People will not reflect, that, in the short
period of his ministry, he had more than doubled his fortune. Not
that he had peculated on the public treasury; his good sense and pride
forbade a resort to this manoeuvre of weak minds; but by resorting to
loans and the costly operations of the bank, to provide the funds of
war, and being still connected with the house to which he addressed
himself for much the greater part of his negotiations. They have not
remarked that his great principles of economy have nothing more than
a false show, and that the loans resorted to, in order to avoid the
imposition of taxes, have been the source of the mischief which has
reduced the finances to their present alarming condition.
As to his _compte rendu_; he has been forgiven the nauseous panegyric
which he has passed upon himself, and the affectation of introducing
his wife into it, for the purpose of praising her; and we are spared
the trouble of examining his false calculations. M. de Calonne has
undertaken this investigation. Without being able to vindicate himself,
he has already begun to unmask his antagonist, and he promises to do it
effectually.
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