A report providing observations of a project seeking to detach the Pays de Gex from the five large farms [Les gabelles, L’octroi de Paris, Les droits de traits, La ferme du tabac created in 1674-5, and Le ferme d’Occident also created in 1674-1675], and to remove all employees currently established there.

A report consisting of nine articles concerning the rights of the people of the Pays de Gex. The articles are as follows:

1. The Pays de Gex has been disunited from the five large farms
2. Inhabitants of the Pays de Gex are allowed to trade with foreigners as they see fit
3. They wish that the salt tax be imposed every year in each of the communes
4. The nobility, clergy, and other privileged individuals wish to be subject to the taxation of salt ordered by the preceding article
5. The price of each minot of salt shall be fixed at the sum of 23 livres in accordance with the decree of the Council of 26 August 1738
6. If the Pays cannot provide the amount of salt specified, their families and Bertiaux should be allowed to provide the additional salt as they see fit
7. The findings of the three orders of the Pays de Gex will be carried out in the presence of the general tenderer of the farms or his clerk
8. The price of the salt delivered will be paid to them in the hands of the adjudicataire général des fermes
9. The provisions of the ordinance of May 1680 will be observed

A similar but shorter version of the report in Voltaire Foundation MS 32 A, consisting of seven articles concerning the rights of the people of the Pays de Gex. Articles 8 and 9 are missing from this copy. The hand, whilst the same as MS 32 (B) is much more elaborate in this copy and almost all of the marginal notes have been removed. The articles are as follows: 1. The Pays de Gex has been disunited from the five large farms 2. Inhabitants of the Pays de Gex are allowed to trade with foreigners as they see fit 3. They wish that the salt tax be imposed every year in each of the communes 4. The nobility, clergy, and other privileged individuals wish to be subject to the taxation of salt ordered by the preceding article 5. The price of each minot of salt shall be fixed at the sum of 23 livres in accordance with the decree of the Council of 26 August 1738 6. If the Pays cannot provide the amount of salt specified, their families and Bertiaux should be allowed to provide the additional salt as they see fit 7. The findings of the three orders of the Pays de Gex will be carried out in the presence of the general tenderer of the farms or his clerk

In this letter, Guillaume Joseph Dupleix responds to the demands of Lelex to be afforded the same privileges as the Pays de Gex with regards salt and tobacco taxes. The letter begins halfway down p.1, showing Guillaume Joseph Dupleix’s respect for the recipient.

Etienne François writes that he had had the honour of asking Jean Charles Philibert de Trudaine de Montigny for his opinion in June on the plan to separate Gex from the five large farms. He is impatient for his response because the Director of the farms of Belley has put an inhabitant on trial which may hinder the removal of the privileges of this province and which may be detrimental to the views that it is to be repopulated and revitalised. He therefore askes again for clarifications from Jean Charles Philibert de Trudaine de Montigny.

Jean François Joly de Fleury writes that he is sending back two memoirs given to Daniel Charles de Trudaine by the General Farm concerning the union made between Chezery and Ballon by the Treaty of Turin. He says that he has visited these regions so that he is in a position to give his opinion—with full knowledge of the facts—on all questions that may arise from the execution of the treaty. Joly de Fleury claims that the Treaty will prevent smuggling, and this was evidenced to him when, a few days before his visit to Seyssel, they chastised an employee who boarded a boat. The remaining question, he notes, is whether the valley of Chezery should be united with Ballon [Ballon d’Alsace] or the Pays de Gex, a matter which has already given rise to numerous memoirs. Joly de Fleury has begun the letter halfway down p.1, indicating his respect for Daniel Charles de Trudaine.

Voltaire writes that Mr le président Dalbertas asks for 6,000 livre tournois, and that his neighbour Madame de Pui is asking for 12,000. He asks how this is possible.

In the letter, Voltaire complains that troubles encountered through recent acquisitions of property have delayed his work on ‘les chevaliers et les czars’.