Perhaps, If We Deduct A Third, It
Will Be Nearer The Truth.
For, I cannot find out any other funds
they have, but the butchery and the bakery, which they farm at so
much a year to the best bidder; and the droits d'entree, or
duties upon provision brought into the city; but these are very
small.
The king is said to draw from Nice one hundred thousand
livres annually, arising from a free-gift, amounting to seven
hundred pounds sterling, in lieu of the taille, from which this
town and county are exempted; an inconsiderable duty upon wine
sold in public-houses; and the droits du port. These last consist
of anchorage, paid by all vessels in proportion to their tonnage,
when they enter the harbours of Nice and Villa Franca. Besides,
all foreign vessels, under a certain stipulated burthen, that
pass between the island of Sardinia and this coast, are obliged,
in going to the eastward, to enter; and pay a certain regulated
imposition, on pain of being taken and made prize. The prince of
Monaco exacts a talliage of the same kind; and both he and the
king of Sardinia maintain armed cruisers to assert this
prerogative; from which, however, the English and French are
exempted by treaty, in consequence of having paid a sum of money
at once. In all probability, it was originally given as a
consideration for maintaining lights on the shore, for the
benefit of navigators, like the toll paid for passing the Sound
in the Baltic.
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