14« 



Jldemoirs of Mr. Necier, ly hii Daughter. [Sept. I, 



him, becaufe he had always refufed to 

 fuhmit to the principles, ot an immoral 

 policy. I repeat it, the faculties ot Mr. 

 Necker had no other limits thai) his vir- 

 tues, and, perhaps, it wss his finguhr 

 tharailerilHc, that the kfrennefs of his 

 mind fhould have made him liO liranger to 

 the pleafiireof empioylng ikiirnlly the mo!t 

 fnbtle deduftions with the m.j(t ingenious 

 additls, nut the digniy of his mind rnade 

 him always rejcft this f^ecies of talent 

 with difdain. 



The fame I'agacily which opened to him 

 the road to foraine and to power, would 

 have perfeclly qualified him lo difcover bad 

 means ai.d had ends. Ho v m-jny minds 

 much inlerioi' to liis have been found maf- 

 ters of every rcfcurce of chicanery and 

 trick! and an>o: g the lowelt clafs, even 

 thofe the mort incapable of comprehending 

 one general, one dilintereiJel id-a, aftonidi 

 vou often by the cunning with wiiich they 

 conceive ftViry thing; iujgcfttd by tkeii' 

 perfonil inureif. But Mr. Nccker would 

 not difeiigagt' Lis min.l from iht ties of the 

 moft Icnipiilous delicacy : he determined 

 not, and there was (o much the more me- 

 rit in this dtcirion, as every kind of talent 

 formed one of his diltinft ijuali'ies. No 

 peifL^n tver fiiccetded in deceiving him on 

 K))y occafion ; — and fuch was his penetra- 

 tion, that it might have led him lodefpife 

 mankind, had nit all his fentiments been 

 tempered and ennobled by that riibilme 

 indulgence, which jurigts of ail r.cl:oiis 

 trom their fource, aiid ccmnonnds in the 

 fime rtn:iment ol pify, ourfelves and our 

 neighbours, individuals and the fpfcies. 



Mr. Necker, in the curff of his fiili 

 sdminili ration, had to triumph over his 

 ratiual goodnefs, in fupjielfiiig offices 

 V h'ch depvivtd many perf.-ns, not of ne- 

 c(.lTary emohiments, hut of thole not^dih- 

 lianding wiiich contributed greatly to the 

 Itiarpint/s (. f life. His adminilvration, the 

 r.-iainfprirg of which a as order and cccno- 

 niy, neceilarily di'prived him of all the 

 bkndifhmfnts of ^ower ; he denied him- 

 lelf the difp.dal of a fingle place to either 

 a rel'.tion or a friend, th nking it a duty 

 to make this facrifice as an example and 

 a confolat'on to thofc vvhofe jr'aces he (up- 

 rreffed, cr vvhcfe fahries he dimini/hed. 

 He attended to ' ulinefs wiihont relaxation 

 tVora m-jriang till night, and faw fcarcely 

 any othir peifoni than thofe wlio came to 

 comoiain o( tiie retrenchnxnts he hadim- 

 pofeti on them. My mother on h.-r part 

 devoted herfelf with exemplary zeal to the 

 rae of piifuns :ir.d hoi'pila'si it would be 

 hard to fay, according to the language ot 

 the world, what were t:ie etijuyments of 



either, what were the honours, the fortune, 

 the advantages of any kind which ihey 

 could hope to derive from (uch a life ; of 

 man they fought nothing but efteem, and 

 this my father obtained lo an extent which 

 will create aftciLfliment, wiien in wfiiirg 

 his political life, I (hali extraft a few of 

 the homages of every defcriptiun which he 

 then received.*. 



The regulations efiablUhed by Mr. 

 Necker, in the provinces, prepared ali 

 orders of the ftate for infight into the ad- 

 miniftra'iin. The fuppreffion of the right 

 of tnain-morle, the eafing of molt of the 

 taxes which fell particilarly on the people, 

 ail thtfc benevolent views, for the firft 

 time reilized, impitfTed with admiration 

 and giatitude the enlightened clals, a& 

 well as the clalis aggrieveil, thole wha loved 

 the public good, and thole wlio felt it. 

 Still the wour.ds of perfonal intereft, the 

 jealonfy ot Mr- Mauiepas, and the cupi- 

 dity of certain courtiers, fecretly excited 

 agninft Mr. Necker libels of an odious na- 

 ture. My mother from feeling them too 

 ftnfihly, gave them too mucli importance 

 in the eyes of my father. He has fince 

 made it a rule to lead none, and his atten- 

 tion has n3t been degraded by the iniferable 

 tradi, the falfeh.od of which was better 

 known to its autli "s, than even to its 

 readers ; but my rnother's grief, omnipo- 

 tent in its influence on the heart of her 

 htifband, difturbed him, in fpiteof himfelf. 



• I have in my potTcnion, a great number 

 of letters addreflVJ to my father and mother» 

 by the moft diftinguiflied rr.en in France, 

 during a fpace of twenty years, from the year 

 1775. One day, probably, I Ihall pubhfli this 

 collc(Sion, which alone will give an idea of 

 the pu'olic feeling in France at that period ; 

 it v/ill be a nutter of furprife to find among 

 them certain perfons, who have fince declaim- 

 ed againd th.c doubling of the Tiers Etjt, and 

 who have accufed my father of being the 

 author of it, writing to hirn with unufual 

 vehemence, fome to applaud this decifionj 

 otliers to complain that he did not make fuf- 

 ficicnt ufe of it for the popular caufe. At the 

 head of the enlightened and eminent men of 

 that day, Bufton, Thomas, Marmontel, 

 Saint Lambert, Mr. Suard, the Abbe Morel- 

 let. Shew ihciropinioiis with a .moderation ani 

 independence chiming the higheft refpeft for 

 their charafter as well as wifdon ; and Mr. 

 and Mrs Necker have ever by their thoughts 

 or by their aftions prefervsd their conneiSion 

 with the (acred league which then exifted for 

 the honour and welfare of France. 



This colieiSion alfo contains letters from 

 the moft diftinguilhed foreigners of that time, 

 Prince Henry, Mr. ds Caaiacolij Lord Stor- 

 mor.t, &Ca 



Unknown 



