Mmmh, my King loves to dine royally. Today he requested roasted rabbit
with honey sauce, potatoes and lettuce. I am glad I live here in
Versailles being his majesty's most obedient servant. In the countryside
and in Paris there is food scarce and the prospects are grim. I hear
there are workers protesting about the high prices of bread and grain in
the cities. I am afraid that taxes could rise if we have a bad harvest
again. The king did not look well today, I think the audience with the
minister Necker who tries to handle the state finances have tired him.
Necker is a good man, he will find ways to create new sources of gold
for the king. I have heard rumors that not everybody - especially the
first and second estate - are happy with his ideas. I am wondering what
other people think of the situation now, in fall of 1787.
For me it is very hard to believe what I have just read. To be honest, I am shocked by Mister Praslin telling us about his extravagant life without feeling guilty about the fact that there is a huge lack of food for the Third Estate. While Mister Praslin is enjoying his expensive meal, which he takes for granted, poor people are starving. The nobles confiscate the corn, which is produced by the Third Estate, without paying a single livre meanwhile I have to spend all my earnings on food for my family. I think in this country so many things go wrong. Is it really possible that the Third Estate has to produce the whole food for the First and Second Estate although they do not pay any taxes? I hope that there will soon be a change so that every estate has to pay taxes according to their earnings. May be Mister Neckers solution will not only help the king but the Third Estate too. I can honestly say that I do not really believe that. But all I can do right now is to hope.
AntwortenLöschenOf course I agree with Marie-Rose Barre. It is madness that the 1st and 2nd Estates don't have to pay taxes. And to make it even worse: They live in such a luxury while the people from the 3rd Estate have to fight for their lives. But I think, if the King could force the 1st and 2nd Estate to pay those taxes and if he would give up all the luxury, the financial problems would be solved.
AntwortenLöschenWell for me, that is were the real problem only begins. "Which problem?", I am sure that is how every man reacts when he reads this. Well I will be so kind and tell you which problem I mean: my problem is that a womans opinion isn't worth much more than the opinion of a child. Even if all the financial problems would be solved tomorrow, all the french women would still be suffering. So I won't give up until women get the rights they deserve.
Well, this is a very difficult situation for me. The people are not doing what they used to do anymore; they have started to criticize everything, especially me and the king. Even the Assembly is now against the king and demanding other reforms. My husband, the king, is not well. He suffers from depressions from all the pressures he is under at the moment. I know I did not treat my people well, but I guess I did not have any other choice. I am supposed to do what is best for the royalty. And of course the future of my children needs to be assured. I want them to become the new leaders of France. And I am also hoping that looking more after my children will improve my bad image that I have acquired. I am ready to change something now to get a better image. This will probably save the existence of the royal family.
AntwortenLöschenYesterday, there was another invitation to the King's palace. Like always, we dined first and afterwords the curtains opened. About twenty actors appeared and our attention was immediately directed to them. Sometimes there is a play about love, a historical one, they' ve even played a crimestory, but this time it was neither of that.
AntwortenLöschenThe opening began with a poor king sitting on his throne with a sad face and dirty clothes. After a while a servant appeared and ask if the financial-minister could come in. The next hour in the play was all about the king's debts and how the citiziens demonstraded in the street for better life. At the end the nobility had to pay taxes and the society turned violent.
When we got another glass of wine to celebrate that great play, nobody seemed really to understand, that this might be our situation in a few months. It was a nice celebration though and the nobility went home around 3 o'clock in the morning.
The play made me think, so tomorrow I' m going downstairs to my basement in which a big library is placed to have a look at the old wisdoms. Acutally, I should visit some of the enlightors of the town and ask them what there propose for the near futere is.
What the king is demanding of his peasants is outrageous. The people living around my church are working hard all day in order to make ends meet, let alone harvest enough produce to survive the whole winter and yet the king is still living in luxury in Versailles, the nobility is collecting more taxes than ever and the high clergy is demanding more wine and goose liver each year. But that can not continue any further, the First and Second Estates have to redistribute that wealth to the people and make food available to every member of society. God never intended anybody to live without working and what the First and Second Estates are doing is not working. The most important thing at the moment though is that the poor gain political power, because the reason the laws in place now are so cruel towards the poor is that they we’re made by the rich.
AntwortenLöschenGeorges Danton, fall 1787
AntwortenLöschenI can’t believe that you dare talking about the king's luxury in such a way. How can you possibly think that such a speech makes us feel better. We fight for our lives and for our livings day to day. But on the other side I can understand that the 1st and the 2nd Estate aren’t happy with the idea of increasing taxes! NO ONE likes paying taxes..! We don’t and neither do the greedy noblemen! We, the poor have to pay taxes so that the lazy majesty can eat as told? NO! We need democracy. The power must be with the people who work and have an idea what is happening in the daily life of the majority. Only in that way, by gaining the power, we can live in a way that we want!
I don't like the way the king is acting with our empire right now. He wants to remove all the privileges that the nobility has. I think Louis has become a weak king, because he is more interested in the ideas of the farmers than in those of the nobility. Why should the nobles pay taxes? We were appointed by the lord to have our rights in the french society. Louis has to give us more political influence and power if he doesn't want France to go down. But he does the opposite: he wants to eliminate the most important voice that fights for him and the whole country. Why shouldn't we vote by estate in our parliament? In this case the meanings of all three estates have the same consideration in our government. I don't think that the situation of our country and our estate is terrible at the moment, but if no one does anything against this alarming situation the king will remove all the privileges and rights that the noble estate has.
AntwortenLöschenI am surprised at how well my husband and I have been doing this year. I have heard that food is running low in many areas of the country and that the people are suffering. I feel lucky to have a roof over my head and food on my table every day. We had a good harvest this year. Of course nothing has changed with the taxes. The nobles are demanding more than ever and there is nothing we can do but pay. I have been going to the market a lot recently to sell our produce. My husband and I need every penny we can get if we want to keep a more or less secure life. Autumn is slowly coming to an end and I am getting very worried about the winter. I hope that the nobles won't come and take our animals away from us like they have before. We need them during the winter months and I have heard that this year is going to be especially cold. I know that there are many people who are worse off than me, but it still scares me. I wish the king would do something about the situation soon. I don't doubt that he will because he can't let his people suffer like this for long. My husband keeps telling me that he wouldn't be so sure, but I trust the king to change things before it's too late.
AntwortenLöschenI’ve heard that there are shortages of food in Paris and in the countryside and I have discussed this problem with Minister Charles Alexandre de Calonne. But as many of you know our beautiful country France is in a financial crisis and there isn’t a simple or fast solution to that. Also the latest hailstorm which destroyed the harvest aggravates everything. You all are just going to have to wait and trust me to do the right thing. One step which improves our financial situation is to raise the food prizes and the taxes. But of course that means that there are even more hungry people. I’m in a real dilemma but I’m not going to give up, I’ll find a solution out of bankruptcy. Until we find a way I ask all the people to stay calm and stop protesting, this is just a temporary situation and during this time we all have to stay together and help one another.
AntwortenLöschenOur king’s parties are the best! He definitely knows how to impress people. Yesterday, I could have danced, talked and eaten all night long. My stomach still hurts from all the tasty food. I’m really looking forward to his next party with sparkling decoration, good music and delicious food. And my new rose dress with diamonds made from an Italian tailor… I really want to show it to everyone and see their envious faces. But I heard that the king had financial problems. That's really awful because that means his next party won’t be in the near future. Where else should I present my new dress? I’m not really happy about this situation right now. The thought about not being able to buy new expensive dresses and joining parties is horrible. I’m sure that our king and his advisors will make the right decision to solve this financial problem so that I – and also the other nobles - can continue enjoying life and parties.
AntwortenLöschenI am a lawyer and I normally earn enough money to pay the taxes and buy everything my family needs, even though the price of food increases. But the taxes are already very high and if the king really does raise the taxes I probably won’t have enough money to buy all the essentials anymore. Especially, because I already have a little shortage of money at the moment in due to the fact that the judges are being bribed I didn’t win many cases lately. And if I don’t win any cases I don’t earn any money. I think that it is really unfair that the 1st and especially the 2nd Estate just continue buying expensive clothing and having fun at their parties in Versailles. They’re wasting their money instead of sharing it with us and are still not being punished for the things they do, even when the injustice is obvious.
AntwortenLöschenIn my opinion are you, Mister Praslin, a traitor, and a traitor of the worst kind as well. You get food and shelter, elegant clothing and a warm bed everyday, while so many of us starve on the streets or freeze to death in winter! You are one of us, but you act like you are better than us. Are you too scared to tell your dearest king about our problems? It is impossible for us to pay even higher taxes; we don’t even have enough for ourselves, so how should we give our shares to the king? I haven’t eaten in a few days, and what I’ve read makes me so angry I can’t even put it into words. The nobles and the clergy would have enough power to convince the king to finally help us. But they only think of their own profit. I have to fear ever day that I won’t find work; therefore I won’t get food, and starve to death. How about you and your dearest King, Mister Praslin? Do you even care? The situation is much worse than you might believe, and there has to be someone who changes it.
AntwortenLöschenI also ate quite a lot today, I know how exhausting it is to have appointments between the meals. I hope the king will feel better soon, he does really a lot for his country. I personally am particularly happy with the situation now, the king is right when he gives the clergy some privileges others don’t have, since I humbly serve god and the king. Today I shot a deer in the forest, I believe that I helped a lot of people with this. But I have to say that even if I’m from an influential noble family I think that the clergy could have a bit more influence in political matters. At the moment I don’t support anybody for a change, but if there will be some activities I will be there too…
AntwortenLöschenI’m glad that the king finally tries to make some changes! As a factory owner in Paris I work hard and get a lot of money for it. But with the high prizes on food and the high taxes it’s really hard to get through. I even have to bribe some important officials! So how can it be that the nobility, just cause they’re born noble, don’t have to pay taxes? Any time, some greedy nobles could just come and take my property. The nobility isn’t any better than us normal people but still our country is split into estates and that’s the reason why people are rioting and attacking the castles of the 2nd Estate’s people. Because it’s not fair! I think that every member of the bourgeoisie should have the same political right’s in order to equal our economical power in France. There are other, better ways to govern a country. There has to be a change!!!
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AntwortenLöschenHard times are about to come. Not only for me, but for the whole country. I'll try to do my job in the military as good as I can, but I can feel the anger in the society and I don't know how much longer the life in its present form will work. There is not enough food for the third estate and there is not enough money for none of the estates. We are in times of trouble and that economicly, financially and as well socialy. But not only the society turns angry, I do as well. I can't understand how a career in the military can be based on someones birth and not on someones skills.
AntwortenLöschenI have to say it again, hard times are about to come.