In 1788 it is only 1,800,000 livres, and in 1789 it is refused altogether.[1218] And still better: as it borrows to provide for this tax, and as the decimes which it raises on its property do not suffice to reduce the capital and meet the interest on its debt, it has the adroitness to secure, besides, a grant from the king.

Out of the royal treasury, each year, it receives 2,500,000 livres, so that, instead of paying, it receives.

In 1787 it receives in this way 1,500,000 livres.-As for the nobles, they, being unable to combine together, to have representatives, and to act in a public way, operate instead in a private way.

They contact ministers, intendants, sub-delegates, farmer-generals, and all others clothed with authority, their quality securing attentions, consideration and favors.
In the first place, this quality exempts themselves, their dependents, and the dependents of their dependents, from drafting in the militia, from lodging soldiers, from (la corvee) laboring on the highways.

Next, the capitation being fixed according to the tax system, they pay little, because their taxation is of little account.