who depend on the town and
are comprehended in its functions, are treated with a rigor of which it
would be difficult to form an idea. . . . Town influence is constantly
throwing the burden on those who are trying to be relieved of it, the
richest of citizens paying less taille than the most miserable of the
peasant farmers[5253]." Hence, "the horror of the taille depopulates the
rural districts, concentrating in the towns all the talents and all the
capital[5254]." Outside of the towns there is the same differences. Each
year, the elus and their collectors, exercising arbitrary power, fix
the taille of the parish and of each inhabitant. In these ignorant and
partial hands the scales are not held by equity but by self-interest,
local hatreds, the desire for revenge, the necessity of favoring some
friend, relative, neighbor, protector, or patron, some powerful or some
dangerous person. The intendant of Moulins, on visiting his generalship,
finds "people of influence paying nothing, while the poor are
over-charged." That of Dijon writes that "the basis of apportionment is
arbitrary, to such an extent that the people of the province must not be
allowed to suffer any longer."[5255] In the generalship of Rouen
"some parishes pay over four sous the livre and others scarcely one
sou."[5256] "For three years past that I have lived in the country,"
writes a lady of the same district, "I have remarked that most of the
wealthy proprietors are the least pressed; they are selected to make the
apportionment, and the people are always abused."[5257]--"I live on an
estate ten leagues from Paris," wrote d'Argenson, "where it was desired
to assess the taille proportionately, but only injustice has been the
outcome since the seigniors made use of their influence to relieve their
own tenants." [5258] Besides, in addition to those who, through favor,
diminish their taille, there are others who buy themselves off entirely.
An intendant, visiting the subdelegation of Bar-sur-Seine, observes"
that the rich cultivators succeed in obtaining petty commissions in
connection with the king's household and enjoy the privileges attached
to these, which throws the burden of taxation on the others."[5259] "One
of the leading causes of our prodigious taxation," says the provincial
assembly of Auvergne, "is the inconceivable number of the privileged,
which daily increases through traffic in and the assignment of offices;
cases occur in which these have enn