770 
FRA 
houfes of the collectors pillaged, and the public regifters 
burnt; that the twentieth, the poll, and the capitation 
taxes, were either delayed or abfolutely refilled, 
After this melancholy pi ft ure of the date of the re¬ 
venue, the mini (her demanded, in the name of the king', 
that the public alfembly fhould fanftion a loan of thirty 
millions, to fatisfy the inevitable engagements and ex¬ 
penses for the two following months, during which in¬ 
terval he doubted not that the constitution would either 
be eitablilhed, or at lead confiderably advanced. “ I con¬ 
ceive (laid he) that it will not on this occalion be requi- 
lite to allure the public confidence by the offer of exor¬ 
bitant intereft. I propofe that this loan diall be nego- 
ciated at the fimple intered of five per cent, and each fub- 
Icriber to be reimburfcd, if he defires it, in the next fef- 
fion of the national alfembly : That this reimburfement 
is to ftand the foremod amidd thole arrangements which 
are to be made for the eftnblilhmenr of a finking fund : 
That the loan fhould be either in notes payable to the 
bearer, or in contracts, as the fubferibers lhould deem 
molt convenient; and that a lid lhould be formed of the 
fubferibers to this patriotic loan ; and that this lid fhould 
be communicated to the national alfembly, and preferved, 
if they think proper, on their journals. You will not, 
gentlemen, (continued he, addrefiing himfelf to the na¬ 
tional alfembly,) refufe your (auction to this loan. Nu¬ 
merous diftriCts have, doubtlel's, demanded that a con- 
ftitution lhould be eitablilhed, before any tax or loan 
fhould take place ; but who could have forefeen thofe 
difficulties which have retarded your labours? It is to 
you that the fafety of the ftate is confided ; it is to you 
that the people look up for their future happinefs ; you 
alone have the means to avert the temped that impends 
over us. For my own part, I have fulfilled my talk ; I 
have depolited in your hands the knowledge of affairs; 
and whatever method you may adopt, my duty will al¬ 
ways bind me to refpect your opinions, and to give you, 
to the lad moments of my life, proofs of my zeal and at¬ 
tachment.” 
However the national alfembly might refgeCt the. inte¬ 
grity and eloquence of M. Necker, they were far from 
committing themfelves in full and open confidence. 
There was not a deputy who regarded not the fuccpurs 
demanded by the minider as indilpenfible ; they were con¬ 
vinced the loan was of that nature that could neither 
drengthen the hands of the executive power, nor aug¬ 
ment in any confiderable degree the burdens of the peo¬ 
ple ; the fum in itlelf was fmall, and the conditions pro- 
pofed far from unreafonable ; yet they dreaded the po¬ 
pular clamour. At length they determined to deer what 
they deemed a middle courfe; they conl'ented to the 
loan, but they changed the conditions on which it was to 
have been negociated. Confiding in that general enthu- 
fiafm wliich they themfelves were fenfible of, they de¬ 
creed that no fecurity fhould be given to the fubferibers; 
that no term diould be named for the reimburfement; 
and that the intered lhould be fixed at only four and a 
half percent. 
Thefe regulations were at fird applauded by the pub¬ 
lic ; but they were foon taught by experience, that the 
flame of patriotifin burns not in the interefled bofoms of 
agents and brokers, nor of others who owe their exidence 
to the national didrefs. Thefe mifereants were not to be 
nioyed by fo fcanty an harved; they determined to wait 
till the public neceffities diould offer terms more advan¬ 
tageous. Twenty days after the loan of thirty millions 
had been decreed, two millions fix hundred thoufand 
livres only had been fubferibed. The delay quickly 
augmented the public wants; forty millions of livres now 
became necell'ary ; and to procure thefe, it was deemed ex¬ 
pedient to vote a loan of eighty millions, at five per cent, 
and to be redeemed in ten years. Each ftep rendered 
more perplexed the labyrinth in which the national all'em- 
bly had involved itlelf. Unaccullonied to money fpecula- 
N C E. 
tions, their firff error had arifen from too lively a conft. 
dence in the patriotifm of the nation ; their fecond mea- 
fure withdrew the veil, prefented to every eye the public 
mifery ; while the "magnitude of the loan they had opened 
increafed the general diffruff, and fatally blafted their own 
expectations. 
The national affembly, fo unfortunate in their firff ef¬ 
forts of finance, now directed their attention to a new 
meafure, which they hoped might b‘e more fucce'fsful. 
The tytlies in France had been long confidered as a heavy 
and intolerable burden ; the committee to whole confi- 
deration this article had been referred, had propofed that 
all tythes, ecclefiaftical as well as lay, fhould be rendered 
redeemable. But this redemption was fubjeCt to eiien- 
tial objections: it confounded the impropriate tythes 
with th'ofe of the church ; it militated again!! the inten¬ 
tion of the alfembly, which was to relieve the hufband- 
nian ; and it afforded an endlefs fource of litigation in 
afeertaining the value at which that redemption was ty 
be fixed. Thefe objections were ably fupported by Mi- 
rabeau ; while the claims of the church found a warm 
and ffrenuous defender in the abbe Sieyes. Yet to the 
everlafting integrity and honour of the clergy, the point 
was given up by themfelves. M. Ricart de Seault read 
to tire alfembly a deed fubferibed by twenty curates, who 
lurrendered their tythes into the hands of the nation, and 
confided in its equity to provide for them a proper and 
decent fubfiffence : “Gentlemen, (added M. Seault,) I 
depofit this aCt, with which I have the honour of being 
entruffed, on your table, to afford an opportunity to all 
thofe who are willing to fign it.” Inftantly the nume¬ 
rous body of curates prelfed towards the table, and dif- 
puted with each other tire honour of firff fubferibing 
their names. Their example was followed by the digni¬ 
fied clergy : “In my own name, (exclaimed the vene¬ 
rable archbifhop of Paris,) and in thofe of my brethren 
prefent, I depofit the tythes of the church in the hands 
of a nation juft and generous : that the gofpel fhould be 
propagated, that divinq worfhip diould be celebrated 
with dignity and decency, that the churches fhould be 
provided with zealous and virtuous pallors, and that the 
poor lhould be fed ; thefe were the ends for which thofe 
tythes were allotted us ; and we doubt not that the juf- 
tice of the national alfembly will ftill fupplv us with 
means for fulfilling duties fo facredand ehernial.” “This- 
(added the cardinal de Rochefoucault) is the foie prayer 
of the clergy, who place their whole confidence in the 
equity of the nation.” 
The national affembly received with tranfport an offer 
fo fuperior to their expectations ; they were profufe in 
their encomiums, and unbounded in their promiles of 
compenfation. But the exigencies of the ftate were fo 
exceflive, that M. Necker was unable to wait the benefi¬ 
cial but tardy flowing in of the tythe : he had recourfe 
to a fpeedier and more ftriking facrifice. The idea of 
relieving a ftate by voluntary contributions polfelfes fome- 
thing fo natural and fo falcinating to an inexperienced 
ftatefman, that it has been frequently recurred to, and 
al mo ft as frequently proved abortive. But, as the pre¬ 
fent fituation of France was unprecedented, fo alio might 
be the confequences of this expedient. Throughout the 
different provincial capitals offices were opened, and the 
people were invited to depofit their plate, their jewels, 
and a fourth of their actual revenue. On this occafion, 
the fuccefs, though not fufficient to extinguilh the wants 
of the ftate, exceeded the moll: fanguine expectations of 
the minifter; a general ardour feemed to pervade every 
rank and defeription throughout the kingdom ; the fump- 
tuous fide-boards which had miniftered to the vanity of 
the nobility, the ancient and mafiy velfels which had been 
fo long confecrated to religious fervices, the very orna¬ 
ments of the fair fex, (welled the promifeuous pile, and 
were cheerfully offered as a facrifice to freedom. Even 
thofe who molt dreaded, and in fecret were molt defirous 
a ef 
* 
