the provinces. The King, in his clemency, was desirous of concealing the names of the instigators of this disturbance; but his attention was soon arrested by another, still more difficult to quell. It had been found necessary to hold a bed of justice, and to issue the royal mandate, in order to compel the Parliament to register the suppression of the Corvées, and the abolition of the taxes upon manufactures. The Parliament, however, came to a resolution to re-establish the Corvée, and to effect the dismissal of the comptroller-general. The fact was, the prime minister began to grow jealous of the influence which Turgot's intelligence and probity had gained over the heart of his virtuous master. His Majesty was therefore taught to dread great troubles; he was told, that Turgot did good in a bad way; and not daring to trust to the affections of his heart, in concerns of so great import, the young Prince gave up the minister whom he cherished to the importunity of his adversaries. In the meanwhile, Turgot had been suffered to enter upon the execution of his plan, but not to bring it to a conclusion. The economical order of affairs was totally confounded. The burdens, from which the people had been relieved by him, were again heaped upon them,

from his not being allowed time to repair the
breaches made in the revenue.

The man appointed by Count de Maurepas Clugny. to succeed him, entered upon his office with the following observation, in which there was more humour than policy" He knew nothing about "finance, and before he could pretend to under" take the comptrollor-generalship, he must sit "down to learn the duties belonging to its de"partment." He was seized with a disorder of which he died in a few months, having neither learned nor undertaken the duties or the office. The Abbé Terray, who was still alive, asserted that the deficit, which amounted to no more, at his resignation, than five millions, was already increased to thirty-four, and that he saw no possible means of making it less, as there was nothing left to tax, and the public resources were entirely exhausted *.

The short time that M. Taboureau and Tabou

reau and

M. Necker were jointly in office, but little more Necker.
was done than announcing that those resources
were not nearly exhausted, and that arrange-
ment was the principal requisite.

* Political Annals of Linguet, vol. 3, page 383.

Necker,

Left by himself at the head of the finance department, M. Necker, after having been three years and a half engaged in it, completed and gave to the world his famous Stated Account, which drew upon him the enthusiastic praises of one party, and the censures of another, but which brought the accounts of the public receipts, and ordinary expenditure, to a balance of twentyseven millions of livres in favour of the former, seventeen of which were employed in paying off unfunded debts.

M. Necker's enemies, however, publicly declared, " that he knew the great repugnance " with which Louis XVI. regarded every kind " of tax, and that he took advantage of this " weakness of the Monarch, and having begun " to borrow, still continued to borrow, and would

66

go on borrowing while he continued in office, " leaving to his successors a treasury loaded with " debt, and throwing upon their shoulders the " obligation of providing the means to discharge "it*." They added, moreover, "that the act of " publishing his Stated Account was to be entirely "attributed to his ambitious vanity, for that, as "the King's minister, he owed to no one but "the King any account of the state of the "finances; but that the sanction of the Mo"narch was not enough for him, and there"fore he wished to lay before the public a dis

play, more the work of artifice, than the result

" of truth, well assured that, by such an appeal,

" he should gain unbounded popularity."

.

The advocates of this minister and his mea

sures, on the other hand, replied, " that the repugnance which Louis XVI. testified against

every kind of tax, if it were a weakness, was "such as his minister ought, at all events, to

pay respectful attention to*;" that "the "public declaration of the Abbé Terray, and "which he officially added to the last me"morial, addressed to Louis XVI. namely"That no more taxes could be levied,' gave " M. Necker the two-fold excuse of necessity " and convenience; since, if the resources of "taxation failed, some other must be found;"

that " immense supplies were necessary to "carry on a war, the seat of which was at a "distance of 1500 leagues from France;" and that there was "no other expedient than that " of loans;" that "he, who, in the midst of so " expensive a contest, could procure from his "savings in the state, sufficient to pay the in"terest due on these loans, would not certainly " find himself more at a loss for supply, when " government expenditure, and that of the navy " and army, should be reduced to the peace " establishment;" that " as to the publication " of his Stated Account, it was very clear when the "facility of procuring loans depends entirely

upon the state of public credit, whatever pro"cedure raised that credit in the estimation of "the public, was altogether justifiable;" that "it was generally allowed good Kings, such as "Louis XVI. would never hesitate to declare the " state of a country's finances, and the actions of "good Kings ought always to form the standard;" that "granting M. Necker was vain, ambitious, and "thirsting for glory, yet, so long as he considered " this a sufficient reward, so long as he made this " vanity, this ambition, this love of popularity, "the mediums through which he performed such