NECKER.

Ardent admirers of such mental and imaginative power as was displayed

by the marvelous man whose career has just been sketched, will be

unable to discover any striking signs of that sublime quality in

Necker. Yet history hardly presents a more impressive and agreeable

instance of moderate talents honestly exercised, and resolute industry

unflinchingly practiced, conducting an obscure individual――in spite of

countless obstacles――to boundless wealth and supreme distinction, in an

exclusive country of which he could not even boast of being a native.

His example is, therefore, of peculiar value to youth, and eminently

worthy of attentive consideration, as showing what may be achieved by

integrity and perseverance against all disadvantages.

The forefathers of this celebrated person whose name justly occupies

so conspicuous a place in the political annals of continental Europe,

are stated to have been Irish Protestants, at a time when there was

particularly little personal safety to those holding the doctrines of

the reformed faith. At a troublous period they fled from persecution,

and sought refuge in Prussia, whence another generation found their way

into Switzerland. Thus it happened that Necker was born in Geneva,

on the 3d of September, 1732, where his parents were in respectable

circumstances, and where his father held the Professorship of Public

Law. The boy was doubtless educated with care in his native city, whose

beautiful situation on the Rhône and at the end of Lake Leman, with its

fine walks and pleasant prospects, furnished a fitting scene wherein to

indulge his youthful and ambitious aspirations after fame and fortune.

But at the same time the manners and customs of the place conveyed to

him impressions still more salutary, and predisposed him in favor of

those habits of rigid virtue on which he subsequently built his high

power and enviable reputation, as also those sound religious principles

which, in after life, distinguished him and his house from those among

whom his lot was cast.

The opinion that the true genius is a mind of large general powers,

determined by accident to some particular direction, is rather

confirmed than otherwise by the instance of Necker. His natural bent

was toward political and philosophical studies, and had they been

encouraged and pursued, he might have become a fanciful and brilliant

thinker; but his parents did not regard his prepossessions with

satisfaction. On the contrary, they deemed it better that his time

should be devoted to the lucrative labor which fortune supplies to a

votary of activity, energy, and intellect. While commerce fills the

purse it clogs the brain; and, though highly favored in his efforts,

Necker was not luckier than others in this respect. In earlier years he

is said to have written two comedies; but the extraordinary struggle

which must have been required to metamorphose a friendless clerk into

one of the richest men of his time would naturally tend to crush and

destroy any of the more precious particles of talent and enthusiasm

with which he had been endowed by nature. His uncompromising virtue,

rare amiability, common sense, amazing industry, and well-proved

philanthropy, are the claims which his name possesses to the respect

and gratitude of posterity.

Regarding the wishes of his parents as law, Necker sacrificed his own

inclinations, and was sent at the age of fifteen to acquire a knowledge

of mercantile affairs in the establishment of Vernet, a banker in

Paris. Notwithstanding his aspiring vein, it would, indeed, have been

difficult at that critical period of his existence for any one to

imagine the possibility of the young Genevan adventurer rising to be

first minister of royal France――figuring as the centre of literary

society in the most polished of European capitals, and exercising a

mighty influence on the destinies of the world.

Nevertheless his ability and industry were soon proved, and brought him

into notice; his employers duly considering, of course, that it was

their interest to do so, afforded him such assistance as was likely

to redound to their own profit and advantage. His perseverance was

encouraged; he rapidly ascended to a place of trust and confidence

in the banking-house, and thus laid the foundation of that character

for care and aptitude in business which, as years passed on, made

him Chairman of the French East India Company――the highest of his

commercial distinctions.

The reputation, however, on which he rose to political eminence had to

be created by unflinching assiduity, and the exhibition of intellect.

Female inspiration was essential to its proper formation in the capital

on the Seine; and presently an influence of no unworthy kind was

present to nerve the hand, elevate the mind, and fire the soul of the

young banker’s clerk, struggling, though unaided, to make a name and

form a reputation.

As has been well observed, “Women are the priestesses of predestination.

It is the spirit of man that says, I will be great; but it is the

sympathy of women that usually makes him so.” That influence, in a very

pure and elevating degree, it was ere long Necker’s good fortune to

find. While in the employment of Thelusson, a rich banker, he was in

the habit of visiting at the house of Madame de Vermenoux, who had just

engaged a remarkably learned and accomplished Swiss governess, of

captivating appearance, to teach Latin to her son. This foreign

instructress, though young, had run no ordinary career. She had

encountered and borne up against troubles and disappointments with

heroic courage and dauntless energy. In the gay days of girlhood she

had been wooed, won, and sighed for by no less eminent a person than

the embryo historian of the Roman empire. In obedience to the mandate

of his family, who relished not the idea of so strange a match, Gibbon

philosophically abandoned, though he could not altogether forget,

the learned and beautiful object of his attachment. The death of her

father, the venerable pastor of a mountain village, left her quite

unprovided for; but, far from sinking under the circumstances, she

conveyed her surviving parent to Geneva, where the liberal education

she had received enabled her to maintain both by teaching young

females. On the death of her mother she had been induced to remove to

Paris, and thus met the man whose aspirations she was to guide and

whose ambition she was to direct. Necker was immediately impressed by

the charms and accomplishments of the erudite damsel, and, on becoming

better acquainted, her grave style of beauty and noble character of

mind threw over him a potent spell, and produced upon his heart an

effect of no ordinary kind. Then, however, he could offer nothing but

a devoted heart, with such worldly prospects as the enthusiasm of

youth, especially in such circumstances, can readily conjure up. Thus,

in consequence of their mutual poverty, they were under the harsh

necessity of submitting to the delay of years. Soon, however, did the

hero of this somewhat romantic engagement emerge from that chill

obscurity which aspiring spirits like his can ill brook. He became a

partner of the flourishing banking-house in which he was employed, and

hailed the sun of fortune’s better day all the more eagerly that it

gave him the power of completing their union without any violation of

prudential considerations. Madame Necker’s ardent desire for honorable

fame speedily exercised an effect on her husband. It quickened his

efforts after distinction, and prompted him to apply his intellect to

huge adventures and important speculations. By his transactions in corn

he realized an immense fortune, which was employed and increased by

large financial operations with the Government.

Meantime he was steadily advancing in social favor, to which his

amiability and uprightness highly recommended him, and he was chosen

envoy for the republic of Geneva at the court of Versailles. When

that State was, in some crisis, contemplating the appointment of an

embassador to Paris, the Minister of the Crown assured Necker that such

an envoy was altogether unnecessary. “I will have nothing to do with

any one in this affair but yourself, Monsieur Necker,” he said. This

office opened up a passage for him to aristocratic circles, where his

known wealth and accurate information secured him a tolerable degree

of respect. As he rose to affluence and social importance, his natural

inclination began to assert its dormant claim; he withdrew from active

business, and devoted much attention to the pursuits toward which his

heart had originally been turned. He had studied finance with singular

determination; and his extensive knowledge of that subject, as shown in

several pamphlets written at this period, excited much interest, and

won him considerable praise.

In 1773 he carried off the prize at the Academy, with his _Eloge de

Colbert_; and soon after won even greater distinction by his able

essay, entitled _La Législation et le Commerce des Grains_. His

information was extensive, and his views of questions as intelligent

and comprehensive as his training and education admitted of their

being. His regular and precise habits were, doubtless, rare as the

conjugal devotion which raised the wonder of sneering skeptics and gay

courtiers. His conversation, though a little pedantic, was lively,

refined, and instructive, and his manner characterized by the courage

of honesty.

Indeed the time had now arrived when the upright character, financial

skill, and approved ability of the Swiss adventurer, rendered him a

personage whom the Government could not overlook. His disposition

was so amiable that it inspired love and esteem in those who were

best acquainted with him; while his generosity and munificence had

fascinated the masses, and won him popular applause. Besides, his

intellect had impressed itself on public feeling, and on the national

mind. He enunciated the doctrine, not under all circumstances

agreeable, that no new tax was lawful till all the resources of

economy had been tried; and he held opinions in favor of retrenchment

before the idea was in fashion with the multitude. Such a man was

unquestionably of no small value in the administration of affairs. The

finances were in all but hopeless disorder, and war was apparently

approaching. Therefore, though he was, as a foreigner, distasteful to

the nobles, and as a Protestant an object of aversion――not unmingled,

perhaps, with dread――to the clergy, urgent necessity overbore

considerations which might not have yielded to a less imperious

monitor, and he was nominated Director-general of the Finances. To

allay the foolish murmurs of the privileged classes, he was not

admitted to a seat in the cabinet; and to the complaints of the clergy,

who naturally remonstrated against a Protestant being intrusted with an

office of such importance, the prime minister of the day used this very

significant and conclusive argument: “I will give him up to you, if you

will pay the debts of the State.”

Having thus placed his foot on the ladder of power, Necker speedily

made his influence beneficially felt. Various reforms, great and small,

in the administration of the national finances, testified that a strong

hand and a clear head were enlisted in the service of a country that

much required them. He commenced his official career by prudently

declining to receive the emoluments pertaining to the post he occupied,

and forthwith signalized his accession to office by suppressing some

six hundred places about the Court and Treasury. His early education

had strongly impressed him in favor of free institutions; and his

system of government was essentially popular. His plan was, to render

as public as possible the national accounts and expenditure, and to

form provincial assemblies, in which local affairs and taxation might

be discussed and debated. His schemes, however, were not in any respect

agreeable to the courtiers, and he was assailed by a continuous shower

of pamphlets from the members of the Parliament of Paris. Under these

untoward circumstances he deemed a place in the Council requisite, that

he might be in a proper position to defend his measures when they were

under the deliberation of that body.

“What! you in the Council, and you do not go to mass!” exclaimed the

First Minister of the Crown, with every feature of his countenance

marked with surprise.

“Sully did not go to mass, and yet he was admitted to the Council,”

replied the Swiss financier, with becoming dignity; but in vain. The

minister offered to comply with his request, if he would become a Roman

Catholic; but, as in duty bound, Necker resolutely refused to sacrifice

his religious convictions to political advancement, and sent in his

resignation to the king. His majesty, painfully aware of the value of

the services he was thus about to lose, accepted it mournfully; and

those who had coalesced to overthrow the obnoxious statesman rejoiced

for a brief season over the triumph they had, for their misfortune,

achieved.

Meantime Necker had made a noble and philanthropic use of the influence

he possessed, and of the immense wealth which he had amassed by his

talents and industry. His private character was so unexceptionable, and

his morality so unimpeachable, as to contrast remarkably with those

among whom he acted so prominent a part; and, with the assistance of

his precious wife, he had done much to relieve and alleviate the wants

and distresses of the poor and indigent. Madame Necker had expressed a

wish to devote her talents to literature, but her husband hinted his

objection to such a course being pursued; and she betook herself to

those acts of charity and beneficence, to which he proudly appealed

in a day of darkness and gloom. Thus, at a great cost of time, labor,

and money, they had founded the hospital in Paris which still bears

their name; and there, in contemplating the good effected by their

exertions, they found consolation in times of trouble. On the day

preceding his resignation, they went thither; and the Sisters of Mercy

who attended the patients sang portions of the Psalms――the only poetry

with which they were acquainted――and loudly extolled the Neckers as the

helpers and benefactors of the poor and needy. The fallen minister was,

perhaps, much more moved with such demonstrations of affection than by

all his trials, and felt a pang at losing a position which gave him

the power of conferring blessings on his less-favored fellow-creatures.

Necker now retired to St. Omer, a short distance from Paris, where he

soon had conclusive proofs of his wide popularity. He received hundreds

of communications from people of the highest rank and importance,

regretting his removal from office: the road between his residence and

the city was crowded with the carriages of persons who went to pay

their respects to him in his retreat; and ere long he had it in his

power to decline the proposals of three foreign sovereigns, who each

hastened to offer him the management of their exchequers.

In 1787 he published his celebrated attack on Calonne, then presiding

over the financial department; and so bitter did the controversy

become, that the king judged it necessary to banish the ex-minister

twenty leagues from Paris. Next year, however, the feeling against his

successor became so strong, the monetary embarrassments so perplexing,

and the public excitement so great, that there appeared no other

politic course than to recall Necker from his retirement. Accordingly

he was privately applied to by the queen, through the Austrian

embassador, to resume his former functions; but he declined doing so

without possessing complete control. He was, therefore, recalled, as

a kind of financial dictator. His return was a triumph of the most

brilliant description. He was welcomed along the road from Bale with

expressions of joy, gratitude, and admiration, by the inhabitants of

the district. The day of his entry into Paris was kept as a festive

holiday, and the popular enthusiasm manifested itself in shouts of

applause: but he came too late to be permanently of service to the

disordered and agitated state. Few men have ever met with so hearty

a reception from their fellow-subjects; and Necker had sufficient

ambition and vanity not to be altogether insensible to the glowing

triumphs of such an hour. Yet, when congratulated on his recall, under

circumstances so flattering, he regretfully remarked――“Ah, would that I

could recall the last fifteen months!”

Nevertheless, his influence was, as anticipated, speedily and

beneficially felt in the restoration of public credit, and the relief

of the capital from the famine which had threatened and terrified its

inhabitants. Events had, indeed, arrived at a crisis which baffled the

strength of his guiding-hand and the resources of his busy brain; and

he soon found questions arising which the public excitement prevented

him from dealing with, or settling, to advantage. The wearisome and

invidious duty of being responsible for proceedings over which he had

no control, was his for a brief period; and he, unfortunately, lacked

the qualities which enable a public man to stand and save himself and

others in an age of revolution. His popularity vanished as the storm

approached; and, at length, on the 4th of September, 1790, sick

at heart, and tired of contending with difficulties which no human

power could have subdued, he finally resigned the high office which,

in ordinary times, he was capable of filling with so much honor to

himself, and so much advantage to the country, disappeared from the

stage, and was quickly forgotten amid the excitement and bloodshed of

a revolutionary tempest. He betook himself to Coppet, and felt his

banishment from the moving world less than most men who have been

compelled to relinquish power. He had that admiration of his learned,

virtuous, and amiable wife, which swallowed up such considerations.

Her influence over his heart was as unlimited as was her devotion to

his wishes. Though she was somewhat cold, formal, and precise, in his

eyes she seemed perfect, and he had ever regarded her with a feeling

approaching to idolatry; and in days of adversity she shone forth, and

exhibited domestic love, noble truth, and high-souled purity. On her

death, in 1794, Necker was solaced by the affection and friendship

of their accomplished daughter, Madame de Staël, since generally

recognized as one of the most distinguished women who ever lived. In

1800 he was visited by Bonaparte, when marching to Marengo. Necker

expired in the year 1803, and was buried in the grounds at Coppet, by

the side of his departed spouse.

This famous man was not endowed with that splendid genius which has

elevated many from obscure situations to positions of power and

dignity; but his industry was untiring, and his integrity beyond

question. He rose with credit, by habits of steady and incessant

exertion and independence, which were transferred from one sphere to

another, adhered to with resolution, and might have proved successful

in raising the land of his adoption to a condition of enviable wealth

and prosperity, but for the mighty event which tortured the foresight

of the most sagacious, and defied the valor of the bravest.