“It is not proposed to correct past errors, but to remove present evils. If an attempt is never made, success cannot be expected. In dangerous disorders violent remedies are necessary. There is but one method of restoring the course of general circulation, which the monopoly of the company has interrupted. This is the establishment of an ardent chamber, wherein the financiers should give an account of their management of the farms, and which should enquire into the title whereby they are in possession of such immense riches, in order to transfer them for the benefit of the crown, as soon as the grievance and the monopoly shall be ascertained.
“To prevent the outcries of avarice, and the sordid love of pelf, against this regulation, two incontestible principles must previously be laid down.
“1. That the great profits of royal companies, when excessive, no longer bear that name, but come under the denomination of monopolies, being contrary to the intentions of the prince, who neither could nor would divest himself of great advantages upon any consideration whatever.
“2. That a King is always a minor, in regard to any grievance in the general finances: and that he is authorized by all the fundamental laws to annul a contract that is pernicious to the state and his people.
“That to proceed legally against the financiers, the ardent chamber should nominate commissaries to examine the books of the farmers-general. After having made an abstract thereof, they should report the monopolies used to accumulate these great riches, of which the company is possessed.
“From thence they should have recourse to the annual sub-divisions, in order to pursue the necessary clue, and ascertain the real state of their accounts.
“This operation being compleated, all the farmers-general should be summoned, one after another, before the tribunal of the ardent chamber, to give an account of the sum which they must have appropriated to themselves, according to the intelligence obtained.
“They should be directed to restore it all, except six per cent. which should be granted them as interest for their advanced money.
“In case of disobedience, they should be confined and kept in prison, until they had made entire restitution of the whole sum, without deducting any interest.
“The chief clerks, such as directors, registers, comptrollers, &c. should be subpœned before the ardent chamber, and obliged to make restitution, in the same manner as the farmers-general.