till, it is sufficient that he himself
should work, or his steward, to communicate to the land his original
independence. As soon as he touches the soil, either personally or
through his agent, he exempts four plowing-areas (quatre charrues),
three hundred arpents,[1215] which in other hands would pay 2,000 francs
tax. Besides this he is exempt on "the woods, the meadows, the vines,
the ponds and the enclosed land belonging to the chateau, of whatever
extent it may be." Consequently, in Limousin and elsewhere, in regions
principally devoted to pasturage or to vineyards, he takes care to
manage himself, or to have managed, a certain portion of his domain; in
this way he exempts it from the tax collector.[1216] There is yet more.
In Alsace, through an express covenant he does not pay a cent of tax.
Thus, after the assaults of four hundred and fifty years, taxation, the
first of fiscal instrumentalities, the most burdensome of all, leaves
feudal property almost intact.[1217]--For the last century, two new
tools, the capitation-tax and the vingtiemes, appear more effective,
and yet are but little more so.--First of all, through a masterstroke of
ecclesiastical diplomacy, the clergy diverts or weakens the blow. As it
is an organization, holding assemblies, it is able to negotiate with the
king and buy itself off. To avoid being taxed by others it taxes itself.
It makes it appear that its payments are not compulsory contributions,
but a "free gift." It obtains then in exchange a mass of concessions,
is able to diminish this gift, sometimes not to make it, in any event
to reduce it to sixteen millions every five years, that is to say to a
little more than three millions per annum. In 1788 it is only 1,800,000
livres, and in 1789 it is refused altogether.[1218] And still better: as
it borrows to provide for this tax, and as the decimes which it raises
on its property do not suffice to reduce the capital and meet the
interest on its debt, it has the adroitness to secure, besides, a
grant from the king. Out of the royal treasury, each year, it receives
2,500,000 livres, so that, instead of paying, it receives. In 1787 it
receives in this way 1,500,000 livres.-As for the nobles, they, being
unable to combine together, to have representatives, and to act in a
public way, operate instead in a private way. They contact ministers,
intendants, sub-delegates, farmer-generals, and all others clothed with
authority, their quality securing a