GENERAL HISTORY. 



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povernmcnt over publications of 

 this class. 



*■ On July 3rd, two of the King's 

 ministers having been introduced 

 to the channber of deputies, laid 

 before that body a statement of 

 the condition in which the kingdom 

 was found by his Majesty on his 

 taking the reins of government. 

 It was the object of this import- 

 ant paper to show how much the 

 nation had suffered from the in- 

 sane projects of its late ruler ; to 

 lay open all the deceptions which 

 had been practised to conceal the 

 real state of affairs ; and to give a 

 strong impression of the difficulties 

 which the new administration had 

 to encounter, and the exertions re- 

 quisite to remedy the public evils, 

 and restore order and prosperity. 

 The Abbe de Montesquiou intro- 

 duced his expose hy some observa- 

 tions on the prodigious loss of men 

 occasioned by the warlike enter- 

 prises of the late government, 

 and stated the amount of the calls 

 made since the end of the Russian 

 campaign, at 1,300,000, of which, 

 however, the last levies fortunately 

 had not been made. Hence might 

 be estimated the amazing destruc- 

 tion incurred by these wars; and 

 although it appeared in some mea- 

 sure to be counteracted by an in- 

 crease of births, this had been in 

 pan occasioned by the number of 

 improper marriages, which had 

 been contracted to avoid the con- 

 scriptions, as was proved by an 

 increased population under the 

 age of 20 years, whilst that of the 

 superior ages was extremely di- 

 minished. Proceeding to particu- 

 lars, it was observed that agricul- 

 ture had made a real progress in 

 France, which had commenced 

 before the Revolution, but had 



been much accelerated by new 

 causes since that epoch. Faults 

 of the government had however 

 impeded the operation of these 

 causes. The continental system 

 had been ruinous to the vineyards 

 in different parts ; and the forced 

 attempts to introduce the Merino 

 breed of sheep, had rather tended 

 to the deterioration than the im- 

 provement of the flocks. The es- 

 tablishment of studs had been 

 more successful, but the late wars 

 had occasioned the loss of 230,000 

 horses. A sensible increase had 

 taken place in the working of 

 mines, of which, in all the dif- 

 ferent kinds, there were now 478 

 wrought in the French territory. 

 Manufactures had greatly suffered 

 from the obstacles to the imjjorta- 

 tion of raw materials, and the 

 impediments to foreign demand. 

 At Lyons, the looms of which in 

 1787 there were 15,000, were re- 

 duced in the late war to 8,000 ; 

 and the other branches of manu- 

 facture had experienced a similar 

 declension. Commerce had been 

 reduced to narrow speculations 

 with small gains; and the system 

 of licences had proved the ruin of 

 a great number of merchants, by 

 raising hopes that were destroyed 

 by the same will which had fos- 

 tered them. The next head of the 

 statement referred to the adminis- 

 tration of the interior, under which 

 were a variety of details, showing 

 tlie augmentation of burdens, to 

 which the departments had been 

 subjected, and the diversion of 

 funds from their proper objects. 

 The wretched state of the hospitals 

 was particularly noticed; and it 

 was stated that the war depart- 

 ment was indebted to those of 

 Paris for sick and wounded sol- 



