History of the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1814 / By F.A. Mignet.

  • François Mignet
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1814 / By F.A. Mignet. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    good were impracticable. Turgot dissatisfied tbe courtiers bj his ameliorations, displeased the parliament by the aboli¬ tion of statute labour, wardenships, and internal duties, and alarmed the old minister by the ascendancy which his virtue Igave him over Louis XVI. The prince forsook him, though lat the same time observing that Turgot and himself were the only persons who desired the welfare of the people: so lamentable is the condition of kings! Turgot was succeeded in 1776 in the general control of the finances by Clugny, formerly comptroller of Saint Domingo, who, six months after, was himself succeeded by Necker. Necker was a foreigner, a protestant, a banker, and greater as an administrator than as a statesman; he accordingly con¬ ceived a plan for reforming France, less extensive than that of Turgot, but which he executed with more moderation, and aided by the times. Appointed minister in order to find money for the court, he made use of the wants of the court to procure liberties for the people. He re-established the finances by means of order, and made the provinces contri¬ bute moderately to their administration. His views were wise and just; they consisted in bringing the revenue to a level with the expenditure, by reducing the latter; by employing taxation in ordinary times, and loans when impe¬ rious circumstances rendered it necessary to tax the future as well as the present; by causing the taxes to be assessed by the provincial assemblies, and by instituting the publication of ac¬ counts, in order to facilitate loans. This system was founded on the nature of loans, which, needing credit, require publicity of administration; and on that of taxation, which needing assent, requires also a share in the administration. Whenever there is a deficit and the government makes applications to meet it, if it address itself to lenders, it must produce its ba¬ lance-sheet; if it address itself to the tax-payers, it must give them a share of the power. Thus loans led to the production of accounts, and taxes to the states-general ; the first placing authority under the jurisdiction of opinion, and the second placing it under that of the people. But Necker, though less impatient for reform than Turgot, although he desired to redeem abuses which his predecessor wished to destroy, was not more fortunate than he. His economy displeased the cour¬ tiers; the measures of the provincial assemblies incurred the i
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