Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon on the times of Louis XIVand the regencyTranslated and abridged by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, from the edcollated with the original manuscript by MChéruelIllustrated with portsFrom the original . The crime was that under this new system there wouldcome an end to the authority of the controller-general, hisfavour, his fortune, his omnipotence, and, in proportion, tothat of intendants of finance, intendants of the provinces,their secretaries, clerks, prot(^g^s, to the private means ofinformation of these persons, to their influence; and more-over, by the same
Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon on the times of Louis XIVand the regencyTranslated and abridged by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, from the edcollated with the original manuscript by MChéruelIllustrated with portsFrom the original . The crime was that under this new system there wouldcome an end to the authority of the controller-general, hisfavour, his fortune, his omnipotence, and, in proportion, tothat of intendants of finance, intendants of the provinces,their secretaries, clerks, prot(^g^s, to the private means ofinformation of these persons, to their influence; and more-over, by the same blow, they would all be deprived of thepower of doing good or evil to any one. It is not surprisingthat so many powerful persons of all kinds, from whose handsthe book wrenched everything, should conspire against a sys-tem so useful to the State, so fortunate for the khig, so bene-eficial for the people of the kingdom, but so ruinous tothemselves. The whole long;-robe roared for its legal body is the regulator of taxes, through the officesthat belong to all sorts of administration, and to these ithas exclusive access over others. In a word, none but thepowerless and the disinterested were for Vauban and Bois-. f.^CC///•////// / Ii////w /^r tiy 1703] MEMOIRS OF THE DUG DE SAINT-SIMON. 269 guilbert, — I mean the Church and the nobility; as for thepeople, they gained everything, but they were ignorant hownear they were to salvation; the lower bourgeoisie alonedeplored its failure. It was therefore no wonder that the king, hemmed aboutand prejudiced in this way, received Mardchal Vauban veryill when he presented to him his book, wliich was addressedto himself throughout the whole work. We can imaginewhether the ministers to whom Vauban also presented itgave it a better welcome. From that moment his services,his military capacity, which was unique in its own line, hisvirtues, the affection the king had always shown him, evento thinking he crowned his own head with
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