confess there was a considerable time when the French Nation got very much by its Industry and by their Manfactures so much Desired of their Neighbours and for that reason very noxious to England in particular 't is true that time did not last above 40 or 50 years neither did the said Manufactures take always at the same rate during that time the French King did give Laws to his Neighbours and made all Christian Europe not the Mahometan to tremble under him till his Ambition has brought his Kingdom to that lamentable condition wherein it is at present and which grows every day worse and worse During those 40 or 50 years I do believe that the Revenue of the French Industry did go beyond the Revenue of the Real and Personal-Estates and that if the last did amount to 400 Millions the Profits of the Peoples Industry could be worth no less than 600 Millions of Livers So that 't is not so much to be wondred at if the French King and the rest of the Blood-suckers we spoke of before did raise the great Sums already mentioned in that Kingdom At present those Revenues and Profits of Industry are at least as much Decreased as those of their Real and Personal-Estates For there are but few Working-men left and no Work for them to do unless it be about the Manuring of a little Lands wherein there is not much to be got since the Arts Manufactures and Trade have Decreased so much So that there is reason to admire how that People can still subsist which I shall discover anon But I must first shew how we may come to the knowledge of the true Value of the Industry of a Nation To comprehend well the Effect and Profit of the Labour of a People the Number of Souls who compose a Nation the Revenue of all its Estates Real and Personal and the Yearly Expense of the whole People must be known For example we said that the Revenue of all the Estates Real and Personal in England were worth 16 Millions Sterling and 't is commonly supposed there are 6 Millions of Souls in it To make a due Computation of that People's Expense a Medium must be found of the Expense of each Soul one with another Then we must see to what the whole will amount and what goes beyond the 16 Millions Sterling will be the Revenue or Profit of the Industry and Labour of the Nation I think no better Rule can be found for it than that of the Expense of a Journey man in the Country Such a man's Salary is commonly 8 pence a day if he maintains himself or 4 pence if he be maintained and so his Food amounts to 2 shillings per week or 5 pound Sterling and 4 shill per annum For Cloaths Lodging and the rest no less can be reckoned than 36 shill seeing the Wages of the poorest Servant-Maid in the Country who gets no more than Food and Rayment is no less and She spends it for her Cloaths and Shoes in all 7 pound according to this all the Expense of the People of England will amount to 42 Millions Sterling So that the Profit of the Labour of the People at this rate will be 26 Millions Sterling which is almost the double of the Revenue of the Real and Personal-Estates which are valued only at 16 Millions Sterling Some perhaps will be astonished to see that we value at so small a rate the Yearly Expense of every Soul viz. 7 pound Sterling by reason that they see many who on their own Persons spend 15 nay 20 times more and that the People of England does in particular spend much more than any People whatsoever And I own that I have had some thoughts to put a higher Estimate upon the Expenses of each person one with another but after having well pondered and examined all things I found it best to adhere to the Opinion of a very understanding Man whom I follow upon that Subject and indeed whoever will consider how much the number of the Poor their Wives and Children does exceed that of the Rich and that often one of those poor Journey-men maintains a great Family by his sole Labour will judge that such a Journey-man's Expense may very well serve as a Rule and Standard for the Expense of a whole Nation taken in general Suppose then that the Proportion which we have laid down between the worth of the Real and Personal Estates of France and those in England be well grounded and that France may be still worth 10 Millions Sterling per annum as England is worth 16 without Men's Labour the same proportion may be also established between the Profits of the Labour of both Nations and as we reckoned the present Revenue of the Labour in England at 26 millions Sterling we may also reckon according to the same proportion the Profits of the Labour in France to 15 millions Sterling And in that manner all the Revenues of France at this day should amount still to 25 millions Sterling that is as well the Profit of their Labour as the Revenues of Real and Personal-Estates I profess I do not believe their Labour rises so high at this day and I dare venture to say 't is impossible they should because above two thirds of the Labouring Men are either Dead or in the Army and I am of Opinion that in strictness it cannot amount to 10 Millions Sterling but I am willing rather to allow them more than less According to these Positions the remaining People in France who are in number as we supposed about 9 Millions of Souls could not spend above 30 Livers per annum or there abouts one with another that is to say not so much as two pence every day If the Reader has been surprized that I did compute the English People's Expense to be only 4 pence every day one with another they will perhaps be much more surprized that I value that of the French People no more than 2 pence for every working day or 52 shill per annum upon which they must spare wherewithll to maintain themselves for more than a hundred days in the year viz. Sundays and all their Holy-days whereas the English-Man may work when he pleases except Sundays and a very few other Holy-days And yet I protest again in sincerity that I do not think the Profit of their Labour goes so far nor that it exceeds as I have said already 10 Millions Sterling at present but I was willing to indulge them rather than otherwise and so I leave them still at two pence a day 'T is the utmost we can put upon the value of the French People's Industry at this day for a great many Reasons which I shall reduce to some Heads 1. The Value of Lands and People's Work could never be so high in France as in England nor their Expenses by good consequence for the Reasons above-mentioned the Proximity of the Sea the Great Trade the Mildness of
was not able to furnish them with Victuals nor to improve their Money they betook themselves to the French Trade and by degrees became the general Carriers of France which obliged the French to Till their Ground better than they had done before and finding the sweetness of Foreign Money they were by degrees brought also to Cultivate all sorts of Manufactures which the Dutch did carry likewise over all the World till at last the French taking advantage of the Weakness of the Neighbouring Princes they imposed Laws upon their Subjects Before that great Revolution France and her Kings were very poor and the English much too strong for them and had for the most part the advantage of them in all the Wars so that it has been a great mistake in the Politicks of France to declare War against these two Nations who did enrich her so prodigiously and could easily ruine her being United together But the Court of Rome became in these last Times mightily afraid of the French King's Power therefore she thought necessary to give it a Diversion and as that Court does watch for opportunities to make advantage of all things and to bring down even the Popish Princes when they begin to be afraid of them and influencing them all by secret Ways Springs and Wheels especially by their Confessors they have made use of the Jesuits who pay a blindfold Obedience to their General as he does to the Pope to put the French King whom they knew ambitious upon the design of subverting the Protestant Religion in England Holland France c. as the most glorious thing he could ever undertake thinking that either he should succeed in it and bring all those People under the Pope's Yoke or else that he should break his Neck in that design and ruine his Kingdom whose Power was terrible to the Court of Rome because of the King 's prodigious Authority as also because he had threatned the Popes several times And the truth is that all the honest Men of the Roman Religion in France had for a long time great hopes that he should have shaken off that Yoke The Power and Riches of England do not depend upon such Casualties as those mentioned before I mean such a Revolution as fell out in Holland and the Weakness of Neighbouring Princes or the like for the Power of England is settled on a solid and constant Basis that is the advantages of her Soil Situation Religion and Government far above all the advantages of France Insomuch that as often as England had any good King or Queen it did always make France to tremble and England might be a great deal more powerful and rich if some impediments and clogs to its Power and Strength which are meerly contingent and easie to take away were removed but I dare not mention them as yet Those People whom I said did Treasure up Money in France did it for several reasons First To pay the great Publick and Private Taxes that they are liable to now and then which failing they are in danger to be ruined or to lose all their Credit Secondly To buy some Offices if they had none or more considerable ones if they had any Thirdly To be admitted Farmers of the Impositions where ready Money was absolutely necessary and the Profits unspeakable Fourthly To buy the Estates of Noblemen c. at an easie rate for the Nobility have ever been at a low Ebb under this Reign liable to a thousand Vexations and forced to sell their Estates cheap to pay their Debts and get Money to live Fifthly Because of the Ruine of the Nobility and Gentry saving Men did keep their Money up in their Coffers because they could find no good security to lend it upon for those reasons I say there was much Money hoarded up in France Sixthly A great many desired to purchase Nobility for Money Others to be rehabilitated in their Nobility which they had forfeited by Merchandizing or otherwise And others saved Money to buy some Governments or Offices in the Militia c. which Lewis the XIV has found means to bring out by his violent and extraordinary Impositions and Extortions since the beginning of this last War If the French King should conquer England as I said before which God forbid he would work Miracles here and cause Money to be found where there is none and all the whole form of the Nation would be suddenly and absolutely altered He would convert the Luxury Licentiousness and all the several sorts of Debauchery in the Nation into Money by Taxing the guilty Persons He would suffer little or no Importation of Goods from any other place but France And by that means the Nation would be able to pay him greater Impositions and Taxes All the fine Cattle with which England doth so much abound would be transported and sold for Money as also their Plate Jewels Houshold-goods Ships c. The Nation would not be suffered to spend so much in Cloathing in Silks fine Linnen Delicacies and Wines of all sorts All their fine Woollen-cloath Stuffs Leather c. would be applied to his own use and converted into Money And it may be he would appropriate to himself the Mineral Grounds as belonging to the Soveraign as the Gold and Silver Mines are commonly judged to be The Common-people should not be suffered to feed any more upon good Meat but upon Roots and Whey and the Blood and Livers of Oxen Brown-bread and Water instead of Beer and Ale Wooden-shoes instead of Leather course Canvas instead of fine Linnen The Money would be only imployed in maintaining great Armies and multitudes of Priests and Monks And in a word he would pursue the same methods of Government that he does in France But some may object again that since the beginning of this War we hear nothing but a parcel of idle Stories about the ill State of Affairs in France and we see notwithstanding the French King holds out still and is as powerful as ever This is just like the Opinion that People do commonly entertain of a Man that lives high and eats up his Stock That Man for example may have two thousand Pounds Sterling per Annum and spends five thousand every Year The understanding Men who know his Estate say that he ruines himself Other People who hear them say so and yet see him continuing to live at the same rate for ten or twelve Years together will say this Man holds out still and we see that he is a Man of good sense who manages his Expences well and therefore they conclude he is richer than he is commonly reported So that they cannot be undeceived in the matter till they see him in the Goal The Extravagant Notions which most People have of the French King's Power are such that if so be things did anser their fancy that Kingdom ought to be ten or twelve times bigger than England have ten or twelve times as much People be ten or twelve times
more fruitful better situated and fitted for Trade and richer also than England 'T is a hard matter to convince such People of their errour who have neither any true Idea of France nor of England but only some prejudicated Opinions which have no other ground but the good Esteem they have of their own sense without any solid or distinct principle and who do never reflect upon experience nor upon what hath happened before their own Eyes Have we not seen that since the War which the French King declared against the Dutch in 1672. the Land-Estates in France have been continually decaying more and more as I insinuated already because of the great Efforts the Kingdom did make at that time and of the interruption of Trade But what was that War compared to this which had been besides preceded by a general and cruel Persecution of the Protestants over all the Kingdom which had disturbed all the Trade of it Do not they remember what the Spaniards when alone in War with France did about fifty years ago when they laid under Contribution the very Suburbs of Paris and did often carry away the Citizens of that Place Prisoners Have they forgot that the Germans about 20 years ago did take several Towns from the French in Alsatia and that they Defeated part of the Arrier-Ban of France in Lorrain and that the Duke of Zell took the Town of Treves from the French after he had Routed the Mareschal de Crequy 'T is certain France did make very great Efforts then since which she never could recover her self and that she was much richer and more populous then than she is now How came it to pass that she could not then resist such small Armies Have they forgotten also how that the Dutch alone made several Provinces of France to tremble when they Invaded the Isse of Narmoutier whereby all their Coasts were kept in Alarm about 20 years ago Since that time have we not seen in this War the Germans to take Bonne and Mentz who can believe that that Kingdom is richer now and more populous than it was then And what if they should continue yet two years longer with greater forces than they have done hitherto must we believe therefore that they are in a better condition Have we not seen the French chased away from Ireland some years ago meerly because of their Weakness and want of Power we cannot say that they did not care to maintain themselves there how came it to pass then if France be really so powerful that it did not make greater Efforts to keep that Kingdom for it had been a fatal Blow to England and to all the Confederacy un coup de partie as the French call it But instead of shewing their great Power there their Forces were not paid and they were obliged to Coin Copper-Money instead of Silver and did plunder and ruine the Papists of Ireland their best Friends Any body conversant in History knows that the Spanish-Power was for a great time Superior to the French which obliged the Kings of France to desire the assistance of the English insomuch that in order to endear themselves to them they all required to be Knights of the Garter from Lewis the XII to Henry the IV. and no body is Ignorant that for many years they paid a kind of Tribute to the Kings of England and had it not been for the Dissentions of the English at home which brought their Forces away from France 't is probable they should have Lorded over France to this very day 'T is also well known that even long after the Discovery of America by the Spaniards and the opening of their Gold and Silver Mines H. the IV. did never get from his People above 20 Millions of Livers and Lewis the XIII about 70 tho' the oppression of the People was then very great and that Lewis the XI tho' a great Tyrant could not get above 4 Millions Yearly from his Subjects And if we may judge of the Revenues of France by that of Lewis the XIth's Expences they were small enough at that time for there was found a reckoning in the Chamber of Accounts at Paris of 2 s. for new Sleeves to his old Doublet and three half pence for Liquor to grease his Boots Unless People will fancy that France grows richer and gets strength by this War Horat. Duris ut ilex caesa bipennibus Per saxa per ignes ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro But if it be so how comes it to pass that she sets all her wits at work to procure a Peace She who did always boast that she gave it to all the World How is it that since some years we have seen many Conspiracies against King William's Life How is it that we hear from all parts that all her People is reduced to the last gasp Not to repeat what I have said already of their Plate converted into Coin many years ago by the King's Command and of the Coin raised twice since the War There are many severe and violent Impositions and Publick and Private Taxes which cross and destroy one another As for example they have sold some thousands of Offices to People who were unwilling to buy them and when the Court had received their Money they were abrogated under pretence that they were chargeable to the Kingdom as indeed they were and some Months after they forced others again to buy them They have done the same by several thousands who were forced to buy Letters of the Nobility and when the Money was delivered some time after there was a Declaration from the King That all those who had been made Nobles within this last hundred years should pay the same Sum for their Confirmation which they paid before They have done many such things these five or six years last which shews that they are put to the last shifts Such practices were never heard of in any other Nation under the Sun Here is another remarkable example There are several People who died since the Capitation was set up now all their Friends are forced to pay the said Poll-Tax for the dead whether they left any Estate or no. There are many French People here in England who confirm this In short I desire no more from those who will needs entertain such a great Opinion of the Riches and Power of France but that they would answer the reasons by which I shew evidently that England is and ought to be more populous and rich proportionably to it's Extent than France ever was and consequently much more than it is at present or that they should bring any solid reason to oblige me to call in question what I advanced upon that Subject They must not alledge against me what I acknowledged before viz that I think there was more Money in France than in England and that for a considerable time they had all the advantage of the Trade with us and Imposed Laws upon the rest
will Marry below their Degree nay even Servant-men rather than be Unmarried 49. The Gabelle or Excise upon Salt must needs fall such an Enormous Tax cannot subsist any longer in the most part of the Provinces and great Towns of the Kingdom or else the price of Salt must be reduced to a reasonable rate as a Penny a Pound and not to 10 or 12 or 15 pence per cent as the King sells it at present The Kingdom will never endure the Gabeleurs that is the Exactors of that Imposition any more when the K. is not able to keep great Forces on foot and that those he maintains must be kept on the Frontiers So that I am of opinion that the People will not any longer be so patient and besides they will not be in condition to pay so many Taxes for of a long time they have been compelled to pay those excessive Taxes by the terrour of the Forces who would not have failed in a little time to have overslowed the Cities and Provinces that should have refused to pay 'em for as I said elsewhere we may truly say that the French Government is altogether Military and that the Subjects are treated worse even in time of Peace than other Countrys use to be when invaded by Armies of Enemies even at the time when they are about subduing of them 50. Such as did earnestly covet a long time to joyn his Neighbours Land or Field to his own and could not attain it find now adays very often an occasion to do it and to purchase for a little Sum of Money that for which they would have formerly paid ten times more but they are in danger to repent after the Peace when they shall see too late that by the utter Desolation of the Kingdom the thing purchased is not worth the Money And they are even in danger before the Peace is made to pay to the King for that very purchase such Taxes as will amount to 3 or 4 times as much as they gave to the Seller 51. Such as have many Lands and see that they are not so much depopulated as others and who flatter ' emselves with hopes that their Farmers and Peasants will stay in their Farms because they are fixed there at present will be very much deceived when after the Peace they shall see that those Farmers and Clowns will leave him and remove it may be ten or twelve Leagues farther with their Families where they will find Lands for nothing or much cheaper than theirs was and every one will endeavour to draw in the Farmers and Servants one of another and rather than see their Land untilled and forsaken will give it out gratis for a certain number of years and supply the Peasants with all necessaries to Manure it and I am confident that even at this present the prudentest sort who have Lands of their own do practise it in several places Some Provinces and Countries are less depopulated than others through Mortality and Famine have been but I am sure that those who have great Estates in Land in the Countries most depopulated as in the adjacent parts to Paris will use their utmost Endeavours to draw in the Peasants of other places and this will do more mischief to the Kingdom than if every one did stay in the most depopulated Country as I have demonstrated it elsewhere 'T is true that as for the adjacent parts of Paris there is it seems an indispensible Necessity to Repeople them again because of the City but unless there be a great Moderation of the Taxes on those parts 't is impossible that Country should be ever Re-peopled again for it must be known that there is hardly any part of the Kingdom so oppressed with Impositions as that is Formerly one could see nothing about Paris but Towns large and rich Boroughs well-built and peopled but even before the beginning of this War they were much ruined and 't is certain that all is desart there at present 52. I do not think that Paris in a hundred years hence can be so well peopled as it was thirty years ago The Revenues of the King and of the great Persons at Paris and even in all the Kingdom in general being sunk as they are not half the Commodities will be consumed there as was formerly 53. If the Ancient Government of France viz. by the general Estates of the Kingdom were re-established again as Passion Ambition vain Glory and Superstition would domineer less and Reason and the true Interest of the Nation would be more hearkned to in that case the Reformed Religion would be restored But Rome will oppose it with all her Power and Interest and 't is like the Inquisition will be set up in France as 't is in Spain Portugual and Italy against the Protestant Religion 54. The number of Usurers will be much greater in France after the Peace than ever this will be the most ordinary way to improve Money to the best advantage the Manufactures and Trade being ruined and the Real Estates being brought to nothing as well as the Offices 55. As soon as the Peace is made the King will squeeze all the Farmers general and particular of Impositions which he is obliged to indulge now because they advance him Money and by that means he shall get yet vast Sums 56. Those who have yet some remainder of their former Estates I mean those who having paid their Debts shall have yet some Lands Manur'd in the Country or some Houses inhabited in the Citys may live as easily I think after Lewis the XIV Death with their small Estates as they did 20 years ago by reason that tho' they shall not injoy perhaps the 4th part of the Revenue they had before Taxes will be diminished 3 parts at least and the King or his Successor will not 't is probable form any Projects of Conquests so soon But I confess a Civil War as I said already is mightily to be feared because there will not be found one Man amongst twenty but what will be utterly ruined I grant that those Persons who have some remainder of their former Estates will not be able to take a Journey now and then to Paris to divert themselves as was usual because Provisions will still continue to be dear there nor will they be capable to send their Children a-far off in ortler to Study or Travel because Money will continue long to be scarce and their Revenues too small to be spent abroad Their case will be much like that of those Irish who possess some Estates at a great distance from Dublin 56. The number of the King's Officers and of the Princes and Princesses Houshold must needs decrease very much as also their Sallaries The number of Governments and Governours of Cities Towns Castles Forts c. will decrease also as well as their Sallaries The number of the Forces and of their Officers by Land and Sea and of the Gallies will decrease as also their Wages
And the like will happen to all Civil Officers as I have said already and all things will be in an incredible confusion in that Kingdom The most clear-sighted Men in France do not conceive the Degree of the Kingdoms Ruine All those who have yet some Estate left fancy themselves to be richer than really they are tho' they acknowledge and say they are ruined This mistake has been mighty favourable to the Kings Affairs a long time by reason that many Mony'd Men judging of the Affairs of the King and Kingdom to be in a better condition than they are did scruple less to lend him Money or to buy some of the new Offices and even Lands or Houses and so did lay out their Money which came at last into the Kings Hands The best remedy that I know to repair the prodigious Losses of the People of France and to restore the Kingdom to its former Populousness which I confess cannot be done perfectly in 2 hundred years time would be to make Peace as soon as possible whatever it may cost and then to change the Form of the present Government and to re-establish the Ancient Government of a King with the Counsel of the general Estates of the Kingdom such as is now in England and moreover to renounce all Conquests to allow all Liberty and Security to French and Foreign Protestants to abolish the Buying and Selling all sorts of Offices not to let out the Impositions of the Kingdom to Farmers and to put out of their Places all those who are dipt in such Tyrannical Methods and to set all Monks and Nuns at liberty to give leave to Subjects to buy Slaves and to Marry them together in order to get Children by them and that they should continue to be Slaves both they and their Children unless their Masters consent to their being made free considering that their condition would still be a great deal better than would have been in their Native Country and that 't is much less against Reason and Religion to use them so than 't is to Tyrannize as is done amongst most of the Christian Nations in Europe over Christians that are born such and free-born also and to keep them in bondage as is done particularly in France where their condition is worse for the most part than that of the Galley-slaves nay even of Beasts as I have said already It would also be convenient to buy a certain number of Men yearly from the Switzers and German Princes since they make a Trade of them not to make Slaves of 'em but in order to distribute Lands to them which they should Cultivate and to treat them as the rest of Subjects with moderation equity and kindness CHAP VII A List of the principal Impositions and Taxes in the Kingdom of FRANCE I Do not believe that there is any Man in the Kingdom of France that can give an account of all the Impositions and Taxes under which that People groans so numerous are they But I have here thought fit to present you with a Catalogue of all that I can recollect Every Province has some special Tax which is unknown to any other and sometimes they have strange Denominations as from those that first invented them or were the Farmers of them or from the place where they began to be established or from the odd Language of some Provinces which is not understood by the People of any other or from some other reason if any Man would or rather could tell the manner in which every one of them is raised and what Revenue it brings in to the King and the first Origin of them it would require a very large Book There is a great many of 'em always standing as well in Peace as in War upon all Real Estates Houses and Lands and very severe too as also upon Personal Estates and upon Money lent or hoarded up upon the Industry of Men and Women Upon all Offices either of Judicature Finances or Civil Government and other Offices which are innumerable upon every thing that is eat or drunk or serves for cloathing upon all sorts and conditions of Men and Women generally and even upon Publick Beggars upon every thing imported or exported either in or out of the Kingdom or from one Province or City in the Kingdom to another and there are several new ones invented every day which cross and destroy one another for what is got by the one is lost by the other the Kingdom being so horridly exhausted I don't undertake to ennumerate them all as I said above but only those which are come to my knowledge with some of their Names in English and some in French because they cannot well be translated L'Ayde the Aid L'Octroy Le Preciput L'Equivalent the Equivalent Taxe 't is a special Tax so called Taille a very hard Tax Taillon Subvention Etape Staple for the Soldiers For the Utensil of Soldiers For the Subsistence For the Garrisons For the Morte-pays For the Wages of Governours For the Kings Debts and Affairs For Extraordinary Gratifications For the Free-gift Expences of Recovery and Accomptability The Taxes upon Land-Estates and Houses do oftentimes exceed what the Proprietor gets from them at least one half and many are willing to yield them up for the Tax who are not admitted to do it There are Taxes upon Drink as follows Aids or Subsidies upon Wines Upon Cyder Brandy Beer Vinegar Verjuice Chocolate Tea Sorbek Coffee and generally upon all other Liquid Things or that wherewith any Drink can be made It is also to be noted that the Excise upon Winâ— goes so metimes in Cities far above the price of the Commodity and seeing that since the War the poor Working-people in Cities who were used formerly to drink some Wine could not buy it for want of Money but drank a little Brandy instead of it they have doubled the Excise upon Brandy And then there 's another upon Liquors Le Jaujage the Duty for gaging Le Courtage Le Souquect Le Patac Imposts and Billots Observe there is such a horrid Severity and Tyranny used in the Cities and all other Towns Borroughs and Villages as to the Wine that if so be a Friend did send any Bottles of his Wine to another Friend who has none so good or to any Sick Person he is presently accused of defrauding the Kings Excise and is in danger to be Imprisoned and lose all his Estate or a great part of it for it must be understood that besides what all the Wine pays generally at the Gates of every considerable Town for the Duty which is very high the Vintners in all Towns Borroughs and Villages pay besides other great Duties upon every Vessel of Wine they sell and that their Cellars are every day visited searched and gaged by many hundreds of Rascals appointed for that purpose who have great Wages allowed them and because many Gentlemen and Burghers have some Wine from their own Vineyards for which they pay at
desire that the Things and Reasons may be pondered rather than the VVords There have been diverse things writ both in French and English for several years past upon the Affairs of France but leaving those Papers to their own Merit I can say that I have borrowed nothing from them that my Method is new and I lay down several Principles which they did not and make a deeper search into things As for the Stile I know several Gallicisins will be found in it and other Faults because I was obliged to Compose it my self being not in a Condition to pay a Translator But yet understanding Men will find it plain and intelligible The simplicity of it I shall not accuse because it agrees with the simplicity of the Matter as also with the Method which is a kind of Political Arethmetick And I hope the importance of the Subject the strength of the Reasons and the multitude of Thoughts will make amends for the Imperfection of the Stile Some may be apt to ask How I can pretend to be so well informed of the present condition of France since I have been so long absent from it because of the Persecution I answer That I had a competent knowledge of the Affairs of that Kingdom of its Government and of the State of the People before I left it and that since that time I have taken special care to observe all the alterations that have happened But further any sensible Man who reads my Book may easily perceive that I build all my Positions upon Universal Plain and certain Principles fitted to the meanest Capacity from which I draw my Consequences which I submit to any Man's Judgment I am confident that several of my Country men will think it strange that being of a noted Family in France having some Interest to manage in that Kingdom and being uneasie in England that I should expose my self thus seeing the Peace seems to be in a great forwardness by Publishing such a Book which cannot but highly provoke the Rulers in France who are informed of all things and soon or late will revenge it one way or other I foresee all this as well as they but I think my self obliged to do it in Conscience and Honour I do not see any Reason why it should not be as lawful to me as for several French Generals and other Officers among the Refugees who are in the Service of this Nation and other Confederates to do what I can for the Service of those Nations who have generously sheltered us against those who instead of being our Fathers and Protectors have behaved themselves towards us in the most barbarous manner against all Laws both Divine and Humane The same Motives which influence those good Refugees of whom I spoke just now induce me to this If so be they deserve to be commended for what they do I hope I am not to be blamed for this It would be a gross mistake to think that one may not as usefully and lawfully serve a Nation with his Pen as with his Sword since we deal with Men who may be persuaded by Reason and that we can thereby give advise at once to Millions of People of what they are to do expect or fear A poor Man has sometimes saved a whole Nation by his good Counsel If there be any Man so unreasonable as to fancy that because I am a French man Born I ought out of Conscience to abstain from the displaying the weakness of France as I do he would be guilty of a gross errour to believe that a Prince or a Nation may trample under foot all the Duties of humane Society and Religion in Relation to their Subjects and that the Subjects notwithstanding should not be allowed to make complaints and publish the Folly and Excesses of their quondam Rulers even when they are delivered from under their Bondage and that the same Subjects should not be permitted to serve according to their Ability their Benefactors under whose Protection they live quietly and worship God according to his Word and the light of their Conscience to whom moreover they have sworn Allegiance and Fidelity to serve 'em I say against those who have behav'd themselves towards 'em like so many Cruel and Ravenous Wolves both as to the Affairs of Body and Soul and behave themselves still in the same manner towards their Brethren in France and seem besides to be the Universal Enemies to Mankind Some may be apt to think that I writ this Book out of Passion and Revenge I confess that never any Resentment was so well grounded as this might be But yet I profess that tho' I abhor their conduct and wickedness 't is not from a Spirit of Revenge that I writ this and I have already given an Account of the true Motives which induced me to it Any Body may observe there is no Nation to which my Book might be so useful as to France if she would be pleased to follow my Advice I represent only the Mischiefs which her People groans under but I do her none but on the contrary all that I say tends naturally to the healing of her diseases if so be she thinks fit to make use of the Remedies which I propose If any Man say that I take a delight in her Calamities and that I aggravate them I declare here in all sincerity That I think they are greater than what I say and that I wish earnestly and with all my Soul that they would repent And if France ever comes to her self there is no reward so great but I may deserve it at her hands for the good Advices I give her I am sure that all the honest People of that Kingdom will thank me for it and 't is better to please one honest Man in doing my Duty than a Million of ill Men by neglecting it 'T is true I reprehend the Excesses of the French Government as I think my self obliged to do in Conscience and from the principle of Love which I bear to Mankind and I am of Opinion that if it is commendable to give good Advice to a private Person by discovering his Faults to others and himself it is a thousand times more commendable to give Advice to a great State which may be serviceable to millions of Souls and sometimes to all the World By this Treatise the Court of France will be better informed than hitherto of the Affairs of England for it would seem that they flattered ' emselves as if the strength of this Kingdom had been exhausted which is far from the truth seeing the Nation if it will may be in a better condition than ever It may also be observed that I speak good of France without partiality as well as evil and that I take the Liberty to reprehend the Faults and Defects of our best Friends for in general I hate disorder and would have all things go on in their proper course It will be also found that I have wholly
two Women to one Man Now if we value them according to their Work and to the Profit which they may bring thereby to the Common-wealth as must be done and as always is done by those who buy Slaves a Man is commonly estimated as much or more than two Women caeteris paribus But some may imagine that I aggravate the matter when I say there is not in value the half of the People which was in France 30 years ago and that half of the Men is perished But I would beseech those who make that objection to inform themselves from such sensible persons as have come from France within this 12 Months and they will tell them that there are no Men almost to be seen in little Towns and Boroughs but only Women that most of the Houses are uninhabited and the greatest part of the Lands and Vines uncultivated for want of Men and 't is known that for the same reason the ordinary Taxes yield less by half to the King than they did formerly tho' Taxes be much greater in proportion to the Extream Misery of the People than they were 30 years ago when every body was richer For that very Reason 't is that the Poll-Tax has fallen so much below the King's expectation And in truth when we revolve in our thoughts the French King's conduct for these 30 years last past we cannot call in Question his Kingdom 's being depopulated one half at least when we consider that of a long time it has been engaged in War which hath destroyed a great multitude of the Subjects No body is ignorant how that in time of Peace he kept 200 Thousand Men in Arms without including the Servants of Officers and they were all unmarried Men for the most part who consequently could not People the Land but were rather very troublesome to the industrious part of the People and by that means obstructed propagation 't is known that when he did not think it time to declare War against any of his Neighbours he did lend his Forces to other Princes and Nations that were in War as he did to the Emperor and to the Venetians against the Turks in Hungary and Candia to the Dutch against the Bishop of Munster to the Portuguese against the Spaniards c. Every body knows that there went out of the Kingdom from time to time or rather continually for 30 years past an incredible number of Subjects into the Conquered Provinces and Towns to seek for a Refuge there against the Vexations they suffered in their Native Country in hopes to be less tormented with Impositions and to live more at quiet There they got their livelyhood more easily and took Wives The Governours of Provinces and Towns did encourage them in their new Settlements and imployed them preferably to the Natives of these places about all forts of Work both for the King and themselves as thinking they would be useful to keep the conquered People in subjection What prodigious multitudes besides was there in the Kingdom of those called Gabeleurs that is Tax-men Collectors the Instruments and Tools of the insatiable avarice of the general particular Farmers of the Imposts who were Unmarried for the most part and did besides devour the poor people all which are things very hurtful to Propagation without mentioning the multitudes of Officers of all kinds as well of Judicature as others whose numbers are so much increased these 30 years last and who did all swallow up the Substance of the People and consequently were fit for nothing else but to depopulate the Country-Moreover what prodigious quantity of Soldiers hath not the King maintained in the Armies these 8 years last I believe every Body will agree that reckoning Infantry Cavalry Dragoons Artillery and what belongs to it Ammunition Provisions Militia Fleets and Gallies which he kept at Sea ever since the War except the last year there could not be less than 400 thousand Men in his Service without including Officers Servants It has been observed by the Lists of Recruits that every year one with another a third part of those Men was missing especially of the regular Land Forces and if we count only the fourth part it will come to 100 thousand Men every year and during the 8 years of War to 800 thousand without mentioning those that remain and compose the Armies which instead of being useful to the Kingdom as to what concerns Husbandry Manufactures Trade and Arts are very troublesome to the other Subjects imployed in those things and make them to lose a great part of their Time by their Marches Counter-marches Lodgings and Sojournings Not to mention their Robberies and Thefts I grant that many of them are not Natives of France but Switzers Germans Irish and others besides those compelled by force out of the new Conquests and I suppose that those Forreigners may make up the 8th part of the whole But I have not counted amongst the said 400 thousand the Servant-men in his Garrisons and Armies at Land and Sea which amount no doubt to 100 thousand Men at least of which a great many die every year tho' in lesser numbers than the Soldiers because they are better maintained and less exposed to danger and for the same reason fewer of 'em desert But however great numbers of them perish every year 'T is also observable that very few of them Marry So that the like number of Women is thereby rendred useless for Propagation for experience teaches us and we may be convinced of it by the Bills of Nativity and Mortality in any City that near upon as many Men as Women are born which shews they are made one for the other As for the Bastards which Church-men and others beget on those poor Women experience shews us also that such Children do commonly come to nothing In the mean time the Men who stay at home die as fast as usually and faster too by reason of the extream poverty under which they groan so that they are not able to procure themselves means of recovery when they fall sick and their place is not filled up as it used to be by Young Men because most of them perish in the War and so the course of ordinary Propagation is interrupted To which must be added that as to the small number of Batchelors or Widowers remaining who might Marry there is perhaps not one among twenty who does it since this War by reason of the intolerable Taxes from which no condition of Men is free but fall much heavier upon the Married People who are settled than upon the Unmarried And even amongst those that have some Estate very few marry because during the War all things are uncertain and in confusion Every one is ignorant of the state of other Mens Affairs nor know they what will become of them at last and because such who seem to have something of their own at present has perhaps in reality nothing or will be reduced to that condition in
a little time because VVar and Taxes devour and consume all without distinction These 10 or 12 years last very few Marriages have been made in France but especially since the War So that the Kingdom must needs in a little time suffer extremely by that Interruption of Propagation for so many years for it fares with a Nation in this respect as with an Orchard of Trees where unless you take care to plant and graft every year new Trees in the Room of those which Age or blasting Winds snatch away after a certain time there will be none remaining But this is not all for besides the want of Marriage the accidents of War and other disorders which I have spoken of there is an incredible number of Men Women and Children who for a long time have perisht thro' extream poverty and misery tho' fewer Men than Women because their number is less and fewer Children do also perish for that same Reason Whereupon it is proper to take notice of Sir William Petty's Observation confirmed by Mr. Azout a famous Mathematitian belonging to the French King which is this viz. That in the Hospitals of Paris alone there dyed yearly only for want of good treatment above 3500 Souls more than did proportionably in the London Hospitals and that the worst Hospital of this City was better than the best of Paris I shall add to what this ingenious Man said that notwithstanding the inhumanity of those Hospitals in France the Poverty of the Common-people in Paris is so great that those poor People find themselves obliged upon the least indisposition to go into the Grand Hospital of that City which they call Hotel-dieu that is to say God's House but deserves better to be called The Devils House than that murdering Hold in the Castle of Namur which did bear that Name there they lye four and four in every Bed two at the Head and two at the Feet and most times a poor sick person whose poverty is his greatest Disease and who would presently recover if he could have good Food is laid in the same bed with another who is at the point of Death or has an infectious Distemper and sometimes with a dead Carcass that is carried away two hours after to the Grave So that 't is no wonder if they soon perish when treated in that barbarous manner That kind of death was formerly invented and practised by certain Ancient Tyrants as a cruel punishment to Criminals causing them to be tyed to a dead and stinking Carcass that they might feel themselves rot by degrees together with the Carrion 'T is a piece of cruelty that deserves the curse both of God and Man and 't is surprizing that no body that I know of hath hitherto had so much charity and generosity as to make complaint to the World of that horrid abuse but on the contrary they are so far from complaining against it that there is hardly one year but many Estates and Sums are bequeathed by dying persons to that Hospital and they use also in the Courts of Judicature to adjudge part of the Fines to which people are condemned for the maintenance thereof The Directors of that Hospital enjoy vast Revenues belonging to that House which are more than sufficient to maintain all the sick who are brought into it very well nay a much greater number and likewise to furnish a Bed for every one of them If it be said that the place is too narrow I answer it were easie to build a larger they have Stock enough for that or at least they had formerly for I must confess that I am of opinion that their Revenues are very much sunk since the VVar as well as the Revenues of others and even of the Clergy themselves yet it had been easie for them to hire as many Houses in the Neighbourhood as they should have needed The observation of that ingenuous English Knight and likewise what I have made bold to add to it being true as indeed it cannot be doubted if the proofs that he hath brought for it be considered we may reasonably conclude that there must die in the rest of Paris at that time a far greater number than in the Hotel-dieu for it is known that no sick body can come into that abominable place without great recommendations such is the multitude of those who are brought thither so that there is reason enough to believe that there died for want of necessaries thro' meer poverty at least as many in the rest of the City as there did in that Hospital This cannot be questioned if we consider the misery of the other poor people at Paris which are numerous there as well as in the other places of the Kingdom 'T is 13 or 14 years ago since a Church-man of Quality and one of the honestest Men of that kind in France who had some share in the Direction of the Alms bestowed upon the poor of that City did assure a Person of honour that an incrediblenumber of the Inhabitants of Paris did receive Alms and that in one Parish only which he named to him there were more thousands of Alms People than I am willing to name This is known also that the poor at Paris are very much straitned in their Lodgings most of them live in the tops of Houses in the fifth or sixth Story which kills multitudes of them by climbing so high And when they are kept a Bed by sickness they must needs perish for want of help so that it was no wonder at all if the Bills of Mortality at Paris when published which they are not at present did approach so near those of London as to the number of Dead tho' there was much less people at Paris than at London And altho' the number of the pcople of Paris must needs be diminished a third part at least since Sir William Petty's Observation yet I will make bold to affirm that there dies more people there at present than formerly because of their want of help their Poverty being increased very much since that time But suppose there should not have died at that time and since for want of necessaries above 7 thousand at Paris yearly comprehending therein the 3500 who died in the Hospitals by their barbarous treatment aforesaid what ought we to judge of the rest of the Kingdom when considering that Paris is the Center of its riches and consequently a place where the poor ought to be best helped The Inhabitants of Paris at that time that is 15 or 16 years ago did not make above the 27th or 28th part of the People of the Kingdom So that if as many proportionably had dyed for want of help in the Country as at Paris which I do not think there did to what a prodigious number would that have amounted besides those who use to dye by Age and Diseases Then if things were so at that time the Reader may easily guess how it may be at this day And
moreover 't is known that the 5th or 6th part of the Nation was snatcht away by Famine and Mortality two years ago I do not mention the Persecution which destroyed abundance of people by Hunger Cold and Nakedness besides what fell by the hand of the Hangman or the Sword Those that were banished out of the Kingdom were indeed a great number of Subjects Yet I confess they are more considerable by the Wealth they carried out of the Nation than by their numbers tho' not inconsiderable neither in that respect since they amounted as I judge to about 150 thousand Souls So that above one half of the Men have perished within these 30 years and at least one third part of the whole people So that it is much if of the 13 Millions and a half which were supposed to have been in France about thirty years ago there be 9 Millions remaining amongst which we can scarcely suppose there are two Millions of Men. If we come next to consider the great number of Men unsit for work among those 2 Millions which is almost as great now as when the Men were twice as many viz Those who either by their Estates Dignity or Profession or by bodily Infirmity are dispensed from working we may easily be convinced that those who are in the Armies at Land and Sea and in Garrisons being most in the prime of their Age and able to work should do more work if employed about Husbandry Arts and Trade than all the rest of the Men in the Kingdom So that we see only by this Article of the People which includes all the Riches and Strength of a Nation how impossible 't is for that Kingdom which is half depopulated to recover it self in a long time according to the Observation of Naturalists and of those who have studied the Progress of Nativity and Mortality in Nations for they have observed that no less than 200 years is requisite for doubling the number of Inhabitants in them allowing what is to be allowed for Epidemical Diseases Famines and War which used to snatch away now and then great multitudes So that these things being considered the Kingdom of France should require 200 years to recover it self to what it was thirty years ago We flatter our selves for want of pondering things that a Peace for 10 or 12 years would restore all things to their former state But how can a Nation destroyed to that degree as France is by Absolute Power retrieve it self under the same Absolute Power in so little a time I dare be bold to say That not only 200 years but even 2000 could not do it The fire may as soon restore things consumed by fire as Despotical Government restore France to its former State So that the Government of France must needs be changed or else it is impossible that France should ever be able to rise again and it seems every whit as impossible that the Monarchy should subsist without such a change I remember that in the first year of the great War betwixt France and Holland under the general pretence of the Ill Satisfaction the French King received from the Dutch the Lands and Houses which were already very much fallen of the former value did decrease yet more all of a sudden which continued decreasing to the end of the War It was expected that after the Peace they should rise again to the former value But on the contrary tho' the Nation was very much exhausted yet the Taxes grew more and more with the Princes Vanity one Oppression did follow upon the back of another so that we saw nothing but opposition the value of all Estates did decrease more and more But what was that War in comparison of this Trade Husbandry Manufactures and Arts which are now ruin'd did flourish then We had plenty of Money Men and Horses at that time and our Taxes and Impositions tho' excessive had not such a Disproportion to the Ability of the People as those exacted at this day But let us suppose gratis that the King should repent of all the Evil he has done and his Government should become Milder or that the Dolphin were to Succeed him in a little time will this bring to life again so many Millions of People destroyed Will it repair the dreadful Effects of the want of Propagation during such a long time of which want Posterity will be more sensible than those who live at present because all those Children which have failed as to the present Generation would be but young and as yet unfit for work whereas 20 years hence they would be Adult Men and Women Where shall we have all the People that are necessary to inhabit such a great number of Towns Borroughs Villages and Houses Dispeopled Abandoned and falling to Decay Who shall Cultivate so many Vineyards and forsaken Lands overgrown with Shrubs and Weeds Moreover the three parts of the Coin of the Nation hath been dissipated Wind and Water-mills Causeys and Banks of Rivers are for the most part overthrown or demolisht the High-ways and even Streets in Cities and Towns are unpassable in most Places the Bridges fallen down and publick Buildings and Hospitals desolate and the King having possessed himself of the Revenues of those Hospitals that are in the Provinces what will become of the Sale of Offices and Places or rather of what use will they be and if that custom be laid aside as it seems but reasonable it should The Officers part of whose Estates consist in that Merchandize ought at least to be reimbursed in part of the Sum which they laid out to buy them and so the People must be vexed by the raising of those Sums for a great many years It was judged before the War that the Stock of all the Offices of the Kingdom did amount to above 1200 millions of Livers and it has increased since at least 200 Millions I mean the Offices of Judicature Finances and Civil Government and all others whether they depend upon any of those three Orders or otherwise I believe indeed that most of those who bought them would willingly sell them again if they could for the 4th or 5th part of what they gave for them because the said Offices bring them very little prosit and that they judge they will bring them less hereafter besides that they serve for a pretence to the King to demand ever and anon considerable Sums of Money from the Possessors under the different names of Taxes Loans Increase of Wages or Additions of new Rights and Prerogatives to the Offices that they are in possession of and such like But if so be the King had a mind to reimburse them the 4th or 5th part of what they laid out in the purchase of them where should those 3 or 400 Millions be found especially if we consider that the King Owes vast Sums to his Subjects that have been borrowed upon his own account which 't is like will never be paid them again On
Corn and Fruits turn Bankrupt every day I reckon that for lost And tho' there were a sufficient number of People fit to be Farmers yet as they see no prospect of an end to this War and that the Kings Emissaries are always upon the catch to take hold of all Money where-ever they can discover it they dare not take any thing in hand at this hard time but chuse rather to be looked upon as worth nothing at all And further tho' the Estates had not been realy Decayed so much as to the Revenue yet they must have Diminished as much in the real value and that so much the more that the great number of Women who Cultivate at present much Land and the small number of Men remaining Decreases every day by death without any hopes that their numbers should be filled up again by Generation for want of Marriages So that there will be a great want of People in that respect some years hence And altho' the Peace were made to day France must continually Decrease in its numbers of People till there be an equality between the number of Men and Women and that by an Universal Change of the severity of the Government they may be induced to marry as formerly they did and so Re-people the Kingdom by degrees So that I must be of Opinion oppose it who will that all the Lands and Personal-Estates in the Kingdom of France do not at this day yield in Revenues or Annual Profit above the third part of what they did formerly which amounts it may be to 130 Millions of Livers or there abouts whereas they might bring in 30 years ago about 400 Millions of Livers I am confirmed in this opinion by the Estimation made of the Revenue of the Real and Personal-Estates in England which I find to be 16 Millions Sterling per annum or 200 and eight Millions of Livers to which Estimation I adhere tho' I am of opinion that at present the Revenue of the said Estates may amount to above 18 Millions Sterling because the product is worth more now than 't was before the War that diverse improvements have been made for these several years past and that the Prosit of Personal Estates increase likewise daily Let us come now to the particulars of this Comparison There be as I said in the Kingdom of France 82 Millions of Acres and in England about 30 at the same measure that is to say there is almost 3 times as much Ground in France as in England since England is in respect to France but as 4 to 11. Of those 82 Millions of Acres which are in France about 16 Millions must be deducted as also about 6 Millions of the 30 in England which in both Kingdoms consist in Lands that may be called unprofitable because they produce little or nothing as Rivers Heaths High-Ways Rocks Sands Downs Banks of the Sea Rivers Morasses and other such Barren Grounds Those 24 Millions of Acres are valued in England at 8 Millions Sterling of yearly Revenue that is to say at 6 s. and 8 d. per Acre one with another by adding thereto the Lands called Unprofitable tho' they are not absolutely so I say that 't is not likely the Lands in France should have ever been worth so much even when they were most valuable as in England from the time that both Kingdoms were Peopled and have driven any Sea-Trade in Europe because Lands in France are generally more remote from the Sea than they are in England and consequently their Foreign-Trade and the exportation of their product is less because the English Government is also Milder than that of France and that the Popish Religion is extreamly contrary to the improvement of Lands and the welfare of a Nation as I shall demonstrate in its proper place Besides the Soil in France is generally less fruitful than in England nor is it so plentiful in Pastures which are the best of all Land-Estates There be in France few Coal-Pits no Tin Copper or Lead-Mines whereas there are many in England without mentioning that England has been always more populous than France as I shall justifie it and as follows naturally from the Reasons which I have produced already besides a great many others which shall find room in a more convenient place For those Reasons the Land-Estates must needs have always been more valuable generally in England than in France and I verily believe they never exceeded in France even in the time of their greatest Prosperity the value of 16 Millions Sterling of yearly Revenue Had they been worth as much proportionably as those in England where 30 Millions of Acres are valued as I have said at 8 Millions Sterling of yearly Revenue then the 82 Millions of Acres in France should have been worth 22 Millions Sterling of yearly Revenue According to that Estimation the Revenues of all the Lands in France can never have exceeded even in the best times 16 Millions Sterling or 208 Millions of Livers and I am willing to suppose they might amount to that Sum 30 years ago tho' I can hardly believe it But because for many years the Revenue of Lands hath been Decreasing and especially since this War I suppose it is not worth now above the third part of what it was worth 30 years ago and dare say that the said 82 Millions of Acres are not worth at present above 5 Millions and a half Sterling or 72 Millions of Livers yearly that is to say about 1 s. 8 d. per Acre one with another No body ought to be surprized at this Estimation seeing in Ireland where Land is generally better than in France and nearer the Sea where there is a free Trade and which is almost as populous proportionably as France is at this day since 't is probable there is not above the third part more People in France proportionably to its bigness than there are in Ireland as I shall shew in its proper place in Ireland I say the Acre of Land is not valued one with another a Shilling per Annum although it abounds with Pasture Grounds which are the most profitable of any and the most easie to be managed We ought to make the same Judgment of the Revenue of Houses in France proportionably viz. That it is also fallen two thirds and that so much the more because tho they be Uninhabited or fallen in their Rent the repairs are the same or greater than formerly but let us grant that their value holds the same proportion with the Houses in England as do the Lands of both Kingdoms respectively I shall not value them in particular here but shall joyn them to the Personal-Estates in conjunction with which they are Judged to be worth 8 Millions Sterling of Revenue or Annual Profit in England that is to say as much as the Lands They do not think for all they value them so that the Personal-Estates with the Houses are equal in worth to the value of
consist also in Customs or Taxes upon all things Imported or Exported out of the Kingdom Provinces Cities and Towns c. As for the Subjects of the Kingdom the Profit of the People's industry diffused it self likewise amongst all People by the same Method of Circulation It must be known also that the Profits of industry in a diligent Nation and indifferently populous does amount almost to twice as much as all the Revenues of Real and Personal Estates I will make this Intelligible by a Familiar Example We have often seen in France and the same may be observed every where else by considering Men we have seen I say Lands Farmed at 3 or 400 Livers per Annum pay as much to the King for the Taille and Imposition on Salt and yet maintain both the Farmer 's Family and Servants It was not the Money which the Proprietor received of his Farm and which is properly the Revenue of the Land that payed the said Taxes maintained all those Persons and furnished them with all sorts of Necessaries but their Labour Here follows another Example They commonly value all the Corn spent in England at 10 Millions Sterling one year with another reckoning Wheat at 5 s. the Bushel and Barly at 2 s. and other Grains proportionably and yet the Revenue of all the Lands is valued only at 8 Millions Sterling and the Cattle and all other things consumed out of the Native Product are worth the double Now if the Labour of them who employ themselves only about Husbandry makes such a product how much more will the Labour of Mechanicks and Artists do it and yet the product of Manufactures and Mines is still greater but the profits of those who are Employed by Sea either in Fishing Coasting or a Forreign Trade is the greatest of all In a Populous and Trading Country the Revenue of Lands Industry and Profit ought to be greater than in other Places for these things hold a sympathy together the one helps the other for when Arts Manufactures and Trade thrive the Revenue of Real and Personal-Estates increases because Money becomes more Common and Currant the Countrey grows more and more Populous and more Provisions and other things necessary to Mankind are spent And likewise when Estates augment in Revenue the Manufacturers Artists Labourers c. are more Employed and every one has more whereupon to Live and the Country grows Richer and Richer To make Application of this to my Subject and to continue in the Comparison I made of the Real and Personal-Estates and of the Revenue of both the Kingdoms of France and England I will adventure to say That the Profits of Industry ever ought to have been greater in England than in France by Reason of the Protestant Religion which encourages Industry and Trade more than Popery which is destructive to them as I shall shew as also by Reason of the multitude of Mines which we have mentioned already the proximity of the Sea the Forreign Trade Fishery of which the Profits are very great and the Salary and Wages of those imployed therein being more considerable and their number much greater in England than in France For in Countries more remote from the Sea as France is generally compar'd with England there are not so many Men of this sort whose Labour and Time are so well rewarded for generally speaking those who work about building of Ships and all other things belonging to Shipping either for Men of War or Trading-Ships earn three or four times as much as Common-Labourers do It must be considered that there are above a hundred different Trades that relate to Sea whose Workmen get proportionably to the Profits made by Navigation Sea-Trade or Fishing There are in England four Men of that kind to one in France tho' France is as I have said often almost 3 times as big as England This Article alone makes a great difference between the Profits of Industry in the two Kingdoms For one cannot imagine the advantages which a Country near the Sea has over another that is far from it if it were but for the Trade and carriage of heavy Materials which are a notable part of the Trade and without which none can be managed at all as are Timber and Wood for Work or for Fire and Minerals Stones Chalk Sand Glass Bricks Earthen Pots wrought or unwrought Iron Coals Turfs Butter Cheese Hemp Flax Wool Salt Wine Beer Syder Corn Tallow c. For the Profit and Time of those who are imployed about carrying such things in a Country remote from Sea comes almost to nothing and yet the number of those who either transport and carry them or Trade with 'em is prodigious in such a large Country as France whereas in England the Proximity of the Sea makes the Trade of all those things to be very Profitable and Easie and the consumption of the same to be much greater because they are cheaper which is an encouragement to Propagation and then there are not so many imployed about carrying them proportionably as in France because of the facility of the carriage by Water which causes those imployed in them to get the more for their Labour and Time As to Manufactures tho' France had the advantage of England in regard of several Manufactures yet I dare say that that of Wool alone in England did imploy more People proportionably than did all those in France except that of Linnen-Weavers which is a work very unprofitable and besides that there are several other Manfactures also practised in England There 's another thing that may also convince us that the English People did in general get more Profit by their Industry than the French proportionably which is this that in London which is almost twice as Big and Populous as Paris the Capital City of a Kingdom 3 times as big as I have said often than England is in London I say Trades-men and almost all sorts of Workmen get in general twice as much Wages as they do at Paris The same will be evident also if we consider that in this Country which ought to have been at all times richer than France proportionably to their respective bigness the people pays ordinarily no Taxes or very small ones and consequently the Sums which are unprofitably imployed in France about maintaining great Armies of Soldiers and Exactors and many other such Caterpillers as before mentioned which are all idle and troublesom to the Working sort of People those sums I say are spent in England upon things which proceed from Man's Industry whether they be necessary or only for Ornament or Delight which causes the English Nation to spend more than any other Nation does therein and consequently Industry must needs be more profitable there than any where else Not to mention here the greater number of Holy-days which they have in France as also a great number of People useless for work of which I have spoke already c. But notwithstanding all this we must
I could justifie from reason and matter of fact that there never was 14 Souls in every House of Paris one with another nay perhaps not 12. For I believe I have studied Paris in relation to this Point as long and as exactly as any person whatever I will make bold to say here notwithstanding the respect due to so great and ingenious a Man as Sir William Petty that he did mistake in that Point making London less populous and Paris more populous than they really were tho' I must confess that I believe he did it out of modesty Then if London did contain no more People proportionably than Paris the Head-City of a Kingdom near 3 times as big there ought not to be above 180 thousand Souls in it so that the Overplus viz. 660 thousand Souls should remain to be divided among the three other Provinces of the 4 supposed to be in England Let us divide those 660 thousand Souls in three parts and make three other Cities for the three other Provinces to be the Head-Cities there as London is in the fourth they will be such Cities for multitude of people as the like will hardly be found in Germany Italy Spain and the Low-Countries Or if that be not so well let us divide them in 13 Cities of above 50 thousand Souls apiece it will make four great Cities for every one of the three Provinces and one besides for the fourth Province of which we suppose London to be the Head-City All those Cities added to those that are already in the Kingdom would make it appear extraordinarily populous So that by this any one may easily judge that England is more populous than France was thirty years ago or rather than it ever was For to conclude those 13 Cities of 50 thousand Souls apiece should contain perhaps as much people if you consult judicious Men about it and not the Rabble who are impertinent Judges in those Matters than did ever the 13 largest Cities in France Paris excepted It must be considered further as I intimated before that there must needs be added near as many Souls in Farmers and other Country-people to supply those new Cities with all sorts of Victuals and Provisions beyond the number of people in the said 13 Cities besides that which is already in the 3 supposed Provinces distinguished from the 4th in which London stands Since it is certain there needs almost as much people in the Country to provide and carry all Necessaries to a great City as there is of People in the said City So that I leave it to any Man to judge how populous those Provinces would be I confess that the adjacent parts to London would become so much the less populous but however they would be still as populous as are commonly the adjacent parts of the Head-Cities in other Countries whose bigness populousness holds more proportion to the other parts of the Nation than London doth for it must be granted that London is a Monster amongst Cities and that it holds no proportion to the rest of England the Head being three times too big for the Body The thing may perhaps be more easily comprehended another way which may possibly be more intelligible to many I affirm there are as many People in London according to the former Computation as there were thirty years ago in all the Cities and Towns of the four biggest Provinces of France which are Languedock with the Cevennes Vivarez and Velay which do belong to that Province Brittain Normandy and Champagne which may all together with the addition of two or three Millions of Acres contain near as much ground as England reckoning 160 Towns great and small in the said four Provinces 40 for every one of them one with another I allow 60 thousand Souls to every one of their Chief Cities one with another which is 240000. I know there might be more in Thoulouze and Roüen two of the said four Cities but it may be on the other hand there was not half of that number in the two other Capital Cities But if any man notwithstanding this should fancy that I allow to those Cities too few People he may be pleased to consider that in Dublin which is bigger than Roüen there is but 7 thousand Houses and not above 5 thousand at Bristol which is a Town considerable for its bigness I allow to 4 other Cities 30 thousand Souls apiece Which is 120000 To 8 others 14 thousand 116000 To 12 others 8 thousand 96000 To 16 others 6 thousand 96000 To 20 others 3 thousand 60000 To 30 others 2 thousand 60000 As for the rest who bear the name of Towns tho' they deserve hardly that of Boroughs to the number of above 60 I allow a thousand Souls apiece 60000. In all 8-40000 The City of London alone consumeth more Provisions and Commodities of all sorts than do all the said 160 Towns even tho' we â—dd Paris to them I grant indeed if there were no other Cities and Towns in England the Reasons proposed might be confuted by saying that 't is no wonder London should be so populous there being no other Towns in England but I make bold to say it were not hard to find in England 160 other Towns as good one with another as the 160 supposed to be in the aforesaid 4 Provinces of France And it were an easie matter to find 30 among the rest who would be better perhaps one with another than 30 of the best in the said Provinces of France As for example Bristol Newcastle York Norwich Plymouth Exeter Chester Colchesler Hull Scarborough Halifax Taunton Yarmouth Portsmouth Dorchester Winchester Worcester Leicester Gloucester Shrewsbury Hereford Salisbury Coventry Birmigham Oxford Cambridge Peterborough Lincoln Canterbury Nottingham Litchfield Rochester Reding Ypswitch Durham Derby Carlisle Northampton Dartmouth Lyn Leeds Liverpoole Barnstaple White-Haven Bediford and several others which are bigger than some of them have I named perhaps above 200 of which the lest contains above a thousand Souls apiece It is to be considered that there are in England 641 Market-Towns which are commonly good Towns I question very much whether there be so many in the two Third-parts of the Kingdom of France and 't is certain the English Market-Towns are commonly better than those of France The reason why Foreigners travelling in England and even English-men themselves do judge England not to be so populous nor so Rich as France is first that they think a comparison may be reasonably made betwixt Paris and London and that there is an equality between them and then after that they observe there are several other great Towns in France and do not think that there are any in England which seem to deserve that name They do not take notice as they should of the prodigious Bigness of London which they don't think so big as it really is because they don't know the half of it even not after several months residence in it because it is not so
excellent Cooks or Ordinaries at reasonable rates delicate Wines Fruits Comedies and Plays of all sorts fine Walks and Courts of Governours Intendants c. a multitude of Noted Men in the Offices of Judicature Finances and Civil-Government who make a great show in their Towns with a small Revenue well managed curious and well-bred People learned Men others curious in their pleasures and fit for any Society There they have also Civil and Ingenious Gentlewomen free in their Conversation yet honest for the most part they also see several fair Buildings as well Private as Publick such as Gentlemens Houses Churches and Convents and at some distance from the Towns there are frequently several stately Houses with handsom Gardens belonging to the chief Families of the Towns All those things charm Foreigners and did mightily conduce to the drawing in of Strangers to that Country and to inrich it by that means It had also this effect that Strangers took it to be more populous and rich than really it was and I confess that it was indeed full of People but not so populous as it ought to have been nor yet so populous as England proportionably to their respective Extents As for Politeness and Refinedness in many things I confess France did go beyond England but that is not the thing in Question We may indeed say in that respect that there were many Courts and Capital Cities in France and but one in England It seems likewise that there are not so many Houses in the Country in England out of the Towns and Borroughs as are in France First Because of the Reasons above-mentioned viz. That good Towns are in general towards the Sea-Coasts and that People chuse rather to live thereabouts than in the midst of the Land And Secondly Because the adjacent Parts of London as well as the City it self contributes very much towards the depopulating of the Country Thirdly It must be considered that People apply themselves commonly more in England to the breeding of Cattle than they do in France and that a Farm in England takes up a greater extent of Land by reason of their Cattle which are very numerous and go of ' emselves a great way to the appointed Pasture without a Herd because they are free from Wolves and in such a Farm there is commonly a greater number of People proportionably than in the Farms in France where they are lesser for the most part and more frequent The French Plow more and have Vineyeards which require a greater number of small Houses dispersed to and fro But the Boroughs and Villages are commonly larger more lively and populous in England than in France not only because of the greater fruitfulness of the Soil and the lenity of the Government but also because the Cattle maintaineth a great number of Manufactures by their Wooll Hides Horns Tallow Butter Cheese c. and that abundance of Farmers live in them We must consider also that there is in England an incredible number of People imployed in the Mines either of Tin Copper Lead Coals or Iron who are almost all upon the Coasts which Travellers cannot see because they do not go that way Another thing to be taken notice of is that there are in England above 70 Sea-ports where three Mast-Ships may Ride safely at Anchor besides a great many less considerable Ports whereas in France tho' a much larger Country there is hardly the fourth part of that number They reckon indeed but ten thousand Parishes in England which is not much more than the third part of the 27 thousand Parishes in France but the English Parishes are commonly more populous We have another Proof both of the multitude of People in England and of the gentleness of the Government and if it may be spoken without offence of the bad Discipline kept in the Kingdom at the same time viz. the prodigious multitude of Shop-Keepers in London which is 6 times the number of those in Paris and 12 times the number of those in Amsterdam and many of them are idle persons who betake themselves to such imployments meerly to avoid working turn Bankrupt every day and ruine others What an incredible number of Victualling-Houses Taverns Ale-Houses Coffee-Houses and what a vast quantity of Houses where they sell Brandy and Tobacco and of others who let out Rooms furnished and unfurnished We know there is need of such sort of people but they are three times more numerous than they ought to be What an innumerable multitude of Young Women is there who have neither Estate nor Trade and yet are very sumptuously Cloathed and live High All those things argue a great multitude of People in a Country which notwithstanding such Disorders is indifferently well peopled and would be a great deal more populous if good Rule and Discipline were observed in it We find also that the Wages of Servants both Men and Women are cheaper at London than they were at Paris 30 years ago where an ordinary Servant Maid had 50 or 60 Livers per Annum and a Cook-Maid above 100 Livers besides the Wine allowed her or Money in the room of it whereas they are a great deal cheaper in London and we know that for 25 or 30 Leagues round Paris a Plowman or a Shepherd had 40 and 45 Crowns of Wages Yearly whereas such Men in England are to be had for less than the half of that Money But notwithstanding all these Reasons Gentlemen who travel in England where they see but few great Towns will always be apt to think that we are mistaken and retain their own Opinion viz. that there was more People in France 30 years ago than is in England at present Let us then make another supposition to convince them once for all We have already demonstrated that supposing London to be no more populous in proportion to the bigness of England than Paris is in proportion to the bigness of France 650 thousand Souls might be drawn out of London to form 13 other Cities of 50 thousand Souls apiece and as many people proportionably out of the adjacent parts of London because they are more populous than the rest of the Kingdom by reason of the Neighbourhood of that great City Then let any Man distribute as he shall think fit those 13 Cities of 50 thousand Souls a-piece or if he Judges more convenient 26 Cities of 25 thousand Souls each I say let him distribute them with all the Country-people necessary for supplying them with Provisions amongst the Shires of England who want most People and then let him freely give his Judgment whether he does not believe that England should have a greater number of larger Cities and more People proportionably than France For my part since I don't know how to do better I shall divide em ' mongst the chiefest roads in England and such parts of the Kingdom which I am informed are in most want of People I place first of all two of those Cities of 50
Fish but at a very dear rate This horrid abuse occasioned formerly the Expense of a great many Millions Yearly to France for Foreign Fish and causes a vast expense even at present but does 6 times more prejudice otherwise besides the Diseases and Death of abundance of weakly or old People with whose constitution Fish does not agree as I said already and are therefore forced to eat many unwholesom things unfit for them by reason of their scruples of Conscience Things stand in their natural Order in England as to this whereas in France all is turn'd upside down For why humanly and christianly speaking shall it be lawful to eat Meat at such times rather than at others Or why must the Country-people be obliged to throw to the Dogs their Calves and Kids that are brought forth about Lent when they want the Milk of the Dam Because no body is free to buy and eat Flesh at that time Observe by the way that France has lost also considerably in that respect by the expulsion of Protestants because they did buy at that time such Young Beasts and several others in the Countries where they did live which otherwise had been lost to the Owners or else very chargeable to them This may seem to be an inconsiderable thing but yet 't is not so inconsiderable in such a great Kingdom as France is where it occasions the loss of great Sums Yearly But here are yet two other inconveniences of great moment which happen by keeping of Lent The first is That the People are obliged very often to keep abundance of Cattle almost two Months longer than they would or can conveniently do for want of Forage or other Food which occasions oftentimes the loss of a great many Cattle and Beasts It is known that the Country-people use to keep every Year a certain fixt number of Beasts of all kinds Now it comes very often to pass that some years Forage and Food is scarcer than others that the Winter is sharper and longer so that the Farmers and Peasants being ill-provided with Forage in those years and there being little Grass yet growing in the Fields because of the backwardness of the Season their Cattle must needs suffer much if not perish quite which would not happen if there was no such thing as Lent for in that case they would sell part of their Cattle to Butchers or eat it themselves The second inconvenience which I observed is this that in Lent and other Fast-days the richest Peasants who dare not eat Meat then who have no Fish do eat the most part of the Milk of their Cows which disables them to suckle their Calves well which is partly the cause why the French Cattle are commonly so poor and small So that by this means the Boors by not eating Flesh in Lent destroy four times more Flesh than they would do if they were allowed to eat it which is also a vast prejudice to Agriculture the Revenue of a State and to the Propagation of Mankind If any bold pretenders to wit contemn those Observations as if they were more proper for Boors than for intelligent and refined Men I cannot help it but I believe all Men will not be of their Opinion 13. That Spirit of Unjustice and Violence which at all times possesseth the Romish Clergy and sets them when ever they meet with Princes of their own humour to persecute those with the utmost fury who will not submit to their Opinions which have no other foundation but their own Ambition Pride and Covetousness that Spirit I say of Unjustice has been one of the great causes of the Ruine of France I leave it to the World to judge whether they have not taken advantage in these last times of the weakness of that Ambitious Prince who was possessed with the Chimerical Design of an Universal Monarchy to make him believe that it was convenient for him in order to attain his End to destroy the reformed Religion in England Holland France and in all other parts and under that pretence to bring King James who was known to be a bigotted Prince into the same design and oblige him to do all what we know he did and to dispossess him at last and keep Great Brittain for himself I appeal I say to the Judicious whether we may not say with reason that in this respect the Romish Clergy and Jesuits have been the Incendiaries of this War which is like to ruine the Kingdom of France for ever or if that be not granted yet they must of necessity own that their persecuting Spirit has done incredible mischiefs to that Nation 14. There is yet another thing very contrary to the welfare of the Nation and to the Propagation of the People viz that the French Clergy who enjoy the half of all the Estates Real and Personal of the Kingdom as I have already said and ought consequently to pay at least as much to the King proportionably as the other Subjects who possess the other half of the Kingdom The Clergy I say pay even at present scarce ten Millions of Livers since the War to wards the 200 Millions which the King exacts every year one way or other from the Nation that is to say that the Clergy and Religious Orders both Male and Female who make up perhaps 300 thousand Souls enjoy as much Revenue as 8 or 9 Millions of other People that are yet in the Kingdom of France at this day or as much as was enjoyed by 13 or 14 Millions that might have been in it 30 years ago and that altho' every one of the Clergy and Religious Orders one with another hath as much to spend now in relation to the Revenue of the Real and Personal-Estates as 40 or 50 other Persons of the promiscuous multitude taken one with another that yet for all that the Clergy and Religious Orders taken in bulk do not bear above the 20th part of the charges of the Government And this must be yet added that before this War when the King did raise by the ordinary Impositions 132 Millions Yearly without the Casualties as they call it that did amount some Years to 50 60 and 70 Millions the Clergy did not pay above 5 or 6 Millions Yearly For the Poll-Tax by which they are obliged to pay 4 Millions Yearly during 5 Years was established since But further that we may better comprehend how much the Clergy is eased above all other Subjects in the Kingdom it must be known that the Officers of Judicature and other Civil Officers in the Nation as those of the Finances Civil-Government and others who did all of them buy their Offices very dear the Farmers of the Imposts great and small with all their Crew and the Clergy themselves did cost the People altogether above 200 Millions of Livers Yearly when the Kingdom was in a better condition than now that is about 20 or 30 years ago without mentioning other Vexations and the loss of their time
have but very little reason to admire the great Wisdom or superfine Politicks of those great Men the Cardinals de Richelien and Mazarin Louvois Colbert and others who did not perceive those palpable and gross abuses or which is worse had no inclination to Reform them If any Man say that the respect they had for Religion did hinder them that 's a mighty reflection upon their understanding for how could they ascribe to the Christian Religion and its great Author such follies and extravagancies which are not attended with the least Profit and are so much against common sense so scandalous and contrary to equity and charity and tending visibly to the ruine of States and Nations Besides 't is well known that those Persons cared but little for Religion and that they did not regulate themselves by a superstitious Bigottery nor was it the difficulty of Reforming such extraordinary abuses that did deterr them from it for the thing was easie to be done especially under a Prince of so much Authority as Lewis the XIV and all the Nation would have been glad of it because it would have eased them considerably therefore it 's plain it was for no other reason but that they wanted a due elevation of mind and zeal for the Publick good Nothing was dear to them but their own Interest and how they might satisfie their Ambition and Covetousness and attain their desire to enrich and raise their Families This is some part of the Political Mischiefs that the Romish Religion is the cause of and every Body may learn from hence that all the Popish States who are not inclined to shake off the Pope's Yoke think it their Interest to endea your to reduce those who shook it off under the same again to deprive them of those great advantages they enjoy above themselves and therefore Protestant States ought to be at all times upon their Guard as well to preserve their Religion as their Civil Government I make bold to say that I could demonstrate here if it were convenient that the pretended Religion of the Church of Rome hath caused a prejudice to the Kingdom of France of above 200 Millions of Livers one year with another for a long time Certainly any man will be convinced that the Doctrines of the Pope's Supremacy and Transubstantiation and some other of the same sort make but a small compensation to France for the great Losses she endures by them and that if so be there had been any true solidity of Judgment or any spark of Generosity in those great Politicians before named they would have avoided such a ruine by contenting themselves to acknowledge the Authority of Christ and his Word without charging themselves with such ruinous and monstrous Opinions One would think that Men who have so little regard to reasons drawn from the Holy Scriptures against Popery ought to be so much the more affected with those which Temporal Interest affords So that for the Reasons above mentioned and others that might be named I think the abolishing of Popery in England is worth to this Kingdom at least 8 Millions Sterling Yearly which it spares by it one way or other and proportionably to Scotland but much less to Ireland because Popery Reigns still there too much with most of the disorders which I noted before Here it is fit to observe that I do not reckon amongst the 200 Millions of Livers which France loses every Year one with another by Popery the ordinary Annual Revenues which the Clergy get either from the Real and Personal-Estates or by their Cheats and Tricks for all that they get by those things is not lost to the Kingdom seeing they must live I understand only the damages that are caused by the Principles of Popery and their necessary consequences Nor do I mean that France loses at present so much Yearly as 200 Millions per Annum by Popery at present because of the Kingdoms decay in its Revenues But it may be affirmed with reason that for a very long time till the days wherein we live it lost above 200 Millions or the equivalent every year one with another This must be understood since Silver and Gold became more common in France for 200 hundred years ago all the Revenues of France were not worth 100 Millions It is easie to demonstrate that if Popery were abolished in France which is not to be expected in this Reign and tho' the Government were as at present in respect of Taxes yet the King of France might easily get an hundred Millions of Livers more from the Kingdom than Lewis the XIV does without the Peoples being Taxed any more than at present 19. France is not so conveniently situated for Trade as England which is incompassed almost round by the Sea and has four times as many good Ports as France and no body can deny that this is a great advantage for to make a Nation both populous and rich 20. France has no such Mines as England has of Tin Copper and Lead which do inrich the Land and furnish Subsistence to an incredible number of People as well as the Coal-pits we have of which none almost in France 21. The Copse-Woods do take up great part of the ground in France whereas the English Coal-pits take up very little ground whence there is so much the more Ground for Tillage and Husbandry which serves to maintain a greater quantity of People 22. The Vines of which the Expences are so great and their Revenue so uncertain since they fail commonly more than once in three Years take up also a great deal of Ground in the Kingdom of France whereas the Corn or ordinary Mault wherewith we make our Drink in England fails more seldom and costs much less either for cultivating of it or getting it from other places So that 't is rare that the price of Beer increases 23. 'T is observed also that Corn Lands in France fail oftner than in England which Observation if it be true as I believe it is must proceed either from a greater fruitfulness of the Soil in England or from a more equal temperature of the Air or from this Reason that the English are better provided with good Cattle and Men and all other necessaries for Husbandry or from all those Reasons together Which I think to be very true and is most certain We have shewn already that the Land is more populous and the Cattle is more numerous also and better fed than in France because there is generally more Hay and better pastures in England and by consequence their Cattle as well as Men who are better fed can work better Besides their Cattle make more Dung and better than that of France for the Dung of good and lusty Cattle is better than that of weakly and lean Cattle and Hay-dung is better than Straw-dung 'T is known there is almost no Hay in several Provinces of France So that the Horses wherewith they Plow and Till the Ground
feed only upon Straw with some Oats and for that reason they cannot keep Cows nor Oxen. In other Provinces where they keep such Cattle they mix Straw with Hay for their food and as I said before the Young Calves being deprived in Lent and other Fast-days of the Milk of the Cows because the Boors live upon Milk at those times this hinders the Cattle from growing lusty and strong But further the extream poverty of Farmers and other Country-people does not permit them to do their Work so well as it ought to be done nor to be supplied with such good Cattle and other necessaries However 't is certain that tho' England is not so well peopled nor the ground so well managed as it should be 't is certain I say it sends abundance of Corn to Foreign Nations Holland Flanders Spain Portugal have vast quantities from hence which confirms it further that England is more populous than most People think especially when we consider that London consumeth such a prodigious quantity of Corn and that commonly at a good rate if compared with the ordinary price of it at Paris tho' not much above half so big as London and which is situated in the midst of several Provinces abounding with Corn and enjoys several Rivers fit for carriage which do all fall into the River Seine at Paris 24. A Country fit for Pasture and Breeding of Cattle can maintain a greater number of People than one which is destitute of that advantage because the Cattle feeding in the Fields work for Men in their absence and they can in the mean time go about their business Besides Cattle supplies many Manufactures as I said before as are those of Wooll Leather Horns Butter Cheese Tallow c. Moreover a little Meat with Bread nourishes better than 3 times as much Bread without Meat That 's the Reason why the English People eat generally less Bread than those of France and withal are stronger and fatter 25. Victuals are commonly cheaper in England than in France which wonderfully helps to the encrease of People when not occasioned by scarcity of Money as 't is now in France 't is mightily advantagious to Tradesmen Manufacturers Merchants who can Victual their Ships at a better rate than others can do and they may by that means as well as Tradesmen and Manufacturers afford their Commodities cheaper to Foreigners and Natives and so undersell all others 26. Woollen-cloath which is the ordinary Cloathing of Mankind Coal-fowel Salt Candle Common-Sope Shoes are cheaper in England than in France which is a great help to Propagation for the less it costs people to maintain themselves and their Family the more are they inclined to marriage 27. The Fishing also in the English Seas and the great plenty of Oysters Crabs Muscles Langosts Cockles and other such things do maintain and nourish many more People both Fishermen and others in England than in France and consequently make it a great deal more populous 28. England has also several great Rivers naturally better furnished with Fresh-water Fish than those of France Besides Lent and other Fish-days as well as great numbers of Monks who are forbidden to eat Meat at any time have exhausted all the Rivers of France of Fish to that degree that very few is to be found in them as I insinuated before and the Rivers of England have moreover a long Tide and Ebb so that the Sea-Fish is always at a good rate because it can be carried by that means very easily and cheap and conveyed to all parts of England which is generally nearer the Sea than France is 29. The stupendious multitude of Soldiers in the French Service which the King keeps even in times of Peace who are for the most part Unmarried as I already said and what 's worse do mightily vex and disturb the other Subjects are a great impediment to France's being so populous as England 30. They do not take so great care of relieving poor Families in France as they do in England 31. There dyes without necessity that is to say for meer want much more People in Hospitals and poor Families in France than in England as I have demonstrated 32. The method of raising Taxes and Impositions in Lewis the XIV Reign has also contributed much towards depopulating the Kingdom As for example the Taille the Gabelle or Excise upon Salt the Utensile and some other Impositions are raised by Collectors who are obliged in Solidum to pay one for another and for all the Parish where they are established Collectors to pay I say and answer for all insolvent persons Such Collectors have commonly no Wages nor Sallary for their pains as they have in England so that they are obliged to spend all their time therein without any indemnity and as the People is ruined if the Collectors have any thing to lose they lose it also infallibly I have known several Peasants who had 30 years ago a Stock of five or six or ten thousand Livers who in two or three years time have been totally ruined by being made Collectors There is none of 'em at present in the Country that are worth any thing so that they cannot lose it but they are continually busie running from place to place in the Parish to get Payment and lose absolutely all their time in that unlucky Office There are at least four of them for the Taille in every Parish and four for the Gabelle or Imposition upon Salt every year in some Parishes there are more Moreover the Collectors of the former years to whom something is owing of the old Taxes which they paid for other lose also their time about recovering their due running from House to House and for all this because 't is often impossible to them to pay the Receivers being not paid themselves they are frequently Imprisoned and must perish in the Goal it intangles them besides in many Suits at Law wherein they and their Adversaries lose Money and Time And so in all other Impositions and Taxes besides what the King has for his share which is always very excessive and what the Farmers general and particular and their wretched Tools get or extort for themselves upon the Nation they put the poor People to vast Charges by the Suits at Law unjust Confiscations Imprisonments losses of Time and many other oppressive Ways So that the Vexations of the People of France are inexpressible Any body may judge what damage and prejudice it causes to a Kingdom if it were nothing else but the loss of Time The thing is not only so in relation to the Excise upon Salt and that called the Taille and some others raised by Collectors but also in relation to several hundreds of other Taxes which are not gathered by Collectors but by other Men Commissioned and Imployed therein by the general and particular Farmers of the Imposts One cannot imagine the Vexations and Robberies they commit upon the People nor the incredible multitude of unjust Suits
where they were less oppressed with Taxes and it was supposed 15 years ago that above 200 thousand Souls had left France to transplant themselves into the said Conquests I could proffer several other reasons but these are enough I desire it may be observed that in all this I do not mention any thing that hath happened since this War nor even the last horrid Persecution of the Protestants the loss of so many People of the Manufactures of Trade and of so much Money they carried along with them nor do I say any thing of the last Mortality nor of the French King 's keeping 4 or 500 thousand Men in Arms c. So that 't is easie to perceive from all those reasons and others that may be adduced that England ought not only to be more populous which is the thing I did more particularly undertake to prove but by necessary consequence richer also and more potent than France ever was proportionably to the respective bignesses of both Kingdoms Some may perhaps object against all my Reasons and say if so be the Nation is so populous how does it come to pass that it is not richer and more potent for an Island such as England is of that extent and so well situated with all the other advantages above mentioned if populous must needs be also extreamly rich and powerful and if it be rich and powerful whence does it come that the King's Revenues in time of Peace are so small and nothing near so considerable as those of the French King and his Court so much inferiour to that of France in splendor magnificence and number of Courtiers and that his Palace in the Head-City viz. Whitehall is so little comparable in sumptuousness to the Louvre I answer first That England had neither so much People nor so much Revenue as it might and ought to have had considering all the advantages it possesses either from the bounty of Nature or the form of its Government compared to that of France I know very well the reasons of it which 't is not sit to mention here I say secondly That tho' England is more populous and rich than France ever was proportionably to its Extent that yet the number of all the People of France and the Revenues of that Kingdom I do not say only of the King 's but the whole Kingdoms taken in general did always exceed those of England by reason of the greater extent of the Territory as I have often said tho' I believe England at present out-does France very much as well in the Revenue of Real and Personal Estates and in the Profits of the Industry of the People as also in Number of Men fit for Work Manufactures Arts and Trade England I say out does France now in all those things I do not mean comparatively with reference to their respective Bigness or Extent but absolutely yet there may be more People in France reckoning the Women and Children and so by this reason though the French King should not have over charged his Subjects so horribly as he hath done he ought always to have had formerly more Revenue than the King of England As for the other Points it was never a sign or an effect of Poverty in the Nation that the Revenues of the Kings of England their Court and their Palace were comparatively so small for if the Kings and Parliaments had judged it fit they might easily have altered things and put them upon another foot the Nation being Wealthy and abounding much more in rich Nobility and Gentry than France who can plentifully subsist of themselves without the Places and Benefits of the Court whereas the Nobility of France is generally so poor that it cannot subsist otherwise and it is this that makes the French Court so much frequented by the Nobility as well as by great numbers of the general Officers of the Forces which that King maintains even in time of Peace which exceed always two hundred thousand Men and mightily vex and crush the People if things stand otherwise disposed in England 't is an effect of the Genius and Form of that Government which has produced that admirable effect which we see that whereas France is utterly and irrecoverably destroyed by the Absolute Power of her Monarch the King of England on the contrary finds in the heart and good affection of his Subjects who live plentifully all Subsidies necessary to supply the Wants of the Government and support the War as long as will be found convenient Some perhaps who cannot contradict the Reasons which I have offered to prove that England ought to be more populous even at present than France ever was will perhaps dispute the matter of Fact and say that it has been depopulated by the Colonies in Ireland the Plantations in the West-Indies by the Civil Wars both in England and Ireland by the great Massacre in the latter and by the Plague which did carry off so much People To which I answer That there is no comparison between the Loss of Men in England by the Civil War and the Loss of Men in France upon the same account for I dare say France has lost ten to one But I answer further That it does not in the least invalidate the Proofs from matter of Fact which I have produced and need not repeat here which prove demonstratively that England is really more populous than France ever was I grant however that if it were not for the things objected England should be more populous than it is And I am of that Opinion in particular that the Plantations in the West-Indies have done a great prejudice to England in that respect But I affirm also that the Civil Wars in France which lasted much longer than they did in England the violent and frequent Persecutions for Religion not without general and particular Massacres the Plague and Mortality of which it has not been free neither its Plantations in America also and so many great and long Wars abroad without necessity have depopulated France much more But especially the enormous Impositions of France the Methods of raising them the stupendious multitude of Soldiers that have been kept of long time the great multitude of Lawyers and other innumerable Civil Officers that of the Maltotiers that is to say a great Army of Rascals and Thieves subservient to the Farmers of the Impositions and so many other things some of which I mentioned before All those things I say are enough to convince any rational and unbiassed person that France could not be so populous thirty years ago as England is even now But above all I desire that what I proposed above concerning the fatal effects of Popery in that Kingdom might be well weighed Let us conclude then that England is and ought to be more populous than France ever was in the time of its greatest splendor So that there is a great Paradox well proved The World is full of such gross mistakes but I hope
I shall prove several other such Paradoxes before I die But some will object and say Are not we also reduced to great Extremities in England Are not the Affairs of our Coin Exchequer and Banks in an ill condition And is not our Army likewise unpaid I confess indeed that a great many people suffer in England by the ill State of the Coin but 't is neither an effect of the War nor yet of any decay of the Riches of the Kingdom for if it had all this mis-fortune would have happened a year ago for 't is known that a twelve-month ago the Affairs of the Kingdom were in such a flourishing condition that it was thought fit to Reform the Coin in the heat of the War and to Establish several great Banks in the Nation so that we may justly say that this Accident is a bad effect of the good condition of the Kingdom to which the same thing hath happened that usually befals those who finding themselves in a better state of health than ordinary attempt to make some great Effort by which they find themselves injured either because the thing is too great for them or because they do not make use of the best Methods to perform it or that they are crossed in it However all the Riches that were in England before that time are in it still This was also an effect of the too great Indulgence used commonly towards a great number of wicked people in this Kingdom for want of strict Discipline and a necessary Severity amongst which there was an incredible number of Clippers both Men and Women 't is they who have done this mischief to which the Stock-Jobbers have also contribued and the Effects of it would have been very bad even in a time of Peace Yet we may venture to say that all this would not have done much hurt if there had been a competent number of Coiners in the Tower to have Recoined the Clipped Money in a Month's time for that Money having been a great while useless in the Tower and Exchequer hath added to the Mischievous Consequences of it As for the rest tho' the People have suffered for a year past and do suffer still very much by it that is not to be compared to the Sufferings which the People of France have laboured under ever since the beginning of this War and before it I would fain know of the Gentlemen who make this Objection how many People there are in England that because of this do sell their Plate to Goldsmiths or who spend less at their Tables or in Recreations and Divertisements than they did before Are the Lands and Houses either sold or Farmed at easier rates or are Provisions which are plentiful much fallen in their price for all the Money is so scarce amongst the People Tho' they grumble sufficiently at the scarcity of the Coin yet they are sensible that the disease is not very great And indeed in all the other States of Europe it would be remedied in two days time by making use of Authority But in England the King and Parliament do in all their conduct avoid the least appearance of constraint even where it would be very useful because their Affairs are in such a condition as they may easily forbear it But to return to the Clippers they have diminished the Silver-Coin it may be by about 3 Millions Sterling but this is not an Absolute Loss to the Kingdom if it be a loss at all seeing 't is probable that all or the greatest part of that Metal remains still in the Nation And it is very likely nay certain that they had Multiplied the Species of Silver because several of them were also Coiners who did make of an Unclip'd Half Crown or Shilling two of the same Species and 't is probable that had it not been for 'em the Silver-Species would have been less copious than it was However 't is an easie matter to make up that want by melting part of the Plate of the Nation which is excessive in quantity and suppose 3 Millions Sterling lost by the Clippers it would be but inconsiderable to a Kingdom which may be worth 800 Millions Sterling I mean all the Real and Personal-Estates with the People and Their Industry What comparison then is there to be made between this Kingdom and that of France whereof the Estates Real and Personal are generally sunk above the two-thirds in Revenue and much more in the Capital Stock as I have already demonstrated and where above two-third parts of all the Working-men are destroyed whereas in England the Real and Personal-Estates are increased in value as every body knows without any scarcity of Provisions and even under the scarcity of Money so much complained of This is the true Touch-stone of the Good or Bad Condition of a Kingdom to try whether the Real and Personal-Estates Decrease or Increase in Value So that there can be no more comparison between England and France as to that than between a very healthful and lusty Man and one who is in a deep Consumption 'T is known also that all Foreign Trade is totally lost in France except a little in the Streights whereas in England it is otherwise 'T is true the French Privateers are troublesom but I shall shew in its proper place that they bring no benefit to France 'T is also true that the Publick Taxes in England did not bring in any thing near of what was expected from them but this must be imputed to the casual Interruption of the course of the Money and partly to the negligence and indulgence of Assessors and Collectors which is so very great that there is nothing like it in the Universal World nor would it be thought credible any where else For they favour whom they please and dispose more freely of the Publick Revenues than they do of their own which denotes not only the Extream Indulgence of the Government but also that the People are very far from suffering as they do in all Countries especially in France since there 's not the least shaddow of severity or hardship used towards them and besides the People themselves are in a manner the Umpires and Arbitrators who and what every one must pay and the truth is they dispense with many thousands of People from paying any thing who live better than a great many in France who are obliged to pay every year 50 and 100 Pounds to the French King How should this Nation be fallen into Poverty since 't is the Nation it self represented by those who are supposed to be the Wisest Men in the Kingdom viz the Great Council of the Nation Assembled in Parliament which chuses the Imposts that are most proper and which â—…xes and regulates the Sums and who themselves pay cherfully their quota of the said Sums proportionably to every One's Estate and not as in France where they who order and regulate the Taxes enrich themselves thereby and pay nothing they make
is none I answer he would find out ways enough to make People to get it tho' there was none I have said already that Money was wanting in France 5 years ago seeing he commanded the Plate to be carried to the Mint and forced every one to carry their old Coin to be Stamped a-new and then raised the value of it This has been done twice in 6 years time as was said before and yet he finds Money still tho' there has been abundance conveyed out of the Kingdom every year as 't is easie to conceive for Horses from Germany and other Countries for Naval-Stores for Corn in the year of the great Famine for the Turks for the Pope and all the Court of Rome for Denmark and Sweden for the Switzers and for the French Army in Piedmont which has carried out of France abundance of Money that will never return besides what has been carried out for Foreign Fish and other necessaries and for all their Correspondencies abroad c. 'T is one of those Miracles of Absolute Power of which I spoke already that they have found out in that Country the way to multiply the Money without increasing the quantity of it by causing it to pass by a quick and violent circulation twenty times a year thro' the King's hands Which is thus There are as is well known a thousand sorts of Impositions and Taxes both Publick and Private in France as soon as one or a quarter of one is paid by the People 't is presently distributed for the use of the War or to pay some Pensions or Rents one way or other and as soon as 't is in the People's hands 't is got out of them again in some Weeks Days or Hours by another Imposition and so continually from one end of the Year to the other There is scarce any other Circulation of Money in the Kingdom In this consistsalmost all its Trade People fancy when they hear of so many great Squadrons of Men of War as the News tell us are equipped in France that the King must have vast Sums of Money in his hands and that Money must be plentiful in the Kingdom because they think that things are governed there as they are here where we have but a small number of general Impositions regulated all at once by the Parliament and very moderate in respect of what they are in other Nations as also in respect of the Wealth of the Kingdom and which are raised in a gentle way without great charge to the Subject But in France the Taxes are without number they are not only General and Publick but Particular and Private upon Private Corporations Orders and Ranks of Men and private Persons and upon all those in general who are presumed to have Money or some considerable Estate who many times are forced to pay to the King not the 100th or 200th penny but the third part or the half of all their Stock and sometimes all that they have Formerly they were all regulated at the beginning of the Year but at present they are set up every Month Week Day and Hour of the Year according to the wants of the Court and when one falls short of what they expected then presently comes out another or some new Offices are created and some hundreds or thousands of Men forced to buy them whether they have Money or no or many thousands of other private Persons are forced to pay the Taxes of easie i. e. wealthy Men gens aises as they call them tho' they be already ruined But nevertheless I must confess that I think there was more Money in France 30 years ago than there was in England and this for several reasons The great Impositions upon the People in France and the great severities practised against the insolvent obliged the People to live frugally and to work hard and to gather up Money for the said Taxes as fast as they could by all means which caused the Money to remain in the Kingdom and made the People very industrious for some forty or fifty years having a great Trade with England and Holland and did draw in Money from Foreign Countries Besides there were many more Men that hoarded up Money in France than in England where because of the great Trade of the Nation it is most in the hands of Merchants Goldsmiths and Trading-people and goes from hand to hand very quick for Money did always circulate much more in England than in France because of the great Trade and that the Nation commonly lays out prodigious Sums of Money in Foreign Commodities So that there is at all times an incredible quantity of imported Goods in Store-houses that drains the Money from England and especially for French Commodities in time of Peace for 't is easie to conceive that such a Nation as this in such a rich and plentiful Country and under such an indulgent Government and paying almost nothing for the maintaining of it is apt to spend in Foreign extravagant Dresses Delicacies Baubles and Trinkets and in all their Travels into France and any where else what Money other Nations are used to pay to their Government and especially the French Nation oppressed continualy with Taxes for the maintaining of their K's splendid Court and of his numerous Armies For altho' the King of France did convey yearly abundance of Money out of his Kingdom upon his Intrigues Alliances and Correspondencies abroad yet his People drew in a great deal more Money from England and other Nations than they spent a long time For they suffered very few Commodities to be imported into their Kingdom especially from England charging their Commodities with horrid Impositions So that they did pay to their Customs very near half the value of the Commodity as I could justifie when at the same time England was glutted with an infinite quantity of dear superfluous vain and noxious things from France So that by those ways England was over-ballanced by several Millions Sterling Yearly in their Trade by the French who did plunder us and other Neighbouring Nations who were not wise enough in that respect And then that Money by the circulation did pass thro' the hands of an infinite number of thrifty and frugal People in France who did hoard it up If the English Nation had forborn all those excesses in Importations especially from France and kept good Order and Discipline in that and other things Money would have been much more plentiful in England and much less in France for this and the continual Travels of the English Nobility and Gentry into that Country did very much contribute to raise France Another cause of their rise and first-growth was the Establishment of the Republick of Holland for after it was settled and the Peace made with the Spaniards the States finding themselves very rich in People and Money by the great multitudes that had retired thither from the Spanish Netherlands for shelter against the D. of Alba's Tyranny and seeing the Land
the Kingdom who should imploy them at work or eat them as Meat when above half of the Grown and Working-men are destroyed as I have said already and shall prove it elsewhere If the Cattle were plentiful it would follow that they ought to be cheap because of scarcity of People But we hear to the contrary that Butchers-Meat has been dearer at Paris for some years past than before tho' Money is scarcer and the number of Eaters lesser The reason of it is evident viz. that the number of People is not so much diminished in Paris as in the Provinces which are hardly capable to furnish Paris with Meat because they are Untilled and Unpeopled besides the Land-Forces in Flanders and Germany being always very numerous and sojourning in so much exhausted Countries require abundance of Provisions This dearness of Meat is a sensible effect of the great Depopulation of the Kingdom especially if joyned with the scarcity of Money As for Horses and Mules but especially Horses the number of them has decreased very much because for many years there is scarce any body has been able to keep Horses and Mares for breed because of the want of Means what profit soever there may be at present by that Trade because of the dearness of Horses 'T is known the War has destroyed almost all of ' em The King has swallowed up all the debts of the Wealthy Ones in his Kingdom that is to say all that was owing them for Money lent to private Persons for which the Lands Houses Offices Cattle and Houshold-Goods of the Borrowers were mortgaged Since the same Lands and Houses and the rest are come to nothing Which amounts perhaps to more than the present value of all the Stocks in the Kingdom as I said already He has devoured all the Civil Offices and Charges in the Kingdom which he sold very dear so that they were instead of a Capital Stock to the Proprietors whereas now they yield almost nothing to the Officers and generally speaking cannot be sold for the sixth part of what they were bought for For altho' the Office of a Master of Requests or of a Counsellor in the Parliament of Paris may be still sometimes sold for the half of what they did cost at first 't is not so in the Provinces where the Places of Councellor in some considerable Courts of Judicature called Presidiaux as at Poictiers and Anger 's are exposed to Sale for four thousand Livers at present which had cost formerly above forty thousand Livers He has also consumed the Estates belonging to Towns Corporations and to great numbers of private Persons who did possess them lawfully by the Re-union that he has made of them to his Demain He has devoured all the Magazines of Merchandizes in the Kingdom which used to be well stored but are now empty I mean not only those of Foreign Commodities but also those of Home-Manufactures and Product so that no body dares to meddle with Trade for fear he should be presently swallowed up by Taxes if he did but shew himself to have any Wealth He hath eat up the Stock of the East and West-India Companies which are just upon the point of being totally ruined He has eat up the Value of all the Trading-Ships in his Kingdom which are for the most part useless and lie rotting in the Harbours He has destroyed all the Manufactures in his Kingdom which were an inestimable Possession nay what is worse his Enemies have appropriated them to themselves and improved them He has swallowed up at several times many hundreds of Millions of Livers which he extorted now and then from those they call Partisans who are the Farmers of the Imposts whom he despoiled at last after they had despoiled others He has borrowed Immense Sums of Money from his Subjects which he is not able to pay if he were willing to do it Finally He has consumed above the half of his People if not in number at least in value as I have said already and promised to demonstrate hereafter So that every one may see that I had reason enough to say that the Kingdom is decayed within these 30 years more than the three fourths in Value but specially since the eight last years of the War And I dare say that this War does so much prejudice to it that it amounts to near two thousand Millions of Livers every year one with another And since I have advanced my self so far I must shew how the thing may be demonstrated I supposed already the Kingdom of France might be worth near 30 Millions Sterling of Revenue or about 400 Millions of Livers in Real and Personal Estate when the War begun as England is valued at this day at sixteen Millions Sterling or 208 Millions of Livers Revenue in Estates Real and Personal I supposed also that the Revenues or Profits of the Industry of the People of France might be worth about 45 Millions St. or 600 Millions of Livers yearly as those of the English Nation may be valued at this day at 26 Millions Sterling or near 240 Millions of Livers And so all France with all its Effects of which the People is the principal might produce about 1000 Millions of Livers of Annual Revenue or profit which being valued at 20 years purchase ought to be worth 20 thousand Millions for the Stock the People taken in bulk being as perpetual in duration as Lands and Lands being worth nothing without People So that the Real and Personal Estates in France yielding 400 Millions of Livers yearly rent if we estimate them upon the foot of 20 years purchase they had been worth 8 thousand Millions of Livers Now if what we have supposed also be true that the Real Estates taken in general cannot be sold after the Peace tho' made to morrow at the 4th part of what they were valued at 30 years ago and that the Personal Estates be fallen the same proportion it will make six thousand Millions loss on those Estates alone As for the People supposing that 4 Millions and a half of Souls have perished within these 30 years half of which were Adult Men if we value them only at 80 Pistols per head one with another tho' Men are worth more than the double of that Sum it would make near 4000 Millions of Livers loss upon that Head Nor can we reckon less than four thousand Millions of Livers for the Decrease in Price and Value of the remaining People that is of the nine Millions of Souls supposed to be remaining in France the greatest part of which consists in Women and other sorts of People more unprofitable still for the National Work viz. Children Old Infirm Lame Sickly People and Soldiers and Men who by their Estates Dignity and Profession are exempted from working For it holds constantly true that the Value of People in a Nation depends upon that of their Industry and Labour and on the Fruits and Profits proceeding therefrom or to speak
Exacters have done and there needs no other proof of it but this that there has perished in France much more People proportionably these last eight years than there did in the eleven years War in Ireland though the Plague and Famine which are the ordinary Companions of a violent Civil War destroyed many more People in Ireland than the Sword did The Civil Wars of France in the last Age lasted above 40 years and not the 4th part of the People perished then as have done within this 8 years Then for the Houses they are not in a very good condition at present in France but what signifies Houses when a Nation is irrecoverably destroyed France has not much reason neither to boast of the goodness of her Cattle which are very bad and but few in number But then in the last place I answer that altho ' all Houses and Cattle had been destroyed in Ireland which they were not since the Houses in walled Towns which is the chiefest thing in Ireland had suffered but little damage and that the Cattle were still numerous enough as appears by the Memoirs of that time tho' I say all what is alledged were true I answer that there being Men in it they were capable of soon having Houses and Cattle And 't were better for France that her greatest Grievance were to have her Houses reduced to Ashes and all her Cattle destroyed on condition that she had but the two thirds of the Workmen which were in her before the War with a better Government and a better Religion For if that were the Case they would soon have as many Houses and Cattle as they needed It would be to as little purpose for any man to say that it was because Ireland had not full Liberty for Trade For the Irish Nation was better treated by the English than the People of France has been by their Prince for many Reigns And as for Trade they had it always very free and without any restraint upon Foreigners who would come and fetch their Commodities or upon the Irish themselves who were at Liberty to carry them over to Spain France Portugal and other places Their Government was the same then as now and yet their Estates are more valued at present than they were at that time which shews that it was meerly the effect of the war and of the great destruction of Men which preceeded it It would be as impertinent to object that they were Protestants who did then put such a low-estimate upon Ireland because they had a mind to quit it for besides what I have said already upon that Subject the Objection is refuted by the History which informs us that there were above 100 thousand Protestants born in that Country who had no Estates in any other part of the World and who consequently were far from any thoughts to quit it and were expected there besides above an hundred thousand English and Scotch Protestants who actually went thither We must add to this that it will be much harder to restore France to its former State then it was to restore Ireland in respect of the Lands because the most part of the Soil of Ireland is fit for Pasture whereas the most part of France consists in Arable Lands and Vines which being untilled and quite rooted up cannot be restored so easily I have insisted much on that example of Ireland because I do not know any that agrees so well with the Condition that France is likely to be reduced to I might very well have valued only the loss of the People in France and have forborn to make mention of Real and Personal Estates for after all is said Estates are worth nothing without People and if there was but one Man in France all the Estates would be worth no more than that Mans maintenance So that I might have valued the People which did spend a thousand Millions of Livers yearly 30 years ago when they did make up according to our supposition the number of 13 Millions and a half I might I say have estimated them on the foot of twenty years purchase at twenty thousand Millions For altho' every individual Person is commonly estimated but at 7 or 8 years purchase because they are mortal a Nation which is conceiv'd to be as perpetual as the world in its duration as I already said may be very reasonably valu'd at 20 years purchase And so suppose that half of it is destroyed if not as to the number at least as to their strength and ability for work that being as I say supposed it would alone amount to ten thousand Millions of Livers which ought to be deducted from the twenty thousand Millions aforesaid And because the remaining People are very thin in the Kingdom dispersed to and fro and not united and compacted together so as to help one another and to improve their Land the Seas and Arts to the best advantage as if it were gathered together in half of the Kingdom and in the same proportion as it was when the 13 Millions and a half of Souls were living in it for that reason the least that can be abated of its former Value will be five or six Millions and so the Kingdom will be found to have decayed 3 quarters at least of its ancient Value if taken according to what it might have been estimated at thirty years ago And if any man will be at the pains to reckon the other Losses which the Kingdom has endured within these 30 years he will find many thousand Millions of Livers lost otherwise As for example the 13 Millions and a half of People supposed to have been in France 30 years ago ought to have encreased about two Millions of Souls in 30 years time according to the ordinary Progress of Generation observed by Naturalists which being valued upon the same foot as we estimated the rest had been worth 3 thousand Millions that is about 1500 Livers per Head one with another Observe that the Adult Males or Men in the prime of their Age are commonly valued at twice as much as the rest as is to be seen by the example of Slaves bought at that rate which by the way shews either the Imprudence or the Misfortune of those Princes or States which willingly or forced by some necessity fell their Subjects to other Nations by Regiments or Companies so cheap as many of 'em do If we add to this the Loss of the Superlucration that is to say of what a Nation gets or improves above its Expence for it must be known that a populous and thriving Nation grows continually richer and richer or else it would be still in the same condition that it was 200 years ago I say if we reckon that Loss of the Superlucration it would amount still higher And then further if we could take an account of the Losses the Kingdom has sustained within this 30 years and especially since this War in relation to the Revenues and Rents of
a day viz. either a VVoman or a Child could easily do In a Depopulated and thin Peopled Country the charges of prosecution of Suits at Law is greater than in a well Peopled One and in such Countries those who have Estates and are born for Peace are obliged to be their own Officers and Souldiers and the charge and trouble of defending and guarding a Depopulated Country against all Foreign Invasion is greater than in a Populous Country there 's great want of Hospitals for the Sick and Wounded Orphans Lame and Mad People There are no Houses of Correction or Discipline or VVork-Houses for there is none either able or willing to be at the charges of them in Maritime Countries the multitude of People is infinitely useful for equipping with diligence great numbers of men of War and other Ships to supply the Merchants with Convoys there may be found in an instant all the necessaries for Navigation if not in one place yet in another very near but it is the contrary in a thin peopled Country The Sciences and Noble Arts cannot flourish in a Depopulated Land because the People must needs be poor there and so that there is none to maintain the Universities Academies Colledges and Schools necessary to that purpose The Administration of Civil Government as well as of Justice is more easie and less chargeable in a well peopled Country than in one that is depopulated Every one is obliged in a dispeopled Country to have his House constantly furnished with all sorts of Provisions for a long time like a Vessel that undertakes a long Voyage which occasions a greater wast of the same besides that they are not so good or are sooner spoiled and that the owners forbear to sell them when they might do it to advantage or are forced to lay out a great deal of Money in buying them from which they might have a good Interest if it had been imployed elsewhere 'T is not easie to conceive the other inconveniencies which arise from the Depopulation of a Country into which France must of necessity fall since it Labours already under them but her Case will be a great deal worse twenty years hence I confess as I insinuated before that if so be the remaining People in France were united and compacted together in half of the Kingdom forsaking the other half to any that would have it that Moeity so peopled should be worth as much as one half of the Kingdom of France was 30 or 40 years ago provided their Clergy-men Lawyers and others which we call unprofitable in comparison with those that are more profitable were reduced to a competent number I shall adventure to say further That if so be the remnant of the People of the Kingdom were united and gathered together in the fourth part of it that fourth part should be worth more and would afford more Revenue than the one half of the Kingdom which should have but the same number of Inhabitants and I do verily think that the fourth part so peopled would be worth more than the Kingdom of France ever was provided they were situated as much as possible by the Sea side The Province of Holland as I said before is but a small Country but extraordinary rich because it is extraordinary populous it is not so much as the 40th part of England and yet may be worth about 4th part of it tho' I believe it does not contain above the 7th part of the Inhabitants of this Kingdom And again Spain is three times as big as England and yet is not worth the third part of it and Ireland being 20 times as big as the Province of Holland tho' provided with many good Sea-Ports and a fruitful Soil is not worth the third part of that Province because it is not peopled enough no more than Spain This I understand with regard to their respective Extent for absolutely speaking there are more People in Ireland and in Spain taken apart than is in the Province of Holland there being above a Million of Souls in Ireland and there being apparently a lesser number in Holland As for Spain there may be four or five times that number in it so that it is not the multitude of People in a large Country of a vast Extent which makes the Kingdom rich and formidable but such a Number as is sufficient not only to Cultivate all the Lands which might and ought to be Cultivated in it but also may furnish great numbers of Men sit to make a Nation flourish by Arts Manufactures Trade Navigation and Fishing Now 't is evident that France is very far from having all the People which are necessary for all those things The King and his Ministers who formed such vast Projects upon the Number of that People which to them seemed to be infinite were guilty of a mighty mistake For France might and ought to have been two or three times as populous as it was Had the French Politicians been as understanding as they would make us believe them to have been and as some fancy they really are they ought to have applied themselves above all things to increase the number of the People and not to make War against all the World without Conduct or Judgment nor to have extended themselves in foolish and vain Conquests as they have done for some time by which they have dispersed and weakned themselves There is no Remedy at present for such a Disaster but if they were able to improve their unhappy Experience they ought to abandon their Conquests speedily and restrict themselves into a narrower compass Virtus unita fortior Virtue united is so much the stronger as did the Emperour Augustus of old Decretum factum de coercendo intra limites Imperio Tacit. and even if they would after having done this lay desolate all their Frontier-Provinces by their Absolute Authority and withdraw all the People in them with their Effects and settle the same in the contiguous Maritime Provinces as much as possible and give them a Compensation for what they lost the Prince and his Subjects would get infinitely by it I am confident that instead of 82 millions of Acres that are contained as I said in the Kingdom of France on which there are at present but 9 millions of Souls according to our former supposition which is about 8 Acres for every Soul I am confident I say and it can easily be demonstrated that 18 Millions of Acres would be sufficient to maintain the said 9 millions of Souls and they should even enrich themselves extraordinarily their Industry Arts Manufactures Trade Navigation c. supplying them plentifully with all those things which the Soil could not afford provided the Government were moderate and they would be as able in a little time to defend themselves against all Enemies and even to carry on the War against any Neighbouring Nation as much and better than ever the French Nation was if there were any necessity for it We
obnoxious to the Rudeness of Soldiers have been abandoned because of the Marches Counter-marches and Quarterings of the Troops as I said already 'T is easie to conceive those places are much depopulated and that a Curate can't fare well there it may be two or three Parishes will be turned to one I confess it will be a great trouble to People to go so far to Church But what other Remedy is there if they cannot maintain one in every Parish as they did hitherto As for Parishes that have several Priests they must needs turn them all out except one for few of them will be able to keep more 39. The Military Art and Discipline will visibly degenerate in France and Men grow less couragious and even cowardly as Men usually do in depopulated poor and slavish Countries unless the King applies as I have said already the Revenues of the Monks and Nuns for the constant maintenance of multitudes of brave Officers for his Emergencies not to make Conquests any more God forbid but only for the Defence of his Kingdom and of his Allies 40. Painting Sculpture Engraving Architecture and many other Trades less necessary and which serve only for Curiosity Ornament or Luxury will fall entirely The useful ones are already very much decayed but they will decay yet more 41. The scarcity of People will occasion all Servants to be dear every where in the Kingdom so that I believe they will be constrained to give leave to buy Negroes as is practised in Spain and Portugal and as all Christian Nations do in America and that the Law prohibiting to keep Slaves in France will be altered We may observe by the way what a great Change hath happened in the French Government since the Establishment of that Law for then they were good natur'd to all Mankind nay even to Heathens and the most barbarous and remote People whereas at this day they deal with the Natives their Fellow-Citizens and Christians worse than others do with Slaves any where nay even worse than with brute Beasts whose Owners take care to maintain them well for the service they do whereas the Rulers in France do not allow the People who work more than Slaves or Beasts to fill their Bellies with Bread and sacrifice them besides every day by thousands to their Princes Ambition and Vanity 42. There will be no more Sumptuousness in Buildings Furniture of Houses Tables nor Equipages in France tho' Luxury indeed will always be extravagant yet it must be less than it was formerly because of their great Poverty 43. Universities Academies Colledges and Chools will decrase strangely in number So that I do not believe France will stand in need for the future of more Universities than there are in Spain viz. three instead of almost twenty that are there at present besides the Academies and Colledges c. The Profits of Doctors or Masters are already fallen more than 9 parts in 10 for want of Students and Money 44. The number of Comedians Rope-dancers Musicians Fidlers Dancing-masters Fencing-masters and such like will decrease yearly more and more tho' there be not at present the 10th part of what there was 30 years ago 45. Parents able to bestow Money upon their Children will desire them to settle in Sea-ports or in the best and least ruined Cities which we named before 46. In that general Desolation few Refugees will think of returning to France except those who are here in Extream Want and who did possess Lands and Houses in France in case the free Exercise of their Religion be restored On the contrary 't is like that many new Converts will leave France what precaution soever be taken to hinder their escape if so be as I said before they are not restored to their Ancient Liberty of Conscience But I question very much whether they shall be re-established therein during Lewis the XIV Reign unless it be by the potent interposition of King William and of the other Protestant Allies tho' it be the Kingdoms Interest to do it speedily for it seems that notwithstanding the lamentable condition to which he hath reduced that flourishing Kingdom he comforts himself with the thoughts of the mischief he hath done to the Protestant Party in it and even glories in having as he thinks quite destroyed the Reformed Religion there and I incline to think that he will look upon what he has done as the only Ressource of Glory left him and I do not doubt in the least but that his Counsel of Conscience Father la Chaise and Madame Maintonon do bless themselves in it and fortifie the King in such imaginations and that the Court of Rome will keep him by their secret but powerful influences in that frame of mind giving him hopes perhaps of a degree of Glory above St. Lewis and next to St. Dominic and Ignatius Loyola in their Heaven But I am confident that they will contrive and endeavour to find out some Medium to catch the Refugies in their Net I mean both as to Soul and Body for as 't is against the Clergy's Interest or rather Passion and even against the false Glory of that King that the French Protestants should be restored to the Condition they were in before the Violation of the Edicts and that their Religion should be authorized so 't is also against the Kingdoms Interest that it should lose for ever so many useful Subjects So that I make no doubt but they will make use of all Tricks and Subtilties imaginable to draw them in by a kind of Toleration which would do their business if the Refugees were Fools for by that means a great many would come to them with what Estates they have carried away and the new Converts would have no mind to leave the Kingdom and yet their Religion should be destroyed for ever and they will also according to the usual method of Rome bribe ambitious and wordly Preachers amongst them to divide them in their Opinions as 't is like they actually do in order to bring them to Popery again by the Back-door according to the Maxim Divide Impera And I am of opinion also that in order to hinder the restoration of true Christianity in that Kingdom the Jesuits will put the French King upon the Design of Destroying Geneva and the Protestant Switzers and make him believe that it will be a compensation for the Destruction of his Kingdom and that it is the most glorious thing he can do and for that reason they will it may be spare the Vaudois for some time to disguise their Design 47. Several Lackeys Servants and such sort of Men having got some Imploys and Preferments in this War will be apt to insult and despise their Ancient Lords and Masters who are reduced to Poverty and totally ruined and a great deal of insolence will be seen every where 48. Several Widows of Quality and Young Ladys whose number is three times greater than that of Men of their own rank