《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第十二章·何以十八世纪法国农民处境反不如十三世纪》第10节
Though originally a seignorial right, the system of forced labour, by becoming a royal right, was gradually extended to almost all public works. In 1719 I find it was employed to build barracks. ‘Parishes are to send their best workmen,’ said the Ordinance, ‘and all other works are to give way to this.’ The same forced service was used to escort convicts to the galleys and beggars to the workhouse; it had to cart the baggage of troops as often as they changed their quarters, a burden which was very onerous at a time when each regiment carried heavy baggage after it. Many carts and oxen had to be collected for the purpose. This sort of obligation, which signified little at its origin, became one of the most burdensome when standing armies grew more numerous. Sometimes the Government contractors loudly demanded the assistance of forced labour to convey timber from the forests to the naval arsenals. These peasants commonly received certain wages, but they were arbitrarily fixed and low. The burden of an impost so ill-assessed sometimes became so heavy as to excite the uneasiness of the receivers of the taille. ‘The outlay required of the peasants on the roads,’ said one of these officers in 1751, ‘is such, that they will soon be quite unable to pay the taille.’ Could all these new oppressions have been established if there had been in the vicinity of these peasants any men of wealth and education, disposed and able, if not to defend them, at least to intercede for them, with that common master who already held in his grasp the fortunes of the poor and of the rich? I have read a letter of a great landowner, writing in 1774 to the Intendant of his province, to induce him to open a road. This road, he said, would cause the prosperity of the village, and for several reasons; he then went on to recommend the establishment of a fair, which would double, he thought, the price of produce. With excellent motives, he added that with the assistance of a small contribution a school might be established, which would furnish the King with more industrious subjects. It was the first time that these necessary ameliorations had occurred to him; he had only thought of them in the preceding two years, which he had been compelled by a lettre de cachet to spend in his own house. ‘My exile for the last two years in my estates,’ he candidly observed, ‘has convinced me of the extreme utility of these things.’
注释摘要
托克维尔在这里追踪了一条从封建权利到国家负担的蜕变路径。强迫劳役原本是一种领主权利，农民在特定时节为庄园主提供无偿劳动。但旧制度下的行政集权将这种义务从领主的私人关系里抽了出来，把它变成一种由国家直接征发、面向全体农村居民的公权力工具。当它变成王权的一部分时，它就不再受限于任何地方习惯或人情约束，而可以沿着行政管理的逻辑无限延伸。正因为它在法理上脱离了具体…