YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

MEMOIRS

OF

THE REIGN OF LEWIS XVI.

Vol. IV.

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HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL
MEMOIRS

OF

THE REIGN OF LEWIS XVI.
FROM
HIS MARRIAGE TO HIS DEATH:

Founded on a Variety of Authentic Documents, furnished to the Author, before the
Revolution, by many eminent Statesmen and Ministers ; and on the Secret
Papers discovered, after the 10th of August 1792, in the Closets of
the King at Versailles and the Tuileries :

BY JOHN LEWIS SOULAVIE,
THE ELDER,
COMPILER OF THE MEMOIRS OF MARSHAL DUKE OF RICHELIEU, AND OF THE MEMOIRS
OF THE DUKE OF ST. SIMON.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.
IN SIX VOLUMES.
Accompanied with Explanatory Tables, and One Hundred and Thirteen Portraits.

Vol. IV.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR G. AND J. ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW ;
By S. Hamilton, Falcon-Court, Fleet-Strett. '
1802.

CONTENTS ¦
OF
THE FOURTH VOLUME.

Plate IV.
(To face .the Title-Page of Vol. IV.)
58. IVousseau. — 59. BufFon. — 60. Abbe Mably. —
61. D'Alembert. — 62. Diderot. — 63. Abbe Raynal. —
64. La Fayette  65. Bailly. — 66. Mirabeaij. —
67. Beauharnais. — 68. La Rochefoucault. — 69. Tal-
leyrand-Perigord. — 70. Menou. —71. Roederer. —
72. Barnave. — 73 A. 73B. The Brothers Lameth. —
74. Lally-Tollendal. — 75, Lebrun. — 76. Cambacere§.
— 77. Defermont.
Chap. I. Rise of the Marquis of Pezai, Friend of
Mr. Necker — His Character — Character of Ma
dame de Cassini, his Sister — Their Stratagems to
open a secret Correspondence with Lewis XVI.
unknown to the Ministers — First Dispatch of M.
Pezai — It pleases the King — Pezai's first Confe
rence with the Monarch in his Cabinet — He de-
velopes the Plans of Mr. Necker to M. de Mau-
repas and the King— He makes two Ministers in
the Space of a few Months — Procures for himself
the Office of Inspector-General of the Coasts of
the Kingdom - - ' - - - - - - v.aqe 1
Chap. II. Elevation of Mr. Necker to the Ministry
— He deviates from the Course of his Predecessors

CONTENTS. PAGE.
— He courts the Favour of the People, instead of
relying on that of the Great — General Principles
of his Administration — Character of his Writings.
— General Opinions of the Partisans of the Admi
nistration anterior to that of Mr. Necker. — Cha
racter of the illustrious Families in the Administra
tion — Mr. Necker sets up against them his Systems
and Plans - - _-- - - - - - 12
Chap. III. Mr. Necker's Doctrine concerning Pro
prietaries and Citizens without Property. — Of M.
Turgot, Brigadier of the King's Armies, and Bro
ther to the Minister of that Name.- — Of Messrs.
tie Condorcet, de Fougeroux, and de Bondaroi, of
the Academy of Arts. — Examination of the Doc
trine of Mr. Necker — M. Turgot sets up his against
it — He gives me the Historical Memoirs of his Bro
ther, to peruse them, and make Extracts for the
History. — Emulation between Messrs. Necker and
Turgot to reform the French Monarchy - - - 2J
Chap. IV. Operations of Mr. Necker during the
first Year of his Administration ----- 29
Chap. V. Fall of M. de Pezai — Stratagems of
Messrs. Maurepas and de Sartines, to ruin this
Favourite of Lewis XVI. and friend of Mr.
Necker --- -_-_ __. 33
Chap. VI. Opposition of Mr. Necker to the Ex
penses of War — He asks the King to make him
acquainted with the Details and Applications —
He censures the Expenditure ofthe Department of
Finance — He approves of the Credit of the States
— He rests his Opinion on the Possibility of* con
verting four or five Millions of Yearly Revenue- to
five Millions of Capital — He censures the Admi
nistration anterior to his own. — General Principles
of Mr. Necker on the Administration of Finance 36

CONTENTS. PAGE.
Chap. VII. Mr. Necker's first • Examination of
the Funds. — Invention of a Lottery. — View of
the Minority of Parliament.— -Causes of Depre-
mesnil's hatred of the Director-General — Emula
tion between the Director and Depremesnil for a
Reform. — Observations on the Measures of the
Department of Finance deposed in the Parliamen
tary Registers. — Registering ofthe Edict of Loans ;
completed before it was registered. — Rivalship of
the Financiers and Bankers- - - - - - - 43
Chap. VIII. Considerations on the Character of
the first Operations of Mr. Necker, and on his
Administration in the-Year 1778. — Institution of
Provincial Assemblies in Berry. — Inquiries of the
Possessors of Crown Lands, formerly alienated in
Favour of Courtiers, — Suppression of the Causes
Royales, — Exile of M. Lauraguais. — First Im
pressions against the reforming Spirit of Mr,
Necker. — The Opposition penetrates into the
Government ; and the Principles of the Mon
archy penetrate into the Opposition, by the Ope
rations of Mr. Necker - - - - - 48
Chap. IX. Continuation of the History of the
Opposition set up against the first Operations of
Mr. Necker — The Clergy divided into three Par
ties on his Account — Considerations on his Admi
nistration, on the Paper Money which he created,
and on the Character of the Bank, relative to the
Royal Authority---He is compared to Law. — Sup
pression of the Treasurers, and the Incumbrances
of the King's Household - - - - - - 65
Chap. X. Administration of Mr. Necker in 1779
— Continuation of the History of his Destructions.
— Examination ofthe great Burdens of the State. —
The Treasurers ofthe Household ofthe King and

CONTENTS. PAGE,
Queen are suppressed, — M. de Sartines' Plans for
a Descent on England, and the Projects of Mr.
Necker for a Peace. — Continuation of the Esta
blishment of the Provincial Assemblies. — Provin
cial Assembly of Montauban - - - - - 7*7
Chap. XI. Continuation of the Opposition stirred
up against the Measures of Mr. Necker. — The
Treasurers of the King's Brothers, united, deliver
to Monsieur, and the Count d' Artois, a virulent
Paper against his Administration ; they prelend
that Messrs. Malesherbes and Turgot are the Au
thors of it. — History of Mr. Necker's Administra
tion, from his coming to the Direction of the
Finances, to the Month of April 1780, according'
to the Account of the Chiefs of the Finances, of
Monsieur and the Count d' Artois ----- 82
Chap. XII. Attempts of the Enemies of Mr.
Necker to procure his Dismissal from the Mi
nistry — Their Manoeuvres to ruin the Credit of
the Caissc-cTEscompte — They give a Detail 'of
their Villany. — Publication of the famous Parallel
between Mr. Necker and Law— Account of its
Result --------- -__95
Chap. XIII. Considerations on the System of
Loans, and on the Principles of the French Go
vernment on that Part of the Revenue. — Con
nexions of the System of Loans introduced by
Mr. Necker, with the Mechanism of the ancient
Government.- — Borrowing to prevent imposing
must oppress, future Generations with the Capital,
and the present with the Interest. — Borrowing,
when we cannot impose, is taking Advantage of
the CoiKidence of the People, and ruining the
Government.- — Result of the Doctrine of Mr.
Necker --- -------- 103

CONTENTS. PACK,
Chap. XIV. Administration of Mr. Necker in
1780.— Sale of the Hospital Lands, and Esta
blishment of the Houses of Charity. — Suppression
of forty-eight Offices of Receivers-General. — Re
volution in the King's Farms. — Establishment of
new Prisons. — Continuation of the Establish
ment of Provincial Assemblies. — Assembly of
Moulins -------- _-_ no
Chap. XV. Personal Opinions of Lewis XVI.
on the System of Provincial Administrations de
veloped at first under Lewis XV. by M. d'Argen-
son, in his ' Considerations on France,' and since
then by the Economists, by Messrs. Turgot and
Malesherbes, and by Mr. Necker. — Marginal
Notes of Lewis XVI. written in the Memorandum
of Provincial' Administrations instituted by Mr.
Necker. — Considerations, on the Revolution ef
fected in the Administration of the Provinces r 113
Chap. XVI. Dismissal of M. de Sartines — His
Party , publishes at Paris the Means by which
Mr. Necker succeeded therein - - - - - 137
Chap. XVII. Publication of the Compte rendu
by Mr. Necker ; this Institution is a Revolution
opposite to the Spirit of the ancient Government.
— Of the Credit of the State established by the
Corporations ofthe Finances — Ofthe same Credit
established by the Bankers — Of the same Credit
resulting from the Publication of the Accounts. —
This Guarantee was void in France. — Mr. Necker,
by his Innovations, tended to destroy Credit in
France, in point of Loans ; and the Royal Autho
rity, in point of Imposts ------ _ \z",
iChap. XVIII. ! Observations remitted to Lewis
XVI., and by his Orders, the 3d of May 1781, on
the Effects of the Compte rendu, relative Jo the

CONTENTS.
FA-bE.
Constitution of the State, and on the Character of
its Author, considered as a Stranger by his Birth,
by his Opinions, and by his Manners, to the Ad
ministration of the Finances of France - - - 140
Chap. XIX. Situation of Mr. Necker at Court,
after the Dismissal of M. de Sartines, and after
the Publication of the Compte rendu— Row the
Storm that menaced him was momentarily raised —
He continues to be reproached by the Courtiers,
the Parliaments, the Party of M. de Maurepas, the
Intendants of Provinces, and the High Finance-
Nomenclature of the Ladies and Noblemen of the
Court who were Partisans of his Administration. —
Character ofthe Ladies de Grammont, the Coun
tess of Brionne, the Princess of Beauvau, the.
Countess of Tesse, Madame de Blot, Madame de
Chalons, and the Countess of Simiane.— Fury of
the. Friends and Enemies of Mr. Necker on his
Account — Agitation of the divided Minds. — Horo
scope of France on Mr. Necker, presented to
Lewis' XVI, ,---  151
Chap. XX. Situation of Madame Necker at this
Conjuncture — Her Character, her Virtues, her
Piety, and her Charity — She exerts herself to re
lieve the Distresses of the Poor — She alleviates the
Sufferings of the Count de Lautrec — The Answer
to the Pamphlet published against her Husband is
attributed to her — She refutes the Objections to his
Administration ----- _ _ , _ 166
Chap. XXI. Of England at the Epoch of the
precursory Signs ofthe fall of Mr. Necker — Opi
nions in the English House of Commons on his
Administration — His Enemies in France produce
Debates in order to injure him, which they them
selves cause to be printed in the London News
papers ---- _  n5

CONTENTS. PAGE.
Chap. XXII. Representation of the Increase and
Multiplication of the Oppositions against the Ad
ministration ofj' Mr. Necker — The Finance, the
Administration, the Parliaments, the superior
Clergy, and the high Nobility, oppose his Mea
sures ------ ____-_i8o
Chap.'XXIII. History of public Opinion, cited
on every Occasion by Mr. Necker and his Parti
sans — It was established in the Opposition, and
formed it — It was the destructive Power of the an
cient Monarchical Institutions — It mis-led the Na
tion — Doctrine of Mr. Necker on that subject - 1S5
Chap. XXIV. M. de Vergennes' Report to the
King of the Principles and Administrative Motives
of Mr. Necker — His Character, according to the
Principles of M. de Vergennes — Comparison be
tween him and M. Turgot — Considerations on his
public. Opinion -- - - - - - - 193
Chap. XXV. Retreat of Mr. Nedker — Critical
Situation of that Minister — He solicits the King to
admit him into the Council of State — Anxiety of
the Prince — Refusal of M. de Maurepas. — -Mr.
Necker's Retreat — At his Retreat Opposition
ceases in the Government — The ancient Princi
ples are again constituted therein - - - - 201
Chap. XXVI. Mr. Necker's Sentiments on his
Retreat — .He reasons on its Causes, Accessories,
and Effects - --- --._'- 205
Chap. XXA'TI. Mr. Necker's Portrait, drawn
by his Friends - ----- 213
Chap. XXVIII. Portrait of Mr. Necker by his
Enemies, the Partisans of the ancient System of
the" Monarchy -  __- 222
Chap. XXIX. Character of Mr. Necker by the
Author of these Memoirs, and a Sketch of his
Principles and Administration — Outrages of the

CONTENTS.
Royalists ofthe ancient Government, and of the
Republican Democrat?, agninst him — These two
Sorts of Enemies are not the natural Judges of
that Minister — Thev will not attract the Attention
of Posterity. — Mr. Necker, from the Beginning of
his Administration, in Opposition to all the Go
vernments that were introduced into France —
His secret Projects on the Restoration of the
Kingdom - - - - - - 224
Chap. XXX. Continuation of Mr. Necker's Cha
racter. — Of Cardinal Richelieu and Mr. Necker,
considered as Enemies of the great Men of the
State. — Of Richelieu, considered as the founder
ofthe Union and Military Power ofthe House of
Bourbon ; and of Mr. Necker, considered as the
Author of the Destruction of that Power, by the
Introduction of his Plans for a limited Monarchy.
— Triumph of the Military Government of Lewis
XIII., the Instrument ofthe Cardinal's Ambition.
— Fall ofthe Monarchy of Lewis XVI., the In
strument of the Genevan's Ambition. — Richelieu
proclaims the Power of his Projects — Mr. Necker
denies them ---------- 233
Chap. XXXI. Conclusion of the Character of
Mr. Necker — He causes the Misery of France,
bv endeavouring to insure lur Happiness. — In
what Manner the general Disposition of France
and Europe promoted the EfFcct. — The Cabinets
of Sovereigns principal and first Authors of the
French Revolution ________ <2-ly
Chap. XXXII. Of the Re-establishment of the
Opposition in its lawful Place, at the Retreat of
Mr. Necker, and ofthe Tranquillity ofthe Admi
nistration from that Epoch till the Debates be
tween the Ex-Minister and M. de Calonne - - 245

CONTENTS.
Chap. XXXIII. Character of M. Joly de Fleury
and M. d'Ormesson, immediate Successors of Mr.t
Necker — Quietism of the Administration. — An
archy in the Department of the Finances. — Result
of Mr. Necker's Operations — His Destruction of
the ancient Credit of the King. — Refusal of the
Bankers to supply the Wants of the State under
A I. d'Ormesson. — France sinks under the Weight
of Engagements contracted bv Air. Necker. — M.
de Castries proposes to the King to restore that
Minister. — Decision of the Administration, and
Character of Mr. Necker, by M. de Castries. —
Lewis XVI. 's Sentiments on Mr. Necker, in, the
Month of November 1783. — .Correspondence be
tween the King and Al. de Vergennes on that Sub
ject. — A Revolution in the Caisse d'Escompte ac
celerates the Retreat of Al. d'Ormesson - - _ 249
Chap. XXXIV. Character of Air. Necker, by
Marshal de Castries.-— Sentiments of Lewis XVI.
on Air. Necker, in thg Alonth of November
1783 ------- 257
Chap. XXXV. Air. Necker addresses a Work to
the King, which he dedicates to the Nation —
Character of his Letter to the King ; its timid and
respectful Style ; and the Audacity of his Proceed
ings — The King's Opinion thereon. — Unanimor.s
Decisions ofthe Administration assembled against
Air. Necker, under tlie Auspices of M.de Vergennes
— Report made to the King to obtain the Proscrip
tion of the new Work, and also the Person of its
Author — Goodness of that Prince - - - 263
Chap. XXXVI. Definitive Analysis of Public
Opinion during Mr. Necker's two Administra
tions — Analysis by the Works of Art — Analy.Y
by the Works of the Republic of Letters — Pride

CONTEXTS.

and Fragility of this pretended Public Opinion —
It is discomposed in Proportion as the Revolutio
nary Spirit divides, neutralises, or changes itself -

CONCLUSION OF THE FIFTH EPOCH;
Or the Liberty of America acknowledged in Europe at the
Peace of 17 S3; with the History of the Conduct of the
House of Austria towards France during the English
War.
Chap. I. Continuation of the Fourth Epoch, and
of the History of the Establishment of Liberty in
America. — Conduct of the House of Austria to
wards France, her Ally, while the latter Power was
at War with England — First Advantage she took
ofthe Alliance in 1756, and of our Situation. —
Austria endeavours to establish herself with Impu
nity in Bavaria _____ - -287
Chap. II. Second Advantage which the House of
Austria took of our Embarrassments in the Ame
rican War : she establishes an Archduke, in full
Sovereignty, in the Electorate of Cologne - - 300
Chap. III. Baron Thugut's secret Alission to the
Court of France — Character of that Personage —
Secret Causes of his Elevation — He becomes Clerk
to our Ministers for Foreign Affairs, to the Dukes
of Choiseul, d'Aiguillon, Count de Vergennes,
and to our Embassadors. — Particular Instructions
of Lewis XVI. to M. de Vergennes on the Con
duct he is to observe towards Thugut — Conduct
of Lewis XV. in this Respect. — Thugut's Vena
lity — His Elevation to the Administration is tbe
Result of it — He comes to propose to M, de Ver
gennes a confederacy with the Turks as;ainn Ca-

CONTENTS.
PAGE'.
tharine II. during the American War — Trea
cherous and romantic Plan of the House of Austria
on this Occasion ---------- 303
Chap. IV. Third Advantage which Joseph II.
took of our Alliance — He joins the Russians
against the Turks, our Allies— He attempts to
deprive us ofthe Advantages ofthe Coalition with
Spain against England, during the American War.
— Recapitulation of Proofs of the Treachery of
the Alliance of 1756.— Lewis XVL's Opinions on
the Emperor.— Continuation of tlie King's Let
ters to M. de Vergennes — That Prince's Character j
developed --- -312
Chap. V. Lewis XVI. follows the Example of
his Predecessor, and abandons the Cares and Exe
cution of Government to his Ministers. — Plenty IV.
and Lewis XIV. were, on the contrary, principal
Managers of Public Affairs. — Marshal Broglio, the
Prince of Luxembourg, Count d'Angiville, and
Count Grimoard, transmit Memorials to the King
on the Administration — Memorial of the former,
on Maastricht, read in the Council — His Secret
Mission into Holland --------313
Chap. VI. Ministerial Revolutions at London be
fore the definitive Peace of 1783. — Disgrace of
Lord North — Recapitulation of the Events which
happened under his Administration. — Ephemeral
Administration of Rockingham and Fox. — The
Independence of America is acknowledged. — Ad
ministration of Shelburne— Four Factions at Lon
don on that Account. — Fox and North re-esta
blished in the Administration — Their Disgrace. —
William Pitt made Prime-minister. — Fox goes out
of Office. — Parliamentary Coalition against Mr.
Pitt. — Dissolution of the British Parliament.—

CONTENTS.
The Peace. — Erection of a Statue to Lewis XVI.
at Philadelphia - - - - - 336
Chap. VII. Regulations of the Alonth of Alay
1781, and ofthe Alonth of January 1786, on the
Conditions required for Admission to the Rank of
Officers. — Historical Alemorial of Count Grimo-
ard on the Presentations at Court — Discontent
which these Institutions occasioned - - - - 34-'
Chap. VIII. Of the Progress of the Human Un
derstanding in Literature, Arts, and Sciences, under
the Reign of Lewis XVI. — Philosophy obtains the
Pre-eminence over all other Kinds of Knowledge.
—That of Voltaire was destructive of rehVious
and social Opinions — That of Rousseau tended to
establish new political Institutions — Ephemeral
Reign of their Doctrine. — Under Lewis XVL
Literature is neither the Ornament nor Support of
Power. — Progress of natural Sciences. — Remark
able Inventions ---------- 355

MEMOIRS

OF THE

REIGN OF LEWIS XVL

CHAP. I.

¦Rise of the Marquis of Pezai, Friend of Mr. Necker — His
Character— 'Character of Madame de Gassing his Sister—
Their Stratagems to open a secret Correspondence with Lewi's
XVI. unknown to the Ministers — First Dispatch ofM. Pezai
—It pleases the King — Pezai's first Conference with the Mon
arch in his Cabinet^He developes the Plans of Mr. Necker to
M. de Maurepas and the King — He makes two Ministers in
the Space of a few Months — Procures for himself the Office of
Inspector-General ofthe Coasts of the Kingdom.
.LEWIS X VI., from his earliest youth, delighted
in being alone at court, or with the queen ; he
endeavoured to avoid the presence of his grand
father, and, when he could accomplish it, loved
¦to converse with individuals of every profession,
to hear the news of the day, and to learn the
sentiments ofthe people relative to the affairs of
his reign.
With the same views he was fond of reading
foreign newspapers. Curiosity had induced
VOL, IV, B

him to learn the English language ; and not a
day passed but he read what those islanders,
in their haughtiness and independence, pub
lished in the commencement of his reign.
A voun°- man, of the name of Masson, who had
lately acquired the title of Marquis of Pezai, took
advantage of this disposition, to open a secret
correspondence with the king on affairs of state.
This enterprising personage was brother to the
beautiful and famous madame de Cassini, who
for some years past had left no means untried to
attain celebrity. He was born without fortune,
but, like his sister, possessed a kind of wit, an
interesting figure, and a versatility of genius,
adapted to acquire it. Madame de Cassini,
towards the latter part of the reign of the late
king, had made herself conspicuous as wellby
her intrigues as by her lovers. She was visited
by ministers, generals, and people of fashion ;
she undertook to procure places, rail against
ministers, and extol or blame the measures of
government ; she endeavoured even to aspire to
greater importance by a presentation at court,
and solicited that favour, with all her interest ;
when Lewis XV., who possessed great polite
ness and respect, as well as weakness, for
the sex, decided the affair in these terms:
"There are but too many intrigues here already ;
madame de Cassini shall not be presented."

, During the remainder of the reign of the late
king, madame de Cassini, by her licentious and
coquetish manner of life, contrived to supply the
deficiency of fortune. M . . . M . . . M . , . M . . .
M.. .;M... and de M'aillebois, were her para
mours, and in this distinguished society the
marquis of Pezai acquired the elements of in
trigue, which he knew how to disguise and
adorn, by applying himself to literature, affairs
of administration, and the polite arts. Dorat,
his intimate friend, who had written some
pleasant little poems, admired at the time, infus
ed elegance into his verses, and corrected them.
Epistles, mock heroics, and madrigals, dressed in
alight andtendcr style, were his best known pro
ductions. He composed the Soirees Helv'etiques .
His friend Dorat was neither ambitious nor in
triguing like himself; but Pezai united with the
poetic art such a degree of ambition, that he
was heard to say to this friend, and to a cele
brated woman who received the visits of both,
" I will engage, that with the assistance of
madame B. we can govern, if we wish it, both
France and Europe, by making verses."
The marquis of Pezai, tormented by his am
bition, wrote on this occasion to almost all the
kings of Europe, on the constitution, admini
stration, industry, and com'rnerce of their states.
He did more : he made them all anoffer of his

services ; so much had he flattered himself that
he should enjoy the confidence of a king. " It
is very modest, truely,'* replied Frederic, " in a
raw youth like you, to give lessons to an old
monarch.'' The other sovereigns returned the
marquis no answer.
The phrensy of celebritv, and the desire of be
coming minister, reigning in the breast of Pezai,
he was incessantly occupied in researches into
the administration and government of France.
M.deMaillebois, the lover of madame de Cassini,
his sister, gave him a sight of his papers. Among
them he found the memoirs of the war in Italy in
1741, the plans and designs of the sieges,
with the encampments, marches, and sieges of
the French army, from which he had com
posed a manuscript, entitled the Campaigns of
Maillebois, which the king caused afterwards to
be printed, with a superb map. Of this work we
shall hereafter speak. Madame de Montberry,
who loved Pezai, supplied him, in the expectation
of his promotion as well as her own, with the
means of living, and introduced him to the most
distinguished societv.
In this situation of affairs Lewis XV. died;
From that instant the marquis, and his inti
mate acquaintance, found means, by the in
experience of the young king, to open the road
to a brilliant fortune. They conceived the pro-

ject of a secret correspondence with Lewis
XVI., and bribed a servant of the little apart
ments to place the letters in a chamber, where
the king was every day in the habit of retiring tq
read. To engage the attention ofthe king, the mar7
quis of Pezai represented himself, without
signing his letter, as being allied to the most
distinguished literary characters, and the most
opulent financiers. He pretended, that he asso
ciated with Englishmen of the first distinction j
boasted of being on good terms with ladies of
the highest quality; and above all, that literature
and the fine arts engaged the greatest part of
his attention. After this preamble, he offered
the king such services as his situation enabled
him to perform, and asked permission, to trans
mit periodically the result of his hebdomadal ob
servations on the affairs of Europe, the general
transactions in France, and on private matters,
which might be deemed worthy of the mon
arch's attention. Fie renounced every idea of
reward for these labours. All the recompence
he desired, was that of being able to serve his
master with probity and. candour. In order
to, exhibit proofs of it, he inclosed the first
number of his correspondence, which he laid
at the feet of the king, entreating him, that,
if these labours were agreeable to his majesty,

he would signify it by holding a handkerchief in
his hand, during the elevation of the host, on
the first Sunday of the next month, and by quit
ting it, when that ceremony was at an end.
In the first correspondence, Pezai admini
stered such ingenious and well-adapted in
cense to the king, as could not fail to be
agreeable to a diffident prince, who wished to
avoid it. He extolled the king for his timid
and ingenuous modesty ; and assured him, that,
on this account, he was extremely beloved by
the whole nation : he animadverted on his
confidence in his ministers, and said, that it
was the desire of the French to be go
verned by their monarchs in the tone of au
thority. He added, that Lewis XVI. was too
much governed by others ; that his people
wished to find in him the firmness of the good
king Henry ; that his natural talents would en
sure him success ; and that he inherited from
the house of Bourbon, and from the dauphiness
his mother, such qualities as must produce ex
traordinary events. The king, he said, had
acquired great knowledge by secret and un-
perceived study, and France would be ex
ceedingly proud, if she conceived herself go
verned by the direct acts of his majesty's will.
He added, that the French would even cherish
the errors of their sovereign ; and then cited his

conjugal virtues, so compatible with French
ideas and amiable manners. He praised the per
fections of the queen, and foretold a speedy re
compence of their combined virtues.
Having thus spoken of the chief of the state,
he announced the periodical correspondence he
wished to establish, on princes contemporary with
the king, on the principal men of the kingdom,
on ministers, parliaments, prelates, generals, in-
tendants, and men of letters, promising, that the
king should be informed, without quitting his
cabinet, of the transactions of the first socie
ties in Paris, whose thoughts and principles it
was essential for him to know.
This, and the following letters, pleased the
king so much, that he gave orders to M. de Sar
tines, then minister of the police, to discover and
point out to him the author.
Suspicion fell, at first, on many persons
known at court, who assured M.de Sartines, that
they had never taken the liberty of writing to
the king. At length, confining himself to five
or six, M. de Sartines^received the king's order
to sound them, and read to them himself the
outlines of the correspondence, in order to dis
cover, if he could, in any one of them, the ex
pressions, manner, and opinions of the writer.
M. de Pezai was thus found out, and acknow
ledged himself author of the letter. From this

time he began to entertain the most sanguine
hopes of future greatness, and flattered himself,
that he should become in reality minister, as he
had projected. He imagined he could not fail to
make a brilliant fortune, and procure for his
friends the employment which they so earnestly
sought after.
Mr. Necker, madame de Cassini, and the se
cret society of this coalition, triumphed over the
late king's neglect of them. The mysterious
correspondence with Lewis XVI. continued for
several years. They were ignorant, however,
that there existed another, written with oppo
site views, by M. de Vergennes. That of the
marquis of Pezai was composed of some
schemes of public utility, and decisions the
most partial both as to persons and things. He
wante'd that degree of foresight, experience, and
succession of ideas and circumstances, which
are necessary to judge of the operations of a
great empire ; but, notwithstanding these de
fects, the correspondence was spirited, agree
able, and calculated to. please a king, anxious
to contemplate an anticipated history of his
measures. The marquis obtained from the
young prince the indirect confession, that his
first correspondence was acceptable, and that
he was permitted to continue it. Confident
cf success, Pezai begged the king to stay in the

9
gallery, on his return from chapel, near a recess,
which he pointed out, and where he said he
should place himself to see his majesty pass.
Lewis, curious to be acquainted with him per
sonally, received him kindly, led him into his
cabinet, and introduced him to M. de Maure-
pas, as an interesting young man whom he
wished to promote. M. de Maurepas, asto
nished, confessed to the king, that M. de Pezai
was his god-son. The jealousy of Maurepas was
instantly awakened ; he saw with concern that
the king granted him his confidence in state af
fairs ; and was not ignorant, that Lewis had en
couraged an extensive, periodical, and unknown
correspondence. Fie observed, that the prince
was often directed by secret impressions and opi
nions, and felt himself hurt, that the confidence
of the rnonarch should be divided between
himself and an obscure young man, a per
son entirely unknown, and, above all, a young
poet. He dissimulated, however, his senti
ments, and loaded Pezai with caresses'. Not
withstanding, one day he inadvertently said,
" You are, then, in concert with the king ! You
are in concert with the king, M. de Pezai?"
And at another time, with an affected raillery, and
in his presence, " Here is a young man, that
wishes to govern my wife and me."
M.de Pezai had contributed, by his cone-

10
spondence, to the expulsion of the abbe Terray
from the ministry, with disgrace. He had been
for some time attached to Mr. Necker, and repre
sented, both to Mr. Necker himself and to Lewis
XVI., the opinions of that already celebrated fi
nancier as necessary to the restoration ofthe state.
He was the declared enemy of Turgot, and was
zealous for the elevation ofthe opulent Genevan,
from whom he received pecuniarv succours.
An admirer of madame de Montbarrev, near re
lation to M. Maurepas, he assisted in making
an injured husband director-general of war, a
title created in favour of M. de Montbarrev.
It was at this time that the king granted M. de
Pezai the honours ofthe royal printing-office, for
the edition of the Memoirs of Maillebois, which
he had the charge of compiling. This work is
scarcely any thing more than a selection and
translation of Italian works ; but it contains
what a French general ought to know, as useful
and expedient for the conduct of our troops in
Italy. A magnificent map accompanied this
production of Pezai. It was a master-piece of
geographical charts, the plates of which have
been melted down by the revolutionists. M.
de Pezai made use of it to give the king: some
lessons in the military art, which followed the
secret correspondence, and promoted tbe same
end.

11
In the course of a year, the marquis of
Pezai succeeded in making two ministers,. M.
de Montbarrey and Mr. Necker ; and he who
commenced with declaring to the king, that he
would accept no favour, procured for himself
the office of inspector-general of the coasts, with
a salary of fixty-thousand livres : he also en
forced the payment of thirty thousand livres
which were due to his father for wine. The
plans of Mr. Necker, presented to M. Maure
pas and the king, appeared satisfactory. " The
proud Necker," said M. de Meilhan, intendant
of Valenciennes, and a particular enemy of this
minister, " wrapped up in a great coat, often
came to M. de Pezai's house, concealed in a
hackney coach, waiting for the arrival of the
favourite from Versailles, to be informed of
what he had done in his favour."
Such were the primary means by which the
plans of Mr. Necker were developed.

12

CHAP. II.
EJr:ation of Mr. Necker to the Ministry — //,.- deviates frmn the
Course of 'his Predecessors — He courts the Favour of the
People, instead ijf relying on that of the Great. — General
Principles of his Administration— -Character of his Writings
— General Opinions of the Partisans of the .Ittministration
anterior to that of Mr. Necker — Character of the illustrious
Families in the Administration — Mr. Necker sets «p against
them' his Systems and Plans.
MINISTER of the republic of Geneva, at the
court of Lewis XVI., and connected with many
members of the diplomatic body, Mr. Necker
was naturally in the road which leads to the
advancement of men of large fortune and supe
rior talents. He was intimately acquainted with
Pezai, who still continued his correspondence
directly with the king, and he communicated
some ideas on the amelioration of the finances to
M. Maurepas, with a promise to liberate the
state, and provide for the expences of war, if a
war should take place. It was immediately de
termined, that Mr. Necker should assist M. de
Clugny, minister of finances, and that the direc
tion of the royal treasury, with the different
operations relative to loans and credit, should be
entrusted to his care.

13
At the death of M. de Clugny, about the
latter end ofthe month of October 1776, it was
observed, that, since Colbert, there had been
twenty-five ministers of finance in France, and
that no one of them had died in office. Tabou-
reau des Reaux, counsellor of state, an honest
and enlightened man, was in the list of those to
be preferred, as well as M. de Vaisnes, first clerk
ofthe finances.
The king nominated the former, and com
mitted the management of the treasury to the
famous banker, Mr. Necker. His direction
of the India Company, his disputes with that
company, the force of his arguments against
the system of M. Turgot, and his eulogium
on Colbert, at the. head of which he seemed
to have disdained to place his name, had given
him a great reputation. He engaged to esta
blish order in the finances, without concussion,
and furnish immediately forty millions of ready
money. M. *Taboureau, perceiving that his powers
were in effect subordinate to Mr. Necker, de
manded permission to resign ; it was granted ;
and Mr. Necker, wishing on his side to be sole
master of his measures, was named director-ge
neral of the finances.
Become sole administrator, Mr. Necker ex
cited the enthusiasm ofthe public by the nature
of his operations. In each of them was disco-

Ii
vered something novel and striking ; their ob
ject being to alter the system of administration,
and infuse a new spirit into the direction of
affairs. The most remarkable part of his transactions
was the direct opposition of his measures to
those of the ministers who had preceded him.
The latter had reposed their credit and power on
the favour ofthe great men of the state, and on
favourites. Mr. Necker, on the contrary, did not
rely on such props for support, but sought it
amongst that description of the king's subjects,
who were the most distant from the throne. Mr.
Necker confided in the favour and confidence
of the people ; and in this instance resembling
M. Turgot, he could not be agreeable to the
clergy, or to the nobility, so adverse to the per
sonal interests of the Genevese minister. The
clergy murmured at the choice of a protest-
ant. " I will have done with him," said M.
de Maurepas to an archbishop offended at his
nomination, " if you will engage to pay the na
tional debt."
On Mr. Necker's succeeding to the ministry,
he found himself a stranger to the affairs of ad
ministration ; but his mind was ever busy, he
sought every where for information, listened to
every one's advice, and collected all the hints
that were offered. The five years of his admi
nistration were spent in the most indefatigable

15
study. No consideration could induce him to
abandon it, neither gaming, amusements, ideas
of fortune, nor the usual society of people of
the court.
The character of his writings already an
nounced a revolution. The state ofthe republic
of letters admitted of no other principle than
that of philosophy. Accordingly they breathed
throughout the language of humanity ; they ex
hibited an extreme sensibility, a cast, of republi
canism, a style analogous to. that of Rousseau,
and a brilliant imagination : they were adorned
by figures and a sentimental turn, unknown in the
works of administration, and which distinguished
them from all other books of the same nature;.
Never before had the principal administrators of a
monarchy exposed their operations to the public
opinion, because the progress of power con
ducted the court to increasing abuses, while the
administrative steps of Mr. Necker led the state
on to reformation and a revolution.
" Enlightened and impartial posterity" said
the opposite party, at the head of which we
may place the intendant of Valenciennes 'c will
be surprised to find, that an intelligent people
could so far deceive themselves as to regard
Mr. Necker as the greatest of administrators.
It will be astonished, that his contemporaries
had not asked themselves, What canals has, he

16
dujr ? What branch of commerce has he revived i
o
What duties has he abolished or modified ? What
edifices has he erected ? He has written fome
high-sounding phrases ; but where are his
"works ? No traces will be found in the capital,
in the provinces, in the ports, or in any useful
establishment, to consecrate his memory. His
writings contain some general ideas and futile
projects, but neither erudition nor profound re
flexion on the administration are to be seen
in them ; and it is something remarkable, that,
in his three volumes relating to the finances,
not a single quotation of facts or former opi
nions is to be found. It is plain, that this mi
nister has followed the sudden impulse of his
imagination, and that he has confined himself
to the moral and political side of affairs, which
require only, to be understood, a little acute-
ness of mind, without any of the requi
site information of an administrator. In this
sense alone Mr. Necker, a sensible man, and
often an eloquent writer, is deserving ofpraise ;
but the misguided nation has confounded the
merit of the minister with that of the author.
Those who are able to distinguish one from the
other, must perceive, that he was acquainted
neither with history, the principles of finance
and commerce, nor the theory of imposts. It
is easily discovered, that he has only endeavoured

17
to impose on the better class by the brilliancy
of his phrases, and deceive the people by an
affectation of sensibility. Like authors, who
compose pieces for actors, and are successful
because the parts are conformable to the talents
of those who represent them."
This conclusion, drawn by an intendant, is
extremely severe. It is however certain, that
Mr. Necker, in his operations, surpassed , the
opinions of the age, and seemed as if he was
administering to a different kingdom from
France, and in a century distant from the
eighteenth. He overturned the established doc
trines, instead of creating others. The admini
stration had been formed by the genius of
Richelieu,, Colbert, and others, and firmly ce
mented for the maintenance of authority. The
ministry, since the demise of those great per
sonages, had observed so faithfully their maxims,
that the administration was nothing more than
a mass of exalted wisdom preserved within the
limits ot tradition. About fifty families, dis
tinguished by the name of the supreme ma
gistracy, were the guardians of it*; and such
* I sha.Il religiously preserve, in this history, the names
of some illustrious families in the administration, as d'Agues-
seau, Trudaine, Montarau, Turgot, d'Ormesson, Amelot, La-
moignon, Pelletier, BouIIogne, Joly de Fleury, Lescalopier,
Bernage, de Cotte, Machault, Berulle, Bpchard de Sarron,
VOL. IV. c d'Aligre,

18
was the form and regularity of the customs, that
one vigorous mind might preserve inviolate ou7
ancient institutions. Besides, these fifty fami
lies possessed in administration a timidity and
fearfulness of such innovations essential to their
preservation. Mr. Necker, on the contrary, appeared fear
ful of treading in the steps of others. Flis ima
gination, the scourge of the ancient French ad
ministration, was the soul of his measures. He
complains in his writings, that the maxims of
government did not permit every minister to be
chosen from those classes in which merit and
talents might be found ; that only one hundred
families enjoyed, in this respect, the confidence
of their sovereign, and that these were promoted
according to seniority. Mr. Necker objected,
that in France, where the fertility of the soil
and the prosperity of institutions triumphed over
the errors of government, thev should not be
subject to the exclusion of all but a few fami
lies. It was precisely this prosperity and this
natural activity which the circumscription was
meant to restrain.
Mr. Necker moreover pretended, that the
national character of the French was less ad-
d'AIigre, de Gourgv>es, Voisins, Mole, Portail, Rolland, Blon
de!, Senozan, Angran, Nicolay, Barentin, Sully, Colbert,
Richelieu, Villeroy, Fleury, 8cc.

19
apted to affairs of administration than to any
other kind of talent, notwithstanding the expe
rience of several centuries attested our parti
cular success in that department. He sup
posed, that it required a sort of tardiness, per
severance, and uniformity, which were repug
nant to the activity of the character of French
men. This consideration had undoubtedly in
duced him to secure a portion of the public ad
ministration in the hands of provincial admini
strators, that would form a code of doctrines
invulnerable to the variation of systems, and
to the fickleness of the ministers of finance.
This was exactly confiding in people of no sta
bility, and taking the office from those families
who had, as it were, hereditarily preserved it.
It was snatching it from the aristocracy, to con
sign it to the democracy, without reflecting, that,
in many parts, the syndics of provinces were
the real administrators ; whilst the bishops, no
blemen, and municipal officers, who represent
ed the commons, were total strangers to pro
vincial regulations.
Mr. Necker lamented the variations of admi
nistrative principles, and attributed them to the
frequent change of ministry. He conceived
that this instability resulted from some defect in
the representative body of the nation, in which
the measures of administration were discussed,
c 2

20
He seemed ignorant, that, in states, where the
executive authority is tempered by legislative
power, if the former was not restrained by the
latter, perpetual jarrings must be expected;
and he overlooked, that the principles of his ad
ministration were exceptions to these received
opinions.

21

CHAP. III.
Mr. Necker's Doctrine concerning Proprietaries And Citizens
zvithout Property. — Of M. Turgot, Brigadier of the King's
Armies, and Brother to the Minister of that Name. — Of
Messrs. de Condorcet, de Fougeroux, and de Bondaroi, of the
Academy of Arts. — Examination ofthe Doctrine cf Mr. Necker
— M. Turgot sets up his against it — Hegivesme tlie Historical
Memoirs of his Brother, toperuse them, and make Extracts for
the History. — Emulation between Messrs. Necker and Turgot
to reform the French Monarchy.
W HEN Mr. Necker was made director of the
finances, by the death of M. de Taboureau, and
excited, in 1779, so astonishing a sensation, I
was present in a company that felt extremely
offended at a passage in one of his publications.
It appeared to me, that this production was
one of the principal grievances of Turgot and
his family, and some economists, against Mr.
Necker. I perceived, in their emotion, the
most violent chagrin. The chevalier Turgot
was with M. de Condorcet, M. de Fougeroux,
and M, de Bondaroi, all three belonging to the
Society of Arts. The two first were very warm ,
in their assertions. I possessed the modesty
natural to my age. " Unhappy nation," ex
claimed the chevalier Turgot, rt thou wilt ne- .
ver recover from the disasters which Necker is

o<->

preparing for thee!" " We shall come off with
a system similar to that of Law," cried Condorcet.
The timid Fougeroux, of a reserved character,
was silent. I listened, and on my return home
arranged the result of this interesting conversa
tion, to be inserted in these Memoirs.
The emotions of the chevalier Turgot and M.
de Condorcet were very different from the style
at that time observed in large companies, which
were constantly calm. I asked the reason of so
much uneasiness, that appeared to me exagge
rated. The chevalier Turgot, raising his voice
still higher, which before was' quite distinct
enough, and taking hold of my arm, said, in the
manner of Diderot : " Young man, whom we
respect, look here and read." At the same time
opening the last chapter of Mr. Necker's Legis
lation of Grain, he continued, "What have we
to expect from a minister, that declaims with so
much fury against such a class of society as the
proprietaries, in favour of those who possess no
thing ? Shall we wait to see renewed in France
the scenes ofthe Gracchi?
" Almost every civil institution," said the
chevalier Turgot, reading Mr. Necker's work,
" has been established for proprietaries. We
are alarmed, on opening the code of laws,
at discovering every where proofs of this truth.
One would suppose that a small number of

23
men, after having divided the earth among
them, had enacted laws of union and security
against the multitude, in the same manner
as they would set up fences in the midst of
forests, to defend themselves from wild beasts;
for we may venture to assert, that after the laws
of property, justice, and liberty, had been esta
blished, scarcely any thing was done for the
most numerous class of citizens. Have they
not reason to say, What are your laws of proper
ty to us? we are possessed of nothing. Your
laws of justice? we have nothing to protect.
Your laws of liberty? if we work not, to
morrow we die. It is not alone on the justice,
of monarchs that their beneficence depends ; it
is also on their talents, on the paternal cares,
which neither law nor justice have pointed out,
but which are marked in letters of fire on every
breast alive to feelings of humanity. O you that
govern ! let it ever be remembered, that the
greatest part of mankind were not consulted in
the composition of the laws, and that their
weakness and misery incessantly claim your pro
tection. The proprietaries only require liberty
and justice; those who possess nothing demand
your humanity, and political laws to balance
the preponderance of property. It is by the
wisdom ofthe torn laws that you more imme
diately insure their happiness. May reflexion

24
never cease to exert itself on this important ob
ject ! May it be productive, ere long, ot those ir
refragable truths, which, insuring the repose and
prosperity ofthe state, become the safeguard of
the weak against the powerful and wealthy!"
After this reading, M. de Condorcet and the
chevalier Turcot recommenced their censures on
Mr. Necker, opposing the svstem of Turgot, ex-
comptroller-general, to that ofthe present director
of the finances. " My brother's measures were
very different," said the chevalier Turgot; "he
conceived^ that the people without property are
the basis of societv and civilization. Not a
power exists to which this class is not as neces
sary as the foundations are requisite to an edifice.
Without this particular class the spirit of com
merce would be insufficient to excite specula
tion. The ingenious man designs his plans in
cities and in the fields, and his labourers execute
them. The rich proprietary advances large
sums of monev, and the poor, under his au
spices, increase them. Propertv was made the
basis of my brother's administration. On pro
perty he has established his plans and views for
a more social organization. Nations were esta
blished by property; they flourish in propor
tion as they teel the force arid po ,ver of the
state; and they are devastated and ruined bv
the opinion which Mr. Necker has promulgated.

25
We here behold an imaginary philosopher,
emerging from a republic, whose individuals in
close their property in a portfolio of six ounces
weight; but the speculations of a great nation
must not be treated so lightly. Reflect well, M-.
Soulavie, on our answers to the factious work of
Mr. Necker, published at a tirne when France
was torn by sedition, to which he could be no
stranger; arid if ycu write the history of the
times, observe religiously to produce a faithful
account of my brother's administration. I have
given orders that you shall have his memoran
dums; and I will guarantee their authenticity,
by signing them." The chevalier Turgot soon
after delivered to me his brother's papers.
This discourse had been pronounced with a de
gree of warmth; and as the chevalier Turgot, in
some anterior Conferences, had not been explicit
in the causes of insurrection about corn, Tasked
him, in order to profit by his present emotion-, to
enter into a detail of that circumstance. " The
cause originates in the ambition of Mr, Necker,"
said he, " who was anxious to procure the dis
missal of my brother, and occupy his place.
You have now in your hands indisputable proofs
of it. Observe in what haste Mr. Necker pub^
lished his book on the subject of corn, for the
purpose of ruining my brother,

26
" The censor approved his book the 18th of
April, 1775.
" The king's privilege is dated the 19th.
" The privilege was registered on the 27th of
April. " The publication ofthe book against my bro
ther was on the 28 th.
" The riot at Paris was in the month of 'May.
On the 20th of April it broke out at Dijon.
" Thus, vou see, in the space of ten days he
was enabled to dispense with formalities that
often require several months to accomplish.
The work was printed before the privilege was
granted; we have been informed, that thev were
obliged to cut and divide the cop}', in order to
finish it in as short a time as possible, so important
was deemed its appearance in Paris, before the
intelligence of the riots, already begun at Dijon,
could be communicated to the public. Mr.
Necker himself directed the corn riots ; but be
cautious and prudent: my brother refused to
sign his detention in the Bastille. Mr. Necker,
more ungenerous, issued lettres-de-cacltet against
his enemies, even against M. de Lauraguais,
who, in his writings, defended his property
against the attacks of Mr. Necker."
By speaking so vehemently, the eves of the
chevalier Turgot were inflamed, but M. de Con-

27
dorcet exhibited the smile of calmness and re
flexion. The chevalier's discourse, however, de
serves some serious consideration. Mr. Necker
is attacked therein by an enemy, well known to
be such.
The ex-minister Turgot, and his brother the
brigadier, were as strongly inclined to a refor
mation in the French monarchy as Mr. Necker.
The two brothers were as open in their declara
tions to this effect as Mr. Necker had been in
his Memoirs. M. Turgot, the officer, was inge
nious, a good judge of politics, incredulous as
to religious opinions, but a declared enemy to
the dissipations and follies of the court which
succeeded his brother's retreat. Leagued with
Condorcet, no means were left untried by both
of them to thwart the maxims and principles of
Necker; and they contributed to the publica
tion of a great number of pamphlets, which in
no small degree served to accelerate the dis
satisfaction of parties against his administration.
This separate emulation of two philosophical
parties for the reform of the monarchy was very
remarkable. I compare it to the emulation of
revolutionary parties ofthe constituent assembly,
in which all the revolutionary factions and fami
lies assembled under the same roof, and made
it resound with motions, in which they appear
ed to vie with each other, to accomplish the

2S
destruction of the firmest and most ancient mon
archy of Europe. The concurrence of Necker
and Turgot, their emulation, and the hatred
which resulted from it, their activity in the same
measures, and their anxiety to do the most and
tlie best, animated these two personages, who,
in the midst of their reformation, cordially de
tested each other. Mr. Necker, however, was
reserved in all his writings on Turgot ; while,
oh the contrary, the twoTurgots vented against
Mr. Necker every sentiment of hatred and dis
dain. Read their works. Condorcet published
two or three of them every year.

20

CHAP. IV.
Operations of Mr. Necker during the first Year of his
Administration.
IViR. Necker, from the very commencement
of his ministry, exhibited sufficient proofs of his
views of reformation.
The subaltern administration felt the first
blow, which he was. resolved to strike at every
institution established by his predecessors.
The farming of the posts was. taken into the
administration, and the leases dissolved.
The receivers of the domains were suppressed.
The intendants of the finances were anni
hilated. The administrators of the lottery were reduced
to six.
And Pelisseri, an author who had written
some criticisms on his operations, was thrown
into the Bastille.
The dismissal of M. Trudaine, intendanf of
the finances, created Mr. Necker some power
ful enemies in the supreme magistracy, who.have
never forgiven him. M. Trudaine had gained
such a reputation for probity and delicacy in
his employment, as it was not easy to assail;

30
and Mr. Necker possessed only a name which
the supreme magistracy even laboured to render
ridiculous. It was in vain that M. Trudaine
was appointed by Mr. Necker, in reforming the
intendants, to the direction of the roads and
bridges of the kingdom ; Mr. Necker had de
prived him of acting with the king, from a fear
that he might militate against his reformations.
Besides which, another cause of offence was the
contentious committee of finance, which Mr.
Necker had established.
Some days after, Mr. Necker attacked the ad
ministration of the Iotterv. To execute the
plans he had formed against them, he sent for the
the parties, and said : " The king has discovered
some abuses in your administration : he accuses
no one, but he conceives that vou are too nu
merous by half. The king gives you the liberty
of settling it among vourselves ; you must
choose any six of your number, to continue the
affairs of administration." They were imme
diately reduced.
The operation relative to the extension of
the twentieths, on a simple ministerial letter,
stirred up against Mr. Necker the principal pro
prietaries. Former ministers, who had attempt
ed this measure, had lost their places; but Mr.
Necker bore up, without danger, against the re
sentment of the parliaments, which were inter

31
ested in stopping the progress of an act, that
placed them on a level with every proprietary,
without distinction. The parliament of Nor
mandy made vigorous remonstrances, and were
ordered to appear before the king, to answer for
its proceedings.
Each of these reformations was violently pro
tested against; the other ministers disapproved
of this spirit of innovation in Mr. Necker, and
Monsieur began, from that year, 1777, to take
a part against the director-general. The reform
ed directors of finances, who had not accepted
of other employments, proclaimed, that Mr.
Necker would neither have council nor inspec
tors, but employed servile and removeable
clerks: and the superior finance, who held M.
Trudaine above all in considerable veneration,
either spoke of Mr. Necker in a tone of irony
on his reformations, or with contempt and dis
dain of his person. Messrs. Moreau de Beau-
-mont, Trudaine, Bouvart de Fourqueux, de
Boulogne, Boutin, d'Ormesson, and Amelot,
filled their employments with probity, and some
of them so ably, as to reflect honour on their ta
lents. Moureau and Bouvart accepted places in
the contentious committee, but the rest retired
with concealed resentment.
The council of state also disapproved in secret
of his operations. Sartines began to express

32
himself publicly against Mr. Necker; the
count de Vergennes, who condemned him the
most, talked of him with more reserve; and as
to M. Maurepas, he not only began to repent of
his choice, but was heard to say, that he be
lieved himself fallen from Turgomancy into
necromancy.

33

CHAP. V.
Fall of M. de Pezai— Stratagems of Messrs. Maurepas and de
Sartines, to ruin tliis Favourite of Lewis XVI. and Friend,
of Mr. Necker.
j- HE jealousy of Messrs. de Maurepas and de
Sartines against M. de Pezai, the king's favourite
and the friend of Mr. Necker, increased every
day. His connexion with the latter aggravated
these ministers the more, as they could not fail
to be uneasy at the fame of the Genevese di
rector, and of his financial and political opera
tions. Sartines and Maurepas were determined
to ruin Pezai, but in an imperceptible and un
derhand manner. He had obtained the place
of inspector-general of the coasts : he was per
suaded to visit them, and he treated the mili
tary and intendants with haughtiness. This
was a kind of exile, that silenced his partisans,
and opened the mouths of his envious enemies,
who were secretly prompted by Maurepas. He
was scarcely set off, when thev accused him of
being weak and trifling, and continually dis
turbed by scenes of adventure and rashness.
M. de Sartines, who feared his ambition, wrote
to him while he was on his journey, to dis-
vol. iv. r>

34
continue his functions, and stop at Pezai, the
place from which he had taken his name and
title. This sudden appearance of disgrace threw
him into a state of terror and vexation, and he
was seized with a dangerous illness. The ar
rival of couriers from Mr. Necker, to search his
papers, and others from M. de Sartines, to seize
them, rendered his illness mortal. M. de Mau
repas obtained his projects, memorandums,
and correspondence, active and passive, with
the king, and resolved, at the sight of the notes
from Mr. Necker, to withdraw the favour of
Lewis XVI. from that minister, and to take
such measures as would be sure to have effect.
Thus did Lewis XVI. deliver up his favourite
and his correspondence to the secret resentment
and malice of Sartines and Maurepas. This trait
began to develope the weakness of the prince.
Pezai's letters, frequently composed or revised
by Necker, had been his chief delight ; he sacri
ficed these letters and their authors to the rest
less jealousy of two ministers, who had for some
time past concerted the ruin of Pezai.
These events confirmed also what had already
been conceived of the address of Sartines and
-Maurepas The definitive scene of Pezai's dis
grace was contrived to be in a province-far from
the king, the court, and Mr. Necker, in order
t« accomplish their designs without opposition

35
or tumult. Lewis XV., who was also weak and
easily persuaded, would never have abandoned
his favourite correspondence to the discretion
of his mistresses or ministers. The conduct of
his successor was a lesson for Vergennes and
Maurepas. They endeavoured assiduously to
conceal this weakness of the monarch, well
aware that it might become the radical defect
of the state which they had to govern and sup
port.

B 2

36

CHAP. VI.
Opposition of Mr, Necker to the Expences of War — He asks the
Kii.g to make him acquainted with the Details and Applica"
tions^He censures the Expenditure of the Department ef Fi
nance — He approves of the Credit ofthe States— He rests hi*
Opinion on the Possibility of converting four or five Millions
of Yearly Revenue to five Millions of Capital— He censures
the Administration anterior to his own. — General Principles
of Mr. Necker on the Administration of Finance.
JVlR. Necker was no sooner entrusted with
the finances, than he desired the plans of each
minister's expenditure to be laid before him.
This was like placing himself at the head of go
vernment, or at least managing the affairs of
state by a kind of negative means. Let us hear
the discourse of the director-general on this
subject ; it contains some curious details on the
king's connexion with his minister of finance.

" M. de Maurepas having desired me to com
municate to your majesty my observations on
the note remitted by the war department,
I have hastily thrown some ideas together on
that subject.
" They have proposed to your majestv to
sanction new augmentations of expence, but

37
they have given no satisfactory reasons for so
doing. " They talk of expenditures, without specify"
ing or detailing to what purpose, but in a vague
way; therefore, if your majesty had sanctioned
this demand, some considerable expences would
have been made, without any sufficient cause >
and as, notwithstanding, every operation was
specified, except, what it would cost, the war
department would have had your majesty's order
to proceed, and the payment of the expences
which its operations would incur must have
been sooner or later indispensable.
" It is therefore with the greatest wisdom
that your majesty's approbation has been sus
pended ; affairs of such consequence cannot be
decided on by a simple sketch ; and this obser
vation naturally leads me to reflect on a scheme
of administration, by which alone your majesty's
finances can be conducted with order, and, con
sequently, the happiness of your reign, and
the continuance of your majesty's power, be
ensured. " It is against every kind of principle, that the'
expenditure should be determined separately
from the means necessary to provide for it. —
In effect, if it were only necessary to adopt a
plan of politics, and draw a representation of a
fleet or an army, there is no sovereign but would

53
be able to procure the means of conquering the
world ; for he might easily find ministers to make
combinations and form the necessary plans. But,
it is on the alliance of speculation with the
means of execution, it is on their connexion,
that depend the difficulties as well as the know
ledge of the statesman.
" In vain would the ministers of the kings of
Sweden or Denmark adopt measures for raising
a numerous army ; in vain, even, would, the em
peror or the king of Prussia, although possessed
of extensive dominions, attempt to accomplish
it, if, at the same time, they did not introduce
the most rigid economy, and renounce every
other object of expence.
" Your majesty, richer and more powerful
than any other sovereign of Europe, has also
greater regulations of finance to observe in
consequence of the situation of the kingdom ;
your majesty, with reason, would desire to
establish your power both by sea and land,
while the other sovereigns of Europe have only
one of those expences to defray.
" In the mean time nearly the third part of
your majesty's revenue is consumed in paying
interest for debts. An ancient magnificence in
the expences of the court and in the houses of
the princes, the management of money concerns
in the department of finance, a general remiss*

39
ness, a want of union, excessive and accumu
lated salaries, an incredible list of pensions of
which no precedent can be found; all these ob
jects absorb still a great part of your majesty's
revenues. " In fine, there is another sort of force, which
often elevates a power of the second order to
a level with the first ; and this force is credit.
It must be undoubtedly great, as it imparts the
means of converting four or five. millions of an
nual revenue into a hundred millions of capital.
Now, this credit is considerably impaired, if
not totally destroyed. We cannot dissimulate,
that it has required some finesse and pains to
supply your majesty, for two years past, with
considerable sums for the use of the navy ; but
there are bounds for every thing, and it is next
to impossible, in so short a time, to obliterate
the effects of fifteen years of peace, during
which confidence and credit have been more
abused than in times of war, and that in ex
pending, imposing, and borrowing, without
rule or measure, and without attention to the
performance of promises,
" This combination of diverse circumstances is
sufficient to convince your majesty, that, al
though the richest king in Europe, you cannot
dispense with constantly making'the expences

40
of government keep pace with its free resources;
particularly, as each minister can see no further
than his own department ; and as they are not
employed in establishing the revenues, such
difficulties are unknown to them, and the mi
sery of the people can never reach their ears.
Having, therefore, only to consider the necessity
of their own expenditure, it is not surprising,
that they continually increase it ; for there are
few expences that have not a favourable side,
considered separately from the means we must
take to provide for them.
" It is, therefore, by a view of the whole at
once, that wise and salutary determinations can
alone be made ; and it is because this princi
ple has been constantly neglected in the pre
ceding reign, that the finest kingdom in the
universe does not enjoy its complete resources.
Ministers who possessed the confidence of the
king, governing the state, the army, and navy,
created at pleasure every project of expence,
nominated weak comptrollers - general, who,
vain of their employment, and willing to
support it, hesitated not to raise money for that
purpose, sometimes by loans, sometimes by
imposts, and sometimes by bankruptcy. The na
tural prosperity of France, from which they might
have drawn so much importance, only served

41
to repair, in some degree, the effect of all these
faults. " At the end of all these disorders, your
majesty has declared war ; but, if the minister
of state, the minister of war, and the minister
ofthe marine, concert their own projects, with
out reflecting on the means of executing them,
it is impossible to foresee the consequence.
" It appears to me therefore indispensable, to
establish at least a beginning regulation for that
purpose. This regulation may require, that at a
given time, for instance, by the month of Octo
ber, each minister shall make out his plan of
operations ; that these plans shall be sent to
your majesty with an account of the sums they
will require ; that they shall be immediately
communicated to the administrator of finance,
to concert with your majesty the beft means of
providing for them ; and, then, comparing the
advantages which may be derived from the exe
cution of the plans with the inconvenience of
providing the means, your majesty will give di
rections accordingly.
" By this method we shall arrive at some cer
tainty ; but, without it, your majesty may, some
time or other, experience severe mortification ;
and, with the sentiments of probity and justicej
which compose the essence of your majesty's

42
character, you may be obliged to submit to
those sources of certain ruin, forced expedients
and usury; and your majesty will never behold
established that desirable order, which alone
can ensure tranquillity within, and power with
out."

43

CHAP. VII.
Mr. Necker's first Examination ofthe Funds. — Invention of a
Lottery. — J'iciv of the Minority of Parliament . — Causes of
Dt!preinesuil's hatred of the Director-General — Emulation be
tween the Director and Depremesnil for a Reform. — Observa
tions on the Measures of the Department of Finance deposed in
the Parliamentary Registers. — Registering of the Edict of
Loans ; completed before it was registered.— Rivalship of tlie
Financiers and Bankers.
SCARCELY had Mr. Necker obtained the di
rection of the royal treasury, than he began to
examine the state of the funds. He proposed,
on the 7th' of January 1777, to raise twenty-
four millions by loan in the form of a lottery ; a
part of which was to be re-imbursed in money
to the lenders as chance should decide, and the
rest to be converted into annuities.
Mr. Necker declared, in his preambles, that
the state was already oppressed by annuities to
the amount of forty millions. The edict was,
however, registered. It would have met with
no obstacle, if Depremesnil, who happened not
to be on good terms with Mr. Necker, on ac
count of the affairs of the India company, had
not objected to it. Kept out of parliament, a

44
long time, by the minister, who feared the tur
bulence of his character, Depremesnil had, at
length, succeeded in obtaining a seat as coun
sellor, and manifested his resentment against
government every time the registering of an
edict gave him an opportunity of making poli
tical observations. He opposed, therefore, the
project of the loan ; and, since that first declara
tion of his opposition, never ceased to resist the
operations of the director of finance. He main
tained, that this creation of yearly revenue was
immediately connected with the interests ofthe
nation, and that the company was not ade
quate to it : he declared, that the present situa
tion of affairs required the convocation of the
states-general, because the nation was oppressed
by a multitude of impositions approved by the
parliament of M. -de Maupeou.
This opinion of the minority scarcely ob
tained any voices. The majority was calm on
the subject of the loan, as well as on that of the
convocation of the states-general ; and it was
an admonition not a little remarkable to Mr.
Necker, who already entertained in his mind
the idea of this convocation, who had plans
ready prepared for it, and might conclude, that
this sentiment met the ideas and wishes ofthe
whole nation ; but the declaration of the antici
pated and immediate desires of a turbulent mi-

45
nority, in and out of parliament, in whose pro
jects he secretly participated, was then as ill-
timed as their intentions were badly combined.
He might be certain within himself, that the
state was now acquainted with the desires ofthe
minority; that, in the execution, the majority
must suffer; and that, in like manner, as it
would be impossible to enforce laws among any
people whatever, unless they were adapted to
their manners and inclinations, so any opera
tion, depending on a feeble minority, would be
foreign to the wishes ofthe nation. From this
time the animosity of M. Depremesnil conti
nued to augment, as well as his desires to bring
about a meeting of the states-general. The di
rector-general, on his part, did not neglect that
grand object. The opposition which had ma
nifested itself in parliament, and in the admini
stration ofthe finances, were respectively warm
in their emulation to forward the grand revolu
tion of convoking the states-general. That of
the provincial states, which Mr. Necker .was
about to offer to consideration, was only a dimi
nutive means of effecting it.
In the mean time the loan edict was regis
tered, but divers observations were inserted
with it. The parliament remarked, " that, after
fourteen years of peace, the king, instead of di
minishing the imposts, as he had often promised,

46*
was obliged to have recourse to loans, which
were the germ of imposts ; that the state was
going to be burdened with a fresh annual tax ;
that the king could find no real resources, and
perhaps not one resource, but in the execution
of his wise intentions, in forming plans of eco
nomy ; that, in order to effect it, he must en
ter into the most minute details, and concert
with his ministers the means of reform ; and,
that he alone was capable, by his authority, to
stop the torrent of depredation."
The enemies of Mr. Necker supposed and de
clared, that the director had furnished these re
presentations, to convey his sentiments by means
of other organs to the heart of the king, and to
prepare him for his opinions. The king, how
ever, seemed pleased with the observations, and
promised his parliament to set on foot a refor
mation. The loan was filled up by the bankers before
it was registered ; they seconded with zeal and
fervour their fellow-financier, now elevated to the
supreme administration of tbe state ; while the
superior finance accused them of leaguing with
him to deceive the government and the public.
For form's sake, however, the gates ofthe royal
treasury were opened, and guards placed about
them. At the end of the day the loan was
closed froim the public, and no one could pro-

47
t:ure a share but through the medium of the
bankers, who had monopolised the whole.
This gave occasion for the financiers to observe,
that the minister's operation was a comedy per
formed by the speculators ; that Mr. Necker
would be considered in France as the father of
stock-jobbing, the destruction of his adrhinistra-
tion, and'the inventor of an artificial credit, and
a new tribute in favour of the bankers, at the
expence ofthe creditors ofthe state. From this
day, accusations, debates, and suspicions, never
ceased in France, between the financiers, and
him they Called the banker-minister, and his
party : so great and subversive of established
customs was the elevation of Mr. Necker, from
the rank of a banker to that of minister, in a
state governed by monarchical establishments
and prejudices.
In all the loans that took place during the ad
ministration of Mr. Necker, the same facts, the
same suspicions, and the same accusations, were
brought forward ; and the same measures were
observed by the bankers. We shall no more
repeat the observation.

48

CHAP. VIII.
Considei-ations on the Character of the first Operations of Mr.
Necker, and on his Administration in the Year 177S.— Insti
tution of Provincial Assemblies in Berry. — Inquiries of the
Possessors of Crown Lands, formerly alienated in Favour of
Courtiers.— Suppression of the Caisses Royales.— Exile of
M. Lauraguais. — First Impressions against the reforming
Spirit of Mr. Necker. — The Opposition penetrates into tlie
Government ; and the Principles of the Monarchy penetrate
into the Opposition, by the Operations of Mr. Necker.
1YJL. De Clugny, during his short administra
tion, was employed in overturning the principles
of his predecessor. When M. Turgot wras in
formed, that his edict of average was repealed,
tears started from his eyes. Those fine pream
bles of M. Turgot, which were to render France
so prosperous, all disappeared in a few months.
M. de Clugny, who entertained opposite opi
nions, succeeded him. In his reception at
the court of aids, it was observed, that the
president proposed as models for him, " those
ancient wise ministers, the friends of property,
order, and personal situation, that did good
without pomp, and without wishing to surprise
the world by their novel ideas, or alarm it by
their adventurous, speculations. They made

49
justice and economy their basis ; they were
faithful in their engagements, and caused com*-
merce and agriculture to flourish. Posterity,
the equitable judge of their administration, pre
sented them to the gratitude of future genera
tions, as the benefactors of the human race;"
This was a direct censure on the, innovating
system of M. Turgot, and of others like him.
In a few months M. de Clugny died. Mi
Taboureau succeeded him ; and, in order that
the philosophy and spirit of the English should
not be driven from the administration, Mr.
Necker was appointed director of the treasury,
to act with M. Taboureau.
No party was surprised at the nomination of
the latter. Ever since the reign of Lewis XV.,
they had talked of making him minister, on ac
count of his probity and fitness for the office.
The nomination of Mr. Necker, a banker, on
the contrary,, stirred up the indignation of the.
established authorities ; and, this minister,
without reflecting, that his religion, birth, and
country, could not be agreeable to the great,
was irritated in secret at this reception.
The first year of Mr. Necker's administration
decided the nature of his enemies, and made
them known. It threw a light on the inno
vating spirit of his future administration, and in
dicated to attentive observers, that the opposi-
tipn of this new minister would be established
vol. iv. E

.30
against the first rank of magistrates ; and, that
the force, or, to make" use of the terms of the
offended magistrates, the violence of his cha
racter, his inflexibility, his haughty and vindic
tive spirit, and the resentment of the magi
stracy, would occasion some grievous and unex
pected events in the state. Thus, in the same
manner as in the time of M. Turgot, an oppo
sition, destructive to the established order of
things, had accompanied Mr. Necker into the
department of finance, which naturally involved
in it the anterior administrations ; and the good
Lewis XVI., devoted altogether to the minister,
prepared himself these inauspicious events,
believing he was promoting the happiness of
the nation.
The subversion ofthe established order in the
state, the suppression of the intendants of fi
nance, the substitution of provincial administra
tions, and the abolition ofthe intendants of com*
merce, gave the greatest uneasiness to the
families that aspired, according to custom, to
fill up those offices. Jealous ofthe elevation of
a stranger to the ministry, from the station of a
banker, which was regarded in the administra
tion as no more than that of a mere mechanic in
the finances, fearful of his ambition, that in
duced him to displace the magistrates of
illustrious rank, whom they honoured, these
tamilies. accused Mr, >Neeker of introducing

51
schemes perfidious and inimical to the French
monarchy, which the state ought to suspect, be
cause he commenced his administration by dis
placing the intendants of finance, established
some centuries past to assist, and, if it was ne
cessary, inspect the administration. The dismis
sal' of M. Taboureau, whom Mr. Necker was
appointed to assist, merely in the department
of credit in the direction of the treasury, con
firmed his intentions. It was thought, that
Mr. Necker wished to become sole and abso
lute administrator of his department.
M. Moreau de Beaumont, first of the inten
dants of finance, was charged with the manage
ment of the domains and forests. It was
natural for Mr. Necker, who was about to over
throw that administration, not to retain him in
office near himself. M. Moreau consented to
the subversion of his department, as well as M.
de Fourqueux.
M.Trudaine, and M. Bouvard de Fourqueux,
counsellors of state, and intendants of finance,
had the management of the gabels, the five prin
cipal farms, the bridges and highways, the sea
ports, the canals, and commerce and manufac
tures. The first possessed, in the branches of
knowledge relative to his division, a reputation
that will never die. There was not a party in
all France but SDoke of M.Trudaine with a
j. E 2

32
kind of veneration. No person in France was
more worthy of the administration ; no one was
able- to give Mr. Necker such clear and judi
cious advice, or so analagous to the genius of
Frenchmen. His first duty was to offer them.
Mr. Necker, who had to serve an apprenticeship
to the administration, if he had done his dutv,
should have made him the first person of his
council. At that time Mr., Necker only pos
sessed a great portion of talent and genius for
philosophical objects, which made him strange
and dangerous to administration. " He had
read and reflected a great deal ; he had tried
himself in politics," as he says in the sixth page
of the volume on his administration, " by contri
buting to raise the India company, and defend
ing the interests of that establishment against
intrigue and tyranny ;" he had published a book
on the legislation of grain, and acquired a know
ledge of his profession of banker ; but all these
preparatory studies and labours did not even
touch upon the system of French administra
tion, whichhe had to examine thoroughly before
he could govern it ; at the same time, he only
appeared employed in creating and defending
what he called public opinion, (that is to say,
the innovating party that rose up with him)
against, as he termed it, intrigue and tyranny.
He had commenced his career of administra
tion, in this company, by prosecuting tyranny

53
and intrigue His definitive administration ex
hibits no other character against the enormities
that rankle in the government.
The dismissal of M. Trudaine appeared, there
fore, an injustice, which established the most in
veterate prejudice against Mr. Necker, during
the whole of his administration. The director-
general wished to preserve his whole depart
ment to himself, without the interference of the
king. M. Trudaine, full of honour and dignity,
retired ; and that act that deprived a virtuous
man of his office, a man whose name was fa
mous in administration, established against Mr.
Necker the first suspicions, and the first com
plaints; so much the more vexatious, as the
astonished and offended magistrates could only
manifest them by the publication of pamphlets.
M. Boutin was employed in controuling the
acts of notaries and assistants; and, without
possessing a renown to be compared with the
preceding, he was as full of probity as M. de
Fourqueux. M. d'Ormesson was charged with the taxes
and twentieths of the clergy, with general re
ceipts, works of charity, military convoys, ma
nagement of gunpowder, &c. The nation saw
with pleasure, that the most delicate employ
ments were entrusted to that virtuous man.
His family had greatly distinguished themselves^

54
both in judiciary magistracy and in admini
stration. He was never mentioned in society
without an eulogium attached to his name.
M. Amelot, in fine, was the sixth intendant
of the finances ; and, like the former, it was
observed with pleasure, that a man of merit,
and who bore a. distinguished name, by being
the son of a minister that had rendered the state
some services, Was charged with the extraor
dinary war department, the artillery5 &c.
It was, therefore, a revolution in the finances^
that abolished their organisation, and deprived
the colleagues of Mr. Necker of acting with the
king ; and that rendered that minister absolute
in his office, by having about him only his de
pendent clerks. Some of these were of obscure
merit, or only known by the director-general ;
the rest (Hamelin) had been discharged from
the finances by ministers of probity.
Mr. Necker having got rid of the intendants
of finance about the middle of the year 1777,
awakened their curiosity, instead of destroying
their inspection, and provoked the resentment
of all the families who had held' these employ
ments. It was remarked in the high admini
stration, that Mr. Necker endeavoured to esta
blish despotism in his department, by making
himself independent of his natural colleagues,
that had been established for ages ; whilst he

55
substituted for the provincial intendants, men
that were strangers to government. It was
judged that these two operations were two re
volutions in the state. The first effectually al
lowed Mr. Necker to overturn the department
ofthe finances; and the second, that ofthe pro
vinces. The former directed the revolution in
favour of the plenitude of power with which
Mr. Necker had invested himself, in getting rid
of his colleagues, and. putting a stop to the
communications with the prince ; and the latter
gave back to the French monarchy, as esta
blished by cardinal Richelieu, the forms that
were known in the time of the Valois,
The suppression of the intendants of com
merce excited the same murmurs. The
two Montarans, father and son, had been
brought up in the doctrines of administration.
Genius and probity were hereditary in their fa
mily. The Cottes, the Blondels, and the Tolo-
sans, were personages important by the services
they had rendered. No consideration could
save those valuable men. The friends of the
forsaken party could scarcely mix in society
to justify them, and make this revolution more
interesting in their favour, by saying, " that
Mr. Necker asserted with effrontery that the in
tendants were cheats, ignorant, vain and idle
men, and enemies of the minister ; that, as to

56
himself, he cared not for his place, he wanted
no profit from it, that he had only accepted it
for the welfare of France, and that he only la
boured for the glory and restoration ofthe state;
but that, in so doing, he would have no rival*
no superior, no check upon his actions; he
would only be assisted by dependants.
The suppression of the subaltern employ
ments of the administration, at the same time
raised up against him, and placed in a state of
anxietv, whoever held any employment belong
ing to his department. The cancelling of the
post-leases spread consternation among all the
companies that had contracted with the king.
The extension of the twentieths persuaded the
parliaments, that Mr. Necker would elude their
authority. Monsieur, the king's brother, seer
ing M. Trudaine and M. d'Ormesson dismissed,
began to declare against him; while M. de
Sartines, by sacrificing M. de Pezai, and strik
ing a double stroke, annihilated a friend of
Mr. Necker's, and a partisan of his admini
stration. Thus, the six first months of the ad
ministration of the director-general had already
stirred up against him a part of the royal family, •
a portion of the ministry, the families of the
high administration, the secondary administer
tions, and all the companies that held burden
some leases under the kin?.

57
Mr. Necker braved the murmurs, complaints,
and resentment of the discontented ; firm in
his plan to destroy the ancient institutions, he
developed it in 1778, with redoubled activity.
The republic of letters naturally became the
ally and friend of a minister who was directed
by its principles ; and Mr. Necker established
his power and his hopes on the people and on
the philosophical party. Madame Geoffrin en
tertained them on regular days at her house ; and,
at her death, they shifted to the court of the mi
nister. So that Mr. Necker, instead of seeking
the friendship of the most cherished and accre
dited administrators, deprived them of their of
fices, avoided their society, and laboured to op
pose his system of provincial administrations to
the intendants of provinces. Instead of relying
for support on the credit of great men in favour,
he endeavoured to find out the origin of the
possessions of the greatest part of the courtiers,
whose ancestors had received their lands from
the magnificent bounty of the sovereigns. Thus,
instead of seeking the favour of the great, he
endeavoured to strip them of their estates.
Respecting the administration of the inten
dants of the provinces, " scarcely," said Mr.
Necker to the king, " can we give the name
of administration to this arbitrary will of a
single man, sometimes present, and often ab
sent, sometimes capable, and sometimes inca-

58
pable, who has to direct the most important de
partments of public order, and who ought to
know, having been employed all his life in
nothing but requests and cassation, that he
cannot be competent ; and often, without
measuring the extent of the commission with
which he is intrusted, only considers his place
as a ladder to his ambition. These are the men
who are timid before the powerful, and arro
gant towards the helpless. These are the men,
that, above all, invest themselves with the royal
authority ; and this authority, in such hands,
must often estrange the heart ofthe people from
the king. Your majesty may easily conceive
the absurdity, and almost the ridicule, of this
pretended administration.
" It is from the fullest conviction of the
defect of this contexture of administration, that
I have ardently desired, for the honour of vour
majestv,forthe happiness of your people, and for
the accomplishment ofthe duties of my employ
ment, to communicate to your majesty the ne
cessity of thinking seriously and essentially on
this important object. To this effect I would
propose to you, sire, at first to introduce, in a
general way, the trial of a provincial administra
tion. By this measure your majesty will have
additional guarantees of the happiness of your
people. A wrise equilibrium between the three

59
orders, whether separate or confounded ; a suf
ficient number of representatives to impart the
desires of their province ; some plain method of
keeping the accounts ; an agreement to pay the
same sum, as usual, into the royal treasury; the
simple power of making observations, in case of
new demands, so that the king's will may be
known thereon, and never thwarted ; in fine,
the term gratuitous gift, absolutely interdict
ed, and the appellations of countries of ad
ministration substituted for countries of state,
in order, that the resemblance of names may
never lead them to similar pretensions. This is
an abridged idea of the conditions essential
to a provincial administration.
" The true benefits of a sovereign to his
people, consist in laying open the ways of ame
lioration, independent of the qualities of the
man who possesses his confidence; and such
wrould be the effect of well-constituted provin
cial administrations.
" I have observed sovereigns to possess
different kinds of fame. War, politics, the arts,
and magnificence, have by turns signalised
their reign, and consecrated their memory.
There now remains apparently but one new
kind of ambition, and which is the most noble
of all, attention to the happiness of the people,

60
A calmer and more enlightened age seems
to expose the fallacy of all false grandeurs."
By this extract of Mr. Necker's note, we per
ceive, that he despised every administration
which he had found established ; insomuch,
that he dared to call the administration of the
provinces " an abuse, a ridicule, a pretended
administration." Almost two centuries of ex
perience had, however, demonstrated, that
many very flourishing provinces, Normandy for
example, which was cited as opulent, had not
had any other administration than that of the in
tendants. Such a form of government had
sufficed for the most splendid reigns of the
monarchy. We observe also, that Mr. Necker reproached
the intendants with considering their plan as
ladders of ambition ; but he forgot, that those
offices were not to be attained in France, but
by gradual steps, from the inferior to the supe
rior employments, till they ascended to the mi
nistry. The suppression of the caisses royales, to unite
the funds to the royal treasury, stirred up against
him the treasurers-general. Count Lauraguais,
who inherited from his ancestors some lands
alienated from the domains ofthe crown, endea
voured to tura the circumstance into ridicule :

61
he wrote a pamphlet against the operations of
the minister, which appeared to the opposition
full of attic humour and poignancy : he received
an order to retire to his estate. From that
moment, the intertdants of provinces and finance,
the king's favourites and placemen, were aware,
that it was necessary, for fear of punishment, to
suffer their privileges and employments to be
taken from , them, without murmurs, in order
that Mr. Necker might overturn the forms of
government. The parliament of Grenoble,
however, were very clamorous. The parlia
ment of Rouen had broke out, and made more
than vigorous remonstrances on the extension of
an impost by virtue of the simple orders of the>
director of the finances. They had sent their
first president, wdth four others, to give in the
resignation of the whole body. The king ac
cepted their resignations, but ordered them to
continue their functions until their places were
filled up ; in the mean time, he sent some
troops into the neighbourhood of Rouen. The
parliaments were supported in secret by a party
of the ministry, who disapproved ofthe measures
of Mr. Necker, particularly those which obliged
them to have recourse to him by the suppression
of the caisses royales.
The chamber of accounts made also some
difficulties in registering the edict for the sup-

62
pression of the treasurers-general. These re
monstrances did not, in a small degree, contri
bute to the violence which Mr. Necker mani
fested that year against the parliament, in the
notes relating to the provincial administra
tion. The opposition published them after
wards, in 1781, in order to re-inforce itself
against the parliaments which Mr. Necker had
had the prudence to temporise with.
Mr. Necker, on this occasion, provoked the
hatred of the people of the court, by his re
searches into the concessions of the ancient
domains of the king, on conditions burdensome
to the state ; he had resolved neither to grant
nor exchange any more, to permit no reversion,
and suffer no succession in the affairs of finance,
or in its principal employments ; and, above all,
to put off, till the end of the year, the payment
of pensions.
To be acquainted, on the other side, with
what were his doctrines respecting the poor, we
must hear Mr. Necker himself. " It is not
only," says he, " as one of the most pious duties
of humanity, that I would recommend to the
minister of finance, the protection ofthe people,
and the guardianship of the poor; it is also,
because such a solicitude is the mean of contri
buting effectually to the prosperity and power of
a state. Infants cannot thrive, and be brought

63
up, without the assistance of their parents ; popu
lation is constantly repressed by the misery of
the people. The sovereign must cherish, and
pay every regard to that description of his
subjects. ' A faithful guide in the administra
tion of finance is, a sentiment of profound love
and consideration for the people.'
" If, during six years of war, or preparations
for it, and after having taken the finances in a
state of disorder, I have re-established the
balance between the revenues and the ordinary
expenditure, and if my administration can pro
vide for extraordinary expences without obli
ging your majesty to have recourse to taxes, I
shall have seconded the love of the king for his
subjects. It is a truth that has been in vain
contradicted. The resources of my administra
tion have provided, without extraordinary im
posts, for the expences of fhe years 1777, 1778,
1779, 1780, 1781, and even for those of a part
of 1782; while, in England, the taxes from
1778 to 1781, taxes which will never be taken
off, amounted to 54 millions; but they have
borrowed nothing on annuities."
The man, perhaps, who has contributed by his
understanding, to prevent, during six years of
such great expenditure, the formation of fresh
taxes; who has been able to appropriate to use
ful labours the funds which they were allowed, in

64
times of the greatest tranquillity ; who has sa
tisfied the heart of the king, by pointing out
to him the means of distributing, throughout
his provinces, the same resources as in times
of peace, and even more ; who, at the same
time, presented to the laudable impatience of
the monarch the necessary resources for setting
on foot, in the midst of war, the restoration of
prisons and hospitals ; who has gratified his ge
nerous inclinations by inspiring him with the
desire of extinguishing the remains of servi
tude ; who, in rendering homage to the cha
racter of the monarch, has seconded his dispo
sition for order and economy; who has soli
cited the establishment of paternal administra
tions, in which the most private inhabitants of
the empire may take a part ; and, in fine, by
a multitude of cares, has, in some measure,
caused the name of the prince to be blessed,
even in the cottages of the poor, — perhaps such
a servant has some pretensions, after his retreat,
to represent, without a blush, the love and care
of the people as one of the first rules of admi
nistration.

65

CHAP, IX,
Continuation ofthe History of the Opposition set kp against the
first Operations of Mr. Necker — The Clergy divided into three
Parties on his Account- — Considerations on his Administra
tion, on the Paper-Money which lie created, and oil the Cha
racter of the Bank, relative to the Royal Authority- —He is
Compared to Law. — Suppression of the Treasurers^ and the
Incumbrances of the King's Household.
-L/URlNG the innovations and suppressions of
Mr. Necker, the most passionate discussion and
abuse was pouted forth against him. This
abuse was the more mortifying, as Mr. Necker's
party was forsaken by the ministry, and the
great men of the state.
The mass of the clergy of France Were averse
to Mr. Necker. In that powerful body, how
ever, although weakened by the continual as
saults that were directed against it, he found two
favourable minorities ; that ofthe philosophical
bishops, as the Dillons, the Lomenies, the Bois-
gelins, the Colberts, and the Cices. These per
sonages did not embrace his party as members of
the clergy, but because, the support of ministers
was for them the means of elevation. The oppo
site part of the clergy were also attached to Mr.
Necker. Beaumont, archbishop of Paris, whose
religion had been so often metamorphosed into
VOL. iv. F

66
fanaticism against the jansenists, was intimately
connected with this prolestant minister. It was
the only plank remaining to bear him still up at
court, where he was eclipsed by the political bi
shops, and from which he was repulsed by the
party of the queen, by that of the Choiseuls, and
by the philosophers. The violence of this prelate
had definitively insulated him from all the world.
Thus Mr. Necker bad in his interests the two ends
of the clergy ; the political bishops, which the
devotee clergy termed bishop-administrators of
provinces j and Beaumont, chief of the devotee bi
shops, whom the political bishops, in their tone of
pleasantry, called bishop-adnmiistrators of sacra
ments. One ofthe clergy ofthe middle party pub
lished the following verses :
Nous l'avons vu, scandale epouvanlable !
Necker a^is avec Christophe a table,
Et dis prdlats savourant a l'envi,
Et grande chere et nectar Selectable;
L'eglise en pleure, et Satan est ravi.
Mais en ce jour, d'une indulgence telle,
Quel serait done le motif important ?
C'est que Necker, le fait est tres-constant,
N'«st janseniste — il n'est que protestant.
What see we now ? O monstrous sinners !
Necker and Christopher join dinners,
Wliile ten gross prelates, round them, share,
With bursting paunch, the sumptuous fare.
Hell laughs; the church surveys aghast. —
Ask yoa the cause of this repast ? —
Necker's no jan^enist, 'tis known—
A mere, mere protestant "alone.

67
As for the middle party, which was com
posed of the mass of the Gallican church, they
only found in the director of the finances, a Ge-
nevese, an innate enemy of the church and state.
The operations ofthe director-general against
the high finance and against the receivers ex
cited against him the most violent uproar.
Pamphlets increased* and discredit be'gan.
The complaints, on account of the suppressions
mentioned in the preceding chapter, made the
liveliest impressions at court* Notes were dis
tributed among the principal nobility, who
possessed very considerable influence, Birth
and rank still enjoyed their authority and credit.
They continued to depreciate the merit pf Mr.
Necker. Verses and pamphlets were every day
showered against him. It was however ob
served, that the opposition was on the part of
the great, and the high finance, who Were full
of wrath and invective, and which tended to
give the director of the finances the most pro
found inveteracy against the high nobility in
credit and in place. A fresh memorial pub
lished against him augmented the uneasiness of
his party.
" I possess none but French sentiments,", said
the author ; " I wish to employ them in attack
ing the principles and the operations, of the, chief
of our finances. In 1775, Mr. Necker, a fo-
F 2

6S
reigner of no distinction, thought to be able to
enlighten the nation and the administration of
M. Turgot, on the system of the absolute liberty
ofthe commerce of grain. Writing then against
the principles of government, he might have
had reason to complain of a minister, who was
the greatest enthusiast for liberty, if he had
caused him to endure the rigours of prohibition.
Every citizen applauded, and the government
reaped, the fruits of its toleration.
" The political constitution of France is en
tirely opposite to that of a republic. Its spirit,
its forms, its magistracy, and its legislation of
imposts, are different. Resources, effectual at
Geneva, would be too dangerous for us. What
might save its territory, would ruin the mon
archy. Mr. Necker, previous to his administra
tion, was only employed in speculative objects
of commerce. Arrived among us, in absolute
ignorance of our manners, our customs, our
prejudices, our laws, and our forms, he found
no other employment for his genius than in the
bank. Fie there imbibed the spirit of calcu
lation, and the very legitimate desire of making
a fortune. The gain of 1,800,000 livres at the
peace was the first result of it, in which no
fault can be found, except in the refusal to give
the clerks of foreign affairs the allowance they
had agreed for, if this refusal was true : — but

69
although St. Foix, Favier, and the president of
Lavergne, attest it, there is still not sufficient
proof for an imputation of this nature.
" The administration of the abbe Terray was
the epoch when Mr. Necker's talents were de
veloped. He negotiated the loans and the
scheme of paying the creditors of the state
with debts owing to it. He made great profits
therein ; by which, in six years, he insured a
capital of six millions, — we ought not to con
clude otherwise than by dint of good fortune.
We cannot blame this good fortune ; but surely
it is impossible not to allow, that Mr. Necker has
less right than another to censure the opulence
of people of finance. It is almost impossible to
imagine, that a desire to increase this1 fortune
could have induced him to seek the administra
tion of our finances. If he has sacrificed every
thing to M. de Pezai, to arrive at it; if he has
thought it his duty to give two millions by way
of caution to the king, in order to obtain it;
the hope of gratifying his active genius, and of
immortalising himself, might have been his mo
tive ; for it is difficult to attribute to him a love
ofthe country; — he was not born a Frenchman.
On another side, he has refused to accept of
any salary ; which is so extraordinary a disin
terestedness on the part of an individual of
another country towards the king of France,

70
that jealousy may accuse him of pride, or
suspect that he may make amends for it by
amalgamating the affairs of the finances of
France with his brother's bank. Belides, we
do not perceive that his occupations, anterior
to his administration, had prepared him for the
duties of his employment. He had published,
it is true, The Eulogium of Colbert, a work of
merit, and his book On the Commerce of Grain,
that has some good points in it ; but they are
pervaded with a spirit of system and principles
dangerous and inimical to our opinions of pro
perty and proprietaries.
" Mr. Necker was scarcely established in his
office of dfrector-general, when he thought of
dispensing with the intendants of the finances.
This event announced a new plan of admi
nistration. It seemed to imply, that he con
sidered our government as a series of errors.
These intendants had existed for two hundred
years. The house of Bourbon had created
them, and reserved them as permanent coun
cils and co-operators with the ministers of the
finances. This employment was the recom
pence of the high robe, and of the most distin
guished members of the council of state. What
was Mr. Necker's intention in annihilating this
council ? The enemies of his fame pretended,
that, being director of the royal treasury under

71
M. Taboureau in 1777, full of hope that he
should succeed to his employment, and taken
up with the means of conducting an admirtif
stration of which he had then no knowledge, he
saw with terror the vicinity and rivalship of
the intendants.. He. judged it necessary to
employ only dependent clerks, who persuaded
him, that the expulsion of their masters was the
only method of establishing his independence,
his system, and his innovations, without any dis
quieting contradiction. These clerks, who
think themselves the architects of the state,
because they are the workmen, offered them
selves to fill up the deficiency, and represented
the ancient council of intendants as observers,
that would place themselves by the side of
Mr. Necker, in a state of perpetual contradic
tion. Such was the destiny of the intendants
of finance, of the Ormessons, the Trudaines,
the Fourqueux, the Chauvelins, and the Ame-
lots. Could not their probity, their fortune, their
birth, and their connexions with the supreme
magistracy, be the guarantees of the purity of
their principles and of their virtue ? Is it an
economy worthy of the throne, to displace the
elect of the magistracy, and ofthe administration,
and to substitute clerks in their stead? Is that
economy commendable in a monarchical state,
by which rank is rendered so despicable, that the

72
most distinguished persons of the state, by their
employments or by their birth, accustomed
till now to treat of affairs with the magistrates,
must be obliged to wait in the anti-chambers of
clerks, to attend their public audiences, or to
write to be admitted to speak to them ? The
destruction of the intendants might be a plan
of economy at Geneva, but never in a king
dom like ours. A*minister of the finances sees
economy where there is individual security,
where there is wisdom in devising and honesty
in executing.
'.' The suppression of the treasurers of the dif
ferent administrations incurs the most grievous
inconvenience : the dependence of the army,
the marine, and foreign affairs, on the operations
ofthe minister ofthe finances. Whether this in
convenience be sufficiently balanced by the wis
dom and character of Mr. Necker, a banker and
a foreigner, the event will prove. Law, a fo
reign banker, suppressed also the treasurers of
the army, the navy, the king's household, &c.
and the :-tate could only stand two years. Every
one at the head of a department is minister of
it ; and confusion takes place of order, if the
minister of finance makes them subject to his
administration. " As to the reform in the king's household^

73
it must be acknowledged, that in many respects
it was necessary; but destruction is not reform,
The majesty ofthe throne requires some luxury
of expence in the regal establishment. The style
of the court of Versailles, and the parsimony of
the republic of Geneva, are incompatible. The
palace of a great monarch cannot be reduced to
the silence of a mournful solitude ; the environs
of his abode cannot at once be changed into
deserts. What a terrific prospect is Mr. Necker
preparing for the royal family ! The parliament
of England, actuated by the seducing example
of our plans of reform, are at this moment dis
cussing the advantages and inconveniences of
them ; and that nation disposes every year of a
great sum, to support the splendor and ma
jesty ofthe throne.
" As to the caisse d'escompte, we will agree
that it is impossible to unite the credit of it to
the military power of the state. An absolute
monarch ought to renounce the confidence of
his subjects ; he must know how to defray the
expences attendant on benefices. A bank, or,
what is the same thing, the place where the
fortune ofthe head ofthe state is deposited, either
in a republic or a dependent and limited mon
archy, might be of great use; but, for a hundred
and fifty years past, every thing has been done in
France to prevent the state from falling into the

74
rank of dependent monarchies ~ A bauk might
there too be established, if it was by French pro
prietaries, without the intervention of govern
ment, and without supporting its inflence. If
Messrs. Germani, Girardot, Haller, Rilliet, Deo-
dati, and other Genevans, were Parisians and
proprietaries, the establishment might be natural
and durable ; but the administrators of the caisse
d\escompte are almost all foreigners. And who
will answer to the public, that, after having
extracted a sum proportionate to their desires,
they will not go and enjoy their fortune in a
country of their choice, leaving us only their
tissue paper to dry our tears. If, besides, this
bank has the fault of being instituted by order
of council ; if the royal treasury take an interest
in the circulation of its notes; if the mould be
in the independent hands of the military power;
if government be no more obliged to sanction
this paper than it has sanctioned the most legi
timate rights of the creditors of the state ; if
the mass of notes may be increased tenfold
without inconvenience ; is not this establish
ment in France a proceeding too monstrous to be
endured, dependent too as it is on the momen
tary credit of the minister, its founder and pro-
* IMr. Necker, from the time of his elevation to the admi
nistration, did every thing in his power to prevent the form
of this kind of government from being preserved.

75
tector? Is not the catastrophe of 1720 still;
present in the mind of every Frenchman ?
Now Mr. Necker has tried all methods for
the success of these notes; he has. written to,
the companies of finance to engage [them to
sanction them ; he has made use of them
himself in the payments of the royal treasury ;
he has agreed with the principal bankers, to
make their payments with that paper only.
" An administrator should at least avoid,
in his writings and plans, as well as in their
execution, such inconsequences and contra
dictions that announce an incoherence of ideas.
On one side he every where declares the want
of money ; and on the other, he enumerates
the suppression of employments, the expence
of which created an enormous debt.
" He promised reimbursements in the king's
name, and he has repaid nothing.
" He writes, and causes to be Avritten, that
the abundance of the specie of the kingdom
requires a prompt exportation of our millions,
sadly heaped together ; and he creates a paper
money that multiplies them.
" He endeavours to establish public confi
dence for his loans ; and by his loans he aug
ments the debt so considerably, that the state
must sink under it.
" He publishes incessantly his plan of govern-

76

ment without new imposts ; and he incessantly

augments them indirectly.

" Mr. Necker looks upon those people as his
enemies, who observe to him, that he is utterly
ruining the monarchy. Some day they will be
heard ; but it will be then too late."

77

CHAP. X.
Administration of Mr. Necker in 1779. — Continuation oftheHi-
story of his Destructions.— Examination of the great Burdens
ofthe State. — The Treasurers ofthe Household of the King and
Queen are suppressed. — M. de Sartines' Plans for a Descent
on England, and the Projects of Mr. Necker for a Peace.-"
Continuation- of the Establishments of the Provincial Assem
blies. — Provincial Assembly of Montauban.
1VI.R. Necker, finding himself publicly at
tacked by the political bodies, and by the coun
cil of state, had desired to be made a member
of the council, in order to have the privilege of
entering therein, to discuss his projects. M. de
Maurepas, who observed in Mr. Necker a se
cond Turgot, opposed him. The first misun
derstandings between the minister and the di
rector are dated from this circumstance. The
year 1779 was still more tempestuous, as the
partisans ofthe minister and courtiers increased,
and as the resistance on the part of Mr. Necker
was more spirited. Money was wanted, war
was declared, and Mr. Necker, striking at the
great, who were the reputed cause of the dila
pidations, had raised the credit to such a point,

78
that his fellow-bankers supplied him with all
he required.
The rivalship between Mr. Necker and M.
de Sartines, minister of the marine, this year
broke out openly. The former suspected the
latter of dilapidation ; and the latter declared,
"that Mr. Necker had endeavoured to render
abortive his preparations for war, and that he
was bought by the English. Mr. Necker per
sisted in being nlade acquainted with the man
ner in which the money he had advanced to
M. de Sartines had been disposed of, which
amounted to some millions. M. de Sartines
repliedj " that it was in the secret service of the
state." The king decided between the parties,
in such a manner, however, as left them still at
variance on the subject. Mr. Necker was not
initiated into the secrets relative to the appropri
ation of this -money.
It was conjectured, that he was strongly at
tached to England. The friendship ofthe Eng
lish government for Geneva, the two countries
being of the same religion, and the particular
partiality for the British which Mr. Necker had
discovered, persuaded many, that M. de Sartines
declarations were not without foundation; above
all, as, since Mr. Necker was acquainted with a
plan of making a descent on the coasts of Britain,
which always struck a panic into the English,

7D
he had carried his zeal so far as to propose a
project of pacification to the king, which M. de
Maurepas and M. de Vergennes had caused to
fail. In the midst of these debates, pursuing the
execution of his plans, he suppressed the trea
surers of the household of the king and queen,
the three offices of comptrollers-general, those
of treasurers of provisions-, those of steward,
chamberlain, and- equery, and that of the
queen's household. The prince of Conde was
deprived of his employment of grand-master of
the king's household. On another side, Mr.
Necker established the provincial administration
of Montauban, and furnished the funds which
had been raised" by the loan. The intendants
of the provinces, the financiers, and others,
complained to M. de Maurepas, that he seemed
to approve of Mr. Necker's throwing desolation
into every family of distinction, and that he
permitted the citizen of Geneva to change the
order of government, and to destroy it piece
meal, as he would demolish an edifice. M.
de Maurepas answered, in pleasantry, that Mr.
Necker was a maker of gold, and that he had
established in the government the philosopher's
stone. " That is to say," replied Senac de Meilhan,
" that a loan is a recompence for destruction."

80
" Precisely so," returned M. de Maurepas :
" He gives us millions, provided we grant him
the suppression of a few employments."
" And if he asked you to cut off the heads
of the intendants  " "Perhaps," replied M.
de Maurepas, " we should permit it. Find the
philosopher's stone for us, and I promise you
that his majesty will make you minister the
same day."
Which is exactly saying, that M. de Maure
pas, to obtain money, allowed Mr. Necker to
destroy the monarchy.
M. de Maurepas, however, secretly con
vinced that he had found in Mr. Necker a se
cond Turgot, sought, in the bottom, only some
plausible opportunity to dismiss him ; of which
the director-general was apprised.
" It is impossible to express," says he, of
himself, " the fortitude which it was necessary
for me to possess : I still remember that long
and dark stair-case of M. de Maurepas, which
I ascended with fear and melancholy, uncertain
of the reception which my ideas, that most fre
quently tended to the increase of the revenue,
would meet with from him. I still remember
that cabinet en entresol, under the roof of the pa
lace of Versailles indeed, but over the great
apartments, and which, by its diminutiveness
and its situation, seemed a true extract and
a superfine sketch of every vanity and of every

81
Jkind of ambition. It was in such a place as
this, that a minister, grown old in the ostentation
and customs of a court, was to be advised with
on reform and economy. I remember all the
skill I was obliged to exert, in order to succeed;
and several times I was repulsed. At length I
obtained some concessions for the public weak
I obtained them, I could easily perceive, as a
kind of recompence, for the resources I had
found in the midst ofthe war.
" In the presence of the king I was more
encouraged : young and virtuous, he could, and
he would hear every thing. The queen also list
ened to me favourably ; but to how much ha
tred and enmity have I been exposed in the
regal presence, at court and in town. My
constancy was ever put to the test, to counter
act the effects of credit and power. I had to
combat every faction of interest in this conti
nual strife ; and every moment was my fragile
existence at stake."

VOL. iv.

82

CHAP. XI.
Continuation of the Oppositions stirred up against the Measure*
of Mr. Necker. — The Treasurers of the King's Brothers^
united, deliver to Monsieur, and the Count d'Artois, a
virulent Paper hgainst his Administration; they pretend
that Messrs. Mahshcrbes and Turgot are the Authors
of it. — History of Mr. Necker's Administration, from his
coming to the Direction of the Finances, to the Month of April
17 SO, according to the Account ofthe Chiefs of the Finances,
of Monsieur and the Count d'Artois.

5s

x\.MONGST the infinite number of writing
that attacked the operations of Mr. Necker, his
tory distinguishes those which the contemporary
financiers opposed to his principles. The king's
brothers, not being able to draw at pleasure
from the royal treasury, and finding them
selves restricted by Mr. Necker's inattention
to trivial applications, thundered against him.
A memorial was remitted, in the month of
August 1780, to Monsieur, the king's brother,
and to the count d'Artois, by their chiefs of
finance, who were of course enemies of Mr.
Necker. To render it the more interesting,
they circulated copies of it at court, and attri-

83
buted the work to M. de Malesherbes, and par
ticularly to M. Turgot.

" I have watched all your operations, since
your appointment to the finances, said M. Tur
got to M. Necker, and I every day see, that I
committed a great fault upon entering into admi
nistration. I ought to have chosen yvu for my
first clerk, and such a place at that time would
have suited you. I left the management of the
accounts and register to M. de Vaisnes ; and
you know better the manner of keeping the
books and balancing the accounts. I consi
dered this labour as beneath myself; it was my
principal fault ; and was derived from the pre
judices of birth and education.
" Different in every respect from my predeces
sors and myself, you possessed more advantages
than we did. You have employed with success
the knowledge that Sully, Richelieu, Mazarin,
and Colbert, had the imprudence to throw into
the subaltern classes. You detest the financiers,
and you have a strange aversion for the magi
stracy. Born a republican, you do not love the
forms of the monarchy. You are connected
with every banker, and you are a banker your
self; your fortune is in a bank, and there is
not one of your operations that, in the end, is
not for the profit of the bank ; while the great
g 2

8 4-
ministers of past times were only administra
tors. You are only acquainted with the calcu
lations of imposts ; and thev saw nothing more
important in them than their basis and their
legislation. You have introduced into our
finances, the science of transferring debts, and
raising loans, to which every banker in distress
must have recourse; and you have appeared a
surprising man, because you had never opened
an account at the bank.
" Circumstances have been particularly fa
vourable to you. Clugny, your predecessor, had
prepared your reforms. You had opened the
port-folios of M. Malesherbes and myself; you
had taken your ideas of suppressing the trea
sures from them, as well as the reform of the
king's household. We have had to execute the
labour,and youreap the honour ofit ; butyou have
risked its success by the manner in which you
have presented it to the public. M. de Male
sherbes and myself would have thought, that we
did not sufficiently respect the great officers of the
king's household, if we had had the idea of re
form without their co-operation ; and you, sir,
you refuse them, in the eyes of the king and the
nation, the merit of an honourable sacrifice ;
and you endeavour to disgrace them, by work
ing with mystery, and in secret. You inspire
in the king an unjust distrust towards them;
you manifest an intention of depriving them of

85
what is their due; and add insinuations, to give
an idea, that if they were not accomplices in the
malversions which distressed the state, they at
least tolerated them.
" In a monarchy, ministers ought to be the
first to know how to appreciate the distinction
of rank, and the respect due to personages who
are employed near the monarch ; and you are a
great stranger therein. M. de Malesherbes and
myself would have conceived, that we had failed
in our duty, if we had excluded the great officers
of the crown from concerting directly with the
king the project of reform. The great officers
of the king's household were in the habit of
transacting affairs with Lewis XVI. : we should
have thought we were guilty of an unbecoming
usurpation, if we had enriched our administra
tion by the spoils of others. Your conduct to
wards them has, therefore, procured you a re
fusal to acf. with them; because of your personal
incapacity, and your ignorance of the forms of
the government of the state, which have induced
his majesty not to suffer you to be admitted into
the ministry, or the employments of the state,
as you can neither be acknowledged, nor regis
tered nor sworn, to any part of it. After such pro
ceedings, you have reason to expect all the im
pediments and all the humiliations that are at
tached to similar offences.

86
" As to the suppression of the treasurers, how
could vou think of comprehending the queen's,
in despite of the formal clauses of the marriage
contract of that princess, on the faith of which
she has consented to become our sovereign:
tremble lest some one should open her eyes to
the consequences of this violation of the most
sacred of engagements ! Already has the council
of the queen, composed of M. de Paulmi, her
chancellor, M. Berthier, her superintendant,
M. Augeard, her private secretary, and others,
protested, at the arsenal, against the edict of
your reforms.
" Your rivals in banking pretend, that you
have only made these suppressions to favour the
coffers of your company. M. de Malesherbes and
myself had only the interest ofthe state in view.
They have wished to persuade me, that you
have some private ends, and that your ability,
in the transfer of debt;, and in banking, has
formed some intimate connexions between
your house and the caisse d'escompte, the black
notes, the commerce of loan notes, and the
funds of the royal treasury. The notaries, the
bankers, and the agents, that have no concern
whatever in your affairs, declaim, night and day,
against you. They calculate the progression of
your fortune from the establishment of your
bank. Since vour elevation to the administra-

87
4km in 1777, there have been upwards of forty
additional clerks employed in it. Without advanc
ing a farthing, your bank has gained, in the last
six months, one million seven hundred thousand
livres on the monopoly of the last loan. I can
now perceive the reasons that have induced the
chief of the finances of France, a banker, and a
Genevese, to suppress the coffers of finance,
and to discredit the' finances.
" I shall dwell but a moment on the alarming
.circulation of the mass of paper money, called
blacknotes. Thebanks,individuals,and the house
holds of the princes, are obliged to receive them
as current coin. There are, perhaps, to the
amount of one hundred millions in circulation.
This is just following the steps of Law: the
foundation of the credit of France h, at this day,
on a sheet of paper, on your word, and on opi
nion. It is not surprising, that the house of
commons at London should have pronounced
your eulogium *.
" You detest, sir, the farmers-general; fox
myself, I only hated the general-farm. For a
long time since, there has existed a rivalship

* It is not -true, that Mr. Necker's fortune was -augmented
pither during his first or second administration; it has dimi
nished by the deposit that he made in the national treasury t
which is not yet refunded.

88
between the financiers and the bankers. The
financiers have had the superiority till the
present time; under your reign, the bankers
have obtained it. All our predecessors, from the
time of Sully, have preferred the companies
of financiers to the companies of bankers,
from a conviction, that bankers have two
countries ; that, where they find money cheap ;
and the other, where they sell it very dear
to their own advantage. The financiers were
dependent on the government ; and the bankers,
on the contrary, hold it in eternal depend
ance. The bankers begin by lending to
the government, for the term of six months,
with commission, which makes it double. Go
vernment falls into difficulties ; then they ad
vance, for fcur months, with triple commission.
The embarrassment increases ; they advance
no more, but at three months, with a quadruple
commission. If the government becomes tired
of usury, it must pay, without the possibility of
retreating, otherwise it would be accused of
having become a bankrupt with the banks of
Geneva, London in particular, and with Hol
land, that in future would never be concerned
with a perfidious and dishonourable govern
ment. Now, what have been your views in
establishing your credit with the bankers, hu
miliating the French financiers, and ruining

89
their credit ? You, who desire to be firm and
independent in your office, without the smallest
contradiction, must be obeyed and satisfied,
otherwise you do not hesitate to take your ac
counts in your hand, and propose to the king to
permit you to resign. You imagine, that his
majesty cannot grant it, because you suppose
he is absolutely dependent on you. You have,
as I imagine, made the state debtor to your
house, and to your bankers, one hundred and
thirty millions for six months. If the king should
dismiss you, where is he to find that sum, after
you have destroyed the credit of the ancient
financiers ?
" In the ancient form of administration,
when the government borrowed from the finan
ciers dependent on the administration, they
were anxious to preserve their places and
employments. The contractors wished to
ensure their undertakings, the farmers their
leases, and the titularies their offices ; all was a
security for the fidelity and extent of these
resources. Your bankers, on the contrary, have
no tie to attach them ; they are no longer in
possession of your effects ; they have been very
careful to put them in circulation. M. de
Lauraguais, a twelvemonth ago, said, in his
publication, that no minister ever possessed
such preponderating- credit as you, precisely,

90
because you are not minister, and that you
cannot belong to the council. He was per
fectly right. By the play of your bank, you are
the most dangerous cosmopolite ; by the as
cendancy of your severe and imperious manners,
you get rid of all opposers ; you take advantage
ofthe complaisance of M. de Maurepas, as well
as of his goodness ; he laughs at all that you do,
because he gives plav to the irregular torrent ot
your imagination ; you take advantage of the
frank and pliable disposition of a young prince,
whose desire it is to act justly, and who is
anxious to adopt any plan for the good of the
state ; he has no longer a council of finance to
consult with ; every thing is at the mercy of
your clerks, and your caprice. All things are
overturned by you ; and you establish confusion
to render yourself necessary to the re-establish
ment of order. You persuade the king, that
truth cannot reach him, but through yourself.
It is the calculation of intrigue, self-interest,
and ambition. You aim, like Erostratus, at
glory and immortality.
" With the title of liberator of your brethren,
theprotestants would flatter your vanity; it would
be decreed to you tor ever, if you could contrive to
give them a civil establishment, to procure them
the privileges of citizens, liberty, and toleration.
You are sure of the diminution of the power of

91
the clergy. Your vigorous edict, relating to the
hospitals, is preparing the ruin of their credit
and riches ; you have opened the trenches
against them ; the grand blow is struck. All the
rest will not fail to come down ; you will trans
fer all the credit of the state, and all the wealth
of France, into the hands of protestant,Genevese,
English, and Dutch bankers. The clergy will
be consigned to contempt, and dependent on
the consideration of your brethren. These
views are the effect of a great genius, and you
add thereto considerable address.
" All your predecessors, notwithstanding, had
uniformly rejected your system ; the plan of
abolishing the finances was proposed eighteen
years ago. Government perceived, that it
tended to'annihilate the necessary credit of the
state; and you ought not to have forgotten the
advantages you derived from it in the course of
last' year. Experience will prove, what the
registering farmers, which you have esta
blished, will do for us ; you will then receive
the benedictions of the people on the mild
equity of your administration ; this is what you
are in expectation of ; and it may be at no great
distance. Your religion and birth, in the mean
time, are obstacles to your admission into the
employments of the state, and ofthe ministry.
Your wife, formerly mistress of a village

school, can she pretend to the honours of the
Louvre * ?
" In vaunting of disinterestedness, and a refu
sal of the loaves and , fishes, vou give an oppor
tunity for people, who are not acquainted with
you, to ask if Mr. Necker is opulent enough to
make such sacrifices. Those who are ac
quainted with you, and have watched the pro
gress of your fortune, malignantly answer- that,
on your coming from Geneva, you began, by
employing yourself as clerk to a banker; that
finding the profession of a banker to be very
profitable, you set up a bank yourself; that, to
accomplish it, you ventured to speculate in the
stocks, on the prospect of a peace ; and, in
order to be able to play a sure game, you made
a proposal to two of the principal clerks at Ver
sailles, that, if they would make you acquainted
with the time of the conclusion of the treaty,
they should have a third of your profits ; that
vou gained one million eight hundred thousand
livres. They add, that whilst you were under
M. Terray, you transacted some little stock
jobbing business with the king, termed honest
usury, taking the profits thereof, and selling
them to advantage to the royal treasury. By
*¦ Notwithstanding, the daughters of merchants and finan
ciers, who were married to dukes and peers, were never de
barred that honour.

93
these means you gained, in six or seven years,
an annual income of a hundred thousand crowns.
These facts place your satire on the opulence of
financiers, and on rapid fortunes, in a very ridicu
lous point of view, as the fortune of bankers
advances in nearly as surprising a manner. Do
not imagine, that people are duped by the petty
trick of your destroying the bank of your
brother Germani, and the same year erasing the
names of Girardot and Haller, your friends and
partners, from the list of bankers in the royal
almanack. Your disinterestedness on the
loaves and fishes, and the bribes that you have
refused, is only a parade, and an insulting
deception: we might well be generous, if we
were possessed of a banking-house that per
plexed all the affairs of Europe.
" You affect, sir, too public a contempt for
the farmers-general, and their families.. It
would have been unpardonable in me to have
spoken of your birth, if you had not aspersed
the families of our financiers. Your conversa
tions, as well as those of your wife, have
reached their ears. They are, no doubt, still
supported, although deprived of their offices, by
the voices of the great men of the state.
"The destruction which you have occasioned
in the office of the receivers had created a
greater sensation than the reduction of the

94-
farmers. The companv of receipts was, of ad
vantage to the credit ofthe state, since vou have
drawn upon it, in rescriptions, to the amount
of more than an hundred and thirty millions.
What interest will the king derive from this
destruction ? Thev mist be reimbursed. It is
true, that vou put off this operation till after the
examination of their accounts ; which is a verv
dishonest pretext : the truth is, vou have not the
means to do it ; and, after the destruction of
every thing, you will become a bankrupt."

95

CHAP. XII.
Attempts of the Enemies of Mr. Necker io procure , his Dismissal,
from the Ministry — Their Manxuvres io ruin the Credit of
the Caisse-d' Escompte — They give. a Detail of their Villany.—
Publication of the famous Parallel between Mr. Necker and
Law. — Account of its Result.
JL HE violence against Mr. Necker was car
ried to such a pitch, that his enemies did not
hesitate to attack even the operations of the
caisse d'esco?npte, and endeavour to ruin its
credit. They were informed, that he borrowed
great sums of that bank; and they published
the following pamphlet. It is essential to expose
it to view, in order to give an idea of the malevo
lence of the factions. They sacrificed to their
resentment an institution of the utmost value to
the commercial world. This is an exact copy of-
the gloomy publication.

96

COMPARISON

BETWEEN*

Messrs. NECKER and LAW

Summary of the Proceedings of the Administration qfthe Finances
in the Years 1716, 17, 18, 19, and 1720, on the one Part ; and.
of those of 1776, 77, 7S, 79, and 17S0, on the other Part; co
pied from the original Work, published in Continuation of the
History ofthe System.

I N the History of the Sy-
jto» we read, that, before
it was published, every
resource was exhausted
that could procure loans,
lotteries, or the creation
of annuities.
That Law then pro
posed his system as the
mean of preventing the
surcharge of the state
with new taxes.
That he caused to be
taken into consideration
the destruction of all
private credit, in order

IN the history of the
present time we shall
read, that Mr. Necker
has drained all the re
sources of loans, lotte
ries, and creation of an
nuities: edicts of 1776,
1777, 1778, and 1779.
That he presented his
plan of economy as the
mean of preventing the
state from being sur
charged with new taxes,
That he has caused to
be taken into considera
tion the destruction of
intermediate credit, in

&:

to produce the augmen
tation of that ofthe king,
which he proposed to
substitute for all the
others. A declaration of the
king, ordaining, that all
the notes created for the
service of the state
should be called in and
verified , which caused,
in the beginning of the
year 1716, the retarda
tion of their paymeht.
Decree of the council
of state of the 2d of May
1716, which permitted
Law and Company to
establish a public bank,
under the title of the
Banque generale.

A twelvemonth after
wards, the general bank
was united to the royal
treasury, and it was or
dained, that its notes
VOL. IV.

order to procure the aug
mentation of that of the
king, which he has pro
posed to substitute for
all others.
The declaration ofthe
7th of February, 1779,
importing, that brevets
of pensions or other gifts'
should be called in* to
verify them, has given
his majesty the profit
arising from the delay
of their payment.
Decree ofthe council
of state of the 22d of
September 1776, which
suffered a company to
establish a public bank,
under the title of the
Caisse tfEscompte : item,
decree of the 7th of
March 1779.
The notes of the caisse
d'escompte are received
in all the king's banks,.
and offered in payment
to individuals, although
H

98

should be received in
payment. Decree of the council
of state of the 10th of
January 17] 7, which or
dains, that the farmers-
general - extraordinary
shall be obliged to pro
duce and swear to their
accounts before the com
missaries. Decree of the council
of state of the 27th of
August 1718, which
dissolves and annuls the
leases of the general
farm. Decree of the council
of state of the 12th of
October 1719, to sus
pend the , functions of
the receivers-general of
finance ; and ordaining,
that they should be re
imbursed by orders pay
able to the bearer as
soon as the liquidation
of the finances could be
accomplished.

contrary to their esta
blishment. Edict of the king of
the month of November
1778, which ordains,
that the treasurers-gene
ral and individual shall
be suppressed, and ob
liged to produce and
swear to their accounts
before the commissaries.
Decree of the council
or the 9th of January
1780, which destroys the
general farm.

Edict of the king of
the month of April 1730,
to suspend the functions
of the receivers-general
of finance; and ordain
ing their reimburse
ments, when a revision
and correction of their
accounts shall have been
made,which would cause
a delav of four months-

99

The rescriptions were
converted into bank
notes.

Declaration of the
king of the month of
February 1720, with
elegant preambles, tend
ing to the suppression of
luxury. The author ofthe sy
stem was looked upon,
for the space of two
years, as a superior ge
nius; he became the
dauntless guarantee of
every event ; his opinion
prevailed in the council;
and his operations exci
ted the enthusiasm ofthe
public.

Mr. Law was a fo
reigner and a banker.
He was comptroller-
general.

We may suppose that
these rescriptions were
discredited; they wished
to make up the defici
ency by the notes of the
caisse. d'escompte.
The preambles of the
new edicts are still more
eloquent, having the
same object in view.

The author of the new-
plan is still regarded as
a superior genius; he
does not hesitate to gua
rantee the success of
what he proposes; with
out belonging to -^ the
council ; he knows how
to make his opinions
prevail ; and his opera
tions have met, even to
this moment, with. some
enthusiasts. Mr. Necker is a fo
reigner and a banker.,'!"; '
He is 'director-gene
ral.

H -J

100

He overturned the
kingdom, ruined indivi
duals, became bankrupt,
and escaped.
M. de Maurepas was
in the council, but was
too young to foresee a
fatal catastrophe.

The parliament, alarm
ed at the establishment
of the bank, decreed, on
the 12th of August
1718, that no foreigner,
even if naturalised,
should be able to hold
any situation in the ad
ministration of the royal
treasury, under penalties
mentioned in the ordi
nances. This decree did
not prevent the cata
strophe ; but it proved,
that the parliament had
foreseen it, and justified
their endeavours;

He overturns every
thing, ruins individuals,
8-c. &c. &c.
M. de Maurepas is at
the head of the council ;
it is only by his wisdom
that the state may hope
to be preserved from a
similar catastrophe.
Mr. Necker treads in
the same steps as Law.
And what can be the
excuse ofthe parliament
and the ministrv, if the
same effect results from
it ? A decree of the
council has sanctioned
the establishment of a
caisse d'escompte for let
ters of exchange; but
can a paper-money exist
without the sanction of
parliament ?

101
It is impossible to give any idea of the effect
which this comparison produced on the public
mind. The possessors of bank-notes were
seized with such a panic, that the streets and
squares ofthe capital were blocked up with the
influx of realizers. Let us hear even what
the enemies of Mr. Necker said on the subject;
they describe the effect of their manoeuvres in
the following terms. " Mr. Necker being in
want of money, caused a creation of new notes,
to the amount of the sum he had occasion for,
and substituted notes, signed d'Harvelay, at
the bank. As soon as the comparison between
Mr. Necker and Law appeared, all Paris ran to
the bank ; and Mr. Necker had no other re
source, to do away the terror of the Parisians,
than bringing the royal coffers by night into the
bank, and providing for his notes in the banks
of the departments. It would not be prudent
to reveal more of this plan ; but these facts,
compared with the doctrine of Rillet, a Gene-
vese, contained in the letters published On
Loans and Taxes, make it evidently appear, that
his design was to draw all the money out of the
kingdom, ahd replace it .... . with paper. This
Genevese has endeavoured to persuade us, as a
principle of government, ' that France ought to
promote the exportation of money, in any manner
whatever ; that our attention ought to be turned

102
to the convenience there would be in substitut
ing another currency for the fugitive millions,
by hastening, in a vear or two, the establish
ment of a national bank ; that, thus, all the re
mains of ancient barbarism would successively
disappear; that we may judge, by the develope-
ment of the mind, what were those of the folly
of ancient times, w7hich are the first to take
flight; and that, as working night and day to
amass money is a proof of great ignorance in
the French nation, so this folly must have an
end : it is necessary- to be industrious in export
ing with effect from the kingdom a part of
our hundreds of millions, so- miserably heaped
together.' " To what danger is a great nation exposed
by the principles and systems of Genevese
bankers !"

103

CHAP. XIII.
Considerations on the Syste?n of Loans, and on the Principles of
the French Government on that Part of the Revenue. — Con
nexions of the System of Loans introduced by Mr. Necker, with
the Mechanism of the ancient Government.— Borrowing to
prevent imposing must oppress future Generations with the
Capital, and the present with the Interest. — Borrowing, when
we cannot impose, is takincr Advantage of the Confidence cf
the People, and mining the Governikent.' — Result of the Doc*
trine of Mr. Necker.
JN every age- it was agreed in France, that in
the necessity of choosing, between- the scourge
of loans and the scourge of taxes, that of loan-
was the most dangerous, by its fatal and in
evitable consequences. Taxation was prefer-
ed, because it has certain limits, beyond which
the sovereign, notwithstanding his military
power, could not pass. Even in the nature of
imposts our kings had a -barrier to their autho
rity ; instead of which, the system' of loans has
no other bounds but the suspicions of an un
suspecting people, and the loss of credit.
Mr. Necker's appointment to the administra
tion, who would be under no obligations to the
natural riches of France by the means of taxes,

10-1
but, on the contrary, resorted to loans and i\\r
transferring of debts, to defray the extraordinary
expences of war, was the scourge of his de
partment and also ofthe monarchy. Mr. Necker
found the state already in arrears, and he loaded
it with fresh interest, entailing on future gene
rations the care of paying the capital proceeding
from his loans. He loaded it, besides, both
with the expences of administration and the
payment of interest ; so that, rejecting the plan
of taxation, the state, in the end, was obliged,
sooner or later, to pay the same sum ; besides
the extraordinary expence of administration,
which might, in great measure, have been avoid*
ed by annual imposts, Thus Mr. Necker only
took the burden off the present generation, to
throw it on the shoulders of posterity.
This is not all : we must examine if the state,
after the surcharge in 1777, could impose fresh
taxes on the people, or could not. In the first
¦case, Mr. Necker, by the svstem of loans, op
pressed France with the expence and interest of
the cultivation of lands, which was money entirely
sunk. In the next place he borrowed without
a possibility of repaying. Since the year 177$,
therefore, the loan had become an instrument
to effect two operations. It was a certain way
of ruining a nation already deeply in debt : and
the ephemeral and casual credit of a director-

105
general was only the mean of palliating, pro
crastinating, and augmenting inevitable destruc
tion ; since borrowing, to prevent imposing, while
there is a possibility of imposing, was entirely
losing the interests to no purpose ; or, if the
state could impose no longer, it was deceiving
the unsuspecting lender. In the first instance,
government throws away the expence and in
terest of cultivation; and in the second, the state
must cancel its accumulated debt by a bank
ruptcy. Mr. Necker, in one of his publications, be
comes his own judge. He evidently demon
strates the natural boundary of taxes, and the
excess of loans. Let us consult him in his
treatise On the Administration of the finances of
France, vol. ii. p. 380, on the nature of loans
and imposts.
" The power of borrowing," says he, " can
not fail to become the most serviceable instru
ment of ambition and warlike propensities. By
the aid of loans we are able to expend three or
four hundred millions, instead of forty or fifty
that might have been raised, perhaps, with great
exertion by the means of extraordinary imposts ;
thus, like every forcible method imperceptibly
applied, the powrer of borrowing is become fatal
to nations.. ..'.Does not good proceed from the
excess of evil ? Will not nations, burdened by

106
an immense debt, and proportionate taxes, be
arrested in their undertakings ? X-mloubtedlv.
It is to similar circumstances that we are in
debted, very frequentlv, for the return of tran-
quillitv ; and at the moment that flattery recites
the eulogium of princes, sacred truth, perhaps,
will only have to record their weakness."
We perceive that Mr. Necker was aware of
the danger of loans* As to the practicability of
taxation, (still practicable in France even at the
moment of his retreat, 1781) his successor
proved it could be done. He did it.
Thus, whether it was to relieve the present
generation, whether it was to make the cruel
trial of being able to carry on the war without
taxation, or whether it was to maintain his si
tuation against the united attacks of placemen
and nobility, Mr. Necker furnished, by the
means of loans, such sums as France was unable
to afford. In this point of view, therefore, it
was the scourge of France ; as borrowing without
certain means of repaying, is a robbery and an
abuse of the confidence of the people, who
must withdraw their support ; while borrowing
and repaving increases the burden of the loan
by the addition of interest, and the waste and
expence of new cultivation^ without any essen
tial advantage.
Mr. Necker was not ignorant of these alter-

107
native's; but he asserted, as a proof of the good
ness of his plan, that England had supported;
her system of loans'by publishing the connexions
between the receipts and the expences, together
with the resources and the general operations
of the administration, to show that they keep
pace with the expenditure ; but these loans, a
natural resource of free states, were the maxi
mum of the efforts of France, a country so dif-
ferently situated. The exposition of public ac
counts ought to be uninterrupted and periodical,
and that' with great exactness. And what re
source would France be able to find, if an in
considerate court, consisting of young people,
should expend more than her revenues, or if the
rival powers wished to take advantage of our
distress ? A revolution or a bankruptcy, or the
ineffectual definitive resort to loans, without
publicity, or dressed in a deceitful publicity,
must ruin the government. Such was the
frightful alternative to which the system of loans
had nearly reduced us. The hurry of incapa
city, united with bankruptcy - and revolution,
distinguished the system of the director; and
government, under Mr. Necker, abused its au
thority so far as to imprison the miserable
hawkers of publications containing observations
on the destructive system of loans.
Lewis XVI. was thus- constantly deceived! by

108
the loans of Mr. Necker. He had been always
persuaded, that the number of renters, increasing
each day by the loans, multiplied the number
of Frenchmen devoted by tlieir fortune to the
authority and person of the monarch, who thus
held their fortunes in his hands. The king was
told, that by laying on no fresh imposts, he was
adored in his dominions; they cited the example
of England, where the immensity of property in
rents weakened the republican virtues, by ac
customing a considerable part of the nation to
fear a revolution in the affairs of government.
An effect contrary to these promises manifest
ed itself in France in 1789 : the lenders on an
nual income, being in their nature either egotists
or dastards, were the first to demand a revolu
tion of the nation against the government. The
first, revolutionists, it is true, declared their
debts- sacred, and placed them in the general
class of property ; but have they not seen it im
paired, in the sixth year of the republic, by the
military order of government ?
M. de Calonne, in attacking the ministry of
Mr. Necker, accused him of ha\ ing borrowed
four hundred and forty millions -, the interest of
which sum, according to M. Calonne, was an
annual expence of forty millions to the govern
ment. Mr. Necker answered, reckoning the sum-

log
total of loans and interest at a superior rate :
<c the loans under my administration," said he,
" amounted to ninety millions more. M. de
Calonne is mistaken in taking the interest at
nine or ten per cent.; it only amounted to eight
and three-eighths per cent., by adding the perpe
tual interests, annuities, and annual payments."
 So that the sums raised by loan, according
to Mr. Necker's account, amounted to five hun
dred and thirty millions, and the interest thereof
to forty-five millions.

110

CHAP. XIV.
Administration of Mr. Necker in 1 7 SO. — Sale of the Hospital
Lands, and Establishment cf the Houses of Charity. — Suppres
sion of forty -eight Ofiiccs of Receivers-General. — Revolution
in the King's Farms. — Establishment if new Priioi:i. — Conii-
nuation of the Establishment of Prorinciut Assemblies. — As-
sembly of Moulim.
IVJlR. Necker had not vet explained himself
on the fate ofthe farmers-general. The nation
was silently anxious to know if the administra
tion would be adopted, and the leases renewed.
The farmers-general stirred up a powerful
party against him, as they were allied by mar
riage to the great men of the state : the lease
holders were against his principles. Mr. Necker
adopted a medium, which was not at all pleasing
to the former. In renewing the leases, he did
away the custom of the loaves andfishes, and show
ed himself no more generous than M. Turgot.
As to the reversions, they were abolished,
which increased the number of complaints and
enemies; and these enemies were chiefly
duchesses and favourites.

Ill
The suppression of the forty-eight offices of
receivers-general caused a number of vexations
and obstacles, on account of the protection they
found at court.
The sale of the hospital lands, which did not
produce a revenue of above two or three per
cent, is one of those daring operations which
no government had ever before permitted, and
which has no example, but in the measures
adopted by the revolutionary government.
In the first place, these lands were the gift of
piety, to remain for ever in the hands of the
administrators of the hospitals, and to secure,
by certain revenues, an asylum for the sick,
independent of a licentious court. No person
knew its value better than Mr. Necker; and he
provided for the sick by the sale of their pro
perty. At the same time he was employed, to
gether with his wife, in changing the form of
the hospitals, and establishing houses of charity.
It has been found by long experience, that in
every nation certain public expences must be
covered by funds separate from, and indepen
dent of, the good or bad situation of the public
treasury ; and, certainly, the case of the sick
was, without doubt, in the class of expences
that ought incessantly to be supplied with ready
and permanent resources. Air. Necker esta
blished hospitals without revenues, and destroy-

Hi
ed those that possessed any. The opposition
observed, on this subject, that an hospital with
out revenues was no more than a precarious in
stitution, and could have no foundation in a state
where the will of the king was as absolute as
that of the king of France. This operation was
not prevented. It was to raise money. The
tacit consent of the court proved the danger of
the law.
Mr. Necker this year still found new funds :
he instituted a new provincial assembly at Mou
lins, and reformed the abuses of the interior of
prisons.

113

CHAP. XV.
Personal Opinions of Lewis XVI. on the System of Provincial
Administrations developed at first under Lewis XV. by M.
d'Argenson, in his' Considerations on France,' and since theri ,
by the Economists, by Messrs. Turgot and Malesherbes, and
by Mr. Necker. — Marginal Notes of Lewis XVI. written .in
the- Memorandum of Provincial Administrations instituted by
Mr. Necker.— Considerations on -the Revolution effected in
the Administration of the Provinces.
MiRABEAU the elder, in his celebrated
work, entitled The Friend of Man, proposed
the establishment of provincial states^ abolished
by Lewis XIII. and his successor. Lewis XV.
presented the question of their re-establishment
to his council ; but it was constantly rejected ;
because these assemblies were considered as
authorities which suspended, modified, or atte
nuated the royal authority, and as assemblies of
proprietaries which might form some resistance
in case of taxation.
Under the administration of the duke of
Choiseul, the project of the re-establishment
was renewed ; but the council still opposed it
on the same account.
We have seen, that M. Turgot' s plan for their
VOL. IV. I

114
re-establishment in all the provinces that had
been deprived of them by authority, was re
jected by Lewis XVI. In spite of these dis
positions, Mr. Necker, in 1775, persuaded that
monarch to adopt them ; and these institutions,
heterogeneous in the social edifice constructed
in France by cardinal Richelieu, were the first
supporters ofthe revolution.
Mr. Necker, in order to succeed, made no
more mention of annihilating the constitution of
the three orders. More cautious than M. Tur
got, and profiting by his errors, he proposed
these institutions as simple trials, to be made in
a province. The high administration ofthe
elective countries, composed of intendants, con
ceived a dislike to them; which was so much
the more dangerous to Mr. Necker, as it was
concealed. Mr. Necker deprived them of the
confidence of the king ; and converted into sim
ple commissaries, in the state-countries, meji
who, till then, had been considered as the ab
solute administrators of the provinces. It is
necessary to hear the reasons of Mr. Necker, and
the wise observations which the weak Lewis
opposed to his maxims. The minister this time
also was more powerful than the monarch.

Mr. Necker. — A multitude of complaints
have been made, in every age, against the form

115
of administration employed in the' provinces; they
are now more than ever renewed; and it is im
possible to remain indifferent to them without,
perhaps, incurring some self-reproach.
Remark of Lewis XVI. —-In every age, also,
there have been very strong complaints against
the form of administration in the state-coun
tries. Mr. Necker. — Scarcely, in effect, can we
give the name of administration to this arbitrary
will of one man, who sometimes present, some
times absent, sometimes well informed, and
sometimes ignorant, is appointed to manage the
most important departments of public order,
who only considers his place as a ladder for his
ambition. These are the men who are timid
towards the powerful, and arrogant toward-s
the weak ; they constantly invest themselves
with the royal authority.
Remark of Lewis XVI. — In the state-coun
tries, also, there are few members of the admi
nistrative assemblies that do not regard their em
ployment as a ladder.
Mr.NfiCKER. — In the elective countries there
is no legal opposer of the commissaries; and,
unless we are enlightened by glaring injustice,
or some public scandal, we are. obliged to
see through the same medium as the very man
we might desire to judge. I 2

1167
Remark of Lewis XVI. — This observation
deserves reflexion.
Mr. Necker. — Your majesty may easily form
an idea of the abuse, and almost the ridicule,
of this pretended administration. When long-
continued murmurs degenerate into general
complaints, parliament interferes, and places
itself between the king and his people.
Remark of Lewis XVI. — But if they should
unite with the administrations ?
Mr. Necker.— -it is only in a single generality
that I would advise your majesty to introduce a
change, which should consist in the trial of a
provincial or municipal administration, or corn-
Mission, of proprietaries, leaving the commissary
charged with the important task of repre
senting their operations to government. By
these means your majesty would acquire addi
tional guarantees of the happiness of your peo
ple. Sub-delegates,, officers of election, direc
tors, receivers, collectors of land-tax, excise-
officers, visitors, clerks, &c. all belonging to
the imposts, each one in his situation, would
subject to their little authority all those who
__ ought to contribute.
Remarks of Lewis XVI. — The presidents
born, the counsellors, the members, and the
agents of the state-countries composing the
establishments, do not render the Trench more

117
happy in the countries subjected to their admi
nistration. Bretany, it is very certain, is not
happier with her states, than' Normandy is with
out them.. - it;;;.
-Mr. Necker.. — A wise equilibrium between-
the three orders ofthe state, whether separate or
confounded ; a sufficient number of representa
tives, who, without embarrassing, will be suf
ficient to guarantee the wishes of the province ;
some plain method of keeping the accounts ;
the being obliged to submit all deliberations
to the approbation of the council, instructedhy
the commissary ; an agreement to pay the same
sum as usual into the royal treasury; the simple
power of making observations in case of new
demands, so that the king's will may be known
thereon, and never thwarted ; the gratuitous gift
absolutely interdicted, and the appellation of
countries of administration substituted for coun
tries of state, in order that the resemblance of
names may never lead them to similar preten
sions : this is an abridged idea of the essential
conditions. Remarks of Lewis XVI.— I do not think
it prudent to abolish the words gratuitous gift ;
first, because this term is ancient, and attaches
the lovers of form ; next, it is perhaps right to
leave my successors a term which teaches them

118
to depend on the love of their subjects, and not
to dispose of their property by military force.
-i- Mr. Necker. — This would be a great ad
vantage, bv multiplying the means of credit,
and giving to new provinces the faculty of bor
rowing. It would be a greater, in binding closer
the proprietaries to their provinces, by investing
them with some public employments, which
they would- know how to appreciate. This
inconsiderable part, of administration would re
vive expiring patriotism, and, uniting activity
and knowledge, must produce the most flattering
advantages to the state.
Remark of Lewis XVI. — All the establish
ments are greatly in debt. To create others,
and increase the difficulty, would be burdening
the French like the English. Could there not
be another method found ?
. Mr. Necker. — Will they not say, that trust
ing the assessment of imposts to a municipal
administration is diminishing authority? The
royal authority is established on a basis that
cannot be shaken. It is the power of imposing
which constitutes essentially the greatness of
the sovereign. The assessment of imposts, and
other executive departments, are only emana
tions of the . monarch's confidence. The grand
art of the present administrators is to promote

119
confusion : they would wish that respect to their
most arbitrary commands were one of the
greatest interests of royalty. To avoid exposing
so often the royal authority, it should not be so
incessantly exerted.
Remark of Lewis XVI. — The doctrine of
the gratuitous gifts of the clergy and the state-
countries will scarcely permit us to interfere
in such delicate affairs.
Mr. Necker. — Every discussion with the
parliaments and assistant courts for the twen
tieths, the poll-tax, the land-tax, and tenants'
labour, would be prevented by a different ad
ministration : authority is often lost, when it is
not victorious, by such continual disputes.
Remark of Lewis XVI. — Observe what
happens among bodies to whom power is con
fided every day.
Mr. Necker. — Would it not be better if
your majesty's authority should become the ar
bitrator between the states and your people,
and interfere only to mark the limits between
rigour and justice ?
Remark of Lewis XVI.— -The essence of my
authority is not intermediate, but supreme.
Mr. Necker. — Your majesty has more na
tural security for good order among the nobility
and clergy, than among the judges and proprie
taries in office. The parliaments, in the cessa-

1-20
tion of their functions, still possess a dangerous
weapon; the sole power of decrees, and inflict
ing disgrace and imprisonment, gives them so
much influence over the receivers of the public
revenues, that is sufficient to hinder, for a
time, the execution of the king's orders. So far,
therefore, from considering the institution of
well-concerted provincial administrations as an
increase of resistance, I do not doubt but kings
Would find in such a check on the states and par
liaments, the means of enforcing their authority
with more effect.
Remarks of Lewis XVI. — The most just
and most natural power of the parliaments is
that which enables them to condemn to death
any robber of the finances. In the supposition
of provincial administrations, that power should
not be taken away.
Mr. Necker.: — It is not necessary to expa
tiate on the embarrassments occasioned in some
of the state-countries ; but it is very easy to
perceive, that these embarrassments proceed from
ancient conventions with the provinces, which
have been permitted to unite themselves with
France. From a well-regulated provincial ad
ministration might one day be derived a mean
of force to correct and perfect the present
constitutions of the state-countries, whosa very
yices obtain a degree of respect.

121
.Remark of Lewis XVI. — It is necessary,
for the quiet of my people, to preserve -their
privileges. . Mr. Necker. — At the same time that this
multiplicity of imposts renders the administration
extremely difficult, the public, by a new turn
of mind, have opened their eyes to all its in
conveniences and abuses. Flence result those
restless and confused remonstrances which in
spire the parliaments with a continual desire to
interfere in the administration : this sentiment
becomes every day more manifest; and they
begin to adopt the same methods as other bo
dies that wish to acquire power, by speaking
in the name of the people, and calling them
selves the defenders of the rights of the nation ;
and it is not to be doubted, that, although they
are neither capable nor desirous of consulting the
welfare of the state, they well persuade them
selves, by constant interference in public con
cerns, that they are supported by public opi
nion. This support, therefore, must either be
faken from them, or we may prepare for re
peated contests, which must disturb the tran
quillity of your majesty's reign, and at length
lead to a degradation of authority, or to such
' consequences as are not to be computed.
Remark of Lewis XVI. — Observe what
the states of Bretany perform periodically.

122
Mr. Necker. — The only means of preventing
the shock, and to secure essentially the peace
ful and honourable functions of the magistracy.
is to conceal from their continual observation
the grand object of administration ; particularly
as it may be accomplished by an institution,
which, in gratifying the desire of the nation,
will equally answer the ends of government.
Remark of Lewis XVI. — Is it more ex
pedient to entrust the controul of the affairs of
administration to the administrative bodies? Or
is it wiser to consign them to judiciary bodies?

Such were the individual opinions of the
king: but his will was in such a state of impo
tence, that, in spite of his knowledge, and,
above all, of his foresight, the minister concert
ed his views and projects, presented them, and
the monarch executed, by an assent of confi
dence and weakness, without resistance. The
ideas and the will of (, government were no longer
in the king. Mr. Necker, on his part, did
not err from inexperience. We observe, in the
destructive reforming systems of that fkilful
man, opposition, disdain, contempt, and com
bination, against the observations made upon
them. He struggles against the opinions which
represent the dangers and novelty of his provin-

123
cial institutions- In vain did he affect to allow
them, one by one, with a sort of moderation,
modesty, and even of candour ; — his successive
and procrastinated blows gave a mortal wound
to the monarchy of Lewis XVI. * Flis reserve
had the effect of awakening in each country of
intendance the desire of a metamorphosis to
state-countries. M. Turgot had been dismissed
for having inspired Lewis XVI. with a fear of
changing the royal administration of his mon
archy into popular administrations, without no
bility and clergy. Mr. Necker, more cautelous,
wishing to avoid the insurrection of the orders
against his fragile existence, so foreign to the
natural economy of the state, respected this
hierarchy ; and instead of abolishing all at once
the numerous bodies of intendants, the word
trial, the innovating spirit of the times, and the
cries of the elective countries, demanding pro
vincial administration, operated partially and by
degrees what the director was incapable of
effecting altogether, by reason of the opposi
tions of the council to that part of his proceed
ings. France was thus changed, by the effect of
these silent and prudent measures, from a state
of absolute monarchy, to a still more uncertain,
and, as it were, preparatory situation ; which,
by increasing, in the interior of the provinces,

124-
discussions on the rights of proprietaries, and
on the imposts, led us on to the more dangerous
subject of the royal authority.
. In exploring the administrations of Langue-
doc, Beam, Burgundy, and Bretany, the French
found only reason to deplore the periodical quar
rels between the court and the assemblies.
When all the proprietaries were called to the
administration, the intention of Mr. Necker
was accomplished. Richelieu had taken pains
to keep the. provincial proprietaries as far as pos
sible from .the knowledge of administrative af
fairs, and entrusted them to families on which
tbe king might depend. Mr. Necker, by putting
the contrary method in practice, had broken the
tics of administration which communicated with
the state, rendered it dependent on the views
and interests of proprietaries, and complicated
the machine. It was no longer the king that
acted solely on his own account ; but the pro
prietaries were authorised to administer for their
personal interests : in this alone consists the re
volution of Mr. Necker. The necessities of the
state were the principal motive of the demands
made on the proprietaries ; and the natural pre
ponderance of property was authorised to intro
duce itself into the new administrations.
Mr. Necker's provincial assemblies were be
sides instituted in such a manner, that their de-

125
pendence on the state might one day become
void. The king had named sixteen proprieta
ries, three of which were chosen from among
the clergy, five from the rtbbility, and eight
from the inhabitants of towns and villages.
These sixteen administrators had the privilege
of choosing thirty-six others. Government had
the power, at the commencement of these insti
tutions, to reserve the faculty of election: The
conduct of an administration towards1 govern
ment ought to have been more conformable -to
the genius of the state. In consecrating the
principle, that election received its power and
administrative prerogative from the immediate
choice of the sovereign, the spirit of the state
was preserved : while the independence of
the administrations and the definition of their
rights proceeding from property, Were the result
of the destructive reflexions which had con
ducted the director-general to discover the oppo
sition of the two elections, the former of which
was royal, and the latter were strangers to the
sovereign. Mr. Necker has not concealed his intentions
in the establishment of provincial assemblies :
they were evidently the same as those of M.
Turgot. He says in his writings, that he wish
ed to call the nation to the management of their
affairs ; give protectors and guides to the pro-

12fJ
/inees ; attach- the citizens to the public wel
fare, and fix their attention upon it. He said,
that he intended to excite public spirit, and
that the moment it became necessary to act like
Richelieu, he could no longer interfere with
business. In this manner did Mr. Necker transform
our peaceful provinces into deliberating pro
vinces, and began the revolution relative to
ancient policy. A central deliberating assem
bly near the king was still wanting to this system,
for the consummation of his project, and for the
ruin of ancient France. Mr. Necker had left no
thing undone to prepare the state for this sub
version. The administrators appointed by the
king had, till his time, the management of the
state. Mr. Necker had given it to the people.
And what became of the established power,
which could neither exist without imposts, nor
establish any but by assemblies of proprietaries
interested in the opposition ? The monarchy
was already become a mixed state.

127

CHAP. XVI.
Dismissal of M. de Sartines. — His party publishes at Paris the
Means by which Mr. Necker succeeded therein.
JjY destroying the administrations depending
on the will of the king, and by setting up au
thorities composed of proprietaries, Mr. Neckex
on the other side worked a revolution in the
ministry ; he overthrew the ministers whose
' first principle was devotion to the -absolute au
thority of the king.
The chevalier de Clonard presented to M. -de
St. James a bill of exchange of a hundred
thousand livres, drawn upon him by his trea
surer, resident in fhe colonies. The payment
of it was refused by order of Mr. Necker, hut
afterwards effected by order of the king in
his council of state.
Mr. Necker on this circumstance brought for
ward strong complaints against M. de Sartines :
he told the king, that this minister, ^having ob
tained one hundred and ten millions for the
ordinary use of the marine, and sixteen for ex
traordinary and secret services, had augment
ed his expences by seventeen millions. Mr.
Necker added, that the kingdom of France

128
could not support M. de Sartines, who affected
to represent the expences of his administration
as incalculable ; but that the administration of
the finances being obliged to calculate them,
he could no longer grant such an expence.
Mr. Necker, in consequence, offered his resig
nation, for the last time, if M. de Sartines was
not dismissed that very day ; and he represent
ed M. de Castries as a man of probity, well
adapted to take the situation of minister of the
marine. M. de Maurepas was at Paris, ill of the gout,
and M. de Castries was at Limours, where he
had agreed to meet M. de Choiseul, who was
secretly intriguing in the affairs of administra
tion*. The king, at the very term of dilapi
dation mentioned by Mr. Necker, no longer
hesitated. He kept his minister of the finances,
and dismissed M. de Sartines, whom all the capi
tal accused of prevarication.
M. de Sartines' secret proceedings against
Mr. Necker were developed in the defence
which he published against the accusations of
the minister of the finances. " My vexation,"
said he, " arises not so much from having lost
my place, as from the dreadful motives which
are supposed to have caused my disgrace."
* M. de Castries belonged to the queen's party ; but was a
secret enemy of the Austrian system.

120
" From the representations of the board of
controul, all Paris suppose that I have an annual
income of one hundred thousand livres,, and
that, by my private authority, I have been cri
minal enough to exceed my expences, limited
by his majesty, by seventeen millions. I de
clare, that I have not an annual income of
twenty thousand livres. If any mote can be
found, I will forfeit it to the hospitals. As to
the second crime, I only desire, for my justifi
cation, that the orders signed by the king in
council, or in committee held in the presence
of the principal ministers, should be made pub
lic. The result was a secret of the state. If
I had dropped a single word of it to Mr.
Necker, a foreigner, connected for some time
past with lord Stormont, sworn to no office,
nor acknowledged by either the parliaments or
the courts of aid, a prison was the price of
my indiscretion. I have expended, I honestly
acknowledge, one hundred and forty-three mil
lions; that is to say, one hundred and ten
for ordinary, and sixteen for secret, expences.
The latter have exceeded, by seventeen mil
lions, the statement of which Mr. Necker has
a duplicate. But the seventeen xinillions were
-ecreed\by the king himself, and I am in pos
session of his orders to that effect. Mr. Necker
makes me culpable for having termed the ex-
VOL. IV. K

130
pences of the marine incalculable ; but it is evi
dent, that I wished it to be understood, that the
risks or uncertainties of the moment prevented
my ascertaining, with arithmetical precision, the
expences of the navy. Can it be possible that
Mr. Necker, culpable with regard to me, is un
grateful enough towards M. de Maurepas, to
advise the king to make and unmake a minister,
without communicating it to the prime-mini
ster? And if he had communicated it, M. de
Maurepas, who was never absent when the
king's orders were given for secret expences,
would ha/e justified me."
M. de Sartines also added, that the expendi
ture of seventeen millions had been decided on
by M. de Maurepas and M. de Vergennes, in
presence of the king, from the following mo
tives. "M. 'de Vergennes," said he, "had
been informed, in the month of April preceding,
of the distress of the Americans ; they wanted
provisions, ammunition, clothing, and even ar
tillery ; and, in the before-mentioned secret
committee, it was resolved to relieve them.
Their distress and relief were the secret of the
state ; and it was agreed to conceal it from Mr.
Necker, above all, on account of his former
connexions with a country, that rendefred him
entirely unfit to be made acquainted with our
decisions. How then was it possible to rais?

131
seventeen millions without the knowledge of
Mr. Necker?" M. de Sartines proposed, that
Lewis XVI. should augment the receipt of his
department to three millions per month ; and this
method appeared the best. The king granted
it, as also did the committee. M. de Sartines did
not act, however, according to form in this
circumstance ; he ought to have had the king's
signature before he had given an order of such
a nature to his treasurer, because the treasurer
was afterwards sacrificed for having executed
the individual order of the minister. Mr.
Necker, on his part, and Dufresne, his clerk,
perceiving every month an augmentation of
three millions of expence in the marine depart
ment, waited till the sum became considerable,
in order to alarm the king, whom thdy believed
unacquainted with this expenditure of the pub
lic money, and took advantage of the illness of
M. de Maurepas to accuse M. de Sartines of
high-treason. The king not having M. de
Maurepas near him, and not suspecting that Mr.
Necker, who was under the orders of M. de
Maurepas, had accused him without that mini
ster's consent, appointed M. de Castries as his
successor. Going afterwards to see M. de Mau
repas, he was informed, that M. de Sartines had
only neglected the form, which consisted in
K 2

causing the private decisions of the king to be

signed.

This dismissal of M.de Sartines, together with
the absence of M. de Maurepas, procured Mr.
Necker the civilities of the -courtiers. They
imagined that he was about to obtain that in
fluence over the king's mind which M. de
Maurepas had lost. Mr. Necker directed all
his batteries against the prime-minister, and
succeeded in obtaining the dismissal of M. de
Montbarrey ; but the king concealed the con
tempt which M. de Maurepas and M. de Sar
tines had inspired him with, above all when the
friends of Mr. Necker reported about Paris,
that M. de Maurepas was insane, and that he
was actually deprived of the confidence of the
king. The situation of the old minister and
that of Mr. Necker were such, that they waited
in silence, both in Paris and at court, to know
which of the two would be honoured with the
monarch's preference. At this conjuncture,
Mr. Necker resolved to make a grand explosion,
by publishing the Compte rendu, " Account de
livered," a remarkable epoch in the history of
the political events of this reign.

133

CHAP. XVII.
Publication of the ' Compte rendu' by Mr. Necker; this Insti
tution is a Revolution apposite to the Spirit of the ancient
Government. — Of the Credit of the State established by the
Corporations of the Finances. — Of the same Credit established
by the Bankers. — Ofthe same Credit resulting from the Publi
cation of the Accounts. — This Guarantee -was void in France.
— Mr. Necker, by his Innovations, tended to destroy Credit
in France, in point of Loans; and the Royal Authority, in
point of Imposts.

[R. Necker, at the time of the publica
tion of his Compte rendu, was assailed by a
great variety of dissatisfied parties. The an
swers he returned to the clamours of the great
est part of his enemies, in the different chapters
of this work, seemed to: imply, that he wished
to justify himself op. the one hand, and, on the
other, to augment fhe' fervour of his partisans.
He was about to oppose one storm to another,
and disseminate troubles ,1il the state.
The work, by infljftafihg his enemies against
him, redoubled, in reality, the zeal of his fac
tion. This srreat effect was the only wav to
make a diversion in his favour, and dispel the

134-
thunder that rolled about him, menacing his
ministerial existence. The count de Maurepas,
who had not courage to oppose its publication,
or who wished, as others assert, to suffer the
Genevan's insults against the monarchy to mul
tiply and accumulate, seeing this Compte rendu
stitched up in blue marble paper, had the
malice to call it the blue account, and the name
was continued. The great men of the state,
the intendants, the financiers, the friends of the
ancient government, and the officers of Mon
sieur and the count d'Artois, never called it
by any other name. ^
Submitting to the tribunal of the public the
operations of the finance, and the state of the
royal treasury, was another revolution in France.
The director, by removing credit, in taking k
from the corporations of the finances, which he
had destroyed, humiliated, dispersed, and stirred
up against him, ought to have perceived, that,
by this event, he made this credit float and wan
der about without effect and without founda
tion. Credit wTas driven, in fact, from the de
partments of finance to the companies of the
bankers. It was the actual resource of erovern-
ment ; but that resource was very contrary to
the spirit of the monarchy, -having no other
security than a company of monied men, at
liberty to lend or to refuse ; while the destroyed

135
.companies of finance possessed supplies which
could never escape from the monarch's de
mands. Mr. Necker had abandoned the im
posts, by the institution of provincial admini
strations, to the debates and probable refusal of
the proprietaries ; and now he destroyed his
credit, by establishing it on independent men,
whose refusal was an act for which they had
nothing to fear ; and, although they might at
this time have filled up the loans which he had
required of them, this credit was still more un
certain than that which the genius of the state
had established in the antecedent administra
tions, and which had only failed in the most
disastrous times, particularly towards the end
of the reign of Lewis XIV- In similar cir
cumstances, under the administration of Mr.
Necker, an immoderate credit on bankers might
conduct the state to extravagant operations,
dangerous to its existence. Mis-led by a skilful
minister, it might grant excessive loans, and
precipitate itself into the greatest calamities.
In the preceding system, the corporations of
finance were a curb on the state ; and, on their
decline, Lewis XIV., as well as Lewis XV.,
had so happily lost the credit which they had
abased, that if death had not relieved them, the
two monarchs would have seen themselves de
prived of every sort of confidence ; the first, by

13S
his wars and magnificence ; and the second, by
his dissoluteness.
Mr. Necker had never paid the least atten
tion to these circumstances ; but he was aware,
that the credit of a minister with bankers, in a
great state, was not onlv transient and fragile,
but he aggravated the fault bv making public
his accounts, and therebv exposing the resources
of the state, which the ancient finance had
managed differently, and wi'.h less danger to
the royal authoritv.
Mr. Necker must undoubtedly have per
ceived the difference between the ancient credit
and the artificial credit which he had substituted.
Having destroyed the first, he discovered the
necessity ot deserving the second from the ge
nerality of the French ; but he was also mis
taken in his opinion, when he imagined that the
periodical publication of the public accounts
would produce it; he might well cite " the im
mense credit of England, from which arose its
principal force in time of war ;" and advance,
" that making the finances public was the chief
cause of the confidence of the English in their
administration, and the source of their national
Credit." From this credit of England, Mr. Necker
concluded, that France, by publishing her an
nual accounts, would have the same resources,

137
By this assurance, which we find in the Compte
rendu, the nation was evidently deceived.
In effect, government could still continue, in
1781, to tell the people falsehoods on its inten
tions, plans, receipts, and expences. They had
no other guarantee than the reasonings of Mr.
Necker. In England, on the contrary, the peo
ple have a variety of more convincing proofs,
which assure them that they cannot be deceived
in the real state of receipt and expenditure ;
the parliament, its debases, and its factions of
opposition, are sufficient testimonies to the Eng
lish nation of the verity of the accounts; while,
in France, the. Bastille was the portion, even
under Mr. Necker,_ of .every one who ventured
to contradict the assertions of government.
Every one of Mr. Necker's decisions tended,
therefore, to deprive the state of the resources
which it had, by long experience, established.
(The king, by degrees, discontinued to signify
his will directly to the intendants ; he lost his
credit by abolishing the corporations of the
finances, and created false or uncertain suppor
ters by instituting the custom of exposing the
accounts; a method false and illusory, and the
last which ought to have been resorted to in
France under a weak king, and under a princess
so much distinguished for irregular expences.
The design of this publication was chiefly to

13S
disconcert the parties formed by the anterior
operations of the minister. Mr. Necker di
rected his eloquence against the abuses of the
court, against the profits of the finance, against
the treasurers and receivers-general, and against
the expences of the king's household ; but, in
stead of doing away these abuses, he struck at
the institutions that had operated both the good
and the evil, and gradually, bv his destructions,
as well as by his establishments, annihilated the
royal authority.
Mr. Necker replied to the politicians that
wished to concentrate the secrets of administra
tion in a few families of the high finance, or in
the magistracy, by saying, thev calumniated the
French nation ; he affirmed, that the people
were ready to accept, with good will, of any
reform, when they were convinced of the purity
of the intention, and when they thought they
were beloved and cherished ; he said, thai
France was grateful, both for what beneficent
ministers had done, and what they would do ;
that she seconded them by her homage and
confidence ; that .she wished to render her suf
frages useful; and that she aspired to be ad
mitted to the work of public welfare, at least
by her sincere and grateful effusions. " By-
granting this desire," said Mr. Necker, " we
may awaken the spirit of genuine patriotism."

139
These opinions are sublime in works of philo
sophy, and in romances. A state is supported
and governed by equitable laws, and by force
that shall make them be respected ; it is de
stroyed by the antecedent ideas. Let us hear
what M. de Vergennes says on the subject.

14-0

CHAP. XVIII.
Observations remitted to Lewis XVI., and by his Orders, the 'sd
of May 17S\, on the Effects of tlie • Compte rendu,' relative
to the Constitution of the State, and on the Character of its
Author, considered as a Stranger by his Birth, by his Opi
nions, and by his Manners, to the Administration of the
Finances of France.
" Sire,
YOUR majesty has commanded me to lay
before you, in a circumstantial memorial, my
individual observations on the inconveniences
which may result from your majesty's confi
dence, in putting into the hands of a foreigner,
a republican, and a protestant, the most deli
cate employment of your kingdom, Your ma-
jefty, in observing the abundance of criticisms
on the Compte rendu, which was published
by your majefty's consent, desires to be in
formed, in a precise manner, what the princi
pal observations on this work are meant to
imply. " I know no person better acquainted than
your majesty with the history of your august
house. I shall therefore put together, in
this shoit memorial, only a few memorable

141
incidents of that history, which are the most
recent and the best known.
" The happiness of Frenchmen consists so
much in repressing incessantly that taste for
novelty to which their character perpetually
inclines them, that there is no revolution, nor
any memorable event in our history, that is
not indebted for its pernicious effects to the
dangerous principles infused into the state by
men who are strangers to our manners, and
whose ambition and intrigue have conducted
them too often to the very helm of the affairs
of your majesty's august house.
" The confederate wars, the assassination of
two monarchs that resulted from them, the
torrent of blood which still flowed in the reign
of the illustrious chief of your line, had no other
principle than the secret projects of foreigners,
who had assumed places in the government.
Nature had not taught Frenchmen to obey
them ; and their commands, contradictory to-
our maxims, created the sanguinary oppositions.
which desolated France.
To the civil wars of the confederacy suc
ceeded the scenes and the tragedies of lafronde* ..
Your majesty is informed, that the princes, the
magistracy, and the capital, united against the
stranger, whose tricks arid schemes, different
* Appellation given to the party formed agains,t Mazarin.
— (Translator.)

142
from our manners, had gained the confidence
of government. Lewis XIV., delivered from
the guardianship of Mazarin, so well appreci
ated the nature of this inconvenience, that, after
having taken the reins of government into his
own hand, he was careful never to employ, in
any department, men whom the French, in
their laudable pride, could only countenance
with repugnance.
" But if Lewis XIV. knew how to preserve
his government from the scourge of the influ
ence of strangers, the regent unfortunately suf
fered himself to be seduced by the projects of
a Scotchman, whom wiser kings had had the
caution to get rid of. Law, overturning the
system of our finances to establish his own,
introducing ideas into France that were foreign
to an administration, whose method had served
to bring about all the prodigies of the reign of
Lewis XIV., is a great lesson for this kingdom.
That adventurer is an example, that, for a long
time, will exhibit to France the danger of inno
vations in the finances, sincq he overwhelmed
private fortunes, which are the necessary and
essential riches of your majesty, in the vortex of
his projects.
" These three revolutions, which have hap
pened in France under the august house of
Bourbon, w-ere, therefore, brought about by

143
foreigners. A French administrator is not
born with so much audacity. Some considera
tion is due to his family : he is tied to it, and
his prosperity is situated in France. -The
foreigner, on the contrary, admitted into the
government, has something of the adventurer
about him, which is displeasing to Frenchmen;
and, although the power of the king is absolute,
the state must find its' interest in not employing
it uselessly, for the maintenance ofthe ambition
or the plans of a stranger, called to the admini
stration against the consent of the people. The
royal authority, by great prudence and address-
may be able, undoubtedly, to support its agents
and ministers, in spite of clamours and com
plaints ; but the uncertainty and danger of the
consequences of such disputes fhould be well
calculated by a government that endeavours to
make foresight one of its maxims, and, I will
even add, one of its principal duties.
" Mr. Necker, finding himself a stranger to
the maxims and customs of this state, certainly
prepared, without knowing or wishing it, some
events which are dangerous in the actual state
of affairs. Your majesty, by reflecting on the
unhappy situation of your ancestors, sometimes
tormented by the power of an opulent clergy,
independent ofthe state and subject to a foreign
sovereign, and sometimes by the usurped power

144
of the principal feudatories, enjoys a tranquillity
established bv the long experience of your
ancestors, and bv the painful labours of the
creat ministers who have succeeded in esta-
blishing subordination and public respect in
France. There now remains neither clergy, nor
nobility, nor third estate in France; the distinc
tion is fictitious, merely representative, and
without any real authority. The monarch
speaks ; all are reduced to a level ; all are
ready to obey. Is not France, in this state,
the arbitrator of her rights abroad, and ex
tremely flourishing: at home ?
" Mr. Necker does not appear to be satisfied
with this happy state. Our necessary evils,
and the abuses' derived from this position, are
monsters in his eyes : instead of seizing the
majestic combination of this harmony, he only
perceives its defects, and he forms thereon a
mass of evil, which he pretends to reform, and
thereby procure himself the fame of a Solon or
a Lycurgus. " Your majesty has commanded me to speak
freely : I obey. — A dispute is entered into between
the ancient government of France and the govern
ment of Mr. Necker. If his ideas prevail over
thosewhich long experiencehas consecrated, Mr.
Necker, with his Genevese and protestant plans,
like Law, Mazarin, and the Lorraine princes,

145
Will be ready to establish in France a system in
the finance, a confederacy in the state, or a mock
ery of the established administration. A system,
which overturns the order of property, from
whence the riches of the state are derived ;
a faction, which stirs up the three orders
of the state, one against the other ; or a
fronde, that will unite all of them against the
administrative power, which had made them
satisfied and tractable. Such is the character
of the inhabitants in France, that it is necessary
to profess the religion of the state, to insure
the submission of the people and the confi
dence of the great. It is necessary to be born
of a distinguished race, or at least to profess
the received principles to which a long experi
ence has attached the hope of the people,
in order to manage with effect the affairs
of the king. Mr. Necker, on the contrary,
has conducted his administration in such a
manner, so contrary to his predecessors, that
at this moment he is suspected by the clergy,
1 is odious to the great men of the state,
detested beyond measure by the high finance,
and despised by the magistracy. His Compte
rendu is, in fact, nothing more than an ap
peal to the people, the pernicious effects of
which, to the monarchy, cannot yet be felt nor
foreseen. Mr. Necker, it is true, has deserved
vol. iv. _.

145
the splendid eulogiums of philosophy, and of
the innovators ofthe present day; but your ma
jesty has appreciated, for some time past, the
merit and character of this support. Mr. Necker
is also applauded by all those who entertain
the consolatory idea, that he will institute no
more imposts. But your majesty has already
equally formed an'opinion of this resource. It
is evident, that if the present age be exempt
from any forced contribution, the plans of Mr.
Necker must oppress that which is to come.
And what a prospect is this, sire ? how afflict
ing to examine it ! It is that of a state involved
in debts of established taxes, involved in debts
of interest accumulated annually by Mr. Necker,
sinking into the fatal situation, which it is
not permitted me to describe, your majesty's
delicacy and justice having proscribed it from
the moment of your ascension to the throne.
Such, sire, must be the result of an administra
tion entirely occupied in enforcing the system
of loans, and depreciating the system of im
posts. " As to his Compte rendu, sire, I shall con
fine my observations to the seventh paragraph
of that work, to demonstrate, in a plain man
ner, how strange and pernicious the person
and works of Mr. Necker ought to appear to

&¦

ippc

every honest administrator of the state.

147
" Mr. Necker asserts, that the state has con
stantly made a mystery of the situation of the
finances. He says, that our kings have only
spoken of them in the preambles of their edicts;
he advances, that their orders have lost all au
thority; he affirms, that experienced men no
longer believe in it ; and, that the moral character
ofthe minister of the finances is become the
only safeguard of the monarch. Mr. Necker,
in consequence, proposes to found the confidence
of the people on a more solid basis ; he asserts,
that advantage has been taken of the veil
thrown over the finance, to obtain, in the bosom
of disorder, a credit that the state did not merit.
He says, that when a state is in confusion, the
publicity of accounts becomes useful ; and he
assures us, that when a man of his character has
solicited for an examination of his accounts,
no one after him can be offended by submitting
to the rule.
" Suppositions so strange, appear to me to
merit your majesty's very particular attention.
It is certain that -'twenty-thousand copies of
the Compte rendu are at this moment disposed
of. Thus, twenty-thousand Frenchmen, who
are desirous of being acquainted with your
majesty's affairs, are informed, that the king's
word is considered as void, in the preamble of
the edicts, by his present minister ofthe finances.
1,2

149
It is said, that, in every part of France, expe
rienced men no longer believe in the royal word,
and that the moral character of the minister is
the only safeguard of the state. No, sire, — and
it is not a sentiment of flattery that animates
me, — it is not the virtue of Mr. Necker that
procured your majesty the sums which the
lenders have advanced since your majesty's ac
cession to the throne ; it is to the monarch, so
remarkable for his delicacy and probity, it is, I
dare assert, to you alone. Mr. Necker has
only obtained just and clamorous censures on
the shameful and unfair manner of his loans.
He will not be able to persuade France, that he
is your majesty's only and ulterior security. He
will nourish the malignity of the small number
of disaffected, by declaring, that the state in
disorder was not deserving of credit ; but I am
well assured both of the national character and
of the devotion of Frenchmen. If the events of
the last reign have fatigued them, the new reign
has revived every sentiment of loyalty. The
example of England, where the national ac
counts are made public, is that of a restless,
plodding, and selfish people. His comparison
is an insult to the French character, which
is generous, unsuspecting, and entirely devoted
to the regal authority. All is lost in France, if
your majesty suffer your ministers to cite the

149
English administration, to which your prede
cessors, sire, have shown so strong and just an
aversion. I shall carry my animadversions: no
further on the abhorrence which Mr. Necker has
testified to the administration which he found
established in his department. I leave your
majesty to reflect on the observations you have
commanded me to make on the contradiction
of the principles and measures of Mr. Necker,
with the measures and principles which have
made this kingdom the most powerful and the
most important European monarchy that exists.
Experience and facts attest what we have been,
and what we now are ; and, if Mr. Necker can
ascertain what we shall be, I cannot see therein
an equivalent certainty.
" I can venture to assert, without fear of de
ceiving your majesty, that the state to this day
has never been insulted but in the writings
of the disaffected, who are hired for the pur
pose of defamation, or to whom nature has
given a sour and unhappy disposition. It is,
therefore, a new and remarkable occurrence in
our history, that Mr. Necker should appeal to
the public opinion, that, under a gracious king,
under a monarch who is the friend of his people,
the minister of the finances should become the
only security, the only guarantee, by his virtues,
for the lenders and for the enlightened people

150
who watch the government. Your majesty will
be a long time in healing the wound, inflicted
on the dignity of the throne by the very person
established by the state to protect it, and to
make it respected by the people."

151

CHAP. XIX.
Situation of Mr. Necker at Court, after the Dismissal of M. de
Sartines, and after the Publication of the ' Compte rendu ' —
How the Storm that menaced him was momentarily raised —
He continues to be reproached by the Courtiers, the Parlia
ments, the Party, of M. de Maurepas, the Intendants of Pro
vinces, and the High Finance — Nomenclature of the Ladies and
Noblemen of the Court isho were ' Partisans of, his Admini
stration, — Character of the Ladies de Grammont, the Countess
of Brionnc, the Princess of Beauvau, the Countess of Tessc,
Madame de Blot, Madame de Chalons, and the Countess of
Simiane. — Fury of the Friends and Enemies of Mr. Necker on
• his Account — Agitation of the divided Minds — Horoscope of
France, on Mr. Necker, presented to Lewis XVI.
_L HE opposition raised againt Mr. Necker
before the publication of the Compte rendu
had been turbulent. The publication of that
work inflamed his friends and enemies. Re
proaches were heard on every side ; personalities
on his birth, and calumnies against his probity,
re-commenced. They printed and reprinted,
that he arrived from Geneva with only fifty
crowns ; they reported, that he became cash-
keeper to a banker, and that he had made a

132
great fortune by stock-jobbing. On a similar
occasion, the archbishop of Narbonne, president-
born of the states of Languedoc, had taken the
liberty to reproach Flechier, bishop of Nismes,
who was in open opposition to him in the
council of the states, with being the son of a
tallow-chandler : " If your father had been a
tallowy-chandler," replied Flechier, " like mine,
you would have been a candle-maker to this
day." Mr. Necker was reproached with things of
another nature.
" M. Turgot," said they, " being nominated
minister ofthe finances bv Lewis XVI., engaged
every one's attention ; when Mr. Necker, am
bitious and jealous, forgot the protection he
had experienced from Turgot, broke off his
ancient connexion with him, publishes his book
on corn to oppose that minister, and, in a mo
ment ot revolution, rings against him the alarm-
bell. " This alarm-bell, which might have con
ducted Mr. Necker to the Bastille, opened to
him the gates of the administration. Every
thmg, however, seemed calculated to exclude
him; his origin, his situation, and his religion;
but he surmounted all obstacles. M. Turgot
being dismissed, the Genevese banker undertook
to prove that his successor, M, de Clugny, cal-

153
culated ill the state of the finances, and that he
was not acquainted with the resources ; he as
serted, that he was himself alone capable of find
ing them ; he said it, and he was believed, To
get a protestant into the administration, a new
road was contrived. In confiding to him the
principal functions, they gave the title to M. de
Taboureau. This participation displeased him ;
he gets rid of Taboureau, a phantom of a con
troller-general, by whom he found himself em
barrassed, and he nowr becomes sole admini
strator of our finances.
" A banker, invested suddenly with an em
ployment, to which, for the most part, he was a
Stranger . . . . ; a foreigner preferred to the king's
subjects . . . . ; a protestant entrusted with the
most important administration, in a kingdorn
where protestants are excluded from the most
trifling employments, is a strange caprice ! . . . ,
France has found such effects from trusting to
foreigners, as she cannot soon forget, What
appears most singular, is, the manner by which
Mr. Necker has blinded the French nation
since his coming into office, and by which he
has inspired enthusiasm in the people ; for, in
the end, what has he done ? He has caused
suppressions without reimbursements, reforms
without profit, and loans without measure :
herein is he admired. To assist the bankers, he

154
crushes a whole class of citizens,, the financiers,
and distresses an infinite number of families .-
this is confidered quite charming. He attacks
their property, and abolishes their purchased
employments : no matter, it is only the property
of financiers. He strikes at the reputation of
those he has pillaged ; first he defames them,
afterwards completes their destruction, and
pity is extinguished bv the cries of infatuation.
He annihilates intermediate credit ; he reduces
the resources of France to banking systems ;
and concentrating credit in the minister of
the finances alone, he reduces the- state to his
own mercy; he creates for himself an unlimited
power on the ruin of credit, and all the authori
ties of finance. This is a profound policy,
which is admired, and of which the effects are
not doubted. If he should attain, in the end,
the summit of his projects, some greater things
will be produced. In the mean time he works
the greatest miracles. Without taxation, he
provides for all the expences of war; not re
flecting, that by collecting the money of the
people, whether it be by accumulated loans, or
by the clandestine augmentation of the ancient
levies, be still, in reality, imposes. To increase
annuities in a great degree, is much worse
than levying on the revenues ; the former absorbs
the funds, and burdens future generations.

155
Mr. Necker is aware, that a fickle nation is
easily seduced by appearances ; he is aware,
that to bring over the people, it is necessary to
flatter their propensities, and espouse their com
plaints. No one ever made use of this method
with more address ; no person ever derived so
much advantage from the academic style, to
penetrate into the acts of administration, and
into the means of supply. These are the causes
of present admiration. We are shocked at the
egotism which Mr. Necker manifests in his late
publication. M. de Maurepas, to whom he is
indebted for his preferment, is reduced therein
to an absolute nullity ; he speaks to the king of
France in a severe and dogmatic style, and his
arrogance gives to his manner an appearance of
greatness of soul, which, at the present day, is
much more pleasing to France than the modesty
of former times ; but this tone of self-sufficiency
has not been pleasing to the king.
" As early as the year 1778, Mr. Necker had
put into the hands ofthe king, one of his learned
works on the establishment of provincial admi
nistrations. In this manuscript, he mal-treated
the nobility and clergy ; he menaced the exist
ence of the state-countries, attacked the parlia
ments, and turned the intendants of provinces
into ridicule. The parliaments were accused of
ignorance, and of very suspicious intentions;

156
they had neither knowledge, nor inclination, to
promote the welfare ofthe state ; the provincial
assemblies would be the means of dispensing
with the sanctions, and registering of the supply
acts ; they were, in the hands of Mr. Necker,
the first step towards the reformation of the
state. The work was adapted to raise the fury
of the magistracy. They perceived therein,
with dismay, presages of the subversion of the
actual forms ofthe monarchy ; they trembled at
the criminal views of this foreigner, convicted,
by his writings, of having calumniated the whole
magistracy, of inspiring a young prince with a
bad opinion of his subjects and all the orders,
and of aspiring to the total overthrow of the
monarchy. It is impossible for them to find a
more singular phasnomenon in morality, or one,
in the examination of the causes of which we
could be more interested.
" The publication of the work, against the
will of Mr. Necker, disconcerted him, and he
talked of resigning. To deny the writing of it,
might displease the king, who was in possession
of the original. To accuse M. de Maurepas with
having published it, in order to incense the
three orders of the state against Mr. Necker,
was a dangerous measure. He and his council
resolved, therefore, to brave the tempest, to
distribute the publication, and to exalt it so

157
high, that Gensure could not affect it. This
method was feeding Mr. Necker's passion for
celebrity. M.de Maurepas had no alternative.
He had to sustain the shock of the incensed
magistracy, or to sacrifice the minister of the
finances to his resentment. Mr. Necker was
determined to throw into the enemy's camp the
bomb by which he was threatened. It had the
desired effect : the memorial on the provin
cial administrations was praised up to the
skies, and procured its author the names of
Solon, Lycurgus, and restorer of France. The
ancient administration was rendered despicable,
the courts of justice were insulted, and the first
orders of the state were accused of corruption ;
while the principles of the work tended in one
respect to despotism, and in another to anarchy.
Nothing more was wanting to produce the
phrensy and delirium of the partisans of the
novelties Mr. Necker had propagated in France.
Even the Compte rendu was eclipsed. M. de
Castries had told the queen, that the welfare of
the state was inseparable from the fate of Mr.
Necker, and that every thing was lost, if he
should become the victim of the calumnies of
his enemies. The minister of the marine had
even solicited that princess to animate the reso
lution of Mr. Necker by some public testimony
of favour. The duchess of Polignac, who was

158
asked to mention it to Maria Antoinctta, an
swered, that she would never advise the queen
to give her opinion in such delicate affairs ;
but M. Adhemard, who possessed the queen's
confidence, together with the prince of Poix,
inflamed with zeal for Mr. Necker, as well as the
house of Noailles, united themselves Jo support
him against the new attacks brought on by the
infidelity ot the editor of the memorial.
" Under the reign of the late king, the royal fa
mily, rigid observers of etiquette, did not suffer
any one to speak ofthe interior affairs ofthe king's
household. Not even the princes dared to inter
meddle with concerns of that nature; and the
most i~a\ oured courtiers were not allowed to talk
to the king or queen of the administration. A
greater liberty has since broken these trammels,
and, undoubtedly, the cause of truth is thereby
promoted ; but it may also happen, that the cour
tiers, who are bad judges ofthe affairs of admi
nistration, may deceive the monarch, and influ
ence the government. It was thus that the
queen's attendants persuaded her to give Mr.
Necker some public marks of attention, which
he communicated to his confidants, and they
spread them about with great exaggeration. It
was the queen that -prevented M. de Maurepas
irom taking a decisive part against the director-
general ; and who knows but it was the queen

159
likewise who induced the king to pacify the
first president of the parliament, at the time of
the tempest occasioned by the publication of the
book on administrations, which abused and vili
fied the whole of the magistracy. .
" Much was wanting, nevertheless, to render
Mr. Necker's party very strong. In the class of
his true friends, we find the bankers interested
in the profit of his operations ; we find also the
protestants, and some incredulous bishops, who,
for the first time, were united in this party. At
court we may reckon the Noailles, and all those
who are born friends of placemen. After these
remarkable personages, come the dupes, the il-
luminati, the provincials, and the admirers of
the grand words, beneficence, reform, restoration,
comfort of the people, and liberty. We find at
their heels the literctti, the abbe Raynal for in
stance, the periodical writers, the hired ap-
plauders, and some ambitious followers.
" We ought to place at the. head of these
latter, the archbishop of Toulouse, who, without
possessing much esteem for the minister of the
finances, become his partisan, because, per
ceiving that he was almost at his last shift, he
liked him better than another in the place
which he himself coveted, as the mean of
aspiring to the rank of Richelieu, Mazarin, and

160
Fleury. By the side of Lomenie was observed
the abbe de Vermont.
" The duke of Choiseul is among the num
ber of Mr. Necker's friends, for the following
reasons. Mr. Necker finding him to be the
leader of the queen's party, gave him to under
stand, that he promoted his interest with the
king, by representing the affairs of his admini
stration in a favourable manner. M. de Choi
seul, on his part, finds in Mr. Necker a man
capable, by his talents, to sap the prepondera
ting credit of M. de Maurepas, who was the
principle obstacle of his return to the power
which he regretted. M. de Choiseul, therefore,
induces the courtiers of his party to espouse the
cause of Mr. Necker at court.
" The marquis of Castries publicly avowed
himself Mr. Necker's defender, because he en
deavoured to make him minister. His devotion
seerhs compulsory ; for it was less from grati
tude, than from an idea of making him a step to
future greatness.
" Exactly from the same motives, Mr. Necker
was protected by the duke of Duchatelet.
Mr. Necker had promised to recommend him
to the department of war, or that of foreign af
fairs. Since places in the adminbtration have
been granted to the principal nobility, each of

101
them endeavours to show himself active in mi
nisterial affairs, and Mr. Necker is become the
focus of their intrigues. The prince of Beau-
vau, who has the administration of Paris in
view, or else a place in the council, is faithful
to Mr. Necker. The same idea has attached
M.d'Adhemar. " He would not have found so many friends
previous to M. de Sartine's dismissal. It had
been supposed, that M. de Maurepas, the old
Mentor, disposed of the administrations ; but
the late dismissals had enhanced the conse
quence of the director ofthe finances, and those
who were seeking employments prostrated
themselves before the man who was become ca
pable of making and discarding ministers.
They all at once ranged themselves with zeal
under his banners ; and guessing at his disposi
tion towards M. de Maurepas, Doivn zoith Men
tor ! was the war-hoop of the party.
" It was not because Maurepas was disliked.
Amiable in society, intelligent in business, and
accessible -to every one, he had done all the
good in his power ; but he had been too long in
possession of an employment which others
desired to occupy ; and Mr. Necker was looked
upon as the instrument to accomplish his fall.
The imperious and intriguing duchess of Gram
mont had entered the ranks; for, not being
vol. iv. - M

162
able to forget the supreme rank from which
madame Dubarrv had precipitated her, she was-in
hopes, by means of confusion, to soar again into
favour. " Next to her was the arrogant countess of
Brionne, who, as well as the former, kept the
opinions ofthe society in awe by her imposing
style of behaviour, as the princess of Beauvau
did by the brilliancy of her wit, and the countess
of Montesson by every seduction of art.
" On another side, among the less important
ranks, the enthusiastic countess of Terray ex
erted herself to make proselytes for Mr. Necker.
Farther on, madame de Blot, mistress to M. de
Castries, displayed her sentimentaljargon. The
countess of Chalons induces her lover to support
one whom he despises ; and the princess d'Hen-
nin, who is at the head of every kind of intrigue,
.never ceases to applaud the philosophic, mi
nister. " The countess of Simiahe, the marchioness of
Coignv, the princess of Poix, and many others,
are emulous to exalt him ; they hunt for new
discoveries, spread and gather reports, confirm
news, and distribute their orders to petits-maitres
and abbts, who are continually employed in
dancing attendance, and gossipping ; so much
were they anxious to dignify public opinion.
Snch is the organisation of the ground-work,

163
of so many heterogeneous interests in favour of
Mr. Necker in France ; and these are its secret
causes and springs. Flence [he rises trium
phant at the critical moment which seemed to
threaten him with destruction. He supposed,
that he was now sure of the king; he imagined,
that he had escaped the vigilance of the octo-
genary Argus ; and his friends exclaimed, with
exultation, Maurepas will be duped I
" Unfortunately, the English termed him,
their last and faithful ally o?i the continent.
Thus, instead of becoming master of ithe king
dom, as he had flattered himself, the other party
asserted, that he would soon return to Geneva.:
In the concurrence of two dismissals, that of M.
de Maurepas, and that of Mr. Necker, the latter
was the most probable. His lately-acquired
triumph could not be of long duration. France
must soon perceive the illusion of his magical
representations, and open her eyes to the dis
order and faction which the art of necromancy
must necessarily produce. The fury of his
friends, and that of his enemies, struck him the
first blow. Sacerdotal fanaticism, the implaca
ble resentment of the insulted magistracy, the
combination of twelve parliaments, their union
with the council, the two contrary impressions
produced by the memorial on the provincial
administrations, in which were found, in favour
M 2

164
of one party, the hope of a despotic power, and
of the other, that of republican principles ; the
strong agitation which resulted from them ; the
heat of the people's imagination ; the encou
ragement of their murmurs against actual impo
sitions ; the future difficulty of causing the ad
ministration to be respected, after having con
signed it to public censure ; and the embarrass
ment of Mr. Necker himself, when the re
sources derived from loans should be exhausted,
or when he should be necessitated to have
fecourse to others which he has condemned ;
all these circumstances seemed to be the true
box of Pandora."
Such were the complaints of the parliaments,
courtiers, ministers, and intendants of provinces,
against Mr. Necker ; and such were their pro
phecies on what would happen to us.
In reality, each operation of the director-
general successively demolished the most essen
tial parts of the political edifice of the house ot
Bourbon. A French cardinal had planned and
built it ; a Genevese destroyed it.
Mr. Necker, at the time of his coming to the
administration, said, that he did not accept it
with the intention of having recourse to the
measures of Richelieu or Mazarin. By de
claring, that he would not preserve an esta
blished government, according to anterior regu-

165
lations, he has incurred the severest reproaches
from the friends of a government which he has
contributed to ruin, and from the citizens who
have suffered from that to which he has brought
us. Instead of punishing abuses in his depart
ment, he overturns the institutions ; and such
institutions as had made the French the most in
dustrious people on earth, and which every na
tion endeavoured to imitate. He discredited
and abased, by degrees, every means' of power
in the house of Bourbon, to gratify himself in
causing a revolution, and obtaining the title of
restorer of France. We cannot, therefore, be
surprised at finding such vigorous opposition to
his audacious destructions. Instead of curbing
his career of reformation, he defied the storm
that was raised against him, and persevered in
his designs.

166

CHAP. XX.
Situation of Madame Necker at this Conjuncture — Her Cha
racter, tier Virtues, her Pi.ty, and her Charily ; she exerts
herself to relieve the Distresses of the Poor— She alleviates
the Sufferings of the Count de Lautrec — The Answer to the
Pamphlet published against her Husband is attributed to her.
—She refutes tlie Objections to his Administration.
JLTI5T0RY ought not to overlook the conduct
of madame Necker at this conjuncture. The
virtue, modesty, and talents of mademoiselle
Curchaut having attracted the attention of Mr.
Necker, these two Genevese were united in
the bands of matrimony ; and there never was
a more edifying and happy alliance. It was
founded on mutual esteem, virtue, and the most
distinguished talents. This happy pair was men
tioned at Paris as an example of conjugal friend
ship. But how different were their virtues
from the manners of the capital and the age in
which they lived ! Their happiness was treated
at court as an object of derision. They were
never spoken of with common decency, but in the
houses of tradesmen, or in some particular fa-

167
milies, where virtue still was held in some esti
mation ; so depraved were the general manners
ofthe times.
To virtue and talents, madame Necker united
the ardent piety of protestant women. " Her
name," said Mr. Necker to Lewis XVI., (per
haps the only person at court capable of dis
cerning her merit) " her name is known, and
often invoked, in the most dreary abode of suf
fering humanity." It is not surprising, there
fore, that her name was unknown in a vicious
court, and even become odious to the great.
In 1778 she exhibited a manifest instance of
sensibility ; and proved, that she was the only
person in France that could regard with com
passion the sufferings of a principal nobleman,
who had been confined for twenty-eight years
in the castle of Ham in Picardy. The count
de Lautrec, a captain of dragoons, hardly re
tained the human form, was almost naked in
his dungeon, accompanied only by rats, wear
ing a prodigious long beard, which had united
with the hair of his head, and almost devoured
by vermin. She ameliorated the situation of
his person, and induced the king to augment
his allowance.
Her solicitude for the success of her husband
increased in proportion to the animosity of the
two parties. She was said to be author of a

168
pamphlet, of which the king possessed a cnpy,
wherein she answers the accusations and com
plaints exhibited against him; and particularly
addresses herself to the author of M. TurgoCs
Letter to Mr. Necker.
" It is not without difficulty, sir, that I have
been able to procure a copy of vour letter to
Mr. Necker. Far distant from the capital, it
Avould have been almost impossible for me to
have suc^eded, if you had not taken the pre
caution to distribute them in the provinces. I
had heard it spoken of as a libel, and I perceive
that I am not mistaken.
" Perfectly persuaded that M. Turgot is inca
pable of publishing, or even of imagining, such
nonsense, it is not to him that I address my
self; but to you, M. Anonymous.
" Mr. Necker has treated with contempt the
invectives which you have so liberally bestowed
on him. The police have committed only two
of the distributors of your long epistle to the
Fort Ev'aue. As to yourself, I beljeve your
place will be at Cnarenton. Do not imagine
that thev will do you the honour to send you to
the IY tille.
" I am inclined to believe, that you are one of
the discarded receivers ; and I am afraid, that,
having neglected to balance every day, you
will find some deficit in your accounts, which

169
will prevent you from receiving the reimburse
ment of your employment.
" It is, therefore, not to be wondered at, that
you advise a minister of the finances to leave to
his clerks the management of the accounts and
registers, which you look upon as only the ru
diments ofthe profession.
" You say that Mr. Necker c has a strange
aversion to the magistrates.' Why do you wish
to include them in your quarrel ? Perhaps you
suppose that you may soon have occasion for
their indulgence ; but let me advise you, if you
fall into their hands, not to believe they will be
more favourable to you for having so warmly
espoused their party, or that they will screen
you from the punishment you may have de
served. What have magistrates to do with
financiers, if it be not to punish them for their
malversation ?
" ' He cannot love the monarchy,' you say,
* because he is a banker, and connected with
bankers,' This is your principle. Messrs. Beau-
jon and de Laborde have been bankers ; ask
them if that title made them hate the mon
archy. " These bankers, whom you so much despise,
have nevertheless advanced their. money for the
equipment of above three hundred ships, which
have, during the whole year, kept our enemies

J70
in continual alarm. They have received no in
terest for this money : — Would you have done as
much ? You say they are navy-contractors, and
not bankers ; but there is not one of these con
tractors who is not a banker ; and if I had
money to put out, I should think it quite as
safe with them as with you.
" Do not you imagine that these contractors,
or bankers, whichever you please to call them,
who by their signatures make themselves re
spected from one end of the earth to the other,
are as good as a farmer-general or a receiver ?
They are honest people, who do not despise the
persons they employ, and make quite as good a
use of their riches as financiers of your descrip
tion. " Without endeavouring to examine into the
birth of Mr. Necker, and without prying into
the causes of his fortune, I know that he was
charged at the court of France with the affairs
of his republic ; that, consequently, he possessed
a very respectable character, which gave him
access to many persons to whom you could with
great difficulty have procured admission. You
are ignorant, without doubt, that, in the re
public of Geneva, the son of a magistrate re
mains unknown in the crowd, unless, by his
personal merit, he can obtain distinction, and
that neither nobility nor riches can procure him

171
rank or prerogative sufficient to advance him to
public employments ; that critics are there parti
cularly forbidden ; that employments are not
lucrative ; that having nothing to excite cu
pidity, they can only tempt noble minds, by the
importance which is attached to them. Exa
mine yourself, and reflect what you would be
in such a republic.
" Let us come to the suppressions which you
take so much to heart. You say, that Mr.
Necker found his plans in the port-folios of
his predecessors ; you say, that yob are very far
from thinking, that princes and considerable
men would have wished to find obstacles to re
forms that were likely to promote the comfort
of the state ; and you exclaim against these re
forms, because you pretend that they have been
made without their co-operation. But who has
told you so ? Ought you to have been called
when the minister or the king concerted with
them on the subject ?
" Why do you wish that our august queen
should not likewise voluntarily contribute to re
lieve the burdens of the state, in whom we have
constantly observed so many acts of beneficence ?
What matters it to her from whom she receives her
money? According to your representation, the
suppression of her treasurer may be attended
with very dangerous consequences. Suffer her

172
to imitate her honoured mother; and do not
suppose that your reflexions can disturb her
happiness with her august husband.
" I sincerely believe that the reduction of the
immense profits of farmers-general is not satis
factory to them; but I am well persuaded that
Mr. Necker has not reckoned on their approba
tion. " And what moment do you take to assert
such nonsense ? The moment in which the
clergy are granting a gratuitous gift to the king,
more considerable than any that have been
hitherto required of them ; the moment in
which the loan had been filled up as soon
as opened ; which proves, that they do not
believe in the ruin of his credit. Are you
of opinion, that the hospitals should be pos
sessed of lands rendering at most three per cent,
which they acquire with money thev get from
the sinking funds at ten per cent, for every age
indiscriminately ? This must lead them on to
bankruptcy, like that of Toulouse, twent;, -five
years ago, which was ruined by an attempt to
rebuild it.
" Instead of inventing every kind of abuse
against madame Necker, why do not you admire
her, with tbe public, and even with the clergy
who contribute to her good works ? Why do
you not admire the pains she takes for the com-

173
fort of the sick pdor, and the attentions they
receive from her in the new hospitals established
by our beneficent monarch, who extends his
paternal cares to those asylums, which, having
only one person in a bed, cost less than superb
palaces, where we often see the dead con
founded with the dying ?
" And what inconvenience do you find in
protestants being permitted to enjoy a civil con
sistence ? I do not mean granting them the
public exerqise of their religion, although the
Jews are allowed synagogues ; but by suffering
them to live peaceably, and endeavouring to
convince them, by virtue and persuasion, ofthe
errors in which they have had the misfortune
to be born ; in fine, to give their union the same
civil consistence as the catholics are allowed in
protestant countries.
" How could you have ventured to go so far
respecting M. de Maurepas ? Tremble lest the
tender and sincere heart of our young monarch,
whose choice you insult, should find some one
to make him sensible of the indecency with
which you treat that minister, who, from the
time of his majesty's accession to the throne, he
has justly honoured with his confidence."
Mr. Necker partook of the generous senti
ments of his wife. Perceiving some probability
of quitting his employment, he was not willing

174
to retire without having performed an act of
charity towards' the miserable sufferers in the
hospitals. By an edict ofthe king, ofthe 11th
of Ma)-, it was resolved, that the beds thence
forward should contain no more than one sick
person. He had before introduced a system
of amelioration in favour ofthe unfortunate ; he
had extended his views to the remotest recesses
of prisons, and shown his compassion towards
criminals condemned to afflictive penalties. He
washed that the prince, after having ordained
the chastisement, should preserve pity at the
bottom of his heart : the egotists, who looked
upon criminals as strangers to human-nature,
and who imagined that they might still be tor
mented in the name of justice, he termed savage
men : and he carried his attention so far, as to
endeavour to concede indemnities to citizens
accused of criminal matters, and proved inno
cent. A similar law was practised at Geneva.
But these sentiments of humanity, the zeal of
madameNecker, and her justificatory publication,
instead of softening her enemies, seemed but
to revive their resentment against him. The
most opposite parties united to accomplish more
completely his destruction.

175

CHAP. XXI.
Of England at the Epoch of the precursory Signs of tlie Fall of
Mr. Neckr.r — Opinions in the English House of Commons on
his Administration — Ills Enemies in France produce Debates in
order to injure him, which they themselves cause to be printed
in the London Newspapers.

T is curious to hear the English on Mr,
Necker's administration at this conjuncture. The
opinion of Mr. Burke, one of the ablest orators
of the opposition, caused a great sensation in
France, particularly • as we were at war with
England, and as Mr. Burke was no friend

o
to US.

" By economy," said Mr. Burke, "Lewis XVI.
has found sufficient resources to sustain the war.
In the two first years of it, he has laid no bur
den whatever on his people. The third year is
arrived; still no talk of imposts; and I be
lieve, that even those which are common in
time of war have not been laid on. I con
ceive, that, in the end, France must have re
course to imposts ; but those three years saved
will extend their benign influence through
a whole age. The French people feel the

176
happiness of having an economical master and
economical ministers ; economy has induced
that momi, h rather to retrench his own splen
dor than the subsistence ot his people. In
the suppression of a great number of places,
he has found a resource to continue the war,
without adding to his expences. He has de
spoiled liimself of the magnificence and purple
of royalty ;• but he has established a navy; he
has reduced the number of his household ser
vants, but lie has augmented the number of his
sailors ; he has given France such a navy as she
never before possessed, and which will immor
talise his reign ; and he has established it with
out Living on a penny of imposts. The people,
under his reign, are great, glorious, and formi
dable ; they do not groan under the burden of
expences to which our nation must submit, to
acquire greatness, and inspire fear. This is
true glory ; this is a reign which must raise the
name of Lewis XVI. above the boasted reign
of Henry IV. Lewis XVI., like a patriot king,
has exhibited great firmness in protecting Mr*
Necker, a foreigner, without support and with
out connexion at court, alone indebted for his
elevation to merit and the discernment of hi3
sovereign, who has been able to discover and
appreciate his talents. Here is a good example
to follow ; and, if we wish to conquer France,

177
it is with her own weapons that we must attack
her here ; it is with economy and reformation.'*
Mr. Necker's enemies, seeing what effect the
opinions of Mr. Burke produced in Frartce, op
posed them in the violent ministerial papers by-
contrary sentiments.
" We are not surprised," said they, " that the
English opposition are so loud in the praise of
Mr. Necker. This praise is but an indirect insult,
the sole end of which is to offend the ministers of
that country. We find in it nothing but an
envious comparison. The Opposition say not a
word about the multiplied violations of good
faith, which signalise Mr. Necker's admini
stration. They do not tell us that the honest
French minister, after having obtained from
the king, his master, the suppression of a great
number of offices, by promising reimbursements
in ready money, has easily effected the sup
pressions, but without any reimbursement, not
withstanding the faith of a solemn edict pub
lished by himself.
" They do not tell Us, that the humarte Mr.
Necker has forced different officers of finance
to lend, under pain of destitution, twenty-seven
millions to the state, at five per Cent interest ;
that he has forced the hospitals to sell their
lands, and to lend the produce to the public ;
that he has laid an annual and vexatious impo-
VOL, iv. N

178
sition on aU the tenants of domains and forests;
that he has augmented the poll-tax and land-
tax, without the sanction of the law ; that the
wise and skilful Mr. Necker has sold everv
branch of the revenue, during eight years, for
that of six years ; that he has, with the same
wisdom and foresight, anticipated the free re
venue of the state, at least for more than ten
months, with the assistance of bankers and
financiers, of different denominations. Thev
do not tell us, that he has assisted the most in
famous lottery, in which the king pavs a hun
dred livres with two livres ten sols ; nor that
they draw it every fifteen davs at Paris, for the
more direct ruin of the manners and substance
of the people. All these things, and several
others, which have marked with infamy the
administration of Mr. Necker, have been passed
over in silence by the orators of the English
opposition. We know their motives ; but, in ob
serving ministers silent on the subject, it was to us
a great object of surprise, till we discovered by
what means the great man was attached to our
interests ; however, we ought not in this in
stance to discover these curious and secret par
ticulars, for fear of injuring our last and most
faithful ally on the continent.
" Mr. Necker's economy of supplies, is the
true cause of the very steady nullity of the ef-

179
forts of the French in the war. It is what pre
vented them from sending money to the Ame
ricans. It is to this economy that we are in
debted for the revolt of Washington's army,
and the number of mistakes made in the coun
cils and by the arms of France since the com
mencement of the war. Suffer then the English
opposition and administration to unite in praise
of Mr. Necker, as long as France will believe
him, by our united testimony, an honest, skil
ful, and virtuous man ; suffer-France to forget,
that this man has made his fortune by ruining
the India Company, whose interest he pre
tended to promote. Let them remain blind to
his arrogance, his deceptions, and his impo?
sitions of every kind ; and let them advance,
in derision of truth, that Mr. Necker is not an
empiric. All this he deserves from us ; for, in
fact, Mr. Necker is our best friend.
" May he, then, long continue to disgrace
and degrade the councils of our enemies, and
to blunt the points of their hostile darts when
employed against our country!"

n2

ISP

CHAP. XXII.
Representation ofthe Increase and Multiplication ofthe Opposi
tions against the Administration of Mr. Necker. — The Fi
nance, the Administration, the Parliaments, the superior
Clergy, and the high Nobility, oppose his Measures.

e coura-

W E are now come to the time of th
geous resistance of the director of the finances
against the regime of the monarchy. We are
arrived at the last period of the contests be
tween liberty and despotism. Cromot and
Bourboulon, directors of the finances of Mon
sieur and the count d'Artois, redoubled their
activity against Mr. Necker. M. de Maurepas
no longer deprives himself of a bon mot. M.
de Vergennes, an inveterate and secret enemy
of the principles and plans of the Genevese mi
nister, is preparing for him, in silence, the de
cisive blow ; but he is not too hasty with it ;
he never mentions it ; and it was because he
had not the manners of a passionate man, like
M. de Maurepas, that Lewis XVI. was obliged
to address himself to him, to obtain an opinion
of the director-general.
Mr. Necker, on his part, was too proud, too

181
much above intrigue, and too well persuaded of
the wisdom and justice of his projects, to aban
don them. The fury of his enemies, which re
doubled instead of abated, animated lus cou
rage, and heightened his ambition ; so that
now he solicited Lewis XVI. to make him mi
nister of state, in order to attain to the hierarchy
of power, to crush the murmurs and complaints
ofthe disaffected to his administration, and to
operate with more energy and eclat. He an
swered, by new suppressions, the pamphlets
and lampoons which the courtiers published
against him ; but M. de Maurepas, although
often obliged to support him in the end, ex
pressed himself with great warmth. In this com
bat Mr. Necker exhibited considerable energy
and talent; notwithstanding which, the strength
of his party decreased in proportion as he multi
plied the suppressions ; and, similar to M. Tur
got, he, in the end, had only a few individuals
remaining in his party. The corporations
and authorities manifested their dissatisfaction.
They fomented factions against him, to keep
pace with his suppressions, and permitted the
most glaring insults against his administration.
If he adopted a new measure of reformation, to
increase his popularity, he met with new oppo
sition to unite with the former..- Each subver
sive operation created a fresh kind of discontent,

183
and so on, according to the multiplication of re
forms in the department ofthe finances.
The nomination alone had set the friends of
M. Turgot against him. Since the year 1777,
Mr. Necker had been assailed by a shower of
pamphlets from that party ; so that his enemies
consisted, of the nobility he had abased, and
even of his emulators in reforming the old in
stitutions, who, like himself, were burning with
the fervour of patriotism, and the ardent desire to
promote the welfare of the state.
The suppression of the intendants of the fi
nances, the farmers-general, and the different
treasurers, together with the reduction of the
forty-eight receivers, excited against him the
resentment of the high and low finances. All
this party, with the exception of several who
were dependants, were inveterate against him.
The suppression of the receivers of the do
mains, and the revolution in the lottery admini
stration, and in the farm leases ; the reduction
of the power of the intendants, and the aboli
tion of the commercial ones; had, ih 1777, stirred
up against him the high and low administra
tion. The extension of the twentieths, by a single
letter, in the same year, occasioned the com
plaints of the magistrates, who were proprie
taries; thecxamination of alienated domains dis-

183
pleased a crowd of ancient favourites ; while fhe
suppression of reversions, and the reduction ox
abolition of employments, alienated: from. him
the court, and drew on him the ridicule of the
great, so strange to the director.'
His abuse of the parliaments irritated all the
sovereign courts. ** What is this adventurer;"
said Depremesnil, with great brutality;' in his
parliamentary debates, " What is this mounte
bank, who dares to challenge the patriotism of
the French magistracy, who dares to imagine
them lukewarm in their civil affections, and de
nounce them to a young king ?"
His publication of the Compte rendu, his re
quest to be made counsellor of state, and the
remarks on his administration, presented to the
king by M. de Vergennes, at length alienated
his friends in the administration ; so that Mr.
Necker had lost, in the month of May, 1781,
every support of the ministers. At that time he
was generally hated by all the agents of the
ancient regime, and by all their partisans . he
might say with M. Turgot, in a similar situa
tion, that nearly every party was armed against
him. Nevertheless, he had the partisans at court,
which we have already mentioned.
Among the clergy, the incredulous and fana
tic minority were devoted to him.

1S4
In the parliaments, some silent magistrates
perceived his good intentions.
..-In the high finance, several magistrates had
accepted employments, and were silent; but
others continued their sarcasms with increased
fury. Mr, Necker invoked public opinion under
these circumstances. It is time to come to this
opinion, and examine if the true public opinion
belonged to his party,

185

CHAP. XXIII.
History of public Opinion, cited on every Occasion by Mr.
Necker and his Partisans — It was established in the Oppo
sition, and formed it— It was the destructive Power of the
ancient Monarchical Institutions — /( mis-led the Nation.—
Doctrine of Mr. Necker on tlmt Subject,
XT was by the assistance of these two words,
public opinion, and by their magical virtue, that
Mr. Necker had dissolved all the parties of his
department, and even shook those ofthe edifice
of the monarchy* with which they were con
nected ; and no one thought it his business to
ask him in which body of the monarchy resided
this formidable opinion, which he called to his
relief, and which he supposed still existed, when
he lost the support ofthe corporations and insti
tutions. Was it, therefore, in the royal family, and in
the princes of the blood? The prince of Conde
appeared tolerant respecting it, and the family
of Orleans seemed favourable to Mr. Necker ;
but the rest employed all their credit to ruin him,
pn account pf the nature of his administration.

186
Was it among the clergy ? Its majority
looked upon him as a very dangerous, admini
strator. Was it even in philosophy, which terms itself
the supreme regulator of opinion ? The econo
mists, except Dupont, and some other indivi
duals, and the atheistical party of Condorcet,
retused him their applause, and even wrote
against him.
Was it among the nobility? in the parlia
ments ? in the administration ? . . . .Those orders
and bodies called him the scourge of the state.
He was at variance with the state, and its opi
nions. Mr. Necker had, notwithstanding, some
active, powerful, and audacious societies, ot
which I have already spoken ; they were ob
served to take his part with warmth, and in
flame themselves in his support, because, at all
events, this sort of opinion was the desire and
the doctrine ofthe discontented and formidable
opposition ; for, in every empire, it influences the
minds, character, and ideas of the people, and
particularly developes itself where the state is
neither imposing by its manner or power.
France had been the victim of it under every
weak and courteous monarch.
Mr. Necker, in Italy, would have termed
Jansenism public opinion.

187
In Spain, the reforming philosophic spirit would
have obtained that name.
In England, it would have been the opposi
tion. In Russia, the party of Moscow. In
Holland, the patriotic party ; and in Austria,
the party of Joseph II. at the death of the
vigilant Maria Theresa.
In France, Mr. Necker called public opinion
the domineering spirit of philosophy, the auda
city of disaffected and systematic men, and the
reign of innovation. The supposition alone of
this opinion being public, was a mortal blow to
the hierarchy and constitution of the state :
and it is in this point of view that the most
fanatic partisans of absolute authority talked of
conducting him to the Bastille, and of naming a
commission. Let us hear how Mr. Necker, in
his writings, spoke of public opinion, as the
first who adopted the term in the practical as
well as the theoretical part of the administra
tion. " It is necessary," says he, " to have a support
against the vacillations of ministers; and this
important support can only be acquired by the
progress of understanding, and the elastic force
of public opinion. The virtues are more tha«
ever at a loss for a public theatre, and it be
comes essential that public opinion should ani
mate the actors ; this opinion must therefore be

1S8
supported, it must be enlightened, it must be
called to the aid of ideas, which are requisite
for the happiness of mankind."
Mr. Necker wished the administration of
the finances to be the result of a series of reflexion.
In the anterior administrations he could dis
cover, that the ministers only lived in them as
if they were not present; that they sojourned
therein as if they were only in a place of pomp
and fortune ; and that they carried out of office
nothing more than the list of ungrateful and
disaffected men whom they had promoted.
These administrators were, for the greatest
part, without opinions applicable to their em
ployments, and were governed by a number of
clerks invested with their confidence.
His observations herein were just ; but it was
with such ministers that the state and its power
had been preserved in its integrity, until Mr.
Necker came to the administration ; while he
destroyed the authority which he had found
pure and inviolate.
" The spirit of society, the desire of respect
and flattery," says he again, " have erected a
tribunal in France, where all men that have
become conspicuous are obliged to appear :
there public opinion, as from the summit of a
throne, distributes prizes and croicns, and esta
blishes or destroys reputation. *

189
" When, under Lewis XIV., repose was
established, the empire of public opinion Was
but feeble. The great splendor which sur
rounded his throne had habituated the nation
to seek and acknowledge no other criterion
than the approbation of so great a king. Not
withstanding, the nation w^ts taught what it
ought to admire ; distinguished men, of every
description, were accustomed to the delicate
recompence of approbation and applause.
" Such oppositions must of course prepare
the empire of opinion ; nevertheless, its pro
gress was still retarded by the indifference and
frivolity which characterise the genius of the
times, by the boldness of its manners, and by
the clashing of interest and fortune, which alone
engage our attention.
" But since that epoch, the power of public
opinion, favoured by divers circumstances, has
gradually increased, and at this day it will be
difficult to destroy it ; it reigns in every mind ;
princes themselves respect it ; some by their
ambition to obtain public favour, and others,'
more untractable, by the ascendency of those
who surround them*.
* Abuses are the same in Prussia and Austria, or perhaps
greater. Examine how Mr. Necker's public opinion is
spoken of by the administration of those countries*

190
" This preponderance of public opinion is
infinitely more weak in other countries, and
under different governments. People in bond
age fix their attention on the prince's rewards
and punishments ; republicans rely on popular
credit  Nations enervated by a meridional
climate, and buried in sensual enjoyments,
would not bear the yoke of public opinion 
Hence the generality of foreigners can scarcely
form an idea of the authority which public opi
nion exercises in France ; they are at a loss to
conceive what this invisible power can be,
that, without treasury, without guards, and
without armies, gives laws to the city, to the
court, and even to kings*. Must not that
power be formidable, which can render men
contemptible even on the steps of the throne ;
and which, on the contrary, can support them
in exile and disgrace.
" Let us, therefore, learn to appreciate an
authority so salutary ! Let us rally, to defend it
against those it oppresses, and who wish to
destroy it. It is often the ascendency of public
opinion, more than any other consideration,
that prevents the abuse of power in France.
It is this opinion, and the esteem in which it is
held, that gives the nation a kind of influence,
* Yes, surely, when the minister of the tinaneci is at tlie
head of public opinion.

191
by confiding to it the power of recompensing
with praise, or punishing with disdain : so that if
ever this opinion became absolutely despised, if
ever it weakened itself, liberty, perhaps, would
lose its principal support, and we should be in
still greater want, both of the virtues of the
sovereign and the moderation of his ministers.
The minister of the finances ought to be parti
cularly tenacious of public opinion. If he dis
dain it, he must be in danger ; and the state,
in a greater degree, must suffer from his te
merity." The fall of Mr. Necker, and perhaps that of
ancient France, had no other immediate cause
than the opinions we have mentioned above ; and,
as a proof that the true public opinion, quite op
posite to the former, is the safeguard of empires,
and the guarantee of the repose of nations,
Mr. Necker's public opinion abandoned him,
and, in 1791, he at length found himself de
ceived. At that time a coalition of opposite
decisions were formed in the very heart of the
national assembly, and in the interior of France.
Let us hear what Mr. Necker himself says here
on : we have already seen how much he had
cherished, flattered, and aggrandised this opi
nion ; hear how it terminates.
" An unhappy victim," said he, " to a series
of wrongs, of which history affords no example,

192
I experienced all the weight of bitter reflexion ;
and, nevertheless, I refrained from publishing
my painful sentiments : comparing my conduct
with the ungrateful indifference of the national
assembly, I found, in total silence, a tranquil
lity that accorded with my disdainful heart;
in fine, I scarcely know why public opinion no
longer appears to me as it once did. The re
spect which I had religiously paid to it is
weakened, since I have seen it made subservient
to the artifices of the wicked, since I have seen
it tremble before men that it would formerly
have cited to the bar of its tribunal, to devote
them to infamy, and to stamp them with the
seal of its reprobation."

193

CHAP. XXIV.

M. de Vergennes' Report to the King of the Principles and Ad
ministrative- Motives of Mr. Necker — His Character, ac
cording to the Principles of M. de Vergennes — Comparison be
tween him and M. Turgot— Considerations on his public OpU

JV_L. De Vergennes was Mr. Necker's most
dangerous enemy, because he was the most re
served, and the most zealous partisan of des
potism in the council. Government had em
ployed him to effect a revolution in Sweden for
the increase of the royal authority. Become mi
nister for foreign affairs, he had had the courage,
in council, to head the party against the return
bf parliament, and had disputed it agaihst M. de
Maurepas, and a great majority. He was now
employed in suppressing the revolted Genevese
patriots, and secretly influenced the mind of
Lewis XVI. against the director-general; of
whom he speaks in these terms :
" Sire, Your majesty has done me the honour
to request my advice, in writings on the present
situation of the director of our finances.
" Mr. Necker's being honoured in the eyes of
the public with an eminent employment, and
appearing to enjoy your majesty's confidence, is
vol. iv. o

19-1
sufficient, on every occasion, to make me signify
my disapprobation of the writings that are daily
multiplied against him, and in which, as I am
told, his religion, his birth, his wife, and the
epoch and progress of their fortune, are every
instant exposed to public derision or inspec
tion. From these scandalous disputes must
arise the verv great inconvenience of an innova
tion fatal to the welfare of your majesty's service ;
I mean to sav, the custom of abandoning the ad
ministration and its authority to the pasquinades
and examinations ofthe malignity or curiosity of
the public. Your majesty is able to judge of
the evident effect of such a number of writings,
since vou have had the goodness to show me,
several times, that your majesty was employed
in reading them.
" It is very certain, sire, that Mr. Necker, be
coming the object of these debates, has placed
himself in a situation that must essentially
expose your majesty's interests. France is a
monarchy, in which authority is absolute.
The state is a happy composition of the per
son of the king, his family, the clergy, and
the great men of the kingdom. Sovereign
courts are honoured with the confidence and
authority of the prince, for the administration
of justice to his subjects. Fie confides to il
lustrious families in the magistracy, the care of

195
presiding in the courts of justice, and in the
offices of the superior administration. It is
from these families, distinguished by Jong ser
vices, that your majesty's ancestors have gene
rally chosen persons, celebrated for their virtue
and talents,, to make them ministers of state;
and history attests, that they have vied with
each other, by an effect of singular emulation,
to contribute to the glory and prosperity of this
empire. " Your majesty knows better than any other
person, that the state is indebted to this consti
tution for the general preservation of authority,
and for the wise administration of affairs, which
a series of ages and long experience have
brought to perfection, insuring' our prosperity,
and daily increasing its importance in every
quarter of the giobe.
" Nevertheless, at a time when your majesty
is giving back to France that importance and
splendor, of which it had been momentarily
deprived by some events at the close of the
last reign, at this happy time the minister of the
¦finances adopts measures which tend to esta
blish in the state and administration such form-
as are repugnant to them. It is at this moment
that he renders himself odious, suspicious, and
ridiculous to the variety of enemies who have '
o 2

196
undertaken to attack him. The mass of the
French clergy are terrified at beholding their
natural enemy honoured with your majesty's
confidence, and placed at the head of the ad
ministration of the finances ; and, notwithstand
ing Mr. Necker's solicitude to avoid contentions
with the first order of the state, the elements of
the two religions are too opposite to prevent
inconveniences which, at this moment, dimi
nish the respect which the bishops owe to your
majesty ; a respect of which your majesty is
sure, but which should not be trifled with, on
account of its preponderating influence.
" You must be convinced, sire, that a party
has been formed at court against the opera
tions of Mr. Necker, at the same time that the
most distinguished families in the administra
tion and magistracy do not conceal their repug
nance or hatred. Many suppose themselves
insulted ; and your majesty cannot but perceive
that the number of the dissatisfied, in that class,
increases daily. -
tf Your majesty is best able to appreciate the
principles of the council. It was not possible
to observe in the person of Mr. Necker, at the
commencement, any other prerogative than that
of a simple director of the royal treasury, in a
state of dependance. Such was your majesty's

197
Intention, from a sense of what was due to the
constitution of the state, and to prevent the
oppositions which would have been raised
against a different authority or a different deno
mination. Mr. Necker has worked himself up,
by degrees, from this first situation ; and now
aspires to new favours, sufficient in their nature
to terrify and incense that vast crowd of ene
mies, who find it their interest to continue
against him their public debates, which your
majesty is desirous of putting a stop to, and
thereby prevent their ill effects.
" Your majesty has perceived, that Mr.
Necker, in his perilous situation, adhered to his
place with a tenacity that was not without mea
sures or means. The opinion of M. de Maure
pas, who wishes to keep him within the limits
of his employment, the opinion of the mass of
the clergy and the chief men of the kingdom,
and the opinion of the sovereign courts, and all
the respectable part of the high administration
of the state, is not at all favourable to Mr.
Necker. Thus situated, Mr. Necker relies on
what he calls public opinion ; and this opinion
he finds in the innovating spirit of the times,
in the society of men .of letters and that of phi
losophers, who should be employed in the go
vernment if your majesty wishes entirely to
overturn it. This opinion he also finds in the

198
eulogiums of a part of the English parliament,
whose factions all unite to injure and depreciate
this country. He finds this public opinion, in
fine, in the ideas of reform and humanity, which
Mr. Necker himself spreads abroad, and which
he is continually enforcing ; and persuades your
subjects, that this beautiful kingdom can only
become really grand and powerful by means of
his own principles of reform.
™ Your majesty has already, made considera
ble sacrifices to the spirit of innovation that
torments some men, and which should rather be
repressed than encouraged. This innovating
spirit augments Mr. Necker's desires and pre
tensions, in proportion as he feels himself ho
noured with new favours ; and, at length, he is
become dangerous and suspicious tp the wise
institutions of this monarchy. The administra
tion of the kingdom, that grand work of the
wisdom of your august ancestors, is now me
naced by all the follies of the times and circum
stances. " Such, sire, is the nature of the public opi
nion which'Mr. Necker has called to his assis
tance, and which becomes his defence. It'is
this opinion which he cherishes, enlightens, and
directs with effect; since, by the nature of his
operations, he is deprived of the support of 4'he
t'.ue public opinion of this monarchy, in which

199
alone Mr. Necker ought to have sought his. na
tural dependance. With his talents, and ac
tuated by the latter opinion, he might have ren
dered great services, without exposing the in.- '
stitutions of the monarchy to peril.
" Foresight being a quality very essential to
persons whom your majesty may please to in
vest with authority, it becomes necessary daily
to calculate the future effects of this opinion
which Mr. Necker calls public; for, if the spi
rit and maxims of the first orders of the state
cease to govern this favoured empire, if the
public opinion of Mr. Necker should definitively
prevail, if English and Genevese principles be
introduced into our administration, your majesty
must expect to see the state governed by that
part of your subjects which now obey, and the
part which now rules reduced to the former's
servile situation ; and, as every thing under our
observation seems to facilitate the execution of
this metamorphosis, I conceive "that your ma
jesty cannot remain an unconcerned spectator
of such an event, or delay, amid the actual
parties and disputes that are forming and in
agitation, to sacrifice the public opinion of Mr.
Necker to the opinion, principles, and wise
and pacific administration of the orders and
corporations, which, for ages past, have main
tained the greatness and power of this empire.

200
Your majesty is again placed in the same si
tuation as with M. Turgot, when you thought
proper to hasten his retreat ; and the same
dangers and the same inconveniences are
derived from the nature of their analogous sy
stems."

201

CHAP. XXV.
Retreat of Mr. Necker— -Critical Situation of that Minister— He
solicits the King to admit him into the Council of State — •
Anxiety of the Prince— Refusal of M. de Maurepas — Mr.
Necker's Retreat — At his Retreat Opposition ceases in the Go
vernment — The ancient Principles are again constituted
therein.
J- FIE clamours against Mr. Necker became
every day more audacious and alarming among
the nobles ofthe court and among the high ad
ministration. Pamphlets were augmented daily
against him. In the best societies of the high
finance, they talked ofthe necessity of bringing
him to trial, of confining him, of banishing him,
or commencing actions at law against him ; it
was even repeated in the writings by which
they opposed all his operations. They reproach
ed him with being connected with lord Stor-
mont, embassador from the court of London,
and with violently declaiming against the pre
sent war. They wickedly reported, that M. de
Maurepas began to be on his guard against a
nocturnal escape ; and they asserted, that he had
said : " We shall see, this time, if public opi
nion will triumph."

202
They were equally inflamed in the party of
Mr. Necker. In this agitated state, he pre
tended, that he would retire and set out post for
Geneva, if he was not made counsellor of state;
and immediately it was reported in the capital,
that M. de Maurepas was resolved to put in
execution an ancient measure, that did not per^
mit the administrators of the finances, who
were foreigners, to be admitted into the council,
without a particular order, signed by the king.
The accusation of a criminal correspondence
with England was invented and reported by
M. de Sartines, who never denied it, protesting,
that Mr. Necker was the agent of the court of
London in France.
The French minister, at this conjuncture, at
tacked the views and plans of Mr. Necker in
council, in presence of Lewis XVI. -They
pretended not to understand his ideas, which
the king had the goodness to explain and de-
velope. They examined his plans, rejecting
some and ridiculing others. In this situation of
affairs, Mr. Necker wrote a note to the king,
renewing his request to be admitted into the
council, in order to discuss his operations with
the ministers. M, de Maurepas, who opposed
it, answered, that this favour should be granted,^
if he would solemnly abjure the errors of Calvin.
The king appeared wavering, and in a state

203
of indecision. Confusion was established in the
government, and he alone could terminate it.
Fearing the consequences of dismissing a po
pular minister, who had spirited and ardent
partisans in his favour ; wishing not to offend
M. de Maurepas, his prime-minister j tormented
by the prophetic menaces of the director-gene
ral's enemies ; he still caressed Mr. Necker,
and testified an inclination to protect him.
M. de Maurepas declared, that all the ministers
(M. de Castries excepted) would give in their
resignations, if his majesty should think proper
to give them Mr. Necker for a colleague.
Mr. Necker, on his part, was resolved to retire,
if he were not made minister of state. Aware of
the king's weakness, the menaces spread
against him were sufficient to prompt him to
ask for the administration, in which the party
of M. de Maurepas found their own danger.
The friends of the two factions, keeping their
eyes on the king, awaited with terror his deter
mination ; but Mr. Necker's note, requesting
to , be admitted to the council, had no effect
upon the monarch.
Besides, the coffers were full, and a great
deal of ready money was provided in advance.
M. de Maurepas proved victorious with the
king, and announced his success to the director-
general in person. It was decided, that he

204
should not enter the council. And on the 19th
of May, 1781, Mr. Necker sent the king his
official resignation, together with the following
note, written carelessly on a scrap of paper,
three inches and a half long, and two and a
half wride.
" The conversation which I have held with
" M. de Maurepas, does not permit me any
¦" longer to defer transmitting my resignation
" into the hands of the king. I am stung to the
" very soul. I flatter myself his majesty will
" deign to preserve some remembrance of years
'•' of successful, but painful, labour; and, above
" all, of the unbounded zeal with which I dc-
•" voted myself to his service,
"May 19. "Necker."
It was much more effectual to write in this
manner to the king, who was extremely mor
tified at it, than to address two epistles to him
in the style of those of M. Turgot.
Mr. Necker received visits of condolence
from the prince of Conde,. at St. Ouen, and
irom the dukes of Orleans and Chartres.

205

CHAP. XXVI.
Mr. Necker's Sentiments on his Retreat — He reasons on its
Causes, Accessories, and Effects.
JVlR. Necker's account of his retreat deserves
a place in these Memoirs. This reforming
minister, like every statesman, passed from the
midst of grandeur to the ordinary class of man
kind ; but the most remarkable part of this cir
cumstance was, that his act of resignation was
the work of a man a stranger to the usual enjoy
ments of ministers, and anxious for the recom
pence which he expected from the success of
his plans. .
" I have quitted the administration," says
Mr. Necker, " and have left supplies for a
whole year. I have quitted it at a moment when
the royal treasury possesses more ready money
and useful effects than was ever known in the
memory of man ; and at a moment when public
confidence, entirely re-animated, is raised to
the highest degree.
" Under different circumstances they would
have valued me more ; but it is when we can
be spared, and when we are no longer essen-

206
tially necessary, that they permit us to reflect a
moment for ourselves. There is, nevertheless,
a despicable idea, which may be easily disco
vered, in the folds of the human heart, that
leads people to take advantage of a moment for
retreat, when they can receive some gratifica
tion in the embarrassment of their successors.
I should have been ashamed of such conduct ;
I have acted as a man who, having loved his
situation from honest motives, cannot, on quit
ting it, separate his views for an instant from
the public welfare."
He added, that if he could have foreseen
how much he regretted his resignation, he
would, perhaps, have supported and risked
every thing to have retained his place, and
have wraited for .the event ; but he saw that
the malevolence of his enemies, and the oppo"
sition of M. de Maurepas, were arrived at
such a pitch, that these sacrifices could not have
been of any long duration. He was indebted
for his fortitude and principles, to his probity,
and to the exaltation of his virtues, in a coun
try where prostitution was at its height ; and
it was his intention, he said, by preserving
them inviolate, to maintain his consequence,
and avoid the fawning of statesmen, which*
he conceived, led them to ruin and dishonour.
Fie wished to teach the court, whose attention

207
was divided between the splendor of rank and
the tinsel of titles, that there existed another
kind of grandeur, that of virtue and character ;
but he thought there was only one favourable
moment to give an example of it, after which
his reputation would be blasted, and malignity
would have sufficient leisure to abuse a man
whose ruin Was determined on.
Mr. Necker retired, therefore, to .reserve
himself for future opportunities.
" When a minister has triumphed over suspi
cion," said he ; " when he enjoys esteem and
approbation ; and when his intentions are accre
dited ; imagination and hope, those precious
harbingers ofthe opinion of men, come in to his
assistance ; he meets every where with encou
ragement on his journey, and reaps continually
the fruit of his virtues. Painful remem
brance ! it was at the time I supposed myself
ih the enjoyment of this confidence, that I was
arrested in my career ; it was when I hoped I
had obtained public approbation, the darling
object of my ambition, that" the reins of admi
nistration have slipped from my hands. Impure
breath of wickedness and envy, how terrible
you appear ! You cherish and protect those
ministers who are abased or despised ; or, rather,
you abandon them to their reputation, and that
is sufficient for you : but your victims must be-

208
those who rely on their own sentiments, or
whom public opinion has dared to elevate.
" Power vanishes, employments disappear,
praise itself passes away ; in a short time nothing
remains of a great office, but images of sadness
and melancholy ; if, by a consciousness of ho
nourable intentions, which must ever exalt an
administrator in his own esteem, he has not pro
vided in the bottom of his heart a happy, or at
least a peaceable, retreat."
,Mr. Necker, however, regretted having been
interrupted in his career, and being prevented
from putting into execution what he had con
ceived for the glory of the king and the service
of the state. Some days after his retreat^ while
he was employed in classing his papers and
memorandums, he cast his eyes on the parcels
which contained his plans on the amelioration
of the gabels, on the suppression of custom
houses, and on the extension of provincial admi
nistrations, and he could proceed no farther; by
an involuntary motion he pushed away his
writings, covered his face with his hands, and
tears ran from his eyes, as abundantly as they
did from those of M. Turgot, when he was
informed of the re-establishment of the ave

rages.

" At that time, nevertheless, I had not fore*
seen every thing," said Mr. Necker; " for

209
when, after painful victories gained oyer our
own sensibility, to establish some better regula
tion, or to adopt some rules of administration,
which we suppose salutary, we must be spec
tators of the abandonment of our principles 
Oh, that they could dive into the bottom of my
thoughts, that some one, for an instant, might
pity me ! Shame on him, that could perceive,
in the effusions of a feeling heart, the vexation
or regret of disappointed ambition ! They
would then be convinced, whether my place was
held for the base motives which have been attri
buted to me. Shut up in my cabinet, from the
time of rising in the morning until the close of
day, without personal interest, without enjoying
the sweets of gratitude, or without seeking ex
terior splendor ; if I was passionately fond of the
situation I possessed, it was from motives that
can never cause a blush ; and, when my thoughts
revert to times that are past, I still feel myself
inspired by sentiments of the same nature. If
they had attempted to attribute my request, to
be admitted as a member of the council, into an
emotion of vanity, or if they had succeeded
therein, I should have no reason for reproaches ;
I conceived, that in the midst of all kinds of
attacks, whether too bold or too diffident, this
mark of confidence became absolutely necessary
to a minister, who, at every instant, was in want
vol. iv. p

210
of advice. I had an idea, that the administra
tor of the finances, who is answerable on his
honour to furnish supplies, ought, for the welfare
of the state, to have been admitted to the delibe
rations on war or peace ; and, I looked upon it
as very important, that he should be able to join
his reflexions to those of the other servants of
the king. These, I protest, were the only
motives by which I was actuated. A place in
the council might, according to general calcula
tions, flatter self-love ; but, when we have been
engaged with a different passion, when we have
sought praise and glory, when we have obtained
those triumphs which are peculiar to ourselves,
we regard, with the most perfect tranquillity,
the honours of which we partake. You, who
proposed to me to change my religion, in order
to remove the obstacles which you had raised,
and were sure, at the same time, that I should
not consent, (Maurepas,) what would you have
thought I deserved after such an act of base
ness ? It were better for the vast administra
tion of the finances, that this scruple had been
made at the time it was first intrusted to me.
It was not certain, that I was worthy of an ex
ception to tho general rule. Besides, the council
of state, the only one in which I requested to be
admitted, is simply a conference in presence of
the king, where votes are not taken, where his

211
majesty alone decides, and where neither patent,
hor even an oath, is required ; but, supposing
this oath to have been indispensable, was not
five years of just and virtuous administration a
sufficient one ? And what new tie could they
have on a person who had performed before he
had promised ?
" We are brought to despise the most noble
sentiments, by giving them the name of exalta
tion: manoeuvres "of inconsiderable men, who,
to preserve an honourable idea of their own im
portance, endeavour to give a gigantic air to
every thing that surpasses them: The more
skilful know how to use the weapons of ridi
cule, without reflecting on the evil for which
they ate answerable; if they weaken in the
mind of kings the impression of honesty 
But the most dangerous exaltation is never that
of the ideaSj but solely of the mind 5 when a
man acts carefully in the administration, when
he pays attention to the most minute circum
stances, when, at the same time that he provides
for the future; he attends equally to the present,
what in him would be termed exaltation ap
plies necessarily to those movements ofthe soul
which invigorate the ideas, whose elasticity
bught never to be enfeebled or repressed. ....
Ideas of grandeur, which relate to politics, to
the. spirit of domination, and to the love of au-
p 2 "

212
thority, only require an inanimate and easy cha
racter ; but those which are employed in pro
moting the happiness of mankind, in the esta
blishment of order, and in the culture of honour
and virtue, cannot be separated from a kind of
ardour which nourishes and engenders them."

213

CHAP. XXVII.
Air. Necker's Portrait, drawn by his Friends.
W E have observed, in every part of these Me
moirs, in what manner the enemies of Mr.
Necker have depicted that celebrated man ;
but we ought also to examine how he has been
represented by the contrary party. M. Lavater,
a man of genius, whose military persecution
will reflect eternal disgrace on the directory of
France, and that of Switzerland ; a man skilful
in physiognomy, and possessed of great wit and
sentiment, has given us a character of Mr.
Necker in the year 1789, which merits every
kind of consideration. He has drawn this por
trait at a conjuncture interesting both to history
and to his art, at the very moment when that
personage, to his observation, was the most
striking phenomenon in nature.
Mr. Necker had been proscribed in France
some days before by the friends of the ancient
regime, who considered him as the principal
mover of the revolution which he had con
stituted in the very bosom of the government.
It was the second time that they obliged the
weak Lewis XVL to discharge him from the

214
ministry, as an enemy of the monarch.' and its
institutions. Under these circumstances he arrived at
Basle. Flying from the land he had revolutio
nised, leaving France at a crisis which was about
to decide whether the monarchy would be
forced to submit to the power of a revolution,
or whether the revolution wrould be crushed,
he there awaits the event. The danger which
threatened the constituents had armed the
people ; love of liberty, and the force and
courage of the revolutionists of 1789, were
about to sanction the theories of Mr. Necker ;
the ancient monarchy was to be o\eriurnedj
the principal supporters of its abuses were to be
massicred; and the city of Basle beheld in its
bosom, at the same time, both the discarded re
volutionary minister, who waited for the defeat
or victory of the ancient government, and the
terrified and fugitive family of Polignac, who
were describing the insurrections of the pro
vinces which they had escaped from. It was at
this moment (the 24th of July, 1789,) that ma
dame de Stael invited the enlightened Lavater,
then at Basle, to take a family dinner with her
at the Three-Kings hotel. It was inviting the
painter of portraits to draw the likenesses of the
father and family.
" Although in some respects," savs Lavater,
" I had represented Mr. Necker's person to my
self very different from what it was, his figure.

215
at the first aspect, answered my expectation ;
but, when observed closer, I was surprised at
the difference of his countenance from all the
portraits of him that I had ever seen. My
physiognomical judgment ofthe whole was very
soon decided.
" At a certain distance his entire countenance
inspires a sentiment of veneration. Observing
it close, we discover more amability. The con
struction ofthe solid parts of his head does not
resemble the originally grand and characteristic
forms of nature ; it is not an absolute, singular,
original product, a bold countenance, a salto
mortale, like, for instance, in different degrees,
those of Newton, Locke, Montesquieu, Thur-
low, Chatham, Pitt, or even Voltaire, Rousseau,
Johnson, &c. ; but the whole has something
singular, approaching to moral perfection, and
indicative of tranquil wisdom and consummate
prudence ; his features, taken separately, ex
press honesty, goodness, mildness, and noble
ness of sentiment. He received me as French
men generally do, with politeness, but yet with
more dignity; that is to say, in a more grave
and serious manner ; and, when I say, like all
Frenchmen, I say wrong, since I ought first to
add, that I have observed few people of the
world, and above all of the court, possessed
of so much simplicity, and of so opposite a

216
description from the generality of Frenchmen ;
for which reason I, as well as all sensible men,
must respect that nation a great deal more, in
asmuch as it has been just, in judging so deli
cately of a person who possesses nothing of that
cheerful countenance, that sparkling wit, or that
kind of eloquence abounding in compliments of
flattery, which are so natural to Frenchmen.
" Mr. Necker spoke little, particularly at first.
He did not appear to me, although in one ofthe
most important moments of his life, either sorrow
ful, dejected, absent, interiorly agitated, or in a
state of uncertainty, fear, or still less of joy ; he
had, nevertheless, been tbe ni-ht before to
meet his beloved wife and daughter, had re
ceived his recall from the king and the national
assembly, and had returned his answer ; not
withstanding which, we could observe no agita
tion, nci signs of absence, nor any appearance
of a mind absorbed in profound meditation. Fie
preserved the gravity of a sage, and that with
out affectation, consequence, or trouble.
" His voice is extraordinarily sweet; and, as
every thing about him is serious, mature, manlv,
and far removed from pedantry, his knowledge
of the world is easily discovered ; but the mi
nister of state is very striking, every thing an
nounces it in him, but without the least osten
tation. If I had seen, Mr. Necker, without

217
knowing him, I should never have taken him for
a man of letters only, neither for a military man,
artist, nor merchant ; for even in this last state,
he was already, in the soul, predestinated a mi
nister; he appeared to be born for the direction
ofthe finances. He listened with the complete
tranquillity of a sage, who examines everything,
anticipates nothing, thinks deeply, and with an
exactness that includes dates as well as facts,
yet infinitely distant from minute curiosity. All
his expressions were deliberate, but to the pur
pose ; all his looks were attentive, although
modest and discreet ; all his answers were ap
posite, and nobly expressed, free from studied
precision ; and every part of his conversation
was mature and accomplished.
" Flis forehead has something of a soft femi
nine 5 it has neither nodes, angles, nor wrinkles;
it falls back, and, resembles all foreheads of that
description. " In the eye-lids, which are not thick, nor
very high, as also in the gentle sinking and
colour of the eyes, there is an infinite expression
of wisdom, full of nobleness and gravity, mixed
with sweetness ; and, although I do not find in
them the sparkling fire of genius, I remark
something of a mind superior to the interests of
this world, and which is no stranger to that
which is to come. The most sublime parts of

218
his religious opinions seem to derive their origin
from the celestial regions. In his attentive, in
sinuating, and earnest look, we may distinguish
his analytical talent ; he is greater by creative
force than by that of combination, comprehen
sion, and acuteness : when he listens, nothing
escapes him. His complexion is a pale yellow,
very indicative of an experienced statesman, and
very significant of an even and peaceable cha
racter. " Flis mouth, of which the middle line is ex
tremely characteristic, and well formed, without
stiffness, exhibits the graces of the most unaf
fected good-nature, inspiring not only esteem,
but personal attachment.
" His chin is very long and fleshy, but with
out any indication of meanness or sensuality :
its drawing backwards is strikingly harmonious
with the forehead, and gives to his physiognomy,
which does not want animation, that degree of
calmness necessary to great calculators.
" The nose has no particular form ; it is not
large, nor thin, nor angular, nor very pointed,
nor flat. It has, however, a very trifling pleas
ing inclination, which consolidates, to a dis
cerning eye, the character of the whole ; that is
to say, uniformity and dignity ; for I have found
in him no want of harmony, nor any defect in
his looks.

219
" It appears to rne, that this man is particu
larly great and uniform ; since, by self-instruc
tion, he has done as much as nature would per
mit. " I expressed my surprise to his wife, who is
of a tall form, delicate complexion, and much
distinguished by her writings and prudence,
that her husband should be so tranquil at so im
portant a moment. The ingenuity of her an
swer struck me : ' He is not so tranquil as you
suppose ; if he were, he would have spoken
more during our repast.' * If you do not call that
tranquillity,' replied I, ' what must be his sere
nity in general ?'
" At table he was attentive to all, doing the
honours of it with dignity, ease, and obliging
ness,' Strangers, who carried their curiosity
even to indiscretion, did not alter his temper.
No one could perceive the smile of vanity which
is pleased with itself, or any appearance of
turgid self-sufficiency ; he possesses no mortify
ing pride, nor any of that obduracy which is al
most necessary to ministers of state.
" Every one about him was comfortable ; he
exhibits none of those affected airs and accents
which close the mouth and repress the emotions
of confidence ; on the contrary, he was affable,
free, full of esteem for his wife, and of visible
tenderness for his daughter, the sensible and

£20
accomplished madame de Stael. The politeness
with which he received persons, who came with
very opposite views, was neither flattering nor
humiliating, familiar nor formal.
" French, English, Swiss, Messrs. de Fu-
mingue, de Basle, de Sala, Decker, Haas,
and his daughter, all were received with grace
and nobleness. His peaceful presence silenced
the importunate, and excited wise ideas. I be
lieve it wrould be impossible to act wrong within
his atmosphere.
" He mentioned not a word of himself, of his
situation, of France, of his friends, or of his ene
mies. His accomplished daughter, in spite of
me, brought on a conversation on physiognomy ;
what he said thereon showed no knowledge 'of
anatomy or drawing, but it proved him a com
petent, instructive, and consummate judge of
mankind. In short, if I have ever seen a poli
tician endowed with excellent talents, it is this
man, whom destiny has honoured with so many
friends and so many enemies. To have a just
idea of him, we must be witnesses ofthe respect
and esteem that those who live in his neigh
bourhood entertain for him, and the freedom
with which they speak in his presence ; we
must witness the love of his servants, carried al
most to adoration ; we must behold him in the
bosom of his family.

221
" The French nation may boast of possessing
the most exquisite taste for discovering the true
greatness of man, and to esteem it according to
its value : that people, who have learned to de
spise all prejudices of birth, and all prepossession
foreign to merit, have distinguished him by an
unheard-of confidence ; and, abandoning them
selves entirely to the ascendancy of virtue,
write in golden letters on their cockades, Long
live the King, Necker, and the Nation /"

ctoo

CHAP. XXVIII.
Portrait of Mr. Necker by his Enemies, ihi Partisans of t:,e
ancient System of the Monarchy.
1VJ.R. Necker despises our laws, our forms,
our customs, and the distinctions of rank.
Having no knowledge of the finances, such as
he found them established, he levels every thing
according to the confined science of banking,
and according to the petty administration of
Geneva. He expresses an invincible dislike to
all discussion, because he has a very great in
terest in avoiding it. He desired, at first, to
give no public audience ; and, like the pagan
divinities, to have no other sensible' organs
than the subalterns who are devoted to him.
This trick of self-love could not succeed in an
enlightened, frank, and polite nation. His pro
ceeding was looked upon as an insult ; and this
mysterious exhibition occasioned complaints and
suspicions. " He was obliged to show himself; but his
appearances were rare and rapid. He gives
audience every month : What an air ! what a.
look ! what reserve ! He appears as if the na-

223
tion were at war with him, and that he ought
to suspect every one. You might imagine that
people speak to him in a language he does not
understand, for his answers are varied and dif
ferently combined, as if he were afraid of being
mistaken. ' We shall see. ... I shall see ....
we must see .... I will make them give me an
account . . . - See M. Hamelin .... Speak to M.
d'Ailly.' Then a half bow is a signal for your
departure. — Is this the representative of the
prince ?"
Mr. Necker, since that time, has drawn an
analogous portrait of the minister of the roll of
benefices.

224

CHAP, XXIX.
Character of Mk Necker by the Author of these Memoirs, and d
Sketch of his Principles and Administration. — Outrages ofthe
Royalists of tlie ancient Government, and of the Republican De
mocrats, against him. — These tvjo Sorts of Enemies are not the
natural Judges of that Minister — They will not attract the
Attention of Posterity. — Mr. Necker, from the Beginning of his
Administration, in Opposition to all the Governments that were
introduied into France. — His secret Projects on the Restoration
of the Kingdom.
VV E find that Mr. Necker has been depicted
in many different and opposite ways. My
business, therefore, in this situation, is, like that
of a magistrate obliged to judge a celebrated
man, who is warmly defended by his friends, and
lashed without pity by implacable enemies — the
latter even divided into several opposite par
ties. Mr. Necker is, in the first place, scandalised
with the utmost fury by the royalists of the
ancient regime. Their likenesses of him are
nothing more than disgusting caricatures. It
is not on productions of such a nature that
history will found her opinions on the character

225
ef-fj-- personage, , whose views and , operations
posterity wifl.be anxious to examine.
^Secondly, he is .accused and calumniated by
the first jacobins of, 1789, or the constituents, in
.whose hands he abandoned the. nation he had
revolutionised. The persecutions of that party
have been since continued by a long~. train
of revolutionary families, who at, first wete
united in raising his influence in the go
vernment, and afterwards successively elevated
themselves. Tho,se different factions, knqwn -
by the names of girondists, jacobins, montag-
nards, and cordeliers, have carried the,ir hatred
against him so far, as to deprive him of his pro
perty in France. He has been obliged to de
fend, against, all these classes of revolutionary
^Frenchmen, his fame, his projects, and even
his probity and intentions. His turbulent life
has therefore been nothing more thana series
of opposition, which eleven years of revolutipn
have not yet appeased; and is a memorable
instance of the fatal, consequences of placing
the spirit pfrestless and reforming philosophy at
the helm of administration.
Mr. Necker declared war against the ancient
abuses, and against the administrative institu
tions of ancient France in 1777, 1778, 1779,
1780, and 1781 ; and he braved the clamours,
and despised the observations, at that epoch,
vol. IV. Q

226
which wisely pointed out to him the danger of
a dissolution. He declared war against the es
sential institutions ofthe monarchy in 1788 and
1789; and at that time we observe in him
something more than contempt for the prophe
cies which have been since accomplished. He
continued the execution of his plans ; but, from
the 14th of July, he argues against his own
work, against the constituent national assembly,
whose name he would exhibit on a gibbet*.
Since his retirement, we find him in a state
of eternal discord with the revolutions of 1790,
1791, 1792, and 1793, against whom his pub
lications increase ; and they are of such a na
ture as discover their author to be in perpetual
hostility with the revolution, as well as with the
counter-revolution, with the new, as well as
with the old government ; or we might better
describe it by dividing h;s writings into two
classes. Till the 14th of July they assist the
revolution ; they put it together like a machine,
and set it in motion : after that period, they
endeavour to stop it. His writings of the first
epoch set on foot a grand subversion ; those
of the second seem to blush for the former, and
* I will erect a gibbet, to which the national assembly
shall remain attached till the end of time, with this label -
Foe. the crime of ingratitude.— (Necker on his Ad
ministration, page 483.)

227
tend, like all the productions of writers on the
same subject, to confuse as to the causes, as
if enlightened posterity could be deceived in the
true authors of the revolution,
We shall not introduce the accusation of the
first class of Mr. Necker's enemies. The par
tisans ofthe military government, which he de
stroyed in 1789, are all furious and unjust.
Neither shall we mention the opinions of the se
cond class, fhe jacobins, the girondists, and the
montagnards. Each of these violent parties must
be regarded by posterity as very incapable of
. equitable sentiments.
As to the opinions and descriptions of his
character by impartial writers and common ob
servers, history will not disdain to examine
them ; but they will be influenced by the na
ture of anterior events. In this respect, the si
tuation of a contemporary writer is very deli
cate : for the royalists of the military govern
ment, and the supporters of the revolution, are
equally incensed at a natural, true, and im
partial portrait of that great personage. Each
of them would wish to find him despicable,,.
and treated according to their manner. Neither
of them would have him spoken of with re
spect, because they have all pre-judged him in
their writings, or mal -treated him by facts, with
shameful and revolting injustice.
Q3

228
Mr. Necker himself is not exempt from
blameable, resentment towards the different
classes of Frenchmen ; and since he has taken
the liberty to examine, judge, describe, pro
voke^ and answer them, the historian is obliged
to follow him in the variety and continuity of
his debates. He is obliged to put in the scale
the views and reasons of the opposite parties,
which is a work of no inconsiderable impor
tance, considering that Mr. Necker has dis
puted with uninterrupted constancy, that he
has created, biassed, and assailed those different
factions, from the conclusion of the reign of
Lewis XV. even to the commencement of the
nineteenth century, with so much perseverance,
that even when he was quite unemployed in
the government, he has never ceased by his
writings to occupy the attention both of the ad
ministration and the republic of letters.
Educated in a republic, which is in an actual
state of contention or revolution, Mr. Necker,like
all other writers belonging to that republican co
lony, has continually declared, that every spe
cies of warfare was justifiable, when considered
as favourable to reformation or to an intolerant
democracy ; but still imprudent in the execu
tion ; and tending, if established in a great
1 state, to overturn, from beginning to end, all
kinds of order, whether well or ill devised.

229
Mr. Necker, for once, agrees with the views
of one of our governments ; — and. such again is
tl e singular destiny- of that celebrated man,
that his actions, so deserving in this respect of
public gratitude, are unknown to the world.
Every one must remember the time, without
doubt, when scaffolds were erected, in the se
cond year, against the royalists, t^e revolutio
nists, and the moderate party. Mr. Necker is
the author of the first discourses that proposed
calm and moderate measures to the convention,
a few days after the 10th of Thermidor.(28 July).
We are also ignorant, on another side, of his
conduct and solicitude when the farmers-general
were murdered, and how afflicting that cir
cumstance was to him, who, in 1781, had con
sidered them as scourges.
It was said, that he had been the instrument
of England for the devastation of France ; but
there never was a more atrocious falsity. Mr.
Necker, observing that the abuses were in
creased by the impotence of the reign of Lewis
XV., undoubtedly forgot that his duty was li
mited to the correction ol them, and to the re
dress of grievances. He forgot that France, by
the very nature of her institutions, was still the
first power of Europe. Nevertheless, he at
tempted to accomplish his plans of reform by
a revolution favourable to his wishes, and so

230
long concealed it, that his observers and ene
mies might easily be deceived in his intentions.
They were ignorant that he wished to introduce
a constitution similar to that of England, and
they asserted that he was bribed by that coun
try. That England should caress a minister
of the finances of France in whom they saw so
great a share of policy, morals, and religious
opinions, and, above all, inculcating a doctrine
subversive of our finances, is not surprising,
and there is nothing in it but what is very pro
bable and very natural ; for, in order to deceive
our connexions with the court of Vienna, and
to destroy the influence of the queen, that
country was doing every thing to revolu
tionise us herself; but that Mr. Necker should
betray the king, and that he should have been
the accomplice ofthe British minister's crimes,
is what that great man's virtues could never
suffer him to suggest, and what I, who have
a much better knowledge of him than those
who are loud in his abuse, can venture, and
am impelled by duty, to contradict.
The plan of giving liberty to France, upon
the same principles as had been adopted in
England, proceeded from concern for the pub
lic welfare, which mis-led him as to the means,
and from a desire of obtaining a great name,
which for some time had engaged his attention.

231
His passion for fame- was so great, that,he wa$
the emulator, to say, nothing more, of Turgot,
\yho had the same object in view. A stranger
to the passions ofthe generality of our ministers,
possessing neither their pusillanimity, their love.
of sordid gain, their prejudices, their habitual
gallantry, nor their attachment to ancient cus
toms; esteeming the British constitution, which
they detested ; a secret enemy of the ancient
constitution of France, which they adored ;
having neither their attachment, prepossession,
¦ nor respect for royalty, nobility, and the Roman-
catholic religion; opposite in principle and sen
timent to the measures observed by his prede
cessors to sustain the edifice of cardinal Riche
lieu ; he found himself quite a stranger at Ver
sailles, and was obliged to have recourse to as
surance, to the novelty and popular spirit of his
writings, and, above all, to the truly new and
remarkable invention of his public opinion, and
the terrifying supposition of his power. In this
situation it was necessary for him that the peo
ple should be an object of worship; that the
hospitals and prisons, in which they suffered,
should be consecrated places, as in democracies,
where attention to the welfare of the people
procures a momentary credit. Mr. Necker
endeavoured so much to deserve it, that he

232
seemed only to be employed in his department
for the benefit of the people, and sometimes for
the most abject description of them, without
considering that the head of the state was ex
posed to perils of a different nature.

233

CHAP. XXX.
Continuation of Mr. Necker's Character. — Of Cardinal Richelieu
and Mr. Necker, considered as Enemies of the great Men of
the State. — Of Richelieu, considered as the Founder of the
Union and military Power of the House of Bourbon ; and of
Mr. Necker, considered as the Author of the Destruction of
that Power, by the Introduction of his Plans for a limited
Monarchy. — Triumph of the military Government of Lezvis
XIII, the Instrument qfthe Cardinal's Ambition. — Fall ofthe
Monarchy of Lewis XVI, the Instrument of the Genevan's
Ambition. — Richelieu proclaims the Power of his Projects-
Mr. Necker denies them.
XF the multiplicity of operations so favourable
to the people, and if the resentment of the
great, had caused in the mind of Mr. Necker
an exalted and sublime sentiment of popular
worship, the worship of the king had been,
in our ministers who established the royal
power by state manoeuvres, a sentiment equally
exalted and profound. Cardinal Richelieu, at
the time of his death, his hands still tinged
with the most illustrious blood, addressing
himself to Jesus Christ, when he was receiving
the viaticum, said, "O my judge ! condemn me
if I have had any other intention than to serve
the king and the state !"

234
Necker and Richelieu, endeavouring to serve
the king by humiliating the great, have both
made use of the strangest methods. But Ri
chelieu made use of the monarch to concentrate
his power, and Necker to divide and weaken
it. Richelieu humbled them to elevate the
royal authority, and Necker to create a demo
cratic party in the state. The former had a
view to the future greatness of the house of
Bourbon ; he saw afar off those brilliant reigns
which are still the glory of Frenchmen, those
reiarns which were derived from his iron admi
ts
nistration : the latter had equally the future
power and prosperity of France in view ; and
vet it was precisely under his last administra
tion that the devastations of anarchy began.
The former established, and the latter destroyed,
under two monarchs of weak character, the
power of the house of Bourbon. Richelieu, of
a resolute, implacable, and deliberate charac-
... . Cri
ter, was skilful in supporting his authority
when it was in danger; and he knew how to
divest himself of his pride in the presence of
his dissatisfied or suspecting master: the" latter
was equally firm, implacable, and deliberate ;
but he could not unite at will the wary stYe of
submission to the elevated and sentimental
manner which the nobility and magistracy, in
their resentment, termed artifices of a mounte-

235
bank. The former likewise subjugated his
master, even to the hour of his death, and
converted the monarch into an instrument of
his power ; while the latter lost four times the
favour of Lewis XVI., in 1781, 1787, 1789,
and in 1791. Observe with what address Riche
lieu lays aside the pomp and consequence with
which he had invested himself, to take a place
among the valets, and wait upon Lewis XIII,
Observe in what manner the latter transmits
his resignation of the administration to the
king. Richelieu, to obtain his ends, " dares
not undertake any thing," as he expresses
himself, " without having well reflected on it ;
but when his resolution is formed, he advances
directly to the object, he overturns all obstacles,
he mows down every thing before him, and
covers the whole with his red cassock." Fie
humbles the house of Austria. In Germany,
he supports the protestant whom he perse
cutes in France. He strikes at the great men
of the kingdom, and reduces them ; he forces
the queen-mother, his benefactress, to banish
herself from the court of France ; he subdues
the king's brother and his wife : while Mr.
Necker, sinking by degrees under a few sar
casms of M. de Maurepas, cannot foresee the
possible effects of an obscure memorandum
written by M. de Vergennes ; cannot read,

336
in the hypocritical eyes of that minister, what he
was operating against his plans.
The life of Richelieu and that of Necker are
alike, as they relate to perpetual disputes with
the nobility ; but the former only delivered up
individuals to the commissions that were devoted
to him, while the latter united them in a mass
with the democracy. Richelieu was the regu
lator of his own destructions; and Necker con
fided his to an assembly, which sometimes
flattered and sometimes ridiculed him. The
former only aimed at the life of his individual
enemies ; he did not destroy the order of nobi
lity : the latter, wishing to concentrate the con
stitutional power of the nobility, of the second
order of the state, in the compass of a chamber,
destroyed the forms of government. Richelieu
punished individual facts and injuries; Necker
annihilated integral parts of the state, as ancient
as the French monarchy itself. Richelieu,
being a true statesman, was not an enemy of
the protestants, in his quality of cardinal of the
church of Rome. He leagued with the pro
testants of Germany against the house of Austria,
in directing the towns to be burnt in Vivarais,
the bosom of my country ; in commanding in per
son on that strange expedition ; in destroying
the Rochelois ; in hastening the misfortunes
of Charles I., who sent them embassadors and

supplies; and in saying " that Charles I. should
soon learn that he ought not to despise him ;"
and endeavoured to conciliate, by kind actions,
the ministers of the persecuted French protec
tants : while Mr. Necker, more inveterate
against the clergy, one of the three columns of
ancient France, called in to his assistance the
French presbyterians, composed of forty thou
sand rectors, who humbled the superiors of
that order, overthrew their hierarchy, and abo
lished the ancient episcopacy. Richelieu de
stroyed the protestant religion, to establish the
king in absolute power; and Mr. Necker de
stroyed the clergy, to reduce it.
Both the cardinal and the Genevan, after such
daring enterprises, each according to his plan,
must of course be. calumniated by enraged
enemies, and applauded by friends. Each of
them felt the necessity of distributing writings
or political testaments, to defend, justify, and
praise their own operations; but in the cardi
nal's testament we read, that "he thought
proper to burden the people with such conlribu-
^ tions, that they might never depart from their de
pendance :" while the latter ruined France,
rather than consent to enforce them ; so much
was that part of the nation become the object
of his attention.
These two immortal men have each left some

238
relations, or descendants, who are anxious for
the support of their doctrine ; both have pub
lished, in the fervour of their opinions, some cir
cumstantial works, to defend and propagate it ;
but the result of their turbulent and respective
administrations is such, that the weak Lewis
XIII. was the instrument of the former, to
found the monarchy of Lewis XIV ; and the
weak Lewis XVI. was the instrument of the
latter, to destroy it. The former had succeeded
in employing the docility of the nobility, to
vanquish their untractable brethren. The latter
failed in it, because the nature of the people is
to destroy without establishing, and to bring
every thing to a level ; and because he could
never find in France better instruments to sup
port himself in the situation to which he was
elevated. The former, in fine, overturned a limited
monarchy, in which the power was divided be
tween the king, the nobility, the state-countries,
and the states-general : and the latter, notwith
standing the artificial power of his public opi
nion, and the real power of the tiers-ttat, which
was so long at his disposal, could not re-esta
blish the monarchy in its moderate and anterior
form. What he abased and destroyed was so
completely done, that it is probable France can
never recover it by re-organisation. An ephe-

239
nieral monarchy, founded by a superabundance
of popular suffrages, unnaturally assembled by
Mr. Necker, was the first consequence of the
destructions of 1789, and of his attempts to
paralyse the chief and the first orders of the
state. Since that epoch, we have seen France
devoured by anarchy ; we have seen her pass
from one government to another, /endeavouring
every where to find liberty and prosperity,
and some solid foundations. She is now under
the government of the eighth year (1799), which,
certainly, of all that we have yet experienced, is
the most analogous to our manners and qualifi
cations, as well as to our faults.
We must now hear the cardinal and the Ge
nevese minister relative to the effect of their
labours. " I die," said Richelieu, on his death
bed, to Lewis XIII., " with the satisfaction of
leaving your majesty's government at the highest
degree of reputation : your enemies are dis
couraged, and in the last state of dejection."
Mr. Necker retired, leaving the king a prisoner
at the Tuileries, and his enemies at the head of
the state.
In his last work but one, he honours himself
with the title of the most ancient friend of the
people, and of that of first defender of liberty;
he prides himself in having accelerated public

240
liberty by " all the means which reason, honour,
and duty, had permitted him to use ;" but in the
last he no longer permits us to fathom the causes
of the revolution, nor even to approach them.
In it the sources of events are no more than
fore-running signs , the grand force of public
opinion is the most powerful principle ; and Mr.
Necker no longer acknowledges his former la
bours. We shall not attempt to strike out into
new fields of history ; but it is our duty to show,
that he was not the only cause of the revolution,
since he was in unison with the political spirit
ofthe European powers, who, after having com
mitted the fault of bringing that revolution
about, attempt to reduce it by force of arms.

241

CHAP. XXXI.
Conqliision of the Character of Mr. Necker — He causes tlue
Misery of France, by endeavouring to insure her Happiness.- —
In what Manner the general Disposition of France and Eu
rope promoted, the Effect. — The Cabinets of Sovereigns princi
pal and first Authors ofthe French Revolution.
iVlR. Necker was far from being the first in
Europe to introduce revolutionary principles at
the head of a government. At the time of his
nomination to the administration, Rome had ac
complished the destruction of the Jesuits, who
were ever the principal supporters of the arbi
trary power of the governments that encouraged
them. This extirpation of a society so neces
sary to absolute authority, had been granted to
the solicitations of the four- reigning houses of
the family of the Bourbons, and to that of Por
tugal. The court of Rome, attentive to the
maintenance of power in courts depending on
its Worship, had therefore made- the first breach
in the ancient edifice of public, authority.
The grand duke of Tuscany had carried still
farther the spirit of philosophy and innovation.
Naples had thrown off the. sacerdotal yoke, and,
following the example of Florence and Madrid^
VOL. iv. R

242
had tied the hands of the inquisitors. The des
potism of Venice was become more timid than
in former ages.
At Vienna, Joseph II. meditated the most
strange philosophical reforms. Catharine II.,
and Frederic, kept up a correspondence with the
French philosophers, which was fatal to the re
pose of France, and daily encouraged them to
render contemptible, by increased audacity, the
religious institutions of the monarchy. In al
most ai! the subaltern states of Germany, huma
nity and philosophy had attenuated, in some
degree, the ancient energy of authority.
Gustavus III., emerging victoriously from
anarchy, was among the small number of sove
reigns who had learned the art of maintaining
power without excess. Bernstorff, in Denmark,
rendered it agreeable, amiable, and tolerant.
The cabinet of London defended it, by force of
arms, against the insurgents, who were supported
by France ; and the little republic of Geneva
repressed the rising fury of the revolutionists of
1782 and 1793.
Thus, with the exception of England, Den
mark, and Sweden, the cabinets of Europe had
adopted the plan of ameliorating the fate ofthe
people, of protecting the designs of humanity.
and of disengaging them from the ties of sa
cerdotal power. Their measures partook ot a

243
kind of liberty and beneficence unknown to an
terior administrations.
To the influen; e of philosophy, therefore, as I
have before said in my other works, history
must attribute those changes in universal mo
rality. It is not astonishing, tint Mr. Necker,
coming at this time to the administration, should
have elevated himself to a level with the most
commendable governments and sovereigns. It
is not surprising, that his devotion to the cause
of the people should be raised to a .superior
degree. He was the friend or partisan of Ray-
nal, Buffon, Voltaire, Rousseau, Thomas, and
all the writers who affected, disdain for ancient
policy, and for the established worship which
they were so emulous to destroy.
But, if measures of universal beneficence
were promulgated in Europe for the most nu
merous and least fortunate class pf society,
there was a great difference between that and
the subversive speculation of the powers which
exercised them. It was far different from meta
morphosing a submissive and inoffensive people
into a superior power, foi the devastation of esta
blished authority. It was still more different
from the grand, social, and constitutional trans
action ofthe English, (which was the definitive
result of sanguinary wars between the crown.
.and its subjects, between the people and th-
r 2

244
nobility,) and the ideal transaction, meditated in
1789, between three authorities so awkwardly
constituted : and it is the introduction of this
plan of transaction to the French government,
which in England had been effected by anterior
revolutions, that characterises the epoch ot
Mr. Necker's administration, and which distin
guishes the terrible experiment he has tried on
the French nation.
That minister, praised and calumniated by
energetic and implacable men, may be defined
in a few wrords.
In labouring for the happiness of France,
Mr. Necker has plunged us into a gulf of evils.
His first administration prepared this revolution;
his second completed it.
The time of social transactions is but just
commenced in France, under the government
that now exists, in the 9th year. It has already
brought together the discordant parties ; and it
separates them with address at the least appear
ance of approaching danger: if it continue with
as much vigilance, the transaction will be defi
nitively signed.

245

CHAP. XXXII.
Ofthe Re -establishment of the Opposition in its lawful Place, at
the Retreat of Mr. Necker, and ofthe Tranquillity ofthe Ad
ministration from that Epoch till the Debates between the Ex-
Minister and M. de Calonne.
AT the fall of Mr. Necker, the administration
was again left without a reformer ; philosophy
and public opinion were in disgrace ; but the
government enjoyed peace and tranquillity of
sentiment for several , years.
M. de Maurepas was worn out with age.
He appeared to have made his last efforts in
routing his adversary, but was likely not long to
enjoy his victory. He acknowledged, but a
little time before his death, that all his choices
for the administration were not equally fortu
nate ; and added, that Messrs. Necker, Male-
sherbes, St. Germain, and Turgot, had given the
state some severe wounds.
The keeper of the seals, Hue de Miromenil,
was of a quiet character, cautious of meddling
with affairs of government, and wishing to avoid
distinction. He had an idea, that the science
of inaction was one of the first and most ore-

246
cious qualities of a minister. France, in effect,
was never more happy, nor more powerful, dur-
rYg the who.e of fee eighteenth century, than
when she was govern Y by timid ministers.
M. Hue was impressed with these opinions,
from his observations on turbulent administra
tion. The new minister of war, M. de Segur, since
made n.arshal of France, who had been pro
moted b" the queen, brought into the admini
stration a great deal cf probity and knowledge
of his employment, with a body almost without
arms, and covered with wounds, which still at
tested his military services in the seven -years-
war, as well as that of 1740. Like the other
ministers, he felt that the agitations of govern
ment y -re a great scourge to France. He had
no reason to fear, that a marshal's commission,
so we!1 merited, would be torn by the furies of
a re.olutior,. He was the last of the marshals
created by Lewis XVI,
The marquis, since marshal, de Castries, mi
nister of marine, was less averse to Mr. Necker's
political movements than any of the rest ; he
regretted him as one of his friends, without imi
tating the turbulence of his genius.
Amelot was a lover of order, timid, and re
served ; honest, and piously devoted to M. de
Maurepas.

247
M. de Vergennes, delivered from a neigh
bour whose systems disquieted his timid ima
gination, remained quiet in his department.
All these ^ministers, endowed with what Mr.
Necker's public opinion called confined ideas,
procured the only quiet time which the reign of
Lewis XVI. had enjoyed, and which lasted for
fiye years. It would have remained unalterably
so, if the queen had not succeeded in dismissing
the virtuous d'Ormesson, and putting M. de
Calonne in his place.
As to M. Joly de Fleury, who immediately
succeeded Mr. Necker, he was placed in a most
cruel embarrassment. He would willingly have
re-established the ancient principles and institu
tions in the finances, but he had to fear the con
catenations of Mr. Necker's public opinion
against the doctrine of imposts and loans. To
have laid on duties in 1781, would have been a
high crime against the nation : hence, he made
use of the funds which his successor had left in
abundance, and then skilfully adopted a me
dium between the two doctrines, by which he
drew supplies both from loans and imposts.
The maxims, principles, writings, and con
duct of Mr. Necker were forgotten by the oppo
sition, and were arranged and mixed with pub
lic opinion. Disconcerted by events, he was a
long time silent and .reserved towards the new

248
minister. M. de Fleury also was prudent, mo
dest, and just towards^Mr. Necker, until the lat
ter attempted again to revive his public opinion,
with additional warmth and parade, by agitat
ing afresh the department he had quitted,, and
to which he was to be called a second time, for
the entire execution of his plans.
, As to the alternative of opposite administra
tions, Mr. Necker conceived, that the continual
change of principles was the natural effect
of their frequent succession in France, and of
the irritation of the new ministers against their
predecessors, ever disagreeably affected to
wards their ideas, credit, and reputation j
blaming what they praised, praising what they
blamed, and choosing for counsellors andfriends
those whom the anterior administration had
neglected or abused.
M. de Fleury's administration was so peaceful
and benign, that its return to ancient maxims
made an almost insensible progress. The tur
bulent administration of Mr. Necker had lasted
five years ; and the succeeding calm was of
equal duration. The grand perfection of the
human species was thus retarded during five
years. Happy had it been for the court of
France, if it had taken advantage of that halcyon
period to moderate its pleasures and dissipa
tions.

249

CHAP, XXXIII.
Character of M.foly de Fleury and M. d'Ormesson, immediate
Successors of Mr. Necker — Quietism qfthe Administration. —
Anarchy in the Department of the Finances. — Result of Mr.
Necker's Operations— Flis Destruction of the ancient Credit
ofthe King. — Refusal of the Bankers to supply the IV ants of
the State under M. d'Ormesson. — -France sirfks under the
Weight of Engagements contracted by Mr. Necker. — M. de
Castries proposes to the King to restore that Minister. — Deci
sion of the Administration, and Character of Mr, Necker, by M~
de Castries.— Lewis XVI. 's Sentiments on Mr. Necker, in the
Month of November 1783. — Correspondence between the King
and M. de Vergennes on that Subject. — A Revolution in the
Caisse d'Escompte accelerates the Retreat of M. d'Ormesson,
JVl. De Fleury, succeeding to a turbulent ad
ministration, distinguished himself by the calm
ness of his operations. This was neither the
method to provide for the accumulating ex
penses of a court, nor to discharge the engage
ments 'of Mr. Necker.
The former was succeeded by M. d'Ormes
son. He was actuated, like his predecessor, by
virtuous intentions, and was recommended by
an illustrious name, personal reputation, and the
tranquillity of ajust and perceptive mind. He
was a stranger at a court which required a di-

250
lapidating minister; and the administration of
Mr. Necker had placed him in a state of ab
solute impotence. He could not create taxes,
because Mr .Necker had dishonoured them. He
could not borrow, because credit was annihi
lated. The queen, whose influence was become
very preponderating since the death of Maure
pas and the birth of the dauphin, was secretly
embarrassed with the probity of the minister of
the finances. The faction of bankers, falling
again under the direction of a minister belong
ing to the rnagistracy, destroyed the credit esta
blished by Mr. Necker. The state was left in
such a situation, that it could neither derive
resources from the aristocratic credit depending
on the ancient hierarchy of the financiers, nor
from the democratic credit of the bankers orga
nised by Mr. Necker in his department.
In effect, credit was thus divided under the
ancient constitution. At the head of this de
partment was, first, the minister taken from the
judiciary or administrative magistracy; second
ly, the intendants of finance and commerce were
in the first rank, as his counsellors and tribunal ;
thirdly, the treasurers-general made the second
rank ; fourthly, the farmers-general appeared in
the third rank, with the receivers-general.
The influence of the first degrees on the sub
sequent ones, the credit resulting from this in-

251
fluence, and their mutual interest t&^yggG^MfieP
edifice of the department, had supplied the
state in its real necessities, and had never aban
doned it but when the sovereigns were evidently
ruining the kingdom by expense.
The revolution effected by Mr. Necker had
substituted anarchy for the monarchical orga
nisation of that department; it had precipitated
into nothing his colleague, M. Taboureau;
it had exchanged a magistrate minister for a
banker minister, without any intermediary, ex
cept obscure clerks, between him and the orga
nised tumultuous assembly of bankers ; is it
therefore astonishing, that the magistracy
should turn their backs on him ? ' Strangers to
tbe new dispositions, they could not attach
themselves even to M. d'Ormesson, and the
state has never recovered the destruction of the
ancient department of the finances — a destruc
tion which has been one of the immediate causes
ofthe subsequent revolutions. In the constitution
of Mr. Necker, the ancient hierarchy had been
delivered over to public ridicule ; its individuals
were dispersed ; and its companies, accused
of all manner of robbery, were no more. The
director-general had indeed substituted bankers
in their places, but with so little regard to
hierarchical forms, essential to the morals and
existence of every department, that a minister

252
of the finances found himself isolated from all
means of support from those newly-invented
financiers, who had no tie, like that of their
predecessors, to the maintenance of the ma
chine. This 'evolution was imperceptible : at
first it was only sec.1, by a few observers ; and it
was not till France felt the weight of her debt
that she opened her eyes to the romantic and
delusive system of Necker. In effect, this de
partment passed from vopulence, derived from
loans, to a state of penury and distress, by the
retreat of the bankers, who, finding neither
colleague nor confidant at the head of govern
ment, turned their backs on its measures, and
refused their assistance at a time when it be
came most necessary. And such was the destiny
of the unfortunate monarch, that, deprived of
the credit depending on the ancient constitu
tion ; deprived, by the retreat of Mr. Necker,
of the artificial credit which the director-general
had substituted for it ; he was abandoned by his
former servants, as well as by the new financiers
which Necker had attached to his existence.
The king was become the shuttle-cock of the
ancient and modern government, and was re
duced to this critical situation by the establish
ment of the periodical reimbursements, which
the ordinary revenues were unable to cover. It
was now evident that France touched upon a

period when it would be proved, that borrowing-
was either the same thing as taxation, or else
was the sure road to bankruptcy ; and that
the nature of the system of Mr. Necker was
nothing more than a cruel display of oratory,
which opened the way to a revolution.
Such was the situation of M. d'Ormesson.
Flis predecessor, Fleury, had found resources
from Mr. Necker's want of address during his
administration. Instead of answering the pe
cuniary demands of the king by degrees, ashe
had done at the beginning of his administra
tion, he forgot for a moment this caution,
granted abundant supplies, and put the court
in a situation to let him depart at a time they
were assured of the good state of the treasury.
Fleury profited by it ; but d'Ormesson found
himself at a total loss how to fulfil Necker's
engagements with the lenders. The ancient
financiers, at this conjuncture, were divided,
dispersed, and displaced. They no longer knew
the real state of the finances ; they had them
selves contributed to render problematic the
exactness of the Compte rendu; they had lost
the concatenation of the affairs of the de
partment in which they were most interest
ed ; and they asserted, that France was no longer
able to pay forty millions of annuities, or annual

254
reimbursements, with which the disastrous ope
rations of Mr. Necker had burdened the state.
On another side, the bankers had confidence
in the probity of M. d'Ormesson ; but they said,
it was a probity that might at every instant trick
them in turn, by the re-establishment, for in
stance, ofthe company of farmers-general, and
overturn the edifice of the Genevese director.
Thus, the state was reduced to the greatest
distress, and credit was so weak at the end of
17.83, that M. Calonne informed the king, on
entering the treasury, he had only found two
bags of 1200 livres. Under these troublesome
circumstances, M. d'Ormesson was obliged
to have recourse to the administration of the
caisse oVescompte. The administrators were over
come by the reputation of the minister of the
finances, and advanced some notes to the state,
at the very time, 1783, that they had issued
paper to the amount of nearly fifty millions.
On this occasion, a wretch, whose name I for
bear to mention, having notes for the sum
of 100,000 crowns, developed the state of
the bank, and alarmed the capital. He chose
the moment of the influx of the realisers, and,
presenting himself, demanded the exchange of
a sum that did not belong to him ; but, as there
was no cash, they were obliged to compact,

255
and begged him to mention terms. ... In an in
stant the capital was informed, that the bank
had stopped payment ; that the state had emp
tied it for its own use ; and that the system of
Law was renewed. The holders of notes are
seised, with sudden terror, and thirty millions
of paper are immediately presented at the bank,
to be realised. Such was the scene that passed
under our eyes in the month of October 1783.
Observers were now busy in examining the
nature of Messrs. Turgot and Necker's institu
tions. A caisse d'escompte is undoubtedly ad
mirable in a free state, where the whole nation
is concerned ; but we perceive its clangers and
phenomena in a monarchy such as France in
1783. This scene stirred up Mr. Necker's partisans
against M. d'Ormesson. The principal bankers
interested in the caisse d'escompte, becoming
from that day more cautious, the state was
again deprived of its illusory and momentary
assistance, and the courtiers took advantage of
that misfortune to get rid of the troublesome
probity of the minister of the finances.
M. de Castries 'how recollected, that he was
indebted for his place to Mr. Necker, • and
pointed him out to the king as the only person
capable of re-establishing the credit of the
state ; but M.deVersrennes, who had occasioned

256
his retreat, was interested, for that reason, in
keeping him out of office. The king at this?
time honoured M. de Vergennes with the confi
dence which Maurepas once enjoyed, and was
guided by his advice in all public concerns.
It was in this situation of affairs that M. de
Castries, who alone could mention Mr. Necker
to the king with any effect, proposed to that
prince to re-establish him in the administration.
His memorial is dated, November 1, 1783.

257

CHAP. XXXIV.
Character of Mr. Necker, by Marshal de Castries. — Senti-
ments of Lexvis XVI. on Mr. Necker, in the Month of Novem
ber 1783..
UJ A iktreat your majesty will deign to read
With kindness what my duty impels me to
place before your eyes, and to have the good
ness to believe, that, when I speak to my
master on the most important subject that has
ever engaged his attention, I should conceive
•myself to be the most culpable of men if I had
any other view than the good of your majesty's
service. " I esteem the probity of M. d'Ormesson ; I
have every reason to speak well of him since he
"has been in place. My wish is, that he could
keep it ; for every change in the finances must
have a bad effect.
" If the affairs of finance are arrived at such
a pitch of discredit, that the operations of con
fidence are no longer to be relied on ; if, in
fine, your majesty shall be obliged to make a
change, I take the liberty to supplicate you to
consider the invaluable man who now remains
inactive ; I beg your majesty to remember,
VOL. IV. S

25*8
that Lewis XIV., without Colbert, would never,-
perhaps, have obtained the name of Lewis the
Great; that the secret wish ofthe nation, which
ever ought to be considered by a good king,
isr that the enlightened, economical, and in
corruptible man, whom the hand of providence
once gave to your majesty, should be re-instated
in his former functions.
"The arguments- of some interested persons
may prevent this determination ; but I solemnly
declare to your majesty, that it is the desire of
every Frenchman devoted to his sovereign. In
the violent moments of war, when circum
stances command, every method to support it
appears just; but when that is terminated, and
sacred engagements remain to be performed -y
vhen it is necessary to provide for a respectable
peace establishment, and, what is still more
respectable, the happiness of your people ; can
your majesty resolve to seek, in the inexpe
rience of another man, an additional source of
misfortune and long regret ?
" The faults of your other ministers,, sire,
are almost always to be repaired, and their
places are easily filled up ; but the choice of
him who is charged with the happiness of
twenty-four millions of souls, and the cherishing
of your majesty's authority, is of the most alarm
ing importance.

259
tc With Mr. Necker;, sire, even in time of
peace, the imposts, such as they were, would
be levied without murmurs. The nation would
be convinced, that it was a law of indispensable
necessity, and justified by a wise administration.
" In a choice on which the destiny of so
many people depend, by choosing the man of
opinion, the man who has been proved, your
majesty's conscience will be at rest ; you may
then enjoy that precious repose, which is engen
dered by the sentiment of having done a good
action : but if your majesty risk an administra
tion on which all the others depend, it is to be
feared, that embarrassments will multiply with
the choice you are obliged to make ; your ma
jesty will see each day's labour destroyed by the
Uext ; and, at length; no other remedy will be
found to serve the state, than breaking your
majesty's engagements^ and thereby destroy the
confidence which the commencement of your
reign had inspired *.
" It was neither ambition nor pride, sire,
that prompted Mr. Necker to stipulate for con
ditions, it was because he was disgusted with
being so long insulted ; he felt the impossibility
of supporting his credit, if some ostensible mark
* The queen effectively caused M-. de Calonne to be no
minated; and we know what has been the consequence of it.
s 2

260
of your majesty's favour were not exhibited in
his favour.
" I dare flatter myself, sire, that your ma
jesty will not imagine this letter to have been-
dictated either by friendship or intrigue ; I act
from disinterested principles ; and no person in
the world is acquainted with my present in
terference *.-
" I have been induced to this step by an idea
of promoting your majesty's peace of mind,
and the glory of your reign ; and should be
ashamed of myself, if, in serving the best and
most indulgent of masters, I remained silent
from fear of your majesty's suspecting me of
any personal interest, by speaking ' of a man
whose probity and merit I revere. I trust your
majesty will never perceive, either in my sen
timents or proceedings, any other motive than
the most ardent zeal for your glory and hap
piness." M. de Castries had been made minister by
Mr. Necker at the time M. de Sartines was dis
missed, and therefore wished to show his gra
titude: but the king thought differently. "I
am sensible," said he, in his answer, " of your
* M. de Castries certainly wrote this letter, but he did
not compose it: he was only the copyist, although he thought.
what he wrote.

261
zeal for my service, and am of your opinion re
specting the changes, but sometimes circum
stances oblige us to adopt them. As to Mr.
Necker, I must tell you plainly, that, from the
manner in tvhich I treated him, and from his
leaving me as he did, I cannot think of taking
him again into my service, in any situation. As
for the rest, sir, do not suppose that your
friendship for him has done you any injury in
my mind."
Hence, either the king disguised his real in
tention in excluding Mr. Necker from the ad
ministration, or that minister had shut the doors
against himself, by his truly republican answer
to the king, on the 19th of May 1781.
But whether the king acted with duplicity or
not in his answer to M. de Castries, or whe
ther Mr. Necker had incurred his resentment
since that time, it is certain that the monarch
was so far deceived as to imagine that Necker
was employed in frustrating the operations of
his successors in the finances, and, in conse
quence, took measures to prevent the ex-di
rector from returning again to Paris.
The administration of the finances was filled
up a few days after. The king had been pre
ceded in his choice by some secret and shameful
intrigues. Foulon, a man of bad principles
and character, but useful and even essential to

262
the manners of the court, had dared to place
himself in the rank of preferment. It was al
ready hinted, that the court was on the point
of re-establishing the administration of the abbe
Terray. The archbishop of Toulouse was also
soliciting for the office ; but the king, since
the unfavourable impressions he had received
from Turgot, would have no more ecclesiastics;
and though the former had fallen into the opb
nion of the times against his own profession,
the king had not sufficient regard for an athe
istical bishop to grant him his request. Calonne
Was still in the rank of promotion ; — but I shall
not anticipate what will be said of him here
after, in its proper place. I only mention him
now, in order to follow the train of the effects
of Mr. Necker's administration, and not to se-t
parate from that epoch the subsequent facts,
which form a complete part of history. I merely
observe, that M. de Calonne was appointed to
succeed M. d'Ormesson, and that his first en
deavour was tq obtain credit. Having no der
pendence on the banks, his primary operation
was to rebuild the ancient edifice.

263

CHAP. XXXV.
Mr. Necker addresses a Work to the King, which he dedicates to
the Nation — Character of his Letter to the King ; its timid
¦and respectful Style; and the Audacity of his Proceedhigs —
The King's Opinion thereon— Unanimous Decisions of the
Administration assembled against Mr. Necker, under the
Auspices of M. de Vergennes — Report made to the King to
obtain the Proscription of the new Work, and also the Person
of its Author — Goodness of that Prince.
JVlR- Necker, observing the re-establishment
of the system and bodies which he had de
stroyed, informed of the king's refusal to recall
him to the direction of the finances, and finding
at the head of his .department only a provincial
intendant, an ancient magistrate, a man of
wit, and a vicious character ; that is to say,
every thing opposite to his plans, manners, and
projects ; recommenced his hostilities against
the ancient regime of <the finances, and pub
lished his treatise on the Administration of the
Finances of France, in three volumes.
. Informed, without doubt, that Lewis XVI.
still remembered the manner of his retreat, he
took a new method of addressing his work to
him. By reading his letter to the king, we may

264
be able to judge of his new way of thinking;
and by the king's letter to M. de Vergennes, we
may see in what point of view that prince con
sidered his determination ; while M. de Ca-
lonne's report developes the embarrassment and
uneasiness the ex-director's new work occa
sioned in the council,
Mr. Necker's Letter to Lewis XVI. on presenting him with the
Treatise on the Administraiimi qf the Finances.
"Sire,
" With the, most respectful timidity, I take the
liberty of sending, for your majesty's gracious
acceptance, a work which has employed me
during the hours of retirement, AYthe time of
my undertaking it, I knew not thafeLshould ever
make it public; and when.it was completed,
some considerable motives still rendered it un
certain. I intreat your majesty not to draw
any conclusions from my .remarks before you
have read them throughout. I place my con
fidence on your majesty's calm and superior
manner of judging of men and things ; for I
have left no friend about the court, though it
was easy enough for me to have done so. Far
from the metropolis, and having nothing to
hope for, it is from a sentiment worthy of your
majesty's great qualities that I ardently desire

265
your approbation ; and it is with a heart pene
trated with your infinite bounty that I presume
at least to implore your indulgence.
" I intreat your majesty to accept my most
profound sentiments of love and respect, which
I shall retain to the hour of my death, and
which are united with those I owe your ma
jesty, as his most humble and most obedient
servant, t( Necker."
This letter did not produce the effect which
the ex-director intended. Lewis was extreme
ly surprised at the proceeding. Shocked at the
publication of a work without the participation
of government, he expressed his astonishment
to his confidential minister. The book was, in
effect, a disguised appeal to the people, al
though sent with respectful timidity to the
king, and dedicated to the nation. Mr. Necker
besides took the liberty to infringe upon the
Jaws of the state, at a time when the ministers
Were giving examples of their authority, and
punishing offenders. The king took notice of it,
in a very remarkable letter to M. de Vergennes,
" Herewith you will receive, fir, the work, which
J have run over slightly, and you will find in it
here and there some notes, without connexion,
with each other. At all events, on a supposition

266
that his intentions were good, he ought, in my
opinion, to have addressed the work, in manu
script, to his successor, without publishing it
to the world ; but he has wished to encourage
his party ; and, because he has foreseen my in
tentions, he has been beforehand with me, and
anticipated the customs which sanction its pub
lication. You will perceive in his letter the
meanness of his views. He must be informed
ofthe effect of that which announced his resig
nation." M.de Vergennes, at this conjuncture, obtained
from the king an employment of favour and in
terest, that of chief of the royal council of the
finances. He several times assembled the mi
nisters, to consult on the means of eluding the
effect of Mr. Necker's new publication. All the
council of state met at his house, except M. de
Castries, whose attachment to the ex-director
was very evident. Marshal de Segur, baron de
Breteuil, count de Vergennes, M. de Calonne,
and two others of the council of the finances,
had frequent conferences ; and we may judge
of their embarrassment, from the secret memorial
which wras the result of them. M. de Vergennes
had done the ex-director several private injuries;
but this time the attack was general throughout
the council, and appeared decisive. They in-

267
tended nothing less than to proscribe Mr. Necker,
according to the project of 1781, to which the
king had refused his sanction.
" The ministers and faithful servants of the
king," said they to the monarch, " agree in the
idea, that the most pressing reasons of state
demand and require, that your majesty should
banish to his own country a foreigner, who has
betrayed the confidence of an indulgent master,
and who has even distributed anti-monarchical
maxims, to excite resistance against the actual
administration, and to disturb the public tran
quillity. *' Those who conceive it their duty, at this
time, to insist strongly on this necessity, might,
perhaps, have to reproach themselves, if they
did not, the moment Mr. Necker's work ap
peared, propose to your majesty to proscribe
both the book and the author,
" At the time he dared to transmit the work
directly to the king and queen, there had been,
already a great number of copies sold in the
provinces, and twenty were at the same time
distributed among the most zealous partisans at
Paris. Suppressing, and endeavouring to pre
vent its sale in the capital, would have been
only a vain effort ; it would have overcome
such an obstacle, and the prohibition would
have been nothing more than an additional

268
inducement to read it ; it would have given
more force to the enthusiasm of its admirers,
and have rendered the criticisms of men of
sense more ineffectual.
" On the other side, to punish the author
before the venom of his work had manifested
itself by effects, might have appeared too rigor
ous : he was undoubtedly guilty of an abuse of
confidence, but he was not become a disturber
of the public tranquillity ; and, although it was
easy to perceive the danger of his maxims, we
could not foresee the strange fermentation
which his book has occasioned *.
" Ought we to have expected this, in the
midst of the most peaceful and satisfactory situ
ation that the administration has ever experi
enced ; when the capital and provinces were
free from every species of embarrassment; when
all the assemblies of the states, even that of
Bretany, were conducted with the greatest
tranquillity and. the most distinguished success ;
when there was abundance of money in circu
lation and in the treasury, payments punctually
* The king's council must undoubtedly mean, by this
abuse of confidence, that Mr. Necker published the plans,
memorials, and projects, that he had received as director-
general, without the consent of his successors, and in defiance
pf the laws whicli require ministers to leave all papers relative
to their administration in the hands of government,

269
made, and persons ready to lend ; in a word,
when every thing announced confidence, and
established security ? In such a conjuncture, it
was natural enough to suppose that a collection
of transactions in the finances, with whatever
design they might have been put together,
and whatever might be the deception of their
style, would only be productive of vain disser
tations on the principles they contain ; that opi
nions would be divided between the administra
tors and their opposers ; that the latter would
exalt the talents and principles of the author.,
and the former become the victims of the theory
and falsity of his calculations ; in fine, that the
eulogiums of his disciples would be counter
balanced, either by the indignation due to their
temerity and treason, in exposing the secrets of
the state, or by the impression which excess of
the most disgusting vanity, and the most\ bare
faced views of personal interest, must neces
sarily inspire.
" But at present, when it is evident that this
book has disconcerted every mind, and re-animat
ed every intrigue ; that it is become the rallying
point of all those who wish forconfusion, andhope
to gain by it; that it has also raised a multiplicity
of calumnies, atrocities, and false reports, tend
ing to destroy confidence ; that it is made use
of to give credit to the most dangerous maxims,

270
to announce the changes which are wished fofj
and to excite a general fermentation, extending
from the capital to the provinces, and resound
ing even to the courts of other countries ; in
fine, now that the partisans and associates of Mn
Necker flatter themselves they shall be able tb
realise his dogmas on the empire of public opi
nion in his favour, affect to despise and cry
down all that has been done since his time, and
even all that we could do without him ; it is time;
we can confidently declare, it is full time, to cast
out, beyond the limits of the kingdom, this
nursery of intrigues and troubles, which can
never be destroyed until the principle of hope;
by which they are nourished, be totally cut off".
" Parliamentary denunciations, and public
prosecutions, followed by successive judiciary
condemnations, appeared likely to settle the
niinds ofthe people, and stay the progress ofthe
evil ; but since this publication has appeared;
We have been obliged to spread so many doubts
and uncertainties respecting yourmajesty's inten
tions among the magistrates ; and it is; be
sides, so easy^ at the present day, to excuse and
adopt what seems to tend to the weakening of
authority, that there is great reason to fear a
juridical examination of the work would only
lead to dangerous discussions, divide opinion s
and persons, and occasion such a contest of sen-

27 1
timent, that, whatever might be the result, must
surely work more evil than good ; in effect, the
friends of the author would not fail to take ad
vantage of it, they would attribute the votes
which might be given for its condemnation to
the influence of authority, and would only con
sider as free suffrages, those that were exerted in
their behalf.
" Perhaps, even, there would be a kind of
danger in giving an idea, that authority had oc
casion, in such a circumstance, to rely on the
decision of the sovereign courts ; particularly
if the parliament, after making their report of
the condemnation of the book, and referring
the punishment of the author to your majesty,
should find, that he was only ordered into exile.
This resolution, in such a case, would have less
effect, and appear less important than if emana
ting from the proper source.-
" We are all of opinion, that tranquillity cart-
not be re-established on any permanent founda
tion, unless your majesty interpose, and silence
all parties by a very particular manifestation
of your will, thereby rendering to your mini
sters that consideration and importance which
their situations require. We conceive it pru
dent to prevent the disagreeable and perhaps
embarrassing sensation which the sudden ar
rival of Mr. Necker might occasion; and to that
effect we take the liberty to implore, that your

272
majesty will instantly commission the baron de
Breteuil to transmit him an order to depart
from the kingdom."
I have not been able to discover whether the
order was signified to Mr. Necker by M. de
Breteuih The former, who has recounted his
different misfortunes in his works, has not in
formed us if he received a letlre-de-cachet in
virtue of the publication of his book on the ad
ministrations. It is, however, proved, that the
proscription was unanimously requested. The
king, in the former case, would Ywe had more
time to reflect on the injustice and inconveni
ence of the proscription. The letter which fol
lows, addressed to M. de Vergennes, proves, ne
vertheless, that the vicinity of Mr. Necker
caused him some uneasiness ; it is dated the
23d. of May, 1785, and tbe king speaks in it of
the ex-director in the following terms :
te I know not, sir, if I am guilty of an indis
cretion ; but my confidence in you induces me
to conceal nothing from you. M. d'Angiviller
sent me the note, without saying if it was by
my desire or not; it is true that the queen
-asked me, in consideration of Mr. Necker's bad
state of health, to let him come and pass some
time near Paris, to have an opportunity of con
sulting with the physicians. I granted it, on
condition that he should not enter the metro-

poliSj nor see much company. I must inform
yoU, that before the queen asked me this favour,
she wished to know if there was any operation
of finance in agitation, and told me, she would
not request it if there were. 'Upon the whole,
. she appeared to me, as I before knew^ to be
very little attached to his person; I must ac
knowledge, that I see very little difference, be
tween a province no great distance off, and a
country-seat^ Lyons, perhaps, was still worse,
on account ofthe stock-jobbers. I also thought,
that showing indifference as to' his residence
would give him less celebrity. I did not meanj
however, to lose sight of him or his friends ; I
sent for M. de Castries, after the queen had
made her request, and informed him of what I
had told her majesty; and, I. added, that he
ought to remember, that two years ago* at the
departure of M. d'Ormesson, I had formally de
clared, that neither Mr. Necker nor his friends
ought to imagine that he Would be again em
ployed ; that if he remained quiet, and if his
friends made no more mention of him, I should
not interfere ; but if he caused any disturbance,
or did any thing contrary to the operations of
government, I should conceive myself attacked,'
and. I would then send him to Geneva, never
more to set his foot in France. I leave to your
prudence the communication of what you please
VOL, iv. T

274
on the subject to the controller-general; I
thought of speaking to him myself on Thursday,
but that, perhaps, will be too late. I rely on
his discretion for particulars ; he may say, that
the person of Mr. Necker is indifferent to him,
and that, depending on my goodness, as well as
that of thequeen, he fears nothing ; but, above
all, let him take care of his true and false friends;
as long as he only meddles with public affairs,
he may remain in safety. I cannot conclude
this letter without reminding you, that the (20)
(10) May is passed. I trust that it will again
pass over as this has done. " Lewis."
We may perceive, that if the administration
was no longer'exteriorly agitated, as in the time
of Mr. Necker, its interior still experienced
some storms resulting from his' operations ; and
M. de Castries, who belonged to the party of
Choiseul, possessed of a character and mind sus
ceptible of resolution, would perhaps have been
able to re-establish Mr. Necker in the admini
stration, at the death of M. de Maurepas,
if the king, whom his confidential ministers
ever rendered simple and credulous towards
them, had not delivered himself up to M'. de
Vergennes so entirely, that de Castries no longer
dared to mention the Genevese director to the
kiny;, and was obliged to transmit, in writing,

275
any propositions he had to make in his favour,
in order to be assured that he should be heard
to the end. The king, in effect, had said pub
licly to some friends of Messrs. Choiseul and
Necker : " Let no one talk to me again of that
man," naming the premier, " nor of Mr.
Necker." In the month of January, 1785, he
said, . loud enough to be heard by every one :
" I will hear no more of Mr. Necker's plans, nor
suffer my kingdom to be made a clamorous re
public, continually debating on affairs of state,
like the city of Geneva, and as it was during
Mr. Necker's administration." It is certain,,
that the agitations of his two administrations
will Occupy more than two-thirds of the history
of Lewis XVI.
It was known -at this time, that Mr: Necker
had seen de Castries privately; that he' was
concealed in his wardrobe ; and that' the apart
ments of M. de Castries were full of people,"
who knew nothing of his spending whole hours
together with the ex-director, in writing and
conversation. A • nobleman, who ' sometimes"
visited him, was not a little surprised, one day,
to see the wardrobe-door half opened, and Mr.
Necker walk out with a memorial in his hand.

276

CHAP. XXXVI.
Definitive Analysis of Public Opinion during Mr. Necker's twa'
Administrations — Analysis by the Works of Art— Analysis
¦ by tlie Works vf the Republic of Letters — Pride and Fragility
of this pretended .Public Opinion — It' is discomposed iu pro
portion, as .the Revolutionary s Spirit divides, neutralises, or
changes itself.
[_ HE works of art, and the, .writings and opi
nions of men of letters, are the only remaining
monuments of public opinion, by which Mr.,
Necker pretended he was supported during his
two administrations. Those noisy societies, di-.
vided on his account ; : those meetings, so ani
mated for or against his operations ; those dis
tricts,, and those elubs of -the metropolis, which
held forth on his genius and plans; and those
leaders of revolutionary factions, endeavouring
to annihilate him, or immortalise his name, are
no more; but their works > exist, and it is our
duty, to judge them with justice and. delibera
tion. The engravings which were published on ac
count of that celebrated man are at once a proof

277
of the great sensation his innovations had pro
duced in France, the country of arts. All of
them announced the energy of public opinion
in favour of his proceedings. The ninety-eighth
volume of my collection of prints on our national
history contains as many as sixty-six engravings
relative to his first administration. His second ad
ministration produced eighty-three. What enthu
siasm in. the imagination of French artists in' fa
vour ofthe minister ! They drew his portrait for
bracelets, snuff-boxes, and medallions. ' The
glory of Mr. Necker effaced that of Sully and
Colbert. The Genevese minister is the good
genius; the saviour, and Hercules of France,
Like Geneva, after the reform, he draws 'light
from darkness, P-ost-tenebras lux. We had
fallen into nothing ; he brought us to existence.
Qui ; nobis 'JIes'tituit rem.' Like a benefi
cent sun, he illumines the world. Envy, error,
vice, monsters, and tyranny,', appear ; he kills,
decapitates them, and throws their remains at
his feet. The* Compte rendu alone produces
eighteen engravings, and inflames every imagi
nation. ; The river Necker flows upon our ter
ritory, and fertilises it. They multiply his vir
tues and deifications. At the eve of the revo
lution, the engraver 'who publishes the*popular
caricatures of the Orleans' party adds those of
the glory of Mr. Necker ; and soon (what is

278
neither verypoljtic nor very, constitutional) the
farmers -general, the -financiers, and the first or
ders of the state are trodden.under his feet. We
are forced to admire the agony, death, and fune
ral procession of abuses. At the Palais Royal
they flog a woman who had dared to speak ill
of him ;, and 'this indecent drawing is engraved
three times.; This -disorder of ideas soon' arrives
at such a pitch, that we no -longer find in their
productions any relative degrees, or any dif
ference between the French monarch and .the
minister. In a short time, the irregularity of the
artist is such,- that Lewis XVI. and Xecker.- are
united, and placed on a level, or are observed,
pendent in the sarne engraving*. '
> Our quays Thave been, lined during his two
administrations, with all these-rarities ; we have
observed the lower classjof people stop and
form themselves into, groupes, to admire these
works, inspired by public opinion. And who'
would have dared, at that time, to speak ill of
Mr. Necker's ; power and equity? Yet,: was
there ever a more fictitious, ideal, or romantic
authority, heard of in France? There were
many; prints, and I have procured some draw
ings (ofr which Mr. Necker's two retreats pre
vented .the publication), that were done by
order ; but, in genera], artists who had neither
knowledge nor judgment were thc'inventors of

279
these picturesque ideas. From the commence
ment of the revolution, also,:they were employed
at'Mr. Necker's expense ;• they passed from one
faction to another, floating at random in every
party; so that artists devoted to the ancient
regime, and those of the constituents, girond-
ists, and montagnards, have successively en
graved plates in honour of Mr. Necker, jand ca
ricatures against him. The most beautiful and
best of the engravings was the work of a leader
of the Septembrisers. Such, then,- was public
opinion, with regard to Mr. Necker, in the re
public of arts, "that if ingenious men exhaust
their talents to immortalise him, a few months
pass over, and public opinion is dissolved, like
the confused interests of his partisans ; and the
artists, who had laboured to celebrate the glory
ofthe Genevese minister, are now employed in
tarnishing it. Thus ends, among the artists, the
drama of public opinion invoked by Mr. Necker:
What a lesson for the reformers of empires ! :
¦There 'was a particular class among these
artists,' that deserves some mention. This class,
like that of the literati, possessed characters of
great versatility. Among the engravings rela
tive to Mr. Necker's administration, there is one
which represents his apotheosis admired by a
young person (madame de Stael), who seems in
ecstasy^ with a pen in her hand, at the sight of

280
the attributes of her father's glory. The artist,
of a changeable humour, being informed of
Mr. Necker's disgrace in 1781, scratches out
his face on the plate, and substitutes the head of
M. de Vergennes, his antagonist, still leaving
the figure of madame de Stael in the same position,
The revolutionary government taking place in
1793, the artist now effaces the head of M. de
Vergennes, and puts in that of Marat, which
madame de Stael continues to admire.
The decisions and transactions of the repub
lic of letters, relating to Mr. Necker, are still
much more expressive and conclusive than those
of the arts. The high finance and magistracy
pever varied their style against him ; he is still
the same to that party in the year 9 (1800), as in
1788. As to the writings dictated by the public
opinion of the times in his favour, no persua
sions or artifices were left untried to seduce the
minds and engage the affections of the people.
With what constancy did they defend him,
during his first administration, and support him
after his disgrace ! In what manner did they
extol him in the time of his absence, by devoting
his enemies to infamy, beginning with M. de
Maurepas ! "Read the character of that minister
by the abbe Raynal. How they pride them
selves on being the organs of national opinion
jn regard to tbe exrdirector ! How haye they

281
succeeded in causing him to be recalled to the
administration in 1788, with the title of minister
of state /.-... In witnessing these operations,
these forerunning symptoms of a revolution,
who would not have concluded, that the writers,
attached to the glory of Mr. Necker, were in
reality the organs of national opinion in 1788 ?
The, friends of the Genevese minister were
unfortunately nothing more than a class of
writers, or revolutionary enthusiasts, as badly
organised as the artists above mentioned. He
was without the support of the chief men ofthe
empire, who had now met to determine on the
relative establishment of the three chambers.
They decided in one manner, and he! in another.
They cherished the monarchical opinion of
France, and he supported what he called pub
lic opinion ; and as the latter was neither coun
tenanced by the supreme magistracy, the high
finance, nor'the superior clergy, because Mr.
Necker had lost their suffrages in his first ad
ministration, his public opinion was of course
that of the tiers-etat, on account of his spirited
opposition to all the established authorities in
1788. , . ¦_,-,
Now, what were the elements of the party
of the tien-kat in 1788 and 1789 ? Was not
this party the amicable, fraternal, and, unani
mous association of constituents against the regal

282
government of 1788 ? Was not this association
composed, in the month of May 1789, of the
constituents ofthe party of Mounier, Bergasse,
and Lally-Tolendal, of that of the first consti
tution, and of the Brissotine, cordelier, and
montagnard parties ? Were not all these, who
have since imprisoned, killed, and destroyed each
other, brothers and friends in 1788 ? Is it for
gotten with what zeal, courage, and attachment,
they supported each other against the troops in
the champ-de-mars ? or how they declared them
selves the organs and protectors of public opi
nion, obliging the monarch to recall the exiled
minister in the month of July 1789 ? Yet, ob
serve how this constituent party since abandons
their leader, their hero. Mounier, his pupil,
throws out the first signal of public censure
against him. Soon the principals of the party
quit their ranks, divide, abandon the field, and
suffer Mr. Necker to make good his retreat to
Copet alone, leaving France a prey to every
kind of destruction, and execrated himself by
cordeliers, Orleanists, constitutional jacobins,
Robespierrists, and republicans. All of them
had emulously united to elevate him to the
skies, and all had combined to accomplish his
disgrace. From the analytical history of the public
opinion cited by Mr. Necker as his protec-

28^
ting and tutelar divinity, as Well as the object
of his worship and of his cares in the admini
stration, it results, that this divinity, during
his two administrations, was only the opinion of
the revolutionists and'the first author ofthe events
of 1789 ;Yt was the aggregation of the philo
sophical and reforming ideas which France had
adopted,; and. which may be'perceived among
every people who introduce ' revolutions as the
means of reform. »No revolution can restore; its
exclusive attribute is destruction. The power
of treating consists^in other measures ; as the
continuation of Our work will demonstrate??. ,J
In concluding the history of Mr. Necker's ad
ministration, it is my duty to rnehtion a concise
representation of it, given at the end of Memoirs
of the Marquis deBouillS, which are just published.
The marquis describes that minister as the in
strument and cause of the French revolution ;
he defends him against the accusations of se
dition and conspiracy ; he declares, that he has
not betrayed either the king or the nation, but
that his services injured them; he blames him
for not having opposed the errors of public
opinion ; for submitting to it against the impulse
of his own conscience, and for having adopted
nothing more than vain speculations for the sup
port of a tottering throne ; he thinks him cul
pable for undertaking so difficult a task, for

284
having passively contributed to the demolition
of the monarchy, and for having placed his
own panegyric at the head of this terrible
and eventful history. He asserts, that it is
the eternal fate of the multitude to be go
verned by the few; and, that' the smaller
number of rulers there were, the better the state
would be governed. : M. Bouille does justice to
the moral character of Mr. Necker, but de
clares him to. be author, of the misfortunes of
France, which he attributes to the imprudence
of his measures, tothe insufficiency of his know
ledge, and to the application of philosophical
principles to politics.
" As to you modern philosophers," says he,
"your disastrous doctrines have caused more
blood to be spilt in a few years, than the bar
barous policy, the ignorance and fanaticism of
our ancestors have done in the course of many
ages. How will you repair the evils you have
occasioned ? What a terrible lesson for future
generations !"

REIGN OF LEWIS XVI.

CONCLUSION OF THE FIFTH EPOCH;
OR ¦ -''-"' l<-
THE LIBERTY OF AMERICA
acknotdedged in Europe at the Peace of 1783?
with the History of the Conduct of the House of
Austria towards France, during the English
War.

A monarchy, established upon a respectable footing, is
the only real security that your majesty can have for the
duration of the peace with England. That proud' and
haughty nation will not be Satisfied with having purchased
it by sacrifices ; and she will neglect no opportunity to.re-
new the flames of war when she can attempt it with suc
cess. Although labouring under the burden of an un-
supportable debt, and torn by. factions, contending for
power, she never loses sight of the re-establishment of her
navy. • , ', ...
Memorial of Ni. de Vergennes,' to Lewis XVI., on
the English.

287

CHAP. I.
Continuation of the Fourth Epoch, and of the History of the
Establishment of Liberty in America. — Conduct qfthe House
of Austria towards France, her Ally, while the latter Power
was at War with England — First Advantage she took of the
Alliance in 1756, und of our Situation. — Austria endeavours
io establish herself with Impunity in Bavaria.
1 HE first administration of Mr. Necker hav
ing happened between the time ofthe establish
ment of liberty in America, in 1774, and the
peace of 1783, which confirmed it, chronological
order requires that our account of that admini
stration should be placed in the middle of the
American war. We now continue the history1
of that war; and considering its first effects on
the continent, relative to the peace of Europe,
and the interests of our country, the conduct of
the house of Austria claims our earliest atten
tion. Scarcely had the first harbingers of war be
tween France and England menaced us with
that scourge, when the Austrian party held
forth the importance of the treaty of alliance.
made in 1756 to the interest of France. " Do
you observe," said the friends of the queen,

28S
who were acquainted with the interests of the
two nations, "what France gains by her treaty
with the court of Vienna : she deprives England
of an ancient ally on the continent, capable of
dividing herjbrce and resources; she condemns
this insulated power to remain alone in the
bosom of the waters, without the least influ
ence on the continent ; and this treaty has not
only procured us, for sixteen years past, a cer
tain peace, but France at this time is on the
point of reaping the fruits of it, by an amicable
and, beneficent neutrality."
The views of the court of Vienna were very
opposite. It was in hopes of gaining by our
embarrassment the advantages which are de
rived from the most signal victories, without
striking a blow. Joseph II. began by coming
himself to reconnoitre our position in 1777.
Maria Antoinetta, his sister, had already ex
perienced, ever since her marriage, that the
titled nobility were firm enough to repress the-
pretensions of Austria, which Maria Theresa
had attempted to set up.
The archduke, her brother, found the princes
of the blood resolved to withstand the honorary ;t
demands he made at court. These two cautions
given, to the house of Austria, by the principal -.
nobility, and the princes of the blood, were les-.
sons for Joseph II. He therefore arrived at

289
court, and appeared in our provinces, with the
most studied air of modesty. Prompted by a
plan of policy which he would not confide to
extraordinary envoys, or embassadors, he came
to Versailles under the title of count Falken-
stein, and found the king well grounded by
M. de Vergennes in the universality of his pos
sible propositions.
It has been said, that Lewis XVI. promised
him at this time the opening ofthe Scheld, and
the establishment of an archduke at Cologne,
on condition that he should destroy the fortresses
of the Low Countries, Ostend and some others
excepted. We are authorised to believe, that
the king gave him to understand he should not
be insensible to his friendship during the war
with England, if circumstances rendered it ne
cessary. The court of Vienna was no sooner informed
of the dispositions of the cabinets of Versailles
and Lend-on;' and of the facts which announced
an approaching war, than it resolved to take
advantage of the moment to ameliorate its situ
ation; and with this design Joseph wished pre
viously to sound our minds, and examine our
strength and resources. He was seen in com
pany with our ministers and administrators, and
insinuated himself into the interior of provinces.
He visited our manufactories, our commercial
vol. iv. v

290
cities, our ports, and canals ; but his politeness
and attention to the artists, and the chiefs of
the charitable establishments or offices of pub-
lid utility, could not do away the uneasiness
and national suspicion he, occasioned, resulting
from the curiosity and jealous inquietude which
he was unable to conceal. Joseph, besides,
only found objects in France calculated to ex
pire his resentment and regret. On the south
was Spain, one of the most beautiful countries
of Europe, which we had torn from his ances
tors, as well as the valuable province of Rous-
. sillon. The two provinces of Burgundy to the
east, Alsace and Lorraine to the north-east,
and a part of the Low Countries to the north,
were only branches lopped from the inheritance
of Charles V- The emperor's states were com
posed of fragments and pieces cemented toge
ther, France, on the contrary, was compact,
without the least separation. Joseph entered
France from curiosity, he quitted it burning
with jealousy and ambition, which was not long
in discovering itself.
Europe, in effect, was informed all at once -of
the illness and deqth of the elector of Bavaria,
and the sudden resolution of Joseph II. to seize
upon this electorate, so long coveted by his an
cestors. Bavaria offered the emperor sonie useful com-

291
munications with his possessions to the south and
east. Once united to the domains of Austria,
the Danube would no longer cease to flow on
her shores. By this operation Joseph prevented
the union of Bavaria to the palatinate under the
same prince, observing the ancient policy ofhis
house by dividing the fiefs ofthe empire or seiz
ing on them. An after-thought gave him hopes
of being able to annihilate, some time or other,
the duchy of Wirtemberg, and thus, arrived at
the Rhine, to reach France, and, in case of war,
to exercise his rights on Alsace, or even on Lor
raine, the. ancient possession of his ancestors.
Frederic II. denounced these vast projects of
the emperor to all the world, by means of
his agents.
It was the interest of Europe not to suffer
that prince to establish himself in a post of
such a nature. The emperor, once master of
Bavaria, might fall unexpectedly on Turin,
France, and Alsace ; and, in Germany, on all
the powers bordering on the electorate. By this
acquisition he would be able to oppose to France
that , unity and territorial indivisibility which
give us such a preponderating relative force.
By a sudden manoeuvre he remedied the weak
ness ofhis possessions, which wanted combina
tion, being intersected by a great number of
v 2

292
different sovereignties, incorporated in fhe heart
ofhis dominions.
However convenient this military operation
might be to the emperor, it was not approved
by Maria Theresa. That princess, now grow
ing old, was environed by casuists, priests,
and a confessor; her conscience still reproached
her with iniquities committed in Poland, when
she pillaged a free country, and seized upon a
part of the sovereignty of a defenceless and
friendly power. Her confessors represented
to her, that, from no other motive than to en
large her dominions, she was now on the point
of oppressing her people, and murdering mil
lions of Germans, for whom she must answer
before God. Moved by the dictates of con
science, and tired with her fruitless military
expeditions against Frederic, she begged her
son to ; eign in peace, and suffer the succession
of Bavaria to pass to its lawful heirs ; but Joseph
had made it a point cf honour, and the more
his mother remonstrated, the more obstinately
were her arguments opposed. An opportunity
to aggrandise himself had arrived ; his sister
could ward off the resentment of France, and
the Turks would engage the attention of Ca
tharine II. Having therefore only Frederic to
contend with, he resolved to set him at defi-

293
ance, and take advantage of so many favourable'
circumstances to accomplish his desires. Prince
Kaunitz, who had both the mother and son to
please, sure of the former, and obliged to bend
to the resolution of the prince, applauded his
proceedings. An army is put in motion to
enter Bavaria. The elector palatine, its legiti
mate heir, struck with terror at the arrival of
the troops, gave up to Austria, by a treaty
concluded between the emperor and him at
Munich, two thirds of the electorate.
The advantages which Austria proposed to
draw from Bavaria, and the interests which
this union involved, awakened the attention of
Europe. The cabinet of Versailles, who were not
ignorant of the queen's passion for the aggran
disement of her family, found themselves re
strained under the eyes of that princess. They
resolved, therefore, to look on, hear all, and
temporise ; but to do every thing in secret, to
counteract an operation which drew nearer to
France a natural enemy, so dreaded in former
times. The present alliance, a work of con
venience, and the king's marriage with an
archduchess, could not endure for ever, while
the interests of the nation were attached to the
preservation of its situation relative to the
Austrian power. Count de Vergennes repre-

29 _•
sented to Lewis XVI. the interests ofhis house
in this respect, and there was no difficulty in
persuading the prince to hold a private corre
spondence with him, in writing, on the con
duct of the queen and emperor.
". With the ordinary interceptions, sir, I re-*
turn the Spanish dispatches which you trans
mitted to me. We must expect the ill-humour
of the Spanish minister, when he perceives
that we are better acquainted with events
which are to happen than he is. But, it is a
pity that the circumstance should make mat
ters worse. M. d'Aranda is very indiscreet, to
plague us with his resentment against his
country. I approve M. Montmorin's project
for your writing immediately to M. Florida
Biancha ; you have only to prepare the letter,
which you will read in a committee, where we
will make the necessary determinations on ul
terior operations.
" I have seen the queen since she saw you.
She appeared to me much affected with the idea
of a war's breaking out between two rivals so
near each other. She talked to me also of
your not having done enough to prevent it.
I endeavoured to prove to her, that you had
tried every thing in your power, and that we
were ready to take any amicable steps that.
the court of Vienna might . surest to us.

295
But at the same time I did not fail to Inform
her, how little I thought of the acquisitions of
the house of Austria, and that we were in no
way obliged to lend it any assistance for their
protection ; and, moreover, I particularly as
sured her, that the king of Prussia could not
induce us to break the alliance, and that we
might disapprove of the conduct of an ally
without quarrel^hg with him. She had heard
very little from the emperor and empress, or
from M. de Mercy. This is for your infor
mation, in order that you may speak the same
language. I think, like you, that we must
not by any means sanction the Usurpation of
the court of Vienna, and I see no impropriety
in what you have said to M. de Mercy.
(Signed) " Lewis."
This letter, in which We find so much mys
tery, so many unknown facts, and the king's
true character, is a most faithful picture Of the
connexion between France and the court of
Vienna. Russia could not view with pleasure this aug
mentation of the emperor's forces. Fearless of
attack on the northern side, Aoistria is the only
power to the south which it is her interest to
Watch ; she ought, therefore, to prevent the
aggrandisement of her territory. But Catha-

296*
rine's resources were drained to support her
splendor, and the war against the Ottoman
Porte, which Joseph had excited, to take offher
attention from his proceedings in Bavaria,
Catharine, thus employed, looked on in silence;
and waited for the developement of his policy
with wary expectation*
The king of Sardinia, terrified at the approach
of Austria towards his possessions, at the same
time that he was so much embarrassed in the
east and south, made strong remonstrances.
He solicited France, Russia, and particularly
Prussia, in very impressive terms, to prevent the
usurpation of Bavaria; but the secret transactions
of the sisters-in-law of Lewis XVI. were not cal
culated to reconcile them to Maria Antoinetta.
Saxony, uneasy at, the approach of Austria,
put herself under the protection of Prussia, and
implored Frederic to deliver them from so dan
gerous a neighbour.
The duke of Deux-Ponts, legitimate successor
of the elector palatine, deprived of Bavaria by
the treaty of Munich, united his particular
claims to the preceding ones.
There was not a state in Europe, therefore,
uninterested in the suppression of this proceed
ing of the court of Vienna; and such was the
importance of Bavaria, that all Europe, who had
tolerated, without interference, the dismember-

297
ment of Poland, now awoke from their lethargy,
incensed at the pretensions of Joseph II. , and at
iiis unbounded ambition.
While Russia and France were coming to an
explanation, Frederic II., at the head of his
armies, commenced a negotiation. Relying on
the adhesion of so many secondary powers of
the Germanic body to the common cause, he
had nothing to fear but the decisions and steps,
of the former powers. Frederic caused the opi
nions of M. de Vergennes to be sounded, who
yet only explained himself in ambiguous or ge
neral terms. The French minister constantly
refused to depart from the watchful uncertainty
in which he affected to hold himself, and would
go no -farther than disapproving the project of
the emperor; but he assured the king of Prus
sia, that France, on this occasion, would not'
lend any assistance to the house of Austria.
Satisfied with these overtures, and with the
impotence of Maria Theresa, Frederic had only
to be guarded against Russia. She continued
a mere spectator, alleging her embarrassment
with the Turks. Under these circumstances,
almost sure of France and Catharine, he took
the resolution to develope his character of pro
tector ofthe liberties and independence of the
Germanic bodies. Austria pushed on her

298
troops into Bohemia ; and Frederic opposed to
them a hundred and sixty thousand men, in two
divisions. France, occupied with the war of America,
had to fear that its flames might extend to the
continent. At Berlin, she disapproved of the
conduct of Joseph II. ; at Vienna, she advised
him to desist from his intentions on Bavaria :
but Joseph took advantage of his opportunities
to pursue his plans with redoubled vigour. In
the mean time, baron Thugut arrived in Frede
ric's camp, on the part of the emperor ; he
offered the king of Prussia some insignificant
principalities and reparations, which were not
accepted. Thugut, thus repulsed, went to
Vienna, and returned again to Frederic, who still
remained firm in his character of protector of the
integral parts of the Germanic possessions. A
peace was now negotiated by M. de Vergennes,
then a favourite at Constantinople, between the
Porte and Russia. Prussia united herself to his
solicitations ; and, as she consented to acknow
ledge the independence of the khan of Tartary,
Russia, delivered from that enemy, developed
her national character in the contest with Au
stria, and insisted that Maria Theresa and the
emperor should give satisfaction to the princes
of the empire, or she would assist the king of

299
Prussia in the present discussions, to accomplish
the terms ofhis treaties. Astonished, but not yet
reclaimed, Joseph answered the threats of Russia
with another corps of eighty thousand men ;
while Maria Theresa, ever averse to the military
ambition of her son, renewed her entreaties at
Petersburg and Versailles, and requested the
mediation of their cabinets. The baron de Bre
teuil presented a plan of a treaty to the court
of Vienna, which had been concerted between
France and Prussia. Maria Theresa having
demanded a suspension of hostilities, and
Russia, on her part, having signed the treaty
with the Porte, the emperor and Prussia,
through the mediation of France and Catharine
II. , concluded the treaty of Teschen.
Joseph, now perceiving that the friendship of
France was not sufficient, formed a plan respect
ing the court of Petersburg, and made prepara
tions for a journey to Russia, to come to an un
derstanding with Catharine II.

300

CHAP. II.
Second Advantage which the House of Austria took of oitr Em-
barrasaments in the American War : she establishes an Arch
duke, in full Sovereignly , in the Electorate of Cologne.
I HE emperor soon manifested his ever-in
creasing ambition. While France was exerting
all her efforts against England, Austria, her ally,
seized the opportunity to raise her archduke
Maximilian to the electorate of Cologne. By
this arrangement, Joseph contrived to place his
brother in full sovereignty close to our gates.
All the interests of France were opposite to this
election, and those of Austria were strongly
combined with the establishment of the grand-
duke at this conjuncture. What she would not
have dared to attempt at another time, she con
trived to put in execution during our embarrass
ments with the war, and established in power
a new branch of her house. Although it was
constitutionally elective, the house of Austria
had so often metamorphosed the temporary pos
session of sovereignties into right of inheritance,
that the election of Maximilian was equivalent
to the plenitude of supreme power.

301
Secondly, in what situation did she place this
hew power ? Even close to the French territory;
in a situation that allowed the emperor to en
camp any number of men in the most advan
tageous positions for attack, as well as for de
fence ; which would oblige France, in time of
war, to establish an equivalent army in that
quarter. In the third place, Joseph II. augmented
against us his preponderance of patronage and
influence on the catholic powers ofthe empire;
he had created a new viceroy, rich, powerful,
and happy, in military positions, instead of an
ecclesiastical prince, naturally neuter.
In fine, he had established at Cologne a sove
reign governed by such ambitious views as daily
became more prejudicial to our interests. The
archduke was scarcely instituted to his electo
rate, when he began to exercise a spirit of
monopoly .on the surrounding sovereignties ; in
somuch that, in a short time, he became grand
master of the Teutonic order, archbishop elector
of Cologne, bishop of Munster, &c. &c.
The king of Prussia, less interested than
France in opposing this grand acquisition, on
account of his geographical and relative posi
tions, could not help feeling how much that
.country had neglected its welfare ; but regard
ing the measure as agreed tp by the court of

302
Versailles and the empress of Russia, he did no
more than threaten a few of the electoral chap
ters, If they continued to invest Maximilian with
so many mitres. The monopoly of sovereign
ties was stopped. Joseph had now contrived
an interview with the czarina, who wrote to the
chapter of Munster to remain neuter; while
the king of Prussia termed the archduke's elec
tion, the establishment of a young eagle.
Before we speak ofthe arrangements between
Joseph and Catharine, it is necessary to men
tion his offers to Lewis XVI.

303

CHAP. III.
P>nron Thugut's secret Mission to the Court of France— Cha
racter of tliat Personage — Secret Causes of his Elevation —
He becomes Clerk to our Ministers for Foreign Affairs, to tlie
Dukes of Choiseul, d'Aiguillon, Count d- Vergennes, and to our
Embassadors. — Particular Instructions of Lewis XVI. to M.
de Vergennes on the Conduct he is to observe towards Thugut.
— Conduct of Lewis XVj in this Respect. — Thugut's Venality
—His Elevation to the Administration is the Result of it-
He comes to propose to M. de Vergennes a Confederacy with
the Turks against Catharine II. , during the American War.—
Treacherous and romantic Plan of the House of Austria on
this Occasion.
AN the reign of Lewis XV., under the admi
nistration of M. de Choiseul, baron Thugut
was secretly bought by France. His cyphers
and instructions, and the orders he received
from Maria Theresa, were known to our embas
sadors. Lewis XV. had been very exact in
paying him in the first place a salary of 60,000
livres, and afterwards some particular recom
pence for each important service.
At the death of that monarch, Thugut was
terrified at the approaching disgrace ofthe duke
of Aiguillon and his party, and the probable
elevation of the credit of Maria Antoinetta. He

304
calculated, that the Austrian embassador, who
had private instructions relative to that princess
as dauphiness, would have the same now she
was become queen of France, and that he
might acquire the secret influence which he did
not fail to obtain. Fie calculated, that the
youngqueen would subjugate a prince naturally
of a pliable character, and who was become so
sensible to the caresses of his wife. Then it
would be the duty ofthe new favourite, whether
a French courtier, a simple clerk, or a minister for
foreign affairs, promoted by the queen of France,
or dependent on a princess who wished to go
vern us, to expose the villany of baron Thugut,
and inform her, -that this agent ofthe house of
Austria had persuaded the duke of Aiguillon
that she was still an archduchess, rand not dau
phiness of France. Under the impulse of ter
ror, therefore, Thugut dispatched an agent to
France, to concert measures with the new mi
nister *:
Fortunately for Thugut, the new minister,
M. de Vergennes, was possessed of principles
inimical to Austria. The king, well instructed
by his father and aunts, had given the admini
stration of exterior policy 'to the wisest partisan
* The king's choice of M. de1 Vergennes was not then
known. He was embassador at the court of- Sweden when lie
was called to the administration.

305
of the ancient French ministry ; to a minister
who had received a public order to respect -the
treaties of 1756 and 1758, and the secret order
to repress the advantages which the court of
Vienna might take of this alliance. Such a
choice rendered the character and treachery of
Thugut still necessary to France. The count de
Vergennes had, besides, been very intimately
connected with him as internuncio at Constan
tinople, and found himself afterwards interest
ed in forwarding his elevation, above all to
continue him in his antecedent employment,
and mentioned it to Lewis XVI. The young
prince had reigned five months, and was nine
teen years tof age ; he was at Fontainebleau,
and M. de Vergennes at Versailles. The
spontaneous answer of the king is a charac
teristic monument, that his ministers were not
always so absolute as has been imagined in
their departments. It has been carefully pre
served with the other papers which I received
in 1792 from the committee of inspection, to
fthrow some light upon the history of our times ;
and it was found among the writings concealed
from the queen, dated. October 17, 1774.
<l I have read, sir, the secret and very im
portant dispatch of the chevalier de St. Priest,"
said Lewis ; " and I am not ignorant pf baron
Thugut's services, although T have not been
VOi. IV. X

306
made acquainted with particulars. I shall
keep him on the same footing as the late king
did. But the method which St. Priest pro
poses cannot be adopted if he remain in France.
What inconvenience would there be in letting
him go to Vienna ? I know it is not agreeable
to him ; but I am almost certain they know no
thing of him in that city. Perhaps he may not
be able to get any employment in the govern
ment; but he may then travel, and come to
settle in France, where he will be safe. And,
besides, as I do not believe him to be an Aus
trian, nor even a subject of the empress, that
measure will not be difficult.
" I do not think that prince Kaunitz tor
ments him with his negotiation of temporising
declarations, or there would be a possibility of
his misrepresenting them, and throwing the
blame upon the dragomans who had not well
understood him. There is no good reason for
his return by sea : when he arrives in France,
if the queen endeavours to procure him an em
ployment, not being in the secret, she cannot
give any reasons to the empress, particularly
to prevent his return to Vienna, that he may
fix himself in France : accordingly it will be
perceived, that it is our cabinet which puts
him forward ; and, if there has ever been the
least suspicion of him, it will be discovered.

307
Prince Kaunitz will compare, the .orders he
has given him with the manner in which he has
executed them. I remember that M. d'Aiguil-
lon informed me, the late king had caused the
internuncio (Thugut) to be told, that if his
treachery were discovered, he would not give
him a retreat in France, but a pension to live
where he wished. If the plot were. found out,
the king of Prussia would not fail to involve us
in a quarrel with Vienna * : and he would have
reason to speak of the little intrigues the court
of France made use of, in showing that we had
not acted with good faith towards Austria ;
and, at the moment the latter power is about to
unite with us, it is very essential to keep on
good terms. If we wish to employ Thugut,
it will be easy for him, as I am persuaded he
was not born a subject of the empress, to aflc
for his dismissal, on account of health ; then
he may come into France and enjoy the fruits
ofhis labours, and, perhaps, he may even bring
with him a recommendation from the court of
Vienna. This is what I think on the subject,
in order to avoid inconveniences.
" The letters you will herewith receive, prove
the confidence they have in him, and that he is
* The dismemberment of Poland made Joseph II. and Fre
deric, king of Prussia, temporary friends.
X 2

308
not in the least suspected. Next year, when
the affairs of Poland shall be terminated, and
the views of the house of Austria accomplished,
when there will be no reason to revert to past
circumstances, when the coparcenary courts
shall be at war among themselves, Vienna,
wishirig to cultivate our friendship, will not be
very ready to trouble any one they may suspect
of being attached to us. You may send him
word, that baron de Breteuil wi protect him
indirectly, and provide him with the means of
Evasion in case he be suspected.
" Prince Kaunitz's policy is very incomprehen-
aib'le. The more I see, the less I understand it.
By Thugut's account it appears, that he ima*
gi'nes himself absolutely in alliance with Russia,
and that he has not contributed to the treaty of
peace ; at least, he has not approved of it. On
the other side, he informs us that he fears the
consequences of it; and the emperor has come
to an explanation with the abbe Georgel there
on *. We must thence conclude that his policy
is, to agree with every one for his own interest.
We have him safe, by an excellent treaty; and
if he want any thing of us, he must wait till he
explain himself, and till we see sortie advantage
therein ; for there is nothing to be feared from
* Secretary to prince Lewis de Rohan, then embassador
from the court of Vienna to France, and since cardinal.

o

309
remaining quiet, and, above all, mistrusting the
good offices ofthe king of Prussia.
" As for the chevalier de St. Priest, it is
absolutely necessary for him to remain where
he is ', he is too useful to he suffered to return.
M. Gerard must answer him amicably on the
subject, as they correspond, without seeming
to have communicated his letter to you : but
let him do away every idea of his return ; let
him say, that he thinks he has perceived, by
what you had previously expressed, that his
services please me ; that no one can be so use
ful to the state as himself under the present
circumstances, and that he will meet with a
recompence equal to his deserts, when he
shall have remained there a necessary time.
On your part, repeat to him, that it is impos
sible for me to be more satisfied with his exer
tions, and that there cannot be a finer opportu
nity for him to be useful to me ; that it is in his
power to collect the fragments of an edifice
nearly falling to decay, and that he is able to
raise it from the dust ; that you are sensible
the task is difficult; but with the talents and
courage which you know he possesses, he will
be more likely to succeed than any other, and
that he will reap all the glory. You will enter
into details of our commerce ; and remark to
him, that on his vigilance will depend either its

310
ruin, or the certainty of its returning to the state
more flourishing than ever, as the opening of
the Black Sea will prove. In fine, you must
praise his foresight, in opposing the Catholic
to the Greek rites ; you will add, that nothing
could be more agreeable to me, and that I ex
hort him to continue it.
(Signed) " Lewis.*'
Baron Thugut, whom you observe in danger,
on the point of being prosecuted as a traitor, if
his conduct were discovered,, and exposed from
that moment to wander, without a home, de
prived of an asylum in Europe, and even in
France! which he had served at the expence of
MariaTheresa; this ambiguous personage, whose
country even was not then known in France,
was assisted in his advancement by M- de Ver
gennes. He ascended the various steps of for
tune, and attained, by his perfidy, to the place
which Kaunitz procured by his creative genius
and fidelity. Likewise, when France altered
her policy, and the weakness of the king was
exposed, Thugut had no other resource than
selling himself to the court of England, for
the execution of the continental plan against
France *.
* The tears which Thugut has caused to flow, in concert
with Mr. Pitt, in whose fate he now participates; the human

311
Such is the personage which Joseph II. had
sent on a secret errand to M. de Vergennes ;
but the alliance and new connexions which he
proposed between France and America, against
the court of Petersburg, particularly during the
American war, were so romantic, that it is nqt
surprising de Vergennes denied him the princi
pal object of his mission. Russia had an an
cient plan against the Turks ; she was muster
ing all her resources to put it in execution; and
Joseph II., far from being inclined to become our
ally against Catharine, shortly after joined. her
against the Turks, to the prejudice of our dearest
interests.
blood which they have wantonly spilled, and the incalculable
evils.which this scourge of France and Austria has brought on
the two nations, are of such a nature, that there is not a good
Frenchman, Austrian, or even a true Englishman, but must
de ire to see that minister reduced to the situation which the
young LewisXVI. seemed to have foreseen in 1774. Ministers
whom nature has made mischievous and hateful, and who are
ruined by peace, never fail to exert themselves in secret, as
we have seen in these Memoirs, to promote future wars.
The hatred of Thugut against republican France was so pro
found, and his devotion to Mr. Pitt so steady, that he was one
ofthe first to tear the treaty of Campo Formio, so generously
concluded when our troops were directing their march towards
the capital of tl^e Austrian monarchy. Bonaparte signed a
treaty of peace, and Thugut was forming another coalition
against us. He will not have the power at present to tear
the treaty of Ltinevilley where the two nations have the hap
piness to be exerting themselves for a general peace.

312

CHAP. IV.
tliird Advantage which Joseph II. took qf our Alliance— He
joins the Russians against the Turks, oitr Allies— He attempts
to deprive us of the Advantages of the Coalition with Spain
against England, during the American War.— Recapitulation
of Proofs qf tlie Treachery of the Alliance of 1756. — Lewis
XVI.'s Opinions on the Emperor.— Continuation ofthe King's
Letters to M. de Vergennes— That Prince's Character de
veloped.
JL HE offers made by Joseph II. to the court
of France, by baron Thugut, for a coalition
against the projects of Catharine II., were so
illusory, that not long afterwards he exhibited
manifest signs of devotion to that princess. He
possessed ap imagination extremely irregular,
he was in the highest degree ambitious, and
his capricious and changeable mind would
abandon an enterprise as easily as he had
conceived it. There was not a power in
Europe, bordering on his sovereignties, against
which he had not formed some project of inva
sion. He had extended his dominions in the
north, to the prejudice of Stanislaus I. In
the south, he had attempted to ravish Friuii
from the Venetians ; he had promised himself

313
the possession of Bavaria ; and he had esta
blished his brother in an electorate.
Now, as he could not succeed in his coali
tion against Catharine, nor procure any conces
sion in virtue of this new alliance, he courted
the friendship of that princess, to dismember
with her the Ottoman empire. It was with
justice, therefore, that he was called an enemy
to the repose of his neighbours, as well as to
that of his subjects, whom he never ceased to
torment with reforms. Before the death of his
mother, he passed for an equitable, wise, and
prudent prince : after that event, he obtained
the character of a rash and turbulent sovereign,
under the influence of mistaken principles. The
union of France and Spain, so natural to those
countries during the American war, gave him a
secret uneasiness, which carried him to a singu
lar excess of imprudence. Foreseeing, from
the beginning of the contest, that the coalition
between France, Spain, Holland, and the insur
gents, would be fatal to England, he was ac
cused of having attempted to seduce Spain by
the bait pf England's ceding Gibraltar to her,
if she would conclude a separate peace with
the court of London ; an offer which Don
Carlos rejected with all the pride and loyalty
of a Castilian monarch.
- Again repulsed, the emperor declared war

314
agaihst the Turks, in concert with Catharine II.,
who had conceived the design of seizing on the
Crimea. Joseph supported this usurpation with
a" formidable army; and France, swayed by, the
intrigues of Maria Antoinetta, and tired of. the
war with America, was obliged to sanction it.
Lewis XVI., who detested Joseph, could not
help observing, this time, that his brother-in-law
embraced every party in Europe that declared
against us. It was the interest of France to
support the Turks; and Joseph concurred in
dismembering the Ottoman empire. France
had continually granted her protection to each
ofthe sovereignties of the Germanic body, and
maintained their independence ; and Joseph
designed to seize on Bavaria. We were at war
with the. English; and he attempted to detach
from us Spain, our ally; If France has since
manifested so much resentment against Maria
Antoinetta,1 and against the alliance of 1756,
these were the remote causes of the >enmity.
Convinced ofthe illusion ofthe alliance, Lewis
at length testified his dissatisfaction.,
From the commencement of his reign he had
known the character of Joseph II. ; and spoke
of him to M. de Vergennes, April 11, 1775, in
these terms :
" I transmit you, sir, the. dispatch of M. de
St. Priest.

'315
" I cannot imagine that the house of Austria
is acquainted with its own interests, in not
wishing to demand the liberty of commerce in
the Black Sea ; every step which the court of
Vienna has lately taken is very obscure and
delusive. I believe it to be embarrassed with
its late usurpations in Moldavia, not knowing
how to adjudge them. Russia disapproves of
it, and the Porte will never consent to cede
them to the emperor. I think nothing of the
new agreement of the coparcenary courts. I
rather suppose them to be watching and su
specting each other : in which opinion I am
confirmed by M. de Lauzun. I see no reason
for the emperor's invasion of the state of
Venice ; but the laws of the most powerful
are always the best. It sufficiently denotes
the ambitious and despotic character of the
emperor, which he could not conceal from the
baron de Breteuil. We must believe that he
had absolutely fascinated the eyes of his mo
ther; for all his usurpations were contrary to
her opinion, and she had repeatedly declared
so from the beginning. The dispatch which
baron Thugut has received, shows, that prince
Kaunitz disapproves of his proceedings, and is
obliged to act against his will. It is surely
from Lascy. We have nothing to do at this
moment but look on, and be well guarded

316"
against what may happen from Vienna.
Uprightness and circumspection must be our
measures.. But St. Priest may still sound
the dispositions at Constantinople, on the free
navigation of the Black Sea. I am much
mistaken if the three courts do not, in the
end, .fall out among themselves; — *then what
will happen ! (Signed) " Lewis.

r»

M. de Vergennes declared his sentiments
without restraint, in his secret correspondence
with the king, on the alliance of 1756. A few
days before the emperor's arrival in France, he
advised his majesty to be on his guard against
the insinuations of that prince, and expresses
himself, in a letter dated April 12, 1777, as
follows :
" If the emperor's journey into France be
with a political view, he can only propose to
himself two objects; the one, to engage youi
majesty to draw closer your alliance with
the house of Austria ; and the other, to dispose
you to consent, either gratuitously or on con
sideration of certain equivalents, to the plans
of aggrandisement which he may wish to form at
the expence of the Turks.
" On these two hypotheses we bave to reflect;

317
and we consider it our duty to instruct' your
majesty upon the subject.
" As to the first, we cannot avoid represent
ing, that this alliance {good in itself, as far as
it relates to the greater security of the main
tenance of public tranquillity) is of no other
advantage to France, than what might have
been obtained from a well consolidated treaty
of peace, executed in good faith by the re
spective parties. We have only to take a
survey of the topographical situation of the prin
cipal powers of Europe, to be convinced, that
none of them, except Austria, can have any
interest or possibility of making war against
your majesty on the continent.
" England, the inveterate enemy of this
monarchy, is, in herself, insufficient for this
enterprise : the states-general are far beneath
the possibility of conceiving the design ; their
nullity is evident. The king of Prussia is the
most likely ; but, suspicious of the house of
Austria, which he can only regard as an enemy
forcibly reconciled, he will not embark without
provocation in the invasion of your majesty's
.dominions, as he could not defend them, but
at the risk of exposing his own. Besides, he
could not enter France without infringing upon
the Austrian territory."

CHAP. XII.
Lewis XVI. follows the Example of his Predecessor, arid aban
dons the Cares and Execution of Government to his Ministers.
— Henry IV. and Lewis XIV. were, on the contrary, princi
pal Managers of Public Affairs. — Marshal Broglio, the Prince
of Luxembourg, Count d'Angiville, and Count Grimoard,
transmit Memorials to the King on the Administration. — Me
morial of the former, on Maastricht, redd in the Council. — His
Secret Mission into Holland.
J. HE exclusive confidence which Lewis XVI.
granted to his ministers is one of the principal
errors of his reign. Under Lewis XIV., the
prince commanded, and ministers executed.
The unity of that monarch's views gave his
reign that appearance of grandeur and regula
rity for which it is remarkable.
Under Lewis XV., the carelessness of the
prince, his dislike to business, and the suc
cession of so great a number of ministers, with
out general method or general system, were the
principal faults and vices of that reign.
Lewis XVI., instead of carrying back autho
rity to its source, as under Lewis XIV. and
Henry IV., left it, as he had found it, in the
hands of ministers, who united plans of govern
ment with their execution : the king merely-

319
gave his private or tacit sanction; so that the
administration was subversive of that under
Turgot ; it overturned, in a moment, the consti
tution under the archbishop of Toulouse; and,
under Necker, ruined both the administration
and social order. In these different epochs ofthe
history of Lewis XVI., the monarch is no where
to be seen ; while the views, misfortunes, or
talents of ministers, were visible in every opera
tion. The king, however, did not refuse the advice
of well-informed persons, who presented me
morials on state affairs. A cabinet of the small
apartments at Versailles was full of writings,
containing all sorts of projects, plans, and ob
servations. Among the rest, was that of the
chevalier or prince of Luxembourg, who had
served in the navy, and had collected great in
formation relative to the fleets, colonies, and ex
terior commerce : there were also some present
ed by marshal Broglio, and divers ministers
and generals. The director of buildings, count
d'Angiville, connected with Messrs. de Ven-
gennes and de Calonne, which caused him to
be suspected by the queen, had likewise re
mitted a great number of memorials; some of
them tending to support the operations of those
two ministers. I likewise distinguished a heap
of count Grimoard's memorials, which, upon

320
the whole, announce, that this young soldier
was playing apart equally secret and important.
Informed, undoubtedly, of the weakness of the
king's will, he frequently transmitted his la
bours to the ministers. It appears certain, how
ever, that these memorials had been read in the
council, by the marginal notes which appeared
in them ; and that count Grimoard, the author,
as well as his cousin, the chevalier Grimoard,
had attracted the attention of Lewis XVI., to
whom they had been presented *.
The house of Austria having formed preten
sions against the Dutch, extremely prejudicial
to our interests, demanded the cession of Maes-
tricht, as an inducement for her to desist from
hostilities. The king's ministers fearing to
* The latter was a captain in the navy, who had rendered
himself conspicuous during tbe American war by some very
.brilliant exploits. This brave seaman was condemned by the
revolutionary criminal tribunal of Rochefort, during the mis
sion of Lequinio, leaving an illustrious name in the history of
the war of I77S. The king preserved, in a separate packet,
the particulars of his engagements with the English, and an
authentic diploma of the aggregation of their family to Frenph
nobility in 1318, under Philip Lebel, extracted by his ma
jesty's; order from the register of the chamber of accounts ;
together with sufficient proofs, that they belonged to a family
who held the principality of Malta. Lewis XVI., like his
predecessor, had a prodigious memory; he knew an infinity
of historical facts relating to ancient families. His private
library was filled with the history of thecourt, and naval and
military transactions.

321
kindle the flames bf war, were inclined to give
tip that place rather than expose themselves to
a quarrel with the emperor; And if we consider
how much influence Maria Antoinetta possessed
at the moment, we may be able to judge what
great inconvenience a War would have occa
sioned under such circumstances. A memorial,
composed by the count Grimoard, which we
shall lay before our readers, was read in the
Council of state, in the month of January 1785;
(as we are informed by a marginal note in the
king's hand-writing;) which determined govern
ment not to cede Maestricht, but to support a
war in case it should become unavoidable.
The following is a copy of that important me
morial :
" It may at first sight appear a matter bf in
difference to France, whether the emperor
become possessed of Maestricht or riot ; but, if
we consider attentively the importance of that
place, we shall be convinced, that the king has
the strongest interest in not giving it another
master. " Since a brother of the emperor is made
elector of Cologne, he has a greater opportunity
than he had formerly of extending his arms to
the Low Countries ; because his troops, ar
riving frorti the hereditary states into the elector
tate, will find reinforcements and provisions, and
VOL. iv. y

.consequently the means of shortening the di
stance between the Rhine and the Meuse, and
even to come to action there, in case of neces
sity. In either event, he will establish his prin
cipal magazines at Bonn, Cologne, and Neuss.
But, not having Maestricht, if he wish to carry
on a war in the Low Countries, he must expe
rience very great inconvenience from the want
of a. fortress on the Meuse, capable, of securing
his grand magazine ; for Ruremonde and Ven-
lo, which he might easily take from the Dutch,
cannot be considered as strongly fortified places.
Hence it . results, that the Austrian monarch
must meet with the greatest obstacles to his
establishment on the" Meuse, the navigation of
vhich Maestricht would continually impede,
even if the place be blockaded on both sides of
the river, which would require a numerous
corps of troops, if the Dutch were not in al
liance with the court of Vienna, a circum-
stanceat present not very. probable.
" Namur, although situated on the Meuse,
is not of much importance to the emperor, ex
cept in the event of a campaign; as that place
is too distant from the electorate of Cologne, and
because Maestricht cuts off all connexion be
tween them. It is therefore evident, that, by
admitting an alliance between France and Hol
land, if the emperor persist in making war on

v

323
the Low Countries, he will be obliged to begirt
with the siege of Maestricht, (to him attended
with the greatest difficulties,) in order not to
expose himself to losses, which it would be al
most impossible for him to repair, on account of
his great distance from the hereditary states.
In the event of war, it is probable that.France
will begin by seizing on Charleroy, and repair
the fortifications, in order to secure the course
of the Sambre, and thereby convey to Namur a
part of the stores necessary for the siege of that
place, while the remainder would be sent by
the Meuse. The siege of Namur might be
supposed difficult in the face- of an imperial ¦>
army, if- marshal Luxembourg had not demon
strated, in 1692, that, on the Mehaigne, in front
of the place, there are positions sufficiently ad
vantageous to cover the siege, and- leave no
thing to fear from an engagement. Namur
taken, and Maestricht in the possession of
France, or her allies, they will be soon masters
of Huy and Liege ; and the emperor, having no
post on the Meuse to establish his magazines,
and insure his communication with Cologne,
will be reduced to abandon the Low Countries^
and to retire between the Meuse and the Rhine,
where it may be presumed he cannot, remain
long, as a protracted or undecisive war would
prove his ruin. He must then repass the Rhine,
y 2

324
or march on the Moselle. In this supposition^
the operations of marshal Crequi, in 1677, indi
cate the means, even with unequal forces, to
oblige the Austrians to retreat from Lower
Alsace ; and the campaign of marshal Turenne
in 1674, points out to us expedients to prevent
the Germans, although they have a superior
army to ours, from penetrating into that pro
vince, or at least from keeping firm footing ir>
it ; which is still more practicable at the pre
sent day, as we are now possessed of Stras-
burg ; besides, the emperor cannot carry on
the war on the Moselle, and at Luxembourg,
before he have collected a sufficient quantity of
ammunition, provisions, and forage. The pur
chase of these necessaries, which he must pro
cure from the empire, will cost him more than
he is able to spare, particularly if the war should
be protracted. With regard to the sterile coun
try of Luxembourg, that can scarcely supply
the wants of its inhabitants, it will afford no
resource to an army like those which take the
field in these modern times ; and is one of the
reasons that prevented the house of Austria from
attacking France from that quarter, in the dif
ferent wars we have supported against it.
" What we have said, proves that France
has nothing to fear from the emperor on the
Moselle, provided the French army be well con-

JV3

ducted; and if he have not Maestricht h<* can
not support the war in the Low Countries ; but,
if he be put in possession of that important
place, he may penetrate into France by the
Meuse, where he will act with so much the
more effect, as that frontier is absolutely without
defence *.
" The possession of Maestricht and Namur,
which will be followed by that of Liege and
Huy, secures the emperor a communication with
Celogne, gives him a menacing position on the
frontier between the Moselle and the Meuse,
and enables him to support the war for a greater
length of time in the Low Countries, against
France and Holland, with, every advantage
which a central position can give him.
" f ' But as we cannot suppose that the Aus-
' trian monarch, whose interests, from the weak-
' ness of his finances, must be not to prolong
( the war, is so ill-advised as to imitate the ex-
* ample ofthe allies in 1700, by throwing away
' his time and resources against our towns in
' Flanders, the barrier of which is too strong to
' be broken ; it is to be presumed that he will not
' hesitate in penetrating between the Meuse
*! For the words in italic, which are struck out, the fol
lowing are substituted : does not appear sufficiently guarded.
t The lines between commas was not communicated to the
Cutch embassador.

3C26
' and the Moselle. He may pass the Meuse at
' Namur, occupy Dinant, put it in a state of
' defence, mask Givet and Charlemont by a
' corps posted to the right of the river, and fall
' back on Sedan, which is not in a state of de-
' fence, take possession of it, repair it, make it
' his general depository of arms, throw ammu-
* nition and provisions into it from Cologne,
' the transportation of which would be well de-
( fended by the Meuse, the places built on that
' river, and by the troops that occupy the bank,s
' to the right ; he would, moreover, have the
' power of drawing resources from the Low
( Countries, and leave behind him a great extent
c of country, which constitutes the object ofthe
¦ ' war. The imperial army thus well provided
' for, defended in the rear, and passing the Meuse
' to Sedan, would besiege Mezieres and Ro-
' croy, which places could not hold out after
4 the trenches were opened against them, and so
' penetrate into the kingdom. Undoubtedly the
'French would attempt to prevent it, by posting
1 themselves on some advantageous situation be-
' hind the Aisne ; yet, if they should lose one or
- two' battles, if the war were unsuccessful, or if
' the enemy should not be unskilful enough to try
' to force the passage of that river, but leaving
' it to the right,' should continue their route to
' Chateau-Porcien, and then directly to Sois-

327
' sons, the French must descend the Aisne, and
* post themselves behind that town ; supposing
' they were obliged to form a very extensive
' demi-circle, on account of the river, they
' might there stop the emperor's progress, who
' would have the nearest way to pass. But if
' the kind's armv should not be beforehand with
' the Austrians at Soissons, and the latter should
* pass the Aisne at that place, they might easily
* push on' to the gates of Paris, and bring on the
* miseries which must result from such an in-
* vasion. " c The emperor thinks too much of his ag-
* grandisement for us to suppose that his only
' object in demanding Maestricht from the Dutch
' is that of possessing one town more. It is
' probable, that, knowing the importance of
' that place, in case of a rupture with France,
'he will leave nothing undone to obtain it;
' and even, if Joseph had.no other motive than
' his aggrandisement in Turkey, the possession
' of such a place would still be a very great ad-
' vantage to him, by contributing to secure the
4 Low Countries, or, at least, to give him ah
' opportunity of returning to them after having
' plundered the Turks.'
" Several military men are of opinion, that
the course of the Lis will always give France
a free communication with the United Pro-

328
yinces. This is an error which ought to bv
set right. A line of defence or communi
cation is only good in proportion as it leaves
behind it an extensive and fertile country.
Now, the distance between the Lis and the sea
is very inconsiderable ; besides, en the other
side Ghent we find the Scheld, which is very
irregular, and of which the Austrians might
take advantage to throw troops in the rear of
the French, in order to disturb their communi
cations ; we then arrive at Anvers, belonging to
the emperor, which the Dutch are not in a situ
ation to besiege, particularly if an army should
come to its relief. Below Anvers, the Scheld is
too wide to be considered as a communication
with the United Provinces, The branches Gf
the sea which separate the islands of Zealand
from the main land are in the same situation ;
besides, if the Austrians pass the Scheld below
Ghent, and above the Lis, there is then no
other communication left between the French
and Dutch ; and the former, falling back to
wards Ypres and Menin, will shortly be re
duced to act on the defensive.
" The best communication between France
and Holland must be therefore by the Meuse ;
without Maestricht the emperor has no certain
communication with Cologne, which is his prin
cipal dependence ; and, on the contrary, if he

329
obtain Maestricht, he becomes master of the
navigation of the Meuse, and may not only
resist with advantage the French and Dutch in
the Low Countries, but' also penetrate into
France. Although these argufnents are incon
trovertible, yet it may appear necessary to add
facts. " When prince Frederic Henry of Orange
besieged Maestricht in 1632, it was, in the
first place, to deprive the Spaniards of the
means of communicating freely with the elec
torate of Cologne and the other states of the
catholic league, which furnished them with
supplies ; secondly, in order to open a commu
nication with, and receive supplies from France,
which, before that time, had no other means
of sending them than by sea. When Lewis XIII,
declared war against Spain in 1635, the prince
of Orange, who was at Nimeguen with his
army, advanced to Maestricht, where he joined
that- of marshals Chatijlon and Breze, who had
marched forward on their side ; and France and
Holland derived the greatest advantages from,
that place during the war,
" When Lewis XIV. attacked the republic
in 1672, as he had no other enemy to oppose,
he neglected Maestricht, which he contented
himself with blockading ; but in 1673, the em
peror and Spain having espoused the cause of

330
the Dutch, he no longer hesitated, by the advice
of Turenne, Conde, and Louvois, to begin the
campaign with the siege of Maestricht ; the
conquest of which alone protected the return
ofthe army that evacuated Holland at the end
bf the year, and essentially contributed to the
success of the following campaigns, till the
treaty of Nimeguen in 1678 ; for Maestricht
prevented, or continually embarrassed the com
munication between the empire and the Low
Countries ; so that the enemy, constantly supe
rior in number, could only act with difficulty
and loss ; and, without the resources derived
from Flolland, their operations must have en
tirely ceased.
" During the war which commenced in 1688,
and terminated in 1697 by the treaty of Rys-
wick, France constantly directed her principal
force towards the Low Countries ; and, in spite
of the talents of marshal de Luxembourg, she
could not gain any decisive advantages, because
the ene.m^, by means of Maestricht and the
course of the Meuse, received considerable
succours from the empire. On the other hand,
the French wrere obliged to have, almost conti
nually, on the right bank of the Meuse, a body
of troops, often numerous, to watch Liege, and
cover the frontier between the river and the
Moselle.

331
" In the war of succession it was the same,
particularly in 1702, when the duke of Mark
borough, making use of the advantages which
Maestricht gave him, combined his operations
in such a manner as to render the efforts of the
duke of Burgundy and marshal Boufflers inef
fectual, prevented them from taking a position
on the Lower Meuse, forced them to fall back
upon Nimeguen as far as Megen, and thus
opened a passage to the Low Countries. ' But;
' fortunately for France, the allies mistook their
' interests so much, that they only once attempted
' (in 1705) to enter the kingdom by the Moselle:
' Marshal de Villars occupied the camp of Sirik;
' and they retired. They did not conceive the
' idea of penetrating between the Meuse and
' the Moselle, and lost their time against the.
' French barriers in Flanders, where they took a
' number of places, without being able to find
' a road to the capital.'
" During the campaigns of 1746 and 1747..J
the enemy, after the loss of the battles of Ro-
' coux and Lauffeld, found a certain retreat
under Maestricht, which rendered these vic
tories of no effect.
" Every one knows that the investing and
attack of Maestricht in 1748, by marshal Saxe,
accelerated the signing of the treaty of Aix-la-

Chapelle ; because the allies were convinced
that an invasion of Holland would be the cer
tain consequence ofthe fall of that, place.
" ' In short, it appears that France cannot
( consent to deliver up Maestricht to the em-
' peror, without being fully convinced that nei-
' ther he nor his successor will take advantage
* of our weakness between the Meuse and the
' Moselle, or of the bad state of our armv, to
' declare war against us, penetrate into the
' kingdom, and force us to give up Alsace, and
' perhaps more, unless the king be determined
' to expend above two hundred millions for the
' construction of fortresses all the way from
« Maubeuge to Charlemont, independently of
* Philippeville, and also from Givet toThionville;
( for Rocroy, Mezieres, Sedan, and Longwy,
f are too badly fortified to be considered as a
* respectable barrier.
" ' We shall conclude this memorial by ob-
' serving, that, considering the importance of
' Maestricht, in case of a rupture with the em-
' peror, and of an alliance with the Dutch, it is
f- absolutely necessary to insist on establishing
' in that place, which ought to be well pro-
' vided, a French garrison, commanded by an
(officer of approved abilities and courage,' "

*J O O

Supplement .
u i In the preceding memorial we have shown
s the necessity of preventing Maestricht from
' falling, with its fortifications, into the hands.
' of the eniperor. The object of this supple-
' ment is to prove, that France is deeply in-
' terested in not suffering that place to be given
' up to the Austrian monarch.
" ' The reasons we have already exhibited
* demonstrate, that if the emperor be not in
' possession of Maestricht, be cannot carry on
' the war in the Low Countries. Some persons
' suppose, that if the place were demolished,
' there would be no inconvenience in ceding to
' him the territory. This opinion is ill founded.
" ' It is surely of no other importance to
' France that Maestricht remain in its present
' state, than because the city prevents the em-
' peror from employing his forces between the
' Meuse and the sea. If the fortifications were
' razed, we do not deny that the place would
' be less useful to Austria than if it were cede4
' to him as it is; but the emperor would, never-
c theless, reap the greatest advantages from it.
' First, the place could not keep a curb on his
' projects ; secondly, he would be master of
5 the navigation of the Meuse from Namur to

334
' beloW Grave ; thirdly, he might, without in-
' convenience, occupy the positions on the left
' bank of the river, which before was impossi-'
' ble ; fourthly, he would have an uninterrupted
' communication with the Rhine and the elec->
'torate of Cologne ; and, fifthly, it would cut
' off the only good communication which exists
' by land between France and Holland. This
c is, sufficient to demonstrate, that Maestricht
' remaining as it now is, in the hands of the
c Dutch, prevents the emperor from falling on
' the Low Countries ;, and if that place be ceded
' to him either fortified or demolished, nothing
* can hinder him from penetrating by the left
' bank of the Meuse, maintaining himself there,
c and acting as he would wish, either against
' the frontier of the United Provinces, or
' against that of France.'"

; We have discovered among the king's papers,
that a few months after the decision on Maes
tricht, the. count de Grimoard was sent into
Holland, under pretext of soliciting the rank
of major-general in the service of the States-
General, but, in reality, to negotiate the
adoption of a project which he had formed,
and which consisted in uniting the naval forces
pf France and the republic, as well as bodies

335
of troops belonging to the two nations, to over*
turn the English power in India, and conse
quently in Europe. The king, the count de
Vergennes, the marshal de Castries, in quality
of minister of the marine, the marquis of
Bouille, in quality of general intended to com-
mand the expedition, and the negotiator, were
the only persons in the secret. In less than
two months, M. de Grimoard, even without
the knowledge ofthe French embassador at the
Hague, concerted a plan of convention with
the principal members of the Dutch govern
ment, in virtue of which the republic was to
furnish a third of the troops, vessels, and mo
ney necessary for. the enterprise, and grant us
the co-possession of the Cape of Good Hope,
and the port of Trincomale in the island of
Ceylon, till after its execution. Divers papers
relate, that a disagreement between marshal
de Castries and M. de Vergennes prevented this
equally glorious and salutary project from being
carried into effect ; and the change of circum
stances, together with the different kinds of
troubles into which France has since fallen,
caused it entirely to fall to the ground : but
count Grimoard's services were no less esteem
ed by Lev/is XVI., for he wrote on one of his
notes, " This is a man fit for the administra
tion, or for some considerable command."

336

CHAP. VI.
Ministerial Revolutions at London before the definitive Peace of
1783. — Disgrace of Lord North— Recapitulation of the
Events which happened under his Administration.— Ephe
meral Administration of Rockingham and Fox. — The Inde
pendence of America is acknowledged. — Administratiow of
Shelbume—Four Factions at Loudon on that Account. — Fox
and North re-established in the Administration — Their Dis
grace. — JVilliam Pitt made Prime-minislet. — Fox goes out of
Office. — Parliamentary Coalition against Air. Pi::. — Dissolu*
lion of the British Parliament. — The Peace. — Erection of a
Statue to Lewis XVI. at Philadelphia.
JL-ORD North, prime-minister of Geo'rge III;
had supported the burden of government for1
the space of twelve years. He had helped to
form the character of the king of England in
the season of adolescence, and -maintained a
great ascendency over his mind ever since the
year 1770, when he enjoyed the first place in
the monarch's councils, England will long
have reason to lament his administration. That
nation had passed^ in the space bf fourteen years,
from the highest pitch of her prosperity, in 1763,
to the distress of 1778. Lord North had given .
France time to create a formidable navy, and

337
the insurgents, whom he despised, had formed
the design of declaring hostilities against the
court of London. Under his administration,
Holland, although devoted by the stadtholder
to George III., declared against England ; and
Spain united herself to the maritime coalition.
France, on her part, committed some glar
ing faults. If, at the time of the junction of
the French and Spanish fleets, this combined
force, instead of menacing a descent on Eng
land, had effected it, they might have given a
mortal blow to that terrified country. Our
fleet was then' off Plymouth, which was with
out defence; and admiral Cordova anxiously
desired to distinguish himself; but count d'Or-
villiers, in steering away, was either a most
arrant coward, or he obeyed too punctually the
orders of the cabinet of Versailles, then totally
unacquainted with the advantages of his situa
tion: During that war, Europe was gratified with a
sight of the two grand maritime powers at im
placable variance with each other ; and she
seized the opportunity to form the famous armed
neutrality ofthe north, which had been imagined
in France.
In this state of distress, England began to feel
how much she had alienated the minds of other
nations. All were exasperated at her proceed-
vol. iv. z

338
ings ; on the continent she had not one ally ;
and the whole maritime force of Europe was
either directly or indirectly united against her.
What was still more afflicting for that haughty
nation, by arming against the Americans, she
plunged the dagger into her own bosom.
France, emerging from the state of compression.
in which the court of London had held her ever
since the year 1763, stirring up all Europe against
Great-Britain, seeking enemies to oppose her
in every quarter, or, what was equally disagree
able to her pride, establishing an armed neutra
lity in the north, could not expect to enjoy above
a few years this great superiority. England,
triumphant in 1763, and chastised in 1783, was
meditating against France the most terrible
vengeance. In the mean time the unfortunate
administration of lord North, disgusting every
party, and exciting general dissatisfaction, that
minister, to calm the public mind, resigned his
office on the 22d of March 1782.
The marquis of Rockingham succeeded him,
and was assisted by lord Shelburne and Mr.
Fox, appointed secretaries of state. The former
sounded privately the cabinet of Versailles, and
the latter the congress of Philadelphia, for the
pacification of which they laid the first founda
tion. Rof kingham died two months after he
came into office, and the principal employment

339
was then given to Shelburne; Fox retired dis
satisfied ; and Shelburne prevailed upon the
king to nominate lord Grenville, and a young
riian twenty-three years of age, born to be the
scourge of France as well as of his own country:
I mean William Pitt, son ofthe earl of Chatham,
brought up by his father in profound knowledge,
and with a hatred to Frenchmen that nothing,
they say, will ever be able to appease. Thus
lord Shelburne retained the principal authority.
He tnade use of it to acknowledge, the indepen
dence of America, as a preliminary of tbe future
pacification of Europe ; while Fox flew back to
the bench of opposition, and united with. his
enemy lord North. The determination to ac
knowledge the independence of America dimi
nishing the enemies of Great-Britain, deprived
France of all pretext for carrying on the war;
and united the British forces against us.
Europe is indebted to lord Shelburne for the
signing of the preliminaries of peace, on the.
20th day of January 1783. Fox, and the other
ministers out of office, were vociferous against
that nobleman, who held the reins of govern
ment, and who voluntarily resigned them.
The English government was in a kind of
crisis similar to what it -always feels- before it
thinks' of peace. Four different parties, which
had been smothered during the war, now de-
z 2

340
veloped their respective animosities, at the
moment Great-Britain seemed to be reconciled
to us.
The first faction was headed by the duke of
Portland, attached to the Hanoverian succes
sion, and a descendant of the party that esta
blished the reigning family on the ruins of the
house of Stuart. Fox, Burke, and about a
hundred of the house of commons, were united
to him.
The leader of the second was lord North, a
partisan of the English and some of the Scotch
tories. He was supported by the dukes of
Newcastle and Northumberland, lord Stormont,
&c, and about a hundred and twenty members
ofthe house of commons.
The third was conducted by the duke of
Bedford. Lord Gower was attached to him,
and about sixty ofthe commons.
The last was that of Shelburne, formed ten
years before in the house of lords. It was
composed of Stanhope, Chatham, Abingdon,
and about sixty members of the lower house.
Such was the relative situation of the fac
tions which embarrassed the government, and
prevented it, during several months, from think
ing either of peace or negotiation. Mr. Pitt
was sounded, to find if he would accept the
difficult employment of prime-minister. He

341
refused it. Peace and war were equally incon
venient ; but particularly peace, attended with
such disgraceful consequences to Great-Britain.
In this critical situation, lord North and Mr.
Fox, after the most violent debates, and the
most expressive opposition in their principles
and opinions, were brought to a reconciliation.
The duke of Portland was placed at the
head of the administration, and his majesty
recalled Mr. Fox and lord North. The latter,
after having abdicated the principal place, ac
cepted of a secondary one ; Mr. Pitt again
joined the opposition, and was shortly after
followed by Fox, on account of the debate
relating to the affairs of the East-India Com
pany. At this time Mr. Pitt definitively accepted
the office- of first lord of the treasury, which
he resigns at the moment this work is in the
press *. That minister's dibut was attended
* The following is an exact list of the British prime-
ministers during the reign of George III., and the time of
their going out ofthe administration.
The duke of Newcastle - - - - May 1762
Lord Bute  April 1763
Honourable George Grenville - - July 1765
Marquis of Rockingham, 1st administration, August 1765
Duke of Grafton - ----- January 1770
Lord North -  1782
Rockingham a seeond time prime-minister during two
months. Lord

342
with troubles ; and the majority of the two
houses of parliament not appearing in his fa
vour, he replied to all their arguments by dis
solving them.
The peace of 1783 exhibited to the world a
new spectacle, that of a people emerging from
oppression to a state of rational liberty, which
they have known how to preserve. History
will describe them as a model of courage and
energy in war, of prudence and virtue in time
of peace; and Washington, their general and
first magistrate, will hold a place among the
heroes and eminent characters of antiquity.
Disgusted with the crimes of our revolution,
America, for a moment, forgot that she owed
her liberty and independence to France ; but,
under the influence of a more tranquil govern
ment and milder institutions, we have seen her
renew the bonds which unite the two nations.
That country can never forget her obligations
to Lewis XVI. her benefactor. Congress voted
a statue to that king at Philadelphia, with the
following inscription, which I received from
Lord Shelburne during two months.
Duke of Portland for the same term.
Honourable William Pitt, from 17S3 to 1 SO 1 , author of the
French revolution and re-actions, and permanent minister in
England during the rise and fall in France ol the ancient regime,
pf the constitutional government, and that of the Girondists,
montagnards, thermidorians, and of the directory.

343
Mr. Franklin. It is probably the only statue
and inscription, remaining in its proper place,
to the honour of that monarch, whose strange
destiny was such, that the establishment of a
republic in America raised edifices to his me
mory, which the institution of another republic
in France has overturned. POST DEUM
Diligenda et servanda est libertas,
Maximis empta laboribus,
Humanique sanguinis flumine irrigata
Per imminentia belli pericula
Juvante
Optimo Galliarum principe, rege
LUDOVICO XVI.
Hanc statuam principi augustissimo
Consecravit.
Et a2ternam pretiosamque beneficii
Memoriam
Grata reipublicae veneratio
Ultimis tradit nepotibus,

, 344

CHAP. VII.
Regulations of the Month of May 178 1, and of the Month of
January 1786, on .the Conditions required for Admission to
the Rank of Officers. — Historical Memorial of Count Grimoard
on the Presentations at Court — Discontent which these Institu
tions occasioned.
LEWIS XV., by adopting in the month of
April, 1760, a regulation of court honours, did
not foresee, that the exclusive advantages he
conferred on the first class of nobility were hu
miliating to the second order and tiers-ctat, and
consequently laid the foundation of his grand
son's misfortunes. Lewis XVI. himself, by ap
proving, during the American war, of. another
regulation, for the exclusion of commoners from
the rank of officers, did not consider that he
was alienating the richest talents and merit of
the greatest part of the nation, and fomenting
the revolution, which terminated, a few years
after that regulation, in the destruction of
the nobility and their privileges, the royal
family, and the regal authority. The king,
however, preserved, among his papers, a me-

345
morial written by count Grimoard, which
had made a particular impression on his
mind ; for he had written these words in the
margin : " Some extremely wise ideas, to be
considered of." He nevertheless neglected, on
this occasion, the impulse of conviction. It
was his character and fate to perceive and
know what was good, without possessing suffi
cient resolution to put it in execution. Count
Grimoard's memorial, which I shall insert at
full length, proves, that the monarch neither
wanted council nor advice. Enlightened
Frenchmen, and French citizens, had, at diffe
rent times, given him wise and provident infor
mation, as the following memorial will prove ;
but the court' was plunged into a state of torpor,
which may be called nullity of character, that
must bring any nation to ruin.. This memorial,
adding to examples already given, is well calcu
lated to preserve the remembrance of the mode
practised by government, in recruiting courtiers
and military and naval officers. It is thus enti
tled in the original : Alemorial on the Inconveni
ences which the Regulation relative to Presenia-,
lions at Court, and the Proofs of Nobility re
quired for Admission into the Service, have pro
duced in the Kingdom in general, and among the
Military in particular. — In the margin was in
serted [October 1788.)

34fj
" During the reign of Lewis XIV., and
greatest part of that of Lewis XV., few families
were admitted at court but such as were em
ployed in it, those whose high nobility had
made it habitual, and the members of the admi
nistration. A few gentlemen, of a less distin
guished class, were sometimes admitted, when
any important services had rendered them wor
thy of that honour. The court of our monarch
was never more brilliant than at the two epochs
we have just mentioned.
" In the winter of 1759 — 60, more ladies
than ordinary had begged to be presented. M.
le Due, since marshal de Duras, one of the first
gentlemen ofthe bed-chamber, wearied by these
accumulated solicitations, endeavoured to put a
stop to them, by persuading the king to make
the following regulation, the 17th of April 1760.
" ' That, in future, no man shall be admitted
' at court, or have the privilege of presenting his
' wife, without previously producing, before the
' genealogist ofthe king's orders, three titles to
' each of his family's degrees ; such as contracts
' of marriage, will, inheritance, guardianship,
' donation, &c, by which filiation shall be clearly
' established from the year 1400; at the same
' time, prohibiting the said genealogist from
' acknowledging any decrees of his majesty's
' council or superior courts, or any decisions

347
c ofhis different commissaries, at the time ofhis
' researches into the titles of nobility in the
' kingdom ; and to receive no other than the
* original family pedigree, on any consideration.
' And, according to the example of other kings,
' his majesty's predecessors, not to grant the
' honour of presentation to any ladies but those
' who are wives of persons descended from a
' noble race, his majesty also enjoins his genea-
' logist not to deliver any certificate, if he find
'that, the nobility they wish to prove be de-
' rived from the exercise of civil or other similar
' offices, or by patents of nobility, excepting,
' nevertheless, in the latter case, those to whom
' such patents may have been granted for
' signal services rendered to the state ; and he
' may also except those who hold offices under
' the crown, or in the household, and the male
' descendants of knights of any of the orders,
' who shall be only obliged to prove their de-
' scent from those on whom such orders had
' been conferred.'
" This regulation was put in force. They
thought only of preventing temporary embar
rassments, without calculating the dangerous
consequences it must occasion in the end. It is
astonishing, that his majesty should declare :
1st, That none should be admitted as qualified
titles which had been ' decreed by his council,

348
by the superior dmirts, or by the decisions of
his commissaries,' authorities established by the
monarch himself for the le<ral verification ofthe
rank of citizens. 2dly, That, according to the
example of his predecessors, not to grant the
honour of presentation to any ladies but those
who are wives to persons descended from a
noble race ; at the same time, that this assertion
is authentically contradicted by many incontes
table historical monuments, particularly by the
printed description ot fetes given in 1688 by
Lewis XIV. ; in which we find, at that proud
monarch's own table, seated between mesde-
moiselles d'Angouleme and the duchess de Bris
sac, mesdames Aubry, Bailleul, Bonnelle, Bor
deaux, and marshal deGrancey by the side of ma-
dames Fieubet and des Hameaux ; marshal de
l'Hopital's lady separated from the countess of
Louvigny-Grammont by the wife of. the lieu
tenant of the police ; madame Marre on the
right side of the duchess de Kemours; and,
lastly, the wife of the president Tubeuf, and
madame Tambonneau, mixed with the duchess
of Richemont, the duchess of Valliere, mistress
to the king, and the marchioness de la Trousse.
The greatest part of the ladies we have just
mentioned were not even of the magistracy, but
merely of the high finance. 3dly, That at the
very instant the regulation -was made, they pro-

349
vide exceptions in favour of those who hold
offices under the crown and the king's house
hold, of may be descended from knights of his
orders. These numerous exceptions became a
real motive of humiiiationfor those, who were its
objects; at the same time it announced, that the
new law would be violated, as the sequel has fre
quently proved, every time they might conceive
it necessary; or, that intrigue and protection
would be able to break down the frail barrier
established by government. But it is necessary
tb expose the afflicting inconveniences it has
produced throughout the kingdom, as well as
in the army; for it has been one ofthe principal
causes of the decadence of our military esta
blishment. " Before the regulation of 1760, many gen
tlemen, whose titles went as far back as the year.
1400, and even farther, had never had an idea
of visiting the court: they lived on their estates,
expended their revenues, and thus contributed
to the prosperity of the country. If they had
several male children, the youngest were put
into his majesty's service ; and if they obtained
the rank of captain of infantry, cavalry, or dra
goons, it was thought sufficiently honourable
and satisfactory ; they recruited on their own
country, and raised men born on their parents'
estates, or in the neighbourhood ; they knew

350 ,
and cherished them, and never We're there
better, or more affectionate troops, to their
officers. While the latter remained in the
service, or when they quitted it, they never
teased the war department, as is customary at
the present day, by their pretensions and de
mands, almost always unjust, or at least exagge
rated, and frequently by intrigues of office or
by protectors, whose influence a minister can
not always resist, without exposing himself to
continual disturbances and cavilings, and risk
ing his importance at court,
" Since the regulation, the whole of the nobi
lity have been attacked by a genealogical fever;
and every gentleman, whose true or false titles
reach to 1400, has wished to present his wife,
and attend the retinue of the kin<r: therefore
O J
it is evident, that a measure whose object was
to prevent the court from being too numerous,
has produced a contrary effect, by bringing a
prodigious number of nobles to it, whose pre
sence was not necessary, and who never would
have had any idea of going there, had it not
been for the foregoing inconsiderate law ; be
sides, the court of our kings will always be
magnificent, their officers will be ever sufficient
for the service of the regal presence and the
splendor of the throne, and the capital will
never be without inhabitant's ; but the country

351
may be in want of proprietaries to preserve its
prosperity. " If they had admitted to the honour ofthe
court only noblemen of ancient extraction, ri
gorously verified, the evil would not have been
so great ; but the exceptions have increased it.
Many have obtained by intrigue, and some
times by money, a distinction which they could
not have acquired by right ; others have prac
tised a robbery still more glaring and scanda
lous, by causing false titles to be fabricated, to
serve instead of those they did not possess ; in
short, the ancient class of nobility is increased,
and daily increase, excessively, either by usurpa
tions of the prerogatives ofthe superior nobles,
by those who are inferior, or else by titro-mania.
In the provinces we find a multitude of gentle
men, where the vanity of giving their children
the self-importance of lords of the court, makes
them neglect all rural and domestic economy,
and dissipate a part of their patrimony in genea
logical researches, which, commonly being very
expensive, instead of affording any solid advan
tage, are frequently the ruin of a whole family.
" The regulation of 1760 presents such
manifest-absurdities and injustice, that, it is sur
prising how it can have escaped its author's ob
servation. It admits to the honours of the
court whoever can prove his nobility from 1400,

352
by means of three titles by degree or generation ;
and it excludes every gentleman whose origin is
derived- still farther back, but whose ancestors,
or himself, may have had the misfortune acci
dentally to lose their titles, recently, or during
the civil wars that have torn the kingdom at
divers times, from the reign of Charles VI. to
the minority of Lewis XIV. inclusive, or who
mav not have been able to recover above one or
two acts upon several degrees.
" Besides, is it just, or even reasonable, 1st,
to present those whose parchments prove their
origin as far back as 1400, and to exclude others
who can go no farther than 1403, or 1404 ?
2dly, to trust the fate, existence, and reputation
of families, to the decision of a single genealogist,
who may neither be incorruptible, nor exempt
from passions, whose actions are never censured,
and who decides, as he pleases, definitively, and
without appeal ?
" The court is peopled by a multitude of new
courtiers, who by leaving the country, to esta
blish themselves at Paris, have produced the
double inconvenience of contributing to the de
solation of the country, and to the superabun
dant increase of population in the metropolis, as-
well by their families as by the number of their
domestics, to the prejudice of agriculture, and
the recruiting of the army, which is beceme

35.3
more difficult than formerly, because every one
wishes to have a great number of spruce
lackeys, because the class of men best adapted
to carry arms is drained or enervated by do
mestic' servitude, and because the necessity of
filling up the regiments obliges them to enlist
almost indiscriminately every individual that
offers, whether he be too weak or too small.
" The regulation of presentation, by engen
dering the rage for leaving the country, to
obtain the honours and vain distinctions of the
court, has also created an alarming revolution
in civil and political order, by the licentious
pleasures ofthe capital, which augment in pro
portion to the influx of those who are in search
of them, by the increase of luxury, which, car
ried to the point we witness at the present day,
occasions celibacy, libertinism, and even death,
destructive of manners, strength of mind, and
every moral virtue. These real evils have
already had a visible influence on every class of
citizens, and presage some dangerous, convul
sions at a future period, of which, it is' to be
feared, the extinction or loss ofthe nobility will'
tiot be the most afflictina; result. In the mean
time, they exhaust their resources 'in a' most
ridiculous manner'. Fear of diminishing their'
i .: . i <¦¦> e' i ¦ • . 4.
consequence, by saving expenses. analogous to
the opinion which the vulgar generally attach
vol. iv. 2 a

354
to the opulence of those they call lords of the
court, has apparently dispersed the gradation of
fortunes, and the poorest have endeavoured to
vie with others of immense property ; the former
ruined, in a short time, by this mistaken emula
tion, have been obliged to intermarry in the
class of finance. A commoner, having gained
a fortune in the fermes, or in other ways of busi
ness, aspires to see his daughter honoured with
the title of marchioness, countess, and lady of
the court ; he no longer thinks of marrying her,
as formerly, to a man in his own sphere of life ;
but prefers giving her, from an impulse of ri
diculous vanity, to a ruined gentleman of an
cient extraction, or at least reputed so. Hence,
young ladies of rank, (often poor, and almost
always less rich than daughters of financiers,)
who formerly had no difficulty in finding hus
bands in the provinces, now deprived of that
advantage, either surcharged society with their
inutility, or buried themselves in convents.
As there are fewer daughters of financiers
presented than of gentlemen, a great number
ofthe latter, having no personal means of sup
porting their rank, have recourse to intrigue,
and demand and obtain gifts or pensions,
the mass of which is increased in such a manner
as to become one of the causes of embarrass
ment in the finances. Not satisfied to devour

355
thus a considerable portion of the substance
of the kingdom, they aspire to the principal
military employments, from a false principle,
that, as they belong to the court, they ought
not to remain in a subaltern situation, such as
that of captain, which their ancestors, never
theless, thought^honourable ; and they cannot,
without injustice, refuse them regiments. *The
impossibility of giving to every one, and resist
ing this torrent, has obliged ministers to seek
expedients in order to satisfy them, although
convinced, that it was doing an injury to the
army's subordination and discipline; for it is
notorious, that courtiers never obey but with
the greatest repugnance the orders of those
who are not so, even if they be of superior
rank. On another side, the ancient officers,
who are in reality the soul ofthe troops, seeing
themselves commanded by young men, without
experience, without application, and making
an ill use of their prerogatives, treat them often
with contempt, become disgusted with their
profession, and neglect or quit the service.
" It was at first suggested, to create second
colonels, in order to find employment for a
greater number of subjects ; but they soon per
ceived, that this multitude of colonels forced
them to promote such a number of general-
officers, that the service was overstocked, and
2 A 2

' 356
consequently abused ; that it was morally im
possible to employ every one who wished to
serve ; and that the salaries, which could not be
refused to many of them, absorbed, without
any kind of utility, an immense quantity of
money. The second colonels were therefore
suppressed, and second majors created in their
stea<4. This expedient, although better than
the other, could not, however, be maintained ;
because it lowers too much the rank of captain,
introduces a privileged class destructive of all
military emulation;, and, being entirely super
fluous, plunges the whole in disorder, and
ought to be abolished.
" The younger branches of presented families
who embrace the ecclesiastical state, pretend
to the first dignities of the church, as their bro
thers have done to those of the army ; and
when they return to their provinces, they af
fect to make use of the epithet lord of the
castle, in a sense of derision or even abuse, and
show, towards the inferior nobility and opulent
commoners, such haughty and disdainful airs,
that prove, to strict observers, the rules of pre
sentation to have formed, contrary to the inten
tion of government, on one part, an aristocracy
so much the more real, that those who belong
to this new intermediary class between the na
tion and the sovereign, exclusively absorb the

357
principal employments and distinctions; and,
on the other, a numerous discontented party
among the inferior nobility, the middle class
of clergy, and the commoners of good education
and easy fortune. It is much to be feared, that
this disposition of the greatest number will lead
to. fatal divisions between the different orders,
at the next meeting of the states-general.
" It would have been less absurd to follow ta
citly the mode of presentation adopted in 1760,
instead of making another regulation that cannot
be put in practice at the present day without
danger ; because it excludes a great number of
individuals, and incenses them against the court.
The dignity of the throne undoubtedly requires
that it should not be surrounded by strangers
recently emerged from the dust of tribunals
and counting-houses ; but it is very easy only
to admit gentlemen of suitable nobility, recom
mended by the public voice, which is the most
impartial and most incorruptible genealogist;
but of what consequence is it that their titles
should be exactly as ancient as 1400? Lewis
XIV., who was better acquainted with the art
of governing a nation and giving splendor to
his court than any other sovereign, had too
much penetration to think that proofs of nobi
lity would accomplish those objects, and de
pended more on merit than birth ; besides," the

358
state of the finances formerly leaving the king
few pecuniary recompences tb dispose of, it
was his. interest to reserve that of presentation
for distinguished services alone, without mak
ing it hereditary. It appears, at the same time,
necessary to dispel the want of connexion be
tween the possibility, in proving four degrees of
nobility, being knights of the different orders,
one of the greatest marks of distinction to
which an individual can aspire, and the impos
sibility of attending the king's levees without
having proved nine or ten generations. ' Ger
many, by its feodal government, less practicable
than, ever it was in France, is the only country
in Europe which requires such far-fetched ge
nealogies. The numerous chapters into which
they admit both men and women, alone pro
duce this passion for heraldry, and are, besides,
the only resource of a multitude of nobles as
poor as they are ancient ; but, at the same
time, birth has not the least influence in the
military profession, where nothing is wanted
but courage and talents. We observe even
princes of the empire begin their career with
the rank of an ensign, and finish it in that
of a colonel, or perhaps a less elevated situa
tion. " In the greatest part of Europe they have a
better idea of nobility than in France ; and who-

359
ever possesses four or five degrees, is adjudged
capable of holding the most important employ
ments, if his merit be adequate thereto. Even
in England, an individual nobleman enjoys no
particular privilege in political order. Peerage
indeed procures some advantages, not oh ac
count of birth, but as it forms an essential
branch of the constitution ; that is to say, a
true hereditary magistracy. , Notwithstanding,
a peer will be more respected by his talents
than by the pre-eminence of extraction.
" The king himself has sometimes expressed
how disagreeable a crowd of presented people
were to him ; he has been heard frequently to
complain of interruption, either in his own
apartments or on hunting parties, by a multitude
of persons whom he neither knew nor wished
to know. His majesty may also remember
having refused to permit the presentation of
some gentlemen who had produced the neces
sary certificate from the genealogist : and, on
more than one occasion, he has thought proper
to suffer persons to be presented who have not
produced such certificates : whence it results,
that the regulation of 1760 is really incon
sistent and illusory. On another consideration,
the abuses we have above indicated are too
glaring, too impolitic, and too troublesome, in
every respect, to admit of any delay in accele-

360
rating their destruction ; for it is particularly
evident, that we cannot establish a good mili
tary constitution in France so long as the actual
mode of presentation exists. We conceive it,
therefore, indispensable, that the king should
declare null and void the regulation of April 17,
1760. " It is no less important to remedy the evil
which has been occasioned, and is now daily
occasioned,' both in the army and navy, by the
decisions and even the ordinances which ex
clude from the service those who, not being
children of knights of St. Lewis, could not pro
duce the necessary proofs of nobility.
" On the 22d of May, 1781, by the proposi-
• tion of the marquis, afterwards marshal Segur,
then minister of war, the king decided :
" c That all subjects proposed to be nomi
nated to sub-lieutenancies in French regiments
of. infantry, cavalry, light-horse, dragoons, or
horse-chasseurs, shall be obliged to produce
the same testimonials as those who are pre
sented to his majesty, in order to be admitted
and instructed in his royal military school ;
and that they shall not be admitted, unless
they be sons of knights of St. Lewis, without
they produce a certificate from the sieur Che-
rin, genealogist of the orders, to whom they
shall remit their original titles, proving four de
grees of nobility.'

361
" Marquis, afterwards marshal de Castries,
minister of marine, compelled by he foregoing
resolution, confined himself to making a pro
posal to the king, to insert in his ordinance of
the 18th of August 1781, relating to the com
pany of gentlemen-cadets of the colonialtroops,
the third article, running thus :
" ' His majesty will nominate to situations
of gentlemen-cadets only subjects of fifteen to
twenty years of age, proving three degrees of
nobility, or sons of officers decorated with the
cross of St. Lewis, killed or dead of their
wounds in the service. The said gentleman-
cadets shall be obliged to produce their certi
ficate of baptism, and attestations of their
father's service ; which papers shall be ad
dressed, in regular order, to the .sietir Cherin,
genealogist of the king's orders, who shall be
charged with the verification of the titles.'
- " M. de Castries wisely avoided exacting
proofs of nobility for admission into the royal
•navy, until he was forced to it by the outcries
pf that body, in which nothing was requisite
but great skill and valour; they were fear
ful, undoubtedly, of being less considered than
the army: he therefore engaged the king to or
dain as follows, by the tenth article of the 1st of
January 1786, relating to the navy :
" ' No young men shall be admitted into this

362
corps, but those who can exhibit the same
proofs of nobility as are required for the army;
that is to say, four degrees.'
" Such laws, besides annihilating emulation,
and rendering everv family, which finds itself
excluded, dissatisfied, must become the more
useless, as it is necessary to dispense with them
in time of war, and thereby abase government
in the public opinion. Reflexion and informa
tion on past events would have prevented the
king's ministers from falling into these embar
rassments, the ill effects of which it will be diffi
cult, at the present day, to efface.
" During the reign of LewisXIV., both nobles
and commoners were'admitted into the service
without distinction ; but the numerous reforms,
and the peace which followed the Spanish
war of succession, soon rendered military em
ployments so scarce, that, from the commence
ment of the regency, they felt»the necessity and
justice of granting the preference to those
nobles, who not being able, like commoners, to
employ themselves in lucrative professions,
without derogating from their rank, had, in
reality, no means of subsistence but in his ma
jesty's service. They ordered, in consequence,
that every individual aspiring to the service,
whose father had not been, or should not be
proposed by a distinguished military character,

363
could not be received therein, without pro
ducing an attestation of nobility, signed by three
or four noblemen. This measure, by which
they tacitly derogated when circumstances re
quired it, displeased no one, and existed till
May 1781, when M. de Segur annulled it in too
trifling a manner. Count St. Germain, one of
that minister's predecessors, to whom the same
arrangement was proposed, at first thought of
adopting it ; but it was represented to him, that,
before he made a regulation, he ought to examine,
1st, if it was useful, and did not offer more incon
veniences than advantages ; 2dly, if it was just,
and could always be put in execution, and subsist;
because, on a contrary supposition, it should be
renounced. St. Germain judged it necessary to
clear up the matter before he decided on it;
and, searching among the archives of his de
partment,, found, that war having commenced
at the end of the year 1733, the ancient officers,
who only remained in the service, because
peace did not require on their part any fatigue,
and finding themselves incapable to support
that of war, gave in their resignations in so great
a number, that they could not find a sufficiency
of nobles to fill up the vacant places, although
France, at that time, had no more than
205,372 men on foot, exclusive of the militia.
This scarcity of ©fficers obliged M. d'Anger-

364
villiers, minister of war, at the beginning ofthe
year 1734, to write to the intendants ofthe pro
vinces, to excite the commoners of their respec
tive districts, who had given their children an
education,, and wished to place them in the
army, to ask for employment, and it would be
granted. After the peace of 1738, that of 1748,
and that of 1763, they re-established, in a pru
dent and quiet manner, the measure adopted
under the regency in favour of noblemen.
" From what we have observed, it evidently
results, 1st, that the French nobility are not
sufficiently numerous alone to fill up every em
ployment in the army, when it may exceed
150,000 men, exclusive of the militia, or when
war may occasion a great consumption of
officers, as in 1733, 1741, and 1757 ; 2dly,
that this reason renders every arrangement
absurd which tends formally to exclude com
moners from the service, since they may be
forced to excite them to enter into it ; and 3dly,
that noblemen should only be preferred in time
of peace, as they have no other mean of subsis
tence, nor any other method of passing their
time. Struck with these ideas, . M. St. Ger
main rejected the project which Segur blindly
adapted, without the least examination : his in
considerate decision, also, of May 22, 1781, and
all of the same nature which •came after them,

365
have, together,, humiliated and incensed, with
out reason, (but not without risking the royal
authority and public tranquillity, particularly in
the present situation of aftairs) the middling
order who cannot prove four degrees of nobility,
and the class of commoners who lived on their
fortune. " The preceding reasons are sufficiently impe
rative to induce the king to abrogate, 1st, the
decision ofthe 22d of May 1781, on the admis
sion to the army : 2dly, the third article of the
ordinance of the 1st of January 1786, concern
ing the marine: lastly, to replace things upon
the ancient footing : for it is incontestable,
that the present order of things, less than ever,
permit us to support arrangements contrary to
the essence of our monarchy and national cha
racter, or, at least, offensive to one of the most
numerous classes of citizens, now sufficiently en
lightened to regard as a revolting injustice the
measure of treating men in France, in military
situations, as horses are treated in Arabia,
where they are reputed almost of no value, un
less the seller can prove their pedigree well at
tested for several generations."

366

CHAP. VIII.
Cf the Progress of the Human Understanding in Literature,
Arts, and Sciences, under the Reign qf Lewis XVI. — Philo
sophy obtains the Pre-eminence over all other Kinds of Know
ledge. — That of Voltaire was destructive of religious and social
Opinions- — That qf Rousseau tended to establish new political
Institutions — Ephemeral Reign of their Doctrine. — Under
Lewis XVI. Literature is neither the Ornament nor Support of
Poiver. — Progress of natural Sciences. — Remarkable Inven
tions.
AS the French revolution is the principal pro
duct of the philosophical and metaphysical sy
stems of the last years ofthe eighteenth century,
posterity may wish to examine the progress of
the human understanding, the leading opinions
of France, and the character of the parties or
factions that professed them.
Religion, under the reign of Lewis XVI., was
no longer discussed in France with polemical
inveteracy, as in the reigns of Lewis XIV, and
Lewis XV. ; and, being no more an object of
sentiment, the state experienced none of those
storms which formerly a bull was sufficient to
produce. The Gallican church, foreseeing
better than any of the other bodies, that it was

367
on the point of a revolution, remained quiet.
Its chiefs acknowledged, in 1788 and 178.9,
that they had gone too far in defence of reli
gion ; from which effectively resulted, in weak
minds, the dangerous idea, that it is problematic
in its nature, subject to controversy, and ef
fected by man's imagination. Thus religion,
which, in former ages, had made so great a
figure in France, was now calm and silent.
Its ministers were become tacit observers, and
in such a state of discredit, that government
paid little attention to their periodical remon
strances. They often hinted to the king, by
various and repeated methods, to guard against
the precipice which threatened him ; but the
insensible monarch alienated their intentions by
some insignificant answer.
The class of dauntless writers, whom the con
tempt of academicians and incredulous literati
could not appal, declaimed with energy. Lu-
ifteau, who had sustained a famous lawr-suit on
the undertaking of the Encyclopedia, thundered
incessantly against the progress of philosophy.
The abbe Fontenay, in the calmness of his
reason, condemned it by pacific argumentation.
The abbe Aubert, to defend his cause, em
ployed the wit which Voltaire used for its de
struction. Freron w7as no more. Grozier,
Clement, Rigoley de Juvigny, Geoffroy, and

368
others, inherited his spirit; and government^
by prosecuting Linguet, could not perceive
that it turned the shaft against itself.
All those writers professed, that philosophy
is the friend and defender of the throne and
religion ; but the philosophy of the times was
their scourge and ruin; that morals and religi
ous ideas were the support and glory of govern
ments ; and that exaggerated rigour in opinion,
such as that of Jansenism, was a, false and dan
gerous virtue, and the friend of revolutions and
heresies. Nearly all the ex-jesuits intrepidly
defended both the throne and religion.
The philosophy of the times, or rather that
union of ideas destructive of all our social
institutions, had obtained in France the pre
eminence over every other kind of know
ledge. If assailed and persecuted, it was ever
sure, by some means, to rise triumphant from
its contests. The two principal potentates
of the eighteenth century, Frederic and Ca
tharine II. , had ennobled it. The ingenious
sarcasms of Voltaire against religion had ob-
liged that patriarch of modern philosophy to
expatriate himself; but he still triumphed, on
the confines of France, over all the orders of
the state, incensed against him. " You cannot
destroy the Christian religion," said they to
him  " We shall see that," replied the old

369
man, much more animated against it in his
advanced age than in his youth ; and certainly,
if we except his literary works, in which how
ever we find the same spirit, this celebrated
man was employed, during his whole life, in
destroying, abasing, and ridiculing religious in
stitutions. Rousseau, on the contrary, seemed to be occu
pied solely in writing for the establishment of
new doctrines, religious and political ; but, born
in a republic, which, within two centuries, has
overturned every thing, and which in vain en
deavours to substitute institutions equivalent
to those destroyed, he proposed to the pre
sent generation nothing but illusory and dan
gerous alternatives. Flis doctrine, spread over
all Europe for the last fifteen years of the
eighteenth century, has not succeeded even
at Geneva, though a small state, and eager
for salutary institutions. In France, after hav
ing been an object of speculation to many
people of probity, who sincerely desired to see
their country virtuous, flourishing, free, and
happy, it is become our scourge. - Transport
the doctrine of Rousseau, the Utopia of Thomas
More, and the World of Plato, into the most
vicious and abandoned states of Europe, and
these doctrines would become, as in France,
their misery and destruction.
The effect of the two attacks upon ancient
vol. iv. 2 B

370
France, by Voltaire and Rousseau, the first de
stroying our institutions, the second proposing
to us new ones, was such, that Europe and our
country refused to sanction the destruction of
the first and the establishments of the second.
Voltaite, and the philosophers his disciples,
have vainly contributed to overthrow, in the
course of a few years, what our fathers held
in veneration. That religion, and those gods,
which you imagine ineffectual, abased, and an
nihilated, are again rising around us. Like
a spring, which a child endeavours to stop
by placing a massive obstacle on the aperture
¦whence it flows, it finds its way, in other
places, to the light of day. Before the revolu
tion, the philosophers ofthe times had expressed
a desire to obtain from some potentate a corner
of the earth to govern in full sovereignty, ac
cording to their own systems. The reforming prin
ciples of the revolution demonstrate what would
have been the character of such a government.
As to French literature, the state had for
gotten, under Lewis XVI., how ably it sup
ported authority in the former reigns. Under
Lewis XIV. it had acted a more distinguished
part. It had constantly been the most bril
liant ornament of his time ; but such was the
destiny of his successor, that, deprived of the
mean of inspiring his age with a taste for the
sublime, and to stimulate it accordingly, French

371
literature degenerated to such a degree, that,
about the middle of the eighteenth century, our
academies consisted only of subaltern literati,
eclipsed by the preponderance of philosophers
and professors of natural sciences.
In fact, the physical sciences, as well towards
the close of the reign of Lewis XV. as under
his successor, have rendered the two reigns
immortal in the history of man. Under these
two monarchs, natural history, aided by mineral
chemistry, physics, physiology in plants and ani
mals, and medical geography, rose, as-it'Were,
from nothing.
The exploring the Pyrenees, the Cevennes,
the Vbsges, and the mountains of Auvergne,
which, in anterior reigns, had presented only
romantic views for painters, now afforded new
objects of curiosity. Demaret wrote the history
of ancient volcanos, the eruptions of which
form a part of the soil of Auvergne. Faujas
de St.-Fond wrote the history of those of Velay
and Vivarais ; and chemistry and physics aided
him in his descriptions. Palasseau examined
the organisation of the Pyrenees ; he decom
posed their heterogeneous masses, and found
that i the mountains were formed by alternate
layets of slate, calcareous rocks, and others,
inclining to the north and south, throughout
the whole length of the chain from the Ocean
to the Mediterranean, and that an immense
primordial stone of granite composed its base.,
2 e 2

372
Guetard wrote the history of the Upper Alps,
and Besson and De Saussure those of Switzer
land and Mount-Blanc, which consist of ana
logous materials.
The author of these Memoirs, traversing the
Cevennes, the Pyrenees, and the Alps, and ex
amining the structure ofthe mountains on which
he was born, wrote the history of the primitive
rock of granite which constitutes their founda
tion, the granatoides that rest upon it, the beds
oPmountains containing the first traces of ani
mated maritime beings petrified therein, and
the plains of the Rhone, the Loire, and the
Seine, ruins of all the antecedent soils. He
wrote the chronological history of extinguished
volcanos, the eruptions and produce of which
are dated from the first ages of the physical
world, and from periods nearly bordering
on primordial chaos. He also wrote that of
later volcanos, which have retained their
form, still exhibiting appearances of lava
formerly fluid ; and that of volcanos of a still
more recent date, the conic shapes and ig'nivo-
mous mouths of which are yet preserved : and,
lastly, that of volcanos, the fires of which ap
pear not to be totally extinguished, some small
apertures of fixed air, and fountains of hot and fer
ruginous mineral water, still proceeding from the
continuation of an internal decomposition. He
wrote the physiology of plants that are pecu
liar to certain geographical situations, and cli-

373
mates analogous to their constitution, from the
frozen summits of the Pyrenees, Cevennes, and
the Alps, even to the inferior warm or burning
climates of Lower Provence. All these facts
prove, that if France affords five climates nearly
alike in the five extensive plains of the Rhone,
the Garonne, the Loire, the Seine, and the
Rhine, it is manifest, that, from those lower re
gions, to the icy summit of the Pyrenees, the
Cevennes, the Vosges, and the Alps, the de
grees of climate demonstrate, that our territory
offers every temperature that Europe "is suscep
tible of. This is the principal source of the
opulence and industry of the state, and of the
riches and activity of its exterior commerce.
The reign of Lewis XVI. has been illustrious
for discoveries and experiments in natural phi
losophy, which had long employed the learned
of Europe. Vera invented the ingenious ma
chine bearing, his name, and which we
ought to study to bring to perfection ; it pre
sents a new principle, and a secret method
of raising water, adhering to a rope, to a consi
derable height. The brothers Montgolfier dis
covered the art of elevating to the clouds heavy
and immense machines, with a-fluid specifically
lighter than that of the atmosphere ; and
Charles, by confining that fluid in a balloon,
performed the first idea of travelling in the
skies ; a majestic experiment, which Blanchard

374
Carried to such a pitch of boldness, as to bet
out from England, cross the sea in the region
of clouds, and arrive without accident in France.
Chemistry and physics were by turns employed
in bringing this discovery to perfection.
The science of man acquired, in the royal
medical society, new' means of attaining per
fection ; medical geography is an art which the
reign of Lewis XVI. had, as it were, instituted.
Adanson, who anteriorly published his family
of plants, according to their degrees of parent
age, carried his maxims and observations into
the general classification of the productions of
nature ; while La Cepede continued with suc
cess the magnificent descriptions of Buffon.
Chemistry, formed by various rival schools,
was brought to perfection in France. The
history of the progress of that science would
be a work infinitely curious and important,
which we must confess is still wanting to the
republic of letters, as well as the annals of
natural history.
Wurtz, a physician of Strasbourg, observing
the affinity and dissimilitude of natural pro
ductions, discovered the art of placing them,
as it were geographically, in their relative
and natural situations^ in the same manner
as towns and provinces are placed in their re
spective places in maps. He executes this idea
on medicaments in so curious a manner, that

375
his topographical chart represents comparative
views produced by the analogy of neighbour
hoods, and from the approximation of sub
stances. The author deducts from his doctrine
the theory of oppositions in the productions of
nature, — a theory so fruitful in new ideas, 'and
so little thought of.
I shall not expatiate on our mechanicians, nor
on the architecture of bridges, brought to perfec
tion by Perronet, Regemorte, and others ; nor
on the works of Cherbourg, which Burke com
pared to the pyramids of Egypt ; nor on our
astronomers ; nor on their patriarch Lalande,
celebrated for his zeal, his labours, and the
boldness of his anti-religious opinions ; nor on
the discoveries of the abbe L'Epee, continued
and brought to perfection by Sicard ; nor on
the unfortunate voyage of Peyrouse, undertaken
by the secret and direct instructions of Lewis
XVI. The mention of these is sufficient to indi
cate, that his reign is more remarkable, as it re
lates to the sciences, than any which had pre
ceded it.
The arts have not been so much respected
nor so flourishing as in the reign of Lewis
XIV. ; neither did they succeed so well under
•Lewis XVI. as in the time of his predecessor.
Millions, expended in the building bf lodges for
clerks at the barriers, announce the folly ofthe
times, and would be monuments ofthe degene-

376
racy of our architecture, if the magnificent pro
jects, known and preserved in the history of
that art, were not sufficient proofs that our taste
for justness and sublimity is not lost.
David took up the pencil, and formed his
school under the reign of Lewis XVI.
The reign of popular benevolence in the pre
sent age has encouraged an establishment, that
has been respected by all the furies ofthe revolu
tion ; I mean the free- school for drawing, insti
tuted for artisans by M. Bachelier. If the popu
lace, under the direction ofthe Chaumettes,have
not burned and ravaged every production of our
arts, as well as our antiquities, we are indebted
for it to a taste for the sublime with which Ba
chelier had inspired twenty thousand young
men, who had entered as workmen in his
school, and had gone out artists. They will
still imprint the French taste on the productions
of our arts, trades, and manufactures, if go
vernment shall protect the rich proprietaries,
who are the sole nourishers of arts and industry,
and if the English do not introduce into our
commerce a false taste for their productions, as
they did after the last treaty of peace.

END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

Printed % S. Hamilton, Falcon-Court, Fleet-Street