens d'Armes in Villages has been laid aside but for all that the Taillon is still continued and so the People are bound to pay it which amounts to above the Third part of the Taille The other Children of that Monster are the Contributions which the French King raises upon his Subjects and a Subsidy for the Winter-Quarters of his Soldiers To explain this it must be observed That in time of War the French King is obliged to Quarter his Troops upon the Frontiers as also or at least the greatest part of them in time of Peace because of the numerous Garisons he is forced to have Now to keep them in Pay there is a general Assessment laid upon most of the Towns of the Kingdom whereby they are forced to pay the Subsidy called the Winter-Quarters at the rate of Five pence a Day for each private Sentinel and because the Country-People are bound to contribute Oats and Hay for the maintenance of the Horse that are Garison'd in the Towns when the Troops are in Flanders or in other Frontiers they are likewise forced to convert those Oats and Hay into Money and this is called Contribution which brings to the King a great Summ of Money those Commodities being valued at the Discretion of those Officers who are appointed for that purpose Now what Summ that Subsidy or Contributions produce 't is impossible to determine but it cannot but be very great considering the vast number of Soldiers that the French King has in Pay and the numbers of the Towns he has in France And yet how chargeable soever that Subsidy is the French Soldiers are such insulting and sawcy Guests that the People would pay twice as much more if they could but free themselves from those troublesome Visits And this Insolence is countenanced by the Government so much the more because of the great Advantage the King receiveth by it many Towns paying more to be free from their Winter-Quarters than they do for the Taille which they should not do were these Soldiers kept under as severe a Discipline as they are in England and only Quartered in Publick Houses ARTICLE II. Of the GABELLE THIS is not so much a Tax laid by the French King upon his People as it is the engrossing of a Trade to Himself whereby his Subjects are forced to buy the Salt from him at his Granaries and at his own Price How great a Profit he maketh of that Commodity few People know and I am afraid that few will believe what I am going to say upon that Subject For though we are used to hear of the great and advantagious Returns that our Merchants receive from the East and West-India's yet they are not to be compared to what the French King gets upon his Subjects by this Gebelle How common Salt is in France those that have travelled in the Pays d'Aunix or Xaintonge cannot be ignorant of but for those who have not seen the Salt-Marshes of that Country I hope it will be sufficient to let them know That a certain Measure called Muyds de Bosse weighing 5200 Pounds is bought there at some times for Three shillings and Six pence and never dearer than Four shillings and Six pence of Engglish Money 'T is there that the French King buys that Commodity to sell it again to his Subjects in all the Provinces of his Kingdom except Poictou Xaintonge Guienne and Britanny where the Gabelle is not as yet imposed There may be also some other Tracts of Land free from that Tax but they are very inconsiderable Now to understand what Profit he maketh upon that Merchandise it ought to be observed That the Muyds de Bosse contains 52 other Measures called Minots that is 100 Pounds weight and that each Minots is sold at this time in Paris at the King's Granaries for 64 Livres So that there being 52 Minots in each Muyds de Bosse as I have said it follows That the same quantity of Salt that the French King buys for Four shillings and Six pence at utmost is sold to his Subjects at his Granaries in Paris for 3328 Livres that is 256 l. Sterling 'T is true it is not sold at that rate in all
the Provinces where the Gabelle is imposed but there is a very inconsiderable difference and now every-where near Paris as in Normandy c. it bears the same Price I don't question but that at the first sight of so extravagant a Price many People will be apt to think that I impose upon their Credulity but there are so many considerable Witnesses of what I say in this Kingdom 't is very easie for any Man to enquire into the Truth of this matter I must only give you this Caution That in time of Peace the Minots which is now sold for 64 Livres was then bought for 44 l. but with this difference alone the whole Account is but pure matter of Fact How necessary soever the Commodity of Salt be that high Price would discourage many People from making use of it but to prevent that there are such good Orders made that it is impossible to avoid it 1. The importing of foreign Salt is forbidden upon pain of Death So that let the Salt of the King's Granaries be never so dear yet because it is absolutely necessary the French are forced to buy it 2. Salt is imposed upon the People there as the Taille so that each Family must take every Year a certain quantity of it proportioned to the number of their Family and Estate and so let them be never so willing to eat their Bread and Meat without Salt yet the King will lose nothing by it This is the reason that some Provinces are said to be liable to the Salt of Granaries and others to the Salt of Imposition To understand this Distinction it must be observed That in Paris and some other Cities and Countries Salt is not imposed upon the Inhabitants as the Taille and that if they buy any it is out of necessity and not from any other violence But in Normandy Picardy Champaigne Anjou and other Places there are Officers appointed to examine each Family and to assess them a Minot more or less according to their Number and Estate Let People say what they will as That they are so poor as that they are unable to pay it they must take the quantity assessed and if they do not pay it within six Months after they must expect a Military Execution and God knows how severe that is A Man so compelled to buy a Commodity which is a great deal too dear for his Purse would gladly sell it again could he find a favourable Opportunity And there is nothing in this but what is very natural but there are such Penalties both for the Buyer and Seller that it is very dangerous for either of them to drive on such a Trade The first Offence is punish'd with a Fine but in case the Offender be unable to pay it he is condemned to the Penalty of the second Offence which is Corporal viz. To be branded with a Red Flower-de-Luce upon the Cheek or the Shoulder And so hard a Punishment ought one would think to deter any Man from Offending twice Yet there are some who Offend a third time and those upon Conviction are sent Slaves to the Gallies were it only for a Pound of Salt given sold lent or bartered The same Punishment is inflicted upon the Faux Sauniers that is a sort of People who invited by the high Price of Salt convey it secretly from Poictou and Britanny into the Provinces liable to the Gabelle The Fishermen and other Inhabitants of the Sea-Coasts would have a very officious Neighbour were they but suffered to make use of Salt-Water But to hinder it there are Watches appointed and were a Man once convinced for having made use of it he would be no less severely punished than a Faux Saunier How heavy that cursed Gabelle is upon the French Nation will appear I hope by what I have already said But yet were it fairly managed it would not however be intolerable For it is certain that the Cheats and Knaveries committed on that account are more to be feared than the Imposition it self This Tax robs a Man but of his Money but the Managers of it can deprive him both of his Reputation Life and Estate For the Tools of Slavery and Arbitrary Power being always and every-where alike I mean Covetous Base Unmerciful and Treacherous it happen many times that under colour of searching a Man's House upon pretence of Forbidden Salt they will hide some themselves in a Corner where they are sure to find it again upon a second Visit and this is sufficient to fine a Man perhaps more than he is worth in the World But if a Man should have an Enemy who is so base as to bribe the Officers of the Salt into his Interests and oblige them to serve that Trick thrice upon him which he can do for a little Summ of Money that Man shall be sent a Slave to the Gallies which is a Punishment worse a thousand times than Death it self This Observation is not grounded only upon a bare Peradventure but there are many Examples of it and were it not for fear of bringing a Disgrace upon some Families that are now in England I could produce very good Authorities I have said that the Province of Poictou Xaintonge Britanny and Guienne are free from the Gabelle and perhaps some will wonder at it and should I omit to say what I know upon that point likely enough I should be blamed That distinction in my Opinion is grounded upon three Reasons 1. Britanny being united to the Crown of France but since Charles VIII who married the Heiress of that fine Dutchy 't is no wonder that the Inhabitants of that Province have greater Privileges than others And so I may say the same thing as to Poictou and Guienne those Countries being formerly subjected to the Crown of England But as for Xaintonge or Pays d'Aunix truly there is another particular Reason For First Would it not be too severe nay and inconsistent too with the French King's Interests to impose the Gabelle in that very Place where the Salt is made Secondly If we consider how common and general the Insurrections were in Britanny and Guienne in 1674. when the French King attempted to put that burthensome Excise upon them perhaps we shall find a reasonable Cause to conclude That if the Gabelle be not introduced in those Provinces 't is purely because the Inhabitants are no ways disposed to suffer it Their Insurrection was so great that they were forced to give over that Design and had the Confederates but made use of that favourable Opportunity it might have proved a fatal Consequence to the Grandeur of that Prince Thirdly Though these Reasons seem very probable and it is possible that they have in a great measure contributed to the Ease of those Provinces yet I take the French King to be so great an Enemy to every thing that has but the Shadow of Liberty and so jealous of his Arbitrary Power that I do verily believe he would have crushed the pretended
are laid upon some certain Commodities Some Years ago there were 44 Jurez so they call them Created all at once to Sell or Appraise Fowls and each of them paid down above 3000 Pounds and to repay themselves they took 3 Half-pence per Livre A like number was Created for Fish with the same Salary Those for Hay are far more numerous but then they are not altogether so dear for they may be bought for 2307 l. 13 s. 6 d. Those upon Charcoal cost above 3000 l. but they are not many but those upon Wood are innumerable and I am very well informed that the French King has received out of those Offices for Wood near Two Millions Four Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling Now to re-pay themselves they are allowed as I have said some Duties but the King very often demands from them some ready Money and this encreaseth their Duties so much the more and is the Reason that all manner of things are grown gradatim in Paris to such an excessive Price for there is a General Excise upon all things in the World that come into that City even to the very Ashes and Old Lees of Wine and the Duty laid upon them was Let at 1223 l. 1 s. 6 d. And this Duty of Entry is not particular only to Paris for it is imposed upon most parts of France with this only Difference That the Duties are not exacted so high every-where One Example of this I hope will be sufficient At Caen in Normandy a Place well known to our English-men they pay for every Pound of Butter a Half-penny For a Load of Fire-wood 10 Pence For a Load of Timber 13 Shillings 4 Pence For a Load of Hay 1 Shilling 8 Pence For a Horse-Load of Wood as they use in that Country 2 Pence Half-penny For a Horse-Load of Fish 3 Shillings and 5 Pence For the Load of a Man or Woman of Fish 8 Pence And For a Horse-Load of Corn 1 Shilling ARTICLE V. Of the King 's DEMESNE and CUSTOMS I Have but very little to say upon these Heads for I don't look on them to be an Effect of Arbitrary Power All Crowns in the World must have a sufficient Revenue either in Lands or Customs to support them and so has the Crown of France But as the French Kings have within this last Century very much enlarged their Primitive Power 't is no wonder if they have encreased likewise their ancient Patrimony The Duty join'd to the Demesne which I take to be Tyrannical is that called Lods Ventes that is a certain Summ ef Money which People are forced to pay whenever they sell their Estates or any part of them Indeed this Duty is not in all Places alike in the Country where the Customary Law of Paris is received the Buyer is obliged to pay the King the Twelfth Penny that is to say Out of 12 Thousand Pound One Thousand But at Troyes in Champaigne they pay Three Shillings and four Pence out of every Pound and that Duty is paid the one half by the Buyer and the other half by the Seller This is very hard This Tax for truly it deserves no better a Name is not of the Creation of this French King but about Twelve Years ago he created another very like it For he ordered That all People should pay the same Duty whenever they Bartered their Lands as if they had sold them for ready Money This was harder yet than the other and never were the French King's Subjects so much harass'd and plagu'd upon account of any Tax as they have been of this For they have been forced to pay the Arrears thereof if I may so call it having been call'd to give an account for these Twenty Years last past The Traites Foraines or Customs are a Duty laid upon all Commodities that are exported from France or imported into it But this in it self is not very surprizing since some such Duty as this is generally over all the World and is no doubt the slightest of all Taxes yet the French King has raised it to such a vast degree that it is become absolutely Tyrannical and Slavish I 'll give you but one Instance viz. upon Sugar which pays Three Pence per Pound Another Observation I shall make upon these Customs is That the following Provinces to wit Brittany Poictou Xaintonge Guienne Languedock Provence Dauphine Lorrain and the New Conquests being look'd upon all of them as Foreign States there is another Custom upon all Commodities that are exported or imported into these Provinces which is so severe and rigorous as if they were exported into Holland Why these Provinces should be accounted Foreign States I could never hear any other Reason given but that formerly they were subjected to some particular Princes and not to the Crown of France but pray Was not Normandy Ruled by her own Dukes as well as Aquitaine ARTICLE VI. Of several TAXES and Creations of OFFICES THE Office of Councellor in Parliament in France are not Disposed of like those in England for The Paulette these are given Gratis but the others are Sold by the French King There is also another considerable Difference between them viz. That the Place of a Judge here is Quam diu bene se gesserit whereas the Imployments of Councellors in Parliament in France are Hereditary But this must be observed that to keep those Places to their Families they are obliged to pay every Year a Duty which is called Paulette from one Paulet who was the first that contrived this Tax This Duty amounts to Fifty Pounds per Ann. for each Councellor and besides all this they are forced likewise to make a Loan or rather a Gift to the King every Five Years which is Nine times as much as the Annual Duty and should they fail performing these Conditions they presently lose their Right of Inheritance When ever a Councellor dies or by any Resignation his Son comes into his Place he must pay another Duty which amounts to the Eighth Part of the Price of the Place whatever it be so that if the Place be valued at Fifty Thousand Crowns he must pay above Six Thousand There is an Office appointed for the receiving of this Money and for the Sale of vacant Places called Le Bureau des Parties casuelles The Decimes or Tenths of the Clergy is a Tax which The Decimes of the Clergy all the Clergy-Men of the Kingdom pay to the King out of their Livings This Tax at first was granted the Kings of France upon Pretence of a War against the Infidels and if I am not mistaken it began in 1189. It was very inconsiderable at first as appears by its very Name and granted only for a certain time but succeeding Kings have found out a way to raise it and not only so but to make it perpetual This present King especially the most ingenious and exquisite Prince in the World for increasing his Revenues has raised it as he hath done
this point would require a Volume and so I must content my self for brevity sake with one Example which shall be of the Weavers of Paris the most miserable Tradesmen in France who were Assessed at 7 Pounds 13 Shillings 6 Pence All Officers of Justice as Judges Attornies Registers Bailiffs Notaries c. have also been Taxed every one of them according to the Fees of their several respective Places The Packers have been also Erected En Titre d'Office but I cannot yet tell what they have paid Every Month produces some new found out Offices and about a Year ago the Porters were Erected En Titre d'Office under the Title of Bouteurs a Port that is with the Privileges of unloading the Boats laden with Wine and some other Commodities They paid each of them about 800 l. Sterling and they are allowed about Five pence per Tun. This will look somewhat Romantick at least very surprizing but it must be considered that these Places being Hereditary and of a great Revenue a Man can make no better use of his Money than in purchasing of them Since the beginning of this War the French King has Created some Officers for Funerals called Criers When any Persons die these Officers are appointed to take care of their Funerals which they make at what Expence they please for no Body can oppose them under a very great Penalty They are allowed for their Trouble a certain Summ of Money and besides they enjoy some Privileges and Immunities as from quartering of Soldiers and other Parish Charges There is a World of other Duties Taxes and Offices which it would be too tedious to relate and in a manner impossible But I hope what I have said is sufficient to convince any Man of Brains and Sense that is not of a Resolved and Obstinate Inflexibility that this French King hath carried his Tyranny as well as his Prerogative to a Degree unknown unto all former Ages I 'll therefore leave this Subject after this short Remark That in the New Conquests People are no better Treated than in France The Brewers in Mons have been lately Erected En Titre d'Office and have been forced to pay a Hundred Crowns a piece a Man cannot be admitted into Holy Orders without paying 4 Crowns nor Contract Matrimony without a License which costs Ten Shillings I had almost forgot mentioning one thing which is even more intolerable than the heaviest Tax I have yet spoke of I mean the Raising or Lessening the Current Coin And to explain my meaning I must observe to you That when the French King is at a pinch for Money then he raises his Coin as high as he pleaseth and afterwards he Lesseneth it when he hath not such need Thus Lewis's d'or are risen at this time from Eleven to Fourteen Livres and his Crowns in proportion so that when ever this War shall be at an end People will lose Four Shillings Six pence in every Lewis d'Or and sooner too if this War continues For the King by his Royal Edict will as he hath already done several times set a lower Value upon the same pieces and Command them all to be brought into the Mint by a certain stated Time under severe Penalties to be new Stamp'd and then afterwards he will raise the Price as high as he pleases by which means he will get a vast profit himself to the Depression and Ruine of his People One Instance will serve to clear up this the Lewis d'Or which are Current now at Fourteen Livres will be Valued but at Twelve and they must be carried to the Mint where the King will pay them in at that Price with his new Stamp'd Coin and some time after those very Lewis's d'Or with the new Royal Stamp shall be worth Fourteen and Fifteen Livres or what ever other higher Value the King is pleased to put them at I must not forget neither the Five Millions of Livres that the City of Paris is now at this Day obliged to pay to the King as we may see in our Gazette This forced Payment which amounts near to Four Hundered Thousand Pounds Sterling is a little hard considering the other Taxes which that City is Charged withal ARTICLE VII Of the French King 's yearly Revenues and how it is Collected NOtwithstanding all the Taxes I have already mentioned and the many others which I have here omitted yet the French King 's yearly Revenue amounts not to so great a Summ one would be easily tempted at first to imagine I have been often told that it came to above a Hundred and Fifty Millions of Livres but after a narrow Inquiry into it I found that at the death of Monsieur Colbert it came only to a Hundred Thirty Three Millions Two Hundred Thousand Livres or Ten Millions Two Hundred Forty Six Thousand One Hundred and Fifty Three Pounds Sixteen Shillings and Six Pence of our English Money Now when we consider that since this War the French King hath raised his Taxes higher than ever they were and Created many Offices and Employments we shall be apt to think that his Revenues must needs be so much the more increased but yet if at the same time we do but reflect upon the lamentable Decay of his Trade in that Kingdom we shall find upon a serious Examination that the increasing of his Taxes can hardly make amends for the loss of his Customs and consequently that his Revenue is much about what it was at the time I speak of But perhaps some Body will say How can the French King keep such great Armies in Pay if his yearly Revenue be no more The Answer to this Objection is very easie to any one who knows that 20000 Horse stands this Nation in more than a 100 Thousand costs the French King Our single Troopers have near 2 s. 6d a Day and the French have hardly 5 d. Our Foot Soldiers have 8 d. or at least 6 d. in the Field and the French have only Six Farthings and the Munition-bread Here I could very well put an end to this Discourse but that I think my self obliged to remove one Objection more which I know some People will be apt to make against me viz. That if the French pay yearly but Ten Millions and England Five we lie under harder Circumstances than they do since France is Twice as big as England at least This I confess seems at first to be a very specious and considerable Objection but in Answering of it I would desire my Reader to make with me these following Remarks First 'T is a Truth beyond Contradiction that the Taxes laid in England how heavy soever they may seem to be are but for one Year and these too Laid on as by our own Consent but those in France have been made perpetual by the Grand Imposer on his Subject's Estates and Liberties for above these Twenty Years This is a very notable Difference Secondly It must be observed that all Taxes in France except the Taille are let to Farm whereby it is manifest that they must produce more than what the King receives For as a Farm in any Country must not only produce enough to make the Farmer able to pay his Landlord his Rent but also to repay his Expences and to maintain himself and his Family And just so it is in relation to the Taxes that are laid on the French But with a far more comfortable Difference to the Farmers of the French King's Revenues I mean to those who have the least â—inger in them for they in a short time become so vastly rich that the greatest Lords in France as the Mareschal de Lorges and several others have thought themselves happy in Marryrying their Daughters These Farmers advance Money to the King and then they repay themselves our of the People's Pockets and God knoweth with what Verations and Tyrannical Oppressions for they are Impowered to do what ever they please Those who have computed as near as possibly they could how many Men are Employed in the Levying the King's Revenues do assure me that they are above 80 Thousand who are kept at the People's Charges the keeping of whom is dearer by far than the barely maintaining of a Hundred Thousand Soldiers But a Man must have seen this to believe it Now whosoever will seriously consider these things will no doubt agree with me that the French Nation Groans under a very Slavish and worse than Egyptian Bondage and that they pay a great deal more than what appears in the Books of the Royal Treasury I was one day discoursing in France upon this Point with a very learned Man and one that very well understood this Business and he told me That upon a very modest Computation he had found that the Kingdom of France paid Yearly above 200 Thousand Millions upon account of the King's 〈◊〉 that is above 15384615 l. 7 s. 6 d. Sterling tho' I will not absolutely relie on my Friend's Account yet this small Treatise I hope will be enough to convince any unprejudiced Person that it is not altogether improbable I will only now desire my Readers to peruse this little Book with care and then to consider how much they are obliged to those who are indefatigable in their Labour and Industry to bring this Nation under the dreadful Tyranny of France FINIS