Note (XI.)—Page [25], line 15.
EXAMPLE OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CLERGY ALIENATED THE PEOPLE BY THE EXERCISE OF ITS PRIVILEGES.
In 1780 the prior and the canons of the priory of Laval complained of an attempt to subject them to the payment of the tariff duties on articles of consumption, and on the materials needed for the repairs of their buildings. They pleaded that as the tariff duties represented the taille, and as they were exempt from the taille, they therefore owed nothing. The minister referred them to a decision at the election, with the right of appeal to the Cour des Aides.
Note (XII.)—Page [25], line 23.
FEUDAL RIGHTS POSSESSED BY PRIESTS.—ONE EXAMPLE FROM AMONGST A THOUSAND.
Abbey of Cherbourg (1753).—This abbey possessed at this period the seignorial rent-charges, payable in money or in kind in almost every parish round Cherbourg; one single village owed it three hundred and six bushels of wheat. It owned the barony of Ste. Geneviève, the barony and the seignorial mill of Bas-du-Roule, and the barony of Neuville-au-Plein, situated at a distance of at least ten leagues. It received moreover the tithes of twelve parishes in the peninsula, of which several were very distant from it.
Note (XIII.)—Page [27], line 21.
IRRITATION AMONG THE PEASANTS CAUSED BY FEUDAL RIGHTS, AND ESPECIALLY BY THE FEUDAL RIGHTS OF THE PRIESTS.