us;
10,000 to the Duchesse de Brancas; 10,000 to the dowager Duchesse de
Brancas, mother of the preceding," etc. At the head of these leeches
come the princes of the blood. "The king has just given 1,500,000 livres
to M. le Prince de Conti to pay his debts, 1,000,000 of which is under
the pretext of indemnifying him for the injury done him by the sale of
Orange, and 500,000 livres as a gratuity." "The Duc d'Orleans formerly
had 50,000 crowns pension, as a poor man, and awaiting his father's
inheritance. This event making him rich, with an income of more than
3,000,000 livres, he gave up his pension. But having since represented
to the king that his expenditure exceeded his income, the king gave him
back his 50,000 crowns."--Twenty years later, in 1780, when Louis XVI.,
desirous of relieving the treasury, signs "the great reformation of the
table, 600,000 livres are given to Mesdames for their tables." This is
what the dinners, cut down, of three old ladies, cost the public! For
the king's two brothers, 8,300,000 livres, besides 2,000,000 income
in appanages; for the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame Elisabeth, and
Mesdames 3,500,000 livres; for the queen, 4,000,000: such is the
statement of Necker in 1784. Add to this the casual donations, admitted
or concealed; 200,000 francs to M. de Sartines, to aid him in paying his
debts; 200,000 to M. Lamoignon, keeper of the seals; 100,000 to M. de
Miromesnil for expenses in establishing himself; 166,000 to the widow of
M. de Maurepas; 400,000 to the Prince de Salm; 1,200,000 to the Duc de
Polignac for the pledge of the county Fenestranges; 754,337 to Mesdames
to pay for Bellevue.[1419] M. de Calonne," says Augeard, a reliable
witness,[1420] "scarcely entered on his duties, raised a loan of
100,000,000 livres, one-quarters of which did not find its way into
the royal treasury; the rest was eaten up by people at the court; his
donations to the Comte Artois are estimated at 56,000,000; the portion
of Monsieur is 5,000,000; he gave to the Prince de Conde, in exchange
for 300,000 livres income, 12,000,000 paid down and 600,000 livres
annuity, and he causes the most burdensome acquisition to be made for
the State, in exchanges of which the damage is more than five to one."
We must not forget that in actual rates all these donations, pensions,
and salaries are worth double the amount.--Such is the use of the great
in relation to the central power; instead of constituting themselves
represe