THE French Government, though a mild one for an arbitrary one, is yet a very terrible one to an Englishman. All the Advantages in it are not comparable to one single Advantage in ours; I mean the Act of Habeas Corpus, which secures, at least rescues, you from all wanton and oppressive Imprisonment. In France, by the Word of a Minister, the greatest, the most innocent Subject, may, from Caprice, or a Whisper, or the Pique of a Mistress, be committed to a Dungeon for his Life, or the best Part of it, or as long as the Minister, or his Mistress or Minion, pleases. Some have been thus shut up in dismal Durance and Solitude for Years together, though no Harm was meant them; not for [18] any Offence, real or imaginary, but only through Mistake and Likeness of Names. Thus a Minister has sometimes committed his Favourites, and useful Agents, who lay in Misery for Years, and might have perished in it, had not Accidents contributed to undeceive him. I think it is Cardinal de Retz that says (I am sure it is some good French Author), that he always dreaded the Favour of being removed from a bad to a better Apartment in the Bastile,because in the Passages there were Trap-Doors suspected, and armed Wheels beneath, where a Prisoner was in an Instant so minced and grinded as to leave behind him no Memorial of his Person.
Next to their arbitrary Imprisonments, come their arbitrary Banishments; and for small Offences they are often inflicted, as well as for great. If any Member of the Parliament have the Honour and Courage freely to remonstrate against registring an oppressive Edict (for no Edict is valid, unless registred by the Parliament) a few Lines presently dispatch him from his Seat there, and from the City, into Exile: How far and how long, depends, like all Things else, upon the Anger or Mercy of the Monarch, or of those who direct the Monarch.
Such Orders, called Letters of the Signet, lie in the Hands of the Ministers, as well as in those of the Under-Governors of Provinces, to be used [19] at their Discretion, frequently to gratify their own Vengeance. Is an Intendant piqued against any Man of Quality; or a Minister against a President of Parliament? Such a Letter is strait sent to him, and be instantly from Home, sometimes into a remote Province. Is the Governor’s Lady, or Daughter, disgusted at another Lady in the Place, finer and more admired than herself? Her Punishment is decreed, and the poor Rival sent a Wandering; a Crime is easily forged, and the Sufferer has no Remedy. The smallest Affront to a Monk in Favour (and Monks, God knows, are soon offended!) finds the same Compensation; a Victim must be offered to his holy Rage. I saw, at Vannes in Bretagne, a Lady in Years, banished thither from her Family in Perigord (some Hundreds of Miles off) for speaking slightly of that libidinous Impostor the Jesuit Girard, famous for his pretended Devotion, and real Debauchery, committed with the devout Damsel Cadiere.
The Abuse of raising and sinking the French Coin, at the Pleasure of the French King, is most alarming to all Men of Property: An industrious Merchant lies down to Rest, happy in his Wealth, perhaps Twenty or Thirty thousand Pounds, the just Effects of his Industry; and wakes next Morning reduced to Half, stripped by the Edict of a Night. When the King’s Coffers were filled [20] with the Money of his Subjects, and he had Payments to make, he raised the Coin to an enormous Value: When his Finances were exhausted, and he wanted to replenish them from the Purses of his Subjects, he sunk the Coin extravagantly low. How would the English relish or bear such Grinding and Robbery?
The French King levies Money, and raises Taxes, at his Pleasure; and punishes such Officers of Justice in Parliament, as dare dispute his Pleasure. He furnishes the Farmers of his Revenue (generally Upstarts and Bloodsuckers) with all his boundless Power to raise it how they can. Nor can we be surprised at any the most merciless Treatment from such Sons of Rapine, thus armed with sovereign Power to spoil and oppress. It is common to see a whole Village stripped of all the Effects and Furniture in it; nay, to see the very Houses pulled down, the Roofs and Timbers carried off, and the wretched Inhabitants exposed naked to wander and starve.
Has not the English Freeholder, Farmer, Manufacturer, Cause to bless his own Government, and different happy Lot? These have no arbitrary Demands to apprehend, and know to a Farthing what they have to pay, long before the Payment is asked. If they be injured in their Portion of Payment, they have easy Recourse to Tribunals and Protectors of their own, generally [21] their Neighbours, who will chuse to do them Justice, or dare not refuse it.
a french Gentleman, who travelled through England after the Peace of Utrecht, says in his Travels, which are printed, “That he believes that there is no Instance in any Nation whatsoever, of so great a Revenue raised with so much Ease to the Subject, at so small an Expence to the Public, and with so little Danger to the Liberties of the People.” A remarkable Testimony from a Frenchman! What is more remarkable, he is speaking of an English Tax much decried, our Excises. He adds, “What an Army of Officers does the French King employ, only for his Duty upon Salt, in the several Provinces? What an Army in his Customs? The Excise in England (says he) is collected with all possible Ease, whilst in France, they are every Day making terrible Examples, hanging, confiscating, and tearing the poor People to Pieces.” Mind this, O my Fellow Citizens! Learn to love your own desirable Condition, and to hate the Parricides, who would labour to make you sick of it, and willing to risk or change it. This Author observes, candidly, “That the Tyranny of Farmers of the Revenue, who exact Payment with Rigour, is not felt in England, as it sadly is in France.”
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“In all the Cities and great walled Towns in France (says another French Author of Quality, and great Family) there are armed Men posted at the Gates by the Farmers of the Revenue, to examine all who pass. If any one is found defrauding the Excise, perhaps under Half-a-Crown, the Offender, if a Man, is sent to the Gallies; if a Woman, and poor, she is whipped by the Hangman; if she have an Estate, she forfeits it all, or most of it, and lies at the Mercy of a brutal Farmer. If a Man of the first Fashion, a great Lord, should be found, after severe Searches, to have in his Baggage a Pound of Salt, of about a Penny Loss to the Farmer, his Lordship’s whole Equipage is forfeited, his Person is imprisoned, and he is fined in a great Sum.”
Remember this, O Britons! Rejoice and tremble!
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