‘deftroy than to build up or repair, 
-notwithftanding the failure of al- 
=" all the other taxes, excepting 
tial new one upon ettates, 
the Gpcally fuppreffed the odious 
lle, or tax upon falt; a mea- 
“fare which the king, (as we have 
ff Sfeacr'y fhewn) in the days of 
ope, if not of happinefs, fo de- 
outly wifhed to have accomplith- 
but which the continued oppo- 
on to his meafures by the parlia- 
ment of Paris, and the confequent 
mpoffibility of his finding a fubiti- 
u e to carry on the bufinefs of go- 
moment, rendered him incapable 
f carryin into effet. They like- 
ife in fome time abolifhed the 
eavy tax on tobacco, which was 
ie tly confidéred as much a necef- 
ary of life as falt itfelf; and which, 
eee of this regulation, 
$s thrown into the common mafs 
Se ery a ae 
~~ e 
lor was their conduét lefs merito- 
jous in fuppreffing others of the 
noft obnoxious taxes. 
The aflembly did not ftop here ; 
hey entered bold'y into the’ untried 
1 intricate walks of finance, 
Where they were to encounter a 
ibject of which they were moft de- 
prably ignorant. They feemed 
nfible of the difadvantage they 
rere under, and did not venture 
They, however, faw the 
rudence and expedience of auge 
aenting the pay of the army; and 
fewife eftablifhed a new govern- 
“y bank, under the name of 
e de P Extraordinaire. 
4 “h € were only objects of fe- 
mdary, and comparatively finall 
tion, when oppofed to, or 
y that grand one which 
a Deahied the mind of the. af- 
bly, ever fince the eftablifhment 
+ and unlimited power in the 
err re rp ere emer eee 
: 
na’ ue 
HLS FIGRY -OF -E VPROPE. 
Ff articles of general commerce. 
[irl 
hands of the third eftate; and which 
had probably been much earlier a 
fubjest of frequent contemplation. 
This grand {cheme, and fo it well 
might be called, from the extraor- 
Ge confequences which it was 
to produce, was to find a fund of fo 
vat a magnitude, that it fhould not 
only reach to the diicharge of the 
whole national debt, enormous as 
that was, but that it fhould leave 
fach a furplus behind, as would be 
capable of providing for thofe vm 
and,as yet unknown contingencie 
which the new change of affairs wis ; 
liable to produce. One of the 
newly promulgated doctrines was, 
that all things were to give way to 
the good of the public, or perhaps, 
more corredtly, that the lives, and 
property of ‘individuals were no 
matters of confideration, in any 
queftion where they interfered with 
the benefit of the whole. In a 
word, that every thing belonged to 
the nation, indefinite as thar term 
was, while the individuals who com- 
pofed this great aggregate, had 
no fecurity in any thing 5 and the 
good of the whole, if the practice 
founded on it could be carried to 
the utmoft extent of the doétrime, 
might lead to the dilapidation and 
rain of all the parts {eparately. 
There was no merit in difcover- 
ing the fund which was to anfwet 
thefe vat purpotes, for that was at 
hand, and in fall view; it was no 
other.than the great landed eftates 
of the.cler Tey: indeed it was barely 
the foil; for they had already given 
up the royalties and exclufive pri- 
vileges, which had, from the fozn- 
dation of the monarchy, been at- 
tached to, and confidered as a: part 
of their eftates. Though the im- 
menfe benefits to be derived from 
this feheme were obvious to every 
body, 
