the first that openly invaded the Liberties of his Subjects was also the first that raised this Tax without the Consent of the Three Estates and who made it successive likewise The Taille is threefold viz. Real Personal and Mix'd Real is when it is only imposed upon Lands as in some parts of the Province of Gueinne where a Man must pay a certain Summ to the King for every Acre of Land he is possess'd of Personal is when it is Assess'd upon any Personal Estate that is among the French the Money that a Man is supposed to have in his own hands or to be worth in Lands and Houses in his Industry Art or Ability to get Money Lastly the Mix'd is so denominated because in some parts of that Kingdom the Lands are not only assessed so much per Acre but the Proprietor besides is taxed for his Money Art and Ability This Explanation I thought necessary for the better understanding of my Subject The Real Taille though very burthensome yet however it is the least heavy upon the People For if a Man has but forty Acres of Land he cannot be assessed for fifty whereas in all Provinces of France except Guienne the Taille being every-where Personal or Mix'd a Man is assessed for what he has and for what he has not that being at the Discretion of the Intendants of the Provinces or some other Officer called Eleus who are not only appointed for those things Hence it comes to pass abundance of People are assessed much more than what their yearly Rent is really worth and a Cobler or other poor Fellow that hath nothing in the World to live on but the benefit of his Arms shall yet notwithstanding be taxed four or five Crowns a Year Were it not beyond my Design I could easily give you many instances of the extream heaviness of this Tax but for brevity sake I shall content my self with this That a Baker of Gonesse near Paris was assessed for his Personal Estate though he had not an Inch of Land 1200 French Crowns a Year that is 270 l. Sterling This is a Pattern by which we may readily judge of the whole Piece To say positively what the whole Summ amounts to that is imposed upon the Kingdom for this Taille it is in a manner impossible for the French King does encrease or diminish it according as he Himself pleaseth That is to say according to the Expences he sees himself oblig'd to be at An. 1684. when I was in France the said Summ amounted to Forty millions of French Livres that is above Three millions Sterling But if we consider that at that time the French King had Peace with all the World we may easily believe that this Tax exceeds now Fifty millions and above How this Tax is imposed and levied all inquisitive Persons I hope will be glad to know and therefore for their satisfaction I 'll relate it as plainly as the darkness of the matter will permit The King resolveth first in his Council what Summ of Money is to be levied on his Subjects then Commissions are issued forth to the General Treasures of the Generalities of the Kingdom to give them power to levy the Summ agreed upon These Commissions being received the Treasurers make a Division of the Summ to be levied proportionable to the extent of the several Elections under them which Division or Repartition is sent to the King who thereupon sends a Commission to the Officers of each Election by which they are ordered and enabled to raise such a Summ in their respective Districts These Officers meet and make the Registers of Taxes wherein each Town Borough Hamlet or Parish is assessed Each Parish has one of those Registers sent to it whereupon the Inhabitants make choice of one or more of them to raise the Summ assessed by the Officers of the Elections These are called Collectors and they tax each Inhabitant according to his Estate But though they are forbiden to do it out of any ill-will or malice yet they will ease their Friends though they crush the others And this is the cause of a great many Mischiefs and of divers Families being absolutely ruined by these unjust Stewards The Kingdom of France being so very great it is not Forty nor Fifty millions that would ruine its Inhabitants were that Summ but equally shared but as I have already observed some being eased when others are over-charged and this Misfortune coming upon every Man in his tâ—â—â— the Collectors being changed so every Year it happens that at last all become poor and miserable Well we have now seen how that Tax is imposed let us in the next place see how it is levied Should I say that the manner of collecting the Taille is very near as grievous as the Taille it self I should say nothing but what is very true though at first it seems almost incredible To clear therefore this point I shall observe to you only That the People being grown very poor they cannot exactly pay all that they are assessed and upon failure thereof which must be Quarterly the General Receiver or Treasurer of each Election immediately sends an Officer called Porteur de Contrainte or Commissary to quarter upon the Collectors or Inhabitants of such a Parish which is so in Arrear with two or three Men whose Pay amounts to Thirteen or Fourteen Shillings a Day where they remain till they have other Orders from the Receiver which he never grants but upon full payment And tho' this way of Levying is rude and severe yet it is very gentle if compared with what they do in some Provinces of France where the Receiver instead of Commissaries make use of Soldiers whom they Quarter at discretion upon those who make the least default in payment And this is nothing less than Dragooning 'T is also worth our Remark to observe That when an Inhabitant is become so poor as he is utterly unable to pay his Tax or suppose that the Collector should prove a Rogue and play away the King's Money the other Inhabitants are bound to answer for each of these Disasters There are some Provinces in France that are not liable to the Taille for those of Burgundy Brittany and Languedoc are free from it at least as to the Name For truly at the bottom they pay too as well as the rest but with this only difference That instead of Taille their Subsidy is called Don Gratuit a Free Gift of the Estates of those Provinces What those of Burgundy give I cannot tell at present but the Free Gift of Brittany and Languedoc amount every Year to above Six hundred thousand Pounds of our English Money Those who are not throughly acquainted with the State of France will likely fall into a great Mistake at the first reading of this and fancy to themselves That the State of those Provinces are like the Parliament of England but lest I should give any occasion for so great an Errour I think it
are laid upon some certain Commodities Some Years ago there were 44 Jurez so they call them Created all at once to Sell or Appraise Fowls and each of them paid down above 3000 Pounds and to repay themselves they took 3 Half-pence per Livre A like number was Created for Fish with the same Salary Those for Hay are far more numerous but then they are not altogether so dear for they may be bought for 2307 l. 13 s. 6 d. Those upon Charcoal cost above 3000 l. but they are not many but those upon Wood are innumerable and I am very well informed that the French King has received out of those Offices for Wood near Two Millions Four Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling Now to re-pay themselves they are allowed as I have said some Duties but the King very often demands from them some ready Money and this encreaseth their Duties so much the more and is the Reason that all manner of things are grown gradatim in Paris to such an excessive Price for there is a General Excise upon all things in the World that come into that City even to the very Ashes and Old Lees of Wine and the Duty laid upon them was Let at 1223 l. 1 s. 6 d. And this Duty of Entry is not particular only to Paris for it is imposed upon most parts of France with this only Difference That the Duties are not exacted so high every-where One Example of this I hope will be sufficient At Caen in Normandy a Place well known to our English-men they pay for every Pound of Butter a Half-penny For a Load of Fire-wood 10 Pence For a Load of Timber 13 Shillings 4 Pence For a Load of Hay 1 Shilling 8 Pence For a Horse-Load of Wood as they use in that Country 2 Pence Half-penny For a Horse-Load of Fish 3 Shillings and 5 Pence For the Load of a Man or Woman of Fish 8 Pence And For a Horse-Load of Corn 1 Shilling ARTICLE V. Of the King 's DEMESNE and CUSTOMS I Have but very little to say upon these Heads for I don't look on them to be an Effect of Arbitrary Power All Crowns in the World must have a sufficient Revenue either in Lands or Customs to support them and so has the Crown of France But as the French Kings have within this last Century very much enlarged their Primitive Power 't is no wonder if they have encreased likewise their ancient Patrimony The Duty join'd to the Demesne which I take to be Tyrannical is that called Lods Ventes that is a certain Summ ef Money which People are forced to pay whenever they sell their Estates or any part of them Indeed this Duty is not in all Places alike in the Country where the Customary Law of Paris is received the Buyer is obliged to pay the King the Twelfth Penny that is to say Out of 12 Thousand Pound One Thousand But at Troyes in Champaigne they pay Three Shillings and four Pence out of every Pound and that Duty is paid the one half by the Buyer and the other half by the Seller This is very hard This Tax for truly it deserves no better a Name is not of the Creation of this French King but about Twelve Years ago he created another very like it For he ordered That all People should pay the same Duty whenever they Bartered their Lands as if they had sold them for ready Money This was harder yet than the other and never were the French King's Subjects so much harass'd and plagu'd upon account of any Tax as they have been of this For they have been forced to pay the Arrears thereof if I may so call it having been call'd to give an account for these Twenty Years last past The Traites Foraines or Customs are a Duty laid upon all Commodities that are exported from France or imported into it But this in it self is not very surprizing since some such Duty as this is generally over all the World and is no doubt the slightest of all Taxes yet the French King has raised it to such a vast degree that it is become absolutely Tyrannical and Slavish I 'll give you but one Instance viz. upon Sugar which pays Three Pence per Pound Another Observation I shall make upon these Customs is That the following Provinces to wit Brittany Poictou Xaintonge Guienne Languedock Provence Dauphine Lorrain and the New Conquests being look'd upon all of them as Foreign States there is another Custom upon all Commodities that are exported or imported into these Provinces which is so severe and rigorous as if they were exported into Holland Why these Provinces should be accounted Foreign States I could never hear any other Reason given but that formerly they were subjected to some particular Princes and not to the Crown of France but pray Was not Normandy Ruled by her own Dukes as well as Aquitaine ARTICLE VI. Of several TAXES and Creations of OFFICES THE Office of Councellor in Parliament in France are not Disposed of like those in England for The Paulette these are given Gratis but the others are Sold by the French King There is also another considerable Difference between them viz. That the Place of a Judge here is Quam diu bene se gesserit whereas the Imployments of Councellors in Parliament in France are Hereditary But this must be observed that to keep those Places to their Families they are obliged to pay every Year a Duty which is called Paulette from one Paulet who was the first that contrived this Tax This Duty amounts to Fifty Pounds per Ann. for each Councellor and besides all this they are forced likewise to make a Loan or rather a Gift to the King every Five Years which is Nine times as much as the Annual Duty and should they fail performing these Conditions they presently lose their Right of Inheritance When ever a Councellor dies or by any Resignation his Son comes into his Place he must pay another Duty which amounts to the Eighth Part of the Price of the Place whatever it be so that if the Place be valued at Fifty Thousand Crowns he must pay above Six Thousand There is an Office appointed for the receiving of this Money and for the Sale of vacant Places called Le Bureau des Parties casuelles The Decimes or Tenths of the Clergy is a Tax which The Decimes of the Clergy all the Clergy-Men of the Kingdom pay to the King out of their Livings This Tax at first was granted the Kings of France upon Pretence of a War against the Infidels and if I am not mistaken it began in 1189. It was very inconsiderable at first as appears by its very Name and granted only for a certain time but succeeding Kings have found out a way to raise it and not only so but to make it perpetual This present King especially the most ingenious and exquisite Prince in the World for increasing his Revenues has raised it as he hath done
other Taxes according to his own Pleasure and from the Tenth he has brought it up now to the Fourth part so that if a Curate hath a Living but of a Hundred Pounds per Annum he must pay every Year to the King 25 Pounds of it besides what he is obliged to contribute towards the Free-Gift that the Clergy make every Five Years to the King If the Clergy who are Favourites be so much Oppress'd What must be the Condition of the Laity Paper and Parchment Mark'd The Paper and Parchment Mark'd was imposed in the Year 1672. And they are so called from a Flower-de-Luce wherewith they are stamped all Indentures Bonds Agreements Leases in a word all manner of Writings except private Letters and Bills of Exchange must be written upon this Paper or Parchment only otherwise they are void in Law The Paper is divided into Sheets half Sheets and Quartes of a Sheet The whole Sheet is sold for Three pence the Half for three Half-pence and the Quarter for Three Fathings The Parchment is dearer for you must give Twenty pence for a Skin Now whosoever consider the great Extent of France must needs agree that this must bring in a mighty Summ of Money The Controlle At much about the same time that this Paper-Tax was imposed there was another Tax found out called Controlle Now to rightly understand what this is I must observe to you that whereas Law Suits generally begins here in England by Arrests they begin in France by a Summons to appear before the Judges This Summons must be Controlled that is viewed and Signed by an Officercalled Controller whose Fee is Five pence All the Silver and Gold Plate that is made throughout The King 's Mark upon Gold and Silver Plate the Kingdom must be also stamped with the King's Mark and the Goldsmith pays for that 3 Shillings and 4 pence for every Mark that is for every Eight Ounces This Duty was Yearly set to Farm for 25000 Pounds Pewter must be also stamped with the King's Mark Upon Pewter which Costs one Penny per Pound The Stockings coming from Foreign Countries are also Upon Stockings Mark'd and the King hath for his Mark Two pence per Pair So are also all Hats and the Duty upon them is 10 d. Upon Hats Pence a piece Iron Steel Copper and Leather must be also Marked but indeed I cannot positively say now what the Duty is Every Hackney-horse in the Kingdom pays Yearly to the King Two Crowns The new Tax upon Chocolate Tea and Coffee was let yearly at 30769 l. 4 s. 6 d. In many Provinces of France as in Normandy c. the Pidgeon-Houses are Assessed in Ten Years some of them pay 25 Crowns others more or less according to the bigness of them The French Nobility and Gentry being obliged or at least used to spend more than their yearly Revenue it often happens that they Contract so many Debts as makes them forced to Sell their Estates Now if their Noble Mannors are sold to any Merchant or other under the Quality of a Nobleman they must pay every Twentieth Year a whole Year's Revenue to the King and this is what the French call Francfief There is another Duty all over the Kingdom called Barrage which is paid by the Waggoners and Carriers and this was employed for the repairing of Bridges and High-ways now the King hath appropriated it all to his own use under the Promise That he himself would take care of Pavements Bridges c. But he has kept his Word herein as Religiously as he hath the Treaty of Nimeguen Every House in Paris was Assessed at a certain Summ for the Poor and the Scavengers as they are here in London but the King hath obliged the Proprietors of each House to redeem that Tax by paying a certain Summ into his Coffers and he hath taken upon him the care of keeping the Poor and of Cleansing the Streets but how he hath performed what he had promised we may learn from Publick Intelligences wherein we are told That all the Inhabitants of Paris have been now lately Assessed upon the Account of the Poor Besides the Duties of the Custom-House there is a kind of Tax upon Tobacco I say a kind of Tax because it is rather in reality an Engrossing of the Trade of that Commodity There are a Company of People that pay to the King a Summ of Money yearly to have the Privilege of selling Tobacco and that at their own Word This Summ amounts to about 60000 l. Sterling All People who let Lodgings Furnished in Paris and all the Inn-keepers upon High-ways have been Taxed within these three Months Though the Councellors in Parliament be very numerous yet the French King hath lately I mean since the beginning of this War encreased their-Number of Eighth in each Parliament who have paid ready Money for their Places each of them 100000 Livres that is 7692 l. 6 s. 1 d. 2 fart Sterling And over and above this Summ they pay the Annual Duty as well as others and each of them have been Taxed since that time 12 Thousand Livres or 976 Pounds 18 Shillings Sterling The French King hath Erected En Titre d'Office the Mayors of all the Cities of the Kingdom and because this Place is Hereditary and those in possession of them are free from Quartering of Soldiers and other Publick Charges besides the Honour they have been Sold very dear I will give but an Instance the Mayor of Caen in Normandy which is not one of the most considerable Cities in France has paid about 4000 l. Sterling Those who sell any Brandy by Retail in their Shops or in the Streets at a Half-penny a Glass as they use in most part of France have been Erected also since this War En Titre de Office and have paid 23 Pounds 1 Shilling 6 Pence A very poor Sort of People called Criers of old Shooes Hats and Rags have also been Erected En Titre d'Office and each of them has paid 7 Pounds 13 Shillings 6 Pence The Barbers who were Perriwig-makers were Erected En Titre d'Office in 1672 and then they paid 153 Pounds 18 Shillings and soon after they were forced to pay a like Summ and since this War they have been Taxed a-new each of them at 38 Pounds 7 Shillings 6 Pence I will not however say that in all the Cities of France they have paid so much for I would have this be understood of Paris only for in the other Cities they have paid proportionable to their Trade Another Observation I must make is that the very Country-Village Barbers have been forced to take Letters of License from the King and I suppose no Body will think that they are Granted gratis when they are so forced upon them The French King begun by the Perriwig-makers to Tax Trades-men For in a little while after all the other Trades-men and Artificers throughout the Kingdom were Assessed likewise To be particular in
this point would require a Volume and so I must content my self for brevity sake with one Example which shall be of the Weavers of Paris the most miserable Tradesmen in France who were Assessed at 7 Pounds 13 Shillings 6 Pence All Officers of Justice as Judges Attornies Registers Bailiffs Notaries c. have also been Taxed every one of them according to the Fees of their several respective Places The Packers have been also Erected En Titre d'Office but I cannot yet tell what they have paid Every Month produces some new found out Offices and about a Year ago the Porters were Erected En Titre d'Office under the Title of Bouteurs a Port that is with the Privileges of unloading the Boats laden with Wine and some other Commodities They paid each of them about 800 l. Sterling and they are allowed about Five pence per Tun. This will look somewhat Romantick at least very surprizing but it must be considered that these Places being Hereditary and of a great Revenue a Man can make no better use of his Money than in purchasing of them Since the beginning of this War the French King has Created some Officers for Funerals called Criers When any Persons die these Officers are appointed to take care of their Funerals which they make at what Expence they please for no Body can oppose them under a very great Penalty They are allowed for their Trouble a certain Summ of Money and besides they enjoy some Privileges and Immunities as from quartering of Soldiers and other Parish Charges There is a World of other Duties Taxes and Offices which it would be too tedious to relate and in a manner impossible But I hope what I have said is sufficient to convince any Man of Brains and Sense that is not of a Resolved and Obstinate Inflexibility that this French King hath carried his Tyranny as well as his Prerogative to a Degree unknown unto all former Ages I 'll therefore leave this Subject after this short Remark That in the New Conquests People are no better Treated than in France The Brewers in Mons have been lately Erected En Titre d'Office and have been forced to pay a Hundred Crowns a piece a Man cannot be admitted into Holy Orders without paying 4 Crowns nor Contract Matrimony without a License which costs Ten Shillings I had almost forgot mentioning one thing which is even more intolerable than the heaviest Tax I have yet spoke of I mean the Raising or Lessening the Current Coin And to explain my meaning I must observe to you That when the French King is at a pinch for Money then he raises his Coin as high as he pleaseth and afterwards he Lesseneth it when he hath not such need Thus Lewis's d'or are risen at this time from Eleven to Fourteen Livres and his Crowns in proportion so that when ever this War shall be at an end People will lose Four Shillings Six pence in every Lewis d'Or and sooner too if this War continues For the King by his Royal Edict will as he hath already done several times set a lower Value upon the same pieces and Command them all to be brought into the Mint by a certain stated Time under severe Penalties to be new Stamp'd and then afterwards he will raise the Price as high as he pleases by which means he will get a vast profit himself to the Depression and Ruine of his People One Instance will serve to clear up this the Lewis d'Or which are Current now at Fourteen Livres will be Valued but at Twelve and they must be carried to the Mint where the King will pay them in at that Price with his new Stamp'd Coin and some time after those very Lewis's d'Or with the new Royal Stamp shall be worth Fourteen and Fifteen Livres or what ever other higher Value the King is pleased to put them at I must not forget neither the Five Millions of Livres that the City of Paris is now at this Day obliged to pay to the King as we may see in our Gazette This forced Payment which amounts near to Four Hundered Thousand Pounds Sterling is a little hard considering the other Taxes which that City is Charged withal ARTICLE VII Of the French King 's yearly Revenues and how it is Collected NOtwithstanding all the Taxes I have already mentioned and the many others which I have here omitted yet the French King 's yearly Revenue amounts not to so great a Summ one would be easily tempted at first to imagine I have been often told that it came to above a Hundred and Fifty Millions of Livres but after a narrow Inquiry into it I found that at the death of Monsieur Colbert it came only to a Hundred Thirty Three Millions Two Hundred Thousand Livres or Ten Millions Two Hundred Forty Six Thousand One Hundred and Fifty Three Pounds Sixteen Shillings and Six Pence of our English Money Now when we consider that since this War the French King hath raised his Taxes higher than ever they were and Created many Offices and Employments we shall be apt to think that his Revenues must needs be so much the more increased but yet if at the same time we do but reflect upon the lamentable Decay of his Trade in that Kingdom we shall find upon a serious Examination that the increasing of his Taxes can hardly make amends for the loss of his Customs and consequently that his Revenue is much about what it was at the time I speak of But perhaps some Body will say How can the French King keep such great Armies in Pay if his yearly Revenue be no more The Answer to this Objection is very easie to any one who knows that 20000 Horse stands this Nation in more than a 100 Thousand costs the French King Our single Troopers have near 2 s. 6d a Day and the French have hardly 5 d. Our Foot Soldiers have 8 d. or at least 6 d. in the Field and the French have only Six Farthings and the Munition-bread Here I could very well put an end to this Discourse but that I think my self obliged to remove one Objection more which I know some People will be apt to make against me viz. That if the French pay yearly but Ten Millions and England Five we lie under harder Circumstances than they do since France is Twice as big as England at least This I confess seems at first to be a very specious and considerable Objection but in Answering of it I would desire my Reader to make with me these following Remarks First 'T is a Truth beyond Contradiction that the Taxes laid in England how heavy soever they may seem to be are but for one Year and these too Laid on as by our own Consent but those in France have been made perpetual by the Grand Imposer on his Subject's Estates and Liberties for above these Twenty Years This is a very notable Difference Secondly It must be observed that all Taxes in France except the Taille are let to Farm whereby it is manifest that they must produce more than what the King receives For as a Farm in any Country must not only produce enough to make the Farmer able to pay his Landlord his Rent but also to repay his Expences and to maintain himself and his Family And just so it is in relation to the Taxes that are laid on the French But with a far more comfortable Difference to the Farmers of the French King's Revenues I mean to those who have the least â—inger in them for they in a short time become so vastly rich that the greatest Lords in France as the Mareschal de Lorges and several others have thought themselves happy in Marryrying their Daughters These Farmers advance Money to the King and then they repay themselves our of the People's Pockets and God knoweth with what Verations and Tyrannical Oppressions for they are Impowered to do what ever they please Those who have computed as near as possibly they could how many Men are Employed in the Levying the King's Revenues do assure me that they are above 80 Thousand who are kept at the People's Charges the keeping of whom is dearer by far than the barely maintaining of a Hundred Thousand Soldiers But a Man must have seen this to believe it Now whosoever will seriously consider these things will no doubt agree with me that the French Nation Groans under a very Slavish and worse than Egyptian Bondage and that they pay a great deal more than what appears in the Books of the Royal Treasury I was one day discoursing in France upon this Point with a very learned Man and one that very well understood this Business and he told me That upon a very modest Computation he had found that the Kingdom of France paid Yearly above 200 Thousand Millions upon account of the King's 〈◊〉 that is above 15384615 l. 7 s. 6 d. Sterling tho' I will not absolutely relie on my Friend's Account yet this small Treatise I hope will be enough to convince any unprejudiced Person that it is not altogether improbable I will only now desire my Readers to peruse this little Book with care and then to consider how much they are obliged to those who are indefatigable in their Labour and Industry to bring this Nation under the dreadful Tyranny of France FINIS