276 
is necessary for the support of your establish- 
ments in favor of mendicity. ‘The people 
are already too much oppressed by taxes : 
must their burdens be so increased as to ren- 
der unavailing the benefit of the abolition of 
the corvée? Let us make choice of the mode 
the least expensive, the most agreeable to the 
people, and by which the ends you propose 
caii be accomplished, of disburdening those 
who pay taxes, rendering the poor useful, 
tind keeping the roads in good repair. Your 
‘abilities, sir, will no doubt furnish you with 
mew means; and be assured J shall sceond 
them in my couneil. 
Lewts. 
** OBSERVATIONS ON THE xvitth LETTER. 
«While the king applauds M. Berthier for 
his projects of rooting out mendicity from 
the state, He observes to him with great jus- 
tice, that this benefit ought not to be con- 
ferred at the expence of the public. Under 
the old régime, 11 was only by making beg- 
ears contribute to the eommon stock by their 
Jabours, that this scourge could be removed 
from society: but, whether the mode of 
making them work on the high-roads was 
the best mean of effecting this good inten- 
tion, is very doubtful. Beggars are seldom 
industrious ; and the earnings of their la- 
bour could scarcely have rewarded the time 
of their overseers. ‘The revolution has pro- 
vided in another mode for this once nume- 
rous portion of the people, the condition of 
the poorer classes being so ameliorated as to 
render mendicity scarcely any longer the ob- 
ject of legislative attention. This letter 
serves, however, to prove how great an in- 
terest the king felt in the fate of the lowest 
orders of his subjects, and that his mind was 
continually occupied in purposes of doing 
good. 
~ &M. Berthier’s philanthropy, though praised 
by the king, was far differently understood 
by those who were the objects of his solici- 
tude. He was one among the few persons 
who were sacrificed to the fury of the popu- 
Jace in the very first days of the revolution. 
The crime imputed to him was that of n:o- 
nopolising corn destined for the capital, 
which act has never been disproved : but his 
death was attended by circumstances of bar- 
barity which would disgrace the least civilised 
nation.” 
A letter, characteristic of a mind re- 
verting from infidelity t6 credulity is the 
forty-tirst, which shortly succeeded his 
atrestation on the elopement to Mont- 
medi. 
“©TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF ARLES. 
“¢ June 29, 1791. 
«To console the most unfortunate of 
kings, you recall, my lord wos the 
example of David, compelled to flee before 
his son Absalom. Forsaken monarch, un- 
fortunate father! it is not vengeance that 
HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS» 
David calls to his aid; it is net the thunders 
bolt of irritated heaven that he invokes; in. 
the king of kings he places all his confidence. 
He prays for an ungrateful son; he pardons 
the monster by whom he is pursued, and 
who seems to thirst for his blood. This act 
of paternal affection is sublime; and I glory 
in having a conformity of sentitnents and 
ideas with David: Persecuted by ungrateful 
children, who calumniate a tender father, I 
haye only thought of their interests and their 
happiness. At the feet of religion I depose 
the injuries heaped upon the monarch: ma 
the people be happy! and I am satisfied. 
enjoy a soothing satisfaction, while, in my 
hours of solitude, I can bless Providence, and 
submit myself to its decrees: it is then that 
all injuries, all injustice, all wrongs are for 
"bees Am I not too happy, my lord arch- 
vishop? and can divine justice be satisfied? 1 
have been panished for having preferred that 
insolent philosophy, which had seduced, and 
plunged me into an abyss of misery: for 
that, I neglected the ancient worship of my 
forefathers, so dear to St. Lewis, from whom 
IT am proud of descending. You, my lord 
archbishop, whose religious virtues inspire 
admiration, and who prefer them to those of 
which philosophers are proud, but which, 
viewed through the prism of religion, bear se 
near a resemblance to vices, offer for your un- 
fortunate king the vows of a heart inflamed 
by divine love—of a holy bishop whom I 
may compare to Ambrose—with this differ- 
ence, that Theodosius humbled himself be- 
fore him for having cruelly chastised a ‘rebel- 
lious people, and J solicit the atd of your 
prayers, to bring backa people who will never 
qave to reproach me with having caused ei«* 
ther their blood or tears to flow. 
‘“« Lewis.” « 
The marginal observations of Louis 
XVI. on that memoir of Turgot’s, which, 
in fact, founded the revolution, and is at 
this time still inflecting toward itself the 
new as it did the old authorities, woul 
be very curious were it certainly ori- 
ginal ; but it has the appearance of be- 
ing the marginal refutation of some pos- 
terior ministry, laid before the king in 
order to detach him from projects of re- 
form, to which he had previously lent ar 
ear. Weshall, however, extract it. 
«Marginal Observations of Lewis the XVIth, 
on a Note of M. Turgot, relative to Admi- 
nistration. 1776. 
«« T'o ascertain if it be proper to establish, 
municipalities,’ says M. Turgot, ¢ if it be expe- 
dient to bring to perfection, or change, those 
already existing, and what form of coustitu- 
tion td give to those that it may be deemed 
necessary to create, it is not sufficient that 
we turn back to the origin of those munici- 
pal administrations. e custom of de+ 
ciding what is to be done from the tesearches ' 
