nagement. In the provincial Assemblies they
were seen originating and conducting the most important reforms; they
had devoted themselves to these effectively and conscientiously, with as
much equity and patriotism as intelligence and thoroughness; most of the
heads and sub-heads of the leading public and private branches of the
service, guided by philosophy and supported by current opinion
for twenty years, had likewise given evidence of active
benevolence.[4157]--Nothing is more precious than men of this stamp, for
they are the life and soul of their respective branches of service,
and are not to be replaced in one lot, at a given moment, by persons
of equal merit. In diplomacy, in the finances, in judicature, in
administration, in extensive commerce and large manufacturing, a
practical, governing capacity is not created in a day; affairs in all
these are too vast and too complicated; there are too many diverse
interests to take into account, too many near and remote contingencies
to foresee; lacking a knowledge of technical details, it is difficult to
grasp the whole; one tries to make short work of it, one shatters right
and left and ends with the sword, obliged to fall back on systematic
brutality to complete the work of audacious bungling. Except in war,
where apprenticeship takes less time than elsewhere, ten years of
preparatory education plus ten years of practical experience are
required for the good government of men and the management of capital
assets. Add to this, against the temptations of power which are strong,
a stability of character established through professional honor, and, if
it so happens, by family traditions.

After having directed financial matters for two years, Cambon[4158] is
not yet aware that the functions of the fermiers-generaux of indirect
taxes differ from those of the receveurs-generaux of direct taxes;[4159]
accordingly, he includes, or allows to be included, the forty-eight
receveurs in the decree which sends the sixty fermiers before the
revolutionary Tribunal, that is to say, to the guillotine; and, in fact,
all of them would have been sent there had not a man familiar with
the business, Gaudin, Commissioner of the Treasury, heard the decree
proclaimed in the street and run to explain to the Committee on Finances
that "there was nothing in common" between the two groups of outlaws;
that the fermiers were holders of leases on probable profits while the
receveurs were paid function