nd quicker blow under an arbitrary monarchy than under a
limited and balanced government; but still necessity and credit are
natural enemies, and cannot be long reconciled in any situation. From
necessity and corruption, a free state may lose the spirit of that
complex constitution which is the foundation of confidence. On the other
hand, I am far from being sure that a monarchy, when once it is properly
regulated, may not for a long time furnish a foundation for credit upon
the solidity of its maxims, though it affords no ground of trust in its
institutions. I am afraid I see in England, and in France, something
like a beginning of both these things. I wish I may be found in a
mistake.

This very short and very imperfect state of what is now going on in
France (the last circumstances of which I received in about eight days
after the registry of the edict[32]) I do not, Sir, lay before you for
any invidious purpose. It is in order to excite in us the spirit of a
noble emulation. Let the nations make war upon each other, (since we
must make war,) not with a low and vulgar malignity, but by a
competition of virtues. This is the only way by which both parties can
gain by war. The French have imitated us: let us, through them, imitate
ourselves,--ourselves in our better and happier days. If public
frugality, under whatever men, or in whatever mode of government, is
national strength, it is a strength which our enemies are in possession
of before us.

Sir, I am well aware that the state and the result of the French economy
which I have laid before you are even now lightly treated by some who
ought never to speak but from information. Pains have not been spared to
represent them as impositions on the public. Let me tell you, Sir, that
the creation of a navy, and a two years' war without taxing, are a very
singular species of imposture. But be it so. For what end does Necker
carry on this delusion? Is it to lower the estimation of the crown he
serves, and to render his own administration contemptible? No! No! He is
conscious that the sense of mankind is so clear and decided in favor of
economy, and of the weight and value of its resources, that he turns
himself to every species of fraud and artifice to obtain the mere
reputation of it. Men do not affect a conduct that tends to their
discredit. Let us, then, get the better of Monsieur Necker in his own
way; let us do in reality what he does only in pretence; let us turn his
F