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III.

1787.

proposed to take off the third vingtième from the whole lands of the kingdom. Assemblies were to be established in all the provinces, to aid the sovereign in carrying out measures for the public good. There can be no doubt that this great and real reform would at once have relieved the nation from all its embarrassments, without adding to, but on the contrary diminishing, the burdens on the classes who were now most heavily loaded; for the Memoir, in taille in 1786 brought in 91,000,000 francs, (£3,600,000 and not only would the levying it on the estates of the nobility and clergy have doubled its amount, but the general equalisation of the burdens would have raised Necker, sur the revenue at least 125,000,000 francs, or £5,000,000 i. 35. yearly-in other words, extinguished the whole deficit.1*

1 Calonne's

Calonne sur l'Etat

de France, and in Soul.

438, 439;

vi. 120, 121.

les Finances,

72.

tion of the

It may be conceived with what satisfaction this intrepid and equitable proposal was received by Louis, who Convocaburned with anxiety to rectify the finances without Notables is adding to the burdens of the people, and was especially the King. desirous of introducing a just and equal taxation, levied without distinction of rank from his whole subjects. He was not ignorant that so considerable a change would excite dissatisfaction in the privileged classes; but he concurred with Calonne in hoping that the obvious justice of the equal partition of the social burdens would prevail over these discontents, and that the patriotic spirit of the nobles and clergy would induce them to acquiesce without much reluctance in the projected change. The assembly of the Notables, accordingly, was at once agreed to; the

* Well might M. Calonne, in his Memoir, exclaim, in submitting this truly statesman-like project to the King, "What difficulties can for a moment be put in the balance against such advantages? What grounds are there for just opposition? 'We will pay more,' it will be said. Doubtless. But who will do so? Those only who now do not pay enough; they will only pay their just proportion, and no one will be aggrieved. The privileges,' it will be exclaimed, are sacrificed.' Yes, justice demands, necessity requires it. Is it better to abolish unjust distinctions, or impose additional burdens on the unprivileged people? There will be great resistance made,-it is expected: no general good without injuring individual interests which have grown up with existing evil; but the general sense of justice will overcome these selfish complaints." - CALONNE'S Memoir, given in CALONNE sur l'Etat de France, 438, 439. London, 1790.

III.

1787.

form of their convocation was taken from the last occasion on which they had been assembled, in 1626: the number of members fixed was 144, including the princes of the blood, and a fair proportion of the nobles, clergy, magistrates and Tiers Etat, from the whole kingdom.* The ordinance for their convocation was issued on the 29th December 1786; and the period for their assembly fixed for the 22d February 1787. Great expectations were formed both by the cabinet and the country as to the result of this assembly. The former looked to it as the means of thoroughly restoring order to the finances, and re-establishing a good understanding between the monarch and the nation the latter as the first step towards the introduction of a new order of things, and the formation of a representative government.+ Every one congratulated 1 Segur, iii. the monarch on the felicitous step, fraught with such boundless advantages to the sovereign and the state. 123. Hist. Old Marshal Ségur, the minister at war, was of an oppoCalonne's site opinion. "Every mind," said he, "is in fermentaRoi, Dec. tion: the Notables may prove the seed which is to provi. 120, 135. duce the STATES-GENERAL; and if so, who can foretell the result?"1

70. De

Stael, i.

Parl. i. 117.

Mémoire au

1786. Soul.

The more readily to induce the privileged classes to acquiesce in the sacrifices required of them, Calonne adopted the bold and manly course of laying before

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The King announced his intention to his council of convoking "une assemblée composée de personnes de diverses conditions et des plus qualifiées de son état, afin de leur communiquer ses vues pour le soulagement de son peuple, l'ordre des finances, et la réformation de plusieurs abus." On the following day he wrote to Calonne, -"Je n'ai pas dormi de la nuit, mais c'était de plaisir."-See DROZ, Histoire du Règne de Louis XVI., i. 474.

III.

73.

His candid

of the state

finances.

them a full and undisguised statement of the finances, CHAP. not only at that period, but for forty years previously; in the hope that the revelation thus made of the long 1787. existence and unceasing progress of the financial embarrassments, under every change of administration, would exposition demonstrate even to the most inconsiderate, and convince of the even the most selfish, of the necessity of a great change. Without attempting to disguise the magnitude of the present deficit, which he admitted now amounted to 115,000,000 francs (£4,600,000) yearly, he traced back its origin to the accumulating deficiencies of former administrations, and proved, beyond a doubt, that it was to the disastrous system of borrowing, without making any provision for the payment of the interest-the sad result of the extravagance of government, and of the obstinate resistance of the parliaments in former times to register any new taxes-that all the difficulties of the treasury had been owing. According to his statement, the deficit, which began with the expenses of the wars with England of 1739 and 1756, was already 41,500,000 francs (£1,660,000) annually in 1764; in 1781, when Necker rendered his famous compte rendu, which told the flattering tale of a surplus in time of war of 10,000,000 francs (£400,000) yearly, there was in reality a deficit of 56,500,000 francs (£2,260,000 ;) and this deficit had now so increased with the expenses of the three last years of the American contest, and the total want of any provision for the payment of interest, that the deficit for 1786 was 115,000,000 francs, (£4,600,000 ;) and for the current year it could not be estimated at less than 125,087,556 francs, (£5,000,000.) The debt borrowed during the American war, still unprovided for, was no less than 232,000,000 francs, (£9,300,000 ;) the total See Comptes loans, since the accession of Necker in 1776, to the end of Rendus, in 1786, had reached the enormous amount of 1,250,000,000 i. 206, 221; francs, or £50,000,000, being at the rate of £5,000,000 vi. 153, 157. sterling a-year.1 Resting on these appalling facts, he

1

Parl. Hist.

and Soul.

III.

CHAP. called on the nobles and clergy to forego their exclusive privileges, and consent to an equal assessment with the other classes-a step which would at once close the gulf which threatened to swallow up the monarchy.*

1787.

74.

Noble speech of Calonne

to the Notables.

Calonne made a noble speech in introducing this great and just measure to the consideration of the Notables. "I received," said he, "the portfolio of finance in 1783, when the treasury was empty: there remained 220,000,000 francs (£8,800,000) of the expenses of the war with England to pay; 80,000,000 francs (£3,200,000) of floating debt to provide for; 176,000,000 francs (£7,000,000) of debt fixed by anticipation on the revenue of succeeding years, and all this in addition to the regular national debt. Now credit is re-established, money abundant; all arrears are discharged, confidence is restored. My only resources, when the King intrusted me with the direction of the finances, were to be found in credit. To re-establish it all my efforts hitherto have been directed, and you

Calonne gave the following account of the progress of the deficit, from its origin in 1746, to 1787, as taken from the accounts of the different comptrollersgeneral, which I am inclined to think, after much examination of the subject, is very nearly correct, viz.:

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III.

1787.

will see with what success. But credit is dangerous: it CHAP. becomes liable to fatal abuses if not based on solid and regular revenues. I am reproached with undue facility in expenditure. Recollect, gentlemen, the economy of a minister of finance may often be greatest when it shows itself least. Inexorable and decided in matters of real importance, it does not affect austerity where none is required it allows what it gives to be made the subject of remark, and is silent on what it refuses. Because it shows itself accessible to demands, it is not readily credited that it withstands the greater proportion; because it strives to soften the bitterness of a refusal, it gains the character of being able to decline nothing. But it is not by such inconsiderable concessions or refusals that the state is either to be injured or benefited. It is in the abolition of abuses that the only means of providing for our necessities is to be found. The greatest of all abuses would be to attack only those which are of lesser importance-such only as, affecting the weak, may be considered as not likely, if reformed, to produce any material benefit. The

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Deficit,

125,087,556

or

£5,003,500 -See Comptes Rendus, pp. 50, 88, 89, 110, 164, 165, 172, 173, 183, 222, 223; and BUCHEZ and Roux, Histoire Parlementaire de France, i. 205, 220.

The extraordinary fluctuations in the preceding table are owing to two circumstances,-1st, Some of the Comptes Rendus exhibit the gross revenue-in particular, those of Turgot and Calonne; the others the net revenue only: 2d, In Calonne's account, the interest of the public debt (then 190,000,000 francs, or £7,600,000) is stated as part of the public accounts; the others embrace the other branches of the expense only.

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