ardly
sufficient to defray the enormous expence of his government. About two
millions sterling per annum of his revenue are said to be anticipated
for paying the interest of the public debts; and the rest is found
inadequate to the charge of a prodigious standing army, a double
frontier of fortified towns and the extravagant appointments of
ambassadors, generals, governors, intendants, commandants, and other
officers of the crown, all of whom affect a pomp, which is equally
ridiculous and prodigal. A French general in the field is always
attended by thirty or forty cooks; and thinks it is incumbent upon him,
for the glory of France, to give a hundred dishes every day at his
table. When don Philip, and the marechal duke de Belleisle, had their
quarters at Nice, there were fifty scullions constantly employed in the
great square in plucking poultry. This absurd luxury infects their
whole army. Even the commissaries keep open table; and nothing is seen
but prodigality and profusion. The king of Sardinia proceeds upon
another plan. His troops are better cloathed, better payed, and better
fed than those of France. The commandant of Nice has about four hundred
a year of appointments, which enable him to live decently, and even to
entertain strangers. On the other hand, the commandant of Antibes,
which is in all respects more inconsiderable than Nice, has from the
French king above five times the sum to support the glory of his
monarch, which all the sensible part of mankind treat with ridicule and
contempt. But the finances of France are so ill managed, that many of
their commandants, and other officers, have not been able to draw their
appointments these two years. In vain they complain and remonstrate.
When they grow troublesome they are removed. How then must they support
the glory of France? How, but by oppressing the poor people. The
treasurer makes use of their money for his own benefit. The king knows
it; he knows his officers, thus defrauded, fleece and oppress his
people: but he thinks proper to wink at these abuses. That government
may be said to be weak and tottering which finds itself obliged to
connive at such proceedings. The king of France, in order to give
strength and stability to his administration, ought to have sense to
adopt a sage plan of oeconomy, and vigour of mind sufficient to execute
it in all its parts, with the most rigorous exactness. He ought to have
courage enough to find fault, and even to punis