Undoubtedly the wrong they do, or which is done in their name, dissatisfies the kings and upsets them, but, at the bottom, their conscience is not disturbed. They may feel compassion for the people, but they do not feel guilty; they are its sovereigns and not its representatives. France, to them, is as a domain to its lord, and a lord is not deprived of honor in being prodigal and neglectful. He merely gambles away his own property, and nobody has a right to call him to account. Founded on feudal society, royalty is like an estate, an inheritance. It would be infidelity, almost treachery in a prince, in any event weak and base, should he allow any portion of the trust received by him intact from his ancestors for transmission to his children, to pass into the hands of his subjects. Not only according to medieval traditions is he proprietor-commandant of the French and of France, but again, according to the theory of the jurists, he is, like Caesar, the sole and perpetual representative of the nation, and, according to the theological doctrine, like David, the sacred and special delegate of God himself. It would be astonishing, if, with all these titles, he did not consider the public revenue as his personal revenue, and if, in many cases, he did not act accordingly. Our point of view, in this matter, is so essentially opposed to his, we can scarcely put ourselves in his place; but at that time his point of view was everybody's point of view. It seemed, then, as strange to meddle with the king's business as to meddle with that of a private person. Only at the end of the year 1788[37] the famous salon of the Palais-Royal "with boldness and unimaginable folly, asserts that in a true monarchy the revenues of the State should not be at the sovereign's disposition; that he should be granted merely a sum sufficient to defray the expenses of his establishment, of his donations, and for favors to his servants as well as for his pleasures, while the surplus should be deposited in the royal treasury to be devoted only to purposes sanctioned by the National Assembly. To reduce the sovereign to a civil list, to seize nine-tenths of his income, to forbid him cash on demand, what an outrage! The surprise would be no greater if at the present day it were proposed to divide the income of each millionaire into two portions, the smallest to go for the owner's support, and the largest to be placed in the hands of a government to be expended in works of public utility. An old farmer-general, an intellectual and unprejudiced man, gravely attempts to justify the purchase of Saint-Cloud by calling it "a ring for the queen's finger." The ring cost, indeed, 7,700,000 francs, but "the king of France then had an income of 447,000,000. What could be said of any private individual who, with 477,000 livres income, should, for once in his life, give his wife diamonds worth 7,000 or 8,000livres?"[38] People would say that the gift is moderate, and that the husband is reasonable.
同类推荐
热门推荐
豪门来袭:娇妻,谢绝出逃
安凝的新文【一咬定婚,前妻绝非善类】已开坑,戳其他作品可看到!◎◎◎◎◎◎◎“小姐,你投怀送抱的伎俩还真是低级!”初见时,他是传媒帝国的主宰者,她是娱乐圈毫无存在感的女星之一,节目现场被绊倒,一瓶洒在他身上的矿泉水开启了她的悲催,也开启了他无休无止的纠缠。◎◎◎◎◎◎◎“可人,告诉我,为什么要离婚?我不相信你爱上了别的男人!”“没有什么为什么,我就是移情别恋了,就是不再爱你了,麻烦你快点把离婚协议书签一签,放我自由!”女人冷眸不屑的瞥向一边,不愿落在男人的脸上。“休想!我死都不会离婚,这辈子你的自由就是在我身边,做我的妻子,想逃免谈!”那个……那个……简介无能,亲爱滴们看文吧,一定精彩哦!俗世生活:超能力风云路
为两个普通的大学生,郭铭和徐东卓理所当然的认为自己将平平淡淡过完这一生,然而一次意外的遭遇却彻底改变了两人的际遇。在吸取两个来历不明的球体内的能量后,他们分别具有了“瞬间移动”以及“精神实体化”的特异能力。正当两人因此而对自己将来可能发生的改变揣揣不安时,改变,却已找上门来……围绕着四个神秘怪球,种种匪夷所思,出人意表的特异能力将一一展现于读者面前。生化怪兽,特异功能,奇人异士,枪林弹雨……请大家跟随主角的脚步,一同投入这现代都市中的异能冒险吧……