Analysis of Arthur Young’s Travels in France

DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT, HISTORY AND legal expert CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY ANALYSIS OF ARTHUR YOUNGS TRAVELS IN FRANCE BY DANIELLE KING Submitted to prof Ocana in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Western Civilization 112 November 3, 2010 Arthur younker was innate(p) on September 11, 1741 in Bradfield, a village in Suffolk, England. later he dropped verboten of school and acquired a job in a mercantile house, for which he was not suited for, early days began his writing life at the age of seventeen. He was much more inclined to save up than toy in a more commercial capacity as he later became a great English tillage writer.Although junior was such a fantastic agriculture writer he is most known for his social and political writings. schoolgirlish was not very no-hit with the land from the start however, afterward inheriting the land around his kinfolk after the death of his mother and through a series of failed state attempts elsewhere in England, he began to lea rn quite a mass about agriculture. From this point late began to write several books and journals about agriculture in and around England and his popularity grew tremendously. After having make quite a denomination for himself in the world of agriculture, preteen began to travel outside of England.Young initiative went to Ireland in 1776 and promulgated his findings there four days later with Tour in Ireland. Youngs most popular excursion was to France, which he premier(prenominal) visited in 1787. Young explored the country in great detail culture a good deal from the quite a little and the land. Young meticulously record the condition of the soil and other agricultural data as intimately as his opinions as to the political and social reasons for Frances agricultural failure. This information was published in 1792 split into two volumes titled Travels in France.The reason this work was so main(prenominal) then and still important today is because Young gives a remarkabl e account of the social, economic, and political problems and struggles leading up to and barg only when after the beginning of the cut transmutation. During the section of Travels in France that discussed his thoughts on the French Revolution, Young was enraged by much of what he saw. The issues that externalizemed to frustrate Young the most were unequal taxes, harsh penal codes, and a lack of arbiter in the court outline. The archetypical major dilemma Young discusses is a system of unequal taxes.He begins by giving the reader an understanding of how the state was organized. Young says that the land was broken into generalities with an intendant appointed to govern them. The generalities were broken bring down further into elections which were governed by sub-de-legue this position was appointed by the intendant. Needless to say, the intendant held a vast amount of power particularly with regards to taxation. According to Young these intendants could exempt, change, ad d, or diminish taxes on a whim. (Young) With this type of control it is easy to see why befriending the intendant might be advantageous.It was known that the friends and family, even very aloof relatives could benefit monetaryly from a nexus to the intendant. Natur all(prenominal)y population without this connection were very upset as, since taxes still had to be paid to the domain, they were the ones to shoulder this financial burden. There were exemptions allowed for the intendants, sub-de-legues, nobility, clergy, and the friends and family of these people. The poor of the kingdom felt as though the people with the most economic resources were exempted from paying taxes because they were fortunate enough to have those resources.The back issue Young uncovers while travel in Frances is the kingdoms unequal and below the belt harsh penal code. Young uses, as an example, the laws for salt moon-cursers. Taken from his Travels in France were eight extremely strict regulations covering the offenders accused of smuggling salt. The first law mentioned says that if five or more armed salt ball carriers ar gathered to masturbateher in Provence they will be gracefuld and spend guild years in throw away. If these same people were any(prenominal)where else in the kingdom they would be put to death.The next law says that if less than five only more than one armed moon-cursers are gathered together they get a turn chance. The first age they are caught meeting, they will be fined and sentenced to trinity years in jail. The second age they will be killed. The third rule discusses unarmed smugglers that have some sort of shipping to move the salt. This could be in the way of animals and or carts while traveling on land or a boat if the smuggler is on the water. At this point the punishments become slightly less severe with the first offence being only the fine of the previous law without the time in jail.However, if that fine is not paid then the same thr ee years time will be served. With this law as well, the smuggler would have a second chance although the second offence carried a much stiffer penalty. In most of the kingdom a heaver fine was essential as well as nine years jail time. In Provence, a smuggler could expect to go to jail for five years without the fine. In Dauphine, however, the second offence would take away a smugglers freedom for the rest of his life. The next law covers unarmed smugglers without transportation.This is the least severe of the punishments for males having only a low-pitched fine for the first offence. If the smuggler does not have the money to pay the fine they are flogged and branded. The second time they are caught is not much worse with a fine and six years jail time. The fifth law sets the punishments for women it is very fire that are given three chances and not given jail time for either offence. The first time they are sentenced with a very small fine and the second time a slightly larger fine. The economize is responsible for the fine. The third time they are flogged and permanently put out of the kingdom.The next law says that the child smugglers are treated the same as the women with both parents held liable for the fine. After the common people of the kingdom, the nobles are mentioned. If nobles are caught, their titles and estates are taken away from them. No fine or jail time is necessary for the same crime that common people could be put to death for. The last law in this excerpt discusses what Young thinks is the salt or revenue employee that smuggles on the side. This person would be sentenced to death. If this employee steals or transports the stolen salt they would be hung.This is the only law listed that describes a particular assortment of death showing how important they felt this crime was. The final major issue Arthur Young found with the French during his journey through the kingdom was with the lack of referee in the court system. In his words t he justice that was administered was partial, venal, and infamous. (Young) He goes on to say that after conversing with numerous men in several different areas around France all of them felt as if the legal system needed serious reform, as equal justice under the law was completely impossible payable to widespread corruption.Young found that as two parties stood before the taste the victor of the dispute would be whichever party could bribe the judge more. Shockingly, this bribe did not always have to be monetary it could also be the mantrap of a handsome wife (Young) The only way justice would be served was if two conditions were both meet neither party could have any connection to the judge (or anyone else in power) and neither party could have something of assess to offer the judge, be it money, land, or women.If either of these conditions was not met, the party that knew the judge or had the available resources would be victorious. Furthermore, the judges had the authority to originate decrees. not surprisingly, they did this without the permission of the King. As it turns out, these parliaments had configured a judicial system where they made the laws and then turned around and punished people for breaking these laws. Young had uncovered what he described as a horrible system of tyranny.Youngs main points of unbalanced taxes, unforgiving penal codes, and the double-faced legal system help to bring into focus his feelings of why the French were doomed for a revolution. He does a wonderful job of in reality capturing the feeling of the typical Frenchmen at the time. Although he arrived in the kingdom to label the conditions of the soil and other aspects of the farming environment, he seemed to leave with a organic understanding of French society in the late 1780s. The only incline shown in the piece might be in that Young only makes note of the thoughts, fears, and complaints of the working class citizens.From the reading, it is difficult to get a instinct of how the people in power felt about day-to-day life. Because of this sloped account, any reader would automatically find themselves cheering for the little people and suppressing a growing detestation for persons of authority. The principle value of Arthur Youngs Travels in France is that the people of this day and age studying the French Revolution have an excellent report of some of the events leading up to it. Young goes deeper into the major concerns of the day than the average textbook can.The reader truly gets the prospect to feel the pain of the local townspeople. Textbooks try to hit the highlights of history, which sticks mainly to important kings and key politicians, where in pieces like Youngs, readers get to understand the subscribe of the average Joe. Bibliography Stead, David. Arthur Young. EH. Net Encyclopedia 2003. http//eh. net /encyclopedia/article/stead. one-year-old Young, Arthur. Arthur Youngs Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, 1789. London George Bell and Sons, 1909.