[Footnote: The formal annexation of
Lorraine in 1766 and of Corsica in 1768 afforded some crumbs of comfort
for Louis XV.] Debts were multiplied and taxes increased. What with
war, extravagance, and poor management, Louis XV left France a bankrupt
state.
[Sidenote: Growing complaints against the French Monarchy under Louis
XV]
Complaints were loud and remonstrances bitter, and Louis XV could not
silence them, try as he might. Authors who criticized the government
were thrown into prison: radical writings were confiscated or burned;
but criticism persisted. Enemies of the government were imprisoned
without trial in the Bastille by _lettres de cachet_, which were
orders for arrest signed in blank by the king, who sometimes gave or
sold them to his favorites, so that they, too, might have their enemies
jailed. Yet the opposition to the court ever increased. Resistance to
taxation centered in the Parlement of Paris. It refused to register the
king's decrees, and remained defiant even after Louis XV had angrily
announced that he would not tolerate interference with his
prerogatives.
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