Those sparks unfortunately landed in the basement where
age-old rubbish lay in great confusion. Then there was a cry of fire.
But the owner of the house who was interested in everything except the
management of his property, did not know how to put the small blaze
out. The flame spread rapidly and the entire edifice was consumed by the
conflagration, which we call the Great French Revolution.

For the sake of convenience, we can divide the French Revolution into
two parts. From 1789 to 1791 there was a more or less orderly attempt to
introduce a constitutional monarchy. This failed, partly through lack
of good faith and stupidity on the part of the monarch himself, partly
through circumstances over which nobody had any control.

From 1792 to 1799 there was a Republic and a first effort to establish
a democratic form of government. But the actual outbreak of violence had
been preceded by many years of unrest and many sincere but ineffectual
attempts at reform.

When France had a debt of 4000 million francs and the treasury was
always empty and there was not a single thing upon which new taxes could
be levied, even good King Louis (who was an expert locksmith and a great
hunter but a very poor statesman) felt vaguely that something ought to
be done. Therefore he called for Turgot, to be his Minister of Finance.
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne, a man in the early
sixties, a splendid representative of the fast disappearing class of
landed gentry, had been a successful governor of a province and was
an amateur political economist of great ability. He did his best.
Unfortunately, he could not perform miracles. As it was impossible to
squeeze more taxes out of the ragged peasants, it was necessary to get
the necessary funds from the nobility and clergy who had never paid a
centime. This made Turgot the best hated man at the court of Versailles.
Furthermore he was obliged to face the enmity of Marie Antoinette, the
queen, who was against everybody who dared to mention the word "economy"
within her hearing. Soon Turgot was called an "unpractical visionary"
and a "theoretical-professor" and then of course his position became
untenable. In the year 1776 he was forced to resign.

After the "professor" there came a man of Practical Business Sense. He
was an industrious Swiss by the name of Necker who had made himself rich
as a grain speculator and the partner in an international banking house.
His ambitious wife had