第22章

For a long time now have they been rather feeble against the intendant， unable to protect their parish. Twenty gentlemen cannot not assemble and deliberate without the king's special permission.[13] If those of Franche-Comté happen to dine together and hear a mass once a year， it is through tolerance， and even then this harmless group may assemble only in the presence of the intendant. Separated from his equals， the seignior， again， is further away from his inferiors. The administration of the village is of no concern to him； he is not even tasked with its supervision. The apportionment of taxes， the militia contingent， the repairs of the church， the summoning and presiding over a parish assembly， the making of roads， the establishment of charity workshops， all this is the intendant's business or that of the communal officers whom the intendant appoints or directs.[14] Except through his justiciary rights， so much curtailed， the seignior is an idler in public matters.[15] If， by chance， he should desire to act in an official capacity， to make some reclamation for the community， the bureaus of administration would soon make him shut up. Since Louis XIV， the higher officials have things their own way； all legislation and the entire administrative system operate against the local seignior to deprive him of his functional efficiency and to confine him to his naked title. Through this separation of functions and title his pride increases， as he becomes less useful. His vanity deprived of its broad pasture-ground， falls back on a small one； henceforth he seeks distinctions and not influence. He thinks only of precedence and not of government.[16] In short， the local government， in the hands of peasants commanded by bureaucrats， has become a common， offensive lot of red tape. "His pride would be wounded if he were asked to attend to it. Raising taxes， levying the militia， regulating the corvées， are servile acts， the works of a secretary." He accordingly abstains， remains isolated on his manor and leaves to others a task from which he is excluded and which he disdains. Far from protecting his peasantry he is scarcely able to protect himself or to preserve his immunities. Or to avoid having his poll-tax and vingtiémes reduced. Or to obtain exemption from the militia for his domestics， to keep his own person， dwelling， dependents， and hunting and fishing rights from the universal usurpation which places all possessions and all privileges in the hands of "Monseigneur l'intendant" and Messieurs the sub-delegates. And the more so because he is often poor. Bouilléestimates that all the old families， save two or three hundred， are ruined.[17] I Rouergue several of them live on an income of fifty and even twenty-five louis， (1000 and 500 francs). In Limousin， says an intendant at the beginning of the century， out of several thousands there are not fifteen who have twenty thousand livres income. In Berry， towards 1754， "three-fourths of them die of hunger." In Franche-Comté the fraternity to which we have alluded appears in a humorous light， "after the mass each one returning to his domicile， some on foot and others on their Rosinantes." In Brittany "lots of gentlemen found as excisemen， on the farms or in the lowest occupations." One M. de la Morandais becomes the overseer of an estate. A certain family with nothing but a small farm "attests its nobility only by the pigeon-house； it lives like the peasants， eating nothing but brown bread." Another gentleman， a widower， "passes his time in drinking， living licentiously with his servants， and covering butter-pots with the handsomest title-deeds of his lineage." All the chevaliers de Chateaubriand，" says the father， "were drunkards and beaters of hares." He himself just makes shift to live in a miserable way， with five domestics， a hound and two old mares " in a chateau capable of accommodating a hundred seigniors with their suites." Here and there in the various memoirs we see these strange superannuated figures passing before the eye， for instance， in Burgundy， "gentlemen huntsmen wearing gaiters and hob-nailed shoes， carrying an old rusty sword under their arms dying with hunger and refusing to work."[18]