第30章

One-point remains， the chase， wherein the noble's jurisdiction is still active and severe， and it is just the point which is found the most offensive. Formerly， when one-half of the canton consisted of forest， or waste land， while the other half was being ravaged by wild beasts， he was justified in reserving the right to hunt them； it entered into his function as local captain. He was the hereditary gendarme， always armed， always on horseback， as well against wild boars and wolves as against rovers and brigands. Now that nothing is left to him of the gendarme but the title and the epaulettes he maintains his privilege through tradition， thus converting a service into an annoyance. Hunt he must， and he alone must hunt； it is a physical necessity and， it the same time， a sign of his blood. ARohan， a Dillon， chases the stag although belonging to the church， in spite of edicts and in spite of the canons. "You hunt too much，" said Louis XV.[52] to the latter； "I know something about it. How can you prohibit your curates from hunting if you pass your life in setting them such an example？ - Sire， for my curates the chase is a fault， for myself it is the fault of my ancestors." When the vanity and arrogance of caste thus mounts guard over a right it is with obstinate vigilance. Accordingly， their captains of the chase， their game-keepers， their wood-rangers， their forest-wardens protect brutes as if they were men， and hunt men as if they were brutes. In the bailiwick of Pont-l'Evèque in 1789 four instances are cited "of recent assassinations committed by the game-keepers of Mme. d'A----， -Mme. N----， a prelate and a marshal of France， on commoners caught breaking the game laws or carrying guns. All four publicly escape punishment."In Artois， a parish makes declaration that "on the lands of the Chattellany the game devours all the avêtis (pine saplings) and that the growers of them will be obliged to abandon their business." Not far off； at Rumancourt， at Bellone， "the hares， rabbits and partridges entirely devour them， Count d'Oisy never hunting nor having hunts." In twenty villages in the neighborhood around Oisy where he hunts it is on horseback and across the crops. "His game-keepers， always armed， have killed several persons under the pretense of watching over their master's rights. . . . The game， which greatly exceeds that of the royal captaincies， consumes annually all prospects of a crop， twenty thousand razières of wheat and as many of other grains." In the bailiwick of Evreux "the game has just destroyed everything up to the very houses. . . . On account of the game the citizen is not free to pull up the weeds in summer which clog the grain and injure the seed sown. . . . How many women are there without husbands， and children without fathers， on account of a poor hare or rabbit！" The game-keepers of the forest of Gouffray in Normandy "are so terrible that they maltreat， insult and kill men. . . . I know of farmers who， having pleaded against the lady to be indemnified for the loss of their wheat， not only lost their time but their crops and the expenses of the trial. . . . Stags and deer are seen roving around our houses in open daylight." In the bailiwick of Domfront， "the inhabitants of more than ten parishes are obliged to watch all night for more than six months of the year to secure their crops.[53] -This is the effect of tile right of the chase in the provinces. It is， however， in the Ile-de-France， where captaincies abound， and become more extensive， that the spectacle is most lamentable. A procés-verba1 shows that in the single parish of Vaux， near Meulan， the rabbits of warrens in the vicinity ravage eight hundred cultivated arpents (acres) of ground and destroy the crops of two thousand four hundred setiers (three acres each)， that is to say， the annual supplies of eight hundred persons.