'Item, it should likewise be remembered, that other great officers, as well as the provost, have held many offices of importance, which they have sold, and pocketed the amount, to your great disadvantage and contrary to your royal edicts, and also to the prejudice of the kingdom,—for, by this system, ignorant and improper persons are put into the said offices.
'Item, the provost of Paris, who had held for some time the office of grand master of waters and forests, has now resigned it to the lord de Jury, for which six thousand francs have been levied. But beside the provostship of Paris, he holds the government of the town of Cherbourg and its dependancies, which brings him an annual rent of six thousand francs, with the government of Nemours, amounting to two thousand more. Your income is also ruined by another mode, namely, by the immense number of receivers, treasurers, clerks, comptrollers and other officers, who swallow enormous sums by way of fees, over and above the regular fees of office, of which the provost and his dependants have the greater share, and which they regard as their own personal property, to your great loss, and to the delay of payments to many of your faithful servants, knights, and counsellors of state. It is daily witnessed, that when a young man has been appointed to any of the above offices, however poor his situation may have been before, or how little versed he may be in the management of public affairs, he soon becomes rich, keeps a grand establishment, and purchases large estates and manors, all at your expense.
'There are great frauds committed by your treasurers of the war department, who are accustomed to take from your knights and esquires blank receipts sealed by them, of which they make a very bad use, as they know to their cost: but they can more fully inform you on this head than we can. It is melancholy to hear their complaints of the delays in the payment of their salaries, which are always much curtailed, at least to the greater part of them. It is consequently now become a rule among your men at arms, when their salary is in arrear, to pay themselves from the countries they are quartered in, saying, that, since they cannot obtain their pay, they must live by their service.
'Item, whenever these directors or superintendants of your finances are called upon, they make answer, that they are ready to produce their accounts, as if that were sufficient, and even go so far as to desire commissioners may be appointed to inspect and examine them; but, under correction, this answer is futile,—and if the real culprits are to be discovered, let their original state, and what substance they possessed before they entered into office, be inquired into,—what the amount of their salaries and fees, how much their reasonable expenditure, and then what is their present income, what estates they possess, and what buildings they have erected. It is notorious, that the superior officers are rich and magnificent, but that they were indigent before their appointments to office, and that some of them have purchased houses of great value, namely, master Jean Chastegnier, Guillaume Luce, and Nicaise Bouses. To say the truth, every loyal subject must be astonished and grieved at heart when he witnesses such management, that you, their lawful prince and sovereign, should be thus robbed, and that all your finances should be lodged in such beggarly purses, by the aforesaid, whose purses are swollen out, and by those who have preceded them, without any regard to your own wants, or to those of the state.
'Item, since mention has been made of the grand state in which many live, it seems to your daughter, that such a style of living is too generally adopted throughout your kingdom; and she fears, from the evils that daily result from it, lest God may be angered against his people.
'Item, in regard to the great councils, they are not held in the manner they ought to be; for generally almost every one is admitted, whereas none but wise and discreet men, such as knights and clerks, should be suffered to enter, to a competent number receiving pay and salaries from you, and from none other,—and these should always have an attentive eye to your personal profit and honour, and to the strengthening of your crown and kingdom. It frequently happens, from the numbers admitted, that business of every sort is neglected or delayed, and that when any good resolution has been made, as now and then will be the case, it remains unexecuted, However nearly it may affect your interests.—Foreign ambassadors should have their negotiations terminated, and our own should be dispatched; and whenever any thing conclusive has, by mature deliberation, been settled, it ought not to be broken off by a few persons afterward, as has often happened.
'Item, it is very distressing to hear such loud complaints of the debility of your government in protracting business. We even see the lord de Mouberon, the viscount de Murat, and those of la Rochelle, complaining of the delays of your council, although they are employed for the service of your kingdom, and declaring, that if more energy is not exerted, they must necessarily make peace with your enemies,—and thus you may lose many of your faithful vassals.
'In regard to the administration of justice in the realm, your court of parliament, which is the most eminent, is not governed as it is wont to have been. Formerly it was composed of excellent lawyers, as well secular as ecclesiastical, of a mature age and learned in the laws; and from its great fame for learning and justice, without partiality to any one, was resorted to, not only by Christians of all nations, but even by Saracens, who have applied to it for judgment.
'For some short time past, through favour of friends, relations, or other means, many young men have been admitted who are ignorant of the laws and unworthy of such honour, by which the authority and fair reputation of this court is greatly lessened. There are also other inconveniences attending these indiscriminate admissions: for instance, there are in this court many sons, brothers, nephews and relations sitting together, and many others who are lineally connected, as is the case with the family of the first president,—and from this circumstance great injustice may ensue in the decisions of the court.
'Item, there are now before the parliament several causes between poor persons, that are, as it were, dead; for the members do not use such expedition in deciding upon them as they in reason should.