登陆注册
14926100000028

第28章

Doing nothing for the soil, how could they do anything for men? Now and then, undoubtedly, especially with farms that pay no rent, the steward writes a letter, alleging the misery of the farmer. There is no doubt, also, that, especially for thirty years back, they desire to be humane; they descant among themselves about the rights of man; the sight of the pale face of a hungry peasant would give them pain. But they never see him; does it ever occur to them to fancy what it is like under the awkward and complimentary phrases of their agent?

Moreover, do they know what hunger is? Who amongst them has had any rural experiences? And how could they picture to themselves the misery of this forlorn being? They are too remote from him to that, too ignorant of his mode of life. The portrait they conceive of him is imaginary; never was there a falser representation of the peasant;accordingly the awakening is to be terrible. They view him as the amiable swain, gentle, humble and grateful, simple-hearted and right-minded, easily led, being conceived according to Rousseau and the idylls performed at this very epoch in all private drawing rooms.[41]

Lacking a knowledge him they overlook him; they read the steward's letter and immediately the whirl of high life again seizes them and, after a sigh bestowed on the distress of the poor, they make up their minds that their income for the year will be short. A disposition of this kind is not favorable to charity. Accordingly, complaints arise, not against the residents but against the absentees.[42] "The possessions of the Church, says a letter, serve only to nourish the passions of their holders." "According to the canons, says another memorandum, every beneficiary must give a quarter of his income to the poor; nevertheless in our parish there is a revenue of more than twelve thousand livres, and none of it is given to the poor unless it is some small matter at the hands of the curate." "The abbé de Conches gets one-half of the tithes and contributes nothing to the relief of the parish." Elsewhere, "the chapter of Ecouis, which owns the benefice of the tithes is of no advantage to the poor, and only seeks to augment its income." Nearby, the abbé of Croix-Leufroy, "a heavy tithe-owner, and the abbé de Bernay, who gets fifty-seven thousand livres from his benefice, and who is a non-resident, keep all and scarcely give enough to their officiating curates to keep them alive.""I have in my parish, says a curate of Berry,[43] six simple benefices of which the titularies are always absent. They enjoy together an income of nine thousand livres; I sent them in writing the most urgent entreaties during the calamity of the past year; I received from one them two louis only, and most of them did not even answer me."Stronger is the reason for a conviction that in ordinary times they will make no remission of their dues. Moreover, these dues, the censives, the lods et ventes, tithes, and the like, are in the hands of a steward, and he is a good steward who returns a large amount of money. He has no right to be generous at his master's expense, and he is tempted to turn the subjects of his master to his own profit. In vain might the soft seignorial hand be disposed to be easy or paternal; the hard hand of the proxy bears down on the peasants with all its weight, and the caution of a chief gives place to the exactions of a clerk.- How is it then when, instead of a clerk on the domain, a fermier is found, an adjudicator who, for an annual sum, purchases of seignior the management and product of his dues? In election of Mayenne,[44] and certainly also in many others, the principal domains are rented in this way. Moreover there are a number of dues, like the tolls, the market-place tax, that on the flock apart, the monopoly of the oven and of the mill which can scarcely be managed otherwise; the seignior must necessarily employ an adjudicator who spares him the disputes and trouble of collecting.[45] This happens often and the demands and the greed of the contractor, who is determined to gain or, at least, not to lose, falls on the peasantry:

"He is a ravenous wolf," says Renauldon, "let loose on the estate.

He draws upon it to the last sou, he crushes the subjects, reduces them to beggary, forces the cultivators to desert. The owner, thus rendered odious, finds himself obliged to tolerate his exactions to able to profit by them."Imagine, if you can, the evil which a country usurer exercises, armed against them with such burdensome rights; it is the feudal seigniory in the hands of Harpagon, or rather of old Grandet. When, indeed, a tax becomes insupportable we see, by the local complaints, that it is nearly always a fermier who enforces it.[46] It is one of these, acting for a body of canons, who claims Jeanne Mermet's paternal inheritance on the pretense that she had passed her wedding night at her husband's house. One can barely find similar exactions in the Ireland of 1830, on those estates where, the farmer-general renting to sub-farmers and the latter to others still below them. The poor tenant at the foot of the ladder himself bore the full weight of it, so much the more crushed because his creditor, crushed himself measured the requirements he exacted by those he had to submit to.

同类推荐
  • 八段锦

    八段锦

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 秋日留别义初上人

    秋日留别义初上人

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 林公案

    林公案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 长灵守卓禅师语录

    长灵守卓禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 唐传奇选辑

    唐传奇选辑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 花开彼岸:叛离青春

    花开彼岸:叛离青春

    本文没什么文学性,能在诸君无聊时博各位一笑便是作者的存在意义此文其实是鸡汤婊的意淫。。成为段子狗之后回头看觉得太矫情重新修改再发。。本文无激情和基情,男主中二(其实也不是很中二)女主玛丽苏(其实也不是很玛丽苏,毕竟有颗段子狗的心),男配们傻逼女配们阴险。。至于为何从校园走向娱乐圈是因为我当初告诉母上大人这其实是励志文。。励志成这样我也无话可说了
  • 时空穿越系统

    时空穿越系统

    一个青年的努力成为时空守护者的故事。八神:你确定你让我来镇守拳皇?雅典娜:亲爱的我的圣斗士都将是为守护你而存在。孙悟空:他们都好强,战斗力都快报表了杨峰:我们的战争才刚刚开始。
  • 农村的阴阳先生

    农村的阴阳先生

    阴阳先生,也叫风水先生,手持一个罗盘、腰夹黄纸钱串等,通晓天文地理、牛鬼蛇神,只是我们不知道其中真正的奥秘,也许有一天我们真的懂了,才知道真正强大。
  • 终极魂域

    终极魂域

    这是一本不按套路出牌书,有点血腥,有点暴力,十八岁以下谢绝观看。
  • 普罗伽美什

    普罗伽美什

    普罗伽美什,一个与地球有着平行时空的世界,天上为神界,居住着性格迥异的天神;地上为众生界,由人类和兽人分占白天和黑夜,各自在属于其的时间内活动,不得越界。匡原徽,一个普通的地球人。一次时空的错乱,使他突然来到了这个怪异的世界。于是平衡被打破,冰封的命运之河重新开始流淌,千万年前的回忆逐渐被想起,沉睡的神秘在慢慢睁开它的双眼。天神、人类、兽人、接踵而来的匪夷所思的事件交错在一起,匡原徽的到来究竟是一场意外,还是一个精心设计的阴谋,他的身边究竟是敌还是友,未来等待他的还会有什么,一切都还是未知。
  • 佛说杂譬喻经

    佛说杂譬喻经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 穿越之极品宠妻

    穿越之极品宠妻

    她一个黑道女主竟然为了爱而穿越到古代,但是这一场穿越是一个阴谋,就因为她是半人鱼,她不甘心,看她怎样在江湖上崛起,看她是怎样的淡然处世……他,天傲国的第一高手,第一美男遇到她却甘愿照顾她,不离不弃,战场风云,她带来了一个孩子,他苦笑,原来她失踪到战场去了,还有了孽种,他要听解释。她说:“孩子,叫他爹!”他愣了,然后笑得春风荡漾的,摄人心魂,温柔的说道:“孩子,你娘叫什么?你哪来的?”孩子想了想说:“我娘是皇后,我爹是皇帝!”这回,两个人都愣了,皇帝和皇后?!那是什么东东啊……【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 快穿之挚爱在那里等我

    快穿之挚爱在那里等我

    千年的等待,换来了再次的相遇。当他们互相珍惜时,命运的捉弄,让她再一次离开了他。她愿负他,却不愿他负天下,樱花落尽思恋,心又再疼一遍。爱入心,恨入骨、剩得一缕爱孤独。生死再相赴,千年一瞬尘与土。愿永生永世与你守护……死亡将再次把他们分开,她为了再次与他厮守,不惜与系统签约,攻略了一个又一个性格不同的男主。
  • 永生不死的战士

    永生不死的战士

    一个逃兵的成功逆袭,一个胖子的完美转身,一个失败者的自我救赎,一个用爱净化心灵的青年,一个用爱拯救自己的战士!主角张书阳,是来自单亲家庭的孩子,是一位内心不完整的“野兽”,偶然的机会,他的一生先是经历了自己的心灵王国(第一卷)、接着尝尽了人生中的现实挣扎(第二卷)、最终走向因爱永生的未来世界(第三卷)。这不是一个试图追求个人成败、奇妙体验、精彩生活的故事,而是关于一个人来到这个世界,命运起伏跌宕、人生变化无常的思考,简而言之,张书阳的命运,呈现的就是一副人生百味图。希望通过此故事,唤起人们对单亲孩子的关注,唤起人们对家庭的真正思考……
  • 爱妻,你不乖奥

    爱妻,你不乖奥

    一个掩藏身份的千金小姐,一个“温柔贤良”的男优学生和一个桀骜不驯的富家公子之间的夺爱游戏,,,,,,