n the
administration of affairs, and he placed his chief glory in yielding
to the public voice. His reign, from his accession to the throne to
the meeting of the States General, was nothing but a series of
ameliorations, without calming the public effervescence. He had the
misfortune to wish sincerely for the public good, without possessing
the firmness necessary to secure it; and with truth it may be said
that reforms were more fatal to him than the continuance of abuses
would have been to another sovereign."

[Sidenote: Maurepas--Turgot--Malesherbes.]

He made choice of Maurepas as his prime minister, an old courtier
without talent, and who was far from comprehending the spirit of the
nation or the genius of the times. He accustomed the king to half
measures, and pursued a temporizing policy, ill adapted to
revolutionary times. The discontents of the people induced the king to
dismiss him, and Turgot, for whom the people clamored, became prime
minister. He was an honest man, and contemplated important reforms,
even to the abolition of feudal privileges and the odious _lettres de
cachet_, which were of course opposed by the old nobility, and were
not particularly agreeable to the sovereign himself.

Malesherbes, a lawyer who adopted the views of Turgot, succeeded him,
and, had he been permitted, would have restored the rights of the
people, and suppressed the _lettres de cachet_, reenacted the Edict of
Nantes, and secured the liberty of the press. But he was not equal to
the crisis, with all his integrity and just views, and Necker became
financial minister.

[Sidenote: Necker--Calonne.]

He was a native of Geneva, a successful banker, and a man who had won
the confidence of the nation. He found means to restore the finances,
and to defray the expenses of the American war. But he was equally
opposed by the nobles, who wanted no radical reform, and he was not a
man of sufficient talent to stem the current of revolution. Financial
skill was certainly desirable, but no financiering could save the
French nation on the eve of bankruptcy with such vast expenditures as
then were deemed necessary. The nobles indeed admitted the extent of
the evils which existed, and descanted, on their hunting parties, in a
strain of mock philanthropy, but would submit to no sacrifices
themselves, and Necker was compelled to resign.

M. de Calonne took his place; a man of ready invention, unscrupulous,
witty, and brilliant. Self-confid