§ XVIII
Easing the People's Burdens
You must examine whether you have sought to lighten the people's load, use their wealth for their own benefit, moderate household spending, and cut unnecessary charges in times of poverty, while consulting capable people about the condition of the provinces.
Have you looked for ways to ease the people's burdens, and to take from them only what the true needs of the State have forced you to take for their own good? The people's wealth must be used only for the real benefit of the people themselves. You have your domain, which must be collected and settled: it is meant for the support of your household. You must moderate this household spending, especially when your domain revenues are pledged, and when the people are exhausted. The subsidies drawn from the people must be used for the true burdens of the State. In times of public poverty, you must make it your aim to cut every expense that is not of absolute necessity. Have you consulted the ablest and best-intentioned people, who can inform you about the condition of the provinces, the cultivation of the land, the fertility of recent years, the state of trade, and so on —so that you may know what the State can pay without suffering?
Seeking Wise Counsel
You must settle taxes on an informed basis, welcome remonstrances, and consult upright people who will not flatter you, while avoiding the temptation to lay new burdens for luxury and excessive favors.
Have you settled each year's taxes on that basis? Have you listened favorably to the remonstrances of upright people?1 Far from suppressing them, have you sought them out and anticipated them, as a good prince ought to do?2 You know that in the past, the King never took anything from the people on his own authority: it was the parlement—that is, the national assembly—that granted him the funds needed for the state's extraordinary needs; otherwise, he lived off his domain.34 What has changed this order, if not the absolute authority that kings have seized? In our own day one still saw the parlements — bodies infinitely inferior to the ancient parlements or Estates of the nation — making remonstrances so as not to register abusive edicts.56 At the very least, you must issue none of them without first carefully consulting people incapable of flattering you, and who have a genuine zeal for the public good.7 Have you not laid new burdens on the people to support your superfluous spending — the luxury of your tables, your carriages and equipages, and your furnishings; the embellishment of your gardens and houses; the excessive favors you have lavished on your favorites?8
A Pause for Reflection
A solitary dash calls for a moment of quiet reflection on the preceding examinations.
—9
Read the original French
Avez- vous cherché les moyens de soulager les peuples, et de ne prendre sur eux que ce que les vrais besoins de l'Etat vous ont contraint de prendre pour leur propre avantage ? Le bien des peuples ne doit être employé qu'à la vraie utilité des peuples mêmes. Vous avez votre domaine qu'il faut retirer et liquider : il est destiné à la subsistance de votre maison. Vous devez modérer cette dépense domestique, surtout quand vos revenus de domaine sont engagés, et que les peuples sont épuisés. Les subventions des peuples doivent être employées pour les vraies charges de l'Etat. Vous devez vous étudier à retrancher dans les temps de pauvreté publique, toutes les charges qui ne sont pas d'une absolué nécessité. Avezvous consulté les personnes les plus habiles et les mieux intentionnées, qui peuvent vous instruire de l'état des provinces, de la culture des terres, de la fertilité des années dernières, de l'état du commerce, etc. , pour savoir ce que PEtat peut payer sans souffrir ?
Avezvous réglé là-dessus les impôts de chaque année? Avez-vous écouté favorablement les remontrances des gens de bien? Loin de les réprimer, les avez-vous cherchées et prévenues, comme un bon prince le doit faire ? Vous savez qu'autrefois le Roi ne prenoit jamais rien sur les peuples par sa seule autorité : c'étoit le parlement, c'est-à-dire, l'assemblée delà nation qui lui accordoit les fonds nécessaires poulies besoins extraordinaires de l'Etat :hors de ce cas, il vivoit de son domaine. Qu'estce qui a changé cet ordre, sinon l'autorité absolue que les Rois ont prise ? De nos jours on voyoit encore les parlements, qui sont des compagnies infiniment aux anciens parlements ou Etats de la nation, faire des remontrances pour n'enregistrer pas les édits buiv saux. Du moins devez - vous n'en faire aucun, sans avoir bien consulté des personnes incapables de vous flatter, et qui aient un véritable zèle pour le bien public. N'avez-vous point mis sur les peuples de nouvelles charges pour soutenir vos dépenses superflues, le luxe de vos tables, de vos équipages et de vos meubles, l'embellissement de vos jardins et de vos maisons, les grâces excessives que vous avez prodiguées à vos favoris?
-
Notes
- 1 ↩remontrances: formal objections/admonitions; in Ancien Régime political usage often the formal protests of parlements.
- 2 ↩prévenues: read as anticipated/welcomed in advance (not 'prevented' in a hostile sense); paired with cherchées, the force is proactive invitation of remonstrance.
- 3 ↩Corrected OCR 'poulies besoins' → 'pour les besoins'; 'assemblée delà nation' → 'assemblée de la nation'. Old-spelling prenoit/étoit/accordoit/vivoit modernized in sense only.
- 4 ↩parlement here is the French sovereign court/assembly of the nation in Fénelon's historical claim, not the modern British parliament as such.
- 5 ↩Source is corrupt: 'compagnies infiniment aux' lacks a comparative adjective; most plausible is 'infiniment inférieures aux'. Terminal 'édits buiv saux' is garbled; most plausible is 'édits abusifs'.
- 6 ↩enregistrer: technical term for a parlement's formal registration of a royal edict, without which it did not take full force.
- 7 ↩en in n'en faire aucun resumes the edicts (édits) of the previous sentence: issue none of those fiscal/abusive measures without counsel.
- 8 ↩grâces here is royal favor/gifts (not theological grace); equipages = coaches/retinues; charges = tax burdens.
- 9 ↩Source sentence is only a bare hyphen/dash with no French prose; rendered as a section break mark rather than invented content.
Examen de conscience sur les devoirs de la Royauté companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere