New-York tribune., 1901-11-13

dents necessarily takes good deal Tor srah'eu
Miss Sophia H. MacLehose. in The Last Days
Of the French Monarchy" Ghe Macmillan com
pany1 writes frankly for those who are not
ashamed to confess that they seriously 10
seek IN historical knowledge. When she mas oc
ca sion TO deal with those famous taxes which
did so much to bring the Revolution she does
not content herself with an alusion, assuming
that her reader knows just what they were ohe
tells what they were. in this fashion:
of indirect taxes the most burdensome We're
the ''corvee'' and the "gabelle- The core
was q tax paid in compulsory labor. By ~
men were called upon TO make roaos, lo puiiN
barracks TO transport military baggage TO con
yav' conxicts TO prisons and beggars to the
depots Of charity scattered over FRANCE, az an
to carry wood from the forests for Ins oh,es
of nubIic buildings From such labor the nopies
and clergy who could we'll spare servants We
exempt but the man who worked his own 1arin
must leave it, often at the most lnconr o,rad
season and go where the "corvees required
All peasants from childhood to old age
were liable to this service, and liable TO II every
THE .-ga belle" was a tax salt and Few
other articles of food but that on salt was 10y
far the most important Salt was Cover i
,nonoDoly and therefore dear article to puy;
but the law obliged every Individual In France
above seven years old to buy seven POUNDS d
year and these seven pounds were 10 be useo
excI,,sivelv for eating and cooking. If salt were
wanted for other purposes more must De
bought The government built great stores III
and attached to each store was large pouS
of officials. who took care to know how many
families there in the district. how larse
these families were, and how much SAT- thes
bought II they did not buy enough salt, II
thev srnuggled or tried to make II at nome
th-ss officials were there report on ana
punish the offenders The punishment was d
fine for the first offence prison for second
and for the confirmed offender the galeys As
many as three hundred peasants were geatIt Az
condemned TO the galeys. and something IKE
eighteen hundred sent to prison for eVading the
"gabelle" while smugglerS bearing arms were
fogged branded. sent TO the gaileys Tor 1hree'
six or nine years. and not infrequentty hanseu.
Now it might seem from these paragraphs
that Miss MacLehose had made up her book OF
bald facts. but she has really put them together
with such Skill forming them into such now
ing and even at times picturesque narrative
that no one could find her work dry. She be-
gins IL felicitously with a description of YER
sailles the town and the palace, showing the
life that went on there and indicating the man.
ner In which the blood poisoning at that centre
of public administration was communicated 10
the veins of the body polite all over France.
She tells who the Kings officers were, and de-
scribes their duties: she explains what the prlVl-
leges of the ruling class meant; stating all the
facts relating TO the constitution OF the court
and of the Parliament sketching the leaoIls
personalities in both places and briefly sum
narizing the salient episodes in foreign ana 40
mestic politics that contributed 10 the down
fall of the monarchy. BY the time she reaches
her last page she has given her reader an un-
commonly full and clear account Of the charac-
ter and whole situation of France during the
per1od Of which she treats. a better popular
work we have not 1t is judiciousiy Illus
trated II has useful list OF authorities and a
good index We recommend it cordially, and We
look forward the further vohime In whlch
the author proposes TO trace the events between
17SS and 1892 which led to the declaration of Al
rcDuhl!c.