1 8. Mae Darling 



did not actually need the estates they might be dismissed at 

 pleasure. Naturally, the deputies of the third estate did not 

 relish such a thought as this.*'° 



Necker pleaded for union among the deputies, begging them to 

 forget individual interests in the concern for the great affairs of 

 the nation. He then pointed out the things that should be con- 

 sidered by the assembly. These matters had to do almost entirely 

 with financial reforms.^^ He urged the deputies to choose from 

 the instructions given them by their constituents, those which 

 were the most pressing, and to carry out these first, Necker's idea 

 of the " most pressing " being, of course, those which would lead 

 most quickly to the relief of the financial situation. ^- 



Near the close of the address, the question of voting by head 

 or by order was touched upon. Before dealing with this ques- 

 tion, which he evidently realized was a delicate one, Necker stated 

 that had he followed his own inclinations in the matter, he would 

 have avoided discussing the question, but that the king had 

 ordered him to take it up."^ Necker then declared that the three 

 orders ought to be separated at first, in order to give an oppor- 

 tunity to the upper orders to renounce their pecuniary privileges 

 of their own free will. " No one among you, gentlemen," he 

 declared, "could, with justice, try to deprive the two first orders 

 of the merit of a generous sacrifice ; it would be depriving them 

 of it, however, it would at least dim the glory of it, to submit the 



60 Biauzat, II, 30; Duquesnoy, I, 7. 



^'^ Discours de M. le dirccteiir-gciicral dcs finances, 77-102. 



<^^ Ibid., 102. 



'''^ Discoiirs de M. le dircctenr-gcncral des finances, 109. The following 

 is the text of Necker's speech on this point: " Sa majeste a done fixe son 

 attention sur des prehminaires dont les consequences peuvent etre si 

 grandes ; et ce n'est pas encore cependant comme votre souverain, c'est 

 comma le premier tuteur des interets de la nation, c'est comme la plus 

 fidele protecteur de la felicite publique que le roi m'a ordonne de vous 

 presenter un petit nombre de reflexions. J'aurais aime peut-etre a en etre 

 dispense, car on ne s'approche jamais sans danger de ses questions deli- 

 cates dont I'esprit de parti s'est deja rendu maitre; mais il faut rejeter 

 avec dedain toutes les considerations personnelles qui font toujours em- 

 barras dans la route du bien public." 



220 



