I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1339 Tithe

As dusk fell, the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles Palace was brightly lit. Accompanied by a band, several children dressed as mice, cats, and hounds were energetically chasing and performing on a makeshift stage.

The wooden sign at the top of the stage reads "Tom and Jerry" in cute round font.

Talking Tom gets repeatedly outmaneuvered by Jerry, drawing laughter from the hundreds of nobles in the hall.

Shortly after, the stage play ended, and the Crown Princess led the children who had participated in the performance to the crowd, announcing with a smile: "These lovely children are the first batch of children rescued by the orphanage in the new district of Paris."

As she explained, the children took off their headgear, revealing that they were all pale and thin, which drew sighs of pity from the group of ladies.

In fact, the orphanage in the new district of Paris is still under construction, but for this charity fundraising, the public relief agency has "recruited" some children in advance. In this era of great risk and high abandonment rate, they only spent an afternoon walking around the streets of Paris and found forty or fifty orphans.

Alexandra then introduced the orphanage's operating model and the contents of the Adoption Law, and concluded with an emotional voice: "I know that there are the most kind people in the world here, and you will surely be willing to help the children have a new life."

The Duchess of Broy immediately raised her hand and said, "Your Highness the Crown Princess, I am willing to donate 4 francs to the orphanage."

Other nobles followed suit, saying, "I will donate 2 francs."

“Look at these poor children, I want to donate 6 francs to them.”

With the Crown Princess and Queen present, the nobles would certainly try their best to show their benevolence.

Then came the children's performance, followed by the next round of donations.

By the end of the three-hour charity fundraiser, Alexandra had received donations totaling over 67 francs.

This amount of money is almost enough to cover the construction costs of all the orphanages in Paris.

Alexandra stepped to the center of the stage and announced loudly to the nobles present: "The person who donated the most money at this fundraising event is—my dear sister, Countess Artois."

"She donated 4 francs to the orphanage!"
"She will also be awarded the title of 'Most Virtuous Person' this year."

Immediately afterwards, several court officials appeared behind the Crown Princess carrying a silver trophy, which she solemnly presented to the Countess of Artois.

Then a pure white cloak embroidered with gold thread was draped over Countess Artois.

The reporter standing in the corner was constantly taking shorthand notes in his notebook.

In short, the main focus is on creating a strong sense of ritual – a concept conceived by Joseph.

Sure enough, the nobles in the audience began to stir, and the Duchess of Broy even wanted to donate more money for the title of "the most virtuous one".

Alexandra had no choice but to refuse her, then comforted her, "We will hold another fundraising event for the orphanage here before Christmas next year, and you will surely become the 'Most Benevolent Person' of that year."

"Oh, by the way, His Highness the Crown Prince also specifically requested the Pope to bestow the title of 'Diocesan' upon those who have been awarded the title of Most Good for three consecutive years—the Pope will personally come to Paris to hold the ceremony!"

The nobles in the hall were instantly in an uproar.

The title is personally bestowed by the Pope; this honor will surely last for centuries!
The term "sharing one's robe" refers to the legend of Saint Martin encountering a beggar with no clothes. Saint Martin, having no money, divided his own robe in half, giving one half to the beggar. Later, Jesus appeared in Saint Martin's dream, wearing that half of the robe. Therefore, "sharing one's robe" is practically the highest title for philanthropy. As for the Pope, Joseph hasn't yet spoken to him, but it's believed he won't refuse the Dauphin's request.

The next morning, Joseph sat at the dining table and casually opened a copy of the Paris Commercial Daily. He immediately saw the headline on the front page: "Countess Artois becomes 'Good Person of the Year'."

Well, I reckon she'll have to use up all her savings to snatch that title again next year.

Not long after Joseph finished breakfast, Minister of Civil Affairs Roland came to his reception room.

"Your Highness," Roland bowed and handed him a document, "the church's tithe revenue and expenditure have been tallied."

Joseph opened the file with some surprise: "Your efficiency is beyond my expectations."

He knew very well that the church would never hand over these data easily, and that he had only been in charge of Roland Chash for about half a year.

“It was Mr. Robespierre who brought in people from the tax office to help us obtain this information,” Roland said truthfully. “Mr. Monge also used some mathematical and statistical methods to roughly calculate the size of the tithe, which basically matches the tax office’s figures.”

Joseph nodded. It seemed that Robespierre had amassed some "wealth" in the tax office over the years, even managing to secretly uncover church taxes.

He immediately looked at the end of the document, where it read:

The total national tithes amounted to 120 million francs. Total expenditures amounted to 87 million francs (excluding voluntary donations).

The so-called "voluntary donation" is the tax money that the church transfers to the royal family every year; last year it seems to have been 1600 million francs.

他又翻了回去，看支出明细：【教会学校修缮、维护费用4700万法郎。福利院支出1100万法郎。慈善救助700万法郎。医院支出600万法郎。民事仪式1600万法郎。】

Joseph frowned immediately.

Putting aside the fact that the welfare home was going to spend 1100 million francs—which, according to the way the church does things, should be profitable—what was going on with the 1600 million francs for this "civil ceremony"?

Civil ceremonies refer to the expenses incurred by the Church for religious activities such as baptisms, weddings, funerals, and masses for the French people. However, this expense should have come from the Church's land revenue; why is it being paid in tithes?
Furthermore, and more importantly, where did the remaining 1 million francs of the total 1700 million francs in taxes go after deducting expenses and "resource donations"?

It would have been better if they hadn't investigated before, but this investigation only strengthened Joseph's resolve to carry out church reforms.

This guy is a vermin of France!

It should be noted that the church also owns one-tenth of the country's arable land, which generates an annual income of at least hundreds of millions of francs.

Joseph calmed himself down and instructed Roland, "Please submit the application according to the plan."

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered the tax office, narrowed his eyes, and said, "Wait a minute, perhaps it would be more appropriate for Mr. Robespierre to bring this up. You should go and discuss it with him, and make a big fuss about it."

"Yes, Your Highness."

(End of this chapter)