We can judge of their risks and sufferings. In 1785，[18] in one single district in Champagne， eighty-five are imprisoned and two hundred of them are on the road every year. "The collector， says the provincial assembly of Berry，[19] usually passes one-half of the day for two years running from door to door to see delinquent tax-payers." "This service，" writes Turgot，[20] "is the despair and almost always the ruin of those obliged to perform it； all families in easy circumstances in a village are thus successively reduced to want." In short， there is no collector who is not forced to act and who has not each year "eight or ten writs" served on him[21]. Sometimes he is imprisoned at the expense of the parish. Sometimes proceedings are instituted against him and the tax-contributors by the installation of " 'blue men' and seizures， seizures under arrest， seizures in execution and sales of furniture." "In the single district of Villefranche，" says the provincial Assembly of Haute-Guyenne， "a hundred and six warrant officers and other agents of the bailiff are counted always on the road."The thing becomes customary and the parish suffers in vain， for it would suffer yet more were it to do otherwise. " Near Aurillac，" says the Marquis de Mirabeau，[22] "there is industry， application and economy without which there would be only misery and want. This produces a people equally divided into being ， on the one hand， insolvent and poor and on the other hand shameful and rich， the latter who， for fear of being fined， create the impoverished. The taille once assessed， everybody groans and complains and nobody pays it. The term having expired， at the hour and minute， constraint begins， the collectors， although able， taking no trouble to arrest this by making a settlement， notwithstanding the installation of the bailiff's men is costly. But this kind of expense is habitual and people expect it instead of fearing it， for， if it were less rigorous， they would be sure to be additionally burdened the following year." The receiver， indeed， who pays the bailiff's officers a franc a day， makes them pay two francs and appropriates the difference. Hence "if certain parishes venture to pay promptly， without awaiting constraint， the receiver， who sees himself deprived of the best portion of his gains， becomes ill-humored， and， at the next department (meeting)， an arrangement is made between himself， messieurs the elected， the sub-delegate and other shavers of this species， for the parish to bear a double load， to teach it how to behave itself."A population of administrative blood-suckers thus lives on the peasant. "Lately，" says an intendant， "in the district of Romorantin，[23] the collectors received nothing from a sale of furniture amounting to six hundred livres， because the proceeds were absorbed by the expenses. In the district of Chateaudun the same thing occurred at a sale amounting to nine hundred livres and there are other transactions of the same kind of which we have no information， however flagrant." Besides this， the fisc itself is pitiless. The same intendant writes， in 1784， a year of famine：[24] "People have seen， with horror， the collector， in the country， disputing with heads of families over the costs of a sale of furniture which had been appropriated to stopping their children's cry of want." Were the collectors not to make seizures they would themselves be seized. Urged on by the receiver we see them， in the documents， soliciting， prosecuting and persecuting the tax-payers. Every Sunday and every fête-day they are posted at the church door to warn delinquents； and then， during the week they go from door to door to obtain their dues.
"Commonly they cannot write， and take a scribe with them." Out of six hundred and six traversing the district of Saint-Flour not ten of them are able to read the official summons and sign a receipt； hence innumerable mistakes and frauds. Besides a scribe they take along the bailiff's subordinates， persons of the lowest class， laborers without work， conscious of being hated and who act accordingly. "Whatever orders may be given them not to take anything， not to make the inhabitants feed them， or to enter taverns with collectors，" habit is too strong "and the abuse continues."[25] But， burdensome as the bailiff's men may be， care is taken not to evade them. In this respect， writes an intendant， " their obduracy is strange." " No person，" a receiver reports，[26] "pays the collector until he sees the bailiff's man in his house." The peasant resembles his ass， refusing to go without being beaten， and， although in this he may appear stupid， he is clever. For the collector， being responsible， "naturally inclines to an increase of the assessment on prompt payers to the advantage of the negligent. Hence the prompt payer becomes， in his turn， negligent and， although with money in his chest， he allows the process to go on."[27] Summing all up， he calculates that the process， even if expensive， costs less than extra taxation， and of the two evils he chooses the least. He has but one resource against the collector and receiver， his simulated or actual poverty， voluntary or involuntary. "Every one subject to the taille，" says， again， the provincial assembly of Berry， "dreads to expose his resources； he avoids any display of these in his furniture， in his dress， in his food， and in everything open to another's observation." - "M. de Choiseul-Gouffier，[28] willing to roof his peasants' houses， liable to take fire， with tiles， they thanked him for his kindness but begged him to leave them as they were， telling him that if these were covered with tiles， instead of with thatch， the subdelegates would increase their taxation." - "People work， but merely to satisfy their prime necessities. . . . The fear of paying an extra crown makes an average man neglect a profit of four times the amount."[29] - ". . .
