Voltaire encourages the recipient to read a letter from Turgot, Contrôleur général des Finances to Louis XVI concerning the 30,000 pounds that had been set as the price for the Pays de Gex’s future immunity from taxation. Voltaire notes that Turgot’s letter shows he fought bitterly for this figure to be reduced and expresses his annoyance that the recipient did not keep him informed of their own negotiations over this price, negotiations Voltaire felt had jeopardised his own attempts to reduce the sum. He then turns to salt, a commodity that had been proposed as an alternative to taxation, stating that this idea had never come to fruition.

The document claims that Rouph, the procureur du Roi in Gex, and father of ten children, purchased in 1767 the office of controller in the salt granary of Gex under the name of Duprez, who has since died. It states that he paid for this office and for the various associated taxes a sum of eight thousand seven hundred and eleven livres. He therefore hopes that the Controlleur Général will order that he be reimbursed by justifying his titles.

The appeal notes that Sédillot, now aged 90, managed for nearly sixty years the job of receiver of the salt granary in Gex. It goes on to note that Sédillot’s son has worked with his father for the past twenty years, and that they are both gentlemen. The appeal concludes that both men easily sacrificed their interests and lost their place for the good of the province. They therefore implore the Controlleur Général to protect them.

The report notes that the Pays de Gex is freed from the taxes on salt and tobacco as it is landlocked between Geneva, Switzerland, and Savoy, and is separated from the other provinces by Mount Jura. The village of Lelex is not included in this exemption because it is located beyond Mount Jura but the inhabitants claim that they should enjoy the same favour as the inhabitants of the Pays de Gex.