If
sixteen millions sterling of these assignats forced on
the people leave the wants of the state as urgent as
ever, Issue, says one, thirty millions sterling of assignats,- says another, Issue fourscore millions more
of assignats.
sixteen millions sterling of these assignats forced on
the people leave the wants of the state as urgent as
ever, Issue, says one, thirty millions sterling of assignats,- says another, Issue fourscore millions more
of assignats.
Edmund Burke
?
?
532 REFLECTIONS ON THE
cians of metaphysics, who have opened schools for
sophistry, and made establishments for anarchy, it is
solid and conclusive. It is obvious, that, on a mere
consideration of the right, the leaders in the Assembly would not in the least have scrupled to abrogate the rents along with the titles and family ensigns.
It would be only to follow up the principle of their
reasonings, and to complete the analogy of their conduct. But they had newly possessed themselves of a great body of landed property by confiscation. They
had this commodity at market; and the market would
have been wholly destroyed, if they were to permit
the husbandmen to riot in the speculations with
which they so freely intoxicated themselves. The
only security which property enjoys in any one of its
descriptions is from the interests of their rapacity
with regard to. some other. They have left nothing
but their own arbitrary pleasure to determine what
property is to be protected and what subverted.
Neither have they left any principle by which any of
their municipalities can be bound to obedience, -- or
even conscientiously obliged not to separate from the
whole, to become independent, or to connect itself with
some other state. The people of Lyons, it seems, have
refused lately to pay taxes. Why should they not?
What lawful authority is there left to exact them?
The king imposed some of them. The old States,
methodized by orders, settled the more ancient.
They may say to the Assembly,-'" Who are you,
that are not our kings, nor the States we have elected,
nor sit on the principles on which we have elected
you? And who are we, that, when we see the gabelles which you have ordered to be paid wholly
shaken off, when we see the act of disobedience after
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 533
wards ratified by yourselves, who are we, that we are
not to judge what taxes we ought or ought not to
pay, and are not to avail ourselves of the same powers the validity of which you have approved in others? " To this the answer is, " We will send troops. " The last reason of kings is always the first with your
Assembly. This military aid may serve for a time,
whilst the impression of the increase of pay remains,
and the vanity of being umpires in all disputes is flattered. But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful
to the hand that employs it. The Assembly keep a
school, where, systematically, and with unremitting
perseverance, they teach principles and form regulations destructive to all spirit of subordination, civil
and military, - and then they expect that they shall
hold in obedience an anarchic people by an anarchic
army.
The municipal army, which, according to their
new policy, is to balance this national army, if considered in itself only, is of a constitution much more
simple, and in every respect less exceptionable. It
is a mere democratic body, unconnected with the
crown or the kingdom, armed and trained and officered at the pleasure of the districts to which the
corps severally belong; and the personal service of
the individuals who compose, or the fine in lieu of
personal service, are directed by the same authority. *
Nothing is more uniform. If, however, considered
in any relation to the crown, to the National Assem*I see by M. Necker's account, that the national guards of Paris
have received, over and above the money levied within their own city,
about 145,0001. sterling out of the public treasure. Whether this be
an actual payment for the nine months of their existence, or an estimate of their yearly charge, I do not clearly perceive. It is of no
great importance, as certainly they may take whatever they please.
? ? ? ? 534 REFLECTIONS ON THE
bly, to the public tribunals, or to the other army, or
considered in a view to any coherence or connection
between its parts, it seems a monster, and can hardly
fail to terminate its perplexed movements in some
great national calamity. It is a worse preservative
of a general constitution than the systasis of Crete,
or the confederation of Poland, or any other ill-devised corrective which has yet been imagined, in the
necessities produced by an ill-constructed system of
government.
Having concluded my few remarks on the constitution of the supreme power, the executive, the judicature, the military, and on the reciprocal relation of
all these establishments, I shall say something of the
ability showed by your legislators with regard to the
revenue.
In their proceedings relative to this object, if possible, still fewer traces appear of political judgment or
financial resource. When the States met, it seemed
to be the great object to improve the system of revenue, to enlarge its collection, to cleanse it of oppression and vexation, and to establish it on the most solid footing. Great were the expectations entertained on that head throughout Europe. It was by this
grand arrangement that France was to stand or fall;
and this became, in my opinion very properly, the
test by which the skill and patriotism of those who
ruled in that Assembly would be tried. The revenue
of the state is the state. In effect, all depends upon
it, whether for support or for reformation. The dignity of every occupation wholly depends upon the
quantity and the kind of virtue that may be exerted
in it. As all great qualities of the mind which op
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 53fr
erate In public, and are not merely suffering and passive, require force for their display, I had almost said
for their unequivocal existence, the revenue, which is
the spring of all power, becomes in its administration
the sphere of every active virtue. Public virtue, being of a nature magnificent and splendid, instituted for great things, and conversant about great concerns, requires abundant scope and room, and cannot spread and grow under confinement, and in circumstances straitened, narrow, and sordid. Through the
revenue alone the body politic can act in its true genius and character; and therefore it will display just
as much of its collective virtue, and as much of that
virtue which may characterize those who move it,
and are, as it were, its life and guiding principle, as
it is possessed of a just revenue. For from hence not
only magnanimity, and liberality, and beneficence,
and fortitude, and providence, and the tutelary protection of all good arts derive their food, and the
growth of their organs, but continence, and self
denial, and labor, and vigilance, and frugality, and
whatever else there is in which the mind shows itself
above the appetite, are nowhere more in their proper
element than in the provision and distribution of the
public wealth. It is therefore not without reason
that the science of speculative and practical finance,
which must take to its aid so many auxiliary branches
of knowledge, stands high in the estimation not only
of the ordinary sort, but of the wisest and best men;
and as this science has grown with the progress of its
object, the prosperity and improvement of nations
has generally increased with the increase of their
revenues; and they will both continue to grow and
flourish as long as the balance between what is left
? ? ? ? 536 REFLECTIONS OP THE
to strengthen the efforts of individuals and what is
collected for the common efforts of the state bear to
each other a due reciprocal proportion, and are kept
in a close correspondence and communication. And
perhaps it may -be owing to the greatness of revenues, and to the urgency of state necessities, that old abuses in the constitution of finances are discovered, and their true nature and rational theory comes to be more perfectly understood; insomuch that a
smaller revenue might have been more distressing
in one period than a far greater is found to be in
another, the proportionate wealth even remaining the
same. Ir this state of things, the French Assembly
found something in their revenues to preserve, to
secure, and wisely to administer, as well as to abrogate and alter. Though their proud assumption might justify the severest tests, yet, in trying their
abilities on their financial proceedings, I would only
consider what is the plain, obvious duty of a common
finance minister, and try them upon that, and not
upon models of ideal perfection.
The objects of a financier are, then, to secure an
ample revenue; to impose it with judgment and
equality; to employ it economically; and when necessity obliges him to make use of credit, to secure
its foundations in that instance, and forever, by the
clearness and candor of his proceedings, the exactness of his calculations, and the solidity of his funds. On these heads we may take a short and distinct view
of the merits and abilities of those in the National
Assembly who have taken to themselves the raanagement of this arduous concern.
Far from any increase of revenue in their hands,
I find, by a report of M. Vernier, from the Committee
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 537
of Finances, of the second of August last, that the
amount of the national revenue, as compared with
its produce before the Revolution, was diminished by
the sum of two hundred millions, or eight millions
sterling, of the annual income, -- considerably more
than one third of the whole.
If this be the result of great ability, never surely
was ability displayed in a more distinguished manner or with so powerful an effect. No common folly,
no vulgar incapacity, no ordinary official negligence,
even no official crime, no corruption, no peculation,
hardly any direct hostility, which we have seen in the
modern world, could in so short a time have made so
complete an overthrow of the finances, and, with them,
of the strength of a great kingdom. - Cedo qui vestram rempublicam tantam amisistis tam cito?
The sophisters and declaimers, as soon as the Assembly met, began with decrying the ancient constitution of the revenue in many of its most essential branches, such as the public monopoly of salt. They
charged it, as truly as unwisely, with being ill-contrived, oppressive, and partial. This representation
they were not satisfied to make use of in speeches
preliminary to some plan of reform; they declared
it in a solemn resolution or public sentence, as it
were judicially passed upon it; and this they dispersed throughout the nation. At the time they
passed the decree, with the same gravity they ordered the same absurd, oppressive, and partial tax to
be paid, until they could find a revenue to replace
it. The consequence was inevitable. The provinces
which had been always exempted from this salt monopoly, some of whom were charged with other contributions, perhaps equivalent, were totally disin
? ? ? ? 3 8 REFLECTIONS ON THE
dined to bear any part of the burden, which by all
equal distribution was to redeem the others. As to
the Assembly, occupied as it was with the declaration
and violation of the rights of men, and with their
arrangements for general confusion, it had neither
leisure nor capacity to contrive, nor authority to enforce, any plan of any kind relative to the replacing the tax, or equalizing it, or compensating the provinces, or for conducting their minds to any
scheme of accommodation with the other districts
which were to be relieved. The people of the salt
provinces, impatient under taxes damned by the authority which had directed their payment, very soon
found their patience exhausted. They thought themselves as skilful in demolishing as the Assembly could
be. They relieved themselves by throwing off the
whole burden. Animated by this example, each district, or part of a district, judging of its own grievance by its own feeling, and of its remedy by its own opinion, did as it pleased with other taxes.
We are next to see how they have conducted themselves in contriving equal impositions, proportioned
to the means of the citizens, and the least likely to
lean heavy on the active capital employed in the generation of that private wealth from whence the public
fortune must be derived. By suffering the several districts, and several of the individuals in each district,
to judge of what part of the old revenue they might
withhold, instead of better principles of equality, a
new inequality was introduced of the most oppressive kind. Payments were regulated by dispositions.
The parts of the kingdom which were the most submissive, the most orderly, or the most affectionate to the
commonwealth, bore the whole burden of the state.
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 539
Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a
feeble government. To fill up all the deficiencies in
the old impositions, and the new deficiencies of every
kind which were to be expected, what remained to
a state without authority? The National Assembly
called for a voluntary benevolence, -- for a fourth part
of the income of all the citizens, to be estimated on
the honor of those who were to pay. They obtained
something more than could be rationally calculated,
but what was far indeed from answerable to their
real necessities, and much less to their fond expectations. Rational people could have hoped for little
from this their tax in the disguise of a benevolence,a tax weak, ineffective, and unequal, - a tax by which
luxury, avarice, and selfishness were screened, and
the load thrown upon productive capital, upon integrity, generosity, and public spirit, --a tax of regulation upon virtue. At length the mask is thrown off,
and they are now trying means (with little success)
of exacting their benevolence by force.
This benevolence, the rickety offspring of weakness,
was to be supported by another resource, the twin
brother of the same prolific imbecility. The patriotic
donations were to make good the failure of the patriotic contribution. John Doe was to become security
for Richard Roe. By this scheme they took things of
much price from the giver, comparatively of small value to the receiver; they ruined several trades; they
pillaged the crown of its ornaments, the churches of
their plate, and the people of their personal decorations. The invention of those juvenile pretenders to
liberty was in reality nothing more than a servile imitation of one of the poorest resources of doting despotism. They took an old, huge, full-bottomed periwig
? ? ? ? 540 REFLECTIONS ON THE
out of the wardrobe of the antiquated frippery of
Louis the Fourteenth, to cover the premature baldness of the National Assembly. They produced this
old-fashioned formal folly, though it had been so abundantly exposed in the Memoirs of the Duke de SaintSimon, - if to reasonable men it had wanted any arguments to display its mischief and insufficiency. A device of the same kind was tried in my memory
by Louis the Fifteenth, but it answered at no time.
However, the necessities of ruinous wars were some
excuse for desperate projects. The deliberations of
calamity are rarely wise. But here was a season for
disposition and providence. It was in a time of profound peace, then enjoyed for five years, and promising a much longer continuance, that they had recourse
to this desperate trifling. They were sure to lose more
reputation by sporting, in their serious situation, with
these toys and playthings of finance, which have filled
half their journals, than could possibly be compensated by the poor temporary supply which they afforded. It seemed as if those who adopted such projects were wholly ignorant of their circumstances, or wholly unequal to their necessities. Whatever virtue
may be in these devices, it is obvious that neither the
patriotic gifts nor the patriotic contribution can ever
be resorted to again. The resources of public folly are soon exhausted. The whole, indeed, of their
scheme of revenue is to make, by any artifice, an
appearance of a full reservoir for the hour, whilst
at the same time they cut off the springs and living
fountains of perennial supply. The account not long
since furnished by M. Necker was meant, without
question, to be favorable. He gives a flattering view
of the means of getting through the year; but he ex
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 541
presses, as it is natural he should, some apprehension
for that which was to succeed. On this last prognostic, instead of entering into the grounds of this apprehension, in order, by a proper foresight, to prevent the prognosticated evil, M. Necker receives a sort of
friendly reprimand from the President of the Assembly.
As to their other schemes of taxation, it is impossible to say anything of them with certainty, because
they have not yet had their operation; but nob. ody is
so sanguine as to imagine they will fill up_ anyperceptible part of the wide. . gaping. breach which their
incapacity has made in their revenues. At present
tlie state of their treasury sinks every day more and
more in cash, and swells more and more in fictitious representation. When so little within or without is now found but paper, the representative not of opulence, but of want, the creature not of credit, but
of power, they imagine that our flourishing state
in England is owing to that bank-paper, and not the
bank-paper to the flourishing condition of our commerce, to the solidity of our credit, and to the total
exclusion of all idea of power from any part of the
transaction. They forget that in England not one
shilling of paper money of any description is received
but of choice, -that the whole has had its origin in
cash actually deposited, -- and that it is convertible at
pleasure, in an instant, and without the smallest loss,
into cash again. Our paper is of value in commerce,
because in law it is of none. It is powerful on'Change, because in Westminster Hall it is impotent. In payment of a debt of twenty shillings a
creditor may refuse all the paper of the Bank of
England. Nor is there amongst us a single public
? ? ? ? 042 REFLECTIONS ON THE
security, of any quality or nature whatsoever, that is
enforced by authority. In fact, it might be easily
shown that our paper wealth, instead of lessening the
real coin, has a tendency to increase it, - instead of
being a substitute for money, it only facilitates its entry, its exit, and its circulation, -that it is the symbol
of prosperity, and not the badge of distress. Never was
a scarcity of cash and an exuberance of paper a subject of complaint in this nation.
Well! but a lessening of prodigal expenses, and
the economy which has been introduced by the virtuous and sapient Assembly, make amends for the losses
sustained in the receipt of revenue. In this at least
they have fulfilled the duty of a financier. -- Hiave
those who say so looked at the expenses of the National Assembly itself? of the municipalities? of the
city of Paris? of the increased pay of the two armies?
of the new police? of the new judicatures? Have
they even carefully compared the present pensionlist with the former? These politicians have been
cruel, not economical. Comparing the expenses of
the former prodigal government and its relation to
the then revenues with the expenses of this new system as opposed to the state of its new treasury, I believe the present will be found beyond all comparison more chargeable. *
It remains only to consider the proofs of financial
* The reader will observe that I have but lightly touched (my
plan demanded nothing more) on the condition of the French finances as connected with the demands upon them. If I had intended
to do otherwise, the materials in my hands for such a task are not
altogether perfect. On this subject I refer the reader to M. de Calonne's work, and the tremendous display that he has made of the
havoc and devastation in the public estate, and in all the affairs of
Prance, caused by the presumptuous good intentions of ignorance and
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 543
ability furnished by the present French managers
when they are to raise supplies on credit. Here I
am a little at a stand; for credit, properly speaking,
they have none. The credit of the ancient government was not, indeed, the best; but they could always, on some terms, command money, not only at home, but from most of the countries of Europe
where a surplus capital was accumulated; and the
credit of that government was improving daily. The
establishment of a system of liberty would of course
be supposed to give it new strength: and so it would
actually have done, if a system of liberty had been
established. What offers has their government of
pretended liberty had from Holland, from Hamburg,
from Switzerland, from Genoa, from England, for a
dealing in their paper? Why should these nations
of commerce and economy enter into any pecuniary
dealings with a people who attempt to reverse the
very nature of things, - amongst whom they see the
debtor prescribing at the point of the bayonet the
medium of his solvency to the creditor, discharging
one of his engagements with another, turning his
very penury into his resource, and paying his interest with his rags?
Their fanatical confidence in the omnipotence of
Church plunder has induced these philosophers to
overlook all care of the public estate, just as the
incapacity. Such effects those causes will always produce. Looking
over that account with a pretty strict eye, and, with perhaps too much
rigor, deducting everything which may be placed to the account of
a financier out of place, who might be supposed by his enemies desirous of making the most of his cause, I believe it will be found that
a more salutary lesson of caution against the daring spirit of innovators than what has been supplied at the expense of France never
was at any time furnished to mankind.
? ? ? ? 544 REFLECTIONS ON THE
dream of the philosopher's stone induces dupes, under the more plausible delusion of the hermetic art,
to neglect all rational means of improving their fortunes. With these philosophic financiers, this universal medicine made of Church mummy is to cure all
the evils of the state. These gentlemen perhaps do
not believe a great deal in the miracles of piety; but
it cannot be questioned that they have an undoubting faith in the prodigies of sacrilege. Is there a
debt which presses them? Issue assignats. Are
compensations to be made or a maintenance decreed
to those whom they have robbed of their freehold in
their office or expelled from their profession? Assignats. Is a fleet to be fitted out? Assignats.
If
sixteen millions sterling of these assignats forced on
the people leave the wants of the state as urgent as
ever, Issue, says one, thirty millions sterling of assignats,- says another, Issue fourscore millions more
of assignats. The only difference among their financial factions is on the greater or the lesser quantity
of assignats to be imposed on the public sufferance. _
They are all professors of assignats. Even those
whose natural good sense and knowledge of commerce, not obliterated by philosophy, furnish decisive
arguments against this delusion, conclude their arguments by proposing the emission of assignats. I suppose they must talk of assignats, as no other language would be understood. All experience of their inefficacy does not in the least discourage them. Are the
old assignats depreciated at market? What is the
remedy? Issue new assignats. -Mais si mnaladia
opiniatria non vult se garire, quid illi facere? Assignare; postea assignare; ensuita assignare. The word
is a trifle altered. The Latin of your present doctors
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 54o
may be better than that of your old comedy; their
wisdom and the variety of their resources are the
same. They have not more notes in their song than
the cuckoo; though, far from the softness of that harbinger of summer and plenty, their voice is as harsh
and as ominous as that of the raven.
Who but the most desperate adventurers in philosophy and finance could at all have thought of
destroying the settled revenue of the state, the sole
security for the public credit, in the hope of rebuilding it with the materials of confiscated property?
If, however, an excessive zeal for the state should
have led a pious and venerable prelate (by anticipation a father of the Church *) to pillage his own order, and, for the good of the Church and people, to take upon himself the place of grand financier of confiscation and comptroller-general of sacrilege, he and
his coadjutors were, in my opinion, bound to show,
by their subsequent conduct, that they knew something of the office they assumed. When they had
resolved to appropriate to the fise a certain portion
of the landed property of their conquered country, it
was their business to render their bank a real fund
of credit, - as far as such a bank was capable of becoming so.
To establish a current circulating credit upon any
land-bank, under any circumstances whatsoever, has
hitherto proved difficult at the very least. The attempt has commonly ended in bankruptcy. But
when the Assembly were led, through a contempt of
moral, to a defiance of economical principles, it might
at least have been expected that nothing would be
omitted on their part to lessen this difficulty, to pre* La Bruyere of Bossuet.
VOL. II. 35
? ? ? ? 546 REFLECTIONS ON THE
vent any aggravation of this bankruptcy. It might
be expected, that, to render your land-bank tolerable, every means would be adopted that could display
openness and candor in the statement of the security, everything which could aid the recovery of the
demand. To take things in their most favorable
point of view, your condition was that of a man of a
large landed estate which he wished to dispose of for
the discharge of a debt and the supply of certain services. Not being able instantly to sell, you wished
to mortgage. WVhat would a man of fair intentions
and a commonly clear understanding do in such
circumstances? Ought he not first to ascertain the
gross value of the estate, the charges of its management and disposition, the incumbrances perpetual and
temporary of all kinds that affect it, --then, striking a net surplus, to calculate the just value of the
security? When that surplus (the only security to
the creditor) had been clearly ascertained, and properly vested in the hands of trustees, then he would
indicate the parcels to be sold, and the time and conditions of sale; after this he would admit the public
creditor, if he chose it, to subscribe his stock into this
new fund, - or he might receive proposals for an
assignat from those who would advance money to
purchase this species of security. This would be to
proceed like men of business, methodically and rationally, and on the only principles of public and private credit that have an existence. The dealer would then know exactly what he purchased; and the only doubt which could hang upon his mind would be
the dread of the resumption of the spoil, which one
day might be made (perhaps with an addition of
punishment) from the sacrilegious gripe of those
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 547
execrable wretches who could become purchasers at
the auction of their innocent fellow-citizens.
An open and exact statement of the clear value of
the property, and of the time, the circumstances, and
the place of sale, were all necessary, to efface as
much as possible the stigma that has hitherto been
branded on every kind of land-bank. It became necessary on another principle, -- that is, on account of
a pledge of faith previously given on that subject, that
their future fidelity in a slippery concern might be
established by their adherence to their first engagement. When they had finally determined on a state
resource from Church booty, they came, on the fourteenth of April, 1790, to a solemn resolution on the
subject, and pledged themselves to their country,
"that, in the statement of the public charges for each
year, there should be brought to account a sum sufficient for defraying the expenses of the R. C. A. religion, the support of the ministers at the altars, the relief of the poor, the pensions to the ecclesiastics,
secular as well as regular, of the one and of the other
sex, in order that the estates and goods which are at the
disposal of the nation may be disengaged of all charges,
and employed by the representatives, or the legislative
body, to the great and most pressing exigencies of the
state. " They further engaged, on the same day,
that the sum necessary for the year 1791 should be.
forthwith determined.
In this resolution they admit it their duty to show
distinctly the expense of the above objects, which, by
other resolutions, they had before engaged should be
first in the order of provision. They admit that they
ought to show the estate clear and disengaged of all
charges, and that they should show it immediately. >
? ? ? ? 548 REFLECTIONS ON THE
Have they done this immediately, or at any time?
Have they ever furnished a rent-roll of the immovable estate, or given in an inventory of the movable effects, which they confiscate to their assignats? In
what manner they can fulfil their engagements of
holding out to public service " an estate disengaged
of all charges," without authenticating the value of
the estate or the quantum of the charges, I leave it
to their English admirers to explain. Instantly upon
this assurance, and previously to any one step towards
making it good, they issue, on the credit of so handsome a declaration, sixteen millions sterling of their paper. This was manly. Who, after this masterly
stroke, can doubt of their abilities in finance? - But
then, before any other emission of these financial
indulgences, they took care at least to make good
their original promise. -- If such estimate, either of
the value of the estate or the amount of the incumbrances, has been made, it has escaped me. I never heard of it.
At length they have spoken out, and they have
made a full discovery of their abominable fraud in
holding out the Church lands as a security for any
debts or any service whatsoever. They rob only to
enable them to cheat; but in a very short time they
defeat the ends both of the robbery and the fraud, by
making out accounts for other purposes, which blow
up their whole apparatus of force and of deception.
I am obliged to M. de Calonne for his reference to
the document which proves this extraordinary fact:
it had by some means escaped me. Indeed, it was
not necessary to make out my assertion as to the
breach of faith on the declaration of the fourteenth of
April, 1790. By a report of their committee it now
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 549
appears that the charge of keeping up the reduced ecclesiastical establishments, and other expenses attendant on religion, and maintaining the religious of both
sexes, retained or pensioned, and the other concomitant expenses of the same nature, which they have
brought upon themselves by this convulsion in property, exceeds the income of the estates acquired by it
in the enormous sum of two millions sterling annually,- besides a debt of seven millions and upwards.
These are the calculating powers of imposture! This
is the finance of philosophy! This is the result of all
the delusions held out to engage a miserable people
in rebellion, murder, and sacrilege, and to make
them prompt and zealous instruments in the ruin of
their country! Never did a state, in any case, enrich itself by the confiscations of the citizens. This
new experiment has succeeded like all the rest. Every honest mind, every true lover of liberty and humanity, must rejoice to find that injustice is not
always good policy, nor rapine the high-road to riches. I subjoin with pleasure, in a note, the able and
spirited observations of M. de Calonne on this subject. *
* "Ce n'est point a l'assemblee entiere que je m'adresse ici; je ne
parle qu'a ceux qui l'dgarent, en lui cachant sous des gazes sdduisantes le but oi ils l'entrainent. C'est h eux que je dis: Votre objet,
vous n'en disconviendrez pas, c'est d'oter tout espoir au clergd, et de
consommer sa ruine; c'est-l, en ne vous soupqonnant d'aucune combinaison de cupiditd, d'aucun regard sur le jeu des effets publics,
c'est-lh ce qu'on doit croire que vous avez en vue dans la terrible
operation que vous proposez; c'est ce qui doit en 6tre le fruit. Mais
le peuple qui vous y intdressez, quel avantage peut-il y trouver? En
vous servant sans cesse de lui, que faites-vous pour lui? Rien, absolument rien; et, au contraire, vous faites ce qui ne conduit qu'a l'accabler de nouvelles charges. Vous avez rejete, i son prejudice, une
? ? ? ? 550 REFLECTIONS ON THE
In order to persuade the world of the bottomless
resource of ecclesiastical confiscation, the Assembly
have proceeded to other confiscations of estates in offi
ces, which could not be done with any common color
without being compensated out of this grand confiscation of landed property. They have thrown upon this
fund, which was to show a surplus disengaged of all
charges, a new charge, namely, the compensation to
the whole body of the disbanded judicature, and of
all suppressed offices and estates: a charge which I
cannot ascertain, but which unquestionably amounts
to many French millions. Another of the new charges
is an annuity of four hundred and eighty thousand
pounds sterling, to be paid (if they choose to keep
faith) by daily payments, for the interest of the first
assignats. Have they ever given themselves the trouble to state fairly the expense of the management of
the Church lands in the hands of the municipalities,
to whose care, skill, and diligence, and that of their
legion of unknown under-agents, they have chosen to
commit the charge of the forfeited estates, and the
consequence of which had been so ably pointed out
by the Bishop of Nancy?
offre de 400 millions, dont l'acceptation pouvoit devenir un moyen de
soulagement en sa faveur; et a cette ressource, aussi profitable que
legitime, vous avez substitue une injustice ruineuse, qui, de votre
propre aveu, charge le tresor public, et par consequent le peuple,
d'un surcroit de depense annuelle de 50 millions au moins, et d'un
remboursement de 150 millions.
"Malheureux peuple! voilk ce que vous vaut en dernier resultat
P'expropriation de l'Eglise, et la durete' des de'crets taxateurs du traitement des ministres d'une religion bienfaisante; et desormais ils seront a votre charge: leurs charitds soulageoient les pauvres; et vous allez
&tre imposes pour subvenir a leur entretien! " -- De l'Etat de la
France, p. 81. See also p. 92, and the following pages.
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 551
But it is unnecessary to dwell on these obvious
heads of incumbrance. Have they made out any
clear state of the grand incumbrance of all, I mean
the whole of the general and municipal establishments
of all sorts, and compared it with the regular income
by revenue? Every deficiency in these becomes a
charge on the confiscated estate, before the creditor
can plant his cabbages on an acre of Church property. There is no other prop than this confiscation to keep the whole state from tumbling to the ground.
In this situation they have purposely covered all, that
they ought industriously to have cleared, with a thick
fog; and then, blindfold themselves, like bulls that
shut their eyes when they push, they drive, by the
point of the bayonets, their slaves, blindfolded indeed
no worse than their lords, to take their fictions for
currencies, and to swallow down paper pills by thirtyfour millions sterling at a dose. Then they proudly lay in their claim to a future credit, on failure of all
their past engagements, and at a time when (if in such
a matter anything can be clear) it is clear that the
surplus estates will never answer even the first of
their mortgages, -- I mean that of the four hundred
millions (or sixteen millions sterling) of assignats.
In all this procedure I can discern neither the solid
sense of plain dealing nor the subtle dexterity of ingenious fraud. The objections within the Assembly to pulling up the flood-gates for this inundation of fraud
are unanswered; but they are thoroughly refuted by
an hundred thousand financiers in the street. These
are the numbers by which the metaphysic arithmeticians compute. These are the grand calculations
on which a philosophical public credit is founded in
France. They cannot raise supplies; but they can
? ? ? ? 552 REFLECTIONS ON THE
raise mobs. Let them rejoice in the applauses of the
club at Dundee for their wisdom and patriotism in
having thus applied the plunder of the citizens to the
service of the state. I hear of no address upon this
subject from the directors of the Bank of England, -
though their approbation would be of a little more
weight in the scale of credit than that of the club at
Dundee. But to do justice to the club, I believe the
gentlemen who compose it to be wiser than they appear, -that they will be less liberal of their money
than of their addresses, and that they would not give
a dog's ear of their most rumpled and ragged Scotch
paper for twenty of your fairest assignats.
Early in this year the Assembly issued paper to
the amount of sixteen millions sterling. What must
have been the state into which the Assembly has
brought your affairs, that the relief afforded by so
vast a supply has been hardly perceptible? This
paper also felt an almost immediate depreciation of
five per cent, which in a little time came to about
seven. The effect of these assignats on the receipt
of the revenue is remarkable. M. Necker found that
the collectors of the revenue, who received in coin,
paid the treasury in assignats. The collectors made
seven per cent by thus receiving in money, and accounting in depreciated paper. It was not very difficult to foresee that this must be inevitable. It was, however, not the less embarrassing. M. Necker was
obliged (I believe, for a considerable part, in the
market of London) to buy gold and silver for the
mint, which amounted to about twelve thousand
pounds above the value of the commodity gained.
That minister was of opinion, that, whatever their
secret nutritive virtue might be, the state could not
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 553
live upon assignats alone, - that some real silver was
necessary, particularly for the satisfaction of those
who, having iron in their hands, were not likely to
distinguish themselves for patience, when they should
perceive, that, whilst an increase of pay was held out
to them in real money, it was again to be fraudulently drawn back by depreciated paper. The minister, in this very natural distress, applied to the Assembly,
that they should order the collectors to pay in specie
what in specie they had received. It could not escape him, that, if the Treasury paid three per cent
for the use of a currency which should be returned
seven per cent worse than the minister issued it,
such a dealing could not very greatly tend to enrich
the public. The Assembly took no notice of his recommendation. They were in this dilemma: If they continued to receive the assignats, cash must become
an alien to their Treasury; if the Treasury should
refuse those paper amulets, or should discountenance
them in any degree, they must destroy the credit of
their sole resource. They seem, then, to have made
their option, and to have given some sort of credit
to their paper by taking it themselves; at the same
time, in their speeches, they made a sort of swaggering declaration, something, I rather think, above legislative competence, - that is, that there is no difference in value between metallic money and their assignats. This was a good, stout, proof article of
faith, pronounced under an anathema by the venerable fathers of this philosophic synod. Credat who will, - certainly not Judceus Apella.
A noble indignation rises in the minds of your
popular leaders, on hearing the magic-lantern in
their show of finance compared to the fraudulent
? ? ? ? 554 REFLECTIONS ON THE
exhibitions of Mr. Law. They cannot bear to hear
the sands of his Mississippi compared with the rock
of the Church, on which they build their system.
Pray let them suppress this glorious spirit, until they
show to the world what piece of solid ground there is
for their assignats, which they have not preoccupied
by other charges. They do injustice to that great
mother fraud, to compare it with their degenerate
imitation. It is not true that Law built solely on a
speculation concerning the Mississippi. He added the
East India trade; he added the African trade; he
added the farms of all the farmed revenue of France.
All these together unquestionably could not support
the structure which the public enthusiasm, not he,
chose to build upon these bases. But these were,
however, in comparison, generous delusions. They
supposed, and they aimed at, an increase of the commerce of France. They opened to it the whole range
of the two hemispheres. They did not think of feeding France from its own substance. A grand imagination found in this flight of commerce something to captivate. It was wherewithal to dazzle the eye of
an eagle. It was not made to entice the smell of a
mole, nuzzling and burying himself in his mother
earth, as yours is. Men were not then quite shrunk
from their natural dimensions by a degrading and
sordid philosophy, and fitted for low and vulgar deceptions. Above all, remember, that, in imposing on
the imagination, the then managers of the system
made a compliment to the freedom of men. In their
fraud there was Ino mixture of force. This was
reserved to our time, to quench the little glimmerings of reason which might break in upon the solid
darkness of this enlightened age.
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 555
On recollection, I have said nothing of a scheme
of finance which may be urged in favor of the abilities of these gentlemen, and which has been introduced with great pomp, though not yet finally adopted in the National Assembly. It comes with something
solid in aid of the credit of the paper circulation;
and much has been said of its utility and its elegance. I mean the project for coining into money
the bells of the suppressed churches. This is their
alchemy. There are some follies which baffle argument, which go beyond ridicule, and which excite
no feeling in us but disgust; and therefore I say no
more upon it.
It is as little worth remarking any farther upon all
their drawing and re-drawing, on their circulation for
putting off the evil day, on the play between the
Treasury and the Caisse d'Escompte, and on all these
old, exploded contrivances of mercantile fraud, now
exalted into policy of state. The revenue will not be
trifled with. The prattling about the rights of men
will not be accepted in payment of a biscuit or a
pound of gunpowder. Here, then, the metaphysicians
descend from their airy speculations, and faithfully
follow examples. What examples? The examples
of bankrupts. But defeated, baffled, disgraced, when
their breath, their strength, their inventions, their
fancies desert them, their confidence still maintains
its ground. In the manifest failure of their abilities,
they take credit for their benevolence. When the revenue disappears in their hands, they have the presumption, in. some of their late proceedings, to value themselves on the relief given to the people. They
did not relieve the people. If they entertained such
intentions, why did they order the obnoxious taxes
? ? ?
cians of metaphysics, who have opened schools for
sophistry, and made establishments for anarchy, it is
solid and conclusive. It is obvious, that, on a mere
consideration of the right, the leaders in the Assembly would not in the least have scrupled to abrogate the rents along with the titles and family ensigns.
It would be only to follow up the principle of their
reasonings, and to complete the analogy of their conduct. But they had newly possessed themselves of a great body of landed property by confiscation. They
had this commodity at market; and the market would
have been wholly destroyed, if they were to permit
the husbandmen to riot in the speculations with
which they so freely intoxicated themselves. The
only security which property enjoys in any one of its
descriptions is from the interests of their rapacity
with regard to. some other. They have left nothing
but their own arbitrary pleasure to determine what
property is to be protected and what subverted.
Neither have they left any principle by which any of
their municipalities can be bound to obedience, -- or
even conscientiously obliged not to separate from the
whole, to become independent, or to connect itself with
some other state. The people of Lyons, it seems, have
refused lately to pay taxes. Why should they not?
What lawful authority is there left to exact them?
The king imposed some of them. The old States,
methodized by orders, settled the more ancient.
They may say to the Assembly,-'" Who are you,
that are not our kings, nor the States we have elected,
nor sit on the principles on which we have elected
you? And who are we, that, when we see the gabelles which you have ordered to be paid wholly
shaken off, when we see the act of disobedience after
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 533
wards ratified by yourselves, who are we, that we are
not to judge what taxes we ought or ought not to
pay, and are not to avail ourselves of the same powers the validity of which you have approved in others? " To this the answer is, " We will send troops. " The last reason of kings is always the first with your
Assembly. This military aid may serve for a time,
whilst the impression of the increase of pay remains,
and the vanity of being umpires in all disputes is flattered. But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful
to the hand that employs it. The Assembly keep a
school, where, systematically, and with unremitting
perseverance, they teach principles and form regulations destructive to all spirit of subordination, civil
and military, - and then they expect that they shall
hold in obedience an anarchic people by an anarchic
army.
The municipal army, which, according to their
new policy, is to balance this national army, if considered in itself only, is of a constitution much more
simple, and in every respect less exceptionable. It
is a mere democratic body, unconnected with the
crown or the kingdom, armed and trained and officered at the pleasure of the districts to which the
corps severally belong; and the personal service of
the individuals who compose, or the fine in lieu of
personal service, are directed by the same authority. *
Nothing is more uniform. If, however, considered
in any relation to the crown, to the National Assem*I see by M. Necker's account, that the national guards of Paris
have received, over and above the money levied within their own city,
about 145,0001. sterling out of the public treasure. Whether this be
an actual payment for the nine months of their existence, or an estimate of their yearly charge, I do not clearly perceive. It is of no
great importance, as certainly they may take whatever they please.
? ? ? ? 534 REFLECTIONS ON THE
bly, to the public tribunals, or to the other army, or
considered in a view to any coherence or connection
between its parts, it seems a monster, and can hardly
fail to terminate its perplexed movements in some
great national calamity. It is a worse preservative
of a general constitution than the systasis of Crete,
or the confederation of Poland, or any other ill-devised corrective which has yet been imagined, in the
necessities produced by an ill-constructed system of
government.
Having concluded my few remarks on the constitution of the supreme power, the executive, the judicature, the military, and on the reciprocal relation of
all these establishments, I shall say something of the
ability showed by your legislators with regard to the
revenue.
In their proceedings relative to this object, if possible, still fewer traces appear of political judgment or
financial resource. When the States met, it seemed
to be the great object to improve the system of revenue, to enlarge its collection, to cleanse it of oppression and vexation, and to establish it on the most solid footing. Great were the expectations entertained on that head throughout Europe. It was by this
grand arrangement that France was to stand or fall;
and this became, in my opinion very properly, the
test by which the skill and patriotism of those who
ruled in that Assembly would be tried. The revenue
of the state is the state. In effect, all depends upon
it, whether for support or for reformation. The dignity of every occupation wholly depends upon the
quantity and the kind of virtue that may be exerted
in it. As all great qualities of the mind which op
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 53fr
erate In public, and are not merely suffering and passive, require force for their display, I had almost said
for their unequivocal existence, the revenue, which is
the spring of all power, becomes in its administration
the sphere of every active virtue. Public virtue, being of a nature magnificent and splendid, instituted for great things, and conversant about great concerns, requires abundant scope and room, and cannot spread and grow under confinement, and in circumstances straitened, narrow, and sordid. Through the
revenue alone the body politic can act in its true genius and character; and therefore it will display just
as much of its collective virtue, and as much of that
virtue which may characterize those who move it,
and are, as it were, its life and guiding principle, as
it is possessed of a just revenue. For from hence not
only magnanimity, and liberality, and beneficence,
and fortitude, and providence, and the tutelary protection of all good arts derive their food, and the
growth of their organs, but continence, and self
denial, and labor, and vigilance, and frugality, and
whatever else there is in which the mind shows itself
above the appetite, are nowhere more in their proper
element than in the provision and distribution of the
public wealth. It is therefore not without reason
that the science of speculative and practical finance,
which must take to its aid so many auxiliary branches
of knowledge, stands high in the estimation not only
of the ordinary sort, but of the wisest and best men;
and as this science has grown with the progress of its
object, the prosperity and improvement of nations
has generally increased with the increase of their
revenues; and they will both continue to grow and
flourish as long as the balance between what is left
? ? ? ? 536 REFLECTIONS OP THE
to strengthen the efforts of individuals and what is
collected for the common efforts of the state bear to
each other a due reciprocal proportion, and are kept
in a close correspondence and communication. And
perhaps it may -be owing to the greatness of revenues, and to the urgency of state necessities, that old abuses in the constitution of finances are discovered, and their true nature and rational theory comes to be more perfectly understood; insomuch that a
smaller revenue might have been more distressing
in one period than a far greater is found to be in
another, the proportionate wealth even remaining the
same. Ir this state of things, the French Assembly
found something in their revenues to preserve, to
secure, and wisely to administer, as well as to abrogate and alter. Though their proud assumption might justify the severest tests, yet, in trying their
abilities on their financial proceedings, I would only
consider what is the plain, obvious duty of a common
finance minister, and try them upon that, and not
upon models of ideal perfection.
The objects of a financier are, then, to secure an
ample revenue; to impose it with judgment and
equality; to employ it economically; and when necessity obliges him to make use of credit, to secure
its foundations in that instance, and forever, by the
clearness and candor of his proceedings, the exactness of his calculations, and the solidity of his funds. On these heads we may take a short and distinct view
of the merits and abilities of those in the National
Assembly who have taken to themselves the raanagement of this arduous concern.
Far from any increase of revenue in their hands,
I find, by a report of M. Vernier, from the Committee
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 537
of Finances, of the second of August last, that the
amount of the national revenue, as compared with
its produce before the Revolution, was diminished by
the sum of two hundred millions, or eight millions
sterling, of the annual income, -- considerably more
than one third of the whole.
If this be the result of great ability, never surely
was ability displayed in a more distinguished manner or with so powerful an effect. No common folly,
no vulgar incapacity, no ordinary official negligence,
even no official crime, no corruption, no peculation,
hardly any direct hostility, which we have seen in the
modern world, could in so short a time have made so
complete an overthrow of the finances, and, with them,
of the strength of a great kingdom. - Cedo qui vestram rempublicam tantam amisistis tam cito?
The sophisters and declaimers, as soon as the Assembly met, began with decrying the ancient constitution of the revenue in many of its most essential branches, such as the public monopoly of salt. They
charged it, as truly as unwisely, with being ill-contrived, oppressive, and partial. This representation
they were not satisfied to make use of in speeches
preliminary to some plan of reform; they declared
it in a solemn resolution or public sentence, as it
were judicially passed upon it; and this they dispersed throughout the nation. At the time they
passed the decree, with the same gravity they ordered the same absurd, oppressive, and partial tax to
be paid, until they could find a revenue to replace
it. The consequence was inevitable. The provinces
which had been always exempted from this salt monopoly, some of whom were charged with other contributions, perhaps equivalent, were totally disin
? ? ? ? 3 8 REFLECTIONS ON THE
dined to bear any part of the burden, which by all
equal distribution was to redeem the others. As to
the Assembly, occupied as it was with the declaration
and violation of the rights of men, and with their
arrangements for general confusion, it had neither
leisure nor capacity to contrive, nor authority to enforce, any plan of any kind relative to the replacing the tax, or equalizing it, or compensating the provinces, or for conducting their minds to any
scheme of accommodation with the other districts
which were to be relieved. The people of the salt
provinces, impatient under taxes damned by the authority which had directed their payment, very soon
found their patience exhausted. They thought themselves as skilful in demolishing as the Assembly could
be. They relieved themselves by throwing off the
whole burden. Animated by this example, each district, or part of a district, judging of its own grievance by its own feeling, and of its remedy by its own opinion, did as it pleased with other taxes.
We are next to see how they have conducted themselves in contriving equal impositions, proportioned
to the means of the citizens, and the least likely to
lean heavy on the active capital employed in the generation of that private wealth from whence the public
fortune must be derived. By suffering the several districts, and several of the individuals in each district,
to judge of what part of the old revenue they might
withhold, instead of better principles of equality, a
new inequality was introduced of the most oppressive kind. Payments were regulated by dispositions.
The parts of the kingdom which were the most submissive, the most orderly, or the most affectionate to the
commonwealth, bore the whole burden of the state.
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 539
Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a
feeble government. To fill up all the deficiencies in
the old impositions, and the new deficiencies of every
kind which were to be expected, what remained to
a state without authority? The National Assembly
called for a voluntary benevolence, -- for a fourth part
of the income of all the citizens, to be estimated on
the honor of those who were to pay. They obtained
something more than could be rationally calculated,
but what was far indeed from answerable to their
real necessities, and much less to their fond expectations. Rational people could have hoped for little
from this their tax in the disguise of a benevolence,a tax weak, ineffective, and unequal, - a tax by which
luxury, avarice, and selfishness were screened, and
the load thrown upon productive capital, upon integrity, generosity, and public spirit, --a tax of regulation upon virtue. At length the mask is thrown off,
and they are now trying means (with little success)
of exacting their benevolence by force.
This benevolence, the rickety offspring of weakness,
was to be supported by another resource, the twin
brother of the same prolific imbecility. The patriotic
donations were to make good the failure of the patriotic contribution. John Doe was to become security
for Richard Roe. By this scheme they took things of
much price from the giver, comparatively of small value to the receiver; they ruined several trades; they
pillaged the crown of its ornaments, the churches of
their plate, and the people of their personal decorations. The invention of those juvenile pretenders to
liberty was in reality nothing more than a servile imitation of one of the poorest resources of doting despotism. They took an old, huge, full-bottomed periwig
? ? ? ? 540 REFLECTIONS ON THE
out of the wardrobe of the antiquated frippery of
Louis the Fourteenth, to cover the premature baldness of the National Assembly. They produced this
old-fashioned formal folly, though it had been so abundantly exposed in the Memoirs of the Duke de SaintSimon, - if to reasonable men it had wanted any arguments to display its mischief and insufficiency. A device of the same kind was tried in my memory
by Louis the Fifteenth, but it answered at no time.
However, the necessities of ruinous wars were some
excuse for desperate projects. The deliberations of
calamity are rarely wise. But here was a season for
disposition and providence. It was in a time of profound peace, then enjoyed for five years, and promising a much longer continuance, that they had recourse
to this desperate trifling. They were sure to lose more
reputation by sporting, in their serious situation, with
these toys and playthings of finance, which have filled
half their journals, than could possibly be compensated by the poor temporary supply which they afforded. It seemed as if those who adopted such projects were wholly ignorant of their circumstances, or wholly unequal to their necessities. Whatever virtue
may be in these devices, it is obvious that neither the
patriotic gifts nor the patriotic contribution can ever
be resorted to again. The resources of public folly are soon exhausted. The whole, indeed, of their
scheme of revenue is to make, by any artifice, an
appearance of a full reservoir for the hour, whilst
at the same time they cut off the springs and living
fountains of perennial supply. The account not long
since furnished by M. Necker was meant, without
question, to be favorable. He gives a flattering view
of the means of getting through the year; but he ex
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 541
presses, as it is natural he should, some apprehension
for that which was to succeed. On this last prognostic, instead of entering into the grounds of this apprehension, in order, by a proper foresight, to prevent the prognosticated evil, M. Necker receives a sort of
friendly reprimand from the President of the Assembly.
As to their other schemes of taxation, it is impossible to say anything of them with certainty, because
they have not yet had their operation; but nob. ody is
so sanguine as to imagine they will fill up_ anyperceptible part of the wide. . gaping. breach which their
incapacity has made in their revenues. At present
tlie state of their treasury sinks every day more and
more in cash, and swells more and more in fictitious representation. When so little within or without is now found but paper, the representative not of opulence, but of want, the creature not of credit, but
of power, they imagine that our flourishing state
in England is owing to that bank-paper, and not the
bank-paper to the flourishing condition of our commerce, to the solidity of our credit, and to the total
exclusion of all idea of power from any part of the
transaction. They forget that in England not one
shilling of paper money of any description is received
but of choice, -that the whole has had its origin in
cash actually deposited, -- and that it is convertible at
pleasure, in an instant, and without the smallest loss,
into cash again. Our paper is of value in commerce,
because in law it is of none. It is powerful on'Change, because in Westminster Hall it is impotent. In payment of a debt of twenty shillings a
creditor may refuse all the paper of the Bank of
England. Nor is there amongst us a single public
? ? ? ? 042 REFLECTIONS ON THE
security, of any quality or nature whatsoever, that is
enforced by authority. In fact, it might be easily
shown that our paper wealth, instead of lessening the
real coin, has a tendency to increase it, - instead of
being a substitute for money, it only facilitates its entry, its exit, and its circulation, -that it is the symbol
of prosperity, and not the badge of distress. Never was
a scarcity of cash and an exuberance of paper a subject of complaint in this nation.
Well! but a lessening of prodigal expenses, and
the economy which has been introduced by the virtuous and sapient Assembly, make amends for the losses
sustained in the receipt of revenue. In this at least
they have fulfilled the duty of a financier. -- Hiave
those who say so looked at the expenses of the National Assembly itself? of the municipalities? of the
city of Paris? of the increased pay of the two armies?
of the new police? of the new judicatures? Have
they even carefully compared the present pensionlist with the former? These politicians have been
cruel, not economical. Comparing the expenses of
the former prodigal government and its relation to
the then revenues with the expenses of this new system as opposed to the state of its new treasury, I believe the present will be found beyond all comparison more chargeable. *
It remains only to consider the proofs of financial
* The reader will observe that I have but lightly touched (my
plan demanded nothing more) on the condition of the French finances as connected with the demands upon them. If I had intended
to do otherwise, the materials in my hands for such a task are not
altogether perfect. On this subject I refer the reader to M. de Calonne's work, and the tremendous display that he has made of the
havoc and devastation in the public estate, and in all the affairs of
Prance, caused by the presumptuous good intentions of ignorance and
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 543
ability furnished by the present French managers
when they are to raise supplies on credit. Here I
am a little at a stand; for credit, properly speaking,
they have none. The credit of the ancient government was not, indeed, the best; but they could always, on some terms, command money, not only at home, but from most of the countries of Europe
where a surplus capital was accumulated; and the
credit of that government was improving daily. The
establishment of a system of liberty would of course
be supposed to give it new strength: and so it would
actually have done, if a system of liberty had been
established. What offers has their government of
pretended liberty had from Holland, from Hamburg,
from Switzerland, from Genoa, from England, for a
dealing in their paper? Why should these nations
of commerce and economy enter into any pecuniary
dealings with a people who attempt to reverse the
very nature of things, - amongst whom they see the
debtor prescribing at the point of the bayonet the
medium of his solvency to the creditor, discharging
one of his engagements with another, turning his
very penury into his resource, and paying his interest with his rags?
Their fanatical confidence in the omnipotence of
Church plunder has induced these philosophers to
overlook all care of the public estate, just as the
incapacity. Such effects those causes will always produce. Looking
over that account with a pretty strict eye, and, with perhaps too much
rigor, deducting everything which may be placed to the account of
a financier out of place, who might be supposed by his enemies desirous of making the most of his cause, I believe it will be found that
a more salutary lesson of caution against the daring spirit of innovators than what has been supplied at the expense of France never
was at any time furnished to mankind.
? ? ? ? 544 REFLECTIONS ON THE
dream of the philosopher's stone induces dupes, under the more plausible delusion of the hermetic art,
to neglect all rational means of improving their fortunes. With these philosophic financiers, this universal medicine made of Church mummy is to cure all
the evils of the state. These gentlemen perhaps do
not believe a great deal in the miracles of piety; but
it cannot be questioned that they have an undoubting faith in the prodigies of sacrilege. Is there a
debt which presses them? Issue assignats. Are
compensations to be made or a maintenance decreed
to those whom they have robbed of their freehold in
their office or expelled from their profession? Assignats. Is a fleet to be fitted out? Assignats.
If
sixteen millions sterling of these assignats forced on
the people leave the wants of the state as urgent as
ever, Issue, says one, thirty millions sterling of assignats,- says another, Issue fourscore millions more
of assignats. The only difference among their financial factions is on the greater or the lesser quantity
of assignats to be imposed on the public sufferance. _
They are all professors of assignats. Even those
whose natural good sense and knowledge of commerce, not obliterated by philosophy, furnish decisive
arguments against this delusion, conclude their arguments by proposing the emission of assignats. I suppose they must talk of assignats, as no other language would be understood. All experience of their inefficacy does not in the least discourage them. Are the
old assignats depreciated at market? What is the
remedy? Issue new assignats. -Mais si mnaladia
opiniatria non vult se garire, quid illi facere? Assignare; postea assignare; ensuita assignare. The word
is a trifle altered. The Latin of your present doctors
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 54o
may be better than that of your old comedy; their
wisdom and the variety of their resources are the
same. They have not more notes in their song than
the cuckoo; though, far from the softness of that harbinger of summer and plenty, their voice is as harsh
and as ominous as that of the raven.
Who but the most desperate adventurers in philosophy and finance could at all have thought of
destroying the settled revenue of the state, the sole
security for the public credit, in the hope of rebuilding it with the materials of confiscated property?
If, however, an excessive zeal for the state should
have led a pious and venerable prelate (by anticipation a father of the Church *) to pillage his own order, and, for the good of the Church and people, to take upon himself the place of grand financier of confiscation and comptroller-general of sacrilege, he and
his coadjutors were, in my opinion, bound to show,
by their subsequent conduct, that they knew something of the office they assumed. When they had
resolved to appropriate to the fise a certain portion
of the landed property of their conquered country, it
was their business to render their bank a real fund
of credit, - as far as such a bank was capable of becoming so.
To establish a current circulating credit upon any
land-bank, under any circumstances whatsoever, has
hitherto proved difficult at the very least. The attempt has commonly ended in bankruptcy. But
when the Assembly were led, through a contempt of
moral, to a defiance of economical principles, it might
at least have been expected that nothing would be
omitted on their part to lessen this difficulty, to pre* La Bruyere of Bossuet.
VOL. II. 35
? ? ? ? 546 REFLECTIONS ON THE
vent any aggravation of this bankruptcy. It might
be expected, that, to render your land-bank tolerable, every means would be adopted that could display
openness and candor in the statement of the security, everything which could aid the recovery of the
demand. To take things in their most favorable
point of view, your condition was that of a man of a
large landed estate which he wished to dispose of for
the discharge of a debt and the supply of certain services. Not being able instantly to sell, you wished
to mortgage. WVhat would a man of fair intentions
and a commonly clear understanding do in such
circumstances? Ought he not first to ascertain the
gross value of the estate, the charges of its management and disposition, the incumbrances perpetual and
temporary of all kinds that affect it, --then, striking a net surplus, to calculate the just value of the
security? When that surplus (the only security to
the creditor) had been clearly ascertained, and properly vested in the hands of trustees, then he would
indicate the parcels to be sold, and the time and conditions of sale; after this he would admit the public
creditor, if he chose it, to subscribe his stock into this
new fund, - or he might receive proposals for an
assignat from those who would advance money to
purchase this species of security. This would be to
proceed like men of business, methodically and rationally, and on the only principles of public and private credit that have an existence. The dealer would then know exactly what he purchased; and the only doubt which could hang upon his mind would be
the dread of the resumption of the spoil, which one
day might be made (perhaps with an addition of
punishment) from the sacrilegious gripe of those
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 547
execrable wretches who could become purchasers at
the auction of their innocent fellow-citizens.
An open and exact statement of the clear value of
the property, and of the time, the circumstances, and
the place of sale, were all necessary, to efface as
much as possible the stigma that has hitherto been
branded on every kind of land-bank. It became necessary on another principle, -- that is, on account of
a pledge of faith previously given on that subject, that
their future fidelity in a slippery concern might be
established by their adherence to their first engagement. When they had finally determined on a state
resource from Church booty, they came, on the fourteenth of April, 1790, to a solemn resolution on the
subject, and pledged themselves to their country,
"that, in the statement of the public charges for each
year, there should be brought to account a sum sufficient for defraying the expenses of the R. C. A. religion, the support of the ministers at the altars, the relief of the poor, the pensions to the ecclesiastics,
secular as well as regular, of the one and of the other
sex, in order that the estates and goods which are at the
disposal of the nation may be disengaged of all charges,
and employed by the representatives, or the legislative
body, to the great and most pressing exigencies of the
state. " They further engaged, on the same day,
that the sum necessary for the year 1791 should be.
forthwith determined.
In this resolution they admit it their duty to show
distinctly the expense of the above objects, which, by
other resolutions, they had before engaged should be
first in the order of provision. They admit that they
ought to show the estate clear and disengaged of all
charges, and that they should show it immediately. >
? ? ? ? 548 REFLECTIONS ON THE
Have they done this immediately, or at any time?
Have they ever furnished a rent-roll of the immovable estate, or given in an inventory of the movable effects, which they confiscate to their assignats? In
what manner they can fulfil their engagements of
holding out to public service " an estate disengaged
of all charges," without authenticating the value of
the estate or the quantum of the charges, I leave it
to their English admirers to explain. Instantly upon
this assurance, and previously to any one step towards
making it good, they issue, on the credit of so handsome a declaration, sixteen millions sterling of their paper. This was manly. Who, after this masterly
stroke, can doubt of their abilities in finance? - But
then, before any other emission of these financial
indulgences, they took care at least to make good
their original promise. -- If such estimate, either of
the value of the estate or the amount of the incumbrances, has been made, it has escaped me. I never heard of it.
At length they have spoken out, and they have
made a full discovery of their abominable fraud in
holding out the Church lands as a security for any
debts or any service whatsoever. They rob only to
enable them to cheat; but in a very short time they
defeat the ends both of the robbery and the fraud, by
making out accounts for other purposes, which blow
up their whole apparatus of force and of deception.
I am obliged to M. de Calonne for his reference to
the document which proves this extraordinary fact:
it had by some means escaped me. Indeed, it was
not necessary to make out my assertion as to the
breach of faith on the declaration of the fourteenth of
April, 1790. By a report of their committee it now
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 549
appears that the charge of keeping up the reduced ecclesiastical establishments, and other expenses attendant on religion, and maintaining the religious of both
sexes, retained or pensioned, and the other concomitant expenses of the same nature, which they have
brought upon themselves by this convulsion in property, exceeds the income of the estates acquired by it
in the enormous sum of two millions sterling annually,- besides a debt of seven millions and upwards.
These are the calculating powers of imposture! This
is the finance of philosophy! This is the result of all
the delusions held out to engage a miserable people
in rebellion, murder, and sacrilege, and to make
them prompt and zealous instruments in the ruin of
their country! Never did a state, in any case, enrich itself by the confiscations of the citizens. This
new experiment has succeeded like all the rest. Every honest mind, every true lover of liberty and humanity, must rejoice to find that injustice is not
always good policy, nor rapine the high-road to riches. I subjoin with pleasure, in a note, the able and
spirited observations of M. de Calonne on this subject. *
* "Ce n'est point a l'assemblee entiere que je m'adresse ici; je ne
parle qu'a ceux qui l'dgarent, en lui cachant sous des gazes sdduisantes le but oi ils l'entrainent. C'est h eux que je dis: Votre objet,
vous n'en disconviendrez pas, c'est d'oter tout espoir au clergd, et de
consommer sa ruine; c'est-l, en ne vous soupqonnant d'aucune combinaison de cupiditd, d'aucun regard sur le jeu des effets publics,
c'est-lh ce qu'on doit croire que vous avez en vue dans la terrible
operation que vous proposez; c'est ce qui doit en 6tre le fruit. Mais
le peuple qui vous y intdressez, quel avantage peut-il y trouver? En
vous servant sans cesse de lui, que faites-vous pour lui? Rien, absolument rien; et, au contraire, vous faites ce qui ne conduit qu'a l'accabler de nouvelles charges. Vous avez rejete, i son prejudice, une
? ? ? ? 550 REFLECTIONS ON THE
In order to persuade the world of the bottomless
resource of ecclesiastical confiscation, the Assembly
have proceeded to other confiscations of estates in offi
ces, which could not be done with any common color
without being compensated out of this grand confiscation of landed property. They have thrown upon this
fund, which was to show a surplus disengaged of all
charges, a new charge, namely, the compensation to
the whole body of the disbanded judicature, and of
all suppressed offices and estates: a charge which I
cannot ascertain, but which unquestionably amounts
to many French millions. Another of the new charges
is an annuity of four hundred and eighty thousand
pounds sterling, to be paid (if they choose to keep
faith) by daily payments, for the interest of the first
assignats. Have they ever given themselves the trouble to state fairly the expense of the management of
the Church lands in the hands of the municipalities,
to whose care, skill, and diligence, and that of their
legion of unknown under-agents, they have chosen to
commit the charge of the forfeited estates, and the
consequence of which had been so ably pointed out
by the Bishop of Nancy?
offre de 400 millions, dont l'acceptation pouvoit devenir un moyen de
soulagement en sa faveur; et a cette ressource, aussi profitable que
legitime, vous avez substitue une injustice ruineuse, qui, de votre
propre aveu, charge le tresor public, et par consequent le peuple,
d'un surcroit de depense annuelle de 50 millions au moins, et d'un
remboursement de 150 millions.
"Malheureux peuple! voilk ce que vous vaut en dernier resultat
P'expropriation de l'Eglise, et la durete' des de'crets taxateurs du traitement des ministres d'une religion bienfaisante; et desormais ils seront a votre charge: leurs charitds soulageoient les pauvres; et vous allez
&tre imposes pour subvenir a leur entretien! " -- De l'Etat de la
France, p. 81. See also p. 92, and the following pages.
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 551
But it is unnecessary to dwell on these obvious
heads of incumbrance. Have they made out any
clear state of the grand incumbrance of all, I mean
the whole of the general and municipal establishments
of all sorts, and compared it with the regular income
by revenue? Every deficiency in these becomes a
charge on the confiscated estate, before the creditor
can plant his cabbages on an acre of Church property. There is no other prop than this confiscation to keep the whole state from tumbling to the ground.
In this situation they have purposely covered all, that
they ought industriously to have cleared, with a thick
fog; and then, blindfold themselves, like bulls that
shut their eyes when they push, they drive, by the
point of the bayonets, their slaves, blindfolded indeed
no worse than their lords, to take their fictions for
currencies, and to swallow down paper pills by thirtyfour millions sterling at a dose. Then they proudly lay in their claim to a future credit, on failure of all
their past engagements, and at a time when (if in such
a matter anything can be clear) it is clear that the
surplus estates will never answer even the first of
their mortgages, -- I mean that of the four hundred
millions (or sixteen millions sterling) of assignats.
In all this procedure I can discern neither the solid
sense of plain dealing nor the subtle dexterity of ingenious fraud. The objections within the Assembly to pulling up the flood-gates for this inundation of fraud
are unanswered; but they are thoroughly refuted by
an hundred thousand financiers in the street. These
are the numbers by which the metaphysic arithmeticians compute. These are the grand calculations
on which a philosophical public credit is founded in
France. They cannot raise supplies; but they can
? ? ? ? 552 REFLECTIONS ON THE
raise mobs. Let them rejoice in the applauses of the
club at Dundee for their wisdom and patriotism in
having thus applied the plunder of the citizens to the
service of the state. I hear of no address upon this
subject from the directors of the Bank of England, -
though their approbation would be of a little more
weight in the scale of credit than that of the club at
Dundee. But to do justice to the club, I believe the
gentlemen who compose it to be wiser than they appear, -that they will be less liberal of their money
than of their addresses, and that they would not give
a dog's ear of their most rumpled and ragged Scotch
paper for twenty of your fairest assignats.
Early in this year the Assembly issued paper to
the amount of sixteen millions sterling. What must
have been the state into which the Assembly has
brought your affairs, that the relief afforded by so
vast a supply has been hardly perceptible? This
paper also felt an almost immediate depreciation of
five per cent, which in a little time came to about
seven. The effect of these assignats on the receipt
of the revenue is remarkable. M. Necker found that
the collectors of the revenue, who received in coin,
paid the treasury in assignats. The collectors made
seven per cent by thus receiving in money, and accounting in depreciated paper. It was not very difficult to foresee that this must be inevitable. It was, however, not the less embarrassing. M. Necker was
obliged (I believe, for a considerable part, in the
market of London) to buy gold and silver for the
mint, which amounted to about twelve thousand
pounds above the value of the commodity gained.
That minister was of opinion, that, whatever their
secret nutritive virtue might be, the state could not
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 553
live upon assignats alone, - that some real silver was
necessary, particularly for the satisfaction of those
who, having iron in their hands, were not likely to
distinguish themselves for patience, when they should
perceive, that, whilst an increase of pay was held out
to them in real money, it was again to be fraudulently drawn back by depreciated paper. The minister, in this very natural distress, applied to the Assembly,
that they should order the collectors to pay in specie
what in specie they had received. It could not escape him, that, if the Treasury paid three per cent
for the use of a currency which should be returned
seven per cent worse than the minister issued it,
such a dealing could not very greatly tend to enrich
the public. The Assembly took no notice of his recommendation. They were in this dilemma: If they continued to receive the assignats, cash must become
an alien to their Treasury; if the Treasury should
refuse those paper amulets, or should discountenance
them in any degree, they must destroy the credit of
their sole resource. They seem, then, to have made
their option, and to have given some sort of credit
to their paper by taking it themselves; at the same
time, in their speeches, they made a sort of swaggering declaration, something, I rather think, above legislative competence, - that is, that there is no difference in value between metallic money and their assignats. This was a good, stout, proof article of
faith, pronounced under an anathema by the venerable fathers of this philosophic synod. Credat who will, - certainly not Judceus Apella.
A noble indignation rises in the minds of your
popular leaders, on hearing the magic-lantern in
their show of finance compared to the fraudulent
? ? ? ? 554 REFLECTIONS ON THE
exhibitions of Mr. Law. They cannot bear to hear
the sands of his Mississippi compared with the rock
of the Church, on which they build their system.
Pray let them suppress this glorious spirit, until they
show to the world what piece of solid ground there is
for their assignats, which they have not preoccupied
by other charges. They do injustice to that great
mother fraud, to compare it with their degenerate
imitation. It is not true that Law built solely on a
speculation concerning the Mississippi. He added the
East India trade; he added the African trade; he
added the farms of all the farmed revenue of France.
All these together unquestionably could not support
the structure which the public enthusiasm, not he,
chose to build upon these bases. But these were,
however, in comparison, generous delusions. They
supposed, and they aimed at, an increase of the commerce of France. They opened to it the whole range
of the two hemispheres. They did not think of feeding France from its own substance. A grand imagination found in this flight of commerce something to captivate. It was wherewithal to dazzle the eye of
an eagle. It was not made to entice the smell of a
mole, nuzzling and burying himself in his mother
earth, as yours is. Men were not then quite shrunk
from their natural dimensions by a degrading and
sordid philosophy, and fitted for low and vulgar deceptions. Above all, remember, that, in imposing on
the imagination, the then managers of the system
made a compliment to the freedom of men. In their
fraud there was Ino mixture of force. This was
reserved to our time, to quench the little glimmerings of reason which might break in upon the solid
darkness of this enlightened age.
? ? ? ? REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 555
On recollection, I have said nothing of a scheme
of finance which may be urged in favor of the abilities of these gentlemen, and which has been introduced with great pomp, though not yet finally adopted in the National Assembly. It comes with something
solid in aid of the credit of the paper circulation;
and much has been said of its utility and its elegance. I mean the project for coining into money
the bells of the suppressed churches. This is their
alchemy. There are some follies which baffle argument, which go beyond ridicule, and which excite
no feeling in us but disgust; and therefore I say no
more upon it.
It is as little worth remarking any farther upon all
their drawing and re-drawing, on their circulation for
putting off the evil day, on the play between the
Treasury and the Caisse d'Escompte, and on all these
old, exploded contrivances of mercantile fraud, now
exalted into policy of state. The revenue will not be
trifled with. The prattling about the rights of men
will not be accepted in payment of a biscuit or a
pound of gunpowder. Here, then, the metaphysicians
descend from their airy speculations, and faithfully
follow examples. What examples? The examples
of bankrupts. But defeated, baffled, disgraced, when
their breath, their strength, their inventions, their
fancies desert them, their confidence still maintains
its ground. In the manifest failure of their abilities,
they take credit for their benevolence. When the revenue disappears in their hands, they have the presumption, in. some of their late proceedings, to value themselves on the relief given to the people. They
did not relieve the people. If they entertained such
intentions, why did they order the obnoxious taxes
? ? ?
