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
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
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
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
the English Government the Protestant Religion c. And that the People of England spent always much more than those of France 2. The Fruits or Profits of the Labour of People could never be so great in France as in England as I proved before 3. Above the two thirds of the Working-Men in France have perished one way or other as I said before and must often repeat it and the excess of Misery under which that People groans cannot be expressed 4. There is no Trade within or without the Kingdom Arts and Manufactures are all decayed and a great part of the People are turned Beggars c. But because it seems to be impossible that the French People should Live and Subsist at so little Expense I must Discover how they do it 't is by consuming their Stock perhaps to the value of above 4 or 500 Millions every Year without reckoning the great and general Decay in all the Stocks and Revenues caused by the Depopulation which puts the Kingdom to the loss of more than 2000 Millions yearly during this War as I could easily demonstrate 'T is not so much by selling away Lands Houses and Offices that the People devours these 4 or 500 Millions of their Stock tho' they may perhaps sell some for the 10th or 12th part of their former value as 't is by selling away their Houshold-Goods Cattle and Timber-Wood their Plate and Jewels when there is any or lending to those who will never pay or by borrowing giving or taking to trust either their Money or Commodities Labour or Time by not paying their old Debts which is a general Disease in all the Kingdom and makes up a dreadful Article or by selling and quitting their actual Debts for much less than they were worth formerly and such other usual Ways by which they waste their Stock more and more and yet for all this a great many dye of Hunger every day To comprehend this matter the better let us suppose a Man who had 30 years ago 100 pound of Revenue and pays now the Taxes upon the Foot of the Ancient Revenue of his Land and not upon the Foot of the present for the Court Taxes all the Subjects now according to the Ancient Estimate that Man's Lands being fallen two thirds of their former Revenue if he pays only 30 pounds to the King Yearly which would be look'd upon now a days as a great moderation there is nothing left for him of his Revenue if he pays 50 or 100 l. as 't is usual now for they are Taxed in that proportion and worse sometimes how can he pay that Tax which is three times more than his Rent and live without wasting the Stock If as I said before all the Estates Real and Personal in the Kingdom are worth but 130 Millions of Livers and that the King alone raises 200 which comes into his Coffers free without that which is necessary to enrich the Farmers of Impositions and to maintain 30 or 40 thousand Men under them at the People's Charges called Gabeleurs and Rats de Cave c. and besides to maintain the Officers of Judicature and innumerable other Civil Officers as I said before without mentioning the Clergy who by their Subtilty and Craft do always Cheat and Plunder the People If I say this be the State of affairs in France we are obliged to believe that as the King and all those Ravenous Birds devour the Kingdom every one is also forced to live upon the Quick and devour his own Stock and that so much the more that the Clergy alone possess as I have said the half of the Real and Personal-Estates and do not contribute to the King proportionably as the other Subjects do and therefore their Stock does not Decay so much because they are not obliged to Devour it by reason that they can live very plentifully on their Rents especially considering that they may retrench the great numbers of their Monks and Priests without any inconveniency I did above mention the Common Taxes which swallow up the whole Revenue of the People and more What will it be then when the King forces People as he does continually to lend him Money or to purchase his new Offices and Titles or to take Augmentation of Wages if Officers or to give an Account of the Adminstration of some Imployments or Functions or when a Man or his Father or Grand-Father or any other to whom he may have some Relation is Accused and perhaps without any proofs of having robbed the King or the People and thereupon is condemned to pay the King the greatest part of all that he has A hundred such Methods are practised every day to the Ruine of the most Opulent Subjects all of a sudden It cannot be denyed that this is the Condition of France at this day and that there are but very few who do not consume their Stock except those who never had any thing and who help the King to destroy all I confess that as the French People live in the Country those poor Souls do not spend a penny a day in Food one with another The Country-People in Ireland feed much better than those of France the Irish eat their belly full of meat when they please nor don't want Butter Cheese Bread Potatos and in many places they have abundance of Salt and Fresh-Water-Fish Oysters Musles Crabs Langosts and Cockles for tho' they are very lazy the Land is plentiful in all those things and then they pay almost no Taxes and besides they smoak Tobaco Men Women and Children and notwithstanding all this Men of understanding who know that Nation perfectly and have Written concerning it assure us That they do not spend a penny a day one with another for their Dyet They own indeed that wearing commonly good Cloaths they may spend one with another including their Rayment about 2 pence per Diem or 52 shill per Annum whereas the Country-People in France spends very little in Cloaths at least two thirds less than the People in Ireland Those who are acquainted with the Condition of France know that most part of the Country-people did feed only upon Black-Bread before the War neither had they their Belly full of that and the best of their other cheer was some Fruits Herbs and Roots with sowr Milk without any Butter or Fat unless some stinking Oyl of Walnut or Rape-Seed except it may be in those places where Olive-Trees are plentiful they sold their Butter to pay the Taille and drank nothing but meer Water or Water which had past over the drained Grapes or Apples when the Wine and Syder had been pressed out of them their chiefest and almost only Food was Black-Bread or Rye-Bread baked with all the Bran commonly very bad that does not cost a Half-penny per Pound of which the Women and Children cannot eat three quarters of a pound a day one with another nor Men who are at present in small numbers double that quantity As