NEW TAXES. 1GI

his subjects, squeezed out their very marrow, without distinc-
tion, and who enriched an army of tax-gatherers and officials of
all kinds, in whose hands the best part of what was collected
remained.

Desrnarets, in whom the King had been forced to put all his
confidence in finance matters, conceived the idea of establishing,
in addition to so many taxes, that Royal Tithe upon all the
property of each community and of each private person of the
realm, that the Mareehal do Vaulmn, on the one hand, and
Boisguilbert on the other, had formerly proposed; but, as I have
already described, as a .simple and solo tax which would suffice
for all, which would all enter the coffers of the King, and by
means of which every other impost would bo abolished.

We have seen what success this proposition mot with ; how
the financiers trembled at it; how the ministers blushed at it,
with what anathemas it wan rejected, and to what extent these
two excellent and skilful citizens wore disgraced. All this must
be recollected here, since Desmarets, who had not lost sight of
this system (not as relief and remedy—-unpardonable crimes in
the financial doctrine), now had recourse to it.

He imparted his project to three friends, Councillors of
State, who examined it well, and worked hard to HOC bow to
overcome the obstacles which arose in the way of its execu-
tion. In the first place, it was necessary, in order to collect this
tax, to draw from each person a clear statement of his wealth,
of his debts, and so on. It was necessary to demand sure proofs-
on these points so as not to be deceived. Here was all the diffi-
culty. Nothing was thought of tho desolation this extra im-
post must cause to a prodigious number of men, or of their
despair upon finding themselves obliged to disclose their family
secrets; to have a lamp thrown, as it wore, upon their most
delicate parts; all these things, I nay, went for nothing. Less
than a month sufficed these humane commissioners to render
an account of this gentle project to tho Cyclop who had charged
thorn with it. Dosrnarots thereupon proposed it to the King,
who, accustomed as ho was to tho most ruinous imposts, could
not avoid being terrified at this. For a long while lie had

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