16 CARNOT. 
of the Academy of Dijon, at which the éloge of Vauban 
was read and rewarded. He expressed, in the most 
unequivocal terms, the great pleasure that the discourse 
had given him; and assured the author of his profound 
esteem, both verbally and in writing. Piqued with 
emulation, the Prince de Condé, who presided at the 
assembly, as governor of Burgundy, outdid the marks of 
favour which were shown to the young engineer officer 
by the brother of Frederic the Great. 
Had Carnot then flattered the prejudices of the nobles ? 
Were his principles in 1784 so different from those which 
afterwards directed all his actions, as necessarily to re- 
ceive the suffrages of the great? Listen, Gentlemen, 
and judge! 
The Dime Royale (the King’s Tithe), that writing 
which, under Louis XIV., brought about the complete 
disgrace of Vauban, and of which Fontenelle had the 
prudence not even to mention the title, in enumerating 
the works of the illustrious marshal, was called by Car- 
not a simple and pathetic exposition of facts; a work in 
which “ every thing is striking by its precision and truth- 
fulness.” The assessment of the taxes, in France, in the 
eyes of the young officer, was “ barbarous ;” the manner 
of gathering them “more barbarous still.” According to 
him, the true object of a government is to oblige every 
individual of the State to labour; the method which he 
points out for obtaining this result would be (1 quote 
from the text) to cause riches to pass from those hands 
where they are superfluous, into those where they are 
necessary. Carnot gives his adhesion unreservedly to 
this precept of Vauban’s ; the laws ought to prevent the 
frightful misery of the one class and the excessive opu- 
lence of the other; he sets his face against the odious 
