The pretext of his condemnation was that he had incensed
by his writings the despots of Vienna and London.
The Jesuit controversy involved many authors in ruin, amongst others Abbe
Caveirac, who wrote _Appel a la Raison des Ecrits et Libelles publies
contre les Jesuites, par Jean Novi de Caveirac_ (_Bruxelles_, 1762, 2
vols., in-12). This book was at once suppressed, and its author was
condemned to imprisonment in 1764, and then sent to the pillory, and
afterwards doomed to perpetual exile. He was accused of having written an
apology for the slaughter of the Protestants on the eve of St.
Bartholomew's Day, but our last mentioned author, Linguet, endeavours to
clear his memory from that charge.
A friend of Linguet, Darigrand, wrote a book entitled _L'Antifinancier, ou
Releve de quelques-unes des malversations dont se rendent journellement
les Fermiers-Generaux, et des vexations qu'ils commettent dans les
provinces_ (_Paris, Lambert_, 1764, 2 vols., in-12). It was directed
against the abominable system of taxation in vogue in France, which was
mainly instrumental in producing the Revolution. Darigrand was a lawyer,
and had been employed in _la ferme generale_. He knew all the iniquities
of that curious institution; he knew the crushing taxes which were levied,
and the tender mercies of the "cellar-rats," the gnawing bailiffs, who
knew no pity. Indignant and disgusted by the whole business, he wrote his
vehement exposure _L'Antifinancier_.
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