said to have already passed into the hands of farmers. In 1772,
in relation to the vingtieme, which is levied on the net revenue of real
property, the intendant of Caen, having completed the statement of his
quota, estimates that out of 150,000 "there are perhaps 50,000 whose
liabilities did not exceed five sous, and perhaps still as many more not
exceeding twenty sous."[5149] Contemporary observers authenticate this
passion of the peasant for land. "The savings of the lower classes,
which elsewhere are invested with individuals and in the public funds,
are wholly destined in France to the purchase of land." "Accordingly the
number of small rural holdings is always on the increase. Necker
says that there is an immensity of them." Arthur Young, in 1789, is
astonished at their great number and "inclines to think that they form a
third of the kingdom." This already would be our actual estimate, and we
still find, approximately, the actual figures, on estimating the number
of proprietors in comparison with the number of inhabitants.

The small cultivator, however, in becoming a possessor of the soil
assumed its charges. Simply as day-laborer, and with his arms alone, he
was only partially affected by the taxes; "where there is nothing the
king loses his dues." But now, vainly is he poor and declaring himself
still poorer; the fisc has a hold on him and on every portion of his
new possessions. The collectors, peasants like himself, and jealous, by
virtue of being his neighbors, know how much his property, exposed to
view, brings in; hence they take all they can lay their hands on. Vainly
has he labored with renewed energy; his hands remain as empty, and,
at the end of the year, he discovers that his field has produced him
nothing. The more he acquires and produces the more burdensome do the
taxes become. In 1715, the taille and the poll-tax, which he alone pays,
or nearly alone, amounts to sixty-six millions of livres; the amount
is ninety-three millions in 1759 and one hundred and ten millions in
1789.[5150] In 1757, the charges amount to 283,156,000 livres; in 1789
to 476,294,000 livres.

Theoretically, through humanity and through good sense, there is,
doubtless, a desire to relieve the peasant, and pity is felt for him.
But, in practice, through necessity and routine, he is treated according
to Cardinal Richelieu's precept, as a beast of burden to which oats is
sparingly rationed out for fear that he may become too stron