Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume I. Вальтер Скотт

43

Louis XV. had the arts if not the virtues of a monarch. He asked one of his ministers what he supposed might be the price of the carriage in which they were sitting. The minister, making a great allowance for the monarch's paying en prince, yet guessed within two-thirds less than the real sum. When the king named the actual price, the statesman exclaimed, but the monarch cut him short. "Do not attempt," he said, "to reform the expenses of my household. There are too many, and too great men, who have their share in that extortion, and to make a reformation would give too much discontent. No minister can attempt it with success or with safety." This is the picture of the waste attending a despotic government: the cup which is filled to the very brim cannot be lifted to the lips without wasting the contents. – S.

44

Turgot was born at Paris in 1727. Called to the head of the Finances in 1774, he excited the jealousy of the courtiers by his reforms, and of the parliaments by the abolition of the corvées. Beset on all sides, Louis, in 1776, dismissed him, observing at the same time, that "Turgot, and he alone, loved the people." Malesherbes said of him, that "he had the head of Bacon, and the heart of L'Hopital." He died in 1781.

45

Malesherbes, the descendant of an illustrious family, was born at Paris in 1721. When Louis the Sixteenth ascended the throne, he was appointed minister of the interior, which he resigned on the retirement of his friend Turgot. He was called back into public life, at the crisis of the Revolution, to be the legal defender of his sovereign; but his pleadings only procured for himself the honour of perishing on the same scaffold in 1794, together with his daughter and grand-daughter.

46

Necker was born at Geneva in 1732; he married, in 1764, Mademoiselle Curchod, the early object of Gibbon's affection, and by her had the daughter so celebrated as the Baroness de Staël Holstein. M. Necker settled in Paris, rose into high reputation as a banker, and was first called to office under the government in 1776. He died in 1804.

47

The corvées, or burdens imposed for the maintenance of the public roads, were bitterly complained of by the farmers. This iniquitous part of the financial system was abolished in 1774, by Turgot.

48

Maurepas was born in 1701. "At the age of eighty, he presented to the world the ridiculous spectacle of caducity affecting the frivolity of youth, and employed that time in penning a sonnet which would more properly have been devoted to correcting a despatch, or preparing an armament." He died in 1781. – See Lacretelle, tom. v., p. 8.

49

The Count de Vergennes was born at Dijon in 1717. He died in 1787, greatly regretted by Louis, who was impressed by the conviction that, had his life been prolonged, the Revolution would not have taken place.

50

Calonne was born at Douay in 1734. After being an exile in England, and other parts of Europe, he died at Paris in 1802.

51

They were summoned on 29th December, 1786, and met on 22d February of the subsequent year. – S.

52

M. Loménie de Brienne was born at Paris in 1727. On being appointed Prime Minister, he was made Archbishop of Sens, and on retiring from office, in 1788, he obtained a cardinal's hat. He died in prison in 1794.

53

54

Viz., One on timber, and one on territorial possessions. – See Thiers, vol. i., p. 14.

55

"Lit de Justice" – the throne upon which the King was seated when he went to the Parliament.

56

Mignet, Hist. de la Rev. Française, tom. i., p. 21.

57

Freteau and Sabatier. They were banished to the Hières. In 1794, Freteau was sent to the guillotine by Robespierre.

58

Mignet, tom. i., p. 22; Thiers, tom. i., p. 19.

59

De Staël, tom. i., p. 169.

60

Thiers, tom. i., p. 37.

61

25th August, 1788. The archbishop fled to Italy with great expedition, after he had given in his resignation to his unfortunate sovereign. – See ante, p. 50. – S.

62

When Necker received the intimation of his recall, his first words were, "Ah! why did they not give me those fifteen months of the Archbishop of Sens? Now it is too late." – De Staël, vol. i., p. 157.

63

De Bouillé was a native of Auvergne, and a relative of La Fayette. He died in London, in 1800.

64

See Mémoires de Bouillé. Madame de Staël herself admits this deficiency in the character of a father, of whom she was justly proud. – "Se fiant trop il faut l'avouer, à l'empire de la raison." – S. – ("Confiding, it must be admitted, too much in the power of reason.") —Rev. Franç., tom. i., p. 171.

65

"The concessions of Necker were the work of a man ignorant of the first principles of the government of mankind. It was he who overturned the monarchy, and brought Louis XVI. to the scaffold. Marat, Danton, Robespierre himself, did less mischief to France: he brought on the Revolution, which they consummated." – Napoleon, as reported by Bourrienne, tom. viii., p. 108.

66

A calembourg of the period presaged a different result. – "So numerous a concourse of state-physicians assembled to consult for the weal of the nation, argued," it was said, "the imminent danger and approaching death of the patient." – S.

67

The Baron de Senneci, when the estates of the kingdom were compared to three brethren, of which the Tiers Etat was youngest, declared that the Commons of France had no title to arrogate such a relationship with the nobles, to whom they were so far inferior in blood, and in estimation.

68

Madame de Staël, and Madame de Montmorin, wife of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, beheld from a gallery the spectacle. The former exulted in the boundless prospect of national felicity which seemed to be opening under the auspices of her father. "You are wrong to rejoice," said Madame de Montmorin; "this event forebodes much misery to France and to ourselves." Her presentiment was but too well founded. She herself perished on the scaffold with one of her sons; her husband was murdered on September 2d; her eldest daughter died in the hospital of a prison, and her youngest died of a broken heart. – See M. de Staël, vol. i., p. 187.

69

Lacretelle, tom. i., p. 32; Rivarol, p. 37.

70

It was, for example, gravely stated, that a seigneur of a certain province possessed a feudal right to put two of his vassals to death upon his return from hunting, and to rip their bellies open, and plunge his feet into their entrails to warm them. – S.

71

See Don Quixote, part ii., chap. lxi., (vol. v., p. 296. Lond., 1822.)

72

"By a majority of 491 to 90." – Lacretelle.

73

Lacretelle, tom. vii., p. 39.

74

Lacretelle, tom. vii., p. 41.

75

The government monopoly of salt, under the name of the gabelle, was maintained over about two-thirds of the kingdom.

76

Mignet, tom. i., p. 43.

77

"The evening before, he had tendered his resignation, which was not accepted, as the measures adopted by the court were not such as he thoroughly approved." – Lacretelle, tom. vii., p. 47.

78

Mounier was born at Grenoble in 1758. He quitted France in 1790, but returned in 1802. He afterwards became one of Napoleon's counsellors