French forest ordinance of 1669; with historical sketch of previous treatment of forests in France

Front matter

3 9424 00126 2192

U.B.C. LIBRARY

FRENCH FOREST ORDINANCE

Chap. I. — Early History of Forests, Forest Treatment

aud Forest Legislation in France, ... ... 1

Narrative by M. Cezanne of state of the Forests p^e^^ous to the Norman invasion (p. 1) ; account by Dr Broch of the Settlement of the Normans in France (p. 3) ; treatment of the Forests by the Normans (p. 8) ; Forest Ordinances of the 13th, 14th, aud 16th Centuries (p. 11).

Chap. II. — Forest Administration in France in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century, ... ... 13

Translation of a Manuscript Eeport, preserved in La Bihliothique Xational, by Charles Colbert de Cressy, on the Forests in the Province of Tours (p. 13) ; showing reckless malversations which had occurred uuder the Forest- Masters of Tours (p. 14); ot Amboise (p .14); Loches (p. 1.")); Montrichard (p. 10); and Chinon (p. IG); and the culpability of men hich in rank and office (p. 19). Translation of an account by M. Joubaiu, Inspector of Forests, of Proceedings by the Government, which followed (p. 21),

Chap. III. — Method of Forest Explnitation in France followed till the Middle of the Seventeenth Century, and known as Jardinage or Furetage, ... 35

Account of the method of E.xploitation, and explanation of the name (p. 35) ; devastating effects of it on Forests (p. 36).

Chap. IV. — Method of Forest Exploitation in France enjoined in the Middle of the Seventeenth Century, and known as Jm Methode a Tire et Aire, ... 40

Import of the name (p. 40) ; adoption of it in Germany (p. 41) ; defects requiring to be remedied (p. 42).

Chapter V. — Method of Forest Exploitation now foliu France, and known as La Methode des t'ompartimetits, ... ... ... ... ... ... 4,5

Development into this of La Methode d Tire et Aire (p. 45) ; with a notice of difliculties encountered (p. 46).

vi CONTENTS.

PART II.— The Forest Ordinance of 1669

Chap. I. — Introductory Details, ... ... ... 48

Legal right to Legislation (p. 48) ; enumeration of previous Ordinances (p. 52) ; explanation of terms used in the ordinance (p. 53),

Chap. II. — Translation of the Text of the Ordinance, 61

Ordinance BY THE King, Louis XIV.,... 61

Chap. I. — Of the Jurisdiction of the Waters and

Chap. II. — Officers of the Mattrise, or Division of

the Forests under charge of a Forest-Master, ... 66

CAajo. ///.—Of Grand-Masters, 69

Chap. IX.— Oi Gruyers, 88

Chap. X. — Of the Iluissiers Atidienciers, or Ushers of the Audience-Hall; Gardes Generaux, cr Mounted Police ; Sergeants ; and Police of the Forests and Woods held in Grurie, Grairie, Segrarie, Tiers et Danger, and Par Indivis, or Co-Proprietorship, ... ... ... ... 90

Chap. X/.— Of Surveyors, 94

CONTENTS. vii

rAOB

Chap. XII.— Oi the Assizes, 9G

Chap. XIII.— Oi " The Marble Table," and Judges

of Final Appeal, 98

Chap J/r.— Of Appeals, 101

Chap. XV. — Of VAssiette, or Appointment, Survey, and Delimitation of Fellings to be oflfered for Sale ; Ballivage, or Seed Bearing Standard Trees to be Reserved in Felling; Martiilage, or Marking of Trees to be Reserved as such, and as Marks of the Boundaries of the Felling ; and Vente de Bois, or the Sale of Wood ; with details in regard to the Exploitation of Forests, 102

Chap. XVI. — Oi Recollemens, or Re-Survejs of Fellings after the Removal of the Wood, ... ... 113

Chap. XVII.— Oi Sales of Windfalls and of Small

Lots of Wood, 118

Chap. X VIII. — Of the Sale, or Lettiugs by Auction

of Pannage, Mast, and Pasturage, ... ... 120

Chap. XIX. — Of Rights of Pasturage and of Pannage, 121

Chap. XX. — Of Chavffages, or Rights to a Supply of Firewood, and other Rights of Usage pertaining to Woods, for Repairs and for Building, ... 125

Chap. XXI. — Of Building Timber required for Royal

Mansions and for the Navy, ... .^ ... 127

Chap. XXII. — Of the Waters, Forests, Woods, and Warrens held under title of Douaire or Endowment, Concession, Engagement, or Bargain, founded generally on Auction Sale, and by Title of Usufruct, 129

Chap. XXIII. — Of the Woods in Grurie, Grairie, Tiers el Danger^ or held from the Crown under Tenures thus designated, ... ... ^. 132

ViiJ CONTENTS.

tkat

Chap. XXIV. — Of the Woods appertaining to Ecclesiastics, and Tenants by Mortmain, ... ... 136

Chap. XXV. — Of the Woods, Meadows, Marshes, Lands or Heaths, Pastures, Fisheries, and other Lands appertaining to Communities, and Inhabitants of Parishes, ... ... ,.. ... 140

Chap. XXVI. — Of the Woods belonging to Private

Chap. XXVII. — Of the Police, and of the Conservation of the Forests, Waters, and Rivers, ... 146

Chap. XXVIII. — Of Roads, and Royal Highways in

Forests, and of Footpaths by Rivers, ... ... 157

Chap. XXIX.— Oi Rights of Levying Toll, of Passage, and of such like, ... ... ... ... 158

CAa;?. XZZ. —Of Chases, 160

CAajo. XZXI.— Of Fishing, 168

Chap. XXXII. — Of Penalties, Fines, Restitutions, Damages, Compensations for Loss, and Confiscations, ... ... ... ... ... ... 174

Signature of the King, and Publication of the Ordinance by Parliament and the "Chambre DEs Comptes," ... 180

AUTHORS CITED.

FRENCH FOREST ORDINANCE OF 1GG9 ;

WITH HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PREVIOUS TREATMENT OF FORESTS IN FRA^'CE.

PART I,

TREATMENT OF FORESTS IN FRANCE, PREVIOUS TO THE ISSUE OF THE FOREST ORDINANCE OF 1069.

Chapter I

EARLY HISTORY OF FORESTS, FOREST TREATMENT, AND FOREST LEGISLATION IN FRANCE.

In M. Cezanne's Suite to the Ktude sur les Torrents den Alps I find an historical sketch of the 1 )eboisement of France, or destructions of woods and forests, which liave rendered necessary the Hehoisemcnt of the mountains as a means of arresting and preventing the disastrou.s consequences and effects of torrents, in which he thus speaks of the Forests of France in prehistoric times : —

' At the beginning of the stone period of history, when the first human families commenced settling along the shores of France, what proportion of the whole superficies of France was that which was occupied by forests ^ What was this proportion of ihe superficies occupied by forests

B at, and for some time subsequent to, the great migrations of the Aryan race, the different streams of which traversed and peopled Europe? What, again, was it in the times when Gaul, then populous, overflowed upon Italy, with Bellorese and Brennus, and hurled its a'l venturous bands as far as Greece and Asia Minor? Was it three-fourths? was it nine-tenths ? This will never be known ! '

But again he writes in the same connection : —

' If we would represent to ourselves Gaul as she was in the days of Cissar, we must picture it as covered with sombre forests, broken here and there by cultivated clearings, such as still are seen in some parts of Russia and of America. But thereafter the slopes of Provence and of Roussillon were denuded of wood, and stood bare as did Greece, in regard to which Plato, so early as 400 years before the coming of Christ, deplored the destruction of the forest shades of an earlier day. Between the territories of two tribes of Gauls the forest would stretch itself as a natural frontier, which the progress of cultures, of carpentry, of .smith work, and of shipbuilding, such as it was, would slowly cut away. But the forest vegetation, still all-powerful, would reign in the mountain regions, would control the terrestrial streams, and would with energy repair such losses, which would be but rare, as the tempest or fire might occasion.

' From the campaigns of Csesar dates the commencement of war formally waged against the forests, a war of twenty centuries, which has failed, as we may see, to exhaust itself by a complete extirpation of these forests.

' The commentaries of Caesar show us the forests being burned sometimes by the Gauls to arrest the pursuit of them by the Bomans, sometimes by the Romans to force the retreat of Vercingetorix.

' Colonisation followed conquest, and devastation extended the traces of the war; but at that time deboisement or the destruction of forests was, if we may say so, legitimate ; it extended the domain of civilisation at the expense of the forests which still preponderated.

' The barbarous Germans who invaded the Empire, accustomed to live in the forest, and worshippers of sylvan deities, had a sympathetic feeling for the forests of Claul. The Salic Law, the law of the Lombards, protected the forests under pain of tine or forfeiture ; and it cost nearly as dear to fell a tree as to fell a man. If the forests of Gaul were diminished by the wars of the Romans the devastations of the fourth and fifth centuries restored to them large spaces lost then to cultivation. So at a later period, after the passage of the Normans and the Saracens, thick forests covered the cantons of the wealthy colonies which had been previously cleared of wood, and there are still found among the pines in some of the woods of Provence stumps of olive trees planted by the ancient Phonecians.'

Thus far M. Cezanne. Subsequently the .settlement of the Normans, or Normands, in France, gave a new aspect to the treatment of the forests ; and everything connected therewith has an interest for the student of Forest Science.

On the rise of the Carlovignian dynasty in the middle of the eighth century it extended its dominion to the North till it came into collision with the Scandinavian tribt'S of Denmark. These maintained their independence, and in a short time thereafter there began piratical expeditions, fitted out by the people living in Denmark, in Norway, and in Sweden. The object of the expeditions undertaken by ihe Vikings may at first have been robbery and booty, but the ultimate result was their conquering and seizing territories and dominions.

The expeditions fitted out in Sweden seem to have been directed mainly against the Finns, and the Livonians and Estonians, and Russia, in wliich country their influence had much to do with the civilisation and advancement and influence of the State of Novogorod, which was founded l»y them. The Danes directed their expeditions more against the southern shop's of the Baltic, and the northern shores of the German Ocean, or North Sea, and the north of France, and England, which in the beginning of the eleventh century was completely overrun by them, and became a united kingdom under Canute the Great. The Scandinavians of Norway directed their expeditions more to the north, and further to the west, to the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, and the Orkneys, whence they spread along the East Coast of Scotland, in the Hebrides, and in Ireland, where, in the twelfth century, kings of the Norwegian race reigned in Dublin until the establishment of the English dominion about the year 1170,

Dr Broch, in a work entitled Le Royanme de Norvckje et le Peojyle Norvegien* on whose authority I state these facts, goes on to say : —

' From Ireland the Norwegian Vikings directed their way towards the coasts of France, combined and mixed with the Danish Vikings come from England and from the Frisian coast, as also with the Swedish Vikings, and devastated those coasts, then under the incapable successors of Charlemagne. By its riches this coast presented to the invaders from the North the most attractive prey. The Frank Monarchy having reached its apogee under Charlemagne, had already begun to decline under his son, Louis the Pious, or Le Debonnaire ; and under their successors it became a prey to the scourge of civil discords which ended in the dismemberment of the great empire, and the destruction of all its military forces at the great battle of Fontenailles, on the plains of the Auxerrois, in June Sil. It was there that Lother, followed by the Franks of Austrasia and in part of Neustria.and also those of Aquitains, was conquered by the brothers Louis and Charles, surnamed the Bold, after a struggle bloody for both parties. According to Martin, 'the force of the carnage fell upon the Franks and the Aquitains ; and the flower of the Frank race perished in this fearful field of battle. A great many writers, some of them almost contemporaries, others more recent, exaggerating still more

the terrible extermination of Fontonailles, maintain that the forces of the Franks were so enfeebled, and their warlike spirit so felled by this combat, that from that time forward, far from making conquests over their enemies as they previously had done, they were no longer capable of defending their own frontiers."*

' Two ycai-s later, in 843, the Vikings, combined under the terrible Hastintr, of whom, bevoiid this, nothing is known of his country and origin, and ascended, pillaging and devastating, the courses of the Loire and of the Seine. All the coast from the embouchure of the Rhine to the frontiers of Spain, and even the Spanish coast of Galicia, were ravaged with a daring and a cruelty till then unheard of. The Norman Vikings ascended the Loire to Tours, and the Seine to Paris, both of which cities they took and pillaged, together with the rich churches and convents around them.

' These expeditions extended already, at this perio<J, to the most southern coast of Spain on the Atlantic ; and Seville, which was tlien in the hands of the Moors, was twice— first in 843, and again in 84-5 — surprised and pillaged bv the Norman Vikings.

' The largest and richest towns in France — Rouen, Nantes, Tours, and Bordeaux, were retaken many times and pillaged ; and at the embouchures of all the great rivtrs Howing into the Atlantic Ocean the Vikings estal)lished fortified encampments, in which at times tliey wintered, and whence they made most audacious iuroads into the very heart of France. The powerless Carlo vignian kings sought to purcluise deliverance from their attacks with gold ; but this poor resource only so far prevented the evil by exposing without covering the feebleness of the kingdom, When any one of the chiefs had received a large sum to keep the peace, he often doubtless returned to liis home, or retired to some other country ; but his promise was not obligatory on his people, and there were formed of them new bands of invaders under other chiefs.

' England was in a like manner ravaged by the Danes, who, in the latter half of the ninth century, inundated that country from one end to the other, perpetrating in it the most terrible devastations.

' In the commencement of the tenth century there appeared in the midst of these bands of pirates a chief who consolidated their power in France, and who put a stop at the same time to the most terrible devastations, by giving more of stability and permanence to their influence in the country, and by embracing Christianity. This was the Norwegian Rolf — called Rollo by the French writers — son of the Norwegian jarl Ragnvald, from the south part of Ramsdal. Rolf had been exiled by King Ha,rold of the fine locks, because that, on his return from one of the expeditions he had made on the Norwegian coast, what was called a strandling — that is to say, he had carried off cattle for his ships without the consent of those to whom they belonged. Rolf directed his way then towards the west, where he put himself at the head of a large troop of Scandinavian Tikings, and seized the devastated country around the embouchure of the Seine. He established his residence there with Rouen as his principal seat. ' There,' again to quote Martin,* ' the Normans of the Seine had two very different modes of acting with regard to the Neustrians. Outside the settlement they continued their rapines and their accustomed violence ; but within the country which they had appropriated, and which they already called by tlieir name — Northmaunie, or Normandy — they conducted themselves as intelligent masters, and no more as blind destroyers ; they made the slaves work for them instead of killing them, and they imposed a regular tribute on the traders and peasants who gave themselves to agriculture and commerce. The few and scattered subjects of the Normauds were now less unfortunate than the poor people of the other provinces, for the men of the north

* Heuri Martin, Uintovi de France, 4to edition, tome li., p. 468.

did not carry on with them a system of universal pillage, and the land rested tranquil behind them when they were absent on business.

' The King of France, Charles the Simple, hoping to put an end to the incursions of the Norniands, whom he had not strength to drive away, resolved to gain them over, and offered to Rolf the liand of his daughter Ghisele, with the cession of the country lying between the ocean, the rivers of Epte, Eure, and Aure, and the frontiers of Maine and Brittany, on condition that he would submit to baptism, and become a vassal of the king. In the course of the negotiations Rolf required that Brittany sliould be ceded to him, to which Charles consented with great readiness ; but this country not belonging to him he only ceded to Rolf the right to conquer Brittany, if he was sufficiently powerful to do so. On these conditions was concluded, in 912, the peace which made Rolf the forefather of the powerful Normand dukes. Rolf received baptism from the Ardibishop of Rouen, and took there the name of Robert.

' This epo?h marked the termination of the piratical expeditions of the North-men against the coasts of France. Normandy became organised under the powerful hand of Rolf, and became the richest and most populous of all the provinces of Western France. Following the example of Rolf, the greater part of the men embraced Christianity. According to Martin, in his Ilistoire de f ranee * the gospel conquered the Scandinavians, and scarcely had they become Christians when they, with all their energy, placed themselves at the head of theCiiiistianity of young France, and of the renewed civilisation ; they took the initiative in everything and everywhere; they renounced tlieir language, its they had done their gods, to take up the Romance lanjjuaw, and to make it the vehicle of a new poetry, arts, letters, monuments — all of these had been destroyed by them : they contributed now powerfully to restore them all, and thenceforward they gave themselves i THE FORESTS OF FRANCE.

up to the most profound inspiration of the Celtic spirit, and they were, if not the creators, the great propagators of the spirit and society of chivalry.

' Normandy now became the centre of an intellectual impulse which increased its powerful influence on the rennaisance of England and of France, and we may with some certainty add, and that of Italy, and one of which the whole of Europe has felt the influence.

' We hear nothing more of the expeditions of theVikings. These may be considered as having ceased from the middle of the eleventh century.'

Leaving my readers to imagine for themselves what influence such a new factor must have exercised on the mode of life and practice of the so-called nobles, I resume the statement of M. Cezanne :

' With the Carlovingians there was opened a new era. Passionately delighting in the chase, they protected the forests to preserve the game, and more especially the larger kinds of game, such as the elan and the aurock, which had even then become scarce, and is now reduced in numbers to a few individuals, the last heritage left by Charlemagne, which are preserved at great expense by the Emperor of Russia. To secure for themselves their favourite sport, the princes of the second race seized possession of the forests, and every seigneur followed their example most zealously in proportion to his power. Forest property then experienced a transformation, which it is interesting to note, for the eflbrts violently brought about at that period have caused themselves to be felt even in the present day: in point of fact, it is from this seizure of possessions that date the greater part of the private properties as well as the public domain of forests.

' At an earlier time, and until then, with the Gauls for example, the forests were undivided ; the forest was not communal, in the modern acceptation of that term, but common and public, everyone pleasing himself with it, and making use of it according to his liking. The

Romans, a military and an administrative people, familiar with the abstract idea of a res puhlica, or commonwealth, had left the forests undivided ; but they had regulated, or reduced to rule, the use to be made of them, as they had done also in regard to the waters : they had an Administration of Forests and Roads, provincia at calles et silcas, with special officers, saltuarii, or foresters. The barbarian conquerors, on the contrary, proportioned amongst themselves the soil of whicli they became proprietors, or seigneurs, and appropriated the forests. In the beginning, the traditions of indivisibility and of communism were pereistent ; and the ancient colonists, now become serfs, preserved at first the rigiit to the use of the forests, now seignorial or royal. But under the Carlovignians the feudal system became organised; and the proprietorship of forests became nearly absolute, especially in the provinces of the North. In this part of France, the land of common-right, there came to prevail at length as a maxim, iiuKe terre sans seigneur, there must be no land without a landlord, or lord of the manor, that is to say, in other words, all common or undivided lands, and thus the forests belong to the seigneur or lord of the manor. In virtue of this principle the seigneur defended the forest with jealous care, and he even extended it at the expense of the cultivated ground, under pretext of the right of the chase or of a warren.'

M. Cazanne remarks in a foot-note : ' In tlie Latin of this epoch, ybres/a signified reserved property, or guarded chase ; what we to-day call forest, would then be called 8t/lva :' and thus is it still in Britain, in English legal phraseology.

The so-called game laws belong to the category of forest laws, and all of these relate to the chase. In an old book, published first in the winter of 1598-1599, entitled "A Treatise on the Laws of tiie Forest and of the Purlieu, wherein is declared not only these laws, but also the original and beginning of forests ; what a forest is in its own proper nature, and wherein the same doth differ from

10 THE FORESTS OF FRANCfi.

a chase or a warren, Avith all such things as are incidental or belonging thereto," it is stated by the author, Manwood, a writer deservedly held in reputation as an authority in such matters, that *a forest, in law, is a certain territory of wood}^ grounds and fruitful pastures, privileged for wild beasts and fowls of forest, chase, and warren, to rest and abide, under the protection of the king, for his princely delight, bounded by definite marks determined by record or prescription.'

The existence of trees in a forest, as defined by the English law, in France at the time in question, was a mere accessory, and of importance only as affording covert and shelter for game ; and it is mentioned by Manwood, in regard to forests as thus defined, ' there have existed certain laws and forest courts for the adjudication of these laws/ Such is forestry in English law, and such was forestry then in France.

M. Cezanne goes on to say : — ' By degrees the possession of a forest became the visible sign of seignory, or of nobility, and the condition of admissibility to certain honours ; there was no baron, however petty, who did not maintain a wood on his property ; and in case of lack he usurped some field in the neighbourhood. The title deeds of the middle ages are full of contentions, in which is seen a descendant of the Gallo-Romans claiming his vineyard or his meadow, incorporated by violence in the forest of the Frank seigneur.

' In the South of France the Roman law remained it force, but not their policy : the forest which previously was public, became communal, and the destruction of woods, subjected to no administration or control, proceeded more rapidly than it did in the North.

' Amongst the most active of the clearers away of woods in the middle ages we must reckon the monks. (Ij A hermit retired into the solitude of the woods ; some disciples joined him there ; the place became sacred ; a community was founded, and uprooting the trees around them, little by little, they gnawed away the forest, which was replaced by cultivated tields. (2) With time the community became rich, lost its civilising energy : it no longer uprooted to fertilise ; it devastated to enjoy. The secular clergy themselves looked favourably on the uprooting of woods, that they might have the tithes of the produce of the land, which they claimed as theirs of right.

' A very great many of these attacks upon the woods were in the beginning made legitimate by a regular licence, a deed granted by the seigneur or the king in a fit of liberality. The deed, it is true, did not confer more than a usu-fruct ; but in these times of disorder no police put limits to the abuse of this, and the consumption of timber and of firewood increasing with the progress of industrial operations and of comfort, the disorder of procedure became general. In vain did every seigneur, and the king himself, establish regulations, and appoint forest agents; nothing could now arrest the accelerated and truly frightful progress oi deboisement — the destruction of woods, and the men, then indeed few in number, who looked to the public weal, began that united cry of lamentation of which we hear still, even to-day, the prolonged echo.

' The first ordinnance in regard to forests was that of Philippe- August, 1219 A.D, Already, and even previously, Ijigh personages had taken, like the king, the title of Lords of the Waters and P'orests ; but their rights were not established till they were confirmed, towards tlie close of the century, by an ordinnance of Philippe le Bell, 12'J1 A.D. It appears, from the considerations embodied in the ordinnances issued, that the forest-agents were the cruellest enemies of the forests ; they encouraged abuses of them that they might draw profit from them. Saint Louis forbade the foresters to accept of any present.* Charles v., surnamed le Sage, and who deserved the name — for

* On one occasion the king; hinuelf accepted a present or gift mode to him, but being reprove<l by his seneschal, he acknowledged he had dona wroog. Hittore de Saint LvuU, par JourvUU. I'aris, 1M7 ; p. i'iV.

IS THE FORESTS OF FRANCE.

traces of him are found invariably wherever researches are made into the origin of the French administration — was the first to subject the management of the forest to regulation ; he thought to create a navy, and in view of the building of vessels, he issued a Reglement General des Eaux et Forets. 1376 A.D.

'In the fifteenth century we find the nobility depressed, and in the place of the seigneur or lord of the manor, the king more enlightened, more paternal, but further removed from his people. The communes enfranchised and strongl}' organised, everywhere develope agriculture and manufactures at the expense of the forests ; Usages or forest rights, resting on use and wont, multiply ; but soon the scarcity of wood occasions a rise in the price of wood for carpentery and fuel, and a clamour is raised agaimst the abuses; from 1515 to 1588, Francis I. and his successors multiply edicts; 1543 A.D. the jurisdiction of the Royal lords of the forests was extended to private forests; 1557 A.D. uprootings by the bishops were prohibited ; 154*3 A.D. the establishment of forges and of manufactures, which were destructive to the forests, was subjected to regulation ; and they established jurisdictions and appointed functionaries. But the vices of the administration, religious discords, and civil and foreign war, rendered sterile those efforts, the history of which does honour to Francis I,

' With Henry IV., and Sully, and Louis XIV., and Colbert, the seventeenth century was an era of reparation. Two principal ordinances governed the legislation : the edict of 1597, entitulated Reghmant General des Ea;ix et Forets, and the celebrated ordinnance of 1669, a veritable first code, to which the forest properties of private parties were subjected, as were those of the state.'

It is to this last that attention will be called in the sequel. But in order to its being properly appreciated it is desir9,ble that something more should be known of the circumstances in which it was issued.

Chapter II

FOREST ADMINISTRATION IN FRANCE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

By the middle of the seventeenth century woods and forests in France had come to be valued for their products, more than for the shelter which they afforded to game. But they were subjected to such devastation that one far-seeing statesman at last perceived that the existence of the nation in a state of vigour was being perilled by the destruction of the woods and forests, and he gave ex- ))ressi()n to his fears in the oft-quoted saying — France perira faute (Jes liois / — France will perish through lack of woods. It was Colbert, the Minister of Louis XIV., and no one acquainted with the condition of the forests and of the forest service at that time will be surprised that such was his utterance.