M. Lacretelle, that he in general writes with a degree of candour and moderation, little calculated to obtain the suffrage of a despot. In a future edition, he may have an opportunity of correcting these objectional passages, and giving way to his natural feelings, which upon the whole are more favourable to justice, morality, and religion, than might have been expected from a Frenchman, who wrote during the tyranny of Buonaparte.

The Duke of Choiseul, as we have already observed, first formed the project of encouraging the Americans to revolt, but it was not till the feeble reign of Louis XVI., when every imagination was heated by the seducing chimera of universal philanthropy, that they were openly assisted by the government. The unfortunate monarch, who suffered his judgment to be led astray by the prevailing enthusiasm, was cruelly punished for his imprudence in sending his officers to study the science of disaffection in the revolutionary schools of Philadelphia: nor did better fortune attend the ill-judged liberality with which he taxed the resources of France for supplies to enable the Congress to keep their armies on foot; since, exclusive of the ingratitude of the Americans, who deserted him while living, and instituted civic feasts in joyful commemoration of his murder, these supplies bore heavy on the failing revenues of France, and added to the pecuniary embarrassments by which the nation was convulsed.

Almost all descriptions of persons had been successively entrusted with the management of the finances, but such were the radical defects of the system, that scarcely any advantage had accrued, even from the enlightened probity of Turgot. What then remained? A drowning man will catch at a straw; so will a falling government. A banker of Geneva had told the world, that he alone was in possession of the important secret by which England was enabled to provide resources for every exigency; and as this bold assertion was supported by the eloquence of his wife and the talents of his cook, people began to repeat in the most fashionable circles, that M. Necker was the prodigy wanted. D'Alembert has remarked with some degree of truth, that if a man assures the world he is wiser than they, one half will believe what he says and the other half grow tired of contradicting him. Such was the case with M. Necker, with this only difference, that he was intimately persuaded he was speaking truth, when eulogising his own wisdom and virtue.

After amassing a princely fortune by commerce, M. Necker, with the title of envoy, from the republic of Geneva, affected to patronize men of taste and genius, and thus assembled a chosen society from which nothing was excluded except vice and immorality. He had long been at war with the political economists, as the warm champion of the East India Company. Whether he

foresaw any danger in the principles of Turgot, or opposed them only from interested motives, or was so accustomed to the minuteness of commercial details that he despised all theoretical systems, is a question of little importance. At all events he declaimed against the unfettered commerce of grain with the violence of a man ambitious of distinction. The confidence and plausibility with which he defended his opinion in a celebrated pamphlet, divided the sentiments of the public, and obtained for its author the title of a second Colbert, while his antagonist was designated, by bis numerous partisans, as the disciple and rival of Sully.

Popularity at this time began to be regardad as an equivalent for hereditary honours. The weakness of Maurepas was easily persuaded that the admission of a Protestant into the council of state, would be likely to conciliate the philosophers, by proving that he was superior to those illiberal prejudices, which had se long degraded and ruined the nation.

After gaining over the premier by flattering his vanity, it was requisite to satisfy the scruples of the king, which was accomplished by appealing to his ruling passion, the love of his subjects. Under the conduct of a minister more prudent than Turgot, and whose system was equally liberal, the friends of Necker pretended, that hopes might be entertained of again beholding the national expenditure reduced within the yearly receipts, without the necessity of recurring to additional taxes. Under the title of Director of the Royal Treasure M. Necker obtained the entire management of the finances; though he declined to accept the salary attached to that office. A resolution so novel was warmly applauded by the multitude; but men of discernment were rather inclined to attribute it to republican pride, or the ostentatious display of an ill-judged generosity.

The leading principles of Turgot's administration were, 'No new loans, no increase of taxation.' Such a declaration astonish ed at a time, when it was generally known that there was an annual deficit of above a million sterling. But the boldness of Necker was still more surprising, who denied the necessity of augmenting the burthens of the people, though he daily added to the national debt by borrowing money to cover the expenses. Intimately acquainted with the minutest details of a great mercantile establishment, M. Necker seems to have regarded the science of finance as a banker, and not as a statesman. He had superficially studied the system of loans, by which England provides for the exigencies of the moment at the expense of posterity, and was astonished at the effects it produced, without reflecting that in a free and commercial country many resources exist, which it would be folly to look for under a despotic government, and particularly in a country where trade was regarded as disgraceful, and

where in a statement of national wealth, the minister included a few baskets of capons, quails, and partridges, occasionally sent to Margate and Brighton. Having assumed as an axiom, that the credit of a government depends entirely upon the moral character of its minister, he flattered himself that the unblemished name of Necker would prove as satisfactory to the public creditors as the mortgage of a land or a malt tax and for some time at least the illusion was perfect. The wealthy merchants of Genoa, Hamburgh, and Amsterdam, laid aside their usual caution, for the purpose of speculating in the funds of a nation, which had more than once defrauded its creditors by a bankruptcy.

The boasted resources by which the envoy of Geneva pretended to balance the receipts and expenditure, consisted in nothing but paltry retrenchments in subordinate offices, and the suppression of a few inconsiderable places in the royal household. In his celebrated defence of his own administration, there are many more traces of vanity than of genius. The statements, for the most part, are those of expectation, not of experience, and are founded upon the results of projected ameliorations, instead of presenting, as they ought to have done, an unblemished picture of the disbursements and receipts.

Though the enthusiasm, excited by the elevation of a foreigner and a Protestant, began rapidly to abate, yet all his financial edicts were enregistered by the parliament, with little opposition. Indeed, no great efforts of patriotism could be expected from the supporters of every aristrocratical prejudice, who trembled lest any violent measure should again deprive them of the pleasures attached to rank and fortune in the most dissipated capital in Europe. Some of the younger members, however, were be ginning to turn their attention to the study of political economy, for the purpose of embarrassing the ministers. Among those, the most remarkable for the boldness of his plans, and the fire with which he announced them, was Duval d'Espremesnil, a pere son destined to act a conspicuous part in the turbulent scenes which preceded the revolution. Having already signalized his name by opposing Necker, when contending in favour of the East India Company, he looked forward with delight to the glory to be acquired by openly supporting the privileges of the parliaments against the attacks of a republican minister. D'Espremesnil's understanding was too acute to overlook the inherent defects of a system, which exaggerated the solidity of the public credit, without placing it on a tangible basis. The principal point for which he struggled, was to shew that M. Necker, while he affected to follow the example of England, was ignorant of the causes from which her unrivalled prosperity arose.

No sooner had the envoy of Geneva, in appearance at least, obtained a firm footing at court, than he openly aspired to forin a party in the council, by displacing Sartine, and the Prince de Monbarey, and giving their departments, the Admiralty and WarOffice, to the Marquisses of Segur and Castries. Till then he had conducted himself like a man occupied in exploring an unknown island and fearful of meeting, at every step, with a precipice or a monster. Fully aware of the obstacles to his elevation, he had contented himself with magnifying the reduction of a pitiful pension to a superannuated servant, into an object of national importance, while he timidly refrained from any reforms, which might displease the queen, or the princes. The opposition of the clergy on the score of religion he deprecated, by extolling that powerful body as models of virtue and piety, while he depended upon receiving the support of the parliaments, on account of his hostility toward their enemy Turgot.

The publication of a work, intended to announce the wonderful achievements of Necker, who boasted of having reduced the national expenditure below the amount of the annual receipts, by the very extraordinary expedient of raising loan after loan, without creating any new imposts to pay the interest, afforded ample materials for serious discussion to the opposite parties. By the partisans of the ministers it was zealously applauded as a prodigy of political wisdom, while it was treated by his adversaries as a bold and impudent fiction. Besides, the watchful eye of avidity discovered, in the 'Compte Rendu,' an inclination to revive the favourite project of Turgot, for depriving the nobility of all fiscal exemption; and in consequence a clamour was raised at Versailles, which furnished Maurepas with a pretext for removing a too popular rival. The death of that minister, who did not long survive this political triumph, made way for the appointment of the Count de Vergennes, who had acquired considerable reputation in various diplomatic employments.

During the bustle of war, the minds of the public had been so entirely occupied with the fallacious project of humbling England, that the internal weakness of the government had escaped observation; but when the return of peace allowed men leisure to attend to domestic concerns, it became every day more apparent. All the springs of the monarchy had been gradually relaxed to such a degree, that the friends of reform looked forward with confidence to the speedy realisation of every visionary plan, which folly or enthusiasm cherished. It was not by progressive improvements that this happy revolution was to be effected-No! freedom and prosperity were to succeed oppression and distress, with as much rapidity as if the change had been wrought by magic. The existing

generation undertook to secure the happiness of its descendants for ever; and the space of seventeen years, which still remained before the century expired, was deemed amply sufficient for the accomplishment of this great and beneficent enterprise.

Gaiety and splendour had resumed their empire at Versailles since M. de Calonne had assumed the direction of the finances. But it was alone by the court that his elevation to power was applauded; because the generality of mankind were not of opinion that the resources of the country were likely to improve under the superintendence of a minister who affected to regard the most costly entertainments as conducive to national prosperity, because they served to encourage various branches of commerce, which might otherwise have languished for want of incitement. In former times the important gravity of a controuler-general had cast a gloom over every fête, but the appearance of Calonne was the signal for joy. Whether the princes wanted money, or the queen applied for a place for one of her friends, the former was sent without a moment's hesitation, and an appointment had been kept vacant on purpose. Availing himself of the confidence which Necker had inspired, he borrowed, anticipated, prolonged expirin g taxes, and created new ones, without once reflecting that every additional loan tended to widen the abyss into which he was sinking. Perfectly acquainted with the system of the Economists, he explained the advantages which they promised to produce, and the evils with which they might be attended, with an eloquence that rendered the most complex theories, not only intelligible, but amusing. Even during his celebrated controversy with Necker, he prevented the driest of all political discussions from disgusting the delicate taste of a courtier, and thus augmented the number of his partisans ; for he was too well acquainted with the genius of his countrymen, not to feel that the higher classes would be sure to favour the writer whose style was most lively and captivating.

The prodigality of the ministers having quickly excited the jealousy of the parliament, such symptoms of opposition appeared, as served to convince him that it would be impossible to continue his present system, without being constrained to resort to measures, which it would be highly inexpedient to employ. He accordingly formed the desperate project of convening the StatesGeneral, which had not met since the minority of Louis XIII.

So bold a conception might have alarmed a monarch more resolute than the unfortunate Lewis; but Calonne had little doubt of obtaining his consent, provided he could make it appear that it was a necessary step to the enactment of those measures, by which alone the burthens of the people could be alleviated. These consisted, first, in a new distribution of taxes, by which the revenue