where they were less oppressed with Taxes and it was supposed 15 years ago that above 200 thousand Souls had left France to transplant themselves into the said Conquests I could proffer several other reasons but these are enough I desire it may be observed that in all this I do not mention any thing that hath happened since this War nor even the last horrid Persecution of the Protestants the loss of so many People of the Manufactures of Trade and of so much Money they carried along with them nor do I say any thing of the last Mortality nor of the French King 's keeping 4 or 500 thousand Men in Arms c. So that 't is easie to perceive from all those reasons and others that may be adduced that England ought not only to be more populous which is the thing I did more particularly undertake to prove but by necessary consequence richer also and more potent than France ever was proportionably to the respective bignesses of both Kingdoms Some may perhaps object against all my Reasons and say if so be the Nation is so populous how does it come to pass that it is not richer and more potent for an Island such as England is of that extent and so well situated with all the other advantages above mentioned if populous must needs be also extreamly rich and powerful and if it be rich and powerful whence does it come that the King's Revenues in time of Peace are so small and nothing near so considerable as those of the French King and his Court so much inferiour to that of France in splendor magnificence and number of Courtiers and that his Palace in the Head-City viz. Whitehall is so little comparable in sumptuousness to the Louvre I answer first That England had neither so much People nor so much Revenue as it might and ought to have had considering all the advantages it possesses either from the bounty of Nature or the form of its Government compared to that of France I know very well the reasons of it which 't is not sit to mention here I say secondly That tho' England is more populous and rich than France ever was proportionably to its Extent that yet the number of all the People of France and the Revenues of that Kingdom I do not say only of the King 's but the whole Kingdoms taken in general did always exceed those of England by reason of the greater extent of the Territory as I have often said tho' I believe England at present out-does France very much as well in the Revenue of Real and Personal Estates and in the Profits of the Industry of the People as also in Number of Men fit for Work Manufactures Arts and Trade England I say out does France now in all those things I do not mean comparatively with reference to their respective Bigness or Extent but absolutely yet there may be more People in France reckoning the Women and Children and so by this reason though the French King should not have over charged his Subjects so horribly as he hath done he ought always to have had formerly more Revenue than the King of England As for the other Points it was never a sign or an effect of Poverty in the Nation that the Revenues of the Kings of England their Court and their Palace were comparatively so small for if the Kings and Parliaments had judged it fit they might easily have altered things and put them upon another foot the Nation being Wealthy and abounding much more in rich Nobility and Gentry than France who can plentifully subsist of themselves without the Places and Benefits of the Court whereas the Nobility of France is generally so poor that it cannot subsist otherwise and it is this that makes the French Court so much frequented by the Nobility as well as by great numbers of the general Officers of the Forces which that King maintains even in time of Peace which exceed always two hundred thousand Men and mightily vex and crush the People if things stand otherwise disposed in England 't is an effect of the Genius and Form of that Government which has produced that admirable effect which we see that whereas France is utterly and irrecoverably destroyed by the Absolute Power of her Monarch the King of England on the contrary finds in the heart and good affection of his Subjects who live plentifully all Subsidies necessary to supply the Wants of the Government and support the War as long as will be found convenient Some perhaps who cannot contradict the Reasons which I have offered to prove that England ought to be more populous even at present than France ever was will perhaps dispute the matter of Fact and say that it has been depopulated by the Colonies in Ireland the Plantations in the West-Indies by the Civil Wars both in England and Ireland by the great Massacre in the latter and by the Plague which did carry off so much People To which I answer That there is no comparison between the Loss of Men in England by the Civil War and the Loss of Men in France upon the same account for I dare say France has lost ten to one But I answer further That it does not in the least invalidate the Proofs from matter of Fact which I have produced and need not repeat here which prove demonstratively that England is really more populous than France ever was I grant however that if it were not for the things objected England should be more populous than it is And I am of that Opinion in particular that the Plantations in the West-Indies have done a great prejudice to England in that respect But I affirm also that the Civil Wars in France which lasted much longer than they did in England the violent and frequent Persecutions for Religion not without general and particular Massacres the Plague and Mortality of which it has not been free neither its Plantations in America also and so many great and long Wars abroad without necessity have depopulated France much more But especially the enormous Impositions of France the Methods of raising them the stupendious multitude of Soldiers that have been kept of long time the great multitude of Lawyers and other innumerable Civil Officers that of the Maltotiers that is to say a great Army of Rascals and Thieves subservient to the Farmers of the Impositions and so many other things some of which I mentioned before All those things I say are enough to convince any rational and unbiassed person that France could not be so populous thirty years ago as England is even now But above all I desire that what I proposed above concerning the fatal effects of Popery in that Kingdom might be well weighed Let us conclude then that England is and ought to be more populous than France ever was in the time of its greatest splendor So that there is a great Paradox well proved The World is full of such gross mistakes but I hope
more plain the Value of a Nation depends upon the quantity of the Revenue which the Real and Personal-Estate do usually yield which proceed from the Men without which both Real and Personal-Estates are unprofitable and Labour comes to nothing for the Labour of a thin People in a vast and depopulated Country yields very little profit For example the labour of a Million of Souls which may be at this day in Ireland would not yield so much Profit as that of 200 thousand in England imployed about the same kind of work altho' the Ground is as good or better in Ireland and that million of Souls valued and considered as bound to stay for ever in Ireland would not be so much estimated by them who understand the Value of a People as 200 thousand People of the same Order in England living constantly in it 'T is not the difference that there is between an Irish and an English-man nor the difference between the Soils that would produce such an Effect but the difference between a Populous Country and one ill Peopled For if that Million of Irish-people was transplanted into England they would be valued as much as a Million of English of the same sort and even considering that England would thereby become more populous than is at present they would make the Revenues of England and the value of the English Nation and of its Industry rise and consequently their own Value should also rise in the same proportion On the contrary if two hundred thousand English did go over to Ireland to stay there their Value and Price would decay very much tho' they might as to their private Interest fare perhaps better there because of their leaving a more populous Country for another that is less populous but if instead of 200 thousand English 2 Millions were transported thither then they might be worth as much as they were in England because Ireland would be then as populous proportionably as England is at this day and Ireland would also be worth as much in a little time proportionably as England Money would soon be plentiful Husbandry Arts Manfactures Trade flourish there as they would proportionably decay in England Therefore we cannot reckon less than 4 Millions for that Article So that it appears that 14 thousand Millions of the 20 thousand which the Kingdom of France might be worth 30 years ago are lost I make a great allowance to France for I am of opinion that the loss is greater and that the Real and Personal Estates together with all the People in that Kingdom are not worth 6 thousand Millions of Livers nor scarcely 4 the People being so much decreased I own indeed That if the People were collected together and compacted in one half of the Kingdom and forsook the other half the 9 Millions of Souls would be worth as much as ever they were and that if they were confined to the 4th part of the Kingdom secure from all all Invasion and insult of Enemies and placed near the Sea they would be worth more than ever were all the 13 Millions and a half of People diffused thro' France 30 years ago and that 4th part of the Kingdom being well peopl'd and cultivated it would be infallibly worth more than was ever the whole Kingdom So that it is a great imprudence in any Prince or Nation to extend their Conquests unless they People instead of depopulating their Country thereby as they usually do If so be they had Authority enough to do it It were more wisely done to recollect all their People in as narrow a Compass as they reasonably could in a good ground nigh the Sea and great Rivers and to intrench themselves round about with natural and artificial Fortifications the best they could against all Insults Then they should see their People thrive and increase every day in riches and strength We see by the Example of Holland what a great People in a little Country may do And by the Examples of Spain and Ireland how little a large Country signifies when depopulated We may see it also by comparing England with Ireland The first is but twice as big as the other and not naturally so fruitful and yet 't is commonly estimated to be worth ten times more because of its being more populous For if England enjoys a better Trade if Arts and Manufactures flourish in it and if Money is more plentiful it owes all those advantages to the multitude of its People which is the main thing in which it surpasses Ireland We read in a very good Book Sir VVill. Petty's Political Anatomy of Ireland that all the Lands and Houses in Ireland were valued in 1641. before the Rebellion at 11 Millions Sterling and that 11 years after when the War was over it was estimated in time of Peace at no more than a Million Sterling and yet there was above 2 thirds of the People left which were in it before the War and it was also known that above 100 thousand Souls that fled out of the Kingdom because of the War were preparing to return as they really did That same Book affirms that the Houses and Lands might then all have been bought for 1 Million Sterling And yet no body was ignorant that great numbers of new Scotch and English Inhabitants were preparing to transplant themselves thither as they did to the number of above 100 thousand Souls in a few years after So that the Real Estates in Ireland fell from 11 to 1 whereas the Real Estates in France according to my computation are fallen only 3 fourths from 8 to 2. But I am sure that they could not be sold at that rate and it may be not at the 10 part of what they were valued at formerly And as I observed just now there were left in Ireland above 2 third parts of the People which were in it before the War including those who fled over to England for shelter and were expected back every day Besides the new Plantations of Scotch and English which were a coming whereas in France there is perished above half the People in value not to say any thing of those whom the War continues to destroy till it be finished and there is little reason to hope for any new Transmigration of Colonies to repeople it neither is it certain that the Protestants who have been so cruelly persecuted contrary to the publick Faith of the Edicts will ever return thither and if they do their number is not considerable enough to make up the great diminution of People It would be to no purpose to say that the Irish-War was intestine and that both Armies did destroy alike Men Houses Cattle c. Whereas France makes War upon the Countries of the Allies For I dare confidently assert that no Civil War how cruel so ever and tho' managed with 2 big Armies in the middle of France could ever have done so much mischief to the Nation as the King and his
Exacters have done and there needs no other proof of it but this that there has perished in France much more People proportionably these last eight years than there did in the eleven years War in Ireland though the Plague and Famine which are the ordinary Companions of a violent Civil War destroyed many more People in Ireland than the Sword did The Civil Wars of France in the last Age lasted above 40 years and not the 4th part of the People perished then as have done within this 8 years Then for the Houses they are not in a very good condition at present in France but what signifies Houses when a Nation is irrecoverably destroyed France has not much reason neither to boast of the goodness of her Cattle which are very bad and but few in number But then in the last place I answer that altho ' all Houses and Cattle had been destroyed in Ireland which they were not since the Houses in walled Towns which is the chiefest thing in Ireland had suffered but little damage and that the Cattle were still numerous enough as appears by the Memoirs of that time tho' I say all what is alledged were true I answer that there being Men in it they were capable of soon having Houses and Cattle And 't were better for France that her greatest Grievance were to have her Houses reduced to Ashes and all her Cattle destroyed on condition that she had but the two thirds of the Workmen which were in her before the War with a better Government and a better Religion For if that were the Case they would soon have as many Houses and Cattle as they needed It would be to as little purpose for any man to say that it was because Ireland had not full Liberty for Trade For the Irish Nation was better treated by the English than the People of France has been by their Prince for many Reigns And as for Trade they had it always very free and without any restraint upon Foreigners who would come and fetch their Commodities or upon the Irish themselves who were at Liberty to carry them over to Spain France Portugal and other places Their Government was the same then as now and yet their Estates are more valued at present than they were at that time which shews that it was meerly the effect of the war and of the great destruction of Men which preceeded it It would be as impertinent to object that they were Protestants who did then put such a low-estimate upon Ireland because they had a mind to quit it for besides what I have said already upon that Subject the Objection is refuted by the History which informs us that there were above 100 thousand Protestants born in that Country who had no Estates in any other part of the World and who consequently were far from any thoughts to quit it and were expected there besides above an hundred thousand English and Scotch Protestants who actually went thither We must add to this that it will be much harder to restore France to its former State then it was to restore Ireland in respect of the Lands because the most part of the Soil of Ireland is fit for Pasture whereas the most part of France consists in Arable Lands and Vines which being untilled and quite rooted up cannot be restored so easily I have insisted much on that example of Ireland because I do not know any that agrees so well with the Condition that France is likely to be reduced to I might very well have valued only the loss of the People in France and have forborn to make mention of Real and Personal Estates for after all is said Estates are worth nothing without People and if there was but one Man in France all the Estates would be worth no more than that Mans maintenance So that I might have valued the People which did spend a thousand Millions of Livers yearly 30 years ago when they did make up according to our supposition the number of 13 Millions and a half I might I say have estimated them on the foot of twenty years purchase at twenty thousand Millions For altho' every individual Person is commonly estimated but at 7 or 8 years purchase because they are mortal a Nation which is conceiv'd to be as perpetual as the world in its duration as I already said may be very reasonably valu'd at 20 years purchase And so suppose that half of it is destroyed if not as to the number at least as to their strength and ability for work that being as I say supposed it would alone amount to ten thousand Millions of Livers which ought to be deducted from the twenty thousand Millions aforesaid And because the remaining People are very thin in the Kingdom dispersed to and fro and not united and compacted together so as to help one another and to improve their Land the Seas and Arts to the best advantage as if it were gathered together in half of the Kingdom and in the same proportion as it was when the 13 Millions and a half of Souls were living in it for that reason the least that can be abated of its former Value will be five or six Millions and so the Kingdom will be found to have decayed 3 quarters at least of its ancient Value if taken according to what it might have been estimated at thirty years ago And if any man will be at the pains to reckon the other Losses which the Kingdom has endured within these 30 years he will find many thousand Millions of Livers lost otherwise As for example the 13 Millions and a half of People supposed to have been in France 30 years ago ought to have encreased about two Millions of Souls in 30 years time according to the ordinary Progress of Generation observed by Naturalists which being valued upon the same foot as we estimated the rest had been worth 3 thousand Millions that is about 1500 Livers per Head one with another Observe that the Adult Males or Men in the prime of their Age are commonly valued at twice as much as the rest as is to be seen by the example of Slaves bought at that rate which by the way shews either the Imprudence or the Misfortune of those Princes or States which willingly or forced by some necessity fell their Subjects to other Nations by Regiments or Companies so cheap as many of 'em do If we add to this the Loss of the Superlucration that is to say of what a Nation gets or improves above its Expence for it must be known that a populous and thriving Nation grows continually richer and richer or else it would be still in the same condition that it was 200 years ago I say if we reckon that Loss of the Superlucration it would amount still higher And then further if we could take an account of the Losses the Kingdom has sustained within this 30 years and especially since this War in relation to the Revenues and Rents of
for above the 10 part of what they were worth 30 years ago 'T is the same with Offices which many have purchased with borrowed Money and have mortaged their Offices to the Persons who lent the Money of which the value is also prodigiously fallen In general there were very few persons nay even of the Richest who had most owing them but they were also owing something to others In particular almost all the great ones of the Kingdom were drowned in Debts even before the War and a great number of others of all Conditions had also obtained from the King Letters of State as they call them in order to be discharged from paying their Debts under colour that they or their Brothers or Children did serve the King which Debts being not paid neither Principal nor Interest are every day multiplying ad infinitum when at the same time their Land-Estates are destitute of Husbandmen and Cattle and their Houses falling to Ruine I ask again what must become of so many People both Creditors and Debtors who will by this means be brought to despair and besides 't is certain that Lawyers whose numbers are extreamly increased since this War and who have been exhausted by Taxes and are thereby become greedy and famished will devour and swallow up both Creditors and Debtors since they did ever so even when they were in a prosperous condition I further ask what will become of the 4 or 500 thousand Soldiers who either never had any Estates or have lost them by the Common Fate of the Kingdom and who are used to Violence and Rapine in a Nation so much desolated and shattered and where all things will stand in Confusion For the King will be forced against his will to dismiss at least three parts of them They will certainly become as many Rapparees who will not fail of Trooping together in order to Pillage and Plunder Towns and Borroughs or serve as Instruments to the Princes of the Blood and other Grandees of the Kingdom and to all those who may perhaps be discontented with the Elevation of Lewis's the XIV Bastards or their own Condition and by this means kindle a Civil War in the Kingdom So that it appears evidently by what I have hitherto represented that Lewis the XIV is none of that sort of Conquerours who Inrich and People their Native Countries by their Conquests since he has wasted and ruined his Kingdom by the same Other Soveraigns are wont in their necessary Wars to imploy but a very small part of their Subjects in comparison of those who remain at home and to spend but a small Portion of their Peoples Revenues and not their Stock especially when acting offensively but he on the contrary maintains 4 or 500 thousand Men in his Armies while above half the Land in the Kingdom is Untilled for want of Men and hath already consumed in this War the half of his People and above three parts of the Substance of his Kingdom as I shall shew hereafter more particularly Insomuch that if all the Revenues of the Kingdom as well as that which proceeds from Real and Personal Estates as that which proceeds from Industry were worth a thousand Millions of Livers yearly as I conceive they were 30 years ago they are not worth above 300 or at the utmost 400 Millions at present CHAP II. A more Punctual and Particular Account of the present Condition of FRANCE WE come now to a more particular larger Account of the present and past value of all Estates in France and shall endeavour to discover if possible what difference there may probably be between their value 30 years ago and their value at this day I have said already that I did not think that the Revenues of all Estates Real and Personal of the Kingdom taken in general did amount now in clear Money Repairs being paid to above the third part of what they did amount to 30 years ago tho' there may be in some parts of the Kingdom near the Frontiers some Lands and Houses which may yield as much or more Revenue now than they did formerly And I ground my Judgment upon this that the one half of the Men are perished or are employed in the War and that the half of those who are left are unprofitable for Husbandry and all sorts of Trade so that strictly speaking there is not remaining the third part of the Men sit for work which there were 30 years ago in the Kingdom I ground what I say upon this that the most part of the Lands are untilled and Houses forsaken and even whole Towns Borroughs Villages and Parishes deserted in many places of the Kingdom so that Trade is interrupted both within and without the Nation all the Manufactures are at a low Ebb all Arts decayed and Money is scarce so that there is little consumption of Commodities there is great want of Cattle as well for number as for kind Horses fit for Husbandry are extreamly dear and scarce The Farmers are exhausted by the enormous Taxes laid upon them which at last falls heavy upon the Proprietor of the Land and makes his Estate to be worth so much the less there is also great scarcity of Farmers and all sorts of Labourers they are extreme poor and being ill maintained they are the less able to work The multitude of Beggars in the Kingdom is incredible and several amongst them commit Robberies and Steal away the Fruits of the Country and whatever they can catch besides being unwilling to work and live always at the charges of the Country The Kingdom is spoiled and ruined by the Marches Countermarches Quarterings and Robberies of Soldiers Troopers Recruits Millitia Ban and Rear-Ban The Taxes laid upon all Proprietors of Lands and Houses under several denominations are excessive and force them to sell their Cattle and Houshold-Goods and do disable them from managing their Estates to the best advantage and from helping and relieving their Farmers and Peasants and bring them often to Despair I do not question but this Article may find Opposition and that many will hardly believe the Estates in France to be so much fallen but they areat liberty to Judge what they think fit 'T is true very few of the Owners are sincere enough to acknowledge the Degree of the Decay of their Estate and they fancy 't is a piece of Prudence not to do it because it would not help them in the least but rather tend to the ruine of their Credit and that besides there being almost no Lands lett for want of Farmers they cannot well tell what Revenue they yield them at present but every one gets out of them all that he can to live on without being able to say what they are worth Most Lands are now managed by Servant-Maids and some old lame Servant-Men who do the best they are able Moreover there are several Lands and Houses Farmed whose Possessors being ruined by the War and Taxes and the small price of
part of the People themselves and should put an end to the War by advising the King to make Peace and denying Subsidies if they found them ruinous or unnecessary to the Nation Some simple People especially Foreigners are apt to think sometimes when they see the Parliament spend time in deliberating upon Ways and Means to raise Money to carry on the War with vigour that 't is a sign that the Nation is exhausted and that they do not know what to do but it is a gross mistake 'T is so in France indeed when they are long in their Deliberations about the Impositions 't is a sign of great Misery in that Kingdom for they have no regard to nor commiseration of any body nor of any condition of People the Despotical Authority cuts in pieces tears and devours all without distinction It is a military Government without Compassion But here in England they do not do all that they could do for if they had France would have been very low long before this but they do what is most proper and convenient and most agreeable to the humours dispositions or interests of the People in general and of every Province and Town nay we may almost say of every individual Person like an impartial Father in his Family There are some Impositions practised in all other Nations with great Success which the Parliament of England has always forborn through a tender indulgence to the People as for example the general Excise which would bring in many Millions as well as many particular Excises upon several things which are established in all other Nations even in time of Peace to a high degree but especially in France where they amount sometimes to above twice the value of the Excised Commodity And the truth is that there are a hundred Ways and Means which might be practised in England as they are in all other Nations if it were not for the great Lenity of the Government towards the People But for all this it is true that the Shop-keepers Handicrafts and other Work-men have suffered especially in London as has also the Army for want of Payment and those who lent Money to the King or the Banks because of the scarcity of the Species which made every one to keep up what Money they had and to look upon it as much more precious than before insomuch that they would not part with it But all those Tradesmen Shop-keepers and others who had put their Money in the Exchequer or Banks had either Credit or some Real or Personal-Estates and pay either but small Taxes or none at all or had some Money left them whereas in France that sort of Men especially Handicrafts and Labourers have nothing at all not so much as a Bed to lye upon and are besides over-laden with Taxes and have been forced for the most part to serve in the Armies and perish there as for those who lent Money to the French King there is no hopes of their recovering their Due neither Principal nor Interest for all the Stocks of the Kingdom are consumed whereas in England those who lent their Money to the King have all the Nation for their security so that they will not lose a Farthing There are but few Tradesmen and Handicrafts in England but have some pieces of Plate or other which they could sell if they had been truely in want and I dare say there is scarce one in two hundred who has sold it tho' they did not fail of crying out against the Taxes the scarcity of Money and want of Trade because they are not used to suffer in the least In France those sort of Men are not only without Plate but the most part of the wealthiest of the Kingdom who had abundance on 't formerly have none at all now and those who have any yet left have but very little for a great many of them had sold it even before this War to supply their wants because of the decay of all their Estates As to the scarcity of the Coin in England I believe if a narrow enquiry were made into that Affair which would be quickly done in another Nation it would be found that there is perhaps as much Money in England at present reckoning Gold-Coin and Plate as ever there was of all those Species before the War For though it cannot be denied but that great Sums of Money either in Species or in Bills which is all one is conveyed out of the Kingdom as well for maintaining our Army in Flanders as for some of our Allies 't is probable also that as much at least is returned from Holland and Flanders and other Countries for the Commodities which they take from us in greater quantity than they did before the War which causes all the Products of England to sell well Without mentioning what we spare from France in time of War for it is known we were over-ballanced by them in Trade by several Millions Sterling which with the Travels of our People into their Country did Decrease us of vast Sums Yearly and we have now all their Manufactures settled here by the Refugies by the occasion of this War and a better Trade with Scotland and Ireland and all the rest of the World It 's plain that our Trade to the Spanish-Netherlands is greater than ever for a great part of that Country being Untilled by reason of the War the Inhabitants who formerly lived upon their own product are now for the most part supplied from England as are also the 150000 Men extraordinary which are every Year in those Countries belonging to the several Armies besides what we furnish them in Horses Cloathing and Fewel And if there is less Silver-Coin in England 't is likely there is more Gold and Plate than before the War What I say as to the Plate must not be taken as a Paradox for this reason viz. that most of the Clippings were converted into Plate for the number of Clippers both Men and Women was so great in the Kingdom that it cannot be doubted but that the most part of them sold their Clippings to the Goldsmiths who were privy to their Crime at any easie rate and that they got Plate from them for part of the payment and Unclip'd Money for the other part and the Goldsmiths did turn the Clippings over again into other Plate It cannot be otherwise unless we will suppose that all those Clippers were eminent Trading-men who did convey the Silver-Ingots to Foreign Countries which is against Experience for the most part of those Clippers were of the vulgar sort and this cannot be practised by such kind of People and especially by those who do not live in London I remember that upon this Subject I have heard some honest Gold-Smiths complain that they were every day obliged against their will to sell their Plate to several People who paid them in Money horribly Clipped which they could not refuse because it was currant and that oftentimes the
under what denominations soever All these things being considered there 's no doubt but that number of 250 thousand Men which I supposed to be remaining in the Kingdom of France fit for Handicrafts will be found very small But it is observable that as about Husbandry we may say also that about Arts and Handicrafts Women Maids Girls and Boys under twelve and above seven years of Age are very useful They work about Wool Linnen Silk and do several pretty and useful things And even the Wives and Daughters of Men who follow the Professions either noxious or useless to Common-wealth and live in Towns those Females I say are more profitable than their Men for either they Spin or Sow with a Needle or do some other necessary Work Tho' I must acknowledge that Country-women or Children are commonly a great deal more useful than those of the Professions or Trades that are exercised in Towns When all is said tho' Womens Labour is commonly judged to be a very inconsiderable matter in general I dare say it is so considerable that our Posterity in France will strangely feel the want of it in 25 or 30 years hence when the half or the two-thirds of Unmarried Women who cannot find matches for want of Men shall be dead without Children then there will be much less People fit for Husbandry and Arts and Land-Estates will decay more and more for that reason for 20 or 30 years hence Let us see in the next place who they are who compose the other half of the Men which I said were unprofitable for Husbandry Arts Manufactures Navigation c. I place then as I said before in that rank all Officers of Judicature great and small from the Chancellour to the least Bailiff or Sergeant their Sons and Servant-Men as also all the Officers of the Finances and Civil Government great and small their Sons and Servant-men All the Officers of the King's Houshold and of those of the Dauphin's and other Princes of the Blood their Sons and Servant-men All Clergy-men great and small and their Servant-men All the Nobility from the Princes of the Blood to the lowest of the Gentry their Sons and Servant-men All Farmers general and particular of Impositions and Taxes their Directors and Commissioners great and small and all other Exactors with their Crew their Sons and Servant-men A vast number of Men possessing the New Offices with some Priviledges granted or rather promised them their Sons and Servant-men As are the Offices for selling Fowls Offices for selling Calves Officers for selling Lambs for selling Oysters Measurers of Wood Hay Coals as also Officers for selling Brandy in Retail Officers of Cryers of old Hatts Shoes and Raggs Officers of Cryers of Burials Officers-Packers and a thousand sorts of other such Noble Officers A great number of Officers-Pay-masters of Land-Forces Fleet Gallies of the Rents of the Town-house of Paris of the Wages of all Civil Officers and of the Kings and Princes Houshold with their Sons Commissioners and Clerks The Officers of the Post-Offices great and small their Sons and Servant-men As also the Masters of all the Offices of Charets of Horses and Coaches of Messengers by Land and Rivers observe that there are some Boats called Water-Coaches their Sons Commissioners and Servant-men All Doctors and Members of Universities Academies Colledges Schools all Physicians Chirurgions Apothecaries Perriwig-makers Barbers Musicians Fencing and Dancing-Masters Tennis-Court-Masters and those who keep other Plays or Games of several sorts Comedians Fidlers Mountebanks Rope-Dancers c. their Sons Scholars Prentices or Servant-men All Merchants and those who drive Manufactures those who sell by Whole-sales either in Ware-houses or Shops all sorts of Wares whatsoever as Iron Linnen or VVoollen Silks Corn Oates VVine VVood Leather Lead Salt and dry Fish Sugar Brandy c. I include in that number Bankers Juwelers rich Goldsmiths Grocers Haberdashers of Hatts by wholesale those that deal much in fine Laces Galoons and Fringes of Gold and Silver the great Dealers in Tin and Lead Druggists Booksellers and several other rich Shop-keepers c. The Shop-keepers that sell by Retail things which they did not make themselves together with their Sons and Servants I distinguish them from Shop-keepers Mechanicks and Tradesmen who sell their own VVork whether it consists in things Necessary or only for Curiosity Ornament or Luxury their Sons and Servant-men All Officers of VVaters and Forests all those of the Court called Requetes de l'Hotel all those of the Constablery great and small their Sons and Servant-men All Officers of Provost Marshal-Seas with their Sergeants Sons and Servant-men All those belonging to none of the aforesaid Orders who live on their own Rents their Sons and Servant-men All Inn-keepers and Vintners Cooks Keepers of furnished and unfurnished Rooms Brewers Cryers of Brandy Retailors of Tobacco Coffee Chocolat Thea or Sorbet VVater-carriers Pedlars Hawkers Porters Coach-men Chair-men Cart-men Letters of Hackney Coaches and Horses c. All Carriers of Fish fresh or salt those that sell wild and tame Fowls Eggs Butter Cheese VVooll Silks Stuffs Linnen-Cloath Thread Iron-mongers c. and those who carry with Carts Horses Mules Asses or otherwise such sorts of Goods or others from one Town or Province to another and who get their lively-hood thereby with their Sons and Servant-men All those who are imployed in Boats upon Rivers to carry Goods or about Fishing with their Sons and Servant-men Besides several other sorts of Men which I do not remember The number of these Men is certainly as great as is the number of those imployed at this day in Handicrafts petty Trades and Husbandry There are indeed among all those sorts of them many who as I said before are helpful to Agriculture and do work now and then about Lands 'T is also to be observed that the number of most of those Men who are unprofitable to Husbandry and Arts c. as before-mentioned is much less diminished than that of Peasants Artists Manfacturers c. because the Extream Poverty and the Violence of the military Officers have forced multitudes of them to turn Soldiers VVhereas others for the most part have avoided it by reason they had something whereupon to live and 't is known also that the number of Civil Offices is prodigiously increased since this VVar and by consequence that of Civil Officers in proportion This is the reason why the People of Towns are less diminished proportionably than those of the Country tho' the former are also much diminish'd and if so be the VVar continues two years longer as it may happen Peasants and Artists will decrease much more in number than they have done hitherto not only by the Sword but also by the dreadful Poverty which will certainly overwhelm all those that stay at home I make bold to say that the fifth or sixth part of the Clergy-men in France would be sufficient for the Nation if things were well regulated so that 190 thousand of them besides several
else it will lose very much because of the Reasons already alledged and by the diminution of the number of their Forces which cannot be less than that of three parts for it furnished a great part of them with Cloaths Hatts Shoes Woollen and Linnen the most part of Officers came thither every year to pass part of the Winter which was of great advantage to that City because of the Money they spent there 24. It would not be perhaps a very hard matter to tell which of the other Cities and Towns of the Kingdom will subsist best after Paris some of them which are already considerable will increase as I said of Bourdeaux and Marseille rather than decay and perhaps some others as Metz c. for the Reasons I hinted at before The most part of the other best Towns will I am apt to think decay by the half of what they were 30 years ago tho' they may subsist better than some others Lions for example will do the better because of its being near to Switzerland Savoy and Italy c. and that it stands between Paris and Marseille and upon a great River Roüen may also uphold it self by reason of its Port River and proximity to Paris and because it is the Head City of the best Province in France provided the King does not take away its Parliament and other Tribunals and Offices to Re-unite them to those of Paris These Towns that are near the Sea with Harbours belonging to them will also maintain themselves a little as Calais Diep Havre de Grace St. Malo and Nants This last will subsist better than any of those I just now named by reason of the River Loire whereas 't is like no other Town by that River will subsist without decaying 3 parts at least Tours and Orleans not excepted Rochel will also fall very much as to its Wealth and Trade but not so much as the other Towns in the Main Land its Garrison will uphold it a little also tho' on the other side Garrisons do not agree well with Trading Towns I say already that Bourdeaux and Marseille will increase Bayon I believe will decay but not so much as Rochel by reason of its Port and the Neighbourhood of Spain Toulon will quite fall All other head Cities in the Provinces will probably decay of three fourths except those already mentioned unless they become Frontiers thro' some advantage gained by Enemies or thro' any dismembring of the Monarchy c. but Poictiers Xaintes Angoulesme Limoges Perigueux Cahors Auch Thoulouze unless Languedock revolt Pau unless the Parliament does also revolt Aix Grenoble Dijon unless the County of Bungundy be restored to the Crown of Spain in which case the Dutchy would be spared Bourg in Bresse Forez the large Towns of Champaigne Chalons Rheims Troye will all come to nothing as also Chartres Vendome Bellème le Mans and even Anger 's I think notwithstanding it s so advantagious Situation over three Navigable Rivers and near a fourth yet more considerable viz. Loire will I believe decay one half but not so much as those mentioned before Rennes will bear up if that great Province of Brittany whereof is it the Head doth but shew its teeth and if its Parliament be maintained Nevers Moulins Clermont Rion Bourges Gueret Rhodez will be reduc'd almost to nothing and all the rest of the Towns in the Kingdom except perhaps some little ones which I have forgot on the Coasts of the Ocean and that are inconsiderable Caen may uphold it self a little by reason of its small River and Proximity to the Sea as also because of its fruitful Soil but it will decay by above the half Montpellier and Nismes may also bear up and I believe that great Province of Languedoc so mighty powerful being so near Spain and so remote from Paris and a Province having States and not far from the Sea tho' without Harbours will one day make it self free 25. Almost all the Universities will fall to nothing 26. A Civil War in France seems to be unavoidable and may perhaps begin speedily after the Peace for what can they do with so many discontented People who will be all ruined and brought into despair what can they do with so many Troops that must be disbanded and starve and who are used to procure themselves necessaries by violent ways 27. In case there be no Civil War which it is like there will part of the Province of Picardy which holds up as yet a little part of the Country adjacent to Metz called Pais Messin as also part of the Dutchy of Burgundy and of Roussillon will not decay so much as some other parts of the Kingdom of France because of their being Frontiers to Spain or to the Spanish Netherlands to Lorraine and to the County of Burgundy which three last are like to be restored to their natural Land-Lords Part of Normandy also will not decay so much as others by reason of its proximity to the Sea and to Roüen and Paris but that part of the Province which is plentiful in Pastures by which it makes at present great profits because the Importing of the Irish Salt-beef Butter and Cheese is obstructed that part I say will lose much in those things by the Peace because Ireland can afford them cheaper as formerly it did 28. There will be little Exportation of Commodities from France and the small Trade which she had from one Maritime-Province to another will all fall into the hand of Strangers 29. The Pope the Monks and especially the Jesuites will domineer over France more than ever which will be both an effect of the weakness of the Royal Authority and at the same time will occasion a Great and Universal Contempt of the said Authority 30. The Priests for the future will hardly be able to read by reason that if heretofore none almost did bring up their Children to be Priests but Peasants and Artists when they had something wherewithal to live they cannot do it now for want of Means 't is probable that in Cities and great Towns and there only some that have yet something whereon to live may bring up some of their Children to School to endeavour to get the best Church-livings for them if so be the King does not appropriate them to better Uses We must expect that the Clergy how abominable soever it may be at present in general some few excepted will be much more disorderly and scandalous for the future not only for the Reasons above-mentioned but because Protestants are banished out of that Country Many more Miracles will be done in it the Church-man's Imposture increasing by degrees proportionably to the People's Ignorance and Licentiousness as is to be seen in Spain Portugal and Italy 31. France will undoubtedly lose Dunkirk by the Peace if King William desires it earnestly 32. After the Peace there will be as many Beggars as now because of the infinite number of Families which cannot be recovered
again from their total ruine especially those who are destitute of Men the others being not able to help them Besides this all things will be turn'd up side down and many more Lands abandoned by the product of which many Widows and Orphans did live 33. The State of the People cannot be fixed in twenty years after the Peace I mean that the People will not be certain whether Debtors shall be obliged to pay their Debts contracted before the Peace nor how they shall pay them and at what rates and on what footing Creditors will take their Lands or Houses in payment whether many Tribunals of Judicature and Offices will be abolished or whether the King will not rather turn out the 2 third parts or the 3 fourths of all the Officers and so forth in the Generalities Courts of Aides Chambers of Accounts Courts of the Mint Elections Salt Stores c. How many of them will be turned out and which who shall lose their Places or whether the King will reimburse them or not and how far If the Debtors or Civil Officers or other Persons with whom they have to deal are to lose all or whether their Debts being paid they shall yet have some remainder and how much for there will be 9 parts of 10 who won't have a Farthing left whether the French Protestants shall be re-established or not whether the King will always keep on foot such a prodigious number of Officers and Souldiers by Land and Sea as he did before this War how many thousands he shall Cashier and which Regiments or Officers whether he will play the Bankrupt or no to all those who lent him Money and how far he will pay or indemnifie them and so forth Then as to all old and new Offices which he may annul how far he will reimburse those who bought them whether he shall be able to do it and how whether he will not diminish the Expences of his Houshold and the number of Officers belonging to the same whether he has a mind to govern always despotically or to take advice of the States of the Kingdom as formerly without whose consent he shall not be able to impose any Taxes on the People whether a Civil War is to be feared in the Kingdom or no whether the King shall not make use of another method in the Administration of Justice to his Subjects by saving so much Expence and preventing delays of Justice which are so ruinous to them and which will be so much the more troublesom and oppressive after the Peace that instead of the quietness and ease which they expect and stand so much in need of they will be exposed to the ravenings of hungry Lawyers who will prolong and protract the proceedings of innumerable Suits that will arise from so many alterations and changes that have happened in Families by the War for I dare venture to say that no Family in the Kingdom will be free from such troubles People must know also whether the King will not change the method of raising the Imposts whether by Farmers and their Commissioners and other such Tools who lie so heavy upon the Nation or by a more reasonable way and whether the Interest of Money will be at 8 or 10 or 15 per cent Whether Lands will be sold at 3 or 6 or 8 or 10 years purchase or on some other foot and several other such things Whether the half or the two-thirds of Lands in the Kingdom will be abandoned and what will become of all those forsaken Estates which Provinces or Countries will be the most depopulated Till People are informed exactly of all those things and others and till the State of the Nation is fixed accordingly Lands Houses and Offices cannot be disposed of nor bought nor sold but this cannot be so soon regulated The King must fix another rate for Offices very much below that which they were valued at before if so be he intends to keep up the sale of them or else the number of them must needs fall prodigiously 34. There will happen an innumerable multitude of Suits at Law between Families by reason of Successions Portions Debts and those who have Money and keep it will be more prudent than if they bestowed it upon corrupt Judges to buy from them other Mens Estates which will not be worth so much as the Money given to the Lawyers for after the Peace no Estate in France will be comparable to Money 35. The French Tongue the Modes and Fashions and the good Breeding of France will not be so much esteemed in Foreign Courts and none will have so great respect hereafter for their Kings as formerly The time is come wherein it will be thought that all those refiners of the French Tongue have imployed their time very ill about it and all their Refinings will be very much neglected and they shall not be able to preserve it from degenerating no more than the good Breeding and Delicacy of that Nation all these things will come to nothing by the Extream Poverty and Ignorance into which the People of France will fall irrecoverably 36. The Enemies of France who may have hereafter a propension to make use of Traitors will find Men enough of that stamp in the Kingdom the King's Authority being so much decayed as well as his Power and the Poverty taking hold of the Nation Perfidiousness Treachery and Violence will increase proportionably among the Subjects and it will be more easie than ever to bribe Judges and all kinds of People 37. Interest of Money will rise notably in France after the Peace which will make an end of all the rest of the Manufactures and Trade in that Kingdom if there be any remaining or at least it will hinder them from being ever re-established As for the restoring of Manufactures I shall not say that it is impossible to restore them to their former State but even to any considerable degree because they have been set up and are well improved in Foreign Countries by the Refugees 38. The number of Curats and other Secular Priests must needs decrease by reason that Parishes will not be able to maintain such great numbers of them above the half of the Men being perished Their case thro' all the Kingdom will be probably the same with that of Curates in some parts of Picardy and in the Land of Artois where the Parishes are but small there a Curate says Mass every day in two Parishes that are not in a capacity to maintain each a Curate 'T is easily conceived that their Private Comings in are now worth much less to them than formerly and the Time will grow worse and worse for them whether it be Peace or not since we see already several Provinces almost deserted and many Borroughs and Villages that have not the fourth part of Inhabitants they had before this War Mortality and Famine having snatcht away most of the rest All the places situated on the Roads that are
will Marry below their Degree nay even Servant-men rather than be Unmarried 49. The Gabelle or Excise upon Salt must needs fall such an Enormous Tax cannot subsist any longer in the most part of the Provinces and great Towns of the Kingdom or else the price of Salt must be reduced to a reasonable rate as a Penny a Pound and not to 10 or 12 or 15 pence per cent as the King sells it at present The Kingdom will never endure the Gabeleurs that is the Exactors of that Imposition any more when the K. is not able to keep great Forces on foot and that those he maintains must be kept on the Frontiers So that I am of opinion that the People will not any longer be so patient and besides they will not be in condition to pay so many Taxes for of a long time they have been compelled to pay those excessive Taxes by the terrour of the Forces who would not have failed in a little time to have overslowed the Cities and Provinces that should have refused to pay 'em for as I said elsewhere we may truly say that the French Government is altogether Military and that the Subjects are treated worse even in time of Peace than other Countrys use to be when invaded by Armies of Enemies even at the time when they are about subduing of them 50. Such as did earnestly covet a long time to joyn his Neighbours Land or Field to his own and could not attain it find now adays very often an occasion to do it and to purchase for a little Sum of Money that for which they would have formerly paid ten times more but they are in danger to repent after the Peace when they shall see too late that by the utter Desolation of the Kingdom the thing purchased is not worth the Money And they are even in danger before the Peace is made to pay to the King for that very purchase such Taxes as will amount to 3 or 4 times as much as they gave to the Seller 51. Such as have many Lands and see that they are not so much depopulated as others and who flatter ' emselves with hopes that their Farmers and Peasants will stay in their Farms because they are fixed there at present will be very much deceived when after the Peace they shall see that those Farmers and Clowns will leave him and remove it may be ten or twelve Leagues farther with their Families where they will find Lands for nothing or much cheaper than theirs was and every one will endeavour to draw in the Farmers and Servants one of another and rather than see their Land untilled and forsaken will give it out gratis for a certain number of years and supply the Peasants with all necessaries to Manure it and I am confident that even at this present the prudentest sort who have Lands of their own do practise it in several places Some Provinces and Countries are less depopulated than others through Mortality and Famine have been but I am sure that those who have great Estates in Land in the Countries most depopulated as in the adjacent parts to Paris will use their utmost Endeavours to draw in the Peasants of other places and this will do more mischief to the Kingdom than if every one did stay in the most depopulated Country as I have demonstrated it elsewhere 'T is true that as for the adjacent parts of Paris there is it seems an indispensible Necessity to Repeople them again because of the City but unless there be a great Moderation of the Taxes on those parts 't is impossible that Country should be ever Re-peopled again for it must be known that there is hardly any part of the Kingdom so oppressed with Impositions as that is Formerly one could see nothing about Paris but Towns large and rich Boroughs well-built and peopled but even before the beginning of this War they were much ruined and 't is certain that all is desart there at present 52. I do not think that Paris in a hundred years hence can be so well peopled as it was thirty years ago The Revenues of the King and of the great Persons at Paris and even in all the Kingdom in general being sunk as they are not half the Commodities will be consumed there as was formerly 53. If the Ancient Government of France viz. by the general Estates of the Kingdom were re-established again as Passion Ambition vain Glory and Superstition would domineer less and Reason and the true Interest of the Nation would be more hearkned to in that case the Reformed Religion would be restored But Rome will oppose it with all her Power and Interest and 't is like the Inquisition will be set up in France as 't is in Spain Portugual and Italy against the Protestant Religion 54. The number of Usurers will be much greater in France after the Peace than ever this will be the most ordinary way to improve Money to the best advantage the Manufactures and Trade being ruined and the Real Estates being brought to nothing as well as the Offices 55. As soon as the Peace is made the King will squeeze all the Farmers general and particular of Impositions which he is obliged to indulge now because they advance him Money and by that means he shall get yet vast Sums 56. Those who have yet some remainder of their former Estates I mean those who having paid their Debts shall have yet some Lands Manur'd in the Country or some Houses inhabited in the Citys may live as easily I think after Lewis the XIV Death with their small Estates as they did 20 years ago by reason that tho' they shall not injoy perhaps the 4th part of the Revenue they had before Taxes will be diminished 3 parts at least and the King or his Successor will not 't is probable form any Projects of Conquests so soon But I confess a Civil War as I said already is mightily to be feared because there will not be found one Man amongst twenty but what will be utterly ruined I grant that those Persons who have some remainder of their former Estates will not be able to take a Journey now and then to Paris to divert themselves as was usual because Provisions will still continue to be dear there nor will they be capable to send their Children a-far off in ortler to Study or Travel because Money will continue long to be scarce and their Revenues too small to be spent abroad Their case will be much like that of those Irish who possess some Estates at a great distance from Dublin 56. The number of the King's Officers and of the Princes and Princesses Houshold must needs decrease very much as also their Sallaries The number of Governments and Governours of Cities Towns Castles Forts c. will decrease also as well as their Sallaries The number of the Forces and of their Officers by Land and Sea and of the Gallies will decrease as also their Wages