almost immediately, and Maréchal remained some time in the same place, scarcely knowing where he was.

After the King had been thus satisfied by his confessor, no time was lost in establishing the tax. On Tuesday, the 30th of September, Desmarets entered the Finance Council with the necessary edict in his bag.

For some days everybody had known of this bombshell in the air, and had trembled with that remnant of hope which is founded only upon desire; all the Court, as well as all Paris waited in a dejected sadness to see what would happen. People whispered to each other, and when the project was rendered public, no one dared to talk of it aloud.

On the day above-named, the King brought forward this measure in the Council, by saying, that the impossibility of obtaining peace, and the extreme difficulty of sustaining the war, had caused Desmarets to look about in order to discover some means, which should appear good, of raising money; that he had pitched upon this tax; that he (the King), although sorry to adopt such a resource, approved it, and had no doubt the Council would do so likewise, when it was explained to them.

Desmarets, in a pathetic discourse, then dwelt upon the reasons which had induced him to propose this tax, and afterwards read the edict through from beginning to end, without interruption.

No one spoke when it was over, until the King asked D'Aguesseau his opinion. D'Aguesseau replied, that it would be necessary for him to take home the edict, and read it through very carefully before expressing an opinion. The King said that D'Aguesseau was right it would take a long time to examine the edict-but, after all, examination was unnecessary, and would only be loss of time. All remained silent again, except the Duc de Beauvilliers, who, seduced by the nephew of Colbert, whom he thought an oracle in

finances, said a few words in favor of the project. Thus was settled this bloody business, and immediately after signed, sealed, and registered, among stifled sobs, and published amidst the most gentle, but most piteous complaints.

The product of this tax was nothing like so much as had been imagined in this bureau of cannibals; and the King did not pay a single farthing more to anyone than he had previously done. Thus, all the fine relief expected by this tax ended in smoke.

The Marshal de Vauban had died of grief, at the ill success of his task, and his zeal, as I have related in its place. Poor Boisguilbert, in the exile his zeal had brought him, was terribly afflicted, to find he had innocently given advice which he intended for the relief of the State, but which had been made use of in this frightful manner. Every man, without exception, saw himself a prey to the tax-gatherers; reduced to calculate and discuss with them his own patrimony, to receive their signature, and their protection under the most cerrible pains; to show in public all the secrets of his Family; to bring into the broad open day-light domestic urpitudes enveloped until then in the folds of precauions the wisest, and the most multiplied. Many had o convince the tax-agents, but vainly, that although proprietors, they did not enjoy the tenth part of their roperty. All Languedoc offered to give up its entire wealth, if allowed to enjoy, free from every impost, the enth part of it. The proposition not only was not istened to, but was reputed an insult, and severely lamed.

Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne spoke openly gainst this tax, and against the finance people, who ved upon the very marrow of the people; spoke with a ist and holy anger that recalled the memory of St. ouis, of Louis XII., Father of the People, and of Louis

the Just. Monseigneur, too, moved by this indignation, so unusual, of his son, sided with him, and showed anger at so many exactions as injurious, as barbarous, and at so many insignificant men so monstrously enriched with the nation's blood. Both father and son infinitely surprised those who heard them, and made themselves looked upon in some sort, as resources from which something might hereafter be hoped for. But the edict was issued, and though there might be some hope in the future, there was none in the present. And no one knew who was to be the real successor of Louis XIV., and how, under the next Government, we were to be still more overwhelmed than under this one.

One result of this tax was, that it enabled the King to augment all his infantry with five men per company.

A tax was also levied upon the usurers, who had much gained by trafficking in the paper of the King, that is to say, had taken advantage of the need of those to whom the King gave this paper in payment. These usurers are called agioteurs. Their mode was, ordinarily, to give, for example, according as the holder of paper was more or less pressed, 300, or 400 francs (the greater part often in provisions), for a bill of a thousand francs! This game was called agio. It was said that thirty millions were obtained from this tax. Many people gained much by it; I know not if the King were the better treated.

Soon after this the coin was re-coined, by which great profit was made for the King, and much wrong done to private people, and to trade. In all times it has been regarded as a very great misfortune to meddle with coin, and money. Desmarets has accustomed us to tricks with the money; M. le Duc and Cardinal Fleury to interfere with corn, and to fictitious famine.

At the commencement of December, the King declared that he wished there should be, contrary to custom, plays,

and "apartments" at Versailles, even when Monseigneur should be at Meudon. He thought, apparently, he must keep his Court full of amusements, to hide, if it were possible, abroad and at home, the disorder, and the extremity of affairs. For the same reason, the carnival was opened early this season, and all through the winter there were many balls of all kinds at the Court, where the wives of the ministers gave very magnificent displays, like fêtes, to Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne and to all the Court.

But Paris did not remain less wretched, or the provinces less desolated.

And thus I have arrived at the end of 1710.'

The foregoing is abridged from the French, of the Duke de St. Simon, by Bayle St. John.

Here we may see the origin of the French Revolution, and of its horrors.

France for a thousand years had been subject to tyrants, and the country, when not desolated by oppression and taxation, was brutalized by bigotry and licentiousness.

If we compare the six thousand persons supposed to have perished under the hands of executioners during the French Revolution, with the multitudes which perished by fictitious famine, brought on by the tyrant kings and their miscreant ministers, with the connivance of the infamous nobility, all astonishment ceases, but at the clemency shown by the brutalized and infuriated People in he hour of their vengeance and triumph.

Who can doubt that the horrors of the French Revoution would have been unknown, if the just and wise views of Vauban had been carried out in his time? And who can doubt, after this experience, that accumulated wrongs work out, slowly but surely, their own redress, even in this world, with fearful retribution?

The only value of history is in its lessons of experience,

and if it do not teach to be wise in time, all its teaching is good for nothing more than the historic ballad of "Chevy Chase."

ADAM SMITH-AND TAXATION.

The few Extracts which will be here given from the Writings of our great Master "On the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," are for the purpose of showing the perfect coincidence of his views with those of Turgot and Vauban, as also with the Scheme of Taxation here presented, on all the most essential points.

Adam Smith shows that, the private revenue of individuals arises ultimately from three different sources; Rent, Profit, and Wages.

Every tax must finally be paid from one or other of these three different sorts of revenue, or from all of them indifferently.

1. The subjects of every State ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the State.

2. The tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain, and not arbitrary. The time of payment, the manner of payment, the quantity to be paid, ought all to be clear and plain to the contributor, and to every other person.

3. Every tax ought to be levied at the time, or in the manner, in which it is most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it.

4. Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the State.