Capitalistic and Monarchical Rejection within Charlotte Smith's Desmond

Desmond's Letter XIV to Mr. Bethel utilizes a Breton's story to commentate on the horrible condition of English prisons and to mock the unjust monarchical system of old France before the Revolution had begun. The running theme throughout the Breton's story of his life is injustice. He begins his tale by describing how when he was originally taken prisoner by the British military he had faith that the British prison system would not treat him terribly or unjustly because he had heard good things about Britain's prisons. Instead the prisons are overcrowded and under horrible living conditions which lead to the deaths of almost half of his French comrades. Smith also uses the story to describe the capitalistic tendencies of the English within the prison system instead of relying on their own military or police forces. The Breton's friend dies and "the next day [he] saw him tied up between two boards, by way of the coffin, which was to be provided by contract...in a grave, dug by contract...which he was covered with about an inch of mould, which was by contract also" (146). The extreme presence of contracts in the prison system demonstrate how intertwined the English are with capitalism. The contract work itself also demonstrates how terribly those under contract can treat their fellow human beings. The Breton's friend is not even given a coffin but two boards wrapped together in an attempt to save time and money. English materialism and capitalism is not the outcome Smith hopes for at the end of the French Revolution. It is interesting that Smith uses contract work within prisons to exhibit how poorly capitalism can treat people, but then describes the ridiculous brutality of the old French monarchy.

Smith then uses the Breton's story to commentate on the injustice of the Lord Paramount to have "the sole right and property of the river running through his fief, together with all the fish therein...also of all the birds of whatsoever nature or species" (148). The incoming Lord of the Breton's land is given rights to all the animals within his domain although the Breton and his family have lived upon the land for generations. It is ironic that the Breton's punishment for fishing or hunting the lands on which he was raised is to "be delivered into the hands of justice" when the system is so unjust (148). The Breton tells Desmond "twas hard to imagine where the power originated that thus deprived all other men of their rights, to give to those nobles the empire of the elements, and the dominion over animated nature!" (148). Smith uses this example to demonstrate how old French nobles were using extreme unnatural power not only over their people but also the Earth itself. The fall of the monarchy in France freed the Earth from the bounds of the rulers alike to how it freed the people, according to Smith. Smith mocks these old French monarchical rulers by naming the antagonist of the Breton's story "Raoul-Philippe-Joseph-Alenandre-Caesar Erispoe, Baron de Kermanfroi" (149). The ridiculously long title for the ruler is unneeded and pointless just like his presence in the Breton's countryside.

Smith uses this example of how unjust the monarchical system is by attacking old France instead of England. It seems she is using the Breton's story to represent the progress in France which England has not yet gone through. However, Smith is also unhappy with the capitalistic and materialists ways of England demonstrated by her dislike of contract work in the English prisons. According to Smith -- based off the Breton's tale -- neither monarchy nor materialistic capitalism are the paths to societal justice. Smith uses Desmond to end her commentary on the two systems with his statement that anyone who believes those in power "possess no powers inimical to the general rights of mankind" are both ignorant and insolent (151).