Inequality and Insurrection

 "... all the ... benefits, were reserved to members of the nobility ... to an increasingly exclusive extent as we approach the Revolution."

Henri Sée. Economic and Social Conditions in France During the Eighteenth Century. Batoche Books, Kitchener, 2004. (Originally Published 1927)

The first two paragraphs below are for context. Beginning on page 5:

One fact which strikes us at the very outset is that the Revolution overturned all the old legal institutions. In eighteenth century France the social classes, as we conceive them today, can be detected only by an attentive observer of the realities of economic life... Three estates can be discerned—the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate. Between them rise the barriers of secular privileges.

The privileges of the clergy and nobility constitute one of the characteristic features of eighteenth century society. Clergy and nobility exercised a preeminent right over all land property. The manorial dues of various kinds that they imposed upon the peasants who tilled the soil formed one of their chief sources of revenue. Clergy and nobility thus evaded most of the taxes and financial burdens that fell upon the popular classes... Finally, most of the functions of the state were the prerogative of the privileged classes, especially of the nobility...

It is true that the ecclesiastical offices, in theory at least, seemed accessible to the commoners as well as the nobles; but in reality all the dignities of the high clergy, the episcopal sees, the abbeys, and the rich ecclesiastical benefits, were reserved to members of the nobility, especially the court nobility, to an increasingly exclusive extent as we approach the Revolution.