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the origins of contemporary france-5-第63章

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hundred signed their marriage contract。 From 1816 to 1820; the figures

show 54 husbands and 34 wives。) … Morris Birbeck; 〃Notes of a Journey

through France in July; August and September 1814。〃 p。3 (London;

1815)。  〃I am told that all the children of the laboring classes learn

to read; and are generally instructed by their parents。〃



'146' Madame de Rémusat; I。; 243。 (Journey in the north of France and

in Belgium with the First Consul; 1803。) 〃On journeys of this kind he

was in the habit; after obtaining information about the public

buildings a town needed; to order them as he passed along; and; for

this munificence; he bore away the blessings of the people。〃 … Some

time after this a letter came from the minister of the interior: 〃In

conformity with the favor extended to you by the First Consul (later;

emperor) you are required; citizen mayor; to order the construction of

this or that building; taking care to charge the expenses on the funds

of your commune;〃 and which the prefect of the department obliges him

to do; even when available funds are exhausted or otherwise applied。



'147' Thiers; VIII。; 117  (August 1807) and 124。 13;400 leagues of

highways were constructed or repaired; 10 canals were dug or

continued; at the expense of the public treasury; 32 departments

contribute to the expense of these through the extra centimes tax;

which is imposed on them。 The State and the department; on the

average; contribute each one…half。 … Among the material evils caused

by the Revolution; the most striking and the most seriously felt was

the abandonment and running down of roads which had become

impracticable; also the still more formidable degeneracy of the dikes

and barriers against rivers and the sea。 (Cf。 in Rocquain; 〃état de la

France au 18 Brumaire;〃 the reports of Fran?ais de Nantes; Fourcroy;

Barbeé…Marbois; etc。) … The Directory had imagined barrriers with

toll…gates on each road to provide expenses; which brought in scarcely

16 millions to offset 30 and 35 millions of expenditure。 Napoleon

substitutes for these tolls the product of the salt…tax。 (Decree of

April 24; 1806; art。 59。)



'148' 〃Souvenirs〃; by PASQUIER (Etienne…Dennis; duc) Librarie Plon;

Paris 1893。  〃Scarcely two or three highways remained in decent order。

。 。 。 Navigation on the rivers and canals became impossible Public

buildings and monuments were everywhere falling to ruin。 。 。 。 If the

rapidity of destruction was prodigious; that of restoration was no

less so。







CHAPTER II。 TAXATION AND CONSCRIPTION。



I。 Distributive Justice in Allotment of Burdens and Benefits。



Requirements previous to the Revolution。 … Lack of distributive

justice。 … Wrongs committed in the allotment of social sacrifices and

benefits。 … Under the ancient Regime。 … During the Revolution。 …

Napoleon's personal and public motives in the application of

distributive justice。 … The circumstances favorable to him。 … His

principle of apportionment。 … He exacts proportion in what he grants。



The other group of needs; dating from long before 1789; involve wants

which have survived the Revolution; because the Revolution has not

satisfied these。 The first; the most tenacious; the most profound; the

most inveterate; the most frustrated of all is the desire for

distributive justice。 … In political society; as in every other

society; there are burdens and benefits to be allotted。 When the

apportionment of these is unbiased; it takes place according to a very

simple; self…evident principle:



For each individual the costs must be in proportion to the benefits

and the benefits to the costs; so that; for each one; the final

expense and the final receipt may exactly compensate each other; the

larger or smaller share of expense being always equal to the larger or

smaller share of profits。



Now; in France; this proportion had been wanting for many centuries;

it had even given way to the inverse proportion。 If; towards the

middle of the eighteenth century; two sum…totals of the budget;

material and moral; had been calculated; assets on one side and

liabilities on the other:



On the one hand the sum of the apportionments exacted by the State;

taxes in ready money; enforced labor; military service; civil

subordination; every species of obedience and subjection; in short;

every sacrifice of leisure; comfort and self…esteem。



On the other hand the sum of dividends distributed by the State of

whatever kind or shape; security for persons and property; use and

convenience of roads; delegations of public authority land liens on

the public treasury; dignities; ranks; grades; honors; lucrative

salaries; sinecures; pensions; and the like; that is to say; every

gratification belonging to leisure; comfort; or pride … one might have

concluded that the more a man contributed to the receipts the less

would his dividend be; and the greater his dividend the less would he

furnish to the general contribution。



Consequently; every social or local group consisted of two other

groups: a majority which suffered for the benefit of the minority; and

a minority which benefited at the expense of the majority; to such an

extent that the privations of the greatest number defrayed the luxury

of the small number。 This was the case in all compartments as on every

story; owing to the multitude; enormity and diversity of honorific or

useful privileges; owing to the legal prerogatives and effective

preferences by which the court nobles benefited at the expense of the

provincial nobility;



* the noblesse at the expense of plebeians;

* the prelates and beneficiaries at the expense of poorly…paid curés

and vicars;

* the two highest orders of the clergy at the expense of the third;

* the bourgeoisie at the expense of the people;

* the towns at the expense of the rural districts;

* this or that town or province at the expense of the rest;

* the artisan member of a corporation at the expense of the free

workman;



and; in general; the strong; more or less well…to…do; in league and

protected; at the expense of the weak; more or less needy; isolated

and unprotected (indéfendus)。'1'



One hundred years before the Revolution a few clairvoyant; open…

hearted and generous spirits had already been aroused by this

scandalous disproportion。'2' Finally; everybody is shocked by it; for;

in each local or social group; nearly everybody is a sufferer; not

alone the rural; the peasant; the artisan; and the plebeian; not alone

the citizen; the curé and the bourgeois notable;〃 but again the

gentleman; the grand seignior; the prelate and the King himself。'3'

Each is denouncing the privileges of all others that affect his

interests; each striving to diminish another's share in the public

cake and to keep his own; all concurring in citing natural right and

in claiming or accepting as a principle liberty and equality; but all

concurring in misconception and solely unanimous in destroying and in

allowing destruction;'4' to such an extent that; at last; the attack

being universal and no defense anywhere; social order itself perishes;

entirely owing to the abuses of it。



On the reappearance of the same abuses; the lack of distributive

justice in revolutionary France became still more apparent than in

monarchical France。 Through a sudden transposition; the preferred of

the former Régime had become the disgraced; while the disgraced of the

former Régime had become the preferred; unjust favor and unjust

disfavor still subsisted; but with a change of object。 Before 1789;

the nation was subject to an oligarchy of nobles and notables; after

1789; it became subject to an oligarchy of Jacobins big or little。

Before the Revolution; there were in France three or four hundred

thousand privileged individuals; recognizable by their red heels or

silver shoe…buckles。 After the Revolution; there were three or four

hundred thousand of the privileged; recognizable by their red caps or

their carmagnoles。'5' The most privileged of all; the three or four

thousand verified nobles; presented at court and of racial antiquity;

who; by virtue of their parchments; rode in the royal carriages; were

succeeded by three or four thousand Jacobins of a fresh sprout; no

less verified and accepted; who; by virtue of their civic patent; sat

in the club of the rue Saint…Honoré and the latter coterie was still

more dominant; more exclusive; more partial than the former one。

Consequently; before the Revolution; the burden of taxation was light

for the rich or the well…to…do; crushing for the peasants or the

common people; after the Revolution; on the contrary; the peasants;

the common people; paid no more taxes;'6' while from the rich and the

well…to…do the government took all; not alone their income but their

capital。 … On the other hand; after having fed the court of

Versailles; the public treasury had to feed the rabble of Paris; still

more voraciou
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