,
James Gillray caricatures the triumph of Necker (seated, on left) in 1789, comparing its effects on freedom unfavorably to those of
William Pitt the Younger in
Britain. France has the caption "
Freedom," while Britain has the caption "
Slavery." and
Jeanne d'Arc. By the time of his second term in office, Necker desired a more limited monarchy and favored increased power for the
Estates General. According to
Peter Kropotkin, Necker "helped to shake down the system which was already tottering to its fall, but he was powerless to prevent the fall from becoming a revolution: probably he did not even perceive that it was impending." Necker succeeded in doubling the representation of the
Third Estate to satisfy the nation's people. The Third Estate had as many deputies as the other two orders together. His address at the Estates-General on 5 May 1789 about the fundamental problems as financial health, constitutional monarchy, and institutional and political reforms lasted three hours. Necker suffered from a cold and, after fifteen minutes, he asked the secretary of the Agricultural Society to read the remainder. He invited the representatives to leave aside their factional interests and take into consideration the general, long-term interests of the nation. Personal rivalries and radical claims had to give way to a pragmatic spirit of moderation and conciliation. He concluded: According to
Simon Schama, he "appeared to consider the Estates-General to be a facility designed to help the administration rather than to reform government". Two weeks later, Necker seems to have sought to persuade the king to adopt a constitution similar to that of Great Britain and advised him in the strongest possible terms to make the necessary concessions before it was too late. According to
François Mignet, "he hoped to reduce the number of orders, and bring about the adoption of the English form of government, by uniting the clergy and nobility in one chamber, and the third estate in another." Necker warned the king that unless the privileged orders yielded, the Estates-General would collapse, taxes would not be paid, and the government would be bankrupt. On 17 June 1789, the first act of the new
National Assembly declared all existing taxes illegal. Necker had legitimate reasons to be concerned about the implications of this unprecedented decision. On 23 June, the king proposed to the royal council the dissolution of the Assembly. On 11 July, the king advised Necker to leave the country immediately. According to
Jean Luzac, Necker and his wife went for a walk in a park. They then got into their carriage to drive to their estate in Saint-Ouen at seven in the evening. When the news became known the next day, it enraged
Camille Desmoulins. Wax heads of Necker and the Duc d'Orléans were taken through the streets to the Tuileries. The Royal Guard allegedly chose to open fire rather than salute the likenesses. The threat of a counter-revolution caused citizens to take up arms and
storm the Bastille on 14 July. The king and the Assembly recalled the immensely popular Necker to a third ministry in a letter dated 16 July. Necker replied from Basle on the 23rd. He wrote to his brother that he was going back to the abyss. His successor, the 74-year-old
Joseph Foullon de Doué, was hanged from a lamppost on the 22nd. His entry into Versailles on the 29th was a festival day. Necker demanded a pardon for
Baron de Besenval, who was imprisoned after given command of the troops concentrated in and around Paris early July. On 4 August 1789, the day when
feudalism was abolished by the National Assembly, Necker is quoted as saying, "The collectors of the taille are at their last shift."
Assignats Necker proved to be powerless as tax revenue dropped quickly. Mirabeau proposed to Lafayette to overthrow Necker. On 21 December 1789, a first decree was voted through, ordering the issue (in April 1790) of 400 million
assignats, certificates of indebtedness of 1,000 livres each, with an interest rate of 5%, secured and repayable based on the auctioning of the "
Biens nationaux". Once the assignats were paid, they had to be destroyed or burnt. In January 1790, Necker obtained an order of arrest against
Jean-Paul Marat, for having "had openly espoused the cause of the people, the poorest classes," according to Peter Kropotkin. Marat was forced to flee to London. On 10 March 1790, on the proposition of
Pétion, the administration of the church property was transferred to the municipalities. At the same time,
Étienne Clavière lobbied for large issues of assignats representing national wealth and operating as legal tender. For daily life, smaller denominations were needed and extended to the whole of France. On 17 April 1790, the new notes of 200 and 300 livres were declared
legal tender but their interest was reduced to 3%. The assignats would compensate for the scarcity of coin and would revive industry and trade. In May 1790, the feudal and ecclesiastical properties were sold against assignats. Constitutional monarchists such as
Maury,
Cazalès,
Bergasse and
d'Eprémesnil opposed it. The deputies in the Convention prepared a
surety for future issues of paper money (on 19 June and 29 July). Half of the taxes over the preceding year were still not received. People who earned more than 400 livres were invited to go to their municipality and fulfill their duty. As it was not the final cure, Necker asked his friends, the Geneva "banquiers", to pay the
arrears the Assembly turned it down. The political scene came to be dominated by "clamorous spectators, passionate judges, and ungovernable agitators". Necker was continuously attacked by
Jean-Paul Marat in his pamphlets and by
Jacques-René Hébert in his newspaper.
Count Mirabeau, who played a decisive role in the Assembly, accused him of complete financial dictatorship. For Mirabeau, to express doubts in the assignats was to express doubts in the revolution. At the end of August, the government was again in distress; four months after the first issue the money was spent.
Montesquiou-Fézensac, the teacher of Mirabeau, presented a report in the Assembly. Assignats should be used not only for payment of church property.
Montesquiou had massively exaggerated the amount of the redeemable debt, probably to convince the Assembly. On 27 August 1790, the Assembly decided another issue of 1.9 billion assignats which would become
legal tender before the end of the year. Necker endeavored to dissuade the Assembly from the proposed issue; suggesting that other means could be found for accomplishing the result, and he predicted terrible evils. Necker was not backed by Comte de Mirabeau, his strongest opponent who called for "national money" and won that day. A few crowds were sent to shout and threaten him. When all resources were exhausted, the Assembly created paper money, according to Necker. He handed in his resignation on 3 September. The massive and dangerous issue of 1.9 billion he succeeded to get down to 800 million, but the attacks influenced his resignation. Necker did not step down on the decision to make the assignat legal tender. Instead, the choice to issue the paper money along with political opposition proved to be his main motivators. The Assembly decreed that it would itself direct the public Treasury. Necker foretold that the paper money, with which the dividends were about to be paid, would soon be of no value.
Du Pont de Nemours feared the emission of assignats would double the price of bread. Since no one had truly the right to make assignats, everyone would soon begin to do so. A declaration (14 Oct) suspending all interest payments turned the assignats into
fiat money. Necker's efforts to keep the financial situation afloat were ineffective. His popularity vanished and he resigned with a damaged reputation. Necker left leaving two million livres in the public treasury; he took 1/5 of the amount with him. ==Retirement==