States General should vote by persons or by orders, had stopped their
proceedings in the very first instance in which it could occur, that
is, as to the verification of their powers, and that they had appointed
committees to try if there were any means of accommodation. These could
do nothing. The King then proposed that they should appoint others, to
meet persons whom he should name, on the same subject. These conferences
also proved ineffectual. He then proposed a specific mode of verifying.
The clergy accepted it unconditionally; the _Noblesse_, with such
conditions and modifications, as did away their acceptance altogether.
The Commons, considering this as a refusal, came to the resolution of
the 10th instant (which I have the honor to send you), inviting the
two other orders to come and take their places in the common room, and
notifying that they should proceed to the verification of powers, and to
the affairs of the nation, either with or without them. The Clergy
have, as yet, given no answer. A few of their members have accepted the
invitation of the Commons, and have presented themselves in their room,
to have their powers verified; but how many it will detach, in the
whole, from that body, cannot be known till an answer be decided on. The
_Noblesse_ adhered to their former resolutions, and even the minority,
well disposed to the Commons, thought they could do more good in their
own chamber, by endeavoring to increase their numbers and fettering the
measures of the majority, than by joining the Commons. An intrigue was
set on foot, between the leaders of the majority in that House, the
Queen, and Princes. They persuaded the King to go for some time to
Marly: he went. On the same day, the leaders moved in the chamber of
Nobles, that they should address the King, to declare his own sentiments
on the great question between the orders. It was intended that this
address should be delivered to him at Marly, where, separated from
his ministers, and surrounded by the Queen and Princes, he might be
surprised into a declaration for the Nobles. The motion was lost,
however, by a very great majority, that chamber being not yet quite
ripe for throwing themselves into the arms of despotism. Necker and
Montmorin, who had discovered this intrigue, had warned some of the
minority to defeat it, or they could not answer for what would happen.
These two and St. Priest, are the only members of the Council in
favor of the Commons. Luzerne, Puy-Segur, and the others, are high
aristocrats. The Commons having verified their powers, a motion was
made the day before yesterday, to declare themselves constituted, and to
proceed to business. I left them at two o’clock yesterday; the debates
not then finished. They differed only about forms of expression, but
agreed in the substance, and probably decided yesterday, or will decide
to-day. Their next move, I fancy, will be to suppress all taxes, and
instantly re-establish them till the end of their session, in order
to prevent a premature dissolution: and then they will go to work on
a declaration of rights and a constitution. The _Noblesse_, I suppose,
will be employed altogether in counter operations; the Clergy, that is
to say, the higher Clergy, and such of the _Curés_ as they can bring
over to their side, will be waiting and watching, merely to keep
themselves in their saddles. Their deportment, hitherto, is that of
meekness and cunning. The fate of the nation depends on the conduct of
the King and his ministers. Were they to side openly with the Commons,
the revolution would be completed without a convulsion, by the
establishment of a constitution, tolerably free, and in which the
distinction of Noble and Commoner would be suppressed. But this is
scarcely possible. The King is honest, and wishes the good of his
people; but the expediency of an hereditary aristocracy is too difficult
a question for him. On the contrary, his prejudices, his habits, and his
connections decide him in his heart to support it. Should they decide
openly for the _Noblesse_, the Commons, after suppressing taxes,
and finishing their declaration of rights, would probably go home;
a bankruptcy takes place in the instant, Mr. Necker must go out, a
resistance to the tax-gatherers follows, and probably a civil war. These
consequences are too evident and violent, to render this issue likely.
Though the Queen and Princes are infatuated enough to hazard it, the
party in the ministry would not. Something, therefore, like what I
hinted in my letter of May the 12th, is still the most likely to take
place. While the Commons, either with or without their friends of the
other two Houses, shall be employed in framing a constitution, perhaps
the government may set the other two Houses to work on the same subject:
and when the three schemes shall be ready, joint committees may be
negotiated, to compare them together, to see in what parts they agree;
and probably they will agree in all, except the organization of the
future States General. As to this, it may be endeavored, by the aid of
wheedling and intimidation, to induce the two privileged chambers to
melt themselves into one, and the Commons, instead of one, to agree to
two Houses of legislation. I see no other middle ground to which they
can be brought.
It is a tremendous cloud, indeed, which hovers over this nation, and he
at the helm has neither the courage nor the skill necessary to weather
it. Eloquence in a high degree, knowledge in matters of account, and
order, are distinguishing traits in his character. Ambition is his first
passion, virtue his second. He has not discovered that sublime truth,
that a bold, unequivocal virtue is the best handmaid even to ambition,
and would carry him further, in the end, than the temporizing, wavering
policy he pursues. His judgment is not of the first order, scarcely even
of the second; his resolution frail; and upon the whole, it is rare
to meet an instance of a person so much below the reputation he has
obtained. As this character, by the post and times in which Providence
has placed it, is important to be known, I send it to you as drawn by
a person of my acquaintance, who knows him well. He is not, indeed, his
friend, and allowance must, therefore, be made for the high coloring.
But this being abated, the facts and groundwork of the drawing are
just. If the _Tiers_ separate, he goes at the same time; if they stay
together, and succeed in establishing a constitution to their mind, as
soon as that is placed in safety, they will abandon him to the mercy
of the court, unless he can recover the confidence which he has lost at
present, and which, indeed, seems to be irrecoverable.
The inhabitants of St. Domingo, without the permission of the
government, have chosen and sent deputies to the States General. The
question of their admission is to be discussed by the States. In the
mean time, the government had promised them an Assembly in their own
Island, in the course of the present year. The death of the Dauphin, so
long expected, has at length happened. Montmorin told Ternant the other
day, that De Moustier had now asked a _congé_, which would be sent him
immediately. So that unless a change of ministry should happen, he will,
probably, be otherwise disposed of. The gazettes of France and Leyden
accompany this. I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and
respect, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
P. S. June 18. The motion under debate with the Commons, for
constituting their Assembly, passed yesterday by a majority of
four hundred and odd, against eighty odd. The latter were for it
in substance, but wished some particular amendment. They proceeded
instantly to the subject of taxation. A member who called on me this
moment, gave me a state of the proceedings of yesterday, from memory,
which I enclose you. He left the House a little before the question was
put, because he saw there was no doubt of its passing, and his brother,
who remained till the decision, informed him of it. So that we may
expect, perhaps, in the course of to-morrow, to see whether the
government will interpose with a bold hand, or will begin a negotiation.
But in the mean time, this letter must go off. I will find some other
opportunity, however, of informing you of the issue. T. J.
^^^ [Character of Mr. Necker, accompanying the preceding letter.]
Nature bestowed on Mr. Necker an ardent passion for glory, without, at
the same time, granting him those qualities required for its pursuit by
direct means. The union of a fruitful imagination with a limited talent,
with which she has endowed him, is always incompatible with those
faculties of the mind which qualify their possessor to penetrate, to
combine, and to comprehend all the relations of objects.
He had probably learned in Geneva, his native country, the influence
which riches exercise on the success of ambition, without having
recourse to the school of Paris, where he arrived about the
twenty-eighth year of his age. A personal affair with his brother, in
which the chiefs of the republic conducted themselves unjustly towards
him, the circumstances of which, moreover, exposed him to ridicule,
determined him to forsake his country. On taking his leave, he assured
his mother that he would make a great fortune at Paris. On his arrival,
he engaged himself as clerk, at a salary of six hundred livres, with the
banker Thelusson, a man of extreme harshness in his intercourse with
his dependants. The same cause which obliged other clerks to abandon the
service of Thelusson, determined Necker to continue in it. By submitting
to the brutality of his master with a servile resignation, whilst,
at the same time, he devoted the most unremitting attention to his
business, he recommended himself to his confidence, and was taken into
partnership. Ordinary abilities only were requisite to avail him of the
multitude of favorable circumstances, which, before he entered into the
administration, built up a fortune of six millions of livres. He owed
much of his good fortune to his connections with the Abbe Terrai,
of whose ignorance he did not scruple to profit. His riches,
his profession, his table, and a virtuous, reasonable, and well
informed wife, procured him the acquaintance of many persons of
distinction, among whom were many men of letters, who celebrated his
knowledge and wisdom.
The wise and just principles by which Turgot aimed to correct the Abuses
of the administration, not having been received with favor, he seized
the occasion to flatter ignorance and malignity, by publishing his work
against the freedom of the corn trade.
He had published, two years before, an eulogy on Colbert. Both these
productions exhibited the limited capacity of a banker, and, in no
degree, the enlarged views of a statesman. Not at all delicate in the
choice of his means, he succeeded to his wish in his object, which was
the establishing himself in public opinion. Elevated by a secret cabal
to the direction of the finances, he began by refusing the salaries of
his office. He affected a spirit of economy and austerity, which imposed
even on foreign nations, and showed the possibility of making war
without laying new taxes. Such at least was his boast; but, in reality,
they have been increased under his administration, about twenty
millions, partly by a secret augmentation of the bailies and of the
poll-tax, partly by some verifications of the twentieths, and partly
by the natural progression, which is tested by the amount of taxes
on consumption, the necessary result of the successive increase of
population, of riches, and of expensive tastes.
All these circumstances reared for him an astonishing reputation, which
his fall has consecrated. People will not reflect, that, in the short
period of his ministry, he had more than doubled his fortune. Not
that he had peculated on the public treasury; his good sense and pride
forbade a resort to this manœuvre of weak minds; but by resorting to
loans and the costly operations of the bank, to provide the funds of
war, and being still connected with the house to which he addressed
himself for much the greater part of his negotiations. They have not
remarked that his great principles of economy have nothing more than
a false show, and that the loans resorted to, in order to avoid the
imposition of taxes, have been the source of the mischief which has
reduced the finances to their present alarming condition.
As to his _compte rendu_; he has been forgiven the nauseous panegyric
which he has passed upon himself, and the affectation of introducing
his wife into it, for the purpose of praising her; and we are spared
the trouble of examining his false calculations. M. de Calonne has
undertaken this investigation. Without being able to vindicate himself,
he has already begun to unmask his antagonist, and he promises to do it
effectually.
Necessity has recalled this man to the ministry: and it must be
confessed, that he is beyond comparison a less mischievous minister
than his predecessors. I would compare him to a steward, who, by his
management, does not entirely ruin his master, but who enriches himself
at his expense. The desire of glory should inspire him as much as
possible with the energy requisite for the public business. There is
every likelihood that his ministry will not endure long enough, to cause
it to feel the effects of his false principles of administration: and
it is he alone who is able, if any one can, to preserve order in the
finances, until the reform is effected which we hope from the assembling
of the States General. In the mean time, the public estimation of his
talents and virtue is not so high as it has been. There are persons who
pretend that he is more firmly established in public opinion than he
ever was. They deceive themselves. The ambitious desire he has always
manifested of getting again into the administration, his work on the
Importance of Religious Opinions, and the Memoires of M. de Calonne,
have greatly impaired his reputation.
LETTER CCVII.--TO JAMES MADISON, June 18, 1789
TO JAMES MADISON.
Paris, June 18, 1789.
Sir,
My last to you was of May the 11th. Yours of March the 29th came to
hand ten days ago; and about two days ago, I received a cover of your
hand-writing, under which were a New York paper of May the 4th, and a
letter from Mr. Page to Mazzei. There being no letter from you, makes me
hope there is one on the way, which will inform me of my _congé_. I
have never received Mr. Jay’s answer to my public letter of November the
19th, which you mention him to have written, and which I fear has been
intercepted. I know only from you, that my letter got safe to hand. My
baggage has been made up more than a month, so that I shall leave Paris
almost in the instant of receiving the permission.
The campaign begins under unfavorable auspices for Russia. The death of
the Grand Seignior, who was personally disposed for peace, has brought a
young and ardent successor to the throne, determined to push the war to
extremity. Her only ally, the Emperor, is _in articulo mortis_, and the
grand Duke of Tuscany, should he succeed, loves peace and money. Denmark
is forbidden by England and Prussia to furnish even its stipulated
maritime aid. There is no appearance of any other power’s engaging
in the war. As far as I can discover, the King of England is somewhat
better in his head, but under such a complete depression of spirits,
that he does not care how the world goes, and leaves his ministers to do
as they please. It is impossible for you to conceive how difficult it is
to know the truth relative to him, he is environed in such an atmosphere
of lies. Men who would not speak a falsehood on any other subject, lie
on this, from a principle of duty; so that even eye-witnesses cannot be
believed without scanning their principles and connections; and few will
stand this, of the very few permitted to see him.
Committees of conciliation having failed in their endeavors to bring
together the three chambers of the States General, the King proposed a
specific mode of verifying their powers; for that having been the
first question which presented itself to them, was the one in which the
question of voting by persons or orders was first brought on. The clergy
accepted unconditionally. The _Noblesse_ accepted on conditions which
reduced the acceptance to nothing at all. The Commons considered this as
a refusal on the part of the Nobles, and thereupon took their definitive
resolution, to invite the other two orders to come and verify their
powers in common, and to notify them they should proceed with or without
them to verify, and to do the business of the nation. This was on
the 10th. On the 15th, they moved to declare themselves the National
Assembly. The debates on this were finished yesterday, when the
proposition was agreed to, by four hundred and odd, against eighty odd.
The minority agreed in substance, but wished some particular amendment.
They then immediately made the proposition relative to taxes, which I
enclose you, as this moment stated to me, by memory, by a member who
left the Assembly a little before the question, because there was no
opposition to the matter, but only to the form. He assures me, on the
information of another member who was present, that Target’s motion
passed. We shall know, I think, within a day or two, whether the
government will risk a bankruptcy and civil war, rather than see all
distinction of orders done way, which is what the Commons will push
for. If the fear of the former alternative prevails, they will spin the
matter into negotiation. The Commons have in their chamber almost all
the talents of the nation; they are firm and bold, yet moderate. There
is indeed, among them, a number of very hot-headed members; but those
of most influence are cool, temperate, and sagacious. Every step of this
House has been marked with caution and wisdom. The _Noblesse_, on the
contrary, are absolutely out of their senses. They are so furious, they
can seldom debate at all. They have few men of moderate talents, and
not one of great, in the majority. Their proceedings have been very
injudicious. The Clergy are waiting to profit of every incident to
secure themselves, and have no other object in view. Among the Commons,
there is an entire unanimity on the great question of voting by persons.
Among the _Noblesse_, there are about sixty for the Commons, and about
three times that number against them. Among the Clergy, about twenty
have already come over and joined the Commons, and in the course of
a few days, they will be joined by many more, not indeed making the
majority of that House, but very near it. The Bishops and Archbishops
have been very successful by bribes and intrigues, in detaching the
_Curés_ from the Commons, to whom they were at first attached to a man.
The Commons are about, five hundred and fifty-four in number, of whom
three hundred and forty-four are of the Jaw. These do not possess an
influence founded in property; but in their habits of business and
acquaintance with the people, and in their means of exciting them as
they please. The _Curés_, throughout the kingdom, form the mass of the
Clergy; they are the only part favorably known to the people, because
solely charged with the duties of baptism, burial, confession,
visitation of the sick, instruction of the children, and aiding the
poor; they are themselves of the people, and united with them. The
carriages and equipage only of the higher Clergy, not their persons, are
known to the people, and are in detestation with them. The soldiers will
follow their officers, that is to say, their captains, lieutenants, and
ensigns. These are of the lower nobility, and therefore much divided.
The colonels and higher officers are of the higher nobility, are
seldom with the soldiers, little known to them, not possessing their
attachment. These circumstances give them little weight in the partition
of the army.
I give you these miscellaneous observations, that knowing somewhat the
dispositions of the parties, you may be able to judge of the future for
yourself, as I shall not be here to continue its communication to you.
In hopes to see you soon, I conclude with assurances of the perfect
esteem and respect, with which I am, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CCVIII.--TO JOHN JAY, June 24,1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Sir,
Paris, June 24,1789.
My letter of the 17th and 18th instant gave you the progress of the
States General to the 17th, when the _Tiers_ had declared the illegality
of all the existing taxes, and their discontinuance from the end of
their present session. The next day, being a _jour de fete_, could
furnish no indication of the impression that vote was likely to make
on the government. On the 19th, a Council was held at Marly, in the
afternoon. It was there proposed, that the King should interpose by
a declaration of his sentiments in a _seance royale_. The declaration
prepared by M. Necker, while it censured, in general, the proceedings
both of the Nobles and Commons, announced the King’s views, such as
substantially to coincide with the Commons. It was agreed to in Council,
as also that the _seance royale_ should be held on the 22nd, and the
meetings till then be suspended. While the Council was engaged in this
deliberation at Marly, the chamber of the Clergy was in debate, whether
they should accept the invitation of the _Tiers_ to unite with them
in the common chamber. On the first question, to unite simply and
unconditionally, it was decided in the negative by a very small
majority. As it was known however, that some members who had voted in
the negative, would be for the affirmative, with some modifications, the
question was put with these modifications, and it was determined by a
majority of eleven members, that their body should join the _Tiers_.
These proceedings of the Clergy were unknown to the Council at Marly,
and those of the Council were kept secret from every body. The next
morning (the 20th), the members repaired to the House as usual, found
the doors shut and guarded, and a proclamation posted up for holding
a _seance royale_ on the 22nd, and a suspension of their meetings till
then. They presumed, in the first moment, that their dissolution
was decided, and repaired to another place, where they proceeded to
business. They there bound themselves to each other by an oath, never to
separate of their own accord, till they had settled a constitution for
the nation on a solid basis, and if separated by force, that they would
re-assemble in some other place. It was intimated to them, however, that
day, privately, that the proceedings of the _seance royale_ would be
favorable to them. The next day they met in a church, and were joined by
a majority of the Clergy. The heads of the aristocracy saw that all was
lost without some violent exertion. The King was still at Marly. Nobody
was permitted to approach him but their friends. He was assailed by lies
in all shapes. He was made to believe that the Commons were going to
absolve the army from their oath of fidelity to him, and to raise their
pay.
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