James Stephen
Published: 2017-12-25
Total Pages: 510
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Excerpt from Lectures on the History of France, Vol. 2 of 2 It is superfluous to point out the vexations and absurdities of such a system. To enhance them, the usual inequalities were maintained in the execution of it. The privileged orders were permitted to supply their own domestic wants by deducting what was re quisite for that purpose from the produce of their own salt-mines or marshes. In various provinces total or partial exemptions from the gabelle were established; and the charge was consequently ren dered at once more Oppressive and more invidious in those places in which the weight of it was entirely unmitigated. It was, nevertheless, too lucrative an impost to be abandoned, even by the most equitable and magnanimous of the statesmen of France under the Old monarchy. Sully, Richelieu, Colbert, and many others, introduced or attempted various modi fications of the system; but it remained to the last a grinding and offensive monopoly of one of the absolute necessaries of human existence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
