This manuscript is an autograph letter in Claude de Loynes d’Autroche’s hand. The MS1 (ii.31–33) is accompanied by the writer’s fable ‘Le Berger, le chien et les loups’. The MS features the 8-stanza epistle ‘De Gex’ that expresses a sullen discontent over the hurdles of indirect taxation afflicting the country. The body of the letter reflects on the recent unsavoury political events unfolding in France, speculatively having something to do with Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Comte de Maurepas.

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.

Voltaire begins by saying that he did not plead in council about the hundredth penny required for the sale of Tourney, but instead wrote to Monsieur de Chauvelin. He adds that in this letter, he noted that the land of Tourney is considered foreign, as it was in the old census, and exempt from all imposition and tax. He notes that he also wrote that it is preserved in its immunities, exemptions and franchises since the acquisition of the country of Gex by Henry IV; that these franchises were preserved by Louis XIV in the treaty of Arau 1658; and that the current King specially maintained this land in its privileges, by a patent to Mr de Brosses in 1755. Voltaire then states that he claims rights to the land and is ready to pay any necessary fees. He concludes by asking the recipient to send a copy of his letter to whomever may be interested in it.

The MS is part of a collection of letters that also includes:
f. 1 Milan, Duchy of. Ludovico Maria: Letter to, from P. de Comines: 1495.: Fr.
f. 1 Philippe de Comines, Sire d’Argenton: Letter to the Duke of Milan: 1495.: Fr.
f. 2 Cosmo I; Grand Duke of Tuscany: Letter to M. Niccolini and L. Ridolphi: 1537.
f. 2 Matheo Niccolini: Letter to, from Catherine de’ Medici: 1537.: Ital.
f. 2 Giorgio Ridolphi: Letter respecting his imprisonment at Florence: 1537: Ital.
f. 2 Luigi Ridolphi: Letter to, from C. de’ Medici: 1536.: Ital.
f. 4 Françoise de Harlay, wife of Robert de Harlay, Baron de Monglat: Letter to, from Elizabeth, Queen of Spain: 1560-1568.
f. 5 Philip II of Spain: Letter to the Estates of the Walloon Provinces: 1579.: Fr.
f. 5 Walloons: Letter to the Estates of the Walloon provinces, from Philip II. of Spain: 1579.: Fr.
f. 6 Sir John Floyer, MD (ob. 1734): Letter to W. Whiston: 1715.
f. 8 James II of England; Mary of Modena: Letter to Count Lauzun: circ. 1690.
f. 8 John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort; styled 1st Duke of Melfort: Letter on his political position at Rome: circ. 1690.
f. 8 Antoine Nompar de Caumont, Comte de Lauzun; Commanding French troops in Ireland: Letter to, from Qu. Mary of Modena: circ. 1690.: Fr.
f. 10 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire: Memorial to M. Girard: 1759.: Fr.
f. 11 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire: Poem entitled “Mon Testament”: 18th cent.: Hologr.
ff. 13, 14 Pius VII; Pope: Letter to L. Bonaparte: 1808.: Ital. and Fr.
ff. 13, 14 Letitia Ramolini Buonaparte, Mother of Napoleon I: Letters to, from Pius VII.: 1808.: Ital. and Fr.
f. 15 Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher: Letter relating to his epitaph on Voltaire: 1844.
f. 15 P- D- de Launey, Comte d’Entraigues: Letter to J. Sainsbury: 1844.
f. 15 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire: Letter relating to Rousseau’s epitaph on: 1844.

This passage describes the revolts and the manner in which the magistrates and statesmen attempted to observe propriety and enact their agendas more subtly. Voltaire writes that Cardinal Mazarin sought to skilfully divide the judiciary by exempting the upper courts from the paulette (the tax invented by Paulet under Henry IV) however, the Cardinal spoke French poorly and his weak pronunciation made him subject to ridicule, rendering his efforts ineffective. On 20 August 1648, the Prince of Condé was victorious at Lens and the ten-year-old king pronounced that Parliament would be very angry. The parliamentarians complained about being called rebels. The Queen and Cardinal resolved to have three of the most stubborn magistrates kidnapped but the Cardinal decided to do this at noon rather than midnight which incited the public to riot. The Queen eventually agrees to return the prisoners. The passage ends with a line that features later in the text (OCV, vol.13A, p.62, l.175).

Including: Southwood Smith’s ‘Philosophy of Health’, Lewes’ ‘Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences’, De Tocqueville’s ‘Ancien Regime et la Revolution’, Combe on prison discipline, Hill on crime, Hancock on income tax, Newman’s lectures on political economy, Voltaire’s Philosophie, statistical papers on various matters (banking, cotton, wages in Glasgow, French finance, income tax etc).

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

Yorke encloses two essays. One refers to the merchants trading in the East, and their decision to petition the King regarding the Turkish taxes, ‘avanias’, which have been imposed upon them. The second praises recent British naval operations. Also enclosed is a copy of his letter to Hockersan, in which he requests information regarding an adultery case, between a merchant and his wife. He asks the Academy’s impression of the inscription when they publish a new book of their memoirs, and if Hockersan has access to ‘any manuscripts of note’, particularly a copy of the essays of Voltaire.

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.