These appeals, later on, excite the applause given to the "Marriage of Figaro." But, in the anticipatory indictment, they strike deeper; there is no gayety in them, the dominant sentiment being one of sadness, resignation, and bitterness.] [Footnote 3203: "Discours prononce par l'ordre du roi et en sa presence, le 22 fevrier 1787," by M.de Calonne, controleur-general, p.22.

"What remains then to fill this fearful void (in the finances)?
Abuses.
The abuses now demanding suppression for the public weal are the most considerable and the best protected, those that are the deepest rooted and which send out the most branches.

They are the abuses which weigh most heavily on the working and producing classes, the abuses of financial privileges, the exceptions to the common law and to so many unjust exemptions which relieve only a portion of the taxpayers by aggravating the lot of the others; general inequality in the distribution of subsidies and the enormous disproportion which exists in the taxation of different provinces and among the offices filled by subjects of the same sovereign; severity and arbitrariness in the collection of the taille; bureaux of internal transportation, and obstacles that render different parts of the same kingdom strangers to each other; rights that discourage industry; those of which the collection requires excessive expenditure and innumerable collectors."] [Footnote 3204: De Segur, "Memoires," III., 591.

In 1791, on his return from Russia, his brother says to him, speaking of the Revolution: "Everybody, at first, wanted it..

From the king down to the most insignificant man in the kingdom, everybody did something to help it along; one let it come on up to his shoe-buckle, another up to his garter, another to his waist, another to his breast, and some will not be content until their head is attacked!"] [Footnote 3205: My French dictionary tells me that the Carmagnole is not only a popular revolutionary dance but also a short and tight jacket worn by the revolutionaries between 1792 and 1795 and that it came via Marseille with workers from the town of Carmagnola in Piedmont.