V.

ON M. NECKER'S FINANCIAL PROJECT (26 September and 2 October 1789).

THE Constituent Assembly's favourite labour of constitutionmaking was often interrupted by the necessity of considering the actual state of things in France. One such interruption took place on 4 August after the reading of Salomon's report on the disturbances in the provinces, when a sort of delirium seized hold of the minds of the deputies; more than one was caused by the state of the finances. It was on account of the national bankruptcy, which was threatening France, that the States-General had been summoned, and Necker lost no opportunity of pressing the financial needs of the country upon the consideration of the Assembly. On 7 August he reported that hardly any taxes had been paid for over three months, though the Assembly had decreed during the struggle between the orders that all taxes should continue to be paid provisionally, and it was not likely that they would be paid more regularly after the decrees of 4 August. Necker was therefore directed to raise a loan of thirty millions of livres at the rate of four and a half per cent interest instead of at five per cent, as he had proposed. Only 2,600,000 livres was subscribed on these terms, and on 27 August Necker asked to be allowed to raise a further loan of eighty millions at five per cent. Permission was granted, but only thirty-three millions was subscribed, and it became obvious that the credit of the State was gone. This being so, on 24 September Necker proposed the levy of a special tax of twenty-five per cent of all incomes to be paid on the taxpayers own valuations within three years. The proposal was an absurd one, but nevertheless Mirabeau supported it in one of his most famous speeches, inspired by his horror at the prospect of national bankruptcy, though he knew well that Necker was no friend to him. The motion was carried, but as might have been expected had little effect upon the state of the finances of France, and actual bankruptcy was eventually averted by the issue of assignats.

On this famous speech, and the address to the nation which

follows, Étienne Dumont writes1: 'Mirabeau was not well acquainted with the subject, although he had published several papers on it, such as The Bank of St. Charles, The Denunciation of Stock-Jobbing, &c. But he had two able coadjutors in Panchaud and Clavière, the former of whom said that Mirabeau was the first man in the world to speak on a question he knew nothing about. A ready conception, and the happiest expressions enabled him easily to lead artificial minds astray. When, from the effects of the Revolution, the public revenue was considerably diminished, and the taxes of scarcely any value, M. Necker, unable to keep in motion an immense machine, whose moving power was almost annihilated, proposed to the Assembly a loan, to which he had endeavoured to give a very seductive form. He wanted, for this purpose, to make use of the credit of the Caisse d'Escompte. Clavière, who, I believe, had some feeling of personal hostility towards the company of the Caisse d'Escompte, engaged Mirabeau to oppose the measure. The Assembly attempted to organize the loan, and proceeded with as little intelligence as on many other occasions. The consequence was, that the measure was unsuccessful, and the national credit, about which so much had been said, became worse than useless. M. Necker was, soon after, forced to present another project, a species of patriotic loan, somewhat resembling an income tax. This time Mirabeau determined to support the minister, to whom, however, he was personally hostile. There had been no intercourse between them; for the intimacy which Duroveray and Malouet had attempted to bring about, had failed. Some persons suspected that Mirabeau's support was given, in order to fix upon Necker the responsibility of the certain failure of the plan. Several stupid members, who thought that the Assembly would be wanting in dignity, if it adopted ministerial measures without altering something in them, proposed several modifications. Mirabeau was of opinion, that the plan required no alteration, and eagerly pressed the Assembly to adopt it as it was. His principal argument was the ill-success of the last project of loan, which the friends of the minister attributed to the Assembly, who by ill-judged modifications, had altered its nature. Thence proceeding to remark upon the dangerous state of public credit, and the failure of the revenue, he represented a national bankruptcy as the probable consequence of the re1 Recollections of Mirabeau, by Étienne Dumont, translation of 1832, pp. 151-156.

jection of this plan. The force with which he presented so commonplace a subject was miraculous; he elevated it to sublimity. They who heard this speech will never forget it; it excited every gradation of terror, and a devouring gulf, with the groans of the victims it swallowed, of which the orator gave a very appalling description, seemed pictured to the senses of the audience.

'The triumph was complete; not an attempt was made to reply. The Assembly was subjugated by that power of a superior and energetic mind, which acts upon the multitude, as if it were only a single individual, and the project was adopted without a dissenting voice. From that day Mirabeau was considered as a being superior to other men. He had no rival. There were indeed other orators, but he alone was eloquent; and this impression was stronger, because in his speech on this question he was obliged to depend entirely upon his own resources; for it was an unexpected reply, and could not therefore have been prepared.

Molé, the celebrated actor of the Théâtre Français, was present. The force and dramatic effect of Mirabeau's eloquence, and the sublimity of his voice, had made a deep impression upon this distinguished comedian, who, with visible emotion, approached the orator to offer his compliments. "Ah! M. le Comte," said he in a pathetic tone of voice, "what a speech! and with what an accent did you deliver it! you have surely missed your vocation." Molé smiled on perceiving the singularity of the compliment, which his dramatic enthusiasm had led him to utter, but Mirabeau was much flattered at it.

Some days after, in the beginning of October, the King being already at Paris 1, it was determined to press this ministerial measure by an address from the National Assembly to the nation. Mirabeau was requested to write this address, and he transferred the task to me. I undertook it with more readiness, because I was still of opinion that a solemn address, supported by authority, might yet serve as a vehicle for important truths. I had no desire to palliate the excesses of the Revolution, but wished, on the contrary, to prove in the strongest manner possible, that the nation would be lost if it were misled any longer by wrong notions of liberty, whose mask licentiousness had assumed to

This is a mistake, as the address was read to the Assembly on 2 October, and ordered to be printed on 3 October, while the King did not remove to Paris until 6 October. It was never actually adopted.

render her odious. This composition was not so rapid as the address to the King, because the subject was more complicated and delicate; for great caution was requisite not to offend the Assembly itself, whose ears were irritable as those of a despot, and who took umbrage at the most indirect reproach. I devoted three days to this work, which was well received, but produced upon the nation about as much effect as a sermon upon the congregation. Scarcely had it been applauded, when it was already forgotten. I found amongst my papers the original of this same address almost in the same state as when I gave it to Mirabeau; there being only two or three slight alterations made by the committee appointed to draw it up.'

MESSIEURS, au milieu de tant de débats tumultueux, ne pourrai-je donc pas ramener à la délibération du jour par un petit nombre de questions bien simples?

Daignez, messieurs, daignez me répondre.

1

Le Premier Ministre des Finances 1 ne vous a-t-il pas offert le tableau le plus effrayant de notre situation actuelle ? • Ne vous a-t-il pas dit que tout délai aggravait le péril? qu'un jour, une heure, un instant pouvaient le rendre mortel?

Avons-nous un plan à substituer à celui qu'il nous propose? Oui, a crié quelqu'un dans l'Assemblée. Je conjure celui qui répond oui, de considérer que son plan n'est pas connu, qu'il faut du temps pour le développer, l'examiner, le démontrer; que, fût-il immédiatement soumis à notre délibération, son auteur a pu se tromper; que, fût-il exempt de toute erreur, on peut croire qu'il s'est trompé ; que, quand tout le monde a tort, tout le monde a raison; qu'il se pourrait donc que l'auteur de cet autre projet, même en ayant raison, eût tort contre tout le monde, puisque, sans l'assentiment de l'opinion publique, le plus grand talent ne saurait triompher des circonstances. . . Et moi aussi 1 Necker's official title was Director-General of the Finances. His predecessors were styled Controllers-General, a title not given to him, because he was a Protestant. The title First Minister of the Finances came into use without any official sanction after the capture of the Bastille and his return to office, and by the decree of 27 April 1791, the Finance Minister received the title of Minister of Public Contributions.

je ne crois pas les moyens de M. Necker1 les meilleurs possibles; mais le ciel me préserve, dans une situation si critique, d'opposer les miens aux siens. Vainement je les tiendrais pour préférables: on ne rivalise pas en un instant une popularité prodigieuse, conquise par des services éclatants: une longue expérience; la réputation du premier talent de financier connu; et, s'il faut tout dire, une destinée telle qu'elle n'échut en partage à aucun autre mortel.

Il faut donc en revenir au plan de M. Necker.

non.

Mais avons-nous le temps de l'examiner, de sonder ses bases, de vérifier ses calculs? . . . Non, non, mille fois D'insignifiantes questions, des conjectures hasardées, des tâtonnements infidèles, voilà tout ce qui, dans ce moment, est en notre pouvoir. Qu'allons-nous donc faire par le renvoi de la délibération? Manquer le moment décisif; acharner notre amour-propre à changer quelque chose à un ensemble que nous n'avons pas même conçu, et diminuer par notre intervention indiscrète l'influence d'un ministre dont le crédit financier est et doit être plus grand que le nôtre... Messieurs, certainement il n'y a là ni sagesse ni prévoyance ; mais du moins y a-t-il de la bonne foi?

Oh! si des déclarations moins solennelles ne garantissaient pas notre respect pour la foi publique, notre horreur pour l'infâme mot de banqueroute, j'oserais scruter les motifs secrets, et peut-être, hélas! ignorés de nous-mêmes, qui nous font si imprudemment reculer au moment de proclamer l'acte d'un grand dévouement, certainement inefficace s'il n'est pas rapide et vraiment abandonné. Je dirais à ceux qui se familiarisent peut-être avec l'idée de manquer aux

1 Necker (Jacques), born at Geneva, 1732; made a fortune as the head of the French branch of the bank of Thelusson and Necker of London and Paris; after marriage, gave up banking, and became a politician; chief manager of the French East India Company; opposed Turgot's free trade schemes in his Dialogue sur les Blés, &c., and succeeded him as Director-General of the Finances; replaced by Calonne, 1783; published De l'Administration des Finances de la France, 1784; Director-General of the Finances again 1788; dismissed 12 July, and recalled 15 July 1789; finally resigned and left France 4 September 1790; died at Coppet, near Geneva, 1804.