《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第十六章·路易十六治世乃旧王朝最繁荣之时又何以加速革命》第4节
As these changes were brought about in the minds of the governing class and of the governed, the prosperity of the nation expanded with a rapidity heretofore unknown. It was announced by numerous symptoms: the population largely augmented; the wealth of the country augmented more largely still. The American War did not arrest this movement; the State was embarrassed by it, but the community continued to enrich itself by becoming more industrious, more enterprising, more inventive. ‘Since 1774,’ says one of the members of the administration of that time, ‘different kinds of industry have by their extension enlarged the area of taxation on all commodities. ‘If we compare the terms of arrangement agreed upon at different periods of the reign of Louis XVI. between the State and the financial companies which farmed the public revenue, the rate of payment will be found to have risen at each renewal with increasing rapidity. The farm of 1786 produced fourteen millions more than that of 1780. ‘It may be reckoned that the produce of duties on consumption is increasing at the rate of two millions per annum,’ said Necker, in his Report of 1781. Arthur Young declared that, in 1788, Bordeaux carried on a larger trade than Liverpool. He adds: ‘Latterly the progress of maritime commerce has been more rapid in France than in England; trade has doubled there in the last twenty years.’ With due regard to the difference of the times we are speaking of, it may be established that in no one of the periods which have followed the Revolution of 1789 has the national prosperity of France augmented more rapidly than it did in the twenty years preceding that event. The period of thirty-seven years of the constitutional monarchy of France, which were times of peace and progress, can alone be compared in this respect to the reign of Louis XVI.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这段文字里提供了一个看似矛盾却又极为关键的经济图景：恰恰是在旧制度最后二三十年，法国的财富、人口、工商业与海外贸易都在显著扩张。他没有用抽象概念来证明繁荣，而是密集地列举了当时行政文牍和经济观察者所留下的数字与判断——消费税收入以每年两百万利弗尔的速度增长，包税契约在1786年比1780年多产出四百万利弗尔，波尔多的贸易规模被阿瑟·扬认为已经超过…