a small number of men,
after dividing the land between them, had made laws of union and security
against the multitude, just as they would have made for themselves
shelters in the woods against the wild beasts. What concern of ours are
your laws of property? the most numerous class of citizens might say: we
possess nothing. Your laws of right and wrong? We have nothing to
defend. Your laws of liberty? If we do not work to-morrow, we shall
die."

Public opinion was favorable to M. Necker, his promotion was well
received; it presented, however, great difficulties: he had been a
banker, and hitherto the comptrollers-general had all belonged to the
class of magistrates or superintendents; he was a Protestant, and, as
such, could not hold any office. The clergy were in commotion; they
tried certain remonstrances. "We will give him up to you," said M. de
Maurepas, "if you undertake to pay the debts of the state." The
opposition of the church, however, closed to the new minister an
important opening; at first director of the treasury, then
director-general of finance, M. Necker never received the title of
comptroller-general, and was not admitted to the council. From the
outset, with a disinterestedness not devoid of ostentation, he had
declined the salary attached to his functions. The courtiers looked at
one another in astonishment. It is easy to see that he is a foreigner,
a republican, and a Protestant," people said. M. de Maurepas laughed.
"M. Necker," he declared, "is a maker of gold; he has introduced the
philosopher's stone into the kingdom."

This was for a long while the feeling throughout France. "No
bankruptcies, no new imposts, no loans," M. Turgot had said, and had
looked to economy alone for the resources necessary to restore the
finances. Bolder and less scrupulous, M. Necker, who had no idea of
having recourse to either bankruptcy or imposts, made unreserved use of
the system of loans. During the five years that his ministry lasted, the
successive loans he contracted amounted to nearly five hundred million
livres. There was no security given to insure its repayment to the
lenders. The mere confidence felt in the minister's ability and honesty
had caused the money to flow into the treasury.

M. Necker did not stop there: a foreigner by birth, he felt no respect
for the great tradition of French administration; practised in the
handling of funds, he had conceived as to the internal government