Louis' Minister of Finance, Turgot, was a trained economist and a man
of very great ability. When Louis assured the people, in the speech
after his coronation, that there were to be "no more loans, no fresh
burdens on the people," he did not know how Turgot was going to
accomplish this miracle. He was unaware that it was to be done by
cutting off the cherished privileges of the nobility, and that the
proposed reforms were all aimed at the privileged classes. When this
became apparent, indignation was great at Versailles. The court would
not hear of economy. Turgot was dismissed, and Necker, a Swiss banker
(father of Madame de Stael), called to fill his place.

Necker made another mistake. He took the people into his confidence,
let them know the sources of revenue, the nature of expenditures, and
measures of relief. This was very quieting to the public, but
exasperating to the privileged classes, who had never taken the people
into their confidence, and considered it an impertinence for them to
inquire how the moneys were spent. And so Louis, again yielding to the
pressure at Versailles, dismissed Necker; then, in the outburst of rage
which followed, tried to retrace his steps and recall him.

But events were moving too swiftly for that now. In the existing
temper of the people, small reforms and concessions were unavailing.
They were demanding that the States General be called.

The critical moment had come. If Louis of his own initiative had
summoned that body to confer over the situation, it would have been a
very different thing; but a call of the States-General at the _demand
of the people_ was a virtual surrender of the very principle of
absolutism. The work of Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV. would be
undone; for it would involve an acknowledgment of the right of the
people to dictate to the king, and to participate in the government of
the nation. The whole revolutionary contention was vindicated in this
act.

The call was issued; and when Louis, in 1789, convoked the States
General, he made his last concession to the demands of his subjects.

That almost-forgotten body had not been seen since Richelieu effaced
all the auxiliary functions of government. Nobles, ecclesiastics, and
_Tiers Etat_ (or commons) found themselves face to face once more. The
courtly contemptuous nobles, the princely ecclesiastics were unchanged,
but there was a new expression in the pale faces of the commons. Ther