e sons of dukes and
ministers, of people attached to the court, of the relations and
proteges of mistresses, became colonels at the age of sixteen. M. de
Choiseul caused loud complaints on extending this age to twenty-three
years. But to compensate favoritism and absolutism he assigned to
the pure grace of the king, or rather to that of his ministers, the
appointment to the grades of lieutenant-colonel and major which, until
that time, belonged of right to priority of services in the government;
also the commands of provinces and of towns. You are aware that these
places have been largely multiplied, and that they are bestowed through
favor and credit, like the regiments. The cordon bleu and the cordon
rouge are in the like position, and abbeys are still more constantly
subject to the regime of influence. As to positions in the finances,
I dare not allude to them. Appointments in the judiciary are the most
conditioned by services rendered; and yet how much do not influence and
recommendation affect the nomination of intendants, first presidents"
and the others?

Necker, entering on his duties, finds twenty-eight millions in pensions
paid from the royal treasury, and, at his fall, there is an outflow of
money showered by millions on the people of the court. Even during
his term of office the king allows himself to make the fortunes of his
wife's friends of both sexes; the Countess de Polignac obtains 400,000
francs to pay her debts, 100,000 francs dowry for her daughter, and,
besides, for herself, the promise of an estate of 35,000 livres income,
and, for her lover, the Count de Vaudreil, a pension of 30,000 livres;
the Princess de Lamballe obtains 100,000 crowns per annum, as much for
the post of superintendent of the queen's household, which is revived
on her behalf, as for a position for her brother.[1443] The king is
reproached for his parsimony; why should he be sparing of his purse?
Started on a course not his own, he gives, buys, builds, and exchanges;
he assists those belonging to his own society, doing everything in a
style becoming to a grand seignior, that is to say, throwing money away
by handfuls. One instance enables us to judge of this: in order to assist
the bankrupt Guemenee family, he purchases of them three estates for
about 12,500,000 livres, which they had just purchased for 4,000,000;
moreover, in exchange for two domains in Brittany, which produce 33,758
livres income, he makes over to them the pri