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\
I
I
CONSIDERATIONS
ON THE
PRESENT AKD FUTURE
STATE OF FRANCE.
By M. jD £ C A L O N N E,
f
MINISTER OF STATE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.
Stattto ejfe optim} conftitutam Rempublicam^ qure ex trihus generihus illts, Regali, Oftimo, U Populari, confuja modice
Cic. Frag, de Republici, lib. 2,
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. EVANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
M.DCC.XCI.
« '
f-
I
K
PREFACE.
jtV work that treats of all the important tranfaftions of the AiTembly of the Repre* ientatives of the French Nation^ to the be^ ginning of Odtober (1790)^ and which is publKhed by the middle of the fame months feems to merit the cenfure of a too rapid compofition, not digefted with that mature reflexion which a fubjedt of fuch moment re* quires. When a (imilar objedion was Hiade to me, in 1787^ on the precipitation with which certain circumftances unknown tp the public obliged me to draw up the Memoirs which I fucccflively gave in to the Notables^ I anfwered t ** Read, and fee whether what I ofl!er does not bear the marks of great labour^ much reflexion, and many previous refearches/' I may again make the fame reply 1 and I ima- gine it will eaflly be believed that the extraor- dinary revolution which has taken place in my country has interefted me too fcnfiMy for mc not to have read, with the greatefl attention^ every thing thatj^ at the diilance at which I
A 3 am.
t vi 1
zthri'tcniH (xs^^'Ofi* what ' has pftfied with- ill th€ lafl: ferenteen months; nor can it be doubcied but I have carefully confidered the infjportamt queftions which, during that rtime, have been difcuifed, and abruptly determined, in a very furprifing manner. Even though I virere not impelled by a powerful perfonal itiotive tb'take part-iiii levents of which I- ihall, perhaps, be- confidered as the iirft caufe, by having occafioned the eonvoking of National: A flemblies/; fince { Xvas born a Frenchman, they mufl have made on me the ftrongefli impreflion> \:and have occupied -ail my thoughts. The iddas- fuggefted by every new occurrence fell from my pen, at the fame time that' they deeply jaffefted my heart 3 and wJnen, at hA, 1 determijied to publifh them, i^ihad only to colleif): them, and add theob« &rvations I had made on the more recent operations of the AiTcmbly, the ftatements given in by the Committee of Finances, and, particularly, the decrees pafled towards the end of the month of September *•
It
* It may be fcen, by the duplication of a number of pages (in the original), that I have infcrted oblcr- vations on fcveral articles while the work was print- ing. During the fame tiofie another produAion ap-
peared»
^Jt^eafiflot be^faid'ehat I have iMo toftilyr: brbkenT the^len<i4*I had impofed ori myfclfi: firice thd date of • liiy Letter \o the* King;' which ohhappily has -proved but too pro^r phetic. I have kept this filence during ai year and a half; but I confefs thati latterly, fincc the undefinabfc work ealM the Ne^ Con/iitUtion has been, neiirly completed^ arid fincc I have been informed^, a^ the public ha|^ been, that the difcontent and fermentattott' which prevail in every part' of the kiiigdonij increafe from day to day, and* may, every mo^ mcnt, be expe(5ted to-burft forth, and prov duce, by their cxceflive violence, themoftt fatal efedls, — I have believed it highly necef- fary to offer ideas equally diftant from thd two extremes, and fiich as appear to vmc^ adapted to prevent the errors and dangeroiisl
A 4 flrocks*
peiiredy which was attributed to' me. It was entitled Obfervatlons on the FinanccSy addrcjfed to the Affembhy hy M, de Calcmic. I imagine it is hot ncceffary that I fhould declare this papijjiliitt . is not written by. me; the fentiments it contains bear no refemblaDCiS.19 thofe Iprofcii; the plans relative to the firaiices, in like manner, have no conlprmity with mine; and, in every particular, a compari-fon c\ the two works will, I flatter o^yfelf, render my difavowal of tlie fpuriou^ one unncceffary.
(bfi^wbmk 9Ay. t)<p prodii^eii ^ tW>blMi^<r nf^ gi dtfjpii^t:^ad the wv)dcriag8 V'(t^>. public mind, if it be not/ecatled ix> pn^.&QPOi^ point of view, and direded to a rational end.
x^The impulic which I received from thit: cfjafideration became ftill firongert when.f* leaned that^ far from any iatention being en**: t^Xaiaed to reflore to the King and Queen tbat^ liberty of which they had been (hamc^aUtjp deprived during a whole year» it feemed chster^ i|ined to render their fcandalous and too real confinement ftili more ftrid:^. Ought any. pf^fon to be furprifed that I have preferved. ^. inviolable and faithful attachment to that unfortunate Monarch, the vidlim of his ifi« tention to render his people happy, and who, a^s! has but too much reafon to regret, that ' he has been induced to iacrifice me without giving me time to complete an enterprife of which, before it was begun, I had frankly ^d repeatedly declared to him, that its
confequences.
* We kave heard from Paris, that, on a groundlefs rtimour perfidioufly fpread, that their Majefties in- ttlidtd to go to Nofmandy, they were told that they 9i«ft ^\t Su Cloii4^ and come to the capital; to wbiak tjiey aftuaUy returned*
My eyes overflow with tears, as often as | recall to tniitd all that he hit's ^fl^A.Yf)^ that period/ which occafioned a urrilfcrfif'^ change to himi t&d to the whole Idngddn^-^** Oor ferocious and facrilegbuy dema^bj^tildt^ wffl perhaps laugh with an impious dilB^'^ ataientioMAt whicl^ neverthdfefs, FrthcRU^ men always have felt^^and which they ftSI" feel. But aU worthy men will appkud iH' and even though it fhould be getlerally dflP^ approved, death alone (hall extinrgtitlh it W^ mc. •^'-
I do not fear that any one fhould hchikt conclude that I have a mean way of thinking or a pufillanimous heart. I have alws^s^ f^ openly avo\^ed my opinion, I have fo rtSfii^ lutely confronted, when neccflSiry, <be moK £^rmidable obilacles — I have diredly oppofed, on. more than ooii. occaixon, the prevailing opinions, and have fo conflantly perfevered in my principles through my whole life, thft^ { can never be fufpcAed of weaknefs. Even i^oic who boaft • of having -attacked authorif V
C » ]
with vigottfj and fupported the caufe o£ the Nation with hrmncfs, cannot deny that there is more courage in expofing ourfelvea to the animofity of the people, by combating their errors, than in iceking their favour by flatter^i* ing their paflions.
As little can it be imagined that I am ac« tuated by any kind of ambition or avarice^ The experience I have had of great employ* inents has difgufled me with them for ever j and the tranquillity of my retreat is become to me fo precious an enjoyment, that I muft lofe by any exchange. Bcfides, had I con- fulted my pwn intertft, would it not have ad*« vifcd me to renounce fentimcnts that meet with no reward, and embrace thofe which lAight procure me, as they have procured many others, celebrity, popularity, applauies, and by thefe an indemnification for all that I have ibffered ? . Certainly, . confidcring the advantages which I might obtain by joining the party oppofite to that to which I have adhered without hope, and even without any poffibiiity of profit, I muft rather be fup- pofed a dupe, than devoted to my intereft.
Can
[ ^ T
-Cot it them be any peculiar preditedJbflr for dcfpotifn3,i which, has gurded my pin ? t doubt whether any perfon evef cntcrtaifted fucH a predilcdion, whenr he* -could derive from it noiadvantage. And how is it pofiibior to fuppole that, in the afylum which hdA been granted to me by a free People, and in which I am refolved to end my days, I: could form, the wifh to fee my country in flavcry ? Of this I fhall not be fufpe<5ted, when my book has been read throughout,
..... , ,
If it is equally abfurd and improbable to imagine that I iiave been influenced by any of thcfe views, if my condudk announces no unworthy intention, if it is hnpofilble to at- tribute to me any defign at which I may have caufe to biu(h, I ought to be believed when L declaxc, as I do with truth, that the true intercfts of twenty-fix millions of men, who are plunged into wretcheJp.efs, and loyalty to my King, who is perpcta.iily made the ob- 'jt& of infult, arc my Qr*ly motives. Can there be any more powerful ? Knowing, s as I. do, perhaps better than almo(t any other perfon, how to procure and enjoy happineis,, I fl^.ould not rifk the certainty of an eafy and tranquil life, from any other motive than that
which
ft .w ]
wluchyig^||en{;|iHM mind Qz^n^&, th J^ ij^ifff&mgji^ireat gi»diy%Tii this . I isMgbi^ fatter myfelfl Ihould be able to efibd^ if« tyr ji^opoiiDg views worthy . to be adopted' I)jr every rational being, I might be able tb if^TXr der all fenfible people of one opinion^ to bring them back to pradicable ideas, and \o reconcile, as much as may be poiSble, thofe whom the fpirit of party impels to a cont^« j»ual oppoiitioni.
. Yes— could my efforts be as efficaeious ^ my zeal is pure, could my voice be^ hea(4 :by the people amid the clamour^ w^c^ jdifturb their reafon, the wounds of il^>anq» might yet be clofed ; tranquillity might aj^aia be reftored ; and I might one day be enabl^cl to fay, '^ I have contributed to fave iqy country." — For fuch a happincfs, what oi:(g^t we not to rifk !
T Lively^ amiable, and generous Nation, to whom nothing is wanting but a little morp reifexioni how long will you fuffer youtf* ielves to be blinded ? How long will yoii be the fport of an aiTociation of intriguing men, enthuiiafls, and dupes, who ad as if, at the {'time you created them your delegates, you ha^ iaid to them ; ** Go, and overturn every thingji^
^^ make
€€
m
tbe NobUity, the Magiftrac^; and all tiiiS l^oflcffprs of landect proper'tjrj' itfait n^rJtfe •• refpea only the moniid faiiii of fturJii '• and the ftbclc-jobbcrs: as for the reft, de;i: ** fitoy every thing without reffervc; abotldi '* all corporate bodies, and all engagement! ** contraded with them, all compafts id'Sk *' individuals, all charters of • province^ 'j '* complete the ruin of the finances, and loai) *• the land with the weight of an infupport- •* able tax: — ^but, from *the midft of tfaefc ** riUins, let a Conftitution arile> fo'new, that *• it may abfolutcljr rcfcmblc nothing* No •^ doubt, were you to rcfleft on what you have been, and what has been your employe mcnt through life, you could never expe£l: ^^ to become, in an inflant, fupreme legifla^ ^^ tors, univerfal adminidrators, politicians ** fuperior to the experience of all ages^ ^* and all-powerful fovcreigns: but dream ^^ that you are all thefe, and let your drtom ^« prodace a government which fhall have V no e^cample, and can have no imitator/^
€9
'Should fuch an harangue appear the he%lxt of cxtra;vagancq, ought you, my cbuntrymferif^ %o ad as if jrou had held thir language^ ^1^)i^ht^6u tordb^^^ theTcvilfiMkh-niirfl
be
be tb& confcquencc; to peri (h/ rather thaif abandon a chimera ; and fulTcr yourfelved ttf be plunged to the bottom of the gvtlpft which fome heated imaginations have opened beneath your feet? Are you not yet fufffS ciehtly inftrudted, by the ills you feel, to fbre-* fee and prevent the dreadful fate which anarchy prepares . for you ? Mildnefs and fenfibility form your charii(Ser, but at times you are capable of every excels; and now*'^ can no longer recognize yourfelves in the^ ferocious cruelties with which the inftigatortr' of a multitude, fraritic from credulity, hav»^ polluted your future hiftory. Learn,, at*^ length, to know your true interefts; aqcJ" abjure fentiments which are repugnant toj your humanity, which diflionour the French- name, and which, at the lame time, bring ;an you an inexhauftible and ftill cnc^eafing leries-. of calamities. Reairame the manners vvhich- gave an irrefiftible chirm to a rclideace among you; reaflume your ancient and^ ho- nourable loyalty to your Kings ; regain tjiofe*, ferene and tranquil days which you enjoyed jf and regret not the advantages with whicb your eyes have been dazzled ; fince it is cer- tain that all of them which arc real may he obtained without violence, . without difturb-,
â– â– '. ance,.*
tnc^ without a univerfal fubverfion,* and'thatf wety thing more is only illuiion and deceit*
How fatal is the art of deceiving the people! And what an execrable ufe has been made of it, within 9 year paft, by the difturbers of France |
They have firft deranged all underftand- ings, by the idea of an abfolutc equality among all men, which has produced a general frenzy. When the Aflembly m^de a law of this philofophical chimera, had it not reafon to reproach itfelf with having given into the hands of the people the dangerous cup of an inflammatory potion, the abufe of which it might have forefeen ?
What vile means have afterwards been employed to nouri(h and increafe the popu- lar ferment !
The fear of a dearth, fometimes really to be apprehended, and fometimes fadUtious, has been made ufe of to excite at pleafure alarm and defpair*
By incefEintly prefenting to the multi-* tade . portraits of Dcfpotifm, exaggerated ii^ themfelves, and inapplicable to the prefent
reign.
idgn« the pifiiue^ much more iBtcrcftiqy <hem^ of their prefeiit fituttion» and the ter^ rible^confequences of anarchyt ha$ been coa* ccaled from thek view.
To irritate the people agabft thofe wiiofe â–¼eiy luxuries gave them bread, and to divert their attention from the fatal blow which thft emigration of perfons of property gives to the principles of their fubfiftence, they are coii<-i ^bually amu^ with tale3 of imaginary cqiip* piracies, attributed to the firft Orders of ths State $ they are made to view as fo many op* preflbrs eager for their ruin, the Princes aoil Nobles of the kingdom, the Miaifters of ikc Church, the Magiftrates, and, in fine^ all thofe who, continuing ftill attached to the King, are diftinguiihed by the name of jdrtf- i$cratsi and the abfurdity of calumny has even proceeded fo far as to impute to them the crimet which have been committed againft them.
This / unhappy people, delighted iqcef* fantly to hear fpeak of their rights, their ibvereignty, the trophies of their regained li- berty, ftyle thofe who fport with dieir cr&* dulity, their defenders; give more attention to their inagnificent promiies than to their own daily fufierings ; and eafily permit themfdvet to be perfiiaded that^ in a hHk time, ibey
will
.. t xvii ]
will fee their misfortunes converted into iri* -finite benefits^ and the public profjperity fhine forth refplcndcnt from the ruins of thft Monarchy.
They have been made to believe that, to render permanent the reign of liberty, it has been neceffary to ejlabliih the reign of the Inquifition ; that the decree which enadls, that every citizen may J peak ^ 'write ^ and prints freely^ ought not to Ihelter from the iroft vexatious profecutions any one who fliall aft, fpeak, or write, contrary, to the f;^ntiments of the party of the demagogues ; that the free communication of thoughts ought not to pre- vent the fccrccy of private correfpondencc being violated more than ever ; and that it is in order to fecure to Frenchmen the enjoy- ment of their liberty, that the arbitrary crime of tf-eafon againjl the nati:,n has been in- vented, a Committee created to make re- fearchcs concerning it, and a Com miili on* ap- pointed to try thofe who are accufed of it.
It is while Liberty has been the inceflant theme, that we have Ipen revived, in our time, ilic profcriptions of Marius and Syila, the fc- cret informations of the Neros and Tiberiusc^, and the abominations of the moil barbarous ages ! h is for the fake of Libor^ tlm the
a King
[ xviii ]
. JCing ftpd Queen, torn from their palace over fj^a bleeding bodies of their guards, maiia- cred before their eyes, have been retained prifoners in their capital ; it is for the lake of . Liberty that the greater numberof the Princca of the blood royal, the moft illuftrious fami- lies of the kingdom, and more than two hun- dren thoufand citizens, have been compelled to fly their country ! In fine, innumerable affaffinations, committed with impunity, dc- vaftations continually repeated from one end of the kingdom to the other, the perpettial . terror which the licentioufnefs of unreftraioed .^ plunderings infpire, and all the excefles which
^popular tyranny produces, thefc are the fi'rft
i ,1
- fruits, thefe are the bulwarks of that he\v- :, bpm Liberty which intoxicates to a degreq of . madnefs the whole Nation*
Have not the high-founding words Li-
: BERTY, Patriotism, the Good of, the
I.
-Nation, ferved for a pretext and veil for
-. the moft atrocious crimes ? Continually in-
!fcribed, in large charaders^ on the ftandjirds
of the moft feditious revolutions, they fafci*
nate for a time, the eyes of the n>ult^tM^C|
. but quickly Mriibry, whidh ftalk«^ J^lynd
^^ them, .breaks .the incantat jon« To the. c%rm
which the people cpoamonly find in the firft
moments
tnomcrtts of cohfufion^ fucceeds the bitter re^ turn of reflexion ; and ttie cniettiefi wliich an . ardent delirium had catifed theni to commit^ arc followed by the fhudderings of hoi^ror^ and the (lings of fhame and remorfe. The authors of the commotion, who know what they would have to fear from the fame muU titude, fhould they once fuffer them to coolj think difpaflionately, and look around them, ufe all their endeavours to irritate them to rage, and prevent them from difcerning the truth, ibmetimes by pretending the difcovery of a new plot for a counter-revolution^ and fometimes by imputing to the neceflity ofa total regeneration the various ads of cruelty which they ftyle political misfortunes^ and which they dare to excufe by coolly afking^ Whether the quantity of blood which it has been necejfary tojhed^ equals the meafure of the ad^^ vantages which may be expe£led?
How atrocious is fuch a queftion ! I have anfwercd it in this work. It is time, it is more than time, to undeceive the people. I will demonftrate to them that the future evils tvhich await them are ftill more dreadful than the prefent} I will Ihew them tbat^the Cohflitation they are promiied is contracy to ibdf'vtlt^, to ifaeir inteiti^ lio foaiipo,.and
C ^ 3
that it is bcfidcs a chimera whicE cantiot be reduced to pradice. I fhall not find it diffi- cult to pf&vc that it is impoflible Frenclimen ihould become more happy, by being without a king and without a government. I will point out the heavy incrcafe of taxes which a perfeverance in the fyftem hitherto followed muft inevitably occafion ; and, laftly, I will demonftrate, fo clearly as to compel aflcnt, that the entire diffolution of the monarchy is the confequence of all that has been donc> and that, unlefs order be fpeedily rcftored, the total ruin of the kingdom muft enfue.
But I fhall not merely exhibit this terrify- ing pidlure; nor {hall I conclude from it, that the evil will admit of no remedy, or that the remedy muft be as violent as the evil. I. hope to prove that it is only neceflary to take the courfe prefcribed by law and reafon, to. find again the way to happinefsj and that^ by removing every thing that is equally in- jurious and vicious, and carying into execu-* tion the Inftrudtions of the eleiUve affemblies to their conftitucnts, conformably to the in^ . tention of the King, we may preferve all the real advantages which the people can derive from the.Revulution.
Such is the defigia of this work. ' TABLE
ft
T A B L.Ji
O F
C^ O N T E N T S.
.*
r
JliiorirES' and defign of the fFork
Evils produced by the ARs of tBe Ajfcmbly • . 4
Still greater evils inevitable^ if the fre/ent Jyftem be continued - - - 8
Effential vices of this fyfiem in its principal faints.
ift. THE FINANCES - - c+
^Compnrifon of the old Vefciency as it was befdrc the" meeting of the AJfemhlyy and the new Deficiency^ fuch as it has fince become 40
J^iminution of the public revenue - . - 43 â– In creaje of the Expenditure - - - ^7,-. Amount of the CEcononiical ReduSlions - - 56S
Recapitulation, fijewing that the deficiency vohich, eighteen months Jince^ amounted only to fipy-ftx millions of livres^ at pre- ^ »Jent amounts to two hundred and fifty -five
million • - ♦• * 6a
// would even amount to two hundred and .
ninety millions ^ if xv add to it 'u;hut>it wil( .
be necejfary to apply ^ during twenty years,
to the reimhurfhments at fated periids - 64.
Proof tbaty within the three lafi years, /even hundred and eighty -five millions have been borrowed - - - - 71
a 3 And
^d that the national debt has increajed hy twelv0 hundred and fifty 'five ffiillions - 8^-
Impiiffitility of retrieving the ndnous ft ate i 4>f the finances^ either by the (reation of ^ qfignats^ by the /ale of the f roper fy^ of the Clergy y or a general new-modelling of j the contributions.
\ Di/fertation on the aJSgnat-wumey - -r ^4
Conjiderations on the property of the Qergy iC3t
Examhual<m. of what may be produced by .
the new-modelling of the contributions -
ExceJJiye incredfe of taxes that will be He^ * cejfary - - . ^ . ^47
Couclufion, that the r^pration of the finances ''^'^
muft be impqffible on thefyftem of the AT-' ^ v**^\
femhly^ which is equally indefenftble undelt /-
. every paint pf view - - t i5Q
2d. THE Constitutional degree^
FiksT CtAss.
t
Decrees Tekrive to Objefts not determined m
the Instructions. s, j
The permanence of the National JJfemhly - ?5i The eftablifhment of Martial Law r ^SS
The inftifution of Juries ., -- T '5^
The reduSlion of the nsmber .e^Bift)Oprics^C and the eleSions of Bifhops^^ Cur^Us^,^c.,^ ^^ by the people - -^ ,!., -.' 'i(|i
~ * â– . â– J i
\- >.
Second
[ xxiu 1 S£coND Class.
Decrees coktrary to the iNSTRvcxio^
moft cflcntial obje^
jTRVctio^s bqinq jecU. . j
' On the form of Government - * 1 64J
On the lihertj of individuals - - ibid.^
On property - - - • ibid«
On the adminiftration of Jujiice - « ii^kl;
■-• • i
On the Form of Government^
Sl^e natmal will exprejfed in all the In^ ^ -ftruSiions for the maintenance of the Mo* narchical Government - - 1 64
JnfraSlim of that will hy the decrees of the JSemhly^
ift. With refpeft to the Royal Sanction 168
''Unanimity of the InflruSions on the ne- ieffity of the concurrence of the King t^ the legtjlative a£ls - - - 169
^he AJfembly had not the fower to annul
tthis concurrence and reduce the Monarch to the illufion of afufpenfive limited veto 172 Refutation of all that has beenfaid infup- ^ port of this ytio - - - ^75
. Proof that the quejtion has been ilUunder^ flood - - -» - 181
Demonflration that the Monarch is necejffkrify an integral part of th^ legiflatiou - - 183
Connexion of this principle Vfith pultli^- \ liberty • - - -^ - i^7
a 4 ContradiSlion
.!â–º .
I ContradiStion between the decrees wbUb in^ am that there jhall be v.q law without the conjent of the Khigy and tbofe which deftroy the freedom of this conjent ^ and render it urine cejfary - - -19a
ad,^ With rcfpeft to Orders and Ii^itermediate
Ranks.
(^ki p^ffervation of the Orders willed by
the Injlrudtions - - . 20Q
I Ihw much their Jupprejfion is contrary to
the cofifHtution of a limited monarchy - 206 \
How rauch it is contrary ^ likcwije^ to the . ( L ejfence of national reprejsntatioH - - 213.
3d, With rcfpeft to the Rtcht of making
War and Peace - - 215
''The Decrees which have deprived the King
of this right y contrary to tie hjl melons ibid. â–
Contrary ctlfo tc the principles laid dovon ly the /i^erMy - -. . 2^7
^ Contrary to themjelves^ and incoherent - 220 â–
Refutation of il e moti'ves cli edged for thefe
decrees - - - - 237 j
Juft remarks of thofe who have ccnibated them - - * - - ibid*
On Liberty - - 248
{Enumeration af the decrees defiru5live- of Liberty - - - - 249
Pr<)ofs that it nozu no where exifls - - 259
â– V
. r'.
• *-. t " ■»* • I "W • 'â–
f
On Property. -.. -r .a6a!
<\
{ . 1 -.
[ 7*i&^ AJembly has aSted equally contrary to ^ its own decreesy and to the mandates of its conJlitucntSy in all its attacks on pro^ ferty ' - - - - 265
Violation of the property of the provinces 266
Violation of the property of the Clergy - ayo .
I Violation of the property of the Nobility - 274 .
^EJpecially by the decrees which enaS the
abolition of Nobility itfelf - - 285
That thefe decrees are contrary to the will of the Nation ' - - - 287
nat they are equally fo to its inter efts - 29d
T^hat they are impoffible to be executed - 296
That they annihilate the monarchical go- L vemment - - - - 299
Violation of the property of the Magijiracy 305 '
Violation of the property of citizens of every clafs - - - - jc^
{Difcufjion on penjions - - - 310
Refutation of the falfe ajfertions of M. Camus - - - • 3^7
Details and calculations proving that the penjions and pecuniary favours which it was fuppofed amounted to eighty mil- lions of livres did not exceed thirty-two /L tnillions - . ^ - 34. j
On
C xna, J
On the Administration of Justice,. .
Plf^Jb rftbe InfiruElims ftt the maintena$U€ ^ of JovcrtigM Courts^ with Jome r^orptfi^ .^ , , ; tions • - - - 34$ i
^he fuppreffion of all Bodies ofMagiJIracy
injurious tojujiice^ to tk^fublicfafety^ avid \
to national liberty - - - • 35^
Cmmitttes of Ref torch y and entraerdinary attributions, incompatible with the regU" latious recommended by the Injiru&ions - 35^
-^ The iifJJtf4tioM of Juries imfroferly extended
^ to military offences - - - ,36^
The injlitution of Jufiices of the Peace dif- j tor ted from its true nature - - j^'
The decrees of the AJfembly principally con- trary to the Inftru£iions relative to
The nomination of Judges - - j5^ The independence of their func- tions y and their fecurity from removal from their offices - 2^ The final refult a general diforganifation, in- .. j ftead of a wife ccnjlitulion, fuch as had i been required and traced out by the In- i flruSlions ----- 37I
The Great ^efiion^ whether the Affembly had a right to arrogate to itjelf the power , ' of ailing contrary to the InfiruSionSy and ejiabliffoifig a new form of government^ by affuming the title of a National Con- vention - - - - 37S
Examination of this in^portant Question .374
r/» what manner y and at what timey the AJ-
IJembly pretended to be transformed into d National Convention - • -: , 378
yftcms
[ xtn\ J
Syjfm^ of the Abhi Sieves and the 'CMnt it^ ' MiraieM, m^ tbisjMjjea - - 38?
ViSloriaks Rifut4ticn of the Abbe Maury 385/
Mifapplicatim of the Engliih and Scottiih i
"Conventions • « ^ 385^
sConfufion of ideas ^ dndfophiftnsj employed to prove that the AJfembly is a conftitucnt power, inftead of a conftituted power ^^y^
^ Ufurpdtion of the right inalienable from the
Nation - - - 3944
^Falfe fuppofition of a tacit confent on the part of the Nation - - "399
Xbat the fovereignty of the Nation can never be reprefented - - - - 40*
Abufe of the word Regeneration, to, dutho^ rife a total deftruSion of every thing - 404
< Refutation of the principal objeltionj founded on the idea that the A£emh}y was op-- pointed by the Nation to give it a conjti- tution - - - - 40^
Explanation of the differences which really exijl between the firji /iffembly^ commif'-
. Jioned to draw up the conftituticnal code, and the Jucceeding Affemblies which are to be called L.egiflaturcs - - 408
EffeSs of this difference with refpeSl to the ftability of the conjiitut tonal decrees ; and the connexion of the neceffty of rendering them invariable, wit^the necejjity of their ratification by the whole Nation - 411
Anfwer to the affertion that the Municipal concurrences^ the civic oath, and the aBs of federation^ are e^ivalent to a national ratijication • - ^ .. - 413.
Another
[ xxviii ]
1
\
Another mode the o>jlv Ugitimaie cm in which the Nation can make bicwn its "* will rehtive to the New Ccnftitut.on r .4x6
^^e ajfemblies of departments improper to ' Jupply the place of this mode - - 41 8'
Important Observations on the Elec- toral Assemblies - - 42Z
^Formation of theje Afeniblies according to
\ the Decreet - - - - 4^3
Recapitulation of the number of citizens who, according to the new Ccnjiitution, wiilpar- ticipate in the adminifir ative funSions - 425
Monjirous Organ j/at ion, which is the re- fult i and the danger of fill adding to it eighty-three affembhrs virtually conti- nual^ compofed of fix hundred perfcns each, ^ forming a total of fifty thcufand eleSlors exerc'ffvig the firfl juntlion (f iovereigntyy by the nomination of all the delegates atid principal agents - - - - ibid.
Rc:apitulation of the reafons which prove that all the regulations wh^ch hcve been di.'cttjfedy evidently tend to the jubverfton of >
monarchy ; that they fulftitutt nothing in its place that can be called government \ and that they exhibit only a confujon ofpo^jcevs ard principles^ dljordtr. ajou't\e of xntefline dlf^rrfiohs^ anarchy, and clacs - - 43 J
^hat the delirium of the authors of this f^n-- tajlic â– compound y which has been called a Roy.il Dc:nocrary, becauje no reafonable derdor/i'nat'on (mid be difcovered for ity has even inipelkd them to wijh to extejid and
â– â– '^ propogate
[ : xxix ]
propagate their anti-monarchical fanatici/m, throughout • all Europe ; that they menace all crozvjiSy conjpire a^alnft alljovereigns^ and attack the tranjuill'ty of every country 439
Statement of what is to Et desired 440
The accomplifhment of the national wifhy by the fulfilment of the InfiruSlioHs :
Which confijis in,
Maintaining the regulations conform-^ able, to, them y
\
44+
Revifmg thoje which are additional and
foreign j Annulling all thcfe ^ivhich are contra-
di£fory to them, relative to the Con-
Jlitution
Statement^ fhewing at one view^ what the In-- firu^ions have recommended^ and what the • AJfembly has decreed - - - 445
Melancholy contrafi of the good which might have been produced by fulftUing the Injiruc- iionsy and the evil which has cnjuedfrom a^.ling contrary to them - - - 459
That the only alleviation of the regret we muflfeel arifesfrom the nbfolutc impoffihilliy that theprefent ^tate of things foould Jubfift^ and the hope that we may yet rcftore that ubicb ought to have been eJlabUjhcd - 460
Lijignifcance of the cii-ic oath proved by a critical examination of the tcrins in -vshicb it is exprejjed, and en c^cplanafion if the cnly Jenfe it can bear to b^ cbli^atofy^ u}:d capa- ble of bein^ performed - - - 46^
JVbat
[ «x ]
ff^ha(<:-:&i^t to he underfiood ly $be ^M^^^^.^ Cauntcfrrevolution, when applied to W0f^ ^Z" *" is l^lhfr<^o/U - - - ."r,,*'476
CONCLUSION.
>♦
ConduB to be bdd nlative to the three Jorta^ *- of decrees - - - ^ •-v?479
{PVbich are tbcje that Jhould be maintainiil^ Which thoje that Jhould be revijed. Which tboje that jhould be annulled.
That it is to be wifhed that the AJfembly would obey the natioyial remonftrance^ exprejfed by the proteftations of the different Bodies^ and ' individual declarations - - - 482
Should the contrary be the cafe, what meafures will be indifpenfably neceffary to prevent the ruin of the State ^ fecure the public li- berty^ and reftore to the people tranjusUityy Jubjiflence^ and happinefs - - - 48 j
What may be expeSed from a Prince whoy far from wijhing to opprefsy only deftres tojuc^ cour^ his country - . - 484
^at the charge of engaging in a plot can only
fall on thofe whojBall oppofe the attempt to
reftore the Nation to its rights y and lift en to
its remcnftrance on what has been done con-
trary to its will - - - -485
^hat thofe alone will be refponfiblefory and guilty ofy all oBs of violenccy which can only enjue in conjequence of the violence they Jhall them/elves commit. - - 486
Thai
.â– ^^
[ ^ xxxi ]
^pim wijhins'h Htkhidttr
a cMtvan 7Mf, W the' ctirtiitrj/, vi-MC ardently dtfirous to frevi^t otie, ^'injtfkff* ing the whole Nation in its true interefts ; that eatery ^ti citizen aufht to ex$rt bis at- mo} efforts to effe£t this j and that there are times when inaSim, according to the law of Solon, brands us with tbeJligmat/iB' fat^. - - ,. - 488—490
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I
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T rr- :
CONSIDERATIONS
ON THE
Present and future
STATE OF FRANCE.
^M
E
VER fince that memorable day on which the Aflembly convened to reftore life and vi* gour to the kingdom of France met for the firft time, I have attentively followed its deliberatiooSy and never ceafed to accompany them with my fincereil wiflies for their fuccefsj until it became impoffible for me to hope that they could ter- minate in any real good. I was alarmed t^en I perceived that, inftcad of labouring to reform and perfed, the Reprefentatives of the Nation imagined they were appointed to deftroy and new create every thing, that they overturned the edi- fice, the foundation of which it was their duty to ftrengthen ; and that, when ddegated only to am-
B puute
i a ]
putatc the corrupted parts, they hewed in piecM the whole body. I faid to myfelf : Is it pollible that men fhould be found fo (imple, and fo ralh, as entirely to overturn a conftitution under which an empire has grown old with glory ? Can they be fo little verfed in political fcience, as not to know that governments are formed and completed hy time, but that they cannot be created at once }
Could I afterwards refrain from feeling that in- dignation which has increafed from day to day in proportion as the progrefs of this deftrudtivc mania has fhewn, that what ought to eQe£fc the happinefs of my country has become the caufe of its ruin; that a door has been opened to every crime and every mifchief ; that thoufands of citi- zens have been opprcfled, without procuring r^icf to the people ; and that the benefaftions of the King, turned againft himfelf, have only been re- paid by fuch an excefs of ingratitude, that he has at length been ignominioufly deprived of his crown ?
Long have I endeavoured to perfuade myfelf that thofe who have lufFered the impetuofity of their ardent enthufiafm for liberty to hurry them beyond their aim, would foon fee the neceflity of meafuring back the fteps they had taken, as the lion returns on his prey, which he always overleaps at the firft bound. But fince a violence which fpums at all reftraint has fucceffively thrown down every boundary, and proceeded to the laft extra- vagance
f 3 ]
Vagailce of a fyftem too eflcntially vicioUs to adinit a hope of any amendment, I have felt, in the moft forcible manner, the neceflity of a fpeedy remedy j 1 have fought to difcover that which woiild 6cca- fion the leaft convulfion ; and the fame fentimcnc which has impelled me to fcek it, has impofed it on me as a duty to communicate my ideas; I do not difguife to myfelf either the danger of the un* dcrtaking, or the improbability of its fuccefs ; but when our country is on the brink of ruin, it is in- cumbent on each of us to endeavour at leaft to render her every fervice of which he is capable i and at fuch a time, all the prudence of fear, an^ all the modefty of felf-love, ought to give way to the obligation we are under to do every thing in our power that may poffibly be attended with utility*
I will fay, then, that the horror of what is paft^ the certainty of what is to be forefeen^ and a care- ful enquiry of what is to be wiflied, have led me to believe that the 6nly means to confirm by refti- fyirig the Revolution, confifts in carrying into execution the national Inftrudions *, by whicli the Affembly ought to have been guided* I will affirm, that by this alone we (hall be able, without riolencCj to render to the State its true confiftency, to the King all that appertains to him, and to the people all they have a right to expeft.
B 2 You
m -
• Cabieri*
t 4 1
You who no longer recognize our uvhzppf country, bleeding and disfigured as fhe appears, yet who ftill love her in remenibrance, and fed equal grief and regret when you recoiled what ihc was, and what ihe might have become, you will not refufe to me your attention -, and you whom a too fatal error has led aftray, you who have brought ruin on the kingdom, while you imagined that you were regenerating it ; you alio who have been terrified by phantoms, or feduced by illufions, raife for a moment the bandage which has been placed before your eyes, and read without prtju* dice« Let that artful villainy which has worked the public mifery for its own execrable profit, rage againft my book; let blind fanaticifm furioufly rend it in pieces — it is what I expeft, and will give me no difturbance. I reft my defence with thofe who are ftill able to liften to the voice of rta« fon and humanity.
Whatever opinion men may have embraced, or to whatever party they may be attached, there is one point of faft on which the whole world muft unhappily agree; which is, that the ftate of France at the prefent moment is inexpreffibly deplorable^ and fuch as no good and benevolent mind can view without fhuddering. In vain may it be end'^a-* voured to turn our eyes from it, and fafcinate our imaginations with fplendid promifes ; the utmoft art of the orator, and the empty found of empha- tical words, can never efface the dreadful image
of
[ 5 3
of the fccne we behold, nor ftifle the fentiment we cannot but feel. The King detained captive by his fubjedb, the kingdom a prey to rapine, the power of the nation annihilated, juftice mute and trembling, the moft atrocious crimes unpuniflicd, and, what is the height of abomination, innocence judibially punilhed — thefe are fafts the impreffion of which has been too profound for it to be pof- fible to diminifh the horror they infpire. Is* it not notorious that, in thefe difaftrous days, which fome have dared to ftylc the aurora of profperity, there are no longer any rights which are refpefted, ancient maxims which are not contemned, engage- ments which are not broken, property which has not been invaded, or duties which have not been trampled under foot ? And while our modern le- giflators ftalk with ah air of dignity over ruins which they confider as trophies, while their fana- tic adherents and interefted agents coalefce, and congratulate, and mutually eleftrify each other, what a fpeftacle does France, cruftied beneath her own ruins, prefcnt to the reft of the world ! On every fide nothing is to be feen but maffacres, conflagrations, and riotous multitudes, which aft the moft barbarous fcenes^ ctery where reign gloomy terror, inhuman difcord, and the blackeft diftruft : calumnious accufations, which a falfe zeal encourages, are fufpended over every head j and fpies, in the pay of Intrigue, furround all the citizens, not one of whom is now fecurc of hi^ pofleiBons, his life, or his honour^
B 3 Such
C ^ 3
Such have hitherto been the fruits of the Revo^ ludon, fuch are the vifible cSc&s of tliat regenera^ tion, fo pompoufly announced^ and the objeA of which has been fo ill fulfilled. Paths themoft oppofite to thofe which had been pointed out^ have been followed. A rational liberty was to have been eftablifhed — the mod unbridled licentiotxfiiefs has been introduced ; property was to have been prote£i:cd-r— every kind of it has been violated ;'- the different powers were to have been limited«*-<hcy have all been confounded; the ruinous date of the finances was to have been remedied— it has beeome (till niore defperate. Inftead of providing for the annual deficiency, it has been immenfcly in- creafed ; inftead of preferving the engagenlcnts of the State inviolable, a greater failure in them all than v^'as ever before known has been fuffered ; ia^- ftead of rendering more fruitful the fources of public wealth, they have all been dried up. To the falutary ufe of a prudently managed credit, the tranfiently beneficial, but laftingly dangerous, ex- pedient of a forced paper-money has been pre- ferred. Great facrifices freely offered by the Clergy prefented a powerful refource : — it has been rather chofcn to obtain lefs, by unjuftly plundering them of their property. The Nobility had confented to the abolition of their pecuniary privileges: — Nobi* lity itfelf has been abolifhed. Laftly, the relief of the people was the principal, or to fpeak more pro- perly, the only objedt of the convocation of the Affcmbly ; and fiqcc the reign of that AfTemWy, the
wretchednefs ,
C 7 ]
wretchednefs of the people has only been increafed, the means of their fubfiftence have been dinriinifhed, and a fuccelfion of ill-concerted meafures have pre- pared for them an increafe of burdens which can no longer be avoided.
Have I been guilty of any exaggeration ? How much, on the contrary, might I not yet heighten this gloomy pifture, were I only to re- trace what is univerfally known and felt! All muft have obferved that the vain endeavour to realize the impradicable theory of the primitive rights of man, has fapped the foundations of focietyj that the fame fyftem which has levelled all ranks, has fevered all the bands of fubordi nation, diiTolved all the elements of public authority, and deprived the State of all its fupports. Religion, which fhould have been its principal bulwark, is at- tacked in its minifters, and Ihaken in its founda- tions. The Order of Nobility, whpfe valpur has at all times fo well fcrved its King and Couptry, can only oppofe its deftruftion by its defpair. The Magiftracy, which has fo often defended the rights of the nation, is annihilated. The Army, cor- rupted by money, and enfeebled by deferpon, re- fufes to acknowledge its chiefs. There no longer cxifts in the kingdom eidier credit, or circulation, or even the appearance of fpccie. Cpmmcrcc and induftry are ftruck with a mortal jnaftivity. The capital, a refidence in which is become as dan- gerous as it was formerly attradive, has fe^p, in lefs
B 4 than
C 8 ]
than a year, all its fplcndor changed into wrctch- cdncfs, its population diminiftied by one thirdy and the third of what remains reduced to aflc alois* The provinces have loft both the refources by which they were invigorated, and the rights which were fecured to them by folemn capitulations. With regard to other countries, that rcfpeft which France had fo long enjoyed has vanilhtd in an in- ftant, her political exiftence has fuddenly diiap- peared ; and, as one of the fineft geniuses of l^g- land has faid, the place which our monarchy occupied in the map is now only one vaft void.
That this is the prefent difaftrous fittfotion of France, is univerfally acknowledged; and the defire of a change muft be, and is, no lefs general. Every one laments the prefent ftate of the country, and every one looks forward with the hope of a happier futurity ; — the only difFercrice is that fome expedk this from the completion of the meafures of the Aflembly, and perfuade themfelves that they will caufe a durable profperity to fucceed a momentary crifis; while others can only fee, jn the future efFedts of the now doftrines, a continually increa* fing progreffion of diforders, and an endlefs multi- plication of the evils which are the confequence of anarchy. The foriner fay that no revolution can be effeftcd without difturbance, ^s there can be no ftrong ebullition without fcum, nor remelting of metals without drofs j but as the pureft cryftalli^ fttipns are pbtiained frqm the ftrongeft fermenta- tions^
[ 9 ]
tions, the violence of the prcfcnt ftorm promifes to France fcrenc and happy days* The latter main- tain, on the contrary, that a pcrfeverancc in perni- cious principles can only aggravate their fatal con- fequences i that what is radically vicious, cannot be reftified by time ; that a general diflblution of all the parts of the body politic cannot produce its renovation ; and that, if we may be permitted to hope that a bad goverment may be reformed, wc can by no means expeft any good to refult from a total annihilation of government.
To decide between thefe two opinions, and form a true judgement of the future, we muft examine what may be expeftcd from the prefent Aflembly, what may be hoped from the Aflemblics which (hall fuccecd it, and what will follow from firmly efta- blifhing and executing all the decrees on which what is called the Conllitution is founded.
It is in the firft place evident that the prefent Affembly is not inclined in the leaft to deviate fixMTi the plan which it has traced out to itfelf, nor to recede a fingle ftep ; fince, far from tcftifying the fnruUcft regret at having carried all its mea - fures to the extreme, it has continually proceeded to greater cxceffes : and the laft term, in a progref- fion of extravagance, can never be a return to mo- deration. Immerfed in its fyftems, the Affembly neither wifties, nor has it in its power, to change them i its own condu6t obliges it to maintain them
to
[ 10 ]
to the laft, and they are even eflentlal to its exif- tence ; for, compofed and guided as it is, it muft neceflarily do what it has done, nor was it poffiblc to expeft that it fhould aft otherwife. Perhaps, alfo, thofe who direft its operations believe their own perfonal fecurity depends on the entire ruin of the State, the deftlny of which fccms to be aban- doned to their will.
Nor can we hope for any thing better from fu^ ture Aflemblics : the prefent has even taken care to remove every doubt on this head, by arrogating to itfelf, cxclufively of every other, the conftituent power, in fuch a manner, that the Aflemblies which may come after it, under the title of LegiJlatureSy ftiall not be permitted either to change or correft any thing it may have enafted refpefting the con- ftitijtion. We muft not be aftoniflied that thofe who have imagined they might inveft themfelves with the right of creating a government, will not admit that this right can be communicable. It is indeed certain that there woyld be no Conftitution, if it were fubjeft to continual changes. But is it impoflible to reconcile the neceflity of preferving the Conftitution from a fatal inftability, with the unalienable rights of the Nation, which do not per- mit that one Aflembly of its reprefei^tative^ fhould limit the powers which it may judge proper to de- legate to fucceeding Aflemblics ? This queftion I propofe to examine here^t^r, and to fhew that the
fundamental
fundamental laws of the State may be rendered in* variable, without thofe who are appointed to draw up the code of them affuming to themfelves in- fallibility. At prefent I only mention this their high claim, to prove that, according to the prin- ciples of the Affembly, however vicious its confli- tutional decrees may be, they cannot be amended by the fuccceding Legiflatures ; its oracles arc irrevocable.
We may here remark the progrefs of the fuccef- five ufurpations of our Reprefentatives. They took their feats under the name of Deputies from the AJfemblies of the Bailliages to the States General : foon after, they thought proper to affume the title ^ilJational AJfemhly \ and next called themfelves cxclufive depofitaries of the conftituent power. Froqi their primitive function of Reformers of ahufeSy they have raifed themfelves to that of Regenerators of the State^ and afterwards to that of Sovereign Legiflators without any co-operation whatever. Not contented with th^fe tides and prerogatives, they have alfo ftized on thofe of the executive J adminifirativey and judiciary powers^ and have covered all thefe ufurpations by that ««//- mited authority which it is alledged appertains to a National Convention. Their political intolerance has alfo been in like manner progreffive. To entertain a different opinion from theirs, at firft only expofed the perfon who avowed it, to be ca-
lumniatedy
C " ]
lumniated, reviled, and hooted i at prefent wcmuft admire them, and think as they do, under pain of death. Since they have declared that the re- volmion is finilhed, to teftify any difapprobation of it, or even not to be enchanted with it, is a treafon againft the State, and <ihe gibbet is not thought too rigorous a puniihment to expiate (o black a crime. They have gone ftill farther, by depriving us of all hope of change, and not per- mitting us to believe that their fucceflbrs may think differently from themfclves. It is no longer Aifficient to have engaged by the dvic oath to maintain the Conftitution j we muft vow to God and man to maintain it unaltered, fuch as it {hall proceed from their all-powerful hands. We muft fubmit to death, or fwear eternally to revere this unBniihed, indefinable Conflitution, though no perfon can boaft that he has an accurate idea of what it is.
The principle of our evils is then incurable in the fyftem of thofe by whom they have been caufed 5 and there is no amendment to be hoped^ cither from the Legiflatttres by which the AfTcm- bly called National Ihall, when it feems good unto it, caufe itfelf to be fucceedcd, or from its own repentance. After it fhall have completed the voluminous colleftion of its conftitutional de- crees, future AflTemblies will not have it in their power to make any alteration in them s or, fhould
thev
i 13 1
they be able, conftitutcd as they muft be ♦, they Mriil not wilh it; Qr> ihould diey wilh itj they will not dare to do it.
_ «
Let no one therefore attempt to lull us to an iniendbility of our prefent evils, by flattering us with the hope of a happier futurity. The prefent ftateof our affairs is dreadful— it cannot be denied; and the oonfequences that muft follow, unlefs a change of mcafures take place, muft be ftill n[K)re fatal. This we too evidently forefee ; for events are arrived at fuch a degree of maturity, that we may diftin£Uy read in them all the michiefs that muft enfue in fucccflion. They are infeparablc from a Conftitution erefted on ruinous foundations, incoherent in all its parts, and imprafticable in execution. Thus, in proportion as I fhall de- monftrate, in the courfe of this work, the eflential defeds of the Conftitution decreed by the AfTcmbly, the terrifying perfpeftive of its confequenccswill riie to view; but, before I proceed to this inveftigation, I fhall firft only confider the order of fa6b, and the connexion of what has happened with what muft inevitably follow.
Nine months have already elapfed fince the AfTembly folemnly* propofed and required the
whole
• From the compofition of the affemblics of dealers, we may judge what will be that of the firft Legiflatore^ and muft ihudder at the prefage.
whole kingdom to take the oath to maintain tht conftitution decreed by it, and JanSlioned by the King * ; which certainly fuppofcd that the con«- ftitution then exifled.
Nevertheleft, three nionths after, it declared^ that the eleftion of new deputies to the National Affembly could not tiake place till the conftitu* tion fhould be nearly finiflied i and that at this *' period, which mud very foon arrive, the King " Jbould be requefted to iffue his proclamation, ap-- •* pointing a day on which the elcdive Affemblies " fhould meet to choofe the firft Legiflaturc f/'
cc
€C
We are authorized, therefore, to conclude, fincc we hear nothing of this proclamation, that the conftitution is not yet nearly finijhedy nor the Af* fembly near to diflblve itfclf. There is the more reafon to be convinced of this, fincc it has not yet entered on the great bufinefs of efFedting a balance between the receipt and expenditure of the State, the original objed for which it was convoked, which it might eafily have finiflied a year back J, and thus have prevented many dif*
orders j
• Seffion of the 4th of February, 1790. f Seifionof the 19th of April, 1790.
X I fay a year, rather than eighteen months, to obviate the objeaion, that the inflrudions of the elective affemblies rcf- qnired that the fundamental points of the Conftitution ihould be fettled befoie the fublidies* It will at leaft be allowed thar>
£nc«
C »5 ]
orders ; but which now, in confequence of delay, is become furrounded with accumulated and in* extricable difEculties,
It muft alfo be obferved that, from the decree paflcd the 22d of May laft (1790), on the Right of War and Peace f there is rcafon to believe that, fhould war take place, or appear imminenty the Legiflative Body, which is then immediately to meet, in cafe it (hould not be fitting, would not fail to prolong its feflion, in order to enable itfelf, according to the intention expreffed in the decree, to judge of the caufes of hoftilities, the motives of * continuing them, and the proper tim.e for entering into a negociation for peace. But it is too much to be feared that this fatal conjuncture, which will bring on France a new fcourge fuperadded to all the prefent michiefs, will foon be produced in confe* quence of the decree, equally impolitic and abfurd, by which orders have been given to put in com- miflSon forty-five fliips of the line, with a propor- tional number of fmaller veffels *.
Nothing,
fince the month of 06loberi tySg, the AfTembly mud affedt with a ytry HI grace a diftruft which it can no longer feel, to authorize it to negie^ the obje(fl lead proper to be delayed.
• May my prognollics prove at falfe, as the con (iterations arc groundlcfs on which was pafled the decree of the 26th of Auguft lail, which I have termed impolitic and abfurd, be- caufe it certainly is fo in every point of view ! and I cannot bat lament that a fplendid verbofity (hould have prevented the
dangers
r i6 ]
Nothing, therefore, is more uncertain than the time when the prefent Aflembly fhall think proper
to
dangers with which it is pregnant from being perceived. An orator who had been lefs a man of wit» and more of a ftatefisan ^ or even a better logician, would not> after having made aa oftentatious and hyperbolical difplay of the pacific prindplef of our national philofophy, have proceeded to advife what alone could enkindle war in the midft of profi)und peace: after ha« Ting rendered homage to the fentiments of jufHce and loyalty which England manifeib toward us^ after having reprobated the idea that the Emglijb lAjiJb to profit by our temporary troubles ^ lifter having affirmed that it *wouU be afaerilege in nt to enters tainjucb a thought ^ he would not have concluded that we ought to afl as if the Englifb Nation had given us reafon to conceive fuch a facrilegious fufpicion, and had intentions which we ought Bot to impute to it. Should we admit as a theorem, that the politician ought to reafon on fi^>pofitioo8 in wUch he faimfelf does not believe, are we to deduce from it, as a corollary, that he ought not only to reafon, but alfb to ad, on fuppofitJon« deftitute of probability, and expofe himfelf, by ufelefs prepa^ rations for war, to a danger which without fuch preparations would not exiil? By what a multitude of paralogifms has it been endeavoured to be proved, that if the Engliih do not in* tend war, they ought not to take exception at our forcing them to incur as great an expence as if they had fnch an intention ; and that they ought to confider it as perfe(^lly natural and juil, that iince the armanient fitted out by the Spaniards, with whom they had a diipnte, has obliged them to pirepare a fleet of equal force, we, w^ o have no quarrel with either nation, fhould equip forty-five fhips of the line at the very moment when there appeared the greatefl reafon to exped a fpeedy ac* commodation' of the differences between England and Spain, an 1 every thing feemed to concur to difl'uade us from this vio- le.:: ^li.iufion — ufclefsly ruinous, if it is not followed by a war—
r '7 3
to diflbke itfelfj affign a boundaty to its unfi« miced power^ and give place to what it calls a Jirfi Ligijlatur^.
But
and dangerous to the laft degree^ if it is ; in fine^ that thef (hould patiently endure oar menacing them with a formidable jon6tion; and« though ready before as, quietly wait till by joining the Spaniih fleet we had formed a force fuperior to theirs i Thas ably does oor Diplomatic Committee prefume on the weaknefs of other nations; thus does it liften to the urgent calls of the interefl of the Nation, which inceflantly admonilhea ns to avoid, with the utmoft care, every thing that in our pre- ient circamftances may add to the embarraflment of our inter- nal troables, the raifchief) of a foreign war ! I ihall not, at prt- fent, infift either on the exhanfted ftate of our finances, the disorder of our array, or the danger of inteftine divifions : I coald wifli that all thefe did not exift, and were not notorious to all Europe. But I woald aik oar philofophical Legiflators and oar political Rhetoricians, why they have forgotten the leA> iba which Rouffeaa, their mailer, has delivered in thefe words : *' To give a form of government to a people, one condition is ** naceflary which cannot be fupplied at pleafure, which is, ** that they fliould enjoy plenty and peace ; the time in which *' a ftate receives its laws and conftitutioa, being, like that in which an army is drawn up in order of battle, the moment when it is leaft capable of reiiflance, and moft eafy to be " delb-oyed.— Should a foreign war take place during thia ** crifis, the rain of the State mad be the inevitable confe* ** quence/' .
What, then, is the impenons neceiSty which has caufed them to lofe fight of this alarming and judicious admonition ? What indifpenfable obligation has prevented them from reflefUng, that if the contempt of difcipline in our land-forces has bfoaght the kingdom into the mol! periloas fituation, the dan*
C ger
Cff
[ i8 ]
But as this time muft arrive, let us fuppofe that, towards the end of this year, the Affemblyj
alarmed^
ger mail be ftill greater^ ihould the fpirit of revolt, which hat infeded all the fubaltern orders, break oat in oar ihips of war; and that to pat our maritime forces in motion when we are not certain that we can retain the crews of our (hips in obedience, is to expofe onrfelves to lofe all oar navy ? What reafon can there be for incarring fach a rifk, and becoming more adventuroos in proportion as we are lefs in a condition to befo?
The only reafon alledged is <* the fear (which neverthelefa <' is not felt) lefl England fhould perceive with difquietade <' (which fhe has never manifefted) the increafe of our forces, <' trade, and credit, (the annihilation of which is mod vifi. '' ble), and that by a &lfe policy (to which nothing can be ^* more oppofite than her whole condud during eighteen *' months), fhe fhould wifh to take advantage of the prefent *' circumflances (which it would be iacrilege in us to fuppofe), '* to break a formidable alliance, of which fhe has often felt *' the weight," and of which, in confequence, we wifh to make the greatefl parade (to calm her apprehenfions).
This is the only motive afligned in the report of the 2^th of Auguft, to induce us " to make a difplay of our laft re^ fburces," alledging, at the fame time, that ** it is not our intention to make this dangerous difplay, but to take the ** mofl proper methods to enfure peace." It is added, that ** the nation requires thofe whom it has chofen to be the in* <* ftitutors of its laws, to provide for the fecurity of its poflef* *' fions and commerce ;" and, to comply with this injundion of the Nation, thefe prudent inflitutors raife up againfl it the only enemy which can attack its pofleflions and commerce* To prevent our rivals from making on us, in defpite of all
their
t '9 3
iftllrmed, perhaps, at the change which daily tdkci place in the public opinion with regard to itj
ihould
their proteftations, '' an unforefeen war, the firll blow of ^* which might be fatal to the fortune of good citizens,'' it has been judged proper to fiirniih them with a motive to en- gage in one moil eafily forefeen, and moil evidently provoked by an armament without which they would not have had the finalleft pretext for a rupture 1
But ii IS faid : <' The intereil of the Nation obliges ut to confirm oar alliance with Spain, and the only means of pre-» ferving that alliance is fiuthfully to fulfil dur treaties."
Dosbtlefs : but, by a double abfurdityi you force ns at once to ^1 fhort of and to exceed our obligations, ift. Our trea- ties did not require that we fhould fit out forty-five ihips to affift Spain when ihe is not at war, and before fhe has de- manded fuch affiftance. Under this point of view, we do too much, and without reafon riik making an enemy.— ad. Our treaties confifted in an offenfive and defenfive compad, but we , reduce them to be only defenfive ; and thus we do too little, by not ** faithfully fulfilling our treaties." We forget chat this is the " only means of preferving our alliance with Spain'' — So chat, hefitating between the fear of drawing on onrfelves a powerful enemy, and the apprehenfion of lofing an ally equally generous and ufeful, we have found the way to offend tht one without iatisfying the other.
There was, hdwever^ a very fimple riiethod by which all this difficulty might have been avoided. Inflead of announ- cing to the world, in the extraordinary manner we have done, that '' all the treaties precedently concluded by the King of ** the French ought to be fulfilled by the Nation, till it (hall have
C a '' annulled^
fhould at length refolve to caufe its fucceilbrs to be ekfted, and reoiit into their hands the depofit
of
^
«* annulled, altered, or modified them*," as if they were obli- gatory only fo long as it (hoald think proper to obfenre them, it would have been much more natural to have faid to Spain :
* France refolves to be faithful to all her engagements, and
* you have no reafon to fear that fhe fhould fzW to perform
* what her treaties with you require from her ; but haften to ter-
* minace your differences with England by an amicable accom-
* modation. Your fituation is not well adapted to war ; ours ' is efpecially unfuitable to it ; nor does the objed in queflion ' merit to be difputed by fleets and armies. You have con«
* ceded the fatisfoflion which was defired : what remains to ' be difcufled, by the correfpondence of the cabinet, or by ' the way of arbitration, as you have propofcd, does not re*
* quire that each fide fhould continue armed. The Govern- ' ment of Great Britain is too wife and juft to wifh to fet all
* Europe in a flame on account of fbme fifheries, which both
* it and you mufl elleem as of but very inconfiderable impor-
* tance-*
Such would have been the language of the true friends of humanity and reafon. The Court of Madrid, which only afked from France a declaration of her intentions relative to the Family Compad, could not have complained of an anfwer which exprefled no departure from that compadt, and which neverthelefs would not have prevented its being afterward, by common confent, limited by the reflridions of which it is fufceptible. The Court of London, confirmed in its pacific difpofitions by the wifh for peace which fuch a condudi would
have
* page 5 of the report made to the National AfTcmbly, in the name of the Diplomatic C< mmictee, in the Seffion of the 5th of Auguft, 1790, by M. Mlrabcju the elder. It is in- thii fame report that the other paflagea n^hjch 1 have cited are to be found.
[ ai 3
of legiflativc power, what would then be the fitua- tion of the kingdom, and what might we cxpcft it to be in future ?
To
have manifefted on oar partj woald not have faffered itfelf to have been furpafled by us in the fpirit of juftice and concilia* tion ; it woold not then have had any reaibn to have required from Spain fo fpeedy and definitive an anfwer as it may now demand from her ; and the negociation relative to the points yet to be fettled would have followed its natural courfe, with* out (hockj without acrimony, and without thofe urgent de«^ mands, which, with a nation highly tenacious of pundUlio an4 its honour, may quickly degenerate into caufes of rupture.
At prefent, if we preferve peace, as we muft (BIl hope wo (hall, we mud be indebted for it to an extreme prudence on the part of the Court of Madrid, and the greateft moderation on the part of that of London. Should war enfue, it will be the cSt6t of that fatality which has delivered our political government into the hands of men, deflitute of the knowledge and qualities necefTary to enable them to diredl the reins of the State. Pre- fumptuous reafoners on fubje^ with which they are leaft fami<* liar, they imagine that, without poiTeiling or being capable of acquiring a knowledge of the fpirit of foreign Courts, or of what is tranfaded in them, they may be able to regulate at their pleafure the interefts of the Powers of Europe by weighing them in their philofophical balance. They declaim, in high- ibunding and empty phrafes, on xht fraternity of nations, the confederation of the human race, the uni<verfal benevolence which prepares the luajfor the recognition of the rights of nations; and on our difpofition to demolijh our ftrtrej/es, dijband our army, and burn our fleets, if it Jhould be necejfary to fet the euample, in prder for e*ver to deftrcy the germ of nuars : This appears to them fufficient to preferve France from the confequences of ihcir erroneous condufl i and already their heated imaginatioo
C 3 \\tlHK
To refolve this queftion, it will be ncceffary to know what mcafure of power will be granted to
the
views the moment approach in which liberty, reigning ivifhenf a rival ever the t*wo hemt/^heret^ Jhdl abjolve the human race from thf crime of war, and procUum univerfal peace ; already they behold tbemfelves yi^^/^^'^^ '^^ whole world to Truth, Moderation^ and Jufiice ; already they exclaim : — What need nuill Europe ba*ve tf the arts of politics when it Jball no longer contain either defpots or Jhvves ? What need will f ranee have of Mies when fie JhaU no longfr have enemies ?
Such is the fingular langiiage of our Diplomatic Committee; fuch are the reveries which its reporter prefents to the Nation, at the fame time that he plunges it into the danger of a cala- jnitous war ! He wifhes not this war^ yet he wiihes thofe pre- parations which alone ^an pccafion it. What had we to fear ? r-'That we fiould he attached in our dijlant p({ffeffions fcattered 9ver the tvfo hemi/fberesP Bat why, when we require that others fhould have faith in our principles, though contradi^ej by our adions, (hould we fufppd as perfidious the proteflatioi^s of a Nation which we ourfelves ftyle our elder Jifier in public Jpirit ; and which, far from taking an undue advantage of ouf inteftine commotions, has been fblely occapied^ iince the moment they began, with the care of preferving the pea^ of Europe? Has the Cabinet of St. James's ever been feen to kindle the flames of difcord among the Powers at war, with a view one day to profit by their exhaufied State ? has it been feen to caft a wifhful eye on the fine country of the Dutch Republic, and projedi tp acquire it by fervices of which it might become the price ? has it been known tp foment the infurredlions in our colonies, and endeavour to detach them from us to obtain an indemnification for the lofs of America ? In fine, do we per- ceive the minutefl indication which authorifes us to accufe it pf having; circulated in France the money employed to excite
diifenfion^
[ ^3 J
the new Aflcmbly; whether it will inherit all the ufurpations of the prefent j whether, like that.
9
It
diiieii£oii» fince the National Affemhly may very eafily know the authors of this corruption^ and the funds which have been appropriated to it ?
If our vtry novel Statefmen and Lawgivers were better In- formed^ I will not only fay of the generous fentiments of the Monarch whofe government England bleifes^ and the princi- ples of the (age Minifter who sl&s under him, but even of the true advantage of that kingdom, and thofe who govern it, they would have been far from attributing to it hoftile intentions, to which its intereft, rightly underftood, is abfolutely repugnant. Why fhould England wiih to overthrow the government of France, or attack her pofTeifions ?
Can it be to feize on one of her provinces, and found a do* minion on the Continent ? Great Britain is too wife not to per- ceive that fuch a chimerical projed, even if fuccefsful, would be productive of more mifchief than good ; and that it would \ic dearly to purchafe the feed of an eternal war.
Can it be to make a conqueft of any of our diilant fettle* ments ? She knows that thofe ihe pofle/Tes are fuffident for her^ and has experienced that (he has loft nothing by a diminution of their extent : why then (hould (he wi(h to enlarge them hf an Z&, of inju(Uce ? The great riches (he derives from her Colonies come horn India, where (he has no increafe of power or territory to wiih, nor any injury to fear, efpecially fince our impolitic condud has fuffered that connexion to efcape us which might again have rendered us formidable in that part of the world.
Can it be to extend her commerce on the ruins of that of f ranee? But her qwn, is at thehigheft fununitofprotperity^.
t H ]
it will feize on the helm of the State ; or what ft: will become if that ihould be again confided ta
the
and to complete the rain of oars fhe has only to fuffer the Af. fembly to proceed as it has begun. The only danger which £ngliih mann&dares have to feur is a want of parchafers :^ England moil therefore rather dread than wifh the roinof a kingdom in which they find the moft cxtenii?e iale.
Laftly^ can it be from the confequences of an ancient ha-^ tred, or from refentment for a wound which yet bleeds^ or from jealoufy of our future profperity^ that England wiihes ta ieize the opportunity to complete our ruin ?— From hatred h Ought we ftill to believe in the effe^ of thofe national ha- treds which perhaps never had any influence in political events ? If rivals hate, it is when they fear ; and ours have but too -much reafbn to pity us,— -From refentment ? This might very reafonably be expeded : but had England been actuated by refentment* fhe would have taken a decided part fooner ; and the fad proves, that this paflion is extinguiihed by more noble fentiments, or vanquifhed by attention to an important intereH. More is certainly to be gained by trading with France* than by making war on her.'^From jealoufy ? I can- not pronounce the word from fear of exciting one of thofe farcadic fmiles which I witnefled when the decree contain* ing our renunciation of conquers appeared. fiut» though we fhonid admit that England has at prefent reafon to take um- brage at the increafe of energy and power which a free and patriotic Conflitution may hereafter procure us* does it follow that the convuliions that accompany the painful birth of this Conititution, muft excite her to arm with all her forces to ag- gravate our diilrefs* and deprive us of the hope of happinefs ? Can a projed fo barbarous be reconciled with the loyalty of her national charader* or with the fenfe and knowledge of a People accuftomed to reflexion ? Is fhe ignorant that to kindle
^L.
I as ]
the hand of the king; and if that Monarch, equally unfortunate and beloved, fhould at length be reftored to liberty, and rcfume the cxercife of his rights.
If we judge only from the principles of the Affembly, we muft believe that that which fliall fucceed it, will be reduced folely to the legifla- tive funftions; and that the pretexts on which the prcfent has affumed the right of confound- ing in itfelf all the different powers of the State, will difappear with the title of National Con- ventitm, which it does not propofe to tranfmit to its fuccefibrs. But the time when each of thefe powers fliall again refume its rights, and be
confined
the flames of a foreign war, is to extingui(h the torch of in- teftine fcdition ? Knows fhe not that Rome owed her ftrength to her rivals ; that the time of the exiftence of Carthage was that of her greateft vigour ; and that her decline commenced when the ColofTus of her power had crufhed beneath it all her enemies ; and that, in general, a great empire has need to have another great empire for its neighbour, to maintain its vigilance, and exercife its patriotifm ?
From all thefe reafons I have been convinced, from the firil beginning of the French Revolution, that there was no reafoa to diftrud the intentions of England ; nor can I entertain the leafl fhadow of a doubt, fmce the pcribns moil able to in- fluence the condudl of the Nation have appeared to me to think the fame. How was it poflible I Ihould fufpcdl their fincerity? I have now pafTed three whole years in England^ and have sever been deceived by a fingle iingliihman.
confined within proper limits^ is precifely that when we fliall perceive to what a degree thcfe rights and thefe limits have been miftaken and confounded \ the difficulties which have been for a moment reprefled by a tyrannic violence, will rife in multitudes the inftant that violence fliall be removed, and embarrafs all the motions of the body politic. The executive power, (hackled in all its funftions, and deprived of all its aftivity, will be unable to re-eftablilh itfelf, but by the revocation of thofe decrees which have rendered it null ; the judiciary power, from defeft of con- fidence, and that authority which infpires awe, will be unable to fulfill its objedt; and the kgifta* tive body, abfurdly confined by the obligation, impoffible in effedt, of executing decrees contra-, diftory to each other, and incompatible with eveiy Ipecies of government, will find itfelf compelled to pafs the limits prefcribed to it, and to attempt to rebuild from the foundation an edifice which it muft perceive to be falling to ruin on every fide. But as, by its inftitution, it will not poffef^ the requifite power, its attempts will but increafe the diforderi and its very endeavours to repair former errors muft again plunge France into a new chaos.
It cannot be fuppofed that the Affemblies of this new legiflative dynafty will long fubmit to be national in one fcnfe and not fo in another. Fol- lowing in the foot|leps of that which afpires to
be
[ 27 1
be fingle in its kind, it will be very difBcult for them not to wilh to purfue the fame track, or to fuppofe that, delegated like that by the nation, and even, according to its own doftrine, more conftitutionally, they have received lefs authority 5 nor can we doubt but that, one day or other, inftrufted, by fo great an example, that, to ac- quire the right of crefting themfelves into a Na- tional Convention^ it is only requifite to imagine they hear the alarm-bell of necejftty^ and fee the glare of bayonets^ they will alfo find an opportu- nity to avail themfelves of this right, *
In this cafe, what will become of the immutabi- lity of the conftitution ? What will become of the kingdom, tofled from fide to fide with increafing violence by difcording legiflatures ?
What has been faid, is fufficient to evince that the prefent confufion cannot lead to a happier futurity 5 but this will be more fatisfaftorily de- monftrated by a difplay of the efifential defedks which render the principal operations of the Af- fembly entirely indefenfible,
I (hall difcufs them one afrer the other, be- ginning with the article of Public Finances, which
ought
• Sec the fpccch of M. Mirabcau the elder, of the I9t)i •f April, to which I ihall again advert hereafter.
C *8 ]
ought more particularly to engage the attention of the reprefentatives of the nation^ as being that on which the condition of the people moft im- mediately depends, and of which the ramifications^ are moft widely expanded through the body po-« litic. However little the pr^^refs may be that has been made in the labour begun on this fubjeft, it is eafy already to forefee the iffue, and to judge in what condition the finances will be when the prefent AfTembly fhall refign the management of them to the firft legiflature, and what may be ex-. peftcd from the latter relative to this article^
The fiate of the finances has hectme Jo much worji^ in confequence of the dogmas and operations of the: AJfembly^ that it is impoj/ible it fbould he reme^ died by the prefent AJfembly^ or by that which, fhall fucceed it, Jhould the fame operations be pur^ fued, and the fame dogmas fuffered tofubjtft^
X HE Assembly which hitherto has been only occupied in providing for the moft urgent necefTities, by employing extraordinary meafures,, the cfFc6t of which, whatever it may be, can never expend to the principle of an habitual diforder, will no doubt be defirous, before it diflblves itfclf, ta appear, at Icaft, to have extended its views to an objeft fo important; and it is to be hoped that the united labours of its different Committees will
C ^9 1
be able to produce fome regulation tending to cftabliih a balance between the ordinary revenues and the ordinary expences*
But in what manner will the Affembly perform this indifpenfable talk ? Will it fay to the Nation : ** To comply with your wiflies we have firft li- quidated all the public debts, and have provided for the payment of them by legal, which arc the only certain, means V
We have afterwards afcertained the amount of the ordinary expences, after all poffible redudions have been made, and confidering as fuch only thofe retrenchments which are conftantly produc- tive of a real ceconomy. Thefe amount to the fum of
Laftly, we have regulated the ftate of the ordi- nary revenues proportionably to that of the ex- pences, and in fuch a manner that there remains a furplus proper to maintain order, and conftltute a fund of fuccefllve redemption. This fecond ftatc- ment amounts to the fum of.
To produce this fum, the real or territorial fm- poft, or land-tax, afTefTcd on all lands in a certain proportion to their refpeftive produce, will amount to
The tax on perfonal property, afleffed by the adminiftrations according to a certain rule^ which
fhoU
t 36 1
(hall preclude its being arbitrarily levied, will amount to..^ •«
The indireft impofts, or cuftoms, payable by certain conmnnodities^ and levied in fuch a certain mode, will amount to •
Should we fee fuch a ftatement appear, with all the neceflary details and accurate calculations, the public itfelf would be able to judge of the pofli-' bility, or rather of the impoflibility, of its being carried into execution.
But we ought not to expeft that the labours of the Aflembly will end with fo precife a conclufion. It is much more probable that, through fear of too clearly manifefting to this unhappy people, intoxicated with hope, the enormous increafe of charges which it will be necelTary to fupport, in taxes of the moft burthenfome kind, it will be unwilling to difplay to view the immenfity of the chafm which, for a year pad, has widened more and more, and the profundity of which has never been exadly afcertained. On the one hand, it will be contented to prefent a fVatcment of the annual cxpence from the retrenchments that have been decreed without a proper appreciation of their cff*::as, and without a certainty that they will not be in a great degree illufory ; and on the other, it will vaguely determine the difFefent kinds of taxes, and dicir amount in the grofs, without
fixing
[ 31 ]
fixing the quotas of each kind, or the proportiotl in which they (hall be levied ; leaving to the adnii-> niftrations of the fevcral departments the care of ailefling and coUedting theoi as they fhall be able.
That done, the Aflfembly will declare that the great work of the regeneration of the State is finifhed j and, leaving the kingdom in dreadful confufion, will pretend to have claims on the grati* tude of the public. What then can be done by its fucce^Tors, deprived of the power of re-cftablilhing what it fhall have deftroyed, and charged with the imprafticable execution of what it fhall have prefcribed ? Muft it not be long before they can render complete and effeftive, throughout the kingdom, levies of taxes of which the efFcft has not been tried, nor the mode received the feal of experience, and which muft abound with un* forcfeen difficulties ? Will they reftore to the executive power, enervated as it is, and deprived of immediate agents, the impoffible duty of levy- ing by force, from men with arms in their hands, and emboldened to aflert their independence, immediate taxes, enormoufly augmented, and which, though it might be demonftrated by com- parative calculations, that they do not make the people pay more than they formerly paid, muft yet appear to them more heavy than the ancient contributions, were it only becaufe they will be new and unufual ? On the other hand, how will it be pofTible to rcfolve all the queftions, obviate
all
t 3* 1
all the obje£kions> and remove all the difficulties which the new divifion of the kingdom muft oc- cafion ? How may means be found to fupply the deficiency of fpccie, and countcraft the fupcr- abundance of fiftitious value, which will cru(h circulation? Laftly, Ihould war unfortunately cnfuc, to complete this long lift of evils, what ex- traordinary refources can be found in a kingdom without ?money, without commerce, without cre- dit, and of which all the fprings are already ftrained beyond all meafure ?
Under all thcfe points of view, the tafk which the prefent Affembly will leave to the fubfequent legiflature will be above the utmoft powers of the human mind. It will be a tiflue of impoffibilities^ which feem not to have been fufpefted, but which muft foon be difcovercd, while at every ftep that Ihall be taken in the new adminiftration, infur- mountable difficulties muft be met with, not one of which had been forefeen. Inexperience is unacquainted with doubt : fimple, bold, and de- cifive projefts will always appear to it admirable. Their advantages, calculated upon paper, feem to be clearly demonftrated j and their inconveniences cfcape every perfon who has not an eye accuf- tomed to difcover them. To appreciate them, it is not even fufficient to confiilt thofe whom we call gens de la cboje^ or men of official bufinefs ; for, befides that thefe may have an intereft in per- petuating abufes, the greater number of them have
-.^1—
t 33 1
bttiy a clear view of that fide of the qileftioft which has a reference to their particular depart- ment ; whereas it is only by difcerning at once all its parts and relations that a judgment can be formed of the general efFeft. This fcience of lupcrior adminiftration, which is only to be ac- quired b/ habit, and perfeftly attained in pofts which afford a diftinft view of all obje6ls, and the affiftancc of every requifite light, no doubt appeared of fmall importance to the Aflcmbly appointed to rellore order to the finances} fince thofe who compofed it, not finding among them any perfon who had pafled through the fucceflivc offices of adminiftration, and ferved a kind of ap-» prenticelhip to the art, have not had recourfe, to fupply this defeft, to any confultation from which they might derive information, nor fought to produce any difcuflTion between men who may be called emeriti in the finances, a term which is not fynonymous with banker, clerk of office, or OBConomift. Is it not inexpreffibly ftrange that, in an Aflcmbly which declares itfelf appointed to new-model the adminiftration of government ih all its branches, there ihould be a prodigious number of curates, advocatesj and praditioners in the law j many foldiers, many men of let- ters, academicians, phyficians; fome magifirates, bankers, merchants, farmers ; but not a fingle Ad* miniftrator, not one of the Members of the Coun-* cil who have exercifed the fundions of IntendanC of the provinces, nor one of thofe who have been at the head of any department of the finances ?
D Foreigners
[ 34 ]
Foreigners who fliall read this Work will fcarceljf believe what I have afferted : they will not con* ceive it poffible that a lively and intelligent Na- tion, which piques itfclf on wifhing to inftruft the world, (hould be fo inconfidcrate as to confide its deftiny to men who have not for a fingle moment of their lives been exercifed in the art of govern- ing a State, or that thefe men, though they in- ceffantly acknowledge that the finances of the kingdom are become a labyrinth in which they can only grope their way, have not fought any guides among thofe who have a local knowledge of its mazes; in fine, that though there are in France many men verfed in every thing that relates to taxation, and formed by their fituation to a prac- tical knowledge of the adminiftration, among whom there are fome who certainly poffefs great abilities, the AfiTembly which has undertaken to regulate the whole adminiftration on a new plan, not only has not fought the affiftancc of any one of them in its labours, but has di(placed, banilhedi and reduced them all to filence* This, never- thelefs, is a certain faft i and it was neceflary that I fliould remark it before I proceeded to ftate the prefent and future fituation of the finances, with fucTi particulars as this preliminary obfervation can alone render credible.
It is only by confidefing in what manner the great majority of the Legiflative Body is compofcd, ^ chat we can conceive thatj though among the
number
C 35 ]
number of eight or nine hundred Membefs> which it ftill contains, there may be eight or nine perfons who, with confiderable abilities, havej for a year paft, made every effort in their power to initiate themfelves in matters foreign to their former ftudies, and their way of life, yet ' every thing has been done, or fuffered to be done, which ei^idently tended to the increafe of the diforder; and the condud of the Affembly has been an inceflant fluftuation from error to error ; that, dating from the firft difcourfe pronounced by M. Necker, on the day of the folcmn open- ing of their firft feflion, they have acquiefced in the moft inaccurate accounts, the moft illufory ftatements, and given their approbation to propo- fitions the moft ruinous to the State. They have been feduced by projedts rejefted twenty times by the Minifters to whom they had been prefented, and have taken for the foundations of their firft fpeculations, hopes which, if they are not abfo- lutely chimerical, at leaft are fo with refpeft to the time in which they flatter themfelves they Ihall be able to rcalife them, and the means which riiey employ for that purpofe.
Of this latter kind was the projeft, extremely good in itfclf, but exceffivcly difficult to execute^ and moft immature at the prefent mbment, of di« viding the entire mafs of the.contributions among^ all the departments of the kingdom, in quotas cxaftly proportionate to their abilities to contri-'
D 2 bute«f
[ 36 I
butc. When the State enjoyed tranquillity, wherir public authority poffcffcd all its energy, when the fovereign commands, emanating from a (ingle principle, and directed to one fame end, operated with concord and unity; in fine, when fubordi- nation yet exifted in France, fome ineffefhial ef- forts were made to balance with exadnefs the ter« ritorial contributions of the different provinces, and to diftribute them among them in proportion to their produdtions and refpedive riches, of which but a very imperfcft knowledge has ever been obtained. There feemed to be only one fingle method which could be employed with promptnefs and efficiency, and this I propofed to the Noubles; but, as it abolilhed privileges, it was rejefted. At prefent, without guidance, with- out knowledge, without efFeftive authority, without the co-operation of immediate agents, without dif* pofition to obedience on the part of thofe on whom the contributions are to be levied, will it be poflible to efFed what with all thefe could not be done i Can it be efFedted in the midft of an efFervefcence which diflrafts every head, and fubverts all ideas f Can it be eJBFefted at the moment when the mafs of the heavieft taxes, and thofe moft difficult to portion out, thofe which are levied on land, muft be immenfely increafed, to fuffice for the indif> penfable fupplies of deficiencies, while the people expe& only a diminution and abolition of their taxes?
It
£ 37 3
It is true, that the adminiftrations of the depart*^ ments, and other local adminiftrations which will gradually be inftituted fubordinate to them, will, if they are well conftitutcd, and when they (hall be in full aftion, greatly facilitate the aflfelTing and levying of the general contributions. But it muft firft be ncceflary that they fliould be fettled on a firm foundation, and admit of no difpute with re- gard to their rcfpeftive extent. The delirium of equality, and the fpirit of independence, which now reign from one end of the kingdom to the other, under the fpecious name of Liberty, muft not dif- order the internal management of thele afTemblies, diflurb their reciprocal relations, or inceflfantly en- gage them in contefts with each other. It will, be- fides, be requifite that harmony and concord ftiould reign between the eighty-three departments into which the kingdom is now geometrically divided; that thefe eighty- three departments, fcarcely formed, and very imperfcftly inftructed in their new limitations, forgetting on a fudden their an- cient conftitution> the cuftoms which were dear to them, the particular advantages which they en- joyed, the laws peculiar to each province, which many of them pride themfelves on having prefcrved for ages, (hould, from this time, make no diffi- culty to accede to a fyftem of abfolute uniformity, which fuSers no diftinftion to fubfift; and that neither oppolition of intercft, difagreement in opinion^ or even in language, nor any other difFe- jrencesj either phyfical or morale which naturally
D J difunite
[ 38 i
didinite tHem, fhould occafion among them fataf divifions fufficient to overturn every thing. This danger is the more formidable, as the divifions fub- ftituted for the provinces forming at prcfent bodies of people with amis in their hands, and comman4- ing themfelves, it is to be Feared that each of them will endeavour to do itfelf juftice, that thty will fight with' each other as often as they fhall be unable to agree; and that, as a fingle example of thefe inteflirie wars may enkindle a general flame, this fair Tcingdom, of which the undivided mafs under the government of a fingle head was fo beau- teous and noble, may foon become only a feeble aggregate of petty republics' incefTantly difagreeing and witho'utfubordination, '
. •
Nothing could be better inriagined, or more ca- pable of being produdtive of the greateft utility, than the eflablifhment of provincial adminiftrations, as it was conceived and adopted by the King: but the beflr inftitutions may give an opening to the moft pernicious abufes, when they are detached from the whole to which they ought to appertain, ahd placed on a defeftive foundation j in like manner as, in the organifation of an animal, the parts which have the bed conformation perifh and putrify if they lofe their connexion with the reft, and are de- prived of that vital principle which ihould animate the whole body. Thus the Affembly, even in de- creeing regulations which have long been acknow- Jedged to be dcfirable, has produced a general dif-
prdef
[ 39 1
Order through the whole machine. Good, when it is ill done, degenerates, and is changed into mifchief*
But let us fully open the book of our deftiny, and cohfider more circumftantially .what we may already difcern of our future fate, by direfting our attention firft to the article of the public finances; and, to judge whether it may be poflible to levy, befides the fubfifting imports, a general contribu- tion equivalent to all that (hall be found wanting in the fixed revenue compared with the fixed ex- pences, let us examine what ought to be the amount of this contribution in proportion to the void which it is to fill.
The annual deficiency, which we might reafon- ably have believed to have been entirely and more than done away, in confequence of the oeconomical retrenchments of every kind decreed by the Aflem- bly, has, on the contrary, fince that Aflembly has held the reins of government, increafed to an amount which muft appear incommenfurable, if we confider the enormous differences, the frequent contradiftions, and the continual variations, which are found in the ftatements that have been given of it, at different times, either by M. Necker, or the Committee of the Finances. The Aflembly, in- ftead of beginning by determining this amount, and caufing the documents neceflary to afcertain it, to be laid before them, have fufFcrcd the ideas they
D 4 might
[ 4^ ]
might have of it to be rendered more and more perplexed by an incomprehenfible complication of incomplete accounts and hypothetical refultSj an4 have themfelves rendered thefc more and more fluAuating by operations which have conupted all the fources of public revenue^ and clouded over every part of the expenditure with uncertainty.
The only method to unravel this complicated knotj smd arrive at a knowledge of the true ftate of the finances, is to afcertain^ firft, what was tb^ old d^figiency^ or that which exifted prior to the meeting of the AfTemblyj adly, what is the new deficiency, compofed of the diminutions of re- venue and augmentations of expence, after the (economical favings have been fubtrafted j 3dly, what may be expefted to be the refult of the mean3 by which the Aflembly propofes to remedy this diforder, A careful and minute difcuflTion of thefe articles will (how how widely we have wan- dered from that goal tp which we Qught to have ^ircfted opr CQurfe,
^he Old Deficiency.
AcGORDiNO to theftatement of the account given to the Notables in 17 87, the deficiency amounted to one hundred and fifteen millions of livres; but thi9 Veas by including in the annual expence reimburfe* pients (0 thp wiPun^ of fifiy-eight pillions, of
which
[ 41 ]
which fifty-three were at ftated periods.— In the account given in by Government in March 1788^ this deficiency has been confidered as being only about fifty-five aiillions : but this was by omitting thefe fame reimburfements, which in fadt pre- fented only an ideal diminution. — In May 1789, when M. Necker, at the opening of the States General, gave in a new ftatement, he declared that the ordinary deficiency was then reduced to fifty^Jix millions \ and this word reduced had on the ili-in- formed public all the efFed that was expected from it. It was no longer remembered that his prede- ceflbr, by fubdudting from the expenditure the re- imburfements at ftated periods, had already brought down the amount of the deficiency to fifty-five millions \ nor was it confidered that to carry it up to fifty-fix the following year, was to have aug- mented rather than reduced it. Deceived by the fallacious language of M. Necker, the public afcribed to the rigid exalfnefs with which he boafts to have managed the Royal Treajury, what was in- deed the fimple effeft of a diflFerent manner of clalfing the fame things; and theAflembly rofe, pcrfuaded that the deficiency was really diminifhed, becaufe he had affirmed it was j while, with more attention and lefs credulity, it might eafjy have been perceived that it was, on the contrary, increafed ]by one million two hundred and fifty thoufand Jivrcs fince the account given in the preceding year, by M. dc Brienne ; an increafe which muft
\)c eftpemcd fuiprifing, when we confider how
ma^y
[ 44 ]
many retrenchments of expcnce had been effcftcd during that interval.*
However this may be, if we attend to the ac- count of the deficiency, fuch as it was given in at the tinie of the firft meeting of the Aflembly, it ought to be confidered as being then but
• -.-------- 56,230,000.
It is neceffary, however, to remember that it would have amounted to double that fum, if the reimburfements at ftated periods, which will be becoming due for ten years to come, had been in- cluded in the annual expenditure, as they would have been, if the engagement to difcharge them at the times afligned had not been broken.
♦ It is impoffible to andcriland the calculations of thefe gen* tlemen. i\ccording to M. de Brienne, the diminutions of the expenditure and the augmentations of the receipt efFedled at the time when he ilatcd his account, already amounted to thirty-fix millions : according to the difcourfe of M. Necker at the opening of the States General, about tv^enty millions more had been gained from the time of his re-appointment to the miniilry. There was, therefore, if we believe them both, iiny-fix millions of bonifications cfFe^ied from the month of May 1787, to the month of May 1789. But if to thefe fifty- iix millions of bonifications, we add the amount of the reim- burfements which have been fufpended and fet afide, we fhall have a total equivalent to the old deficiency. Confequently, at the time when M. Necker made a merit of having reduced the deficiency to fifty-fix million^, it ought icrhavc been en- tirely Annihilated.
[ .43 ]
NiW Deficiency, conjijiing of the diminutions of re* ceipt and augmentations of expenditure which have taken place fine e the meeting of the Afffmhly, Juh-^ trailing the produce of the (economical reductions.
The fupprefllon of the gahelle, which, with the acceffary fols per livrcy produced fixty millions of livres, has caufcd in the revenue a void to that annount: I (hall here- after fpeak of the manner in which the place of this tax is to be f«p- plied, which is not yet fettled. At prefent I ftiall only confider the lofs dccafioned by its fuppreffion, which is about -------- 6o,ooOjOOo
The produce of all the other taxes has fuffered a diminution; and, ac- cording to the valuation given by M. Necker, in his Obfervations at the end of March 1790,
The lofs on the produce of the falcs of tobacco is 800,000 livres per month, and, confequently, per annum* -------- 9,600,000
The
69,600,000
* Thb lofs would be mach more confiderable, if the pro- poficioii made by the Committee of Taxation to reader free the culture, fidirication, and iaie of Tobacco^ ihonld be adopted. The loia woold then be more than twenty miilioni.
t 44 3
Brought over - 69,6oo>ooa
•
The lofs on the entrance-duties of Paris is 700,000 livrcs per month, or, per annum ------ 8,400,000
The lofs on the produce of the aUes is feven million two hundred thoufand livres; to which muft be added the entire lofs of the produce of the duties on leather, oil, and foap, of the iron-damp duties, and others which have lately been fup- prefled, which together annount to nine millions, making in the whole 16,200,000
The lofs on the duty oi franc-fief ^ or free-manor, and fcvcral other loffes of the fame kind, which have taken place fince the calculations of M. Necker; fuch as that of the ma- norial fines, hannalitesy tolls, new acquifitions, and redemptions, &c. the duty of the third denier in Lx)r- raine, and thofe of fourteen dcniers, or fix deniers per livre, on the fale of the timber of ecclefiaftics and per- fons in mortmain, and other doma* nial duties; as alfo the lofs of the
recovery
94,200^000
C 45 1
Brought over - 94,200,000
recovery of thofe judiciary expences which were to be at the charge of the lords of manors : all thefc lofles making, per annum, at leaft - - 3>000,00Q
M. Necker had added to the pre- ceding article the lofs which had been then fuftained on the marc d'or'^y and on the efcheats : but this lofs is become almoft the total of their pro- duce, by the fuppreflion of the fale of offices, which draws after it that of all the duties of mutation, the hun- dredth penny, &c. and by the abo- lition of all the duties on the free- doms of corporations, the point of honour, &c. It follows, that two branches of the revenue, one of which formerly amounted to four millions of livres, and the other to one million eight hundred thoufand, are reduced to be only worth about five hundred thoufand, and that there is an annual lofs on the whole of - 5,300,000
The
102,500,000
* The marciTor is the name of that tax which is levied upon the new incombent on eveiy alienation of faleable offices, and which Tariei according to the offices on which It il laid. T. '
I 46 1
Brought over - 102,500,000
The annihilation of the courts of juftice and all their dependencies has alfo occafi5ned feveral other kinds of lofles on the produce of the admini- ftration of domains; as on the duties on regiftcring and fealing, the (lamp- duty, and the duties on the forms of judiciary a^s, which was an objefl: of more than five millions; thofe on writs of fummons and fub-poenas, which produced three and a half; and thofe arifing from the receipt of the intermediary falaries of all offices vacant by death or otherwife. The whole may be eftimated at - - - 5,000,000
The lofles on the adminiftration of the gunpowder mills, and that of the coinage, are eftimated by M. Necker, together, at a million of livres for ten months 3 confequently, per annum, i , 200,000
The lofs incurred by the regula- tions Concerning the Royal Lottery* - 4,000,000
To
1 1 2,700,000
* The AiTembly having given a favourable reception to the proje^ of one day facrificing this moft immoral revenue. It fhould feem that I might already entirely retrench it from tht ordinary revenue^ and« confequently, reckon the diminution at fourteen millions of Uvres*
[ 47 ]
Brought over - 1 1 2,700,000
To thcfe muft be added the dimi- nution on the produce of the fraUes*, or tranfport-duties, which, at the leaft, amounts to ----- 6,500,000
Total of the diminutions of the revenue, eftimated at the loweft - 119,200,000
I here make no mention of the diminution in the produce of the immediate taxc8> fince the objed to be confidered is what they will produce in future.
We muft now add to this fum of a hundred and nineteen millions all the new expences occafioned by the National Affembly, or refulting from its operations, referving afterwards to fubduft from it the produce of its (Economical favings,
Increaje of the Expenditure.
ift. We find, from the Memoir of M. Necker, read to the Affembly on the 6th of March laft t> that the
amount
* The decrees which received the fandion of the Affembly on the 30th of March 1790, declare. Art. ^, that the duties of traite on the tranfport of fait, for the free and redeemed pro- vinces, brought into the public trc afury fix miUions of livres,. Thus, I only reckon, in addition to this lofs, fixt hundred thou- fand liYres for the diminution of the (urplas of the duties of iraite, that all my eftimatet may be rather below than abore the truth.
t ^^F S^ of the edition in 4^*
[ 48 1
amount of the intcrcft and funds of rcimburfement annexed to the loan of eighty-nine millions^ made in the month of Auguft 1789, and the an- nuities given to the Caiffc d'Efcomptc, have increafed the annual charges by ftims amounting together to - - 12,100,000^
(This It is which occafioned him to fay, that the deficiency had, in confequence, increafed from fifty-fix millions to fixty-eight millions one hundred thoufand livres.)
ad. The charge of the National Aflcmbly forms a new article t)f expence, which I fliall fi:ate much below what it at prefent is. When the Affembly confiftcd of twelve hundred deputies, their falaries, fixed at eighteen livres, amounted to twenty-two thoufand livres per day t as it is at prefent diminiihed by one third, this expence is reduced to about fifteen thoufand livres for each, day; but as hereafter there will be only four months feflion, and only feven or eight hundred Deputies, I ^
ihall eflimate this article, including j
all the expences incident to the pro- mulgation
[ 49 ]
Brought over - i a, I oo,0Cd
mulgadon and printing of decreesj
meflagesj &c. only at the fum of* 0,500,000
3d. It would be difficult to afccr- tain the annual cxpence of the Na- tional Guard throughout the whole kingdom. It is affirmed, that the Guard of Paris alone will coft, for this firft year, eight millions s but I inugine that this expence will be di- miniihed. That of the National Guards in the provinces is an obje£t more confiderable than will be fup- pofed, if we confine our attention to the circumllance of their not being paid. What the town-guards in diffe- rent places receive and confume when they arc on duty, the coft of their arms, their maintenance, the pow* der, ball, or other ammunition diftri-
buted
14,600,000
• In the laft Memoir of M. Necieer» fent in at the moment of hif departure, I find that he reckons *' fix millions per •' annum for the cxpences of the Aflcmbly and the Supreme *• Courts:" but as I have not a dear idea of what he means by the Supreme Courts, I (hall not at prefent avail myfelf of this eftimate, as I am unwilling to admit any thing into my llata* Aent which may appear doubtfiil.
[ 50 ]
Brought over - 14,600,00^
buted to them, and all the numeroua idle acceflfary expences, amount^ by an enormous multiplication of ex- tremely fmall fums, to a total which would not be exaggerated if efti- mated at ten millions*. This would make, at the firft ftatement, eighteen millions for the whole; and I ihould have good reafon to maintain, that we ought not to fubduft from this fum the part of the expence of the National Guard in the; prdvinces, which will be paid by the municipa- lities, fince every new expence which muft neceflarily fall upon the people ought to be included in the calcula- tion of the public charges. I fhall^ however, reduce this article to the half> and here only ftate it at - - 9>ooo/)Oo
4th. M. Necker, in the fame part of his Memoir, which I have juft
cited^
23,600^000
*iiiW""T^-*^*^
* 1 fuppofe* from the calcalations of the Members of the AfTembly, that the National Guards amocnt to about nine hundred thoufand men, with arms and uniforms : the expend ^ of thefe, reckoning for each man only eight deniers per diLV^ er twelve livres per annum, Wi}l be near eleven millions.
c St 1
Brought over * ^31600^000
cited*, rcckoils '*' twenty-five millions ^' to be placed to the charge of the '^ people, to defray the expences of ^ the diffribution of juftice, that of ** the adminiftrative afleniblies, and ^^ fome others befide.'* As he has not given this eftimate in one of thofe moments when he has wifhed to mag- nify embarraflfments, but in one of thofe when it was manifeft he was de- Iirous to glofs them over, and pcr- fuade us, at p:}rting, that he had ^^ a ** remedy for every thing, even the
*' greateft
tit^^it^
E 1 23,600,000
• Page ii of tb^ lafl Repoit of M. Necker, potitrlolt to hit difmiffion. In citing thit artkle^ I have not meant to admit the accuracy of all the others. This would be leading the I'nblic into an error. It is not furpfiiiag that, in a time of jbch confufion, he (hould have made niore than one miflake $ that he ihould have eiUmated at thirty millions and a half the Interefh of the fonH due for oflkes and fecurities to be reim« bnrfed, while, according to the Committee of Finances^ theft anterefls amount to thirty-two millions and a half; that he ihoold have reduced to two miMions the article nientioned above, which, in hts own account, is twelve millions one hun*- dfed thOuland livres ; and, in fine, that he ihould have omitted )» hk^ftAtemtits of our (ituation more than a hundred millions of lo(s OB-lhe j«¥eoMs, which, he knows are not yet rep^aced^ in order to prefent us, in this lafl moment, with a favourable pnfytGt. i& mania oC Airploies u a kind of intennittins |Bilady«
[ 5* 3
Brought over - 22^600^00
^* grcateft failures," we may reaibn- ably believe that he has not exagge- rated it ; and I accordingly make ufe of it here -------- 25,000,000
5th. According to the calculations^ which the Committee of Finances has carefully made, and which have been publiflied by order of the Af- fembly, the intereft of the fums due for the offices of judicature, finance places, and fccurities that have baen fuppreffed, amounts to thirty-feven millions and a half. Whatever mea- lures may be adopted for the dif- charge of this fum, and whatever de- fign may t)e entertained of appropri- ating to that purpofe the produce of the fale of what is now callal tbe national property, we muft always begin by reckoning this intereft as a part of the expenditure ; for a debt Is not the lefs a debt, becaufe the debtor hopes to difchafge it by the fale of bis gpodsj and ftill lefs does
It
48,6oo>ooo
* Page 8 of the Sutement of the PoblicDebt, printed in the same of the Comiiiittee of Finances, ieoond part.
[ S3 1
Brought over - 48,600,000
it alter its nature, bccaufe his only rcfburce is felling the goods of an- other perfon. This, therefore, is a new article of expence* - - - - 37,500,000
6th. The cafe is the fame with the reimburfements due for the offices of the King's houfehold, military em- ployments, and governments; thefe three articles making together, ac- cording to the ftatement of the Com- mittee, a capital of ninety millions nine hundred and five thoufand livres.
And for intcrcft ---'-- 4,445,000
7th. The debts of the Clergy, for which the State is accountable, fince it has taken pofledion of their pro- perty, are ftated, by the Committee of Finances, atone hundred and forty- nine millions four hundred and fome thoufand livres; and the intereft, from a due appreciation of the capi- tals, is found to amount to five mil- lions eight hundred and thirty-three thoufand livres. The reflexion which Hiavc made * at the preceding arti-
E 3 tide,
90,545,000
f Page I of the Statement abore cited.
C i4 3
Brought over « 90^545iOO<j
tide, with rcipcft to the rcimburfc- ments due for the offices, applies equally to thisi and wc are jufUfied in reckoning here - ^ - - .. . 53833^000
8th, The amount of the reimburfe- ments at ftated periods which have become due, being, according to the fame ftatement of the Committee of Finances, one hundred and fcven millions eight hundred and thirty-five thoufand livres, the intereft of this fum mult be reckoned as a new ex- pence i fince, if thefe reimburfements had annually been paid as they be- came due, as they were during my miniftryjj the public treafury would not have been charged with this in- tereft, reprcfentativc of the capitals,^ which muft fooner or later be em- ployed for that purpofe - - - - 5j392jiO0G
9th. The Aflcmbly having de- creed, on the 14th of April 1790,^ *^ that an indemnification (hall be
granted from the public treafury
to the proprietors ' of infeudated ^* tithes i" this dedree charges the State with a reimburfement, which
is
101,770,00c
i ss 1
Brought over - 101,770,000 is ftatcd at the lowcft when eftimated at a hundred millions; and for inte- rcft -.-.-----. 4,000,003
10th. The expence of public wor- ftiip, as it has been regulated, will, it is pretended, be compenfated by the produce of the ecclefiaftical property, if it (hould not be fold*. As I have not had regard to the eventual fup- pofition of this fale in the calcula- tions above, I fhall not here reckon any thing for this article. But as the Committee of Finances has acknow- ledged that, befides this expence, and above the amount of the pro- duce of the property, the State will have to pay penfions to the incum- bents and religious, to the amount of fifty millions of livres; this fum ought to be dated as an augmenta- tion of expence ------ 50,000,006
I fay
E4 155,770,000
• It would be cafy to prove, that the ccclcfiaflkal property, ofider the management of the Municipalities, would ^1 conii- derabiy (hort of producing the fevcnty millions of livres, which the Committee has rated it at. The expences of colledioQ^ sod the lofs ocCAfioned by the abolitioa of letgneiHial rights^ would caufe a diminotioa of dioffo iksll fitil mllltonf • i
i 5« 1
Brought over - 155,770,0001
I fay nothing of the intercft of the arrearage of the departments, and fome other parts of the public debt, which I confider as compenfated by the redu6tion on the anticipations, I fliall hereafter even examine what difFerence there may be to the advan* tage of this redudion.
Total of the expences, newly added to the ordinary expenditure - - 1553770,000
It is by comparing this increafe of annual ex- pences, with which the National Affembly has charged the State, with the real value of the ceco^ nomical retrenchments, made or announced, that we fliall be able to judge what muft be the refult, with refpeft to the amount of the prefent deficiency^
(Economical Reduifions, IT is not eafy to fix at a determinate fum, the amount of the oeconomical rcduftions, of which the Conunittee of Finances has only given variable jbtements.
At one time, by a Memoir accompanied by jujiificatory and explanatory views^ we have been prefented with a reduHion of expences and public debts^ amounting to one hundred and nineteen millions of livres *• At
* Report of M. de Montefqaioa of the i8tb of Noremb^ 1789, N^ I of the Jttftificatocy Picpei*
•
At another time, fome errors in this ftatement being correftcd, wc are given to expeft only, a fa- ying of ninety-fix millions, under one point of view, and feventy-five, or eighty, under another.*
Afterward the Aflembly, acknowledging that to throw thirty-five millions and a half on the admi« niftrations of the provinces, was only a (hifting of the expence, which no way lightened the burden of the people, has retrenched this fum from the favings, which it then only eftimatcd and decreed to be about fixty millions.f
M. Necker then obferved, that he did not well itnderjland the lafi engagement of formings in one manner or another y a reduilion offixty millions \ and he has, bcfides, difcovercd in this calculation of fixty millions, an error of four millions eight hun- dred and eighty-nine thoufand livres, which has not been difputed. J
It has fince been found neceflary to make another alteration in this fum, the expence of the King's houfehold, which had been only reckoned at twenty millions, having been allowed to be twenty-five.
Thefc
* Statement of the Redaftions of the Public Expenditore ^f the 29th of Janaary 1790, p. 5 and 9.
t Decree of the 26th of February 1790.
} Memoir of the firft Minider of the Finances, read in the leffion of the 6chof March 1790, page 34; and Report of M. de Montei^aioa, of the 15th of the fame month, page 26.
[ 58 1
Thcfe two articles make together a fum of liine millions eight hundred and eighty-nine thoufand livres, which, dedufted from that of fixty millions, reduces It to ------ 50,iii,cxx>
To thefc oeconomical redudtions, it will be proper to add the amount of falaries and intereft which will ceafe by the reimburfements for em- ployments, offices, arid fecuricics, fince I have included, among the augmentations of expences, the en- tire fum, which muft be paid annu- ally for the intereft of the capital of thefe reimburfements. ^There is only the difference between this intereft and what was formerly paid, that can be confidered as a new expence* Thus the finances of the offices of magiftrature, and other acceflary offices, fuch as thole of the chan- ceries, bailiffs, attornies, &c. form- ing together a capital of four hun- dred and fifty millions of livres, the intereft, which I have reckoned as an increafe of expence, at the rate of twenty-fwo millions five hundred thoufand livres, is a real increafe of only thirteen millions one hundred and forty-feven thoufand livres ; be- caufe the fum of nine millions three
hundred
t 59 ]
Brought over • 50, 1 1 1 ,000
hundred and fifty-three thoufand livres was before paid in falaries re- prefentative of the intereft of the finances: it is thercforejuft to reckon here, as a reduftion, thefe fupprcflcd falaries, to the amount of - - - 9j353jOOd
I ought likewifc to make an arti- cle of rcduftion of the fupprefled in- tereft of the offices of finances, and the fecurities ; fince I have already ftated> as an article of expence, the intereft of the fums affigned for their reimburfement in the firft Report of M. de Montefquiou, of the i8th of November 1789. . This retrench- ment was included in the fum total of the reduftions, which had nearly led me into an error; but I obferved that they were not repeated in the ftatemcnt of the reduftions decreed provifionally on the 26th of Febru- ary 1790, and in confequence I add here their whole amount, which is 16,012,00(0
It is not the fame with refpeft to the appointments and emoluments
annexed
75,476,000
Brought over - 7 S>47 6*000
annexed to the offices of the houfehold of the King, the Queen, and the Princes ; or to military employments and to governments. As they were paid either from the funds adigned for the houfehold of the King, &c. or from thofc of the war department, and as they did not form particular articles in the ancient ftatements of expence, their fuppreffion is inchided in the reduflions of the civil lift and the military funds> which make a part of thofe I have noticed above, as decreed provifionally, on the 26th of February. They would therefore be twice reckoned, fliould I ftate them here a fecond time. I mention them at prefent only by way of * memorandum
â–
There remains the article of anti- cipations, of which the annihilation feems to promife a faving of about fifteen millions per annum: but I cannot ftate it here as a red&dion, 1% becaufe it is not certain, that the reiblution to anticipate no more will be rendered eSeflual, conform- ably
7S*476>ooo
C 6i ]
Brought ov«r - 75,476,000
ably to the decrees of the Aflembly^ and becaufe, on the contrary^ fince that refolution has been taken, new anticipations have been made on the enfuing year 5 adly, becaufe the an- ticipations which exiit at the nr.oment I am writing, that is to fay^ thoic which become due .poflerior to the month of Ofbober 1790^ and which extend to the month of May 1791, amount, according to the eftimate which I have extraded from the ac- count prefented to the Afiembly by M. Necker, on the aift of July laft (1790), to the fum of one hundred and eleven millions eight hundred thoufand livres, the intereft of which muft indifpenfably be paid tiU their extinftion ; 3dly, becaufe the means which have been employed to defray the expences incurred by the antici- pations are almoft as burdenfbme at thofe expences chemfelves, as I (hall hereafter make appear. What I have laid hcrej I intend only by way of memorandum
Total of tl»c rtduftions 7 5,47 6,000
HiCAPITULATjtOi^.
C 61 1
RSCAPITULATIOir*
The augmentations of expcnce amount to --.-.-. i55j770,ooo
The (economical redu^bions^ which are to be fubtraded from thisfum, amount to r - - - 75>476,ooo
, , , — — a^y
Remains for die augmentation of the expcnce - - . 80,294,000-
On the other hand, the diminu* tions of the revenue amount to - x 1 9, 200,000
The additional deficiency, com- . pofed of thefe two fums, is, there- fore - - ^ - - i9M94><50O
The former was - - 56,230,000
I
Total of the prefcnt deficiency 255,7 24,000
t" III â– if
In this calculation no notice is taken of tbt reimburfiments at ftated periods i they have been en- tirely loft light of fince my jrctirement from office^ I have already obferved that, if I had, in like man- ner, retrenched thgn from the account which I
gave
[ 63 3
gave in, in the year 1787, the deficiency would then have been but fifty-feven millions. What clamours did I not excite againft me, when I took the (alutary refolution to reveal its true ftate ! At prefent it is more than quadruple what it then wasy and is not noticed.
But without adverting to what concerns myfelf, is it poflible not to be (truck with aftonifhment, when we compare the deficiency, as it appears in the account given in by M. Necker, feventeen months fmce, with the prefent, and perceive that^ in fo fhort a time, it has been increafed by the Aim of one hundred and ninety-nine millions of livres ?
It may perhaps be objcfted to me, that I have not reckoned, in compenfation of the diminutions of revenue, the produft of the imports that have been decreed to fupply the place of thofe that have been abolifhed. But, in the firft place, this pro- du6t, which will be but a very unequal fubftitute, fmce, to fupply the place of the fixty millions brought in by the gabelle^ a tax which can only be valued at forty is all that has been decreed, docs not yet exift ; it has not yet been levied, nor can it be, till the general ftate of khe contributions, the form of their aflTeflTment, and the mode of their coUeftion, fhail be finally regulated. I Ihall here- after examine in what manner this may be done. Bcfidcs> it was incumbent on me to begin by
fhowing
[ «4 1
ihowing to what a fum the(e contributions muft amount^ to fupply all the deficiencies; the mealbre of which it was proper I fhould afcertain, as they cxift at the prefcnt moment, abftradted from the means that may be employed to provide for them. This method of proceeding is likewife the more proper, becaufe it is that followed by the Aflem* bly, which has deftroyed the revenue before it has taken any meafure to replace it, and without pay-* ing any attention to the irreparable mifchiefi^ which a gap of more than one year muft occafion. This, on its part, is no doubt, the oppofite to what it ought to have done; but on mine, the order of a methodical difcuflion required, that I fhould firft ftate the entire deficiency, before I confidcred ii^ what manner it might hereafter be provided for.
Far, however, from having exaggerated this de- ficiency, by dating it at prefent at two hundred and fifty-five millions, I think it abfolutely neceC- fary to eftimate it at a fum much more confidera- ble, in confideration of the ncceffity there muft at length be, to adopt fomc mode of providing for the periodical reimburfemcnts, which, for feveral years, feem to have been entirely difregarded, though the honour of the nation is pledged for their payment. The Committee of Finances ap- peared to be convinced of this neceffity, fince, in its Report of the 27th of Auguft laft, it propofed the alternative, either to difcharge at once, by the produce of the fale of the national domains, the
entire
[ 73 3
3d. The fufpcnfion of the reimburfcmcnts that have become due in a forced loan. The Com- mittee
complete, as has been promifed, the payments for the year 1789, befides the lafl half-year pf 1788? Miy we not doubt pf this, when Adminiflration gives us- to onderftand that^ to provide for the fervice of the prefent year, and begin the enfuing, two hundred millions of new affignats will be neceilary? In the midft of this darkneis, taking for my guides only thofe flatements which the AlTembly itfelf mufl allow to be authentic, I have endeavoured to didinguifh what ought to be confid^red as a debt, additional tathe old ones, ^m what has ferved to pay off thofe ^bich exited in my time. I clearly perceive, by the Account of M. Necker, that one hundred and ninety millions have been lent to the Royal Treafury by the Caiflc d'Efcompte within the fpace of a year (which is one of the greatefl of abufes). 1 imagine this loan to have been reimburfcd in aflignats : but tliis is only a change of denomination which cannot prevent the loan of one hundred and ninety millions from having exifted, nor even from dill exiting ; iince a loan is not the lefs a loan, becaufe it is made repayable on certain funds ; and no perfon can fay that he owes nothing, becanfe he has determined to fell his ef« fedb to pay his debts.
It -appears that the fecnrity of feventy millions, which I had Caufed the (lock-holders of the CaifTe d'Efcompte to advance in February 1787, and which is of a widely different nature from that confufed intermingling of the funds of the Royal Treafury with thofe of the Caiflc d'Efcompte, which 1 have never permitted myfelf tor the fmallcfl lura, has been in like manner reimburfed in affignats. In this cafe, out of the four hundred millions, there will only remain one hun- dred and forty, both for the difcharge of one half-yeai 's an- nuities, which will require eighty millions, and for paying off the anticipations ; and I am not furprifcd that four hundred
millions
[ 74 3
mittee of Finances has only cftioiated what is due to the prefent moment at one hundred and fcven
millions
millions have not been fufficient for the exigencies of the year. But what exigencies ! and how enormous is the ex- pence which has been incurred within thirteen months ! The general account given in by M. Nccker on the 12th of la£( July, dates it at feven hundred and thirty-one millions for twelve months^ ending with lad April ; that incurred from that date to the end of the year, will perhaps be fHU greater in proportion, bccaufe all that it was not thought proper to fuffer to appear in the former account may be thrown upon it. Perhaps we (hall find in it fome article fimilar to that which is the 55th of the chapter of the Expenditure, dating thirty- nine millions eight hundred and feventy-one thoufand livres for expends rclati*ve to Jubjtflence, after deduQlng the colleQions that ha've been made. That is to fay, that the difference of the price at which corn was fold to the public, and that at which it was purchafed by Government, was about forty mil- lions of livres, whlch^ admitting that the lofs might be about one third, would Aippofe an expeiice of one hundrtd and twenty millions in the purchafc of grain. But according to an /»- JiruSli'-oe mcnicir given in by M. Nccker to the Committee of Subfidence, the grain which Government had caufed to be imported into France, that which was expelled, and even that which was hoped for, amounted, in the whole, but to one million four hundred and four thoufand quintals, making five hundred and eighty-five thoufand Jcpiiers* of two hundred and forty pounds weight each, Paris weight ; the purchafe of which, at the rate of forty livres the jjpner (a very high price, efpecially as no difference is made ior the r\'e and bar- Icy included in this quantity), would have cod but between twenty-three and twenty-fi)ur millions ; though it has been affertcd to the Affcmbly, with equal effrontery and impfmity, that the State (which had only laid out twenty-four millions
iQ ♦ A mcafurc of twelve buihels.
[ 75 ]
millions eight hundred and fifty-Gx thoufand livres, becaufe it has taken from it three articles which it has thought proper to clafs difFerently, though thefe articles do not therefore the lefs make a part of the debt ; we fliall, however, abide by the calculations of the Committee, and eftimate this only at ------ 108,000,000
4th. The arrears of the payments of annuities is, in like manner, a forced loan, and, what is
*
worfe, a loan without intereft, confequently the moft unjuft of all. As it has been announced that, in the courfc of the prefent year 1790, the whole year 1789, befides the laft half-year of
1788.
io the purchafc of grain) had loft twenty-four millions by the fale of it. And even though grain fhould have been pur- chafed to the amount of thirty millions, at the rate of forty- five livrcs they>///>r, to pretend a lofs of tivcnty-fivo millions b^ the rerfale of it^ muft appear an extravagant abfurdity : but it is dill more abfurd to have carried this lofs up to forty mil- lions; fmce this is to fuppofe that, fince the month of July 1789, at which time I am willing to admit that thirty mil- lions might have been thus expended. Government mull have laid out ninety more in new purchafes, to make a total of one hundred and twenty millions, on which there might be a lofs of one third. This fuppofition, confidering that the year in which thefe fupplies were necelTary was placed between two favourable feafboj, is the height of extravagance. It requires the moft pitiable credulity to believe that even the half of this fum has been expended for th; fubfiftence of the people ; and all that we can conclude from it is, that a Revolution is a very llcar things
C 76 ]
1788, will be paid off, if this promifc is fulfilled, there will only remain one half-year's arrears ^ and this half-year is a^i objed of ^ - 80,000,000
5th. The other arrears of every kind which have augmented the national debt, thofe for enter* tainments, appointments, falaries, and die greater part of penfions, which have not been paid for two years back -, thofe for the expence of buildings, and die wardrobe, in fine, all demandable debts not fpecified above, and which cannot be paid off this year, amount together to a total which, ac- cording to the calculations I have feen, exceeds one hundred and forty millions of livres : but the Committee of Finances having only eftimated it at one hundred and twenty, I fliall here ftate it at
the fame .-r---- tI 20,000,000
•
Total of the five articles of the increafe of the national debt fince the month of April 1787, - - -----..---- 785,000^000
Each of thefe articles may with propriety be denominated a loan : for not to pay what we owe, and what is become due, is to borrow, if not to fteal, and is even that kind of borrow- ing which is mod deftrudive of credit, Befides, whatever difference we may wifh to eftablifh be- tween money raifcd and money withheld^ there is none with refpeft to the ufc that is made of it ;
and.
C 77 1
and, at any rate, thofe who have had the admini- ftration of the finances for thefe laft three years, owe to the nation an account of thefe feven hun- dred and eighty-five millions of extraordinary re- fources with which they have augmented the na- tional debt^ as well as of thofe arifmg from the patriotic gifts paid into the public Treafury, the plate carried to the mint, and the fums produced by the contribution of a quarter of the annual income of the contributors, Thefe, added to the feven hundred and eighty-five millions before mentioned, mult increafe the total to confider- ably above eight hundred millions : * but were only this fum to be reckoned for extraordina- ries, in what manner can it have been employed ? What ufe has been made of it by thofe Mini- fters who fo loudly vaunt their ceconomy, and
fo
* I (hould incliae to believe that the plate carried to the mint, amounting to fourteen or fifteen millions, the patriotic gifts, and efpecially the contribution of one fourth of the an- nual income, muH raife a much more confiderable fum, efpe- dally as it has been publicly afTcrtcd ihnt the contribution of die city of Paris alone amounted to more than thirty millions How are the people fed with illufions ! The account given in by M. Necker, on the laft of July, flates as received onif three hundred and fixty«ooe thoufand livres for patriotic giftf^ mud nine millions feven hundred and twenty-one thoufand livres for the contribution of a quarter of the revenues through the whole kingdom. What a number of fine words hmve been lavifhed for fo fmall an effedl !
C 7» 3
{;> afiiduoufly vilify every Adminiftration but
their own ? *
There
* May we not here make ibme moral reflexions on the fri* volity* abfurdity, and injuftice, of the opinion of the moltitode, which is too often confounded with that of the public ? Ab« firaded from all regard to myfelf, I have been ftnick with a contrail to which I would wiih to engage the attention of my readers*
On the one hand, we have feen a Minifler the vidim of CQon-intngue, and the courage which he JSrJf had to attjtck the privileges of the Clergy and Nobility, condemned to foficr the mod cruel perfecution, and fligmatifed with the moft dreadful imputations, while the blind multitude has obfHnately attributed to him the diforder which he did not fear to reveal to the Nation. In confequence merely of calumnies, which have been Aiggefled and fnpported by an adverfary who, after having fupplanted him, was intereflcd to procure his deflruc* tion, he has been believed guilty of the moil fhameful extra- vagance, and reviled with the utmoil virulence. In vain has he defied his enemies to prove^ or even to fpecify, a iingle ar- ticle of the depredations that have been vaguely attributed to him ; in vain has he iblicited the fevereil fcrutiny into his whole adminiilration : he has not been liilened to; nothing has been examined, nothing coniidered ; and, even now, when his ilanderers are reduced to filence, the impreffion which their malignity has made on the multitude, fHll remains. The xeaibnable part of the people are, indeed, undeceived with refped to his charader ; but he has obtained no reparation, and remains expofed to the venomous flings of the vilefl of reptiles.— Yet are his adverfaries compelled to confefs that, if in the fpace of three years and a half he borrowed four or five millions of livres, they have been employed inthifMy^ mtnt of tht dtbu incurred by the 'war, andtbt arrears. It is
univerfally
C 79 1
There is another fource of increafc of the national debt, which it would not be proper to
confound
univerfally acknowledged that he has al'wayj paid tuhat has been due 'with the utmoft exaBne/s, that the annuities ami all tbt engagements of the State ivere, under bis tninijlry, di/cbarged •coi/b apunSuality till tben unexampled \ that he had re'eflahlijbed credit, gi'uen ne*w life to commerce y prevented every kind of fear* iity, and encouraged all the arts .'in fine« it is certain that he impofed no tax, but on the contrary relieved the people from many burdenibme duties ; that it ivas during his adminiihii* tion that tie tbird fwcntietb ceafed\ and that the defideocj with which he is reproached^ elUmating it even afcording to the method that has been adopted, amounted only to fifty- feven millions at the time he quitted the miniilry. All thi« is what no perfon denies, but what no perfon confiders.
On the other hand, we have feen, immediately after his retirement, the pun^uality of payments ceafc, the* public en* gagements continually violated, loans muhiplicd with difho- nourable delays in the promifed repayments, the deficiency increafe, the national debt prodigiouily augmented, and credit annihilated ; we have {tt^ commerce languifh, induilry de» prived of its activity, and the wretchednefs of the people be- come extreme ; confufion has every where fucccedcd to tran- quillity, the political confequence of France vanilhcd like a dream, and the kingdom funk into ruin. Should wc not fuppofe that, in confequence of this cliange, complaints, re- proaches, and accufations fhould have beeo poured forth with redoubled violence againd the Miffiflers who had fucccedcd him who had been treated with {q much injuHicc ? No; their management has never been fo much as called in qucilion : little or no attention has been paid to the eight hundred mil- lions of livres that have difappcarcd, no one can explain how, under their adminiilration. The AfTembly and the people,
after
C 80 3
confound with the loans> or with the funas, ovii which is not the Icfs an increafc of the burden of the State 5 1 niean the reiniburfcments due for thei officesi military employnients, governments^ and fecuritics that have been fuppreflcd^ The total of the capitals which their fuppreflion obliges the State to reimburfe, amouhts, according to the re- port of the Committee of Finances, to eight hun- dred and fixty-two millions four hundred and fifty thoufand livres ; and, though the ftate was al- ready debtor in thefe capitals, which it had ori- ginally received, as they were alienated in perpe- tuity, the neccffity of reimburfing them is become! a new charge to the public Treafury. However, 1 fhall only confider as fuch the capital of the intereft which exceeds the fum formerly paid for" the falaries of the fupprefled offices, and the finan- cial interefts. I have already Ihown that this amounted to more than thirteen millions, for the offices of judicature : there is alfo a furplus for' feveral offices in the King's houfehold and military'
employments^
after having exhaufted themfelves in declamations againft an imaginary dilapidation^ have become indifFerent and mute' with rcfpeft to diforders ff the greateft magnitude. He who^ ^rfl put the Nation in a way to remedy its ancient evils ia profcribedt while the real author of its prefent misfortune* has enjoyed the full tide of popular favour, has, for a time^ been extolled as a divinity, and would be fo flill if he had not thought proper no longer to riik the celebrity which he haa carried with him to his retirement. — Oht human jtfdgCi- ments !
[ 65 }
entire fiirh of the feimburfements thus diie at dif- ferent periods not yet arrived, or to form a fink- ing fund of twenty-three millions feven hundred thoufand livres^ which, by adding to it the accu- tnulation of intereft as it became extindk^ might enable the State fucceflively to difcharge, in the ^ace of thirty- two years, this mafs of debt, which, according to the Committee, amounts to five hun- dred and fix ty- two millions fix hundred thoufand livres*
But to the firft of thefc two modes it is ob- jefbed, that it adds to the already exceffive weight of the debt at prefent due, parts of debts which are not yet demandable -, and this mode is alio liable to another, and, according to my ideas, a ftiU more important objedlion, which is, that it allots for this anticipated payment property which I maintain, and will prove, to be illegally ufurped*
The fecdnd mode has affinity to that which I myfelf propofed to the Aflcmbly of the Notables, but with a difference which I cannot confider as cither juft or reafonable, ill, It is not juft to alfign two and thirty years for the payment of reimburfements the major part of which will be- come due in ten years, dating from the prefent (1790), and of which not one, excepting fomc of little importance on the loans of the city of Paris, extends beyond twenty years, ad. It is not reafonable to appropriate to the fucceflive
F difcharge
[ 66 1
difchargc of a mafs of debts rapidly decfcafirig, and of which only the eight or ten firft years arc very burdcnfome, a fund of redemption con- tinually increafing, and which, after having been infufficicnt for its objeft during the firft years, (hall infinitely exceed it during the twelve laft. This would be an inverfion of what is indicated by the dates when thefe payments become due; for, fince it is natural to expeft that the progrefi of the fijnd fhould be parallel to that of the re- imburfements, a diminilhing rather than an in- creafing fund Ihould be employed ; and this Confideration it was that prevented me from ap- propriating to this purpofe a feres of expiring interefts, which is more naturally applicable to voluntary redemptions. I had at the fame time in view, to lighten the burden of the reimburlc- ments at ftated periods with refpeft to the royal treafury, without altering the terms of their ac- quittal with regard to the creditors ; another ex- pedient which was good at the time when there was credit in France, and which, had it been adopted in the year 1787, would have faved Go- vernment the difgrace of failing in this part of the engagements of the State, which I was of opinion ought not to be feparated from the an- nual expcnce, but which, fince it has been de- tached from it, has been counted for nothing.
At prefent, without being able to forefec what will be determined with refpedt to thefe engage- men ts^
t 67 ]
ments, which ought to be included among thdlb the Aflennbly has declared to be under tbejafe-- guard of the Nation^ it appears to me that, if wc eftimate in idea the expence of the mean year of the twenty in which the whole of the periodical reimburfements are to be paid, we Ihall find that, adding to the payments that are to become due the intereft of the fums not yet due, the mean amount will be at leaft thirty- five millions of livres *.
It appears juft to add this fum to the annual deficiency, which I have fhown to be two hundred and fifty- five millions, abftrafted from every arrangement which may be made for the ac- quittal of the periodical reimburfements i and confequently this deficiency ought to be con- fidered as now amounting to - - 290,000,000
The Aflembly, therefore, at the prefcnt moment has to provide for a deficiency of two hundred
F 2 and
* The fam of five hundred and fixty-two millions fix huii« dred thoufand livres^ is that at which the whole of the perio- dical reimburfements is eftimated by the Committee of Fi- nances, in page 7 of its Report of the 27th of Auguft. This fum divided by twenty, for the twenty years, gives twenty-* eight millions, one hundred and thirty thonfand livres per annum. The decreafing intereft, taken at its proportional mean, would be fourteen millions; but I have only reckoned it at feven, the firft reimburfements being fo confiderable that they double the rapidity of tlie decreafe, which gives in the wKolc thirty-five millions of livres per annum*
[ 6Z 3
and ninety millions of livres in the revcnw , noC^ withftanding a redu&ion of fixty millions in the expenditure. This is a conclufion to make us ihudder. But is it juft> or is it not ? I appeal to the judgement of the Afiembly itfclf, if it will confent to permit each article to be difculled in its prefence, and decide. I requefl:^ andj in the name of the public intereft^ call upon the Com« mittee of Finances to declare^ whether;, in the cftimatc I have juft given, I have made any miftake, and in what. This is a queftion too important to remain unanfwered. If I am proved in an error, I will candidly retraft what I have advanced ; but will defend my aflertions, fhould they only be oppofed by fubtecfuges. Silence9 after fuch a challenge muft be confidered as an avowal of the charge ; and if I am not confuted, I ought to be believed. The public will not pardon an affefted contempt, when the fubjcft in queftion is an elucidation in which it is eflfen^ tially interefted, which every citizen has a right to demand, and which is now demanded in the moft ferious manner.
Let me here add that, if, notwithftanding all the care I have taken to be exaft, fome error fhould have crept into my calculations, or fome doubt fhould be entertained with rcfpefl: to the manner in which certain articles that I have reckoned as an increafe of the expenditure ought to be viewed, the difference in the total amount
caqnot
[ 69 ]
cannot be more than forty millions of livres; and in this cafe, the deficiency will ftill be two hundred and fifty millionsj at which fum I fhall rate it through the reminder of thefc remarks, that the confequences I deduce may be inconteftable. My readers will therefore remember that errors to the amount of forty millions of livres will not diminiih the truth of what I advance.
I have hitherto only fpoken of the annual defi- ciency, and its prodigious increafe fince my retire- ment from the miniftry. I (hall now, in order to fliow in every point of view the confufion that has been introduced into the State, proceed to examine how much the capital of the national debt has been augmented during the fame in- terva}.
Increafe of the CafUal of the National Deht within
the Three laji Tears.
THE Aflcmbly of the Notables convoked in 1787 had for its principal objeft to find an ef- feftual means of putting an end to loans, I then thought that, as the debts incurred by the war were entirely liquidated, it might be poffible to tvoid recurring again to that fatal refourccf; and, to render the abjuration of it more immutable by the moft folemn national affcnt that could be hoped for at thtt time, I determined, not 3nly tQ tear away every veil, and ftow the wotad of
F 3 the
[ lo ]
the State in all its depths but alfo to difplay thofe aggravating acccflbries which I might eafily have detached from it, as my fiicceflbrs have done. My defign, as I clearly explained it in my Dif- courfe to the Notables, my only defign was to cffeft great retrenchments in the expenditure, to compel a reformation of unjuft privileges, and by thefe means to produce a balance between the receipt and the expenditure, and deliver the State from the fyftem of loans, the fource of every evil. But what has been the event ? I have been facrificed, and more money borrowed than in any preceding times, more is ftill borrowed every day, and continually to borrow feems to have become the only fecret of adminiftration to re-f medy the diforder occafioned by Joa^s ! *
What clamours fliould I not have excited in J 787, if, after having demonftrated how much in- jury had been done to the State by the filly error of preferring, during war, ruinous loans to an incrcafe of taxes, which muft fooner or later be- icomc inevitable, I had declared that, though the old debts had been paid off, it would ftill be nc- ccflary to borrow, to borrow more than before, to borrow, within three years, near eight hundred millions of livres 1 I fhould have been heard with ^ kind of horror, and deemed a madman — ^yct this is what h^ ad^ually been done.
The
* li is manifeft that a p;vatioD oiaj/tgnau is a loao.
E 7t ]
The proof of my aflertion is as follows.
I ft. The fcries of direft loans from May 1787 to Auguft 1789*, amounts to two hundred and cighty-feven millions of livres.
ad. The fums advanced to Government by the Caijfe d'EJcompe^ or, which amounts to the fame thing, the portion of ajftgnats which have
F 4 replaced
• Loan by cdift of May 1787 . . . 60,000,000 Loan of the States of Langucdoc, towards the end of the fame year 12^000,009
3,000,000
1,500,000
12,000,000
10,100,000
Item for a redemption • • . •
Loan of the States of Burgundy
Lottery of Odlober 1 7 8 7
Money advanced by the Farmers-general
Item by the Receivers-general ; but it is to be reimborfed, and is here only mentioned by way of . . . • ... memorandum.
Loan of the month of November 1787 120,000,000
Three new loans of the States of Langucdoc, Ih 1788; which, not being entirely filled, I here only reckon what has been paid in to the prefent time, viz » • 9,300,000
Loan of the States of Provence, in the fame year 3,000,000
Advance made, in March 1788* by the Com- pany of AflTurance . • • . • 5,000,000
Advance made, in 0£lober 1788, by the Com- pany of Notaries ..... 7,000,000
Payments of the old loans, become due flnce 1787 • . . .... 4,100,000
Loan of Augufl 1789, of eighty millions, and effectually of • • • • • • 40,ooo,oo#
i87,ooo,oo«
C 7* ]
replaced them^ might have been reckoned among the direct loans above enumerated i but at leaft fuch of thefe Turns as have been advanced within thefe two years, and which have in a great mea* fure abforbed the refource which the aflignats might have procured, mull be confidcred as in- direft loans ; and that I may rifk no error with rcfpeft to their an>ount, which the reciprocal trans- fufion of the notes of the Caifle d*Efcomptc and the affignats renders difficult to afcertain with precifion, I fhall confine myfelf to the laft general account given in by M. Necker, on the aift of July of the prcfent year (1790), in which we find, at article 41 of the receipts of the royal trcafuiy from the ift of May 1789 to the 30th of April 1790, inclufively, for Advances received from the Caifle d'Efcompte, * — r — r - 190,000,000
* The fums advanced by the Caifle d'Efcomptej, the ufe made of the aflignat8> and the remainder of the anticipations, are fab-: jedls which the Committee of Finances has not fufiiciently eluci- dated, at leaft in its different reports ; and it may be faid> that they ftill remain - enveloped in that cloud with which care has been taken to pb(cure by artfully intermingling them. The affignats have ferved to reimburfe the CaiiTe d'Efcompte ; and the notes of the Caifle d'Efcompte have fupplied the place of the aflignats during their fabricatipn : thefe fidlitious values have been confounded. The aflignats ought alio to have entirely paid off the anticipations : but have they done it completely ? by what concurrence ? and in what manner ? With four hun- dred millions of aflignats^ ibme progrcfs has been made towards difcharging the arrears of annuities : but will they fufficc to
complete.
[ «t 3
employments. The whole amounts to above fifteen millions, making a capital of three hundred millions, which fum only I (hall flate as the in- creafe of the national debt for this article. -•--.--.--- 300,000,000
We muft alfo add the price of the redemption of the infeudated tithes, which is likewife a new debt for the ftate, and has been eftimated by the Committee of Finances at - - - 100,000,000
The affignats, bearing three per cent, intereft, form alfo an increafe of the national debt, and might be placed in the lift of loans i fmce to create paper money, is to borrow of the public the value of that paper, which is owed by the State j but as I have reckoned above, the advances made by the Caiffe d'Efcompte, which have been re- imburfed by this paper, and fince it has ferved alfo to pay ofF a great part of the anticipations, I ought only to confider as a new debt the furplus above what is appropriated to thefe two objefts. Thefe together muft employ four hundred and forty-five millions. If, therefore, to complete thefe payments, and provide for the exigencies of the year, it fhould be found neceflary to add, at Icaft, one hundred millions of new affignats to the four hundred millions firft iffued, there will be only fifty-five millions out of thefe five hundred millions to be reckoned as a new debt. It is probable that the fupplemcn? decreed will be
G mucli
£ 8a 3
much greater ; but I fliall here only reckon thefe • --.-.----- 55,ooOjOOo
And^ adding the three lad fums to the eight hundred millions of Ipan, the total will become - ---------- 1,255,000,000
Is it to be believed ! Can we conceive that the national debt, which rofe only to three thoufand millions of livres in the courfe of a century *, has been increafed by twelve hundred and fifty-five millions within three years ! — Yet do I not exag- gerate. We may eafily be convinced of the truth of what I have advanced, if we confider that this account agrees very nearly with the ftatements lately publilhed by order of the AlTembly, which make the prefent debt amount to one thoufand nine hundred and two millions, and the capitals o/[
die
* The State owed, in the beginning of the year 1787*
ift> In life annuities^ ninety-two millions^
making a capital of - - - . 920^000^000
id. In perpetual annuities, fifty^five mil-
lionsy making a capital of - - - ijlOO«000«000
^d. For different interefb and falariesj
fifty millions, making a capital of - 1,000,000^000
Total of the capitals 3 ,0 20,ooo,o«o According to the Committee^ the debt at
prefent is ----- - 4,241,000,000
Difference ..---• 1,239,0004000
[ h 1
the perpetual and life annuities to two thoufand three hundred and thirty-nine millions; and> confequently, the total to four thoufand two hun- dred and forty-one millions*
To whom arc we to look as the authors of this grievance ? Who is to be confidered as refponfible for the cruel injury done to the Nation by the caufe, whatever it may be, of an increafe of debts which, according to the opinion of the Aflembly itfelf, exceeds twelve hundred millions; and by an increafe of annual deficiency, which, as I have ihewn above, advances it to more than two bun^ dred and fifty millions.
Let us now fee what the Aflembly can do, or what may be done by the Legiflature which (hall fucceed it, to repair fo dreadful a diforder.
Two methods feem to be propofed : the one, a creation of new afllgnats, to pay off, in whole or in part, the prefent debt, and facilitate the fale of the national domains i the other, a general re-mo- delling of all the contributions, and a regulation of the produce of their different kinds, in fuch a manner that they may be fufficient for the necef- fary expences.
Let us examine what fuccefs may be expcfted from either of thefe projefts.
G 2 AJrW
t 84 1
New Creation of JJignats.
SINCE fome of the members of the National
Aflembly have perfuaded it that, to favc the Stat^ it was neceffary to feize on the property of the clergy, and the royal domains, others endeavour to perfuadc it that, to render this ufurpatioii ufc- ful and fpeedily falutary, it will be neccflary to pay the creditors of the State in paper, which being received in payment for the property called national, will accelerate its fale. They have not hefitated to propofe to create two thoufand millions of aflignats, the acceptance of which is to be compulfive, befides the four hundred millions already in circulation j and the fame man who declared, a year fince, that " paper money is a robbery," " a tax on the people"— -that it is " an attack on the liberty of the Nation" — that it is " a circulating pcftilence" — now maintains with heat that it is neceflary immediately to create paper to the amount of two thoufand millions of livres, and that whoever oppofes this meafure is an enemy to tlie State. *
Would he then make us believe that a paper which we are compelled to receive in payment»
and
* Another member has faid that only amaUHJoUnt inng could be an enemy to the affignats.
C 85 1
and which is not convertible into fpccie at plca- fure, is not paper money ; and' that what was/(?r- merly called by that name^ and is ftill fo called elfewberey 15 very different from territorial paper ? As well might he deny the exiftencc of light, when the fun fhines : this however he has endea- voured to eftablifh.
At the time of the firft iffuing of this paper it was faid : " Do not confound affignats which are ** transferable, with paper money properly fo '^ called, which is totally different from them; confound not the reprefentative figns of a cre- dit efpecially fecured on real property, with thofe dangerous illufions of our fathers, the fatal *^ effefts of which arc ftill imprinted in the me- mory of their descendants /* *
€€ it €€
tc
But why fhould we no^ compare things the charaAer of which is eflentially the fame ? Every paper on which Government imprefles the value of money, the circulation of which is compelled, and which is not conftantly convertible into fpecie, is paper money properly fo called. Bur this defini- tion, which has never been contcfted, agrees per- fcftly with the affignats: they are a circulating paper^ having the currency of money through the
G 3 whole
• Report of the Committee of Finance! of the 9th of April 1790.
C 86 ]
'U^bole kingdom, the acceptance of them as money is compelledy and tbey dannot be changed into Jfecic at fleafure i they are therefore paper money ^
But they have two acceflary qualities whichj without altering their nature^ rank them in 9 par* ticular clafs.
The one is, that, whereas other paper has only 4 general fecurity on the entire mafs of the revenues of the State, thefe have a fpecial fecurity on pro^ perty ufurpcd in the name of the Nation.
The other quality, which diftinguifhes theni from ordinary paper money, and, in general, from all paper having no odier fupport than public faith, or other benefit than convenience, is that it has been thought proper to add to them the at- traftion of an intereft of three per cent, which makes them participate in the inconvenience of loans.
I leave the reader to judge whether, in conle** quence of thefe relations in kind, and thefe dif^ ference? in mode, any iAjuftice is done to the aflignats by calling them paper money. Were it neceflary to add an epithet to this name, confidcr- ing the lofs they incur, notwichftanding the ad- vantages attributed to them, that which would fuit them would not be in their favour.
However
' E 87 ]
However far I may always have been from ap- proving, in any cafe, the introduction of a paper of compulfive acceptance, I Ihould not permit myfelf to publifh any reflexion which might tend to weaken the refource, that the diftrcfs into which the State is plunged has obliged the Af- fembly to feek in the creation of four hundred millions of aflSgnats j and I fhould make no farther mention of it, had not the abufe which it was to be feared might be made of fo dan- gerous an expedient manifefted itfelf in fo fhame- lefs a manner, and proceeded to fuch an ex- cefs, that there is no good citizen nor perfon of fenfe and difccrnment but mult fhudder to think of it.
In every age, and in every country in the world, to have recourfe to paper money has been confi- dered as a fign of diftrefs, a fatal extremity, ever to be viewed with dread, and fcarccly to be ex- cufed by the moft difaftrous emergences. — ^At prefent our leaders, with the audacious confi- dence of men infpired in adminiftration, con- gratulating each other as having given birth to a marvellous idea, and tyrannically rejefting all difculfion, laviOi on this fatal fcourge the names *^ of the great means, — the juft and falu- ^^ tary means, — the fruitful mine which Provi- '* dence has caufcd us to difcover, in the midfl: " of the ruins of the ancient adminiftration,
G 4 "to
[ 88 3
^' to fill up the immenfe abyfs of the public « debt." ♦
ExprefHons equally emphatical had been em- ployed in the Addrefs to the French, printedj by order of the Aflembly, in the month of April laft. It was affirmed that the ifluing of affignats, which were then limited to four hundred millions, was the ^* faving of the State j" that by this " new and " immenfe refource the nation was delivered from ^' all uncertainty, and had only need of union, *' conftancy, and firmnefs, for the operation of " this great mean to reftore to the public trea- ** fury, to commerce, and to all the branches of *' exhaufted induftry, ftrength, abundance, and " profperity."
Six months have fcarcely elapfed, and again wc are told that it is neceflary once more to have recourfe to this empirical receipt, which is extolled with redoubled quackery, at the fame time that the dofe is quadrupled ; and attempts have been made even to perfuade the people, that the more paper money there Ihall be in circulation, the hap- pier they will be.
The fuccefs of the firft emiflion of aflignats has been urged.— But what was this fuccefs ! A pa- per
* Expreflions of M. de Mirabeau the elder and M. dc
JSeaumetz.
[ 89 1
per which, notwithftanding the landed fccurity and continual intercft annexed to it, has not been able to obtain the fame favour as was pofleffcd by that for which it was fubftituted 5 a paper, the circulation of which has only been eftablifhed by force, and which prefently funk in value five or fix per cent. ; a paper, the fuperabundance of
which Adminiftration has declared to have in-
•
creafed its embaraffment ; a paper which has ren- dered our foreign trade more difadvantagcous, at the fame time that it has occafioned . a greater fcarcity of money and obftruftion to the circulation of fpecie ; — is this the invention, the good efFedbs of which are fo much to be boafted ? And even though it (hould have been as beneficial as has been pretended, is this a fufficient reafon for mul- tiplying it beyond all proportion ? For, as has been well obferved by one of the members of the Aflembly, becaufe four grains of a violent medi- cine do not kill, are we to conclude that twenty, taken at once, will not prove mortal ?
There is a certain quantity of fpecie which it is neccffary (hould be in circulation, to fupply the exigencies of life, and the demands of commerce ; but this quantity is much more limited than thofe who have made no inquiries on this fubjedt would fuppofe. The ufual circulation of Paris amounts to about eighty or a hundred millions of livres ; this is what is in motion ; the remainder is ftag- nant, or only ufcd in confiderable negociations,
and
C 90 ]
and fuch aSj if I may fo fpeak^ are eccentric to that daily currency which alone concerns the peo- plCj and ought principally to engage the atten- tion of Government. Let the number of the figns reprefentativc of money be increafed by the multiplication of notes^ of which the leaft value ihall be two hundred livres, and the acceptance of which (hall not be compulfive, it can produce no inconvenience; becaufe the ufe of them, though a part may be employed in bargains of a certain value, can never abforb the quantity of real fpecie requifite for the mod neceflary purchafes, and the payment of workmen's wages. The larger the fums are for which the notes are made out, the Icfs is it to be feared that they will leave the fuperior atmolphere of great exchanges, and difturb the courfe of interior circulation ; efpecially if no perfon can be com- pelled to receive them, and if they may at any thne be converted into coin. Hence we fee why the notes of the Caifle d'Efcompte, when they were payable on demand, and while that bank was in- violably kept feparate from the Royal -Treafury, were a ufeful fuccour to commerce, and invigo- rated the circulation of Paris, without depriving it of that quantity of fpecie which is neceflary. Hence alfo it appears that, if deftrudtive ignorance,, which corrupts and ruins whatever it touches, had not changed and debafed this excellent inftitu- tion, it might have become ftill more beneficial, by extending the currency of its notes to the pro-
vinccsj
C 9« ]
vinccs, as I had in view to have done, by re* quiring a new fecurity from the ftockholders* Hence, alfo, we fee the reafon why in £ngland^ where the number of bank-notes in circulation is prodigious, the only confequcnce is a great in- creafe. of riches, without any inconvenience or ob- ftru&ion to the circulation of fpecie.
But if, inftead of a Bftitious money, which may be rendered equivalent to real, by the certainty of realizing it when we pleafe, which being volun- tarily accepted can never be detrimental, and which, not being too much fubdivided, can do no injury to the currency of fpecie, a forced pa- per money (hould be introduced, and circulated with.fuch profufion that it fhall fill all the mar- kets^f it fhould be fubdivided into notes much below two hundred livres, and even down to the value of a louis — if, in fine, thefe pieces of paper money, deftined by their tenuity to penetrate into ;dl the branches of interior circulation, (hould be inultiplied to a degree which exceeds the ordinary
meafure of this fame circulation— it is then evi-
•
dent, and indubitable, that this tyrannical paper will put to flight the fpecie, and that, being un- able to fupply its place in every refpeft, it can only reftore it by being itfclf degraded -, that it muft lofe its primitive value, in the compound ratio of its own fuperabundance and of the fear- city of money; that, by confequence, the lofsmuft be prodigious, if it is iiTued to the amount of two
thoufand
C 9a ]
thoufand millions of livres; that this lofs muft not only fall on the creditors of the State^ but muft defcend from debtor to debtor, even to the loweft of the people : that the confequence will bc^ to the manufafturer, that it will be impoflible for him to pay his workmen their wages ; to the woik- man, that he will not be able to find employment ; and to all who live only by their daily earnings^ that it will not be in their power to purchafc the neceflaries of life : and hence will enfue an inun* dation of all thofe evils and a6b of violence which are the offspring of delpair.
All thefe effects have been fcnfibly felt by the greater number of the trading towns *, and clearly pointed out by feveral of the moft enlightened members of the Affembly, whofe fentiments on this fubjcfl: having been publifhed, have come to my knowledge.
The Bifhop of Autun has called the attention of the Aflembly to the injury which the aflignats for* fmall fums, and of whic\ the acceptance is com- pellable, muft do to agriculture and induftry ; on the empoverifliment which their abundance muft occafion among the country people, and artizans of every clafs, by deftroying all proportion be- tween
* Of thirty-fbor addrdfes from the principal trading tawns^ of which report was made to the Aflembly on the aSch of laft month, feven only have recommended the aflignats.
C 93 ]
tween the price of commodities and the price of labour^ and by rendering every article of con- Aimption dearer^ and thus diminifhing confump- tion. He has made the mod judicious reflexions on the convullive motions which the fudden ap- pearance or difappearance of an enormous quan- tity of circulating paper muft neceffarily caufe in the daily balance of exchanges^ and in all the parts of the political ceconomy ; he has examined and analyfed with fagacity all the exifting rela- tions between the ideal value of the afllgnat- money, and the intrinfic value of metal, which is at the fame time money and merchandife ; he has /hewn the neceflity of calculating theif propor- tion, or rather the efFefts of their inevitable dif- proportion, relatively to the exchange, and all the combinations of foreign commerce.
The opinion of M. de Landine ought to have made an equal impreffion. To incontcAable po-^ fitions, excellently deduced from the motives on which is founded the preference that has been given, among all nations, to the precious metals above every other reprefentative fign of the value of things, he has added a difplay, equally juft and eloquent, of the fatal confequences which muft be produced by this inundation of aflTignats, which pouring from the creditors of the nation on the pofleflfors of property, who are the " true families of the State," and on the indigent clafs of people to whom they give fubliftence, muft hurry away
with
cc
€€ €€
i 94r 1
with it, " like a devouring torrent, both the wafe-* '^ houfes of our cities and the cottages of our !»• ** boiirers, dilfipate every fortune, ruin every ma- '* nufa6ture, and carry far away our real richesj leaving us only an imaginary wealth, a fterila paper, incapable of fertilifing our plains, and a thoufand domains, but not a fmgle piece of ** money to procure them cultivation."
I doubt not but the Abbe Maury, Meflieiift de Mondauzier, Dupont, Bergaflfe, DefmeunieiB^ Malouet, and all the men of ingenous minds, have in like manner exerted their talents, and made every effort to open the eyes of thofe who under^ ftand too little of thefe matters, and unmaflc the views rf thofe who underjiand them but too well.
While I am making citations, I fhould do wrong to take no notice of the laft Memoirs which M. Necker Has addreffed to the AfTembly^ He has protefted that " he never affented to the *' propofition" to create two thoufand millions of aflignats, and that ^' he confidered it as infinitely " dangerous." Though it appears that his word has now, for fome time, loft all credit, yet ought we to believe him, when he himfelf declares to what a degree he was daily embarrafTed to coUeft the quantity of Ipecie indifpenfably requifite for the moft urgent payments ; and in affifting the manu- faftui ers, merchants, and individuals of all ranks, to find the money without which they could not
poffibly
[ 95 ]
poflTibly have carried on their buGnefs. We ought to believe him, jvhen, attefting the exhaufted ftatc of the public Treafury, he obferves that it has al- ready coft prodigious fums for obtaining fpecie and procuring metal for the mint — and *' that during " fuch a fituation of affairs, when the quantity of ^' paper money is already too great, to ifTue ftill ** more muft unavoidably exite the utmoft dif- *' content, and the loudeft and moft inceflant com- *' plaints and rempnftrances, not merely from any *^ particular clafs of the people, but from the whole *' body of citizens ; — that it would expofe to rifle *V the fubfiftence of the cities, at the moment when '* the unlimited quantity of paper money fhall *' caufe it to be refufed in all the free markets ; — ** that it muft render uncertain the payment of " the troops, that of the public works, that of the *^ charitable inftitutions, and of all thofe expences, *' a delay in which muft become an occaGon of *' commotion and effervcfcence."
What muft we think of the Aflembly which pretends to govern France, if fo many fclf-evident reafons, fuch a view of immineni dangers, fo clear a difplay of the intereft of the nation, and fo many teftimonies of the opinion of the^whole kingdom, cannot arreft it in its courfe, and at leaft infpire it with doubts, which, when the deftiny of the State is in queftion, may at leaft be fufficicnt to prevent it from putting any thing to hazard ? What muft we think, if, on fo important an occafion, and
when
[ 96 ]
when the confequences of the meafures it Ihall adopt mud be fo irreparable, it ihall fuffer itfelf t6 be fubjugated by the audacious harangues of thofe to whom the ruin of the public is nothing in com-^ parifon of their own private intcreft, or by the mad clamours of a multitude, which fortunately can never be confidered as reprcfenting the French people?
Can we believe that this people, however fri- volous and credulous we may fuppofe them, can ever fo have forgotten the terrible cataftrophc oc- cafioned, at the beginning of the prefent century, by the abufe of the fyftem of Law, as to fee with- out alarm an operation which feems to proceed in the fame track ? And even though this fhould have been effaced from their memory, would it not have been recalled by the very recent example of what paffed under the eyes of many thoufands of the French nation, with refpeft to the paper • money created by the United States of America? Is it not known that this paper, territorial like ours, funk in value 95 per cent., and led, as Mr. Payne had predifted, to a bankruptcy ; that fome years before, the paper of Penfylvania, fecured on the fineft lands of that province, did not meet with a better fate, y that the paper of Sweden has been productive of like pernicious effedts ; that the pa- per of Ruffia is at prefent funk in value 35 per cent.; and that the paper the abufe of which I put a ftop to in the I Acs of France and Bourbon,
ruined
[ 97 ]
ruined the SUte^ by favouring the greateft difor- ders ? How then is it poflible to hope that what has no where fucceeded^ even in the midft of the greateft tranquillity^ can be attended with fuccefs in France^ during the moft tempeltuous crifis; and that with a few rhetorical harangues and phrafes it may be poflible miraculoufly to eftablifh confi- dence and fecurity, notwithftanding the difquie* tude and alarm already fpread through the king- dom by the mere announcing of the projeft^ and by the publication of opinions concerning it^ which have unveiled all the dangers to which it is expofed ?
I cannot however fear that the Aflembly will renture to difregard all thefe confiderations : but may not that be admitted in part, which is acknow- ledged to be imprafticable in the whole ? May it not be imagined that the State may be preferved from being overwhelmed by an abyfs of evils, by only plunging into them half way ? And may not the Aflembly, preflcd by the embarraflment of the nx>ment and the fear of the future, aft as nume- rous bodies almoft always doj may it not too cafily yield to the deceitful idea, that the folution of all difficulties may be found in a medium which, on the contrary, only unites the inconve- niences of both extremes ? The appearances pre- fented by the progrefs of the difcuflTion, of which I know not yet what will be the iflue, give reafon for fuch an apprehenfion s and without knowing
H whether
[ 98 3
whether my obfervacions on this fubje^ will come too late^ or whether a prudent delay> which the diveriity of opinions feenis to render probable, will afford me time to giye them to the world before the decifion of this great afiair, I (hall proceed to throw them haflily on paper, refolved, even in cafe the queftion fhould be precipitately determined^ to fuffer them to remain with thofe others which I have determined to ^ve the world on the opcni« tions of the Aflembly, in hopes that they may be of ufe for the general revifionj which I per*- fuade myfelf muft foon be acknowledged to be neceflary.
The fubjeft to be difcuffed is, therefore, ho longer an emiflfion of two thoufand millions of aflfignats, but only one of eight hundred millions, which, added to the four hundred already iflued, will make the total amount twelve hundred mil- lions. It appears probable that the Aflembly will be induced to tliis meafure by two motives.
I ft, Becaufe it will wilh to accelerate the falc of the national property ; adly, becaufe it will be- lieve that the iffuing of thefc affignats will reOore the finances, and fave the State. I fhall proceed to prove that, with rcfpeft to both thefe ends, the means propofed will be at once inefFcdtual and un- juft; that it will bring on us all the evils that are to be feared, without procuring the advantages that are hoped.
Of
[ 99 3
Of this total of twelve htmdred millions, which 1 fliall henceforth fuppofe to be the amount of the affignat-nnoney, it appears to me that we cannot expeA more than the half to be aftually employed in the purchafe of the national domains, becauie thi other half will confift ofj ift^ the fmall aflig- hats for fums under two hundred livres, which will remain in mercantile circulation i 2dly, thoie which will be employed in the payment of taxes, for which as much of this kind of money as can be will be paid i 3dly, thofe which (hall be given to neceflitous creditors, preffcd by debts and wantSj and not in a condition to purchafe. Wc cannot therefore reckon more than fix hundred millions, which may reafonably be expefted to be employed in the purchafe df the property ftyled. National*
But fix hundred millions are not the third part of the fum which will be required for the purchafe of the whole of this property ; and, bcfides, no- thing, is lefs certain, nor even Icfs probable, than that thofe anx>ng whom.thefe fix hundred millions of aflignats (hall be diftributed, will be inclined to purchafe with them landed property, the alien^oa of which, whatever may be faid concerning it, cannot appear inconteilable, and certainly is not confidered as fuch by thofe who think that, ijiough i£ ihould be true that the nation may, by the law of the ilroogeft rather than that of jufticCj fcizc on property which it has more than once ac-
H 2 knowledged
[ 100 1
knowledged to appertain to the church, it is at lead neccflary that it Ihould itfclf have declared that fuch was its will, and have ratified the in- vafion made in its n^me, before fuch property can be confidered as permanent and tranfiniffible. As fuch a mode of thinking is conformable to all the maxims of law and reafon, it is at leall poflible diat doubts may arife ; and that, in confequence of thefe doubts, paper which at fome lofs may be converted into money, may be preferred to lands which there is a danger of lofing entirely.
Thus the new emiffion of affignats, which in any cafe will only be fufficient for the purchafe of a fmall part of the national property, will not even be employed in purchafing that, if, either from neceffity or diftruft, the holders of them Ihould rather choofe to pay them away, or fell them, than employ them in making acquifitions, their right tot which mud appear doubtful.
The only thing which can induce us to prefiime that ibe public debt which Jball be converted inio affignats jhall again be converted into national do^ mainsy is the probable degradation of the value of this paper, becaufe, in faft, the more it (hall be depreciated in the market, the more will the holders of it be inclined to feek another iflue for it s and if this fiditious money fhould fink ezceC- fively in its value, from its too great abundance^ as it probably will, it will be forcibly impelled
toward
r «oi }
toward purchafes^ which will then be its only re« fogc.
Here becomes manifeft an injuftice the mod: Ihameful and mod unworthy of a great State, which would thus be transformed into '' a jobber •' deriving advantages from the deprelTion of the •* funds/' to ufe the exprefiion of M. Necker. It is true he elfewhere calls this mode of conftraining perfbns to become purchafersi by diminilhing the value of the means of payment, " a vaft idea /' but it is, on the contrary, only a very narrow (pe- culation, pregnant with the moft iniquitous fpirit of ftock-jobbing, and which only proves that its authors have believed it was in their power to de- baie the Government to their own level.
•
But if it is unjuft and vile to make bad pay- ments of our debts, in order to compel perfbns to buy what we wi(h to fell, it is ftill much more unjuft to fell the property of another, and enable ourfelves to pay by feizing what is not our right. This latter confideration, the moft decifive of alli cannot be urged by any of the members of the A0embly ; becaufe all being reputed to have co-operated in its decrees, no member can, while he continues to make a part of that Aflfembly, difpute their validity. The re«* monftrances and protefts of the members of a deli- berating body againft the decrees pafled when they made a part of it, arc ill-placed and incon- gruousi unlefs accompanied by their reflgnation.
H 3 But
I 101 1
But tvtry 6thcr citizen, every other member of the colleftive bcxiy from which the powers of the reprefentative body have emanated, pollefies a right to ccMTiplain of the manifeit abufe of thde powers; he pofleiles a right to remonftratc pi^ the meafures that are in dirc6l oppofition to the mandates in the framing of which he has partici- pated, either immediately or mediately ; he pof- fefles a right to call on the whole nation to exih mine and decide on the points which are comta* di&ory to what it had prefcribed, and to appead to the twenty-five millions of his colleagues, tCz lative to the txanfgrefliQn of the powers they had delegated.
I avail myfelf of this right; and imagining myr felf in the midft of a national convention, where I may be permitted to queftion, in the prefencc of the people, thofe who, when the Clergy offered to affift the State with four hundred millions of livres, which without any violence or difturbance of pub- lic order would have been of the g;-eateft utility, have rather chofen to dcfpoil them tyrannically^ fcandaloufly, and without any profit, of the whole of their property, become by the fupprelfion of
tithes unequal to the charges annexed to it, %
addrefs them thus : By virtue of what right, or under what pretext, have you permitted yourfclvc^ to violate the law which is the fafegviard of pro- perty, the foundation of all civil order, and the fifft of public benefits ? What can have induced
you
[ i 103 3
^ you to be guilty^ without any utility whatever, of an infraction of this law, for which no political advantage can be an excufe ?
Tbere W0S no other means, you reply, to Jave the State.
It is proved, on the contrary, even by the con- ^flion of your own Committees, that, dedu^ng ihe tithes which you have aboli(hed> the remain* der of the ecclefiaftical revenues is far from being fufficient to defray the expences of public wor- jhip, the maintenance of the miniiters of religion, thi: penfions of the ^monks and nuns, the fupport of the feminaries, and the building and repairing of churches, &c. that the furplus, which muft be furniihed from the public treafury, will exceed fifty millions, or even fifty-fix, if we add the debts of the clergy. Is it then faving the State, to Joad it with an increafe of burdens, which muft neceflarily, at laft, fall upon the people ? But, be« fides, will you dare to affirm that the fafety of the State required the overthrow of the principles which are its fupport ? Can what is unjuft be ufe- ful ? Can it ever be falutary, is it not on the con- .trary always of fatal confequence, to violate the law which fecures to every one the pofleflion of ^s property ?
H 4 the
t 104 1
Tbeptfjefions tftbe Church are tut its frepert^^'
Strange paradox! By what fojAifitis do ym im^ne you m^j be able tp dcflroy ideas whifli have been received among all nations ?
Eccle/taftics are only ufufru^nams.
Doubtlefs. Of the property which the body ef the Clergy cplleftively poffeffes, its members in- dividually have only the ufufruft i but is not the ufufruft to be placed among the number of invio- lable pofleffions ? We are only ufufru&uaries of life ; but is that any reafon we Ihould be deprive4 of it?
^e Clergy itjelf has no property.
What can you mean by this pofition ? Does % legal poflei&on^ held without difpute^ during a long iucceflion of ages^ differ in law from a real property ? Are yqu ferious, when you maintain that lands which have been given and legally tfanfinittied to the Clergy by thofe to whom they appertained, and wl>ich they have cleared, imr proved, and increafcd in value to a hundred times (heir original worth, and in the pofTeffion of which they have been confirmed by all the Spvereigns of the kingdom, do not appertain to them as pro^ prietors? In whom then did the right to dicn^ refide, during this immemorial poflelTion ?
Iff
t "5 3
>fi Jb tbi Nation.
That 19 to fay in nobody ; for what appertains to all^ apperuuns to no one. The founders and eodowers of churches difpofed of their lands with a view to the public benefit^ but they did not pve them to the public; they affigncd them fcr the fervicc of religion, and for the relief of the poor. The public has no other concern jbut to fee that they are applied to the ufes for li^hich th^y were beftowed ; and if the afts by which th)s property was transferred, after having )>een confidered as inviolable for thoufands of ge- nerations, have on a fudden been annulled by your fingle will, can you deny that, in that cafe, this property ought to revert to its fource, and return to the donors or their heirs ? What reply pould you make to their rjcmpnftrances, Ihould fhey l»y frl^im to it ?
Tbi ^tatf having undertaken to prtfvide for alf tbe purpojes to which it was appropriated^ thif property has now devolved to the State. «
Si^ch however was not the intension of the en- ^owers J they did not think, like you, that to give their wealth to the public trealury, was as certain fi method of haying it applied to the pious pur- pofes to which they meant to appropriate it, as beftowing it on the church ; and (till lefs would they have thought fo, could they have forefeen the fyftcms and innovations which you have wiflied to
fubftitutc
.i1?
C '0$ 3
fubftitute for the principles and faith of ou^ thers. As they have however annexed ano condition to the difpofition of their properli]r» that is fufficient to preclude any alteration being maA in it^ without the right of their fucceflbrs re? vivingy exclulive of every other claiqif To con- fifcate the property, after having turned out dioA who were in pofieflTion pf it, is to add ihjuftice tb injuftice, and to be more defpotic than any dcipot has ever been. How abfurd is it^ befides^ iA diipoflefs the Clergy of their property, under die pretext that a corporate boif camioi p^((fs fr9^ ferty ; and afterwards to veft it in the State^ w ji the State where not likewife a colle&ive bodyl
// is repugnant to the idea which wt havefmrmii to ourjehes of the principles of a good conftitutiat^ that there fiould exijt in the State an eccli^fiaJHcai corporation, pojfejjing a very confideraUe mafi of property ; and to leave it in pojfeffion of it, Xffould; ^ expo/e us to the danger of again falling under tbq yoke of dejpotijm.
At length, then, we have arrived at the true motive of all your ufurpations and all your deftruftions. Seek no longer to conceal it beneath the too tranlparent veil of your idle fubtleties. Banifli thofe fubterfuges which can now no longer mifleadi and banifli alfo the term Bejpotifm^ which has ferved you as a watch- word, at which to rally, but which was never \dk
applicable
% r «o7 3
>. •
W'itpplicable to France than under the reign of %jaiuis XVL According to you^ De/poti/m and Ropfolty are fynonymous \ and it is againll Royalty that your attacks are levelled. Whatever tends to the fupport of Royalty^ you declare to be in- compatible with the Conftitution; and that no power may remain capable of defending it, y<m find it neceflary to annihilate all great corpo- rate bodies ; and after having defpoiled them of their property, you now do not hefitate to ri(k the utter ruin of the State, that this property may be {peedily fold, and that its dillribution among a number of new poflcflbrs may ftrcngthen your >irurpation.
It is not to the whole Aflembly that I here addrefs myfelf ; I fpeak only to thofe who lead it afbay, by concealing the goal towards which they hurry it under a feducing veil. To them I fay : Your objedt, as you yourfelves will not deny, is to deprive the Clergy of all hope, and complete thert ruin. This, if we acquit you of all interefted views on their property and that of the public, is what we niuft believe to be your aim in the dc^ ftruftive meafure you propofe, and this muft be its inevitable confequence. But what \^ the advan- tage which is to accrue to the people, who^e relief you pretend to fcek ? Thoiir;h you contiijually employ them to obtain your cndi, what do you do for them ? Nothing, ablbluicly nothing : on
the
[ io8 3
the contrary^ all your projciSis tend only to increafe their burdens. You have rejeded^ to their pre* judice^ an offer of four hundred millions of livres, which might have been an effedual means of af« fording them relief 5 and for this refource, equally legal and profitable, you have fubftituted a mca- fure ruinoufly unjuft, which, by your own con- feflfion *, loads the public treafury, and confc- quently the people, with an increafe of annual ezpence to the amount of at lead fifty millions^ and a reimburiement of pne hundred and fiftf millions.
itnhappf
tm
* The Committee of Finances fuppofes that the revenue of the property of the Clergy, which it calls National Dtmaimtp inclading the Royal Domains, may fuffice to defray the ex* pences of public worfhip, redsced as they have been ; and acknowledges that it will, befides, cod the State hhy miJliooa fir annum for the penfions cf eccleiiaiHcs> religions perfima, Jkc. It likewife admits the neceflity of paying off the debt of the Clergy, which amounts to one hundred and forty^nine mil* lions lour hundred and thirty-four thoufand livres. The re* port made by the Committee of Tithes, on the 9th of April Ia((, eflimates the expences of public worfliip at a higher amount ; and the Bifhop of Nanci (hewed, at the time, that in this (latement feveral indifpenfable articles had been omitted. Though the incomes of the Prelates and Minifters of the church have been reduced exceffively, and I may fay even to an indecent degree, it is neverthelefs certain that the anntial: produce of the property of the Clergy, dedu^on being made for the lofs it has fuffered, and the expences of managements which will be enormous, cannot be fufficient to defray the tK^ ptnce of public worfbip.
[ 109 1
Unhappy people! fuch are the advantages which finally rcfult to you from the feizure of the property of the church, and the harlh and opprcf- five decrees againil the minifters of the altar. Thofe minifters of a beneficent religion once afr forded you fuccours, but henceforth they mufl be a burden to you: their charity relieved the poor; but now you muft be taxed to maintain them. I know that while 1 reveal to you this truth, of which it is juft you Ihould be informed. I irritate thofe who deceive and miflead you ; but this gives me no concern. Becaufe I Ihew you your real fituation, and your true intcreft, they will fay that I excite you to infurreftion *. But what is it diey do, by deceiving you ? Whither have they led you, by abufing your credulity? — You arc become cruel perfecutors of thofe who gave you the means of life, and blind followers of thofe wh9 facrifice you. What can they deny, when I only argue from their own confclfions, and make
their
• When, in 1787, I publiflied a (hort advertifemcnt, in which I had no other view than to inform the mifguiJed pub« lie what were my real iDtentioos, and what the lefs wealthy would gain by the fuppreiOon of privileges, I was loudly accu/ed of wifhing to raife the people againft the two higher orders of the State. It would be not a little fingular, if I (hould be at prefent charged with an intention to induce them to rife in their ^vour. As this Adverti(ement» which greatly contri« bnted to my difgrace, and which has been cenfured for its im« prudent harflinefsy is certainly almoft forgotten, I (hall give it at the end of this work, that the reader may judge of the dif« icreace of the times.
C "o ]
their own calculations the bafis of all tAj ftate- ments? When they have alledgcd the extreme neceffities of the Sute, to authorize their uiiirpa^ tion of property^ and afterwards alledged their ex^^ celTive embarraflment as a reafon for their inun- dating the State with paper money, have they not themfelves pronounced their own condenmation i
m
But let us conclude our proof that neither thil violation of property^ nor the alli'gnats which havt been invented to aid and fupport it, can be of any real fervice to the State -, and let us demonftrate to him who> when he gave his opinion, declared, by a jull felf-condemnation^ tba^ bejhouldbe incM- folable if, from the rigour of the decrees againft tbi Clergy y there Jbould refult no benefit to the affairs of the Statey that unhappily he has every reafon to be inconfolable*
He is of opinion, and with reafon, that to ad« mit the debts due from the State in payment for the property put up to fale, by delivering to the cre- ditors a financial receipt, or other tides of liqui- dation, would be preferable to an immoderate effufion of paper money. But thefe tides, which muft bear intereft, would not of themfelves be produdlive of any relief to the public trealury^ nor in any degree tend to accelerate the falc of* the national property, which the Aflcmbly has (b much at heart. Until that (hall be difpofed ofi the public debt will continue to be equally bur-
denfomej
t ni ]
denfbme i and nothing can be fuppofed to induce the holders of this paper^ which would be at once negociable and produdive^ to difpofe of it for lands, the poffefflon of which would be lefs fecure and lefs advantageous.
It would be dill worfe to aflfociate the financial receipts with the affignatSj and put them in com-- petition, by giving the creditors their choice of either kind of thefe papers, one of which fhould be free, but bear intcreft ; while the other fhould bear no intereft, but have a forced circulation* What would refult from this accumulation of different kinds of paper, added to the enormous mafs of that which already exifts ? They would dcftroy each other by the different fpcculations which would take place with refpeft to them, and prove the fource of the moil pernicious ftock-job- bing; they would in no manner contribute to promote the fale of the domains ; but be doubly inconvenient, by uniting what is burdenfome in one kind of thefe papers, to what is dangerous in the other.
The only refource, therefore, muft be fought in th^ afllgnats, and in that portion of thpfe which may be expeded to be employed in the purchafe of the domains, but which will not be Co employed, fo long as the fliadow of a doubt (hall remain with refpeft to the validity of the tide given to the property by the fale of it i and this muft remain,
fo
C til ]
fo long as any Ihadow of jtiftice (hall remain in France: and while the fmalleft doUbt condmieSi prudence will advife the holders of the aflSgnats not to be precipitate j advice which will be the iboner taken^ fioce interell will have nothing to fugged againil it^ as it might have done if the film of the aflignats had equalled or exceeded the value of the property ofiered to fale ; becaufe then the fear of being too late might have ftimulated thofe who were in pofleffion of great quantities of a(Iignats> eagerly to have become purchafers i whereas they are now ccrtwn, from the infufficiency of the number, that, without fuffering themfelves to be hurried away by an inconfiderate precipita- tion, they will always find more than the half of thefe domains unfold.
If, therefore, as has been boldly afierted by die great advocate for the largeft emiffion of aflignat- money, which he calls territorial fpecUi \i the ef* feSfive fale of the