Les soupirs de la France esclave, qui aspire après la liberté.

Amsterdam, septembre 1, 1689 - octobre 1, 1690 (Paris, EDHIS, 1976). 228 pp. 4to. Modern leather. Well executed reprint of this rare and important work. Edition limited to 150 numbered copies and 30 copies not destined for the trade. This reprint is since long out-of-print. Above anything else, the Soupirs de la France Esclave ..... is a vehement protest against the absolutism of Louis XIV and strongly pleads for the rights of the people: 'les peuples ont établi les Rois pour conserver les personnes, la vie, la liberté et les biens des particuliers'; but the French government has become so tyrannical that it now sees everything as its rightful property; properly speaking there is no State or government but only the conveniences of the King. It should be noted that the work is not an apology of egalitarianism: it blames Louis XIV for having abolished the privileges of the different classes by which it has also erased all distinctions between the classes.The first three memoirs describe the oppression and the tyranny under which the people suffer and the general misery. The next two memoirs reveals by which means the court has established it absolut power and its abuses, in the memoirs 6-8 the author maintains that the crown is elective and the Salic Law of no value, that power rests with the Estates general ('les dépositaires du pouvoir') and superior to the King and that the 'Parlement' has been created to represent these Estats general. The memoirs 9 and 10 deal with the 'Grand Conseil', the 'maires du palais', 'des pairs, des ducs, comtes, etc.' who once were independant but are today no more than slaves. The memoirs 11-15 deal with the earlier periods of France when there was no standing army and oppressing taxes and how the monarchy can be brought back to its former state.'Cette publication fut naturellement l'objet d'une surveillance spéciale de la police de Louis XIV. On détruisit avec le plus grand soin tous les exemplaires sur lesquels on put mettre la main; et elle devint si rare, qu'en 1772 le chancelier Maupeou en acheta un exemplaire dans une vente au prix de cinq cents livres sur l'enchère du Duc d'Orléans' (Brunet).The work is also often attributed to Michel Le Vassor and it has also been supposed that Jurieu is the author of the last 2 memoirs only.