Whatever is consumed must no longer be
taxed, either for the benefit of the State or for that of the towns.
"Entrance dues on wine and cattle," writes the municipality of
Saint-Etienne, "scarcely amount to anything, and our powers are
inadequate for their enforcement." At Cambrai, two successive
outbreaks compel the excise office and the magistracy of the
town[37] to reduce the duties on beer one-half. But "the evil, at
first confined to one corner of the province, soon spreads ;" the
grands baillis of Lille, Douai, and Orchies write that "we have
hardly a bureau which has not been molested, and in which the taxes
are not wholly subject to popular discretion." Those only pay who
are disposed to do so, and, consequently, "greater fraud could not
exist." The taxpayers, indeed, cunningly defend themselves, and find
plenty of arguments or quibbles to avoid paying their dues. At
Cambrai they allege that, as the privileged now pay as well as the
rest, the Treasury must be rich enough.
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